Third Part, Sangha from A Three – Part series about Buddha – Dharma – Sangha

hello everybody good evening nice to see you all so this is of the trip of the Three Gems the the Buddha the DAR the S of the three jewels my favorite jewel is the S and I think that the significance of the SAS is uh from my perspective generally not appreciated enough in this postmodern eror age so I hope I'll I'm going to try and convey how important I think it is in what its extraordinary and most precious value actually is so as I'm fond of saying as I fond him repeating when the Buddha was asked the question is association with like-minded people a part of the Holy life apparently his answer was association with like-minded people is the whole of the Holy life and I remember the first time I heard that it truly shocked me because we have to think that this is the Enlighten it's the enlightened one after all the one who knows what he's talking about when it comes to spiritual illumination and so the enlightenment the enlightened one himself said that to live the holy life the association with like-minded people is the most important aspect of the most important part of the spiritual life and uh I think the implications in that statement are very profound and potentially life-changing if you really understand what it means so why this is important it's because it's through our human relationships that that we share values with other people share values are similar beliefs about what's important in life and we share different values with different people that we share our love with with with our parents we share certain values with our family we share certain values with our co-workers we share different values that relate to the work that we're doing together if we play sports we'll share different values with the people we play sports with all the all the configurations of different collectives in our life the the nature of those collectives is based upon shared values a shared beliefs shared ethics shared metaphysics shared philosophical beliefs shared outlooks shared aspirations but shared worldviews and uh appreci appreciating what that what that actually means about the human experience and more so what it means about spiritual Liberation is very interesting and very compelling and very challenging for most people so if you want to see what your if you want to if you want to do the spiritual part of if you want to do the spiritual work to be able to take a to try to gain a more objective look at your own life in the way living it and what it means look at you have to look look at the people that you with whom you choose to share your life with who do you spend the most time with and why do you spend the most time with those people who is it that you love more than anybody else who who who who are your closest friends who are you most intimate with and this goes look across the whole the whole spectrum of interrelatedness in your life and then look very deeply into the nature what are the kind of values that I'm sharing with these different individuals in my life what are those what are those values that I'm sharing with them often often we share values that we're not even conscious of with other people it's something that we have to most have have to think about it we have to inquire and investigate the nature of what our relationships are actually based upon with other people so the the reason that the S is so important the reason why I believe that the Buddha said that uh the relationships we have with other people that we walk the path with are the most important in our life is because in the relationship with people in a s which means your spiritual brothers and sisters are supposed to be all of those individuals with whom the only reason that you're in a relationship with them is because you share the your shared value is unconditional Enlightenment and illum illumination so if if the shared value you have with the people that you're closest to in your life is absolute freedom and perfect Enlightenment that's going to shape the nature of those relationships in a way that is very very unique very very precious very very special and very very important you want to think about what that means um the the context for the spiritual relationship with your spiritual brother and spiritual sister is absolutely radical and absolutely unique compared to any other relationship you have in your life because what you because what you're sharing to level of values is the highest human aspiration that there is the request for the Awakening to Enlighten awareness is the highest spiritual aspiration that exists in this world and it's a very idealistic one very idealistic it's where we strive to realize and attain the highest human spiritual potentials that are that exist at least that that becomes the individual and Collective shared aspect ation so when my relationship with you and your relationship with me is based upon the shared aspiration for perfect and total en light Enlightenment and illumination that's going to make the nature of that relationship very special indeed because it means all of our engagements with each other both small and large are going to be based upon this shared aspiration to realize the highest individually and collectively [Music] and this becomes very very interesting and meaningful when we look at the this whole notion of Spiritual Development and developmental context which means we're aspiring for In This Very rarified idealistic context very idealistic context we're aspiring for the highest virtues and my relationship with you is based upon our individual and Collective aspiration to share the highest virtues together that makes that makes the way we