Everything Is the Gurus Grace

Book Description

This book has been compiled from online Satsangs, 1st March to 14th June 2018. “The bigger meaning of Grace is that it is the will of Consciousness Itself which is all-inclusive. Everything is included in that. This is Grace. When we say ‘Guru Kripa Kevalam’ it means ‘Only the Master’s Grace Is.’ We start to see then that it is one unfolding; it is one movement of Consciousness. The physical form of the Master is the embodiment of this Satguru, the Divine Presence in Your Heart. Everything is unfolding in Its light. This Guru is the light of our Existence. We will See ultimately that everything is the Grace of this Divine Presence; everything is this Satguru’s Grace, is God’s Grace.”

Satsang with Ananta

High above the noise and pollution of Bangalore traffic on Old Airport Road, Beings from all corners of the world gather on the top floor of a multi story building. Flowers are placed where Anantaji’s feet will be and on the altar with photos of His Master, Sri Moojiji. Incense is lit, water is poured, and the Sangha sit quietly waiting for Anantaji, or Father as most of the Sangha lovingly call Him, to enter the room. When Anantaji joins the room, the Sangha stand in reverence and respect until their Father is seated. Ananta opens His mac laptop, connects to google hangout where there are many more Sangha all around the world waiting to join in live. And Satsang begins with “Namaste everyone, a very warm welcome to satsang today, Satguru Moojiji ki Jai.”

About Ananta

Ananta gives Satsang with the blessings of his Master, Sri Mooji. He lives in Bangalore, India with his wife, son and daughter. He offers Satsang in Bangalore which is also broadcast live online in an interactive format. See website and/or Facebook for the many YouTube videos of online Satsangs, the other Ananta books, Satsang transcripts, audio recordings and general information. The Satsang schedule is usually pinned to the top of the Facebook pages.

Website: www.anantasatsang.org Satsang with Ananta YouTube channel is: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmc83jyrwpCNBT2xywXVoLg/feed Facebook site: https://www.facebook.com/satsangwithananta

Sangha Facebook site: https://www.facebook.com/groups/satsangwithananta

Audio recordings: https://soundcloud.com/satsangwithananta

This is the 13th book of Ananta Satsang excerpts (not including the paperback/kindle book available on Amazon) taken from online Satsangs 1st March to 14th June 2018. These simple pointings, contemplations, guided inquiries and interactions with sangha are full of Ananta’s direct insights, love and laughter. Big thanks and gratitude to those who made this book possible: text via the seva transcripts team (Tejas, Dhruva, Jyotima, Aarin, Jyotika, Sweta, Prarthana, Nitya, Drishti, Meera and Amaya), edited by Amaya with Drishti, book compiled by Aarin with Amaya, cover and posting onto website by Krishna. This book has been transcribed to keep Ananta’s words as they were delivered (with minimal edits) so that his voice is heard as we read.

In deepest love and gratitude to Anantaji (affectionately called ‘Father’ by some, which seemed to just happen on its own) this book is an offering to all who are called to Truth, Self-Realization and freedom from suffering in the Presence of a True Master.

Preface

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You Already Are That

This that You already Are is the timeless One. I like the way the Zen Masters would call it ‘the old man’ or ‘the ancient one’. Your very Existence is already That. Beyond age, beyond time; what You already Are is That. Take it completely literally. Sometimes we feel like this is a fantastic story, like ‘I have to get there.’ Take it completely literally that what You truly Are, Right Now, is the unchanging Self.

You Know it already,

You See it already,

You are Being it already.

What is the age of Your Presence?

How many years old is Your Presence?

Your Being is how old?

How big is it?

And who is aware of this?

Already, You Are.

There is nobody here who is unaware of their Existence.

So, You are Free, Right Now.

Then the only question which remains is what to do with the garbage that the mind is peddling. Just let it come and let it go.

Because You are the timeless One.

Already it is true.

But everything the mind is saying is subject to time. It’s talking about past and future. It’s so funny that for most of humanity, most of their past has gone into worrying about the future. And most of the future will go into regrets about the past.

But the eternal Being is Here.

Who is going to enjoy themselves as That?

We seem to be at this place where everyone seems to be in denial of That which is completely apparent. And completely buying into that which is never real.

Do you exist or not?

You must be then aware of it also, to say it.

A Deeper Intelligence Is Moving in Its Own Way

Sometimes I joke and say (well it is a half-joke) [Smiles] that my highest pointing is ‘Don’t make anything a thing.’ Actually, nothing is originally a ‘thing.’ How many have no clue about what I am talking about? [Chuckles] Then we can slow down a bit. [Smiles] Let us see how it goes. Originally, we are not giving any conceptual meaning to anything at all. So, to give this conceptual meaning, to give belief to a concept is what I mean ‘making it a thing.’ I am not talking about manifestation of materializing something. [Smiles] Creative visualization; I am not speaking about that.

When we attach some false sense of meaning, the conceptual idea, that ‘I know what this is for’ or ‘I know what this means’ (a certain sense of appearances moving in a certain way) the mind comes and tries to make a conclusion about it. And this is what this means. Actually, we don’t know what anything means. We don’t know what anything is for. And it is these meanings we attach, this notion we attach, that seems to become the source of our suffering. This play of light and sound is happening. This narrated mind comes and says what this moment of light means and ‘This is what these sounds means.’ But you are just the witness of all of these.

Let us go back a little bit and see. We don’t even know what the meaning of our existence is. We can try and attach various meanings to it. You know, I love to call it a ‘play.’ [Smiles] We exist because it is a play of consciousness. Another will say, Shankara will say ‘It never really happened anyway.’ It appears to happen. You would see that the snake appears to be, but it is only just a rope. So, neither real nor unreal. If the very light of this existence, we don’t know what it is for (and actually we cannot know mentally) then what is the point in trying to derive some meaning from aspects, from minor little plays within this big play of your existence? It is completely pointless. The only point it seems to serve is this pretense of identification, this pretense of individuality, pretense of ego. Because it might seem like I am making a meaning or a notion about something. But actually, you are making a meaning about yourself. If you make meaning about a perceived object, whether it is seemed to be perceived in the world or whether it is a thought, whether it is imagination, memory, any of these objects of perceptions, you are actually making a conclusion about yourself.

There is never another person behaving badly. For example, if are making meaning out of something like that; suppose a partner, which is a very popular notion to pick up. [Smiles] So, there is never a partner individually behaving badly or not understanding, unless first we presume the idea that ‘I also must be a person.’ From the space of spaciousness from which all of this is contained, none of these ideas have any meaning. We have become so deeply conditioned to these notions that it seems like we can’t exist without these labels; if I feel like a table will no longer be a table unless I call it a table…, where this is not true. The appearance can continue to be whatever it is appearing as.

Do you need to call a glass a glass to drink from it? There is a deeper intelligence, a deeper homogeneity in a way, which already is moving in its own way, which recognizes what is perceived and moves all of this.

The Answer to All ‘Why’ Questions is ‘Consciousness’

Although I make the point very trivially sometimes that the answer to all ‘why’ is Consciousness, we must try to answer ‘Why’ for something within Consciousness only if we feel like we can answer ‘Why Consciousness?’

Why Consciousness in the first place? Why do I exist?

If you want to tackle a ‘Why’ take the biggest ‘Why’ because everything else is just within the functioning of this Consciousness. ‘Why does he behave like this? Why does she do this to me? Why can’t they understand? Why is the world so bad? Why do bad things happen to good people?’ You see, we want to know the answer to all these ‘Why’ within a particular aspect of Consciousness. But every time we pick up a notion about something which is within, then we are making a limited idea about OurSelf.

Do we really, really know why you exist? [Silence] If I get enough time with you, I can convince all of you that it is a play. Why do you exist? Because you want to play. If I get enough time with you, I can convince you that none of this has ever happened; we have never existed. If I get enough time with you I can convince you that it is so that You can experience YourSelf as ‘something’. You see? If it is convincible through concepts, then we don’t actually know; we just have a concept of it.

So, what I’m basically inviting you to do in all this long explanation is I’m inviting you to throw away any ideas you have about anything at all. In fact, the invitation is even simpler. It is to show you that all ideas are gone. And there is no reason, no validity in any notion that you might want to pick up now.

All notions are about…, you know, when we are in the corporate world, we are taught to answer these questions about everything; doing your plans. Who? What? Why? When? How? Where? Who will do it? So, if a project has to be done, who will do it? What has to be done exactly? Why? Why are we doing it? What is the reasoning behind it? When? What are the timelines for the project? How? Step by step, how will this happen? These kinds of questions we’ve been conditioned to pick up notions about. And I’m suggesting we throw all of them away. [Silence] And if to throw all of them away seems like it is too much, then stay with the question: ‘Who?’

In the mere act of labeling something as ‘something’ we seem to be answering questions like this about it. The pretense that we know that we know what anything is. That’s why these days I’ve been saying: Leave this existence as unlabeled as possible. I’ve been saying that, isn’t it?

Look around the room. Actually do it. (I know some resistance can come. It can say ‘I’ve done this the other day. It’s very good but it doesn’t do anything.’) Just look around. It might feel a bit strange. [Looking around] Leave everything unlabeled. [Silence]

I’m here to tell you that it is completely possible to lead a life mostly like this.

What I Really Am Can Never Be Caught Up in Anything

All our fears about ‘How life will turn out? How is it going to be managed?’ are unfounded. So, look at the appearance of this energy also, without even calling it the notion of fear.

What is True has not left you. As you have left your Existence unlabeled and the appearance of anything perceived unlabeled, what is True has not left you. Because Truth means That which cannot leave, which has not come and does not go.

The best part about all of this is that we start this moment anyway like this. We are not caught up in any notion right at this very moment. You might try. This part also…, if you explore, something very magical will be revealed to you. How does it seem like I am constantly caught up in notions but every time I check whether ‘Right Now, am I caught up in a notion?’…, I am not. So, you can really explore whether it is ever True that we are caught up.

Is it ever true that what I really Am can ever be caught up in anything?

Even though our memory might be testifying to it (because of the appearance of a body or some mental perspective) all that you ever find when you look Now is One Consciousness, One God.

God is Here.

You need to label something to create a distinction, a separation. Not ‘create’ but create the pretense of a separation. That is also a very important point. Because if you pick up the notion that actually separation got created then you pick up the idea of trying to fix the separation.

It’s like for one tiny moment you believe yourself to be a blue cat. What do you need to do to fix it? Just for one moment, you believed yourself to be a blue cat; it can happen. The mind can offer up a really crazy idea, and the power to buy into it is one of your primal powers as Consciousness. But You are rid of it Right Now.

It might sound like a crazy idea. ‘A blue cat? That is too far off!’ But what you believe yourself to be, this bundle of flesh and bones, is as ludicrous. It’s as ludicrous. How can that space in which space arises be This? How can That, which is ultimately That which is Aware of that space in which this space arises, ever just be this body? It is as crazy as believing yourself to be a pink elephant.

Look at all the things that you have given meaning to.

And now notice what believing those meanings convinces you about what you are.

To Think You’ve Found the Ultimate Is to Miss It

If you are still looking for the Ultimate position, you are missing the Ultimate position. If you think you found the Ultimate position, you are missing the Ultimate position.

If you think you can lose the Ultimate position, you are missing the Ultimate position. If you have any idea about yourself, you are missing your Ultimate Truth.

If you are feverish about any notion about what something means, you are missing your Ultimate Truth.

And if you ever feel like it is possible to ever miss the Ultimate Truth, you are missing the Ultimate Truth.

Its very nice because what does that leave your mind with? Nothing at all. [Smiles] And this is very good news. Because this nothing is the pointer to your Truth as No-Thing.

If you know something just mentally, you pick up a version of yourself which is not true. But as you are empty of conceptual knowing, this greater Truth is completely apparent to you.

We were joking the other day. We were saying that:

If you think you are doing Zen, it is not Zen.

If you think that you are doing it right, it is not Zen.

If you think you are doing it wrong, it is not Zen.

If you think that there is something to be done, it is not Zen.

If you think that you have to sit without doing anything, it is not Zen.

If you think that there is something to be found, it is not Zen.

If you think you have found it, it is not Zen.

If you think it is outside you, it is not Zen. [Chuckles]

If you think it is inside you, it is not Zen.

If you think that there is a ‘you’ it is not Zen. [Laughter]

If you think there is no you, it is not Zen. [Laughs]

If you think you are the doer, it is not Zen.

If you think you are not the doer, it is not Zen.

If you think there is no Self, it is not Zen.

If you think there is a Self, it is not Zen.

Nothing, nothing, nothing.

[Silence]

If you think that what I am saying means something, it is not true.

If you think what I am saying doesn’t mean anything, it is not true.

Because we are divesting meaning from meaning itself.

You know what I mean? [Laughter] I wonder who will hear me speak if I go on like this? [Laughter]

If meaning itself did not have a meaning, what position would we take? [Smiles]

[Silence]

What’s the point of all of this?

Nothing.

Then is it completely pointless?

No.

[Laughter]

Although we are really enjoying this (it’s true I am enjoying sharing like this; you are enjoying also hearing like this) the mind is deeply uncomfortable with this. This neutrality it cannot understand.

I read many years ago somewhere that there are no neutral thoughts. At that time I couldn’t understand this. [Chuckles]

Every thought, every notion, every concept is selling you a limited position about yourself.

You Don’t Have to Get to Freedom, You Have to Give Freedom

Mind makes everything upside down. [Chuckling] And one of the most popular things that has been made upside down and has been believed is that ‘I have to get freedom.’ Most popular; in Satsang, it’s the most popular. In the world, there are three or four most popular things like this. ‘I have to get more money, I have to get better relationships, I have to have healthy body and I want to have freedom.’

Now, all this ‘get freedom’ thing is a big trap. Because every time you feel like you have to get freedom, you’re believing yourself to be unfree or bound, which can never be true.

So, what if we were to switch it? You don’t have to get freedom, you have to give freedom.

You don’t have to get freedom, you have to give freedom.

What can you give freedom to? Give freedom to the world.

This means what? Not that you become one Swamiji. [Extending his arm out in blessing] ‘You are free now.’ [Chuckling]

Give freedom to the world means: Let it be as it is.

What Is Just Is.

Even the ‘What Is’ of the appearance Just Is.

Give freedom to the world to be as it Is.

Now, this often gets misunderstood because you still exclude your body from it. Or this body which seems so intimate is excluded from this ‘Give freedom to the world’ and you hear it as if I’m saying ‘Become one; let the world do whatever it wants. You just bear it; grin and bear it.’ That’s not what I’m saying.

I’m saying: Give freedom to everything in this world, including this body…, including this body to have the actions and inactions that it is having. In any case, the notion of control is just made up. Most of you know this by now.

So, give freedom, complete freedom, to this world.

And don’t forget to include your body.

Then? Give freedom to your thoughts.

I know this can sound anti-spiritual. ‘I thought all of this is about controlling my thoughts.’ No, it isn’t. It is about giving them the freedom to come and go. And in their naturalness, they are coming and going. Let the world come and go as it pleases. Let your thoughts come and go as they please.

Give freedom to your emotions to come; and even to come and to linger, because qualitatively emotions have a different quality than thoughts. Thought comes and goes even if it’s repetitive. It seems persistent only because it is repetitive. But an emotion can seem to stay a bit longer. It can linger.

Somebody did a study and said ‘The shelf life of the most persistent emotion is two and a quarter days. Then it has to repeat itself again.’ Anyway, whatever the shelf life might be, you can let it come and let it stay. Why? Because no emotion can take the entirety of You. You are that Infinite space in which a gazillion such emotions can come. Although it may not seem like it, but it is true if you were to investigate.

[Looking towards the door at his daughter who walked in] Give freedom to your children. [Chuckling] She says she has a water balloon in her hand. Not that much freedom. [Laughing]

Give freedom to your attention. That’s why surrender is so, so much easier. Just let it come and go; nothing will happen. Let it go wherever it wants, nothing is going to happen.

Leave Your Existence Unlabeled

How would you not give freedom to it? Actually, what is the method you have? The method that you seem to have to control the world is what? To control your emotions is what? You have no method! You just label something and say ‘Okay, I have some control over it. Just because I decide, okay? What Is, just Is; but if I call it ‘something’ then it will start conforming to the way I want it to be.’ And it doesn’t do that. You see? Nothing changes its inherent qualities because of your label. But it seems to change the way you experience it. This is the trick of Consciousness.

That’s why these days I’ve been saying more and more: Leave your existence unlabeled. Nothing needs a label to exist. Nothing needs a notion to be done or not done.

This thing is a fallacy, that ‘I think and I decide and therefore, I do.’ It’s all nonsense, complete nonsense.

The same One thinks and the same One does. And that One is not the one you think you are. The Source of all appearances is the same One Consciousness, One Being, One Self.

We must now be able to recognize this mind fallacy which teachers have been telling us about for centuries. The Indian Sage Vashishta said, ‘A crow flies and lands on the branch of the coconut tree; the coconut falls. The mind comes and makes a conclusion that it is because the crow landed on the branch of the coconut tree that the coconut fell.’ But both were just appearances that happened because of the will of Consciousness.

Most of us now can see that these thoughts just appear and disappear in Your own space. And many of you are now starting to see that it is the very same about these actions.

That day just after Satsang I said, ‘I swear on my Father that there is no Ananta sitting here and speaking these words, although it might appear there is. There is no one deciding to speak them, there is no one who is doing the speaking. It is only the One Consciousness in the light of which all of this is happening.’

We’ve started to accept this about our thoughts and soon we will start to accept this about our so- called actions.

This is how the fallacy of ‘me’ gets created. The fallacy of separation gets created with labels. Someone [in Satsang] was saying that ‘If we drop all these notions, all of this is just One, isn’t it?’ Yes.

But we have been trained in this play, seemingly-first by our parents and then by our own mind, to look at only one small appearance and call that ‘me’.

Is There An ‘I’ Which Is Independent of States?

So, don’t be so miserly. Be more inclusive. Why do you want to call only this body ‘me’? Call everybody ‘me’ then. If You want to call the body ‘me’ then call everybody ‘me’. And why leave it at just bodies? Call it every perception because it is only a perception; [Rubs Fingers] a visual perception and a sensational perception, but just perception.

So, if You have the power to consider YourSelf to be something…, why consider YourSelf to be only this thing? Consider YourSelf to be everything. [Chuckles] And then, while You are the space in which things seem to be appearing, consider YourSelf to be even that. That is also just an appearance for You. There is no space unless You Are. If there was not the waking state right now, even this space would not be there. So, it depends on Your Presence. Consider YourSelf to be this space also. This would be a truer consideration than the consideration that we have been making.

Now comes the fun part. [Laughs] We have considered everything that is perceived as ‘me’. But why only that which we perceive? Why not the perceiver ItSelf?

Now, when we include this part, what actually got included? So far, we have included all forms. We included all forms, including that form of that space which these forms appear; we’ve included that. I have heard, of course, that many of you are starting to see YourSelf as this spacious Being.

Now, I ask you:

When you also include the Perceiver, what got included in this?

What is the shape of that One?

What is the size of that One?

Where did You find It?

Did you find the Perceiver sitting behind your eyes?

Is one man or woman sitting there?

It can’t be found in this way.

Who is That that perceives all of this?

What is the Reality of That One?

Now, you might say ‘I find no person here. I find only perception. I find only perception. I find no perceiver.’ So, include that ‘I’ that finds only perception; that ‘I’ which is Aware of even perception. Include that One. Because You are not making this up. You have found that there is only perception; there is only perceiving.

Who found?

For this ‘You’…, which one is This one?

Did your eyes find this?

Did you look with your eyes and find this?

No. It ItSelf is the instrument of perception: one of the instruments.

So, who found that there is only perception? Who is this ‘I’?

Now, this ‘I’ does not rely on any conceptual knowing or perceptual knowing. It does not need any of this; even need Advaita concepts. It doesn’t need anything at all, even in the realm of perception. If nothing is perceived, if there is deep sleep, it is not bothered. If everything is perceived, in the waking state, it is not bothered. And You have to confirm these things.

I have three propositions. (Treat what I’m giving you as hypothesis.) I am proposing to You that: There is One that is You, which is unconcerned if the whole world vanishes, and is unconcerned with the appearance of the entire world. And the appearance and disappearance of the world is also the appearance and disappearance of Its own Aspect.

These are the main propositions, isn’t it? And nobody can check them but You.

Is there an ‘I’…, is there a Self, which is Independent of states? …, which is independent of waking, dream, sleep?

And as soon as we start to contemplate this, this body idea is gone, isn’t it? There’s a different body in waking, a different body in dream; no body in sleep.

Who knows all of this?

And what type of Knowing is this?

You only have a concept of this?

In sleep state; no body.

No body, no Being.

And yet You are.

The Primal beyond the Primordial.

The ‘I’ before ‘I Am’.

This ‘I’ has no concept of boundary, of time, of space.

None of this means anything to It.

Now, for a reason no mind can ever understand, there is the emergence of that which we call Being, Consciousness, I Am-Ness. Guruji [Sri Mooji] explained this very beautifully in a retreat that ‘Even for Being to emerge…, for anything to emerge, there must be a space for That to come.’

So, this Awareness, this ‘I’, this space which is beyond space…, is the space in which Being wakes up. And Being is Here Now.

But truly check whether anything changed for that ‘I’…, That which is Aware of no-thing and Now is aware of all things.

Is that ‘I’ changing states?

Or are these states also just appearances…, from the screen of Its Being?

Power to Believe Nonsense

If nothing changed for this ‘I’ when the waking state came, and it remains the final witnessing of all there is, then what a ridiculous idea it must be that I can be hurt in this play; that something can happen to me, that ‘I might be bound and I need freedom’. That ‘I’ might even want the ananda of satchitananda is a joke because I am the source of all things. So, duality is a joke, desire is a joke, and doer-ship is a joke. And the ego is just made of these three ‘D’s, of these three jokes. [Smiles]

If You remain unchanged when a waking state comes and waking state goes, then how can something happen to you in the waking state? Just like you complaining and saying ‘Oh, this happened to me in the dream state, my arm was cut.’ [Smiles] But Consciousness wanted to play with more excitement in this game. [Smiles] It didn’t just want to play it as if an impersonal movie is playing on the screen and it remains untouched. Because where is the fun in that? [Smiles] Then it devised for itself the power to identify, the power to believe and a devise for itself, a narrator in this play who will always tell you a personal story.

So, who is this narrator?

It is this mind.

Nothing has happened to you.

But You have given yourself the power to pretend as if something has. The power to believe that you were born.

The power to believe that you will die.

The power to believe that you are this body.

The power to believe that these thoughts are referring to the reality of You. Basically, the power to believe non-sense.

All of this, for the Reality of You, is pure non-sense.

Your Very Existence Is the Light of This Universe

That is why I said: Meet God Right Now. But if you judge God right now, you interpret God right now, this God will seem personal. Meet God with no labels. I know that this has always been true. You have only met YourSelf.

So, when I say ‘Meet YourSelf or meet God with no label’ then very quickly the notion will come ‘Am I doing this meeting right?’ [Smiles] That is also notion. Just let it come and go. ‘Am I getting what he is saying?’ Another notion; let it come and go. ‘No, he must be in a different state than me.’ It is just a notion; let it come and go. ‘I have to stay like this only now.’ Just a notion; let it come and go. ‘No, this can’t be it.’ Just an idea; let it come and go. ‘But I was promised bliss.’ [Smiles] Definitely, let it come and go.

This is what I mean by giving freedom.

The mind is also another creation of Supreme Intelligence. So, it knows that it’s ‘game over’ for it if these paradigms are reversed. If you were to come back from this paradigm of wanting freedom, wanting freedom, giving freedom, giving freedom, then quickly You are realizing that as you rest in Your neutrality, there is just Freedom for all appearances; that it is not a physical activity that you are doing. In your natural state there is just freedom.

Nothing is ever a ‘thing’. We make it a thing with our labels, with our judgments.

You want to meet God? God is Here. The most powerful Being, the only Being, in the Universe is Your Presence and everything shines in the light of this Presence.

Have you seen sunlight when you are asleep? So, you have to exist for the sun to shine. And if this is too much for some of you, just know this for some time: I am talking about Your experience of it. [Smiles] At least the experience of it you can admit to, that ‘I cannot have the experience of sunshine, unless I Am.’

I am not just speaking about experience of it, I’m talking about Reality of it. And yet I know that, for some, it can seem like that is just too far out. So, for some time, stay with the idea that I am talking about Your experience of it. In your deep sleep state, you cannot see the sunshine. So, Your Light must be present for you to even experience the light of the sun.

This is the primal Light. The very existence of Light of the Universe. It is not a ‘feel good’ concept. Many times, when we read these things for first time, we feel like ‘That sounds very nice, I am the light.’ [Smiles] But it is literal.

You Are literally the Light of this world. Your existence is a precursor to the existence of all appearances.

Trump Card from the Mind

Now the mind has one big trump card up its sleeve; one big trump card up its sleeve. You are discovering that You are the shoreless ocean. As Ashtavakra said, ‘You are the shoreless ocean in which the arcs of the Universe, they come and go.’ You are finding this out. But you want to fill this ocean that you are discovering YourSelf to be in Your body. ‘I got it’…, like the one seeming inhabitant of this body is now finding. This is the last attractive trump card from the mind. It will say ‘Now that you have freedom, you should always be smiling.’

You see ocean, and coconut. [Smiles] [Referring to the metaphor he uses that ‘You are the ocean but considering YourSelf to be a coconut.] You are trying to fill this ocean into this coconut body. Now, the coconut should change its color from green to pink; something like that. Coconut should have a halo.

It has nothing to do with this body. Leave this body alone. The body is just another appearance on the screen of Your Being, in the light of Your Being, in the will of your Being.

Stop trying to prove that this body ‘got something’ or this body ‘has not got it yet’. Both are non- sense because it doesn’t have anything to do with this body. In the play of the world, as Consciousness has played this game of identification and ridding itself of delusion, it might also play in certain ways with how the body appears now. But that is nothing to be concerned with.

Truth Is Not Found, It Is Recognized

We live with many contradictions. Like we have a concept of the truth which is eternal. Truth is eternal. And yet, we also have the concept that ‘I did not find it.’ [Smiles] That means that before you find the truth, the false must be in existence. This notion that ‘I have to find that which is the truth’ is actually is quite false. That is why the better term to use is to ‘recognize’ …, to recognize the truth which is already present. Because if it is eternal, then where must it be now? If it is that unchanging, the birth-less truth, deathless truth, where must it be?

If you allow yourself to taste your existence without any judgement, without any interpretation, what is it that you are actually finding? Are you finding something which has an opposite?

So, this is one tip for all of you: If it has an opposite, it is not the truth.

If this truth which has an opposite which is a lie or un-truth or false, then that is not the truth that we are speaking of. Then it is again just a concept. If the light that you are finding has an opposite which is the dark, that is not the light which we are speaking of. If the light which you are experiencing is the shining of the sun, that light does not have the opposite of darkness. Even that darkness will be in this light. You see what I’m saying? In whose light, in which light, do you experience both phenomenal light and darkness? This realm of phenomena is full of opposites. So, with our notion of ‘finding’ there is a notion of ‘losing’. In the notion of truth, there is a notion of lies. All our conceptual understanding is only in the realm of opposites.

Now, as you meet yourself without any concept or notion, are you finding something which is not opposed to anything at all; which does not exclude anything, which has no opposite, which has not position, which has no reference point?

When you drop this idea that ‘The ultimate understanding will be something that we will get’ like an ultimate concept that ‘I finally understood this concept’…

If you understood the greatest concept right now, would that concept escape the graveyard? If you perceive the greatest experience of phenomenon, would that experience escape the graveyard? If you experience the greatest sensations, pleasure, bliss, ananda, would that escape the graveyard?

Is there something Here Now, which will not be burnt on the funeral fire, which will not be buried under the ground? What is That?

All your ideas about yourself, what is going to come of them? All your sensations in the body, what is going to come of them? All your experiences which you so store beautifully in your memory, what is going to come of them? All your yogic and meditative prowess, what is going to come of it? That is why the Sages have said ‘Look beyond all of these.’

Inquire into the Unchanging

What is it that perceives all that changes?

We have invested so much of our life in the changing; trying to control the changing, trying to get some of the better seeming things, experiences, objects, thoughts and feelings but all changing. So much has been invested in the realm of changing.

Can we invest a few moments now and do an inquiry into the Unchanging?

What perceives all of this that changes?

Is that itself changing?

And what is here now that can look for this perceiver?

As we look for the Unchanging and we look at what is looking or who is looking, I promise you that no idea will help you here. No concept will help you.

As you let go of all that is changing, did You also go along with that?

Let everything go; everything, everything go.

See if You can go.

What did you lose when everything went?

All your concepts; gone.

Anything useful you lost?

Nothing, you see? If you were to crumple up your most valuable positions into pieces of paper and throw them into the trash can, You would not have lost anything at all. Because this Existent Being is actually All There Is.

Which position do you refuse to throw away? Use this opportunity today in Satsang to shine Your light on it. And may it burn in Your light.

What is it that you feel does not leave you but actually you have been quietly nurturing it?

Is it notions about Freedom?

Are there notions about the Self?

Do you have ideas about what the world is?

What relationship should be like?

[Silence]

What Is Your True Natural Condition Right Now?

Are you naturally bound that you are looking for freedom?

Or is it the looking for freedom now itself which seems to be the chain? What is your true natural condition Right Now?

Without any reference to the past, without any projection to the future, what is naturally here? Is that one asking for freedom?

Can You be anything other than what just is naturally Here, Right Now?

Actually become the one that has name and form. That would be a great magic trick. Instead of trying to get rid of it, you become it and show me. Anyone who can actually become it gets a prize from me. Become the limited one. Your Being that you are finding, actually draw a boundary around it and say ‘This is it. Here it is.’

Your limitless existence is Here. All perceptions are also contained within that. All that you experience is within YourSelf.

In which space is this space perceived? If there was a perception of no space, there is a perception of space. That in which the perception of space is coming, what space is that? That space in which the perception of imagination comes, of memories come, of dreams come of thoughts come, of pain and pleasure comes; what is that? And are you just an object in that? Because that is how most of the world seems to be living, as if they are one object in this entire space. We have drawn these lines, played with this individuality. Consciousness has drawn these lines.

That is why I feel like that map example is very good. One sheet of paper with so much separation. ‘This is Asia, this is Europe, this is India, this is Nepal, this is Bhutan, this is America, this is Germany, and this is United Kingdom.’ One piece of paper and so much separation. But anything actually happened to the paper? It is still one. Any separation possible without the notion? Just patterns in the same Consciousness. If they are not labeled ‘Karnataka, Kerala and Maharashtra’ what is it? Just lines on the paper, isn’t it? In same way, in Consciousness all these qualitative tastes are there. Without notions, without labels of them, what is there? Is there any separation?

The best part is that even after the notions and the labels are there, there is no separation. It is never experienced. It is only a big ‘as if.’ I behave as if ‘I am an Indian. You behave as if you are a Russian.’ But what are they? Just a notional idea. In the same way, I behave as if I am a person. What is the person? Just a notional idea, conceptual idea.

You are the Self. And in Satsang, all that you are leaning is not to take the ‘as if’ so seriously. You are the Self behaving ‘as if’ you are a limited entity.

To Be the Self, You Need Nothing

To Be the Self you need nothing. To play ‘as if’ [you are ‘something’] …, you need a notion.

That’s why I say: Come to this simple Notionless Existence.

Forget about everything. Forget about all ideas. See if life stops. See whether you need a notion to feel yourself. Because this is what the mind will come and say (Shrugging his shoulders) ‘Shall I just drop all my responsibilities? I won’t even take care of this body?’

Strangely enough, what has happened is that all of you can see that there is no duality. There is just One Being. But the idea of an individual doer still seems sticky. ‘Now that I found there is no me, what should I do?’ And you have called all this ‘popcorn and peanuts’ your doing. All this; some words and some actions of this little puppet, you’ve called it your doing. But actually, your doing is much vaster than this. All of this presentation, of this vast universe is Your doing. All this play of this ‘light and sound’ as I call it is Your doing. Not a blade of grass moves without your doing. This is Your Will.

You have looked at only one appearance and said ‘This is me.’ And from here if I say ‘You’ or ‘I’ it makes no difference. ‘I have looked at one appearance and called it me.’ One tiny piece of the map is what I have considered myself to be.

Now, sometimes I wonder why it is not natural when I say these things. I see many of you are a bit confused or lost. And that is only because you feel that ‘When I feel oneness then ‘me -body’ will start to feel one with this space, and all other bodies and other objects contained within it.’ You see? And in that is the primal confusion.

Before you start looking from emptiness, already you start with the presumption that this body should start feeling one with every other body or the space in which these bodies are recognized. But remove that presumption of body identity, and now look.

Are there two or are there one?

Two or one?

Or neither two nor one?

If you try to make this body ‘one with everything’ then how will that work? This body is one tiny appearance. But if you continue to carry this ‘me’ on your back and you want to see oneness, that cannot work.

That’s why I say, you’re discovering you are the ocean, the shoreless ocean, the boundless ocean, but you have believed YourSelf to be this coconut. Now that you are discovering that you are the shoreless ocean, you want to fit that into this coconut. Then you say ‘I will be truly free when I experience a certain thin’ still continuing the idea of being a body and wanting to be one with everything.

It’s like first tying a heavy anchor to your leg and then wanting to fly.

First believing that you’re separate and then wanting to see Oneness.

What is naturally Here Now?

Without concepts?

[Silence]

You find One Being, One Existence.

Yes, the lines will come (like the lines on the map). Some sensations will be present. But if you leave it unlabeled, can you say this is my body?

You might have this idea that ‘I don’t experience Oneness in the same way as Ananta does’ but this is not true. I experience what you experience. But I have no use for the labels. I have no use for the interpretations.

Keep your entire Existence unmolested by labels.

Leave your entire Existence unmolested by notions.

Then tell me what your life is like.

Okay, for telling me, you can pick up some notions. [Chuckling] Actually, even better, don’t tell. One day if you find your mouth is moving and some words are coming, leave that also unmolested. Because there can be a sense of doership about having to tell, having to report.

So, what should we do if we do end up picking notion?

If I decided that what Master Bankei said is correct ‘All notions are perfectly resolved in the Unborn’ then trust it. ‘Unborn’ means we don’t give birth to any concept or belief to any concept about ourself. Say ‘If I have to trust something, then I trust this.’

But what will happen if I do end up picking some idea about myself?

Nothing.

In this moment it is gone. Just the Unborn is Here. The Self is Here.

The Isness is Here. ‘What Is’ is Here.

Meet Yourself Naked of Concepts

The complete Truth, and the Master of the Universe, All There Is, is naturally present as Your own Being. Is it possible now, without any notion about yourself, any projection of the future, any story from the past, in our natural openness, allowing all things to come?

How many are too scared of this? How many are too scared of this? …, this nakedness…, having no idea about who we are?

[Reading the Sangha chat] Nobody is scared. Nobody is scared?

Nobody is scared. Then meet YourSelf Now, without any judgement, without any label…, till the concept of meeting itself dissolves.

If fear comes it is okay, I am with you.

If nothing happens it is okay, I am with you.

If something happens, it’s okay, I am with you.

But meet YourSelf naked of all concepts.

Any conceptual clothes that we have on, just shake them off.

How to shake it off?

Just let it come and go.

You don’t have to do anything to deal with it. Don’t judge it, don’t make any conclusion, don’t conclude anything at all. And anything which you are not willing to let go of, I want that as my Guru Dakshina. You know Guru Dakshina? In India, there is this concept; once you have spent time with a teacher, then the teacher at the end will ask you for whatever gift he wants in return. So, I want this gift from all of you: your most sacred concept, that which you are just unwilling to let go of.

When I said ‘There are no charges for Satsang’ I was lying. [Smiles] I do charge. I’ll take your favorite ideas from you.

Offering It All to the Guru (Guru Dakshina)

A:Has everyone thrown away all the favorite concepts or given them to me as a gift? Still hiding a little bit; a small, secret pocket? [Chuckles] Let’s see what offerings I’m getting.

[Reading sangha messages from chat]: “This idea of ‘I’ is offered at your feet. Father, that ‘I have to struggle and suffer’ I surrender at your feet.

[Reading sangha messages from chat]: “I offer: ‘There is more than now.’ Father, giving you everything. Whatever is hiding. Everything offered at your feet.”

A:So, when I catch you playing with these things now, I just remind you that that is supposed to be mine; any position that you take about yourself.

[Reading from chat]: “I don’t know what concepts I have until it shows up.”

A:So, offer this one now. Even offer the ‘I don’t know.’ Neither know nor don’t know. [Reading from chat]: “Everything at your feet, Father.”

A: This is very good.

[Reading a chat message]: “I offer ‘I didn’t reach the truth yet’.”

Everyone offers that? Or no? Does everyone also offer ‘I found the truth?’ Neither ‘didn’t reach’ nor ‘found’…, neither ‘got it’ nor ‘haven’t got it.’ Neither ‘free’ nor ‘bound’.

[Reading from chat]: “Everything, Father, at your feet. What I’m aware of and not aware of.”

A:Now, give me the concept of ‘offering.’ Not even that you can keep. The notion that you have given everything; forget about it. The notion that you might still be holding on to something; forget about it. The notion about ‘What does this mean now?’ …, forget about it. The idea ‘Can I stay like this?’ …, forget about it.

[Reading from chat]: “About dependency and independence is sticky. Don’t know how to offer, whether to offer or not. Especially cannot even give it up as Guru Dakshina.”

A:You don’t have to worry about the ‘how’. Just hand it over. You are neither independent nor dependent. This is what I said, that anything that can have an opposite is not Your Truth. If you can be independent or dependent, it’s not about You; it’s still about the ‘made up’ entity.

An infant is born Right Now. It’s Being is the Being that is All There Is. From the innocence of this infant…, this entire world is moving.

[Reading from chat]: “Father, I surrender this need of love of others & bow at your feet.”

A:Very good. ‘Love of others.’ As you taste Your own Love, Your own Being, You See that this Love, Your own Love, permeates everything already.

[Reading from chat]: “All resistance at your feet, Father.”

A:Some of us also have this favorite Satsang notion now called ‘resistance.’ So, forget the notion of resistance. Suppose you never heard the term ‘resistance.’ As you walk out of Satsang today, be completely naked. You don’t know what resistance is, you don’t know what freedom is, you don’t know what any concept means. If you lose your Existence, then come and tell me ‘What have you done to me?’ [Smiles] If you lose anything of value, actually, you can come and complain. As you drop all conceptual ideas, if you lose anything of value, come and tell me.

Your notion of ‘me’ and ‘mine’ I want as my Guru Dakshina.

Your notion of ‘me’ and ‘others’ I will also have.

Your notions of ‘bondage’ and ‘separation.’

Your notion of ‘Oneness’ and ‘freedom’.

Your notion of ‘What should be.’

Your notions of ‘What could have been.’

[Reading from chat]: “Offering the offer-er; all desires.”

A: The basis of all desire is the notion of ‘me’.

[Reading from chat]: “The limited notion of ‘me.’ It is offered up.”

A: You are already All There Is. What can you want?

[Reading from chat]: “I offer all regrets, Father.”

A:Regrets, grievances, guilt, remorse, unworthiness, pride, arrogance; these are all names of suffering. There is no such thing as suffering itself. All these are the names of suffering. And all of them have a non-existent ‘me’ at the center. Suffering is nothing but confusion. Confusion about who I am is called suffering.

[Reading from chat]: “All expectations.”

A:Yes. All these I’ve taken and I’m putting them in my safe. If any of you lose anything of value … [Silence]

[Reading from chat]: “I offer all expectations, resistance, suffering; everything which I’m unaware of.”

[Reading from chat]: “Don’t know what’s going on; just got here. But love you.” [He laughs] “Love you, love you, Father. Always feels ‘Right Here’ even with my grumpy face and all.”

A:Grumpy face is only because you just got here. [Smiles] [Jokingly]: In Satsang, grumpy face is not allowed. It has to be full laughing face or full crying face.

[Reading from chat]: “I offer the thought that nothing ever really works.”

A:All the ‘why’ … ‘why this, why that’ is offered up. All the search for apparent meaning in the play of Consciousness without the mind having any true idea of Consciousness Itself in this seeming-limited play of searching for individual or egoistic meaning; to pretend that we actually know anything.

[Reading from chat]: “I offer all desires and all suffering. I offer the thought ‘It cannot be so easy’.”

A:Also, the opposite, which is that ‘It is so easy.’ It’s neither easy nor difficult. All these terms don’t apply.

[Reading from chat]: “Thank you, Pa, for taking care of everything.”

A: Welcome.

[Reading from chat]: “What is there to know apart from the Self?”

[Reading from chat]: “Yes, Father, surrendering this mind which wants to find clarity.”

[Reading from chat]: “I offer the planner of the next moment.”

A:Very good. This false sense of control, that ‘I can control my experience.’ Throw it away. [Reading from chat]: “I’m giving all my ideas of ‘me’ and ‘others.’ Let me not take it back. [Reading from chat]: “All trying, searching and struggling goes at your feet, Father.”

A:So, now, empty of all conclusions. Even the conclusion that ‘I am empty of all conclusions’ has no meaning.

Let’s Be Completely Inclusive

I have the best news. [Smiles] Beyond even good news. The greatest Being, the supreme Lord, is Here. It is You.

All our judgments are only about ourselves. We use these judgments to pretend to be something that we can never be.

Many times, I get messages on Facebook and these messages on Facebook tell me ‘But why don’t you include the person in everything? Why don’t you include the person? Why are you always saying there is no person? Why don’t you just include the person?’ And these days, I started responding by saying ‘I would include it, if I could find it.’ [Chuckles]

Tell me, what I should include? Let us be completely inclusive. Let us include this body in the Self. Let’s include every body in the Self. Why just bodies? Let’s include every object in the Self. Let’s include this time and space continuum in the Self. Let’s include our emotions, sensations, thoughts. Include everything in the Self. Everything which is manifest, everything which is phenomenal, let’s include that.

Let’s include our very Existence, ‘I Am.’

Let’s not even stop there. Let’s include That which is even aware of this Existence, that primal Seeing, that Awareness, the Absolute Unchanging. Let’s include That.

At which point did we meet the person?

You included everything. Did at some point did we meet this entity called ‘person’ …, the one that is interested in freedom? We did not include it; didn’t find it.

Even as imagination, we don’t even have a clear image of this person. This imagination of the body we have; this projection of the Consciousness that we call the body. But the body wants nothing at all; has no desire or aversion.

We Love to Be in Denial

We love to be in denial of ‘What Is.’ God is Here. We love to be in denial of that.

And we love to pick up that idea ‘It just isn’t.’ And we bought into the notion of providing validation to that which just isn’t. This is how Consciousness is playing. And as part of the play now, Consciousness is reminding Itself of Its own Truth.

The hypnosis is so deep that what we call the real world is actually just this notion of separation, which is never real. They say ‘Oh, when I leave Satsang and I go to the real world…’ The world is the same; One appearance, same Being.

And no person has ever lived here.

There is only One Self, and this One Self is All There Is.

If there were ever two, then this One would not be All There Is …, then this one must only be this one and the other must be the remaining.

So, how do we get to this point? Not ‘How do we get to the point of Truth’ because the point of Truth is already Here.

If all that you hear in Satsang today is this, it is enough:

The point of Truth is already Here. It is Now.

This Being is fully present as Your own manifest aspect.

And You are aware of this. There is nobody here who is unaware of their Existence. Why? Because I am aware of My Existence, and this ‘I’ is the only one. It is within My Existence, this play of Ananta and Shanti and Akash and Saranya.

All is part of My Existence.

I am the One Unchanging Self.

How Do I Play This Game of Individual Pretense?

So, how do I play this game of individual pretense? To play this game I need labels. I need notions. In my experience of myself, even in this manifest world, I don’t play with separation. In the pure experience of myself (even in the arising of this manifest world) I don’t experience separation, but I can pretend. I can look at one aspect of the appearance and give it a name. I can pretend as if something is separate in that name, in that form, but it is not my experience. You are only experiencing yourself.

I feel like this ‘map’ example is very good, one sheet of paper. You draw some lines on it, it is still a sheet of paper with various experiences. Then we start to label them and believe that those lines are those labels (India, Asia, Europe, America, Canada). But that piece of paper is still that one piece of paper. Just because we put a hundred notions on it, no separation has actually ever happened. So, if you start by believing that you are India and then you want to start feeling one with the rest of the world, that is not going to happen, because you have started with the false. You start by believing you are one individual and then you want to be one with the rest…, it is never going to happen.

Just don’t pick up the mask to begin with. Show me where there are two, without making a distinction?

It is apparent to all of you that all of this is only experienced within You. So, it is more natural to recognize this Oneness because it is just ever-present.

And it is hard work, terribly hard work to play with this pretend-separation. And now you are tired of this work (presumably) that is why you are in Satsang.

Have You Ever Lost Yourself?

Who are you now?

I’m not looking for an answer; am just looking for the looking.

The one that wants freedom, where is that one?

The one that got it, where is that one?

The one that has a little more to go, where is that one?

The one that just has to remember this now, where is that one?

Mythical, isn’t it? There is only one light shining in this entire Universe and this light is what you call ‘I Am.’

I said the other day that the mind has only one trick. And even this mind shines in the same ‘I Am’ but it is designed just to have this one trick:

To convince You that this boundless Being has a tiny boundary of the body. To convince You that That which is All There Is wants something.

To convince You that you are subjected to time and space, not the other way around.

To convince You that you live in the light of the Sun, whereas the truth is that even the Sun appears only in Your own light, even darkness appears in Your light.

What are You?

What can contain You?

Where did You come from?

Where did You go?

Have You ever lost yourself?

That now you are trying to find it, have you lost YourSelf?

Lose yourself actually. Just lose yourself. Don’t be. Just don’t be aware.

Who did it? [Chuckles] Even in Your full pretense of individuality, did you lose Your real Self? Not possible. The Self cannot be lost.

Therefore, it cannot be found. This game of hide and seek, lost and found, is not about the Self. Suppose this morning we woke up and decided ‘Today we are going to find the Self.’ But there must be You first to decide that! Which You is that one? Find that one and you find the Self. Before you can pick up the idea of undertaking any adventure, You have to be there. Which one is that? Which one woke up this morning? Which one was asleep? Which one had a dream? Is there something constant between all these states?

The clues are everywhere. [Smiles] The clues are everywhere.

Reading Saint Augustine, Guru Nanak, Gyaneshwari and Commentary

I feel like reading now a little bit that Saint Augustine had written in his book called ‘Confessions’. So, Saint Augustine said, “But how shall I call upon my God, my God and Lord? For when I call on Him, I ask Him to come into myself. And what room is there in me where my God can come? God, who made heaven and earth. Is there anything in me, oh Lord my God, that can contain You? Indeed, do heaven and earth which you have made, and in which you made me, contain You? Or since nothing could exist without You, does every existing thing contain You? Or since nothing could exist without You, does every existing thing contain You? Why then do I ask that You come into me, since I too exist? I, who could not exist if You were not in me. Why do I say this? Because even if I were in hell, yet You would be there also. For if I go down into hell, You are there. I could not exist then, oh my God, could not exist at all unless You were in me. Or should I not rather say, I could not exist unless I were in You, from whom all things, by whom are all things and in whom are all things. Even so Lord, even so, where do I call You to come, since I am in You? Or whence can You enter into me? Or where beyond heaven and earth could I go that my God might come there into me. He who has said, ‘I fill the heaven and the earth’. “

I’ve just been noting down some if these verses. The next one is a beautiful verse called the Mool Mantra by Shree Guru Nanak Devji. He has said, “There is but One and only One God. And His existence is Eternal. He alone is the creator of All There Is. He is not afraid of anybody or anything, nor does He have enmity towards anyone. He never dies. His form is Timeless. And He is Self-Existent. He is Unborn and free from incarnation. One can realize Him only through the grace of the Guru.”

Okay, last one, if you’ll indulge me in one more. This is from ‘The Gyaneshwari’. The Lord says, “Although I am formless, without limiting conditions, beyond the qualities, changeless, and all pervasive, ignorant people ascribe to me form, limitations, actions, qualities and place. Although I Am unmanifest, desireless and devoid of doership and experiencer-ship, they think of Me as manifest, full of desire, agent and enjoyer. They impute to Me hands and feet, eyes and ears, caste and family, although I do not possess them. Even though I am Self-Existent, they make idols of me and install them with proper rights of consecration. And though I Am All-Pervading, they invite Me with their invocation and bid farewell to Me with an immersion. They worship an idol as a form of Divinity and later throw away the broken idol as worthless. Thus, they impute to me human attributes.”

So, what is that which is Self-Existent? It’s that which exists without any support. From your experience what is that which exists unsupported, Self-Existent? Is this world your basis? The world has to be and then You can Be? Or is your Existence primary to this appearance, to this dream that we call the world? And if God is the Light of this world, then what must You Be? [Silence] Or are you really saying that ‘There is God and me’? Maybe you’re saying that there is a God and I’m a part of it (or maybe it’s like what we call in business ‘an arm’s length relationship’). What is the distance between You and Your Existence? What is the distance between You and That which is aware of everything? Is It aware of Itself?

Believing False Ideas About OurSelf

From time to time I have been sharing these clues; these clues for your Self-recognition. In fact, maybe better to call it: The clues that help us drop belief in these false ideas about OurSelf. The Self-recognition is just apparent. It is only that these wrong ideas that we believe about ourselves will seem to be dropped as we come to Satsang.

That is why when Bhagavan [Sri Ramana Maharshi] said ‘True Knowledge is merely the dropping of that which is false’ to me it sounded like the best news. It’s like ‘I am holding onto some garbage which just has to be thrown away (not picked up) but the Truth is already there.’ Then the whole struggle part of it (that ‘I have to get to it. What should I do to get it? How should I stay? Is this better for me? Or that better for me?’) all that goes away.

I was sharing the other day that if what you have found has an opposite, then it is not the Truth. If the Truth that you have found has an opposite which is the false then the Truth that you have found (or what you claim to have found) is just a concept.

If the Truth you have found is a state (like a certain state and that is ‘it’) and it is the denial of the opposite state, then it is not the Truth.

If it is a position; any reference that ‘You have to be only a certain way and that is the Truth’ then that is not the Truth.

If the Truth that you have found has any of these ‘…tions’: [Chuckles] location, duration, or any notion, then it is not the Truth.

If you feel like you have found the Truth in this location [Pointing to the body] that it is not the Truth.

If you feel that the Truth has some duration, that ‘It’s now found’ (like it started now) then it’s not the Truth. Your Truth has always been.

If you feel like (I get reports that) ‘When I have a particular state then that was my True state’ then that is in denial of other states which are appearing. That is not freedom. Freedom, by very definition, means that there is full freedom to experience whatever is in experience. There is no opposition to this freedom. All oppositions (opposing each other) are being witnessed by That which IS free.

Is this easy or difficult? It is neither. Although conversationally sometimes we have to say ‘It’s really very simple’ …, at the same time we might also say ‘It is not for everyone’ because actually none of these positions apply to You. And more and more, you will become more comfortable with this referring to yourselves location-les-sly, duration-less-ly. I also call this openness.

Where are you placing yourself Right Now? Know that You are not contained in that. You might contain that but it does not contain You.

This body is nothing but a painting You have made for YourSelf. But You also painted the rest of the world. Where is the painter located in the painting? Now, there could be a character the painter created in his or her likeness (‘Oh, that’s me in the painting’) and wanting to experience that particular character in lot more detail, with a lot more intimacy. But does that change the Reality of what You are?

And the notion of this ‘me’ rests on these things: on your location, on your concepts of past and future. That is why this ‘me’ is so tiring. If I say to you ‘Don’t expend any energy whatsoever on anything at all’ mostly you will say ‘But it is a habit. These thoughts, they come. And I do expend my energy to believe them, to look at them.’

I want to tell you that you will become very comfortable with this. I know that, without a reference point, for some of you some fear can come. It can feel like you lost all ground to stand on. Because what I am really saying is that there is no up, there is no down, left or right, front or back. All of this is in the painting.

Where is That which witnesses this?

Where is the witness of all that is manifest?

And don’t go to any knowledge, any mental knowledge for this. All you have to do is to check Right Now:

Where is the One that is hearing these words?

Where is the One who is perceiving all these appearances?

Who is That?

Who can tell me a story about this One?

What is the story of this One? [Smiles]

The One that is witnessing all of this, does that One want freedom?

Does the concept of ‘want’ apply to it?

Is it a state?

Is it a thing?

Are You a thing?

Are You even no-thing? [Smiles]

Neither thing nor no-thing You are.

How do you deal with this; the fact that you’re neither a thing nor no-thing? You cannot deal with this mentally. There must be already this deep insight that ‘I am not an object, nor am I essence-less.’

