Jump to content
IndiaDivine.org

Who sets the example?

Rate this topic


Guest guest

Recommended Posts

Reposted from http://advaita.org/

 

Nisargadatta Maharaj

I AM THAT

dialog

 

 

Maharaj

 

....realization is explosive. It takes place spontaneously, or at the

slightest hint. The quick is not better than the slow. Slow ripening

and rapid flowering alternate. Both are natural and right. Yet, all

this is so in the mind only. As I see it, there is really nothing of

the kind. In the great mirror of consciousness images arise and

disappear and only memory gives them continuity. And memory is

material -- destructible, perishable, transient. On such flimsy

foundations we build a sense of personal existence -- vague,

intermittent, dreamlike. This vague persuasion: 'I-am-so-and-so'

obscures the changeless state of pure awareness and makes us believe

that we are born to suffer and to die.

 

Seeker

 

I was told that a realized person will never do anything unseemly.

That they will behave in an exemplary way.

 

Maharaj

 

Who sets the example? Why should a liberated one necessarily follow

conventions? The moment one becomes predictable, one cannot be free.

Ones freedom lies in being free to fulfill the need of the moment, to

obey the necessity of the situation. Freedom to do what one likes is

really bondage, while being free to do what one must, what is right,

is real freedom.

 

Seeker

 

What about cause and effect?

 

Maharaj

 

Each moment contains the whole of the past and creates the whole of

the future.

 

Seeker

 

But past and future exist?

 

Maharaj

 

In the mind only. Time is in the mind, space is in the mind. The law

of cause and effect is also a way of thinking. In reality all is here

and now and all is one. Multiplicity and diversity are in the mind

only.

 

Seeker

 

A message in print may be paper and ink only. It is the text that

matters. By analysing the world into elements and qualities we miss

the most important -- its meaning. Your reduction of everything to

dream disregards the difference between the dream of an insect and

the dream of a poet. All is dream, granted. But not all are equal.

 

Maharaj

 

The dreams are not equal, but the dreamer is one. I am the insect. I

am the poet -- in dream. But in reality I am neither. I am beyond all

dreams. I am light in which all dreams appear and disappear. I am

both inside and outside the dream. Just as a man having a headache

knows the ache and also knows that he is not the ache, so do I know

the dream, myself dreaming and myself not dreaming -- all at the same

time. I am what I am before, during and after the dream. But what I

see in dream, I am not. "

 

Seeker

 

If both dream and escape from dream are imaginings, what is the way

out?

 

Maharaj

 

There is no need of a way out! Don't you see that a way out is also

part of the dream? All you have to do is to see the dream as dream.

 

Seeker

 

If I start the practice of dismissing everything as a dream, where

will it lead me?

 

Maharaj

 

Wherever it leads you, it will be a dream. The very idea of going

beyond the dream is illusory. Why go anywhere? Just realize that you

are dreaming a dream you call the world, and stop looking for ways

out. The dream is not your problem. Your problem is that you like one

part of the dream and not another. When you have seen the dream as a

dream, you have done all that needs be done.

 

Nisargadatta Maharaj

" I am That "

The Acorn Press

 

P.S. You can order Nisargatta Maharaj's 'I AM THAT' from Advaita

Press Store at http://advaita.org and other bookstores online.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nisargadatta, " Hur Guler " <Hur1@a...> wrote:

> Reposted from http://advaita.org/

>

> Nisargadatta Maharaj

> I AM THAT

> dialog

>

>

> Maharaj

>

> ...realization is explosive. It takes place spontaneously,

 

It Appears to Take Place Spontaneously...I Believe Life is a Process

that Creates the Appearance of Spontaneity but It is Not

Spontaneous...It appears to Be Spontaneous because I'm Always

Unconscious of what's in the Background even though It's there so

from that I Conclude that It's My Lack of Knowledge of What's going

to Appear Next in My Awareness that Creates the False Notion of this

Relization I'm Experiencing Now is taking Place Spontaneously...!

 

or at the

> slightest hint. The quick is not better than the slow. Slow

ripening

> and rapid flowering alternate. Both are natural and right. Yet, all

> this is so in the mind only. As I see it, there is really nothing

of

> the kind. In the great mirror of consciousness images arise and

> disappear and only memory gives them continuity. And memory is

> material -- destructible, perishable, transient. On such flimsy

> foundations we build a sense of personal existence -- vague,

> intermittent, dreamlike. This vague persuasion: 'I-am-so-and-so'

> obscures the changeless state of pure awareness and makes us

believe

> that we are born to suffer and to die.

>

> Seeker

>

> I was told that a realized person will never do anything unseemly.

> That they will behave in an exemplary way.

>

> Maharaj

>

> Who sets the example? Why should a liberated one necessarily follow

> conventions? The moment one becomes predictable, one cannot be

free.

> Ones freedom lies in being free to fulfill the need of the moment,

to

> obey the necessity of the situation. Freedom to do what one likes

is

> really bondage, while being free to do what one must, what is

right,

> is real freedom.

 

Doing what is Right is Also a Form of Bondage...this Notion of Doing

what is Right Presupposes that One can Do Something Other than what

Life Allows One to Do...!

