Introduction

What are we looking for?Everybody in the world is basically

looking for happiness—that great elusive ‘thing’ which will somehow fulfill all their desires and eliminate all their sufferings. What each individual equates happiness with will vary from one person to another, but when they boil down what it is that they want and why they want it, the answer will always be ‘happiness’. And this search takes an endless number of forms —for money, fame, power, sex, poverty, simplicity, or God—all to gain happi-ness. If they could only have ‘this’ or ‘that’ then they would finally have that happiness. And if they could only find happiness, then they would be…well, HAPPY! At least, that is what people would have you believe.

But there is more at stake here than happiness. The truth is, happi-ness is only an idea. If you can get to the point of seeing that you want something to make you happy, the obvious reverse of that coin is that you are really seeking freedom from its opposite, unhappiness. In fact, the endless search for happiness that ev-eryone seems to be on is really just an attempt to escape from unhappiness. Let me give you some examples.

Who would care about (pursuit) unless they were afraid of (avoidance):

And on and on and on with pretty much any idea you can con-ceive of. So what people are really seeking is not happiness, through attainment of some quality or idea on the left, but freedom from it’s opposite on the right side. And ultimately, whether they know it or not, what everyone truly seeks is freedom from both sides of the list. But the list exists, and as long as we continue to seek, continue to search, and to fight and scratch our way to one side or the other, we will get tired. And people ARE tired.

But it is in this tiredness that great things can happen. It is at this junction, this point of exhaustion, that one can finally, and totally, just…let…go. And this letting go can only happen ‘right now, in this moment.’ It’s not something you can plan for. It is a spontaneous release and a total surrender into the moment.

Wealth Love Being Loved Beauty

PovertyHateBeing IgnoredUgliness

Being Right Relaxation Simplicity Health Life Power Righteousness Heaven Bliss Enlightenment Knowledge

Being Wrong StressComplexity SicknessDeathVictimizationUnrighteousnessHellMiseryBondageIgnorance

1Right Now...In this Moment by Aja Thomas

Who are You?Not who you think you are; not

your name; not your gender; and certainly not your beliefs, concepts or convictions, but who are YOU?

As children, or even teens, we may ask ourselves this question. But soon we are told who we are. We are indoctrinated into a field of isolation by having our Who-ness defined and categorized. We forget Who we are as it is clouded by misconceptions, desires, ideas, mythologies, and indi-viduality. But who is it that rests prior to all ideas, all thoughts, prior even to the senses?

Within your mind, you may have so many thoughts. They run through your mind, seemingly appearing out of nowhere to tell you what you think and what to believe. But where do they come from. Are you really think-ing or are you being thought? All of these thoughts simply arise in the mind and we hear them, see them, are aware of them. But who is aware of them?

If within your mind you create a picture, an image of something, any-thing, such as a tree, a cat, a house—that image appears within the mind, but who is seeing that image?

That hearer of thoughts, that seer of images—that is You. It is the Witness, the Consciousness, the Pure Awareness.

You are NOT beliefs. And nearly everything you believe you are is a belief, a concept. All of your ideas about the nature of the world, your likes and dislikes, who you are, what God is, what political or religious system is best, what life is meant for, why your life is a success or a failure—all of these are ideas. They are not and never have been who you are. They are sheets of colored gel laid upon the light of pure con-sciousness. They make you believe that you are happy or sad, good or bad, fortunate or unfortunate. But you are never any of these things. Who You are is Free. Who You are is Absolute. Who You are is a drop of the consciousness that is the Infinite Consciousness of all existence or what some might call God. Yes, you are That which alone exists, from which everything arises, and into which everything returns. But you focus on the flotsam and jetsam that float on the surface of the ocean, rather than recognizing you are the ocean itself.

