THE ULTIMATE TRUTH

To make it very simple, I would like to break the components of truth down. Let’s take the example of creation which is what we are experiencing right now and immersed in. Creation can be said to be the equivalent of thoughts. Thoughts give rise to forms and this is how creation takes place. But there a catch in this. All of creation which means all forms are impermanent, transient, forever changing, has birth and death and will eventually dissolve. There is no such thing as a stable, permanent, infinite and eternal form. Take the example of your body which is a form. It has birth, it expands, it is forever changing and then it starts to contract, decay and ultimately it dissolves. Let’s take it to the macro level and take the example of this Universe. This Universe is also of the same nature. It has birth and it is going to someday dissolve. Now, the problem arises when consciousness starts to identify, be immersed in and be completely consumed by forms i.e. thoughts a.k.a creation. When it does that, it can never be at peace as no forms are eternal, nor permanent, nor infinite and since it is so identified with it, it always feels threatened, insecure and wants to hold on to these impermanent, forever changing forms as its identity is dependent on it. It does not know when to let go and that is why there is suffering.

Now, since we have creation a.k.a thoughts, there is an aspect of you which gave rise to this creation in the first place. So that aspect of you is the 'creator'. The creator on the other hand is a formless, undefinable, infinite and an eternal Being and it has no beginning, no end and it always was, always is and always will be. But to know yourself to be the creator means that one has to break free from the creation a.k.a thoughts and therefore instead of being consumed, identified and immersed in creation i.e. forms or thoughts, it steps right out of it and knows itself to be these things but have the awareness that it goes much much beyond that. It sees reality as it is. It sees the true nature of forms and of itself. It no longer loses itself in its creation but has the awareness of the aspect that gave rise to it in the first place i.e. the creator. It’s like a musician who created one song and loses himself in that one song only and thinks of that one song to be it thus making him limited and his identity gets restricted only to that one song. Over time, it may so happen that he gets so immersed in that one song, he completely forgets that he created that song in the first place. When he awakens one day, he will suddenly realize that he is not only the creator of that one song but he goes much beyond that as well. He is actually the creator of an infinite number of songs and he himself is an infinite creator.

There is no room for this awareness to rise if one is constantly identified, occupied and consumed by the thinking mind. The thinking mind is the creation aspect of life in this Universe but it is not the creator. The thinking mind is a tool, a wonderful tool which can be likened to the brush of a painter to create beautiful portraits. But if the brush goes wild and takes on a life of its own then the painter becomes a victim of that same brush and now even starts to identify himself as the brush, forgetting himself to be the painter. This is what the mind has become in Human Beings over time, what was initially a wonderful tool became a monster instead and has completely consumed and taken over our consciousness.

A simple way to bring about this awareness is by practicing mindfulness. A lot of people believe mindfulness to be one where you try to control your thoughts. Controlling your thoughts is not mindfulness. One can never control thoughts. If you are looking to control thoughts then it’s again the Ego with another disguise.

Watching your thoughts is mindfulness. There is a big difference between the two. When you truly observe your thoughts without any resistance, without any labeling, without any judgment and allow it to flow through you no matter what thoughts you are thinking and corresponding emotions that come with it, now that is mindfulness.

Mindfulness brings birth to awareness and this awareness is what can be termed as presence. You are no longer defined by the past or the future which is a product of thoughts which we tend to identify and get consumed by. Thoughts keep us from seeing reality as it is and that is where labeling, judgment, resistance and a deep seated fear & lack is experienced thus bringing forth suffering. How can there be this awareness when consciousness is occupied and consumed by the thinking mind?

Thoughts obscure reality as reality is seen from the perspective of the conditioned mind with its tentacles deep into the past or into the projected future of some utopian heaven, both illusions that exists only as thoughts. Reality is what IS, it is this moment, it is NOW and it will always be NOW, not your thoughts about how it should be but what it actually is. And when there is no more resistance to what is, to the NOW, to this moment, there is freedom, joy & peace which is not from this world but from beyond this world and is more deep seated and comes from deep within the self and has nothing, literally nothing do with external circumstance and also the bygone past or a projected future.

In other words, you the observer (mind/ego) is now being observed and that is where the phrase, "The observer becomes the observed" comes in. When you observe thoughts, you are observing your mind/ego. Your thoughts cannot observe the mind/ego. How can thoughts itself observe thoughts? Thoughts patterns/thought forms make up the mind/ego and that is what you observe. Now the question arises, who or what does the observing? Consciousness which was absorbed and completely identified with thoughts and the thinking mind is now taking a step back and observing its own content and structure. It is like the painter who has been painting unconsciously with his brush for a long time suddenly wakes up and observes for the first time what the brush has been painting. Similarly when one starts observing thoughts, consciousness which has been immersed, consumed and identified with its creation suddenly wakes up to what it really is, a creator.

