BOOKS BY ANANTA Welcome to Satsang with Ananta

Whatever wave might be arising on the ocean, the ocean remains ocean. We got so used to describing the ocean based on the quality of the wave. (‘It’s so turbulent. It’s very peaceful.’) It’s just on the surface layer. It’s nothing compared to the ocean. Compared to the limitless, it is more than nothing. [Chuckles]

All these waves of thoughts and emotions and perceptions, what are they, where are they, in relation to the Reality of You?

When I say ‘Go beyond perception’ I know it cannot be ‘done’. Something just takes hold of this. All this is just at a perception level. But I Am much beyond this.

[Silence]

You don’t have to understand anything. You don’t have to think anything. You don’t have to feel anything. You don’t have to feel, think, do all these ideas you have taken about yourself.

For the Truth to be apparent, there are no preconditions.

Know that, if we do play with notions, if we do pick up a notion, it’s part of the design of this play. Nothing to feel guilty about. Nothing that I’ve ever said in Satsang is meant to make you feel guilty about anything at all. In fact, I’ve gone so far as to say that if you feel guilty about anything that you heard in Satsang, safely throw it away. We have many more concepts; we don’t have to use that one. All these thorns we are using to remove other thorns, we have now a good collection of them. [Chuckles]

So, don’t use Satsang to create this guilty, unworthy seeker idea about yourself. What is picked up is picked up. Now it is gone.

No concept has ever survived this moment. Isn’t this good news? No concept has ever survived this moment. You’re empty of it now.

It might repeat itself. It might come again. But, again, it requires your belief. This is the magic of this. Freedom is simpler. The mind has a tougher job.

Whatever concepts we are using in satsang are so that we are empty of all concepts. In your notion-less-ness, in your notion-less existence, this very moment, the Truth of who You are is completely evident. And there is nothing which is bound. All freedom is here. The play of perception is happening effortlessly. And the experience of this world is nothing but a play of perception. Your existence is completely effortless. And You are aware of this. No new conceptual baggage has to be picked up.

You see, the other day somebody asked me ‘How was your first meeting with Guruji?’ [Sri Mooji] And after satsang, we put on the YouTube video and I noticed that he first thing he told me was … (because I told him ‘I don’t even know what to ask; you have to help with the first question; and he said) … ‘Best not to know.’ And it is (how many years after meeting him?) all that I am saying in satsang now: best not to know. He said ‘If you know, sometimes then it messes things up.’

In our absence of conceptual knowing, True Knowing Knows ItSelf. We had a deeply ingrained concept of the body which is actually non-existent. What is the body? Just a soup of sensations, various sensations; some visual, some pain, some pleasure. All of this we have clumped together under one big notion called ‘body’. Actually, there is no such thing.

Then, when you say ‘Okay, world. What is the world? Where is the world?’ Just a bigger set of sensations, which has included all those previous ones and now new ones. But what is it, where is it? Just a set of perceptions; that which we call label and say ‘world’ or ‘realm’ or ‘universe’. It’s nothing.

Then ‘What is the Being?’ Just a sense, isn’t it? The primal perception, the primordial vibration. But suppose we didn’t have a concept for that. Awareness, That which remains untouched by even the primordial vibration, this Awareness; suppose you didn’t have a concept even for That. Because all these are just communication constructs. It is because we picked up one construct called ‘I am the body’ so strongly and ‘I am the person’ so strongly that we use these other constructs as thorns to remove all of it.

So, your freedom will not be an attachment to the concepts of Awareness and Consciousness. Your freedom will be empty from even these notions.

The Truth relies on nothing

Q: You made a comment and said ‘Empty of notions, Truth is apparent.’ And actually, there’s nothing to speak anymore when just Is-ness is here. Everything is empty and still and everything. Yet, I have to speak about this; what is going on here and what is experienced here.

How it is experienced here is that there are two states of Consciousness, so to speak. One is this Is-ness, just this empty Is-ness. And in this Is-ness, maybe there are levels, you can say, of depth; sometimes it’s more superficial and sometimes it’s more deep, in Is-ness itself. I’m just speaking from experience; just the way I’m experiencing it. And then, on the other side, there’s what I would say is Witnessing; in which the quality of it is totally different from Is-ness (in my experience). When Witnessing just ‘is’ …, the experience is just not of this world anymore. You are just ‘not’ anymore, at all. The quality of these two are very different. Something takes it and makes two things out of it. My heart says that it is actually one; there is not two. Only the experience is different in that sense. Maybe you can say something about this. I just had to speak it out because really, there’s a trouble in this. (Not really a trouble; but a trouble. [Laughs]) So, it would be nice if you could say something…

A: In fact, we’ve been looking at this quite closely and we say that: All There Is, is the Self. And what is the Self? ‘I’ is the Self. Not the ‘I’ that we have always believed ourselves to be but the ‘I’ that has always been True.

Now, as far as qualitative differences are concerned, they don´t actually divide the Self…, just like the appearance of waves does not divide the ocean. Just because the finger is pointing up does not divide the hand. It can be like this [Making a fist] or like this. [Holding up a finger] So, there is only one Self.

Now, the appearance of the dynamic aspect of the Self is like a moving part; it starts to move about. And just to describe this movement, then we create a word like Consciousness or Beingness. So, it is just a concept which is the sum total of all that is moving, of all that is dynamic. So, whether we call it Being or whether we call it Consciousness, it actually has created no division. That´s what I´ve been saying, that even with the appearance of ‘I Am’ it is ‘I’… Am’. It is not the appearance of ‘You are’. You see, what I am saying? It continues to be ‘I’ which is ‘Am’. The ‘Am’ can be like the wave on the ocean but the ocean is the same. You see? The ‘Am’ can be like the finger arising but it is still the same hand. So, in the arising of the dynamic aspect, which is Consciousness, nothing really happened to the Self.

Now, the Self has always remained One Self. But when we need to explain, we say ‘All this; in Reality, you remain untouched’. But all of these are movements on the screen of Consciousness. You see? That´s why we come up with the terminology of saying ‘Awareness remains untouched and Consciousness is the one that is moving.’ Actually, the Self has never been divided.

A good example is: A cloud is there; you see a face in it. Is there really a face? Now, some will say ‘Yes, I see it.’ Another will say ‘No, it is, of course, just a cloud that is being perceived as a face.’ Both are true because it is experienced qualitatively that there is like a face showing up in the cloud. But actually, it is all just a cloud itself. So, just because the appearance of this movement is happening, in our inner insight we See that nothing has changed for the Self.

So, that´s why I was saying yesterday that when you asked whether the ending of belief in thought is just the end of suffering…, but is it also the evident Self-recognition of who I am? And I said:

When we´re empty of all notions, the Truth is completely self-evident.

It is evident for us completely; without even the conceptual ‘break up’ [discernment] of dynamic aspect or non-dynamic aspect, of phenomenal aspect and non-phenomenal aspect. All of these are just theoretical constructs that we use to point to That which is beyond all of these. Why do we need these theoretical constructs? Because otherwise…

Q: I’m totally with you. I totally understand like you say. But the feeling is here that I really have a different kind of experience of the Self, let’s say. Is that possible? And then, who is this …, how is this possible? The mind just makes its conclusions about these different qualities of experience. The pure experience by itself, the experience by itself, is just True. It is really True. I know that. There is no doubt about the experience itself. But what is the problem? It seems to me that the problem is that the quality of these experiences are so different. And then, it must be the mind. It must be the mind divided here. But the Seeing, in that sense, is not yet complete here. You know what I mean? It’s just a mix and it just makes me crazy. [Laughs]

A: If we are empty of the notion that it’s either complete or incomplete…, what is it? [Silence] Because you said that ‘There is something here that is incomplete. The seeing is incomplete.’

Q: Can you say it again? It was too fast for me.

A: If you don’t have the notion of completion, then what is it? [Silence]

Q: I have no idea what the notion of completion is, actually. I cannot relate to that at the moment. You know what I mean?

A: Because you said that ‘There is something here which is incomplete. The Seeing is incomplete.’

So, suppose we didn´t know this….

Q: Yeah, I don’t know if that is so. I don’t know if it is really like that.

A: Let´s do one experiment together. As we remain empty of notions…, (and then later we report about it, whether it was complete or incomplete).

Q: There is no completion or incompletion.

A: There is no completion or incompletion. Is there any separation?

Q: No.

A: Is there any duality?

Q: No, it is impossible.

A: Even ‘This is it’ we cannot say, because that is also a notion.

Q: No. [Silence] How is it for you? I mean, everyone must experience these different kinds of qualities.

A: If it is the quality of experience (if it is a qualitative experience) then it is a function of attention, you see?

Q: Yes, totally. Yeah, yeah.

A: If it is a qualitative experience then it has no bearing on the recognition of the Self.

Q: I don´t know if I got that one.

A: Okay, we’ll spend some time on that, a little bit. This is a very important point where many people get stuck.

So, it can feel like, as the recognition of the Self is happening, the quality of experience has to change in some way. But the quality of experience is dependent on something which is changing; which is attention. And attention is a by-product of my Existence.

So, this quality, if you had no notion about what the quality should be or what should be perceived or not perceived…, without this (empty of any of these ideas) we See that (the simplest way to communicate this, the simplest notion we´ll use is that): ‘I exist’ and ‘I am aware of it’.

This Awareness is untouched, even by the sense of existence or not-existence.

Q: I got that point, at least when attention goes to…

Do you mean that these different qualities of experiencing the Self is in the Self itself?

