Dear Ektaji,

I can grasp your teachings very well. I also know that you see the truth. Then why shouldn’t I simply follow you blindly? Why is there insistence on following the inner Guru as opposed to an external Guru on the path of Advaita Vedanta? It is so easy to follow someone externally without having to wonder whether I am on the right path or not. Please shed light on this for me. Awaiting your guidance.

Answer:

I am truly grateful for your love and appreciation of the fact that I see. But that is my reality, not yours. It is not original to you my dear. I want you to see what I see. I do not want you to follow me because I see.

The mind has its cunning ways to evade the work required in order to see. It is always looking for a shortcut.  All analytical explanations given by the mind are simply an excuse. Resist the urge to be a lazy and coward-like spiritual seeker. Be strong. Your inner strength is a prerequisite to seeing reality as it is and rejecting what the mind imagines reality to be.

Please know that when there is true seeing, there is a recognition of the absence of the mind. The reality that the mind does not exist becomes evident. The truth is that the mind is simply an arising that appears and disappears in quick rapidity to give the illusion of the existence of a permanent sense of being. The sense of being = I-thought. It is simply a thought not a permanent continuous being. This truth cannot be seen by following my words blindly or worshipping me or chasing me or any Guru for that matter. This truth must be seen by you. That will be your originality.

How to see? How to be original? 

To be original, one must go to the very depth of one’s existence. What you are really seeking is the background screen of this movie called the world. Perceptions of sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch cannot take you to the background screen. A Guru is simply the perception of sight and sound. His job is to remind you to look within. If you get stuck in the Guru, you will miss the background. Only by diving deeper within can one find the background of all experiences that perceptions or thoughts can only inadequately express.

Recognize that you are not seeking a means of expression, you are seeking the seeing of the background of all perceptions. To go beyond and embrace what you are seeking is called ‘attaining originality’. This cannot be attained by simply following my word. Go beyond the teacher called ‘Ekta’. Go beyond all Gurus. Go beyond the external and embrace the internal silence of seeing – the inner Guru Tatva!

The seeing tips and hints are provided by the various scriptures like Nisargadatta’s I AM THAT, Adishankaracharya’s Drg Drishya Viveka, Atmananda’s Atma Nirvriti, Buddha’s Nikayas, and Ramana’s ‘Who am I’. Take hints from all these masters, without holding onto the scriptures, or the masters, and attempt to see the truth yourself. Know that all of them insist that you recognize the inner Guru as that is the only way to be original.

Be original. Reject the fake pretense of being a follower. You are your own Guru! And something within you already knows this. If you hear otherwise, reject it as religious conditioning limited to a spiritual shopkeeper’s income-generating strategy infested with vested interests. Renounce it! 

Be spiritually independent! Be free of all spiritual and religious bondage including the external Guru!

Be original! Be your own light! Aapo Deepo Bhava!

#AtmaNirvriti #AtmanandaKrishnaMenon #AdvaitaVedanta #Non-duality #NisargadattaMaharaj