The Many Faces of the One

The Many Faces of the One: article 19  - the unpublished esoteric writings of an aging yogi.

       'I-am 'Spirit' daily affirmation 

"Pure 'Spirit' is the one true source of all power and plenitude in my life and world. In and with the knowing and knowledge of pure 'Spirit' I am truly blessed and fulfilled. I know that the abiding presence and unlimited power of pure 'Spirit' continuously fills my entire being. In and with the knowing and knowledge of pure 'Spirit' I fully recognize the true power and plenitude of an infinite intelligence that can overcome and remove all obstacles in the fulfilment of all goals, needs and blessings. In the knowing and knowledge of pure 'Spirit' I am always safe and secure in all facets and areas of my life and world. I know and accept that it is with the knowing and knowledge of pure 'Spirit' that all my needs and desires are always met and fulfilled. My knowing and faith in pure 'Spirit' is real and enduring. With my trust and faith always firmly established in the infinite power and plenitude of pure 'Spirit' I know all things and needs can be accomplished. In and with the loving grace of pure 'Spirit' I am truly blessed and fulfilled beyond any personal desire and need. With pure 'Spirit' I am deeply and continuously fulfilled and blessed in all areas and facets of my life. I radiate pure 'Spirit' at all times, in all places and in all my thoughts and actions. I am always deeply connected and at one with pure 'Spirit'." OM, shanti, shanti, shanti. 'I am', peace, peace peace.

                                                            THE MIND OF NO-MIND

Whatever form life takes or whatever appearance it takes on, it is all the transcendental expression of the one undying absolute reality and identity, pure 'Spirit'. The Absolute has no real purpose. It is not bound by any action. All the world events do not affect it. It remains unchanged and unaffected by the on-going activities and dramas of the phenomenal world of things. You are both in the world and you are the world. In fact you are not different from the world, and the world is not different from you. By helping your self you impact the world. By awakening and knowing the unborn and unmade Self, we free the world and let it be. We no longer hold no position, no stance, no side, no agenda, no opinion, no authority or self-importance. Everything is free to be what it is. As the Self we free all creations of grasping and attachment. We cannot fear what we are. To accomplish and attain spiritual Self-realization is to abide in the Self, with the Self, and as the Self. As the Self we we expect nothing, and yet all is available to us and we are one with all things. Our sense and knowing of who we are is free of all things, therefore we are content and fulfilled in all things. We, the atman-yogi, demand nothing and we do not oppose anything. Nothing needs to happen and yet everything can and does happen. Nothing needs to change and yet everything can and does change. The seer, the seen and the seeing are one. The hearing, the heard and listener are one. The knower, the known and the knowing are one. One Absolute Perfect Unification of all things - Sat-Chit-Ananda. 

'I' and the Universe are one. 'We' and the Universe are one. What we know to be the form called 'person' is now and eternally the deathless and unchanging Self, pure 'Spirit', behind this and every other life, but to be told so or to believe it is not enough for us. Self-Awakening, the release from our own self-imposed sleep, is still essential to realize it. What we call a 'person' is always identical with the Unmade Self, which is Pure Being, Sat-Chit-Ananda. 

                                                    TRUTH, CONSCIOUSNESS, BLISS

The real 'I', or should I say, 'I-am', is not the so-called body or any of the five senses, or the sense objects, or the organs of actions, or the so-called 'mind', or even the deep sleep state that has no cognition of these things. In Self-Awakening and Self-realization we are overcoming and exhausting the identity with the body and the identity with their associated activities, and so too with the mind and all mind-objects and mental impressions. When the identity with the mind disappears into the Self then only the Self is seen as real. Only God is real. 

Our identity with the Source is always there but we are not aware of it. We are not aware of it as it is not an object to be aware of. It is that which is aware. It is that which knows. It cannot not be known with the mind, as it is that which knows the mind. With the mind there is always something to be done. There is always something to be gained or done away with. With the mind there is the interplay of subject and object. The idea of Self-realization is but a thought. It is a yearning and craving of ignorance. Self-Awakening is the end of doer-ship. It is the very letting go of the idea of things that need to be done. Until this illusion of 'doer-ship' is lifted and exposed for what it is there is always something to be done. So too with the spiritual path of the one who walks it. Until the idea of path and the one who walks it are transcended then the path needs to be walked. The realization of one who awakens is that there is no path and no one who walks it, and yet path and no path are identical. Therefore all is necessary in the knowing of knowing. The Source is the only one real reality and identity, and all reality and identity is the Source. The world is no more real that the individual who sees it. It is all a question of the realization of the true Self, the one who is the seer, the seen and seeing; the knower, the known and the knowing. We ask ourselves, "who is the doer of all these daily and moment-to-moment activities?" "To who do these experiences happen or belong?" Certainly 'I-am'. Surely this would be ridiculous to deny, for who would it be that denies it? So, who am I? What is this?

                                                                   FINDING ME

The true Self is here and now. Nothing is independent of the true 'Self'. It is all to do with renouncing one's own separate individuality which is superimposed on to the real Self. It is the idea of a 'person' identity, I-am-the-body and its associated sensory activities. The person identity is a construct of the mind. The mind is a construct of the sensory activities. The Self alone is all things. In the knowing of knowing we perform all activities of life with detachment and non-identification, and regard only the Self, pure 'Spirit' as real. Nothing that the body does can touch or remove us from the abidance in our true natural state which is pure 'Spirit'. Only God is real. When this is realized the world ceases to exist as an objective reality. All is seen to be one despite the appearance of separateness. The person who sees the real Self sees the Self alone in the world also. Only the Self alone is as 'I-am'.

True spiritual Self-realization is the identity with the unmade Self. In truth we are already free. In truth there is no real bondage. The idea of bondage is illusionary. The most important thing concerning Self-realization is the investigation of the 'I'. "Who is it that suffers?" "Who is it that has doubts?" "Who is it that has experience?" "To who does sensory experience belong and happen?"

It is suggested to us that all unhappiness and misery is due to the idea of ego, the feeling and sense of individuality and separateness in relationship to all experience and phenomena. This being the mistaken identity with the mind/body experience. With this mistaken mind/body identity comes all our troubles and dramas of life. As long as we consider ourselves to be the body we see and experience the world as separate and external to us. Self-realization is overcoming the mistaken and false identity with the mind/body experience and recognizing and knowing the whole world as the Unmade and Unchanging Self. 

                                                       THE EMPTINESS OF THINGS

The world is no more real than the individual that sees it. All suffering is due to the false notion of the 'I-am-the-body', or 'I-am-the-doer'. Self-realization is the removal of the mistaken idea of separateness and individuality. It is the complete union with the unmade Self. We search and find the truth that is always within and with us, and is us. It is here and now. It is not in some past or distant future. It is always present to us for we are it. It is and has always been available to us, we have simply remained blind to it. The world has no reality or identity apart from the true Self. Reality must always be real. It has no names or forms but it is what underlies all things. It underlies all limitations, being itself limitless. It is not bound in anyway. It underlies all unrealities being itself real. It is that which is and always is, regardless of the coming and going of worlds, dramas, constructs and phenomena. All is this. It transcends all things and yet gives life to all things. It transcends all ideas, beliefs and concepts of good and bad, right and wrong, pure and impure, being and non-being, existence and non-existence. Reality is oneness itself. It is life eternal. It is not something that we need strive for because it already is and it alone is. All striving is simply the hindrance of the mind. 

         This is the essential and core message of Atman-Yoga. The Deathless Self, alone is.


Atman-Yoga Daily Mantra: "I am. Life is. I am one with all life and all life is one with me. Oneness in body. Oneness in mind. Oneness in all things."

 

Atman-Yoga Daily Meditation: 'Only God is real.'

Song of the Deathless Yogi:

                                        I am 'emptiness'. All is 'emptiness'. 'Emptiness' is all. 

                                    Form is 'emptiness'. Only 'emptiness'. 'Emptiness' is form'.

 

This esoteric blog is dedicated to my earthly mother 'Rita' who transitioned on the 12th December 2021.

Inspirational Source Material

 The Many Faces of the One  - the unpublished collected esoteric writings and works of an aging yogi.

