Today’s story is symbolic of your relationship with the inner Teacher. When you read today, you will notice that Jesus has an early discussion with the apostles about doubt and a later discussion with the apostles about doubt. The content of the discussions are different, because as the apostles go deeper with the teaching, Jesus is able to be more direct and point towards deeper truths. This is also true in your relationship with the inner Teacher.

When people are new in their relationship with the inner Teacher and new to the journaling process, the wisdom received from the inner Teacher is often filled with encouragement. People are told, “You are love,” “You are loved,” “You are innocent,” “You are light,” “You are my perfect child,” and etcetera. This encouragement is needed in the beginning, because the student is afraid, lacks confidence and is full of doubt. However, if the student progresses with the teachings, at some point the wisdom received from the inner Teacher is more pointed—sharper, clearer, drilling onward and inward.

In order for this advancement to happen, the student needs to put her doubts aside. If the student stays at the level of believing her fears, doubts and unworthiness, the wisdom will stay at the level of encouragement. If the student puts her fears aside with the honest intention to purify and realize truth, the inner Teacher will assist clearly and directly. It’s important to note that the inner Teacher will only go as far as the student is willing. The inner Teacher will not violate your freewill.

Today’s reading says, “More and more, the apostles began to seek private counsel with Jesus to discuss their fear and doubts.” This is an example of how you should use your journal. Be absolutely honest with wisdom as you look directly at your fears, doubts, guilt, unworthiness and upsets. Give inner wisdom permission to go beyond simple encouragement to dissection; that is, to helping you see exactly how you make mistakes in your thinking, believing and perceiving.

Today’s reading says, “Jesus responded lovingly with every discussion brought to him. Never did the apostles feel judged.” You can trust inner wisdom to be the same with you. As you allow directness, there will be extremely helpful and insightful directness, but never judgment.

In today’s reading, Jesus asks the apostles, “And who do you say I am?” Peter answers, “You are me, master…the Son of God…the Christ.”

Through this answer, Peter demonstrates that he is becoming aware of consciousness. Jesus did not teach about consciousness directly. His teaching focused on practice and parables instead of direct theory. So, when Peter revealed this clarity, Jesus knew Peter was listening to inner wisdom.

In today’s reading, Jesus says this to the apostles:

The Voice within will lead you clearly when you give it your trust and put your doubts aside. It will reveal truths to you that you have not imagined, and so you will know they are true.”

I can tell you from my own experience that this is true. First, journaling will advance from pure encouragement to dissection, and then when enough dissection has occurred, truth will begin to shine through in your journal—truth that you have never realized before. Although truth is never new, it will seem new to you. It will seem new, because it is dawning fresh for you as a direct insight. It will be beyond any understanding that ever occurred intellectually through learning. As you continue to advance, the wisdom in your journal will continue to advance, and it will lead you all the way to truth realization.

Of course, you must practice the guidance that comes through your journal. To merely write and be amazed at the clarity is not enough. In order for your journal to continue to progress, you must progress by practicing everything the journal gives you to practice.

Like yesterday, spend time in silent reflection with the following quotes, and then read today’s reading. After the reading, return and reflect on the quotes again.

1. Happiness is your nature. It is not wrong to desire it. What is wrong is seeking it outside when it is inside. ~ Ramana Maharshi

 

2. The fabled musk deer searches the world over for the source of the scent, which comes from itself. ~ Ramakrishna

 

3. Meditation is one of the greatest arts in life—perhaps the greatest—and one cannot possibly learn it from anybody; that is the beauty of it. ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti

 

4. The first thing to realize in meditation is that there is no authority, that the mind must be completely free to examine, to observe, to learn. ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti

 

5. Work out your own salvation. Do not depend on others. ~ Buddha

 

6. If the mind falls asleep, awaken it. Then if it starts wandering, make it quiet. If you reach the state where there is neither sleep nor movement of mind, stay still in that, the natural (real) state. ~ Ramana Maharshi

Please spend time in silent reflection with the following quotes before going to today’s reading. After the reading, return and reflect on the quotes again.

