Tag: Ramana Maharshi

Birth of Universal Man – Dada Gavand

Birth of Universal Man

A Journey from Personality to Divinity

When the seeker begins to arrive nearer the spirit, he starts to feel the signs of opening. Here at this stage the seeker has to remain utterly silent, inward and innocent. Knowledge, imaginations, hopes and the authority of books, gurus or one’s own strong opinions are all barriers. Only the factual experience within, in that moment, is real.

One has to be alert and obedient only to the inner happening. There the seeker must wait in total silence, without any movement of thought, with humility and in the spirit of anonymity.

At this point, abundant patience and openness are needed without any movement of thought — which is faith. Such faith is not in someone or in some idea created by the wishful mind. Faith is the state of humility, aloneness and total inwardness. This is surrender to the unknown.

In this state of surrender — which is humility, inwardness and anonymity — Life energy undergoes a mystical change. This is a point of transition, a critical point in consciousness when a dimensional change begins to take place. Here, in this state of absolute aloneness, the radical revolution occurs.

When the whole energy attentively awaits in the inner space without any fragmentation, the alchemy of Cosmic Intelligence begins to unfold within. One stands the chance to witness the magic of a radical revolution only when the mind comes to total silence through the in-depth understanding of itself.

At this point, the Life energy is utterly still, transparent and dynamic, awaiting in readiness for its ultimate freedom. In its creative intelligence, the whole energy acts upon itself to explode the old structure of the crystallized mind.

This is the moment of breakthrough. In this revolutionary action the old, time-bound structure of the ego/me is shattered, giving the experience of a new-dimensional energy flow. This is the true re-birth of a human being. It is the blessing and the grace of the Causeless Creation.

This celebration is the outcome of the alchemy of Life, an act of the unknown. It is a spiritual opening, a turn toward new-dimensional existence.

When one begins to perceive and feel the bondage of the mind very clearly, without any reservation, this sets in motion a counter-force in consciousness. This counter-force is a catalyst for change, for the radical revolution. This is a natural unfoldment toward the final flowering of the human mind.

In all types of matter particles there are corresponding anti-matter particles. When the matter particles collide with the anti-matter particles, both are destroyed, leaving only energy.

In true meditation — which is free from the frame of technique and tradition, and carries all-around awareness to all that is within and without — the alchemy of transformation begins. There is an important change in the energy particles when attentive awareness is going totally inside. You become internally silent and free from any outward movement, and energy is actively pulsating only within.

When the energy particles of unbiased perception of the present collide with the particles of the past memory-mind, the annihilation of this psychological memory structure occurs. In this annihilation the perceiver and the past memory-mind are both negated. Awareness and the content of awareness are both annihilated, and there remains only energy.

This energy, being of a different dimension, will free us from the bondage of thought, which is time. It is elemental energy — that which is impersonal, spontaneous and intuitive. It functions in absolute freedom, beyond the realm of time and tradition. This timeless energy is pure Intelligence, the wisdom of Life, the Divine.

Eminent scientists working in the field of particle physics and genetic engineering also seem to have reached the conclusion that there exists an energy of a higher frequency which is beyond the dimensions of time and space and which behaves in mysterious ways.

True meditation opens up the possibility of entering this sphere of the mysterious, the unknown, the timeless, which may be eternal as well. Intense sensitivity is the outcome of thought-free inward pondering. It is an inward movement of exalted innocence — a movement of thinking without thought as well as feeling without emotional drive.

When this movement is free from the reflections of any reference to the past, it is detached from the shadow of Time. By entering deeper into one’s own inner space, quite inadvertently, one would arrive at a point where one can get the first insight to behold the dawn of the Timeless. The rigidity of thought is then loosened; thought comes into No man’s Land — a state of not-knowing, which is complete innocence.

Such a state of intense sensitivity loosens the hold of the genetic code. This prepares the ground for the eventual rushing in of the mysterious Life energy, which operates with its own Intelligence, without reference to the brain or nervous system.

At the moment of breakthrough, the mysterious Life energy explodes within and shatters the very foundation of one’s personality, along with one’s well-organized, conditioned memory-mind. The dawn of freedom is experienced!

The liberated man is completely freed from the clutches of the genome and lives from moment to moment, with a sense of being complete, contented, fully attuned and alive. He is also extremely creative, being governed by intuitive intelligence rather than bound by one’s conditioning or genetic code. This is a great achievement for man on earth, a historical landmark in the unfoldment of creative intelligence in the human being. Here lies the beauty, mystery and alchemy of Nature. Here also lies the hope and assurance of the liberation of human beings.

Yet, this stage is only the right beginning, like opening a door to something new. The door is open, and you are experiencing that other energy flow. The mold of mind has been broken, but even then one has to guard that new opening by remaining vigilant and totally faithful to it. Here is the need for, that classical state of ‘shraddha’ or faith. Faith is not a wishful mental choice of anything, either inside or outside. Faith is a total state in itself. It is anonymity with humility and inwardness, untouched by the desiring mind.

After the breakthrough, there is a possibility that that the surrounding environmental influences will affect this new opening. They can overshadow and engulf it again, just as a few dark clouds can subdue and block the light of the mighty sun. The whole basin of ego-mind has to become empty and cleaned of the residue gathered by the personality during its centuries of travel.

So even after the door has been opened, the old habits do linger on. The mind, with its ingrained self-interest, very cleverly tries to turn every new experience into an idea.

Truth is destroyed by making an idea of it. Thought embalms the Truth in time to keep it dead. This way the intellect can use Truth easily and conveniently whenever needed — to fulfill the vested interest of the ego. Be aware of the idea, the thought or concept. Thought is the slayer of Truth. Memory is a barrier to the Timeless.

Thus one needs to go deeper, to intensify the awareness, to remain faithful to that new beginning. The social mind and strong collective environmental pressures are always there. Those have the capacity to influence, to cast their own dark shadow, to take over again. You are open to a new freedom, yet the past is always lingering around to overcome the present. This, too, is a Law of Nature.

So one has to be vigilant and very aware even at this stage. Constant vigilance is the price of freedom. This new opening is not something that is permanent once it takes place. Life is a constant movement, a momentum of moments. One needs to be awake at every moment, which deepens one’s own faith.

Faith depends on what depth one has entered into oneself. One can play on the shore with the ocean water, or enter further into it to experience the full depth, the immensity. It is the depth that helps one loosen the grip of the foothold and thus become free from one’s own identity. Then one is carried aloft by the celestial current beyond the horizon to witness the panorama of unbounded space — the infinity.

Before that, the possibility is still there that the ego-mind will restructure itself and come back very subtly in a new guise. Some seekers see the glimpse through the door, but then they start glorifying the door, worshipping the light, singing songs about it. This can and does happen. The past is still there; the influences are still around. Any indulgence in glorificatory thought and idea about anyone or anything is a subtle and dangerous backward step. It implies that you are not yet completely free of mind.

The explosion almost completely breaks the mold, but the mold has the capacity to remake itself. That is why constant awareness is necessary. The mold of ego-mind has come into being through centuries and has created its own powerful vested interest. The mind mechanism, by utilizing all of the energy of Life, has rooted itself firmly. It does not let one move easily beyond itself towards divinity.

Even after this breakthrough, simplicity and austerity along with humility are essential, and deepening of the alert watchfulness is crucial. The explosion does bring a new order. It shatters the shell of the ego, the mind, and gives the experience of freedom and peace. But that freedom and peace have to unfold and flower to touch the source of one’s own inner being — the enormity of Life, the Divinity.

So there is not only the explosion but the deepening beyond it as well. You still have to let go of the foothold, to enter into the deeper eternal waters of Life. Then you become the water, the ocean, that vastness itself, in the flow of the Timeless. The ‘I’ as center merges into the circumference, which is limitless. You as a separate identity are not.

Here you come in Universality, the cosmic reality of Nature. You are not individual; you are not personality. That Universal state of being is the final point of arrival for human being. From personality to impersonality — which is Universality — is the unfoldment and fulfillment of life. He who merges with his own inner space becomes impersonal, becomes the whole. He is then not just in the world, but is one with it. And from there, when he loves one, he will love all.

