Non-duality

Powerful quotes from Sri Ranjit Maharaj

~ Tom Das ~ 7 Comments
Sri Ranjit Maharaj was the guru-brother of the more famous Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, that is they had the same guru – Sri Siddharameshwar Maharaj. Sri Ranjit Maharaj shared the same teachings but in a very direct way and with his own unique flavour. Here are some quotes from Sri Ranjit Maharaj:
Ranjit Maharaj

The body and the world

Everyone gives value to the world. The realised being, who has gone beyond the world, beyond knowledge, only gives value to zero. When you understand that the world is untrue and that everything is zero, then all that remains is Reality.

You reduce yourself to being a body and then you constantly worry for it. Why? By thinking “I am the body”, you have reduced yourself to such a small creature. The body is nothing. It comes from zero and will soon return to zero.

When you lose all love for the illusion, He automatically is there. You get absorbed into Reality because He and you are the same, nothing else. There is no “you” or “self” in Reality. Forget about self. The real understanding is, “I don’t exist.“

The world is nothing but a long dream, take it for granted.

There’s nothing there, so what is there to say? As long as the body is there, he acts, no doubt. He calls his mother “mother”, and his wife “wife”, but still he knows. If somebody asks him, “What is your name?”, he gives his name, but he knows, “I am not this.”

The Master

The master is the greatest illusion because all that he says with full hear and frankness is false. But the false words that the master tells you can make you reach Reality.

The master takes you to that place where there is no one to understand anything. There is no knowledge nor ignorance and so understanding has no meaning. Let everything appear within That, but say that it is not true. There is no need to change anything because it doesn’t exist. When you forget the sense of the world, which is nonsense, then you will know the real sense and Reality opens up to you.

An enlightened person says at once, “One plus two is three! I know!” He says it so strongly. Understanding should come. Master awakens your understanding.

Nobody comes, nobody goes. All is a dream. In a dream you can become a great master, but when you wake up, you come back to your ordinary state. Who has gone there and who has come back? Nothing has happened.

The concept of a “great master” has come upon you, and you have become the “great master”, but when you wake up you feel, “All this is nonsense. How can I be a great master? I know nothing!” Still, in the dream, you were giving lectures and were talking easily about all these things, but when awakening comes, all this knowledge vanishes. It was only a dream.

The so-called sage who says, “I am the reincarnation of God”, doesn’t know Him, doesn’t know Reality. On the contrary, he is the slave of his ego, of illusion. When knowledge itself has no entity, there is no question of all these things.

Thinking that the master has a form is only ignorance. I tell you. When you accept what He tells you then you are always with Him.

The ego

The ego is like the son of a barren woman – it doesn’t exist. It is a false projection of a confused and ignorant mind.

Knowledge & Understanding

Understanding should come, and finally one should see that knowledge is also not true. Forget everything. Knowledge, ignorance . . . all is zero.

[Tom – see the same written in a traditional Advaita Vedanta text here.]

Understand this way: that you should be free from ignorance and finally from knowledge, also. Knowledge is the greatest ignorance. Understand this way and forget everything. In that moment, you are He.

First mental understanding is required and after that comes a practical understanding. Intellectual talent is the greatest thing. Without the intellect, one cannot understand. So, you have to understand with the full intellect and then, that knowledge, or that understanding will submerge, because knowledge is a thought. A good thought or a bad thought, both are thoughts. So, knowledge is a golden thorn, and ignorance is an ordinary thorn and both are bondage. Suppose your hands have been put in handcuffs. Maybe they’re iron cuffs or maybe they’re golden, but it’s still bondage. So, both are thorns. One should understand and throw them away. It is very difficult to throw out the knowledge, because ego remains up till knowledge. Knowledge is the ego, nothing else. To erase that knowledge, one should say, “I know nothing.”

Ignorance came by hearing and is dispelled by hearing. By words you have become bound and by words you can be free. Words are false, but their meaning is true. The illusion is needed in order to go beyond it.

The only way

There is only one way to know Reality – forget everything and instantly you are He. Short and sweet. There are no words for Reality. Forget the illusion and He is there. Do everything, but say that it is not true. That is the main point.

A disciple should put a zero on everything, including himself, otherwise he cannot advance. No one wants to put a zero on their self because they fear not being accepted by others. Be mad and do it!

The Ignorance and the wise

An ignorant person always sees the world as true. The realised sage sees the world as not true. That is the difference.

