Nisargadatta's Message

Notes from Kings Cross Saturday 13th December 08.

2009-03-22T05:08:00.000-07:00

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Begin at the beginning.
Right here and now, without resorting to conceptual thinking, what is there that is lacking? - Isn’t there a naked presence of awareness or awareness of presence that is perfect whole and complete just as it is? - Can you negate this pure knowing awareness that you already and truly are? - No, you cannot negate THIS ineffable essence of Omniscient awareness that you truly are, nor can you ever grasp or understand it with any thought or mental concept. - This being the case, wouldn’t it be wise to allow it to pattern and function you as you appear to be, as that illusory separate entity "me”, without trying to change, alter, modify, correct or perfect it in any way.

Can I correct, improve or perfect what is already naturally perfect, and that is this natural or primordial state that sages like Nisargadatta Maharaj never tired of pointing to? Of course not! - This empty essence of all knowing awareness is not a 'thing’, it is no thing, yet it always "is”, and you are THAT always and ever. - This un-manifested Noumenon or non-dual Absolute is empty of all content and is the reality that every seeming person is seeking. - Emptiness suffused with awareness or Rigpa as it is pointed to in Dzogchen, the highest expression of Buddhism, is infinite, self-existing, self-shining intelligence or naked knowingness (Jnana Prajnana in sanskrit).
This is what you truly are, are you not knowing right now? However this activity of pure knowing or pure experiencing doesn't contain any 'knower' or 'experiencer' as such. The knower and the known imply duality, and experiences come and go but the pure knowing and experiencing never comes or goes and remains unchanged throughout eternity.
This is Advaita, the home of non-duality and you have never left it. - Awaken to or re cognize this fact and be free of psychological suffering.
There is nothing to be done, nowhere to go, nothing to practice or meditate on.
Can you empty this emptiness? - And what is emptiness empty of? - It is empty of a separate, permanent self or soul. - It is also empty of any god, and god, as he is usually conceived of, can only exist in consciousness or manifestation, which is the domain of duality. No self, no me,
no Mr or Mrs So and So, - then no problem! - Problems exist only in duality and there is no duality in non-duality, no islands, if's or but's. - Suffering only happened to a "me”, and when it is investigated and clearly seen that there is no me, there never has been and there never could be, this itself is the end of sorrow, the end of suffering. This alone is self realization already realized. - The realization of the fact that I alone am the Honored one above and below the heavens, I alone exist non-dual One without a second.
This is not arrogance but true humility, am I separate from my Self, not my apparent ego self but my true non-dual essence? - The answer is, no I am not, I am THAT, and so are you. - Wake up now, right this instant or continue to hold on to your limited identity or suffering engendered by self imposed beliefs and limitations. - All that is needed is the courage to look directly at what is seemingly limiting you, question and investigate all your preconceived concepts and beliefs and they will fall away quite spontaneously without any effort on your part. - However, if they are not questioned or challenged they will continue to hold sway over you and cause you unnecessary psychological suffering.
All this is about is suffering and the end of suffering. - This need not be, it is as simple as that, everything is in your hands, come home to the place you have never left - nearer than hands and feet. - This aware 'no thing' is the most intimate and THAT thou art!
- End.

Notes from Kings Cross Tuesday 10th February 09.

2009-03-09T04:23:00.000-07:00

What is it that I want to express and who is the 'I' that I am referring to? - Isn't this I just a phantom, an imagined conceptual entity and isn't everything already perfect just "as it is"?
This “As it is” or "what is" that is being pointed to or described presently with these seeming words and concepts is nothing perceivable or conceivable yet it always "is", you cannot negate this inconceivable essence that is Omnipresence, Omnipotence, Omniscience.
This that is being pointed to is pure Advaita, the very home on non-duality, so to speak. - There is nothing simpler that non-duality, or One without a second and there is nothing separate or apart from THAT, that you truly (and ever) are, right here and now, always and ever. So start from the 'fact' that you already are THAT essence that you are seeking. - This that is being referred to is the very livingness, the everlasting life pointed to in the scripture, the unchanging essence of everything and anything whatsoever.
What can be more simpler? - You cannot grasp this all-knowing presence, which expresses through the mind as the thought or concept "I am", nor can you ever negate it, as its Omnipresence has to be there whether there is affirmation or negation
This is the whole crux of the matter under consideration, but is this where you look for your Self? - Usually not, for one is mesmerized by the content of the acquired mind of memory which only comes into operation around the age of 2 and a half years! - The mind is time and can never and will never grasp the timeless, the non-dual Absolute. - This is all that truly needs to be seen by no one.
Realize that everything is happening quite spontaneously; seeing, hearing, breathing, smelling, touching, without the input of any separate person, entity, or thing. - You, as that person or entity have not, will not, nor will ever, do anything at all!
You, as that person or entity, are the child of a barren woman and have no substance or independent nature of your own apart from this timeless non dual, non-conceptual, all knowing essence that is presently being described or pointed to.
You are nothing at all, yet you are an aware nothing, because you cannot negate this aware no thing that you truly are. - You cannot say, “I am not!” because what is allowing you to say that?
You cannot know yourself because you are not a thing, you are the aware no thing that contains every seeming thing. - You are the Source, so to speak, from which everything comes and to which everything returns in this ‘Maya’ the play of apparent manifestation.

This means that you alone exist, non-dual One without a second and all the gods, all the different religions are only your own concept or imagination because, before there can be any god, you as the non dual unchanging reality have to be there first.
Do you realize the implications of what is being said? - Can you realize the implications of what is being pointed to or hinted at?
One doubts it, because you are too hypnotized by your own self-importance or life story and that is all it is, a fictitious made up story no matter how grandiose or full of pain and suffering it may appear to be.
I would like to know myself. - Are there two selves that one could know the other? - You are your Self whether you know it or not. - Have you lost your Self and are now anxiously looking for it? - Will you never find your Self? - The so-called seeker will never become a finder, because what the seeker is seeking, he or she already 'is'! Simply realize and acknowledge this fact and the seeking will drop away by itself, there will be no need to end the search, as is being trumpeted around on various Advaita websites.
Again, don't pretend to be what you are not – you are not this miserable, limited, separate person or entity - and don't refuse to be what you truly are, the deathless, non-dual essence or the very livingness itself.
- End.

Audio of Mark's Talks on next page down.

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Notes from Kings Cross, Sunday 9th to Wednesday 12th Nov 08 and Thursday 20th November 2008 -and Saturday 10th October 08.

2008-10-25T06:01:00.000-07:00

NEWS: New Website for Mark West is at Click here
Listen to the earlier interviews. This new website will be added to over the coming weeks. Enjoy.

New Audio of Mark - Dec 08 - part 1.

Part two:

New Note:

Notes from Kings Cross Sunday 9th to Wednesday 12th Nov 08.
Waking,dream and deep sleep states endlessly recurring, what a bother!

These three states and the consciousness are the only capital one seemingly possesses. - Aren't these three states and the consciousness itself, intermittent, inconstant and impermanent? - Who is it that knows or is aware of this fact? - Have a good look at it, look into what is being pointed to here. - If I loose these three states and the consciousness, have I lost anything of any lasting value? - This craving, thirst or lust to live, this insatiable desire to be and to continue to be and to exist as a physical body-mind organism indefinitely is what the Buddha referred to in his first noble truth as suffering. - Thana (sanskrit for thirst, craving or desire) is the cause of psychological suffering. - Who is it that awakens, dreams and sleeps and is born and dies? - This is what is to be inquired into. -

Only when it is clearly seen that there is no entity with any substance or independent nature apart from the all knowing unborn awareness, which Nisargadatta Maharaj referred to as the natural state - and which Banki the 16th century Japanese Zen monk called the unborn buddha mind; only then will there be an end to psychological suffering. This body-mind entity that appears and disappears is in the final analysis, nothing but the unborn essence that is animating it and allowing everything to seemingly occur in the manifestation. - Nirvana and Samsara are inseparable. -

The forms that appear are nothing but emptiness,and paradoxically for the mind, this emptiness is form at the very same time. - This emptiness is suffused with awareness or pure unlimited intelligence. - This space like awareness or endless activity of knowing is everlasting life, unlimited potential or capacity. - This all knowing, ever-lasting essence or suchness is ineffable, inexpressible, inconceivable and beyond life and death as they appear to the unenlightened to be. - Salvation or liberation is nothing other that the knowledge of oneself as the only One, the non-dual Absolute itself, so to speak. - When this dawns upon you as it did for Banki, Nisargadatta Maharaj, myself and many others throughout recorded history, you will directly realize that you have never been born, nor have you carried out any worldly activities at all. - The belief that you have done any of these things and that you are the doer of your actions is pure ignorance and unreality. - All so called problems are spontaneously resolved in THIS unborn buddha mind or natural state. -

Why then swap this unborn essence that you truly are for thought, thinking that 'I' as this illusory separate entity am going to work things out, figure things out in the mind of memory and recently acquired knowledge, run the whole show by my separate self, so to speak. - Your mind is not your enemy, it is a useful tool for functioning in daily life - but by itself it cannot grasp this unborn essence or buddha mind, if you want to call it that,that you always and ever are. - Seeing this what do you do? - Nothing at all,simply relax into this pure awareness that you already are and allow it to live you, breathe you and function you quite effortlessly as it has always been doing all along. - Leave it alone and let it run the show instead of getting all uptight and anxious and trying to second guess every petty little thing that happens. -

This very consciousness, I am So and So, a limited sentient human being is something new to us is it not? - Even if it has seemingly been there for 90 years, this so called span of time is less than an instant when seen from the timeless background of this already pure space like all knowing awareness that has never changed or altered in any way and that is being totally ignored by the apparent separate entity or person. - 90 years has a beginning and an ending but this non conceptual empty essence of all knowing awareness that you truly are has no beginning or ending. - This awareness that I am pointing to is not a thing as such, as it contains all apparent things and nothing contains it. - Can you grasp this awareness that is animating the body mind organism and everything else both animate and inanimate? - Of course not! -

Things perish but this aware 'no thing' that you truly are cannot perish, it is unborn unceasing without any beginning or ending and you are THAT non dual Absolute, you cannot possibly be anything else separate or apart from THAT. - This alone is self-realization, liberation, or any other term you would like to apply to this unchanging reality that is pure Advaita,the essence of non duality. - Reality is THAT which never changes, comes or goes. - THIS is it. - TAT TVAM ASI (the Sanskrit Maha-Vakya,or great statement from the Upanishads) meaning THOU ART THAT! - The Supreme Reality. - End.

Previous note:
There can't be even the slightest duality in this non duality that we point to in all these so called exchanges.
To know for certain,that no one ever did exist before me - and that I alone exist, non dual, One without a second,is all that truly needs to be seen.
Don't I exist infinitely and eternally as this always present pure knowing awareness?
Can I recall a time when this awareness did not exist?
Now,whatever speculation is presented by the time bound mind,for example - 100 years back or 1000 years back, I did not exist, or I was not aware;where is this statement or speculation being presented from?
Isn't this being said or presented because of the presence of this always present awareness?
This is what is to be re-cognized or realized and that is the actuality of the undeniable fact that you have never left this naked, non conceptual awareness and in the final analysis, that you are THAT non dual Absolute or reality that you have endlessly been seeking through your family,friends,society,guru,religion and all other extraneous factors.
You cannot negate or deny this self evident fact of your very own being.
This being (SAT) in sanskrit, that I always and ever am, this ineffable non dual essence that is enabling these very concepts to be expressed,is my very own.
I do not owe this empty all knowing essence of awareness that I truly am to my parents, society or any other external thing.
The fact of the matter is, that I, this impersonal, formless essence that I truly and ever am, am not the result of sexual intercourse between so called human beings.
This you must realize for yourself through thorough investigation or self inquiry.
You yourself must know this truth or reality, no one else can know it for you.
You cannot take what is being said on blind faith or unsubstantiated erroneous belief.
What is being pointed to is the truth that will make you free but do you earnestly want this boundless,unlimited freedom?
To have this,the "me", the illusory self center Mr or Mrs So and So, must be seen to be non existent.
If you are not prepared to die,not physically but psychologically, then what is being said here is not for you.
Living and dying go together,but this essence that you truly are is deathless and changeless, nothing has ever touched or changed it in any way.
This alone is Advaita or non duality. - There is nothing simpler than this incontrovertible fact that there there is no such thing as duality at all; there is no duality in non duality, so what is it that needs to be done - and by whom?
Nothing and no one at all, even though the very opposite may appear to be the case.
Look, see and investigate that what appears and disappears is not you, the changeless pure being or essence.
Don't you, as that aware essence or aware no thing, ever prevail?
Aren't you there eternally and timelessly?
Can you ever recall a time when you, as this non conceptual presence of awareness were not there?
I think the answer is clear and obvious, as you cannot negate THIS that you truly are.
You cannot say - I am not, or I was not, as there is some inconceivable essence or presence there that is allowing you to say this.
Just realize or become aware of the fact that, yes, I am awake, I am aware and relax into this awareness that you always and already are and let it spontaneously live you, breath you and function you, quite effortlessly, as it has always and ever been doing anyway, in spite of all your so called personal efforts.
- End.
New Audio from Mark:

Part 2 of above

Another Audio track from Mark:

Marks notes below:

Do I come from anywhere, and do I go anywhere, and who and what is the nature of this "I" that I am referring to? - Isn't this 'I' that I am referring to, just a thought, a mental concept? - This ‘I thought’ which becomes active around the age of 3 years onwards, takes on a seeming substance and substantiality of its own that in reality it doesn't actually possess. - If this ego 'I' is taken to be actual or real, then all the apparent trouble begins from there.
If there is 'I', then there is also ‘other than I’, and this is (sin) separation, isolation, anxiety etc.
If this I is not inquired into, questioned, and seen to be false, then there is no possibility for genuine freedom and an end to suffering. - So long as this false 'I' is holding sway, there is self-improvement, honor, duty, morality, piety, filial responsibility, national pride and every other evil under the sun. - As long as there is another, there is always going to be fear and hatred rife in the illusory world appearance.
Who am I, who are you, who think that you have destiny and free will and are personally running the show, so to speak?
Don't look at me or run to someone outside yourself, some priest or pope to find the answer to this riddle. - Look to your own Self, find out for yourself what you truly are. Do you need someone else to confirm your own existence? - You 'know' that you are, that you exist. - Good enough, start there, stay there and don't move away from this fact into thoughts and mental concepts. - Investigate the fact of your own being.
How did I come to be this miserable creature that I appear to be, this limited sentient human being? - How did this happen without my permission and has it truly happened or is it simply appearance only and not an ultimate reality?
These are the kind of questions one needs to ask oneself in order to see what is clear and obvious and staring you in the face, so to speak. - Contempt prior to investigation is keeping you in everlasting bondage and this need not be so. There is an end to psychological suffering and you don't have to wait until you are dead for this to happen; but there has to be earnestness or even a sense of urgency on your part first, before this can happen or occur.
How long are you going to remain locked up in the prison of religious beliefs and various other beliefs before you have the courage and gumption to question all these erroneous beliefs?
Start right here and now with the only fact that you are absolutely certain of and that is the fact of your own being, 'I am'. - This is the key to the whole seeming mystery.
Be in this I am, stay in this I am and don't be drawn out or distracted by any extraneous thoughts and mental concepts. - If you listen to your own yapping conceptual mind, if you get engrossed by this ceaseless flow of mental concepts and thoughts thinking that they will help or benefit you in some way, then these very concepts will strangle you and lead you to an early death before your allotted time.

