Satsang Sunday January 31, 2 PM Mountain Time (Arizona).
Go to http://satsangwithedji.weebly.com, and sign in with the password edji.
Then go to the Start Broadcasting tab and turn on your video if you want.
We may go an hour earlier in the future.
TOPIC WILL BE BEING WITNESS TO SELF.
Realizing the Manifest Self--the Life Force permeating our humanity--and the Unmanifest source from which it arises.
31 January 2015
ALL IS WELL AND IS UNFOLDING AS IT SHOULD.
What did Robert mean by this? That everything was perfect in the world, that disease, death, plague and war were OK with him?
No, it did not mean that, but only that what he called this lowest hell of existence is what is and it cannot be changed because the individual has no power to change it much for the better.
He would say over and over, "look how many saints and sages have lived during the past thousand years, and have things improved? No, they are the same or worse."
No, it did not mean that, but only that what he called this lowest hell of existence is what is and it cannot be changed because the individual has no power to change it much for the better.
He would say over and over, "look how many saints and sages have lived during the past thousand years, and have things improved? No, they are the same or worse."
However, Robert was talking about his own Self experience; even given the bad news of death, decay, war, he was at peace in his own skin. He was in Samadhi and nothing disturbed him. All was well so far as he was concerned and he could not be bothered to oppose evil or do good unless it flowed from him in that moment.
In a sense he was saying "Join me in the fullness of your Self, and you too will experience such peace that nothing will bother oyu, you will feel no need to change anything.
But on the other hand, he did not stop those who did make an effort to make the world a better place because that was their measure, their calling, and of them, he would say, "Someone has to do it."
But on the other hand, he did not stop those who did make an effort to make the world a better place because that was their measure, their calling, and of them, he would say, "Someone has to do it."
29 January 2015
I HAVE A
CONFESSION.
At this
moment I could not be happier. My body
feels light as a feather, and I am filled with joy. A subtle, very subtle, trembling goes
throughout my body, a vibration that feels like a constant, low level,
body-wide orgasm.
I wonder why
few people come to Satsang, and I really don’t care anymore, because I am
happy, totally happy. I just want others
to feel this good, to be at peace, to feel bliss, and to know who they are.
So
easy. Just trust the method of loving
self-inquiry. Go within, look around. Then go within and feel around for evidence
that you exist as a feeling, a subtle vibration in your heart or gut. When you find it, keep your presence there. This will grow your sense of presence until
it is felt all over and even outside your body, permeating everything. Love that sense of presence, play with
it. Accept all other images and feelings
that arise because of your self-abiding, whether of joy or sorrow, peace or
anger, happiness or deep depression.
They are all you, parts you have long been aware, and parts long denied.
The more you
practice, the more complete and powerful in Self you become.
Then love
another. Feel your love of their
existence. That is your own love for
your own self.
Then you too
can lie in your own easy chair unwilling to move for fear of disturbing your
bliss. Not only will it help you, but
your happiness and energy will spread—hopefully like a plague of good-will.
25 January 2015
I went to a Catholic Funeral Mass yesterday for Kerima's mother and was sorely disappointed. I had never attended a mass before, but all of the statues, the songs, the priests words were all about belief in Christ as the bringer of salvation, grace, everlasting life. Itwas all about faith that both God and Christ exist now, and if you believe in Christ, somehow you are immortal. That is, an act of mind, a belief, faith, will set you free.
No one said God, Christ, was already in you and that all you have to do to experience this divinity was to turn within with loving acceptance of all that you find, and you will experience God for yourself.
Of course, this is what 99% of spirituality is all about: faith in spiritual prophets from Mohammed to Jesus, from Buddha and the Patriarchs, from Echart Tolle to Alister Crowley, and Ramana to Robert. We hook into their teachings and their teachings become the filter through which we experience the world.
I remember for years holding onto the belief that the world was not real because Robert, Ramana, and Nisargadatta said so. But they meant it was unreal becuase it was temporary, not that the experience of the world itself was illusion, but that the manifestation changed from moment to moment, and only the Subject, the Self, was real because it was unchanging.
