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The Many Faces of the One: article 15 - the unpublished esoteric writings of an aging yogi.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