Rupert Spira - Presence. Volume I, The art of peace and happiness

From an early age Rupert Spira was deeply interested in the nature of reality. At the age of seventeen he learnt to meditate, and began a twenty-year period of study and practice in the classical Advaita Vedanta tradition under the guidance of Dr. Francis Roles and Shantananda Saraswati, the Shankaracharya of the north of India.

During this time he immersed himself in the teachings of P. D. Ouspensky, Krishnamurti, Rumi, Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta and Robert Adams, until he met his teacher, Francis Lucille, in 1997. Francis introduced Rupert to the Direct Path teachings of Atmananda Krishna Menon, the Tantric tradition of Kashmir Shaivism (which he had received from his teacher, Jean Klein), and, more importantly, directly indicated to him the true nature of experience. Rupert lives in the UK and holds regular meetings and retreats in Europe and the USA.

Your self, aware Presence, knows no resistance to any appearance and is, as such, happiness itself; like the empty space of a room it cannot be disturbed and is, therefore, peace itself; like this page, it is intimately one with whatever appears on it and is thus love itself; and like water that is not affected by the shape of the wave it assumes, it is pure freedom. Causeless joy, imperturbable peace, love that knows no opposite and freedom at the heart of all experiencethis is our ever-present nature under all circumstances.

RUPERT SPIRA

SAHAJA PUBLICATIONS

PO Box 887, Oxford OX1 9PR

www.sahajapublications.com

A co-publication with New Harbinger Publications

5674 Shattuck Ave.

Oakland, CA 94609

United States of America

Distributed in Canada by Raincoast Books

First published by Non-Duality Press 2011

Second edition by Sahaja Publications 2016

Copyright Rupert Spira 2016

All rights reserved

No part of this book shall be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information retrieval system without written permission of the publisher

Designed by Rob Bowden

Printed in Canada

ISBN 9781626258761

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data on file with publisher

I would like to thank all those who have helped, directly or indirectly, with the publication of this book in particular, Ellen Emmet, Chris Hebard, Ramesam Vemuri, Ed Kelly, Loren Eskenazi, Julian Noyce, Iain and Renate McNay, Tom Tarbert, Caroline Seymour, Ruth Middleton, Victoria Ritchie, Rob Bowden, Jacqueline Boyle and John Prendergast.

Plump apple, smooth banana, melon, peach,

gooseberry How all this affluence

speaks death and life into the mouth I sense

Observe it from a childs transparent features

while he tastes. This comes from far away.

What miracle is happening in your mouth?

Instead of words, discoveries flow out

from the ripe fruit, astonished to be free.

Dare to say what apple truly is.

This sweetness that feels thick, dark, dense at first;

then, exquisitely lifted in your taste

grows clarified, awake and luminous,

double-meaninged, sunny, earthy, real

Oh knowledge, pleasure inexhaustible.

RAINER MARIA RILKE

Sonnet XIII, from The Sonnets to Orpheus, Part One

Translated by Stephen Mitchell

CONTENTS

It seems that every generation produces a few unusually clear voices that call us back to our essential, undivided nature. Rupert Spira is such a voice, and the collection of essays in these two volumes are his songs, his hymns of remembrance and celebration.

As with any song, we must be available to truly hear it. These overlapping writings are meant to be carefully pondered in order for their underlying, vibrant Silence to be heard and felt. Savour them slowly as you would a fine wine, a delicious meal or an exceptionally beautiful sunset. Let the wisdom and love from which they come saturate you. Feel how they act on you. That in you which knows and loves the truth will respond to their call to come home to who you really are.

These elegantly written and concise essays invite us to radically enquire into our direct experience. We are repeatedly challenged to investigate the apparently dual reality of a separate-inside-self and separate-outside-world. When we carefully observe our actual experience, the common-sense distinction of self and other dissolves like a line drawn through the air. Once the apparently separate self, which is a process of seeking and resisting, is clearly seen through, it loses its foothold in both our thinking and feeling. An apparent veil thins and eventually dissolves, revealing what is always already here: a Presence which is both the witness to and the substance of all experience. We recognise this seamless, intimate knowing of ourself, both with and without form, as love.

These essays are both timeless and contemporary. They are timeless in pointing to that which never appears or disappears. They are contemporary in expressing non-dual understanding in a way that is free of culturalbaggage and that is accessible and relevant to ordinary Westerners. While some modern non-dual teachings, in my opinion, overly emphasize the transcendent, these writings include a healthy dose of immanence. It is a balanced approach.

Rupert encourages us to welcome all of our human experiences, including our most difficult feelings and uncomfortable sensations, since it is in the body that our deepest identity as a separate self resides. As our bodies and minds are liberated from the oppressive tyranny of the illusory separate self, we are increasingly free to love, create and play. We are happy, grateful and peaceful for no reason. This transformation radiates out into our work and all of our relationships. It is a quietly revolutionary way of being.

Enjoy these potent and revelatory writings, and be prepared to be unveiled as you truly are and to discover life as it truly is: open, self-illumined Presence.

John J. Prendergast, Ph.D.

The cellist Pablo Casals explored and practised Bachs cello suites for thirty-five years before recording them. In many ways the contemplations in this book follow a similar approach, exploring a single theme with gentle but somewhat relentless devotion.

In fact, even now there is some reluctance to commit to the form of a finished book something whose nature does not lend itself readily to the written word. I would prefer the form of music, which dissolves as soon as it is uttered, leaving its true content as a formless perfume in the listeners heart.

This book is a meditation on the essential nature of experience, taking us on a journey into its heart. It is inevitable, therefore, that there is a certain amount of repetition.

For a mind that seeks new ideas, stimulation or entertainment, this repetition may seem frustrating at times, but for one who seeks the heart of experience it will not be experienced as such. Instead, we may see these contemplations as an ever-deepening exploration of experience, giving way in time to an immersion in its essence.

In this exploration layers of subtlety and meaning are uncovered, but we never rest for long on any particular formulation. Each new understanding dissolves the previous one, only to find itself being dissolved in time.

In fact, the potency of words which attempt to explore and express the nature of experience lies in their dissolving quality rather than their ability to formulate something that cannot accurately be put into words. It is in this spirit that I hope this book will be read.