Taoshobuddha Upanishad

volume 1

Compiled and Edited by

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Taoshobuddha Upanishad Vol 1

The Goose was never in
2011, Taoshobuddha, Swami Anand Neelambar

Printed and Published by TAOSHOBUDDHA MEDITATIONSTM

All rights are reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of the original publisher TAOSHOBUDDHA MEDITATIONSTM.

Cover design and graphics: Anand Neelambar

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TAOSHOBUDDHA The word Taoshobuddha comes from three words, tao, sho, and Buddha. The word Tao was coined by the Chinese master, Lau Tzu. It means that which is and cannot be put into words. It is unknown and unknowable. It can only be experienced and not expressed in words. Its magnanimity cannot be condensed into finiteness. The word Sho implies, that which is vast like the sky and deep like an ocean carries within its womb a treasure. It also means one on whom the existence showers its blessings. And lastly the word Buddha implies the Enlightened One; one who has arrived home. Thus, Taoshobuddha implies one who is existential, on whom the existence showers its blessings and one who has arrived home. The Enlightened One!

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Swami Anand Neelamber

SWAMI ANAND NEELAMBER is officially known as Samaroo Anand Avatar. He comes from humble family of indentured labors in Trinidad, people of Indian Origin who came to these shores nearly 170 years ago. In spite of the oddities of life and conditions he has maintained the inner values and aspirations from his childhood. During his early life he was inspired by his Grandfather who was a priest. However he was nourished and nurtured by the eternal master intuitively. Later when he came in contact with an Enlightened Sufi Master Taoshobuddha the missing dimensions in life attained fulfillment. Swami Anand Neelamber is the chief editor of a monthly downloadable E magazine MEDITATION TIMES, Quarterly Journal Of Gita Dhyan Sadhana, Quarterly Journal of Naqshbandi Tariqat, and Quarterly Journal Of Rama Vigyan Sarovar. He is the chief editor of the TAOSHOBUDDHA MEDITATIONS. He has compiled and edited many works: MEDITATION THE WAY TO SELF REALIZATION; THE SECRETS OF BAHKTI; LEAVES FROM A SUFI HEART VOL 1 & VOL 2; TASAWWUF-THE SPIRIT OF SUFISM. A MAN OF MANY TALENTS HE IS IT EXPERT, POET, and yet still down to earth.

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Contents
1. Preface 2. Message from Taoshobuddha 3. Enlightenment 4. Master appears when disciple is ready 5. Inner and the outer 6. Living without desire 7. Living in the Present Moment 8. Meditation the ultimate healing 9. Love and victory 10. Love gives birth to True God 11. Achieve Total Consciousness 12. Consciousness needs more meditation 13. Consciousness and meditation 14. Transcendence not synthesis the way 15. Life after death 16. The Goose was never in 7 11 16 131 180 191 216 230 255 258 264 272 278 284 332 377

