| Selections |
| Selections on 'seeking'
August 2009 A LIVING GEM FROM RAMESH (previously unpublished) The individual is always seeking something and is satisfied when he gets what he is seeking. But then another search starts for some other object. The ultimate successful search is that which shows that the seeker already had what he was seeking, that he had never lost it, that the seeker himself is what he was seeking for. 1989
April 2006 MESSAGE FROM WAYNE Hello my loves, Jnana (the path of knowledge) and Bhakti (the path of love and gratitude) and Karma (the path of action) are not separate. They never have been. The distinctions are purely notional, not actual. The mind, the heart and the body are bound together as a seamless whole. I can't tell you how many times I have heard the so-called Knowledge people put down the Heart People for their "slavish devotion to the guru" while the Heart People complain that the Knowledge people are "cold and in their heads." Meanwhile the Action people (when they take a break from being busy) look at the others, shake their heads and wonder why "those people don't get off their butts and DO something!" It is all just too ridiculous and all too human. People are born with different natures and one of the qualities of having a nature is to feel that it is natural, normal and right. Unfortunately, that often makes people with different natures, unnatural, abnormal and wrong. The way out of this critical quagmire is through first understanding one's own relative nature, and ultimately Understanding one's True nature. As you begin to see the genetic and environmental forces that continue to combine to shape this body-mind organism that bears your name, you may glimpse the Essence which is the source and the substance of everything. This Advaita teaching insistently points to that Essence and is available to everyone regardless of who they think they are. With much love, Wayne
January 2006 MESSAGE FROM WAYNE Hello my loves, The process that's happening in this Advaita is one of inquiry and examination; whereby you gain insight by looking at your own experiences. In the course of life, experiences happen. The question is, what was your part in bringing those experiences into being? If you look back over your life you will see that people you never knew existed suddenly entered your life and brought with them enormous life changes. They might have been lovers, teachers, enemies or gurus. How could you have brought them into your life, if you didn't even know that they were alive? Perhaps by looking at your history you will see that events happened in your life that were part of a much larger happening 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 your present state is a product of huge forces outside of your egoic control. This teaching simply directs your attention to look. Insight follows or it does not. Clearly, if you were in charge - if any of us were in charge and capable of creating our own realities - we'd all be saints! We'd be loving and kind and generous all the time, because when we're loving and kind and generous, we feel better, everybody around us feels better, and this translates into a better 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 organism. If you look, and you are blessed to be able see the vast universal forces that were operative in creating who you are today, then guilt eases naturally, on its own. You don't have to make any efforts to reduce it; it simply dissipates in the seeing, as you understand that who you are and what you are is a function of the Universe. Both your finer qualities and those qualities that you and others might not like are part of this mixed bag that constitutes every human being. May this vision grow within you in the coming year. With love, Wayne
September 2005 MESSAGE FROM WAYNE Hello my loves, Ramesh's latest book landed on my desk a few days ago and I was delighted to see that he is still in top form. Ramesh's Teaching is a living one and thus is constantly in flux. After many years of esoterically emphasizing the illusory nature of the individual his approach has become increasingly down-to-earth and practical. He meets the spiritual seekers at their point of identification and then deftly leads them to deeper understanding. One of the tools Ramesh uses is to challenge the seeker into examining what it is he imagines Enlightenment to be...what are the imagined benefits? So the question ultimately boils down to the new books title: Seeking Enlightenment -- Why? I hope this newsletter finds you well and at peace, abiding in the deepest possible conviction that with all of the joys and agonies of the day, the Universe is in perfect order. With much love, Wayne
Hermosa Beach, 6 January 2005 Webcast Transcript Excerpt Wayne: ...Have you always been a seeker? As far back as I can remember yes, but then I don’t think of myself as a seeker anymore. Wayne: I see. And was that a choice that you made? No. It was a happening, it was unexpected. Afterwards I thought I was still a seeker when I tried to identify myself again but I’ve come to realize I’m not a seeker anymore. Wayne: When you say you’re not a seeker anymore, to be more specific what do you mean by that? In the experience there was an awareness of something that I could not describe or could never have predicted. Trying to explain it afterwards to my friends – was impossible. So it wasn’t something I could grasp with my logical mind. As a seeker, I was always trying to use my logic to explain god. Or my relationship to what god is. In the experience, the gap disappeared and I didn’t know that until later, I only experienced it. So now it’s just a sense of wanting to deepen. Deepening not defining. So it really seems like an attempt to define it and so reading the works of Maharshi and these books. Advaita seems very comfortable with that experience. I don’t know why. I’m not positively trying to acquire something but it comes to me. It’s not like a traditional learning process. That’s why I don’t think of myself as a seeker, a seeker would