The Surface and the Depths
Neither denial nor clinging are conducive to wisdom. The people who seem tender and vulnerable are reflections of our own ability to be tender and vulnerable. Those who seem harsh and nasty reflect that tendency in ourselves. This is the so-called "human condition." Some call it "the cosmic play," others (such as myself) call it unnecessary and cruel.
There are no others. There is no division between myself and "others," so both practically and literally the concept of "other" is a false one. There is only "I" -- and make no mistake, that "I" includes the human race, the human condition and the human soul.
When pernicious clinging occurs in "another," it is occurring Here and Now. Likewise for tenderness, love and vulnerability. Both are good, for they are Here and Now. As Dan-Ji has said, only This. Just This. Refreshing simplicity.
Harshness is often a mask for tender vulnerability, and some of the nicest people in the world use niceness as a mask (e.g. Ted Bundy). Do not be deceived by surface appearances.
Look deep beneath the surfaces of things. Most of what's posted to (the NDS mailing list) is pure surface, perhaps all of it. Below this surface of crashing waves and thundering surf lies worlds, galaxies, universes unexplored and unperceived. All this is yours for the asking. Destiny has brought you to the door. Open it.
Know the depths and Reality Itself is yours. Stay on the surface and grope blindly through forests teeming with vipers, rattlesnakes and tigers.
Whoever is reading this... whoever has found this website... The offer has been made. That is a guarantee. If you are reading this, you are among the chosen -- like it or not. You will not escape the truth. You can run but you can't hide. You can spend the rest of your life running, but it's no use. There is no hope for you. Die now or die later, it makes no difference. But why not now, when you can do it decently and properly, rather than on short notice?
The "I AM"
The I AM is both the bridge to the Absolute, and the Absolute Itself. It is the "root of all mischief" (Nisargadatta) only when seen from the perspective of ego.
When the I AM is entangled with anything but Itself (e.g. "I Am a man, I Am 5'9" tall, I Am Omkara, I Am suffering, I Am free, I Am bound) it can be seen as the root of trouble. When unencumbered by concepts, it is the root of bliss and peace. Through habit and memory, the I AM is often encumbered with identification, thus it is often the root of troubles.
When troubles themselves are no longer seen as troublesome, but simply witnessed, the I AM is spontaneously freed of its perceived entanglements, and abides as Itself. In this I AM there is no ego, no identification, no entanglement -- no bridge, even.
There are not two I AMs, only I AM (entangled) or I AM (free). Both abide as the same I AM, timeless and free, untouched by entanglement or unentanglement. The "trouble" appears only to the body/mind. The I AM remains untouched.
One may confuse the I AM with all sorts of things, forgetting its essential nature. One may bind the I AM so tightly in a web of concepts that it appears obscured and invisible (or even dead) to thought, yet it is utterly unaffected and Itself perceives nothing but freedom. Nay, it is freedom beyond the ideas of freedom and bondage.
As a huge cloud of smoke may cover the sky, appearing to thought as blackness and stink, so the sky remains, free and clear in its own nature, never even knowing the smoke. *Being* that sky, even the concept of "trouble" ceases.
The one and only thing: Ignore the smoke, and remain the sky.
On Hope
Hope - it's a beautiful word, and one used often in the vocabularies of many of us. But what about the meaning behind the word?
Hope is, at best, a temporary balm for suffering, a flimsy bandage slapped over an often mortal wound.. At worst, it's an object of abuse, a way to avoid facing reality. Think about this - where has hope ever gotten anyone, other than a temporary relief from the necessary sufferings of life? How many times have you hoped something would turn out the way you wanted it, only to have your hopes dashed? Why avoid something negative that may happen in the future by "hoping" it will not occur? Rather, why not let the future come as it will, and deal with it when it becomes NOW?
Hope is to the future what pleasant memories are to the past. It's a local anesthetic for our wounds, yet has no effect whatsoever in "curing" such wounds, or of even helping them to heal. It simply kills pain temporarily, like a tablet of tylenol. Tylenol is not necessarily a "bad thing." But it's not terribly helpful either, beyond killing the pain for four hours, then requiring another tablet. All the while, while the pain is gone, whatever is causing the pain may be growing worse and worse.
