Lucua: Last night in the satsang Jeremy spoke of coming to the end of it, realising he can’t go further.
I often see this point, where it is clear the individual needs to give up, meaning let go of the idea that it can make liberation happen. This is a very hard (seemingly) and critical point for the jiva.
How do I phrase it from a scriptural point to address this need for surrender?
Sundari: I saw the confusion on Jeremy’s face – his question was not answered for him. He wants to know what ‘he’ can ‘do’ to ‘go further’.  But the doer cannot go any further. See the subtle doership and the illusion of somewhere to go and something to gain? He is most likely stuck either because he has work to do on dismissing the residual duality that keeps tripping him up, or he has the final doer renunciation to make – see below. Or the inquirer gets stuck ‘studying’ Vedanta. Which won’t work. Nonduality is not just a theory. It’s who you are.
This has come up a lot lately, in fact, I want to address this very point in my teaching presentation in Bali, and am working on the outline for it. Isvara willing, I will be well enough to join Ramji next Sunday on zoom to give a synopsis of the technical/practical as well as the subtle psychological aspects of this final stage of inquiry.
As Rory mentioned last night in his talk, the traditional Vedanta teachings do not focus on the final stages of self-inquiry – self-actualization – other than to clarify what is required for moksa. And they do so in almost every teaching. Jeremy’s problem, as it is with most inquirers, is that no teacher can help you with nididhysana – or the final doer renunciation. It’s up to you, at this point. The teacher can still advise and help you, keep nudging you in the right direction, but cannot do the work for you.
A qualified Vedanta teacher can tell you what moksa is and isn’t, what values and qualifications you need to qualify and how to develop them; they can teach you to discriminate between ignorance/duality and knowledge/nonduality by unfolding what the jiva is and isn’t with reference to the ever present and unexamined factor, Consciousness; they can unfold the entire methodology of the logic of Existence with perfection giving you the technical steps you need to follow and the tools you need to apply the teachings: karma yoga, guna yoga, bhakti yoga. It’s all there in the scripture. If the teacher and the student are qualified, assimilation of Self-knowledge should take place.
Self-realization can obtain even if the inquirer is not fully qualified, and all the values/qualifications are not quite present. But it will not likely stick unless they are all developed eventually, especially faith in the teachings and the teacher, though all are necessary. The student also needs to be totally dedicated, the steps for self-inquiry must be followed, and he/she must clean up the binding samskaras, both in terms of the jiva’s practical and subtle emotional life. Especially the deeply painful life experiences of the jiva. No excuses here. The devil is in the details. It requires the final negation of the idea of yourself as an individual, a jiva, and a doer.
But Self-realization is not Self-actualization. The knowledge that you are the Self may have obtained, but complete freedom from the personal program most likely has not. There are almost always some remaining binding mental/emotional patterns to purify that cause mental/emotional agitation, along with a remaining a very subtle doer. For most people, this stage is like ‘requalifying’ – re-examining values, qualifications, psychological and lifestyle issues. This may well be tedious hard work, but what price freedom? The problem is most people are looking for an easier way to escape their suffering and there isn’t one.
However – and this is the kicker – even if Self-realization is firm and all of the above steps completed, Self-actualization is up to the grace of Isvara. For me, I was blessed with the karma of living with a Mahatma, and the lessons that came from that were harsh but necessary for the jiva. James was equally fortunate with his guru, who was also very hard on him. Not everybody is so blessed. Does this mean everyone else is up the creek without a paddle? Not at all.
It just takes as long as it takes. Maya is the best teacher, but it has no idea of time because it is time. The good news is that you are never not the Self. And if you understand what moksa is, the ‘steps to get there’ are the qualities of ‘being there’. You are never not ‘there’. Trust the Vedanta bus to get you where you never left.
As we say ad nauseum, moksa is for the jiva because as the Self you were never bound. Self-inquiry is not about perfecting the jiva because it’s not real. The only agenda Vedanta has is that happiness is good and suffering is only due to ignorance of your true nature. It is to restore the jiva to its natural state of permanent happiness, free of anxiety, and to give it a fabulous life without suffering. The jiva’s life will improve greatly even without Self-actualization because the nature of the Self, Consciousness is parama prema svarupa. Parama means limitless; svarupa means nature and prema is the love which makes love possible – i.e., bliss. When the song of the true heart is heard, you can never ‘go back’.
Even a little or intermittent access to the bliss of your true nature is huge in terms of transforming the jiva’s life. But it’s not moksa. Anyone dedicated to actualizing Self-knowledge is aiming to transition directly to perfect satisfaction – tripti. Unfortunately, this can only take place if you are totally qualified when Self-realization takes place, which is almost never the case. Therein lies all the ‘work’ for the teacher to impart, and the student to assimilate and apply.
And then, there is one more final stage…the final doer renunciation
Renouncing the Renouncer
If all of the stages above have been completed, there is still one more step – the most subtle object to renounce – the desire for moksa itself. Even in that there is still one more layer because there may still be a ‘renouncer’ in the mix. Who or what is renouncing what, if there is only you, the Self?
Once you know that you are satya, you know that there is only satya. Mithya still plays out in all its apparent technicolor dream-like beauty and ugliness, but it’s known to be a dream appearing in you. There is only you. There is nothing to renounce and ‘nobody’ left to renounce anything. And then you can really enjoy the beautiful dream for what it delivers, without getting sucked into it. You are home free.
As Isvara said through Ramji at Trout Lake 2023:
One fine day,
There’s a little click
And the world stops
It never starts again
The status of the world has changed
It’s no longer real
It doesn’t move or spin
It just sits still like a mirage on the desert
It’s there but it has no meaning
It’s just pretty and shining
Reflecting the light of Awareness. You.
And you know
You didn’t say it, affirm it or claim it
Or do anything to obtain it
You are Awareness
You’re functioning here as Awareness
The human body mind and emotions
And the whole world are out in front of you
And nobody is looking over your shoulder
This is what nonduality means
There are not two entities here
There are not two things here
I shine and the world shines after Me
