I’m reviewing not a book actually, but a DVD: Consciousness and Beyond: The Final Teachings of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, with Stephen H. Wolinsky Ph.D.
In this series I want to show how I write a review. First I watched the DVD and the supplemental audio disk featuring a guided meditation by Wolinsky. While watching I made lots of notes, more or less quoting Wolinsky. When I write the final review I’ll make sure that any quotations are exact.
The notes I took total about ten pages in Word. They’re included below. I don’t expect anyone to read them all, but maybe you’ll scan them. These are unedited, full of mistakes, intended only as raw material. There’s stuff in there I would never include in the final review, almost all of which is in the first few paragraphs.
What I do know is that I like the DVD a lot. It’s excellent. If you want to understand Nisargadatta Maharaj, get this DVD. There are three other DVDs in this series. This is the fourth and final one. I need to suggest that the other three DVDs also be viewed, even though I’ve only seen one other, the first one.
I want to write this review in the next few hours, so this blog entry should be followed by another one, showing one of my drafts and how I got there. The third part of this topic on reviewing will be the final review. I don’t know, maybe there will be further parts to this series.
Here are the rough notes. NM stands for Nisargadatta Maharaj. SW stands for Stephen Wolinsky. consc stands for consciousness.
Consciousness and Beyond
The teaching of Nisargadatta Maharaj through Stephen Wolinsky and the filmmaking of Maurizio Benazzo
A good way to watch this is to transcribe it yourself. Read it. Watch it again. It only takes a few hours. Dedicate a day of your life to this DVD. You might find it worthwhile.
SW as absolute nothingness, communicates it in partnership with NM and Buddha. To describe the video in that way isn’t accurate, because no one is as absolute nothingness. There is no partnership anywhere. But describing the action on the video, I construct such dualistic sentences.
SW sometimes has a hard time finding the words, he pauses to feel what he knows in order to then find the words and sometimes he runs on a little and doesn’t seem satisfied with his explanations. I’d love to see the outtakes, Stephen and Maurizio, I mean come on.
He repeats the same thing over and over again. Reminds me of a personality test where they repeatedly ask you the same questions in different ways trying to extract the truth from you. the veiwer gets to see if Wolinsnky knows the truth by seeing how he repeats it over and over again. is he firm at all times? only once i felt he was searching for the right words, but he was probably tired. and a person gets nonduality fatigue when they talk about this stuff too much. lets face it starts to sound like bullshit at some point. It is.
There is so much in both the imagery in the teaching that the video could be watched several times.
You could pause the video at any point and view a crystal clear, detail-filled image of India with its people, lived-balconies, women hanging out clothes on ancient lived-in balconies over the streets teeming with people and their day to day business on the streets, in the river, in the spiritual places. Beautifully photographed with appropriate music that adds to the viewing experience.
Starts out in Ganeshpuri, home of Nityananda for the last 30 years of his life.
Many cuts to NM speaking in his home.
SW elaborates NM’s teachings. He brings them home to you.
[quotes are about 90% exact]
“DVD 4 is an attempt to focus now on NM and a little bit of what my part was in all of this. As I mentioned in DVD 1, Avadhut Nityananda appeared to me in the early 70s … actually it was the consciousness, the same consciousness that’s in all of us, appeared, and that consciousness is what brought me to India and eventually to Sri NM, the same consc just appearing in two different bodies or forms or the appearance of two different bodies or forms. In DVD1 we wanted to cover the overview of Maharaj and in DVD 2 certainly the conceptual framework and deconstructing it as not this, not this. Through DVD3 we looked at Nargajuna and Nagarjuna’s relationship and Buddhist relationship to Sri NM and his teachings. And finally in DVD4 this particular one, we go back to India, Ketwadi, Maharaj’s home, back to his guru’s mahasamadhi shrine siddhamaheshwar and now back to Ganeshpuri, where it all started for me, and where it all ends in this DVD. We get into the final teachings of Sri NM which come in four steps, four stages he would say. Stage one: I’m not my thoughts, memory, emotions, associations, perceptions, body sensations. I’m the nonverbal I Am, not dependent upon that. Step two: The I Am which I am, begins to dissolve. As it dissolves and the consciousness arises, all of a sudden I’m just pure impersonal consciousness, the same consciousness that’s in everyone, no different. And finally the last stage of Sri NM, prior to consciousness, the stage where I’ve never heard anywhere or seen anywhere, where he actually says, ‘The consciousness itself is temporary, it’s not you. Who are you? I am that. Or sometimes he’d even say, ‘Beyond that, the nothingness, the absolute prior to consciousness.’And that’s where we’re going.”
