All language subtitles for Samadhi - Part 3 - The Pathless Path (2022) 1080p WEB-DL x264 An0mal1.ENG

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Let me respectfully
remind you life and death are

of supreme importance.

Time swiftly passes by.

And opportunity is lost.

Each of us should
strive to awaken.

Awaken.

Take heed.

Do not squander your life.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Humanity has descended
deep into the material realm,

putting its roots into the
mental and physical layers

of our being.

As Carl Jung said,
"To touch heaven,

one's roots must
reach into hell.

Out of the furnace
of Babylon comes

transformation, transfiguration,
and new human potential."

[MUSIC PLAYING]

The Eastern traditions say
that the lotus of awakening

grows out of the mud of
samsara, out of suffering.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Christianity describes the
fall in the Garden of Eden.

In esoteric terms,
this is the creation

of a sense of individual
self or personal will that

is separate from God's will.

Along with the separate
self is the coming

into being of an external
world of thought,

the world of form
that seems separate

from this limited self.

The character or the
ego is made of patterns

of pursuing or wanting things in
that external thought projected

world.

The external things
that we crave

are the fruits of the tree
of knowledge of good and evil

or the tree of duality.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

You could say that
original sin is

the desires of egoic or
dualistic consciousness.

This is maya, the situation that
humanity now finds itself in.

Going after the external
fruit means to miss the mark,

to miss the now.

Historically, there have been
occasional rare awakenings,

rare flowerings of
human consciousness,

the saints, the yogis,
sages, and wisdom keepers.

But humanity now has
a unique opportunity

to make this journey
as a collective, en

masse, to envision and
co-create shared new realities,

as we rediscover
the higher worlds

and wake up from the collective
dream of the limited self.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Most humans are
currently living almost

entirely identified with the
gross physical and mental

layers of their
being, not even aware

that the higher levels exist.

Most people do not
know or suspect

that there are spiritual
capacities latent

within the self structure,
waiting to be activated.

By realizing these
capacities, we

connect to subtler and
subtler levels of existence,

while at the same
time, making the self

structure permeable
to our true nature,

dis-identifying from all
levels of mind or maya.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

If we examine the
spiritual traditions that

have existed
throughout history, we

find that the great sages,
mystics, and seers describe

a continuum of existence.

The ancient Vedic teachings
described five koshas,

or sheaths of the
soul, extending

from the gross physical
and mental realm, which

is the conditioned world in
which most people live today,

to the subtle realms, which
include the energetic, astral,

and higher mind realms,
the archetypal templates

of existence, and finally,
to the causal realm,

where there's no thought or
sensation, the realization

of primordial awareness.

The awakening of God
consciousness within the soul

dispels the illusion
of all of these realms,

all layers of maya.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

The ancient traditions contain
numerous conceptual and

language frameworks, the point
of this continuum from gross

to subtle to causal.

Whether it is the
chakra system or kosha

system of the Vedic traditions
or the dantians of Daoism,

all levels within
the field of change

are maya, the spiral that
obscures our true nature,

yet is the very
expression of life itself.

It is through the spiral of life
that we experience human life.

When all levels of
maya are realized

to be empty of self,
what is possible

is an unfathomable
non-duality, or mystical union

beyond all language, which
includes yet transcends

all of the other levels.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Henry David Thoreau famously
said that "Most people lead

lives of quiet desperation.

They go to their
graves with their songs

still inside of them."

Their desperation comes from
an endless searching outside

of themselves, the
pursuit of things,

money, power, relationships,
approval from others.

The root of suffering lies
in one's mental attachment

to things, not in the
things themselves.

It doesn't matter what you have.

What matters is your
attachment to what you have.

We form attachments
at the sensory level,

through neuroplasticity.

Wherever attention is placed,
neurons fire and wire together,

creating a program in the mind,
a tendency towards pattern,

which is what the
mind itself is.

When we have any unconscious
tendency or life pattern,

we are not actually addicted
to the things themselves.

We are not addicted to drugs,
alcohol, sex, food, or media,

but to the sensations that
they produce within us.

We become free by observing
the somatic field directly,

the field of changing phenomena
at the root level of awareness.

We remain equanimous
without reacting or judging

any sensation as good or bad.

To become free, we learn
how these attachments

are formed by
bringing consciousness

to the subtle inner world.

We start to observe mental
and sensory phenomena

as a field of change,
rather than getting attached

to the thoughts and
sensations, which

bring about identification
and the very creation

of the world of form.

This field of change is also
called prana, or inner energy,

the feeling of inner aliveness.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

The shift to a new Earth is
a shift out of materialism.

What we are witnessing
is a release

of the old paradigms and the
pathological egoic agenda

to endlessly acquire more.