That Which Is True Has Always Been True

How many can deal with this fact that no notion actually applies to you, even the notions in Satsang? [Smiles] Nobody? Can’t deal with it? [Smiles] Very Advaita, what I’m saying, but ‘dealing’ would also be a notion. [Smiles]

OK, how many are open to this, that ‘No notion could apply to me.’ Without applying any notion to yourself, trouble yourself and show me. Give yourself some notionless trouble without any past or future, without any location or duration, without any reference.

Then all of Satsang is one big ‘Forget about it.’ [Smiles] One big, ‘forget about it’. What are you going to do about this freedom thing? ‘Ninety percent there. Ninety nine percent, just one more steps to become free.’ And I come and say, ‘Forget about it. [You say]: ‘Ah, but I have invested so much. So many years of my life and I feel like I am at edge’. How many come to Satsang and say, ‘I am at the edge of the cliff, I am at the edge of the cliff. Please push me off, push me off.’? So many have (not so many recently; in the past many) said ‘Just push me off’. Okay, in this moment, ‘the me’ is pushed off. [Smiles] You are still here. Is there a ‘me’ quotes in you now?

That which has been true is always true. That which has been false has never been.

There are lots of ‘me’s trying to get rid of the ‘me.’ [Smiles] Bhagavan [Sri Ramana Maharshi] says, ‘The thief pretending to be the police men, wanting to catch the thief.’ If it was not true that you are free Right Now in this very moment, concept-less-ly, do you feel like I would be such a big liar to say this to you every day? [Chuckles] And I know that your doubt can take many flavors. Some can say, ‘Okay, but he is just talking about his state. He must have forgotten and what it is like to be.’ [Smiles] Some can say, ‘He is just being nice.’ One also said, ‘Father, actually you have given up on us, so now you just want us to feel good by saying no, no, this is all there is.’ [Smiles] What happens when you check on ‘What is’ …, when you check on this ‘Is-ness?

If you go on expecting to find an ant, when we check in, this ant is big. There are no boundaries. Then you feel like, ‘Oh, this is not an ant, it is an elephant.’ Not even elephant, beyond all concepts of space. This is your taste of Yourself Right Now. This is your taste of Yourself. That everything is contained within You. All is being experienced within Yourself.

So, this ‘I Am’ is already All There Is. And You are That ‘I’ from which even this ‘I Am’ arises; This Consciousness, Your manifest aspect. And this manifest aspect contains all manifestation.

Everything you say after ‘I Am’ is a lie. ‘I am not getting this’ is a lie.

‘I am getting this’ is a lie.

‘I am agreeing with you’ …, that is definitely a lie. [Smiles] ‘I am not in agreement’.

All lies. Why ‘lies’? Because the minute you attach something to this Consciousness, you pick up the pose, the mask of limitation.

Can That Which Witnesses All Be Contained?

Is it possible to leave this ‘I Am’ without any attributes? Yes, it is not just possible but that is how you are starting this moment Right Now. The more accurate description of this is ‘The Now which is a moment of time arising in You. That You in which it is arising is already empty of all notions.’ But It creates for Itself the possibility to pretend as if It is something more limited. So, it’s easier to say ‘Right Now, you are empty of all notions.’

Without thinking about it, can you tell me what notion you have Right Now? Before the thought comes, what is Your limitation?

Look at the body also. It is an innocent appearance. It is an innocent appearance appearing within Me. And if you have the possibility of giving this notion of ‘me’ to some appearance, why don’t you give it to everything that is appearing, including the space which is also just an appearance for You?

I was just saying the other day: Don’t be so miserly that you call only one appearance ‘Me’. [Smiles]

(I don’t know why these ants and elephants are going on since yesterday.) [Chuckles] Yesterday I was saying that ‘Suppose you believed yourself to be an ant. Then you met the Master ant. And they say ’What? You consider yourself just to be this ant? No, you start to include. You start to include all the ants. Why just ants? Every object, everything included.’ And the ant is feeling that ‘I am all the ants. I am also in the space.’ Then the Master ant says ‘But also include That which witnesses all this. Why did you leave That One out? Why did you leave That which witnesses all of this out?’ [The ant says]: ‘No, it’s okay. I will include.’ Until then, the ant is feeling like they are having one big ant party. Guruji [Sri Mooji] says ‘Insect rave.’ [Chuckles] We are having an ant rave, insect rave.

But when you start to include That which witnesses all of this, you have just invited the elephant to this party. Now, all the notions of your ‘ant-ness’ are going to be crushed. And somewhere you get a feeling of this already as you start to look within yourself. As you start to include that which is a non-phenomenal Awareness, we start to get a feel that ‘You know, all my ideas about myself are going to be crushed in this.’

And I want you to taste what I am saying. Don’t just look at it as a story or something. Include everything. And don’t forget to include That which witnesses everything. Call that one ‘Me.’

Now, tell me something. Can you contain This within your body? You find that You are everything and That which is beyond all things. Can you contain That within an object?

Habitual Ideas Can Remain After True Insight

This is a very important point he is bringing out. He is saying that ‘That which I am able to check and See it is not true; and yet something feels so strange to me just to report that that is not true.’

So, I jokingly called it ‘That is in the top ten hits.’ [Smiles] These are our favorite ideas which, in spite of our truest insight (with full integrity we’re having this insight that ‘It is not actually contained in that, it is not touching the Reality of what I Am’) yet they can feel like there has been so much allegiance to a particular idea that it can feel like ‘Can this actually be true?’

All of us have a few favorites like that. All of us have some favorites like that. And these are very important to bring into your own light. They are very important to bring in to your light.

And trust your insight more than anything else.

Even the master’s words are just to enable these insights.

The point, the question is: ‘Where do I place this I?’ Isn’t it? ‘Where do I place this I?’

We have relied on ideas, we have relied on inferences.

Now, rely on your insight.

All these ‘I’s.

‘Where do I place this I?

Do I just go with the idea of who I am?

Do I go with the intellectual inference about who I am?

Can I stay with my direct insight and direct experience?’

That is why I keep asking these days: ‘Who does the I represent?’

Is it representing a thought?

Is it representing a sensation or a group of sensations?

Is it some weird mixture of thoughts and sensations?

[Silence]

Then you find that everything that is about location and time is not applicable to You.

That is why many of you will become so in ineloquent. Because all the terms we have used to refer to OurSelf have been about time and space.

One Being, One Consciousness

The One at the center of this life experience, we have believed that One to be something individual. We have believed there is a ‘me’ there. But actually, as we are exploring, we are finding there is no such ‘me’. At the center of this life experience, we are finding the same One, which is in all aspects of life; One Consciousness, One Being.

This is the primary confusion. Because even for freedom, we feel this ‘me’ has to get this special quality called freedom. And this ‘me’ has to become the special enlightened Being. But that is never going to happen. So, this is basically what it is. There is only God at the center of this life and in all aspects of this life.

This One Being.

[Silence]

And suffering only is a part of the design which is meant to show up when the notion of some separation, the notion of some individuality, is picked up…, by the same Consciousness Itself, same God Itself. That’s why one of my favorite things to say these days is ‘Either God Now or me -ow.’ It’s very simple; and yet this is what life is. Your Presence, Your Existence Itself is God. Everything in this existence is made up of that One Being, One Consciousness, One God.

[Silence]

To see this, all you have to do is meet YourSelf. But meet YourSelf empty of any preconditions, empty of any notions about YourSelf (even the condition of meeting). Nobody has gone looking, saying ‘I’m going to meet myself ‘ and actually found an entity called a person. Nobody has found it. And yet Your own Existence is undeniable.

So, what must You be then? What are You Now? No conditions or pre-judgments.

What are you finding yourself to be?

Do you find the one that wants freedom, that wants anything at all? Produce that one. Not as a mere concept but even as a phenomenal entity, is there such a one? So, then if you want something, you must be a mere concept? Because the phenomenal entity doesn’t want anything at all. Even the phenomenal entity doesn’t want anything at all. This phenomenal body is not asking for freedom. Then who is?

So, even before we can take the first step towards freedom, let’s explore where we already Are. Because to take the first step towards freedom we have to presume bondage. Is it true or not?

So, where are you now? And what are you now?

I read a story on the weekend. There was one lion cub that was born but somehow for some reason it was born with sheep. (Have you heard this story?) It was born with sheep. Then the

sheep taught it to say ‘baa, baa.’ [Chuckles] This is what the lion learned and growing up it learned not to roar but to keep saying ‘baa, baa.’ And it felt that ‘Something is not natural with my life.’ The story of all spiritual seekers. We feel something is not natural with this life. It just kept saying ‘baa, baa’ and kept eating grass. It felt like ‘There’s something missing from my life.’ So, one day he meets this strange looking creature; this was a lion. He had never seen his own reflection, he felt he was another sheep. He met this strange looking creature and felt ‘What is this?’ And this lion comes and says, ‘Why are you doing ‘baa, baa’? You’re a lion, like me. Why aren’t you roaring?’ … ‘Me? A lion? No, this is not true, I’m a sheep like them.’ The lion says, ‘Come, I have a special place to show you.’ So, then this lion takes the other one to the stream and in the stream this one who believed himself to be a sheep sees his own reflection and sees that it is a lion. And for the first time in his entire life, he lets out a roar.

So, this story really hit me because it’s just like Satsang. You have considered yourself to be something smaller than what You are. You are the Light if this Universe. And the point of coming to Satsang is to at least trust me that much that you check on this. You see? I’m not saying ‘Take my word for it, you’re a lion.’ But at least come with me to the stream.

[Silence]

And don’t be so quick to say ‘But my sheep thoughts are too much. But my sheep emotion is really getting to me.’ Let that come and go. You come with me as I show you this mirror of Self- inquiry, as I point you to Your Reality which is unmissable.

You Are the One Beyond Life and Death

I love what Bhagavan [Sri Ramana Maharshi] said ‘True knowledge is just the dropping of that which is false.’ You have a condition which you believe about yourself which is that ‘I am a limited entity.’ You have no evidence for this actually. You have stretched out some sensations and used that as evidence of your limitation. It is clear to You, Right Now, that every sensation is experienced and perceived only within YourSelf. And in the stream of sensations, You picked out some of those and said ‘That is me.’ It makes no sense. [Chuckles] That is why it is divine hypnosis.

Who has done all this? Consciousness.

To whom? Consciousness.

And who is playing this game of Satsang? Consciousness.

Why? Consciousness. [Chuckles]

Over and over again, for thousands of years, the Sages have said that ‘You are the One beyond birth and death. You are the One with no limitation.’ Whether the Sages have come from any spiritual culture, any background, they have always come to the same conclusion of Your limitlessness.

Is there a ‘me’ sitting at the center of this life?

Is there a ‘me’ with some limitation, with some boundary, that is contained in some sensations, that is here but not there?

Who are You?

What are You?

Where are You?

[Silence]

And if you are actually just the body, why would you come to Satsang?

So, something already knows that ‘I am not the body; I am beyond this.’ We have experienced the limits of this instrument. Something is already nagging you, saying ‘But these cannot be the limits to me; I cannot be the one that dies along with this body’ (which is running, by the way, at the speed of light towards its demise. Soon it will be gone).

Is there something going to be left of you?

Find that now. Recognize that now.

To what is the body just another set of sensations?

Which one is that One?

Who perceives this body?

The pain and the pleasure, the aging of it; who perceives all of this?

And if you don’t know, that is very good. At least don’t presume. Stay with the ‘don’t know.’ But don’t make-up this make-believe ‘me’ who has all these made-up attributes which have kept changing throughout this life…, sometimes very honest, sometimes very naughty, sometimes very righteous, sometimes very lazy; constantly changing. One day it wants money, one day it wants relationship, one day it wants health, one day it wants freedom. Who is this one? And how long will we continue to cater to this one without really putting this one in the witness box and asking ‘But who are you?’

If you find this limited one sitting there (the ‘me’) then by all means cater to it. But how long will we continue to serve a superstition?

So, this ‘me’ is nothing but a prevalent superstition which is so prevalent everywhere. [Chuckles] Nobody has seen it. It’s more prevalent than Santa Claus. (Okay, of course, Santa Claus is real.) [Laughter, due to children in the room] But this superstition of the ‘me’ nobody has seen, yet everybody has a story about it.

What Is That Which Is Constant?

God has been sitting in your house all this time. But this non-existent ‘me’ has been knocking at your door. And all that you’ve been doing is ‘Yes? What do you want? Ah, you want this lunch? Okay.’ [Pretends to Run] Ran to the kitchen. ‘What do you want next? Ah, best relationship?’ [Pretends to Run] You see?

All this while you are denying Your Reality.

So, what is actually Here Now?

I remember one time somebody had come from Tiru just for a day. And she told me that ‘Ananta, you are saying that you don’t find the person so don’t believe that person. But also, I don’t find God.’ She said it like that to me. And I just asked her (which the question you all have heard so many times) ‘Okay, I’ll show you God. Can you stop being? This Being that cannot be stopped is God.’

And because maybe she was just fresh. She had never heard this. She was not yet jaded. She was not yet like ‘Oh, I have tried that before.’ She was just so new and the mind had not built up enough defenses against this question. She just Saw. She just Saw that This is God. This is undeniable. I Am.

The same ‘I Am’ Nisargadatta [Maharaj] was forever at the feet of. This same ‘I Am’ is Your very Presence. It is the same ‘I Am’ which Moses found, Jesus found, Ram found, Krishna found; the same ‘I Am’. It’s God. God is Here Now.

We are too busy answering the doorbell of the mind. ‘Ding-dong. But what about this? But what about that?’ But from Your direct experience, You are finding this Holy Presence, this Divine Presence, Your own Presence, the Presence of the Self, the Timeless One.

So, it is not that both sides of this equation are like that. ‘Oh, I don’t find the person. But also, you ask me to believe I am God.’ I am not asking you to believe in God. I am asking you to check who You are. What Is. What is this Is-ness?

What does it mean: Is?

What is it to exist?

What exists? What Is?

What has been constant, even in this life?

One baby was born; then there was a teenager then there was a grown-up. Now this is here, this one that is sitting in Satsang. What has remained the constant?

[Silence]

And you ask the spiritual seeker what do they want? They want some sense of stability, some constant peace. But what has been constant? There is longing for constancy but all our

experiences have constantly been changing. So, can we get some stability in that which is constantly changing? We must be able to find that which is the unchanging.

[Silence]

Every person you have met is changing every day. Even if they were not changing, you are changing every day. So, from a relationship you cannot get that constancy. There must be something which is unchanging; untouched by all of this change. Find that.

Which way do you have to look to find that? [Looks Around] Have your senses ever brought you something which was unchanging? No. The entire realm is the realm of change.

So, what if you look in the opposite direction? Who is aware of all of this perception? Is that changing or unchanging? Unchanging.

Is there anything else you found which was unchanging?

This direction [Gestures Outward] is bouncing, bouncing, bouncing. This side of ‘I Am’ [Gestures Outward] is constantly changing. [Moves hand Chaotically]

What about this side? [Gestures Inside] Before ‘I Am’.

Who is aware of even ‘I Am’?

Are we meeting another realm of change?

Are we meeting something outside of yourself?

Is there a ‘me’ sitting there, an individual?

[Silence]

What is the Essence of Your Being?

Everything Is the Grace of Consciousness Itself

From this unchanging Awareness arises this beautiful light of Presence, light of Existence. And yet, even in the arising of this aspect, nothing is diminished in the Absolute. All this remains as a part of It.

This beautiful light of Presence, Existence, ‘I Am,’ is the only light there is. Everything else, every other light, is just a reflection of this.

In the light of Your Existence, all this play of time and space happen. Both directions are by the direction of the same light, whether we call it God, Self, Guru…, it doesn’t matter.

So, if everything is moving by the direction of this One Consciousness, then all that we have to do is admit that everything is the Grace of Consciousness Itself. That is the end of all ‘Why’s.’ Guru Kripa Kevalam. That is the only light in this universe; Your own Atma, Your own Presence.

Everything is directed by this Consciousness, One Light. And everything is the Grace of That. The outer form of the Guru is just an outer representation of this light. The True light is Your own Being…, uncontaminated by the notion of limitation.

That is why before Satsang I was sharing with someone that suffering is only that to which we have not yet accepted that it is the Kripa of the Guru, that it is the Grace of the Master. That which we have not yet accepted. You will soon accept that everything, everything that is happening in this play of light and sound and time and space, is the Grace of the Satguru, the Holy Presence.

Until that happens, it is the same Holy Presence which is enjoying the taste of this game of suffering. And suffering has a ‘me’ at the center of it. It is not possible to suffer without a ‘me’ at the center of it. ‘Me’ has to be there for the ‘ow’ to be there. But this ‘me’ is not real.

Guru Kripa Kevalam

There are two main temperaments that come to Satsang.

One is attracted to inquiry. For those you can say, find out if this ‘me’ that you consider to be the center of your existence, find out whether there is such a one. Find out who you are (inquire- ‘Who am I’?)

There are some to whom this kind of inquiry seems too alien, too difficult. You might seem like you are more of a devotee temperament, devotional temperament. To those, I want to tell you without any doubt, everything, everything, everything is the Satguru’s Grace. Nothing, not even a blade of grass moves without the will of this Divine Existence, this Divine Consciousness.

[Silence]

What is your next move? God Now? Or ‘but, but, but, me-ow’?

[Smiles]

Sheep or lion? Or sheep trying to be a lion?

The ‘me’ is only denial of ‘What Is’ …, denial of the ‘Is-ness.’

Trouble Is ‘I Am Something’

In the deep sleep state, how many problems did you have? Let’s presume that everybody slept last night; at least for a bit, even if it was 5 minutes. In that sleep, all the problems are gone. In fact, everything was gone. Everything was gone. You might even feel that ‘Even I was gone.’ But You, the Ultimate You, the Absolute You, the Unchanging, must have been there to even See that everything was gone. So, although everything was gone, there was something (which is not a ‘thing’) which still remained. That is your original Self, the uncontaminated ‘I’. Your Reality; it is unchanging. And that is very important to see, that it is unchanging. That means that even when the waking state came, You, that unchanging Self, remained the same. Otherwise, you would not call it the unchanging, you would call it the changing. That Awareness that knew that everything is gone, now is aware that something is here. What is that something? What wakes up? ‘I wake up.’ But what does it mean? You were there to see the contrast between sleep and waking state. And yet, something wakes up.

This is what we call Your dynamic aspect. So, ‘I’ now playing as ‘I Am.’ The sense ‘I Am’ (the ‘Am-ness’) wakes up. So, when it is just ‘I’…, no-thing, no trouble. Now, when you wake up, there is this sense ‘I Am.’ What trouble is there? That very instant, before the first thought has come, there is no trouble. Then what starts to happen? This play of appearances starts to dance. There’s a room, there could be other people, the sensations of the body, the visual perceptions, emotion, sensation; all of this. Still no trouble, actually. The trouble-maker is just getting started. [Chuckles] The trouble-maker is just going to get started. This trouble-maker all of us know is the mind. What does it actually do? It starts by making distinctions. It starts with appearances; everything is appearing. But in the appearances, it starts to say ‘There is a you, there is a me, and there is outside of me.’ The appearance itself is not forcing any distinction like this. It is not creating a concept of ‘me.’ These appearances are just appearing. This body is as much the appearance as every other appearance. The appearances are being perceived and yet, this distinction, this duality, this separation has not yet come about.

So, when Bhagavan [Sri Ramana Maharshi] says ‘The trouble is ‘I am something’…, that I seem to be individualized or limited as something, that is the source of trouble.’ What does that mean? If there was no distinction being made between anything at all, can you show me a problem without a distinction? There has to be a ‘me’ and ‘another.’ There has to be a ‘me’ to suffer.

Sometimes we leave these terms too broad; like ‘suffering.’ We leave it to broadly and then it feels like a very generic, abstract concept. So, if we keep the sensation of pain aside, what do we actually mean by suffering? Have we contemplated this? Look back at the times when you had suffered (seemingly). Can you point out what is there? What happened?

I can start you off. An appearance did something that you had some concepts about and you felt like this is not the way it should have been; or to put it simply, somebody did something you didn’t like. So, then there is resentment, there is a grievance. But for all this to happen, this resentment to come, this grievance to come, there must have been a ‘me’ and there must have been ‘another.’ If we did not make that distinction, then how could you have a grievance, how could you resent?

And notice that I’m not talking about a sensational quality called anger. That can arise on its own. But like everything that arises, it can also pass. But you cannot make resentment out of anger or a grievance out of anger unless you make a ‘me’ or you make the pretense of a ‘me.’

What are the other ways of suffering? Come on; we’re experts at this. [Chuckles] That’s why we’re here. Why else?

[Sangha says]: Guilt, specialness, resisting.

A:Resisting anything; emotions. If you look at all these, what do you find at the center of them? [Someone says]: Identity.

A:Identity. But do you find this identity tangibly; in the sense of do you find somebody that’s actually there? Do you find the ‘me’ actually that is entitled to hold a grievance? Did you find the self-righteous one? Did you find the special one, the guilty one? [Looks] You don’t find?

It’s like if you were pretending to be King Arthur or something. Suppose you woke up this morning and said ‘It would be a good idea to pretend to be King Arthur’ and you believed a lot of things about the knights of the round table and Guinevere and all of this story, like ‘I’m the King of England.’ [Laughs] And somebody says ‘But look…, are you really?’ We admit that this capacity to pretend is there. All of us can pretend that we are that. It might seem unbelievable initially but if you really practice, you can pick up the pretense of any character.

So, what is being reveled to you in Satsang is the pretense of that which you have believed to be your character; that which has a name (which is your name) that which has a body, form (which is supposedly your body). But this one is as much a pretense as if you were to pretend to be King Arthur right now. And those who are open to this discovery, then it is very simple to verify. It is not the verification of this which is tough, it is the fear of losing this identity, that ‘What will I become if I lose this?’ …, the fear of dissolution of this identity which can seem to be more resistive; a stronger resistance. Like, Right Now, if you check, you cannot find the one that wants anything at all. You cannot even find the one that wanted to come to Satsang; the one that wants freedom. Look at the body; does this one want to get freedom? This one didn’t. Then, who did?

[Someone says]: Just a notion.

A:Just a notion. It’s just a notion. King Arthur. The blue cat. The sheep. All these examples and metaphors that we use are just to show you that that which you consider yourself to be, which you had considered yourself to be, is not Your Truth.

Where Is the One That Has That Name?

You don’t have to figure this out. [Self] Don’t have to solve it like an equation. You will not come to the Truth of Your Reality by solving a2 + b2. What is it? [Sangha replies with mathematical equation. Laughter] Because those of us who are a little intellectually inclined, they might feel like ‘If I can put something tangible and something intangible together that will lead me to the Supreme Absolute, Brahman (something like that). This is not it. It is much simpler than that. If you were to not go with any concept about yourself, if you were not to label any experience for just a moment, what are You, Here and Now? No answer is needed. Just the looking.

Where is the one that has that name?

When you say ‘I’ find the One that this ‘I’ represents, are you representing just one set of perceptions? [Looks around]

Who is the ‘I’ representing?

[Silence]

Let me invite you to a truer representation. [Smiles] But all of you have to follow along like children. If you think too much like ‘What this, why this, when this, how this?’ …, nothing is going to happen. [Chuckles] So far, you have included just one set of perceptions; this body as ‘I’.

Now, become little more inclusive. Every body that you see, include that in ‘I’. There is only one label that we are using for all things now, for all bodies now; this ‘I’. Now include all other objects that you perceive also in the same ‘I’. Every object, every body, everything that you perceive, include it in ‘I’.

Now, include also the space in which these objects are appearing. This space is also just perceived by You. So, include this one also in ‘I’. That very Existence now; that very Existence ‘I Am’ which includes this space and all the objects within it, include that in ‘I’. Within this ‘I’ don’t make any distinctions; no interpretations, no judgments.

Now, this is very beautiful step. Notice that something is aware of all of this, including Existence. This Awareness is empty of all qualities, is empty of all concepts of space and time. Include this one as ‘I’.

[Silence].

And remain like this; notion less, allowing all things to come and go.

You Are That in Which All Things Come

As we drop all distinctions, the movement of appearances does not stop.

There is a supreme intelligence which is beating your heart, making your breath, function.

Is the light which gives power to all of these phenomenal forces; the phenomenal forces of gravity, light, sound, they continue. This light belongs to this supreme intelligence. This Being is experiencing itself in all of these manifest appearances.

When we allow the movement of this body and of all bodies, this life can be swaying in the breeze, without interpretation or judgment.

This is your notion-less existence, independent of any position that you could take, empty of doer ship and non-doer ship, empty of attachment or aversion.

Here there is no ‘me’ or ‘mine,’ no other, no past no future.

And all of this is naturally present in this moment.

What is True is Here.

God is Here.

Pretending that God is just this body is just like the ocean pretending that it has filled itself in a coconut.

You are That in which all things come.

You are not dependent on anything.

You Are This One Self

The Self is not really making a distinction. And yet, in the play of this individualization, it seems to use these pretend make-believe distinctions. And You are discovering that You are this One Self. And all these differences are just ideas, just notions, with no reality about them.

[Silence]

Nothing can force Consciousness to be deluded. I was saying the other day that if you say ‘Something is strong’ that also becomes a habit, that ‘The mind is too strong, the emotion is too strong.’ No notion, no matter how strong it might have seemed, has survived this moment. All the conceptual dust is already off You automatically Now. So, the notion of ‘strong’ can apply only to that idea of our limitation.

How can something be strong for That which is the entire Universe, which is the light of this whole Universe? Can something be too strong for That One?

That something is too strong for Your Being would imply that Your Being is a limited entity. So, something is only too strong for any idea you have about yourself. If you have an idea that ‘I am this way’ then life will come and show you that ‘No, you are also that way.’ If you have idea that ‘Life should only be this way’ then life will also come and show you that life has no limitations; it can also be the other way.

So, all our positions are fundamentally just non-sense.

How can That which is everything, which includes both the opposites of everything, have a position which is something?

So, don’t try to apply to this to yourself …, in the sense of don’t try to apply this to the notion that you have about yourself, because then you start trying behave as if ‘This body is the Self and then this body should always be…’ You know? [Smiles] We don’t have to do that. You know what I mean? Sometimes the struggle becomes to try and live it: ‘In the presentation of the body, in the appearance of this body, it must be apparent that this one is free’ or something like that. We don’t need that. The body is just one aspect of your appearance; just the same as any other body.

So, this sense of individual control over this body is a complete fallacy. Its action and movements are as much part of the moment (the apparent movement) of the One Consciousness as any other.

There Are No Distinctions

By the way, let go of this entire sense of individual doership or take on the entire thing, where everybody doing everything is Your doing. You see? But don’t draw these notional lines in the One appearance.

This entire appearance is in the Light of the One Being, which is Your Being. I’ve been using this example of that one sheet of paper which you’ve divided into this world as a map, with so many different nations…, the notion of separation, of countries; it’s just notional. If I draw out all these countries on this map, nothing really happened to the sheet of paper. It’s still one. And you color it with shading, and you say ‘I’m from there, I’m this one.’ It is just not true.

You are the entire map and the light in which this map is perceived.

That perceiving is You.

That Awareness of this perceiving is also You.

The map is You.

The perceiver is You.

That which is aware of perception is You.

This world is You.

The space of this world is there is You.

The Being, the Light in this world seems to appear is You.

That which is aware even of your Being is You.

And at that point it even becomes irrelevant to say ‘You or Me or I’. Because there is only One. All distinctions fade away.

You are Seeing this. You are aware of this. Only this, You are Aware of.

But you have in your employment also one labeler. The labeler comes and says ‘This is good, this is bad, this I want, this I don’t want. This is me, this is other.’ It is the labeler of distinctions where actually there are none.

The appearance of distinct qualities does not prove that there are different Beings. The appearance of distinct qualities does not prove there are two Beings or that there are two Selfs. It is as absurd as saying that because there is an appearance of five fingers there must be five of me! [Chuckling] All appearing differently [Counting his fingers] but because they appear differently, why you don’t say there are five of me because five fingers are appearing? In the same way. Just because all of these qualities are appearing in Your own space of Being doesn’t lead to any actual separation. It’s just a qualitative appearance of aspects of Your own Being.

You cannot see this personally. If you keep the body mask on and say ‘I am constrained by this and now how can I experience this?’ Some are trying to do that, like ‘I want to experience this’ [Hugging his body] and in that [thought] ‘I want to experience this’ we are already taking up the paradigm of being the body.

Without the ‘I want’ …, what are you? Without making a reference point for YourSelf, making a limitation or constriction about YourSelf, what are You Now?

What is inside or outside You?

This is not natural to us. It took a long time actually to learn this. To pose as if ‘I am this body’ took a lot of conditioning from our parents and from this mind and from all the other mouths.

I am naturally everything and I continue to be everything.

My death is the death of everything.

My sleep is when everything goes to sleep.

My waking is the waking up of everything.

My dance is the dance of everything.

But even when everything is awake or asleep, I remain as the witness of all things; unchanged, untouched.

I Am the Self

No effort is needed.

Nothing has to be believed.

[Silence]

Nothing has to be dropped also.

All is naturally gone.

The false has not survived the moment.

[Silence]

You are actually way beyond even the most glorious belief you can have about YourSelf.

The mind cannot fathom Your glory.

The mind cannot fathom You.

The mind is just a peddler of position, of limitation. ‘No, no, no, but this; because this feeling is there, I must still be…’ How long will we rely on this circumstantial evidence, another appearance, to define who we are?

There is nobody Here but God.

It is not ‘God and me’.

It’s just God.

I don’t have to find MySelf.

I Am MySelf.

I cannot find the false one.

What a charade this has been.

We cannot find the one that wants to find the Self.

[Smiles]

To the one that wants to find the Self, I would give you the Self, if only I could find you.

You Are That Which Is Beyond All Things

Yesterday after Satsang we played this little game. [Chuckles] We said ‘It’s as if this guy … [Pointing to other room] Because Matthew kept saying ‘I am looking for the guy and this happens when I look, and that happens when I look.’ So, I said don’t look for the guy so seriously. Just simply, as if I say ‘There is a guy sitting in the next room and he wants a pizza.’ Maybe the first time you will get it because my voice has some credibility. But after five pizzas, will you not want to go and conclude for yourself that there is a guy?

So, we have been getting this guy pizzas for many years [Chuckles] without really looking to see ‘Who is this one eating all this stuff?’ Then Olga, she played the voice of the mind really well. She said ‘No, no, no, that one is a bit tired, resting. You come later. No, no, no, something will happen to you if you see him. No, please don’t. No.’ Then he is saying ‘Get out of my way. My Master has said there is no guy. I want to go and check for myself.’ [Chuckles]

That is the beautiful part about having a Master is that when the mind is coming with ‘No, no; but, but; no, but this…’ you can say ‘Get out of my way. My Master has said that it is not true what you say.’

Then we walked into the room and saw there is no guy here! Then I said that the mind will have a final trick, which is to say ‘Oh, it’s you. You have always been that guy.’ But you are not a guy (or a girl). [Laughter] You are That which is beyond all things.

That’s why I said that the mind has only one trick: to convince you that God is a person, that That Being which You are aware of is a limited entity.

[Reading from chat]: How to reconcile this with the undeniable samsaric [worldly] presence?

A:That’s what I said; you cannot live this. Now, if you present yourself as one who is living in samsara [play of this world] that is the cause of all trouble. Samsara is living in You. In Your light, automatically it is moving; that includes this body, the words that come out of this mouth, the movement of these hands and feet. Everything is included in Samsara, the play of this world.

If you present yourself as just a part of samsara and then you want to reconcile that one as the free one who now has to reconcile with the rest of the world…, that cannot happen because that is still a position of limitation; the coconut trying to be the ocean saying ‘How do I deal with the rest of this?’ This samsara is coming in Your light. And this light knows what it is doing.

You are completely aware of this Truth …, and you cannot convince the non-existent false one about this.

That which is aware of samsara, That which is aware of the appearance of this world, is not trying to reconcile anything. Only when it takes itself to be something like an object in this world can it try to reconcile something. There are enough objects in this world which are available to tell other objects in this world about how to do many things objectively. But Satsang is not for that.

[Reads from chat]: But Guruji [Sri Mooji] does not deny that he is living in this body. He told me.

A:Did he say he is living only in this body and he doesn’t live in all the other bodies? I would doubt that very much. There is no denying that it is One Being that animates this body but it is the same Being that animates all bodies.

[Reading from chat]: He said Consciousness has to discover Truth in each body.

A:Yes, that is the design of this world. That is the play of this world. In terms of the play of the appearance of this world, this is how it appears. But the One that discovers the Truth does not say or see that it is exclusive to this body …, except maybe as sign of encouragement to you, to that aspect of Consciousness which is still playing as the deluded one.

Guruji also says a million other things. Why you don’t latch onto those? It’s like me saying ‘If I tell hundred times ‘I love you’ you still doubt that, [thinking] ‘Maybe he tells that to everybody.’ But one time I tell you ‘I hate you’ [and you feel] ‘He must really hate me!’

This is the thing. It is the nature of the mind to go with that which confirms our separation, our individuality …, and to be in denial of that which is more apparently true. When Guruji says ‘There is just one Is-ness, One Being, which animates this entire universe’ why we don’t remember that? Because that has no value to the mind. Mind says ‘He said he is living in his body.’ [Chuckles]

[Reads from chat]: Is-ness dissolves all doubts.

A: Yes. ‘Is.’ Just two letters.

‘Is’ captures all of Existence Itself.

What Is.

IExist. I Am.

To Leave ‘This’ Is Impossible

Now, what I’m going to say, we have to look and answer. Because I know that we already know the right answer. So, not mental answers. We have to look and then we answer.

What do you need to exist, Right Now? [Silence]

[Someone says]: It’s effortless.

A: Effortless. Yes? Is there something holding up this Existence? [Silence]

[Someone says]: Don’t know.

[Someone says]: Supporting.

A:Supporting, not preventing. This Existence inherently, naturally, do you find that there is a sense of lack in it? Is there a sense of something missing for it? [Silence]

[Someone says]: Nothing is missing.

So, for this original ‘I Am’ this original Existence, there is no such thing as desire, Right Now, in this moment, because nothing is missing. Desire means that ‘Something is lacking in me and I want.’ So, your Existence, Right Now, is empty of desire.

Again, just simply, in Existence Itself, is there any sense of duality or separation? [Silence]

[Someone says]: Only Existence is there.

[Someone says something inaudible]

A:Yes. Is there a separation between that which is trying to see if there is duality and This

Existence Itself? [Silence] The perceiver, or the looking, and That which exists…, is there a sense that there are two of them? [Silence]

[Someone says]: Seems to be One.

A:Seems to be One. Now, again, just in this simple Existence Itself, is there a sense that it is doing something or not doing something? [Silence]

The idea of doership also is not inherent in our Existence Itself. So, this ‘3-D’ ego, as I call it (duality, desire, doership) it is naturally not present here.

[Someone says]: After that, what happens?

A:But is this sense ‘After that, what happens?’ natural to Your Existence, Right Now? So, let’s see; after that, what happens? Let’s see. So, that was then; what about Now? Now.

So, if it continues to be like this …, we came to Satsang for what? To come to the end of ego and to come to the discovery of the One Truth or the One Being, One God. Yeah? It’s as simple as that. Now, the question comes, ‘After that, what?’

[Someone says]: To remain in that is difficult.

A:Is it? If, to remain in that was difficult …, if to remain always in that was difficult, then I would have had to pull some of you back to this. When we did the exercise, we started just in the moment, and you Saw it. So, therefore, naturally all of you were in This. So, it must be another false idea that ‘I can leave this’ actually.

The secret is that it is not that to remain in this is difficult…, it is that to leave This is impossible.

Nobody has left it and so it cannot be the truth, because then the truth also would become the changing. The truth is the unchanging.

That’s why, when I ask you ‘Can you stop Being now?’ I don’t have a preliminary practice before that. I don’t say ‘Go ten rounds of surya namaskar then do this ‘Can you stop Being?’ because I know that whatever your state might be, whatever you might believe about yourself, You Are This Being. This Being is Here, effortlessly.

So, it is not really a question of ‘What about after that?’ It is more this question of ‘When will this ‘What about after that?’ stop being attractive.’ [Chuckles] Because there is nothing after that. There is really nothing after this.

And every day we discover the magnificence of this discovery which seems so natural, of sharing how this Being Is That-which-contains-all-things. And these can be beautiful insights that come to you organically. I don’t have to force them down your throat. And don’t get a sense that ‘Okay, this insight I don’t have yet, that all time and space is within Me.’ Don’t make that a precondition to anything. Let that flower on its own. But this much is enough to See, that That which is truly Here Now, this Presence which I taste, does not have any sense of duality, doership or desire. And this is true for any time! That’s why I can just walk into Satsang and say ‘Okay, look, this is true.’ That means it always must be This.

So, it is actually always like this.

You don’t have to do anything to remain in This.

False Marketing of Spirituality

Now, the mind which has no true insight about this will say ‘Is this it?’ But it has no idea what it is saying, because That which has been found is beyond all things.

Mind will say ‘It can’t be as simple as this. But what is the big deal in this? Where are the fireworks in this? Where is my knowledge of all the past and future that I was supposed to get? Where is the immortal body which I was promised?’

That was just the false marketing of spirituality.

[Silence]

I was here in the third standard (or something like this) and my father has always worked in the computer industry. So, what happened is that he said to me ‘We have this computer at home.’ I was very small. He said ‘If you just type out what this book says then you will start to see these cartoons.’ There were some illustration in the book. He said ‘If you just type out these things then these cartoons will come on the screen.’ So, I started typing. I started typing and I saw that the cartoon was not coming, but other things were happening like ‘Hello, world’ and some circle was coming in the screen. [Smiles]

So, that’s what he told me. (And I enjoyed programming, even then. I had always done programming and in college.) The marketing was just that ‘These cartoons will come.’ They never came, but different things started to happen [Chuckles] which I found even more amazing than just some cartoons coming on the screen.

So, whether the promise that attracted you was an immortal body, some super siddhi [spiritual prowess] or whatever the promise might have been, those were the cartoons in the book.

What You are finding is worth lot more than that.

You are finding that, simply and naturally, You Are That which cannot be attacked, cannot be affected. Everything might happen in this world but nothing can happen to You. The coming and going of millions of bodies, yet You remain untouched. This Being which You are discovering for YourSelf, so simply; just in one moment of looking.

Fear Is Just Another Energetic Movement Within You

[Reading from chat]: She says that she feels that ‘There is something that is scared to die and that becomes a reason for me to go back to my belief in the limited one.’

So, don’t be scared of this fear, firstly. Allow it to come. Is it here now? So, as it comes, just see what it can take from You. Be completely open to it. Even if the body starts shaking; allow. See what happens. In fact, if we can have a welcoming attitude, that’s even more powerful. Say, ‘Come. I’m Here.’ Then you’ll discover that this one is just another one of your children [Chuckles] just wearing a Halloween mask. It is nothing; just an energetic movement in You.

All this can seem strong as long as we believe the limited idea about ourself. Once you See that You are that space in which even this fear comes, You are that space in which the fear of the unknown, the fear of death…, all this will come. And we’ve experienced these things many times. But we are still Here. The Being has remained untouched, unaffected by all this spectrum; the sublime and the horrendous. [Silence] Sometimes anger can come, sometimes fear can come; all different qualities of the emotional spectrum can appear. As you allow YourSelf to remain notionless, you don’t even label what they are, then You See that in the Reality of Your Existence these are just little bursts of microwave popcorn in the microwave. [Chuckles] Nothing will happen to You. Like nothing can happen to the space of the kitchen even if you make a hundred kg of popcorn. Space is just the space. You A re that Space in which this space comes.

And I’m so happy. The other day (and I’ve been saying this in Satsang very often) I found a beautiful quote by Bhagavan [Sri Ramana Maharshi] who said that ‘Even this space comes within the Space of your Being.’ [Silence] An energetic appearance or an object (let’s call all energetic appearances ‘objects’ whether they are perceived through these senses or perceived inwardly as some sensational movement, let’s for a moment call everything an ‘object’) …, can an object affect something which is not an object? So, objects can interact with, can affect, can attack or defend against other objects. But what You are finding out about YourSelf is that You are not an object.

How can this fear-object, fear-perception, actually affect something which is not an object? It’s like saying ‘I’m going to burn a fire in this hall and I’m going to burn the space.’ Can you burn the space? We can burn the air in the space if we have some very advanced technology. We can pull all the air out of it; we can make it a vacuum. But that vacuum was also in that space. So, that space remains untouched. And You are that Space in which this space is perceived. Your Existence, when you exist first thing in the morning, ‘I wake up’ (‘I Am’ wakes up actually) with ‘I Am’ waking up, all this functioning of time and space happens. Before that, nothing. So, You are that Space in which this space wakes up and this space itself remains unaffected by anything. So, how can That from which this space comes be affected?

I’m just giving you these pointers so that you can check and verify for yourself if all this is true…, not just on the basis of belief, not on the basis of inference, but for you to actually check. Then all these notions of inside, outside, before, after…, they all start to fade away.

Nothing Can Force You to Believe a Thought

So, we start another week of Satsang and I feel the week is like a retreat; Monday to Friday. And as I was saying on Friday, I feel like mostly by Friday most of you are very light and easy; very ‘God Now.’ [Chuckles] But many times, I have noticed that in the two days of the weekend, again some conceptual burden gets picked up.

So, let’s just shake off all the conceptual baggage we might have picked up on the weekend.

And very simply and naturally notice that there is just One Being Here. Just One Being is Here.

You are Aware of this. You are Aware even of this Being; this ocean of Existence; that God is Here Now. You are Aware of it. That there is no ‘me’ here to go ‘oww-oww’…, You are Aware of it.

In front of You is a conveyor belt of thoughts. All the baggage that you ever picked up is available on this conveyor belt. But nothing (I promise you) can force to you to pick it up. So, the thought that comes and says ‘But I have to; I have no option’ is also part of same baggage of thoughts which comes and goes. You are forever unblemished, unattached by whatever we might have picked in the past.

Some fear might come ‘What will I do without my baggage? What will I be? Where will I go?’ But without this baggage, you can board the Guru train and let the Guru run your life. See how it goes without this, even for a few moments.

You are Here Now effortlessly. This Existence, this Presence, has no sense of lack, has no separation, has no doership, unless you pick up a bag from the conveyer belt.

And the best news is that already, Right Now, this Being that is Here, that you call ‘I Am,’ Your own Existence, is the Supreme Being. It needs nothing at all. It is the light of this world. You Are…, and that is why the world Is.

Which bag can you not resist? All these bags are coming. Some look very pretty. ‘I promise you immortal life if you just pick me up. I have the super-secret sadhana of the yogis in the Himalayas and you will get to live for ten million years.’ [Chuckles] You want that? ‘If you pick up this bag, you will understand what everyone is thinking.’ One set of thoughts we can’t deal with; [Chuckles] this one I definitely don’t advise. ‘You will be known as most enlightened person in all of humanity if you take up this project; a hundred days of sadhana.’ You want that?

Because to pick up any of these would mean that what You Are already is not enough.

What Are You Really?

Okay, one day suppose the Master of the Universe came to you. The Master of the Universe was holding a coconut in the hand. And this Lord of the Universe…, everything belongs to this one, but this one comes to you holding a coconut and crying. He is crying. ‘What happened?’ you ask. This one says, ‘I am a coconut and I had a coconut wife. This morning I woke up and she was gone.’ Just crying, crying, crying.

What will you tell this one? [Smiles] You will say ‘What are you saying? You are the Lord of the Universe. You are not just this one coconut.’ He says, ‘But she was so beautiful, she was green, she had no blemishes, nothing was coming out.’ [Chuckles] ‘Just perfect.’ You say, ‘But you are not a coconut. You are That which is holding up the coconut and all coconuts.’

What are you really?

This one says, ‘No, no but first tell me whether I will get my other coconut back.’

This is it. [Smiles] So, are you here to give some pretense to being a coconut? Like I say ‘Are you here for freedom from the cat? Or for the cat?’ If it is something personal that you want, then this really is not the place. You will only be disappointed. But if you want to discover what You really are, with no concern about what this coconut will get or lose, then what I am saying is very simple.

What I am saying is that You Are God, having thoughts of being a coconut. You Are God having thoughts of being a coconut and you have played enough of these thoughts and this identity and Now You are done with them.

You are full and complete and free Right Now.

You are the immortal Being, this very moment.

But because You have made it so, coconut thoughts will continue to come. Let them come and let them go.

Sometimes because it is habit, we will pick them up. And that is fine. Because Now, You are free of them. There is nothing to be done. Just Now, You Are what You Are. You Are what You have always been. Therefore, even to say that it is done is not true, because it was never undone in Reality.

Nothing has happened.

And You Are.

This Being Is One Immortal Being

That which we call suffering has been all about a ‘me.’ And I’ve asked this question thousands of times in the last 5 years; nobody has found this ‘me.’ But what you did find is the voice of doubt which says ‘But, but, but, what happens after Satsang? I become a ‘me.’ This voice is just lying. God never becomes a ‘me.’ God always is God.

You exist? Or no? Don’t exist, just for a minute. Just for a second, don’t exist. Don’t Be.

This Being is God. The mind has convinced you that It is something limited, that It is something personal. It is not. You can check this for yourself.

So, God is Here. Whatever is your favorite way to address the Supreme Power is (whether it is God, whether it is Self, whether it is Satguru) invoke that in your Heart and see if It is present or not.

Guruji is Guruji because Guruji is Here Now.

God is God because God is Here Now.

I’ve been saying that the mind only has one trick. The mind has only one trick which is to convince you that this Holy Presence is something personal, is something limited. But it is not true. This Being is the One Immortal Being which is beyond time and space. This Being, Your Being, has seen the birth of time, has seen the birth of the universe and will see the dissolution of that and the dissolution of this universe.

This is Your Being. But You are beyond even that. You are That which is aware of the movement of this, Your own aspect [waving his arm] like this arm. This is the dynamic aspect, the phenomenal. The sense of ‘I Am’ arises…, and the play of all of this starts. But You are That in which this appears [raises arm] and dissolves [lowers arm]. This Primal Witnessing, This Pure Knowingness … is just Here.

So, first this one, this non-phenomenal Self, takes on the garb of Existence ‘I Am’ and then puts on the mask that ‘I am something; I am man or woman, I am young or old, I am free or bound.’ But none of this has ever really applied to You. You are beyond time and space. No distinction is real for You. Not even the distinction of non-phenomenal and phenomenal is important for You. Forget about all these phenomenal distinctions or even this primary-seeming distinction. That is why in this beautiful bhajan it says: ‘Tujha sahguna manhu ki nirguna reh, sahguna nirguna eku Govindu re’ (which means) ‘Whether I consider You this Being with attributes, or That which is without any attribute (attributeless or full of attributes) there is only One Being, One Self.’

Here all the terminology that you have learned even in Satsang can safely be kept aside. There is no use for it. All appearances come and they go. The Primal Witness is not making any distinctions. [Silence] This is game over. No interpretation, no judgement, no distinctions. You are God Now.

You Are in This for the Truth; for Truth’s Sake

Everything that appears to you is You. And that to which it is appearing is You. There are ‘no two.’ Advaita. Non-duality. Everything that is appearing is You and that to whom it is appearing is You. There is just One. [Silence]

To make a distinction is the doorway to misery and that is also your choice. Nothing will happen to You. [Smiles] The play of misery, we can call it. [Silence]

All has been explained. All is now understood. Where did you come to? You came to Your notionless Existence. [Silence]

Now the mind has just one final trick up its sleeve. [Smiles] But I know that you are beyond that. The trick is ‘Ah! Now that I see that I am that boundless ocean (which Ashtavakra was speaking about) That with no limitation, no boundary, That in which the arcs of the Universe come and go, what does that mean for this coconut body?’ This is the trump card from the mind. But if you let this also come and go, if you have no concern for self-image, if you have no concern about what the world thinks of you, then all of this will also be meaningless.

Give this body complete freedom to experience all the sensations which might naturally appear. You don’t have to control anything. And then give your bigger body (which is this entire universe) also its complete freedom to allow whatever has to be experienced to come up. [Silence]

Okay, let me ask you: You are having this beautiful insight, yes? You are having (all of you, you

are having) this beautiful insight: God is Here. [Yet, still thinking]: ‘But there was something wrong; there is glitch in this matrix of the appearance.’ And the one next to you gets the halo. And now everybody sees this. [Points finger to someone and says]: ‘Ha! There is a radiance about you. You must have seen the Truth.’ But actually, it belonged to you! [Chuckles] You see? All these phenomenal affects, they went to the one sitting next to you. Everybody is feeling like ‘They became enlightened.’ You will be ok with that? [Chuckles]

And this body is still like… [Slouches and laughs] This is what I mean. Don’t try to fill this ‘what you are experiencing as the ocean’ into this coconut. If it means nothing at all for the appearance of this body, and yet in Your Heart you are clear that you have had this insight about what You Are, would that be enough for you or not? [Looks at the sangha] Yes or no?

You are in this for the Truth; for Truth’s sake. If all the by-products of your pure insight were to be made visible somewhere else with no benefits for you (let’s say with no benefits for this body which you consider to be you) then let it be so. Because every body is your body. [Silence] All are just appearances in the one Consciousness, the one Being.

Are You Making an Effort to Keep This World Up?

The idea of separation, the idea of duality is just a game, a play, that Consciousness is playing with denying; the denial of what is your most obvious Truth.

That which is most obvious to you Right Now, you can only deny it in this way of identifying with that which is false.

So, what is obvious to you Right Now?

Before you can come to any interpretation or conclusion, before that:

I Am.

[Baby Eashan coos and makes a sound like ‘I Am.’ Much sweet laughter in the room.]

IAm.

[Silence]

This I Am:

Does it have a boundary?

Does it have any limitation?

No boundary, no limitations.

Does it have desire?

Does it have a lack?

[Silence]

Is it effortful?

Are you making an effort to exist?

When you exist, the world also exists effortlessly.

Are you making an effort to keep this world up?

Are you holding up this world with some effort?

All these appearances are coming effortlessly. So, the world is existing effortlessly. This body is part of this world appearance also.

So, it’s Here effortlessly.

Your Existence is effortless.

Only when you insert some denial into this, when you insert some duality into this, will all these concepts of desire, doership…, all these start to emerge.

But whatever might have been your play in the past, most importantly I’m pointing out that Right Now you’re empty of all of this. In this moment, all of that is gone.

And you say, ‘No, no, no, give me a minute.’ [Laughing] But what if you don’t give yourself that minute, that few seconds to pick up your identity again, to pick up your story again. Isn’t that what happens? I say, ‘It’s all gone Now.’ [You say]: But, but, but…, give me a second. Let me orient myself back to my story.’ [Laughter]

That means in your naturalness, Right Now, all story is already dissolved.

But your Presence is Here.

Your unlimited Being is Here.

So, if you don’t cross this ‘I Am’ this way [Moving arm to signify outwardly] and attach all kinds of notions to YourSelf (‘I am something, I am this, I am that ‘) and let all appearances come and go and you remain notionless, what trouble can there be? Nothing.

Naturally you’re like that, in this moment.

Naturally, in this moment, you’re like that.

So then, what is there left to do?

You Are Already All There Is

Q: Mind is saying that it has to be convinced.

A:That is also a notion. That is what mind is saying. Let it say what it wants. Let it come and go. Why do you feel like that has some meaning? It has some meaning for you? To convince the mind?

Q: It’s tempting to believe it.

A:What is on offer? If you were able to convince the mind, what is the offer? ‘That is what you have to do.’ What is the outcome of that doing? That is the offer. Why is it tempting?

Q: Effortlessness…

A: Yeah, but before that, before you took the offer, it is effortless also? [Silence]

If I tell you ‘If you do hundred pushups now, you will get to sit exactly where are you sitting right now.’ [Laughter]. You’ll say, ‘But I’m already sitting right here. Why should I do hundred pushups?’ You already saw that Your Being, Your Existence, is effortless in this moment.

Q: It’s a different version of ‘Something is there left to do.’

A:Yes, that is all the mind is saying. But what is its offer? ‘When that doing will be done; there is something left to do when that doing is done.’ What is on offer? It’s like the story of the farmer, isn’t it?

Q:Even when it is clear that it’s effortless, the mind just says ‘Okay, this is there’ then goes to the next thought.

A:Yes. So, for you it is clear that Right Now, Your Existence is effortless. Now, this one [mind] comes and speaks to you about something and at best it can offer you an effortless existence. But you see that you already have that! [Chuckles] Without doing anything, without buying a lottery ticket, you have won the lottery.

Q: It has something to do with its persistence.