          'I-am 'Spirit' daily affirmation 

'The knowing and knowledge of pure 'Spirit' blesses and fulfils me in all areas and facets of my life and world. Pure 'Spirit' provides me with every blessing in abundance. I am always deeply connected to the plenitude and loving grace of pure 'Spirit'. With pure 'Spirit' I always live in the fullness, plenitude and beauty of life. The recognition, knowing and knowledge of pure 'Spirit' firmly establishes harmony, unity, beauty and peace in my life and world. I am always at one with pure 'Spirit' in all worldly circumstances and situations. With pure 'Spirit' I am always making the right choices and taking the right actions in all areas, facets and moments of my life. With pure 'Spirit' I am deeply fulfilled and blessed in all areas, facets and moments of my life and world. Pure 'Spirit' is the one absolute source and origin of all power and plenitude in my life and world. With total trust and faith in the knowing and knowledge of pure 'Spirit' I am always truly blessed and fulfilled. I radiate pure 'Spirit' at all times, in all places and in all my individualized thoughts and actions. I am always deeply connected and at one with pure 'Spirit'. OM, shanti, shanti, shanti. 'I-am', peace, peace, peace.'

                                                     YOU ARE A SKY FULL OF STARS

If you have accidently or intentionally found this esoteric blog on the spiritual matters of Atman-Yoga, to help save you from having to painfully read or contemplate anything that is presented here in this impersonal and contemplative esoteric blog titled the 'The Many Faces of the One', I would highly recommend to you the following spiritual reading source material I will list somewhere below. 

Over the many blessed and focused years of my own impersonal and personal spiritual desire and on-going pursuit for the highest spiritual knowing and knowledge of the transcendental nature, source and essence of reality and identity, pure 'Spirit' (Godhead), I was fortunately blessed with the divine grace of various spiritual reading source material, as well as teachers, to inspire, excite and challenge my own spiritual aspirations, commitments, needs and so-called esoteric growing insights and conclusions. Not that this transcendental knowing and knowledge of pure 'Spirit' (Godhead) is the sole possession and ownership of any one individual or group of individuals. As I see it and know it, it is certainly readily available to all who aspire to know it. It is our natural and ever-present state of 'knowing' - 'I-am'.

For me, this spiritual knowing and knowledge of pure 'Spirit' (Godhead) is what we are truly are, even though some will make personal claims of spiritual superiority, authority, ownership and esoteric knowledge. I can assure you, I do not make such claims here or do I claim anything new or revolutionary to present to you, only that the highest knowing that is recognized and known in my own experiential experience of fully-awakening and knowing is expertly communicated in the suggested reading source material I have carefully selected and listed here, and mostly, it is communicated much more elegantly and poetically than I ever could attempt to do.

As you might know from browsing and looking at this esoteric blog on Atman-Yoga, I make no personal claims to any particular individual teaching, organization or dogma. The creation of this blog, 'The Many Faces of the One' was to simply make available to other like-minded souls, who like me have a real passion and genuine hunger and thirst for spiritual knowledge and esoteric awakening, the intuitive and collected writings I had made and held on to over the years of spiritual Self-inquiry, meditation and contemplation to verify my own individualized unfolding and deepening spiritual awakening experience and journey.

I can assure you what is presented here as a suggested list of spiritual reading source material would have served me even better had I been blessed and graced with them at the very beginning of my own aspirations, needs and efforts for authentic spiritual awakening and esoteric knowledge, some 30 years ago, and this is why I present them to you now. But in some ways I am glad and fortunate that they came much, much later, as true spiritual knowing and knowledge, the highest esoteric knowing of knowing without knowing, transcends the limitations, expectations and conditions of the mind/body experience and the intellect. And yet I would say that we can certainly get a real flavor and genuine taste of what true esoteric 'knowing' actually is. This spiritual reading source material can give us an intellectual glimpse into the endless and unborn void of true spiritual transcendence and esoteric knowing ('I-am' Self-realization).

                                              EXPERIENTIAL KNOWING OF REALITY

Personally I would consider this suggested reading source material invaluable but not absolutely essential, as true spiritual awakening and transcendental knowing comes with the on-going committed authentic desire and passion for spiritual awakening and the divine grace and blessing of pure 'Spirit'. Nothing presented here can adequately replace the genuine awakening of one's own sincere will and act to awaken to one's own experiential transcendental awareness of Pure Being (Godhead) - the true nature and essence of 'I-am'. What is presented to you here is what I feel fully embodies the flavor and essence of the highest esoteric knowing and knowledge of pure 'Spirit' (Godhead), the knowing of 'knowing', that I feel verifies my own experiential knowing and knowledge of Atman-Yoga (returning back to Godhead). It will also included many past and present world renowned influential spiritual teachers and genuine masters that might be of interest to you.

Personally and impersonally, as an individualized embodied form called 'body', I will still continue to add and refine the remainder of my own compiled spiritual writings and works on Atman-Yoga as and when I feel directed, but I can assure you I place no personal self-importance on them. It is simply a genuine directed act of love and respect for the beauty and plenitude that is life itself, and in loving honor of the beautiful gift of spiritual awakening and the knowing of pure 'Spirit' (Godhead) that is certainly available to all. For me, 'being fully awake' is the highest act and action of life and love. It is the highest embodied expression of 'I-am'. All alone is this. Only God is Real.

     As always, heartfelt love, peace, plenitude, gratitude and beauty to all worldly and unworldly souls in the highest esoteric recognition, knowing and knowledge of  pure 'Spirit' (Godhead). For me, you are a sky full of stars, and like Coldplay writes, "such a heavenly view". You are such a heavenly view. All love. All one. All alone is this - 'I-am'. OM, shanti, shanti, shanti. 'I-am', peace, peace, peace.

Inspirational Reading Suggestions:- '

    'In The Light of the Self' by Alistair Shearer on Adi Shankara and the Yoga of Non-dualism.

    'Before I Am: The Direct Recognition of Truth' - Mooji.

    'Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal talks on Zen Meditation and Practice' - Shunryu Suzuki.

    'I Am That: Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. 

    'Being Aware of Being Aware' - Rupert Spira

    'The Nature of Consciousness: Essays on the Unity of mind and Matter' - Rupert Spira

    'The Transparency of Things: Contemplating the Nature of Experience' - Rupert Spira

    'The Intimacy of All Experience' - Rupert Spira

Meditation Material Suggestions:- 

    'Mindfulness in Plain English' - Bhante Henepola Gunaratana

    'Beyond Mindfulness in Plain English' - Bhante Henepola Gunaratana

    'The Bhagavad-Gita' 

    'Avadhuta Gita of Dattatreya' - Swami Ashokananda.

    'Nan Yar: Who Am I? - Sri Ramana Maharshi

    'The Upanishads' introduction and translation by Eknath Eswaran.

    'How to know God: The Yoga Aphorisma of Patanjanli' - Translated with a commentary by Swami        Prabhavananda & Christopher Isherwood.

    'The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali' - Translation and Commentary by Sri Swami Satchidananda

Should I unexpectantly or expectantly leave this temporary and ever-changing and aging individualized embodied form called 'body' any time soon then I have knowingly left the very best of what I know this form called 'body' has to offer in genuine love, plenitude and gratitude of what this life has spiritually graced and blessed it with. Personally, what more can one really ask of life?

Forever at the Divine feet of Pure Knowing and Blissful Being, 'Spirit'. I alone am. All is this - 'I-am'.

         This is the essential and core message of Atman-Yoga. The Deathless Self alone is.


Atman-Yoga Daily Mantra: "I am. Life is. I am one with all life and all life is one with me. Oneness in body. Oneness in mind. Oneness in all things."

 

Atman-Yoga Daily Meditation: 'Only God is real.'

Atman-Yoga Daily Meditation: 'Only God is Real' as the eternal 'I-am'. All is this.

Song of the Deathless Yogi:

                                        I am 'emptiness'. All is 'emptiness'. 'Emptiness' is all. 

                                    Form is 'emptiness'. Only 'emptiness'. 'Emptiness' is form'.

This esoteric blog is dedicated to my earthly mother 'Rita' who transitioned on the 12th December 2021.

The Many Faces of the One

 The Many Faces of the One: article 18  - the unpublished esoteric writings of an aging yogi.

