Who Are You?

15. Remembering.

2012-02-15T16:08:00.001-08:00

Remembering that our bodies are but transitory temples in this world,
gives us the power to remember what and who we really are...

Death is near, much nearer than we ever usually keep in mind. But it is not our true nature that dies, only the fragile body, our impermanent temple. We tend to live our lives as if they will continue forever, even though we know that every single person on the planet will face death sooner or later, including us. Somehow our own death just does not register in our minds, as a reality. It is something we hear about, happening somewhere else, to someone else.

Some might think that it is morbid to remember the fact of death. But it can also be empowering. The remembering brings us nearer to what we really are. It gives our lives a perspective that is lacking when the mind is completely distracted by moment to moment happenings. We have the choice to understand this inevitable transition before it actually arrives. Death is the critical moment when we are bound to face the fact that we are not the body; not what or who we think we are. By why wait until that moment when the realization can no longer be of benefit to us?

What is it that binds us with such a strong attachment to this body, this person? This is a question that only we can solve for ourselves, through our own personal investigations and experiences.
Only in this way can we begin to crack open the shell of our misconception as to our true nature.

In day to day life the force of our attention is scattered and diluted through being drawn outwardly by constant distractions. If we gather this attention and focus it one-pointedly toward the question 'who am i?' mind soon finds that it is unable to proceed in thought.

The question, 'who am i'? takes one to the very edge of the mind, the edge of the known. Beyond mind is what is. Being itself.

To know this, one must be prepared to step beyond the confines of the mind, and face infinity. To say YES to the infinity that we really are.

To BE infinity.

Isn't it ironic, that the remembering of death, can be the very thing that can lead us to the realization of what it is in us that is deathless?

14. Seeing Through Illusions.

2012-01-27T17:13:00.000-08:00

Have you ever stopped to notice how many times you are bombarded, in a single day, with other peoples images of what they think you are, or should be? Our own projections on the world around us and the people in it are equally off the mark. It can be very revealing if one really takes the time to notice.

Most of what goes on in our world, is geared to promote some kind of fantasy, some kind of unrealistic image of who and what we think we should/could be. We desperately need to take a look at all of this, to ask ourselves, is this true?

We need to step back, so that we can get a perspective, so that we can see through the 'silly stuff'. Because, basically most of it is precisely that, silly!
Not important, not me, not you.

If we think of the most 'powerful people' in the world today; politicians, movie stars, artists, sports people, all those 'famous figures' who seem to have everything. Do any of them know who they really are?

Until each of us is able to answer this question for him/herself, we have a problem! We remain vulnerable and prone to mistaken views. Powerful people die, powerful people suffer, powerful people, at the end of the day are no different from you or me. The only true power we have, lies in knowing our real nature.

Nisargadatta Maharaj said; 'undeceive yourself, you are not a person'.

All the people in this world who long for fame and name. Who spend all their time and energy trying to be a somebody. When, if the truth is known, we are all nobodies!

'Undeceive yourself, you are not a person.'

You are not what you think you are...

13. Just As You Are.

2012-01-19T22:31:00.001-08:00

Recognizing one's inner peace and happiness
need not involve any discomfort or effort at all.

From the Temple at Adi Annamalai.

Does a fish know that the water in which it is swimming is the reason it can exist? It lives out the entire little drama of its life quite unaware of this fact. In the same way, we live, move and have our being within 'awareness' and yet never acknowledge it or are even aware of our dependence upon it for our very existence. If there is a purpose in life, it must surely be to find out who and what we really are.

The mind is supreme in complicating what is the most simple and in this way deflects attention away from its source. If we carefully and methodically investigate the nature of our thoughts; the nature of our minds, we can very soon understand that these thoughts have no basis; that there is no mind.

It is not enough to merely to hear this, one has to make an investigation with intention and focus. For eons we have let mind rule our existence and it has run us a riot! The ocean of samsara is vast and it can enslave us with its facination for countless eons. Anything that the mind is capable of imaging is possible, because in samsara the mind is king.

But focus the light of attention on this thing we call mind, and it just dissolves.
We can not pin point it, we can not see it, we can not find it.

Are we the thoughts that arise in our minds?

Or are we the nameless from which the thoughts arise?

This is not something which is far away from us, out there, and beyond our reach.

We are that.