relate to each other and what happens within the nature of that relationship very spiritually significant if you want to know how how if you want to understand what the nature of Enlightenment looks like you have to look at the nature of the relationships that so-called enlightened people have with their closest friends and brothers and sisters and companions on the path what's the nature of those relationships what do they look like what do they feel like do they express the highest virtues as we as we do the best of our ability as we understand them and the relationships we have with other with those people who we were sharing the path with becomes a becomes a mirror in which we can see how we're doing we get to see how how how how are we doing how are we progressing are we progressing or are we stagnating or are we developing in the most beautiful way or are we continuing to to develop beautifully if um when you when you share this very precious value of be awakened to enlightened awareness with another human human being with other human beings if it's real and if it's deep and if it's sincere if you are sincere and if that individual is sincere and you really mean it with all of your heart it means all all that you really want for them is their own perfect Liberation without conditions and all they want for you is your own perfect Liberation without conditions and if that's all you really want for your those people that you love the most and you care the most for and what they care the most for for you it's a very special context it's very unique as I was saying earlier we are in relationships with other people for all different kinds of reasons more often than not they're very self-serving and functional but this kind of spiritual relationship is can become the the context in which the highest virtues are expressed and demonstrated in the way we relate to each other and relate to those we care about the most and because because we're embracing these highest virtues our own int our own spiritual Integrity is going to be tested in these relationships in a way that it won't be in other in other relationships in our life because for example in in a context of such idealism certain the certain virtues are taken for granted for example [Music] um honesty in such a rarified spiritual context it would be taken for granted that I was I would always be expressing myself honestly and earnestly there would be an expectation of Integrity in the way I was the way I was engaging with you and whether you engaging with me that would that that would be it would be a ground level expectation similarly with all kinds of Virtues like generosity compassion selflessness High mindedness High mindedness not only thinking big thoughts and talking about big thoughts but acting inspired by big Thoughts with each other so in a in a in a in a in a in a saga that is alive with spiritual enlightenment that's being shared and lived with profound intention and commitment we expect the best and the most from each other which creates a little bit of what I call which creates an atmosphere what I call of of existential tension spiritual tension because there's an expectation a loving deeply loving expectation of the highest from each other I expect the best and the highest from you and you return the favor by expecting the highest and the best from me and that's one of the ways we express our love for each other we not only forgive each other for our imperfections which are unavoidable and and inescapable so we learn how to forgive our as we learn to forgive ourselves for imperfections we learn how to forgive each other for our imp imperfections we also simultaneously expect the highest from each other without excuses and we want to hide from each other and if this becomes this this this becomes part of the shared spiritual and metaphysically vibrant context it begins to feel like one is swimming in an ocean of uh of pure motivation which is a very which is very rare and very precious in human life so entering into a a spirit ritual Community context or S context where the Dharma is being lived earnestly sincerely with deep commitment and Absolute Investment one should it the atmosphere should feel very rarified like almost like one's entering into a river of pure motivation surrounded by uh truly awakened bodh satas who are walking the talk of the Dharma and the way that they live their lives and the way that they engage with each other and it's it's the level of sincerity that I'm speaking about which is the most important part of all this there a relationship between sincerity and non-duality which means is which means from my point of view in this in this context if you're sincere it means you really mean it means you're not just saying it you're not just talking about it but it means you actually mean it with all your heart with the best of your intentions you really mean what you're saying and you and you you become an expression of the very thing that you're saying that you mean so you so you become an expression of your own sincerity and when you when you can walk your talk like that in the context of other with other people that are walking and talking the same way the there the the the meaning of nonduality becomes expressed in this atmosphere of realness it's an atmosphere where I'm speaking very idealistically remember but nevertheless it's an atmosphere where everything becomes very real very authentic where it's lacking in pretense and lacking in therefore Duality and such a spiritually vibrant VI vibrating spiritual context human context is utterly intoxicating [Music] and the aspiration for Purity is like a Divine virus because when we let go of our fear of of pure motivation