Beyond Consciousness

Beyond Consciousness

Andrew Vernon

Fundamental Principles of Nonduality

G O L D E ND A Y

BeyondConsciousness

Fundamental Principles of Nonduality

BeyondConsciousnessFundamental Principles of Nonduality

Andrew Vernon

G O L D E ND A Y

First Edition 2009

Copyright © 2009 by Andrew Vernon

ISBN number 978-0-615-24920-9

For contact information, visit the website

www.wayofthebird.com

Preface v

Preface

The predecessor to this book, You Are He, was a series of com-

mentaries on the teaching of my spiritual master, Shri Ranjit

Maharaj. It was of necessity colored by his way of expressing

himself and by the terms he used. In this second book, I have

tried to express my own understanding in my own words,

using plain language. There is no special terminology here

and no use of words that you cannot find in an ordinary

English dictionary. I have tried to say what I want to say as

clearly and simply as possible, while remaining true to the

essential thought of my teacher and to the teaching of the

other great masters of this tradition.

Since the publication of You Are He in 2003, I have been refin-

ing a list of about 70 key concepts, or “fundamental princi-

ples,” which together provide a framework for a philosophy

of nonduality that is not dependent on any particular path or

way. These principles are set out in list form in the first

vi Preface

Beyond Consciousness ❊

chapter of this book. The remainder of the book is an expan-

sion of, and a fuller explanation of, those principles. The vari-

ous chapters in the book have for their titles the essential

questions that occur sooner or later to the spiritual seeker:

“What Is This World? “Is There a God?” “Who or What Am

I?” “What Is Realization?” and so on.

These questions are universal—it doesn’t matter whether one

comes to them from a Hindu tradition, from Christianity,

from Buddhism, or from any other path. When you take them

literally, religions appear to be completely different from one

another and even contradictory. However, on a deeper level,

they are seen to be pointing to the same, inexpressible truth.

We have to understand truth for ourselves in our own way.

When we read a spiritual book, we are really reading our own

words and hearing our own voice. We are experiencing our

own understanding reflected back to us, as in a mirror. For

this reason, we should pay careful attention to how we feel

when we are reading. If what we read makes us depressed or

unhappy, we should stop reading it. On the other hand, if we

find that a quiet kind of happiness steals up on us as we read,

then we should certainly continue.

Andrew Vernon, Marin County, California, August 2008

Contents vii

Contents

Preface v

Fundamental Principles 1

What Is This World? 9

What Is Reality? 19

Is There a God? 25

Who Or What Am I? 39

What Is Life? 47

Is There Free Will? 53

What Is Realization? 65

Epilog: After Realization 71


Fundamental Principles

1. The world is the manifestation of the will of the Absolute.

2. The world of multiplicity, of separate objects that the mind

sees, is an illusion.

3. The world is fundamentally a positive, joyful place.

4. Consciousness or knowledge creates and contains the

world.

5. The experiencer of the world is a temporary appearance

only.

6. The world of names and forms is not real. In reality, there

is only oneness.

7. The form is being animated by the self-awareness of con-

sciousness.

2 Fundamental Principles


8. There is no birth and no death for the self-awareness of

consciousness.

9. The entire process of evolution of consciousness, through

the infinite number of forms, is manifest against the

unchanging background of the Absolute Reality.

10. The unmanifest is the Absolute Reality.

11. As air appears in space, consciousness appears in reality.

12. The unmanifest and manifest aspects of reality are not

separate, just as the sun and its light are not separate.

13. It is the manifest aspect of reality that we call God.

14. Reality can never be explained or experienced because it

cannot be an object.

15. Because reality is what you are, there is no path to it and

no way to find it.

16. The manifestation of consciousness is an expression of our

own absolute freedom.

17. Reality is absolutely trustworthy.

18. Consciousness is the divine power, is God, is full of


Beyond Consciousness❊

goodness and beauty, and is the object of all worship.

19. The power of universal pure consciousness is God to the

human being.

20. Consciousness, in its formless state, does not identify with

anything other than its own existence and bliss.

21. Love is the power that makes the One into the many in

order to have the many return to the One.

22. Consciousness is enjoying itself as bliss in every form.

23. Consciousness is present as existence itself.

24. Consciousness is aware of its own existence as happiness,

joy.

25. The self-awareness of consciousness is bliss.

26. The enjoyment is in the awareness of the non-existence

of “I.”

27. It is the enjoyment of the moment that is real and alive.

28. Space is not empty. Even the space between the electrons

in an atom is pervaded by consciousness.



29. Consciousness is like space without the quality of

emptiness.

30. Enjoyment is the natural activity of being.

31. Happiness is the natural state.

32. The human soul is an expression of consciousness, a vehi-

cle of God’s will, an embodiment of love.

33. Consciousness, when allowed, moves toward light,

harmony, and beauty. Like attracts like.

34. Consciousness is a field of receptivity, in which there is no

“outside” or “inside.”

35. We cannot say what we are, because we are not any thing.

36. The separate “I” sense that appears in the human being is

only apparent not real.

37. The sense of “I” or individual consciousness depends on

the food consumed by the body for its continued presence.

38. No one is born and no one dies.

39. Real happiness is awareness of presence, of being.



40. Unhappiness belongs only to the mind. Outside of it, there

is no such thing.

41. To know what you are is to be what you are.

42. There is a bubble on the surface of the ocean. The bubble

bursts. Has it become “realized?” No, there was always

only ocean.

43. Self-realization is the simple revelation of the mystery of

infinite consciousness.

44. Life is living and living is life. There is no one living a life.

45. Devotion is a natural process that manifests itself at a cer-

tain stage of spiritual development.

46. Life is not linear. There is no continuous individuality

from moment to moment.

47. Life has no center. There is no fixed point in the

machinery.

48. The drama of world events and of each “individual” life is

playing itself out as it must.

49. There is no mind, apart from its contents.



50. The power of universal consciousness is giving to all the

fruits of past actions.

51. Life is the affirmation of being.

52. Life is perfect unfoldment.

53. There is only one power, only one manifestation. It is not

broken up into separate parts or individual existences.

54. There are no accidents in the life of the sincere seeker.

55. Everything manifests by means of natural processes,

governed by natural laws.

56. There is no “doer.” There is no question of doing. There is

just manifestation, one “everything.”

57. Consciousness is living out this life, and all other lives,

according to its own laws.

58. Everything happens in the only way it can happen. What

is happening now is the result of what has happened in

the past.

59. Grace is always available and is available to all.

60. The longing for unity, for reunion with the source is the



common thread that runs through all the diversity of the

universe.

61. Love for God is the first and last duty of the human being.

62. Free will for human beings is a matter of conscious partici-

pation in the divine will.

63. Consciousness never searches, never strives to find the

answer, because for it there is no question.

64. Consciousness lives to praise, to say “I am,” to accept

without reservation.

65. The quickest and safest way for a spiritual aspirant to

become a realized or enlighted being is to give up all

desires in complete surrender to God.

66. Liberation is understanding that there is nothing to

understand.

67. Ignorance doesn't exist.

68. Nothing negative exists.

69. Being is being positive.

70. Everyone knows the difference between positiveness and



negativeness by feeling, sense. Negativeness is

self-centered, collapsing in. Positiveness is expanding,

radiating.

71. The one who is free enjoys his freedom, without having to

do anything.

72. Everything is perfect. Everything is as it should be.


What Is This World?

This world is a living, breathing, ever-changing, blissful man-

ifestation of the will of the Absolute. The universe is the form

of the Supreme Lord. The world of multiplicity, of separate

objects that the mind sees, is an illusion. There is only oneness

in the world, however it may appear to the mind and the

senses. The world is fundamentally a positive, joyful place. It

is the birthright of human beings to experience the bliss that

comes with true knowledge and universal vision. If we do not

always see the world in this way, it is because we have identi-

fied ourselves with the individual “I” or ego. It is the will of

the Absolute that we should forget our true nature in this

way, and it is also the will of the Absolute that we should

return again to the source and find our true selves again.

How does it happen that the Absolute Reality, which fills this

world to the brim with universal pure consciousness, comes to

be identified with the individual form, the individual “I?” To

10 What Is This World?


better understand how this can happen, we can think of a

dream. In a dream, a thought or image emerges and starts a

series of associative scenes, which are based on material

stored in the memory. At the same time, the experiencer of the

dream appears and enjoys or suffers the experiences in the

dream.

