BEYOND THE HIMALAYAS
CHAPTER EIGHT
The monastery of Ok was similar in every respect to Yangtang. I was given
quarters next to my friend. It was an abbot's spare apartment, consisting of
a sleeping room, another room with cushions, and the floor was covered with
Tibetan rugs which made it look cosy and comfortable.
Plenty of water was to be obtained from the stream which came from the snows higher up and passed the side of the monastery.
After a wash and clean up I was introduced to a young Tibetan, not more than twenty-five years of age, called Tsang Tapa. He had a very intelligent face, and he was the oracle of the monastery. He was found by Geshi Rimpoche in a way that sounds like a fairy tale, as it was told to me by Geshi Rimpoche himself, and this is it.
When Geshi Rimpoche was on one of his journeys he came upon Tsang Tapa, who was then only fifteen years old, and it was away in a valley behind Mount Everest. Geshi Rimpoche had not eaten any food for days and was not likely to get any, when this young boy, Tsang Tapa, appeared from nowhere and offered him food and drink. Tsang Tapa then went straight into a trance and the great saint Malarepa spoke through him, demonstrating before Geshi Rimpoche the miraculous powers Tsang Tapa possessed.
To Geshi Rimpoche there was no doubt that the one who spoke through this lad was the real Malarepa himself - the great miracle worker. After the trance state was over, the boy said that he had been told that Rimpoche was coming this way and would be without food, so he, Tsang Tapa, brought food. The young boy then took Geshi Rimpoche down a secret path and here before them was a magnificent valley in which were grazing a large number of yak. Geshi asked the boy whose yaks they were and he said: "Mine, master."
This was strange, and Geshi asked: "Where are your parents?"
"They are far away, master."
Geshi was so interested now that he asked Tsang Tapa how he got here.
"O," replied the boy, "I move this way, master," and he started to do the lung-gom-pa.
This was most extraordinary. How could a young boy do the lung-gom-pa? So Geshi Rimpoche asked him: "Who taught you?"
"Him, master."
"Who is 'him'?"
The boy again said "Him," as if there were someone with him. Geshi knew at once that here was the most wonderful natural medium he had ever come across. So he took him to a great Yogi in the Kalimpong district whom he knew.
For seven years the boy had been with this Yogi and during the last three years he had been the oracle at Ok. His rank was now greater than that of the Abbot.
I was so taken up with this story that I spoke to Tsang Tapa in Hindustani and he replied to me in English. I was more than suprised.
Apparently, while he was with the Indian Yogi, this Yogi sent him to an English school in Kalimpong, where he learned so quickly that the others could not keep up with him. I confirmed it afterwards that Tsang Tapa was indeed a most remarkable young man. His mediumship was extraordinarily clear and accurate. We also became good friends. His mediumship brought near to me many who had passed from the physical, so accurately that there was no doubt whatever about the identity of those who spoke.
I was also introduced to the Abbot who was in charge of the monastery. He, too, spoke English, so conversation was easy now and I did not need any interpreters. The Abbot was a jolly fellow and kept us laughing. Indeed I could not help laughing because his laughter was so infectious.
I had brought with me some one-pound tin boxes of Huntley & Palmers' biscuits which were relished by all four of us. I could not have brought anything better. We had tea, and ate sparingly of the biscuits because we wanted them to last.
The food in the monastery was very good, consisting of yak meat, barley, potatoes and tsampa, plenty of yak butter, milk, cream and cheese. Roast chicken and roast potatoes were available at least once, and sometimes twice, a week.
When evening was drawing near I said I wanted to see the sun setting on Chomolhari, so we went out on the top of the main hall. The roof was flat and from it we could see the valley below, and beyond was Chomolhari.
I can only try to explain what I saw in words which cannot adequately paint a picture of such beauty.
The sun was setting behind us and on the side of Chomolhari. The colouring of pink I could not completely describe, for I had never seen anything like it anywhere else in the world. As the pink gave way to the darker reds, a purple haze rose up from the valley. Gradually the purple haze became darker in colour and eventually turned into a cloud, creeping up and covering the mountain bit by bit until just the peak was reflecting the glowing red of the sun. Then the peak disappeared and before us, covering the whole valley and the mountain, was a glorious blanket of colour from purple to red, and in-between were all the other shades of the spectrum. (This is a poor description, because words fail.)
