]]> http://urbangurumagazine.com/?feed=rss2&p=582 0 http://urbangurumagazine.com/?p=572 http://urbangurumagazine.com/?p=572#comments Sun, 19 Feb 2012 15:27:55 +0000 Mark West http://urbangurumagazine.com/?p=572 This is Part 5 in an ongoing series of writings and commentary by Mark West on the Dzogchen Terma treasure text entitled “Self-Liberation Through Seeing With Naked Awareness”, translated from the Tibetan by John Myrdhin Renolyds. This particular Terma text was composed in the 8th Century of our era by the master from the then province of Uddiyana in Tibet, namely Guru Padmasambhava.

This text and certain others represent an introduction to Dzogchen, The Great Perfection. Dzogchen is not the name of a religion, philosophy, school, or sect but rather the Primordial State of the individual, or what Nisargadatta Maharaj referred to as the natural state. The essence of the teachings of all the Buddhas and enlightened ones is the understanding of this state, which is the nature of one’s own mind.

Verse 8

Within this (intrinsic awareness ), the Triakaya are inseparable and

fully present as one.

Since it is empty and not created anywhere whatsoever, it is the

Dharmakaya.

Since its luminous clarity represents the inherent transparent radiance

of emptiness, it is the Sambhogakaya.

Since its arising is nowhere obstructed or interrupted, it is the

Nirmanakaya.

These three ( the Triakaya ) being complete and fully present as

one, are its very essence.

Verse 9

When you are introduced in this way through this exceedingly

powerful method for entering the practice.

( You discover directly ) that your own immediate self-awareness

is just this ( and nothing else ),

And that it has an inherent self-clarity which is entirely

unfabricated.

How can you then speak of not understanding the nature of the

mind?

Moreover, since you are meditating without finding anything

there to meditate upon,

How can you say that your meditation does not go well?

Since your own manifest intrinsic awareness is just this,

How can you say that you cannot find your own mind?

The mind is just that which is thinking;

And yet, although you have searched ( for the thinker ), how can

you say that you cannot find him?

With respect to this, nowhere does there exist the one who is the

cause of mental activity.

And yet since activity exists, how can you say that such activity

does not arise?

Since merely allowing ( thoughts ) to settle into their own

condition, without trying to modify them in any way, is sufficient,

How can you say that you are not able to remain in a calm

state?

Since allowing ( thoughts ) to be just as they are, without trying

to do anything about them, is sufficient,

How can you say that you are not able to do anything with

regard to them?

Since clarity, awareness, and emptiness are inseparable and are

spontaneously self-perfected,

How can you say that nothing is accomplished by your

practice?

Since ( intrinsic awareness ) is self-originated and spontaneously

self-perfected without any antecedent causes and conditions,

How can you say that you are not able to accomplish anything

by your efforts?

Since the arising of discursive thoughts and their being liberated

occur simultaneously,

How can you say that you are unable to apply an antidote?

Since your own immediate awareness is just this,

How can you say that you do not know anything with regard to

it?

Within this Rigpa or intrinsic awareness, the Triakaya, what we usually understand as “The Three Bodies of the Buddha”, are wholly present and inseparably united from the very beginning. These Three Bodies of the Buddha are in actuality not three different things but only three aspects of the non dual nature of the mind. We only distinguish them in the conventional sense for the purposes of communication and discussion. The Sanskrit term Kaya literally means “body”, but as in our own personal experience, our physical body and our immediate environment interpenetrate and form a single field of activity, so kaya also has the sense of “the dimension of existence”. Thus the three dimensions of the existence if the Buddha are the Dharmakaya which is all-pervasive and omnipresent; the Sambhogakaya which manifests in Akanistha ( heaven, paradise ), the highest plane of existence; and the Nirmanakaya which manifests to ordinary sentient beings in time and history. Collectively these three are known as the Triakaya, and as has been pointed out previously these are not three different things but rather three aspects of the one essential essence or no thing, which is just THIS ever present intrinsic awareness or mind.

From the standpoint of Dzogchen, the Trikaya is not something which is attained or realized at some point in time, nor is it something which is latent or undeveloped in the individual which must be nurtured and cultivated in order to be brought into manifestation, such as a seed containing the entire tree in potential. For the Trikaya is already fully present from the very beginning in the nature of mind. Since in its essence the nature of mind is empty and is not made out of anything, it is the Dharmakaya. Yet it is not a dark, cold void. Since its nature is clear luminosity, the translucent radiance of emptiness, it is the Sambhogkaya. And since its arising is nowhere obstructed, impeded, or interrupted, it is the Nirmanakaya. When we speak of the base, the Primordial State of the individual, we are speaking of these three aspects: its Essence, its Nature, and its Energy – and as the Trikaya which is the base, they are primordially present and of a single essence.