Modern images of India interspersed with footage taken in 1979-1980, merge to bring a closeness to Niz. SW enters the home of Niz who passed away in ?? and earlier images of Niz in that same room are cut into the film. We see SW emotionally moved by being in the room and the viewer would feel the emotional response of meeting a “home” of consciousness elaboration and confession, a core center of one of humanity’s greatest confessions in action. It’s a human response.
In NM’s home SW speaks. “NM taught ‘forget the teachings, just stay in the consciousness and that’ll be the portal to the Absolute.’ So even as we’re sitting here right now … it’s as close to being in the space Maharaj was in and taught in for almost 45 years. He said everything you understand you can only understand through your concepts, so in trying to impart his information he was always trying to find ways to get through your concepts, to break them down, so you can let go of all your spiritual etc. ideas. He said “I’m going to give you objective knowledge to objectively show you that it’s all an illusion” [accurate quote]
SW refers to where NM told him that two fluids come together and the I Am appears. SW states that he understands that to reveal that there is no doer, the action has already occurred. NM: “Actions occur, the I arises later and takes the blame or praise for the action.”
SW: “NM was trying to give objective knowledge that whatever occurs, pleasurable or painful, is part of the illusion. In Buddhism they use the word ‘impermanence.’ Maharaj always talked about the word ‘temporary.’ Right now if you could have the experience called ‘temporary’ – all existence, all experience, all of it is temporary – and if you could appreciate that even for just a moment, things begin to dissolve, disappear, get a little more fluid. NM stressed many things. One of them was to hold onto the I Am and let go of everything else. He would stress on what the I Am depends: NM: “One what basis is one confident about his existence? What does it depend on? The knowledge of I Am. No question or a problem lasts forever. Consider this point of view, and you will find reason why this beingness disappears. This is your confidence that You Are, your knowledge that You Are. On what does it depend? And because of what this confidence, that this beingness goes away.”
SW: “obviousnly it depends on thoughts, memories, emotional states, perceptions. All the knowledge of who you are depends on those, or the body or perceptual apparatus. So if you didn’t depend on those, that would be the nonverbal I Am. You could have that nonverbal I Am, but Maharaj would always throw in, ‘but wait a second, even that is temporary.’ NM: “Even the experience of I Am is a concept, it’s temporary, it comes one day and it will go.”
SW: “What is the next stage after that? As you watch the dvd you notice you are conscous of different things. If you could just be conscious, not of anything, and stay in that, there’s nothing there, no perception or anything, just pure consc, no space time, just consc. At that point we reach that everything is consc, that is, every single thing are consc dependent without consc being there there would be nothing. Consc or beingness is also temporary, however. NM: “Even the state of beingness consciousness is temporary.”
SW: “what’s the proof of that? When you go to bed at night, you’re in deep sleep state, there’s no consc., no awareness, you don’t know that you are, and as that you don’t know who you are, so consc, is temporary, the waking state is temporary, the deep sleep state is temporary, the dream state. Anything requiring consciousness is not ‘it.’ What is it is prior to consciousness. When you realize that you are not consc, I am the nameless, I am that prior to the words consciousness appears on. Consc appears on me prior to the word me, but I’m not the consc. NM: “When you realize consciousness is not the truth then you are beyond consciousness.”
