Notes from Kings Cross

Wednesday 17th June 09

How did I come to be, and what does this being-ness depend on? This is what needs to be known or realized. Non being to being, and then again non being, on what does it depend? Don’t you, as that naked, non conceptual aware presence have to be there first or prior to all these seeming happenings? First person singular, I am. Examine THAT, investigate THAT non dual essence, pure, naked all knowing presence awareness. This knowledge “I am”, is the only true knowledge, all other knowledge is only a form of ignorance, a dualistic expression appearing in the changeless, formless, boundless all knowing awareness that you always and already are.

Are you aware right now? How do you know that you are aware? You just simply know by noticing that you are not asleep or unaware. It is as simple as that, but do we pause there and stay with the subtlety, with the actuality of this that is being pointed to, or do we immediately rush off into the habit energy of the me of memory or the so called mind which is time, the dead past, and try to seek the answer there? This is what we usually do, go off into mind stuff and endless mental conceptualization, trying in vain to find what we have never lost, this deathless, timeless, essence of naked knowing awareness.

You can try endlessly to seek the answer in the mind, continually analyzing and dividing things up because this is the very nature of the mind, and that is to analyze, reason, and divide, it is dualistic in all its functioning. There is no other way that the mind can think, except in the pairs of opposites. The mind is not our enemy as it is useful for daily functioning, but it can never grasp or know its origin, which is non dual non conceptual awareness. This emptiness or aware no thing that you truly are can never be known mentally or conceptually. This is the crux of what needs to be seen and realized.

All other problems will resolve themselves spontaneously once this is truly seen and acknowledged. Know your Self before you know others. Directly know your Self and there ‘are’ no others. There is no duality in non duality or pure Advaita, which simply put means “not-two”. See that all your so called problems are because of this separate entity “me” that you have erroneously taken to be yourself. What you truly are can not be separate or apart from the life essence that is effortlessly functioning and animating the world appearance.

See that this entity me is a made up thing, a phantom, the child of a barren woman without any substance or independent nature of its own apart from this deathless essence of pure knowing awareness that you don’t have to attain or acquire, as it is always and ever present with you and ‘is’ you. This awareness that you ever are is nothing perceivable or conceivable, a void of boundless, limitless intelligence, an endless activity of knowing. Even though this that is being pointed to is a vast emptiness, it is not a total vacuum or void because it is the very livingness or reality of everlasting life that is referred to in the scriptures of the major religions.

No matter how hard you try, you cannot notice this that is being referred to because it is not a thing or object and is the ever present subject of any and every object. The First Person Singular, I am THAT I am. Full stop there! Remain as that pure all encompassing being – I am, without words or concepts. Give up becoming and simply be as you are in the natural state. You exist infinitely and eternally as this already pure non conceptual awareness which in Dzogchen, the highest expression of Buddhism is called The Great Perfection. – End.

This Boundless-ness

Notes from Kings Cross

Sunday 3rd May 09 By Mark West.

To come to the conclusion that I am apart from every manifest thing and without any qualities or qualifications is the realization of the ultimate principal, the natural or primordial state. This natural state that is being pointed to is endless capacity or boundless emptiness suffused with awareness, the Base or foundation of everything – an aware no thing. To impose boundaries on this ever present aware no thing is nothing but ignorance.

This boundless, empty, space-like awareness ( Rigpa in Dzogchen, the highest expression of Buddhism ), is what you truly and really, really are; and because this is self existing and self originating, it is timelessly present without any beginning or ending, and this alone is Advaita ( not two ), non duality or reality and I am THAT, and not what I appear to be as this miserable, limited, sentient human being.

Quite a shock to hear this expounded and proclaimed so simply and directly, particularly for any dream character who hears what is being said and mistakenly thinks that he or she has destiny and free will. If this illusion ( destiny and free will ) is persisted in, then you are just a dreamer trying to change the dream. And every dream is but a dream of fear no matter what the form it may appear to take. Dreams have a beginning ( birth ) and ending ( death ), but what you truly are has no beginning or ending.