and of nality when we let go of our fear of Purity and nality and actually allow ourselves to swim in it and to experience it and to allow ourselves to let go into it we can become addicted to it ourselves you know it takes a lot of Courage at the beginning and takes a lot of moral conviction moral strength to let go of Duality and falsehood but once you get the hang of it once you get used to it it becomes unbearable to live in any other way and so the sign ific of s is that the inter subjective context of relatedness becomes the canvas upon which the spiritual life is enacted [Music] and and I think for most of us it's the true test of our sincerity and of our authenticity and of our spiritual commitment a lot of people have very from my from from my perspective outdated opinions of going in that living the spiritual life means going it [Music] alone and of course there are rare exe there are rare historically recognized exemplars of of profound realization of individuals whove gone in alone and definitely reach the Yonder Shore and beyond that and are is historically renowned for that but I found in my life that it's much more challenging to to do this with other people for many of the reasons that I've been trying to elucidate here in this talk because when we're alone we can fool ourselves about so many things self-deception is very easy but if you're if you're around other other other sincere practitioners who love you and who see you clearly they want you to bloom like a flower they won't let you lie to yourself and they won't let you deceive yourself and such an atmosphere becomes a Sacred Space a sacred environment where truth becomes not something we we're not something we're really aspiring to but it's something that we actually feeling feeling in our [Music] nerves so one of the one of the insights that I've been speak that I speak a lot about over the last two years or so is this my my recognition that Consciousness whatever that is the mystery of Consciousness whatever that is the mystery of subjectivity or interiority or ascensions always Delights in his own self-recognition so the mystery of Consciousness whatever that is always Delights in its own self-recognition [Music] and as we awaken to enlightened awareness we re realize or we recognize that Consciousness is not a personal event Consciousness is not a personal experience Consciousness is not a personal happening it's radically impersonal vastly inconceivable process it seems to be present at all times in all places through all circumstances but it's definitely not a personal experience definitely not merely a personal experience so so when a collective of Awakened and Awakening individuals who are to a reasonable degree surrendered to the mystery that lies beyond the Mind small celf the the the experience of Consciousness the sense of Consciousness The Knowing of Consciousness the E and flow of the of Consciousness can be felt in deeper and more profound ways than we can ordinarily cognize it and we're simply on our own we share that kind of unrestricted openness and trust with other human beings it opens up a capacity for sensing the flow of Consciousness in the momentum of Consciousness subtle momentum of consciousness in ways that are met metaphysically intoxicating but very meaningful because that's when this the sense the sense that we're all part of a process that's bigger and that's bigger than us individually and always transcends our unique individuality begins to be recognized and directly experienced in a way that's very profound and very inspiring and very liberating and very compelling that's when we get to get to that's when we begin to get to feel directly this infinite ocean that exists between all all of us and none of us are alone we never were and that um the Myster is moving us we're not really doing very much we think we're doing a lot but we're not really doing anything and so when we're in this Collective context where there's so much openness to the mystery of young no nature of spirit self its mysterious occurrence begin to be felt and there is a intim in this kind of in this kind of experience there the intimations of of a cosmic intelligence that's a that's that's at work it's always at work it's doing all the doing that the body and that our bodies and minds and personalities are mer just coming along for the RVE but they're they're not really doing anything they're just kind of like puppets when these kinds of things are felt in in the collective in in a collective context the the the power of enlightened awareness Begins the power of enlightened awareness begins to be revealed in ways that are supremely not only just intoxic intoxicating but inspiring and compelling it's almost like together if we live if we live a spiritual life in Earnest together we can open up to the mystery of the universe in ways that we rarely can do on our own and in and from the perspective of The evolutionary or orientation to Liberation or to M or to Enlightenment the developmental approach we realize it becomes apparent to us in this context that together we can work very hard to catalyze and to to play our part individually and collectively and can catalyzing the movement of Consciousness to higher and deeper levels of its own potential and that's the most exciting part of all this is when we can begin to literally bear with witness to our own individual and Collective capacity to play a significant role in The Evolution and emergence of more complex Consciousness itself what seems to happen is that as we as we live the as we live the Dharma with more Precision more care more commitments more faith more devotion more sincerity individually and together the the the very