Few testimonies
Some of the participants of Bob’s group meetings are free from psychological suffering, “beyond the need for further help” – as Nisargadatta would have put it, their search has ended. They still show up – out of love and gratitude for Bob as well as to help those who think, they are not That yet.
Here is what they have to say about Bob:
“I met Sailor Bob in 1984. After investigating many different paths, Sailor Bob gave me a copy of ‘I Am That’ and I started to talk to him regularly, one to one, and also attended his early groups. His pointers revealed I had been in bondage to a phantom. I read ‘I Am That’ many times and listened earnestly to Bob’s talks and consistently attended his groups. The understanding that was passed on was totally transformational. Words are extremely inadequate to express the gratitude and total love I feel towards Sailor Bob, my teacher and true friend.”
Jane Fife Little
Musician
“I first met Bob Adamson in Melbourne in 1998. What first attracted me to his teachings was the one without a second concept of God: omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence. If God is everything, what room is there for this idea of a self important entity called 'me'? Then came the understanding, that I am not my thoughts, that 'my' life is being lived and that events are not controlled by 'my' thoughts. Thoughts themselves are an expression of this one consciousness or beingness. Another realization came, that there is no other time than right now. All power and knowledge are available only in this moment of all presence. The mind itself is but a tool, which can only think in terms of a past or a future. It is not the controlling factor. Bob, who has been very generous with his wisdom, has helped me to see that no matter what is going on in the appearance of life, all is fundamentally all right from the position of right now. Looking at life from the position of awareness or consciousness, rather than from the shifting reference point of 'me' or 'my' mind, has helped in making life more carefree, effortless and productive. I can now see life as a great adventure, an adventure that is happening always now”
Clifford Hayes
Politician
"The simple clarity of Bob’s way of
expressing is so simple that many only skim across the surface of it, thinking that they understand.
I have witnessed a large number of those who have been very familiar with Bob’s talks, for many years, suddenly recognize the ‘depth’ of a particular ‘pointer’. They say ‘I have heard Bob say that hundreds of
times but I never truly heard it before today’. It is so simple, we dismiss it.
Ordinary everyday awareness, simple wakefulness is the ‘key’.
Bob can assist in bringing you back to recognize the unchanging essence of what you are. Non conceptual pure being. This
pure being is what we call ‘the natural state’, the peace that is beyond all words and is itself silent.
True understanding is basically mind in alignment with intelligence, prior to all the words that the intellect has learned."
Gilbert Schultz
Non-duality teacher
“The search started in childhood. I first looked at Christianity and then moved to science and logic to give the answers in life. As an adult, my search moved to psychology and later to eastern philosophy and Buddhism. But I was getting closer! By my early 50's, I was hot on the trail! It was the non dual writings of 20th century sages. I even travelled overseas to meet some of them. Then in 1994, I met Bob. His approach was very different and very simple. 'The answer does not lie in the mind' he said to me. At other times, he would ask.. 'and who is it who is asking the question?' I now smile at how furious I felt at these times. Well, after a while at Bob's meetings, it became very clear that there is nothing to get and no one to get it. I am not that searcher and (paradoxically) never was. Please read this book. The profound wisdom in Bob's spoken words is simple and beautifully clear. They show you that your search is futile; they show you what you are not; they show you what you are and what you have always been. And at that, you may laugh and laugh!”
Colin Critchett
Chemist
"Bob has a style all of his own. With unwavering certainty he delivers the non duality message until the listener has nowhere to go except right here and now. Bob has many valuable and literal pointers. When Bob says "Start from the fact that you are That"...that is what he means. He does not mean to start from somewhere else...and certainly not the mind which just spits out endless concepts. Take a pointer which resonates...and investigate deeply. Be relentless. When a realization occurs investigate again... and again".
William Tyss
Businessman
"I started coming to group meetings in 2013 - the more suffering, the more regularly, but 2 years later on individuial session it has suddenly become clear that no image can ever be what I am! "My" life translates into "just" life now. Amazing and extraordinarily beautiful, but not "my" anymore. No world, no experience belongs to the emotional image I used to identify as "me". Yet I very much AM, here-now, there is existence-consciousness-love.
Life took a turn - in career, in relationships, in service... No concept of loss on any level, just gratitude - which also belongs just to Life itself, which I'm honored to share with Dear Bob now :-)."
Kat Adamson
Ship's Navigator, PCA
"As a seeker for many years I had developed a belief that what I was looking for was a better, more refined ‘spiritual’ me, in other words I was to ‘become’ what it was I was seeking, either in this lifetime or possibly the next - if I was lucky. Bob put an end to that search by pointing out that what I was seeking I already was and that the me that was seeking enlightenment is a fiction. ‘Have a look’ say’s Bob, who is this me? I couldn’t find it then and I can’t find it now. All there is here is a sense of openness, a presence in which thinking and feeling is happening, with no thinker or feeler, no doer or non-doer, just what is, what a relief! Thank you Bob, Love ya..."
