© MyDattatreya 2021 All rights reserved
Designed by Tamara Lj.
Menu
Robert Adams [1928-1997] is probably the best-known modern-day Advaita Vedanta [non-duality] teacher of American origin. Born in New York, USA, and later becoming a devotee of the Indian sage Ramana Maharshi, Robert became an independent teacher of non-duality after the death of Ramana Maharshi and having met many other well-known Indian gurus. He returned to California and gathered a small group of devotees in the Los Angeles area with whom he met for Satsang every week in the early 1990s. Robert’s teachings are clear and profound and have attracted a dedicated following worldwide. He has become known through the transcriptions of his weekly Satsangs, parts of which are in his book ‘Silence of the Heart: Dialogues with Robert Adams’ [1999].
'OUR MISSION ON THIS EARTH IS TO BE OF SERVICE TO HUMANITY' 'IF THE END RESULT OF ILLUMINATION IS LOVE, COMPASSION, AND HUMILITY, WHAT IF WE WERE TO DO THAT NOW?'
In Robert’s words: ‘People have asked me about this, so I will tell you a bit of it: When l was a small child in a crib, a little man used to be on the other side. From the very beginning, as far back as I can remember, a little man with a gray beard and white hair used to appear before me at the other end of the crib, about two feet tall, and speak gibberish to me. I thought this was normal, and everybody had that experience.
‘For an extended period, l would lie there, and he would be talking to me from the edge of the crib. And, of course, being a baby, I didn’t know what he was saying. As far as I know, he has been talking to me ever since I was born, but I couldn’t understand him.
‘I used to believe everybody had that experience, and when I was about five or six years old, I told my parents about it, and they thought I was playing games. I told my friends, and they laughed at me. So I stopped saying anything about it. The visitations stopped when I was about seven. My father died, and suddenly, the little man stopped coming to me. Then I asked my mother, ‘What am I doing here? I don’t belong here.‘ I didn’t understand what I was saying, but I felt out of place. My mother thought I was crazy, and so did a lot of other people. She took me to the doctor, who told her it would go away.
‘When I was going to school, I never really fit in because I was always daydreaming. I had strange experiences. I used to sit in the class and become swallowed up in consciousness. I became omnipresent. I had out-of-body experiences. I just merged with consciousness. I couldn’t understand what was happening.
‘Something very interesting had happened to me. Whenever I wanted something, a candy bar, a toy, I would say God’s name three or four times, and it would appear from someplace. For instance, if I wanted a candy bar, I would say, “God, God, God.” Somebody would bring it to me, or it would come from someplace. When I went to school, I never used to study. When we had a test, I would say, “God, God, God,” and the answers would come. Once I wanted to play the violin, my mother told me that it would be too hard for me to play so that she wouldn’t buy me one. So I said, “God, God, God,” and a few hours later, my uncle, who I hadn’t seen in about five years, appeared, bringing me a violin because he thought I needed one. And this went on and on while I was going to school.
‘At the age of fourteen, at the end of a school term, we were taking our finals test. This was a math test. I never studied for it, so I didn’t know anything. So, again, I said, “God, God, God.” But instead of the answers coming, the room became filled with light, a brilliant bright light, a thousand times more brilliant than the sun. It was like an atomic bomb, the light from the bomb, but it was not a burning light. It was a beautiful, bright, shining, warm glow. Just thinking of it now makes me stop and wonder. The whole room was immersed in light, everybody, everything. All of the children seemed to be myriads of light particles, and then I found myself melting, sort of, into radiant being, into consciousness. I merged into consciousness. It was not an out-of-body experience. An out-of-body experience is when your soul leaves your body. This was completely different. I realiSed that I was not my body. What appeared to be my body was not real. And I went beyond the light into pure radiant consciousness. I became omnipresent. My individuality had merged into pure absolute bliss. I expanded; I became the universe. The feeling is indescribable. It was total bliss, total joy.’
‘The next thing I remember is the teacher shaking me. All the students had gone, and I was the only one left in the class. The teacher shook me, and I returned to consciousness, human consciousness. That feeling has never left me.
‘When I went to the library to do a book report. I passed the philosophy section and saw a book on Yoga Masters. I didn’t even know what that meant at the time. I opened the book to a page and saw a picture of Ramana Maharshi. My hair stood on end because it was the same person who had appeared to me when I was a baby in my crib!’
