t would be difficult for us to find a satisfactory solution for our predicament if we restrict ourselves to the commonly accepted domains of experience, the realm of the mind and the realm of the emotions. We must extend our perceptions to the finer and deeper capacities that are locked within humanity. We must go deeper, to the realm of being, to our true essential nature, with its fine but unexpected capacities for perception and action.
From our analysis so far, we can see what is needed is for the teaching to be presented in a way that is appropriate to each particular individual. The teaching must be communicated to the student in a manner that is experienced by the student as syntonic to his experience. It will be introduced to him in a way that he can relate to and which has validity for him. The teaching will speak to him, to his experience. It will deal with his life as he lives it. It will help him deal with his own conflicts and issues, not those of Buddha or Krishnamurti.
The teaching will be formulated in a way that his mind can understand, and his heart can accept. It will be represented in a way that allows him to make it his own personal concern. It will speak to him from the perspective that he needs at the moment of contact. Then it will touch him. Then he can embrace it. Then he can use it. Then it can transform him.
Many a time a teacher will tell his disciple, “You need to jump into the abyss. You need to trust and jump.” But for the disciple, what the teacher is saying has no meaning. The disciple, if he is allowed to be sincere, will most likely respond: “What do you mean, ‘Jump into the abyss?’ What abyss? Where is this abyss I'm supposed to jump into? Also, who or what is supposed to jump?” For the disciple this is a real dilemma, and it is not just a matter of trust.
The fact is that there is an abyss. It can be seen and felt. There is an individual who can jump. This individual can be identified in a very specific way. So the teacher will first have to work with his disciple on issues of identity. Then the teacher should guide the disciple to the place where the disciple can actually see or feel the abyss within himself. And only at this point will the teacher be effective in saying, “Trust and jump into the abyss.” Only then is it an issue of trust. Before that the student can only balk, or look at his teacher's statements as some kind of mysterious, mystical allusion that he is supposed to follow.
There is no place here for mystery and mystification. Mystification usually indicates the absence of true knowledge and understanding.
A teacher who can speak to a student in such an appropriate, tactful and timed way, is able to take into consideration the person of the student, his mind, his state of consciousness and his present-time situation. The universal and timeless teaching will be focused, narrowed down to a personal level at a point of space and time. Otherwise it is too abstract and lacks personal meaning for the student.
This personal focusing of the universal and timeless teaching begins with recognizing the student as a unique individual with his own experience, his own history, his own issues, and his own will, and not simply as an object upon which a teaching can be applied.
In most spiritual teachings, the personality is seen as a barrier, the problem, the devil that needs to be slain. Only then, it is believed, can realization occur.
It is true that a seeker's personality or his history is a large part of his problem, but it is so only from the perspective of a consciousness that he still cannot relate to. According to his own perception, the experiences of the personality are real, solid, and of great import. Rejecting or ignoring the personality will only tighten the knots that imprison the student.
Also, the issues and the conflicts of the personality are not haphazard or meaningless; they are not simply barriers to realization and liberation. They are related in specific ways to the states of realization themselves, to the states of being.
To gain a more precise understanding of the situation, and to personalize the teaching, we need first to understand the personality and how it is related to the free reality, the being—what we call essence. Our true nature, our essence, what is real and unconditioned in the human being, does not exist in some mysterious realm, waiting for us to attack and slay the inimical ego, and then show up in glory. Our being, our essence, the divine within us, is connected to our personality in a very complex and intimate way.
Before we discuss this connection, we must see that essence exists in many and various aspects, in pure and real forms. Each aspect is distinct from all other aspects, but it is still essence, it is still the same nature. For example, essence can manifest as love, but it can also manifest as compassion, and as will, peace, strength, consciousness, truth, contentment, knowledge, joy. The aspects of essence are differentiated, are distinct. Each is a pure form of itself. The aspect of truth is completely truth; it contains nothing that is not true. Each aspect is perfection itself.
The realization of these “qualified” aspects of essence is very useful in moving toward the realm of unqualified, undifferentiated Being, the Supreme aspect or form. But these aspects of reality are not within the realm of the intellect or the emotions, and that is why, as we mentioned before, we must go deeper to find a solution for our dilemma. We will find that the solution is much more accessible and more beautiful than we expected.