Jamie Jardine
Acupuncturist, musician
“What I like in the talking and listening with Bob is his absolute unshakable clarity. When I first listened to Bob, I was full of anger, unhappiness and suffering. That dropped away with the realization, as Bob pointed out, that I am awareness. He showed me that it was my mind, running over old patterns of torment and creating the suffering. If we are all pure awareness, then 'all' means 'all' no exceptions not a 'me' and 'awareness' but one awareness. When Bob asked me to look for myself, I saw that there is no thing I can locate called 'me’. There is a collection of ideas and interpretations, which I have called 'me', held in memory. But in truth there is only awareness. If awareness is all, how can there be a 'me' or any ‘other'? We are all that one awareness. Within this understanding, how can there be animosity for any perceived 'other'? If I know that there is just this awareness and nothing else, then how was there ever any separation? Bob expresses the truth with such clarity and simplicity that there is no misunderstanding and no doubt. There is no need to understand jargonor interpret what he says. It is clear. There is nothing to do, no practice to pursue. I understand that I am awareness now”.
Jan Dobbs
Artist
“To describe Bob Adamson's talks, two words come to mind: simple and direct. Simple: The language and words that he uses to convey his message are so simple that one can receive it whether it is the first time one is hearing it or if one has been hearing about it for 30 years. It also doesn't matter what background one is coming from, the message is universal. As Bob would say "Nothing is simpler than One". Direct: The pointers are all aimed directly to the core of your own being, right here, right now. The idea of some hope of an experience that may occur in the future is quickly dismissed. He will often say: "Start from the fact that you are already That whether you know it or not". With that simple phrase, it cuts away any possibility of believing in becoming. How more direct can it be? No one can do the investigation for you. I found my time with Bob, as he so eloquently and lovingly points to my true nature, that he was doing the investigation with me. Not for me, but with me. He will constantly brings my attention back to that no thing ness that I am. As you read this ebook, I suggest that you follow any pointer that resonates with you. Don't fall into a trap of believing the old patterns of belief….but rather really question and investigate what Bob is pointing to all the way until you find out for yourself with full conviction what you truly are. Then, it has done its job”.
Nelson Alingcastre
Acupuncturist
When I first came to see Bob in about 2007 he said “I have nothing to give you, there’s nothing to get because what you are seeking you already are”. I was hungry for the ‘teachings’. I came regularly for a few years to see Bob. Initially I felt like I would be pulled out of the knowing by the world when I left the meeting. I would come to see Bob one on one with some ‘special big new problem’ and he started saying “it’s the same old thing” I realised that everything could be a pointer to our true nature, even suffering. As Nisargadatta said to Bob, words to the effect of “the only way you can help someone is to take them beyond the need for further help”.
I am eternally grateful for Nisargadatta and Bob.
Megan Simonsen
Lawyer
"It is hard to put into words the depth of love, respect and gratitude I feel for Bob. For over 40 years he has tirelessly pointed out we are not the body, mind or emotions. We are the pure, intelligent awareness that is the screen the whole universe appears within. Not something separate, one intelligence without any divisions. It is only human thinking and the senses that creates the illusion of a relative, separate existence. In essence all is one.
Although I intuitively always sensed this to be the truth, nothing in society or spiritual texts confirmed it in the clear and precise way Bob does. Bob's door is always open for the sincere seeker of the truth. The unconditional love, compassion and patience he shows others is genuine and sincere.
Bob has always told me, the only way you can really help anybody is to take them to where there is the freedom from the need of any further help. To abide as what we really all are, formless and timeless being, whole and complete - right here, right now."
Andrew Lynn
Drifter, Vedic Astrologer
'I met Bob at the young age of 19 back when he and Barbara held meetings above the health food store. At the time I didn't know what I was looking for - I just knew that there had to be another way, I felt deeply unhappy and still looking outside of my self to fill the deep sense of loneliness and emptiness I experienced for the majority of my waking hours. So I went along to a meeting not knowing what to expect. Bob spoke - pretty much the same as what he says now. I had never been exposed to Indian mysticism or Advaita Vedanta before - so there were not a lot of concepts that could get in the way of the pure resonance deep inside my own being of the truth his words were pointing to. I had a deep awakening right then; for the first time I knew what he was pointing to was what I had been searching for - the truth of my own being. I went to meetings 3 times a week for years. Life moved me to other countries, but I have always stayed in touch with Bob, writing letters, visiting whenever I was back in Melbourne. I am eternally grateful to Bob for his undying patience, love and generous heart. Life continues to unfold, but there is a freedom and openness, a naturalness that moves and breathes this body/mind named Lindsey .....the unfolding continues and an ever evolving deepening from and in this love that is my SELF.....So much love for you Bob, thank you."
Lindsey Stirling
Midwife
'I first went to Bob's group in 2000. Several of the people there mercilesly wounded me and my intellectual arrogance was wounded. But I knew I was onto something, and what followed was transformation after transformation. My whole world crumbled. Bob showed me and that "I" and "me" are simply words, like "fish" and "catapult", that is just as important and meaningful as any other word. Self collapsed, "my life" collapesed, and any beliefs in doership evaporated. I am that I am and that's all. Thank you Bob for saving my life and setting me free'.
Robin Dale
Writer, poet