Sushi: Why do awakened people become reclusive and cautious of others even when they know that the same energy runs through all? How do different people get different thoughts even if the vast pool of consciousness is one? Or is it that all thoughts are random and we are goaded to pick them as per our programming or conditioning?
Jagjot: I was in Kashmir for the last four days where I met a Sage/mystic and we had interesting conversations on the nature of life and living.
It is true that most awakened people remain reclusive, but it’s not got anything to do with “others.” They may not become teachers, but from what I’ve seen, they share wisdom in some way or the other. That said, they are never concerned about awakening others because deep down they know that that’s doership.
An awakened person will never claim to have the power to awaken others. Awakening happens as per the Will of the source.
One more reason why they remain reclusive is that they are highly intuitive and sensitive to other people’s energies. Awakened people get to know when people claiming to be seekers are unwilling to let go of their identifications. They can sense that resistance. And hence, they allow that to happen instead of forcing their opinions on others.
They are not popular or seeking fame. They like to rest in the wakefulness or awareness.
Now the thing to note is that the awakening does not end duality. Even after awakening the Sage still remains bound to body, mind, and life. Sage even experiences the pain. But there’s no suffering because there’s a “deep knowing” that behind appearances is the same consciousness running through all.
So even after the awakening, the sage is not free from the emotional charge of daily living, but the intensity of the charge is not as much because it happens in the background in spiritual understanding – “I am not the doer.”
Awakening may even heighten the senses or intuitive capabilities of the individual, but the being living in duality cannot break the laws of nature.
The thoughts may manifest (randomly) in different ways but the underlying structure of all thinking is the same. If you notice carefully, we all have the same problems. “Why am I suffering?; Why things are not working for me?; Why is there so much violence in the world?; Why are people unkind to me? Why am I not like this or that?; Why ME?” You see.
The thought originates from the source and goes back to the same. The ego taking ownership of the thought suffers as thinking in horizontal time. If you were indeed the thought, you would never know it as an object of your experience.
Even Carl Jung said that there’s a pool of collective unconscious that we all share. It forms the blueprint of what he called the archetypes – shadow, persona, anima, animus, etc. However, even the collective unconscious comes from the source.
Our perception of objects may differ depending on the conditioning, but the witnessing presence is always the same. For example, when you and I look at a flower, you may find it attractive and I may not. But before the mind takes over and creates a personal perception, the “flowerness” or “isness” or essence of the object is the same.
The presence does not discriminate because it is not bound to the mind. The mind is an appearance in the presence. Does it make sense?
The individual judge’s things and events based on conditioning. Even the Sage is not free from conditioning but for him or her the essence behind what is perceived as “happening” is the same. The Sage recognizes duality for what it is. He/she completely accepts that pleasure and pain are interconnected opposites in phenomenality. And the acceptance of “What-Is” is NOT indifference.
Simply being in the presence (in silence) of an awakened being without uttering a single word can bring tremendous relief. Just like in the case of the Sage I met in Kashmir. I felt his presence. After a little bit of talking, we were just sitting silently and I felt a surge of energy throughout my whole body.
Every time he looked into my eyes, it felt like a transmission was happening. It destroyed something, and I felt a lot of peace. I was ONE with him.
The moment I looked into his eyes I knew this was an awakened human being. Usually, when I look into people’s eyes they feel uncomfortable and look elsewhere. They probably feel I’m staring and get scared. Eyes convey much more than words.
When my eyes were locked into his there was a sense of complete safety and comfort. While the talk was the usual stuff, it was in silence that alignment happened. I can still feel his presence.
The energetic alignment happens on its own when the “two” are fully receptive in close proximity. On alignment “two” becomes “one.” Nothing needs to be done by anyone. It is extremely effortless. The mind goes blank. I have experienced this before and it brought great peace.
I can’t even imagine what it would have been like to sit in the presence of Bhagwan.