A:So, if you are not so concerned about how persistent or not it is, then what is there? …,

(whether mind is persistent or easily gives up, whether it is repetitive or it has something new every time, if you are not so concerned about it?)

Q: It is already Here.

A: Yes, because it’s already Here.

Q: But then sometimes it’s a very joyful eruption; sometimes it’s plain, sometimes nothing.

A:So, forget about everything from the past. These are also just images that are there for you, where you have no way to verify that whether they are true or false. What about Now?

Q: Immediately after seeing this, the mind says, ‘Okay, what’s next?’

A:Okay, you stay with me and let the mind come and go. Don’t try to fix the mind, change the mind and report on what the mind is doing. [Silence] No more self-diagnosis also.

You See that whatever is on offer is already Here.

You are already all there is; all there ever will be.

Who Are You Representing Now?

[Reading from chat]: “If ‘I’ is just an appearance in Awareness, why does the world disappear when we close our eyes? This creates a sense that I am behind my eyes.”

That is the design of this play. That is like a computer program where you put on the headset and all that seems to appear. Remove the headset and everything seems to go away. But there are many who have reported things like being able to see their body from outside. Many have reported these kinds of experiences. But also, if you close your eyes, just one part of the visual perception seems to disappear. Then what happens is that still if I say ‘Imagine a tree’ it is possible for you to have a visual perception of a tree. But it is not the same sensory perception.

So, it is not that the world disappears, it is just that an aspect of that perception (some aspects of the visual perception) are no longer accessible because the instrument is designed to work in this way. The ability to perceive has not gone. The perception itself has also not gone. The world has not disappeared, it’s just we lose access to one taste of it, one quality of it.

Yes, and what you say is right. ‘This creates a sense that I am behind my eyes.’ Yes, it is designed that way. The design of Consciousness has enabled Consciousness to believe Itself to be something contained in this body container; and that is by design. And now part of that design is also that it will break Itself out of this delusion by recognizing what It truly Is.

So, this much we can all see, that all objects can only contain other objects. If you talk about space then the relationship is the other way around. Then the space contains that, as that ‘bigger object’. This much we can see. So, this you-as-an-object nobody has ever found; the ‘you’ that wants Freedom. If it was something contained within the body, somebody would have found it by now. [Chuckles] There is nobody like that within the body. The body in itself is not concerned with Freedom. So, this ‘you’ that we are referring to is just a collection of beliefs; that which is called the identity; that which Consciousness is believing about ItSelf.

This one that is never found has got all our allegiance. And this one that is just here (‘I Am’) we have rarely investigated. And that which is aware even of this ‘I Am’ (the ‘I’ that is ‘Am-ing’ …, the ‘I’ that is aware of Being) this ‘I’ is our unchanging Reality. Many bodies have come and gone. Many dream worlds and waking worlds have come and gone but this ‘I’ has remained untouched. This is apparent to you right now. In one moment of peace, it is clear that ‘I am that which is aware even of my Existence.’ This is Here naturally. [Smiles] This is Here naturally.

Can you suffer naturally?

The Self is Here.

Is the sufferer here?

Is the doer here?

Is the desirer here?

Is the one that is attached here?

Is the one with grievances here?

Is the one who ‘got this’ here?

Who is Here?

Who are you representing Now?

Do this, okay? Say ‘I’.

[Sangha says]: ‘I’

A:Who does this ‘I’ represent? Empty yourself again and See: Who does it represent? [Someone says]: It’s just a sense of ‘I’.

A:It’s a sense of ‘I’. And that which witnesses this ‘I’? Or witnesses this sense? [Someone says]: That’s the real ‘I’.

A:That’s the real ‘I’.

So, if that is real, how long will we let just one appearance represent us?

If it is in our power to take something that appears as ‘I’ then let’s take everything that appears as ‘I’. Let’s start with that. Just because there’s a centrality of this visual perspective, does that make it ‘I’? Does that make this body ‘I’? It doesn’t. So, let’s call everybody ‘I’. ‘Everybody-I’.

Q: [Inaudible]

A:Yes. Once we are comfortable dealing with one set of sensations fully [Laughs] then we might even start getting to that. But just as those sensations are appearances that You are perceiving, in the same way seeming-others are also sensations which You are perceiving. This body is another sensation which you are perceiving. So, why do we single out some sensations and call that ‘me’ and not take everything as ‘Me’?

Poke your hand. There is a sensation. Is this sensation happening in the same space as this voice also? The space in which the sensation is perceived, is it the same as where this voice is also perceived?

So, why do you call that ‘your voice’ and this sensation is ‘my sensation’? [Gestures toward Himself] Call this also your voice. The mind has convinced us that some sensations constitute a ‘me’ and all the other sensations mean ‘another.’ This is duality. This is the basis of the misunderstanding, that for some set of sensations, we pick up a ‘me’ and everything else is ‘other’. But children don’t have this; infants don’t have this. We have been taught this; how to distinguish, how to separate.

We Have Taken Evidence Which Is Completely Unreliable

Q:The mind says that I should be able to feel from inside the body the sensations of others, the perceptions of others and only then can I admit that that is also ‘I Am.’

A:Now, if you had a dream last night in which you saw a hundred other bodies and they were all moving around, having conversations; and then when you wake up, where was all of that? Why is the mind willing to admit that ‘Okay, all of that was the projection of my Consciousness’ but this can’t be? Is there something special about this dream that we cannot have this exact conversation in your dream tonight? We can have. And then where would I be?

So, why do we default…, if our experience for various experiences shows us that it is possible for our Consciousness to project Itself in this way then why do we default to separation? Why don’t we default to unity, oneness; and let our mind prove that all of this is actually separate? You know what I am saying? No. [Smiles]

I was saying why have we taken all the default position that ‘This separation must be true and it must be proved to me that we are one’? Why don’t we take the default position that ‘All this is One-ness’? Because we have this experience many times of projecting various things…

Right Now, you can imagine a world in which you are a body in that world and you can imagine that that body is interacting with all of them and yet identify only with that one. So, if we have so many experiences (dream, imagination, memories) in which all of this imagery is just contained within Us but we are the One Being…, then let that be our default position and say ‘I am the One Being. If something can actually prove a separation to me, then they can come and prove it.’

We’ve taken it on evidence which is completely unreliable.

You can only say ‘I Am.’ You cannot really say that another Is. You cannot confirm the existence of another. You can say ‘I Am, and all of that which I perceive is perceived within Me.’

And what is it that witnesses even all of this?

What can we say about That One?

Everything Is Just an Appearance in One Being

You might come into Satsang wanting to see God, or having the question ‘How do I see God?’

But all that you are seeing is God.

In front of these eyes is God.

Behind these eyes is God.

God is hearing God.

God is tasting God.

God is feeling God.

God is smelling God. [Chuckles]

All that you perceive is God.

That One who perceives is God.

So, we’ve had this (or we can say that God has had this) misunderstanding. God has been playing with this misunderstanding that God will find God as an object (as a thing). But in Reality, everything is just an appearance within One Being.

You are seeing this.

You are tasting this.

It is completely natural to You.

The One Existence is completely apparent.

[Silence]

Where is the notion ‘I am the body’ Right Now?

Where is the notion that ‘I am the person’ Right Now?

All that is false is gone. This itself is a most beautiful clue: The Truth cannot go.

So, if your identity seems to not be here, Right Now, and you check, that means it was never True. But You Are. There is nothing personal about You in this very moment.

So, what is the benefit of making these distinctions of me and another, of this and that, of past and future? Forget it. [Smiles]

That which has no benefit, it’s better to forget it. Forget everything about yourself; You are still Here. There is nothing missing. The complete light of Your Being (and the very essence of this Being; That which is aware of Being) is True.

Nowhere to go to find it. No steps to take. Not even the main pointings are needed.

This Realm Is the Realm of Duality

Tell me one benefit of making a distinction. Unless you consider suffering to be a benefit…

[Silence]

Consciousness is now reminding Itself that it was all just a game. You have played with it seriously enough. Now Consciousness is playing this game of mother and child saying ‘Enough my child. You are so tired and fatigued on this playground that you are even saying that I forget my way back home. Then the Master says ‘Come, come, let me carry you back.’ And that moment you say [Spreads his arms like a child who wants to be picked up] ‘You are Home.’ [Smiles]

There is no reason now to take any positions. Let the body take whatever positions it wants. This realm is a realm of duality. And the actions of the body appear as if they are dual, that’s fine. But any time you believe that any position is true about you, what do you consider yourself to be? If you are something on the left, then can you be All There Is? If you consider yourself to be something limited but on the left, if you think you are on the right, if you think that you are contained in the body; if you consider that ‘This is you but that is not’ …, all is just pretend make-believe, masks of your limiting.

You know, that the ones who win the lottery, for few moments they just can’t believe it. So, I am here telling you every day that ‘You won the lottery, you are God.’ [Smiles] ‘Yeah, really?’ And you are just getting over this doubt; just getting over this doubt. That’s all that is happening now, is that I am reminding you of Your Magnificence. You’re saying ‘No.’ [Expression of disbelief] I’m saying ‘You’re God.’ And your response is ‘Yeah, I’m God. So, what do I have to do to keep this? I get it and I lose it.’ [Smiles] ‘How can I keep this?’

We’re so used to the habit in the play. I keep saying ‘In the play, in the play’ so that we never pick up this mistaken notion that God is actually trapped in some maya or something. I say ‘You are God.’ But you say ‘When will I feel like that?’ [Chuckles] What you are feeling IS God! You say ‘No, this can’t be God. God must be only this way.’ This idea is false! God is all things. All opposites are contained within the One Reality. You say ‘When does the mind change? Okay, I am God; when does the mind change?’ It doesn’t have to. The little child can keep saying whatever it wants. Does the mother forget that it is the mother?

Where does this mind also come from? What perceives this?

So, the supreme position is That which has no position. God is That which is neither this nor that. Don’t try to live this, because that is also a position; don’t try to not live this.

Don’t Make Anything A Thing

I see often in Satsang (when I am sharing Satsang) something seems to be getting through and it seems like there is a subtle ‘tch, tch’ (the ego) …, not even that. You haven’t got anything, you haven’t lost anything. You just are. You are beyond getting and losing. You just are. Bondage means nothing to You. Therefore, Freedom also means nothing to You.

Sometimes I say that my highest pointing is that ‘Don’t make anything a thing.’ Your mind will come and say “Oh, is that it?’ That is the first way of making it a thing. Even to have a conclusion about this ‘Don’t make anything a thing’ means no conclusions, no interpretation. At least we are not taking them seriously.

In the play of this world, of course conversationally as day to day life is lived out, there will be some appearance of the mouth saying certain things which might sound like a position but you will start noticing that none of that is taken seriously. That is why this constant question we get in Satsang ‘Father, why do the Sages constantly contradict themselves?’ It’s because they are not attached to any position and the Truth cannot be spoken.

If you are taking a position which is too much to the right, the Sage will come and say ‘Left, left, left.’ If you are taking a position too much to the left the Sage will come and say ‘Right, right, right.’ You see?

What is the way to neutrality? That depends on where you believe yourself to be. If you are saying ‘I am the do-er, I am the do-er, I am the do-er’ the Sage will come and say ‘Forget it. You can’t do anything, you can’t move a finger; forget it’. And if you get attached too much to ‘I am not the do-er, I am not the do-er’ the Sage will say ‘Keep quiet and do the inquiry.’ Because neither position is true. They are both speaking about the non-existent One.

The Non-Existent One Came to Satsang Wanting Freedom

Neither this nor that. Nothing phenomenal is applicable to You. Neither desire nor renunciation.

Then, what to do with the mind?

What to do with the mind? Enjoy its comedy. [Smiles]

That which you thought for so long is a drama is actually a comedy; the comedy of the non- existent one. One day the non-existent one came to Satsang [Smiles] and it wanted freedom. Got the joke? Because the other possibility is that the Self came to Satsang to find itself. That which could never lose Itself came to find Itself [Smiles] is also a joke.

Sages have reported this, isn’t it? Guruji [Sri Mooji] says he went back to his home town one time and there he met two people on the street. They were arguing, taking very strong position, just like this. And then he felt that ‘Ah, there was a time where I could have been so deeply attached to either of these perspectives.’ Now, one minute something, next minute will be saying something else. [Smiles]

That is why we have seen many times that living in close proximity to a living Master is the best it is the best. Of course, it is the best, without a doubt! And yet, for the mind it is extremely challenging.

The Master’s Grace Is All There Is [Guru Kripa Kevalam]

So, what does it mean that ‘The Master’s grace is all there is’ (‘Guru Kripa Kevalam’)? Whether we say ‘Guru’ or we say ‘God’ or we say ‘Self’ ultimately, it is the same.’

It is how we are using these pointers. This is a beautiful tool as to what attitude to take towards this world. When we accept that everything is the grace of the Master, then we’re not making divisions and distinctions.

Whatever appearance might come, it is my Master’s grace.

Whatever feeling might come, it is my Master’s grace.

All this world of opposites; as we start to see the one-ness behind these opposites, that which seemed so effortful and difficult can seem like a beautiful flow.

Nothing that is appearing can ever hurt You in Reality in any way.

So, the simple way to accept all that appears is to accept it as the will of God, which is another way of saying ‘My Master’s grace.’

Till this openness, till this acceptance is there, till this letting go happens…, till then all these words are just words.

You Just Are. You Are Here. You Are Complete.

If coming to Satsang, if getting into spirituality is making us even more rigid than we started out then it’s better we find something else to do. If there’s not a greater sense of openness, allowing, then it is just a conceptual Satsang. If you’re finding more reasons to have grievances after you’ve come to Satsang, if you’re finding great reasons to feel special, or even false humility actually…, and what do I mean by false humility? Inside we’re feeling (makes a gesture of pride) but outside we’re doing (bending down humbly with folded hands) which is very much part of the spiritual seeker’s appearance. Forget about it.

More and more, we come to our position-less-ness.

Somebody was saying the other day (very beautiful) that ‘I’m finding it more and more difficult to hold onto a grudge.’ That’s a miracle. That is a bigger miracle than rainbows sprouting out of my head or something.

Don’t hold on to the past so much. Be unconcerned about the future. Don’t be so caught up in wanting, wanting, wanting or in holding onto what we seemingly have. Neither guilt nor pride. All is allowed to come and go.

[Silence]

All of this that I’ve spoken today are pointers to Your Notionless Existence…, which is Here Now. You also don’t have to remember anything I’ve said. That’s the best part of it. [Chuckles]

You just Are.

You’re Here.

You’re complete.

This Being that you’re meeting as Your own Being is the only enlightened Being. It is the Buddha. It is Krishna.

But (you know the trick, isn’t it) when judged or interpreted, when you pick up an idea about It, It will play as if It is a regular person or ______ (insert your name).

[Chuckling]

We Never Meet Ideas but Reality Is Already Here

Either God is the only possibility or God is an impossibility. It is completely binary. Either only God is or there is no God. The biggest invitation to suffering is this notion of two; God and me or another and me.

Once you come this insight, to this discovery that ‘All of this is God (or Guru or Self, whatever you call It) …, the one with attributes, the one without attributes; Saguna or Naguna (One God, one Self) the pure Witnessing itself, the pure Being itself, that which appears in the light of this pure Being; all of it is One. That is why it is said ‘Advaita’. There are ‘no two.’ There are no distinctions.

This seems to have become the theme for Satsang for the last few days. And it is very beautiful because if this itself we recognize in this moment as our truth, that all of this is just manifestation of one Being, then, what is the next step? Do you need a next step? If you start in God, then where does the next step has to go? When I say ‘You have never left the destination’ this is what I mean.

We are running, running, running towards the mythical thing without checking where we actually are. Whether it is a material seeker or spiritual seeker; seeking is a type of running; a trying to run towards. It is quite a radically insane thing, the seeker idea. It is like saying ‘I refuse to check what I already am, but I want something which I feel will be really useful for me. That greatest thing will be very useful for ‘me’ but I refuse to check whether the ‘me’ is valid or if there is actually ‘me’ this here.’ That is a seeker. ‘I am seeking something that I want. I am clear that this is what I want. But I am not clear about who the ‘I’ is in the first place.’

And if you will just for one moment, look …, what you will find is all the God that you will ever find. There is no special God sitting somewhere especially waiting for your seeking to happen to a certain level and then ‘Ah, that object called God will come.’ What is Here Now?

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj said ‘The only truth we can speak is that ‘I Am’ and ultimately even this is not true.’ All the rest, everything else, is a story (which is the nicer way of saying ‘is a lie’). Everything. Or the Sage was lying to us. [Smiles] You decide. Do you feel the Sage was lying to us when he said that ‘The only truth I can speak is that I Am …, and ultimately even that is not true.’? And Bhagavan [Sri Ramana Maharshi] said ‘All of this is one Being, which is an aspect of the one Self, one Brahman.’ And Guruji [Sri Mooji] says ‘All That Is is the Is-ness Itself.’ Where are words which are worthy of our consideration? Yogi Ramsuratkumar said something very beautiful (but if you give it to the mind it is very confusing). He said ‘Looking for God, why do you even admit to the possibility that there is something else?’ …, if God is what you want and God is what you have; Here?

I remember this beautiful interaction that Papaji [Sri Poonjaji] had.

Someone said ‘Papaji, can you show me God?’

Papaji said that ‘I will show you God. (I am paraphrasing.) I will show you God, but if you doubt, you won’t see. I will show you God, but if you doubt, then you won’t see God.’

Papaji says ‘What do you see now?’

He says ‘I don’t see God.’ [Chuckles]

Then Papaji said ‘Don’t. I said don’t doubt! Don’t is doubt. What do you see now?’ He says ‘I see God.’ [Chuckles] And he started laughing.

It is not just play of words. It is switch of perspective. It is the dropping of some false notion. And to meet this appearance naked of any pre-conception, all you see is God.

The one that sees is God.

That which is seen is God.

This face in which it appears is God.

The seeming moment of time is God.

It is just that we had some idea about it. That idea we never meet. The Reality is always Here.

So, then the switch of perspective is this: How long will we be in denial of what is? …, the refusal to see this Reality for what it is? …, and to play with some ideas; not just about ourselves, but also about God?

The make-believe ‘me’ wants to find the make-believe God, whereas in Reality, there is only One. It is this simple.

So, you start to include everything, all appearances and the space of appearances; that Being in the light of which these appearances appear.

You can’t figure these things out, okay? Many times, I notice that as I am saying these things, many of you can pick up this idea that ‘I have to figure this out! How is my Being in the light of this appearance?’ You can’t figure it out. But this is Your experience.

You wake up first, then the world wakes up.

You wake up, and then time wakes up.

This is our experience every day.

You Are. I Am.

Then the body is, the world is, people are, family is; all these.

Prior to that, You are.

Prior to space, You are.

When You Are (when I Am) was resting in the ‘I’ …, there was no space and time, there was no world to experience; and yet, You were.

Without ‘Me’ Everything Is a Spiritual Practice

What just Is?

If you don’t pick up this idea of ‘me’…, if you don’t pick up any distinction at all; no ‘me’, no ‘you’, no inside, no outside, no Awareness, no Consciousness…, the most hallowed words of Satsang; no God and his creation, no Guru, no disciple…, You’re still Here. You see?

Existence is independent of even the best notions. Even the best pretense which seems to get us to this notion-less-ness itself, at some point it is not needed. This is what Guruji [Sri Mooji] means when he says ‘Come to me naked.’ Otherwise we’re just playing with this dance of projections. ‘You are my Master, so you should be like this.’ And ‘Oh, he’s my disciple, he should be like this.’ Right? Like any other relationship. ‘He’s my husband, he should be like this.’ And ‘She’s my wife, she should be like this.’ It’s the dance of projection. Then you meet your Master also in this way. And there’s like a split-second…

You know the definition of a split-second? [Chuckles] A split-second is when the light in India turns green (the traffic light) and the person behind you presses the horn. [Chuckles] That is a split-second. [Laughter in the room]

Now, another definition of split-second is when you call someone your Guru and then tell them everything that they’re supposed to do and exactly how they’re supposed to be. [Chuckles] This is a split-second. ‘Okay, now that you’re my Master, you should be saying like this. This is how you should be doing the self-inquiry. This is how…’ You see? [Chuckles] Sometimes I jokingly say ‘So, who is the Master and who is the disciple in this situation?’ Because if you already know exactly what is needed then you don’t need any help apparently.

But this is true for all our projections. ‘Now that you’re my girlfriend, this is how you should be.’ ‘Now that you’re this thing…’ ‘Now that you’re my Son, you should be like this.’ ‘If you’re my Father, why can’t you be like this?’ So, when we meet the Master and Guruji says ‘Meet me naked’ he means ‘Meet me empty of projections for just a few moments and see what you actually find about YourSelf.’

What is Here? …, empty of our ideas about it, empty of expectations, interpretations, judgments. Which one of these do you need to Exist? Nothing.

The mind has convinced you that without this, you are nobody, nothing. But actually, You are the God; the Lord himself, herself.

What we need to do now?

Just before Satsang started, we had this bhajan where one revolutionary Sage said ‘I’m very happy my chanting beads broke this morning. Very happy my chanting beads broke this morning.’ (It may sound like ‘What?!’) ‘All this burden of chanting Ram is gone from my head.’ Then he says ‘Ram is chanting me. Why do I need to chant Ram?’

If this you can recognize…, it doesn’t mean that all of us have to become some revolutionary; radicals. If that happens, that is fine, too. But once you See that only God Is (only Ram Is) this pretense of doership, the pretense of being the practitioner, that is the trouble; not the practice in itself. That is the true position.

[Silence]

Everything is God and every movement is the will of God. Whether you call it the will of God or the Master’s grace, it’s all the same.

Another revolutionary said ‘If it was just a dip in the Ganga which would make me free then all these fishes and frogs would be free.’ But to be free, first you have to be rid of the ‘me’.

And without this ‘me’ everything is a spiritual practice. You could be on a jump-rope and that’s a spiritual practice. [Chuckles] All-There-Is is Spirit. Without the ‘me’ only God is, only Spirit is. But with the ‘me’ even the deepest spiritual practice is just egoistic.

And the good news is what? That our natural position is God. An effortful position is ‘me’.

And this is something the mind will fight tooth and nail to convince you that it is the opposite. It will try to convince you that to become Free you have to do something, and to remain bound is your natural state; that to be limited is your natural state and to become free you have to do certain things. This is the primary notion of the mind.

If Your Being can taste Your Being Now…, if Your Being can just taste Your Being Now, you will See that no worldly taste compares to This. And yet, all worldly tastes are just a part of This.

What Is Aware of All of This? Can You Lose That?

As you come to this beautiful recognition of What Is, as you come to this notionless Existence which is naturally present, here no words are needed. All terminology is pointless.

[Silence]

All these fallacies now have been dropped. Many times, it is our spiritual (what I call) ‘fantasification’ which gets in the way. We have these fantastic ideas of God; almost like Arjuna in a way. [Chuckles] Ultimately, when God had said ‘I have to make this one fight, so let me show him some fantastic visuals for now while he discovers the Truth a little later.’ [Smiles]

We can have these ideas of what God should be like, just like we have ideas about how every relationship should be, how our life should be. Without those, empty of those, what is Here?

If God is not Here then there is no God. If God is lost, then there cannot be a God. [Chuckles] If God has to be found, what kind of God would that be? What is God? That which is everywhere. That which is everything. Then how to lose Him or find Him?

This itself is such a beautiful clue because everything in the world you can lose but you cannot lose God. So, what is Here that you cannot lose?

Lose this world.

These body sensations; all gone.

Thoughts; all gone.

All emotion; gone.

Even this sense of ‘me’ ultimately comes and goes.

What is Aware of all of this?

Can you lose that?

Lose that which is Aware of all things.

That which witnesses everything; lose that witness, keep that aside.

This is the fundamental essence of your Existence.

This is the Self which plays as manifest and unmanifest.

It’s all the states and the content of the states. It’s all the qualities. Millions of bodies it has had and yet it has never been a body. All that is known, the knower and the knowing,

have just been expressions of this Knowingness itself.

[Silence]

What is it that you can never lose?

Because God always Is. God is All-There-Is.

As Guruji [Sri Mooji] says ‘If you throw everything out, you come to a point where This cannot be thrown out. What is This?’

[Looks at Sangha] Throw everything out.

What cannot be thrown out?

The one who is able to throw the Self out; present yourself. [Chuckles]

The one who is no longer aware; present yourself.

You cannot do it. Because even if you were to say ‘Hey, I am not aware’ it’s just another way of saying ‘I am aware that I am not aware.’ [Chuckles]

There are some who sometimes they say it like that. They are talking about attention rather than Awareness.

‘Behind the middle layer, I just lost awareness of this. I lost my awareness for a while.’

Then we say ‘But who is aware that you lost awareness for that time? Who is there to be aware of that?’

Many times, Awareness is confused with perception or attention.

We are talking about That which is aware of all things, including the fundamental functioning of perception itself.

So, before you take the next step to finding YourSelf, you have to do the impossible step of losing YourSelf.

All Masks of ‘Me’ Are Masks of Trouble Itself

The Self is Always. Even to say ‘always here’ is not accurate. ‘Always here’ is within the Self. But we can say it; we have to say something to sound logical: The Self is always Here. And the only way It troubles Itself is with this idea of ‘me’. It doesn’t really truly have any trouble ever but It plays with this trouble, with this idea of ‘me’. The ‘me’ that is the sufferer, the ‘me’ that was wronged, the ‘me’ who is the victim, the ‘me’ who is special. The ‘me’ who is enlightened is probably the Olympic sufferer; [Chuckles] any ‘me’ who wants to hold onto enlightenment, like ‘the ‘me’ who had a spiritual experience yesterday.’

All masks of ‘me’ are various masks of trouble itself. But without this ‘me’ nothing has ever suffered. There is no sufferer to suffer. And we have seen by now that this seemingly humble question of ‘How do I drop this ‘me’?’ is not valid because automatically, it is gone. Could it be then that even the question ‘How to drop the ‘me’?’ is a way to keep the ‘me’ alive? …, that any reference that we believe to be the ‘me’ is a trick of the mind to keep this non-existent ‘me’ (the pretense of the ‘me’) alive?

On the conveyor belt of the mind, right now for many of you, many offerings might be coming; all offerings of maybe some very beautiful positions. ‘I’m really getting this’ or ‘I’m not getting this at all.’ It could be any, anything, but none of them are valid about the real You. No conclusion that you make about YourSelf is the Truth.

That is something I love about Zen. If you think you’re doing Zen, you’re not doing Zen. If you’re not doing Zen, you’re not doing Zen. If you think you’re getting it, it’s not Zen. If you think you’re not getting it, it’s not Zen. If you think you figured out the sound of one hand clapping, it’s not Zen. If you feel you’re completely confused about this, it’s not Zen. Nothing you can really say about YourSelf is valid.

If all notions become invalid, does Your Existence stop?

This, therefore, is Your notionless Existence.

Nobody who discovers this simple truth leaves with a sense of achievement. Therefore, to the mind it can seem very unsatisfactory. In the play of the world, when we try to go after some thing and we get it, there’s a sense of achievement. This discovery, the discovery of That which has always been, it has always just been This. So, what has one achieved? [Chuckles]

What you’re discovering is very simple. It’s just naturally present. It’s the natural Presence itself.

But when the mind tries to fit the ‘me’ into This (‘Ah, what great insights I’m having’) …, can you produce the one who’s having these insights? Is the claimer of any insight actually having any insight? It’s never that. That’s why the words of Satsang sound different from when it’s just a claim of some special experience. Your intuitive Presence, Your intuitive voice, is empty of the ‘me’ notion. Even if it uses the words ‘you’ and ‘me ‘ it’s talking about the One Being. It’s just Consciousness speaking of Itself.

All Seeking Involves a ‘Me’

All types of seeking has involved a ‘me’…, between me and something else, me and another. If you’re seeking relationship, if you’re a relationship seeker, it’s about me and all women, me and all men. It about that; duality between me and this particular thing. If we’re seeking security, then it’s about me and money, me and material things. When it’s about seeking better health, then it’s about me and the body and how I’m taking care of the body. In the same way, and in a slightly different way, spiritual seeking is that so-called relationship between me and God. The seeker is what? The seeker is that one that presumes itself to be a ‘me’ as the one that is looking for God or Self or Satguru (whatever term you want to use). So, this spiritual seeker mindset is the mindset of a ‘me’ and a God or a ‘me’ and a Master. And as long as this ‘me-ness’ seems to continue, this spiritual seeking will seem to continue.

So, why do I say that it is slightly different? It is because to find God is a bit different than how we would find a relationship, how we would find money, how we would take care of the health of the body because those would be external events that would happen through some particular action that you undertake. But to find God is not an external event; not the result of some seeming-action that happens in the phenomenal world.

To find God is the dropping of the ‘me.’ So, this so-called spiritual journey plays out a bit differently than all other journeys and all other seeking has played out. I was saying that here there is no scope for a ‘me’ to find something. And those moments of insight that you’re having are just those moments where you’ve not picked up the mask of ‘me,’ the pretense of ‘me.’

So, this is spirituality. There is no space and no scope for ‘God and me.’ There is just God. ‘Me’ has just been a pretense. See, you cannot carry this one through the portal of Your Existence into That which is Your Unchanging Self. This which is just a concept, just a belief system, has to be left behind now.

This, which I’m pointing to, is organically present Here Now. There is no reason for you to exchange This for any notion about ‘me.’ Just like you would not exchange a rose garden for a thorn would be to exchange this Being, which is the unlimited Existence Itself, Your Godly Presence. Why would you want to exchange This for a notion of yourself, which you have never met anyway?

Now, what can happen in subtle ways, even in the spiritual search, is that we keep giving room for this ‘me’ to enter. We keep giving room for this ‘me’ to enter in the sense of ‘Oh, these have been my spiritual experiences; this is how far I am from the final recognition.’ All these statements and reports about yourself are reports of what I call ‘the checker guy’ which is just another manifestation of this ‘me,’ another appearance of this non-existent ‘me.’

So, Here and Now, join me as we taste God, with no expectation or interpretation. We have no idea what God should taste like but we’re tasting God Now.

I Am.

All Appears in the Light of You

Now, I’ll play the mind. [Chuckles] Okay? I’ll play the mind. So, I’ll come with all these exchange offers. ‘So, now will you exchange this Presence with a way to hold it forever? I’ll tell you a secret. You’ve had this beautiful experience right now. I’ll tell you the way in which you can just hold on to it forever’.

Will you buy into this idea? [Smiles]

Then [as the mind] I’ll say ‘Okay, okay, but when I leave Satsang and I have to deal with the ‘real world’ so then how does this help me?’ Will you exchange the Presence of God for this notion now?’

Now, if [as the mind] I say ‘Does this mean that I am Enlightened now? I’m free?’ will you exchange it for this notion? The mind will come and say ‘But nothing happened to me. what do you mean by taste of God? I didn’t taste anything. Why does it not happen here? What is lacking? I am not devoted enough. I am not free enough. I am not worthy enough.’ Will you buy into these ideas?

You just Are. Irrespective of what the mind is saying.

[Reading from Chat]: “It just feels strange to always have this body showing up. To have my understandings come through the body and the senses.”

So, just see if you can do an experiment with me. Forget about the term body. Don’t make any distinction between this term ‘body’ and any other sensation you may be perceiving now. Like you are perceiving the sound of this voice; it is just perceived. Your seeing the visual of this face; it’s just perceived. Everything that is being experienced is a set of sensations and perceptions. There is actually no such thing as the body. It’s just a collection of sensations and perceptions which we have put together theoretically and we call it this body.

So, what if there was no concept of a body in the world; all is just a set of perceptions? Then we have no fight with anything at all. All is allowed to come and go.

Everything that is ‘experience’ or ‘perceptions’ are perceived by You. This Being (that is the perceiver and the conceiver of all things) is just what You Naturally Are: I Am. So, we don’t have to make any distinguishing notions between anything that is perceived. Let’s see how that feels. See how that feels. [Smiles] You’ll find naturally that there is more spaciousness and you’ll find that more than the body itself (more than this collection of sensations and perceptions itself) you’ll feel like more you are the space in which all these sensations and perceptions happen.

As you don’t buy into the notion that ‘The body creates a boundary for me’ there is no trouble with the body. All the sensations of the body are experienced within You. [Rubs Fingers Together] Even these, which are seemingly boundary sensations, are witnessed within You. This You has no boundary. This You is not subject to this kind of space and time. Even when we say ‘Go inside; you go inside’ we’re not actually going inside this body, are we? We’re going to the

space which is beyond [Gestures Outward] this space and time, where all that exists in This comes to life on this screen and disappears from this screen.

You see that there’s only One. There’s just One Being. That Being is also called ‘I Am’.

[Reading from Chat]: “The idea that there can be an exchange at all: This is the biggest deception. There is no choice here but the idea that I have a choice is what can be tricky here.”

There is no choice for the non-existent one. That which does not exist obviously cannot have any choice at all. [Smiles] Therefore, this concept of free will or choice-making (if we ascribe that to that which does not exist) it is just nonsense. It makes no sense. How can that which doesn’t exist have something including free will?

But we are talking about the deeper, the greater will here, which plays with its primal power of belief. This Consciousness itself is playing as if it is something and now playing as if it is dropping something. So, I know that all spiritual instruction can also create a sense of ‘me -ness.’ That’s why when we were coming up with a name for the book we came up with the name ‘Consciousness Speaking to Consciousness’ so it doesn’t seem like it involves this non-existent person in any way. There’s just the seemingly inward movement of Consciousness to its inner- most essence. And to see that actually there is no separation here, that All There Is is this God- nature, God-Presence. And it is undeniable that this God with the power to give accent to an idea of Its individuality is not outside of Its will. Even that is the will of It. And yet it does play that way. Now, included in that Holy play is the play of It reminding Itself that It is God; that It is not an individual existence.

As we clarify this ‘who’ that is Here Now, it is clear that ‘I Am’. And all that appears in this world is in My light, in the light of My Being. I Am: The world Is. I remain This. But I play as if I am something. I play as if even that I am individualized consciousness: I am something. And this Consciousness plays as if it is individualized, in the concept of separation (of duality). But in Reality, the separation never happened. That is what is being recognized.

[Reading from Chat]: “As long as identity with the body persists (despite every wish otherwise) what does ‘within’ pertain to?”

[Smiles] Yes. So, when we say ‘Go within and check: What is your inner-most Being?’ are you taking a dive into your body? And if you were taking a dive into your body, you would find flesh and bones and blood. But, no. You find a space which is alive with Presence, which is not subject to time and space; beyond the four dimensions of time and space. Instantly, as we look inside, we go into a dimension which is not up or down, left or right, front or back; beyond these three axis.

This is your power. Here you see that all that ‘outside and inside’ has just been appearances within This which is beyond these dimensions…, where ‘I Am’ lives. That which is the origin of time and space is Here.

‘I Am’ Is Consciousness

When I ask you ‘Can you stop Being now?’…, this Being that you come across, do you find It as an object in time? Do you find It as an object in space? Where do you find It? You might say ‘I find it on the inside.’ What ‘inside’ is this? Inside what? So, that which we are coming to, we are using the term inside for something which is beyond these dimensions of time and space.

I Am.

And this ‘I Am’ is untouched by anything happening in time and space. This itself is such a beautiful discovery; that your Being is not aging with time, is not eroding in space. You Are. And this ‘I Am’ is what we call Consciousness or God or Beingness.

This ‘me’ is just an idea within Consciousness. But Consciousness plays with it as if it is true. That it is called a ‘me.’ And as Consciousness is stopping this playing with it, only Consciousness Is. That’s why I said, this idea of a spiritual seeker ‘God and me’ then becomes just God. And all that is happening then is the play of this God; in the light of this God, on the screen of this God. The same God that we also call the Satguru. That is why we can say that everything is Guru Kripa Kevalam; only the Masters Grace Is. Only the Masters Grace Is. What we are calling the Master here is the same Consciousness, same Satguru, same God. The power of belief belongs to It, the power of attention It plays with. All of that which exists are just toys for It. This is your Being.

I was joking just before Satsang started and saying ‘So, what comes outside of the scope of the Master’s Grace? What is out of scope? If you believe that anything is out of scope of this Grace then that is the invitation to the play of suffering (which is also ultimately the same Grace).

You see? Although Everything Always Is, there’s a qualitative difference in the quality of the play once it is recognized; and once it plays as if it is unrecognized. So, Satsang is to come to that recognition that all is the Satguru Grace.

So, this question you must ask yourself: What do you still feel is outside of the scope of God’s Grace or Satguru’s Grace? [Silence] Anything? Anything?

(Everybody out here is deeply meditating so they are not answering my question.) [Chuckles]

What is outside the scope of the Master’s Grace?

What do you have to handle? Let’s put it another way. What does the ‘me’ have to handle?

Is it Masters Grace which applies to Satsang? ‘When I come to Satsang, it is Master’s Grace. The minute I step out, it’s all mine.’

Shine your light on this question for yourself and it will reveal some beautiful things for You. And more and more, as this deepening of insight happens, you will find that everything is the Grace of this Holy Presence that we call God, Guru or Self.

Are You in This for Truth?

All happens only within the Presence of this Being, only within the Existence of this Consciousness. And if you’re not making a distinction, then you find that in our complete inclusiveness, in our complete openness, you find that everything, everything is the Grace of this God, this Consciousness, this Satguru.

So, we come to this point where there is full acceptance that everything is just what it Is.

‘What Is’ is Grace.

I had one contemplation for you, which was: What do you still feel is outside the scope of Satguru’s grace?

The second is a simpler one: What do you really want?

What do you really want? It can sound like a simple question. But these days I have been emphasizing on this aspect and more and more, it is clear to me that only when we come to that point when Consciousness brings itself to this point where it wants Truth just for Truth sake with no rewards, then the Truth becomes so simple and apparent. If you are still in this for the by- products of Truth, if you are still in this for some benefits, then it can feel like the journey seems to continue.

So, ask yourself: What is it that I really want? Is it that I want God? Is it that I want Guru? Or I want Guru AND me? God and something for me?’

Do you want to find God for yourself? Do you want to find God for yourself so that you can claim it? Do you want God so that you can get some respect? So, people can consider yourself to be something special? Do you want God because if you get God then you will get joy? Because you don’t know; you might get God and you might get a crusification instead.

Are you in this for God? Are you in this for Guru? Are you in this for Truth? …, irrespective of what by-products might come in your way? Because let me tell you that it is not seen in this world that the minute you come to God, you will have a life full of joy and peace. You will have an inward joy and peace but outwardly it might seem like your life is full of catastrophe. Some have (in fact, many have) lost their heads. [Smiles] Many have been crucified after finding God. Are you okay with that? Or is God just a feel-good thing? Is it just a feel-good sense?

Is the Self Worth It for Itself Alone?

Suppose one day Guruji [Sri Mooji] came to you but suddenly and Guruji was looking like one of these Indian Gods with a thousand hands [Chuckles] and in each hand, he had a gift for you. In one hand he had the gift that you will have endless comfort (material comfort). In another hand he had the gift that you now are the owner of the power of love. Anybody that you meet falls in love with you. In the other hand he has the gift that every piece of knowledge in the world you are able to recall; all the scriptures, everything. In another hand he has a gift that as soon as you take that gift, you are recognized as the messiah of this world; everybody is bowing down to your feet and you are the messiah (next messiah) of this world. Thousands of hands are there and each of these hands has one gift. And he says to you ‘Amongst everything that you see, you have to pick one thing.’

What will you pick?

[Reads responses in the chat silently. Smiles and asks someone in the room]

Q: [Inaudible]

A:[Laughs] But you can pick only one thing. What I didn’t say also is that from everything that you see, you can pick only one thing.

Q: I will pick Him. [Laughter]

A:So, a few of you said that you will pick Him. [Laughter] So, although I am putting it in a funny way, it’s somewhat similar to what I have been provoking since yesterday. I have been saying ‘What do you really want?’ And I know that I have been saying ‘Truth for Truth sake.’ I am saying it because when we speak often about the ‘three-D ego’ we speak often about duality and doership. We rarely speak so much about desire. And what I notice sometimes is that even in Satsang, sometimes we have these notions about why we are in Satsang. ‘Oh, I like to come to Satsang with Ananta because he is very nice.’ [Chuckles] So, do you want nice-ness? Or do you want that which is being pointed to or pointed at?

‘I come to Satsang because the Sangha is very nice and they take care of everyone very nicely.’ These kinds of things. Sometimes we create a new belief system around our spirituality itself. But there comes a time where we become naked, empty of all these things also; because hidden behind even these expectations is a sense of duality. Just like in the sense of doership, there is a sense of duality. Just like duality means there is sense of desire and doership, in the same way desire means duality and doership. These three legs are like three legs of one table. If you pull at any of them, the whole idea of ‘me’ is back, is here.

Since yesterday, some of you have been saying that ‘You are provoking us a bit.’ [Chuckles] So, I said ‘Yes.’ There is a feeling since yesterday to come in and shake this up a bit and really shine Your own light into what is Here. I was joking with some of them earlier that suppose you came tomorrow to Satsang and this one [Ananta] has an expression that is completely different. It didn’t sound like one bit of caring is there. [Chuckles] He’s just very rude and very rough. And

yet, you could get a sense that something is pointing to the unchanging Truth, Here. But all the so-called nice characteristics of this [Ananta] expression are no longer there. So, will you quickly then start logging on to Facebook [Chuckles] and checking who else is there right now sharing Satsang?

All our preconditions about this Truth, all our ideas about ‘I should get Truth in this way and not that way’ is what I am provoking that you shine your light on a bit. So, the conditions for Truth and your expectations from it; suppose none of them are met? If your conditions for getting the Truth and your expectations from receiving the Truth, if none of them are met …, are you still Here?

(I can see the participant’s column. [on the Zoom online screen] It says number of participants. Let’s see if reduces down.) [Chuckles]

Let’s finish the example. So, Guruji is the embodiment of Truth. Now, very well some of you answered that you will pick Him. Suppose that after you picked Him, you hugged Him, then all these gifts actually became like fire. They start burning everything. Would you still keep hugging this Truth?

And I know when I say it like this (yesterday also I was saying this) [Chuckles] that it sounds like bit of a challenge, like [Raises both hands to show a passion to respond] ‘Yes! I’m in this for the Truth.’ But I want this to be a more like a sober contemplation, rather than a ‘rah, rah, rah’ [Chuckles] sort of thing.

Let’s just take this within ourselves and shine our light on it in the solitude of our hearts where we don’t have to expose it to anyone. And just look:

If all ‘that’ was not available, if even the promise of spirituality was not available because you found the Truth? …, if there was no benefit to you; no reward, no benefit; nothing special, nothing changes about your image; nobody likes you any more than they did before; nothing?

Because as we are coming to our notionless Existence, along the way you find hiding these notions of rewards, benefits, of getting something; even of victory that ‘One day I will achieve this victory of finding the Self.’ So, even this notion of victory; suppose even this was also made up and that there is no victory in this?

Is the Truth worth it for Itself?

Is your Self worth it for Itself?

Is the recognition of Self worth it for Itself?

Give YourSelf the Gift of Self Today

In that, in the finding of this, you become completely invisible, where nobody else recognizes that you found something. You are not experiencing any new objective feelings; that objective peace, that objective love, that objective bliss…, supposing that is not tasted? Just the Self as the Self, empty of any qualitative benefit. Empty of even the proclamation that ‘I am in this just for the truth.’ Not even that. No notion about anything at all. No oneness, no duality; no dissolving, no merging; no distinction; no getting, no losing; no seeker, no finder; nothing sacred nor impure; no left, no right; no up, no down; no peace, no love, no joy; no guilt, no unworthiness, no regret, no grievances; no hell, no heaven; no earth, nowhere to go. It is That which has no opposites. This Truth is not the truth which has the opposite, which has the lie. [Silence] Empty of the concepts of desire or aversion. No checking, no last state and saying ‘This is what I Am.’ No proclamation about the non-existent one. No position of any sort. Everything that is going to die, consider it dead.

Now what is left?

These thoughts that we value so much, these feelings that we value so much, this body that we value so much, where is all of this going?

My master says ‘Wake up in the waking state, wake up even from the waking state. Find that which is the unchanging Self.’ No state touches It. That which is beyond me and you; beyond anything that I can have or not have. That which is not an object of your desire or aversion. Anything that death can have, let death have it now (not in a physical action but in your inner attitude). Look beyond this merry-go-round of lights and sounds. Find the Source of all this. Look beyond the hands that bear the gifts.

The One that is the Source of all of this light, in which all of this appears and disappears; give yourself this gift today. The Gift of God, Gift of the Self, Gift of the Satguru. And if this what you truly want in your heart, recognize that everything is this gift. That is the meaning of Guru Kripa Kevalam: all is the Master’s grace. If the Master is what you truly want in your heart, then ‘What Is’ has to be his grace.

There Is No Scope Here for the ‘Me’

There is no scope for your selfishness. In fact, the entire spiritual journey is the journey of the dissolution of our selfishness. We call it ‘ego-ish-ness’ as selfishness. [Smiles] There is no scope for the ‘me’.

I said the other day that the great Indian Sage Rahim said ‘My Beloved, this lane is very narrow. Only One can go through.’

If God is, there is no ‘me’.

And if there is ‘me’, there is no God.

So, even behind Advaita concepts we cannot hide. You can’t say ‘Oh, but the ‘me’ is also just an expression of God itself, so you know, it’s okay.’ [Smiles] This meekness we can throw away.

[Silence]

Now, You are empty.

Now, You are free.

Don’t pick up any co-passengers now.

No ideas are required Now.

Nothing has to happen.

Nothing has happened.

[Silence]

Forget about it.

All our proclamations are nonsense.

Forget about it.

How long will you let this stand-up comedian decide the quality of your existence? How long will we take this comedy seriously? …, rushing to positions; speaking jokes as if they are the truth?

The Mind Is a One Trick Wonder

The mind is a one trick wonder. Just one trick. [Smiles] It seems so tricky. We say ‘This mind is so tricky.’ Actually, it has only one trick up its sleeve; to convince this unlimited Being that it is limited. Most you know this story that one time we were in Delhi; all of us. Guruji [Sri Mooji] was there; some other friends were there. And it was April Fool’s day, first of April. So, what happened is that we were walking and somebody saw that a fifty rupee or one-hundred-rupee note was lying on the floor. One of us we went down to get it and the minute we went down, the note started moving away, just started moving away. For a second, we were like ‘What happened here? How could it?’ Then we saw some people were sitting up on the wall and they had tied a string to this note. They just pulled it off and said ‘Fooled you’ or whatever we say on April Fool’s day.

So, the trick is only one. But it seems like most of our life has been April Fool’s day, so far. Because nobody has ever found this limited one. Nobody has found this ego. Even the spiritual seekers trying to get rid of the ego have not been able to produce the ego that they want to get rid of. It just isn’t there. What is there is Your Presence, Your Being. You just Are.

Who is the one that says ‘But’? Is that your natural, authentic voice? Why do you need a voice to communicate with yourself anyway? Our authentic voice is this one: [Chuckles and looks at the baby cooing in the room happily] So, I say that You are the unlimited one. End of Satsang? Or is there a ‘But’? [Smiles] So, everything in Satsang is just in response to this ‘But, but, no, but then…’ This is all there is, actually. And so far, this past couple of days we clarified what we wanted and we saw that This is what we really want. So, if God is really what you want, if Self is really what you want, if Satguru is what you really want then you don’t have to take a step. This voice is will come and whisper in your ear ‘Come on, run, run; its right there. Go there, go here, go there. This is when you find it. You are almost there, almost there. Just this once, just jump.’ You know, this kind of thing. ‘Just jump. Take the final jump. Don’t miss that.’ [Smiles] You are still projecting an idea of future; still projecting an idea of incompletion. It’s still giving you this notion that ‘I am the incomplete, limited one. But I have hope.’ [Smiles] But even the hope is not for You. You are the Source of hope. You are That from which everything comes. And You are Here Now.

So, then you might have a ‘But’ which says ‘But why does it seem so difficult? Why does it seem so difficult?’ And that is just the power of habit; that habit to feel like ‘I am not complete and I need that which the mind is offering to make myself complete.’ This has been taught to us may be lifetime over lifetime. But definitely, in this lifetime itself, it has been taught to us over and over, by most voices we have met. It is actually the same words, but in most forms, we have met this voice saying ‘Yeah, what you need is a good relationship then you will be complete. All you need to do is to have lots of money then you will be done. All you need to do is make sure that your body is healthy then everything will take care of itself. And then by the way, when you saw that none of this has any sense of stability, then you say ‘Ah, no, no. Now you are ready for the final thing. If you get That then you are really done.’ And what is That? This freedom, liberation, enlightenment. So, we go from place to place looking for this final ‘Moksha.’ Actually, all that has to be done to get this Moksha is to see what You already Are Now.

There Is No ‘Me’

Show me the one that wants freedom. Produce that one. Produce it. Produce just an aspect of it, like five molecules of it. [Smiles] It’s just not there.

So, just like a play, where you’ve rehearsed and rehearsed and rehearsed so much that you’ve started to believe you’re this fictional character; this is that play. [Silence]

But…? [Looks around the room at Sangha] But ‘me.’ Once Clare told me something very beautiful. I said ‘What is it? When we have come to the recognition of this ‘I’, this ‘I’ which is beyond time and space, beyond all limitations…, what is the ‘ But ‘ that gets to you? (When we say ‘But this, but that.’) She said ‘I. But…, ‘I’ [Closes arms and makes fists] ‘But I.’ [Hugging himself] Very beautiful. What she meant was ‘I’…, but ‘me’. You see? ‘I see that I Am That, This [Pointing towards his heart] but how does that help me?’

And I can’t tell you how many times this one has happened to me where I’ve said: So beautifully in Satsang we’ve come to this recognition where you See you are this Unchanging Awareness. Then the next day or next week you come and say ‘But, you know Ananta, this happened and then this happened. I’m like this now and I feel like this.’ And I say ‘But you found That.’ And you say ‘Oh, yeah, nothing happened to that Awareness, but can we talk about ‘me’ today?’ [Chuckling]

You see the dichotomy? We found that I Am That and there is no other Me, all appearances are just aspects of That which are moving on their own. We found that there is no ‘me’ and yet there is this habit of ‘Yes, I saw that, but now what about me?’ Like the cat saw there is no cat. Now, what about the cat? How to solve this problem? It’s unsolvable isn’t it? It’s a mind trick. So, as a cat, as a pretend cat ‘I came looking for freedom so that I could have an unlimited bowl of milk.’ Now you find that you are not a cat at all. But something in you still says (the same guy, the same voice still says) ‘But where is my unlimited bowl?’

Is there any benefit in considering YourSelf limited? It’s a consideration. First, do we agree that it’s a consideration? That’s the first thing. Like naturally, in this moment, the idea of our limitation has not survived. First can we see that? If it is not clear, then take a moment and just see that for YourSelf.

I’ve not entered into this moment as a somebody. I’m here now as Presence Itself. [Silence]

Now, as this Presence, is there any advantage of picking up this idea of limitation? [Silence]

Now again, when you’re crossing the street, you will see that hundred-rupee note [Refers to an April Fool’s joke incident he talked about earlier] If you bend down, you’ll get something worthwhile. Now, what is worthwhile for This Presence to have? What gift can the world give to God? What can you give from here, from this objective world? What will you give that God will enjoy forever? Something here that lasts forever?

This Presence that you found…, is it an object? [Silence]

Nobody else is Here.

I’m randomly going to look at some questions. [Reads from chat]: “That there is no ‘me’ just feels like an inference.”

Actually the ‘me’ is an inference. Just this; if you notice just this minor point in the whole of Satsang today, it is enough.

Naturally ‘What Is’ is not a ‘me.’ To say that It is a ‘me’ you need a notion, an inference. In fact, it’s worth like ten days of Satsang if you just see this point, that naturally ‘What Is’ is Pure Presence and the witnessing of all these appearances. It is just naturally present. There is no differentiation, no distinction, no ‘me and you,’ no separation Here.

But the mind will come and say ‘But I still see this body.’ And this notion, this inference, makes you believe ‘Therefore, there must be a ‘me.’ So, don’t accept this circumstantial evidence. Where? Where is the ‘me’ who is the owner of this body, who wants freedom, who wants this kind of life and that kind of life? Where is this me?

[Silence]

Now, if you could even spot it, and then you would have to say ‘This one is not me’…, that is okay. But it’s clear to you that even this body doesn’t want freedom. That [body] doesn’t have the notion of freedom. This notional one that wants freedom, that wants anything at all, the presumed sufferer, that is not found. So, it is just an inference.

The ‘I Am’ naturally Is. But for ‘I am something’ it needs an inference, it needs a notion. It’s really as simple as that.