At age sixteen, Robert started visiting Joel S. Goldsmith, a Christian mystic in Manhattan, to listen to his sermons. Goldsmith became Robert’s first spiritual mentor and helped him understand his enlightenment better. He advised him to go and see Paramahamsa Yogananda. Taking his advice, Robert visited Yogananda at the Self-Realization Fellowship in Encinitas, California, to be initiated as a monk. However, after speaking with Robert, Yogananda felt that he had his own path and advised him to go to India. He told him that his Satguru was a non-duality teacher named Sri Ramana Maharshi and that he should go to him as soon as possible because Ramana Maharshi was old and in poor health. Sri Ramana Maharshi lived at Sri Ramana ashram at the foot of Arunachala in Tamil Nadu, South India. Soon after, in 1946, when Robert was eighteen, he received $14,000 of inheritance money from an aunt who had deceased and used it to set off for India and find his Guru, Sri Ramana Maharshi.
In Robert’s words:
‘I arrived at Tiruvannamalai. In those days, they didn’t have jet planes. It was a propeller plane. I purchased flowers and a bag of fruit to bring to Ramana. I took the rickshaw to the ashram. It was about 8:30 a.m. I entered the hall, and Ramana was on his couch reading his mail. It was after breakfast. I brought the fruit and the flowers over and laid them at his feet. There was a guardrail in front of him to prevent fanatics from attacking him with love. And then I sat down in front of him. He looked at me and smiled, and I smiled back.
‘I have been to many teachers, many saints, many sages. I was with Nisargadatta, Anandamayi Ma, Papa Ramdas, Neem Karoli Baba, and many others, but never did I meet anyone who exuded such compassion, such love, such bliss as Ramana Maharshi.‘
Robert stayed at Sri Ramana’s ashram for the final three years of Ramana’s life. During that time, he had many conversations with him. In the first of these, Ramana Maharshi told Robert that they had been together in a previous life. Abiding in the presence of this great saint, Robert was able to confirm and further understand his own experience of awakening to the non-dual Self.
After Sri Ramana Maharshi left the body in 1950, Adams spent seventeen years traveling around India and stayed with well-known gurus such as Nisargadatta Maharaj, Anandamayi Ma, Neem Karoli Baba, and Swami Ramdas.
In the late 1960s, Adams returned to the United States and lived in Hawaii and Los Angeles before finally moving to Sedona, Arizona, in the mid-1990s. He became married to Nicole Adams and fathered two daughters. However, in the 1980s, Adams developed Parkinson’s disease, which forced him to settle in one location.
A small group of devotees soon grew up around him, and in the early 1990s, he started giving weekly Satsangs in the San Fernando Valley and other surrounding areas of Los Angeles. These Satsangs were recorded and transcribed and are the source of our knowledge about him. After several years of deteriorating health, Adams died on March 2, 1997, in Sedona, Arizona, surrounded by family members and devotees.
We know little about Robert’s parents’ spiritual background and the religious environment where he grew up. He shared with us that as a toddler, he had a nightly visitor who showed up as a small man at the end of his bed and spoke to him, but because nobody took this vision seriously, he soon stopped speaking about it. Later, after seeing a picture of Ramana Maharshi, he recognised that Ramana himself had appeared and talked to him when he was a young child.
At sixteen, Robert was drawn to a Christian mystic in Manhattan, New York, named Joel Goldsmith. Joel recognised Robert’s spiritual interest and recommended visiting Paramahamsa Yogananda at the Self-Realization Fellowship in California. However, after speaking with him, Yogananda realized that Robert had his own path to follow and suggested that he go and see Ramana Maharshi in southern India. So, in 1946, at the age of 18, Robert used the inheritance money of his aunt to travel to India and meet Ramana Maharshi. Robert stayed in Ramana’s ashram until Ramana died in 1950. After that, Robert traveled around India for seventeen years, meeting well-known gurus such as Anadamai Ma, Nisargadatta Maharaj, Neem Karoli Baba, Swami Ramdas, and Swami Brahmadanda in Varanasi.
In the late 1960s, at the age of 40, Robert returned to the United States, lived for a while in Hawaii, and settled down in the Los Angeles area, where he started teaching a small group of followers at the age of sixty in the early nineties. Adams did not hold himself out as a teacher, philosopher, or a preacher, but as a jnani [enlightened soul] sharing his insights. He did not write any books and was not looking for a large following. Instead, he preferred to teach a small number of dedicated seekers, who recorded his weekly Satsangs and later transcribed them.