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Preface

aoshobuddha is an enlightened master. Sitting in his presence one feels the call from the beyond within the being. This first volume in the series Taoshobuddha Upanishad is entitled The Gosse was never in. In the past Upanishads were very brief treaties on spiritual visions that the seers had in communion with their Guru Master. Yet still these overflowed profound wisdom beyond the dimensions of the known. The Prasnopanishad is an appendix of the Atharvana Veda. It is named so, since it is in the form of questions (Prasna) and answers.
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This implies, the Upanishad discusses more elaborately some topics dealt with briefly in the Mundakopanishad. It has thus become a commentary on the Mundakopanishad. For example, the Mundaka says that Vidya is of two types: Para and Apara, and that Apara Vidya is of two kinds: Karma and Upasana. Of these, the second and third Prasnas in this Upanishad deal with Upasana. Since the discipline of Karma is fully covered in the Karma Kanda it is not elaborated here. When both Karma and Upasana are practised, regardless of the fruits thereof, they promote renunciation and non-attachment. This is the conclusion arrived at by the First Prasna. So, if the Prasnopanishad is studied after the Mundaka, the subject would become even clearer. Of the two entities, Parabrahma - God, Universal Oversoul and Aparabrahma - The lower selfunrelated to the Oversoul, the Aparabrahma is incapable of conferring the Purushaarthas - goals of life, which are of lasting value. Realising this, and eager to attain the Eternal Parabrahma, the aspirants approached the competent Teacher, Pippalada. The word Anveshamaanaa - seeking used here to signify the attitude of the disciple shows that these, attached to the Aparabrahma, fail to identify their own basic truth as the Atman.
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That is why they still seek it, somewhere outside the truth of their being! The eternal unique Parabrahma principle can be known only through the discipline of the Sastras, directed personally by a Guru or Teacher. The seekers have to approach the Guru, as a Samithpaani; that is to say not simply holding the ritualistic fuel, the sacrificial fire. It also implies the presentation of worthy desirable offerings. The seekers meet Pippalada and he tells them, The rare and precious teaching related to the fundamental mystery of the Universe and the Self, known as Brahma Vidya, cannot be imparted to the uninitiated. The students have to be first kept under observation and tested for a year. The modern mind has since lost the spiritual intuitive flights of consciousness and so Masters are given to more elaborate discussion on questions posed by their disciples. In this initial volume Taoshobuddha responds to some probing questions posed by his friends on the spiritual sojourn. I have chosen to compile these responses into a series of talks in the spirit of Upanishads. The title The Goose was never in gives a fundamental insight into the dilemma of the mind. We are too
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Nature cannot be amended. It has to be accepted as it is. There is no way to be otherwise. Whosoever and whatsoever you are, that is how you are and that is what you are. It is a great acceptance. Buddha calls it Tathata - suchness, a great acceptance. Nothing is there to be changed. How can you change it, and who is going to change it? It is your nature and you will try to change it? It would be just like a dog chasing its own tail. The dog would go crazy. But dogs are not as foolish as man. Man goes on chasing his own tail, and the more difficult he finds it the more he jumps and the more he tries and the more and more bizarre he becomes. Nothing has to be changed, because all is beautiful and that Total Acceptance is enlightenment. All is as it should be, everything is perfect. This is the most perfect world, this moment lacks nothing. The experience of this is what enlightenment is. Enlightenment is finding that there is nothing to find. Maybe you are lost in many dreams. That is all but you are already there. God is your very being. So the first thing is, do not think about enlightenment as a goal, it is not. It is not a goal. Also it is not something that you can desire.
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warm water. Everything was absolutely routine making arrangements for the shower of my uncle, warming the water. And then by six I will leave for the university campus that was a college. Even if I had a fever or I was ill, there was no difference I would simply go on the same way. They had known me to sit in meditation for hours. And the time was spending in introspection. That time I did not have camera. The financial resources were scanty. So there are no pictures of that time, except that in my memory. Those days the tea-stall vender outside the college campus was the only breakfast venue. I used to have tea and Indian Potato filled patties as regular breakfast. And at lunch time the same thing. And occasionally have something for dinner as I will go again for library. Such was regular routine. Such memory is good as this is not psychological. Since then I will wake up only when sleep leaves me, and I will go to sleep only when sleep comes to me. There was no set pattern. I am no longer going to be a slave to the clock. I will eat whatsoever my body feels like eating and I will drink whatsoever I feel like drinking and that too when I was hungry. The entire routine changed completely. This has continued even today.
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That is why when Buddha and Shankar say the world is Maya, a mirage it is difficult for us to understand. We know only this world and have its experience. This is the only reality we know. What are these people talking aboutthis is Maya, or illusion? This is the only reality. Unless you come to know that which is really real, their words cannot be understood, their words remain hypotheses. Maybe this man is propounding a philosophyThe world is unreal. Ordinarily one whose focus is on the unreal cannot understand what Buddha means when he says the world is a mirage. He does not mean that you can pass through the wall. He is not saying that you can eat stones and it will make no difference whether you eat bread or stones. He is not saying that. Instead Buddha is saying that there is a reality far beyond your understanding. Once you come to know it, this so-called reality simply fades out. With the vision of a higher reality the comparison arises, not otherwise. When you are in dream the dream stuff looks real and you cannot think otherwise. You dream every night. One important thing about dream is that no dream lasts longer than 60-90 seconds and you do not have more than three dreams each night.
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because we are born in a low or high family. Our goodness depends on our actions. So Buddha stayed under the tree. In the evening he heard a song coming from the nearby forest. The song was being sung by a group of girls who were collecting firewood in the forest. The song meant that if the strings of the musical instrument were too tight they would break on being used. Also if the strings were too loose the instrument would not make the right sound. The strings would have to be neither too tight nor too loose. Thus, Buddha saw the futility of the extreme paths and also the dangers of attachment to them. So he decided to pursue the middle path himself. He realized the significance of the middle path. He then went to Niranjana River and sat on the bank to meditate and discover the middle path. It is said that Buddha wanted to cross the river Niranjana but he was so weak that he fell into it; it was a shallow stony river. He held on to the branch of a tree leaning from the other shore. He thought about the futility of his actions of the past few days.