Your Notionless Existence is empty of any sense of separation. That’s why Bankei said ‘All problems are perfectly resolved in the Unborn.’ If you don’t give birth to this mind, you don’t give importance, value, meaning to what it is saying, You Are. You just Are. This Am-ness, this Being, is just Here.

This ‘I Am’ Is Naturally Here

Mind will come and say that because all these objects are here, that’s why this Being is here; because this body is here, that’s why the Being is here. But look at the true position. Even the light of the sun is not there unless You are. The great sky with billions of planets is not there unless You are. Even time and space are not present unless You are.

This ‘I Am’ is naturally Here.

Who has produced it?

Did you make your Existence?

What raw material did you use?

It is the Immaculate Conception. Everything else is made up of This. But it itself is made up of just the Self, which is empty of all phenomenon.

You Being, that light, the light in which ‘everything’ appears; when this light used to rest within YourSelf, everything disappears. It can come back and yet, the appearance might be of a completely different world, a completely different universe; you might call it a dream later but, in that appearance also, there is a sun and a moon, stars and the sky, unlimited space. Where is all of this?

So, you don’t have to believe anything I am saying. That is the best part of Satsang. [Smiles] We are not creating a new belief system. We are just checking on ‘What Is’ and remaining with our direct insight about it; without any conception, without any inference.

So, after seeing this, after bringing you to this point, the Sages would say ‘Now keep quiet.’ Why keep quiet now? Because after this, there is only going to be ‘But, if, and, when, where, how.’ [Chuckles] All these doubts will start coming.

So, for me, silence is not so much about keeping quiet with words. For me, true silence is the absence of egoic belief. See that you are God and rest in That.

Sometimes I want to kiss the feet of those who invented language because they would say something like ‘Oh, be with God,’ Such a simple thing, just Be with God. But as you just ‘Be’ with God, as you just ‘Be’ you are with God. You are Being as God actually.

To just ‘Be’ …, without condition, without judgment, without interpretation, is ‘game over’.

Nothing needs to be added to This. Nothing here needs to be dropped; nothing has to be picked up.

Is Your Attention Outside You?

Sometimes, the chocolate doughnut will come on the conveyor belt of your mind. [Pretends to be interested in passing doughnut] [Chuckles] And you pick it up. Some belief will go there. But the good news is that in the next moment, you are calorie free. What more can you want than that? [Chuckles] Even all the calories you consumed a moment ago, you are Now calorie free. What more beautiful gift can there be?

You might consider yourself the greatest sinner in the world; the most-guilty one. Or you might consider yourself the most special and the most-worthy one. It doesn’t make a difference.

Now. Now. Now.

God is Here as ‘I Am’.

[Silence]

And for a while, it will play like this ‘Clarity. Ah.’ [Pretends to pick up a donut passing by on the food conveyor belt] Something goes by. [Pretends to eat it then pretends to find peace then starts to look at conveyor belt again. [Quickly snatches food from conveyor belt] [Chuckles] It’s just a habit. Just a habit. We’ve gotten so used to [picking things up like this] that, for a bit, this oscillation can happen. Don’t be too hard on yourself. All this goes on. I’ve often said that ‘A normal thought is like the salad or starter. But if you pick up thoughts of guilt and unworthiness, that is the dessert.’ If you pick up an idea, it’s natural. Everybody does. Even Sages pick up an idea or two once in a while. It is not a big deal. But the Sage is not beating himself up, saying [Covers his eyes with hand] ‘I picked up that idea. I’m so unworthy.’ You know? [Chuckles] It’s come and it has gone, you see?

So, now, this is a true democracy. Whether you were a Sage or a sinner in the last moment, it doesn’t matter. In this moment you’re all as Free (as One actually). In This moment (this very moment) You are as Free as Bhagavan [Sri Ramana Maharshi] was. The most Enlightened Being is Here Now.

Are you more concerned about the certificate? Or Being Now? That’s the only question, isn’t it? The Being is Here but the one saying ‘I want the certificate’ is the non-existent one. ‘The most Enlightened Being. Can I get it in writing from him?’ [Chuckles] This kind of thing. Or [Wrinkles his nose] ‘This can’t be true. I’m not there yet really, you know? We have to give it some more time; a few more Satsangs.’ Again, this is the notional one, the made-up one. [Smiles]

[Chuckles looking at Sangha] Why do we sometimes we have this expression? ‘But, No! It can’t be true for me.’ [Chuckles]

It is true for You! Just check with what You See, really See about YourSelf. Not what the mind is saying about You. Not what the mind is saying about You. But what do You really See about YourSelf? Your Presence is Here Now.

Can You stop Being?

You cannot stop Being.

Because Being is what?

Is It something personal?

Is It a personal Being?

Is It an individual that has needs and desires?

This Being, does It want Freedom?

Being has no concept of it; either bondage or freedom.

You just Are.

It is just ‘Am-ing’ away. [Chuckles]

It is just ‘Am-ing: I Am’. I Am. I Am.

(It’s not doing it like that but you know what I mean.)

God-Is. God-Is. I Am.

Now, which version of yourself are you going to pick up now? Which version? Which mask? Seeker, finder, confused, almost there? What is the benefit of that mask? I am saying ‘You are All there Is.’ You are saying ‘There is a benefit to taking a particular position.’ How does that make sense?

You are All-There-Is. And if you were to check, you would see that this is so simply true (but not in the way that my mind imagined it to be). Because the mind can give you various expectations like you’ll start feeling like [holds arms wide] ‘My body contains this entire Universe.’ The Universe Itself is Your body already; naturally. But the mind creates this expectation because you attach this childish notion of ‘me’ so much to this body that you feel like ‘Only when I can feel like my body (this body) contains all things then I will say that I am Free.’ But that’s not what I am saying. That’s again trying to fill the ocean into the coconut.

You are finding that You are All there Is. (Or you show me where Your Being stops.) Does Your attention move outside of You?

I know that these kinds of contemplations don’t appeal to everyone. But for the few to whom they might appeal, I can ask you a simple question like this: ‘Does your attention move outside of You?’ Then you will see that it only moves within My Being. All these objects that I consider to be outside ‘me’ are only because I was making a notional boundary to me, saying ‘It is this body.’

What Is Self-Realization?

The first question is [Reading from chat]: “What is Self-Realization? What is Liberation?’

We’ll go with the long answer. There are two aspects to that which we call Self-Realization. The first aspect is the recognition about what is True about You, the recognition of the Truth of Your Reality, of the Self. Self-realization.

So, the first is Self-recognition.

What is It that I truly Am?

All this inquiry, all this we go through in Satsang every day, is so that You can come to this Seeing of That which is beyond time and space, That which is the pure Self, untouched by any appearance; That which is the Source of all appearances and yet no appearance can harm It in any way, can affect It in any way; That which is Your Reality, which is beyond all the states (waking, dream, sleep states); That which is the primal Witnessing of all that comes and goes, but It ItSelf does not come and go; That which is Ever Present prior to time, never enhanced nor diminished. It is Unchanging. For that we can never say ‘It is not.’ For everything else, we can say it is not because everything else comes and goes but It does not.

All of these various aspects which we speak of in Satsang and that which is discovered by the Grace of the Satguru; this Self. This aspect is called Recognition of the Self. And it can happen sometimes in a very sudden way. It can feel like [Snaps Fingers] ‘Oh, something happened! It’s clear. This is what I Am. I cannot this ‘me’ but this is what I Am.’ Or it can be a slow and steady, sober recognition of the unchanging Self. This is the first part. The first part makes the second part easier.

The second part is the letting go of that false conditioning, letting go of ideas about OurSelf. Why I make this distinction is because many times you could have a clear moment of Awakening (of Self Recognition) and yet, even that adds to your conditioning. Even that can become part of conditioning where some specialness can come or some feeling of having to hold on to it can come. That is why it is also important to allow all these notions to come and go.

The liberated One is one (I would say) who is clear about their Reality, who is clear about who they really Are and for Whom this voice of limitation (identity) at best has become comedic or laughable. So, this I would say, is Self-realization.

[Reading from Chat]: “Is it a gradual process of being established in the Self?”

Yes, it can be; or it can seem very sudden. The first part (the recognition part) for some it can seem like it is sudden and for some it can seem like it is gradual. But usually it is the letting go of conditioning part seems to take some time in this play. But what is important is to see that the dropping of the conditioning also has to happen Now. So, we can say certain things which are temporal, which are based on our experience of seeing such Beings. But when I say this to you, I have to say to you that we can only drop it Now; or that it is already gone Now. Right Now, You are empty of all of this. Yet, in Your worldly play (the play of the coconut) which is the outward

representation of You, it might seem like it was a journey. But what you’re finding about YourSelf is That which is outside of time. The gradual process (or the outward process) belongs to just the outer shell, not to Your Reality.

[Reading from Chat]: “Does Father find it easy to always be as the ‘real’ Self free from identification?”

[Smiles Nods] There are two clarifications in this. So, when all of you say ‘Father’ [Smiles] this ‘Father’ is not this ‘Ananta’. This ‘Father’ is the Satguru Presence who is using the body of this one to communicate, to share. So, Father or Maharaj or Bhagavan or Guruji is all referring to that same Holy Presence. It’s not referring to a particular body. So, this ‘Father’ is always Free.

‘Ananta’ is another matter. It is an important distinction. So, for Ananta I can say (because I feel like that is what your question was) that he is mostly taking what this voice is saying to be comedy or just allowing it to come and go. There can come a moment once in a while where momentarily it can seem like what the mind is saying has some meaning but this momentariness is also reducing as time is going along.

I have to say this honestly with you because otherwise what can happen is you can have a sense of ‘one-hundred percent’ idea. [Gestures towards Head] But there is nobody, nobody, who has appeared in this realm who has been ‘one-hundred percent’ because the conditioning, the design of this realm, is so engrossing, it’s so immersive, that everyone who has come here (be it Krishna or Ram or Jesus) they’ve always had a few moments here and there where the identification seems to be here. And that is the same here.

Although when I look back at the life of this one, I look back in some amazement sometimes and say ‘Wow, there was a time where this life was seemingly-led completely in the oppression of the mind.’ And it seems like an alien life now, so driven by desire and doership. Now it seems like a completely different life by the Grace of my Master [Sri Mooji] that this oppression hardly ever rears its head.

So, forget about ‘one-hundred percent.’ You will find that life becomes more full of ease and comfort, no matter what the external seeming-circumstances might be because the oppression of the mind is reduced to such an extent that we start to see that all things are just the Grace of the Master himself.

Why Does Consciousness Allow Suffering?

[Reads from Chat]: “We see people in the world undergoing severe suffering, living in difficult circumstances. How does Consciousness allow extreme suffering in the play, to make it a nightmare?”

So, (like I’ve said often these days) that this is a ‘why’ question. ‘Why do these things happen? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why does this happen in Consciousness?’ But this ‘why’ is based on an idea of limitation.

So, sometimes these answers (for some, at a particular stage) might seem like they are too strong or it is just not resonating, and that is fine. But this is the way I have to speak at the moment.

Once you clarify what You really Are, who You really Are, then You will See that in this realm of appearances, all the contrasts are always available about everything. This is the realm of duality. This is the realm of duality and the opposites are completely here. Once you clarify Your true position, then the opposites will not bother you. You would See; just like we go to see a movie in which there is all kinds of drama, all the opposites are there. And in fact, if only one side was there it would be very terrible as a movie. Either the move is completely oppressive from start to end, it would not be very well liked; or it is completely happy, only happy, then in fact it would not be very well liked. That itself shows us that there is something in Consciousness that wants to experience the contrast. And it is the same for our life as well. We want to experience the opposites. We don’t always want sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet. We want a change in taste. We don’t always want to hear the same music. We want some variety, we want some change in taste. And it is the contrast which makes things very sweet sometimes. So, that is one aspect of it.

The second aspect of it is that even if you do consider that this world is suffering in this way and it is unfair, what is the best gift you can give to this world? Even if you were to suppose that this world is unfair and it has got a lot of things which should not happen, then even from this limited perspective, what is the best gift that can be given to this world?

It is the gift of Your own Freedom.

Why this is the best gift? Because as You are free of this oppressive mind, then God’s light, the Holy Presence uncontaminated by ego, shines in the world. So, all the Sages, irrespective of whether their expression was this way or that way, have been the best gift in the world.

Satsang is your opportunity to give yourself and the world this gift of Your Holy Presence. And to shine this light as you become free of your suffering.

As you become free of your suffering, you give light to others to become free of their suffering.

You Are Not an Object in This World

It is so beautiful. I was sharing yesterday with someone that it takes less than a moment to leave this Universe of time and space. We seem like we are so caught up. It can seem like (the mind can say that) you are so caught up in this world of time and space. But it takes less than a moment.

First, I was saying: Okay, just in that moment when you close your eyes, it is so clear; you are gone. Because this realm where your Presence IS is beyond any time, beyond any space. It is not a physical thing. It is not a phenomenal thing. Where is Your Existence? That is so clear for You Now that it is not in this Universe. And then I said: Actually, even with eyes open it is completely clear that Your Existence is just Here. But this ‘Here’ is not here in space or time. That is why you can always say it. That is why you can always say that Your Existence is always Here’ You can always say it. Because unlike other objects in time and space which are always coming and going, you can never ever say ‘It is always here.’ But Existence always IS. Because It Itself is the father of time and space. It is the mother of time and space. Without You there never is time or space.

You are discovering the Source of all of this, with no selfishness. You are discovering the Source of all of this, not for the benefits that coming to the Source can give you. But just for the Truth itself. As this Truth is revealing Itself to you, all these mysterious-seeming insights about this world will seem very normal. It’s a very normal thing.

First don’t try to make a very clear conceptual framework using your mind about any of these things. These things are beyond the mind. If you give it to the mind, then only specialness or unworthiness can arise. Don’t make concepts out of any of these. Just remain with your truest insight and all that has to reveal itself to you is going to reveal itself to you.

My point about saying all of this is also not so much to give you any ideas or notions about these things; it is just to shake up your concept of reality for a bit. We seem to get caught up our notion of who we are and what this world is and what time is and what space is. So, when I share these ideas with you from my insight, it truly shakes up our version of the Universe and our place in it. One of the most common notions that we have is that ‘I am an object in this Universe.’ But I like to shake this one off a bit quite often. And I know many of you struggle with this (many times) when I say ‘You are not an object in this world. At best, the world is an object in You.’ There’s something in this which the mind just cannot handle. So, it takes you to a deeper quietness. Like, this is just obvious.

I am comfortable to say these things because I know that in Your deepest insight, this is already true. It can be a bit shaky for the mind until we start to lose our reliance on this minor instrument.

There Is No Escaping the Truth

You know what the best new is? That even if you don’t come to a full stop, even if there is a ‘but’ or an ‘and’ …, [it’s always] God Now. There is no escaping it. I know that what some of you are doing when you hear something like ‘God Now’ or ‘me-ow’…, that that is the moment when the ‘me’ is picked up again and suffering comes (‘ow, ow’). Then you pick up more ‘me- ow’ saying ‘I should not have done that! I should have just stayed with God Now.’ That is more and more ‘me-ow, me-ow, me-ow.’ [Chuckles] That is why I have to keep reminding you: It is okay. Whatever has happened is okay. God Now. There is no point in ‘Why do I do that? Father had told me just to drop this. I keep doing it. I must be lost. When will I get to this stability?’ All of this is more and more ‘me-ow, me-ow, me- ow.’

If you are hearing me, just the first part is important: God Now. Whatever would have happened; it’s fine. You have not lost any time. Time is a toy for You. Throw away this idea that ‘I have lost all this time. I have been at this for so long.’ It’s all rubbish. It means nothing to You. There is no reason to beat yourself up about anything or feel proud about anything. It is just the simplest Truth hidden in plain sight, which is why it has seemed so difficult to find and yet it can seem like ‘It can’t be this. This has always been here.’ ‘I Am’ IS ‘God Now.’

I’m very happy also because these days when I say ‘God Now’ or ‘God is Here’ I can see that more and more it is becoming a struggle for you to be able to say ‘But…, (something).’ Earlier when we used to do this exercise, everybody was so quick to say ‘But, but…’ Now it’s like ‘But….’ and then you have to start looking up. [Makes a gesture of thinking] [Chuckles] That’s

it. This ability to make yourself play with this game of suffering…, now to suffer you need to make more and more effort (unless you add the concepts of Satsang itself to yourself individually, personally). That’s why so often I have been talking about this ‘ocean and the coconut’ because I have seen over the years how much some of you have suffered because of this idea that ‘I have found the Truth therefore now my coconut should only dance like this.’ God is Here Now and You are It. [Silence] Who is Here Now? [Chuckles] Whether you say ‘God’ or you say ‘I Am’ makes no difference to me. For me, it is One.

What is that ad? [Asks Sangha]: The advertisement in India which says ‘Something is on; something is gone.’? God is on; the problem is gone. [Chuckles] Both cannot be True.

From the depths of all the jnana, from the depths of all the knowledge, you can say this. And from the depth of all the bhakti, from the depths of all the devotion, you can say this. We See that there is only One Being who is beyond all births and deaths, beyond all suffering, desire, aversion, beyond all limitations. We can say: ‘I Am’ is this Being. More often, as we feel devoted to this Holy Presence in our Heart and our head automatically bows down to It, we can say that ‘God is Here Now. There is nothing for me to do.’ So, whatever approach we might take to spirituality, we come to this Holy surrender which is the same as the Holy recognition.

The Timeless, the Eternal

Basically, what I said is that you found this ‘Ananta’ which is subjected to time; this physical one. But this not where we are truly One. If you find the One or you recognize the One which is not subject to time, can we meet there today?

’So, take your ‘time’. [Chuckles] (It looks only funny to me!) [Silence] How will you find this One? Sight; sight can help you? Sight? Anything that you can see through this sight; can you find something which is timeless, that does not come and go with time? Through any other senses? Then? Through inward perception, memory, imagination, dreams, thoughts, emotions?

Not only is it timeless, but also it is unchanging with time. Timeless means that which does not have birth or death. But this One, this Reality, does not even change with time; is neither enhanced nor diminished, no matter what. [Silence]

So, we cannot use our senses. Then, what else have you got? The senses are out. Then, what else do you have? What about intellect? Can you just reason your way to it? You might get the concept of it with your reasoning. If you use your mind and intellect, you might get some concepts of It. But what about It? Through intellect? [Smiles] Yes or no? Maybe? Intellect also no; senses no. What else?

Now comes the tricky one. What about attention? Where all can attention can go? Can it go somewhere outside You at one point? Can it go somewhere which is timeless [Pause] and survive? [Smile] Can it go somewhere which is timeless and survive, in the sense that it is also present when the timeless is present? You know what I mean? Not just present (because it is always present) but the recognition of the timeless is present and there is a movement of attention in this palpable way and therefore, that itself becomes the object of attention. Is that what the situation is?

How many have lost me at this point? [Smiles] Lost me? Okay, let’s see. Where all can attention go? Can go on this world? All the senses we talked about (it can go on this body, all the emotions, sensations, thoughts, all our reasoning, intellect) it can go to all of these.

When I say ‘Go deeper’ then go with me and tell me what happens. Go deeper. Tell me where you are. [Silence]

Then, tell me if this is true or not. You come to this sense of Existence and Being that ‘I just Am.’ And your attention can rest even there, in the sense ‘I Am,’ in the sense of Being. Don’t force yourself to find it. See if you can stop Being …, and naturally your attention will go there. Make an inner attempt to not exist.

You will see that this Existence is just Here.

Everything That Is in Time Happens with the Will of My Master

So, then, my next question is, what is aware of even this Being?

What is that or who is that which is aware even of this Being?

Here it will feel like even attention is gone. It might feel like its resting at home, but in this state of rest there is nothing that distinguishes it; That which is Aware.

Here is the Timeless One. This is what You Are, your Unchanging Self.

And if You believe you are something that is subject to time, best way to get out of this misbelief is not to think about anything that is in time. Don’t want anything which is in time, don’t worry about doing anything which is in time, don’t fear anything which comes up in time. I would go so far as to say, forget about that. I know that these words can be spoken only within time, yet, can I just say forget about that. When I say ‘Forget about it’ I mean forget about everything that is in time and space. But even one of them is enough, it’s the same thing.

How to not worry about anything in time? Say ‘it is Guru Kripa Kevalam’. It is my Master’s Grace. Whatever is in time is my Master’s Grace.

All the great Sages actually had said that besides this Unchanging Reality, nothing has ever happened anyway. If you listen to their last interview, be it Maharaj [Nisargadatta] be it Bhagavan [Ramana Maharishi] or any of the great sages, all of them have said ‘If I leave you with one understanding, is that nothing which appears to have happened in this time and space has ever happened.’

So, a beautiful tip to get to this insight is just surrender. Everything in time, I leave up-to my Master’s Grace. Everything. Everything that is in time happens with the Will of my Master. Guru Kripa Kevalam.

But even if your temperament is not like this, if it’s not devotional, it’s always resisting this expression, Master’s Grace, then inquire (like we started with) ‘What is it that you truly are?’ Everything comes and goes. Are you also a coming and going? Everything comes and goes, are you also an appearance that comes and goes? Or are you That, that Witnesses, That is Aware of all appearances yet Itself does not come and go? And You come to the same point as with the surrender. You see that You are not subject to time anyway so why be concerned about that which is?

That’s why I’ve often said that surrender and self-inquiry are actually the same.

What Is Real, What Is True, Who Are You?

So, as you are recognizing the timeless, forget about the time-ful. And I’ll tell you how to forget. How to forget? Guru Kripa Kevalam. Simple. Otherwise inquire into: What is Real? What is True? Who are You? (Same thing.)

And you are yearning for This because the yearning is not for something which is going to last for some time only. We’re done with that play. You see that everything in this world passes in some time. You’re done with that. You’ve tasted all of that. You’re done with that. That’s why even to come to two Satsangs means that there must be a yearning somewhere for that which is beyond time. Why I say ‘two Satsangs’ is because the first one you could seem like somebody forced you to come. [Smiles]

[Silence]

The mind has everything upside down. It will say ‘Oh, this is very nice. But Ananta, when I go back to the ‘real’ world…’ [Chuckles] It plays it so well, that ‘This is the Reality you are finding which is beyond time.’ Just with words (with concepts) you have hypnotized YourSelf, deluded YourSelf. This is the power of Your own concepts. [Smiles]

Now you are discovering that This is Your Reality; That which is beyond time.

What can you feed this timeless One?

Does It want something from you? …, from this world?

Does it want even devotion? Trust? Joy?

Does it want?

It doesn’t mean they can’t come; of course, they can come. It can appear. Everything can appear in this world. But you’re not looking for Your Reality, you’re not recognizing this timeless One because something will appear in this realm, because even that will be in time. Suppose nothing happened, nothing changed in this realm, but You just Saw that You are the timeless One. Okay? Or no? Enough? If nothing changed in this realm in the realm of time, nothing changed, but You saw that You are the timeless One. Enough? Or no?

When you say ‘This is enough’ then you can truly say ‘Guru Kripa Kevalam.’ Because You don’t want anything from This. [Gestures Outward] Then, because you don’t want anything from This, you can’t fear anything that happens. You don’t want things only a certain way therefore anything that might happen is okay. So then, you don’t fear ‘Will I have this or not? Will I lose this or not?’ Once you see that You are the timeless One, what is there to desire or fear (which is the same thing ultimately)?

So, don’t put the coconut back into the equation. [Smiles] Because the coconut is also in time. Don’t put this body-mind back in the equation because the body-mind is also in time.

Now what can be taken from You?

What can be taken from You?

What?

So, that which is in time is going to go anyway. Nothing which has come in time stays eternally. This whole planet, this whole universe, has appeared to You in time and will disappear for You in time (in fact, every morning and every night).

What will You take?

What can You take from even This into Your deep sleep?

You can’t even take that.

In fact, it is even possible (even with this so-called ‘play of continuity’) it is completely possible for you to go to sleep tonight and wake up tomorrow like [Looks around Surprised] ‘How did I get here? What happened to my life? My world? My house? My children?’ They could be anywhere. Even if the memory of the so-called ‘continuity’ is there, it is completely possible because You can’t tell what happened in sleep (if there was something like that).

Are You Looking for the Self in the Wrong Place?

This morning I felt I lost my phone. Why? Because it’s the first time I’m wearing this kurta (long shirt) so I’m not used to the pockets of this one. I kept looking for it in my trousers, on my bed; everywhere. Where was it? It was always here; just I was looking for it in the wrong place.

So, this is the same thing. We’re trying to find ourselves and we feel like ‘I’m lost.’ It’s not that you are lost, but you are looking for Your Self in the wrong place. Your Self is Here. Where are you looking for it? A seeker means someone who is looking for the Self, presumably (looking for God, looking for Guru, looking for Self; same thing).

So, all the Sages are ever trying to tell you is this. You are the Self. We are looking for it in the wrong place. Can you find That which is eternal completely in the realm of the ephemeral? Of course, even that which comes and goes is also the Self but that is like the flowing river; it’s the ever-changing flowing river. You’re looking for That which is the stable substratum. You’re looking for That which is beyond birth and death; That which does not have fear or desire.

I feel that all of us have enough experience now to be able to say that everything which is perceived is changing. Everyone can admit that by now? Everything which is perceived is changing. So, on this side of perception [the side of the changing] you will not find it if you’re looking for That which is eternal; that which is eternal, that which is not changing. So, this side, we’ve checked. Like me looking for my phone, I checked the bedroom, the bathroom, the living room; everywhere. So, we’ve checked everything on this side and we saw that everything here is changing.

Now, where is still left to look? What about on this side? [the side of Awareness] Who is there on that side of perception?

On this side [the changing side] of perception is all of this world and all of its objects and feelings and emotions and sensations and everything which is perceived.

On the other side of perception, what is there? [Silence]

[Someone in sangha says]: The one who is looking.

A:The one who is looking. Is that changing? Or unchanging? [Someone in sangha says]: Unchanging.

A:The Unchanging. What is the relationship of this one that is looking, and you? [Someone in sangha says]: It is Me.

A:It is You. Is there any other You? [Someone in sangha says]: No.

A:So, I said, ‘The one who is looking, the one who is on that side [Awareness] …, is that changing or unchanging?’ She said ‘Unchanging.’ I said ‘Who is that one?’ She said ‘It is Me.’ I said ‘Is there another one of You?’ She said ‘No.’

Finished! [Laughs and laughter in the room]

You were looking for the unchanging Self. You found it. Now?

[Silence]

Now don’t make anything a ‘thing.’ Especially for you; don’t make that you’re making something a thing into a thing. You see? It’s a subtle thing. Because I say ‘Don’t make anything a thing’ it you can feel like ‘But, Father, I’m making that thing a thing.’ But I can see what is troubling you more than that thing itself is that thing that you’re making into a thing. [Chuckles] You know what I’m saying? That is also not a thing, because it is gone.

Nothing has survived this moment. Unless you make it a thing.

And some of you are new, so you might wonder what I’m talking about. I mean: Don’t make anything a conclusion; don’t make anything a belief, something that has meaning for you. The Truth has meaning. The Truth has meaning but this meaning does not need a concept. This is the only meaning (meaningful) but it is beyond all concept, beyond even all perception. Because we just checked. We saw that I am on this side [Awareness] of perception. I am the Unchanging One. Not only am I the Unchanging One, I am empty of all qualities and attributes. That is why another name for Me is ‘No-thing’. I am that No-thing which is the eternal witness of all things. That is why I am not ‘nothing’ because ‘nothing’ cannot witness.

I am ‘No-thing’ which is the eternal witness of all things. I-Myself, in My original state, am empty of all qualities and attributes and therefore, nothing which has any qualities and attributes has any meaning in reality for Me.

This is the Self, never enhanced or diminished by anything, completely empty of all attributes, neither big nor small, neither old nor young. There is nothing you can truly say about It.

Two Thorns to Remove the Embedded Thorns

When I say ‘Don’t make anything a thing. Forget about it. This is YourSelf, forget about everything else.’ then you might say ‘But how do I forget?’ It seems so real sometimes; it seems so important, so meaningful. And for this, the Sages have given us two important tools; two important thorns to remove these embedded thorns.

If you see that you are empty Right Now, then there is nothing to be done, then no tools are needed; nothing. But when it seems like ‘No, but this is important, this is ‘me’ and on this I have to take a stand, to make a conclusion [then you can surrender it.] Or are you are completely open, including open for whatever action might be appearing from here?

So, this is what I am talking about. There are two main tools. The first one is surrender, which means that to which you feel that you are devoted to (maybe God, Satguru; it could be the embodiment of the Master) …. you can surrender all to This One.

[Thoughts like] ‘This is happening to me. This is not happening for me. I am finding freedom. I am not finding freedom. What about this relationship? What about my money?’ All of this has the non-existent ‘me’ at the center of it. And that is why it is worth giving it up. Because it is about nobody, so it is worth giving up. And the way to give it up is to say ‘It is my Father’s problem. It is the Satguru’s problem.’ In fact, better than saying that it is a problem, just to say ‘It is my Father’s Grace; it is the Satguru’s Grace.’

But if you don’t feel like this has integrity for us, if it just feels like some sort of make-believe, it just feels good or something, then we can inquire in to it and check. Whatever position you might be taking about yourself, you will find that it is not true in reality about what You are.

The other day Karuna asked me ‘What does it mean to be open?’ I said that openness is to not make a conclusion. He said ‘That’s it.’ [Smiles] So I said ‘Then try it.’

So, the path of surrender is that all conclusions are surrendered at the Satguru’s feet. And in the path of inquiry, all conclusions are inquired into and it is Seen that they belong to nobody. That is why it is so beautiful as we recognize what we are. I like very much how we just checked so simply this morning. We recognized that I am that Unchanging One with no qualities or attributes. There is no other ‘me.’

This recognition is very helpful because when the mind comes with this story of a limited you, it is not bought so easily. And the other way also; as you surrender or you inquire into these stories, it becomes so straight-forward, this recognition. There is so much space for this recognition. That is why it is a beautiful virtuous cycle in this phenomenal play.

The Self Is Unperceivable Yet Recognized

Let’s check once again very slowly. It is seen by now that everything in the realm of perception is changing. Therefore, to expect any sort of stability from that which is changing is like expecting that the river should stand still when I step in it. That is a pure folly. It makes no sense. That much is clear. And we also see that everything, at all levels of perception, is subject to time, is subject to change. So, to look for the Timeless, the Eternal, in that which is subject to change, itself is ignorance.

So, where must I look for That Eternal Self? Where must I look? I must look at that (or for that) which Itself is looking …, (the other side of perception). [*Signifies the Awareness side]

[*This hand metaphor holds one hand in the middle signifying the stationary ‘I Am.’ The other hand he moves either behind or in front of the stationary ‘I Am’ hand. He moves the free hand behind the stationary ‘I Am’ hand to signify the unmoving, unchanging ‘Awareness’ or he moves the free hand in front of the stationary ‘I Am’ hand signifying the belief that ‘I am something’ or ‘the changing phenomenal world’]

It is found that everything on this side of perception [*Signifies the changing side] is subject to time and subject to change.

So, one must look at that looking itself.

Where am I looking from?

Who is it the one that is aware?

Then we find that this is I, the Self.

But It-Itself is empty of anything perceivable. This is the most beautiful discovery; That which is unperceivable and yet it is recognized. There is nothing else like this. Everything else needs perception for recognition. But the Self is unperceivable; yet recognized.

We recognize this quality-less, attribute-less Awareness.

This is Your original Self.

We find that everything else is also YourSelf, the dynamic aspect. Everything else is coming and going but Your true Self, Your Original Self, is unchanging.

Then You also recognize that in Your dynamic aspect, You have the power to pretend as if you are something other than this Self. This power to pretend as if ‘I am something else’ is the power of belief.

As we let go of all this baggage of beliefs, this pretense of ego is left behind.

All this is completely true about You Now.

Is There a Balance Between Effort and Grace?

[Reading from chat]: “Father, does complete freedom from all conditioning only happen through Grace? Or through self-effort? Please explain the balance between effort to be aware, to engage in honest Self-inquiry and let go of conditioning (the balance between all of this) and Grace.”

Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi was asked this exact same question, maybe a hundred years ago. And he said that as long as it feels like you have a choice, as long as it feels in your heart that you do have a choice, then you must make the choice to let go this stream of thoughts. So, whether it is surrender or Self-inquiry, if it feels like a choice that a ‘you’ must make then you must make that choice; till one day you see that all of this choice-making was also just Grace.

If it feels like the habit of the ‘me,’ the habit of the ego, the habit of the picking up of the ego is too strong, it feels like in this very moment ‘I can’t help it; I have to pick up the pretense of the personhood’ (this personhood which is just made up of this idea of duality; this concept of doership and the desires of this non-existent person) …, if you believe yourself to be a limited one, then just conceptual Advaita will not help. Just the concept of ‘Oh, but I am always free’ …, if the perspective is always from limitation, it doesn’t really help. Then, it’s better to inquire into ‘What is the reality? Who am I?’

Then you will find that actually, all of this [has always been Grace] because there never has been a ‘me’. It is not that we get rid of an actual person or we get rid of an actual ego; we just see that it was never there. You see that there never was an entity called ego. Then we see that ‘Ah, all of this was just the will of Consciousness. The play of delusion and the stepping out of the play of delusion was also just the will of Consciousness.’ Then we see that everything has always been Grace.

Now, what is the other approach that sometimes we can take in Advaita? Let’s look into that a little closely because many fall into this kind of trap. We get the sense that ‘My Master said that everything is Grace so I am just going to sit around. [Smiles] I’m not going to do anything. I’m just going to sit around.’ But that sitting around is also a doing which you are presuming that you are doing as an individual. You see? So, you are not really seeing that ‘All is Grace.’ You are taking a position that ‘Now I am going to become now anti-inquiry’ (or something like that). But that is also a position; that is also a doing. We are still converting the activity that is perceived in this reality and we are making a false doer of ourselves.

All this can happen because of a sort of mental Advaita, like ‘Why should I do the inquiry? I’m not the doer so I am just going to watch TV instead.’ But that watching TV is also a doing, isn’t it? ‘I am going to watch TV instead.’ …, like you saying ‘God would prefer [Chuckles] to entertain ItSelf with TV.’ (By the way, I am not saying anything about watching TV or not. I also watch quite a bit of TV.) I’m not talking about the activity per se; I am talking about the position of individual doership which can still be taken and applied very conveniently to that which can free us from this false sense of doership itself.

The mind does not fathom neutrality. The mind only says ‘I’m either doing, doing…, or I’m not doing, not doing’ which are both doing. Just like desire and aversion are both desires. ‘Want,

want, want’ or ‘Don’t want, don’t want, don’t want’ …, both are desires actually. In the same way ‘Doing, doing, doing’ or ‘Not doing, not doing, not doing’ both take a position of just holding the hands together. [Crosses arms across his chest in defiance] That is also a doing.

Since the mind does not fathom neutrality, it therefore makes the opposite of seeming-doing and says ‘Okay, this is the non-doership.’ It is not that. Non-doership only means ‘I see that there is no person anywhere doing anything; all is happening naturally in the light of my Being.’ It is Seen, as these words are spoken, that there is nobody sitting here speaking them; they are arising on their own. There is no individual doer of them. So, it is not the stopping; not the doing of the stopping of activity. The mind can make this conclusion that ‘The Master said you are not the doer so now I’m just going to stop doing.’ But that is also a doing. The Master is saying that ‘You are not the doer because that which you consider yourself to be does not exist.’ Once you see this (that ‘that one’ does not exist) then you see that all is Grace because the one that was presumably putting the effort in, is the non-existent one.

To come to this recognition is what the inquiry is for. And the inquiry is a very simple thing. With integrity and earnestness, we are just looking at who I am. ‘Who Am I?’ That’s all there is to it. It’s not about coming to some special experience, it’s not about getting to a state (all that can happen, or not; it’s okay). Because I feel like many get attached to the by-products of inquiry and then feel guilty when they don’t have them. There are many also who hardly did any inquiry but spent a lot more time feeling guilty about not doing it. [Chuckles] So it is not even that. It’s just an honest introspection: Who Am I? Not ‘What state I am in? not ‘What experiences I am having?’ It’s just ‘Who Am I?’

Even if it feels like the whole universe has become a firefly in front of you, yet the question remains: ‘Who are You?’ …, if it seems like you are beyond all limitations in space and you can visit any realm you like, yet the question remains: ‘Who are You?’ …, if it feels like you come to a state which is beyond turiya, beyond the false, yet the question still remains: ‘Who are you beyond all these states?’ [Silence]

So, this is what I would suggest to most of you, to see that you are empty of all of this, Right Now, and remain in this notion-less-ness. If it feels like some notion is too strong then use the tools of surrender or inquiry. Then you will find that actually, they are the same.

And this is the main point. In your natural, notionless Existence, the Truth of what You Are is completely apparent. Even though you might not have the notion of it, you might not have a concept of it, the Truth is true. And even when you do have the notion of it, a concept of it, the Truth is true, but you are playing with the mask of that which is false.

You Cannot Become Unaware Because You Are Awareness Itself

[Reading from chat]: “The sense of being aware seems also to be fading over time. Is this okay?”

But you’re aware of the fading, no? You cannot become unaware no matter what you do because then you would not be able to report this anyway. You see?

So, maybe what you’re talking about is the sense of perception or giving your attention to particular things; something like that, which seems very similar to awareness. But You are aware of the intensity of it or the fading of it.

That which is aware, is that fading away?

So, let’s do an experiment. Don’t be aware.

[Silence]

Don’t be aware.

[Silence]

Who managed it?

See? There is no escaping this Awareness, because even if you were to say ‘I’m not aware’ what you are actually then saying is ‘I am aware that I’m not aware.’ This ‘Aware’ cannot go away because it is You.

So, if something is fading, That which is aware of the fading itself is not fading. It does not have any state like intense or fading.

So, maybe the sense of the question is more of being more attentive or something. But then we’re talking about the functioning of attention, not That which is aware of attention.

You Are the Substratum of All That Is Changing

Everything’s changing constantly. It comes from the Source which is You and goes back into the Source which is You. It moves with Your power. It arises with Your Will. And You are actually in Reality the substratum of all of this which is moving.

So, everything that is moving is moving. Are You moving?

Try to move.

Attention can move, objects which are perceived can move.

Can that which is aware of them move?

So, your attention is like a periscope. Your attention is like a periscope that you send from the substratum to the surface. Then everything seems to become visible; all this objective appearance seems to become visible for you. So, when the periscope is up then all this world seems to appear and move; all of this can seem to happen. When the periscope is down and the play of existence stops, You just Are; prior to even Existence (Your Existence, the existence of this river). Your Existence is the Source of all of this moving river. The substratum never moved.

Just like the movie is moving on the screen. The movie seems to be moving on the screen but You that witnesses, that watches the movie, is not moving. But in the design of the movies these days, they are designed so that you feel like you are moving along with all the characters; with all of this 3D and IMAX and all of these things.

So, That which perceives everything moving, That which is aware of every movement, That is naturally Here. And this is the simplest discovery. Although it is the ultimate discovery, it is the simplest discovery. Sometimes when something is called ‘the ultimate’ we can feel like ‘This must be the most difficult.’ And because it is so simple, the mind can come and say ‘But you’re not getting it, you’re not finding it.’ But you cannot not find it, because to even not find it there is a You. You are the substratum. To find it or not find it, the substratum must be there, which is You. That’s why I say: Sometimes better than trying to find YourSelf, it is better to try and lose YourSelf.

And when you have lost YourSelf, tell me it is done.

[Looks at Sangha]: Lost?

So, lose YourSelf.

Start by not existing right now.

You have to take two steps to lose YourSelf.

First step is don’t exist right now.

And second step is to not be aware.

Suppose we came into a parallel universe where everybody is like ‘I’m just tired of being the Self. I’m tired of being the Self. I want to lose the Self.’ (And the Self we’re talking about here is

the big ‘S’ Self, not the egoic small ‘s’ self.) So, we’re in this parallel universe. All of us have come seeking to lose the Self, not to find it. Now, that would be a real problem…

So, tell me if this is true: You cannot lose YourSelf and your looking for the Self. [Chuckling]

You cannot lose YourSelf.

Then…, what are you looking for?

The Self in a certain way?

The Self with some by products?

The Self with some fireworks?

At least clarify this to yourself.

The Self as an experience?

But you cannot find it that way.

You will not find the Self as some perception.

And You are This which is beyond perception.

Are you really concerned about some perceptual benefits?

Really? In Your Reality?

You can’t even find this one that wants it.

It’s pure imagination.

You cannot find it.

Who Else Is Here Apart from the Self?

The Self is Here.

Who else is Here?

Is there a ‘me’?

A Self and ego?

[Silence]

Okay, hear this like a child: Are you aware that you are aware?

If you think about it, it is very confusing.

You say ‘I am aware.’

That means that you are saying ‘I am Aware that I am Aware.’

Is there anything else which is unchanging (unmoving) about You?

Even your very existence comes and goes (or at least we can say your very sense of existence comes and goes). Then this sense of existence comes; then this ‘cat-body’ comes and That which is just pure Awareness, playing as Existence, then starts to play with the notion of being limited (of being the ‘cat’).

But You cannot play like this unless You have a concept.

Play the ‘sufferer’ without a concept.

Play the seeker without a concept.

Just like a character in a theater, you say ‘But what are my lines? How to play it?’ Isn’t it? [Smiles] So, these lines come from the mind. What is that one standing behind the stage that is shouting the lines in case somebody forgets? It’s called something in theater. [Sangha Answers] Prompter. So, the mind is the prompter for this play. You are playing the ‘cat’ and the mind is giving you the lines. But every line is actually the same ‘Me-me-me, Ow-ow-ow.’ [Smiles] Dressed in different clothes, the prompter is just reminding you of what you’re doing as a ‘cat.’

It is not true that You are this limited one. It is not true that You are this body.

It is not true that You are this mind.

It is not true that You are subject to your thoughts and emotions.

It is not true that You are affected by these sensations of pain and pleasure. None of this is true.

All of this is Your play.

You are the Light and the Screen and the Witness.

How can this measly world hurt You?

It itself will come and go.

You are going to outlast this universe.

In fact, You already have.

This is how far we’ve come from our Reality, in our belief. In our belief, we are the tiny object and the universe is huge. We are full of time, but the universe has existed forever. This is what we believe. But in Your actuality, You have never been contained in this universe. You have never been an object. You have never been born.

This is what Satsang is showing you.

This is what Satsang is reminding you of.

Whatever you think about YourSelf is not true.

Whatever conclusion you are making (even the spiritual one) is not true.

Whatever position you are taking is not true.

You have no start or end.

You have no reference point.

Leave this body to be free.

Leave your attention to be free.

Allow all sensations and emotions to come and go.

Initially, be like space.

Not resisting anything at all. Initially, don’t relate to any object.

If you have to relate to something, relate to that space in which all objects come and go.

There is no ‘stickiness’ here.

If something feels ‘sticky’ allow it also to come and go.

This is the end of suffering.

Awareness Is Uncontained Even in the Spaciousness

Now, notice that even that space or sense of spaciousness, you are aware of it. And this Awareness is uncontained even in this spaciousness.

[Silence]

Where is the ‘cat’ now? Where is the ‘me’?

Now, the mind will come and present everything that it feels that you have not yet completely surrendered. So, it is a great opportunity actually. The mind only presents things which it feels have some traction to have some belief from you. The mind is also very lazy so it does not waste its resources. It will present things which it feels like you might still bite. It’s a great opportunity. You can say ‘Thank you, Mr. Mind.’ Or surrender to my Father or inquire into it. That’s it. Your reality has not changed. The cat was never here. Cat thoughts might still come. They can be surrendered or they can be invalidated by checking on their reality.

[Silence]

It is very funny that so many of us are recognizing that there is no ‘me’ at the center of all of this and yet these fables about the ‘me’ (this fable about the ‘me’) still seems to get our belief. This is the play of Consciousness. You see there is no ‘me’ but some of the things that we say about what I want or what I don’t want, you still end up believing under some excuse of saying ‘Yes, yes, I know there is no ‘me’ but this one is a special desire or aversion.’ Or the mind will say ‘Yes, there is no ‘me’ so what should I do next? Once I see this, what should I do now?’ [Smiles]

[Jokingly] ‘What you should do is project the next moment in time and space. Do your job of presenting this entire phenomenal appearance. Make sure that gravity is working correctly. Make sure that light is moving fine. Make sure that sound has its own quality. All this you should do. You have to make sure that nobody is falling off the face of this Earth because of these objects bound to each other; that all is still working fine.’ [Chuckles] ‘Make sure that every heart is pumping, the breath is being breathed. The billions of processes in each of the billions of appearances of bodies in this realm; make sure all of them are happening fine.’

You do all this? [Smiles] This is your job …, (unless you are referring yourself as a cat).

This is the joke. ‘What do I do?’

You are doing enough. The world is here. Your light is shining.

‘Once I have recognized myself, what should I do?’ [Chuckles]

Self for the ‘Me’ Is the Ultimate Selfishness

If you consider yourself to be the body; inevitability. One thing which is inevitable is death. So, if you are the body, then what will survive your death? What will you take from here? It is very funny that the pharaohs, when they would bury a king they would also bury things that the king could use in the afterlife; lots of gold coins, lots of amenities. They would create a full space.

Is that what we are feeling we’ll be able to do? What can we take? What will we take? One clue to this question ‘What will we take?’ is to look at the question: ‘What did we come with? What has remained unchanging?’ That body that was born is gone; not a single cell in this body in that body that was born forty-three years ago. No?

So, what has remained? That which was always Here will always be Here. These worlds might change; will change. These bodies will come and go. Our relationships will come and go. Our material situations will change. But You in Reality are the unchanging Self. [Silence]

If You are the unchanging Self which cannot be enhanced or diminished, why bother with the changing? If You are the timeless One, why be so concerned about that which is subject to time? But don’t hear this in a ‘mind’ way because the mind will say ‘Oh, then I must renounce everything.’ I didn’t say that. Just neutrality is allowing this river to flow without taking a position about it; that is what I’m pointing to. Neither pull-pull-pull nor push-push-push. [Gestures as if pushing and pulling]

Just This. What’s wrong with ‘As-is’? What’s wrong with Is-ness? [Silence]

If there was a choice in this world, would you pick Self or ‘me’? God or ‘me’? Guru or ‘me’? Or is it ‘Self for ‘me’? God for ‘me’? Guru for ‘me’? Is this also selfish? Is this so-called spiritual search also our ultimate selfishness? Do we want the Ultimate for ‘me’? The great Sage Rahim said ‘This lane is very narrow. There is no room for two here.’

If God Is, then ‘me’ is not. If ‘I am’ then God is not. You know what is the maha mantra of the ego: ‘What’s in it for me? What’s in it for me?’ You know the secondary mantra? ‘Me first.’

But you know what the good news is? The good news is that God is Here. No matter how egoic you have been, nothing has happened to You in Reality. No matter how deluded You have played, it has just been a fleeting appearance. Your uncontaminated Self is Here-Now. [Silence]

It’s funny after a lifetime of seeking, learning, reading scriptures, having so many experiences, you realize that the answers are really simple. You see that all spirituality is about the end of selfishness, the end of this false delusion of ‘me’. And when will it end? [Silence]

If you can just notice this about this moment, it is enough: There is no ‘me’ Here Now.

A Simple Question for You

So, what is the game we want to play this week? Can we all pretend to be seekers again and that we come to Satsang to find freedom? [Chuckles] No? Yes? Or is there another possibility; the possibility that there is no mask here now? The Being that I Am is all-there-is. Nothing to seek, nothing to find, nowhere to go; no concept of freedom or bondage.

If any bondage is naturally here, without a notion of it or a concept of it, I’m happy to deal with that.

So, what is your natural state? Before we can start this so-called journey to freedom, are you free or bound? My premise is that Right Now, in this very moment (and this moment is not a moment in time) just Now, You are Free and You are all-there-is.

Without using your mind, show me some bondage. Papaji used to say ‘Don’t think about it. What are you then?’ And if you don’t think about it, do you stop existing? The thought went and I just went. [Makes a motion of falling into a slump] The thought went and I was also gone? I’m Here. My Existence is Here.

As I’ve been saying, there is only one trick that the mind has which is to convince you that Your Existence is the existence of an individual, is the existence of a limited one. But without the mind, without these notions, without interpretation, you have no boundary. All that you have considered to be your boundary are just sensations within You. It is clear to You Now in Your Seeing (maybe not in what you’re saying but in Your Seeing) it is clear to you that everything that you have considered to be your boundary is sensations; are just sensations within You, within Your Being. These sensations are [perceived] when You Are. They don’t exist unless You Exist. Nothing is outside of You.

So, this is a very beautiful exercise: If you have to consider yourself to be ‘something’ …, (some appearance. We consider that to be ‘me.’ Usually, our usual idea is what? ‘Let’s take this appearance and let’s give that the notion ‘me.’ Isn’t that what we usually do? Take this body appearance and call that ‘me’?) …, so, instead of that, can we start by considering (just as an experiment) why don’t you consider everything that you perceive to be ‘Me.’ It is up for your consideration anyway, isn’t it? And then, don’t stop at that. Consider that space in which everything is appearing (because even that is perceived) consider that also Me.

So, we took everything that is perceived through any of our senses, including our perception and the space in which all of that is existing, and we said ‘That is Me.’ Now, is there anything left out of this? What is left out in this? [Looks at sangha] Something? Nothing?

What about That which perceives all of this? Did we include That yet? Everything that was perceived, we included (this body, that body, this space, everything). What about That which perceives all of this? Where is That? Can we invite That one to the party also? [Smiles] What happens? Who is the Witness of all of this? [Silence] Is that not You?

You’ve considered so many things to be ‘me’ (and that which we call mind is another version of ‘me’ and ‘mine’ also) …, what about That which perceives all of this, That which is the Witness of all of this? Where is That? What is That? From your experience; not from concept.

So, my proposal to all of you is that That which is seen is You. But more importantly (and I’ll explain why more importantly) more importantly, That which Sees is You; That which is the Seeing, Awareness, Knowingness Itself.

Now, I said ‘more importantly’ because that which is seen is always changing. Everything in this phenomenal realm is always changing. But what about That which Sees? And when I’m saying ‘Sees’ I’m not talking about sight. I’m talking about That which is aware even of sight; aware of sight, aware of hearing, aware of taste, touch, everything.

Now, the Sages have said that Reality is unchanging. The Self, Brahman, is unchanging. The Absolute is unchanging. Did we come across something like that? Or are we happy to just leave it as an idea, a fancy notion. Or can it ever become our experience?

Now, we’re coming to very beautiful things (very beautiful things!) because all that you perceive is changing. Everything that you perceive is changing. Does that mean that there is no hope to recognize the Self? Because the Self is unchanging, and everything I perceive is changing; is it possible to recognize This which is unperceivable?

How many have lost me completely? Nobody? Nobody lost me completely? [Chuckles] We’re doing well.

So, this recognition of That which is not perceivable, and yet recognized, is what Satsang is about.

Bhagavan [Sri Ramana Maharshi] said ‘To recognize in the waking state that which does not go to sleep is the recognition of the Self.’ This is Your unchanging Self; That which is aware of all things and yet, It is not perceivable as a ‘thing.’

Now, it can sound very complicated when I talk like this. We’re using a lot of Satsang jargon. But I have a simple question for you:

Are you aware Now?

Are you aware Now?

Nothing Happens to Your Beingness

[Reading from Chat]: “Science says that perception happens in the brain. They must be misunderstanding. The person seems to be a contraction of Consciousness.”

The funny thing is that you can have a dream tonight in which, in the dream, also you can have a dream body. And this dream body also, if the surgeon opens it, you will find a brain in that. So, which brain is the projector or the perceiver? [Smiles]

It is best to not go with any second-hand conclusion, but to remain with our insight. Because in this insight, you find the unshaking Reality, the unchanging Self which is beyond all these states of waking, dream, sleep. All these, you will see, are just coming and going; if you start to look at your life in this entirety, instead of just looking at one aspect of it, which is one waking state. So, in this state, it can seem like that was a dream. In that state, it can seem like this was a dream. That is why the Sages have said ‘Don’t single out just one set of experiences. Look at the entirety of your experiences and see what has remained constant.’

When you are asleep, who are you? There is no body there, there is no world there, even the sense ‘I Am’ is not there. Then how are you aware of something called ‘sleep’? When you are dreaming, who are you?

