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LIVING LIFE SPONTANEOUSLY WITHOUT AN AGENDA
This article is about my learning experiences during my recent travels in India. The title says it all.Ever since coming across the teachings of Advaita (non- dualism) a few years ago, through the medium of the sage Ramesh Balsekar there has been a radical shift in my perspective and experience of life. I have been visiting Ramesh at his home in Bombay for the past couple of years to attend the 'Satsang' sessions he gives every morning between 10am and 11-30 pm.
This year I had the benefit of being with Ramesh in Bombay for almost a month. The time spent in retreat for six weeks at my Puttaparthi apartment basking in Sai Baba's energies, in meditation and reading Ramana Maharshi, Swami Nisargadatta and Ramesh Balsekar's books on the teachings of non-dualism, have allowed the teaching to go even deeper. Ramesh Balsekar says: " Self realisation or enlightenment is nothing more than the deepest possible understanding that there is no individual doer of any actions - neither you nor anyone else. Also you are not the thinker of any thought, nor the experiencer of any experiences - they happen. When IT happens, no bright lights are likely to flash in your head."
Ramesh suggests experiencing for ourselves the Truth of the Buddha's words: " Events happen, deeds are done but there is no individual doer thereof." A spiritual practice he recommends for this purpose is to recollect the day's events and observe how each event occurs because of some reaction or stimulus to an outside event, which is beyond our control. The outside event is not in our control together with our response to the occurrence, which is dependent on our genes and programming. One of the great shifts for me this year has been the experiential observation moment- by- moment that ' Life Happens' regardless - with or without any effort on my part.
This 'body-mind organism' (as Ramesh refers to 'humans'), commonly referred to as Maria Jory, a 'created object' and manifestation of and by the 'Source' the creator 'Subject' - has certain inherent characteristics because of the unique genes, programming and conditioning of my childhood and experiences throughout life. A strong will and determination to achieve whatever I set my mind to achieve was considered one of the traits of my 'personality'. The trait of strong determination still exists, except I now know the 'Source' from which it all springs and the identification and sense of personal doership is diminishing intellectually and experientially as the understanding of the teachings of non-dualism go deeper and deeper. The trait of 'wanting to achieve' has diminished considerably and a greater passivity and acceptance of life as it unfold spontaneously is now occurring.
What does it mean to live life spontaneously without an agenda? Firstly - I have begun to observe that my life is being lived 'through me' and not 'by me'. More and more I see 'myself' and 'others' (the separation being part of the illusion of Maya or ignorance) as puppets being moved around by the 'Ultimate Puppeteer' sometimes referred to as God, the Absolute, Primal Energy or whatever! Such a thought might bring a touch of horror or disbelief to many readers that our lives are being lived without our volition, however it has become my experience to discover that there is a 'divine plan' that unfolds regardless of what 'we' plan. " Surrender to the divine Will and allowing life to unfold without trying to control events is about living life spontaneously."
Each of us reacts according to our unique genes and programming, which of course can be reprogrammed as we continue our journey through life. To make things simpler for us to understand, Ramesh Balsekar often refers to the 'thinking mind' and 'working mind'. The 'working mind' does whatever one has to do in any given situation without projecting or getting ' horizontally involved' (as Ramesh calls it).
The 'thinking mind' keeps interrupting the 'working mind' with queries of alternative ways of working, thinking about the future and the past and is attached to the results, whereas the 'working mind' is only concerned in doing the job. It also has to draw on past memories to decide which alternative to choose - however having done so acts in the present without concern for the results. Thoughts can and do occur, and if there is involvement it is best not to get involved with the involvement (if you can!).
Living life spontaneously without an agenda is being fully present in the moment. It is having an 'agenda' that creates problems, wanting life to be as we want it to be, not accepting all the interrelated opposites like joy, sadness, pain, pleasure etc that life offers. With relationships it means accepting all the ups and downs without judgement of each other, knowing with deeper and deeper understanding that there is no one separate, just the one Self, mirrored as two. Remembering there is no individual action just the expression of the one Source appearing as two and that there is no individual doer. All is God's action, all is God's will and all is God.
To conclude Swami Nissargadatta says: 'from my point of view everything happens by itself, quite spontaneously. But man imagines that he works for an incentive, towards a goal. He always has a reward in mind and strives for it. " He continues on to say: " When effort is needed, effort will appear. When effortlessness becomes essential, it will assert itself. You need not push life about. Just flow with it and give yourself completely to the task of the present moment, which is the dying now to the now. For living is dying. Without death life cannot be. MARIA JORY.
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