Ed,

I just wanted to thank you.  I discovered your website and am totally resonating with the teachings of Robert Adams.  I am a ten year seeker.  I stumbled across Gangaji on cable access TV which let me to Ramana Maharshi…through Nisargadatta…through Ramesh Balsekar…then on to Eckhart Tolle, Byron Katie and John Sherman.

So, by this point, I have been exposed to some great teachers.  Your website with the teachings of Robert Adams has blown me away.  He says exactly what I was hoping a teacher would say.  Especially around the preordained, karma topics.  It is no mistake that I “stumbled” across you site.  I have shared it with a good spiritual buddy of mine and we are reading and talking through the ”Collected Works” together.

Thank you for your generosity and making the teachings of this modern master so easily available.

Blessings,

B

LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS STORY ABOUT RAISING PET LIMITS IN LOS ANGELES--SEPTEMBER 16

Ed Muzika, who has an animal blog, has long proposed lifting the restraints on pet owners to allow them to have more dogs or cats in their homes. (Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer)


LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS, SEPTEMBER 16, 2010


STORY BY DANA BARTHOLOMEW


http://www.dailynews.com/ci_16085807?IADID=Search-www.dailynews.com-www.dailynews.com

http://lang3-plus-losangelesdailynewsg2-losangelesdailynewsg2-ca.ca.newsmemory.com/?token=qr/LGy%2bit%2bu24rRUP5ySQg%3d%3d

Ed Muzika has cat companions wandering about his Northridge house, a den full of kitty doodads and the remains of nine feline friends on his mantle.

But given his druthers, he'd have even more cats to keep him company.

"This is Cat Central, with all three cats," said Muzika, 63, as Radha, Sita and Dustin give visitors the once-over. "I want more.

"I want to rescue these guys."

Muzika may get his wish, if two City Council members and the new head of Animal Services can succeed in raising the legal limit for dog and cat ownership.

The motion, introduced in June by Councilmen Bill Rosendahl and Paul Koretz, would increase the number of allowed pets from three dogs and/or cats to five of each.

A town hall meeting to discuss the proposal will be held tonight at the East Valley Animal Shelter; another is scheduled next Wednesday in West Los Angeles.

Neither Rosendahl nor Koretz responded to a request for comment.

Supporters of the plan say it could help reduce the crush of abandoned animals at city shelters, which have seen a 20 percent jump since the start of the recession, and spare them from euthanasia. In addition, they say up to $800,000 more in canine registration fees could help city coffers.

"We want to give people the opportunity to help save the lives of these animals," said Brenda Barnette, general manager of the Department of Animal Services, who supports the measure.

"My research

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shows that communities that have increased or have no pet limits, they're saving more animals' lives, with no more incidence of barking or fighting dogs."

Opponents disagree, and argue that boosting pet limits could increase the legal pet population by millions of dogs and cats across Los Angeles, adding to its problem of surplus animals.

They say the potential legion of extra pets would not only increase noise, parasites, pollution and nuisances to neighbors, but lower property values.

This month, the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles wrote a letter to City Hall expressing its opposition to the plan.

"There are serious issues of increased dog barking and other animal noises, fleas, parasites and rodents, sanitation, odor and animals escaping yards and causing dangers/nuisance to tenants," wrote James Clarke, executive director of the association.

Another resident wrote to complain of neighbors' numerous cats using her garden as a latrine.

Critics note that the motion, as written, would allow up to 10 dogs and cats per "resident," meaning virtually unlimited pets in every household. Advocates counter the motion will be rewritten to state pet limits for every "residence" instead.

"This will set us back 20 years," said Phyllis Daughherty, director of the Animal Issues Movement in Los Angeles, another group that opposes the proposal. "It's cruel to the animals. It's cruel to people who will have dog packs in the streets.

"L.A. will be known as the Barking City. There will be howling in the streets - by dogs. (And) everyone will be howling at this to City Hall."

Because of more potential dog and cat waste flushed down city storm drains, as well as more potential pet attacks on wildlife, Daugherty is pushing for a full environmental impact report.