It is true that the personality as a whole acts as a barrier to essence as a whole. But this is the general picture. Although most teachings adhere to this picture, if we look more closely, with finer lenses, so to speak, we find that this is a blurred picture of a more complex reality.
We find that each of the essential aspects—such as will, love, truth, compassion—is related to a certain part of the personality, to a definite sector. We will also find that each aspect of essence is not only related to a certain sector of the personality, but also that that sector functions as a specific barrier against the particular aspect of essence in question. So, a certain sector of the personality which consists of specific beliefs, habits and conflicts will act as a barrier against emptiness, for instance. A different sector will act as a barrier against cosmic consciousness, and so on.
Each sector of the personality manifests as certain conflicts, issues, difficulties, prejudices, traits, preferences, and so on. These will be reflected in the individual's personal experience, both inner and outer. It determines, among other things, thoughts, feelings, actions, relationships, and life-styles.
We call this perspective on reality, on both essence and personality, the “diamond perspective.” We call it such because it is exact, precise and definite, and it takes the many facets, the details, of both essence and personality into consideration. The elegance and beauty of its workings will become apparent as we go on in our discussion.
Now we go back to our human dilemma, and see how we can use this diamond perspective to find an effective solution.
Any individual, at any time in his life has a certain set of personal preoccupations and concerns which are manifestations of specific sectors of his personality. These are not haphazard. He is dealing with a specific set of issues, conflicts and life situations, and these might be quite different from those of other individuals in his environment. One sector of the personality might dominate his life for long periods of time if he is not successful in resolving the issues and conflicts inherent in it, and so it might appear to others, or to himself, that this is who he really is, this person acting out of this particular set of issues, that there are no other parts of him. The average individual moves between a few sectors of his personality, and most of these sectors are deeply hidden in his unconscious.
According to the diamond perspective, the sector of the personality that happens to be dominant at any given time is related to a certain and specific aspect of essence. In fact, according to the diamond perspective, the real resolution of the conflicts and issues in such sectors will bring about the manifestation of the related specific aspect of essence. The application of the diamond perspective which is set forth in more detail in our forthcoming book Essence (to be published by Samuel Weiser, Inc., inl984), has demonstrated that the resolution of any particular sector, issue or conflict of the personality is actually the related essential aspect itself.
For an example, let us look at the sector related to the aspect of will, and so at the individual who has conflicts around castration, impotence, confidence in himself, self-reliance, need for support, and the like. Such conflicts and psychological issues govern his relationship to others, his actions in his life and his feelings about himself.
If he manages to resolve these personal issues, he will come in contact with his true and essential will. Then the manifestation of the aspect of will in him will spontaneously eliminate all these conflicts. He will experience a sense of true determination; he will feel confident in himself; he will feel self-reliant, potent, powerful and able to support himself in the way he needs. He will, most importantly, experience his essence directly in the aspect of will. He will not feel he has will, he will feel he is will—he is the support.
Now suppose this individual is the disciple of a teaching which emphasizes surrender, and he is feeling impotent and dependent. He is having problems with the sector of his personality corresponding to the aspect of will; he lacks will. He goes to his teacher or guru for help. The teacher being true to his teachings, advises the disciple that he needs to surrender to God's will. He needs to let go of his worldly concerns, of his personality. The teacher tells the disciple that he needs to be in touch with the aspect of his essence having to do with surrender—the part of his being in which his heart melts.
Now what will the disciple do? His need is not for the aspect of surrender. His exact need at the moment is for the aspect of will. His life, his situation, his mind, his heart, are all crying out for confidence and determination. But his teacher tells him he needs surrender. He loves his teacher. He trusts him. He believes him. But what can he do?
Here in a nutshell, we see the dilemma. No wonder nothing happens. The disciple goes back to his chanting or his prayers or his supplications. But obviously nothing happens, except frustration and more suffering. The teacher looks at his disciple, sees him doing his prayers, but can also discern under the surface that he is fighting, trying to assert his will. The teacher tells his student he is only pretending, that he is not really surrendering, not trusting.