be students sitting in the class gathering information. I don’t feel that anyway. Wayne: Right. I understand. So I’m wondering if all seekers are perhaps in some non-choice situation. Wayne: For me it’s a matter of definitions. The way you’re using the term seeker and the way I would use the term seeker are slightly different. The seeking that you’ve described, as having fallen away, is a single pointed seeking. And I experienced something very similar in my process as well. And what it was, was a movement, you see. This movement of seeking began with seeking something. Seeking god seeking knowledge seeking truth as a one-pointed effort and it was very directed at “it”. Then there was this moment where that changed. What I called the seeking then changed from a seeking for something to a seeking that was then expanding to include everything. What you’re describing as a deepening of that shift where going from to get it, to the understanding expanding to include all of it. So there is this sense of opening, this sense of bringing more and more in without, you see since it’s not focused on anything there isn’t any object that one is trying to get. You see. Now this is a very profound shift in the nature of the seeking. And it’s easy to make a distinction saying well this is seeking and this is something else. And we can call it something else. But in my lexicon, the way I talk about things I say they’re both seeking. One is a seeking for something, and the other is an expansion of the seeking to include everything. But when you say there is a sense of wanting a deepening, of looking to, however subtly, to expand that into something greater, that desire is a seeking energy. It is seeking expansion, it is seeking more presence or openness. So, It is a profound shift in the structure in the nature of the seeking you’re describing. And it is one that is very consistent with the nature of this teaching. You see. And the single pointed seeking has no meaning really here. It is only when that shift has occurred and the seeking is now expanding in this way that we have some means for being here. Some rationale, if you will, for this kind of teaching. Because as soon as it points to something, you see, the whole essence of the teaching is to spring it back out again. To question that as soon as the as mind focuses and says ah, this is it, what it is, is going in like that. And the nature of this teaching is to reopen to re-expand whenever that energy to close down comes. So when you say that this feels right, it is because the nature of the seeking has shifted to what is appropriate. These are the tools for this kind of seeking energy. Now the organism that we call the sage is one in which there is neither. There is neither the seeking for something nor the expanded kind of seeking. The whole paradigm is gone. Completely. It has no meaning anymore...
Hermosa Beach, 28 October 2004 Webcast Transcript Excerpt ...What do you make of this seeking to make sense, then? Wayne: What do I make of it? It happens. It’s part of what is manifest. Is it essential, or is it just because that’s what is? Wayne: Whether it’s essential is only from the standpoint of a result. What I’m saying is that it’s part of 'what is'. Now, it’s becoming fashionable – it always comes in and out of fashion – to consider seeking to be an obstacle. “Oh if you’re a seeker, then you’re an idiot, because when you have an advanced understanding, you see that the seeking limits you from knowing what you truly are.” So if you’re seeking something, then the very seeking is the obstacle. If you continue to consider yourself a seeker, you’re an idiot. So you have a group of people who are seeking but who say they aren’t seeking anymore. It’s just redefined! I don’t consider seeking to be either clean or dirty. I don’t think it’s this elevated state or that it’s the most divine thing that you can do - where if you’re seeking God then you’re clearly a superior being - as opposed to someone who is watching the World Series and other such mundane, pointless acts. I have no evaluation on either the positive or the negative side. Seeking happens. Some organisms are created to be interested in this; others you could not drag here. Most people, in fact, you couldn’t drag here. I can’t help it. Wayne: And others can’t stay away. With the understanding that it is happening – it’s happening; it’s part of 'what is'. Unfolding the way it’s supposed to be. Wayne: Unfolding the way it IS...
September 2003 MESSAGE FROM WAYNE Hello my loves.. Sometimes I am amazed at the effects of this Teaching. Last month I was visited by a radiologist from Santa Fe, NM who specializes in breast cancer diagnosis. Many times each week he must tell women that they are going to lose their breast or perhaps to die. He described how the Teaching had transformed his approach to his work. Whereas before, he was looking only to get enough money to retire, after the Teaching had "infected" him he found that he approached his work with openness and joy. He described how grateful he was to be able to witness the incredible strength and dignity some of these women exhibited and to participate in their lives. His story and his display of quiet gratitude moved me deeply. My wish for you all is that you be so blessed. With much love, Wayne PS: I leave for Europe in a few days and look forward to seeing some of you there. The retreat at the beautiful and serene Gut Schermau in Germany is always one of the highpoints of my year.
A LIVING GEM FROM RAMESH (previously unpublished) There never has been a seeker, only seeking, whatever the seeking - seeking money, or seeking fame, or seeking God - and only that seeking happens for which the body-mind organism has been programmed to seek. The ego - the identification with a name and form, with the sense of personal doership - thinks he or she is the seeker. Self-realization is only the realization that, in the words of the Buddha, "events happen, deeds are done, but there is no individual doer thereof."
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