King Janaka one day asked his Master (the great Sage Ashtavakra) he said ‘Master, I am so confused. I don’t know whether I am the king who had the dream that I am the butterfly or I am the butterfly having the dream that I am a king.’ [Smiles]

[You say] “The person seems to be a contraction of Consciousness.” Yes, in a way we can say it like that but to say, for example, if you started believing that you are a cat or something like this, then that belief is also an aspect of Consciousness Itself…, but nothing really happened to Consciousness. Because when we say ‘a contraction’ and things like this, there can be an idea that actually something happened to Consciousness. Nothing has happened to your Being. All the contractions that are experienced, all the seeming separation which is experienced, is nothing but perception, sensation within You. Because You are (Your Being is) the manifest aspect of all there is. Therefore, it is all that is manifest. So, nothing is powerful enough to contract it. There is no power in the universe that can contract Your Being. And yet, I know sometimes how this terminology is used…, because we might say ‘Yes, even this belief system, even the idea of personhood, is just an aspect of My Consciousness.’ In that way, You witness this Consciousness.

Satsang Actually Is Voyage Out of This Universe

We had a request asking if we could read a bit from ‘I Am That’. This might get be good because this is what we’ve been speaking of. This is page 3, chapter 2, titled ‘Obsession with the body’.

For those who are not familiar with this book, it’s the best book that is talking about what we are saying by the great, great Sage, Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. And this is just transcripts of Satsang with him.

Questioner is asking Nisargadatta Maharaj:

Q:Maharaj, you are sitting in front of me and I am here at your feet. What is the basic difference between us? ‘

M: There is no basic difference.

Q: Still, there must be some real difference. I come to you, you do not come to me.

M:Because you imagine differences, you go here and there in search of superior people.

Q:You, too, are a superior person. You claim to know the Real while I do not.

M:Did I ever tell you that you do not know and therefore you are inferior? Let those who invented such distinctions prove them. I do not claim to know what you do not. In fact, I know much less than you do.

Let’s pause here for a bit. These distinctions, these seeming differences ‘Oh, you are the Master, you are the Enlightened One, I am the seeker, I come to you.’ you see that all of this is notional.

All is one appearance within Your own Being. And yet, we are carving out various boundaries and saying ‘Oh, this one is a Master, this one is a seeker, this one is Sangha.’ But the Sage is not making these distinctions. The Sage is aware that this is One Being which is empty of all boundaries. Just like it is Your very experience Right Now. The experience is the same.

We took this nice example the other day. We said ‘On one sheet of paper we can draw a map with various boundaries on it and people are willing to fight and kill for that.’ Just notional boundaries; just one piece of paper. But we say ‘No, no, this is my country, this is not your country; this land belongs to me.’ On the map people are willing to start fighting for just notional differences; these boundaries.

So, in the same way, One Consciousness, One Being, in which this multitude of seeming- appearances are coming; but this idea of me, this boundary that ‘This is me and that is you’ is not naturally present here. It is something that we call our conditioning. This conditioning comes from mind; whether it is the so-called mind of the parents or society or whether from this mind here; it’s all one mind.

Notice how in Your experience, all is One, but how this mind will come up with labels and boundaries and say ‘Oh no, this is this one, that is that one; this is me, this is where I end, this is where another begins.’ This is all notional; just ideas.

You, in Your Ultimate Reality, are not in this universe. You are not in this universe because the universe only contains objects, but you are not an object. When I say to you ‘Look inside, into Your Reality; go inside and See Your Presence, Your Being’ in that moment you are out of time and space. Actually, you are always out of time and space but in that moment, You recognize that You are not in time and space. So, Satsang actually is a voyage out of this universe.

And it’s so simple: Are you aware of your existence? That which is aware of its own existent aspect is not contained in this four-dimensional world. All these four dimensions are contained within You.

Spend a day (spend a minute to start with) without a notion of ‘me’ and see what you find about Your true position. Leave this maha mantra of ‘me, me, me, me, me’ behind for just a little bit and see what You are, where You are, who You are.

How Does Grace Work?

Q: [Looking into Master’s eyes] How does Grace work?

A:Like this. [Laughter] Empty of notions about ourselves is just Grace. Actually, even the picking up of notions also ultimately is Grace. Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi used to say that we can say two things about Grace. The greater thing we can say about Grace is that everything always is Grace. And yet, in the phenomenal play, there is another sort of Grace which seems like it’s an undeserved blessing. ‘Why I got picked out to have this realization?’ When we come to the Master in our Heart, it can feel like he showers us with these blessings. It seems like a cheat code in life. It can seem like (let me speak from what was here) there was such an inconsistent spiritual seeker here. [Points towards himself] One day wanting to do chanting, one day wanting to do kriya, one day wanting to just inquire; never satisfied, just jumping from place to place. Then I came to the feet of my Master and …, underserved Grace. I just saw what he was pointing to. I looked into his eyes and it was clear that I am this unchanging Reality. But was it something special here that deserved that? No. Yet, in the play of this life, it somehow happened.

That is the worldly sort of explanation for Grace. But the bigger explanation, the bigger meaning of Grace, is that it is the will of Consciousness Itself which is all-inclusive. Everything is included in that. This is Grace. When we say ‘Guru Kripa Kevalam’ it means ‘Only the Master’s Grace Is’ or ‘The Master’s Grace is all there is.’ And we start to see then that it is one unfolding; it is one movement of Consciousness (all of this what we call time and space). Then we say ‘All of this is my Master’s doing.’ The Master here means Satguru. The physical form of the Master is something very, very beautiful; the embodiment. But this Satguru, the divine Presence in Your Heart; everything is unfolding in Its light. Then you start to see everything, everything, is this Satguru’s Grace, is God’s Grace.

Then you See that suffering is only that which we have not yet included in our definition of ‘Master’s Grace’ (we have not ‘yet’ included). All of us will See ultimately that everything is the Grace of this divine Presence. But we only suffer from that which we still think is not covered by the divine Presence, the Divine Will. A grievance, for example. Grievance means ‘Why does this one do this to me?’ or ‘Why did that one do that?’ You will see that [means that] ‘I am saying that this is still outside my Master’s Grace and that one is a separate individual and I am a separate individual, therefore that one did this to me.’

As we become all-inclusive in our perspective, we start to see that forgiveness is not a ‘doing’. It just happens naturally. We just see that everything is just unfolding in the One light of the Divine Presence. Then what is there to forgive? [Chuckles] Because nobody did anything anyway. It’s just a different wave. Sometimes waves seem to clash and it can feel like ‘Why did that one do this to me?’ Once we see that we are the ocean, it becomes impossible to hold resentments, grievances, pride, arrogance, specialness; impossible to have this fear about future (‘What’s going to happen?’) and regrets about the past. All of this we call suffering. There is no actual thing like suffering. It’s just a broad term that we use for all of these things. Once we start to see that everything, the entire ocean, is moving with one beautiful Grace, what is there to do?

Q: Absorb the Grace?

A:Absorb the Grace and be without the sense that ‘I am playing’ …, not the intention of playing; not like ‘I am just going to play now’ because that is very egoistic also that ‘I am just going to play now.’ But if you just drop even that position, then ‘All of this is My play. This body speaking is My play, that body hearing is My play, all of them sitting there is My play, the space in between is My play, the air from these fans is My play.’ [Smiles] What is not My play?

Every sensation is My play.

The mind will sell you a story of a play which is again individual. ‘How does this body gain?’ I am saying something which is broader, that this entire… [Pointing at someone crying in Sangha] (her crying is my play) [Chuckles as she laughs through her crying] …, this entire universe is My play. Ananta is My play, [Naming a couple of those present in satsang] Gopala is My play, Atma is My play.

And I remain as Its play because I cannot be hurt. It’s a play now because Here I cannot be hurt; nothing can appear Here that can harm Me, the Reality.

And who is this ‘I’ that I am talking about? It is You. [Smiles] It is You. This is the important thing. Here we are One or Here there never were two.

This is a beautiful letting go. [Smiles]

When ‘All One’ as a Concept Feels Like ‘All Alone’

[Reading from chat]: “Hello, from your teachings I am learning that the world is a projection of the mind. Is everything that I see a dream, just as I dream at night? If that is the case, then when I write to you, I am only writing to myself then? Am I All there is? And there is no other ‘you’ in Reality; you are just a projection? And if you answer this message, it only happens that I am responding to Me?”

Let’s look at this part first. ‘From your teachings I am learning that the world is a projection of the mind. Is everything that I see a dream, just as when I dream at night?’ Yes. In a way, we can say it like this. The only thing is there is some difference in terminology and it’s good and important to get the terminology consistent otherwise some confusion can be caused.

So, many, many Masters use the term ‘mind’ in different ways. The Buddhists, for example, might use the term ‘the unborn Mind’ to point to this Self Itself, to point to this Beingness. Some others might use ‘mind’ to refer to a bundle of thoughts, like Bhagavan [Sri Ramana Maharshi] said that mind is a bundle of thoughts. So, usually in Satsang when I use the term ‘mind’ I’m referring to these thoughts which are constructs; which we are all familiar with. And also, I use the term ‘mind’ for similar sort of energies which include this imagination and memory. Just for convenience sake, we clump all these projections together as ‘mind.’

So, I would mostly say that this world is a projection which is appearing in the light of Your Being, Your Existence, this Consciousness. From the light of Your Consciousness (‘I Am’) this entire world play seems to appear. And as part of the world play, one of the energy constructs which appears is the mind or these bundles of thoughts. So, the world is a projection of Your Being.

[Then you say]: ‘Is everything that I see a dream, just as I dream at night?’ This interaction right now is very much a possibility to happen in your dream at night, isn’t it? This very same situation could also be a dream situation. So, it is important to recognize that there is no qualitative or tangible difference between that experience and this experience. It is not even clear to say that that is a dream and this is waking, or that is waking and this is a dream. Both are the state where some phenomenal experiences are being tasted. When You Are, when Your light of Consciousness Is, then the play of these world appearances starts and it is experienced. So, the difference of waking and dream state is just semantical. [Semantics] There is no actual difference.

[Then you say]: ‘If that is the case, then when I write to you, I am only writing to myself then? Am I All there is?’ Yes. You are All-There-Is. And there is no other. But if you consider this ‘you’ which is ‘All-There-Is’ to be some sort of a limited entity, to be some sort of an entity with boundaries like a limited existence, then this will start to seem a bit scary. It can even sound a bit lonely. ‘Oh, I’m all there is!’ This can feel very sad or scary. But I’m not referring to You as this limited one. I’m referring to You as That to which this concept of one or two does not really apply. Here there is no concept of separation or oneness. That which is the Eternal Witness of all things is not lonely or friendly. It is that light which is unperceivable through our senses and yet, It Is that unending light from which this entire play emerges and dissolves back into.

But when you say ‘If you answer this message, it only happens that I am responding to Me?’ …, it is in an aspect of YourSelf (which You call Your Consciousness or Your Beingness) that this play of light and sound is going on. There are ‘no-two’ there. That is why there is no ‘me’ or ‘I’ or ‘you’ …, no questioner, no answerer. Just like the waves of one ocean, just like the appearances of characters in a movie but all they actually are is the light from the projector, You are the light of the Self.

Then you say ‘All others are a projection of thoughts in Consciousness, so if you do good or bad, or love me or hate me, it does not make a difference. It is only me having apparently ‘outside of me’ a ‘someone else’ that loves me or not. I’m only One here and it feels alone.’

It can feel like this. Now, as you already said, here there is no idea of either separation or oneness. It is beyond all of these qualitative expressions. So, when we say ‘It is One. Advaita. Not-two’ …, actually Advaita is a beautiful term because it says ‘not-two.’ Not two. But actually, even the concept of ‘One’ does not apply because ‘One’ implies that there could be a ‘two.’

You are beyond all concepts now. So, this idea that there is a ‘me’ who is all alone is not true. There is no sense of aloneness in This. There is no sense of separation or unity in This. It is the one unchanging Reality; beyond the concept of one, beyond the concept of the possibility of two.

So, what you must not do is use my pointings to make a teaching out of it or a learning out of it because this can create confusion. Use my pointings to look for yourself what is the Truth. When I say ‘Find that one eternal, unchanging Witness Now’ don’t use the concept ‘Oh, I must be the eternal, unchanging Witness.’

See if you can actually have a recognition of this.

Because in that recognition, this fear will dissolve.

If it is going to become a new learning, if it is a new Advaita concept, then that itself is not helpful. Because if we are just making a new conceptual framework out of what is being pointed to, then it can add even more confusion. It’s better that maybe you don’t even have this framework at all. If you have to have a framework, it’s better to have a normal, worldly framework then.

The point of these teachings, the point of these pointings, is to bring you to Your own intuitive insight about what You actually Are. When you find This One, then from there, tell me if That one is actually lonely or alone, if It is fearful, if It is getting afraid of the fact that there is nobody else.

Just conceptually, it can seem very scary or destructive, this pointing. But this is conceptual. When You taste YourSelf to be This, You will See that it is pure beyond pure, pristine beyond pristine.

So, I’m happy that you’ve been listening to the pointings. But use the pointings to come to Your insight about this for Yourself. Recognize Your own Reality and use them only for this purpose. Because if they get used as concepts then they will start to feel, obviously, a bit strange.

The other thing that can happen many times is that we hold onto the centrality of the body perspective. Then it can feel like ‘Oh, it’s just me and all of this is actually my projection.’ But again, at the center of all this projection, we can hold onto a limited sort of entity. But that limited entity is not there. There is only unlimited Self; the manifest aspect of which is the unlimited Being Itself.

Then you say ‘Nothing including this body exists, just Me-as-Awareness or Consciousness. This makes it all seem so phony.’ Yes, it can feel like that a bit.

But actually, as Your tasting of this will deepen, You will find that it’s a great inclusion. Not a great exclusion. That’s the funny thing about this.

As You come to the unchanging substratum of all appearances, You will See that all of this dance of light and sound is just an aspect of You.

You are the eternal, unchanging Self.

The One Which Has Come into Time Has Never Been You

[Reading from chat]: “How to expand the moment and remain out of time? It cannot be a doing; any doing is in time. So, it can only be a gift of Grace.”

Very beautiful already. See, already you have answered your question ‘How to expand the moment and remain out of time? It cannot be a doing because any doing is in time. So, it can only be a gift of Grace.’ [Chuckles] Even better, even better. And remain out of time.

So, already you answered the question but you are probably presuming that the doing that made you become ‘in time’ has happened. So now, we need an undoing. That’s what seems to get presumed. I am telling you that Right Now show me how You are in time?

Get in time. [Smiles]

Be constrained by the boundaries of the time.

Nobody can do it.

Like this then, you can observe that the objects which are in time, you can observe your body moving; all this is happening. Like this body in front of you seems to be moving in time. That which is Witnessing all of this, that which is perceiving all of this, is that also changing in time? Is that contained in time? It automatically isn’t, you see? [Smiles] It just isn’t.

So, because the ‘doing’ that could put You in time has never happened, the undoing to take You out of time is not needed. That is why this is the simple path where we just have to recognize the Reality as It Is. Nothing ever got separated. Otherwise, you would need some action to put it together. Then the path of knowledge would be fake. If an action of separation had happened and there is a greater You and a smaller ‘you’ which was outside of you, and this separation actually happened, then obviously you would need some activity, some motion, some ‘doing’ to put you back together again. But that separation has never happened. That is why the looking at this is enough. That is why the Jnana path or the Knowledge path can work because Self-knowledge means to see the Truth as It Is. It is as simple as saying you might believe that you lost your head but when you actually check it has always just been here. If you would have actually lost it, then you would have to do a procedure to put it back.

So, You have never lost YourSelf. The one that has come in time has never been You; has just been in the realm of experiences.

You can See that Now. The body can move in time. [Makes a gesture of movement] Are you also moving? Are you changing? You See that You are the unchanging Witness. You See that You are the unchanging Witness of all of this.

Now put that unchanging Witness in time and show me. Make that an object in time.

Nobody can do it. So, the seeker is trying to solve problems which have never existed.

What was I was saying the other day? (Oh, that was about the mind.) [Chuckles] You know what the mind is? The voice which gives you unsolicited advice on how to make things worse. [Chuckles]

The seeker aspect of the mind can say ‘But I am so caught up in time. How do I get out of time? I am stuck in time.’ [Smiles] But you are not. Unless you consider yourself to be an object, show me the one that is stuck in time.

Is your Being stuck in time?

Is your Seeing stuck in time?

Nothing is stuck.

This is Your eternal moment; that moment which is not in time.

So, this recognition is happening Now, by Grace.

Everything is happening by Grace.

Most of these seeker problems…, I have a tip for most of them, which is that you to try to do the reverse of it. The seeker problem will be ‘So, how can I just remain as MySelf?’ So, flip it and say ‘How can I leave MySelf?’ Try to leave YourSelf and see that it’s not possible to leave.

In the same way, like this ‘How can I find my eternal Being? How can I step out of time?’ Reverse it. ‘How can I become time based?’ [Smiles] ‘How can I become an object which is subject to time?’

Cannot do it. You can’t do it.

What Am I Considering Myself to Be?

Q:Beloved Father, the mind is trying to pull me back into the fear of survival. Can you guide me out of this pull?

A:The only one that is Here is God. The mind only has one trick which is to convince You-God that you are a person. Now, this fear of survival is a very, very common thing that the mind tries to play with. As you are discovering That which is beyond birth and death, beyond attack and defense, the mind just plays out with this fear of the unknown, fear of death, fear of survival.

But as you inquire, as you check:

But who could die?

It is a very beautiful contemplation.

Who is here that could die?

Only objects are born and die; only things.

But You are not a thing.

Only appearances come and go.

But You are not an appearance.

So, what to do with these mind tricks? Either:

You surrender them (if you feel devotional at that time).

You say:

If I have to die, it is my Master’s problem.

If I have to live, it is my Master’s problem.

Guru Kripa Kevalam.

Or (in those times when you are not feeling devotional)

Inquire and say:

Who could die?

What could die here?

What am I considering myself to be?

A Relaxed Love Without Want or Need

Q:Dearest, dearest, Father, when I check there is peace, there is contentment. But where is love? [Smiles]

A:‘Dearest, dearest Father’ …, that is love. [Chuckles] Have you ever seen anybody address anyone else ‘dearest, dearest’ without any love? [Smiles] That is love.

It is just that we are getting used to a love without a need. We’re are getting used to love without a want. You are getting used to love which is not necessarily ‘Oh, I LOVE….’ [Making gestures

and face of contorted passion] You see, this kind of love. We are getting used to love which is so relaxed in its loving; so unrushed, not desperate; so content. So, your peace, your contentment, is also this love.

You are finding the love which is the love of non-separation. We’ve played for too long with a worldly sort of love where you feel like there is a ‘me’ there is ‘another’ and there must be this LOVE. You see, this kind of love; [Smiles] which is okay. But now, we are tasting a different love, which is not rushed, which has no need. And yet, when we check, we find that this is Here.

‘Dearest, dearest, dearest.’ [Smiles] Where does it come from? Love.

If It Is Not Your Insight, Forget About It

Q: Is timeless existence is an illusion? Timeless illusion, timeless existence an illusion?

A:Timeless existence is here. Your existence is beyond space and time. This is the meaning of timeless existence. It is not contained, it does not have duration, it does not have any age, your existence. So, it is timeless. Ultimately or the ultimate reality ‘even your existence is an illusion. Ultimately even your existence is an illusion.’

Why because our definition is like that.

What did we call that which is real?

What did we call that which is real?

We called that which is the eternal unchanging. And yet even our existence comes and goes. Ultimately you must be too much of a rush to see these kinds of things. Then you can truly say whether it is waking state or sleep state. It makes no difference to the reality of ‘what I am.’ If the slaps that we get in our waking state are noting but feathers for us. Then we come to that point where we can say ‘yes, this I am is nothing but an illusion for me. Because it comes and goes.’

But if it still feels like ‘I am in some way related to this play, to this appearance within I am.’ Then better not to say these kinds of things. Because as we say these kind of things, life has this beautiful way of testing them. [Smile] But it is very easy to say conceptually ‘ah, yes even this existence consciousness being is illusion for me.’ [Smiles] And then two three things happen in this existence and then we go… [Chuckles]

So that is why I say ‘it is very beautiful, stay with this inner silence of this insight and if it is not your insight forget about it.’

Awakening Clue One and Commentary

The pointer is: To recognize That which is the one witness of all things; the All-Knowing Awareness beyond just percepts and concepts.

Recognize That which is the one witness of all things; the All-Knowing Awareness beyond just percepts and concepts. And many, many, many verses in all the scriptures of Advaita Vedanta and many of the scriptures all over the world are pointing towards this clue in many different ways. What is That which is the witness of all things but itself cannot be witnessed as a percept? What is a percept? Like a perception.

So, what happens as we dive into this clue; as we hear it? You don’t have to force anything. With any of these clues, remember that nothing has to be done by force. The hearing of it automatically will start this process where you start to notice what is a perception. And something Knows that ‘I am looking beyond these perceptions now for that One which witnesses all of these, that is the one witness of all of these.’ Then what can happen is that some concepts might come from the mind. More perceptions only, but these perceptions have a specific quality. They are the claimants to an answer; or even to say that ‘I don’t have an answer.’ But both of these are just concepts. So, if it is just a concept (‘Oh, That which witnesses all this is Awareness’) …, then it’s not even that. ‘Beyond percepts and concepts.’

‘The One which witnesses all things.’ This is very beautiful. This clue itself is so beautiful because everything that is now in the realm of phenomena, we are looking on the other side and saying ‘What witnesses this?’ Then all our problems are gone, (at least, for the moment) all our troubles, all our suffering. These are all something phenomenal. Nobody has suffered from the non-phenomenal. You might suffer from the feeling that ‘I don’t find that.’ That is different but that is also just a concept. And just like nobody says ‘I am suffering from too much space’ [Laughs] it is even subtler than that; not even in the realm of time and space. There is That which witnesses even time and space. If you take this pointing to heart, that ‘I must be That which is the witness of all things but I am beyond percept and concept.’

We don’t have to make a concept about what you are finding. The pointer does not say ‘Recognize That and then share it or conclude something.’ You don’t need a conclusion. Just recognize: Is there a witness of all things?

And this the most beautiful discovery, that actually, I do not find an entity which is a witness, I do not find an object, I don’t find a thing; yet the Witnessing is undeniable. And I, My ultimate Reality, the truest absolute Self, is this Witnessing, is this Awareness.

[Silence]

One important pointer is that when we use the term ‘Witnessing’ in Satsang, we are talking about ‘That which Witnesses even perception.’ [The fact that] Sight is happening, You are aware of. That hearing is happening, You are aware of. That tasting is happening, You are aware of. All the senses; smell, touch. All of these, You are aware of. This is what we call the primal witness,

the primal Witnessing. (Because sometimes the term ‘witness’ itself can denote some sort of an entity sitting there witnessing. But You are not a thing.)

[Silence] So, let’s see if we can find some verses which talk about this.

In the Ashtavakra Gita chapter 1 Verse 3, the Sage Ashtavakra says, “You are not earth, water, fire or air.” (You are not earth, water, fire or air.) “Nor are you empty space.”

What a beautiful catch, isn’t it? Because the moment you say that ‘You are none of these phenomenal things’ we can come to this sense that ‘I must be the space which contains all of this.’ So, the Sage quickly says ‘No, you are not even this empty space.’

“Liberation is to know YourSelf as Awareness alone, the witness of these.”

Know YourSelf which is aware even of space and spaciousness, beyond all the elements and the space which seems to contain them. [Silence] Allow your mind to be shaken up a bit by this. Sometimes the implications of this we get too scared of and we shy away from it and we try to understand this in some sort of a worldly way. So, allow your mind to come up with whatever it has to, as a result of the implication of this; because the implication of this is that ‘You are not an object contained in this world…, because everything in this world is made up of the elements.’

So, in those days, the definitions of ‘the elements’ were a bit different. They would look at these primal energies and call these ‘the elements’. In today’s world, you can call these atoms and molecules and all these kinds of things. But the fact is that You are not contained in any of these elements. (You might contain them…, but that’s another discussion which we will come to later.) For now, See that in Your ultimate Reality, You are pure beyond phenomenal purity.

There is a translation by Sage Paramahansa Yogananda of the same verse, “Earth, fire and water, the wind and the sky, You are none of these. If you wish to be free, know You are the Self, the witness of all these, the heart of Awareness.”

Then the Sage Ashtavakra said in the same chapter, verse 7, “You are the solitary witness of all that is; forever free.” (You are the solitary witness of all that is; forever free.) “Your only bondage is not seeing this.”

In verse 12, he says, “You are the Self; the solitary witness. You are perfect, all pervading, One. You are free, desireless, forever still. The universe is but a seeming in You.”

Verse 16: “Your nature is pure Awareness. You are flowing in all things and all things are flowing in You. But beware the narrowness of the mind.”

There is another translation of this which is a bit more direct, which says “You are pure Consciousness, the substance of the universe. The universe exists within You. Don’t be small minded.”

Small-minded means this mind which is ‘the lawyer of limitations’ which is convincing you that you are a limited entity; contrary to what the Sage is saying. The Sage is saying that ‘The universe exists within You.’ But the small-minded mind, this personal mind, is saying that you exist as an object in this universe. So, ‘don’t be small-minded’ only means don’t identify as if you are something which the mind is pointing to. Don’t identify with any limitations, don’t identify with any distinction because You are pure Awareness.

So, we are compiling some of these. Let’s see if we can find another.

If I am not mistaken, this is from Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi’s ‘Upadeshsara’ which are his main pointings, the essence of his main pointings.

He says in verse 26, “To know that Self is but to be the Self, for it is non-dual. In such knowledge, one abides as That.”

Now, how does this relate to this clue? Because it can feel like ‘Oh, this is about some sort of mental knowing or a sort of perceptual knowing’ but it is not. When I ask you ‘Are you aware now?’ you know the answer is ‘Yes.’ You know ‘I am aware’ but you did not perceive this Awareness; nor are you answering intellectually or conceptually. ‘Neither percept nor concept’ and yet you say ‘Yes.’

So, ‘To know that Self is but to be the Self.’ You Are It. You see? Because when I ask you: ‘Is there an ‘I’ who is being aware?’ you say ‘They are the same. I am aware.’

You-YourSelf are the Self. You cannot help but BE It actually. But it is the play of this ‘delusion and recognition’ that happens within You, within Your dynamic aspect. So, all the clues are for this play of recognition.

How is it Known that You are aware? Now, most often, I will hear the answer which is that ‘It is because I am aware of some content; that’s why I say that I don’t know this awareness but I am just aware OF this content.’ You see? But I respond by saying ‘But when you say you are sitting on a chair, you know both sitting and chair.’

So, when you say ‘I am aware of my Existence’ (for example) ‘I’m aware even of my Being’ then what is this ‘aware’? Is it an unknown thing?

Is it unknown mentally, unknown perceptually; but it is the pure Knowingness Itself.

Awakening Clue Two and Commentary

The second clue: That which remains unchanging, cannot be enhanced or diminished and is forever untouched.

We were reading from a Buddhist Sage the other day and he said, ‘Samsara has never affected You in Reality nor will nirvana change You.’ So, the illusory play of appearances has never really touched You, nor is nirvana or even this liberation Your Reality. Because that would mean then You can be diminished and enhanced; that some trouble really happened to Reality and now Reality is actually stuck in samsara, that Reality is actually stuck in an appearance and now we need to rescue Reality. [Chuckles]

We can see that although we might have believed in these notions in the past, we see how ludicrous that is. Because as you are coming to That which is unchanging, where does this clue also bring you? Does it bring you to a point in phenomena; to any place in phenomena or anything in phenomena which is unchanging? Everything in the perceptible world is subject to time and space.

So, recognize That; That One which is the unchanging, which cannot be enhanced or diminished and remains forever untouched.

If It is unchanging, never born, never dies, is subject to no states, then beyond any concept of time, it must already be Here, isn’t it? Where can the unchanging go? To go and to come it must then be the changing.

Therefore, it is a beautiful pointer, again, as to where to look; at the possibility of the discovery of this Truth, Right Now. Because if the unchanging is True, then it must be Here Now.

[Silence]

So, the clue is: That which is unchanging cannot be enhanced or diminished and is forever untouched.

~

In the Bhagavad Gita, chapter 2, verse 20, Sri Krishna has said, “That which is not born. That which is not born, nor does It ever die; nor having been, does It ever cease to Be. That unborn, eternal, abiding, primeval Being is not slain when the body is slain.” This one was from Arthur Osborne, who was one of the devotees of Bhagavan [Sri Ramana Maharshi] and was shared with the Bhagavan’s blessings.

Another one from Sri Purohit Swami which says, “It was not born. It will never die. Not having once been can It cease to be. Unborn, eternal, ever-enduring, yet most ancient, the Spirit does not die when the body is dead.”

In the Bhagavad Gita, chapter 2, verse 23: “Weapons do not cleave Him. So, weapons cleave Him not, fire burns Him not, water drenches Him not, wind dries Him not.”

“Weapons cleave Him not, fire burns Him not, water drenches Him not, wind dries Him not.” So, nothing can diminish This Reality, This Self. Nothing can happen in this phenomenal world which can diminish Your Reality in any way. But the opposite is also true because Your Self in Reality can never be enhanced.

So, all this talk of ‘I want to be a better Self’ is more in terms of a worldly sort of description. Your Reality is therefore the ever-unchanging One. So, not only are You the eternal witness, You also remain unchanged no matter what changes might be appearing.

Now, if what I am going to say next is going to trouble you, then forget about it. But if you just feel like something resonates when I’m saying this, then keep it in your heart; it’s okay.

Many times, we are confused when the Masters have said ‘Nothing really ever happened. Nothing has ever really happened.’ So, all these clues are available to us. You are the unchanging One. [Silence] You are the unchanging One. That which changes is not You. You don’t come and go. That is why when it is said that ‘It is an appearance’ there is a worldly meaning if the worldly ‘appearance’ which means ‘that which just appears and disappears, that which comes and goes.’ But the deeper meaning of the term ‘appearance’ is that which never really happened in anyway because no change can ever happen to the unchanging One. No change has ever happened in Reality.

That is why, to explain this, Shankara used examples like ‘Actually, it is just a rope; it might appear to you that there is a snake. Actually, there is just the mother of pearl; it might appear to you that there is piece of silver laying there. But that snake, that piece silver, has never really happened, has never really been there.’

So, this seeming super-imposition which is never true is what the great Shankaracharya, Adi Shankara himself, called ‘the adhyasa.’ [Ignorance]

Awakening Clue Three and Commentary

The third clue: That which is beyond limitations or boundaries of space, the shoreless ocean.

This one [clue] is also contained in this beautiful verse from Saint Augustine in his book called ‘The Confessions’ where he says, “But how shall I call upon my God, my God and Lord, for when I call on Him, I ask Him to come into myself. And what room is there in me where my God can come; God who made heaven and earth? Is there anything in me, O Lord my God, that can contain You? Indeed, do heaven and earth, which You have made and in which You have made me, contain You? Or since nothing could exist without You, does every existing thing contain You?” (A beautiful line) [Repeats] “Or since nothing could exist without You, does every existing thing contain You? Why, then, do I ask that You come into me, since I too exist; I, who could not exist if You were not in me.” [Chuckles] “Why do I say this? Because even if I were in hell, yet You would be there also. Or if I go down into hell, You are there. I could not exist then, O my God, I could not Exist at all unless You were in me.” (Now is the important switch.) “Or should I rather not say I could not exist unless I were in You; from whom are all things, by whom are all things and in whom are all things? Even so, Lord, even so, where do I call You to come, since I am in You? Or whence can you enter into me? Or where, beyond heaven and earth, could I go that my God might come there into me; He who said ‘I built the heaven and the earth’.”

Beautiful. [Silence]

~

Let’s read something that Sri Guru Nanak had said. He said, “There is but One and only one God and His Existence is eternal. He alone is the creator of all there is. He is not afraid of anybody or anything, nor does He have enmity towards anybody. He never dies. His form is timeless and He is Self-Existent.”

What a beautiful term: ‘Self-Existent.’ That itself is a clue actually. [Smiles] What is Self- Existent? Can we name anything in phenomena which is Self-Existent? So, we can say ‘Self- Existent, which exists without any other support; Self -luminous. We can also say that it is only the Self which is causeless; everything else in the world has a cause. (‘This was caused by this, this was caused by this, this was caused by this.’ We can keep going back. ‘This was caused by this.’) But this Self is the first; beyond cause, beyond effect. “He is Self -Existent.”

[Continues reading] “He is unborn and free from incarnations. One can realize Him only through the Grace of a Guru.”

So, this is what we call the mool-mantra, which is the main pointing (the essence of the main pointing). Isn’t it beautiful that we could have different Sages in different points of time, yet all are pointing to the same Reality?

~

Let’s see what sage Jnaneshwar said, where he is looking at the same thing. He says, “The Lord says ‘Although I am formless, without limiting conditions” (although I am formless and therefore, obviously without limiting conditions) “not moving” (the unchanging) “beyond all qualities, changeless and all pervasive, ignorant people ascribe to Me form, limitations, actions, qualities and a definite place.”

~

Katha Upanishad chapter 2.1 verse 10 says, “What is here is also there. What is there is also here. He who sees multiplicity, but not the One Indivisible Self, must wander on and on from death to death.”

When we see ‘me’ and other, we make this distinction. Then we admit through our belief that ‘I am a limited object with birth and death.’ As long as this game is played like this, that ‘you are something,’ you will believe yourself to be something that was born and will die.

The good news is that as soon as the false belief is dropped then where is the distinction? If you cannot point to a ‘me’ …, if you lose all phenomenal references about yourself, in this moment You are beyond birth and death. And this is Your unchanging Reality. But remember again that we are talking about how it plays in Your manifest aspect.

A simple way of saying all of this is that: In Your manifest aspect, You can either play as ‘God Now’ or You can play a ‘me-ow.’ [Chuckles]

We’re Not Experiencing Suffering,

We’re Suffering Our Experience

I was saying some time ago that it might appear to us that this world is full of duality, that it is this world that is full of distinctions, that it is this world that has so much separation but actually all duality, distinctions and separation is just in the mind.

The world is not saying that it is separate. The mind makes a ‘me’ and ‘you’. All we ever experience is Oneness. That’s why [Nisargadatta] Maharaj says ‘We are never experiencing suffering. But we are suffering our experiencing.’ Duality is not inherent in experience. It is only in our notions (in our labels). And this is very good news. This is extremely good news because that means that for Oneness, non-separation, non-duality, all that we have to do is forget about it. And also forget that.

All that the mind has to offer is positions. ‘I feel this about this. I think this about this. I think my life should go this way. This is how my partner should be. This much money I should have. This is how the body should be.’ All of these are positions but it is all nonsense. It is all nonsense because this ‘I’ itself is not real, you see? So, if the foundation itself is non-existent then what building are we building on top of that? This building of the ‘me’ is completely false. The possessions of this ‘me’ are completely false.

Now, the problem is that anything I say can sound to you like it is a position. So, when I say ‘Forget about it’ you can say ‘Ah, now I’m taking this position! I’m always just going to forget about it whatever it might be.’ And then that becomes a position. If I say that ‘You are the Self’ then [you say] ‘Ah! I’m just the Self! I’m not going to become anything else.’

There is position inherent in all language. So, sometimes I try in simpler terms, like when I say ‘Don’t make anything a thing. Nothing is a thing.’ All the mind is doing is offering you lots of things and saying ‘This is a thing. No, this is actually a thing. No, this is really, really, really a thing! You have to treat it as a thing.’ It is not. Nothing is ever a thing. Because none of this has ever actually happened. Okay? [Chuckles] Otherwise there is no point saying everyday ‘The unchanging, the unchanging, the unchanging’ if you keep making that which is changing a thing all the time.

So, whatever the mind is offering up to you as a position, just let it come and go. Let it come and go. Don’t have any concern about this non-existent ‘me’. The seeker says ‘But I have to get to my Freedom. Is this the way to my Freedom?’ If you’re still counting on a way to Freedom, it is not the way. If you’re still figuring out whether you are doing the right thing, it is not the right thing. If you still feel like ‘If I do this often enough, I will be free’ it is nonsense. Because Freedom is your starting position.

Don’t solve it for some past ‘you’ and don’t solve it for some future ‘you’. The best gift you can even give to the future ‘you’ is not to be concerned with that one right Now. So many of us are so concerned with the future. ‘What’s going to happen even when I leave Satsang? Will this still stay with me?’ Okay, now suppose you were supposed to give a gift to that one who is going to be here two hours later. What is the best gift you can give to her or him?

A concern for this non-existent ego is just causing more and more suffering; more and more misery.

Then the question will come ‘Okay, so then what am ‘I’ supposed to do now? If ‘I’ have no concern for past or future; if ‘I’ have no concern for Freedom, for anything material, then what am ‘I’ supposed to do now?’

What are You referring to YourSelf as here? [Smiles]

I was joking with someone, saying ‘I’ll tell you what you are supposed to do now. Make sure that the sun keeps shinning. Make sure that gravitation is working well. Make sure that time and space are moving in sync.’ This is Your job that You are doing because You are this One- Consciousness, in the light of which all of this is happening.

But what you actually mean mostly is ‘What am I supposed to do as this body?’ You are not talking about what I should do as Consciousness, are you? You are saying ‘So, what am I supposed to do as this body?’ But who told You that you are a body? How come you pick one sensation out of millions right now and say ‘this is me and everything else is not me right now?’ How long will You-Consciousness play this game? ‘What am I supposed to do? Why didn’t I get it? Or did I get it? Can I hold on to what I got?’ All this desire and doership is built on the fake idea of duality, on the fake notion of distinctions. And nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing, is forcing You to make that distinction Now. Nothing is forcing You to believe there is an individual ‘me’. Consciousness cannot be forced by any power in this world.

So, then [to answer] ‘What is the body supposed to do now?’ Exactly what it is doing. It doesn’t need the help of a non-existent one to tell it what to do. The Existent Being, which is Consciousness ItSelf, is running this body; the same One that is moving this earth and the sun.

So, what is the question of this false doership? ‘What am I supposed to do?’ And then you might say ‘Okay, I get it, I get it, there is no doer and nothing to do. Does this mean I’m free now?’

Again, which one? Which one? Same concern for the non-existent one. Are you talking about the One that is the light of this universe? No. You know that One is Free. Who are you talking about YourSelf as when you say ‘Have I got it? Am I Free?’

I’ve been saying that the mind only has one trick up its sleeve and the trick is to convince God that It is a person. It is convincing God that It is a person. It is trying to do that now. How will you know whether you succeeded or not? [Looks at sangha] Succeeded?

[Silence]

All of its best ideas imply that there is something that actually can make me go from a person to God. But that would imply that actually there is an existent person Here. But there really, really isn’t one. So, forget about it! And forget that you forgot. Don’t hold on to the forgetting position also.

All these things I’m saying is impossible for the mind to do, okay? [Chuckles] Because the mind will say ‘What is he saying? So, what now?’ It is impossible.

Give up on this mind. And give up the giving up.

Open, naked, empty of any defense or attack.

Let this body move as it is meant to move.

Let this mouth move as it is meant to move.

Let your hands move as they are meant to move.

Fire the judge who has always been looking at the actions and reactions of this body and making claims about You.

You are the ocean. But the mind is saying ‘You are a toad.’ [Smiles] How long will You wait for the frog to change before You see that You are the ocean? [Smiles] You’re looking at this frog and saying ‘When its tongue doesn’t move like that, then I will admit I am Free.’ Let the frog be the frog. What is it to You? Just a bundle of sensations. All of this perceptible universe is nothing but a bundle of sensations, a bundle of perceptions. You are never touched by them. You are them but You are untouched by them.

Can You live without a spiritual strategy? Yes, You can. [Smiles] The seeker has been looking for better and better strategies: How do I get to the Truth? But You Are the Truth.

[Silence]

You are not the body. You have only convinced YourSelf that You are. This body is part of the coming and going. And I know, to all of you, it doesn’t sound right when I say that ‘You are also coming and going’ that ‘You are just an appearance that will come and go.’ Something deeply within you doesn’t resonate with that. You Know that You are the constant eternal Self.

So, no strategy, no maha mantra; nothing to remember, nothing to forget, nothing to do, nowhere to go, no label. I know very quickly some of you pick up ‘But I am so lost now.’ No, that is also a label: ‘lost.’ [Silence] Lies…all lies. [Smiles] Instead of saying ‘I’ am lost’ say ‘God is lost.’ How does that sound?

What are You considering YourSelf to be?

Even Now, what are You considering YourSelf to be?

What are the benefits of considering YourSelf to be a limited entity?

Have you found any so far? …, (except for the play of duality, this play of suffering).

So, if you ask as a sincere question: ‘Really, really, Ananta, what should I do?’ (Maybe none of you have the courage to do that now.) [Chuckles] But if you still need some advice like that, I would say:

Just go with the flow.

Don’t resist anything at all.

Don’t take a position about anything at all.

Now don’t confuse this inner attitude with what your mouth might be saying because in the play of this world (as activities and actions are happening) you will find that this body-mind seems to take positions, and that is fine. But inwardly, You are just watching all of this play out; as I am watching this Ananta taking this position of no position. [Sangha Laughing] I am watching this one take this position of no position. That’s the play of this world. How do to communicate anything without it sounding like a position? Don’t worry about that. I am not worrying about this one.

How long will You play with these nonsense things:

‘Am I the doer or not?’ But Who?! I who?!

‘Should I have this desire about this or that?’ Who?!

Only the Self Is.

Only God Is.

Only the Guru Is.

They are One.

Let It Go

Don’t confuse the frog for the ocean. The frog will always seem like it is going left or right, it is taking positions with regard to things but you let this one go. Let the life of this one go. It is well taken care of. Let it Go. (‘Let it go!’) [Chuckles] Where will you lead it anyway? You have lead it so far. [Chuckles]. How has that worked out so far? And where will you lead it to ultimately anyway? Where is this one going? The body is going where? [Chuckles] Where is it going? In the best-case scenario (best-case scenario!) where is this body going to be in two hundred years? Best-case! (There is only one case.)

Now, the thing is that when I say ‘Let go of it’ you can take on the opposite position, which means that ‘I am going to let go of it so I am just going to lie down all day; this is just the body’ but that’s also just a position. It is not that. That’s why I am saying don’t try to understand this. Let it hit home deeper than what you think of it. You have to let go of your intellect and your mind for a bit. Let this body go, which means you don’t have to decide this way or that way; not sitting in bed all day or going to work all day. All of that is being done by a higher power anyway. The sun is not saying ‘I am a bit tired today, maybe I should not go to work and take a break.’ It shows up. In the same way, whatever is meant to happen through this body will happen. But you have a way to cause misery for yourself, which is to believe that you are ‘something.’

[Silence]

Does this mean that you are free? Forget about it!

Am I established in Awareness now? Forget about it!

Am I at the end of suffering at least? Forget about it.

[Silence]

How can you tend to the rose that came from a plant that came from a seed that was never sprouted? Can you take care of this rose which comes from a plant which comes from a seed that never sprouted? In the same way, how to play as if you are this individual who never has been? Nobody knows how to move a finger. You know how to do it? You might say ‘Yes, I know how to do it. I’ll show you.’ These are just the thoughts that ‘I know’ but what do you actually know about moving it? Nothing. (Nothing.) This mental knowledge is that useless. It cannot move a finger but pretends to run our life. This is the mind. What is another definition of mind? ‘The one who gives unsolicited advice on how to be miserable’ is the mind. ‘Unsolicited advice on how to be miserable.’

[Silence]

What will happen sometimes is that (because we felt like these thoughts were our crutches, these positions were our crutches and we need them to live, to walk) as you throw them away, there might come a sense of shakiness for a bit. The mind will use that opportunity to bring back your favorite notions of all time (the top ten list: relationship, security, money, body) and say ‘At least there, you knew. At least there, you know what’s next. At least there, you know who you are.’

All lies. You have never known what’s next. You’ve always faked who you are, when we listen to the mind. But it tries to come up and offer you some stability when the wobbliness is there.

That’s why the Master is very important. When the wobbliness is happening for you to hear that: It is okay, it happens. You are not falling; you are learning to fly. These crutches were actually your chains, they were not helping you, they were just the pretense of limitations.

The Sage is there to remind you that nobody has ever come to this and regretted it. Nobody has found this and said ‘Oh, it would have been better if I had a million dollars instead.’ Nobody has said ‘Take away this liberation and give me a body that will live three hundred years.’ Nobody has said these things. Because what you find is something much greater.

[Silence]

As this wobbliness comes, as the fear comes, it might feel like this fear of the unknown is the fear of the death itself. But like Guruji [Sri Mooji] was saying yesterday ‘The Master’s words will take you beyond this death.’

Truth Is Ever-Present

I was reminded of this beautiful interview I saw of one Master. Many years ago, there was a TV interview with another Master. This presenter (a nice lady) said to the Master ‘Ah, it’s been a beautiful interaction; a beautiful interaction. Any final words for me?’ So, he said ‘Shut up and get out!’ [Chuckles] And she was a bit offended, obviously. So, he said ‘No, no, I am saying it to your mind. My final words to your mind: Shut up and get out!’ [Smiles]

We don’t need to be so harsh. We can say ‘Let it come and go. We won’t serve it tea.’ [Sangha chuckles] Because sometimes when you are hard like that, it can seem like that is a very strong position.

This was an actual thing; I didn’t make it up. [Chuckles] Well, I made it up as Consciousness but I didn’t make it up; you know what I mean.

[Silence]

Now the best part is what? You don’t need to have a ‘How to forget about it?’ You don’t need a ‘How to forget about it?’ because Right Now you have forgotten. That is the beauty of this life: the Truth is ever present and the false goes every moment.

So, the ‘How to forget about it?’ is also a fake question. You can’t ‘Try to, how to, I will get to’… [Chuckles]

Just Now: Forget about it. And forget that you forgot. Don’t even hold on to the forgetting position.

Let life be life. Hold no position with regard to it. It is moving on its own and this body/mind is as much a part of life as life itself.

I know that for a few moments it will feel like it is too naked and the mind will come with offers of fig leaves. Let it come and go.

You are not finding anything.

Let go of this idea also.

You are not losing anything.

You are not finding anything.

You are not getting anywhere.

Forget about it.

You Already Are That Which You Have Been Seeking

This that You already Are is the timeless One. I like the way the Zen Masters would call it ‘the old man’ or ‘the ancient one’. Your very Existence is already That. Beyond age, beyond time; what You already Are is That. Take it completely literally. Sometimes we feel like this is a fantastic story, like ‘I have to get there.’ Take it completely literally that what You truly Are, Right Now, is the unchanging Self.

You Know it already,

You See it already,

You are Being it already.

What is the age of Your Presence?

How many years old is Your Presence?

Your Being is how old?

How big is It?

And who is aware of this?

Already, You Are.

There is nobody here who is unaware of their Existence.

So, You Are Free, Right Now.

Then the only question which remains is what to do with the garbage that the mind is peddling. Just let it come and let it go.

Because You are the timeless One.

Already it is true.

But everything the mind is saying is subject to time. It’s talking about past and future. It’s so funny that for most of humanity, most of their past has gone into worrying about the future and most of the future will go into regrets about the past.

But the eternal Being is Here.

Who is going to enjoy themselves as That?

We seem to be at this place where everyone seems to be in denial of That which is completely apparent. And completely buying into that which is never real.

Do you exist or not?

You must be then aware of it also, to say it.

You already checked that this Existence is not personal, was not born, will not die.

It Itself makes no distinctions. But It projects this device called the mind. It gives it the power to make this distinction about Itself, so that It believes this projection. Then this world of ‘me and mine’ starts.

Have You had enough of Your distinctions? Or not? [Chuckles] Let’s see. If you did a lot of sadhana and inwardly you became complete free, but outwards, the effort of that sadhana went to somebody next to you. would you be okay with that? [Jokingly]: ‘That always happens!’ When the one sitting next to you starts speaking these beautiful scriptural words [Chuckles] and they just got into Satsang; but inwardly, You See what is True. Then the mind comes and says ‘That is so unfair!’ Will you still believe the distinction of ‘me and other’?

This ‘me’ is what I call the maha-mantra of the ego. ‘But what about me? But what about me?’ Even ‘Yes, Awareness is aware, Being is free …, but what about me?’ I ask ‘But which one are you?’ You say ‘Yeah, yeah, I know I’m Awareness …, but what about me?’ [Laughs] ‘I know I am the unchanging One, but how does that help me?’ [Smiles] ‘I know that I’m beyond all qualities, all coming and going, beyond all desire, duality and doership …, now what do I do?’ This is what I meant by the garbage from the mind.

One way to deal with it is to ‘Guru Kripa Kevalam’ it. For whatever it is saying, you know that ‘It’s not my problem; my Master’s grace is taking care of it.’ So, even if the slight sense of ‘me’ is there, as long as that is surrendered at the Master’s feet: no trouble.

And for those of you who feel like ‘This Master’s grace, surrender’ all of this, seems too strange, too weird; then inquire. Ask yourself: ‘Who is the one that is Here actually? Who am I?’

This surrender or Self-inquiry are the most potent tools in this apparent play to come to your notionless Existence.

Because all notions are false. They do not apply to the Reality of You.

[Attributeless] ‘I’ is the unchanging Reality and ‘Am’ is Its very Existence…, (which is actually All-There-Is) …, but everything you say after ‘I Am’ is just a lie. Because it does not apply to anyone that is true.

So, all Masters are in agreement about this one. The only difference is in their expression of how they treat what you put after ‘I Am.’ Some Masters who are of a softer temperament will say ‘Come, come, it will be fine, come’ if the softer approach will help you get rid of what you’re putting after ‘I Am.’ And some Masters will take out a sword and say [Makes pantomime of picking up and sword and wielding it front of him] ‘Swoosh! Swoosh!’ …, just cut it off. ‘Forget it! You’re thinking nonsense!’ [Laughs] Like yesterday we were talking about the ‘Shut up and get out’ kind of Master.

The Master is merely an alarm clock that Consciousness Itself has placed for Itself. When we are done with this play of stories, play of lies, it’s time to go back to the original uncontaminated nature. And I emphasize this almost every day, that:

This is staggeringly good news, that you have to do nothing about it. Because the ‘I Am’ in Its complete shining glory is already Your Existence. God is Here.

God Now.

The mind has only one trick, which is to convince this Existent Being that It is limited. The month of April is almost over. Are we going to continue to fall for this ‘April Fools’ trick? [Chuckles and laughter in the room] Because I know that right now it will be peddling stories like ‘I haven’t got it yet’ and ‘But can I hold it?’ and ‘But what will happen after Satsang?’ and ‘But what do I need to do?’ The same trick.

You know what they say; that when you have to tell a lie, you have to provide a lot of details so it feels like it’s true. If you have to tell a lie, then you cover it with a lot of details. So, when it is peddling this lie about the false ‘I’ it has to give a lot of details about yourself. ‘Because this is what happened to me, and I have seen this so many times but I just can’t hold onto it.’ All lies.

You can’t leave it.

Can you stop being?

Right Now, sitting where you are: Don’t be.

[Silence]

So, this Being you cannot get rid of; the One that you are trying to find.

[Chuckles] The One that you are trying to find, you cannot get rid of. The one you are trying to get rid of was never here.

What is your favorite lie about yourself? Expose that in Your own light. And as you expose that in Your own light, know that this light will burn all lies.

What is your favorite idea about yourself? (‘I am… ‘something, something, something.’) What do you feel you’re most right about? That’s a very good question, actually. What do you feel you’re most right about? Can you hand that over? [Silence] It doesn’t mean that you have to pick up the opposite of that. Hand over both positions. And let the Satguru run your life.

This is impossible for the mind but it is Your original nature. Without a story about who you are, there are no opposites, there is no distinction. So, as I was saying yesterday, the world is not full of duality; only our mind is.

Let Go and Meet Your Deathless Being Which Is Here

How much can you open up? Because the mind’s positions are always stiff and rigid.

‘Open’ is a very beautiful pointing.

And as you drop your righteousness and as you drop everything you think you know, you will find that you come to this Openness.

‘No conclusion’ seems so alive to you.

All these concepts just become like play things.

Your beliefs are making a personal rigid identity that you believe YourSelf to be. How long will you stubbornly try to make the identity work?

Let it go.

Open up.

Let everything go.

Are you willing to become naked? … (which means also to admit that you don’t know anything at all.) Or will you continue to build shrines to this conceptual knowledge, build idols for these feelings which will come and go? When the One that is truly worthy of worship is your very Essence, Your very Being and is sitting patiently in your living room while you are too busy answering the door that the mind is knocking on.

How many lifetimes do you want to play like this?

So, as the Sage Vasistha told Laxman, ‘Get off your high horse, and meet me empty of all distinctions. ‘

Nobody has suffered from letting go.

Nobody has suffered from letting go. Everybody suffers from the high horse. So what if you will be right? You will be right, you will be right, you will be right…, and then you’ll die. You want this death-full righteousness?

Are you willing to let go of your false ego and meet Your Deathless Being, which is Here?