The sunrise was equally beautiful but the colouring was in the opposite direction; the blanket began to dissolve as the sun rose, revealing the same colour formation in reverse.
It was a thrilling, an unforgettable experience.
We were up before the sun rose each day, for there was much to do. At first I did not know the procedure, but I felt quite content that all would be well and successful.
My friend took on the robe of the teacher. His wisdom and knowledge were profound. He and Geshi Rimpoche were on the same plane.
My friend began to speak in his clear tones and I knew that he had something very important to say. We all listened intently.
He said: "Truth is not created in the mind. What people do is to create a religion that dominates them, a civilisation that exploits them, and because they do not understand they want something to guide them. Then they become slaves."
I looked at Tsang Tapa to see how he was taking it especially about his religion. My friend must have read my thoughts, for he said: "Never mind Tsang (as he called him); he shed the shackles of slavery long ago."
I was on the point of asking Tsang something when my friend continued: "Most people hold an ideal of unity while they hold fast to their divisions and separations. They refuse to give up their creeds, their nationalities, their religious beliefs, their political differences, because they are bound up with them, thereby failing to see that they are false. Anything that separates man from man, whether it be a religion, a nationality, an idea, a belief, must be false because there is no division in Reality."
"Now," he continued, "they say you must pray - meditate - to find peace, to find freedom. So they meditate upon an idea of peace, of freedom, which binds them still further. Without knowing how they are bound by what is in their minds, and how it has been formulated, their meditation, their prayers, are useless. When they do not know what causes separation, then unity, peace, freedom or whatever name they give it, will be merely an idea."
I said: "You speak almost like Geshi Rimpoche."
"My son," he replied, "there is only one way to freedom and that is to show how one is bound. I cannot free you; you must do that yourself. Only then will you find the mighty creative power that is behind all creation, the Love and the Wisdom that is beyond your mind. Yet your mind is the vehicle through which it will manifest. How can it manifest through a mind that is filled with all that which is false? You would be expressing your own conditioning, not the Love, the Wisdom and the Power of the Christ Spirit."
He continued: "It is for this that I have brought you here. Your mind must be made clear enough for the overshadowing of the Master, otherwise you would be giving expression to your own conditioning. Even after you leave here, your mind will not be completely ready for what we want to do. It will mean years of probationary work for you among the people of the world. What we are doing is preparing you, by showing you that what is made up in the mind is not Truth. The experience of seeing this in your everyday work will do more to cleanse your mind than if you stayed here twice as long. When you are working in the world we shall be helping you, and not only you but also the people whom you are helping."
Again, I said: "There are greater men than I in the world whom the people would heed more than they would heed me."
He said: "My son, for this you were born."
I asked: "But surely we were not destined so accurately as this?"
He answered: "Did not the Master say that not a sparrow falls to the ground but the Father knoweth?"
I was stumped every time, but I thought I would fire a last shot.
"Well," I said, "I am not free to do as I please."
"Oh, yes," he answered, "you are not compelled, you are only impelled. But that impelling becomes your innermost desire."
"In that event," I said, "I would like nothing better than to do this work, no matter where it takes me."
"Then let us proceed, and when your mind is somewhat clearer we will be able to get down to some practical work, which I want to commence as soon as possible."
He continued: "As long as you retain your conception of even individuality there can be no release from the conflict in relationship. So true meditation, true prayer, is to find out what is false, not merely concentrating on an idea while ignorant of the cause of conflict which continues to reign in and about you.
"People repeat certain phrases which you call mantrims, by doing this they think they are meditating or praying, but this is merely self-hypnosis. Meditation is not devoted to an idea, and the worshipping of another is idolatrous and silly superstition. To be devoted to an idea, to a picture, is not meditation, it is merely an escape from oneself. It is perhaps a comforting escape, but still it is an escape without understanding. The world is the people and the people are the world; then you are the world, I am the world, is that not so?"
