I’m writing this on the morning of the Winter Solstice 2023 and have been reflecting on the way human beings have, throughout time, approached this darkest time of year.

We live in an age in which a great many of us take the miracles of electricity, running water and central heating for granted. Throughout almost the entirety of human history, however, the Winter months represented a life and death challenge. For many, it may have been a feat simply to stay alive, warm and fed.

I love the fact, however, that in spite of it being the darkest and bleakest time of year, the Solstice has traditionally been a time of festivity and celebration; a way of transmuting the burden of worldly hardship into a celebration of life, light and cheerful anticipation for better, brighter days to come.

Whether you are Christian or not, there’s a lot of rich symbology in the story of Jesus’s birth. The essence of the Christmas story is a Divine light kindled amid the darkest of times. This light already exists in the heart of all beings as the reflected Consciousness of Brahman, the Self; truly the “Father” of all that exists.

I sometimes get asked an interesting question. If everything in creation is Divine, why is there so much evil, suffering and sorrow in the world? Why are corporations, politicians and people in positions of power waging wars, committing murder and destroying the planet? If it’s true that everyone is essentially God assuming name and form, why do many people live with such closed hearts; selfish, materialistic and prone to adharmic actions?

The answer is that while everyone is Divine, not everyone manifests that Divinity.

As long as our mind and heart are conditioned by the influence of rajas and tamas, we are unable to express and actualise our true Divinity in thought, word and deed. Even though it’s always there, the inner light has no real way to shine through the prism of a mind tainted by gluttony, delusion and materialism.

Sadly, this accounts for the current state of our world. Lower values such as greed, lust for power and narcissistic self-interest all too often supersede higher values and attributes such as kindness, compassion, cooperation and love. You only need to take a look at the headlines on any given day to see ample evidence of this.

None of us can single-handedly change the world, or even the people around us, but we can change ourselves.

We each have a choice. Do we seek to express and bring forth our Divinity; that which is highest and best within us? Or do we allow negative cultural conditioning and the greed and dissatisfaction of tamas and rajas to be the driving force in our lives?

There’s an ancient Chinese proverb which states “It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness.”

In actuality, then light is already there; and it will never not be there. We simply need to clean the lamp of our minds to allow it to shine in all its splendour.

The birth of Jesus represents a symbolic kindling of the inner light in the darkest of times; the shifting to a higher, Divine consciousness that happens by surmounting our lower nature and baser instincts and impulses. 

This upliftment of consciousness means seeing the best in all and cultivating higher qualities, values and behaviour in our lives. It means an unceasing commitment to following dharma, because dharma is synonymous with God.

The Bhagavad Gita outlines twenty key dharmic qualities of mind that can be cultivated in order to express our inherent Divinity. These qualities are as follows:

1. Resisting the tendency to pander to our ego and its endless desires, addictions and lower impulses.

2. The absence of pretention and the need to impress and manipulate others.

3. Non-injury to all beings.

4. Having an open and accommodating attitude toward life rather than a rigid, closed mindset.

5. Straight-forwardness, honesty and the harmonious alignment of our thought, word and deed.

6. Service to your teacher. This doesn’t mean becoming a slave to the guru, but simply honouring and respecting your teacher and doing your best to realise and embody the spirit of the teaching.

7. Cleanliness in all aspects; physically, mentally and in terms of our actions, habits and behaviour.

8. Steadfastness; the ability to persevere and commit to your true goal with constancy and determination.

9. Mastery over the mind. Perhaps then most important quality a human being can develop! The mind is a wonderful servant but a terrible master. It must be appropriately trained and brought into alignment with dharma and the higher values outlined in the scriptures.

10. Dispassion toward sense objects. Another vital qualification for all seekers. Many waste their lives in a haze of blind, narcotic hedonism. It’s vital that we learn to master and control the senses, lest we be controlled by them.

11. Absence of egoism and the ability to see beyond the ego part of our nature.

12. Being aware of the limitations of birth, death and body-identification. This means becoming clear about the zero sum nature of material reality and knowing with surety that lasting happiness can only come from within.

13. Absence of the sense of doership. This comes from analysing all the consitutent factors necessary for action to take place. Ultimately, all actions are done by Ishvara, which alone is in control of all factors in the material field.

14. Absence of excessive attachment to our family members, friends, home and belongings. This doesn’t mean we don’t love those in our lives, but that we love with what Swami Dayananda calls “dispassionate caring”. Attachments bind the mind and prevent the full assimilation of Self-Knowledge.

15. The ability to retain even-mindedness and equanimity even amidst life’s greatest challenges and hardships.

16. Unswerving devotion to the Divine.

17. The ability and willingness to retreat to quiet places and disengage from the world’s constant hustle and bustle.

18. Being able to feel happy and content by oneself; or the absence of craving for the company of other people.

19. Constant and unwavering application of Self-Knowledge to the mind. This alone liberates!

20. Devotion to spiritual Truth. This understanding of the true nature of Self and Reality must so strong that it overrides the mind’s tendency to relate to life through a screen of division, separation and disconnection. It means seeing ourselves as we actually are, pure Consciousness, and not the body/mind/ego we might initially appear to be.

What we have above is a checklist for cultivating higher values in alignment with our true Self. By consciously adopting these qualities, we light up the dark night of ignorance and transcend the pains and suffering inherent to identifying solely with the aggregates of matter; the body, mind and ego.

As the dark days begin to lengthen and the light again returns, why not make a commitment to embodying the spiritual Truth of the ages and to fully realise, actualise and express your inherent Divinity? 

That, more than anything else, is what our world needs and is the very doorway to lasting peace and freedom. It reveals to us the light that is always within us, ever present and always shining. It simply requires the commitment to dharmic living and the cultivation of a pure, sattvic mind in which to manifest our own inner light. 

What greater gift can we give the world?

Happy Solstice, Merry Christmas and a good New Year to you!

Dear Ramji

I just wanted to drop you a brief note to say thank you for your love, support and guidance during the recent seminar in Spain. I am happy to say that the knowledge requires much less effort to access!

Some persistent, pesky thought bundles had been very sticky and frustrating, even though I knew that they’re not real and that I am wholeness and fullness. Like the migraine yesterday, and the ongoing family stuff… 

But now, I can step back from them quite quickly and effectively!

It’s as if the balance has shifted. The thought that I am non-dual awareness, with all its implications of freedom, now has “weight behind it”; it has substance. And this weight or reality is now an equal match to the weight behind the unhappy thoughts. With a little more time, it should become much more weighty… I did a little graphic. Thought you might like it!

With love and gratitude

Here I’m going to outline five key points which I believe are essential in making the teaching work for you; in other words, converting Self-Knowledge (the object of the teaching) into liberation or freedom.

In the talk, I shared a couple of quotes from a new book I’m nearly finished writing. It’s called “There Shines a Light” and is a spiritual autobiography exploring my journey from samsara to finding an end to samsara through the liberating power of Self-Knowledge. It’s different to most Vedanta books in that it isn’t so much about the “theory” as the “practise” and how, by truly assimilating the teaching and incorporating it into every aspect of our lives, we can enable the power of Self-Knowledge to carry us through life’s many storms and stresses.

My intent was to convey how Self-Knowledge enables us to navigate life’s challenges and respond appropriately to each situation as it presents itself with objectivity, dispassion and devotion. 

This truly is the most sane and healthy way to approach life and the best investment of time and energy you will ever make in your life. As Swami Paramarthanada states, when we are ignorant of our true nature as pure Consciousness, life is nothing but a burden (to put it mildly!). But when we fully integrate the Knowledge “I am Consciousness and not the body/mind/ego”, life goes from a burden to a blessing and we effectively transcend the zero sum nature of the phenomenal reality.

