Notes from Atmananda
Issue No. 1
"Spending time alone is very important. When you are by yourself you are with yourself. When you are surrounded by the world of people, places and events, it is very easy to lose your center, to forget what really matters and to become caught up in the transitory.
The transitory world has its own special beauty. All of my life I have been in love with the transitory. But for me – since my earliest childhood – there has never been a separation between the transitory and the Eternal.
I can remember when I was three or four years old. My mother would play with me in her gardens. There were times when I would be looking at a rose or a marigold or daffodil when suddenly time would stop. I would become clearly and cleanly aware of the immortality of mortality. The rose garden became and endless eternity. I would wander alone.
I have been wandering alone as long as I can remember. Looking back at my previous births I see a constant wondering and wandering. I have always loved to make pilgrimages. In many of my lives I traveled thousands of miles on foot to visit holy places.
Now wherever I am is holy. I see the working of Eternity in all things. I see the good and the bad, the clever and the slow, and the stage that we walk upon is Eternity.
Eternity is alone. It has no one to watch it in its matchless silence. It rambles from here to there. How can we measure Eternity? Perhaps with our emotions – with our thoughts – with our endless lifetimes.
Eternity remains measureless because there is no one to measure it. We exist for a brief moment – we have our time of splendor in the grass and then all is the silence of Eternity again.
A spiritual seeker like yourself or myself is in love with Eternity and with eternality.
The two really cannot be separated.
When I say Eternity, I mean that which has always existed and that which will always exist. At the same time, Eternity has never existed nor could it ever exist, except within our own minds.
The question of Eternity is always with us. We spend our lives walking the earth trying to come to terms with it.
The easy way is not to try at all. Simply silence your mind and watch. Be like a child in a rose garden who has glimpses of Eternity in the flowers of the transitory.
Never forget your temporality.
It is your mutability that gives beauty to all that passes by you. Because you know that you are only here for a short time you can love the green hills of earth, the rivers, the seas, and the beings that make their homes here.
If you were eternal you would never take any interest in this or any other world.
Enjoy the transitory because it is Eternal. You are not, but the transitory is.
***
Human beings make such a fuss about life and death. They fail to understand that life is but a moment’s hesitation and death is the awareness of fullness.
Life is a meeting place. It is consciousness reflecting consciousness. What appears to be life is only a reflection in an endless mirror. The Mirror is the awareness of the Absolute Reality.
The Absolute Reality is God. That is, whatever is beyond measure is God. Eternity is beyond measure, therefore, Eternity is God. You are beyond measure, therefore you are God.
Try to remember that you are God all of the time. It will make your journey here on earth much more satisfactory.
***
When you are by yourself it is easier to hear the winds of Eternity. They whisper to you that there are countless worlds, both like and unlike our world, that stretch across the far-flung planes of existence.
Part of being Eternal means the awareness of these planes of existence.
It is only when you are alone that you come to realize that you can never be alone.
Try to always be alone. Even when you are surrounded by others. This “aloneness” is not lonely. It is the awareness of your own Infiniteness. When we lose this awareness we are caught in the grip of Maya.
Maya is clinging to the illusion that we are separate from Eternity.
Knowledge is not caring about anything. In absolute knowledge we cannot care for today or tomorrow, for the past, or what the passage of time will bring. In absolute knowledge we become one with the Void.
The Void is your natural character. If anyone ever asks you what you are really like, you can tell them that your true nature is the Void.
Void does not mean empty – nor is it full. The Void is that which is Eternal and measureless. We say “Void” because we are caught up in the web of Selfhood. When you are illumined you will see that the Void is all that exists, has never existed or could ever exist.
It is difficult for most persons to orient to the Void. They feel that the Void is empty, desolate, frightening, overwhelming and so on.
The Void is really none of these things. The void is nothing. How could anyone ever be afraid of nothing? It makes no sense. Neither does the Void.
To grasp onto these or any other ideas is a serious mistake.
Don’t hold onto them. Become them.
Illusion comes in many forms. If you want to escape from the Illusions that you are trapped in, you must become a Lover of Eternity and ruthlessly honest. It is only through a combination of absolute love and ruthless honesty that God Realization is attained.
God realization is the full awareness of Voidness. God realization is not the destruction of your human self. It has nothing to do with such things. God Realization is the complete awareness of Eternity through Infinity. It means that you have become the awareness that is the source of all.
