No Program Yes, as you indicated; the end of the road for all spiritual teachings is the absence of teachings. For that matter, the end of the road for spiritual teachings is the absence of everything. It is difficult for those who are looking at these matters to comprehend the full import of what “oneness” means. Where there is only one thing—which is what “oneness” means—there cannot possibly be any distinctions, under any circumstances. Therefore, given that situation, no word, concept or idea has any validity whatsoever: all that requires multiplicity. Consider: when you die, this is exactly the circumstance which likely prevails. Fortunately, we have the capacity to realize, while we are alive, that ultimately nothing really matters. Considering that, ultimately nothing really matters, how much anguish should we invest in our temporal, impermanent, “relative” fixations in the meantime? One of the reasons I highly regard Ramana as exemplary is that he lived his life as an instructive answer to that question. If one puts as little energy into relating to this world as he did, would one be unwise? In my estimation, any teaching which assists one to connect with the reality of the sheer emptiness of their existence— in life or death—is a practical teaching.
335