The five keys to living the teaching are as follows:

1. Be clear on your goal.
2. Be qualified!
3. Manage the mind.
4. Don’t get too hooked up in the world
5. Practise sustained nididhyasana, or contemplation.

Let’s briefly touch upon each.

1. Be Clear On Your Goal

It’s essential that you be clear about your highest values and most important goals. Until you have a significant degree of clarity about your true values, life simply isn’t going to work. Muddled values lead to muddled priorities, misplaced action and wholly unsatisfactory results. This is really the death knell for genuine seekers of liberation.

So what is it you really want in life? 

It so happens that much of what you think you want in life is simply societal programming instilled into you from childhood onward. The goals of samsara are many and varied, but they generally fall under the category of the desire for security and wealth and the desire for pleasure. It’s between these two branches that most peoples’ lives swing.

In general, we are conditioned to look outside of ourselves for our happiness, fulfilment and joy. If you want to feel better, you simply need to get more “stuff”; more objects, be they tangible, physical objects or subtle objects in the form of emotion and experience.

In order to be a successful human being, it’s drilled into us that we need to be as GOOD as we possibly can be, first at school, then in other educational or vocational pursuits. The key to happiness is to achieve, attain and acquire; or so we are taught. Once we get the education we want, we then must forge the ideal career and make as much money as we possibly can. With that money, we can buy all kinds of desirable objects; from houses to cars, holidays and entertainment and whatever else happens to take our fancy. Relationships are also a key focus for most. Most people are unable to appreciate their own beauty and light, so they seek a proxy; somebody to mirror back to them the light of their own Consciousness. 

There’s nothing inherently wrong with any of this, of course. The scriptures outline the first three life stages as being focused on learning, career and family and this corresponds with the goals of wealth/security, pleasure and dharma (dharma relating to virtue or right action; ie., doing the right thing at the right time in the right way). 

The problem is when we genuinely believe that these life pursuits are capable of delivering lasting happiness and freedom. The expectation that they can and should is the source of tremendous misery.

While we can and should make the best of our lives and thus contribute to the whole, the idea that the solution to our existential suffering comes from the pursuit and attainment of objects is the very basis of samsara. 

Owing to Self-ignorance, we don’t feel whole and complete in ourselves, so we seek a solution outside of ourselves in the world of objects and experience. We assume that forcing the world of objects into alignment with our personal likes and dislikes is the way to freedom. 

Unfortunately, the very worst way to be free is to rely upon the world of objects behaving as we think it should. The problem is that we are not in control of the results of our actions. We can take the action we think is best and most appropriate, but it’s not up to us how the results of that action fructify. If it were up to us—if we had complete control over the results of our actions, then everything we do would be successful. Every single time you bought a lottery ticket you would hit the jackpot. 

Alas, life does not work that way. There’s a complex chain of cause and effect and unfathomable variables over which we, as people, have no knowledge or control. Indeed, it is Ishvara, the Totality, which dispenses the results of all actions and Ishvara never factors our personal likes and dislikes into the equation.

A mature spiritual seeker is somebody who has come to terms with this fact. They’ve also come to realise that the solution to the basic problem of human suffering is not to be solved simply by getting what we want from the game of life. Seeking happiness in objects is at best a band-aid. It provides some relief but doesn’t solve the underlying problem. It gives us a temporary boost of happiness until pain and discontent once again rear their ugly heads. 

The wise person will conclude that because object-based happiness is temporary at best, the solution must be something altogether different. Indeed, as Vedanta unilaterally declares: lasting happiness can only come from Self-Knowledge and the full and complete realisation of who and what we truly are.

It’s not until you are very, VERY clear on that last point that you will value the teaching enough to commit your life, time and attention to realising this Truth for yourself. 

Until you get to that point, you may have a value for Vedanta and Self-Knowledge, but it’s likely a split value; meaning an only partially assimilated value. There’s a core conflict because although moksha is valuable to you, your attention and energy is still divided and funnelled into various worldly pursuits, goals and endeavours. 

Such worldly goals may be good and necessary, but they must be conducted as karma yoga and not seen as a solution to the problem of existential suffering. You might get what you want, and it might bring temporary happiness, but the ultimate happiness comes only from the full realisation and integration of the knowledge “I am Consciousness alone and I am already entirely whole and complete in my Self”.

In short, you need to be very clear that the pursuit and integration of Self-Knowledge is the solution to your suffering; not chasing various crumbs of joy in the world of objects. You need such clarity of vision and values otherwise you simply won’t devote the necessary time and effort to truly living and assimilating the teaching—and, for a seeker of Truth, that sadly equates to a wasted lifetime.

At the start of each day, you might want to ask yourself:

“What is the most important thing to me?” 

“What is my highest priority?” 

“What is my greatest goal?” 

Then plan your day accordingly.

While we naturally have many things that we love and adore in the world, including family and friends, our job and contribution to society, our highest goal should always be freedom. After all, it’s not until we are free that we can truly bless others and the world and shine the light of Truth and love. That should be our ultimate goal in life.

In Vivekachudamani, Shankara makes it clear that the highest blessing in life is to have a human birth, plus the desire for spiritual liberation (a desire that is exceedingly rare even among “spiritual types”), access to the teaching and a teacher and a mind capable of understanding both. 

If all those factors are in place—and the latter ones can be worked upon and cultivated if need be—you are already enormously blessed. I think it’s safe to say that if you didn’t have significant punyam, or good karma, you wouldn’t be reading this at all. The interest simply wouldn’t be there. No matter what you do, you must capitalise on this blessing and take full advantage of it.

My favourite quote on the topic comes from the Buddhist master Dogen, who said:

“Life and death are of supreme importance. Time swiftly passes by and opportunity is lost. Each of us should strive to awaken. Awaken! Take heed, and do not squander your life.”

Once you are clear on the benefits of moksha, liberation, and the cost of not attaining it (which is continued pain and suffering), you should find the necessary motivation to truly commit to your sadhana, Vedantic study and self-enquiry. Studies have shown that human behaviour is often more motivated by the avoidance of pain rather than the promise of reward, so it can be helpful to reflect on the continued cost of existing in samsara and its constant seesaw of desire, attachment and suffering.

Only then can you ask yourself “Am I ALL IN?” 

Because if you’re not ALL IN, and truly and utterly committed to liberation, then you are as good as out. 

Half-measures don’t work when it comes to liberation. You need to want it as much as a drowning man needs oxygen. The moment you do, you’re already part way there.

2. Be Qualified

Having corresponded with a fair number of spiritual seekers over the past few years, I’ve come to see that this is perhaps the “make or break” issue for just about everyone. 

It’s not a topic most people particularly enjoy; perhaps because it might seem rudimentary and basic. Most people want to skip onto the more inspiring and intoxicating topics of Jnana yoga. What they don’t realise is that, unless the basic mental qualifications are in place, that Knowledge does’t really have a place to land. It remains mere intellectual curiosity and, while obviously still inspiring and exciting, it won’t translate to liberation if the mind hasn’t first been sufficiently primed and brought to heel.

Prior to planting seeds, the soil must be prepared. It has to be fertile and all the necessary conditions must be taken into account in order for the seeds to grow, take root and flourish. The same is true with Self-Knowledge. The glory of this Knowledge is that it does all the work pretty much by itself. Knowledge erases ignorance as effortlessly as light displaces dark. All that we really need to do is to apply that Knowledge to the mind whenever thoughts of Self-ignorance and limitation happen to arise, until such time as they don’t.

The main thing we have to do, however, is to simply keep our mind ship-shape and a fit receptacle for Knowledge.