Very few people seem to realize God in any particular incarnation. There are currently twelve persons in this world whom I would consider to be God Realized. In my vocabulary God Realization and Self Realization are the same thing.
I am one of these persons. There are eleven others. We share a common link through Eternal Awareness.
We are here on earth now – as are you – enjoy us while we last.
Fortunately this is not the first incarnation I have had in which I was Self Realized. I have been Self Realized for seven incarnations. This is the eighth. At the age of thirty-one my Self Realization returned.
I am happy that I am Self Realized because it gives me the ability to do more for the world.
It is my hope that you will take advantage of the Realization of Voidness that exists within me or any of the other eleven.
God Realization is not the monopoly of any individual or group of persons. You might say that it exists everywhere.
However, it is manifested through a person who – after lifetimes of spiritual practices – has merged their conscious awareness with Eternity.
Sometimes I wonder if you have know the resource that you have.
If you did, you would use it wisely.
In the “I Ching” there is a Hexagram for the “Ching,” it is symbolized by a well.
I and all Self Realized Spiritual Teachers are like wells. People come to us and they take as much as they need. If their need is great, they bring a large vessel to fill. If their need is mild then they bring a smaller vessel.
Don’t be fooled though. If you feel that you have gauged the depth of the well by the amount you have taken from it so far, then you have not understood the nature of the well. The well is Eternity. A Self Realized person has melded their conscious awareness with Eternity. When you reach into their awareness, you touch the wellspring of the Void. It is endless.
When you meditate on or with a person who is Self Realized, you draw from the well of Eternity.
The more that you take from the well, the more there is to take.
The well is indifferent. It sees great people come, honest and sincere people come, and dishonest and insincere people come. The well gives to all.
The well provides nourishment for all who find their way there. Some come and draw from the well only for a moment. Then they continue their endless journey.
Others build a home near the well and draw from it daily.
The well is indifferent.
It observes the comings and goings of existence, and smiles.
It sees the dreams, plans, desires and frustrations of humankind, and it smiles.
It sees it own creation, preservation and eventual end – and it smiles.
The well knows nothing and is aware of nothing except the passing of Eternity in and through itself.
Be as a well unto others. Give all that you have. Do not mind if people understand you, love you, or hate you. Compassionately give to others with no thought of your own preservation or destruction.
You has nothing to do with your entrance into this world, nor will you have anything to do with your stay here, or your exit.
All is All. Eternity is All. There is nothing here and nothing to do.
The awareness of Nothing is one side of the Void. The awareness of Everything is a second side of the Void. There is no end to the sides of the Void since the Void had no definite shape. It changes constantly, yet is always the same.
***
Brahmananda said that the spiritual life begins with Samadhi. I would agree with this. You can divide your spiritual practice into four stages.
The first stage of spiritual practice is unconsciousness. That stage lasts a long time. It is difficult to say when it begins. You become aware of it, however, only after it has ended.
The second stage of spiritual practice is self consciousness. In this stage you begin to pray, meditate and become aware of your own uniqueness. This stage also lasts a long time.
The third stage of spiritual practice is Cosmic Consciousness. This stage begins when you start to enter into Samadhi on a regular basis.
Your entrance into Samadhi does not in any way indicate that you have realized God. It means that you higher spiritual education has just begun. Now you must spend many years refining your consciousness through service to humanity. Then – when the time is right – all of your edges will be rounded and your personal consciousness will vanish. All that will exist is God.
The Fourth stage is unknown and unknowable. It has no name because nothing can describe it. We call it Self Realization or God Realization. But nothing can describe it. You have gone off the map into an uncharted region. There is nothing more to say.
Each time you ascend a step of the ladder of consciousness you are more fulfilled. Your mind becomes purer and your awareness greater.
There are many fleeting satisfactions in this world. They are neither good nor bad. They should be neither sought after nor shunned.
You should simply allow life to act for you in every situation. This is the acceptance of Life in its fullness.
Not getting in your own way.
Each time you meditate, each time you give in any way to aid others in their spiritual odyssey, you are climbing to a higher band on the spectrum of consciousness.
Enjoy the view and please be careful that you don’t slip and fall.
It’s a long way down."
- Zen Master Rama
www.ramaquotes.com
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