fabric of the Interior the universe begins to reveal itself and we we we we begin to see that if we live according to these self-revealing spiritual laws that I was speaking about when I was describing the Dharma two weeks ago help help make clear to us exactly what we have to do and how we have to do it in order to catalyze this this this vertical Ascension of Consciousness itself within us and between us that's when that's what live that's when at least from my perspective that's when living the spiritual life is experience at its highest level of meaning purpose and virtue is that when you when you can experience at the deepest metaphysical level within your own self that the way you're living your life the way you're living the DH and how you're conducting yourself and expressing yourself take responsibility for yourself and all of your karmas is literally catalyzing Evolution at the most subtle level of existence is consciousness itself it bestows enormous meaning inherent inherent and very Rel religiously inspired sense of meaning and purpose and presence in your human existence so in the way that I think about all this now to me being being alone without a Sana without spiritual brothers and sisters spiritual Partners without a spiritual family in which to live this life I would feel utterly lost and I wouldn't know which foot to put in front of my another one I might understand all the different kinds of spiritual Technologies and spiritual techniques and spiritual postures that I need to assume in order to walk the path but I would feel so alone and isolated to me spiritual spiritual fraternity or spiritual Brotherhood and Sisterhood is is like um more important than food and drink in order to feel for me in order to feel [Music] um grounded and safe and in the right place at the right time for the right reasons doing the right thing creates a sense of vast and person know religiously significant uh meaning in context often I see people from the from the from the awaken perspective that I'm describing I often see people seemingly swimming in the ocean of samsara lost at se so to speak lost and alone without even knowing that the're lost and alone not even aware of what's possible when you wake up and when you find your true family our life can change so much I remember hearing once when I was working on my magazine with some of my students we were interviewing a Buddhist scholar about the Buddha and uh he said the Buddha was a very tough Taskmaster [Music] and he told the story I don't know if it was this is real or not but he said that when he was nearing his death some of his closest monks were saying that it'll be great when the old man is dead because then can sleep in that great when the old man is dead CU now he can sleep in so without having without having each other to compel us to live a to live a life of self discipline and self focus it's very difficult to know how to do this the right way we all heard the uh the phrase living your spiritual life is like working on the walk walk on the razor's Edge and so it's very difficult to walk the razor's Edge or to be so awake that we real to be so awake that in that awakeness we realize that if we want to live the spiritual life in Hest we need to walk on the razor's Edge it's very easy to it's very easy to forget that most people do oh yeah the Razor Edge I heard about that as a matter of fact there was one time when I was actually in touch with the raes so so if so in order to keep us on the razor's Edge often we need each other to help us to stay awake in that way most people do and it's nobody's fault that just the way we are that's just the human nature and if you find yourself associating with and living with people engaging with others who are living the spiritual life with greater zeal greater commitment and greater intensity than you are you'll get you you'll you'll get a clear sense of how much farther there is for you to go and at the same time if you're living the spiritual life with great Zeal and intensity and are experiencing the unique metaphysical results of living a spiritual life with that kind of zeal and intensity you start to feel how you're affecting other people as for the better you start to Le and see how living the spiritual life a life of virtue and highest aspirations actually has effects on other people in very profound ways so it's good it's good to be around people who are doing better than we are the ego's very lazy the ego always wants to go back to sleep and roll over now but if your spiritual brother spiritual sister has gotten up two hours [Laughter] earlier it won't be so easy and you know understanding the significance of striving for Consciousness stri what it means to strive to to strive to become more conscious to Aspire and strive to become more conscious is part of a when it becomes part of a collective shared aspiration it makes it easier for every for everyone involved to go the extra mile to make the extra effort to stay on that Razor's Edge when when when when people are on their own they they fall in and out of Awakened awareness too easily if you if you you find that if you're with another person who's awake and you have fallen back asleep for some reason their awakeness will wake you up so in short we need each other to do this most of us do there are of course extraordinary exemplars who ceptions to the rule but the exceptions are not the rule I think that um conscious Evol Consciousness is why understanding anyway evolves more profoundly through a weed and through a me [Music] and it feels so good to come home to the other and to the others feels so good to come home home is that home is that place in that space where we feel most comfortable