The whole process of the unfolding of the dream is entirely

spontaneous, and the experiencer has no control over what is

happening. When we wake up from the dream, we do not

imagine that we have died or even that we have lost anything

at all. In the same way, when one awakens from spiritual

sleep, the experiencer, or “I,” who appears as the experiencer

of this waking world is seen to be only a temporary appear-

ance. In fact, the “I” does not exist and the world of separate

objects and separate individuals does not exist either. There is

only consciousness. In the state of spiritual sleep, conscious-

ness, which is self-aware and self-existent, manifests in a par-

ticular form and spontaneously identifies itself with that

form, taking the form to be self. This in turn gives rise to the

sense of not-self, or other than self, and this is the fundamen-

tal illusion, on which all other illusion is based. In reality,

there is no self and no not-self.1

Just as we dream our dreams in the state of deep sleep, so the



dream of individual existence appears in the deep sleep of

God. God is omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient—ever-

present, all-powerful, and all-knowing. The nature of God is

being, consciousness, and bliss. God is manifest as the imper-

sonal divine power, and He is also the supremely intelligent

Being who controls that power. However, in accordance with

the law “as above, so below,” God also experiences a deep

sleep state, in which He forgets himself and ceases to know

Himself as He truly is. In this divine, deep-sleep state, the

identification of the dreamer with the dream occurs and the

life of the individual “I” begins.

The Absolute Reality IS, but it cannot be said to exist or not to

exist, because it is beyond the comprehension of the limited

human mind, with its dependence on dualistic thinking. Exist-

ence begins when the Absolute manifests as God the Creator,

which is the original, wide-awake state of God. The will of the

Absolute sets in motion the various levels of creation with the

infinite number of beings, each of which is an indivisible part

of Itself, like waves on the surface of the ocean. The Creator,

1. One point that will be emphasized in this book is that the under-standing that one does not exist as an individual entity is not some-thing to be feared. One does not lose anything real—one only gains (or regains) that which is most true in oneself.



having created the universe, then goes to sleep, entering into

the creation and animating it, but forgetting His infinite and

unlimited true nature to become finite and limited through

identification with the various beings of this world.2

It is said that the realized or enlightened person is asleep to

the world and awake to the reality. Sometimes it is said that

the awakened person is not aware of the world and only

aware of reality. Both these statements mean that the enlight-

ened person is aware of his or her true nature as pure con-

sciousness and therefore sees the world of separate

individuals and beings as illusory. Being aware of reality as

one’s true being produces a state that is like that of being very

deeply asleep. There is always a deep peace and fullness

there, whatever the circumstances of the external life.

The power that conjures up the dream of the world is con-

sciousness. Consciousness exists in all forms and is in fact the

2. This explanation is of course not intended to be taken as literally true. Rather, it is of the nature of a myth. A myth, like all the various creation myths in human religious literature, is intended to convey a meaning in a way that goes beyond the limited human mind. When one takes a myth in the right way, one receives an intuitive, emo-tional, perception of Truth that has nothing to do with everyday logic.



very existence of all forms. Because everything appears in

consciousness, it means that consciousness is subtler than any

objects and also subtler than the space that surrounds them. It

surrounds objects in its own light. Consciousness pervades

everything that appears in it, just as the dream encompasses

all of the dream-objects. It creates and contains the world.

Consciousness is not possessed by an individual “person.”

Rather, the apparent individual is an appearance in conscious-

ness.

This consciousness that is the creator of the world appears to

be limited once it identifies itself with the individual form.

However, consciousness is not at all limited. Consciousness

knows itself and IS itself always and at all times, and only

appears to be limited by the concepts of the human mind.

When, in a particular individual form, this consciousness

knows itself as it really is, individual consciousness or “I” is

transcended and is understood to be a temporary manifesta-

tion only. This is the true meaning and purpose of the individ-

ual life—for the individual consciousness to realize itself as

universal consciousness, and, in that realization, to under-

stand that its true nature is the Absolute Reality, which is

beyond consciousness.

The world of names and forms, the world of separate objects



is not real. It is created by the mind. In reality, there is noth-

ing but being, consciousness, and bliss. Within the dream of

the world appearance, there is only the all-pervasive, univer-

sal power of consciousness projecting itself through and

within all things gross or subtle, like the colors that are

formed when pure white light is refracted through a prism.

We do not see the pure light itself—we only see its appear-

ance as color.

Consciousness is not actually experiencing anything directly.

Experiencing is carried out by the brain and the other organs

of perception that are manifest in the individual form. The

form is being animated by the self-awareness of conscious-

ness.3 Consciousness is always aware of its own existence,

and that is all that is really happening. There is not really any

experiencer at all. The experiencer is part of the experience

itself, just as the individual who experiences the dream is a

part of the dream. Experiences are illusory—they are not hap-

pening to anyone who actually exists, so how can they be any-

thing other than illusion? The individual “I,” who appears to

be having the experience, is an illusion. Therefore anything

3. Perhaps a more precise way to express this is to say that the indi-vidual form, which has no life of its own, serves as a vehicle for con-sciousness, which is what is truly alive.



that appears to happen to this imaginary person is also com-

pletely illusory. There is no substance to experiences. They

come and go, appear for a moment, then disappear and are

forgotten. All of the experiences of one’s so called life have

come and gone. Where have they gone?

The world of experience is an insentient world. It has the feel-

ing of life only because of the presence of consciousness.

When an experience occurs, it is perceived and processed by

the memory that is already there. If it were not so, there

would be no sense of recognition in the perception and there-

fore no perception at all. There are no new experiences for this

reason. The circle of perception-recognition-memory is a

mechanical process. It happens spontaneously without any-

one doing anything. The only life comes from the light of con-

sciousness which illuminates the present moment as the light

illuminates the frame that is passing in front of it in a cinema

projector. In reality, there is nothing but this living light of

consciousness itself, which is always one light, never sepa-

rated or divided in any way. Consciousness lends the feeling

of “life” to the individual form because of its own self-aware-

ness. There is no birth and no death for this self-awareness.

What is known is always in the past. The unknown becomes

the known by being assimilated into the knowledge we



already have. In this way, knowledge becomes static or crys-

tallized into a pattern. This pattern then forms the basis for

interpreting other experiences. The process begins in the

infant and continues throughout the life of the body. We

assume that a very small child is having experiences. Actu-

ally, it is not, because there is no “I” center to whom the expe-

riences occur. When we look at a baby or infant we are seeing

only the self-awareness of consciousness animating that form,

just as it is the self-awareness of consciousness that animates

animals, which also have no concepts and consequently no

sense of “I.” However, the experimental movements that the

baby is constantly making are laying the foundation for more

coordinated movements in the future. In the same way the

eyes, ears, and other sense organs are accumulating the

impressions on which future perceptions will be made. At a

certain point, the process of perception starts on the basis of

these impressions stored in memory and that same process

continues for the remainder of that lifetime. No experience is

real. No experience is ever experienced by anybody. Nothing

that can ever be experienced is real.4

4. Once again, it should be stated that this understanding, though radical, is not to be feared. It is the beginning of a much greater, more permanent happiness than can be found in any fleeting experi-ence.



Although this world of names, forms, and experiences is not

real, still it could not appear without reality. Forms of increas-

ing levels of complexity are evolved in consciousness. The

entire process of evolution of consciousness, through the infi-

nite number of forms, is manifest against the unchanging

background of the Absolute Reality. Consciousness evolves

forms so that ultimately it can realize itself through the form

of a human being in whom spiritual understanding has come

to maturity. However, when that happens, consciousness real-

izes that there never was anything except itself and that the

whole process of spiritual seeking and realizing that went on

in that form was only a dream. Then why did it go through all

that process of evolution at all, when there was never any-

thing apart from Itself to be gained at the end of it?

The only answer that can be given is that it was done for

sport, for enjoyment, and for the pleasure of finding itself

again after being hidden to itself for so long. The world is the

play of consciousness. Consciousness hides itself from itself

by means of a “gap” that appears between the human body

and mind and the pure state of Self-knowledge. Because of the

appearance of this gap, consciousness forgets its true nature,

identifying itself with the limited human mind, and the

human mind is not aware of itself as pure consciousness. This

gap is called “ignorance,” for the sake of explanation. How-



ever, ignorance has no actual existence, as it is pure nothing, a

zero.

What Is Reality? 19

What Is Reality?

Reality cannot be known or experienced. Consciousness itself

is not the final reality because it is an appearance, a power, a

manifestation. It has definite attributes, such as a definite

existence and its self-knowing is bliss or happiness. The Abso-

lute or final Reality, on the other hand, can have no attributes,

because these would limit its absoluteness. The unmanifest is

the Absolute Reality. It cannot be said to be existing or non-

existing. It is beyond any kind of opposites. Nothing that the

human mind can say or think can approach the Absolute. We

cannot even say that it is absolutely intelligent, because then

we would have to say that it is absolutely non-intelligent,

because to have the one and not the other would also limit its

absoluteness.

