The presence of a guru

A conversation with a friend:

Friend: Namaste Magdi🙏🏻
Reply: Namaste my brother

Friend: I have followed Eckhart for around 12 years…and Rupert since some time. There is a total overlap between your approach and Rupert’s. Of course you all point to the same deep essence.
Reply: Rupert and I are both friends of our dear teacher Francis Lucille. Truth is one.

Friend: No wonder! I love the pointers you both use..
Reply: The light shines from the one source. One source, infinite rays of sunlight… In every ray of sunlight, you find the sun. Various expressions carrying the same silent message.

Friend: But somehow you all keep a distance from India 🙂 where all this originated 🙂
Reply: I have never been to India but I do acknowledge the great lineage from the East

Friend: That’s wonderful!
Reply: In the heart, the East and West meet as one

Friend: All this is fine…but I miss the direct presence of a guru out here..
Reply: Yes, the presence of Guru is high grace allowing you to bathe in the Self.

Friend: Any recommendations?.. 🙂 I will join your live webinar one of those days…
Reply: Keep praying for Guru and in the meantime benefit from Guru whichever way Guru appears in your contemplation

Friend: I can feel I am the awareness ..but I oscillate 🙂
Abidance is not there 🙂
Reply: Do not define yourself by the oscillations. Return over and over to the formless Self free from the past

Friend: Sure…but I know when I get lost in thoughts, awareness gets entangled in form.. In spite of resonating with your wisdom, thought patterns do engulf me many times..
Reply: Awareness does not get entangled. Thoughts are like clouds…. do not use them as your guide. Use the Self. Keep returning to the Self that is beyond thought

Friend: But thoughts are made of awareness ultimately..?
Reply: Thoughts and feelings are like the weather. You are the vastness of being and thoughts do not define you. If you feel entangled, do not add any resistance. Do not evade the feelings by hiding in thinking.
Remember, the I-thought is the trickster. The I-thought impersonates Awareness, personalizes consciousness and then you feel separate

Friend: But thoughts are ultimately awareness in form?
Reply: Thoughts are imaginary, dream like. They are make believe. Like waves in the sea..
Awareness is not made out of anything. Try to go to thought right now. Can you?

Friend: Yes I can..
Reply: Where do you go?

Friend: It arises in consciousness..
Reply: What is this it that arises?

Friend: Consciousness arises…but takes the form of thought…correct? Like waves of the sea… ultimately both are water..
Reply: One could say that consciousness takes the form of thought. But, let’s take a closer look at thought. Can you let go of everything you know for now?

Friend: Ok..
Reply: Start with complete not-knowing. Can you drop the past, let go of all you know?

Friend: Yes ..I can..
Reply: So we are starting with complete not-knowing. I don’t know what a ‘thought’ is, OK?

Friend: Sure..like a new born baby?
Reply: Yes. We start with complete not-knowing
I don’t know what a ‘thought’ is. That is the start

Friend: Sure..
Reply: Given that I don’t know what ‘thought’ is… How do I look at the question about the relationship between consciousness and thought?

Friend: It comes as a voice in the head?
Reply: What is it that comes?

Friend: My pseudo self..?
Reply: You are going to your library. You are going to your packaged knowledge. Can you let go of all the past so we can look freshly? I don’t know anything about a ‘pseudo self’.

Friend: Ok.. But then I would not be able to distinguish between thought and myself..
Reply: Good. No distinction. I don’t know what ‘thought’ is and I know myself, since ‘I am’. What do you know for certain?

Friend: Ok..that ‘I am’. My answers are not knowledge based…I can experience first hand thankfully.. I know that for certain
Reply: Good. I am looking freshly. So, I ask: What is this ‘I am’? What is its substance? Can I look at this question without going into my packaged past knowledge?

Friend: Sure..
Reply: How do I look at this question without the past? ‘I am’.
What is it that is looking?

Friend: Attention… consciousness..
Reply: Slow down. Do not use thought or concepts in your reply.