“Moreover, since you are meditating without finding anything to meditate upon”,

This shows that in actuality there is no one to meditate and nothing to meditate on. THIS is then a natural meditation or the meditation of being, or what we call the natural state or the primordially present single essence of intrinsic all-knowing awareness.

Thus this utterly natural meditation is taking place effortlessly and naturally 24 hours a day, 7 days a week so to speak, so in actuality or reality, there “is” no such thing as time and this is only a way of talking or pointing to THIS ever present essence.

Meditation is your natural primordial state or essence, so there is is no need to try to meditate as that would the be a fabrication by a non existing apparent separate entity. If I entertain the idea that I am going to meditate then that implies a separate entity there who is going to meditate, and as this text points out, this is an impossibility. So leave everything “as it is” including the apparent time-bound mind of memory; leave it there unaltered, unmodified, uncorrected. As the ceaseless thoughts and concepts spontaneously arise in this changeless clarity and emptiness of intrinsic knowing, do not interfere with them or try to fabricate, alter, change, or modify them in any way and they will self-liberate without any effort on your part; just like the clouds that arise and disperse in the boundless sky; and it is noted that there is no cloud that is ever attached to the sky and so they spontaneously dissolve or resolve back into the sky which is emptiness, space, nothingness, or no thing.

Just so the thoughts that arise will also subside into into THIS awake, aware, no thing if they are simply left as they are and not modified, altered, or corrected. Get it? Yes, there is no one there to get it – you are THIS intrinsic essence of awareness, full stop! Do not try to grasp what is being pointed out with the mind, do not try to become anything simply be “as you are” in this natural primordial state or condition. Rest in and as THIS uncontrived Singularity. The mind as we usually know it is time, and you will never find the answer there, as the mind “me” So and So is time, fabrication, or imagination and THIS non dual Absolute or essence that we are pointing to is timeless, and you will never get to the timeless essence ( non duality ) through time ( duality, beginning, ending, coming, going etc ). This so called ego or “me” is a thought up conceptual entity. The ego “I” or “me” is only a thought and as such is a phantom, the child of a barren woman, and has no substance or independent nature of its own; so there is no need to get rid of it, kill it, or sublimate it, just see that it never existed by itself and is simply an appearance in this boundless clarity and emptiness of intrinsic awareness, like the reflections appearing in a spotless mirror.

“Sailor” Bob Adamson found the peace he was seeking in the presence of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj in the 70′s. Bob lives in Australia and has held weekly talks for visitors from all over the world for 30 years. Many come to his home or call him to discover the same Presence Awareness of which he speaks.

Bob has an amazing clear and direct way of expressing what has been called Nonduality. Visit his Website, listen to his audio and video, pick up his books/CDs/DVDs, or pay him a visit at his meetings.

You can now also purchase MP3 recordings of Bob’s meetings for a very low cost. Visit the Online Store for more information.

As a seeker I am certainly confused.  I am told that there is no person, however I have to wonder who is it that is alive, who is it that is aware right now?  Isn’t that the person that I am?

Wasn’t I created from my mother and father, born as an infant, growing until I’ve reached my present age?  Won’t I die someday?  Isn’t this what I am, that entity which exists as part of this body, thinking these thoughts, doing these actions, until one day it will all end forever?

If the person doesn’t exist, then who is reading this right now, who is pondering the message, who is feeling the confusion, aware of the desire to discover the truth of what I am?

Following my particular spiritual path, I may pray to God for guidance, asking for the answers, waiting for Grace to happen, wanting the doors to fly open and the truth to become obvious.  But God never answers.  I am left as a boat without oars, adrift in a sea of frustration and confusion.

The answer to the frustration and confusion isn’t found by asking the same questions – it is by removing the initial incorrect assumption.  AS a seeker the answer will never come.  The search is undertaken from the assumption that you ARE this person, this seeker, this entity which was created.  If this is the underlying assumption, the underlying belief, then the search will always be a dead-end.  However the instant we seriously entertain the possibility that this entity doesn’t exist, the fog begins to clear.

