Arnaud Desjardins: Transcending the Ego
**Arnaud Desjardins**
We do not often think of Arnaud Desjardins as an example of non-duality. Non-duality is usually laconic, while Arnaud Desjardins is prolific. However, his message runs deep, to the very point of transcending duality. His teachings are highly recommended for those seeking detailed explanations on how to achieve dualistic deconditioning. His books, especially *À la recherche du Soi* and subsequent works, offer diverse perspectives on the single way to resolve duality in our hearts and minds. Below are some ideas drawn from his writings, noted randomly without a particular order or connection:
---
**TRANSCENDING THE EGO**
"The ego that loves or does not love, that refuses to accept what is, here and now."
(This echoes the *Shin Jin Mei*: "It is only when freed from love and hatred that the Way reveals itself.")
See also *Dialogue on the Ego* (excerpt from *Dialogue à deux voies*):
Dependency, immaturity, leading to demands and fears. Consider a specific example:
"There is something within me that perceives the cough, that feels it physically as the sensation 'it burns,' that conceives it mentally as 'a cough.' But is there an emotional reaction? The moment there is even the slightest gap between what is and what, in my opinion, should be — that is, 'I should not be coughing' — there is no reason for this gap to cease. Submission to reality, everywhere and at all times.
'Arnaud, the way is in the particular, not in the general!' (*Sw. Prajnanpad*)"
**Dialogue on "Relative and Absolute Consciousness"** between Lama Denis Teundroup and Arnaud Desjardins:
Observe desire and fear — the desire for the Whole, the fear of suffering (of existing?). Thus, when suffering grips you, confront it on these two levels:
- "Here is a specific suffering; I see clearly what I attribute it to, what fear, what threat, what bad news.
- But I also want to understand, through this example, the very essence of suffering — the fact that suffering is even possible."
Remember, spiritual teachings make this astounding promise: that one can be free from desire, fear, and suffering once and for all.
This does not mean stifling all desires. Those that can be easily fulfilled—why deprive yourself? But if you cannot fulfill them, you remain without frustration.
Separate the situation from the suffering. Only suffering is unbearable; the situation, when seen without duality, is always bearable.
---
**MEDITATION**
What if I try to stop thinking? Just to *be*, but in an absolutely pure consciousness — one that contains nothing foreign, absolutely free. Inevitably, thought comes in, commenting:
- "And now a great silence has settled within me..."
I could do without that thought.
- "And now a new calm has appeared in my heart..."
I could do without that one too.
- "And now I feel a bit tired; it hinders my meditation."
Another kind of thought!
See thought as a way of becoming aware of phenomena. Liberation—the state of supreme consciousness—is not incompatible with phenomena.
You could be perfectly, totally free even if sensations of discomfort remain, even if thoughts arise, even if everything that makes you say "I am not liberated" persists.
It is still a thought to declare:
- "Ah, it’s not happening today; I don’t feel well—therefore, this contradicts liberation!"
- "These thoughts should not arise if I were in the supreme state."
This is what prevents you from being free: thinking that these thoughts should not come, that these sensations should not arise, that these emotions should not be experienced, thinking anything at all about liberation.
If you could refrain from any commentary, if you could cease distinguishing between liberation and non-liberation, you would be liberated in this very moment. If this distinction never returned, then this liberation would never again be veiled or obscured.
Consider liberation as a state—or rather the absence of a state, or a state beyond all states—that is either covered or uncovered. That’s it. Like the blue sky.
Today we do not see the blue sky; shadows are not distinct; the sun is entirely hidden by clouds. Yet we know that behind the clouds, the blue sky is still there. The clouds part briefly, and we see the sky; the clouds return, and the sky disappears again. But the blue sky is always there.
What is commonly referred to as a "higher state of consciousness" or even one of the different states of *samadhi* recognized and classified in India is simply a moment when the clouds have dissipated slightly, and we glimpse the blue sky. Then the clouds return, and the sky disappears. Or the clouds return, but the sky no longer disappears because we are at an altitude of 10,000 meters — above the clouds, which are now below us and no longer between us and the blue sky.
This is liberation: being situated on the side of the sky and watching the clouds pass without them obscuring either the sky or the sunlight.
These clouds are nothing but thoughts.
- Suffering is thoughts, forms of your consciousness.
- Always return to this: these clouds are nothing but thoughts.
- You are imprisoned by nothing but your thoughts.
- You need to free yourself from nothing but your thoughts.
That is the truth.
You have no other problem but your thoughts.
You have no problem with your health, your job, your boss, your children, your spouse, your neighbor, your landlord, or your mayor. You have only one problem: a problem between you and your thoughts.
---
**Excerpt from *À la recherche du Soi*, Volume 4: *Tu es cela*, Ed. de La Table Ronde, Paris 1979 (p. 294).**
Arnaud Desjardins left his body on August 10, 2011. Now... he is everywhere!
---
For further reading:
Dialogues with Lama Denis and Sw. Prajnanpad.
**Contact:** Hauteville, 07800 St-Laurent-du-Pape.
Phone: +33 (0)4 75 62 29 29.
Or via the website of the association *Les Amis d’Hauteville* (Arnaud Desjardins' ashram at Hauteville).
EN