The Path To Enlightenment with Teacher
Transcript: Non-duality Self-Realisation Satsang Meeting
Yallingup - Margaret River - Western Australia
Our default response to pain quite often is to run, isn't it?
It's automatic, it's what we've seen in the movies when we're kids. You see the adults, when something goes bad in their life, drop a couple of shots of whiskey or go on a bender with their friends; or run, in a whole lot of different ways. Some people go to the fridge... We've talked about this many times in different ways.
The trick with this game, one of the key points, is when you're feeling not at your best, let's say, when you're feeling low, you're feeling depressed, you're feeling scared, that's when you come closer.
You step towards this.
“Because this is the ultimate cure for it all. Non-duality, Awakening, Enlightenment, Self-Realization- Whatever you want to call it.”
The worst thing you can do is run, because this is the only way out that isn't destructive. And the destruction may be very slow, it may take a lifetime to achieve, or it can be very rapid, and over in a second. That's how it is.
For this reason, so few play this game properly, or what I call properly. Properly means: You go looking for where you're weakest. "Where's my weakest?", and you learn to be there, and stay comfortable there. And you become comfortable there until your weakest is fully accepted, it's fully loved, fully cared for.
“And little by little, the light of consciousness gets shined on all of our shadows, and we empty.”
The problem with a lot of people that come to rooms like this, is that they are so full and they don't want to empty. And you cannot pack any more into a full vessel. We have to start the emptying process.
And the emptying process is questioning all your beliefs and all your ideologies; and these structures you take for granted of how you're supposed to be, and how the world's supposed to be. If you're not prepared to do that, what you can do is go hide out in a chanting monastery, or somewhere where they just chant, and don't talk about anything.
Or, you can go into devotional, purely devotional and different things, but it's a long, slow, slow process; Because you can hide. Your shadows can hide easily if you're just distracting yourself all the time. And certain spiritual practices can be used as a distraction, almost all of them can be used as a distraction.
“Most people want to take ‘themselves’ to awakening- and you can’t, it doesn’t work that way.”
And why would you want to? Probably, the reason you're doing this in the first place is because there's something missing, something's wrong. And the thing that's missing is the knowledge, the realisation, that you're not a somebody. So wanting to take ‘somebody’ home to awakening is not possible, that's not how it works. And that can be scary for people.
But, look at it long enough it's actually freeing. Look at it long enough, with clarity. This isn't an easy game. But the reward is the ultimate reward. It's your freedom, complete freedom.
“So few (spiritual seekers) are prepared to take true steps in the direction of freedom.”
So few are prepared to take true steps in the direction of freedom. If they find out about this work and where it goes, in having a Satori, or an experience of what I'm talking about, they would rather take the blue pill and just go back into the matrix of thought, and relationships, and ideas, and concepts, and successes; “there's a pot of gold over there, if I just work hard enough”.
And then that pot of gold is joy, and happiness, and contentment, and a great life.
And it's already here (now). It's the greatest con.
Now is as good as it gets, always. And the more you stay in the now, the better your nows get.
Because you start to empty, you see? And as you empty, and empty, and empty- all the ideologies, and ideas, and the masks, and the grasping, and the averting starts to drop away. And there is this incredible space left behind, that you are, beyond this transitory form; this vehicle, that consciousness is looking through, and exploring through, observing through. Then this vehicle drops and another one comes up; and it drops, then another one comes up. And each one that comes up we think is separate, and individual, and it's going to conquer the world, etc, etc.
“The cycle of Samsara, illusion. Maya; illusion.”
There's nobody going nowhere, and it's wonderful. The realisation is there's nowhere to go; it's just here, just now. Awareness.
And once beingness has locked its GPS on this form, and then it integrates completely with the form. You may want to play in the world. No, problem.
But it won't be from a needy place; a needing of justification, and a needing of attention, a needing of love. A needing of recognition. An agreement that you exist as a somebody. Minus all that: freedom. The world becomes a play. You become it’s toy; beingness's toy. You're just on a ride.
When you get on the roller coaster you don't choose, "Oh no, I don't really want to do the loop- I think I'll go left now". See, that's what we do. We think we're on this path, this life roller coaster, and we imagine that we can separate off, and go, "No, I'm not going to do the loop, I'm gonna go left". Then, we begin to suffer.
No, I don't like loops; I want to go right; I don't want to go left. And on we go- fighting, fighting, fighting. Resisting, resisting, resisting, instead of letting go and enjoying the ride. And the wonderfulness of the ride. Our mind comes in and goes- "No, left, I don't want to go right." You just, let go. Loop. Go left, go right, wait, where's it taking me now? Wait, what's next? Without even that. You're just completely in the moment.
We all think we've got a steering wheel on the (spiritual) roller coaster, we don't. We don't; sorry. It's great. Because the steering wheel would also be the one thing, wouldn't it? Or would it be everything (the one thing) plus a steering wheel?
Is it one plus one? Or, is it just one?
"Oh, I'm going to change my mind, I will go right after all". Well, it's still the one, still the one thing, that decision was already made too.
“So, you can relax. You can let go. Stop resisting.”
Stop trying to turn the wheel in the opposite direction all the time. Ask yourself, “What, what's the moment presenting? How can I integrate into the moment without resistance? Can I assume this moment was supposed to happen? Can I live my life as if I wrote the story; as if this moment is what I wrote in my script, good, bad, and ugly?
Can I live my life as if this is what I wrote? It's a doorway to freedom. The moment, stillness, not thinking about turning the wheel, no thinking.
“Without turning the wheel, let the spiritual roller coaster take you.”
With acceptance, with your heart wide open and, wherever possible, a smile on your face.
Does this still mean decisions have to be made here and there? Of course; but don't assume you're running everything as a separate identity. Because first there would have to be a separate identity, other than the one that you've imagined and others have imagined for you.
That others have imagined for you and you've agreed to, from their imagined identity.
Keywords: Nisargadatta Maharaj, Unconditional Acceptance Of Now, The Path Of Enlightenment, Enlightenment, Ego, Self Realisation, Awakening