Ineffable peace at the heart of Awareness
You are Myself
In You we live, move and have our Being.

12. Investigating the Inevitable.

2012-01-05T15:44:00.000-08:00

11. He Who Beats The Drum.

2011-12-12T17:21:00.000-08:00

Nisargadatta Maharaj.

"Use everything as an opportunity to go within!

Ask Yourself - 'To whom does all this happen!'

Light your way by burning up obstacles in the

intensity of awareness."

To all appearances Nisargadatta Maharaj looked like a simple bidi (leaf-rolled cigarette) seller, a married man, plying his trade in order to support a wife and children. His home was in a red light district of Bombay next to a public latrine.

He was a man who assumed no airs, and who bowed to none, but his Guru. A man whose eyes shone with an inner fire.

One day a young Polish-man who had been living many years in India, Maurice Frydman, was strolling down a back lane in this Bombay district when he noticed this bidi seller in the midst of an animated conversation with several other men.

He had learnt to speak Marathi, the main dialect spoken in Maharastra, a state in the West of India. So he was able to understand much of what was being spoken and it stopped him in his tracks.

Maurice Frydman had a knack of picking out 'jnanis' (liberated beings) even in the midst of an ordinary throng. While listening to the conversation taking place he was astounded at the wisdom and profound clarity of understanding of this 'simple bidi walla'.

He joined the group and listened carefully. The following day he returned, and the next and many there after. In time he formed a close bond with Maharaj that lasted right up until his death. Frydman wrote the spiritual classic, 'I Am That'. This book is essentially an english translation of talks and answers to questions put to Maharaj by the various people who came to visit him.

Nisargadatta Maharaj had been the most ordinary of men, until, one day a friend insisted that he come with him to meet his Guru. Until that time Maharaj had strongly resisted all efforts of his friends to take him here or there to meet various teachers. However this day, when his friend would not be put off, he grudgingly agreed to go along.

This teacher, whose name was Siddharameshwar Maharaj, told him quietly, that he was 'not what he thought himself to be'. He gave him some simple instructions to 'pay attention to the sense "i am".

'I just obeyed. I did not follow any particular course of breathing, or meditation, or study of scriptures. Whatever happened, i turned my attention away from it and remained with the sense "i am". It may look too simple, even crude. My only reason for doing it was that my Guru told me so. Yet it worked!'

Maharaj taught tirelessly, relentlessly and uncompromisingly about the truth of 'I Am'.

"By all means do feel lost!
As long as you feel competent and confident,
reality is beyond your reach.
Unless you accept inner adventure as a way of life,
discovery will not come to you.
Be nothing,
Know nothing,
Have nothing.
This is the only life worth living,
The only happiness worth having."

Nisargadatta Maharaj.

10. Ramana Maharshi. The Sage of Arunachala.

2011-11-18T23:53:00.000-08:00

Sri Ramana Maharshi.

" Do you know what Moksha (liberation) is?

Getting rid of non-existent misery and

attaining the bliss which is always there, that is Moksha."

Sri Ramana Maharshi, was the living embodiment of a Master, par excellence.

He led a life of utter simplicity and humility. This man could have passed for any one of millions of Indian men, in appearance. Yet, in the quietest and most unassuming manner he had the whole world bowing at his feet.

From princes to paupers, from the old to the young, from the richest to the most humble in circumstance. Animals of various kinds were also inexplicably attracted to this man. All manner of people and from all corners of the globe were drawn to him like the iron filings to a magnet.

Yet, here was an uneducated man, who never traveled anywhere. Whose wanderings in five and a half decades took him no further than the circumference of a modest 'hill', in a small dusty town, in the South of India.

His story is remarkable and has been told countless times, but it has such a profound significance for us all that it can bare retelling endlessly.

At only sixteen years of age, for no reason that could be outwardly accounted for, he felt that he was about to die. This inexplicable certainty, arising as it did, seemingly out of nowhere, was so shocking that it had the effect of turning his mind inward.

Normally we move through life with our minds always attuned towards the world and it 'happenings'. In other words, 'outwardly'. When the mind is focused 'inwardly' however, even if only for a short time, one has the opportunity to see 'what is'. The intense fear of being suddenly confronted with 'death' focused all the boy's energy into looking at 'what it actually is' that is going to 'die'.

