It’s an exciting adventure when you realize that you are happening. The intellect cannot make heads or tails of the happening because the intellect is always in the past. The intellect comes in and collects the pieces, pastes them together, and says, “Oh, that’s it. That is what is taking place.” Or the intellect peeks into the future and says, “Oh me, oh my, this is going to happen. I see it coming. We’d better prepare.” And so it sends out the signals, calls up the army, builds the walls, shuts everything down. Unless, of course, what it has seen is exciting – a new love, a new job, a new house, a new experience. Then it says, “Oh well, let’s do it. Let’s get ready. Let’s prepare ourselves for this grand event.” It runs through the course, does the planning, experiences the event long before it happens. By the time the event arrives it is anti-climactic. You are worn out already, and you feel disappointed. Until the next event. And then you remember the disappointment of the last one. So you call up the army, you align your defenses, you build your walls, and you hide.

It takes but one moment to awaken, one moment to leave the little self, and that moment can take place at any time from the moment you are born until the moment you die. Beliefs and concepts say that there’s a lot of hard work you’ve got to do to wake up. But really, all you have to do is forget all that stuff you think you’ve got to do. Drop the little self, get over yourself, and realize the unique expression of Life that you are. Then the hardwiring, the conditioning starts to disintegrate. We’ve heard about the drowning person who sees his whole life pass before his eyes. That’s exactly what happens to you when you wake up. Your whole messed-up life passes before you, and you say, “Was that me?” Yes, that was the little self, the ego having its way.

When you become a Real Person there is no more suffering. There may be lots of pain, but there is no more suffering. Pain is something that takes place in the moment. Suffering is something that takes place out of the moment. Pain is not fun, but pain happens. Suffering, however, is not necessary. If you hold onto things, you won’t be able to pass through them. Pain is not something you want to experience, but as you awaken, and as the hardwiring disintegrates, the physical form must re-establish itself as a Real-Person form, and that’s sometimes painful. The Real Person, in True Nature, accepts what is and displays tremendous courage to pass through it, displays tremendous patience in proceeding through it. You might say that these are the virtues of a Real Person: courage, patience, compassion, concern, discernment.

To experience liberation through realization of the Absolute is not an easy path, because this liberation conflicts with your beliefs and your superstitions. It conflicts with your experience. But have you experienced what you believed, or have you experienced the actual? The I-consciousness is very forceful in directing experience. You have what you believe you can have. You experience your superstitions. You experience your concepts. That’s the way it is, you think. It matters not what is truly there. What matters is your experience of it. If you are fearful in this life, you will find many things to fear. If you do not want to be in this life, you will always find means to escape. If you do not want to become all that you can be, you will continue to limit yourself. Of course, the I-consciousness immediately rejects that and says, “That’s foolish. Certainly I want to be all I can be. Why would I not want that?” That seems fine as long as your life is measuring up to the I-consciousness, as long as you are merely measuring up to the concept of what you can access. But to move beyond that, and to really experience this liberation which comes from the realization of the Absolute, is not an easy thing.

The amazing thing about realization, the awareness of The Consciousness, is the absolute authority. The Consciouness is the embodiment of Truth, the Totality. It cares not for concepts. It cares not for beliefs. It cares not for superstition. It knows no limitation, no boundary. It has existed from the very beginning of the physical experience, and exists beyond that. It abides not by human knowledge, the I-consciousness. It is not entangled in the superstitions of the I-consciousness. It is not caught by concepts. It simply is respectful of experience.

To reach the state of liberation, is to become aware of Life through the process of living. Each experience in Life is to bring you closer to that realization, if you can understand it. If you resist it, you miss the point. Each experience is the work of The Consciousness, bringing about realization. If the experience is misunderstood, or understood through the I-consciousness, you do not receive the full impact, the full meaning. You may feel that you are being picked on, that you are suffering. But if you can be open and receptive to the totality, you see that each experience is but part of the synergy of the unique expressions of The Consciousness. The sole purpose of form is to express. If you hide your expression, if you resist your uniqueness, trying to repattern yourself into another, trying to make yourself into the image of something else, you have missed the point.

Concepts, beliefs and superstitions are like clouds which hide the beauty of The Consciousness. Just clouds, vaporous substances that simply exist but are ready to be dissipated at any moment. To dissipate these clouds is to look to Life. To experience the dissipation of the clouds is to experience the liberation that comes in Life. When one experiences that, one knows that there is no other. There is but that which is experiencing each unique attribute, each unique expression of the Absolute. Life is that experience.

To understand is to be free. To be free is to live in the realization of the Absolute, to be empowered by Life. Not to be fearful or resistant, but to embrace the totality of Life through each experience, through each moment, is a most grand adventure. You are the adventure. And as you allow this realization, you begin to understand the beliefs, the superstitions, the concepts. These things have all been part of the past, but you are of the present. You have arrived in the now, and what are you going to do with it? You can recreate the past through the I-consciousness, the beliefs, the separation, the superstition, or you can be in the now, being the experience of the awareness of The Consciousness. To understand beyond the limitation of separation, to become free of ignorance, is to live in the knowing of the Absolute. top of page

Do you have a question? Ask Ishvara.