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“Just realise you are dreaming a dream you call the world and stop looking for ways out. The dream is not your problem. Your problem is that you like one part of your dream and not another. Love all or none of it and stop complaining. When you have seen the dream as a dream, you have done all that needs to be done.”
Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
All there is is Consciousness.
If all is water, there is no question of a drop of water seeking its “waterness”, or seeking union with water.
“If we learn to enjoy waiting,
we don’t have to wait to enjoy”
Kazuaki Tanahashi
” …You must cease to think and speak as if you were phenomenal objects. I have been telling you that you are not phenomenal objects, but consciousness itself, the animating consciousness which provides sentience to the sentient being; further, that you are consciousness only in manifestation, but truly you are that which is prior to consciousness itself, ie you are Pure Awareness.
Is it not simple enough to understand, Maharaj asked, that a mere object, an appearance – which is all that a physical body is – cannot possibly perform any action whatsoever as an independent entity? it is only when the Impersonal Consciousness, in its total functioning, manifests by objectifying itself and becomes identified with each object that the concept of the personal ‘I’ comes into being. This concept is the source of ‘bondage’, the objectivizing of ‘I’ the I-concept, or the ego – which is the imaginary bondage from which liberation is sought. A clear perception of what constitutes the sentient being that is seeking liberation will show how ludicrous the whole idea is. The body itself is nothing but the growth of the male’s sperm which gets fertilized in the female womb; the fetus is the essence of the food consumed by the parents, and in it consciousness is latent. If it is now clear that what we appear to be is nothing but the essence of food, may I ask, said Maharaj, which particular grain of food you want to liberate? Which particular grain of food, or which of the five elements, food being the essence of the combination of the five elements, are you identifying yourself with?
Awakening, or enlightenment, or liberation is nothing, absolutely nothing other than apperceiving profoundly, deeply, intuitively that what we are – that- which- is-here- now – is the absolute absence of whatever is imaginable or cognizable; which is the same as the absolute presence of the unknowable potentiality.”
Pointers from Nisargadatta Maharaj by Ramesh Balsekar
Whilst waiting at traffic the other day, due to be at an appointment I was aware of frustration arising. The thought flashed through my mind “Here’s that frustration again!”
In the moment, it occurred to me that it was in fact the first time I had felt that frustration.
Nisargadatta Maharaj asks us to think of ourselves as momentary beings, with no previous history and no future, simply this moment.
Is not simply the mind replaying and rehashing memories of the past that lead us to believing that we have emotional problems? Sometimes we feel very attached to stories of the past, even believing that we have a right to these stories and emotions.
Yet, maybe just for this moment, we could view our emotions as simply a happening in this moment, without any attachment or attention to the past.
Witnessing the raw emotion as it arises, without labels. Simply an occurrence in consciousness.
Acceptance of this moment, as it is. Nothing to change. All is happening in perfect order.
Nisgardatta Maharaj was often asked by his visitors why he so rarely used the word “love”in his exposition of the true nature of man. The following was his reply on one occasion;
“Does not the word ‘love’ basically signify ‘a need’ of some kind, for you love the person, or the thing that satisfies your need? Indeed, the love between man and woman satisfies the need of each for the other whether the need be physical, by way of companionship, or in any other form or manner. When one finds that the other no longer satisfies the need, ‘love’ first turns to indifference and later on perhaps to ‘hate’. Why do couples change partners, wedded or otherwise, so often, particularly in the West? For the simple reason that they no longer seem to satisfy each others need as they did earlier…
…Such a relationship can only occur in a dualistic manifestation of subject-object. If however, you are thinking in terms of noumenal non-manifestation, which is a state of total subjectivity, (without the slightest touch of anything objective), something which can only be suggested by the subjective pronoun ‘I’, total unicity, which can be conceived only as a state of fullness, wholeness, holiness, no words can be adequate. And, of course, in that state a love-hate relationship would be quite inconceivable. Relationship between whom? If, therefore, you are using the word ‘love’ to indicate the noumenal state, this word, like any other word, would be totally inadequate.”
With so many people going through incredible change at the moment, such as financial changes, relationships ending, jobs ending, I find myself thinking of a story that Osho shares.
It goes something like this;
There was a man who owned a beautiful horse, many people, including Emperors had offered him large amounts of money to buy this horse, and he always declined.
One morning he awoke to find the horse had been stolen. The town folk came together to console the man saying, “This is terrible. Many people offered you a lot of money and you wouldn’t sell the horse and now it has been stolen and you could have had all that money. You will never see the horse again”.