This is the birth of the universal being, the impersonal one, and to experience this is our destiny. Here one is related to that vastness, to the infinity. In that enormity one experiences love and empathy. The entire world will then be in one’s orbit of relationship and love. What is love but one’s relationship with the impersonal intelligence beyond thought? When that comes into play, spirituality becomes much higher than just a religion, doctrine, philosophy, or tradition.

When one is operating from this impersonal state, intuitive expression brings forth the Truth that is the Cosmic Law. This Law will naturally guide one, rather than ethics prescribed by society or religion.

Love is the expression of cosmic creation in its highest form, beyond ethics, social morality and the rules of man. Intuitive expression from one’s inner space becomes the way of life. One finally embraces the Law of Divinity, which is not created by thought and so shall never perish. In this realm the creator and creation are one, subject and object are one.

Mankind is now facing its greatest challenge, with humanity on the brink. Sensitive and intelligent people are recognizing the fact that everybody is adding his bit to the world problems. Now their obligation is to become part of the solution. Only the individual acting and inquiring alone, within himself, can take up this challenge. Each one must explore within, with utmost urgency and honesty, to invite the radical revolution in the age-old mind.

Therein alone lies the hope for mankind. The mindless mind, freed from its fetters, will transform our perception, way of living and relationships. The human being will rise above individuality and nationality to embrace the Law of Universality.

Only through total upheaval and revolt, with a radical revolution of mind, can one discover the supreme fulfillment, with peace, love and the benevolence of Life. Universal human beings will live by the intelligence beyond thought, manifested in lives of creativity and intuitive spontaneity. This is the birthright of every human being on earth, the mystery which the Eternal is offering.

Let that Life lead you on…

With love,

Dada

From Intelligence Beyond Thought, Chapter twenty-eight

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Robert Adams on Enlightenment and Gurus – Ed Muzika

Robert Adams never named a successor. He told me once that there was a book he had just read by Lakshman, who claimed that Ramana Maharshi had named Lakshman as his successor. Robert said that Ramana never named a successor and he should know since he was there. A few years later, I met Ganeshan, the editor of the Mountain Path, the publication of Ramana Ashrama, as well as Ramana’s nephew, who said he too never heard of a successor.

Perhaps Ramana gave a secret transmission, as did the Fifth Buddhist Patriarch to the Sixth Patriarch, so that the latter would survive. As it was, the latter was pursued for 12 years, sought by both jealous wannabes, who wanted his succession bowl and robes and those who wanted enlightenment at the point of a sword. But, what would be the point of a secret transmission?

There is and was no need for a line of succession from Robert’s point of view. Robert laughed at that idea and said, “What’s the point?” He hadn’t needed to be named a successor. He saw the whole concept of imaginary succession of imaginary students within an unreal mental space as the ultimate joke.

Robert’s only wish was to have his students find their true selves and be liberated from imagined suffering and death. He left it to his students to find and teach their own way, without the public relations boost to build their “practice.” If anything, he went out of his way to tear down anyone with an ego declaring that he/she was his successor or being enlightened, and there were so many around Robert. He never even claimed that for himself; however, he never denied it either. We just knew it by his bearing and his teachings themselves.

Robert almost always refused to comment on whether he thought one or another teacher was enlightened. I remember asking him once about Rajneesh, because he had the bearing, far off look and soft voice of Robert. Robert nodded and said yes, that he was. All of the other times I asked any such nonsense questions about anybody, he would say no. For Robert, enlightenment was a rare, rare thing.

My friend Swami Shankarananda calls the endless list of those claiming successorship of one Advaitin guru or another, “California Advaitins.” This is very apt.

The point of this is, is that no one knows who has it or not. Just try the only practice Robert Adams ever taught, namely self-inquiry, Atman Vichara, and watch the impact on your imaginary self. Of course, to do that, you need to have faith, and that is an entirely different story.

More of Robert’s last days:

Robert’s health had been seriously deteriorating beginning sometime during 1993 or 94. The L Dopa medication he had been taking to control his Parkinson’s symptoms was becoming ineffective. He was finding it increasingly difficult to move or talk. His voice had grown very weak and sometimes, if his medication was not working, he was almost impossible to understand.

Before going to lunch with a student (this was his way of giving private teachings, which was to go the a vegetarian restaurant near his home called Follow Your Heart), he’d take his L Dopa an hour ahead of time so that he could move and be understood. The same with Satsang. On rare occasions, but increasingly so, he would sit before the audience in his chair and just stare out into the audience. He would do this for a long time, then suddenly get up and briskly walk out. He could not talk, and his walk seemed off balance.

His close students knew something was wrong.

By 1994, he had grown very weak. His wife, Nicole Adams, later told me that Robert knew that there was something wrong with his body and that is one of the reasons he wanted to move to Sedona, thinking he might have better health there.

As related elsewhere on this site, by 1994 the number of people coming to Satsang had increased dramatically. During the last six months before he moved to Sedona in 1995, it was obvious he was very ill. People were coming to Satsang from all over the world.

One day at Satsang, we had an exceptionally large audience. Just before Satsang began and people were milling about and talking, Robert leaned over and whispered in my ear, “They are all coming to see the dying guru. The day I die, the place will be packed.”

Before Robert moved to Sedona, I believe in September of 1995 (I am chronologically challeneged.), his wife, Nichole would spend much of the day taking care of his daily needs. Robert was barely functional before he took his L-dopa and another medication the name of which I forgot.

After he moved to Sedona, Mary Skene, one of the last of the old-timers, began to assume the task of taking care of him.

Robert had liver cancer. After a while the pain gave way, as he described it, to a “tingling.” He gradually ate less and less as the disease progressed and became quite thin. Other students would come over and do the shopping and sometimes prepare meals.

Robert became evermore silent. He wanted quiet throughout the house. When I came to visit the last time, he would pace back and forth between the bedroom and the living room where I was sitting. He wanted to be with me, as he knew this was our last meeting, but he had a hard time socializing and being up out of bed.

Robert died in 1997. The picture above was taken about six months before he died. It seems that all Advaitin teachers and most Zen masters die of cancer. Anyway, after he died, wannabe gurus from all over the world began to descend on Los Angles and Sedona giving talks and workshops. It was apparent they were trying to glean Robert’s students. I felt them to be spiritual vultures.

The point of all this, is beware of teachers who proclaim some special talent, enlightenment or successorship. Beware of those who do a lot of advertising or give expensive workshops. Robert never charged a dime for someone to come to Satsang and never gave any workshop. As Robert said many times, the best teachers are unknown. They avoid having  large following and are looking for quality not quantity.

However, as he thought very highly of Rajneesh, one of the highest profile teachers of our time, it appears there may be exceptions to this rule.

-Ed Muzika

As seen at:  http://www.wearesentience.com/robert-on-enlightenment–gurus.html

Who Lives Really? – Atmananda

9th January 1951

We generally say that every man lives. If the term ‘man’ refers to the changeless ‘I’- principle (and it cannot refer to anything else), we are guilty of a contradiction in terms. The changeless ‘I’-principle can never undergo such changes as birth and death.

Don’t we speak of ‘my past life’ and ‘my future life’? It is clear from these that the ‘I’-principle is beyond birth and death. For in these statements, we imply that the ‘I’- principle is present before birth and after death. How then can birth and death pertain to the ‘I’-principle?

Therefore, the real ‘I’-principle alone lives. The ignorant man believes that either the body or the mind lives, while in fact each of them dies at the end of every perception or thought. But the ‘I’-principle continues unchanged through all thoughts and perceptions, lighting them up as well.

Therefore, the ignorant man who identifies himself with body and mind is dying every moment, along with every perception or thought. And the Jnyanin, who identifies himself with the changeless ‘I’-principle, alone really lives and knows no death.

The body idea or the ego has to die, in order that you may really live. In this sense, it is the Jnyanin alone that really lives, and knows he lives. His advice to every man is: ‘Die, in order to live.’ In other words, annihilate the personal element, or ego, in order that the impersonal element may not appear shrouded. This is realization – establishing oneself in the Reality.

