The Pathless Path - You are Free Now!

Spirituality
#1

The pathless path, is not a path. It’s the complete understanding of life which includes all paths…

Paths are being walked, but there is none to do the walking. Journeys unfold themselves before our very eyes, but there is no individual doer doing any of what appears.

[I]“Deeds are done, events happen, but there is no doer in any of them”[/I] - Gautama Buddha

Perception is pure and present since the beginning-less beginning. Everything that is perceived - and only [U][I]everything[/I][/U] - is void of independent identity or individuality of any kind.

Ask yourself: [I]“Is the path that I believe I am walking right now, perceived somehow? - Can it be said to be contained by perception?”[/I]

If so, then it must be clear that what you call ‘your path’ can only be said to be a perception of awareness, is it not so? We can resist this acknowledgment or even be offended by it, but in the end what we call ‘our path’ can only be said to exist as a perception within your natural view of life. The sooner we accept this in our direct experience, the less we will delude ourselves and perpetuate our suffering.

Are you a true seeker of truth or simply seeking because you enjoy all the forms of attention this spiritual life brings you? Are you willing to burst your own bubble and wake up, or are you comfortable perpetuating your mirage?

  • If you are a true seeker of truth, you must be willing to put aside all ideas you might be having about life; you must be willing to face the reality of what’s here.

So saying that there is no one walking any path, what does this imply, then? Must we stop the activities and events that continue to unfold themselves through the body/mind organism? Must we stop walking ‘our path’?

Why would we? That would only indicate we still identify ourselves as being a walker of our path. When we really see that there’s just awareness perceiving whatever naturally comes and goes, we understand that no change is needed for us to realize everything we are searching for: freedom.

[U]A New Approach:[/U]

Instead of applying new antidotes, new changes, allow all to unfold as it will and allow all doing and personalization to happen naturally and spontaneously. Even allow what you might label as ego, to arise and dissolve per situation. [B]

However:[/B] consistently return to this firm knowing - this recognition - that every single moment is naturally being perceived by that constant background awareness that does not need your effort in order to be present. Whether you try hard to be aware or whether you are completely oblivious to life, Background Awareness perceives both these states of mind. It’s simply always here.

It’s this awareness that perceives the dynamic display we call ‘life’ within its own presence, in which 7 billion paths unfold themselves. The mistake is to believe one is the body/mind organism walking the path.

Simply give all searching a rest, and realize that what you are searching for, is that which you are searching [I]from[/I]. Please repeat the former sentence to yourself and notice the natural presence that’s seemingly doing the searching…

[U]The Trickiness of ‘a path’:[/U]

We are looking for peace, freedom, enlightenment and at some point we believe it looks like a certain path or discipline. Hence we embark upon a journey including great heights and great lows.

Continuous insights keep us motivated, but sooner or later we will have to stop and see how after every exciting insight or experience we gain about ourselves through walking a path of effort and achievement, we always end up where we were before. Maybe with slightly different beliefs or ideas about ourselves, but you will have to agree that no insight, not even the greatest most blissful ones and not even the experiences of samadhi have lasted forever. And as long as something is not accessible and present at all times, it isn’t wholly fulfilling your desire for wholeness.

To discover that what we are [I]truly[/I] looking for cannot be captured by any sort of experience or insight we will gain in the future, but is instead a continuity that has always already been present - we have just been overlooking it - is a great relief in itself.

[U]Abide as you are:[/U]

To see that what we are looking for, is found to be present in what’s ‘doing’ the looking is an amazing relief! It makes liberation readily accessible at all times.

You can start to simply abide as the looking that you are. Simply recognize that a natural looking is present right now… It doesn’t matter [I]what[/I] you perceive, just notice [I]that[/I] you perceive. And then repeat this recognition again and again until it becomes automatic and you fully trust in being the awareness that you are, no longer needing to change the perceptions to find yourself. Enlightenment really is this simple and straightforward. It requires a resolve, a commitment, yes, but it’s simple and straightforward. No confusing winding roads are necessary. You are here and you know that you are, this is enough.

Seeing how the very fact that we are [I]naturally perceiving[/I] whether we have thoughts or no thoughts, is to be able to cut through all misconceptions about ourselves as individual doers and walkers of paths. All fighting with ourselves and others stops here. Peace and true love become evident spontaneously. Not as a doing, but as the nature of reality.

Knowing that the ultimate way of being human (enlightenment) that we are looking for through striving on this path is already contained in what’s naturally looking through your eyes right now, hearing through your ears right now and feeling through your body right now, we can finally let go of our sense of personal doership and effort and return again and again to [B]rest as we are[/B] and abide in knowing the natural view is already looking at our perception of ‘our life’ and ‘our path’ from beginning to end, whether we struggle with everything or not. Things will happen anyway, whether you believe in the sensation that a YOU is doing it, or whether you relax into the open awareness that perceives it all with joy and care. I recommend the second option!