So many who follow Robert Adams hold onto partial understandings of what Robert and Ramana said because Robert was saying things to make students turn within to find the Self, the root of Consciousness and not the entirety of the way things are.
When asked how he experienced the world, as Light, as energy, as Consciousness, Robert responded, "I experience the world as you do, otherwise I could not function. But, I also know it is Consciousness."
That is, Robert's experience of the world was just like your experience, but he had the knowledge (Jnana) that both his body and the world were Consciousness, and as such, the world was not real, only Consciousness was real, and thus we have Advaita--not two.
But Robert experienced the world just as you do: as painful, pleasureable, both nasty and loving, as the lowest hell, but the Self inside, the Witness, as untouched and in total peace.
But please remember Robert's original awakening experience. It was one of experiencing the light of a thousand suns arise in him and expand until he filled the entire universe, filled with joy and energy.
This is his experience of the realization of Self, as the Manifest Self that embraced the universe, and which filled the Nothingness that destroyed the personal self, with energy and joy, also known as Shakti. And when you experience the magnificense of the Manifest Self, you, as a human, as the human self, can never take your attention off of it.
As Ramana said about his awakening:
But with the death of this body am I dead? Is the body I? It is silent and inert but I feel the full force of my personality and even the voice of the 'I' within me, apart from it. So I am Spirit transcending the body. The body dies but the Spirit that transcends it cannot be touched by death. That means I am deathless Spirit."
All this was not dull thought; it flashed through me vividly as living truth which I perceived directly, almost without thought-process. "I" was something very real, the only real thing about my present state, and all the conscious activity connected with my body was centred on that "I". From that moment onwards the "I" or Self focused attention on itself by a powerful fascination.
Fear of death had vanished once and for all. Absorption in the Self continued unbroken from that time on. Other thoughts might come and go like the various notes of music, but the "I" continued like the fundamental sruti note that underlies and blends with all the other notes. Whether the body was engaged in talking, reading, or anything else, I was still centred on "I".
Previous to that crisis I had no clear perception of my Self and was not consciously attracted to it. I felt no perceptible or direct interest in it, much less any inclination to dwell permanently in it.
(http://www.jnani.org/masters/m_maharshi_set.html)
This is true self-realization. Ramana had become aware of his Self for the first time, he could feel it within his own body separate from it, and his attention was centered on that Self, which contained the fullness of his personality and life.
That is, he was separate as a human witness to the Self, felt it arise inside of him, and from that moment on he could not take his attention off the Self.
Thus by absorption in that Self, he Ramana, as a human, became one with Self.
This is a paradox: they were two, separate, but by absorption and worship, they became one.
Notice he does not describe the Self as Emptiness, Nothingness, Zero or any other no-thing, not self. He does not even describe his human Self that way, even though his human self was left behind to a large extent through immersion in the Self of all--the Atman.
Robert's teachings focused on transcending the body and world preparatory to the experience of Self; he rarely talked about the glory of Self as does Ramana or Nisargadatta in his earliest work, Self-Knowledge and Self Realization. If you talk in terms of the carrot and stick approach Ramana was more the carrot, and Robert's message was more the stick.
No one said God, Christ, was already in you and that all you have to do to experience this divinity was to turn within with loving acceptance of all that you find, and you will experience God for yourself.
Of course, this is what 99% of spirituality is all about: faith in spiritual prophets from Mohammed to Jesus, from Buddha and the Patriarchs, from Echart Tolle to Alister Crowley, and Ramana to Robert. We hook into their teachings and their teachings become the filter through which we experience the world.
I remember for years holding onto the belief that the world was not real because Robert, Ramana, and Nisargadatta said so. But they meant it was unreal becuase it was temporary, not that the experience of the world itself was illusion, but that the manifestation changed from moment to moment, and only the Subject, the Self, was real because it was unchanging.
So many who follow Robert Adams hold onto partial understandings of what Robert and Ramana said because Robert was saying things to make students turn within to find the Self, the root of Consciousness and not the entirety of the way things are.
When asked how he experienced the world, as Light, as energy, as Consciousness, Robert responded, "I experience the world as you do, otherwise I could not function. But, I also know it is Consciousness."
