The Many Faces of the One

What is this?

Who am I?

  The Many Faces of the One: article 11  - the unpublished esoteric writings of an aging yogi.

"I make a conscious daily connection with the love and wisdom of pure 'Spirit'. I am always centred in the love and wisdom of pure 'Spirit'. The love and wisdom of pure 'Spirit' is always establishing harmony and peace in my world. I always allow the blessing and grace of pure 'Spirit's' love and wisdom to support and guide me in every area and facet of my embodied life. I am always fully open and receptive to 'Spirit's' love and wisdom. I live my life in the full recognition and knowing of pure 'Spirit'. I radiate pure 'Spirit' at all times, in all places and in all my thoughts, deeds and actions. I am always deeply connected and at one with pure 'Spirit'. OM, shanti, shanti, shanti. 'I am', peace, peace peace."

"I-am. Life is. I am one with all life and all life is one with me. Oneness in body. Oneness in mind."

           continuing from the unpublished esoteric collected writings and works of article 10

 

KNOWING REALITY FOR WHAT IT IS

Despite our sometimes flawed and imperfect existence and all the worldly challenges, demands and changes that come with having a self-aware embodied mind/body experience that finds itself expectantly or unexpectedly in a conceptual and conditioned world of change, conditionality, duality and consequence, we can only really know and have the knowing of experience and experiencing by there being a temporary self-aware embodied so-called subject of experience to recognize and know it, even if it is all unreal and empty of anything permanent.

Yes, it is flawed in that having the experience of an embodied self-aware individualized self brings with it the painful knowledge and truth of its own futility and mental anguish of clinging, grasping and attaching to conceptual and conditioned life and the mind/body experience, with the self-realization and knowing that it too is impersonal, empty, transitory and temporary. In a certain way, individualized self-awareness is itself a double-edged sword in that it can successfully and permanently cut through the illusory lies and false promises of all that conditioned and conceptual life appears to have to offer us in the need for permanent happiness, love, reward, peace, success, recognition, praise and fulfilment, but at the same time this same individualized self-aware embodied self can fill us with unwanted, painful and unpleasant feelings and thoughts of despair, anxiety, doubt, fear, shame, guilt, jealousy, anger, frustration, hate, worry, lust and restlessness. All that messy stuff that comes with our humanity.

Obviously whatever we interpret and see this world to be, it does not have the real capacity to remain available to us indefinitely. Certainly not in a personal and permanent way. It all has to be given up in the end. No matter how much money, status or possessions have been acquired, accumulated and stored up; no matter how much success, fame, wealth, status, authority and investments have been earned and bought to protect and keep our livelihoods and lives safe, important and secure, it will all be lost to us in the end. The body and mind which appears to us to house the self-aware embodied subject of experience and experiencing does not last forever, and so with their disappearance, the self-aware individualized subject of experience vanish too. This is the impermanence and emptiness of it all.

 

This seemingly harsh truth of worldly reality can itself be a burden and disappointment to us. It can potentially make engaging with life in a fully open, positive, fearless, free and honest way extremely hard, challenging, confusing, frustrating and disappointing. It is not really anyone's fault that things and the world are like this. It is simply the way things are. No one is to blame, even if we might look to do this. The only real cause of death is birth. There might be many different circumstances, conditions and situations that lead to death, but it only has one real cause and that is birth. Birth and death are inseparable. One defining the other. No birth, no death. No beginning, no end. No inside. No outside. The self-aware individualized embodied self has a beginning and therefore it too has an end. Plain and simple. Of course this is blatantly clear to us and yet we can still have a hard time completely accepting it. This is why we endeavour to find and know that which transcends it. The Self of self. The truth of all that is illusionary.

What is this?

Who am I?

THE EMPTY SELF

We, as an individualized embodied self-aware self and mental construct, mostly live our lives in a very fragile, uncertain, ever-changing and demanding world where we can be physically or mentally invaded and troubled at any time by unexpected and expected changes, demands, dramas and challenges. The phenomenal world and all its creations and forms potentially and continuously imposing itself on the bodily senses; tempting us with things to desire, crave, want, love, hate or avoid. Never really knowing whether our personal circumstances and situations will favor us or not, and if they do favor us how long they will last. This can be the on-going uncertainty and vulnerability of life that makes us restless, anxious, frustrated, upset, fearful and even depressed. It can be so overwhelming and confusing at times simply because we are presented with so much to potentially please and busy the senses with. Even the things that repulse us. The on-going and ever-changing mental, physical and emotional burden that can come with trying to choose, acquire, have and keep the things we desire to want, acquire and have, and to remain separated and rid of the things we desire and crave not to want, acquire and have. Our frustration and dis-ease can simply be with coming to terms with what conditioned and conceptual life is and the on-going challenges, changes, dramas and demands it presents in our on-going attempt to make our worldly desires and needs of life achievable, sustainable and permanently favorable and pleasing to us. Again, I can assure you, that I am not trying to get down on life and saying that all of life is bad. There is definitely a quiet and palpable beauty and joy to be found in all that life is despite its limitations. I am simply attempting to point us to the origin, essence and source of all experience and experiencing rather than the on-going chasing and having of experiences, as a way to wake us up to the truth of reality, experience and identity. This is the with the intent and motivation for us to recognize and know our true boundless nature and essence. This is the one Reality that is all Reality.

Genuinely our true selfless nature and essence is not really concerned or burdened with these things. Self-importance and self-gratification have their root in the appearance and disappearance of the mind/body experience. The individualized self-aware identification and attachment with the mind/body experience can be the obstacle to us actually recognizing, realizing and knowing essentially who we really are and what reality is, as they create the idea and feeling of 'one' who appears to be in bondage and one who desires liberation. But the very idea that there is a permanent 'I' or 'me' who is in bondage and needs liberation is the real illusion. The true essence, source and nature of all life is completely unburdened, untroubled, unaffected, unchanging, unthreatened and totally free of all that is. Therefore regardless of all appearances, forms, situations, dramas and circumstances it is always free, fulfilled, complete, whole, plentiful, unburdened, ever-present and at peace. 

THE PERENNIAL TRUTH

I am fully aware that it has all been said time and time again by many spiritual masters, mystics and self-help teachers that all living forms seek to be permanently happy and free of misery and dis-ease. It is said that all living forms seek to be free of the burdens and challenges of the mind/body experience, and to find and fully attain permanent joy, happiness, certainty, fulfilment and peace in all that life is. 

It can be very easy to take a look at the world with all its demands, imperfections and challenges to feel a sense of hopelessness and frustration with all that it is. Even when you simply consider the misery and hardship we ourselves as a species have created for others and the planet as a whole through our own on-going desire, need and pursuit of personal power, wealth, security, success, fame, self-gratification, status, recognition and self-importance. And yet these very challenges exist in relationship to there being a mind/body experience. They are all part of our humanity. The hopelessness and frustration with life can simply be a temporary consequence of the human condition itself because it requires and needs so much to make it permanently sustainable, manageable, fulfilling and rewarding. It can be very challenging to realize that at times we have little or no control over how events and situations in our lives play or turn out. With the best will in the world we are sometimes left helpless and hopeless in our attempts to make and keep worldly circumstances and conditions permanently favorable for us and others. The truth is, even if it not always obvious to us, that we continuously manage and live our lives with an uncertainty and vulnerability that is always with us as a result of our own human condition. It is all an impersonal and ever-changing consequence of our own embodied and living humanity.

