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nonduality
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Beyond knowledge, beyond experience
Q. Is ignorance a moment to moment choice?
Q: Would you say it’s a choice to pretend I am not Brahman ie. to believe I am the body mind?
Tom: This question is being asked from the ‘I am the body-mind’ point of view. In truth you are Brahman, you have always/will always be Brahman, there is only Brahman, there is no ignorance. The mind may ‘choose’ to identify as Brahman or as the body-mind, but you are not the mind either way.
Q: Does anything stop me from ending all egoic tendencies right now?
Tom: Egoic tendencies are based upon the ‘I am the body-mind notion’
Q. Would you say ignorance is a moment to moment choice?
Tom: Ignorance is not real, so there is no moment to moment choice – only from the point of view of the mind is there this choice – which is an illusory/ignorant point of view ie. to say ignorance is a moment to moment choice is to identify with the body-mind.
A Non-Duality Teacher’s Perspective
I wanted to share with a bit of my perspective on ‘teaching’ or ‘sharing’ non-duality, if you will permit me to phrase it that way. These are some things I have noticed over past few years that I did not necessarily realise before I started to teach/share.
For those of you who have been following me for a while, you will know my expression does vary a fair bit. This variance seems to depend on who I interact with. The teachings seem to pour out of me spontaneously in response to interactions with seekers and their energy. Sometimes the response is absolute and uncompromising, other times it delves into the body-mind-world-psyche. Both can be deeply transformative, depending on where the seeker is at.
One curiosity is that in many ways I am actually not that interested in sharing this (if you can believe that!) but the sharing continues, for now at least. I find it is the seeking energy and questions that ‘pulls the teachings out of me’ and keeps me turning up to my own meetings. Even this post was written only due to certain interactions with seekers/seeking energy.
Interestingly (to me at least) when people express a simple and pure gratitude and love for ‘my teachings’ and for what ‘I share’ without putting me on a pedestal (please don’t do that!) I have noticed it often energetically impacts my body-mind and draws my body-mind to ‘teach’ more, even though at my core I don’t really care for gratitude or praise. I have often wondered if this is why traditionally gratitude and devotion to a guru is often encouraged. Even though I feel a strong devotion to Ramana Maharshi, devotion to a guru/teachings is something that I am very cautious about in general (and I don’t encourage it for the most part) due to the potential for abuse from the guru. However I never saw this aspect of the interaction until I started to share/teach myself and it is another thing that surprised me, so I thought I’d share it with you.
I must warn you that I have no idea what I am about to say a lot of the time, lol! But the feedback I often get is how I ended up saying the exact right thing at the right time. It’s continually surprising to me that what I express can be so helpful for some. I really don’t know how it all happens but am continually humbled and amazed by it! Often I hear ‘my teachings’ for the first time as I am saying them and think to myself ‘wow – that’s a great teaching!’
In addition to the verbal teachings, I have noticed there seems to be immense benefit that can occur with a direct interaction in the meetings that is beyond the words, irrespective of what is said. There can be a certain transformative energy in the meetings. Again, I’m not really sure how it works – to me it is like magic, a magical mystery! I’m still learning about this and how it all works, watching it unfold in front of me – I don’t think this is something I will ever understand, nor is there a need to understand it really (I’ll let you know if I figure it out). It is just the way things are, just what apparently happens – as I said, it’s a mystery.
I hope this post doesn’t come across as me being arrogant in anyway. I am not saying how great I am, but rather that these teachings I share are not really mine at all. They are magic! I’m sure I’m not that special in this regard, and perhaps many of you have also had similar experiences in sharing this or similar things? I’d be interested to hear from you about this. Yet I cannot deny the apparent value of what I share for one apparently stuck in illusion of duality and for the one who appears to be suffering.
On one level, no teaching is needed at all, as we are already whole and complete, lacking nothing, and the ‘I’ that is seeking is an illusion, as is the teacher and teaching. On another level, many have seemingly benefited from interacting with me – at least that’s the feedback I get – I am frequently told that peace comes forth, suffering and egotism drops away and liberation is realised, slowly slowly, wonderfully wonderfully. Often people approach me having had awakenings and spiritual experiences but remain deeply troubled or have seemingly endless doubts, but in just a few exchanges during meetings or 1 to 1s doubts are cleared and insight and illumination springs forth. What may have taken months or years of scraping around in books, YouTube videos and Facebook posts can sometimes be cleared directly in a relatively brief direct personal interaction. Amazing!
So, if you resonate with what I share, I do encourage you to come along and join me in one of my meetings. And if you do resonate, I encourage you to keep on coming back for as long as you need to and not turn away when the ego-mind says ‘I’ve got it now and so I don’t need to attend any more’. I try to make myself available through online meetings twice a month (the next one is this Thursday at 8pm UK time – see my timeline for details which I will post shortly), and also through online 1 to 1 sessions and in-person meetings in London twice a month.