What you are seeing
around you right now

may seem like darkness.

It may seem like madness.

Actually, this is what awakening
looks like on planet Earth.

You are witnessing
the dismantling

of the old patterns.

Many people are disillusioned
with the current political,

social, economic, and
religious systems.

They no longer trust
the egoic agendas

of the media, industries, and
so-called spiritual systems.

They don't trust the
medical establishment

or the government.

People are disillusioned.

This dispelling of illusion
is a necessary part

of seeing the
truth, a coming face

to face with the
spiritual sickness that

is inherent in this time we are
living in and for coming out

of egoic consciousness.

By egoic consciousness,
I mean the patterns

of craving and aversion
that operate unconsciously,

the collective samskaras, or
conditioned patterns, which

create the conditions of
maya, the identification

with our characters
or with social groups

or anything we
define ourselves by,

with the various personas and
archetypes we are playing out

in this lifetime.

The self structure is an
interface with the world.

We don't want to get rid of
that interface or destroy it.

The path is about
dis-identifying from it,

so that our sense of I
or the sense of existence

is not tied to a limited
form, so that we don't suffer

when the world of form changes.

The human path is a journey
from pre-egoic existence, which

is the merged oneness
that we experienced

when we were a baby
with our mother

to the creation of a person.

We grow, we create a character.

This is a necessary
part of our evolution

in order to bring about
self-consciousness, to bring

about a sense of self or I.

We are actually in an adolescent
stage of our development.

We're in an ego
identified stage.

But the next step beyond
self-consciousness

is to realize transpersonal
levels of self

to realize shared
levels of consciousness,

various levels of
logos, or higher mind.

You could say levels of soul
if you prefer that language.

Our sphere of
compassion expands.

This is an expansion
through love.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

From the perspective
of the old pattern,

the egoic consciousness,
this dismantling

is something fearful,
there's going

to be confusion
and pain if you're

clinging to the old patterns.

Those awakening will actually
be perceived as a threat.

Awakening will be
seen as a crisis

because it is the
dismantling of what is known.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Right now we are like
caterpillars in the cocoon

as a undergoes metamorphosis.

There's a point in
the transformation

where the caterpillar is neither
a caterpillar nor a butterfly.

At this point, to the one
undergoing the metamorphosis,

the old self, it may
seem that all is lost,

but it's merely
part of the process.

Faith is a surrender to
the evolutionary impulse,

a deep knowing that we
are moving towards source.

The collective delusion, what
the ancient spiritual teachers

called maya, is tied to
our collective attachment

to old patterns.

It's tied to human
hubris, the belief

that we know where we're
going, what we're doing,

and who we are.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

The French painter
Paul Gauguin is

famous for a painting,
which he entitled,

"Where Do We Come From?

What Are We?

And Where Are We Going?"

These three questions
require a humility.

To find out what we are,
to find out the truth,

we first have to acknowledge
that we don't have the truth.

We don't have the answer if
we want to find the answer.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

There must be a
genuine willingness

to explore and to
look at ourselves.

Like Dante's pilgrim
in "The Divine Comedy,"

one begins the journey to know
oneself in a darkened wood

astray, recognizing
that we have lost.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

In the ancient Vedic
traditions, the dimensions

of being and becoming
were represented

by Shiva and Shakti.

The archetypal feminine, the
downward current or current

of manifestation, is
represented by Shakti

by the downward
pointing triangle,

which points toward evolution of
spirit into the world of form.

Shiva represents
the upward current,

the current of liberation.

The upward pointing triangle,
pointing toward pure awareness

without any qualities, evolution
beyond the world of form

with the transcendent.

So long as we are operating
within the dualistic world,

identified with
the limited mind,

these two currents
comprise the pathless path.

We are working within the
current of manifestation

and the current of liberation,
doing and non-doing,

inhabiting both the time
bound and the timeless.

When these two dimensions
are married in divine union,

realized as one, it is samadhi.

When in union, they represent
the balance and coexistence

of these two dimensions,
like the Star of David,

or the anahata symbol, which is
the ancient symbol representing

the spiritual
heart, the unstruck

sound, the transcendent
source of the primordial om

that is dancing the
universe into being.

It is said that in
samadhi, you will

hear the celestial music of
existence, musica universalis,

or the flute of Krishna,
or what Pythagoras called

the music of the spheres.

Of course, these are all
metaphors for something

that awakens within the depths
of your being, something

beyond the limited
mind and senses.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

There are spiritual systems
that focus on the subtle body,

using practices
such as observing

the breath, sensations,
working with chi or prana,

working with techniques,
practices, and processes

that can be learned with
the conditioned mind.