All this simply because of the way that things are. What it created can be destroyed. What is built can be broken. What is acquired can be taken away. What is gained can be lost. What is born, dies. Even if we do manage to obtain a certain level of success and fulfilment through acquiring various worldly conditions, objects, experiences and situations we have no real certainty in how long it will all last. All our lives, no matter who we are, are always governed by change, impermanence and uncertainty. This is not for us to have the attitude of seeing life as bad, worthless or wrong, and as punishing, shameful, cruel and unfair. It is simply to see things for what they are. With gaining genuine clarity for the way things are, we stop attaching the idea of permanence to that which is impermanent. We stop clinging to that which is always changing and disappearing. We begin to recognize and know how we suffer as a consequence of trying to hold on to all that is impermanent, empty, transient and unreal. We openly and honestly begin to recognize, see and know the 'emptiness' of all things. We clearly see that all things are made out of 'emptiness' and are of 'emptiness'. We genuinely accept that 'emptiness' is the real nature, essence and source of all things and creations. Recognizing and knowing 'emptiness' is what frees us from all that life is. It is all a window into our true enduring and ever-present Self.

The 'I-am' of I am.

CLARITY AND INSIGHT

A selection of spiritual, mystics and self-help teachers, both past and present, would say to you that we are here to establish the truth, insight and knowledge of pure 'Spirit' in order to be free of the temporary mind-made illusions of lack, bondage, limitation, fear and death. In choosing to closely investigate and examine the true nature of reality, experience and identity we soon recognize that finding permanent fulfilment in the stuff of life can only fulfil us temporarily as all things have to eventually return to their source, 'emptiness', from which they came. All that appears, shows up and comes to us in experience and experiencing eventually decays, departs, changes and disappears, and so too with the self-aware individualized embodied self. What we acquire in conceptual and conditioned life can be taken from us and this includes having and experiencing life itself. What we are invited to endeavour to do in the esoteric pursuit and fulfilment of Self-realization and spiritual-awakening is to intimately and directly find and know that selfless, formless and undying Self, which is not acquired, created, made, gained, formed, changing, conditioned, born or found. This is the 'I-am' I speak of. It is freedom itself. It is that which we already are. It is the ever-present and abiding 'I-am' of I am. Its bliss is our natural state. Death cannot threaten it or touch it and so too with all creations. 

We are all invited to establish a direct and intimate experiential Self-realization and ownership of the undying and unchanging source, essence and origin of all creation and forms. For me, this is not something acquired, created, formed, conditioned, constructed, given, attained or found, as it already is. Only our mistaken worldly individualized identity and strong attachment with the mind/body experience as who and what we are obscures and keeps us from this transcendental knowing, knowledge and Truth. I would say to you, to find the real Self of the self we must give up the false self and then it will all become clear. This Self is free of time, space and form. The light and radiance of the Self shines as it always did. This recognition and knowing of 'emptiness' is what fully frees us from the limiting grip of all illusion. Its very nature is freedom.

This transcendental truth of what reality, experience and identity are, that I speak of, is always present, here and now, whether it is recognized, known or not. How we see or know the world doe not alter it, affect it, change it, lessen it, threaten it, hinder it, improve it, impact it, touch it or destroy it. It is always free and boundless, no matter what. This is the ultimate truth of Reality and all is this.

            This is the message of Atman-Yoga. The Deathless Self alone is as the ever-present 'I-am'.

Atman-Yoga Daily Mantra: "I am. Life is. I am one with all life and all life is one with me. Oneness in body. Oneness in mind. Oneness in all things."

Atman-Yoga Daily Meditation: 'Only God is Real' as the eternal 'I-am'. All is this.

Song of the Deathless Yogi:

                                        I am 'emptiness'. All is 'emptiness'. 'Emptiness' is all. 

                                    Form is 'emptiness'. Only 'emptiness'. 'Emptiness' is form'.

This esoteric blog is dedicated to my earthly mother 'Rita' who transitioned on the 12th December 2021. A truly selfless, kind, beautiful and loving embodied soul, friend and mother. 

The Many Faces of the One

What is this?

Who am I?

The Many Faces of the One: article 10 - the unpublished esoteric writings of an aging yogi.

'All that we really are is untouched, unthreatened, unhindered, unlimited and unaltered by all that is. Nothing can really threaten, penetrate, touch, damage, improve or destroy it. It is completely without form and therefore unlimited, unconditioned, boundless, formless, indestructible and always liberated. It is totally free of birth, old age, disease, sickness, decay, sorrow, pain, lack, delusion and death. It is without beginning and therefore it is without end. It is eternal, formless and ever-present. What Reality really is, is eternal in essence and nature and this transcendental Reality is the one true universal essence, origin, substance and source of all that is experienced in the experiencing and knowing of experience. This is the ever-present and enduring 'I-am' that I speak of. 'I-am' is the true nature and essence of reality, experience and identity. It is our true enduring and immaculate identity.'

"One Intelligence. One Reality. One mind. One immaculate Self. All one."

I am the 'I-am' of I am.

 

      continuing from the collected unpublished esoteric writings and works of article 9

 

ONE BOUNDLESS UNIVERSAL INTELLIGENCE

So, we, as an impersonal and selfless individualized embodied construct and consequence of our temporary and conditioned humanity, have the mental tendency and mindset to get continually entangled, identified and caught up with all that life is or is not. These are the impersonal and selfless demands, needs, urges and conditions of acquiring and having a physical and material earthly body and existence. We, the individualized so-called embodied self, as a mind/body experience mistakenly identify with all that shows up in our experience and assume that it somehow confirms who we are and what our life actually is. When really who and what we are is not really affected, changed, threatened, touched, hindered, improved or altered by all that life is and is not. What can be seen to be affected, changed, touched, threatened, hindered, improved, limited and altered is the mind and the body, but these are not who or what we really are. They too are impersonal, empty and selfless temporary and conditioned phenomena and constructs that are temporarily acquired, held to, exercised and eventually discarded, including mind-consciousness.

The conditioned and transient mind/body experience is flawed and unreliable in that it is an imperfect and vulnerable physical and mental conditioned and self-made selfless phenomena governed by change, conditionality and co-dependency. The sensory realms of experience and experiencing are continuously vulnerable, opened to and imposed on by sensory objects and the ever-changing worldly situations, dramas, conditions and events that can easily upset its equilibrium, existence and status. Our mind-made and socially conditioned and held to preferences to only be in the close and direct company of what pleases us and satisfies us, and to remain separate and distant from anything that upsets or threatens us, is a continuous mental and physical battle and an ever-changing conditioning and impact of the worldly and bodily senses and sense objects. 