-Shri Atmananda (Krishna Menon)

From Notes on Spiritual Discourses of Shri Atmananda, Taken by Nitya Tripta

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See Where the Mind Rises – Ramana Maharshi

The Self is Pure Consciousness. Yet a man identifies himself with the body which is insentient and does not itself say: ‘I am the body’. Someone else says so. The unlimited Self does not. Who does? A spurious ‘I’ arises between Pure Consciousness and the insentient body and imagines itself to be limited to the body. Seek this and it will vanish like a phantom. The phantom is the ego or mind or individuality. All the scriptures are based on the rise of this phantom, whose elimination is their purpose. The present state is mere illusion. Its dissolution is the goal and nothing else.

To ask the mind to kill the mind is like making the thief the policeman. He will go with you and pretend to catch the thief, but nothing will be gained. So, you must turn inward and see where the mind rises from and then it will cease to exist.

Of course, we are employing the mind. It is well known and admitted that only with the help of the mind, can the mind be killed. But instead of setting about saying there is a mind and I want to kill it, you begin to seek its source, and then you find it does not exist at all. The mind turned outwards results in thoughts and objects. Turned inwards it becomes itself the Self.

By steady and continuous investigation into the nature of the mind, the mind is transformed into That to which ‘I’ refers; and that is in fact the Self. The mind has necessarily to depend for its existence on something gross; it never subsists by itself. It is the mind that is otherwise called the subtle body, ego, jiva or soul.

That which arises in the physical body as ‘I’ is the mind. If one enquires whence the ‘I’-thought arises in the body in the first instance, it will be found that it is from the hrdayam or the Heart. That is the source and stay of the mind. Or again, even if one merely continuously repeats to oneself inwardly ‘I-I’ with the entire mind fixed thereon, that also leads to the same source.

The first and foremost of all thoughts that arise in the mind is the primal ‘I’-thought. It is only after the rise or origin of the ‘I’-thought that innumerable other thoughts arise. In other words, only after the first personal pronoun, ‘I’, has arisen, do the second and third personal pronouns occur to the mind; and they cannot subsist without it. Since every other thought can occur only after the rise of the ‘I’-thought, and since the mind is nothing but a bundle of thoughts, it is only through the enquiry, ‘Who am I?’ that the mind subsides. Moreover, the integral ‘I’-thought implicit in such enquiry, having destroyed all other thoughts, it itself finally gets destroyed or consumed, just as a stick used for stirring the burning funeral pyre gets consumed.

-Ramana Maharshi

From The Teachings of Ramana Maharshi in His own Words, Arthur Osborne

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On Cutting the Knot – Ramana Maharshi

Questions asked by Ganapati Muni, Translation by A.R. Natarajan

Verse 1:

On 14th August, at night, I questioned the Maharshi ‘on the cutting of the knot’, regarding which even the learned have doubts.

Verse 2:

The effulgent Bhagavan, Ramana Maharshi, listened to the question, meditated for a while, and spoke in his divine way.

Verse 3:

The ‘knot’ is the link between the Self and the body, Awareness of the body arises because of this link.

Verse 4:

The body is matter, the Self is consciousness. The link between the two is inferred through the intellect.

Verse 5:

It is by the diffused light of consciousness that the body functions. Since there is no awareness of the world in sleep, swoon, and so on, the location of the Self is to be inferred.

Verse 6:

Just as the unseen current passes through the visible wires, the flame of consciousness flows through the various channels of the body.

Verse 7:

The flame of consciousness, taking hold of a centre, lights up the entire body just as the sun illuminates the whole world.

Verse 8:

It is because of the spreading of consciousness that one becomes aware of the body. The sages say that the centre of radiation is the Heart.

Verse 9:

The flow of consciousness is inferred from play of forces in the channels. The forces course through the body, each hugging a particular channel.

Verse 10:

The channel through which consciousness flows is termed ‘susumma’. It is also called ‘atma nadi’, ‘para nadi’ and ‘amrita nadi’.

Verse 11:

Because consciousness pervades the entire body, one gets attached to the body, regards the body as the Self, and views the world as apart from oneself.

Verse 12:

When the discriminating one becomes detached and, giving up the idea that one is the body, single-mindedly enquires, the churning of the channels takes place.

Verse 13:

On such churning of the channels, the self gets separated from them and shines forth by clinging to the supreme channel.

Verse 14:

When consciousness stays in the supreme channel only, then ‘Self alone shines’.

Verse 15:

Even though the objects are near they are not seen as separate. He is aware of the Self as clearly as the ignorant one of his body.

Verse 16:

The one to whom the Self alone shines, within, without and everywhere, as name and form would for the ignorant, has cut the knot.

Verse 17:

The knot is two-fold, one of the channels, and other of mental attachment. The perceiver, though subtle, sees the entire gross world through the channels.

Verse 18:

When the mind is withdrawn from other channels and is in the supreme channel alone, then the link with the body is cut and one abides as the Self.

Verse 19:

The body of one who abides in the Self through self-enquiry is resplendent just as a heated iron-ball appears as a ball of fire.

Verse 20:

The latent tendencies of the past pertaining to the body-mind complex are destroyed. There is no sense of doership because there is no body consciousness.

Verse 21:

It is said that the karma of such a one is destroyed due to the absence of the sense of doership. No doubts arise since the Self only exists for him.

Verse 22:

The one whose knot is cut can never again become bound. This state is one of supreme power and peace.

-Ramana Maharshi

From Sri Ramana Gita, Chapter Nine

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It Is What I Am – Rupert Spira

Dear Rupert,

When I was a child, I used to think, when in bed before going to sleep: “how is it possible that the universe has come into existence? If something exists, something else is the originating cause.” Going backwards, I always arrived (and I still arrive now) at a conclusion: “Something exists forever. But this is impossible to my logic… so nothing exists.” Many times I felt, just for an instant, a sudden vacuum when concluding that nothing exists. But then I noticed that I was there, thinking and conscious, so I existed!!!! My logic says that nothing exists and never existed, but I am here writing this.

This contradiction has opened my mind to any possibility. If I cannot understand how is it possible that anything exists, then anything can be possible, and the Truth (the reality) can be anything. When I found out years later about Young’s double slit experiment and other paradoxes in quantum physics, I was not surprised at all. In fact, all phenomena are simple details, what matters is the substance that is behind them.

My question: non-dual teachings resonate with what I just related. Even the nothingness that is totality at the same time sounds like the paradox of something uncaused. Do you, in your consistent openness and enlightenment, “understand” (or whatever word you use) this paradox? Is it possible to penetrate this mystery?

Thanks and kind regards,

Javier

Dear Javier

Thank you for your beautiful question which goes to the very heart of the matter.

You say, “When I was a child, I used to think, when in bed before going to sleep, ‘how is it possible that the universe has come into existence?'”

Let us look first of all at this ‘universe’ that is considered to have come into existence. The ‘universe’ is normally considered to be an infinitely vast whole which we, as separate perceiving entities, perceive partially and intermittently.

This ‘universe’ is considered to have existed before any of these apparently perceiving entities were present to perceive it. That is, it is considered to have existed before perception was possible and even when so called perceiving entities had appeared in this universe it is still considered to exist when it is not being perceived.

In fact this ‘universe’ is considered to have given birth, at a certain stage of its evolution, to the Consciousness with which it is known or perceived. However, it is believed to have existed prior to the birth of this Consciousness. In other words the ‘universe’ is considered to exist prior to and independently of Consciousness.

However, this universe that is conceived to have existed prior to Consciousness, has never been experienced. Perceptions are experienced and subsequently thought strings together in imagination an infinite number of such perceptions and creates out of them ‘the universe.’ However, such a ‘universe’ exists only in imagination. It is a presumption.

Now let us look first of all at the validity of this fundamental presumption. What evidence is there for such a universe? Has it ever been experienced? Could it ever be experienced?

If we agree to begin with that experience must be the test of reality, then every presumption or thought model must be subjected to the scrutiny of experience in order to be validated.