Your mind is useful as an instrument for daily living, but in itself, it cannot grasp or understand this non-dual essence or deathless spirit that you truly are. - You will never find the answer in the mind, realize this fact and be free right here and now, not at some future time. - Your mind is time, memory and anticipation and it can never grasp the timeless, which is this presence awareness, the direct activity of knowing, this knowledge I am! - This pure knowledge, I am, has no shape design or form and you are THAT. - This is all anyone needs to know. - All other knowledge is only a form of ignorance. - Scientific, spiritual, and religious knowledge is only ignorance and not true or actual knowledge or Jnana. - This alone is the Jnana of the Jnani, pure and simple, you know that
'You are', not just for 70 years or so but infinitely and eternally; this is non duality, God, Truth or any other concept you would like to apply to this fact of your own being.
- End.
Interview with Mark on the next page.

Notes from Kings Cross Friday 30th May to Thursday 5th June 08.

2008-07-28T05:41:00.000-07:00

New CD available. Write to Mark for details on how to purchase the CD's. There are two different interview CD's available. Write to - markwest7 AT gmail.com (replace the AT with @).
Part of the interview can be heard here & now -click the player

"Gleanings from Nisargadatta" is a recently published book comprised of clear notes taken down by Mark West, while attending many meetings in Khetwadi, Bombay in 1976-77.

This remarkable book is a clear document of the wisdom expounded by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.
It covers the same period when 'Sailor Bob' Adamson was attending meetings there.
This period is not covered by the other books that are available.

Copies of this potent book can be ordered right NOW by clicking HERE .
Do not go to the link above on the right top side of screen - that link is not longer functioning (can't seem to remove it for some reason)

Copies are also available directly from Mark, for Sydney residents and visitors. - Email him for details of how to get a copy .

Listen to Mark:

Note from Kings Cross:

This consciousness I am 'So and So' is hard to bear and that is why apparent persons obsessively involve themselves in constant and unceasing activity.
There is the unspoken fear that if I stop or pause for any time or period, then I may disappear or cease to exist, therefore let me continue seeking, searching and constant business lest I am left in limbo and discover or become aware of my own nothing-ness.
'I' as that illusory separate entity don't want to die or disappear, therefore I must keep busy or I'll freak out or become insane.
This is the semi-conscious rational that the un-emancipated person or entity is seemingly in the grip of or under the sway of. - It doesn't want to pause, be still or contemplate even for an instant because it wants to perpetuate itself, it doesn't want to stop because that will mean it's own death and it will do anything to keep this dance alive and going.
This "me" or illusory entity will even invent a God, and if God is on my side that will make me more secure. - It never questions it's own reality as that separate entity - that I am Mr or Mrs 'So and So' is simply taken for granted.
My parents and society gave that name or label to me and therefore that is what I must be.
This idea of being born at such and such time and place and being somebody's son or daughter is sacrosanct and must never be examined or questioned. - To do so is taboo and an affront to society, and after all, one doesn't want to become an outcast, a weirdo. - All these irrational justifications keep this self made prison or cage intact. - Freedom is only for Jesus, Buddha, or some other saint sage or seer, not for me the ordinary Joe, and so it goes on endlessly.
One does not suspect even for an instant, that all this play (Lila) in the consciousness is unreal, illusory and simply appearance only. - None of this play, this ever changing movement in the consciousness would be possible without this ever present unchanging background of pure all knowing awareness that is always and ever with you. - You 'are' aware even now, you cannot negate this awareness or ever grasp it with any thought or conceptual label.

This awareness that is presently being pointed to is 'nothing' to the mind of so called 'man'. - This aware no thing is invisible to the senses of seeing, hearing, touching etc simply because it is empty of all content.
This deathless spirit of pure knowing awareness is space-like in its infinite subtleness and nothing contains it. - On the contrary this emptiness suffused with awareness (Rigpa in Dzogchen) contains every appearance, galaxy, star, universe, anything perceivable or conceivable and yet nothing contains it. - THIS non dual, non conceptual, self-shining, ever-fresh, ever new, presence awareness - just THIS and nothing else is what you truly 'are'.

You are not that body-mind entity that you have hypnotically taken yourself to be.
You have been hypnotized, totally mesmerized into believing that you are that miserable limited sentient human being that appears in your mirror each morning. - Nothing can be done about this and nothing needs to be done, because who is the 'you' that is going to do it? - Just see that you, the non-dual Absolute Reality, are not what you appear to be in the consciousness, which is time bound and ultimately unreal.
Let us come back to the analogy of the snake in the rope.
A man walking on a dim lit unpaved path in the twilight before nightfall sees immediately in front of him what appears to be a poisonous snake. - Immediately his hair stands on end, beads of perspiration appear on his forehead, his eyes dilate with fear, his pulse rate increases and heart beat starts racing. - Just at that moment a person further down the path calls out to him and says - my friend, it is only a rope! Immediately the fear, uncertainty and psychological suffering subside and he relaxes back into his natural stateless state or original condition.
Just like that man, I am telling you there is no snake (the manifest universe), there is only a harmless rope (the non dual deathless spirit or Absolute) and you already and always are THAT.
- End.

Several interviews with Mark West can be found on the early pages of this blogsite. - Go to the November 2005 link on the right hand side of the screen to find them. - They have been very popular with some.

Bob Adamson, Mark's friend from those days in India is featured on the following:
The Urban Guru Cafe - a Radio Show (podcast) on the subject of Non Duality.

Notes from Kings Cross Tuesday 20th to Sunday 26th May 08. -

2008-06-01T20:34:00.000-07:00

Is there anything to know, anywhere to go, anything to do?
The answer is, no, there is not. -There is just this ever present being which is always and ever whole or complete in itself, what is referred to in Advaita as One without a second.
If there is no second or other to this being that you already are right here and now, who then is the separate person with destiny and free will that you presently and mistakenly take to be your identity?
Look into this for yourself and solve this riddle of apparent separation or sin, as it is referred to in some of the religious traditions. - Are you separate, are you a miserable sinner or a virtuous saint? - Perhaps you are neither? - Are you separate from the animating life force, or what we refer to as consciousness?
Is consciousness personal (yours or mine) or is it universal? - I think it is rather obvious that consciousness, sentience, nature or life itself is universal and isn't the property of any person or individual.
No separate person or individual has control over life and death, so called.
Life has us, we as these seeming separate entities, don't have it. - That means that we as these phenomenal objects, humans, animals, nature in general, are being lived or animated by this utterly impersonal life force or universal consciousness. - If this is fact is realized, it results in freedom from this bondage of self, this phantom entity "me" that we had been shoring up, protecting, and investing all of our energy into.
This frees everything up and life or living becomes an effortless, endless flow of pure functioning without beginning or ending - a timeless throb (Sphurana) of pure presence awareness. -This infinite vibration, this ever fresh, ever new, ceaseless I - I, this unbroken and formless I that is always and ever present, pure functioning, cognizing emptiness, is what you truly 'are'. - THIS is nothing to the mind and that is why it is constantly being ignored.
THIS that is being pointed to is nothing perceivable or conceivable.
THIS emptiness suffused with awareness, this aware no thing cannot be understood or grasped by the mind of the so called individual simply because the mind as such is a thing, a bundle of memories, past experiences and concepts and it does not want to know or be introduced to this aware no thing which is the actual non dual Absolute or reality that alone can resolve or solve all problems and bring about genuine liberation and spiritual satisfaction.
The reason why the mind the mind doesn't want to know about what is being pointed to here is that it will loose it's illusory power and will no longer be running the show as it had always mistakenly assumed itself to be doing. - No "me", no problem!
All problems are problems of relationship - "me" and the so called other, but if there is no me there with any substance or independent nature of it's own, then how can there be any problems? The simple answer is - there can't be!
THIS all-knowing presence awareness is no thing to the mind or the so called "me" of memory. -This reference point, this acquired me of dead memories, concepts and past experiences is invalid; it doesn't exist when it is fearlessly looked into.
So when I say I like this or I don't like something else, what is this 'I' that I am talking about? -Isn't it just a dead image, a concept given by your parents and society to which you then added all the past events and experiences of your made up life story?

Have a good look at it, don't just go off half baked, don't run back into the mind of dead language and acquired thoughts, learning and concepts and say, yes, but what about this and what about my bad childhood etc, etc? That's just a cop out, a load of make belief and untruth, because in truth nothing has happened at all. -THIS self-shining, non dual pure knowing awareness has never ever changed or been affected by anything; it's undeniable. - intangible presence is enabling you to read these words here and now. -You have never left this all knowing awareness.
THIS is THAT non dual Absolute.
The TRUTH that makes you free, but do you want the TRUTH or do you prefer the lie of limitation (birth and death) and separation (sin)?
- End.

Notes from Kings Cross Monday 14th Jan 08.

2008-05-20T16:25:00.000-07:00

What is my true position? - Where am I actually located? - Isn't it a fact that I exist in and as space itself? - Does space have any centre or circumference? - For anything to exist it would have to be in space, and space itself is nothing, it has no location and is all pervasive.

Everything arises and is finally subsumed in that sky like space. - This space that you are seeing right in front of you is indestructible and invulnerable because it has no dimensions and is nothing or no thing. - Things perish, but the space that they are appearing in is imperishable - vast emptiness that wasn't created by anyone or anything.

This space-like awareness which expresses through the mind as the thought "I am" is formless. - The basis of this knowledge "I am" is unborn empty-awareness-knowing-ness. - True knowledge (Janna) has no shape or form. - I am THAT by which I know I am. - I am infinitely and eternally without any shape or form; nothing can touch me or know me because I alone Am - One without a second. - THIS activity of knowing, the knowledge "I am", doesn't have any shape, form, or design. - Trace any thought back to its origin, there you have all the love, all the power, all the knowledge and abundance you can ever need. - Eg: you are! Always and ever.

Realize that what you are seeking - perfection - you already are. - The concept or thought "I am' is the news spontaneously announcing your true condition or natural state of perfection, which in fact, you have never left. - Have a look at that - I am is not I was ( past ) or I will be ( future ), but I am here and now Absolutely and eternally - before Abraham was I am. - A step closer - before Jesus Christ was I am. - I am always and ever, and so are you. - I am THAT, you are THAT, there is nothing now or ever that is not THAT. - Isn't this clear and obvious to no one by now?

You know ' you are '. - That is the teaching in a nutshell. - Has anyone ever left that pure being-ness (Sat)? - Can anyone negate their being-ness? - It is quite obvious that they cannot. - However Being-ness or the non dual Absolute cannot know itself objectively - That which is seeking is that which is sought. - Objectively it's not there. - That's why you will never find the answer you are seeking in the mind, because you cannot find something that you have never lost - your own Being, your true identity - I am.

You are not what you have taken yourself to be - this corpse like physical body and it's illusory mind - the "me" of memory. - The past is dead and never really happened, so who are you? - What do you hope to achieve? - From where have you come and to where are you proceeding? - Ask these questions of yourself and the vice-like grip of the illusory self-centre will loose its hold on you and fall away without any effort on your part, leaving you here and now, Omnipresent, awake, and aware as you have always been.

You have never left this presence awareness except in conceptual speculation and memory. - Even then when the past is being recalled or the future is being anticipated, this is only happening presently. - You never actually go to the future or return to the past except in conceptual thinking (mind). - You can never live in the past or future, you can only live presently. - The past is dead and the future has not yet arrived.

When the future arrives it will be presently - NOW. - This is the only instant there ever is, there is no other time but now no matter what position the hands of the clock are in, and every instant is the best instant, the first instant of knowing, ever fresh, ever new, uncontaminated by any imagination

The Omnipresent, unchanging equal-ness of this space like activity of pure knowing is Advaita. - This knowing has nothing to do with the knowing of the mind which is time, past and future, knowing facts like this or that, he or she, the duality of phenomena. - No one can negate this presence of awareness nor can it be grasped with a thought or concept. - Therefore it is immediately seen to be true, as it is continually pointed out and alluded to in Advaita, that you will never find the answer to the riddle of existence and non existence in the mind as such. - This is all anyone, so called, needs to know.