Unfortunately the harsh truth is that by their very nature and conditioning it is almost impossible to not experience things or situations that upset or threaten the existence of the mind/body experience, and its desire, preference and attachment to only have experiences that completely satisfy and agree with it. It is very challenging to permanently keep the mind and body separate and distant from any experience or condition that might threaten or end their on-going pursuit and need for continuous satisfaction, pleasure, attention, certainty, assurance, security and reward. This is especially true when strongly attached and identified with the idea and concept of an individualized embodied self.

ONLY THE TRUTH WILL SET US FREE

The Truth presented here reveals to us all that there is no permanence to be found, acquired, made and attained in that which is impermanent and transitory. The ever-changing sensory realms of experience are continuously exposed to the attraction and repulsion of sensory impressions and objects, be they desirable, neutral or undesirable to us. Much of this ever-changing worldly dance of the senses happens on an unconscious level. Most of us are completely unaware that much of our so-called lives are being simply influenced, conditioned, changed and shaped by that which we are attracted to or repulsed by with the addition of personal needs, demands, preferences and conditionings. We rarely stop to think what is it that actually drives us and makes us do the things that we do. 

The individualized mind says, "I don't want this experience or thing so I will do all I can to not have it in my life, or I want this experience or thing so I will do all I can to have it in my life". "I don't want this particular feeling so I will do all I can not to have it in my life". "I want this particular feeling so I will do all I can to have and keep it in my life." Obviously there are innate cravings, urges and desires that purely happen as a result of having a body and mind. These impersonal and selfless bodily impulses and urges fulfil the physical need and requirement for food, warmth, safety, intimacy, survival and shelter. This is a subject and object relationship of sense gratification, impulse and reward, played out with the forces of attraction and repulsion; expansion and contraction. Either we are mostly moving towards something or moving away from something. It is the continuous internal playing out and battle that we have with ourselves, the world and our temporary humanity to have our life the way we would like it and to permanently keep it that way without any event, drama or situation upsetting or changing it or even ending it. Like I have already stated, this is not about us getting down on life, it is simply an invitation to examine and investigate experience, identity and reality for what it is so as to intimately recognize and know that which is already free, complete, plentiful, fulfilled and whole. This being the truth of 'I-am'. Fully recognizing and knowing the 'emptiness' of all reality and identity frees us from the painful grip of things, dramas and appearances. On-going changes and challenges continue but we are not bound, limited or hindered by them.

What is this?

Who am I?

THE HIGHEST KNOWING 

For me, our true impersonal and transcendental essence, source and nature has no real concern for these mental and physical demands, urges and needs of the conceptual and phenomenal world. These worldly things and needs do not alter, change, threaten, touch, hinder. limit or affect the real undying and immaculate essence, nature and source of all experience, reality and phenomena. They are totally secondary to its ever-present existence, Truth and identity. They are impersonal, selfless and fleeting temporary expressions of its pure essence and nature. Reality's true nature and essence is complete, whole, free, perfect, plentiful and fulfilled in and of its own Self. Worldly demands, expectations, needs and desires happen to us as a result of having an individualized mind/body experience. Whether things and phenomena exist or not exist makes no real difference to our true nature, source and essence, even though we might think it does. This is why in the esoteric pursuit of Self-realization and Spiritual-awakening we closely and directly investigate and examine the one who is chasing, having and desiring experience. We inwardly and directly investigate and examine the one who is having and attaching to experience, and the one who is repulsed, worried and threatened by experience. We quietly examine and investigate the mind/body experience and the real source and cause of any and all suffering. Not by looking to control and change what is external to us but by looking deeply within ourselves to the root and core of our own unhappiness, confusion, fear, worry and lack of peace, love and fulfilment.

Of course the individualized mind and body can be affected, altered, touched, threatened and changed by the appearance, change and disappearance of worldly situations, conditions, dramas and events, but in the recognition, knowing and knowledge of Self-realization we, the so-called individualized mind, awaken to abide in the absolute Truth and knowing of the unchanging, untouched and unmoving pure 'Spirit'. Even whilst appearing to remain physically and mentally active, engaged and present in the worldly conditioned and conceptual demands, changes and needs of the worldly mind/body experience. It is not that a separate 'I' abides as the unchanging and unmoving Self. It is simply as it is. If anything, all is awake and abides as the unchanging, unthreatened, untouched, boundless and unmoving Self. All is recognized and known to be the Self that we all are. Of course, there is still the appearance and playing out of the ever-changing and on-going phenomenal and conditioned world and all its myriad and diversity of things, forms, dramas and phenomena, but it is all recognize and seen as pure 'Spirit' - One Intelligence. One Reality. One Mind. One Truth. All is 'I-am'.

I am the 'I-am' of I am.

THE WHOLE WORLD AS 'I-AM'

We can still appear to act and be in a universe where two opposing and inseparable forces contribute to what conceptual and conditioned reality is. Each opposing and inseparable force defining, establishing, and complimenting the other. We simply as individualized self-aware embodied constructs recognize and know things by their opposite. In a way space and form are inseparable. Where there is form there is also space. Where there is space there is also form. Where there is the experience and experiencing of an object there is a subject who has to experience it. Otherwise how would the object even be known to exist? Each recognized and known opposite defines the other and confirms their worldly existence. There is no 'inside' without 'outside'. And no 'outside' without 'inside'. There is no pleasure without pain, and there is no birth without death. They are inseparable and co-dependent. This is the very nature and conditioning of a dual, conditioned and conceptual phenomenal world. This is why we are continually invited and asked to seek and know intimately and directly that which is unborn, unmade and formless. No birth. No death. No becoming or being. 

How could we really know and experience the existence of an universe without a subject to experience it? Would the universe even exists if there was no subject to know it? In a way the experience of the universe and the knowing of it are inseparable otherwise how would it even be known to exist? Who would really know if the universe really existed if there was no one or self to know it? In a way the universe exists because there is a subject that knows it. The object and the subject are inseparable for the universe to be known experientially to exist. Through subject and object we experience the ever-changing phenomenal world of things, forms, constructs and phenomena. Even the phenomenal world can be seen as an object of experience. Yet who is the one seeing? Who is the one knowing?

What is this?

Who am I?

We generally view the phenomenal world as being separate and distinct from ourselves. We see the phenomenal world as something that we are relating to and taking apart in. Our embodied lives are continuously governed, changed, impacted and altered by the universal conditional forces of attraction and repulsion; expansion and contraction. And these same worldly forces are present in the mind/body experience. In fact these worldly forces are essential to their existence. Without these opposing and yet balancing forces nothing would exist in the phenomenal world of experience and experiencing. For me, these very opposing and yet balancing universal forces are the ever-changing sacred selfless dance and playing out of the inexhaustible essence of pure 'Spirit'. For me, as I intimately experience and know it, all is pure 'Spirit'. Plain and simple. The true ever-present Self is untouched and unaltered by the ever-changing vicissitudes of conditioned and conceptual embodied and sensory reality.