So, has anyone ever experienced the universe as it is conceived? We can bring this investigation much closer by taking any simple object such as the table in our room and ask the same questions about it:

There is a perception of the table. If there are several people in the room, there will be several perceptions of the table. From these perceptions we build a model of a ‘whole table,’ ‘the thing in itself’ that is considered to be the sum total of all possible perceptions, that exists independently of its being perceived and cannot by definition ever be perceived in its imagined totality.

Has anyone ever experienced such a table? Have you ever experienced such a table? Could you? Could anyone?

The answer is obviously ‘No.’ It is fundamental to see the truth of this simple and startling fact of experience: no one has ever or could ever experience an object, an other, a world, a universe as it is normally considered to exist or conceived to be.

The universe as such is imagined. This is not a proof that such a universe does not exist, but it is a proof that there is no evidence that it does.

* * *

So, it does not make sense to ask questions about a universe that we have never experienced. It is like asking questions about a pink elephant.

Having said that, asking questions about what we SEEM to experience is good because if we pursue them thoroughly, they lead us to what we IS experienced.

So let us now come closer to the truth of our experience:

Imagine an everyday occurrence such as walking into your kitchen, making a cup of tea and leaving again.

Our normal view is that we, as an entity located in and as the body, enter the kitchen which was there prior to our entering it, unexperienced so to speak. When we leave the kitchen, we imagine that it remains as it was prior to our entering it, that is, unexperienced.

Let us look more closely: the kitchen neither conceives nor perceives itself to be ‘a kitchen.’  Both conceiving and perceiving are faculties of the mind.

Therefore in the absence of mind, the kitchen cannot exist either as a concept or a percept.

So, when it is neither conceived or perceived, in what form could it exist? To exist it must have a form. However in the absence of mind, that ‘form’ cannot be a perception, that is, it cannot be a sight, a sound, a smell, a sensation or a taste.

In other words, conception and perception are faculties or qualities of mind. They are not faculties of the kitchen. It is the mind that conceives of a ‘kitchen’ and gives ‘it’ its name and it is the mind that perceives and gives ‘it’ its form.

Now what is this ‘it’ independent of the mind? What are its qualities?

We have no doubt that when the ‘kitchen’ is experienced, there is SOMETHING present. There is experience. In other words, whatever the ‘kitchen’ actually IS in its own right, divested of those qualities of name and form that the mind superimpose upon ‘it,’ is present. Whatever that is, it has no objective qualities, because all objective qualities are supplied by mind. In other words, whatever ‘it’ is, is both non-objective and present. That is, we can be sure that BEING is present in the experience of the ‘kitchen.’

The experience of the ‘kitchen’ is also, by definition, known, and as all knowing takes place in Consciousness, we can also be sure that Consciousness is present in the experience of the ‘kitchen.’

Thus we have arrived at the simple conclusion, drawn from our own experience, that Being and Consciousness are present in the experience of the ‘thing in itself,’ whether that thing is a kitchen, a table or a universe.

We can also go further and observe from experience that the experience of the ‘kitchen,’ and indeed all experience, is always only one experience, not two, and can therefore conclude that Being and Consciousness are one and the same.

In other words, what IT IS is made fundamentally out of Being/Consciousness.

* * *

Now let us keep going.

This Being/Consciousness does not, in our experience, ‘come into existence.’ Nobody has ever or could ever experience the appearance of Being/Consciousness because Being/Consciousness would have to be ‘there’ present to witness and therefore claim such an appearance.

Moreover, if we look now at the ‘me’ that walks into the kitchen’ we can explore it in exactly the same way that we previously explored the ‘kitchen.’ And if we do so we arrive at the same startling conclusion. That is, all the apparently objective qualities that we attribute to this ‘me’ are supplied by mind. They are not inherent in ‘me.’ The body does not know it is a body, let alone a ‘me.’ Only the mind says so.

In other words, if we divest ‘me’ of those qualities that are supplied by mind, that is, thinking, sensing and perceiving, we are left with the same experience of Being/Consciousness.

In other words, what I AM is made fundamentally out of Being/Consciousness.

* * *

In other words we have arrived at the fundamental equation of experience that IT (the body, object, world, universe or other) IS WHAT I AM.

Now Being/Consciousness is in our experience, which means in its own experience, ever-present. It cannot nor could it ever know its own absence.

So the fundamental substance of the body, object, world, universe or other is Being/Consciousness and the particular qualities that seem to differentiate different objects, bodies, worlds etc from one another are supplied by mind.

However, in the absence of mind, there is no time or space, both of which turn out on investigation to be concepts.

Therefore the body, object, world, universe or other cannot be said to have come INTO existence. From where would they have come? And at what time?

Rather we have seen from experience that the substance of the universe etc. is Being/Consciousness which is ever-present. And all apparent qualities of mind arise within this Being/Consciousness. There is nowhere outside of this Being/Consciousness from which they could have come. And the substance out of which this mind is made can only be the substance of Being/Consciousness, just as ice forming in water can only be made of whatever ingredients that are present in the water.

The only thing that is present in Being/Consciousness is Being/Consciousness. Therefore it is this very Being/Consciousness that takes the shape of the mind and from here appears as the multiplicity and diversity of bodies, people, objects, worlds, universes, particles, others etc.

However in order for this apparent multiplicity and diversity to seem real the homogeneous, singular oneness of its real substance (Being/Consciousness) must be overlooked or forgotten.

In other words, the true nature of Being/Consciousness must be forgotten, denied, veiled or imagined non-existent, for objects, the world and others etc. to appear to come into existence.

In short the universe comes into existence (that is, it seems to take on its own separate reality) at the very moment that our true nature of Being/Consciousness is forgotten. And how is Being/Consciousness forgotten if it is ever-present and there is nothing in its experience besides itself?

The answer is that is it never truly forgotten. However it SEEMS to be. It seems to forget or veil itself by taking the shape of mind and then, that apparent mind identifies the ‘I’ that is inherent in the Being/Consciousness with one little part of the totality, that is with a body.

In other words, Consciousness, as it were, forgets itself, forgets the Knowing of its own Being and rises instead as the dualising mind, in the form of the ‘I’ entity. At this moment, ‘everything-I-am-not’ springs into apparent existence as the universe, objects, others or world.

However, the ‘I’ entity and the universe, objects, others and world etc. are nothing but this very Being/Consciousness taking the shape of name (thinking) and form (perceiving) and seeming to be something other than itself.

* * *

So to go back to the example of walking into the kitchen…. nobody walks into a kitchen in time and space….

There is Being/Consciousness. It is this Being/Consciousness that takes the shape of a sensation called the body which a subsequent thought identifies as ‘I.’

This Being/Consciousness takes the shape of the body, then the walls, then the floor, then the kitchen, then the kettle, then the water, then the tea…..on and on. And woven into this constantly seeming morphing of Being/Consciousness is a train of thought that conceptualises all this experience as ‘me’ a body, walking into a kitchen, that was always here, and makes a cup of tea in a kettle that exists along with everything else independent of its being known……

But in fact there is just Being/Consciousness, that is, just ‘I,’ always in the same place which is a placeless place, always at the same timeless nowness, taking the shape of sensing, perceiving and thinking…..always only being itself, never giving birth to anything other than itself….giving its own substance to every appearance.

‘I’  body-ing, ‘I’ wall-ing, ‘I’ floor-ing, ‘I’ kitchen-ing, ‘I’ kettle-ing, ‘I’ water-ing, ‘I’ tea-ing, ‘I’ etc-ing, etc-ing, etc-ing…..

So it is not that the universe, objects, others, the world etc is not real. Every experience is real but its reality is that of Being/Consciousness. In other words IT IS WHAT I AM.

* * *

You say, “Something exists forever. But this is impossible to my logic… so nothing exists.”

Don’t start from logic, start from experience. You are right that nothing objective, that is, no thought, sensation or perception, has lasted forever in your experience.

Nor have you or anyone ever experienced the vast expanse of time that is conceptualised as ‘forever.’ However, you have and do continually experience your own Being. In fact you have never experienced its absence, nor could you.

It is your experience that you, Being/Consciousness, are ever-present. That is, its own Ever-presence is its own intimate experience.