Nothing

When you feel that something can touch you, or harm you, it means that you are in the illusion. How can nothing touch you? Everything in the illusion is nothing.

Why to fear? Nothing is there. Everything is illusion. Keep your mind in that fearless state only. Just as the poisonous tooth is taken out, in the same way, play with the world, play with the illusion, there is no harm. It won’t affect your mind. Live fearlessly; no death, no fear, knowing that “I am that real power.” There is nothing! What will harm you?

In the same way, here we experience many things due to the objectivity of the mind. You see all the objects and immediately believe that they are real. At the moment you realise who you are, you see that everything is nothing. That is the main point. Mind should accept that everything is zero. Once the mind accepts that everything is nothing, then nothing remains and my Self is Truth.

God

The world is full of Him. Nothing is there except Him. What you see is Him.

No matter if you are poor, sitting on a throne or lying in the gutter, still you are always Reality. The outside appearance has nothing to do with who you are. Everyone is He, no matter what state you may be in.

Fearless

For example, when you sleep you dream, and in the dream somebody gives you a slap on the face. You feel the slap and immediately you you wake up to find only pillows. You then realise, “Oh, it was nothing ! Nobody slapped me.” In the dream, somebody kills you, “Ahhh, I am killed!” Then you wake up. “All is false, nobody was there to kill me.” Then your fear goes away. Awakening brings makes you fearless. One should realise that by nature you are fearless. Being fearless, the mind becomes completely naked and you know that nothing is true.

 

Q. Are we not an individual viewpoint of Cosmic Consciousness?

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

Q. We are all connected, like buds on a rosebush are all connected. And when a rosebud blooms, we do not state “there is no rosebud, there is no bloom.” And yet, you seem intent on denying the flowering of your own local focal point of consciousness. You are an individual viewpoint for the Cosmic Consciousness (aka Brahma). Like a rosebud, you have bloomed. 

I understand that awakening is unlike an academic or professional accomplishment. It’s not something that you have printed out on a sheepskin and get framed and hang on your wall. It’s not something to brag about. Its not something to check off on your spiritual “bucket list.” But to deny that the mind/body combination known as Tom Das has had his awakening to oneness makes as much sense as denying that a rosebud has opened and is in full bloom. Those Satsangs that you share with the world as part of your Sadhana are you sharing the fragrance of truth. What purpose does denying your awakening have?

Tom: I know it may appear that Tom Das has awakened, etc, but actually Tom Das is just an appearance, nothing. There is no-one here that knows anything, although it may appear that way within the waking dream. The ‘me’ identifies itself & believes itself to be a body-mind entity and projects that identity onto others, and so believes that Tom Das or whoever has ‘woken up’. But this is all part of the apparent dream. I agree there is no point denying the appearance (I do appear to be Tom Das), but it is empty and non-significant with respect to liberation/non-duality. The scriptures have tried to explain this in many ways, I will try to find you a few quotes…Namaste

Here are the quotes I later put together: Ramana Maharshi Quotes: Nobody here/ the jnani is not a person

ONLINE MEETING tomorrow (Thursday 6th June) 8pm UK time

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

You are very welcome to join me in an ONLINE MEETING this Thursday 6th June at 8pm (UK time) to talk about all-things Non-Duality & Liberation.

All are welcome to attend and it’s easy to join me if you have not done so before:

To join simply make a payment of £10 beforehand here. Then click here at the meeting time to join and just follow the instructions.

(If you have never used Zoom before – it’s a bit like Skype but easier to use – it will prompt you to download the program onto your computer/phone/tablet. The full link to the Zoom meeting if you need it is here https://zoom.us/j/9409264979)

Here’s a recent testimonial for my meetings:

I’ve seen many teachers on the path of seeking. All wonderful and they all had a piece of the puzzle but they all came from their ‘thing’ – their own perspective on the teaching. They answer the seeker from their point of view.
Tom is the only one I’ve seen who doesn’t come from his point of view, he always comes directly from the silence and meets the seeker exactly where they’re at. If they need a practice, he has it, if they already have one but are stuck he knows how to move them, if they’re just beginning he knows how to guide them…it’s wonderful to see.
His meetings have truly been a gift to me.
Danny, UK

Hope to see you soon

Tom

 

 

A truly non-dual teaching?

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

A truly non-dual teaching?

ALL teachings are dualistic, even the so-called non-teachings, and ALL teachings utilise fictions, at least initially, and your favourite non-dual teaching is no exception!

