The FREEDOM Blog

2010-03-24T00:28:00.003-07:00

Aja's Bhajan Kutir
(Literally 'worship hut) this is a place to spend ones time in deeper contemplation. I find myself wanting to "asat sanga tyaga" - giving up association of 'non' being or untruth. Thus, less connection with the 'outside world'.

Just Like That - TEOTWAWKI

2009-10-13T16:25:00.000-07:00

Some rather random musings as I sit in the semi-darkness.

One moment, everything is going along exactly as it has for years, and then, suddenly ... Nothing!

In this case, the power went out. Here where we live, it happens so often that I have the PGE Outage number on my cell phone and can quickly call to report the outage, and also call back to see if they have an expected time for the return of power. Today, they estimate about two hours. It's the middle of the day, we have the woodstove going. Basically, no big deal. But one person here as already headed for the city to their more comfortable place. I'm typing this on my computer; of course, I won't be able to post it until power is back on and I can again connect to the internet.

But each time we have a power outage, I am reminded that there are many things that can be finished - Just Like That! Life for one. Civilization for another. In our situation, we are relatively okay in a power outage. We have a propane stove for cooking; we heat with wood; we have our own well (although we need electricity to pump it); we even have a composting toilet and an outhouse, should we need it. But nearly all these things, which would make us far more ready than 90% of the US population, would all still be very temporary if such an outage was permanent. Wood would be relatively endless, but depending on where we were in our tanks, propane would run out in a few months. Without a generator or some other means of creating sufficient electricity, we would quickly be forced to carry water up from the stream, or set up some kind of rain collection system from the roof.

But believe it or not, this is really NOT about the end of civilization. This is more about just the end - Death, or any other manifestation of..
TEOTWAWKI!!

If you're not familiar with TEOTWAWKI, don't worry. It's not a real word. My friend Linda chanced upon it in writing me an email. It stands for The End Of The World As We Know It - TEOTWAWKI. I love it. It sounds like one of those indiginous words that they name movies after. So, every time we have a power outage, I am reminded of TEOTWAWKI. It could come at any time. Any moment. And go on forever. I know, for instance, that there are many, many more ways than most people want to imagine for the end of the world as we know it to suddenly drop on us. One would be a cataclysmic power outage that would simply be un-fixable. Just Like That - TEOTWAWKI. No more computers, TV, gas getting pumped. It would be an immediate and permanent end of everything we know. Once it became known what had happened, grocery stores would be emptied in hours. Within days, there would be massive looting and murders. Within weeks, thousands, if not millions would be dead.

Again, this really isn't about that. This is about the other big Just Like That - DEATH.

The point I really wanted to make is that no one is really ready for death, because on one level, no body believes in death. Although I've told the Most Wonderful Thing story a gazillion times, it can bear another quick retelling. It is a story from the Mahabharata, where the King Yudhisthira is in the woods and is accosted by the God of Death challenging him to answer 100 questions. One of those is "What is the most wonderful thing in the world?" Yudhisthira responds that, "Every day people see that relatives or friends or others die, but they think that they themselves will never die. This is the most wonderful thing in the world."

I am currently reading Aghora by Robert Svoboda which is the narration of Vimalananda, Svoboda's guru, who was an Aghori - one who follows the "left hand path" to God. Much of that revolves around sitting on human corpses and praying to God or Goddess. It is the complete recognition and surrender to the reality of death. Most people want to avoid death at all costs, just like they want to avoid suffering, 'negative' emotions, and anything that is even minorly unpleasant, at all costs. But his is simply utter foolishness. It is literally choosing to be blind and stupid. It is like the child covering their own eyes and going, "You can't see me!" But we can, and simply hiding from the miseries of janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi -- birth, death, old age and disease -- will not make them go away. In fact, truly seeing these very four things is what led Siddharta, the then future buddha, toward His Enlightenment.

Here in the West, we live in a culture that does EVERYTHING possible to hide the truth. Everyone wants to be pretty and young. Fifty is the new twenty. Don't have old age. Don't have poverty. Consume, consume, consume. It's almost as if we know that our car has no brakes, so we might as well go full throttle and end in a blaze of glory. Elders are no longer sought for their Wisdom, but shuffled off into 'facilities'. We hide birth, illness and death in hospitals away from relatives and loved ones. When the God of Death comes for us, we are helpless and alone. Electronic beeping and buzzing surround us, and very possibly not one individual who cares will be with us. Of course, we all make that passage alone ultimately. Especially if it happens Just Like That - TEOTWAWKI. I have known a number of people who have died instantly. One simply fell down dead and was said to have been gone before he hit the floor. Imagine that. Perfect health one moment....dead the next. And that can literally happen to any of us.

So, it's been 2 hours, and we have reached the time when the power company originally said our power would be restored. However, since that time, checking (with my cell phone) they have recalculated, from the original 2 pm, to 3 pm, and now to 6 pm. The other very interesting thing is normally it tells you "There have been 63 reports and 600 people affected." Now it tells me, "There have been 4 reports and 1 home affected." In other words, us. Now, I know that's not the case, or at least assume it's not, since I can't reach anyone at the local store which uses a cordless phone (requiring electricity). But why would the system do this? Well, one BIG change since our last outage is that they installed digital wireless readers on every home, so they no longer have to send meter readers. Hmmmm?! Curious. Does that mean that it simply registers that way, or do they actually have to go to every home now and reset something in order to get power, which is why it may take 4 extra hours? Of course I'm totally speculating here, but did their improvements not only put all the meter readers out of work, but also increase their work load. Technology has a way of doing that which people often aren't aware of. For instance, it was commonly thought by most people that survival in antiquated times required much harder work than today. It turns out, recent anthropological studies have revealed that most indiginous cultures spent maybe 2 to 4 hours a day on survival, and the rest was spent together. In other words, a much shorter "work week" of hunting and gathering, and still having all the necessities of life with much more tribal and family community time together. No father off to work one way, mother off to work another, children in this school, that day care, grandma and grandpa in the facility. Just togetherness. Wow, what progress we have made. However the good news is that one way another, whether by natural disaster, economic collapse, or, of course by death - it could happen .... Just Like That - TEOTWAWKI.

Well, Well. Power back on and an hour and a half early. I guess we've escaped TEOTWAWKI once more.

Happy Happy!!!!

Positive Buoyancy

2009-10-07T07:32:00.000-07:00

"Effortless & choiceless awareness is our real nature. If we can attain that state and abide in it, that is all right. But one cannot reach it without effort, the effort of deliberate meditation. All the age old vasanas (inherent tendencies) turn the mind outward to external objects. All such thoughts have to be given up and the mind turned inwards and that, for most people, requires effort."

Ramana Maharshi - Teachings of Bhagavan pg 78

When I was a kid, my father and brother got into SCUBA diving, and so I did as well. This is where I learned about buoyancy, and that I had a very limited 'positive buoyancy'. Buoyancy, as you might guess, is how well you float. Most people have something like a 20% positive buoyancy, which means if you just do a dead-man's float, letting go and simply relaxing on the surface of the water, on your back, you'll pretty much do okay. Your face will remain above the surface and you'll be able to breathe. With me, however, if I do that. I'll basically sink just enough below the surface where I'll be taking in large amounts of water. I have like 5% positive buoyancy. If I try to remain on the surface with my head above water, I start to DROWN.

I don't know if this relates to the quest for Truth, but on some level, it seems like it does. Most people have a much stronger 'positive buoyancy'. In other words, they WANT to stay on the surface of life; they want to remain superficial and float on the surface of the ocean. However, this tendency doesn't do one much good if you are seeking the depths of Consciousness. As Sri Ramana states above, IF you can get down in abidance and stay there, GREAT. That is what most people want to do - just sort of let go and float. But they don't recognize, or don't want to recognize, that they're still on the surface. They are still fully identified with the vasanas, attachments, identifications, concepts, beliefs, and so forth. It is absolutely necessary to get below that.

Imagine taking a piece of Styrofoam below the surface of the water. The deeper you take it, the faster it tends to shoot back to the surface when you let it go. Some things will just bob up and down on the surface, and others will sink like a rock, for instance... a rock. Take a piece of wood and HOLD it under water long enough, and eventually it will become waterlogged and it, too, will sink like a stone. But, as you know, that takes quite a bit of effort for quite a bit of time.

When scuba diving, one wears lead weights to get to the bottom, to counteract the positive buoyancy that we have. I had to wear fewer. If you try to swim to the bottom of the ocean without them, the moment you stop swimming... zoom... up you go to the surface.

Spiritual practice is the constant swimming downwards. In most cases, the moment you stop swimming you begin to surface again. Unfortunately, our tendency is to stop swimming downward, to take too long of a break, to go into idle mode, or to just say, "This is good enough." So, not only does it take effort, it takes consistent and unending effort. That may seem harsh, but this is even what the scriptures will tell us - "constantly, without stopping, without turning away, without other-ness, consistently, every moment", and so on and so forth. They don't say, "give a little push, and off you go" with a little smiley icon beside it. They say cultivation of real spiritual knowledge and wisdom is the most difficult thing you will ever do, which is why so few people truly succeed. Going the other direction, for instance, (UP), out of the billions of people on the planet, how many have reached the summit of Mount Everest? Comparatively few.

The principle thing to keep in mind is that it seems positive buoyancy is built in. To try to reach Truth is in many ways contrary to our nature. Even the Bhagavad Gita says, "Daivi hi esa gunamayi, mama maya duratyaya - This Divine Illusion of mine, consisting of the material modes is VERY difficult to escape". However, he then continues, "Mameva ye prapadyante mayametam taranti te - Those who surrender to Me can cross beyond it." So, it takes our effort, but also recognizing that our effort alone is insufficient. Krishna says to surrender to Him. Ramana says it takes constant effort and (in other places) Grace. He also says surrender is grace. The bottom line, however, is that, from whatever level we appear to have choice, we must choose to relentlessly seek Truth, God, the Absolute, and at the same time, surrender ourselves to That Absolute.

Happy Diving!

The Magician's Trick

2009-10-05T08:37:00.000-07:00

Everybody loves a magician. Well, they used to. Maybe now, they're not quite as exciting as once upon a time because everybody knows how they work. Basically it's always an operation of misdirection - while you're looking at the right hand, he's doing the real mischief with the other, but flaunting that right hand. And suddenly, VOILA - the trick is performed. It's done.

The whole phenomenal world is a bit like the magician's trick. We're looking at one thing while the 'real stuff' is going on somewhere else.

On the level of the phenomenal world, this is going on every moment. Here in the U.S., the left and right continue to appear to fight with one another. The Obama group is charging the right wingers as "Right wing domestic terrorists", while the Department of Homeland Security is enlisting the 3.4 million Girl Scouts as part of their 'Preparedness" gang. Meanwhile, NASA is shooting bombs off at the moon! All the while, the bankers and corporations are making out, not like bandits, more like major international criminals, and we pat them on the head, give them more money, and they laugh their heads off all the way to the, well, bank - in their case, home!

So, how are we to deal with this, or in other words, get 'free' from all of this? First, you have to understand that on one level - "These things are going on." In other words, the bottom line is it's just 'stuff'. And in the phenomenal realm, there appears to be 'good' stuff and 'bad' stuff. Truly, there is stuff in the modes of Goodness, Passion and Ignorance (sattva, rajas, and tamas in Sanskrit), and they each have their own nature. The mode of Goodness leads to happiness and illumination; the mode of Passion to greed, excessive action, etc. and the mode of Ignorance to inertia, sleep and laziness. But even the mode of Goodness is binding. It binds one to happiness. I know, that seems like something that would be fine bondage, but bondage is still bondage. A prison of gold is still a prison!

What one has to recognize is that all of these ideas - the modes, the good, the bad, and all of that are OF THE MIND. It is the mind that tells us "He is right, she is wrong" or "I am right, and those ones are 'domestic terrorists'" and so on and so forth. Essentially if there is any conviction or belief or even a thought around it, it is of the realm of mind, and therefore part of the 'Magician's Trick!' Because, at the base of the Magician's Trick is the mind, and the source or very root of this trick is the illusion of the 'false I' - the ego (ahankara or I-maker in Sanskrit) upon which all the other illusions or tricks are based. We are SO identified with the 'right hand' of Mind, certain that it is real and powerful and ALWAYS right, that we are not even seeing or aware of the 'left hand' of transcendence which precedes it.

So, how do we overcome this? (Here it comes....one of his dumb movie analogies.) There have been a number of these, but the first one that comes to mind is Independence Day. The whole world may be bickering with each other (okay, killing each other), but suddenly when we are attacked by aliens from outer space, then we are forced to come together. Otherwise, we are doomed, and it is only in that coming together that we can gain the strength to fight such a powerful foe.

On the phenomenal level, it will only be by giving up left versus right and religious dogmas and all other beliefs, and coming together to realize that the banking and corporate powers that be have a strangle hold on the peoples of the planet and are killing the humanity in ALL of us (and in many cases, outright killing humanity!) We will never be able to be happy here until we can come together and see that the illusion of monetary and economic independence is the trick of the banksters and corporate powers who are ultimately the ONLY ones who ultimately gain, while those below fight for scraps (and yes, even a few billion dollars of illusory money are ultimately scraps).

And on the transcendent level, all of this is happening on the stage of temporary phenomena, much like the movie or TV show appearing on the screen. Ultimately, it too is entirely an illusion and we must turn our attention to what precedes it, to that which is Aware of it, or in other words... Awareness Itself, Infinite Presence, Divinity, God, Beingness - whatever it is 'you' want to call it.

In the end, it always requires discrimination and the intention to NOT be fooled by the obvious. Remember the bumper stickers "Question Authority"? I think they're still around although I certainly don't see them as often. How about one that says, "Question Appearances" or "See Past Each Illusion" or better yet, "Question EVERYTHING"? If you are truly interested in, or driven to Truth, never allow yourself to become complacent. On each level, there is always further to go, another truth just under the surface of 'this' one. Never let yourself be totally tricked by the illusions of the Magician.

And remember, the Magician isn't Evil - He's just an Entertainer!

The Personal, Impersonal and the Absolute

2009-09-14T10:23:00.000-07:00

What is the nature of Enlightenment, Awakening, Consciousness, and so forth? Many people seek some 'other' state, a 'higher' state or anything other than what is here. But as far as knowing what that is, many don't have much of a clue. We will try to describe in a fairly simple and straight-forward way, the nature of our Existence.

In the diagram below, you see three categories - A. B. and C. in what is our version of the classical Ocean-Wave analagy:

C. is represented as the All, the Absolute, the Ocean of Infinite Godhead, etc.
B. is the Water of the Individuating and individuated wave
A. is the form, the surface of that individuated wave.

Everything, without exception, is part of, a manifestation of, an arising of the infinite ocean, C.

Arising from the waters of the ocean, though never different from it, nor ever totally separated from it, is the wave, B.

The 'form' and/or surface of that wave is the 'personalized' aspect or A.

A. + B. is the Personal and the Impersonal aspects of the Individuated Wave - i.e. a "person"

The nature of C. is always Conscious Presence, Awareness. It is aware of itself, even as an A-B individuated entity. However, it appears to focus on and become identified as that individuated A+B, and even more so, totally identify as its surface/shape of A.

So, how does this look in "real" life? Most people are totally identified with their body and mind - A. Their thoughts, concepts and beliefs, their hopes and fears, - all of these are parts of the A. or Personal individual. John or Sally identifies as being John or Sally, with this body, that age, these beliefs, these ideas of what is right or wong, spiritual or unspiritual, good and bad, and so on endlessly. All of these ideas and the body are "Observed" by the Impersonal Self - B. When you simply close your eyes and ask, 'Who am I?' letting go of all of these concepts and identifications, you come to simply "I AM" or I am the Witness (Seer, watcher, Awareness etc.)

For the most part, this B. "I AM" is NOT a thing, but is simply the Presence. "I AM" is not 'I am this or that' other than simply "I AM-ness". When Ramana Maharshi or Nisargadatta Maharaj speak of resting in the "I AM", this is what they are referring to. Where most people get stuck, however, is this is as far as they go.

First, many people have difficulty enough just trying to recognize this B-ness - in other words, to dislocate themselves enough from their addiction and identification to their personal form self (A.) to recognize they are the Seer. However, having done this, they may think, "Oh, I've made it. This is the end." No, it is simply the beginning.

A+B make up what I call the individuated person. Like the far bubble on the right, it can almost entirely disconnected from the All (C.) Through meditation, self inquiry and so forth, they recognize that they are this impersonal nature, and even though it feels somewhat unlimited, they are still identified somewhat as B. experiencing A. experiencing B. (Yeah, I know - a little confusing.) Resting as B-ness is not so much something that is experienced as simply something that you ARE. Mind and reflective thought are all products of the individuated Form self or A. So, when you are thinking about B, that is not B. That is A thinking about B. You may be experiencing B, but A. is thinking about it. The more you rest in B, the more it becomes natural. You are simply changing the balance of the scale, so to speak, to focus on Awareness itself, rather than the objects of Awareness (i.e. body, mind, thoughts, ideas, etc.)

When you inquire into the nature of the Self, it is very much like peeling an onion as you let go of all concepts and beliefs. Ultimately, when you peel an onion all the way, you are left with nothing, as it is all skins. So you have left over a Not-Onion, or rather a semi-conceptualized idea of impersonality where the onion USED TO BE. You are now identified as this Not-Onion or Nothingness. However, this still has some sense of separation between the Not-Onion or A+B Individuated Personal/Impersonal entity, and the Everything Absolute of C.

As both Nisargadatta and/or Ramana would tell you, by "abiding" in and as that I-AM ness, gradually the expansion into C. takes place. In other words, you are identified as the personal self (A.) - you recognize you are also the impersonal self (B.) and through resting as that constantly and consistently, with as little interruption as possible, you gradually dis-identify all together to come into the Absolute All (C.).

Okay. New analogy. You live in the U.S. and decide to go to India. That is a very big jump and you have to go through a lot of hoops just to do that. So eventually, after a lot of planning, saving money, booking flights, getting a passport and visa, you finally get on the plane and ultimately end up in the Chennai airport. Wow, you've made it. (A lot of effort to get from A. to B.) Now, you can immediately get back on the airplane and return home. "Been there - Done that!" which is what a lot of people do. "Oh yes, I know I am the seer." "Oh yes, I've been to India."

Others, a little more dedicated, will recognize, "I don't want to go back to the U.S." and will stay there in the Chennai airport, gradually becoming more adapted to it, and being able to express much more of what India is about. BUT ITS STILL JUST THE AIRPORT. It is still simply the 'water' of the individuated wave (B.) and has many limitations, even though it is VERY different from A. (the U.S.)

Finally, if you live long enough in the airport, you recognize, "Oh My GOD! There's a door that goes somewhere else." (It's not really 'somewhere else' as it is still part of the world and part of India, but it is letting go of more concepts of limitation.) There is now the entirety of India (C) to explore.

While moving from the Personal self (A.) to the Impersonal self (B.) is itself a huge endeavor which very few bother to do, even fewer stay there in B. and even fewer still recognize that it is still a tiny aspect of the Infinite Absoluteness or Godhead (C.). B. is something like ground-zero, or the zero-point. It is the initial big step away from total illusion of identifying with A. to recognizing your impersonal or transcendent self as B. And a large percentage of spiritual teachers, particularly in the West, will tell you that's it. In other words, they don't want to (or are unable to) recognize and acknowledge that which is beyond even their limited impersonal self.

While I recognize that this is not a totally thorough explanation and still leaves a number of questions to be answered, I hope that it can help some go deeper into Awakening. For instance, if you already have some sense of I-AM ness, inquire, "What is the Source of this I-AM?" You may find it is more than "Turtles all the way down."

I'd Dance in Ecstacy

2009-08-19T11:09:00.001-07:00

I'd dance in ecstacy,
But my legs hurt too much.
Perhaps then I'd work off some of this belly,
Which has grown so large!
But then where would I store my Love?

Dream Interpretation

2009-06-11T10:46:00.000-07:00

Everyone dreams. It is a regular occurrence. Several times each evening you go through a series of sleep cycles and you dream. Many people get into the interpretation of the dream - what does this mean? What does that symbolize? And there is certainly nothing wrong with that and many insights may be had from the process.

But what if there is another even greater purpose of the dream? What if the main purpose of the night time dream is to show you that you can have what appears to be an entirely concrete reality - you can live in that reality, experience all kinds of things in that reality, and that everything in that reality is, in fact, not reality at all. It's a dream. Even, you, the dreamer disappear from that dream when you wake up! What if the purpose of the dream, more than figuring out ways to make our daytime better, are, rather, to show us that the daytime drama is nothing but another dream, and that we can awaken from that dream as well?

During the evening dream, you are entirely convinced that it is real. These things are factually happening. You don't question it, no matter how bizarre the incidents in the dream are. Then, you wake up snug in your bed and go, "Oh, THAT was just a dream. Now I'm back in the real world!" And then we spend every moment ignoring the lesson of the dream that, this too, is just another dream.

Most people, at least those that would be reading this, have heard the story of the old monk who wakes up and says, "I was just dreaming I was a butterfly. But now, I'm not sure if I am a monk thinking he had a dream of being a butterfly, or if I am a butterfly dreaming that I am now a monk." We immediately assume that the night dream is unreal and the daytime one is real. Even if we theoretically 'understand' that they might both be dreams, we act on a different level - that the night dream is unreal but the day dream is real.

Numerous scriptures and saints have pointed out that the only difference between the night dream and the day dream is time (i.e. 8 hours versus 16 hours). Right now, as you are reading this, you could suddenly WAKE UP in your bed and go, "Oh, I was just dreaming I was reading a blog by somebody named Aja (the 'Unborn'). Ha Ha. There's nobody named Aja, but that was interesting. Now let me get on with my REAL life." And then you wake up from that one too.

The Yoga Vasistha is a wonderful book wherein you have characters living in dreams within dream within dreams - awakening from one into the other and totally unsure which if any are real. Many Buddhists practice asking themselves, "Is this a dream?" during the day, in order to help facilitate lucid dreaming at night, so that they might have more time to practice their meditations (yes, while they are "asleep and dreaming"). Buddhists often call this whole shebang the dream of Buddha. The Bhagavatam calls this the dream of Vishnu. And yet, every night the Guru of Dreaming shows us that what appears to be real is, in fact, a dream, and every morning we awaken, ignore the instruction, and go on acting as if the daydream is some type of all important concrete reality!

Hmmm... I guess we're just slow learners, eh?!

"Wake Up, Neo.....

The Matrix has got you!"

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The Magazine

2009-06-05T11:57:00.000-07:00

My wife holds out a buddist magazine.
"Here is a Buddhist magazine. Would you like to read it?"

With some hesitation, if not outright trepidation, I take it.
"Thanks."

I'm hesitatant, not because I'm not Buddhist, but because I know where this goes. I am not patient. I am not compassionate. I am leery. I glance through the table of contents. Just as I suspect - a lot of articles that seem more aligned to making people feel good, than to get them to dump all the crap in their minds.

We are all the same. We would rather talk about surrender than to actually surrender. We would rather read about someone who has 'made' it, than to 'make' it ourselves. We'd rather study the intricacies of the teachings than to put them into practice. We would rather argue about (or even agree about) the variations of the Great Teachings than to whole-heartedly give ourselves to them. Or we might want to keep struggling to find the perfect teaching, just a little better, a little closer, than to recognize the Infinite, Absolute and totally Ordinary Divinity of NOW.

Virtually every thought is a distraction, unless it points dead-on at the Truth. Every idea is a diversion unless it is showing you your Own Face. Every teaching is a pile of crap unless it makes you go..."Ah, Ah, Ah" as you dive into the immediacy of the Divine.

There is ONE infinite Ocean. What you experience as you is but the water of one wave. You fret and strut as the one wave - paying attention to the shape and form and floaters in yours and the others waves, ever neglecting the immediacy of the waterness, which ultimately leads to the immediacy of ALL waterness.

There is ONLY GOD, the ONE, the Absolute. Yes, all argumentation, all thinking, all concepts are also That, but in looking at them, we run the risk of identifying with them and lose our identification with the REAL-ness of the Divine.

The mind is like a prism which breaks up the light of the ONE, and turns it into the colors of the many. The colors are just the one, but we pick and choose between them. The prism, the mind, will NEVER, put the colors back into the ONE. It, sadly, only breaks them apart. Let go of the mind. Smash the prism. Rest in the ONE.

Sarvam khalvidam Brahma - All This is indeed the Absolute

Vasudevah Sarvam - All is God

Om Purnam adah purnam idam - That is the Wholeness, This is the Wholeness

Only God IS. There is nothing else. Every moment IS GOD.

Rest in that and forget the rest.... especially this magazine...

So, in the end, having glanced through a number of self-aggrandizing and self-effacing articles (amidst one or two okay ones) I turn to the back cover....

It reads:

"Is Your Investment Strategy Sustainable?"

Oh good Lord!!!!!

God is the only investment strategy I have.

Utter Simplicity

2009-06-03T10:55:00.000-07:00

I am guilty. Guilty of the Sin of complication. We all are, cuz that's what our minds tend to make us do...Complicate things.

Here is the simple answer to everything:

1. Love what you have,
2. Love who you're with,
3. Love God.

Not necessarily in that order.

Belief IN vs. Belief ABOUT

2009-05-16T14:56:00.001-07:00

Recently, I came across the following quote, "Belief IN God is Faith; Belief ABOUT God is Religion (or Theology).".In attempting to find the original source, all I came up with was Freemason documents. But the point is excellent. While ultimately all beliefs are primarily habits of the mind, within the phenomenal scope of things, certain beliefs are beneficial. One is a belief in a higher Good, God, Truth, the Absolute... something!!! It spurs us on to investigate, to explore Truth, and to be open to going deeper. On the other hand, belief ABOUT God or the Absolute, predefines what it should look like. It causes us to hold on to old patterns, and to only see through our own filters of what God or the Absoloute IS or SHOULD BE, and how to recognize or realize that with our own direct experience. Today some huge percentage of Americans claim to be "Spiritual, but not religious," and yet still hold onto ideas about what Awakening or Enlightenment or Reality is or should be. As they begin to investigate, they often find that their original ideas were waaaayyyyy off. That's part of growth. But more often than not, there is a place where people get stuck, because where they are is somewhat comfortable (or comfortable enough) and to go any further would require letting go of more of the beliefs 'about', while holding onto the 'faith in'. Faith is not a bad thing. You could perhaps replace it with the word 'trust'. Every time you leave your home, you have faith (conscious or not) that you will find your way back. Each night as you go to sleep, you have faith that you will wake up in the morning. You have faith that your body will digest your food, your heart will continue beating, the sun will continue to shine, and so forth. If you had to worry about all of these things, you'd probably go mad. Similarly, there are many small things that we do worry about, that DO tend to drive us mad. Don't worry ABOUT; have faith IN. You know there is something more about it all, or that you are 'bigger' or 'greater' than your mind allows you to realize, or that there is a Being or Presence or Absoluteness of which the little you is a part. You really don't need to define it much, in fact it's best not to. As you begin to define it, you are creating a belief ABOUT. You really can't know, just as a teacup dipped into the ocean can't experience the nature of the totality of the ocean - only a small flavor of it. But without that faith IN, we are stuck, by our mental habits, to a place of bondage, rather than one of total freedom.