A: Yes. So, the simple way to look at this is go back to that cloud metaphor. Is the face in the cloud?

Q: I don´t know.

A: You see a cloud and you can get any shape in that cloud. So, you can feel like ‘Oh, that´s a face.’ You see there is a face forming in that cloud. So, someone can come and ask you ‘Is there a face in the cloud?’ That quality that we are calling the face, for now….

Q: Yes.

A: Yes. So, some might say ‘Yes, of course, we could call that a qualitative experience as the face.’ Another will say ‘There is no face, it is only a cloud which is being perceived as a face.’

Q: I have a knot in my brain, I think…

A: We can take it very slowly. Suppose you were out the balcony and you see this cloud. There is a cloud. You see a beautiful face; you see Guruji´s [Mooji’s] face. You say like ‘Ah, this is a sign from God. Guruji is looking at me.’ So, someone comes and says ‘Is there really a face in the cloud?’

Q: Yes, I see Guruji in the cloud.

A: So, the qualitative experience is that you see it. But in actuality, there is no separate substance called ‘face’. It is just the cloud itself.

You see, it is not that there is a cloud and now a new substance has come which is forming the face. It is just the shape of the cloud in a certain way which is appearing like a face.

Q: Coming back to my experience here. The experiencing of Witnessing and the experiencing of ‘I am not of this world; I am just not of this world’.

A: Yes. That which is not of this world remains untouched by anything that might be happening in the qualitative experience. The Self remains untouched.

Now, empty of a notion, is this very apparent? Or it has to be looked for?

Q: There is no notion.

A: Yes. So, as we’re empty of the notion, then does the fact that my quality-less Self is independent of whatever might be with qualities …, does that have to be looked into? Or is it completely apparent?

Q: Completely apparent.

A: Yes, you see. So, it is completely apparent. The recognition of the Self is completely apparent when we are empty of all notions.

That´s why first I asked you: Is there any separation in That which is empty of notion? Is there any separation between that with quality and no quality? No.

That´s why we start to look at it as if it is one cloud. But qualitatively, the face could be seen once I start to look at it in that way, using my attention. Just like it continues to be the hand but I might say ‘Is this a hand or a finger?’

Q: So, there is a difference in the way the attention is moving. How the attention is moving is the cause, so to speak, for my experience. It seems that when attention is more inside, the witnessing is more in the forefront; I am more this Witnessing. When the attention is more here, the witnessing is not so apparent anymore, but the Is-ness is here.

You know what I mean? Or is it nonsense what I am saying? [Laughs]

A: Okay, let me take a couple of minutes on this. For me, actually…, and this could be even different from how Guruji is using the term but hearing him say ‘Is-ness’ …, for me, that signifies the Self. For me, it signifies the Self which includes both the dynamic aspect and the non-dynamic aspect. So, That which IS. That which IS, is the Self.

Now, this Self has the qualitative aspect which we call Beingness or Consciousness AND it has the non-phenomenal, non-qualitative aspect which we call Awareness. So, this is what it translates to from my insight when I hear Guruji speak of the Is-ness.

Now, this might be different for all of you. Some of you might feel it is Beingness; some of you might feel it is the Self, but that is irrespective. (That is the thing with concepts, you see.)

So, if you look at this ‘That which Is’ as the Self and then you See that there is that which is brought to the attention OF the Self, through the movement of attention itself…

Only that which attention falls on is perceived, isn´t it?

Q: Yes, right.

A: So, when we are talking about the qualitative experience, we are talking about that quality of what attention is falling on.

Now, when we look at the non-phenomenal aspect of the Self, we find that even to say ‘attention’ is not valid there; because it is like the spin has come completely back home. So, that which was a seemingly moving force is now not separate from this non-phenomenality. Before this, we can´t even say that there is something like attention.

So, the recognition of the non-phenomenal Self, the unchanging, the absolute, is independent of the movement of attention. What is your feeling on that?

Q: Totally with you! Yeah, yeah, yeah, but….

A: One more minute. So, this is independent of attention. Then, what is the most primal object of our attention? The most primal object of our attention is the sense of Existence, of Being. This is where we can say it is like a primal quality. Existence is coming to play. So, the feeling of the face arising in the cloud…, the cloud has remained the cloud only, but the sense of Am-ness, Beingness, Existence has come. You see?

So, when [Nisargadatta] Maharaj said ‘I just kept my attention on the sense of Being and the Truth became apparent’ …, therefore, this is the most primary, the most primal ‘object’ on which attention can go.

Now, our experience is that, as Beingness is there, then the world of quality also arises with that.

Then all these concepts of qualitative distinction start to arise, with this primary quality of Being. Then all of this hot and cold, pleasure and pain, all these qualitative distinctions start to arise; for this world is then the play of qualities. But even though they come, did anything happen to that Self which is there without the play of attention? Did anything come without That?

Now, we were full of notions. Then it can feel like ‘Yes, of course, that completely changes when I become this limited entity.’ But as we are simply empty of notions (which is the natural gift of this moment to all of us) we See that nothing has changed, no matter which qualities might seem to be appearing.

Q: Totally the same here, yeah; totally the same what you are saying. I am totally with you. Only this one thing. [Laughs] You know, in the Witnessing, the attention is not there anymore. Guruji has this quote about this this door going outside and inside and between that, my life is moving. And I would say that it is like this, you know? And then attention makes no sense in the absolute anymore. But in a way, on the way to that, the attention is moving inside; and then it is gone. You know what I mean? And to experience it somehow here, the mind makes something out of it in a way I cannot say…, it is so subtle. But I just had to speak it out and lay it here.

A: Simply, the one that can be concerned about the quality of the experience has no control over the movement of attention. So, attention works in coordination with Consciousness.

All of these, again, are just theoretical distinctions that we are making; just conceptual distinctions we are making where actually no distinction has happened. But since we are talking about something which is apparent, we can say that attention is moving in coordination with Consciousness and Consciousness is moving it to whatever It wants to experience for Itself.

Now, the one who wants a particular experience or is wondering whether freedom is this experience or that experience…, that one has no play in the movement of attention.

So, then you´ll start to See that whether the quality of the experience is full of pain, full of anger, full of all of these things arising (all the qualitative experiences; peace, bliss, pain, pleasure) as you remain notion-less, we will see that it makes no difference to the Self. It makes no difference to You. So, there must not be a benchmark made about the quality of the experience, because that is not a valid benchmark.

You said ‘How is it for you?’ For me, it is the same as it is for you. The only thing which is missing is the lack of the belief in the idea of ‘me’…, the idea of ‘What´s in it for me? Am I getting it?’ All this I am not concerned about. But the quality of the experience is the same. [Silence] And there is no concern about the qualitative experience.

So, one thing I can say about the quality of the experience is that as belief is withdrawn from these notions, even attention gets withdrawn of them automatically. We don´t have to work hard for it. And as attention is withdrawn from the mental sphere, then you find that if there is a qualitative change that has happened, it is that the seeming-vibrancy in the phenomenal tasting of things seems to have gone up. Because you know this; that has attention split up into two things. If I say ‘Think of a green-colored tree, imagine a green-colored tree and bring your attention there…, and also keep your attention on my words’ then one of them will start to become blurry. Because attention functions in a limited way.

So, as attention has gotten automatically withdrawn from the mental notions, we find that more attention is available for the tasting of this phenomenal appearance and therefore, this phenomenal appearance seems much more vivid and full of light compared to how it used to. So, qualitatively, I can say this difference has happened. But that has only happened because attention does not spend too much time on this mental sphere, on this mental notion side.

Q: You know, I don´t have the feeling right now that something got answered here. But I feel this experience that I have (not right now, but in the witnessing, when you are just totally gone and when it is so obvious that this world is …, that you are just not…, not even…

I have no words for this experience. I would say it is so beyond everything. But my feeling is somehow that something took this experience and made two out of it. You know, I feel it and I know this; this is not true…, but I cannot do anything about it. You know. There is a ‘me’ somehow here (which is not claiming, but) something is going on here.

A: The good news is (you know this) that in reality, two never got made. Isn´t it? It is just that the concept of separation got believed. But the good news is that whatever got believed is gone.

Now, if you forget about all of this (which naturally we´ve forgotten; we have to work towards bringing it back) …, as we can see, as we are struggling to ask the question, we can see there’s a struggle to bring it back. (‘What was the…?’) So, if we leave that and we let all notions just come and go, did you see any qualitative distinction? Do the words ‘qualitative distinction’ even matter? [Silence] Does it signify something?

Q: [Silence] No.

A: And yet, in the experience, nothing was lost. Also, the distinction was no longer there because we are empty of notions. Yet, in the experience, nothing was lost. The powers of perception are normally functioning. And That which witnesses even perception, nothing ever happened to That anyway.

Q: There is some super-ego playing here. You know?

[They both laugh]

Q: And I just feel…, so many concepts are coming up now. And now, I can feel how something wants to hold onto this ‘something’ (whatever). And when you were talking before, it gets just really uncomfortable. It gets really uncomfortable, like the body is torn apart. I know at least that I am not right, in this sense. At least this I know. [Laughs] What the heart says is ‘Just forget about it!’ really. But I know I cannot really let it go just like this; there is really something which… [makes frustration gesture] But it´s okay now.

Q: What you said first, then what you said second contradicted what you said first. You said ‘It is better to just forget about it.’ And then you said ‘I know I can´t just let it go.’ So, don´t know this! Because knowing this is not bringing anything useful to you. Suppose you didn´t know.

