Joy in sorrow

Pain in pleasure

…of which these are One,

to You,

The Experiencer

of experience…

The Witness to

the panorama

of the melodrama.

Dharma is to do without

…being the doer.

The bliss of effortless

involvement in…

This

~*~

The above is the result of a thirty minute meditation session tonight. I call the product of my sits, the ‘insight’ I gain, my Clear-Mind. It’s a moment, an experience, an embodiment of viveka (discrimination). These moments are like joyous dispassion towards the unreal and an embracing of the Crest Jewel of Discrimination. Perhaps it is zen-mind, but I’m sure someone will disagree. But beyond agreeing or disagreeing is the Truth (Satya). Whatever you wish to call the moment of Clear-Mind it’s nothing more (or less) than the naked experience of reality and a concurrent intuition of Self or Not-self. It doesn’t need to be called any-thing or assume any form. It simply Is, Being-Consciousness-Bliss.

~*~

I most likely won’t be around here on the blog over the next 6-8 weeks since my third son Kile Maddox will be arriving soon, nature willing! Plus the holidays are upon us and all the activity that rolls with that. So my posts here may be sporadic or non-existent as I tend to worldly concerns on the homefront. Thanks to everyone who keeps up with the blog and enjoys what I share. I hope to be back relatively soon with new material, the stuff of the joyous experience of Life.

Namaste,

Hanuman Dass

He runs an interesting blog called Inner Depths: Journey’s in Depth Psychology. His bio says he has a Masters in Counseling Psychology with Emphasis in Depth Psychology.

Recently he was trying to resolve a dilemma between Brahman and Maya and whether practice was of any worth or even a hindrance. In the linked post above he turns to some of my comments from an exchange that happened over the last week.

I won’t go into the details of the exchange. I think David sums it up quite well in his post. Suffice it to say I think he cut straight to the heart of a dilemma that took me some time to resolve.

I recommend reading this post of David’s as well as his other work. Depth Psychology sounds like an interesting field of study. I look forward to seeing how it could relate with the message of nonduality!

Below is a list in no particular order along with a few comments and some information about each book.

Autobiography of a Sadhu: A Journey into Mystic India by Rampuri. I haven’t read much of this one yet and I’m not sure what to think of it yet. The one word I would use to describe it is ‘interesting’.

The Last Hustle by kenny Johnson, written by Shanti Einolander. I just finished this book. It was simply great. By far the best story I’ve read in a while. It’s about Kenny Johnson and his journey from street hustler and pimp, to prison inmate, to awakened and reformed member of society. It’s a story of a man battling his demons and coming to the realization of nonduality. This is an “unlikely” story and that’s what makes it so inspiring!

Consciousness Is All: Now Life is Completely New by Peter Francis Dziuban. This is a book about nonduality or Consciousness rather. It’s a book written from the point of view of your essential nature as unlimited infinite Consciousness. It gets a little dry at times but you can’t go the rest of your life without having read it solely on the merit of its style alone.

Drg Drysa Viveka Translation and Commentary by Swami Nikhilananda. This is a book released in 1931 that everyone interested in Advaita Vedanta, nonduality, Oneness, or yoga should read. It’s short, 83 pages I believe. The title translates to “Discrimination between the seer and seen”. It basically helps you see the difference between truth and illusion, Brahman and Maya, Self and other. You can find a free copy by googling the title, author, and “pdf”.

A few other titles I recommend are:

The Underlying Religion: An Introduction to the Perennial Philosophy by Martin Lings

Rebel Buddha by Dzogchen Ponlop

Oneness: The Destination You Never Left by John Greven

The Perennial Way: New English Versions of Yoga Sutras, Dhammapada, Heart Sutra, Ashtavakra Gita, Faith Mind Sutra, Tao Te Ching by Bart Marshall

I didn’t link any of the books. If you are interested in one and can’t find it contact me and I’ll direct you to it.

The method by which Infinity perceives Itself is through becoming two, dual. It may be coincidence but it does seem profound in a way that humans have two eyes. The physical eye duplicates itself giving one of the simplest clues pointing to the Truth of reality. That two-ness, that duality of twin-eyes-ness brings about time and space. There must be a succession of moments and a reference point to locate Infinity if It is to see Itself or bring forth a physical manifest eye to see It’s infinite Eye. So mind is created, not after the eye that perceives, not post or prior to eyeness. Infinity is timeless, there can be no creating after or before. Perception and mind manifest eternally, ever fresh in this infinite moment.

This mind comes on the scene of the seeing, knowing, reflecting organ of sight and adds conception; thought happens and the seeing is conceived in a mental image. The mind is nothing other than Infinity just as the eye  is Infinity. Yet this mind that is no-thing shows up as it were and thinks thoughts, it makes distinctions, points out differences. It’s a duality-maker. But there is no distinction in Infinity, no difference, no this or that-ness. But for Infinity to reflect upon itself, we call it self-reflection, It must limit Itself.

