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 father 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."
F.: The printer called with a revised delivery date of June 9th for this four-book paperback anthology:
You may pre-order now and the book will ship within 48 hours of receipt from the printer. (You may click the picture for more details.) In anticipation of this multi-book anthology's release, certain excerpts from the four books in the paperback collection are being offered.
The following is from the third book which is included in the anthology, FROM THE ABSOLUTE TO THE NOTHINGNESS. The reader is invited to take into contemplation and consideration the following pointers from that book:
Yesterday's post ended with this:
Maharaj explained the misunderstanding (and then the understanding) this way: “Now, consciousness has identified with a form. Later, it understands that it is not the form and goes further. In a few cases it may reach the space ….”
To continue:
All identities are limiting. Limitations restrict freedom. Restrictions of freedom prevent the manifestation of happiness during the relative existence. Preoccupation with finding identities and assigning labels has the same effect.
Nothing other than space is limitless. Should you identify with anything other than the limitless nothingness, then you will identify with the limited "somethingness" and you will never enjoy the happiness that can only happen NOW, during the manifestation. If happiness is to happen, you must reach the space.
Bodies are limited; minds are limited; planets are limited; galaxies are limited; the boundaries of the universe, though expanding, are nevertheless limited at any given moment;
the self and the Self are limited. Even the energy in that field called "the Absolute" is infinitesimal when compared with the limitless space. You may have reached the Absolute, but have you reached the space?
Planets are finite and their forms will end; all stars and suns are finite and their forms will end; galaxies are finite and their forms will end. Only space is limitless. Only nothingness is pervasive.
Emptiness abounds, and during the relative manifestation, you will never feel “more full” than when you are truly empty: empty of identities … empty of preoccupation with self … empty of preoccupation with Self.
Yet that can be understood only after years of being imprisoned as a result of having been programmed to accumulate; after years of accumulating; after seeking “something” beyond the emptiness of collecting “stuff”; after years of serving self; after years of seeking Self;
after de-accumulation; and after enjoying the freedom of less-ness. Only then can one understand the irony of this paradoxical teaching: the bliss which manifests after being aware of the fullness can only happen after understanding the reality of the emptiness.
Consider the moon and the surrounding space. Is the moon suspended in darkness and emptiness? Not at all. There is as much light surrounding the moon as is reflected from its surface. The surrounding light is not seen because it is not being reflected off a surface. That which appears to be the emptiness is really the fullness.
So it is during the manifestation: the non-Realized miss out on understanding the reality of the fullness, focusing as they do on their nagging sensation of misconceived emptiness. The sense of “emptiness” that they think they are experiencing results when their false selves believe that they have not gained something they have always wanted or when their false identities think that they have lost something that they wanted to have forever. Meanwhile, both gain and loss are illusion; therefore, their misery is illusion-based as well (though its effects will feel quite real).
In contrast, the Realized enjoy a sense of fullness though there is no longer any body or mind or personality that is reflecting anything. Being emptied of the false, the fullness of being unencumbered and free results in a sense of freedom - as exhibited by the man mentioned [yesterday] who was going to be free over the weekend because he had nothing scheduled.
If you would be free, line up with the nothingness as well. Reach the space.
Next, "If there is no post-manifestation self or Self," some ask, "Then why is there any need to engage in any religious or spiritual activities?" Indeed. When asked if all spiritual disciplines should be dropped, Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj pointed out that “At the earlier levels you have to do your homework.”
Yet he also noted that “at the highest level, this is so” - that all religious and spiritual activities come to an end. If you have stopped there, the invitation is to drop the religious activities, drop the spiritual personas, transition that step, and complete the other four steps of the seven–step “journey” to Reality. Then relax and enjoy the remainder of the manifestation.
Fixating in either of those Step Three ego-states will cause the focus of persons to be on getting: getting influence and control over the masses … getting rewards now … getting rewards later.
The egotism that accompanies the assumption of ego-states as identities always generates a desire to get … to accumulate. Among “accumulators,” “something” is dualistically thought to be “good” and “nothing” is dualistically thought to be “bad.”