Q: Ah, yeah, that´s good. [Laughing] Exactly.

A: So, don´t know this.

Q: [Laughing] Yeah, that´s great!

A: ‘Let go’ or ‘Can´t let go’ …, don´t know any of this. Because when we say that we know …, we don´t really know. It is just a mental position we are taking. We don´t know what is going to happen AT ALL. You might say ‘I know I can´t let go of this’ …, and then you might actually have let go of it forever. And when I ask you ‘What can´t you let go of?’ you might never remember that. [Laughing] It is completely possible for it to happen like that. So, better not to know or to not-know.

Q: That’s it exactly. That was it. That was it, yes! Yes! Oh, thank you!

A: Very good. Very good. So, even if we make the most-humble conclusion about ourselves, we know that we are not speaking the truth about the Self. It is a conclusion about the imagined one.

Q: You know, I feel it when it is like this; but actually, I needed this conversation, you know. It is just too tricky on my own. I was so much looking at this and it was just impossible. Yeah, thank you!

Q: No voice in my head is true; not even this one who says this.

A: [Chuckles] Very good, very good.

Q: How long do I keep doing this joke, Father?

A: [Chuckles] As long as Consciousness is deriving some joy from it. I say this often, that in the seeming-play of time, it can seem like a lot of time has gone, in which we have believed these thoughts, we’ve believed this individuality, this limitation. So, lot of time has gone in that. Now, Consciousness is savoring the letting go of this individual notion also, savoring every bit by bit; for some of us, concept by concept it is letting go.

So, I was saying that ‘How long do I keep doing this?’ is very sweet because Consciousness is enjoying the sweetness of the letting go of the false also. More and more freedom, more and more space. Sometimes, It’s playing the game of ‘Back again’ then ‘Free again’ then ‘Back again’ then ‘Free again’. It’s playing all of that, you see. So, there is no answer for ‘How long?’ Actually, the true answer is that: It’s over Right Now! …, till you desire to play it again. [Chuckles]

But I like that insight, which is that ‘No voice in my head is true, not even this one.’ This is nice. This is good. And when we start Seeing it like this, then the mind is running out of room. Like often times, we say that we have to run out of room, we have to run out of moves…, and then the truth is apparent. Now, as we’re starting to become so clear in our insight that even our spiritual conclusions are just an invitation for a position (they are not the truth) then the mind doesn’t have many moves left. It will try, of course; it’ll keep trying, of course. But [less and less] once our Seeing is becoming so clear.

That’s why I’m very happy to see a simple sentence like this which is not taking itself too seriously. This is very good. Because many times, when we have a spiritual experience, then we can say like ‘Wow! This is just like the BEST thing that I could have come up with.’ [Chuckles] But to See that…, even that is not true. Nothing is more special than the simplicity of my existence. So, I like this where you said ‘Nothing that this voice is saying is true, including this.’ So, now, nothing. It’s very good.’ [Smiles]

These words are just arising. The hearing of it is also just arising. All perception is just coming and going on its own. The idea of effort is meaningless. Because as soon as Your Being is here, this world of perception just arises. And Your Being is effortless, isn´t it?

I’m asking everyone to check whether you are making an effort to Be. What work you are doing to exist? And if your existence is effortless, and all the play of perceptions once you exist is effortless, then the concepts of either doing or non-doing don´t actually arise. They are part of the movement of this play of perceptions. Because what happens very often is that we feel that ‘Oh, the world is moving on its own’ but we exclude this body from that. We feel like ‘I am contained in this body or ‘this body is me but the rest of the world is moving also.’ But even this body is moving on its own.

There is nobody here who is deciding to speak these words. These words are just coming and they are being heard naturally. Our entire life has actually only been like this. But sometimes when the sensation of some action starts to appear then the mind interprets it quickly and says ‘You must do this or don´t do this.’ And sometimes, when the action already happened, then the mind says ‘Good that you did that!’ or ‘No, no you shouldn´t have done that!’ Then we feel like there is an individual doer sitting here who is either doing or not-doing; who is either doing the right thing or not-doing the right thing. And around this fallacy all of this guilt, pride, remorse, regret, resentment, all of this is based on this notion that somebody individually is doing or not-doing. And this notion exists because of the idea of a separate ‘me’ exists, a separate ‘I’ exists.

What are you without this notion of separation…, if you are not able to draw your boundary anywhere? Is it so far-fetched of an idea still? Or are you starting to get a taste of it now?

Who does the ‘I’ represent?

What are you representing right now?

What separates one separation from another, except your notional boundary?

All perceptions; where are they appearing?

How big or small is that space?

Are you also an appearance in that space?

Can you disappear?

Disappear! Just disappear!

Can you get rid of yourself?

If all perception also disappears, can you disappear?

What is it that cannot disappear? Is that appearing?

You see, this is the trick. All that appears can disappear.

Are You an appearance?

And if You cannot disappear, what is your Seeing?

What is your insight that confirms this?

Do you see a thing?

Do you see an appearance to confirm this?

Stay with this, because the mind will resist this because we´re getting to non-phenomenal (can´t even say) realm…, into the non-phenomenal Truth.

What is it that has never appeared or disappeared…, beyond your perceptions?

What is aware of everything?

What is your relationship with that?

What is your distance from that?

Let this play of appearances go on as it likes. It has been anyway.

Krishna has picked up the mountain with his little finger. This is an old story where Krishna picked up a mountain called Govardhan. With his little finger he picked it up like this. [Holding up his little finger] But the other villages, he also called and said ‘Help me.’ And then they came with their sticks to support Krishna.

Now, we got so attached to the idea that we are doing something, that Krishna´s play was forgotten. This Being, this Krishna Consciousness, this God, this I-Am-ness is holding up this world and every movement in it.

Once you See that there is nothing for you to do, you will also See that there is no such ‘you’ at all in the first place. So, if you See it this way or that way, once you See that there is no individual doer you will See that the concept of doership or non-doership does not apply.

You are that which witnesses all perception also. The light of this universe emerges from You. What could You possibly want? What true desire do You have? There is no such thing actually.

How long do You want to play as if You are just the soup of sensations (as my Master calls them)? Go beyond these sensations. Go beyond these perceptions. And then, You will See that this ‘beyond’ has always been. These perceptions have been coming and going.

The world-master, which is the mind, will come and say ‘No, no don´t listen to this one.’ [Laughs] ‘Just keep saying but…, but…. this, that, my life, my things, my future, my past.’

Once I went to Tiruvannamalai when Guruji [Sri Mooji] used to come there. We used to go on the weekends. Once I went there then Guruji said ‘This is our favorite song right now.’ And what did he say? ‘The song for the mind.’ What is the song for the mind? (I don´t know how many of you heard it, most of you must have) ♪♫ Hit the road, Jack ♪♫ [Laughs] They were all enjoying the song so much during that weekend visit to Tiru.

So, when this old guy is coming and saying ‘Don´t leave me, don´t leave me…’ (you don´t even have to say it; it is half in jest, of course) …, we don´t even have to say ‘Hit the road, Jack!’ You don´t have to resist the mind in any way but just allow it to move on along. Is there a song like that? [Answers in the room, No.] There should be. ♪♫ Move on along ♪♫ [Laughs]

When I was younger, I lived in Delhi for a few years. What happened is that was the era of the VHS. When we would have this salesman coming, and he would come with his bag of religious tapes and we would then take them from him, buy them from him. Now, if this VHS-seller came to you, would you buy? How many of you would buy that VHS? Maybe because of some antique value. [Laughs] Otherwise you would not buy it. Isn´t it? Why? Because you moved on forward. You’ve outgrown all of this. So, when the salesman of the mind comes and tries to sell you the same old story about the individual you, just let it move on along.

The only time this so-called spiritual journey is uncomfortable is when you are listening to the Satsang-voice, your own intuitive Presence AND you are listening to just mental noise. Because together it can sound like a lot of confusion. So, this having the mind as a master and having the Master as a Master…, this doesn´t work. One has to make way for the other. And actually, my blessing to all of you, of course, is that the True Master of your intuitive Presence sits on the throne of your Heart. And the mind can remain as a stand-up comedian [Chuckles] maybe but not as a Master. The mind is not your Master.

And you See that, as you start to carry this feeling in your Heart, as you just remain with the Master, you will See that that which seem like such a big tormentor, such a powerful force, this mind, will start to lose so much of its power. Then you start to See that no matter what the mind is saying, it has no real authority over You…, and all sensations, all perceptions can move around in their own way. Just like the space in the room doesn´t mind what comes in and what goes out. How could That which is the space, in which the space arises, mind?

We have to say that the ones who design language also were genius. Because the word ‘mind’ …, ‘How could they mind?’ is just so precise. It is just mind. To ‘mind’ …, is just mind. [Laughs] You see what I am saying? When you ‘mind’ something, you can only ‘mind’ this.  You cannot ‘mind’ it without the mind. [Laughs] It’s so direct; it’s such a direct pointing. So, don´t mind! [Laughs] It is more direct than we realize, actually. It´s Satsang.

Ashtavakra said it in a different way. He said ‘The mind is complex, let it go.’ He didn´t say ‘Sometimes let it go…, mostly let it go…, on these occasions let it go’ because this would also be mind. He just said ‘The mind is complex. Let it go.’

