An Advaita forum focusing on Realisation, enlightenment, non-duality, Real Love, peace, freedom, Your original nature, abiding naturally, the Oneness, the Nothingness, and Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.
As for Maharaj, you will find here some of his early pointers for beginners but some of his later pointers that are for seekers farther along the "path." During his last years, he said of I AM THAT: "That book and whatever was expounded at that time was only relevant for that period. I am speaking differently today" and am "emphasizing different aspects." What he offered later differed considerably from his earlier talks, making clear that the pointers in I AM THAT will take you to the midpoint of "the race" but that his final talks point the way to "the finish line."
[The remainder of the series is taken from the last section of the book below which Amazon.com will soon be publishing. The prior postings in this series are from the first two parts of that book]
F.: Next, AS IF living is marked by clarity, sanity, Wisdom and True Love; therefore, it is appropriate at this juncture in the discussion to answer three other questions that have been raised about the way non-personal, spontaneous, AS IF functioning happens after completing the third leg of the three-leg "journey," after Realizing Fully, and after Wisdom and True Love begin to direct all that happens. It has been asked:
1. "If Maharaj was True Love, could True Love ever possibly abandon or run off a seeker? I love my child, and no matter what the child does, I could not abandon it."
First, do not mistake "love" and "Love." True Love is that which manifests when the Oneness is known and understood, unwaveringly. It is pure and unadulterated and exists in only one form, so it is REAL. As for "love," it is not REAL, not eternal, appearing in so many diverse forms that seldom will any two people really be discussing the same thing when they talk of "love."
That which is not Real Love always involves an object; Real Love has no object, for to have an object is to have a subject, and to have a subject and object is duality.
That which is not Real Love can take a variety of forms: self-love; selfish, self-serving love; prurient or eros love; philia (brotherly) or storge (friendship) love; agape love; pragma love (where a person - coldly - pursues a relationship for "practical" or financial reasons, for personal gain); banquet love; passionate love; compassionate love;
ludus love (where the deal is about playing games and not wanting to really develop a relationship); or manic, obsessive love that can be intense and intimate and fast-paced but will also eventually expose the possessive and jealous nature of the manic one.
(And it is such possessiveness and jealousy that often lead to acts of domestic violence: "I own you. You have been bought and paid for. How dare you do something that insults me. How dare you disrespect me or not show the proper amount of gratitude. How dare you stop walking on eggshells around me. How dare you ignore the fact that I paid, with my hard-earned money, for the right to be in charge.")
Next, with so many versions of "love" out there, consider the confusion among the masses when a man tells a woman, "I love you." Ah, such excitement, such emotional intoxication, but what if the speaker is (maybe even unconsciously) speaking of ludus love but the woman thinks she is hearing an expression of whatever she takes "real love" to be?
With non-Realized persons speaking about "love" when there are so many versions out there, consider how prevalent the possibility of misunderstanding; then, understand also why many will hear at some point: "I never loved you" or "You have never loved me."
It was asked once, "Isn't it unbelievable that the divorce rate here is now in the fifty to sixty percent range?" The reply: "Yes. I would have guessed it would be much higher."
So when you equate your agape love for a child with the essence of Maharaj, namely, True Love (as well as Wisdom), then you are comparing apples and oranges. Neither Maharaj nor I have ever abandoned a seeker or run off a seeker (though some will tell you otherwise after the work with them came to a halt here).
The work with any given seeker will come to an end when (a) the seeker becomes interested in another teaching method or yoga; when (b) a seeker driven by personality and egotism would interrupt the opportunity for other seekers to receive pointers;
when (c) a seeker makes clear that the readiness is not present; when (d) a seeker continuously takes comments personally rather than considering pointers or suggestions objectively;
when (e) the seeker continues to cling to the notion that he / she understands more than the teacher; or when (f) the seeker "fires" the teacher (always as a result of being driven by the fears and desires of personalities that preempt any chance for one to Realize and then have the ability to choose rather than to be blindly driven by ego and ego-states).
For Maharaj to demand that a person leave the loft was not to abandon that person - the person not being real at all; instead, True Love was on display as the purity of the environment was being guarded and preserved for the other seekers that were present.
2. "If the Realized are True Love, how could Love call people 'stupid' and 'insane'? Doesn't sound too loving to me."
Understand that no "one" is being called anything. When personality is being discussed with seekers, and they become offended when they begin to see their "liabilities" or "weaknesses" or "defects," the point is made that no one is talking about Them, about their True Selves. What is being discussed are all of the "not-thems," all of their false personas.
And it is the "not-thems" - their false personas - that generate insane thoughts and words and stupid actions.
Understand also that neither Wisdom nor True Love are personal; therefore, neither can have an agenda, for agendas exist only in the domain of personality; know that neither can fail to be objective; and understand that neither can like or dislike.
Any seeker who has been offended, either there with Maharaj in Bombay / Mumbai or here, has misperceived the pointers or suggestions being offered or the actual "intention" behind the pointers or suggestions, for neither Wisdom nor True Love can be non-objective.
With Wisdom and True Love behind every pointer offered, either
(A) clarity will be affirmed,
or
(B) distorted perceptions and false beliefs and erroneous concepts and delusional conclusions will be challenged
(much to the chagrin of whatever personas, or would-be personas, are driving one's thoughts and words and actions and attitudes).
3. "Wouldn't True Love cause all of the Realized to share what they understand?"
No. Many remain silent, but even those that share remain in the silence much of each day as well. Yet understand this point about AS IF living:
Post-Realization, and post-completion of the third leg of the three-leg "journey," there is no one left to teach or share. Teaching or (un-teaching) or sharing can happen, but they will happen without any notion of there being "A Teacher" or "An Un-Teacher" or "A Sharer."
The understanding is applied without any belief in "An Applier"; the experience of Full Realization happens and, in the process, ends belief in "An Experiencer."
The same applies in every facet of the relative existence where Reality is overlaid on reality, where Awareness is overlaid on consciousness, and where the Absolute understanding eliminates any further lack of clarity regarding relative happenings.
Then, "wifing" can happen even in the absence of "A Wife"; "husbanding" can happen even in the absence of "The Husband"; and Loving can happen even in the absence of "The lover" or "The Lover."
That, too, is what AS IF living looks like.
Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)
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