This means cultivating strong discrimination, which means the ability to distinguish the real from the false, or the eternal from the fleeting. This naturally generates the second qualification, which is dispassion. The third qualification relates to discipline of the mind and keeping the mind a finely honed instrument rather than a destructive and out of control monster as it can so easily become for many. Finally, the desire for liberation, as discussed in the first key, is essential for granting us the motivation to pursue the teaching and apply it to the mind until Knowledge becomes conviction and conviction translates to liberation.

Nobody likes to be told that they aren’t qualified for the teaching. It’s something you absolutely must be aware of, however. If the teaching isn’t changing the way that you see and relate to others, yourself and life, then it’s a sure sign that your qualifications need some work. That is no mark of shame, because unless one is a sannyasi and has completely renounced society and worldly life, you can almost guarantee there will be work to do in that regard. So, it’s not a bad realisation. It’s a good one, because it’s something you can most certainly do something about.

I’ve known students who successfully grasped the essence of the teaching and had firm Self-Knowledge, but it simply wasn’t sinking in because of certain turbulence, attachment and emotional issues clouding the mind and subtle body. 

All seekers should have a firm gauge of just how steady and sattvic the mind is at any given time. Getting qualified is certainly not a one-time effort. Like tending a garden, it may require quite a fair bit of weeding and pruning, watering and feeding. Indeed, the mind is constantly shifting like the ephemeral thing it is. Moment to moment vigilance is required, as we’ll explore in the next step.

A passage from “There Shines A Light” on the topic:

“Only a clear mind can adequately reflect the resplendent light of our own Self. Such a mind, which can be cultivated through a commitment to dharma, the practice of karma yoga, devotion, meditation, and the deep contemplation of Self-Knowledge, is a mind freed from excessive want and selfish desire. Life is no longer about getting what we want. It’s about finding the deeper part of us that’s forever free from want—the part that simply shines in radiant, changeless splendour. This light is the only remedy to the veiling cloud of ignorance that keeps us desperately bound to worldly objects, forms, and attachments while completely oblivious to the fact that we are in actuality, in our heart of hearts, already free.”

Get qualified! Stay qualified! Even in the absence of Self-Knowledge and liberation, these mental qualifications have the ability to make life so much easier and more enjoyable.

3. Manage the Mind

Mind management is an essential prerequisite for any enquirer. After all, the mind is our instrument for interfacing with the phenomenal reality. A turbulent, choppy mind cannot provide an accurate reflection of reality and will create significant stress and tension both psychologically and physiologically.

A tranquil and pure mind, however, is like a lake without so much as a ripple. Only a peaceful mind is capable of reflecting the light of the Self in a pure and undistorted manner, free of the concealing and projecting powers of tamas and rajas.

A large part of mind management, then, comes down to managing the three gunas. We cultivate a pure and sattvic mind by minimising the deadening and agitating excesses of tamas and rajas. The topic of the gunas is an interesting and eminently practical one. We come to see that everything in our life will have an effect on the proportion of these qualities; whether it’s the food we eat, our home and work environment, the people we are around or the stimulus we allow through the gates of our senses. We have to be judicious gatekeepers in this respect and aware of the proportion of the gunas so we can constantly adjust as necessary.

The mind is very much where the spiritual battle takes place. The subtle body is the source of the problem; specifically, the intellect, where we harbour the erroneous belief in being a separate, limited, inadequate self. That’s where we need to take the fight and we do that by applying Knowledge; the only thing capable of eradicating ignorance.

It’s a process that takes as long as it takes; whether months, years or lifetimes. 

The number one thing we can do to assist the process is to keep the mind as calm, balanced and tranquil as it can be. When thoughts of ignorance and limitation come up, as they most certainly will, we patiently and steadily apply the opposite thought. Bit by bit, we dismantle the false notion that we are a lacking, suffering little person and replace it with the Knowledge that what we are is whole, complete and free of limitation and defect.

That is no small challenge. The mind is, by nature, restless. It’s constantly modifying according to stimulus and, for a great many people, is prone to neuroticism. The mind itself is a mechanism designed to keep us safe by constantly evaluating and trying to control our environment. The problem is, it’s constantly biting off more than it can chew. It tries to control things that it actually has no control over. The result is likely to be constant rumination, doubt, fear and anxiety.

The moment we accept that we’re trying to control things we have no control over, it creates a space of acceptance and openness. We can recognise that what the mind deals in is thought; and thought is just thought. No matter what terrible things the mind is trying to control and change; it’s all just thought–and thought can be managed.

If you’re thinking thoughts that are not constructive and which only bring stress and suffering, it’s important to step in and redirect the mind to thoughts of Truth. You can always tell when you’re thinking thoughts of Truth because you will automatically feel freer and lighter. Emotional distress is a sign the mind has contracted itself into rajas and tamas conditioned thoughts and you have lost touch with the basic truth of who you are.

That’s not the end of the world. It happens. All you need to do is to gently redirect your mind to an acknowledgement of who and what you truly are, and to recognise that everything in this field of dharma is taken care of for you by Ishvara. This may not always be easy. The mind can be tenacious and implacable in what it sees as its imperative to try to control life. It’s crucial that you learn to take the reins, however. You must be in control of the mind, or it will devour itself and scupper all chance of assimilating the Self-Knowledge of Vedanta.

Like Arjuna on he battlefield, you must take a stand and consciously direct your thoughts to Truth, God and Love. Here the yogas provide the perfect tools for conquering the untamed conditioned mind. Karma yoga and bhakti yoga, or any kind of devotional practice, will effectively shift the focus from mind-made fears and conditioning to the ever shining Self that you are. 

This effectively defangs the mind, reorienting it to Truth and converting base emotion to an all-encompassing devotion. Quite often, the problem is simply that the mind is trying to be God. Alas, the mind cannot be God, because it only has limited knowledge and power. The key is to recognise that the mind doesn’t have to carry such a burden. It doesn’t need to micromanage the universe. You can rely upon God to be God, and relax and channel your energy and attention where you want it to go.

4. Don’t Get Too Hooked Up in the World 

One of the keys to inner peace is to cease looking to the world for harmony, equilibrium and peace. That’s something “the world” is unable to give; particularly in these times of instability, hyper-acceleration and exponential change. 

You cannot wait until things become peaceful and stable outwardly before you devote yourself to inner peace and the freedom of moksha. It has to be done right here, right now. 

As Kabir powerfully stated, “Wherever you are is the entry point.”

A mind constantly hooked to the world of the senses—and to, for example, news and media feeds—is a mind that will take on tremendous stress and agitation. Never forget that the mind modifies itself to whatever you choose to focus it on. If you are constantly worrying about the state of the world and spending your time “doom scrolling” as has become common in recent times, you’re almost certainly disqualifying the mind and losing your discrimination, dispassion and discipline; and perhaps even your desire for freedom, too. The mind becomes muddled and unfocused and you lose sight of your true values and goals.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t keep up to date with worldly affairs and it doesn’t mean you don’t care about what’s going on. You should care. We all have our dharma to do and ways in which we can contribute to the world and make it a slightly better and more harmonious place. If we can offer help to those who are suffering and it’s appropriate and timely for us to do so, that’s something we should do.

To spare the mind stress and conflict, however, all action should be done as karma yoga and in a spirit of devotion and surrender. That’s what frees us from action even as we find ourselves in the world taking action. We do the best that we can and trust Ishvara to do the rest—and we maintain that trust even if things don’t seem to be going the way we think they should. Karma is an endlessly complex thing and we never quite know how things should be. That’s for Ishvara to decide.

The key to this principle is to remain centred on the stillness within your Self; that placeless-place of perfect peace, tranquility and balance at the core of your own being. If you stay rooted in that, you derive your peace not from the turbulent, ever changing outer world, but from the Self alone; the pure Consciousness which never changes and never modifies to any experience, either pleasant or painful.