Hence the Eternal First Thought, the Word, the Logos emanates from Infinity, It manifests and begins to duplicate Itself. Sense, the seeing and mind, the knowing and the distinguishing form mental images. The thought-streams are reality, or duality. The Word who is the first mind and the first seeing, if you can wrap your own mind around the non-concept of Infinity emanating or manifesting from Itself, duplicates Itself repeatedly. The cosmic primordial sound OM comes to mind. This fractal manifesting potentiality of the divine ether grows and grows reproducing into an infinite number of smaller reflecting seers. These mini reflections manifest other eyes, other minds to repeat and duplicate all for the purpose of Infinity seeing Itself from an infinite, limitless kaleidoscope of perspectives.

The thought-stream of mind and its every individual thought is simply an eye, or “I”, an appearance, a mental construct filled with a burning desire to see itself, to look into what it is. Self-reflection always points to the first thought, the Logos by which Infinity becomes manifest. The Logos is the incarnation, the form of the Infinite. The multiplicity of sentient beings over the course of human history have all been reproductions of mind, of the duality-maker complicating itself with the goal of looking in on who It is by nature. The mind thinks it can think about who it is by thinking about it, yet it is the eye on both the gross and the subtle level that truly sees, if mind can be pushed out of the way. Ask yourself why the Logos or to some the Christ, Krishna, or Buddha Nature is so pure, so pristine, so beautiful. The Logos embodies the purest thought stream, the first primordial one pointed thought. The thought that simply points to its Nature.

Look into the eyes of another person, into the black center, beyond the persona of name and form that surrounds the emptiness of the eye and you only see That, the blackness, the limitlessness, the Infinity of Infinity being Itself. When you focus your gaze on the others gaze there can be no thought about that seeing, no naming it, no objectifying it as it is none other than the empty voidness in your own eyes. You see Yourself. This is why when someone really looks you straight in the eyes you get nervous, sweaty, anxious, defensive and all that sort of dramatic self-love, because you’re afraid your game of being a separate person will be exposed. There’s no room for bullshit persona’s or self-assertive ego’s hung up on self-esteem in thought-streams.

The thought-stream is mind believing it is it’s thoughts and not the Infinity that gives it life, a life without which mind could not think its thoughts, see through it’s eyes, produce mental images, or assert itself as “I”. Thoughts are transient, fleeting dust on the reflecting mirror of Infinity. The “I” is a castle in the sky, why are you trying to move into it? It will dissolve as the wind blows by. You are no-thing, you are Infinity which can’t be thought or conceived. Whatever thought you form about your true nature as Infinity is not it. Your true nature is that which sees the mind thinking the thoughts that can’t describe or lay hold of it. Quite humorous really! 

So when you look in someone else’s eyes you see the vastness, the bliss, the totally fulfilling joy of experiencing your Self, your true Self who is limitless, eternal. To see Yourself as the persona, the mask of duality, your “I” is not possible now…it simply falls away. It is seen to have been only a tool to allow your Infiniteness to see and enjoy Its magnificent blissfullness. It is the Eternal Word emanating and returning to itself. It is the Spirit indwelling each of us, the Infinity of our true Selves, the real Self or Atman.

So when you get the urge to figure out who you are or maybe self-reflect upon your existence…go, look long and hard into someone else’s eyes. Peer into the eyes portal that accesses Infinity. But be warned, you may indeed see Yourself, clothed with an illusion, a delusion of Self-esteem, of separateness. The self-assertion, the “I” you think you are is a dream Infinity tells Itself for It’s own enjoyment. When you can look into the void of naked perception, into the abyss of the black central point of the eye you have to make a choice.

You have to choose to believe in the illusion of separateness and a manifest universe created by the mind who has made itself the headmaster of thought and the dreamer of dreams, the self-absorbed subject…you can attach yourself to that if you want. Or you drop the illusion like waking up from a dream and remember that all the characters and all the things are not of any lasting reality. The waking dream is of no more realness than the sleepers dream. Every-thing in the dream is You appearing to not be You. You are pretending to be things or persons all for the joy of seeing yourself and enjoying yourself from the perspective of the other. You are not thought, mind, senses, body, feelings, emotions, etc. You are the Infinity of true wakefulness…infinite, limitless, eternal, transcendent. So wake up, you haven’t been yourself for quite a while. Remember who you are. That Art Thou.

~*~

Here is something of a sketch I thought would be interesting to share. The ‘concept’ of this drawing is that all sentient beings eyes are windows from Infinity which look into a limited ‘world’ of duality to see other eyes and of course reflect upon Itself. The universe, duality is the medium of seeing. Anyway I’ll let the sketch do the talking!

Anyhow, we’ve had quite a time looking at the different areas of what practice is and whether we actually need it in awakening. When we started the series Colin dove right in with a provocative piece titled Why Do Anything that can be found HERE. He showed us that when we identify solely with Awareness we still act in the world. Why not act dispassionately toward our actions and make healthy choices? I recommend rereading his important points from that article. There’s some great stuff worth remembering.

