The subject that we are discussing here is non duality – One without a second, as it is pointed out in Advaita in Hinduism. This has also been expressed in all of the major world religions as well. If as the ancients and others have stated and pointed out, that Reality, God, Truth, or “what is” is non dual, non conceptual, pure awareness-consciousness, then obviously that does not leave any room for a you or a me, or any separate personal entity whatsoever. How can there be a “me” apart from consciousness? If there is one, then that is dualism or duality and what we are saying, expressing , or pointing out is that there is no duality in this ever present non dual essence of all knowing awareness-consciousness that you always and ever are; THIS ever present natural state that is neither yours nor mine, but simply “is”.

How can there be Omnipresence and “me”, Mr or Mrs So and So? That would mean that there is something added to, outside, or apart from Omnipresence, and in actuality there is only THAT. To have something outside of Omnipresence is an impossibility, so it is clear that the entity “me” is a total fiction, an imaginary entity, a phantom, or what we call in Advaita, the child of a barren woman. Now, a barren woman has never had a child in the first place, so who in fact are you who is seemingly reading this? Ask yourself these questions and find out directly for yourself, don’t wait for something or someone outside yourself to give you THIS or you will wait forever. No one is going to give you, teach you, or tell you anything. Work out your own salvation with diligence.

There is an “appearance” of duality and there could not be any manifestation at all if it did not appear in the so called pairs of opposites – day-night, sound-silence, hot-cold, man-woman etc; however, even though it may appear like that it has never changed its true nature as non dual awareness-consciousness. The sky still appears to be blue, and there still appears to be water in the mirage, however it is clearly seen and known that the sky is not blue, nor is there ant water in the mirage appearing in the distance, although there appears to be.

If through investigation and clear seeing it is directly seen and known that there is no me here separate or apart from awareness; then that being the case, if, right here and now presently I can’t find any me or separate entity whatsoever when I directly look, then might en it dawn on you that there isn’t one? If there is no me or mine apart from this awareness-consciousness right here and now on present evidence(not taking into account thought or memory) or direct investigation, then when was there ever one? Doesn’t that lead to the conclusion that there never was any separate person or entity there at any so called time, even though it was believed that there was one? There never was any separate person or entity there with any substance or independent nature of its own at any time, was there?

Rather shocking conclusion on the one hand, and yet extremely liberating on the other. If there is no self or reference point with any substance or independent nature of its own apart from this impersonal all-knowing awareness, then who can suffer, have endless problems, grow old and die etc? The answer is no one. No self, no me, no entity, no problem – isn’t that so? And this is exactly what the Buddha discovered in his moment of enlightenment under the Bod hi tree.

He directly saw or realized that all apparent forms and things were inherently empty of any any substantial self or entity as such, and that form is nothing but emptiness, and emptiness is nothing but form. Form does not differ from emptiness, emptiness does not differ from form. The same is true with feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness. This was a genuine insight into the truth of non duality, and that is that form and emptiness are not two different things but rather one non dual essence expressing and appearing as everything – a boundless emptiness suffused with awareness – an all-knowing awareness or empty cognizance.

This cognizing-emptiness is the true nature, the natural primordial stateless state of every apparent thing. The awakening or so called enlightenment of the Buddha(Buddha means fully awake, aware) was the direct seeing-knowing that every apparent thing animate or inanimate is nothing but Buddha-nature – all knowing awareness-consciousness – cognizing emptiness. So it is emptiness itself that is doing the cognizing and not any person or entity there who can do anything. THIS is the fundamental insight that when clearly seen and known can never be lost because it is simply known that there is no person or entity present there who could gain or loose anything as all is awareness-emptiness – THIS awake nothing or no thing – THIS very wakefulness, and there is nobody, not Buddha, Christ, Ramana Maharshi, or anyone else who has ever gone beyond nothing. So get a taste of this wakefulness, this aware no thing and you have gone as far as anyone has ever gone, so to speak. In this ever present wakefulness there is no one superior or inferior to you, there is only this boundless equanimity or suchness.

This awareness-consciousness is nothing to the time-bound mind and that is why it is being ignored by the apparent entity – “me”, Mr or Mrs So and So. Therefore in emptiness(awareness) there is neither form, nor feelings, nor perception, nor mental formations, nor consciousness; no eye, or ear, or nose, or tongue, or body, or mind; no form, no sound, no smell, no taste, no object of mind; no realms of elements(from eyes to mind-consciousness); no interdependent origins and no extinction of them(from ignorance to old age and death); no suffering, no origination of suffering, no extinction of suffering, no path, no understanding, no attainment.

