REFLECTIONS on ADVAITA: PART 9 – GUEST WRITER: LOUISE STERLING

Eliminate the Bondage of False Identification – Be Free

Imagine a woman sitting in a chair bound with ropes. She is strapped to the chair so she cannot move freely. In fact, she is a prisoner. Does it matter of what type of fabric the ropes are made? Does the style and shape of the chair matter? Does it matter where the chair is located? No – alterations can be made to the ropes, the chair and the location – but the woman is still in bondage. She is not free.

In this society, most persons spend years attempting to improve the conditions of their imprisonment. Are soft pure silk ropes more comfortable than coarse ropes? Sure. Is a comfortable armchair more comfortable than a wooden stool? Yes. Does a chair in a beach in Thailand have a better view than a chair in a shack settlement in South Africa? Of course. However – whatever the relative context, the woman sitting in the chair is still in bondage. She is not free.

The pointer offered by the Advaitan teacher to the woman strapped to the chair is this: You are not who You take Yourself to be. You are not a separate individual. You are the Absolute Reality. Shift Your identification. Do not identify with the small, individual human form. You are the formless, unlimited, identity-less Absolute. Shift your faulty identification, and the bonds will not fall away – they will simply cease to exist.

With this mental picture, can You see the radical shift the Advaitan teacher offers to You? You are already unbound. You are not the woman (or man) in the chair. Know Who You Are and be free.

In this way, the Advaitan teacher provides the View – so You can see the possibility of freedom. However, the teacher also understands that from the limited, personal point of view, you are a woman in a chair. So the teacher at the same time provides the pointers or “thorns” to help You break the miasma of faulty identification. You are advised to use the natural intelligence to observe yourself and investigate for yourself. Are you the body? Are you the mind? Are you your thoughts? Are you the personality? Are you the roles and the personas you play? Since the identification with the body, mind and personality is faulty (or “full of holes” as Maharaj asserts) – it is not too difficult for this line of questioning to break up some of the conditioning that keeps the “woman” trapped in the chair while believing she is free. The vision begins to clear as the consciousness is purified. With clearer sight and the loosening of identification, it is possible to observe the “woman” you once took yourself to be – to witness from a vaster perspective. From here is seems, Truth of Who You Are will naturally dawn on You.

Can You see why the Advaitan teacher does not try to improve Your prison and make You more comfortable there? If this is what you seek, there are many paths and teachers and spiritual movements that will offer to make the experience of bondage more palatable. Advaita is the final “path” for most seekers. The effect of the Teachings is that the false identification is removed, there is stable abidance in the Absolute, and the “woman” strapped in the chair is free since "she" was never bound. With this image in awareness listen to the pointers offered that pinpoint false identification and provide the View of Who You Are:

“Learn to look without imagination, to listen without distortion: that is all. Stop attributing names and shapes to the essentially nameless and formless, realize that every mode of perception is subjective, that what is seen or heard, touched or smelt, felt or thought, expected or imagined, is in the mind and not in reality, and you will experience peace and freedom from fear.”

“Know that you are before knowing anything else. Have the firm conviction that you are pure consciousness. This should be done spontaneously; it is the only way.”

“We sense the world to be real because we feel our body to be real, and vice versa.”

“The illusion of shape and form has come over you because you have forgotten your true nature”

“The world will never provide an answer to your questions. Find out for yourself what it is that is changeless.”

“In this vast consciousness, there is no religion, no karma and no time. It exists prior to everything. Hold on to this understanding.”

“The sense of doership is false. You are a witness, so remain like that. This is the only practise you should perform..”

“I give you the knowledge of my true nature; listen to it as if it is your own.”

Quotes in quotation marks are translated from talks by Nisargadatta Maharaj

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

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