what am ''I''?

Reality Means Silence

YOU ARE NOT THE BODY

YOU ARE NOT THE BODY 

It has come to my attention that the mantra that I gave you
a while back is a little confusing to most people.
When you say the mantra, "Who am I, I am He, I am not the body." 

There's a little confusion.
I was speaking to one of you last week and
I saw where the confusion lies.
When you say, "I am not the body," to whom are you referring?
This is an important point.

"I am not the body," to most people means simply this:
"I am not my body." 

But I am a part from my body especially those of us
with a Christian Judaeo background.
We say, "My body is the temple for the living God and
God resides within myself."
This may be true to an extent, but it is not the ultimate truth.
The ULTIMATE TRUTH IS exactly what it says, "I am not my body." 

In other words, my body does not exist, but there are not two of us.
There is not I-am and my body or there is not God and my body.
There is not God residing in my body.
There simply is no body.
No body exists.
Therefore I-am, is that I-am.
You are consciousness just the way you are,
but you are not the body.
In other words what you think is the body, is consciousness.
There is not the body and consciousness.
There's the body as consciousness and
the body does not exist the way it appears.

Everything you see, everything that appears are images,
or what is called false imagination and
the only truth about these images is consciousness. 

These are all cosmic images on the screen of consciousness,
and that's everything.
You and I, the chairs, the couch, the sky, the moon, the universe,
are simply images, appearances, optical illusions.

THE TRUTH IS THAT YOU ARE CONSCIOUSNESS,
but you can't see yourself because of the maya, the grand illusion.
So you believe that you are the body and you are the doer.
~Robert Adams - T.12 : I Am Not The Body! - 28th September, 1990

Always remember

Always remember deep in your heart that all is well and everything is unfolding as it should. 
There are no mistakes anywhere, at any time. What appears to be wrong is simply your own false imagination. 
That's all. 
You are the Self, that perfect immutable Self. Nothing else exists. Nothing else ever existed. Nothing else will ever exist. There is only one Self and you are That. Rejoice!
.
-Robert Adams

Well, I read this and intellectually know it is truth, what would it take to truly Know it as Truth?

* This Guarantees that you do not return to this earth

* This Guarantees that you do not return to this earth ***

Do not think you're so important that
you have to overcome a problem.

That is all you're doing
when you think you have a problem to overcome.
It makes you feel important.

I've got to solve this problem, I've got to overcome this situation.
As if 'I' is somebody important.
'I' doesn't exist.
If 'I' doesn't exist neither does your problem.


You know by now that your problem exists
because you believe in your 'I'.

When you realize 'I' does not exist everything disappears.
This is what I mean when I tell you sometimes, there are no problems, there never were any problems and
there never will be any problems.

But as soon as you begin to think there are problems.

Even while you're sitting here listening to me,
if you allow your mind to think doesn't a problem come up in your life that you're thinking about,
that you think is so important at the present time?

But if you were spontaneous and live in the eternal present,
the eternal now, forget about the past,
don't worry about the future but live in this particular second,
in this second there are no problems.

If you can only stay in this split second, no-one is hungry,
no-one is ill, no-one is in need, no-one is suffering.

As you begin to stay in that split second, this split second expands into a minute, into two minutes,
into ten minutes and as you abide in it, it turns into eternity.
You are always in that split second where nothing is happening.
Where no thing is taking place.

That split second is bliss, pure intelligence,
absolute reality and you are that.

So again, it begins when you get up in the morning.
You observe the 'I'.

You watch yourself thinking I got up, I just woke up.
But now here's the catch, do not allow the 'I' to go any further.

As soon as you watch yourself saying, "I just woke up".
Try to catch yourself and ask yourself the question,
"Who is the 'I' that just woke up?"

For in that split second prior to awakening you were in bliss,
no thoughts.
But as soon as you begin to think of the 'I',
the world comes into play.

In that split second before I came along you were awake.
Yet there was no world, there were no people,
there was no universe, there were no problems.
In that split second.