I can assure you all I am not here with the agenda to convince you or anyone of anything. I do not assume for you or anyone to blindly believe or adhere to what I am presenting and communicating to you here. I would not be this foolish, demanding or needy. If anything I am simply calling to and playing with my essence of Self. For it is all myself, and it doesn't really need my personalized help. It all is as it is and this too is. It is the Self always serving, celebrating and honouring the Self. Nothing more than this. Self evident and radiant.

If life should require you to wake up to your true self, then you will and it might be that this esoteric blog played a small part in that self evident Self-realization. As this is how you designed it to be so you could wake up from the mode of ignorance. Sometimes it is only after a particular life-changing event that these things become very clear to us, and then all we can really do is silently 'smile' and prostrate at how perfect and simple it all is and was. The so-called ego fully and finally surrenders and embraces life is all its complexity, diversity, dramas, differences and disappointments, and all the time the true Self has remained unaffected, unchanged, ever-present, immaculate and radiant.

One Intelligence. One Reality. One Mind. One Truth.

                 This is the message of Atman-Yoga. The Deathless Self alone is. All is this as 'I-am'.

Atman-Yoga Daily Mantra: "I am. Life is. I am one with all life and all life is one with me. Oneness in body. Oneness in mind. Oneness in all things."

Atman-Yoga Daily Meditation: 'Only God is Real' as the eternal 'I-am'. All is this.

Song of the Deathless Yogi:

                                        I am 'emptiness'. All is 'emptiness'. 'Emptiness' is all. 

                                    Form is 'emptiness'. Only 'emptiness'. 'Emptiness' is form'.

This esoteric blog is dedicated to my earthly mother 'Rita' who transitioned on the 12th December 2021. A truly selfless, kind, beautiful and loving embodied soul, friend and mother. 

Post-article note: Freedom is our true enduring nature. It is not something created, acquired, attained or found. It is as we truly are and have always been. Nothing can limit, remove or destroy it. It is free of all constructs, forms, beliefs, ideas, views, dramas and experiences. It is Reality as it always is. Bondage is the illusion of ignorance. Ignorance and liberation are of the mind. They do not limit, hinder, improve or impact on this enduring freedom. This freedom is our one true and ever-present Reality.

All is this!

The Many Faces of the One

  What is this?

Who am I?

The Many Faces of the One: article 9  - the unpublished esoteric writings and works of an aging yogi.

WHO AM I BEYOND 'I'?

"I am Spirit. I am free. This is the ultimate truth of who and what I am. Always have been and always will be. What does it really matter if I exist and have form as worlds come and go, all phenomena appear, change and eventually disappear. This includes the body and mind, objects of mind and mind-consciousness. This includes the false individualized impression of doer-ship, and the mental and physical faculties of the mind and body. This also includes the duality of subject and object, and the appearance, change and disappearance of all creation and its myriad of forms and creations.

All sensory realms of experience, phenomena and experiencing are impermanent, impersonal, unreal, impure, ever-changing and imperfect. They are here for a limited time only. I am not the false and temporary individualized impression of doer-ship. I am not the mental and physical faculties of the mind and body. I am not the duality of subject and object. I am not the worldly criteria of the mind and body, or mind-consciousness. I am not the appearance, change and disappearance of all creation, and its myriad of forms, creations and phenomena. These things do not limit me, threaten me or imprison me. They can not hurt me or destroy me. They do not define me.

I am always free as my true enduring essence - pure 'Spirit'. And so I offer this affirmation of the complete and unsurpassable perfect esoteric Self-realization that pure 'Spirit' partakes in all these things and yet is always free of all these things. That its essence is all these things but is not altered, change, threatened, limited, improved or affected by these things. I offer this affirmation of perfect esoteric Self-realization that states:

                  I am Spirit. I am free. All is Spirit. All is free. Spirit alone is as the eternal 'I-am'.

I am the 'I-am' of I am.

 

       continuing from the collected esoteric writings and works of article 8 

As we have experience it would appear that it changes and disappears into the next experience and so on and on. What appears to us as sensory phenomena and forms eventually changes and disappears. What we attempt to hold on to is only held on to in the mind. Its ever-changing existence is impermanent, empty, selfless and impersonal by nature. It really has no reality separate from the mind and mind-consciousness. We could say it is all mind, but I would say simply, 'essence', 'spirit' 'light' or 'emptiness'. We could say that both the impersonal and personal are mind. We could say that the phenomenal world and all its creations as we individually and separately experience them are a mind-made world illuminated by sensory perception and mind-consciousness.

 

We clearly see as a result of esoteric self-inquiry into the true nature of reality, experience and identity that what can be physically or materially acquired and owned in this conceptual life can be easily taken away, and what is created and made can be easily broken and destroyed. What is made and put together can as easily be pulled apart. And this is also includes the mind/body experience and the notion, concept and idea of an individualized embodied self and our worldly identity and persona. The notion of self and our individualized self-made identity when inwardly examined and investigated for what it is, is seen as a mind-made construct; a temporary bundle of thoughts, sensory impressions and feelings, and self-awareness, and yet we so easily buy into it and attach permanence and individuality to it all. And yet from where does this notion, concept and idea of 'self' come. From where does it show up and to where does it disappear? What is left that is truly us if we do not become or be anything that is mind-made or conditioned and constructed? Who am I really beyond the notion of 'I'?

Taking on an individualized identity can at times be a burden to us. It can bring with it so many demands, ideas, expectations, opinions and limitations of how we must present ourselves to the world, even when that identity is a spiritual or meaningful one. For me, the Truth and real essence of all appearances shines unhindered, unlimited, untouched, immaculate and unthreatened. It has no fixed individualized emboided identity that is mind-made, conditioned or constructed. It needs no fixed self-made embodied identity in order to exist and be. It is as it is. It alone is. It is completely self-reliant, self-fulfilling and self-sufficient. It is not limited, threatened, improved or defined by forms, behavior, phenomena and appearances. We can all take a moment now to contemplate the spiritual self-inquiry of: 'from where does the feeling and thought of 'I' arise and to where does it disappear?' We can all in the chosen and intentional moments and spaces of deep silent meditation and contemplation look for its source, its real source and the true essence of 'I'. Who am I? What is this?

    - What is it that precedes it? What is the original source and essence of this so-called reflective  'I'?

 

WHAT IS MY TRUE ENDURING ESSENCE?

 

In the esoteric message of Atman-Yoga, the original and undying pure 'Spirit' is recognized and known as the one true source and originator of all worldly phenomena, creations and things; both objective and subjective. In fact, all phenomena, both worldly and unworldly, are seen to be temporary appearances, impressions and projections of the one true original, enduring and undying source - pure 'Spirit'. What we ordinarily experience as conceptual and conditioned reality is really 'Spirit' expressed as the many, and the many are the on-going expression of one reality- pure 'Spirit'. It is the Unchanging and Unmoving 'Spirit' hidden from us by all that is changing and moving, and yet it is always present in and as all forms and creations. All forms and creations are temporarily made of its own immaculate and boundless essence and nature. Any confusion about this is due to ignorance of this absolute and unsurpassable Truth of reality, experience and identity.