Everything that directly employs
and engages the limited mind

in order to realize samadhi
is part of the via positiva.

This is what we call
the Shakti path,

and there are
spiritual systems which

are about transcending the
manifested world, which

we call the Shiva path
or the via negativa.

We come to realize that which
we are beyond name and form

by letting go of
all that we are not.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

The way to samadhi
has been given

many names, such as meditation,
self-inquiry, or prayer.

Most people who practice
these things today

are practicing some technique,
but the ancient form

of meditation that
leads to samadhi

is actually not an activity.

It is not something
that you do or practice,

but it is actually the cessation
of the meditator, the seeker,

or the doer.

True meditation is
union with what is,

and it only begins
to happen when

the ego fails in its
attempt to meditate

and realizes its
own limitations.

The ego, the you think
you are, must necessarily

fail in all attempts to
meditate for true meditation

to come about.

The closer we come to
the truth, the closer

we come to samadhi, the
less doing there is,

the less technique there is.

The techniques are
all part of the past.

We drop the doing and the doer.

We drop the seeking
and the seeker

to come to the
unconditioned present.

Some teachers
overemphasize techniques,

while some undervalue them.

It's important to understand
that the technique is

a stepping stone .

We don't want to
abandon the technique,

but we don't cling to it.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

The time tested way
to realize samadhi

is through long periods
of spiritual practice.

Whether you call that practice
meditation, self-inquiry,

or prayer, there is a truth
that one has to awaken to.

The yogi and sage Patanjali, who
compiled the Yoga Sutras 2,500

years ago, taught that the
entire endeavor of yoga

is aimed at the cessation of
the whirlpool of the mind.

You could say it is
the cessation of karma,

the cessation of deep
unconscious patterns

that govern one's life.

These conditioned patterns were
called the vrittis in Sanskrit.

Likewise, the zen
master Dogen said

that, "Meditation is the
dropping off of mind and body."

In Buddhism, it is
nirvana or Nirodha.

It's the cessation
of the fluctuations

of the limited egoic mind, which
bring about the identification

with a limited sense of self.

In Christianity, we find
the same perennial teaching

but expressed through a
very different metaphor,

using the language that was
common at that time in history.

To realize samadhi
in Christian terms

is to attain the kingdom of God
through the forgiveness of sins

by realizing Christ.

The word sin in Hebrew means
literally to miss the mark.

It means to miss
the present moment,

to pursue happiness in the
objects of the external world,

rather than realizing the
source of true fulfillment.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

To come into the now,
to the present moment,

is to learn to surrender
the preferences

of the conditioned mind, to burn
up opposing states by remaining

non-reactive to anything
that is appearing

within the field of change.

To meditate is to burn
up the conditioned self,

or you can say to free energy
from the conditioned self.

This truth is found in
the Gospel of Thomas,

which says, "If you bring
forth what is within you, what

you bring forth will save you.

If you do not bring forth what
is within you, what you do not

bring forth will destroy you."

[MUSIC PLAYING]

A mountain may be
accessible by many paths.

One can go straight
towards the summit,

or sometimes it may be better
to take a spiral route.

But at the summit, the
view is always the same,

no matter which path you take.

Humans have created thousands
of meditation techniques

throughout the millennia,
not to mention countless yoga

postures, asanas, specialized
breathing, pranayama,

and every conceivable variety
of ritual or practice.

If meditation is simply a
cessation or a stopping,

if it's simply
coming to stillness,

then why do we need so many
techniques to achieve it?

Why can't we just sit
and wait for our mud

to settle as they teach in Zen?

The truth is we can just stop.

We can surrender the
activities of our character.

However, as Einstein said,
"Although reality is merely

an illusion, it is
a persistent one."

[MUSIC PLAYING]

It is this persistence
of the illusion that

makes it necessary
for most people

to penetrate into
the unconscious mind.

To stay awake, we have to purify
the avatar of its samskaras,

of its karma, or
its programming,

so that the unconscious
aspects of self

are no longer driving the show.

When I say purify, I don't
mean that the avatar is somehow

bad or negative.

I simply mean that it is
possible to dis-identify

a sense of self from it.

And the
dis-identification process

is what we call
purification or cleaning.

I'm cleaning myself of myself.

Our sadhana is to unite
all aspects of our self

so that we are not divided.

We penetrate into the
unconscious by creating

conditions of no
escape for the ego.

Whether this is through long
periods of meditation or self

inquiry, through intensive yoga,
qigong, prayer, or breath work,

or fasting or
chanting, or by taking

entheogens which open us to the
unconscious depths of the mind.