It is true that the disciple is only pretending. But he is in a bind. His essence is approaching his consciousness with the aspect of will. Yet his guru—who is supposed to be the representative of essence—exhorts him to surrender. The teacher has his heart open, feels surrendered to God, and truly believes his disciple needs the same thing, needs to surrender his will.
It is true the disciple needs to surrender his will, or more accurately, attune it with reality. But first he must have his will. First he must resolve his personality issues that have to do with feeling castrated and weak. Then it is possible for him to surrender his will. So of course, unconsciously, he is looking for his will; he certainly is not surrendering, and his teacher is aware of this. However, although his teacher is right in his judgment, he is not right in the way he handles his student. He is making inappropriate demands, being blind to what the student requires specifically at the moment; he is being inefficient.
Some might object by saying that the student should surrender to God's will. God's will is will and since he needs will, then surrendering to God's will should resolve his conflicts.
But personal will and the Divine will are two distinct aspects of essence at the beginning. First the individual needs to realize his personal will which is an actual, pure aspect of essence. Only then can he surrender or align his personal will to the divine will. Until then, he has no will to surrender.
Now, if the teacher happens to be oriented towards will, like Gurdjieff, then the student will be in good hands. Gurdjieff will know exactly what the student needs. Gurdjieff has will, embodies will, is will. So not only does he say the right words to the student, but the student can actually see and feel what will is like, for he sees it in the person of his teacher. This situation is exactly tailored for his personal needs. The teacher diagnoses accurately the problem of the student, and gives him the right teaching and the appropriate practices to deal with his situation.
The student can relate to the teaching. His heart is touched. The teaching is appropriate. It actually speaks to him. The teacher recognizes his personal concerns, his everyday occupations. His teaching addresses his personal present-day sufferings.
In addition, his teacher presents him with the resolution for his situation. The solution is right there in the person of the teacher himself: what he says, how he says it, how he moves, his voice, his posture—all these things emanate and express will—exactly what he needs.
The powerful presence of the teacher in the aspect of will ignites the student's approaching will, supports it and enhances it, pulls it out nearer to consciousness. There is a meeting between the student's consciousness and the teacher's consciousness. There is an implicit understanding, a merging, a union that transforms the student. Now he has will. Now he knows will. Now he is will. He feels solid, immovable. He feels there is solid ground beneath him, supporting him. He is this solidity. Not only that, he knows his essence—for will is an aspect of his essence, his true nature. This will be a tremendous help in actualizing the other aspects of his essence in all of its immensity.
Let us now suppose that the student is not dealing with issues related to will, but that his life is primarily dominated by issues of surrender. He feels strong, willful, rigid. His heart is hard. He is always guarding his independence and autonomy. He cannot surrender to feelings of vulnerability. He cannot love. In sexual relationships he cannot risk the openness of genuine intimacy; he cannot allow a sense of melting with his partner. He feels the lack of softness, or surrender. He is tired of being the strong one who never falters. He wants to give himself, but he cannot; he is afraid of losing his strength, his will, his independence, his individuality.
In this instance, Gurdjieff would be of no help. Gurdjieff and his system are will-oriented. Gurdjieff's teachings would not be appropriate. Performing super-efforts would just add to his rigidity, and lack of softness.
But the teacher who embodies the aspect of surrender would be effective with this student. Somebody like Ramakrishna, like Rumi, or a Hassid would be just right. Then not only will he receive the appropriate teaching for him, but he will also be in intimate contact with the quality of surrender itself. What is offered is exactly what he needs. He will be able to understand his issues, resolve his conflicts, and his heart will melt in the golden essence of love and surrender.
The aspect of surrender can help the person surrender to other aspects of essence. This will depend on the teacher again, and on the system of teaching, because if the system does not admit to the existence of other aspects, then the system itself will become a barrier against these aspects.
So the question arises: When a student is able to embody one essential aspect, such as surrender, what happens to the other aspects of essence? What happens to the other sectors of the personality?
This will depend on the student and the teacher alike. Normally, after one issue is dealt with, another sector of the personality is activated and starts dominating the individual's life. The order in which these sectors rise to consciousness is not predictable. What sector does arise will depend on the individual's personality and his present circumstances.