Because there is no attainment but only “what is”, there are no obstacles to overcome, no fear, no enlightenment, just THIS – realizing perfect Nirvana – nothing else, nothing other in non duality. All Buddhas in the past, present , and future(simply a way of talking or expressing as there is no such thing as time), thanks to this Perfect Understanding, arrive at full, right, and universal Enlightenment. Full, right, and universal Enlightenment is realizing, knowing, directly and clearly that there is no enlightenment(who or what separate entity is there that could be enlightened?), there is only THAT Supreme non dual animating life essence – not two, no other, now or ever – just THIS, nothing else! You are THAT.

End.

What is it that we need to know and acknowledge?  Isn’t it this ever present fact of our own being, right here and now presently?  Isn’t THIS impersonal presence of awareness, or awareness of presence, what I , First Person, present tense, singular, truly and ever am?  Before there can be any god, don’t I have to be there first, prior to any and every apparent thing?  Knowing THIS is the only genuine knowledge, and that is self-knowledge, self-realization.

Realizing, knowING, that I am prior to everything and the know er of it, is the timeless actuality of true wisdom.  This self evident fact of one’s very own being, right here and now – self-existing, self-shining like the sun, timeless Omnipresence, is being totally overlooked and ignored by the time-bound entity, the illusory body-mind appearance, that one usually and mistakenly, takes oneself to be.  Nisargadatta Maharaj directly pointed out to me, many so called years ago, that I was not what I had taken myself to be; and by that he meant that I was not my body or my mind of memory, made up of accumulated thoughts and concepts forming this dead image or imaginary reference point – “me” – Mr or Mrs So and So.

If I am not the body or the mind then what am I?  Find out!  Just briefly, for a moment, pause a thought.  Now in that momentary pausing or stopping of thought, what is there?  Have you ceased to exist when the thought is paused, there in that so called gap?  No, you are still present and aware.  In fact you are awareness itself – non conceptual awareness, which in Dzogchen, the most direct and clearest expression of Buddhism – Dzogchen translated means ‘the great perfection’, and the great perfection simply put, in one sentence is – non conceptual awareness.  Aren’t you THAT?  Are you unaware presently, here and now?

Can you negate your awareness or boundless being?  Can you say I am not, or at some future time I will not be?  If you can, what is letting you say this?  Isn’t it this changeless background of space-like, all knowing, awareness that is allowing you to say this?  Have a look along those lines for yourself and see if the truth of what is being said or pointed to does not dawn upon you.  One has to drop all preconceived ideas, memories, thoughts, and concepts of what others, including ones parents, and society in general has told you, and simply and directly look.

On present evidence, not what you remember or what you have been told, how many eyes are you looking out of?  Obviously the answer is not two eyes, but one edgeless single eye – the Buddha eye or the single Christ eye that allows your whole body-mind to be filled with light, there where the actual seeing is taking place – the light of knowing, seeing, being, feeling, hearing, beginninglessly and endlessly – THIS colorless, formless, light of all knowing awareness is what you truly and ever are.

This light in oneself, is the light that seemingly lights up every man and woman that comes into or appears in the world. THIS light of naked knowing, this seemingly ordinary everyday awareness is the great enlightenment that all are apparently seeking, not realizing that they are that awareness.  You can’t seek that Reality of non conceptual, impersonal, self-shining, self-existing awareness because of the ‘fact’ that you already and always are THAT Reality, or what we call Parabrahman, the non dual Absolute in Advaita Vedanta.

And this very fact that has just been stated and pointed out here, is what the Jnani or self-realized refer to as ignorance.  This Reality of your natural state or true being is being ignored by the seeker who continues to look outward into the appearance world of time-bound shapes and forms, not realizing that the shapes and forms, sentient beings, mountains, rivers, stars, and galaxies, are in point of fact, nothing but emptiness-awareness ‘appearing’ as other than itself.  There “is” no duality in non duality, there only appears or seems to be, and you, as that time-bound entity Mr or Mrs So and So are taking the appearance to be the Reality, and this can never happen.