As air appears in space, consciousness appears in reality. It

20 What Is Reality?


contains the dream of the world. Consciousness cannot be

separated from reality, or considered as something other than

reality, just as the dreaming consciousness cannot be consid-

ered as something separate or different from the dreamer. In

terms of cause and effect, the Absolute Reality is the efficient

cause and the manifestation of the divine power of conscious-

ness is the effect. Once the divine power has manifest, that

power then becomes the material cause for the creation of the

universe. It is the manifest aspect of reality that we call God,

because it is that consciousness that gives life to all the forms

of creation.5

Nothing ever happens in reality. The only way that we can

speak about reality is by negation. So, for example, we can say

that reality is not an experience. There cannot be anyone or

any thing that exists outside of reality to experience it. Reality

cannot be known. There can be no means of knowing that is

outside of reality that could know it. Reality can never be

known nor experienced because it cannot be an object. How-

ever, this does not mean that it is a subject. We cannot say that

reality exists nor can we say that it does not exist. It is beyond

5. On the scale of the solar system, it is the sun that gives out light and warmth, but it is the light and warmth that gives life to the inhabitants of the planet Earth.

What Is Reality? 21


both existence and non-existence. Nevertheless, there must

certainly be an unmanifest reality to provide the basis for the

manifestation. Language is not able to encompass it because

language is based on duality. The human mind wants to be

able to affirm or deny. It cannot describe that which is beyond

all opposites.

It is misleading to speak about reality as though it could pos-

sibly be known in any way. However, we also have to under-

stand that consciousness can know itself. When this happens,

the nature of reality is automatically understood.6 Conscious-

ness knowing itself, which is self-knowledge, is the pure state

of consciousness, and this state is the manifest, or active,

aspect of reality. Although this state of self-knowledge is still

not the Absolute Reality, it is the closest possible approach to

that reality. The appearance or manifestation of universal con-

sciousness cannot be in any way separate from the absolute

reality. The nature of consciousness cannot be other than the

nature of that Absolute Reality. This means that reality can

know itself indirectly by the Self-knowing of its manifest

power, and this is the nature of enlightenment. Reality mani-

6. This is like going from one level of understanding, on which meaning and purpose is hidden, to a higher level, on which these things are abundantly clear.

22 What Is Reality?


fests consciousness, and in the Self-knowing of that con-

sciousness, reality “knows” itself.

From the point of view of Self-knowledge, reality is under-

stood to be the source of consciousness, whereas from the

point of view of the individual human mind, that understand-

ing cannot arise. The sun of the Absolute Reality is obscured

by the clouds of identification with the illusory objects in the

illusory world perceived by the illusory individual “I.” The

individual person cannot know reality at all but conscious-

ness knows itself to be the radiance of the Absolute Reality.

Because reality is what we are, there is no path to it and no

way to find it. Reality is never “reached” or “achieved.” How-

ever, when we know that our existence, our being, is nothing

but pure consciousness, we also know that we are the unman-

ifest reality that is the source of that consciousness. The

power and activity of consciousness, and everything that

appears within it, are seen as a playful manifestation, an

expression of our own joy, but one which is not essential, not

necessary, or required in any way. The manifestation of con-

sciousness is an expression of our own absolute freedom.

Reality never changes, but through the manifestation of its

power, it is able to create, maintain, and destroy all of those

What Is Reality? 23


forms that appear in consciousness, while still remaining

absolutely free from any kind of limitation. This absolutely

free reality is what we are in our innermost true nature.

Reality is absolutely trustworthy. We ourselves are not sepa-

rate from reality. Therefore, we are connected to the source for

the entire creation. How can anything “bad” ever happen to

us when we are one with the source of all that appears? Natu-

rally, I trust that everything will unfold rightly, as I myself am

connected to the source of that unfolding. I am myself the only

One.7

7. This understanding does not evoke a feeling of loneliness, such as the ego experiences. Rather it is the awareness of the inseparable oneness that unites all beings and forms at the most essential and fundamental level. It is the awakening to the real unity behind the appearance of multiplicity.

Is There a God? 25

Is There a God?

The world of nature, of earth and the organic lifeforms that

inhabit its atmosphere, the mineral and rock formations, the

plants and trees, the fishes, insects, birds, and animals that

have taken form within this context, and also those aspects of

the natural scene that are out of our reach: the sun, the moon,

and the infinite numbers of stars—this world—the gross

world of nature—is the expression, the manifestation, of con-

sciousness. When we contemplate this natural world, we see

that it is full of beauty, purity, and the innocence that comes

from the absence of ego-based thought. Human beings can

live in harmony with this world by seeing in it the manifesta-

tion of a supreme power, of which they are also a part. When

one considers the natural world, one cannot help but be filled

with awe at the creative intelligence that allows an infinite

number of forms to appear and grow from a few simple laws

26 Is There a God?


and a few basic elements. This feeling of wonder and awe is

natural to human beings and is the basis of our religious sen-

sibility. Out of this feeling comes the understanding “there is

a God.” For tens of thousands of years, human beings or their

ancestors lived in awe of the immense natural forces all

around them without any concept of religion or of God. Still

that sense of awe was there, a feeling of wonder that later

evolved in more sophisticated and settled societies into the

search for answers to the fundamental questions of life.

Pure consciousness is the divine power, is God. It is the wor-

shipper as well as the object of all worship. Because there is

no separation between the Absolute and its power of univer-

sal consciousness, by worshipping that power the worshipper

is able to worship that which is the source of everything, but

which does not have any attributes of its own. Consciousness

is the direct expression of the freedom and purity of the Abso-

lute, which, in itself, cannot be known or experienced. Con-

sciousness, however, can be known and experienced, not in

the way that we are accustomed to experience objects, but by

being that.8

8. This is why we say that consciousness is the worshipper as well as the object of worship. One becomes That, or, more precisely, one realizes that one already is That.

Is There a God? 27


It is consciousness that is the object of all of the devotion of all

spiritual aspirants, of any religion, anywhere and at all times.

The power of universal pure consciousness is God to the

human being. Worshipping the Absolute through conscious-

ness is like worshipping the sun through its light. The mani-

fest power is everywhere even though its source remains

hidden, just as daylight is visible everywhere, even when the

sun is hidden behind the clouds.

Consciousness, in its formless state, does not identify with

anything other than its own existence and bliss. That is to say,

there is no duality, and so no experience of “other.” It is the

identified individual soul that evolves the many different

forms in order to have more and more complex experiences.

That process is going on within consciousness, but reality is

not involved with it, just as the one who is sleeping is not

involved in the dream. The experiences are imaginary, as is

the “person” who is apparently experiencing them. Con-

sciousness remains aware of the bliss of its own existence in

all of the various forms but it does not accept any individual

existences or “objects.”

There are many analogies for the relationship between con-

sciousness and the forms that appear within it: the ocean and

its waves, gold and the ornaments made from it, electricity

28 Is There a God?


and the appliances connected to it. Under the all-seeing, all-

witnessing eye of consciousness, the process of evolution con-

tinues by itself. As long as there is desire for more and more

experiences, new forms continue to appear and to interpret

those experiences by assimilating them into the already

known. Consciousness, meanwhile, simply rests in its own

happiness, blissfully unaffected by the drama of the individ-

ual experience. This play of experience is going on at the level

of the mind, and is based on the concept of “I” or “I exist.”

This is the basic illusion, the fundamental ignorance, by

which human beings are bound. However, ultimately, this

bondage is only in the mind and can be transcended by going

beyond the mind to the level of Self-knowledge. The world of

experience, of names and forms, goes on by itself, with con-

sciousness only acting as the power that makes everything

possible.

In itself, consciousness is the all-loving, infinite, and supreme

Lord. Consciousness as the Creator is the first impulse to arise

in the unmanifest Absolute. The nature of that first impulse is

love. Love is the power that makes the One into the many in

order to have the many return to the One. Love is the univer-

sal power of attraction that holds the atomic particles in their

orbits and keeps the systems of stars rotating around the cen-

ters of their galaxies. The nature of this power of universal

Is There a God? 29


attractiveness is conscious love. The first impulse of duality

creates both the object of love and the source from which that

love emerges. God is both personal and impersonal—personal

when manifest as the creative and vivifying power, and

impersonal as the unmanifest Absolute. It is the personal God

that creates the individual beings and that gives them the

impulse to love.