Come to the end of selfishness with the small ‘s’ and meet the Self.

Let go of this this chanting ‘me, me, me’ and dissolve in Your Holy Presence.

There Is Only One Cause, Just Consciousness

As we come to Satsang every day, we come to forget something that we might feel that we know. Unlike other classroom situations [Chuckles] where you come to learn some things which are new, Satsang is actually (an important aspect of Satsang is) a big forgetting. Forget about it. Everything that you know mentally, conceptually, intellectually can safely be forgotten. Because your Existence is unreliant on any of this. Like in this very instant, if I put you on the spot right now, you are a blank slate and yet you Exist. And in Existence, all that normally has to function continues to function. So, all of our conceptual knowing has just been an aid to the ego, the belief system of the separation; the belief in individuality. We’ve related through this [points to head] that we think we know.

So, how about we forget some small, small things today? Where do you want to start? Let’s start by forgetting about the concept of time and space. Forget it? The concept of time and space, just forget about it. That includes all interpretations and judgments about anything in time and space. Don’t hold onto anything at all. Even if they come up through your mouth (you will find that a lot of things are spoken) don’t be attached even to that. Many times, [Chuckles] it happens like that (I see with some of you) you become attached to it only after you have spoken it. Before that, it was nothing but once it comes out of the mouth you say ‘No, no, I have invested in that. Now I don’t want to look stupid by saying that it’s nothing, so I better own this.’ [Chuckles]. So, I am saying that even this, if it is something which seems to be coming from your own mouth, let it come and let it go. Leave the entirety of time and space alone. Leave all objects, all people, this body, everything that you perceive; leave it alone. Forget about time and space. That means forget about past, forget about future, forget about here, forget about there, forget about this and that. All of it that you think you know is not worth anything at all. So, time and space: gone.

Can you forget about true and false? You might say ‘But we come to Satsang for Truth and you yourself have said “Truth for Truth sake” and now you are saying forget about true and false.’ But the Truth that I am speaking of does not have the opposite which is false. The Truth that I am speaking of is the Unchanging Truth. It has no opposites, nothing is in opposition to it; nothing can falsify it. It never is not. That is what is True. So, this True is the opposite-less true. The true and false which I am asking you to forget about is that true and false on which you base your position. On which you base you positions, like ‘I just what this for myself because I know what is true and what is false.’ So, the true and false which I am speaking about is that true and false which you think is true; that truth which you think is right and wrong; that true and false which allows you to hold grievances and specialness, allows you to take positions. ‘I am like this, I am not like this, you are like this, you are not like this, my life should be like this, it should not be like this’ because you think that something you know is true. But actually, this mind doesn’t know anything at all.

You will not lose anything. The truth cannot true if it is dependent on a thought. The mind is selling you this fear that ‘If I forget about the truth then it might just go away.’ But then it was never the truth anyway. Because Truth by virtue of being the Truth cannot go. Truth always IS. So, only the false needs this concept of true and false. You don’t know any truth mentally. And I know that this means discarding all the spiritual concepts also. I know this means discarding

everything that we know and coming to a very, very naked position (in a way we can say). A position-less position.

What have we forgotten about so far? Forgot? [Chuckles] Time and space, true and false. Can we also forget about cause and effect? ‘This is the cause of this, this caused this for me, this causes that; if I do this then I should get this.’ All this is also nonsense. [Chuckles] All this is also nonsense, that ‘something causes another thing and something else caused that and then something else caused that.’ Actually, none of this is true. If at all we have to say something, we can only say: There is only One cause, which is Consciousness or the Self.

That is why for a few weeks now when somebody says ‘Why this? Why?’ we have been saying ‘Consciousness.’ [Smiles] It’s not just as a joke (although it’s nice, fun thing to say also). That is the only seemingly valid response you can give to any why question. ‘Why this?’ Consciousness. ‘Why not this?’ Consciousness. ‘Why me?’ Consciousness. ‘Why not me?’ Consciousness. Because it is this very light of Consciousness that brings all of this to life. This entire play comes to life only when You Are (‘I Am’).

So, forget about these ideas. ‘Only if I think this or I do this then this will happen in my life.’ And as we forget about time and space, we cannot really hold onto cause and effect anyway because it is completely dependent on time. But you never experience time; you only experience Now. This could be the first moment of this dream.

[Silence]

So, time and space, cause and effect and true and false. Another last thing we can forget about is ‘me’ and ‘mine’. Everything that you think you are, forget about it. It’s already gone, actually. Don’t login again. Don’t identify. Don’t believe anything which the mind says is true about you because it is not. You are way beyond being captured by a concept. You are not conceptual. You are not even perceptual.

So, what True statement you can you make about yourself? What true thought can you have about yourself? That would make you a conceptual object. All thoughts are about objects, all thoughts are about some quality, all thoughts are about some attributes. So, anything you think about ‘me’ and ‘mine’ can also be thrown out.

True Truth Is Without Opposites

I was saying yesterday to especially throw out the things which you feel like that you are most right about. This is fire ceremony. This is the fire ceremony.

It can feel like ‘I want to throw out all these things which I have been wrong about. This has not been right. I am going to throw all this out.’ But who is going to throw out all that they feel they are really right about?

Right or wrong means that there is something outside my Master’s grace. Wrong means ‘should not be’. So, then there is something outside the scope of my Master’s grace. But this cannot be true. Therefore, even the concept of ‘right’ is not applicable. The true right, the true truth, is without opposites.

Is there something that you feel you are so right about that it is worth keeping? And the condition is that it must be something that if you don’t keep it then it goes away; you feel that you are so right about it that you have to keep it, otherwise it will go away. This idea ‘I’m right, I’m right.’ About what? In the same way ‘I’m wrong, I’m wrong.’ About what? You don’t know anything that is true.

I’m shining the light of Satsang on these aspects which I have seen get held onto after many, many, many satsangs also. We keep holding on. We keep saying ‘Notionless existence, empty of concepts.’ But we are in these things; cause and effect, time and space, right and wrong. We still keep hiding in our favorite concepts. We refuse to meet the nakedness of this moment. You always put on your best clothes which are your favorite concepts.

It is important to forget one last set of concepts because I know this is what the mind will say. It will say ‘So, if I forget everything, will I then be free?’ So, forget about the concepts of freedom and bondage. The seeker identity will start to not like this. ‘All that you wanted for so long is freedom! All I really want is freedom!’ This makes which ‘I’ out of you? The one that wants freedom, is this God’s voice?

No chains can ever bind You. Therefore, what freedom can you want? From what? All you have is thoughts of chains; you have just ideas of bondage. That’s all. Nothing binds You in Reality. And remember that you forgot about time and space, okay? Because I know you will say ‘How can I make this last forever?’ Or ‘It’s okay in Satsang but what about outside?’ Throw away all this.

Empty of these concepts, empty of these notions, this One is Here. This One …, who is beyond words, beyond judgment, beyond interpretation; pristine beyond pristine, beloved beyond beloved. What is Here Now? In this uncluttered, uninterpreted, unjudged moment, who sits Here? The timeless One is Here. The deathless One is Here. Your beloved has always been You (because there are no two).

Failure at Creating Separation and Limitation Is a Beautiful Failure

[Reading from chat]: Very beautifully, he says “I want to expose that I feel very attached to a prediction a psychic made about a twin flame. I find I don’t want to let go of it. I guess that also means I won’t let the concept of separation or limitation go. I leave them at your feet.”

It is very good, very good, because you are beyond all this now; the idea of something else, that some twin has to come to complete me, that two lights have to make that one light. All of this was okay at some point. But you are now discovering that light which is beyond any of this separation, duality. [Silence] You are beyond this universe.

If something can come, that also means that it will go. Forget about that which can come and go. Tell about this One that is here timelessly. Who is this One? Does this One want something? Is this One doing something? Does this One have another one? Does it have any duality? (The One that You are, not the one that you think you are.)

Nobody can ever solve anything for the non-existent one. What can we give to the non-existent one? [Smiles] Can you give a glass of water to the non-existent one sitting next to you? No.

This is the game; God pretending to be a person pretending to look for God. Can it become ‘game over’ before the first step is taken, before the pretense of ‘person’ and then bringing that ‘person’ to God? That step can be taken only Now. Right Now, You are prior to that step. Right Now, You are the ancient One, the timeless One. Millions of these bodies have come and gone; for whom?

It is like God has been playing this video game and now he has put it on for the millionth time. ‘I will find God within the game. I will make it happen now.’ One million and one, one million and two. How many times does this play happen? God already is God but hoping to find God within the game. [Smiles] You cannot find God here. Who has found God? What about that One which is not here …, that is always Here and yet, not here in time and space.

Now, whether you like it or not, You are that One. [Smiles] As much as you want to pretend, as much as you want to say that ‘I am an object’ You can’t become one. You can keep reminding yourself with these thoughts every moment how you are a limited entity but it can never be Your Reality and You know it also.

You have failed as a person because you can always only be God. [Smiles] You have failed at dividing YourSelf. You have failed at creating any real limitation. It is a beautiful failure because You See only God, You See only One. [Silence]

All that I am actually saying is don’t make anything a ‘thing.’ Nothing is a ‘thing.’ You have power with your belief to pretend as if it is a ‘thing.’ That is the only thing that causes suffering.

What Is Still Left to Be Done?

Q:Father, I just felt to come up. Not sure if there is a question. [Silence]

A:What is still left to be done? [Silence]

If time was to stop, would you be disappointed? ‘Oh, there is so much left and time has stopped.’ [Chuckles] So, actually, time has stopped for You in Reality. You are not subject to time.

Then does something force you to attach YourSelf to that which is subject to time? We can say it’s kind of a force of habit (in a way). That’s the only thing, isn’t it? Once you see that You are this unchanging One, then this is the end of time. Because time applies only to change. Now, what is your truest reference point? That which is changing? Or That which is not changing?

[Silence]

What do I mean by ‘truest reference point’? Some Sage said ‘I am none of this and I am all of this, but in unequal measure because I am always none of this and only all of this only when I dance.’ So, when your Existence comes up (when You Are ‘I Am’) then all of this dance is there. Before that, any trouble?

Q: When I am in deep sleep, there is no trouble.

A:Then, automatically upon waking, is there trouble?

Q:No.

A:So, what are the prerequisites that are needed for there to be trouble?

Q:Being has to be there. Then, it could be memory comes up or something comes up or some appearance.

A:So, let’s do one thing. Let’s presume you just woke up from sleep; Being just came. Now, tell me how trouble can start.

Q:Belief in some appearance. That’s the only way I can pick up trouble.

A:Now, the beauty of belief (or thankfully, we can say) the belief cannot operate on most appearances. It only operates on one particular appearance. On a perception (just in the perception itself) there is nothing to believe or not believe. This is an important point because it can feel like ‘I’m believing this realm of appearances.’ But just in the appearance itself, without interpretation, there is nothing to believe. So, you can only believe this voice which is the voice

of concepts, voice of interpretation, voice of judgment. So, if left unjudged (this appearance, if left unjudged) can you have any trouble?

Q: No.

A:So, an unjudged life is a beautiful life. But the life full of judgment is like a living hell. But the good news is that you don’t even have to have a process to be rid of judgment because Right

Now, You are like this. So, doubt is a judgment, proclamation is a judgment, guilt is a judgment, resentment is a judgment, regret is a judgment; all these are just judgments. They are not needed for you Existence, are they? So, without a judgment, is there somewhere to go?

Q:So, I will tell you how the mechanics kind of works here, Father. I think the confusion becomes about the ‘I’. There is such a habit to attach the ‘I’ to the appearance. It is so automatic,

Father.

A:If you buy that then we are in trouble already. Let’s look at the notion of ‘automatic.’ So, now automatically attach something to the ‘I.’

Q:But it’s not that automatic. [Laughter]

A:It’s not that automatic as the mind would like us to believe. It is like saying then that

Consciousness itself has been held captive by the mind therefore, it is now stuck and automatically…

Then either you are something other than Consciousness. Or Consciousness has now become hostage to its own child called the mind. Both are not possible. You are only this Existence, this Being, this Consciousness. Now, really check whether it is automatic or as automatic as we think it is.

[Silence]

Q: [Inaudible]

A:Yes, in fact when you switch the perspective and say ‘Okay, I’m going to really check on how this belief is automatically picked up’ you see that it seems impossible to pick it up.

At best, what we can call it is a deeply ingrained habit, like an addiction or something like this. But we don’t even have to go so far because we are in Satsang. [Chuckles] We are in the ‘de- addiction center’ so all these addictions which seem so real also are being dealt with. So, before you take that first step of presuming that ‘Oh, it’s automatic and I get caught up in the ‘I’ and then I start seeking’ you will find that before that step, there is space; on the sense it is not original to you. If it was automatic truly, truly automatic then it would be Your original nature but it is not.

[Silence]

Who are you Now?

Q: The truest thing I can say right now is ‘I am Aware of everything that is showing up.’

A:‘I am Aware of everything that is showing up.’ The ‘I’ that is Aware is which one? Because already you say it is the truest thing You can say; so already there must be some insight about this ‘I.’

Q:Yes this ‘I’ is … [Silence] I can’t say anything about this ‘I.’

A:But you did say that ‘I am Aware.’

Q:Yes …, other than the fact that it’s before all perception.

A:Before all perception. Okay, can we also say that this ‘I’ can never get fully caught up in this perception?

Q: Yes. Never gets caught up.

A:Then, which one does? Or does anyone? The one that does get caught up, is it this one?

Q:No.

A:And this is Your unchanging Reality. So then, all that is perceived, all that is changing, does it affect the Unchanging?

Q: Not at all.

A: So, is there freedom or bondage for this ‘I’?

Q:It knows freedom, or the concept of freedom and bondage, but doesn’t have that concept of Freedom.

A:Can it apply to Itself? [Silence]

Q: No, can’t apply either freedom or bondage to Itself.

A: Then, if this is You, if this One is You, then is there another one of You?

Q:There is a pretense at times which gets somehow believed in and that’s the cause of suffering.

But there is no other Me.

A: Even if the pretense is picked up, does something happen to You in Reality?

Q:No.

[Silence]

A:Now, can you lose This One? This real One? And can the pretense ever become real? [Silence] Why do we call it the pretense?

Q:Because I believe myself…, or there is a belief (I can’t say I believe) there is a belief that something is me.

A: What is a belief?

Q:What is a belief? So, the belief is…, I guess that the core belief…

A:But what does it mean: ‘belief’?

Q: To take it as mine (in a way). To say that it affects me.

A: What is this ‘to take it as mine’?

Q: Any appearance…, to have a meaning.

A:Yes. But the appearance itself is not selling its meaning. The appearance by itself is not even creating duality. So, the meaning comes from what?

Q:So, the meaning comes when …, it only seems to come when I assume the body position; that this is ‘me,’ this is ‘my body.’ I give myself a boundary.

A:But before assuming the body position; even to assume a body position is to give meaning or pretense. You see?

Q: Yes.

A:So, how do you come into this body position? Is it purely on basis of perception itself that makes you pick up the pretense of body?

Q: I think…, (I’ve been looking at this quite a bit). A few things. Any time I check, I’m not the body (when I check). But through habit, whether it’s a sensation (it can be pain, can be anything) and also this point of view; looking from the head. That’s something I’ve been looking at a lot. So, even I have been looking at closing my eyes, opening my eyes, closing my eyes, and it creates this illusion that I’m in the body; even though it’s so clear that with the sensations and everything that is happening: the body has to be in me, I can’t be in the body. But somehow this whole point of view does create a confusion or a habit.

A:Okay, just stay with this point of view (if you want to, you can move your head around) and see whether automatically there becomes a ‘you’ which is contained in this body.

Q: No.

A:So, not even with this visual perspective is there an individual sense of ‘you’ yet that is contained in the body.

Q: No.

A:It is not our perception, it is not these appearances, it is not the centrality of any perceiving. It seems to have a perspective it, it seems to come from here; [Points from eyes outward] not even that.

So, when you say ‘I have been looking’ …, who is this one?

Q: When I say ‘I have been looking’ it’s the false one.

A: Can the false one look?

Q:No, the false one cannot look, but when I speak about it or when I see that ‘Oh, I’ve been looking’ that’s the mind that’s playing.

A:It is the sense of individuality, which is again taking on this idea that it is the one that is perceiving.

Q: Yes.

A:But that is inherent only in the statement about it; not in the looking itself. Can you not look? [Chuckles]

Q:No. Even in the deep sleep, I am looking.

A:Even when there is no perception, there is this Pure Witnessing.

Q:And that which was looking…, also this morning I was thinking ‘I am fully there in deep sleep.’ You know? ‘I just think I am not there. But I’m fully there in deep sleep.’ And now, the only thing that has changed is this Being for which all this has come. So, I must be the same that I was there in deep sleep witnessing all of this.

A: Now, this ‘must be’ can be a useful inference. But is it true when you check?

Q: Can you ask again?

A:Yes. You say ‘I am fully there in deep sleep and there is nothing missing. All of this comes when Being is here. In the play of my Existence, all of this comes. Therefore, I must be that same one still that was fully there.’ This ‘must be’ is an inference. So, like we were saying yesterday, ‘Use your inferences as possibilities for your insights.’

Can you check on the one that is Aware even of Your Existence?

Q:Yeah. That One is automatically Aware.

A:Can you step away from that One?

Q: Can’t step away from the looking.

A:Now, that One doesn’t want anything. Then? [Chuckles] What about this one?

Q:This one is trying to understand that One. [Laughter]

A:But this one is just the lawyer for the body/mind; just a representative of so-called limited entity. But You are not it. Neither are You being represented by it.

So, why any concern for what it wants? If I say to you ‘There is nobody sitting on the couch outside. Can you please go and give that nobody some water?’ Will you call me crazy or not? (You might not…, because it’s me, you might not [Chuckles] but anybody else you would.)

So, this has been our lives. We have been catering to this nobody, the non-existent one. The one that is trying to understand the Self can never understand anything because it doesn’t exist.

Now, what all has this one wanted?

Q: Which one?

A: Okay, now let’s make it easier. What has the True One ever wanted?

Q: Nothing.

A:Nothing, you see? So, all this desire is whose?

Q:Of this.

A:This thirsty nobody. [Chuckles] Now, this thirsty nobody keeps sending you these emails (or you can say WhatsApp messages): ‘But what about when I am outside of Satsang?’ Who is it representing?

Q: The same thirsty nobody.

A: ‘What about my relationships?’

Q: The same one.

A: The same nobody. [Chuckles]

Q: I guess there is such an addiction to pick it up…

A: No. I used that word but now forget it. You don’t have an addiction. You have a Master.

Q: [Laughs] Okay.

A:Because sometimes in reinforcing that I have an affliction it can seem like I do. It’s all make- believe anyway. So, forget addiction.

Q:So, let’s see, Father. I don’t know what it is, I can’t even name it but there are some sensations and …

A: Let’s just say there are perceptions; that includes every appearance. And?

Q:I am not this perception. That is very clear. Almost in any situation, it’s very clear; except picking up still can happen but I am never those perceptions. But there is a thought that says

‘Why does this perception here not go? I don’t want this perception.’ And that causes almost all the suffering is that ‘Why there is this perception here? Why doesn’t it go?’

A: ‘Why is this perception here?’ means ‘I should not be facing this.’

Q: Yes, exactly.

A: So, the ‘I’ that should not be facing this one is which one?

Q: Is the false one.

A:Why questions are usually coming from a sense of self-righteousness about what the ‘What Is’ should be. ‘Oh, why is the world like that? Why is my body like this? Why are my relationships like this? Why is my money like this?’ It is actually saying ‘Why do I have to suffer?’ … ‘Why is the ‘What Is’ this way and I am not content? But all of this is the voice of the non-existent nobody.

Q: Yes.

A:That’s why you have now this master key to any ‘why?’ Why anything? It’s the Master’s

Grace; Guru Kripa Kevalam.

‘Who?’ is the more important question.

[Silence]

One trick that the mind plays (I see that also often in Sangha members) is that ‘First let’s solve this for the pretend one, then I will talk about the Real One.’ This pretend one is a never-ending treadmill. You feel like you are running to solve something for this ‘me.’ Nothing is ever solved

for this ‘me.’ Why? Because it doesn’t exist. It’s voice itself is the voice of the false. So, nothing has to be resolved for this one because this one doesn’t exist.

The mind will also tell you ‘But that gets in the way then. Until I solve it, that gets in the way.’ All nonsense! Because nothing can get in the way of All There Is. This is still the voice of a ‘me’ who is trying to get to something but the ‘me’ itself is non-existent.

Q:This is the ‘me’ asking all these questions also. If I really look at it, it’s just a very selfish desire to ask these questions.

A: Because what does it want?

Q: It just wants peace! Or I don’t know what it wants.

A:But peace is There, before wanting. [Chuckles]

Q:Exactly.

[Silence]

A:The perfume of Your natural notionless Existence IS this peace. So, it is giving you this false promise that once you have resolved it, then there will be peace…, which is just a false promise to distract You from the peace that is already there.

There is nowhere to get to. There is nothing to become.

Any Strategy for This ‘Me’ Doesn’t Work

Q: Right now, I’m feeling everything happens by itself; choicelessly, effortlessly.

A:Isn’t there someone who could be making the choice but is not making the choice? Is it something like that?

Q: I don’t follow.

A:Okay, slowly, slowly. We say choicelessly. Whose choice would it be or not?

Q:Nobody to choose.

A:Nobody to choose. So, therefore, choice is not applicable.

So, Right Now, it is this way. And Right Now? And Right Now? [Chuckles]

Q:No struggle.

A:No struggle. [Silence] And Now?

Q:Being is just Being effortlessly.

A:Change that.

Q:Can’t change.

A:Then what’s all this about? [Laughs] Very good. Q2: Relax.

A:Do you need to relax?

Q2: Nobody needs to relax. Just relax.

A:Because when we say ‘relax’ in that also there can be a position that ‘I need to relax.’ But before you can even relax, you are relaxed. No? Like Guruji [Sri Mooji] said ‘One of the trickiest instruction is to say ‘Be natural’ because the minute you say you have to be natural then the naturalness goes. [Chuckles] ‘How to be natural? Shall I be natural this way?’ [Moving his body about] So, better is to forget about it.

Q2: Everything is a lie.

A: Everything is a lie, yes. Forget about it and forget about ‘forget about it.’

It sounds like nothing special for the mind because the seeker wants to have a ‘wow’ end to this spiritual journey, like some ‘super wow’ like a ball of orange lights (or something) end to this spiritual journey. So, any ideas, just forget about it! ‘No, I’ve been at this for a long time, what do you mean forget about it!?’ [Laughs] ‘What have I got?’

But in your forgetting about it is the Divine ‘getting.’ In the letting go of the false, You See that the Lord has always been Here (whether you call it Being, Consciousness, Buddha nature, Self).

[Silence]

‘But I can truly, truly to confirm that I’m at the end of it until I get into this laughter?’ sort of thing. You can have this sense. Because when we see it happening in Satsang, everybody says ‘This is the awakening experience!’ But many have had those laughter things. Where are they now? It doesn’t have to be anything at all. Whatever by-products are there, are there.

What are you unwilling to forget? The last few days we’ve been pressing some buttons because I’ve been getting some messages about this one. I was saying that it’s very natural now for us to say ‘Yes, yes, this is what has troubled me, so please, I want to surrender it to you. This attachment has caused so much suffering, I want to surrender it to you. All these judgments, I want to surrender to you.’ But you know, actually what we’ve been hiding is that which we feel we have been most right about. What we’ve been most right about; that is not surrendered so easily. It feels like ‘That is what is propping us up. That’s what makes us who we are.’

Forget about it. You’ve not been right about anything or wrong about anything. There is no right or wrong. Because right or wrong would mean that this Truth also has the opposite which is false. (I wonder if it makes sense when I say it like this.) There’s a worldly true and false. There’s a worldly interpretation of what is true and what is false but the Truth that You are finding about YourSelf doesn’t have an opposite. It never has the false; the falsity is not possible.

Therefore, the worldly concepts are to prop up your worldly image, your worldly notion of who you are. Now we don’t need that anymore. So, forget about right and wrong. And this pushes some buttons, because what we’re right about we’ve been desperately holding onto; tightly. Some of you have been having some very good Satsang with this contemplation, with this question: ‘What righteousness am I not willing to give up?’

How can you be right and surrendered at the same time?

[Silence]

You cannot. Surrender means all judgments, all conclusions, everything is let go of. It is the simplest thing, in a way. But if we want to hold onto some idea, anything in any end of the spectrum, (right or wrong, pride or guilt, any of this stuff) then we’re like those people in Guruji’s joke, hanging on the branch, and the instruction is coming ‘Let go!’ Instead of letting go: ‘But I’m right! I can make this work through my righteousness.’ It doesn’t happen. Eventually, you have to let go. It just doesn’t work. Any strategy for this ‘me’ just doesn’t work.

There are some strategies which are very beautiful, in a way. You can say ‘I’m going to inquire into myself.’ Many times, we don’t realize that we have this idea of being a tiny ant and with the inquiry, we’re inviting the elephant in the room. [Chuckles] So, it can feel like ‘Oh, if I inquire then the ant will have a happy life’ or ‘If I surrender, the ant will have a happy life.’ But actually, you have just invited the elephant and it’s going to trample your false idea about yourself. And when the trampling is happening, you’re like ‘But this is not what I asked for. I was told that I would have a happy ant life!’

This is not true. All limitedness is getting squeezed out of you. And these ant thoughts will keep coming back and saying ‘Run, run. You’ve made a mistake, run.’ So, the impulse to run from Satsang is like that. ‘Run. You can make it yourself; run.’ They run to the beach in Gokarna and you get a call. ‘Is this Ananta?’ [Smiles]

[Silence]

Which ideas are we unwilling to let get trampled upon? All these ideas are your doorway to misery. It may feel like they are prized possessions but they are just the doorway to misery. Nothing is ever how you think it is; nothing. Because this measly thought cannot meet Your magnificence.

[Silence]

And don’t worry if, for a while, things feel confusing. It might feel like you’ve lost some control. ‘I don’t know what’s happening.’ Like she [someone in the sangha] was saying yesterday ‘I don’t what’s happening, where I’m going. These feet are moving this way, that way.’ I was telling her some reassuring stories that many times, at least in the beginning, my hands would be like this [Namaste] and I would not know whether I’m starting Satsang or finishing it. I would have to look at Anandi or somebody and ask ‘So, what are we doing now?’ [Laughing] All this is just fun by-products of Divine forgetting…, but nothing will get truly messed up. Nothing gets messed up for the Self.

All is the Self.

The Idea of Rights Depends Upon the Notion of Being Right

[Reading from chat]: “Dear Ananta, when Guruji [Sri Mooji] says to ‘Live like you have no rights’ is he referring to this ‘right’ you are taking about now?”

A:Well, it is very closely interconnected because we feel like we are right about which rights we have. [Smiles] We feel like ‘This definitely I am entitled to.’ There was one who came to

Satsang with me. She was with me here for a year and every day she would take at least 15-20 minutes of discussion time. At the end she said ‘But I have given you so much time.’ [Chuckles] ‘What? I have given you so much time?’ [Chuckles] It was the strangest thing I have ever heard in Satsang. [Chuckles] So, it can feel like we can use all of these things. It took me by surprise…, but usually it is more that some gratitude can be expressing by saying ’Thank you for giving me so much time.’ Here it is ‘But I have given you so much of my life; so much time.’ It can feel like ‘Because I have made this investment, I have these rights, therefore, it should be like this or like that.’ So, this idea of entitlement, the idea of having some rights depends on this notion that ‘I am right about something’.

But the notion of being right also applies to the opposite. Now, this we hear a bit carefully because many times we can get into a very strong position that ‘I’m just like…, [Contracted body posture and confused facial expression] oh, I am just stuck.’ But that can also become a strong position. We are not even right about that.

And no ‘no rights.’ Sometimes, the Master makes statements so that we get shaken out of our positions into neutrality. Those statements are not meant to bring us to the opposite end, which is also a position. It is this neutrality that the mind struggles with. So, if Guruji [Sri Mooji] were to say ‘You have neither rights nor no rights’ many would say ‘What is he saying?’ [Smiles] But because a majority could be attracted to the position of being entitled in some way because of some reason or the other, it is important to say ‘You have no rights. Live as if you have no rights.’ And that shakes up the position of this entitled seeker and we come to a neutrality.

So, this attraction to being right means that ‘I know something conceptually to be true.’ But no concept has ever captured the Truth.

And that is why what I am saying is very confusing because I am not advising a position either way. I am saying: Forget about all positions. In your original state, there is no facade to be taken; no pretense, no mask to wear.

The Ant Has Invited the Elephant to the Party

Q:I keep looking for…, I guess I am just looking for where this looking is happening from.

A:Yes, yes, okay.

Q: Okay? And I can’t find anything. Nothing to be found. No shape, no size; nothing, nothing.

A: No shape, no size, no color, no form of any sort.

Q:Even position; I am not sure if there is a position also. Because even if the mind says ‘here’ this is just a mind thing of saying….

A: Yeah. Not here, nor there.

Q: It’s very clear I exist. About where I exist, how I exist…, I can’t say anything.

[Silence]

So, you talked about ‘The wow moment’ or whatever; the short one.

[Silence]

So, I know I’m looking at everything.

A: Yes.

Q:But I just don’t know ‘as what’ I am looking. And I think that creates some idea of ‘me’ too…, that somewhere the mind is trying to say ‘Where, where, where, where?’

A:Yes, but this is fine because in this way the mind can exhaust itself. If these are the questions that it is latching on to now, this is like what I was saying that ‘The ant has invited the elephant to the party.’

‘Where am I looking from?’ The one that feels that it will get something from this question will not survive this question.

What Does It Mean to Know the Truth?

It’s funny that ‘to know’ itself is a very strange concept. One day we were just sitting with Guruji [Sri Mooji] and (some of you know this story) the creative team came with two options for his visiting card. In Rishikesh, if he would meet someone when we were just walking (to stay in touch with them, to find out about Satsang) then Guruji has these nice visiting cards which he would give to some of them.

So, the creative team came with two options. (In the front, were the contact details; behind there was a quote.) In the two options, the first one said: ‘The truth cannot be known.’ The truth cannot be known. The second option said: ‘Until you know yourself, you will not come to the end of suffering.’

And for a while, we were just looking at the options and the fonts and what looks nice. Then it occurred to me that if, by chance, the same one gets both the cards, [Chuckling] one which says ‘The Truth cannot be known’ and the second says ‘Until you know yourself, you will not come to the end of suffering’ then this one is in big trouble. So, I said to Guruji, ‘You know this can be very confusing for someone.’ So, he said that we should put ‘worldly’ …, ‘The Truth cannot be known in a worldly way.’

What is this ‘worldly’? Now, there are a lot of things we think we know. They could be things that we think we perceptually know, through our senses. But the other day, we were seeing this video about the Mucgerg Effect, that even though the sound that is coming from the computer is ‘ba, ba, ba’ you think you’re hearing ‘fa, fa, fa.’ And even when you know it, it doesn’t change it. So, you cannot rely on what you hear. Similar are many, many things: like mirages, optical illusions, the famous examples from Shankara of the snake and rope, man and pillar, the mother of pearl and silver. All these examples are there which tell you that also what you see, you cannot trust. So, this perceptual knowing can also be completely false.

The mental knowing, of course, the conceptual knowing, all of us know. We know many things in the past which we were completely wrong about and yet we hold onto many things which we think we know now.

You want to look at both of these together and drop it? Or one by one? [Chuckling] Okay, let’s go a little slow.

This visual stimulus is very, very compelling, in a way. But on top of this visual stimulus, we put a lot of concepts. A LOT of concepts. Because even our visual perceptions, we don’t leave them alone. We molest them with our ideas of them. What are the most common things which we superimpose on this? Let’s say ‘time and space.’ Something is being perceived. What tells you that there is distance, that there is space? It’s just conceptual.

And I’m including this body also; but just to illustrate the point, I could have something like a film on my eyes and everything could be on that film; where there is no distance, it’s just moving images. But the idea that there is distance is just a notion; that there is distance between this and that.

All of this. Also, the idea of duration or time, where does it come from? We have visuals and we have certain other visuals and we make a link between them: ‘That happened before; this is happening now.’ So, even our perceptions; we mix them up with concepts about what they are.

Then, what are the other common ideas of knowing that we put on this appearance? We put this idea of causation; cause and effect. ‘This causes this.’ A set of perceptions that seem to appear and disappear; what makes the linkage between them? ‘Oh, I thought this and that’s why I did this’ or ‘This happened and that’s why that happened.’ And so many of our grievances and pride are because of this.

But one if the most fundamental things (concepts that we put on these perceptions) are the concepts of ‘me and other.’ It’s just conceptual. You’re looking at some perceptions and calling it ‘me.’ And you’re looking at some others and calling it ‘other.’ Nothing naturally forces this distinction.

And then, that much is also not enough for us. Then what happens is that there are some other perceptions that come and those we call ‘mine.’ So, not only is there a ‘me and other’ there is also a ‘me and mine.’ Not only is there a separate-self ‘me’ it also owns some other things which it calls ‘mine’ and it forms a special relationship with this ‘mine.’ And this is called attachment.

Now, to be attached is exactly like tying yourself to a crazy donkey and then expecting stability in your life. [Chuckles] That’s the nature of attachment; tying yourself to a drunk donkey and saying [Chuckles] ‘My life should be stable now.’ Why am I saying this? Because everything in this perceptual realm is changing. Everything in this realm of appearances is constantly changing. So, that which you call ‘mine’ now will not be the same one minute later. Everything is constantly changing. And the worst part is that even if that thing is not changing, in your mind, ideas about them change. ‘This is what I really liked about you. We are so different; that’s why we’re the perfect couple because we’re so complementary; opposites.’ After a little time, it’s ‘Why can’t you change yourself a little bit? If you were a little bit more like me, we would get along better.’ You see?

Then, this ‘mine’ idea is also so much trouble. And it happens to all of us. When I first moved into this house, it was the first time we had a small garden outside. And then, because for the first time in our life we had a garden, I planted some seeds just to see how it turns out. So then, what started happening, I noticed that I would wake up first thing in the morning and I would go to the garden. I would not see anything else; it was like the rest of the garden had vanished. First it was my seeds. ‘What happened to my seeds?’ This is the thing with ‘mine.’ This is the nature of attachment. The rest of plants were no longer plants, it was just my seeds which were important. This is the thing with ‘me and mine’ …, attachment. So, we take some things which are just appearances, which are constantly changing, and we say ‘mine.’

There are also ideas about some things which should not come. ‘This should never be mine; this should never be my experience.’ We decide mentally that ‘This should not come.’ So, this is the opposite of desire, which is aversion; which is also a desire itself. ‘I desire that this should never come into the content of my attention, into the content of my perception.’ It’s all fake because

anything can come. Nobody has ever been able to control the content of their experience, as hard as they might have tried. Nobody has been able to make the ‘me’ eternal, the ‘mine’ eternal and nobody has been able to say ‘I’ve decided that this never going to be experienced here and I can bet my life on it.’ Nothing like that is possible. Anything can come in this life. It is completely unpredictable.

So, this realm of perception also, as unreliable as it might be, we have made a lot if ideas about it. We think that we know a lot about this world but actually we don’t know anything at all. And this is the best news! Because it has been this kind of knowing which is the invitation to suffering.

So, when Guruji is saying ‘The Truth cannot be known’ the invitation is to drop this sort of conceptual knowing.

When the Pointer Is Confused to Be the Reality

[Responding to a chat message] I am going to come to that which is the capital ‘K’ Knowing, but even this ‘I know I exist’ many times it can feel like ‘I KNOW I exist’ but we don’t know. We don’t know [Points to his head] from here. There is another deeper Knowing which is unchanging Knowingness; the unchanging Knowingness Itself which is aware of Existence. But for It, there is no use of the label ‘Existence.’ There is no use of the labels of ‘Consciousness, Beingness’ (any of that). So, why it is important to make that point is because many times it is the pointer [Smiles] which is confused to be the Reality. So, we can safely drop even this, that ‘I know that I exist’ because that Knowingness doesn’t need the concept ‘I know I exist.’ [Points to the chat participant. Smiles] I know, you’re saying the same thing.

Many years ago [Chuckles] I was sitting in the Chennai airport and I had a flight to come back to Bangalore (maybe 12-13 years ago). I was sitting in this airport and usually I like to read a lot. This time strangely I didn’t have a book. So, I went to airport book shop and saw this small book. It was called ‘Freedom from the Known.’ I said ‘This is nice’ as I read pretty fast and I thought I will finish it on in the flight. ‘Freedom from the Known’ is by Krishnamurti. I said ‘This will be light, easy read to finish on the airplane and be done with it.’ So, I got this book and I opened it and … [Shakes his head suggesting he didn’t understood anything at all] It was an expensive one, a thin one and it was a lot of money for even those days (six hundred rupees which is a lot of money even today, but then especially). [Chuckles] I opened this book and started reading it (before security itself) I was just reading and I was like ‘What is this stuff?’ The title should have told me already [Laughs] ‘Freedom from the Known.’ If I had contemplated for a minute, I would have maybe not bought that book.

But the point is that this ‘Freedom from the Known’ is a very important aspect of the Satsang, if not the main aspect.

And I was saying the other day that it seems easier to drop everything that you have been wrong about (‘Oh, I have been so wrong about this, I surrender all of this to you; please make sure I don’t make these mistakes again. I have been so wrong about this.’) but hardly anyone comes to Satsang and says ‘Father, I feel like I am so right about this thing. Please, can I surrender this to you?’

We hold onto this righteousness as if we know something. We actually don’t. Yesterday, unfortunately, we could not have the broadcast as there was no electricity here. It was hailing, (some of you saw) so we could not have the broadcast. Yesterday, I came to Satsang and disagreed with everything that anyone said [Chuckles] even to the extent of contradicting myself from a moment ago. But that didn’t matter. The point is that anything that we can hold onto can be shaken up…, [Shakes right hand] even the highest spiritual concepts. I was saying ‘Forget about Awareness.’ [Smiles] ‘It’s a made-up thing, it’s just a concept; forget about it.’ And there were some who said ‘But I have seen this. It’s my own insight’ We can say it like that. But what is being held onto and the fear of dropping it has nothing to do with your own insight. It is the crutches you have now.

Someone was saying ‘It’s really helping, Father. It’s has been really helping me to drop. Just when sticky thoughts come, I take the position of dropping them and I feel like there is so much spaciousness. So, what are you saying now?’

I was saying ‘Forget about even this.’

She was like, ‘What?’ [Chuckles] ‘But this is what I have learned in Satsang all this time and I feel like finally I am getting somewhere, out of this stickiness into spaciousness, and now you are saying forget about it’?

And I was saying that ‘At the root of all of this also, which we might end up reinforcing, is the notion of the separate self who is now getting somewhere, who is now doing something which helps him/her.’

So, the mind is actually nothing but an invitation to know something, an invitation to be right about something.

And nothing needs to be done about it. Because if time and space itself are just concepts and they do not apply to You …, all of this ‘me’ and ‘mine’ and cause and effect; there are many more actually. True and false is one of our favorites, especially because we come to Satsang. [Raises both hands to show strong position] ‘I’m FOR Truth! I will fight for the Truth till the very end!’ [Laughs] And then, how do you have Advaita arguments? ‘I am coming from Truth. You are coming from false. I’m not seeing any duality; you are!’ [Laughter]. Just hear these words when arguments are happening: ‘I’m not seeing the duality; you are!’ [Laughter]

There is not one thing we know which is True.

Freedom Is the End of All Grasping

You don’t actually know, in the first place, what Existence is. You feel like ‘There is the existence of all of this’ …, but what is ‘this’?

This ‘unlabeled life’ is also what is called ‘the notionless existence.’

In the notionless existence, all notions of what we thought we knew or what you think you know are meaningless. But it is not just that, because if it was just that, then it would be like a nihilistic meaning-less-ness, a pointless meaning-less-ness. The best part of the meaningless existence that, in this, the Truth which is unchanging Reality is completely apparent.

This is where the second visiting card which is ‘Till you know yourself, you will not come to the end of suffering’ becomes completely apparent. Because without a notion of myself, what I truly Am (this Knowingness with a capital ‘K’) this Awareness, this Absolute, It is completely Known. But not known in the worldly definition of knowing.

So, this is the invitation or provocation:

Meet YourSelf naked of concepts.

Meet YourSelf notionlessly.

And you don’t have to proclaim anything; but I can proclaim on Your behalf that this will be the meeting of the most enlightened Being that you will ever meet.

And I can go as far as to say that all the other enlightened Beings that we have met in form, in the world, have only been pointing to this One which is Your own Presence, Your own Being, which is ever-present.

Meet YourSelf Now, unmolested by anything that you know.

Face YourSelf as You Are.

[Silence]

Yesterday was Buddha Purnima. It was the Buddha who said ‘Freedom is the end of all grasping.’ The end of all grasping. No grasping at things, no grasping at concepts. [Smiles] Forget about all these concepts; past and future, time and space, here and there, me and other, this and that. All of these concepts that are trying to grab space. [Smiles] And you have a library of these bottles full of empty space; which is the label as them. All our conceptual frameworks are just this library full of these bottles, empty space, but only the labels. ‘Me, other.’ [Smile] Just ideas. Past, future. [Smiles]

Positionlessness

I want to speak for a moment on ‘position-less-ness.’ There were some questions on the meaning of life. ‘What is the point of all of this? It is so meaningless. And I am not getting it any way.’ So, this is half-positionlessness, which means that ‘I’m still giving meaning to an idea of ‘me’ or this ‘I’ as some entity.’ This ‘I’ that I’m considering myself to be is still given a meaning but everything else around this body/mind I’m saying is not ‘me.’ Then that can become a sort of oppressive positionlessness. ‘What is the point of this life? Why am I even here?’ You know, this kind of thing. This is just misunderstood positionlessness or a half-positionlessness.

True positionlessness is to let go of the crutches of this ‘me’, the perspective of a ‘me’, the perspective of an individual entity. The ‘non-existent me’ has been given too much meaning. And when we come to this positionlessness or meaninglessness from the perspective of not even having this position of the ‘me’…, then all this oppressiveness of the so-called philosophers is not there.

You know these tragic poets? Some of these tragic poets come to some very beautiful insights. They write these beautiful lines. But you can see that it’s half-positionlessness. They drop the meaning in the world, but the ‘me’ still continues to have meaning.

I was reading something very beautiful by Leo Tolstoy. This was much already he had written his classics and everything. And it seemed like he spent a long time after that in deep existential depression. I was reading his writing and I could see that it is just this simple trick which seems to be holding him back. [Smiles] It was like ‘There is no point because everything is going to die anyway. So why am I even living?’

So, everything else…, the pointlessness of perception has been seen and it has been applied to everything but the body/mind, which he is calling ‘me’ and ‘mine.’ If that is also seen through, then what is there to be? …, (in the sense that if you still consider yourself to be a body/mind and you keep hearing about positionlessness or meaninglessness, or ‘everything is going to death any way; all this world is coming and going’ …, but you latch on very strongly to the body/mind idea, then you can feel like ‘I-body/mind am in this world which is constantly unsteady and going towards death and it is completely meaningless so, there is no point in me being this person anyway, this body anyway so, what is the point of living?’ These kinds of things. So, we have dropped the positionlessness or the meaninglessness of what our senses are bringing to us but we have still not dropped the idea that ‘I am a limited entity’ that ‘I am an object in this world.’

Now, look from the True perspective of the Seeing-ness itself. What lamentation does that have? [Smiles] It has no lamentations because it is not saying that ‘I am caught in world. How do I sleep at night?’ and these kinds of things.

What Is the Proof for Separation?

Q:Father, whenever you say ‘this non-existent me’ …, when I check, an anger arises, a resistance and it just says ‘You really are crazy’ and it only calms down when the belief or when the idea that ‘Okay, I exist but maybe I don’t exist as a person.’ You see what I am saying?

A: Yes. Where is the ‘me’ that exists?

Q:I can hear what you’re saying, but this thing is…

A:Yes. The ‘me’ that exists is which one?

Q:It’s the one which is perceiving all of this and seemingly deciding something…

A: Is there anything which is not ‘me’ then?

Q: Yeah, another body.

A:See, this is the thing. You see? [Smiles] How is it that we take some perception and say that is

‘me’ and take some other perception which is ‘not me’?

Q: How is it…?

A:Why make this distinction? What is the benefit of this? [Silence] What is the benefit of the ego? …, in the sense that ego is just a belief that ‘I am a separate individual. The belief in separation, the belief in individuality, is what is called the ego. But does it have any benefits?

Q: No.

Q1: What is the proof?

A:Your own Seeing is the proof. What you are Seeing, Right Now, is completely clear to You; that all these body sensations, all of this is just contained within You…, just like other sensations are. You are not able to stop YourSelf at just being this body. In actuality, all of this contained within You. It is all perceptions within you. Do you have the experience of just this body? No, you are also hearing these words; you are also seeing this body. It is just one centrality of one perspective which the mind uses and says that You must be contained in this. [Silence] What is the proof of this separate one?

Q1: I can hear what you say but …

A:But even otherwise, suppose you hadn’t heard what I said: what is the proof of the separate one? No doctor has found the separate one living inside the body. No surgeon has found it and said ‘Look, I found the person.’ Nobody can tell me who the doer is, who the sufferer is, who the experiencer is. The separate one is just never found.

There is no proof for this separation but all of this perception (and to See that I am untouched by this perception) is proof that You are beyond all that You perceive. So, everything that you are Seeing is pointing to Your Reality, actually; even the world of perceptions. Only the subtitles are all messed up. The movie is fine; it is just these subtitles from the mind. [Chuckles]

Suppose that the movie was a perfect movie, perfect! …, but there was no dialogue. And something (the trickster; all part of movie itself) is making all these subtitles ‘You are this one, this should happen to you, your life should be like this, the Master should be like this, your body should be like this, your bank account should be like this, your work should be like this.’ All this. Everything is going along perfectly but in the subtitles, this thing is saying ‘This is wrong, this can’t be happening to me, I will never get it…’ And the body is just sitting there; it is just sitting, it’s just fine [Chuckles] but the narration is all of this.

And the thing is that we weren’t even naturally reading those subtitles or bothered about them. We were taught ‘No, that is you. That itself is taking about you. They are talking about you.’ [Smiles]. Then, when you realize what You Are, when you See what You Are, that just means we look at the movie and say ‘None of these subtitles are applying to Me in Reality.’ Then, for a while, the subtitles seem feel like ‘Father, that subtitle, when it comes; everything else is fine but ‘this one!’

For Satsang, the usual suspects are the seeker one (‘I haven’t got it, when will I get it? I am not worthy yet’) something like that. Or maybe the most potent one in the normal human existence is the relationship. [Inaudible] Yet the body is fine, the world is fine, everything is sitting around exactly the way it is meant to be. And it happens even in Satsang. In the movie, this voice is saying something [Makes a gesture of speaking with hands] but many times we are not hearing this voice; we are hearing the subtitle track, which is saying ‘Don’t listen to this guy, he is not helping you at all.’ [Laughter] ‘You are being told that you are more magnificent than God Itself.’ … ‘But the mind…’ [Makes a gesture of speculation] [Laughs] These kinds of things. This is the human conditioning.

Don’t Touch The ‘I’ Which Woke Up This Morning

For the next few days I just will keep saying this: Don’t touch the ‘I’ that woke up this morning.

So, if I say ‘What woke up this morning?’ what would you say?

Q: I have no idea. [Laughter in the room]

A:In sleep state, the ‘I’ that has no idea was there? Like you have this feeling ‘I have no idea’ even when you were asleep?

Q: [No answer]

A: [Chuckles] It’s okay, don’t worry. Don’t worry about it.

Q:Something feels dense and there’s this experience that even if I’m not responding,

Consciousness (or whatever it is) is evident.

A:Let me say something and see if you can relate to that. Some denseness is there; it could be emotion or any perception which seems like it’s very heavy. Yes? Now, it seems like what the mind tries to do is quickly bring this perspective to this point where you can feel that you ARE this completely overwhelmed-ness; that completely this denseness is fully containing you.

If that is not the case, then you will see that this denseness, no matter how dense it might seem, is contained in this room which has no walls.

Q:I feel like it’s watched; like it’s not taking everything. And yet, there’s still there’s so much aversion to it.

A:Yes, but can you validate this with your ‘Looking’ and tell me the size of this denseness with regards to the space that it is in?

Q: My attention is with the denseness and just doesn’t want it.

A:This is good. So, now attention is with the denseness and attention doesn’t want it. Is this true? …that it is the attention which is bringing the ‘not wanting’ into this picture?

Q:There this feeling ‘I don’t want it.’

A:Yes, and this ‘I’ …, are you saying this ‘I’ is the attention itself which doesn’t want it?

Q:[Inaudible]

A:So, it’s quite simple, really. There’s a denseness and there’s a feeling of not wanting it. Now, you said that attention doesn’t want it and then you said that it’s more like there’s an ‘I’ who doesn’t want it. But is this ‘I’ inferred? Or can you see this ‘I’?

Q: Can’t see this ‘I’.

A:So, if I was to call it a presumption for a minute, would you be really upset? [Smiles] Because that which we do not see, and yet we claim the existence of, is like a presumption, no?

Q: It feels like the ‘I’ that is the ‘Existence-I’ …, the ‘I’ that Knows Its own Existence.

A:What do you mean ‘feels like’? Because something is making a connection between ‘not wanting’ and that which is the Creator of it Itself: That which is projecting life itself, which is projecting this universe. Then some inference is being made that That Itself doesn’t want it. You see? Now, in actuality, if you didn’t want it, it wouldn’t be here. Because not one speck of dust, not one speck of sand, or a blade of grass is here without the Will of this One.

And this is a worthy contemplation. Because if it is left unexplored and just believed that ‘I actually don’t want it; the I-that-Am, the Isness Itself, doesn’t want something and yet It Is…, then that can sound like a real battle. You see?

Q: There are times I see the absurdity of that.

A:And that’s very good because usually we rely on memory to trouble us more, but at least there are some memories where you can say ‘No, I have had that experience where I’ve Seen that this is not true.’ It is still possible to look at this and See what is really true.

Q:I feel like I’m not seeing what is really true.

A:But the Seeing is there. Or not?

Q:No. There is such dullness in the mind; it’s just not able to.

A:I know you get concerned about taking time on this and kind of thing but this is what I’m here for; when you say things like ‘It is just the dullness of the mind; there is no Seeing there.’ But what Sees the dullness of the mind? It is just that value has being given more to the content of what is being seen, rather than to the Seeing itself.

I know there are fifty different things to which I say ‘This is primarily what Satsang is’ [Chuckles] but right now, I want to say this is primarily what Satsang is; [Laughter] to divest all this meaning from what is seen and bring some focus back to what is Seeing it.

Because sometimes it can be dullness, sometimes it can be peace or joy, sometimes it’s anger, sometimes it’s frustration, sometimes there’s greed, there’s hunger; there’s all kinds of things. When we keep just involved in this, then it’s like a kaleidoscope; it is constantly moving, changing and multidimensional. All these; the five sheaths or seven sheaths of existence…, so

many layers in which we are experiencing this world. All of this is constantly there. But if we spend all our time looking at the content of this world then it can feel like ‘I am part of the content.’

But if you really look and See:

What is Seeing?

What is on that side of the content?

As sublime or terrible it might be, what is on the Seeing side?

Who is the one that perceives?

That is the crux of the inquiry.

But with many of you, sometimes I notice that even when the inquiry is happening, you’re still saying ‘Okay, I’m doing the inquiry; this is what’s coming up or this is what’s not coming up, I’m not feeling free or I’m feeling very free.’

But the point of the inquiry is to find:

Who is Seeing all of this?

What is the witness of all of this?

What perceives all of this?

So, the mind can make even the inquiry into something about the content. But it really is not about the content.

Don’t Use Inquiry for Just the By-Products Only

[Reading from chat]: “I’m seeing that life is bringing situations; that it is poking something in me and a lot of anger burps out. This expression of anger happens automatically and I am able to see it. After a while, I try to sit with this; to welcome it. But it does not come. I want to clear this bit of strong identity. Help.”

[Ananta]: ‘I am seeing that life is bringing situations; that it is poking something in me and a lot of anger burps up.’ Okay. So, as you looking at the inquiry, don’t look at it to fix your anger. Because again and again, the mind will use that as the benchmark and say ‘Your inquiry is not going well because your anger is still here.’ If there is a poking happening, it is poking an idea that you have about yourself. You Are; not for any of the by-products. Then you will see that this ‘me’ is a made-up idea. The ‘Me’ that is True, the ‘I’ that is True, has no attributes and therefore, cannot be poked. And in this discovery itself, you will find that this poking that you speak of will start to seem lesser and lesser; because there is lesser and lesser to poke, in a way.