Right Now...In This Moment has been read by thousands of people around the world, and it only takes about 10 minutes to read. I invite you to take a few min-utes to see if it doesn’t change the way you view your Self and the world. Even bet-ter, read it every day for 21 days. Consider what it says, and begin to inquire into the nature of Truth within your Self. If you truly find it of benefit, consider reading the expanded version, In This Moment: Teachings on Consciousness, offered free of charge (see last page for download information).

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Right Now...In This Moment

Right Now...In this Moment by Aja Thomas

Perhaps you even seek to know the truth, to end suffering and real-ize Enlightenment. Enlightenment is another concept. It is the opposite of bondage or unenlightened and exists in the realm of duality, of opposites, in the land of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. They are names only that we have created to manage within an unknown territory. That’s fine, but you are not the territory. You are You, and that has never been bound and will never be enlightened. It always is as it is, pure consciousness.

Where are You? Not where your body is or even

where you are within your body. But that consciousness, that awareness, that witness which is experiencing these words, thoughts and images arising in your mind. Where is that witness? That is you. Where are You? If you really search, without concepts, you will not find it. Who is search-ing? The seeker is seeking itself! How absurd! But you are convinced that you are not you and therefore seek-ing something else somewhere else. But the real you is not locatable in space and time. All you can say is “I am Here”. But that ‘here’ has no loca-tion. It is only a knowing that there is existence happening somewhere in a ‘here-ness’ that is no (or all) space.

When you speak of “I”, who are you referring to?

“I am unhappy.”

“I am confused.”

“I am a seeker of Truth.”

None of these is true. They are identifications with ideas, feelings and concepts, but they are not who you are. It would be better to say: “I am awareness and unhappiness is arising within that awareness.”

“I am awareness and am identi-fying with confusion that is arising within the mind within that aware-ness.”

“I am awareness and am iden-tifying with a belief that I am not already perfect and looking for something else that may arise some-where else that will make my mind perfect.”

Let go of all beliefs. Separate yourself from your

Body/Mind and rest as Pure Aware-ness. Don’t try to stop your mind. Don’t try and do anything. It is all the trying and searching and sweat-ing yourself into a frenzy that makes you unhappy. Let go of all of it. Rest in Pure Awareness, right now, in this moment, and confusion is gone, sor-row is gone, bondage is gone, fear is gone, limitation is gone. Yes, the mind may say something. Thoughts may arise. But you are not the thoughts. You are not the feelings. You are Pure Awareness. You are free from all concepts.

Are you looking for spiritual experiences? You are not the experi-ences. Experiences are phenomena. Phenomena come and go, but you are always the witness to all experi-ences and all phenomena. Do you

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want to see God. The experience of seeing God may come and go but you are always the witness to all experi-ences and phenomena. That Witness state, that Absolute Pure Conscious-ness is itself non-different from what-ever you might conceive of as God. Do not underestimate this. Do not evalu-ate it at all. Give up all evaluation, all judgement, all intellectualizing and reside in the peace of who you are.

Are you seeking Awakening? As long as you are seeking you will never find. You cannot be a seeker and a finder at the same time. You must give up your seeking. You must give up your striving. You must give up all that which is the very nature of your mind and intellect. What is prior to that. It is only Pure Consciousness without an object. It cannot be known or grasped for it is the Knower, the Knowing. Let go of all concepts and simply rest in that.

Who you think you are is concepts. It is your personal mythology in which you are the Hero/ine. But that is a story based on a supposed individual that doesn’t exist, like a reflection in the mirror. It is an appearance only. A case of mistaken identity. Don’t be fooled any longer. It is like watching a movie and thinking that you are the main star. But it is just light on a screen that gives an appearance of people and personalities. Recognize the projector, which is the pure light of consciousness itself. Only then can you be content and free from all of your desires and anxieties (which are also only an illusion).

Realize, all of this is only one thing.