"Hi. I'm involved in cutting down the rainforests. I hope that my great grandchildren won't be breathing pure carbon dioxide rather than oxygen. But I'm gonna go ahead and cut them down anyway, because I want the money from the sale of the trees." - this is "abusive" hope.
"I hope that you live a long life." ... Does this help anyone to live a long life? Why not say instead, "I want you to live a long life. Take care of your body and love yourself, and you will."
"I hope this doesn't turn out bad." - what USE is such hope? It only causes you to dwell on the future, and in often even start to think that something WILL turn out bad.
Are you starting to see what I mean? In what way has hoping for anything ever really helped anyone, other than to "kill pain for a moment?" You may say that "temporarily killing pain" is not a negative thing, but let me try to open your eyes a little - temporarily killing pain or suffering often IS a negative thing. Rather than encourage us to face pain and deal with the inevitable pains of life, it gives us an excuse to avoid the CAUSE of the pain itself and a potential cure for it, to embalm that pain with the local anesthetic of "hope" and avoid dealing with the root cause of the pain itself.
First thought: "I feel a severe pain in my chest. I hope I'm not having a heart attack." Next thought: "I'll let this go for awhile and see if it gets any worse." Next occurrence : *thump*
First thought: "I feel a pain in my chest. I think I may be having a heart attack. I'd better call a doctor as soon as possible and get it checked out."
Next Occurrence: Patient visits the doctor and discovers that he/she is in the early stages of a heart attack. Treatment is given. The patient goes on to live a healthy life for many years afterwards.
As tempting as it may be, don't allow yourself to hope for anything. What you hope for may or may not occur. Your hope has no effect on the eventual outcome of what you hope for - it serves only to make you feel better for a minute. Rather, if you're suffering, allow yourself to feel the suffering, to move through it, to get to the other side. In this way, you may learn something from the suffering - that suffering is an effect of the ego, and that there is a way to learn not to suffer that's FAR more permanent and long-lasting than the temporary anesthetic of hope.
Lucid Dreams
At one time or another, many of us have had what is known as a "lucid dream" while sleeping. In other words, we became aware that we were asleep and dreaming while in the dream itself. Such dreams have always been of great interest to me. On occasion, I've actually know that I was about to wake up (or "change dreams"), and "said goodbye" to anyone I might have been speaking to or interacting with in the dream, before the transition occurred.
One way I've been able to tell whether I was "asleep" or "awake" in a lucid dream was by pinching myself. If I felt no pain, I knew I was asleep, and the dream became even more "lucid" as a result.
But what if... "being awake" is a form of sleep itself? Could there perhaps be a FURTHER awakening, a state of being awake beyond what we normally consider to be "awake?"
I believe there is. I believe that when we "wake up" from sleep, we are simply rising to a higher level of consciousness - but that there is further awakening that can happen. The core of this further awakening lies in the nondual perspective - that all we perceive around us is in actuality a dream... that although it may seem very real to us (as our "sleeping dreams" do while we're sleeping!), there is a "level" of reality far beyond that which is normally experienced in the "waking state" - maybe even MULTIPLE levels of reality. Do we EVER really wake up? Is there really any difference between "being asleep" and "being awake" other than a brainwave pattern?
Scientists say that when we go to sleep, our brainwaves fall into a "delta" waveform. This is a very low level of consciousness, the closest we come to "death" while being alive (excluding comatose states). When we wake up, our brainwave patterns progress up from delta, through theta and alpha (the "meditative states"), up to our normal state of alertness (beta). Beyond beta, there is another brainwave pattern rarely seen except in laboratory studies called "gamma."
But perhaps there is also a "hyper-aliveness," beyond all brainwave patterns (maybe the perception of brainwave patterns themselves are a part of "this dream"). Perhaps we can wake up from this dream world we inhabit and discover that we've really been asleep all along.
