Top 100 questions and answers

[Rob]

Ergens op het internet is een site waar een Top 100 van vragen staat die over nondualiteit te stellen zijn.

http://www.heartofnow.com/files/100.html

Iemand heeft die gelinkt naar FB en Jan Koehoorn heeft de draad opgepakt en bij de vragen antwoorden gegeven.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/jankoehoorn/

En ik heb ze weer van FB geknipt en geplakt en zal ze hier onder neerzetten.

Voor de liefhebbers.

[Rob]

99: Without a personal sense of ?me,? how can a human being function?

Dat gaat perfect. In de loop van de dag hebben zelfs de zogenaamde niet-gerealiseerden lang niet altijd constant een persoonlijk besef van 'ik'.


98: "Why is there something rather than nothing?"

You can?t say: ?there is nothing?, because it?s impossible to see the absence of an object.


97: ?Why is there no mind, body or world during deep sleep??

?Why? is always thinking and has to do with causality, which is thinking too. In deep sleep, there is no thinking and thus no ?why?.


96: "Why is there a sense of separation in the first place?"

This kind of question assumes that we can solve problems by using reasoning and tracking backwards to the first thing that caused it. While that may be the case in some situations, it?s useless for selfinquiry. We can make up millions of reasons why certain things are there. Furthermore, that sense of separation is present, so why look at the past instead of directly looking at the phenomenon itself? Any child can drive it?s parents nuts by simply asking: ?Why, why, why??, no matter how good the answers are. So don?t look for causes or solutions, just look at this sense of separation and ask: what is it, in itself?


95: "Why do you teach?"

Because most people are very good at making simple things complicated. My talent is the opposite.


94: "Why do some people ?get it? and others don?t?"

Intensity and non-distraction.


93: "Why are we here?"

Suppose you could point out one single reason that would answer this question. Then I would ask you: ?What was the cause of that single reason??

Causality is not the basis, because you will never find one single reason that is responsable for everything that happened after that. So the answer is that causality is not the reason of phenomena, but just another phenomenon.



92: ?Which is an easier path, bhakti or jnana??

Is the sea blue-ish green, or greenish blue?


91: ?Where did the manifestation come from?"

The concept 'where' is part of the manifestation.


90: "When I?m in satsang, I feel peace and joy. The next day I seem to have lost it. How can I keep it always?"

See life as one ongoing satsang.

[Rob]

89: "When I see other people, I feel separate from them. How can I transcend this?"

Separation is not a feeling, but a thought. And transcending thoughts is the easiest thing there is. You just realize that every thought needs you as witness.


88: "When I saw the Dalai Lama, there was no energy there. But whenever I see my favorite satsang teacher, the whole room gets swept away with bliss! Who is more enlightened?"

Mu!


87: "When I realize my true nature, will I still be able to feel pain?"

Yes, but without a feeler.


86: "When I had an experience of not existing, I got scared, like I?d disappear."

That's odd. You go into that very same state every night, when you go to sleep.


85: "What?s the progressive path, the direct path, neo-advaita and Advaita Vedanta?"

Beats me. I only know about the last one.


84: "What?s the difference between nondualism and dualism?"

You can only talk about differences when you're discussing duality.





83: "What would happen if everyone realized their true self?"

Haven't got the faintest idea. I can't predict the behavior of gazillions of molecules in the universe.


82: "What should I look for in a teacher?"

An authentic advaita teacher is a living demonstration of the doubtlesness that you already are. If you don't recognize this, then you haven't found your teacher yet.


81: "What keeps me bound?"

"Tell me where, then I'll untie you"

~ Alexander Smit ~

Voor wie mijn guru nooit gekend heeft; dit is een vrije vertaling van iets dat Alexander vaak zei:

"Zeg me waar je vast zit, dan maak ik je los"


80: "What is the witness?"

If you put it like that, it sounds like the witness is something that you can make into something objective. But in reality, 'the witness' is the unpersonal, timeless, spaceless, availability for everything. You can never become that, because you already are that. Tat tvam asi.

