PART “Q”: REALIZING WITHOUT DOGMA, WITHOUT CONTINUOUS SPIRITUAL PRACTICES, AND WITHOUT A PREOCCUPATION WITH “THE NATURE OF REALITY AND THINGS NOUMENAL”

Today's Considerations

Is it possible that seeking is probably triggered more than anything else by unmet desires and / or ongoing fears? How many have sought out a God or gods or goddesses in an effort to try to get some additional help at getting what is desired but not yet attained?  (Maharaj: You have invented a God and worship such a God and pray to that God for something good to happen to you, be that "something good" the fulfillment of something desired or the avoidance of something feared.)

All fears and all desires begin with the assignment or assumption of an identity because it is each assigned or assumed  personality which brings with it a primary desire and a primary fear. Maharaj understood that religions generate false identities, so he kicked out of the loft those who came to flaunt such identities;

he understood that spirituality generates false identities as well, so he also kicked "spiritual giants" out of the loft and eventually began advising seekers to "stop reading the 'spiritual classic' I AM THAT" and to "give up spirituality"; and he also came to understand that Self-Inquiry - leading to the notion that one is some sort of "Supreme Self" - can generate a singular, but nevertheless false, identity as well. 

Eventually his message focused on the point that it is “self”-inquiry which makes clear who you are not; that realizing all that you are not can eliminate the bogus belief in both personal and special identities; and that - since false identities generate all fears and desires - that freedom can come only after all identities are cast aside.

Should one find all that one is not, and abandon belief in all identifications (including the “good” ones and the “bad” ones and the “common, everyday ones” and the “Special One or Ones”) then  only can one abide naturally in an agenda-less fashion - the same way all living things on the planet abide except for humans).

Should one become who-less and WHO-less and identity-less and Identity-less, then the abidance can unfold as it does here.

Maharaj: “All you need is to get rid of the tendency to define your self”

and

“I really do not see myself related to anybody and anything. Not even to a Self, whatever that Self may be. I remain forever - undefined.” (See why he said “knowing who you are not is enough”? If he eventually gave up all involvement with seeking a Self or knowing a Self or relating to a Self, then why would Self-Inquiry be a requirement for becoming freed from misery and suffering which he said is "the teacher's sole concern"?)

Next, consider the implications of this bit of syllogistic reasoning:

Maharaj: 

(A) "The teacher’s sole concern is with ‘suffering and the ending of suffering’.”

(B) "To me dependence on anything for happiness is utter misery."

Ergo, 

(C) the job of the teacher is to eliminate dependence.

Here, there is no dependence so there is no misery or suffering.The same can manifest during the remainder of "your" relative existence as well.

Key, though, is understanding this: misery and suffering can only be experienced during the relative existence. Post-manifestation, there will be no “one" to be miserable, no “one” to suffer, and no “one” to be happy or joyous or blissful. (Maharaj: “Both experience and experiencer will disappear.")

[Recall the response from the woman in St. Louis when she was offered these considerations:  “All is energy-matter. Neither energy nor matter can be created nor destroyed; thus, there can never have been any “creator” or “Creator.” All has always been. Babies are not created . . . energy-matter simply cycles. No "Sustainer-God" has ever existed because there is no "one" to be sustained. No Destroyer-God exists because nothing can be destroyed. And no "Creator-God" exists because nothing has ever been created. 

Her response: “Floyd, millions of people cannot be wrong about their belief in God.” 

The reply: “Right you are. Millions of people have not been wrong. The fact is that billions and trillions of people have been wrong . . . in their beliefs.” 

Such distortion and delusion continue today. Billions of persons are concerned about avoiding misery and suffering in “the next life” or on “the next plane,” having been programmed to believe in such things because they have been programmed to believe, dualistically, in "themselves" and in "lower selves" and in "higher selves" and in "their Supreme Selves." 

There is no Creator-God or Destroyer-God or gods or goddesses, so there has been no creation of either a better world or a worse world which awaits you / “You”; thus, Maharaj abandoned talk about dogma and about spirituality because (1) “The teacher’s sole concern is with ‘suffering and the ending of suffering’” and because (2) misery and suffering can only happen now, never later. Therefore, it only makes sense, if the teacher's sole concern involves the elimination of misery and suffering, to discuss the way that the actual relative existence is unfolding rather than discuss the dreamed up way that a imaginary existence is going to unfold later. Again, Maharaj: “Both experience and experiencer will disappear."]

Next, this “you,” which is a total misperception, is actually nothing more than what can be called a “composite unity” for the sake of discussion, a composite unity which is made of - and which is circulating - plant food elements, air, and conscious-energy. When mahasamadhi is taken, what happens? 

The elements return to the universal pool of elements; the air returns to the universal pool of air; and the conscious-energy returns to the universal pool of conscious-energy which will not be conscious of because it must be manifested within a space for conscious-of-ness to happen. (Maharaj: “Consciousness is present everywhere, but knowledge of that consciousness is dependent on the form.”) No form? No consciousness of anything. Want to be free of misery and suffering? Wait not. Take the steps to reach that condition at the only point when it can be reached: right now.

