I remember listening to Alan Watts in the 70's on cassette and vinyl... This may have been made in 1960 but it is a decent recording and a lot is explained.. He never claimed to be "awakened" or "realized" and thought of himself as a "spiritual entertainer" i believe is how he termed it... Drank a lot but had a great mind (which likely drove him to drink lol ). This is 2 hours in segments. Has CC as well.
This one is new "to me" but was recorded in 1971 or so 2 or 3 years before Watts died... It's on other channels in 2 to 4 parts but here complete in 28 minutes apparently... Rare because it shows video or film of the talk and it is out in the wilds. Amazing how they picked up the audio back then without Bluetooth type technology... No overhead boom mikes in sight either.
Having had my fill of listening to Alan Watts lectures, moved on a couple of weeks ago and have been enjoying Sailor Bob... At the time this 30 minute talk was taped in 2015 Bob was 87 yrs of age and still having meetings at current age 92... Due to a combination of his Aussie accent and tendency to mumble or slur speech it is a bit of a struggle for me to make out exactly what he speaks and CC is futile for the same reason so many errors so it's not just me... If you can bend your ears to understand his articulations it is very valuable information imo... "In 1975 Bob went to India to live in the Ashram. In 1976/77 he spent 12 months with Nisargadatta Maharaj in Bombay. Since this time thousands of seekers from all over the world have come to his home in Melbourne, Australia for individual sessions and to join regular (3 times weekly) group meetings. Bob is also talks to individuals over the phone and through Skype."
The idea is that nothing as it is is nothing everything can be compared to nothing...and the man as a magician can turn things into nothing. But there will always be the soul in existence..always Sum thing! So it is to understand and honour the illusions for teaching us the meaning of reality. By their very negation can we understand the reality that they are negating.
"Remember that any achievement in this world is like writing on water, it is all transient and impermanent."
There is a lot of confusion about reincarnation and who or what returns to continue the endless journey in "maya" the dream or illusion spun by the conceptual mind thoughts and identification with the "body/mind complex"... Some half baked aspirants in neo-advaita nowhere close to Self Realization "think" there is no reincarnation for them based on teachings from those in the highest state saying there is none. They are speaking of those who have reached the Free state from body-mind complex, they have no unfulfilled desires, habits, attachments so indeed they are free from the wheel of endless births and deaths of the body-mind conceptual false self. From "I Am That" by Nisargadatta "The memory of the past unfulfilled desires traps energy, which manifests itself as a person. When its charge gets exhausted, the person dies. Unfulfilled desires are carried over into the next birth. I do not say that the same person is reborn. It dies and dies for good. But its memories remain and their desires and fears. They supply the energy for a new person. The real takes no part in it, but makes it possible by giving it the light." (381)
Short walk and talk with Sanjay who makes a lot of recordings on youtube channel "conscious circle" out of Australia. This was fall of 2020. (begs the question, how did the videographer walk backwards so steadily on a forest trail?) But of course that would be a meaningless ponderance the egoic mind would entertain... In Reality there is no trail, person or camera. It's all part of maya, the dream transient therefore unreal smoke and mirrors to "appear" as duality of form... "All that appears will disappear." The Self doesn't appear. It always was and well always BE.
Posting this for those interested in non-duality, advaita or reincarnation as some non-dualism causes confusion by saying there is no reincarnation. It isn't the "Self" or "Pure Awareness" that reincarnates in one who hasn't "Realized the Self" or their actual Absolute Being-ness (vs the conceptionalized egoic self ID which we all have thanks to programming and peer pressure). The so called "person" is nothing but a collection of concepts and experiences (the story of me or the story of you)... This is a false identity as we are not our story, job, even mind or body, including seeming successes and failures... This is from Nisargadatta's "I Am That" excerpts on reincarnation and death. A few days ago the link was taken down and i don't want to lose it but will post it below the copy/paste. At the link there are a lot more pages including from other notable gurus, some legit, others fake imo. Reincarnation, Death & Birth Thus Spake Nisargadatta Maharaj, Quotes from 'I am That' More >> index 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 It is in the nature of consciousness to survive its vehicles. It is like fire. It burns up the fuel, but not itself. Just like a fire can outlast a mountain of fuel, so does consciousness survive innumerable bodies. (327) You make yourself mortal by taking yourself to be the body. (363) You may die a hundred deaths without a break in the mental turmoil. Or you may keep your body and die only in the mind. The death of the mind is the birth of wisdom. (362) I am dead already. Physical death will make no difference in my case. I am timeless being. I am free of desire or fear, because I do not remember the past, or imagine the future. Where there are no names and shapes, how can there be desires andfear? With desirelessness comes timelessness. I am safe, because what is not cannot touch what is. You feel unsafe, because you imagine danger. Of course, your body as such is complex and vulnerable and needs protection. But not you. Once you realize your own unassailable being, you will be at peace. (260) What is birth and death but the beginning and the ending of a stream of events in consciousness? (147) [When an ordinary man dies] according to his belief it happens. As life before death is but imagination, so is life after. The dream continues. The gnani does not die because he was never born. (261) When somebody dies, nothing happens. Something becomes nothing. Nothing was, nothing remains. (91) Only the dead can die, not the living. That which is alive in you is immortal. (407) It is the changing that dies. The immutable neither lives nor dies; it is the timeless witness of life and death. You cannot call it