| Messages/Living Gems |
| December 2008 MESSAGE FROM WAYNE Hello my loves, At the end of this newsletter is a wonderful excerpt from Ramesh's unpublished 1989 tour notes about trust. What he is saying is that trust is essential for living. Without a very fundamental trust we are paralyzed. Normally we think of trust as a faith that someone will act in a manner consistent with our expectations, but the trust Ramesh is pointing to goes far beyond this. The trust he is talking about is a sense that the universe is in perfect order; that even evil, misfortune, illness and betrayal are part of the perfect order of things. To trust in this way is to walk lightly on the earth. It is to know serenity in the midst of calamity. It is to feel comfortable being alive. The Living Teaching points to the Unity that is all things. It encompasses all that is considered to be good and all that is considered to be bad. It encourages you to look beyond the surface and so know the Truth. Once you see beyond the false claim of being a separate, authoring entity, you will come face-to-face with the Mystery that is the very basis of trust and ultimately of freedom. With much love and best wishes for 2009, Wayne
A LIVING GEM FROM RAMESH (previously unpublished) The sage, the wise man, has the basic working and living attitude of respectful trust towards nature and human nature, despite wars, revolutions, starvations, floods, rising crime and all manner of horrors. He is not concerned with the notion of original sin, nor does he have the feeling that existence (samsara) is itself a disaster. His basic understanding has the premise that if you cannot trust nature and other people, you cannot trust yourself; if you cannot trust yourself, how can you trust your mistrust of yourself? In other words, without this underlying trust, the faith in the functioning of Totality, the whole system of nature, you are simply paralyzed. Ultimately, of course, it is not really a matter of you on the one hand, trusting nature on the other; it is really a matter of realizing that we and nature are one and the same process, and not separate entities. 1989
November 2008 Message from Wayne Hello my loves, I was watching the new DVD of Nisargadatta with fascination. I felt a resonance with him that I had never felt with any of his pictures or books. The questions put to him are essentially the same as those put to Ramesh and to me and most other teachers in this tradition. The questions often have to do with the nature of the Sage and Enlightenment and inevitably they focus on the body-mind organism. Does the Sage worry? Is the Sage afraid of death? Does the Sage acquire Karma? Nisargadatta had little patience with such questions, particularly towards the end of his life when his energy was fading. The thrust of his teaching was away from the body-mind and back to the Self that is the essence of all. He was relentless in his focus on the Absolute rather than the temporal. "What were you before you were conceived?" he asked. I was particularly amused when in one scene in the DVD Maharaj talked about the LIFE FORCE being responsible for everything. What was written in the subtitle was that the LIGHT SOURCE was responsible for everything! It was certainly a simple and understandable mistake but it illustrates the inherent danger of considering the recorded statements of the guru as being Truth. I would not be suprised to learn that somewhere in the world there was a seeker earnestly prostrating himself in front of a light bulb! With much love, Wayne
A LIVING GEM FROM RAMESH (previously unpublished) True Understanding - apperception - comports the understanding that there is no separation between understanding and action. When there is true understanding, there cannot be any question of further conscious action as separate from the understanding. This can be clearly seen when one watches an expert at his task whether it be trade or industry or sport or any other activity. The expert is never seen to hesitate or "wobble" between the principles he has learned and the application of those principles. Only a learner or beginner is seen to hesitate because he had doubts about his understanding. An expert works smoothly, naturally, without thinking, because the principles of action have been absorbed in the very perfection of his understanding - this is what Maharaj meant when he repeatedly asserted, "Understanding is all." He would also say, "Once the understanding is true and perfect, you may do whatever you like." What you like to do will not go outside the understanding. 1989
October 2008 MESSAGE FROM WAYNE Hello my loves, The key to The Living Teaching is having a vibrant sense of curiosity. Curiosity is what moves you to look. And sometimes when you look... you see. I am not telling you you SHOULD be curious. Rather that curiosity already exists inside you. It is what propels you to read these words. It is what brought you to this Teaching. What is so wonderful about curiosity is that it is without goal and without agenda. Curiosity's sole purpose is to satisfy itself. The wonderful paradox is that curiosity is never truly satisfied. It simply moves focus, going from one thing to another....sometimes deeply, sometimes merely skimming over the surface. Curiosity is free from the sense that I am doing it. Curiosity is something that clearly arises. It is thus freer and more open in scope than formal inquiry. No one has ever failed at curiosity. The Living Teaching exists to support this curiosity wherever it arises. It is here to fan the spark in the hope that the spark will eventually become a blaze and consume you. With much love, Wayne
