When we were around Robert, no one wanted to work. We were surrounded by his peace and after leaving him from lunch or Satsang, it was the hardest thing to return to the world. The deeper the message gets and the deeper meditation gets, the more silence envelopes you and the more peace and bliss you feel. In fact, you might get quite crabby with people who want you to do something, like a wife or husband who wants you to pay attention to them.
To understand this state, which certainly is not the "final" state, you have to read the Ashtavakra Gita by Byrom, portions of which are found on the itisnotreal.com website.
After learning how to rest in I Amness, A.K.A. Turiya, oneness, complete happiness, etc., it is really difficult to initiate activities. When activities come, they are not initiated by you, but from "outside." Someone needs help, someone knocks at the door, someone sends you a bill, or you see some injustice that needs fixing. Then briefly you can become like a tiger if needed.
No one is lazier than someone who can become lost in the Self, awareness, oneness, peace. There is no desire at all to do anything and if action comes, it arises spontaneously out of the moment.
The older I get, the less I understand complex issues. Years ago I would have been absorbed in discussions, especially mathematics or philosophy, because I had a mind that wanted to understand things. Now someone starts talking to me about mechanical, medical or website design issues, and it passes right over my head. I just smile as if I understood, or as if I cared, because I don't want them repeating it to explain it better. They might as well have been talking to a tree trunk.
Everything comes and goes, moment by moment all day long, but I no longer move. I rest in happiness and peace as dumb as a rock, yet peaceful and all pervading. My mind is calm, still, concepts just ruffle the surface, to be ignored. This is peace.
This is why I do not have Satsang. I have no need for it and am too lazy and happy to start one. I have done it before and know the energy it takes and how distracting it is, nor does there appear to be a great need for it in L.A. If there were a great need, things would happen to make Satsang happen.
Robert never had Satsang at his house, but always at devotee's houses. Robert was driven too and from Satsang. Robert couldn't even dress himself properly and needed Nicole Adams to help him. Robert was my ideal. He did nothing and preached doing nothing, always dwelling on the edge of the Void.
We all learned that lesson well and few of us could even work. Robert used to joke to his close students that he was the only one working by doing Satsang.
Many of you write about how is one able to do an active life and strong sadhana at the same time. My advice has always been to give up the active life. But there are those who lead active lives and are realized. However, Robert's way of doing nothing chose me.
The state just prior to becoming dumb as a rock.
Truly dumb as a rock but happy!
I haven't worked in over a decade now, and have no desire to ever look for work again. Years ago, I left a lucrative job and profession and was looking for some type of employment that would allow me to pursue sadhana more intensely but still make a living. Even though I was extremely qualified for a number of things I applied for, I didn't get a single interview.
ReplyDeleteAfter about a year of looking and wondering how I was going to support my family, I had a vision in which I was told, point-blank, that I was not going to have a paid job again. A few months later, when we were on the verge of completely running out of money, someone called out of nowhere to offer my wife a job. Since then, whenever there has been anything we needed and couldn't afford, something would happen -- e.g., someone would die unexpectedly and leave us money -- to provide us with everything we needed. Strange, how things work out.
The only extroverted thing I do by choice now is send you ridiculous e-mails once in a while. I am put in a position in which I have to do a lot of other things, and that's fine. When given the option, however, I really don't do anything at all. I just don't feel motivated to engage the world in any way. Even being around most spiritually minded people just seems like a lot of work now. I don't know why anyone would want to give satsang, though I respect those who do so out of a sense of compassion rather than to make money.
I do think it''s important for people not to get the idea that it's necessary to run away from the world in order to find peace. I have known people who abandon their responsibilities in the name of spirituality but still have strong material desires, which they spend much of their time pursuing, while deluding themselves into believing they are committed to deep spiritual practice. It's one thing to leave the world behind after your desires naturally fall away and another to run away from the bits of the world you don't like while continuing to seek those activities that gratify the ego. Some people are under the mistaken impression that they need to change their outer lives to become more spiritual people. This may be true in some cases, to some extent, but often people go through the motions externally but don't follow through. They end up getting swept even deeper into maya than they were before. So, my thought is that people should do what they feel they need to but not force things too much. Whatever changes need to come will do so on their own accord sooner or later.
Be well, Ed.
G.
Hi Ed-
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting this. Please feel free to post my emails with you, if you like, it may actually help somebody besides me!
Every time I email you I get the response before I even read your reply, and for this connection I am forever grateful. This is all the satsang I need, and I am so blessed to have come to you and Robert.
-Jason
Well said, Ed & G. If you can just recognize how desires make you unhappy, doing nothing becomes natural and over time you get sucked deeper and deeper into peace and happiness.
ReplyDeleteComing from an academic background, I know the whole thing about the mind and curiosity. I used to love discussing and arguing about things, but now I see that there are billions of people out there having billions of conversations, and what does it all come to? Nothing, just mental agitation and emotions based on mind-stuff.
I like this post because it gets to the more practical side of things. Keep up the good work, Ed. Or not - there's plenty of good stuff up on your sites already!
-Sam