That is where mindfulness comes in. It brings one into realizing who they really are and helps one to step back from the wild horse which is the mind and slowly bring the mind to its natural state of stillness, silence and space. And in that state of Being, thoughts no longer have power over consciousness and is instead used merely as a tool. Forms whether they dissolve, change, die, crumble etc no longer matter anymore because you know yourself to be beyond forms and therefore you are in a state of inner peace and unbounded joy.

So, what does it mean to observe oneself? I will give you an example. Let’s say something triggered anger in you and you are very angry. Most people would react to that anger and therefore cause misery and suffering both for themselves and to others around them. Anger therefore holds power over you and influences your actions. But when you are alert, present and in the state of watching and observing yourself, you will notice anger arising in you. Instead of being consumed by anger, this time you recognize it. These are two very different states of Being. By being able to recognize anger arising in you, you now have power over this anger instead of the other way round. So when anger does arise, you fully acknowledge it and allow yourself to feel it fully but you do not react to it. You do not resist it either nor do you fight it because as Carl Jung so aptly put, "what you resist, persists." You just observe it and you will notice that just as it had arisen, it shall also pass. When that happens, you are free from anger and you no longer create suffering for yourself or others. And this is true response ability. The ability to have a choice on how to respond. You are no longer responding due to the past conditioning of your mind or because of emotions which you cannot control. If this is practiced over time, it helps to silence the mind and keep it still.

Eventually, we all want to arrive at the same place i.e. home. And let me tell you from my experience, 'home' is right here, right now, right at this moment and each and every Human Being on this planet is already there.

What I have shared so far is not looking at the world through rose colored glasses. It involves facing your self and seeing it as it is with all its darkness, negativity, illusions, fears, evils and unconsciousness. This requires courage and it means facing, owning and taking responsibility for all that you have been and done. It especially involves facing your darkness/evil/negative aspects. This is not some 'be positive' and only look at the 'positive' and ignore the 'negative' ideal.

Going back to the creation and creator aspect which I shared earlier, I just want to say one more thing. Creation takes place in time. All of creation involves time, it has a past and a future. All forms exist in time. But the creator is outside of time. It resides in the eternal now. That is why all enlightened masters always said that the 'now' is the key for freedom and liberation. Similarly the content of our consciousness is based on time but our consciousness itself exists outside time and resides in the eternal now. Once you realize yourself to be the creator there is no longer any conflict with creation because both creator and creation are one and the same and there is harmony and balance once again.

One does not need to escape from their present reality or this planet or Universe to be free. I am here in this beautiful planet as life expressing itself and I take responsibility for all that has been created. Where is there a need to escape and go somewhere else? My life is here and now and I find myself in this planet, I don't need to go anywhere else to be free. The need to escape this reality is another core desire of the mind/ego as it refuses to accept responsibility for where it finds itself.

All religions including Hinduism and Buddhism has been badly manipulated by the False God of religions. The nature of truth is not to be found in any ideology. It is only to be found within your self and it is experiential. There is nothing to believe here, all beliefs are a trap. Experience and truth go hand in hand and no religions, belief systems and ideologies can ever make you realize truth, only you can. The rest are all pointers, signposts pointing you in that direction especially the ones which are genuine and not manipulated.

Question: What if your family is tortured and murdered, how will you have inner peace and unbounded joy if such a tragedy takes place?

If my loved ones get murdered and die, I will of course experience sadness, remorse and I cannot be happy if that happens. But my inner peace will not be shaken, it will still be there. I will be able to deal much more effectively with the situation and I will explain how.