Although Robert Adams was never initiated into a religious order or spiritual practice, nor became a renunciate, his teachings are solidly founded in the Hindu tradition of Advaita Vedanta [wisdom of non-duality]. As was taught by Ramana Maharshi, Robert taught self-inquiry as the principal way to transcend the ego and realise one’s true Self.
Be as a Flower
Truth is very simple.
A flower does not try to be beautiful.
Its True Nature is Beauty.
It Exudes Fragrance, Beauty, Perfection.
Just by its Very Being.
In the same way, when you Awaken
To your true nature,
You will naturally exude Love,
Compassion, Beauty.
It is all you.
For it is your True Self.
Become the Sage
‘Self-realisation comes when you no longer think about it when you no longer want it. When you totally surrender to the Sage saying, not my will but thine be done. You are keeping the Sages’ form and face before you all the time. The Sage realises when you’re ready; then grace comes, liberation comes, but do not think of these things. Your job is to develop tremendous humility. When I speak of developing humility, I’m not speaking of you becoming a stepping stone for people.
‘Real humility is strength, power. Real humility means nothing bothers you anymore. Nothing can disturb you to upset your equilibrium. You have tremendous compassion. You develop loving-kindness for everything, for the mineral kingdom, the vegetable kingdom, the animal kingdom, and the human kingdom.
‘You’re stepping out of your humanhood, taking a step forward in eternity, and not comparing yourself with other people. Not trying to do anything to anybody else. You simply see the Sage in your heart all of the time; then you finally become the Sage yourself.‘
Silence
‘The highest teaching in the world is silence. There is nothing higher than this. A devotee who sits with a Sage purifies his mind by being with the Sage. The mind automatically becomes purified. No words exchanged, no words said. Silence is the ultimate reality. Everything exists in this world through silence. True silence means going deep within yourself to that place where nothing is happening, where you transcend time and space. You go into a brand new dimension of nothingness. That’s where all the power is. That’s your real home. That’s where you really belong, in deep Silence where there is no good and bad, no one trying to achieve anything. Just being, pure being.‘
‘Therefore, the purpose of all practice is Silence, your real nature. Without Silence, you cannot be in peace so strive only for this. Even while active, remain in Silence as Silence and be conscious of Silence always. Ramana’s main teaching is Silence, and it is this Silence that silently answers all questions and removes all doubts. So train your mind to go to Silence. As Kabir said: “Keep your body, your mind, your intellect, and your prana quiet, and wisdom will follow behind you searching for you!” Be Silent by directing your mind toward its Source. The mind directed toward the object of the senses is the source of suffering.
‘The same mind must investigate its Source; the “I” must face its Source. This is true austerity, true practice, and true meditation. Face the Atman, this is Satsang, because this is home, the holy company of the Self. The holiest association is to Be as you are. This is Freedom. This is beyond imagination, very new, and very fresh. So just keep quiet and do not think. It is You. It is You. Don’t stir a thought, and if a thought comes, let it, don’t waver, don’t doubt your Majesty. It is so simple.
‘The one who has It will know that they have done it. When you are quiet, it is Beauty, Joy, and Stillness. It is effortless. Effort disturbs your mind; effort is playing with corpses in the graveyard. Just contemplate that which is always Silence. Go to the Source. Do not believe anything; simply stay quiet and return Home, and do not rest until you are there. Peace is only available when there is no “I,” but you need an “I” to do the practice.‘
You are consciousness
‘Do not focus your attention too much on your body, on your work, on your home, or anything else that has to do with the personal I, but lift your thoughts. Your mind will automatically come to rest in the heart, all by itself, and you will experience bliss all the time. You do not have to think about these things. You simply have to remember. For when you voice, “I am consciousness,” you are speaking the truth about yourself. When you say I am John, or Mary, or Jim or Henrietta, you’re speaking a lie about yourself. And the lie pulls you deeper, deeper, deeper into materiality. But when you say, “I am consciousness,” and pondering that for a while, all of a sudden, you start to feel good, for no reason. You just became bankrupt, but you feel good. A family member died, you feel good. You just feel good.
‘I’m not saying you make a fool out of yourself and say, “I don’t care what’s happening.” But, when you feel good the way I’m describing, spiritually good, you have great compassion for everyone, for everything. You give out loving-kindness to everything, humans, animals, vegetables, and minerals. It’s all the same. It’s all consciousness. And finally, it dawns on you; there’s a whole universe that is none other than myself.