SW on meditation. NM says to take your concentration and focus on being the meditator rather than the object of meditation. NM: “Meditation means to be the meditator rather than the object of meditation.” NM: “Give up your desire to try to improve yourself.”
Why improve something that isn’t you? Be the consciousness rather than the consciousness of something. There’s no one to be enlightened or be improved. E. is a state that comes and goes in consc but I’m prior to consc so why interested in some state that comes and goes? NM: “Are you experiencing and doing meditation or does the concept of an I meditating appear on the you prior to words?”
SW: “The reason realization is always missed is because it’s always there. We go after thoughts, memories, associations, perceptions, feelings, as though they are real and that if we change them we change who we are, always missing who we are.” “The you that is always there is the you that always goes unnoticed.” Like fish going to a sage fish and asking what water is. When you stay in consc just prior to the I Am, when you realize the consc too is temporary, that consc arises and subsides, but I don’t arise and subside, I’m the nameless prior to the word nameless, I am that prior to the word that, then you avoid the problem which is that consc superimposes ideas, thoughts, memories, even superimposes the concept of a body onto nothingness. … Everything is consciousness dependent. Without consc things couldn’t be there. The consc superimposes on nothingness, a body, so now I think I am the body. That’s the big mystery. I think I’m the body because the consc flips it around and all of a sudden projects a body on nothing and then all of a sudden I appear, like in a movie. But the body appears on the me prior to the word ‘me’. I’m not the body, I’m not the doer. The body happens, the doer happens, but I’m none of those. Prior to the experience, to the body, once you understand the superimposition appeared, instantaneously, causelessly, spontaneously, then the recognition can begin to dawn whereby you realize the absoluteness, the changelessness, the Self prior to. But there’s no prior to. The unique thing about consc is that you cannot know the absolute. Only when consc appears can you know there’s an absolute. Consc appears on it. Prior to consc, beyond consc, beyond even I Am That, Maharaj would say. Because I Am That is everthing is consc, nothing exists outside of consc, I Am That one consce. But when it’s realized that consc isn’t it, it’s a temporary state, then all of a sudden you’re prior to consc, prior to the word consc., because without words what would the word consc even mean? This is where religion disappears, where God concept disappears, because in consc you have a concept of God, but is there a God prior to the word God. God is a superimposition that consc puts on the absolute prior to words.
Chapter 2. Scene: Siddarameshwar (NM’s guru) Samadhi Shrine. Older scenes from 1981 (in which SW appears in a small gathering), new ones with SW bowing in respect and recognition. About his guru, lineage, trappings.
Why are we here? Because NM would come to honor his guru, the one who taught hime the basic teaching: stay in the I am, you’re not who you think you are. Consc is totally impersonal. “When they asked Nisargadatta how long ‘it’ would take he replied, “There is nothing you can do to speed it up, and there is nothing you can do to slow it down.” It’s like lightning struck him. NM himself didn’t know how. But NM spoke of stages. But a couple ‘secrets’: The I Am is temporary, a concept to be discarded and impersonal consc remains. When NM said to discard his teachings, teachings are words, words represent things, they are pointers, but prior to what words represent is the absolute nothingness. So the teachings, the pointers, can become distractions. NM: “Forget me, forget my teachings, stay in the consciousness and your own unique path will emerge.” The bottom line is prior to consc. Prior to the teachings themselves is nothingness.