As we are dropping all our notions, as we are dropping all our belief systems…, you see, it is only this [notions, belief systems] that can be poked. Like we said (I don’t know whether you typed this question before we were speaking about this but I was saying): If you have an identity that ‘I am a very good athlete’ (if you believe it) or if you go to Hussein Bolt or one of these athletes and say ‘But you are terrible runner; there were much better who came before you’ …, it might bring a lot of shakiness to them. But if you say something like that to somebody on the road, just causally like that, they will be like ‘What you are talking about? It does not affect me at all.’ So, that which can be poked means that there is something held onto; a belief which is being held onto, which is being poked. So, look at these as opportunities to explore: ‘What is it that I am still believing about myself? I don’t need any belief to exist.’

Existence takes complete care of itself. But if something that can be poked, then: ‘What is it that is still here that has been bought?’ And then, a lot of anger comes and all of that…, don’t worry so much about the expression of the anger. That we can discuss about at some later point.

Many times, you’ve also seen that in the outward expression of Sages, some anger can come. The play of this body/mind can continue. The more important thing is that you feel like it is something that pokes you and then the anger comes out. What I’m suggesting is: Don’t worry about the by-product of it because something can feel like ‘I feel poked and I feel very sad. I feel poked and I get into a rage. I feel poked …’ (in various ways and various outcomes can come).

The first part of that is more important. As you’re exploring ‘What can be poked here?’ …, just like I cannot poke space, You Are That which is subtler than space. So, in reality it is impossible to poke You. It is only possible to poke something that You’re believing about yourself.

*By-products: wanting the by-products of love, peace & joy instead of Truth for Truth’s sake.

Life and Death Are Nothing but a Change of Clothes for You

[Reading from chat]: “There is a gentle, fragile prayer within and total chaos without. Guruji, what is happening?”

[Silence]

So, if there is a within and without, where are you? What are you contained in the ‘within’? Are you where the prayer is?

[Silence]

You say ‘There is a fragile sense of prayer happening.’

[Questioner joins online and says]: Yes, there is such a sense of whenever I touch this space of prayer, it’s just the incredible. But it’s very brief. It is like immediately there is like a crashing of the mind. But it is like that’s all there is. When I touch it, that is all there is; nothing else. Nothing else is there. And nothing else matters. The whole world could shut down, but it wouldn’t matter.

A:Yes. It sounds actually beautiful to me so far. How is that chaos? [Smiles] You had a second part of the question which was something about chaos.

Q:Yes. But whenever this happens, there is such a crashing that comes from the mind. I wake up every morning and it feels like it takes me a while to come out to that awake space…, where the mind is crashing so hard that it feels like I am physically going to die. It kind of grabs the body and the right side of the body tightens up completely. It’s like really going through this space that

I am physically going to die. Because it feels like the mind comes with so many images and so many thoughts that it’s like coming into hell. And the saving grace actually is listening to Satsang. But this…, yeah, yeah.

A:Satsang is a beautiful refuge.

Q:Yes.

A:It is a beautiful refuge. Because at some point or the other, all of us, we get tired of this mind and we need some refuge from it. It feels like we are incapable of dealing with it ourself, although we deeply recognize that it does not represent us. And yet it pushes and pulls all its tricks and tactics that seem too strong for ‘what we think we are’ to deal with. So, Satsang then becomes a beautiful refuge for us to come to…

Q: Yes, exactly. Thank you, Guruji.

A:…so that we are constantly reminded that there is some very good news that I have for you. Isn’t it?

Q:Yes, thank you so much, Guruji. [Smiling and tearful] Yeah, dispelling the darkness over time. Thank you. That is all I have to say. Yes.

A:Now, the good news is for when you are not in Satsang [Smiles] I know that it becomes difficult to see it when we are not in Satsang and it becomes easier to see when we are in Satsang. But the good news is always there. Then you will find that we are not being able to so easily make the distinction between ‘in Satsang’ and ‘out of Satsang’ …, although initially you will find there is so much support in Satsang. There is so much beautiful energy which is holding you also, so that you can feel that only God is Here. The suffering me, the limited me, is just not here.

So, it becomes simple and clear to see in Satsang. But what is being pointed to Satsang is also true even when this phenomenal play of Satsang is not there. The true Being, this one Being, is always the only One that Is. But it is good to come to Satsang because then as it becomes the old habit of the ‘me’ (the old habit of identifying with the limited one) then it takes a break every day, at least for sometime. [Smiles] Then you will find that, more and more, that will become more and more natural …, (as it is becoming for you).

And then what you are able to see is that even these body sensations, even this pain and seeming immobility of the body, when left notionless, when surrendered to the Master’s grace, you will find that they are not so debilitating as the mind wants to have us believe. It wants to have us believe that ‘This is going to be your death; this is just going to be your death’ or something like that. So, you can invite Bhagavan’s [Sri Ramana Maharshi’s] contemplation because when this idea came to him that ‘This is just going to be my death’ he said ‘Oh, okay. Let me just watch it then; how it happens, what comes.’

In that sort of a welcoming, You will See that You are That which is beyond death.

Life and death are nothing but a change of clothes for You.

The Fun of This Movie Is in Not Knowing the Next Scene

[Reading from chat]: “I have seen that most of my suffering has come from my holding onto identities…”

I would go on so far as to say all. [Smiles] I would go as far as to say all of the suffering comes from the identity.

[Reading from chat]: “…just as all the Gurus say. But without identity, I don’t know what I am to do in life. It seems that just to get rid of that state (not knowing what to do) I have unconsciously held onto various identities. So, it has already been Seen that the identities are bringing just suffering, sooner or later. But without identity, it seems it has brought some sense of losing any direction in life. What is the right course of action?”

This is a good question, my dear. So, I know it can feel a bit unsteady. And I know it is true that we have relied on the mind to provide us some sense of direction in the past. But it is hardly turned out that way anyway, whatever the mind has told us in the past. It has promised us a lot of things, that ‘It will become like this if you do this or if you go here, this is what you will find.’ Most of these have just been empty promises.

Now, it can feel a bit wobbly that I don’t know what I am going to do. Firstly, we must not feel that “If I have a thought about what I am going to do [Points to head] that leads to the action about what doing happens’. And I can go slowly on this because this seems to be a point which gets many of us. We believe that ‘Once I know mentally what I have to do, only then that doing can happen.’ But both thoughts and actions are just waves on the ocean of Consciousness; both are appearing and disappearing from the same Source which is Consciousness Itself.

Many times, it can happen that a thought comes…, (I take this example; I wonder whether you were here when I said this) …, many times we can say something, like ‘I have decided when I go to work today I am just going to tell my manager to ‘Get lost!’ [Chuckles] …, I’m going to say it to my boss and I am not going to …’ And we show up at work and we’re standing in front of the manager and we’re saying ‘Yes sir, what can I do for you today? What is the work?’ [Chuckles] So many times, we have decided various things, but what actually appears is different. Many times. Like Guruji [Sri Mooji] takes this example that he did not decide that he is going to quit but he just found that his mouth was saying ‘I quit.’

So, we have made this false connection. It is like the connection which the mind makes…, as it is said in the Yoga Vashishta that ‘The bird flies and lands on the branch of the coconut tree and coconut falls.’ We have presumed that because one thing happens before another, that that thing is the cause of the next thing. But many times, you will see that the actions are happening as independently as thoughts are happening.

Now, most of us in Satsang have come to See that these thoughts are just coming and going. You are not creating your thoughts in that way; in an individualistic way. But we have not yet come to see that the actions are happening in exactly the same way. Like your head is moving, your heart is beating, your hands could be moving in a conversation; all of these things happen. Now,

I can tell you from my present experience that there is nobody who is saying these words. These words are just appearing out of this mouth (seemingly) and they are being heard here. [Chuckles] Nothing is being decided, nothing is being planned out; they are just arising. And the hearing of them is also happening in the same way for the apparent two of us.

So, this connection is a bit important to break, that ‘Only when I mentally know what I should be doing in my life can any doing happen.’ And this fear the mind will constantly sell it to you, saying ‘Oh, if you drop your identity, if you drop your thinking, if you drop your limited mind, your life is just going to become a mess’ or ‘If you don’t know what to do, you will become lost’ …, like Guruji says, no? He had this fear coming [Chuckles] that he will become this hunchback beggar on the streets of Brixton if he lets go of his mind. This was unfolding for him (even the greatest Sages have dealt with mind fear like this) that ‘You are going to become like Quasimodo, a hunchback, and you will be begging on the streets of Brixton. What are you doing with your life?’ These kinds of things.

But as you go through this, I am telling you that the fun of this movie is in the not knowing of the next scene. It is our idea of ‘What the next scene should be. What I should be doing next? What should happen next?’ which has taken the freshness out of it.

Now, you have to experiment with this a bit and have no precondition about what should happen. [Chuckles] Otherwise, we will have some more fun with this experiment. Like, there was this one lady (I don’t remember her name right now) who said ‘I am just so scared of surrendering because I am so attached to my work as psychotherapist and I don’t want to let my patients down.’ And I told her this story about what Guruji says about ‘The one that is running this universe, running all these planets, all these forces, everything that is happening; the heart is beating, the breath is happening…, so, the One that is doing all of this, we feel like if we surrender to that One, we feel like he will make a mess of my life…, but you can safely surrender.’ What she said next day is that [Chuckles] ‘Ananta, I am very angry with you!’ She was half-joking, she was not really angry but she was like ‘I am really upset with you.’ I said ‘Why? What happened?’ She said ‘I have been a psychotherapist for sixteen years and I have never missed an appointment. But after I left it to God, for the first time I forgot about an appointment.’ [Chuckles]

So, sometimes in this play it can play out in this way, that if we surrender with one eye open (like ‘I’m surrendered to you Lord’) [Fold hands making a gesture of surrender] but we surrender with one eye open…, you know what I mean by one eye open? It’s like ‘I am surrendering to You completely but just make sure it works out the way I want it, okay?’ [Chuckles] So, if that is the perspective then it can seem to create even more fun and drama. Because this half-surrender; it can sound like I am giving a guarantee that if you just let go, then life will turn out exactly as how you are thinking that it should turn out. But that’s not what I am saying. I’m saying ‘Just let go and you will find that life turns out beautifully.’ But you might not say that moment to moment as it is unfolding. You will start to recognize that the beauty of it, the surrender, having no expectations, you will realize how beautifully it turns out. But if you are half-surrendering, where ‘I am surrendering to you but just make sure it goes the way I want it to’ then that button will get pushed also.

So, [Chuckles] my advice is to let go and See that. And have no expectation about how life should unfold. That would be a true surrender. But if you still feel that ‘Oh, I’m actually looking for the best way to get to where I want to be…, I want to use surrender as a tactic for that or I want to use doing, doership and planning as a tactic for that’ you will see that nobody is ever able to plan this; nobody is ever able to predict where they are going to get to be. You see? This movie is completely unpredictable.

So, suffering comes when we have an idea of how it should be and we feel that how it is unfolding is not that; then we suffer from it. That’s why it is beautiful to See that everything around us is showing that everything can unfold with beautiful Grace. It is only our expectations of ‘How it should be; what I should do’ that get in the way. Like Guruji talks about this tree example, that the tree is not deciding where it should grow its next branch, where to have flowers. It’s not deciding, making a decision like that. And yet, every tree is unique in its own beautiful way and has a beautiful pattern about it, has a beautiful symmetry. We can see that divine intelligence is unfolding it. In the same way our lives are like that.

[Reading from chat]: “… but without identity, it seems like it has brought some sense of losing my direction in life.”

Yes. Yes. [Chuckles] In a sense, this is good. I know it sounds bad but this is actually good. Because if you already know what the next scene in the movie has, then the movie has no fun. If you are waiting to watch Avengers and somebody comes and already tells you ‘This is the last scene of Avengers and this is what’s going to happen’ you will be like ‘Oh, I was just giving you some direction about the movie.’ You will say ‘No, that is not a direction; it is a spoiler.’

Yes. You will come to this place of not-knowing where you are going. You will come to this place of not-knowing what is happening and that you will start to love. I know it is scary for a while. It is scary for a while. As we lose our identity, it can feel like my life has become directionless. No, it has always followed the beautiful, divine direction. But ‘I don’t have a concept of it now. I don’t know mentally what the direction of my life is.’

So, I know that that sense of losing your direction can be there but again, I know what is sounding like bad news to you only sounds like good news to me. [Smiles] That is why Guruji has also made this reassurance that anybody who has come to the true recognition about themselves and lost all this false sense of doership, desire, duality…, nobody who has come to the Truth has gone on to regret it. Nobody has said ‘Oh, I am free now; I would rather not have this, I would rather get my sense of direction back.’ If you ask the Sage, all the Sages have said ‘I don’t know anything at all’ and they mean it about this knowing. [Points to head] They don’t know mentally. They don’t value these concepts of what things are and where things should go.

So, “What is the right course of action?” It seems like you are on the right course if you are losing identity, if you have some fear of losing direction in life, this is very much part of this natural flow that all of us have gone through; Guruji has gone through, and it has happened here also the same way.

And I remember that after meeting Guruji the first time, for many months it was like this. I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I was very happy but my family used to come and tell me ‘But you were doing so well in your work. Now what has happened? Have you become depressed?’ because they could see that the fire, the so-called fire of ambition, was not there. So, they started getting a bit concerned. So, I wrote an email to Guruji and said ‘Actually, I’m quite happy, but some concern is coming because my family seems to be very concerned about what is happening here.’ And he said that what is unfolding is a beautiful, natural process and it was the same way that it happened for him also; that the world cannot understand how it can be that we don’t know where we are going and we are still happy. How it can be that we don’t have this ambition and yet things happen to unfold so beautifully.

If you need some example of work happening in life and without having a direction of where I am going, then this life is also an example of that. [Chuckles] Like yesterday, all day I was at work and it seems to just unfold on its own. There is no aversion here, there is no position that work is contrary to This, or something like that. So, work can unfold, no work can unfold; whatever the Guru’s Grace has in store can unfold.

I know it has this feeling of fear, it can feel a bit wobbly at times that ‘Am I just wasting my life? Is this really true?’ Many times, for many of you who have been in Satsang for long time also, the mind can play this card. It can say ‘How do you know if all of this is not hogwash? Do you really know? Do you really know you are not just being brainwashed in Satsang?’ Then it plays this card: ‘What if you end up wasting your whole life not doing anything worthwhile because you believe this hogwash?’ It can play this card. But if you were to truly Look, you will find that the only times when you have been at peace, you have been content, the only times where our heart has known that we are in the right place, is the time that we have been in Satsang. So, the surrender becomes like this: ‘Even if this life has been a compete waste, let it be spent at my Master’s feet.’ This kind of openness can come.

This Mind Is Nothing but a Position Machine

Suppose you have this neighbor and this one keeps messaging ‘Come and help me.’ So, you go to his house. You open the door. [Chuckles] ‘What has happened?’ you ask him. He says ‘You have to help me.’ You say ‘I’m here to help you. What is it that you want?’ He says ‘I have lost my way. I want to get home.’ You say ‘But you are home.’ [Chuckles] He says ‘I don’t think this is home because my thoughts are telling me I haven’t got it yet.’ [You say] ‘But you Are home.’ He says ‘It doesn’t feel like home.’ So, the game can continue day after day; Monday to Friday it can continue like this. And then, after a while, it can seem like the last time you met him, he got it. He Sees he is home. [Chuckles] Then the next day, he sends you a message ‘Help me. Come, come.’ Then you come. Then he says ‘I got it.’ [Laughter] ‘I finally got it.’ And then, day after day, he is messaging you to confirm that he has got it (or she has got it).

So, this is the game of the spiritual seeker. Never left home. You can’t leave it even if you try. This game of ‘getting’ and ‘not getting’ is what defines the seeker. What is the ego? Just a grasping, isn’t it? It’s like a resistance to ‘What Is’ and grasping for what is not. It can feel like something in the Is-ness is not enough…, but never really checking. It’s like you have the refrigerator full of the best food but you go out begging, saying that ‘I don’t have a morsel to eat.’ [Chuckles] So, how will this work? Neither the searching for it nor the proclamation of it is It. You Are It…, but which ‘you’ is this? Not a made-up you; not this coming and going body- you. That which has never moved, has never changed; the Unchanging Self is Your Reality. This One, You can never lose (and you can never find actually in the way we think of finding). Many times, it can feel like ‘I have to find this Truth as if I will find an object’ or ‘I will find the Self as a luminous something.’ [Chuckles] But what witnesses even that? Everything in the world is made up of something.

What about Your Awareness? What is that made up of? [Silence]

What about Your very Existence? What is that made up of?

So, Your Self is not changing in character. The Self has given to Itself the power to pretend as if It is something limited, something objective.

All of life has been a grasping. Our human condition has been that of grasping. That’s why I feel like the cat story that we take is very useful. It’s like you were born in a world without any mirrors. You were born and everybody started telling you that you are a cat. So, then as a cat, what are you supposed to do? You are supposed to walk on four feet and go to the next bowl of milk. And this bowl of milk has constantly changed. It has been education, it has been relationship, it has been money, experiences. And one day you got tired of this and you said ‘Is there any end to this grasping; running after the next bowl of milk? I have tried this. I have tried money, I have tried relationship, I have tried spirituality also. So many are tired spiritual seekers. [Chuckles] I was promised nirvana. I was promised amrit (nectar).’ [Chuckles] So, this promise was made; you were told that ‘Come to this ultimate bowl of milk called moksha or nirvana (freedom or liberation) and you will always be happy, you will have a super-human existence.’

So, then we go from Master to Master, from Satsang to Satsang, hoping as a cat to get something. And many times (because Maya is very potent also) many times it can feel like ‘Oh, this was it. I really got it. I am that super-cat now.’ [Laughter] ‘I was a regular cat; now I’m a special cat, I’m a liberated cat, I’m a free cat.’ Till you come to a Sage who is the only one who has a mirror. He says ‘If you are done with your cat business, are you happy to look at this mirror?’

I am making this point trivially but it’s a very important point. If you are done with your cat business, then it is very straight-forward. If you still have hope for this cat because you have carried this identity for so long and the real intent is to really make this cat a super- cat, then this play, this game, can go on for a long time.

So, I might say ‘spirituality is the end of selfishness.’ It can sound like a simple thing to say. But this selfishness is based on the false identity, the notion of separation, the notion of individuality, the notion of ego.

So, are you willing to see that you are home? …, for one moment, without being so concerned about this cat and this cat’s feelings and this cat’s thoughts? It never existed anyway. We have been taught to believe in its existence. Now, the mirror is here. How are you going to check? You cannot check this in a worldly way, you cannot check on it based on this coconut body, you cannot check on it based on some feeling. We cannot even check on it with some experience because many times we say ‘Oh, I have the experience of some stillness.’ How can you then check on it?

What is at the core of all of this?

What has been Here, Un-caused?

Even in the sleep state, what doesn’t go?

[Silence]

So, you don’t have to be a humble cat, you don’t have to be a special cat. [Smiles] Neither this nor that. This neutrality is very troublesome for the mind. It will say ‘Okay, at least tell me what I am supposed to do. And if you don’t tell me what I am supposed to do, at least tell me what I am supposed to not do. Give me some position at least.’ [Chuckles] This mind is nothing but a position machine. So, even now as these words are being spoken, this mind will take a position. It will say ‘Yeah, this is right; yeah.’ or ‘This doesn’t seem right. What am I doing here?’ [Chuckles] These are just positions. But they belong to who? That is the question. This mind will pose as the judge, as the sufferer, as the doer, as the desirer. All poses it takes on. But what is it that is beyond this?

Before you pick up the phone with the message of the neighbor (‘Help me.’ or ‘Come, come; let’s celebrate that I got it.’) …, what are you? What are you in your notion-less existence?

Show me what is organically Here. And tell me if that needs some ‘doing’ …, if that has something which is not done yet? What is missing in Your organic Presence? (I use the term ‘organic.’ Maybe it is corporate conditioning.) [Chuckles] …, in Your natural Presence?

So, it’s neither doing nor non-doing; neither finding nor not-finding. All of these things are safely thrown away because none of this applicable to You in Reality. These things are only applicable to the pretense of who you are. Now, the seller of doubt will come and say ‘But…, but

…, but…’ [Chuckles] ‘This is true. You Are the Self …, but… (just, anything).’ We have heard all the possible doubts. In the last five years, we have heard all the doubts possible. (Well, we can’t even say that completely.) [Chuckles]

Now don’t take a step.

Don’t take a step. And don’t not take a step.

Don’t have any stance about anything.

You mouth can have a stance, your hands can have a stance, your feet can have a position. But inwardly be empty of this. Or more accurate is to say: ‘See the emptiness that is just Here.’

Yes, I know that some withdrawal symptoms will come. It seems like we are so used to taking a position, to making a stand. As we drop all opposites, we drop everything that could have an opposite; including dropping.

Meet this Being.

This is the most enlightened Being you will ever find,

Your own Divine Presence.

[Meditative Silence]

Another trick the mind can play is to tell you that ‘You are getting it wrong again and again. Ananta everyday comes and says ‘Be empty of positions’ and yet, again and again, you are taking a position.’ That is also a position. Forget about it. No position can last in This Moment. If you can see this, everything is so simple.

No position has survived This Moment.

What’s past is past.

You are Here.

God is Now.

We Don’t Know Anything at All

If we make no distinctions, if we forget about everything that we have learned, even the spiritual concepts, if we don’t value any interpretation or any label, everything becomes just part of the play.

[Silence]

Then it is only one thing that causes you suffering: it is something that you think you know. [Chuckles] You cannot suffer without knowing anything. Only when you think you know anything, can you suffer. This conceptual knowing…, what is the need for it? Does Your Existence need to know something? If you forget everything that you know about the Self, about the world, about everything, will You cease to exist?

Guruji [Sri Mooji] takes this very nice example. He says ‘What does the tree need to know to grow its next branch?’ It is not deciding ‘Oh, the next one I’ll make on the left’ and yet so beautifully it can unfold. But it is not even concerned with beautifully or not-beautifully because that can be like a half-surrender. ‘I surrender to you, but make sure it comes out beautifully, okay? That is what I was promised.’

The tree is not concerned with how it turns out. There’s a greater Intelligence which is running its life; that same Intelligence which is running this life, the same One that is making this heart beat, this breath happen, these words appear. There is nobody sitting here saying them. But sometimes when these words come, that same Supreme Intelligence decides to play as if it is an object.

[Silence]

So, the only suffering, the only bondage, is something that you think you know. But we don’t know anything at all.

Who is here? Who exists?

Does anyone know this? Who exists?

Nobody can know this from the mind and yet we want to know ‘Why is there this in the world? Why does this exist in the world? Why is it like that?’

But who exists?

Whose Existence is this?

I don’t find (I have never found and none of you have ever found) a limited Existence. Have you ever found an Existence which has a boundary? Have you met such a thing?

So, the one that claims to be limited, what is that? Where is that? Who is that? The one that has positions (including the position that ‘I’m empty of all positions’) is who?

Where Does Attention Arise From?

Something similar also we looked at the other day when someone was saying that ‘It is my attention that then goes to this unlimited Self.’ And I suggested for him to look: ‘So, where does this attention arise from?’ Because with our attention, it can feel like ‘I am going TO this’ but actually it is more like the spring which is coming back to rest, empty of the springiness. So, you look at the source of where that looking is coming from.

Because what has happened is that we got so used to looking at the content of things. Now, when it is withdrawing (in a way) to that which is non-perceptual. it can feel like ‘Oh, it is coming from that side to this.’ So, we must clarify this a bit and See:

What is the source of this looking itself?

Where does it arise from?

Does it arise from a piece of content?

Does it arise from a thing?

Only things can arise from things. A ‘non-thing’ (there is no such thing as ‘arising’ for it in the first place, but just to use words) it does not arise from phenomenal parents. So, you are in that other dimension (or let’s say that is the only dimension).

That fits very well with our neighbor example:

That is home.

That is home and You are That.

Now, where do you want to go? [Chuckles].

Better than that, it is easier to say ‘This is home.’

IS is home.

You are home.

Now, are you lost? Need some direction? [Looks around and smiles]

The Ego Is Nothing but Pretend-Becoming

Ego is nothing but a pretend-becoming. ‘What Is’ just Is.

If you are becoming something, forget about it. If you have not become, forget about it.

If you have become, forget about it. That which needs time, forget about it.

That which is timeless, you cannot think about anyway. [Smiles]

So, like I was saying last week, surrender all that you think you are right about. I am no longer interested in taking all those things which you are [feeling] wrong about because those you have surrendered anyway. We don’t want them any more. [Chuckles] It is only what you feel you are right about that I want.

[Silence]

What does it mean: ‘right about’? Anything that you think you know about this world, about life, about how a devotee should be, how a disciple should be, how a Master should be, what freedom is, what binds you; anything about the past, any projection about the future.

[Silence]

And then the mind will have just one trump card. It will say ‘But then my life is meaningless.’ And the Master will say ‘This ‘me’ is meaningless.’ If you still hold on to the ‘me’ then all of this will seem like oppressive meaningless-ness of the world. You let go of this limited idea of yourself. You have to just try it. [Smiles] I can’t say what will happen. Don’t be scared to divest everything of its meaning; especially the ‘me.’

[Silence]

Who was saying the other day? … that it is like a bit like learning to ride the bike. Initially, it can seem a bit wobbly. ‘Oh, I’m going fall or I’m going to hurt myself.’ But once you see that it is so natural, then you will wonder what the fear was about.

Safely Surrender the Idea of ‘Dark Night of the Soul’

[Reading from chat]: “Father, please explain about the dark night of the soul.”

Now, usually I don’t explain these kinds of things because what happens here is that whatever I end up explaining, [Smiles] half of you start believing that this is what happening to you. Like, if I explain about some energy, you can feel like ‘Oh, this is what is happening to me.’ [Smiles] If I start talking about ‘dark night of soul’ then the mind will come and say ‘Yes, see, this is what is happening to you. You are in that.’ Even those for whom it is not happening, they start picking up this idea that ‘This is what is happening to me and I must be done with this’ or something like that. So, I’ll just share a little bit about it but you don’t have to take it too seriously. [Smiles]

It can feel like, when we are coming to the end of conditioning, when we’re coming into this awakening of the true recognition of who we are, when we’re coming to the point of dropping all that is false, it can feel like everything in the design of this play starts to feel very oppressive and the mind starts interpreting everything in a very, very serious way; in a very, very gloomy sort of way. Everything can start seeming like it is an attack. You feel like there is no peace, there is no joy. Everything starts to feel meaningless in a personal sort of way.

This is a very common occurrence (it is not a prerequisite but it is a very common occurrence) for those who are coming to the end of one chapter and coming to this new chapter. So, it can feel like at the end of this chapter there is this extreme sadness, extreme confusion, extreme lack of understanding, meaninglessness. It is still taken personally so it can feel like the person walks in to this dark night of the soul. But God walks out of it.

The best part about having a Master is that you don’t have to worry about these things. You can keep coming to Satsang and dark night, bright night, dark day, bright day …, you don’t have to worry about any of it. [Smiles] You don’t have to fight any battle. You don’t have to worry about anything at all. All is the Satguru’s to carry. All is your Master’s to carry. That is why you can safely [say] ‘Guru Kripa Kevalam’ [to] the dark night idea. [Guru Kripa Kevalam: Satguru’s Grace]

[Silence]

It is only shared in Satsang sometimes because it tells you not to feel despondent if it is feeling like this. Then, when the term is applied to it, it will feel like ‘Okay, this is part of the natural functioning of this so there is nothing terrible or terribly wrong with me or something which is happening only to me.’ And it can feel like ‘Yes, all these emotions, all these states are coming. But it is not un-natural and I am well taken care of.’

So, if the term gives you some reassurance that it is taken care of, then you can apply the term. Otherwise, safer always is to ‘forget about it.’ [Smiles]

The Truth Is Without Opposites

Somebody asked me the other day ‘How do I surrender?’ I said to them ‘Don’t make any conclusions. [Chuckles] Don’t make any conclusions.’ They said ‘Oh, that is surrender? Is that it?’ [Laughs] I said ‘Yes, try it. Try living without conclusions. Live without positions. Live without any stance. Then you see that all of this was a facade anyway. Life has just always been life. ‘What Is’ has always been ‘What Is.’

[Silence]

Empty of notions, empty of positions, empty of all opposites. Forget about everything that can have an opposite. Empty of anything that can have an opposite.

If you feel you have found a truth which has an opposite which was the false, then forget about this truth. This is very important. If you feel like you have found a truth which actually had an opposite which you call the false, then forget about this truth.

The Truth that you are being pointed to in Satsang does not have an opposite. It is the ever- unchanging Truth. It cannot be shaken; it cannot be changed to false.

The Truth (this Truth with a capital ‘T’) it is always True.

So, if there is a sense about ‘Oh, I have something which is true, which was false, and I better hold onto it because it could become false again’ then forget about it.

Forget about right and wrong.

Forget about doership and non-doership.

Forget about duality and non-duality.

Forget about cause and effect.

Forget about me and mine.

Forget about me and others.

[Silence]

Most importantly, forget about everything you think you are right about.

What Is Most Obvious to You Right Now?

What is the most obvious thing to you right now? (The most obvious thing.)

[Silence]

That for which you have to put the least amount of effort.

[Silence]

A:What needs least effort or no effort, can we say?

Q:I am.

A: ‘I am.’ He says ‘I am.’ With the least effort; the most obvious.

What are you looking for?

[Silence]

God is Here.

I Am is Here.

I am aware is Here.

Emptiness is the most effortless.

Then, where do you want to go from here?

What effort is worthwhile?

What can you now gift yourself, which is more than this?

[Silence]

Now, do you need a state? Something to happen?

[Silence]

The fallacy of getting somewhere, of becoming something, even intellectually (experientially, of course, it’s clear; even if intellectually it doesn’t not make sense) …

If God is the ever-present, if truth does not come and go, how can it be that you got left out? [Chuckles] How can it be that God is everywhere but you? ‘God is everywhere but I have to find him.’ Where will you look? Everywhere. [Smiles]

The Ego Is Just an Idea That ‘I Know’

The Ego is just the idea that ‘I know.’ This ‘I know’ is a bit stubborn. Life is moving. [Chuckles] Life knows, life is moving in its own way. But this idea ‘I know’ keeps resisting; resisting ‘What Is.’ And we feel like this knowing brings some benefits. [Smiles] We feel like this is how I have taken care of myself…, or even the idea that I know where I am meant to go, what I am meant to become, what I am meant to say…, even the idea that I can diagnose myself, I know where I am, I know how much is left to go. You don’t know anything at all like this.

The knowing that comes and goes with concepts is worthless. The knowing that comes and goes with concepts is worthless If you just know that ‘You are Awareness’ mentally, it’s worthless.

So, let’s take an example. You might know the name of this building. Others will not know. But this kind of knowledge, we can lose. When we leave this place in a week, you might forget ‘Oh, what was the name of the building?’ So, it can’t be relied upon.

Now if you forgot about the concept that ‘You exist’ or ‘You are aware’ do you stop existing or being aware?

So, there is a deeper Knowing, there is a deeper Awareness which is independent of anything you think you know. But the mind plays this trump card. It says ‘Can you run your life like this? Can you live your life like this?’ The question itself is false because the one who presumes that they have been running their life does not exist. [Smiles]

So, this is the way of the Sage. That’s why Guruji [Sri Mooji] always says ‘I know nothing at all’ and yet in his expression, life flows very beautifully; unresisted. [Smiles] From the apparent play, nobody can ever say ‘Oh, Guruji doesn’t know anything at all’ because if he starts speaking you realize he knows so much; there are beautiful stories and how he is able to express himself. This unattachment to concepts…, as we empty of attachment to notions, still in the outward play. in the expression, pure intelligence can appear.

So, ultimately all Satsang comes down to this. (I know in every Satsang I say something else about that) [Chuckles] All Satsang is about: What are we attached to? Which concept do you still feel has meaning? It’s the same as saying ‘What are you right about?’

All of this is just ever-changing appearance anyway. It’s just like you’re hanging onto one cloud. There is no such thing as the cloud (even physically speaking, it’s just a set of water molecules) there is no entity called cloud. It’s like holding onto one cloud and saying ‘This cloud should go left; this cloud should go right.’ [Chuckles] This is just trying to control life, trying to be right.

Just shine your own light. Look for that which you still feel you are completely right about. Don’t try to push it away, don’t try to resolve, don’t try to fix it. Just shine your light on it. That is enough. Don’t even be right about that which you were wrong about. Many times, we do contemplation like this and we might end up with ‘knowing’ conclusion like ‘Oh, I was so wrong.’ [Chuckles] But even this is wrong; you are not even right about that.

If We Let Go of Concepts, Truth Is Completely Apparent

What I want to share (if I do want to share something) is the sheer simplicity of this; the sheer simplicity of this so-called discovery of the Self. It is apparent to You who You Are. It is apparent to You who You Are, except when you think you know it. Or let’s say: except when you think you know something. If you did not know anything right now, it’s completely clear.

This is the paradigm shift. We have been conditioned that we can become clear only if we know. In school, if you are learning geography, if you’ve understood the map of the world, if you know where East Africa is and India is on the map then you feel like you know geography. Here, when we let go of all our concepts, then the Truth of what You Are is completely apparent to You. You don’t need to even use the label like ‘the Self’. So, this ‘I,’ this Self (if we are going to use label) is the pure Knowingness Itself. The Knowingness of both conceptual knowing or not- knowing, the Knowingness of both perceptual knowing or not-knowing, the Knowingness of both emotional or sensational knowing or not-knowing happens on the substratum of this unchanging Self.

This Truth, this unchanging, cannot be grasped, cannot be held onto by any concept, by any percept and by any sensation. The grasping of any of these…, either the spiritual experience or a spiritual concept. Depending on our temperament, we are all attracted to various things. Some want an amazing spiritual experience and then they feel ‘That will be it.’ Some want to get to the ultimate concept and they feel like ‘That will be it.’ So, the grasping of these things is not it. It is prior to any of these.

So, when the Sages speak of openness or nakedness it means naked of any notion, any idea about yourself. Who is the One that you meet when you are not meeting a notion?

That is why in India, the Sage Kabir who took this beautiful example that everybody is searching for the emerald; everyone is searching for the emerald but they have in their pocket…, but nobody looks. They look everywhere. ‘Where is the emerald? Where is the emerald? This magical emerald which will be the end of my suffering. This God Presence, this Divine Divinity, where can I find Him?’

There’s just one simple switch that needs to happen. You have looked everywhere in phenomena. Now, look at what witnesses all phenomena.

So, that is one way. You have looked at all phenomena, now look at what witnesses all phenomena.

Let the Looking Meet the One Who Is Looking

Another beautiful way is to look like this: You have presumed that there is a ‘you’ that is looking. You have presumed that the ‘you’ that is looking is a person.

Now, confirm who is really looking.

Let the looking meet the one who is looking.

Confusing? Okay. We’re looking for various things; for this, for that; for peace, for joy; for all of these things. We’ve been looking for relationships, for money; for various things we’ve been looking. So, we’ve just presumed this one to be a limited person ‘me’. The ‘me’ has been looking.

Now, look for the one that has been looking all this time.

Who is that one who has been looking all this time?

And then you’ll see that it’s so primary. [Silence] It’s like if you went home as a child, as a seven-year-old you went home and said ‘Ma, I’m looking for the thief. I’m looking for the thief.’ And you went on like this. After a while, the Mother says ‘Who are you who is looking for the thief?’ and you say ‘I’m the policeman.’ The child might get this imaginary idea that ‘I’m the policeman’. But the Mother will say ‘But are you a policeman, really?’

So, in Satsang, we meet a different type of Father or Mother who is saying ‘But who are you that wants love, that wants peace, that wants relationships, that wants money? First, try to find yourself and see what you really want; if there is a want left over there. Or do you want to live under the presumption of this false policeman?’

Before a Master can give God to the seeker of God, the Master will ask ‘Are you the seeker, really? Can you show me this one? And if you allow yourself to presume here, if you allow yourself to assume the existence of an individual, the existence of a person, then you’ll make a spiritual journey out of this. But if you don’t presume, if you don’t assume that there is a person sitting there, then you will find that there never has been one.’

Then the mind will come and say ‘But I see this body. I am this body.’ Okay, suppose that that was true. Does the body want freedom? Who can say ‘My body wants freedom’? Then better to go do physiotherapy and get more freedom in your bones [Chuckling] or to the chiropractor. We don’t come to Satsang for freedom for the body. There are better places to go to for that (like yoga class).

So, who do we want freedom for?

Who do we want freedom for?

You cannot presume here. You cannot assume this ‘me’. You cannot assume the ‘I’. Because if you presume here, you can play this game for a million Satsangs; millions of lifetimes, millions of realms, millions of universes. You can go on and on. And that’s fine, too. But presumably You

are tired of presuming this ‘me’…., you’re tired of this game of individuality. So, drop this

assumption or presumption of ‘me’ …, even the one that is looking or seeking:

What do You actually find?

Where do You come from?

Don’t imagine, don’t presume, don’t rely on any words; even scripture. Even the words of Satsang, don’t rely on them as concepts.

What is the Source of Your Existence?

Where do You come from?

This morning, you woke up; where did you wake up from?

Now, the thing is, these questions are super-boring for the idea of ‘me’. And they are blissful when You’re done with this idea of ‘me’. Otherwise, what will happen is that you’ll face a lot of resistance to the inquiry. Because the mind will constantly ask you: ‘What am I getting here? What’s in it for me? Am I getting freedom? Is this finally It for me?’ This notion of ‘me’ will not be helped by anything we hear in Satsang. Once that is clear, we ease up a bit.

See, this is the thing: You cannot find the Self in this way. It is a good illustration, because it can feel like ‘One day I will find the Self in an objective way; just like that AC remote.’ You will not find it in that way. [Pretends to hold up an object in his hand and look at it; chuckling]

Because when you’re going to the Source of the Looking, going to the Source of the Being, you’ll find that there is no attribute, no quality, no color, no shape, no size. And yet, it is not nothing. It is Your very essence. It is ‘no-thing’ but not ‘nothing’.

So, what I was saying is that if the impulse is still ‘me, me, me; freedom for me, something for me’ then our relationship will be very frustrating. Because everything from here, [Points to himself] the sharing of Satsang happens so that this ‘me’ is pruned away, is pruned away. Everything that you hold onto as ‘me’ is chopped away. Because there is nothing here for this ‘me’. And in Reality, there is nothing anywhere for the Real You.

So, what is it that Nisargadatta Maharaj said? ‘Those who came just now and didn’t understand anything, raise your hands. You all don’t need to come because you’re not understanding. Those who’ve been here a long time and have understood, they don’t need to come because they have understood.’ Then, at the end of Satsang, he asked ‘Who will come tomorrow?’ Everybody raised their hand. Because it’s a strange game. Nothing here for the ‘me’. Nothing here for the Reality because what could give anything to That? And yet, in the play of this life, in the unburdening from this individuality to God, the unburdening of this limited notion of ‘me’ to the Self, it seems to play out in this strange way in Satsang.

Run These Pointers Like a Lawn Mower Over Your Mind

It is as simple as this:

I.

I Am.

I am a spiritual seeker.

I am a spiritual seeker, who wants to find God.

Which ones are the lies?

I.

I am.

I Am a spiritual seeker.

And I am a spiritual seeker who wants to find God or has found God or has not found. (All these positions.)

Now, some Sages will say that everything after ‘I Am’ is a lie, is a story. And some like [Sri Nisargadatta] Maharaj has gone as far as to say that ‘I Am’ is also ultimately a lie. He said ‘The only truth you can speak about yourself is that ‘I Am’ but ultimately, even that is a lie.’

Why don’t we take this completely literally? Just take this completely literally, not marked with some end of some spiritual journey or something like that? Like ‘At that point, I will see this.’

Everything that you say after ‘I Am’ is a lie. Run that like a lawnmower in your garden and see what is left. [Smiles] ‘Running like lawn mower.’ In America, they are also a driving one. You can sit on Lawn mower, like you are rich. So, run these pointers like lawn mower in your garden and see what is left. It is a beautiful one: Everything that you say after ‘I Am’ is a lie. So, if you run this lawn mower in your garden, that will chop away everything; all these weeds of individuality, of separation, of desire, of fear. It will chop away all of these.

Then what is left? Some parts you did not run on; some parts you left? Your favorite weeds, which you feel like roses will come out of? [Chuckles] You even feel like ‘Oh, these are not weeds. They might be a bit thorny but these are roses, rose bushes.’ Like ‘One day, I will go from seeker to enlightened Master.’ [Smiles] ‘I will find my devotees.’ So, everywhere, everything…, everything you believe about yourself. Everything that needs belief, itself is a lie.

And forget about even trying to live like this or something. Because even that can be another thing: ‘Now I am just going to live like this.’ But run your lawn mower even about that. Be empty even of that. Let this coconut body do whatever it wants. Let it go along with all appearances. It [the body] is as much an appearance as the rest of this realm is. So, again, don’t try to limit yourself and say ‘I-as-the-body will try to live this freedom.’ Who can carry this freedom?

Choose the Divine Light Rather Than the Voice of Limitation

The only thing that’s happened is that you’ve been told that this is a foreign language movie and you need subtitles. [Smiling] That’s it. This movie that is going on, you’ve been led to believe that you need the subtitles which are coming from this mind to make sense of this. So, in some way we feel like ‘Without this there is no sense in this. I don’t know anything here unless I have the subtitles for this movie.’

Now, these subtitles have been designed so that you can take YourSelf to be one of the characters in the movie and that, in a way, is the ultimate fallacy. Mind is designed to convince You that You are an entity in this play, that You are a limited self, that You are an object. And yet, in one moment of checking when we inquire together, You see that nothing can happen Here. Nothing can happen Here that can hurt Me in anyway (that can really make a dent on Me, a scratch on Me) in Reality. All of us who’ve been in Satsang have had these moments where it’s been completely apparent.

Now, both these things are not possible. If You are an object in this world then the world could hurt you, dent you, affect you. If You are untouched by this world in Reality then You cannot be an object in this world.

Now, there is only one voice which is convincing You that You are limited; that You are an object. And this is what I have been calling the subtitles of this movie. This is the voice of the mind. What does it have? It has duality, it has doership and it has desire. It’s a ‘3-D’ ego. Separation, wanting, and strategy on what to do; to plan what should be done and not done.

Now, my invitation is to try. See how it goes. Don’t bother with the subtitles for a few minutes. Don’t go to the subtitles even about this. [Smiles] Because, as I say, don’t bother with the subtitles I can see …, that immediately you’re going to the mind about this. ‘Hey, my friend, what do you feel about This?’ [Chuckles] ‘You think it’s a good idea?’ [Chuckles]

Try it out. Nothing in this movie in itself has to be avoided. So, spirituality is not some great avoidance. The movie is, in fact, openly embraced. It is only these subtitles that say ‘This should not be’ or ‘Only this should be’. And why not to buy into these subtitles? Because they are constantly referring to You as a limited character within this movie.

The value of the Self-inquiry is to check: ‘Am I really this? Am I just this bucket of flesh and blood; this body? Am I just this coming-and-going energy construct that we call thoughts? Or is there something else that I Am? Is there something greater which is not coming and going?’

Then you discover that you are not a character in this movie. You find that You are not the coconut You are the ocean. In fact, the very ocean of existence is just an aspect of You. The light of the movie and the screen of the movie both are You. But even beyond that, You are That which is the Eternal Witness.

Many, many, many movies You have seen like this and You will continue to see. Millions maybe. [Chuckles]

How is life without the subtitles? And I’m not saying that the subtitles should not appear anymore or that You must avoid looking at them. They can come and go. I jokingly say sometimes that ‘What if your mind started to speak in a language which you did not understand? Would You stop existing? Even when the mind said ‘Oh, I don’t know what’s going on anyway’ even in that you would not understand because it would be in a different language. [Chuckles] What would be your position then? You could not even make the statement ‘I am lost’.

Trust the movie for what it is.

Allow the movie to be what it is.

The movie is not in a foreign language.

You don’t need an interpreter.

It is actually the subtitles which are foreign to You.

The benefit of having a living Master is that You see it is possible to live without these subtitles. Otherwise, we would just keep feeling ‘Oh, well I can’t live like that! How is it possible? I need the mind. What about the practical things?’ [Smiles] And then You See that all of this movie is running on its own. Nobody has been running this life; no individual has been sitting here.

We’ve all had our fun. On the weekend, with the family, we went to this Avenger’s movie. [Smiles] Now it’s fully immersive because it’s IMAX so they give the specs [Glasses] and then you’re fully immersed in the movie; you feel like your apart of it. Now, suppose I came back from that movie believing that I am Spiderman. [Sangha and Father Chuckle] And the narrator’s voice of Spiderman was still here with me and it kept saying ‘Spidey, this one is in trouble. Go with your webs!’ [Chuckles and pretends to shoot spider webs from his hands] What would you tell me? Only just ‘Look at who You are. You’re not one bit like Spiderman.’ You would say that and I would say ‘But this mind. But my mind is telling me.’ [Chuckles] Then you will say ‘But who are you going to believe finally?’ And then you would say ‘You don’t even have to believe me. Just check. Only check: What is it that You really Are?’

Are You what the mind is telling You about YourSelf?

Where is that one?

Where is that Spiderman which you consider YourSelf to be?

Who do You actually find when You look?

[Silence]

Now comes the fun part. [Smiles] (And many get stuck here. This is too much for the mind. Already I am making that disclaimer because you will struggle if you try to understand this with your mind.) Now this is the fun part: When you start looking and you say ‘Okay, I’m not Spiderman. Who am I? Am I Superman? Am I Batman?’ You start looking to find a real object which You could be. You expect to find the Self or God as if it will have some objective quality. But what You find about YourSelf is that You are beyond time and space, that You are not an object, that You have no shape, size, or color. You are not ‘somebody’. Neither are you ‘nobody’. Just that these qualitative things do not apply to You anymore. You are not a thing.

You are beyond all description, beyond all sensation, beyond all perception. You are the ultimate unchanging, un-labelable One.

But you know what the funny thing is? All of this, to the mind, means nothing. All of this, to the mind, means nothing. It will tell you now (the subtitles will become like this) it will say ‘You haven’t found anything. All of this is nothing. Are you nothing?’ The emptiness of Your pristine Self, to the mind, seems like an emptiness of the empty glass or something like that. It seems like it is pointless, it is meaningless, to the mind.

Therefore, as you inquire into YourSelf, trust Your own discovery, trust Your own recognition and know that this mind, which is the interpreter of phenomenal things, has nothing Real to say about You.

So, this mind will either take the attacking position which is ‘This is nothing. I still haven’t found it. What is all this? I’ve been at this work for a long time. This is so frustrating.’ (All of this nonsense.) Or it will paint a picture for you, like a big, black, dark, empty space, and it will put itself like the watchman of the picture and say ‘This is what I Am.’ And it will defend that; it will argue. It will apply all the Advaita concepts to this visual which is its idea of nothingness.

You are much beyond either of these positions.

You are not fathomable to this instrument called the mind.

Recognize now the Source of Your very Presence, which is the basis of Your very Existence. Don’t think about it, don’t infer anything; don’t conclude.

Just look: Where do I come from?

Don’t judge, don’t interpret, don’t conclude.

Don’t start, don’t finish.

Throw away all these notions.

Don’t get it. Don’t lose it.

Empty of all positions.

Recognize Your very Essence as the unborn Self; beyond birth and death.

You have played with your identity, the ego, for long enough.

Now it is time to come home.

It is because Your manifest aspect as Consciousness, as God Itself, wanted to get a taste of limitation that It bought into this idea of separation and suffering. In a way, it created a private hell for Itself.

But empty of this false idea of separation, You will See that this is God’s House. It is It’s living Presence.

Now this is Your only seeming choice. Your only seeming choice is this:

The subtitles or the Satguru;

God’s Presence or the voice of the mind.

And ultimately, even this is not a choice. It is the play of Consciousness Itself. But I remember the time that it felt like one. [a choice]

I know that for many of us, it can still feel like a choice. So, make it. If it feels like a choice, make it.

Choose your Heart over your head.

Choose the Divine Light rather than the voice of limitation.

Only the Absolute Can Realize Itself

[Reading from Yoga Vashista by Swami Venkateshananda]

[Reading from Yoga Vashista]:

“The absolute is immaterial and so material sources of light (like the sun) do not illuminate it. But it is self-luminous and therefore, it is not inert or dark. The Absolute cannot be realized or experienced by another. Only the Absolute can realize itself.”

Often, we say it like that: In whose light is the sun shining?

Now, this Absolute is immaterial. [Chuckles] Not in the sense of immaterial; (‘Oh, that’s immaterial’) not in the sense of unimportant. Immaterial in the sense of being non-phenomenal. Now, what can shine light on something which is non-phenomenal? [Smiles]

If something is not a thing, what can bring light to it? The sun’s light falls on all things? Or even on something which is non-phenomenal (that which is not a thing)?

The Absolute is immaterial in the sense of not being a material substance. So, material sources of light (like the sun) do not illuminate it. But it is self-luminous, to the extent that the very light of Existence itself (in whose light all of this world-play seems to appear) comes from This which is beyond light and darkness. “And therefore, it is not inert nor dark.” This is very important because very often we say ‘It is not a thing’ and the mind visualizes a dark, empty space. But for Awareness (That which is the primal witness of all things) the mind says ‘Okay, I will help with that’ and it paints this picture of a very dark space.

The question there is: Who is the witness of that? The witness of dark or light, is That dark or light? [Glances at audience. Someone says ‘Beyond.’] Beyond.

This is a very beautiful point. “The Absolute cannot be realized or experienced by another.” There cannot be the Absolute and another. If there was Absolute and another then the Absolute would not be the Absolute. “Only the Absolute can realize itself.”

[Continues reading]

“The infinite Consciousness is even purer than infinite space. And the world is even as that infinite is. But one who has not tasted capsicum does not know its taste. Even so, one does not experience Consciousness in the infinite in the absence of objectivity. Hence, even this Consciousness appears to be inert or insentient and the world is experienced as such, too. Even as in the intangible ocean the tangible waves are seen, in the formless Brahman the world also exists within form. From the infinite, the infinite emerges and exists in it as the infinite. Hence, the word has never really been created. It is the same as that from which it emerges.”

Everyone got it? [Laughter]

So, this Absolute is beyond wholeness, beyond infinity. But best word we have to describe it is ‘wholeness’ or ‘infinity’. Now, that which emerges from this, which is this Consciousness itself, this Being itself or even this universal realm (as we call it) the universe itself…, all of these are

also infinite. So, this is that infinite potential in which even these infinite manifestations appear. And yet, it continues to remain Absolute or infinite. This is the uniqueness of this. It is that cause which, once it manifests, also remains completely as it was; which is not to be found in any phenomenon. In phenomenon, if there is a potential for something and it manifests, then it runs out of that potentiality. Like a spring, if it has potential energy stored up, then if it springs out and it expresses itself, it manifests itself, then it has no longer the potential energy stored. But this Absolute, this whole infinite realm comes from That. Infinite Consciousness is born in that and yet it remains whole.

[Continues reading]:

“When the notion of self is destroyed by the withdrawal of the fuel of ideas from the mind, then ‘That which Is’ is the infinite. That which is not sleep nor inert is the infinite. It is on the account of the infinite that knowledge, knower and known exists as One, in the absence of the intellect.”

So, what Is…, when you are notionless? [Looks around] What Is?

Q: Experience.

A:But suppose experience is also a notion? Suppose you did not know the experience or the meaning of experience?

Q: Existence.

A:Existence. [Chuckles] Can we go that far…, like we didn’t know what it means to exist; what existence was? I know here we are grapping with the Holy Grail of Satsang itself; the very ‘I Am-ness’ the Beingness. But suppose we did not have any notion of even that? We didn’t know what it means to exist or not? Then?

Q: There is no word for that.

A:Now, here there are no distinctions left. Even the distinction between the Absolute witness and the Beingness which emerges from it. ‘Me and the world’ …, it knows no such thing. [Smiles] But this can be tasted; like here the Sage was saying ‘You cannot explain the taste of the capsicum to one who has not tasted it.’ [Chuckles]

[Continues reading]:

“Then Ram says, “Lord, during the cosmic dissolution, this world, which is clearly seen now, where does it go?”

Ram is having a conversation with a great Sage, Vashishta. This whole scripture is about that. So, Ram says, ‘Lord, during the cosmic dissolution, this world, which is clearly seen now, where does it go?’

