Sailor Bob Adamson (Advaita - Simple!)

I came across this guy a while back. I really like him. He was a student of Nisargadatta and there's a podcast called the advaita show that features him.

"Emptiness, suffused with intelligence (knowing), can be a useful pointer or description, but remember--the description can never be the described. It is a valuable pointer only if in looking or seeing there is a recognising of the actuality of this natural emptiness.

Every thing comes from, appears in, and returns to this natural emptiness. The coming and going of things is transience, but the cognising emptiness, being empty, does not come and go. Being empty, it is of itself no thing. It can never be filled or emptied of things, for things appearing in emptiness have no independent nature of themselves, and so in reality things are the same emptiness--appearing as other. Every thing perceived is emptiness.

There can only be a problem if things--including the so called 'seer'--are believed to be other than this natural emptiness".

members.iinet.net.au/~adamson7/intro.html

I don't know this guy well, but I know he is popular with a lot of folks who are in the Adyashanti community.

I happen to know John Wheeler, who sort of revealed Sailor Bob to the public. John's pointers are very clear and will allow everyone to understand what Nisargadatta meant by 'the sense I AM'. To get deeper and eventually beyond the 'I AM' (awakening proper), I warmly recommend the book "The Light Behind Consciousness" by the same John Wheeler.

Sailor 'Bob' Adamson and John Wheeler can sometimes give the impression that this is just too simple. In reality, it is that simple. But it took me 22 years to realize that the seeker is the sought, and apparently 30 years for John. This is the reason why dedicated practice is also required in order to gain a first-hand experience of what the pointers are really talking about.

That's really neat Alex. I guess practice is the key, as per usual

Alex, is there a particular book, not necessairly by John or bob, that you have found to be the most effective/practical in helping one to pursue this realization. I know nisargadattas final talks are often pointed out as particularly good, but i would value your input on this more than pretty much anyone as you seem to have really got a lot out of these things and are obviously a very experienced and accomplished practioner.

Hi Mumuwu,

I would say 'The Transparency of Things' by Rupert Spira and 'The Path of Sri Ramana, Part One' by Sri Sadhu Om. The latter contains the most precise description of Ramana Maharishi's method of Self-Investigation, way beyond the simple "who am I?" question popularized by Poonjaji. But most important is to first identify the 'I-thought' or 'the sense I am'. I may write a piece on the suject for those interested by this approach.

To get a general idea of what Advaita Vedanta is all about, I also recommend "The Ultimate Understanding" by Ramesh Balsekar.

Thanks Alex, I'll have an eye out for those.

I found the Ramana book online:
www.happinessofbeing.com/path_ramana.html

If I didn't know that excerpt was from Sailor Bob, I would have thought that it came from a Western Dzogchen teacher.

Emptiness (insubstantiality) with the power to cognize (know) - that's rigpa.

It's fun to see how the traditions come together when a common language is used.

Speaking of Dzogchen, here's one from the site I linked:

"We base what we talk about here on what the ancient traditions tell us. In Advaita, for instance, they call it non-dual'”one-without-a-second. The one-without-a-second part means that even one could imply that there is something other than one. In the Dzogchen scriptures they call it non-conceptual, ever-fresh, self-shining, presence awareness, just this and nothing else. And if you look at that, that is describing you, me and everything else. That presence of awareness is non-conceptual. You don't have to hold a concept about it. It's ever fresh because it has no beginning and no end. It is self-shining like the sun. It shines of itself. It doesn't need a light to say 'I am shining'. And that is what it is, just that which you cannot escape from, which you cannot get away from-presence-awareness."

It's quite beautiful. It makes me giddy

who would practice really you are what you are practicing end of story. If any one gets an opportunity to meet Bob there is a presence that is not really in any book, method or path, somehow bobs living essence resonates i never understood it yet bob shines and somehow the end of suffering, no more questions when seeing this

"
I would say 'The Transparency of Things' by Rupert Spira and 'The Path of Sri Ramana, Part One' by Sri Sadhu Om. The latter contains the most precise description of Ramana Maharishi's method of Self-Investigation, way beyond the simple "who am I?" question popularized by Poonjaji. But most important is to first identify the 'I-thought' or 'the sense I am'. I may write a piece on the suject for those interested by this approach.
"

Alex,

Yea. 'The Path of Sri Ramana, Part One' is the clearest thing I've ver read on it. It can be found free online in PDF format (as can Part 2 which deals with devotion/surrender).

I also want to recommend

Gangaji "The Diamond in Your Pocket"
Eckhart Tolle "The Power of Now" etc.
Adyashanti "Sponataneous Awakening" etc.

All of the above are great. Not traditional Advaita but Neo-Advaita (whatever that is - at least modern non-dualism without Sanskrit terminology).
I have them all as mp3s/audio books.
You´ll find lots of Eckhart tolle and Adyashanti stuff on youtube as well.
Adya has a Zen background but doesn´t really teach Zen, Gangaji was a disciple of Papaji. Only Eckhart Tolle comes from no tradition, spontaneous enlightenment through suffering. Eckhart Tolle is also one developed a most unique conceptual style (without meaning he´s better).
Also, David Godman´s edited Ramana Maharshi teachings "Be as you are" are recommended. It is edited in a way Q & A style that addresses specific topics.

All of them basically, as bauseer already hints to, have surrender as their highest spiritual teaching.

Just for the record, I recently came across some "newer" non-dualists:

David Scoma
Scott Kiloby
Jeff Foster

All of them are on youtube.
I would be interested in your opinions.
Sven

I really liked theendofseeking.net back in the day.

Sven, I've seen several talks by Jeff Foster, and he seems legitimate. I think at one point in his conscious.tv interview, he says that he did some writing and lecturing before he had completely 'gotten it', so that might be something to think about if picking up his earlier writings. But like I said, he seems legit from what I've seen. And fun to watch:

While we're throwing out Advaita recs, I can recommend Silence of the Heart by Robert Adams and a wonderful series of talks by Anthony de Mello (long)

I really enjoy listening to books and talks, as I think it helps my mind release things a little more effortlessly. Or maybe I'm just lazy.
-John

John,

thanks for the funny link.

I guess the near enemy of spirituality is BS


I have heard of Robert Adams ( see Ed Muzika´s & The Wanderling´s sites as well) and I think I have talks from Anthony de Mello somewhere). I put the book on my amazon wishlist...

Sven