YOU
HAVE LIVED IN THOUGHT. You have given tremendous importance
to thinking, but thinking is old, thinking is never new,
thinking is the continuation of memory. If you have lived there,
obviously there is some kind of continuity. And it is a
continuity that is dead, over, finished. It is something old,
but only that which ends can have something new. So dying is
very important to understand. To die to everything that one
knows. Have you ever tried it? To be free from the known, to be
free from your memory, even for a few days; to be free from your
pleasure, without any argument, without any fear; to die to your
family, to your house, to your name; to be completely anonymous.
It is only the person who is completely anonymous who is in a
state of non-violence, who has no violence. So die every day,
not as an idea, but actually. Do it sometime.
One has collected so much, not only in books, houses, the bank
account, but inwardly; the memories of insults, the memories of
flattery, the memories of your own particular experiences,
neurotic achievements which give you a position. To die to all
that without argument, without discussion, without any fear,
just give it up; do it sometime and you will see. To do it
psychologically—not giving up your wife, your clothes, your
husband, your children or your house, but inwardly—is not to be
attached to anything. In that there is great beauty. After all,
that is love, isn't it?
Q: Some say the universe was created. Others say it
always existed and is forever undergoing transformations. Some
say it is subject to eternal laws. Others deny even causality.
Some say the world is real. Others that it has no being
whatsoever.
A: Which world are you enquiring about?
Q: The world of my perceptions, of course.
A: The world you can perceive is a very small world
indeed. And is entirely private. Take it to be a dream and be
done with it.
Q: How can I take it to be a dream? A dream does not
last.
A: How long will your own little world last?
Q: After all my little world is but a part of the total.
A: Is not the idea of a total world part of your personal
world? The universe does not come to you to tell you that you
are part of it. It is you who has created a totality to contain
you as a part.
In fact all you know is your own private world
however well you have furnished it with your imaginations and
expectations.
Q: Surely, perception is not imagination!
A: What else? Perception is recognition, is it not?
Something entirely unfamiliar can be sensed, but cannot be
perceived. Perception involves memory.
Q: Granted, but memory does not make it illusion.
A: Perception, imagination, expectation, anticipation and
illusion are all based on memory. There are hardly any border
lines between them. They just merge into each other. All are
responses of memory.
Q: Still, memory is there to prove the reality of my
world.
A: How much do you remember? Try to write down from
memory what you were thinking, saying and doing on the 30th of
last month.
Q: Yes, there is a blank.
A: It is not so bad. You do remember a lot—unconscious
memory makes the world in which you live so familiar.
Q: Admitted that the world in which I live is subjective
and particular. What about you? In what kind of world do you
live?
A: My world is just like yours. I see, I hear, I feel, I
think, I speak and act in a world I perceive, just like you. But
with you it is all, with me it is almost nothing. Knowing the
world to be a part of myself, I pay it no more attention than
you pay to the food you have eaten. While being prepared and
eaten, the food is separate from you, and your mind is on it;
once swallowed, you become totally unconscious of it. I have
eaten up the world and I need not think of it anymore.
~
Writing: Nisargadatta
Maharaj
-
I AM THAT
Art: Triple Self Portrait -
Norman
Rockwell
As new
waked from soundest sleep Soft on the flowery herb I found me laid In balmy sweat, which with his beams the sun Soon dried, and on the reeking moisture fed.
Straight
toward heaven my wondering eyes I turned, And gazed a while the ample sky, till raised By quick instinctive motion up I sprung, As thitherward endeavoring, and upright Stood on my feet; about me round I saw Hill, dale, and shady woods, and sunny plains, And liquid lapse of murmuring streams; by these, Creatures that lived, and walked, or flew, Birds on the branches warbling; all things smiled, With fragrance and with joy my heart overflowed.
My self I
then perused, and limb by limb Surveyed, and sometimes went, and sometimes ran With supple joints, and lively vigor led: But who I was, or where, or from what cause, Knew not; to speak I tried, and forthwith spake, My tongue obeyed and readily could name Whatever I saw.
Two elderly couples were enjoying friendly conversation when one
of the men asked the other, "Fred, how was the memory clinic you
went to last month?"
"Outstanding," Fred replied. "They taught us the latest memory
techniques of visualization and association. It has really
helped me."
"That's great! What was the name of the clinic?"
Fred went blank and he thought and thought, but couldn't
remember. Then a smile broke across his face and he asked,
"What’s the name of that red flower with a long stem and
thorns?"
"You mean a rose?"
"Yes, that's it!" He turned to his wife and said, "Rose, what’s the name
of that memory clinic?"
The
One Life
● One Heart
● One Love
E-letter is distributed freely for
educational purposes. Copyrighted material may be used in
accordance with the doctrine of "fair use" as set forth in
Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act -Title 17 U.S. Code. If
your material has been used and you'd like it removed, contact
us and we'll remove it:
info@livinginpeace-thenaturalstate.com
Q: Some say the universe was created. Others say it
always existed and is forever undergoing transformations. Some
say it is subject to eternal laws. Others deny even causality.
Some say the world is real. Others that it has no being
whatsoever.
Two elderly couples were enjoying friendly conversation when one
of the men asked the other, "Fred, how was the memory clinic you
went to last month?"