As I was growing up, I found it quite painful being in this world. As a young child, I saw it as a magical place filled with possibility. Yet, as I grew up I learned about the darker side of human nature and the violence, disregard and brutality human beings often display toward each other, animals and the planet. At the age of ten, I began trying to do things that would help the environment. I couldn’t believe the insanity of what human beings were doing to the planet and its creatures. I was grieved by the hateful way people were capable of treating others. I was horrified the more I learned about humanity’s violent history of war, corruption and genocide.

It’s natural to be perturbed by adharma. That’s what motivates and impels us to restore dharma. We each have a responsibility in that regard. We become much more powerful and effective as people, however, if we stay rooted in the light within ourselves; in the light of our own Consciousness.

That’s what enables us to deal with the outer disturbances and discord with objectivity and effectiveness. We do our karma yoga, taking actions not simply to reinforce and bolster the ego’s likes and dislikes, but as service to Ishvara and a blessing to the world. Whether or not we get the results we want, when we remain rooted in the pristine purity of our own Being, we remain calm and at ease because we have surrendered the fruits of our actions to Ishvara where it belongs. The challenge is, therefore, to be in the world but not of the world. That is truly the greatest service we can render the world.

Sometimes, life can seem like a succession of problems, challenges and traumas. There’s no getting around that fact. Speaking personally, I have experienced health limitations and challenges for most of my lifetime; some chronic and some acute and life-threatening. Three years ago, I was diagnosed with advanced and inoperable cancer. Fortunately, by the grace of God, my Self-Knowledge was quite firm by that point. The doctor was rather amazed by the equanimity of my response. He asked why I wasn’t shouting, crying or making a big deal out of what was, after all, a very big deal. The fact was, however, I knew not to get too pulled in by what is going on externally. I was blessed to know that it isn’t real; that my body isn’t what I am and that, as Consciousness, I am unaffected by whatever might be wrong with it. That doctor was impressed and, upon learning I was a teacher and writer, said he would definitely buy my books! My other doctors and nurses probably think I’m either a “strong person” or in denial. In actuality, I simply know who I am and have trained my mind not to accept limitation and lack as belonging to ME. It’s all just the play of karma and it doesn’t affect who we are whatsoever.

Vedanta is sometimes called the yoga of objectivity. To be able to live with objectivity and to deal with issues calmly and impartially as they come up is the best and most sane way to live. 

Every problem has a solution and, as difficult as certain situations may be, you can be sure that Ishvara also has a solution somewhere, or at least some action you can take to improve a situation. 

With discrimination and dispassion, life becomes so much easier to navigate. When you cede all the doing the Ishvara, it actually becomes effortless. It may sometimes take a while to figure out the best solution in some situations, but rest assured it will present itself. Knowing this we can get through even the greatest of adversity and, indeed, use it to help polish the mirror of the mind and strengthen our self-enquiry.

5. Practise Sustained Nididhyasana

Nididhyasana will be a term familiar to most Vedanta students. It means the steady and sustained contemplation of Self-Knowledge and our nature as Consciousness/Awareness. Nididhyasana involves rigorously applying this Knowledge to the mind and using it to neutralise all ignorance and blocks until the mind finally acquiesces and surrenders to this Knowledge. 

This is the all important key that transforms Knowledge into conviction and conviction into liberation. 

While the first two stages of the teaching, shravana (listening) and manana (reasoning) have a set duration and will come to an end, nididhyasana is something that should be continued for the duration of a lifetime. This shouldn’t be a chore but should be something pleasurable and rewarding and, after a certain time, will become the automatic operating mode of the mind; something that barely requires any conscious effort.

It can take considerable time to get to that stage. It’s vital not to give up too soon. The premature abandonment of nididhyasana renders all the previous steps, including the acquisition and the understanding of Self-Knowledge somewhat useless in terms of the desires goal, which is freedom. 

Swami Paramarthananda likens it to adding sugar to coffee. You must stir the coffee after adding the sugar or it will simply settle to the bottom of the mug and you won’t be able to enjoy its sweetness. It’s rather the same with nididhyasana. Once adding this Knowledge, it must be stirred until such time as you can taste the sweetness—and, rest assured, if you follow all the steps, you certainly will.

Many of the Vedanta students I’ve met and spoken with have already mastered the first two stages of the teaching but find themselves in the third; this assimilation of Self-Knowledge. I advise them that it really is the key; the agent which alchemises the Knowledge into the genuine experience of liberation, which comes from knowing our own true nature as limitless Consciousness.

When it comes to nididhyasana, you have to be like a dog with a bone. A dog is so absorbed in chewing the bone that it will utterly refuse to stop or let it go for anyone. It will gnaw and gnaw until it’s finally left with nothing. With nididhyasana, we chew away at the Knowledge until we’re left not with nothing; but a full and complete realisation of our own nature as Awareness. That’s our goal and the scriptures are clear that it is the very highest human goal because it enables us to enjoy the freedom that is our very nature. The terrible burden of being a suffering little person gives way to the realisation that what we are is Awareness and Awareness is always and ever free.

Once again, don’t wait for life to be “easy” or “perfect” before you commit to this practise. Again, “Wherever you are is the entry point”. You can use life’s challenges and stresses as a way of strengthening your Knowledge, your qualifications and your nididhyasana. 

Therefore, live life simply, do your dharma, perform all actions as karma yoga and bhakti (in truth, the two are one) and accept all results as the legitimate and proper outworking of karma. Everything can be used as fuel for the fire of Self-Knowledge.

On this topic, here is another excerpt from my upcoming book, “There Shines A Light”:

“The steady contemplation of our nature as Awareness is called nididhyasana in Vedantic terminology. It’s been suggested that for every hour we spend in the first stage of Vedanta, listening to the teaching, we should then spend a hundred hours going over the reasoning in our head and a thousand hours meditating upon it deeply and with great focus and clarity.

“So, for all there’s nothing we can do to become the Self—because we’re already the Self and cannot be anything else—it does take considerable effort to reorient and retrain the mind. As I learned the hard way, the mind can be our greatest friend or our most implacable and merciless foe. You alone decide which. An untamed mind is the root of enormous suffering and chaos. On the other hand, a cultivated and refined mind is an instrument for liberation. A sufficiently purified mind allows our true light to radiate from us and to bless all whom we meet. What a gift not just to the world but to ourselves. But, once again, it takes time, perseverance and grit. As the saying goes, everything is difficult before it gets easy.

“I made a number of missteps as I practised nididhyasana over the next few years. I got suckered by my psychological blind spots and ended up down one or two avenues that weren’t in line with who I was and who I was meant to be. I assumed that I was “finished” before I truly was and relaxed my efforts, only to be in for a fright when samsara tried to get its hooks in me. Life likes to test us. The moment you think, “That’s it, I’ve done it,” you can pretty much bet that Ishvara is thinking, “Oh, really, have you now…?” 

“There was no lasting damage in my case, but I learned the supreme importance of vigilance and humility. In time to come, my body and mind would be put through the fire big style. That, as it happens, would actually be immensely purifying, allowing my Self-Knowledge to cement in leaps and bounds. The true alchemy of living involves accepting and embracing all of life’s challenges and adversities and using them as grist for the mill of self-enquiry.

“Here’s a helpful thought which I very much believe to be true. All of life is secretly conspiring to awaken us from the dream of separation into full realisation the divine unity of all things. In spite of how it might often seem, this is not a cruel reality. It’s a cosmic game of hide and seek and the hurt and pain is not there to torment you. It’s there to jolt you awake; compelling you to remember the vastness of who and what you truly are, emboldening you to claim your divine birthright.”

