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.

“The Absolute Cannot Be Remembered Because It Cannot Be Forgotten.”

Without remembering that, and without putting in any efforts, the experience of the world happens.

Now, for those who have identification with the body, this knowledge has no meaning  –  it cannot act.  Despite this fact, the visits these people make will not be totally in vain; they will bear fruit at some future time.  The effects of these visits will be like the aftermath of the rains: grass and plants will be seen coming out automatically, sprouting.”

These above words of Nisargadatta Maharaj are extremely profound and poignant, for I am one of those so called people he is referring to who visited him in the final years of his earthly existence.  What he said and the seeds of consciousness that he planted at the time have come to fruition and born fruit here, so to speak.  What he said, his powerful words penetrated into me, lay dormant and finally germinated and bore fruit many years later, and seemingly after the fact,

They worked in spite of me, not because of me.  The “me” that I am referring to is the identification with the body-mind that I had taken myself to be at that time.  This identification has now resolved itself and disappeared and left me with what I truly and ever am – THIS impersonal awake or aware nothing, the no thing that I always and ever am.  I never existed as that entity or body-mind appearance that I took myself to be – I only appeared to, and even the appearance(reflection) would not have been possible without this empty, colorless, formless space of all knowing awareness or infinite intelligence.

Just as the reflections are not apart from or independent of the spotless mirror and are in the final analysis nothing but the mirror, even so whatever seems to appear or disappear in the so called manifestation is nothing but THIS impersonal non dual essence or Absolute.  Without this impersonal empty space of knowing awareness, prior to, during, and after the appearance of consciousness, which is time-bound mind; nothing could be seen to appear or disappear ( apparent birth and death ) for that matter.
This is what needs to be seen or re-cognized and that is that Reality or simply “what is”, pure being, Non duality, does not change.  How could it if it is Reality or what we call THAT, in Advaita – even in the Biblical injunction “I am THAT I am.  You can call THAT Tao, Christ, Krishna, or Allah, any of these terms will serve equally as well.  Aren’t you THAT, right here and now, presently?  Can you say I am not existing?  If so, who would be saying that?  Isn’t it THAT or the Reality of Non Duality itself that enables the expression through the time-bound mind of the thought or concept I am?

Is there any duality in non duality?  You may say, there certainly appears to be, however the ‘fact’ is that there is no duality in THIS non dual Absolute that you truly and ever are; therefore there is no relationship in THIS that you truly and ever are.  Relationship is dualism, me and the so called other, and there is no other now or ever.  You , as that non dual essence alone exist, there ‘are’ no others.  Nothing ever happened, reality never changed and you are THAT whether you know it or not.  The most important thing is  the very ‘fact’ of your own being; start from the fact that you already are THAT, the very First Person Singular – I am, infinitely and eternally.

So, all this time, and I should not be even using that word(time), you have simply been duped by illusion, because in spite of all the apparent movements and changes, reality or “what is” has remained unchanged.  Now is the time to stop ignoring THIS and simply be what you truly are.  There is no becoming in this timeless being or Omnipresence.  Acknowledge it, re-cognize it and be – I am THAT by which I ‘know’ I am.

Has anything ever happened, has reality ever changed?  Turn your attention around one hundred and eighty degrees and directly look and see for yourself, what you are looking out of.  Isn’t it clear and empty there, color-less, form-less, aware emptiness or a fully awake nothing, that the seeing, hearing, and pure functioning is taking place from?  Isn’t it a fact that there where the actual seeing and knowing is taking place from on present evidence, that you are the very opposite of what society and others, including your family and friends have told you that you look like?

Everyone has to look and see this for themselves so to speak.  No one else can see this for you, each has to see it for him or her self.  Just talking about it conceptually is useless, although the words as pointers spoken from this direct knowingness can, if taken on board, cause a resonating or recognition in the hearer of the truth of what is being referred to.  This awareness that you truly and ever are has never changed or altered in any way, and it is closer to you than your own breathing, closer even than your own hands and feet.  THIS is the silence and stillness at the very core of your being, the truth and home of non duality.

