The teacher and liberation (part 1) February 1, 2022

Advaita Post #23-02

Douwe Tiemersma from: Non-Duality, the groundless openness (2008), pg. 40

The teacher and liberation (part 1)

How do you know you are dealing with an authentic teacher, with a teacher for you? The conviction can grow through a long-term contact, when you increasingly resonate with the meaning of his or her words, with the core of the teacher. In my case it was a sudden happening. The contents of I Am That hit me like a bomb. The truth of Advaita had never come over me so directly and so clearly. Also that the teacher was still alive was an incredible piece of luck. I knew immediately: I must go to him. If there was anyone existing in the world to whom I must be a student, it was Nisargadatta Maharaj. I marveled in the inner knowledge that the reality behind the printed words of I Am That was the ultimate truth, that this reality was fully present in and around the teacher and that this reality would fully manifest in his presence.

So, I had to go to Bombay, but my work and family circumstances prevented a premature departure. But look, a miracle happened: within a short period of time the obstacles disappeared, bit by bit, like the lifting of a fog. When it is time for you, the necessary conditions come as if by themselves. It was the same for me. I went to Bombay in late 1979 like a moth to the flame. That’s how it felt. Without having ever been in the East, I stood one day, suitcase in hand, on a hellishly busy street in Bombay. Inundated by the bombardment of impressions, I stood looking at the swarming, noisy life of poverty, illness and death. I listened to the cacophony of the honking, shouting, bell ringing, singing, and took in the smell of rotting waste, incense, gasoline and flower garlands. I let it all just happen. 

Also later, when my personal plans in the city had fallen to pieces through the chaos and inimitable spirit of the Indians, I understood that you truly have to let go and submit to the maelstrom of Maya, the play of appearances. If you try to hold onto your Western ideas of efficiency and order, you’ll go crazy. I hardly knew where I was supposed to be in the city center other than: “opposite a public urinal.” In the house of Nisargadatta Maharaj you could smell it very clearly. Later, when someone asked him why he burned so many incense sticks, he said: “To cover the stench of the urine.” Nevertheless, for all the times that I came to the loft the smell never created a nuisance, not any more than the intense noise of the street below. We were focused on other things. 

Later, when I heard a cassette tape of a conversation with Maharaj, I was surprised by the noise and others asked themselves how it was possible to communicate normally. Thus, spirituality is not dependent on circumstances. So also, the teacher does not depend upon externals. Many visitors saw nothing in the old man who sat smoking and was often half screaming with offensive speech. However, if you looked closely, there was the purest spirit of truth and love. Also, that someone had to translate from Marathi, the regional language, into English was not a difficulty. When you are focused on the meaning, the form in which it is communicated is either transparent or doesn’t exist at all. The meaning crystallizes and becomes a reality without intervention. That is the ‘direct path’ which you don’t plan, but instead just happens.

“Why did you come you here?” was the stern question from the toothless old man in the low attic room. I replied that I had to come and that I had had enough of the world of concepts. I saw him nod and heard him mutter that this was a good start. Sitting on the floor in a corner I just let everything happen. Maharaj liked a fierce debate, which by the way, he always won. Especially when someone from the academic world had objected to his statements, he would spring up and begin the fight. Within a short period of time the attacker was cut down to size and had to admit that he didn’t know what he was talking about. If no one dared to speak, Maharaj challenged us: “Get up and fight!” But those who had been in the loft for a while came to know that as soon as someone’s head rose above the cornfield off it came. It was not only because of this that I said very little in the few weeks that I was there. When you go along with where the words indicate, you’re on the edge where real things happen. I was there and not in the world of words. Maharaj seemed to accept this because he only asked me something now and again. But at a given moment he said that I should come separately to him to receive a mantra, to get an initiation. Thereafter the whole process took place very quickly.

(The conclusion appears in the next Advaita Post)

Nisargadatta’s Teaching Part 3: How far does your realisation go? October 1, 2021

Advaita Post #22-10

Appeared in InZicht Magazine: Pathways of Radical Self-Inquiry, Vol 14. No. 2 (May 2012), pg. 9-11 (Part 3) (see link for Part 1 and Part 2)

How far does your realization go?