An individual who has just resolved his issues of merging and surrender, and has realized his essence in this aspect might find himself beginning to feel weak. Issues relating to the aspect of strength have started to surface; he now experiences emotional conflicts around weakness and the desire for strength. He starts having doubts as to whether he is strong enough to separate from his past, or his dependency on his mother, or from his personality. He feels he has no energy to do anything. His pelvis is tight. He lacks sexual energy. He can merge with his love partner, but has difficulty consummating the sexual act. He needs strength, fire, energy, expansion. But whenever he feels strong, he also feels angry; he cannot differentiate between strength on the one hand, and anger and hostility on the other.
In this particular case, strength is approaching—this is known as the fire aspect of essence—and is pushing to the surface the issues that have kept it buried.
Again, the situation depends upon the teacher. If the teacher who is embodying and manifesting the golden aspect of surrender is able also to embody the aspect of strength, then the student is again in good hands. The teacher will be able to see and understand the new situation of the student. He will talk to him from the perspective of strength now, and not from the perspective of surrender. He will be able to shift spontaneously his manifestation to that of strength. He will give his student the teaching from the perspective of strength, energy and expansion. He will be able to talk to him in a personal way about his most intimate feelings and conflicts. He will give the student practices that deal with his particular situation and ignite his fire and strength.
The teacher will shift his own state of consciousness; his presence will now be strength. He embodies strength. His words, his gestures, his stories, his posture, his actions—all emanate strength, energy, vitality. His presence is expansive. His ideas are sweeping and bold. He is alive, full of vitality and vigor. His fire-like quality beckons the strength of the student sparks it, brings it forth. He sets his student's presence ablaze with his own magnificent expansion. Fire unites with fire. There is a union, a union that consumes the student's conflicts about strength as the essential aspect of strength frees him. It ignites his passion. His spirit is now passionately in the service of essence.
If, however, the teacher is not aware of the necessity to communicate this aspect of strength, he will not embody it. If the individual is still directed toward surrender, even his issues about strength will be seen by the system from the perspective of surrender. Either the student's efforts will be stymied, and he will be left with frustration and suffering, or his personality will start to stabilize around the aspect of essence already realized—the merging aspect of surrender. This latter phenomenon is rare, although it can happen, depending, among other factors, on the student and his personality structure. The discipline of the system based on surrender is usually structured around enhancing and developing the merging golden aspect of essence. In rare instances, the discipline and the related practices can succeed in crystallizing the consciousness of the student around this aspect.
But the best course for the student is to deal with his arising conflicts around strength, in order to realize this aspect of essence. He can of course go to another teacher, like Sai Baba, who embodies the aspect of strength. But it is important to understand that the student himself is seldom aware of his exact needs. He is not even aware that there is such a reality as that of the strength aspect. And this is why it is crucial that the teacher be alert and able to embody the aspects of essence that are specifically required by the student for the resolution of his issues, in whatever order they may appear.
As we described earlier, some schools like the Naqshbandi Sufi order will send the student to the teacher of one Sufi order and then to another and then to another. By working with teachers who embody specific aspects of essence, the student is able to resolve various sectors of his personality, and actualize the corresponding aspects of essence in himself. This process can continue until the personality is clarified and the student can let go of his ego-identification, to experience the cosmic aspect of essence, the freedom aspect of essence, and the various other aspects without the centeredness of the ego.
It is becoming obvious in this discussion that the ideal situation for the seeker is to be in contact with the right teaching at the right time, so that each sector of the personality is resolved as its corresponding essential aspect is realized. However, this is not possible for the individual to do on his own, except in the rarest of instances. Our concern here is more with the effectiveness of the teachings for the greatest number of people. Also, there are very few schools like the Naqshbandi, who implement something like the diamond perspective by sending students to different teachers.
Of course, the most effective teaching will be a complete teaching, a teaching that is cognizant of all aspects and has the understanding of each single aspect. The more aspects of essence a teacher understands and embodies, the more effective he is. The most effective teacher, the teacher who can reach the greatest number of individuals, is obviously the one who understands and embodies all aspects of essence. He can perceive the situation of any student, can give the teaching appropriate to the student at each stage of his development and can manifest each of the aspects as they are needed by the particular student.
