Self-Knowledge and Self-Realization

SENT TO ME BY DAVID:

"To go all the way, you have to become nothing, useless. You have to let God or your teacher take everything away from you, including your knowledge and understanding, and become nothing."

This is so true.  Surrender means your life is over -- period.  The body may continue to be extremely active in the world, but it's a body of ashes, running around in a phantasmal dream world that never was.  The Jnani may laugh with the laughing and sympathize with the sorrowful, feast in golden hued palaces or live on the street and search through garbage for his meals, raise a family in the suburbs or dwell in a cave as a hermit.  It's all the same.  It's an irrelevant non-experience completely devoid of any meaning or consequence.  It's not the waking state, it's not a dream, it's not Turiya, it's not real, unreal or any state or non-state that language or thought can describe or point to.  It just is ... and it's good.

This sounds absolutely horrible to most people.  They can only conceive of the relative happiness or unhappiness that's tied to identification with the human experience.  They cling to objects which bring them joy, even though they know those same objects will eventually change or go away entirely, causing them great sadness.  They do this because they haven't ever had a glimpse of real, limitless joy, and they don't want to give up the limited happiness they sometimes experience because they don't believe there's anything better.

So, like heroin addicts, people are always looking for their next fix to get them through another day.  Eventually, they get sick of it all.  They decide that happiness laced with poison sucks -- that it's just not worth it.  They don't want to participate in the madness anymore, even if it means giving up the so-called good things.  Then they wake up, and experience the real joy of who they are (i.e., aren't).  This process takes a long time, yet happens in an instant.

Be well Ed.

David