           'I-am 'Spirit' daily affirmation 

"I allow the grace of 'Spirit's pure peace, love, beauty, plenitude and wisdom to support and guide me in every area and facet of my life. With pure 'Spirit' I am always truly blessed. I am always open and receptive to the peace, love, beauty, well-being, plenitude and wisdom of pure 'Spirit'. I am always one with pure 'Spirit' in mind and body, regardless of worldly appearances, dramas and situations. All that I am has its true foundation and form in my faith, trust and knowledge in pure 'Spirit'. 'I-am' by the grace and love of pure Spirit'. 'Spirit' has given me life and I am a divine and perfect creation of pure 'Spirit'. I always live my life in the absolute fullness, beauty, peace, love, plenitude and knowledge of pure 'Spirit'. I always act on whatever fully honors the truth and love of pure 'Spirit' and I find divine joy, well-being, peace and beauty in the fullness of life as a perfect creation and expression of pure 'Spirit'. I radiate pure 'Spirit' at all times, in all places and in all my thoughts and actions. I am always deeply connected and at one with pure 'Spirit'. OM, shanti, shanti, shanti. 'I-am', peace, peace peace.

"The true and pure transcendental mind is like a beautiful garden where all things can freely come and go to dwell in the unchanging bliss and love of its radiance, peace, plenitude and beauty. It does not discriminate or pass judgement. All are welcomed and all can freely leave or stay. It is not altered or affected by the coming and going of things and their ever-changing behavior. Be it thoughts, feelings, moods and forms. This transcendental universal mind remains forever still, awake and silent. This is our true essence, identity and nature of 'I-am'." Of this I am certain. Of this I am clear.

                                        BEYOND THE REALMS OF BIRTH AND DEATH

            The body dies, so are we dead? 

Surely all that happens in association with there being a body disappears and dies with it, but then again still something appears to recognize this truth. This recognition appears to be the voice of 'I' within me which when looked for appears to have no actual form, other than the 'I' thought itself. And yet this 'I' thought is known too. It only takes form when it identifies itself with the body and yet the body is temporary. The other question is that the 'I' thought appears to be localized to the mind/body experience. It is not like we experience ourselves outside of the mind/body experience as a day-to-day occurrence. Most of us have the sense of looking out into the world, and internalizing that experience. When examined we realize that beginning and end arise together, like inside and outside. When we create an inside there immediately is an outside. They are inseparable, as are birth and death. There is no death without birth. These too are inseparable. One cannot exist without the other. It is all interconnected and inseparable. We would like to separate birth from death, and youth from old age, and pleasure from pain, so there is no death or old age or pain, but this is impossible. These things are inseparable. This is what it means to live in a dualistic universe of phenomena. We might like there to be no death but this can only be achieved by finding that which has no birth. The challenge here is we would like birth but with no death. We would like to have the sensual pleasures of youth, gain, pleasure and vitality but without the pains of loss, decay, pain and old age. And yet it is all inseparable. One defines the other. 

Atman-Yoga tells us that 'emptiness' is everything and everything is 'emptiness'. I am 'Spirit' transcending the body. The body dies and yet pure 'Spirit' that transcends it cannot be touched, threatened or affected by death as it too is not affected by life. It is life eternal. It is what it is regardless of life and death. Therefore all is the 'Deathless Spirit'. All is 'emptiness'. Absorption and abidance in the Impersonal Self is to dwell unceasingly and completely in the identity of the unmade and unchanging pure 'Spirit'. This eliminates the 'I' as a separate individuality or person. This is the Deathless Self. Overcoming the mistaken tendency to see the unreal as real. Self-realization removes the fear of death that threatens the dissolution of the ego (this being the feeling and thought of a separate individuality isolated from all that is). 

                                                       INTIMACY WITH THE ONE

In spiritual Self-realization there is a genuine self-recognition and awakening that we are already one with the Deathless Self (Pure Being) which is 'Spirit' and the Absolute of all creation and phenomena. All this is the Self-realization of awakening to the true self (the unmade Self), which is our real, unborn and eternal essence. The sense or feeling of 'I' is related to the mind/body experience, and the physical and mental faculties. The real Self is beyond the mind/body experience. Here lies the spiritual certainty and self-reliance of Self and all that is. Here is the Self-realization that we are already free, whole, perfect and complete. This is the renouncing and letting go of the false idea of I-am-the-body or I-am-the-doer. We are falsely and wrongly burdened by assuming the I-am-the-body or I-am-the-doer identity. In the recognition and Self-realization of our true nature, identity and essence what is there to become or be? We are already that which we are and this is already complete, perfect and whole in and as itself. Always has been and always will be. Regardless of the phenomenal world, we are - 'I-am'. 

We are all. 'I-am' is all, and all is 'I-am'. Experiences and the phenomenal world do not define us. They simply are what they are. The Self is all, and yet it is free of all things. No name, no past, no future, no history, no story, no drama, no fixed identity, no form, no birth or death, no beginning or end. It is the perfect realization of an essence which is the Impersonal Self underlying and transcending everything and all experience, and yet always one with all that is or is not. We are identical with it even though we have mistakenly identified ourselves as separate and individual. We can conclude that the spiritual endeavor is to have an unbroken and constant awareness and knowing of the Unmade and Impersonal Self, 'Spirit'. It is the dissolution and removal of the false and mistaken identity with the mind/body experience as the true Self and the continuous fully conscious identity with the Absolute, which can be permanently established in all worldly activities, endeavors and situations of life. It is unburdened and unhindered by all that is, and all that will ever be. It has always been so. It is always free, unlimited, unaffected, plentiful and eternal. It is free of all experiences and conditions and yet at the same time it is one with them, as they are one with it. It is free of space, time and form and yet it is one with all that is, and all is one with it. This is the light of Self.

For the one who has attained Self-realization there is no seeking of it. They have transcended the duality of 'I' and the Absolute. They realize and know the oneness of the wave and the ocean, therefore there is nothing to fear in life or death. Only 'Spirit' is all reality and identity. Only 'Spirit' is real and enduring, and all is of, in and with pure 'Spirit'. The Awakened Atman or 'soul' has transcended the limited identity of the wave with all that is changing and has returned willing to its true identity which is one with the ocean, which is the deathless 'Spirit'. Traditionally in pure yoga 'sahaja samadhi' is the highest state of esoteric Self-realization. It is the complete and final state of Self-inquiry. For one who has attained and realized this state there is on longer the seeking of it. It is considered to be pure uninterrupted God-consciousness, transcending the mental and physical plain of experience, and yet with full awareness of the manifested world, and the full use of the mental and physical faculties. This is pure 'I-am'. Pure Being-ness (Sat-Chit-Ananada). It is the true meaning of renunciation which is both within and without. It is overcoming the false idea of the unreal as real, and it is the knowing of the real, and all creation as the real. It is the giving up our false limited individual identity and realizing our true identity with the Absolute. This is true renunciation. Nothing to do. No one to become and be. No fixed identity or form to attach to except the Absolute. All is spontaneous arising of Pure Being, 'Spirit'. No fixed idea or concept of what life should look like, or be like, and yet the Divine is lived in all things, situations and places. All is that which alone is - 'I-am'. 

                                                        UNIFICATION WITH THE ALL

We can ask ourselves in the pursuit of seeking and having Self-realization, "is is really possible to perform all worldly activities of worldly life with true detachment and indifference to all that shows us and to regard only the Unmade Self as the real? It is considered that the genuine recognition and knowledge of Pure Being, 'Spirit', as one own true essence, identity and state, and as being the Self of the universe and all phenomena is the unsurpassable and ultimate truth. Certainly I know nothing that surpasses this Self-realization. 

Atman-yoga suggests to us in our pursuit of Spiritual Knowledge that only the Absolute, 'Spirit', is real, That in fact only the Absolute is and all phenomena are unreal as they are only the Absolute manifested in temporary forms and constructs to which we, or should I say the mind, attaches a name, label and idea. The entire universe and its endless myriad of forms and phenomena exist with and within the transcendental mind of the Absolute, having no intrinsic or separate reality of their own but merely manifesting the Absolute in different illusory and transitory expressions of reality. All this plays itself out in the changing sensory perceptions and realms of mind-consciousness. However, despite this unending dance of infinite realms of consciousness the Absolute remains unchanged and formless. As with the people and events in a dream that exist within the dream and mind of the person who is dreaming, then the same is true for the Absolute and all creation. As with the dream, the people and the events dreamed have no separate reality independent of the the person that is dreaming them. The people and events of the dream do not add anything to that person by their creation and take nothing away from that person by their not existing. So too with the appearances and disappearances of worldly phenomena and events. The Absolute is as it always is, regardless of the coming and going of endless realms of existence, constructs and phenomena. 