Can you find where space begins and ends? This naked, non conceptual, all knowing space-like awareness that you always and already are also has no beginning and ending and is totally ineffable and inalienable. Aren’t you already aware right here and now? Of course you are, wake up! There is nothing else to be done but to acknowledge that yes, I am aware, I am awake and then remain ‘as you are’ unaltered, unmodified, uncorrected, in your natural state and simply abide as THAT.

Do not move away from this pure Omnipresent aware naked knowing into conceptual thought, trying in vain to find the answer to this open secret or seeming mystery in the acquired mind of memory. Mind as we generally know it is time, memory and anticipation, and you will never find the timeless, the non dual Absolute in time, no matter how long or hard you look there. So I say full stop! No what about this and what about my personal problems blah, blah, blah, just drop all that even if it is only for a split second and where does that leave you? You have not disappeared or fallen apart, you are still seeing, breathing, and functioning quite effortlessly without the input of any conceptual thought, person, or entity, are you not?

You are left here and now present and aware as you have always been. So if you find yourself being carried away by conceptual thinking, just pause for an instant and come home to the place you have never really left – the here and now of the immediacy of THIS presence awareness. What could be more simpler? There is nothing simpler than non duality. Reality is non dual, non conceptual, ever fresh, presence awareness, just THIS, nothing else!

This is a direct introduction to your primordial, natural state – “what is” always and ever, or what is referred to in Dzogchen as the Base or foundation of every apparent thing – vast emptiness, nothing sacred. There are no gods in THIS that you truly are. God and gods are in time and you as this essence are timeless – don’t pretend to be what you are not, and don’t refuse to be what you are – THAT, the supreme reality.
End.

Simply acknowledge that ‘yes – I am aware’.

What we talk about is always the same subject, call it Advaita or non duality and it is nothing new. This has been pointed to and expounded by the ancients down throughout the ages and does not need to be attained or realized by anyone. Simply see and acknowledge that yes, I am aware, I am awake and directly realize that you are choice-lessly and effortlessly aware and knowing. This activity of knowing in this immediacy ‘is’ the very livingness itself or the everlasting life that is referred to in the scriptures. Can you find a beginning to this “isness” or undeniable presence awareness that you are and cannot negate? Is there an ending to this present moment?

No beginning, no ending, isn’t that what you truly are, this timeless, formless, quality less awareness that doesn’t begin or end? Don’t take my word for it, but look and see for yourself. No one else can see this that is being pointed to for you. This naked, non conceptual aware capacity or impersonal essence, the knowledge I am is the Charan-Amrita, the nectar of immortality. If you see what is being pointed to and imbibe this nectar you will never again fear a foe and you will be beyond the need for further help, just as Nisargadatta Maharaj told me that I would be, and I am. By abiding in this always present knowledge “I am”, transcend the experience of death and attain immortality.

Do not remain as the limited bound creature that you appear to be, but simply abide as THAT, the knowledge I am prior to the arising of any thought or concept. This knowledge I am which expresses through the mind as the thought or concept I am, has no shape, design, form or quality of its own and is the reality or non dual Absolute that you have been unsuccessfully seeking in the illusory play of the manifest phenomenal world, which is appearing as a Lila or play of opposites.

Everything in the manifest consciousness is appearing dualistically – day, night, hot, cold, man, woman etc, but even though there is an appearance of opposites in this play of consciousness; it has never changed its true nature and remains non dual or One without a second, as it is pointed to in Advaita. Knowing the truth about reality one can never be decieved by appearance, as it is seen for certain, not by any separate entity or person, that there is in actuality no duality in non duality. There is nothing simpler than non duality. If it is clearly seen that this is always and ever the case then who or what is this separate person or entity, this limited creature that, prior to this seeing, I had taken myself to be?

Isn’t this separate entity that was seemingly born and dies a total fiction, a non existing phantom? Have a good look at it, don’t believe what I am saying or take my word for it, but investigate this for yourself. No one else can see this for you. If your time has not come, what is being said here or pointed to will hold no interest for you at all and you will be indifferent or even hostile to what is being expressed. Everything is in your hands so to speak.

Therefore, betake yourself to no external refuge. Look not for refuge to anyone besides your Self. Hold fast to truth as a lamp, the naked non conceptual knowledge I am, infinitely and eternally. This alone, non dual limitless, quality less capacity suffused with awareness is the truth that makes you free from the bondage of limited and limiting self.