How To Live Happily - More or Less

2009-04-20T12:28:00.000-07:00

I was never a huge 'Seinfeld' fan, altthough I recognize a certain existentialism that at times was appealing, and once in a while, a true teaching. For instance, those who ARE fans will certainly remember the episode in which George decides to do the opposite of whatever his initial tendencies are. Sitting with Jerry in the cafe, he sees a pretty girl and wants to approach her, but then remembers that basically everything he tries fails. (If you're a real die-hard fan, forgive me if I don't have it exactly right and just follow along.) Jerry suggests that whatever he thinks he should do or tell her, that George should do exactly the opposite. So instead of feeding her some line of bullcrap, how about just telling her the truth. George decides that might just work, and so going to the young woman says, "Hi, I'm George. I'm totally unmotivated, am unemployed and live with my parents." And, of course, the woman immediately turns to him, smiles, and with obvious interest, replies, "Really?!"

Essentially, any unhappiness is caused by not getting what we think we want. What we think we want is a product of our ego or our sense of individualized and separated "I". The mind and intellect (manas and buddhi in Sanskrit) decipher what are the objects of awareness, (not a problem), but then the label them as desirable or undesireable. The sense of "I" wants what it deems as desireable and rejects what it sees as undesireable. Thus causing the unhappiness.Nisargadatta said something to the effect of... "You are unhappy because you want what you don't have and don't want what you do have. Just turn that around - Want what you have, and don't want what you don't have." The simplicity of it is overwhelming, however, the practice is often another thing. We are trained, especially by our present day culture, that we should be able to have whatever we want. Our entire culture is geared around the fact that we should have exactly what we want, when we want it. We deserve it. We are entitled to it. Forget what anyone else wants, or what impact our wanting has on anyone or anything else. Gimme, Gimme, Gimme.

One of my semi-surrogate grand-daughters was over the other day with her 14 month old baby girl, and she mentioned that her new favorite word is, "MINE". She'll pick something up, anything, and boastfully proclaim, "MINE!" Is this not what everyone is trying to do?When I was around 11, my parents signed me up for piano lessons with the local piano teacher, Mrs. Merciel, an older widow who lived at the end of the block, and I think had been teaching piano since it was the harpsichord. I remember almost nothing of what she taught me (and still can't play piano worth beans), but one thing has stuck with me over the nearly half century. Nearly everyone has heard this, but it was the first time I had heard it, I have noo remembrance of the context of why she said it, but it was...

"The more you know, the less you know."

While an obvious Truism, it is also a teaching.

So, another way of looking at Nisargadatta's statement is switch 'more' for 'less'......

The less you know, the more you know.

Want more Money? Try wanting less money
Think you are more special? Recognize you are less special.
Think you should do more? Try doing less? (Or try Be-ing more)
Want more people to like you? Try wanting less people to like you. (or Want to like others more)Think you deserve more. Consider that you deserve less. (or be grateful for the more you have).
Think you need more knowledge? Trying needing less knowledge.

I think you get the picture. Simply see when some sort of unhappiness or resistance or desire arises which says you want more (or less) of something, and try turning it around. What would it be like to have or want the opposite in some way. Recognize who or what it is that is desiring that, and inquire into the very reality of that "I" which is desiring. Recognize that when there is no desiring, but rather a satisfaction with what is, then there is peace, and from peace comes happiness.

So, how to live happily, more or less? Try the opposite. It just might work.

Happy Rebirth

2009-04-12T06:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, my wife says to me, "Tomorrow is Easter" and my response is something like, "And...?", as if that is supposed to mean something to me. (Generally, I like to get a new bonnet, but don't let anyone know.) The truth is, I wasn't born Christian, I never practiced Christianity, and of course, neither do most of the people that enjoy Easter. Easter really has very little to do with Christianity - it's about Rebirth, and Rebirth is something that all of us are continuously experiencing.

Our Easter, much as we know it, is said to be stolen from the elusive group called the Pagans, as if they were some kind of specific group that weren't there, then were, and now aren't again. Most think that that the word Pagan relates to those anti-Christian types, but many believe that originally the word, coming from the Latin Paganus, actually just meant a forest or country dweller, a hick, a 'country bumpkin' so to speak, rather than a civilized type. But in any case, the idea of Easter, Christian or otherwise, is really about death and rebirth.

Death and rebirth is all around us. We are death and rebirth. We live on a planet that is continuously dying and being reborn - our days, our seasons, the plants. Everything is in this ongoing cycle of dying and being reborn. Many believe that we, too, die and are reborn through reincarnation. But, this is not about that right now. Right now, I want to simply talk about this life.

In the Christian perspective, Easter is about Christ dying on the cross and rising, reborn, on Easter, when he is spotted by some of the disciples, and later shows up for them in a locked room. It is about the Arisen Christ. Each of us, has the opportunity, in EVERY moment, to be Reborn, to expand our Arising Christ-ness. However, for that to happen, we also MUST DIE.

Being reborn is dependent on dying. You can't have the one without the other, and therein lies the rub. No one wants to die. Everyone wants to hold on to the old AND have the new. It is what is traditionally called, "having the cake and eating it too", which again, I will point out if people said it the other way around (i.e. eating the cake and still having it too). Christ's death and rebirth was said to be on a physical level - the body died on the cross and was miraculously reborn in the sepulchre. And our bodies (cells, etc.) die and are reborn constantly. More importantly than this, however, is the death and rebirth of our mind, intellect, our beliefs, our faith.

Right now, for instance, I feel and believe, as do many others, that our entire planet is going through a death and rebirth process, which is why it feels so strange. Dying isn't necessarily pleasant or unpleasant, but is generally seen as such if we feel a need to hang on to the old. If people try to continue their old ways and lifestyles, it's gonna hurt. That's resistance to what is. However, if we all simply let go of the old and allow for the new, it's relatively painless.

Nearly every tradition has some sort of initiatiatory process - a Christian baptism, the Vedic diksha, the Jewish Bar Mitzvah, the Native American vision quest. Some are more symbolic, and others are much more experiential. Truly, we are going through a death and rebirth process every time we actually have a very deep insight or real-ization into the way things are. Myself, I can count many rebirths through this life, two of the most prominent being when I was ordained as a monk and Priest in the Vedic tradition, and far more so, when I REAL-ized the Self or awoke to pure consciousness in 1990. But that is/was not the end. There are ever more and more awakenings and rebirths, and although we like to focus on what was 'gained' we have to recognize that nearly always, something was 'lost' or rather given up or, perhaps, even better, outgrown.

If you want to cross the lake on a boat, you have to leave the one shore to get to the other. You can't expect to hold onto the old ways of thinking and being and expect to make much progress. This is much like Einstein's quote, "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them." We have to give up the old thoughts and ideas. Intiations, in many traditions often include a name change (I became Aja - the Unborn One). Very often, I see people taking a new name, and then going back to the old one. Perhaps better would be to take a new NEW name - moving forward instead of backwards. But I digress.

Our opportunity is contiuous dying and rebirthing - an unfoldment into a deeper and more expansive Presence. But concomitant with that is the dying. We mustn't forget that. So recognize what you are holding onto now and willingly and lovingly give it up to expand into a greater place. Be willing to 'die daily' and be 'reborn' as a new you. And then you can be...

In your Easter Bonnet
With all the frills upon it
You'll be the grandest lady
In the Easter Parade

So...Happy Easter....
Happy Dying
Happy Rebirthing!

God Or Mammon - Love or Profits

2009-03-19T12:56:00.000-07:00

"The spiritual world and material world do not go well together." Srila Prabhupada

"The realer the world, the greater the misery. The realer the Self, the greater the joy." - Lester Levenson

"If the the time spent thinking about objects NOT the Self were spent inquiring into the Self, Self realization would be achieved very quickly." Ramana Maharshi

"No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." - Jesus

[First, in my ignorance, I never knew what 'mammon' was. Finally, I looked it up. Mammon basically means wealth.]

Okay, I think you get the picture here. There is a very common approach going on now that says I want to enjoy the world and have total spiritual realization. That is not an impossibility, the difficulty is, most people are not ready for that. In other words, once you have recognized the complete illusory nature of the material world, and no longer have ANY attachments for it, can recognize that it is ALL God happening, then, and only then, can it really be enjoyed. But at that point, it will no longer be a material phenomena, it will also be GOD.

The other day, while in the garden with my son, he was looking out at the empty field and I asked what he was doing. "Envisioning abundant gardens," he said.
"Wonderful" I responded, "and the people?"
"No people, just plants."

Now, I love that he was envisioning abundance, but I also know that part of this (not all by any means) is to make a lot of money. Unfortunately, this is too often the case with people's interest in 'spirituality' - they want it to have a better 'material' life. "When I'm enlightened, then..." There are innumerable ego issues in here - control, fame, wealth, enjoyment, etc. etc. etc. You can have all the food in the world or all the money in the world or all the sex in the world or all the anything in the world, but if you don't have true knowledge of the Self, true re-cognition of Spirit, of God, of the Absolute, there will never be happiness.

Like our current economic crisis. The government is throwing trillions upon trillions of dollars away to try to save something which was a bust in the first place - a false economic lifestyle. I recognize that most people (nearly all) still believe that it is and should be salvaged. This is NOT the case. The entire economic system itself is a ponzi scheme, a pyramid scheme. If you do not understand this, study it a little bit. Money=Debt. All this money is created by the banks, and every dollar they create is attached to interest. So how does this work.

The bank loans me $100
(It is understood that I now owe them $110 with interest)

In order to pay that loan back, I must go to other people who similarly got their money from a bank (to whom they owe a principle AND interest)

(Banks win, you lose)

Oops, now nobody has any money, so I borrow MORE money (from the bank) to pay back the original loan (with additional interest of course)

Now the banks have outstanding lots of money and lots of money supposed to come in. But nobody has any money, so they keep borrowing "money" from the banks who happily keep printing it up.

(Banks keep winning... you keep losing)

Now this is obviously a pretty simplistic explanation, but it gives you the idea. I recently read that if you had invested $1 at the year Zero A.D. that one dollar would now be worth (at normal interest rates) of 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (One septillion dollars), which is of course more money than the world has ever seen. It is an impossibility. It is like trying to blow up a rubber balloon infinitely. At some point it has to give. It has to break. We are now at the breaking point. So even on the 'material' level, what we need is not money, not a change in economy, but a total reversal of the way we see and do things. The material world is NOT where it's at. We need to live in away that facilitates spiritual awakening and not material enlargement. Our purpose here is NOT (contrary to many people's opinion) to make more money, or to be happy and comfortable, but to awaken to who we are. You are either serving your ego, your selfish individualistic sense of self, or you are serving the One Self, God, the All. Even serving society or serving your family is a big improvement over simply serving the little self. So ask yourself, how much of my time is spent thinking about how to get more money (or ???) for ME? How much of your time is spent working toward helping others or toward Self or God REAL-ization? The answer to this question will give you a true assessment of how really successful you are!

There was a Baby in that Bathwater?

2009-02-09T14:44:00.000-08:00

Over the last couple of decades, it seems, there has been a very strong tendency for people to reference themselves as "Spiritual, but not religious." While there is nothing wrong with that per se, it does point to a deeper aspect of spirituality that is being tossed aside - God.

These days, it has become nearly politically incorrect to reference God. In fact, many literally cringe at the mere mention of the Creators reference. And why is that? Because "I am the creator!" many proclaim. "It is all MY creation, MY projection, MY reality." While this is not specifically untrue, it is not the entirety of the truth, and I must confess, over the years, I have done my part to create this damage as well.

In part, it is because, for centuries, there was so much focus on the Personal side of the Absolute - focusing on God the Father, which was intrinsic to the patriarchic 'old boy' school of Judeo-Christian ethics, and so forth. The rewarding and punishing Father. So, like almost everything, the pendulum swung in the entirely different direction. Give up anything that smacks of a Creator God, there is no Personal, only the impersonal. Enlightenment and Self Realization has become the big thing. Rows of shelves on Buddhism, Zen, Advaita, and a little make-shift spot for Hinduism (with their 'gods and goddesses'). How to be 'spiritual' without God, religion, doctrine, formality - these are the things we strive for.

You ARE spiritual. It is what you are. You don't have to strive to be that, and much of what has been thrown out are the means to understand that and make it real. Just saying, "I'm spiritual" doesn't do anything any more than saying, "I'm human." Of course you are. But having said it, many people think 'That's It! I'm done!" This is the landing in India scenario again. You may spend thousands of dollars to land in Delhi airport, and then go, "Been to India. That was great," get back on the airplane and fly home. That's not India. You have to go out and see the sites, meet the people, eat the food, get sick on the food, see the temples, visit the sacred sites, have your baggage stolen, and much, much more!

In the same way, Enlightenment or 'Awakening' is really just the beginning. It's not even a religion as much as a basic understanding. It's not a method of living or a practice, as it is a philosophy, an understanding. (Buddhism, of course, is a religion, in the traditional sense.) Enlightenment is about the REAL-ization that What you are is Consciousness. It is the Re-Cognition of That Reality. But it is the beginning, not the end. It is the landing in India. It is re-cognizing that you are the wave of the ocean, a drop of the sea. Our idea is, "Oh, I am water, I am the all inclusive, infinite ocean, when all we have done is understood we are more than the body, and in most cases, people continue to consider themselves primarily the body.

The ocean manifests itself as waves - little burbles of vibration on its surface. The waves are NOT the ocean. Sunlight is manifested from the sun, not the other way around. Let's try it a little bit differently: hair, nails, pus, sputum, piss, shit, are all part of a person. When they are connected TO that person, they are valued (some more than others). Once they are left in a pile somewhere, they are still energetically a part of that person, but lose a great deal of their value.
It is their connection to the person that gives them value. Similarly, our value is as part of the Absolute. The value of the manifest reality is as part of the Absolute. It's like the idea of a zero's. You can have a whole lot of zeros (and NO "E." I'm not talking about you here!), but without a "1" in front of them, they still add up to nothing.

Most of today's so-called spirituality is an attempt to 'spiritualize' the material, in large part to rationalize the cripping independence, individuality, selfishness, and narcissism that has become the mainstay of today's "Spiritual, but not religious" norm. (Something like 80% of Americans classify themselves in this category [don't quote me on that]. Many even are the 20 million Americans who 'practice' yoga, not realizing that yoga means the same thing as religion:
Yoga = to yoke, to re-connect Re-ligion = to re-lig (like ligament), to re-connect.

While it is true that the Absolute IS IMpersonal, it is also true that the Absolute is Personal. The Absolute is Infinite, ALL inclusive, One without a second, beyond all ideas of personal vs. impersonal. As is so often the case, following our mind's demands and whims, we have scurried away from one extreme to the other. We have fled the personal to the strictly impersonal; we have run from God to God-less, and yes, when you have God-less, it equates to something that most people would not characterize themselves as - Atheists. While wanting to escape the dogmatism and close-mindedness that so often is a part of traditional beliefs, we have tossed the baby of God, out with the bathwater of 'religion'. And we are hurting because of it. Everything personal has fallen to the wayside - including family, community, a sense of belonging, someone or something to look up to. In spite of our hubris and thinking we are ALL that is, we inherently know it not to be true. The Absolute is ALL there is, and we, as individuals are a part of that ALL, but unless there is a complete eradication of any and all individuality (something I have NEVER seen in anyone), there will continue to be a distinction of the limited with the unlimited. If the wave has no ocean to look toward, it is a mighty tiny thing, poor and lacking in any real power. There is certainly little place for Love, or at least the immensity of it that is carried by the entirety of the Ocean.

Sri Ramakrishna, the 19th century saint, said it this way, "Why does a vijnani (fully enlightened person) keep an attitude of love toward God? The answer is that the 'I-consciousness' persists. It disappears in the state of samadhi, no doubt, but it comes back. In the case of ordinary people the 'I' never disappears. You may cut down the ashwattha tree, but the next day sprouts shoot up." In other words, even those like Ramana and Ramakrishna had a deeply devotional aspect. Buddha never said there wasn't a God, it just wasn't the point he was making. He was simply saying that suffering is due to desire, and by cutting out desire there's no more suffering. God, no God, not part of that basic equation. But as Ramakrishna points out, when not directly in samadhi (simplistic terms - totally focused on and in the Absolute) the tendency of the "I-am" is to focus on something else, generally something not spiritual and, well, stupid! I mean after all, you can decorate old hair and nails and piss and shit and all that and make it real pretty-like, but it's still SHIT. You can make the prison house or the loony bin gorgeous, but it's still a cage.

I know, I know, it's totally spiritually incorrect to talk like this. I'm supposed to see the bright and beautiful and .... But my spiritual master said, "Unless we have a pessimistic view of this material life, considering the distresses of birth, death, old age and disease, there is no impetus for making advancement in spiritual life." In other words, we land in India, go "Cool" and go back to Western "Civilization".

[ What do you think of western civilization, Mr. Gandhi? "I think it would be a good idea!"]

Where are We and What's Going On?

2009-01-29T18:26:00.000-08:00

I want to tell you a little story, or go down a little "What-if" journey....

We'll start by saying - What if you were born in a particular place and it is the same place that your parents and their parents and THEIR parents and...well you get the picture... where everybody was born. And what if this place was, oh, say a prison or a looney bin. But you wouldn't know it as you were born there, as were your parents and everyone else. In fact, there would be virtually no one you knew that could tell you what it truly was. Oh sure, occassionally some whack-job would say it was a prison or nut-house, but, we, of course, following the politically/spiritually/culturally correct dictums knew way better. This was OUR world and it was a great place and we would make it better and sweller in every way, and we would be happy (all evidence to the contrary put aside).

And so, we go about our lives, convinced by a few of the elders in this place, that we could, in fact, create a beautiful and happy reality here.

All right, let's look at it in another way. Imagine a regular prison or mental institute. Within that facility, the people are going to do everything they can to make it a wonderful place to be. They may even be able to fill it with love and beauty, treating others with compassion, and in every way it could be a virtual paradise based on their own way of being there and how they are treated and treat others. But ITS STILL A PRISON. As wonderful as you make it, it remains, at best a gilded cage.

The difficulty is that people are not really willing to face the fact that they are in place designated for them by their level of consciousness, and the reality here is that the phenomenal world is based on those who want to be separate from the Absolute. It is the premise of this place, and that the idea is to find "Mukti" or freedom - freedom from the very constructs which bind them into it. Now, within a prison, you might TRY to play nice, and pretend to be outside the prison, but only very specific changes in being and regulatory guidelines will actually get you out of the prison (or looney bin). You CAN'T fake it.

Everyone here....EVERYONE... all the teachers and spiritual personalities and political leaders and new age guides... they are all directed by these guidelines to some extent or another. Some are aware of it. Most are not. They teach because it makes them money, or makes them more powerful within the framework that is there, and in part from compassion. At any given time, there may be 1 or 2 truly free individuals, lots of well meaning ones, and a huge amount of phonies. I'm not trying to be negative here. Only Truthful.

Where are we? What it would it look like to TRULY be free in every conceivable way. What is your feeling about death, for instance? Most people are afraid of death, because they truly are attached to this apparent reality. But it's like someone who is afraid to wake up because they are attached to their dream. This world is simply another dream. There are infinite dreams, one within another within another in an Infinity of Potentiality. But we are so attached to this dream that we are unsure and afraid of any other. We can't imagine someone actually wanting to get OUT of this dream. (Don't worry, I'm not doing anything weird... I'm just saying, to me, it's just a room and I'm looking forward to seeing what's outside of it.)

But without some kind of inquiry into what You are, who You are, and what the Universe truly is, you remain locked, not only in the room itself, but the concepts about the room. And inquiry doesn't mean learning mentally about the various new age or spiritual ideas about what's going on, but literally exploring it yourself. Most people want to hold onto cool spiritual ideas AND continue to live in their normal way. IT IS NOT POSSIBLE. This is why when you see those who are truly saintly, truly mystical, rarely do their lifestyles look anything like yours. Most of them you probably have never even heard about. Yes, they still live in caves or forests as far from this so called civilization as possible.

Now, I will grant that there are a lot of positive, apparently evolutionary changes taking place in the world, and more people seem to be waking up (mentally) to the illusions, but that's still a far cry from being the living, breathing embodiment of Truth. Just to be clear, I do not claim to be either. However, I have spent more than 30 years exploring it intensely, and have been blessed with much grace. But it is a willingness to possibly look at things that you may not want to look at; to let go of things you may not want to let go of; to investigate things in a different way. Many of these things may go against those cultural and spiritual and political correctnesses. Fuck Em! What's important to you? Truth or looking good? Truth or comfort? Truth or fitting in? Truth or LIFE?

Being Quietness

2008-12-29T15:20:00.000-08:00

Resting in quietness. So little to do or say.
The winter calls into deep chasms of peace,
With no regard for the rest.
Nothing to seek
Nothing to attain to
Nothing even to Be
Absolute Presence
Absolute Absence

Unborn
Eternally Unborn

New Name - Same Story

2008-11-24T15:16:00.000-08:00

As you can probably see, we've changed the name from Atma Enlightenment Blog to The Freedom Blog. The reasons for this are several:

1. To far too many people, the term enlightenment has too much charge or meaning associated with it. In India, the term is referred to as mukti or moksha, which literally mean to be free, released... i.e. freedom.
2. Enlightenment (or the concept of it) has an either/or quality to it - you are or you aren't, and while there is some truth to that, it is more involved than a simple dichotomy, and again goes back to that charge or association of the concept.
3. Freedom entails much more. The basic principle of freedom (or enlightenment) is letting go of ALL concepts, habitual patterns, beliefs, etc. and that includes those associated with living in the world via body, mind, intellect, and so forth.

Enlightenment, in concept, generally means a non-dual REALization, a true recognition that there is only ONE thing going on here. By it's nature, the belief in enlightenment, often includes a kind of escapism which means transcend the body/mind stuff permanently, as opposed to seeing the all-one nature of it all. Recently I've been meditating on the Yin/Yang sign (not literally) and the Reality it represents - One thing which is so obvious, and yet is obviously also apparently two things. Consciousness/Awareness is one thing in which everything arises - the you that is aware, the things in awareness and the being aware. Where is the division between those things? So what is happening in the world is just as important as the one that is aware. It's all a part of the One thing and it is all perfect. However, the recognition of the "wrong-ness" of what is going on is also perfect.

Right now, a lot is happening, and much of it is being tuned out. First, the general "powers that be" are tuning much of it out, since they don't want you to know about it, and secondly, our own tendency to fear change is also (and mostly) tuning it out. We desperately want to hold on to what we know. We desperately want to feel safe. We desperately want to protect our sense of individuality or ego. But what we are going through now is, in fact, glorious. It absolutely requires that we either let go of our old ways of thinking OR we suffer.

Let me give you an example. On the day of 9/11 when the twin towers came down, we watched the enitre thing on television. A couple hours later I had to drive my kids into town to go to school and the youngest (who was about 17 at the time) says, "What's the big deal? In two weeks everyone will have forgotten about this anyway!"

My response, of course, was to point out that this was a huge, virtually unprecedented event, and that, in many ways, life as we knew it would never be the same. The same is happening now. "Normal" is OVER!!! The collapse of Empire is happening. The economy is collapsing all over the world, unemployment is going up, foot shortages are beginning to happen all over the world, the environment is being destroyed, animals are being made extinct at an alarming rate, and on and on and on. What we can see is only the tip of the iceberg. (We live in the country and there's an old saying - If you see one mouse in your home, it means you have at least 50 living there.) If you can see any evidence of collapse, there is probably a hundred other things you're missing. The key point is not that it is good or bad, but rather, the inability to recognize it is the illusion. Our tendency to hold onto the old, or to try to maintain the old status quo is ridiculous. While it may not be totally obvious as yet, it will be increasingly clear as the next few weeks, months and years roll on. Much of it is the slow turning up of the heat (as in how to cook a frog), so it probably will not be as obvious as the twin towers, but certain things should be obvious - like the 700 billion dollar "bailout" that helps no one but the bankers. The possibility of the automotive bailout, etc. Think of it as the looters getting their last chance at every penny before it all falls apart.

The question is, do you do something to prepare, or do you just let it catch you by surprise when suddenly your job is gone, there's no money coming in, no one to give you food (already many of the food banks have virtually no food), you can't pay or car payments, your house payment, your power is in jeoparody of being shut off, and so forth. Many of these things are occurrences you can't just wish or will or hope out of existence. They will happen eventually. And our present 'civilization' is so based on a credit/monetary system that most people won't have a clue what to do.

The big upside here is that the circumstances are giving us a huge opportunity to let go of ego. It allows us to recognize the beliefs about ourselves and society that are just not true. It forces us to either go into resistance or to let go of our wrong assumptions of what is and see/recognize reality - to honestly question how much we can depend on things remaining the same and our resistance to change.

So, those are some of the reasons for the name change. Freedom entails letting go of all concepts and moving into pure awareness, and it requires examining and releasing all of our old beliefs. Not easy to do.

Imagine that you are a goldfish born in a fish tank. You live relatively freely in this tank, swimming, eating, loving, doing all those fish things, but every once in a while, you run into the glass. Now, in many ways, everything seems normal, but there is just this weird feeling that 'something' is not quite 'right'. You can't put your finger (or fin) on it, because this is what you were born into. That glass has always been there, and your life revolves around the other stuff that you're doing that seems way more important than worrying about the glass (which you can't even see - just sense, sort of). But inherently, there is a recognition that real freedom would mean being in the vast lakes, rivers or oceans, not in a one foot by two foot glass box. (This is, in part, why the movie The Matrix was so profound.)

Similarly, we have been born into this western civilization and unfortunately, the younger you are, the less you generally recognize how bad it has gotten - like the glass is getting thicker and the walls are getting closer. But you just assume that all will continue to be fine and dandy. This is called illusion. So freedom is about seeing through all the illusions. In some cases, depending on the individual personality, that will mean trying to escape; for others, breaking the glass; for others - simply surrendering to what is happening, recognizing that it probably means a "pre-mature" death. There is ultimately no right or wrong in that, but there is a benefit in not being blind to the truth of the situation.