 

> Seeker

>

> What about cause and effect?

>

> Maharaj

>

> Each moment contains the whole of the past and creates the whole of

> the future.

 

This is Incorrect Thinking...From the Micro View...One could

Say... " Each Moment Contains the Whole of the Past...! " ...what is this

Whole of the Past the Maharaj speaks of Other than His Own View which

is a Fragment of the Whole...!

 

> Seeker

>

> But past and future exist?

>

> Maharaj

>

> In the mind only. Time is in the mind, space is in the mind. The

law

> of cause and effect is also a way of thinking. In reality all is

here

> and now and all is one. Multiplicity and diversity are in the mind

> only.

>

> Seeker

 

I Agree with this...this is Excellent...!

 

> A message in print may be paper and ink only. It is the text that

> matters. By analysing the world into elements and qualities we miss

> the most important -- its meaning. Your reduction of everything to

> dream disregards the difference between the dream of an insect and

> the dream of a poet. All is dream, granted. But not all are equal.

>

> Maharaj

>

> The dreams are not equal, but the dreamer is one. I am the insect.

I

> am the poet -- in dream. But in reality I am neither. I am beyond

all

> dreams. I am light in which all dreams appear and disappear. I am

> both inside and outside the dream. Just as a man having a headache

> knows the ache and also knows that he is not the ache, so do I know

> the dream, myself dreaming and myself not dreaming -- all at the

same

> time. I am what I am before, during and after the dream. But what I

> see in dream, I am not. "

 

It Sounds Like Here the Maharaj is Dreaming about the Dream...He may

Be these things He's Dreaming About in the Dream but I Am Not this...!

 

> Seeker

>

> If both dream and escape from dream are imaginings, what is the way

> out?

>

> Maharaj

>

> There is no need of a way out! Don't you see that a way out is also

> part of the dream? All you have to do is to see the dream as dream.

 

This is a Very Good Answer from the Maharaj...the Prankster at

Play...!...In other Words...instead of the Maharaj Just Saying to the

Seeker... " I don't Know the Way Out...! " ...he Has to Come Up with a

Conclusion that is False...this Reminds Me of Freud Saying all One

has to Do to Stop the Unconscious Mind from Creating this Suffering

One is Going thru is to Find Out thru Free Association what Caused

the Matter in the First Place and then the Suffering will Just

Disappear on Its Own just Because You Know what Caused It...Of Course

We Now Know this Is Not True...!

 

> Seeker

>

> If I start the practice of dismissing everything as a dream, where

> will it lead me?

>

> Maharaj

>

> Wherever it leads you, it will be a dream. The very idea of going

> beyond the dream is illusory. Why go anywhere? Just realize that

you

> are dreaming a dream you call the world, and stop looking for ways

> out. The dream is not your problem. Your problem is that you like

one

> part of the dream and not another. When you have seen the dream as

a

> dream, you have done all that needs be done.

 

When You See the Dream as a Dream You have Done All that Needs to Be

Done and Now You're in a New Place where You realize You Wasted alot

of Your Precious Time Trying to Do Something that Was not Possible to

Begin with...and what was IT that You Believed was Possible that was

Not Possible...?...That You could Be Something Other than What You

are...!

 

> Nisargadatta Maharaj

> " I am That "

> The Acorn Press

>

> P.S. You can order Nisargatta Maharaj's 'I AM THAT' from Advaita

> Press Store at http://advaita.org and other bookstores online.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nisargadatta, dswgos@h... wrote:

> Nisargadatta, " Hur Guler " <Hur1@a...> wrote:

> > Maharaj: ...realization is explosive. It takes place

spontaneously,

>

> It Appears to Take Place Spontaneously...I Believe Life is a

Process

> that Creates the Appearance of Spontaneity but It is Not

> Spontaneous...It appears to Be Spontaneous because I'm Always

> Unconscious of what's in the Background even though It's there so

> from that I Conclude that It's My Lack of Knowledge of What's going

> to Appear Next in My Awareness that Creates the False Notion of

this

> Relization I'm Experiencing Now is taking Place Spontaneously...!

 

Dear David,

 

I'd like to post the parapraph in question before addressing your

point.

 

" ...realization is explosive. It takes place spontaneously, or at the

slightest hint. The quick is not better than the slow. Slow ripening

and rapid flowering alternate. Both are natural and right. Yet, all

this is so in the mind only. As I see it, there is really nothing of

the kind. In the great mirror of consciousness images arise and

disappear and only memory gives them continuity. And memory is

material -- destructible, perishable, transient. On such flimsy

foundations we build a sense of personal existence -- vague,

intermittent, dreamlike. This vague persuasion: 'I-am-so-and-so'

obscures the changeless state of pure awareness and makes us believe

that we are born to suffer and to die. " -Nisargadatta

 

According to Webster.com " SPONTANEOUS implies lack of prompting and

connotes naturalness. "

 

Whether realization is spontaneous or a process (both of which may be

the same depending on one's definition or model), I believe the

essence of Maharaj's teaching is not how realization takes place but

what that realization points to.