We will naturally be drawn
to different practices,

techniques, and tools at
different times on our path.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Whatever the practice
or technique is,

the purification
will happen as long

as we are cultivating
presence and equanimity,

being here in the now as well
as surrendered to what is.

Then we continue to unbind
the karmic knots that create

identification with our avatar.

We let go of judging any
sensation or thought as

good or bad, always going
deeper into the sensory field,

always perceiving subtler
and subtler phenomena,

becoming so conscious of what is
arising that there is a merging

with the meditation object.

We become the breath.

We become the yoga posture.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

We become the chant.

We become the avatar,
in each case merging

with the pranic field in what
is called savikalpa samadhi,

or samprajnata samadhi,
which is samadhi with a seed,

a seed of pattern,
a seed of form,

a seed of conditioned mind
activity, of karmic activity.

So long as there is a seed of
attachment of unconscious mind

activity of separation between
the inner and outer worlds,

then the final goal
will not be reached.

Savikalpa samadhi is
a preliminary samadhi,

also called jhana or dhyana.

It is a burning up of karma
within the self structure,

an energetic preparation of
the vessel for the awakening

of one's true nature,
which is realized

through non-doing, through a
cessation of mind activity.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Your mind is like a
pond, and your thoughts

are like waves or
ripples on that pond.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

To make a pond become
still, what can you do?

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Anything you do will
stir up more waves.

You can't smooth it out
or make it be still.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

The pond only comes
to stillness when

you have let go of all
effort, all striving,

all movement, realizing
the natural state

is not something that you do.

It is a recognition of what
you are beyond the movement

of the mind and senses.

Who is moving the mind?

Recognize who is choosing.

It is only the mind
itself that chooses.

It is only the mind
itself that moves.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

It is only the mind itself that
wants to try to still the mind.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Upon hearing these
words, the limited mind

will likely be disoriented,
wondering, what do I do?

Just allow that disorientation.

Become aware of the true self.

Become aware of awareness,
conscious of consciousness.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Stay with it until it
alone becomes your reality.

At the beginning, when you
try to observe awareness,

you will see only
the false self, only

the movements of the mind.

When I say be aware of the
true self, it is not a turning.

It is not a movement.

It is not like pointing
a camera at a new object.

But rather, it is a
giving up or a cessation

of the interest or attachment
to the movements of the mind.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

There are two main knots that
bind us into identification

with the false self.

The body wants comfort,
and the mind wants to know.

The body is attached to
sensations of pleasure

and avoidance of pain.

All sadhana or spiritual
practice that leads to samadhi

fundamentally
involves two things,

first letting go of the duality
of comfort and discomfort,

and second, entering
into a don't

know mind, deep inner
surrender, energetic surrender,

and being thoughtlessly
present, choicelessly aware.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Socrates was considered the
wisest person of his time.

He's famous for the maxim, "I
only know that I don't know."

This is the Socratic paradox.

Adopting a don't know
mind, a not knowing mind

is the gateway to samadhi.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Wait.

Be still without
hope, without thought,

because hope would
be based on some idea

and would be keeping
energy flowing

into the conditioned mind.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

T.S. Eliot wrote,
"I said to my soul,

be still and wait without
hope for hope would

be hope for the wrong thing.

Wait without thought for you
are not ready for thought."

[MUSIC PLAYING]

The moment you have
a hope, a motive,

or a thought is the moment
that you are again caught

in the conditioned mind .

In "The Divine Comedy,"
Dante wrote of an inscription

at the entrance to hell.

"Abandon all hope
ye who enter here."

[MUSIC PLAYING]

It is actually a very
practical instruction.

It would make a
great reminder if it

were posted on the doorway
of every meditation center,

ashram, church, or temple.

Whatever your hope is, it is
based on past conditioning.

Hope is a kind of knowing
that keeps the ego structure

searching, seeking, and doing.

When we engage in our sadhana,
our spiritual practice that

leads to samadhi,
then we must abandon

all hope, all projections
into the future,

accepting that we don't
even know what to hope for.

This is a humbling for the ego.

When we abandon hope,
we also abandon fear.

Hope and fear are the mind's
projection into the future,

the inner wiring that
binds us to identification.

Hope is craving.

Fear is aversion.

If we remain in the now
experiencing this moment as it

is, then where is hope or fear?

Our spiritual work is
to excavate and unbind

the knots the ties
to identification

with our character.

We move beyond comfort
and discomfort,

entering into the
cloud of unknowing.

We can do this both through
formal practices and in day

to day life.

To meditate, to know yourself
is to burn in the now.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

To burn up your patterns,
your preferences.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

And it is not something
separate from your life

to be able to drop your
pattern, your reactions,

and your judgments while
you're in the midst of them.