So to receive a teaching is I Am dependent. Since you’re not the I Am then you’re not that. Consc, all thoughts, feelings, emotions, associations, perceptions, all experiences, this entire world, first consc must be there. Once consc is there then the world can be there. But prior to consc, the absolute, the nothingness, prior to the thoughts, the consc itself, is the you prior to word, the consc prior to consc. So anavanat sp? Sampradaya, for me, is a lineage taught in a certain way. They taught about the I Am. They taught you weren’t this and you weren’t that. And Maharaj more than anyone else I’ve ever seen or known of was so direct. You’re not who you take yourself to be. And as the I AM dissolves and even the concept of consc, prior to cons, the nothingness prior to consc. What was amazing is that he would say that even the word spirituality is like dishwater to me, it means nothing to me. NM: “I am in no way concerned with spiritualty.” Spirituality is a concept, that’swhy. Consc has to be present for there to be consc. Prior to spirituality is consc and prior to consc is nothingness. So thelineage taught a certain way. It’s important only if you have a feeling for it, a vehicle. Don’t worship the lineage. The teachings are pointers. There are spiritual trappings to be aware of: anything that pulls you outward, such as clothing, food, behavior, actions. NM would tell vegetarians to eat meat, ie no rituals. Yet he did rituals. His guru told him to do the rituals. He didn’t mean much to him, but he did it because his guru told him to. A trapping concerns how you have to act or are supposed toa ct, they all keepyou outside. When NM had you worshipping the guru, it was the Self, the absolute. You’re not the doer, meaing priior to consc there’s no I as an instrument. So trappings are all these things, including religions and organizations. NM was not worshipped, only the inner. What gets people most trapped is when gurus get people to believe in thigns that don’t exist, which includes anything “after”. The story takes you outside.
Chapter 3. Saranath. Link between buddhism and nm work.
This is where Buddha gave several sermons. Where are the links between buddhism and the work of NM. The heart sutra is considered. NM: “We are all rays of the absolute.” NM says we have several levels: perceptions, I Am, Consciousness of, consciousness. The link is the emptiness, the no state state prior to consc, the state prior to the word state, the you prior to the word you, the absolute nothingness, and in that emptiness appears consc, the I am, the perceptions. Prior to word I is nothingness, the absolute. Same as emptiness. There’s one nothingness upon which things appear, that appearance is the same as the emptiness, emptiness is the same of appearance. There’s only one substance, not two. The heart sutra intesects perfectly with NM. Also Nagarjuna said nirvana is samsara, samsara is nirvana. How does that relate to Maharaj? The I prior to words is the emptiness. That nirvana or extinction of consc. Samsara is the world or consc, perceptions. Nirvana is samsara and samsara is nirvana. There’s only one substance. The absolute nothingness, the consc are made of the same. On that nohtingness consc appeared. The stirring of consc forms the I Am, and all existence. That’s how Advaita and the purest form of buddhism are linked.
How else do the link or intersect? The 8 negations of nagarjuna. 8 neti netis. No arising no subsiding. No coming, no going. No similarities, no diffs. No unity, no duality. The describe directly the state of the absolute. Anything you say it is it isn’t. The nameless. NM (translator speaking): “I ask you to abide in that state. That’s the highest eternal state. ‘What is the profound knowledge that he defines?’ He says, To realize that state prior to conception, whatever that state is, the eternal state, to abide in that state, that is the highest. Let me give that state a name. I will label it parabraham state. Now for our sake, he says, I will attach a label to that. He calls it the parabrahma state. Absolute state.”
There’s no experience in parabrahma state. From the stirring of consc comes everything. If it arises or subsides, it’s not it. Etc., see 8 negations. That no thingness describes the nameless absolute in the clearest way I know, sw says. NM said there is no birth there is no death. NM: “There is no distinction between outside space and inside space. It’s all space only. So where is the question of coming in and going out?”
SW: “Why is that so critical and important? Because in the absolute there can’t be any coming and going. Everything is the one substance, everything is the absolute, prior to even the stirring, prior to consc, prior to the stirring of consc. The Buddha and Nagarjuna continually talk about states, that every state of consc in Buddhism is called impermanent. Maharaj said temporary. All states are temporary. Even the physical body. Temporary is impermanent. But if we carry Maharaj’s teachings to a whole other level, what we start seeing is that if you experience right now, if you added to your perception of the body as temporary and you began to right now experience your body as temporary. If a thought goes by, add to that mix, temporary. An emotion, temporary. A perception, temporary. Feeling, memory, the body, temporary. A perceiver or a perceived, temporary. All consc dependent things are temporary. Anything occurring time is not this. Discard it. What is it important to discard it? Because if you latch on and grab anything that is impermanent, according to the Buddha, you’ll suffer, which brings you to the next link or the next bridge of Buddhism and Sri NM: Desires.