- End.

Notes from Kings Cross Mon - Tues 21 & 22nd Jan 08.

2008-04-05T02:26:00.000-07:00

Important notice:
NEW contact email address is: markwest7@gmail.com

How did I come to be? - Do I personally play any part in the appearance and disappearance of this consciousness "I am", or did all this play ( Lila ) of consciousness and it's content come about spontaneously without any volition, choice, or knowledge of any so called separate individual?
The consciousness itself is fully manifest.
Everything exists in the light of this conscious knowing-ness.
In other words consciousness is everything there is.
It is important to see that there is nothing apart from consciousness and no object,person or thing can exist apart from this conscious presence.

Consciousness is it's content, therefore nothing has ever existed,because for something to exist permanently it would have to be apart or separate from consciousness and this is an impossibility, for everything is consciousness as we have just pointed out.
This consciousness expressing as the concept I am So and So, is illusory, time bound, impermanent.

There is no thought or concept that can stand on it's own apart from the being-ness - consciousness which is itself time - bound.However THAT which knows the consciousness is the reality or non-dual Absolute that everyone, so called is seeking.
All the play in the consciousness including the illusory separate individuals and the phenomenal universe is Maya - ignorance.
So when the consciousness disappears do I who know this disappear? Whatever is happening from the Absolute standpoint, without the knowledge "I am", is very profound,unlimited,expansive.
This is what is to be abided in,not by any entity or person but by the apperception that there is only One state or reality,not two.
This is genuine Advaita (Unicity).

There is no compromise, simply because there 'is' no duality in non-duality.

In the Absolute the I am-ness arises spontaneously and then experience of duality takes place.
In the Absolute there is no individuality, no memory that I am this or that, but there is a continual stirring,an endless activity or movement without beginning or end, and this the mind of the individual or person (so called) can never comprehend.

The Absolute state, so called cannot be obtained.
THAT is your state - THIS is it.
To the Absolute state witnessing of the consciousness happens.
Nothing needs to be done by anyone, just be as you are in this natural stateless state,unperturbed by the ceaseless arising and passing away of conceptual thoughts and images.

What remembers and forgets is not you.
You are the changeless background or screen upon which all these changing things of phenomena, are projected.
Do not think of even the actual act of seeing all these changing things of life, birth, death and phenomena, but rather of THAT which makes all these things possible.
Keep your mind fixed on THAT Omnipresence that is untouched any passing thought, thing or fancy.
This may seem impossible at first,because of the incessant habit energy of belief that has been invested in these conceptual thoughts and images.

However the false can not stand up to investigation, and when the falseness of these changing phenomena are directly seen,they will lose their power to distract from this ever present awareness,that prior to this investigation had been ignored, taken for granted, or simply overlooked.
Relax without conception or reference point in un-distracted non meditation.
Don't even bother to meditate.If there is no distraction - moving away in thought from this Omnipresent I am-ness, then meditation is spontaneously taking place - the meditation of being, or what in Dzogchen, the highest expression of Buddhism refers to as 'un-distracted non-meditation'. - Effortless presence with what is!

Meditation is your natural condition, and it is taking place ceaselessly, like oil being poured into oil - an endless unbroken movement without beginning or ending.
Nirvana is extinction - no permanent entity or thing to meditate or not meditate - unborn,unceasing beyond all transformation - the highest happiness, the peace that passes all understanding - the Buddha smile - the unborn Buddha mind or essence which Nisargadatta Maharaj calls your natural state.
Why swap THIS for thought, trying unsuccessfully to find this boundless space of non conceptual knowing awareness which cannot be found because it was never lost, as it is every-where - every-when?

End.

Notes from Kings Cross Saturday 8th March 08.

2008-03-30T02:02:00.000-07:00

Who am I? - Whence am I? - Has anything happened in reality or have I simply been duped by illusion? - When I look for myself I can't find myself as any separate entity or thing, there just seems to be empty space or boundless presence without any entity that knows this pure being or presence.
So isn't it a fact that I am nothing perceivable or conceivable, yet I still am? - Nothing can know me or fathom me because I contain all - the sword can't cut me, the fire can't burn me, the wind can't dry me, the water can't drown me, simply because I contain all these things, they don't contain me as I am non-dual, One without any second at all.

What is true of me is also true of you who are seemingly hearing this pointing out instruction.
Know this truth for yourself and THAT will make you free, not any external guru or thing.
Nothing has ever touched me as THAT and I am infinitely expansive without any beginning or ending.
When you see me dead I am more alive than ever, and when you see me as a living body-mind I am dead as that; how muddled up you are!
It is your own reflection as mind or consciousness that has caused this confusion or psychological suffering, no one else is doing anything to you or causing you suffering or unhappiness.

Realize that you will never find any solution or answer to the riddle of existence in the mind of memory and anticipation. -This acquired mind is a useful tool for functioning in daily life, but it is worse than useless as an instrument for discovering your true nature or ultimate reality.
The mind or "me" as such is made up of ideas and concepts and has no substance or independent existence apart from this space of pure knowing awareness upon which it is appearing like a reflection in a mirror.
This mirror like knowing presence is ineffable and unknowable and certainly cannot be grasped by any person, concept or thing.

Once this is clearly seen by no one, all attempts at grasping, understanding or knowing this boundless space of awareness fall away spontaneously and you are left here and now present and aware as you have always been.
You, even though there 'is' no you, (I still have to use words to point to THIS) leave everything ' as it is', unaltered, unmodified, uncorrected, without preference, partiality, or comparison.
You cease running the show and playing god and let THIS conscious presence - awareness, which you already are, run the universe.

It is clearly seen that there isn't any entity there to control or do anything. - A bit hard to swallow at one go isn't it?
It puts a bit of a dent in the old pride and demolishes the fictitious story of your life that you have been boring everyone with for so long.
This destiny or story is totally false and there has been no entity that has ever done anything.
You are not beating your heart, digesting your food or circulating your blood, this is all taking place quite spontaneously in spite of, rather than because of you as that ego or entity.

Do I want to hear all this; am I ready to hear this? - If you are still with this pointing out, then there may be a resonation with what is being said.
If this is resonating at your end then you already know the truth of what is being said and you are not getting anything from me personally.
Everyone (so-called) already knows THIS. - This is definitely known by everyone but it has seemingly been forgotten.
Even the learning’s of a lifetime can't stand up once that bell starts to ring.
If this rings a bell with you then you know the truth for yourself.
There is resonation with what is being pointed out. I am that ringing bell of utter freedom and effortless living.
Wake up right this instant, this very first and only instant, and be what you are - the non-dual Absolute.

End.

Notes from Kings Cross Saturday 23rd Feb 08.

2008-03-25T19:42:00.000-07:00

What we talk about here is something that can't really be talked about at all. - It cannot be expressed in words or concepts, but language is the only tool we have at our disposal to point to THIS. - The words we are using are not the actuality but are useful simply as pointers to what is. - Call it Advaita, non-duality, Truth or any other concept you would like to apply to this ever-present awareness - knowingness that you cannot negate or deny. What is being said presents a whopping paradox to the everyday acquired mind or what we refer to as the "me" of memory. - This ordinary mind that we make use of to function in everyday life, tries to make sense of everything and uses logic and acquired knowledge to know about the external world of things in order to be able to control things and events so that it can feel safe and secure.

The mind as we generally refer to it is a thing, a bunch of memories and concepts, and being a thing it doesn't want to know about, and can never grasp, nothing or this aware no thing of pure ever present non conceptual awareness - such-ness that constitutes the truth of non-duality called Advaita. - As long as this illusory entity "me" is not seen through, all your actions will reinforce and perpetuate the seeming reality of this separate person or entity. - This activity is neither good or bad, it is just what is - pure ignorance masquerading as knowledge.

There are no real people at all, they are simply dream characters, images appearing on the screen of this aware no thing; without any substance or independent nature at all, apart from this empty awareness, which is nothing at all to the acquired mind of man, so called. - On investigation you will find that there is no separate independent entity that has ever done anything. - Yes, that's it, nothing has ever happened - it only seemed to. - The manifest universe is appearance only; it is unreal, illusionary, like the reflection of the moon seen in a pool of water.

The story of your life is just that, a story, it is imaginary. - There is no one there ever, there is just this boundless, empty, pure aware no thing. - So you as the entity can't meditate or become enlightened, you can't do anything, you are being done. - Whatever seemingly happens is what is meant to happen. - There are no mistakes because there is no independent entity there to make a mistake. - This completely confounds the educated mind. - The mind hates this and will do everything it can to resist or avoid what is being said here. - However if this is being read or heard it is already too late to turn back to duality, Maya, or delusion because your head is in the tiger's mouth, and once in the tiger's mouth of Advaita there can never be any escape.

A cardinal rule of what is being expounded is that you will never find or solve the profound mystery of existence by looking in the mind. - The answer is not in the mind - so full stop! Stop trying to reason out or grasp the ungraspable. - Give up this mental gymnastics. - Stop thinking that at some future time I will be fulfilled and find what I am endlessly seeking through my wife, husband, family, nation, culture, religion or any other imaginary external thing.

Your happiness or salvation does not lie in any external person or thing. - It is already with you, it is you. - The Mahavakya or great word of Hinduism, of Advaita is TAT TVAM ASI - Thou Art THAT. - You already are THAT non-dual pure essence that you are seeking. - This is so obvious, so simple, that you have been ignoring this self-shining empty cognisance that is your natural stateless state. - Whenever you think, usually it is always in duality, you always think on another - eg Joe, Julie, or some other so called person or thing. - Try to think on yourself and see what happens! I know a lot about others, history, science, technology, medicine, etc - all hearsay, acquired second hand - intellectual knowledge - mind stuff, but who or what am I? When you are turned around and begin to look along these lines, along the lines of Advaita, your progress, so called will be very swift.

End.

Notes from Kings Cross Friday 7th March 08

2008-03-14T13:52:00.000-07:00

Can I maintain my identity as Mr or Mrs So and So indefinitely?
Even the Pharaohs' in their pyramids have turned to dust!
Is there anything permanent, anything that lasts forever?
The truth is that there is nothing that lasts forever, including the consolation created by invented religions of some permanent soul or spiritual entity and the illusion of reincarnation.
The person who is dead doesn't know that he or she is dead, and doesn't have any knowledge of his existence or non-existence.
It is only the others who say that he or she is dead.
However there is a boundless aware, pure knowing presence or pure functioning that you cannot negate on the one hand, and at the same time can never be grasped by any concept or man made thought or invention.
This conscious or all knowing presence, which is referred to in Advaita as non-dual One without a second 'is' the reality that every so-called seeker is seeking.
This non dual Absolute is fathomless pure being and can never be known by anyone so called, simply because there is no one who is actually apart from it who could know it.
So start from the ' fact' that you already are THAT (God, Truth, or Reality) that you are seeking.
This reality or Absolute is nothing, no one and no thing as such, but at the same time it is everything.
Vast emptiness suffused with awareness or pure knowing, boundless pure intelligence or spirit utterly incorporeal.
These words are only describing THIS, they are not the reality they are pointing to, they are only concepts, however what they are referring to - this conscious presence of awareness that you are presently experiencing and which you cannot under any circumstances negate, is the very reality or truth that you are seeking and is certainly not a concept or image.
The reason that this non-dual Absolute is not a thing or soul that lasts forever is because it is outside time altogether.
It is timelessly present - Omnipresent, One without any second at all.
It is eternal, always and ever present - birthless, deathless, body-less, mindless, timeless and space-less, and this can never be grasped by the mind or any concept whatsoever.
This is unfathomable mystery - you as that entity can never know this, but you can 'be' this.
So that is the solution - just be what you already are - I am THAT - and give up becoming as becoming implies time which is only a mental concept.
Even though this may seem mysterious to the mind and paradoxical, yet what I am pointing to completely obvious, clear and open and known to everyone - an open secret - seemingly hidden yet obvious.
There 'is' no becoming because becoming is in time and you are timeless Omnipresence - just this and nothing else.
You cannot negate your being-ness and you can never grasp it with any concept, so just be as you are in this natural state of Omnipresence.
Realize the actuality and becoming and seeking will fall away without any effort on your part. Again, this is totally obvious to everyone and yet seemingly hidden at the same time - an open secret ripe to be exploited by unscrupulous new age gurus.
Realize that there is no teacher nor is there any teachings, there is just this boundless space of pure knowing awareness, which you already are.
So what you are seeking you already are.
So where is the need to continue the search?
It is impossible to become what you already are.
You know you are - I am - full stop!
That is not I was or I will be, it is simple, non-conceptual, non-verbal, pure being, always and ever, infinitely and eternally.
You alone are non-dual One without any second.
Reality did not change, it cannot change.
So nothing has happened at all, the manifest universe has not been created at all because moreover you cannot pinpoint the origin of anything in this world, because everything is beyond arising, beyond dwelling and ceasing - all is unborn, unceasing, beginning-less, endless.
This being the case, why did you change Oh man and woman?
- End.

Notes from Kings Cross Friday 29th Feb 08.

2008-03-08T05:35:00.000-08:00

How was I before this consciousness arose, and how will I be after it departs?

What is my original face prior to this mask (persona) of consciousness?

Isn't it clear and obvious that right here at zero degrees from where I am actually seeing or looking that

there is clear boundless empty space out of which the so called seeing is happening?

Isn't it a fact that my original face is actually no face at all but simply

clear empty space like awareness or knowing without any knower or seer at all?

If this is the case and it is obvious and clear that it is.

So obvious in fact that we don't usually notice this fact.

Then in truth I have never been face to face or confronted anyone in my entire life.

The situation is that there is face out there to space here at my end.

I am space - for every face, as well as the entire universe to appear in.

Space like awareness or knowing-ness - I am this aware no thing - emptiness suffused with

awareness. - I never move or change.

