The Many Faces of the One

What is this?

Who am I?

The Many Faces of the One: article 2  - the unpublished esoteric writings and works of an aging yogi.

THE NOTHINGNESS OF THINGS

"All worldly and unworldly challenges and disappointments come from the spontaneous and selfless act of 'becoming' and 'being'; they come from our own temporary, ever-changing and conditioned humanity, and the attachment, self-identification and self-importance that gets added to it.

All to love. No one to hate. No one to fix. No one who is broken. No one who is in bondage. No one who needs to be freed. Nothing to approve of or disapprove of. No real path. No destination. No actual teaching. No teacher and no one to teach. For we are all truly love, peace, perfection, beauty, immortality, unity, plenitude, bliss and freedom itself - unconditioned, unborn, unchanging, ageless, formless and deathless. We have simply forgotten that the Deathless Self alone is, and all is this - no exceptions. 'Only God is Real' as the eternal and indestructible 'I-am'. For me, this is the highest spiritual knowing and knowledge of reality, experience and identity. 'I-AM that I am.' Sat-Chit-Ananda. That, alone is."

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

All is 'I-am'. The unchanging 'Deathless Self' alone is. Of this, I am certain. Of this, I am very clear.
                       
           This is the absolute and unsurpassable truth and message of Atman-Yoga."

'I-am. Life is'. Anything beyond this, I am 'this' or I am 'that'; life is 'this' or life is 'that', is the sole root of all suffering. I alone am, as the eternal 'I-am'. The Deathless Self alone is. 'Only God is Real'.

         continued from the unpublished esoteric collected writings and works of article 1:-

The continued and essential spiritual message and esoteric communication of Atman-Yoga is that we can all fully awaken and return to the true unborn, unchanging, undying, ever-present and unmoving Deathless Self, pure 'Spirit', which is always unlimited, at peace, loving, eternal, fulfilled, whole, plentiful and free of all material and physical conditioning and constructs, and free of the ever-changing phenomenal world of things, space, creations, dramas and forms. It is unborn, formless, ageless, ever-present, eternal and deathless. This I can say with certainty and transcendental knowing and knowledge, as it is our true original selfless, unborn, formless, boundless, perfect and deathless state, origin, nature and essence. Pure 'Spirit' or should I say, God, is the one universal intelligence, identity and reality that gives life to all things and is life and reality itself. Its unchanging and inexhaustible essence and Reality is all things. It is one true boundless and indestructible Reality and identity, ever-present as 'I-am'. It is the 'I-am' of the embodied I am.

 

All we have to fully self-realize and remember as an aspiring and committed atman-yogi and truth-seeker in the genuine and authentic esoteric quest for Self-realization and Spiritual-awakening is that bondage, lack and separateness are the real illusions of this so-called ever-changing conceptual and conditioned life. 

We can all remember and fully realize with the contemplation of 'I-am' or 'Only God is Real' that the lack of peace, love, fulfilment, oneness, wholeness, perfection, plenitude, bliss and freedom in our lives at any given moment is but an illusion of the senses and their ever-changing sense objects. We are already that which we seek in the fulfilment of love, beauty, plenitude, freedom, happiness, wholeness, bliss and peace. It is only the self-importance and attachment that we place on that which is unreal, ever-changing, conditioned, temporary and transitory to satisfy our desire and need for permanent happiness, love, peace, immortality, reward, plenitude, wholeness and fulfilment that we are left dissatisfied, frustrated, restless, unfulfilled and confused. Birth, old age, sickness, decay, pain, loss, grief, lack and death all belong to the ever-changing conditions, limitations and changes of the mind/body experience. Their appearance, change and disappearance doesn't not affect, alter, lessen, threaten, hinder, limit or change what pure 'Spirit' essentially is. Pure 'Spirit' forever remains untouched, unaltered, unthreatened, ceaseless, unlimited, free and unmoved by all that is or is not. For the aspiring and committed atman-yogi and truth-seeker this is the highest spiritual Self-realization, knowing and knowledge of reality, experience and identity - all is 'emptiness'. Only 'emptiness'. Only 'emptiness' is real, ever-present, boundless, enduring and eternal. This is our true immaculate abiding essence, source, origin and nature. It is the 'I-am' of I am. That, alone is.

