Pointers

Look up to the clear, bracingly blue sky. You are more that than you are your body and your mind.


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Awareness is appearing as this and that--that is all that manifestation is. You are this limitless spaciousness from which everything and everyone arises. Thus, there is nothing for you to work toward or strive for. Indeed, such endeavors are fruitless, not to mention laughable.


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Dance, chant, and sit because you feel like dancing, chanting, and sitting. Then you are doing them from your heart. You aren't trying to achieve anything. You are simply filled with the spirit, so to speak, even while you are sitting!


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You are not your thoughts, emotions, sensations, personality, or state of alertness (consciousness). So what remains? What is it that remains? What is it-- right now--that is so glaringly apparent that it has been completely overlooked for years and years. Ponder this throughout the day whenever there is a natural urge to do so.


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Your very nature is knowingness and clarity. Discover what it is that is already before you.


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You can't "take refuge" in Buddha. There is no individual person to do so. Further, your very core is Buddha-nature. You never shift from that, despite any appearances to the contrary. So bring your attention to this living and immediate essence. Even Buddha himself said, "See the truth, and you will see me."


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Meditation can certainly help you to relax. But the results are usually short-lived. However, if you enjoy meditation, then by means continue to do it. Just know that it isn't a stepping-stone to knowing your natural state. That can only be recognized when meditation ceases.


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When you attempt to be "mindful" of your thoughts or breathing, you are piling this assumed person onto an already perfect, on-going action. Simply see that there is a presence of awareness, within you and before you, that automatically witnesses all notions and objects. And it takes no time nor any period of sitting to see this.


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This is absolutely key: You are the spaciousness in which all thoughts and emotions arise. That spa-ciousness is directly in front you! It is hushed, vivid, and featureless. And you are That. Look again. You...Are...That!


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Seekers have every right to ask if self-realization is a living reality for you, provided they do so graciously and have a sincere desire to know their true Self. Teachers who shrink from answering this question tend to be those who have not yet recognized their own natural and radiant state, and are attempting to hide this fact from others. But Buddha didn't hesitate to reply to this query. He answered forthrightly, "I am awake." Thus, it is wise seeker who takes the time to find someone who has truly discovered his or her fundamental presence, which--of course--is awareness itself.


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If you ever have the opportunity to converse with someone whose understanding is clear and solid, listen carefully to what the person is saying. Don't be mislead by any apparent ease and casualness in the conversation. For the person, in all likeli-hood, will be pointing to your essence with the whole of his or her being. Periods of indefinable stillness are sure to be present, no matter how lively the talk or conversation. Nisargadatta would occassionally yell at those sitting around him, obviously trying to jar them a little, shake them into seeing the obvious. And yet, even during the sage's shouts and rants, the room--we are told--was sated with the numinous.