1. We need silence to be alone with God, to speak to him, to listen to him, to ponder his words deep in our hearts.  We need to be alone with God in silence to be renewed and transformed.  Silence gives us a new outlook on life.  ~ Mother Teresa

 

2. You will receive everything you need when you stop asking for what you do not need.
   ~ Nisargadatta Maharaj

 

3. Imagine that every person in the world is enlightened but you.  They are all your teachers, each doing just the right things to help you learn perfect patience, perfect wisdom, perfect compassion.  ~ Buddha

 

4. Everything you see and experience, you see and experience through the filter of your own mind. In order to find peace, one must abandon interpretation and remember knowledge. This is the process of learning that I lead you through. You are learning that you do not know; you interpret. This enables you to step back from conflict, and knowing that your interpretation is nothing, let your interpretation go. As interpretation is released, knowledge can be given. Knowledge is peace, since knowledge has no conflict, because it is whole and it is truth. ~ NTI Luke, Chapter 6

 

5. Silence is most powerful. Speech is always less powerful than silence. ~ Ramana Maharshi

 

6. The world is indeed a mixture of truth and make-believe. Discard the make-believe and take the truth. ~ Ramakrishna

I’m sure you’ve noticed that the mind can be more or less noisy when you meditate. Although a quiet mind is considered ideal for meditation, it is not required. Michael Langford’s awareness-watching-awareness practice instructions say:

If you seem to be having a lot of thoughts, ignore them and turn your attention away from the thoughts and towards awareness observing awareness.

In this case “ignore” means, place your attention elsewhere. It does not mean, “repress.” Some applicable synonyms for “ignore” are:

Disregard, take no notice of, pay no attention to, pay no heed to, tune out

Meditation is called “practice,” because meditation is practice. We know our practice is paying off when we notice ourselves disregarding thought in daily life. When we ignore thought, we live from awareness, intuition and spontaneity.

The Teachings of Inner Ramana refers to ignoring thought and living by intuition as “living from within instead of living from without.” In today’s reading, the Pharisees are a symbol. The Pharisees who are not distracted symbolize living from within. Jesus symbolizes intuition, and the Pharisees who are not distracted are able to hear him. The Pharisees who are distracted symbolize living from without. Their perception is biased and limited by their thoughts. They do not hear Jesus’ message, just as we do not hear intuition when we are caught up in thought. They also do not notice “the peace beyond the words,” just as we do not notice awareness when thought has our attention.

Jesus is clear that we are not guilty if we believe our thoughts, even if we act on them. We are not guilty, because consciousness is unaffected. However, believing thoughts and acting on them is the cause of suffering. In NTI Matthew, Judas symbolized the mistake of believing and acting on thought.

In daily life, it’s important to turn our listening attention inward. It’s important that we learn to disregard thoughts and live from awareness, intuition and spontaneity.

Here’s something to remember from the Mullah Nasruddin story about the leaky bucket:

If you react unconsciously, you push the lesson of the moment away.

Our bucket leaks when we live from without instead of living from within. It’s as if we put water in the bucket during our morning meditation and contemplation, but then we let it leak out again as we live from thought throughout the day. We are never guilty for this mistake, but it is confusion, the cause of suffering, and an obstacle to truth realization.

(Note: This tip is longer than usual, so if you are short on time now, it is okay to go directly to the reading in NTI. However, be sure to come back and read the tip sometime today when you have more time. The tip is important.)

When the conditions are right, consciousness manifests as a temporary appearance within consciousness. That temporary appearance could be a flower, a baby, a disease, or an appearance that appears to defy the laws of our world. When the basics of the creative principle are understood, to the degree that those basics can be understood, it is seen that temporary manifestation occurs because the conditions come together in a way to create that appearance.

