This Is All There Is – There is No ‘Point B’
It became apparently clear to me in the past couple of years that the past and future don’t exist, they have no more solidity than a mist of smoke. Except the “IS”ness, the NOW-ness, everything else is a smoky mist. Just like we don’t DO the breathing, but the breathing happens by itself, we don’t digest the food, the digestion happens by itself, thoughts and words also just appear, and thinking and talking just happen by themselves. Do we know what thought would come in the next 20 seconds? Or what words would come out of our mouths in the next 20 seconds? Forget 20 seconds… next 5 seconds. Can we know what thought is going to appear in our heads in the next 5 seconds? Forget 5 seconds! Next 2 seconds! What thought are we going to think in the next 2 seconds? No! Thoughts appear by themselves, words are spoken by themselves, they rise and fall… from now… to now… to now… Everything happens spontaneously, from now to now to now.
There’s no point A, there’s no point B. Thinking that doing something at point A for X number of years, towards some point B in the future, and that, at point B, something else will happen, which will cause the ultimate goal called enlightenment or liberation, is, again, a smoky mist. There is no point B where liberation happens. Liberation is right here right now. In fact, there is no point B at all. Whatever was, is, and will be, is right here right now. When now is veiled by a story, it seems like we are not liberated. When the story disappears, there’s liberation.
Liberation is not eternal joy. Liberation simply is. What’s wrong with sorrow? What’s wrong with discomfort? What’s wrong with hurt? They are just energies rising and falling… from now… to now to now… there is nothing wrong with any energy. The spiritual books talk about going deep in meditation, seeing lights, heaven, angels, Gods. Seeing light and sound are just siddhis. Just like some people can code on a computer, some can play musical instruments, some people can see light during meditation, or better yet, even have some magical powers like teleporting. Of course, not everyone can sit, analyze, and code in a computer, and in the same way, not everyone can see light or teleport. There’s no difference between one or the other. They are just different “skillsets”.
The confusion around liberation is that the people who are liberated seem to exhibit some siddhis or powers. So, we thought, “It’s for them. They are in Point B. They have these powers. They are so peaceful. They are always smiling. Not for me. I am still in Point A. I have stress. I need to do something to get to Point B… I need to accumulate good karmas… I need to take several rebirths to wash my sins off… I need to be visited by some angel and bestowed this gift of liberation… I need to… I should… This would… “
STOP. There’s no need or should. This is it.
There is nothing that could be added or removed from this moment that would make it any more enlightened than it already is.
There’s a beautiful Zen saying. Before liberation, chop wood and carry water. After liberation, chop wood and carry water. The only difference being, the sense, “I am chopping wood, I am carrying water” disappears. The “I am” disappears after liberation.
Tiger kills deer. Deer eats grass. There’s is no “I am” there. Tiger doesn’t think, “I am strong, I am going to kill the weak deer”. Neither the deer thinks, “I am weak, I eat grass, and poor me, I am going to be eaten by the tiger”. There’s no doership, neither for the tiger, nor for the deer. The “I am” is the “Illusion”, “Maya”. “I am chopping wood and carrying water. I am doing this every day. I am bored. I don’t know what to do with life”. And after liberation, it’s simply, “Chop wood and carry water”.
How, why, when, the “I am” falls away is a mystery. But when it falls away, there’s an instant recognition that there was never an “I am” to begin with. There was no “I am” when we were 1 year old babies. We don’t think, “I am a baby, I am peeing in the bed, I suck”. Probably it’s the other way around, we probably pee, feel relieved, and smile in bliss sitting on the pool of pee. Somehow, the “I am” energy starts growing, and the stories start sticking. And sure, a story is narrated, “I am a 6-year-old, I pee in the bed, I suck”. There was no difference between the two, except a voiceover narration. This “I am” is like a magnet that attracts shame, guilt, anger, “I am good”, “I am not good enough”, confidence, lack of confidence, “I am good looking”, “I am not good looking”. An extremely serious person is born out of this “I am”. And whatever is stuck to it, from parents, from beliefs, from the surroundings, from country, from religions, forms a story. “I am so and so”.
From constantly looking for a Point B throughout life, like career, money, relationships, achievement, goals, grades, success, etc., comes a point when the other Point Bs seemingly start to fade, and comes an ultimate point B called “spirituality”. “Hey, you are lucky that the other point Bs faded, there’s this point B called enlightenment which is what you should focus on”.
Seeking a Point B continuously, whether career, money, relationships, success, or this extolled point B called “enlightenment”, is like running on a treadmill to reach somewhere. Nobody reaches anywhere by running on a treadmill. In fact, there’s not even any place to reach.
Because this is it. This is all there is. There’s nowhere else to go, nothing more to, everything that ever happened or happening or will happen is right here right now.
The seeming “spiritual path” is just to thin the story-veil, so it becomes clear that the only thing that’s ever in the existence is now. Spiritual seeking is a paradox, the purpose of spiritual seeking is like looking for a black cat in a dark room that doesn’t exist. Spiritual seeking is kind of like a cosmic joke, we get tired of seeking realizing that there’s nothing to seek, and right then, liberation happens. The whole life story, the personality, etc. are made of the same material that our dreams are made of. It looks real during sleep, but once we wake up, it’s just a smoky mist.
Like Ramana Maharishi said, using the mind to get liberated is like making the thief a policeman, a lot of inquiries will be made, but there will be no arrests. Mind is there, it will do its thing, body is there, it will do its thing, mind will try to protect ego, try to look for approval etc., body will try to do its thing to survive, it will snap its hand out if put on fire, but you just be the witness of the happenings. Like J Krishnamurthy said, “You want to know the secret of liberation? I don’t mind whatever happens”. Like some Gurus say, “Enlightenment is the biggest joke”. It’s the now, that’s it. Do we have any doubt that now is all there is? Who said there’s a point B where something happens? Nothing happens anywhere. Through intense sadhana we may get all kinds of siddhis, no doubt, maybe one day even walk through walls, but that has got nothing to do with liberation.
Liberation is the unconditional acceptance of now. There’s no point B, there’s only now.