Non conceptual, ever fresh, presence awareness is nothing perceivable or conceivable, yet it always and ever “is”.  This awake nothing that you truly are can never be made into a separate person, thing, or object and it is not something that you can attain or become, so we say, start from the fact that that you already are THAT non dual Absolute or changeless reality that you, as the apparent separate entity are seeking.  We are talking about and pointing to the actuality of non duality here, and if reality “is” non dual One without a second as countless sages have pointed out, then that means that duality is only conceptual or imagined, and has never for a moment existed in reality for the simple and obvious reason that there is no duality in non duality, even though it will always appear to be there, just as the mirror is always covered in reflections which in themselves have no separate existence or independent nature of their own, and are nothing but the mirror itself.

Just as the mirror itself is never truly seen because of the countless reflections appearing in and on it, this awake nothing, or boundless aware no thing is never seen and is being ignored, because this “me” of memory or the acquired mind which is time, does not want to be nothing, does not want to disappear and simply be the the timeless space less essence – THAT which never changes.  This made up entity the “me” or time bound mind does not have any power to do anything, although it has been believed all along that it does have power of its own.

So this is what we are seemingly asking you to do, and that is to question this belief that you are a separate entity who has destiny and free will, that you began at some time in the past, that you were born and that you will die at some future time.  What I am suggesting is that there is no time at all, and that beginning and ending are only mental concepts and that what you are is the timeless – you in essence are timeless and space less!  You never had any beginning and you will never have any ending, you were never born nor will you as THAT non dual Absolute, pure awareness or consciousness ever die.

Quite a bit to swallow at one go, isn’t it?  Go into it, question it, find out the truth for yourself.  See THIS for yourself and actually realize the unquestioned assumptions and limitations that you have placed upon yourself with the help of society, culture, and religious beliefs and conditioning’s.  Question all this and see the prison of all these concepts and beliefs vanish before your very eyes.  You are not what you have taken yourself to be – a limited, enclosed, sentient, human being, but the unlimited all knowing potential itself, what we call THAT in the great word or statement of Advaita Vedanta – I am THAT!

End.

Non-conceptual, ever fresh presence awareness is the reality of “what is”.  This reality that is presently being pointed to can never change or alter in any way shape or form otherwise it would not be real or fit the definition of reality; which is THAT which never changes.  This ever fresh, naked, all knowing, non-conceptual essence of pure awareness is the very fact and truth of Advaita or non duality.  This that is being pointed to is a boundless emptiness suffused with all knowing awareness or intelligence.

Everything that seemingly appears and disappears can be nothing but that self shining emptiness.  Form is none other than emptiness and emptiness is none other than form.  This statement attributed to the Buddha is nothing but a confirmation of the reality of non duality.  Everything, literally everything is THAT self same one essence expressing and appearing as other in the seeming pairs of opposites.  There is no other way that anything can appear and that is dualistic ally, I and other than I, day and night, man and woman etc.

The manifestation of consciousness takes place dualistic ally in the pairs of opposites and without this contrast there could be no phenomenal appearance at all.  If there wasn’t day there couldn’t be night, wasn’t sound there couldn’t be silence etc.  Even though consciousness manifests in the pairs of opposites, it never changes its true nature as the pure non-dual essence, as pure consciousness or awareness, non dual One without a second as it is stated in Advaita.  This of course is paradoxical to the mind which is of the nature of time and is composed of memories, concepts and images from a past that is already dead and gone.

The mind as we are referring to it here is a useful instrument for daily functioning, yet it has no substance or independent nature of its own and is only a reflection or shadow of the ever present consciousness that animates all things.  This pure consciousness or awareness is the Supreme Reality, God, or Truth if you want to give it that label, however no name or label can ever explain or define THIS that you truly and ever are.  Consciousness is not a thing or object, it is actually an aware no thing, a vast boundless emptiness suffused with intelligence or knowing.

This unlimited potential which is the reality of “what is”, can never be grasped by any limited thought, word or concept and that is why we say that you will never be able to find the answer to this mystery of your true identity in the mind of memory, the acquired mind of the imagined entity “me”.  Consciousness contains the mind, the mind does not contain it and there is no one who is not conscious or aware.  Therefore I say, hold on to this consciousness I am. love this consciousness, be warm towards it, worship this consciousness and there is nothing that you will not be able to know.