I replied: "Yes, that is true, the world is just as we make it. We made this civilisation by which we are dominated."
"Right," he said, "the people are slaves because they have made themselves slaves. They follow, they imitate, they set up authorities, while tradition, belief, division in society, nationalities, have bound the mind in thought and emotion. The individual has merely conformed while in his world of action he has built for himself a false security."
"I can see that clearly," I said, "for there is no security in the relative world, it is an illusion."
"Yes," he said, "people are constantly striving to become virtuous, and they are caught up in the process which denies understanding. Controlling your mind is an unnecessary effort, which brings fear and limitation, because your mind is dominated by the idea of an escape from your conditioning which you fear."
"What happens when an idea comes into your mind," he reasoned, "do you not try to brush it aside so as to escape from its influence? But its influence still remains because it is not understood. When your thought is not understood and dealt with, you struggle, you condemn, you blame, and then you try to force your attention upon a particular idea in opposition to your conditioning, thereby creating further conflict. Don't you see that your thinking is caught up in a useless struggle which can never be creative?"
I was now getting a clearer picture, and Tsang said: "Master, I am grateful for these last few words alone."
Then my friend continued: "When an idea rules your mind you should know what it is and not struggle with it. All ideas are the result of something else, and you should understand their value. When you do this, then there is no struggle, no fear, no limitation, no confusion.
"Your mind is of value only when there is no conflict, no strain, no struggle; when these cease to be, there is peace, and this is the mind I want you to have for our work," he said, looking at me.
"You must be alert every moment," he added. "This should be cultivated in your everyday life, not merely at times for specific analysis, but to be aware always in the present; then you will know what is happening. This will develop an understanding of the self, and self-knowledge is the gateway to Wisdom and Truth."
Then he pointed to the Abbot. "He is trying to be spiritual and is strained through the struggle between good and evil. He imitates and is caught up in the conflict between right and wrong."
I thought to myself: "That is one for you, Abbot." But my friend did not stop there, for he said: "The Abbot thinks he can find the happy medium, a balance between good and evil. He thinks that God is exercising this balance, so he prays, chants, imitates, conforms and is bound up in his superstition. If he would only discern the false he would know what is true. But his craving to be spiritual means only frustration, sorrow and conflict."
I looked at the Abbot but he did not say anything.
"Good and evil," my friend went on, "grow on the same tree. They have the same root and that is in man's mind only, where it is made up and has no foundation in Truth."
Tsang whispered into my ear: "The Abbot is getting a lecture now."
My friend must have heard him or have read his thoughts for he gently said: "So are you, Tsang!"
"Truth," my friend added, "knows nothing of good or evil, past or future. Truth is the living expression of Life now, moment to moment, in which there is no separation, no death, being Eternal and Ever-present. In this ecstasy there is Infinite Love and Wisdom. Your actions will then be in accordance with your living in the present always, and the rewards for such actions are phenomenal."
"Now, my son," and he turned to me, "with this serenity there is the joy of living, there is no need of control or analysis, because you are aware every moment. Thus you are free from all the virtues you think you should have or not have, which fills you with conflict through strain and fear. When you are free of all that bundle of virtues, then there is no fear, no opposites, no confusion, no conflict; there is just Love and Wisdom. For in Reality that is all there is; then you will be truly creative and a channel through which the Master can speak again.
"If you are continually occupied with the self, trying to become, there is always a struggle, but when you know yourself to Be now, the struggle ceases; then only can the Life that is free be realised. Your thought and work have been limited by your lack of understanding of your true Being Now, not in some distant future."
He went on to explain: "To understand that which is limitless, unconditioned, your mind must not be burdened by the thoughts of the self. The self which is nothing must dissolve away, so that Reality can express Itself in the Now. 'I of my own self am nothing.' "
I was feeling a deep transformation taking place within me. Things that used to trouble me had no place in me now, and I said so.
"I am glad, my son," he said, and he continued:
"When your mind was burdened with the conflict of ethics you could not realise the truth of your Being, but now that your mind is no longer bound by ethics, by virtues, by distinctions, by separation, by division, you will comprehend what I mean by spontaneous action, free from reaction, free from time, free from separateness and free from opposites; now the flow of Life performs its own work. In the words of the Master, 'It is the Father who ever abideth in Me, He does the work.'