Pinch yourself. Do you feel pain? Then maybe you're asleep, and dreaming. I'll leave it up to you to consider what might be felt if you were TRULY awake.
"Losing and Gaining" - An essay by Omkara
In my chats with others who are following the nondual perspective, people often mention "Losing the sense of 'me' or 'Gaining enlightenment', or Moksha, or speak of "Attaining Realization." This seems a most strange and backward way of referring to what is happening.
In actuality, nothing whatsoever is being gained or lost. There was no 'me' there in the first place to lose. There is nothing to be "gained" or "attained" that isn't already there, hasn't already been there since the day you were born.
Rather, a better description of "enlightenment" might be the gradual (or sudden) removal of a blindfold, or wiping clean a pane of obscuring glass (which makes "Enlightenment" a very accurate term, if you think about it). What is happening is that the false view of 'me' that does not exist is falling away, and the real view of 'I AM' that was there all the time but obscured by the "grime" of the illusory "me" is removing itself (and I mean that literally - removing ITSELF; no effort but to know the Truth deeply and fully is required, after which "Enlightenment" will come of itself at its own pace).
Think of removing a blindfold. Did you "attain" or "gain" what you now see in front of your eyes? Was it not there all along? And what was "lost?" Only the "non-vision" of having the blindfold on. I suppose that may be considered a form of loss, but do we think when we turn on a lightswitch "I think I'll lose the darkness, and turn this light on?" Conversely, only rarely do we think "I shall gain some brightness." Rather, the typical thought is "I will turn a light on so what is there can be seen." And the switch is flipped by our hand, effortlessly, without thought. This is precisely what is happening with "Enlightenment," and again illustrates the essential accuracy of the term.
To see through a glass, darkly. This darkness can be removed. How? Only one way. By denying the truth of this world-dream on a deep level, and simultaneously affirming the Truth of I AM on a deep level. By cutting the knot holding the blindfold on with the "Sword of Truth." Then the blindfold will fall away on its own, in its own good time, through Grace, and Enlightment happens. We then see what was hidden. We do not "stop seeing" anything but "darkness" And "darkness" is not sight at all, but lack of sight.
So the next time you think of saying "Attaining enlightment," pause for a moment to remember that enlightment cannot be attained, any more than you can attain your foot, or your hand, or the clothes you're wearing. "me" cannot be lost, any more than you can lose the rocketship sitting in your back yard (note: For those who live very close to the NASA space center, this may not apply to you :-)
Only a blindfold preventing the seeing of Reality can be removed - and this process begins in the mind, through the knowledge of Truth. Faith isn't good enough; one must KNOW. Then this world-dream begins to drop away of itself, without effort, without gaining what is already there or losing that which isn't, and Reality is seen for what it really is. This is Realization.
"And the pursuit of..."
Two dictionary definitions for your consideration:
happy adj., 1. delighted or pleased. 2. characterized by or indicative of pleasure or joy. 3. favored by fortune. 4. apt or felicitous.
content adj. 1. satisfied with what one has.
Question - of the above two definitions, which would you rather be, happy, or contented?
Actually, this question is an interesting one. There’s a lot of crossover between the two terms. One who is happy, is by definition, contented (unless the happiness is very temporary). One who is contented, is by definition, perfectly happy. I hold that the two words mean essentially one and the same thing, except that happiness may be "a matter of degree" to some people, while contentment is simply that: contentment. There are no degrees to contentment, it is an absolute thing, either/or. Either you are contented, or you are not contented.
It seems that everyone’s goal in life is to "be happy," but few actually seek out contentment. The reason for this is that "happiness" is something that can be seen directly and externally, something that can be "tried for," while contentment is something that springs from INSIDE rather than from some external thing.
Contentment cannot be "sought out" or "fought for" or "protected" or "defended." It’s something that springs from a sense of wholeness, of completeness, of being right where we’re supposed to be in the moment. It springs from the act of CEASING to seek out greater and greater degrees of happiness (which is by definition LACK OF contentment!).