For example:

-Pointing out teachings or descriptions of what-is and teaching of any kind all imply duality. What (object) is being pointed out? And to whom (subject)? Pointing implies a subject-object duality, at least initially. Non-duality strictly speaking doesn’t need a teaching.
-To compare different teachings to each other is dualistic.
-To call one teaching truly non-dual and another dualistic is itself dualistic and relativistic, obviously.

Not that there is anything wrong with apparent duality!

A matter of degree

It’s just a matter of degree: some teachings are far less dualistic than others and point the way out directly and efficiently, which doesn’t necessarily mean they are better teachings, whereas others take a different route, which actually may be more helpful than the more direct teachings at certain points on the journey.

ALL teachings are non-dualistic?

So either ALL teachings/expressions/non-teachings are dualistic….or alternatively one could say that ALL teachings are essentially non-dualistic, as non-duality is all there ‘is’!

To have it any other way would be dualistic, and duality is a fiction!

Oneness Being

Another way of putting is that there are not really lots of different teachers and teachings at all – although that is how it may appear from within the fictional dualistic paradigm – there is only Oneness Being ❤

 

What do you need for Liberation?

~ Tom Das ~ 3 Comments

Answer 1: There is only Liberation. This pointer is for the person who is seeking Liberation elsewhere, eg. seeking a state of mind or consciousness which is yet to be attained or to be attained somehow in the future by various means. It is pointed out that in fact there is only Liberation, and that Liberation need not be sought, for it is already everything.

Answer 2: Nothing – you are already Liberated. Like Answer 1, this answer points to the fact that everything is already whole and complete and no further seeking is required.

Answer 3: There is no liberation. This answer points out that liberation is simply a concept, a fanciful idea conjoured up by the mind and then sought after. No need to seek for an imagined fantasy. This answer stops the ego seeking its own mentally projected notions on liberation and enlightenment. It can also be pointed out that liberation is a dualistic concept that is opposed to it’s opposite, ignorance, and that non-duality is pointing out that this paradigm way of thinking of things is false, as per Answer 1.

Answer 4: Just remove ignorance. What is ignorance? It is the belief in a separate ‘me’ that thinks it authors its own thoughts and actions and has free will, choice and responsibility. Sometimes this ‘me’ is also called the ego. When the ‘me’ is believed in, it is also believed that the ‘me’ lives in ‘a world’ which is has to navigate, negotiate and survive.

Question: How to remove ignorance, the belief in a separate ‘me’/egotism?

Answer: There is no real ignorance – it is merely a thought or concept that is believed to be true, by no one. Within the seamless experience of this, a thought may arise which says ‘I believe I am a ‘me’ that has free will, choice, responsibility, etc.

But in experiential reality there is only this: beliefs may appear, thoughts may appear, anything may appear, but it is not happening to someone (despite the belief to the contrary that may think otherwise) – rather you could say it is simply a spontaneous appearance that arises, with no subject. Of course this is not something that can be understood by the mind, which tends to assume or imagine a subject being present who sees the objects, whereas experientially this is not actually the case.

So ultimately we don’t need to remove ignorance, as it is not real – it is just an appearance, a concept that floats in and floats away again. Just this! Life: a spontaneous mysterious magical display.

Q. Are we not simultaneously a person AND everything?

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

Q. The thing here is… we (Brahma) incarnated on this planet as 7.4 billion people and countless animals and plants and the planet itself. Brahma chose to be us, in different bodies and different personalities and different life stories and ultimately, these bodies and personal identities will end, but while we are incarnated in our current forms, are we not looking for the “middle path” as we make our way through the world? We are individually and collectively Brahma and Atman simultaneously.

I understand and fully comprehend everything that Sri Ramana Maharishi is saying [in these quotes] . But I get the sense that you are inviting people to abandon their egoic sense of self (Atman) in favor of identifying as Brahma. The middle path IMHO is when one can hold both illusions (or ultimate truths depending upon your perspective) in mind simultaneously. When you are at work and a patient or coworker says “Dr. Tom Das” you don’t ignore them or say something confusing like “I am not this body, I am not this name, I am pure conscious awareness disguised in human form” you go ahead and answer to your name. You and other people who have experienced awakening and not ended up in a no-self dissociative state continue to have an ego. It’s how you and everyone else navigates this world. I don’t find it particularly useful to deny the continued existence of this ego.