"Your word then shall not return to you void but will accomplish that which it is sent forth to do."
He then looked at the Abbot and said: "Look at the Abbot there, just like your bishops, spinning words which are as impotent as the seat he is sitting on."
This startled the Abbot, who said: "I do not believe in all our paraphernalia, master."
"Then why don't you come out of it, Abbot? and be a real helper to mankind."
The Abbot hung his head and my friend said: "Many are called but few are chosen!"
"In Reality," he said to the Abbot, "there is only the present; there is no past or future; therefore this understanding cannot be postponed. Free yourself from false virtues and you will be enlightened. This requires the discernment now of your thoughts, your motives, your reacions to what I am saying to you now. Then you will see that ignorance is not the absence of learning but the confusion and conflict of values.
"Are you confused, Abbot? Wondering what is right or wrong? Then you are caught up in the conflict of ideas in your mind. You are an imitator, Abbot; you are trying to mould yourself after a pattern and you have created an image of what you think Reality should be, and you are carefully fashioning yourself after it, thereby losing the substance - Reality Itself. By your imitation how can you realise the enduring happiness of the Ever-present Life? Life is Ever-present, not separate. Truth is unbounded unity. You cannot understand this while your mind is occupied with form, ritual, distinction, division. Only by seeing the false now, Abbot, can you see the true.
"It is because you are inwardly poor that you set up an authority and worship it. You want to lean on someone because you feel you yourself are unequal to the task. You want to shelter in the comfort of an idea that is not Reality, Abbot! Your idea is but an illusion.
"You are binding these lamas just as you yourself are bound hand and foot."
Then he turned to me and said: "Life is Real, It is complete in Itself, expressing Itself freely when you yourself become nothing. The self lives in separation, you see yourself separate from others; that is but an illusion, for there is but 'One' Life in which there is no division. Thus, you see, division is an illusion of the mind, my son.
"You are no longer agitated by the worship of virtues or the horror of sin, nor will you follow the narrow path of ethics which prevents understanding.
"You see, the Abbot here has moulded himself after a pattern and he is afraid. To be devoid of fear you must know yourself to Be 'Now,' understanding your vanities, your jealousies, your envies, your cravings, your longings, your hopes, regrets and fears. All these disappear when you seek understanding, free from the illusion of Time.
"When your mind is full of the false you must empty it through discerning the falseness of it all. Then the mind will become empty of the false, and the Life that is Ever-present will then fill it full with its ever-expanding consciousness, which will always be the Reality, while all that is external to Itself will be discerned with wisdom, love and understanding." He was still looking at me as he went on:
"The One Infinite Life is expressing Itself in Love and Wisdom; only when you limit Its action through narrow, bigoted beliefs do you prevent Its freedom in your own life here and now. It will be your work, my son, to help to free man from the curse of separation, so that the specific Life flowing from the Supreme Fountain of Life Itself through the Majestic Angels of the Sun-world can assert Its presence through man, thereby freeing man from his own self-created misery. This Life is charged with wisdom and love, knowledge and compassion, heralding in the new age of man's understanding - 'MAN' whom the Father 'Consecrated' and sent into the world, He is the Son of God."
With this he ended the day's lesson. We rose and went into a large room set aside for us. The four of us sat down to eat.
The Abbot spoke first. He said, "Master, I am willing to do your bidding. Whatever you ask of me I will do."
Then said my friend: "Teach those whom God has placed in your hands the Truth, and you will be the first to rid this country of the superstition that is keeping it in ignorance, slavery and poverty."
The Abbot then rose and went over to where the Master was sitting and said: "Give your blessing that I may be able for the task before me."
Years later I heard that Ok Valley Monastery had become the most enlightened monastery in the whole of Tibet; even the great seat of learning at Ganden could not compare with it. Lamas from near and far came to hear the great Abbot of Ok and witness the wonders that he performed.
