Nirarta is named after Danghyang Nirarta, a great 16th century sage, who did much to shape Balinese Hinduism. Teaching and founding temples on his many wanderings, he blended Shaivist tradition with the Buddhist heritage received from his father, earning the title of ‘Dwijendra’ or ‘Two Paths’. His name ‘Nirarta’ means literally ‘Wealth in that which is not’. His name points to the knowledge that springs from the simplicity of Unknowing, the abundance which abides in the silent source of all that is.  

The Nirarta Centre, too, brings two paths together. It aims to provide a bridge between the knowledge and insights of the West and the deep wisdom woven into the colourful fabric of Bali.

The Nirarta Centre for Living Awareness is guided by the simple insight that there is a natural pattern of growth and evolution running through nature and our lives. This pattern, Gregory Bateson (an early visitor to Bali with hs partner Margaret Mead) aptly termed 'the pattern which connects'. We call it the 'Way of Unfolding' or the way things happen.

This notion has practical implications for the quality of our lives. For when we are in alignment with the pattern unfoldIng within and without us, our lives are easier, innocently sustained by the natural flow of life itself.

This notion has guded and sustained Bali's unique and durable culture for centuries, and it is at the heart of what we offer in and through Nirarta.

Nirarta is a place where it becomes easier to sense the pattern unfolding in our own lives and to come into alignment with it. Our various programmes in different ways aim to support that process of alignment, so that the purpose, passion, and inspiration of what we do in life is nourished and enriched on our return.

Alignment with the Way of Unfolding helps us become more aware, not only of the many objects of consciousness that demand our attention - the known - but also the elusive processes by which we know what we know - our unique and special ways of knowing - and, beyond that, the deep mystery of the knower in whom all knowledge occurs.

Such knowledge and its grounding in our lives is the inspiration and aim of Nirarta.

For an extensive article about the Way of Unfolding, click here.

For a list of our PUBLICATIONS, click here.