But as soon as you began to think of 'I' your troubles began.
Because you're thinking about the day, I'm hungry,
I have to take a shower.
I have to get dressed and I begins to do its mischief.

That is why it's very important to observe the 'I' coming out.

If you can really observe it you will see that the 'I' is coming out of your spiritual heart on the right side of your chest.

But a funny thing will happen.
As you observe it, it will go back, isn't that interesting?
As you observe the 'I' or as you question it,
"Where did the 'I' come from?"
It will stop.

It will stop its procedure, it will stop its journey to the brain where you become body conscious.

All these things happen in a split second.
So you have to be aware, you have to be alert, you have to watch for it.

I admit it takes some effort in the beginning but it's well worth it.
Think about this again.

Just before you awaken to the 'I',
you are already awake in that split second.
In that split second there is no world but you are awake,
you are conscious, you're totally happy, you're totally self-realized in that split second.

But then the 'I' begins its journey from the heart to the brain.
Now if you can observe the 'I' and question its authority, it will lose its momentum and slow down.
And begin to return to the heart.

If you can get it to return to the heart,
you will be conscious but you will be liberated.

You will go about your business like you always do.
You will take your shower, you will eat your breakfast,
it will all happen spontaneously.

There will be no thoughts.
The only experience you will have is total bliss.
Total happiness,
total joy and yet your body will go about it's business.
It can happen all at once or it can take time.
But it's worth the effort isn't it? Even if it takes you a lifetime,
at least you will be free at that time.

What is more important than this?
Can anything be more important than this?
This guarantees that you do not return to this earth.
It guarantees that while you are alive in your body, so-to-speak, you will be a jivan-mukta, self-realized in the body.
This is your only salvation.
But you've got to do it.

These teachings used to be handed out by the Rishis from mouth to mouth to explain it.

It is most difficult to comprehend the books.
Even though some of them are very clear...
(tape break then Robert continues)

...something within that knows what to do to make it happen.
But if you try to understand with your brain, with your head,
you will forget.
And when tomorrow morning comes you will get up
and your 'I' will take over immediately.

You will say I'm late for work, I'm in a hurry, I'm this and I'm that and you will forget everything we're talking about this evening.
But if you are listening with your heart, when tomorrow morning comes you will spontaneously be able to catch yourself.

I will repeat again how to do this.
When you first open your eyes,
in that split second you are conscious.
The 'I' has not risen yet,
but remember it's all happening in a second.
So you've got to be aware, you've got to be awake, intelligent.
Watch and you will notice that the 'I' begins very faintly and becomes stronger.

You can shout out, "Who are you?"
That's the same as saying, "Who am I?"
Who gave you permission to awaken?
Observe, watch.

The 'I' will begin to lose momentum.
The 'I' will become weaker and weaker.
The way it usually happens with people, with most people, is they're able to catch it for maybe a few seconds and then the 'I' will take over completely.

Do not be disappointed, that is the worst thing you can do.
It has taken most people years,
centuries perhaps to go all the way.

Be happy with what you've got.

But as you begin to do this practice diligently,
everyday, that split second where you observe the 'I',
will expand into a full second,
into two-seconds,
into three-seconds.
In other words for those three-seconds
you will be self-realized to an extent.
You will be conscious, period.

You will not be conscious of this or that, you will be conscious.
And you will feel something you never felt before, a joy.
You will know you're on the right track.
Then when the 'I' takes over completely you can get up and go about your business and ask yourself, "Who am I?
What is the source of the 'I'?"

During the day as the thoughts come to you, be receptive, be alert, question, "To whom do these thoughts come?"
They come to me, "Who's me?
Who am I?
What is the source of the 'I'?"
Practice that all day.
The next morning you do the same thing.

If you do this my friends I can assure you, things will begin to happen to you that you never dreamed possible.
May you all experience bliss and your true Self.

~ Robert Adams, How Bad Do You Want To Awaken ?

