Author: John Richards

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

In an effort to gain a continuation you need to have an identification with mind, so that the flowing thoughts will be held in attention and you will grab them. You are no longer using thoughts, thoughts are using you. They are creating a ‘me’ and causing the attention to be directed at the thoughts, rather than just let them pass. Maya as Maharaj says ‘Is very, very, tricky, always pricking from backside’ If you are truly holding on to beliefs or ideas about yourself. The actions, through these thoughts, through this form you are taking as yourself as who you believe yourself to be this person, are going to reflect that. They will naturally be selfish instead of the Selfless Self. Every time there is an idea of a person forming, that is a time to be with you through Mantra. Mantra through the experience without an experiencer being created. Seeing there is no deed there is no doer, there is no experience, there is no experiencer. You Mantra’d through that experience remaining with yourself, without taking form. Automatically there is no fear as no form was taken with which a fear could attach. Without taking a form there is nothing that can attach to you. Not taking a form, you remain as you are formless. Don’t give formless to mind to try and imagine what formless is. You don’t allow any ideas or beliefs to take form, or any concepts to form. The primary form or concept ‘I exist’ or ‘I am’ all of the other concepts arise or are birthed on that. Rather than just remaining, and knowing without knowing anything. Nothing needed to know. No next. Any time a form is trying to be created using mind to know about a next, Mantra. A pull is there, gone. Any thoughts that were flowing through designed for that thought creation, this person you believed yourself to be, if you remain with yourself through Mantra in the experience and no thought form, or personality was created and identified with, than the thought just flows. The more personal the thoughts are, or the more personal your attention is, remain with yourself through Mantra. If you continue to remain with yourself you are going to see. You are going to see clearly the Reality through the illusion. I remained with myself through that experience and no experiencer was created, no doer was created, no sense of doer-ship, therefore no karma. Moving, passing through. No blockage, no sense of time, no sense of a linear time line or cause and effect. No ‘my life’ or anything related. Just here. Fully! Absolutely fully here. Tension free because there is not a you experiencing a sense of what you need to do or how am I to survive, nothing.

Body form is just to know yourself. All of this is arising on your Presence. You get to know yourself. You are everything in all things, there is no way for you to know, you don’t know ‘you are’ or ‘I am’ until spirit clicks with the body and you say ‘I’. Then like Maharaj says “all the concepts come along with, appear with that I” So many concepts appear with that ‘I’. I is identified like a stamp on this body, this is ‘I’. Looking around from the point of this ‘I’ you see parents, you see brother and sister, need of education, need of food, need of water. Body is like a plant, if you don’t give it food and water it will die. Presence needs this body in order to continue knowing itself. It uses this body and becomes attached with this body wishing to perpetuate existence. Maharaj uses the example of the ants. Presence once it knows itself in form and believes this form as itself wants to keep this.  Even Presence as an ant, if you pour water the ant is running here and there for self-preservation. Presence knows itself, it does not know what it is, yet there is a desire to continue the knowing this sense of existence. Fear arises in the form of the thought ‘I could die’. Looking around other forms they can die, you go to funerals of others who have died. The belief settles in that ‘I am this form and I am going to die’. Prior to beingness, prior to this sense of Presence, prior to one hundred years, I don’t know myself. You get to see that in every moment with Mantra, you can start to see the “living” without myself. Spontaneous existence without any story, without any person in it, this spontaneous no-knowing. You show this sense of self, this mind sense this ego sense, you kind of rock it to sleep by showing in every moment.  Like Maharaj says “have courage to step forward” continue to step forward. In the stepping forward you start to catch this process as it is taking form. That it is not true. There is no need to think and worry about what to do. You don’t get caught up in all these thoughts and labeling depressive thoughts, there is no getting caught up in the illusion anymore.  You can’t, because there is no ‘me’. That ‘I’ has to come first and then everything appears upon that spontaneous Presence. But if that ‘I’ is formless, meaning you have not taken the form in thought, or body form, continuously just here spontaneously in the moment, there is nothing to land on, there are no ideas or beliefs that i can hold about myself. When they do start to form, Mantra. All ideas or beliefs have to do with this illusory unborn child. Who you are not.