This kind of teacher, the complete teacher, is a realizable ideal. There are accounts of teachers like this who can reach the various kinds of personalities, and can guide a disciple through all the stages. Buddha is known to have possessed this capacity. He refused to expound on metaphysical questions and restricted his discourses and teachings to the needs of the particular student Mohammed is known to have said: “Talk to each individual according to his capacity for understanding.”
Many people involved in the paths of inner realization believe that if any teacher is realized or enlightened then he can understand every student. This is not true. Almost all teachers are specialized in one or more aspects of essential reality. Such teachers can at best understand all students from the teacher's own perspective. The teacher centered in cosmic consciousness can understand all students, but he can understand them only from the perspective of his own state—that of cosmic consciousness. His understanding is accurate, but as we have already shown, it might not be the kind of understanding most effective for the student.
Understanding the student from the perspective of the essential aspect that he happens to be dealing with is far more effective for him than any other kind of understanding. This is because it will speak to him directly in a most immediate and personal way, and only the complete teacher, one who has resolved all the sectors of his personality and who can embody any aspect of essence whenever it is needed, will be able to understand each student from the perspective that is most useful to him.
The Indian teacher, Sri Aurobindo, understood this point clearly. He writes that the person operating from the enlightened state like that of cosmic consciousness will be able to understand all points of view, but only by uniting them in one point of view—that of cosmic consciousness. But, he writes, this is not as powerful as understanding each point of view on its own. He speaks of his work as actualizing what he called the “supermind” which is a dimension of essential realization, a consciousness that is able to hold all points of view, all at the same time, and all equivalently.
The “diamond consciousness,” responsible for the diamond perspective, is like Aurobindo's “supermind” in its capacity to look through all facets. Cosmic consciousness looks without facets so it sees everything, all points of view integrated in one perspective. The diamond consciousness can see all points of view, including the integrated point of view of cosmic consciousness, and hold all these perspectives and as equally valid.
An objection might be raised here that using one enlightened point of view, using one aspect of essence, can lead all the way to liberation from suffering, and that there is no need to use all aspects. This is quite true, and most realized individuals have become realized in this way. But we are concerned with the question of effectiveness, of a way of working that can be more effective for more people. Although it is possible to bring an end to personal suffering by using only one aspect, or perspective—such as awareness, or will, or surrender—it is at best, uncertain that this will occur. The rate of success of this approach is quite meager, as history attests. Most teachings have utilized one or a few aspects in their practices. If this approach were truly effective, we would see more success, we would see many more realized and liberated individuals. We started this book by seeing how ineffective most teaching systems are.
We can take a specific, well-known aspect, as an example to understand this point. This aspect of essence is that of energy. This is the pure self-existing energy that is usually called Kundalini or Shakti. Many teaching systems, many teachers, utilize this energy to accomplish total liberation. This approach certainly works sometimes, as attested to by the liberated individuals who have used this aspect of Kundalini.
However, we ask: How many people who use Kundalini do get liberated? Very, very few. And Kundalini is one of the most effective aspects when used on its own. Also, it is one of the easiest to activate. The fact is that many people do get their Kundalini activated, but very few of them are able to use it to liberate themselves, even with the help of a realized master. The activation of Kundalini is not the same as liberation, and is not even a guarantee for it. The activation of Kundalini often only leads to more problems, more suffering, more stuckness.
A very strict discipline, a consistent practice, and preferably guidance by a very skilled and realized guide, are necessary for Kundalini to be used effectively. Even with all of this, the rate of success remains minimal. This is because Kundalini, like any other essential aspect deals only with one sector of the personality and not with the whole thing. For Kundalini to bring about liberation, not only must the teacher be quite powerful, the disciple's dedication and discipline must be impeccable.