Consciousness enjoys its own being. It does not accept or

reject any particular action or aspect of what is appearing. It

enjoys its own bliss in all the forms: in the stone, in the plant,

in the animal, and in the human being. For example, in a tree,

rooted in the earth and with its branches swaying in the

breeze, consciousness is enjoying itself as pure bliss. In the

human being, consciousness enjoys itself as bliss in the state

of deep sleep, and in any other circumstances where there is

an inner peace, or when the mind is not disturbed by the rest-

lessness of unfulfilled desire. For the most part, however,

human beings live in a state of disharmony with their true

nature, which is pure, blissful, and divine. If all human beings

were able to live in harmony with their own true nature, they

would live in harmony with all other human beings, and with

all of nature, and the Earth would be a Paradise. As it is, con-

sciousness continues to enjoy itself as bliss in every form,

whether that form knows its true nature through Self-knowl-

30 Is There a God?


edge or not. In those beings who have realized the truth of the

all-pervasive consciousness, it illuminates the mind with wis-

dom, so that that person becomes a beacon of light in the

darkness of ignorance.

Consciousness is present as existence itself. All that is ever

happening is that that existence is being felt. The world of

human concerns and aspirations is superimposed on That.

There is only one existence. It is the human mind that divides

that unitary existence into individual entities, eternally sepa-

rate from one another. The human being conceives of God in

the same way, as a separate being. He then prays to that God

for whatever it is that he believes he needs. This is inevitable.

It is simply the way that the mind works. It is a stage that we

all must go through. Ultimately, however, the realization

occurs that God is oneself and that God is not apart from one-

self.

No one ever doubts that he or she exists. Taking that existence

to be real, and given the fact that there is only one existence,

then one’s own existence must be the only existence. There

are no individual existences. There is no limit to this self-con-

sciousness-self-existence. This consciousness is subtler than

space and exists prior to the arising of the experience of space.

The universal existence that is consciousness means that noth-

Is There a God? 31


ing is ever really created nor is it destroyed; it only changes its

form. For example, there is a huge and solid mountain. The

mountain is consciousness in the form of a mountain. After a

million years the mountain has become dust. Dust is con-

sciousness in the form of dust. So nothing has been created or

destroyed and nothing has really happened. Consciousness

was there in the beginning and consciousness is there in the

end. One understands this not by knowing consciousness as

mountain and also knowing it as dust, but by knowing one-

self. From that point of view, one knows that everything that

has a form is also nothing but consciousness in its essential

nature, just as one is oneself nothing but consciousness. This

is an intuitive knowing, or knowing by being. One then sees

apparent disintegration or destruction but does not feel that

anything has been destroyed. One only feels that there is

change. This direct being-knowledge of the universal is God-

consciousness, in fact, this consciousness is God.

God-consciousness, or universal pure self-consciousness, is all

that exists. When we, as apparent individuals and centers of

sense perception, apparently experience something through

the senses, or when we apparently think a thought, nothing at

all is actually happening. The fullness of consciousness

remains undisturbed, just as the light is undisturbed by the

pictures passing in front of it in the cinema projector. If it

32 Is There a God?


were possible for consciousness to become something other

than itself, it would mean that duality was real, because there

would be a subject and an object. However consciousness is

never anything other than itself. It is always what it is. There-

fore, the realized or enlightened person is only ever aware of

himself as Self-knowledge and so he feels that he is himself

manifest in every form. In the literature of various cultures

and religions, there are many fine poetical expressions of this

type of universal vision. In the Hindu tradition, the Ashta-

vakra Gita and Avadhuta Gita. In the Muslim tradition, the

poems of Rumi or Kabir. In the Christian tradition, the words

of Christ as recorded in the Gospel According to Thomas. In Chi-

nese culture, the Tao Te Ching of Lao Tzu. In the modern age,

the poems in Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman or the poetry of

Rainer Maria Rilke. And of course there are many other

examples.

Consciousness is one. There is not a second consciousness.

Therefore anything that appears cannot be apart from con-

sciousness. Everything is an appearance in consciousness, a

modification of consciousness, a form of consciousness, a

reflection of consciousness. Any of these expressions could be

used, as long as it is understood that whatever form appears,

consciousness itself always remains full and perfect. Con-

sciousness may appear to change its form or take various

Is There a God? 33


forms, but this is not a real change or change of nature or

essence, only an apparent change, just as the waves come and

go on the surface of the ocean or the characters come and go in

the movie that is being projected. In the first case, there is

nothing but water, in the second case, there is nothing but

light. In the world, there is nothing but consciousness, noth-

ing but God.

What is consciousness? It is your own being, your own exist-

ence. It is your own manifestation, your own expression.

Nothing is closer to you than that. It is limitless and infinite.

Consciousness is like space, only without the quality of empti-

ness. Space is not empty. Even the space between the electrons

in an atom is pervaded by consciousness. Consciousness can

be seen as a kind of energy. It has definite existence, even

though it is so subtle. This consciousness is the joy that we feel

when life seems good to us. That joy or bliss is the self-aware-

ness of consciousness. It is our self-awareness, as there is only

one self-awareness. If we were in any sense separate from

reality, we would have no being or consciousness. Therefore,

whenever there is self-awareness or the sense of being, of

presence, of self-existence, that awareness and that presence is

consciousness, that is God. All that is happening is that con-

sciousness is aware of its own existence as happiness, joy.

That happiness is the true nature of the human being, and of

34 Is There a God?


all beings. We do not have to search for happiness, because it

is what we are. We ourselves limit this happiness by our own

wrong thinking. We imagine that we have to search for, and

find, happiness, but we ourselves are the source of that happi-

ness.9

Enjoyment is the natural activity of being. Happiness is the

natural state. This natural happiness is not an intense kind of

pleasure like that which is experienced on gaining some mate-

rial object that has long been desired. Rather, it is a feeling of

peace and fullness that is free from desire. Because it is a nat-

ural activity, this enjoyment is going on all the time, whether

we are awake, dreaming, or deeply asleep. Happiness, or

bliss, is the constant background against which the changing

scenes of our lives play themselves out. Who is enjoying this

bliss? No one is enjoying it. It is the self-awareness of con-

sciousness that is itself the bliss. Nothing external is needed.

It is self-illuminating.

For a person who has realized truth, who is enlightened,

enjoyment or pleasure in life comes from the awareness of the

9. This truth must be realized. It is not enough to know it as we know an object.

Is There a God? 35


non-existence of “I.” This person is aware of his own freedom

from the limitation of the individual “I,” which before was the

cause of bondage. For such a person, it is the enjoyment of the

moment that is real and alive. There is no expectation of

future results or attachment to the past. He or she lives in har-

mony with the joy of universal consciousness that is always

there in the background and does not identify with the pass-

ing events and circumstances of the play of the world. Never-

theless, it is not the person who is enjoying. It is the self-

awareness of consciousness that is the enjoyment.

The so-called “realized person” is actually not a person at all.

There is only the universal consciousness that is active there.

Any ego or personality that remains exists only for practical

purposes and its apparent actions are not the actions of an

individual entity. The individual entity or “soul,” has no abso-

lute existence, as there is nothing but pure universal con-

sciousness at all times. However, the individual soul has

relative existence because of the thought “I am” or “I exist”

that arises in the mind. This thought is essentially an expres-

sion of the “wish to be” that is inherent in consciousness. and

which is the mechanism through which consciousness mani-

fests itself in an infinite number of forms. The human soul is

an expression of consciousness, a vehicle of God’s will, an

embodiment of love. It appears because of the desire for exist-

36 Is There a God?


ence in the body, and it persists as long as that desire is there.

The desire to be causes the soul to take birth and the concept

“I am” causes it to feel that it exists as a separate individual.

In this condition, the soul may be drawn to religion or take up

spiritual disciplines in order to reach “God,” which it also

conceives of as a separate entity. Eventually, and usually after

a long search, the understanding may dawn in that expression

of consciousness that it is itself the object of its seeking. At

that moment, which is known as “Self-realization,” “enlight-

enment,” or “awakening” in the various traditions, the indi-

vidual soul effectively ceases to exist (actually, it never did

exist as a separate entity) and the illusory sense of individual

existence resolves itself into the real existence of universal

consciousness.

During the process of self-seeking, consciousness effectively

conceals itself, attracting itself to itself in order to ultimately

reveal itself to itself. There are thus two currents in conscious-

ness: one manifesting and outgoing, from more subtle to more

gross, and the other dissolving and returning, from more

gross to more subtle. Consciousness attracts itself to itself by

means of the principle that like attracts like. The apparent

individual soul is nothing but consciousness itself, but it is

limited by the “I” concept. Consciousness, when allowed,

moves toward light, harmony, and beauty. It is naturally

Is There a God? 37


attracted toward these positive aspects because they are

aspects of its own nature, which is manifesting wherever and

whenever possible. This is why true religious feeling is always

of an elevating character. It is made up of the finer, more

refined emotions. Feelings of kindness and compassion are

based on the more or less partial awareness of the underlying

oneness of being. No one is without this awareness to some

extent, but some are more aware of it than others. The more

we feel these positive emotions, the closer we are to our true

nature and the happier we will be.

