Absolutely time is a body based concept, measuring yourself in body form, time and all these concepts appear on your Presence. There is no time. “you are realized in this moment” as Maharaj says. The conviction is just ‘I am here’. Time the concept of time first comes ‘I am’, ‘I exist’, how do I exist, and all the concepts build on that. The truth is you are able to Mantra through these experiences, now. Maharaj says repeatedly “every moment is so very, very important, a golden opportunity to know yourself”. Don’t wait. Now in this moment introduce yourself to yourself by inviting the attention of the invisible listener right now. Just be here. Maharaj says “Be With You”. Body will go through what it is going to go through, nothing to do with you. Unless your measuring yourself in body form, then of course many problems will occur for this body, so many problems, financial problems, relationship problems, physical problems, their is no end to the types of body related problems that may occur. You are not body. When these experiences begin to stir, Mantra “Be With You” before they build up to ‘I am on my death bed, there is no time left’. You can’t be sitting on your death bed with books by Ramana Maharshi, or Selfless Self or I Am That, feeling peaceful and such. It is not possible, if you have not identified yourself in a real sense, this mind is going to be going crazy. The idea is to continue to “Be with You Always” as Maharaj says, discover yourself, then you know, ‘I am not body, I was not body, I am not going to remain body, body is not my identity, I have nothing to do with all these things”. Invite the attention of the invisible listener that is there always. It is not like it needs to be found, it is there always, it just has to be discovered. Their won’t be a worrier to worry about anything. Thoughts will be coming and going and no attention will be paid. There will be spontaneous conviction ‘Whatever is happening to the body let it happen, I am not the body at all’.
As Maharaj has stated “There are very many sages who will enjoy entertaining questions about body based concepts”. Who will get into speaking about as there main “thing” is to please the Selfless Self while it is still believing it is a body. This is a directness. This is an absolute directness, it is not to please you in body form, or somehow make your body existence more pleasurable. This invites the attention of the invisible listener to see clearly ‘you are not body’. The body appeared upon your spontaneous Presence, all these concepts came once you thought ‘I exist’. The Mantra allows you to stay in your natural, perpetual no-knowingness, the spontaneous conviction, no ideas, no beliefs about yourself. No man, no woman. Prior to beingness were you a man or a woman? Prior to beingness did you have any ideas about the social structure of men or women? Prior to beingness did you have any idea about intelligence? or body? or job? or world? So anything that appeared after your spontaneous Presence is all illusion. Maharaj says “Everything came out of nothing and everything dissolves within nothing and in between there appears to be something”. We are speaking about that unborn child that appearance of something, in nothing, that will return to nothing. How can the unborn child lead a more peaceful life? How can the unborn child get to know the Selfless Self? The unborn child is the only one that can be spoken about. All of this talk is for the unborn child. There are many “sages, gurus, teachers” as Maharaj says “merchants” willing to take your money to make your body based knowledge comfortable or peaceful, temporarily. To provide an awesome peaceful state for the unborn child to go in when it’s body knowledge is intolerable. The unborn child can be trained to sit in the middle of some occurrence and just ‘Om, so much peace, Om’ Without ever reaching the understanding that this unborn child appeared upon your spontaneous Presence. Once you know yourself in a real sense, you will not want to go to meditation retreats for the unborn child, you will no longer desire peacefulness and happiness for the unborn child. You being with your Selfless Self is automatic peace, automatic joy, automatic happiness. The idea of a tension free life, a fearless life, a happy life is you without you without all the concepts, ideas and beliefs.
Any of these “religious texts” are to identify yourself in the moment, that recognition in the projection, it’s my story. Just to know, it is inviting the attention of the invisible listener, that sense of Presence that you sense when you are reading spiritual books, when your doing this practice, or keeping quiet. Through Mantra that invisible listener, comes forward. You are inviting attention of the invisible listener, you are Ultimate Truth, except your Self nothing is there. “Yourself is not an egoistic statement”, like Maharaj says. It’s not ‘Mary’, ‘Mary’ is kind of a figment or imaginary character. When you wake up from a dream all of those people are gone, when you the Selfless Self ‘wake up’ all of this is gone. Only you remain. Minus all of the concepts, ideas and beliefs about yourself. The thought creation ‘Mary’, the thought creation ‘John’, all of these thought creations that you have thought up or formed and moved around, that power that energy that you are is providing movement to all of this. All of this is appearing on your spontaneous Presence. Everything you are seeing using these eyes is illusion. There is not one single thing, including the reflection of your own self in the mirror, that is not illusion. That sense of Presence that is known through body form, that knowing of yourself in a real sense, is the closest thing to being not illusion. Even that, because you are all there is, is illusion.
Maharaj says in Selfless Self, if you have ever tried this, you can see yourself in the mirror. That recognition in the projection. You can see yourself. When you look in the mirror, that is a beautiful thing, in dream you know you are not male or female you can be either one or nothing. You could be a bird, a squirrel, and can be totally non-existent. In dream you are a formlessness that is taking form, in various forms. It’s just one dreamer, taking all these forms, all of these forms are arising from that dreamer that is dreaming. That one dreamer that is dreaming and bringing all these forms to light, there is only you. Like Maharaj says “You are sleeping, you see sun, moon, birds, you see people, everything.” How are you even seeing? You might go to dream school, who knows. How? You don’t have eyes in dream. Even if you have eyes in dream they are seeing through the dream form and can not be real. In the body that is sleeping the eyes are closed, in this body form the eyes are closed and the experience is that of sleeping. Like that, this entire world is projected out of your spontaneous Presence. The invisible listener, Selfless Self, Ultimate Truth, that you are. Nothing behind or in back of you. “You are Ultimate Truth, last destination” as Maharaj says.