Daily - ask this on waking

108 Questions for Self Inquiry

108 Questions for Self Inquiry

1. Who am I?
2. Who is me?

3. Who was I before my first thought?
4 Who was I before I was named?

5. Is there a part of me that has never changed?
6. Is there a part of me that does not evolve?

7. Who asks who am I?
8. Who watches that one who asks who am I?
9. How do I know that I am?

10 .Who knows I am dreaming when asleep?
11. Who remains as me in deep dreamless sleep?
12. Who is the source of my thoughts?
13. How do I know I am thinking?
14. What is aware of my thinking yet does not think?

15. What is aware of my emotional responses yet is unaffected by them?
16. Who recognises my confusion yet is not confused?
17. The one who recognises my sadness, is that one sad?

18. What sees even when my eyes are closed?
19. Who hears what I am listening to?
20 .Who looks through these eyes?

21. The one who looks through these eyes does it get affected by what it sees?
22. Is there a place where I end?
23. Am I in the body or the body is in me?
24 .When I am in deep dreamless sleep where am I?
25. Who perceives me breathing?

26. Am I who I think I am?
27. Who in me knows no sin, shame or guilt?
28. Who listens to me think yet says nothing?
29. Who watches me make mistakes and never judges?
30. Who wants for nothing?
31. Do I have the sense of I AM?
32. Does that mean I am?
33. Who is the one who feels deep Peace and stillness?
34 .What about me is real?
35. What in me is uncreated, unborn and boundless?
36. What is more subtle than any imagination?

37. What is more subtle than any thoughts or concepts?
38. What is more subtle than any feeling or emotion?
39. What is more subtle than any state of consciousness?

40. What is more subtle than any realm manifest or unmanifest?
41. What is more subtle than any perception?
42. What is the substratum beneath my persona?

43. Do I have an edge?
44. Is there something in me uncorrupted by time?
45. What is the domain through which my thoughts flow?
46 .What is the source of causeless joy in me?

47. If I lost my memory who would I be?
48. When asleep dreaming is everything equally unreal?
49. What watches attention being focused?

50. Am I somebody ?
51. From where does my kindness arise?
52. From where does love arise?

53. What is more subtle than space?
54. Is being high nearer to the real?
55. Who is the authentic me?
56. Am I always acting?

57. The one who measures my success and failures is that who I am?
58. The one who evaluates life and everything in it, giving names, is that who I am?
59. Am I the role I play in life, the actor or something else?
60. Whose mind is it?

61. What is it that the mind itself is based on?
62. Is there something in me that can not be broken, damaged or upset?
63. Is there something about me that the intellect can not grasp?
64. What is the one source of suffering in me?
65. The one who knows i suffer does it suffer?
66. What is my body when I astrally project?
67. My thoughts of cause and effect are they concept or reality?
68. Is there a part of me for whom nothing ever happens?
69 Is there a part of me that is neither created, sustained or destroyed?
70. Who is it that I am that feels love?

71. Who the past says I am, is that who I am?
72. Who others say I am , is that who I am?
73. What is the clearing within which everything happens for me?
74. Who my thoughts say I am, is that who I am?
75. Who results show me to be, is that who I am?
76. The feelings,intuitions and realisations I have is that who `I am`?
77.The dreams, hopes and fears that I have is that who I am?
78. Who is the "I" that rises falls, thinks feels and comes in and out of consciousness.?
79. Beyond the sense "I AM" am I?

80. Who senses that "I AM"?
81. Who senses IAM boundless,spacious pure presence?

82. Who am I beyond subject/object paradigm?
83. Who am I when sight, seer and the seen are non different?

84. Who am I when the perceiver and the perceiving and the perceived are collapsed?
85. Who am I when absolutely no difference is seen just like in a dream?

86. Who am I when everything is seen as empty and meaningless?
87. Who am I when there is no centre, no body and no breath?

88. Who am I when peace is ..but not felt.
89. Who am I when there is just beginingless, unsurpassed, causeless joy?

90. Who am I when all that exists is unreal yet I am it all?
91. What is meaning, the meaning that I AM?

92. Who am I that underlies all that is?
93. Who am I that can never be seen?

94 Who am I that everything reflects?
95. Who am I that has never moved yet every movement is within me?

96. Who am I that everything has its existence then disappears leaving me untouched?
97. Who am I when I am equally distributed everywhere?