The purpose of the spiritual endeavor to ask, "who am I?", is to fully realize our true identity with the Absolute (God). In Atman-Yoga, phenomena are seen as illusionary when viewed as separate from the knowing of the Absolute, and real when experienced as the knowledge and knowing of one true Self. The Absolute is the only true and enduring reality and identity which manifests as all things, and remains unchanged despite being one with all things, and all things being one with it. Only the Absolute is real, and all alone is this despite the impressions and projections of separateness and individuality. It is beyond time, form and space, It is beyond mind, body and the intellect. It is beyond the phenomenal world and the recognition of it. Any yet it is one with all this and all this is one with it. In ignorance, we are like fish in the ocean that are constantly swimming around and always searching endlessly for the ocean not realizing that even whilst we are in search of the ocean we are already one with it. We seek to be one with the ocean when all the time we already are. We go in search of God or Self-realization only to find we are already one with it. Like the wave that is always one with the ocean, despite appearing as a wave, so too with us. Separateness and individuality are the real illusions. Only God is real.

     This is the essential and core message of Atman-Yoga. The Deathless Self, alone is.


Atman-Yoga Daily Mantra: "I am. Life is. I am one with all life and all life is one with me. Oneness in body. Oneness in mind. Oneness in all things."

 

Atman-Yoga Daily Meditation: 'Only God is real.'

Song of the Deathless Yogi:

                                        I am 'emptiness'. All is 'emptiness'. 'Emptiness' is all. 

                                    Form is 'emptiness'. Only 'emptiness'. 'Emptiness' is form'.

 

This esoteric blog is dedicated to my earthly mother 'Rita' who transitioned on the 12th December 2021.

The Many Faces of the One

 The Many Faces of the One: article 17  - the unpublished esoteric writings of an aging yogi.

         'I-am 'Spirit' affirmation 

"My heart and mind are always open and receptive to the pure wisdom, love, beauty, well-being, plenitude and peace of pure 'Spirit'. I always have an abiding connection with the pure wisdom, love, beauty, well-being, plenitude and peace of 'Spirit'. Pure 'Spirit' is the one and only true essence, origin and source of all life. With pure 'Spirit's grace, power and love I am learning to realize and know intimately my true limitless essence and undying nature, and to recognize and know my divine oneness and identity with all creation. Living daily in the truth and knowledge of pure 'Spirit' I am always fulfilled in the perfect realization that pure 'Spirit' is the one true origin, essence and source of all life and needs, and I happily abide in this spiritual knowing and knowledge. I radiate 'Spirit' at all times, in all places and in all my actions. I am always deeply connected and one with pure 'Spirit'. OM, shanti, shanti, shanti. 'I-am', peace, peace, peace.

                            I am Eternity seeing, recognizing, realizing and knowing Eternity.

                                                      DEATH IS THE REAL ILLUSION

We can all inwardly ask ourselves, as have all those inquisitive and adventurous minds before us who have aspired and attained authentic Self-awakening, 'when death comes, what does it mean? What or who is it that is dying? What is this? Who am I?

We all know that this body we temporarily inhabit will cease to exist. It ages, decays, perishes and ends like all things that are made. We all know, what is made can be broken. What is put together can be pulled apart. What has a beginning will end. What is new will with time become old. What is born will die. This is simply the way of things in an ever-changing dualistic world of phenomena, forms and constructs. Only that which is unborn is deathless. Birth and death are inseparable. Where there is birth there is death. Therefore we aspire to seek and know that which is unborn, unmade and deathless. 

Birth and death, one can not exist without the other, like inside and outside. There is no inside without an outside. As there is no birth without death. What is acquired can be taken away. The body is acquired and therefore is can be taken away. It is created therefore it can be destroyed. It is born therefore it will die. It is simply the way things are in this dualistic reality of experience and experiencing. With the death of the body, we can ask, is the 'I' thought dead too? Does 'I' consciousness exist beyond the temporary conditions and appearances of the physical body? Certainly there is an awareness and feeling of there being a body which is experienced, and yet is this awareness the body? The body changes and ages, and yet does consciousness itself change and age too? Does the awareness that witnesses and knows the ever-changing physical stages of youth, aging, pain, dis-ease, pleasure, decay and old age change too? Does the one who silently and unmoving looks out on all these ever-changing stages and conditions of life change too? What is this stuff that we call life? What is its true nature?

With the death of the body we can ask, 'is the 'I' that knows the body dead too?' Is the body, 'I'? There appears to be the sense of the thought of 'I' with the form that we call body. It also appears to be present in the mental capacity of the mind as an experience. It somehow appears to be associated to the one who is being aware of experience and the one who is acting out experience. This is experienced as the subject of experience and experiencing, and yet we could argue that the subject of experience is not aware in the act of sleep except when dreaming. So is this 'I' thought that is present in the waking and dreaming state really me? And who am I when the 'I' thought is not present like in deep sleep? Obviously the 'I' can recollect that it was in a dream state therefore who am 'I' in deep sleep? It can recollect that it was asleep or certainly that the body was in a sleep state. What is it that considers the ideas of birth, old age, decay, death, being and non-being, existence and non-existence? Is the one who is aware 'me'? What is the very nature, substance and essence of awareness? And what is it that knows awareness; the awareness of being actually aware? What is the real stuff of awareness?

                                                          WHO AM I BEFORE I WAS?

There is a sense of 'I' when one is lucid in the dreaming state, and yet this is easily recognized as mind-consciousness. So am 'I' mind-consciousness? Am 'I' awareness itself? Any yet what is it that knows mind-consciousness and awareness? How could 'I' be mind-consciousness when mind-consciousness, the feeling of 'I', is able to recollect that there was a period of time when it was not present? I am not aware in sleep so would it be right to say, 'I am awareness?' I would say I simply am, 'I-am'. I am not aware in sleep so would it be right to say, 'I am awareness'. Despite having no personal identity with the mind/body experience in deep sleep we still refer to the fact that 'I' was sleeping when in the waking state, so who is the 'I' in deep sleep? We can recollect a time when we did not exist in our present form, and a moment when we will not exist. So, who is the one who is recognizing all this? What is the truth of 'self' beyond the mind/body identity and the awareness and knowing of all phenomena?

I say to you now, who is the 'I' that knows all experience and experiencing? Who am I before the world has told me who I am? Of course, I would say I simply am, 'I-am'. Nothing more than this 'I-am'. This is what is means to radiate the Divine at all times, in all places and in all actions and non-action. This is the esoteric Self-realization and Abiding-awakening of pure 'Spirit' as the one true origin, essence, identity and source of all life and phenomena. All souls who authentically fully realize and know this abide as this unsurpassable knowing and knowledge of 'I-am'. The challenge here when dealing with the voice of 'I' within the mind/body experience it is only known when mind-consciousness (the awareness and knowing of objective experience) is present, otherwise it is unconscious. And yet many mental and physical activities happen without the 'I' being aware of them. It too is perceived as an object of awareness. If the 'I' thought is temporary as not always being present then is it correct to say we are only what we experience in a waking state? Who are we when we are not awake or conscious of the phenomenal world of experience and experiencing? Who is it that continues to exist during sleep state? Who is it that is existing when the 'I' is not perceived? What is my true abiding and ever-present nature and does it transcend what we know as death?