That said, I am also sure there are many who probably gain very little from what I share and feel very little resonance. I guess this is just the way of things, and different (apparent) people resonate with different (apparent) teachers. So I make no promises – you were warned! 
And I trust that you will be discerning enough to find the teacher/teaching/path (or non-teacher/non-path!) that is right for you at any point in time – listen to your heart – the quiet unspoken voice-feeling in your heart – it will guide you – it is always guiding you 
I wish you well whatever your path and journey, and invite you to attend a meeting with me, but only if you are drawn to do so. The hope is what I share is of benefit to you in reducing suffering and inviting and actualising Liberation.
Wishing you Love beyond love and Peace beyond peace
(ie. what you already are in Truth)
Namaste and with thanks
Tom
🙏
Video – The Truth that Shines Brightly in our Hearts
Happiness Myth: You need something to be Happy
Ramana Maharshi: ‘Man considers himself limited and there arises the trouble’
In the following excerpt from Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, Ramana concisely outlines the problem (suffering), its cause (ignorance) and its remedy (self-knowledge). First Ramana says that the fact that one considers oneself to be limited is the essential problem. This arising of the notion of ‘I’ is a notion of limitation, and it is to this limited notion that ‘the world’ appears. It is this limited entity ‘I’ (ego) that then seeks various things, including self-realisation, and so suffers more.I have added bold type for emphasis and my comments are italicised in red:
The fact is that the man considers himself limited and there arises the trouble. The idea is wrong. He can see it for himself. In sleep there was no world, no ego (no limited self), and no trouble. Something wakes up from that happy state and says ‘I’. To that ego the world appears. Being a speck in the world he wants more and gets into trouble. How happy he was before the rising of the ego!
Now Ramana prescribed the remedy, after restating that it is this limited ‘ego’ that is the cause of the ‘trouble’, ie. suffering:
Only the rise of the ego is the cause of the present trouble. Let him trace the ego to its source and he will reach that undifferentiated happy state which is sleepless sleep. The Self remains ever the same, here and now. There is nothing more to be gained. Because the limitations have wrongly been assumed there is the need to transcend them.
To illustrate the point that there is nothing to be gained, that we are already essentially whole, and that the problem is simply one of ignorance or ‘wrong assumptions’, Ramana narrates two traditional stories – ‘the tenth man’ and ‘the woman wearing a necklace’:
It is like the ten ignorant fools who forded a stream and on reaching the other shore counted themselves to be nine only. They grew anxious and grieved over the loss of the unknown tenth man. A wayfarer, on ascertaining the cause of their grief, counted them all and found them to be ten. But each one of them had counted the others leaving himself out. The wayfarer gave each in succession a blow telling them to count the blows. They counted ten and were satisfied. The moral is that the tenth man was not got anew. He was all along there, but ignorance caused grief to all of them.
Again, a woman wore a necklace round her neck but forgot it. She began to search for it and made enquiries. A friend of hers, finding out what she was looking for, pointed out the necklace round the seeker’s neck. She felt it with her hands and was happy. Did she get the necklace anew? Here again ignorance caused grief and knowledge happiness.
Similarly also with the man and the Self. There is nothing to be gained anew. Ignorance of the Self is the cause of the present misery; knowledge of the Self brings about happiness.
Ramana now provides the seeking mind/ego with some elementary logic to underpin his case. If liberation were something to be gained, it could also be lost. How so? Because logically if something can be attained, it can also be lost. Therefore something gained cannot be permanent. Liberation, or ‘salvation’ as it is written below, is permanent only because it is already totally and fully here – already! Ramana continues writing that it only seems that ‘Wisdom’ seems to be attained once the ignorance is removed, but really wisdom was already ‘ever present’:
Moreover, if anything is to be got anew it implies its previous absence. What remained once absent might vanish again. So there would be no permanency in salvation. Salvation is permanent because the Self is here and now and eternal. Thus the man’s efforts are directed towards the removal of ignorance. Wisdom seems to dawn, though it is natural and ever present.
The visitor, while taking leave, saluted the master, and said, “It is said that the victim in the tiger’s mouth is gone for ever.” The reference is to a passage in Who am I? where it is stated that a disciple can never revert to the world after he has once fallen into the field of the Guru’s gracious look as surely as the prey in the tiger’s jaws cannot escape.
Excerpt from Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, Talk 63
Oh yes! Once we have felt the Guru’s gracious look, once we have felt the Presence of the Maharshi, we are already in the Tiger’s Mouth. We are already in His Clutches. There is no going back! The Self will surely reel us in and chew us (the ego or ignorance) up!
!Om Namo Bhagavate Sri Ramanaya Om!
New testimonial
Below is a testimonial I have just received. I’m always grateful to receive a testimonial from someone who has benefited from what I share. Writing a testimonial is not only a wonderful way to express thanks, but it is an opportunity to reflect on the impact the teachings have made. It’s also nice for me to see how what I share has positively affected others, and to share that with you too.
I have been working in 1 to 1 sessions with people around the world over the last few years, and many have found that in just a few sessions they are able to find great clarity where perhaps before there was varying degrees of confusion.
