The Many Faces of the One: article 23 - the unpublished esoteric writings of an aging yogi.
'I-am 'Spirit' daily affirmation
"Fully aware and awake to the self-knowing and knowledge of pure 'Spirit', I am always centered, calm and at peace. I always act on whatever honors and respects the self-knowing and knowledge of pure 'Spirit'. I honor and respect that all creation is one with pure 'Spirit' and pure 'Spirit' is one with all things. I have and live a whole, fulfilled, peaceful, plentiful, beautiful and loving life in the full knowing and knowledge of pure 'Spirit'. I am always one with the beauty, love, peace, plenitude and unity that is pure 'Spirit'. I always make a daily conscious intention and connection with the oneness that is pure 'Spirit'. With the self-knowing and knowledge of pure 'Spirit' I am always whole, complete, free, awake and fulfilled in all things and experiences. I know that pure 'Spirit' is the one true source and provider of all things. Pure 'Spirit' fully blesses and fulfils me 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.
KNOWING THE DEATHLESS
The world has no reality apart from the Absolute; no intrinsic or separate reality or identity. All that exists is only a temporary manifestation of the Absolute. When the true Self is realized and known, the world ceases to exist as a separate reality independent of the Absolute. It is the Self within the Self. Only that which is permanent and unchanging can be called real. Therefore we as aspiring and devoted atman-yogis are continuously and wisely advised by the spiritual masters, both ancient and new, to seek the unchanging Absolute, and to abide with, in and as that. The authentic and realized one who sees the true Self, sees the Self alone in the world also, and all things are one with it, in it and of it. As already stated in these writings and works, it is the Self within the Self, as the Self and always remaining with and as the Self. It is only unreal to associate and limit the Self to names and phenomena and it is only real to regard all creation and its ever-changing myriad and diversity of forms as the Self. The world being what it is is unreal as the cognitive and conditioned construct that is the world, but it is real as the realization of the Self as being the Self within the Self.
It is suggested that the cause of suffering and the end of suffering are within us. Both the problem and the solution lie within us. They are there as a result of our own mistaken identity with the mind/body experience. We as the individualized mind/body experience impose limitations, beliefs and ideas on to ourselves and then seek to transcend them. And yet these limitations, beliefs and ideas are self-made and have no real existence in and of themselves. They only exist as temporary mental constructs and projections of the mind, and yet we mistakenly see them as real and therefore we identify with them and emotionally invest in them for a sense of becoming and being whole, fulfilled, worthy and complete. When all creation is realized to be the one true ever-present Self, then all is realized with us as the one reality that is Self. Therefore we are now and have always been one with all that is. We abide as the Self knowing the Self, within the Self, and always remaining as the Self. The Dreamer has awaken from the dream. This is the light of Self.
As aspiring and committed atman-yogis, we seek the Self behind the self. The 'I-am' behind the 'I' thought. As long as we view ourselves as the body, the world appears as external to us. The world is no more real than the individual that sees it. It is only seen to be real because the mind assumes it to be. If you see yourself to be the body then the world and all its sensory objects is seen to be real also. But if you are awake to the deathless 'Spirit', there is only the Self alone as all that is. All alone is the Deathless Self, unmoving, timeless and unchanging. The Self-realized soul only sees the one true Self spontaneously manifesting and parading as the myriad and complexity of worlds and forms. All forms and phenomena only exist as being real as long as we are identified with the mind/body experience. If you see the Self it will be found to be all that is, everywhere and always. Nothing but the Self really exists. The Self alone is the one reality. The Self-realized soul, the atman-yogi, does not see the world and all its appearances as different from themselves. Like waves are to the ocean, despite the ever-changing appearance of waves they are always one with the ocean. The ocean and the waves remain as one. The true Self is the one and only reality. The Self alone is. I am that as 'I-am'.
The Self-realized soul, the atman-yogi, is the one who has realized their true identity with the Absolute, and now abides therein permanently with the Self. The Self-realized soul never sees any difference between themselves and others, and those who appear to be in ignorance of the Self. They are at one and in love with all that is. They are in love with the Self as the Self, within the Self and one with all things as the Self. They know that all ideas of separateness and individuality are but thought constructs. As are like waves to an ocean. Waves do not change what the ocean is. The same too with clouds. Clouds do not change what the sky is. The sky still remains as the sky. The Awakened Soul is free from the idea that they are enlightened or liberated whilst those around them are in bondage and ignorance. In the Self-realized soul, the atman-yogi, being fully awake from the sleep of ignorance all is recognized and known to be the Self, perfect, whole, plentiful and complete. For the Self-realized Soul there is only the Self, and the Self alone. The Self alone is all things. The light of All.
The atman-yogi only sees the Self as all creation. This is why the mind is absorbed into the Self, like a wave that returns to the ocean having never been separated from it. Separation is the real illusion. Separation, or should I say, individuality only exist as long as there is attachment to the 'I-am-the-body' identity. This is like only seeing the wave and not realizing in fact it is the ocean. At no time is the wave separate from the ocean, and its true essence and existence is the ocean. The wave is the ocean, and the ocean is the wave. They are one and the same. From this truth and knowledge of pure 'Spirit' there is nothing left to do, and yet all things can be done. There is on one to be, and yet you are all things. Nothing exists independent of pure' Spirit'. The Self alone is all creation. For the Self-realized soul there is only the Self. They only see the Self in and as all things, and all things within the Self. To the Self-realized soul all phenomena, things and forms only exist as being real as long as there is the mind/body identity as 'I-am-the-body' and 'I-am-the-doer'. All is the Self and the Self alone.
