17. Stages in the practice

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Parameshwar is eminently practical and aware that there is no written treatise on the different states of consciousness that the practitioner encounters as he progresses in his search. In his talks he urged attendees to talk about their daily practice and, to what was usual, no one said anything about it because many - most of the attendees - did not know where to start, the few were faced with enormous problems unable to continue it.

In this chapter your words about the practice are collected. I hope that they truly are of great help to those who initiate it or are already in it.

P: Advaita is not knowledge, wisdom, metaphysics or religion. Advaita means an attitude in life, a way of being in it that is able to lead to! practitioner towards the core of his Being and even beyond.

There is only one way to know what the teachers of all times have experienced for themselves and in themselves and have taught their disciples, and is that by turning within themselves have found the Peace and Silence of those who are so speak in the Scriptures.

Many of you are more concerned to know intellectually what is THAT, Paramatman, the Being or Atman, than to look for them, but the truth is that few among the many are prepared to do so, it must be a matter of karma, and if we have to be honest, we should not talk without knowing first hand these issues that are usually talked about.

So, how do we walk in this practice? Is there anyone among you who knows what "I Am" is from personal experience?

[As always, nobody answers.]

P: Someone who is practicing? I see that many of you are with your eyes closed. Since you do not answer, either you are practicing or making see what you practice. Is it a habit for you to close your eyes when someone speaks?

[laughter]

P: You, who are now with eyes wide open! Tell me. What are you practicing? What and how do you do? Sorry, your name is ...

Q: Irene.

P: Well, Irene, tell us.

Q: I do not know if I do it well or not, but I try to put into practice what I have understood about Vichara and the Teachings of Ramana Maharshi, and the difficulty with which I find myself is that I can not stop thinking. When I listen to you, the mind is aware of your words; The truth is that thoughts are insurmountable. If you would like to help me with this, I would be very grateful.

P: Irene, you face the same ignorance. Thoughts come to consciousness freely because you are not present, conscious of yourself, you no longer remember your Center, you have lost sight of yourself and, in addition, your attention is weak, not very intense and turned towards "outside". It escapes through the senses continually contemplating the scenario drawn in consciousness. The result of ignorance is the habit of continuous and untamable thinking. So that thought does not arise, schools have been created with different methods; however, when the attention is reinforced is when they stop appearing. If you want them not to bother, redouble attention.

Q: Where should I pay attention when I practice Vichara? I have a lot of information about the method, but when it comes to practicing I do not even know where to start. I am there facing the thoughts and even the physical dream that almost always ends up beating me.

P: Well, are you really there? Like I said, Irene, you have to redouble your attention. You have said something very, very important in a natural way: "I am there." Well, that's what you have to do, be "present", but redoubling the attention, that is, being there with double intensity of the usual. Soon you will be able to verify that when the attention, the face-to-face awareness, is fixed in itself, it is the best method to silence the thoughts.

I (other): According to the Masters of Advaita this is the state of "no-mind", the space free of thoughts where the Self is realized. It is Samadhi.

P: No! This state is only one stage, the initial one. The self-conscious self has yet to appear and remain ONLY in the middle of the Ocean of Silence. That is Samadhi. The Presence, which to be maintained must be constantly returning through the attention turned towards itself, is the same mind or consciousness trapped in ignorance looking at itself in the mirror of existence. It needs to "see", "recognize itself", "know" itself to remain. This is the first step, the second is "I Am", where it is not necessary to look at one another, but to constantly return to oneself.

In this stage of "" I Am "" the perception of existence is pure, very pure, and it is at this stage that the Being is contemplated as the Individualized Existence. To remain that way is to be in Samadhi. The state of no-mind is this and is known by Savikalpa Samadhi. Only here can there be an opportunity to go further. The Consciousness is rooted in itself but it is still to be liberated from the Self, because this is the Atman, the self-existent and the taste of Being takes place with it. At this stage it is no longer possible the appearance of thoughts, and if these appear they are the obvious sign of loosening or loss of strength. This "I" is the cause of all ignorance, because when it appears on the scene, ignorance and thirst for knowledge appear. The "I Am" is the Intelligence itself, because to know it does not need intellectual elaboration, unless you want to put the Knowledge into words. "I Am" is the part of us that realizes, is directly seeing and understanding.