Pet increase backers, meanwhile, point to the many scofflaws who already own more than the allowed number of pets. They say raising the legal limit will really benefit rescuers and other pet owners who will legally be able to care for them.

"More people are turning in animals (to shelters) because they can't afford them, so I don't expect many people to have five dogs or five cats," said Michael Bell, an animal welfare advocate in Encino. "It's the rescuers who want to do that."

In the battle over limits on companion pets, advocates point to such cities as Santa Monica and San Diego, with liberal thresholds on allowable dogs and cats, and corresponding lower euthanasia rates with no adverse animal nuisances to residents.

Barnette said L.A.'s six animal shelters have a comparable dog and cat impound rate to San Diego, which allows up to six dogs and unlimited cats per home. But while L.A. kills nearly one out of four dogs and six out of 10 cats that end up in city shelters, she said San Diego euthanizes 18 percent of its dogs and 46 percent of its cats.

"So there's a huge difference there in the number of animals that you can save," she said. "And the interesting thing is, there was no effect on the city."

Daugherty countered that because of the city's rampant canines, San Diegans suffered 2,277 dog bites in 2007, according to news reports.

Muzika, who runs a watchdog blog about Animal Services, said the many Angelenos who now have too many dogs and cats are subject to harassment by neighbors or ex-spouses, and take up valuable manpower from Animal Services officer who must answer their complaints.

He said studies report 740,000 homes in L.A. have cats, with 2.3 per household. Raise the limit to five, he said, and rescuers and animal foster homes can take in 2 million more cats - legally.

"When I lived in Santa Monica, I had eight cats," Muzika said. "I loved 'em. But here, three legally and I'm subject to harassment by neighbors who don't like me - or my cats."

THE NEED IS SO GREAT

For the past six years I have fed three colonies of five feral cats total, all fixed and healthy. I would give Jimmy and other colony caretakers money for food and medications for their colonies. Then Jimmy moved and I took over five of his colonies, with an additional 8 cats, doubling the time required to take care of them.

Then three days ago one of the typical cat-ladies who I help, Marie, had her car break down and she couldn’t feed any because of the distance between where she lives and the cats. This time there is an additional five colonies and maybe 40 cats!!! Big cats, small cats, lots and lots of six and eight week old kittens, Siamese cats, black cats, white cats—you name it. I felt overwhelmed with so many new charges.  She should have got the cats fixed but did not and kitten season is upon us. They need to be captured, sterilized, examined and vaccinated. This is an enormous effort because it is primarily in Spanish areas and there are problems feeding and trapping.

But the need is so great. 

There are an estimated 1-2 million cats on the streets of the City of Los Angeles, and about 2,000 rescue groups. The shelter kills over 60% of the cats impounded. These can be friendly house cats turned in by owners for any of a hundred reasons, or a cat born and raised on the street, of a cat that became lost or abandoned. It is truly heartbreaking to see an alley full of hungry cats waiting for their food, who really have nothing else—just you to love and care for them.

So, I have been trying to change things. For years I have worked to have the number of cats and dogs a resident can legally own, increase from three to five. There are an estimate 734,000 households in LA that have an average of 2.3 cats per household. If the number of cats that can be legally owned is increased from three to five, that opens up the possibility of an additional 1.9 million homes. Since Animal Services kills over 10,000 cats per year, the new additional homes opened up is 190 times the number of cats that are not adopted and are killed each year.

I moved to LA from Santa Monica. Santa Monica has no limits on cats. You can have 50 and it is not a legal problem. But when we moved to LA, suddenly we were outlaws. Most of our cats were taken off the street, pure rescues of homeless cats and ferals. In the eight years after we moved, six of the eight died of cancer or kidney failure. Recently we acquired a kitten rescued by Animal Services, Radha. However, we’d like to have more but can’t because it is presently illegal.

In any event, partially due to my lobbying over the years, the City is considering raising the limit to 5 cats and 5 dogs. Since I have been a long time proponent, a reporter from the Daily News interviewed me today for two hours and a photographer took photos of our cats. The story will be on the front page on Thursday’s edition of the Los Angeles Daily News: http://dailynews.com.  The reporter, Dana Bartholomew is a friend of mine, as is the general manager of Los Angeles’s Animal Services, Brenda Barnette.