However, in order to interpret its own Ever-presence as the existence of an independent universe existing ‘for ever’ in time, Being/Consciousness has first to seem to forget itself. It does this, as I said before by taking the shape of dualising mind.

With the arising of dualising mind, the Ever-Presence of Being/Consciousness seems to be veiled and is replaced by the idea and apparent experience of a separately existing universe that lasts ‘forever.’

In other words the Ever-presence of Being/Consciousess is appropriated by mind and conferred upon an imaginary universe that is considered, as a result, to last ‘forever’ in time.

However, it only seems to be veiled from the point of view of the dualising mind. It is never truly veiled from itself. There is nothing in its own experience, apart from itself, with which it could make a veil in order to screen itself from itself. Such a veil would be made only out of itself.

So yes, ‘nothing (no thing) exists’ if by a ‘thing’ we mean something existing in its own right in time and space. However, the substance of all apparent things, does not exist, but rather IS eternally, that is, not ‘forever’ in time, but always now.

This is what Parmenides meant when he said, “That which is never ceases to be. That which is not never comes into existence.”

* * *

You say, “Many times I felt, just for an instant, a sudden vacuum when concluding that nothing exists. But then I noticed that I was there, thinking and conscious, so I existed!!!!”

Yes, when we have been invested for decades in the apparent reality of the separate self and the separate, distant, outside world it can be a tremendous shock to understand that its SEEMING reality is made only of mind and lasts only as long as the current thought, image, sensation or perception lasts, that is, for a moment. However, its REAL reality is made of Being/Consciousness and is the substantial, homogeneous, ever-present reality of our experience.

It is as if all the ground has been pulled from under our feet. We grasp for something solid to hold on to, something known. But we find nothing objective. It feels like a vacuum.

However, we do not find nothing. We find our Self, Being/Consciousness, the Isness of things and the Amness of self, the only true security, our real home.

However, you do not exist. You ARE. To exist means to ‘stand out from.’ You do not stand out as an object from anything. You are existence itself from which all apparent things that seem to exist are made.

It is your Being that gives seeming existence to all apparent objects.

Nothing exists in its own right but Presence IS, and is the ever-present substance of all seeming things.

* * *

This goes to the very heart of the matter. Normally we think that the existence or being of a thing and the knowing of that thing are two, are separate.

But they are not. To know a thing is to be that thing. That is Consciousness’ mode of knowing a thing: to be that thing.

It is only the mind that separates Being and Knowing or Being and Consciousness into two different things. In reality there is no such separation between the two. In fact they are not two.

The only way to know another is be that other. The only way to know an object is be that object. The only way to know the kitchen is be the kitchen. The only way to know the world is be the world.

It is ‘I,’ Being/ Consciousness, that takes the shape of the thinking, imagining, sensing and perceiving. It is ‘I,’ Being/Consciousness, that takes the shape of a thought that identifies myself with a particular sensation called the body and in doing so imagines another substance that is not myself, called matter, out of which everything that is seemingly not myself, that is, the world, is made.

Consciousness creates the apparent world, object or other, by taking the shape of the dualising mind and thereby SEEMINGLY forgetting its own Self.

And conversely as Consciousness remembers or recognises its Self the apparently separate world, object, self or other dissolves.

* * *

You say, “My logic says that nothing exists and never existed, but I am here writing this…” You are right ‘nothing exists and never existed’ but you are not here writing this or reading this. YOU, Being/Consciousness, ARE. You remain eternally unchanging yourself, knowing and being only yourself, never becoming anything other, such as a thing, object, self or world, but taking the shape of that which SEEMS to be a thing, object, self or world.

You say, “This contradiction has opened my mind to any possibility.”

Yes, why not? Just as all possible words are contained within the twenty-six letters of the alphabet, so all possibilities are contained within Being/Consciousness. But they are not contained within it like chocolates in a box. Rather there is only one homogeneous substance which, having no shape, has the capacity to take all possible shapes, but never at any time becomes anything other than itself.

You say, “In fact, all phenomena are simple details, what matters is the substance that is behind them.”

Yes, but the substance of all phenomena is not just behind all appearances. It is in the foreground as well. There is only that. There is only one homogeneous substance, always itself, always in the same place, that is, in itself, being only itself, knowing only itself, loving only itself.

You say, “Non-dual teachings resonate with what I just related. Even the nothingness that is totality at the same time sounds like the paradox of something uncaused.”

Yes, Being/Consciousness is uncaused. There is nothing else present which could be its cause and nothing else present which it causes.

A cause requires at least two things: a cause and an effect. It also requires time. We find neither in experience. Multiplicity and time only come into apparent existence when the reality of our experience is forgotten.

You ask, “Do you, in your consistent openness and enlightenment, “understand” (or whatever word you use) this paradox? Is it possible to penetrate this mystery?”

It is not possible to penetrate this mystery with the mind because the mind is simply the current thought or image. The current thought or image knows nothing. It is known.

Nor does the mind understand. All understanding takes place beyond the mind. The mind is simply the formulation of the understanding. It is not the understanding itself.

Understanding is always the non-objective experience of the Knowing of Being.

So the mystery can never be understood by the mind. However, you ARE the mystery. It is too close to you to be known or penetrated.

It is a mystery only for the mind. For itself it is not a mystery. If it were a mystery it would be somehow unknown or unexperienced. In which case whatever is being experienced, for instance, the kitchen, the taste of tea or these words, would be something other than the mystery. But what would they be made of? There is nothing other than Being/Consciousness out of which they could be made.

There is the Knowing of Being.

When the dualising mind rises to apparently split this Knowingofbeing into two apparent things, the experience is known as unhappiness. When the dualising mind subsides and Knowing tastes again its own Being, the experience is known as love, happiness, peace, beauty or understanding.

With love,

Rupert

This was first seen on the site:

http://non-duality.rupertspira.com/page.aspx?n=4e853c0f-b2b8-4705-a262-cfc24d3fd9b2

The Person Is The Past – Alexander Smit

Alexander: There was a moment in your life, probably when you were three of four years old, when you began to experience yourself as something different from the perceivingness. A moment in which you made a swingover to an “I,” that is to say, to a “person,” a self consciousness.

What  you know about yourself is what you remember about yourself. The person, the “I,” consists of nothing but memory pictures from the past. Unlike the images which you make of yourself, awareness does not need any memory. Therefore, all that you know about yourself, and that which you take yourself to be, is old; it is the past. Memory cannot perceive anything new, whereas awareness can. That which you take yourself to be and with which you may identify yourself, are curdled experiences consisting purely and simply of memory pictures. Your so-called experiences are always past. Necessarily the past, for what you know about yourself is derived from memory and is memory. The memory is able to retrieve through images that which is past. But something that is past is not the reality. At best, it is a mental reality. That reality, however, is only short-lived and will eventually dissolve in the awareness.

What sort of reality does the person, composed by you from the past, possess? The reality which you attribute to that past consists of thoughts, mental images, ideas, and concepts. Those images seem to overshadow the reality that you are actually living. Because of that you are living in a world of delusion instead of in the reality. Only the power of discrimination can free you from that. That is why Advaita emphasizes viveka so much, the ability to discriminate between what is delusion and what is reality.

The person, that “somebody” which you have created, cannot be replaced by the concept of “nobody.”

Visitor: That is precisely the point. What I have done is to replace the “somebody” by a “nobody.”

A: It is sufficient to see that what you call the “somebody” or the “person”—that is to say, all the material with which you could identify yourself—is the old, the memory, pictures, and that these do not have any reality. They do have some form of reality, but that reality, in turn, is being attributed by other images again. The reality you are actually living is free from delusion.

V:  I can see that.

A: It isn’t a question of your seeing it: It’s a question of your being there—always.

V: I remember quite well, when I first came here, that you said, “There has got to be a knowing.” My question is: Who knows it?

A: Do you need a “who” in order to know that? At best, the knowing is conscious of a “who,” but there certainly isn’t a “who” that is conscious of the knowing.

V: That knowing happens through the body.

A: Now, if the body is dead, then what does the body know?

V: Then the knowing also isn’t there.