We use the old example from the great Indian Sage Kabir. He said ‘The fish is thirsting for water. I can’t help but laugh.’ This clarifies a lot of things. The fish recognizes that it is just swimming in the water. It is just water everywhere. Actually, he recognizes that there is no fish; it is just water. But let’s suppose for a minute that he recognizes that ‘I´ve been thirsting for water but there is water everywhere.’

So, when I say that your life doesn´t have to change, you don´t have to get some new type of water, some new type of perceptions, sensations, relationships, money; it doesn´t have to come. It doesn´t take away from the beauty of the recognition.

So, that life will continue to be this way is not bad news. Because life has already been beautiful. We have been misunderstanding it. We have attached ourselves to that which is impermanent. What do you think the result of that will be?

If you tie yourself to a bus that is moving, will you have a fun time? It doesn´t sound like it. If you feel like this galloping horse will be my steady support in life and you tie yourself to the foot of a horse, what fun will that be? [Laughs] We have attached ourselves to that which is constantly moving and then we say ‘Why I can´t find some steadiness in my life?’

So, attach yourself to That which is the unmoving, the unchanging, then you will See that you are That Itself. But if you feel like you have to attach yourself to something, attach to That which doesn´t change. If you are just attached to this Self, tell me how you can suffer? What more do you want in life? Then all things can just come and go; neither having to be attached nor averse. Nowhere I am saying that you must pick up an aversion to anything which is occurring. Just see it for what it is; another appearance coming and going; and allow it to function in its own natural way.

You don´t lose anything if you give up all your notions. And you do lose some things; you lose your suffering, [Laughs] you lose all this pride and resentment, arrogance, guilt, fear about time, future, regret about the past.

And the trouble is that we don´t even go 100% with that. You see? If we had a fear about the future, what is ultimately going to happen to that we consider ourselves to be? You will be in a hospital or some sort of death-bed; that is going to be, most likely, the final experience. Then what is the point of all of this…, agonizing about what life will bring and not bring? Because ultimately this body is going to go.

So, even phenomenally, if we were to consider ourselves an object, we don´t take these concepts fully. ‘Look at this past; why did this happen?’ Okay, go further back. ‘Why did this happen?’ Go further back, go back to before your childhood, go back before you were born, before you were conceived. If you want to agonize about the past, go really, really back. You want to agonize about the future, go really forward in the future. And See that it is pointless.

Then you will See that the only stability is Your own Self.

And we’ve seen, in America there is something called a rodeo. So, pretending that we are attached to this crazy horse or crazy bull (sometimes they ride the bull also) and this is going to settle down and this going to become all right one day and it will not be a bumpy ride. But we consider ourselves to be an object, when we consider the world to be our reality, this is what happens to us. Up and down and up and down. Sometimes, for a few moments, a sense of stability then back again, up and down.

Asking ‘Why does this happen to me?’ is like saying ‘Why does this horse jump up and down?’ It has no meaning to ask this question. The true question is: ‘Who is it that I am?’  Then you will See that the horse and the rider are just appearances; but You remain the untouched. And the good news is that this is True Right Now. You don´t need any process or steps.

If there was a process or steps like this, don´t you feel that in the thousands and thousands of years that humanity has been in existence that it would have been verified and available now that this is the only way? See, it is not that. All the ways which are available ultimately are pointing you to this simple truth.

And I tell you a little bit about the Indian tradition. In India what used to happen is that if you wanted the truth, you would go to a Master. A Master would typically have his Ashram. So, it is not like today, where you just come to the Ashram and Satsang is just available. The Master will say ‘Okay, you have come here but first you have to do some Seva.’ [Self-less service] Not like this, that ‘I am going to take a little bit of Seva.’ No, it’s ‘You do Seva for 10 years, then I will talk to you about this. Till then, I will just ask you about whether you cleaned the Ashram properly, whether you’ve managed the shops, whether you have done all this gardening, whether you have done everything. Nothing about any of this…’ [this Truth which you have come for] So, 10 years you spend in just physical Seva.

Then, the next 10 years, study all the Shastras, study the Upanishads, study the Bhagavad Gita, study the Brahma-Sutras. (… that which we call the Vedanta. Many of us don´t realize that Vedanta actually is this; the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita and the Brahma-Sutras.) The Master says ‘Study all of this for 10 years. And by the way, in those first 10 years, you better got rid of your lust, your greed, your desires, your aversions, all of your impulses. You better have complete control over your senses, your mind.’ These are the qualifications which allow you to even dip into the Upanishads, the Shastras, the Vedanta. And if you have not done it in the first 10 years, then you take longer. For they say it´s worthwhile; an entire lifetime is fine.

Then you studied all the Shastras for another 10 years. 20 years have passed and you feel like you have some understanding of what is being said in all these beautiful scriptures. Then, based on how much has been assimilated really, the Master will call you in and say ‘I will tell you today the ultimate Truth. And if you are really open, if you´ve really assimilated something in the last 20 years of your dedication to this path, you will understand what I am going to say.’ Then he would share something, which are called the Mahavakyas. This is what? Aham Brahman: I Am Brahman. I am the absolute Self.

Now, a disciple usually has two reactions to this. He has really become open in the last 20 years (saying) ‘I am only Here. I am the Self. Ah…., Here….’ Finished, you see? Or ‘That´s it?!! For 20 years I have been here and all that you have to tell me is one line with three words!?’

So, which one are you now?

For whatever reason, times have changed. And you are here now. I don´t know how many lifetimes of Seva actually you have done already. Now the Master is telling you that ‘You Are the Self’.

Which disciple are you?

Are you still hearing these words conceptually?

[Silence]

That You Are.

Tat Tvam Asi: You Are That.

[Silence]

Q: Sometimes there’s thoughts like ‘Oh, why are you still going to Satsang?’ [Giggles] Kind of like ‘You should have got it by now.’ [Giggles] And I know they’re thoughts. Thank you again; this is Seen so it’s also not happening to the real one.

A: All positions are about the person; all positions are about the ego. The Truth is position-less. The position-less doesn’t need to go to Satsang, nor does it need not to go to Satsang. The position-less doesn’t need inquiry, nor not doing inquiry. It is neither doing, nor not doing. The position-less is untouched by any appearance.

Now the mind tries to sell you the story of its idea of the Self. So, I’m very glad that you exposed that because it’s common for many, many of us. It says ‘You don’t need the inquiry anymore; you don’t need Satsang anymore; you See You Are the Self.’

You could be sitting with a tree and you’ll say ‘This tree is my Guru’ or something. It will give you these fancy spiritual fantasies, but still convincing you that you are a ‘me’ …, still convincing you that you are a limited object.

I’m very, very happy to see that you’re Seeing through these tricks of the mind, and you’re not buying any story of the ‘me’ (whether is it spiritual or whether it is worldly). Because otherwise, what happens is that we give up the worldly ego and pick up a spiritual ego. It is nothing. In fact, the spiritual ego is worse (more suffering) because it has stronger ideas about itself.

So, I’m very happy that you spotted it well in time and threw it out in the fire of Satsang; that ‘This is what the mind is trying to tell me.’ Good, good.

Many actually in the play, it happens in many expressions of Consciousness that these kinds of thoughts start coming, and they start believing them and stop coming to Satsang. That is how Consciousness is playing like that over there. And I know ultimately it is all the play of Consciousness, but the design of this alarm clock is to keep warning you, to keep waking you up from all of these positions that the mind still wants us to take; like the ‘supremely enlightened’ position. All of these ideas…

Q: Whatever is appearing in this moment, is that the Truth of this moment?

A: Now, what is to be taken as the definition of the Truth?

Q: What doesn’t change [and] direct experience.

A: These two are enough; that which is your direct insight, and that which does not change. If you were to apply these two filters for Truth?

Q: Then it is not true.

A: Then it is just an appearance. What is appearing…, we don’t need to get into a denial of the appearance of it; but what is true here? So, what is appearing is appearing and we see that whatever can appear can also disappear; what can come, will go. But let us apply the filter of the Truth and see if there is something which is unchanging also.

Q: I am Seeing it all and nothing is happening to That. The suffering only comes when you want to change the phenomenal appearance somehow. So, in a sense, what I meant by Truth is: This is it. I am aware.

A: It becomes so simple like that. Because if we try to fix appearances, this is always what the report was about: ‘Why can’t I fix my life?’ or ‘Why can’t life get better?’ This is not good news at all, is what you are saying. To me, it was sounding like super-good news. [Laughs]. But when we feel like the appearance has to be different, the appearance has to be something else, then we get stuck in this trying to control ‘my life’ (‘I want to change my life’) trying to bring only that which we desire into this life and trying to hide away from that which we are fearful of; avoidance.

When you See that You cannot be scratched, cannot be dented by any appearance, what is there to fear?

Q: Fear is also an appearance.

A: Even fear we don’t fear.

Q: I can sense some resistance but I don’t have to pick it up if I don’t choose to.

A: [Nodding].

Our experience has always been that nothing has existed without the light of our existence. Can we say that something has existed unless you were there first? There is this beautiful quote in the Upanishads about a Sage asking ‘In which light do you see the world?’ The disciple says ‘I see the world in the sun’s light.’ The Sage asks ‘In which light do you see the sun? Does the sun even exist unless you exist?’

What is primary? From your own insight? It is this very existence which is the light of the world. Yesterday I was wearing this shirt which says ‘Your Heart is the light of this world. Don’t let your mind hide it.’ Guruji’s [Sri Mooji’s] quote. This is what it means. Now how does the mind hide it? Does it cease to be? Does the Heart cease being the light of the world? No. It does not hide it in the play, but it only convinces the Heart itself, Consciousness itself, that it is something limited, that it is something personal.