How else does the abidance unfold here, and how can it also unfold for you if the understanding comes?

Here, there is no man or men who are feared; there is no woman or women who are feared; there is no devil that is feared or god that is adored; there is no sin that is hated and there is no virtue that is admired; here, there is nobody trying to be somebody, much less trying to be Somebody; here, there is neither a believer nor a non-believer, and as the eBook below explains, the closest such term that could be used to point to the condition here, just for the sake of discussion and clarification, would be a "no-belief-er," so to speak.

Here, there is no “one,” so there is certainly no one with any delusions about power (or Power) or control; abiding spontaneously, there is no “one” here that is deluded into believing that firm plans can be made for any given day, much less for a week or month or year or years. Nothing except humans believe that they can plan and that events will roll out as planned.

Here, there has never been the slightest sense that anyone should ever be told to “love what is, including an assault, a beating, a stabbing, a mugging, a battering, or a rape."

Here, there is neither upgrading nor downgrading, including upgrading or downgrading persons based on race or sexual preference or social position; here, there is no upgrading of "this world" to a grand next world such as “heaven”; there is no upgrading of "this world" to a “higher plane” in “the next life"; and there is no downgrading of "this world" to a horrible next world such as “hell” or to a “lower plane” in "the next life.” (Maharaj: "There is no question of elevating to a higher level. Here it is only a question of understanding" and, again, "Both experience and experiencer will disappear.")

Here, there is no “search for meaning” or for “my life’s purpose.” (Maharaj: “From the Absolute no-knowing state, spontaneously, this consciousness ‘I am’ has appeared. There is no reason, no cause.”) Here, too, there are no efforts to meet anyone’s or any culture’s definition of “success.” (Maharaj: “There is no progress," and that includes "now" and "later.")

 

Here, therefore, there is no paying of any attention at all to one who talks about “The Spiritual Laws of Success” and about “fulfilling dreams.” (One might as well try to fulfill a desire to catch a mirage and keep it in your home for the remainder of the relative existence).

Here, there are also no "intentions" because the abidance happens spontaneously; there is no effort to “advance a spirit or soul” because there is no spirit or soul and because trying to advance anything involves duality and upgrading. (Again, Maharaj: "There is no progress.")

Here, there is no effort to find the “Infinite Self” because the only thing infinite is energy-matter and neither energy nor matter involves any Self-ness. (Maharaj said, “Trace the world to its source and you will find that before the world was, you were, and when the world is no longer, you remain.” Was he talking about a literal “you”? No. He made clear that “What begins and ends is mere appearance” and “When you are thoroughly knowledgeable, you will come to the conclusion that this beingness is also an illusion.” Was he talking about a literal “You”? No. Again: He was not identified even with a Self and he remained forever undefined.)

Also here, there is no effort to find power or a Power, including "Power Now" or a Power to be met later because there is no longer any addiction to the desire for power (or for a Power) in order to be able to control.

Similarly, being freed from the delusion that humans can control anything eliminates praying because what praying is really about is trying to access a Power which will allow one to avoid whatever one fears and to get whatever one desires. (Again, Maharaj: “First of all you identify something as being good or bad for yourself. Then, in an effort to acquire good or to get rid of the bad, you have invented a God. Then you worship such a God and . . . you pray to that God for something good to happen to you.")

Because all fears and desires are rooted in personal identification, neither fear nor desire manifests since belief in all identifications (including self, selves, and a Self) have been discarded; thus, there is no desire to have an ageless body or a timeless mind, the mind having come to an end when the last concept, idea, notion (a.k.a., "belief”) was discarded.

Next, understand that there is no eternal benefit or reward as a result of being free of personality identifications; nor is there an eternal punishment. Whatever the result of freedom from identifications and from Identification, such freedom can only happen now, can only be known now, and can only be enjoyed now. (Maharaj: “You have some experiences and you try to benefit from them, but remember that whatever is going to be of use to you ultimately is going to harm you” and “Whatever spiritual things you aspire to know are all happening in this objective world, in the illusion. All this is happening in the objective world. All is dishonesty. There is no truth in this fraud.")

To have been fooled into believing that a fraud is not a fraud involves what Maharaj called “learned ignorance” and “insanity.” To be free of those symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness, one must question all objectively with a fearless willingness to doubt anything and everything which has long been believed in order to determine if what has been unquestioningly accepted as the truth might be fraudulent. To be free of those symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness, one must also see that a lie is a lie and see, ultimately, that all lies are lies. And one must see that Maharaj was spot on when he said that all accumulated knowledge amounts to nothing more than "learned ignorance."

If whatever spiritual things you know are all part of the illusion and part of the fraud (which they are)

and if

religions generate false identities (which they do)

and if

Self-Inquiry can generate a singular false identity (which it can)

then is it not obvious why an effective means of seeking must be of a type – as Maharaj ultimately concluded - which involves something other than spiritual concepts, religious concepts, and concepts about a “Supreme Self” and which, in fact, involves no concepts at all?

To be continued.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

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