A: So the knowing is the body? The body is still there after death, but the knowing has gone. The knowing does have something to do with the body, but it is not the body. When someone dies, the one who is afraid of dying will disappear. For then it is actually happening, so he needn’t be afraid of it anymore. The one who has the fear of passing away will disappear along with the passing away. It can never take long. You needn’t be afraid of death—the fear will go together with death. If you are afraid to lose your finger, then the fear will have disappeared the moment that you have actually lost it. Those fears are not substantial, not real. In the reality fear disappears. More people have died from the fear of death that through death itself…

V: I am still left with the question of whether the knowing isn’t actually tied up with a “somebody.”

A: No, it isn’t.

V: You are saying. Things happen within the consciousness.

A: Yes, but you can’t make consciousness into an object, into a thing. By making a noun of it, it would seem as if qualities may be attributed to it.

V: When Self realization takes place, will there be a “somebody” then who knows it?

A: It is that very “somebody” which will disappear with Self realization. But there isn’t going to be a “nobody” to take its place.

V: Then who knows?

A: There is only the knowing. There isn’t a “somebody” who knows, nor is there a “nobody” who knows. There is only knowingness, love, consciousness. Once a person came here. After one meeting he said, “I know enough. I get it.” “All right,” I said, and I never saw him again.

To see it only once is sufficient. Knowing is sufficient unto itself. Then there is always something that has to go with it—stories, dramas, ideas, philosophy, etc. Ignorance always needs to be supported, because it cannot stand on its own. The knowing-ness which you are, doesn’t need any support. No guru, no disciple, no commentary, no confirmation, not a single reflection.

Self realization is self-sufficient; that is the beauty of it. The whole guru-disciple relationship also is transcended along with it. The reality—that which you really are—is sufficient unto itself. It doesn’t need anyone’s confirmation, not even the confirmation of the teacher or the guru. But until the last moment you will not stop to seek the grace, the blessing, the approval, the confirmation of the guru as the father.

Only the reality which you are actually living suffices. Self realization is self sufficient. That realization can never be confirmed by anything from outside, by an authority, by an outsider. Someone who is truly Self realized doesn’t run into the trap of self complacency, thinking, “I’m enlightened, I don’t need anybody anymore.” It is very subtle . . . Profound knowing will ultimately become silence.

You have to understand that the “person” is obsessive. You can’t tell the memory, “Stop producing images!” Memory simply produces what it produces. In fact, it is producing a three-dimensional delusion. There is only one thing which is staying out of the delusion, and that is the perceivingness. No wonder that is where the emphasis needs to be put. From the delusion you will never be able to realize what that perceivingness is. The will has no grip on the memory and, therefore, not on the “person,” either. They can’t just disappear.  Memory simply continues to deliver. You may forgive but not forget. To forget is not an act of the will. The brains are simply doing their job. That is how it works; that’s the reality.

Thus I see only one possibility, and I’m asking you: Are you able to see that which is beyond memory? That is the perceivingness, the knowingness. That is why Advaita would like to see you moving into that direction.

V: What matters—looking at it from the subject—is to shift the point of gravity.

A: To shift the point of gravity from constantly trying to get a grip on the knowingness from the delusion—to the knowingness itself, to the real essence. That is what matters in these meetings.

V: And all the whirlings produced by the memory are to be viewed from the perceivingness as being more or less irrelevant.

A: No, no, no! That again is a judgment, and undesirable involvement. What matters is the fact that you are choicelessly aware. The word “choiceless” isn’t just anything: It means to be without discrimination, without preference or aversion. Without judgment, for the perceivingness is choiceless.

V: So you let everything pass by?

A: Let me put it this way: Whoever realizes the perceivingness cannot but live and look from that. The possibility to judge remains completely available, but condemnation will prove to be impossible.

V: Everybody is pushing you into the reality value of the person. Is it possible to avoid that?

A: No, it isn’t. Try to see that you are not a person yourself. That is sufficient and that will do the job.

-Alexander Smit

Alexander Smit at 25.

Taken from Consciousness.

This excerpt was originally seen in Inner Directions Journal, Spring/Summer 2005.

For more from Alexander Smit look here.

Focused “I Am” Meditation – Nisargadatta Maharaj

Focused ‘I am’ Meditation

1. The ‘I am’ came first, it’s ever present, ever available, refuse all thoughts except ‘I am’, stay there.

2. Just stay put firmly and establish yourself in the ‘I am’, reject all that does not go with ‘I am’

3. Consistently and with perseverance separate the ‘I am’ from ‘this’ or ‘that’, just keep in mind the feeling ‘I am’

4. Only the ‘I am’ is certain, it’s impersonal, all knowledge stems from it, it’s the root, hold on to it and let all else go.

5. You are sure of the ‘I am’, it’s the totality of being, remember ‘I am’ and it’s enough to heal your mind and take you beyond.

6. The ‘I am’ is, it’s ever fresh, all else is inference, when the ‘I am’ goes all that remains is the Absolute.

7. Give all your attention to the ‘I am’, which is timeless presence, the ‘I am’ applies to all, come back to it repeatedly.

8. Hang on to the ‘I am’ and go beyond it, without the ‘I am’ you are at peace and happy.

9. Hold on to the ‘I am’ to the exclusion of everything else, the ‘I am’ in movement creates the world, the ‘I am’ at peace becomes the Absolute.

10. Immortality is freedom from the feeling ‘I am’, to have that freedom remain in the sense ‘I am’, it’s simple, it’s crude, yet it works!

11. The ‘I am’ is unreal and real, unreal when identified with body, real when wordless and used to go beyond.

12. The ‘I am’ has brought you in, the ‘I am’ will take you out, the ‘I am’ is the door, stay at it! It’s open!

13. You have to be there before you can say ‘I am’, the ‘I am’ is the root of all appearance.

14. The ‘I am’ is the permanent link in the succession of events called life, be at the link ‘I am’ only and go beyond it.

15. The ‘I am’ is the sum total of all that you perceive, it’s time‐bound, the ‘I am’ itself is an illusion, you are not the ‘I am’ you are prior to it.

16. The ‘I am’ is your greatest foe and greatest friend, foe when binding to the illusion as body, friend when taking out of the illusion as body.

17. The beginning and the end of knowledge is the ‘I am’, be attentive to the ‘I am’, once you understand it, you are apart from it.

18. You must meditate on the ‘I am’ without holding on to the body‐mind, the ‘I am’ is the first ignorance, persist on it and you will go beyond it.

19. Your Guru, your God, is the ‘I am’, with its coming came duality and all activity, stay on the ‘I am’, you are before the ‘I am’ appeared.

20. The ‘I am’ concept is the last outpost of the illusion, hold on to it, stabilize in the ‘I am’, then you are no more an individual.

21. Without doing anything you have the knowledge ‘I am’, it has come spontaneously and unwillingly on you, stay there and put an axe to the ‘I am’.

22. Your only capital is the ‘I am’, it’s the only tool you can use to solve the riddle of life, the ‘I am’ is in all and movement inherent in it.

23. Only be the ‘I am’, just be, the ‘I am’ has appeared on your homogeneous state, the one free of the ‘I am’ is liberated, you are prior to the ‘I am’.

24. Worship the indwelling ‘I am’ in you, it is the ‘I am’ that is born, it is the ‘I am’ that will die, you are not that ‘I am’.

25. Remain focused on the ‘I am’ till it goes into oblivion, then the eternal is, Absolute is, Parabrahman is.

26. The knowledge ‘I am’ is the birth principle, investigate it and you’ll finally stabilize in the Absolute Parabrahman.

27. All knowledge including the ‘I am’ is formless, throw out the ‘I am’ and stay put in quietude

28. Prior to birth where was the ‘I am’? Don’t contaminate the ‘I am’ with the body idea, I as the Absolute am not the ‘I am’

29. In the absence of ‘I am’ nothing is required, the ‘I am’ will go with the body, what remains is the Absolute.

30. You must not only have the conviction that ‘I am’ but also that you are free from the ‘I am’.

31. Remember the knowledge ‘I am’ only and give up the rest, staying in the ‘I am’ you would realize that it is unreal.

32. Understand that the knowledge ‘I am’ has dawned on you and all are its manifestations, in this understanding you realize you are not the ‘I am’.