 

Although Maharaj explains how the memory or the sense of time gives

continuity to the " frames " of memory, by arranging them in sequential

order, not unlike a movie camera, out of which emerges the " actor "

and the plot of the " play, " Maharaj's " mystical " insight is not how

one's model of reality plays in consciousness but how there is a

changeless state of pure awareness. In the changeless state of pure

awareness, the mind, body, the world, physical laws and even the

spiritual states all appear and disappear. Ultimately *you* are not

a thing, not even a state of mind but the pure awareness. Whether

one calls pure awareness the spirit, eternal reality or God, the

consciousness is the only link to That.

 

As one actor speaking to another actor in the play of consciousness,

can I make you realize this? I don't think that is always a part of

the programming or the process as you call it. But as consciousness

speaking to consciousness, contemplation of consciousnes on

consciousness needs no explanation. Ultimately this is the triump of

Maharaj's teaching, as he always points us to the sense of " I am. "

As Maharaj says, the sense of " I am " is the only capital we are born

with.

 

Hur

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

On 1-2-01

Hur Guler wrote:

 

"As one actor speaking to another actor in the play of consciousness, can I make you realize this?"

 

Dear Hur,

Why do consider yourself to be an actor?

 

In a theatre there are many levels:

There is the scenery, the physical props,

there are the parts, ie the persons in

the play, then there are the actors playing

the parts, there is also the audience, and

the casting director, various prompters,

the producer. Usually there is also an

unknown owner.

Some say the object of the theatre is to

entertain, others say the real object is

to make money, ie a living?

 

Hur, Why do you identify with the actor?

An actor is merely a profession, and is

not a real being?

 

Consider the possibility that all these

levels in a theatre are one and the same

being? Can then one ask the question why

does one being appear as many interrelating

levels? Is it entertainment or something

more vital? I confess I do not know.

 

I know only this: I am the part, not at

the level of the actor. The actor is the

little known

spiritual being standing behind me the part,

behind my limited self form,

and smiling sweetly at me.

 

The Theatre...the mind

The scenery...the world

The props...the physical body

The part...the person or natural body, jiva

The actor...the spiritual body, Mahat

The audience...the witness, Atman

The casting director...Ahamkara

The prompters...the gunas

The producer...God, Brahman

The owner...The Absolute

 

Entertainment is for the audience chiefly,

ie the witness.

A living, wealth, Life, is the activity of prana.

 

What has one left out? There must be

something one has forgotten?

 

John

 

-

Hur Guler

Nisargadatta

Thursday, February 01, 2001 11:41 PM

Re: Who sets the example?

Nisargadatta, dswgos@h... wrote:> Nisargadatta, "Hur Guler" <Hur1@a...> wrote:> > Maharaj: ...realization is explosive. It takes place spontaneously,> > It Appears to Take Place Spontaneously...I Believe Life is a Process > that Creates the Appearance of Spontaneity but It is Not > Spontaneous...It appears to Be Spontaneous because I'm Always > Unconscious of what's in the Background even though It's there so > from that I Conclude that It's My Lack of Knowledge of What's going > to Appear Next in My Awareness that Creates the False Notion of this > Relization I'm Experiencing Now is taking Place Spontaneously...!Dear David, I'd like to post the parapraph in question before addressing your point."...realization is explosive. It takes place spontaneously, or at the slightest hint. The quick is not better than the slow. Slow ripening and rapid flowering alternate. Both are natural and right. Yet, all this is so in the mind only. As I see it, there is really nothing of the kind. In the great mirror of consciousness images arise and disappear and only memory gives them continuity. And memory is material -- destructible, perishable, transient. On such flimsy foundations we build a sense of personal existence -- vague, intermittent, dreamlike. This vague persuasion: 'I-am-so-and-so' obscures the changeless state of pure awareness and makes us believe that we are born to suffer and to die." -NisargadattaAccording to Webster.com "SPONTANEOUS implies lack of prompting and connotes naturalness." Whether realization is spontaneous or a process (both of which may be the same depending on one's definition or model), I believe the essence of Maharaj's teaching is not how realization takes place but what that realization points to. Although Maharaj explains how the memory or the sense of time gives continuity to the "frames" of memory, by arranging them in sequential order, not unlike a movie camera, out of which emerges the "actor" and the plot of the "play," Maharaj's "mystical" insight is not how one's model of reality plays in consciousness but how there is a changeless state of pure awareness. In the changeless state of pure awareness, the mind, body, the world, physical laws and even the spiritual states all appear and disappear. Ultimately *you* are not a thing, not even a state of mind but the pure awareness. Whether one calls pure awareness the spirit, eternal reality or God, the consciousness is the only link to That.As one actor speaking to another actor in the play of consciousness, can I make you realize this? I don't think that is always a part of the programming or the process as you call it. But as consciousness speaking to consciousness, contemplation of consciousnes on consciousness needs no explanation. Ultimately this is the triump of Maharaj's teaching, as he always points us to the sense of "I am." As Maharaj says, the sense of "I am" is the only capital we are born with. Hur

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...