The 4 noble truths: life is suffering, the cause of suffering is desire, stop desiring and you stop suffering. NM said to give up the desire to succeed, to be a person, to improve or change yourself. Stay in the I am and let go of everything else. You move into consc. First you imagine you’re consciousn of this or that, but when the cut is made the illusion of personal consc disappears and what you’re left with is impersonal consc which is prior to desiring and prior to suffering.
SW describes a classic meditation. Notice a desire that you’re having. Notice where in your body you feel your desire. Take your attention off the desire and put it on the body sensation, the desire itself, the body sensation. Then take the label off and have it as the same consc as the desire. So whether it be everything is consc or everything is outside of consc, the perceive of consc is the same as consc, made of the same consc. Everything perceivable or conceivable is consc dependent. The illusion is that you have personal consc, when soon you’ll realize, as it expands out, that there’s only impersonal consc. Now Maharaj would say do not give up action. Give up desire for the fruit of action. Have the action. Give up the desire for the fruit of the action.
The intersecting points are that all states are temporary, everything perceivable or conceivable is temporary, you’re temporary,your life is temporary. Anything temporary leads to suffering. What has to fall away is desire for temporary states of happiness, joy. Happiness is where the I isn’t, NM said. If it occurs in time it is temporary, as Buddha said. NM said give up the desire even for the fruit of meditation, even.
Next, Buddhist concept of the self. Buddha taught there is no self. NM said there isno person. Then what can be let go of? As you begin to exp your body, earth, universe as temporary you might notice as your body and the world become more fluid. By adding to the perception that everything is temporary you mght begin to notice the fluidness of the universe and the self. The self comes and goes until eventually it doesn’t come and go at all. Tehre is no person. It’s all a concept. It’s all an illusion. “Maharaj said to me there is no person, it’s all a concept, it’s all an illusion, and with one flick of the hand light pierced through me and there was just the absolute nothingness.
Chapter 4. Bodhgaya.The Path.
NM said forget me, forget the teachings, forget everything, stay in consc and your own path will emerge. NM defined spiritual practice as looking for what you haven’t discarded yet and discarding it as you. NM: “If you can forget it or remember it, it’s not you therefore discard it.”
What are some of the spiritual traps that can take someone away from finding out who they are? Once someone is realized, it was their own unique way. Now a student wants realization, but they take on the teacher’s system as if its theirs. That doesn’t work. You have to go in and be in the consc as the porthole to findingout whoyou are. The next trap is when one believes in what doesn’t exist, in what’s separate from you, such as god or a philosophy; its not this not this. Taking on a culture is part of that, such as the Indian culture and which gets confused with findingout with who you are. We’re all the same minus the conditioning. Why take on another conditioning to find out whoyou are when the bottomline is to discard conditioning.
Another trap is joining a community to find out whoyou are. All kinds of distyractions, political stuff, relatinships. Paraphrases Indar Shah, you should have community, rels, business, but not here. Here we don’t do that. NM said do you know whoyou are? Not interested in your business life, your rels,your ‘life’. That’s a distraction. NM says even the words of the teacher ultimately become a distraction to finding out who yo are. So who cares about your own wrods.