Realization can take place on different levels. In his last years Nisargadatta Maharaj spoke almost exclusively about the universal self-being and its merging in the Absolute. He drove his visitors towards it. He had no more time to explain all the preceding phases. The shift from the everyday standpoint towards that of the witness is a first step. But no matter how important it is to observe the mental events and world in an unrestricted way, it’s still an initial phase. The realization will need to go further, first to the level of the universal ‘I-am’, then to the edge of the Absolute.

Why did Nisargadatta send away so many people who came to him? It wasn’t only because he didn’t have time any more to explain everything from the beginning. It was also because he saw how many visitors were stuck in their own personal experiences, feelings and ideas. That was definitely the case with the elevated-spiritual seekers, the yoga teachers, the people touring the sacred places and teachers in India, those who had studied a great deal about Indian philosophy and culture, students from other teachers. What do you do with people who are stuck in their ideas, feelings and spiritual experiences, in their enjoyment of the flow of life, in the distraction of their spiritual attention? Many of them quickly left the cramped attic all by themselves where they just saw a toothless old man. Others were sent away. A number of them realized that their own world – which they did not want to lose – was being attacked and thought Nisargadatta was too hard. Also, someone who is entered in his or her personality can’t accept being cut off. 

And that was precisely what it was about. The ultimate reality can only be realized through your own involvement in [/acceptance of] letting go of certain forms and qualities, however spiritual, in your own ‘I-center’, by letting go of the quality ‘I-am’. When so much is released, a feeling of space arises and so also a feeling of joy and happiness. Life continues to flow in a spontaneous and creative way. There is enthusiasm, because this is something big. The sphere of life, of being-there, becomes infinitely large when the ‘I-center’ actually disappears. Then it is difficult, but even more important, to see how much this self-being is still stuck in conditions. 

Nisargadatta Maharaj showed that this ‘I-am’ is a condition which is entirely dependent on the material food-body. When this falls apart, nothing remains of [even] the greatest spiritual being. To clarify this Nisargadatta pointed to the incense stick, where the fire and the essential fragrance are dependant upon the material surrounding that stick. When the flammable material is gone, everything is gone. He flicked his cigarette lighter on, then closed it. So too, there is life, even in its higher essence, then it stops. Only the jnani, the knower, knows himself/herself as independent, free of the food-body and of the mental life that is a condition of that body.

Realization begins in the situation in which you currently find yourself, wherever and however. You must accept this situation, because apparently it is your way of being. The realization can continue within it. It can proceed radically. It will need to do so, because otherwise you will stay stuck in a realm that isn’t free and contains suffering. This radicality goes beyond the witness, also in its awareness, and beyond the realm of the free life, of sat-chit-ananda, of the ‘I-am’ without a center. Real realization is of That which is beyond all conditions, but which can be indicated as the Inexpressible, the Groundless Openness, the Divine Source prior to life, time and space.

That the truth was independent of conditions was clear in the slums of Khetwadi Lane. There, the sounds of the deafening traffic, the dirt and stench didn’t matter, nor did the frail, dying body of Nisargadatta Maharaj. There was, for the few who were there for it, only the light of the truth that swept away every condition. In that light there was an infinite gratitude and a further radiation of that light.

What is Enlightenment? Part 2 April 1, 2021

From: InSight. Pathways of Radical Self-Inquiry Vol. 7 No. 3 (September 2005), pg. 10-13

What is Enlightenment? Part 2

Is enlightenment a sudden event? Are there different stages?

Most people have certainly had enlightening experiences. On the spiritual path, people become more aware of these experiences and they see more and more clearly into where it’s going. That is a gradual process. Jean Klein called it: preparation of the soil. The “I know what it’s about” also belongs to this phase. The crucial element of realization of the actual self-being, the highest truth, is the real and definitive disappearance of the border-creating ‘I’, in a clear and aware way, without a trace of doubt. This disappearance and that becoming aware is a process whose outcome is no longer in time. 

It’s there instantaneously.

The value of the enlightened experience and its realization will become evident. There is no meaningful way to speak about it in advance. As long as life goes on, there are countless situations which will reveal it. When the realization appears to be stable and complete, then you can speak of enlightenment.