Speaking of the sitution - I would like to point you toward a wonderful blog I read by Carolyn Baker. She has a wonderful website called "Speaking Truth to Power" and this particular blog is called "Abdicating the 'A' word - Frantically Fighting for the Familiar". It is somewhat long, but I highly encourage you to read it!

http://carolynbaker.net/site/content/view/853/1/

Take care - Aja

How Do We Live

2008-11-15T15:18:00.000-08:00

"The truth will set you free. But first, it will piss you off. "
Gloria Steinem

Since the last email/blog I have received quite a lot of responses. - in fact, probably the most responses I've ever received. And rather than being negative, or people asking to be taken off the list (only received 1 of those), people were very supportive. If anything, I felt that people were and are angry, confused, or feeling hopeless, but in many cases, perhaps felt badly about that anger, and wondered what benefit it had, and what they could do. So first, I'd like to reprint something which just came in my mail in the most recent issue of LA Yoga Magazine, Andrew Harvey (author of The Divine Feminine, Teachings of Rumi, etc.) said in an interview:
"The patriarchal mystical systems have demonized anger, because they are terrified of the potential deranging force that it can unleash. But they're also terrified of the ways in which outrage can lead to a fundamental readjustment of society. At this core, the demonization of anger is a refusal of the transformational powers of the dark feminine since true holy outrage can unleash in a way that restores balance and transforms society.

"If you aren't angry at how the environment is being destroyed and how we're beging governed by corrupt gangsters, how the corporations have no controls on their greed-inspired actions, if you aren't angry at the fact that billions of people are living on less than $1 a day, you aren't human. If your anger masters you and drives you into hatred, you aren't human either. What is needed is what the Tantric feminine mysttical traditions give us, and which Jesus exemplifies: a way of using the energy of outrage, transmuting it by dedicating it to the divine for purification into fierce compassionate energy that sustains constant action."

So, first of all, it's not the anger that is bad. Many people (particularly of the neo-advaita and new age persuasion) hold this view and want everything to be loving and light, but it generally comes off superficial, and is an excuse to close their eyes to the suffering and the pain and pretend everything is going to be all right. It will not be all right if people don't do anything about it.

Now, what CAN be done? I can ONLY offer the thoughts and ideas that arise or come across this personality (obviously) but I will share what I can, and would encourage you to share as well. First, I promised a number of people that I would mention a book I've come across - Depletion and Abundance by Sharon Astyk. She also has a website (or two), one of which is www.sharonastyk.com. The basic premise of her book is based on the concept of peak oil and probably collapse of civilization and what can be done to prepare for that. In her case, her husband and small children moved to land and started working toward self sufficiency. While including statistical data and laying out very clearly some of the obvious problems and the extent of those problems, she offers very positive solutions on how to change one's life, primarily with the idea of beginning to lower one's impact and reducing one's footprint by the required 90% necessary for sustainability in 7 different areas such as food, energy, garbage, etc. Although many people may feel that she is going to far, I don't feel that she goes far enough, which means that many of you may find some of her suggestions about right. Plus she is speaking as a woman and mother, which makes her voice and perspective somewhat unique from the usual collapse of civilization viewpoints. In any case, I highly recommend the book and her website. (Many of the comments to her blog by readers are just as valuable as her writings.)

Why don't I feel that it goes far enough? Perhaps it's simply that I'm crazy. But, it occurred to me the other day that one of our biggest problems is money, the almighty dollar. I remember when I was a youth, in our philosophical musings, one person would point out to another that "Money is the root of all evil," at which point someone else would correct them to the real quote which is "Love of money is the root of all evil." I realized it had been years and years since I heard anyone say that. Why? Because our cilization now IS money. That's virtually all it is. How to make more, why are we losing so much, the economic problems, buy this, save that, advertising and marketing so ubiquitous in our lives, on television, radio, and, yes, the internet, that we can't help but simply accept it. But money is an artificiality. It's not real, it's not needed. Oh yes, in THIS civilization it is virtually imperative. But it is NOT one of the requirements for life, for happy life, for peaceful a peaceful life. In fact, if anything it does the exact opposite.

I have my own trinity of what is needed - Community, Simplicity and Spirituality (of course, food, water, shelter is a given). Our culture has deified money to the extreme. The other day I googled "Cashless society" thinking I would get 'hits' on a world without money. Instead, I got websites about the pros and cons of a civilization based on plastic money and credit only - i.e. the elimination of any kind of hold in your hand dollars and cents. Stupid me. Politically and economically this is the next stage. I already know plenty of people who never carry money, and commercials poo-poo the idea of it, showing how plastic is so much better. Believe it or not (I almost crapped my pants), there is a new version of the game Monopoly in which there is no money, but only an ATM/bank machine and each player has a platic credit card.

Although paper money isn't worth much either, particularly since it came off the gold standard, when civilization collapses, the paper will at least be of benefit for perhaps bathroom tasks. What we need is to recognize the real essentials and create those in our life. Anyone who is looking with untarnished eyes sees that this current way of living is in NO WAY sustainable. It's like the old pyramid scheme. Somebody always gets screwed in the end. We all want to live at the highest material standard, and hope that for others as well. It is an impossibility. It cannot happen, no matter how much wishing you do. And to try to live at that standard is to deny others the possibility of living AT ALL. For the entire world to live at the so-called standards of western civilization would require four more planets just like Earth. Anyone got one or two hanging around?

A number of people and movements have been exploring total moratoriums on buying anything new (other than food). I think this is an excellent start. (This all falls under the category of Simplicity). There are many books on voluntary simplicity, and groups involved in this. Research those. Before you buy anything, ask yourself, WHY? What is the difference between need and want. And don't let anyone tell you that you have 'Poverty Consciousness'. Poverty or abundance has NOTHING to do with money or things! It has to do with quality of life, and a life based on owning a bunch of crap or on 'retail therapy' is not quality. A quality life comes primarily from 'community' and 'spirituality'. These are huge topics themselves, so I won't go into any detail here, but suffice it to say that community is that sense of belonging, being a part of a group, a tribe, a family. This society advocates strong individuality, meaning, go it alone. What you end up with is a lot of individuals who are miserable and suicideal. Do what you can to find, create, be part of a community - other living, breathing humans - not an online community (though that's better than nothing). And spirituality is another HUGE category and will look different for different people. It might be as simply as the asking of some philosophical questions, pondering the nature of the Universe and the Self. It may mean studying various religious texts, or spirituality may mean something as simple as the word implies (coming from the root 'spire' to breathe, and point you toward the quiet act of meditating on the in and out-going breath.

I encourage your thoughts on these matters, (yes, both positive and negative), your comments and realizations. Remember:

"Thou shalt not be a victim. Thou shalt not be a perpetrator.

And above all, that shalt not be a bystander."
(Inscription on the holocaust museum in Washington, D.C.)

With Love,
Aja

What is Really Going On!

2008-10-30T12:20:00.000-07:00

"To think deeply in our culture is to grow angry and to anger others;
ad if you cannot tolerate this anger, you are wasting the time you
spend thinking deeply. One of the rewards of deep thought is the hot
glow of anger at discovering a wrong, but if anger is taboo, thought
will starve to death."
Jules Henry

I recently found the above quote in the book, Walking on Water by
Derrick Jensen. If you don't know about him, you should. There are a
number of Youtubes, and he has quite a few books out. The only one
I've read is the above, but I'm enjoying it. What is Derrick Jensen
about? The end of civilization. Me too! Not too long ago, a friend
said he looked down on the city and said to himself, "This isn't
going anywhere." But I disagree. See this link as proof:

http://survivalacres.com/wordpress/?p=716

The Link mentions how they burried a car 50 years ago and would go to
whoever could guess (back then) how many people would be living in
Tulsa in the present time. When they dug it up, the car, well sealed,
was a bucket of rust.

I've been receiving phone calls and emails (many of which I'm afraid
I have either ignored or not gotten around to answering) asking if
I'm okay, still alive, etc. The answer is yes, but I admittedly have
been rather reclusive for a number of reasons.

1. There is a lot happening at Barnashram that is very positive -
farming, community, family, food, HUMANITY. On the other hand, when I
leave Barnashram, I see only the semblance of humanity, the shreds
and what is left of what was left of humanity. People are in deep
illusion and prius's, yoga, and Obama are not going to fix
it. Reread the quote above. This could be my motto and vision
statement. Henry Ford once wrote that, "Thinking is one of the
hardest things there is to do which is why so few people do it." It
wasn't meant as a joke. Most people no longer know how to think. They
are fed every form of crap and told that it is normal, that it is
evolution, that it is fine, or just to love it. This is crap. You
should be angry at what is happening in the world. If you're not
angry, you are either in denial or just totally ignorant of the truth
of what is happening. The planet is dying. Humanity is dying. The
waters, airs, ground, ethers are all polluted by "Humankind".

Some 2,500 years ago, Plato wrote

"Is not the whole of human life turned upside down; and are we not
doing, as would appear, in everything the opposite of what we ought
to be doing?"

I was amazed to see this as the last thing in a book I recently read
by Marty Glass entitled Yuga. Surprisingly, as some of you know,
I've been saying for years that if you could create Utopia, turn it
180 degrees around, you'd have present day civilization. Plato saw
the same thing two millennia ago, and look how far we've digressed from then.

One of the things I like about Derrick Jensen is that is says... I'm
angry and I'm in despair, and I'm full of hate, but I also love life
and am full of joy, and happiness, and love. Too many people now
assume that to hate is to deny love and light. It's not an either/or
situation. Love & hate go together...Yin/Yang... Shiva/Shakti....It's
all one. The "spiritual" and the "material" are one vast thing. If
you watched as your lover or child or even your pet was cruelly
treated, starved, or raped, you'd scream bloody murder. This planet,
wisdom, intelligence, humility, simplicity, togetherness, family,
etc. are being continually beaten, strangled, raped, and yet no one
says a thing. Get ANGRY! Having lived through the 60's I can attest
to a statement I recently heard from (I believe it was) Naomi
Wolf) If what is happening now was happening 40 years ago, there
would be millions marching on Washington. Now no one does anything.

Admittedly, I am not doing much either, however, gradually, my
children are creating a wonderful place for us with food, shelter,
community and simplicity at Barnashram. They recognize the problem
and they are doing something about it, at least for themselves and
their loved ones. I also understand that these days, if you know
what's happening, it is scary to act. They don't just arrest you or
look down on you, it is totally conceivable that you can just
disappear - locked up and the key thrown away. These thing ARE happening.

I would encourage people to use this strange thing called the
Internet to really find out what is happening in the world. Find out
the truth about the so-called 2 party political system, economics,
who is truly running the world, and why a vote for anyone is
virtually worthless. Find out how many species a day are being
extinguished for us, for our oil, our corn for "bio-fuel" and mostly
for the 9 billion animals we kill annually in the US for "food".
Investigate how heartless we have become - and heartless is not
'being angry' but rather NOT being angry about the injustices and
inhumanness that is happening. Begin to really open your hearts and
FEEL the pain. Don't try to keep it out with 'yummy' things that make
you feel good.

Okay, my computer is about out of juice, so I gotta go. If you're
interested, email me, if not, feel free to take your name off the
list (I'm sure many of you will anyway - it's fine). But I ask you to
think about these things. Compassion and Empathy mean to FEEL these
things that are going on. Experience your emotions fully. They are
all good and instructive, and if you're not getting angry, let me
know why. Or perhaps you're angry at ME for writing this. That's a
good start. Why are you angry with me? Because I destroy your
illusions? I put a spot of darkness on your otherwise velvety white
cloak of love and light?

Well, I do love you, and that is why I write these things. The one
great thing about the internet is that it does allow us to
communicate. So let's do that.

Looking forward to hearing from you...

Believe it or not... With Infinite Love & Peace,
Aja

Touch Starved

2008-09-14T16:35:00.000-07:00

What DOES it mean to be human? Virtually everything that you have learned is wrong. It is NOT your fault. The problem is, nearly everything you learn has somebody's agenda behind it, very often the obvious ones of making money, etc., but very often hidden. This is why our western society is so very sick. We are taught about political, social, cultural, gender, and religious correctnesses. We are NOT taught about HUMAN correctness. We are told we should follow the laws of the government, but not the universal laws. We are told we should follow the "correct-ness" laws, but not the human laws. We believe we can make up the human laws. We can not!

The largest organ of the body is the skin. In a grown man, it covers about 19 square feet and weighs about 8 pounds. A piece of skin the size of a quarter contains more than 3 million cells, 100 to 340 sweat glands, 50 nerve endings and 3 feet of blood vessels. Many people are aware of research done with monkeys not allowed to be with their mothers and how totally insane they went. And yet, we seem to think we can get along fine without nurturing touch. Oh sure, we give the obligatory "hello and good-bye hug" (sometimes), but that's not enough.

Many people say, "Well, I'm not a 'touchy-feely' kind of person. Imagine you saw someone with a blindfold on and ear plugs in their ears. When you inquire, they say, "Oh, I'm not a 'see-ey, hear-y' type of person." Would you think, "Hmm, interesting", or would you think, "Now there's one sick S.O.B."?   Or they had tape over their nose and mouth and said, "I'm not a breath-y, eat-y type of person." You'd know they were going to die soon.

"Touch belongs to the universal law of life and we are a touch deprived society. We must not be afraid." Eva Sherer

There are generally Two kinds of cultures classified as High Touch and Low Touch. Countries like France, Italy, and Greece are High Touch; New Zealand, Australia, Britain, and, yes, the U.S.A are Low Touch. What's the difference. Well check this out.

One study showed a stark contrast between cultures by noting the number of touches exchanged by pairs of people sitting in coffee shops around the world:

In San Juan, Puerto Rico, people touched 180 times an hour;
in Paris, France, 110 times an hour;
in Gainesville, Florida, 2 times per hour; and
in London, England, they never touched.

On a pre-school playground watching children they found

Affectionate Touching -         Paris - 23% of the time

        Miami - 3% of the time

Aggressive Touching             Paris - 1% of the time

Miami - 37% of the time

Now, who invaded Iraq? Was it France or was it the US and Britain?

We have also made touch practically evil. If you touch an associate at work or another student at school, it is sexual harassment. If you touch a child, you are probably a pedophile. If you touch someone of the same sex, you are a homosexual (not that there's anything wrong with that); if you touch anyone, you are a 'touchy-feely' type of person. I have news for you. WE ARE ALL TOUCHY FEELY TYPES OF PEOPLE - at least we should be. But we have made it "inappropriate" to touch anyone. Some parents are even AFRAID to touch their own children, as it could be construed somehow as inappropriate touching.

Those places with the lowest touch scores are, not coincidentally, also the places with the highest incidents of SUICIDE AND DEPRESSION. Half of our adult population are on anti-depressants. More than a million people a year commit suicide in the world. You know, in spite of my "Would you push the button" blog, I don't want you dead, but there are people in power who do. They purposefully create ideas like 'don't touch' and 'watch out for pedophiles and sexual harassment in order to isolate you, depress you, and get you on drugs and/or to kill yourself. They want you sick and dying! They don't want you to be alive and awake. They want you to see a lot of killing in movies but not a glimpse of a breast or buttocks. They want you to talk on cell phones and communicate via computer, but not to sit with a friend, look deeply into their eyes, hold their hands, hug them or cuddle up.

Our bodies NEED touch like our stomachs need food. We need all kinds of nourishment consistently and regularly food, sleep, sunshine, and TOUCH. It doesn't require a 'partner' or lover. We are all part of the human family. We all need touch to survive and be healthy.

So, "Reach out and touch someone!"

More on the Box Game

2008-09-12T16:49:00.000-07:00

Greetings once again...

In the last blog (which you should read before this one) we talked about the Box Game. YOU (consciousness) enters into the 'Box', also known as 'you' (the body, mind, memories, concepts, etc.), which it then identifies with. However, strictly on the material level, it continues even further - just to give you a clue of how little you probably understand of who or what you are.

So it looks like this (sort of)

YOU - the Absolute
you (Box) - the person-hood, per-sona, actor, fiction within the material world
and the new one (note the quotes)
"you"

This last entity "you" neither YOU nor you are probably even aware of. "You" is the corporate entity that is functioning within the governmental society. It is the one which has a social security number, a drivers license, votes, makes $$$, pays taxes, etc. You can generally tell when 'you' receives mail because instead of being addressed to Joe P. Citizen, it will be addressed to JOE P. CITIZEN (all caps).

Now, I'm not presenting this just to give you an idea of the government conspiracies (although you would certainly be wise to explore that as well), but because it may give you a clue as to how you can think you are one thing when you are entirely something else. The "you" is a part of the corporate entity. In fact, it is a franchise the larger corporate entity. It is a Strawman, a phony, a fraud. It has been created through various laws and statutes as a corporate front for you (which is a material front for YOU). This is why many people recognize (and there are millions of them in the u.S.A. which now recognize you do NOT need to pay taxes, have a drivers license, etc., and also why your vote for president is ABSOLUTELY meaningless. - (They decide who is elected, not the so-called 'people'.) It was created through various amendments to the constitution, way back when, the 13th, 14th, and 15th, as I recall. These essentially take away your constitutional Rights (Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness), and give the strawman privleges which mimic their Sovereign Rights.

Okay, okay, I know, too much, and way too depressing. It's way too much fun to talk about Obama, and Palin, and all and how we are going to end the War and all of that. "You" have no control over that, just as you have no control over most of the things you think you have control over. (All these you's are a bit confusing huh?)

Okay.....

YOU - The Sovereign Spiritual Self Absolute
has become identified with...

you - The temporary per-sona that is the BOX which has a name, life, thoughts, body, memories, etc., and which is also now confusing itself with a further illusion called...

"you" - A c0mpletely fictitious paper entity which is (unlike You or YOU) completely controlled and ruled by corporate laws or statutes (also known as Admiralty Law - at present virtually the only laws being applied).

If you are confused about all of this, let me point out another possible way of seeing it in hierarchial form in the way of Venues. Most of you have probably heard the term, a legal term referring to who has jurisdiction at any given time.

So right now, suppose you are living in Portland, Oregon. You are living within a variety of venues: The City of Portland; The County of Multnomah, The State of Oregon, and The Federal Venue. Each of these has specific laws. (This is why, although medical marijuana is legal in Oregon, the Feds and still Bust your Ass!)

It is very much like the idea of multiple universes. YOU are living in many universes simultaneously - YOU, you, and "you". So how many others are you unaware of?

Werner Erhard pointed out that there are many things that you know, and many things that you don't know. The sad thing is there are things that you don't know that you don't know, and even worse, that you don't care.

Truth is about finding these things out - exploring beyond the 'obvious'; questioning reality, Reality, authority, concepts, beliefs. If you are living a 'normal' everyday kind of existence, then a HUGE percentage of what you think to be true is garbage. Perhaps a fun game, but garbage nonetheless.

The Game

2008-09-05T17:35:00.001-07:00

Okay... Let's play a game. First, a few terms and ground rules, or something:
------------------
Terms:

you (or You if beginning a sentence) - That which most people think they are, i.e. their body, their mind, their emotions, the whole Per-Sona or personality thing.

YOU (still YOU if beginning a sentence) - That which is observing the above.... Awareness, Consciousness, Self, the Seer, the Witness, Atman, etc.

Box - Basically another term for 'you' (see above terms), and/or for any of the other personalities out there.
------------------------------
Rules:
There may not be any rules. You have to decide. You see, this is the question which has been perplexing thinkers (and completely over the head of non-thinkers) for millenia.

Okay, so it looks something like this: There is a box, in fact, countless billions of boxes. They are all part of the game, and in the game - they ARE the game. Awareness, (YOU) then drops into these boxes and pretends to be that box (much like you might decide to be the shoe, the puppy, the racecar, etc. in Monopoly). However, YOU are NOT the box. YOU are only playing on being the box. However, as in anything, there is a certain attachment and/or identification with that box. In the game, due to over-strong identification with the box, you (the box) wants to improve the box, to lord it over other boxes, perhaps play fairly with other boxes, maybe love another box, bungee jump as your box, watch TV as your box, enslave other boxes, free other boxes, follow a particular Messiah Box (Jesus Box, Buddha Box, Jack in the Box), reward yourself for doing that well, punish yourself for not doing it well, become a really BUFF box, an extremely intelligent box, collect more houses and hotels on Boardwalk box....hopefully by now, you get the picture.

Now, the boxes, by nature, will tend to get into box clusters - by age, by belief, by political, spiritual, or gender correctness, and then, generally go to battle the other box clusters - either with soothing words (if they deem themselves morally or politically correct), with less soothing words, by bad mouthing each other, with sticks and stones, or ultimately with wide-scale destructive weapons. Very often, each box cluster will elect a box leader, or a stronger box leader will take command (either through force of power or force of persuasion of one sort or another).

Along the way, the boxes will be involved in a wide variety of experiences (or as Juno would say - "Shenanigans") and ultimately, for them, the game is over and the box deteriorates. While identifying with the box, there appears to be NOTHING more important than that partiular box (and in some cases others in their box cluster - although that is becoming MUCH less so - mostly, it's only about MY box...screw all the other boxes...or in extreme narcissism, "There are no other boxes!")

The point of the game: To play the game. In the end, the box goes away in nearly ALL recorded cases for thousands and thousands and thousands of years. A particular box is not going to really achieve anything. Oh sure, a few will be remembered for a few years or even a few centuries, on one little planet, in the vast history of time. So, the point, on one level is pointless. However, which would you rather do. Sit on your ass (like me most of the time), or get out there and DO something - do some damage, have some fun, make love to lots of people, be known for saving other boxes or other boxes' souls, or feeding boxes, or ...

Or, look for higher experiences, mystical "out of box" experiences, see boxes on other planes of existence, or even to recognize YOU, i.e. that which perceives the box, in which case, you may not have to come back and play the box game anymore.

Possibly, VERY possibly, you don't have ANY choice. YOU've come down into this particular box, and it has a particular shape and perhaps a destiny, an ultimate outcome over which you have no control. Even the apparent decision making, choice thing, is part of That box's pre-destined destiny. How can you know?

But, the bottom line here is that YOU are not the you box. YOU are what is apparently identified with the box, and thus with the game. When you play the game, there are certain rules which are outside of your control (if you have ANY) and certainly out of your jurisdiction. So, certain activites performed by the box result in a happy box, some in an unhappy box, some in a sadistic box, some in a loving box, and so on. But, the unhappiness, the suffering, is bound to come up AS LONG AS YOU identify as being you (or the box). Only the actual recognition that you are innately not the box, outside of the box, beyond the box, prior to the box, can you have some semblance of peace and freedom from the sufferings of the box, and, coincidentally to actually know what is TRUE. All aspects of the Game or just the Game - they are untrue by nature - temporary, illusory, small and insignificant in the GRAND scale of things, etc.

IT IS FINE TO PLAY THE GAME!
IT IS ALSO FINE TO SEE THROUGH THE GAME AND SEEK TRUTH!
YOU WILL PROBABLY BE CALLED TO DO ONE OR THE OTHER - OUTSIDE OF your CHOICE.
Seeing through the game, ultmately, is the smarter thing to do (at least that's what everybody in my box cluster tells me).

Good luck with the game. I hope your side wins.

Buzzkill Baba asks, "Would You Push THE Button?"

2008-08-29T16:34:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure where this came from, but recently I, or someone has been referring to me as Buzzkill Baba. Actually, it seems quite appropriate, since my motto is "Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable." Of course, nearly everyone these days, whether they will admit it or not, is afflicted, or comfortably afflicted or afflicted comfortably or... Nonetheless, as long as I can remember, there has been a tendency to zig where others zag. So, as it is common these days to try to paint a bright face on the darkness that rages, my tendency is to paint it darker, as dark as possible, and still, probably it is lighter than the reality. The bottom line - people don't want to see the truth, or as Edward R. Murrows said, " Most truths are so naked that people feel sorry for them and cover them up, at least a little bit."

Perhaps I am just masochistic. Or perhaps, I really enjoy the Truth. But either way, on to the question...

"Would you push THE button?"
What is the button? Well, Mckenna addresses this point in some of his 'extra' online materials, but relates it only to Switzerland. If you had a button in front of you, and with one push you could immediately extinguish all of humanity, would you? It would be instantaneous, painless, and would be as if suddenly all humans and human 'stuff' suddenly disappeared....ZAP! This, of course, would include YOU. Consider it a Thought Experiment. Would you do it? Consider the ramifications and consequences. Imagine the thousands upon thousands upon THOUSANDS of species that wouldl instantaneously be saved. Think of the billions upon billions of animal lives that would be saved. Think of the planet flourishing, like the Garden of Eden. Would you do it? Hmmmmm?!!?

If you would do it...why? If you wouldn't do it...why not?

Who would be pushing or not pushing the button?

(Remember, if you did it, you certainly wouldn't regret it the next moment, would you? Could you?)

Perhaps this is why we don't have access to this button. Too many of us would be fighting at the chance to slam our hands down on that puppy.

The Ultimate Blog

2008-08-28T18:09:00.000-07:00

Okay, maybe not the "Ultimate" Blog, but pretty damn close! I've been saving these for something, a book, or part of a book, or some special occasion. Well, it's Wednesday...no Thursday. That's special enough. It's NOW!

Everyone is familiar with the question, "Who Am I?" The purpose of this question is not to answer it from a logical, mental position, but that it directs you and guides you, ultimately, to what is BEYOND, 'who' you are, more to what you might say is, WHAT you Truly are, prior to all words, concepts, beliefs, or even EX-perience - the the Pure Subjective Recognition of Self.

Well, over the years, we formulated a whole bunch of similar questions. We did this for several reasons: One, some people have problems with the 'who'. Second, utilizing other questions helps see it in a different perspective and some other question may 'resonate' better. Third, for the fun of it.

First, some understanding of the 'process'. The idea is not to answer any of these questions logically, but more like to BE the question. Contemplate what it is asking. Also, either expressed or implied in each question is the phrase "Direct Experience Of" (sometimes shortened to simply DEO). The direct experience of means "what is it like to BE that". In other words, if I were to ask you "What is the direct experience of an orange?" I'm not asking you what it looks like, tastes like or feels like, but what would the direct experience be of BEING an ORANGE. Because each of these questions points, theoretially, to something you already ARE, simply reccognize that, cognize that, rest or abide in that, and see what comes up.

We used these questions in a dyadic format, i.e. one person would ask that other the question, and the 2nd person would contemplate it, see what comes up and communicate it. You can also do it on paper. Consider a question, meditate on it and write what comes up. Non-stop writing for 5, 10, 20 or whatever minutes works best for that. Also, it is best to find one question that you particularly resonate with and use that one only for some time (hours, days, weeks, months, years) consntantly until something clearly is Awakened, Realized, Recognized, etc.

