Two things are to be remarked upon when one is considering the ripeness of a spiritual practitioner or the maturity of a spiritual teacher.

The first is that one ceases to think of dharma in any worldly terms. One no longer has the sense that one is “here to do something on behalf of the world.” The idea of dharma–of having a life purpose, of carrying out some major project–naturally falls away. The only dharma is to Wake Up and to live (if such is the word, even) wakefully.

I come, relatedly, to the second remark. One, truly, is not here to do anything since there is “no one here” to do anything anyway. That is, the sense of being somebody and of this somebody doing something great or grand or special or remarkable is (imagine a candle being blown out swiftly) just gone! It’s just gone! It ain’t there!

Nobody here, nobody home, nobody setting out, as the doer or knower, to achieve great things. Instead, simply a pervasive sense of quietness. One, encompassed by the quietness that one is, walks lightly, having and leaving no name. Without worries, without concerns, without preoccupations, without legacies. Helping, one takes no credit. Asked to be on popular podcasts or whatever, one easily declines. No resistance and no inclination.

Freedom pure.

For there is nobody here. Only the Source moves and breathes as these forms and, of course, as Its formless Self. Some forms, indeed, are expressions of the ignorance of the Source while others are expressions of the Source knowing Itself. The former are said to be in bondage while the latter are known as jnanis. Out of ignorance arises the desire to, and the belief that one already is, somebody setting out to do great things. Bondage. When, however, there is Self-knowledge complete, there’s only THIS! What unspeakable joy!