           This is the sole message of Atman-Yoga. The Deathless Self alone is. It alone is all things.

It is this esoteric Self-realization of Atman-Yoga that brings us to the complete recognition, ownership and knowledge of our true undying and eternal nature, source, origin and essence. It delivers and releases us from the mental clutches and attachments of a limited and confined mind-made self-image and brings us to the complete and abiding freedom, beauty, love, plenitude, bliss and peace of the unmade and absolute Self, which is eternal, formless, perfect, plentiful, enduring and deathless. Our material confusion and ignorance concerning who and what we really are, and what the world is, is finally extinguished and put to rest. We now know the immaculate light of the transcendental Self.

 

We, the individualized embodied self, due to our earthly and material confusion and ignorance about what reality is and what is real, try to continuously change, control and fix conceptual and conditioned reality as an on-going consequence of being identified and attached with all that is appearing, changing and disappearing, and yet by always approaching reality in this mistaken and confused way we are still left dissatisfied and confused by what is the true source and essence of permanent happiness, peace, wholeness, love, plenitude, beauty, grace and fulfilment. We primarily continue to invest the feeling and need for love, peace, happiness, reward, assurance, beauty, satisfaction and wholeness in all that is appearing, changing and disappearing, rather than firmly establishing and abiding in the unmade and unchanging Deathless Self, as the one true source and essence of our true selfless reality and identity. 

The 'I-am' of I am.

 

KNOWING THE SELFLESS SELF

Due to the error of strongly identifying with a mistaken view and idea of reality and experience, and not knowing the real transcendental source of permanent happiness, love, peace, wholeness, assurance, beauty, abundance, reliance and fulfilment we are continuously left dissatisfied and confused by what the mind/body experience is and the worldly burdens, needs and demands it can impose on us. The vulnerability and imperfection of our temporary and transitory humanity is always burdening and troubling us. Our misdirected and reinforced mental tendency is to live experience from a mind-made constructed and conditioned identity and persona with the mind/body experience as who and what we are rather than from the true spiritual essence of the original and undying source and origin of all experience and experiencing, which, for me, is the true undying, unmade and unchanging Deathless Self and this alone is all things and creations including experience, experiencing and knowing.

For me, ignorance is the real root of all our worldly confusion and dissatisfaction with all that life is. It is what makes us feel burdened, lacking and frustrated with the world. We mistake the unreal for the real and rely on it to permanently satisfy, reward, complete and fulfil us rather than taking refuge and abiding in that which is permanent, ever-lasting and real. We continuously invest our need for permanent mental and emotional happiness, peace, love, wholeness, beauty, assurance, abundance and fulfilment in that which is appearing, changing and disappearing only to be left dissatisfied, let down and confused when things change and do not happen in our lives the way we would like or want.

The spiritual message and council of Atman-Yoga is that we can only find complete release and permanent fulfilment from the demands, conditions, challenges and needs of life by genuinely returning to the original source, essence and origin of all that is. To know our true identity in and with the Absolute. Everything else we endeavor to do is temporary and can only satisfy and hold us us for a limited time because what we can acquire physically or materially in this life can so easily be taken away from us. What we make or build, including our self-made persona, can also be broken and even destroyed. What appears to be personal is impersonal, and nothing really truly belongs to us in the end. Be it time, form or space; be it mind, body or mind-consciousness. Even our so-called worldly mind-made individualized identity and persona and all our worldly experiences, stories and possessions do not really belong to us in the end. They just have the appearance of being that way for a limited and finite time. This does not make it bad or wrong. It is simply what it is.

What I say to you now is, look, find and know that which has no form and therefore does not change. Look, find and know deeply and intimately that which is not born, created, made or acquired. Look, find and know that selfless and impersonal Self which is beyond the ever-changing conditions, concepts and constructs of time, space and form. Discover and know for yourself by self-inquiry into the very nature and essence or reality, experience and identity and looking within this referenced untouched, unthreatened, ever-present, enduring and immaculate selfless Self. What I call the Deathless Self. For me, this is the one and true essence of 'I-am'. The 'I-am' of I am.

      This is the sole message of Atman-Yoga. The Deathless Self alone is. All is this Deathless Self.

I am the 'I-am' of I am.

Atman-Yoga Daily Mantra: "I am. Life is. I am one with all life and all life is one with me. Oneness in body. Oneness in mind. Oneness in all things."

 

Atman-Yoga Daily Meditation: 'Only God is Real' as the eternal 'I-am'.

 

 

Song of the Deathless Yogi:

                                        I am 'emptiness'. All is 'emptiness'. 'Emptiness' is all. 

                                    Form is 'emptiness'. Only 'emptiness'. 'Emptiness' is form'.

 

This esoteric blog is dedicated to my earthly mother 'Rita' who transitioned on the 12th December 2021. A truly selfless, kind, beautiful and loving embodied soul, friend and mother. 

A post-article reflective note 2023: It is interesting and revealing to reread and review these articles. They have a noticeable repetition in what is continuously written and communicated here. Very much like breathing. 

On the surface a breath is a breath and yet when examined closely there are slight differences and changes in length, depth, volume and weight as well as the spaces in-between. Here too in these collection of esoteric articles there are slight differences and changes and yet I feel it all contributes and plays a valid part to the whole overall message of what is being communicated throughout despite its noticeable repetition. I know it could all as easily be written in a few lines but this would leave little room or opportunity for any potential publication of this material.

I openly admit here I am a closet lover of God. Very few people know of my love for God. Certainly not in a religious or conventional  sense, but I've always felt that there is something bigger than my own self-importance and existence even as a young boy. It is easy now to fully recognize that I have always been an individual who has always questioned what it is and means to exists and be. Always looking to something bigger than what life actually is and what it presents itself to be to us. I admit even now I still find a certain kind of strangeness and weirdness to it all and what it all asks of us. I find it even more baffling and puzzling, and at times sad, that so many of us still can not find a common ground of kindness and tolerance despite claiming that we as a species have evolved and potentially bettered ourselves. Even now today strong divisions are still continuously being created, made, stood by and in some instances wrongly enforced on others. Even more so with the use of social media platforms.

You would think with all we have come to explore, learn and understand about the universe, reality, consciousness and humanity that the world we now live in would look very much different to what it is today and yet here we all are. Power, corruption, greed, hate, war, violence and self-importance are as present and alive as always. Dark and light and all the shades in-between continuously making up this ever-changing conceptual and conditioned world of creations, forms, change and things. 