Okay, so you ready. At this point, I have 47 questions, which I haven't really looed at for awhile. You may think of others, or think some don't qualify (it's possible). But try it....seriously...and see what you think:

1. Who am I?
2. What am I?
3. Where am I?
4. What size am I?
5. What is consciousness without an object?
6. What is the direct experience of God?
7. What is the direct experience of the world?
8. What is time?
9. What is space?
10. What is direct experience of emptiness?
11. What is no-mind?
12. What is infinite unity?
13. What is direct experience of oneness?
14. What is direct experience of infinite Self?
15. What is direct experience of Absolute Subjectivity?
16. What is direct experience of no language?
17. What arises as I?
18. What is direct experience of eternal acquiescence?
19. What is the direct experience of form and emptiness?
20. What is the direct experience of no limitations?
21. What is the direct experience of naked awareness?
22. Where do you end and the Absolute begin?
23. What is the direct experience of awareness?
24. What is the direct experience of love?
25. What is the direct experience of permanent dissolution?
26. What is the direct experience of eternal freedom?
27. What is the direct experience of eternal now?
28. What is the direct experience of unlimited hereness?
29. What is the direct experience of aliveness?
30. What is the direct experience of you that is nothing you are conscious of?
31. What is the direct experience of what is prior to I Am?
32. What is the direct experience of desirelessness?
33. What is the direct experience of namelessness?
34. What is the direct experience of being no person?
35. Who is the seeker?
36. What is the silence of God?
37. What is the source of consciousness?
38. What is within and without?
39. Where do you end and the world begins?
40. What is the direct experience of Being Peace?
41. What is the direct experience of One Undivided Essence?
42. What is Eternally Unborn?
43. What is the center of Infinite "I"?
44. What is the periphery of Infinite "I"?
45. What is the direct experience of Death?
46. What is the direct experience of the Chooser?
47. What is the direct experience of the Perfection of Now?

Okay... Ready, Set, GO!

An Icon is Dead

2008-08-07T18:40:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know, I haven't written much lately. And it's not because there is nothing to say, it is because there is way TOO MUCH to say, and, like looking at an overgrown garden, you sometimes just don't even know where to begin, so you don't begin at all.

But the recent death of Alexander Solzhenitsyn caused me to pause for a moment and just write. So here I am just writing. Why did his death cause a pause? Because much of his life was about "the lie" particularly the lie of government, but also our own lies. Take a few moments and google Solzhenitsyn and quotes. Read a few of the things he said.

“He wrote that while an ordinary man was obliged “not to participate in lies,” artists had greater responsibilities(:)
“It is within the power of writers and artists to do much more: to defeat the lie!””

Our world has turned upside down. We have taken our present day "civilization" as normal. It is NOT. It is far from normal. It is brutally and deeply sick. Socrates was famous for his line, "An unexamined life is not worth living." I think this goes no where near far enough. I would say that an unexamined life is sick, dangerous, and that one who does not deeply examine life in general, especially their own, is a waste of space, a burden on the world, and probably a far better food for the non-vegetarian than the millions of animals that they cruelly and brutally murder each day.

Examine the sounds around you this moment. What do you hear? At the moment, as I write this, I'm hearing some asshole rev up his car like he's in the Indianapolis 500. I'm hearing car sounds, and airplane sounds and 'pop' music and every other human artificially created sound. I am NOT hearing birds or creeks or frogs or the wind through the trees... I hear only the sounds of the human virus. Even over 100 years ago, Thoreau wrote, "Our life is frittered away be detail. Simplicty, simplicity, simplicity."

How much of your time is wasted working for a living to buy crap you don't need?

Solzhenitsyn also wrote: “It is not because the truth is too difficult to see that we make mistakes... we make mistakes because the easiest and most comfortable course for us is to seek insight where it accords with our emotions - especially selfish ones.”

So, while you may say that Aja is off on a rant again, I am happy to rant if it makes one individual stop and think, to make a choice. While many of the present day 'philosophers and spiritualists' are going around saying it's all perfect and there is no right or wrong, they are full of shit. There IS a right and a wrong. It may all be perfect, i.e. it is meant to be the way it is, but does that does NOT make it right. "It is all perfect" is simply an emotional excuse to not examine where you are fucking yourself or others up. It is a way of continuing your own lie...to NOT examine your own life. I'm not even talking spiritual principles here. I'm talking about being a basic human being - something of which I'm afraid there are very few. These things you see around you, perhaps even in your own mirror, are not humans, but some kind of weird sheeple.

For instance, today, while listening to the radio in the background, I heard an advertisement for "Doctors Say Yes", to get boob jobs. In other words, your credit is probably good enough that the doctors will say yes to you being able to afford breast augmentation surgery. Isn't that great! Radical stupidity is now more affordable.

Obviously, I am not free of faults. None of us are. After all, to err is human. WAY human. But, can we take pause to look at our errors, our humanness, and at least seek to minimize the damage? Like the food crisis. Sure, we barely notice it around here, but hopefully you are at least aware that there are wars and killings happening all around the world due to a shortage of food. And do you know why there is a shortage of food? Greed, yes! But two of the principle reasons are that the grains, corn, soy, etc. that could go to feed people, EASILY, are being used to produce ethanol for cars, and to feed animals so people can eat meat. All the word wants to emulate the Westerners. China and India especially are eating much more meat. So think of it this way: since it takes 6 to 14 pounds of grain to produce one pound of meat, for each pound of meat you eat, you are potentially murdering 6 to 14 people, as well as causing immense damage to the earth, as meat eating has now been found to be one of the leading causes of global warming. (Don't take my word for it; look it up.)

Defeat the Lie! Look. Examine. Don't just let life progress in the hellishness we call civilization. Question everything. Be willing to look at everything with the eyes of truth. It is not always fun, but as Swami Brahmananda (1863-1922) said, "You seek peace? To attain peace, one must be willing to pass through the contrary to peace. Such is the teaching of the sages."

In India, often on either side of the front entrance, there is a gargoyle like creature. It is said that those two creatures are helplessness and confusion. To get to peace, it is essential to pass through helplessness and confusion, and that is generally what happens when one is sincere in seeking peace. But, please, please, please, do not turn away because it is scary or uncomfortable. Go forward with courage and conviction. It is the only way to ultimately come to Truth.

Milk & Yogurt

2008-06-06T13:41:00.000-07:00

There is a wonderful analogy used in Brahma Samhita to describe the
difference between Vishnu and Shiva. However, I would like to steal
this analogy for a slightly different purpose: Shiva and Shakti.

Shiva is (for our purposes) the Absolute, the pre-coognitive Is-ness,
the Infinite Being. Shakti is that which arises from the Shiva - the
manifest, the relative, the objective. So, you might say they are the
"Spiritual" and the "Material" or the Absolute and Relative existence.

Shiva is pure unadulterated Milk;
Shakti is Yogurt.

What is the difference between milk and yogurt? In one sense,
nothing. Yogurt is nothing but milk, and yet milk to which a bacteria
has been added, which under fairly simple circumstances begins to
cultivate itself more and more. Still milk, but now cultivated, or
you might even say contaminated.

When people say that all is the Absolute, they are correct - All is
Milk. However, there is a culture in that milk, a bacteria, that
makes it milk and yet not milk. It is yogurt. Because yogurt is milk
and to a large extent looks like and feels like and tastes like milk,
it is easy to get confused, especially if you are continuously
experiencing yogurt and have never really tasted pure milk. For one
who knows the taste of pure milk, yogurt will NEVER pass as milk, no
matter how much others insist that it is all milk.

This culture or bacteria continues to feed on the sugars within the
milk until it is eventually all yogurt, and no one knows the
difference. This culture we now have is essentially all yogurt. No
one (or very very few) recognize that it has turned.

So what is this bacteria, this culture, that has entered into the
milk? It is the addition of Ego or a sense of individuation. It is
the beliefs and concepts which are held, the sense of "I" versus "not
I". It is the sense of separation.

There is a verse in the 2nd chapter of Gita which says, "What is
night for all beings, in that the disciplined one awakens. And that
in which all beings are awake, is night to the Self-seeing sage."
They see differently. They experience different things. Imagine that
we both look at what is agreed is a green tree, however, one of us is
color-blind but doesn't know it. One of us actually is seeing red,
not green, but all our lives we have been told that this is green. We
'know' that this tree is green, even though in reality, we are seeing
something else. No amount of argumentation is going to alter our
belief that we are seeing green, even though we have NEVER seen
green. And when the one who truly sees green tells us that we are
seeing something else, we balk, we laugh, we sneer. "How dare that
person tell me that I am not seeing green! I certainly know what
green looks like. I have seen green all my life!!" So, what stops us
from experiencing the truth of their statements? Ego, our own sense
of separation and self-importance. Our self-RIGHTeousness. We are
right, always, and because we are all equal, no one can tell me that
I might be wrong, or at least confused by my condition of color
blindness. And because we have no humility, and no real belief in a
higher power, we cannot be corrected. We will continue to go around
thinking that red is green, and wondering why we keep getting in
crashes when we go through 'green' lights.

So, how do you make yogurt back into milk. It is much harder than
going from milk to yogurt. In reality, I don't know if it is
possible. But for purposes of our story, I would say dilute the
yogurt with pure milk. Just keep adding more and more milk (pure
awareness, focused attention on the Absolute) until all the
self-sustaining and self-nurturing concepts and beliefs have been
diluted out. The more attention, the more focus, the more discipline
and dedication, the faster the process. Most want to add a cup of
milk, and say, "Hey, look, done!" But before you can blink, that wee
bit of milk has also been turned into yogurt.

Don't be fooled. Our society is turning all milk into yogurt, as fast
as it's dribbled in. And few can tell the difference. "It's all okay,
it's all milk!" Perhaps it is now all meant to become yogurt.
Perhaps tasting pure milk is meant to be a thing of the past, that
the culture of the future is the contaminated yogurt culture. But if
you ask anyone who has ever tasted pure milk, they would tend to
vociferously disagree. If you are convinced you are drinking milk,
perhaps you are right. Or perhaps you are simply not quite open
enough to consider you might, possibly, be confused or wrong. When so
many (nearly everyone) shares the affliction of confusing green and
red, who are you to trust? I mean, everyone agrees with you that
'this' is green. It's probably just fine. It's a tough situation, no
doubt. But what if? What if it isn't green at all. What if there is
an entirely different way of seeing it? Is the cost worth the Truth -
letting go of an entire lifetime of seeing things in a certain way?
Only you can answer that.

Good luck!

Father Knows Best OR What happened to God? OR Just What IS Enlightenment?

2008-05-29T17:12:00.001-07:00

I have often spoken of the necessity of community to foster a sense of belonging. Too often, those seeking Awakening are mired by their own sense of not-belonging and generally speaking, the traditions of Enlightenment have come through cultures that have had a strong sense of community or tribe or belonging on one level or another.

But I've recently realized something else that amazed me. Many people are looking for spirituality WITHOUT God. Not that it isn't possible, but it is, to a large extent, the norm these days. Understandably, God has a bad rap. People see God or at least the word 'God' as representing a more Judeo-Christian old judgmental man in the sky kind of thing. This is a concept, and the concept must be let go of, but that doesn't negate the Reality which it represents. You may let go of your issues with your father; break away from him as a parent figure; etc. but that doesn't mean he stops existing. Or another example, in Vedanta, they often talk about confusing a rope for a snake, meaning to confuse the material for the spiritual. You can recognize that the snake is an illusion, but that doesn't make the rope disappear as well.

You can say, "I surrender to What IS" but What IS is God, the creator, the source, the absolute, Brahman, the Infinite Presence, etc. If you have issues with one or another of the 'words' used to describe that, you have issues. Preferring one or another word is fine, just like in Hinduism, they have 'Ishta Devatas" - one's chosen form of the beloved. But it is recognized there is NO distinction between them ultimately... God/Goddess/All That IS.

Nowadays, the tendency for Militant Me-ness and Radical Narcissism has created a generation to which the understanding of "I am God" is backwards. They want their Ego to be recognized as the infinite absolute. "I am God. Worship ME!" So, words like 'God', 'Surrender', and 'Humility' have become dirty words. It's all about how "I" can get everything for "ME" including Enlightenment. A Fool's Fancy!!!

"I am God" means truly that God is this 'I'. This me-ness is a spark of the fire, a thread of the carpet, a wave of the infinite ocean. And it is the letting go of, the surrendering of, the humility to drop this ego and enter fully into the Infinite Absolute that comprises the ever-expanding field of Awakening, not just "Oh Cool, I (the subtle ego) am God."

We are rambling a bit here, but thanks for bearing with me. One of the things I noticed about neo-advaita teachers and teachings in the very lack of the recognition of a Higher aspect of Reality. Few express this. Many don't even know this. Just like the fact that the Enlightenment Tradition comes primarily through cultures well grounded in belonging and community, they also come from cultures well grounded in a sense of the Divine. We don't have that here. Many people, on going to India, are struck by that sense of the Divine all around them. Every business, every town, every everything, it seems, is named after some aspect of God. You can't swing a dead cat without hitting a temple, a sadhu, or something that is called Gopal this or Shiva that. Every taxi cab has a little shrine of some kind. People worship their cars, their cash registers, their computers as an aspect of the Absolute every day. They are deeply grounded that the source of EVERYTHING is God, the Father/Mother, and that their own Self is also an aspect of that.

When I was a kid, there was a show called "Father Knows Best" - one of those Leave it to Beaver, 50's type of shows. While I don't necessarily advocate that sentiment, still we have thrown the baby out with the bathwather. While letting go of some of the old concepts (the illusory snakes) we don't need to, and shouldn't throw out the rope as well. The tradition of Vedanta from which the teachings of Advaitic non-dualism spring is rife with devotional aspects. Adi-Shankaracharya, considered the father of 'modern' Kevala Advaita wrote dozens and dozens of devotional prayers to God in numerous forms. Nisargadatta worshipped his Guru numerous times EVERY day. Ramana, similarly spoke of God and the necessity of the Guru and wrote beautiful devotional songs to his Beloved mountain Arunachala.

Yes, there is Buddhism, which doesn't speak so much of God, but that's because it was a moot point. Buddha's point was that there is suffering and a way to end suffering. He NEVER said there wasn't a God. It just wasn't a necessary argument for the philosophy and understanding. And again, it's coming from a culture where that was taken as a given. Imagine being in a Christian church and saying , "Our suffering comes from our attachment to things of the world, to the mind" etc. etc. etc. Now did I say there was no God? No. It just wasn't a part of what I was addressing.

The recognition of Self as non-separate from the Infinite is like a zero-point. When one abides as "I" and sees practically that one is Consciousness, that is like the landing in India. Yes, you've touched the ground, but that's a far cry from exploring the landscape, learning the language, and ultimately losing your 'self' completely and fully into the culture. Landing is EASY. Recognizing that you, the real 'You' is Consciousness is easy peezy! You can do that in 5 seconds. Now live there, continuously, without leaving, 100% of every moment, moment by moment. Don't think just because you've glanced the 'brass ring' that you've caught hold of it, and certainly haven't become it. That is when there is no you and the Father/Mother/Absolute is manifesting fully as This I-ness.

We, in the West especially, and in the modern age in general, have Extremist Entitlement. "I don't need to do anything. I deserve it all. I have a pocket knife. I think I'll be a brain surgeon. Anyone can be President here, so I'll proclaim myself President. Everyone is inherently Spiritual Presence, so I'll proclaim myself fully Enlightened (without the need to go through any of the steps to REAL-ize that.)

While not wanting to detract from the Reality that the True Nature of everyone IS Infinite Consciousness, the nature of Maya or illusion is that, while you may mentally or even intellectually understand that, or have deep 'Aha's about it, that is not a concrete, tangible REALIZATION! This is the razor's edge. It is the What of the What and Who of you. It IS. There is no denying it. But as long as there is predominant identification with the phenomenal, the material, the body and mind, the desires and aversions, that is NOT Enlightenment. Do not be mistaken!!!

If this post has bothered you, ask yourself "WHY?" Who is bothered by it? What has been said that offends you, and what is that which is offended? The answer is EGO. Always has been, always will be.

The Bhagavad Gita says, Bahunam Janmanamante, Jnanavan Mam Prapadyate, Vasudeva Sarvam iti, Sa Mahatma Sudurlabha....

"After many many births, one who is already a possessor of Knowledge, (Jnanavan, like Jnani) surrenders to Me (God), and REAL-izes Everything IS GOD (Vasudeva Sarvam iti). Such a Great Soul (mahatma) is Very rare."

So, the reccognition of one Self as consciousness is the zero-point, so to speak. Now expand into that Infinite beyond the Infinite beyond the Infinite. Don't stop until all is lost.

Sounds like fun, huh!?!

Barnashram Family

2008-05-21T16:21:00.000-07:00

I love Barnashram - our little mini-community of 3 human residents and an expanding number of 'others'. We now have 9 Chicklets (they're not quite chicks any more, but they aren't chickens either. But besides that, I love the sense of community that is developing. The biggest thing lacking in today's world is community! We actually take pride in not needing anyone, in being an individual, ready to fight the world alone; and yet, inside, many are devastated, depressed, and exceptionally lonely. It is a sickness that is pervading everything. Many don't even realize it, and yet keep questioning, "What is wrong?" but are unable or unwilling to open their hearts and realize that what they truly want and need is love and intimacy with others.

"Trigger the 60's Virus" - Sure, we were young and naive back then, but there was a beauty and exploration that has since either died or gone into deep hibernation. Back then, I had a family. In fact, a huge family. And it wasn't just friends. We actually created our own family. I've been a so-called minister since I was about 15 (through Universal Life Church - long before I actually became a 'real' ordained Hindu Priest), and our 'family' started with 8 of us. We all held hands and 'took' each other as our husbands and wives (or something like that - I don't remember the exact words). From there it simply expanded. After one particular concert at Volunteer Park (Seattle) we performed one ceremony that had over 50 people, all in one big circle, holding hands, and it looked something like this:

Me: Do you... (pointing at next person in the circle)
Person: Rainbow!
Me: Do you Rainbow, take... (Pointing at each person in the circle sequentially)
Group: John... Sheila... Mountain Child... Oren... Karen... (Hic!!)Fwed!... Sunshine... Judy... (etc.)
Me. ... To be your loving family?
Rainbow: I do!

And all around the circle until everyone had pledged to love the others forever, and I still do. Everyone I come in contact with I love. I know I may not show it, but that's not the kind of love I'm talking about. The love I'm talking about is unconditional, and sometimes looks like a thunderbolt rather than a rose. Every particle of everything is God. How can it not be loved and beloved?

To me, Barnashram is much like that. The name itself means all of society, all levels of society and all facets of humanity. Of course, it also means a barn which is an ashram. Ashram means 'shelter, community, hermitage' and more.

We invite you to be part of that Family - whether close to us or far away.

With infinite Love & Blessings,
Aja

Hugg-ahh-Meter

2008-05-16T15:52:00.001-07:00

I just finished a wonderful book by John Robbins entitled 'Healthy at 100'
. I know, it hardly seems like Aja's kind of book, however, it was
incredibly diverse in speaking of what makes up health, and what those
cultures look like which have consistently had the most centenarians and
supercentanarians (those who live past 110).

I have often put forth the premise that if you could define and describe
paradise, every facet of it - birth through death, education, family
relations, community, education, spirituality, economics, EVERYTHING, and
then flip that 180 degrees, you would have current western civilization, or
lack of it. (Mahatma Gandhi was once asked "Mr. Gandhi, what do you think
of western civilization?" To which he replied, "I think it would be a good
idea.")

Anyway, I digress. The point of this story is that Robbins, in this book,
similarly shows how, in many ways, my contention is correct: this society
is exceptionally unhealthy. In onechapter he writes about nurturing,
touching and how important this is to our health. Not only important,
literally crucial. He quotes the late psychologist, Virginia Satir who
says, "We need 4 hugs a day to survive. We need 8 hugs a day for
maintenance, and we need 12 hugs a day to grow."

We of the Barnashram community are attempting to take these words to heart.
Doing a little research on hugs, we've found that there have been a number
of 'hug heroes'. Just in the last few decades there was Eleanor Hill who
founded Resonance House, and promoted hugs with 'I give hugs' buttons. More
recently, Juan Mann started a 'Free Hugs' campaign and showed up on Oprah a
couple ofyears back.(check youtube)

Anyway, I've decided we need to create a hug-o-meter (pronounced hug - ahh
- meter - emphasis on the Ahh!) At present, I'm thinking 12 beads on a
string, which you can move to one end each time you give (or get) a hug.
(We used such a device to keep track of our daily chanting when I lived in
temples.) Look for them soon... Or better yet, create your own today!

So, why is Aja (famous for his curmudgeonly behavior) doing this? Because
it is essential. It takes very little time to recognize the Absolute. The
difficulty is that there is so much garbage in the mind, particularly of a
low self worth nature, that the recognition of the Absolute cannot be
maintained or REALized. They continue to be little glimpses which quickly
subside because, ultimately, we can't stand ourselves, our lives, our
environment, our society, our ... Hugging reverses this trend. You start to
share love and you become love. (I met a saint a couple of years ago in
India walking down the street. Beautiful man. He turned to me and said,
'Love is God'. Not God is Love, but Love is God. It's the only thing he
said, and then walked on. And you can't go around arguing with saints, ya
know!)

The Who and What of us is One Thing. The What (or Absolute is recognized
when the Who-ness is clear enough for the What to shine through. What
obscures that, in part, is our identification with a who in which we assume
there is 'something wrong'. There is nothing wrong, but we don't believe
it. Living in Love, allows us to recogize that there IS nothing wrong.

Okay, enough for now. So HUG - ON DUDES!

We Must Cultivate Our Garden

2008-05-05T17:06:00.000-07:00

Today, I received, as a slightly belated birthday gift, a donation from my friend, Susanne, in Switzerland, a donation for $540 (ten times my present age) with the note, "Il faut cultiver notre jardin"
Although I recognize a few words from the French, including Garden, I went to an online translator, which produced the result, "We must cultivate our garden." Now I have definitely received less than perfect translations from the translator, but accurate or not, it IS perfect... We must cultivate our garden – our interior gardens and our exterior gardens.
A garden is a wonderful metaphor for so much of what we experience, and are, as life! And from personal experience, I can say and see, that both attention and neglect have very powerful consequences. For the past few years, we have totally neglected our 7 acres and consequently it has become overrun with weeds, particularly blackberry vines. Even cutting them down is only a small step because the hidden roots will continue to sprout unless we are ever vigilant and keep on top of them.
In the beginning, it appears there are so many steps to be taken and the mind can be overwhelmed by the magnitude of it all – cut the weeds, watch for new weeds, cultivate and prepare the ground, choose new plants, and plant the seeds, water them, watch for sprouts, discriminate new plant sprouts from weed sprouts (very important), watch for critters which will attack or eat your plants, and so on.
But eventually, you begin to see progress. You still have a long way to go. In fact, it is basically an endless process. But still, it is very encouraging (en-heartening) and gives a sense of deep satisfaction as we begin to see we are finally on the right path.
As things progress, two things happen – First is that we notice it is becoming easier. The really difficult part is over and the encouraging progress makes the journey more enjoyable. Secondly, we have created new patterns. The pattern or habit of neglect that we have inadvertently created is replaced by a new pattern or habit of cultivating and vigilance. It has become our natural state to be in and of the garden.
However, one small warning: No matter how easy things appear to have become, we must never give up our vigilance. There is a famous garden saying, "One year to seed, seven years to weed." This is not a metaphor only, but a truism. If even one year you allow weeds to go to seed, those seeds can sprout in your garden even seven years later. In other words, a lot of hard work goes down the drain through a short amount of negligence. It's like you can't stand still. Even though our tendency is to sit back and relax, to rest on our laurels, congratulate ourselves for a job well done – to do so means you may well find yourself up to your nose in blackberries again. As the saying goes, "Pride cometh before a fall," and true humility is one of the great ornaments of the cultivator of any garden.
But eventually, that habit of vigilance is established, the garden is cultivated, and beautiful and abundant fruits are recognized from those labors. In fact, the labors are more or less gone, as they have become so much the background nature of who you are that they are no longer labors, and the minimal amount of weeding is simply a part of what is.
And even though, in the beginning, when you attempt to survey the entire garden, and all you see is weeds, remember that the journey of a thousand miles (or a thousand weeds) begins with the first step (cut), and that it must be started sometime (Now), and it must begin somewhere (Here), and it is either started, or the weeds just continue to grow and grow and grow and grow and ...........
And though it is tempting to think that we can "just be," you may find that you are up to your ass in weeds, and you would do well to remember that ...
We Must Cultivate Our Garden.

The Relative and the Absolute

2008-05-05T08:03:00.000-07:00

Another way of looking at the Who and the What you are is recognizing the Relative and Absolute spheres of existence. First, understand, even if it is intellectually based, that they are One thing, but manifesting as the two separate aspects.

Next, let's define them a bit more. (I know that all of this appears to be a mental or intellectual exercise, and yet, it increases the understanding by which you can pass it all up.)

The Relative ....................The Absolute

Who..................................What

Shakti.............................Shiva

Material.............................Spiritual

Left Brain........................Right Brain

Objects.........................Subject

Plurality.......................Singularity

Contraction.......................Expansion

Limited.......................Unlimited

Phenomenal........................Noumenal

Active.............................Passive

And so on and so on. Again, these are only labels for the 'many' and the 'one' within the Infinite Is-ness. But it is helpful to make the distinction.

Like I mentioned in the 'What and the Who of You' there is a tendency to put an over emphasis on one or the other. The vastness of humanity, of course, not only puts their emphasis on the who, but their entire identification is with the who. However, among many spiritual seekers, the emphasis goes in a weird way to the other side – entirely to the 'what' withdrawing completely from the who, or at least attempting to, proclaiming that it is 'all an illusion' or 'maya' etc. While this is true, it is also, in most cases, not recognized, but simply an artificial proclamation of the mind, allowing one to ignore or escape the 'Relative Reality'.

It is very much like the mind/body connection. For years people thought of these as separate items. Over the last several decades, people have become much clearer that there is no dichotomy here – body and mind are but two aspects of the same thing, and each affect the other deeply. I can speak from personal experience here, as any one who knows me knows that for the last 30 or more years, I have greatly neglected and abused the physical aspect as I have explored the spiritual...and am paying the price.

The Relative and the Absolute are, similarly, two aspects of the One Is-ness. Neglecting one or the other (on a long term or permanent basis) means that there will be consequences. Neglecting the Absolute, of course, means that you will always identify with the limited, individualized, localized aspect of you, as subject, to world as object, which will ultimately result in attachment, resistance and suffering to a greater or lesser degree.

