Continuing along with the theme of flowing like water, I wanted to share the following excerpt from the book "I AM THAT" by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. In the book, a questioner is asking Maharaj (an enlightened master) how to achieve freedom or liberation.
Maharaj says "Inertia and restlessness (tamas and rajas) work together and keep clarity and harmony (sattva) down. Tamas and Rajas must be conquered before Sattva can appear. It will all come in due course, quite spontaneously.
Questioner: Is there no need of effort then?
Maharaj: When effort is needed, effort will appear. When effortlessness becomes essential, it will assert itself. You need not push life about. Just flow with it and give yourself completely to the task of the present moment, which is the dying now to the now. For living is dying. Without death life cannot be.
Get hold of the main thing that the world and the self are one and perfect. Only your attitude is faulty and needs readjustment.
This process or readjustment is what you can sadhana. You come to it by putting an end to indolence and using all your energy to clear the way for clarity and charity. But in reality these all are signs of inevitable growth. Don’t be afraid, don’t resist, don’t delay. Be what you are. There is nothing to be afraid of. Trust and try. Experiment honestly. Give your real being a chance to shape your life. You will not regret."
Can you trust the process of your life? Can you trust that your higher self, your true self is always evolving? In the words of Majaraj, can you trust that there is "inevitable growth"?
Are you stuck in a habit of "trying"? Can you begin to trust, just a little, that you don’t have to try? When life demands full attention, you will give it full attention. When life demands relaxation, you will flow into relaxation. When you begin to live in tune with your higher wisdom, you begin to trust that the right response at the right moment will come to you.
Practice seeing perfection. Look at your own life – how have your struggles helped you to expand? How have your blessings contributed to the world? Re-read the passage "Get hold of the main thing that the world and the self are one and perfect. Only your attitude is faulty and needs reajustment." Be like water, step into the flow and practice seeing the perfection in the myriad shapes, forms, and directions that your life takes.
Wishing you unlimited peace, joy, and abundance,
About sarah.maria
Sarah Maria is a body-image expert who helps people love their bodies no matter how they look. She shows people how to discover the beauty that is already inside of them, right now, in this moment. Once they connect with this beauty, they will discover that anything is possible - that they can create a body and a life that they truly love. Her mission is to create a world where every person sees the beauty in themselves and in others.
Her book, Love Your Body, Love Your Life, will be released in November of 2009. Sarah Maria has studied and trained with well-known teachers and physicians, including Deepak Chopra, Dr. David Simon, Wayne Dyer, and Jack Canfield, among others. Her work has been endorsed by Deepak Chopra, Dr. David Simon, and NY Times best-selling author Marci Shimoff, as well as many other notable physicians, psychologists, and educators. Before writing her first book, she received a law degree from Stanford and a Master's degree in international affairs from Columbia University.
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Sarah,
Had you read some book from me, it will go like this….
Questioner: How to achieve freedom or liberation?
Baba Anurag maharaj : Do you know what is liberation?
Questioner : Yes, I suppose it is complete freedom.
Baba Anurag maharaj : You suppose, Have you met someone who is completely free?
Questioner : I have not , but Is it not the prime purpose of life to get liberated ?
Baba Anurag maharaj : Then you can die, you will be liberated.
Questioner : Are you joking ? I need to die for liberation? Are you talking of dying of ego or attitudes or the past or future?
Baba Anurag maharaj : No, I am talking of dying of your body, real death.
Questioner : Baba, you are talking crazy? Why shall I die to get liberation?
Baba Anurag maharaj : Cause you were created to be bonded with this soul inside your body. If you want to defy the purpose of your creation, better die.
Questioner : So liberation is not really required.
Baba Anurag maharaj: No, Never, what is the need?
Questioner : What about the freedom of the soul?
Baba Anurag maharaj : Do you make an engine to run without a Car?
Questioner : Then what shall I do ?
Baba Anurag maharaj: Do nothing. Just live. Do not search.
Questioner : Then where will I reach ?
Baba Anurag maharaj : You are already here , where do you want to reach?
Questioner : Baba , I do not trust you, I was running for so many worldly things, money, fame, power, lust etc but always felt unsatisfied, so I was suggested to meet a spiritual Baba like you, you must get me salvation.
Baba Anurag maharaj : I can not get you salvation, nobody can, if you still want to run, you may run for salvation now for rest of your life.
….
So it will go on, I will again take some avatar in next posts…
Best wishes
Great post Sarah. I enjoyed reading I am that very much and just thought yesterday of reading it again….that's how "he" works : )
May perfection be our awareness.
The words of the Wise are almost always directed to some particular person & / or circumstance. so we dont want to automatically assume they are applicable in every situation . . . But, yes, it's true that when we are in tune with our * better angels * / higher Self we Do spontaneously do the right thing & join the cosmic dance rather than oppose it, either wittingly or unwittingly. And when that kind of Awareness moves more & more into the foreground, we can then begin more & more to cease effort & simply allow It to operate unfettered. In fact, in that case, it is not even a decision – it simply happens, as we have then become accustomed to Opening to Formless Wisdom ItSelf.
