Question: "Ishvara, could you talk about yourself in perspective of other past and present sages and masters?"

Ishvara: Well, I can imagine a moment in Buddha’s life, when he was awakening, where he went through the same things that I’m going through. The conditional mind reacts to this and says, “That’s very egoic.” Yet I see a lot of points of relationship in what has been said or written about Buddha. He has history behind him. I have history before me. It remains to be seen whether This can become such a world-transforming presence.

The same is true with Jesus. I relate to many of the things that are said about Jesus. I can say some of the very same things he said, right from the core of my being, without flinching, without any reservation whatsoever, knowing the core truth of those things.

This is something I have seen, something I am aware of. I am non-different from these past individuals. Yet I also have the benefit of everything they did. Now, no one ever has a corner on The Consciousness. We humans get into thinking that everything that can possibly be done has already been done. Humans look at these past teachers and say, “Well, that was it, that was the complete package.” But that is not true. In the synergy that is The Consciousness, The Consciousness is always becoming greater. The parts and the smaller wholes come together to become something even greater. So why shouldn’t I become more than these past individuals? There is nothing to stop that, except for my own fear, my own resistance.

What took place in the past could not have been all of it, could not have been the whole package. So many changes, so many extensions have occurred since then. Buddha didn’t have access to computers. His forms of communication were very slow, and confined to his locality. And so one cannot possibly conclude that Buddha said everything that needed to be said for the whole of existence, for all time. Such a conclusion is utterly foolish. We must see everything that was said and done in the context of the time and place in which it occurred. In Buddha’s case, what was said and done was very narrow in its scope. Yes, these things affected large segments of humanity after the fact. Yet when I see individuals clinging to those things as systems and structures, I see that those things have become a stumbling block. They are holding back the expression, distorting what could be.

Jesus is said to have stated that “You shall do far greater things than I have done.” Yet as human beings we seem to settle for less. I fully expect to do greater things. I see that it is possible. I see that what limits this is the attempt to contain oneself in a system or structure, trying to emulate the descriptions of Buddha or Christ or any other enlightened being. I see that this is an error. We must ascend beyond the limitations of these points, and synthesize all of it as a new synergy, a new way of being and seeing.

So it is a matter of honoring the sages of the past, but never letting them be the authority of the now. This is vitally important, and it is the place where most people become stuck. I feel that many people have had an awakening experience, and then have confined it to a system or structure, thus limiting it or even shutting it down.

Do you have a question? Ask Ishvara.