‘I Am is the universe. Therefore from that moment on, when this realisation comes to you, you understand that whatever you give outside of yourself, you are giving to yourself. If you give out hate, you hate yourself. If you give out love, you love yourself. Now speaking as a person who is just beginning to unfold, once you awaken completely, there is no longer any hate, there is no longer any love, there is no longer thinking about giving out or taking in.
‘There are no others. You just become silence. But on the path to that, you see signs. You notice you are becoming kinder, more loving, more compassionate. So when a family member dies, you have great compassion, great love, and you help the suffering family members. You do not say, “I don’t care.” Many people take these teachings the wrong way. They believe they’re not supposed to care, “I don’t give a damn” attitude, but that’s wrong. You just understand. You give yourself completely, simply because you are the Self of all. There’s only one Self. That Self is consciousness, pure awareness, bliss.‘
All is well
‘All is exceedingly well.
Everything is in its proper place, doing what it is supposed to do.
Do not judge by appearances. Do not even judge yourself. You are a beautiful person just the way you are. When I say “just the way you are,” I refer to your real self, consciousness.
You are beautiful just the way you are, not what you think you are, not what you appear to be, not what the world shows you, but just the way you are right now.
When you are without thoughts, when you are without needs, without wants, without desires, then you are God. You are the universe. You are divine love. You are beautiful. Yet when you begin to think about these things, you deny it, for you think about the past and the future instead of staying centred in the eternal now. You think of the mistakes you made in life. You think about the dastardly things going on in this world. You think about your future, about the so-called recession. You are enmeshed in Maya. Do not continue to feel this way.
Your true nature is total bliss, and you exist in absolute bliss right now. Absolutely nothing is lacking in your life.
But when you think about it, there is. Therefore do not think. Stop thinking. When you stop thinking, all is well.
‘When you stop thinking, there are no mistakes. Do not concern yourself with the telephone, your body, your affairs, and what appears to be happening in the world. These things shall pass, and new things will come along. It never ends. It never stops.
Thoughts can never bring you peace, even if they are good thoughts, for good thoughts lead to bad thoughts, and bad thoughts lead to good thoughts.
You are to ask yourself:
“To whom do these thoughts come?
Who thinks?
Who is the thinker?
I am? I am the thinker?
Then who am I?
What is the source of the I that thinks?
Where did this I originate?
How did it originate?
Who gave it birth?
What have I got to do with I?”
Wake up. You are an asset to the human race, an asset to yourself, an asset to God. You are a wonderful person just the way you are, just the way you are.‘
Letting go
‘Trying to become something is the first mistake you make.
Trying to overcome your problems is the second mistake you make. Even trying to understand reality is a mistake.
The only thing left to do is to let go of everything else you’ve got, your fears, your frustrations, your concepts, your ideas, your ego. Everything must be given up.
There is absolutely nothing to gain.
There is absolutely nothing to gain because you are that already.
Yet you may ask, and rightly so, “You mean I shouldn’t care about my job, my family, my love for flowers or mountains or rivers? I shouldn’t care for any of these things?” Mentally, you shouldn’t. Your body will continue to do what it does and will feel better doing it. Everything is given up mentally. When everything is given up mentally, your vasanas [tendencies], your habits, the things that have held onto you for so long will automatically break loose, and you will find freedom.
Helping others
‘You can only give them your experience. Where you’re at and what you’re going to do, what you’re doing. See, you can explain to them what has helped you. This is as far as you go with people. But do not overthink people. Go deep within yourself. Dive within yourself. And just by being your Self, you will be an asset to others. Do you see what I mean? If you try to talk up a storm to people and say, “No, this is like this, you should do this. You should be doing it this way; this is the way to do it. I’ve been doing it for years; I’ve read many books I know what to do.”
It’s better to keep silent. Become an example yourself. And the further you go, the less you talk. You no longer have to try to make people feel as if you know something important. Instead, you’re going to help them. You simply be yourself, and everything will happen by itself.‘
Who are you?
‘Who are you? If you have to say, “I am absolute reality,” you are not that at all. When I ask the question, “Who are you?” there should be total silence in your mind. You are that silence, the silence beyond words, beyond thoughts, beyond being, beyond desire, that perfect silence, the stillness, beyond the void, beyond no mind. You are That. You have always been that.‘
Confession of a Jnani
‘For a Jnani [Wisdom Yogi] who has realised the identity of his inner being with the infinite Brahman, there is no rebirth, no migration, and no liberation. He is beyond all this. He is firmly established in Absolute Existence-Knowledge-Bliss. His true nature.