dead, for it is aware. Nor can you call it alive, for it does not change. (433) Nothing dies. The body is just imagined. There is no such thing. (361) In reality there is no killing and no dying. The real does not die, the unreal never lived. (234) I am told I was born. I do not remember. I am told I shall die. I do not expect it. You tell me I have forgotten or I lack imagination. But I just cannot remember what never happened, nor expect the patently impossible. Bodies are born and bodies die, but what is it to me? Bodies come and go in consciousness, and consciousness itself has its roots in me. I am life, and mine are mind and body. (94) You can't help surviving! The real you is timeless and beyond birth and death. And the body will survive as long as it is needed. It is not important that it should live long. A full life is better than a long life. (315) Misery is to be born, not to die. (181) I do not look at death as a calamity, as I do not rejoyce a the birth of a child. The child is out for trouble, while the dead is out of it. Attachment to life is attachment to sorrow. We love what gives pain. Such is our nature. (418) In some cases death is the best cure. A life may be worse than death, which is but rarely an unpleasant experience, whatever the appearances. (283-4) The more you know yourself, the less you are afraid [of dying]. Of course, the agony of dying is never pleasant to look at, but the dying man is rarely conscious. (469) It [dying] needn't be so [painful and ugly]. It may be beautiful and peaceful. Once you know that death happens to the body and not to you, you just watch your body falling off like a discarded garment. Once you know that the body alone dies and not the continuity of memory and the sense of "I am" reflected in it, you are afraid no longer. (464-5) To be a living being is not the ultimate state; there is something beyond, much more wonderful, which is neither being nor non-being, neither living nor not-living. It is a state of pure awareness, beyond the limitations of space and time. Once the illusion that the body-mind is oneself is abandoned, death loses its terror, it becomes a part of living. (122) One who believes himself as having been born is very much afraid of death. On the other hand, to him who knows himself truly, death is a happy event. (383) [If I heard that you had died,] I would be very happy to have you back home. Really glad to see you out of this foolishness, of thinking that you were born and will die, that you are a body displaying a mind and all such nonsense. In my world, nobody is born and nobody dies. Some people go on a journey and come back, some never leave. What difference does it make since they travel in dreamlands, each wrapped up in his own dream. Only the waking is important. It is enough to know the "I am" as reality and also love. (182) Nothing wrong [with suicide], if it solves the problem. What if it does not? Suffering caused by extraneous factors -some painful and incurable disease, or unbearable calamity- may provide some justification, but where wisdom and compassion are lacking, suicide cannot help. A foolish death means foolishness reborn. Besides there is the question of karma to consider. Endurance is usually the wisest course. (464) Nobody can compel anothere to live. Besides, there were cultures in which suicide had its acknowledged and respected place. There is noble virtue in unshakable endurance of whatever comes, but there is also dignity in the refusal of meaningless torture and humiliation. (471) One does not become a disciple by conversion, or by accident. There is usually an ancient link, maintained through many lives and flowering as love and trust. (460) The memory of the past unfulfilled desires traps energy, which manifests itself as a person. When its charge gets exhausted, the person dies. Unfulfilled desires are carried over into the next birth. I do not say that the same person is reborn. It dies and dies for good. But its memories remain and their desires and fears. They supply the energy for a new person. The real takes no part in it, but makes it possible by giving it the light. (381) There is no compulsion [to be reborn]. You get what you want. You make your own plans and you carry them out. We grow through investigation, and to investigate we need experience. We tend to repeat what we have not understood. (465) It [death] is very much like sleep. For a time, the person is out of focus and then it returns. The person, being a creature of circumstances, necessarily changes along with them, like the flame that changes with the fuel. Only the process goes on and on, creating time and space. (469) You may believe in whatever you like [about reincarnation] and, if you act on your belief, you will get the fruits of it. But for me it has no importance. I am what I am, and this is enough for me. I have no desire to identify myself with anybody, howere illustrious. Nor do I feel the need to take myths for reality. (505) The question of resistance [to reincarnation] does not arise. What is born and reborn is not you. Let it happen, watch it happen. (469) Reincarnation implies a reincarnating self. There is no such thing. The bundle of memories and hopes, called the "I", imagines itself existing everlastingly and creates time to accomodate its false eternity. To be, I need no past or future. All experience is born of imagination; I do not imagine, so no birth or death happens to me. Only those who think themselves born can think themselves re-born . All exists in awareness, and awareness neither dies nor is re-born. It is the changeless reality itself. (262) When the body is no more, the person disappears completely without return, only the witness remains and the Great Unknown. (400) Thus spake Nisargadatta Maharaj - Quotes from 'I am That'
This may not be easy for some to grasp unless they have been studying Advaita (Non-Duality). Also he has an East Indian accent mixed with Australian and the CCs have lot's of errors. However, the background OM or AUM chanting is pleasant so with the right indica or hybrid it could be very pleasant... In a nutshell, the premise is that our sense of "free will" isn't free at all as our whole life was scripted prior to birth... On that basis we can step back from feeling like we are the "do-er"... This helps remove the ego and nothing is taken "personal" going forward... 27th May 2020: These are ongoing Satsangs on Advaitic (Non-Duality) teachings. In recent times Masters like Bhagwan Sri Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta Maharaj, others.