You as that separate entity Mr or Mrs So and So are a total fiction, the child of a barren woman, so to speak.  Nothing of the kind has ever happened at all and you are nothing – no thing – not just a total vacuum, but a boundless, awake, aware, nothing or no thing – space-like awareness-emptiness.  Directly knowing-being THIS is self-realization, already realized.  A bit hard to swallow you may say, rather shocking isn’t it?  Hard to swallow for who, shocking for who?  Find out the answer to this koan and you are home and hosed, present and aware-knowing as you always and ever have been.

Stop right there!  Don’t go off into the mind looking for an answer there where it never can be found.  The mind is time and there is no time apart from thinking or thought.  Do you have a memory if you don’t think about it?  Obviously not, so the so called “me” is time, and time as such does not exist, there is no such thing as time, it is only imaginary.  Nothing can trouble you except in your own imagination – stop imagining (thinking) and what is there?  Nothing perceivable or conceivable – Nirvana, Tao, the natural state, or what we call THAT in the Maha Vakya or great Word or statement of Hinduism in Advaita – I am THAT, for want of a better word.  Realize, I am THAT I am, there never was any ‘other’, there “is” only THAT.  Do not continue on endlessly in the dream that you are a separate person with destiny and free will – nothing could be further from the truth.  It is this pride of doer ship that has kept you in the trap of this imaginary bondage.  Drop it right this instant and be free.  Bondage and liberation are both concepts and are only imaginary.  There is no liberation because there is no actual bondage, there is only THAT unborn, ever present, non conceptual awareness.

See and simply “be” THIS that you always and ever are, and give up seeking and becoming which implies time, knowing that there is no such thing as time, and that time as such, is an illusion and utterly imaginary.  This alone is self-knowledge and self-discovery, of which there is no ending or beginning.

End.

Mullah Nasrudin, standing on the bank of a river, watched as a dog came to drink.  The dog saw itself in the water and immediately began to bark.  It barked and barked all morning and into the afternoon, until it was foaming at the mouth.  Finally, dying of thirst, the dog fell into the river – whereupon it quenched its thirst, climbed out, and happily walked away.  Nasrudin said, “Thus I realized that all my life I had been barking at my own reflection.”

Whenever one thinks or takes thought so to speak, it is usually about about some other person, entity, or thing.  It is never on oneself that one thinks or contemplates, but rather on some other person or thing, and this is dualism – I and the so called other.  But who is this ‘I’ that I take myself to be?  You cannot think on this I that is yourself, because when you turn your attention around one hundred and eighty degrees and try to focus on yourself that you think is doing the thinking; this so called separate ‘I’ disappears and can not be found or located, and all that is there is a boundless, impersonal, awareness or presence.

Perhaps THIS is what you truly are, and not the apparent separate entity, Mr or Mrs So and So, that that you falsely imagine or think yourself to be.  Who is the thinker?  Find out for yourself, I am not going to tell you because it will not help you unless you see this for yourself.  Isn’t the thinking, just like the seeing, hearing, tasting, and touching, arising spontaneously  by itself without the input of any any separate person or entity  that is doing the thinking, including all the naturally occurring sense functions?  Have a good look at it, don’t just say – I don’t know, find out, otherwise forget about non duality all together and just continue with your unexamined, miserable life full of uncertainty, anxiety, and self created psychological suffering.

Who is this suffering happening to, who and what is this apparent separate I?  From whence and from what has this I arisen?  Has this apparent separate I got any substance or reality of its own apart from this naked, non conceptual aware no thing that is at its base or foundation?  Never mind about others, like my wife or my husband, my country, my politician, my priest, or my religion, whatever that may or may not be.  All that is secondary and of no importance unless I find out, know, re-cognize, or realize who and what I am first and foremost – First Person singular, One without a second.  When I know who I am, then I automatically know who the imaginary others are also.

The subject is non duality – THIS ever present, Omnipresent, ONE without a second.  If reality, god, or truth is non dual One without a second as I now know for certain to be the case; can you who are reading or contemplating this be separate, apart from, or outside of THAT Supreme Reality that is at the very core of of your own being here and now?  Are you aware, are you knowing, even without a thought or concept, right here and now?