I don’t want to put this as a burden on you, but I need your help. Mostly I need people to move close and start a community, but part of that community’s mission is acting with complete compassion for the animals that need you. The benefit you would get is a sense of total satisfaction and the experience of complete love.

If I can, when I am out there feeding, I will take photos of all these hungry and needy cats that need love, food and caring. If this were Calcutta, my orientation might be towards children, the homeless or old people, but this is not a problem in LA. I teach you need to focus on your immediate environment and make things better for you and the world there.

There is such a need and you can help fill it and you will feel rewarded beyond measure. Selfless action is the greatest cooking possible. It opens the heart, mind, emotions and pocketbook, and destroys the ego-orientation towards ME.  

Jimmy, the homeless man who fed stray cats all over Northridge is back in Los Angeles. He was fired last Saturday after 41 days of continuous labor because the owner said Jimmy had frequent angry outbursts at him. Jimmy's story can be found on the LA Weekly site: http://www.laweekly.com/2009-07-30/news/jimmy-on-the-edge-of-town/1

Knowing better than to just believe the owner of Shaz's account of Jimmy's stay at his restaurant, I asked Jimmy for his side. It is far, far different from Mohammed's story. Mohammed had said he fired Jimmy because Jimmy kept exploding in anger at him including in front of customers. Jimmy said Mohammed was angry about his cat Meena and constantly wanted him to get rid of her.

Jimmy stated Mohammed had both a good side and a bad side. Good for the first 3 days, especially if you were a visitor. Bad if you were a long term employee. 

Jimmy was given room and two meals a day. He stated he worked from 9 a.m. to about midnight, or 15 hours a day for 41 days in a row without any day off. He was given 1 hour off for lunch and two 15 minute breaks. Employees ate supper after all customers left at around 10:30 p.m. After about a half hour supper, employees cleaned up and closed around 11:30-12:00 p.m. That is a 13-1/2 hour day, seven days a week for almost 6 weeks with no days off!!

Jimmy's pay?  $2.89 per hour!!! No overtime!! All paid as cash under the table.

The minimum wage in California is $8.00 per hour, and has been since 2008!

This is a buffet style restaurant like Soup Plantation. Few tips are left. In any event, under state law, an employer cannot deduct tips from wages. The following is from the state's industrial division website: 

Q.

I work in a restaurant as a waitperson. Can my employer use my tips as a credit toward its obligation to pay me the minimum wage?

No. An employer may not use an employee's tips as a credit toward its obligation to pay the minimum wage. Jimmy was not paid any overtime, despite state law that requires 1.5 pay for any time over 8 hours per day, and 2X for any time worked beyond 12 hours a day. That is, Jimmy should have been making $8 X 8 hours, or $64, + 4 X $12, or $48, plus 1.5 hours X $16 per day, or $136/day, instead of the $38 a day he was actually paid. No wonder Jimmy got mad. Jimmy will be living in a secret place in the Northridge area beginning on Wednesday, looking for a restaurant job.

A new screen play by Matthew Brown is posted on Scribd. There are quite a few similarities between Mathew's earlier script about Robert Adams, but is is about a boy who became enlightened at age 14 while taking a math test named Richard Able. This is Richard's story.


http://www.scribd.com/doc/37267109/The-Razor-s-Handle

Coming soon. There will soon be a new translation from the Hindi, and commentary by both Rajiv and I of the Ashtavakra Gita. Byrom's translation is very poetic, but inaccurate. We will show how. We will also show how the Gita contradicts the neo advaitin theory that Consciousness is everything.


Hopefully, Ashtavakra will not call us and threaten to sue.


We are still confronted with the problem of the accuracy of the various Hindi translations of that Gita from the Sanskrit. This requires rather laborious dictionary hunting and definitions of Sanskrit words into Hindi. Therefore, several Hindi translations would need to be consulted.

Once again, it appears Infinity is denying that I ever knew Robert outside of attending to his talks, one hour per week for a short while. These is a long email to this effect sent to Mark Mandell yesterday, which I may post.