Your formless nature provides the energy and the power for the flow of thoughts, for the body movement, to move all these things. It is in everything. There is no real character because there is no you. That spontaneous existence, like Maharaj says “is automatic fearless life, tension free life, peaceful life, happy life”. It will also be seen that these things that you are clinging onto that you believe are you, your personality, memories and all that, when these are cleaned and cleared you will be responding in a more universal response not a selfish sense a Selfless Self response. That automatically erases any of these ‘character defects’ or whatever your saying ‘personality flaws’. Through Mantra and knowing yourself in a real sense it will be seen that all of these were added on. Much of these ‘character flaws’ or ‘vasanas’ were there for you to see and give up, discard as not you. Everything is about giving up. Like pebbles on the road, pebble in the shoe is for you to notice that there is a pebble in the shoe and then you toss it. Selfless Self is doing this automatically as you remain with yourself through Mantra all of the illusory thoughts are cleared.

Yes we are speaking about Mantra. Truly as Maharaj says “Mantra are the words”. Shivoham, Soham, Aham Brahmasmi, I am Brahman, etc. The Mantra given in our lineage goes back to Dattatreya and are very powerful words. But any Mantra, if you have not actually taken formal Mantra initiation, you can use any of these as Mantra to invite the attention of the invisible listener, even Thy Will Be Done. Just to allow the flow of thoughts, you experiencing yourself without any ideas or beliefs about yourself in the moment. Thy Will Be Done, that works, Aham Bramasmi, Soham, Shivoham, I am sky. Anything just to keep the mind busy, and you being able to see from behind. Your always there, but all this mind activity is blocking. So if you can keep the mind busy saying ‘I am sky, sky I am’ repeatedly. Once the invisible listener is contacted, so to speak, you invite the attention of the invisible listener seeing behind the clouds of ideas, beliefs and concepts. Knowing yourself in a real sense through body form, and then observing, without an idea of an observer. Even no idea arises that the observed and the observer are one and the same. Without a form of an observer and observed there is just the observing, with no ideas or beliefs behind that observing. Nisargadatta Maharaj states it beautifully “All the people are in the room and I see them, when they leave I don’t see them”. There is no train of thought, just come into the room, just like now, you look to the right of the monitor and you see the people, and when the session is over, you won’t see the people. Every moment, Mantra be with you, invite the attention of the invisible listener, concentrate. You are given so many opportunities. This life, this spontaneous arising in each moment. Like Maharaj says “Every moment is so very, very important” Instead of sharing about how you went through something and should have done Mantra, Mantra. Then you will see, ‘I went through this thing and there was no me going through it, everything just kind of, I could not really describe it, it was almost as though I was interacting with my own reflection in a mirror, and somehow I knew that everything was arising on my spontaneous Presence, and there was just a two-way communication with myself, recognition in the projection constantly, but everything is arising from me, including this body, which I am currently using, yet I am no longer identified with’.

‘I exist’, ‘I am’, how I exist I do not know, but I am here. Because you are closest to body, and after long association with the body, you automatically believe and accept ‘I am this body’. This body comes with a label or name, and relations, and a chain of concepts acquired through body knowledge. But you are not body at all.

Q: I have heard that some people recognize Self in deep sleep, but there is no body there? I am a little confused.

The only recognition in deep sleep is that something, you, enters the sleep state, go into deep sleep, dreaming and then come out the other side, so something was absolutely continuous that all these states appeared on. Just one continuous process. You did not just ‘go away’ and then come out the other side. It was a continuous process and all of these states arose on your Presence. Going to sleep, dreaming, deep sleep and waking up, it is just continuous. Just like ‘birth’ and ‘death’ same sort of idea. What was there before ‘birth’ will be there after ‘death’. These are states that arise on that spontaneous Presence. Presence identifies with the body and the thought comes ‘I feel that I exist, and I believe that I am this body “somebody”. After long association with the body and all of the body knowledge that I have acquired, all the things I have seen this body has needed, and the things which I worked to acquire for this body, all the actions that I believe are being done by this body, because this body is labeled ‘John’, people said ‘Good job John, or bad job John’. So I took these as my own. When this thought train is in motion it is moving automatically towards the idea ‘people die and so can I, things can die, and I am a thing’. That is terrifying. When the belief sets in that ‘I am this body, that everything I am is this body, and naturally this body will die’, the struggle to maintain the existence as long as possible commences through thought. ‘What happens to John? Who is John? Like Maharaj says show me ‘John’. Show me a sample of yourself. Is this body yourself? no. Siddharameshwar Maharaj goes through the whole gambit of the ‘subtle body, the physical body and all these bodies’ and finding the ‘I’. Where is this ‘I’ here? It is not here, it can not be found, or presented as something. There is a belief and an attachment with the body. Keeping with your Selfless Self through Mantra, these beliefs will slowly, silently and permanently be erased. Beliefs and ideas, concepts and all of this body knowledge will be erased, you will know yourself in a real sense. You will instantly know as Maharaj states ‘I am not body, I was not body, I am not going to remain body, body is not my identity’. These illusory thoughts about the body are not for me, just discard the layers that appear on Presence. No confusion.

