This commentary is my humble offering, where I share my understanding of Prabhuji, and how his presence, teachings, and guidance are inspiring and influencing my path, which is my life. It is an open invitation for you to continue to walk on this self-exploration trail using the light of wisdom shared by Prabhuji.
As we deepen into the book, the more we inquire, learn, and observe, the clearer things will get. It is not going to give us conclusions about reality, life, or God because Prabhuji’s wisdom never closes us to a certain point of view but invites us to open infinite windows and doors. We will not accumulate answers, but our questions will open us to new horizons.
We will read and deepen our understanding of Prabhuji’s teachings in this book, while bringing references from his various books and lectures. I will also share some of the intimate teachings he shared with the monastic disciples during walks at the ashram, which were never written in any book, or recorded in any lecture but were well documented by leaving their mark on my heart and soul.
This book is different from others because Prabhuji didn’t write it. Rather it is a collection of lectures given at Satsangs that were transcribed and compiled into a book. It covers various subjects such as Hatha Yoga; Karma Yoga; desire, repression, and sublimation; meditation; the spiritual search, and more.
This commentary does not claim to bring THE way of understanding Prabhuji, because there is nothing of this kind. Life is multi-dimensional, and Prabhuji keeps unfolding new angles to look at reality. His teachings are not doctrines or methods that can be taught systematically, because he does not intend to give us dogmatic answers, which will give us a false feeling that we know. But on the contrary, they open us to observe existence in a fresh way. His words are a call to inquiry, investigation, and authentic discovery.
WHAT IS AS IT IS, the title of the book, already encourages us to question many things:
What does it mean the IS AS IT IS?
Or as the philosopher Heidegger would ask “What is this IS?”
In Prabhuji’s writings about Ontology and Phenomenology, he goes deep into these questions, while unveiling our way to see reality.
While observing our surroundings we see “The man is XXX”, “The table is XXX”, “the dog is XXX”. Our attention usually goes to the man, the table, and the dog. But Martin Heidegger comes and shifts the attention to the IS.
This raises more questions such as:
Is there one IS or many ISs?
Can the IS not be as IT IS?
And this leads us to inquire:
What is reality?
What is real? Or what is true?
What is false or illusory?
Is reality that which we perceive through our senses?
Is truth what we know via reasoning?
How do we know that the means we have to perceive reality are valid?
Are there any limitations to the reach of our senses?
Is there something out of the reach of our minds? Is there anything that we are unable to know or understand?
If what we perceive is false, what is it that prevents us from seeing reality AS IT IS?
Can it be that our identification, desires, and attachment prevent us from perceiving reality AS IT IS?
Can it be that by trying to achieve what is not, we are missing WHAT IS in front of us?
I am not intending to answer these questions but to demonstrate that by questioning we are already opening our vision to perceive life in a new, wider, and deeper way.
As Prabhuji explains, most people take life for granted and use ready-made answers as a response to life’s deepest questions. A real spiritual seeker is someone who is not afraid to doubt the apparent, to question the known, and to enter the mystery of life.
Prabhuji’s passion for the truth and his love for religion made him delve deep into the world’s religions, their scriptures, and the teachings of humanity’s greatest thinkers, and his teachings are simultaneously wide and deep. But don’t be confused to think that he is teaching these philosophies or that religions, but rather he is using the various scriptures and viewpoints to share his vision about reality and life. Even though Prabhuji is very knowledgeable, his greatness does not come from his scholarly understanding, but from his study of himself, or his Self-Realization, from the direct experience of reality AS IT IS. And as we deepen into the book, we will get a clearer understanding of what it means.
We can find the statement WHAT IS AS IT IS in various of Prabhuji’s writings and lectures, and it is the subject of the last Satsang in this book, therefore we will conclude by getting back to these questions.
Before we delve into the book, I would like to highlight a few sentences from the preface to Prabhuji’s books, where he suggests to us how to approach his teachings:
“I am a simple intermediary who shares his experience with others. I am not a guide, coach, teacher, instructor, educator, psychologist, enlightener, pedagogue, evangelist, rabbi, posek halacha, healer, therapist, satsangist, psychic, leader, medium, savior, or guru. I am only a traveler whom you can ask for directions. I will gladly show you a place where everything calms upon arrival, a place beyond the sun and the stars, beyond your desires and longings, beyond time and space, beyond concepts and conclusions, and beyond everything that you believe you are or imagine that you will be.”
Prabhuji is sharing his own experience with sincere seekers. He does not take the role of a savior and does not assume responsibility for one’s life instead of anyone. He is not here to solve our personal problems, to entertain or motivate us, to perform miracles, or to give us ready answers. He can show us a way to the water, but we will need to drill our own well and drink by ourselves. He inspires and shows us a direction, but we will need to pave our own trail as we walk on the path that has a beginning but no end.
And I would like to present another section from the preface:
“It is not my intention to convince anyone of anything. I do not offer theology or philosophy, nor do I preach or teach, I simply think out loud. The echo of these words may lead you to the infinite space of peace, silence, love, existence, consciousness, and absolute bliss.
Do not search for me. Search for yourself. You do not need me or anyone else, because the only thing that really matters is you. What you yearn for lies within you, as what you are, here and now.”
Prabhuji is not trying to convince anyone. He shares what he sees, and this inspires seekers to search for themselves. As he said he only speaks out loud, and if these words touch us, the direction they lead us is inwards, into our own existence.