If you are, then THAT must be what you are.  Just this, nothing else – THIS awake, aware no thing, this unqualified immediacy that so called things are appearing in and on, has never changed or altered in any way whatsoever.  Can you remember a time when you were not aware?  Even in deep sleep or under an anaesthetic, you are still aware, you still existed then even as you do now.  This awareness, this awake no thing has never grown old, it was the same and present when your physical body was two years old, ten years old, or one hundred years old, and it will still be present when the body-mind vehicle disappears and resolves itself  back into this emptiness-awareness or no thing that it always and ever “is’.

Awaken from the dream that you are mortal, fallible, and full of sin and realize once and for all that you yourself are the deathless spirit or essence, the non dual Absolute.  What did you hope to find, what did you hope to achieve in this Maya dream of manifestation?  Have you attained what you set out to attain, have all your desires been fulfilled?  Of course not, because you were looking in the wrong place, not realizing that what you are seeking you already are.  There is no “me” there who can have any desire; knowing this you are desire less, effortless, whole and complete – utter freedom itself without any boundaries or limits – limitless capacity, suchness, boundless being.  So simply “be” what you truly are ( an awake nothing or no thing ) and don’t pretend to be what you are not – a limited person, entity, or thing caught up in endless becoming, which is time.    – End.

 This that we are pointing to is no thing to the mind, yet it ever is.  This unqualified essence or Omnipresence is what you truly and ever are.  You as that indefinable immediacy never begin or end, yet all apparent things have their seeming beginning and ending in THIS changeless, boundless, aware or awake no thing.  There is no becoming in this being that you can never negate, yet simultaneously that you can never grasp with any passing thought or mental concept.

This that has just been stated is the very essence and crux of this so called teaching of non duality that we are seemingly trying to convey.  There is nothing more obvious or simpler than this very ‘fact’ of your own being – infinitely and eternally.  So start from the fact that you already are THAT.  If you start from anywhere else you will be starting from the mind which is time and utterly dualistic in its very functioning.

 It is quite obvious that you cannot get to the timeless – THIS ever present, non dual essence or Absolute, from time which is dualism or becoming.  Becoming is time and there is no becoming in being.  There is no duality in this non dual Absolute or no thing that you truly and ever are.  There is an appearance of duality no doubt, but the appearance as it appears is not the reality.  There is the appearance of a snake in the harmless rope seen in a dim lit area.  However in actuality there never was any snake in this rope of non conceptual all knowing awareness or consciousness; there only appeared to be.

This is all that needs to be known.  Once this is re-cognized and fully realized, everything becomes all inclusive again.  The body and world still appears and one still uses the words “I” and “me” knowing fully well that there is no separate I or me in this mirror-like aware no thing that is the source and origin from which all apparent things come and to which they seemingly return.  Then appearance and reality are paradoxically the very same know thing.  Form is emptiness and emptiness-awareness is form.

This is the fully rounded view so to speak, where nothing is accepted or rejected.  There is no dividing up of things into the relative and the absolute – spirit and matter – God and man etc.  These words that are being written or spoken are not dividing anything – this naked knowing awareness remains unaffected throughout eternity and you are THAT.  The world appearance was never created at all, it never existed at any time, and it is only an illusory appearance like the silver in the mother of pearl shell.  There is only ever this unborn awareness appearing and expressing as every apparent thing.  You cannot possibly be anything other than THAT now or ever.  This alone is self-realization already realized, the truth and actuality of non duality; nothing less than this.

Seeing this, what needs to be done and by whom?  Nothing needs to be done and there is no one who can do anything.  There is just this immediacy of choice less, effortless, awareness.  Aren’t you THAT right here and now?  Is there any need to seek it or acquire it?  The very search itself is the problem because the search implies a seeker who at some future time is going to acquire or get this so called great enlightenment.  You have then placed yourself in the trap of time, thinking that at some future time you are going to reach your goal of enlightenment.  You have then moved away from this immediacy into the mental concept of time.  Mind and thinking is time and this immediacy is timeless.  As soon as you move off into conceptual mental thinking and imagining you have then created an illusory separate entity “me”, who then thinks that he or she is thinking the thoughts, whereas in actuality thoughts are arising and passing away effortlessly without there being any entity or person as such thinking them.

This is what clearly needs to be seen, not by any entity but by clearly seeing and investigating and noticing that there is no separate entity there with any substance or independent nature of its own now or ever.  Stepping off the razors edge of this timeless, naked non conceptual awareness into the mental, imaginary concept of time and space is how the unnecessary psychological suffering is created and maintained.  Just realize that you can never get out of or leave the NOW of this timeless Omnipresent, naked, all knowing presence awareness, and then you will directly see that all problems are purely mental or imaginary, as the so called person or entity that they are happening to is the child of a barren woman who then builds a castle in the air and tries to live in it.

