The freedom to choose consciousness over the world

I know some of you are saying, "Well, Robert always tells us that life is preordained, so how can it be free?"

 It is preordained to that person who keeps responding to the world, the person who responds to the world, to effects of this world, is a person [that] goes onward, and onward and onward, takes on more bodies, keeps taking on more bodies, keeps becoming more human and never becomes enlightened. 

It is only when you realize that you've got the freedom to let go. This freedom you have, the freedom to let go, that's not being hurtable. 

The freedom to choose consciousness over the world and things of this world. 

 That's the freedom we all have. 

We have this freedom. 
But if we forget about it and we become worldly, we have no freedom.

 In that case everything is preordained, predestined. 

So whether you want your life to be predestined or totally free, is up to you. It's your choice.

 An animal doesn't have this choice. An insect doesn't have this choice. A tree doesn't have this choice. A mountain doesn't have this choice. 

You have this choice. What are you doing with it? 

As long as you have feelings, of pain, disharmony, you feel distraught, you feel something is wrong some place, you're making a choice, right then and there. 

You're saying, "I'm going to feel hurt. I'm going to feel sorry for myself. I'm going to believe somebody is trying to do something to me, that life is bad, that it's everyone for themselves. 

We have to step on someone before they step on us." 
This will be our thinking. 
This will be our way of living. 
And if we live this way, if we think this way, if we act this way, then life is preordained for us, predestined. 
 And as you sow, so shall you reap. What goes around comes around. 

Yet you have to realize you're the cause of everything. 

You are the cause of everything that happens to you. 
There's no one to blame but you. 
If you have certain people in your life you can't get along with, your family, your relatives, whatever, you have purposely attracted these people before you came to this earth, and these people attracted you, for this is their karma and your karma, and you have to work it out. 

If you keep reacting the same way you always do, you will not work it out, and will get deeper enmeshed into it, and you will come back again, and again, and again, in different bodies, until you get it right. 
We can really say that the universe is a university to educate the soul.
Sri Robert Adams

Beauty of my own Emptiness

The now stands still; the screen is permanent.

  Reflections from
‘Along the Path to Enlightenment’
-------------------------

►without belief in its appearance as defined by perception, the world we thought was real disappears.

 When one chooses to be at one with the inner, ever-present potentiality of joy and peace, the world transforms into a humorous amusement park; and all the drama is seen to be just drama.◄

From: “The Eye of the I: From Which Nothing is Hidden” (2002), Chapter 4: The Basics, p. 49

By observation, it will become apparent that the only thing that seems to change is appearance. 

The now stands still; the screen is permanent.

 Although a movie script changes and a story unfolds, even then it can do so only within the precise instant of now.

'Nowness' is the primordial, overreaching, all-powerful, unchangeable, and absolute requirement to experiencing.

 It is the essence of awareness of being and existence. 

It is impossible to exist anywhere at all except in the drastic, radical reality of now. 

This instant is all there is. 

One's own consciousness as Self is the only Eye by which anything can be experienced or known. 

The inner sense of reality is bestowed by the Self on the 'outer' surroundings, which is what makes them seem real. 

The sense of realness is therefore a projection of consciousness by the self, originating from the Self. 

One is therefore not the witness of a 'real' world; one is actually the source of its seeming reality. 

The world is actually entertainment.

 Like amusement, it is meant to be worn lightly. 

Heaven is within and is revealed by awareness. 

The world is merely an appearance. 

Its melodrama is an artifice of the distorted sense of perception.

 It leads one to think that the world is large, powerful, and permanent and that the Self is small, weak, and transitory; exactly the opposite is true.

►Without belief in its appearance as defined by perception, the world we thought was real disappears. 

When one chooses to be at one with the inner, ever-present potentiality of joy and peace, the world transforms into a humorous amusement park and all the drama is seen to be just drama.◄

The option for truth, peace, and joy is always available, although seemingly buried behind an ignorance and nonawareness that results from having chosen other options as a habit of thought. 

The inner truth reveals itself when all other options are refused by surrender to God.

The Human Condition As An ‘Altered State of Consciousness’

A fact or truth is not established by the fact of commonality, as history demonstrates profoundly. 

Falsehood is most commonly the pervasive human experience. 

One of the most significant discoveries in consciousness research is that what is commonly understood and accepted as ‘normal human experience’ in thought, behavior, and feeling is technically merely an altered state of consciousness that prevails in a limited stratum of society for a limited duration.

 It is actually not man’s real state.