I'd like to think that what is written and communicated here will in some way help others make peace with the messiness, fleetingness and beauty of it all. You don't have to be a closet lover of God like me, but like me you will potentially recognize and see the enduring beauty and spirit that is always available and present in all things, forms and dramas. There will be a noticeable and palpable silence and stillness that quietly meets, greets and holds all the changes, challenges, creations and dramas of the world. A genuine and indestructible enduring and untainted presence of freedom and dare I say it, love for all things and creations, whatever their form, appearance and behavior.

You will know that the true enduring Self is not altered, touched, improved, hindered, lessened or limited buy all that the world is or is not. Your true identity will be with God. The one changeless Reality which is all things, forms, creations and dramas.

Atman-Yoga Contemplation Exercise

What is this?

Who am I?

Atman-Yoga Contemplation Exercise on the True Nature of Reality and Identity - turning theory into practice into potential and genuine spiritual self-awakening - esoteric full Self-realization.

For the sake of this esoteric self-inquiry exercise let us now closely examine and contemplate in the profound and deep stillness and silence of no-mind 'I-am' meditation the following: -

    - "Who is this 'I-am' that is self-aware that experience and experiencing is existing and known?"

    - "And who is this 'I-am' that is self-aware and knows that this experience and the experiencing of existence is temporary, ever-changing, impermanent and transitory?"

    - "And is this 'I-am' who is self-aware and knowing that experience and experiencing is existing, ever-changing, impermanent and transitory, transitory, impermanent and unreal too?"

        What is this 'I-am' that is? Who am I? What is this?

If we say and conclude that it is 'awareness' or 'consciousness' that is self-aware and knows that experience and experiencing exists, is happening, ever-changing, impermanent and transitory, then who or what is it that knows this? Who am I? What is this? What is the true nature of reality and identity?

 

       What is the true abiding essence, source, identity and nature of 'I-am'? The 'I-am' of I am.

 

For me, this is the direct pathless quest of esoteric self-inquiring into the ever-present and truth of 'I am'. This being the true essence, source, origin and nature of reality, experience and identity. For Atman-Yoga states that what we intentionally inwardly seek to realize and know is already present to us in all experience, experiencing and the very knowing of experience and experiencing and yet it too remains and is fully free from all experience, experiencing and the knowing of experiencing. The 'I-am' of I am that is always present in all things and experiencing is unmade, unborn, unmoving, perfect, plentiful, formless, complete, inexhaustible, whole, deathless and eternal, and therefore it is called the 'Deathless Self'. What I call, pure 'Spirit' - unchanging, ever-present, inexhaustible, untouched, unhindered, without attributes and absolute. For me, this is the one and true boundless nature, source and essence of 'I-am'. It is the ultimate and changeless truth of reality, experience and identity as it is, regardless of all appearances, forms, conditions, creations and phenomena. It is the 'I-am' of I am. 

I am that 'I-am' of I am.

- we, the individualized self-aware embodied self or should I say the individualized mind, the so-called aspiring and committed atman-yogi, can directly ask ourselves now, in the continued profound and deep stillness and silence of esoteric self-inquiry and contemplative no-mind 'I-am' meditation:-

- "who or what is the true observer and subject of experience, experiencing and the knowing of experience and experiencing, and who or what recognizes the transitory, selfless and empty nature of conceptual and conditioned reality, experience and identity? Can this self-aware observer and knower of experience and experiencing really be known free of cognitive objectification, thinking, intellect and mind-consciousness?" If we are willing to say and conclude that this impersonal self-aware observer and subject of experience and experiencing can be known, then "who or what is it that knows and concludes this?" What or who is the true, ever-present and abiding essence, source, identity and nature of this 'I-am' that is being self-aware and having experience? Who am I? What is this?

 

            What is the one true permanent and enduring essence of reality, experience and identity?

I put it to you that surely what is observed and known to us objectively cannot be the real self-aware observer and knower of experience and experiencing and the same too with 'knowing' and the knowing of experience and experiencing. So the real question in us being spiritually self-aware, awake and aspiring to know directly the true nature, source and truth of reality, experience and identity, is - "who or what is the real self-aware observer and knower of experience, experiencing and the knowing of experience, and can this self-aware observer and knower of experience, experiencing, and the knowing of experiencing really be known free of conceptual and cognitive thinking, mental projections, intellect and objectification?" Can its true absolute essence, nature, identity and source really be fully realized and known? Or are we or anyone really in the position to simply deny its potential existence?

 

If we say yes, then who or what is it that makes this self-assured claim? Who am I that is self-aware? What is this 'I-am' of I am? Is it simply the individualized mind and mind-consciousness - the temporary illusionary observer and subject of experience? 

           And yet with all of the above, who or what is the true knower of all these things?

I now put it to you that potentially whatever is known to us objectively and conceptually cannot be the one or subject that really knows it, and whatever is experienced objectively and conceptually cannot be the one or subject that experiences it. I put it to you that 'I-am' simply is. For me, this 'I-am' does not require or need anything or anyone to validate or conclude its ever-present and abiding existence. It is completely self-reliant, self-sufficient and self-fulfilling in and of itself and therefore it does not require or need an individualized mind or embodied cognitive and conceptual reality, form or realm in order to exist and be. It is, regardless. It is fully free of body, mind and intellect and all potential realms and worlds of experience, experiencing and knowing, and yet it is always one with all things. Nothing can exist or be independent of it. Its essence is all things and all things are made of its enduring essence.

It is simply the 'I-am' of I am.

 

So again, we, the aspiring and committed atman-yogi, can ask in the continued profound and deep stillness and silence of esoteric self-inquiry and contemplative no-mind 'I-am' meditation, "who or what has experience and can it really be known to us beyond the need of mind, intellect and mind-consciousness?" What is the true absolute and abiding nature, source and essence of all reality, experience and identity and the experiencing and knowing of it? What does it potentially look or feel like? What is the true abiding and ever-present nature and essence of the self? Is it all illusionary?

 

Who am I? 

What is this?

Once again, I put it to you, that potentially whatever is experienced and known to us is not the one who is having and knowing experience and whatever is known as an idea, construct or concept, is not the one who experiences the knowing of it. It would seem that experience itself requires a knowing and knowledge of it, otherwise how would anyone know that it or anything existed? And can we say that the knowing and knowledge of existence is or is not the real knower? I strongly and confidently put it to you, that 'I-am' is present in all things, creations and phenomena, regardless. And that all things, creations and phenomena are present within 'I-am'. For me, 'I-am' is the one ever-present and abiding nature and essence of all things and phenomena and this includes the temporary embodied self.

So again, we, the aspiring and committed atman-yogi, continue in the solitude and sole intention of esoteric self-inquiry, silence and stillness on the true nature of reality, experience and identity, to directly, deeply intimately and inwardly examine and investigate in contemplative no-mind 'I-am' meditation, "can the one who is self-aware and has the knowing and knowledge of experience and experiencing really be fully known as an experiential objectless and non-conceptual knowing? Is the truth of reality, experience and identity, of who I am, directly knowable? Can the 'I-am' know itself?

