Pointers & Reviews

Ultimately, nothing we say matters. Awareness is already fully present, and we are That.


*****


Alas, your focus is on your ego, which is simply a reoccuring function. Why not be alert to the fact that there is a unconditioned and imperishable presence that, among things, registers the momentary appearance of any thought or emotion (which is all the ego is anyway)? Stay with presence, not with the thought or feeling.


*****


If you are waiting on enlightenment at some future date, that day will never arrive. Why? Because you are giving credence to the chronological, which is not a factor in self-knowing. For time is a concept; understanding is not. Also, what you're searching for is entirely self-evident. And you need no duration--much less a lifetime!--to recognize its immediacy.


*****


There is no person to awaken. There is only an awakening to the presence of this natural state.


*****


Don't get caught up on semantic matters. Presence, Self, Awareness, Intrinsic Awareness, Nonconceptual Reality all point to the same thing. But they are not the thing itself. No intellectual comprehension of nonduality--however vigorous and nuanced--can remotely match a felt-understanding of it. For with this understanding comes the actual seeing that you are Existence itself, that you are that immenseness.


*****


Stay with that which Does Not Move. What is it, right now, that Does Not Change?


*****


Tatvamasi: You Are That (DVD/$19.95) is a lush and riveting 87-minute work on the life and teachings of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. The film's producer and scriptwriter, Nitin Ram, clearly has a deep understanding of nonduality. For we given--through quotes and archival footage of Nisargadatta himself-- such telling and captivating exhortations as "No color, no design--that is your true nature" and "Self-realization is not the outcome of spiritual practices...It is, in fact, the dissolution of the seeker notion!" Excellent, too, are rarely seen selections from the sage's early notebooks ("I went through many extraordinary experiences during my wandering period") and the appearances in the film by "Sailor" Bob Adams (a direct disciple of Nisargadatta's), Gilbert Schultz, Mark West, and Charlie Hayes, who presently lives in Enid, Oklahoma. You can order this excellent DVD directly from the company's Web site at: www.abideinself.com

*****


As You Are Unborn: Pointers to Your Natural State of Eternal Freedom (Lulu/$18.95 paper/$10.95 download) amply illustrates, Charlie Hayes' productivity is matched only by his clarity. Indeed, the cleanness and concision of his prose is apt to nudge the seeker into carefully re-reading whatever nondual gem that he or she may be perusing. This occurs not because Charlie's expressions are difficult follow, but because --more often than not--the seeker is likely to think: "It can't be that simple!" or "Wait, can this really be what he is pointing to"? And that it is: Felt-presence and spaciousness. Only this and nothing else. With these pointers, I am tempted to proffer (and pun!) that Charlie points the way. But there is no "way," as much--just a clear seeing or understanding of That which is in full evidence. Perhaps the greatest compliment that one nonduality teacher can offer to another one is to say that he or she is "the real deal." And Charlie Hayes is just that. (The book is available through Amazon or at Charlie's blog on this page's Link list.)