Some spiritual seers and mystics would say and conclude that we are pure 'Spirit' or 'soul' transcending the body, and yet one with the body, and this is why despite having no real identity with the mind/body experience during deep sleep  we still exist as 'I-am'. 'I-am' both transcends the body identity and yet is one with it. 'I-am' is one with all things and yet free of all things at the same time. The appearance and feeling of being in bondage to the body is the real illusion. Yes, the body dies, in that what is acquired is taken away, but the 'spirit' that transcends the body identity is not touched, destroyed, threatened or altered by the lack of identity with the mind/body experience and its death. Absolutely there is no death without birth and pure 'Spirit' is the unborn and unconditioned essence and reality of all things, and this includes the mind/body experience. Therefore it is concluded that we, at our deepest essence and nature, are the formless and deathless 'Spirit'. This pure 'Spirit' being the one infinite reality and identity within which all experience appears, changes and disappears, and yet experience does not change, alter, limit, threaten, destroy, lessen or affect what this reality and identity truly is. This would conclude that 'I-am', the unchanging and impersonal presence of Pure Being, 'Spirit', is behind and at the source of all the temporary phenomena and constructs that appear to be the mind/body experience. 

I am that which transcends the mind/body experience. I am that which transcends the body and the mind, and intellect. I am that which transcends space, time and form. 'I-am' simply is regardless of existence or non-existence. This would conclude that the feeling and thought of a separate individuality that resides only as the mind/body experience is the real illusion, that this mind/body identity and the fact that consciousness mistakenly invests in and attaches to as being real, and therefore suffers as a consequence. The illusion of individuality creates the feeling of burden and yet all this Self-realization is impersonal too. There is no one who is realizing it and being realized, even though it appears to be this way. What happens is, that which was never real gives way to that which is real. The dreamer awakes from the sleep of material ignorance. It is the self-knowing of the Self, and yet the Self is realized as already realized as having always been the Self, despite the endless playing out of time, space and form. It is all 'emptiness' expressed and known in the acting and playing out of all things. 

                                             GOING BEYOND THE DRAMA OF LIFE

When closely looking to the 'I' thought to investigate what it is, it appears to simply disappear and have no intrinsic nature of its own but something still seems to recognize this phenomena of 'I'. 

We might tell ourselves it is simply the brain and mind activity having the capacity to question its own existence, and yet what is it that recognizes this? If we deny the existence of 'I-am' then what is it that denies this? The very fact that we can observe this line of questioning and all the phenomena in question suggests that potentially there is a reality and identity behind all that is being put into question. So we can ask and inquire of ourselves, what is this? What is this stuff called life and 'self', that asks so much of us and at times gives so little or nothing in return, only to reward us with death? What purpose does any of this really serve? I am certainly not saying all this to get down on life but simply to look beyond the mind's conclusions of it. To challenge the thinking and idea that we really know.

The genuine spiritual challenge here is to not allow the intellect to arrive at a conceptual answer or conclusion but to seek beyond the capacity of knowing and negate that which changes to arrive at the suggested pure essence and presence of 'I-am', which actually requires no mental and intellectual input. It is pure effortless being, 'Spirit', that is always present and residing in and as all things, and yet what it is, is free of all things therefore it does not require things in order to exist or be itself. It simply is 'I-am'. Nothing known can exist independent of it. All things reside in it and with it, and yet it is not a thing in and of itself, therefore it can't be observed objectively and directly as an experience of experiencing. It is that on which all experience and experiencing is seen and known. This is the true paradox of Self-realization. The world is both real and not real. It is both empty and full. The 'I' is both there and not there. Some truth-seekers and seers would say that what we experience as 'I' is simply no more than the senses experiencing sense objects. They would say that experiences do not define us or limit us. All experience is impersonal. Mind is simply that which happens in relationship to the senses experiencing sense objects, like a rainbow which has no intrinsic existence of its own. It is simply made of non-rainbow components. What we know as the world is simply a temporary construct of the mind.

                Yes, the body dies, so are we dead? What is this stuff we call life and 'self''?

I openly admit what is here on this esoteric blog is mostly the babble and ramblings of an inquisitive and self-inquiring mind. I know I am not alone in what is written here. I take no real ownership, recognition or appraisal in what is presented. Even with all that is presented and written here, life for what it is, still seems unfathomable and a great mystery to me at times and might never truly be solved conclusively. I can certainly envy those individuals and group of individuals who appear to have so much certainty and self-assurance about life and what it is; giving instruction and guidance on what people should do or not do. Personally, as an individualized form, I make no claim to know, and yet I am willing to state and standby that the Deathless Self alone is, and all that we assume to know has its being or non-being because of it. For me, what this is transcends knowing and not-knowing, being and non-being, bondage and liberation. It alone is all things regardless of what we believe or conclude life to be or not be. All things are simply because it is. This is what I personally mean by 'I-am'.

Personally as stated existence itself still makes no real sense to me. For many of us it would appear to be a heavy and troubling burden filled with fleeting and minute moments of pleasure and reward. We can desire, chase and pursue so many things in life only to be left dissatisfied, confused and wanting more. There can be so much ugliness in the world that we can struggle at times to see any real beauty, joy, love or peace in it. We all know that human beings can do terrible things and the truth is, we do. This is why I present this esoteric blog to you so we can genuinely transcend and own up to what life really is and see things clearly for what they really are. Not to reject them but to own and accept them. Only then can we truly live honestly and wisely. What that life will look like I can not tell you. It is not my place to tell you, but you will know yourself for what you truly are and that might be enough to help you make peace with what life is. You will fully realize and know that whatever you chase and pursue in life will only ever satisfy you temporarily. There really is no permanence to be found in that which is fleeting and changing. In recognizing and knowing the 'emptiness' of all things we can fully embrace our humanity and see the divine in all things and phenomena.

With this esoteric understanding and knowledge you will know how to truly love, make peace and let go, surrender, despite the on-going challenges and changes of life. 

         This is the essential and core message of Atman-Yoga. The Deathless Self, alone is.


Atman-Yoga Daily Mantra: "I am. Life is. I am one with all life and all life is one with me. Oneness in body. Oneness in mind. Oneness in all things."

 

Atman-Yoga Daily Meditation: 'Only God is real.'

Song of the Deathless Yogi:

                                        I am 'emptiness'. All is 'emptiness'. 'Emptiness' is all. 

                                    Form is 'emptiness'. Only 'emptiness'. 'Emptiness' is form'.

 

This esoteric blog is dedicated to my earthly mother 'Rita' who transitioned on the 12th December 2021.

The Many Faces of the One

 The Many Faces of the One: article 16  - the unpublished esoteric writings of an aging yogi.

         'I-am 'Spirit' affirmation 

"I am always centered in the wisdom, love, peace, beauty, well-being, plenitude and truth of pure 'Spirit'. The wisdom, love, beauty, well-being, plenitude and truth of pure 'Spirit' is firmly establishing harmony, peace and fulfilment in my world. I have complete trust and faith in the wisdom, love, beauty, well-being, plenitude and truth of pure 'Spirit'. The wisdom, love, beauty, well-being, plenitude and truth of pure 'Spirit' is always clear to me in the right time and in the right way. I always remain completely firm in my faith and trust that pure 'Spirit' is the answer and fulfilment of every need and challenge in all areas and facets of my life. I fully radiate pure 'Spirit' at all times, in all places and in all my actions. I am deeply connected and one with pure 'Spirit'. OM, shanti, shanti, shanti. 'I-am', peace, peace peace.

                                                   THE ONENESS OF PURE BEING

Some would say that the true essence of all spiritual endeavors and practice is to attain an inner experience, an individual and unbroken relationship with the Divine. To be fully conscious of our Absolute and Eternal transcendental nature, 'Spirit'. This is the on-going cosmic dance of creation and dissolution. With observing one-self objectively as a silent witness to all that we assume to be real. Overcoming the mistaken and false identity with the mind/body experience as the real self (I-am-the-body identity and the I-am-the-doer identity). Again the question and Self-inquiry of 'who am I'? What is the real essence, identity and nature of reality. It is to seek and live in the pure consciousness and knowledge of the source of all creation and phenomena.