Friend: But sir how do I answer then? 🙂 I can feel that I am with no doubt
Reply: Since your reply arises beyond any doubt, then it is absolute and not dependent on thought. You look deeply at the question and you let the answer arise out of the question and not out of thought. A question that is true can only be answered by truth and not by concepts.

Friend: I know for certain I am. This knowledge is not made out of thought.
Reply: Correct. You are now speaking of a different knowledge than conceptual thought/concepts. It is a direct knowledge. Non phenomenal. It is beyond doubt, beyond concept. It is an apperception

Friend: Agree..
Reply: Thought on the other hand is concept… A different expression than truth.

Friend: Ok..
Reply: Consciousness is not form

Friend: Agree..
Reply: Rather than going outward with thought, use thought to guide you to the source. The source is universal I am.
The absolute certainty of I am. This I am is not personal.
Thought does not know I am

Friend: Sir, I can stay as the source…but agitation does happen unfortunately..
Reply: Agitation is thought and identification. Once you believe thought, you will experience agitation, a movement going outward. It results in agitation since thought is agitation. Once we believe and follow thought, experiencing the agitation of thought is inevitable.

Friend: Agree..
Reply: Start by being still. Do not rise up with thought. Notice the pull of thought and remain still and allow whatever arises to be as it is. Nothing you need to do or can do. The doer is imaginary. Contemplate the root base. Meaning the stillness that is formless and causeless

Friend: Ok..so utter disregard for worst case scenario fear thoughts… correct?
Reply: Thought has judgment in it. It is a trickster and very convincing. It wants you to engage. Rather than disregarding thought (which is a form of engagement), remain still and silent as in complete surrender without any personal expectation.

Friend: I am with you..
Reply: Thought is not the master

Friend: I agree..
Reply: The master is the Self

Friend: Sure..
Reply: Thought has no substance. It is not made out of anything. What is Santa Claus made out of? There is no Santa Claus

Friend: In this discussion, I resonate fully…but residual fear based thought patterns take me in their grip.. What is thought made out of?
Reply: When you ask ‘What is thought made out of?’
You have fallen victim to thought… since this very question assumes a reality called thought..Thought uses feelings to be more convincing. Thought goes into your body and triggers sensations and triggers thoughts about these sensations…. Sensations become feelings

Friend: But thought is experienced..I can observe it..
Reply: Thought is experienced as imagination…. What is its reality?

Friend: Awareness
Reply: Where does the thought start?

Friend: Inside my awareness..
Reply: How long is the thought?

Friend: Short…but repetitive some times..
Reply: Where does it go?

Friend: It dissolves in my awareness..
Reply: Where is it now?

Friend: Potentially in my awareness..Correct?
Reply: So Awareness is absolute and thought comes and go… OK. So, what is the concern?
The master has a dog… or even a dog and a cat…
What is the concern?

Friend: But the dog threatens to bite the master. The dog is the master…At least it pretends to threaten. 
Reply: Haha… Believing the dog is the master is like believing that God is fearful of its creations. Can you be clear that you are the master and that the dog is your mind?

Friend: Yes, I can. But what if thoughts trigger unease?
Reply: God’s creations trigger unease in God?

Friend: Yes if invested with silly beliefs..
Reply: God is completely untouched by his creations… Remain still in the midst of unease like the eye of the storm. Complete surrender.
Your sadhana: Allow all forms to arise as they do, including unease… contemplate the I am… that is untouched by unease… Does not worry about unease… does not try to avoid unease…
Avoiding unease causes more unease and maintains the unease. The ocean is unconcerned about the waves, about the weather… Remain still in complete surrender and contemplate the reality of ‘I am’ borderless aware presence.

Friend: Kind of you to bear with me. Any India related work let me know please..
Reply: I will let you know. There has been vague talk of visiting India, in particular Tiru and Rishikesh

Friend: I will consider to be privileged.🙏🏻

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