Now, the idea is so deeply ingrained that for four years now I’ve been saying this. And some of you have been there almost from the very beginning. And yet, this sense that ‘I am this limited one and when will I get to this final freedom?’ can be a testimony to how strong this power of conditioning can be; how quickly the mask of being an individual is picked up. It’s almost like we are waiting for the next excuse to be able to pick it up; waiting for the next strong emotion to come, the next strong event to happen, waiting for some relationship thing to happen, waiting for some money thing to happen. And it can feel like ‘There it is again, I’m back to being a person.’ This is never, ever, ever true…, no matter what is appearing. You will become a blue cat before you can become a person. [Chuckling] Or a pink elephant; whatever you prefer. It is as far-fetched an idea as that.

What is this game that we are playing repeatedly; that God is reminding God constantly that it is God? God is saying ‘Yes, but…’ (something) ‘I don’t feel like I’m God’. It has nothing to do with what you’re feeling. ‘I don’t think I’m God.’ It definitely has nothing to do with what you’re thinking or believing about your Self. What needs to happen?  What certificate are you waiting for? Are you waiting for the bliss certificate, that ‘When bliss is the constant thing, then I’ll be free’? Are you waiting for life events to be only a certain way? If you believe any of these stories, then you pick up the mask. And ultimately, the problem is that we got so used to the mask that you feel naked without it; you feel defenseless. There is no reason to have any concern about the non-existent ‘me’.

I keep coming back to what kind of game is this!? How many if you feel like if no concept was to ever appear in your life again, that would be completely fine? How many of you feel even if millions of concepts come, you are completely fine? [Laughing] So, there it shows you that something might be waiting for the mind to stop being this concept machine. You feel like ‘If it’s not coming, then fine. But if it is coming, then I’m not fine.’ But I’ve told you many times, that even if you identify, nothing is changing really. The same can be checked about events in our life, emotions that we are feeling, pain or pleasure in our body. Anytime we feel like something attacks us, we have believed a limitation about OurSelf.

This is what I was saying (actually, I was saying very calmly) that sometimes strong emotions can come, sometimes strong thoughts can come and convince you ‘But I am this! And I want it all, I want it better, I deserve it.’ What does the non-existent one deserve? And when has it ever gotten anything? Just these glimpses of a little bit of desire fulfillment. The unknotting of the knot of desire has seemed like it is some sort of fulfillment to us. It is nothing.

You see what happened? It seemed like this energetic knot formed every time you picked up a desire, and as that desire is seemingly-attained, this knot releases itself. What happened? Five minutes, ten minutes, maximum a day, then some new thing, the next thing, the next project …

This ‘I … I … I’ which relies on the ‘why … why … why …’

And even this resistance is not personal. It is like Guruji [Sri Mooji] says ‘the same guy’ which somewhere in here [gesturing inside the head] will keep wanting to send this kind of message to all of us. It uses whatever life-events or emotions that any of us might be feeling as an opportunity to come up. Share; speak them out loud (what the mind is saying to all of us actually). This is exactly what I was saying actually, that when I say: ‘Truth for Truth’s sake?’ Or [Truth] for the sake of a better life?

I know that ultimately you want Truth for Truth’s sake, but there are moments where it can feel like it is all about getting a better life. How long will the better life last? Forty years, fifty years, hundred years? Then …? How long does the last forty years seem, fifty years seem? Nothing. It will just come and go. We want a more better life, and next better life. What is the end to this?

Many times, what can happen is that we can start feeling that ‘I have seen the Truth, but why does this still continue to happen to me? ’If you have seen the Truth, then you know the answer to all why’s is Consciousness. [Chuckles] Sometimes it doesn’t feel like it is the right answer. [Chuckles] Why? Consciousness.

So, what I am saying is that if you see that there is just one Being, and all that happens, if it happens because of some will, it must be the will of Consciousness, and Consciousness alone. So, this ‘why’ is Consciousness. To whom does it happen? … is also Consciousness. Consciousness is playing with Its own light, and projecting this cinema, this movie, for Its own purpose. My favorite answer for ‘What is the purpose?’ is that it’s a play; there is no purpose. It’s just enjoyment for Consciousness itself. But even this can be misunderstood. There is no actual reason. Consciousness cannot have a need to entertain itself. But compared to other explanations, this is the one that appeals here the most.

Because you can get struck in this ‘Why? Why me?’ If you see behind the why, usually there is a ‘me’ lurking. [Pointing towards himself] Why? That’s why! These days I have been saying: Replace the ‘Why?’ with the ‘Who?’

Now you can’t make the excuse that ‘Oh, the inquiry doesn’t appeal to me’ because you have been enquiring ‘Why, why, why…?’ [Chuckles] You have been inquiring ‘Why, why?’ then you might as well inquire ‘Who?’ If you inquire ‘Who?’ then the purpose-less-ness (which is not a meaningless nihilism but a beautiful purpose-less-ness) [Chuckles] becomes apparent.

So that is Freedom.

Once you see the meaning of your own reality, once you see the Truth about YourSelf, then the feverishness to derive some meaning from this play of light and sound will start to fade away. Because this play is very compelling, and without the right guidance, to buy the story of this ‘me’ is also very compelling. It has been designed to be compelling that way. But the good news is that the right guidance has also been designed into the play itself. [Chuckles]

It can be the form of Arunachala, it can be the form of beautiful Sages, Guruji [Sri Mooji] …, it’s all part of the grand design of Consciousness to remind Itself. Because It knows that the play It has designed for Itself is so deeply compelling that It then wants to play with the reminder also.

All the Sages; it’s ultimately the same which is being shared here. It is all just one big misunderstanding about who you are. That’s what everybody is saying, ultimately. Some might say ‘Surrender everything that is happening to you’ as a way of recognizing this. Some might say ‘Inquire into the nature of this ‘I’ to get to this point.’ Some might say ‘Let go of your mind by following your breath.’ Some might say Chant a mantra.’ Some might say ‘Focus on the activities of the body, and be completely with that.’ Whatever the path might be prescribed, ultimately it is the dropping of this false ‘I’ …, this idea of the limited self.

Now, I like to say that this is the easiest, because this is your natural state Right Now. You cannot carry the monkey on your back to next moment. [Chuckles] You have to pick it back up. You are free from this monkey of the ego every moment and it’s the most natural way. Now the monkey itself will come and say ‘No, no, it is not dropped.’ [Chuckles] If we are going to buy into this story, then it’s back on your back.

But nobody can truly say that Right Now, before picking up a notion ‘I am an individual entity.’ Nobody can point to a limitation about themselves without believing an interpretation from the mind.

Check this now, and notice that some sensations might appear, and the habit is to label these sensations ‘I’…, like, some sensations, body sensations, heart region, could feel like the boundary of the body. It might feel like ‘Oh, this is ‘I’. This is very familiar.’ But this is just a condition that we have learned. To associate these sensations as ‘I’ is not our natural state of Being. We had to be taught this by our parents, and by the mind. Consciousness practiced this. [Chuckles] It has practiced egotism, individuality. But naturally, even now, if you See, we find that the sensations are appearing within You. You are the container of them, the boundary-less container, and no sensation can actually contain You.

That’s why the Sage Ashtavakra can say that ‘You are the shoreless ocean, in which the ships of the universe, they come and they go.’ The universe, no less; not just body. You start to see that these statements are not big; they are the most obvious. Nothing can contain You. You don’t have a start or an end.

Now, check whether any sensation can actually hurt You, or scratch You or dent You in any way; or any appearance (we can call them sensations for now; perceptions if you like). What does it touch? Another set of sensations, another set of perceptions. So, perceptions, sensations, are engaging with themselves and that which we call the world. But there is no ‘me’ involved in that. The true ‘I’ remains untouched, whatever the content of the perceptions might be. Then comes the invention of the ‘me’. But you cannot invent it unless you have a notion about something. Any perception, when you attach a notion to it, has the potential to become the idea of the individuality, the idea of your ego.

What are the common interpretations? ‘This sensation should go away, this appearance, whatever it might be, should go away but this appearance should stay.’ Desire or aversion. ‘Now that this appearance is here, what should ‘I’ do about it?’ Doership. So, all these notions come like this, and at the root of all these notions is the core notion of duality; that ‘Some appearance is me; another appearance is not me, is separate.’ Without this subtle labeling, your experience is not that of separation.

Naturally, Consciousness could not create a program in which it can forget Itself in the Right Now. So, naturally, you see is this Oneness. Your experience is always of Oneness; your interpretation is that of separation. [Laughter, Silence] That’s why I always say that you have never left the destination. [Silence]

Some of you might then say ‘Ananta, please, now just take away this doubting mind.’ I am hearing this report very often now that ‘What you say is completely clear, and in this moment, I see that I am complete; nowhere to go, nothing to do. I am not limited. But [Chuckles] this mind doesn’t understand, doesn’t listen.’