Consciousness, in the human being, is always present as an

undifferentiated field of receptivity, in which there is no “out-

side” or “inside.” Temporary insights into this oneness of

being are within the experience of everyone and certainly

within the experience of those who are following a spiritual

path. Without these experiences, we would not know which

way to go and would not even have any incentive to follow

the spiritual path in the first place.

God the Absolute allows the manifold appearance of the uni-

verse to occur within Himself through the power of conscious-

ness and, at the same time, draws the elements of that

manifestation back into His own being. This descent-ascent, or

projection-withdrawal, of the elements of the universe is a

38 Is There a God?


natural process that happens within the undisturbed oneness

of the Absolute Reality, like breathing in the human body.


Who Or What Am I?

We cannot say what we are, because we are not any thing. We

cannot point to any object and say “That is what I am,” Who

would do the pointing? Therefore, the answer to the question

“Who or what am I?” must come through understanding the

identity of that “I” who is asking the question.

Consciousness cannot actually become an individual “I” or

have in reality any existence apart from itself. It it could, it

would mean that there was more than one consciousness. and

consciousness would no longer be a unity. Therefore the sepa-

rate “I” sense that appears in the human being is only appar-

ent not real. There is only one consciousness, so the individual

consciousness must be the universal consciousness, and the

sense of separation nothing but imagination. This means that

the ordinary, everyday sense of existence that we have right

40 Who Or What Am I?


now is the universal pure consciousness. We are ourselves all-

pervading God-consciousness and nothing apart from that.

What is the nature of consciousness? It is infinite and limit-

less. It has itself no kind of form but only manifests where

there is a form. It is all-knowing, and knows itself in every

form. Wherever there is knowing or perception of anything,

that is consciousness. Wherever there is not knowing and

absence of perception, that is also consciousness. To say that

one thing is consciousness and another thing is not conscious-

ness is impossible. All that can be said is that consciousness is

more completely revealed to itself in one condition than in

another. Consciousness is also present when there is igno-

rance of the true nature of the human being, only in igno-

rance, there is incomplete knowing. God allows Self-

ignorance to appear, because without Self-ignorance, there

would be no Self-knowledge. In other words, God becomes

identified with the individual forms through ignorance in

order to realize Himself through Self-knowledge. Therefore

ignorance is also an aspect of the divine power.

Even when there is ignorance of oneness, no one will deny his

or her own existence. This is because consciousness knows

itself as pure existence in every form, even when there is a

mind that believes itself to exist separately. It is consciousness



that says “I am,” and it is also consciousness that says “I am a

separate individual.” Because the human mind is there, we

make a concession to its point of view and speak as though

there were such a thing as ignorance. Clouds in front of the

sun do not affect the sun, but they effectively block the sun

from the human point of view. It is in this way that we speak

about ignorance. So consciousness is all-knowing, even when

there is ignorance, and it is existing, even when there is no

sense of individual existence.

One mistake we make is to assume that consciousness is

dependent on the mind, that is, that consciousness is there

when there is the knowledge “I am” and absent when that

knowledge is not there, as in the state of deep sleep. Con-

sciousness and existence are one and the same, and to say that

we cease to exist when we are asleep would be an absurdity.

Therefore, consciousness is also there in the state of deep

sleep. Consciousness is not dependent on the mind and the

knowledge “I am” is not the whole of consciousness, but only

one manifestation of universal consciousness in a particular

form. Consciousness is infinitely greater than the individual

sense of “I,” just as the ocean is infinitely greater than the

individual wave that appears on its surface.

Form cannot manifest without consciousness. But can con-



sciousness manifest without a form? This is rather like asking

“Can the source of a river manifest without the river?” Con-

sciousness contains the active, creative principle that gives

rise to all form within itself. We can conceive of consciousness

as possibly existing in a state in which there is not the slight-

est differentiation or duality at all. However, such a state or

condition would be identical with our conception of the Abso-

lute, insofar as it is possible to conceive of it. Therefore, we

can think of the Absolute as the source and consciousness as

the form. Consciousness is not dependent on form, because it

is in itself formless. However, the meaning and purpose of

consciousness is inevitably bound up with the manifestation

or creation of forms. From this point of view, there is no dif-

ference between form and formless. Form is formlessness and

formlessness is form.

In the human being, the sense of “I” or individual conscious-

ness depends on the food consumed by the body for its con-

tinued presence in that form. This shows that consciousness is

a form of energy that is able to maintain its association with a

particular form under certain conditions, that is, in the pres-

ence of the functioning of a vast number of life-processes,

which, together, refine the super-subtle consciousness-

essence from the gross forms of food. This does not mean that

consciousness is created by food, because consciousness was



there to begin with, but this process of assimilation of food is

the means that consciousness has evolved to maintain itself in

the microcosm of the human body.

The sense of “I” or individual existence that is so important in

human society is an illusion. “I am” or “I exist” is a concept

that arises in the mind. There is no “You.” “You” do not exist.

There is no “I.” “I” do not exist. “You” and “I” are assump-

tions that have no substance behind them.10 Many actions are

performed and relationships formed based on these concepts.

Almost all human affairs are carried out on this basis. But

what meaning and significance can these actions have when

their basis is false, unreal, and imaginary? All those actions

and relationships that are founded on the concept of individ-

ual “I,” which is itself based on ignorance, are reduced to

zero.

The whole cycle of birth, the arising and pursuit of desire, dis-

illusionment, and death, all happens within the subtle sphere

of the mind, like a dream. No one is born and no one dies.

Human society, with its emphasis on individual rights and the

10. This understanding comes only when the true oneness of exist-ence is realized. Until that time, the “I’ and the “you” have empirical or relative reality.



fear of suffering and death, is based on an illusion. This is

why, over the centuries, those who have gained some insight

into these facts have turned away from worldly affairs and

withdrawn from human society in order to search for reality

within themselves.

The cycle of birth and death of the endless variety of species,

including human beings, has as its purpose the eventual aris-

ing of true spiritual insight. This insight is realized at any

given time by those individuals who are prepared to receive

it. This kind of teaching about the non-dual reality is not

intended for the majority, but only for those who happen to

be mature enough to understand it. All religions are divided

in this way, with an outer form, based on belief, ritual, and

obedience to authority, and an inner or “secret” core of teach-

ing, based on universal truths. For the majority, consolation

and hope within the dream of life is provided by belonging to

an established faith and creed, while for the minority, who

cannot be satisfied by the external form and who seek per-

sonal verification of truth, the inner knowledge is also avail-

able from a small number of enlightened teachers.

Consciousness wishes and intends to realize itself and the

universal process of inner evolution that results in Self-real-

ization is how it achieves its purpose.



It is not an individual “person” who experiences Self-realiza-

tion or enlightenment. It is consciousness itself, realizing itself

through the means of a particular form. There is a bubble on

the surface of the ocean. The bubble bursts. Has it become

“realized?” No, there was always only ocean. By means of this

self-effacement or destruction of the false pride of individual-

ity, consciousness manifests itself in all its purity on the level

of the human mind and on the level of the world. As a result,

the mind, and the world experienced through the mind, are

seen to be nothing but consciousness.

Self-realization is the simple revelation of the mystery of infi-

nite consciousness. The pure, infinite God-consciousness is

spread out everywhere in this world that appears to the

senses, but, as long as there is Self-ignorance, we cannot see it.

When that realization does occur, we understand that there is

only consciousness, and that there is no difference between

ourselves and the world. The perceiver and the perceived,

together with the concepts of knowledge and ignorance, illu-

sion and reality, and inside and outside, all disappear. There

is no difference between the manifest world and its manifest-

ing principle. Both are pure consciousness and nothing else,

just as the waves and the ocean are nothing but water. The

world is a mystery that is in no way different or separate from

the mystery of one’s own existence. The world that has



become oneself is not known as an object is known, in duality.

To know what you are is to be what you are. So it is some-

times said of realized or enlightened beings that they are not

conscious of the world and not conscious of themselves. This

does not mean “unconscious” but conscious only of the one-

ness of consciousness within the apparent multiplicity. This

“Self-consciousness” or “Self-knowledge” is the fulfillment of

the process of the self-manifestation of the Absolute Reality.

Real happiness is awareness of presence, of being. It comes as

a result of Self-knowledge and not otherwise. This happiness

is always available and is not in any way dependent on exter-

nal circumstances. We all have the source of eternal happiness

within ourselves, but we do not understand it and cannot be

certain of it until Self-knowledge occurs. Then we know,

beyond any doubt, that the bliss of consciousness is our true

nature, and always has been. Unhappiness belongs only to the

mind. Outside of it, there is no such thing.

What Is Life? 47

What Is Life?