But until such Awareness does come into the foreground, we remain blinded by the delusion of separation / ego, we are more likely than not to continue to make mistakes, as ego seeks to effect its agenda – in which case some * effortless effort * may be required to nudge ourselves onto a better, more universal track. For example, we may decide to meditate & give it some priority in our lives even though there may be times we might be tempted to forego it. So, some slight effort will then take us back on a better, happier course . .
It is grave error to assume that doing nothing will result in the best outcome for us – akin to setting out to travel to a new place but without direction, thinking that we can somehow get there if we just begin walking & following our impulse at every crossroad. That kind of thinking is why scriptures like the Ashtavakra Gita are often misunderstood, seen not as the experience of one Established in Unity, but rather as advising against practice, with the idea that simply hanging out with the whim of the moment will get one beyond the delusion of separation. It may in the very end but it would be a long painful path for most, however much we might Wish it were otherwise.
To make an * effortless effort *, however, aiming in the direction of Full Awareness is a thoroughly unregrettable & sattvic choice. To obsess on it, however, hardening & localizing awareness in the process, would indeed be self-defeating & lead one further from Full Awareness – & white knuckled grasping in the name of evolving is what the Already Wise are addressing. [ Nisgardatta's words are Trurely Divine but should be rightly understood . . in this case, Right Thinking precedes Right Action . . ]
The Already Wise or Nearly Wise Can abandon effort & simply float on the river of Self. Until then, no effort at all is most likely floating on the river of Ego.
When the Truth is realized, the false drops off. No special effort is required to let it go. ~ Nisargadatta Maharaj
He who Knows Brahman becomes Brahman . . Mundaka Upanishad
Anurag Sharma, yes, it's true we Are " already There " but we don't KNOW it ! lol And that's what it's All About – Knowing it/It, having that be our EXPERIENCE, not just our thought, is All that's required, i.e Realizing ( It ) / Re-Cognition / Remembering. And when we are Enlightned, we will then Know we were * Already There * . . BUT
in the meantime, Tremendous Suffering . .
A Very Wise Master once said : simply saying " bread, bread " will not satisfy hunger . .
& if you doubt that, look at your thoughts vs your experience & then look at how much you continue to suffer . .
thoughts that lead one to take action, to make the " effortless effort " that leads to permanent satiation, are valuable thoughts . . but until they do & satiation is our reality, it is simply " Water, water everywhere & not a drop to drink " . .
Talk as much philosophy as you like, worship as many gods as you please, observe ceremonies and sing devotional hymns, but Liberation will never come, even after a hundred aeons, without Realization / Awareness of the Universal Self. ~ Adi Shankara
Clear Light,
I do not understand what do you say.
I am telling you not to suffer as you do not need to search and be in pain. To get the enlightenment only after suffering, is that what you suggest?
I am also telling you that Liberation does not exist. If you try to understand with a little with your mind and more by your being, you do not need to go through any suffering.
And what is enlightenment? Why only Buddha got it for ages and nobody else could?
And if everyone has its own way of experiencing Enlightenment, why do you call it enlightenment?
And if there is some definition of enlightenment which does exist, what happens subsequently , please let me know.
Hi Anurag,
Enlightenment is real and what Buddha saw under the tree, so can you, for it is the same realm witnessed by all the sages who
Anurag,
Simply infroming some one that
I think the idea of liberation is that we gain knowledge that helps us to act and think in a way that no longer causes us pain or suffering. These can be very simple lessons of not touching a hot stove, to acheiving the highest level of awareness. Each time we learn something new, we are liberated from ignorance. In ignorance, we are doomed to repeat the acts and thoughts that cause us pain and suffering. Enlightenment is the same as learning, but I suppose enlightenment could be more difinitive. Meaning that one who is enlightened has learned to the point of never acting or thinking in a way that causes pain or suffering. But as Shweta said, we are all enlightened to the level or stage in that we currently exist. Some thing that we believe today as true we may find not true tomorrow, and so we learn. And each one of us has learned our own version of truth, but are on the path of seeking the ultimate truth, the one truth that is true for all; unity.
Ego plays a crucial role in enlightenment, as ego seeks to keep us separate. The closer we ally to ego's goal of separation and the notion of superiority, the more we suffer. Ego seeks to erase truth, because in unity, there is no superiority and thus no need for ego. Find the missing piece and keep ego as an eager student, not as master.
Anurag, hmmm …… not sure how to clarify it further . .
perhaps a few questions will clarify what i see as the tripping points in the " we're already there " so there's nothing we need do & the " Liberation does not exist " assertion :
1. if we are " already there" then why are most suffering in one way or the other ?
2. and by saying that Liberation does not exist, are you saying that humankind is then forever relegated to suffering ( since Liberation is liberation from suffering ) ?
that " Liberation does not exist " is true only from the viewpoint of a yogi, one no longer identifies with his/her suffering form so there is nothing from which to be liberated . . for the rest of us blokes, however, suffering is quite real & freedom from it would be welcome indeed.
as for the definition of enlightenment, there are many ways it has & can be defined/described & all are aspects of the same phenomenon . . one of those would be Awareness permanently established Beyond mind & form, i.e. permanent surrender of ego / body identification . . that is, freedom from identification with your particular, present form . . & as a result of that shift of Awareness to the FormLess, one is freed from the assault of change & suffering formerly associated with one's form . .
not sure if that helps any, Anurag . . but Great Peace to You : )