THE DEATHLESS AS 'I-AM''
All thoughts are objects of knowing, and not the one that knows. All feelings are objects of knowing and not the one who knows. Mind and body are objects of knowing and not the one who knows; as are all sense objects and all experiences of knowing; this also includes the intellect. Even the knowing of knowing is an object of knowing and not the one who knows. The world and its myriad of conditions, situations and dramas, is an object of knowing and not the one who knows it. The same too with mind-consciousness and mental perception; these too are objects of knowing and not the one who knows. All that can be known are objects of knowing and not the one who knows. And so it is with the true Self we can not know it with knowing as all we can know are and can only be objects of knowing and not the thing in itself that knows. The true Self is completely free of knowing, and all its objects of knowing and yet it is what enables knowing and the knowing of objects to be known. It is the knower, the known and the knowing, and yet it too is free of these things. It stands apart and at one with all that is; for it alone is. This is the truth of one who knows without knowing and who is and has always been completely free of all the objects of knowing. Of this I am clear. Of this I am certain. Mediate on this until it is known without knowing as it alone is without knowing as 'I-am'.
There is no one to who these thoughts belong. There is no one to who these feelings belong. There is no one to who this mind states and moods belong. There is no one to who this mind belongs. There is no one to who this body belongs. There is no one to who these experiences belong. There is one to who this 'I' thought belongs. There is no one to who these opinions, beliefs, views and names belong. There is no one to who thinking belongs. There is no one to who these sensory impressions belong. All these things are objects and phenomena of knowing, and there is no one to who knowing belongs also. In thinking there is only thinking. In feeling there is only feeling. In seeing there is only seeing. In hearing there is only hearing. In taste, touch, and smell there is only taste, touch and smell. In knowing there is only knowing, and in the knowing of knowing there is only the knowing of knowing. It is all impersonal and belongs to no one but the Self. Anything that can me know, and this includes knowing and the knowing of knowing is not the knower. 'I-am' is without knowing, and therefore there is no 'I', or 'me' or 'one' that knows it. And yet it is expressed and known in and as all things. The Deathless Self alone is. No object of knowing can touch it or change it, for it remains unchanged, unmoved and untouched. No object of knowing can penetrate it or destroy it or exhaust it, for it is formless and eternal. All is this. Of this I am certain. Of this I am clear. And yet there is no one or person who knows it. It is simply expressed as 'I-am'. What we know as a 'person' is an impersonal and conditioned construct of knowing as a wave is to the ocean. Its true identity and essence is the ocean. This is why I say, 'Only God is Real'.
BEING AWAKE TO THE DEATHLESS
The Self-realized soul does not see the world as different from themselves. To the Self-realized soul all is one, and the one true reality and identity of Self is all. The Deathless Self is the one and only true reality and identity. This is the absolute and natural state of unity and oneness, that no thing or circumstance can move or change. It is not created or acquired therefore is cannot be destroyed or loss. It is free of the confines, constructs and limitations of space, time and form therefore we say it is limitless and eternal. It is without beginning or end therefore it always is, even now. All is realized in the Self being realized, but nothing has changed in the Self being realized, as all is the already realized Self, and all this does not require the act of knowing, and the knowing of knowing. Things are as they have always been, so nothing has really changed except the letting go and relinquishing of all that was false. All can be left to be the Self, as it has always been and the Self is all that there is. One who has realized the Self, never having left or been separated from the Self, has realized their identity with the Self abides there constantly as their true home. This is what it means to die before you die. They are, as they have always been, one with the source and essence of all things. There is nothing left to approve of or disapprove of.
Time, space and form have lost their hold over the one who is awake. I'm sure we are all familiar with the classic Buddhist Zen saying, "before enlightenment, drink tea and chop wood, and after enlightenment, drink tea and chop wood". So simple and yet so profound. In this simple and timeless Buddhist Zen saying is the true essence and conclusion of all spiritual Self-inquiry and Self-realization. For the fully Self-realized soul there is really nothing left to do or be, and yet all things can be done and all things can be. All can be what it is. From the view point of others this might seem confusing and perhaps the behavior and thinking of a fool, but not so for the one who is awake to the Self of all, who only sees the Self within the Self and all things as one with the Self.
Remember forms and phenomena only exist as being real, personal and substantial as long as the 'I' thought is identified with the mind/body experience. Self-realization is the recognition and unbroken identity with the Deathless Self, pure 'Spirit'. The 'I' that is ignorant see all things and phenomena as separate and different from the Self. The 'I' that is awake as 'I-am' sees the world as the Self and the Self as the world. They see all things as the Self and the Self as all things, therefore unity is our true abiding and natural identity and state. The Deathless Self alone is and all things exists as one with this truth of reality and identity. Ignorance of this is what gives rise to suffering and the 'I' that seeks its end. But suffering is only a consequence of the 'I' thought identifying with the mind/body experience rather than it knowing its true identity with the Absolute as the abiding and unchanging state of '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."
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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