The Unmade Self is that out of which the false and mistaken sense of a personal and separate 'I' arises and into which it will also disappear. The 'I' existence is temporary and therefore we can call it unreal. The 'I' is not something that exceeds the mind/body experience. It is a temporary phenomena that occurs due to the mind/body experience. It is suggested in Self-inquiry that thoughts and feelings are impersonal. Obviously with some clarity of mind, thoughts and feelings can be witnessed as impermanent, impersonal and insubstantial. If you were to ask me to give you one of my own thoughts to observe I could only present it as a written or spoken word. I could not give you the thought as it is in the moment of thinking. I can not give you the thought as the thought itself. I can only give you a representation of it. I can only give you something that represents that thought. And the same is true with feelings. I can't give you the feeling itself as the feeling but I can show it as a form of emotion. In the same way a memory is simply a memory and not the actual event. So it is considered due to this observation that thoughts are not real. Thoughts are a temporary and impersonal construct. It is said that the 'I' thought is the first thought to appear and the last to disappear. It could be suggested that thoughts in and of themselves are the thinker, that they are the one who thinks. The 'I' thought occurs due to the appearance and disappearance of the thought. Therefore the 'I' is really not real in the sense it has not real intrinsic and separate reality from the thought. If this is so it would be ridiculous to say 'I am my thought'. This would be as ridiculous as saying 'I am my feelings'. Feelings are what give the false impression of an intrinsic and separate individuality. But like thoughts, feelings are impermanent and impersonal too. They have a beginning and an end. So given this observation we can ask of ourselves, 'what is the real I that I am? What is the truth of identity? Who am I? What is this?

What is there that lies beyond the mind/body identity and their mental and physical faculties? Is there an unchanging and undying Self, 'Spirit', which transcends the mind/body experience? What lies behind and beyond all sensory experience and experiencing? How is it that we invest emotionally in that which is unreliable, temporary and unreal? Certainly we have to acknowledge that this mind/body experience is temporary and no world view will undo what is a natural occurrence and phenomena of a conditioned and ever-changing reality. What appears in this dualistic world of ever-changing phenomena will change and disappear. This is truth of impermanence. 

                                                               EXPOSING THE SELF

What the spiritual quest asks of us is to use Self-inquiry to negate all that is changing and unreal by silently and closely observing and examining all that arises and disappears in our experience of awareness and by doing seeking that which is unchanging, inexhaustible and permanent, should such a thing exist as this. The one who seeks, is the very seeker itself, and what it seeks is that which is seeking, and yet what is its real nature, identity and essence? 

What do we find ourselves to be when we put aside all that is unreal and transitory? Atman-Yoga would state that it is the Unmade Self, that which is formless, unborn, deathless, ageless, impersonal and eternal. It is that which is present in all things and yet is not affected or altered by their existence or non-existence. This transcends and is beyond the mind-body experience and yet is one with all things. It is beyond space, time and form and yet space, time and form are one with it, like waves and the ocean. Oneness is the true nature, identity and essence of all things although we experience mental projection and impression of separateness, constructs and individuality. All worldly things appear as phenomena within mind-consciousness and yet they can not be known to exist independent of mind-consciousness. Reality transcends the worldly trappings and conditions of the mind/body experience and the intellect of knowing and knowledge, so too with mind-consciousness. It transcends knowing, knowledge and the experience of knowing. Atman-Yoga is realizing and knowing our true identity with the Impersonal Self, 'Spirit'. It is true authentic and pure esoteric yoga - the perfect union with God as the true undying essence and boundless reality and identity of all things. Not the God that is used to satisfy peoples own desires and needs to have power, authority, superiority and control over others, but the God that alone is all things, and is one with all things and remains free of all things, and yet loves all things as its own essence. It is complete in and of itself, and therefore it is content in its own self-knowing. It does not seek power, authority or control over anyone or anything, for it is already one with all things so what need is there to do anything? It sees the Self in all, and all in and as the Self, so it knows its own completeness, perfection, boundlessness and wholeness. 

For the one who is genuinely and authentically awake there is only the perfected Self. The Self alone is all things and all things are the perfected Self. It takes joy in its own Self-realization and feels love for all things in the knowledge of its own Self. It demands nothing and seeks nothing, and yet it can take pleasure and delight in all things. It is not affected or hindered by the appearance and disappearances of things, like the dreamer who awakes from their dream to only realize that the dream was all of its own making and nothing dreamed was real. This is the conclusion of perfect union with the Absolute that 'Only God is real'. It is the letting go of the I-am-the-body identity and the I-am-the-doer illusion. It is the true and absolute identity with that which is Pure Being underlying all that is, and all that will ever be. It is true Oneness of Being, that is perfect union, yoga, with all that is. This is Atman-Yoga. 

It is truth recognized and known with unshakable certainty and faith. Not blind faith, but the faith of true transcendental knowing and awakening. The Dreamer is known beyond the duality of subject and object. It is not awareness of anything or anyone. It transcends beyond the limitations and conditionings of the mind/body experience and yet is fully compatible with the full use of all the physical and mental faculties of our limited humanity. In the Spiritual-Awakening and Self-realization of 'Spirit', the truth of reality and identity is constant and uninterrupted, and yet without impeding the normal perceptions and temporary activities of our day-to-day humanity. It is beyond the notion and framework of self and other. It is the recognition and knowing of our true identity with the Absolute.

         This is the essential and core message of Atman-Yoga. The Deathless Self, alone is.


Atman-Yoga Daily Mantra: "I am. Life is. I am one with all life and all life is one with me. Oneness in body. Oneness in mind. Oneness in all things."

 

Atman-Yoga Daily Meditation: 'Only God is real.'

Song of the Deathless Yogi:

                                        I am 'emptiness'. All is 'emptiness'. 'Emptiness' is all. 

                                    Form is 'emptiness'. Only 'emptiness'. 'Emptiness' is form'.

 

This esoteric blog is dedicated to my earthly mother 'Rita' who transitioned on the 12th December 2021.

The Many Faces of the One

What is this?

Who am I?

 The Many Faces of the One: article 15  - the unpublished esoteric writings of an aging yogi.

          'I-am 'Spirit' affirmation

"I always align my thoughts, words and actions with the truth and knowledge of pure 'Spirit'. I am completely free to be all that 'Spirit' intended and created me to be. I always place my trust and faith in the truth and knowledge of pure 'Spirit'. The truth and knowledge of pure 'Spirit' as the origin and source of all things blesses and fulfils me beyond any desire and need. With the truth and knowledge pure 'Spirit' I am fulfilled in all things and situations. I always feel pure 'Spirit's presence blessing me and fulfilling me in all facets, conditions and areas of my life. I always live in the complete fullness and beauty of life because I am a divine creation of pure 'Spirit'. 'Pure Spirit's love, beauty, peace, grace, plenitude and wisdom always guides me and protects me. I radiate pure 'Spirit' at all times, in all places and in all my actions. I am always deeply connected and at one with 'pure Spirit'. OM, shanti, shanti, shanti. 'I-am', peace, peace peace.

I am Eternity seeing, recognizing, realizing and knowing Eternity.

AWAKENING

By the on-going inner process of spiritual introspection and deep contemplation, Self-inquiry, we negate what is unreal, false, fleeting and transitory, and by intensely and silently observing its impersonal, unreal and empty nature we continue to gain clarity and discover, in this way, that which is real, whole, immaculate and eternal. This esoteric self-discovery of pure 'Spirit' being what is unchanging, unmoving, unborn, perfect and formless. The 'I-am' that, and this 'I-am' alone is. This awakening from the sleep of ignorance absolutely involves quieting and disengaging from the on-going impulses, tendencies, urges and ever-changing faculties of the mind/body experience from the day-to-day demands and needs of conventional and conceptual life, in the genuine pursuit and quest for the truth of reality, identity and the end of suffering and earthly bondage. 

This essential spiritual endeavor and commitment leads to us to seeking and realizing our true identity with the Absolute (the Unmade Self, Godhead) as the Absolute of all that is. Essentially and metaphysically we realize the impersonal and selfless nature, source and essence of all experience and experiencing even though it can feel personal and limited to an intrinsic and individualized physical person and form. This is a feeling or sense of an individualized embodied 'self' that is born, ages, grows old, decays and dies. This is an idea of a self that suffers and seeks to be free of the struggle and anguish of suffering. This is the individualized 'self' which is a 'self' mind-made construct that has no intrinsic and permanent existence of its own despite having the appearance of having and being so. 

Atman-Yoga selflessly and directly suggests and reveals to us all that there is an abiding essence and impersonal ever-present Real underlying everything and all creation, and the 'I' is always identical and one with it. It is the giving up of the idea that I-am-the-body or I-am-the-person. As already stated, it is the genuine recognition and Self-realization of Pure Being as one's own embodied self and this Self as the whole universe and its myriad, diversity and complexity of forms, appearances and constructs. This is the unsurpassable truth of Atman-Yoga - Only God is real and all alone is this as 'I-am'. 

