Excerpts from "Outbreak of Peace"
Preface:
Outbreak of Peace is based on the Satsangs of Isaac Shapiro that took place in Amsterdam during 1996.
Satsang is a meeting with Truth, which is always here and is usually overlooked. We can watch a bird flying in the sky, but when asked "What do you see?", people say "A bird." The sky itself is overlooked. The bird comes and goes, the sky remains. It may be cloudy or sunny, the sky is always there. In Satsang Isaac points to the emptiness in which everything appears, which is always here. .......
In Satsang with Isaac everything can come up and go, jealousy, anger, fear and love, the fire of hell as well as the light of heaven. Deeper than this you are. In this recognition there are laughter, tears and wondrous silences. Satsang is not about getting anything or about getting anywhere. To get you need something and someone to get it. In Satsang one can see that there are no two, there's only one. Deeper than intimacy, higher than the sun.
However wild the storm, however rough the shores of existence, the ocean of Awareness contains it. We are it all the time and it is everywhere. There is no hiding place from the Source of all creation.
Isaac responds to every question, being Awareness itself, Truth shining without a shadow of compromise. This love transcends all space and time. Satsang is a hot fire and the diamond is shining.
What a joy it is to have these beautiful dialogues with Isaac. They are natural, and yet completely revolutionary. It's an overflowing of Truth and it is here with us. We are invited to Satsang, a meeting with our own Self. Yes, we are one. Yes, Love is pulling. Such eternal beauty is here. Welcome to this outbreak of Peace. Let it have you!
Dick Sinnige
September, 1997
Isaac: Namaskar, welcome to Satsang
Please feel free to ask any questions and speak about any new outbreaks of freedom.
Question: Do you meditate and what do you feel about meditation?
There are so many techniques that people call meditation. Ultimately, when you are doing some activity to get somewhere, even if it is to get silent, you are missing what is already here, because you are trying to get somewhere else. Truth is already here. The only moment you can know Truth is now.
If you are making any effort, this will take you out of now and reinforce the sense of I. It will take you somewhere else. It will make a subtle game of different experiences and the evaluation of these experiences. When you are ready to end all of this , you come to Now, to this instant. Don't evaluate or compare. Don't intend anything or try to get anywhere . Truth must be already here. You can have many experiences by doing different techniques, but these experiences won't help you.
When you say, "I'm going to meditate for half an hour," you have already tied your mind outside meditation before you have started, because you are actually saying, " After half an hour I am not going to meditate anymore". To be in this instant is meditation! You are always Here. Simply be with your direct experience of who you are, which is for 24 hours and is always Now. You cannot be who you are for only half an hour. To be who you are is real meditation. In meditation there is no sense of separation. Like the river, it came from the ocean and when it returns to that, it becomes ocean itself. When the attention comes back to its source, all sense of giving attention to anything disappears together with the sense of a personal "I" and only Beingness remains.
So at that moment Consciousness is face to face with Itself.
Not even face to face with itself. There is only Consciousness.
So meditation is happening in that emptiness. Then whatever I am doing, it doesn't matter. There is emptiness and that which arises in emptiness.
This is true meditation; this is true understanding.
So there's no searching for any objects, any experiences. Because everything is appearing in me and I'm not looking for what is appearing in me. I'm only looking for the discovery of myself. Then maybe there is one moment of luck in my life, in which That reveals itself.
Every moment in this moment. Even the idea of the moment appearing is just an idea, because this is appearing in Consciousness itself. Consciousness is already here, even when there are thoughts or objects. So to try and hold on to some idea of everything disappearing, makes the idea more important than the Now. Then there is some waiting, some effort to get somewhere, to have something happening. Consciousness is here, you are That.
This feeling of I that arises, is natural to this body-mind. This ability to focus is necessary for this body-mind to function. Normally people are attached to this functioning of I. They believe it to be themselves. You can see that this has to happen for this body-mind to function. This is not You. It is merely an activity that is arising in something much more subtle, absolutely vast. boundless.
Then there is willingness to let this I function and not to be associated with it. It seems personal, but it's not. It's simply a functioning of this body-mind: it has nothing to do with You. This body you had no choice about. So you are not responsible for the actions and reactions of this personality, which is here by itself.
Do you live constantly in that vision or viewpoint?
I say, look at your direct experience of who you are. Is this a viewpoint or is this direct experience? Now you speak of your direct experience. Who are you? Not some idea in your mind. The concept of constantly comes in your mind and this is an evaluation and a doubt about you own state. If you pick up this doubt, then you're worshipping doubt. See it as only a thought. Stay with your direct experience of who you are.
~~
I understand that enlightenment is something very sudden and very big. Now I feel it's like an understanding gradually happens.
What we call enlightenment is only an idea. The mind works with standards: good, bad, right, wrong, this is enlightenment, this is not enlightenment. This is the way the mind functions. Remove mind, remove any thought, and what is left? Just Here Now! A natural state, an innocent state. No idea, no reference points, no relationships. When someone has some relationship they can call this enlightenment. When you don't have any relationship, you can't call it anything. Anyone that says, "I am enlightened" is lying, because no person or personal state is involved.