Happiness can be taken away from a person by life’s circumstances. Contentment cannot. If someone is locked in a dark closet for the rest of their life without choice of freedom, they may find it within themselves to grow contented with that state.
This leads me to yet another two terms:
grateful adj.1. warmly or deeply appreciative; thankful.
gratitude n. the quality or feeling of being grateful or thankful.
To have gratitude is to appreciate what we currently have in life - to not seek to step beyond that in search of some kind of "happier" happiness, but to simply be deeply appreciative of what we have already. To me, this circles directly back to happiness. One who is grateful for what they have is contented. One who is contented is happy.
Thus, happiness doesn’t lie in some external thing, some indefinable "something" that most of us never seem to find (or if we find, is never enough). It springs from INSIDE us, from an inner sense of CONTENTMENT and GRATITUDE.
Happiness is not years and years away, at some future time when you’ve made enough money and are retired and can stop slaving away at your job, exhausting yourself in the search for something that you don’t currently have. Happiness is within you, NOW, and in order to have it, all that is required is to stop looking for it! Then, take a look around you. Be grateful for what you have. Be CONTENTED with what you have. Then, you will be happy. And guess what - ain’t that what life’s all about?
Distinctions
There is such a strong apparent need or tendency with human beings to identify with a particular religion, or group, or ethnicity, or nationality. Such a need of course stems from the ego, but it is the root cause of all divisiveness among human beings, all wars and conflicts. It turns this world of ours into a nightmare.
"I am an American. I am a Jew. I am a Christian. I am a Muslim. I am Indian. I am Greek. I am Laotian. I am Chinese. I am black. I am white. I am asian. I am a Buddhist. I am a Vedantist. I am a man. I am a woman. I am this, and I am that."
When, if ever, will the human race learn to chop everything off beyond those first two words: I AM. Maybe sometime, maybe never. But if it ever happens, peace shall surely reign on Earth.
Pick a word - Any Word
For the "intellectual type" such as myself (or those on the spiritual path of jnana/gyana), who enjoy an occasional "mind game" that may be educational as well, words in our native language can teach us much. Human language is a dualistic medium, and thus gives us the opportunity to examine dualism carefully from a nondual standpoint.
Let me give an example:
Let's take an English word, and pull it apart:
Myself.
My Self.
Who is referred to in the word "My?" Who is referred to in the word "Self?"
Meditations:
* Is it My (I AM) self (ego)? Or is it my (ego) Self (I AM)? Or is it neither?
* Why is this word "run together?" Why do we not say "My self?"
* Look for similar words (the "possessives") in your native language. Pull them apart. Examine them. If you are bilingual, examine such terms in your native language as compared to another. Are they similar? If not, what cultural differences do you think might have caused the differences?
"My Path," Continued from Page 1
At last, the man came to a waterfall, and was washed over the side. He twisted and turned, and began to fight the falling sensation. But there was no fighting it. Finally the man came to a landing at the bottom, and was washed ashore again.
The man, completely unhurt from the fall (but having learned something in the process), now set out into the forest again. Now there was no path at all, just the unknown. As the man walked, brambles and trees seemed to miraculously move out of his way. Something unusual had happened to him recently. His walking had become effortless, without movement. It was unclear whether or not he was moving anywhere, or standing still. Yet, there was a movement of sorts, and the woods parted before him, or maybe it was he who was splitting apart to allow movement through the woods. It was difficult to tell, and the man didn't particular care. The man simply WAS, and the woods simply WERE, and something was happening, and the man just allowed it to happen.
"Who am I? I am I, and no other."
Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj speaks of focusing upon "I AM," of holding tenaciously to the sense "I AM." Also, "I AM" is a commonly used phrase associated with nonduality that is assumed to be nondual in nature. But "I AM" is still dual. "I AM" suggests an entity, and a state of being of that entity ("am-ness"). If "I AM" can be true, then "I AM NOT" can also be true. This is duality.
Thus, let us take a step beyond "I AM." Let us focus simply on "I." There is nothing else. There is no state of being, no existence, and never was. There is only "I." Meditate upon "I." Know yourSelf to be "I." Know everything to be "I." The Self knows the Self as "I."