– End.

The Supreme Principle

What we point to here in these or any gatherings is undivided empty cognizance of One Taste, suffused with knowing, or what Nisargadatta calls the Natural State. – There is nobody reading or listening to this who is not aware or conscious. – This present fresh wakefulness that everyone is already enjoying is what we call in Dzogchen (the very highest expression of Buddhism) – Rigpa – Emptiness suffused with awareness – The Great Perfection.

So let us start from the “fact” that we “are” That. – The Great Perfection or Natural State is already present and is our own true essence – This is the ‘pointing out’ – an instruction -acknowledge that simple fact that you are present and aware – that pure knowing-ness is non dual, effortlessly arising, pure from the very beginning and is the primordial Buddhahood. (Buddha means ‘awake’)

There is nothing to do or become. – ‘Becoming’ implies ‘change’ and ‘time’. – Just realize I am That ‘I am’ (presence) and be what you already are – You cannot say “I am not”. – Realize that here and now, without a concept, there is just a pure knowing-ness or “is” ness.
Now this pure “is”ness is what everyone is seeking and yet they already “are”, so this seeking is like a dog chasing it own tail – Seeking must take place in the mind – which is time (process).

The pure awareness that everyone is already enjoying is timelessly present, or as the Ancient’s say Omnipresent – So mind or time is only a mental concept – There is nothing inherently wrong with concepts ,they are useful but they are only pointers – This pure awareness that everyone is enjoying is there prior to and after any and every concept – So this non conceptual awareness “is” The Great Perfection of Dzogchen and is our true essence here and now – So it must be seen from this logical step by step inquiry that the search for Truth, God, or enlightenment is a trap, as we are already That – However no one can see it for anyone else – each must see it for him or her self, so to speak.

So I say happy hunting – closer than hands and feet – can’t see the forest for the trees – there is only seeing, hearing. etc, there is no seer or hearer etc – The answer is not in the mind. so stop looking there – full stop! – Find the seeker – have a good look and everything will resolve itself and be clear – Everything is happening spontaneously, without a doer – you so called are being lived period.
Realize that you are the pure awareness – The Supreme Principal, beyond mind and body and abide as That.

Just “What Is”

There is just “what is”, always and ever.
There is no escape from what is nor anyone who needs to escape.
Who am I talking to when I say this, and who is saying it?
No one, it is just consciousness or “isness” talking to itself.
There is no benefit to anyone in this. – There is no profit or loss to anybody, so I am not talking to anybody or mind, there is just this I am-ness talking to itself. – Talking and listening, asking and answering just happen- nothing happens to me, the non dual Absolute.
Whether I exist or don’t exist, live a long time or not, doesn’t concern me.
I have no interest in being or non being, or even in nothingness or emptiness or what we call noumenon.
All these so called things are only of interest as long as the manifested being-ness or consciousness “I am” is present.

This consciousness of being a person and seeing a world is only possible while the food essence body-mind is in good order and is being supplied by a regular quantity of healthy and nourishing food and drink.
As long as that seed of consciousness, I am, is moist and nourished, you will experience this world and have all these concerns.
Once this seed is no longer moist and can no longer be sustained, this consciousness will disappear and merge into the
universal Consciousness. – This stateless state – Parabrahman – for your sake, I attach a label to it – is what is to be known and abided in.
This is what could be called heart to heart. – The words that are flowing out here are not coming from my intellect as such – they are coming from the heart of reality itself.
Heart means – this is the center, not the physical heart on the left, or the spiritual heart on the right, but from the very core of your being.
If they resonate, then you already know what I’m saying, so you are not getting anything from me personally.
This has nothing to do with Mark West or anyone else – this is utterly impersonal – though the words can seem to describe or point to it.

There is no me or you – there is only THAT, non dual Absolute communicating with Itself.
When this that I am pointing to presently is directly appercieved, you will never again fear a foe.
Then the riddle or mystery will be un-raveled and fully understood.
That is: from no- being to being and then again no – being.
How and why this happens will be fully revealed to you.
This alone is self – realization not god – realization.
The idea of god is there only when the manifested consciousness “I am” is present.
When the consciousness disappears and sets at the time of physical death, where is is the idea or need for god? God is only necessary or thought of when this fever (illusion) of being a
sentient human being or person comes over me and is mistakenly taken delivery of.
God is only necessary when the sense of duality or manifested consciousness is present – when this disappears there is no need for god, because I myself am God – the non dual Absolute.