Another disraction is spritiaul exps. It strengthens the I. Findingout whoyou are is prior to all that. Prior to spirituality is consc. You start thinkingyou had the exp andthat I am getting somewhere. But there just exps and one isn’t as imprtant or sig than another. Buddha always denied theexistance of the self. NM basic premise is that you are not a persn you are not the I. A spiritual practice strengthens the I. NM said, “Do not give up the action or the fruit of the action, just give up the desire for the action or the fruit of the action.” [note: NM says to discard his words. There could be a practical reason if his words are meant for individuals, if NM is sensitive to an individual’s needs. This bears on not following a teacher’s path. Similarly why follow a teacher’s words if they are not meant for you? Adhere to nothing including the I who imagines there is adherence or detachment.]
There are three basic principles of Yoga: You are not the mind, you are not the body, you are not the doer. If there are practices that strengthen these, they are not spiritual practices by definition. As Buddha does not acknowledge a self [break at 1:15] so MN does the same. The experience of the self should always be viewed as an object, soemthing that you’re not. That’s why there’s no sense to self improvement. See the I as an object, never as the subject. With the I or the self as an object, realizing you’re not it, that itself is part of the practice. Anything you think you are you are not. What does the sense of I depend? Thought, feeling, etc.? Notice that any experience depends on thought, memory, body senastion etc. Between the thought and the memory is a space or gap, called bardhos in buddhism. When you go into the spaces, the I becomes more fluid and dissolves into nothing. Then the I you thinkyou are is less personal. You can just be the impersonal consc. When you become consd prior to consc that is the absolute and there is no such thing as consc at all. The universe didn’t come from anything. It appeared on the nothingness spontaneously for no reason. There is no creator prior to the word creator. No reason, no cause, and not. All is perceivable,conceivable, and temporary. Even the impersonal consc is temporary. You are prior to consc on which all this appears and disappears but you can’t be touched by it. Find out who you are. NM: “The state 8 days before conception, or maybe thousands of years prior to that, whatever that state is other than birth as the body, is the ever prevailing state or the eternal state.”
Chapter 5, Hanuman and Ram: The Bhakti of NM
Hanuman is the monkey god, representing the mind – thoughts, perceptions, memories, associations, perceptions, emotions. Hanuman served Ram, a name representing consc. So the concept is that the mind should serve the consc. Does so by going in to consc and letting go of everything else. Hanuman says to Ram when I don’t know who I am I serve you, when I know who I am, I am you. That sums up everything.
When NM says to meditate he doesn’t mean to meditate on something outside yourself on something that will grant you some kind of grace, but NM says you are that consc right now, that everything that is consc dependent, that spirituality is consc dependent. So by being the consc that is his religion. Going in means being the consc. The consc is “your self prior to the word self.” Once you are the consc then eventually what occurs is that the consc, that too is temporary, its an appearance. And since the consc is an appearance, and the consc for Maharaj he calls either Ishwar or God, he gives all kinds of names to the consc, but the consc, which has no energy, space, matter, mass, time, no self, no location, no nothing, is impersonal, and as you understand the consc is time bound, what begins to occur is the realization that the consc appears prior to the name consc. Once you’re prior to the name consc, then the consc appears in or on you, but isn’t you, but only arises in the nameless, but you don’t arise and you don’t subside, you don’t come and you don’t go. The you prior to words, there’s no similarities, there’s no differences, there’s no unity, there’s no duality. For the consc, is there. The consc can then become unity or duality, thoughts, memories, emotions, and I, I am, etc. But I’m not the consc, I’m prior to the consc. By worshipping the consc, by having devotion to the consc, the bhakti is to the consc not to a deity or something outside of consc, which arises and subsides in you, but you’re prior to it. Bhakti means devotion to the consc. When they asked N., “Where is the bhakti?” he replied, “I am the bhakta, I worship the consc., I worship the Self.”
Chapter 6. The Death of the I: Varanasi at Night
Powerful chapter as it shows the burning bodies with appropriate music.