Furthermore, those who believe in “getting” will dualistically believe in “losing.” For either to happen, a self (some identity) must have been assumed. Again, the belief that there is a self that has lost something will result in a miserable relative existence.
To abide as consciousness or as the Absolute or as the Awareness does not mean that any concept need be believed. At the highest level, even the I AM THAT can be relinquished after giving up all identification with the I AM.
Post-manifestation, there is nothingness as far as any you or You is concerned. So Why be concerned with … something? Why be concerned with … anything?
In fact, why even be concerned with nothing, ultimately? In the end, even the discussion of that concept of nothingness is conceptual. Maharaj said in this regard, “All my knowledge has gone into liquidation. I am unconcerned.”
If you / You would be unconcerned, then all of your knowledge must go into liquidation. Has that happened? Have you reached the space?
NOTE: In one forum, a person challenged the observation regarding “loss”: "Easy for you to say that ‘a sense of loss is illusion,’ but if everything you worked for and earned during your adult life was taken away by an egomaniac, something so flippant might not be stated.”
The reply:
Actually, most of the material things that were worked for and paid for during a twenty-year period were taken away by an egomaniac. The money and those possessions are now being shared with another man by that person, so the pointer that you reference was not offered from within a vacuum.
More to the point, though, is the fact that the bitterness that is implied in your message might be dispelled if you were able to understand this pointer from Maharaj:
Suppose somebody abuses you and you find out who it is. Is it the body? It is not the body. Then what could it be? Finally you come to the conclusion that it is spontaneously happening out of whatever that body is. You will not attribute it to any individual.
When your individuality is dissolved, you will not see individuals anywhere, it is just a functioning in consciousness. If it clicks in you, it is very easy to understand. If it does not, it is most difficult. It is very profound and very simple, if understood right.
A thorough investigation of the background of whoever you think to be the most abusive person that you’ve ever dealt with will usually reveal that person to also be the most abused person you’ll ever meet.
Since there are no individuals, however, what “floyd” was dealing with during those pre-Realization days was a highly warped and totally blocked speck of consciousness. The same applies to any person that you take to be someone who interfered with "you."
An honest and objective look at what inspired you and “floyd” to attach for a time to those warped specks of consciousness would reveal equally warped specks of consciousness that were being driven to try to satisfy a desire or a fear.
Also, an honest and objective look at what you think you've lost would reveal that you haven't lost a thing. To the degree that you cast aside your self , to that same degree will both your illusory sense of “loss” and your bitterness be cast aside as well.
Some functionings in consciousness are entertaining. Some functionings in consciousness are not. So it is. If you shift beyond your identification with body, mind, personality and beliefs, you will be able to witness your feelings rise and fall without attachment and therefore without such bitterness.
Freedom from emotional intoxication follows freedom from identification with body, mind, ego-states, and ideas.
Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj explained to a seeker who was preoccupied with finding an identity, “You are asking, ‘Who am I?’ and you are not going to get an answer, because the one who will get the answer is false. You may have an idea, a concept, and you will think you have found yourself, but it is only a concept.”
Understand that “the Self” is as much a concept as “the self.” Both can function only during the relative manifestation, the self being the false identity that can only see the false and the Self being that which can see Reality.
Yet all seeing—be it “True” Witnessing or “false” witnessing—can happen only during this manifestation. All labels—whether labels dealing with the phenomenal or labels dealing with the noumenal—are contained in the temporarily-manifested consciousness.
Maharaj said, “Brahman, Isvara, God, all these are names given to the consciousness when it is conscious of itself.” Later, “Isvara is the manifest principle by which all activities are carried on. It has no form ….”
He said, “If you have properly understood this knowledge, what will be your position at the moment of so-called death? That state cannot be described.” He continued, “It is called Parabrahman, the supreme Absolute, but that is only a name for communication purposes.”
“…The last traces of personality and individuality have left me. My dwelling place in the grosser world is gone now; presently it is in the subtler sphere, as in space.”
and
“Give me a photograph of the meaning of that word ‘I”. You can’t. That principle has no name or form or shape.”