John Richards
Sadguru Shri Ramakant Maharaj Dakshina

Illusory thoughts. Don’t get caught up in illusory thoughts. Every thought about ‘me’ myself’ or ‘I’ or ‘my story’ is an illusory thought. As Maharaj says “clouds coming and going, don’t accept these illusory thoughts”. Any thought that is flowing through that has to do with a ‘me’ or my circumstance, my job etc. that is an illusory thought, because it is based on illusion. Someone that is not existing, so that thought should be discarded immediately. When the thought comes in and it is discarded immediately, it does not get to germinate, antivirus software. In keeping with your Selfless Self through Mantra, a thought comes in ‘oh, I wonder how my boss thinks I am doing, or I am so busy at work, etc.’ No, no, no, Mantra, this is an illusory thought, I know it is an illusory thought because it is about ‘me’. Keeping with your Selfless Self through Mantra and you will see that it was not as your mind was presenting it. It never is. Keeping with your Selfless Self through Mantra allows you to see things as they are, observing this body moving around, and your reactions coming universally, rather than through the lens of individuality. ‘My boss might fire me’; that is a thought about the illusion. It is appearing on Presence, everything that appears on Presence is an illusion, this ‘me’ that I am worried is getting fired, is illusion, this job is illusion, so this is an illusory egoistic thought. Right away you discard it with Mantra and remain with your Selfless Self. There is no getting caught up in the thinking process. The mind wants to say ‘If we don’t think about this something bad is going to happen to you, we need to try and fix this’ but in reality there is no fixer. It is all occurring in mind, through belief. And you are believing, these thoughts that are put together using mind in sequence, ‘this is going to happen’. Before you know it you have lost your house and you are homeless living under a bridge. In reality nothing has happened. You are experiencing all of this through the instrument of mind, feeling emotion and ‘living’ the moment that is not. It is not the reality. It is going to be what it is anyway. It was Ramana Maharshi who says “If something is meant to be, it is going to happen no matter how much you try to avoid it. If it is not meant to be, it is not going to happen no matter how hard you tru to make it so. Best just to keep quiet.” Keeping quiet through Mantra and remaining with your Selfless Self knowing any thought about a ‘me’ is illusory and nothing is required.

There is nothing that needs to be protected. Someone can say something, whatever, there is not that self-consciousness because there is not a little me that is created through mind identifying with the thought flow and bringing attention towards ‘this is me’. When that idea takes shape than ‘I’ have to protect this idea. I am supposed to know something and I don’t. I either lie, or become aggressive, try to deflect or something. Remaining with myself through Mantra, slowly, silently, permanently, all the ash is removed exposing the fire that was always there. Lighting the Arati that fire is there, it is pure, there are no qualities and nothing is covering it. It burns bright, and the light, You Selfless Self are the light, the spontaneous Presence on which everything appears. Everything that you are seeing is just an illusion. All the thoughts about what is seen are illusion. The ideas that there is a seer, who that seer is, if there is an idea formed about that seer, that is also illusion. There is just the seeing. No experience, everything is just moving about in front of the seeing, images flowing. Everybody is experiencing this in various different stages in different ways. You ‘see’ sometimes, like an athlete being ‘In the zone’ taking the basketball effortlessly to the hoop and slam dunk. He is ‘In the zone’ it is just flowing. That is that Selfless Self type state. After the shot I might think about it. I might analyze the shot and try to bring up thoughts about it, or that I needed to change something. Even though this nice shot was made, I may analyze the action and then start believing ‘Oh, I was a little too much on my left foot, maybe I should have taken off on my right foot’. That is the after effect, the commenting after the fact of the action, in essence creating the doer, because I am sitting there thinking about what has been done.

