A SPRINKLING OF

J ewels
Insights into Non-Duality
from Sailor Bob Adamson

Compiled and edited b y

Kalyani Lawry & Peter Lawry
 F o r e wo r d

Only the Non-Dual (That). Let any doubt, any thought seeing difference, merge
into the book again and recognise the pure non-duality

T he true value of the gold bangle, necklace and

earrings is their weight in gold, not the intricate
patterns they have been fashioned into. The patterns may
in its that-ness. That is self-knowing.

- Sailor Bob Adamson

be beautiful, plain or even malformed, but they cannot
stand on their own apart from gold.

This compilation made up of author/editors (Kalyani

& Peter), paper, ink, words, descriptions and photos,
patterned into a seeming thing called book, can be
dissolved into the one spontaneous intelligence energy
(including yourself the reader).

Recognise the singularity without analysis. A living,

resonating, vibrancy, an all-inclusive, spontaneous
expression of that, called life. In that recognition, the
compilation has done its work. The jewels sparkle
naturally and effortlessly as that.

4
“You have not understood until you have solved the riddle of
the one who thinks he has understood.”
N i s a r g a dat ta

5
 A lway s F r e s h and New
B ob usually starts the meetings with an intro-
duction - a spontaneous stream of ideas, im-
ages and insights. In his humble manner, he calls
his address the spiel, the length of which can vary
from between 20 to 45 minutes. If there are new-
comers, the spiel will be longer as Bob tries to
give them everything that he can and convey the
essence of the understanding as succinctly as pos-
sible.
At one of the first meetings I attended, some-
one told me that Bob is very literal, very matter
of fact. I was advised to listen to Bob from the
understanding that I was receiving practical, fac-
tual information. This advice was such a gift as it
sharpened my listening, focusing my attention on
what was actually being pointed to.
I listened intently for practical advice, and fol-
lowing the instructions as accurately as I could,
6
when Bob said, “Pause a thought,” I paused a
thought. Instructed to “Full Stop,” I stopped.
Slowly it dawned on me that what is being pointed
to here, can only reveal itself here.
The spiel and the jewels that follow are precious
gifts pared down to the facts of the matter. There
is nothing extraneous or superfluous here, no
gilding of the lily. Any attempts to debate the sub-
tle distinction between awareness and conscious-
ness is gently rebuked - “Is anyone not aware
right now?” and “If you are not unaware,
then you must be aware.”
The questioner quite elegantly is turned back
on him or herself - “What you are looking for
is looking.” The questioner is guided to pause a
thought right now, and gently asked, “Without a
thought, what can you say about it?”
 “You’ll find nothing new here - t hese
pointers are still the same old pointers.
Yet if you actually take them on board,
they’ll certainly do the job.”
17
 “When you come in through the door,
leave your concepts behind with your shoes.”
19
 “I am not speaking to any body,
I am not speaking to any mind.
I’m speaking to that I AM, that I am,
to that sense of presence that expresses
through the mind as the thought I AM.
To just this, and nothing else.”

20
 “All our problems arise
from the belief
that I am.
So what is I am?
Aren’t they acquired
words that we’ve learnt?
When that sense of
presence is not being
translated by the mind
into the thought I am,
what are you without
words?”
22
“Pure intelligence is registering everything
just as it is.”
36
 “Emptiness, suffused with intelligence (knowing), can be a useful pointer or
description; Remember though, that the description can never be the described.
It is a valuable pointer only if in looking or seeing, there is a recognising of
the actuality of this natural emptiness. Every-thing comes from, appears
in, and returns to this natural emptiness. The coming and going of things
is transient, but the cognising emptiness, being empty, does not come and go.
Being empty, it is of itself no thing. It can never be filled or emptied of things,
for things appearing in emptiness have no independent nature of themselves.
In reality things are the same emptiness appearing as other. Every-thing
perceived is emptiness. There can only be a problem if things (including the so-
called ‘see-er’), are believed to be other than the natural emptiness.”
37
 “Recognise the naturalness that you are – pure, all-pervasive, space-
like, ever-expressing spontaneous presence-awareness, with no reference
point having any substance or independent existence. Failing to recognise
naturalness (the unity of appearance and emptiness, space and its
content), delusion happens and there is a grasping of or fixation on
appearance - me and the other, a seeming duality. Without that fixation,
there is freedom as naturalness. Delusion dissolves and evenness (non-
duality) remains - the natural state, simply this, nothing else.”
38
 “Is that underlying
essence being obscured by
the thinking? If it is seen
simply as the activity of
thinking, then it is just
appearing like everything
else and nothing is
being obscured.”
65
 “No one can live a moment ago. That’s
gone, it’s finished. It can be recalled,
yet when you are recalling it, the only
actuality it’s got is what you are giving it
in the moment. No one can live a moment
in the future. You can anticipate and
imagine the future, but you can’t live in
the future. If you’re not recalling the past,
nor imagining or anticipating the future,
where does that leave you?
It leaves you here, in this presence
awareness, which is clear and empty.”

66
 “In Hinduism they call it
Advaita – meaning
non-duality – and they try
and describe it by saying
it’s one without a second.
Even the idea of one
implies that there could be
other than one – so in
bringing it down to its bare
essence, there is only that.”

71
“Undistracted non-meditation is going on all
the time. When there is no-one to meditate,
and nothing to meditate on, that’s the natural
meditation and that is what you are.”

83
 A S P RIN KL IN G O F

J ewels
Sailor Bob Adamson is a highly respected figure in contemporary non-dual teaching
and his contribution to current western Non-Duality expression is widely recognised.
With his characteristic warmth and directness, Bob’s words shimmer with clarity and
come straight from the heart. Just as a crystal reflects light, the luminosity of these
words point directly to that pure essence.

This book is a distillation of his teachings – a collection of sparkling jewels.

Continuing in the lineage of his beloved Nisargadatta Maharaj (I Am That), Bob says
that the understanding is not just for the few –
it is available for all who truly care to look.

Read this book sequentially, or simply open any page.

Each pointer reflects the light of understanding and has the capacity to take you home.