Andrew Cohen: My Beginnings of Spiritual Teachings, Rishikesh 1999

when I started teaching here in richesh it was uh it was like it was the it was the first time I realized that I was experiencing what it was like to be in heaven while still uh being on Earth I remember I was with uh my wife and uh two other people were at the time and we were walking I think somewhere uh we were walking on the beach about uh about half a mile up on the other side of the bridge and we were going for a walk there and uh I was standing by myself there was a friend of mine who was standing about 10 ft away and my wife and this other woman were walking in the river you know what in there with you know in their ankles just walking in the water and nobody was speaking and we were just standing there quietly and then I remember turning to my uh friend and I said to him I said this is Nirvana and I remember he looked at me and he looked shocked and then he then he just agreed so the time here together when when this teaching began was like that was like that the whole time was like being in being in heaven it's like being in heaven and there was between five and I think eight of us living together um we had rented out some rooms up above the river about a mile from here and uh we spent all of our we spent all of our time together from the morning until the evening you know constantly inquiring into the nature of what was true what was real um in the evenings we would we would have a formal we would kind of have a formal Gathering um um where I would be teaching in a more formal way it would usually be in my room and that would last we probably start about 8 or 9:00 and go till midnight and then we would take a break at midnight and we would have I remember we'd have tea and mangoes every night at midnight and then we come back and we continue for a couple of hours and then go to bed very late about 3 and 4 in the morning and we get up about 9: or 10 and we go to the tea shop and we'd come together and it would start all over again let start all over again so the Bliss and the Ecstasy and the joy and the intimacy and uh it it was always compounded by the fact that I and we were living constantly in the direct conscious recognition that what it was that we were sharing together was very very significant it was very very important the fact that we were each personally experienc and ALS personally experiencing and also sharing in this unspeakable mystery and the kind of intimacy that we were experiencing as a result of that kind of coming together in an impersonal Oneness I remember very clearly at that time um what it meant was very obvious to me then and it was was it was something that was continuously uh bring bringing me to my knees and it was something that also you know we were speaking about but to be honest when I think back I think that I think that we we were all in it together but I think I I was more aware of what it meant than everybody else you know the fact of what what its actual significance was was it here for you and VI you as a teacher or was there only this Oneness of among the eight people uh yes it was clear it was clear at that time how it became clear was that um as a result of of spending this time with me all the people there were having very profound experiences very profound and very powerful spiritual experiences but what became very obvious very quickly is that uh I was the only one who's uh who didn't have any questions anymore and seemed to have access to many many many answers about many things that I never even thought about and so the difference was that uh we all were sharing in the very same experience you know the very same personal um experience of love and joy and peace and uh Bliss but the effect on me was proving itself really every day to be quite different than the effect it was having on the others because I was convinced Beyond any doubt about the reality of what it was that uh that was occurring it was continually occurring and none of the others had the kind of confidence that I did none of the others were as stable as I was so at first you know at first I thought when they were began to have these experiences I was I thought well now they're not any different than I am now we're all we're all the same because they seem to be experiencing you know exactly what it is that I had [Music] experienced um but over time you know the fact that there was a difference between me and them you know just became a parent and uh yeah that's what happened was it clear also at the time already that you you be a teacher uh well that's what uh that's what my teacher had told me from the very beginning you know that's what he said he said uh he told me that it was up to me to accept responsibility for this work and I wasn't really sure exactly what it meant but I knew obviously it meant that I was going to be a teacher um so that's what he he told me and I uh because of everything that was continually happening all around me there was no doubt that it obviously was was true