How has this happened? – there was just bliss or nothingness – I didn’t know anything, I didn’t know I was – then for no known reason, and without my permission – this fever or sickness “I amness” came over me – I am So and So.
In my case, this fever or illusion of being a limited, separate, sentient human being has passed off and I am in my original or natural state of bliss or wholeness.
Call it grace, good luck or whatever, but this you can and must realize for yourself – you have to become your own proof of the non dual Absolute – there you will meet no other.

Not – two.

This may be misleading to a circumscribed intellect, so let it be seen (by no one) that the Absolute is not an object – a person, place or thing.
It is not an “it” – has no location, is Omnipresent – this is it – this is all there ever is – TAT TVAM ASI – thou art THAT.

Suffering is Unnecessary

Nirvana is the highest happiness – bliss – what the scripture refer’s to as the peace that passes all understanding – when you don’t know you are – the beingness has been transcended.
So long as there is interest in, and attachment to this beingness – wanting things to be different – feeling incomplete – wanting some thing – then this non dual essence is seemingly obsecured or not fully abided in.
Look and see who it is that is not complete – investigate for yourself and find the seeker.
Then the whole mystery is cleared up.
When you earnestly search for the seeker, you cannot locate or find it -it never existed – it’s a phantom.
This non existent phantom, prior to investigation, was the cause of a lot of unnecessary suffering, anxiety and endless conflict.

Ancients like Buddha, as well as contemporary Jnani’s like Nisargadatta Maharaj, tell us that this psychological suffering is unnecessary.
This cage that I had built around myself – a cage of words and concepts – the bondage of self – is non existent and without substance – if it is looked into.
Freedom is here for the taking – the release from contraction into boundlessness.
You were never that limited entity or person that you had taken yourself to be.
This is effortless – what effort are you making to be aware right now?
None, you already “are” what you are seeking.
In that inner core, that knowing-ness or “I am ness” there are no cages or shackles.
Once it is understood that I am is purely I am -formless – and not that shackled body form – then no liberation is called for.
To be stabilized in that being-ness, which has no name and form,that itself is liberation.
That which is de-conditioned from name and form is “PARAMATMAN” – UNIVERSAL ESSENCE.The vital force or prana is universal, it can’t know death – it has no shape or form – it is universal energy.
The corpse like physical body is only seemingly alive because of this vital breath.

Know and realize that you are this universal essence, life force or livingness, and not just this fleshly body-mind.
This is the primary obstacle to self realization – thinking that you are this body-mind (memory etc) and identifying with it, instead of the living vital force essence that is animating it, and allowing it to say and think “I am a separate person or individual.”
This is delusion,pride and ego – doer-ship. – You are the deathless animating essence, unlimited by any shape or form.
The vital breath is not confined to the body. – All the elements are moved, operated by the vital breath,but because it is inside the body you call it prana.
This vital breath is a vital energy and that qualitative principal is the “knowing-ness” that is in the vital breath.
Vitalness, intelligence energy,principal,spirit – that is what you are -not this limited body-mind entity, called Jiva or individual soul.
In order to know this, no effort needs to be made – just a clear seeing,knowing.
What effort am I making to be aware and present right now? – None at all.

When effort’s are needed effort’s will happen – when effortlessness is needed that will assert itself.
Everything happens spontaneously – effortless effort. – This pure functioning is being witnessed by no one.
Everything is unborn, unceasing, utterly non dual, without any origination or source as such.
This is utter freedom and effortless living. – Self knowledge and self realization.
I am the self luminous Reality. – The sun doesn’t need another light to make it shine – it is self shining
and your true nature or natural state is self knowing.

