“Questioner: If “I Amness” is a product of the essence of food how can Babaji’s “I Amness” continue to exist without food?
Maharaj: The causal body which was born out of the food essence quality of Sri Babaji is still sustaining itself, but its cause was food only. It might be two thousand or four thousand years old; still it is sustaining itself.”
——“Seeds of Consciusness–The Wisdom of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj”
Nisargadatta Maharaj is one of the “leading lights” and “source teachers” of traditional non-duality. He is considered by many to be one of the most advanced spiritual teachers who ever lived; right up there with Jesus and Buddha. He is an especial darling of the intellectual set, who consider themselves far too smart to believe in silly things like breatharianism (living without the need to eat or drink), physical immortality, and Babaji. Yet here is their hero acknowledging the reality of all of these. The quote is from one of the lesser known books, which is more advanced than “I Am That”, the first book which everyone knows, but few actually finish. Babaji taught Leonard Orr. Leonard Orr taught me. I learned Breathwork from Leonard, among other things.
One of the “leading lights” of modern day non-duality, Tony Parsons, often speaks of how the “me” is a contracted energy. He means the egoic “me”; what Eckhart Tolle calls “the little me”. Eckhart, too, often speaks of the contracted energy of the “me”. Making contact with this contracted energy is a common occurrence during a breathwork session, although usually only as it arises as a specific and particular “negative” thought(s), “make wrong”, “complaint” or “problem”. In the Sacred Breath form of breathwork, we also address the root egoic contraction.
The indigenous Aborigines of Australia say that we have three brains, not just one. We have the brain in the head, the brain in the heart, and the brain in the gut. Modern science has found that, indeed, there are neurological cells in the heart and gut (solar plexus), as well as in the brain in the head. All advanced breathworkers use their solar plexus to process their client’s energy at the solar plexus. The Aborigines consider the brain in the head to be the smallest and least useful one, but most Westerners stay stuck in their heads.
Perhaps that is why many non-dual teachers tend to focus on verbal, head brain based, teachings. On the other hand, that is just what we find in their written works, which of course will be “word” based. We don’t usually know what they do in actual practice with serious students to whom they can (or could) give personal instruction. Even Nisargadatta spoke often of the energetic component of awakening. Both Adyashanti and Eckhart Tolle give exercises for working with the energy. Breathwork in general, and Sacred Breath in particular, are all about working with the energy. Leonard Orr once said, “The Mind and the Breath are the King and Queen of Human Consciousness”, so that means working with at least two of the brains, the ones in the head and the gut. In Sacred Breath Breathwork, we also work with the Heart.
Jesus was also a non-dual teacher, both in the traditional Bible (you can find it if you know to look for it; bearing in mind his audience at the time didn’t really understand what he was saying), in the non-canonical “Gospel of Thomas”, and especially in “A Course in Miracles”–often called “the Advaita Vedanta of Christianity”. People like to set up camp here or there and see differences. To me, it is all the same. There is no separation.
In “A Course in Miracles”, Jesus says that you, and the universe do not exist; that they are a projection of Consciousness. Nisargadatta said that you and the world are illusionary projections of your own Consciousness. He said, “Because you are, the moon is.” Once again, modern Science supports these radical ideas. Writing about Quantum Physics in the prestigious British Science Journal, “Nature”, Richard Conn Henry (Professor in the Henry A. Rowland Department of Physics and Astronomy, and the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins), writes:
“Yet the idea that any irreversible act of amplification is necessary to collapse the wave function is known to be wrong: in ‘Renninger-type’ experiments, the wave function is collapsed simply by your human mind seeing nothing. The Universe is entirely mental…
“One benefit of switching humanity to a correct perception of the world is the resulting joy of discovering the mental nature of the Universe. We have no idea what this mental nature implies, but — the great thing is — it is true. Beyond the acquisition of this perception, physics can no longer help. You may descend into solipsism, expand to deism, or something else if you can justify it — just don’t ask physics for help.
“There is another benefit of seeing the world as quantum mechanical: someone who has learned to accept that nothing exists but observations is far ahead of peers who stumble through physics hoping to find out ‘what things are’. If we can ‘pull a Galileo,’ and get people believing the truth, they will find physics a breeze.
“The Universe is immaterial — mental and spiritual. Live, and enjoy.” —“The mental Universe” (https://rdcu.be/ccJAG)
Most followers of non-dualism haven’t really embraced the findings of modern quantum physics that the Universe is Consciousness any more than have the materialists. So both groups dismiss ideas like Breathariansm, Physical Immortality, and Babaji as just silly. And even though he acknowledged their reality, Nisargadatta was not interested in them for himself. He wanted to leave his illusionary body in the illusionary Cosmos and return to the Absolute. One could even say this comports with traditional “warnings” not to let yourself get side tracked by Siddhis (powers). What could be a greater power than the power to live forever, or not to have to eat?
The story goes, though, that Babaji stays on earth to help suffering humanity, at the request of his sister. And the historical Saints, both Eastern and Western, that have demonstrated breatharianism were certainly enlightened. In both cases we probably aren’t looking at someone who got sidetracked, but rather at someone who attained and then demonstrates an example for others that things aren’t what they seem. This is high spiritual service.
So if the Universe is basically a projection of your own Consciousness, then it is essentially your movie and you can rewrite the movie script as you like. If you want to create a universe where you are immortal or a breatharian, why not? So non-duality can provide a good theoretical framework for people pursuing physical immortality and breatharianism.
What, then, do Breatharianism and Physical Immortality have to offer the students of non-duality? In and of themselves, probably nothing. Especially if those students don’t want to be “side-tracked”. Which is probably smart. However, I do think it is instructive that Nisargadatta cannot be relegated to the head brain mind box most of his followers remain stuck in. Once you realize that Nisargadatta taught about physical immortality, breatharianism, Babaji, the vital breath, and the energetic components of awakening, as well as meditation and verbal concepts, you may want to expand your practices to include breathwork.
So that you are workiing not only with the brain in the head, but also with the brains in the gut and the heart, not only with the mind, but also the physical body and the energetic components of awakening. Adyashanti has said that after his awakening, there was an energetic process where it felt like his brain was being rewired. He says it took almost two years and was not always pleasant. Had he been practicing breathwork all along, it might have gone easier for him, since his energy body would not have had so far to go to catch up.
Breathwork is also a very useful form of meditation, in my opinion. Meditation as generally practiced “to quiet the mind” can often become a frustrating exercise in trying not to think about thinking.
One of the reasons I stayed with breathwork in the beginning is because I was able to get to a place in 30 minutes with breathwork that would take me 4 or 5 hours to get to with meditation. With meditation, you are trying not to think; with breathwork you just forget to think. Many people find that easier.
Two final, relatively minor, points: Firstly– notice in the opening quote how the Questioner is asking from the point of view of assuming that the “I Amness” is the highest level of Consciousness. This is a common belief, but not one shared by Nisagadatta. He taught that you are prior to the “I Amness”. Yet, he makes no mention of that in his response. He is simply answering the question at the level of the questioner, without taking the time to “correct” the question. He did this not infrequently, especially towards the end of his life when he would be very tired. Something the astute reader may want to remember.
Secondly–the whole basis of the question as revolving around “food essence quality”, “essence of food”, etc., may seem strange. Nisargadatta spoke about food more than most “spiritual teachers” and had some unique ideas about it. However, his views on the subject can probably best be summed up in his observation that no one eats his lunch and thinks, “I am my lunch”. He just thinks, “I ate my lunch”. But after the lunch becomes assimilated by the body, they do think, “I am my body”. “That mistake they make.”
Sacred Breath 