The goal is freedom. While the jiva will always be bound by karma, when you divest the jiva of self-identification and place it back where it belongs—the Self!—life becomes an endless blessing and wonder. The burden of seeking comes to an end; whether it’s seeking happiness through the manipulation of worldly objects or seeking happiness through moksha. 

When seeking ends, all that’s left is enjoyment and appreciation. Life becomes a wondrous and beautiful thing in spite of its harder and more painful aspects. We no longer live to get or achieve or acquire anything; but simply to give, to contribute and to enjoy the ample blessings the Lord always sends our way. Even the simple, everyday sight of a blue sky, the scent of a flower, the wag of a dog’s tale or the smile of a loved one can be experienced as an entire universe of joy and bliss.

I will conclude with another passage from the book, which highlights just why it’s essential to commit fully and completely to the Realisation of your own nature as Consciousness and not the body/mind/ego entity:

“The light of Consciousness forever shines, regardless of whatever is going on at the level of maya. That’s why, at heart, we are always free. Nothing can ever touch the light that we truly are; not any experience, any fear, pain, hurt or even the crippling burden of a distorted egoic self-concept. Like the sun always shining above the clouds, Consciousness is forever free, always available and without limit or boundary.

“Very few have the ability to fully grasp this, even among spiritual seekers. Only sincere and committed spiritual enquirers have any way of processing this understanding. To the average person it will seem nonsensical and irrelevant. This Knowledge, however, is the key to alchemising life and turning the lead of worldly sorrow and limitation into the gold of perfect Divinity.

“I don’t feel I have achieved a whole lot materially in this lifetime. That really isn’t why I am here, however. My life path has been an opportunity to use limitation and adversity to turn within and realise the Light within myself and within all beings. That’s the key to this game of life. Integrating this Knowledge into the core of my psyche was far from an overnight job and I stumbled along the way. It led, however, to a treasure beyond compare: the discovery of an unending ocean of inner peace, contentment and joy that none of the vagaries of worldly life can rob us of. Even though the odd thought or emotion might cloud the sky temporarily, this Light can never be lost because it is the true essence of what we are: pure Consciousness wearing temporary sheaths of body and mind.

“While I wasted a few too many years seeking love and validation from others, the ultimate realisation was that I already have and am everything I’d ever sought.

“What’s more, the person I thought I was existed as nothing but a concept in my mind; a set of conditioned thoughts, reactions, desires and fears, capped with a name. Now, I admit it’s a mighty strange way to end an autobiography, but, in ultimate analysis, there’s no such person. It’s all just story. I don’t see myself as a person now; my centre of identification is just Awareness shining upon a body and mind. Even when you find yourself having to take action, and pick up your bow and arrow and take to the battlefield like Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita, life flows quite by itself if you let it. All that gets done, all the words spoken, actions taken and thoughts thunk, happen automatically by virtue of Consciousness enlivening a body and mind. What a wondrous thing!

“It may not happen overnight, but with repeated application to the mind, Self-Knowledge brings with it an unspeakable sense of relief, freedom and joy. While there’s still a world of names and forms appears before these eyes, and certain likes and dislikes and conditioned patterns cycling through the mind, I increasingly see only God, even where there seems to be discord, disharmony and strife. Above and beyond it all, is the Light, making all things take shape and dance as they play out their karma.

“Beneath the surface waves of this karma, all is interconnected by the vast ocean of universal Consciousness. The waves come and go, arising and subsiding in endless succession. What remains and never changes is Consciousness or Awareness; the one thing which can never be touched, tainted or harmed in any way.

“Bodies come and go, lifetimes pass by in the blink of an eye, stars are born and die, universes come into creation and dissolution, but the Light of Awareness, always present in all beings and universal in nature, shines endlessly. There’s no birth for it and no death, and all limitation is but the product of maya and is, to Consciousness, as insubstantial as a dream.

“This Knowledge brings liberation. We shift our centre of identification from the conceptual ego identity to the Awareness in which it arises. Only then do we taste freedom from seeking, freedom from lack and freedom from having to continually manipulate the outer world in order to satiate our desires and cravings. In spite of whatever might be sprouting in the endlessly fertile field of karma, the reality is that you, the true You, is already and ever free.”

Om Tat Sat.

Ramji: Good for you!  You deserve it.  I remember the interview well.  Was it 14 years?  I’ll be dammed!  I remember that interview well.  The interviewer quit talking to me when I criticized the Neos.  Imagine that! Anyway, it just goes to show that perseverance furthers.  Never mind about money.  You’re the best donation!!!.  You made yourself happy, me happy and the world is blessed with a walking talking altar.  And your account of it is certainly elegant.  Much love.  Ram  

I was speaking with a Vedanta friend recently and we were discussing teachers. As we spoke about different teachers I told him that six years ago I asked you if you would be my teacher and you said you would as long as you got all the credit for my successes and no blame for my failures.  As I recounted what you did last summer at Trout Lake, I felt tremendous love and gratitude for you. We had a professional contract of sorts. You fulfilled your side as an apparent teacher and I fulfilled mine as apparent student. It’s really cool, a great blessing. God is great! Ramji is great!  Self-actualization is effortless continual worship of everything that is.  It is God loving God. The ice block of ignorance melts in the light of the sun just as it was meant to do.  I, however, am not great because there is nothing other than be to compare myself to.  Thank you Ramji!

Ramji:  Don’t forget to give your mind a little pat on the back for what it has done for you.

Greetings I hope all is well. Wanted to tell you about an interesting development in the unraveling of jiva’s samskaras that has slowly been taking place during my struggle to actualize Self knowledge. 

After our last exchange it seemed clear to me that it was time to shit or get off the pot.  And, as returning to samsara is not an option well… you get the picture.

As you said “what good is honesty if you can’t discipline the mind”.  Having finally overcome the pain of attachment to marriage and family I decided the best way to cultivate a pure mind and give myself a shot at putting a knife through my last binding vasanas was to reestablish myself in karma yoga. So I made a commitment to myself to make myself available when called upon in whatever way so long as I was not creating dependency or indulging in a need for validation for my efforts. Let God be in charge, my reward is in Him alone so that He may release me from the entanglements I have been powerless to overcome. 

As a result my mind quickly began to find a measure of peace again. The feeling of loneliness left me and I found myself engaged in helping around one of the larger annual ceremonies.  Not as a spiritual leader but helping with the logistics, manual labor; that sort of thing.  Keeping my mouth shut, being of service. 

As it turns out the jealousy and hatred that has been percolating in the background since my mentor’s passing came to a head and I was told that I am no longer welcome in the circle.  In short the fundamentalist power-seeking charlatans have taken over. 

For a hot second I was offended but then I remembered — action without attachment to the result.  So it appears Isvara has now completed dismantling everything I knew life to be.  I am still open to being of service, although I don’t know what form it will take.

Ram:  The world is a lot bigger than the ceremonial crowd.  It is just people with priorities and values.  When a person wants something, think about whether it will actually serve them spiritually according to Vedanta and if the answer is yes, consider giving them a hand, but make no promises.  If they are just needy wankers looking for an enabler, politely decline.  Sorry, I’m can’t help.  God bless you.  That’s it.  Time only moves forward.  You can never go back.  Karma yoga and jnana yoga are the only ceremonies.  No sweart lodges, burning sage sticks and or beating drums.  This discriminating attitude is a silent ceremony in the Heart. 

Rupert: But as a result of releasing my attachment to this role I feel even happier than before.  I continue to meditate on the self and feel a sincere desire to be relieved of these final binding vasanas.  Not because I want to be a goody goody, but because they are nothing but engrained dopamine delivery systems that are in place merely to cope with life, rather than actually resolve stress.  I believe God can work this miracle.  Thank you as always for your guidance and compassion.