Here are a couple of stories about Ramana Maharshi.

The Story of Ramana Maharshi and Robert Adams

“I am Robert Adams. I was born in New York in 1928, and from the very beginning, as far back as I can remember, when I was in a crib, a little man with a grey beard and white hair, about two feet tall, would appear before me at the other end of the crib and speak gibberish to me. Of course, being a child, I did not understand anything he said. 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 chuckled. So I stopped saying anything about it. The apparitions of the little man stopped when I was about seven.” …

[A few years later, while taking a math test in school one day:]

“Subjectively, the whole room appeared filled with light more brilliant than the sun. It was a beautiful shining warm glow and the whole room, along with everything and everyone, was immersed in the light, and all the children seemed to me mere particles of that light. I found myself melting into radiant Being-Consciousness. I merged into immaculate awareness. It was not an out-of-body experience. This was completely different. I realized that I was not my body. What appeared to be my body was not real. I went beyond the light into pure radiant consciousness and I became consciousness, and my individuality merged into pure and absolute bliss. I became the universe. The feeling is indescribable. It was total bliss and total joy.”

After this experience, Robert Adams‘ life was not normal. As a teenager, maybe fourteen or fifteen years old, he felt the need for guidance. Some of his friends suggested that he go to Joel Goldsmith, a famous Christian and true mystic. … [Joel Goldsmith] advised him to go to Paramahamsa Yogananda, who was in Encinitas. He said, “He will guide you.” …

Robert Adams went to Encinitas… Robert prostrated to Paramahamsa and said, “You are my Guru.” Paramahamsa said, “No. I am not your Guru. Your Guru is Sri Ramana Maharshi. Ramana Maharshi is not well; you should go to him immediately.”

After leaving Paramahamsa, Robert happened upon a copy of Who Am I? in the philosophy section of a library. Ramana Maharshi‘s picture was on the cover. When Robert saw the image, his hair stood on end because he recognized that face as the same one he had seen in his crib as a toddler. He wasted no time finding his way to Bhagavan. Here he describes his first encounter with the Maharshi:

“When I was eighteen years old I arrived at Arunachala. I took flowers and a bag full of fruits and offered them at his feet. Bhagavan looked at me and smiled and I returned the smile. The very first look of the Maharshi engulfed me in a flood of light, peace, quietude, and bliss and it opened an inner eye. I instantly recognized the meaning and purpose of all my experiences, that I was never a body and that I was ever the unborn Self, the eternal silence.”

The Story of Ramana Maharshi and Papaji

[A] steady urge to be eternally with God became so compelling that [H. W. L. Poonja, later known as Papaji] was forced to go in search. He left his family with his father and went in search of someone who could show him the way to God, and allow him to dwell with God permanently. He toured all over India, meeting sadhus and swamis in Ashrams. His constant questions were: Have you seen God? Can you show me God? The replies that he received always disillusioned him. Feeling disheartened, he returned to Punjab. Yet, the fire of yearning within him was still burning. He fed sadhus who came to his home and posed these burning questions to them.

One day, a sadhu knocked on his door. The sadhu was received with respect by Papaji and fed well. When asked the usual questions, the sadhu smilingly replied, “I can show you a swami who can answer your questions.” Punjaji immediately asked, “Where is he? What is his name?” The sadhu answered, “His name is Ramana Maharshi, and he is in Arunachala, in an Ashram called Ramanashram in Tiruvannamalai.” The sadhu gave him directions on how to reach the Ashram. Papaji was elated that he was at last going to meet a swami, who would show him the way to God. …

Papaji was already thirty-four years old when he reached Madras in 1944. He was excited and eager to see the swami who would answer his burning questions and show him God. At Ramanashram, he left his baggage in the common dormitory and went to the old hall where they said the swami was seated. He peeped through the window and was totally disappointed and enraged by what he saw. He told himself, “The same sadhu who visited me at my home in Punjab is seated here! He gave me his own name and address and is now seated on the sofa! He is a cheat; I will not stay here even for a minute.” Such was his anger!

