Nondual Highlights
Issue #1617 Saturday, November 15,
2003 Editor: Mark
Question: I
want to go on a yatra to some sacred places.
Papaji:
It is better to just sit where you are and ask yourself "Who
am I?" Most of these sacred places are sacred because there
your mind is focused on the saint who is related to it, like
Buddha in Bodh Gaya. This focus benefits you by strengthening
your decision, not the place itself. Most people who live in Bodh
Gaya or Tiruvannamalai are not affected, but those who go there
focused on the saints and teachings of these places are
benefited.
Find where the "I" rises. There is no better education
for only this brings you to no past object, but to your Self.
"Who am I?" finishes your relationship with time and in
this timelessness you know who you are. Go to the sacred places,
but the main purpose must be to know who you are. After inquiry,
the two places I usually recommend for a yatra are Arunachala who
is Shiva and also my Guru's Guru, and the Ganga, who is the
Divine Mother. By drinking her water you will remove all your
physical problems and diseases. She is a heavenly nectar, and
therefore, Ganga is worshipped. If you keep her in your room it
is quite enough to purify the atmosphere of the whole room. This
is why we keep containers of Ganga in our houses and this water
will stay unpolluted for one hundred years. Also, when people are
dying a tablespoon of Ganga is place on their tongue and then
they are not reborn if it is the last sip of water that they
have.
You can go to the source of the Ganga, Gangotri, and there you
will see that there is no river! Like this, go to the source of
your mind which has become a river of so much samsara and time.
Don't forget that going to Gangotri is symbolic of something that
few people will understand.
Be still and know
yourself as the Truth you have been searching for.
Be still and let the inherent joy of that Truth capture your
drama and destroy it in the bliss of consummation. Be still and
let your life be lived by the purpose you were made for. Be still
and receive the inherent truth of your heart.
- Gangaji
Non-duality is the King of Views.
Resting the mind without flux is the King of Meditations.
Not choosing this or that is the King of Conduct.
When there is neither hope nor fear, this is the King of Results.
Since the fundamental ground (alaya) is unborn,
it can neither be obscured nor defiled.
Simply rest in that original unborn state and
without meditating or not-meditating, let appearances resolve
back into Ultimate Reality (dharmata).
In being free of the extremes, one attains the King of Views.
Entering the vast and deep, one attains the King of Meditations.
Not making an effort, one attains the King of Conduct.
With non-seeking awareness, one attains the King of Results.
At first the yogi feels his mind to be turbulent like the upper
course of a rushing river.
In the middle stage it becomes smooth like the broad Ganges.
In the end it is like the Ganges entering the ocean, meeting of
son and mother.
- excerpt from Ganga-Mahamudra-upadesa of Sri Tilopa
You are already
free. You are pure, uninterrupted consciousness. Somehow in the
play of yourself, of consciousness itself, there has been a
veiling of the inherent truth of freedom. Consciousness somehow
hides from itself and pretends it is lost. In a certain moment of
the play, there arises the desire to end the game of hiding and
begin being eternally found. The desire to be found is the desire
to awaken in the dream...
- Gangaji
This legend relates to the
descent of the river Ganga from the heavens into the earth.
The ruler of Ayodhya, King Sagar, an ancestor of Rama, of the
solar race performed the Aswamedha Sacrifice 99 times, where each
time, the horse that he sent around the earth, returned to his
kingdom unchallenged. Indra the King of Gods, in an act of
jealosy, kidnapped and hid the horse in the hermitage of Kapila
Muni - when the 100th sacrifice was being performed.
The sixty thousand sons of Kapila came to the hermitage of Kapila
in their search for the horse, and mistaking Kapila Muni to be
the abductor, attacked him. An enraged Kapila Muni burnt the
60000 princes to ashes.
One of the grandchildren of King Sagar, hearing about the plight
of his father and uncles, came in search of Kapila Muni and asked
him for a solution to the problem, and was advised that the
waters of the river Ganga would miraculously bring back the dead
princes to life.
His descendant Bhagiratha, continued his efforts to bring the
Ganga to the earth from the heavens to purify the ashes of his
ancestors and bring them back to life. Bhagirata's prayers were
rewarded and the Ganges rushed to the earth; however, the might
of the river was too much for the earth to withstand. Fearing a
catastrophe, Bhagirata prayed to Shiva, who held out his matted
hair to catch the river as she descended, and thus softened her
journey to the earth. The Ganga thus became an attribute of
Shiva. This manifestation of Shiva is known as Gangaadhara.
Bhagiratha patiently led the river down to the sea from the
Himalayas; however , being unable to locate the exact spot where
the ashes lay, he requested Ganga to follow her own course. The
Ganga, therefore in the region of Bengal, divided herself into a
hundred mouths and formed the Ganges delta. One of these streams
washed the ashes, and offered salvation to the souls of the
departed. The island with which this incident is associated is
referred to as Sagar Island, where a bathe at the confluence of
the river and the sea is considered to be sacred on Makara
Sankaranti.
You Are the
unchanging Awareness in which all activities takes place.
To deny this is to suffer, to know this is Freedom.
It is not difficult to realize this because it is your True
Nature.
Simply Inquire 'Who am I?' and Watch Carefully.
Do not make effort and do not stir a thought.
Look within, approach with all-devotion and stay as Heart.
Keep vigilant and you will see that nothing will arise.
This is the trick of how to keep the mind quiet
and how to win Freedom. This doesn't take time
because Freedom is always Here.
You simply have to watch: where does mind arise from?
Where does thought come from? What is the source of this thought?
Then you will see that you have always been Free
and that everything has been a dream."
This legend relates to the
descent of the river Ganga from the heavens into the earth.