The further existence of his body and the world appears to the Jnani as an illusion he cannot remove but which no longer deceives him. After the death of this body, as in life, he remains where and what he eternally is, the first principle of all beings and things: formless, nameless, unsoiled, timeless, dimensionless, and utterly free. Death cannot touch him; cravings cannot torture him; sins do not stain him; he is free from all desire and suffering. He sees the infinite Self in all, and all in the infinite Self, which is his being.
The Jnani confesses his experience thus:
I am infinite, imperishable, Self-luminous, Self-existent, I am without beginning or end, I am birthless, deathless, without change or decay. I permeate and interpenetrate all things. In the myriad universes of thought and creation, I Alone Am.‘
Advaita Vedanta
Although Adams was never initiated into a religious order or spiritual practice, nor became a renunciate, his teachings have been referred to as being firmly based in the Vedic philosophy and Hindu tradition of Advaita Vedanta. Advaita (non-dual in Sanskrit) refers to the ultimate and supreme Reality, Brahman, which according to Ramana Maharshi, as interpreted by some of his devotees, is the substratum of the manifest universe, and if describable at all, could be defined as pure consciousness. Another term for Brahman is Atman. The word Atman is used when referring to Brahman as the inmost spirit of man. Atman and Brahman are not different realities, but identical in nature. Adams used a metaphor to explain this:
‘A clay pot has space inside of it and outside of it. The space inside is not any different from the space outside. When the clay pot breaks, the space merges the inside with the outside. It’s only space. So it is with us. Your body is like a clay pot, and it appears you have to go within to find the truth. The outward appears to be within you. The outward is also without you. There’s boundless space. When the body is transcended, it’s like a broken clay pot. The Self within you becomes the Self outside of you … as it’s always been. The Self merges with the Self. Some people call the inner Self the Atman. And yet it is called Brahman. When there is nobody in the way, the Atman and the Brahman become one … they become free and liberated.‘
Those in search of liberation from the manifest world will gain it only when the mind becomes quiescent. The world is in fact nothing other than the creation of the mind, and only by the removal of all thoughts, including the ‘I’ thought, will the true reality of Brahman shine forth. Adams taught self-inquiry, as previously taught by Sri Ramana Maharshi, in order to achieve this.
Self-inquiry
In his weekly Satsangs, Adams advocated the practice of self-inquiry (atma-vichara) as the principal means of transcending the ego and realising oneself as sat-chit-ananda (being-consciousness-bliss). After acknowledging to oneself that one exists and that whether awake, dreaming, or in a deep sleep one always exists, one then responds to every thought that arises with the question ‘Who am I?’:
‘What you are really doing is, you’re finding the source of the “I”. You’re looking for the source of “I”, the personal “I”. “Who am I?” You’re always talking about the personal “I”. !Who is this I? Where did it come from? Who gave it birth?” Never answer those questions. Pose those questions, but never answer them … do nothing, absolutely nothing. You’re watching the thoughts come. As soon as the thoughts come, in a gentle way you enquire, “To whom do these thoughts come? They come to me. I think them. Who is this I? Where did it come from? How did it arise? From where did it arise? Who is the I? Who am I?” You remain still. The thoughts come again. You do the same thing again and again.’
The Four Principles of Self-Realisation
Robert Adams shared the following based on a vision he received.
‘Then one of the bodhisattvas got up and asked a question; he said, “Master, what is your teaching?” It was not in English. I don’t know what language he spoke. But I understood quite clearly. And without hesitation, I said, “I teach Self Realization of Noble Wisdom.” And he sat down.
‘We sat for about another three hours in silence, and then another bodhisattva got up and asked a question. “Master, how can you tell when one is close to self-realization? How can you tell when one is about to become self-realized? How does one tell?”
‘And this is what I’d like to discuss today. How can we tell if we’re on the path correctly? I gave four principles, which I never do in the waking state. I never have a teaching. But I was giving a teaching, so I’ll share it with you. I explained four principles, where you know that you’re close to self-realisation. But, of course, we’re all self-realised already.
‘Principle number one: You have a feeling, complete understanding that everything you see, everything in the universe, in the world, emanates from your mind. In other words, you feel this. You do not have to think about it or try to bring it on. It comes by itself. It becomes a part of you. The realisation that everything you see, the universe, people, worms, insects, the mineral kingdom, the vegetable kingdom, your body, your mind, everything that appears, is a manifestation of your mind. You have to have that feeling, that deep understanding, without trying to.
