TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS
To review:
That which is natural is rooted in non-duality; all which involves unnatural thinking and / or supernatural thinking is rooted in duality.
Whether speaking of Maharaj's lesser focus on the Nisarga Yoga in the beginning or discussing his near-total focus on abiding naturally in the end (as opposed to trying to live supernaturally and / or unnaturally), it is granted that all of that is relevant only to the AM-ness, but presently, what happens in the AM-ness impacts every person far more than anything to do with the THAT-ness.
So, to continue with excerpts from the book Why NISARGA YOGA in addition to the Advaita Teachings? as considerations about the Nisarga (natural) fashion of abidance are offered:
The Three Legs of "The Journey," Part Two
After completing the "journey" to "there" and then coming back in (for the second time, but with a totally sane and sound and accurate perspective), then AS IF, natural living happens.
From there, the AM-ness is not ignored, for that would be unnatural. While only humans can verbalize the words "I AM," birds know the I AM, deer know the I AM, fish know the I AM. Approach any of those and they will move away, automatically and naturally longing to extend the AM-ness, the manifestation of the consciousness.
That is natural. That is what Nisarga abidance looks like. To claim to abide as THAT only is not natural; natural living puts one fully in touch with the AM-ness but with an entirely different perspective, post-realization.
Also, to claim to have been "there" and to have returned and "overlaid Reality" on the relative is proved to be totally artificial if non-Nisarga, non-natural living continues to happen.
If persons who think they have realized are humming, shaving their heads, beating on a drum, burning a stick, displaying special crystals, ringing a special bell, striking a special bowl on a special pillow with a special stick, then they have not overlaid Reality on the relative at all.
Pre-language, pre-bells, pre-bowls, and pre-pillows, humans or human-like creatures intuitively sensed THAT via the inner guru. Tapping into the inner resource is natural; tapping objects to be more religious or spiritual is not.
Consider the pointers in the following summary which were offered to a seeker recently after the last Skype session during which the seeker discussed with me the steps on the "journey":
"The review covered the entire seven-step-"coming in" process from the awareness manifesting as consciousness: the shift through the witnessing stages; the bliss of the child with no ideas or concepts or beliefs;
"the child being assigned identities (which have subsequently been upgraded and downgraded, giving joy at time and hurt at times, generating instability of moods).
"Then it was seen how the seven steps taught here can take a seeker back to the beginning (to the Absolute, to THAT) to see how the "coming in" happened the first time and how body-mind-personality identification came about. It was seen that the human tendency to attack the body when the mind is the source of misery and suffering is useless.
"The seven steps 'back out' were taken, but it was then seen that one cannot stay 'there' alone, so the seven steps back in (again) were taken - but with CLARITY this time - so that the present manifestation can be free of all that was collected when the seven "coming in" steps were taken the first time.
"Now, we are done with THAT . . . with the philosophical, with the metaphysical, with the excessive focusing on the noumenal, with ignoring the phenomenal, with all attention focused on 'the path,' with a preoccupation with the 'journey.' Now you are here, and NOW you should be ready to have a different experience with the relative existence.
"While 'power' is just a concept too, there are those who would prefer that you be powerless throughout the relative, the better to control your thoughts and words and actions.
"The tools available to you - including witnessing and Pure Witnessing - can help prevent your giving them that power. You can stop allowing 'others' and' 'the world' and places and things and people to have the power or influence to determine how you feel.
"The tools available to you - including witnessing and Pure Witnessing - can help prevent your giving them that power. You can stop allowing 'others' and' 'the world' and places and things and people to have the power or influence to determine how you feel.
"Next, the difference in love and Real Love was discussed. It was seen that the I AM matters as much as the I AM THAT in Advaita's summative statement, so the relative does matter;
"in fact, for NOW it is the only thing that matters, for when THAT (the Absolute) is returned to, eventually, there will be no 'one' to know the presence there.
"It was seen that as far as what matters NOW - namely, the relative existence - that words are significant and that words are either words of Love (based in an awareness of the Oneness) or they are words of fear, which can trigger any of the subsets of fear: jealousy, anger, depression, etc.
"When that happens, words become vile and generate a sense of separation rather than a sense of the Oneness and Love, and only a sense of Love will end your depression or your roller-coaster shifts in moods.