To drop the fight is
the deepest practice.

This is the only fight
that you win by giving up,

by surrendering, by
dying on the battlefield,

willingly climbing
onto the cross.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Some people are ready
for the highest teachings

on meditation and self-inquiry,
the simple and clear truth.

They will hear the dharma and
will understand immediately.

These people are like wood
that has been well seasoned,

and they are ready to
burn themselves up.

They just need the spark.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Other people seem to
require more preparation.

They're like wet wood,
and they need some time

to dry out before they ignite.

They need techniques, practices
to loosen the bonds of the self

structure, to become
free of samskaras,

or at least they believe
that this is the case,

and the belief makes it so.

Practices and techniques
are like stepping stones,

like using a thorn
to remove a thorn,

or a pattern to
remove a pattern.

Spiritual practices,
such as reciting words,

practicing a discipline,
or anything learned

is simply imitation.

It's something repetitive
and conditioned.

Because all techniques
are conditioned patterns

within the mind,
the practice itself

will never lead beyond
the mind to samadhi.

You will remain in the pattern
in a robotic, repetitive state.

One must hold on
to the technique

loosely, allowing inner
energy to flow freely.

When you become absorbed
in inner energy,

then the condition
doing is dropped.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

The condition doing, the
unconscious programming,

was formed due to
incomplete experiences.

Whenever we have an
incomplete experience,

it creates an
impression in the mind.

It creates a little
program in the unconscious.

This programming or conditioning
can come from traumas or simply

experiences that we have
turned away from because they

were too painful.

Our self structure is
made up of a legion

of little programs, which
come into being because

of incomplete experiences.

These memory imprints are
not only stored in the brain,

but within the energetic
systems of the body,

throughout the nervous system,
the fascia and many networks

of nadis or meridians.

These programs
take energy to run.

If energy is trapped
in the unconscious,

then it's like leaving
apps open on your phone,

draining your battery.

Our sadhana is like learning
to close the apps on our phone.

To become free, we
bring consciousness

to the subtle
sensations, to the field

of changing phenomena
or energy within us,

without reacting to any
thought or feeling that arises.

By dropping the preferences
of the ego structure,

moving beyond comfort
and discomfort.

Everything in the external
world is pointing us

in the wrong direction.

Society tells us to numb
our pain, to seek comfort.

The way in is the way out.

The way out is the way in.

We need to turn toward our pain.

We become free of samskaras by
having a complete experience,

by feeling it without
reacting, by burning in it.

We have a complete
experience of the feeling

without the emotion.

Emotions are reactions.

They are feelings that are
intertwined with thoughts.

We drop the thinking component
and stay with the raw feeling,

the raw sensation.

It has been said that
the path to liberation

is not about feeling better,
but about getting better

at feeling.

The ultimate
examples of this are

Jesus on the cross or the
Buddha's meditation that

led to his enlightenment.

It is facing one's greatest
pain, one's greatest fears,

dropping the concepts, the
knowing, and the judgments

of good or bad.

Awakening is merely
the beginning step

in an accelerated process of
inner development, of growing

the inner lotus, of
becoming a living bridge,

of purifying the human vessel
to house divine consciousness.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Energy is like the Rosetta
Stone for spiritual practices.

If you understand
how energy works,

you understand the
usefulness of the practice.

Every technique or
practice is interrupting

the pattern of you.

You are using a
conditioned pattern

to interrupt
conditioned patterns.

You must be willing to
let go of the technique

once it has served its purpose.

Otherwise, you will
just create an identity

around it and a new
spiritualized self-structure.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

To reach the deeper
stages of meditation,

we must let go of everything we
think we know about meditation.

The ancient terms for
meditation, jhana, dhyana, zen,

or ch'an refer to a sort
of inner dissolving,

a kind of meditative absorption,
a transformation or inner

purification of
egoic conditioning.

The ancient meaning
of the word jhana

is related to the
Pali word jhapeti,

which means to burn up.

It is a burning up of
defilements, of sin,

or samskaras.

It's a burning up
of identification

with the false self, a
burning up of delusion,

a burning up of
all preferences out

of which the ego
construct is made,

and a release and coming
forth of inner energy.

One becomes equanimous with
what is, surrendered to what is,

attentive to what is.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Awakening to our true
nature can happen gradually

through these stages of
jhana as the identification

with various processes of
conditioned mind is dropped,

or awakening can
happen instantly.

This is called satori in Zen.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

The most pure teaching is
transmitted in silence.

But with the world
such as it is today,

very few will understand
or be drawn into the source

of that silence.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

There's a famous teaching
by Gautama Buddha

called the flower sermon.