I am the unspeakable non dual Absolute or non conceptual awareness as is pointed out in Dzogchen - the highest expression of Buddhism.

Dzogchen translated means The Great Perfection and The Great Perfection of Dzogchen is just this, in one sentence – non-conceptual awareness.

Isn't this what everyone already is? Aren't you aware right now, even without a thought or concept?

Without a thought or concept where are you?

Aren't you here and now present and aware? What world is there without a concept or thought?

There is no world, there never has been, there is only this boundless pure being or empty non conceptual awareness in which any and every world or universe is only an appearance or reflection.

A reflection or appearance is not the reality.

Like the night time dream seems real while it is taking place, but disappears as if it never existed on waking.

This awareness is unborn, unceasing, it never began because it is outside time and mind, and it never ends because it has no known boundaries.

Aren't you THAT?

This consciousness - "I am" So and So, is not what I am.

This consciousness is in duality and reality or what I truly am is non dual One without any second at all.

This consciousness which everyone loves and would like to continue forever is suffering and misery, it is

nothing but ignorance; ignorance of my true and natural state of absolute pure being beyond the being and non being of this limited time bound consciousness.

This consciousness, I am So and So, or even just I am is only a concept, not a reality.

Reality is non dual, non conceptual - ever shining,

Omnipresence awareness - just THIS - which you have never been apart from - nothing else.

What do you need to do, where do you need to go to reach this

empty space of pure knowing that you already are? The answer is obvious isn't it?

What I am telling you is absolutely open, obvious, not hidden - an open secret.

So obvious that it can't be seen by the mind which is made up of concepts and acquired knowledge which is only ignorance.

The mind tends to reject this and resists what is being said because the mind is time, a bunch of dead memories and concepts and can only think in terms of time and in duality in the pairs of opposites.

There is no point in fighting with your mind or trying to control it.

Leave it alone and it will assume it's correct place as a servant to this space like non conceptual

awareness which is your natural or original face.

Your original face is no face, nothing - This ever present empty space of knowing - impersonal pure self-shining intelligence that you cannot negate or grasp with any concept or thought.

The very fact that you 'know' that you exist is an indication of your true or original condition which is real,

unshakable, and unchanging.

This non dual Absolute that you already 'are', cannot know limitation or corruption ( birth and death ) because there is nothing apart from itself, as it is pointed to in Advaita, it is One without any second.

It is only when consciousness manifests as body-mind in seeming duality or

seeming pairs of opposites that it seemingly becomes conscious of itself - self conscious or self aware.

When this consciousness exposes itself to you and

shows you your true nature, then you have no form.

Without a form can there be an image or self centre? The entire manifestation of consciousness - "I am a

separate entity which is born and afterwards dies, is an hallucination, the nature of which is to be inconstant.

- End

Notes from Kings Cross 12th Jan 08

2008-03-03T15:02:00.000-08:00

How do I know I am?

Doesn't it imply a conscious presence of awareness or pure being prior to the arising of the thought "I am", or any thought at all for that matter?

Now isn't it a fact that I am even before, during and after the thought or concept "I am" arises?

Once the "I" thought arises, then for practical purposes a name has to be added to it, eg I am John.The name is given at birth but the "I am" thought doesn't become active until around the age of 3 years.

No one can grasp the thought "I",so other concepts are added on to it or acquired by the seeming separate entity, eg I am a man, I am a Christian, I am good at sports etc.

All this so called knowledge about myself is acquired or added on to the original concept in order to give it some

substance.

However, what is the truth of my original, unchanging condition?

Isn't all this knowledge that I have acquired after the fact of the arising of the I am thought around 3 years of age, invalid and a form of ignorance?

Originally there was bliss, the peace that passes all understanding.I did not have this so called knowledge, "I am So

and So", and I did not know of any such thing as existence or non existence.

Prior to the arising of this "I am" thought, I didn't know I was and there were no problems as such.

As soon as this I am news arose, so did all the problems.

For example - the need to sustain myself, to maintain my health, to compete for rewards with so called others, to conform to society, and also the need to search for and believe in God.

The idea of god arises only in conjunction with the arising of body-mind consciousness.

Without the body mind vehicle there is no need for or question of god.

THIS is what is to be abided in - this non conceptual pure awareness knowingness, unaware of itself, what Nisargadatta Maharaj referred to as the natural state - Niarga means natural as in nature - the non experiential, stateless, natural state - the non dual Absolute.

This is paradoxical to the mind and can never be grasped or comprehended by any thought or concept.

That is why you will never find any solution in the mind which is time - memory and anticipation.

This Absolute is always and ever present, but is not limited to any object or thing.

There is no coming or going in this ever present, Omnipresent Absolute.

It is because of this ever present Absolute that I am able to know that "I am So and So".

In other words I am THAT by which I know I am.

So my question is where am I proceeding to?

From where have I arrived and to where am I proceeding?

Isn't all this coming and going just pure ignorance?

Isn't it a fact that in actuality I haven't moved an inch, and that I am THAT I am infinitely and eternally?

What had I hoped to achieve here struggling in this Adamic dream of opposites, trying in vain to acquire some thing ( perfection ) that I have never lost?

Have I (the non dual Absolute) been born?

Am I going to die?

If there is authenticity in the pursuit of spiritual understanding, shouldn't I ask myself these questions, look, enquire and find out for myself without going through the intermediary of any external authority?

Surely no one from outside can tell me or confirm my own perfection?

If I alone am, then there are no other's apart from me to tell me.

I now know for certain that no one ever did exist before me and that I alone exist, non dual One without a second.

This is Advaita ( unicity, not two ), and there is no compromise - duality never existed, it only appeared to.

Nothing ever happened.

Reality never changed.

That is the very definition of reality - THAT which never changes.

How can reality change?

Only in a dream and dreams are not real or substantial.

Isn't it time to give up this children's game of believing in and depending on a mother - father god, watching over you as the helpless child?

Perhaps the truth is that you yourself are limitless and even greater than the parent god that you imagined in your
ignorance was ruling over you?

These are the questions that a genuine spiritual aspirant must consider and look into.

The realization of this knowledge ( Jhana ) which is ever-present and expresses through the mind as the thought "I am", and which you cannot negate or grasp with any concept or thought 'is' spiritual childhood's end.

- End.

Notes from Kings Cross Saturday 29th Dec 07.

2008-02-21T14:40:00.000-08:00

To know when enough is enough is contentment.
No millionaire can equal the deep peace and contentment that wisdom and genuine spiritual understanding brings.

The middle path or balance of equanimity between the opposite extremes of loving and hating is Yoga.

Yoga in Sanskrit means union or joining of the individual and supreme Soul.

However the true yoga or the Nisarga yoga, referred to by Nisargadatta Maharaj as your 'Natural State', is this awareness-knowing-ness which is ever-present - and to which everyone is - and always and already joined - never dis-joined.

This supreme yoga is always and already accomplished.

Hence true yoga is no-yoga.

True Self is no self or Anatman in Sanskrit.

To realize that there is no "me" apart from consciousness is real freedom.

If there is no separate "me' there can be no problem.

All problems are problems of relationship, me and the other.

If I can directly see that this empty essence from which everything springs is, as we say in Advaita, non dual, unicity, not two, then all so called problems can be resolved, not by any person, but simply by seeing the falseness of this me or person that, previous to this, I had taken to be myself.

If there is no separate "me", there can be no problem, and there is no relationship because everything is non dual - empty cognizance appearing as duality or multiplicity.

Even though it may appear as persons and things, it never changes it's true non-dual nature.

A quote - "In the experience of yogins who do not perceive things dualistically, the fact that things manifest without truly existing is so amazing they burst into laughter." - from ancient Dzogchen masters notes.

A day will dawn when you will laugh at your past efforts.

What you realize on the day you laugh is also present here and now - Omnipresent.

You can't get out of this awareness-knowingness, so what is the need to search for it?

This is the cosmic joke, that that awareness or oneness imagines itself as a separate person and then proceeds to find itself.

Oneness arises as two, duality or multiplicity, and then searches for it's own absence.

There is no reason for the arising of consciousness as "I am" - the manifested universe.

Life has no purpose, it needs no purpose it just "is".

Everything is causeless and un-originated.

It is simply in the nature of things that endless numbers os universes into being and then pass away. - No one created this world that we seemingly inhabit, everything happens spontaneously by itself.

Everything is appearing as a dynamic display of this limitless empty cognizance.

This cognizing emptiness is what everything is.

In this dynamic display of boundless, pure, self-shining intelligence, there is every possibility that one could conceive of , as well as possibilities that one is not even aware of.

Any and everything perceivable or conceivable is always already present in this dynamic display of awareness.

Awareness is nothing, no thing - not a vacuum or a void but the very animating essence or livingness of everlasting, ever-increasing life.

This Life cannot know death.

- Life lives on life and that is why it appears as ever-increasing –

The sword can't cut it, the fire can't burn it, the water can't drown it and the wind can’t dry it, simply because it contains all those things - those things do not contain it.

Impersonal space like empty cognizance, and no one, not Buddha, Krishna, Christ or anyone else has ever gone beyond this nothingness, simply because it has no dimensions, no center or circumference. - And any and every reference point like me, he, she, it is invalid, because it measures itself against some other reference point eg: here and there, us, them etc.

All these reference points are only seeming reference points, imaginary, mind made creations.

This being clearly seen by no one, the puppet dance of Shiva or manifestation can be enjoyed and seen for what it is - a passing show, glittering and empty of any ultimate substance - a phantom and a dream.

No longer a nightmare but simply a happy dream to be enjoyed while it lasts.

This doesn't diminish the uncaused joy of life, because as it is seen that there is no free will or doer-ship there is utter freedom and spontaneous relaxation into this boundless pure livingness.

One is not then living a separate life to defend or feel threatened by seeming others; there is direct realization that you as that seeming separate entity are spontaneously 'being lived' or 'dreamed of' in this limitless essence.

This is freedom from the known.

The known is the dead past, only dead memory and images - all your so called knowledge is only ignorance.

The mind is only memory and it is clearly seen that there is no mind at all, apart from thinking or thought.

Mind is time and time is an illusion, a mental concept, there is really no such thing.

Concepts and thoughts are useful in daily life, but they cannot conceive the inconceivable, they cannot grasp or understand this self-shining deathless essence that all things already are. - Knowing that, the mind gives up it's hold over us and then becomes our servant instead of our master as it had been up until this realization.

- End.

Notes from Kings Cross Wednesday 2nd Jan 08.

2008-02-05T20:34:00.000-08:00

The corner stone of every religion or genuine spiritual teaching is this ordinary everyday naked non-conceptual awareness that is common to all.
However this ever-present knowingness, "isness", is always rejected by the conventional mind.
(It only appears to be rejected and that mind has no power of itself to reject or accept)
The mind as it is constituted cannot bear simplicity.
It hates this simple naked presence-awareness, because the mind as it is, is time - a bunch of dead memories and worn out concepts, and it seeks straight away to cover up this obvious awareness with a smoke screen or veil of ideas, dogmas, rules or admonitions, which it calls Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism and a hundred other isms'.
You don't have to do anything to reach the Kingdom of Heaven of Christianity or the Pure Land of Buddhism.
How far do you have to go to reach space? You are already in it! - This is it right here and now - you've never left it, you only ' think' you have.
No one can say "I am not" because it's this naked awareness that is allowing you to say it.
Realize that this naked awareness that you already are is always present, unoriginated, un-ceasing.
This activity of knowing that you are didn't have any beginning, so it can have no ending.
Beginning and ending are in time, which doesn't exist.
There is only THIS Omnipresence.
Once the "I" thought comes over us around the age of 3 years there is from then onwards a sense of incompleteness, sin or separation.
I and the other.
As soon as the consciousness begins operating. separation becomes seemingly entrenched and an everlasting search for wholeness or completeness begins.
Everyone in the world is a seeker either consciously or un-consciously.
There is this continuous sense of lack or something missing.
This sense of lack is reinforced by everyone and everything in the world.
If you look at the world in general, it's whole purpose is to uphold and continue this restless becoming, and endless desire for even more - fame, success, money, sex, possessions etc.
However no matter how much one gains, amasses or accumulates, it will never be enough and can never make us whole or complete; because on earnest investigation you will find that you were never separate in the first place.
This Divine Spirit that is animating your body-mind "is" what you are seeking.
THIS is closer that hands and feet, nearer than breathing, but through the practiced habit of identifying with the body-mind organism, it is being ignored.
However it has to be realized that in liberation, there is no awareness of anything.
Awareness in the ordinary sense of the term, or even consciousness, does imply duality, because there is still awareness of someone or some thing.
Pure, impersonal awareness, unaware of itself is the Absolute.
Immortality is beyond time and space; in that timeless existence (SAT or pure BEING - beyond being and non being) there is no entry for the five elements, for light or darkness, for the Sun, Moon, or Planets.
Timeless spaceless existence doesn't know that it is.
THAT is reality, THAT is the truth.
If there is awareness of objects, perciever and percieved, people and animals that need to be converted or saved etc, this is duality, maya, delusion.
This is not liberation or true awakening.
This rare uncompromising pointing or message is pure Advaita and is radically different from what is put forward as Advaita at present in popular culture and most so called spiritual teachings.
This energetic shift from the contraction of being a separate "me" out into boundlessness is always a possibility when this genuine teaching or message is being expounded.
The realization or even the hint of the possibility that there is no one writing these words and that there is no person sitting in this room, or anywhere else for that matter, is utter freedom.
THIS is it, nothing has to be accomplished, there is nowhere to
go.
Living just happens by itself, you as that entity don't need to make it happen.
Everything happens in spite of the illusory entity "me" who thinks mistakenly that he or she is running the show and has destiny and free will.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
No one has control over life and death, so called - the appearance and disappearance of objects and things in this changeless, deathless non dual Absolute.
This activity of knowing, this pure life force or infinite energy, is an endless movement without beginning or end.
The mind as such, is only a by product or reflection of this boundless everlasting life energy, and so can never know or capture it.
A reflection doesn't affect or contaminate the mirror it appears on.
A shadow can't know it's (own) substance.
Therefore it must be said by no one, that the answer or solution to this mystery of true identity is definitely not to be found in the mind.
This is all the truth that anyone needs to know.
If the incessant and constant looking and searching, seeking in the mind stops or ceases, then Reality or non duality is present here and now - Omnipresent - THIS is it.
It is so simple that it is constantly over-looked.
All this time, so called, that you were seeking God Truth or Reality in the mind
(time) you had never ever left it.
There was no fall from grace or expulsion from Paradise, from the Garden of Eden, after eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
This event never happened, it only appeared to.
Nothing ever happened at all - Reality never changed.
Reality is THAT which never changes.
Be assured that you are THAT.
End.