On the other hand, identifying with (or rather as) the Absolute, will ultimately burn away the attachments to the localized individual who-ness. Ultimately!!! But in most cases, people want to continue being people! In other words, they don't really want to entirely give up their identification as who-ness and enter into the Absolute aspect. They want to continue to be 'of and in the world'. This is fine, in fact, it is great. But one can't expect the same results as one who goes into the mountain cave or hermitage for 5 or 10 or 20 years of deep meditation and inquiry. You can expect a lessening of resistance and suffering and a deeper recognition, even only glimpses, of What you are. But then you must ALSO realize that the Relative sphere is just that – Relative.

Within the Relative, there IS good and bad. There is hot and cold. There is better and worse. There is more 'spiritual' and 'material'. There is darker and lighter. You get the picture. Often, because of the nature of some degree of intellection or mental understanding of the Absolute, everything within the Relative becomes artificially 'One'. For instance, (my favorite rant) killing animals to eat them by the billions is considered fine because 'it's all relative', even though the increasing number of people wanting to eat meat in China, India and elsewhere (in imitation of the glorious West) is now causing world food shortages and the deaths of thousands through starvation and war. How you treat people is unimportant, because it's all one. Since we are all one and equal, my opinion or understanding is just as good as yours. (So, we're all equally qualified to be brain surgeons, rock stars, spiritual teachers, or artists, whether we actually have the qualifications or not.)

The Relative is called the Relative for a reason – everything within it is relative to everything else. If you don't care if you go left or right at the next corner, or if that thing hanging from the wire is red or green while you're driving, fine. If you can truly BE on that level, great, but you sure as hell shouldn't be driving a car. But if you experience relativity on one level, you probably identify with many levels of relativity, some of which you are currently not recognizing – things you agree with or disagree with for instance, or people you like or don't like, or philosophies you support or abhor. These are all on the Relative platform, and will be affected by your own filters, experience, habits, hopes, fears, etc. So, exploring the relative, particularly your own beliefs and habits within the relative, is infinitely important as you attempt to traverse your way into the Absolute. Dive deeply into the Absolute, but also inquiry into the Relative. Be the What, but don't ignore the Who and the 'Relative Truths' that exist there as well.

The What and the Who of You

2008-04-28T21:23:00.000-07:00

"Accept everything about yourself--I mean everything, You are you and that is the beginning and the end--no apologies, no regrets." -- Clark Moustakas

Herein lies the power - the ability and willingness to accept absolutely everything about what AND who you are. Not only that, but to accept EVERYTHING unconditionally, that comes down the pike. Our mind (not our true nature) wants to evaluate everything and accept some things and reject others. So while Mr. Moustakas is correct, I would go even further and say, one must accept everything, not only about yourself, but about everyone, everything, unconditionally. How does one do this? By disappearing. At every moment, thousands of things are occurring to which we give no thought and no judgment - cars passing by, little sounds or feelings, an infinitude of sensory inputs large and small that arise at every moment to which we pay little or no heed. But then that one, that particular thing comes along and we find ourselves happy, sad, angry, or whatever. And our reaction to that, or our response to that, is then to evaluate the fact that we evaluated. "I should not be sad or angry or grieving, but I should be happy, blissful, loving, compassionate, etc. Why? Who says so?

The mind says that we should always be happy, that happiness is the great goal to be achieved. Again, who says so? Now, don't get me wrong, there is nothing bad about happiness. Happiness is a great 'place', but basing one's happiness ON happiness, well, it's a little impractical. Happiness, like unhappiness, come and go, and as the Gita says, "Happiness and distress, like heat and cold, come and go. One must learn to tolerate BOTH, without being disturbed." Or as that great 20th century philosopher, Dolly Parton says, "The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain."

Not surprisingly though, is that, as Mr. Moustakas says, it begins with the complete acceptance of YOU - all of you. If it is your intention to transcend your 'You-ness", you cannot do so until you accept your 'You-ness".

Let me put it this way. I like to break it down into a basic duality. There is a 'who' you are and a 'what' you are. Most everyone is well versed with who they are: it is the personhood - man, woman, spiritual, material, doctor, lawyer, slacker, cool, loser, stressed, abused, ecstatic... all of the physical, mental, emotional stuff, past and present, that makes up the essential nature of [ insert your name here]. The difficulty, is that the mind likes to evaluate this who-ness. Some is good and some is bad. "I will accept the 'good' parts of who I am, but reject the 'bad' parts of who I am." But in doing so, we reject the Truth - the truth of who we are. We begin to look at these things and realize that the truth isn't pretty. We similarly look around the world, and although our tendency is to similarly see it with rose colored glasses we realized things are pretty fracked up and that the truth there isn't particularly pretty either. This is the beginning of growth.

Now, besides the WHO of us there is the WHAT of us. The What is not the body, nor the mind, nor the emotions, nor the history, nor the beliefs and so on and so on. The What of us is that which precedes all of that. It is the recognition that arises on deep inquiry into what it is that precedes even the sense of "I". When one abides as "I" (or as Ramana called it - I-I, and Nisargadatta called it "I AM") one begins to recognize or REALize that what one is is unbounded Awareness, perfect silent stillness, the very space within which the 'who' of you and everything else in the universe, incuding the universe itself, arises.

The WHAT we are is aware OF the WHO we are and completely identifies as that who. Part of the who, the mind, evaluates the rest of the who, and the world, and evaluates and judges it. The WHAT we are is aware of all of this, and apparently 'constricts' to identify with that who-ness. I know - pretty damn confusing. However, this can be remedied in part by simply inquiring, "What is it that is aware of this confusion?"

Traditionally, as with Ramana Maharshi and others, the question has been put, "Who am I?" This is actually a trick question designed to show you that you are NOT who you think, but something prior to that, which in this case, I am referring to as the What you are - unbounded consciousness. Unless and until you can truly REALize, concretely, tangibly, that What-ness, you will continue to identify as the who. In fact, you will BE that who.

Put another way, in terms of the Yoga Sutras - "Union (yoga) is the elimination of the perceived limitations in consciousness. Then the establishment of the Seer (the What of you) in it's original true nature. Otherwise conformity TO the limitations (the Who of you)." In other words, we BECOME the who. Like water, which unbounded is, in a sense, formless, when poured into a container, takes on the shape of that container, in a sense, becoming that container. Unbounded awareness, totally identified with the container, becomes that container - the What becomes the Who, forgetting it's real unbounded what nature.

In reality, the what and the who are not different. The waves on the ocean are not separate from the depths of the ocean. It is all ocean. The who is not separate from the what. They are ONE thing. All that arises in consciousness is non-different than the consciousness within which it arises. However, the lop-sided identification with Who, including the mind which evaluates and judges, causes untold amounts of suffering, to oneself and 'others'. Being grounded, however, in the WHAT we are totally diffuses this situation. The WHO is accepted as it is. It doesn't mean that it can't or won't change. But the judgment around it is released. As Carl Jung said, "We cannot change anything until we accept it. Condemnation does not liberate, it oppresses." So, accept the WHO you are, but more importantly, inquire deeply and repeatedly into and truly recognize the WHAT you are. That is Freedom!

Preparing for Death

2008-04-27T17:38:00.000-07:00

One of the great advantages of becoming older is the clarity one gains regarding death. As the body begins to act and react in ways which it never did before, one is forced to look at various aspects of life that were never quite as "in your face".

Death, to most, has an ominous sound to it. It is depicted as the Grim Reaper, the skeletal figure draped in black. People flee from it, consider it an inappropriate conversational topic, skirt around the issue, joke about it, etc. But as one begins to actually lose energy, experience more aches and pains, as well as seeing the loss of a gradually increasing number of friends and relatives, the unquesionable reality of one's own physical demise becomes apparent.

There is a wonderful story in the Indian epic Mahabharata where the King Yudisthira is given 100 questions by Dharma, the Lord of Death. One of the questions is, "What is the most wonderful thing in the world?" to which Yudisthira answers, "That every day, people see others dying around them, and yet they think, 'I will never die'". And that was in a time when people did, in fact, see people die around them. Now we rarely see it. People are born in hospitals and die in hospitals or hospices. Then everything happened in the home. So, people would see others die, and yet there is a sense that I will never die. In truth, you never will. Oh yes, the physical will stop functioning, but that is just the manifestation which you call [insert your name here]. But what is prior to that will never die, as it is 'aja' - unborn! (If you didn't know what Aja meant, now you know.)

Now, it's not exactly like you have to be prepared for death - after all, it will come when it comes, whether you are prepared for it or not. However, if you knew that you had, oh, say, one day before you absolutely were going to die, what would you do? How would you prepare? Would you try to see some great sites, party out, make your own form of 'Bucket List,' or would you take a more contemplative approach?

Anyway, just something to 'contemplate.'

Freedom At Any Cost!

2008-04-22T18:03:00.000-07:00

"The exact contrary of what is generally believed is often the truth." -- Jean de la Bruyère

What are you doing for Freedom - yours or anyone elses? There is NO time for complacency, comfort or ease. My master used to say there are three things that must be extinguished immediately: fire, debt and disease. Our country, our culture, the entire western civilization is diseased. Not only is it diseased, it IS a disease. And like many diseases, it has infiltrated itself so deeply into our psyche, like the worst type of cancer, that no one can distinguish it - like a tumor that is so deeply nestled and entwined within the brain, that to remove it would mean certain death. But in some cases, death is far more appealing than diseased living, or at least it should be.

“It’s interesting to reflect that if all insects were to disappear from the earth, within fifty years all forms of life on earth would perish. We depend on them that thoroughly. But if all human beings were to disappear from the earth within fifty years all other forms of life would flourish.” -- Jonas Salk

Although it is politically and spiritually often incorrect to say so, euthanasia is a kindness. Our culture is more disease than ease. Everything in our culture is topsy turvey. But we have little to compare it with. We don't bother to look truthfully into the past, but only take the histories from those who write them - and history is written by those in power. We don't have the common sense of gerbils, to do what is natural, but rather we do what the media tells us. Just because our society lives a certain way now, or for the last 10 or 20 years, does NOT make it right. Every great turn in culture has taken a revolution of some kind. It is at the very root of revolution - to revolve, to turn, to move away from. You cannot try to keep your place in the river AND flow downstream. It requires letting go of what you are now comfortable with - all of it. What we have now, among other things, is complication, materiality, selfishness. The opposite of that is simplicity, spirituality and community. Every facet of the modern life is polluted by some aspect of complicated choices, materiality or narcissistic ideals of "What can I get for ME?" These MUST be given up if one hopes to achieve liberty, freedom, or peace.

"The cost of Enlightement is EVERYTHING! - Jed McKenna (and many, many others)

"The Price of Liberty is Eternal Vigilance." - Thomas Jefferson (and echoed in the Yoga Sutras, Bhagavad Gita, etc.)

So what IS to be done? The biggest revolution is within ourselves. Are we complacent? I am. And I am furious. I am anguished. And people would tell me I am wrong to be so. They would tell me it is not Enlightened to be so. But it is not enlightened to NOT be so.

I don't do 'Love & Light' because Awakening has nothing to do with Love & Light. I don't "do" Compassion, because compassion is a symptom and NOT a cause. You don't create Enlightenment by being compassionate. Compassion is Awakened as you awaken.

I have compassion for everyone. I LOVE everyone, more deeply than most can know, and this IS why I am furious and why I am anguished. Very few even see the pain they are in, or that there is a way out.

It has been said that if you are disillusioned by your spiritual teacher, than you are deeply lucky, for it is our job, not to make you happy, nor to comfort you, nor to strengthen your already too strong sense of comfort in being an individual, but rather to dis-illusion you - to un-illusion you, to take away the illusions that you so desperately hang on to. I don't want to be your friend. I want you to recognize Truth. If what is said through this person offends you, it only offends your mind, your habits, your beliefs, NOT you. In Truth, you are longing to hear the Truth, but your mind will fight it at every step. While it is possible to dip the arrow of Truth in honey, that is not my job. There is far too much honey out there already, and most expect the honey, and can't distinguish what is honey coated truth and what is honey coated manure. The vast majority is honey coated manure. So I will speak the truth and recognize that I run the 'risk' of offending some ego, some mind, some old habits. Tough Shit! The Ashtavakra says"Don't be cripple minded" I say, "Don't be a wienie!" Wienie-ism is running rampant in our society.

With this now deeply rooted, post modern attitude of entitlement, radical narcissism, and instant gratification without effort, I can only echo the words of Frederick Douglass, "Those who profess to favor freedom, yet deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightening. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will."

Many will refute this with the ideology that, "There is nothing wrong!" AND that is ABSOLUTELY true. There is nothing wrong. The illusion is part of the game, and so is the destruction of illusion if you want Truth. That is also not wrong. It is simply the Truth of the matter. There is nothing wrong with pain and suffering. It is perfectly natural as a symptom that things are out of balance and can be corrected. It is not wrong, it is a warning signal. Similarly, illusion and ignorance are not wrong, they are a warning that something is not being seen. Yelling is not wrong, it is simply a voice trying to be heard over all the lies that you are being fed every day by most of those around you. Not that they are intentionally telling lies. They simply don't know better. They have been lied to; their parents were lied to; the society, religions, educational institutions, medical institutions, etc. etc. are all lying and being lied to. The Truth is like the most valuable diamond that could ever be found. But few even know how to distinguish it anymore. That is why you have to let go of EVERYTHING you believe. Drop it ALL. Have the Courage (from 'couer' - heart) to fight ignorance within ourselves and within the 'world'. To do otherwise is the greatest of sins. So, I will leave you with just a few quotes along those lines.

With the deepest of love & compassion,
Aja

............................

"The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in a time of moral crisis, maintain their neutrality." -- Dante, The Inferno

"The World is not dangerous because of those who do harm but because of those who look at it without doing anything." -- Albert Einstein

"Noncooperation with evil is as much a duty as cooperation with good." -- Gandhi

"Make yourself sheep and the wolves will eat you." -- Benjamin Franklin

"I never give them hell. I just tell the truth and they think it's hell." -- Harry Truman

Ignorance is Bliss

2008-02-13T15:57:00.000-08:00

"The ultimate ignorance is the rejection of something you know nothing about and refuse to investigate." – Dr. Wayne Dyer

Many years ago, I remember hearing from a friend that the only people who are happy are those who are totally in ignorance and those who are totally free. The rest are always trapped in some form of suffering.

While perhaps not totally true, it would certainly appear to be more true than not. The bulk of people, as Thoreau pointed out, live lives of quiet desperation. Today, that quiet desperation is not quite as quiet. Often, I am accosted by those who try to live in bliss by putting on a brave face, but mostly, it is a form of denial. As things fall down around them, they choose to not see what is happening in order to maintain a false sense of happiness. If the truth is pointed out - whatever that truth may be - they choose to ignore it. Now the obvious - "ignore" and "ignorance". It is not coincidental that they share the same roots - the same root of gnosis - to know. The verb to choose to ignore results in willful ignorance. And we all, to some extent or another share this ignorance. It is also, particularly these days, not totally shameful. The state of things is such that it often seems much easier to ignore or stay ignorant of the truth because the truth is, or can be, extremely painful to face.

What I am speaking of can apply equally to spiritual or material truths. For instance, these days you would have to choose to be ignorant of the fact that the government is fully aware of the gradual fascist state they are creating. It is a purposeful and well planned out program, having been started many, many years ago. But the truth and the ramifications of this truth are so twisted and painful, that it is indeed much easier to be blissfully unaware of it. But for those who actually wish to seek the truth, it is out there, easily accessible and incontestable. It is the slow cook method. If you don't know what that is, there is the old story of "How to Cook a Frog". The way to cook a frog is not to throw it into a pot of boiling water because it will immediately jump out. Instead, you put it into nice cool water and gradually turn up the heat. It doesn't even notice until it is too late. So, within the material sphere at least, we are in the cooking pot, and the heat is going up at a faster and faster rate. We are not too far from being cooked alive. If you're not sure about this, please note that only 2 days ago, the Department of Homeland Security released the final regulations to implement the Real ID, which is due to come out 85 days from now. Who knows what will happen with it since numerous states have outright refused to comply.

But, just as material truths are ignored, similarly, it is very easy, in fact the norm, to ignore spiritual truths, in large part because the truth is simply not much fun. It necessitates throwing out everything that you currently hold to be true - in other words, your hopes and concepts of what you WANT to be true do you no good when it comes to the actual truth. Just as may want the US government to be good and protective and kind, the opposite is the reality. Similarly, all the ideas that you hold to keep you feeling safe and comfortable and secure are pretty much all lies, like hiding under your blanket where you will be safe from the bogey men. It sure feels nice, but it is only a childish gesture.

To know the truth, you must investigate the truth. If you want to know who you are, you MUST investigate who you are. Although many people would like you to believe that it's going to fall into your lap, like a ripe mango, and occasionally it does, that is not the norm. You need to at least shake the tree. But not knowing who you are feels so safe. It doesn't rock the boat of our comfort. It takes no courage.

It occurred to me, and wait before you condemn me here, that throughout the ages there were probably many slaves (in any of the many, many cultures that had them) who did not have a problem with being enslaved. After all, in some cultures, they were extremely well taken care of. And of course, some owners were far kinder than others. Now today, we find the whole idea of slavery deplorable. But imagine a situation where you at least had food and shelter and clothes, where you were warm at night, and were part of a family or community. And yet, although you may not currently be outwardly bought and sold, how truly free are you - free from the 'Man', free from societal, cultural, religious, parental, educational expectations. The opposite of being free is being bound. Other than the bought and sold, what is the definition of enslavement? It is to reduce to and hold in a state of servitude - to oppress, to shackle. Okay, it's not necessarily pretty, but do you get the picture?

So, what does it mean to be free? That might differ to many people. But what is absolute is that first you must indeed recognize that you are enslaved, that you are bound, either materially, spiritually or both. You must investigate it. What binds you materially? What binds you mentally? What binds you intellectually? What binds you spiritually?

"Remember, you cannot abandon what you do not know. To go beyond yourself, you must know yourself." - Nisargadatta Maharaj

So to know the truth, any truth, you have to be willing to investigate it. Otherwise, the truth will eternally remain hidden from view.

Love & Light & Other Random Rants

2008-02-06T16:34:00.000-08:00

Now, those who know me know that I'm hardly a love & light kinda guy, generally. And the reason for this is simply reactionary. In other words, too many people throw the words love & light around like baby food, without recognizing (REAL-ising) the import of those words. I recently received an email with those blessed words as the farewell and realized I hadn't seem them quite as much. (More often now I see 'blessings' or something along those lines.) So, I did a google search on the term "love & light" and came up with two articles which I felt clearly defined how I feel about them (for the most part). One is by an author Skye Thomas (no relation) and the other by a Buddhist Rev. Kinrei Bassis. Here are the links to those two websites.

http://www.tomorrowsedge.net/love-and-light.html

http://www.berkeleybuddhistpriory.org/_dharma/love_light.htm

And while you're at it, if you're a quotes freak like me, here is one of the better compilations of quotes I've found, also at Skye's website: http://www.tomorrowsedge.net/fun-and-motivational-quotes.html

Just so you know, these articles are NOT a whole bad-mouthing of love and light, but a recognition that there is no light without dark. They are the yin & yang of life. There can be no birth without death, no happiness without sorrow and so forth amongst the myriad of dualities that arise. But I hope you'll enjoy them both. I did.

On another note, I recently ran into John Callahan who is a local cartoonist. John, a quadraplegic for the last 30 years, draws by pushing a pen with both hands. A wonderful man, he has a deep interest in truth and non-duality. I asked if he would be willing to do a picture of me and he readily agreed. The result is below. Thanks John!

As long as I've got your ear (or eyes), I've fallen in love with the song "Shine over Babylon". I googled the lyrics, and still am not sure what she is saying, or if she even is sure what she is saying - the just the line "Shine Over Babylon" practically brings me to tears. For those "in the know" of course, Babylon represents the materialistic society at large, that is ever seeking to divide us from ourselves, our community, our love. So, when I just hear that long "Shiiiiiiiii-iiiiine Over Babylon" it calls us to Awaken and to Shine. When the tumultuous noise of society, the media, the government and nearly everything else is nothing but rantings of madmen & women, we must recognize our need to SHINE OVER BABYLON.

As long as we're quoting songwriters:
"Don't let people who live in fear and hate govern how you live." - Melissa Etheridge

Unfortunately, this society has become such the norm, that most people don't even recognize that it is not normal. People have not been committing suicide and taking drugs at such an alarming rate over the millennia. Oh sure, there has always been a certain amount. but today it is epidemic - Over one million people commit suicide annually, and for each of those that succeed there are 4 to 20 who try and fail (depending on statistics). Many of the others are just so blissed out on drugs & television, they're too out of it to try.

Okay, enough with the rants and raves. Truth has two sides, and there are not enough people expressing either! In the socially/politically/spiritually "Correct" lifestyles that we are supposed to live, WE MUST SPEAK OUT OUR TRUTHS! Forget what anyone says....what is YOUR Truth? What is YOUR experience? Dig deep, toss out the crap, and keep digging.

When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.

Jimi Hendrix

Love & Light (oops)
Aja

What About Choicelessness?

2008-01-20T16:54:00.001-08:00

In the world of spirituality today, particularly non-duality, the concept of 'choicelessness' has become extremely popular. We have even spoken about it. However, there is something that needs to be understood... You can not act from choicelessness! Choicelessness is actually a realization, not a philosophy or technique by which to live, and yet many use it as if it was just that. "I will not make any effort to Awaken or to inquiry into the Self, because if it is meant to happen, it will simply happen effortlessly." When experienced or thought of like this, the concept of choicelessness is something of a poison that infects the will. This is a very subtle point which is extremely easily misunderstood. It goes along with the concept of non-doership. The Gita tells us that even the wise are confused by the ideas of action, non-action, right action and wrong action, because there can be doing in non-doing and non-doing in doing. For instance, you decide you like the idea of choicelessness and choose to be choiceless. Can you see how ludicrous that is. The reality is that the real choicelessness is that you have choice. Your choosing, or appearing to choose, is a choiceless reality that simply is. But trying to live that way is an impossibility. You will be accosted by choices moment by moment.

The real difficulty occurs when the idea of choicelessness seeps into one's spiritual practice. If one nurtures this concept of choicelessness, it holds the same idea as fate as opposed to free will. If I am either fated to awaken or not, why try. I will do whatever I friggin feel like, and I will either wake up or not.

I had a friend many years ago who claimed he he had been with a group that was totally in touch with future events. When he asked them if he would become enlightened this life they said, "We can't tell you." "Why not?" he asked. "Because," they said, "If we tell you that you will, you won't do anything to try, and if we tell you that you won't, you won't do anything to try!" In other words, in either case, he stops doing anything. It's either fated or not. Now, whether this people had the ability to see could obviously be questioned, but their answer is correct.

Now, interestingly enough, the teacher who is probably most famous for the idea of choicelessness is Ramesh Balsekar. Yet he has said,

"You certainly have free will but on investigation you discover that it is counterfeit. For what use is your free will if the outcome of your action is not in your control? Sometimes you get what you want, sometimes you don't get what you want, and sometimes what you get is completely unexpected; many times for the worse, sometimes for the better. Which of the three things happens is never in your control."

So, according to Ramesh, you have free will, but have no guarantee of the results. In other words, it doesn't say, "Don't try" but rather, the ultimately result is always in the hands of the Absolute. This is what the Gita calls Karma Yoga - you must endeavor, but you have no right to the results. Gita also says, "no one can stop from acting, not even for a moment". This very phenomena is a result of the Absolute's 'Doing'. We, as non-different from that Absolute, are identical in every way. The Absolute has will, we have will.

The Yoga Vasistha explains it this way. You have karma from the past and it completely determines your present reality. However, your current actions decide your future results. So, if you decide to do nothing, influenced by this idea of choicelessness, then your future will be EXACTLY as your present. If you are totally surrendered to the present moment and fully happy with it, without exception, then no problem. However, if you are not happy in this moment, then action, or understanding can change that. Yoga Vasistha is very clear on this point, even going so far as to say that one who bases their life on the idea of having no free will is a fool.

So, you may never KNOW whether there is choice or not, however, in this moment, chances are that you are acting, consciously or not, under the premise that you have a choice. Therefore, choose mastery! Choose to commit to awakening. Give yourself whole-heartedly to that pursuit. Nothing less will do!

Poverty Consciousness VS. Simplicity Consciousness

2008-01-07T11:30:00.000-08:00

I am often accused (by one of my local 'gurus') of "Poverty Consciousness," to which I like to remind them that what I generally have is not poverty consciousness, but rather simplicity consciousness. There's a big difference.

Nowadays, with the Secret video, books on the law of attraction, the divine matrix, etc. etc. there is again a big 'new age' push for prosperity consciousness. With the vast majority of people this idea of prosperity consciousness indeed springs from their inherent poverty consciousness. The feeling that occurs for them is that "I don't have and I want!" So, I begin to visualize all the things I WANT in order to manifest them. It doesn't matter if they need them or not, whether having them will be detrimental to themselves, others or the planet. Screw all that! I WANT IT... I VISUALIZE IT ... I DEMAND IT. This has nothing to do with prosperity, just plain old greed repackaged in a new box - prosperity consciousness.

Simplicity consciousness, on the other hand, doesn't necessarily mean that one doesn't have, or that one denies themselves what they want or, more importantly, need, but that they don't need to grasp for things just to have them. Often, the reality is that the more things that you 'possess' the more things 'possess' you. Recently, my wife and I have toyed with the idea of moving. Part of what this would incorporate would be going through 17 years (how long we've been at our present location) of our 'stuff', the grown-up-and-gone kids' stuff, etc. It's overwhelming and space abhors a vacuum and how much crap a few rooms can accumulate.

What do you need to truly be happy? Very little! Will more things or money make you more happy? There is a wonderful quote from Socrates, "He who is not contented with what he has, will not be contented with what he doesn't have." True prosperity consciousness is very much aligned with simplicity consciousness. Simplicity is not in opposition to prosperity, but it is in opposition to COMplexity... and duplicity. When you want things that you know you do not truly want or need, you create a duality or duplicity in yourself... the old cognitive dissonance. You are thinking one thing ("I want this") and Knowing another which is "I don't need this and it won't really make me happy". At least, hopefully you will realize this.

Generally, real prosperity consciousness is that I have anything I could want, no matter how few things that is, as long as you have what you need. If you don't have what you absolutely need, then perhaps there is some possibility to look at whether there is some poverty consciousness, some sense of lack. But mostly likely, your sense of lack or poverty is just thinking you need something that will fill that sense of emptiness within, that hole where Love goes.