I now put it to you as 'yes' and 'no'. For me, the 'I-am' of I am, simply is. We are that 'I-am'. All things and creations are that 'I-am'. Nothing exists or has is existence independent of 'I-am'. In fact, 'I-am' alone is, and all things are made of its enduring essence. All we can do is say what it is not and whatever is known to us conceptually cannot conclusively be the real self-aware observer and knower of experience and experiencing even if we think and say that it is. As soon as we think and say what it is, it is a conceptual construct, a mental formation, and not the very thing or knower itself. 'I-am' is not a thing in and of itself. It is without attributes and yet it is ever-present in all things and all things are in it and made of it. 'I-am' is not a created, made or conditioned form, phenomena or construct. It has no color, no shape. no size, no gender, no age, no form, no history, no story and no conceptual or conditioned identity, and yet at the same time it can be all these things. It is both nothing and everything. I would go as far to say, the one having and knowing experience cannot really be completely known as an objective and conceptual experience, idea, form or thing. It simply is. It is this ever-present and enduring Self - 'I-am'. The one true Reality that is all things and creations.

 

Esoteric self-realization and awakening can potentially be false in that it claims to know the one who is self-aware and having and knowing experience, and states conclusively that this is what I-am' is; be it 'awareness', 'consciousness', 'soul', God or even 'reality'. Of course, there is some truth to this, but 'I-am' simply is, it is fully without attributes and everything else in a conceptual sense is considered unreal when identified as being separate and independent of 'I-am'. In some way it would be far better for us to stay completely silent and to say nothing in the true recognition and cognitive knowing of 'I-am', and yet 'I-am' is silently ever-present and palpable in all things and all things are temporarily present in 'I-am', and therefore as an temporary embodied self we speak of it. 

Potentially we are only in the position to claim to know what the one who is self-aware and having and knowing experience is not? And that everything that we can know or experience as an object, projection or formation of conceptual and cognitive thinking and knowing, is not conclusively the one who is self-aware and having and knowing experience and experiencing. It is not reality and identity as it really is. What we speak of and point to, is a shadow of the real truth of reality, experience and identity and it is not the thing itself. And yet by the very act of being self-aware, experiencing and knowing reality as it is, there is the knowing of the existence of reality as a temporary experience of mind-consciousness, experiencing and knowing, even now, in this very moment of being self-aware.

 

Again, I strongly suggest and put it to you, that 'I-am' simply is. It does not require or need anything beyond this. It remains totally without attributes. Therefore, as an aspiring and committed atman-yogi, we can now ask directly, "what real purpose does the esoteric self-inquiry and pursuit of full Self-realization really serve and fulfil in us knowing the one who is self-aware and having experience if the one who is self-aware and having experience cannot really be known conceptually and conclusively as a thing and form in itself?"

 

Personally, as a temporary individualized mind and embodied self, I would say, it comes as a consequence of our flawed humanity, and the genuine need for the individualized mind to be free of all suffering, ignorance and bondage. It is a direct need for the individualized mind to transcend the mental anguish, pain and fear of life, limitation and death so as to fully recognize, express and know its own true boundless nature, identity and essence in and as all things. I would say it is so we, the so-called individualized embodied we, can fully recognize and know that which we truly are beyond the limitations, constructs and confines of the mind/body experience. We come to fully realize and know that we did not come from anywhere and we do not go anywhere. It is only the temporary embodied self that is subject to birth and death. And yet all this makes no difference or has no impact on what 'I-am' is. 'I-am' is as it has always been. Nothing has changed or improved in it being realized and known. It is the ever-present one true nature and essence of all reality, experience and identity.

I am the 'I-am' of I am.

What we can confidently conclude in the knowing of reality, experience and identity is that all conceptual and conditioned experience and experiencing is transitory, ever-changing and impermanent, and that the one that is self-aware and having and knowing experience cannot really be known fully in a conceptual and conclusive way, even if one claims to fully know it. Its knowing transcends the mind/body experience, and therefore we have to be willing to put aside the self-importance placed on the mind and intellect, and to willingly and patiently let go and return to the ever-present and abiding formless stillness and silence of 'I-am'. We can do this with asking of the embodied self - 

Who am I?

What is this?

 

I would state to really know something as an idea, construct or concept requires a self-aware knower who is knowing, a knowing, and an object of knowing, and the knowledge of knowing. Therefore knowing is not the one who is having experience. As knowing is also known. It is simply the knowledge and knowing of experience as knowing. It is the knowing and knowledge of reality being known, and yet it is not what reality truly is. Therefore as already stated in the endeavor to reveal the ever-present truth of reality, experience and identity we have to at same point be willing to put aside the individualized mind and its thinking. We have to be willing to put aside the self-importance and reliance placed on conceptual and conditioned reality, phenomena and forms.

 

I continually put it to you that 'I-am' simply is. It is the 'I-am' of I am. It is our true absolute, boundless, free, timeless and ever-present nature, source, origin and essence. It does not require 'becoming' or 'being' or knowing or even 'doing'. It simply is. The ever-present 'I-am' alone is. Even now. All experience, experiencing and knowing happens in this ever-present truth of reality and identity. 'I-AM'.

It is the 'I-am' of I am.

So once again, we now further examine and investigate in the profound and deep silence and stillness of self-inquiry and no-mind 'I-am' meditation, in an endeavor to exhaust the need for conceptual thinking, 'can the one who is self-aware and having and knowing experience really be known beyond the confines, constructs and limitations of mind, body and intellect?"

 

            I put it to you, potentially 'yes' and 'no'.

 

What we can do is say what it is not, and what we say it is, is not the thing in itself. This is the complete paradox of looking for that which cannot be concluded with the so-called mind and intellect. Here the mind and intellect must be eventually put aside. 'I-am' simply is. It is the 'I-am' before the thought and thinking of I am. This is why this esoteric contemplative exercise into the nature of reality, experience and identity is the contemplation of no-mind 'I-am' meditation. 'I-am' is that which exists beyond conceptual thinking and the individualized embodied identity of the mind/body experience. It alone is and yet it is not a thing, concept, construct or form in and of itself, and yet we use concepts, names and labels to describe it and to cognitively know and speak of it.

Yes, reality exists as a conscious, self-aware, embodied and knowing experience. It is evidently present, here and now, and it is existing now as an experienced and known embodied experience of reality and identity; as the knowing and knowledge of experience, and yet what reality, experience and identity are, is not the experience itself. Therefore can the true nature, source and essence of reality, experience and identity truly be known to that which wants to know it without the need for the individualized mind or intellect to know it? Does 'I am' need conceptual and conditioned reality in order to exist or be?

We can say reality does exist as an experience in the presence of 'I-am', but what reality really is, we cannot conclusively know in a conceptual and objective experiential way, although we do use concepts, names and labels to describe it. What it really is, can only be met with the absolute silence and stillness of being self-aware and the knowing of being self-aware which is 'I-am'. Even this profound and deep silence and stillness of being self-aware and the knowing of being self-aware, is not what reality and identity actually are. Reality and identity simply are as 'I-am'. The 'I-am' of I am.