Papaji ran back to the dormitory and hurriedly picked up his baggage. He was fuming and frustrated. However, an old devotee, Framji Dorabji, told him, “You have not been here even for an hour. Why are you going back when you have come from such a distance?” Papaji narrated what he had seen and concluded, “This swami is a cheat. He gave me his own name and address and said that he would show me God. I know he is a cheat. I know it!” Framji said in a concerned voice, “There is some mistake here. Bhagavan has not left Arunachala for thirty-five years!”

Papaji continued to fume, but Framji Dorabji induced him to partake of lunch. He told him to have Bhagavan‘s prasad. After having his lunch, Bhagavan would retire to the old hall. People were told not to disturb the Maharshi between eleven-thirty and two-thirty. Papaji attempted to follow the Maharshi, but Krishnaswami, the attendant, prevented him from following. Bhagavan, who was already in the hall, told Krishnaswami, “Allow him to come inside.” Papaji recounts what happened:

“I approached the swami in a belligerent manner. I asked him, ‘Aren’t you the man that came to see me in my house in Punjab?’ The Maharshi remained silent. I repeated, ‘Did you not come to my house and tell me to come here?’ Again the Maharshi made no answer. Since he was most unwilling to answer, I moved on to the main purpose of my visit. I asked him the questions that I had come to ask: ‘Have you seen God, and if you have, will you help me to see God? I am willing to pay any price for the answer, even give my life. But your part of the bargain is that you must show me God.’”

The swami answered, “No, I cannot show you God. I cannot help you see God because God is not an object that can be seen. God is the subject. He is the seer. Do not concern yourself with the objects that can be seen. Find out who is the seer.” He then added, “You alone are God.”

Bhagavan advised Papaji to find out more about this ‘I’ that is so desirous of seeing God.

“Then, he looked deep into my eyes in such a way that my entire body began to tremble. I felt a shiver running through every inch of my body. My hair stood on end, such was the intensity. Believe me; I became aware of the spiritual heart. What I am referring to is not the physical heart, but the heart that is the source and support of all that exists. This heart opened up and blossomed in the Maharshi‘s presence. I have never had such an extraordinary experience before. I had not come in looking for any kind of experience, so when it happened, it took me by total surprise.”

Note: Both stories about Ramana Maharshi are excerpts from The Human Gospel of Ramana Maharshi as told by Ramana’s grand-nephew, V. Ganesan, and written down by John Troy.

I have shared these stories, because they are not fictional like the one in today’s reading. These things do happen, and usually the credit for these ‘miracles’ goes to the master—in this case, Ramana Maharshi. However, when someone tried to credit Nisargadatta Maharaj with miracles that occurred around him, he said:

I know nothing about miracles, and I wonder whether nature admits exceptions to her laws, unless we agree that everything is a miracle. As to my mind, there is no such thing. There is consciousness in which everything happens. It is quite obvious and within the experience of everybody. You just do not look carefully enough. Look well, and see what I see.

Contemplate this tip as you read today’s reading. If you have a desire for mystical experiences, notice how Jesus handles that desire in the story. You could also do like Ramana Maharshi advised Papaji and find out more about the ‘I’ that is so desirous of mystical experiences.

As you read, remember what was written at the beginning of this tip:

When the conditions are right, consciousness manifests as a temporary appearance within consciousness. That temporary appearance could be a flower, a baby, a disease, or an appearance that appears to defy the laws of our world. When the basics of the creative principle are understood, to the degree that those basics can be understood, it is seen that temporary manifestation occurs because the conditions come together in a way to create that appearance.

Today’s reading focuses on intuition and discernment.

Intuition

In today’s story, Jesus sends the disciples out to teach in the villages because, “He knew that it was through their own participation as teachers that they themselves would learn and see, …”

He gives instructions to the disciples before sending them into the villages. The heart of these instructions will help us learn to follow intuition.