wherever you feel more comfortable than in any other place in any other space where do you feel most most at home is the inter subjective metaphysical World space that I'm talking about but for most people most people feel most at home with the biological family because that's the part of their self that they're most identified with as self but if you're if you've awakened to enlightened awareness and if you found your true self if you found your true self you won't feel most at home with your biological family you'll feel most at home with your spiritual family and your spiritual family has nothing to do with blood relationships has nothing to do with your ethnocentric identity it has to do with your metaphysical identity so when you're sharing the the deepest truth of your metaphysical identity that you've realized other others have realized together then it's only with those who've had the same level of realization the same level of commitment to that realization it's in that context alone to feel the most home the most home means the most at ease the most comfortable the most fully aligned space and place the most inherently enlightened into subjective World spased domain the most spiritually enlightened inner World space you feel the greatest spiritual comfort and sense of safety and inner freedom and joy it's a very rarified space it's a very Sacred Space it's very precious and what makes it so sacred is so so precious and so rarified is that the if the Dharma is being practiced in Earnest and for real with the with the greatest sincerity that I've been describing it's a place where the ego is not permitted to enter when when when the dharm is being lived for real at the highest level it gives rise to an eist subjective and ultimately into subjective World space and that eist inter subjective World space becomes the experience of Heaven that's what heaven that's what the experience of Heaven is actually all about heaven doesn't exist in some other physical space it exists in this space when the small self when the individual and culturally conditioned small self is taking a vacation we find ourselves in a Heavenly Realm and the in the the intoxication of that space is impossible to to describe that's where we experience the greatest happiness imaginable we're simply being ourselves alone and together is more than enough unbearably so unbearably more than enough in that space of vibration of inherent truth and inherent unimaginable freedom and the presence of perfection become completely overwhelming in my understanding that's the goalpost that's the Target and if we can bring together this kind of highest metaphysical aspiration with our emerging understanding of this developmental part of Spiritual Development will be existing in the in in in a heaven realm that's going somewhere new it's it's a heaven realm it's on a journey of becoming in that beautiful space the more we can let go individual collectively the more that heaven realm can become manifest and take form and actually become manifest so this whole idea of Sana or spiritual Brotherhood and spiritual Sisterhood provides the context in which these highest spiritual attainments individual and Collective can actually come come into being where they can be aspired for discussed understood analyzed scrutinized and slowly but surely attained by one and then by another and by another and more and more and more more more individuals that can attain this height of realization more these the more these these extraordinary Heights of spiritual realization literally become manifest in this miserable world but as I've been saying since I started talking we need each other to do this you can't do this on your own but it requires an enormous level of commitment and sincerity and seriousness and a vision of the possible spiritually awakened vision of the possible and what would you have to be able to imagine is your own perfectly purified self in the future Perfection is unattainable in the present moment so don't worry about it but you need to be able to Envision your perfectly purified self in all its unrestrained drained magnificence abiding in the context of so many others vibrating pulsating with the same Lumin luminescent transparency and unimaginable Liberation and joy so you want want to understand that the S becomes a a literal a physical a physical real physical and metaphysical container for this for for the for the high to to to embrace and to embody and to liberate and to ma manifest the heights of spiritual realization the heights of spiritual transformation for the whole universe why are we all together because we want the whole universe to become enlightened through us that's all that's all that's quite a LOF that's quite a lofty uh ambition but try to reach deep with inside yourself to truly understand the reasons why you'd actually want to come together with other people in such a kind such a extraordinary commitment it's not really for you it's not for each other it's for the whole universe so we can enact these metaphysical leaps of Consciousness leaps of becoming and in order to do that we have to shed our old identity like like a snake sheds its skin and become these luminescent body saas for real nobody can do that on their own very few people can anyway remember everybody that the world does not exist outside you the world exists within our own minds so be very careful about the way that you're thinking about your own identity about the world that we're living in that you're living in about the meaning and purpose of this episode of embodied existence about this world space pay attention to what you're thinking about all this because everything that I've been describing as outlandish as