Man is so used to worry, fear, anxiety, remorse, guilt, conflict, and distress that they are accepted as normal life, with negative emotions, attitudes, and feelings. 

Mankind (the patient) is advised to seek a therapist to ‘get in touch with their feelings’. Rather than ‘getting in touch’ with these fermentations of illusion, it would be more beneficial to liquidate them by uncovering their source as perception itself.

A truly ‘normal’ state of consciousness is one that is free of all negativity and instead filled with joy and love.

From: “The Eye of the I: From Which Nothing is Hidden” (2002), Chapter 4: The Basics, pp. 48–50

It is better therefore to keep quiet and do nothing.

Hear ye: Nothing exists. (laughter)
(silence)

The only reason the world exist
is because you think you are the body.
(silence)

You have created God in your own image
and you worship that God.
The truth is that God should worship you.
(silence)

The universe is a big lie.
And if you believe in the universe, then you’re a bigger liar.
(silence)

You are all waiting for something to happen.
The truth is, what is already happening
has already happened.
There is nothing else to happen, so let it happen.
(silence)

There is absolutely nothing for you to do
to become self-realized, except shut up!
(silence)

There is no one who can do anything for you
and you can do nothing for yourself.
It is better therefore to keep quiet and do nothing.
(silence)

There is no teacher that can set you free.
Just knowing this, you will already be free.
(silence)

Expect nothing, do nothing, be nothing
and you will discover that you are everything.
(silence)

Noone can save and you cannot save yourself.
Knowing this, be still!
(silence)

If you only knew who you were
then all the Gods and Goddesses
that you have been praying to,
would fall at your feet.
(silence)

Forget about affirming., "I am not the body,"
for if you were not the body
why would you affirm you were not the body?
(silence)

Consciousness, pure awareness are only words,
go beyond that.
(silence)

To know the ultimate truth, you first must know nothing.
(silence)

The whole universe is a manifestation of your mind.
To remove the manifestation examine your mind carefully,
diligently by inquiring, "To whom does this come?"
(silence)

It is virtually impossible for you to have a problem.
How can you have a problem if you don't even exist?
(silence)

Do not complicate your life by reading voluminous books.
Rather empty yourself up of all the book language
you've ever had.
(silence)

Reading a book makes you feel good for a while.
But diving within yourself removes all samskaras
and samsaras and sets you free.
(silence)

To love yourself is better than reading books
and going to lectures or hearing sermons or doing anything.
(silence)

You are that which has always been.
Discover what that is, by turning within.
(silence)

~Robert Adams - T.211 : Hear Ye!! - 23rd December, 1992

UNREALITY OF TIME AND SPACE - LILA'S STORY

UNREALITY OF TIME AND SPACE - LILA'S STORY

The Maharshi was often questioned about death and reincarnation. He would sometimes answer: "Let us know first who we are" or "The birth of the 'I-thought' is one's own birth, its death is the person's death. After the 'I'-thought has arisen the wrong identity with the body arises. Thinking yourself the body, you give false values to others and identify them with bodies. Just as your body has been born, grows and will perish, so also you think the other was born, grew up and died."

In so many ways Bhagavan tried to bring home to us the true nature of the Self, which is eternal, unborn and free. When an illogical sequence in an apparent death and rebirth was brought to his attention, he would often cite Lila's story from the Yoga Vasishta.

For example:
An elderly gentleman, formerly a co-worker with B. V. Narasimha Swami and author of some Vasishtadvaita work, visited the place for the first time. He asked about rebirths, if it is possible for the linga sarira (subtle body) to get dissolved and be reborn in two years after death.

Ramana Maharshi responded: "Yes. Surely. Not only can one be reborn, one may be twenty or forty or even seventy years old in the new body though only two years after death."

In another documented case of reincarnation, a boy who is seven years now recalls his past births. Enquiries go to show that the previous body was given up 10 months ago.

The question arises how the matter stood for six years and two months previous to the death of the former body. Did the soul occupy two bodies at the same time?

Sri Bhagavan pointed out that the seven years is according to the boy; ten months is according to the observer. The difference is due to these two different upadhis (limiting adjuncts). The boy's experience extending to seven years has been calculated by the observer to cover only 10 months of his own time. In order to explain this phenomenon, Sri Bhagavan again referred to Queen Lila's story in Yoga Vasishta.

Lila asked:
O Goddess, you said that it was only eight days ago that the holy man had died; and yet my husband and I have lived for a long time [in the present birth]. How can you reconcile this discrepancy? (The "holy man" was reincarnated as Lila's present husband, who had now again just died).