So why are you trying to name it, to identify its form, to determine its shape? Why are you concerned with “something”? Why be concerned with anything? Maharaj said, “Words are the expression of space ….” So ...
... reach the space.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
The following is from the third book which is included in the anthology, FROM THE ABSOLUTE TO THE NOTHINGNESS. The reader is invited to take into contemplation and consideration the following pointers from that book:
Yesterday's post ended with this:
Maharaj explained the misunderstanding (and then the understanding) this way: “Now, consciousness has identified with a form. Later, it understands that it is not the form and goes further. In a few cases it may reach the space ….”
To continue:
All identities are limiting. Limitations restrict freedom. Restrictions of freedom prevent the manifestation of happiness during the relative existence. Preoccupation with finding identities and assigning labels has the same effect.
Nothing other than space is limitless. Should you identify with anything other than the limitless nothingness, then you will identify with the limited "somethingness" and you will never enjoy the happiness that can only happen NOW, during the manifestation. If happiness is to happen, you must reach the space.
Bodies are limited; minds are limited; planets are limited; galaxies are limited; the boundaries of the universe, though expanding, are nevertheless limited at any given moment;
the self and the Self are limited. Even the energy in that field called "the Absolute" is infinitesimal when compared with the limitless space. You may have reached the Absolute, but have you reached the space?
Planets are finite and their forms will end; all stars and suns are finite and their forms will end; galaxies are finite and their forms will end. Only space is limitless. Only nothingness is pervasive.
Emptiness abounds, and during the relative manifestation, you will never feel “more full” than when you are truly empty: empty of identities … empty of preoccupation with self … empty of preoccupation with Self.
Yet that can be understood only after years of being imprisoned as a result of having been programmed to accumulate; after years of accumulating; after seeking “something” beyond the emptiness of collecting “stuff”; after years of serving self; after years of seeking Self;
after de-accumulation; and after enjoying the freedom of less-ness. Only then can one understand the irony of this paradoxical teaching: the bliss which manifests after being aware of the fullness can only happen after understanding the reality of the emptiness.
Consider the moon and the surrounding space. Is the moon suspended in darkness and emptiness? Not at all. There is as much light surrounding the moon as is reflected from its surface. The surrounding light is not seen because it is not being reflected off a surface. That which appears to be the emptiness is really the fullness.
So it is during the manifestation: the non-Realized miss out on understanding the reality of the fullness, focusing as they do on their nagging sensation of misconceived emptiness. The sense of “emptiness” that they think they are experiencing results when their false selves believe that they have not gained something they have always wanted or when their false identities think that they have lost something that they wanted to have forever. Meanwhile, both gain and loss are illusion; therefore, their misery is illusion-based as well (though its effects will feel quite real).
In contrast, the Realized enjoy a sense of fullness though there is no longer any body or mind or personality that is reflecting anything. Being emptied of the false, the fullness of being unencumbered and free results in a sense of freedom - as exhibited by the man mentioned [yesterday] who was going to be free over the weekend because he had nothing scheduled.
If you would be free, line up with the nothingness as well. Reach the space.
Next, "If there is no post-manifestation self or Self," some ask, "Then why is there any need to engage in any religious or spiritual activities?" Indeed. When asked if all spiritual disciplines should be dropped, Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj pointed out that “At the earlier levels you have to do your homework.”
Yet he also noted that “at the highest level, this is so” - that all religious and spiritual activities come to an end. If you have stopped there, the invitation is to drop the religious activities, drop the spiritual personas, transition that step, and complete the other four steps of the seven–step “journey” to Reality. Then relax and enjoy the remainder of the manifestation.
Fixating in either of those Step Three ego-states will cause the focus of persons to be on getting: getting influence and control over the masses … getting rewards now … getting rewards later.
The egotism that accompanies the assumption of ego-states as identities always generates a desire to get … to accumulate. Among “accumulators,” “something” is dualistically thought to be “good” and “nothing” is dualistically thought to be “bad.”
Furthermore, those who believe in “getting” will dualistically believe in “losing.” For either to happen, a self (some identity) must have been assumed. Again, the belief that there is a self that has lost something will result in a miserable relative existence.