It is the light of consciousness playing in infinite variety. In India, they call this Lila, the play of God. God is one without a second. That means that there isn’t anything after God (Brahman, the Divine, Spiritual Source—names don’t matter). It’s not that no one is as good as God or as powerful as God, or second run-ner up to God. There isn’t anything except God. How could there be? All life comes from Life. All existence comes from Existence. Everything or anything that is, comes from what IS. So whatever you are see-ing, feeling, thinking, experiencing...whatever is seeing, feeling, thinking, experiencing...and the acts them-selves of seeing, feeling, thinking or experiencing...All of that is the One, the Divine, the Sacred Source, God. Just as you can see that every-thing on the Earth is simply earth or transformed earth—the hills, the valleys, the mountains, the trees, the flowers, the animals and the people —so see the All that is seemingly transformed into multifarious forms.

What is that All? It cannot be named. It is beyond all names and all concepts. It is emptiness and abso-lute fullness. It is the beginning, the middle and the end. You can name it whatever you like, but you run the risk of limiting it in your mind and creating a conception to fit your needs. Then you will have put it into the tiny box of your mind in an at-tempt to grasp what is ungraspable.

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Do not try to use names and forms but dive into that which is unknowable. Slip gently into the abyss which is beyond the mind’s tiny grasp.

Many call it God. And God is as good a name as any other, but you must give up all your concepts of ‘God’ in order to realize that. Whatever con-cepts you have about God, Goddess, Christ, Buddha, Brahman, Emptiness, Fullness, must be given up, in this mo-ment, to fully recognize the Truth. For how can you experience what is true if you are holding on to your own expec-tations of Reality. First let go of your own knowing, and then dive deeply into the abyss of unknowing.

Know that all is perfect.Everything is perfect exactly as

it is in this moment. There is nothing that needs to be changed, nothing to be healed, for everything is exactly as it should be. how could anything be different? Do you doubt that Divinity is taking place in the All One Thing in this very moment? Psychics, heal-ers, classes, seminars, gurus, masters, will not make You or the moment any more perfect. So stop seeking. Be the Perfection that You already are. You are Perfection personified. You are Peace personified. You are Love personified. There is nothing to add or subtract.

When you recognize that you are Absolute Consciousness, you will see that there is nothing else. There is no good and no bad, and that everyone and everything is a manifestation of

That. It is all Absolute Conscious-ness, perfectly manifesting itself in the great drama of cosmic creation. Whatever arises is simply more of that. Thoughts, emotions, feelings are all part of that. Experience them without judgement, without desire to maintain them or an aversion to them. See with the eye of equality that all is That.

In the beginning, it may not seem easy. There may be frustration, confusion, and helplessness. But rec-ognize that these things are simply arising. They are not You. You are the Witness of these arisings. Simply inquire into Who You are, and with anything that arises, do not identify. Simply come back to the inquiry of Who is witnessing this experience. Even if there is extreme bliss, who is experiencing it? If there is powerful energy arising, who is experiencing it? If there are visions of sublime Deities, who is experiencing it. Bliss may come and go, energy may come and go, visions may come and go, but You are always here, right now, in this moment, eternally. That is what is permanent. That is what is real. All else is phenomenal and changing.

Rest in That and you are eternally free.

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Aja Thomas“In the center of your Being is a

Point of Space...

A Point which opens into Pure Awareness and Absolute Infinity.”

Aja is a spiritual teacher. He teaches about Sanskrit and Spiritual Awaken-ing. Currently, he is living in semi-reclu-sion, at his home, Barnashram. At the

present time, he is discouraging visits (unless you already have some relation with him). You are welcome, however, to email him, if you have a question about spiritual life.

A personal note from AjaI’d like to dispel an idea of what a

teacher looks like. I am a middle-aged fat guy who is in very poor health, eats crappy food, smokes, and watches too much TV. But even the Moon has spots. For the ordinary individual, it is impossible to see the internal mindset of one who has realization. But one thing to look for...do they charge. If so, they are probably a businessperson, and not a spiritual teacher.

HistoryAllegedly was born in the phenomenal

world in1954.

Lifelong deep and abiding search for Truth.

Began regular meditation in 1972.