[Rob]

79: ?What is the ultimate truth??

You are not what you think you are. You think you are a small somebody in a big world, but in reality you are that in which all things appear.

Because you think you are but a fragment, all strategies that you develop are developed from that fragmentary perspective. And, not surprisingly, every outcome of such strategies has to be fragmentary too, by definition.

Discovering this ultimate truth means that you won't experience life as if you were a small fragment any longer. You can give any name to what you are, but you'll know it'll always be a reference.

If you call it Silence, you will know that this Silence cannot be disturbed, so you won't panic when there are many thoughts. If you call it Love, you will know that even hate is Love, essentially. If you call it God, you will know that it has nothing to do with books and rules. If you call it the Absolute, or Absolute Consciousness or Nothingness, you will know that it has nothing to do with emptyness or loneliness and that there?s nothing clinical to it.

?Entire universes are imploding and exploding every moment ? am I to cry over them??

~ Shri Nisargadatta Maharaj ~


78: "What is the purpose of life?"

This one I?ve always found funny. First we make up a thougt-construction called ?purpose? and after that we ask for the purpose of life.


77: ?What is it like??

Everything falls into a natural rhythm. ?I want? or ?I don?t want? is not longer possible. Searching for eternal peace disappears. Conflicts and struggling evaporate. There is a perfect synchronicity with the now, not because you are ?in sync? with the now, but because ?now? is just that part of You that is called ?now?.

76: ?What is God?s relationship to consciousness??

God created the world in six days. Consciousness contains a complete new world in every moment. That kinda sums it up.

75: "What is enlightenment?"

I like to quote my guru here:

"The unconditional non-appropriation of whatever it seems to be"
~ Alexander Smit ~

74: "What happens after enlightenment?"

We will see.

73: ?What happens after death??

The same as before birth, so this one you can answer for yourself.

72: ?What does this have to do with Love??

Nothing. We ARE love.

71: ?What are the characteristics of an enlightened person??

There?s no such thing as an enlightened person and a person is a charateristic in itself. But let me try.

Image a big cucumber in your ass for an hour. When you pull it out, I would imagine you?d feel relieved at first. But if I ask you one day later: ?How does that feel; NOT having a cucumber up yours?? Then you would say: ?Well, it wasn?t supposed to be there in the first place.? And when I ask you two months later, you would have to describe how it feels to not have certain sensations. So what happens is, that certain inconveniances are no longer there, but you only notice that the first few weeks or months. Sooner or later, the real world comes knocking at your door and it won?t help you a bit, remembering that you don?t have a cucumber down there.

Bottom line (pun intended): you can?t compare it to anything, because then it will be dependent of something else.

70: ?There are so many people suffering. How can nonduality say that nothing matters??

That?s not my kind of nonduality, to say that ?nothing matters?. Anyway, you can?t help people beyond your own level, so the first thing to do, is ending your own suffering.

[Rob]

69: ?Some teachers say that practice helps; some say it hurts. What?s the truth??

It helps understanding hurt.

68: ?Ramana says to be silent. How can I do that??

Listen and see!

67: ?Once one has the Understanding, can it be lost??

Yes. Everything you have, can be lost. But you cannot lose what you are and you are that which makes understanding possible. So you don?t ?have? it. Water does not ?have? wetness.

66: ?My guru told me that I?m enlightened, but I don?t feel like I am.?

Then you aren?t. You are the one and only authority on that subject.

65: ?Lots of people talk about doership. How can I drop my sense of doership??

Why would you wanna ?do? that?

64: ?Is there reincarnation??

Of course! As a system of belief in many countries.

63: ?Is there consciousness in inert matter??

No. Inert matter is in Consciousness.

62: ?Is consciousness like energy or space??

No. That would indicate that Consciousness is comparable to something else. You can only compare things according to the properties they possess.

61: ?If there are no entities, then why speak of enlightenment??

But there ARE entities. They appear and disappear all the time.

60: ?If someone is teaching, does that mean they?re enlightened??

The fact that you can say something about it does not prove that you have understood and the fact that you understood does not mean that you can say anything about it.