98. Who am I when undivided, supreme and imperishable?
99. Who am I when I embrace all things, states and beings in unbounded love?

100. Who am I when I am both the drop in the ocean and the ocean in a drop?
101. Who am I that knows my self through you?

102. Who am I that knows nothing ever is, was or could be apart from me?
103. Beyond all forms,thoughts and states of consciousness is what?

104. In every single moment of life, unchanging is what?
105. Above, beyond, within and throughout is what?

106. Who do all gods prostrate to?
107. What is the Supreme Shiva's secret?

108. Who is what they are looking for?

The silence is the realit

The silence is the reality.
Learn to love the silence. 

Treat the silence as a beautiful entity.
As the divine mother, shakti. 

The silence is all-power.
Never take the silence for granted.

(silence)

You should start feeling the silence as God.
Feel good when you are in the silence. 

Up to now, many of you have believed that the silence is nothing.
It is a divine nothingness. 

Remember it's out of the silence that everything comes.
When you return to the silence this is actually a self surrender. 

You are surrendering your ego, your lifestyle, your karma,
everything is surrendered to the silence.
Remember never believe that the silence is a waste of time. 

Just as we realize now that space is really consciousness.
There is no such thing as space. 

It appears to be space but it's really consciousness.
The same way the silence is consciousness. 

It's a living entity. It's alive, it's reality.
Therefore sit in the silence and rejoice.

~Robert Adams

How much magic can I be

Cutting asunder the cycle of births & deaths

Self All Along

One need never again fear suffering and death.

 


As the Presence prevails, there is no further identification with the body or mind. 

When the mind grows silent, the thought “I Am” also disappears, and Pure Awareness shines forth to illuminate what one is, was, and always will be, beyond all worlds and all universes, beyond time, and therefore without beginning or end.

People wonder, “How does one reach this state of awareness,” but few follow the steps because they are so simple. 

First, the desire to reach that state was intense. 
Then began the discipline to act with constant and universal forgiveness and gentleness, without exception. 

One has to be compassionate towards everything, including one’s own self and thoughts.

Next came a willingness to hold desires in abeyance and surrender personal will at every moment.

 As each thought, feeling, desire, or deed was surrendered to God, the mind became increasingly silent.

 At first, it released whole stories and paragraphs, then ideas and concepts. 

As one lets go of wanting to own these thoughts, they no longer reach such elaboration and begin to fragment while only half formed. 

Finally, it was possible to surrender the energy behind the very process of thinking itself before it even became thought.

The task of constant and unrelenting fixity of focus, allowing not even a moment of distraction from meditation, continued while doing ordinary activities. 

At first, this seemed to take effort, but as time went on, it became habitual and automatic, requiring less and less effort, and finally, it was effortless. 

The process is like a rocket’s leaving the earth. 

Initially, it requires enormous energy, but then less and less as it leaves the earth’s gravitational field, and eventually, it moves through space under its own momentum.

Suddenly, without warning, a shift in awareness occurred and the Presence totally prevailed, unmistakable and all encompassing. 

There were a few moments of intense apprehension as the self died, and then the absoluteness of the Presence inspired a flash of awe. 
This breakthrough was spectacular and more intense than anything before. 
It had no counterpart in ordinary experience. 
The profound shock was cushioned by the love that is the Presence. 

Without the support and protection of that love, it seems that one would be annihilated.
There followed a moment of terror as the ego clung to its existence, fearing it would become nothingness. 

Instead, as it died, it was replaced by the Self as Everythingness, the All in which everything was known and obvious in its perfect expression of its own essence. 
With nonlocality came the awareness that one is all that ever was or can be.
 One is total and complete, beyond all identities, beyond gender, beyond even humanness itself. 
One need never again fear suffering and death.
I: Reality and Subjectivity
pg. xxv-xxvii of Introduction