33. When this concept ‘I am’ departs there would be no memory left that ‘I was’ and ‘I had’ those experiences, the very memory will be erased.

34. With the arrival of the primary concept ‘I am’, time began, with its departure time would end, you the Absolute are not the primary concept ‘I am.

35. When you know both the ‘I am’ and the ‘I am not’ then you are the Absolute which transcends both knowingness and no‐knowingness.

36. Appearance and disappearance, birth and death these are qualities of ‘I am’, they do not belong to you, the Absolute.

37. Out of the nothingness, the ‘I am ‘ or beingness has come, there is no individual, the knowledge ‘I am’‐ not the individual – has to go back to its source.

38. By meditating on the knowledge ‘I am’ it gradually settles down at its source and disappears, then, you are the Absolute.

39. Go on to know the ‘I am’ without words, you must be that and not deviate from it for even a moment, and then it would disappear.

40. With the dropping off of the primary experience ‘I am’ all experiences would vanish and only the Absolute remains.

41. On your true state has arisen this subtle principle ‘I am’, which is the cause of all mischief, no ‘I am’, and no question of mischief.

42. Whatever you try to become that is not you, before even the words ‘I am’ were said, that is you.

43. The root habit is the ‘I am’ and it has arisen from the domain five elements and three qualities which are unreal.

44. Abide in the knowledge ‘I am’ without identifying with the body, how did you function before the arrival of the knowledge ‘I am’?

45. The state of being, that is the message ‘I am’, without words, is common to all, change begins only with the mind‐flow.

46. The belief in the ‘I am’ to be something as a body, as an individual is the cause of all fear, in the absence of the ‘I am’, who is to fear what?

47. Try to stabilize in the primary concept ‘I am’ in order to lose that and be free from all other concepts, in understating the unreality of the ‘I am’ you are totally free.

48. Sitting quietly, being one with the knowledge ‘I am’, you would lose all concern with the world, then the ‘I am’ would also go, leaving you as the Absolute.

49. Putting aside everything, stabilize in the ‘I am’ ‐ as you continue with this practice – in the process you will transcend the ‘I am’.

50. The very core of this consciousness is the quality ‘I am’, there is no personality or individual there, reside there and transcend it.

51. Worship the knowledge ‘I am’ as God, as your Guru, the message ‘I am’ is there, the mind‐flow is there, stay in the ‘I am’ realize you are neither.

52. Presently you are sustaining the memory ‘I am’, you are not that ‘I am’, you are the Absolute, prior to that ‘I am’.

53. You feel the ‘I am’ due to the five elements and three qualities, when they go the ‘I am’ goes but you are still there.

54. Keep focused on the ‘I am’ till you become a witness to it, then you stand apart, you have reached the highest.

55. This knowledge ‘I am’ has come out of the state prior to it and now is the cause of all suffering, before the ‘I am’ came you were happy, so revert.

56. When you remain in the ‘I am’ you will realize everything else is useless, then you are Parabrahman, the Absolute.

57. One who abides in that principle by which he knows ‘I am’, then he knows all and does not require anything.

58. Just sit and know that ‘you are’, the ‘I am’ without words, nothing else has to be done, shortly you will arrive to your natural Absolute state.

59. Erroneously you have handed over this knowledge’ I am’ to the body thereby reduced the limitless to the limited, hence you are afraid of dying.

60. You have to realize that you are not the body nor the knowledge ‘I am’, you as the Absolute are neither nor do you require them.

61. Inquire into the validity of the fundamental concept of your individuality the ‘I am’ and it will disappear, then you are Parabrahman, the Absolute.

62. The essential thing to be convinced about is that the original concept ‘I am’ is false, only accept that which is conducive to this development.

63. Before you occurred to yourself as ‘I am’ you were the highest ‐ Parabrahman – now, until the impurity of ‘I am the body’ goes stay put in the ‘I am’ quietude.

64. Your fall started with the appearance of ‘I am’, then you blundered by embracing the body as ‘I am’, all that gathered thereafter is unreal.

65. This is no joke, but you can become Parabrahman right now! You are Parabrahman right now! Just focus your attention on the ‘I am’.

66.Who has the knowledge ‘I am’? Somebody in you knows the knowledge ‘I am’, ‘you are’, who is it?

67. Who can know the illusory state ‘I am’? Only a non‐illusory state can do so, it’s the Awareness, the Parabrahman, the Absolute.

68. The primary concept ‘I am’ is dishonest, a cheat, it has deceived you, into believing what is not, sharply focus on the ‘I am’ and it’ll disappear.

69. Finally you have to transcend the ‘I am’ to enter the concept‐free Parabrahman state, where you do not even know you are!

70. The Absolute or the Parabrahman is prior to the ‘I am’, it’s the unborn state, so how can it have the knowledge ‘I am’?

71. Presently whatever you know is the ‘I am’ which is a product of the five elements, three qualities or the food body, but you are none of these.

72. One who has realized the knowledge ‘I am’ which means transcending it as well, for him there is no birth or death nor any karma.

73. The primary illusion is only this knowingness ‘I am’; it is liberation when the knowingness is transformed to non‐knowingness.

74. You are even before even you could say the words ‘I am’, witnessing happens to the state prior to your saying the words ‘I am’.

75. When the body dies the ‘I am’ goes into oblivion, only the Absolute remains, stay put there, nothing happens to you the Absolute.

76. From non‐being to being, how is it known? It’s by the knowledge ‘I am’, stay there in the ‘I am’, then you’ll revert from being to non‐being.

77. Right now, here, you are the Absolute, the Parabrahman, very firmly hold on to the ‘I am’, ever abide in it and it’ll dissolve, then you are as you are.

78. On the state of non‐beingness, beingness as the ‘I am’ has occurred, who is that is not important, the ‘I am’ is important, stay there.

79. First came the ‘aham’ as ‘I am’, then ‘aham‐akar’ (identification with body, ego), now revert back to ‘aham’, dwelling there realize ‘aham‐brahmasmi’

80. You are neither the ‘I am’ nor the activities carried out by the beingness, you as the Absolute are none of these.

81. With the transcendence of the knowledge ‘I am’, the Absolute prevails. The state is called Parabrahman, while the knowledge ‘I am’ is Brahman.

82. How were you prior to the message ‘I am’? In the absence of the message ‘I am’ only my eternal Absolute state prevails.

83. Who would have witnessed the message ‘I am’, if your prior state of non‐beingness were not there?

84. A true devotee, by abiding in the knowledge ‘I am’, transcends the experience of death and attains immortality.

85. Hold on to this knowingness ‘I am’ without words and every secret of your existence would be revealed to you.

86. What is it in you that understands this knowledge ‘I am’ without a name, title or word? Subside in that innermost center and witness the knowledge ‘I am’.

87. Totally accept the knowledge ‘I am’ as oneself and with full conviction and faith and firmly believe in the dictum ‘I am that by which I know I am’.

88. Reality prevails prior to the knowledge ‘I am’; you must stay put at the source of your creation, at the beginning of the knowledge ‘I am’.

89. When one is established in the final free Absolute state, the knowledge ‘I am’ becomes ‘non‐knowledge’.

90. The first witnessing is that of ‘I am’, the primary prerequisite for all further witnessing, but to whom is the first witnessing of ‘I am’ occurring?

91. The borderline of ‘I am’ (beingness) and ‘I am not’ (non‐beingness} is the precise location where the intellect subsides, its’ the ‘maha‐yoga’ state, be there.

92. Recognize the Atman by understanding the knowledge ‘I am’, the Atma‐jnana, which is all pervading, limitless and infinite.

93. To abide in the knowledge ‘I am’ is one’s true religion, give the highest honor due to it, doing so you will not undergo suffering or death.

94. Who says ‘I was not’ and ‘I would not be’ like the present ‘I am’? He is the one who was, is, and would be forever.

95. When you say ‘I was not prior to conception’ you actually mean not like the present ‘I am’, but the one to discern the absence of the present ‘I am’ was there.