1. “You do not know.” – A friend of mine used to call the thinking mind, “the I-know mind.” It does think it knows. So, shifting into “I don’t know” disengages the thinking mind and opens us up to intuition.

 

2. “Only the Holy Spirit knows.” – “Holy Spirit” is a Judeo-Christian term for intuition. Intuition is different than the thinking mind, because its source is different. The source of the thinking mind is perception—usually misperception—and thought. The source of intuition is consciousness. The thinking mind is linked to and limited by the biases of one self-centered individual, while intuition is linked to totality’s true perception and to truth. Which one do you think is more reliable as a guide?

 

3. “Think only of the work He has sent you to do. All else will be offered through His Grace.” – This teaching is most well known as, “Seek ye first the kingdom and all else will be added to you.”

 

4. “Do not ask for more than you are offered.” – The ego is always trying to add to itself, so “more” is a key thought in its thought system. To seek “more” is to align with ego.

 

5. “Be grateful for everything you are given.” – Gratitude flows from our true Self. There is a natural gratitude for being and for our truth. When we are grateful for what is, without seeking more and without asking it to be different, we exercise the right mind’s natural gratitude. That moves us towards true perception.

 

Discernment

Today’s reading points out a key thought in the ego thought system, so you can come to recognize this thought and choose not to believe it.

The thought is:

You are separate and different from all you know, and for this you are guilty [unworthy, less than]. You must protect yourself, for when your guilt is unmasked, you will suffer endlessly. You will be cut off from all that is and from life itself.

This thought whispers in the mind multiple times every day, but it hides itself so it is not recognized. For example, it may appear as:

• Stress when you aren’t sure if your work project will be successful, on time or to your boss’ pleasure.

 

• Makeup on a face, which tries to hide a sense of ugliness.

 

• Disliking someone.

 

• Over achieving, taking on too many projects, or saying “yes” to everyone’s requests.

 

• Pushing your children to be successful, over achieve, or be the perfect parent.

 

• Resolving your children’s problems for them.

 

• Selecting friends, homes, cars, functions, and etcetera in order to appear as good as others.

 

• Numbing the pain through drinking, taking drugs, over eating, etc.

 

That’s only a few examples of how this thought hides itself.

The best way to identify where this thought hides in your mind is through root cause inquiry. Once its hiding places are found, you can see it (discernment) and choose not to believe it. As long as it is allowed to hide, you are its slave.

Note: I recommend printing this tip for easy future reference.

As a reminder, NTI Mark is a fictional story that provides helpful symbols. Our role is to derive meaning from the symbols, and then live from the example provided by those symbols. In this way, Jesus of NTI is our role model.

Today’s story begins by saying, “With each day, Jesus felt his closeness to the Holy Spirit growing. … A merging seemed to occur.”

How did this merging occur? Through discernment, surrender and kindness. These are the three practices of Jesus of NTI.

Discernment is determining the difference between personal thought and self-will, which is ego, and thought and will that arise from beyond the personal self.

Surrender is choosing to ignore personal thought and will, and following the thought and will that arises from beyond the personal self. Follow it just as it is, without adding to it or subtracting from it. In this way, one becomes the witness of life, playing his part while letting the rest be as it is.

Kindness is living and acting from love instead of fear. (e.g., the Loving All Method)

Today’s reading tells two brief stories. The first story is a story of kindness and a story of faith plus action. Jesus is kind to a woman who feels worthless. Her sense of worthlessness has affected her health. Jesus asks this woman to go home and find her inner brightness. She has faith in his teaching, and she goes home and does as he asks. In this way, she is healed.

Imagine if the woman had been happy in the moment to meet Jesus, had been grateful for his words, but then did not follow up with his guidance when she got home. She would not have experienced the same result.

This demonstrates that faith in the teaching is not enough. One must combine faith with action.