To abide as consciousness or as the Absolute or as the Awareness does not mean that any concept need be believed. At the highest level, even the I AM THAT can be relinquished after giving up all identification with the I AM.
Post-manifestation, there is nothingness as far as any you or You is concerned. So Why be concerned with … something? Why be concerned with … anything?
In fact, why even be concerned with nothing, ultimately? In the end, even the discussion of that concept of nothingness is conceptual. Maharaj said in this regard, “All my knowledge has gone into liquidation. I am unconcerned.”
If you / You would be unconcerned, then all of your knowledge must go into liquidation. Has that happened? Have you reached the space?
NOTE: In one forum, a person challenged the observation regarding “loss”: "Easy for you to say that ‘a sense of loss is illusion,’ but if everything you worked for and earned during your adult life was taken away by an egomaniac, something so flippant might not be stated.”
The reply:
Actually, most of the material things that were worked for and paid for during a twenty-year period were taken away by an egomaniac. The money and those possessions are now being shared with another man by that person, so the pointer that you reference was not offered from within a vacuum.
More to the point, though, is the fact that the bitterness that is implied in your message might be dispelled if you were able to understand this pointer from Maharaj:
Suppose somebody abuses you and you find out who it is. Is it the body? It is not the body. Then what could it be? Finally you come to the conclusion that it is spontaneously happening out of whatever that body is. You will not attribute it to any individual.
When your individuality is dissolved, you will not see individuals anywhere, it is just a functioning in consciousness. If it clicks in you, it is very easy to understand. If it does not, it is most difficult. It is very profound and very simple, if understood right.
A thorough investigation of the background of whoever you think to be the most abusive person that you’ve ever dealt with will usually reveal that person to also be the most abused person you’ll ever meet.
Since there are no individuals, however, what “floyd” was dealing with during those pre-Realization days was a highly warped and totally blocked speck of consciousness. The same applies to any person that you take to be someone who interfered with "you."
An honest and objective look at what inspired you and “floyd” to attach for a time to those warped specks of consciousness would reveal equally warped specks of consciousness that were being driven to try to satisfy a desire or a fear.
Also, an honest and objective look at what you think you've lost would reveal that you haven't lost a thing. To the degree that you cast aside your self , to that same degree will both your illusory sense of “loss” and your bitterness be cast aside as well.
Some functionings in consciousness are entertaining. Some functionings in consciousness are not. So it is. If you shift beyond your identification with body, mind, personality and beliefs, you will be able to witness your feelings rise and fall without attachment and therefore without such bitterness.
Freedom from emotional intoxication follows freedom from identification with body, mind, ego-states, and ideas.
Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj explained to a seeker who was preoccupied with finding an identity, “You are asking, ‘Who am I?’ and you are not going to get an answer, because the one who will get the answer is false. You may have an idea, a concept, and you will think you have found yourself, but it is only a concept.”
Understand that “the Self” is as much a concept as “the self.” Both can function only during the relative manifestation, the self being the false identity that can only see the false and the Self being that which can see Reality.
Yet all seeing—be it “True” Witnessing or “false” witnessing—can happen only during this manifestation. All labels—whether labels dealing with the phenomenal or labels dealing with the noumenal—are contained in the temporarily-manifested consciousness.
Maharaj said, “Brahman, Isvara, God, all these are names given to the consciousness when it is conscious of itself.” Later, “Isvara is the manifest principle by which all activities are carried on. It has no form ….”
He said, “If you have properly understood this knowledge, what will be your position at the moment of so-called death? That state cannot be described.” He continued, “It is called Parabrahman, the supreme Absolute, but that is only a name for communication purposes.”
“…The last traces of personality and individuality have left me. My dwelling place in the grosser world is gone now; presently it is in the subtler sphere, as in space.”
and
“Give me a photograph of the meaning of that word ‘I”. You can’t. That principle has no name or form or shape.”
So why are you trying to name it, to identify its form, to determine its shape? Why are you concerned with “something”? Why be concerned with anything? Maharaj said, “Words are the expression of space ….” So ...
... reach the space.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