The remainder of the day was spent in watching some of the lamas practising archery. Teams from all the monasteries went to Lhasa once a year to compete. This was a great event, and the lamas at Ok were practising for it. The accuracy with which the lamas hit the target was phenomenal. Judgment was the main requirement. A target would be placed over a rise, the archers would have to look at the target, then walk back so many paces until the target was out of sight and by judgment they would shoot the arrows, and seldom did they miss the target. These teams were at it every day, and the best teams would be picked out of those practising. There were over a hundred archers, and marks were tabulated so that only the very best would be included in the forthcoming competition at Lhasa.
When I was a boy I used to shoot rabbits with my bow and arrow on my father's estate, and though I had not practised archery for many years I felt eager to try my skill, so I asked if I could have a try. I was made very welcome by the lamas. In fact, I did very well on the sighted targets, but for those out of sight I had many misses. Yet if one had sufficient practice in this judgment one could become proficient. Anyway, I was given a place in one of the teams and there was great fun. Whether it was luck or not, my team won that afternoon and I did more than the average, which made me a bit of a hero. The Abbot was delighted; he really was a delightful fellow and was grateful to have been allowed to listen to the talks we had.
For the next two days I was left to myself to get my mind free from the many different ideas and beliefs. I found now that only facts remained, even a belief in a fact had no place in my mind, so thoroughly did my friend "clean" me out.
My mind was now ready for its first try-out.
I was given a piece of paper on which my friend had written some profound words. What I had to do was to read these words and then speak about them. No sooner had I started reading them than I felt as if a charge of electricity had passed through me; my mind went blank for a second, and then I felt a confidence that I never had before. I could feel that I was linked into a fountain of wisdom. I heard myself speaking, I listened and reasoned as the words came, it seemed that I was in two parts, one of which was attached to a fountain of Love, Wisdom and Power; and the other part was feeling and learning at the same time. It was a new and a very strange experience for me.
My friend was pleased indeed.
He said: "You will be able to do better yet; gradually you will improve till you can be overshadowed by the great spiritual Being, and the spiritual light will be seen around you as He overshadows you. When that is accomplished you will go back after a few more months into the world from which you came. You will be the same to those who knew you, but there will be a difference which they cannot define.
While you are working in the world among the people, there will still be taking place a building-up of your inner sheaths so that more and more spiritual power can be used, and being among the people of the world is the best field where this can be done satisfactorily."
From then on I knew I was not alone, and I could tell what influence was with me. St. Anthony the Great of Alexandria was one to whom I had spoken many times through different mediums, but no medium ever became nearly so good as Tsang Tapa. Not only could the entities speak but they could do so in their own language, for instance German, Frenc, Italian, Chinese, Hindustani, English, Tibetan, all with perfect ease.
Here was a mechanism that could be used by any entity, no matter of what nationality, sometimes changing over from one language to another without as much as a hesitation.
I enjoyed every minute of the time I stayed in Ok Valley. We worked, we laughed, and I made rapid progress. The Abbot was getting on slowly with his new outlook on Life and religion, but he could not do very much at first, otherwise he would be thrown out by the higher officials at Lhasa - just as the head of the Church would throw out a bishop who tried to break down the idea of the power of sin, of hell and the devil, which kept people in fear. As long as people were kept in fear they could be controlled and cajoled, for the Church thrived on sin. But as soon as the cause of fear is removed there is no more controlling or cajoling.
Often in my own work in the world I have had patients filled with fear through religious bigotry.
I would say: "God is Infinite in nature?" in a sort of inquiring way.
"Oh yes, God is Infinite in nature!" (That was my first leg-in.)
"There cannot be anything outside Him, otherwise He could not be Infinite?"
"Quite correct!" would be the answer.
"And to be Infinite He must be everywhere, otherwise He could not be Infinite?"
"That is true."
"So there could be none other but Him?"
"That is so!"
"Well," I said, "that being so, God must be the Devil and Hell must be in Him too. If God is, then the Devil is not. It is the very non-existence of the Devil that makes up the Devil, for there cannot be God and the Devil, God being Infinite in nature. It is like mathematics, the mistake disappears when it is found out, and so does the Devil disappear when he is found out." Shock No. 1. Recovery slow!