To head off trouble, I constructed this page of evidence. The link below is to the first book ever published by or about Robert Adams. It is a photocopy made today of the actual physical book in my possession, so that anyone can see it is an actual book, can see the pages and the publication date.


The Introduction and Robert's biography were written by "Ed Muzika," and the talk itself is copyrighted 1991.  This is one of the first transcripts Kerima and I transcribed.


This should prove that the "body-mind" known as Ed Muzika was associated with Robert in 1991. If you look at the last page, it shows a poem written by Robert during November, 1994. Therefore, I was around at least in November of 1994. The booklet probably came out sometime during early 1995.


http://picasaweb.google.com/edwardmuzika/ThereIsNoSufferingThereIsNoDeath?authkey=Gv1sRgCJGjg4vg1_PE3gE#


A scan of the first edition of Silence of the Heart, vol 2 dated copyrighted in 1992 with transcripts from 1991 is posted at the link below. The Introduction was written by Ed Muzika. There are also acknowledgements of people who either transcribed Robert's talks or helped put the book together. Ed Muzika is mentioned there. Therefore there is documented proof of Ed Muzika's existence at Satsang and putting together the original Silence of the Heart in 1992.


In addition, the book acknowledges people who were attending Satsang at that time. Notice that NICOLE ADAMS is not mentioned in any way as contributing to Satsang or the book. None of Robert's alleged "Thirty year students," such as Mr. Blake Warner, or Robert's daughter are mentioned either. Why do you suppose that is? It because they were never present at Satsang or putting the original Silence of the Heart together, at least from 1989 to 1995. Nicole started coming to Satsang in LA, only during the last few months before they moved to Sedona in 1995.


http://itisnotreal.com/silenceoftheheart.html1.html


The link below is to a phone message left on my answering machine from Nicole, telling me how I had captured Robert perfectly, and I ought to write about him. I don't remember what year this was, but perhaps 1993-94. Nicole and I talked frequently by phone, although she may deny it now. This clip proves she called me at least once.


http://itisnotreal.com/subpage26.html


An article written by Edward Muzika about Robert appearing in the January/February Yoga Journal in 1998. Nicole called the editor and tried to get him to not publish it after the contract was signed. He decided to publish it after radically editing it, and leaving out the photo of Robert I sent him. He told me she threatened to sue Yoga Journal.


http://books.google.com/books?id=JOoDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA86&lpg=PA86&dq=ramana+and+robert&source=bl&ots=Xa1vyQerKQ&sig=E-96-_elVfvv4yxzvVlJLfoMmJ0&hl=en&ei=NSTSSsfhAo_-tQOWkLXwCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CCkQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=ramana%20and%20robert&f=false


Photos of Robert with my wife in 1993, and of me with him in Satsang, maybe 1993-94.


http://www.itisnotreal.com/photos.html


Ed Muzika reading the Ashtavakra Gita to Satsang attendees, year unknown:


http://itisnotreal.com/Reading-Ashtavakra-web.jpg 


Robert asking Satsang to sing me Happy Birthday, March 10, 1991 or 1992.


http://itisnotreal.com/Birthday.mp3


I do not understand why Nicole and Infinity decides to do this every few years. Apparently Matthew Brown's movie script wasn't to her liking, and when Marc Mandell wrote to Nicole, he received a long email back saying I didn't exist basically, along with most everyone who ever attended Satsang with Robert.


I am writing this evidence together all in one place so that when the inevitable threats come, I can refer people to this post and its documentation. More evidence will be added to this post as I find it.