James:  You sure can turn a phrase — engrained dopamine delivery systems!  That’s the truth.  If God can’t manage it, we’re out of luck 

Love you.

Harry: Thank you for sending a third text of your Wee Parables series, Cosplay.  It definitely tested my vanity.  Help me out on this one: who was/is Daddy Meyer?

James:  He was my Geometry teacher back in the Fifties. He was a real person and the event that transpired was Isvara moving me from my family and setting up the path that would lead to total disillusionment in the world, which brought me to Vedanta.

Harry: You mentioned the small fragments as morality plays or/and Vedanta without the Vedanta terminology. Probably due to my ignorance (or because these are fragments and still being scaffolded) I can’t distill this teaching out of it yet. On the contrary, it’s more like a superjiva is being erected whose possible more shady motives are presented in a heroic light. Again, as I wrote earlier, I would need the whole thing to trust my opinions about it on you, but like to follow the making of it.

James:  The small texts are examples of nididyasana practice, cleaning up psychic fragments/remnants related to the moral dimension of one’s sadhana.  The practice, which is Self-Actualization, should be applied to teaching remnants because the teaching, which is over at this stage, took place in duality.  The teaching is no longer a lodestone for the seeker.  It is unnecessary because he or she has assimilated it, like the assimilation of one’s name.  You needn’t consciously think that you are Harry because it is hard and fast knowledge. 

It is about completely wiping out the past and functioning AS the Self.  It is the non-eternal jiva committing suicide.  It results in constant bliss (anandam).  A Self actualized person is always aware that Isvara is the doer AS his or her body/mind/sense complex.  As an apparently embodied Self you are always only acting.  Nothing is serious, although the world can’t tell.  This is why when Krishna realized that Arjuna didn’t get the non-dual teaching, Sanjaya, the narrator of the Gita, said,  “Krishna AS IF smiling said, “I have taught you the wisdom of Samkhya (Vedanta).  Now I will teach you the wisdom of karma yoga which removes great fear.”   He didn’t actually smile physically because that would have been insulting to Arjuna.  He was emotional enough; he didn’t need to have his friend patronize him.

The past appears as an attachment to old habits from which the joy has been stripped by time.  Relationships become relationships because they were once joyful but over time they often devolve into unsatisfying rituals.  Keeping them going doesn’t benefit anyone, particularly a committed inquirer.  Self actualized people are totally dynamic; they are always moving forward so they don’t cling. They know Isvara as “time, destroyer of wombs,” which is to say things that begin, end.  When Isvara takes the body, everything that goes with it is taken away too.  You never know when that will be, so you live life fully in the present, as what is always present.  We are all immortal but only a few know how Immortality “feels.” 

Love,

James

Happy Guru Purnima!

          I just want to express my gratitude to you for introducing me to Vedanta and keeping it in my life.  In various ways, I had been a spiritual seeker since I was a child.  I immersed myself in Christianity as a teen.  I considered myself an atheist through most of my 20s, yet was always seeking something.  In my 30s, I was heavily into Eckhart Tolle along with various other teachers.  I also started attending satsangs, meditated, went to a silent Vipassana retreat, etc., but there was something missing.  I had a basic understanding of who I was, yet I was still seeking.

          About ten years ago, in Toronto, a couple who would sometimes host spiritual teachers, and had previously held regular Tolle-based satsangs, sent out just another announcement amongst others about a talk to be held at their home.  Maybe ten people showed up.  A man gave an inspiring talk on the basics of Vedanta, how it had changed his lifestyle around 180 degrees, how great your book “How to Attain Enlightenment” was, that you were an inspirational teacher, but also with a caveat that Vedanta itself is the teacher, that it’s not your teaching.  

          When I first started reading your book, I was happily stunned.  It was a wealth of knowledge.  It all made sense.  I couldn’t put it down.  Somehow Isvara gave me the breakthrough I desired. I dropped all the previous stuff because it all became irrelevant.

          I’ve never met you in person, but we’ve had a few email exchanges over the years, and a few years back, I had some more regular email exchanges with a couple of ShiningWorld people.  How to Attain Enlightenment was an excellent book, so I read it several times.  Over the years, I’ve spent countless hours watching various of your video satsangs and reading your books and other writings.  Five years ago, when I was craving to spend time with an Indian guru in an ashram, you kindly provided me with a few potential contacts, and eventually I ended up at a couple of ashrams run by long-time disciples of, and teachers for, Swami Dayananda Saraswati. 

          I spent three beautiful months in India, enjoying gurukulam, but unfortunately there was very little of the teaching I expected to receive, and I had to really consider how I would go about making a living, so when my visa in India expired, I moved on to other things in the way I felt best.

          Thanks to you, my life was opened up to the beautiful world of Vedanta through your own words, and also through the various swamis and others you’ve talked about, and then others that they have.  Of course, scripture has been beautiful to read too, and it has helped having commentary by you, your gurus, and others.  I’m so lucky to be able to read the Bhagavad Gita, for example, and really get it, instead of reading it as a dry intellectual task, which I could have easily done in my 20s or 30s, and sadly dismissed it as just an interesting old Hindu book.

          I’ve been a Vedanta addict for a decade, and one of the funny things is that virtually nobody around me knows. Sometimes, I wish there were others around that understood, but that’s just how it is.  I’m not as much of a Vedanta addict lately, in the sense that I don’t feel like I need to get more information, hear more words.  Enough realizations have become hardwired, and I’ve taken in so much over the past ten years that I already understand what you and the other gurus are talking about.  Hinduism in general is a bottomless pit of scripture, stories, and all of the culture that is built around it all, that I could never possibly fully know it all, although sometimes I’d like to.  I enjoy all of those stories, all the deities, etc.

          As a jiva, I’m just plugging away at my life.  The pandemic, my work having shifted to working from home, along with the value of not courting company and other things, keeps me in a relatively solitary lifestyle.  I wouldn’t say my life is easy, and I often get caught up in thoughts about whether I’m living life properly, if I’m following my personal dharma, if I should be doing things differently, that there are opportunities I’m ignoring, and that maybe I’m an idiot for not living life differently.  I can write these thoughts off as just the mind, but they can be persistent.  

          For me as a jiva, Vedanta has been a very gradual thing.  I can’t point to one moment when it all clicked.  Sometimes the jiva is concerned about this.  “Am I fooling myself that I don’t need to have had a particularly memorable moment when it all made sense?  Even James talked about a certain time in India when it just clicked.  That other swamis sometimes talks about ‘when you’re enlightened, …’.   Those other Vedantins who seem to get it sure seem to be living nice, comfortable lives. I wonder if there’s some secret they’ve got from Vedanta than I’m missing out on. Et cetera.”

          I know I’m not the body, mind, or senses, yet I can’t pinpoint a time when I really understood that.  I’ve heard it a million times, and I’ve thought it a million times, and I just know it.  I can’t say that it all clicked one day.  I don’t feel like I need any more Vedantic knowledge.  Whenever I listen to Vedanta talks, I know everything other than details like stories about certain deities or particular verses from particular scripture.

          Anyway, thank you for your part in all of this.  As a jiva, for whatever reasons, what you’ve said has always made sense to me, and your personal story has been intriguing.  You’ve always talked in a way that is understandable.  Maybe that’s part of what hooked me.  I’m so glad I never approached Vedanta from the standpoint of a study of religion.  I would’ve completely missed the boat.  By Isvara’s grace, I read your book, it led to a lot of contemplation, and a steady intake of Vedanta over the years, with constant contemplation.

