“I am Pure Awareness prior to form!” “I have no ego!” “There is no me!” “I am fully self-realized!”
Yes, yes, dear one. Thankyou for sharing. Beautiful words. But what’s far more interesting is this: How has this deep recognition and conviction seeped into your life? (and for a moment let’s not play word games and argue over whose life it is!)
So tell me about your deeply human relationships, with your mother, with your partner, with your kids, with those you care about. In recognizing that you are who they are, in recognizing that every thought, feeling, sensation, sound is deeply allowed in what you are, in recognizing this total intimacy and inseparability from life itself, that you are not divided in any way – well, how has this actually moved in your life? Has it all remained on an intellectual level, or has it moved, washing away false divisions and violence? Tell me about barriers breaking down between you and those you love. Now we’re getting into the real, juicy stuff!
You know, I meet so many people – teachers and students alike – who can talk and talk about Advaita and nonduality using the most refined language and beautiful concepts, and quote endlessly from gurus, living and dead, and yet this indivisibility and unconditional acceptance have not yet become a living reality for them. Some of the people who claim to be the most enlightened of all are still, behind closed doors, and in their private moments, in deep conflict with others (although they claim there are no others), still deeply dissatisfied and angry and frustrated at life, and still holding onto all sorts of images of themselves (e.g. the image that they are self-realized, or enlightened, or that they have no image at all and that you are the one with the problem!).
This is not a judgement of anyone at all, but a wake-up call, and a challenge, and a question:
All these beautiful Advaita words and concepts (“the self is an illusion!” “time is a belief’), what the hell do they mean if they are not actually being lived?
The age of talking and arguing about nonduality is over. Time to discover what it means to really live it in daily life.