Take one step forward, Maharaj takes the other step. Not Maharaj in body form where you need to talk to him, or do anything. Maharaj, the Maharaj, Selfless Self. Act as if. In that moment know, it is an illusory world, and I am just moving forward. Without saying it. Mantra allows you to do that. You will see your body moving, remaining with yourself through Mantra, you see you are making a sandwich, your doing this thing, every thing is getting done smoothly and not a single thought has come. Mind has been kept busy with Mantra. As the challenges seem to progress it will be automatic, remaining with yourself through Mantra, until there is no arising of anything. No matter what may be happening outside, there is no experience, no experiencer, because there is nothing here anymore. Every moment is a test and you just have to stick with it. Stay with yourself whatever challenge, of course because we are human beings in these bodies, there are going to be challenges. These challenges, turn up the heat, so that you the Selfless Self can see. Using Mantra I remain with my Selfless Self through this, and there will be amazing peace that can not be described. You start to see that the whole world is projected from me. Not me in body form, this Selfless Self is continuously projecting, there is a recognition in the projection through the eyes, of the person that you believed yourself to be at one time, and now you are aware that you are using this body as an instrument. Moving about in this world, but there is not someone in this instrument. This body is just an instrument. An instrument with no need to give it any identity, no need to fill it, not to worry.

Of course what needs to be done is done, no need to form a doer. There is no deed there is no doer. There is no need to form a doer, no need to form an experiencer, you are formless, remain as you are. Without form, without identity, no next. In the next moment, no next. Mind wants to go to a next, no next, just here. What am I going to do, nope, no next, here. Like Nisargadatta Maharaj says “when there are no customers for thought, thought vanishes”. If you think about any economy if the factory of thoughts are making thoughts and no thoughts are being purchased, they lay off the factory workers, they close the factory, because no one is buying the thoughts. If no one is buying the thoughts, than you are no longer creating a you. Thoughts are flowing to poke and prick a you. Do you believe in this thing? Do you believe you are this? Because if you have this idea about yourself and whatever form you have taken, the thoughts will come in and prick that form, that’s what identification with thoughts does. You create this ‘my mind’ and as soon as ‘my mind’ is created, it starts to buy thoughts under the table. Black market thoughts. All because of a belief. Thoughts that are flowing and they are not used to create or form a ‘my mind’ are just thoughts flowing. Like Maharaj says “clouds, coming and going”. The only time the clouds appear to not come and go is when there is a form that is created, a mind that is created, and then ‘This is happening to me’. I take form as person, that person has this and that, these are my possessions, this is what I do, this is how I feel, my friends and family etc. This is who I am. Thoughts then will be given attention if they have anything to do with any of those ideas being held I am believing about myself in any moment. Remaining with yourself through Mantra allows you to see this process, thoughts can come and go and cease, as there is no attention paid to them. They may still be flowing, I don’t know because there is nothing here that has attraction to any passing thought. No interest of thoughts of what needs to be done, or taking a position as a man or a woman, these just are not there. You are just here, with no next, no nothing. Fully here. Using this body in the moment and dropping, something. nothing, another scene arises, 100% in to this, and then dropping. Knowing inwardly that it is just scenes passing. Nothing is sticking. There is not even an idea that you are continuous in all of these scenes it’s just here is the scene now, then finished, not taking anything with you.

John Richards
Sadguru Shri Ramakant Maharaj Dakshina

In everyday experience, through Mantra, through staying in touch with your Selfless Self, you experience many periods of your Self without yourself. But, then your attention is drawn back in to something and instead of staying with yourself through Mantra you allow the thought process to begin. An identity is created, you form this form and instantly believe in what is going on and how it relates to this form you have taken. These are opportunities, turning up the heat, the more the heat is turned up that is beautiful, that is the time to stay with yourself in a real sense. As you start to see your attention move towards something and notice, ‘Oh, I am kind of involved in this’ before you become involved in what is going on, Mantra. When the Mantra is running the mind is busy, and without the mind you can’t be involved. The mind is an instrument that creates a form, this thought train that is identified with and labeled as ‘my mind, my thoughts, my actions, my body’. The more the heat get’s turned up that is the time. That is when progressive steps come in as a use to you the Selfless Self using this instrument to know yourself, without identifying. You have processed all of these different times where there could be a pull to form an individuality, to say ‘oh this individual, this is happening to me’. Then every moment is just passing, up to and including there will not be any concept of ‘I am dying’, the scene, the scene, passing no identification with what is going on, that’s it.