I am the 'I-am' of I am.

Only the Impersonal Real is, and all creation and its myriad of forms and constructs exists within and with the Absolute having no intrinsic or separate reality of their own. Merely manifesting the Absolute in and as different transitory phenomena whilst remaining unchanged, unaffected, unthreatened and free of all worldly and unworldly appearances, situations, constructs and events. The feeling of burden arises due to the mistaken worldly identity of an individual and separate self, I-am-the-body identity, with all that is appearing, changing and disappearing in the conceptual and cognitive world of things, phenomena and forms. From this mistaken individualized identity comes self-cherishing, self-importance, and self-centeredness. Basically the ego and dualistic thinking. We are the ones, or should I say the so-called mind, who invest so much in the appearance and disappearance of worldly phenomena and circumstances as a permanent reliable source of our happiness and self-worth only to be left dissatisfied. As like the people and events in a person's dream exist only within the person who dreams them, and have no real existence apart from the person who dreams them, and add nothing to the person by their creation or destruction, and taking nothing away from that person by their disappearance, so too with pure 'Spirit'. This is the message of Atman-Yoga. Only God is real, and all alone is this as the ever-present 'I-am'.

What is this?

Who am I?

THE DUALISTIC REALITY OF MIND

The Absolute (the Unmade Self) is the true Self of all creation, realms and phenomena. Therefore by seeking the Absolute it is possible for an individualized person to realize and know their own true identity with the Absolute. By us mistakenly identifying with the temporary construct of a mind-made and individualized self (ego) as being reality, that which is unreal and impersonal, the world and all creations are realities too. This is considered to be dualistic thinking, and therefore a temporary construct of the mind. Only the Absolute is real. The universe is unreal, and the Absolute is the whole universe as the real. The Absolute is all creation. When the universe is perceived as separate from its source (the Impersonal Self) that perception is said to be false and illusory, and yet when phenomena are experienced as the Self, pure 'Spirit', that perception is considered to be real. Phenomena are only illusory when seen as separate from the truth of pure 'Spirit'. This is why as inspired and committed atman-yogis,  we fully endeavor to realize and know the true Self, pure 'Spirit'. 

The so-called person is identical with the Self which is Pure Being but the mind creates the illusion of a separate individuality and persona. It is said in deep sleep the mind is stilled and individuality is one with the Self. In Self-Awakening the individual is one with pure 'Spirit' in a fully conscious way as having awaken from an illusory and temporary sleep. This is transcending the false and mistaken identity with the mind/body experience, and their temporary associated activities, and realizing that the Absolute is the one true reality and identity which is all creation. In the act of esoteric Self-inquiry we must relinquish the self-importance and neediness placed on external stimuli and seek out the true source and essence of all creation. This is true spiritual transcendence. Realizing and returning to the unsurpassable truth of pure 'Spirit' as the one true source, origin and essence of all things and realms. 

I am the 'I-am' of I am.

The aim and conclusion of esoteric Self-inquiry into the truth of reality is to finally realize our true identity with the Absolute, pure 'Spirit', which is the unmade and impersonal Self; that which is Pure Being underlying all that is. This being the unborn, formless, ageless, timeless and the deathless. It is unborn and unmade, and therefore undying and eternal. Ordinarily we mistakenly identify with the mind/body experience as who and what we are. What is suggested here is that it is a limited and mistaken identity or false impression of who and what we really are, and in identifying with the temporary appearance of the mind/body experience in a personal and separate way we become mentally entrapped and entangled in that which is unreal, impersonal, false and illusionary. This mistaken and limiting identity of reality creates the false perception and idea of a separate individuality that is having and experiencing the world around us. What we experience becomes personal to us and therefore depending on the quality of each experience we begin to form attachments and aversions to what is seemingly pleasant and unpleasant to us. We begin to have personal preferences, like and dislikes, to what we want and prefer from what experience presents to us at any given moment - attraction and repulsion. From this we form a dualistic relationship with the mind/body experience, and here lies the beginnings of what traditionally is called suffering - samsara. What happens becomes personal to us and is divided into likes and dislikes, and yet the Impersonal Self places no importance or neediness on these fleeting, empty and transitory things of the world. In truth, likes and dislikes are the conditionings, urges and preferences of the mind/body experience and they neither affect, lessen, alter or change what pure 'Spirit' essentially is. 'Spirit' is unchanged, unmoved and unaffected by all that is.

FREEDOM IS WHO WE ARE

The transcendental knowledge of Pure Being allows us to have the intuitive and experiential understanding and knowledge that there is an Impersonal and Unchanging 'Spirit'. It shows us that there is an Impersonal Reality underlying and giving life to all that is. This is truth fully recognized and experienced as the knowledge and self-knowing of the true Self. It is suggested that we as a mind/body experience can live fully as free self-realized embodied souls in the absolute knowledge and certainty of the true essence of all creation and phenomena. It is the knower, the knowing, and the known as one. Freedom is not something we need to seek and acquire, it is what we already are. 

It is strongly suggested that we can overcome the I-am-the-body illusion, and the I-am-the-doer illusion by us deeply recognizing and knowing these false and limited perceptions of who and what we are really are in its absolute truth. In Self-realization and awakening we have a definite and complete transcendental experience and knowledge of the Divine Self and we realize that which is neither born, ages, decays or dies and our true and absolute identity with it. This is done by a process of negation (abstraction) where we unravel and remove the false layers of the mind/body experience revealing the underlying essence and truth of the Unmade Self which is the one inexhaustible source and essence of all creation and phenomena. This Absolute Reality and Identity which is measureless and formless and yet present and unlimited in all forms as Pure Being, in which one thing is not opposed to another. There is no form or expression of reality that Pure Being opposes, rejects or attaches itself to. Pure Being, 'Spirit', identifies with all things and events as they happen and take place, free of preferences, attachment and aversion, likes and dislikes. All is seen, recognized and know in the truth and light of the Absolute. This awakened mind of transcendental pure consciousness is free of the worldly ignorance of pure 'Spirit' and has completely overcome the I-am-the-body illusion and the I-am-the-doer illusion. This is the unsurpassable and complete Self-realization of our true Impersonal and Unchanging Self. This Unmade Self that is already free, fulfilled, perfect, whole, plentiful, boundless and one with all things. It is in love and identified with the world and universe as Self, and therefore it is one with all things as the Self. 

This Self alone is, and therefore what is there to fear in the Self? What is there to hate in the Self? What is there not to love if it is all the Self? What is there to possess in the Self, for you are already one and whole with all things. Separateness and division are the limiting illusions of the mind. The one true eternal and formless Self transcends the mind/body experience and its changing world of the senses. It is not defined, limited, threatened or divided by them. It remains as one and is one with all things. It is not identified with or affected by the ever-changing vicissitudes of life and the appearance and disappearance of forms, constructs, realms and phenomena. It is boundless, untainted and free.

EXPOSING THE SELF

Ordinarily we see our thoughts and feelings as something we own and can rely on when all the time they are the property and temporary activities of the ever-changing universe. Thoughts and feelings give us the false impression of belonging to a separate individuality and form that is having and playing out these activities and experiences of the mind/body experience and the intellect. In remembering the Impersonal and Unchanging Self, pure 'Spirit', we too can undo and remove the limiting and painful tendency to wrongly and falsely identify ourselves with the mind/body experience in a personal, divided and self-important way. We come to recognize and know that we are already one with all things, and all things are already one with us. Separateness is the real illusion. Self-realization is to know intimately and directly our formless and selfless nature, identity and essence, dissolving and removing the limiting and painful illusion of individuality, imperfection, lack and limitation. We intimately and fully recognize and know our true identity with the Absolute Self, despite the on-going and changing appearance of individuality and form. We are one with all things and all things are one with us. In this transcendental knowing there is nothing to realize and all things are realized with us. This is true and unsurpassable ONENESS of reality and identity. 

