Smokin'!!!!
--- Rick Archer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> From James Braha:
>
> Below is the Intro to my new book (5 pages), which
> is close to being finished.
>
> ULTIMATE FREEDOM: The One reality
>
> Introduction
>
>
> What you are about to read is the final chapter in
> my search for liberation.
>
> What I mean by liberation is an end to the nagging
> feeling of separateness
> from Source (or Essence) that was present since as
> long as I can remember.
> And the death of the never ending sense of
> "becoming," as well as the
> relentless concerns over past and future - death
> included. After engaging in
> many spiritual paths for some thirty years, the end
> finally came through the
> Hindu teachings of Advaita, also known as non
> duality.
>
> The literal definition of Advaita (classically
> pronounced ad-veye-ta,
> sometimes pronounced ad-vey-ta) is "not two," a
> preferable way of describing
> oneness because oneness implies the possibility of
> more than one. The term
> "oneness" refers to the underlying or essential
> oneness of all
> manifestation. Scientifically this oneness can be
> seen within the fact that
> all matter can be broken down into sub atomic
> particles, which is then seen
> as nothing more than light or emptiness or space.
> Everything in
> manifestation is, thus, made up of one, and only
> one, essence.
>
> Within our experience of life, which is tremendously
> varied and full of
> differences, there is an integral facet that is
> almost entirely ignored. And
> that is the "sameness" or oneness that is constantly
> present and makes all
> experience possible. It is called Presence Awareness
> and is essentially the
> present moment - right here right now. It is the
> "right here right now" that
> has always been and will always be. It is the "right
> here right now" that
> you experienced at age five and is with you even as
> you read this page. It
> was present at birth, it is present at death.
> Presence Awareness. Right here
> right now. Our one constant.
>
> In early 2004, I had the great good fortune to pick
> up a book called "What's
> Wrong With Right Now Unless You Think About it?" by
> an Australian teacher
> named Sailor Bob Adamson. Bob's search ended in the
> mid 1970's when he
> studied with the great Hindu sage Nisargadatta
> Maharaj. He has been teaching
> non duality ever since. As fate would have it, Bob
> and his wife came to
> America and stayed at our home for five weeks.
> During that time, he gave
> many wonderful talks and teachings, most of which
> are transcribed in this
> book.
>
> For most seekers of enlightenment or liberation, the
> search is long and
> arduous with many twists and turns along the way.
> Finding truth is all the
> more challenging because there are so many varying
> viewpoints. People are
> different genetically, culturally, emotionally, and
> so on. There are paths
> for devotional types, intellectual types, mystical
> types, and so forth. What
> most paths and religions have in common is that they
> allow the disciple to
> seek without ever actually finding. This does not
> mean such paths are
> fruitless. It simply means that there is always more
> to chase and more to
> seek. There is always a bigger and better experience
> to be had. There is
> always a promise of a better future (even though
> life can only be lived in
> the present). And there is almost never a point
> where one stops to say "Aha.
> The goal is reached. I have found. I am complete."
> There is, of course, the
> rare case where that occurs, but it is sure to be
> the exception - not the
> rule. The few who claim to have found are nearly
> always the leaders, never
> the participants. This fact alone should give one
> pause.
>
> In this regard, the teachings of non duality are
> incredibly unique. They are
> unique because they leave room only for finding and
> none for seeking! In
> Advaita, seeking is patently absurd because it
> implies a future time of
> finding. If all that exists is oneness, how can
> there be a past or future?
> Past and future are concepts in the mind, while the
> present moment - right
> here right now - is all that truly is. If there is
> an opposite to Advaita,
> it is the act of seeking!
>
> Advaita is based on understanding reality and
> existence from the broadest
> possible viewpoint. It is entirely unconcerned with
> practices, disciplines,
> rituals, and experiences. Seekers looking for
> greater self development or
> for promises of a better future will not find them
> here. Non duality rejects
> preferences, and considers no experience, positive
> or negative, one iota
> better or worse than another.
>
> For seekers who are ripe, non duality brings ending
> upon ending, until only
> freedom remains. Once it is recognized that the
> reference point we live
> from, the "me," is based on nothing more than a
> collection of thoughts and
> images, any sense of self importance and
> individuality ends. Once the
> definition of reality is seen to be "that which
> never changes," the illusory
> nature of our "apparent" creation is exposed. As
> soon as the essential
> oneness of existence is understood, the pervasive
> sense of separation gained
> in early childhood - when a so called "individual"
> identity was created -
> disappears. Once it is realized that the present
> moment, right here right
> now, is all that has ever been and all that will
> ever be, the senseless
> behavior of worrying about the past and imagining
> the future utterly ceases.
> When we see clearly that who we are is actually no
> thing - "non conceptual,
> ever present, shelf shining, just this and nothing
> else" - any trying to
> change, fix, modify, or correct ourselves becomes
> pointless. One's sense of
> "becoming" immediately drops away. When it is
> understood that everything in
> creation is in essence actually one (everything in
> creation is comprised of
> the same underlying consciousness), it becomes
> obvious that all reference
> points are false. When it is seen that all reference
> points are false,
> judging any experience or any person as good or bad,
> or right or wrong
> becomes ludicrous. Everything that occurs is seen
> simply as "what is." Once
> all experience is seen as "what is," the perpetual
> habit of craving pleasure
> and resisting pain is over. Thus, for the ripe
> seeker, Advaita is the end
> game of a search that previously appeared to have no
> resolution. Repeat: for
> the ripe seeker, non duality is the end game of a
> search that previously
> appeared to have no resolution.
>
> What is meant by a "ripe" seeker? One who is willing
> to die to his or her
> "apparent" individuality. While many seekers have
> heard the notion of being
> willing to die, and are actually ready to do so,
> most have no idea how. This
> is not for any lack of intelligence. It is because
> there is actually nothing
> one can do to die to the "small self!" What is
> needed is an understanding of
> reality from the most all inclusive viewpoint. Then,
> one's apparent
> individuality becomes enveloped by universality the
> same way a seemingly
> isolated wave merges back into ocean.
>
>
=== message truncated ===
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