~ Wolter Keers (Dutch advaita teacher) ~

[Rob]

59: ?If someone is enlightened, does that mean they teach??

The fact that you can say something about it does not prove that you have understood and the fact that you understood does not mean that you can say anything about it.

~ Wolter Keers (Dutch advaita teacher) ~

58: ?If nothing like ethics or goodness is real, then what is to keep the world from having more Hitlers??

If ethics and goodness are not real, then Hitlers aren?t either.

57: ?If it?s all just consciousness, then why even get out of bed in the morning??

All is not ?just? consciousness. Someone who says it like this, demonstrates his lack of insight. All is Consciousness and that can never be a disappointment. I suggest you try to stay in bed for half a year and find out for yourself.

56: ?If I realize Oneness, what about my family??

The word ?my? will disappear from that sentence.

55: ?If I lose my sense of doership, will I ever feel guilt again??

No. Nor will you be proud.

54: ?If I am enlightened, will I be happy all the time??

No. You will see that you are hapiness when it appears.

53: ?If everything is awareness, why don?t I feel it??

Because awareness itself is not a feeling. It is that with which feelings are seen.

52: ?If a teacher is still practicing Buddhism or Hinduism or whatever, does that mean he?s not yet enlightened??

Yes.

51: ?If there?s just awareness, then why does it seem like there?s a world with people and things in it??

You still go to the cinema, while you know perfectly well it?s just a play of light, don?t you?

50: ?If consciousness is my nature and all things are consciousness, then why can?t I see what you?re seeing??

Leave the ?if?, ?then?, 'why' and can't out of that sentence.

[Rob]

49: ?I?ve heard that notion of enlightenment is only for the unenlightened. What does this mean??

When you wake up in the morning, there is the notion of awakening. But when you?re already awake, that notion doesn?t occur.

48: ?I was told to stop reading spiritual books. Does that mean I?m getting closer??

No. You?re only getting closer when you lose interest in ?how far? you are on the spiritual path.

47: ?I was able to be without ?doing? for a few weeks. But then ?doing? returned. How do I get rid of it once and for all??

Doing is like a shadow. Is doesn?t influence you in any way, but you can?t get rid of it. By trying to get rid if it, you?re showing that you still think it has influence.

46: ?I see you and you see me. How can the teaching say there are no others??

Others are just another form of You.

45: ?I realize that wanting to be enlightened means that there?s still the illusion of a personal self that can get somewhere. So how do I get rid of that illusion??

Trying to get rid of whatever always proves that you still think it?s not an illusion.

44: ?I realize I?m the Self. But how do I keep from forgetting??

You haven?t realized anything as long as you think it has something to do with memory.

43: ?I realize that I?m nothing other than consciousness, but I haven?t had a radical, life-altering shift like the ones I read about. Does this matter??

Because you ask, it matters.

42: ? I know there?s no one there to do anything. How can I realize that??

You just did, by saying ?I know?

41: ?I know there?s no ?me,? but how do I realize it??

If there is no ?me?, who is going to realize it?

40: ?I know that ?I? am the Witness. But I can see you and you can see me. Which one is the true Witness??

If you can point it out, it?s not it.

[Rob]

39: ?I have meditated for decades. Isn?t this helping??

No. Stop saying ?I have meditated?. Start saying: ?I am meditation?.

38: ?I had ?it? for about a week or so. Then I lost it. How can I get it back??

Everything you can posess, you can lose. Everything you can get back, you can lose again. What you really are, you can?t have. You can BE it, but you can?t have it.

37: ?I get fooled by memory. How can I avoid that??

Instead of getting frustrated that you got fooled again, enjoy the insight that you recognized the mechanism.

36: ?I find myself not caring about anything anymore. Is this normal??

It?s a phase. As a phase it?s normal. For years you have learned that you, as a person, should care about others, as other persons. Now that you are investigating all those concepts, it?s not more than logical that you get to see the other side.

35: ?I feel like I?m enlightened, but others don?t treat me any differently.?

