Category: philosophical counseling
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Understanding How Awareness Can Be Universal: Deep Sleep And I Amness
The nondual teaching which states that Awareness is global (that is, universal) can seem as if it doesn’t make sense. Certain satsang-style questions abound. Like: 1.) If I am Universal Awareness, then why can’t I read others’ minds? 2.) If I am Universal Awareness, then why do I feel “tethered” to a narrow set of…
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There Is No Mind
Early on in sadhana, it may seem as if we need to drop the mind whenever there is any identification of Consciousness with mind. In so doing, we presume that the mind exists, only to insist: “I am not the mind.” Later on, we may approach the matter more skillfully from the point of view…
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The Humble David Godman Asks The Great Nisargadatta About Enlightenment
In this beautiful interview, “Remembering Nisargadatta Maharaj,” (thanks, Alexandra, for sending this to me!), David Godman, who has done much to make Ramana Maharshi’s teachings more widely available, speaks of his meetings with Nisargadatta. Everything below the “*” is from Godman’s interview/essay. Especially moving is what Nisargadatta says at the very end. * My question…
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Finding Out Who You Are… Or Just Passing The Time
For a brief moment, the visitor, presently speaking with the teaching master Nisargadatta, gets it: V: You mean to say that we should remain at the point of [the] emergence of consciousness? Shall we then understand this? M: Yes, I have been telling people exactly that. V: Then you mean to say that unless I…
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Without Awareness, There Is No Experience
It’s astonishing to realize something that kept, before then, going past one’s understanding. It’s this: Without awareness, there is no (direct) experience. That is, if awareness isn’t shining its light on experience X, then experience X cannot appear. There’s no there there. To be clear, it’s not as if experience X is “waiting in the…
Andrew Taggart, Ph.D. 