 

With the direct and intimate intention of esoteric self-inquiry and essentially seeing things for what they really are, we can all stop placing so much self-importance, reliance and self-identification on that which is nothing more than a temporary projection and worldly mental construct of our own making. This 100% includes the mind/body experience and the self-made image and mind-made persona that we burden and limit ourselves with. This is not to say that we have to give it all up, but by fully recognizing and knowing how empty of permanence conceptual things and creations truly are we can stop placing and attaching so much self-importance, reliance and neediness on them to permanently reward, satisfy, complete and fulfil us. True immortality and the end of suffering comes from the direct and intimate experience and experiencing of the esoteric knowing of knowing without knowing; the esoteric knowledge of Pure Being, 'Spirit' and this knowing of knowing without knowing is untouched, unthreatened, unmoved, unhindered and unaltered by all that is in the ever-changing conceptual and conditioned world of things, dramas, forms, creations and phenomena. Otherwise, we, as a temporary and individualized mind-body experience, will always be setting ourselves up for disappointment by continuously placing so much self-importance, reliance and neediness on that which is ever-changing, transitory, insubstantial, selfless, empty, impersonal and unreal.

 

Worldly things and sensory experiences as they truly are, are always in transition and empty of any real permanence, security or reliance. This is what continuously frustrates us and leaves us confused and unhappy. The so-called individualized mind is continuously chasing permanence and reliance in that which is always changing. It tries to attach and hold on to things that are always changing, especially if they are pleasant and pleasing to us. And yet, sensory things and experiences are always appearing, ever-changing and disappearing. All sensory experience and experiencing is in a constant and on-going state of flux, change and transition. Our clinging and grasping to things, creations and phenomena can only give us temporary relief from the dissatisfaction and so-called imperfections of life. True fulfilment is untouched, unthreatened, unhindered, unlimited and unaltered by all that is, and yet it is ultimately one with all things, forms, dramas, creations and events. For the aspiring and committed atman-yogi and truth-seeker it is directly and intimately recognizing and knowing that which is not bound or identified with all that is. It is completely and fully realizing and knowing the real from the unreal and tangible. It is fully abiding in the spiritual embodied knowing and knowledge of the unchanging and immaculate Self as the true essence, source, identity and origin of all that is. It is the 'I-am' of I am. All is nothing but That.

 

What is this?

Who am I?

                                               SEEING THINGS FOR WHAT THEY ARE

Essentially what is being openly and fully communicated here in these contemplative and meditative esoteric unpublished writings and works on Atman-Yoga, is that we at our deepest core truly are pure 'Spirit' first and everything else is secondary to us. On a mundane level what seems to happen is that what is secondary, impersonal and insubstantial to us becomes our held to reality and identity rather than seeing that which is known' as only temporary selfless, impersonal and empty conditions, constructs and projections of an unified and boundless reality, essence and Truth. Their true unborn and undying essence and origin is Reality itself but they are not Reality in and of themselves. The appearance, change and disappearance of worldly phenomena, dramas, forms, events, creations and things does not actually affect, alter, lessen, threaten, hinder, limit or change what Reality, pure 'Spirit', essentially and truly is; but nevertheless we still experience change, worldly conditions, multiplicity and diversity. We all experience the one, Pure Being (Spirit), as the worldly and ever-changing sensory and illusionary playing out and dance of being the so-called many, and this is why I say and repeat with all certainty that 'Only God is Real' as the eternal and ever-present 'I-am'. The 'Deathless Self' alone is. Of this I am certain. Of this I am very clear. Hence the working title of these unpublished esoteric and contemplative writings and works, 'The Many Faces of the One'. The embodied one who is genuinely and fully awake to the truth of reality, experience and identity sees all as the Deathless Self alone. They are everywhere, everyone and everything at all times. For the aspiring and committed atman-yogi and truth-seeker this is the highest esoteric perception, knowing and knowledge of reality, experience and identity. This is the truth of Reality for the Deathless Yogi. I am That. All is That. That, alone is.