If you?re still convinced that there are ?others? and have expectations about how they should treat you, you are anything but enlightened.

34: ?I feel I might need psychotherapy, but my spiritual teacher said that going to a therapist would only strengthen the ego, which is the basic problem in the first place. What should I do??

Go to that therapist, like you would go to the dentist when your tooth aches.

33: ?How will self-realization help me??

It won?t. You?ll just know what you are, that?s all.

32: ?How is the loss of a sense of doership still a subtle identification??

Instead of a ?doer? you can become a ?letter?. That famous Beatles song was totally wrong: Let it Be. It?s not a question of ?letting? things be ? things ARE, regardless from anyone doing of letting them.

31: ?How is silence still an object??

It?s not, but you can make it into an object. When you think that silence is absent when there is noise, you make it into an object that can appear or disappear. When you know that silence is the possibility for sounds to happen, but can never really be disturbed, it?s not an object, but the background of all objects.

30: ?How is nondualism different from solipsism??

Solipsism says that there exists only one consciousness. Nondualism says that Consciousness is beyond existance and that it is nonsense to use the ordinal number ?one?.

?In Consciousness, there?s not only one, let alone two.?
~ Alexander Smit ~

[Rob]

29: ?How is it that I am consciousness when I feel like a person??

No, no, no! You can?t feel like a person. A person is a series of thoughts and feeling is one of the five senses. You can?t smell or taste like a person, and you can?t feel like a person, too.

28: ?How does the distinction between subject and object dissolve??

By seeing that distinctions are objects too.

27: ?How do I stop all thoughts??

Take a nap.

26: ?How do I keep from being hooked back into the story??

Your true nature is like a projection screen, or a mirror. You really can?t get hooked on anything, but because some stories seem very intense or interesting, it can look like you?re getting hooked. But getting hooked is part of the story.

25: ?How do I get beyond the conceptual level and live it??

Live. Eat the wind. Drink the rain.

24: ?How can the world not exist ? I just kicked a rock!?

Don?t let any ?guru? tell you that the world doesn?t exist. It does. Everything that appears, exists. A real guru will never tell you that the world doesn?t exist. Maybe they will tell you that the world is an illusion, but illusions exist too.

What is ment, is that the world is not the basis of existence. It?s not invariable. Translate words like ?real? or ?truth? to ?invariable, when you read older texts.

23: ?How can the relative lead me to the absolute??

Doesn?t every drop, wave, icecube, snowflake immediately point you to water?

22: ?How can I stop suffering??

The nature of suffering is always the same: you want something that isn?t there, or there is something you don?t want. So suffering has to do with wanting always.

And now you ?want? to stop suffering. Do you see the impossibility in that question? There is another way. Investigate the mechanism of wanting.


21: ?How can I realize my own absence??

That?s what?s going on all of the time. As long as you don?t confuse realizing with thinking or remembering.


20: ?How can I get past the intellectual level??

The idea of ?getting past? is at the intellectual level.

[Rob]

19: ?How can I experience this awareness that I am??

To experience means that you are aware of an object. You can never turn this awareness into an object. This question is like asking: ?I wanna see the light in the subtitles of the movie when I go to the cinema.?


18: ?How can I catch my mind in the act of getting caught in duality??

Mind IS duality.

17: ?External objects exist ? isn?t this proved by the fact that we both see the same tree??

If I die, ?we both? disappears.

16: ?Doesn?t memory prove that the world and I have actually existed??

No, because memory, and ?have? and ?existed? are in the same domain.

15: ?Does the enlightened one feel any emotion??

No.

14: ?Does it contradict nonduality to pray or be worshipful??

You can?t contradict nonduality. For being able to contradict, you need certain features for referencing.

13: ?Do I need a living guru??

Absolutely.

12: ?Do I have to learn Sanskrit, Pali or Hebrew? I hear these are holy languages, better suited than English to knowing myself.?

Hahaha!

11: ?Do I have free will??

No. You don?t have anything. You ARE anything.


10: ?Can this knowingness be transmitted to others??

Of course, why do you think there is such a thing as satsang?