Colin then shifts from the fact of movement and energy being a reality of the phenomenal world to “the question of the hour” which asks Is Practice Necessary?Found HERE. That is we see that action in no way gets us enlightened or liberated. Meditating does not make one aware. You already are Aware, so how could any practice help? Awareness is stillness, potentiality, the absence of movement yet so totally Alive! My suggestion has been that it can’t hurt so long as you are not identified with the practicer who practices to achieve something as a result of the practice.

But before we take a look at Colin’s last offering I wanted to remind everyone of Part 3 Are There Different Degrees of Awakening and is it Sudden or Gradual? Found HERE. Colin clearly points out that awakening is sudden rather than gradual. I might add that talking of this issue points to the fact that we are speaking in terms of time. Sudden or gradual only makes sense within the scope of mind. Similarly asking about different degrees of awakening suggests a reference point or locality – we’re asking about space. Again we are talking in terms the mind can understand. Awareness, Consciousness, Beingness are prior to, before, and the basis upon which mind and the world are able to appear in the first place. I could go on for hours, but this is Colin’s series!

As we end the series we have one final piece Colin has so generously offered called No Seeker, Practicer, or Contemplator. Before you read the article I would ask that you keep the three previous topics in mind listed below for your convenience. Try to see if you can answer those questions with the insight Colin shares in this final article.

Why do anything?

Is Practice Necessary?

Are there different degrees of awakening?

No Seeker, Practicer or Contemplator

Although I maintain that one needs ‘practice’ to become completely established in, and as, awareness this practice should obviously not entail becoming identified as a seeker, practicer, contemplator etc.. For any identification other than with awareness is only relative and will always lead to mental suffering, and the practice that I recommend is identification with awareness. As soon as we identify with anything else we have started to read meaning into things that have no meaning, the danger of which is considered in this excerpt from A Light Unto Your Self:

There are many things that people regard as being meaningful in this respect, for instance:

I am a double Taurus with Sagittarius rising.

I am a (was born in the year of the) Rat.

I am a number seven.

I am a number nine in the enneagram

I am an Australian.

I am middle class.

I am a Christian/Hindu/Buddhist.

I am a sixty three year old white anglo-saxon male.

I am a potter.

I am a father and husband.

I am in good health.

I am (was, not now) a spiritual seeker.

I am (was, not now) a vegetarian.

I am (was, not now) celibate.

I am (was, not now) a renunciate.

These are all examples of things we are told mean something about us. Now these may, or may not, say something about our personality but do they really say anything about us as we really are? If we misidentify at the surface level of body/mind and thus the ego they all seem to have significance. However, each of these just adds another level of misidentification and gives us a more concrete feeling of being a personality.

At the deeper level of pure awareness these are obviously meaningless, as at this level I do not exist as a separate being, so that any assertion that ‘I am …anything’ is not only meaningless but is also false. (Note that ‘I am awareness’ does not fall into this category as awareness is not a ‘thing’.) Though such thoughts may appear interesting at the surface level of body/mind they need to held in this context and to be regarded as essentially meaningless. So if, for instance, one has an astrological chart/reading done this is to be considered to be pure entertainment ( as is life as it happens) and not to be saying anything about who (or what) one truly is.

Reading meaning into things that have no meaning has caused much human misery over the millennia. Most wars are fought in such meaningless causes as nationalism, religion, tribalism, racism etc… All of which have no essential meaning. That is not to say that the world’s religions do not point to essential meaning, but which religion you follow does not make you a member of an exclusive group which is superior to other beings. It is amazing how humanity is prepared to die or kill in defense of, or propagation of, an idea or false sense of identity with an exclusive group … both of which are essentially meaningless!

Even at the level of day-to-day living ‘reading meaning into things that have no meaning’ limits the lives of many people. This is a major factor in most mental illnesses and we all engage in it one way or another when we let trivial things affect our equanimity. For instance if I get depressed when the soccer team I support keeps losing … which it does! Now this obviously has no meaning apart from the fact that this football team is not very good, but if I identify myself as being a supporter of that team then I can infer that their ineptitude says something about me … Also, most people are superstitious in one degree or another and ‘reading meaning into things that have no meaning’ is obviously the cause of all superstition. Imagine how freeing it would be if one could truly see things as they ‘are’ and not ascribe any fictitious meaning to them! The easiest way to achieve this is by experientially discovering the deeper level of pure awareness and identifying with this.¹

In fact any thought which objectifies the ‘I’ is counterproductive and should be avoided. For the Awareness that we truly are is not an object but the constant conscious subjective presence in which all objects arise, reside, are spied and subside.

For e-books click each book cover or scroll down to read excerpts and to order/download these books right away. They are $9 each, two for $14 and all three for $18. Alternatively these books may be sampled and purchased at www.nonduality.com

To buy in the paper back format $17 each from www.lulu.com follow the links above given below:

Beyond the Separate Self

A Light Unto Your Self

Humanity Our Place in the Universe