We can see this clearly and touchingly in the case of Muktananda in his spiritual biography. He belongs to a powerful and well-established lineage, the Indian Siddha path. His teacher, the Siddha master Nityananda, is powerful, firm, even severe with him sometimes. He keeps actualizing and strengthening Muktananda's Kundalini through his own Shakti, or spiritual power. But what we also see in the biography is Muktananda's impeccable patience, his consistent perseverance, his complete dedication to his sadhana (practice), his deep, unfaltering devotion to his Guru and his unwavering discipline. Not only that he also lived a life of renunciation, celibacy and seclusion. Slowly, and with many pitfalls, with the guidance of his Guru, he was able to ascend to higher levels of consciousness, to the “blue pearl,” and then to cosmic consciousness. His biography indicates that his Kundalini and other aspects of his work activated in him four primary, essential aspects—what he calls the Red Aura, the White Flame, the Black Light and the Blue Consciousness.
But Muktananda is an isolated instance, a rare instance. How many others of Nityananda's students were realized like Muktananda? And how many of Muktananda's thousands of disciples have been liberated? He worked diligently all the time, imparting Shakti to his disciples, guiding them, and inspiring them. Many have their Kundalini activated; many have their hearts opened. But liberation still eludes them. They still keep moving in their personality cycles, hoping and waiting for the magical moment. It is not their fault, neither is it the fault of their Guru. The basic human dilemma of the persistence of suffering is operative here as it is in most situations.
It is a specific characteristic of Kundalini that it gives the individual an amazing amount of energy, without giving any understanding or wisdom. In the right context, it can lead to wisdom, but on its own it does not impart understanding. It does not resolve the individual's personal issues and conflicts. Its manifestation can lead to ego-death and cosmic consciousness, and then the essence can descend. But if we were to depend on Kundalini, the human dilemma would stay the same, and this does not offer much hope for many people.
However, there is hope. There is a unique and beautiful solution: namely, using essence itself to bring about the transformation. This does not mean that there is no need for deep work, dedication and devotion. All these are still necessary, but there is in essence a bigger help and a more accurate guidance.
We just said that Kundalini is an aspect of essence. This is true, but in a very specific way—in the sense that Kundalini is a true energy, the energy of essence. However, Kundalini is usually not seen as an aspect of essence because it is energy. Essence, in the strict sense of the word, is our being. It is the very substance of existence. Essential aspects exist on the being level and not on the energy level.
(Kundalini is usually known as the ascending force, distinguishing it from the descending force. The descending force through which people like Aurobindo attained their realization, is nothing but essence itself.)
Now, if there were a way to activate essence in such a way that it would keep manifesting one aspect after the other without being interrupted, then our solution would be found. And in fact, there is a way that will do just that. This has to do with a certain essential aspect, that of space—space, the dimension of emptiness, the dimension of the void. If a person can experience space, then essence will manifest spontaneously, one aspect following another.
The aspect of space is, just like any other essential aspect, related to a certain sector of the personality. Dealing with this sector, which has to do with self-image, will easily precipitate the experience of space. This in turn will activate the descending force, essence, in its various aspects. The presence of precise knowledge about this aspect of space, along with the presence of the teacher who embodies it or who embodies all aspects, will lead easily and quickly to the realization of this basic openness. This is because the issues concerning it, those connected to self-image, are usually close to the surface consciousness of the individual. Most people deal with self-image most of the time, and its issues are thus more available to consciousness than the other sectors of the personality.
When the openness of space is realized, it has an allowing influence on the other aspects of essence. Space becomes the emptiness that can be filled by any aspect of essence. Very shortly an essential aspect starts approaching consciousness, or descending into consciousness as some prefer to say. But as we have seen, in the diamond perspective, each aspect is connected to, and actively resisted by, a certain sector of the personality. This sector of the personality surfaces to consciousness and a particular set of conflicts and issues starts to dominate the individual's consciousness. Questions that were not his concern before, now become most intimate personal concerns; they become burning questions.
This great service which essence performs for us is difficult to appreciate. Neither Kundalini nor any teaching, nor any teacher can do what essence can do. Essence makes us face parts of ourselves that we usually do not face, that we do not choose to face. When an aspect of essence begins to manifest, it changes our perception of the related sector of the personality from ego-syntonic to ego-alien. Sectors of the personality that were never questioned before, start being experienced as an imbalance in our equilibrium, as suffering or causing suffering.