The mystery will be revealed to you and there will be no door that will remain closed to you.  This knowledge I am is utter freedom and effortless living, but you have to acknowledge it, love it, worship it and be one with it instead of ignoring it, as you as that separate entity have all along up till now, been doing.  Ignorance is not bliss, it is darkness, stupidity and the pride of doer ship.  To think that you are separate, apart, small and limited is not true humility as it pretends to be, but actually pride and arrogance.  True humility is to see and acknowledge your own unlimited potential and immortality as pure conscious awareness.

Non-dual devotion is devotion to your own Self.  Who do you love most of all?  You love your own Self and there is no greater love that THAT.  It is not for the sake of the wife that the wife is dear.  It is not for the sake of the husband that the husband is dear.  It is not for the sake of the child that the child is dear.  It is not for the sake of the friend that the friend is dear.  It is for the sake of of your own non-dual Self that all these things are dear.  This statement from the Upanishads, a pure expression of Advaita Vedanta in Hinduism is a direct acknowledgement of your true nature or natural primordial state, so simply be as you are in this ever present natural stateless state – I am THAT.
– End.

How did I come to be, and what does this being-ness depend on? This is what needs to be known or realized. Non being to being, and then again non being, on what does it depend? Don’t you, as that naked, non conceptual aware presence have to be there first or prior to all these seeming happenings? First person singular, I am. Examine THAT, investigate THAT non dual essence, pure, naked all knowing presence awareness. This knowledge “I am”, is the only true knowledge, all other knowledge is only a form of ignorance, a dualistic expression appearing in the changeless, formless, boundless all knowing awareness that you always and already are.

Are you aware right now? How do you know that you are aware? You just simply know by noticing that you are not asleep or unaware. It is as simple as that, but do we pause there and stay with the subtlety, with the actuality of this that is being pointed to, or do we immediately rush off into the habit energy of the me of memory or the so called mind which is time, the dead past, and try to seek the answer there? This is what we usually do, go off into mind stuff and endless mental conceptualization, trying in vain to find what we have never lost, this deathless, timeless, essence of naked knowing awareness.

You can try endlessly to seek the answer in the mind, continually analyzing and dividing things up because this is the very nature of the mind, and that is to analyze, reason, and divide, it is dualistic in all its functioning. There is no other way that the mind can think, except in the pairs of opposites. The mind is not our enemy as it is useful for daily functioning, but it can never grasp or know its origin, which is non dual non conceptual awareness. This emptiness or aware no thing that you truly are can never be known mentally or conceptually. This is the crux of what needs to be seen and realized.

All other problems will resolve themselves spontaneously once this is truly seen and acknowledged. Know your Self before you know others. Directly know your Self and there ‘are’ no others. There is no duality in non duality or pure Advaita, which simply put means “not-two”. See that all your so called problems are because of this separate entity “me” that you have erroneously taken to be yourself. What you truly are can not be separate or apart from the life essence that is effortlessly functioning and animating the world appearance.

See that this entity me is a made up thing, a phantom, the child of a barren woman without any substance or independent nature of its own apart from this deathless essence of pure knowing awareness that you don’t have to attain or acquire, as it is always and ever present with you and ‘is’ you. This awareness that you ever are is nothing perceivable or conceivable, a void of boundless, limitless intelligence, an endless activity of knowing. Even though this that is being pointed to is a vast emptiness, it is not a total vacuum or void because it is the very livingness or reality of everlasting life that is referred to in the scriptures of the major religions.

No matter how hard you try, you cannot notice this that is being referred to because it is not a thing or object and is the ever present subject of any and every object. The First Person Singular, I am THAT I am. Full stop there! Remain as that pure all encompassing being – I am, without words or concepts. Give up becoming and simply be as you are in the natural state. You exist infinitely and eternally as this already pure non conceptual awareness which in Dzogchen, the highest expression of Buddhism is called The Great Perfection. – End.