No longer does the Awakened Mind/Heart desire, crave and seek love, for it is love itself, and all things are loved in this love. The Awakened Mind/Heart is genuinely in love with all things as Self despite their changing and challenging behavior, form and manner. As already stated the Awakened Mind/Heart is in the world but not of the world. It exists and acts in the world and yet it is not limited or in bondage by the world. This is the spiritual quest and Self-inquiry to honor and live as that which we are, pure 'Spirit', despite temporarily inhabiting a limited mind/body experience of form, mind and intellect. 

      This is the essential and core message of Atman-Yoga. The Deathless Self, alone is.

Atman-Yoga Daily Mantra: "I am. Life is. 'I am' is one with all life and all life is one with 'I-am'. Oneness in body. Oneness in mind. Oneness in all things."

 

Atman-Yoga Daily Meditation: 'Only God is Real' as the eternal 'I-am'. All is this.

Song of the Deathless Yogi:

                                        I am 'emptiness'. All is 'emptiness'. 'Emptiness' is all. 

                                    Form is 'emptiness'. Only 'emptiness'. 'Emptiness' is form'.

 

This esoteric blog is dedicated to my earthly mother 'Rita' who transitioned on the 12th December 2021.

I am 'Spirit' - Self-Realization Meditation Part 2

  'The Many Faces of the One' unpublished esoteric writings of an aging yogi.

 

ONLY GOD is REAL

 

        Now for part 2 of the I-am 'Spirit' - Self-realization Meditation exercise.

 

Personally as an embodied self, I'd like to think there will come a time in the very near future when we can all see beyond the confines, illusions, fears and limiting-identities of the mind/body experience and all the self-importance and neediness of the conceptual and conditioned world, and potentially embrace and share conventional life as one transcendental and deathless 'Spirit'. Admittedly, humanity might not manage to endure indefinitely but pure 'Spirit' is untouched, boundless, inexhaustible, ever-present and eternal, and so too its endless and impersonal myriad and diversity of expressions, forms, phenomena, realms and worlds. Who am I to say what will happen to the coming future of humanity? The only certainty I am confident of, is that Only God is Real as the ever-present 'I-am'. Beyond this I am left with little or nothing to say on how we should all live out our embodied lives. Although I certainly cannot rule out the benefit and reward of living life from a higher state of consciousness. 

 

I recognize and know with certainty that the beauty, bliss, peace, immortality, purity, plenitude, love, wonder and freedom of the deathless pure 'Spirit' is ever-present in our lives even if we are too materially and physically caught up and busy with our individualized embodied lives to be aware of it or know it. The truth and identity of pure 'Spirit' is there with us all, endlessly giving life to all things, free of attachment, judgement, lack and rejection. It is that which has witnessed and known all the changes, conditions and challenges of our impersonal and temporary embodied individualized lives and yet it forever remains unchanged, free, unthreatened and unmoved by all that is and has taken place. It alone is all things. All is the Self, filled with the Self, by the Self and forever remaining as the Self. All is 'emptiness'. 

It simply remains silent, timeless and still as the unchanging, unborn, timeless and unmoving Deathless Self and allowing all life and sentient lives to freely and abundantly play and act themselves out. It asks nothing of us for it is already whole, perfected, fulfilled, blissful, plentiful and complete in and of itself, and yet this unborn, ageless and undying pure 'Spirit' can be endlessly expressed and shared in all things - a song, a dance, in service, in love, in movement, in stillness, in solitude, with others and in silence. All of conditioned and conceptual life is transcendental and of  pure 'Spirit'. Only God is Real. This is the ever-present light of Self.

It is not my individualized worldly agenda or mission to attempt to prove or argue a philosophical or spiritual point as to gain favor or agreement with anyone or to attract anyone's personal attention, recognition or praise in these spiritual contemplative writings and works on Atman-Yoga. This too is simply life playing and acting itself out, as to freely live and express the truth and identity of pure 'Spirit' as best as it can for the sake of its own impersonal and immaculate self-expression. 'Spirit' remains as it is, regardless of what is done or not done. Its nature, state, identity and essence is not changed by all that comes and goes, or is done and not done. It alone is - unchanging and whole as it is.

 

Perhaps humanity will endure and move beyond its own self-importance, selfishness and sometimes damaging illusions and ideas of self-grandeur and potentially the world will be a far better place for it. Simply to live and love with the transcendental knowledge, freedom and truth of pure 'Spirit' without the attachment or need of self-importance, power, ownership of others, greed, authority, status, control and superiority over others. To simply see and know the beauty, purity, plenitude, unity and innocence of the deathless and eternal 'Spirit' in all things, and to freely live, act and love from this transcendental and formless platform of Self-realization and Spiritual-awakening. No limited identity. No agenda. No stance. No demands. No division. No self-importance. No spiritual ignorance. No authority. The simple purity, knowledge and grace of 'Spirit'. The truth that 'Only God is Real' as the eternal 'I-am'.

                     I am Spirit - Self-realization Meditation Part 2

    I am Spirit. I am free.

What does it matter if I am liked or disliked? What does it matter if I am viewed or seen as good or bad, right or wrong, pure or impure? What does it matter if I am the target of praise or blame, fame or misfortune, affection or ill-will? I am not the false impression of doer-ship or the duality of subject and object. I am not the ever-changing mental and physical activities of the mind and body. I am not the appearance and disappearance of all creation, and its myriad of forms and phenomena. These things do not limit me or imprison me. They cannot hurt me or destroy me. They do not define me.

I am free from praise and blame, fame and misfortune, affection and ill-will. I am free from good and bad, right and wrong, pure and impure. I am free from guilt, shame, elation and sorrow, gain and loss, fear and certainty. I am free from the ever-changing mental and physical activities of the mind and body. I am free from the false impressions of doer-ship and the duality of subject and object. I am free from the appearance and disappearance of all creation, and its myriad of forms and phenomena. These things do not limit me or imprison me. They cannot hurt me or destroy me. They do not define me.

    I am Spirit. I am free.

I am free from struggle and the end of struggle. I am free from suffering and the end of suffering. I am free of the worldly forces of attraction and repulsion, expansion and contraction, creation and destruction. I am free from ignorance and the end of ignorance. I am free from existence and non-existence. I am free form action and in-action, emptiness and fullness, comfort and discomfort. I am completely free from the appearance and disappearance of all forms and phenomena. These things do not limit me or imprison me. They cannot hurt me or destroy me. They do not define me.

    I am Spirit. I am free.

This is the ultimate truth of who and what I am. I am Spirit. I am free. Always have been and always will be. What does it matter if I exist and have form because worlds come and go; phenomena appear and disappear; forms begin and end. This includes the body and mind, objects of mind and mind-consciousness. This includes the false impression of doer-ship and the ever-changing mental and physical activities of the mind and body. This includes the duality of subject and object, and the appearance and disappearance of all creation and its ever-changing myriad of forms sand phenomena.

All sensory realms of experience and phenomena are impermanent, impersonal and imperfect. Here for a limited time only. I am not the false impression of doer-ship. I am not the ever-changing mental and physical activities of mind and body. I am not the duality of subject and object. I am not the worldly criteria of mind and body, or mind-consciousness. I am not the appearance and disappearance of all creation and its ever-changing myriad of forms and phenomena. These things do not limit me or imprison me. They cannot hurt me or destroy me. They do not define me.

    I am Spirit. I am free.

I am free to be myself - pure 'Spirit'. So I offer this spiritual affirmation and incantation of complete Self-realization that pure 'Spirit' partakes in all these things and yet it is free all these things. I offer the spiritual affirmation and incantation that states:

              I am Spirit. I am free. All is Spirit. All is free.

This is the message of Atman-yoga. Only God is real. Abide as this truth in all things.

I am the 'I-am' of I am.

        Pure 'Spirit' is what we are and not something we have to become and be. Blessings to you all.

Atman-Yoga Daily Mantra: "I am. Life is. I am one with all life and all life is one with me. Oneness in body. Oneness in mind. Oneness in all things."

Atman-Yoga Daily Meditation: 'Only God is Real.'

Song of the Deathless Yogi:

                                        I am 'emptiness'. All is 'emptiness'. 'Emptiness' is all. 

                                    Form is 'emptiness'. Only 'emptiness'. 'Emptiness' is form'.

This esoteric blog is dedicated to my earthly mother 'Rita' who transitioned on the 12th December 2021.