it sounds is available and it's attainable and it's realizable if enough of us want it badly enough the living the spiritual life living living the holy life is that that's why to live the spiritual life and live the holy life this is why at least in my understanding the Buddha said that association with likeminded people is the whole of the Holy life and to repeat he didn't say living association with likeminded people as a part of the Holy life which would have been a reasonable answer he said it's the whole of the Holy life so I I would boldly encourage all of you to reflect on what does that mean what why did he say that is association with like-minded people is the whole of the Holy life it doesn't leave much room for for any other possibility than what's what's most obvious so I'm almost finished so in light of this talk it's helpful to think about Liberation the meaning in the possibility of Li of your own Liberation and your relationships think about these things together it'll help you yes ultimately ultimately Liberation perfect Liberation profound Liberation is about is about to awaken into Consciousness itself of course but I dare to say it's equally about the nature of relationships what they're based on what they're truly based on what they're honestly based on all all the places that we are attached if you're most if you're deadly if you're deadly serious about this your soul wants to be so focused on the absolute nature of Liberation itself that your lesser emotional attachments begin to fade into the distance not speaking about lacking compassion and lacking affection and lacking commitment to people that you care about and love it's nothing to do with that I'm speaking about your souls what is your soul attached to where where you s where you soul is attached to has nothing to do with whatever your ego and mind have to say about it so I would encourage everybody to disregard whatever your ego and mind have to say about this just look into how your soul feels for the truth so the S becomes this vast container in which the spiritual life can be lived at its highest level in a very unique way which it's very difficult to do outside that context I'm not saying it's impossible but it's pretty close to it and and also keep in mind this is not news to any of you that the that whenever two or more people come together and find that they are that they love and prior prioritize the significance of nonel spirit more than anything else friends and family and acquaintances and culture at large will see this as a as as a thread something in comprehensible as most people can't see don't understand the nature of absolute Nal Spirit but if you see it and other spirituals brothers and sisters see it but your friends and your family don't they will start to worry about you and they'll get concerned when I first arrived in India in 1984 I went to rishikes was one of my first destinations and I went to the Shiva nashra was one of the most famous asham in mishes and I went to the satsang hall and um there was a small man who was a small Swami who in later years became one of my mentors the great SW chrishan Anda and he gave was giving a talk I don't remember what he talked about but I remember at the end of The Talk I'll never forget he said there's a sound there's a drone can you hear the sound of the Drone is the sound the sound it's coming from God can you hear it can you hear it can you hear it he said it's saying come together come together come together in unity there is strength come together can you all hear it can you hear it can you hear it and I remember this this marvelous teaching coming from this beautiful awakened Soul entered into entered into my heart in a way that I was physically unprepared for I was utterly intoxicated I could barely stand up and walk I stumbled down to the river the ganga took me several hours to recover and I always felt that hearing this extraordinary realize Swami speak about the unity of awaken the unity and power of Awakened Consciousness uh impregnating my soul with this vision of inter subjective non-duality it's just a guess but it seems to be true but please think about all these things please think about them Ser seriously and sincerely and see how most of us for better and For Worse see how most of us are for better and For Worse utterly dependent on each other for knowing for understanding for clarity for confidence for security and for liberation it's for better and for worse I said remember they're both true look so see both sides of this coin but since it's true that we are very dependent on on each other to get any sense of what's real and what's important you begin to appreciate how important it is to associate with those people with whom you can share the deepest part of yourself with not just once a year but every day when you can do this with other people you really get a sense of of what what it means for the for the entire human world space to awaken to his higher potentials not that it can or it will anytime soon but you get but you get but you can in this context you can get overwhelmed with the inspiration that it could happen that it that it would that it wants to happen doesn't mean that it will doesn't even mean that it could but you you start but you start have to have feelings that Inspire that inspire you to want desperately for all of us to wake up and that's what's important very good I hope you guys found this helpful I'm speaking from my heart and these are all things that I actually feel very strongly about often when I'm giving talks like this it's good not to not to take everything too literally but a more to try to get a sense of this this the spirit of where this is coming from in me