We aren’t trying to solve any problems, but only see that there are no problems to begin with.  How can an entity that never existed, find out that it never existed?  How can a fictional person succeed in spirituality?

We keep banging our heads against the wall trying to come up with the answers.  First of all, really examine the idea you have about what you are.  Be determined to really get to the bottom of this idea – what you take yourself to be,  What IS that?  What do you really believe you are?  Isn’t it some entity, some new and independent existence, some thing which began, something which is different from all other existences, it’s own Life, it’s own person?  Isn’t it your belief that you were created, that you started on a particular date and time, that you were not there before and somehow you are now there?  Isn’t it your belief that you somehow popped into existence, that you came out of nothing and now you’re there, independent of all else?  Don’t you believe that this entity is the body, with a mind that you utilize?  When that body ceases, don’t you believe that you cease with it?  Don’t you believe that you are part and parcel of the body?

You must really get to the bottom of this idea you have about yourself.  You probably have a lifetime of experience seeking, reading, meditating, inquiring.  However you still have no clear understanding of your own idea about what you are – if you did you would find an immediate contradiction, a hypocrisy – how can THAT which is inherently separate BECOME whole?  How can that which is by it’s very nature independent find Oneness?  Either spirituality is wrong or your idea about what you are is wrong.

The problem is that we’re trying to keep both sides – we want that entity to remain while we find Oneness.  It’s not possible.  The seeker never makes it to realization.   Realization and the person cannot co-exist.  If there were a finish line, there would remain no one left to cross it.

So are we trying to do away with that individual, that person, that entity which was created, existing independently for a while, only to end?  Or are we trying to REALIZE that this entity never existed to begin with?  We must first realize what it is we believe ourselves to be.  Then we must honestly question that idea, we must dig into existence, the ideas we have about it – the ideas we have about Life – forms, appearances.  We must be willing to seriously challenge our most cherished and solid beliefs about reality and what we are.

In the end we aren’t trying to become some sort of expert on the Universe – the direction is not toward complexity but toward simplicity.  We come to the conclusion, to the certainty, the confidence, or realization – that WHAT we are is not this individual, this entity, this person, but THAT which EXISTS, THAT which IS – the individual, the entity, the person is a construct, a convenient idea, a name for a form, that form IS fleeting, it IS temporary however YOU are NOT – YOU are THAT which EXISTS alone – the WHOLE.

We cannot come to this realization AS the individual – we must examine this idea and realize the individual never makes it to realization.

You may hear your own voice speaking but the intellect has no idea how that happens. You can investigate your own voice. Air leaves the lungs and hits the vocal chords. The mouth moves, the tongue moves and words or sounds appear. The intellect has no real comprehension of how this marvel happens. Words appear and another thought suggests ‘I made those sounds’ and ‘they mean something very specific’. You have no idea what your next thought is going to be, yet you believe that you are a person, in a body. You say ‘I am a person’ but what does it mean? Many assumptions keep the illusion of personhood going. You face the unknown at every turn.

You may wish to wake up but you cling to habits of hiding from the unknown. Something called ‘me’ calls all this activity ‘spiritual’ and it is meaningless. Bonding with others who are under the same illusion appears to bring comfort. It only takes a little hick up and these ‘spiritual people’ will scratch each others eyes out over some triviality. You do not have to leap from some imaginary spring board. All that is necessary is to be conscious of consciousness. Simple. Sustaining that requires the dropping of old ideas and habits of clinging to stale concepts about unworthiness or some other equally erroneous belief. Wake up? Are you actually asleep? Or simply running on empty, hoping for some miracle to happen in some projected future time? Investigate your beliefs and be free of them.

What do you know beyond all doubt? Find that and stay with it. The light of that certitude will reveal everything for what it is.

For instance, the basic impression that something is happening now, the feeling of existing or being. Do you have to work to create that? Or does it simply feel like something is happening?

In reading this article, do you have to figure out how to work the rods and cones of the eyeball in order to read? Or does it just happen? Do you need to create your brain’s inherent ability to recognize a letter and convert it to meaning?

You’re not making your heart beat or your breath come and go. You’re not making your blood flow or your immune system work. You’re not making the cells of your body age and die, and you’re not causing new cells to arise.

You’re not creating any of the vibrations, pulsations, and sensations of this moment. You don’t make the discomforts arise, nor the urges to dispel the discomforts, the automatic shifting of an uncomfortable body.

The sounds that you hear simply happen; you’re not making the bones of the inner ear do their work. Various thoughts arise and pass. Moods come and go. Even if you don’t want any thoughts or moods, they happen anyway.