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may wake up at a certain stage in my dream; you may wake up at another stage in your dream. How they can be the same? Enlightenment is nothing but awakening. For the enlightened person, all our lives are just dreams. They may be good dreams, bad dreams, nightmares, and very nice and beautiful dreams, but all the same they are dreams. You can wake up any moment. That is always your potentiality. Sometimes you may need an effort to wake up, and you find that it is difficult. You may have had dreams in which you are trying to shout but you cannot shout. You want to wake up and get out of the bed, but you cannot, your whole body is paralyzed, as if. But in the morning you wake up and you simply laugh at the whole thing, but at the moment when it was happening, it was not a thing to laugh at. It was really serious. Your whole body was almost dead, you could not move your hands, you could not speak, and you could not open your eyes. You knew that, now you are finished. But in the morning, you simply do not pay any attention to it you do not even reconsider it, what it was. Just knowing that it was a dream, it becomes meaningless. And you
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was surrounded by the silence of the river and the nearby forest. He was all alone in the boat. Occasionally a bird may call. And that was all. And afterwards silence will get deeper. Tagore was inside the boat. Pondering over the question what is beauty. So he was looking into an ancient scripture. Tagore was seeking the wordless in the word. Or the formless in the form! Only a small candle was lit in his cabin. Tired and frustrated as he was it reached the middle of the night? And Rabindranath could not find anything on beauty in the scripture. Only words were there. He blew out the candle. And as he did so, he could not believe his eyes. Suddenly as he blew out the candle, something majestic happened. From the windows, from the door and from all corners the moon light just rushed in. Moonlight was already waiting to come in. He was transported into another world. He rushed out of the cabin. He looked at the moon, and the silence of the night. The reflection of the moon on the river, the silvery river, and the dense forest on the bank too he looked at. This was beauty. In all its splendour beauty surrounded him and he was seeking beauty in the word.

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is right to say desire it because it is the only thing desirable. Do not desire it once again he is right because desire becomes a barrier in the ultimate fruition. If a situation can be created in which you are so blissful, and contented, that just for a moment there is no desire in your mind, you have learned a great lesson. This is what a master does. And if this state of no-desire can continue every moment, you need not bother about enlightenment. It will come to you but you do not have to go to it. It is not an object sitting somewhere that you have to desire and find and work hard and go to it. It is simply your own state when there is no desire. I am using it as a device to avoid any confusion and puzzle in your mind. Being in my company you get the taste, and then the same taste will take care of you. First, the desire for enlightenment will look so far away. And by and by you will forget all about it because you will be in it, it will be within you. And certainly in the beginning it looks like a beautiful dream, because we are accustomed to reality and its ugliness. We know beauty only in dreams.