The sermon is the origin
of Buddhist meditation.

You could say it's
the origin of Zen.

Zen is about direct
transmission of the truth.

In the flower sermon, the Buddha
simply held up a white flower.

He was in unmediated
presence with the flower,

abiding in his true nature.

That was the whole teaching.

Rather than giving a long
satsang or teaching with words,

he just let the students
sit with the flower

for the entire time.

Only one student received
the transmission.

Only one student got it.

To receive such a
subtle transmission

requires a subtle mind.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

The greatest truth is
transmitted in silence.

How can we receive this
transmission of Buddha mind?

How can we receive
what we already have,

what we already are?

Primordial awareness
is everywhere

when we have eyes to see
and nowhere in particular.

Upon awakening, the
truth is so simple

to see that you
don't need the mind.

The mind is searching
and seeking.

When that movement is given
up, when that movement is

burned up, the truth remains.

You already are on that
which you're looking for,

but you're identified
with the false self.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Notice the flower and
notice who or what

is observing the flower.

What is separating the
observer and the observed.

Meditation or jhana is to
be present here and now

without the mediation of
images in the mind, ideas,

and concepts.

If awareness is
absolutely present

so that there is no
more knowing, even

in the unconscious, then
there is no more observer

and observed.

There's no more relationship
between you and anything.

There's no more flower
and separate observer.

It is only the limited
mind that sees things.

The activity of the limited
mind is the creation

of things, the creation of the
experience of time and space,

the creation of duality, of
experience and experiencer.

It is possible to wake up here
and now to a profound dimension

of stillness beyond the mind,
not pushing away the mind,

but letting it be
exactly as it is, yet

not getting caught in the mind.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Don't try to
analyze these words.

These are not concepts.

If presence has realized itself
upon hearing these pointers,

don't let the mind get involved.

As soon as you receive
the transmission,

turn off this video and abide
in awareness as awareness.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Silence is the greatest
teaching, the purest teaching.

The next best teaching
is pointing directly

at the unfathomable.

This next teaching has had
many names throughout history.

It is pointing toward
the transcendent self

or pure consciousness.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

In Buddhism, it is called
prajna paramita, which

means the ultimate knowledge
or perfect wisdom, which

is distinguished from
ordinary knowledge

or conditioned knowledge.

It is what is realized through
the eighth limb of yoga

described by Patanjali.

In Shaivism, this
awakening could

be described as oneness
with Ishvara or Shiva,

which are names for
absolute consciousness.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

In Western mystical
traditions, the terms Henosis

or Apophaticism have been used
to refer to union with the one.

Plotinus said that the
one transcends all beings

but is eminent within them.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

In Tibetan Zhongshan,
it is described

as the natural primordial
state of being.

They used the word
rigpa to refer

to the ground of existence.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

In Sufism, it is the
secret of secrets realized

through fana which is
annihilation or learning

to die before you die.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

In Maha Mudra, it is the Great
Seal or the great imprint,

the realization of
the natural state,

primordial awareness, emptiness,
absolute, clear and transparent

without root.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Do not listen to these
words with the mind

but recognize within the depths
of consciousness that to which

they point.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

The truth of who
or what you are,

the truth that transcends the
limited mind cannot be seen

by means of the limited mind.

The still point cannot be
reached by means of movement.

If you want to realize the
still point beyond thinking,

let go of all interest and
thoughts and sensations,

all preferences, all
phenomena generated

by the mind and senses, and
rest in naked awareness.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Thoughts and sensations are a
field of constantly changing

phenomena.

What is unchanging
is the awareness

of that field of change.

We are usually so caught
up in the field of change,

fixated on its objects,
that we ignore awareness.

To realize samadhi, we
stop chasing anything

in the field of
change, any thought,

and we rest as
awareness, stop reacting

to thoughts and sensations.

All suffering is due to
our believing our thoughts.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Notice the mind's habit of
judging or labeling any thought

or sensation as good or bad.

We allow every thought and
sensation to be as it is.

We don't push away
anything, and yet we

don't get ensnared in thoughts
or hooked by their content.

In this way, we
approach the absolute

by the negative path,
the via negativa.

Whatever is arising
we realize not this,

not that, not this, not that.

Through the via
negativa, one realizes

everything that is
arising is not you.

You realize that you are
nothing, the wisdom of no self.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Through the via
positiva, one realizes

everything that
is arising is you.

This is love, an energetic
connection, or merging.

Both truths exist
simultaneously.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Form is exactly emptiness.

Emptiness is exactly form.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

There's a saying in Zen.

At the beginning of the path,
mountains are mountains,

and rivers are rivers.

After some realization,
mountains are no longer

mountains, and rivers
are no longer rivers.