Here are two quotes to contemplate along with this teaching:

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? … faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. ~ James 2:14-17

I can only tell you what I know from my own experience. When I met my Guru, he told me: ‘You are not what you take yourself to be. Find out what you are. Watch the sense ‘I am’; find your real self’. I obeyed him, because I trusted him. I did as he told me. All my spare time I would spend looking at myself in silence. And what a difference it made, and how soon! It took me only three years to realise my true nature. My Guru died soon after I met him, but it made no difference. I remembered what he told me and persevered. The fruit of it is here, with me. ~ Nisargadatta Maharaj

The second story in today’s reading is a story about Jesus following intuition under extreme circumstances.

Jesus of the Bible was able to raise the dead. However, Jesus of NTI doesn’t have this special power. He simply discerns, surrenders, and lives from love. In today’s story, Jesus’ faith in these simple practices is challenged when he is told by a witness that a little girl is dead. The witness has seen the girl. Jesus has not seen her. Yet, when he feels intuitively that she is not dead, he trusts his intuition over the witness and others. He also follows intuition and breathes into the little girl’s mouth even though he had no knowledge of CPR.

Imagine the faith Jesus had, to trust his intuition over the witness, who was certain the girl was dead. Imagine the faith it took to see the girl, who appeared dead, and then to breathe into her mouth—to pass on the breath of life—without any knowledge of the medical practice we call CPR.

This story is told in this way to encourage us to trust our intuition over personal knowledge and over the urging of others.

I have learned from my own experience that intuition knows more than the human thinking mind. Intuition’s source is consciousness. As such, it knows everything about this moment, and it knows truth too. For this reason, intuition is much more reliable as a guide than the limited, biased thinking mind.

Here is a quote to help you consider your relationship with intuition. This is a powerful quote that can reveal a lot of clarity. I recommend contemplating this quote slowly, in parts and as a whole.

That which sees all this, and the nothing too, is the inner teacher. He alone is; all else only appears to be. He is your own swarupa (true Self), your hope and assurance of freedom; find him and cling to him and you will be saved and safe. ~ Nisargadatta Maharaj

There are two ways to view the story from today’s reading. We can view the story as an example of how to be with others, and we can view the story as an example of how to be with ourselves.

Today’s story is about fearlessness and kindness. Fearlessness and kindness go together. You can’t be afraid and be kind too. You might be afraid and act nice, but that’s not the same thing. If you have a personal agenda—a desired outcome—you aren’t being kind; you are being manipulative. (Note: Whenever you have a personal agenda, there is an underlying fear.)

In today’s story, Jesus demonstrates kindness. He is not afraid. He interacts with the man in the story with no fear at all. He is present and genuinely responsive.

It’s fair to say there isn’t enough kindness in the world today. If we see kindness and fear as opposites, we can also say there is too much fear in the world today. That negative energy is recycled in our world through the loop of experience—What I think, I see; What I see, I experience; What I experience, I think—and unspeakable atrocities occur as a result. Genuine kindness can help release some of that negative energy, and some atrocities can be prevented.

When you read the story, notice that a woman shares a fearful story with Jesus and the apostles. The apostles pick up on the fearful energy and believe it. As a result, they are incapable of being kind. Jesus dismisses the fearful energy as meaningless, so he is able to meet the situation without fear and with kindness.

I mentioned that there are two ways to view today’s reading, as an example of how to be with others and as an example of how to be with ourselves. If we see the man in the story as the ego and the legion of demons as thoughts, then Jesus demonstrates how we can be kind with ourselves.

The same rule applies: we can’t be afraid and be kind too.

There’s no reason to fear the mind. The mind can make a lot of noise, but if we don’t give it meaning, it is a noisemaker and nothing more. You don’t have to fight against the mind. In fact, fighting it isn’t helpful. Instead, be kind to the mind.