If you would like to read other testimonials click here. Or if you have been positively impacted by what I share and would like to write a testimonial, or arrange a 1 to 1 session with me, then please contact me using the contact link above.
Here is the testimonial I received today:
‘I chanced upon Tom’s website at a very interesting time in my journey. I had studied traditional Vedanta for many years. I had some good understanding about the concepts and was doing some serious self inquiry or Atma Vichara. That’s when I started tying myself into all sorts of knots. I wasted a lot of time confused by concepts and was in a very frustrated place until I spoke to Tom.
I believe things happen for a reason and you meet the right people at the right time in the journey. Within a couple of sessions, Tom was able to help me unravel some of these knots. As the layers started peeling off and more layers and depth opened up the journey started taking a different shape. Throughout this, Tom was able to ask just the right question and clarified many concepts that would have otherwise taken a life of their own.
I found his teaching style refreshingly down to earth and humble and since he was able to speak from his direct experience, it made everything so real and relatable.’
Q. I’ve had an awakening but now I often feel anxious, overwhelmed or disorientated about there being ‘no me’. What can I do?
Pulling the rug out from under the ego
In my article Roadmap to enlightenment: a (fairly) comprehensive guide to spiritual practices I discuss the inter-relationship between insight and purification and liberation, so I won’t go into that here – please see that article for more information on this, but I would like to comment on one thing I often see in people who attend my meetings or who contact me for 1 to 1 meetings. It’s when the ego has the rug pulled out from underneath it but it still trying to regain its balance, tottering from left to right, sometimes disorientated, sometimes overwhelmed, lacking stability – in short – suffering.
This occurs when the mind is exposed to non-dual insight/knowledge teachings, ie. the radical teachings on no-self/no-person/no-free will, before the mind has achieved a degree of sattva (peace) and stability. When this happens, freedom is seen but the mind’s tendencies are now unleashed as if the ‘foot has been taken off the brake’. All the pre-existing egoic tendencies, previously held in check somewhat by notions of the ego, are now left to roam free, sometimes with riotous consequences.
Now, in a fundamental sense there is no problem in this, but from the point of view of the ego, which is still actually functioning out of habit (ie. the vasanas or egoic habitual tendencies are still at play), this is quite troubling and can be very tumultuous. It can lead to much suffering – both for the seeker and for those around them.
If the ego-mind is stable and sattvic (peaceful) with a health positive self-concept prior to being exposed to the radical non-dual teachings, when the teachings are seen, the sattvic qualities are naturally allowed to express themselves, namely love, peace, happiness, compassion, intelligence, clear thinking, clear seeing.
This was in essence what happened to me. I was lucky in that I had unwittingly spent many years purifying my mind through a combination of spiritual practices from a young age, readings spiritual books, being in a loving relationship and various forms of self-help to name a few factors. Awakening for me was not a difficult or tumultuous process. In retrospect I can see this was the case as my mind was already for the most part sattvic. The awakening was peaceful and gradual, permeated by love and light, so gradual I did not even realise it was happening. It was only when I started sharing this teaching with others that I realised how difficult the awakening process can sometimes be, when I saw how it affected others. Because I had read and studied traditional texts that spoke about about the energies whilst I was seeking, I was able to utilise these teachings for the benefit of those who came to me and my meetings.
If the mind is riddled with tamasic (negative) and rajasic (passionate) energy, addictive vasanas (habitual tendencies) and a negative self-concept, these aspects of the mind can flourish. Depending on the vasanas present, this can sometime cause much suffering. It can result in family/relationship problems, divorce, panic attacks and career and financial issues. Unconscious psychological insecurities that were not previously known can all surface at once leading to a crisis of confidence, disorientation and feeling overwhelmed. Tamasic impulses can increase, rajasic tendencies can increase, addictive tendencies can increase.
The general advice here is to not worry, remain calm and at peace, something that is easier to do if a degree of sattva has already been cultivated and most of the rajasic and tamasic energies have already been somewhat subdued. In time, these vasanas (tendencies) will naturally express themselves. If they are allowed to rise up, be experienced and felt (ie. not suppressed) withoutacting them out, then they will naturally purify themselves in time and the balance of sattva will naturally arise. However, if the vasanas are indulged in, then they may continue indefinitely, and the freedom-realisation may even be lost (apparently). Just knowing this information can make a huge difference (apparently).
It is for this very reason that most traditional approaches stress a period of purification prior to being introduced to the ‘higher’ non-dual teachings. Shankara often advised that seekers purify themselves with devotion to God and developing certain qualities prior to reading/listening to the higher teachings of Vedanta.
But what seeking ego wants to wait? And why should it, right! Most teachings are no longer guarded behind the secret screens of a religious patriarchy and are freely available on YouTube and Facebook, something which is largely good as far as I can see, but it is useful to be aware of the downsides and potential negative consequences.
This article is an excerpt taken from a longer article, click here to read it.
Tom Das 