Author: John Richards

You have a dream, night, after night after night, and you this character are in that dream. But it is constantly different scenarios and there is no timeline whatsoever. That’s the truth. Because your formlessness that is holding form, there is no planning. Like Maharaj has said before. There is no planning, because there is no planner. It is just the formlessness using body form in the moment, without any kind of anything. Because nothing is actually happening. There are no bodies doing anything. There is no ‘John’ that is progressing in any way. ‘John’ can have a job and do this, and do that and do this, and when this body falls, ‘John’ is no more. The consciousness so to speak, woke up from itself, consciousness has left so there is nothing. It is just ‘You’ the ‘You’ That You Are completely and totally formless and unaware of your own Self. This ‘John’ that was a kind of an addition inside the consciousness as an object in consciousness, is no more. Because the consciousness in which ‘John’ was an object is no more. So, how can ‘John’ the object be there, if the consciousness which ‘John’ was the object in, is no more. It is just your own Selfless Self, prior to beingness. Prior to any movement or any ideas or beliefs, prior to clicking with the body. Not even the ‘Just I’ because the ‘Just I’, the sense of Presence is felt inside the consciousness and the consciousness will leave You. But, You will witness this consciousness leaving You, and know.

Keith: You don’t need a plan to be there. You don’t need a plan. Just like you don’t need a plan to be in traffic.

A plan for the unborn child. Again, the child that is unborn, we are talking about its life. I think we had talked a while back about if you were dreaming about let’s say Tom. Tom went to High Scholl, he married his High School sweetheart, he decided to go to college and study to be a doctor. He was working so hard, his wife had two jobs, and he was studying to be this doctor, and you wake up. Is it fair to Tom that he never became a doctor? Was all of that studying that he did, was it really Tom that was putting forth 100% effort to try and get a degree? What about his poor wife that was working two jobs? That is really unfair that you woke up and Tom never got to realize his dream of being a doctor. It’s the same. Formlessness using form, that has no concern about the form whatsoever. It is just moving around. For You, nothing is happening. You know yourself as this ‘Just I’ this sense of Presence, in and through body form. And when body form is no more, You will not know yourself. That is why Maharaj says, “The body is a Golden opportunity”. This human body is an opportunity for You to know yourself in a real sense. That formlessness, that ‘Just I’, ‘Just I’ without anything. So that when the body is going, You can witness all of everything. Everything that rolled up, rolls back, You are the witness of this. Then that’s it. The You remain with Your Selfless Self which is the thing, so to speak. You that attached to the body and then said ‘I’. Will unattach from the body, no longer saying ‘I’. But if you attach, and you unattach, then You Are. In between there was an appearance of something, but You Are the nothing, That is everything.

Kathleen: It seems like the knowledge of who you really are. Really only helps you in this incarnation. Because whether you do or not, when the body is gone then it doesn’t matter what you have realized. Right, because you’re not there, there is nothing. So, the only advantage it does is for this incarnation. Because in the incarnation it knows. So, therefore it is able to observe everything and not get, not taking the touch. But once the body is gone, then everything is gone.

But it will be a very happy moment when you know that You’re leaving and returning to Your no knowing state.

Andrew: Also, in the video you sent today I know Maharaj was saying “The importance of this knowledge is knowing who You are now to make life tolerable.”

Yes.

Kathleen: That is what I was thinking it is really useful in this incarnation, in this life, because after this body drops, then you go back to nothingness. Then it doesn’t matter what you know or don’t know.

True. But the fear of death that’s the thing. Like Maharaj says the fear that ‘I am dying’. This ‘I am dying’ idea should not be impressed in mind as you are in that state. This can’t even be thought about. When You know yourself in a real sense, like you just said, ok. ‘I am the formlessness that is using form that is returning to the formlessness. Because I never actually was in form, the form was inside myself and I am still there, but the form is no longer inside myself.’

Kathleen: Unless you are attached to the form.