Re: Establishing an on-line, International Satsang:> 
> Edji, his website on Robert Adams' teachings, and his blog have been a 
> blessing  to all of us.  It would be great if we can set up a web / 
> online Satsang with  Edji as well.  We've done some research and found 
> out a potential video  web-conferencing tool which could allow 
> participants from all over the world to  join in and view, listen and 
> interact with Edji.  
> 
> 
> We are trying to determine if that is possible with the technology and 
> resources  we have at hand.  We are currently performing some 
> preliminary tests and would  need some volunteers to do a couple of 
> stress tests with at least 5 -10 people  (the first one) and 15-20 
> people (the second one) hooked up to our conference  website.  For the 
> test to be thorough and complete we need testers from  different 
> locations like Europe, USA, Asia, etc.  Every user needs to have  access 
> to the internet, a camera and a microphone and preferably headphones 
> (but  not mandatory).  The initial test should not take longer than 
> 30min if started  promptly.  The approximate time of test would be: 
> 
> 
> 11:00 PM    India (GMT +5:30 hours) 
> 11:00 AM  California (GMT-08:00 hours) Pacific  Time (US & Canada) 
>  2:00 PM    NYC        (GMT-05:00 hours) Eastern Time (US & Canada) 
>  7:00 PM    Europe (GMT) London Time 
> 
> If interested please email your email address and preferable time within 
> the  time frame mentioned above to: mtflis@gmail.com  
> 
> Once we reach the desired number of participants we will email you 
> further  instructions and will let you know of the agreed upon time for 
> the test.  
> 
> 
> Thank you all for your interest, 
> Janet and Chris 
> 

This post has been up only hours, and there are already 240 readers of the manuscript. That is a measure of how electrofying it is.

Months ago I mentioned the Robert Adams movie project. A really incredible student of mine/Robert in Toronto, Matthew Brown, wrote this incredible screen play on Robert's life, entitled "The Life and Teachings of Robert Adams," based on long and careful reading of Robert's transcripts, and on numerous conversations I have had with Matthew over a year or so, both before and after he visited me in March of this year.

Read it. It is fantastic.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/36069702/Silence-The-Life-and-Teaching-of-Robert-Adams

I would note that Robert had a recurring dream for the last two decades of his life. In it, he, Ramana, Christ, Nisargadatta and many other gurus came together in the center of a mountain, and all suddenly disappeared in a burst of light.  Mathew's ending with Ramana gave a taste of this. I also note that when Robert was on his deathbed, he did see all those presences in the room, and asked people around him--mostly his family and Mary--whether they saw them. In his last hour he was in joyous communion with Ramana and others.

Mathew writes:

SILENCE – THE LIFE AND TEACHINGS OF ROBERT ADAMS Writer's Guild of America (West) Registration Number: 1432614 I was asked to write this screenplay by Edward Muzika, living teacher in the dual lineage of Nisargadatta Maharaj (by way of Jean Dunn, Nisargadatta's long-time student and transcriber) and Ramana Maharshi (by way of Robert Adams, enlightened teacher) when I visited him in Los Angeles in March, 2010.

I offer this screenplay to the world in the hopes that it may provide relief in the form of the wisdom non-duality teachings of advaita vedanta. I dedicate this screenplay to Robert Adams, a teacher whom I never met, but whose voice and presence resonate eternally within me as love. Om namah Shivaya, Om namah Arunachala, Om namah Sri Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi, Om namah Sri Nisargadatta Mahraj, Om namah Sri Robert. Om shanti, shanti, shanti, Om.

Peace. If anyone reading this screenplay wants to make it into a movie or excerpt parts of it for a dramatic stage production, please contact me. I would be very happy to facilitate this. Matthew Brown 370 College Street, Apt. 3, Toronto, Ont. M5T 1S6


Phone: (416) 824-5632


Email:teacherintheye @hot mail.co m

Jimmy and Meena are safe!!!


The owner of Shaz restaurant found his heart as a result of all the calls and emails you sent. He has relented and is allowing Jimmy to keep Meena and they will live together.


The owner even went out and bought Meena a new litter box, litter and cat food. 


The owner, Mohammed, heard that his restaurant and his actions were all over the Internet and asked that the publicity stop. 


Thank you each and every one who helped Jimmy and Meena. This is what Seung Sahn said helps the world: together action to save all beings from suffering and distress.


Sometimes you save beings with words, some times with actions, some times, doing nothing.


Thank you all!!


PS: Several people have expressed negative comments about my asking you to help Jimmy, saying I should have done nothing and let God take care of it. But I will not post these newer comments unless people are willing to sign their them and not leave them anonymously. 


I want you to all know that Robert often called this world we live in the lowest hell, especially because of how people treat each other and eat animals. Any actions to decrease killing and to save any sentient being from suffering and distress, was acceptable to him, whether it is real or not.