"I" neither is, nor is not. "I" has no state. "I" is without form, and void of attributes, including "Am-ness." "I" simply *IS*. Meditate upon the I. You are the I. There is no "AM" and there is no "AM NOT." There is simply "I." The SENSE of "I" implies UNIVERSALITY. There is a purity to it. The mind cannot get to it. The soul wants it. It is the answer to the question "Who are You?" The answer, is of course, "I."
"I" is as nondual as human language can possibly get, and the shortest word in the English language. "I" is what you are. "I" is Ultimate Reality. The word "I" by itself tends not to engage the mind, but to stimulate Perception. Let us consider reducing the usage of the popular phrase "I AM" and consider the simple "I." as a superior replacement, at least in meditation.
"A message to the tobacco companies, from a nondualist"
Dear Sirs:
You have been right all along. Tobacco and nicotine are completely harmless and nonaddictive substances. The U.S. Government and other pressure groups have been wronging you and misleading the general populace. In their attempts to "educate" all that tobacco is dangerous, they do more harm than good.
Tobacco is nothing but a plant with some chemicals in it. We who are dispassionate and unattached to things of a physical nature may choose to ignite it and inhale the burning smoke of the dried leaves of this plant without harm, if we wish to do so, although many of us see no reason to do such a silly thing. "Addiction" is simply ego-attachment, sometimes combined with physical attachment. Most of us believe that both types of attachments can be released easily with the proper knowledge of what is real and what is not, and that the physical body is simply a manifestation of individual mind, which in actuality does not exist. Thus, with proper control of the mind and a dispassionate and non-attached nature, tobacco and nicotine are nonaddictive, because we believe there is no such thing as addiction. Addiction is illusion.
Furthermore, the "harm" that tobacco may do to the body is in truth, meaningless. Who is to care if a substance part of the world of maya (illusion) may affect a physical body also part of the world of maya (illusion). Those of us who realize our True Nature know that we are already At-One with Everything, and that harm to the physical body is in truth harmless, because there is no individual physical body. It is only in attachment to such things that the idea of "harm" to that which is illusory holds any meaning.
In conclusion, you are truly not responsible for the affects of tobacco upon the populace. The populace, in their various ego-attachments to all manner of physical substances, harm themselves through their own delusions that such things are real or have any meaning. Since it is the responsibility of each person to realize this for themselves, it is not you who are responsible for anything. As far as this person is concerned, there is no problem with continuing to sell tobacco, even to 'minors,' and all taxation on tobacco should immediately lifted, the pressure to "illegalize" tobacco should be removed at once, and freedom of choice for all should be restored.
Sincerely,
A nondualist.
"The One true guru"
There is only one living guru in the entire world. To meet him/her, go stand before any available mirror. Bow to the guru. Offer your deep love and respect. Ask Him or Her if you are ready to learn. If the answer is yes, then the teaching can begin.
Embark upon the path of Bhaktananda (Devotion) with the guru you've met. Love the Self in the guru, and learn from that Self.
"Steps toward Enlightenment"
Here are some steps on the path to enlightenment, or Self-Realization. The path I outline here is jnana-yoga. Knowing these things will not "enlighten" you, but they will bring you much closer, if you believe them absolutely. That's the key: IF YOU BELIEVE THEM ABSOLUTELY. Take what I say on absolute faith as *TRUTH*, and believe these things, *if they make sense to you*, and you will be much closer. Keep affirming them every day, as often as possible, and you will come closer and closer. Eventually, the process will gather momentum and will carry you into enlightenment. This could take anywhere from one day to twenty years to never in this lifetime, depending on many factors, mostly your own determination and desire for it.
Let go of the hope that you will "become enlightened" in this lifetime. It might happen, it might not. This is the first and perhaps most difficult preliminary. Let go of all hope of ever "achieving the goal" of enlightenment. Do this FIRST, before anything else. It's a humbling exercise, and will help you decide if enlightenment is something you WANT or just something you THINK you want. Enlightenment is not something that can be forced, or willed, or worked for. To do so will drive you further and further away from it.