That’s the thing. If You are believing ‘I am dying’. Then like Maharaj says, “Death will be very terrifying and scary for you.” You will start to relive all the things that you did, and you will want to hold on. Just like Maharaj uses the example of the ants. You pour water and the ant freaks out and runs away. Because Presence inside the ant, believing that it is that ant body and that it will be finished. Wants to survive no matter what. Once You have understood, kind of unwound yourself and are no longer impressed with these illusory concepts. ‘Just I’, ‘Just I’, just the sense of Presence then You have detached from the beingness. Because You are prior to beingness. The beingness is the ‘I am’, ‘I am somebody’ and this. So, You remain prior to beingness. Prior to beingness there was no thought of anything, no good thing, bad thing, no experience, no experiencer, no nothing. So, in this body form things are going to occur. Good things are going to happen to this body, bad things are going to happen to this body. This body will have other bodies that are relatives to this body that will die, that will suffer, that will have sickness, whatever. But You are to remain unconcerned with the world because you are formless, and all of this is appearing on Your Spontaneous Presence. Therefore, there is no need to take the touch, no need to grab the mind and hold on with dear life. Literally like ‘Oh my God, I do not want to die, oh help me.’ This is not good, because it is not the Reality.

John Richards
Ramakant Maharaj Dakshina

And now knowing again that he is, you know you can’t escape. Master when he says “Put one foot forward, he puts the other foot.” He is there, he is with you as your Selfless Self. You’re inviting the attention of that Selfless Self continuously so ya, devotion like you have never done devotion before. As if Maharaj the person was standing right next to you. When you are bowing to the Masters, Maharaj is right there bowing to the Masters with you using body form as you are using body form.

M: I need to get Maharaj’s picture sometime, in my home, I just came back here. I would like to be with Maharaj everyday.

The one picture that I have found very powerful, is the picture there is no Presence in the body and he is sitting there very still. You can sit there, and your feeling the sense of Presence and you’re looking at the body form, knowing this sense of Presence that you are feeling was speaking through that body form. Like, that Presence, there was no Maharaj, it was the Presence that was using the body form. That instrument of Maharaj to speak to you to say “You are the Selfless Self. You are not body, you were not body, you are not going to remain the body, and here I am showing you, you are not going to remain body.” There is the body that you are viewing that is not yourself. That Presence that was removed from the body, like Maharaj says “You bury or burn it.” We watched that body burn, and yet the Presence, the same Presence that was felt in front of Maharaj is still here. And that presence was speaking using that form, and now it is not using that form. But the Presence has not gone anywhere. The devotion to Maharaj hasn’t gone anywhere. Maharaj whether in picture or in body, was just an image of Selfless Self projected. So the devotion can continue. As a matter of fact in my own condition, be much stronger than it could have ever been in body form. Because now there is absolutely no way your mind can say ‘Maharaj is the body’.

M: That’s true they say once Maharaj leaves the body he will be much more accessible.

Yes. Because the conceptual belief that ‘I’m here in America, and I wish I was at the feet of Maharaj’ is no more. Because Maharaj in the sense of Presence that he has become one, not ‘become’, but he is one. And that Presence that I am is there always, everywhere. So when I am bowing to the image of Maharaj it is much more strong that bowing to the image in a body. Because in bowing to the image in a body my mind could still say ‘oh, you know this is Ramakant Maharaj and we are bowing to him’ no we are not bowing to him, we are bowing to Selfless Self. Truly, there is no us who is bowing to Selfless Self, it is Selfless Self using the instrument of this body, to bow to itself.

K: Ya, the no separation thing comes across pretty strongly in that case.

