MAHARAJ: “There’s No Such Thing As Peace of Mind,” Part O

Today's Considerations

One might speculate about how many seconds and minutes and hours and days and months and years and decades that millions and billions of humans have spent over the last 5000 years in their efforts to find the answer to the question: “WHO am I?”

Of the trillions of life forms which have come and gone on planet earth, that is a question that only one life form has ever asked. No life forms except for humans have even spent even a single second seeking an identity (or “An Identity”) or the answer to "Who am I?"

Why? Because all life forms except for humans have always abided naturally and normally, not unnaturally and not supernaturally and never under the auspices of an ignorance-and-insanity-filled mind which is also chock full of false identities.

As for the "Who am I"? question, Maharaj for a period certainly endorsed the Self-Inquiry process, but eventually – when he found that the problems of humanity and the symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness have everything to do with mental issues and nothing to do with religious or spiritual issues – then he began endorsing self -inquiry.

That is, he suggested finding all of the false selves which have generated subconsciously over the last several millennia an endless stream of ignorant thoughts and senseless words and insane actions and limitless chaos and instability (but only among humans).

He understood that all of the chaos which has occurred during those recent millennia has been rooted in the mind where those false identities are stored and from which they unconsciously control every thought and word and deed, even as humans think that they are making conscious choices.

Thus Maharaj eventually said: "I got involved in spirituality, in the business of spirituality; finally, I lost that love of Self also. I have no more love for the Self."

He lost interest in - and love for - the Self, the Supreme Self, the Ultimate Self, the Real Self, the Godhead, the Godself, or whatever else supposedly noble identifiers can be called. 

It will soon be ten years since this pointer was first offered on this blog:

“'The Realized' have transcended both the false self  / selves and even 'the True Self' and even ‘the Supreme SELF,' so all that happens among 'the Realized' merely happens spontaneously.”

As it always has and still continues to be among all living things that have ever lived or which are still living - except for humans.

There is a basic axiom which few seekers seem to focus on: the proper answer cannot be found unless the proper question is asked, and few who have been thoroughly and delusionally programmed and conditioned, etc. (as all humans nowadays have been) will ever find the proper question to ask. Moreover, only a few will cross paths with one that asked the proper question and that found the proper answer and that can now point them to the proper question.

“Jeopardy!” is an American television game show which has also gained a worldwide following with adaptations in other countries all around the globe. The show features a quiz competition in which contestants are presented with general knowledge clues in the form of answers; then, they must phrase their responses to the answers in the form of questions.

So, a contestant might choose a $300 question under the category of “Geography,” and an answer such as this might be revealed:

 “8,848 meters or 29,029 feet”

Then the question in response to that answer would be: “How high above sea level is the peak of Mt. Everest?”

It might be revealing if you were to come up with a version of the answer and question game for yourself, but for now, you can play along with my version (which might go something like this):

“Imagine”

 “What is ‘floyd’s’ favorite song?”

“Casablanca”

“What is ‘floyd’s’ favorite movie?”

“A quad breve, hot, totally wet (meaning, ‘no foam’)”

“What is ‘floyd’s’ favorite morning drink?”

and, in the non-dual version of the show . . . 

“None”

“Eventually, what identities (or Identity) did either ‘maharaj’ or ‘floyd’ accept as real (or Real)?”

Now, it’s time to turn it around and give you a chance to provide the answers to these questions:

“What identities are you accepting or assuming right now”?

or

“What Identity are you accepting or assuming right now”?

that is, 

"What titles or identifiers are you inserting after the words 'I am'?"

and

“How long have you been seeking?’

and

“How long do you intend to keep seeking?”

or

“Have you been re-programmed by persons who are telling you that you will never be done; that you will never be cured; that you will never be totally free; that you will never be able to relax and take it easy as far as your quest is concerned; and that you must forever seek and go and do and zoom as they are doing, just like all of the other humans on the planet who are obsessive-compulsive to the max?”

and

“Is it possible that (subconsciously or not) you have no intention whatsoever of actually finding in order that can stop all of the seeking and going and doing and zooming and then abide naturally – just the way that every living thing on the planet, except for humans, has always done for all times without being driven to try to find the answer to even a single question?”

and

“If you are engaged in any process that has anything to do with non-duality, and if you would like to find whatever it is you are seeking and then finally be able to relax and take it easy and stop with all the religious and / or spiritual workaholism, then might it not be enough to find the answer to 'Who am I not?' and then be done with it all?”

If you find all that you are not and then abandon each and every ego-state as an identity, then there will be no more triggering of the ego-defense mechanism of “egotism”; then, one of the intents of the sages will manifest: you will no longer be egotistical and arrogant; you will no longer have a sense of superiority; you will no longer have a belief that you are different from and thus better than.

And if that is as close as anyone ever gets to the unicity – to grasping the unity beyond the perceived-but-bogus multiplicity – then would that not be enough?

Maharaj: “You do not need to find the answer to 'Who am I?' You need but find the answer to 'Who am I not?' That would be enough.”

So what’s the rub? Back to the game:

“Enough’

“What do almost all humans – and almost all seekers and super seekers as well – never get a sense of?”

“Modesty”

“What do those who claim that they have ‘Realized Fully’ (and who are now identifying with some Supreme or Superior Something) never exhibit?”

How can modesty co-exist along the claim that “I am the Supreme Self” or “I am the Ultimate Self” or “I am the Supreme” or “I am the Ultimate” or even, in many cases, “I am God”? It does not.

Some of you have experienced the misfortunes of cohabitation with a person with a full-blown case of the God Complex / Narcissistic Personality Disorder. If so, then you know first-hand what it is like to be around those egomaniacal types.

(One might hear, "You are making me unbelievably angry, so you are about to find out what it's like when I assume my devil identity!" The unspoken reaction might be, "Fine with me if it leads you to give up your God identity.")

Many counselors and psychologists and therapists try to discourage those who come their way and who are trapped in that disorder from continuing to cling to that personality style, yet - in some religious and spiritual venues around the planet - that disorder is encouraged and even given a “positive” connotation.

“Positive”? As in the counterpart to “negative” in the dualistic pairing of “positive vs. negative”? So much for non-duality, huh?

The call is for cleaning out the mind, but persons often have to begin by cleaning out the library of special books by special teachers whom Maharaj called “Big Name Teachers”; by cleaning out the closet of special robes and special garb and special footwear; by cleaning out the jewelry box of the special ornaments which are being worn; by cleaning out the room where a collection of special crystals and sacred pyramids and hallowed stones and other special trinkets are stored;

by cleaning out the special smoke sticks and special pillows and special bowls and special sticks used to hit special bowls; by cleaning out the special bells that are rung on special occasions; by cleaning out the special collection of special CD's and special tapes of special people hinting at how special they are and telling you how you can be like them - special - too; and by cleaning out everything else which is deemed to be special but which no living thing except for misguided humans has ever been deluded into thinking was helpful or necessary or special.

Again, Maharaj’s message to those who want to hang on to their special roles and Special Identity:

“You are already full of spiritual wisdom. You know a lot in spirituality, and I am in no position to address you” and “You are spiritual giants. I am a spiritual pygmy before you.”

He knew of what he spoke, for he had “been there.” But he escaped and then (for all others who are yet similarly incarcerated) he pointed to . . . the way out.

So again, he said:

"I got involved in spirituality, in the business of spirituality; finally, I lost that love of Self also. I have no more love for the Self."

How about you? "WHO" - what identity or identities or Identity - are you infatuated with (and therefore captivated by)?

 

To be continued.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

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