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

        All is 'I-am'. 'I-am' is the one abiding and undying essence, origin and nature of all that is.

 

           - let me put it to you this way:

Due to the temporary material ignorance of our true unborn, impersonal, undying and selfless-identity, pure 'Spirit', we all mistakenly place the feeling, belief and idea of self-importance, individuality, reliance and neediness on what is secondary to us and therefore we have the appearance of 'becoming' and 'being' entrapped, imprisoned, fearful and limited by our own mental projections, expectations, dramas, ideas and demands on conceptual and conditioned reality and experience. Our worldly identity and mind-made persona appears to be what we are in relationship to the conceptual and cognitive world, and how we view and interpret the world is relating to us. This very act of 'becoming' and 'being' results in us objectifying and attaching our feelings, beliefs, ideas and needs of permanent happiness, love, belonging, peace, pleasure, beauty, reliance, wholeness, abundance and fulfilment on to the temporary and ever-changing worldly dramas, creations and appearances of time, space and form; be it physical objects or people to determine and satisfy how we will think, feel and act from day-to-day and from moment-to-moment. On a mundane level, we as an individualized embodied mind, become strongly attached and identified with all that is unreal, ever-changing, empty, unreliable and transient.

 

We, in our temporary individualized embodied state of humanity, are strongly and mistakenly identified as a physical and mental individualized construct of space, time and form, and therefore how we think, feel and act becomes largely dependent of how things, events and creations are in our experience at any given time or moment. If things favor us, then we are mostly happy. If things disfavor us, then we are mostly unhappy. If people like or love us then we are great, but if they don't then we can be hurt, frustrated and upset. How we think, feel and act becomes and is very attached and self-reliant to how things and people are at any given time or moment in our lives. It all becomes personal to us, and how things are in the world is what decides and determines our level of happiness, peace, love, well-being and security or our lack of it. And yet we all know that things and people can change and disappear at any given moment or time in our lives, and so too with us. Even how we think, feel and act towards ourselves and our lives can change numerous times in a single day. Thoughts, feelings, mind-states and moods are all vulnerable and impacted by change.

Life itself is continuously conditioned and shaped by change, transition and impermanence. The ever-changing world of the senses and their sense objects are always changing and how we think, feel and act is also subject to change. We are easily identified and swayed by our ever-changing thoughts, mind-states, moods and feelings. As we awaken and loosen the grip and reliance on the individualized mind, we come to realize and know that there is no permanence in that which is impermanent and this includes our ever-changing impersonal thoughts, feelings, opinions and moods, and the vicissitudes of pleasure and pain, gain and loss, elation and sorrow. We become less and less identified, reliant and swayed by the ever-changing sensory world of things, creations and sense objects. In the spiritual awakening and knowing of Atman-Yoga we fully realize that, 'Only God is Real' as the unchanging and eternal 'I-am'.- the 'Deathless Self' alone is. This is the unbroken bliss of transcendental Self-knowing. One Reality is all. That, alone is.

 

In this transcendental bliss of Self-knowing life can still be what it is. We can still accept, play, celebrate and love life for what it is, and we can certainly be fully at peace and in love with what life is or is not. And yet we directly and intimately see things clearly for what they really are, and therefore we can act with the genuine wisdom and freedom of spiritual insight into the true nature, source, origin and essence of reality, experience and identity. We fully realize and know that we can only really place any true reliance and trust on that which is unborn, unchanging, formless, boundless and deathless - the eternal and untouched state of 'I-am'. For the genuine aspiring and committed atman-yogi and truth-seeker, all is the Self as the Self, filled by the Self, and forever remaining as the Self. For the fully realized and accomplished atman-yogi, the Deathless Yogi, the Self alone is all there is. All alone is this one unified and undying Deathless Self. For me, this is the highest esoteric perception, knowing and knowledge of reality, identity and freedom - Sat-Chit-Ananda. It is the 'I-am' of I am. This is the embodied unbroken palpable state of the Deathless Yogi.