Notes from Kings Cross Monday 31st Dec 07

2008-01-21T13:04:00.001-08:00

Has anything ever really happened?
If in fact nothing has ever really happened, including the idea of the big-bang of science, and the earth being 4 billion years old, with a further 4 billion years before the present sun dies out or goes nova leaving this section of the galaxy lifeless; then this totally negates the idea of evolution and any and all conventional knowledge.

What really did happen? - Did God create the world in 7 days? - Is there any god at all, apart from the consciousness or being-ness, which itself turns into non-being?If nothing has really happened, which I say is the actual situation, then all these ideas and concepts I've just mentioned are all invalid and bogus.
So anyone who associates with me will become totally bankrupt, all their concepts and ideas will be liquidated,

utterly wiped out.
If this so called message is truly heard by an ardent spiritual seeker, there will be a sense of great loss, not gain.
Normally with the usual idea of spiritual awakening, there is a mis-perception that one is going to gain something.
If what is being said here is really taken on board, there will be at first great sadness and loss, the death of the false entity.
You will be relieved of the great conceptual burden that you have been carrying since time immemorial.
The death of the entity leaves a great emptiness in it's wake.
Even though this is utter freedom; freedom from the

known, the dead past; this at first is a loss to the illusory person because, even though being a separate person is actually utter misery and suffering, this was all that entity ever knew.
Yes, even though I am miserable and limited, please don't take my suffering and misery away because that is all I've got, and I'm going to hold on to it like grim death, in spite of what you or Nisargadatta or anyone else says.

Let me assure you, no one is going to take your misery away, least of all me, but if you have had a gut full of this unnecessary psychological suffering, then perhaps these words might resonate very deeply with you and turn you around to look at what is keeping you in bondage.
Who was it that told you that you have been born and that at some future date you are going to die?

Wasn't it your parents originally, that told you all this nonsense?
"Anyone who loves his father, mother, husband, wife, son, daughter, friend, or even his own life more than me is not worthy of me."
The me that is spoken about here is your own true Self - the non dual Absolute.
Wake up to your Self! - to Advaita - to non duality.
Don't wait, don't listen to any false guru, no one except your own Self can tell you if you are sinless or perfect.

Who am I talking to?
I am not talking to any body or mind, I am talking to that deathless essence or non verbal I am-ness in you that I am.
This is awareness-knowing-ness talking to itself.
Everyone knows "I am". but that I am is only a thought, however THAT by which I know I am is the great enlightenment that everyone is seeking, consciously or unconsciously.
I am THAT by which I know I am, is the whole of the teaching that is being expressed here.

Be still and know that I am God ( THAT ). - be still and know - be still - be - that's it in a nutshell.
What could be more simpler?
THIS is it - you don't have to meditate, enquire, forgive your mother, fast, or stop eating choclate - This is it right now - hearing, seeing, breathing, being fullt aware and present.
Everlasting livingness - there is no one who has a life, there is only livingness, and this livingness-energy can't know death.
Perfection can't know imperfection ( life and death ).Even without a thought or concept, there is just a pure "isness", you ' know ' you are, even if you don't say I am.
This pure present knowingness, not knowing this or that. is what you always and ever are.
This Omniscience - all knowingness, can only know itself as an object when the consciousness manifesting as the body mind is available.
There is no one here or anywhere else who is not aware and knowing.
No one can know that they are a body-mind without this knowingness, so everyone, so called, is already THAT all knowingness.

When the body-mind is not there, as in physical death, the knowing-ness is still there - all knowing without an object - the unlimited potential - boundless pure being - pure subjectivity without an object - knowing-ness is still there unknowingly.
This all knowing-ness doesn't need to know itself, because there is nothing apart from itself to know.
One without a second as it is said in Advaita - utterly non-dual.

When this is directly ap-perceived, you will realize that Reality never changed at all - that nothing ever

happened at all, it only appeared to.
When self realization dawns for no one, you will realize that you were never born, nor have you carried out any worldly actions.
- End.

Notes from Kings Cross Thurs - Friday 27 - 28th Dec 07.

2008-01-18T13:46:00.000-08:00

We are all intelligent people so called, and we have solved a lot of problems with our mind, but we have never solved this problem of the mystery of being - 'who and what am I?' - we have never solved it with the mind.
Having looked endlessly in the mind, which is itself time, and not having found any solution there, wouldn't it dawn on us that perhaps the answer is not there? When this dawns on you and you cease looking in the mind for an answer, where does that leave you? - here and now present and aware as you have always and ever been.

This presence awareness, Is-ness, pure non-conceptual knowing-ness, is exceedingly subtle.
So subtle in fact, that we cease to notice it at all and instead look outward and fixate on the gross experiences - food, sex, music, sensory perceptions and objects, ignoring the very subtle space of knowing-awareness that everything is taking place in.In fact everything, including sentient beings and apparent separate objects are nothing but this self-shining empty cognizance appearing as other.

This emptiness suffused with awareness is utterly non dual.
This is what Advaita meaning not-two, really is.
This uncompromising pointing to this ever present principal is the genuine article of all true and authentic Advaita teaching.
In this there is no teacher nor is there any teaching - everything "is" this non dual Absolute, that no can at any time, ever negate.
No one can say - I am not, because you, as the Absolute, would have to be there to say it.

That being said, let us investigate this presence awareness that everyone, so called, is enjoying.
Can you ever remember a time when conscious knowing presence was not there?
As far back as you can remember it was there, and if you receed even further back prior to your own birth or conception in the womb, all you can say is, I don't remember or I don't know.
Realize however, that it is this ever present awareness that is allowing you to say, I don't know or I don't remember.

By awareness we mean just this pure activity of knowing that you are.
Not knowing this or that, but just bare naked knowing - even without a thought or concept.
Even without a thought arising or being present, there is still a pure knowing-ness or 'is-ness' present.
There is a pure knowing there, prior to consciousness of being a person, or labeling and naming something eg - saying that is a chair, that is a tree etc.

There is a knowing there even before a thought says that is So and So etc.
This pure unadulterated "isness", knowing is the Jnana of a Jnani.
This is the lost innocence or wholeness that everyone is seeking.
We actually know what everything is even before we name or label it.
We think we know something by calling it a chair, but the word or concept "chair" is only a label, and you can't sit on a concept or label.
The word chair is not the actuality, only a name, a description.

Therefore a chair is not actually a chair, it is simply vibrating pure intelligence energy - awareness, appearing as a chair.
The chair is only a momentary appearance in the changeless space like awareness. - Awareness is self-knowing, self-shining.
Emptiness suffused with awareness is the non dual Absolute.
Because awareness as we are using the term, is non dual - Advaita - it cannot know itself as an object.
If something is not two or One without a second as Advaita claims, it cannot and need not know itself.
Note, that in using language, the very language itself has an inbuilt limitation and implies in it's very use a duality that doesn't really exist.

However language or words are the only tool we have to point to this TRUTH or non duality that you have never ever left, except in your own mind or imagination; which is itself only an aspect of this non dual Absolute.
When I said in the previous paragraph - if something is non dual or Absolute, there is an implication that REALITY or TRUTH is a thing or an it, and THIS is not an it or a thing as such.
Things come and go, but what we are pointing to here, doesn't come or go.
Let's clarify our terms here. - REALITY is THAT which never changes.
This empty space of knowing that you are enjoying right now as you are reading these words is timelessly present, has no dimensions, is Omnipresent, Omniscient, Omnipotent, and I am THAT, you are THAT, there is nothing that is not THAT.

Your (original) name is I AM THAT I AM, not Mr or Mrs So and So.
So what do you need to attain? - or to seek, to become enlightened or fulfilled?
How can you ever find yourself if you "are" yourself?
How can you ever become what you already are?
It is impossible to be in need of getting something extra to be added (to you), in order to become what you already are.

End.

Notes from Kings Cross Thurs 6th Dec 07

2008-01-15T15:40:00.000-08:00

Where to go? - what to do? - when everything is seen in the clear, empty space of pure presence awareness?
See where you are looking from and you will notice that everything moves around you - but there is stillness and emptiness from which everything is being seen - nothing moves at all right there where you are, at '0' degrees of separation.

Where you are seeing from is totally stationary and never moves or changes at all.
This is the still changeless background that makes possible all (seeming) movement and change.

When you are walking down a corridor, notice that in actuality, the corridor is walking down you - you as the emptiness- wholeness are still and never move or change at all.

When you are traveling in a motor vehicle or flying in a jet aircraft, it is only the vehicles that are moving, while you remain stationary and changeless. - That seemingly tiny pin prick or bindu "I am" contains all of reality - all that ever existed or will exist.

Instead of being a limited bound creature, as you had taken yourself to be - you turn out to be something infinitely great - greater even than the God that you had believed was ruling over you.

We cannot even call this emptiness - wholeness, that we are actually seeing from; large, great or small, because really it has no dimensions, and is timelessly here and now - Omnipresent.

This is what you are - boundless, awareness-knowing-ness.
If the implications of what is being pointed to really jell, then there is a release from the bondage of self - the entity or contraction called "me", into boundlessness.

It must be seen however that you already are boundlessness - therefore language itself-words-are limited - they are only pointers. - Don't try to follow the words themselves, rather, just get a feel for what the words are describing - then there is always a possibility of an energetic shift from contraction - limited perspective to unlimited perspective ( pure witnessing, without any entity doing the witnessing ).

This boundlessness - empty cognizance, is always and ever present.
This boundless pure knowing-ness is what everything already "is".
Because of this Omnipotence - boundlessness, objects sentient and insentient are seemingly appearing and disappearing ( the world dream Jaganmaya ).

However everything that appears is nothing other than this one universal essence or Such-ness, itself appearing as other - this boundless natural essence can never be limited or confined to any shape or form.
Therefore it has to be clearly apperceived, that there is no separate entity or thing, even though there may appear, in this dream like consciousness to be such persons or things.

The people you are seemingly seeing are apparitions, mental concepts, phantoms.There are no real people at all, there is only boundlessness - empty cognizance - cognizing emptiness.

This alone is true liberation or self-realization - freedom from the bondage of self - freedom from this self contraction of being a VIP a "me" a self-satisfied separate person or entity.

The freedom to be what you are - nothing and nobody - pure empty cognizance.This is utter freedom and effortless living and you already are THAT, so how can you find it?

End.

Notes from Kings Cross, Mon 10th Dec 07.

2008-01-04T16:45:00.000-08:00

It is necessary to see or notice that there is no one who gets enlightened.
Go along the lines that nothing can trouble you except in your own imagination.
This is the realization that there is actually no such thing as time.
This present moment is all there ever is - hearing sounds, mental conceptual images arising, endlessly changing and flowing sensations.

One seemingly follows a spontaneous chain of thoughts and a story develops to create an imaginary entity called "me".
The story seems to possess a life of its own in a linear sequence - past,present,future - however there is no past or future except in imagination - there is always and ever only this present unfolding, this timeless instant right now.

This means that the past as such, has never happened, nor has the future, because it is always and ever this timeless now.

In 60 years time it is NOW. - 2,000 years ago in Roman history is NOW.
So one can see that any and every "story" is just that - a story - an imagination - a recollection or an anticipation.
This means that there is no actual person who has any destiny or free will.
The "me", the person as such is purely imaginary.

The implications of this realization are explosive to the dreamed character.
This charade of being in control and running the show of one's separate life is seen for what it is - a total fiction, an imagination, an illusion.

There is nothing right or wrong with the appearance of a person or seeming sentient being.
This is just in the nature of manifestation - a spontaneous natural occurence.
However as soon as the I thought makes it's appearance around the age of 3 years, there is a sense of loss or insufficiency.
Just a general sense of something missing or lacking.
Seeking starts from this point.
Not so much a spiritual search at this stage, but a longing to become whole or complete again.

Everyone in the world is a seeker.
That is inevitable, because once this idea crystalizes into the certain conviction that I am a separate person - Mr or Mrs So and So, then that identity feels as though it could be threatened and then needs to be reinforced and made

secure.Stable job, home, loving family, nation, belief in god etc.
Now the majority of people seem to be happy or contented with the status quo - they are enjoying themselves and seem fully contented.

However a small number of those so called people, who have everything that society deems desirable - success, fame, and everything that money can buy, find even this to be unsatisfactory and not fullfilling in an ultimate sense.
Those very people then commense what's called the spiritual search, the search for a so-called higher power or reality, greater than their limited self or life.
They are then what we call genuine spiritual seekers or Sadhakas.

Sadhaka is a sanskrit term which means an 'advanced' seeker or spiritual aspirant (one that is very familiar looking at 'this' ).
This so called individual has an inclination, an intuition that there is something unlimited, boundless, infinite, that the worldly happiness and fullfillment can never equal and that the limited mind can never grasp - something that we commonly call God.