Walking a path, as a doer, therefore is an endless job, stopping only when we realize what is said above. There is nothing to achieve, no point to get to, all of that is our own make-belief. -What you are looking for has already been present your entire life.

[B]Be free now[/B] by changing your habit of rearranging every element and perception of your life, into a new ‘habit’: That of recognizing that awareness is naturally present as that which perceives every moment continuously. Make it a habit to return to this recognition again and again, in which you stop seeking for any solution for just a second and recognize the natural presence of what’s looking… again and again and again until this recognition takes on a life of it’s own and becomes your second nature.

Once the recognition of the presence of awareness has become fluid and natural by consistent repetition whenever you are naturally reminded to do so, all your dreams are fulfilled by them no longer needing to be fulfilled!

-Fulfillment is then realized to be your very nature.

Much love,
Bentinho.

#2

Yoga develops awareness of what is taking place in the moment. It allows you to perceive thoughts at their early stages, before they have acquired any real emotional power.

Thanks for the post

#3

Thank you for sharing!

I see how the conventional approach to freedom, as suggested by many paths, seems like a very logical, results-based system. Something solid one can ‘follow.’

However, in my experience, the truly satisfying result of knowing the real nature of who I am, has very little to do with [I]developing[/I] awareness. That’s why what ‘I’ say may sound much less logical and less accessible to the conventional way of thinking, but it is definitely worth to consider, if I may say so.

You see, the awareness which we think we are developing through yoga or any other spiritual exercise: what is prior to that? what is more basic than that?

Suppose that we achieve what we believe yoga will make us achieve, then at that point of let’s say enlightenment, are we suddenly something we were not yet before? Do we [I]create[/I] our true self? Do we really develop it?

The awareness that seems to develop itself, is the dynamic aspect of pure awareness. We could call the dynamic counterpart of pure awareness (which is actually one and the same with pure awareness) consciousness or attention: it moves, changes, sees differences, states to reach, practices to follow, etc.

But what we are has very little to do with that, because what is real about ourselves simply has to be here already. It cannot be something that we create at some point in the future, for if that would be the case, it would not be truly what we are. What we truly are should be what we truly are [I]always[/I], or else it is simply not what we truly are. Would you agree?

So instead of developing awareness in the conventional sense, I encourage anyone to see what’s already present as awareness. We keep overlooking the simplicity and obviousness of our own presence by searching for some ultimate state to reach, or to be in a state free of emotional charge. It’s a journey that, and I can guarantee you this, will never have a satisfying ending.

  • What is it right now that knows and sees everything as it occurs? What is it that sees even the change or development of awareness? What is it that is able to perceive both undeveloped awareness, or flawed attention, and developed awareness as well as the change from going to one to the other? If we can speak about change, then surely there is something right now, looking through us, which in itself is changeless. If it wasn’t, it would not perceive the changes and compare them later on.

That which perceives everything already, is our stable, ordinary, ‘everyday life’-awareness. That within which our every moment unfold itself as the perceptions of life, is right here, right now, looking through your eyes. If it knows both undeveloped awareness as a perception as well as enlightened awareness once we believe to have attained it, then this which perceives both must in itself be the ultimate, underlying ground of being! And we can simply recognize it now, without having to reach or develop anything :). That’s the beauty of it and that’s what we keep missing. We believe freedom is so difficult, arduous, while in fact there is nothing more simple than what we are.

The experience we label Enlightenment, then, is simply another perception arising as a coming and going point in time, as a passing experience within the natural view which already, always is. This makes even our quest for enlightenment unimportant when compared to the ‘quest’ of us consistently recognizing what’s already aware right now.

Whether we believe we are developed or undeveloped, emotionally charged, or free from emotional charge: there is something which supersedes all states of mind, all labels and descriptions. And that very natural, effortless awareness, is already the case, unaffected even by the perception we call ‘developing awareness/attention’!

Much Love and gratitude,
Bentinho.

#4

hi folks,

If you haven’t read this speech, I think you will find it very interesting. It’s not very long and is very much to the point of this topic.

Truth Is A Pathless Land - J. Krishnamurti …my hero.
[I]
[/I][I]“I maintain that Truth is a pathless land, and you cannot approach it by any path whatsoever, by any religion, by any sect.”[/I] - J. Krishnamurti -

peace,
siva

#5

Yes great interview Siva, thank you for sharing. Very on-topic indeed!

Much Love,
Bentinho.

#6

Hi Bentinho, I read your post on love, asked you a question, but you haven't answered yet? Are you a Vegetarian? Here you talk about enlightenment as if you are already 'there', as if you actually have enlightenment. Maybe you have, I don't know. But unless you have, trying to explain it to us is quite pointless, isn't it? I definitely know I'm not enlightened, but at least I'm honest, and I don't talk about love, I put it into action by refusing to be part of animal slaughter, torture and abuse.