96. Catch hold of the knowledge ‘I am’ in meditation and the realization would occur that ‘I ‘ the Absolute am not the ‘guna’ ‘I am’.

97. Do nothing but stay in the knowledge ‘I am’ – the ‘moolmaya’ – the primary illusion, then it will release its stranglehold on you and get lost.

98. In deep meditation, infused only with the knowledge ‘I am’, it would be intuitively revealed to you as to how this ‘I amness’ came to be.

99. The knowledge ‘I am’ means consciousness, God, Guru, Ishwara, but you the Absolute are none of these.

100. There is no ‘I am’ anymore, It’s the Parabrahman only…

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Osho on O-theism

One night at the Ranch I had an incredibly strong dream. That particular night I was spending in one of the trailers up in Magdalena. In the dream, I was looking over the valley towards Lao Tzu house (Osho’s residence). As I was looking, I saw three objects from the sky crash. The crashes made explosions like meteors colliding into the earth.

The next morning in Buddhagosha we were sitting for our gachchamis and were told that the night before Osho had granted an interview with a reporter from the Oregonian and had answered three questions. As far as I know that was the first time he spoke with the press in Oregon, he was still not speaking publicly.

As soon as I heard that he had answered three questions I knew from deep in my being that somehow those three questions were those three explosions onto the earth.

The following is the interview with Kirk Braun, a reporter for the Portland newspaper The Oregonian, which took place in Osho’s Lao Tzu House, Rajneeshpuram, Oregon in 1983. I have taken the liberty of substituting the word O-theism for Rajneeshism as Osho himself substituted Osho for the name Rajneesh to illustrate that He who is speaking is not limited to the body seen (never born, never died), O-theism is not limited to the body teaching, nor even time nor place.

Q: What is your vision for the future of O-theism?

Osho: O-theism is not a religion like Christianity, Hinduism, Mohammedanism, Buddhism, etc. The name should not be misunderstood. It simply shows a poverty of language – to be exactly true, O-theism is a religionless religion. In other words it is a kind of religiousness, not a dogma, cult or creed but only a quality of love, silence, meditation and prayerfulness. Hence it can never end.

It is not beginning with me. It has always existed, and it will always exist. It is the very essence of human evolution, of culture consciousness. Buddha, Jesus or Krishna are nothing but expressions of this spirit, but it was not possible in those days for religion to be manifested as well as it can be now. Because Jesus did not know about Buddha, Buddha did not know about Lao Tzu, and Krishna was also unaware of Lao Tzu, etc.

I have traveled all the paths and have looked at the truth from all the windows. What I am saying is going to last forever because nothing more could be added to it.

Buddha was not so sure of his religion. He said that his religion would last for 5,000 years, and that too only if he didn’t allow women to join his commune. And when women entered his commune he said, “Now the religion will only last 500 years.”

All of these people have talked about some aspect of truth and their disciples have understood it as the whole truth. I am talking about the whole truth so the future of my religion is infinite. All other religions will disappear into it as all the rivers disappear into the ocean.

Q: Will the world make any progress in the area of human understanding?

Osho: Certainly. In fact, the time in which we are living is of tremendous importance. A revolution in human consciousness is no more a luxury; it has become an absolute need as there are only two alternatives – suicide or a quantum leap in consciousness, which Nietzsche called superman. And I absolutely believe that nobody wants to choose suicide. Up to now man has been surviving without transformation because there was no urgency for change. Nuclear weapons have brought a great urgency for a choice of now or never. There is a simple law that life wants to survive, so in my vision humanity is going to take the same significant change that the monkeys made when monkeys became human.

Q: Do you think O-theists will survive the predicted nuclear holocaust and if so, how?

Osho: As I said earlier monkeys took a jump and became human beings, but not all monkeys did. The remaining ones are still monkeys so let me put your question in a different way.

I will not say that all O-theists will survive the holocaust, but I can say with an absolute guarantee that those who will survive will be the O-theists and the remaining will be monkeys or commit suicide. In fact, the remaining don’t matter.

[NOTE: This was first published in The Rajneesh Times, 19th August 1983 while Osho was in silence.]

See related post O-theism.

Drip Meditation – Ajja

Bhagavan Arabbi-Nithyanandam (Ajja)
Bhagavan Arabbi-Nithyanandam (Ajja)

The devotees fondly address the body, which is used as a medium of expression by an unknown power, as Ajja. His benevolent visage of silvery white hair, toothless smile could be the reason why many plead with Him to be taught meditation. Ajja would often reply: ‘You prepare yourself.’ At last, he agreed and told that a meditation class would commence. Many devotees happily assembled.

The gist of His instruction in the class is given below:

Concentrate the mind on the empty space between the lungs. Being aware of the breathing pattern helps the mind to go within. But that alone is not enough. Where does breath originate? Focus the mind there. The spot we point at to indicate ourselves (in the right portion of the chest) is the one. Let the eyes be half open, the gaze be on the ground and let the mind free. Practice this for a month, then let us see.

After a month, the people assembled and said, “We cannot meditate. The mind refuses to go within. Even if we try for an hour there is no result.”

Why? What happens?

The mind runs riot. When it is known that the mind has slipped off, it slips again after bringing it back. It refuses to be still.

Is it the case with all of you?

Yes.

Is there no one whose mind has gone within? There should be someone at.

There is dead silence as an eloquent reply!

You at least repeat the Holy Name. If there are people initiated in this, they can repeat that Mantra or else Omkara will suffice. First repeat it loudly so that the mind gets concentrated on it and then reduce the pitch. Finally, there should be no lip movement even. It should go on in the mind, in silence. Let the mind become silent thus. Let it free.

He stood watching; having got the process started. Then the following words emerged:

Nowadays, there is a new trend in everything. In the earlier days, the tress were watered using a pot, then with a hose pipe. Now, what do you call it? Drip irrigation? Watering is done drop by drop, ensuring moistness the whole day. The base of the plants remains damp throughout. Likewise, let us find new procedures. It is difficult for you to meditate for an hour at a stretch, isn’t it? Then spread that one hour over the entire day. That means…come on calculate and say. It amounts to two and a half minutes every hour. This is possible, isn’t it?

Yes it is. (In one voice)

So it is possible for all; doctors, engineers and all those who say they have no time. Leave the mind free. As the river flows freely towards the sea, let the mind be. Is it so very difficult for you? Our job is to sweep away the dirt and dust. We are here to clear away your mental cobwebs. Unless the mind is cleansed, no meditation is possible. Allow Us to enter within. We need some place to stand. We are your servants.

The peepul (bodhi) tree Ajja planted at Anand Kuteer.

Again, Ajja spoke: There is a peepul (Bodhi) tree there. When it was a small sapling, how much care was required! Barriers were erected from all four sides, daily watering…so much care. Now? Nothing is required, it grows by itself. Think it over, is this some lecture for us to rattle on? Only two and a half minutes meditation every hour. How? The phone rings endlessly till the call is answered. Likewise, even if He does not respond, keep trying till He comes. He must come sometime or the other. Nowadays you have a new thing. What is it? Mobile phone. It is received directly by the concerned party. You have to dial the correct number. But this number is not available to one and all.

Words of great import!

The river flows. They construct an anicut, then the water gets collected. Then it is utilized for irrigation through channels. In the same way the mind. It is frittering away in various diversions. It must be stopped in its tracks at the original location. Don’t waste it in so many pursuits. Concentrate this mental energy in the Heart center. How about this microphone? It is amplifying and transmitting our speech, isn’t it? In the same way, the mind is expressing words. If we turn the mike away (turns the mike away from Him) can you hear Us? If oriented properly it can work. If ones thoughts are turned upside down, nothing remains. If the mind is drawn externally, all words and thoughts emerge. If it is internalized, then no speech – only silence. All these words are for your sake only. The mike is there so that you can all hear. We do not need the mike. We need nothing.

-Bhagavan Arabbi-Nithyanandam (Ajja)

Taken from Anandopanishat (Inspirations From the Unmanifest to the Manifest), Chapter 40

This was seen on Ajja’s website.

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