          James:  You said, “I spent three beautiful months in India, enjoying gurukulam, but unfortunately there was very little of the teaching I expected to receive, and I had to really consider how I would go about making a living, so when my visa in India expired, I moved on to other things in the way I felt best.”

          What teaching did you expect then?  What do you expect now?  You seem to have ticked all the Vedanta boxes but I’m picking up a sense of dissatisfaction.  Maybe you need to leave the “beautiful world of Vedanta” by getting rid of unnecessary teaching remnants.  Vedanta is just the tools you need to attain perfect satisfaction.  It’s natural to lose interest in Vedanta when you have basically assimilated the meaning of the teachings, so that is a good sign. 

          Your sense of dissatisfaction seems to center around a lack of community,  a legitimate need to be loved. “Heard” is the word bandied about these days. Yes, the Sanatana Dharma is a totally bottomless cornucopia.  Somebody sent me a link to a text by Shankara that I’d never heard of a few days ago.  Yes, you probably are ignoring opportunities to connect.  You probably should start cultivating people and sharing what you know. The loner samskara gets a bit tedious at some point.  

          That moment when it all clicks is an important moment because it sets you free of the jiva.  That it hasn’t happened means that there are still doubts about the teaching, “I am whole and complete limitless unborn ordinary existence shining as awareness.”  Maybe you expect that the jiva from that point on is liberated.  It is, if you don’t think about it at all, but the idea that “I am a created entity” has a life of its own.  We call it prarabdha karma.  

          The only way that person is going to experience freedom, which is the experience of the always-fulfilling bliss of being, is by dismantling the jiva-born thoughts brick by brick.  They were born in ignorance of your wholeness and they take the edge off the apparent jiva’s happiness.  You dismantle them with the knowledge that they are mithya.  You’re truly free of the jiva when Self knowledge has “clicked” i.e. is a “firm conviction,” to quote Shankara.

          Of course, if you are free, you are free not to help the jiva.  You can see its dissatisfaction as a joke in light of the fact that it is bliss itself, smile and watch it comically soldier on.  That’s why Krishna smiles when Arjuna finishes his big self-righteous whine.  I met mahatmas that made that call and were none the worse for wear, probably because they weren’t Westerners, who almost always have a love deficit, myself excluded. I just finished a little story on this topic as part of a book that I’m writing and I attached it to this email.

          John: I know I’m not the body, mind, or senses, yet I can’t pinpoint a time when I really understood that. 

          James:  It’s not surprising because the reason is so obvious that nobody thinks about it.  You aren’t “the assemblage” because you experience it.  You couldn’t experience it if you were it.  The entity that knows it is you, awareness.  There is only one knower.  The body/mind/sense complex doesn’t know anything because it is a construct of inert energies assembled and glued together by Isvara, like a balsa wood airplane model, which appear as thoughts.  Thoughts don’t know anything.  They are known because you are aware of them. Isvara is the material principle.

          You don’t need any more “Vedantic” knowledge, John. You need common sense knowledge. It’s common sense that you aren’t the entity called John.  You don’t confuse yourself with a tree but from an epistemological point of view there is no difference between John and a tree or a dog or mountain, etc.   Some unreasonable expectation is troubling you.

I hope this helps.  Much love,

James

We agreed that Vedanta has no comparison. Please take on board from me that I agree and please do not give up on your friendship.  Nevertheless “outside” Vedanta similarities are revealed as reality is just what it is. No need to convince you of anything here, wish you see this clearly.

As in order to choose between your books How To Attain and Essence I choose both, as I appreciate both to the max, and still I see the pages of The Opposite Thought as the absolute Kings crown of all you presented.

In a former email I wrote I have no doubt that God is all over the place.  As far as I can see today all problems boil down to 2 things;

1. Imprints are energies in the form of beliefs that are passed on through the generations which do have a huge impact on human beings and which “takes them out” of the unified field/awareness. The most devastating of all seems the question of parents to their children: “what are you going to be when you grow up?”, as this is the question that denies the validity of what we already are.  It sets in motion the endless “doings” that become our adult experience. We try to prove we are worthy of being alive by succeeding or not succeeding.  Even though we are already alive, we go in search of a purpose through which we may “earn a living”. What we are attempting is to “earn a loving” as we lost the knowledge to BE LOVE/EXISTENCE.

Here is what I read from you that applies to the above:

“Without self awareness you are at the mercy of your conditionings.  The most fundamental relationship is parent-child. Our parents, their parents and their parent’s parents all suffer the dis-ease of self ignorance. The self is not known for what it is because we have been fed a continuous diet of misinformed words about who we are . . . .”.  “Society defines virtues as “making a difference”, and everybody wants to look good in the eyes of society”.

2. During upsets we form beliefs ourselves also (!) by making interpretations out of what seems to happen to us that mostly or never ever has nothing to do with reality the way it really is, which then propels our endless “doings” on top of the imprints.  Like the beliefs “I am unworthy to join the party . . . ., I am not important . . . ., I do not really matter to others . . . .” to name a few, which can only be traced back to its source through feeling without condition.  By beliefs like this we are propelled in “making ourselves worthy . . . ., important . . . . and to do matter . . . .” and all the imbalanced neurotic and literally insane behavior coming out of it!   

Oh My God WHAT A SET UP!

The consequence of all this reactive behavior is discomfort, confusion, separation, lack and the whole range of imbalances that stem from the trinity of fear, anger and grief. 

Only through appreciating LOVE/EXISTENCE/AWARENESS/PRESENCE unconditionally on a moment to moment basis, we restore our allegiance to what we already are instead of valuing what we do. 

During the course of my life I fell prey to the above 1 & 2 for sure, and still traces and residues of all its conditioning is with me way too much. So I try to apply The Opposite Thought on a moment to moment basis in order to choose again all the time, and to wield my attention and intention to put it where it is real.  My only purpose is the peace of God, so to speak, on a moment to moment basis everywhere I go so peace is with me all the time, so nothing can disturb me.

This message is to question what particular ways Vedanta offers to me to make this self actual, next to applying The Opposite Thought, to put to use to dismantle all energies that block the ongoing knowledge of reality?

Thanks in advance, appreciated limitlessly

Love

Henry 

Hi Henry,

Nice to hear from you! 

Henry: This message is to question what particular ways Vedanta offers to me to make this self actual, next to applying The Opposite Thought, to put to use to dismantle all energies that block the ungoing knowledge of reality?

James:  If the opposite thought doesn’t “dismantle the energies that  block the ongoing knowledge of reality” as you state, which is a practice that only works effectively when you have completed the preceding four stages, then you need to go back and complete the first four stages, which are karma yoga, upasana yoga, listening, and removing doubts (the unexamined stuff you picked up in childhood that you talk about in your email).  This is why you asked the question.  It is a common issue.  I think the best thing for you to do is to go to the home page of the website and click the big graphic link at the top center that says “New to Vedanta?” and follow the links SLOWLY.  You jumped ahead to jnana yoga (Vedanta) and didn’t understand and assimilate the first two stages (karma yoga upasana yoga i.e. meditation).  So you don’t understand the context in which the practice of applying the opposite thought works.  Only if the mind is properly prepared will the Opposite Thought work.  

Your statement, “what particular ways Vedanta offers to me to make this self actual” also indicates a lack of understanding.  The self is always “actual.”  There is nothing that isn’t the self…you…at any time.   “Making the self actual” means removing ignorance of the self since there is no distance between you and the self.  If I am in Amsterdam and I want to go to Amsterdam I only have an ignorance problem, not an actualization problem.  The only way I can actualize my desire is to have my ignorance removed.  I can’t remove it myself because the ignorance the idea that I am someone who can actualize anything.   Anything that is actualized it only actualized by Isvara, not by the doer/enjoyer entity.  So someone has to come along and tell you that you are already in Amsterdam.  Then Amsterdam is “actualized.”  

