TO LIVE WITHIN

Lizelle Reymond (1899-1994) was a Swiss seeker who studied deeply within Oriental traditions and spent extended periods in India, where she met her spiritual master Sri Anirvan, who belonged to the Bauls. Later in her life she also studied Gurdjieff and worked with Madame de Saltzmann. This book is the story of her journey and the insights she gleaned along the way. The first part describes her life in the Himalayan Hermitage, then the second contains her understanding of Sri Anirvan's teachings, arranged thematically. Then there are two essays by Sri Anirvan, followed by some letters and poems. The material is among the most profound I have encountered. The introduction is written by Jacob Needleman, who begins by observing the potency of the Hindu understanding that the ultimate source of truth and meaning is the Universal Self within ourselves. This should not remain at an abstract level, but should rather be a living reality as we relate to this palpable force within. Needleman also remarks that the text is like a hologram containing the whole teaching in every part. Here there is only space to touch on a few central themes. First, the three densities of matter, energy and spirit corresponding in this teaching to the three gunas of tamas, rajas and sattva. There is no inherent distinction between these three levels, but rather the inner is a refinement of the outer, reflecting a process of knowledge that is searching for itself and gradually discovers itself through graduated interiorisation. The opposite process, from inner to outer, is manifestation. At a collective level, these processes are very slow - it takes a long time for an acorn to grow into an oak. Sri Anirvan explains that the process of expansion does not entail doing anything, but is rather being and becoming: 'the Spirit is and the manifestation does.' We are both Spirit and manifestation, which means that we need to be ourselves, growing from the centre outwards just like the sprouting of a seed. This expansion is achieved through love as we emerge from our little ego. Out of being and becoming flows the capacity to do. Being is always primary. And in being, we are preparing the ground for the Divine to be planted consciously. So the three laws that govern life are the law of growth, the law of expansion and the law of intensity, as illustrated in the tree of life. We must be firmly rooted before we can expand and reach out. The intensity is a growth and focus of consciousness. Through practice, one becomes aware of what Sri Anirvan calls an radiant body of extremely fine nervous sensations within the body of flash as currents of light that can be felt in deep meditation as one proceeds towards a state of less density. The chapter on life and death contains some extraordinary insights, for instance 'to die consciously is simply the passage from one density to another in the full consciousness of the inner being.' Meditating on impermanence brings the realisation that everything will finally disappear into the Void. The self might be eternal, but the body is not but behind this one can feel 'an expansion into oneness with reality behind.' Death becomes a passage to a lighter density, where matter returns to matter and energy to primordial energy. Sri Anirvan explains that only those rare beings who have worked consciously to bring their different I's together around a central axis escape this dispersion of energy - esoterically, this means building a light body. We are advised not to struggle when the moment of death comes, but rather to let ourselves glide, since the wave that will carry us away is cosmic. We cannot separate death and life, but we fear death from the perspective of our ego, whose very nature is separation. In terms of preparation, we are advised to bear in mind that time merges into space as life merges into the Void. Lizelle Reymond herself practised dying every night and being reborn every morning. In doing this, we can become truly grateful for being alive.