Question 46: Oliver, my Indian guru says: Europeans and Americans are inherently greedy... they are hunting for prey. Who is not first directly taught of VEDA (KNOWLEDGE) does not understand Advaita Vedanta. Incidentally, my guru of ancient Vedic tradition reacts very irritated when someone says: "There is nobody." What do you say about this?
Oliver: I can empathize your guru very well. He was brought up (maybe even drilled?) in his old tradition for many years and then suddenly the ignorant Westerners come (the greedy imperialists who once occupied India...) and dilute his tradition which is important to him by abusing (holy?) Sanskrit words.
The main problem is probably that in the West there aren't yet any suitable alternative terms for this kind of "teaching the truth". If you're in a bookstore or in the internet you will find Tony Parsons and Co. under the topic or the search term of "satsang" or "advaita." That's the ONLY reason why this website is called Satsang. Otherwise you and many other seekers probably would never have found it in the vast internet.
To the concept "There is nobody": It is exactly this sentence of western "hardcore non-dualists" that resonates very much in me and gave me the strongest confidence, whereas I never could do anything with "holy books" like the bible, the bhagavad gita or the upanishads. For me the key messages are much too diluted and there are too many words and descriptions in these traditional books. I preferred the "fist of truth" straight in my face and didn't want to fill my mind with thousands of Indian verses. Yeah, that's what we Westerners are :-) Everyone has been conditioned different.
Of course, the core of these writings is clear to me now but only because my mind no longer disturbs. For me the detour via holy books and meditation was obviously totally unnecessary. Together with the awakening, clarity and permanent silence came immediately. Now the focus is always on the core of truth, like the finger of the master permanently points at the moon but his students still study his hand...
Question 47: Oliver, please go again into the truth "with the emergence of the response the identification drops out" (your absolutely ingenious answer to question 15, thank you for that!). How can the "identified ME" disappear quickly, so that the answer appears? How can the ME let go confidingly? Is it the fear of dying? Does the ME have to die voluntarily? Please give us a metaphor.
Oliver: The word I would like to suggest you, is "relaxation". Take it easy. Neither you can't do anything nor you have to (see also -> question 44). You don't have to let go anything, you don't have to die, you even don't have to be relaxed (again sounds paradoxical). Trust in my words. Nothing needs to be changed. If you like, always carry a feeling deep in you which you unconsciously know very well. A feeling from the time when you were lying in the cradle as a baby. It's a kind of unconditional trust that everything is perfect (even the conditioned actions and habits of "your" body-mind, even if you consider them not to be spiritual or "good" at all). Make you familiar with the concept that a free will - in absolute terms - is an illusion. What you think you are is a feather in the wind, a wave in the ocean, a lily of the field (yeah, others have tried to explain this too and failed miserably... :-). Good luck!
Question 48: Oliver, why are we distracted from our freedom with unnecessary entertainment by Madhukar and others? How should we learn to drive a car from a driving instructor who doesn't know that the car drives without guidance?
Oliver: Well with the same argument I could say that you are distracted from your freedom with a lot of unnecessary words of my unnecessary website ;-) Your don't have to learn anything to become what you already are. Learning is good for the mind but the mind doesn't belong here.
It seems that it's in the nature of this "psycho-somatic thing" called human being just to do things because otherwise he perhaps would die or be seriously affected in his function. If there is no identification with a personal "me" anymore the body-mind-entity would probably do what he likes most, is used to or has a talent for. In my case I like to meet people in cafés for Satsang or write this website. In a non-dualistic way I would say that Satsang in cafés and this website just happen. This acts emerge out of oneness (who actually is YOU) and therefore are oneness too.
Madhukar - I don't know him, but I researched a little bit - is conditioned completely different than I am and so is his Satsang. Basically there is of course no difference and we both know that nothing has to be done to become what you already are. With our different ways to give Satsang we create space for a lot of possibilities where maybe seekers can accept the proposition that a search is completely unnecessary and where identification could drop away. Why do we do this? Well it simply happens. Why I'm answering questions here although I only see oneness in you (that I AM) is the divine game of life.
In short: if you don't like yoga, meditation and Indian trips you probably come to me to my website or drinking coffee with me and don't go to Madhukars Satsang. And if you like to do something different, maybe collecting stamps, then just do it. It's perfect. There isn't anything more.
Question 49: Oliver, this night I have dreamed of you. But can Oliver dream of me?
Oliver: Dreams still appear as they always did. Like thoughts. So theoretically it's possibly that Oliver can dream of you. If he can remember or not is another question. He also doesn't know which face is hiding behind that question which could be manifestated in his dream world while you can see his face on Satsang.ch :-)
Additional question to question 49: Isn't Oliver an object in the consciousness? If yes, how can a thought dream of other objects?
Oliver: Are dreams conceptually different from thoughts? No, because you can't separate them. The body-mind-unity (= thought form) named Oliver is (apparently) appearing in oneness like every thought and therefore like every dream. But oneness is also Oliver in whom happen all dreams and thoughts, all concepts, all questions and all answers. In the illusional game of duality dreams and thoughts happen. In oneness dream, dreamer and dream object melt into each other.
Question 50: Oliver, are relationships between one (better two!) essentially realized partners easier than "normal" relationships? If oneness accepts everything as it is, the "knowing" partner should always comply, shouldn't he?
Oliver: Oneness accepts everything, people don't. Oneness can't have relationships, people can. In general, one could say that with the disappearance of a personal identification there is more honesty and authenticity because the factor fear doesn't play a dominant role anymore. This of course can have a different impacts on a relationship.
Supposed you like spaghetti and detest cauliflower, it's your condition. You will probably stay with this preference your whole life if the outer circumstances allow. Therefore, you generally will prefer the closeness to people you feel attracted to (where the "chemistry" is right) and have a relationship with them.
By the way nonviolence has nothing to do with having no will. "To turn the other cheek" (= THE christian metaphor for nonviolence) means that everything that appears is welcomed and isn't judged by anyone (even if it is a slap back in the face of the other person...). Whatever happens and no matter what kind of actions appear: it's perfect. It happens in perfect undiscriminating love and oneness.
Additional question to question 50: Oliver how can we apply the metaphor of the ocean on question 50? What is the ocean, who are the waves?
Oliver: The ocean is oneness, the waves are forms of the dualistic world consisting of thoughts and bodies (= thought form). One single wave has no influence on it's character and how it is going to behave (if it prefers spaghetti or cauliflower or to which other wave it feels attracted to, etc.). But if the wave thinks it is separated (= identification with a personal "me") from the other waves and from the ocean, it doesn't accept this fact. It has the feeling to be the actor with a free will. It will (metaphorically spoken) interact with other waves according to the physical laws (= conditioning). It will melt with them (= have a relationship), be split again (= separation of a relationship), disappear (= death) or resurrect (= birth). Everything happens in the ocean. It IS the ocean. It's what YOU, the wave, really are. BEING.