Q: Is it not the mind that is capable of knowing things? I can not make a distinction between ME and mental comprehension, because the mental elaboration is the same intelligence, if not, I could not understand their words.

P: The mechanism that in all of us is activated when the intellect receives a new information is common to all; However, this mechanicity begins in the same childhood, when the child begins to know and understand his surroundings thanks to the continuous questions to which he subjects his parents. In that period is when the intellectual mind begins to develop. As you will see, it is not an instantaneous act of appearance on stage, but a period of development that will later lead to the intellective faculty. But all this you will understand when the veil is cleared, sink into yourself and you will see that there are distinctions or degrees of ignorance. Intelligence is the ability to realize things and the intellect only handles what intelligence discovers; the intellect is only a skill of the Intelligence, of the Atman. Do not you see that he does not understand what the fourth state is, for example? Your intellect can not handle data that the Atman does not know, and that is because the Atman does not know what the fourth state is; however, your intellect does not lack information acquired from other sources. Do you think that talking about what is not known is an intelligent act? Think about this matter, maybe it will help you put things in their place.

Q: Thanks!

I (other): Only practice is the way in which the Self is reached, what we already are? Other Teachers teach that it can also be reached by understanding.

P: If you are able to understand: go ahead. But I assure you that you will have to leave some day to do it if you want to go further. I do not know if you will know, but the path of understanding is Jnana Yoga and it has been working for millennia. You, with your understanding, can reach Consciousness "I Am", but every time you are "I Am" you will leave understanding aside and in that moment the natural mechanisms will be put into operation until Their dissolution is a fact and, for Of course, you will have to sink into the SELF, and that gesture is always practical. Anyway, be yourself who will discover the Advaita, do not chew the food of others. Here the direct way is taught, it is not necessary to understand.

Going back to where we left off ...

The Consciousness of "I Am" is transcended when the sense of Individuality that "I" implies vanishes in a state that is the PURE BEING, free of ME, but where there is still the perception of existence. It is no longer necessary to remain as the Self, there nailed, Source of Attention. The drop returns to the ocean at that exact point. When the knot of attention is dissolved, the state of Lucidity remains but with the sensation of being alive, of existing.

Both the Consciousness of I and the Being are the same thing, it is the BEING, the Atman, but the matter is not over yet, however much others insist that it be so and so they teach it. Atman is not Paramatman, as a son is not the father. I'm not talking about theories, I'm talking about a practical reality, and here there is no understanding or intuition of the divine that is worth, and please, do not leave me with the typical argument of those who seek God in their pockets: "If there is no experimenter, who experiences? " Because, if you did what you should do, you would know that it is the individual mind or consciousness that experiences its absorption and subsequent reappearance.

[Parameshwar fires that bullet (?) at someone determined.]

Let's talk now about how to solve and transcend in a practical way. How to start the practice! The first stage is to turn the attention inward and know where to look, what to pay attention to. There is no need for additional exercises for the development of attention, because the same perception of one's existence will be taken as an object of attention.

The perception of existence is something natural in all, only that it is never given due attention and this is precisely the direct path, the fastest way, because if you have to wait to "understand" you may need a thousand lives and reading of millions of books.

Among all that makes up an individuality, there is no doubt that life is present in each of us, therefore, that perception will be from the beginning the object of attention, and please, do not make the mistake to apply what you think you know in this topic. The thoughts will stop appearing as soon as the attention turned inside reaches the necessary degree of intensity, then you will realize that I, the observer, looks at itself to feel present and that that look disappears as soon as the attention is loosened . Consciousness looking at the consciousness in the mirror, it is only the beginning. Naturally, this practice should be carried to all areas of your lives. This initial stage is called "Presence of Me" and requires a lot of effort on your part, because I assure you that you will face Maya herself and that you will learn a lot about the power she exercises over you. Yes, it is much easier to sit devouring the ideas of others than to delve into yourselves! In fact, many of you will not go beyond this initial stage, it is not my desire to deceive you, since at the outset it takes great strength of purpose, dedication and love for THAT to go towards what one already is, but only knows intellectually . Great men of humanity, as indeed Ramana Maharshi was, have openly shown what Advaita means by the example of their lives. Ramana had his own sadhana and you yours, do not imagine that you have to live like Him, but take an example of Him in terms of practice and attitude. I quote Ramana because many of you read his Teachings and try to practice Vichara. Ramana, in life, pushed to investigate and dive inside, and with his Silence showed that it is possible ... for anyone who was tired of words and knowledge and had enough inner strength to throw himself into the abyss.