Preliminaries:
(1) ***You are already enlightened.*** There are things "suppressing" or blocking the knowledge/experience/perception of this. You don't BECOME enlightened. You already ARE. But to EXPERIENCE it, you have to remove the blindfold over your "eyes." Think of it as being like a very dirty pane of glass. REALIZING enlightenment is the process of cleaning the glass, so you see that you are enlightened. Right now, "you see through a glass, darkly." Enlightenment is the natural state of everyone, but through ignorance of Truth and the blinding influences of the senses and of desires and pre-conceived ideas and everything else that makes up the ego, you don't know that you are. There is no "seeking" to be done, it is already found. Just some correction of wrong perceptions. Don't EVER think you can "achieve" enlightenment. YOU GOT IT ALREADY!
(2) You must renounce the idea that you OWN anything. Everything you think you own, including your body, doesn't belong to you. One day your body will die, so do you really own it? Someone else will bury it, or burn it. Everything you have will one day be dust, or will belong to somebody else. Let go of all attachments to material objects.
(3) Let go of attachments to pleasures of the senses. They are nice to experience, but they are not important at all, and be ready to give them up at anytime (you would have to anyway, if you dropped dead of a heart attack in the next minute). You don't have to stop doing anything, unless you can't let go of the ATTACHMENT to it. "If thine own eyes offend thee, pluck them out." If you think of anything in life that you're not willing to drop or stop doing, right this minute, then give it up completely, NOW.
Main Points:
(1) You are not a body. Stop identifying yourself with the body. If you can point toward your body and say "this is me" and mean it, you are identifying with the body. Your body is a piece of machinery that operates in a wonderful way, but it's just that - machinery. It is not YOU. YOU are not a machine. Release attachment to the body. Let it be there, feed it when it needs fed, let it rest when it is tired, but it is not YOU!
(3) You are not a mind. The mind thinks thoughts, but it is not you. How can it be? One minute the mind thinks one thing, the next it thinks another. If you were the mind, you would be mutating from minute to minute as thoughts changed. So YOU are not the mind.
(4) You are not emotions. Emotions change from minute to minute. You don't mutate into something else every time feelings change. Don't identify with emotions. Release attachment to them.
(5) You are not memories, or what is experienced by the senses, either. The mind processes electrochemical impulses received by sound, sight, taste, etc or by the triggering of a past memory. This is a wonderful process, but it is not who you are!
(6) At this point, there may seem to be nothing left (if there is, it's probably not you). EXACTLY. There is nothing perceivable that you are. What you are is BEYOND all normal perception, beyond all thought. The massive gap between being "unenlightened" and being "enlightened" is to perceive that which cannot be perceived by "normal means." So how is it to be perceived? Well, lie down. Quiet your thoughts, any way you can. Stop thinking for awhile. Quiet the chatter in the mind. Just lie there and BE. Just BE. EXIST. That's the purpose of life. To Exist. You are Existence. It's that simple.
Practices:
(7) You don't exist. You ARE existence. You don't listen to music. You ARE music. You don't love. You ARE love. There is no perceiver, or perceived. The perceiver and perceived are One. Affirm this constantly. Meditate on this. You ARE. Say to yourself "I AM." You are consciousness. You are nothing BUT consciousness. The mind takes this consciousness (which is YOU) and makes of it the various forms and other things perceived as the external world, through past memories and conditioning and whatever else. I AM. You are THAT.
(8) No boundaries. "You" extend far beyond the skin of the body. You are simultaneously everywhere at once. You *ARE EVERYTHING*. You *ARE EVERYTHING*. You *ARE EVERYTHING*. You *ARE EVERYTHING.* You *ARE EVERYTHING*. You do not exist. You *ARE EXISTENCE*.
(9) I AM. I AM. I AM. I AM. Delve into it. I AM. Pure. Consciousness. Nothing else is real, all is created from the substance of Me. I AM the substance of which the universe is composed. I AM THE UNIVERSE, Universes within Universes. I AM more than this universe. *I AM THE SINGLE TIMELESS FACT*. I *AM*.