Death is like the smoke of an incense stick. It just dissolves. Everything is temporary, causeless, and occurs in and on you prior to words, the nothingness prior to consc. You have to realize the formlessness of your body, the temporaryness. The brain makes your body seem constant. As you allow for the temporariness the world appears as formless. Pursue the formlesss. As consc is formless so the body is formless. Sentience is experienced but the body is not sentient. The consc makes the body appear as though its alive. You can’t understand through concepts, only without the I and the body exp. It requires the experience of death. The body concept appears on consc. You are prior to words and consc. Consc is like a ripple on the ocean of nothingness which rises and subsides but you never arise or subside you are that prior to cosnc. All information and knowledge belongs to the body jind and is duality. Realization is the death of the I concept, the death of the beingness. NM: “When you realize that consc, then you are prior to consc. The absolute nothing prior to words.”
Chapter 7. The turning point and final conclusions.
There’s a turning point. There’s a point at which rather than looking outside, rahter everything turns around, and what you find out is that the consc, the universie is inside the nothing prior to words. everything is inside the you prior to the word you. That becomes the true bhakta, the true devotion to where jnana meets bhakta. Jnana is neti neti. Consc is inside the nothingness prior to words. Bhakti yoga is devotion to the consc. Jnana yoga is neti neit, the path of unlearning. Where they both meet, when you begin to worship the consc. The consc that’s inside the nothing where the you prior to words. The consc appears in the you prior to words. That is a turning point. When everything becomes “inside” and there’s no more outer worship. The outer becomes the inner and just the pure consc.
Like a reflection in a mirror, the consc appears on the you prior to words, the absolute nothingness. And at that point when you realize the consc and the nothingness are the same, then there’s only advaita, there’s only the primordial advaita, that one substance. That is what nagarjuna said: samsara is nirvana, nirvana is samsara; nothing is something, something is nothing.
What are the major things to notice? The first is that there is a turning point or a tipping point, when you realize that everything is happening in consc and that consc, the world, and the universe occurs inside the you prior to words. What does that mean? You’re not the mind or body, leaving the I Am. When the I Am dissolves you get pure consc. I’m consc of empty space. When I become consc of and drop the of, I’m impersonal cons. When you realize that consc is temporary, you are prior to consc and consc and all arising out of cons occurs on or appears on or in the you prior to words, the nothinness, the pure absolute. This means that all spiritual concepts and processes are consc dependent and arise in consc, but I’m prior to consc. The nothingness can only know itself through consc. Consc depends on the Absolute. The Absolute doesn’t need consc. Evertying arises in and out of cons and prior to consc is the absolute.
Maharaj talked of 4 different stages. Stage one, your thoughts, memories, body, mind. Stage two, realization of the nonverbal I am, not dependent on mind or body. Stage 3. You realie you’re not the I Am. You’re the absolute impersonal consc and everything is a by product of cons. Stage 4 realization that cons itself is temporary. You become prior to consc.
The meditaion cd:
Highly effective supplement making this a powerful and valuable package. Opens the space. Identifies and opens the space between words, between thoghts, between the ripples of the mind’s activities. What does this do? Bring you to the I Am? To the consciousness? To prior to consciousness? Or is it more spiritual stuff to have experienced? All those things. Lots of spaces of silence in which you have to be in silence and what happens in silence stays in silence. “Focus on the empty space after the sound of my voice,” he says. If you do not depend upon the mind: thoughts, memory, emotion, association, perception, or body, are you in the present, not in the present, or neighter? …is there such a thing as present, not present? …. Do you eexist, not exist, or neither? … If there is no dependence upon thought memory emotion perception or body what does existence or nonexistence even mean? Notice the blank no state state that does not depend upon mental activity or body. Being aware of the blank no state state allow the awareness to expand outward and backwoard and notice how the emptiness a nd space appears to go on forever. What occurs if the awarer and the space are made of the same substance? Are you the awarer aware of the emptiness or are the emptiness on which the awarer appears? Be the emptniss on which the awarer appears. Be the awarer and notice what occurs when I say what awarer is awaring this.
Consciousness and Beyond: The Final Teachings of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, with Stephen H. Wolinsky Ph.D.
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