Well, as I said, in the first stage the Witness is taken as an object, the attention is reinforced and the perception of existence or being, at a given moment, is focused on the Witness itself. This is a stage of transition to the next, the "I Am" Consciousness. The moment can arrive spontaneously, by means of a sudden awareness, or gradually. No matter how it is, it arrives!

The second stage is what we already know as the Consciousness of SELF, the very Principle of Individuality and the cause of the veil that covers the Absolute, it is Intelligence, with whose appearance everything takes on apparent reality.

[An interlocutor raises his hand asking permission to speak.]

P: Yes? Say it.

Q: Parameshwar, I am listening to you, it is the first time that I come here to hear you, do not believe me irreverent when raising this question, it is not in my mind. But ... why all these stages? What's the point of all this? If one already is, and this is openly stated by all teachers, why all this deployment of levels? Honestly, I do not see the meaning.

P: Well, your name is?

Q: Esteban.

P: Well, Esteban. None of this makes sense, but only for two types of people. For those who do not look for anything and for those who do not look for anything because they have nothing to find. The latter, Esteban, is this your case?

Q: No, it's not my case!

P: Look. You can only say "You are already" the one who IS, the one who has not yet cleared the clouds of ignorance has the Self as another topic in the mental structure in which he lives. The Self is an unreality for him and for all those who do not have his direct experience. Esteban, if you are not aware that you are already, how do you judge what you do not know as necessary or not?

Even when I look at you, I am addressing all those who have kept this same question and who have not dared to do it. Even if I address you, I address all of them.

What you do not know directly, from your own experience, is always a hypothesis, a conjecture, an idea, a concept, and that is all that is acquired in the form of intellectual or intuitive knowledge.

Look, I'm going to give you a very clear and very simple example of how this Self works.

You are neither the man who looks at the sky, nor the clouds that hide the sun, you are not even the sun that shines. You are the container space of all this; let's say that you are the blue sky (as a reference to the container space). Due to an illusory effect you have become the one looking at all this; the container that penetrates everything contained in itself ends up believing that it is an observing entity of all phenomena. Your world is barely illuminated by sunlight and it comes weakly because there are good clouds that hide the sun. Those clouds are ignorance and illusion. You know that there is a sun behind them, but you can not see it, and you know it because others have told you, and they have even told you that your reality is of the nature of the container space, but for you the sun is only a belief or an intellectual hypothesis and you harbor in your heart the hope that one day you will see it.

The space, the sun and you are already. It's not about speculating about them, because the clouds will continue there. As you are already guessing, it is about eliminating the dark clouds that prevent you from seeing clearly. That is the Advaita. The Advaita is and when you walk towards what is already IS the clouds clear, and that is what is being discussed here. What I am commenting on the states or levels is simply to clear the clouds in a direct and practical way, without the need to use the intellect or intuition. The question is extremely simple: either it is or is not known to BE, and here nobody can be deceived. The ego, the I-you, is Pure Lucidity darkened by the clouds of a mental structure, and while you are in this situation, lost, the only light that is in you is that of your Being, not the light of your understanding. intellect. Your mind is a great collector of information and an expert creator of labyrinths and mirages, your intellectual mind is only a tool misused and until you see its uselessness I assure you that you will not hold on to that Being that you already ARE. There is only one way to clear the clouds and it is that the Sun of Being shines more intensely in your own life.

Q: Okay, I understand what you say, Parameshwar, but it's another point of view. Behind all this is the maker?