The ‘I’-self has many different aspects or levels. The realization of the highest self doesn’t necessarily mean that the self-being is non-dual on all levels. The opening is clearly definitive but doesn’t always occur completely and immediately on all levels. Just think about the various chakra-energies which were not always pure of those who appear or who have appeared to be enlightened. Consider the subtle, rarefied levels on which the limiting tendencies or impulses (vâsanas) may still operate and whose effects may still be expressed on the coarser levels in feelings and actions. So, realization has different possibilities. There are differences in ‘people’ who are viewed as enlightened. These differences exist not only in character, which continues more or less as long as life does, but especially in the extent to which all levels are purified, that is, the extent to which the non-duality reality has been realized in all areas, all aspects. When that is so, completely and definitively, it can be called true enlightenment.

Can one work towards enlightenment?

The duality of  “I will work on my enlightenment” has nothing to do with enlightenment. In that case ‘enlightenment’ is just a vague sense of ‘something’ that seems important and desirable, a feeling or a sensory notion. You are focused on it as the final goal of a path. That doesn’t pertain to real enlightenment. However, the notion can be very important for weakening the fixation on worldly things and for promoting a focus and an openness. Through that an increase in awareness arises which then changes the experienced situation. The only thing people can do at this stage is to stay with this (relative) openness. Tools such as yoga and meditation (focusing on openness) can be helpful. This open attitude allows the Openness to function. At a certain point it takes over the initiative. [Because] From the closedness of an ‘I’, there is no opening for the Openness.

Is a teacher necessary for enlightenment?

It might be possible for enlightenment to break through without the help of a teacher. However, for almost everyone, a teacher is necessary. We’re speaking then about a worldly situation in which there is someone who experiences the openness in someone else in such a way so that it can reflect back upon themself. It is the concrete openness of what is called the teacher that is decisive. Precisely when it comes to the most subtle processes in the ‘student’, the purity, clarity and radicality of the ‘teacher’s’ openness prove to be of utmost importance. These operate through into the ‘student’, even when this ‘student’ [later] becomes a ‘teacher’ and satsang-giver to others.

What about the explosive growth in the number of people who say they are enlightened?

If there is a man (or woman) who claims to be enlightened, it doesn’t mean a thing. There is no one who can say that he or she is enlightened. What is clear is that in the last decade* many breakthroughs towards realization have occurred. Sometimes you might think that it’s spreading like an epidemic. It’s impossible to say whether realization is more common than earlier. Thinking in terms of time and development is not important. The more important question is: what about yourself? That also applies to post realization, if there is not a pure and stable “staying established in Brahman”. Realization and enlightenment have to show what they are worth.

Is alleged enlightenment distinguishable from genuine?

Not for someone who himself has no knowledge of it. The only thing you can do is to question yourself as earnestly and as deeply as possible. Then you’re already well on the way in the direction of enlightenment. Then you’ll be able to see clearly in a maximum way how open the other really is. There is one criterion that people can use to disqualify so-called ‘enlightenment’: the presence of selfishness. By definition, selfishness and enlightenment exclude one another. If a teacher shows himself (or herself) to have egotistical tendencies, in whatever sense, you must take your leave. Maybe there is something to learn from him or her, but not something that has to do with enlightenment.

To what extent does enlightenment have an effect on the person?

After enlightenment, there is no ‘person’ any longer. In its place there is true emptiness, no more ‘I’ and ‘I’-location. If there are people who choose to call someone enlightened, they should clearly see whether that person has no observable ego, but openness instead. Further, there is little more to be said, other than that the openness will show itself, in feeling and in action. That says nothing about the specific behavior because, for example, an aggressive attitude can be used in teaching. Also, character traits continue to exist as long as life goes on. It depends on the degree of purification on the various levels as to how heavily they play an ongoing role in the behavior of the ‘person’. Vanity, for example, can still proceed even though there’s no identification any more, due to the realization of one’s own true nature. In the enlightened state those ego remains wear off. Recognize that in the core of yourself.

• Translator’s note: The reference date for this text is 2005. The arena has continued to expand since then.