As an aspect of essence pushes forward toward consciousness, it acts on the personality. Essence is a force, and the sector of the personality related to the emerging aspect of essence becomes stronger and more forceful in order to be able to resist the emerging essence and to keep it out of consciousness. The very existence of the personality depends on unconsciousness, on maintaining its established patterns and conditioning. The personality does not want to change. As essence emerges, the conflict between essence and personality will be magnified and become more obvious. The conflict between the unconditioned part and the conditioned part becomes the focus of attention. The relevant sector of the personality will manifest more and more strongly now in consciousness, until it becomes imperative for us to look at it and deal with it in a real and effective way. It becomes necessary for us to understand and resolve the issues related to this part of the personality. To avoid or ignore the issues becomes more difficult than to face them.
Here, essence acts as a perfect teacher. It does not, like most systems of teaching, try to make us deal with sectors of the personality that we personally experience as syntonic to our wellbeing. It actually disrupts our habitual equilibrium. Forcefully but gently, and in a balanced way, it reveals each sector of the personality as alien and contradictory to our best interests. No human teacher can be so exact, so effective, and so appropriate.
If the aspect of essence approaching consciousness is that of samadhi, for instance, it will push out the issues around desire. The individual will start seeing in his own experience how desire leads to suffering. He cannot help but experience the nature of desire, its movements, its action. He will see it not according to what the Buddha or Krishnamurti say, but according to his own experience. He will become forced to experience attachment to desire as contrary to the harmony and peace of his mind. It will become necessary for him to understand his desires. He will long, personally and deeply, for the desireless state. This will happen even if he has never heard any teaching about desire, even if he has never conceived of a desireless state.
This longing, this personal and intimate yearning for the desireless state, is the longing for the essential aspect of samadhi. As it pushes forward to consciousness, it not only exposes the issues, it also brings to consciousness the awareness of the lack of peace and the quietness of mind of the state of non-desiring. This awareness of deficiency, this hole in the being, this lack of the complete peace of mind of the desireless state of samadhi, makes the person long for this essential aspect, even if he doesn't know that there is such an aspect.
What a teacher essence is! It exposes the issues, makes us look at them as dystonic, makes us feel the lack of the essential aspect, makes us long for the aspect. Now the teaching about desire becomes our personal concern. It is no more only Buddha's concern, it is now our own personal concern; and it is such a burning issue for us, such a burning question that it makes us ache and long for an answer, a solution. We cannot rest. The nearness of essence does not let us rest until we find the answer, until we come to the solution.
Essence is even more magical and more beautiful than that. It does much more than expose and bum the personality. As it approaches consciousness, we start getting intuitive understanding about our situation, about our dilemma. As our consciousness is touched by the emerging aspect, essence infuses it with its quality, with its knowledge, with its teaching, with its understanding. Slowly, we start getting the teaching regarding desire, by ourselves, from our own essence. The understanding we get is completely relevant to our situation. It speaks to us; it resolves our personal conflicts. The understanding is lived, is alive.
As the desireless aspect of essence begins to emerge, it infuses our consciousness. The understanding of our suffering and our conflicts around desire coincides with the emerging of essence in consciousness. The intuitive understanding about desire dissolves the related sector of the personality. And as this part of the personality is burned away in the knowledge emanating from the essential aspect, the essence is then free to emerge. Now we are not only infused by the desireless state of samadhi, we are the very state of desirelessness itself. The essential aspect becomes the consciousness, becomes our being and our presence. We now know what it is to be without desires because we are not only desireless, but we are desirelessness itself. We are now the essential aspect of samadhi, desireless, peaceful, rested, expanded and deep. No movement of desire. No movement of attachment. No holding to anything.
No human teacher can perform such service to a student. He can embody and manifest the desireless state, but essence allows us to taste desirelessness, fills us with the very substance and consciousness of the desireless state of samadhi. It manifests in us in the form of this aspect. It manifests this aspect in us as ourselves, as our very being. Now we truly know, because now we are what we know. We do not have to look at any teacher. We have the perfect teacher in our very own being.
An important point to understand here, a point not seen by many teaching systems, is that essence is always needed for the right understanding to arise. Most teachers assert that the mind first needs to understand and see its many ways of going about things, and then the mind will stop, and essence will manifest.
The interesting thing is that these teachers assert at the same time that the mind cannot free itself.
