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ShiningWorld Reader



The Steps to Get There Are the Qualities of Being There
Harry: Hi, Sundari. I hope you guys had a great time at the recent event in Malaga. I am getting my passport in a couple of weeks, going to Dublin for the day to do so. So I will be definitely along for the next event.
Sundari: Hello, Harry, nice to hear from you again. I am sorry you missed the seminar in Spain, it was a great seminar! I hope to see at the next one in January. We have just updated the details for it at the website, offering a range of alternative accommodation. We also plan to hire a pool rental car for people to share.
Harry: I am reading James’ How to Attain Enlightenment for the second time, still. I am also going to read it a third time. One page for every day, just. In every single page is more than enough knowledge to set oneself free. It is easy to see that. It is not that I have some kind of burning need to achieve anything, it is that it is interesting to have an understanding of the text as every time it is read new things are revealed. For example, last paragraph, page 14:
“How can I get what I already have by doing anything? If I am going to get what I already have I am going to have to lose my ignorance of who I am.”
In that sentence alone is the foundation, essence and key to this whole thing.
Sundari: Yes, that is the essence of self-inquiry and the goal of moksa. When it comes to the desire for moksa the steps to get there are the same as the qualities of being there. This is because there is no “there” there. There is nowhere to get to because you are already there, you are moksa. Unless you know this you are not free. James’ book is densely packed with high-voltage Vedanta, every word is aimed at setting you free of bondage to objects.
Harry: Throughout the book, I am guessing, on every page wisdom is there to set oneself free. I am not going to be reading his book and letting it just sit as an “already read” book. Why did you read it three times?
Sundari: I read it four times; in fact it cannot be said that I read it because the I that was reading it dissolved with the reading. In the end the reader was gone and the book was me, awareness.
Harry: I am not having any difficulties in anything. At least I don’t think so. My wife and I are still apart. In fact I have a new girlfriend now. My personal life is quite good, save for events from my past such as a few weeks ago when three men came into my aunt’s house to stab me with knives. And they nearly did, ha, ha. That happens by being back in Ireland, I guess. I am off drugs and will be staying off drugs. The idea that I would take drugs or take anything, including a wife or girlfriend, in order to attempt to have an experience that would somehow deal with my fear of inadequcy and my desire to be complete, well, it is horse poop. I am complete. Not Harry, as Harry obviously needs to be in contact with Sundari and ShiningWorld, but awareness as self.
Sundari: I am glad to hear this, Harry; you need to take and hold that stand in awareness as awareness. Apply the opposite thought without fail every time a thought to the contrary appears in the mind. It sounds like you still have some pretty hectic karma to deal with although prarabdha karma continues to fructify after self-realisation. It could be the blades of the fan still turning until they don’t anymore. Your statement that you do not need a relationship or drugs to validate you or as a way to deal with fear is correct. What is the new girlfriend about then? If you are whole and complete, why do you need a new girlfriend? The fact that you have gone straight from a broken marriage into another relationship seems that you are taking on new karma before you have resolved the old karma.
Harry: Although I don’t have the awareness to create an experience, being aware of self does lend itself to an experience. I suppose that is to be expected in this apparent reality.
I have sent, I think, three emails to you. I’m not sure which one is working.
~ Warmest wishes, Harry
Sundari: I am not sure what you mean by this statement above; it is a totally unintelligible sentence. The self does not experience, but unless awareness is present no experience is possible. As awareness you are the non-experiencing witness, or the knower of the one who apparently experiences – the reflected self, or Harry, who as a jiva lives in the apparent reality.
I have received your email at all my addresses. Much love to you and keep up the self-inquiry!
~ Sundari