What I Am

What I am in the absolute sense, is not possible to convey in any words. – In that ultimate awareness, nobody has any consciousness of being present. -
The presence itself is not there in the absolute. – The Absolute is Nirvana – no thing – no knowingness – extinction – no permanent self or individual.
This is what is to be abide-d in and real-ized – not by any entity or person, but by the “fact” that here and now this Absolute cannot be negated.
This very reality enables and empowers the dreamed character, the apparent sentient human being to appear.
It has no substance or independent nature apart from this unknowable and undeniable Absolute.
And this is the very ignorance – that to the so called person, this self-existing Absolute or Reality, doesn’t exist and is invisible,
and the illusory body-mind person, is taken to be real without question – the real is seen as unreal, and the unreal is seen as real.
This is the greatest mystery – That being the Self or Reality, one has lost hold of it, by falsely identifying with the body-mind,
and is now seeking it.
How can this be? – The answer is that it can’t be – nothing has happened at all – Reality can’t change – what changes is phenomena or dream.
This simply has to be seen, by no one. – No attempt to awaken within the world dream is necessary.

Just see this dream as dream and awakening will happen by itself. – There is no one who awakens or is enlightened -
You, the Absolute are always and ever aware. – You never change.
Sleeping and awakening happen in You, not you in them.- What remembers, understands, or forgets is not You.
You the Absolute remain unchanged, always and ever. – Understanding is a subtle form of seeking.
The universe is in You, the Absolute, not You in the universe. – You are more than you appear to be – all the world’s strength and
power rests inside You.
Don’t get caught in words.- They are only concepts or pointers. -For You there is no birth or death, no inside or outside. – You are nothing
perceivable or conceivable – unspeakable emptiness-fullness.
Here at this talking point the words have exhausted themselves and subside into the empty essence – ” To remain without thought in
the waking state is the greatest worship ” – Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.
This Love is impersonal, all inclusive. – Grace “is” – I am That – you are That – all is THAT.

Reality Never Changed

What capital do I actually possess? – Waking, dreaming, sleeping states, plus the knowledge “I am” – Mr So and So. – All this has to go, or be seen to be utterly redundant, before there can be Atmajnana – Self knowledge.
This consciousness of being a sentient human being, is being sustained and depends upon food essence juices, that are constantly being imbibed. – The body itself is simply the result of vegetation – food essence. – The body is nothing but the elements, and has no independent nature apart from the consciousness, which itself is time-bound. – It appears and disappears.
Where is the individual or separate entity called “me” in all of this?
It has to be seen clearly by no one, that there is no entity with any substance apart from the consciousness which is fully manifest. – The consciousness is ample.
Everything exists in the very light of your consciousness.
Consciousness “is” it’s content. – No object,thing or person can exist apart from it. – When it is looked at carefully, it is seen that everything “is” consciousness.

See the Mahavakya or Great word or statement of Hinduism – Advaita – PRAJNYANAM ASMI. – I am Consciousness.
However, who is it that knows the consciousness? – that “must” be found out before the mystery will resolve itself.
Become one with the I am-ness, the fully manifested consciousness or being-ness, then you can transcend it, then “I” the Absolute, am not the I am.
Be devoted to yourself – I am THAT(ATMAN).
Another Mahavakya or Great Word is -AYAM ATMA BRAHMA -
This SELF is all REALITY.
“Be one with consciousness,worship it like God or Guru, and it will be pleased with you – this is Grace. – Grace is always present, but not in the form of an individual.” -Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.
The one who is up to his or her neck in water, claims that they are thirsty. – If you drink this water that “I am” is giving you, you will never thirst again.

The one who is thirsting is the son of a barren woman. – He never existed, he is a phantom, an illusion, a reflection, like the moon seen in water; not real even for an instant. – Hold one pointedly to this train of thought, and the belief that there is a separate entity is dissipated, and liberation is attained.
When this is realized there is a seeming energetic shift, from contraction and self-imprisonment in this cage like fleshly body, into boundlessness.
This is true freedom and liberation – to know that there is no person here who needs to be liberated – there never has been and there never will be.
Reality never changed – why did you change, oh man or woman? -If Reality never changed, which “I” the non dual Absolute now claim – then nothing ever happened!
Nothing has ever happened at all.
All this time, so called, you’ve simply been duped by illusion.
You ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (duality) and were expelled from the Garden of Eden.
But this event never really happened – it only appeared to happen, and you have been taken in by appearance.
Wakey, wakey!
Wake up right this instant!

