This urge: to express the inexpressible came to light during the course of my meetings with Shree HWL Poonjaji, known as Papaji - he inspired me to write this narrative.
Papaji’s total love of truth and the immensity of joy he showed when someone got ‘it’ and could say something about it also filled my heart with the song of truth and the urge to express it.
As the book developed, I discovered I was presenting myself and sharing my story not as a teacher, but as a fellow being who experienced awakening and recognizes his merging into this mystery. This book is not intended to be biographical.
I hope in some way this narrative touches the truth of your being, that you recognize that enlightenment is not only real but possible, and that it is available now, perhaps more so than ever before. No longer is enlightenment obtainable only to a select few who win it after some long and arduous journey. Enlightenment can happen to you or me as just being here now.
This story revolves around seven episodes called ‘Split Seconds’, which represent moments when time disappears, truth is revealed and transformation occurs. These moments are usually of the ultimate experience, changing the person profoundly.
I am not an expert on the meaning of existence, but I know it is a mystery I am part of, and yet, it is beyond me.
It appears, though, that for every being that has experienced self-realization, there are that many ways the mystery wants someone to flower - there are no rules and nothing is fixed.
Enlightenment is real and possible and worth anything to have. The joy of awakening is so immense, that the awaken one wants to scream on the rooftop for others to hear and know, and realize themselves.
The pot at the end of the rainbow does exist and it is filled with peace and love, wholeness and well-being.
you are just there
no future
no past
a table is a table
a chair a chair
just being
Once people truly believed the sun revolved around the earth. Standing
here on earth, this belief certainly appears to be true. When Copernicus
proclaimed the truth that the earth revolves around the sun, he was not
believed and was persecuted as well. When Sages (Wisemen) proclaim we
are not the body and personality but something greater, they are not believed
either. After all, the body and personality are so close and recognizable
as us, and from this viewpoint this perception certainly appears to be
true.
The fact is truth is not always obvious. What appears to be real is not
always the case and we are often fooled by the apparent logic and the
narrowness of the perception of mind.
Split seconds are defined as moments
when mind disappears and reality is perceived without distortion. This
lifting of the veil of illusion is one aspect of enlightenment and is
analogous to waking up from normal sleep to everyday consciousness.
When awakening occurs, for example, through the experience of a split second as described above, one begins to understand that Truth exists. Now it is understood that something beyond the perceptions of mind is present. Usually this wakefulness has a short duration and sleep returns. The knowing becomes an experience, a memory; yet something remains that drives the experiencer to search for it again. In this way, a conscious desire for truth arises.
The intrinsic longing for truth has always been there but now the experiencer consciously knows it. As more veils of illusion disappear and also when there is reoccurrence of illusions, the desire to remain in truth becomes of paramount importance, a matter of life and death.
For the awakened person, there is nothing more important than to continue to dive deeper and deeper into the divine mystery.