This seeker 'must' and ' will' continue to seek until he is annihilated and totally destroyed by the explosive shock of liberation or true spiritual awakening.
Let it be seen that this genuine awakening is not gradual, it is instantaneous and explosive.
There are thousands of spiritual experiences, but there is only 'one' spiritual awakening.When it happens one doesn't have any words for it - it can't be conveyed or explained to another, it can't be taught to anyone, simply because this is directly seen to be redundant.

A mirage is insubstantial - reflections in a mirror can't undertake to do away with themselves, help each other, or improve themselves.
The reason it can't be taught or explained to another is because it is clearly apperceived that the so called other person is already that essence of all things, pretending or thinking that it is a separate entity.

Until the entity implodes spontaneously, or through grace of totality, is able to see the falseness of itself; it must continue to seek.
There is nothing good or bad about seeking, if it is taking place, it is just what is.
Seeking will continue, it cannot be stopped or started by any force of personal will.
The seeker has their head in the tiger's mouth, and once this is the case one cannot escape ot turn back - one ( as a sense of separateness) is totally consumed by the Tiger - the tiger of Advaita - non duality.

This empty intelligent essence - Tao -suchness - this invisible changeless background in which everything appears and disappears is the unquestioned light in your own mind.
This LIGHT in oneself also includes darkness.Who would have suspected or even thought, that BUDDHA is the (source of the) LIGHT in your own mind? - you are THAT.

- End.

Notes from Kings Cross - Monday - 3rd Dec 07.

2007-12-16T01:27:00.000-08:00

How did I come to be?
First there was nothing and then spontaneously, without request, this "Iam" news, like magic has appeared. - Once it appears, amazingly, unquestioningly, it is taken to be real. - Because of the Absolute you come to know that you are, it is the Truth which knows, in that knowingness is the universe itself, that knowingness is all pervasive.
Whatever Lord Dattatreya (the first of the Navanath Sampradaya) did,I need to do now, only times change - knowing-ness never does. - We point to Advaita or non-duality in all these meetings and conversations - so called.
Why should I be concerned with others or here say?
They don't exist apart from the non dual Absolute.
Ishwara, holy spirit, the gods in heaven, and the suffering in hell, are all my reflection only.
I have and need no religion. - Before there can be any god, I ( the Absolute) have to be there first.I am the proof of god and not the other way round.
There is nothing simpler than One - non duality. - Whatever I say of myself is true of you also,because everything is THAT, non dual Absolute - One without a second.
This message is nothing new, it has been pointed to throughout the ages.
However it is rare to hear it this way - stripped bare, straight from the horses mouth - as is.
There is no pride of knowledge here, no desire to gain a following or protect any self-image, no copyright. - This naked non-conceptual awareness is self-shining, self-knowing, nothingness - emptyness.
It cannot be grasped by a concept - it is nothing you can see, hear, smell, taste or touch - yet it is because of this pure awareness presence, that all of these things are possible.
You never leave this pure awareness, you only imagine that you do. - Mind as memory and anticipation is pure illusion, Maya, or imagination. - Stop imagining, stop pretending to be what you are not - a limited bound creature and simply "be" what you are -nothing and nobody, just this pure livingness.
Anyone without a deep urge to know their true nature, will not even listen to something like this. - The mind as it is constituted, can't bear simplicity or no-thingness.
This will always be rejected in main stream spirituality and religion.
The mind will immediately come up with concepts and try to cover this bare naked awareness-knowingness.
This truth is written in the scriptures, but it is told in the form of palpable and is not understood, taught, or known in the organized religions. - All the religions in the world today are only concepts, built around the direct knowingness and pure experiencing, of their founders or originators. - All these religions are only someone's idea or concept, and are taught and propogated as such.
They are empty consolations and have no basis in truth or actuality.
eg: "The stone that the builder refused will 'always' be the head corner stone." - This rejected cornerstone will always be the head cornerstone of the temple of Truth.
This is how the parable speaks, and it has to speak this way because truth or nothingness cannot be grasped with any concept - hence it "has" to be rejected by the limited mind of convention, because that mind hates this and wants and insists on lies and concepts - organised religion, consoling concepts to cover up this simple, obvious, naked truth or essence, that no one can ever be apart from, now or ever.
There is no time at all, time is only mind - a mental concept."Now is the time of salvation" - another parable pointing to this.
What's wrong with right now, if you don't think about it? - Sailor Bob Adamson - another not so well known exponent of this natural knowing-ness.
"Look not to the fields and say three months to the harvest - look again, the fields are in full bloom now" - Jesus in the new testament.
If I have the idea that yes, at some future time I will get enlightenment - this itself is a trap, because as all jnani's have pointed out - there is no future time, there is only and ever this timeless moment - now - Omnipresence.
What you are seeking you already are - this is the message of Nisargadatta Maharaj and Sri Dattatreya. - The essence of what they are didn't appear and disappear - they haven't gone anywhere - they are here now - OMNIPRESENT.
End.

Notes from Kings Cross Sat 1st Dec 07

2007-12-12T05:28:00.000-08:00

Notes by Mark West.

What capital do I actually possess? - Waking, dreaming, sleeping states, plus the knowledge "I am" - Mr So and So. - All this has to go, or be seen to be utterly redundant, before there can be Atmajnana - Self knowledge.
This consciousness of being a sentient human being, is being sustained and depends upon food essence juices, that are constantly being imbibed. - The body itself is simply the result of vegetation - food essence. - The body is nothing but the elements, and has no independent nature apart from the consciousness, which itself is time-bound. - It appears and disappears.
Where is the individual or separate entity called "me" in all of this?
It has to be seen clearly by no one, that there is no entity with any substance apart from the consciousness which is fully manifest. - The consciousness is ample.
Everything exists in the very light of your consciousness.
Consciousness "is" it's content. - No object,thing or person can exist apart from it. - When it is looked at carefully, it is seen that everything "is" consciousness.
See the Mahavakya or Great word or statement of Hinduism - Advaita - PRAJNYANAM ASMI. - I am Consciousness.
However, who is it that knows the consciousness? - that "must" be found out before the mystery will resolve itself.
Become one with the I am-ness, the fully manifested consciousness or being-ness, then you can transcend it, then "I" the Absolute, am not the I am.
Be devoted to yourself - I am THAT(ATMAN).
Another Mahavakya or Great Word is -AYAM ATMA BRAHMA -
This SELF is all REALITY.
"Be one with consciousness,worship it like God or Guru, and it will be pleased with you - this is Grace. - Grace is always present, but not in the form of an individual." -Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.
The one who is up to his or her neck in water, claims that they are thirsty. - If you drink this water that "I am" is giving you, you will never thirst again.
The one who is thirsting is the son of a barren woman. - He never existed, he is a phantom, an illusion, a reflection, like the moon seen in water; not real even for an instant. - Hold one pointedly to this train of thought, and the belief that there is a separate entity is dissipated, and liberation is attained.
When this is realized there is a seeming energetic shift, from contraction and self-imprisonment in this cage like fleshly body, into boundlessness.
This is true freedom and liberation - to know that there is no person here who needs to be liberated - there never has been and there never will be.
Reality never changed - why did you change, oh man or woman? -If Reality never changed, which "I" the non dual Absolute now claim - then nothing ever happened!
Nothing has ever happened at all.
All this time, so called, you've simply been duped by illusion.
You ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (duality) and were expelled from the Garden of Eden.
But this event never really happened - it only appeared to happen, and you have been taken in by appearance.
Wakey, wakey!
Wake up right this instant!
The manifest universe has never really been created - it is unborn, uncreated, it only appears to be born.
This world is simply the shadow of Reality.
The world is your own reflection.
The world is in You the Absolute, you are not in it.
Stop taking the appearance to be real and reality is already here and now.
All problems are resolved in the unborn, why swap the unborn for thought?
Trying unsuccessfully to find the answer in the mind, in the thinking - you never will be able to find one there.
This is the fruit of Satsang - association with the wise - Sat - pure being - Nisargadatta - your true natural stateless state.
Nature is not concerned whether it is hot or cold, wet or dry.
Nature is infinite, boundless, untamed, wild, unconcerned with anything whatsoever.
Every living thing, no matter how great, famous, or important, must return to the wild, must become nothing!
Why not now? - End.

Notes from Kings Cross Thurs 29th Nov 07.

2007-12-09T21:07:00.000-08:00

What I am in the absolute sense, is not possible to convey in any words. - In that ultimate awareness, nobody has any consciousness of being present. -
The presence itself is not there in the absolute. - The Absolute is Nirvana - no thing - no knowingness - extinction - no permanent self or individual.
This is what is to be abide-d in and real-ized - not by any entity or person, but by the "fact" that here and now this Absolute cannot be negated.
This very reality enables and empowers the dreamed character, the apparent sentient human being to appear.
It has no substance or independent nature apart from this unknowable and undeniable Absolute.
And this is the very ignorance - that to the so called person, this self-existing Absolute or Reality, doesn't exist and is invisible,
and the illusory body-mind person, is taken to be real without question - the real is seen as unreal, and the unreal is seen as real.
This is the greatest mystery - That being the Self or Reality, one has lost hold of it, by falsely identifying with the body-mind,
and is now seeking it.
How can this be? - The answer is that it can't be - nothing has happened at all - Reality can't change - what changes is phenomena or dream.
This simply has to be seen, by no one. - No attempt to awaken within the world dream is necessary.
Just see this dream as dream and awakening will happen by itself. - There is no one who awakens or is enlightened -
You, the Absolute are always and ever aware. - You never change.
Sleeping and awakening happen in You, not you in them.- What remembers, understands, or forgets is not You.
You the Absolute remain unchanged, always and ever. - Understanding is a subtle form of seeking.
The universe is in You, the Absolute, not You in the universe. - You are more than you appear to be - all the world's strength and
power rests inside You.
Don't get caught in words.- They are only concepts or pointers. -For You there is no birth or death, no inside or outside. - You are nothing
perceivable or conceivable - unspeakable emptiness-fullness.
Here at this talking point the words have exhausted themselves and subside into the empty essence - " To remain without thought in
the waking state is the greatest worship " - Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.
This Love is impersonal, all inclusive. - Grace "is" - I am That - you are That - all is THAT.
End.

Notes from Kings Cross, Sydney, Sat 24th Nov 07.

2007-12-05T05:59:00.000-08:00

Nirvana is the highest happiness - bliss - what the scripture refer's to as the peace that passes all understanding - when you don't know you are - the beingness has been transcended.
So long as there is interest in, and attachment to this beingness - wanting things to be different - feeling incomplete - wanting some thing - then this non dual essence is seemingly obsecured or not fully abided in.
Look and see who it is that is not complete - investigate for yourself and find the seeker.
Then the whole mystery is cleared up.
When you earnestly search for the seeker, you cannot locate or find it -it never existed - it's a phantom.
This non existent phantom, prior to investigation, was the cause of a lot of unnecessary suffering, anxiety and endless conflict.

Ancients like Buddha, as well as contemporary Jnani's like Nisargadatta Maharaj, tell us that this psychological suffering is unnecessary.
This cage that I had built around myself - a cage of words and concepts - the bondage of self - is non existent and without substance - if it is looked into.
Freedom is here for the taking - the release from contraction into boundlessness.
You were never that limited entity or person that you had taken yourself to be.
This is effortless - what effort are you making to be aware right now?
None, you already "are" what you are seeking.
In that inner core, that knowing-ness or "I am ness" there are no cages or shackles.
Once it is understood that I am is purely I am -formless - and not that shackled body form - then no liberation is called for.
To be stabilized in that being-ness, which has no name and form,that itself is liberation.
That which is de-conditioned from name and form is "PARAMATMAN" - UNIVERSAL ESSENCE.The vital force or prana is universal, it can't know death - it has no shape or form - it is universal energy.
The corpse like physical body is only seemingly alive because of this vital breath.
Know and realize that you are this universal essence, life force or livingness, and not just this fleshly body-mind.
This is the primary obstacle to self realization - thinking that you are this body-mind (memory etc) and identifying with it, instead of the living vital force essence that is animating it, and allowing it to say and think "I am a separate person or individual."
This is delusion,pride and ego - doer-ship. - You are the deathless animating essence, unlimited by any shape or form.
The vital breath is not confined to the body. - All the elements are moved, operated by the vital breath,but because it is inside the body you call it prana.
This vital breath is a vital energy and that qualitative principal is the "knowing-ness" that is in the vital breath.
Vitalness, intelligence energy,principal,spirit - that is what you are -not this limited body-mind entity, called Jiva or individual soul.
In order to know this, no effort needs to be made - just a clear seeing,knowing.
What effort am I making to be aware and present right now? - None at all.
When effort's are needed effort's will happen - when effortlessness is needed that will assert itself.
Everything happens spontaneously - effortless effort. - This pure functioning is being witnessed by no one.
Everything is unborn, unceasing, utterly non dual, without any origination or source as such.
This is utter freedom and effortless living. - Self knowledge and self realization.
I am the self luminous Reality. - The sun doesn't need another light to make it shine - it is self shining
and your true nature or natural state is self knowing. - End.

Mark's notes - 22 November 07

2007-12-03T04:40:00.000-08:00

Sydney, Thursday 22nd Nov 07.