The manifest universe has never really been created – it is unborn, uncreated, it only appears to be born.
This world is simply the shadow of Reality.
The world is your own reflection.
The world is in You the Absolute, you are not in it.
Stop taking the appearance to be real and reality is already here and now.
All problems are resolved in the unborn, why swap the unborn for thought?
Trying unsuccessfully to find the answer in the mind, in the thinking – you never will be able to find one there.
This is the fruit of Satsang – association with the wise – Sat – pure being – Nisargadatta – your true natural stateless state.
Nature is not concerned whether it is hot or cold, wet or dry.
Nature is infinite, boundless, untamed, wild, unconcerned with anything whatsoever.
Every living thing, no matter how great, famous, or important, must return to the wild, must become nothing!

How Did I Come To Be?

How did I come to be?
First there was nothing and then spontaneously, without request, this “Iam” news, like magic has appeared. – Once it appears, amazingly, unquestioningly, it is taken to be real. – Because of the Absolute you come to know that you are, it is the Truth which knows, in that knowingness is the universe itself, that knowingness is all pervasive.
Whatever Lord Dattatreya (the first of the Navanath Sampradaya) did,I need to do now, only times change – knowing-ness never does. – We point to Advaita or non-duality in all these meetings and conversations – so called.
Why should I be concerned with others or here say?
They don’t exist apart from the non dual Absolute.
Ishwara, holy spirit, the gods in heaven, and the suffering in hell, are all my reflection only.

I have and need no religion. – Before there can be any god, I ( the Absolute) have to be there first.I am the proof of god and not the other way round.
There is nothing simpler than One – non duality. – Whatever I say of myself is true of you also,because everything is THAT, non dual Absolute – One without a second.
This message is nothing new, it has been pointed to throughout the ages.
However it is rare to hear it this way – stripped bare, straight from the horses mouth – as is.
There is no pride of knowledge here, no desire to gain a following or protect any self-image, no copyright. – This naked non-conceptual awareness is self-shining, self-knowing, nothingness – emptyness.
It cannot be grasped by a concept – it is nothing you can see, hear, smell, taste or touch – yet it is because of this pure awareness presence, that all of these things are possible.
You never leave this pure awareness, you only imagine that you do. – Mind as memory and anticipation is pure illusion, Maya, or imagination. – Stop imagining, stop pretending to be what you are not – a limited bound creature and simply “be” what you are -nothing and nobody, just this pure livingness.

Anyone without a deep urge to know their true nature, will not even listen to something like this. – The mind as it is constituted, can’t bear simplicity or no-thingness.
This will always be rejected in main stream spirituality and religion.
The mind will immediately come up with concepts and try to cover this bare naked awareness-knowingness.
This truth is written in the scriptures, but it is told in the form of palpable and is not understood, taught, or known in the organized religions. – All the religions in the world today are only concepts, built around the direct knowingness and pure experiencing, of their founders or originators. – All these religions are only someone’s idea or concept, and are taught and propogated as such.
They are empty consolations and have no basis in truth or actuality.
eg: “The stone that the builder refused will ‘always’ be the head corner stone.” – This rejected cornerstone will always be the head cornerstone of the temple of Truth.
This is how the parable speaks, and it has to speak this way because truth or nothingness cannot be grasped with any concept – hence it “has” to be rejected by the limited mind of convention, because that mind hates this and wants and insists on lies and concepts – organised religion, consoling concepts to cover up this simple, obvious, naked truth or essence, that no one can ever be apart from, now or ever.

There is no time at all, time is only mind – a mental concept.”Now is the time of salvation” – another parable pointing to this.
What’s wrong with right now, if you don’t think about it? – Sailor Bob Adamson – another not so well known exponent of this natural knowing-ness.
“Look not to the fields and say three months to the harvest – look again, the fields are in full bloom now” – Jesus in the new testament.
If I have the idea that yes, at some future time I will get enlightenment – this itself is a trap, because as all jnani’s have pointed out – there is no future time, there is only and ever this timeless moment – now – Omnipresence.
What you are seeking you already are – this is the message of Nisargadatta Maharaj and Sri Dattatreya. – The essence of what they are didn’t appear and disappear – they haven’t gone anywhere – they are here now – OMNIPRESENT.