Became a Hindu monk in 1974 and given the name Aja das (meaning servant of the Unborn) by his spiritual master, Sri Srimad A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

Ordained a Hindu Priest (Brahmana) 1975 and initiated into Gayatri Mantra by his master in Vrndavana, India (Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya Sampradaya).

Began ‘householder’ life, marrying Abhaya in 1978 (resulting in 4 children—all currently grown).

Started Song of God Church 1980 (short lived).

Created Bhaktivedanta Society, Inc. in 1981 (a 501(c)3 non-profit religious organization).

Created Atma Institute as a dba of Bhaktive-danta Society 1984.

Received a Doctorate of Naturopathy De-gree from the International University in 1984.

Through intensive Self-Inquiry “Woke up” to the direct recognition of Self as Absolute Con-sciousness in 1990.

Completed Sanskrit Teacher Training through American Sanskrit Institute and given title Sanskrit Adhyapaka in 1990.

Moved to current location, starting Bar-nashram in 1991.

Given title of ‘Acharya’ (spiritual teacher) by Sri Acharya Rajendra of Sriji Temple in Vrnda-vana, India, 2005.

Currently living as a Vanachari (forest dweller) of sorts, at his home Barnashram.

“Official Name/Title”—Shri Aja das Acharya Vanachari Sanskritadhyapaka (Prefers: Aja).

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About the Author

Right Now...In this Moment by Aja Thomas

What others have to sayYou are the best teacher I’ve ever known.

I can’t think of anyone who has taught me anything more important...Every time I think you’ve taught me everything you need to. I find that you have so much more to give and I have so much more to learn. K.Y.

Aja guided me through a Meditation and brought me further then my usual level of awareness. I came to a point where there is no sound, sight, smell or touch—only the aware-ness, the non-physical which we are, where there is no separation between anything. I.R.

Aja, you are a beacon spreading the right gospel in a world that doesn’t appreciate it enough, no, is actually averse to it. That’s all the more reason why it’s important for you to keep sending out the vibes. T.D.

Aja, like all great teachers, has the ability to guide the student according to their distinct needs. That careful approach made it seem-ingly simple to unclutter my mind just enough to see what has always been there. How do you thank someone for such an incredible recognition?! The recognition was full of paradoxes: profound yet simple, foreign yet familiar, utterly calming and yet exciting, etc. Aja, Thank you! V.L.

Suddenly, there was no longer here and there, right or wrong, there was only aware-ness, pure consciousness left, the truth of who I am. P.K.

I am grateful to Aja for relentlessly point-ing me back to what is eternally here/now. Aja helped shatter all of my misconceptions and illusions around what enlightenment and spirituality are really about. If you are ready to let go of who you think you are, then come and see Aja. Z.M.

What was left as ‘I’ had seemingly ex-panded into infinity. There was nothing other than stillness and in this stillness was peace and freedom. Nothing could touch this still-ness. Everything was allowed to be in it and there was nothing that was missing, nothing to continue looking for. R.S.

Aja reaches into your soul and helps you to touch the divine. Swami J.P.

This is where it starts to get fuzzy. You reached over and touched me lightly with your finger and I was still sorta think-ing, “right, mmmmmkkkkk” and then my head cracked open and it was like being on psychedelics. And what I felt was my small part of the WHOLE, I felt the connection between EVERYTHING, nothing is separate. I felt not only in the Universe, I felt a part of the Universe, I was the Universe, we all are. Then it occurred to me that you had put your finger on me and that what I was ex-periencing was your doing. I looked over at you while you were speaking and I looked in your eyes and I knew, without a doubt. that you were enlightened and fully awake to God. You seemed different to me than at any other point before, I could see in your sparkly eyes there was a knowing. K.R.

Aja’s booksGayatri Mantra

In This Moment: Teachings on the Nature of Consciousness

Mantra—the Power of Sound (Book/CD)

(All available for free down-load at www.barnashram.blogspot.com/p/products.html)

Contact informationbarnashram@gmail.com

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