There is just "what is", always and ever.
There is no escape from what is nor anyone who needs to escape.
Who am I talking to when I say this, and who is saying it?
No one, it is just consciousness or "isness" talking to itself.
There is no benefit to anyone in this. - There is no profit or loss to anybody, so I am not talking to anybody or mind, there is just this I am-ness talking to itself. - Talking and listening, asking and answering just happen- nothing happens to me, the non dual Absolute.
Whether I exist or don't exist, live a long time or not, doesn't concern me.
I have no interest in being or non being, or even in nothingness or emptiness or what we call noumenon.
All these so called things are only of interest as long as the manifested being-ness or consciousness "I am" is present.
This consciousness of being a person and seeing a world is only possible while the food essence body-mind is in good order and is being supplied by a regular quantity of healthy and nourishing food and drink.
As long as that seed of consciousness, I am, is moist and nourished, you will experience this world and have all these concerns.
Once this seed is no longer moist and can no longer be sustained, this consciousness will disappear and merge into the
universal Consciousness. - This stateless state - Parabrahman - for your sake, I attach a label to it - is what is to be known and abided in.
This is what could be called heart to heart. - The words that are flowing out here are not coming from my intellect as such - they are coming from the heart of reality itself.
Heart means - this is the center, not the physical heart on the left, or the spiritual heart on the right, but from the very core of your being.
If they resonate, then you already know what I'm saying, so you are not getting anything from me personally.
This has nothing to do with Mark West or anyone else - this is utterly impersonal - though the words can seem to describe or point to it.
There is no me or you - there is only THAT, non dual Absolute communicating with Itself.
When this that I am pointing to presently is directly appercieved, you will never again fear a foe.
Then the riddle or mystery will be un-raveled and fully understood.
That is: from no- being to being and then again no - being.
How and why this happens will be fully revealed to you.
This alone is self - realization not god - realization.
The idea of god is there only when the manifested consciousness "I am" is present.
When the consciousness disappears and sets at the time of physical death, where is is the idea or need for god? God is only necessary or thought of when this fever (illusion) of being a
sentient human being or person comes over me and is mistakenly taken delivery of.
God is only necessary when the sense of duality or manifested consciousness is present - when this disappears there is no need for god, because I myself am God - the non dual Absolute.
How has this happened? - there was just bliss or nothingness - I didn't know anything, I didn't know I was - then for no known reason, and without my permission - this fever or sickness "I amness" came over me - I am So and So.
In my case, this fever or illusion of being a limited, separate, sentient human being has passed off and I am in my original or natural state of bliss or wholeness.
Call it grace, good luck or whatever, but this you can and must realize for yourself - you have to become your own proof of the non dual Absolute - there you will meet no other.

Not - two.

This may be misleading to a circumscribed intellect, so let it be seen (by no one) that the Absolute is not an object - a person, place or thing.
It is not an "it" - has no location, is Omnipresent - this is it - this is all there ever is - TAT TVAM ASI - thou art THAT.

- End.

"Gleanings From Nisargadatta" Now Available for Online Ordering

2006-11-29T16:48:00.000-08:00

NEWS: New Book on Sailor Bob Adamson's teaching "One Essence appearing as Everything" Order Now

Mark is now sharing some insights via these notes below.

Sydney, Friday 23rd Nov 07.
What can I do, where can I go when it is clearly seen that the "me" that I am referring to is only a mental conceptual entity? - If there were no Consciousness it would be impossible for me to have any thoughts or concepts. - So consciousness, awareness of presence, is fundamental to any sense of existence or non existence.
This conscious awareness is nothing in itself, it is the equivalent of space or emptiness, yet is is
the very sentience of all sentient beings. Space or pure space like awareness, has no center or circumference.
You cannot find a beginning to it - This empty cognizance is the fundamental reality and essence of all things.
This is basically what I am. - I am not a separate entity or thing. Things perish, they come and go,appear and disappear in this emptiness. - Everything in the manifestation is vibrating intelligence energy patterns.
Everything is basically energy,livingness - vibration - appearing as the manifest universe of so called separate entities.
This energy is infinite,boundless, whole, one without a second, as we say in Advaita.
Everything in the universe can be broken down into space or emptiness.
Everything is appearing in space and is nothing but space.
All that we are seeing is empty space appearing as people, animals, trees, mountains. - Space or awareness is unborn, boundless emptiness - energy,or pure intelligence.
So there is always the possibility that on hearing this message expounded and expressed, that there can be an undoing of this contraction called "me", Mr and Mrs So and So, and a release into boundlessness.
This boundless essence, can never, ever be grasped by the limited mind of a human being.
It cannot be put into words - they can never hope to capture it - they can at best only point to it - This is it.
This is all there ever is. - Grace is - but not for any entity - hearing sounds, seeing sights, thoughts arising and passing away.
This very livingness - aliveness is all there is - wherever you go there is only this livingness or
now-ness. - There is no coming or going except in the dream. - This livingness is everywhere, every when and it can't know death - death is only for the character in the world dream.
Dream characters have no destiny or free will, except in the dream.Outside the dream, in awakening - Buddhahood, there are no people or things - there is no sun, moon,stars,or living beings. - Even within the dream or manifestation, this holds true.
Realize right now, that you are dreaming and being dreamed as this illusory entity and wake up! Don't wait for another 1000 lifetimes. - Hear the words of the master issuing from the heart essence - "I am the self-luminous reality".
Wake up and be free this very instant. - These boundless blessings flow from the glorious lineage of the Navanath Sampradaya - the group of 9 friends or masters reportedly beginning with Dattatreya, author of The Avadhuta Gita, back in antiquity; one truly great one from this same lineage, living in the last century, was Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, who I had the extreme good fortune to see, know, and love in this life.
- end.

Sydney, Monday 19th Nov 07.

Back to basics. -Right here and now there is the presence of awareness, livingness, pure being - you cannot grasp it with a thought or concept, yet you cannot negate it. - This livingness, knowing-ness - hearing sounds, seeing objects, feeling feelings, sensations etc, is all there is.- "THIS" is all there ever is. - This livingness is nothing, no thing - utterly empty, yet fullness,
empty pure intelligence energy - no beginning - no ending.
So all this is simply happening spontaneously. - It is not happening to anyone.
It is just happening ceaselessly and there is no person as such, that has or knows this.
This is a conversation about nothing - utterly absurd to a conditioned mind or
person who mistakenly thinks that they have and are consciously living their own lives and running the show,as we say.
Just see that livingness "is". - Don't try to be or do anything special - just be - choice-less,effortless, awareness or being-ness.
What effort are you making right now to be aware?
No effort, of course, you just are infinitely and eternally - I am That - You are That - everything is THAT (as Nisargadatta pointed out to me).
Relax into this pure awareness.
Let go and just be THAT instead of the miserable sentient human being that you had, prior to this pointing out instruction; taken yourself to be.
Realize that you, as this pure awareness or knowingness, are prior to everything and the knower of it.
This is the path (of) wisdom - the wisdom of your own natural state.
Even before a thought arises,and you label something, calling it a chair or table, you already know what it is before you name it.
This knowing-ness or awareness is Omnipresent, or as we say in Advaita - One without a second.
SAT CHIT ANANDA - Existence,Consciousness,Bliss,Absolute.
Being, knowing, and loving to be.
They are not three things - they are all aspects of this ordinary everyday awareness that
you are presently and timelessly enjoying. - Realize it, acknowledge it, do not ignore or take it for granted. - It is the very livingness or power that is enabeling me to write these words and allowing you to read or hear them. - Awaken from this dream that you are mortal, fallible, and full of sin, and realize right now that you are this deathless essence or spirit that is enabeling everything to happen.
No one is doing anything to you - everything is happening spontaneously - there is no creator,
preserver, or destroyer. - No Ishwara, no Brahma, no God in heaven. - All these are only conceptual entites.
Everything arises without any cause and disappears into this empty living essence.
There is no reason for the appearance of the universe - it has no cause or creator.
It is just in the nature of things, that this "seems" to happen - nothing has happened at all.
All that you think you are seeing is appearance only - Maya - without any substance or
independent nature apart from this empty essence or knowing-ness - Jnana Prajnana - that you cannot under any circumstances negate.
This is the greatest 'good news' that anyone (a so called 'someone') can ever have - "you have never been born,
and you will never die".
This "is" the truth that will make you free - know it now if you will. - You yourself are what you are seeking - The non dual Absolute - Your nature is already perfect.

End.

Sydney Friday 16th Nov 07.
Empty cognizance of one taste, suffused with knowing, is your unmistaken nature, the uncontrived original state. - When not altering it, allow it to be as it is, and the awakened state is right now spontaneously present. - Right here and now as you are reading these words, seeing is happening, hearing is happening, thinking etc is happening. - There is no one making it happen, yet it is happening by itself, so to speak. - So it is imperative to see, investigate, or realize that there is no entity as such, no "me" who is doing any of this. - The true implications of this fact are quite shocking--This means that in actuality, there is no entity that has ever or will ever do anything.--You as that entity, Mr So and So, have not done a darn thing--Yet, this fact is quite sobering and liberating, if it is truly seen and taken to heart.
Even though no one is doing anything--things still get done, actions happen, deeds are done but there is no personal doer involved in all this.- Therefore, it is this empty cognizance, or cognizing emptiness that is responsible for everything that happens or doesn't happen.--This emptiness suffused with intelligence or knowing-ness is the ultimate doer or prime-mover. - This is the Natural State that Nisargadatta Maharaj would constantly and tirelessly point to. - No one can negate this presence of awareness or pure knowing-ness.
There is no one who is knowing, there is just knowing, seeing, functioning, feeling etc—This emptiness of one taste is the fundamental essence that is always and
ever the same and whole - One without a second--non dual - non conceptual knowing-ness--Jhana Prajnana—heart essence.
Now even though everything perceivable or conceivable appears and disappears in this ultimate essence—the essence itself never changes--empty cognizance of one taste. - There is literally and actually no one home--no person or entity ever existed--everything is empty of a permanent self or "me".
There is no such thing as an ego or person--all such apparent things are simply dream characters without any substance or independent nature of their own apart from this livingness, that you as the essence cannot negate--You cannot negate this essence and on the other hand you cannot grasp it with any idea, notion or thought.
If you are seeking it, you can never find it, because you "are" it. - So the search from this realization is a trap, because what you are seeking you already are, so how can you ever find yourself if you already are yourself?
You would have to split yourself in two--the seeker and the sought and that is impossible because your Self is whole--One without a second.
Moreover when you really inquire and have a good look--you cannot pinpoint the origin of anything in this world because everything is beyond arising, dwelling, and
ceasing--unborn, un-originated.
Normally we think that a leaf is born in the Spring and dies in the Autumn, but actually that leaf has not been born, nor does it die--it was always present, and when the conditions become favorable ( the 5 elements-earth,water,fire,air,ether in the right combinations) it manifests.
So that leaf is never born and it never dies--and nor do we as these apparent entites.
So you who are reading this have never been born and you will never die.
This is the greatest good news that any imaginary person or entity could have-I am THAT.
End.

Sydney Tues Wed 20th to 21st Nov 07.
Vedanta is the study of the Vedas in Hinduism--The 4 principal Vedas are the core of their sacred scriptures. - Veda means the "word" of God or Truth as revealed to man. - However Vedanta itself means the end of the Vedas-- the end of words or concepts. - What we point to in Advaita Vedanta is that the Vedas or sacred scriptures are powerless to reveal this Absolute, or what we commonly call God.
This is beyond words,so Advaita that we point to here is beyond or prior to, words, concepts, or the Vedas as such. Advaita Vedanta means the end of the Vedas-the end of words or concepts. - Also Advaita means total unicity-not two--In that how can there be two: one asking about another?
Realize that prior to the arising of a single word or thought, there "is" an unspeakable, unknowable essence that enables this present expression to take place.
Pause, just for a split second, and relax into that essence--Now without a thought or concept, what can you say about this Omnipresence?
You cannot say anything about it without a thought, yet undeniably it "is"- thought or no thought. -This Natural State or essence cannot be approached positively--you cannot say what it is--it is a mystery--unknowable by any entity or concept--yet you who are reading this cannot be apart from it.
Approach it negatively. - Neti Neti--not this, not this--not the body, not the mind.
Keep negating until you come to something that you cannot negate--I am--even without a word. - That itself leads you to the Mahavakya---the great Word or Upanishad-- TAT TVAM ASI--Thou art THAT!--You "are" THAT—I am THAT, as Nisargadatta and other Jnanis' proclaim.
You are what you are seeking.Seeing that clearly the search for Truth is brought to an end. - You put an axe to the concepts at the very root, and firmly abide as That. - No more sprouting, no more rebirth can take place because you have gone to the very root. the source of the concepts and destroyed that root by firmly inhering and abiding in the state 3 days prior to conception. - This state or essence, prior to conception as a sentient human being, is your true eternal state--That state prevailed thousands of years ago, right now, thousands of years hence, it will prevail--It always and ever prevails. (It is state-less)
Know it and abide in it--all your problems will be solved and all your desires will be fulfilled. - The scriptural passage Proverbs3:56 "Lean not not unto thine own understanding, in all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct thy paths" becomes true. - The true meaning of this statement doesn't mean acknowledge some person--it simply means acknowledge this unspeakable essence that is living you, breathing you, thinking you, performing all your bodily functions, beating your heart etc, moving the galaxies--you don't exist apart from it--you are being dreamed--a dream character.
Also "He will perfect that which concerneth me". - You have no free will-"Take no thought for the morrow". - Don't try to reason anything out. - The answer is not in the mind. - This nothingness contains the mind, the mind doesn't contain it. - So stop looking there.
No sage, saint, or saviour has ever touched this nothingness or Noumenon--no one, not - Jesus, Buddha, Mahavira or anyone else has ever gone beyond nothing or such-ness.
When this fully dawns you will realize that you were never born, nor have you carried out any worldly actions—everything that you ever thought you did or was done to you—never happened at all--all that you imagined you did was pure ignorance, dream and illusion.
This is the secret of the Siddhas --you're just pissing in the wind--if you ever find a friend who tells you this and you take direct delivery of it, you will be blessed beyond words.
This is Salvation, Liberation, Nirvana,
the Kingdom of Heaven--accept it now if you can.
If there is still a you there wanting enlightenment--then this is also just what is--don't fight with it--just notice it, be aware of it and in due course it will vanish by itself without any personal effort. - Stop playing God and let Him run the universe.
End.