So, can we now let me handle ‘the emails from the mind’? [Chuckles] Mind is now sending these emails (what is it now? Instant messenger, WhatsApp messages) from the mind. [Laughter] Let me respond to them. You don’t have to worry about any of them. This is surrender. This is surrender: ‘Higher Power, take care of this mind.’ Whatever notion which it is offering to you is somebody else’s responsibility; it’s the Satguru’s responsibility. You don’t have to check your email. And even if the checking happens, you don’t have to worry about it. It could come with the title ‘Urgent, Urgent, Most Important, Action required.’ [Chuckles] Sometimes at work, I used to get emails like this: ‘Urgent, Urgent, Most Important, Action required.’ [Laughter]

So, whatever it might be screaming, just let it be. I am not prescribing action or inaction, by the way. This has nothing to do with action or inaction. I am just saying to notice that without picking up a notion, actions can happen, or inaction can happen. I am not prescribing either. Just don’t pick up the notion of the ‘me’. Let all the emails from the mind be responded to by the Satguru. That is surrender.

If you find that just one email is so compelling (‘Oh, this one I have to…’) then for that one, you inquire. If the email says ‘But you have to manage your life (in some way; make some money, get a job, do something, or you have to fix a relationship) then know that if it feels like you must, and that you have to deal with this one, before you try to deal with it, check: Who is the ‘you’ which has to deal with it? Whose problem is this, really? Who is here, that owns the money in your bank account? Who is here, that has that relationship? And you will not find that one! You will only presume that; you will never find it. And your coming to Satsang means you are done with presumption now, done with presuming yourself to be ‘something’. That’s why you come.

So, this simple checking: ‘Who?’ …, is the inquiry. When the email comes that ‘You have to do this, this and this, to make money, to save your relationship, to do something; [Chuckles] to find freedom’ (especially for all of us) [Chuckles] …, all of these steps of ‘Do this’ …, before we take up the position, just inquire: ‘Does this really apply to the Reality of who I am?’

The pointing might seem like this: ‘All I have to do is to be position-less.’ [Chuckles] And sometimes you might even hear it like that. But being position-less is not a doing, neither is it a non-doing. Who can hear these words? It’s neither doing nor non-doing, because we see that either is not applicable to us in Reality. You don’t have to take up a doer position or a non-doer position. It is very popular in Advaita to take a non-doer position. ‘But I am the non-doer, how can I do…? ‘[Chuckles] What is the ‘I’ in that? Always the question is ‘What is the ‘I’ in that?’

If it is still perpetuating the false story of the individual ‘I’ then whatever position you might take will be squeezed out of you. That is why I keep reminding you that the good news is: If we had to get to this position-less-ness, we could not do it. But in every moment, we start position-less. Because the getting to position-less-ness is a position. [Chuckles] So, the contradiction is inherent in the notion itself. If we had to ‘get to it’ then it is already a position. But we start empty.

(That we will discuss at some other time; about time and how it plays a role. When I say ‘moment’ it is not really the moment ‘in time’. That’s okay.) The point is to say that:

‘Right Now, I start empty.’

What do you want to put in the basket? But that is the good news; even if you do, then there is never a need for any guilt, because: You start empty.

Another way of saying this is (and don’t worry about terminology, because sometimes some of you get upset when I use the term ‘God’ [Chuckles] but I like the term, so I will use it) …, you start as God. Right Now, You are God. (You don’t have to believe it.) [Chuckles] Whether you believe it or not, whether you like it or not, You Are this one Being, one Consciousness, one Self. (Just if you want to be technically correct, The One Self whose dynamic aspect is this one Being, one Consciousness, one God.)

Now, what’s Your play? Is Your play that ‘I must convince my mind about this.’? Then that also becomes a position. Is your play ‘Let me see what this mind is saying about this.’? Then that also is a position. ‘Have I got this or not?’ That also is a position. And what to do with them? Don’t try to stop them.

The mind is ‘a position machine’ …, constantly making you offers. You don’t have to stop this vending machine of positions. [Chuckles] It will keep trying to sell you something. Let them come and go. And if you do pick up something; no trouble, because God is Here. If ‘God is Here’ doesn’t appeal, at least You are Here. [Chuckles] At least You have to be there to doubt your very existence. [Chuckles] If You were not there, would you doubt your existence?

Now ‘What Is’ has been misunderstood to be something personal. Some of the common doubts that all of you end up picking is when mind comes and says ‘Do you really know this? Do you really see this?’ and there is a lot of confusion about whether the Self is known or not known, whether the Self is seen or unseen. Actually, in that moment, when you are empty of notions, this is completely Known, and completely Seen. But not in the way you think about knowing or seeing.

And if knowing only means the way we have traditionally known things, conceptually or perceptually, then the Truth cannot be known. But actually, if we were to broaden the term ‘Knowing’ then you will see that the Truth is the Knowingness Itself.

If you say ‘I am aware’ and I ask you ‘Is this just a concept for you?’ Or I ask you ‘Did you see this awareness, that you were then saying I am aware?’ Neither perception, nor conception; yet, You are Aware. [Silence]

So, if Your dynamic aspect is coming to this recognition of Its own Source, then do you feel that the Source of this dynamic aspect is some clueless entity? [Chuckles] This is a misunderstanding.  Awareness is completely Self-Aware, Knowingness is completely Self -Known. But not in the way we think about these terms.

Anyway, if some of this sounds too technical or metaphysical, we can leave it for now. Just remain in your notion less-ness…, without even the ‘remaining’ becoming the position. Abide without trying to abide.

So, we’re not just shifting our attributes; we’re not going from doer to non-doer, from desirer to non-desirer. We’re removing the landing spot for these attributes.

The ‘I’ itself, the limited ‘I’ which considers itself either the doer or the non-doer; either the ‘me’ or the mind, or the ‘me-who-is-a-renunciate’…, neither we are talking about. Neither to accept nor to renounce, Ashtavakra said. Neither doing or not-doing. No position.

When you refer to yourself as ‘I’…, see where this ‘I’ takes off from.

Is it taking off from some idea that you have about yourself?

What is the source of this ‘I’?

And when I say ‘you’ …, see where the ‘you’ is landing.

You. You. Where does it land?

Does it land on a set of sensations which you say is me?

Does it land on empty space?

A dark empty room; is that you?

Are you just a visual?

Are you some emotion?

Are you all your thoughts about yourself?

Where does it land?

Now, in this market place of sensations that we call the world, it is full of all different, varied types of sensations. And it is not the sensations in themselves which are causing trouble, it is our mental interpretation of those sensations.

So, I was just discussing before satsang that one of the concepts which causes maybe the most trouble is the concept of ‘mine’. A set of sensations, they arise; and somewhere we picked up the concept that ‘they are mine’. It could be another body, it be a house, it could be some money, it could be whatever the perception might be. The minute we attach with the ‘mine’ then somebody tried pulling this set of perceptions away, this set of sensations away, what happens? ‘Oh the suffering, I can’t live, I am so attached, I am so…’ [Laughs] But what is it? Just a set of perceptions, a set of sensation.

Without the concept ‘mine’ there is no such thing as attachment. But even for ‘mine’ there is an over-riding concept called ‘me’. Without ‘me’ can there be a ‘mine’? And this ‘me’ nobody has found. It is just a big misinterpretation, a big misunderstanding that only these sensations are ‘me’ …, the rest of the appearance is ‘not me’ (or any appearance is ‘me’ at all).

All this is just interpretation, isn’t it?

Now, what is it that you are, Right Now?

Someone said that there is a mild sense of a doer which comes, but are you that sense? Or are you perceiving even that? Nothing which comes stays, everything that comes, goes. So then, if you are that which comes, then you will also have to go.

Who saw this coming?

And who will see this going?

What defines your boundary?

How long is Consciousness going to let a sensation define Its boundary?

[Chuckles]

When will It decide to look beyond and say ‘Oh, actually this sensation is appearing within Me’? This is the play of Consciousness.

Go beyond this play of name and form; of me and mine; of doership and desire.

This is the voice of your alarm clock [calling] ‘Can you look beyond?’ You only set it for Yourself; now it is ringing. [Laughs]

Look beyond.

Are you contained in a name?

Are you contained in a form?

Is something a ‘me’?

Is something really ‘mine’?

You are the Eternal One, the Unborn, the Undying.

What can You own?

What can You leave behind?

What position can You take?

How long will You continue to point at some sensation and say ‘This is me’?

If it is the Satguru’s grace then we are blessed with something that we call devotion. Devotion means that ‘This life is my Master’s problem, let Him have it. But not just this life, everything that I considered myself to be is now offered up at His feet. In that devotion, everything that is in the box ‘I am something’, all this ‘something’ is now emptied out at my Father’s feet.’

This is a beautiful unburdening. That is why I say that the devotee is not being a devotee; the devotee is not one who is saying ‘I am a devotee’. Be empty of this notion also.

This is the best, best part about having a Master is that whatever the mind has to offer you is nothing of your concern now. It is all the Master’s to deal with. (‘What I have to do, where I have to go, how will I run my life?’)

But if you still feel like you have your way, or you want it your way, then is it true that you have a Master? This is only having the starter of the seven-course meal then. If you feel that the Master is just somebody who comes and tells you nice things for a few hours, the rest of it then you have to do and take care of and then you have to go back to running your life…, somebody is just eating the starters. [Chuckles] The whole meal is laid out for you.

This is what I meant when I said that you either have a Master or you have your way. Now, the mind will create some weird notions of this and say ‘Oh, this is some sort of being subservient (or something like that).’ It is none of that; it has nothing to do with that. It has nothing to do with whether you touch the Master’s feet, or whether you do seva or not. It is only about saying that ‘You, Father, are the one that runs this life now; everything moves with Your will. There is no ‘me’ here to do anything at all. If there is suffering then you are suffering, whatever action there is is Your action because I don’t find a ‘me’ who is doing or experiencing any of this.’