Knowing yourself in a real sense you don’t need all this knowledge, this body knowledge. You are no longer holding onto that as something that is needed, something that needs protection. At the time of leaving the body if you truly believe that ‘I’ have this knowledge and that everything is going to be OK for this, that I am going to leave the body very smoothly, because of all my knowledge I know I am Brahman. This is not good, because you knowing yourself in a real sense know that all of that was just for a time, and now it’s not. But there is no idea that I am dying or that I am losing this knowledge that I have collected. Especially on the spiritual journey, like Maharaj says “If you have been on the spiritual journey for 20 or 30 years, you are not going to want to give that up.” That is something, that is this body who has knowledge and has gone to this temple, seen this master and that master, taken this mantra, and practiced all these things for so long. Your not going to want to give that up. That is the body knowledge. Selfless Self through Mantra erases all of this, this you, this virus, this body knowledge and all the things that you believe you have acquired are erased slowly, silently and permanently. Then you know yourself in a real sense without any ideas, beliefs or concepts about yourself. You can “live” by using this body, doing your job and all the activities as they arise, take care of your responsibilities. Knowing fully, ‘I know myself in a real sense, everything is OK, All of this is appearing on my spontaneous Presence’

Space can appear to be divided, but it can’t actually be divided, a box that has space both inside and outside is actually appearing in the space, rather than containing any space. Even if the box is closed, it is a form that is appearing in the space, it is appearing in the space and your attention is being drawn to the box as an object in space, but space is space. Maharaj uses the example of the Ashram sky and the toilet sky. If the building collapses does the space in the Ashram go to heaven and the toilet sky go to hell? Is the Ashram space more holy? Space is space. What is happening inside the space? Anything can happen inside the space, the space is provided for whatever the elemental objects may do inside the space without the space doing anything. The Space is provided, and there are objects that are appearing in the space. For a time you believe yourself as one of those objects. Until the objects that you are observing as the observer, believing that it is observing as this body form, start to observe that observer and sees that there is nothing there. Ultimate Truth, there is nothing else. Recede, recede, recede, Selfless Self, except your Selfless Self nothing is there. Everything came out of nothing, everything dissolves back into nothing, in between there appears to be something, but that something dissolves back into nothing. It was always nothing, there was just an appearance of something.

You recognize yourself through body form. That sense of Presence is felt through body form, that is the purpose of the body instrument. That is not an experience, that is a knowing of yourself in a real sense. The conviction is as I know myself more and more through this body form, I must not be this body. ‘I am not body’ will arise and this will be known. You are using this body as an instrument to feel this sense of Presence. That is not an experience. Bowing to the masters and having the recognition in the projection. Even going to McDonalds and looking at the fry lady and their is a recognition in the projection. In every being my Presence is there. That spontaneous conviction is ‘I absolutely can not be body’. Because how could this body also be in that body, no it is not possible, yet the recognition is there. So this formless Presence is in each form, recognizing itself, using body forms. You sense yourself through this body, and you are reflecting the recognition in the projection through all of the other bodies, because all of it is inside yourself and everything is arising on your spontaneous Presence. That spontaneous Presence is felt through body. That sense of Presence, the knower of the sense of Presence is who I am. I am not the presence, the Presence is kind of an indicator and I am knowing this sense of Presence using body form. You are the knower of that sense of Presence. There is constant conveyance, when Presence is speaking and flowing, the recognition arises, the speaker and the listener are one and the same. That presence is conveyed, it is conveyed in every moment. The more you continue in the mantra and keep with your Selfless Self you will see. Absolutely so that I! My Presence is in each and every being. The squirrel, the dog, the ducks, the birds. An experience may be the birds flying and you somehow feel them flying through you, that is an experience that you would not want to continue in the line of oh, this is happening. Recognizing the sense of Presence is the purpose of the Mantra to invite the attention of the invisible listener, so your intention goes in there, you concentrate, you feel that sense of Presence. This automatically gives great happiness, without any material cause.

John Richards
Sadguru Shri Ramakant Maharaj Dakshina

There is no self-consciousness when the attention is on the Self. If there is self-consciousness it is from the position of the Self observing the self-consciousness. If you are having self-consciousness, then there is a Self that is observing the self-consciousness. When there is no self-consciousness than you are just in your natural state as Your Self.