This child of a barren woman then goes to drink and bathe in the waters of a mirage.  A total impossibility and absurdity.  See this and be free.  Don’t pretend to be what you are not – a separate, limited, time bound person or entity, and don’t refuse to be what you are – this awake, aware, boundless, limitless no thing – the non dual Absolute or Supreme reality, One without a second.

End.

We are all intelligent people so called, and we have solved a lot of problems with our mind, but we have never solved this problem of the mystery of being – ‘who and what am I?’ – we have never solved it with the mind.
Having looked endlessly in the mind, which is itself time, and not having found any solution there, wouldn’t it dawn on us that perhaps the answer is not there? When this dawns on you and you cease looking in the mind for an answer, where does that leave you? – here and now present and aware as you have always and ever been.This presence awareness, Is-ness, pure non-conceptual knowing-ness, is exceedingly subtle.
So subtle in fact, that we cease to notice it at all and instead look outward and fixate on the gross experiences – food, sex, music, sensory perceptions and objects, ignoring the very subtle space of knowing-awareness that everything is taking place in.In fact everything, including sentient beings and apparent separate objects are nothing but this self-shining empty cognizance appearing as other.This emptiness suffused with awareness is utterly non dual.
This is what Advaita, meaning not-two, really is.

This uncompromising pointing to this ever present principal is the genuine article of all true and authentic Advaita teaching.
In this there is no teacher nor is there any teaching – everything “is” this non dual Absolute, that no can at any time, ever negate.
No one can say – I am not, because you, as the Absolute, would have to be there to say it.That being said, let us investigate this presence awareness that everyone, so called, is enjoying.
Can you ever remember a time when conscious knowing presence was not there?
As far back as you can remember it was there, and if you receed even further back prior to your own birth or conception in the womb, all you can say is, I don’t remember or I don’t know.
Realize however, that it is this ever present awareness that is allowing you to say, I don’t know or I don’t remember.By awareness we mean just this pure activity of knowing that you are.
Not knowing this or that, but just bare naked knowing – even without a thought or concept.
Even without a thought arising or being present, there is still a pure knowing-ness or ‘is-ness’ present.
There is a pure knowing there, prior to consciousness of being a person, or labeling and naming something eg – saying that is a chair, that is a tree etc.There is a knowing there even before a thought says that is So and So etc.
This pure unadulterated “isness”, knowing is the Jnana of a Jnani.
This is the lost innocence or wholeness that everyone is seeking.
We actually know what everything is even before we name or label it.
We think we know something by calling it a chair, but the word or concept “chair” is only a label, and you can’t sit on a concept or label.

The word chair is not the actuality, only a name, a description.Therefore a chair is not actually a chair, it is simply vibrating pure intelligence energy – awareness, appearing as a chair.
The chair is only a momentary appearance in the changeless space like awareness. – Awareness is self-knowing, self-shining.
Emptiness suffused with awareness is the non dual Absolute.
Because awareness as we are using the term, is non dual – Advaita – it cannot know itself as an object.
If something is not two or One without a second as Advaita claims, it cannot and need not know itself.
Note, that in using language, the very language itself has an inbuilt limitation and implies in it’s very use a duality that doesn’t really exist.However language or words are the only tool we have to point to this TRUTH or non duality that you have never ever left, except in your own mind or imagination; which is itself only an aspect of this non dual Absolute.
When I said in the previous paragraph – if something is non dual or Absolute, there is an implication that REALITY or TRUTH is a thing or an it, and THIS is not an it or a thing as such.

Things come and go, but what we are pointing to here, doesn’t come or go.
Let’s clarify our terms here. – REALITY is THAT which never changes.
This empty space of knowing that you are enjoying right now as you are reading these words is timelessly present, has no dimensions, is Omnipresent, Omniscient, Omnipotent, and I am THAT, you are THAT, there is nothing that is not THAT.Your (original) name is I AM THAT I AM, not Mr or Mrs So and So.
So what do you need to attain? – or to seek, to become enlightened or fulfilled?
How can you ever find yourself if you “are” yourself?
How can you ever become what you already are?
It is impossible to be in need of getting something extra to be added (to you), in order to become what you already are.