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