That is why Bhagavan [Sri Ramana Maharshi] gave us these very beautiful metaphors. He said, ‘Do you get on a train and start running towards the destination inside the train?’ [Laugh]. No, you are on the Guru train. (Of course, he didn’t say the last part. [Laughs] I am saying that.) You are on the Guru train which is running on Guru Power. What better way to run this life?

It is only the voice of individuality which will come and say ‘But… but… okay, but this is okay for satsang, but what about my job? What about money? What if he messes up or she messes up?’ This ‘but’.

What is the alternative that the ‘but’ is offering? The alternative is that:

‘I can do it.’

‘Who is this ‘I’?

‘That I don’t know, but I can do it.’

It is so funny isn’t it? It is just like this. ‘I can do it. I don’t know who this ‘I’ is, but I can.’ [Laughter] Is there anything funnier? And yet the hypnosis has been so strong that this is how we believed our life to be run:

‘I did this, I did that.’

‘I didn’t do this, I didn’t do that.’

‘Who?’

‘That I don’t know’.

And very few even come to this beautiful admitting ‘I don’t know’. Many are just naming a fictional entity and saying ‘that one did’. It is like saying that some entity called Ananta is speaking all these words. That is completely false. There is nobody here called ‘Ananta’ actually, it is just a theoretical notion that we are calling this appearance in this form. These words are just arising from the same voice which has reminded you over and over, through many different forms, over many different lifetimes.

Q: Even I can’t do it, it is not applicable.

A: Yes, exactly, because it is not about the ‘can or can’t do’. It’s about who the ‘I’ is.

Those who are blessed with even that little bit of devotion, little bit of temperament of surrendering, just hand it over. Hand over the hand-over-er. [Laughs] Surrender the surrender-er. There is nobody there, there is nobody here; there just is nobody. All there is is one Being, one Self.

You have looked inside the body, you have looked outside the body, have you found somebody? It is just not there. There is nobody with your name on it.

Baghavan [Sri Ramana Maharshi] was relentless in his pointing of the question ‘Who am I?’ That itself is a huge clue. [Chuckles] The great Sage himself kept reminding us to remind ourselves ‘Who is it that I am?’ Obviously, it was clear to him that most of humanity has picked up a concept about itself which is not true. And in clarifying, in coming to the Truth about who You are, in coming to the insight about who You are, then all this confusion that we call suffering becomes alien.

Now, most of us are convinced about who we are (especially if there are some who are new to Satsang). And we’ve been looking at this ‘fill in the blank’…, what are we filling in the blank with? ‘I am ____(blank)____’. Some will fill in the name there. ‘I am ___(whatever the name is)___’. Then you ask ‘So, what does that name represent?’ [They would say] ‘The name represents a body in this world.’ But what does the world represent? What is the world right now? Just a set of perceptions, isn’t it?

If one by one, these perceptions were to vanish…, the world, these outer perceptions (outer seeming- perceptions) and these inner-seeming perceptions (that which we call the body sensations, the visuals of the body) …, if all of this were to vanish, would the perceiver also vanish? At what point does the perceiver go? So, if the world became completely quiet, and all visual perceptions also stopped, are you still there? Or not? If these sensations that you call the body, if they also were not felt for some time, are you still there? Or not?

Just like the space between two thoughts; it just continues. When there are no thoughts, then are you still there? Or not? If you are feeling no emotion at the present time, are you still there? If all these perceptions were not there, do you still exist?

Or are You also another perception?

Are You an appearance?

The Master has said: Find out That which witnesses all appearances.

Are You also an appearance?

What witnesses You then?

So, beyond an object of perception, what can you put in that box of ‘I am something’? Now, many make the mistake. It cannot be an object of perception. Then what can you replace it with? That ‘I am something’ can become ‘I am something conceptual.’… ‘But I don’t have a perception of it, so I must be something which is non-perceptual.’ … ‘But what do I know about that? That I know! It’s the Self.’ So, we can have a concept of the Self, and put that in the box.

Actually (even otherwise), when we say ‘I am the body’ or ‘I am the mind’ these are also just concepts. We have created a set of sensations, and we’ve created an idea about these sensations and call it a body. We created a set of constructs, energy constructs, which we call ‘the mind’. So, these are already just conceptual. But you could take on a concept which seems higher than that, higher than the perceptual construct, and say ‘I am the Self’. But you find that, just in choosing the intellect and saying that ‘I am the Self’ or ‘I am Awareness’ also doesn’t help.

This is what the intellect does. Isn’t it? Intellect thinks that ‘Now it understood that I cannot be an object, which is witnessed, so I must be something which is the perceiver. So, what is that? That must be the Self!’ But this is also still just an idea.

So, if we were to say that no idea can be the reality of You (because all ideas also are constantly changing) now you cannot put any perception in the box of ‘I am something’. You cannot put any concept in the box  of ‘I am something’. Are we left with anything now?

If no object I am, if no concept I am (and when I say ‘object’ I’m including all perceptions, including feelings, thoughts; everything) then what is left?

Mind cannot help us here. Intellect cannot help us here. The greatest intellect will have great trouble having this insight. But in the most childlike innocence, with the childlike wonder, this would be the most apparent, the most obvious.

So, don’t strain yourself. ‘Strain’ means that you are trying to use your mind or intellect. Just with a childlike wonder, what is here that is beyond perception?

Don’t force anything at all. And remain in this innocence. Because everything else comes after the idea that ‘I am an object’ …, ‘What should I do? Why am I here?’ [Chuckles] All these existential questions all come only after you pick up the notion of being ‘something’…, either a concept, or an object. Both are the same; just notions.

That is why this is the main question: ‘Who am I?’

There comes a point in Satsang where the (almost ultimate) question is asked:

Are you in the Truth?

Are you for the Truth, just for the sake of Truth Itself?

Or because of the idea or benefit that it might bring?

And if you can answer that you are in it for the Truth, no matter what it brings, that’s it!

But if you feel that ‘Oh, but ‘my’ Truth should be this way, it should help my life in this way, it should be like that, it should be like this’ then we can keep playing this game.

Truth just for the sake of Truth; with no guarantee about anything at all, not even a guarantee of peace, no guarantee of joy, nothing; forget about it. Because it is these guarantees which get in the way of them anyway (but even that I don’t want to tell you as a reassurance).

In it for just the Truth: is it your heart’s deepest longing (no matter what other phenomenal things it brings or doesn’t bring)?

If you can’t understand the Ananda part of Sat-Chit-Ananda…, are you in it for Sat or Chit? Or without Ananda, it’s not worth it?

This is it. At this point, Consciousness decides to play this way or the other way. It truly comes to this point where It’s done with the play of ‘me’…, it’s dropped away. But if it felt somewhere that because of coming to the Truth, the ‘me’ will get something, the ‘I’ will get something, then you start to realize one day in the Satsang that it’s not working to plan. [Chuckles]

Truth with no benefits. And if any of you feel that ‘Oh, actually, it’s been searching for some benefit’ then don’t pick up guilt or unworthiness about it. The point is not to make you feel guilty in it. The point is just to shine your light on that which you feel should happen. This is the chance to drop it, not to make guilt out of it; the chance to shine Your own light and See that ‘I am in this for something, but even in that notion of what am I considering myself to be? The false.’

So, many times, our notions of limitations can hide behind these expectations of something coming through spirituality; expectations that something should happen because I surrender.

Who does the ‘I’ represent? With integrity, if you look at this question, then you are shining a very bright light of Your own Seeing, and the false cannot survive the brightness of this light.

So, I can say it is time to stop playing games, but I know the Consciousness will play the game as long as it likes. And this is just a game for me to have said that. But I suppose we were to say that? [Chuckles]

Stay with Your insight. Don’t pick up any notion about YourSelf, because no notion is worthy of You.

A: What is attention reporting back to? Who is attention bringing this content to?

Q: The attention is reporting to Awareness. Awareness Knows that and then somehow Consciousness picks it up and does something with it.

A: Actually, here is where the line is between the dynamic aspect of the Self, which is Consciousness, and the non-dynamic, non-phenomenal aspect of it, which we call Awareness, starts to fade away.

Q:  Yes. You can’t tell.

A: But That which is aware of attention and the content of attention…, That remains unchanging, whether there is attention on something or not.

So then, if Seeing means this process of seeing, of watching using attention, then there is a bigger Seeing (with a capital ‘S’) which is aware of this; which remains untouched, unchanged, wherever there is content which is seen…, or whether there is no content which is seen.

Whether it is the waking state, in which all of phenomenality is happening, or the sleep state where there is no-thing, You are the substratum of all these states; and yet remain completely untouched by them. Whether attention is on a thought, or there is nothing to perceive (the space between thoughts) this Awareness is not coming and going with the perception of something.

Suppose that ‘It’s too simple’ was not a problem. Suppose it is the best news you have heard: It’s just too simple. Simpler than anything that you have ever done, simpler than any thought, simpler than any emotion, simpler than any event (whatever that event might be). It doesn’t need a step in any direction. It is naturally here: I exist, I Am.

How hard did you have to work to exist?

What are the steps you had to follow to exist?

Nothing. It is the most natural. And this existence is complete. There is nothing missing in this.

So, before you can put on the trench coat of the detective to go looking for the Self (‘I am going to go looking for the Self, I am going to find the Self here or there’) it is worthwhile to investigate: Who is going to put on that trench coat? Who is going to take on the seeker mask?