You need to always act as if it were real. Remember, in Robert's confession he states Jnana does not free you from the world completely, but takes away the sting.  

We will be picking up Jimmy at the end of the week to return him to Los Angeles. 


Jimmy is a saint. People should bow to his feet, and instead they want to thrown him in jail for living in a tent on an abandoned railroad bridge, feeding homeless cats.


Right now he is in a difficult situation in Sacramento. At least 10 people follow my blogs in Sacramento and possibly can help for a few days with his cat. 


We cannot talk to Jimmy now because the owner says he takes too much times on the phone and it is for business use. I have no idea whether Jimmy is living on the street now with his cat or what has happened to him.


This is a short term emergency. I have asked people who read this blog to call or email the owner. Five have said they have out of the hundreds that read this blog. Only five.

JIMMY BETRAYED IN SACRAMENTO

Jimmy Nasralla, the homeless cat caretaker, living in Northridge, moved to Sacramento last Saturday to take a job at an Indian/Pakistani restaurant run by a family of Pakistani Muslims. They accepted him as family and even took him to their mosque the second day he was in town. The owner had told Jimmy he could bring 3 cats. Jimmy brought one cat, Meena, a female, who had lived with Jimmy in his tent for two years in Northridge.

This is the man who I had been helping feed 40-50 homeless cats throughout Northridge for a year and a half. His story is told in LA Weekly at:

http://www.laweekly.com/2009-07-30/news/jimmy-on-the-edge-of-town/

Meena

Apparently either the owner, Mohammed changed his mind or had a different idea about the cats' living status. Jason, one of Jimmy's friends, talked to Mohammed on Thursday. Apparently Mohammed was fed up with Meena living in the same room as Jimmy, complaining the cat was incompatible with the restaurant, even though Jimmy's room is quite far from the restaurant. When Jimmy was away on an errand, the owner let Meena out of Jimmy's room where she had lived with Jimmy for only five days, and Meena immediately ran away.

Sign Jimmy made so the police would not disturb his cats at his tent

Jimmy, furious when he retrurned, told the owner he was moving back to LA. Jimmy spent the entire night looking for Meena with no success, but did find her the next evening after searching again for the entire day.

The owner refused to let Jimmy keep Meena in the room with him, and said she could stay as long as she was kept in a carrier outside Jimmy's door. Jimmy said it got freakishly cold at night and he brought her in anyway. Jimmy is trying to negotiate with the owner to let Meena stay in the room with him.

I just heard an hour ago that the owner said, "Just throw the cat away!"

This is intolerable. Jimmy was lied to and the cat is considered garbage by this Muslim restaurant owner. Apparently he does not know that in America we keep our cats indoors--or should. Hopefully Jimmy will come back and we can make other living arrangements when he returns.

THE RESTAURANT:

SHAZ RESTAURANT

4333 Airport Drive

Sacramento, CA 95821

PH: (916) 488-8840

http://www.shazrestaurant.com/
email: info@shazrestaurant.com

Call Mohammed. Say this isn't right.

An expanded version of Hunting the I is now posted at: http://itisnotreal.com/Hunting%20the%20I.htm. It now includes additional posts from this blog into a larger 23 page document.

Interesting Information:

About 400+ people visit this blog a day now according to the summary. This is the breakdown for the first 22 hours of Thursday, August 12 for the top ten countries. Visitors come from 20 different countries. Actually, when I add the numbers up, there are well over the 400 that are supposed to be visiting.

Num Perc. Country Name



260 47.00% United States


55 10.20% Brazil


41 6.80% Canada


37  6.20% New Zealand


29 4.80% United Kingdom


27 4.40% Costa Rica


25 3.80% India


17  2.80% Sweden


17 2.80% Switzerland


16 2.27% Italy

It is very strange, but very, very few come from the Los Angeles area, and those that do tend to be 50 miles from where I live. There does not appear to be enough students for a Satsang in this area.

HUNTING THE I AGAIN-AMENDED AT 8 P.M.