For example, if the mind is worried about a future situation, you might say, “I know you think there’s a lot to worry about, but we don’t actually know how things are going to turn out. Relax. Let’s watch and see what happens. We’ll know what to do when the time comes.”

With kindness, you can help the mind relax and let go of distracting thoughts. That places the mind in the present. A mind that is in the present is aware, surrendered to intuition and effectively responsive in the moment.

There are two primary points shared through the stories told in today’s reading.

The first point is related to a quote I shared recently from Nisargadatta Maharaj. Here is that quote again:

All you need is to listen, remember, ponder.
It is like taking food.
All you can do is to bite off, chew and swallow.
All else is unconscious and automatic.

When the apostles asked Jesus to describe the kingdom of Heaven, he shared two parables. Both were about seeds growing into plants. At another time, Jesus describes the kingdom of Heaven as being like yeast put in dough.

Jesus’ parables point to this:

Truth realization dawns upon the one who is willing to take time for contemplation and meditation. The one who rushes through life, always doing but never contemplating, misses the truth that is everywhere waiting to be seen. It’s like living locked within one’s skull, instead of opening up to existence and seeing, “I am that.”

We need time alone—quiet, contemplative time. If we allow ample room for that in our lives, realization will occur naturally, “unconscious and automatic.” But if we are too busy to slow down, “bite off, chew and swallow,” the seed is not planted, and it is not watered, and so it cannot grow.

The second point from today’s reading addresses confusion about what we are.

In today’s story, Jesus and the apostles are in the middle of the Sea of Galilee when a storm comes and frightens the apostles. They are afraid of losing their lives. The apostles do not see themselves as anything more than body-personalities.

In the story, Jesus is aware that:

Just as sure as the storm began, it will end.

This is a metaphor that points to truth. Let’s look at the metaphor more carefully.

Here is a story that I call The Journey of Water:

In the hot summer sun, some water evaporates from a lake known as the Sea of Galilee. The evaporated water forms a cloud. The cloud journeys through the air and drops rain in another location. The rainwater flows on the downward slope of the land and joins a creek. The creek flows southeast and merges with the Jordan River. The Jordan River flows south and dumps into the Dead Sea, where some of the water evaporates in the hot desert sun and becomes part of a small cloud. The cloud drifts northward and is drawn into a powerful storm system. The passing storm tosses a small convoy of boats on the Sea of Galilee, and raindrops fall to merge with the lake.

In this fictional story, we see that the water is ongoing and the storm is a temporary manifestation.

When Jesus refers to the “Son of God” in today’s reading, he is not referring to a single temporary body-personality. He is referring to what we are, the Great Ongoingness, of which the body-personality is a temporary manifestation, just like the storm is a temporary manifestation.

We are the Great Ongoingness—ongoing like the water in The Journey of Water. Transcending everything in form, ongoingness has nothing to fear.

In today’s story, people clamor after Jesus seeking physical healing, but Jesus doesn’t want to heal a never-ending crowd of ailing bodies. He wants to teach spiritual clarity, which he perceives as true healing.

Others may see Jesus of NTI as a master, but he sees himself as a student. He knows he is still awakening, and so he pays attention to himself. When he notices an error in his thinking, he corrects it.

Today’s reading says, “… it was the good news he yearned to share.” And then it goes on to say, “Jesus bowed his head to give the circumstance to the Holy Spirit.”

In other words, Jesus noticed this yearning to teach as self-will. “I” wanted to teach. Jesus knew “I” was ego, so he bowed his head to let go of self-will and to surrender.

When he surrendered, Jesus made sure that self-will was completely dissolved—dissolved to the point that he was willing to do anything  he was guided to do. He was willing to go back into the crowd and heal bodies. He was willing to teach. And he was willing to leave without doing anything. Having no conditions on what he would or would not do, Jesus knew he was genuinely surrendered.

Surrender yourself to the universal
and you will be absorbed in the universal.

~ Ramana Maharshi