You might think you’ve decided to read this article, but that wouldn’t be true from your experience. If you’re reading this, it’s because there’s an interest in reading this and you didn’t create that interest.

You didn’t decide years ago that in this moment you would have a need to read this article. It arises in the flow of life. You don’t create your fascinations and concerns.

Right now, someone, somewhere, is overwhelmingly concerned with juggling a large number of rubber balls in a new and exciting way, and he, or she, is spending every waking moment addressing that concern. It’s probably not you, since you’re reading this instead, but just as that juggler didn’t create his or her overwhelming interests and urges, neither have you.

Some people are studying theoretical mathematics or the languages of ancient Peruvian cultures and they’re driven to do that in the same way you’re provoked to read this.

You don’t create your abilities. You don’t decide to be what you are. If you could, I’m sure you’d decide to be as rich as Bill Gates, as intelligent as Einstein, as caring as Mother Theresa, and as sexy as whoever you think is the sexiest person alive. All in one package. But it isn’t going to happen.

Any apparent decision we seem to make has to be based on the only needs, interests, urges, abilities, and lack of abilities that life has given us. And those function in an automatic response to the external circumstances life also offers. All of which is wonderful, but we don’t cause any of it to happen.

If we have an urge to hit someone and, at the same time, an urge to not hit, we haven’t created those urges. And if one urge proves to be stronger than the other, we haven’t created that. It plays out in whatever way it plays out.

Right now, try to stop feeling the things you feel, loving the things you love, or doing the things you live to do. You‘re not going to stop it, because you don’t create it.

All of it is the action of something larger than any so-called human being. You might say it’s the movement of nature, or the universe, or the great spirit, depending on what you’re compelled to say. We’re an expression of that. There is only that.

Who knows what it is? One thing’s clear though. It’s not our doing.

A theorem goes beyond a theory, in that it is provable. What has been proven, in this case, is what is known as—deceptively understated—entanglement.

Less than fifty years ago, physicist John Bell proposed an experiment which has subsequently been performed, then reconfirmed several times.

A simplified analogous depiction: An atom, in decay, emits pairs of particles. They will be of a polarization opposite to one another, and will be expelled to each side, beyond physical contact with each other. If the subatomic particle ejected to the right was polarized as positive (for example), you could zap it electronically midflight and switch its polarity to negative.

But by a construct of physical nature, such paired particles are required to exist in an oppositional polarity. The abrupt switch in polarity of the right-hand particle from positive to negative will register a startling observation in your monitoring of the flight of the left-hand particle.

The polarity of the left-hand particle will spontaneously and instantly switch orientation (in this case, from negative to positive), in accordance with the effected switch in polarity of the right-hand particle.

How can one particle be apprised of an instantaneous change in the other, when both are zooming away from any spatial link between them?

In our sector of the universe, there is an established physical principle, that not anything can be propagated through space at faster than the speed of light. Yet, when experiments have been performed on particles separated a decisive distance in space, the determination is that this “phase change” is coordinated simultaneously, and cannot be a communicated message between particles—even at the speed of light.

The most apparent explanation is that the subatomic particles (which, of course, all matter is composed of—including you) exist in, and are inseparable from, a field or background of unlimited or absolute connectedness. Subsequent experiments are demonstrating that this interconnectedness pertains to particles of increasingly greater number; and in evolving size, even beyond that of an atom. In physics today, entanglement is discovered to be an operative reality in a widening panorama of phenomenon.

Entanglement is a physicist’s label for interconnectedness; and the latter is a synonym for oneness. Entanglement is a proven fact. Anyone can continue to argue about the reality of oneness or undeniable inseparability: “That’s just a theory!” But know, for yourself, that it is the absence of oneness (perceived as duality) that is now nothing more than a theory.

Q: I’ve been watching how my awareness sort of sticks on to my ego. Well, maybe the purpose to that is to clarify what is disturbed in my ego. Is that making sense to you?

Bob: No, not really. What you are? What are you, the awareness or the ego?

Q: Well, I would like to identify with the awareness but I’m very aware of the conditioning.

Bob: Alright, so you identify with the awareness and you say that the awareness fixates on the ego. Well, where does the ego come from if you are awareness. What would fixate on what? Awareness is there first. Does the awareness fixate on the ego or does the ego appear in awareness?

Q: But it can run away with me, you know.

Bob: Out of habit, of course it runs away, because you’ve never questioned it. But what is the ego?