Goddess Saraswati said:
O Lila, just as space does not have a fixed span, time does not have a fixed span either. Just as the world and its creation are mere appearances, a moment and an epoch are also imaginary, not real. In the twinkling of an eye the jiva undergoes the illusion of the death-experience, forgets what happened before that, and in the infinite consciousness thinks 'I am this', etc., and 'I am his son, I am so many years old', etc. There is no essential difference between the experiences of this world and those of another - all this being thought-forms in the infinite consciousness. They are like two waves in the same ocean. Since these worlds were never created, they will never cease to be: such is the law. Their real nature is consciousness.

Even as in a dream there is birth, death and relationship all in a very short time, and even as a lover feels that a single night without his beloved is an epoch, the jiva thinks of experienced and non-experienced objects in the twinkling of an eye. And, immediately thereafter, he imagines those things (the world) to be real. Even those things which he had not experienced nor seen present themselves before him as in a dream.

This world and this creation is nothing but memory and dream. Distance, measures of time like a moment and an age, all these are hallucinations. This is one kind of knowledge-memory. There is another which is not based on memory of past experience. This is the fortuitous meeting of an atom and consciousness which is then able to produce its own effects.

Liberation is the realization of the total nonexistence of the universe as such.

Liberation is to realize that all this is pure consciousness.   This is different from a mere denial of the existence of the ego and the universe! The latter is only half-knowledge

- Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi & Yoga Vasistha

When you say, "I-am-that-I-am,"

When you say, "I-am-that-I-am,"
you're saying I am consciousness. 

I am not the body.
I am not the mind.
I am not the doer. 

I am pure absolute consciousness.
Only consciousness exists. 

I-am-that-I-am is another name for it.

~Robert Adams - T131 -Two Methods To Awakening -
23rd February, 1992




I-am is the first name of God.
As you invoke I-am with feeling,
the I-am which is your Self, awakens as the Self. 

When I say it's the first name of God,
God is you, as you. 

There is actually what we call God who is the Self
that seems to be manipulating all of these things.
I'm making you understand that you are That.

~Robert Adams - T131 -Two Methods To Awakening -
23rd February, 1992

SELF-INQUIRY MANTRA

SELF-INQUIRY MANTRA 


 








What I'm going to do is, I'm going to give you a mantra to help you out.
This is a self-inquiry mantra and you can alternate with this
and everything else you do.
Now the way you're going to use this is this way.

Whenever something is bothering you,
whenever you feel out of sorts,
whenever you feel something is wrong,
stop thinking of your problem and do the mantra. 

Do it before falling asleep
and as soon as you get up in the morning.
This will help tremendously.
And it's very powerful and it works wonders.

It starts with your breathing, here's what you do:
You inhale and you say, "Who am I?"
and before you exhale you say, "I am He,"
then you exhale and you say, "I am not the body."

You inhale and you say, "Who am I?"
before you exhale you say, "I am He,"
you exhale and you say, "I am not the body."

~Robert Adams - T8: The Three Vehicles -
2nd September, 1990

Spiritual energy vs physical energy

Spiritual energy vs physical energy 

As you sit in the silence, as you ponder all of these things,
the spiritual energy which is the energy of the Jnanis,
the energy of the Self comes into play. 

It transcends all the physical energy. 

The physical energy is your body.
Your body exists as long as you think it is alive. 

As long as you feel it works and it goes to sleep
and it wakes up, it is hurt, it feels bad, this is all physical energy.

But spiritual energy is the energy of the Self,
that transcends everything, that awakens you to reality. 

The spiritual energy again comes into play
when you sit in the silence and either inquire, "Who am I?"
or practice the I-am meditation
then spiritual energy comes into play. 

So spiritual energy is very subtle.
Physical energy is what we use to move around, to lift objects, talk.

~Robert Adams - T131 -Two Methods To Awakening -
23rd February, 1992

This means you look beyond your usual concern with solving personal problems.

ENQUIRY INTO THE ROOT

To pull your identification as a limited self out by the root, you must look at it in the most fundamental way. 

This means you look beyond your usual concern with solving personal problems.

 Looking at personal issues is like pulling just the top of the weeds out of your lawn: they pop right back up. You may have some relief from the trouble of the day, but the root is still there, totally untouched. But having experiences, even if they clear up problems or offer beautiful insights, is very different than finding the root of who you are. If you don't get to the root, you just get another weed.