That is, Robert's experience of the world was just like your experience, but he had the knowledge (Jnana) that both his body and the world were Consciousness, and as such, the world was not real, only Consciousness was real, and thus we have Advaita--not two.
But Robert experienced the world just as you do: as painful, pleasureable, both nasty and loving, as the lowest hell, but the Self inside, the Witness, as untouched and in total peace.
But please remember Robert's original awakening experience. It was one of experiencing the light of a thousand suns arise in him and expand until he filled the entire universe, filled with joy and energy.
This is his experience of the realization of Self, as the Manifest Self that embraced the universe, and which filled the Nothingness that destroyed the personal self, with energy and joy, also known as Shakti. And when you experience the magnificense of the Manifest Self, you, as a human, as the human self, can never take your attention off of it.
As Ramana said about his awakening:
But with the death of this body am I dead? Is the body I? It is silent and inert but I feel the full force of my personality and even the voice of the 'I' within me, apart from it. So I am Spirit transcending the body. The body dies but the Spirit that transcends it cannot be touched by death. That means I am deathless Spirit."
All this was not dull thought; it flashed through me vividly as living truth which I perceived directly, almost without thought-process. "I" was something very real, the only real thing about my present state, and all the conscious activity connected with my body was centred on that "I". From that moment onwards the "I" or Self focused attention on itself by a powerful fascination.
Fear of death had vanished once and for all. Absorption in the Self continued unbroken from that time on. Other thoughts might come and go like the various notes of music, but the "I" continued like the fundamental sruti note that underlies and blends with all the other notes. Whether the body was engaged in talking, reading, or anything else, I was still centred on "I".
Previous to that crisis I had no clear perception of my Self and was not consciously attracted to it. I felt no perceptible or direct interest in it, much less any inclination to dwell permanently in it.
(http://www.jnani.org/masters/m_maharshi_set.html)
This is true self-realization. Ramana had become aware of his Self for the first time, he could feel it within his own body separate from it, and his attention was centered on that Self, which contained the fullness of his personality and life.
That is, he was separate as a human witness to the Self, felt it arise inside of him, and from that moment on he could not take his attention off the Self.
Thus by absorption in that Self, he Ramana, as a human, became one with Self.
This is a paradox: they were two, separate, but by absorption and worship, they became one.
Notice he does not describe the Self as Emptiness, Nothingness, Zero or any other no-thing, not self. He does not even describe his human Self that way, even though his human self was left behind to a large extent through immersion in the Self of all--the Atman.
Robert's teachings focused on transcending the body and world preparatory to the experience of Self; he rarely talked about the glory of Self as does Ramana or Nisargadatta in his earliest work, Self-Knowledge and Self Realization. If you talk in terms of the carrot and stick approach Ramana was more the carrot, and Robert's message was more the stick.
24 January 2015
What would you be without a body?
What would you hear without ears?
What would you see without eyes?
What would you taste without a tongue?
What would you smell without a nose?
What would you feel without skin, muscles and nerves?
NOTHING!!!! NOTHING AT ALL!!!
So what would it feel like without your sensory robot running around in this world?
There would be no world for you at all.
All that there would be is Self, the Principle that senses, knows, is aware. But it cannot be aware of itself. It just is until there is some Life, incarnated potential to perceive: sentience. Then is can become aware of itself through incarnation, activity, spirit and body dancing together.
What would you hear without ears?
What would you see without eyes?
What would you taste without a tongue?
What would you smell without a nose?
What would you feel without skin, muscles and nerves?
NOTHING!!!! NOTHING AT ALL!!!
So what would it feel like without your sensory robot running around in this world?
There would be no world for you at all.
All that there would be is Self, the Principle that senses, knows, is aware. But it cannot be aware of itself. It just is until there is some Life, incarnated potential to perceive: sentience. Then is can become aware of itself through incarnation, activity, spirit and body dancing together.
Robert Adams on Freedon
The only word Robert Adams spoke during his last Satsang was, "Freedon, freedom, freedom," over and over.
Robert was not about repression, denial of the external world, denial of responsibility, denial of the body, denial of sex, denial of anything.
