O Processo Espiritual

`Nature of so-called reality So let's talk about the nature of reality. The illusory world, which has turned as an illusion for the seeker of Truth, not because it has a problem in itself, but because it's not reality, it's not real. But this understanding of what comprises this illusory world has to be a little bit more clarified. This illusory world is not just what is called the physical world, it is what is called the astral world, mental world, causal world, whatever, whatever worlds, in whatever form, from the most grossest to the more subtlest. It's the whole package which is an illusion. To some there's this idea: "when the body dies Truth is discovered", so that these next planes of existence, these astral planes for example, that these will be the Truth. And it is the same. It is the same. There's only one game being played, and that is to know who you are. Nothing else. And the game continues until you know who you are. Before that, it's just episodes after episodes after episodes. Changing circumstances, changing day after day, life after life, and in what is called the between-lives (whatever that means). Experience for the individual doesn't stop until Identity is realized, it just changes circumstances. So the death of the body is just like letting go off an old rag: you take your shirt off, let it go to the ground. What has changed? Nothing.

In circumstances there's always change. In the form there's always change. In the content, it doesn't change. Keep this in mind: everything which can be perceived is part of this world of illusion. So what is the nature of what I'm calling illusion and what's called reality? You have this clarification available on a daily basis, more or less on a nightly basis (whatever that means), in dreams. Dreams are very clarifying if you're a seeker of Truth. If you're a seeker of well-being, that's a different story. So let's see: the seeker of well-being, as his motivations are worldly even if he is spiritual (whatever this means), he will look at dreams and he will look for signs and messages that help him to improve, to understand that which he sees as real, the world with worldly investments, with worldly goals of worldly happiness. So he looks at dreams and tries to get messages to know what's going to happen next, how to improve these things, what kind of signs are available for me to fulfill my dreams or nightmares... But whatever, that was already spoken. The seeker of Truth looks at it in a very different way, opposite way. He has seen that this apparent world, from his intimate space of perception, is always compelling him to act. It's like slavery. He doesn't want to act, but he's compelled, he's forced, he's bullied even to act, to give importance. He looks at the dream and sees the same mechanism present there. What's the difference of what is called dream and what is called reality? For the seeker of well-being that looks at the form some differences are there. For the seeker of Truth, no difference. Absolutely no difference. You may do crazy things in a dream, a lot of things -- flying and whatever -- but he believes it is real. As he's in the dream, he has the same belief in what he calls a dream -- after he is awaken, of course (whatever that means) -- as he believes as he is in what he calls reality, the real world. Sometimes he has a body, and sometimes he doesn't have a body in the dream, or in what he is calling a dream. But he's not questioning that. And if he has a body the belief that "I am this, this is my body" is still there. The same as it was previously in what he calls reality. Whatever is there happening he will engage, as he engages in what he calls reality, not questioning that. There were not previous intentions in that dream, he just appeared there and he engaged, without questioning what is happening, as it is in what he deems as reality. He dreams with family also, he has relationships in his dream, he has family, loved ones there. Where did they come from? As he stands in the middle of these two scenarios, he starts looking at both in the same way. All these loved ones, all these relationships (sons, daughters, beloveds) just appeared out of nothing. A big world, as the one you call reality, gets birth just like this, at a snap of a finger. As the eyes close, you disappear from one world and you appear in another one, just like that. And disappears just like that. There's the perception of logic in what is called reality. But does that really make a difference? Because in what you call a dream, sometimes there's no sense of logic even in what is happening. Still, you're compelled to act. The body acts and you experience the same fears, the same hopes, the same sufferings that you experience in what you call reality. Because as in what you call reality -- you call reality because you believe it is real -- when you're in what you call a dream, it's still reality for you.