P: No, no, it's not a point of view, it's what happens dressed in concepts. You know? Being and everything related to it is simple, so simple that it does not need to be developed intellectually. The fact that it can not be defined with words does not imply not being able to experience it as its own nature. Being is, is not thought or intuited. All the great masters have walked the same path. If you think that everything is already there because you have realized that the maker does not exist, you have realized a minimum part of what you should be aware of. The doer is nothing but ego. From this awareness to bring Turya through the states of mind there is still a long way to go.

Q: Everything is Consciousness, and states of consciousness are false, illusory, belong to the realm of illusion, why waste time with it?

P: Are you sure of what you have said? Really safe?

Q: Yes, as far as I can understand and intuit.

P: Do you know the Real to distinguish what is Unreal? Possibly, both REAL and IRREAL do not stop being concepts that manipulate your intellect. Being is unreal in someone who has not yet dispelled ignorance, it is a mental construction. To speak of consciousness without knowing consciousness is mind, intellect. Both those who accept the Self by faith and those who do not, do not cease to be blind, making conjectures about the colors of the rainbow. The Being is and is enough.

Q: Parameshwar, I thank you for your words.

[Parameshwar shakes his head.]

P: The Consciousness "I Am" is Silence and Stillness, it is Consciousness, awake and still, no thought interrupts its continuity. Through him the Silence is emanated, because it is the bridge between the divine and the human. The "I Am" Consciousness is part of the Being-Existence, is the perceiver and connoisseur of that. However, it is only a consequence, an effect whose cause is still purer. The "I" is and does not need to return to itself or make any kind of effort, strategy or method.

While in the Presence of SELF constantly returns by an effort to bring attention (consciousness) to itself, in this stage the SELF-I or "I AM" does not require any effort to sustain or recognize itself. Hard work is done in the first stage, the YO looks in the mirror of consciousness and knows itself, this is the only thing that must be done to stay present. Once achieved, the "I Am" is always there and the "taste" of BEING is not lost even when the mind is in thoughts. In case of forgetting, it returns to itself in a natural way, without effort. The same state does not allow too much time to pass in a state of "absence", it is a natural mechanic that activates itself thanks to the initial effort. From this point, all work consists in sinking into Consciousness, and as we speak of eliminating ignorance we also speak of "purity" of Consciousness. Yes, we already know that Consciousness is PURE, but not from the point of "I Am," which is Individualized and Self-Conscious Consciousness. So, the work is not over yet, although many stay here simply because they savor the flavor of Being-Existence being ME.

An intelligent "I Am" will realize that it participates in Being-Existence (this is called Atman), and that Self-consciousness is not the Source of this Silence and Peace that he radiates and others can perceive . Become aware that he occupies the first plane of existence, that is, that he is there nailed in the middle of Silence observing, witnessing, experiencing the Being. He realizes that he should not be there for the first plane to occupy the Self. The same, and when this understanding comes, the natural mechanics of absorption, disintegration, elimination ... of the SELF (call it as you want), to make way for Turya, Nirvana, etc., begins. For the SELF to disappear from the field of perception there are two ways, the first is the easiest and it is focusing attention on itself, sinking to the point where the only thing that remains is the Consciousness-Existence, nothing more. When Turya is given, the SELF (which does not cease to be an impurity of the Mind or Consciousness) knows its unreality and rests ... it does not look for more. End of the journey? DO NOT! Although for many yes. The practice of Turya leads to Turyatita, where only the Pure Consciousness of Turya remains but without a sense of existence, and from here, there is no more.

"I Am", by itself, can only rise to Turya, but for Turyatita an additional energy is required, the Shakti, which awakens in Turya. Pure Consciousness and Shakti are the same thing, Shiva and Shakti are undifferentiated; Calling Pure Consciousness Shiva or Shakti is the same. Shakti is the Consciousness-Energy in the manifestation. Without it, the mental structure of the three states can not be eliminated and is the last "work" that must be done; Turya, who is beyond them, must occupy the foreground in Vigilia, Dreaming with Dreams and Deep Sleep. Consciousness plus Existence (LIFE) is never lost, Turya eliminates the three states of mind.

Well, as this topic is going to be treated a lot, for today we leave it here. The next meeting will be in two days. Goodbye!

 

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