If my loved ones get murdered, I have 2 choices on how to deal with it. One is to completely resist what has happened and be in an utter state of depression and hate everything, complain and feel terrible and have rage for the situation. Or the other choice is to accept what has happened and surrender completely to the situation. Now, my resisting, complaining, hating, rage is not going to bring my loved ones back, is it? It is not going to change the situation, will it? It is also not going to stop the murderers from killing my loved ones, right? Since such a tragedy has happened which was beyond my control, there is nothing I can do but accept it for what it is. If this is the experience life has bought forth into my life, what good will resistance, hatred, rage etc accomplish other than me suffering further than what I already am due to their loss. Once I accept the situation as it is and surrender to it, there is a peace in the background which starts to develop. You are no longer resisting what is and you are no longer going against life and since life has bought forth such a situation, the only thing I can do is to 'accept' it and 'surrender' to it. Resisting it will only create further suffering for myself and is not going to accomplish anything at all. It does not mean that I will not feel sadness and depression but as I mentioned earlier, you observe these feelings arise in you but you do not get consumed by them and that is why there is peace. It does not mean I will be jumping around in joy and being ecstatic. 'Acceptance' relinquishes control from the mind/ego which tends to 'label' this situation and create further misery for itself by resisting it. It will then dwell on the past and feel even more miserable and create further suffering. Inner peace has no opposite. One can be unhappy but still be at peace. In other words, one is in alignment with the present moment by allowing it to be as it is without labeling, without judgment, without resistance and without the need for it be different than what it already is. Because you cannot change ‘what is’, you can only change yourself.

When Jesus Christ was being crucified and murdered, he said "Forgive them for they know not what they do." How do you think he was able to maintain serenity and not only that, forgive the very people who were torturing and murdering him? He knew his true nature and that nobody can ever annihilate him. He also understood the unconsciousness in the people who were doing what they were doing to him and therefore was able to forgive them because they were completely under the influence of the ego/mind thus performing such horrendous acts towards him.
 

Question: Could you please elaborate your perspective and direct experience of the eternal now?

The eternal now is something I have been cultivating and working towards. I am already there in the now and always will be, it is not something I desire to achieve in some future date. But I still have ego/mind in me which is what keeps me from being fully present but there are times when I am free from the mind and other times when I am not. So I walk between worlds. I am in complete acceptance of the present moment no matter what happens and don't try to label something or resist it and therefore create suffering and misery for myself. For one to be a friend of life, one has to be a friend of the now and accept the now as it is as all of life is unfolding in the now, not in some bygone past or projected future. And usually it is the nature of thoughts to dwell on the past or the future.

Here is a reply to one family member who is going through immense difficulties due to some past deeds. He found a lot of value in this and it really helped him. I am just sharing it as it has the message of the NOW since you asked me to elaborate further.

"The most important thing that you can do right now is to acknowledge your current situation. You cannot change the past, you cannot undo what has been already done and you cannot make the law go away. These things are not in your hands anymore and not within your control. So you have a choice in this matter. Either to resist it, fight it, complain about it, make up stories about it, feel depressed about it, feel resentment towards it and last but not the least, feel yourself to be a helpless 'victim' and thus be completely powerless and create more suffering for yourself. Or you can 'accept' your situation and surrender to it, no longer resist or fight it and take responsibility for all that has happened. It is life changing and very empowering if you can do that

All of life is unfolding in the NOW. It is not unfolding in the past or future. So instead of being a friend with the NOW by being in alignment with it, our human tendency is to reject it and look to the future for salvation or the past for comfort. So whatever situation one is facing no matter how bad it is, 'peace' can only arise by accepting the NOW as it is. By accepting it and acknowledging your life situation as it ‘IS’, an alignment with the NOW takes place and you are ONE with it. By being one with the NOW, you are also one with life because life unfolds only in the NOW, it is not unfolding in the past or future. The Future is just a mental projection and is imaginary where’s the past is just a memory trace, a thought pattern. The NOW is the only thing that is REAL.

So right now you are faced with a situation which is really unpleasant. You can create further suffering for yourself by resisting it, hating it, feeling depressed about it OR you can accept it 'as it is' and free yourself from further suffering. Once you accept and no longer resist, you will find peace & joy and not only that, you will find the solution as well. You will know what needs to be done and whatever happens, you will be fully empowered to deal with it.

Acceptance of your life situation and surrendering to it does not mean accepting defeat; on the contrary, acceptance of your life situation makes you empowered as it brings awareness into your life. Since you no longer resist, fight or complain about your life situation, the awareness which was previously trapped and consumed in these activities gets released. That awareness which is no longer trapped comes into your conscious attention which then becomes the biggest agent of change in your own life. This released awareness can also be termed as ‘presence’. That is why we have the term, ‘presence of mind’ or ‘mindfulness’ in Buddhism. Since you no longer resist, fight or complain about your situation which is happening in the Now, you instead start to flow with it. A deeper sense of Joy and peace start to arise which is no longer dependent on your external life circumstances anymore. It is the end of suffering and leads to one's liberation. So whatever happens or does not happen in the external world, it does not matter anymore. If you are a friend with the NOW, external life circumstances will not affect you anymore and there is deep rooted peace and joy. Even if the worst case scenario happens, you will be fully empowered to deal with it. I hope this makes sense and seems practical."