A LIVING GEM FROM RAMESH (previously unpublished) Human life seems extremely insecure and uncertain, but the fact of the matter is that life has always been so in spite of all efforts to be secure. The more you try to be secure, the more you become aware of the insecurity. Sanity consists in accepting this fact - that security in life is a myth. This truth, which at first sight seems so agonizingly frustrating, has never been so clearly stated as by the Chinese sage Lao-tzu who boldly declared that to know Truth, one must get rid of knowledge, that nothing can be more powerful and creative than emptiness or nothingness from which people shrink in terror, and, perhaps more importantly, that those who justify themselves do not convince. Truth cannot be handed over. Truth can only happen. 1989
September 2008 MESSAGE FROM WAYNE Hello my loves, This Teaching encourages you to find the truth for yourself, by looking into your own experience. In the course of your life, experiences happen. The real question is, what was your part in bringing those experiences into being? If you deconstruct any event in your life you may begin to see that any singular event is part of a much larger and more complex matrix than what you could possibly create with your own physical being. If you can look at your own experience and your own background, you may begin to see that how you are in this moment is a product of vast genetic and environmental forces beyond the possibility of personal control. If you look, and you see that these Universal life forces were responsible for creating who you are today, then guilt eases naturally, on it's own. You don't have to make any efforts to reduce it; it simply dissipates in the seeing. We're all a mixed bag of qualities. If any of us were capable of creating our own realities we would all be saints! We would be loving and kind and generous all the time, because when we're loving and kind and generous, we feel better, everybody feels better, and it brings more joy into life. The fact that despite our best intentions, and our most earnest observations and efforts, we're still filled with positive and negative qualities, seems to suggest a certain lack of control on the part of the human organism. Perhaps if you look, you will see deeply into the mystery and be freed. I hope so! With much love, Wayne
A LIVING GEM FROM RAMESH (previously unpublished) Life courageous means the unreserved acceptance, without any fear, of the what-is in the present moment, without separating oneself as a separate entity with personal volition and choice of action - which means living in the present moment, without making any effort to cling on to what is then considered as "acceptable" and not trying to move away from what is considered "unacceptable." It is the concept of time that makes cowards of us all. It needs courage to accept and welcome the what-is in each present moment. from USA Tour notes 1989
August 2008 MESSAGE FROM WAYNE Hello my loves, One of my favorite quotes is: "Life is like licking honey off a thorn." It points to those twin qualities that make up all of existence. There is no pleasure without pain, no joy without sorrow. To deeply realize this is to come into harmony with What Is. Ramesh's words in this month's newsletter (look towards the end, below) point to the fact that this deep realization comes from a "bold, clear look" into the Essence. One of the most direct avenues into this looking is to start with what is there in front of you....your experience of the moment, your breathing, your sense of aliveness....any of these will do. If you find yourself spinning off into philosophical speculation....what does it mean? why is it happening?...come gently back to the experience in front of you. With Grace comes a dissolution of the Problem of Life leaving an unobstructed view of life's ongoing problems and joys. With much love, Wayne
A LIVING GEM FROM RAMESH (previously unpublished) The fact of the matter is that there can never be the assurance of a safe and happy future. Despite the best laid plans, accidents will happen, illnesses will occur and death must come some time or the other. The only answer is a deep understanding of the problem itself. There is no solution other than the disolution of the problem through a bold and clear look into it. Life is a stream not a pond. December, 1989
June 2008 MESSAGE FROM WAYNE Hello my loves, I am sorry to have to report that our dear Ramesh had surgery on his gall bladder a little more than a week ago. I am delighted to report that the surgery was successful and he is well on the road to recovery. As of this writing (June 21) he is scheduled to be out of the hospital in a day or two. He will then begin a period of convalescence at home. His daily Talks in his home will resume as soon as he has recovered sufficiently. Knowing Ramesh, he will be sitting in his chair, talking to visitors about Advaita long before his doctors and his family think he should...such is the passion for the Teaching that burns within him. We will post details about the resumption of his talks in the EVENTS CALENDAR section of the advaita.org website as they become available. Such events remind us of what a precious resource we are blessed to have in the person of Ramesh. His kindness, wisdom and generosity of spirit are amazing gifts to all who have the good fortune to meet him. I am sure you will join with me in wishing him a speedy recovery. With much love, Wayne