 

As soon as we speak of it, what it is, becomes tainted, marked and distorted. All is reality existing as an experience of reality as the eternal and ever-present 'I-am', and through this experience and experiencing of reality, reality is known to exist, and yet what it is, simply is 'I-am'. It is fully without attributes. It has no color, no size, no form, no gender, no history, no agenda, no past, no future, no present, no inside or outside, no above or below, no story and no birth or death. It is completely free of suffering and the end of suffering. It is fully free of the confines of bondage and liberation. 

As an authentic consequence of this esoteric self-awakening to 'I-am', we, the so-called individualized mind, no longer clings, grasps and attaches to that which is unreal, transient, empty, impersonal, limiting, ever-changing and impermanent. We stop trying to find and have permanence in that which is always changing, empty and transient. We, the so-called individualized mind and embodied self, fully realize and recognize that all experience and experiencing has to be given up in the end, even our ideas, beliefs, opinions, interpretations, views and conclusions of life and death, and what reality, experience and identity are. In this transcendental recognition and knowing of reality, experience and identity what is there to really fear or hate and what is there not to truly love?

 

    We can say reality is 'no-thing' and its nature and essence is 'emptiness', or should I say pure 'Spirit'.

I would openly suggest that mind-consciousness or pure 'consciousness' is a way of reality being known as a consequence of the mind/body experience and the conceptual and phenomenal world, but pure 'consciousness' itself is not the true knower of reality or what reality essentially is. Atman-Yoga suggests and states to us that 'consciousness' itself is also seen as a phenomena of self-awareness and knowing when examining and considering that it too is known objectively. The true knower remains unknown as an object of experience. It remains as the objectless, formless, attribute-less and selfless 'I-am', although we use names like 'consciousness', soul, light and reality to know it and speak of it.

 

Reality is the knower, known and knowing of reality, but this reality cannot be truly known cognitively and objectively for what it really is even though we intuitively get a definite flavor and taste of it. All we can know is that reality definitely exists as an experience of experiencing and knowing, and essentially reality is what we and all phenomena essentially are. It is our one true and permanent identity. It is the one true undying essence, source and origin of all that is. It is the 'I-am' of I am.

 

For me, all experience, experiencing and knowing is Reality being self-aware and knowing its own reality and identity as a myriad and diversity of transitory, ever-changing and impersonal phenomena, experiences, events, conditions, creations and forms. But being self-aware and knowing reality is not what reality is. This too is simply an expression of it. 'I-am' simply is, regardless. No name, no label, no concept or definition is needed or required, and yet we say it is unborn, unmade, formless, colorless, untouched, pure, empty, without attributes and eternal. It simply is what it is as the ever-present 'I-am'.

The 'I-am' of I am.

Even now we continue to contemplate now in the profound and deep esoteric stillness and silence of no-mind 'I-am' meditation, neither mentally looking back, to or forward to the thoughts of past, present and future. Relinquishing and letting go of all the mundane thoughts, desires, urges and demands of life. We do not even hold to the words that have proceeded this very moment. We simply relinquish the mind, body and intellect and all thoughts and feelings into the ever-present silence and still of 'I-am', placing no self-importance, identity or preferences on thinking or feeling, or any other sense impression. Grasping at nothing. Holding to nothing. Chasing after nothing. Letting go of everything. Let us contemplate now, in this continued silence and stillness, the following Atman-Yoga affirmation:

"I am Reality experiencing and knowing Reality as 'I-am'. You are Reality experiencing and knowing Reality as 'I-am'. All is Reality experiencing and knowing Reality as 'I-am', but what Reality is, we cannot say conclusively. It simply is, as 'I-am' and 'Life is'. It is all the Self, filled with the Self, made of the Self, as the Self and forever remaining the Self. This is the nature, essence and source of all things.

We are Reality, here and now. You are Reality, here and now. All is Reality here and now, but we cannot really speak of it as being this or that because this is only an expression of what it is. It simply is as 'I-am' and all things, forms and phenomena exist as a temporary and ever-changing selfless and empty expression of its true essence and nature and confirm to us its very existence. We cannot give it a name, a form, a concept, an idea, a belief, a time, a place, a condition and assume that this what it is. 'I-am' simply is without needing to attach anything to it. What 'I-am' essentially is remains unknown even to those who think they know. It is beyond any conceptual or objective thinking and knowing. It simply is, and therefore we put aside the mind, body and intellect and remain in and as the profound silence and stillness of 'I-am', even when remaining outwardly present and active in the world of things and forms.

The knowing of Reality, the knowledge of Reality and the knower of Reality are not what Reality essentially is, and yet everything, even the feeling and thought of 'I' are temporary self-aware expressions and conditioned phenomena and creations of pure Reality. It is all Reality expressed and known through the self-awareness and knowing of transitory experience, experiencing and knowing. Being, being self-aware and knowing experience and experiencing are simply temporary selfless and impersonal expressions of Reality. Reality is their true absolute essence, source, identity and nature and yet they are not what Reality is. Reality is all that is, and pure Reality alone is despite the appearance of duality and all its ever-changing and endless myriad, complexity and diversity of phenomena, things, realms, creations and forms. What it is cannot be truly known with the mind. It transcends the mind. It simply is as 'I-am', and all alone is this. You are this. In the profound and deep silence and stillness of no-mind, 'I-am' is ever-present and known. Now and always. Eternally that. Only God is Real as the eternal 'I-am'. All is the Self, filled by the Self, made of the Self, as the Self and forever remaining with and as the Self. This is the indestructible, enduring and untouchable truth of 'I-am'. The one true nature and essence of reality, experience and identity.

         Lastly let's consider and contemplate now in continued no-mind 'I-am' meditation:

"I am Reality. All is Reality. I am one with all expressions of Reality and all expressions of Reality are one with me. For my true essence, source, identity and nature is Reality itself. It is Divinity itself - unchanging, unmoving, unborn, unthreatened, undying, boundless, plentiful, perfect, eternal and free. I am that. 'I-am. Life is.' Only God is Real."

I am the 'I-am' of I am. All is this.

      Here ends this Atman-Yoga contemplation exercise on the true enduring and ever-present nature of reality, experience and identity - turning theory into practice into potential and authentic esoteric self-awakening and knowing. Only God is Real as 'I-am'.

            This is the sole message of Atman-Yoga. The Deathless Self alone is. All is this.

Atman-Yoga Daily Mantra: "I am. Life is. I am one with all life and all life is one with me. Oneness in body. Oneness in mind. Oneness in all things."

Atman-Yoga Daily Meditation: 'Only God is Real.'

Song of the Deathless Yogi:

                                        I am 'emptiness'. All is 'emptiness'. 'Emptiness' is all. 

                                    Form is 'emptiness'. Only 'emptiness'. 'Emptiness' is form'.

 

This esoteric blog is dedicated to my earthly mother 'Rita' who transitioned on the 12th December 2021. A truly selfless, kind, beautiful and loving embodied soul, friend and mother.