(10) Lather. Rinse. Repeat :-)
"Meditation and Thought"
"Meditation is not an act; meditation is a state of being. When one ceases to identify with thought, the mind becomes quiet. Then an abiding peace is experienced as a state of beingness, of eternal One-ness with the moment, not as a brief, time-bound act followed by return to wakeful agitation"
"Thought is a process emanating from the past, known in the present and projecting into the future. Thought destroys the experience of the moment. When one is thinking, postulating, analyzing what is experienced, there is no existence here and now; the moment is destroyed. In this sense, thought is a kind of death."
"Holidays"
Why do we compartmentalize our holidays? Why do we, as humans, have the need for a "special day" once a year to celebrate this or that? Why can't whatever is special on that day (if it's truly special) continue every minute of every day of the year?
For example, I refer to Christmas. Why not sing Christmas hymns every day? July 4th, "independence day." Does independence count more on this day than it does on others? Birthdays... why not celebrate coming into the world EVERY day?
This compartmentalization seems to me silly, and so I ignore most holidays as much as possible. If what is done on a particular holiday does not exist in the heart ALL THE TIME, always, every day, every minute, then it is simply ritual, no different than worshipping a statue.
Nonduality
The notion of duality is bound up in the false idea of time. In reality, everything in the past since "time without beginning," and everything in the future until "time without end" is bound up and contained in the Eternal Now Moment. All of "time" is this non-moving moment.
The Eternal Now Moment is not a moving point on a "timeline." It is timelessness; "time" condensed to an infinitely tiny point. All energy, and matter (which is energy) is contained in this Eternal Now Moment. The notion of time is false; Reality is at an absolute standstill.
"Brahman" both exists and does not exist. It does not exist because it is formless, spaceless and timeless, all of which are necessary for a definition of "existence." It exists because all things are Brahman. In Brahman, all paradoxes are resolved to complete satisfaction, because there are no paradoxes. Paradoxes are apparent contradictions caused by false notions of the existence of time and space (maya).
Brahman is infinitely tiny, an infinitely small point on a "timeline" that exists only as illusion. It is often described as vast, because the quality of infinity is vast, and because it has no qualities at all, so a quality must be attached to it by the human mind. The Eternal Now Moment *IS* Brahman, and vice-versa. All things are Brahman because all things are formless, timeless, and void of qualities. In Brahman, this false idea of duality is resolved to complete satisfaction.
Please note that the false duality of time is the prime duality. Supposedly, one cannot travel faster than the speed of light, because time would slow to a stop. In Truth, time is already at a stop. Light does not travel at any speed at all, because the notions of both travel and speed is illusory, as they are bound up in time. Light, energy and matter do not move. Nothing is happening.
We see numbers clicking on a clock and assume time is passing. How these moving numbers indicates that time is passing escapes me entirely. The false notion of time is entirely psychological and illusory. All things are at an utter standstill, there is no movement in time, space, energy or matter anywhere in this universe or any universe. In the Eternal Now Moment, which is truly eternal, there is no time. With no time, there is no energy, no matter, no space. This no-time-energy-matter-space-quality is what is often referred to as "Brahman."
I have tried to express the inexpressible very poorly here. I cannot apologize for the limitations of human language (also a part of maya).
"Seekers Take Note"
To all seekers,
Stop ignoring *what IS* in a quest for what isn't. What you don't already have, you will never have. Inquire into the nature of time, and you will realize this. The longer you continue seeking what is not here now, the longer you will never find what is not here now, because what is not here now will never be here.
Do not look to some imaginary future for realization or enlightenment, for there is no future. The concept of "future" is based on a mental extension of "past," which is a collection of electrochemical imprints stored in the memory cells of the brain. There is a reaching *at this now moment* into those memories and projecting an unreal thing called a "future" from those memories.