A LIVING GEM FROM RAMESH (previously unpublished) Our real nature is not what is represented by our apparent psychosomatic organism. It is that deep awareness which is not the property of any individual organism but is something ubiquitous and all-pervading to which we are given access, each one of us, during those rare moments when we have an inexplicable sense of overpowering well being in which we actually feel the oneness of the cosmic universe without the slightest taint of separate existence. December 16, 1989
April 2008 MESSAGE FROM WAYNE Hello my loves, Is there something you have done that up to that moment you swore you would never do? Perhaps it was something as simple as wagging your finger in the face of your child (an action your mother did to you and that you promised yourself you would never do to your own child). Or perhaps you had an extra-marital affair despite believing such behavior was wrong. If you examine the history of your life you may recall several such "embarassments". How is that you did these things that you were adamant that you would never do? The usual, surface claim of the ego is that "I-the-ego" was responsible. "I" could have and should have done better. "I" should have resisted the temptation. "I" should have been stronger, wiser. "I" should have been less self-centered, less selfish. The Living Teaching encourages you to look deeply into these actions. Such events can serve as windows into the Truth of what was functioning in those moments. What Universal (non-egoic) forces might have been at work to produce the action in question? Genes? Hormones? Conditioning? Can you begin to isolate any of the influences? By looking, there may be seeing. In seeing, there may be Understanding. With much love, Wayne
A LIVING GEM FROM RAMESH (previously unpublished) Planets, solar systems and nebulae appear and disappear; energy is transformed into matter and matter is transformed into energy, but there is something which does not appear and disappear but is eternal and that is the great cosmic ocean of Consciousness, from and into which come all forms of energy. This is what modern science tells us, confirming the intuitive insight of the mystic. December 26, 1989
March 2008 MESSAGE FROM WAYNE Hello my loves, This Living Teaching is right here, right now. It is, in fact, as close to you as your breath. When you look deeply into yourself you may be able to see that there is, in this moment, a quality of aliveness that is animating you that is not philosophical and is not abstract. It's there! It is coursing the blood through your veins, it is animating your breath, it is what makes it possible for you to think and speak and see and hear. This is something that is essential and fundamental and true. It's independent of what you think about it, what you believe about it and what you feel about it. It is here, and with Grace you dissolve into it. You recognize your true self in it. It is this living force, this animating force that has manifested into the complexity we call Life. It is this living force that has manifested into this being which you call yourself. It is at once wondrous and simply obvious. With much love, Wayne
A LIVING GEM FROM RAMESH (previously unpublished) In the fall of 1988, at the San Diego Talks, one young lady asked me, "Why are you here?"... My answer was that I was there for the same reason that she was there. "In fact," I said,"none of of us who have gathered here could possibly be anywhere else." It was an event in the here-and-now that was an essential though infinitesimal part of the functioning of Totality... June 12, 1989 February 2008 MESSAGE FROM WAYNE Hello my loves, You have probably spent your whole life trying to control and modify the events you see are connected to your guilt and suffering. You try to be more patient, more honest, more loving, more chaste, more generous, more open, more tolerant, more productive or more effective. Despite your efforts it is likely that some, perhaps many of the events connected to your suffering and guilt continue to occur. Now may be the moment for you to take a radically different approach. Rather than trying even harder to control your behavior, perhaps it is time to turn your attention to this OTHER aspect of your sense of guilt and suffering. The Living Teaching invites you to stop here and take a fresh look at something. Look deeply into the assumption that you COULD have acted/reacted differently in the moment that you did what you did. Examine the claim by the ego that you were the author, the independent source of that event for which there is now a feeling of guilt. Is it true? With much love, Wayne
January 2008 MESSAGE FROM WAYNE Hello my loves, Who Cares? was the title of one of Ramesh's earlier books. This can be understood on two levels. On the surface level, the slang expression indicates a lack of concern or a carefree attitude. While everyone has moments of not caring, even the most god-crazed sadhu will have moments of caring about something. Which brings us to the deeper meaning in 'Who Cares?' Where there IS caring, who produces it? Do you as an individual body-mind mechanism have the capacity to create caring? Certainly you may choose to start or stop caring about something but can you always make your choice happen? If you find you can't always make your choice happen, then that would suggest that some LIVING FORCE other than the egoic you determines what happens. It is this LIVING FORCE that Advaita is concerned with and it was with the hope of helping you discover this LIVING FORCE that Ramesh asked 'Who Cares?' With much love, Wayne
A LIVING GEM FROM RAMESH (previously unpublished)
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