 

What is this?

Who am I?

                                                              THE WAY THINGS ARE 

 

Of course I completely realize, acknowledge and accept that this spiritual awareness and transcendental knowing of knowing without knowing and knowledge of the material, conceptual and phenomenal world might for some of us be very challenging and confusing in itself to agree with or to accept; as we are always approaching conceptual and conditioned experience from the individualized mind/body experience in relationship to the ever-changing sensory phenomenal world. For many of us the phenomenal world strongly appears to be very real, substantial, rewarding, personal, reliant and self-important. For many of us it is the phenomenal world and our experience of it that validates and confirms our very existence as well as our given and believed purpose. It gives us the strong personal impression and feeling of a separate embodied individual and individualized personality and persona who exists in relationship to worldly experience and all phenomena, dramas, creations and forms. It has the appearance and impression of being personal to us and personal to others. This view of reality, experience and identity I can fully understand and know from my own individualized sensory embodied experience of reality and identity. If I was to say to you, 'by giving up the self, you find the real Self, this being the unborn, formless, selfless, ever-present, enduring, immaculate and deathless Self', you might be a little confused, dismissive and unimpressed by this statement. Many people think and are even afraid that by giving up the self-importance and self-reliance placed on the mind-made individualized self and persona, we are simply left with a lifeless nothingness, an empty and dark void; but what we are actually giving up wasn't even fully real in the first place. It is a mind-made, put together and held to idea and persona that only continues to live itself out in the individualized mind that created and made it. What it is, is a mere shadow of our true unborn, boundless and deathless Self. This temporary shadow or reality is 'ignorance'. It is not the esoteric knowledge of 'I-am'. And yet this presence of 'ignorance' does not alter, threaten, hinder, limit, lessen or affect what 'I-am' essentially is. 

All still remains as 'emptiness'. Always 'emptiness' and only 'emptiness'. In fact our essential nature and essence being 'emptiness' remains unchanged, unmoved, untainted and untouched. It is the 'I-am' of I am. This is what I mean by 'emptiness'. All is as it is.

I am That. You are That. All is nothing but That. That, alone is.

What if we were to stop listening to the mental chatter, demands and noise of the individualized mind, who or what would we be left with then? What is the real truth, source, origin and essence of identity? Who or what is this unmoving, unchanging and silent 'I-am' that knows and experiences life in all its fullness and diversity and yet is not changed, moved, affected, threatened, hindered, limited or diminished by it? This is the direct intention and purpose of the spiritual self-inquiry into the nature, source and essence of 'who am I?' It is the genuine and fulfilling spiritual search for the Truth of reality, identity, experience and its true abiding, enduring and ever-present essence. The That of all that is and will ever be. Reality as it is.

           'I-am. Life is.' Can this really be denied?

As a consequence and result of the process of what I will call 'personalization' what we experience in relationship to worldly phenomena and earthly conditions, creations and constructs appears personal to us and therefore we become attached, fearful or burdened by whatever worldly experience is or is not. There is for most of us a strong and continual feeling, belief and idea of separateness and individuality in relationship to the ever-changing phenomenal and conditioned world. Our identity and the measure of what makes us whole, complete, rewarded, happy, calm, peaceful, loved and fulfilled is heavily dependent and invested in the demands, wants, expectations, beliefs, views and promises of an ever-changing and temporary worldly experience, drama and phenomena. Basically how we view, think, interpret and feel about ourselves and the world is objectified on to what is always appearing, ever-changing and disappearing; and this includes our ever-changing feelings, moods, ideas, opinions, beliefs and thoughts. We mistakenly and foolishly attempt to seek and have permanence and reliance in that which is impermanent, ever-changing and unreliable, and therefore our feeling and sense of happiness, reward, security and contentment is always dependent on what our life looks like and feels like at any given moment. And yet this too is always changing. By their very nature it is impossible for us to cling, grasp and hold on to things and events as we always want them to be and the same is true of the mind/body experience. The unexpected will happen purely due to the way things are. Physical death will happen, whether we choose to invite it or not. This is simply the way things are. The body is of the very nature to die due to the fact it was born and it is a temporary embodied construct. The so-called body is of the very nature to grow old due to the fact it was born. What is with beginning has an end. What is new and fresh will decay and become old. What is renewed will still age, decay and become old and worn-out again. This simply is the way of things. No one is to blame. No one did anything wrong. It is simply the way things are, whether we like it or not. Plain and simple. This is why the genuine and committed atman-yogi and truth-seeker seeks to directly experience and know the very essence, origin and truth of reality, experience and identity and what it is to transcend all their limitations. It is to truly realize and know the deathless. The That of all that is and will ever be.