‘So you ask yourself, “What do I think about all day long?” Of course, if you fear something, if you worry, if you believe something is wrong somewhere; if you think you’re suffering from lack, or limitation, or sickness or anything, then you’re out of it completely, because you do not understand that all these things are simply a manifestation of your own mind. And if you worry about these things, you become attached to false imagination. It’s called false imagination. You’ve been attached to habit energy for many years, and all these attachments and beliefs come from habit energy.
‘It’s like watching a TV show and becoming one of the characters while you know that you’re not even on the TV. But you believe you’re one of the characters in the TV show. So it is with the world. Do not get involved. I don’t mean you become passive. I mean, your body does what it’s supposed to do. Remember, your body came to this earth to do something. It will do something without your knowledge. It’ll take care of itself, don’t worry. But do not identify your body with your Self. They’re different. Your body is not your Self. And I’ll prove this.
‘When you refer to your body, what do you say? Don’t you say, “My body?” Who is this “my” you’re referring to? You say, “My finger,” “my eye.” Who are you referring to? You couldn’t be talking about your body because you’re saying it’s my body like you own it. Who owns it? This proves to yourself that you’re not your body. So do not identify your Self with the body and the world.
‘Therefore, the first principle, to see how close you are to self-realisation is: You are not feeling that you are identifying with the world. You’re separate, and you’re feeling happy because your natural state is pure happiness. Once you identify with worldly things, you spoil it. The happiness disappears; it dissipates. But when you’re separate from earthly things, happiness is automatic, beautiful, pure joy. It comes by itself. So that’s the first principle.
‘The second principle I explained to the bodhisattvas was this: You have to have a strong feeling, a deep realization, that you are unborn. You are not born, you do not experience life, and you do not disappear; you do not die. You are not born, you have no life, and you do not die. You have to feel this, that you are of the unborn. Do you realise what this means? There is no cause for your existence. There is no cause for your suffering. There is no cause for your problems.
‘Some of you still believe in cause and effect. This is true in the relative world, but in the world of reality, there is no cause. Nothing has ever been made. Nothing has ever been created. There is no creation. I know it’s hard to comprehend. How do I exist if I was not born, have no life, and disappear in old age? You exist as I-am. You have always existed, and you will always exist. You exist as pure intelligence, as absolute reality. That is your true nature. You exist as sat-chit-ananda. You exist as bliss consciousness, but you do exist. You exist as emptiness, as nirvana, but you do exist. So don’t worry about being non-existent. But you do not exist as the body. You do not exist as a person, place, or thing. Do you feel that? If you have a strong feeling about that, then you’re close to self-realisation.
‘Principle number three: You are aware, and you have a deep understanding of the egoless-ness of all things, that everything has no ego. I’m not only speaking of sentient beings. I’m speaking of the mineral kingdom, the vegetable kingdom, the animal kingdom, the human kingdom. Nothing has an ego. There is no ego. And do you realise what this means? It means that everything is sacred. Everything is God. Only when the ego comes does God disappear, what we call “God.” Everything becomes God. You have reverence for everything. When there is no ego, you have reverence for everybody and everything.
‘So you have to be aware of the egoless-ness of all things. Animals have no ego, minerals have no ego, vegetables have no ego, and humans have no ego. There is no cause, so there cannot be an effect. There is only divine consciousness, and everything becomes divine consciousness. So if you look at your fellow man and animals and everything else as egoless-ness, you will see them as your Self. Can’t you see that?
‘It’s the ego that causes separation. When I am full of ego, I become strong within myself. I become separate. So the more you like yourself as a person, the bigger your ego is. You say, “Well, I’m not supposed to like myself?” You’re supposed to love yourself, but what self are we talking about? We’re not talking about your body-self because that comes and goes. We’re talking about your permanent Self that has always been here. And your permanent Self is me, is you, is the world, is the universe, is everything, that’s your permanent Self, egoless-ness. That’s the only time you can love your fellow human beings when you have no ego. That’s how you can tell where you’re at if you’re close to self-realisation. That’s principle number three.
‘Principle number four is simply this: You have a deep conviction, a deep understanding, a deep feeling of what self-realisation of noble wisdom is. What is Self Realization of Noble Wisdom to you? You can never know by trying to find out what it is because it’s absolute reality. You can only learn by finding out what it is not.
