REFLECTIONS on ADVAITA: PART 14 – GUEST WRITER: LOUISE STERLING

Tracing the Amazon from the Ocean to the Source: An Advaitan Teaching Metaphor

The Amazon River flows across South America – from its source as a stream on a glacier on the snow-covered slopes of Nevado Mismi in the Peruvian Andes to its exit point via three river mouth outlets along the coast of Brazil which flow into the Atlantic Ocean.

Now – if You were an explorer, looking for the source of the Amazon, would it make sense to search for the source in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean? Obviously not. You would find the source by tracing the river back from the ocean, along one of the river mouth outlets, across South America until You find the glacial stream on Nevado Mismi in the Peruvian Andes. This is the map from the sea to the source.

Let’s entertain an imaginary scenario which may act as a metaphor for the Advaitan understanding.

Imagine the Atlantic Ocean – waves, ocean currents, storms, calm water, foam on the surface, yachts, fishing boats, fish, sharks, whales, the occasional oil slick, etc. Can You find the source of the Amazon in any of this? No. If You are the Source searching for itself, are You the waves? No – this is not Who You Are. Are You the ocean currents? No – this is not Who You Are. Are You the storm? No – this is not Who You Are. Are You the foam? No – this is not Who You Are. Are You a fishing boat? No – this is not Who You Are, etc.

Do You see how specific this enquiry is? It includes everything that can be perceived. The Advaitan seeker asking these questions includes everything – every object, thought, emotion, experience (including blissful visions and mystical lights). ANYTHING that can be perceived in the external ocean of life is not Who You Are.

To continue with our metaphor, if You are the Source of the Amazon River searching for itself, this investigation of the Atlantic Ocean will enable You to see that You are not anything that appears in the ocean: the waves, the currents, the boats, the fish, the foam, etc. However, You may begin to identify with water. This is not the Source of Who You Are – it is a temporary resting place that may be equated with the “I am” or the purified consciousness. Can You see that in this process of enquiry, You have withdrawn Your attention and attachment from the external world? You are not looking for the source of Yourself here any longer. The temporary understanding that You are water, can help You to turn around – so that instead of facing the ocean around You externally (where the Source can never be found), You face inwards, looking towards the interior. The sense “I am” is not Who You Are, but it enables You to travel in the correct direction.

As You travel through the interior towards the Source of Yourself, the terrain shifts. You enter a river mouth – so massive that the gaze cannot span it. However, as you travel back the Way You Came, the river narrows, the huge busy towns of the river banks become small towns and then isolated and tiny settlements. The river meanders upwards more steeply – through towering valleys and ravines. Your gaze is no longer on any of these external details – now that You are identified with the water, You are single-minded in Your search for the Source of the water. The scenery is witnessed, but not identified with. However, the nature of this journey into the interior resonates: its character is silent awareness.

Eventually, You find Yourself high in the Peruvian Andes. You trace the trickle of “river” up to the very top of a mountain peak called Nevado Mismi.You find the glacial stream that is the Source of the mighty Amazon River; the faint trickle that flows into a massive river feeding the Atlantic Ocean. At this point, You could simply rest, but the insight comes that You are not the water, or the trickle that is the glacial stream. You are beyond. The water is not Who You Are. You sense the chemical elements – the hydrogen and oxygen that combine to produce the temporary appearance of water. These chemical elements perceived (even if intuitively) are not Who You Are. You are beyond. What You are cannot be expressed, cannot be named, cannot be labeled or differentiated. However, What You are can be known: I am THAT; I AM.

Perhaps in the shock of this understanding, You see that You are prior to all creation and dissolution. You see that all elements have their origins in You – and so You are everything: the silent ravines, the remote settlements, the busy towns, the fishing boats, the ocean currents, the foam on the surface of the sea. You are the river from the source to the sea and the traveler who searches for it. Everything is included. All is One. Yet You also see that You are nothing – the true Source of Yourself is formless, limitless.

Teaching metaphors are inexact – but they provide a conceptual picture that can sometimes shine a light of understanding. Understand this: You are already the Formless, Limitless Reality. You have temporarily forgotten Who You Are. Perhaps You are identified with the elements, or the water, or the seeking traveler, or the myriad of life appearances in the Atlantic Ocean. Allow this conceptual picture to show that You can turn Your back on these erroneous identifications – and allow Who You Are to shine unobstructed.

The Advaitan journey is not a linear pathway from the Atlantic Ocean to the Peruvian Andes. Rather, it is a refining of understanding, a series of finer and finer filters, that remove the blockages and false identifications, until You are stabilized in Your Natural State. Follow the maps provided by those who point the way. Do not settle for some temporary landmark in the Amazon Rain Forest or a mountaintop in Peru. Find Yourself -- return to the True Source – before the formation of rivers, and mountains and glacial streams.

Please enter into the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)

(For the actual map of the return journey, see Floyd’s Vision and the three ebooks: From the I to the Absolute; Consciousness / Awareness and From the Absolute to the Nothingness. Note: seekers new to Advaita may want to focus on the first of these three books.)

Comments / clarifications may be sent to louise.advaita@gmail.com – a temporary email address available for the duration of these guest postings.