You ARE Tom Das and simultaneously, you ARE everyone and everything and everywhere and everywhen. I don’t see the Atman / Brahman as an either/or decision. It’s NOT a case of mutually exclusive choices. We can and ideally are a mixture of both. Deny the existence of Tom Das all you want but you will still answer to your name and show up and fulfill your roles in life and at work. Repeated denials that you are Tom Das seem even sillier than an actor on the stage repeatedly telling the audience “I am not really Hamlet.”

Tom: I agree it is not about abandoning one view for another – that is more duality, more ego, more ‘me’. What you have written is also not the middle way, which is about not being attached to any conceptions of self, at least according to Nagarjuna.

The teachings, as I have explained before, are pointers that tend to aim at removing ignorance, not truths.

The view you are advocating is called Vashisthadvaita in the Vedic texts in which multiplicity is acknowledged to co-exist with Brahman, whereas the views coming from myself and Ramana in the above quotes are advaita (no multiplicity) at times and ajata (no creation) at other times.  Traditionally the non-dual teachings proceed from dvaita (duality) to vashisthadvaita, to advaita to ajata, so you will find all 4 types of expressions in the scriptures and from the sages.

Traditionally the non-dual teachings proceed from dvaita (duality) to vashisthadvaita, to advaita to ajata, so you will find all 4 types of expressions in the scriptures and from the sages.

The first 2 of the views (Dvaita and Vashisthadvaita) can be understood by the mind and seem to make sense within the subject-object reality that is imagined to be real by the ‘me’ or ‘ego’. The fact that they are understandable and they do somewhat relieve suffering makes them valuable teachings to the seeker (ego), whereas Advaita and Ajata cannot be comprehended by the mind and makes no sense to the mind which only  can think in terms of subject-object.

If everyone thinks an actor is only Hamlet, and they don’t realise he is an actor playing the role, the teaching ‘I am not Hamlet’ becomes more important, which is why these teachings tend to be emphasised. You could say I appear to be Tom Das, and there is no need to deny this, but in reality there is only the Inexpressible This.

What are you most proud of in life?

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

Questioner: Tom, what are you most proud of in life? ‘Being proud of’ suggests a possessive quality which pertains to a ‘me’ like ‘being sad because’ and hence, we both know that only a ‘me’ can be sad, but nonetheless, are you still proud of something?

Tom: There are probably some things I am glad I have done or achieved, but, as you state above, there is no me who can claim ownership, so no real pride in that sense.

Ramana Maharshi Quotes: Nobody here/ the jnani is not a person

~ Tom Das ~ 5 Comments

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Often people think that someone wakes up, someone becomes enlightened, that enlightenment somehow belongs to a person. Although this is how it often seems, this is not quite how it works. It may appear that Tom Das or whomever has awakened, etc, but actually Tom Das is just an appearance, nothing.

There is no-one here that knows anything, although it may appear that way within the waking dream.

The  ‘me’ thinks itself to be an individual and projects that individuality onto others. The ‘me’ identifies itself and believes itself to be a body-mind entity and so believes that Tom Das or whoever has ‘woken up’. But this is all part of the apparent dream of ‘me’ (ignorance or ajnana in Sanskrit).

What happens in the appearance is in essence empty and non-significant with respect to liberation/non-duality. The sages and scriptures have tried to explain this in many ways.

Below are a few quotes, all from Ramana Maharshi, where he tries to explain how the Jnani (‘liberated sage’, so to speak) is not a person and there is only That.

In the quotes you will see the words jnani/jnana and ajnani/ajnana. The word jnani (lit. knower) refers to a liberated sage – this is only a term used as a way of expressing non-duality – there is no liberated sage in reality, only in the eyes of the ignorant (ajnani, lit. one who does not know).

The word ajnana means ignorance, and someone who is ignorant is termed an ajnani, what I have called the ‘me’ above. In reality there is no ajnana and no ajnani – that is just how it appears, but the appearance is not real.

Here are the quotes from Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi:

Q: I see you doing things. How can you say that you never perform actions?

Ramana Maharshi: The radio sings and speaks, but if you open it you will find no one inside. Similarly, my existence is like the space; though this body speaks like the radio, there is no one inside as a doer.

Q: I find this hard to understand. Could you please elaborate on this?

Ramana Maharshi: Various illustrations are given in books to enable us to understand how the jnani can live and act without the mind, although living and acting require the use of the  mind…. It is hard to understand how this is possible…These explanations are for the onlookers who think of the jnani as one with a body and cannot help identifying him with his body.

