Consciousness, the transitory neighbor!

SM: Hello Nitin Ram. I am very pleased to have come across your website while I was browsing Nisargadatta Maharaj's. I have a question on a statement made by NM in one of the books written about him. I hope you can shed some light on this confusing subject. NM has been quoted to saying — in the book "I AM THAT by Mr. Frydman — that smoking was one of his body's habits and as for eating meat he said, “I make no claims of consistency" (pages 253-254).

I would really appreciate if you could expand on this in anyway. Please note that, he being an enlightened man, my intent is not to point at his "worldly flaws" -- but to truly and sincerely understand how one should view the so called - in worldly terms - bad or contradicting actions of such an enlightened individual. Can the two states - the enlightenment and such bodily/mental actions operate side by side? I think NM said he's not attached to those habits or actions. I am at a loss trying to grasp his explanation. Could you help, please? Thank You, -Sazro Mahambrey, USA

NR: Thanks dear Sazro. What one can SEE is only what one is conditioned to SEE. What anyone possibly may cognize depends solely upon what he/she is identified as! The whole process of seeing is dependent on the point of perception of the entity who is trying to see. And the process of seeing is usually from the limited point of perception. The process of usual seeing is in the paradigm of duality and in the frame of Subject-Object relationship. The seeker is somehow conditioned to SEE from a limited point of perception hence accepts one end and automatically rejects the other. The TRUTH is indivisible and whole, which encompasses every possible contradiction. When someone tries to see the truth, tries to find the truth what actually happening is the Part is trying to see the Whole! The assumed limited Part is trying to See the Whole… which is impossible anyhow. As long as the assumed point of perception believes itself as separate entity, say as this body-bowl named Sazro; the acceptance of one & rejection of the other is inevitable which results in and as psychological suffering. Acceptance of one and rejection of the other itself is the suffering and trying to come out of these sufferings of duality is seeking! It is like trying to walk with only one foot…. It is like trying to sail the boat with one ore … it is like trying to see with one eye! :-)

 I appreciate your sincerity in understanding the apparent opposites. Any effort to sort out the opposites will fail… any effort to arbitrate between the two will certainly fail. The river does not accept one bank and reject the opposite! It simply flows …. :-)! The ocean is not even aware of the weeds floating in it! The lens that shoots the hero (good) also shoots the villain (bad)!  The screen which reflects the love scenes also reflects the scenes of the violence without any problem! Why so! None of them get identified or restricted to their physical nature… they just flow according to their nature and without any inhibition.

 The Part can never be able to grasp the Whole! Why so? Because the Whole has already encompassed all the parts! :-) The Part is essentially the Whole… which is on the journey of discovering the Whole… which is its Real Nature!

Everything is transcendental here. Like the solid ice cube and the flowing water and the vapor! Each of them appears to be different from each other. Isn’t it? Only THAT is eternally constant or immutable which is your Real Nature. THAT is prior to and independent of the consciousness as well as this body-mind apparatus. THAT encompasses the consciousness as well as the body-mind apparatus and yet is totally aloof. THAT gets unconcealed through consciousness which provisionally resides in this body-mind apparatus. The ultimate revelation is anyway inevitable & irrespective of any change in the operating ingredients (Three natural attributes- Satva, Rajas, Tamas) of the consciousness. These three naturally found attributes through which the consciousness operates through different body-mind objects which constitute the individuals Nature (Swa-bhava). There is no need to change them! In the primary stages the seeker, who is identified as body-mind, tries to change these attributes with the expectation of some divine transformation but naturally fails. Why so? Because these three attributes are naturally found and certainly not created by the individual. :-) ! In a way a lot of superfluous importance to these attributes is being given by few in order to make SIMPLE thing difficult and complicated. The ignorant are always under the influence & fear of social acceptance. When the consciousness is recognized as YOUR transitory neighbor why will there be any need to change the passing neighbor!? With the ultimate revelation of what you are definitely not where is the question of changing that which you are certainly & never not! :-)

All of our confusions arise out of our conditionings & preconceived notions. Each individual has a special set of conditionings regarding ‘good and bad’, ‘right and wrong’, ‘enlightened and unenlightened’; which subsequently becomes the major obstruction in seeing ‘What Is’... or cognizing our Real Nature. Our own concepts forbid us from recognizing the ultimate reality. Many missed beloved Nisargadatta Maharaj & what he was actually pointing at, due to their love towards their cherished concepts. Enlightenment is usually assumed as personal as the assumed personality is trying to seek it! :-) It is undoubtedly not a state but with the restrictions of words sometime it is expressed as an Eternal State! This non-dual eternal state is not dependent on any actions and yet every action is its own reflection in duality on the screen of consciousness. All the efforts by the assumed limited entity to SEE the unlimited with the spectacles of duality are futile. All the efforts to recognize the Unlimited through the tool of intelligence (to divide and see) is fruitless! And to understand the futility of natural divisive mechanism of the mind or the intelligence is beginning of the real spirituality where everything is seen ‘as it is’. There is neither any friction nor any effort to judge… ‘What Is’! Where the head gear fails… the heart gear opens up automatically and leads to our Real Abode! Real freedom is anyway inevitable... inescapable. Just KNOW your neighbor right HERE & NOW! Thanks & Best wishes.
Jai-Guru _()_

With Love n Regards,
Nitin Ram
29 April 2011
www.abideinself.blogspot.com