Then what's this whole experience of golden lights and flaming skies?
This can happen if you take enough drugs or with certain breathing exercises or if you push on the eyes very hard. (laughter) You don't have to run after any experience! Really, just keep quiet.
There is much misunderstanding about this whole concept.
There are so many ideas. The only moment you can know Truth is now. This instant. You tell me what's Here, in between thoughts?
Being.
What else is needed?
Only practical things to function.
Practical things to function - that happens by itself. Nobody is interested in just Being itself. Everybody is interested in some far out experience. They don't examine what's Here, something rare and beautiful happens. You start to notice that by being Here, some subtle things are happening. When you are just willing to leave everything, including these subtle experiences, Truth shines!
~~
Every day I prayed to God. It felt good, but the last two weeks it didn't happen. I didn't pray to God. I'm confused about it.
In our society, there's this way of functioning that produces separation. We feel separate from each other, from God. This is called duality or split mind. In this split mind, we don't feel at home. We feel lost, so we pray to God. We ask God for help and when we're praying to God we feel good, because now we are opening ourselves to what we think is divinity. But that continues this activity of asking God for something. It keeps us wanting something. It feels good, but it also keeps us in duality. It is very much part of our conditioning. We are brought up with institutionalized religion.
I was not raised with it.
It was in the culture whether you grew up with it or not. At some point you start to look a little deeper. In the looking you see that whatever manifests, whatever object is there, must come from somewhere. Every object owes its existence to the subject, every object, even the ides of God. Now we come to the subject itself, That from which every idea arises. Once there is duality, there is some sense of needing something, or wanting something, or being vulnerable, or being scared.
So we have to come to the subject from where all of this is rising, the whole universe, the idea of God, everything, every experience. This we have to find in this lifetime. Once this is tasted, naturally many habits and activities start to drop away. It can feel uncomfortable when you had some comfort from these activities.
It feels very uncomfortable.
You think you are being disloyal to the God or this Guru. Then you start to look. What is this? Who is aware of this?
But what do I do with all these questions in my mind? What is this that we call God?
We don't have a word for the Source. This Source from where everything rises. We call it God and because most people don't have the direct experience of the Source, it's objectified and conceptualized and made into some thing.
But now I have nothing. I was happy I had God.
Now enter this nothing and see where God originates from. See the Source of the personalized God. This is God itself. Only through incorrect understanding it is made into something.
Make an experiment and look beyond the mind. Do you see any God? Who do you need to pray to Here? This God that you're speaking of and praying to, is a fabrication of mind.
I have the thought that God is an object so I should stop thinking about God, but then I'm not happy.
Then you're only thinking that you've stopped thinking about God. If you just stop, then what's your experience? Now stop and from Here you speak. Don't move the mind. Just Here, This instant, this microsecond. What's your experience?
A lot of light in my head.
Any unhappiness?
No.
What do you feel in your heart?
Peace.
Peace. So lovely.
~~
What is the purpose of meditation? What is it actually doing? Because I did it a lot and there was much clarity sometimes.
What most people call meditation is concentration. You concentrate either on the breath, a mantra, a certain part of your body or on your Guru's face. There are many different meditations. When you concentrate, the mind doesn't move. When the mind doesn't move, there's an experience that is called 'Samadhi'. If this becomes very intense and direct, you can experience 'Nirvikalpa Samadhi', in which there are no thoughts for hours or weeks. And if you really focus, you can do it for years.
There was a yogi who was very focused and he could stop his mind. The king heard about this and said, "Someone that can stop his mind for one week, I'll give him the best horse in the kingdom." This yogi was very proud of his accomplishments. He came, he sat quietly and went into Samadhi. One week passed, one month passed, on year passed, ten years passed. Finally he came out of Samadhi. He said, "Where is my horse?" - The horse had become very old. (laughter)
What we are speaking about here is actually called 'Sahaja Samadhi', which is called the natural state. This means the end of the mind, not just stopping the mind. If you stop the mind, the moment you quit the mind stopping technique, the mind will start again. What we are speaking about here, is 'Atman Vichara', inquiring into the source of the mind. That which is aware of the mind, is called 'Atman'. This is not an object. When you're used to focusing on an object, you can bring your mind to one object with a lot of willpower and keep it there. And there's some health benefit in that, they proved that in 'TM'. But it is not the end of the search. For the end of the search, you have to see, who is aware of the searching activity. Who is aware of the mind. The natural state is, simply to see who you are and stay with This!
I remember that Nisargadatta also refers to meditation. That he also did it himself.
He was only looking to see who he was. His Guru told him, "Find out who you are." And that's what he stayed with. This is called 'Vichara', which is inquiry. No matter what comes, you ask, "Who's aware of it?" "I am." Then, "Who am I?" When you're around someone whose mind is quiet, he can point you very quickly to This. You experience Yourself and this is the greatest luck.
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