What is the ignorance in your email?  It is assuming that you are Henry, a doer, who can do something, try “other ways” as you say.  There is only one way…to have your ignorance removed.  You can’t figure it out on your own.  That is why you need to be taught.  The belief that you are a limited entity began in childhood.  It is still there today.  It is very difficult to unlearn.  It is a deeply ingrained unconscious of thinking of yourself in this way.  All your relationships are based on the idea that you are Henry.  If you told your friends and family that you aren’t Henry they would think you are crazy.  They wouldn’t understand that Henry is just a word that refers to a thought put in your mind by your parents.  You were something else before you learned that you are Henry and you are something else now.  

To unlearn it you need to see that your life is focused on Self knowledge.  If Self-knowledge is only one thing among others… music, friends, etc… it won’t work.  The “opposite thought” implies an opposite life.   This will probably be hard for you to accept.  

Here’s another example of ignorance.  You say, “Only through appreciating Only through appreciating LOVE/EXISTENCE/AWARENESS/PRESENCE unconditionally on a moment to moment basis, we restore our allegiance to what we already are instead of valuing what we do. unconditionally on a moment to moment basis, we restore our allegiance to what we already are instead of valuing what we do.”

Why is this ignorance?  You can’t appreciate the Self unconditionally on a moment to moment basis” because the Self is you.  There is no time involved because there is never a time when you aren’t the Self.  See the language.  You are very close to understanding but your words show that you are far away.   You will appreciate LOVE/EXISTENCE/AWARENESS/PRESENCE unconditionally if it is you because you are always present or actual as I pointed out above.  Your statement  implies that LOVE/EXISTENCE/AWARENESS/PRESENCE is something other than you and that “you” can make your appreciation go from one moment to the next, not to mention unconditional.  It is either unconditional or it isn’t.  It becomes unconditional when you identify as the Self not with the Self. 

Much love,

James 

It’s been about a year since I last emailed you and I thank you with gratitude for your responses. I have been following your advice: “take a stand in awareness” for the past year keeping it that simple. Trusting absolutely in the self (limitless, unborn, undying ordinary awareness) . Every day, I read a portion of the Essence Of Enlightenment or go to your website and review the satsangs. I stopped reading other books on Vedanta etc…because it created more confusion than clarity. 

James:  Keeping it simple, daily, and exclusive is the proper way to do Self inquiry, Don.  I’m not surprised that you have been greatly served by this great teaching.  Good for you!

A lot of the last year is spent being aware of my thoughts, feelings, actions and words. Being aware that very little of life is under the jiva’s control and that the best choice of all that arises within awareness is to gently bring this entity back towards awareness away from absorption in the jiva.

James:  Yes, gently bringing one’s attention to one’s Self in an appropriate and beneficial use of jiva’s free will.  Good for you!   

Thoughts-emotions have now become objects, clouds floating in the sky. They come – they go. They have lost their stickiness. It seems the choice is to put my awareness on them or not. An example: a thought may arise to eat. I put my awareness on a certain food and then on cooking the food. I go back and forth between being aware of cooking or absorbed in cooking as the doing occurs. Sometimes my heart opens beautifully and from an experiential perspective there’s nothing more amazing.  However from this came the dangerous pull to be in this state more and more and ultimately I tried to force it with intentionality. It became a binding vasana so I just kept going to back to taking a stand  as awareness. If my heart opened then good. If it didn’t open then good.  Whatever comes, comes. Whatever goes goes. Stay in awareness.

James: Seeing through the experiential trap is a great blessing, Don.  Good for you!  And the solution is…ta ta!…taking a stand as awareness.  Your “heart” is you but you, awareness, are not the heart.  Being/awareness, is always open so you have nothing to gain from an open heart.  When “taking a stand” is no longer necessary, the heart melts into you and ceases to exist as anything other than you. 

And you are also successful because you apply the karma yoga view to your experience.  Good for you!  It is strange that you feel that karma yoga seems complicated because you expressed karma yoga perfectly when you said, “If my heart opened, then good. If it didn’t open, then good.  Whatever comes, comes. Whatever goes goes.”

So when I read your book and get into karma yoga, it just seems all so complicated to me and has a tendency to regress me back to the doer state. I try to live the qualifications/values – it seems forced.

So here’s my basic summary: Life is a beautiful zero sum game. You can’t win. You can’t lose…you can only play.

James:  That’s karma yoga, Don.  It neutralizes the one who seeks to gain and who fears loss.

Isvara creates the game we play and we have limited choice in the role and Isvara’s is in charge of the winning and the losing.  Jivas have the joy of playing without being the determiner of the results and it’s such a beautiful gift to not control the outcome, nor people. Jivas can just play in joy without worry!

James:  That’s karma yoga, Don.  It’s the karma yoga that removes the worry. Karma yoga is just knowledge of Isvara, the karma/dharma field.  The karma/dharma field is the field of karma, life.  Living universal values is the action side of karma yoga. 

The ultimate jiva experience is love. This opening of the heart which can be watched or with attention immersed in. But to try and have this pushes it further away. To need and want it pushes it further away.  To be the watching  awareness, enjoy it when it comes and not miss it when it goes nor try to force it back.

James:  Yes. As awareness you are whole and complete so there is nothing to gain and nothing to lose.  Existence shining as awareness is your nature.  Love is fulness, completeness.  It is bliss.  The Self is sat (existence), chit (consciousness), ananda (bliss).  Reflected love you call the heart.  It opens and it closes because it is subject to the play of the gunas.  When sattva guna predominates the heart is full of you and open to everything.  When rajas/tamas predominate, the heart closes.  But you are love.  You are the heart. The scripture’s words are “parama prema svarupa.”  Prema means love, but not the love of objects.  It means unchanging (parama) love. 

I am real as reflected awareness – the jiva – but the I, me, my, mine story has lost its stickiness. It’s there and more personal than observing a tree or a car or a squirrel but it’s lost its control as the source of my happiness or sadness. 

James:  You are real as the reflection because one ray of light isn’t different from all rays of the sun.  When you know that, nothing sticks to you.  Feelings don’t stick, opinions and beliefs don’t stick, people don’t stick.  Nothing sticks.  You are Teflon.  The next stage is to see that there is no I and mine for awareness because there is only you, awareness. 

I do and there’s limited choice but I’m not the doer. More and more things have become effortless. As if it’s happening, yet there’s no me making it happen. I also have a mental process occurring that tries to avoid using I, me, my or mine when I write or converse but it seems unavoidable in expressing myself.

James:  I wrote what I wrote in the paragraph above before I read your statement that you are working to remove the me and mine, which is excellent.  You can’t remove the “I” because you are the “I.”  There is only one “I.”  There is only one true word and it is I.  All modifiers don’t apply.  If you only say “I” everyone understands.  If you add anything, you’re in the apparent reality.  Things may be true and they may not be true there.  So in that world you just play. 

I’m 62 ears old. I know death will come. But what dies is a temporary abode in a physical body, thoughts, feelings about people places and things. Not I which is unborn and undying. 

James:  Amen.

That’s where I am after a year. And it’s been a pretty amazing shift. Hoping for your thoughts. 

James:  My thoughts:  Isvara loves you.  You had the discrimination to keep it simple and do it right so you get the fruit, which is immortal bliss.  Yes, these sound like big words but they aren’t big or small.  They are the truth.  If existence shining as awareness had a mouth, it could honestly say “I am immortal bliss.” 

The next thought is: if you have a little extra dosh it would be nice if you made a contribution to ShiningWorld.  🙂

Love,
James

I will gladly do that and thank-you!