It is what it is and it is not what the ego (identity with "body/mind-complex") "thinks it is... Suffice to say, NONE of us are who we take ourselves to "be"... The TRUE Self has no beginning (no birth) nor ending (death).. It is non changing pure awareness, the WITNESS to the body/mind thoughts, desires, fears, actions... In Reality the True Self has done nothing, never came and therefore never leaves... It Is... (that is the teaching)
This is as refined and complete as it get's imo. It's taken from a retreat and is a guided meditation but the gaps between words are so long that some would drift into sleep. To just catch the talk you could set playback speed to 2X but that would defeat a lot of the purpose.
Quite the non-dual explanation of what "THAT", the "Force" or God if you will, is and how IT is the subtratum of all there is... On that basis there is only THE ONE and We are IT... Regardless of differences in apparent patterns, shapes and forms appearing (for awhile) as solid objects...
If you have ever given reincarnation some thought but still on the fence as to whether or not it is real. This may help convince you it is highly possible if not probable. A very well done documentary that took 30 years to make so you see some involved from small children well into adulthood. Very well done. I'm not one to sit and watch something like this from start to finish but watched it twice and would enjoy it again as the 2nd time really got much more out of it. Maybe the Tibetan Book of the Dead or other Tibetan writings are worth some read time. "Feb 11, 2022 The documentary Reincarnation-Looking for a Sign by Clemens Kuby shows the death of Jamgon Kongtrul, the search for his rebirth and how we find out whether it is he, who we lost four years earlier. With this film, life is no longer a singular phenomenon between conception and death, but a continuum on a spiritual- and soul-level. This completely takes away the horror of death. To experience this real case of reincarnation not as a feature film, but in real life, gives this unique documentary an inspiring power that amazes and ponders."
I've been reading some of his teachings and this video was brought to my attention a few days ago. It covers a lot of ground in 20 minutes. He as a chain smoker who reached the 'free state'. So he doesn't need to return to this frequency or planet but has graduated from the school of hard, egoic knocks so to speak. A simple technique, just abide in the sense of "I am". (The first 'concept' learned after incarnating.) By continually coming back to the primal sense of Being Conscious and abiding there. Eventually all the other concepts are seen as illusions of the ego and senses. The real meaning of being born again is then fulfilled. We are home basking in THAT which we have been looking for in objects, relationships, goals, achievements and everything else 'out there'... All along it has been well hidden deep within our core Being.
This Robert Saltzman ended my search and has ended it for many. The link is to a playlist on his youtube channel. It is a gathering of a few people who had read his books and wanted to ask questions and meet others who gave up 'seeking'. It addresses nonduality mostly as well as some of the gurus, all for the most part fake. Not an easy pill to swallow for some but it works very fast. He has never charged a dime for these gatherings or answering questions. Unlike the fake gurus selling their particular brand of nothingness. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxJbUy4WCgwqOe-Kb0AXTTlcAsZOvtiXb
Interesting stuff! Yes, awareness is important. One must be in the "NOW", to experience awareness. Can't be a thought junkie caught up in mind racing about the future or past. Any spiritual incoming one might receive flows in the NOW. Silence of the mind is key to awareness. This silence of the mind is the goal of much of Yoga, Zen, and Taoism among others. First one must be aware of their own thoughts and even try and slow the process down for those that have racing thoughts. In Zen one counts the breaths. A count is still a thought. Try listening to your breathing (real or imagined) to fast track silence of the mind. Now all of life is One. Just because God is a part of us doesn't make us God. The ultimate communication level with all life is love. Love is a communication beyond thoughts. One can communicate with all life in the Universe through love. It is the most powerful power in existence. Some of the Non-dualist approach seems to meld into, "I am God", stuff. Some doesn't! The Siva Sutras delineate this rather nicely. Even the Upanishads and Yoga Sutras show we are a part of everything and much of awareness and spirituality is more about self-realization (non-duality). But have to stay away from that, "I am God", stuff as nothing good can come from it. Humility and self-realization that one is everyone and all living things and one can communicate this beyond words to all life in the Universe. So when you have awareness that you are a part of all living things then new avenues of communication will open up. Also, you are not your body! You are a spiritual being that just inhabits a body for a time. The body is temporal and fleeting yet your spiritual essence is eternal. Even reincarnation is in the Bible. Jesus said John the Baptist was Elijah. When I mention that to some Christians they say he was Elijah in the spirit. I tell them it's the same thing.....different body...same spirit. Here is a technique to get in touch with your love (as many have it but bury it and even deny it yet they have compassion and empathy for strangers).....Since you are a part of everyone around you then look into the eyes of those around you and seek out yourself (in their eyes) through love. When you can see yourself in all life you come in contact with then the real journey begins.