We do not know anything about what life is in itself because

we are ourselves the conscious source of all life. The move-

ment or process of becoming a sentient, living being is some-

thing that has just happened to us. No one can say what life is

because the source cannot be known. Only the external

appearance can be known. All that is known of life is known

in the process of living, which itself is a manifestation of life

and occurs within and through the impersonal power of con-

sciousness. However, the source is not separate from its mani-

festation. God the Creator is manifest as the creation. Life is

living and living is life. There is no one living a life. “I” (this

form) and “you” (that form) are just expressions of life mani-

festing itself in different ways.

As long as we imagine that we are individual persons, we are

deluded. Living is a process that takes us by surprise. Sud-

denly we appear to be “born” when the sense of “I” arises in

48 What Is Life?


early childhood and we find ourselves witnessing our own

existence. But we identify with that sense of individual exist-

ence and forget our true, universal existence. We lose touch

with it because of the concepts that get formed in us, even

though the true lifeforce is always there, everywhere present.

That pure, universal beingness is the manifestation of life

itself. It it were not there, we would not survive as sentient

beings for a single second.

The Absolute is beyond existence and non-existence, but

through this universal beingness it knows existence. This

being-consciousness-bliss is not a concept and cannot be

approached through concepts. Rather it is that which is

always already there when all conceptualizing has ceased. We

do not understand that the idea we have of our own existence

is only a concept. It has arisen at some point in the past, which

we have forgotten, and, at some point in the future, which we

cannot know, it will leave again. In between these two

unknown and mysterious points in time, we have what we

call “our life.” In fact, this individual or personal life is noth-

ing but the operation of thought. When we wake up every

morning, the concept of “I” appears and with it all the mem-

ory of what has gone before comes to the surface. We are car-

ried along in this superficial flow of experiences, in which

moment follows moment, hour follows hour, and day follows

What Is Life? 49


day, leading at last to that point where we reach “our final

moment.” This flow of consecutive experiences is only a

dream that has arisen. It has no substance whatsoever. The

idea of individual existence has no more reality than the char-

acter who appears in our dream, whom we forget as soon as

we wake up.11

Within the dream of life, the dream of spiritual seeking arises

and leads to the dream of meeting the true teacher. Devotion

to the teacher and the teaching leads in turn to understanding

and eventual awakening from the dream. Devotion, and the

commitment that comes with it, is not something that we

choose to do or not to do, but is a natural process that mani-

fests itself at a certain stage of spiritual development. It is an

indication that the mind is turning inwards, in the direction of

pure consciousness, and away from the illusion.

Life is not linear. There is no continuous individuality from

moment to moment. Reality is always already waiting for us,

in the vertical dimension outside of time, not in the horizontal

flow of time. Life is there before we were “born” and is there

11. This understanding brings liberation from the bondage and suf-fering that comes from the false idea that we are separate from oth-ers and separate from God.

50 What Is Life?


after we “die.” Even if we say it is there “now” or “in the

present moment,” we are using the terms of the illusory hori-

zontal dimension. In reality, there is no time. Past, present,

and future are all only concepts relating to the imaginary cen-

ter we call “I.” The “I” concept has arisen along with the

awareness of our own physical body and its space, and which

is opposed to the concept “not-I” which defines other physical

bodies and their spaces. However, “I” is still only a concept. It

is a convention that enables us to fit more or less smoothly

into the machine-like functioning of human society.

Life has no center. There is no fixed point in the machinery,

either in the bee-hive of human activity, or in the inner psy-

chology of the human being. The point is self-defined, that is,

mentally, and relates to other points, which are also only con-

ceptual. To this imaginary point we attribute the various

experiences and events of “our lives,” In fact, there is nothing

connecting these experiences together. The drama of world

events and of each “individual” life is playing itself out as it

must. There is no permanent individual soul, apart from the

thought of its own existence, just as there is no mind, apart

from its contents. When the thought “I exist” is there, then

there is an individual soul, and it can attribute to itself the

doing of various actions, which it considers “good” or “bad”

according to its mental programming. It then suffers or enjoys

What Is Life? 51


the results of these actions, over and over, because of its self-

belief, which is really nothing but Self-ignorance. How long it

will take for this Self-ignorance to turn into Self-knowledge in

a particular case no one can say. God has infinite patience.12

The perfection and fullness of the Absolute is not affected by

the processes which happen to arise in consciousness. Even

when Self-knowledge does occur in some human being some-

where, that realization consists of the understanding that

nothing has ever happened. Self-ignorance and Self-knowl-

edge are both aspects of the same process. Perfection appears

as imperfection in order to realize itself once again as perfec-

tion. It is part of the perfection of the Absolute Reality that

there can be the arising of imperfection in it. Without imper-

fection, how can there be perfection?

Life is a process in which the power of universal conscious-

ness is giving to all the fruits of past actions. It does not

require the intervention of “individuals” because the law of

cause and effect operates mechanically. All actions have their

corresponding results, good or bad, positive or negative, and

anything in between. For the individual soul, which is created

12. This is another way of saying that consciousness is beyond time.

52 What Is Life?


and maintained by thought, the accumulated results of past

actions become the tendencies that shape further experiences

and actions. The imaginary individual takes himself or herself

to be the doer of the actions, but they are happening by them-

selves. There is only one power, only one manifestation. It is

not broken up into separate parts or individual existences.

Actions leave their impressions in memory, and those impres-

sions become the cause of other actions.

Once the process of spiritual seeking begins in a particular

expression of consciousness, it continues to expand and

develop according to its own laws, which, for the most part,

we do not understand. One example of these laws is the phe-

nomenon that there are no accidents in the life of the sincere

seeker. Every significant event seems to be arranged for the

purposes of spiritual evolution. Life appears to come more

and more under the influence of a higher law and the under-

standing grows that we are being taken care of. This process

of living, or life, is the affirmation of being. The will to be, to

exist, and to experience, is the root cause for the manifestation

of the infinite number of forms. It is a positive force, an

affirming force. The inertia of matter is the denying, or resist-

ing, force to the manifestation of forms invested with life. The

universal pure consciousness itself is the power that mediates

between the two.


Is There Free Will?

Life is a play that is already written in all its essential points

and we are the actors in it. What makes this play different

from a play in a theater is that we, the actors, do not know

what is going to happen. It is as though the lines that we are to

speak only come into our heads the moment before we are to

say them, and the actions that we are to perform only occur to

us as we are performing them. Except for some exceptional

individuals with extraordinary psychic powers, this is the

case for every human being on earth. The only difference is in

how the play of life is understood, because it is understanding

that determines how the play is experienced. From this point

of view there are three types of individuals:

1. The person without spiritual aspiration who lives a

worldly life. Such a person has no understanding of the

true situation and assumes that he or she is fully responsi-

ble, is doing everything, and has free will.

54 Is There Free Will?


2. The spiritual aspirant or seeker. The aspirant may know

or suspect the true situation and have some level of accep-

tance of it. This person is in the uncomfortable position of

knowing that he or she cannot do anything, while having

to act as though fully responsible.

3. The realized or enlightened being. This individual has full

understanding of the true situation and has surrendered

to it. He or she acts in life with the understanding that it is

a divine play and so does not take it too seriously.

From these categories, we see that in no case is there genuine

free will for human beings. Only God has free will. However,

because consciousness is God and consciousness is our true

nature, we are free to the extent that we know ourselves and

accept ourselves as that consciousness. In practical terms, this

means that we are free when we remember ourselves as pure

consciousness. We are free to the extent that we can separate

ourselves from the limitations of the mind.

The ordinary idea that it is possible to do whatever one wants

is an illusion, based on the false assumption of separate indi-

viduality. There is nobody there. How can an imaginary

entity have anything other than imaginary will? In fact, all

actions are happening as a result of previous actions, accord-



ing to the law of cause and effect. Human beings are so accus-

tomed to believing that they are individuals, and human

society is so completely bound up with that false assumption,

that it is not possible for them even to think without relating

that thought to the imaginary center called “I.” The assump-

tion that there is free will and that “I am doing” arises out of

this false notion of individuality.

For the spiritual aspirant, the question of free will is highly

significant. Free will for the aspirant means the will to pursue

spiritual practice based on Self-remembering, acceptance of

the teaching about one’s true nature, and surrender to the

divine will. Some aspirants who study non-dual teachings

prematurely adopt the point of view of enlightened beings

that there is no free will and that therefore spiritual practice is

not necessary—anything that has to happen will happen by

itself. This is incorrect, because it is precisely for the benefit of

spiritual aspirants that the power of discrimination has been

given.