Spiritual REAL-ization

2007-12-31T16:03:00.000-08:00

Many people talk of spiritual realization - seek it, treasure it, even speak as if they have 'achieved' it, but often it is not REAL-ization, but rather a form of spiritual MENTAL-ization or INTELLECTUAL-ization. The key facet of REALization is the word REAL. It is a concrete recognition, not simply a mental or intellectual understanding. Now, I am not demeaning a mental or intellectual understanding of spirituality or Truth, but only wish to make the distinction clear.

Let me give a couple of my common examples. First, nearly anyone who has ever had a child knows that there is a HUGE difference between thinking about having a child and actually conceiving and giving birth to one. When you look down at your own child, lying there, alive, virtually helpless, and squiggling, you know...YOU KNOW... that your life will NEVER again be the same!

Or, going to India. Many people know far more about India than I do. They can name every sacred site, teacher, language spoken, etc. They can even relate to you about Indian tastes, smells, congestion, traffic, pollution, politics, etc. But until you have been there, until you have deeply inhaled the smells and tasted the flavors, seen the garbage and the drab and the brilliant colors, it is only a mental picture. You have not LIVED it.

Spirituality is the same. A mental or intellectual understanding of spirituality, while a wonderful thing, basically comes down to what my spiritual master called, "armchair philosophy," or what many would today refer to as being "Unable to walk the talk."

The importance of making this distinction can be clearly expressed in the first lines of the Tao Te Ching - "The Tao that can be spoken of is NOT the eternal Tao." Now, that doesn't mean that one stops talking about it. The Tao te Ching, after saying this, goes on for 81 verses describing the Tao, what the 'superior' man or woman is, their symptoms, and so forth. But even memorizing the entire Tao in the original language won't guarantee that you will make it REAL or live it.

The sad result of only a mental or intellectual understanding is that a person often stops 'doing'anything to really understand and recognize the Truth. It's a sort of "Been there...done that" approach, and so they go on to look for other things to take up their time and entertain them, hoping that Realization will drop on them like a ripe fruit (which it could, but don't hold your breath).

In India, the term for spiritual practice is sadhana. The root is sadh which means to go straight to any goal or aim, to accomplish, to succeed, as well as to MASTER, SUBDUE, CONQUER. This is not always pleasant work, and the very ‘yogic term’ tapas, or tapasya, which comes from the word “to heat” suggests the nature of it. Burning away one’s impurities and karmas is not necessarily always pleasant. While it’s true one can have a path ‘with heart’, that doesn’t always mean (and generally DOESN’T mean) that it will be easy. Burning off all that crap can be a difficult and messy affair, but what are the alternatives?

It is a fine line…Often it feels like you shouldn’t try “too hard”, that realization should be a natural thing, which it is. But on the other hand, if you don’t ‘do’ anything, nothing happens. The main thing to remember is that it is NOT so much a doing, as a shift in Awareness, a perceptual shift, a turning attention “inward” or “heart-ward” or God-ward. And then KEEPING it there, as much and as continuously as possible. Spiritual mastery is about actually making that shift, making spirituality REAL, and not just mental or intellectual. Moment by moment… hour by hour… day by day, until “YOU” are no longer practicing. IT is simply happening. That’s the key.

And by the way...Have a great switch from one arbitrarily created time frame to another
(i.e. Happy New Year!)

Infinite Love & Blessings!

I Have VS. I AM

2007-12-23T15:40:00.000-08:00

The other day it came to my attention, when a friend cried out, "I have Power!" that this is part of the fundamental problem, particularly when it comes to some of the new age and alternative thinking. It is the basic distinction of Having versus Being: like I 'have' prosperity' rather than I 'am' properity; or I 'have' enlightenment, rather than I 'am' enlightenment. (Also note the distinction 0f I am enlightenMENT versus I am EnlightenED.) The I "Have" creates a duality that is less subtle even than I Am. I AM is a doorway; I HAVE is a very definite 'me' and 'not me'.

Let's get into grammar for a moment. In Sanskrit (and a number of other languages) there is actually not a verb for 'to have'. You can 'be with' something, like 'I am with this car' or 'this car is being with me' or even 'it is my car,' but not I have this car. (I know, subtle distinction.) But it does say something about the language, which works in subtle ways. For instance, you would tend to say, I am consciousness, rather than I have consciousness. It is as if you recognize something as 'Being' intrinsically who and/or what you are, rather than something thata 'YOU' possess.

Another example, the Ashtavakra Samhita says "If you consider yourself Free you are free and if you consider yourself bound you're bound." And, "Where there is an I there is bondage and where there is no I there is freedom." Our tendency is to think in terms of our western language set up of, which has a tendency for maintaining an individuated "I". This is less common in many other languages. For instance, I have heard that in many native languages there are no nouns, per se, but rather all verbs. A house is not a house, but a 'housing'; a person is a 'personing'. In other words, everything is a movement, an arising of what is in that moment. You don't exist as a concrete thing, but rather a momentary apparency in the ocean of potentiality. Therefore, how can you have something?

Another distinction is that you either are or are not something, and often you can reccognize that you not only ARE this attribute, but have never not been it. To have something, has more of a tendency to allow for not having it. Today I have it, but tomorrow I may not have it, (or vice versa) as opposed to I am, have always been and will always BE consciousness, light, love, this-ness, divinity, whatever. Energetically, you can feel the difference. Try saying, "I have power," and then "I AM power." Or, "I have peace," and then "I AM peace". "I have love," and then, "I AM love." Just see how they feel. Does one FEEL more real? Is one experienced more as a recognition of what is true, rather than a sort of hopeful affirmation of what might be true?

Explore the possibility of "I AM" versus "I Have" and 'be' fun.

Blessings!

Right Here, Right Now & Buckaroo Banzai

2007-12-18T11:49:00.000-08:00

Aja: So imagine for a moment, that you have heard about this great place, Puddletown, and it sounds like a really great place, where everyone is happy and peaceful, and blissful, and there's no problems there. Puddletown is the place to be. It's filled with people and everything is wonderful. So what's the first thing you do? What would you do?

Student: Be skeptical.

Aja: Be skeptical? Good! What else would you do?

Student: Find out what they're eating.

Aja: Find out what they're eating? Okay. Well, that wasn't exactly where I was going, but along those lines. But yes, you'd start studying it, researching it, finding out what you could about it. Now, as you did that you'd start finding out a lot about Puddletown and you would start to believe in this place called Puddletown. You'd even know their diet. You'd probably start eating like a Puddletonian. Then you start trying to figure out how to get there. But the problem is that the information you'd find would disagree with other information you'd find. Some information would say you take a plane, some that you would take a bus, and you'd never quite get clear on how to get there or where it is. Some would say it's over here and others that it is over there. They'd say that it looks like this or it looks like that. All you know is that it sounds like a really great place and you want to get there, but you don't have any clue how to get there.

And then one day, someone comes along and says, "Puddletown. That's just another name for Portland. You're in Portland!" And you say, "What? No." And your skepticism arises again and you think it couldn't possibly be the same because you're in it and you're miserable. Now what do you do? What happens then? You continue studying and researching and you start to believe that Portland and Puddletown are the same thing. But so deeply entrenched that you're in Portland and NOT Puddletown, you have no idea of how to erase that. And that's exactly what has to be done.

It's the same thing here. Enlightenment, Nirvana is nothing other than what's present right now. What's standing in the way is this deeply entrenched viewpoint that there's somewhere else to go. And most of this has been foisted upon us by this idea that there's someplace to get to, and that there's any problem with what's just here right now, by all the cultural and other blockages that keep you from totally experiencing what's right here and right now, totally allowing us to be who we are. It tells us that we should be all these other things.

The bottom line is that there is no place to get to other than what's here, and it's all about the removing all of the ideas that think this is not perfection right now - that this is not it: removing divisiveness, removing divisions of inside and outside, the difference between spiritual life and material life. But there is no spiritual life and material life. It's all just life. It's all just Presence. You can call it anything you want. You can call it all God, it's all freedom, it's all the Absolute, it's all Consciousness, it's all awareness, it's all power, it's all heart, it's all love. It's all of those things and a million more, and none of them. But THIS is it. This is it, and as long as you are looking for something else, you will absolutely never find it. Because it's not something to be found. Right?

To what extent can you recognize, right now, this is it...I am it? I am that Buddhahood, that Godhood that I am looking for. How many times do you have to be told, "You're it, you're what you are looking for. You're what you are seeking?" What is so hard to believe about that? Just recognize who you are and recognize that you are that which you are looking for. Stop looking and ask, "Okay, Who is looking?" Right now, you're looking at me. Now be the looker. Just switch and ask, "Who is it that is looking out these eyes? Who is the presence that is here? "Hello! Who's home?" So as you simply sit and ask, you recognize, 'This is Me here.' And in this 'Me' there is a body and thoughts, there's a world, there's vision. If I close my eyes, do I go away? Have I gotten bigger or littler? And then you open your eyes and see, "Okay, I didn't go anywhere." Who wrote that line, "Wherever you go there you are?"

Student: Buckaroo Banzai.

Aja: All right, Buckaroo. What more enlightened statement can you make? "Wherever you go, there you are." So what I want you to consider and examine is, what is it that stands in the way of this recognition? Or, what is it that isn't right about it that makes something else evidently more appealing? Or what are the doubts, what are the divisions, what is it that is arising in the moment that makes you say, "No, this isn't it"?

Student: So that's not just a rhetorical question?

Aja: No. That's not a rhetorical question.

You are a D.I.O.D or "Be as You Are - part 3"

2007-12-09T12:44:00.000-08:00

Everyone knows what a diode is. Well, actually, I have no idea what a
diode is - some electrically thing. But forget that. You are a
DIOD. So what is a DIOD? Let me explain:

Part 1. There are two basic ways of looking at the universe,
Existence, All of THIS: one is that it is a totally mechanical
spontaneous arising, of elements that randomly came together much
like the pieces of a watch that just happened to fall together into
Watchness, or the thousand monkeys on typewriters ultimately coming
up with Shakespeare,
OR
There is intelligence behind all of this, a God/Dess, Isness, a great
Singularity of Intelligence, Cosmic Beingness, Wisdom, Creator,
Creatress, Creatrix, Network, Hoo Haa, Divine Wow, Big Bangaroonie,
that Expressed, Imagined, created, manifested the 100 trillion stars
and 100 trillion cells of you and everything else perfectly, OUT OF
HIM/HER/IT-SELF.

Now, we're not saying that the first group is dummies, but....duh!
Which makes more sense? Which feels right? Which do even most
intelligent philosophers, scientists, and nearly every living being
on the planet uphold (#2 in some variation).

Part 2. Okay, so there is this one GREAT THING, creating and
recreating itself out of itself at every second out of the only thing
handy...Itself. The Ocean manifests as Waves. They just are the
ocean. The rays of sunlight are the manifestations of the sun. And so
on and so on. You are the manifestation of that ONE thing. The
formless becomes the form. The earth is not just the chunk of dirt,
but everything that comes from it...the mountains, valleys, trees,
bushes, flowers, people, animals, squishy bugs, et al. They are all
the manifestations of earth. They are the Functions.

Part 3. YOU are not different from the Divine Thing. You are a
FUNCTION of the Divine thing. This is the meaning of LILA - the
divine play, the cosmic dance. THAT IS WHAT YOU ARE. In a dance,
there is a twirl here and a dip there. You are a twirl or a dip.
(I've been called a dip on more than one occasion.) You are an
expression of that divine dance. The personality is the mask. It's
perfect. Each role in the play, each twirl and dip in the dance, is
what gives it its fullness, its mystery, its diversity, its
interest. You are a Function of the Absolute. So put the Fun back
into the Function.

Part 4. Thus you are a D.I.O.D. You are a Divine Input Output
Device. Each thing that you experience and each thing you express is
your function as an input and output device for the Absolute. Shiva
is silent...Shakti Dances. As a DIOD, it is not your place to do as
little as possible, (unless that is absolutely your function), but
rather to experience and express as much as possible. Don't second
guess everything. This is Divine Desire. You nose is the Divine nose.
What your nose knows, the divine nose knows. Every moment is God
experiencing God. How else is it gonna be done?

So, get out there and Express, Experience, and Be the DIOD that you are.

Yippie Ki Yay!!!

What Is is Perfect

2007-11-13T16:32:00.000-08:00

I know it's hard to imagine, sometimes, but all that is, whatever is, is perfect. In honor of my good friend and former student, Jnanacharya, I'd like to point out, as he did, that perfect does NOT mean 'double good'. Perfect means that there is nothing wrong; things are exactly as they are meant to be. Whatever is happening in the Uni-verse is happening just as it is meant to happen.

So, why don't you believe this? Because your 'mind' is telling you differently. The mind says"No, it should be like this or that or the other." But if your mind wasn't speaking, would it not be perfect? It's very much like the question, "If a tree falls in the woods and there's nobody there to hear it, would it make a sound?" So, rephrasing this - "If a situation arose, but no mind to say it is a problem, would there be a problem?" Obviously not.

Does that mean you do nothing? Yes and No. You do nothing. The universe does everything. But for practical purposes, you probably haven't recognized this yet. It feels like you are doing something. All in all it looks something like this.

Universe is happening
You appear to be a separate thing happening within the universe.
A 'problem' arises to you (i.e. a situation that mind says is wrong)
A desire to 'fix' it arises.
Possible ways to fix it arise in the mind.
You appear to choose one and 'do' it.
On to next thing.

Simple right. And yet we complicate it in so many ways - first considering that nothing 'wrong' should arise, that this is horrible, that it shouldn't have happened to you, how will you ever make it 'right', what will others say/think about you, and on and on and on.

From a different perspective

There is a universe.
It manifests as billions of things/pieces/entities/galaxies, etc.
Stuff happens - all of it being the universe in its manifesting,
It goes through processes of change/balance evolve/balance expand/balance but never not being Perfect
The pieces of the universe that are called 'mind' analyze and evaluate those things that are happening, often calling them 'good' or 'bad'.
It all continues effortlessly with or without the mind,

EXCEPT that when there is resistance to what is...
There is apparent SUFFERING.

Even the suffering and the resistance is Perfect. Two things rubbing together create friction (resistance). It's not good or bad, simply friction. We only exacerbate it by contemplating what it means, the ramifications of it, and so forth. It's just happening. It will happen for some time and then change. It always does. Trying to hold on to the way it is or was is a form of resistance. Not bad, just impractical. Flow, be free of wanting anything to be a particular way. Be free of being right or wrong. Be free of future desire or past regrets. Recognize the Infinite Perfection that is happening in every moment and just BE FREE! Then there's not even a 'you' to be free...there's just PERFECTION HAPPENING.

More Be who you Are

2007-11-10T12:53:00.000-08:00

I broke my phone. It's okay, I think it's getting fixed, so don't worry for me. (By the way, if you didn't know, I'm kind of a closet geek, or geek wannabe, or something. I love hanging out with geeks, cuz how many of them can say "I use to give 'noogies' to Bill Gates, which I did. But I tarry...

In the process of seeking a replacement or repair for my phone, I started emailing someone who had what I was looking for, and several email tags back and forth later I noticed a wonderful simple sentence. Now many of you may laugh that I didn't know this quote, but I was living in temples when this guy was around.

Anyway, the quote goes,

"I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not."

The speaker of this quote is none other than the late (i.e. dead for you non-sophisticates) Kurt Cobain - alleged suicider grunge musician.

So what do you think? Now, the interesting thing is many people would agree with this in principle but not practice. They proclaim, "Yes, I'm going to be who I am no matter what," but then the conditioning jumps in and in effect, makes them worry way to much about being loved than being who they are. When do you adjust your nature because it's "right" to do so. And then the cognitive dissonances start to set in. "This isn't really who I am, yet I'm acting this way."

"Be who you are and say what you want. Those who matter don't mind and those who mind don't matter." Probably one of the best quotes on the subject, that one by the late GREAT Dr. Seuss!

Every moment is an opportunity to allow that Absolute to express through you and as you. It will do it anyway, but part of the learning curve is to get the hell out of the way. The personality, the mask, is formed by the thoughts of others - parents, teachers, society, spiritual leaders, et. al., and only occludes Truth. Express, dance, delight in who you are, which includes the complete expression of your love OR your assholeness. Love your Blessedness. It's all the same thing.

The Problems of the World

2007-10-22T16:22:00.001-07:00

A few random thoughts and comments....

First, I recently came across this quote from Shantideva amongst my
collection:

"All the joy the world contains is through wishing happiness for others.
All the misery the world contains has come through wanting pleasure for
oneself."

The basic difficulty is selfishness (and that is with a small 's'). But
it's slightly more complicated then that. Let's see if we can't disentangle
it a bit.

1. Our initial idea is to find happiness for ourselves. While in and of
itself there is nothing wrong with that, in too many cases it involves
getting something from someone else or in someway depriving others of
something to do it. For instance, the basic 'necessities' of life are a
given, and under normal circumstances there is plenty to go around.
However, when certain people find that they need more than someone else,
then things go bad. This is in essence the human condition because of a
lack of satisfaction. People want what they don't have.

2. Wanting for oneself versus others also creates that sense of separation
- me versus others. When you want for others, and sincerely find joy in
seeing others happy, it minimizes the sense of 'me'. It begins to create an
identification with the other, expanding your sense of Self. Whatever
shifts the focus of attention from 'I, me, mine' to others - whether that
is extended 'me' (i.e. Family, tribe, nation), or to a Supreme Other -
Godhead, the Divine, etc. will help lessen the attachment and
identification to the individualized self.

3. The endeavor to become awakened comes from a personalized sense of self,
but it is also a recognition that the individualized ego sense is not
happy, and will ultimately never be happy seeking it's own gratification.
So although for many Enlightenment starts as the ultimate Ego-trip, it
actually necessitates the end of the ego. At this point, one can truly do
the most for apparent 'others' because it will not be based on selfish
desire. Here it is most undoubtedly the deepest innate sense of compassion
and expression of natural Love.

Well, that's all for now.

Nothing to Know

2007-10-13T17:27:00.001-07:00

In the sixth part of the Yoga Vasistha it says:

"The belief in a knower and the known is called bondage. The knower is
bound by the known; he is liberated when there is nothing to know."

This is so contrary to most people's way of being that it's hard for most
to even get a hint at this, primarily because everyone is anxiously
awaiting the point where 'they' will be a 'knower' of the Absolute; 'They'
will have achieved enlightenment. Once more, dear friends, it doesn't work
that way. For a moment, just stop. In that moment, is there anyone to know
anything? Is there anything to know? In the silence between thoughts - no!
However, a half moment later a thought will probably arise saying,
something like, "Cool" or "But I was there knowing I was not a knower", or
some other such evaluatory statement. (Is evaluatory a word?)

Where there is no thought, that is where there is no knower or known. That
occurs through letting go of all thoughts, and/or the committed inquiry
into what is the knower. The knower (I-ness) also arises in the sea of
consciousness, but it to is simply an imposition. It is formed in large
part by the ideas or beliefs that form an idea of a knower. This is why so
often the quest for wisdom is antithetical to true wisdom. You are trying
to know MORE when the idea is to know LESS, and even more so, to recognize
there is nothing to know.

This moment is simply happening; it's not happening TO somebody. A
'somebody' appears to be arising in this moment, but it is just that...an
appearance.

So, what is so damn important to know (or do or see or achieve)? Be the
bliss of non-knowing!

Feeding Beauty or the Beast?

2007-09-27T16:46:00.001-07:00

I came across a line of Ramana's where he compared trying to solve the
problem of the mind by using the mind as something which simply 'fattens'
the mind. I loved this thought and it reminded me of an image I have had
recently of 'feeding the dream'.

Attention is very much like food. It is an energy, and where our attention
goes, that is being fed. It is one of the semi-true aspects of the 'Law of
Attraction' that has been making such a hit lately. Where the attention
goes, there is the outcome. That is what is being fed. Astavakra Samhita
also states it very well, "ya matih sa gatih" - wherever the attention
(mind, intention, etc.) there is the goal (outcome, etc.).

So...what are you feeding? This is where the razor's edge comes in. It is a
very fine line (as well as an enormous gorge) between putting the attention
on and feeding the dream, or putting attention on and feeding the
recognition of Reality. Every moment... EVERY MOMENT your attention is on
one or the other - The Beauty or 'The Beast'. There really is no neutral
ground. This is why so many verses, teachings and so forth emphasize that
it is a constant practice - something that must be done at all times. It is
not a 20 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes in the evening kind of
thing. If one is serious about realization is must be consistent and
constant. It is the ending of a way of life. This is often what the
initiation ceremony is about - simply a recognition that now this life is
about waking up!

Ramana said, "Abhyasa (spiritual practice) consists of withdrawal into the
self everytime you are disturbed by thought." So, when are you NOT
disturbed by thought? Every thought is in essence a disturbance. Thus he
would consistently ask people, "To whom is this thought arising?" Whether
you see it as a 'disturbing' thought or not is not the question. Every
thought that you pay attention to is a disturbance. When you give into that
thought, follow that train of thoughts, even if they are so called 'benign'
thoughts, you are feeding the dream, feeding the beast.

There is a great book called, 'The Cloud of Unknowing' written by an
unknown 14th century Englishman. He says (in essence) that one must project
oneself into this cloud of unknowing (God) and push all other thoughts and
desires into the 'cloud of forgetting'. Even though it is a Christian book,
he says that even the thoughts of Jesus' love and sacrifice, and compassion
are hindrances and obstacles and must also be pushed into the cloud of
forgetting. All must be pushed into the cloud of forgetting and one simply
projects themselves (their attention) into the cloud of Unknowing. If we
translate this into our present understanding, it means putting our
attention on simply That, the Presence of Isness, or I Am, which arises as
that which can not be known, is unknowable, but only 'Be-able'.

So, where is your attention? The body will take care of itself, the mind
will take care of itself. Attention is on that razor's edge - feeding the
Beauty or the Beast... Fattening or fasting the mind.

Which will it be?

Popcorn or Samosa

2007-09-12T18:06:00.000-07:00

Okay... Amar at the Indian store convinced me to take two samosas instead
of one. So, you might consider this a guilt blog. If you don't know what a
samosa is, you are missing one of the great Indian culinary delights,
particularly if it is made well. Deep fried, vegetable savory...well
spiced, just plain yummy. So, how is it that in the dream we are concerned
with such things as culinary delights? Why not?

So, I have a question for you: when you wake up in the morning, where does
your dream go? Where does the dream you go? You recognize that it was just
a dream and that it had no depth, no substance to it. Similarly, when you
wake up from the waking dream, you recognize that it too has no substance
to it. However, that doesn't change it. It doesn't necessarily go
away...only the experiencer as a separate, localized and independent
dreamer as seen as part of the dream scape. The you that disappears in the
sleeping dream when you wake up in the morning, is no less substantial than
the you that disappears when you wake up from the waking dream, only in
that case there still appears the dream body thing that you previously
associated as being you. The script of your life continues but with the
clarity that it is simply that- a dream, a dance, a movie, in which the you
that you previously identified with is simply one of the many characters.

Most people assume that 'they' will attain a thing called enlightenment,
but that isn't how it works. The illusion that you are an independent
entity is recognized, the Reality that there is only Consciousness
happening as One Great Thing, and the script continues. Other than that,
things in the dream may or may not change. The you that you previously
identified with will more than likely be pretty much the same, however, you
as Presence will not be feeding it with attachment and emotions. It will
simply continue, spontaneously, in its dance as it always did!

Don't look to get anything. Look to get rid of everything, and then you ARE
everything, or No Thing. I know. Hard to grok with the mind, but it is the
mind, the habit of seeing things in a particular way that get in the way.
Let it all go. Or as I like to say... Stop and Be Presence. Just stop.
Don't try to stop the doing, for you never have been doing. Stop the
association with the doing. Watch that you have ever (as I Am) been
watching/being it all, not doing it. The script continues until the end of
the movie. Just eat your popcorn (or samosas) and enjoy the show.

Good vs. Bad - the Never Ending Story

2007-08-30T17:31:00.001-07:00

The other day, my brother in law, who is not philosophical by nature, sent
my mind into an interesting story. He had come out to replace our toilet
(in exchange for which my wife will sew him a new vest - his wifecan't sew,
I don't do toilets). At one point he was taking a short break and was on
the phone with a friend who had obviously said something to the effect that
they were "Dealing with shit," to which my brother in law wisely replied,
"That doesn't do any good, there's always more shit!"

Indeed, I thought, there IS always more shit, and yet this is what all the
world is trying to do - deal with their shit, as if, at some point there
won't be any more. How ludicrous! There will ALWAYS be more shit. The end
of shit is the end of the game, and there is no end of the game. The end of
the game is called dying...and then you get another life, and try again. At
least, that's the way it works in the games. Your character dies, and then
you try again, usually doing the same exact thing you were doing last time
you died.

One of the benefits of our modern technological age is it is a microcosm of
the 'real' world. The game world shows us how the 'real' world works. You
die. You try again. And again. And again. The difference is that this game
never ends. This is one of the reasons I think there is no end of the world
scenario - good OR bad.

There seem to be essentially two groups of people - those awaiting the
apocalypse and those awaiting the ascension (either in one form or another
- depending on their ideas of what that looks like - religious, ecological,
or otherwise. But it ain't gonna happen. It can't. It makes good blogs and
talk radio, but the reality is that the game ALWAYS goes on.

"But look at all the changes," people may cry. Yes, there are changes, but
there have always been changes. Perhaps they are going faster now, but just
like in the game, just because you finish a level doesn't mean the game is
over, you just finished that level. And guess what? By the time you finish
the game, the 'Creator' comes out with new disks with more levels, which of
course you have to buy (or maybe switch to another game). But it is never
over. And there is ALWAYS more shit to deal with. So deal with it, but
then, consider, is it really shit? To whom is it occurring? Is it real, or
simply an ongoing game within which you are simply one of the characters?
There is no ultimate happy or cataclysmic ending. Yes, your character (and
every character you know) will die, but that's how it has been since time
immemorial. Why, oh good God, why, should anything change now??? It's just
another level is all, like every day is a new day. Same dream, different
scenario. Get used to it. Or, recognize the dream for what it is, which
means all that shit.... Doesn't mean shit.

"Computer....Off!"