 

All our embodied lives, despite our differences and sameness in appearance, ideas, beliefs, opinions, views and behavior, are governed, marked and shaped by conditionality, consequence and impermanence. There is no birth without death; no beginning without end. These worldly dual concepts, conditions and constructs are inseparable. No one is to blame. No one did anything wrong. It is simply the way things are. Therefore we can't help to eventually seek and know that which is permanent and enduring in all that is impermanent, changing and transitory. It is a natural innate and intimate calling for us to return back to our true undying Self - the ever-present and abiding 'I-AM'. A calling back to Godhead.

I am Eternity seeing, recognizing, realizing and knowing Eternity. So too are you.

LETTING GO OF THE UNREAL

  

What we are essentially being asked to do in the spiritual-awakening and Self-realization of the highest truth, reality and identity is to transcend the material confines, trappings, beliefs and limitations of the mind/body experience and the phenomenal and conditioned world of the senses and their sense objects. As an atman-yogi and truth-seeker we are being directly asked to not allow the phenomenal and conceptual world and our ever-changing experience of it to define, trap or limit us in any concrete or false way. We can finally stop being fooled by that which is always changing. We finally and completely realize that 'Only God is Real' as 'I-am' and everything else is illusion. We stop wanting and expecting to find permanence, reliance, security and certainty in that which is impermanent, insubstantial and unreal. Only the 'Deathless Self' is eternal, enduring and ever-present. All alone is this. All experience and the knowing of experience belong to Pure Being. Only God is Real as 'I-am'. Everything else is illusion. All sensory experience is change. This is why we seek the true light of the Self. The one true indestructible and enduring essence of reality, experience and identity. This being the 'I-am' of I am. This enduring and ever-present 'I-am' is self-sufficient, perfect and inexhaustible. All is this 'I-am'.

What is this?

Who am I?

The truth is, however much we might use the phenomenal and conditioned world to define and affirm ourselves, it is only a temporary appearance and projection of pure 'Spirit'. It is a self-made and transitory mental construct that we falsely become emotionally invested in and attached to as being permanent, reliant, concrete and real and see as being substantial, personal and separate, when in truth it has no true substantial or personal existence other than what we give it. It is illusory, selfless, impersonal and unreal in the way it is only a temporary and limited projection of our true Deathless Self, our true undying essence, pure 'Spirit'. It is all 'emptiness' taking form, playing out and dancing. The same is true with our self-made image, persona and worldly identity. These too are temporary, selfless and false constructs held together as an idea or self-made image of embodied selves when they have no real or separate reality of their own. 

Yes, we experience the appearance, knowing and disappearance of worldly phenomena, dramas, creations and forms but essentially they are all secondary to that which we truly are - pure 'Spirit'. This is simply how it is. Whether we agree with it or not, doesn't change it. Atman-Yoga fully communicates and concludes that 'Only God is Real' as 'I-am'. The 'Deathless Self' alone is. Everything else will cease to exist. This we must know as the knowing of knowing without knowing. In this spiritual knowing of knowing without knowing all can be as it is. Plain and simple. All is 'emptiness'. Only 'emptiness'. We can fully appreciate and celebrate all of life and creation is this transcendental knowing and knowledge.

