Monday, July 26, 2010

Q&A: A Clear Understanding

Question: Namaste, My Dear Rodney. I am 34 years old, and I live and work in Mumbai, India. I am an ardent spiritual seeker and have been since my teenage years. I like your blog very, very much. It is always interesting and so very easy to understand.

Rodney: It's very nice to hear from you. And thanks for the kind words. I, of course, can completely empathize with you on those years of seeking.

Q: After reading your fine pointers again and again, I am still unable to catch the Nondual Awareness that you are pointing to. It's an extremely frustrating experience for me, like a dog chasing its tail. Why have I been unable to recognise that permanent spaciousness within me?

Rodney: You are trying too hard. Such strenuous efforts only lead to greater frustration, more anxiety, and incorrect assumptions. The bare truth of the matter is that you are already that nondual spaciousness that you are seeking. Just keeping that marvelous little fact in the back of your head will help you to relax and to be open to an entirely different approach to all this. And by "different approach," I simply mean a fresh seeing.

Q: Yes, a fresh seeing. That's definitely needed. More than anything, I want to recognise this infinite nature that you and all the sages have beautifully described. Doubts continue to arise, and as you say, they just lead to anxiousness and frustration.But I want this Final Truth more than anything.

Rodney: Your wanting a clear understanding of your natural state (rather than just conceptual discussions about it) is to be commended. Notable too is your earnestness, which Nisargadatta said is the foremost quality that any seeker can have. For someone such as yourself, just a little clarification tends to go a long way. So forget whatever doubts arise. They are just thoughts that are suggesting that you are not what you presently are: Awareness itself. And nothing could be further from the truth. All thoughts, feelings, and ideas can only be known
by and in this pure and radiant spaciousness. You are merely overlooking it. So given that you are already That, the first order of business is to relax. For dismay and anxiousness will only muddle things up.

Q: Yes, I see how important it is not to stress about all this. But I want more than anything to experience this ultimate Truth, but the ego--

Rodney: --is just another thought. Don't give it any unnecessary importance; for it's basically a notion or idea that pops up and then disappears. It is only because that particular thought is remembered that you assume that there is a continuity there, an "I" or "me" or person that is ever-present. But we have already shown that that is definitely not the case. Thus, there is nothing actually impeding you from cognitizing your pristine Beingness, except the attention you give to that thought which is saying that presence isn't fully before you at this very moment...And know, too, that your natural state cannot be experienced. It can only be lived, understood, and reveled in. It is unchanging, and beyond all space and time. And its peace is without parallel. Yet, even those words are a woeful approximation of its beauty and clarity.

Q: Excellent points. Thank you....And I am trying not to turn my seeking into some kind of goal, like achieving "Bliss" or ''Enlightenment'' or some ''super" state of consciousness. I know you have spoken a lot about this.

Rodney: Yes, and all of the things you mentioned can indeed be goals because they are experiences. They are not awareness proper, which is only recognized or understood in the
absence of an imagined "I" or "me." And remember, it's not a matter of attempting to make the "I" absent. That's the "I" in operation again! But that is not the case when you simply see or recognize that this imagined "me" is not continually present--but that awareness is.

Q: And in my mind, immediately up pops "How is it done"?

Rodney: The seeing or the understanding
is the "doing." There is no "how" other than that. Indeed, the "how" is just another thought raised by the mind. But when no thought is present, what is present?....See that there is an undeniable pause there. At first glance, the pause seems quite ordinary. But if you bring your full attention to it, freshly and without stress, you may find that that pause isn't ordinary at all. But rather, it is eternal, omnipresent, and ever-peaceful. Again, don't make it a chore or an effort. Just keep coming back to those potent moments as they naturally occur throughout the day and evening. Then you will see that you never ever move from your self-shining essence. And what could be more precious than that?

Q: Thank you, Rodney, I am simply amazed how easily you unfold all of the nondual essentials. I really like your straight, graceful, and transparent style of writing and teaching. Please accept my love and blessings for your unselfish service.

Rodney: You're most welcome, my friend.

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The interview that I recently did for the new online publication,
Nonduality Magazine, can be found at the following link: http://www.nondualitymagazine.org/nonduality_magazine_volume_1.contents.htm

If the link isn't highlighted (or is highlighted but won't open), simply copy and paste it into your Subject line, and click.

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Monday, July 19, 2010

Pointers

There is nothing to do, other than recognize or understand what is subtly present.


*****


Becoming is the most vital thing in the world for seekers. But the emphasis on becoming--rather than on directly perceiving or understanding what already prevails--is precisely what keeps seekers on the unending road of attainment.


*****


Don't necessarily look for a meaning to life. You're still in the conceptual and spiritual realms when you take those routes. Nonduality--a teaching that points to awareness proper--is thoroughly beyond any philosophical or spiritual framework.