To which the man replied “Don’t be silly. All we know for now is that the horse is not in the stable. I do not know what the future will bring, lets wait and see what happens”.
Fourteen days later, the horse returned to the man, and had brought along 12 other beautiful horses with it.
Again the town fold gathered, this time to celebrate with the man. “You are very clever, we did not know what would happen. Now the horse has returned and brought you 12 other horses, you will be rich”.
To which the man replied “Let’s not get ahead of the situation. All we know for now is the horse has returned and brought 12 other horses with it”.
The next morning, the man’s son broke his leg whilst breaking in one of the new horses. The town folk came together to console the man. “How terrible. We are so sorry for you. Your son has broken his leg and now he will be a cripple”.
To which the man replied “Don’t jump ahead. Only say this much, my son has broken his leg – that’s all.”
The following day the government came to town and forcibly took all of the healthy young men from their families to fight the war.
The town folk came together to see the man “You are so very wise. All our sons have been taken to war. The enemy is much stronger and all of our sons will probably be killed. In our old age, we will have nobody to look after us. You still have your son, even though he is crippled, you still have him here.”
But the man said, “Say this much – that your sons have been taken by the government. My son has been left, but there is no conclusion!”
State the fact. The relationship has ended. The job has finished. What comes from that, no one knows… so lets just wait and see what happens.
Don’t see things as a curse or a blessing. Don’t interpret it and suddenly everything is beautiful.
“What seems to us bitter trials is often blessings in disguise” Oscar Wilde
“In the end these things matter most;
How well did you love? How fully did you love? How deeply did you let go?”
– Buddha
Three beautiful questions to point you in the direction of telling the truth to yourself. When I love fully, I feel open, joyful, compassionate and peaceful. I accept the differences I see within others.
When I withhold love, I feel restriction in this body. When I am deeply honest with myself, I feel that resistance subside and love flow.
It takes more energy to hold on than to let go, it takes even less energy to allow.
Life may not take you in exactly the direction that you wanted, though it will definately lead you exactly where you are meant to be – in each and every moment.
Life unfolds in perfect order. Allow the magic to reveal itself to you.
“Think of yourself as momentary, without a past or future, then where is the personality?
Try this and find out for yourself. In memory and anticipation, that is in the past and future, there is a clear feeling that there is a mental state under observation, whereas in the actual the feeling is primarily of being awake and present – here and now.”
Reply from Nisargadatta Maharaj, quoted from Pointers from Nisargadatta Maharaj by Ramesh Balsekar
What remains when the personality is no longer? As you have gone through life you have experienced many changes in your personality, you may have even worked to change your personality, what has remained the constant regardless of changes in personality?
Maharaj went on to say “… All you can truly say is; “I am” (meaning what is, is). The moment there is a thought of “me” as a separate personality, there is what is termed “bondage”. To realise this is the end of all seeking. When you apperceive that whatever you think yourself to be is only based on memory and anticipation your search ends and you stand aloof in full awareness of the false as false.”
Questioner: (To Sri Nisargadatta.) Have you no problems?
Nisargadatta: I do have problems. I told you already. To be, to exist with a name and form is painful, yet I love it.
Questioner: But you love everything!
Nisargadatta: In existence everything is contained. My very nature is to love; even the painful is lovable.
Questioner: It does not make it less painful. Why not remain in the unlimited?
Nisargadatta: It is the instinct of exploration, the love of the unknown, that brings me into existence. It is in the nature of being to seek adventure in becoming, as it is in the very nature of becoming to seek peace in being. This alternation of being and becoming is inevitable; but my home is beyond.
By many it has been referred to as the “I am”, the centre, the core and often experienced as expansion and nothingness, stillness.
It is a place within each of us, though it is a place that is rarely accessed, yet it is closer than your heartbeat.
How do you find this place?
My experience started with the question “Who am I really?”. Having known since childhood that there was more to this experience than body, the question arose “Who am I?”
If I am not my body? If I am not the story of my life? If I am the emotions that I feel, who am I? Who is the one who is aware of the emotions and thoughts that come and go.
Papaji shares the metaphor of the wave. The wave seems so independent, special and separate, yet when the wave breaks it is simply the ocean.
When the ocean is choppy and wild on the surface, deep down in the ocean, is a calm centre which is totally unperturbed by any of the happenings on the surface.
Could the same be true for you? Even when there is seemingly chaos, can you find the core of who you are, which is totally unaffected by any of the happenings on the peripheral?
Some great experiments that I recently found online come from Douglas Harding, and are available at
http://www.headless.org/experiments.htm
Enjoy!
Beforeglow 