‘So you say, “It is not my body, it is not my mind, it is not my organs, it is not my thoughts, it is not my world, it is not my universe, it is not the animals, or the trees, or the moon, or the sun, or the stars, it is not any of those things.” When you’ve gone through everything, and there’s nothing left, that’s what it is, nothing, emptiness, nirvana, ultimate oneness.
‘Anyway, I explained these four principles to all the bodhisattvas and all the mahasattvas. Then we sat three hours in meditation, and they got up and walked back into the forest. Then there was a flash of light, and I opened my eyes.’
‘You must do something spiritual every day. I call you to do these things every day. You will live in a New Reality. This will transform your entire life. You will have a Direct Experience of Bliss, Healing, and The Supreme. Peace, Love, and Truth that does not change will comfort you. Life will become bright.’
THE THREE VEHICLES
‘I give you this information so that you can do something with yourself, something practical. I give you the three vehicles that cross the ocean of samsara [illusion] to the land of self-realisation. But you have to use these vehicles. You have to work with them day after day. When you first get out of bed. When you first open your eyes. And these vehicles begin to make sense to you after you practice the four principles that I shared with you.
The First Vehicle
You have a strong desire to be alone. This doesn’t mean you become antisocial. It means that you have to make time to be alone. For instance, yesterday morning before 10 o’clock, I got three phone calls, invitations to go here, go there, go to a movie, and go to this place, but I declined. I was all by myself in the house. I sat down and looked at the trees, and before you knew it, it was five o’clock, but I was filled with bliss, filled with joy, filled with happiness, which never goes away, anyway. So there’s a time to be by yourself, and there’s a time to be with people. But those who want to become enlightened have to take the time to be by themselves.
So they can think of the four principles. They can inquire, ‘Where does the mind come from? Who thinks these thoughts?‘ Watch the thoughts, watch what they’re doing to you, observe them, do not react to them, but ask, ‘To whom do they come,’ and realise they come to you. ‘Who are you? Who am I?’ and as you follow the I thread to its source, there will be perfect peace in your life.
Take timeout by yourself; think about these things. That’s the first vessel. Be alone, be happy to be by yourself, where you’re not disturbed. For it’s only by being by yourself that you can think of these things and take control of your mind and your body. Spend lots of time by yourself. Being by yourself is not lonely when you understand what you’re doing. Begin to love to be by yourself. You can’t wait for the time that you can be alone.
The Second Vehicle
Love to be in Satsang. Satsang literally means to sit at the feet of the Master with an empty mind, not with preconceived ideas. Not with doubts. Not with a fighting spirit, but with an open heart. Love for Satsang leads to enlightenment. But you have to be careful in this world, to whom you go, where you go. There are so many movements, organisations, and pseudo-spiritual groups that it’s hard to decide where to go. The best way to know is to ask yourself, be by yourself. Then, if you are sincere and work on yourself diligently, something in you will lead you to the right place. Where you can grow and unfold beautifully.
The Third Vehicle
You have to have a desire to associate with people on the path like yourself, your friends. To associate with Sages, with people who think like you. Who are trying to unfold. It’s easy for the world to pull you down. You can associate with the wrong people, and they look exciting to you. They pull you down into Maya, and then you have to start all over again to work your way
THE PATHWAY OF PRAYER
‘Pray to God, and He Will Help You. Prayer Makes You Humble. It Makes You Pure. Every True Religion Includes Prayer. Never Think You Are Above This.’
‘If Your Are Suffering, Pray To Your God, and He Will Help You. In Suffering, Pray for Divine Intercession. This Is A Compassionate Universe. Grace Intercedes.’
‘It Is Very Good To Pray For Others. This Is A Holy Act. Pray With Humility.’
‘Utilise the Practices of Your Faith. Prayer Beads, Prayer Flags, Rosaries, Malas, All Are Offered to God With Love.’
‘Pray with Humility. It is good to Pray for Divine Intercession.’
‘As You Are Unfolding, Spread Sunshine to All You Meet. Uplift others. Offer suffering to The Supreme, and be of assistance to others. Pray in love and humility.’
‘Gather together, stick together in The Divine Connection and help one another. The physical body does not need to be there, for the heart is more powerful.’
‘Prayer is very powerful. Pray the prayers of your faith. You may use prayer beads, songs. Surrender to Omniscient Love of God.’