New Note (3) from Mark:
Notes from Kings Cross,
Tuesday 12th Nov 07.
What we talk about here is Advaita----Truth or Reality. - Now the definition of Reality is That which does not change. - Everything apart from this Omnipresent Awareness is a was-ing---past or an if-ing----future.
So this that we talk about, is the only thing worth talking about. - It must be seen very clearly that past or future, are only in imagination and never ever actual--Apart from thought, memory and anticipation, there is no past or future. - As Sailor Bob says, what's wrong with right now if you don't think about it? - And I think it is fairly obvious that there can be nothing wrong or right if I don't think about it. - Also Nisargadatta Maharaj would often point out to me that nothing can trouble you except in your own imagination--read thought--read time--read mind. - So mind as we ordinarily use the term is time--memory of past or anticipation of some coming event -- future.
Mind is time and time is fear because it is circumscribed--it has a beginning and an end. - However this pure Presence Awareness is timelessly present or Omnipresent--but usually it's being ignored or overlooked, taken for granted, we might say. - The "me", Joe Blogs is time or memory and it wants to continue for all time--it doesn't want to disappear. - I, Joe Blogs love to be---I am so and so and I'll do anything to stay alive for as long as possible. - This desire to be and continue endlessly is Thana (sanskrit term meaning thirst for existence), suffering and delusion.
There is no need for me to continue to be or not to be as Shakespeare said, because I am, infinitely and eternally as this pure Presence Awareness that no one can ever, under any circumstances, negate this pure awareness that (they are) I already am is Omnipresence, Omniscience, Omnipotence--All Presence--All Knowing--All Power, and the "me" as Joe Blogs is only a mental concept, a bunch of memories, which ultimately has no substance or independent nature apart from the pure awareness or knowingness which I already am and can't negate.
So there is no need to get rid of the me or ego, because it never existed--or as Nisargadatta says is the child of a barren woman---and after all a barren woman has never had a son in the first place! - So where is the need to get rid of it, because it is appearance only?
Don't take my word for it--investigate and find out for yourself. - Who am I? - Who and where is this separate I (Joe Blogs that I have taken myself to be?
Right here and right now, without a word or concept there is just a pure "is" ness or as we say in Dzogchen, the highest expression of Buddhism, non-conceptual awareness.
Dzogchen translated means The Great Perfection. - This pure "is" ness or knowingness that you are That is this present experiencing--without a word or concept, you can't sat it is good or bad happy or sad--it just "is"--even without a concept
--this non-conceptual awareness that you presently cannot negate is The Great Perfection and you already are That.
The manifest universe (Phenomena) has appeared on and will disappear into this non-dual Noumenon-----read Absolute. - So really, as far as I'm concerned, nothing has ever happened at all---all this discussion, all actions good or bad, everything I am saying is for entertainment only--whirling away the illusory time. - A Jnani knows and I know that all this (whatever anyone says or doesn't say) is nothing but pure ignorance.
Put that in your pipe and smoke it! -See what it does to your pride of doership and arrogance. - As Nisargadatta pointed out --you as that separate entity, are the result of spit (or sperm, or dirt), so how can you even entertain ego or doership, when this is seen?
What will happen to your self-esteem if you are exposed to this actuality--how can you have ego? Full stop!
Yes sir! - That's the reason why there doesn't seem to be many takers for this. - No one wants to be nothing or no thing, and that's exactly what you are -- not a vacuum or a void---pure emptiness suffused with intelligence or knowingness—not a dead thing--- pure boundless self-shining intelligence energy--no beginning, no ending -- ineffable, unborn, unspeakable, non-conceptual awareness.
Nothing perceivable or conceivable--inconceivable--unknowable--so give up trying to grasp ‘This’ with the mind, you can't grasp it because you are it!

End.

New Note (2) from Mark:

Where to start? - Start from the fact that here and now there is (a) presence of awareness which can not under any circumstances be negated. - You know "I am"- but since when did you know or have this consciousness "I am'? -- Also this consciousness"I am" is a temporary thing; it comes and goes. - When it comes it's called birth and when it goes it's called death; but my question is - who knows this? - Who is aware of these happenings which we are all are witnessing from day to day?

Isn't there (an) awareness of the very sentience or consciousness that we are all enjoying presently? -Isn't everything appearing and disappearing on and in this pure awareness or knowing-ness; this changeless background? - Now this awareness is ever present or
Omnipresent because it allows me to say "I am" - It is totally impersonal and invisible and no matter how hard you try, you cannot notice It or see It as an object.

- This pure non dual awareness or knowing-ness has always and ever been with you, but you as that imagined entity "me" have through inadvertence been ignoring it and "this" is the very ignorance that is keeping you in bondage. - This pure awareness which is your Natural or Original State or condition is neither sentient nor insentient.

Please note that all these words I am using are only concepts or pointers, they are not (the) Reality itself - that being said, we can use the words instead of ‘the words using us’. - So if what we have just pointed out is the Truth or Reality that ever seeker is seeking and I can assure you from direct experience that it is;- then this person or sentient human being that I had prior to this realization taken myself to be, is totally false or illusory. -So with just a simple looking I see that what was born is this consciousness or concept "I am" and that is what is going to die, and that can die right now if I actually see that it is false – So this pure awareness unaware of itself is my true or Natural State.

It can only know itself when a vehicle ie body-mind organism, consciousness is present or available. - And truly this pure awareness is here and now untouched and totally unaffected - it is birth-less, deathless, body-less, mind-less, time-less, and space-less and I, the true formless I am That - Right from the beginning -nothing(no thing) is -nothing has ever existed apart from That.

This is self realization not god realization, because that will get you nowhere.

I have never seen any god I am only telling you about myself.

Before there can be any God you the Self or non dual Absolute have to be their first. -You are the proof of God not the other way round.- You as pure awareness are prior to everything and that includes the ‘knower’ of it.- This is wisdom and self knowledge. - Nisargadatta Maharaj told me the only way you can help anyone is to take them beyond the need for further help and he did that by showing me what I was not....this body and mind. - He did not and could not show me or explain to me what is the Truth or actual Reality of all things. because That cannot be put into words or seen as an object. - I had to do my own inner work and see the Truth for myself. - See and acknowledge this present awareness that you cannot negate or grasp and you too will be beyond the need for further help. - No guru, new age spiritual master, or outer teacher can do it for you, you have to see it for yourself.............

Questions and comments to mark.west1@bigpond.com

Note 1.

What we point to here in these or any gatherings is undivided empty cognizance of One Taste, suffused with knowing, or what Nisargadatta calls the Natural State. - There is nobody reading or listening to this who is not aware or conscious. - This present fresh wakefulness that everyone is already enjoying is what we call in Dzogchen (the very highest expression of Buddhism) - Rigpa - Emptiness suffused with awareness - The Great Perfection.
So let us start from the "fact" that we "are" That. - The Great Perfection or Natural State is already present and is our own true essence - This is the 'pointing out' - an instruction -acknowledge that simple fact that you are present and aware - that pure knowing-ness is non dual, effortlessly arising, pure from the very beginning and is the primordial Buddhahood. (Buddha means 'awake')
There is nothing to do or become. - 'Becoming' implies 'change' and 'time'. - Just realize I am That 'I am' (presence) and be what you already are - You cannot say "I am not". - Realize that here and now, without a concept, there is just a pure knowing-ness or "is" ness.
Now this pure "is"ness is what everyone is seeking and yet they already "are", so this seeking is like a dog chasing it own tail - Seeking must take place in the mind - which is time (process).
The pure awareness that everyone is already enjoying is timelessly present, or as the Ancient's say Omnipresent - So mind or time is only a mental concept - There is nothing inherently wrong with concepts ,they are useful but they are only pointers - This pure awareness that everyone is enjoying is there prior to and after any and every concept - So this non conceptual awareness "is" The Great Perfection of Dzogchen and is our true essence here and now - So it must be seen from this logical step by step inquiry that the search for Truth, God, or enlightenment is a trap, as we are already That - However no one can see it for anyone else - each must see it for him or her self, so to speak.
So I say happy hunting - closer than hands and feet - can't see the forest for the trees - there is only seeing, hearing. etc, there is no seer or hearer etc - The answer is not in the mind. so stop looking there - full stop! - Find the seeker - have a good look and everything will resolve itself and be clear - Everything is happening spontaneously, without a doer - you so called are being lived period.
Realize that you are the pure awareness - The Supreme Principal, beyond mind and body and abide as That.

Some really good news, if you have not heard it already is:
Mark's book "Gleanings from Nisargadatta" is available from the T.S. Bookshop in Melbourne.
This remarkable book is a clear record of many of the meetings with Nisargadatta in Khetwadi, Bombay.
The notes were taken down with Maharaj's blesssings. - Note taking was usually discouraged, so these notes are rare. I was struck by their potent clarity, a clear record that carries with it a sense of authenticity - one can almost hear Maharaj speaking in them. - It is encouraging to see some bookshops starting to stock the book. The T.S. Bookshop in Melbourne & the Adyar Bookshop in Sydney are stocking Mark's book now (as stock is available).
The link for the Melbourne bookshop is - Click Here.

The new book "Gleanings From Nisargadatta" is a Powerhouse of clear pointing.
Mark has done a great service for us all by taking down those notes, which make up the main contents of the book. - In my opinion, this book is so potent, one can only read a few pages in one sitting. - It is so full of profoundly clear pointers, it requires a period of contemplation and digestion or assimilation. - Such contemplation is essential with any profound teaching.
It has been a 'gift' for me to have assisted Mark with getting this book together and out there, so that many others can benefit from its unique message.

- Gilbert Schultz (of shiningthroughthemind.net - and editor of Sailor Bob Adamson's books and CD's - also author of "The First Instant" and "Everything is Clear and Obvious")

The book is generating a lot of interest and no doubt will continue to do so.
It is 'a must' for anyone interested in this subject of Non Duality and Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.

Mark highly recommends the 'teachings' of Bob Adamson. One recent CD "Gentle Reminders" -is a clear recording of a recent meeting in Melbourne - it is a record of a typical meeting at Bob's yet it has a gentleness, which can profoundly 'touch' the weary seeker. - You can only order the CD from Bob Adamson's Website. - Mark is holding a weekly meeting on Sunday's 10.30am - 12 noon (in Sydney Central Area) Email him for details of where it is happening (mark.west1(AT)bigpond.com) - Replace (AT) with @ in the email address shown.

Brand New BOOK of Nisargadatta's meetings.

2006-01-21T20:16:00.000-08:00

NEW BOOK :
"Gleanings from Nisargadatta" - This book is an excellent example of the most potent delivery of Maharaj's 'pointing'. - It is new material not found elsewhere in the extended collection of transcripts of his meetings. - Mark took down the clear notes with the blessings of Maharaj in 1976/77. - Anyone that has "I am That"(which is early seventies material) will want to read this newly available book. - It is a very potent extension of that original book. - The impact of this clear manuscript is not to be missed. -
Gilbert Schultz of 'Shining through the mind' website.

New note for Sydney (Australia) residents: - Mark West has been holding weekly meetings in Sydney on the subject of Non Duality. -New meetings will be arranged in 2007.

-Mark is a living disciple of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. -This is a rare opportunity to clear up misunderstandings and ask pertinent questions. -Be advised that these meetings are for relatively serious students of Advaita or similar - those who are already familiar with the nature of self-inquiry. -What I mean is that the meetings are not a for those who just want mere entertainment. -There is no fanciful spiritual nonsense going on here so beware of that fact. - As mentioned, new meetings will be arranged in the early part of the new year.

Please email Mark for any other details. -
Details on note above.

Mark West and Bob Adamson.
After many years these two chaps got together again in Melbourne at Bob's place. -The famous clock of the Advaita Show Podcast can be seen in the backround. -It was a present to Bob and Barbara from James Braha after their visit to the USA. - James Braha's Book "Living Reality" on Bob's talks in the US, is a very good coverage of what Bob is pointing out.

Welcome to Mark West's new site

2005-11-18T17:39:00.000-08:00

Mark West went to India in search of inner freedom.

A turning point happened when he visited Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj in Bombay.
This website will be added to in due course.
Mark has until now, only been speaking to people he comes across who show an interest in the spiritual search. - He is a valuable find as you will see when you listen to these interviews.
We plan to publish a book of very clear notes Mark took while at Nisargadatta's meetings during 1976/77.
I was struck by their potency.
When I found Bob Adamson in the year 2000, I considered myself extremely lucky to have found a clear teacher who expressed that same potent message that Nisargadatta expounded.
- Now Mark has also popped up into the scene. - Even though I am no longer seeking thanks to Bob's clear insistance on not letting me stay bound in concepts, I still value the clear expressions coming from Bob and Mark.
You can hear Mark speak about his experiences there in India and about the message he imbibed in the presence of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. - The following blue links take you straight to the recordings.
Hear him speak of what is now obviously clearly understood. - His enthusiasm is unbound.

Top one is # one. - Work your way down the list.
5 and 6 are on Buddhism & Advaita - 7,8,9 are on Christianity & Advaita.

http://www.shiningthroughthemind.net/pages/MarkWestInterview.mp3

http://www.shiningthroughthemind.net/pages/MarkWestInterview2.mp3

http://www.shiningthroughthemind.net/pages/MarkWestInterview3.mp3

http://www.shiningthroughthemind.net/pages/MarkWestInterview4.mp3

http://www.shiningthroughthemind.net/pages/MarkWestInterview5.mp3

http://www.shiningthroughthemind.net/pages/MarkWestInterview6.mp3

http://www.shiningthroughthemind.net/pages/MarkWestInterview7.mp3

http://www.shiningthroughthemind.net/pages/MarkWestInterview8.mp3

http://www.shiningthroughthemind.net/pages/MarkWestInterview9.mp3

Email comments to

mark.west1
(at)
bigpond
(dot)
com

- 'Enjoy" -