*****


All of your notions about Bliss, Moksha, Liberation, Enlightenment, and Transformation are keeping you from cognitizing your natural and ever-present state. By focusing on the aforementioned, you are centering on myths and inaccuracies, rather than on what is right here, right now.


*****


Thoughts are only a problem when you attempt to stop, slow, or monitor them.


*****


The "me," for the most part, is the imagined continuity thought. Instead of simply having a memory of previous ideas and emotions, you give them an aliveness, a reach, and--most important--a relationship. While thoughts are certainly central to our living and communicating with one another, they do not define us. What is the stillness from which all thoughts arise? Discover that glorious Quintessence for yourself.


*****


Don't give presence any religious or spiritual baggage. It can neither be categorized nor sanctified. Yet, it is Sanctification itself. And you can come to this understanding just as easily on the toilet as you can at an ashram or spiritual commune. Indeed, I would say that the likelihood is far greater with the former, than with the latter.


*****


This is key: The "I" or imagined person cannot get this. Self-knowing only happens in the
absence of thoughts and concepts. That is why the pause is so vital when it comes to this understanding.


*****


When you truly love someone, the emotional component is only a small (but dynamic) part of the relationship. There is something else there that can only be hinted at, or expressed by a touch, a kiss, a caress, or a gaze. Then the words "I love you" are simply--and wonderfully--a pointing-to-presence. You are saying that you are magnificently attracted to that particular wave in the water, while fully knowing that every little thing---the lovemaking, the disagreements, the conversations, the laughter, etc--is just this one, big ocean of presence. What appear as separations are not. All is awareness, and you are That.


*****


In
Mind Is A Myth, U.G. Krishnamurti tells how the search for enlightenment is akin to being lost in a jungle, in which there is little hope of finding your way out. "Night is fast approaching, the wild animals are there, including the cobras, and still you are lost. What do you do in such a situation? You just stop. You don't move." You stop by clearly understanding that self-knowledge is neither "attained" nor strictly found in exotic, faraway locations. It is your ordinary, everyday awareness seen in all its richness and subtlety. You do not move because you see, finally, that there is no where to go. This is what you are--peace and plenitude. Unerring sacredness.


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The interview that I recently did for the new online publication,
Nonduality Magazine, can be found at the following link: http://www.nondualitymagazine.org/nonduality_magazine_volume_1.contents.htm

If the link isn't highlighted (or is highlighted but won't open), simply copy and paste it into your Subject line, and click.

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Monday, July 12, 2010

Q&A: That Cognitizing Sheerness

Question: I would first like to say that I enjoy reading your blog and deeply appreciate your style of communication. There is a "sweetness" to your expression that I find disarming and am moved by very much.

Rodney: Happy to hear it. And thank you!

Q: I hope you will indulge my propensity to just communicate in the way most of us are used to doing. I find bringing in the advaita police to put a check on every little thing to be cumbersome and tiring.

Rodney: As do I. So we're in full agreement there. The only "checking" that will come from me is to correct or clarify any points
after you have asked your question.

Q: Sounds good...It seems to me that the bottom line you and other respected teachers are pointing out is that the supposed separate "me" that I have long taken to be fact is, in fact, a fairy tale. I am not that supposed individual, but awareness itself. And if this truth is clearly seen, it is like removing the king-pin from a big-rig and the trailer of suffering are left behind forever.

Rodney: That is nicely-phrased and--for the most part--accurate. It's all about seeing who and what you actually are. And ultimately, there is not even a who, only the what. As to suffering, self-knowledge brings a definite diminishment of
psychological suffering, but not necessarily physical suffering. Nisargadatta was clearly in a great deal pain and discomfort from cancer in his final days; yet, there was no sufferer, and he continued to say as much in his final discourses.

Q: I see. You're saying that the view that this understanding will bring about a complete end to suffering is--

Rodney: --is false and idyllic, however beautiful "the end of suffering" may sound. In life, situations and problems will certainly arise. But when your understanding is clear, those situations are met with the fullness of your Being, causing any malaise or adversity to appear nominal, inconsequential, and/or short-lived. In a word, very little overwhelms you.

Q: I have made an honest attempt to see if this separate individual is indeed a mere fairy tale. The weird thing is, it would seem to be the easiest thing in the world to see. The same applies to your pointers about awareness always being the same, always being present, even though its contents (experiences, etc) are always changing. But--

Rodney: Stay with that notion that this understanding is "the easiest thing in the world to see," because, quite simply, it is. Even intuitively knowing this takes the bluster and seeming solidity out of any idea, concept, or conditioning that there is a defined, individual "you" there. Yes, your body, personality, and physiology are quite singular. But fundamentally, you are awareness itself. And the universe and every single entity and occurrence in it arises from this Essence, this substratum of existence.

