Pointers

Drop all the questions and ponderings (even of these pointers!) and realize what is present at this very moment. It's all about what is happening now.


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There is nothing keeping you from seeing who and what you are. You are simply looking beyond yourself--at a thought, a sensation, or a prevailing view of what you think awakening is supposed to be like. Notice that when your attention is on no particular thought or concept, there is something still there, something remaining. Don't move from this. See that what is immediate and present has always been been in evidence--felt clarity and spaciousness.


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Some teachers say that the recognition of non-conceptual awareness is a descent into not-knowing. It would be more accurate to say that it is a plunge into Knowingness.


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Over 99% of spiritual people emphasize becoming. Most are even fearful of the arrival because it infers an end not only to who they believe themselves to be, but to the all-important quest that they have given themselves. So they go on and on about the joy being "in the journey." Unfortunately, the only journey you can make is away from yourself.


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All of the finest advaita/nondual teachers--Shankara, Ramana Maharshi, Sri Atmananda Krishna Menon, Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, "Sailor' Bob Adamson, etc --say that the ultimate spiritual state is neither rapture nor samadhi. Both of these are experiences (and therefore temporary), and are achieved with great effort. That which beyond all states is classically known as Turiya, which Nisargadatta called "pure witnessing, detached awareness, passionless and wordless. It is like space, unaffected by whatever it contains." Turiya, of course, is just another name for the natural state.