See the past for what it is, simple mental imprints... no different than the contents of what is stored in memory cells in a computer. Do not project a "future" from those memories. If neither of these things are done, time collapses in upon itself, and it is seen that the concept of time itself is fallacious. In truth, there is not time. Thus, seeking is both pointless and fruitless. The longer seeking continues, the longer not finding continues.
You've got it already, friends. Quit trying to find what you already have. It's like a dog chasing its own tail.
"Who I AM"
The body and the mind have their own natures. The nature of the body is to eat, drink and maintain itself. The nature of the mind is to think and to produce the illusions of time, space and causation. Let them have their natures, for their natures are not my nature. In me there is no time, no space, no causation.
Things seem to move; time seems to pass. In me there is no time, no movement. The mind, in ignorance of its true nature, has devised something called the "ego," the sense of "I". It is like a flimsy house of cards, and the mind has needed it to cope with the feedback of the senses. It is all unreal.
My nature is no-nature. I do not move. Time does not pass within me. I am sometimes called "The Ancient One," but that is a fallacy. I am the Forever-One, there is nothing but I. I AM, and there is no other. When the mind sees this, there is no more need for the decaying falsehood of individual selfhood. Such can be knocked over like a house built of matchsticks. The ego is no serpent; it was a lie. There never was a serpent. There is only I, the rope.
All is still within me. I have never moved. I have been here forever. Those who walk in me know no time, no space, no causation. These are all generated by the mind. I am the controller. At my borderlands lie the illusions of mind and body. There is no ignorance, nor has there ever been ignorance, there is only I. The rope has always been a rope, never a snake; how can there be ignorance? How can there be knowledge? There is nothing but I. The mind generates the universe, and from me mind extrudes. I am the rose, but the mind sees petals and stamens and leaves and thorns. See me; I am the rose. Eternally I have been absolutely still. I am Brahman.
Upon knowing me, the mind and body know their master. They know they have their own natures, which have nothing to do with me, and they are free to follow their natures. Indeed, they do not even exist, for there is only me. And they exist, for they are a wave upon my surface. I am the forever-still ocean, without form, without time, without size, without movement or causation.
The wave of the mind does not move; it creates the illusion of movement. Thought sees movement, but there is no movement in me; no time, therefore no movement. Therefore, distrust thought. distrust the senses, and distrust the needs of the body. Distrust the sages, and the scriptures. Above all, distrust the ego, for it is a flimsy and unreal construct that can be discarded like an old paint-can when my nature is known. Throw away fear of the unknown, and know me.
"Contemplating Mortality"
I've been contemplating mortality quite a bit recently, and realizing that the issue really isn't whether the body is "real" or not. It really doesn't make any difference whether it's "real" or "unreal." The point is essentially moot.
The issue at hand is that the body is extremely temporal and short-lasting. It's going to die, guaranteed. It's really amazing how un-aware and un-mindful most of us are of that on a day-to-day basis. There's some kind of deep root denial of death going on. The body clings fiercely to life, and yet its life is so incredibly tenuous and fragile. Anything can happen at any moment, yet we (most of us anyway) go around pretending we're immortal, *clinging* to physical life. For those who care about such things, this tendency has been pointed out again and again in Hindu scripture, often with puzzlement or amazement at the extremity of denial.
Nisargadatta said that the deepest *desire* (not "need") is to keep the body alive. It seems to me that for real transcendence to take place, attachment to this desire has to be lost. In other words, the almost universal denial of death has to stop, and acceptance has to take its place. Perhaps this has something to do with the references to 'realization' being something akin to "dying while still alive." It's been said as well that Buddha claimed meditating on death is most productive. We can also look at the examples of U.G. Krishnamurti and Ramana Maharshi and their "dying while still alive" experiences.
I think death needs to be brought out of the closet, the light turned on, the closet cleaned out, and KEPT cleaned out. I plan to continue contemplating death and mortality, as it has been of incredible value in just the day or two I've been doing it. The intense feeling of "knowing my own mortality" is somewhat unpleasant (although I suspect it won't remain that way), but something tells me intuitively that to keep in touch with that knowing is extremely important. What do y'all think?