And so we ask, "What is the root of this location called 'me'?"
You need to know the root of how it began, the genesis of it. There was a moment when that innocent, wordless fascination and love that is your essence moved from being innocently fascinated and in love with what is to identification with what is thought. Right in that movement from innocent fascination to identification, that is where freedom is lost.

It happened way back in the beginning of time, and it is also happening right now. Each moment there is innocence, the fascination with whatever is, just as it is. But then the mind shows up and says "mine." "That's mine. That's my thought. That's my problem." Or it might also say the opposite, that the thought or problem is "yours." Right at that point lies the genesis, the root, of all suffering and separation.

- Adyashanti, Emptiness Dancing

You can do it. Work with it. Peace.

So I say to you again, “Stop thinking. 

Live in the moment. 

Stop worrying about the past or the future.

 Awaken to yourself. 

Be happy. 

Be free. 

You are not alone. You have divine forces right now taking care of you, guiding you, directing you to your ultimate good. 

Trust these divine forces. Have faith in them. All they want is your recognition. 

When you recognize there are divine forces taking care of you then you will find they are working for you and you find infinite joy. But when it’s taken in reverse and you believe life is against you, there are forces against you, then you create your own hell.

So; Number One: Stop thinking. Take control of your mind.

Number Two: live in the here and now. 

Forget about yesterday, forget about the future. Live in the moment and be happy in the moment. 

Do whatever you have to do to be happy in the moment.

Number Three: Do not be judgmental. Do not judge anybody or anything, ever, no matter how it looks, never judge anybody.

Number Four: Leave everything alone. 

You did not come into this plane of existence to change anybody or anything. You're not here to fix anything or anybody.

 You're here only to become free and liberated by knowing the truth.

Number Five: Always catch yourself and say, "I am Brahman." 

When you say, "I am Brahman," you're not talking about your physical body, or your ego. 

You're talking about the truth about yourself. 

Reality itself is Brahman. 

It has nothing to do with your body. 

The body doesn't exist. 

It never existed, it appears to exist but it doesn't exist. 

Your nature is pure consciousness, pure awareness.

Always remember these things, learn these things. You have a lot of tools to work with. 

If you only can use these tools every moment of your life, you will never be unhappy again. 

How can you be unhappy if you know the truth?

 You were not born to suffer or have problems. 

You are here to rejoice! 

To be still and know that I-am God. 

To remember that I-am with you always, even unto the end of the world.

 You are not an ordinary person, or you wouldn't be here.

 There’s something special about you. 

You're ready to be out of the show, the show of materialism, the show of relativity, materialism and relativity. 

You're ready to break out of that shell. 

Let it happen. 

The mind will create all kinds of situations to stop it from happening.

 It will show you all kinds of nonsense. 

But you know now that you have the power to change these things, to turn from the nonsense, to reality!

You can do it. Work with it. Peace.

Robert Adams - 5/2/93

Does a self-realized person need a Self?

In the ultimate reality, there's no Self
and there's no consciousness. 

And some people became perplexed
because just as they were beginning to discover the Self,
I come and tell them there's no Self. 

Now what does this mean, we'll follow through on it.

The Self exists as long as you believe you're not self-realized. 

Does a self-realized person need a Self? 

Does a self-realized person talk about consciousness?
Needs consciousness or Brahman, or parabrahman,
or sat-chit-ananda? 

Those are words, those are concepts.
As long as you are believing in concepts, words,
preconceived ideas, this will halt your progress. 

Reality is beyond words.
Reality is in the Silence. 

Really the only thing you have to do is quiet your mind.
Make your mind quiescent
and reality will shine forth all by itself. 

But if you go around repeating like a parrot,
"I am the Self, I am consciousness, I am ultimate reality."
It will actually keep you back. 

I tell you the truth, it's better to say nothing.
The reason I express these words,
is to make you understand that
there is something else besides your bodily experiences. 

There's something besides your everyday occurrences.
And that is called the Self. 

The Self is merely a self-contained Self,
projecting and manifesting the universe and the world. 

You are that Self.
And the reason the universe and the world exist
is because you exist. It's being emanated through you.
You are the projectionist. 

The entire universe is a projection of your mind.
So, if there's no mind, everything becomes the Self.
Then you can confess, everything is the Self and I am that.
But until that happens the best thing you can do,
is to speak very little. 

The best thing you can do, is to dive deep within yourself,
and discover your true nature.
This can be done at any time.

-Robert Adams - T13 - There is No Self! -
30th September, 1990