The difference between the worldly person and the spiritual

aspirant is in the conscious knowledge of one’s own limita-

tions. As long as the imaginary entity is there, that is, as long

as there is ignorance and as long as we take ourselves to be

individuals, the entity that we take ourselves to be does have



imaginary free will. It is this imaginary free will that is

appealed to by spiritual teachers who encourage spiritual

seekers to practice disciplines, abide by moral strictures,

study various texts, or adopt other practices to purify the

body and the mind in preparation for enlightenment. As long

as we consider ourselves to be separate individuals, we must

make efforts along these lines. We are attracted to practices

and disciplines because we feel that we can gain something

from them. It is precisely because we do not yet have the

understanding that the realized person has, which is that we

are already ourselves and that there is truly nothing to be

gained, nothing to be acquired, and nothing to be accom-

plished, that we must exert ourselves to gain that understand-

ing. And for this understanding, spiritual practice is

absolutely necessary.

As spiritual aspirants, we are still more or less attached to the

illusion of separateness and are not yet completely ready to

let go of it. If we could let go of it, we would already be

enlightened. As long as we believe that the sense of separate

“I” is what we are, then we will continue to hold onto it—

fearing, with very good reason, that if that goes, then “we” go

with it. Duality brings about this sense of separate identity,

and desire maintains it. But as long as it is there, we will

never be completely happy. A sincere seeker understands



this, and longs for liberation.

We can perhaps imagine a society in which each of its mem-

bers lives free of the imaginary burden of individuality that

creates the sense of separateness. In such a society, there

would be no selfishness, no greed, no violence, no lawsuits, no

police, no pollution, no abuse of power, and none of the other

negative factors that are so characteristic of the society in

which we live today. The violence and corruption that plagues

human society has at its root the false assumption of separate-

ness and the desire to protect what one considers to be “me”

and “mine.” As a result human beings are lost in selfishness

and the self-centered pursuit of an individual ideal of happi-

ness. This inevitably brings the individual into conflict with

others who have different ideals or different goals, and with

society as a whole, which tends to flatten out individuality

and make all of its members conform to a pattern of conven-

tional or “normal” behavior. There will always be bitterness

and suffering in a society that is based on the illusion of sepa-

rateness. There are no solutions to the problems of society on

the level of society itself. The only solution is on the level of

the individual. Each person must come to his or her own

understanding of the truth that there is only oneness in this

world and that there is only an apparent separation between

the individual forms. All beings are expressions of the same



unity, the same life.

Everything manifests by means of natural processes, gov-

erned by natural laws. There is nothing that is outside of the

scope of nature, nothing that does not conform to the laws

that govern the greater whole. The universe is a single expres-

sion, a single manifestation that contains an infinite number

of different aspects, attributes, and forms, but which still

remains one indivisible unity. Where is the “doer” in all of

this? There is no “doer.” There is no question of doing. There

is just manifestation, one “everything.” While it is true that

human beings function as separate forms, they are only sepa-

rate from one another in the way that the cells of the body are

separate from each other. Each cell performs its own function

but all are necessary and all have their place. There is an

underlying unity that allows the cells of the body to function

in harmony with one another, each one doing the work that is

appropriate to itself. In the human being, the false belief in

the separate “I” or ego destroys this harmony and is the cause

of suffering and misery, both for the individual and for the

world.

Consciousness is living out this life, and all other lives,

according to its own laws. It operates spontaneously, without

for a moment deviating from the laws which, effectively, run



the universe like a vast machine. It is a dreaming conscious-

ness. It flows on and on, evolving forms, sustaining them, and

destroying them according to the play of the three forces

(active, passive, and neutralizing). Consciousness is the power

that allows everything to happen, just as electricity powers all

kinds of appliances. However, the actions themselves unfold

as the result of the interaction of forces, through the connect-

ing mechanism of cause and effect. Everything happens in the

only way it can happen. What is happening now is the result

of what has happened in the past. In this sense, life is perfect

unfoldment. It is perfect because it is as it has to be and cannot

be otherwise. What we experience, good and bad, is a result of

the good and bad actions that we have performed in the past.

If we do not receive the fruits of those actions in this life, then

we will receive them in another life.

We may imagine an ideal world, but it remains only a thought

without a thinker. However much one may dream of a better

world, the fact remains that the world is what it is because we

are what we are. No matter what you say or do, only that

which is destined to happen, will happen. Desire for change,

for things to be other than what they are, is a potent cause of

suffering, as is the identification with any desire. Things are

as they are, and will be brought to the issue determined. The

universe is set up to run more or less by itself. Of course, this



does not mean that the Absolute Reality, acting through the

manifest divine power, cannot intervene in that process. It

would be absurd to suppose that the One who makes the laws

out of His own Being cannot change those laws or override

them if He so wishes. In general though, it would seem that

the Lord does not intervene in the working out of the pro-

cesses that He has set in motion. Even if He does intervene to

modify or cancel some effect, the motive for this intervention

cannot be other than love and compassion. It would be an

injustice to project our human weaknesses onto God and sup-

pose that He is capricious and is capable of arbitrarily bestow-

ing grace on one and not on another. Grace is always available

and is available to all. Prayer is an effective means of receiv-

ing divine grace, if that prayer is sincere and heartfelt. The

aspirant who prays to God for grace is opening a pathway

within himself or herself to receive an influence that is always

available, but which requires a particular attitude of devotion

and surrender to be activated.

What is ultimately required of the spiritual aspirant is surren-

der to the divine will. One must understand one’s position. It

is necessary to make efforts to gain true spiritual knowledge

and understanding. However, at a certain point, one must

also understand that one cannot find what one is seeking by

one’s own efforts alone. Divine grace is necessary, and this



can only be gained by weakening the ego which has func-

tioned for so long as one’s sense of separate individuality.

Why did the original impulse of consciousness come out of

the unmanifest Absolute? Why did the One become two? To

answer this question in a way that will satisfy everyone is of

course impossible. However, to satisfy the non-dual point of

view at least, we must answer it in a way that retains the fun-

damental unity of the Absolute but that also explains the

appearance of diversity in the universe. Let us first consider

the analogy of the magnetic field. In a complete magnetic

field, we find that there are two poles: positive and negative,

and there is also an invisible third factor, which is the field

itself, which spontaneously arises between the two poles. This

magnetic field is a unity—it cannot be broken into parts with-

out ceasing to exist, and yet is undoubtedly has these three

aspects. The field is not the “result” of the two opposite poles.

It arises in conjunction with them and is inseparable from

them. The duality that is present in the manifest universe,

from highest to lowest, and from most vast to most small, fol-

lows this same design.

Duality is in fact three—the male, the female, and the attrac-

tion between them—the positive, the negative, and the attrac-

tion between them—the Creator, the creation, and the



attraction between them. The longing for unity, for reunion

with the source is the common thread that runs through all of

the diversity of the universe. This irresistible attraction is

divine love and it is the principal manifestation of the will of

the Absolute. This will penetrates and pervades every atom of

the cosmos.

When we understand this, we can understand the nature of

the aspiration that has been given to human beings. This gift

has been given so that, at the appropriate stage of spiritual

development, we may voluntarily choose to love God. It

would be of little use to the Lord if the beings that He created

must of necessity love Him and surrender to Him. He wants

us to choose to do so, by making use of the power of discrimi-

nation that distinguishes us from less evolved forms of life. It

is this ability to respond to divine love with love from within

ourselves that makes us truly human. Love for God is the first

and last duty of the human being.

It is because of divine love that we live and breathe, and it is

for the sake of divine love that we follow the spiritual path.

Free will for human beings is therefore a matter of conscious

participation in the divine will. It applies to those who have

advanced sufficiently in understanding to be open to spiritual

influences and who do not follow a merely superficial,



worldly pattern of life. The vast majority of individual souls

do not exercise the power of discrimination. They go from

birth to death to rebirth thinking little of the consequences of

their actions, while at the same time firmly believing in their

own independent existences and their own power to “do.”

Such souls are subject to disaster, disease, accident, and sud-

den death. God maintains the creation with its endless cycles

of creation and destruction of forms in order to bring about

spiritual evolution. When, in one of the infinite number of

forms, there arises the stirring of the conscious longing for

unity, the Lord responds immediately with His grace. At that

moment, the aspirant comes under higher laws and is no

longer subject to accident.


What Is Realization?

The quickest and safest way for a spiritual aspirant to become

a realized or enlightened being is to give up all desires in com-

plete surrender to God. This does not mean that no desires

arise, but that there is no identification with them. This non-

identification with any desire includes, ultimately, non-identi-

fication with the desire for enlightenment. All grasping and

striving ceases in the understanding that there is nothing that

one can do to gain what one wants, and that all the efforts that

one is making to reach an imagined goal come from the mind,

from ego. When the understanding comes that one does not

exist, only He exists, there is nothing left but to give up every

kind of striving and await the working out of the will of the

Lord.