The Five M's of Seeking

2007-08-28T15:31:00.000-07:00

One of the primary difficulties when it comes to Enlightenment is
that hardly anyone understands in the least what it is. For instance,
I have often made the distinction between Mastery and Enlightenment,
while 'Jed McKenna' makes the distinction between Mysticism and
Enlightenment. Expanding those three a little, I would like to give
a quick overview of what I'm calling the 5 M's :

Morality
Maturity
Mastery
Mysticism
Moksha (Moksha being one of the Sanskrit words for Enlightenment and
essential means 'Freedom')

Many of these categories will have overlaps, and many 'individuals'
overlap in where they 'are' or in their 'recognition' of these 5. But
the general idea is that if you are seeking something, you better
know what the heck that it is you're seeking. If you're not clear,
you're not going to be even looking in the right place, and chances
are extremely good you're going to get something that ISN'T
enlightenment. If you're not looking for enlightenment (and chances
are you really aren't), that's fine. But if you think you are, you'd
better be able to discriminate what enlightenment is versus the other four.

Morality - Morality has to do with the concern or distinction between
right and wrong, good and bad. This has NOTHING whatsoever to do with
Enlightenment. Most of your Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Islam,
Christianity) are strongly morality based, as well as many other
philosophies - how one should or should not act or speak or be. This
would also include such things as Political Correctness, which is
just a more modern version (or post-modern) version of antiquated
morals for a new-age.

Maturity - Maturity has to do with just being an adult. Many of the
people on a so-called spiritual search are simply seeking a mother or
father figure, looking for a scapegoat, seeking to escape any kind of
responsibility for their thoughts or actions (even though they still
believe they are a concrete individual). Maturity is not as common as
you think. I'm a relatively intelligent guy, but I was 30 before I
actual recognized that I could no longer blame my parents, other
family, friends, circumstances, etc. for how I was feeling. If you
are blaming others for the way you feel and act, not recognizing that
your response to others is your choice, then you have not yet reached
a stage of adult maturity.

Mastery - This (and mysticism) are the most commonly confused with
enlightenment. Some of the obvious ideas of Mastery are walking on
water, feeding the multitudes, reading minds, any kind of psychic or
similar phenomena, healing, manifestation, finding a parking space,
etc. etc. The whole "Secret" Law of Attraction thing, and a great
amount of 'New Age' stuff is totally about mastery and has nothing
whatsoever to do with Enlightenment. It is based on a somebody (you)
who wants to have some kind of control, or that in some way fosters,
nurtures, assists the ego. All of the abundance, prosperity, feel
good stuff is generally in this category or the next...

Mysticism - The best way to describe mysticism is that it usually
deals with altered states of consciousness - ecstacy, bliss, a sense
of union, and/or other dimensions of consciousness - seeing God,
angels, kundalini risings, various yogic states, etc. These are VERY
often confused with enlightenment, because so often enlightenment is
poorly described as a state of bliss, ecstasy and so forth. I have
done it myself on occasion. Similarly, Love, compassion, etc. are
states of consciousness, not enlightenment. They all still have an
individual, a person, a you, who is seeking and/or having a 'state'
of bliss, love, awareness or something else - a state being something
which has a beginning and thus also an end. It is something different
or more that YOU are trying to attain.

Moksha (Enlightenment) - In Moksha, nothing changes, while at the
same time everything changes. The primary distinction between
Enlightenment and everything else is that there is no longer a 'You'
who is acting, seeking, or anything else. It is most simply the
recognition or perhaps apperception (not just intellectually or
mentally), but concretely, tangibly, that what you thought was you
is simply an apparent 'part' of the non-dual awareness that already
always is; that you are consciousness itself, and not the body, or
mind or memories, or concepts, or habits; that there is only ONE
thing going on in this infinite moment, whether known or unknown, and
that is Self/God/Nothingness/Allness. All of the other M's are based
on a person. Moksha (freedom) is totally different because it is the
recognition that there is no person - so morality doesn't play a
part, maturity doesn't play a part, mastery and mysticism have
nothing to do with it. There's nobody there to seek or care whether
those ideals are there or not. Now, that doesn't mean that they might
not manifest in a particular 'Enlightened Being'. Some enlightened
'individuals' either worked for those things prior, or they came
along in conjunction with, or the so-called individual's karma was to
manifest those, either before during or after the recognition of
Enlightenment. But they are not dependent upon enlightenment, nor is
enlightenment dependent upon ANY of those other M's.

The truth is, many people, upon understanding that Moksha or
Enlightenment means the annihilation of their identifications with
their old ideas of right and wrong, all the groovy beliefs about
altered states, God, Love, Light, and so forth, realize they truly
aren't seeking Enlightenment. More likely, they are seeking mastery
or mysticism or even maturity. And there is absolutely nothing wrong
with that. Many people just want to have a much better dream-life, a
more 'spiritual' or healthy or compassionate dream-life, and that's
totally fine. But just don't confuse that with enlightenment or
waking up from the dream. And if you are seeking those things, go to
a teacher who teaches those things. And if you are truly seeking
Enlightenment, make sure you are going to a teacher that is teaching
Enlightenment, and not something else and calling it Enlightenment
(which is far more common than you'd think)!

Fire the Grid (Remix)

2007-07-15T17:46:00.001-07:00

First, let me tell you about the miracle...

I woke up.

And I received a revelation...

Everyone can wake up.

And what's more...

All the 'problems' in the world are due to being asleep, i.e. not knowing
who they are, truly as simply the dream of the Absolute.

However, the great revelation continued (it was a voice...I heard it in my
head as plainly as I hear you groaning right now). It said to me, "Aja, get
everyone to come together and we can create another miracle. Get everyone
to come together at a particular time and recognize who they are and the
entire world can wake up from the dream."

"WHEN?" I asked.

"Why, Right Now in This Moment!"

"Which moment?" I pleaded.

"This moment. What other moment is there, bozo?"

"But," I remonstrated, "aren't some moments more spiritual than others?"

"Yes, of course. This moment, Right Now, is (according to our incredible
celestial and cool calculations, and testified to by all the ancients and
the brotherhoods of light) approximately one gazillion and a half times
more spiritual and enlightening than any other moment there is. "

"And what should I tell them to do in this moment?"

"Tell them, and this is really important...really, really important... To
be who they are; to be happy; to be grateful; to let go of all their
worries; to dance; to sing; to laugh; to make love (especially with old,
fat spiritual teacher types); AND to know, really know, that all of this is
but a passing dream, and is just a sweet and wonderful cosmic joke. They
should recognize this NOW, in this moment, and every 'other' apparent
moment (which of course, is only this moment), and never stop. And should
they stop, then all hell will break loose, and they will be responsible for
the collapse of all civilizations and the fall of the angels from heaven.
(Nah! We're just kidding on that one.)

So, that's it. Cool revelation, huh?

And with only love in the heart of Being, and no offense truly meant to
anyone, I wish you a truly glorious, enlightened Moment, in the depths of
this amazing and infinite Right Now.

What the Heck is He Talking About Now?

2007-07-08T11:27:00.000-07:00

Ooh! Ooh! I've done it again. I seem to have gotten myself in
trouble for telling the truth (well, at least my truth). Is there an
ultimate Truth? Only God knows. And I get the picture of God sitting
alone wondering whether he/she exists - "Most of the people I talk to
can't hear me or don't believe it's Me, and half of those who claim I
talk to them, I wouldn't give the time of day to. Hmmm?! I wonder if
I do exist?"

The last few days have been interesting. A wonderful friend wrote me
that to him, a friend is, "One with whom I can think out loud," in
other words, someone who is totally non-judgmental, totally
accepting, etc. In the last day, I have been accused of chewing on
rotting corpses, overly flirting, being too ordinary (for an
enlightened teacher), and on and on. I recently wrote about 'Being
As You Are", and I guess I'd have to say how fascinating it is to see
how delightfully the Universe responds: I Am as I Is, and the
universe says, "Can ya take it, buddy!?"

Being who you are is either the easiest thing in the world, or the
hardest. I'd prefer to make it the former. However, in order to do
that you have to let go of a lot, primarily caring what people think
of you. And how do you do that? Love. But not in the traditional
sense. Real love, as I have often pointed out, is perfect Self
intimacy. I am (and you are) the Absolute manifesting itself RIGHT
NOW, as you and as me. There is no doubt about that anywhere within
this Aja-ness. That is the nature of non-duality. Sarvam khalvidam
Brahma - "All this is the Absolute Only!" That means me, you, this,
that, all of it. God Godding! Waves on the Ocean, Sunbeams of the
Sun, gold bangles yet still just gold. I (as Aja-ness) recognize the
perfect, the pure, the Is-ness of That which I am, and that Aja-ness
is a manifestation of That. I LOVE IT. It might appear 'good' or
'bad' or whatever, and yet 'perfect' in its manifestation...as are
you and yours. So often people are trying to change. Change WHAT???
Change God? What you see is what you get, as the old adage goes. But
what is the reality behind that. If I tell you I love you, it's
because I love you. If I flirt with you, it's because I love you. If
I ignore you, it's actually because I love you. If I chastise you,
it's because I love you. And as importantly, I love ME.

Recently I heard about a satang teacher (yet another one) who had sex
with a student. People act as if this is amazing. Wake up people.
Humans have sex...constantly. What's particularly sad is that they
have to make up stories about it. "I had sex with the student because
she was having an issue." Maybe?! Probably not. They had sex because
ultimately they wanted to have sex. I love sex. It is a beautiful,
exquisite manifestation of the Divine. I'm an old fat guy, but if you
want to have sex with me, just ask my wife. She might punch you, or
more likely say, like the old comedic line, "Now, take my
husband........Please!" But people would much rather see (or
imagine) a spiritual teacher as being someone who only talks about
love & light and never says anything controversial. That's not
spiritual - that's ignorance. Or, they love the controversy, as long
as it's not pointed at them. Anything that shakes you up only shows
you what you hold onto. It is a great blessing.

So, what do you want? This always remains the most important question
for anyone. If you want love & light & fuzzy & warm, that's
wonderful. Look for that! Have that! Be that! But don't be in
illusion that that is necessarily the truth. There's the old story of
the person going to the train station and saying, "Give me a ticket."
The station master asks, "Okay, to where?" and the ticket buyer
responds, "Oh, I don't know, just anywhere." It doesn't work that
way. And yet, that's what people expect when they say they want
spiritual or truth or freedom or happiness. First, recognize what it
is that you want. The words Enlightenment or Awakened are loaded
words. A lot of beautiful and wonderful people are wandering around
touting enlightenment that wouldn't know it if it bit them on the
ass. I (Aja-ness) am not a warm and fuzzy teacher, although I
probably love you as much or more than anyone who has ever known you.
I (Aja-ness) is a fat, apparently grumpy, somewhat controversial old
fart who loves Truth, in all its manifestations, and will speak the
truth, be as I am, and will also tell you that if you want Truth,
drop every conception, deeply inquire into what IS true, who you are,
and recognize, Right Now, This is IT. In this infinite moment, all
boundaries, all ideas, all memories, all concepts, are just the mind,
and the mind is just an appearance of thoughts that are popping up
like birds in the infinite vastness of Space, and YOU, my sweet
friends, ARE that infinite space, that Awareness, that IS-ness.

Expansion/Contraction.....Wave/Particle......Light/Dark.....Left/Right....Up/Down......You/Me.......
Macrocosm/Microcosm ..... ONE THING ..... Impossible to get the mind
around, because the mind is one tiny thing arising in all of that
.... Here/There ..... Me/Not Me ..... Every boundary is an
illusion. What does that leave you? Where does that leave you?

God is back to wondering if He/She exists.
You do!

Happy Independence Day ?!?

2007-07-04T16:38:00.000-07:00

First, a major caveat: This is not about awakening in the traditional sense. In other words, it is not about exploring consciousness, recognizing who you are, in the Radical Enlightenment way. However, what we are about is Truth. More than anything, our life has been dedicated to the pursuit of what is Truth, what is real, and sometimes this incorporates what is part of the apparent dream.

Everything is part of the great Lila, the divine dance. To hide from any aspect is to hide from Truth. So, sometimes it is necessary to ask oneself - are you truly seeking Truth, in EVERY aspect, or are you seeking mollification and escapism? It's all an illusion, right! So whatever happens in the dream is only a dream. If you are sure of this, then truly let it all go and totally retreat into the pure essence of consciousness without stopping. However, if you are only seeking happiness (i.e. pleasure and pleasantries in the name of spirituality) then you are NOT seeking Truth. Truth comes in many forms, and we must be willing to look at all of them. What are we holding onto? What is happening in and around us? Never take anything at face value. Always go deeper.

And with that intro, I would suggest that one form of Truth, or at least something that at least deserves looking into is the following video:

http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/

I will forewarn you that if you do not want to learn about government conspiracies, religious conspiracies, media conspiracies, DO NOT watch this movie. However, I will recommend that only to those who are totally dedicated to living in a totally REAL spiritual lifestyle, with nothing to do with the phenomenal dreamworld. If you are not living in such a lifestyle, then be willing to break your own boundaries and at least look at the possibilities (powerfully documented) that there is a vast conspiracy going on behind your backs, and in front of your faces.

I know that many of you hate when I go into this mode. But the bottom line is tough shit! I'm just trying to help. Do you want to let go of all that you hold onto or not? You can't let go of what you do not know. You cannot transcend what you do not see.

So, in the spirit of true Independence....

Infinite love & Shanti,

Aja

Be As You Are

2007-06-26T17:17:00.001-07:00

Many people are familiar with the phrase "Be as you are," and many
are also familiar with the book of the same name by David Godman,
about the teachings of Ramana Maharshi. But how many are really
familiar with what it is to Be As You Are?

What I'd like you to do for a moment is really explore and
investigate the 'feeling' that accompanies being as you are. Right
now, be as you are! Now a question might come up of what does this
mean, or how do I do that. The real question is how do you NOT do
that? How can you not be as you are? Primarily by trying to be
something that you're not.

I ran into a wonderful quote the other day. It's from the Hasidic
tradition featuring Rabbi Zusya. The quote has Rabbi Zusya saying,

"When I reach the next world, God will not ask me, 'Why were you not
Moses?' Instead, he will ask me, 'Why were you not Zusya?'"

This is exactly the problem. Everyone is trying to be a Buddha or a
Jesus or an anything other than that which they already are. YOU are
it. YOU are God or the Divine, or the Absolute, or Brahman
manifesting as you. How could you possibly want to be a something else???

So try plugging your own name and your favorite Deity in here:

"When I reach the next world, God will not ask me, 'Why were you not
[Moses, Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, etc]?' Instead, he will ask me, 'Why
were you not [insert your name here]?'"

The statement is BE as you are.....not BECOME something else.

The statement is be AS you are....exactly as you are, not some other way.

The statement is be as YOU are...not as somebody else is...not as
Jesus is or Yogananda, or Ammachi, or...but as YOU, YOU, YOU.

The statement is be as you ARE...not one iota different...not bigger
or more spiritual or less of anything. Exactly as you ARE.

Did the Creator do everything else right and then when He/She/It got
to you made a big "OOOPS!"

This is why Ramana's statement is Abide as who you are. And if you
can't do that, inquire into who you are, and then abide as that.

Nisargadatta says, Rest as the "I AM", in other words 'Be as you are'.

There is not two somethings which are material and spiritual which
are separate realms. There is one thing which is Arising from AND as
the Absolute. It is YOU right now. It is JUST THIS! All of this.

The Vedic mantra proclaims: om purnam adah purnam idam, purnat purnam
udacyate....From the Perfect & Complete Absolute arose the Perfect &
Complete!!! Recognize that. There is NOTHING WRONG.

A few years back a profound movie came out, I Heart Huckabees. If you
haven't seen it, see it. And note in there that there is a phrase
that they start repeating. In fact, if you watch all the way through
the final credits until the very end, it pops up as the very final
thing all by itself. The phrase is:

HOW AM I NOT MYSELF?

Consider this. How are you not You already. Where are you not You
already? When are you not You already?

It's all you...Always and Already, so....

BE AS YOU ARE!

Is There an Out There Out There

2007-06-20T16:50:00.001-07:00

"Is there an out there, out there? I don't recall where I first heard this
phrase, but it re-arose in consciousness the other day. I like I because it
really begins a process of self inquiry. People - most people - take it
pretty much for granted that there IS an out there out there - that what
they perceive is certainly real and concrete. But as both the mystics from
nearly all variety of traditions, and many of the modern day quantum
theorists and scientists are telling us is that there is no out there.

Of course, this begs the question, if there is no out there out there, then
what is there? Or what is here? Or even what is? The traditional response
is to start spewing out mentally or intellectually conceptions based on
what you have heard. But what if you take a different approach? What if you
begin to directly explore what is present, right now? Where do you begin?

The best place to begin is with the idea of who or what is it that is
assuming that there is an out there, i.e. To whom is the idea of an out
there arising? Of course, the simple initial answer is 'To me.' The next
question (of course) is what is that 'me'? As you investigate, you will
recognize that the 'me' is simply awareness. Now, can you find a boundary
between the awareness that is 'me' and the so called 'object' that the me
is aware of?

Now, continue to explore this in a variety ofways, investigating what is
this me, where does it start or stop (if it does), when did it begin? And
so forth. Continue this constantly. Keep going deeper and deeper into it.
Don't let any concepts or pre-conceived beliefs stop you - just keep
digging, lettng go of whatever arises as any kind of concept or boundary.

If you have any problems or questions, feel free to email me. (see the
Email link to the left, right, down below, or wherever the hell it is) and
have fun!

Stop (again) and Be Presence

2007-06-13T14:38:00.000-07:00

Stop and Be Presence!

Being Presence is being Pre-Sense...before the senses

Being Presence is Being the Self, the Awareness

Being Presence is Abiding as the Self

Being Presence is Resting in (and as) the Infinite

Being Presence is the eradication of the false self

Being Presence is the Gateway to the Absolute

Being Presence Awareness of Awareness

Being Presence is not....

Discussing how to do it,
Arguing over who does it better,
Philosophizing on why it is important,
Checking out which teacher says it better,
Wondering if it's the right path for you,
Deciding on how it will look when you get there,
Even trying to figure out HOW to do it...

It's simply Stopping and Being Presence,
And when you've noticed you're not being presence
Stopping (again) and Being Presence
And when a thought comes up
Stopping (again) and Being Presence

Ignoring the thousands and millions of strategies the ego has for
catching your attention
and bringing your attention back to attention
Bringing your consciousness back to consciousness
Bringing your Awareness back to Awareness
and YES
Stopping and Being Presence.

When you have done this continuously for some days, weeks, months or years,
You'll begin to get the picture.

So, now, in this moment....

Stop and BE Presence!

Forget All!

2007-06-02T12:06:00.001-07:00

Often the path must be paradoxical by nature, apparently
contradicting itself in order to point out the truth. The following
is a perfect example of that. It is a quote from the Ashtavakra
Samhita (or Gita)

'My son, you may recite or listen to countless scriptures, but you
will not be established within until you can FORGET EVERYTHING.' 16.1

So, how would you know this unless you read the scripture (Ashtavakra
Samhita) which tells you not to read scripture? Actually, it doesn't
tell you not to read scripture, but rather forget all. Often, reading
scripture (or other spiritually oriented matter) becomes a pastime to
escape the Reality. After all, the scripture is still in the dream
world. Who is reading it? Who is contemplating it? This was Ramana's
constant question. A large percentage of the time when a question
was asked of him, he pointed the questioner back to them-Selves by
posing, "Who is asking the question?" The moment you recognize the I
Am or I-I of the questioner, the question becomes superfluous. The
scripture acts in the same way. In effect, it immediately says, 'Stop
what you are doing and look within, reverse the vector of attention
to that which is Aware, which is Awareness Itself. Forget everything
you think you know and look at the knower.'

A few verses later, the Ashtavakra reiterates in a different way:

'If even Shiva, Vishnu or the lotus-born Brahma were your instructor,
until you have FORGOTTEN EVERYTHING you cannot be established within.' 16.11

It doesn't matter who the teacher is, what the teaching is, where it
comes from, the lineage, or anything else...forget all!

At the end of the most well-known Gita (Bhagavad Gita), Krishna gives
his final instruction: 'Abandon all varieties of dharma and go to the
shelter of Me alone.' 18.66

The word dharma, traditionally thought of as religious truth, comes
from the Sanskrit root 'dhr' to hold or grasp, so in essence Krisna
is saying the same thing - forget everything and simply take refuge
in Me (or the I Am).

How does one do this? By inquiring into the 'I'. Who am I? What am
I? What is this I-ness? Who is Aware? What is Aware? Where is it
located?.....whatever points you to the recognition or REAL-I-zation
of Self as infinite Awareness. Whenever a question or thought comes
up, IMMEDIATELY return back to the 'Who is aware of it?' All else
will pull you off into all variety of spiritual, philosophical,
ontological and hoary questions which ultimately can never be
answered by the mind anyway. And as the Ashtavakra also says:

'What man is there who, having observed the diversity of opinions
among the great seers, saints, and yogis, and becoming completely
indifferent to learning, does not attain quietude?' 9.5

Every teacher, every teaching, has a slightly different 'take' on the
process. Yes, they all point, ultimately, to the same thing, but some
more directly than others; some more clearly than others; and some
may get past your filters better than others. But the moment you
start questioning the whys and wherefors, you're off in the tangle of
mental conceptions and ideas. Who are these arising to? Remember,
Self REAL-I-zation is about nothing other than the recognition of
Self, recognizing What you have eternally been. That requires no
understanding other than the recognition of that and abiding as that
(NOT the intellectual understanding of that).

So, now that you've read this.....FORGET IT! And Abide as the SELF.

Simply Words

2007-05-23T08:44:00.001-07:00

Enlightenment...

Is simply a word
that points to...

Bondage...

Is simply a word
that points to...

Enlightment...

Is simply a word...

Speaking Truth

2007-05-22T16:10:00.001-07:00

Well, the last blog, as well as the following satsang, precipitated quite a
diverse mixture of responses, and if nothing else, response (whether "good"
or "bad") shows that at least it is registering on some level.

Looking up something, I came across a quote that my teacher had written.
Throughout the Vedic scriptures, satyam, or truthfulness is touted as one
of the highest principles. Indeed, Kali yuga, or the present age, is
defined by the fact that the last leg of dharma IS truthfulness, and that
it steadily declines as we progress through this age, until it basically
disappears altogether. I have often quoted Orwell, and his "To speak the
truth in times of universal deceit is an act of rebellion," and those who
know me, know that I love to rant and rave regarding political, spiritual
or cultural 'correctness' which is generally little more than ignoring
Truth, in the name of how we would 'like' it to be. But what we want and
what is don't often match up, so we are left with a discrepancy, or one of
those wonderful cognitive dissonances.

Anyway, so this is what my guru said (more than 30 years ago):

"According to social conventions, it is said that one can speak the truth
only when it is palatable to others. But that is not truthfulness. The
truth should be spoken in a straight and forward way, so that others will
understand actually what the facts are. If a man is a thief and if people
are warned that he is a thief, that is truth. Although sometimes the truth
is unpalatable, one should not refrain from speaking it. Truthfulness
demands that the facts be presented as they are for the benefit of others.
That is the definition of truth."

I suppose this does not necessarily mean that the truth, as unpalatable as
it may be, need be expressed in an unpalatable way(which some have accused
me of), or in an anguished way, but when one sees the extent of the
suffering which people put themselves and others through, the natural state
of compassion is overshadowed by anguish or severe pain. By nature, the
compassionate heart is pierced by seeing this suffering. It should be!

Yes, the state of Awakening is joyful, it is happy, it is free from
bondage, but the open heart of Awareness, can also be pierced by the pain
which is seen. It is, in fact, the part that makes us still human!

It is far too easy, especially in this day and age, to become indolent or
neglectful of spiritual Truth within ourselves, particularly when it is so
neglected, or worse, misrepresented, by mass media and the general
populace, (and our own minds). So, let us strive to always be open to the
truth, the highest truth, that we can open ourselves up to, letting go of
every previously held belief, that we may continue to shred and shed all
non-truths that we may cling to.

Always, with infinite love & gratitude,

Aja

POD, NAD & NDA

2007-05-15T15:24:00.000-07:00

Okay, this one may piss a few people off, but that's okay. It's
'Perfect' right. And that, in fact, is what I'm going to talk about.
First, let me define a few terms: (I love acronyms)

NAD - Narcissistic Advaita Disorder
NDA - Non-Dual Apathy
POD - Philosophical One-ness Destructionism

First, POD. Philosophical One-ness Destructionism is essentially
where the 'individual' holds to the One-ness view as a philosophy, a
theory, an intellectual understanding. It basically states that "my
understanding from the teachers, scriptures, and everything, is that
all is One, all is Perfect, exactly as it is. 'I' don't need to do
anything to change it, because it is Perfect as it is." Now while, in
Reality, this is a truism, that ultimately, nothing can happen if it
isn't perfect for it to happen, doesn't mean that it is necessarily
perfect that it STAYS THAT WAY! So, let's give a very simple and
practical example. You are sitting at a table with one hand on the
table and the other hand repeatedly hitting the hand on the table
with a hammer. BAM! BAM! BAM! "Oh, I'm suffering so much; but
advaita philosophy tells me that everything is Perfect, so I can see
that this suffering is simply what is happening, and it's perfect as
it is! And I can surrender into that, and it's wonderful and joyous!"
BAM! BAM! BAM! This is Philosophical One-ness Destructionism, and
the adherents of this we refer to as POD-people. 'It's all perfect,
so nothing needs to change. So what if my pummelled, bone crushed,
blood splattered hand is lying limply on the table, no longer
useable. It's all perfect right!?" Now, if this was a total
recognition, in other words, if one truly didn't care that the hand
was crushed, we might call this enlightenment. However, it doesn't
make it NOT STUPID!!!! If you think you are your hand, and your hand
hurts, move your friggin hand! That doesn't mean you now have to
punish the hammer yielding hand (which is what most people would tend
to do.) You might take the hammer away, nicely; or instruct the hand
that hammering others isn't nice, or .... ??? You might say that it
is perfect that is arising, AND it is showing you something,
instructing you in some way. (Hands don't let hands use hammers ?!)

POD and POD-People suffer from NDA - Non Dual Apathy, which basically
says (and often people have questions regarding this) "If everything
is perfect in this unified non-dual field, why do anything? Won't I
just sit and do nothing?" Unfortunately, while the answer should be
no, the answer is quite often, "Yes, you will probably sit on your
ass and watch the world being taken over by power-crazed, inhuman,
mass-murdering psychotics, and ultimately watch as the world is
literally destroyed!"