Nothing can not be described, as soon as you describe it, it’s something. As soon as you put a label on nothing, it is something. That is why the appearance, when everything comes out of nothing and everything dissolves within nothing, there is an appearance of something, this body, this life and all the concepts that come along with this body, the ‘I am somebody else’ which starts from that sense of Presence. When I know that sense of Presence, then I want to identify what that sense of Presence is, rather than just allowing. Not thinking, not labeling, just being. Not being anything in particular because if I want to be something, then I have to create a something out of nothing.

All of this life, these forms are forming, and that power is moving all of it and all of it is contained within That. That is all there is, and That You are, That Selfless Self. Invisible, Anonymous, Unidentified, Identity. Invisible, because like Maharaj says ‘You can’t see it, you feel it.’ That feeling of the sense of Presence, and if you can feel the sense of Presence, then you are the knower of that sense of Presence. You feel that sense of Presence through body form. You can’t do that without body. You don’t know yourself, you can’t feel the sense of Presence without a body form. You have to have the instrument, which is body, that sense of Presence is arising, you can feel that sense of Presence, you are the knower of the sense of Presence using the instrument of body.

This knower, with knowingness, that knows nothing. Because there is nothing other than it to know. You don’t know yourself, there is no knower that can know anything. That is where you must have the courage, living in this body form, Be with You Always and not with the outside world and all the bobbles and dangly things that are trying to attract the attention, trying to form a knower to know those things. Things can come and go, thoughts come and go, scenes come and go, people come and go, but there does not need to be a knower being formed to know something “other”. It is not a “void” because there can be a knower of a void. Through Mantra you will see that there is nothing created, there is no form being taken, just a formless sense. A formless sense that can use hands, that can speak, that can move about, without taking any position, not using mind for labeling anything. That is the spontaniety. Spontaneous Conviction, that Selfless Self, “Oh, So That I”.

Maharaj says “Everything came out of nothing, and everything dissolves back into nothing, and in between there appears to be something.” That something is just nothing, and will return to nothing. In each moment stepping forward this is happening. Something is coming out of nothing, and going back into nothing. Something, nothing, something, nothing. No thoughts, no footprints, no sense of time, no sense of you. Nothing, not even a knower of the absense of a sense of you.

“self-consciousness” comes because I perceive “other”. First I see myself and I say ‘I am’. I am what? I am John, and then all needs all requirements come along with the body. Because I believe I am a body, then I believe you are a body, then I believe in my mind that ‘my mind’ is separate from ‘your mind’, that we are two separate individuals, then I develop a fear of you because I don’t know what your thinking. I don’t know what you are doing. When I am aware and knowing that all of this is just coming through or projected from the Selfless Self, and it is like a dream where there is just one dreamer, dreaming all of this. If I don’t know myself, I don’t know “other”. I don’t take a position as a self knowing something. So it is seen like a dream, just transitory with illusory people coming, and this body is just an illusory person, and there is only one thinker. That is the key thing, there is one. Somehow, someway interacting based on beliefs and ideas that are held about yourself, that is creating a world through mind in any given moment.

Maharaj says “All needs all requirements came along with the body” if I believe I am this body then ‘I Want, I Want, I Want.’ I want to acquire body knowledge for this body. I want to acquire possessions for this body. I want to acquire publicity for this body. Money for this body. Sex for this body. ‘I’ needs these things. Because I believe I am this body. Knowing yourself in a real sense you know there is nothing you could possibly need. Everything is appearing upon your spontaneous Presence, and all these things that are being seen, appear upon the spontaneous Presence so they must be illusion. How can this formless sense of self desire a nicer car? It doesn’t even make sense. How can this formless sense of self not be happy doing what it is doing? All of this appears upon your Presence. And in this game all of this is appearing upon your Presence so that you do know yourself in a real sense, so that you can see. So that you are smacked enough times, that you don’t desire these ‘fluffy clouds’ anymore because they are seen as ‘fluffy clouds’. You will no longer create worlds of concepts, and worlds of ideas. ‘I am a doer, and I need to do more, and congratulations I did this great thing, uh-oh this is not going as planned let’s find someone to blame, because it can’t be me’. The the thought train of concepts takes you away, and your lost deeper and deeper in the belief in the illusion and further and further away from your Selfless Self.

John Richards
Sadguru Shri Ramakant Maharaj Dakshina