Absolutely. The only thing that gives the concept of separation is belief in being a body. Maharaj has said many times “You are not body, you were not body, you are not going to remain body”. How do you keep the pressure? Maharaj has said “Body-Knowledge”. What is body knowledge? ‘I am somebody else who has acquired this knowledge, I don’t want to get rid of it, I don’t want to give it up.’ That is the pressure that is keeping ‘me’ believing that I am a body and instantaneously causing the idea of separation. Once this body knowledge is cleared and I know myself in a real sense, than the body pressure is gone. The I don’t have to believe that I am a body so immediately there is no sense of separation. Because once I know my formless nature and I remain there, there can be no separation. The only time that the concept of separation can be impressed is when body knowledge is pressuring ‘me’ to remain in a body because ‘I am John, I have this job, I have this family, these are my relations’. And Maharaj says ‘No. This body has relations’ but you the Selfless Self you are formless. You are believing yourself in body with the pressure of the body knowledge. Instead of the just ‘I’, just ‘I’ and remaining there, you are allowing the pressure of body knowledge of ‘I am this’, and ‘I do this’ and ‘I learned this’ and ‘I bow to this Master’ and ‘I don’t believe in this religion, but I do believe in that one’. All this body knowledge is what is pressuring you to belief in a body which then causes the feeling of separation. The concept of separation can not be there without a body. And that is evident. That is why Maharaj says it is “Open Truth”. Once you have stopped believing that you are a body, how can you be anything other than the formlessness? There is nothing other for you to be. The only thing that you are thinking that you are is this body form because of the pressure of body knowledge. Mantra erases the pressure of body knowledge so that you are no longer attached to the form and you can be in your formless nature. You remain formlessly aware. Using form still, this is the instrument. But you are the holder of the body. The holder of the body has nothing to do with the body. And that is why Maharaj says “You don’t take the touch of the world.” Because if you take the touch of the world it is increasing body knowledge. Anything other than inviting the attention of the invisible listener erasing the body knowledge through Mantra will cause body knowledge. That ‘I am on this, on this spiritual journey’. The idea is that you are not just not on a spiritual journey you are not in a body. You must impress this on yourself. This body knowledge is what is the cage. As Maharaj says “The circle of illusory concepts” that is pressuring in on you to believe that you are a body. Which you are not. Once this body belief is dissolved and seen as untrue, then you can’t be anything other than the formlessness.

John Richards
Ramakant Maharaj Dakshina

While you still believe that you are a doer that there can be things done, this is a concept, but you can use that concept to do Mantra, to do this remaining with your Selfless Self. To pull the attention back in. To put forth effort. The Truth is there is no effort, there is no deed, there is no doer. Until you are convinced of that truth you can use the concept believed in of being a doer of Mantra. Then by doing Mantra you will erase this concept of doership. Don’t try to be more than what you are or how far. You hear people and they say ‘OK, I am at complete peace my mind is very still’ and you compare OK ‘I need to be at complete peace.’ No you just need to recognize. Like Maharaj says “Where do I stand?”

‘Am I doing Mantra enough?’ ‘Do I have a sense that I can do Mantra?’ and ‘If I still have a the sense of doership’ let’s use that concept to do Mantra. To listen to Bhajans. To do meditation. To be with my Selfless Self. If I am still having the concept that I have a ‘busy mind’ let’s listen to Master who says “Ignore this mind. This mind is a flow of thoughts” If it is still flowing, that’s fine, not to take the touch, not to worry about it, OK this mind is flowing. That’s where I am now. See where you are. Because I think, a lot of times it may be that I am trying to hear what is happening, or what, the Master is giving the perfect Reality. And I am trying, from where I am, access this perfect Reality. But in Reality I need to access where do I stand, where am I? Like Maharaj says “Am I fearless? Am I tension free?” If not then I need more Mantra, I need to use these concepts of being a doer, of being a spiritual discipline, devotee. I need to use these concepts to further my spiritual development. I need to invite the attention of the invisible listener. I need to listen to what Master says. And I need to move forward from that position. I can’t move forward, like if I am climbing up a set of stairs, I can’t go from step one to step ten. And just do a super high dive. And even if I do, it’s very stressful I could still fall down the stairs. But if I put one feet and I admit, OK, here I am at this point right now. This is so important, this is where I am right now. And so I am going to, ‘OK, I still have busy thoughts.’ ‘I still sometimes get lost in the day, where I totally forget Mantra, and then I say Ah, I should have been Mantraing.’ Like ‘Oh, I should have had a V8’. But, in the middle of the day I say ‘Oh, OK, that’s OK., Back to Mantra.’

Because the more I do these things, the more I use my sense of doership while I am still seemingly a doer, the more the attention is invited of the invisible listener. The more that spontaneity is coming, the more I’ll see that what Master says is true. I will start to see things and say ‘Oh, ya. I remember Maharaj said this would be occurring.’ But don’t jump ahead, be where you are now, and fully be there. Like Maharaj says “Ask yourself, where do I stand?” ‘If I am reading too much books and I am getting lost in all these different teachings, maybe this is not so good for me.’ ‘Am I doing Mantra as much as I want to do Mantra?’ And I don’t want to sit there and say ‘Wait a minute I am not supposed to be a doer. So I shouldn’t be doing Mantra.’ No because as long as there, unless you can absolute have conviction that there is no deed and there is no doer, then use the conceptual belief that you’re able to do something. By furthering the Mantra and the spiritual practice to invite the attention of the invisible listener, So That, So That I.