Now, if you're like me, and really don't care either way if the world
is destroyed or not, that's fine. But my guess is that you probably
do care. You enjoy some aspects of your life, and want them to
continue. The difficulty is that this is where the other acronym fits
in - NAD - Narcissistic Advaita Disorder. Those suffering from NAD,
which is simply a philosophical expansion of the normal narcissistic
syndrome (I-ME-Mine) utilize the philosophy of Advaita to get what
THEY want, (or rather think they want), while simultaneously allowing
everything else to fall apart, not utilizing any God-given
intelligence to see that they are supporting, in one way or another,
those very mass-murdering psychotics they don't like. Okay, I'm being
over-dramatic...maybe. But how many of those people that we truly
admire, have said things like, "Live simply so that others may simply
live" (Gandhi) or "Only one who devotes himself to a cause with his
whole strength and soul can be a true master. For this reason mastery
demands all of a person." (Einstein) or, "We can no longer afford to
confuse peaceability with passivity. Authentic peace is no more
passive than war. Like war, it calls for discipline and intelligence
and strength of character, though it calls also for higher principles
and aims. If we are serious about peace, then we must work for it as
ardently, seriously, continuously, carefully, and bravely as we now
prepare for war." (Wendell Berry) or "Stupidity and selfishness are
the only evil." (Nisargadatta Maharaj) Yes, he called selfishness 'evil'!

So, where does this leave us. Basically, it means that POD people
with NDA and NAD are going around not doing things (because
everything is perfect as it is) when it's for someone else or for a
higher cause or for their own awakening, but suddenly 'doing' like
crazy when it is for themselves, to make money, look better, get
more, etc. Suddenly, things aren't all that perfect are
they? Somehow things need to be bigger, better, more. I will say
that one problem is, people don't recognize the level to which they
are being subtly effected by the cultural standards. People
automatically consider that they are 'supposed' to live (often by
themselves) in a quarter or million dollar home, when a small cottage
would do fine, or to own a 30 or 40 thousand dollar car when a used
one would work just as well (or heaven forbid, no car at all). Don't
think about the ramifications of supporting a culture based on the
death and destruction of millions of innocent humans, animals,
forests, etc. Hey, it's all perfect, right!

Now, I know this is all a big departure from the normal 'It's all a
dream' speech, and nothing has changed. But, what is being seen is
using the philosophy of advaita to not do the needful; to continue in
the old way of being and seeing it as okay. You don't wake up without
a struggle, and the bulk of that struggle is the destruction of the
vasanas, that is the egoic tendencies to do and think those things
that are of a selfish (read evil) intent. This is why in traditional
Advaita, karma yoga - or working selflessly for the benefit of others
- is a pre-cursor. You don't need a 50 thousand dollar car. Buy a $15
thousand car and give the balance to feed people or to a homeless
shelter, or even to a political cause, or your favorite spiritual
cause. There's a famous proverb about 'talking the talk versus
walking the talk' or as Morpheus tells Neo, "Can you now see there's
a difference between talking about the path and walking the path?"
(or something like that.) Anyway, lots of people talk Advaita, but
can you walk it? Every moment!? This is not about the Church of
Non-Duality. This is about changing the very fabric of who you think
you are. You have a power within you that is tremendous. Don't settle
for a few trinkets (because everything is Perfect as it is). Use the
dream of this human life to WAKE UP! Or as Ashtavakra Gita says, "You
pervade this universe and the universe exists in you. You are really
Pure Consciousness by nature. DON'T BE SMALL MINDED."

Dreaming Spiritual Words

2007-05-05T17:15:00.001-07:00

Problems in language so often tend to take us astray, and I fall prey to it
as much as the next. Take the word 'glimpse'. We use it, suggesting that
the 'individual' which is in fact part of the dream, can experience the
Absolute. In reality, what occurs is that for a moment, the Self shines, or
reflects (all inadequate) through to the mind and says it has a glimpse of
the Reality.

So imagine it like this. You are dreaming, and for half a moment, you wake
up, and then fall back asleep. The dreaming self, which is entirely a dream
creation (the dream body, the dream mind, the dream world) and 'remembers'
a moment of being awake and 'thinks' that it had a 'glimpse' of being
awake. So from this 'awake' perspective, we can recognize that the dream
person had no experience or glimpse of being awake; they simply remember in
the dream state that there was a place of not being asleep. That dream
person will not ever wake up...they will disappear entirely upon waking up.
They will no longer exist. So, the idea of a glimpse is a misnomer.

Which brings us to the 'How to do it?' that several people inquired about.
How does the dreamer wake up? In one way, it is easy. Right now, even as
you are reading this, recognize, or suggest to yourself or imagine, or ???
that all this is a dream. Everything you see, feel, taste, hear, etc. is
simply part of this dream, including, and perhaps especially, you (your
body, your mind, your history) is the dreamed. You are NOT the dreamer, you
are the dreamed. Your family, your job, your partner, your children, are
all part of the dream. That doesn't mean you ignore them, because you are
part of the dream as well. Recognize that what you call you - the
'Fred-ness' or 'Susan-ness' or whatever, will continue to 'do' what it does
in the dream. That 'Fred-ness' or 'Susan-ness' can't 'become' enlightened,
because in order for them to be enlightened, their dream nature must
disappear - die, if you will.

So, what becomes enlightened? Nothing, at least from the dream perspective.
The dream continues, and 'behind' the dream, or that from which the dream
is arising, is the infinite space of Awareness.

So as I said before, right now, and from this moment on, see it all as a
dream. Like Nisargadatta says, you can love the dream or hate the dream...
it doesn't really matter; but just see it as a dream, (and don't forget
that your body, mind, life are included in that), and the Truth of
Awareness, God, Presence, Emptiness, will remain.

Oh, and if you don't like the dream analogy, another 'method' is from this
moment on, to see it ALL as God- all of it, everything that is seen, heard,
tasted, thought, (again, including you, your body, your thoughts, your
history)...all the play or expansion of God. Either 'approach' works just
fine.

And, by the way, the question, 'Who am I?' points at the same exact thing.
It shows us, not so much what we ARE as what we are NOT, and what is left
is the same Reality!

Self Realization & God Realization

2007-05-02T08:46:00.001-07:00

What many people don't get, particularly here in the West, is that there is
a difference between recognition of the Self and Recognition of God.

Ultimately, God and the Self are one, but it is a oneness like the wave and
the ocean, the sunlight and the sun.

Recognition of the Self is relatively easy. It can be done in an instant.
After all, it is who you are. When you simply stop and be, letting go of
the stuff that is in awareness, what is left is always the Self, the light
of consciousness. However, at this point, the so-called litte self, or ego,
remains. However, the experience is so profound, compared to the normal
moment to moment infatuation with the mind, that many feel this is the
end. This is only the beginning. It is, as I have said, like landing in
India and thinking you have seen the entirety of the country. You have only
walked through the door. This is where the real work begins.

Now begins the work of staying there, of remaining situated in that Self,
in that "I Am", letting go of every false notion, every belief, every
habitual pattern of egoity, surrendering the sense of indviduality more and
more into that Infinite Presence, returning to Source, to God, until there
is no 'you', only THAT! This is where the death comes in; that willingness
to give EVERYTHING, to Die to self. But most would rather have a glimpse
AND an ego than to surrender the ego to the Absolute.

This is not a judgment, only an observation. Better, awake to the Self,
even partially, than totally asleep, like the mass of humanity. Just don't
confuse having gotten on the elevator with having arrived at the Penthouse.

Comments

2007-04-18T10:27:00.000-07:00

It turned out I (non-expert that I am) had not turned the comment
capability on. Now, you are able to make comments to posts if you
like (at least until "I" change my "mind".)

Let's Go Hokies

2007-04-17T17:31:00.000-07:00

Ever ready to watch TV, I watched the entire convocation at Virginia Tech
for the 32 (33 if you include the gunman) dead from yesterday's mass
killing. I find the whole thing fascinating on numerous levels:
1st. The fact that one more thing grabs the attention of the American
public so readily, pushing everything else aside. Have you any idea how
many people die every minute in the world? Doesn't really matter how -
guns, suicide, war, starvation, disease, etc. It's a part of the life
cycle. Yes, it is a sad thing for those involved, a loved one dead under
such bizarre circumstances. But then so are the tens of thousands of deaths
that are taking place in the middle east, Darfur, and (dare I say it) the
slaughterhouses.
2nd. This caught my attention quite quickly. Everyone immediately started
blaming the school, the police, somebody, anybody, that after the first two
murders (which looked like a basic domestic squabble) the entire campus of
some 26,000 students should have been immediately notified that there was a
killer on the loose and the campus (read 'small city') locked down. As if!
It always goes back to 'how can we beef up security everywhere? Let's make
the entire country into a police state. One person suggested that as soon
as the first 2 murders were seen (which they thought could have been a
murder/suicide), the ATF, national guard, police, and army should have been
called in. AS IF!
3rd. And to my 'mind' most important, was that fact that virtually no one
was asking 'why did he do it?' It's a little like when Bush or anyone, goes
to war, people really rarely ask "Why". They just kind of go, 'Uh, okay'.
I mean, obviously Cho was disturbed, but these days, EVERYONE is disturbed.
Over 1,000,000 people commit suicide (successfully) every year, with 2 to
10 times that many attempting suicide. Cho basically committed suicide,
just taking a few extras with him.
Anyway, there were many more observations made, however, back to the
convocation. So, there they are, thousands of people gathered together to
mourn their loss (including Prez & Mrs. Bush, the Virginia govenor and his
wife, speakers from the Christian, Buddhist, Jewish and Islamic faiths (why
do they never include Hindus? There are almost a billion of them.) and the
last speaker is a poet and professor at the school, Nikki Giovanni who
gave a powerful and stirring speech ending with "We are the Hokies! We will
prevail! We will prevail! We will prevail!" This brought the entire body of
students, faculty and all to their feet and chanting "Let's go Hokies!
Let's go Hokies! Let's go Hokies!" to rhythmic applause.
Strangest memorial I've ever seen.

But, again, the real question is why? Why did Cho find it necessary to go
and blow people away, emotionlessly it appeared, to the witnesses who saw
him? My answer here might best be given by quoting E. F. Schumacher who
said:
"It is a grave error to accuse a man who pursues self-knowledge of 'turning
his back on society'. The opposite would be more nearly true: that a man
who fails to pursue self knowledge is and remains a danger to society, for
he will tend to misunderstand everything that other people say or do, and
remain blissfully unaware of the significance of many things he does
himself."

Unless and until people seek Self knowledge, Self understanding, and true
wisdom (at the least) and even deeper, their own True Nature as
Consciousness itself, they will go around in any number of aspects of the
dream. Until they fully recognize that they are free from the mind and it's
conceptions and perceptions, they will continue to act in ignorance. There
is no way around it. As long as you consider the mind to be real and true,
and consider yourself AS that mind, you will act in ignorance! It is
inescapable. Mind means entrapment and ignorance when believed. It's as
simple as that. Give it up, explore it, investigate it, examine it, or
continue to live in a fool's paradise, which means suffering. Yes, Cho
killed a bunch of bodies...very sad, but those who willingly live in
ignorance kill the soul, and THAT is truly a sin!

okey dokey, I'm done.

Stop And Be

2007-04-08T08:15:00.001-07:00

How much energy does it take to maintain a lie? Everyone knows the stories of how the layers of lies become more and more complex as the truth shines through and there is a desperate attempt to plug the holes, to strengthen the façade of the lies, before the entire lie comes crashing down and the truth becomes self evident.
And yet, in our own lives, we strive desperately to maintain that which, deep down we know is a lie - the lie of our own image, of a story of personhood and deeply identifying with that person, that body, that mind - when all we have to do is STOP - just relax our hold and let it all collapse!
Stop, for a moment. What is there? What and where are YOU? What is left is infinite Reality without the shaky structure of a personal you getting in the way. What is left is the joy of pure Presence...free from form or thought or ...

So for this moment, stop and BE. And again for this moment... and this one... and this one...

In or Out - A Dialogue

2007-04-04T18:58:00.000-07:00

Okay, so everything is this ocean of Oneness, and from this ocean 'you'
arise as a wave.
Got it!
So now what?
What do you mean?
I mean, now that you're a wave, what do you do?
I don't know. Just be a wave, I guess.
Well, perhaps, but chances are it's more than that. Probably, one of two
things will happen: Either you will go out or in.
Explain please!
If you're a wave, one of several billion, you're not going to see much. Nor
are many other waves going to see you. So, you may want to get just a bit
above the other waves - perhaps get a better perspective - be a little
higher than the other waves. At first, it's innocent enough, but those
other waves are growing too, also trying to see (and be seen) over the
crowd.
Aha! Like a competition!?
Exactly. And you also need to defend your waveness from your competitors -
all those other waves. But, no matter what you do, there are always bigger
and better waves. Plus, there's always a feeling, perhaps even a knowing,
that ultimately, this is fruitless - because you're all just water.
So what happens?
Eventually, with luck, disillusionment sets in.
Ooh! Disillusionment - I like that word.
Yes. At first it might not be so much, but enough to question your motives
and actions.
Un-huh! And then what?
And then the out decides to go in.
What does that mean?
It means it goes in the exact opposite direction. Rather than trying to
expand out, it begins to contract in.
What does that look like?
At first, it might be confused. It still has this tendency to grow up and
out, but it's also now wondering about itself - what exactly IS it; where
did it come from, and so on. However, it is so conditioned now to look
outside itself that it will now look for bigger waves, or groups of waves
to anser its questions and give it answers.
Is that a problem?
Yes, because he can never know if that bigger wave or that group of waves
is right.
Ahhh! So what's the solution?
Turn 'within'. The wave must inquire into their own nature; explore their
waveness and their waterness, and ultimately, their Ocean-ness.
So why don't more waves do this?
Well, for one, it's hard. They have a long time habit of going and looking
out and of trying to defend their waveness. Even when they do try to go in,
they'll be distracted and again look out. All it takes is a moment of
looking out and they forget they were trying to look in. They have to keep
looking in, deeper and deeper without being, or allowing themselves to be
distracted! Or sometimes, they get a little idea - a little taste - and
figure, "good enough", and then head back out again, most likely to show
the other waves how much more they know.
Tsk, tsk! That's horrible.
No, it's just 'wave-nature'. Old habits die hard. The solution is to
recognize the backslide, the out-looking nature, and continue the inquiry -
ever deeper and deeper.
What will happen then?
Through this constant inquiry, gradually, the attachment and
identification with the waveness will minimize and the recognition of being
waterness and Ocean-ness will expand, thereby regaining their qualitative
One-ness.
Cool!
Definitely!

The Truth of Sri Lirpa Loof

2007-04-02T08:16:00.000-07:00

Well, April 1st has passed and the teachings of Sri Lirpa Loof no longer
apply (see the post for April 1st). If you didn't quite catch on, here are
some
hints:

1. In lirpa loof's tradition the capital is at the end of the name...
lirpA looF,

2. That they consider all things to be REVERSE projections of reality.

3. And it only works on April 1st!

(and if you still didn't get it, well, we'll just try again next year!)

And what is the blessings of the geat spiritual lesson:

Don't believe every piece of "spiritual" crap somebody feeds you -
including (perhaps especially) ME!

Instant Spiritual Blessings

2007-04-01T09:32:00.000-07:00

Today is a very special day. There was once said to be a truly great and
deeply enlightened sage in Tibet by the name of Sri Lirpa Loof. All matter
of miracles were attributed to him and it was said that by meditating on
his name one could remove great heaps of accumulated karma.

However, if one truly wanted to achieve the ultimate goal of Absolute
Enlightenment, they should spread the holy blessings of Lirpa Loof by
loudly proclaiming to each person they meet today, "You and I and the great
Lirpa Loof are all One! You are the great Lirpa Loof! And I, above all, am
the great Lirpa Loof!" If one does this devotedly today, they are certain
to receive the blessing of the greatest spiritual lesson.

With the love and blessings of Sri Lirpa Loof.

Two Cool Links

2007-03-31T16:51:00.001-07:00

I know I'm not always big on links and such, but I ran into these two
and loved them both:

The first is funny, but exceptionally true. For those of you who are
apparently in my age bracket (or thereabouts) you remember when the
"News" meant something. I confess that I first saw this link on
Leno, who played this cartoon from JibJab, the makers of such comic
satirical hits as "This Land". It's called, "What We Call The News"
and the link is

http://www.jibjab.com/what_we_call_the_news

It is a hysterical yet sadly true commentary on what we call
important news. Anyway, just something to enjoy!

The second video is at the website:

http://www.becomingme.com/

and
is itself called Becoming Me, based on the children's book of the
same name. It is a brief description of the author's idea of how all
"This" came to be manifested, but reflects what most philosophies
(and mystics) consider to be a 'True' understanding. But in any
case, it's very sweet and touching.

Both of these videos can be downloaded. The jibjab ones, you need to
join, but they are free. The Becoming Me video costs a couple of dollars.

Enjoy the Lila!

Some Highly Recommended Books

2007-03-27T13:19:00.000-07:00

Two books have come across my desk (which is really the table next to my couch), but that I would like to recommend:

The first is Byron Katie's new book, A Thousand Names for Joy. Using her husband, Stephen Mitchell's translation of the Tao Te Ching, Katie takes just a line or two from each of the 81 verses and then expresses her own recognition. Although she makes reference to her process, "The Work" and gives instructions in the back, this is primarily simply the beautiful expression of Pure Presence.

The Second is Dennis Waite's new book, Back to the Truth: 5000 years of Advaita. If you are interested in a deep and rich understanding of classical Advaita (non-duality) this book is bound to become the classic. (And not just because he quoted us numerous times.) He differentiates the various paths of Advaita from it's Upanisadic origins up to the present day; extensively and clearly expresses the various aspects of Advaita; and backs it up with extensive quotes from ancient and present day sources, teachers, scriptures, etc. Though it is intelligent and scholarly, it is not so academic as to be beyond anyone's grasp.

In order to facilitate the review or purchase of these and other books I've loved over the years, I've created a "bookstore" at Amazon. I will probably refine it later, and if you have any highly recommended books you think are MUSTS, let me know. Anyway, the link is:

http://astore.amazon.com/atmainst-20

Make it a link on your favorites page.

Shanti,
Aja

A Deeper Look at Inquiry

2007-03-26T19:43:00.000-07:00

For years I have spoken on, and written, about Self Inquiry, but I'd like
to make a clearer distinction.

There are two basic facets of Self Inquiry: 1. The direct recognition of
Self, and 2. The letting go, or deconstructing of that which is NOT the
Self, specifically, the beliefs.

1. The direct recognition can best be described through the teachings of
Ramana (the inquiry "Who am I?) or Nisargadatta's abiding as 'I Am'. The
consistent and continuous practice of these methods, point us directly at
that which precedes our thoughts and beliefs. It is the discrimination
between what is sat and asat, or real and unreal, or permanent and
impermanent. The focus of attention is not on the objects of awareness, but
on the recognition that You ARE the awareness itself, without bounds or
constrictions - formless. Generally, in going through this process, we
'drop' into this recognition, realize our freedom, and for moments, hours,
or even days, there is just what IS.

However, what occurs is that the mind, ever present, pops up in the form of
beliefs, and our attention is pulled away from the Now and into some past
or future idea. This is where the second aspect of Self Inquiry comes in..

2. What we are NOT. This second aspect can also be done on it's own or in
conjunction, so to speak, with the resting as what IS. This part can best
be described as Jed McKenna's Spiritual Autolysis, or Byron Katie's 'The
Work'. It consists of systematically deconstructing our beliefs. It works
best by actually looking at, and writing down, what you consider to be
true, and then questioning whether, in fact, it is true. In the case of
Byron Katie's work, she asks 4 questions: Is it true? Do I absolutely know
it to be true? How do I feel when I believe this thought? And, Who would I
be without this thought? The answer to this leads to the same answer as
the direct inquiry - i.e. perfect freedom and total abidance as what is.

We are defined by our beliefs. We suffer due to believing our thoughts are
true. They are just thoughts, they arise, but they are NOT who we are.
Every time we believe a thought, we are bound by that thought. The inquiry
and resting as Who we are instantly takes us into the pure recognition of
Now, however, the systematic and complete destruction of our belief habits
will make that transition smoother and quicker.

Unfortunately, for most people, since they define themselves by their
beliefs, deconstructing those beliefs, is equivalent to dying. That's
exactly right. So, one has to decide - do you want to know (be) Truth, or
to continue to suffer by believing those thoughts?

Who Says So

2007-03-18T16:53:00.001-07:00

Conditioning - subtle and pervasive. We can call it belief or ideas, mental
constructs, habits, it really doesn't matter. The point is that it appears
to be there, points upon which we fixate. We believe we ARE or we are NOT
enlightened. We believe that there can only be one or ten or fifty
enlightened people on the planet at any given time. We believe that
everyone is already enlightened. It doesn't really matter what the
fixation, whether it is a 'good' one or a 'bad' one - in some way it is
still holding us to an angle of vision, a perspective.

The question is, "Who the hell said it had to be this way or that way???"
People are constantly quoting someone or some scripture to me to prove
their point, as if I give a damn! Sure, I love quotes as much or more than
the next person. I collect them like stamps or coins, but I also recognize
that they give a flavor, they point a direction. I never take them as
unalterable Truths. "It takes three million lifetimes to become
enlightened." It's not even about believing you're enlightened right now.
It's about seeing what you are holding onto. That's all. Choose to let it
go or choose to live with it. It doesn't matter. But don't let it define
you, bind you, constrict you.

Now, look and see how you react to what I am saying. Do you agree? Do you
disagree? Doesn't matter one way or the other, does it? You simply hold it
in your own mind as 'true' or not. Yes, it leaves you dangling, without a
particular idea to hold onto, but that's sort of the point now isn't it?

Phacinating Phenomenon

2007-03-17T16:28:00.000-07:00

"The mind & body happen to you because you find them interesting." -
Nisargadatta Maharaja

I saw this quote and loved it. It doesn't matter how you find it
interesting - it's just that it is more interesting than the alternative:
the emptiness. So when it comes to the body, and particularly, when it
comes to the mind, it doesn't matter if we hate it, or love it, or love to
hate it, or hate to love it, or, well, you catch the drift, it's downright
interesting. We'll look at every aspect of it. We will analyze it until
we're blue in the face. But let it go? Ignore it? Inquire what precedes it?
These are not our first choice.

I once heard an interview on the radio with Fred Rogers...you remember him,
Mr. Roger's Neighborhood. In this interview, he was pointing out how
powerful silence is, and how we have an aversion to it. He then proceeded
to stop talking for only about 10 seconds, but it was the longest 10
seconds I had ever heard (or not heard) on the radio. He had successfully
made his point. Similarly, we may put an emphasis on talking. Or, we might
put an emphasis on silence. In either case, we are focusing on the
phenomenon because it is interesting. It's loud, it's quiet, it's good,
it's bad. It's just 'stuff' happening. It's stuff that is changing. What is
it that never changes? What is it that is always Present and witnessing
that body, that noisy mind, or even that silent mind?
This is where that inquiry comes in. Question, not the mind, but where is
this mind? To whom or what is it arising? Like a vast empty space, the
body, the mind, the world are all arising within You! You are that Great
Presence, the Empty Awareness within which all of it arises. Notice that...
Become That... Rest as That!

Freedom's Just Another Name for Nothing Left to Lose

2007-03-13T08:44:00.000-07:00

The title above really says it all, but it recently popped into my head,
and I rememer singing this song (Me and My Bobby McGee) and that wonderful
line - "Freedom's just another name for nothing left to lose." These days,
however, most people think of freedom as nothing more to gain - in other
words, that freedom comes through getting more and not losing everything.
Freedom (Enlightenment) comes not by gaining, but by losing everything that
is personal, or rather the personal identification with it.
There's a wonderful story in Yoga Vasistha where a king goes to the forest
to renounce everything. He becomes more and more austere, giving up his
hut, his clothes, eating less and less (all the suggestion of his teacher)
who keeps saying "Renounce more, renounce more". Finally he can think of
nothing else to renounce. The teacher says to him, "You have failed to
renounce the one thing that really needs to be renounced - your mind."
You see, it is the mind which is the obstacle. When you have renounced your
attachment and identification to the mind's collection of beliefs, you have
lost all that obscures What IS. You have lost the shackles...you have
nothing more to lose. Lose the beliefs, and you have nothing more to lose.
And then, 'Living life is easy!'

Beyond Thoughts

2007-03-10T07:13:00.001-08:00

How long can you rest as 'I Am'?
Perhaps you'd like to take a moment to try it now...simply resting as that
sense of I-Am-ness. Go ahead...I'll wait...........

Well? How did you do? Judgments perhaps? There are always two things
happening: 1. Is the actual thing happening, and 2. Is the story about
what's happening. The problem is that we normally focus on the story about
what is happening. This even includes our thoughts. So, for instance, in
the exercise above, you may have had thoughts, and then you proceeded to
have numerous thoughts ABOUT those thoughts. So, like anything, there are
two things happening...in this case, the first is that there are thoughts
that are happening, and then we proceed to feed those thoughts by having
thoughts ABOUT the thoughts.
These initial thoughts are generally harmless. They simply arise, like the
sun. But because we impart supreme importance to our thoughts, we then
judge them, or believe them, or chase after them, or rationalize them, or
... You get the picture. So, when those intial thoughts arise, simply
recognize their arising from and as the space of Presence.
This is always the case....something happens...every moment, things
happening. But then, we have a story about it. Why? Generally what happens
creates no suffering. However, our story about what is happening generally
has the potential to create great suffering. The sun came up. "Oh my GOD!
Why did the sun come up this morning?" When you have a belief or an
expectation about what happens moment by moment, there tends to be
suffering. When there is no expectation, simply allowance, surrender,
openness, embracing...no suffering.
A thought arises...no expectation...no suffering. Just remain as the ever
present Now-ness.

"There is something beyond our mind which abides in silence within our
mind. It is the supreme mystery beyond thought. Let one's mind and one's
subtle body rest upon that and not rest on anything else."
Maitri Upanishad

There is only consciousness

2007-02-11T16:51:00.000-08:00

Try as we might (though far too few even try), we can find nothing other
than consciousness. If you think you can, then consider what is it that
assumes it is something recognizing something outside of consciousness.
That again is consciousness alone. Why the need to break things up? That
which appears to be perceiving and that which appears to be perceived have
no distinction. Stop for a moment and try to find the distinction. There is
only one thing happening. That is consciousness. Rest in that alone and be
happy!

2007-01-27T10:22:00.000-08:00

New atma blog

Confusion of the Internet

2006-10-17T13:48:00.000-07:00

As if we haven't confused people enough, what with the Atma Institute, One Million Awake, Barnashram, and all the various titles and places, and what not, we're trying to simplify it, at least for us, and make it more available. So, you have probably been re-directed here from www.atmainstitute.org/ajablog.htm . Please note the current URL and save it, so you can, in the future, go directly to this site without having to go to the re-direct page.
infinite love
Aja