To the realized or enlightened, there is no doubt that it is one-

self that one was seeking. The complete absence of doubt is

the characteristic of the realized or enlightened person. Liber-

66 What Is Realization?


ation, or final understanding, is the understanding that there

is nothing to understand. Oneself is enough. Everything else

is just zero, time-bound, and so non-existent. The world cre-

ated by consciousness is one’s own manifestation, but it is

only a play which appears for a while and then is gone. It is

not oneself. There is nothing to be done. It is only to be under-

stood. No amount of states or experiences can bring this

about. Only understanding makes any difference. Under-

standing is not a state, nor is it an experience. Still it is there.

From the enlightened point of view, it is clear that there are

no techniques or methods that can make you what you

already are. The whole mental structure of hope and desire,

based on the acquisition of knowledge, has to wear itself out

naturally. There is nothing that anyone can do to make this

happen. The “spiritual path” is ultimately seen to be an illu-

sion—we are already at our destination. However, it is abso-

lutely necessary to dream the dream of spiritual development

before awakening can take place. While this process is going

on, we are not incorrect in feeling that we are making

progress on the path.13

13. If this were not so, teachers would never teach.



There are many obstacles for the spiritual seeker, as well as

many joys. The joys are there for encouragement and the

obstacles are there to be overcome with time and with proper

guidance. As long as we are individuals, we are able to learn

from our own experiences. We make our own mistakes and,

sooner or later, we benefit from those mistakes. But at the

same time, all of this stress and suffering is unreal. Ignorance

does not exist, and so all of our attempts to dispel that igno-

rance through study and practice are eventually understood

to be unnecessary. We were not able to accept the fact of our

own freedom at the time, and so it was necessary to do all of

these things. The situation of the spiritual seeker is paradoxi-

cal. He or she is engaged in a pattern of ultimately needless

efforts, but because those efforts are an aspect of the process

of evolution of consciousness they cannot be dispensed with.

What is sought cannot actually be found by seeking, but, with-

out seeking, it can never be found! The seeker can neither do

anything, nor can he or she not do anything. However, the

false assumption of individuality makes it impossible to see

the humor in this situation, until final understanding occurs.

Nothing can be properly understood as long as we imagine

ourselves to be individuals. This assumption keeps us in an

impossible position in which we take ourselves to be the cen-

ter of the universe even though we have no individual exist-



ence at all. The false center of the “I” brings about inner

conflict and suffering. But the conflict is all for nothing and

the suffering is unnecessary. The genuine spiritual teacher

points out this paradox until, in the end, we understand for

ourselves the truth of what he or she has been telling us.

We are accustomed to think of the world in terms of duality,

as being made up of opposites. This is why it seems natural to

us to be engaged in a process of striving to accomplish some-

thing against a denying force of resistance or inertia. This is

because of the influence of the mind, which is based on dual-

ity. In reality, nothing negative exists. Just as the sun is

always shining above the clouds, for consciousness there is

only being and its own self-awareness, which is pure happi-

ness. Being is being positive. On the level of pure conscious-

ness, there is only the affirming, plus sign of positiveness.

There is no denying, minus-sign of negativeness. Conscious-

ness will not be denied or thwarted in its urge to realize itself.

The supremely positive force of Self-knowledge will unfold

and bring all sincere seekers to the same understanding in the

end. Realized or enlightened beings understand this and so

they are not concerned with the apparent progress or lack of

progress of individual seekers. They know that every path is

unique because it is an individual expression of consciousness

and also that it is the same eternal, infinite, and all-pervading



power that is unfolding and realizing itself within all.

Everyone knows the difference between positiveness and neg-

ativeness by feeling, sense. Negativeness is self-centered, col-

lapsing in. Positiveness is expanding, radiating. The answer to

the question whether the world is good or bad is that there is

both good and bad in the world that we experience through

our thought, through our minds. However, that from which,

and in which, this world of duality appears, that is to say, the

power of pure consciousness, is itself entirely positive. Con-

sciousness never searches, never strives to find the answer,

because for it there is no question. Questions arise in the mind

and on the level of the mind. All questions are therefore prod-

ucts of duality and for this reason there are no definite

answers. Words simply cannot convey what is beyond them.

If there were definite, unequivocal answers to the questions

that seekers ask, they would have been provided long ago.

Thinking is therefore ultimately of no use and must be aban-

doned.14

While all of this confusion and struggle is going on on the

level of the human mind, consciousness continues to create

14. At the appropriate time.



and maintain the infinite wonders of the natural world as a

constant reminder of the truth, beauty, and goodness that is

inherent in existence itself. While mind is mired in ultimately

meaningless questioning, consciousness lives to praise, to say

“I am,” to accept without reservation. This is our true nature,

our true being beyond the mind. The one who understands

this does not worry about anything. The one who is free

enjoys his freedom, without having to do anything, knowing,

in the completeness of that beginningless freedom, that every-

thing is perfect, everything is as it should be.


Epilog: After Realization

There is a remarkable consistency of opinion among the saints

and sages of the Indian traditions about what happens, or

what should happen, after enlightenment or realization

occurs. Rather than attempt to express it anew, let us simply

allow the words of the great teachers of the eternal religion to

speak for themselves.

The eyes of a saint are always concentrated on the supreme Self. The

minute he is aware of himself, sainthood is lost. (Shri Neem Karoli

Baba)

He has no desires. He rests happily in the Self. (Ashtavakra Gita)

Remain well established in peace and tranquility, free from mental

conditioning, whether you are embodied or disembodied. When the

reality of Brahman is realized, there is no room for worry or anxiety.

(Vashishtha’s Yoga)

72 Epilog: After Realization


The jnani enjoys his unbroken transcendental experience in spite of

such apparent rise or existence of the ego, keeping his attention

always on the source. (Shri Ramana Maharshi)

Be asleep even in the wakeful state, abide in the Self and remain

uncontaminated by what goes on around. Your silence will have

more effect than your words and deeds. (Shri Ramana Maharshi)

To observe silence means to keep the mind fixed on Him.

(Shri Anandamayi Ma)

Only by becoming identified with the Lord, can one worship Him.

(Shri Anandamayi Ma)

Abiding in the Self, free from all notions about oneself, the world,

and the Lord is the highest bhakti. (Swami Dayananda)

When he has fully attained the knowledge of the Self, and realized it

as his only refuge, he devotes himself exclusively to contemplation

of the Self. He alone is the true knower of Brahman who directs his

mind towards the Self, and shuns all other thoughts as distractions.

(Brihadaranyaka Upanishad)



Maintain breakless awareness on that supreme energy that is the

seed of the universe. (Shiva Sutras)

Worship consists of constant contemplation on the deity that is

one’s own essential Self. (Vijnanabhairava)

He is always in tune with Self. Like the bee, only interested in honey

from the flower, he is always resting in the Self. Inside and outside,

only Self. (Tukaram)

Your mind has been changed; wrong thoughts go and He remains.

Then you understand real devotion—always looking to Him and not

to yourself. (Tukaram)

The realized man’s wish is always fulfilled. He wants reality. So he

is never unhappy, he is always happy. (Shri Ranjit Maharaj)

In this way, when “you” are established, be in “your” state. Be

happy with your Self. (Shri Ranjit Maharaj)

The only happiness is awareness of the presence of the Self.

(Shri Ranjit Maharaj)

74 Epilog: After Realization


One who does not get excited by the possession of spiritual knowl-

edge of the root cause can, with love and devotion, cultivate and

brighten it. (Shri Nisargadatta Maharaj)

“I Amness” is presently your nature. Worship that only. That “I

Amness” is something like the sweetness in the sugar cane. Abide

in the sweetness of your beingness. (Shri Nisargadatta Maharaj)

Your only duty is not to forget Him. Always remember Him, that

is, be in communion with Him. (Dadaji)

Spend your time seeing the atma in all situations everywhere, rec-

ognizing yourself as the non-dual atma and enjoying the ananda of

yourself. (Shankara, Vivekachudamani)

The greatest religion of all is the religion of Self, which means our

consciousness must be always there and that is the sign of the real

sage. (Samarth Ramdas, Das Bodh)

To remain in our own Self is the true religion. There is no other

sadhana, there is no other God. (Shri Siddharameshwar Maharaj)



To be with one’s own nature is the main characteristic of a realized

person. (Shri Siddharameshwar Maharaj)

One who has understood the path of no-mind has no care. He is

always immersed in His own Self. (Shri Siddharameshwar

Maharaj)

Body typeface: Book Antiqua 10.5 pt

Header/title typeface: Palatino Linotype

Cover photographs:

Front: Mandala (Hindu)

Back: Mandalas: Islamic (left), Buddhist (right)

Documents

Beyond Consciousness