"But it says in the Bible that there is a Hell and the Devil," I would be told.
"Yes, that is true," I would reply, "but Jesus said: 'Ye read the Scriptures, then think ye found Eternal Life, ye make a mistake.' Then he said: 'Resist not evil,' do not give it a power it does not possess. The Devil is the self and Hell is the mess the self makes. You have only a belief, an idea, which is made up in your mind, but you are afraid to reason it out because you are caught up in your belief. Not until you know what a belief is, can you see how false it is."
"But what about the words of Jesus?" a patient asks.
I reply: "Jesus never wrote any words about the Truth; he knew he could not. He asked Pontius Pilate: 'What is Truth?' Pontius Pilate could not answer Him. In fact, he never wrote any words at all. He knew that his words could not reveal the Truth, they could only give you an idea of the Truth, and that is not the Truth! Men wrote the Bible, men also wrote the New Testament many years after Jesus was crucified and it has been altered a dozen times since by men. You take the word to be the Truth when it is not the Truth. The Truth cannot be found in any book, and not until you know what a word is, will you know that it is not the Truth.
"But Jesus said: 'Get ye behind me, Satan.' "
"So did I," I would reply, "when I found out what Jesus found out in the wilderness. When I discerned all that was in my mind I knew what the self was. The self was the devil that was hiding the Real. The self was always in front, that is the way of the self, yet the self had no existence; the self existed only because I was ignorant of my Being. This self was the devil that was preventing the expression of the Real, so I said too, 'Get ye behind me, Satan! You are a cheat, you are cheating me out of my true birthright as a Son of God.' When I knew that God was the only One and there was none other but Him, then I knew that I was His Son, not born of the blood or the will of the flesh or the will of man, but of God who is Eternal and Ever-present, I was free, then the Father performed His own deeds.
"I knew I was, because God is. But I do not know what He is and we are One and can never be separated. The self is a belief in separation, but separation is an illusion. This is the devil and hell or the mess the self makes, because the self only knows separation and seeks only for the self.
"What you have is but an idea in the mind accepted from someone else. You are an imitator because you accept what another says. You are worshipping an idea which is an illusion of the mind. This is not God, for God is neither an idea nor an image, neither an illusion nor a belief. You imitate because you do not know yourself with all your fears and illusions. You do not know what is true because you do not know what is false, so the blind lead the blind and they all fall into the ditch.
"Now, if you were shown what was false you would find out what was true by yourself. Remember, nobody can tell you what Truth is, but you alone can experience Truth when you know what is false. You cannot experience Truth if you accept what another says, and thus not think for yourself. Those who tell you what Truth is are the false prophets, but you do not know that yet, because you are caught up in your belief.
"You have only to look into your mind to see what is there and you will see it is not the Truth, but merely an idea of the Truth. 'I AM' the Truth. I cannot be anything else, because there is no other Life but the 'One,' in which there is no division; therefore the illusion is in your mind, a self-created illusion, and that which is created is not the Truth. Only that which is not created is the Truth, and you do not know what It is, but you will know that 'IT IS' when you rid your mind of all that is false.
"So your so-called virtue is humbug; trying to become virtuous is covering up what you are. Merely to have an idea of what you are not, that is not virtue. Virtue is an understanding of what you are, without distinction. So-called virtue is illusion and bondage. If you do not know what you are, striving to become virtuous will not make you virtuous. Virtue can be found only in understanding what you are. Virtue is freedom, immediate release through understanding what you are. Virtue is seeing what is preventing the expression of Reality.
"Kindness, affection, mercy, generosity, forgiveness, are all true expressions of Reality, and this is virtue. This is the only way we can solve our problems, but your so-called virtue cannot solve any problem. Then there is no virtue in becoming virtuous, because virtue exists only in 'Being' Now. Virtue is not a matter of time. If you do not know what you are, you have no virtue in you."
Every time I got the opportunity to speak in this way I did so, and I found that the patients always came back for more and more. It paid big dividends because it released the tension of trying "to become," which led only to frustration through living in opposites.
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