         'I am. Life is.' To deny this is to deny existence, and yet who is it that would deny this?

THE TRUTH of NO-HOUSE

 

Personally I would compare the concept of our individualized self-image or persona to the idea of a 'house'. Of course we can say a house exists in our experience and experiencing of it, but when we closely investigate and examine the idea and concept of 'house' and the parts that make up what a 'house' is, we soon realize and know that in fact there is actually no house. 'No house' is what actually exists. 

 

What appears to us to be a so-called house has no real independent existence other than the interconnected parts that hold this idea and concept of 'house' together. It is simply made up of non-house elements and parts. It is both there and not there. In the same way, we are both here and not here, and we are nothing and yet we are everything. As soon as we begin to closely investigate and examine the very idea of who we think we are, we soon begin to realize that it is very much, that, an idea. What appears as an individualized embodied 'self' is made up of 'selfless' and 'empty' interconnected and insubstantial elements and parts and those elements and parts when also closely investigated and examine reveal themselves to be illusory, insubstantial, unreal and empty too. What if we were to put aside those ideas and interconnected elements and parts and remain in the silence and stillness of 'I-am', who are we now? Who am I?

       'I-am. Life is.' Not 'I-am' this or 'I-am' that. Not 'life is' this or 'life is' that. Simply "I-am. Life is."

I fully realize, accept and know that what is openly and carefully written and communicated here might challenge and unsettle any held to perception and belief of who or what we think we are and rightly so, because this is the very intention and purpose of these esoteric contemplative and meditative unpublished writings and works on reality, experience and identity, and the spiritual message of Atman-Yoga, that 'Only God is Real' as 'I-am'. Everything else is illusion. And yet I am not personally asking or expecting anyone to blindly or foolishly take on or follow what is presented here on this esoteric blog without their own personal self-inquiry in directly and closely examining and investigating the nature, essence and Truth of reality, experience and identity. If we do not feel genuinely more rewarded, free, at peace, loved, whole, forgiving, loving, accepting and fulfilled as a result of spiritual self-inquiry then what is its use? It should enable us to see, love and celebrate Reality and all creation in its multiplicity and diversity despite the passing and ending of all creations and forms.

 

Self-inquiry into the true nature, essence and truth of reality, experience and identity is simply asking us to directly and closely examine and investigate our own mind/body experience and the cause and end of suffering, and to potentially awaken from the material ignorance and sleep of our false identity and our ideas about who and what we think we are; and to potentially come into the true knowing possession and identity of our real undying and unchanging essence and selfless nature, pure 'Spirit'. By giving up the false self, we find the true selfless and unborn Self. By giving up and letting go of that which is unreal and impermanent we discover that which is real, eternal, plentiful, boundless and deathless. The 'I' comes to fully realize and know, I am no one and yet I am also everyone and everything. Simply this.

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

 

To fully do and fulfil this spiritual endeavor we must transcend and let go of all that is unreal, selfless and transitory, and this includes the idea of 'me', 'mine' and 'I' and the attachment to the mind/body experience. We must come into the true spiritual possession, ownership and transcendental knowing and knowledge of that which is real, permanent and enduring -  pure 'Spirit'. Then despite whatever form life takes or doesn't take, be it favorable or unfavorable, welcomed or not welcomed, we are forever free, eternal fulfilled, complete, loved and at peace. We are free of suffering and the end of suffering; of ignorance and liberation. Nothing needs to happen and yet everything can happen. Nothing needs to change and yet everything can and will change. Nothing needs to be done and yet all things can be done. We are always fulfilled and complete in all things because our absolute identity abides in and with the Deathless Self, as it always did. All is identified and known as the Deathless Self. Our everyday embodied life is still played and acted out with all its changes, dramas, creations and challenges but we are not held captive, limited or imprisoned by these temporary and changing things. 

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

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

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' as 'I-am'.

 

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. A truly selfless, kind, beautiful and loving embodied soul, friend and mother.