Advaita Post Volume 13 #18 --- The advaita meditation is not an action...

October 29, 2012

--- The advaita meditation is not an action, but rather a release in the openness --

 
The masks, the little lives - what about yourself?

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Positive noises

Several people have mentioned to me that they found the "Positive noises" in the previous Advaita Post very fine and inspiring. I indicated the risk of these texts in that same post, but the good features are also there. So here below are two more of these texts.

"These are words which dissolve all others. They touch me very deeply. Suddenly I see very clearly all these ideas ... relaxation, there is no duality. There was simply a false trail (but it sure felt pretty real to follow, I must say!); back home again now, thank you."

"I want to thank you again for the clear texts in the Advaita Post. There is a complete recognition of what you write.
I am very happy that I was able to share during the last two satsangs about the stranglehold in my process and my dedicated but also constricting attitude.
I could see "doing" in my process so clearly and on an increasingly subtle level.  Seeing through doing and letting it go made me feel calmer.
The stranglehold, where I was stuck for so long, appears to have given itself up. I now experience real surrender through seeing: "this is it".
To me it felt like a kind of release during the satsang.
Actually, I only just now experience that the process proceeds in a calm and natural way without a doer.
As you already said in the satsang: "The continuation of the process is not dependent on conditions". Nothing more needs to be done, it continues by itself.
There is a depth of self-being which I  fully recognize as my authentic self and within which everything can continue normally.
Also there is the recognition, like an intimate knowing, of that about which nothing can be said, but is experienced, as you have so beautifully expressed."

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 Text Satsang

 The universal opening of the individual sphere
An Advaita talk with Douwe Tiemersma, Gouda, September 19, 2007

 It continues to be about the opening of yourself on all levels: your opening in consciousness, but also opening up in your feelings. When there is a low level of consciousness the process of opening depends on conditions. You can experience that for example, during a vacation in a beautiful landscape. Then everything can be open, you become one with the landscape. But it's important to become acquainted with the processes of opening and closing within their situation, because only then does  it become apparent that the openness is always independent of conditions and is always present.

There are mainly mental processes up to a certain level. When you notice, for example, that there is a concentration or a restriction in your attention, that you have blinders on, then you simply take a more precise look at this energetic concentration through which the blockage has arisen. From there the attention can open up. You can orient yourself more expansively, experience a wider horizon in a very literal way. The orientation then is no longer focused on something that consciousness can bump up against but it becomes more spacious. Just try it: you focus yourself in a concentrated way on the wall, the lamp, or something that you hear. From there suddenly the whole attention can open up. This happens quite literally. You will have to experience that quite concretely, otherwise it doesn't work. Find out what it means to look at things and what it means when the consciousness situation suddenly opens infinitely, in all directions. Through knowledge and practice the opening of yourself becomes less and less dependent on conditions.

The advaita path can be very direct. This immediacy presupposes that you have a base in which this openness is already present. When this sphere is clearly there, you have nothing more to do than relax within it. But as long as this openness isn't there, apparently something will have to happen. To a certain extent a practice is needed in order to reveal this openness very clearly. When the mind is slow and limited, something will need to happen from consciousness to facilitate this opening. When it concerns the radical openness, this openness will need to be so strongly present that it no longer disappears. That means that there will need to be a total dedication to this openness. But be careful: it's not an orientation towards something. It is simply an orientation to openness. It's a kind of meditation without an object. At first just hold it as consciousness of 'space', but space in its purest form, total space.

Of course, it's about yourself as feeling consciousness. Consciousness and feeling will need to come together. It is your feeling consciousness which opens itself infinitely in all directions: left, right, forwards, backwards, up, down. Take a precise look. It's a continuous inquiry. What happens when this meditation propels itself? This universal infinity-dimension remains present in all directions. It is your own sphere, your own feeling consciousness. It is a universal opening of your self-being. This will need to be experienced very concretely. It's like a tactile sense that expands itself. Feeling sense-wise you experience everything sensitively into infinity.

When you really go along into the infinite there is no separation any longer between inside and outside. What happens then with your center? Do you see that that's going to dissolve? That ego center is no longer there because that limited self-being is now an unlimited self-being. This infiniteness is not infinitely far away rather it is incredibly near. Everything that is not infinite is going to dissolve.

Since this infinity is everywhere, even there where that center was, there's nothing more to do. But that only applies to this sphere. In the initial situation of limited consciousness and feeling of course something will certainly need to happen. Wakefulness will need to arise, so that an opening can come there. When you in this stage, say: I can't do anything to achieve enlightenment so I'll just sit still, what's your situation like then? Then there is closedness, limitation, dullness. In this situation it's necessary that you become more awake, otherwise nothing happens. Only when this openness reveals itself so thoroughly that it never disappears there's just a release into this sphere of openness. That's no longer an action rather it's a letting go of everything.

The meditation on openness will therefore need to develop so that everything is at stake, your whole existence. And then you no longer say: I meditate on something. Then there's always still someone who is meditating. This someone is the starting point and all kinds of things are retained within that. When it really opens up in the infinite, then doesn't everything fly away? The whole center of yourself disappears. Does it happen like this? Take a look for yourself. Does it happen completely or does it stop somewhere?

So as you continue you lose yourself?

You notice that. It's about you expanding yourself universally as feeling consciousness. Because it's universal it's not stuck to a particular form. It's a little bit like the Big Bang. First there is a tense energy and then suddenly: the universe expands into infinity. You can also experience it like a balloon that expands. At a certain moment the balloon bursts. What happens then?

In the beginning meditation is just a psychological trick, a little technique. When you apply yourself earnestly to it, even on the psychological level it already yields quite a lot. When you start with it from this personal 'I'-situation, then you notice that it's joyful when a little more space comes. That's the basis on which it can continue. Still more space arises, still more joy,  infinite space arises, infinite joy. That's no longer psychological, because then it concerns your own total being. Then there's a state which is total. The psychology of a person has nothing more to do with that.

(A mobile phone suddenly rings)

See how quickly the attention just closes back up again? So that's what this is about. About these very practical things. Within that the processes of opening and closing off will need to become clear. Whatever happens there's absolutely no need for a restriction of the conscious sphere to arise there. But of course the knowledge that's needed for that will need to prove itself in practice.

Announcements

The physical condition of Douwe has deteriorated. His weight continues to decrease and his fatigue increases. Now a few things have been done for it but the discomfort has not been ameliorated. Therefore the satsang on Wednesday, October 31 will be cancelled. We assume that the following satsang on November 7 will proceed.