But when the final
truth is revealed,

mountains and rivers are.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

What has changed
on this journey?

The mountain and the river
remain as they always

have been what has dropped away
is your idea of the mountain

and the river.

What has dropped
away is the whirlpool

of the mind that
mediates, that creates

the illusion of separation
between you and the world.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

To realize samadhi
is not to achieve

some extraordinary state.

Nor is it about staying in
the ordinary state of mind.

Only the limited
mind or egoic mind

discriminates ordinary
and extraordinary.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Turiya, the stateless
state, sometimes called

the fourth state,
is non-dual reality.

It is transcendent
and imminent within.

It is the ground of existence,
the fountain of all truth.

Your effort to
achieve some state

is a movement of the mind.

To realize the
ground of existence

is not to transcend the physical
and abide in the subtle realm

or the causal realm.

All of these dimensions of
yourself exist simultaneously.

Gross, subtle, and causal
exist here and now.

It is only the
limited mind itself

that creates the division.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

To realize samadhi is not
to try to achieve something.

It is a giving up of all
interest in thoughts,

while remaining fully alert,
fully conscious, fully

awake without reacting, without
doing, without moving the mind,

without suppressing the mind.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

To be aware, to be fully
attentive to what is happening

without the mediation
of egoic conditioning,

without concepts,
without controlling,

manipulating, or distortion,
without the filtering

of the limited mind, it is to
be present without choosing.

Present without choosing and
therefore without a chooser.

You could call
this a mirror mind.

A beginner's mind without memory
or past, an open or transparent

mind.

You make every moment new.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Every time that the mind moves
unconsciously, even the tiniest

movement, it is due
to the filtering

through the conditioning of
the limited self-structure.

Whenever the mind
moves unconsciously,

it is due to some
unsatisfactoriness,

which is called dukkha in
the ancient traditions.

How do I let go of dukkha?

How do I let go of all
unsatisfactoriness?

Listen closely.

To the limited mind
there's a paradox.

The limited egoic mind
here's the question

and wants to know,
how, how do I do it.

But that limited
mind can't do it.

The limited mind will
always fail in any attempt

to realize samadhi.

It must fail.

The limited mind
does not awaken.

Primordial awareness wakes
up from its identification

with the limited mind.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

The limited mind
will always fail

in any attempt to
realize stillness

because the mind is movement.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

The mind itself is
movement, and this movement

creates the experience of time
and space, creates separation.

It is an endless
process of doing.

On the pathless path, we
awaken from identifying

with the character that
is doing to recognizing

the dimension of being.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

In samadhi, the separation
between doing and being

drops away.

The separation is simply
another mind process.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

When there's no thinking
within the conditioned egoic

structure, then
there's no problem.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

The you that you think
you are is a process,

a constant movement of
egoic thought, a collection

of patterns and preferences.

That you has to die.

The pathological pattern of
you has to end for samadhi

to be realized.

Let that sink in.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

To awaken is to see the
nature of human suffering,

of the human condition.

It is the recognition
of who or what suffers.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

There's no technique for
realizing primordial awareness,

no process that can be
learned, no formula that

can be practiced.

What I'm getting at can
be received in an instant,

in a flash.

It is precisely the
dropping of all formulas,

all knowing, and all
doing, all egoic agendas

that creates the
optimal conditions

for primordial
consciousness to awaken.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

If I tried to tell
you how to be aware,

then you'll be paying
attention to my words

or doing something
that I told you,

rather than being
aware of what's

actually happening in the now.

You have to become
so conscious of what

is, so intimate with
existence, that there's

no preference, no
self or I in it.

You inhabit or
merge consciousness

into what's happening.

When egoic activity
is dropped, you

become that which is arising.

Actually, that's not true.

More correctly, it's the
illusion of separation

that falls away.

The truth is we were
never actually separate.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Spiritual teachers have
given the instruction

to reach samadhi.

Be still and know.

Be still and know the true
self, primordial awareness

beyond name and form.

Be still and know
that you are God,

the true self, Buddha nature.

What exactly do they mean?

What is it that becomes still?

Obviously no one's physical body
can become absolutely still,

existing within time and space.

Because time space
itself is movement.

Time space is mind.

The universe is
big mind or logos.

The first hermetic principle
is that the all is mind.

The universe is mental.

If the universe is mind
and mind is movement,

how can I be still and know?

How can you be still on a globe
spinning 1,000 miles per hour

around its axis, spinning 67,000
miles per hour around the sun,

moving 500,000 miles per
hour around the galaxy,

and millions more
through the universe.

Your heart is beating.

Cells are moving inside,
food digesting, the brain

producing brain waves.