Q: My conditioned-ness.

Bob: Yes, when that sense of presence translates through the mind as the thought “I am”, you can’t do much with “I am”, can you? So we’ve added to what I am all these events, experiences, conditioning and formed a mental image of what you believe yourself to be. And that mental image, energy of belief constantly going into it, it’s seemingly solid. And that’s what we call the ego, the self-centre or the reference point. So everything become relative to that so-called ego, an imagined reference point, an imagined self-centre. And everything is relative to that. So that’s a problem of relationship, relative to. And relationship is duality. And we’ve pointed out that there can be absolutely no duality in non-duality. It’s one without a second. So all dualism is appearances only. And this whole manifestation is the dualistic appearance, it couldn’t be otherwise. There couldn’t be day without night, couldn’t be silence without sound, or movement without stillness, winter without summer. So there would be no manifestation whatsoever if it didn’t appear dualistically. But the appearance, that’s all it is. It’s only a vibrating pattern of energy that seems solid and substantial, just the same as this vibrating pattern of energy based on past events and experiences, you call the ego or the me. That’s a fiction too. So has the awareness ever been contaminated or corrupted by anything that’s appeared on it? And could anything appear without it?

Q: No.

Bob: So where are you going to take your stance? As the believed-in ego or as that essence, pure essence, life essence that’s breathing you, beating your heart, growing your hair and fingernails, digesting your food, replacing your cells in your body, all quite naturally and effortlessly. You don’t have to think about those things, have you? It’s even causing the thinking which basically is what the ego is, thought-up concepts, it’s even causing that to appear. You couldn’t have a thought without that life essence, could you? You couldn’t have the idea or concept of an ego without that life essence. Where you going to take your stance? That sense of presence or that translation of it, “I am”.

Q: I suppose I’ve been imagining that perhaps the fact that the conditioned thoughts. Instead of just going, oh okay, well that’s just conditioned thoughts, that they need perhaps to be acknowledged in order to free me off them.

Bob: Acknowledge them for what they are. What are they? They’re not the thoughts. They are a vibrating pattern of energy. That same essence as everything else is. Vibrating into different patterns, shapes and forms and appearing as something different. But it’s the one essence appearing and expressing as everything. And you are that essence. Not the appearance or expression. So that’s why the Buddha could say a couple of thousand years ago that emptiness is form, he called it cognizing emptiness. An emptiness that suffused with an intelligence or a knowing. And he says emptiness is form, meaning that cognizing emptiness, not “we are cognizing”, it’s emptiness that has that capacity of knowing throughout that intelligence, throughout. It’s patterning, shaping and forming all this manifestation. And you see that it’s all appearing in the emptiness, in the space. Now he turned it round the other way and he said that the form can be nothing other than the emptiness, implying even though it appears in different patterns and shapes, it’s still that emptiness, never changes it’s true nature. The appearance will change, just like a wave or a ripple or a drop will appear on the water. Is it ever anything other than the water? You got a gold bangle, bracelet and earrings, are they ever anything other than gold? No matter how they shape and form or appear.

Q: Can I add that you can’t identify with awareness cause that’s what you are? And the thoughts are not yours so you don’t own them. They just arise and dissipate.

Bob: That’s very good, but you need to see that there’s no “you” that can have a thought. The total idea of “you” is a thought-up entity. That’s not what you are. And as you say, you can’t grasp awareness. It is no thing. It has no pattern, no shape, no form. But you can’t negate it. And see that! Is there anybody here who is unaware in this room right now? Realize, “No, I’m not unaware.” So what must you be? If you’re not unaware you must be aware. So what’s that? Has anything changed? Hasn’t it been there all the time? Non-cognized. You’re not cognizing of knowing as some thing. But it’s the base in which everything appears, plays around, and disappears. Nothing can be added to it, nothing can be taken away from it. Uncorruptible. Uncontaminated.

Q: Do you recommend a practice? Do you recommend the “Who Am I?” self-enquiry?

Bob: The thing about “Who Am I?” You’ve been told that for years and people have been trying it for years and years to find out “Who Am I?” The thing to do is to ask, “Who’s asking the question?” Then you see from that that the questioner, that which is asking the question is the very question itself. They’re both thoughts or concepts. When you see that the questioner is the question, that there can’t be a questioner without the question, that there can’t be the question without the questioner. They’ve cancelled each other out. Where does that leave you?

Q: But isn’t that what the practice is supposed to do, to dissolve the sense of “I”?