There is no footprint, no you, the world will end fo r you. The scenes keep going, but the world, the world is a mind creation. You look at other bodies, and you are the one that pours information into the other bodies in the various scenes, based on the ideas and beliefs you are holding about yourself in any given moment. That is not reality. Things will just be seen as they are you will no longer be imagining. There will no longer be an imagination, just an interacting. Without knowing yourself, there is no other. So it becomes just a speaking and listening. If you were to go into a bathroom and have 12 different mirrors and just start talking, of course you would still look the same, so you would have to make yourself man and woman, different nationality etc., but you are just in a house of mirrors. The illusion is seen through. You are no longer in competition, no longer trying to be the best of this, or comparing as the worst. You are doing your job, taking care of the responsibilities as they arise, but you are leaving it. You are taking it, then dropping it. Taking and dropping. Scenes are passing. Empty forms. You are the animator of all of these different forms. You just know. The tricky part is if you begin to think something about “somebody else” your creating this in your experience, you are the projector of the world. No one, nothing. Absolutely nothing. As Maharaj continues to repeat “Except your Selfless Self, there is no God, no Brahman, no Atman, no Paramatman, no Master, no disciple, nothing is there.” All of these forms appear upon your spontaneous Presence. The scene is absolutely illusion. Stay with the seer, not the seen. Don’t identify or label that seer. Other than as Maharaj says “Selfless Self, Spontaneous, Invisible, Anonymous, Unidentified, Identity” that you are. So that you are not giving the “seer” to mind to interpret as Brahman, or God, or Master. The seer is Spontaneous, Invisible, Anonymous, Unidentified, Identity, Selfless Self, That You Are.
Q: A monk once told me that I could not have the blissful sense all of the time. Although Nisargadatta Maharaj says he is bliss. Bliss may simply mean free in the eternal?
Yes, when there is no disturbance of the peace, no you. Like Maharaj says “You are disturbing the peace.” The ideas, beliefs and concepts you are holding about yourself as the label of the form that you are thinking you are in this moment, is the disturbance. So get rid of that. Mantra helps erase that disturbance, that virus. The Mantra is the anti-virus software, for the virus, which you are labeling as ‘John, and Steve and Mary’. These are the viruses, the anti-virus software is the Mantra. The eternal bliss is beyond description because there is no fear, there is nothing to worry, no tension, you are not trying to grab anything or take anything, no struggle, you are just interacting with yourself all the time. There is no other to fear, no other to worry about, no other to defend against, just your Selfless Self, interacting with yourself, through form, in the moment.
If there is no ‘I am somebody’ then there can’t be ‘other’. First existence, ‘I am’. Sri Ramakant Maharaj states “Why think about the ‘I am’ 24 hours a day you are ‘I am’.” The spontaneous Presence from where this ‘I am’ arises. You are the knower of that spontaneous Presence from where this ‘I am” arises. Where the entire world is projected upon your spontaneous Presence. ‘I am’ is the root concept. No other concepts can be formed unless that root concept ‘I am’ is there. That is the seed from which the whole tree grows from. Without this concept ‘I am’, no tree grows. If this concept ‘I am’ arises, then ‘I am what’? follows. ‘I am somebody’ this body is closest to you and has a label of ‘Steve’. OK, ‘I am Steve’ Steve is a man, Steve has a family, all needs all requirements came along with this body on which that label Steve has been accepted. ‘I am’ was the spontaneous Presence that was noticed through body form and immediately identified with body, and that is the case of mis-identification. You have been identifying yourself in body form for a very long time. That is illusion. Through Mantra, you will invite the attention of the invisible listener that you are Ultimate Truth. Maharaj says “You are Brahman, you are Atman, you are Paramatman, you are God, you are Master. Except your Selfless Self nothing is there”. You will see this. Every moment is very, very precious. Be With You Always.
Without a concept forming there can be no experience of separation or oneness. The only thing that appears to separate us is concepts. When we start speaking about concepts we immediately begin separating ourself from the Selfless Self. Beliefs of man and woman, you and me, do you know more or less, who are you and why is this, I believe this and you believe that, further and further away from your Selfless Self with each concept, belief and idea. You appear to be separated by body and when the concepts and identification with the flowing thoughts forms a mind, you appear more and more separate. Add to this emotions and it is just separating, separating, separating. The further away from yourself your attention goes, the concepts multiply exponentially. When you are here with yourself, there is no other. Only a concept believed in can create other, this body is different from that body, other is created in mind. Other is created in mind using the building blocks of concepts.
Mind created moments create expectation and disappointment as you have already ‘experienced’ the moment hundreds of times through mind. The perfection of Reality is judged rather than enjoyed.
John Richards
Sadguru Shri Ramkant Maharaj Dakshina