Truth Is All That Matters

My dear friends,

In the seven years or so that I’ve been the servant of Ramana’s simple, perfect teaching of self-inquiry, I’ve come to see very clearly that no matter what we might think we want, or have been told that we should want, certainty about one’s actual nature is all that’s ever really wanted by anyone.

And I’ve come to see from my own experience in this life, and from the reports of the experience of many who have been in satsang with us, that the simple act of turning attention toward the actual, naked experience of being whenever possible resolves all problems and will in time erase all inclination to project on others my misery, to take from others what seems to be needed for myself, and to destroy others in the belief that others are the cause of my suffering.

The reason for this, according to all the great ones who have tried to bring us to this water of life, is that all problems are false; rooted in the false belief that I am the story about me; the history of my life, my attainments, my failures, my friends, my lovers, my enemies, my needs and desires.

If this is true, that there is no problem other than this false belief, then it must be that the only possible solution is the truth, and the truth is ever-present, inescapable, and easy to see. No spiritual understanding, no spiritual experience, no spiritual background, no spiritual community, no virtue, no meritorious karma, nothing is needed apart from the determination to see directly, in this very moment, what I am. And if I know that truth is what I want, nothing can stand in my way. I am HERE, undeniably HERE, always.

This is Ramana’s great gift to us, and the promise of all spiritual teachings everywhere. It is nothing less than the secret of eternal happiness, and if it were known to all, human life on this planet would flourish as the fully conscious eyes, ears, and mind of radiant awareness.

We are in a time of revolutionary possibility for humanity; a time when fundamentalists of every stripe pray and yearn for Armageddon, for the cleansing destruction of human society; a time when these precious teachings have appeared in the west, and the possibility has appeared with them of freeing them from their ancient trappings and methods of transmission, making them freely available and accessible to all.

This is a time when humanity is truly alive — maybe for the first time — with the actual possibility of a true great awakening, of a true revolution in human consciousness. The means are simple and self-evident, but if they are to bring about the transformation of human consciousness that they promise, they must be made available to all.

And to do that, we must now also break free of our devotion to western means and methods of propagation. We have happily, innocently sold these teachings on the open market, persuading ourselves that this was the way to get them propagated. We have treated them as a product, telling ourselves that we could use the western expertise in promotion and marketing and the harnessing of market forces to spread truth while watching the bottom line — always the key to successful product propagation. In order to market them, we have turned them into a gospel of prosperity and personal transformation. We have done all this in good faith and with the best of intention, but the truth is that we have lost our way.

I want to use the magnificent and magical methods and technology now available to fling the seeds of this simple teaching freely to the winds. I want to use the internet, the radio, television, personal contact, and every other means of transmission that we together can come up with to plant the suggestion in every human mind that it might be worthwhile to look and see for itself, what it is, really.

I would like to learn how to go to a town and set up, promote and produce an event that might appeal to anyone so that we can offer Ramana’s gift to those other than the choir of already spiritualized minds for which it often seems too simple. I’d like to show all who can be reached just how easy it is to see one’s actual nature; how easy it is to determine whether the claims of the great spiritual beings have any validity; to see whether it is really true that we are not what we think we are and that in truth’s light all things are known to be wondrous and needing nothing. I’d like us to consider the possibility that the widespread availability of this method might actually lead to universal peace and understanding among humans.

My vision is to make this teaching available absolutely free for all; free of charge, free of any implied or explicit need for spiritual understanding, and free even of any conscious spiritual aspiration. That’s why it has to be free of charge, because the only people who will come and pay money for satsang are those in the grip of the delusion of spiritual aspiration.

Now we can see, if we will, that all the spiritual work undertaken in the belief that we were looking for personal enlightenment, and personal gratification, is of no use to ourselves or anyone else unless it can serve the general awakening of all humanity to the great perfection that IS aware existence. Now we can, if we will, abandon all seeking after personal fulfillment in the certain knowledge that such a thing is absurd: all is one — if any are bound, none are free.

in this love without condition,

John