‘In a warm yet uncompromised purity, we can ‘have a direct experience of God’, learn of the universal laws and guideposts of compassion while receiving the gifts of the ancient truths.’
‘I am calling you to a higher vision. This has been my experience.
You have asked me to share it. Try it and see if it works for you. Peace. Peace. Peace.’
HOW TO PRAY
‘How to pray? Have a humble heart. A pure heart. Live by the Golden Rule. You may say The Lord’s Prayer, the prayers of your faith. The most important thing is to love God as a personal God, even if you are really unsure. Hand everything to his All-Pervading, Omniscient Love, and do your part.‘
What Is Robert Adams Original Pure Form Teaching Regarding Prayer and How Does His Teaching Differ From Other Teachers?
‘I teach only my own experience. You have asked me to share my experience. Try it and see if it works for you. I do not teach only ‘Advaita,’ but also the heart of devotion. It is only to the Ajnani that there is a difference between Jnana and devotion. To the illumined, there is no difference for all separation is dissolved. There is only the Self, omniscient, omnipresent, all-pervading love.
‘Therefore there is both the personal and the impersonal aspect of God. Both are true. It is up to you, your samskaras, your nature, which path you choose.
‘I am not a Guru. I teach only my own experience. You have asked me to share my experience. Try it and see if it works for you.
‘To the devotee who worships Krishna, who worships Jesus, if their heart is pure, if they have surrendered everything, they will find illumination.
‘Never think that you are above prayer. Worship. Worship makes you pure. Most people who attempt to follow these types of teachings become enmeshed in dry head knowledge. They memorise a lot of words, non-dual terms, but they have a hard heart.
‘Pray to God, and He will help you. Never believe that you are above this. To one who knows, there is no difference, no attachment to an impersonal God. For God is without and within.
‘The Self is boundless, eternal, all-pervading. So how can the Self be only one form?
‘As you know, I began in mystical Christianity. Now, this is a very beautiful path. For Jesus and Ramana said the same thing. Find the Self, and you will find freedom from suffering. You may substitute the word “God” for the Self or for Consciousness. It is the same.’
PEACE PEACE PEACE
‘Create Peace, Wherever You Are, With Whoever You Are With.’
Robert Adams
Is there a specific amount of time that you would recommend to practice?
‘If you want a time, you can use two hours in the morning before you get up, just like If you get up at seven, get up at five. When it’s quiet in your home, and you’re not disturbed. Sit by yourself. And do it two hours before you go to sleep, sit by yourself if you need time. But make it go on, all during the day.
‘What I’m going to do, is I’m going to give you a mantra to help you out. A self-inquiry mantra and you can alternate with this and everything else you do. Now the way you’re going to use this is this way. Whenever something is bothering you, whenever you feel out of sorts, whenever you feel something is wrong, stop thinking of your problem and do the mantra. Do it before falling asleep and as soon as you get up in the morning. It will help tremendously.
‘You can interchange this with the four principles. When you get tired of thinking of the four principles, you can do this mantra. And it’s very powerful; it works wonders. It starts with your breathing; here’s what you do. You inhale, and you say, “Who am I?” and before you exhale, you say, “I am He,” then you exhale, and you say, “I am not the body.” You inhale, and you say, “Who am I?” Before you exhale, you say, “I am He;” when you exhale, you say, “I am not the body.” Simple.
‘Let’s do it right now. Make yourself comfortable, and you’ll see how good you feel. You can close your eyes if you like. But, first, relax by taking ten deep breaths, diaphragmatic breaths, ten deep breathing breaths for relaxation.
‘Now ask the question, inhale and say, “Who am I?” hold it and say, “I am He,” exhale and say, “I am not the body.”
‘If thoughts interfere, just ignore your thoughts and go right back to it again.’
Robert Adams did not write any books himself nor publish his teachings as he did not wish to gain a large following. He instead preferred to teach a small number of dedicated seekers. However, in 1992, a book of his dialogues was transcribed, compiled, and distributed by and for the sole use of his devotees. In 1999, a later edition of this book, Silence of the Heart: Dialogues with Robert Adams, was posthumously published by Acropolis Books Inc.
Adams, Robert (1999), Silence of the Heart: Dialogues with Robert Adams, USA: Acropolis Books Inc., ISBN 978-1889051536
The Collected Works of Robert Adams – Satsangs from August 1990 – June 1993
© MyDattatreya 2021 All rights reserved
Designed by Tamara Lj.