Q: Yes, but there's the rub. Even though this seems easy enough to verify, I still feel as though this awareness and this personal "me" are one and the same.

Rodney: Take note of what is happening: The "me"--in the the form of I and mine-type thoughts/ emotions--arise in awareness. That sense of "me-ness" is not always present, is it? They arise in what you
already are. Presence is simply being overlooked because you are in the habit of focusing on thoughts, sensations, feelings, and your body. All those things are certainly there, but they are perceptions. They aren't you. You are what is aware of them, what knows that they are present.

Q: While "I" get this, it doesn't really clear anything up. I'm still the same stress case worrying about providing for my children, where the next check will come from, etc. In other words, I'm still feel a stake in the ever shifting world of experience.

Rodney: The "I" can't get this. Your natural state is only recognized or understood in the
absence of any imagined "I" or "me". And that, by the way, is just one of the reasons why this recognition is so simple and unalloyed. Your feeling of having "a stake in the shifting world of experience" is simply an arising thought or sentiment that is not necessarily true. You certainly want to care and provide for your family. But continue to look closely into the issue of an individual you and whether awareness can, in any way, be bounded. How can that immeasurable spaciousness--directly before you and within you--be, in any way, limited?

Q: It cannot.

R: And nor can you. For you
are that cognitizing sheerness. Again, stay mindful of the fact that this understanding is one of the easiest things to come by, that it only appears elusive because, among other things, it is the most obvious thing before you. Also, if necessary, take naturally occurring breaks from nonduality, so that you can come back to it freshly. For a clear-seeing of this is all that is really needed.

Q: Thanks so much for taking the time to respond, Rodney. I find your words and the words of a few others to be very helpful and encouraging.

Rodney: You're most welcome.


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The interview that I recently did for the new online publication,
Nonduality Magazine, can be found at the following link: http://www.nondualitymagazine.org/nonduality_magazine_volume_1.contents.htm

If the link isn't highlighted (or is highlighted but won't open), simply copy and paste it into your Subject line, and click.

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Monday, July 5, 2010

Pointers

You are not what changes.


*****


In many classic nonduality/advaita texts, you will see the phrase "meditate upon" Self, Brahman, or Supreme Reality. Be suspect of translations. What the self-realized authors of these works were attempting to say is "
pause with what is already present."


*****


You cannot be your thoughts or your body because you are
aware of your thoughts and your body. You are That which recognizes that these things are appearing.


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"Awakened Mind" is an oxymoron (a figure of speech that combines contradicting terms) rather than an actual condition. For there is no defined mind. And how can thoughts and concepts (which
are the mind) be awakened?


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Essentially, your daily experiences can be divided into thoughts, feelings, sensations and perceptions. But what is it that is none of these?


*****


Your existence cannot be denied. You are here, at this moment, perusing these words. But what else is present, besides your customary thoughts, physicality, beliefs, and emotions? If your pause is relaxed and significant enough, you will immediately discern a subtle-yet-undeniable peace and spaciousness from which manifest-existence arises.


*****


You can't stop the mind. The mind is a naturally occurring process. And
who, precisely, is there to stop it? The "I" and "Me" are the mind! They are just thoughts coming up. And these thoughts are coming up in awareness, not in some defined and individual "you." The only "you" there is awareness. And you are That.


*****


You are already the watcher and knower. Thus, any practices related to increased observation, concentration, and mindfulness are totally without merit. You are what you are: Presence itself. The actuality of this fact should stun you with its clarity.


*****


Thoughts and ideas can only point to Reality, not describe it. Don't think for a moment that you can get even a modicum of an approximation of what Presence is by a term, expression, or description. And this fact, in itself, points to the eternal and numinous qualities of awareness, all of which are readily before you and within you at this very moment.


*****


In the
Brihadâranyaka Upanishad, or the "Great Forest Secret Teaching" (a nearly 3,000-year old Sanskrit scripture), it rightly and beautifully declares, "The Self is taintless, beyond space, unborn, vast, and immovable. Let a wise aspirant directly realize this insight, not just reflect on tiresome words."


*****


Apropos meditation: You can't get Here, from there. You are absolutely always Here. The "there" is a fiction, a projection, an appearance that comes and goes. Your very nature is
hereness, and yet you are missing it--not because it's abstract or abstruse, but because your scrutiny is given to concepts and sensations. Now, don't try not to give your attention to those things. That is just your projected-I sneaking in the backdoor. Rather, simply understand that this misplaced attention is happening. That's all that is needed.


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The interview that I recently did for the new online publication,
Nonduality Magazine, can be found at the following link: http://www.nondualitymagazine.org/nonduality_magazine_volume_1.contents.htm

If the link isn't highlighted (or is highlighted but won't open), simply copy and paste it into your Subject line, and click.

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