But many of his current followers look to Robert and Ramana as exemplars of denial of the flesh.
There is a strong anti-life negativity in current spirituality that was absent in Robert.
Robert embraced everything. He specifically had no proscriptions against sex or of living with wealth, but was a Vegan out of concern for the suffering of animals.
He told people to ignore the world because it was the lowest of hells for just one reason: he wanted people to stop looking outwards, to stop being concerned with their problems and problems of the world so that they would turn within and find the Self, the heart of life within the hearts of each of us.
How he did this was to repeat over and over that the world was illusion, Maya, not important---compared to the Self within.
Therefore he directed us all to look within for the I thought, or the I-feeling, find the emptiness within, and then looking deeper with loving awareness, to find the Self within.
Ramana called this Self within the Atman, the individualized embodiment of God in the individual fleshy body. Nisargadatta and his teacher Siddharameshwar called it attaining Krishna Consciousness, immersion in Turiya, the fundamental base Consciousness that pervaded the waking, sleep, and dream states.
Chritian mystics call it the realization or descent of Christ within.
Everyone will describe that initial awareness in different ways according to their culture and the words, concepts, and paradigms of their time. Buddhists will speak of the Void while Shakti worshippers will speak of ecstacy and bliss, love and surrender.
But the end result is all about freedom: freedom from concepts, freedom from culture (although no one really escapes entirely from culture). Freedom!! Freedom!! Freedom!!
But the edeal of many who follow Robert is really another form of repression holding that "transcending" sex, being able to live without eating, being able to live without sleep, being selflessly giving are behavioral ways of acquiring Self.
Not so. I repeat, Robert said to ignore the world, eat moderately and not to pay much attention to the body, not to be too concerned about sex in moderation, or anything in moderation, only to get people to let the world alone and look within, feel within.
One can be a drug addict, an alcoholic, bulimic, a sexaholic, chain smoker, even a criminal of the worst sort, But if one merely turns within and descends that long thread of the I Am until it leads to the Self, one can eventually find it in your heart of hearts.
Even now it is there buried under 10,000 rules, 1,000 desires, 1,000 spiritual concepts, endless guilt, grief, depression, and rage. All that you need do is look and feel within, gently and with love, trying to see and feel the Self.
Once the Self is seen, even just once, everything changes. One cannot stop looking at the Self wherever it seems to hide. With intense gaze and intense feeling, one just continues to fixate on that source of Life within that is continuously burning, overflowing with love, energy, and divine embrace.
Youfeel that God is living through you. More tha that, as Nisargadatta stated, for the awakened one, who Nisargadatta called "the Saint," their life is all about justice, service, and worship of all that is living.
To really understand Nisargadatta you have to read his first book, Self-Knowledge and Self-Realization found on the website http://wearesentience.com which is quite a different take than his later books where he denies the reality (because it is temporary) of the manifest Self--the divine Self of Shakti, Christ, Krishna. Yes, when the body dies they are absorbed back into Shiva, the Witness, yet continue to live on in trillions of life forms.
So, do not obsess about what a guru eats, drinks, meditates on, techniques, or about your own perceived faults of loving too much or too little, drinking too much, eating meat or being Vegan. These are all outward manifestations of your individuality and are not of the prime importance to finding the Self. Turning within is the only important thing related to finding the Self.
When the Self--God, Shakti, Christ--is found, then you have freedom. God acts through you. Eats through you. Drinks through you. Has sex through you. Teaches through you. Sees Him or Herself through you. Worships the Self, Himself, found in others, through you.
One can become a roaring lion at this point, wild, perceived as a threat to all, or, according to his or her nature, perhaps entirely withdrawn in Self-contemplation. But even the wild one is acting through God teaching all about Freedom. Freedom! Not repression, not rules, not concepts and limitations.
The God-intoxicated awakened being is not about to go out and kill, rape, murder, steal, etc., for his or her behaviors are always directed towards love of Life and of all sentient beings although maybe in ways that others, because of all their rules and spiritual concepts, regard as non-spiritual.
But Robert was all about Freedom! Freedom from the wold by finding your own Self and God, but also freedom within the world once you decide to reenter and participate in the world.
21 January 2015
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