Of course, except your Selfless Self there is no God, no Brahman, No Paramatman, no Master. Nothing is there. And the next time somebody cuts you off in traffic, that should automatically be ‘There is nobody there, nothing is happening, everything is OK.’ Unless there is a me that is involved. But see, if it is not that way, that is OK. Then we step back. We say ‘OK, I got irritated.’ But remember, the cool thing is, all these stories that Maharaj has told. Like the guy who spit on the other guy fifty times and he had to go take a bath. Now, surely none of us are going to allow ourselves to be spat on fifty times and then invite the guy for lunch. I would not do that right now. But that is showing you the most extreme case. When somebody is giving you a hard time, or cuts you off in line, or is rude to you, you think but they did not spit on me fifty times. You know, so, OK it is a little bit not good but it is OK. I remain with my Selfless Self there is no reason to get involved in that. And like when Maharaj talks about Jesus being nailed, no one is nailing me to a cross in this moment. I feel very disturbed, but that is the extreme, so I can remain with my Selfless Self. And see these are the things.

When Maharaj talks about Eklavya. This was very important to me in India, but Maharaj talked about Eklavya. The fact, he said, the Master didn’t teach anything. But the full faith and trust in the Master the internal Master did all the teaching. Because it was directed at that statue. So the same for you. Let that internal Master teach you and guide you. And now know that you can have Maharaj’s voice, teaching and guiding you. See, that is so important. That sense of Presence. You felt Maharaj adn you felt that Presence when you were with him. You felt at one time that this body is feeling that bodies Presence and the Presence is very strong around Maharaj. Now Maharaj is not here in physical form but that Presence is still just as strong when you concentrate on the concentrator. When you say, OK here is Maharaj. His picture is here, his picture is here. Yes, Master. ‘I feel like having my attention out here, but you said no. You said don’t take the touch. I’m here, I remain with my Selfless Self.’ This is, because it is the Reality. See, even if you use these conceptual beliefs, to kind of baby step into the Reality, you know that it is the Reality. Then as you are moving forward you will start to see, Yes, this is the Reality. Because now I am experiencing something that Maharaj talked about me experiencing. And it is happening for me right now. Without of course taking the touch and making a big production. Because experiences come and go, but the idea is you will be feeling more fully, your Selfless Self and less and less taking the touch of the illusory individual in the illusory world.

John Richards
Sadguru Shri Ramakant Maharaj Dakshina

The more you do Mantra. The more you listen to Bhajans. The more you are deeply involved and concentrating on the center of concentration. The more you the Selfless Self see, that mind that is basically just a flow of thoughts about the form world, it just ceases. There is just nothing. It is in the action, it is in the action everyday. Whatever you learned from Maharaj, you put it into action. Now you can say ‘OK, this formless sense of Presence, Master is really here with me now.’ You can even hear Maharaj’s voice “You take one step I take the next, you take one step I take the next.” Even more powerfully than that if you think that in the concept state of you have Sri Ramakant Maharaj,you have Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, you have Sri Siddharameshwar Maharaj, you have Sri Bhausaheb Maharaj and they are all in that Presence supporting you as Master. Master is there supporting you in every moment. Now you don’t have to say Ramakant Maharaj is in India. No. He is here, now, with you. He has always said this, but now you get to fully experience what it is like to have Master with you guiding you in every moment, so you can step forward fearlessly. Because the bottom line: Except your Selfless Self, there is no God, no Brahman, no Paramatman, no Master, nothing is there. All of this that is appearing is the nothing. It is in the nothing and will return to nothing. That formlessness didn’t go anywhere and it didn’t become you. All the problems are the body’s problems. All the desires are the body’s desires. You’re not body at all. What could you possibly want? What could you possibly desire? How can the mind that can only see things in form, how can the mind even present an idea of something that you might desire if you don’t consider yourself a body or a thing?

John Richards
Sadguru Shri Ramakant Maharaj Dakshina