It's always reality where you're standing, and you believe it to be real. The dreams are so crazy (whatever that means), they change so much, they put you in so many different situations, for you to understand: "look, you're giving importance to this". Then when you wake up you understood that "wow, I was suffering and it wasn't real!!" When you wake up... For example, some of you have experienced like a nightmare and you wake up scared, anxious and very agitated, but then it starts going away with the clear notion, the clear taste that it was a dream or it wasn't real. It's just a transference, but you have this clear perception of what you've experienced. It was superimposed, you don't know how this started and why it ended. There was no place where someone put the lights on, prepared the audience, so the show will begin. There was no point where everything ended, and it stopped. It just started in the middle of something, whatever, and it ended without any resolutions. This gives you a notion of purpose. You're waiting for purpose, for something to get accomplished in what you call reality. And also you have appeared in the middle of the world which seems to have a history behind, and seems to have a future ahead. And it does, as the dream does. It doesn't matter to going into theories about things. What's at your reach, your perception, this is the important one. If you're a seeker of Truth and you have already conquered a level of Silence, of Stillness, you'll be able to sit in the middle of these two images: the world that seems real and what you can call a dream. If you had memories in the dream of what you call reality, you would call it a dream again. Because wherever you're standing, it seems always real, but it isn't. When the dream came, what you call reality also disappeared. Puff... And when the dream disappeared, what you call reality appeared again. With your loved ones, if you knew... By knowing that you are going to have a dream, would you go to the dream again? Would you prepare yourself in the dream to have a college degree, to have a career, to build a family, if you knew it was a dream? "So I will study here, in what I call reality, then when I arrive to the dream I'll apply to a job and I'll look for a girl or a man to have a family and I'll do all these lah-lah-lahs..." Of course not!! When you have a problem in the dream and then -- you think you wake up, but OK -- you wake up, are you going to try to solve the problem you were having in the dream? No, you'll dismiss it because it's not real.

And this is the highest understanding about reality. Not for everybody yet. Yet. It's not such a long walk, depending on your determination, on your focus. Distraction in there, but clarification is also there -- depends on what you're looking for. The more crazy the dreams are, the more clarifying they are in the mechanics of what you call reality, how you get impelled to act. Even those who experience a dream where they know they are dreaming they don't question: "if this is a dream, then what is reality?" and they still flow with it. There are some plays that you can do in a dream, when you become more aware, to test: "so this is a dream, so I'll do this and this, which I would never do if it wasn't" for example or other tests. This is possible to a certain extent. Or for the seeker of Truth, for him to understand certain things, as it is in what he calls reality. But this is not the ceiling yet. Because in the end of the day, nothing of this matters. So the dream is quite revealing. Quite revealing if you're looking for Liberation. And it can be quite entertaining if you're looking to sustain, maintain and improve illusion. It depends on you. It is always about you. Not about the paths, not about techniques, not about understandings. (It's) about motivations, real motivations. Eventually you'll see that there's no difference, absolutely no difference, from what you call a dream or from what you call reality. They are both the same: unreal. They appear out of nowhere and disappear out of nowhere, in a flash.

How many millions of years did that world that you experience as a dream took to come into existence? Which big bang originated that world that you experience in a dream? What was the catastrophe that destroyed that world when the dream ended? What happened to your loved ones in the dream? Did they suffer intensely? You don't care, because it is a dream. When you didn't know it was a dream, you cared, it was important. By knowing it is a dream, caring disappears. Not yet... It shifts to what you call reality now. But the are the same in nature. One is revealing the other, for you to understand that this is like just appearing in a screen, because you are there. All these things are distracting your attention from yourself, from who you are, by making you believe, just creating mental beliefs to counter other mental beliefs. It makes no difference (to believe) "I am not the body!!" You will have to see that you're not the body. You have to earn your Freedom. In the game, in the illusion, yes of course. If you're falling down (whatever that means), being compelled through bodily needs, through emotional needs, through mental needs, then you have to earn your Freedom. Understanding it is an illusion is the first step. Then you have to stand by what you know. And as you are compelled, being pushed towards something, you have to affirm Stillness. We will go to this in another subject, which is Silence and restlessness. Look at what you call a dream. When you're there you believe it is real, you believe that is your body, a new body, that mind is your mind, having something in there or no recollections of what previously (happened). It doesn't make any difference to you, logic doesn't apply.

You will take whatever comes as natural and normal, whatever it is. You may even question a little bit but you will comply and continue, forgetting about questionings. You'll suffer, you'll love, you'll be happy, you'll be afraid -- all the same things, same things -- you'll get expectations (too)... If you had time, more time, you would build up a life with more long term expectations. If you had the time... then it would be... Well, it wouldn't be there to clarify. So it's short, sometimes very intense, always clarifying you. Look at one, look at the other, on the core of it. Your beliefs about reality are the same. And both are dreams, making you believe things. When you're saying: "oh, do I have to abandon the world, do I have to abandon the loved ones?" Look. Look the loved ones in the dream. Do you think about them? You have abandoned them so many times. Do you think about them? Is there anyone for you to abandon? Is there anything to be abandoned? What is abandoning, does it exist? Do you exist like that? Like I said, you'll need a certain amount of Freedom to be able to question that, or else it's just like questioning "do I need oxygen?". So stop breathing and you will see. If you don't have a certain level of Freedom to be able to conquer this, if you have still too much dependencies, what can you question? Just blah-blah-blah... But if you are sincere and you don't have the conditions to question yet, keep it in mind: start walking from where you're standing, but don't forget about this. OK. Send your questions to Sriman Narayana`