You are the only Being in the universe,
And so am I.
My guru is Nisargadatta Maharaj. I did not meet his body, it was a meeting of minds and hearts - of lives. Like he did with his guru, I listened to his words and did what he said: Just BE. Every word he said turned out to be true.
Nisargadatta: "The aim is to awaken yourself to the faith in the self, 'I am'. That is the entire purpose. So whatever is inducive to that development you may accept. Suppose you have faith in a living guru, then accept a living guru. If you have faith in a guru who has left his body, accept that guru." - from "Experience of Nothingness"
People hesitate to use the word "enlightened" - as if there were something egoic about it, something self-centered. To me, it means "lightened, light". The load has dropped, ego-momentum is finished. I am all there is - inclusively. It is amazing - when "other" goes, all are my Self - we are all the same Being.
The world is my Self. Samsara is Nirvana. This is the final understanding.
I am sitting by myself right now, 'myself' being the computer and whatever I believe to be 'out there'... and reading these words.
I just realized... that I am the reader of these words, and there is nothing 'out there' at all, just me, myself and I. I am I.
I am reading these words right now that I believe somebody else wrote, but they are really 'mine'! Fancy that!
Now I know which direction to go... I go within, stay 'right here' and realize that everything 'out there' is really 'right here' as well. Maybe it's a little scary. That's OK. I'm so used to creating 'otherness' that it scares me a little not to. What a power I have, to do that! But I know where to look now.
* * *
"I simply followed (my teacher's) instruction, which was to focus the mind on pure being, 'I am', and stay in it. I used to sit for hours together with nothing but the 'I am' in my mind, and soon peace and joy and a deep all-embracing love became my normal state. In it all disappeared -- myself, my Guru, the life I lived, the world around me. Only peace remained, and unfathomable silence." -- Nisargadatta Maharaj
"I am independent so simply and totally, that your mind, accustomed to opposition and denial, cannot grasp it. I mean literally what I say..." -- Nisargadatta Maharaj
"His secret, and the ultimate paradox, is that he stands on his own. He is completely by himself (svasthya). Only by an absolute independence (svatantrya) has he discovered his absolute oneness with all things." -- Thomas Byrom's Ashtavakra Gita
"I am telling you again: You are the all-pervading, all transcending reality. Behave accordingly: think, feel and act in harmony with the whole and the actual experience of what I say will dawn upon you in no time." -- Nisargadatta Maharaj
Current Reflection (24 January) - Truth is Nondual The truth is nondual. What does this mean? Ultimately, it means just one thing: That the truth is not to be found 'out there', in multiplicity. Nor is it found in duality, in relationship between me and you. It is available in one place alone: Right here, within our own heart. There is a singular fact, and indeed something that nearly everyone is avoiding: Anything we can collude on with others is by nature false. Even Nisargadatta and Ramana having a dialogue are only making symbolic noises in the air. We tend to seek our spirituality outside ourselves. The words of others are taken on and believed (selectively, according to our pre-existing illusions). God is seen as something 'out there', up in the sky, away from us somehow. Yet, what we are all really seeking IS our Selves. We are looking to find ourselves. The truth is -- you are the Truth. You are the nondual Reality. And this reality is actually *inclusive* -- when you find your Self, you'll realize that it really includes everything and everyone else, too. Self-remembrance is the end of self, and the dawn of the Self. What actually creates divisiveness between us is the 'self and other' orientation -- me and you. When we turn to 'myself alone', what we find is that we have ignored our own Primality. We are the primary Fact in our lives, that which is. This ignorance (or forgetting) of our own Being has created all our troubles, created the search for 'something' outside ourselves, although we may not even know what that 'something' is. We just have to go on searching restlessly, endlessly. The search ends when we see that we are what we have been looking for. "Self and other" collapses into Self, which means that all others are our Self, too. We had simply been looking in the wrong 'place' -- out there, away from us. This search for 'you' was what was creating 'me' in the first place. When the search ends, we find we have always been that which was sought. Neither me nor you, but the Self, encompassing all. Postscript: There is actually no such thing as enlightenment. There is only one state (unenlightenment, ignorance) and its absence -- that's all. To awaken, we simply cut ourselves loose of all worldly attachments and be what we are, independent of all external supports. Such a thing is actually trivially easy to accomplish -- and utterly terrifying to ponder. It can happen slowly. The important point is to head in the right direction: Inward.* Allow * Give yourself permission to be awake. Even if it doesn't agree with anyone else's experiences. Even if everyone in the world thinks you're deluded. Even if you have to leave all your spiritual buddies behind. Even if you don't talk like Osho, walk like Nisargadatta or b*tch like U.G. Krishnamurti. Even if you still have to use the toilet afterward. Even if you don't see the Beyond. Even if there's nothing to seek anymore. Even if it's just ordinary. Allow yourself not to think of yourself. Not to be enlightened, but to be relieved of yourself. P.S.... don't tell anybody ;-)