He realized that the very awareness, that knows itself as "I" is in actuality, the only thing that 'exists'. Realizing this completely transformed his life. Tears of joy and gratitude flowed like a river during those early days and he lost all interest in worldly living.

When the 'vase' (body) that contained the 'air' (awareness) was shattered by the realization of its true nature, it simply became one with the greater atmosphere, (air). There was no inherent 'change' as such.

How could there be? To put it metaphorically, air, however it is contained, is always air...

To be continued...

9. Do Not Be Distracted.

2011-11-13T15:35:00.000-08:00

Adi Annamalai.

Even in the very midst of the myriad demands of day to day life it is possible to find moments of peace.

We live in times that are saturated by the media, instant communications and electromagnetic 'noise'. Often we can feel that we are hurled along in a kind of vacuum over which it seems we have
very little control. This gives us the sense of constant and almost endless 'busyness'. A feeling that life is rushing by and we are merely trying to stay abreast of events.

Even in sleep we are often visited by the procession of images that bombard us during our waking hours.

Therefore it is very vital to know how to find moments in the midst of all of this, to just 'be'. Moments that can enable us to re establish a point of balance.

Distraction is the state of our day to day lives. The demands of our work, our families our friends our various and many commitments all drive us to be continually engaged in outer activities that drive us away from the natural state of harmony that is our own true nature.

To find the inner point of balance does not require any special conditions it is just a simple turning of the mind in towards itself. Knowing oneself as the 'witness' of all that is going on gives us a sense of freedom and reconnects us to our innate inner stillness.

'Do not be distracted', can become a mantra during our busy day to day activities, a hub of silence in the great wheel of life, which, although everything is spinning around it, yet it remains at the center, unmoved, unaffected...

8. Pearls Of Wisdom.

2011-11-11T15:58:00.000-08:00

"Truth is not a reward for good behavior,
nor a prize for passing some test.

It cannot be bought about.

It is the primary, the unborn, the ancient
source of all that is.

You are eligible because you are,
You need not merit truth.

It is your own.

Just stop running away by running after.

Stand still.

Be quiet."

Nisargadatta Maharaj.

After the years of restlessness, and endless searching. Plagued by a nameless longing. Finally the 'penny drops' and one gets the hint. There is no where to go. Everything that is ever needed, is already present. It was always there and ones very existence could never have been possible if it were not!

'Be still and know that I am God." Psalm 46:10

The journey is a circle, starting from 'nowhere' and ending 'nowhere'.
It is in the quietness that mirrors our true nature, that we can get a sense of the inner truth that always is...

7. The Fact Of Our Existence.

2011-11-06T16:47:00.000-08:00

Mount Kangchendzonga.

Almost all the actions, reactions and thoughts that govern our day to day lives arise from a feeling that we exist. This is so obvious and it probably seems absurd even to mention it and yet its the very obviousness of this fact that leads us to overlook it. To simply take it for granted and in so doing to miss something of the utmost importance to each and every one of us.

If all of our troubles stem from the mistaken belief that we exist as individual, separate characters in the little human drama called life, then the resolution of these same troubles also lies within this same sense of existing.

We feel ourselves to be so and so or such and such, and we play out the life of this or that character believing unquestioningly in its reality. How can we peel back the layers of conditioned thinking that constantly clamor for our attention? How can we shift the focus of our attention away from the little self? All of our time and energy are consumed by the preoccupations, hopes and fears of this 'self', the true source of which, we know almost nothing about...

That we exist is a feeling that all of us are utterly familiar with. So familiar, that we never give it a single moments consideration, let alone the serious attention that it deserves. When we read a news paper we see only the script and the pictures on the page, we don't notice the paper upon which it is written. And yet if the paper were not there, no story could be told.

As life becomes busier, with ever more distractions, more things to grab our attention and pull it away from its own natural state, there is a desperately urgent need to reconsider our priorities. Everything we need is already right here with us. There is no necessity to create anything anew, there is nothing to learn, nothing that needs to be done.

What we truly are, is the simplest and most natural thing we can ever BE.

We just need to be prepared to stop, look and listen... not at the outer world and its outer sights and sounds, but at THAT within which, all of those sights and sounds are arising.

6. Learning To Let Go Of Hope And Fear.

2011-11-05T02:05:00.000-07:00

From Das Mile Gompa.