What is naturally here before you intend to find the Self?

Are you not the Self?

Before you intend to complete yourself, You are complete.

Taste your Self in this moment; taste your Existence, taste your Presence. This nobody has done. The Existence is not a product of somebody doing something. That is why the Truth cannot be done. The Truth cannot also be found. It can just be recognized.

And you cannot move from the Truth; you can only pretend as if ‘I can move’. So, let us say for a moment that this Existence is ‘I Am’. (Don’t worry if it doesn’t make sense, it’s fine. We are just playing with this for a moment.) This Cxistence is the sense ‘I Am’.

Now, in this moment, are you something?

Before a concept comes, before a thought comes, before an idea comes,

are you something?

Do you have a boundary?

Sensations will come, events will happen, perception will happen, sounds are coming, traffic noise is there. How does that effect the I Am, your Being?

Now, this existence has been misunderstood and believed to be the existence of a person. This is the basic misunderstanding. You exist, Right Here, completely naturally. You are not a person. This; if you see this, even this now, there is nothing really more to say.

Can it be that it is this very same Consciousness which has been playing around with ideas about Itself…, and now is ready to drop all these ideas about Itself?

When is this happening? It is happening now.

How do you, Consciousness, want to play in this instance?

As Bhagavan [Sri Ramana Maharshi] said, there are only two ways to play this game: with the notion about yourself, or without a notion about yourself; with a concept of your limitation, or without a concept of your limitation.

Just because you believe yourself to be the seeker, doesn’t make you one.

It is just like if you started to pretend to be Sherlock Holmes or Pink Panther, will you become one? You can only play as if you are.

You are the Self alone. Only the Self is.

And this is your Truth, Right Now.

You don’t have to go anywhere.

Wherever you might feel you are going,

You are only the Self.

That is why I have been asking over the last few days:

What are you representing?

When you say ‘I’, who do you represent?

With integrity, bring this answer to your Light. I have been advising all of you: Say ‘I’ (say to yourself ‘I’) and see what you are representing.

Are you representing the group of sensations that you call the body?

Are you representing the group of sensations that you call your relationships?

Who does ‘I’ represent?

A: You said that we did this exercise about ‘Where does the ‘I’ land?’ That is why I was saying ‘Say to yourself ‘I’ and see if it lands.’ Does it land on an island? [Laughter] Is there an island for ‘I’? Is there a set of things which ‘I’ is? Or does it land on this shoreless ocean? As Ashtavakra said ‘You are beyond all boundaries.’ (So, even the ‘shoreless ocean’ of course, is just metaphorical.)

We were talking about the body sensations. When we say ‘I’ then these body sensations, they seem to come up to try and represent ‘I’ (maybe, in a way). But is that what you are? Or is there something else there?

Q: ‘I’ lands on me. In a sense, any thought I am identifying as me is where the ‘I’ lands at that point, Father.

A: Very Good. So, now is there something which can never go in that big basket?

Q: Yes, I can’t go.

A: I can’t go. [Chuckles] If you can’t go, then can you have a problem?

Q: Umm…, [Laughs] … it is the mind which is saying ‘No, no, you can’t be That.’ That is it, Father. There is no other problem. [Crying].

A: To See that whatever might have been the situation, whatever might have been the events, whatever expression of this devotion might have come (through inquiry, devotion, surrender, kriya; all this has happened) …, has all of that happened inside the basket or outside the basket?

Q: Inside the basket.

A: All of this has also only been inside the basket. Now, this crying is happening and this crying is another set of sensations, isn’t it?

Q: Yes, yes, yes.

A: These perceptions are sensory perceptions. A set of sensations which the mind can take on and it can say that it is happening to ‘me’. But we found that the real ‘I’ (why do we call it the ‘real I’? Because that is the ‘I’ which remains unchanging) …, the unchanging ‘I’ is never in the basket of these sensations. It is aware of them but Awareness is never hurt by them.

So, this is the switch-over from calling something in the basket ‘I’. The representative, the mind of this limited ‘I’ has been selling this story that ‘I am inside the basket and all this is happening to me.’ But as you are checking now, you are Seeing that I remain untouched. These sensations are there; they come and go.

Now, if a set of sensations are there and they can’t really hurt you, would you call them troublesome? Because we cannot call them troublesome unless they can hurt me in some way. That is why we call it the play, the leela.

Q: The only voice that gets hurt (I am looking at it closely) is the me, Father. It is just the voice of the me. There is no other problem.

A: Yes. Now, the good news is that as you start this moment, there is no basket; there is nothing in the basket of conditioning. Imagine (as some spiritual paths suggest) that you have to dig into this basket of conditioning and pluck every conditioning out one by one. How much of a task that would be? But you are finding now that we are empty of all of this, naturally.

And as we’re Seeing this more and more, then over a period of time we’re also Seeing that the magnetism of these concepts, the magnetism of these conditions, is also reducing. Just like when we were younger then maybe the idea of a Hot-Wheels car (these dinky cars…, I don’t know what you used to call them; we used to call them dinky cars) was very appealing here.  I wanted the latest Hot-Wheels models whenever they came into the shops. It was very appealing. But we outgrow them. In the same way, we outgrow these limited ideas about ourself.

And that is why I come here every day [to Satsang] to show you that it is possible to continue this worldly existence (apparent-worldly existence) without holding onto any notion about yourself. It is completely possible for life to continue as it is. Because Right Now, as we are empty of a notion…, life is continuing? Or not? So, this entire spiritual journey is just for coming from ‘I am something’ to just ‘I Am’.

Now, notice the offers from your mind. The other day, I called the mind a ‘position machine’. It is giving you an offer of a position. Usually in Satsang, the position it wants to take is that of a ’but…’. The doubter position. ‘Yes, Father, but… I am not there yet.’ I am saying every day: ‘But You Are only That.’ [Chuckles] But then the mind comes and makes this offer. ‘I am not God yet, I am not Consciousness yet.’ This is the habit. So, when Krishna spoke about the habit, this is what we were talking about.

Now, if it was not a habit, we would have just needed to have one Satsang. The reason we have every day Satsang, Monday to Friday, is because of this habit to believe this doubter in our mind which is saying ‘I am not there yet’ or ‘I finally got it’ or ‘I am getting it so well’. You see? All these reports again are painting You as if You are a limited entity. You are not that. You are not in this time, You are not in this space. All of these are just sensations that you are experiencing, that you are aware of.

Nothing contains You.

You contain all and yet remain untouched.

What must You be?

Sometimes, because we repeat these words so often, we forget what the pointing is to:

What must You be?

You contain all and remain untouched.

Ashtavakra said ‘You are the shoreless ocean.’ He was not fooling around. [Laughs] He meant it; beyond all boundaries.

But there are two pieces of good news. One is that:

In this moment you are empty of conditions (till you pull on one leaf of the condition, then it seems that the whole tree comes back).

And the second is that:

As you are empty of any notion about yourself, the Truth is apparent to you. Whether your mind admits it or not. The Truth does not have to be found, it is apparent.

You are aware of Your Existence. But the Truth is not even these words. We can point to That in some of these words which seem very direct, but as You are experiencing YourSelf, without a notion, the Truth of YourSelf is already recognized; nothing you have to do about it.

So, most of the struggle is to try and convince the mind that this is it. [Chuckles] We are trying to struggle to convince the mind ‘I am free’ or trying to convince the mind ‘I have seen it, I have recognized.’ Forget it. Don’t convince your mind of anything at all. Don’t wait for the ‘mind certificate’. I am giving you the certificate! [Laughs] Why do you want a certificate from the mind?

You are complete; fully full. Whatever you can be, whatever you will always ever be, is already Here Now. You Are All There Is.

I can really get this printed and signed and send one to each of you: You Are All There Is.

(What are you waiting for? For the mind?)

How do I know this? Because I Am You. We Are One. And I Am All There Is.

And I am able to speak these words because, even here, there was a time where these set of sensations (which are experienced as the body) was labeled as ‘I’ or ‘me’. You have never found a ‘me’ in them. It is just a presumption. And unless you pick up an idea about yourselves, unless you pick up the notion ‘I am something’ you cannot suffer.

The notion ‘I am something’ IS suffering. It is said that the Buddha said ‘The world is suffering; samsara is suffering.’ And that is the usual case because we have played with the world as if ‘I am something’.

Now, let the world be. Just be ‘I Am’. Show me how you can suffer without a notion.

This is how you transcend the identity, to transcend the world.

What does it say in the scriptures?

Aham Brahma Bramasmi: I Am Brahman.

It doesn’t say ‘I am becoming Brahman.’ [Chuckles]

Tat Twamasi: That You Are.

Are they saying ‘That you will become’?

That You Are!

Who are they speaking to? You.

Who is speaking? You.

That is why both are there: ‘I Am That’ and ‘You Are That’.

(Same thing.)

That is why this is the inquiry:

Where does the ‘I’ land?

What does the ‘I’ represent?

Are you still waiting for some experience? Forget about it. [Chuckles] You keep waiting for some awakening experience to happen…, then one day when the experience happens then you will get attached to that also. And then, when it goes away, you will say ‘I lost my freedom!’ So, it is not about any experience. Experiences can happen; you don’t have to look down upon them. You can even have a sense of joy about them. But nothing is a prerequisite for Your Existence Right Now. And this Existence is All There Is. You have no boundary. All limitations are imagined, all limitations are concepts.