Elisabeth
my first website: Beware of false gurus!!
http://sites.google.com/site/falseguru

#7

Bentinho, sorry, I just read your answer in the 'love' post! Will reply there.

Elisabeth

http://sites.google.com/site/falseguru

#8


The Pathless Path

#9

Hello Bentinho,

First, thanks for a very well written, inspiring piece of writing.
Second - let me say that you are absolutely right in what you say. We are already that which we are searching for.
But - for most people there IS work to be done to come to the point at which they are ready to
a) begin searching
b) release certain ancestral blockages to pure awareness - this includeds health problems
c) let go of the idea of ‘doing’ and start practicing the method of ‘being’ which you recommend.

So, although I agree with everything you say, and have found it to be true from experience, I also know that evolution is not such a simple process (although it can be a LOT simpler than most people think!

With love
Ben

#10

Yoga is the science of life. Path I guess is kinda cliche - I like the word “approach” better.

Millions of billions of beings all with differnent temperments, natures, dispositions, while yes, essentially, we are all of “One Taste” the approaches are for the natures, dispositions, and different temperments. How marvelous!

#11

It is so powerful message–freedom is Now.
then will we still seek our soul purpose and missions? guess not

#12

Bentinho,

I am familiar with your sit and do nothing approach which you have been advertising as Free Awareness. If you want to advertise for your non-profit organization, this is not a good place to do it. The yogic sciences have always emphasized effort along the path, to come to know oneself, through and through. This attitude of simply being alert in the moment - has nothing to do with enlightenment. At the most, you can call this mindfulness, the capacity to be aware in the moment. But it has nothing at all to do with seeing directly into your original nature, and the transformation that happens out of discovering your Buddhahood. I have said this before, but you are speaking largely out of borrowed knowledge - without any direct experience whatsoever, and making profit during the process out of other peoples ignorance. If you had any concern at all for all of this talk about liberation, you would stop teaching, organizing satsangs, creating videos, and spend more time involved in your own inner work. But that is just a reflection of the half-hearted approach to the spiritual of the West - everybody wants a quick fix for all of their problems, and there are enough so called teachers in the marketplace who have been re-enforcing this childish idea - that as you are, you are just fine, no effort is needed, nothing is needed, and you are already enlightened. Yet, peoples sufferings have continued as usual. Such ideas may be consoling to the ego, it may make profit for you in the marketplace - but it is of very little relevance as far as the inner path towards awakening is concerned. As far as awakening is concerned, only those who are willing to loose their very life ever come to a taste of eternal life.

#13

[QUOTE=AmirMourad;71252]Bentinho,

I am familiar with your sit and do nothing approach which you have been advertising as Free Awareness…[/QUOTE]

One wonders why a two year old post was resurrected for comment. Cleaning up loose ends?

#14

I’ve found that the more I’ve let go of the thought patterns that limit me, the more I’ve been able to live according to my true self. Some of this process was challenging, but well worth while.

I’ve found that tuning into my beingness now is different than how doing so was years ago because fewer unwanted thought patterns are now limiting me. I still have some unwanted thought patterns to deal with.

#15

[QUOTE=Albert Haust;72352]I’ve found that the more I’ve let go of the thought patterns that limit me, the more I’ve been able to live according to my true self. Some of this process was challenging, but well worth while.

I’ve found that tuning into my beingness now is different than how doing so was years ago because fewer unwanted thought patterns are now limiting me. I still have some unwanted thought patterns to deal with.[/QUOTE]

Perhaps the most limiting thought patterns wonder in the past and project into the future.

#16

[QUOTE=ray_killeen;71255]One wonders why a two year old post was resurrected for comment. Cleaning up loose ends?[/QUOTE]

Perhaps it took him two years to come with a good response.

#17

I have said this before, but you are speaking largely out of borrowed knowledge - without any direct experience whatsoever, and making profit during the process out of other peoples ignorance. If you had any concern at all for all of this talk about liberation, you would stop teaching, organizing satsangs, creating videos, and spend more time involved in your own inner work.

Amir, the original poster has long gone. Still, I had to quote this, because isn’t this exactly what you are doing as well? lol

Why did you comment to this 2 year old thread? Did you actively search through the forum and find somebody else claiming to be a teacher as well, obviously this forum is not big enough for two enlightened masters :wink:

#18

Yes, until you deal with them. I used to be afraid of unfriendly spirits. Dealing with this fear helped me clear a major heart chakra block.

[QUOTE=ray_killeen;72368]Perhaps the most limiting thought patterns wonder in the past and project into the future.[/QUOTE]

#19

Well, yes. The lack of path is a path, too.

#20

[QUOTE=Albert Haust;72380]Yes, until you deal with them. I used to be afraid of unfriendly spirits. Dealing with this fear helped me clear a major heart chakra block.[/QUOTE]

Drop fear altogether, dwell on nothing.