Many who are attracted to Advaita or Buddhism do so because of the rich intellectual traditions of both. But this is a trap. Your mind is not your friend as Robert used to say. You can't "figure your way out" of the conceptual prison that your mind has created. The mind cannot "see" outside the mind. Freedom can come only when you leave the entire conceptual framework behind.


U.G. Krishnamurti used to say something to that effect also. I think the quote goes, "Mind is not the instrument..." to find freedom.


Rinzai Zen was invented to confuse and perplex that mind so that "TRUTH" of No-Mind could peak through the conceptual map of mind. The koan was meant to bring all thinking to a dead halt, and encourage a no mind solution to the koan or any life problem.


Robert also used to say that you have no freedom whatsoever except to turn inwards. All is predetermined except for your ability to escape from the illusion by turning inward and begin to find the witness.


Everything in this blog and the not real website is aimed to turn you away from any kind of teachings, and towards advice on attaining freedom by turning inwards.  Then it is all so simple.


I usually avoid referring to the work of Michael Langdon because I believe his method of Awareness Watching Awareness is incomplete, it does not impact the personal level of I Am, and any emptiness and Samadhi states attained will not be permanent, but will be undermined by unhealed defects in the ego structure.


However, the first few chapters of his book are wonderful as he shows how 99.9% of all seekers avoid attaining freedom because the ego undermines all spiritual efforts by creating questions, doubts and speculations that destroy the effectiveness of any spiritual practice.


In fact, a defective ego does the same thing to the person in everyday life by undermining any effective focus and action with doubt, "what ifs," "should I's," and useless speculations.


He is entirely right that effective practice requires perseverance, focus, and lots of timely dedication.  It also requires a belief in yourself and in the method of introspection  and self-inquiry.  That comes with practice.


Look at it this way, how long does it take a person, even with great talent to become a professional tennis player or baseball player? A week, a month, a year?  No, it takes years of training.


Now the mind is even more subtle than the body, and the training can take even longer. So don't give up when you have failed to find an I Am that is stable after just a fews days or weeks or months of practice. If you are not finding it, try something else.


The belief in yourself will come when you begin to have results. But it takes time, patience, and intelligence.


Try something different. If you have been looking into yourself with your "visual" sense, looking into the blank void, stop it. Instead, probe inside yourself with your tactile or emotional sense. That is, "look" with your feelings for your sense of being, not with a visual sense concentrated on the clear void.


That is, be intelligent and increasingly subtle. Watch what you feel and see. Try effort, then try no effort. Try asking who am I, then ask "Where am I." Feel for your heart center. Feel in your abdomen. "Look" inside your head, feel for the background to fall back into. Be creative be intelligent.


You need to recognize that the way you have been proceeding now has failed due to doubts and too mch thinking, self-arguing, arguing with the teachings OR METHOD. There is a constant fightING BY THE EGO (WHICH ONLY APPEARS TO EXIST) to avoid effective practice that will kill the ego. So be subtle and creative.


Just look a many of the questions from seekers posted on this blog. Some oppose the teachings, find contradictions in them, question apparent contradictions between what Ramana said at one time and Nisargadatta said at another, or what I wrote three years ago to one student, versus what I write now to another student in an entirely different situation.


These are desperate acts of the ego to find a reason not to meditate or introspect. These doubts are all on the level of mind, and nothing deep or liberating will happen on this level.


Others complain they can't find the I Am sense and become desperate and ask what they should do. I always say, read the Nisargadatta Gita every morning, read chapters 7 and 8 of the Path of Sri Ramana, read Hunting the I, and continue to practice. You will not learn how to hit a .400 in a few weeks, and what you are trying to accomplish--finding total freedom--is far more rare than becoming a .400 hitter.


Really, it is all so easy: Just turn your attention around and find the I Am sense, or the I Thought, or the witness. Do this for five or ten years and watch what happens. If you are lucky you will reach freedom in three years as did Nisargadatta, or 27 years as it took me because I got distracted so many times, or when I was practicing, I had the wrong instructions. 


Or, maybe you will never go free, like 99.9% of seekers who get exhausted and who become discouraged after a few months or years. Yet just the correct practice of abiding in the I-sense brings great happiness.


Don't expect instant success.