At the very root of our human condition, we find two emotional extremes. These are HOPE and FEAR.

If we don't know WHO and WHAT we are, then our lives are governed from beginning to end by the whole gamut of emotions that arise from these two. Everything between these two extremes are but shades in the grey scale of hope and fear.

This is the supreme paradox of our existence!

We lurch through our lives passing through a constant stream of changes, some of them good, some of them bad, many of them somewhere in between, and yet all the while that which is experiencing all of it remains unnoticed!!

Imagine the freedom of KNOWING that what you really are is always present, unaffected by the travails of life, and changeless.... Imagine the freedom of knowing this not merely as an idea, but as a living, unshakable certainty. What you ALWAYS ARE, is not and can never be affected by hope or fear, or any of the myriad emotions in between!

How would, KNOWING THIS change our lives?

If we are the mountain but pass through life identifying only with the mists, the clouds, the ever shifting currents that swirl in ceaseless movement around us, then we are no different from the 'beggar, whose begging bowl is made of pure gold'. If we do not know that we hold 'pure gold' in our hands, of what use can it be to us?

Our freedom lies in KNOWING WHO WE ARE...

5. Going Beyond Religion.

2011-10-30T05:32:00.000-07:00

The times we live in challenge us to find out what is real.

There is so much information out there, so much 'noise', so many impressions crowding in on the senses.

There is so much competition for our 'attention' that it creates a sense of stress and hurry, confusion and anxiety.

And yet who we really are is changeless.

It is peace itself.

And more importantly, it is always present.

Our true nature is beyond religion, in fact it is the single bridge that links all religions. The one unifying factor which points beyond the temporary and ever changing circumstances of life, to the unchanging, ever present reality of what always is.

How can such a universal truth as this; EVER HERE NOW, be the province of any one religion.

Religions are the creations of human minds and as such seem always to lead to separation of one kind or another.

Truth is utterly beyond the mind. Truth unifies and includes.

In the midst of our frantically busy world, we can stop and look within.

We can do this anywhere and any time. We need no special conditions to make it happen. Only a willingness to allow ourselves a moment of uncontrived BEING. We are always this.
Only our recognition of it is missing.

When everything becomes just too complicated, it is time to simplify. This is the real challenge.

The freedom inherent in knowing our true nature, beyond all earthly, religious, and human boundaries is the very essence of HAPPINESS.

'YOU ARE WHAT YOU ARE, TIMELESSLY,
BUT OF WHAT USE IS IT TO YOU UNLESS YOU KNOW IT AND ACT ON IT?
YOUR BEGGING BOWL MAY BE OF PURE GOLD,
BUT AS LONG AS YOU DO NOT KNOW IT, YOU ARE A PAUPER.

YOU MUST KNOW YOUR INNER WORTH AND TRUST IT AND EXPRESS IT
IN THE DAILY SACRIFICE OF DESIRE AND FEAR.'
Nisargadatta Maharaj.

4. The Power Of The Mind.

2011-10-03T22:06:00.000-07:00

Running Lama, by Nicolas Roerich.

The mind is a powerful tool indeed. The most powerful one we have. I'd like to recount a tale told by the intrepid lady traveler Alexander David-Neel. She heard it whilst on pilgrimage in Tibet.

I found a copy of this small volume of travelers tales in the Oxford Book Shop at Darjeeling's Chowrasta Mall way back in the 1980s and one story struck me very deeply.

I can only retell this tale from memory as i no longer have the booklet to hand, but in any case a gist of the story clearly portrays the point i am trying to make.

During the eighteenth century, when many caravans plied the ancient routes of the Silk Road, which passed through the Gobi Desert, travelers faced many troubles of which the extreme climatic conditions were not least. During one journey a merchant had acquired a very handsome hat. It was fur lined and had flaps that could be unfolded in cold weather to cover the ears. However one day during a particularly strong wind, this hat was suddenly snatched from his head by the icy fingers of the Gobi desert winds.

This was a great misfortune indeed, to be without one's hat in such conditions was like parting with a dear friend. However during those days superstition often prevented the hapless traveler from trying to retrieve it. It was therefore tossed into the air like a leaf and caught up in the briers of some thorn bushes a short distance from the trail and yet still within view of it. There it remained through the coming days and weeks and months. Its appearance quickly diminished by the punishing combinations of wind, rain and sun.