"You were invited to get off the hectic roller coaster and to ride the smooth ride on a train which moves along its steady, even tracks; you saw that boredom is what can lead to a desire to get back on the roller-coaster and to generate chaos in yourself and those around you.
"You are, from now on, going to be conscious of the words you use and are going to begin shifting to (a) words of Love only or (b) you will otherwise stay in the peace and silence if words of Love are not forthcoming at any given moment.
"It was seen that generational chains of acculturation can be broken in one instant when a single seeker shifts to knowing the Oneness, to understanding Love, to showing Love, and then not settling for just a show of Love (which can include hugging) but including an overt, verbal expression of Love as well.
"It was shown that the teacher that comes to the seeker comes in Love, wanting nothing other than a chance to assist in bringing suffering to an end.
"You were invited to log the instances in the next week that mark a shift to Love, to focusing on being free of the content of the "mind," and to ignoring the body.
"It was seen that suffering is not a call for drastic action but is a call for attention. It was seen that focusing attention on the source of the suffering - be the re-focusing guided by a respected relative and / or a teacher and / or a professional counselor - can help fixate the shift to a state of happiness or contentedness.
"It was seen that identifying with 'THAT philosophical whatever' is useless and that the understanding means nothing unless it is applied in the relative. We saw that THAT means nothing except to the degree that it can impact the relative in a safe and sane and sound manner."
At the beginning of last month, millions of persons in the U.S. were celebrating its so-called "Independence Day" - a total misnomer and illusion in itself.
As Maharaj noted, there will only be about 1 in 10,000,000 who will ever be truly and totally "independent" and free. Most do not want to be independent at all, any more than most want to be able to differentiate between the True Love referenced above and whatever version of "love" they are attached to.
At the time that the celebrations were in full swing, the ultra-conservative right-wing Fox News political commentator Tucker Swanson McNear Carlson invited onto his show the only pastor I listen to nowadays, namely, Rev. Jim Rigby who models activism for social justice and human rights, who understands the non-dual message, and who understands the version of Real Love which Maharaj referenced. Jim, is my daughter's pastor at a progressive church located a few minutes from her house in Austin, TX.
Austin is on the front lines of the liberal vs. conservative war going on in the U.S., and Jim is on the front lines of that engagement, confronting with Love those who would destroy him and who hates his message of True Love. Jim displays the same kind of "Activist Love" which many others have modeled for us and who have been cited on this site because they all understood the non-dual version of Love:
Yeshu'a (Jesus) during his non-dual message days; William Shakespeare; Henry David Thoreau; Gandhi; Maharaj; Martin Luther King, Jr.; and Nelson Mandela, to name but a few.
Over the holiday mentioned above, Jim was invited by Tucker Carlson to enter the lion's den, and Jim went willingly. He did not allow himself to be pulled into a debate or argument with Carlson; he did not allow Carlson to inspire him to dislike Carlson, much less hate him; he did not allow Carlson to rattle him or pull him out of the Love which Jim has for all humanity, whether certain humans "love" him or hate him.
Jim had been prepared for such interviews by the hoards of conservatives in Austin and the U.S. who hate him and even by those in the national hierarchy of his own religion who have attacked his message and actions over the years.
Yet he stands firm and delivers his message of caring and empathizing and Love for all humans, even as the popular brand of "love for all" is ignored in order to engage in the other kind of Love which was spoken of in a loft in Bombay and which is spoken of each week in Jim's church and which is spoken of on this site.
Yet he stands firm and delivers his message of caring and empathizing and Love for all humans, even as the popular brand of "love for all" is ignored in order to engage in the other kind of Love which was spoken of in a loft in Bombay and which is spoken of each week in Jim's church and which is spoken of on this site.
If interested, what I'm calling "The Jim in the Lion's (or Fox's) Den Interview" can be watched on YouTube by clicking the link embedded in this sentence.
After that interview, an ultra-conservative political commentator named Laura Ingraham chastised Carlson for going soft on the preacher. She did not say, "Wow, your simply watching and sensing the Real Love that was oozing out of Rigby's every pore was able to softened your heart, if only for a moment! Maybe I need a session with that reverend, too?" [Pause] "Nahhhh."
For more of what Jim shares,
here is a link to one of his sermons which non-dualists will relate to and which was discussed on this site in the 8 September 2015 post
and a link to
some of Jim Rigby's writings.
To be continued.
Please enter into the silence of contemplation.
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