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Love gives birth to True God

Question: It is said love gives birth to God. I do not understand this statement. God is the creator. Does this mean there is another creator above who gives birth to God? Taoshobuddha:

t happened once. There was a conference of the learned ones. Somehow a master happened to reach there. In that conference he read a
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evolved animal. God created him - not only did He create him He created him in His own image. Now, do you think the monkey is the image of God? That He created the monkey in His own image? Charles Darwin was also a very orthodox Christian. But he never thought about it, whether God created the monkey and then said, I create you in my own image, and thanked Himself and said, Good. He then rejoiced seeing the monkey: I have succeeded in creating myself. Neither Charles Darwin bothered about that, nor does his follower Alistair Hardy bother at all. They continue to remain Christians and they continue to believe in the theory of evolution. You cannot be a Christian and a believer in the theory of evolution. Whatever God created must have been something totally different. In all these millions of years everything must have changed, if evolution is true. But they do not see the simple contradiction. Evolution denies God. Evolution denies God because evolution denies creation. And if there is no creation there is no need of a creator. These are simple implications. God is a hypothesis to support another hypothesis - the creation.
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blissful flowering of being, so silent and so timeless that you cannot conceive that anything better is possible. And there is nothing which is better than the state of a meditative mind. So you can say these are the three quantum leaps: 1. Adinatha drops God because he finds God is becoming too heavy on man; rather than helping him in his growth he has become a burden. But he forgets to replace him with something. Man will need something in his miserable moments, in his suffering. He used to pray to God. You have taken God away, you have taken his prayer away and now when he will be miserable, what will he do? In Jainism meditation has no place. 2. It is Buddhas insight to see that God has been dropped; now the gap should be filled, otherwise the gap will destroy man. He puts in meditation. Meditation is something really authentic, which can change the whole being. But he was not aware perhaps he could not be aware because there are things you cannot be aware of unless they happen. There should be no organization, that there should be no priesthood, that as God is gone religion should also be gone. But he can be forgiven because he had not
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and that, but he has not to be a divine being, he has not to function blissfully. The society is very afraid of blissful people for the simple reason that bliss is such a tremendous experience that one can sacrifice ones life for it but cannot sacrifice bliss for anything else. One lives for bliss, one dies for bliss, once one has known what bliss is. Hence the blissful person is absolutely beyond the imprisoning forces of the society. The society can only rule the miserable churches can only exploit the miserable. And Zen is not a solution of opposites, instead it is transcendence. The most important thing that happened to the first man who walked on the moon was that he suddenly forgot that he was an American. Suddenly the whole earth was one there were no boundaries, because there is no map on the earth. The American continent, the African continent, the Asian continent, this country and that country all disappeared. Not that he made any effort to put all the opposing camp together; there was not even a Soviet Russia or an America, the whole earth was just simply one. And the first words that were uttered by the American were My beloved earth! This is
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transcendence. For a moment he had forgotten all conditionings: My beloved earth! Now the whole earth belonged to him. This is what actually happens in a state of silence: the whole existence is yours and all opposites dissolve into each other, supporting, dancing with each other. It becomes an orchestra.

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My experience is that once you are enlightened, you are so full, just like a rain cloud, you want to shower. The moment I was fulfilled, the moment I was blessed by truth, of course I wanted it to be shared. There is utter overflowing silence that cannot be contained. The more you share it gets intensified. This is what I have been doing for the last thirty years. And in that state of utter silence, no-mind, he is capable of answering any question with tremendous profundity and clarity. It needs no preparation. He himself does not know what he is going to say. The response comes spontaneously. Sometimes he himself is surprised. But that does not mean that he has answers inside himself, ready-made. He has no answers at all. He has no questions at all. He has just clarity, a light that can be focused on any question, and all the implications of the question, and all the possibilities of its being answered, suddenly become clear. But the enlightened one has no answers, no scriptures, and no quotation marks. He is simply available; just like a mirror. He mirrors your innerness and thus he responds the seeker. He responds, and he responds with intensity and totality. This is master disciple communion in the past this is how the Upanishads happened the master was overflowing and the disciple was ready. This is transcendence. The Goose was never in Page 408