An Advaita Vedanta realization, enlightenment, nisarga yoga site discussing non-duality (nonduality), your original nature, and dwelling in the natural state as revealed by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.
FROM A SITE VISITOR: I am glad that you’re finally going to address the issue of “love.” I have read the words of a lot of Advaita teachers who talk of nothing else. You talk of other things that have helped me, but I do want your take on something that has confused me all my life What is love? Also, do you ever discuss NOW or the power of NOW?
F.: [Having returned late from a trip taken to offer the teachings, the series on love/LOVE will begin tomorrow. That leaves space today to address this topic.]
Hello
In reality, there is no power except what you can call “energy”; otherwise, “power” is a concept, as in “Higher Power,” “Supreme Power,” “Heavenly Power,” “human power,” etc. That said, “now” has been addressed on this site on occasion and will be addressed again…now.
First, understand that NOW has nothing to do with time measurement. Time is a concept that is false, and belief in it leads to other false concepts such as “the past” and “the future.” [For clarity, contrast a “timeline” with “a circle.”]
All of this has been discussed, so you can search the archives, but focus on understanding that NOW is not a measurement of time. It is, instead, a pointer toward the I AM. I, the manifested consciousness, AM, and I AM “real” to the extent that, currently, I AM (as a series of "now's".) Yet no present happening or person or “one” is the real.
More to the point, the truth cannot be stated, but the only thing that can be stated with any validity—as far as the relative is concerned—is that NOW the Is-ness Is. The now and the Amness can almost be equated to the degree that What is now is consciousness, but that have nothing to do with any person or “one” who is “being now.”
As a result of “memories,” persons are convinced that they “have a past,” yet memories are just another means by which the “mind” can generate a false illusion of “difference”: “I was a boy, then I was a teen, then I became a man.”
To know that none of those false identities was the actual identity of the speck making the claim is to understand that nothing other than a series of "now-nesses" or "Is-nesses" was happening. Too, there was no "doing-ness" since there was no "do-er."
Persons are also convinced that they have “a future”—or at least they will desire “a future” and fear not having “a future.” (Note how belief is any concept will lead to fear or desire.) And not only do persons believe they will have “a future” but most are also convinced—identified with body as they are—that they will have an “eternal future.”
Of course that is all fiction, as is anything linked to time measurement. What the consciousness can know is that (a) for now It Is but that (b) even such now-ness is limited (and cannot, therefore, be a measurement of time or the timeless Reality / THAT).
Being a speck of consciousness, I know NOW. I have no beliefs about “then” or “not now”; I have no belief in “a past” or “a future.” Right now, I (the manifested consciousness) AM. Speak of me only as I AM, and speak of YourSelf only as I AM.
As for the Absolute, it too has no past or future to the degree that what is infinite is infinite, forever unlimited, and never time-bound, never definable via concepts (including the concept of linear time). To say that the Absolute always was, is, and shall be is a pointer used with beginners or mid-level seekers, but the Realized know even that does not apply.
The “I AM THAT; I AM” is merely a discussion of one thing that is taken to be two things, but it is “not two.” If persons were to see you before a mirror during the act of shaving, they would not think that there were two different things there.
One is the real “You” and the other is a reflection. So it is with the Am-ness that appears temporarily now. The Am-ness which happens to have temporarily manifested is just a speck of THAT, just a temporarily manifested speck of Is-ness that can know the now and that can also understand that “time” and “past” and “future” and “memories” are not the real. Being concepts only that have no actual “now-ness,” those concepts certainly had no “then-ness” and will certainly not have any “later-ness” either.
Thus, merely understand this: That Which You Are is outside of time and Is absolutely beyond time. Mistake not “now” as time, but align your understanding of now with the manifested consciousness…the Is-ness…the Amness. Please enter the silence of contemplation.
FOR MORE ON TODAY’S TOPIC, THE ADVANCED SEEKERS’ PACKAGE IS AVAILABLE AT A DISCOUNT OFF THE SINGLE BOOK PRICES:
“The Advanced Advaitin Seeker’s Package”: From the I to the Absolute, Consciousness/Awareness, and From the Absolute to the Nothingness $45.00 + S&H. To order, visit http://floydhenderson.com/order.htm .