An ajnani sees someone as a jnani and identifies him with the body. Because he does not know the Self and mistakes his body for the Self, he extends the same mistake to the state of the jnani. The jnani is therefore considered to be the physical frame.

Again since the ajnani, though he is not the doer, imagines himself to be the doer and considers the actions of the body his own, he thinks the jnani to be similarly acting when the body is active.

The jnani sees nothing separate from the Self. The Self is all shining and only pure jnana. So there is no ajnana [ignorance] in his sight.

In the ignorant state one superimposes one’s ignorance on a jnani and mistakes him for a doer.

There is an illustration for this kind of illusion or superimposition. Two friends went to sleep side by side. One of them dreamt that both of them had gone on a long journey and that they had had strange experiences. On waking up he recapitulated them and asked his friend if it was not so. The other one simply ridiculed him saying that it was only his dream and could not affect the other. So it is with the ajnani who superimposes his illusory ideas on others. 

Q: There are said to be sadeha mukta (liberated while still in the body) and videha mukta [liberated at the time of death].

Ramana Maharshi: There is no liberation, and where are muktas [the liberated]?

The Self alone is and nothing else. However it is differentiated owing to ignorance.

The existence of the ego in any form, either in the jnani or ajnani, is itself an experience. But to the ajnani who is deluded into thinking that the waking state and the world are real, the ego also appears to be real. Since he sees the jnani act like other individuals, he feels constrained to posit some notion of individuality with reference to the jnani also.

Q: As the bodies and the selves animating them are everywhere actually observed to be innumerable how can it be said that the Self is only one?

Ramana Maharshi: If the idea `I am the body’ is accepted, the selves are multiple. The state in which this idea vanishes is the Self since in that state there are no other objects.

The reality which shines fully, without misery and without a body…

Since the body itself does not exist in the natural outlook of the real Self, but only in the extroverted outlook of the mind which is deluded by the power of illusion, to call Self, the space of consciousness, dehi [the possessor of the body] is wrong.

The jnani knows he is the Self and that nothing, neither his body nor anything else, exists but the Self.

It is false to speak of realization. What is there to realize?

Q: What are the fundamental tests for discovering men of great spirituality, since some are reported to behave like insane people?

Ramana Maharshi: The jnani’s mind is known only to the jnani. One must be a jnani oneself in order to understand another jnani….His words or actions or appearance are no indication of his greatness, for they are ordinarily beyond the comprehension of common people.

Q: You are Bhagavan. So you should know when I shall get jnana. Tell me when I shall be a jnani.

Ramana Maharshi: If I am Bhagavan there is no one besides the Self – therefore no jnani or ajnani.

Coming here, some people do not ask about themselves. They ask: `Does the jivan mukta see the world ? Is he affected by karma? What is liberation after being disembodied ? Is one liberated only after being disembodied or even while alive in the body ? Should the body of the sage resolve itself in light or disappear from view in any other manner? Can he be liberated though the body is left behind as a corpse?’ Their questions are endless. Why worry oneself in so many ways? Does liberation consist in knowing these things?

Actually, the idea of the Self being the witness is only in the mind; it is not the absolute truth of the Self. Witnessing is relative to objects witnessed. Both the witness and his object are mental creations.

Q: How did the knower come?

Ramana Maharshi: On account of the error of perception. In fact the knower and his misperceptions appear simultaneously, and when the knowledge of the Self is obtained, they disappear simultaneously.

Just as in a dream a false knowledge, knower and known rise up, in the waking state the same process operates…Whatever you see happening in the waking state happens only to the knower, and since the knower is unreal, nothing in fact ever happens.

Washing machines and Non-Duality

~ Tom Das ~ 2 Comments

If your washing machine is broken, you can get it repaired. If your cut yourself, you can apply a plaster. If you have mental health issues, you can see a mental health professional.

This is all well and good, but has nothing to do with liberation.

Liberation already is. It is much simpler than getting your washing machine repaired or mending your body or mind! Nothing is required. Which doesn’t mean that you can’t fix your washing machine or see a mental health professional.

Just this, simply this, as it already is.

(Additional comments from Tom: We can see in the above examples that the washing machine example is to do with an object in the world, a cut is to do with the body, and mental health is to do with the mind. Liberation IS. It is not dependent on various practices to do with body/mind/world. Know Thyself!)