Bob: How long have you been doing that practice?

Q: I don’t necessarily do that practice.

Bob: What are you worrying about it for?

Q: I’m wondering if you recommend a practice.

Bob: No, I certainly don’t. Because the “I” is the cause of all your problems. And who would be practicing it? It would be “I” that would be practicing, trying to get rid of the practice. If you ask who’s the questioner, who’s asking the question, the answer is “I am”.

Q: Didn’t that practice come from the neti-neti practice, which Maharshi thought was too much mental activity. By mental activity, it keeps the whole process churning.

Bob: Too much mental practice in asking “Who Am I? Who Am I?” And people do that for years and never get there. Why? Maybe they’re looking in the wrong direction. They’re looking in the mind for the answer. Full stop. What’s wrong with right now if you don’t think about it? To do that, you’ve got to pause a thought. What can you say when you’ve paused a thought. Nothing. You can’t say it’s good or bad, anything, but you haven’t stopped breathing, your heart hasn’t stopped beating, hair and fingernails are still growing, there’s so much activity going on in that pattern of energy without the thought. And in that moment when thought is paused you are prior to thought, you are prior to mind. People talk about going beyond the mind, you’re prior to the mind when you pause a thought. And that’s the base in which the next thought comes upon you. If you were that thought, when you paused a thought that would be the finish of you. But you’re not finished. The next thought starts up, and what is there when thought was paused. So you start to see the difference between pure intelligence and thinking.

Q: So you focus on that “mananasa”, the annihilation of thought. Which is a concept.

Bob: Who’s going to annihilate? Look, do you think a thought or do thoughts arise.

Q: They arise.

Bob: Right, so who’s going to annihilate that arising, that self-arising? See, thought doesn’t have to be annihilated. Just recognized for what it is. It is the same intelligence energy that everything else is, but appearing in a different pattern, shape or form. But you know the truth about it. You’re not bound by it. They use metaphors to point that out. You go down to the ocean, I’ll say, “Get me a bucket of blue water out of the sea.” What will you say? You’ll say, “Don’t be ridiculous!” You know you’ll never get a bucket of blue water out of the sea. But does the sea stop appearing to be blue? You can go down, admire the blueness of the sea, beautiful blue sea, blah blah blah. But you know the truth about it. The water was not blue, couldn’t be blue, never will be blue. But it still appears to be blue. So you’re not bound by it. That’s the old scriptural saying, “Know the truth and the truth will set you free.” When you know you are not this body-mind entity, you are not any separate person or individual, you’re free of that belief. You can’t believe it anymore. So what must you be? You’re still thinking, seeing, tasting. Who’s doing it? Isn’t it the same life essence that’s breathing you, beating your heart, that intelligence doing the thinking also. So instead of attributing it to a thinker, me, the thinking is happening but you say, “I think”. Then you’ve created a subject, a thinker. I think this thought. Created an object. You’ve created duality out of non-duality. Thinking is the functioning. Seeing is the functioning. Hearing, tasting, touching, smelling is the functioning. Then the thought comes up, “I see, I see the chair.” You’ve created subject/object. Duality. Split up by a thought. But it never was divided at all. Shakespeare told us that years ago, he said, “There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.” Nisargadatta tells you the same thing. Nothing can trouble you, meaning absolutely that, that nothing can trouble you except in your own imagination. The only trouble you’ve ever had is what you’re imagining. Thinking. And that’s not a trouble when it’s understood. Because, you know what it’s doing. It’s always vibrating and dividing. You know what it’s doing. But you’re never locked into it anymore like you were previously. There we took the subject, “I”, as something real. And everything, that was the reference point, the self-centre, or the ego, which everything was related to. It’s all relative to that. So you see all our problems are problems of relationship. Relative to.

Q: Simply allow the ego to fall away… the cessation of identification?

Bob: See that the ego is a fiction. Never was there. That’s what you need to do.

“Sailor” Bob Adamson found the peace he was seeking in the presence of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj in the 70′s. Bob lives in Australia and has held weekly talks for visitors from all over the world for 30 years. Many come to his home or call him to discover the same Presence Awareness of which he speaks.

Bob has an amazing clear and direct way of expressing what has been called Nonduality. Visit his Website, listen to his audio and video, pick up his books/CDs/DVDs, or pay him a visit at his meetings.

You can now also purchase MP3 recordings of Bob’s meetings for a very low cost. Visit the Online Store for more information.