What we see in the examples we have given so far, is that the mind cannot reach the necessary understanding on its own. It is truly incapable of freeing itself.
Only the presence of essence enables the mind to see and understand. When the appropriate aspect of essence is present (although the individual might not be conscious of it), it infuses the consciousness with its own reality. Only then is the mind able to see. The reality to be understood must be there, and it has to touch the mind, for it to see and understand.
The understanding of such fundamental realities as desirelessness or selflessness is actually the understanding of certain aspects of essence; when these aspects are not present the mind is unable to understand. Understanding can at best be intellectual
In fact the central function of the teacher is that he be the embodiment of essence. Because he is essence, he can transmit it to the student who is receptive to him. Then the presence of essence in the student will bring about the transformation.
True, the mind must respond, must see and understand, for there to be a transformation. Otherwise it will block the force of essence. The mind does part of the work, but cannot do the whole work. The other half of the work, the more fundamental half, is done by essence itself, by its very presence. Essence is the transformative agent.
Essence is a relentless teacher. It does not stop at any aspect. After one aspect is understood and realized, it starts manifesting another aspect. This aspect in its turn now pushes into consciousness the particular sector of the personality connected to it, and makes it imperative for us to understand and resolve it. The emerging aspect makes us feel the lack of its quality. It makes us long and yearn for it. Gently but consistently, intelligently and knowingly, it puts pressure on us to start longing for it. Then it provides us with the insights, the intuitive knowledge that help us understand our disharmony. And finally it shows itself, culminating our experience by manifesting itself as a complete and absolute resolution for our conflicts.
Essence is then the teacher. Essence is then the taught. Essence is then the freedom. Essence is then the realization. Essence is then the fulfillment. Essence is then the being. Essence is then the very nature and substance of the individual. Essence is then the experience, the experienced and the experiencer. Essence is then the truth. Essence is then the nature of all reality.
This process of essential development continues as personality is clarified and worked through. Essence manifests itself to the individual's consciousness as the true strength, will, joy, compassion, love, peace, truth, fulfillment, consciousness, awareness, knowledge, freedom, samadhi—as one aspect follows another. The amazing richness of essence manifests in that there is an essential aspect for every important human situation or condition. The aspect that is experienced is experienced as the complete and exact fulfillment for these situations. The exactness, the precision and fitness are astounding. The beauty of essential action cannot but fill the consciousness with wonderment.
There is, for instance, an aspect that relates to pleasure, and this is different from the aspect of joy, which is different from the aspect of fulfillment, which is different from the aspect of satisfaction, and so on. There is the aspect of personal will, which is different from the universal or divine will. Then there is the aspect of essential conscience which guides one's life style and manner of relating to others. There are aspects that lead to the harmony of one's environment. There is an aspect that acts as a protector of the essential life which is different from the aspect of the defender of essence. There are aspects that relate to love and its various manifestations. There is a light, fluffy love, compassionate love, merging love, passionate love, divine love, and so on. The richness and the beauty of essence are endless. And the beautiful thing is that this richness acts at the same time to resolve personal conflicts and disharmonies.
The personality slowly loses its grip. The conditioning is gradually shaken loose, and the ego is exposed in its bankruptcy. Finally, the aspect of death manifests, and then the ego-identification starts dissolving. This marks the entrance into the divine realm of essence, where grace and mercy begin descending into consciousness, dissolving more and more of the ego boundaries. This ultimately leads to the understanding of enlightenment, and the emergence of the Supreme aspect. There is even an aspect that has to do with the search and with the end of seeking.
This in turn brings about the manifestation of the magnificence, the majesty, the exquisiteness, the magic, and the beauty of essence. Now, ego does not need to be slain. One does not have to wage war against ego, conquer or destroy it. Ego cannot but shatter at the recognition of the sheer beauty of essence and all of existence. It cannot but melt in the experience of the overwhelming precision and delicacy of essence. It cannot but bow and surrender at beholding the magnificence and majesty of reality.
Essence—the teacher, the tempter—becomes ultimately the very stuff of our consciousness, the very substance of our beingness, the beauty of all existence.
No wonder that essence is called the agent of inner transformation, the elixir of enlightenment. The elixir is the hope, it is the solution, and it is the fulfillment.