Each time a caravan went by, the travelers would notice it flapping oddly in the briers, like some strange devil that was lurking there and they would quicken their pace and hurry on, glancing back at the misshapen 'thing' nervously. Rumors began to circulate and spread through the various caravans moving back and forth along that route. Tales were told at night around crackling fires in the vast steeps of the Gobi desert. Tales of a wild 'thing' in the desert that was waiting to attach itself to the unwary traveler.

One evening as the shadows of dusk were closing in, a caravan passed by that place, and it was said, that an unmindful traveler, who strayed a little near to the bushes where the 'thing' was lurking, suddenly shrieked with fright when he noticed a movement in the bushes. Where upon he took flight with the 'thing' following closely at his heels!

If one invests enough thought and energy towards something, even a seemingly inert object. That thought energy will invest it with a certain 'power'. Everything that we 'know' exists within our mind.

Therefore it can also be seen that the key to 'happiness' is right there in the mind.

Understanding the mind is a crucial stepping stone to understanding one's true nature.

3. The Path of Self-Knowledge.

2011-09-30T23:02:00.000-07:00

'IMAGINE THE ABSURDITY OF TWO FISH SWIMMING ABOUT IN THE OCEAN,

ARGUING VERY ANIMATEDLY BACK AND FORTH BETWEEN THEMSELVES

AS TO THE EXISTENCE OF WATER!'

Nacreous Clouds

It seems extraordinary, that we so roundly ignore the very basis and cause of our EXISTENCE.

And yet we do. We ignore it almost every moment of every day of our lives!

Like the example of those two fish, absorbed in their endless and equally worthless discussions and debates, while all the time, we live and move and have our BEING in THAT.

We can no more separate ourselves from what WE ARE, than we can live in this world with out air.

We always think of ourselves from the perspective of being alive and aware in a body, and yet exactly the opposite is true.

The body and all that constitutes our sense of ourselves, is alive and aware in AWARENESS.

'SELF- KNOWLEDGE IS AN EASY THING,

THE EASIEST THING THERE IS.'

Ramana Maharshi.

2. The Question That Opens The Mind.

2011-09-19T00:44:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of Interfacelift.

If you ask yourselves 'who am i?' you ask yourself a question that can not be answered.

We can say things about what or who we 'think' we are but if we really look into the question we soon find that it is easier to say what we 'are not' than what 'we are'.

And yet we all know that we exist, that feeling is always present with us. In fact it is the only 'true' feeling that we have. Without a sense of 'i' we would merely be corpses. Most of the time we identify completely with our sense of 'i' never questioning 'what' it is. We simply take it for granted that we 'are'.

In fact the question 'who am i?' is very powerful, it can open the mind.

It is like a portal. It creates a moment in which what we call 'mind' can become still. Try it and see for yourself. Ask yourself, 'who am i?'. If you can do this in the right way you may see what i mean.

This experiment takes a conscious movement for which the question, 'who am i?' can act as a springboard.

In this blog, we are not about to engage in gymnastics of the mind. We are not trying to find logical answers or to involve ourselves in intellectual arguments about what or who we are. Such things are the province of 'mind' only. Who we really are is beyond mind. We will simply 'point' towards 'what always is'. In the 'pointing' come the clues and the keys for those who sincerely want to know.

Coming to an understanding of our true nature is something very subtle, something that, in due course can lead to very unexpected results.

Ultimately, a journey such as this can point us in the direction of life's greatest mystery.

Awareness.

1. So Who Are You?

2011-09-16T01:55:00.000-07:00

If you stop and ask yourself, 'what is the most important question I can ever ask myself?' you might come up with one of the following...

Who am I? or Why am I here? or What is Mind?

That is, if you really take the time to consider. If you really stop everything for a moment, and just look... And if we press ourselves a little bit harder, we would probably find that the keystone of all questions can be condensed into 'who am i?'

Life is such an explosion of everything that can ever be imagined.

But what is it really? Behind all of 'that' what is it that 'sees'?

Take this moment. Ask yourself.

Do yourself the biggest favor of your life. Only you can do this.

I invite you to share with me moments that can open 'windows', that can open 'doors', that, with some luck and determination, can crack open the shell of what you think is 'you'...