Your blood is pumping.

Energy is moving.

How can we be still?

When the spiritual masters
say be still and know,

they must be talking about
something else, something

beyond time and space, something
beyond the physical and mental.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

What is meant by
stillness is something

that we have no word for in
our modern language system.

The Sanskrit language,
the language of the yogis

has more precise terms,
which point to the non-dual.

The term Sunyata is often
translated as voidness,

stillness, or emptiness.

Stillness is maybe the
closest English word,

but it is inadequate to
describe something that

is not of this dualistic world.

What is actually realized is
the primordial consciousness,

which is beyond stillness
and movement, beyond time.

It is eternal, the
ground of your being,

the essential nature of
reality that does not change.

Actually, it is beyond
change and the changeless.

When our true
nature is realized,

it becomes obvious that
silence and noise are

a duality created by the mind.

Stillness and movement are a
duality created by the mind.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Everything is already
inherent within

that primordial stillness.

The movement of the world
is identical to stillness.

Be still and know.

Be in motion and know.

It is all emptiness, dancing.

This is not something
philosophical,

but an entirely different way
of interfacing with the world.

Actually, it's about
dropping the interface,

dropping the reducing valve,
which is the self-structure,

and experiencing your
true nature, unmediated

by the limited mind.

The so-called outer
world is transcended

by realizing stillness,
which when realized

includes that which
it transcends.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

If you think you
understand samadhi

after watching this
film, then you've

missed what's being said.

It would be like mistaking
the menu for the meal.

To taste the truth
takes a true willingness

to seek the patterns
of the self structure

that you refer to as you.

It requires a deep
excavation, deep surgery

on the mind and
freeing of samskaras,

a deep dismantling, a deep
humbling of the self-structure.

To realize samadhi,
one surrenders

to the soul's longing for union.

You must want to realize the
one source more than anything

in the matrix of the
mind, more than anything

in the external world.

External pursuits will seem
hollow and meaningless.

True meditation,
true self-inquiry

is coming into the now where
everything is experienced,

everything is revealed.

Everything arises
and passes away

within a field of
equanimity and love.

Until the eternal
is realized, one

must work patiently and
persistently, whole heartedly,

with humility, burning up your
patterns, your preferences,

your conditioning.

One can't make awakening happen,
using the conditioned mind.

It happens seemingly
by accident,

but by practicing presence,
it makes us accident prone.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

The final words of Socrates
before he was executed

were a warning to the world.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

He said, "We owe a
great debt to Asclepius.

Pay it and don't forget."

Asclepius was the
god healing, and you

may be familiar
with the Asclepius

staff, which is a rod
entwined with the serpent.

It represents healing
energy, energy

that is alive, free
from conditioning,

free to move its own
intelligence, as opposed

to the energy of
the dualistic mind.

In the early centuries
BCE, the Asclepius symbol

was emblazoned on some of
the first money coins, mass

produced in ancient
Greece and Rome,

and it has morphed into what
we call the dollar sign today.

It is an ancient reminder
hidden in plain view,

a reminder that an exchange of
money is an exchange of energy.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Christ consciousness
or Buddha nature

is supported by the feminine
principle, by great mother,

by the nagas, the
serpent wisdom.

This wisdom teaches us to
purify the inner temple,

to purify ourselves of ego.

The feminine principle
has had countless names

throughout history, Gaia,
Shakti, Sofia, Logos,

Mahalakshmi, Parvati, Durga,
Isis, Mary, the spiral of life.

This living energy
of the higher mind

is the innate intelligence
of the universe.

This nature wisdom has been
systematically suppressed,

demonized, exploited,
and controlled

throughout the last millennia.

In order to free energy from
the unconscious definitions

that we hold, we
must unbind the knots

that create identification
with the ego structure,

letting go of grasping at
comfort, letting go of knowing.

Right now at this
time in history,

at this time within
yourself, the debt

that Socrates is speaking of
is coming due both individually

and collectively.

There is only one currency with
which you can pay this debt.

You must pay with yourself.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

When we free our inner
energy, our inner aliveness

from its prison in
pathological structures,

it becomes free to connect us
with higher levels of mind.

Energy is what connects us all.

Another name for
this energy is love.

All true spiritual masters say
that love is the true religion.

Love is the religion
of the future.

It cannot be institutionalized,
systematized, or conditioned.

Love is inseparable from
the realization of the one

primordial consciousness.

To love is to be one with.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

The breeze at dawn
has secrets to tell you.

Don't go back to sleep.

You must ask for
what you really want.

Don go back to sleep.

People are going back and
forth across the door sill,

where the two worlds touch.

The door is round and open.

Don't go back to sleep.