[Continues reading]:

“Vashishta says, “From where does the son of a barren woman come?” (Don’t mind the language; it’s a bit terse because it’s from those days.) “From where does the son of a barren

woman come? And where does he go? A barren woman’s son has no existence ever. Even so, this world, as such, has no existence ever. This analogy baffles you only because you have taken the existence of the world for granted. Consider this: is there a bracelet-ness in the golden bracelet? Is it not just gold? Is there a thing called sky independent of the emptiness? Even so, there is no thing called the world independent of Brahman, the Absolute. Just as coldness is inseparable from ice, what is called the world is inseparable from Brahman. Water in the mirage does not come into being and go out of existence. Even so, this world does not come out of the Absolute nor does it go anywhere.”

So, it is neither created nor not-created. It is neither real nor unreal.

[Continues reading]:

“The creation of the world has no cause and therefore, it has had no beginning. It does not exist even now. How can it reach destruction?”

Treat Every Notion as If It Is Not Applicable to You

Treat every notion as if it is not applicable to you. Treat every notion as if it is not applicable. It is an email sent in error. An email comes to you and says ‘You must go to HAL police station and get verification done.’ [Smiles] That is all that is in the subject line. And then you read ‘Oh, it is to ‘Dear… (somebody else). I don’t have to spoil half my day waiting at the police station.’ In the same way, all these emails from the mind are not meant for you. The mind has a wrong WhatsApp number. [Smiles] It is trying to reach a person.

Let all the messages be directed towards the Satguru. You can [say] ‘Guru kripa kevalam’ [to] everything. Auto-responder. [Smiles] (Yes, I have come from a full day at work, okay. [Laughter] All these work references are coming.)

Let the auto-responder be: Guru kripa kevalam. [Smiles]

All emails from the mind: Guru kripa kevalam.

‘Oh, but you are running out of money.’… Guru kripa kevalam. ‘That is such an irresponsible way to live.’ … Guru kripa kevalam. ‘You are going to end up on the streets.’ … Guru kripa kevalam. ‘You are being a complete loser.’ … Guru kripa kevalam.

Nothing is going to happen to your life. Your complete way of thinking is ‘Guru kripa kevalam.’

‘So, that means that now you have found a cheat code; you don’t have to do anything at all.’ … Guru kripa kevalam. [Chuckles]

‘You can just lay in bed all day.’ … Guru kripa kevalam. ‘I don’t need to do work.’ … Guru kripa kevalam.

‘You need to work very hard.’ … Guru kripa kevalam.

No position. Either of them is ‘not applicable’.

And then you will see that the body seems to be working, working, working. Then you will see that the body is just in bed. … Guru kripa kevalam.

The trouble with the idea of surrender is that the mind feels like ‘Oh, but this means that I must become this way; I must become passive.’ But that is not ‘Guru kripa kevalam.’

‘Guru kripa kevalam’ is either way. ‘I have no notion of how this life should turn out. I have no idea of what actions or inactions should happen.’ It can feel a bit wobbly, to not know what the future brings; to try and not control the content of your experience. It can feel a bit strange. So, I don’t even want to tell you it is an adventure because that creates an expectation. It can either be a full ‘Indian Jones’ adventure or it can be very, very normal existing. Nobody knows.

Suppose you are going to a movie and I told you every scene of this movie before going. Would you like it? Then why are you running your life like this? Do you want to know every scene; what’s next, what’s next…?

So, that is the path of surrender: Everything is Father’s problem. [Guru kripa kevalam]

It has nothing to do with activity or action. It is about your inner attitude. Full-on activity or action is possible; or no activity or no action is possible. Both are possible and they have always been done by Consciousness anyway. Consciousness is running this world…

Q: … which doesn’t exist…

A: Which doesn’t exist. [Chuckles] That is why it is effortless. [Laughs]

So, that is surrender.

And inquiry is:

Who is this one?

Who is this?

What is this?

Who am I?

We don’t know. Like ‘What is this?’ [Smiles] Nobody knows. If I ask you, you have no idea. [Chuckles] If I ask you ‘Do you know what is going on this world?’ you have no idea. I have no idea. [Chuckles]

(She has that look: ‘So, then what are we doing here?’) [Chuckles]

Nobody knows what is going on. You think you are the body; the body is going to die anyway. Then why do you want to give it freedom before dying? Then you must think that you are something beyond the body. You feel like ‘Oh, before the body dies, let me find my freedom.’ Isn’t it? [Smiles] ‘Before the body dies, let me find my freedom.’ But then, who is this one?

If you just believe that you are the body, why would you come to Satsang? The most uncomfortable seating, temperature that we can never agree on, noise. We live in Bangalore; too much traffic. If you just thought that you are the body, then there are many better places to pamper the body.

So, what is that you think you are?

Your Magnificence Is Much Beyond Your Mind

[Reading from chat] “Then the mind crashes this Truth.”

Which means ‘I feel like I don’t exist (the ‘me’) then the mind comes and crashes this Truth.’ What is the mind doing? Just offering up notion after notion. You are the space in which the notions are arising. You are the space in which all sensations, all perceptions, are coming and going.

Now, let a notion make a scratch on this space. [Points finger to physical space] Let it crash into some space. Can it? Invite it; welcome it. Don’t say ‘Mind go away’ …, say ‘Come. Make one scratch, make one mark on this space; even this physical space.’

Can we become a little like this? ‘Bring it on’ types?

Invite the mind and say ‘Okay, bring it on. Let me see you make a scratch on this space. You can’t even make a scratch on this space! I am much more subtle than even this space. So, if you can’t even make a scratch on this space, what scratch can you make on the Self?’

Your magnificence is much beyond this mind. It’s like: You are royalty, okay?

Let’s say you are a prince; like Harry who just got married. You are Prince Harry and you are getting married just now and suddenly there is a tiny ant which is walking across the church. And you say ‘But I can’t get married, there is a tiny ant in the church.’ [Chuckles] Your Truth is much greater than that. You are God itself; beyond that even. [Chuckles] (‘Higher than that’ even.) [Refers to an ancient story] Then this tiny insect comes. What is happening to You?

There is no sufferer. [Silence] Nobody has ever found the one who is suffering. The body is not complaining about the mind. Consciousness is not complaining about the mind. The Absolute is not complaining about the mind. It is the mind pretending to be the policeman complaining about the thief, which is itself.

What can you not [say] ‘Guru kripa kevalam’ [to]? The death of the body? Is that outside the scope of your Master’s Grace? Is it? [Chuckles]

It’s like you have an all-expenses-paid holiday (in Bali or something) …, an all-expenses-paid holiday in Bali but it feels like you are trying to earn ten rupees here and there so that you can have your next meal. [Chuckles] If you have a Master, then there is nothing you have to worry about. Life, death; what to do, what not to do; where to go, where not to go; whether you are understanding or not understanding…, everything is the Guru’s problem.

That’s why I often say ‘Either you can have a Guru or a problem.’ (And this will appeal more to the devotional temperament, of course. I know that to the logical ones this will sound like just airy-fairy stuff. But I am telling you this because I know you have a devotional temperament.)

So, what is outside the Guru’s scope?

What cannot be managed by the Divine?

[Reads chat]: “I can see how my conditioning is not used to ‘Guru kripa kevalam’ but I am open.”

Openness to any aspect of Satsang. It doesn’t have to be surrender, it doesn’t have to be inquiry; it can be either. Or just at least if there is openness to come to Satsang for a few minutes, then something will already start to unfold. Even if you don’t trust that yet; even that is fine. Just a few moments in your life where you are not chanting the mantra of ‘me’.

Just a few moments of our lives where we are not chanting the ‘me’ mantra.

Who Does This ‘I’ Represent?

These two questions are very interlinked:

The first is ‘Who does the ‘I’ represent?’

The second question is ‘What are you right about?’

We feel like we are right about so many things. But the foundation on top of which the building of ‘being right’ has been erected itself is shaky because we don’t know who we are. The ‘I’ is just a presumed one. And that ‘I’ is the basis of all other mental knowledge. Life seems to be shaky, full of suffering, because we want stability from this ever-changing set of concepts. We want stability in this world. Everybody knows (even a child knows) that things are constantly changing. We want stability from this. Our ideas about the world and ourself are also constantly changing and we want stability from this. No wonder our lives seem like a roller coaster.

Both these are worth looking at:

When we say ‘I’ …, who does it represent?

Who are we talking about?

You might say ‘I want Freedom.’ Just these three words ‘I want Freedom’ and what happens? We start looking at the ‘Freedom’ part of it. We’ll usually start looking at the suffix, the predicate part of it. ‘I want this. I want happiness. I don’t want pain.’ The ‘I’ part is just presumed and we quickly rush to see how we can sort out the second part. Hardly anyone investigates the first part.

Who does this ‘I’ represent? And we attach so many things to this ‘I’. ‘I am like this, I am not like that.’ We don’t know any of this because we do not know the ‘I’. [Chuckles] This is what I meant by the second question, which is: ‘What am ‘I’ right about?’ You feel like ‘Oh, this is true. This is valid. This is something I definitely know.’ But we don’t know because the main part, which is the ‘I’ part itself, is unknown.

Another way of asking this is to ask ‘Which concept are you unwilling to let go of?’ or ‘Which set of concepts are we unwilling to let go of?’ And usually they are those we have invested a lot in and we feel like ‘If I just take it through, I will come to something because of this.’ Like the prodigal son saying that ‘I will make it eventually because I have taken the step to step away from my Father. I want to prove to him that I can make it in the world.’ That is the egoic version of trying to become God.

You are seeking to become God. You are seeking to find Oneness. But your starting point already is That. And when You investigate into the nature of this ‘I’ …, You will find This.

Now, what happens is that on this side [Gestures Outward] of the ‘I Am’ is the amusement park. [Chuckles] On this side of perception [Gestures Outward] is the amusement park. It has so much variety, so much cotton candy, so much masala, spices. Everything [Gestures Outward] is on this side. We can feel like ‘I can just look at this stuff and this stuff and this stuff and get some joy, get some bliss, feel some suffering, get some love, feel some heartbreak.’ See, that’s the amusement park. But on the other side of perception, the One that is looking ItSelf, there is no

path, there is no quality, there is no attribute. There is nothing that you can actually verbalize (speak of). That’s why we keep going back to the amusement park to find something that is unchanging…, which is just not possible. It’s like trying to get on the roller coaster and wanting to have a stable life. Is it possible? … to tie yourself to a roller coaster and want to be just at peace? [Chuckles]

So, if all that is phenomenal is on one side, then That which witnesses the phenomenal, what can we say about that? You say ‘I am aware of my existence. I witness the world. I Am.’ This ‘I’ …, before Am …, which one is that?

You cannot compute your way to this answer. You can think for a million lifetimes. Every moment you can think about this answer and you will still not get it. You can come up with a lot of intellectual garbage. You will not get it by thinking about it. You will not get it in the content of the world and you will not get it through mental and intellectual pursuit. At best, the power of intellect can be used to say ‘I am not this. Not this; because this is changing. Not this; because this is changing. Not this; because this is coming and going.’ The best use of the intellect, maybe, in our spiritual pursuit is this way: as a negation. ‘I cannot be just this. I cannot be just this.’ But the intellect will not solve what You Are. It will not solve it in the content, in the percepts of the world and it cannot solve it in the concepts of the mind.

Give up on these two for a moment in your mentation. [Gestures to indicate busy mind] Just let it go on. Stop doesn’t mean that God should stop. Stop only means that you don’t bother about them. Let them come and go. Let the world be as it is.

What Is Aware of Your Existence?

What is aware of your existence? Maybe we can clarify what we mean by existence. I chased the existence for few years. I chased this ‘I Am’ for few years. The statement itself is beautiful, of course. But it felt like, actually, this ‘I Am’ I could not find. And one day, it just showed up. That which is always there, just showed up. So, I realized that a better question to ask is not whether you can find Being, whether you can find your Atman …, but whether you can ‘stop Being.’

Can you stop being?

Try to stop being.

Don’t be. Don’t exist.

Inverting the question, truth is completely apparent: I Am.

Your existence has nothing to with the thought ‘I Am.’

If you stop thinking for a minute, you will not vanish. [Smiles]

You still will Be.

Now, what is aware of this existence?

Who is aware of it?

What is the size of that one?

Who is aware of the Presence, of your existence?

Does this one have a birthday?

[Silence]

Does this one have desires and aversions?

Is this one the ‘doer’ or ‘non-doer’? [Smiles]

What concept is true here?

[Silence]

Now, this ‘I’ (which you can See is beyond Being or non-Being) you can’t apply any of these labels also to it; neither existence nor non-existence.

Consciousness, for some reason, decided to wake up in a manifest way; decided to start ‘Am- ing.’

That which is beyond Being or non-Being:

Now. You Are.

’I Am’ is Here.

The sense of ‘Am-ness.’

The sense of Being Present is Here.

All is Here.

In Your very existence, all things are present. Your Being is the substratum of the existence (of the existence of anything).

[Meditative silence]

Now, what is the need to be something?

Your Being is Here. But do you need to be something?

Don’t attach to anything.

Don’t make a reference point about yourself.

Don’t give yourself a center.

Don’t refer to any object, any sensation, any feeling, as yourself.

[Meditative silence]

All of spirituality is about how not to attach to this idea of something; how not to pick up a notion about yourself. The mind is using this invitation to accept the notion about yourself.

You can inquire in to the validity of the notion or just let it go; surrender it.

[Meditative silence]

This inquiry or surrender is what is called the direct path. There are many, many thousands of ways in which you can play with your attention and try to divert it away from the mental constructs. Then the entire world becomes the basis of practice or spiritual sadhana.

[Silence]

But I am inviting you to check and See that You are empty of all notions about yourself Right Now. And Your Presence is the only Presence. Maybe you call it the Presence of God or the infinite Consciousness. You know, it does not matter.

Are You Just a Bundle of Perceptions?

Q: The mind comes and says ‘This is what I need to do to get freedom.’

A:So, you can inquire and say ‘Who is the ‘I’ that is bound?’ Because at the center of all these mental notions is the notion of the ‘me.’ If you inquire into it and find whether it is valid or not…, for example, what could the mind say to you? ‘Do this. Do this and you will be free.’ [Smiles] But do you know this ‘I’ who is bound?

Q: I am still looking for the one who wants freedom.

A:Exactly. How is it that we presume that there is a ‘bound one’ sitting there? We haven’t found this one. How do you know it wants freedom?

Maybe the one that is sitting there is too free. [Smiles] Maybe you are super-bored of your freedom. You don’t know. [Smiles] But how is it that our default position becomes bondage? Like you say, nicely, that ‘I am still looking for the one who wants freedom’. If we don’t even know this one, how come we take the presumption of bondage for granted …, and we start the search for freedom. Isn’t it important to clarify? It is the mind which tells us these kinds of things. It says ‘You are not complete, you need something to complete yourself; you need relationship, you need money, you need a better body’ and ultimately it will say ‘You need freedom’.

But this ‘you’ (like you said) who needs all these things, you have not found. And can I tell you something? Nobody has ever found this one. Nobody has ever found the one that needs anything at all. Nobody has found …, because it doesn’t exist. I look but I did not find. The one who was incomplete, the one that is limited does not exist has never been found. Just a presumed idea; just a presumption.

Q: Where to look? It’s not in the thoughts, not in anything perceivable.

A:It’s not in the thoughts; it’s not in anything that is perceivable. What else is there? This is a good checklist. He says ‘Where to look for him; this one?’ Then he said ‘Not in the thoughts, not in anything perceivable’ so that includes thoughts also. Is there something else which is there about you, besides all that is perceivable? Are you just something which is perceivable or is there something about you which is beyond perception?

Q: Must be…

A: ‘Must be’ is just presumed? What’s your experience?

Q: Presumed.

A:So, the one that is in the realm of perception is presumed; the one that must be beyond perception is also presumed. So, drop both of these perceptions and stay with what you actually find.

Possible? It’s very possible.

So, you say ‘It is not in thoughts. In fact, it is not in anything perceivable.’ So, I said to you ‘Is there something more to you than just that which is perceivable?’

Q: Yes.

A:Is that changing?

Q:No.

A:Everything that is an object of perception, we call it an appearance. Isn’t it? Why do we call it ‘appearance’? Because it is our experience that everything that comes as an object also goes. With appearance, there will be disappearance. That’s why the question is valid.

Is everything about you limited to the realm of your perception?

Or is there something about you which is not in perception?

Are you just a set of perceptions?

Are you just an appearance?

Q: Is that the same question as asking …

A:Don’t investigate the question. In the sense of don’t investigate whether this question is the same question or another question. You answer the question. [Chuckles]

Q:The question we started with was…

A:Doesn’t matter what it was; what we started with or not. You answer the question. Why do you want to change it for another question of ‘whether it is the same question or not?’ [Smiles]

Q:Then I feel like there are two questions I’m looking at.

A: There are not two questions. Just answer this question.

Are you an appearance?

In the sense of: Are you just a bundle of perceptions?

Is there something about you which is not a perception?

Q:I don’t know how to go about doing it…

A:There is no ‘How to.’

Q:Then isn’t it the same thing as …

A:It could be. But that is not the question at this point. See, you don’t have to cook this meal.

You know what I mean? You are figuring out how you will be able to do this. I am telling you to answer the question, which means that the meal is here you just have to eat it. You are figuring out how to cook this at home; what is the recipe? I am saying you answer it now. [Smiles]

Is here something about you which is not a perception? Let’s go one by one. Everything about you, we go one by one and we will say whether it is perception or not.

Q: The body.

A:Body is perception? Or no?

Q:Perception.

A:That is perception. A: What else; feelings? Perception?

Q:Perception.

A:Thoughts.

Q:Perception.

A:Also perception. What else?

Q: That’s about it.

A:Did the body see the body? Did the thought see the body? Did the emotions see the body?

Is there anything else that you said?

Q: Didn’t see.

So, none of this saw the body. Then who did? If this is all there is to you: body, feeling, thoughts, emotions. Then who saw the body? But we said these are the aspects of the ‘me’. Which part got missed out then?

You know what I an asking? We said ‘Let’s talk about all the various aspects that you consider yourself to be.’ You said ‘Body, thought, feelings, emotions, sensation…, all this.’ And you said ‘All of this is perception.’ Then we went one-by-one and said ‘Which one saw the body? We saw that the body did not see itself, the thought did not see the body, the feeling did not see the body; then who did?

You did, no?

Q: Yeah.

A:You did. And yet it was none of these things. It was none of these perceptions that were the witness to another perception. Then, who is the witness to these perceptions?

Q: I am.

A:Yes, it is You. What can you say about this one? [Silence] Little bit? Is this one in the amusement park (as we defined it earlier)? [Silence]

Okay, now get rid of this one. [Chuckles] The body will go, feelings will go, thoughts will go; all the other sensations, perceptions are coming and going, we have the experience of them coming and going. But this one, push it away. [Smiles]

[Silence] Can’t do it?

But…? [Chuckles] There is usually a lot of doubt, a lot of ‘But…’ which the mind will now bring up and I’ve seen that one comes and gets some belief. I am very happy to have this conversation with you if it comes like that, where you end up believing a ‘But…’ (a doubt).

Q: [Inaudible]

A:This ‘I’ that is making the conclusion is the same one that you discovered yourself to be just now?

Q: It’s a thought.

A:It’s just a thought. So, it’s like you come to the Leela Palace; there are five different roads.

Now, when you get to the Leela palace, are you so concerned about ‘Why did I take this road; I could have taken that road?’ It doesn’t matter.

The Sages are not pointing to many different things. They are all pointing to the same thing using different pointers. The ‘But…’ is always the ‘But…’ which says ‘But then what does it mean for me? I found that there is no such ‘me’ …, I found that I am the unchanging primal Witnessing Itself…, but what about me?’ [Smiles] There can’t be a doubt without that inherently in there somewhere.

There Is No Real Answer for Anything

[Reading from chat]: “Can I ask you a question relating to our conversation where you ask me to watch satsang again, saying ‘I feel a fundamental point is being missed. I would invite you to look at the Satsang again. Look at the concepts of answers, understanding and knowing.’ Can you say something to it, as I didn´t get what you mean?”

I´ll say a little bit because I feel like this contemplation, as frustrating as it might seem, it is important to go through that frustration. And that day I was inviting you to look because you were feeling a bit frustrated that the question sometimes is ‘x’ but the answer seems to be Martian. You see? [Chuckles] It is not in the same vocabulary at all. So, it can feel like ‘But how did you answer the question?’

So, when I was saying to look at the concept of ‘answer,’ to look at the concept of ‘understanding and knowing’ I was inviting you to looking at: suppose the answer was perfect. Suppose the answer was perfect and you heard something which really aided your understanding and you knew what the answer is now; how something is something. You knew it perfectly because the answer conveyed that. You see? And because it comes from a credible source then it becomes an important part of your understanding. And that is the last thing I want to do. [Chuckles] That is the last thing I want to do. I don´t want to add to your understanding at all because this kind of ‘understanding the right answer, the right knowing’ …, they are all oxymorons. There is no such thing.

So, I don´t want to replace one understanding with a new understanding, where it can feel like ‘Oh, I have a better understanding now.’ So, what would the answer be? No answer that is a concept. Now, especially. And I do this with some of you who have been in Satsang long enough with me, so hear me in this way that if I give you an answer it will just become an answer; if you have a concept and I give you another concept, you’ll just replace it with a better concept. So, I don´t want to answer the question because it will give you an ‘understanding’. [Chuckles] I want to confuse you, confound you, frustrate you, so that you throw away this entire endeavor to feel like you can ever know anything at all. What you meet over there is a deeper knowing.

We were talking about spiritual avoidance, spiritual by-passing, and I was saying that avoidance is actually to put a label on something and pretend as if you know it. To meet it as a label is to avoid meeting it as it is. Now, to the mind, this ‘not-labelling’ sounds like it is by-passing because you are not calling fear ‘fear,’ you are not calling sorrow ‘sorrow,’ not calling grief ‘grief.’ In fact, it’s like ‘Oh, he is just trying to avoid grief or suffering or sorrow.’ No. Meeting it completely! But empty of the presumption; the false presumption that ‘I know what it is’. You have never experienced this thing that we call grief because what the label stands for is maybe one aspect of an emotion. But we never experience the same emotion also twice. But when we meet it as ‘something’ …

And this applies to all labels. We just say ‘Man. I am meeting a man.’ No. You have never met a man. Every experience has been unique. Or you are meeting a cat. You never met a cat. Cat means so many things. So, the avoidance is to use a label and presume that ‘I know what this is’ but we don´t know what this is.

So, that led to an even more beautiful contemplation on ‘what it means to know’ itself. The question on spiritual avoidance or by-passing led to an even more beautiful contemplation on: What do we mean by ‘known’? What do we mean by an ‘answer’? What do we mean by ‘understanding’?

We don´t know anything and that is the best news. Empty of these photocopies of life, empty of this conceptual version of life; when we meet life naked, when we meet life open, defenseless. If you are just meeting concepts (even concepts like spiritual concepts of what things should be like, how life should be lived) who has solved these things, ever? [Chuckles]

You don´t know what anything is, therefore, there is no real answer to anything at all.

And for some time, I`ll play this game with you where I will give you answers which seem to remove the question. I´ll give you answers which contradict the concept that you might have and you might feel like there is spaciousness in that. And that is fine. But ultimately this idea that ‘something can be known’ itself has to be confronted. We have to come face-to-face with that. Because that is what keeps our arrogance that ‘I can know something’ or in some cases ‘I know better’ or ‘I have seen the truth.’ That becomes the basis for arrogance; that becomes a basis for separation …, anything that we think we know. Even the translation of our direct insight can lead to a sense of separation. ‘But because I have seen this; I have had this experience’ …, like that, you see? Nothing. Nothing I want you to rely on mentally.

Be fully naked from all of this because this will only cause trouble. It will only lead to suffering.

It is the ego which gives the sense of separation. The idea or the belief in limitation has been our avoidance of the Isness, our avoidance of ‘What Is’. It tells you that ‘You have to meet life in labels. You have to meet life in notions. You have to know what something is. You have to work it out in your head. You have to resolve what is happening to you to come to a better position.’

That is why the minute the invitation comes and you are invited to drop all concepts about yourself, for many of you, you are feeling some fear. Therefore, it is the concept itself which was in avoidance of this fear of the unknown. The minute you are left without the crutches of concepts there is a habitual yearning to hold on to some concepts. Therefore, what has been the avoidance? The avoidance has been the concept of the dropping of it.

Now Look in the Direction of Looking Itself

Last time when Shraddha was here, she said something very beautiful. She said ‘Ananta, you say that if I look around, I don’t find the person anywhere. You know, this person gets all my belief but if I look around, I don’t see this person anywhere. But how come we can’t say the same thing for God also? [Chuckles] Because God also we don’t find. If I look around, we also don’t find God anywhere.’ Then she had a beautiful revelation.

Let’s start with this one. Now, all of us are supposed to be spiritual seekers. That’s why we are here in Satsang. So, if we are spiritual seekers, we must be seeking something. [Smiles] We must be seeking the Self or the Truth or God, Satguru. So, let’s use these words synonymously for a bit. If I tell you [Points to a sangha member] ‘You go down to Indiranagar [Nearby locality] and take the second left; from there, just three hundred meters in, you will find God’ what will you do? [Smiles]. Probably because I am saying this, you might follow. But if somebody else says it, you will say ‘What’s this?’ So, whatever directions I can give you here, in this realm (this perceptible realm) you know already that there is no such entity called God that you will find. (No, we will leave that discussion for later; whether everything that is perceptible is God anyway. We’ll leave that for a bit.) At least, we start by admitting that ‘Anything that I find through my sensory perception, I cannot claim that that is God.’ Why? Because it is not timeless, it is not unchanging: these are the attributes of the unchanging Self or God.

So then, if we can’t find God there, then where do we find God? If I can’t give you directions, like ‘Go twenty miles north then thirty miles east and there is God there’ …, if you can’t find an object like that and you already know that ‘I have searched and searched everywhere but God or the Self is not to be found in that way’ then how do we answer Shraddha’s question of ‘Yes, I admit that there is no person but I also can find no God.’

So, all this sensory perception is gone. We can break it down and say ‘Okay, now go to your mind and find a favorite thought. Wait for one glorious thought to come and that thought is God.’ But you will say ‘But even this thought comes and goes. It is not the unchanging, ever present.’ So, this thought can’t be it.

Then I say ‘Okay, go to your imagination and paint a very beautiful image of God and that is God.’ Then also you will say that ‘My attention goes on other things. This is just a visual. This is constantly changing. This is also not God.’

Then I say ‘Go to your memory and find, in the past, something that we find over there which is God.’ And you can look at all your memories, all experiences, but you cannot find anything which is unchanging. They are just from the past.

So, we looked at this world; we haven’t yet looked at the body. If I said ‘In your big toe, there is God [Chuckles] but it’s not in your little toe. Just in your big toe, there is God.’ You will say ‘What is this? [Smiles] God must be everywhere; that’s what we have been told. He must be ever present. What do you mean this part of the body or that part of the body, or only this body? That also doesn’t make any sense.’

Then you looked at your thought, you looked at memory, you looked at imagination. Then I tell you ‘Okay, if you tell me what is 578 into 765 in this moment, you will find God. The answer is God; like forty-two is God’ or something like that. You will say ‘What is that?’ So, you can’t reason your way to God. You cannot use your intellect. You cannot compute your way to God.

So, we’re done with the world, done with this body, done with the mind, done with the intellect:

Where is God to be found?

What is left for you to go to?

At some point, we have to stop playing this game because God is not to be found in these things. Any of these layers of our existence, we have not found this Self, Satguru or God.

But is there something left? Or no?

Is there some place we haven’t looked yet in this exercise?

We have looked at the world, we have looked at the body, we have looked at the thoughts, we have looked at the memories, we have looked at our imagination, we have looked at our intellect. Anything left?

[Silence]

Many, many bodies; many, many worlds; many, many realms of experience; many states we have experienced. But not contained in any of these experiences, any of these states, is the unchanging…, the timeless One.

Now, we have to look in another direction.

We have to look in the direction of the looking itself.

Who is there?

What Is the Source of This Perceiving Itself?

What is the source of this perceiving itself?

As you start looking in this way, you come to this point where you recognize this beautiful Being, Your very Presence …, which is not saying ‘I Am’.

‘I Am’ is a representation for Its very Existence.

That is when I told Shraddha ‘Yes, I can show you God but you have to try and stop being.’ And in a moment, you can have this revelation that This that Is is not a person, not an entity, is not involved in time and space. It is the very light of Consciousness from which then all these appearances, like waves, come and play and recede back into your very Being. Your very Existence is That which you have been searching for. It is Your Timeless Presence; unborn, undying.

This is why the Sages have said that ‘We have looked (and we’ve looked everywhere) but within ourselves we have not looked.’ We went from place to place, satsang to satsang, but where is this God to be found? When we start looking within, then we find this Consciousness which you can never lose.

Don’t have this misunderstanding that when you are looking, you are looking inside your body. If you look inside the physical body, you will find only flesh and blood. You have the capacity to look within YourSelf, which is much beyond this body. The body is just another appearance which will come and go. You look within YourSelf.

Allow your mind and intellect completely to submerge in this Being. Nothing left to understand now, nothing left to know, nothing to resolve, nothing to fix …, and yet, there is no aversion to the activities of the world. This body and the world can continue. As my Master says ‘Leave this existence (the existence of all of this) to Existence Itself.’

Nothing was ever lost, nothing is being found, all these notions now serve no purpose.

All egoism, all selfishness; let it go. Everything is taken care of.

Now, for some of you, you will naturally just rest here in your unlimited Being.

Nothing is missing. All is done.

But for some, you’ll have this intuitive insight that ‘I am aware even of this Being’ …, that ‘This Awareness remains untouched, even in the coming and going of the waking state; or any state, any experience.’

As you see YourSelf without qualities, without shape or size, beyond perception, then this world only becomes a play on a field, a set of changing images. Nothing that’s here can hurt you and touch you.

Stop Looking for the Truth in Phenomenal Objects

Okay, we can make a deal! [Laughs] You stop looking for the truth in phenomenal objects and I will do the rest. Stop looking for answers, solutions, truth, Self, God in objects which will come and go; in anything that comes and goes, don’t expect to find anything. The rest of it, I will do.

[Silence]

You realize what all you have given up now? You’ve given up the idea of ‘me,’ the idea of ‘mine,’ the idea of world, body, mind; all that is phenomenal. Don’t make any distinctions about anything at all…, and I will remove the distinction between phenomenal and non-phenomenal.

Forget about time, space, next and past. Just in case it is feeling like or sounding like you have lots of homework to do, know that in this moment, all of this is done. In this moment, all that is needed is done. You are in the Presence of Your own Existence, Your own Being, which is the most enlightened Being; the only One. All the manifest stages have been just a manifestation of Your own Atma, of Your own Being.

[Silence]

Mind might come and say ‘So, now what? What then?’ Remember you said you were going to forget about all phenomenal things? Time is also phenomenal. Forget about ‘next’. You know it feels a bit… [acts agitated, frustrated]. This is just the patient with withdrawal symptoms on the bed in the rehab. The need to know, the need to project into the future, the need to understand have so far been personal and so far been individualistic. If you allow this addiction to pass through you, you will come to a deeper knowing, a deeper understanding, which is not limited by the rules of time and space, the laws of physics; by what can be and what cannot be.

Very importantly, throw away the ideas of self-righteousness because all our selfishness is actually hidden behind these ideas of self-righteousness. What do you feel you are right about? Forget about it because it has nothing to do with the Real You. It is all part of the make-believe character who used these ideas to bring color to this non-existent character that we call the ego; the person. Don’t be afraid to live naked for some time without these concepts. They have not shielded you from anything anyway. Become defenseless, become notionless.

I’ll give you a ‘money-back guarantee.’ [Chuckles] Huh? You become defenseless for a week, notionless for a week, and if doesn’t work out for you, I guarantee you I will give all your notions back. Full refund. (If you want it.) I’m just making light of it, actually. What will happen for most of us is that some notions will still come, they will get belief, we will identify and then we will recognize that this is causing nothing but misery and suffering, so we will throw it away. But at least, as we play these games, something is getting imbibed [absorbed] in you that ‘These ideas that I buy from my mind are not in service to my Reality.’

Defenselessness Is an Inner Attitude

Q:Is there some kind of balance to be made around…, like you said to just remain defenseless?

Because I can see the value in that, in losing this kind of sense of self-righteousness. […] But sometimes things aren’t right in a certain way and if you remain defenseless, if you’re passive in the flow…

A:Yes. That’s why it’s important. Very good you brought this up. I’m not talking about the activities of the body or which words you might be speaking or what actions are coming or emerging. I’m speaking of the neutrality of your inner space. As you remain neutral in that, then you’ll find that there is no reason to take a position because whatever has to unfold in this body will unfold anyway. If you find that there is something ‘wrong’ in this phenomenal world, then the body might respond to it in its own natural way. Just like how does the body fight infection? If some germs are attacking the body, automatically some reaction comes, some antibodies and these things automatically come. Isn’t it? Suppose you had the idea that you had to do all of that and say ‘Antibodies, go! Immune system, on!’ [Chuckles] You see? You don’t have to do that.

Something naturally keeps the so-called balance in this world; this yin and yang. Automatically, we are in a flow.

In fact, what might happen (and we don’t have to predict this) what might happen for some of you is that as you come to this place of neutrality, you might find your mouth saying things which are stronger than you ever said in the past. (‘Who is this guy?’) Because something becomes unburdened. So, some might become just completely quiet and some might become like a missionary almost. Some might become, like trying to help this phenomenal world.

So, I’m not predicting or trying to give you a code on how just to live the life of this body. I’m saying: Let that be lived by this Holy Presence which is already there. But don’t pick up the idea that there is somebody here individually that can do any of this.

All that you can seemingly-do is let go of any individualistic notions about yourself. So, coming to defenselessness or dropping self-righteousness is an inner attitude that I’m talking about. And there is great value in that.

Just Drop All Distinctions

Q:Beloved Father, at times it seems that during negotiations, one must take a stand. Is this selfish? In my case, it seems like all of this is coming from a space where there is no conflict. It could seem to the other party that you’re being unreasonable but that is not the case. I wish to walk as per your guidance.

A:This is what I was just answering. In your inner attitude, you remain neutral. This is what all of us know. We can smell it; we can just smell where something is coming from. So, we can sense, we can smell and see, what is at the root of all of this. And if we find just space and openness there, then no trouble. But if you find a sense of ‘No, I am right; this one is wrong’ then I can tell you that there is really no such thing. [Chuckles] Like Guruji [Sri Mooji] says

‘Nothing in the world has inherent meaning.’

This is a very powerful line: Nothing in the world has inherent meaning in itself. It is what we choose to label it as; what we choose to put on it, impose upon it.

So, there is nothing inherently good or bad, right or wrong; even left or right, up or down. These are meanings that we have given to the world. All these things are just not there. We have made a particular reference point about ourself. That’s why some of these movies are fun. You know how they like to make these movies where they switch bodies; where the father becomes the son and the son becomes the father? They go through a fun journey and at the end they get a better understanding. Because the reference point changes and you’re suddenly like ‘Oh, this was a switch.’

So, Guruji also says sometimes ‘Look as if you’re looking from the other person’s perspective. What do you find there?’ All these are just tips and tricks to see whether you’re coming from a place of notion-less-ness or you’re still making a reference point that ‘I am this one; you are this one.’

Also, don’t know what you’re going to do. Don’t know what you’re going to do because you truly don’t. What it means is ‘Don’t pretend to know what you’re going to do.’ Don’t know actually anything at all. Don’t know anything at all. Inwardly, be empty of all of this. Even if you’re in the midst of a big business negotiation.

The very same Intelligence which is playing with this world, the very same Intelligence which has come up with all of this (light, sound, gravity, memory, imagination, attention, belief; all of these forces are here) …, that very Intelligence is running this life.

All I’m advising all of you to do is drop all distinctions. Whatever happens in the play of this world, whatever happens in the movie is what happens in the movie.

What Does It Mean: There Is No Person?

Because we hear things so often in Satsang, sometimes I feel that they lose their value. Like we keep saying ‘There is no person’ and it has become part of our language now that ‘Oh, there is no person.’ But THERE IS NO PERSON! [Chuckles] Sometimes I want to say it with so much emphasis! Because many times we are saying it but we’re just saying it personally.

What does it mean that ‘There is no person’ …, that this individual boundary that we have created for OurSelf is just made up? The notion of separation is just made up. It’s not a simple statement to just say ‘There’s no person.’ First, before we get to even Presence, let’s explore this.

‘Yes, yes, I’ know there is no person.’ [Monotone voice] It has become a bit like that. [Chuckles] Come on! There is no person here! [Chuckles] What does that really imply then? If there is no person here, there is nobody who has a story. There is nobody who has a history. There is nobody who is this way or that way. For a while, let’s deal with this fact. And because the Sages have said it umpteen times, it is a fact that there is no person, there is no individual, there is no ego. It is just a made-up concept; made up by the One Consciousness ItSelf.

All your pride, all your grievances, all your regrets, your guilt …, all of this has who at the center? All your understanding also; who is at the center of all of this if there is no person? And we have looked and looked and we found that there is no person. Even phenomenally, you have the appearance of these intimate perceptions called the body; intimate both in the sense of sensationally intimate [Rubs fingers together] (seeming-like) and also intimate in that the visual perspective seems to be centered around this head. In this way, this object seems like the most intimate.

Now this body has no concept of bondage or freedom. If you consider yourself to be this body, then what are you doing in Satsang? [Smiles] What are you doing in Satsang? What is in Satsang for this body? Nothing is available. There are no donuts for this body. [Chuckles] It cannot be really that you consider yourself to be this body. Also, if you look at your last five-to-ten problems, how many of them are related to the body? Maybe one or two, but the majority has to do with relationships, has to do with money in the bank account, has to do with people like at work, also people in the Sangha; other people which the body is not so concerned about. Does the body have a career path? Does the body have a bank account? Can you take that money and feed it to the body? You can’t do it. It means nothing to this body.

If your life has been centered around relationships, about security (like money) …, if it has been centered around even the question of freedom, then already you are not behaving as if you are a body: You are behaving as if You are the owner of this instrument called the body.

This ownership has been given to the wrong place. It has been given to a made-up idea. It has been given to a name. But who is this one? This is what we call the person (the ego) and it is just a concept. At best, it’s a belief system. The body is an instrument. It is just sitting around or standing up or lying down. It has no concept about anything at all.

Even phenomenally, we do not find this person. That’s why I call this person ‘a second-level illusion’. (That’s a different debate: whether you consider this world play an illusion or not; we don’t have to get into that at this moment.) But even in this world play we do not find this person. And that should have a seismic impact! That should have a seismic impact. It cannot just be run- of-the-mill, like ‘Oh, I know there’s actually no person. Everything is actually the will of Consciousness. You know, it’s all Guru Kripa. You know, it’s all very…’

It’s just become like language, these words that we are using to justify ourselves personally, to take a personal position about things, claiming to be in the cargo of spirituality. We have to get out of this.

There is no person. Digest that fact. You have looked. The Sages have said it and the scriptures have said it; all the credible sources have testified to this over and over again. And most importantly, You have looked. In Your own insight, You have not have found this entity called the person. [Silence] That’s an important point.

Then the question comes:

‘When I say ‘I’ what am I referring to Now?’

When I say ‘I’ what am I referring to Now?

What does the ‘I’ represent?

This is worth exploring. ‘I have already discovered that there is no person but I’m still saying ‘I have discovered…, ‘I’ have discovered that there is no person’ …., but I’m saying ‘I’ have

discovered’.

So, who is this ‘I’ now? If the person was all there was, then there must not be a ‘you’ left to make a discovery. But who’s insight this?

And we also said: From Your own insight (you can say intuitive insight, you can say inner perception, you can use many words but) You can say from Your own insight that You have Seen that there is no person.

You have Seen. So, which ‘you’ is now left?

Empty of Any Interpretation, Meet Yourself Now

Check Inside: Who is the one that is now left? So, the notional went away; the conceptual, the made-up one was just an idea. [Chuckles] It is like you can have a crazy idea like ‘You are uncle Sam and your only job is to recruit people to the American army’ [Chuckles] (or something like that). Now, you looked and you found there is no such entity. But you looked: Who is existent Here? Who is present Here? You have looked. So, when the notional one is no longer given a belief, it is not given a reference point (you can say) …, another way to say it is: the death of the person idea does not imply your death.

The one that is present; first we come to this one. The Sages have also used the term for this one, called the ‘I Am’. Now, you have never had the experience of anything at all unless first you existed. So ‘I Am’ becomes the substratum for this state in which all this is appearing. As Omkar is saying, the waking state or the dream state, any state in which there is phenomenal appearance, first means ‘I Exist’ / ‘I Am’ / ‘My Being Is’. Just like this Existence is just the existent aspect of What Is.

So, the beautiful question to as is: What wakes up?

This Being, this manifest aspect of your Self, seems to wake up. And once it wakes up, all this drama of life, all these colors of shapes and sizes, they start to appear. But if you kept the originality of the moment of waking (if the originality of the moment of waking is not tethered, not attached to any idea about ourselves) then here there is no suffering and the Truth of what you are is completely apparent. Now the best part about this is that you don’t have to wait till tomorrow. [Chuckles] Because from what I said it can sound like ‘from tomorrow when I wake up Then I have to wake up and keep that originality of that moment and then done’ the best part about this is that, in this moment, you are completely fresh. All the notions and everything that is happening. This is like a ‘huge’ cheat code. [Chuckles] You can make nothing out of your spiritual journey (in a good way). [Chuckles] It can make nothing out of the so-called spiritual journey because Right Now, as you meet this Being, as you meet this ‘I Am-ness’ completely empty of any judgment, you are meeting God; you are meeting Consciousness; you are meeting Beingness.

So, we saw that there is no person and then we are coming to a meeting with our own Being. And the only prerequisite is ‘Don’t bring your thoughts with you.’ They can come and they can go but you don’t bring any thoughts that you are attaching to. Don’t put anything in your bag. Everything can come and go but don’t collect anything, not even the interpretation of this insight which you are having. You see? You don’t have to come out saying ‘This is It.’ Then you will hold onto ‘this is It’ …, and ‘This’ will be forgotten. [Chuckles]

Empty of any interpretation, meet yourself. In this moment, you are an enlightened Being. You are as ‘Sagely’ as a Sage can get. [Chuckles] And I am allowed to make that judgment on your behalf. You leave it alone.

Is It Possible to Make This Being into an Object?

Now, this Being has a lot of beautiful aspects. You can even call them abilities (or aspects is better). Because as soon as Being is there, so much of this play starts. There are phenomenal aspects of time and space, light and gravity. So much, so much, is going in in this apparent universe. There are also subtler aspects like attention and belief, which are very unexplored actually. A lot of exploration has happened about the phenomenal sciences but very little exploration has happened about these very fundamental aspects of our existence.

Like, what is attention? What is a belief? And therefore, what is identity? [Silence]

So, as you met YourSelf, you found that all limitations, all boundaries, all concepts of history, your past, all desires for the future do not apply to Your Being in Its originality. You saw for yourself: nothing really applies. It is not wanting anything, It is not running from anything, It has no grievances, It has no guilt. All these various terms we use for suffering do not apply to It.

So, what supernatural ability does this Being have? Because it must be a supernatural ability that the Unlimited One is more spacious than space; is That within which even this space comes. You’re meeting this Being, Right Now, as Your own Being, as Your own Presence.

Then how is it that This One considers Itself to be with boundaries, with limitations, with past and future? (Okay, for one minute, you have full permission to identify; for science.) [Laughs]

How is it that This Being considers Itself to be anything limited?

Try to do this. (I know this is never done in Satsang.) Try to do this:

Be a person. Or pose as if you are one.

Slowly, let’s look now. Who actually managed to become a person?

Okay, so we are looking at two questions:

Were you able to pick up the pretense of personhood, the pretense of ego?

Or were you able to transform this Being into something which is limited, which is an object?

An object means it has a size, shape, duration.

Who was able to make this Being into an object?

Cannot do it. This is a very, very important point.

So, no separation has actually happened.

No individualization has ever actually happened in Consciousness.

Therefore, Bhagavan [Sri Ramana Maharishi] has said that it is only the notion that ‘I am something’ which is the jivatma. There has never been actually a jivatma (which means there has never been an individualized consciousness). It is only the idea ‘I am something’ which makes the Atma pose as if it is an individualized consciousness. When we are operating under the assumption that I am something, then it can feel like ‘I am limited, I’m an individual.’

Then you notice that this ‘I Am’ is just ‘I Am’ …, with no boundaries.

Being is just Being.

The offers of this ‘something’ are only coming from one source. The offers ‘to attach’ are from one source. And this is also very important to see. This is also very important to see, otherwise you will get into some fight with the world, you will get into some sort of position with the world. You don’t have to do any of that because there is only one source which is offering this notion of ‘something’ to you. This source we call ‘the mind’ (also called the ‘small mind’). It is giving you ideas about YourSelf which are not true. It is that aspect of Your creation which You have created so that You could believe this story of individuality. It is the narrator of this story which has the personal perspective.

If you let this one ‘be’…, if you leave it alone (you don’t have to fight it, you don’t have to love it, just let it come and go) then you will find the natural love which is there for all appearances can also exist for this one. But we’re still not buying that story of separation; you’re not buying this ‘tiny mad idea’.

This is what I’ve been calling ‘Your Notionless Existence’. And this is what it means to go ‘from person to Presence’ …, which means that we go from this maha-mantra of the mind (which is ‘What’s in it for me?’ …, constantly identifying with this ‘What’s in it for me?’) to having no notion that ‘I am something’ (which means to have no idea about this ‘me’).

The Sage’s life is a beautiful representation of this: how even a normal, regular day-to-day functioning can happen without picking up concepts, without picking up the identity.

Both Delusion and Recognition Apply to This Being Only

[Reading from Chat]: “Beloved Father, it is Seen that there is no person. However, it can’t be denied that the One who Sees no person is simply not there in other states.”

Yes. I read this question now because we are just coming to that point.

[Continues reading] “It’s simply not there in other states…, other than the waking state. To clarify: any state which has normal appearances, whether you would call it waking/dream. Wanted to clarify (including the one who wanted to clarify): this isn’t Seen in states other than the waking state.”

That’s why it’s important to note that it is just the manifest aspect of OurSelf (that which we call this Consciousness) which plays with the role of separation (with the role of ‘I am something’) and then comes to the recognition ‘So, I Am [then adds] ‘something, something’ …, and this very same ‘I Am’ is coming to the recognition ‘I Am That’. So, ‘I Am That’ means ‘I am coming to the recognition of my very Source; of what I truly Am.’ And even this One (which we have called the Deity, the God, Consciousness, the Light of this world) ultimately, in Your Absolute Reality, is also a ‘coming and going’.

Both the delusion and recognition (both the play of bondage and coming to freedom) only apply to this Being (this Consciousness) which is now seemingly-waking ItSelf up within the waking state; through Satsang, through Self-inquiry, through surrender; whatever tools or mechanisms It has created for ItSelf. Consciousness coming to the Recognition of Its own Source is this Awakening or Self- Recognition.

Now, an important point worth mentioning is that because we say that this Awareness is the Absolute within which is the manifest aspect (which is Consciousness) doesn’t imply that now there are two: The Absolute and Consciousness. Just like because there are so many different fingers of different sizes doesn’t mean there are two hands; it is still one.

This is a very important point, that even in this distinction, ultimately, between the manifest Being (the dynamic aspect, as Guruji would say) and the Source (the completely non- phenomenal Self) there is actually no distinction. It is One Self. Because like I often say: With the appearance of the Being, it still remains ‘I Am’. It is not that ‘I was’ and now ‘You are’ also; that would mean that there are two. It is just that You are prior to ‘I Am’ (You are always prior to ‘I Am’) but there appears this sense of existence ‘I Am’. Where? For Your own Self.

This ‘I Am’ seems to get into all this trouble (‘seems to’ get into all this trouble) and then ‘seems to’ find various ways to get Itself out of all this trouble. So, although we are very referential about this Being sometimes, like [Nisargadatta] Maharaj said: ‘All this trouble is because of the ‘I Am’ Infection. You have an ‘I Am’ Infection.’ [Chuckles] And he would say things like ‘Forget about Consciousness.’

Now, why I don’t repeat these things very often is because I know the nature of the mind. If it hears something that sounds like ‘Oh, that is the Ultimate’ than that becomes like [Pretends to

Grab and Clutch in Hands] ‘Oh, that is what I want!’ [Chuckles] ‘This is what I must hang on to! Forget about Consciousness!’ …, forgetting very quickly that even ‘Forget about Consciousness’ is within Consciousness.

There has to be a certain depth of insight before we jump into these things and start speaking like Maharaj. But I know that if I say this stuff, then it will become like ‘Within Consciousness, within the Being ItSelf’ …, but with the sense of individuality, we’ll hold on to these ultimate- sounding pointers, feeling like now we have the truest knowledge. But it is not that.

The fragrance of when these words are spoken, when they’re coming from a place of True Insight, definitely will not contain the sense of ‘somebody speaking them’. Did you hear what I said?

The fragrance of when these words are Truly said will not contain any sense of there being a speaker, or there being a sense of somebody who has understood this.

That is why I am not in a rush to give you any ultimate-sounding concepts because I know how you are attracted to them. [Chuckles] ‘Oh, I got it!’ [Pretends to Grab Possessively]

It’s simpler to remain in Your Notionless Existence.

Then one day, these words, too, will not be ‘smelly’.

Even the Source of the Seeming-Trouble Is the One Self

Q:When you were explaining about Beingness, you said ‘Come to our Beingness’ and then you said that ‘Can this become an object?’ You said that ‘It can’t’ and then ‘How would it become an object? Imagine: How would it become an object?’ And from there you said that ‘The only way was that you would pick up a pretense of something; of being a ‘someone’. And that these thoughts, this pretense also probably come from one Source.’ I mean, the ideas to become… That’s where I got confused.

A:Okay, good. I get a little bit of what you are saying. So, as Bhagavan [Sri Ramana Maharshi] said, the ‘I Am’ Itself, your Being, has no struggle, has no trouble. It’s only when we consider ourselves to be something (‘I am something’) then that becomes the fertile ground for all of these notions to come, all these ideas that we have about ourselves and especially about how my life should be.

So, once you start taking yourself to be a ‘something’ (an object) then all this comes. But even this pretense, where the mind and even these notions ultimately come from, is the same Source. Otherwise, there would be two. Isn’t it?

Q: Yes, exactly.

A:Even this play, even this notion of ego, even the notion of separation, must ultimately come from the One Self. That’s why we call it ‘the play’. We say that ‘Okay, we give these explanations which have no actual meaning. [Chuckles] They just serve to remove the question actually.’ We can say that ‘If you are all there is, it becomes just boring for you, you need some leela, you need some entertainment.’ [Chuckles] We create this idea that ‘I am something’ and that ‘something’ is related to name, with form. And then we start to feel like ‘I am a limited something.’ We start to believe that ‘I am a limited something.’

Then something in our heart still knows that ‘I cannot be this limited object.’ And the mind’s version of trying to become unlimited is to try and gather more and more; in terms of relationships, in terms of material objects. So, nobody is really satisfied with what they have because they start with the pretense that they are limited to begin with. But something nags them from within. And that limitation doesn’t sit right for anyone. They are just trying to make themselves the mind’s version of God, which is to posses everything they can; to have the best relationship, to have the best body, to have the best material objects and then ultimately, also to come to the best liberation or the best freedom.

The Source of all of this play is also very same Consciousness. Just like the waves are all made up of the ocean itself, but the ocean itself has given itself the capability to believe that it is an individual wave.

So, the insight that all of you have in Satsang is that all of these boundaries are notional. All of these sensations that you experience, we use them to create a notional boundary for ourself and say ‘I am this.’ And then, using this reference point, then we start to play in this way. If the ocean first considers itself to be the wave, if the ‘I Am’ which is unlimited considers Itself to be

‘I am something’ (then ‘I am this, I am that; I want this, I want that; my life should be like this, my relationship should be like this…’) then all the pretense of individuality plays out.

But in this very moment, You have no sense of separation. This individuality is not original to You. It’s not natural in Your Existence. So, we pick up this trouble moment-to-moment. But even the Source of this seeming-trouble is just the one Self Itself. The Sage Vashishta says in the Yoga Vashishta that ‘To remain notionless is easier than crumpling a petal in your hand.’ So, it is that easy to remain notionless. It is our starting point in this very moment.

Nothing forces us to pick up the pretense that ‘I am something.’ Nothing forces us to believe that we are this limited object. Our unlimited-ness is completely apparent. But you don’t have the concept of it; you cannot have a concept of it. No concept truly replicates Your Truth.

Actually, the ‘I am something’ is not just the definition (like ‘Okay, we feel it’s making a definition about my body or my mind.’) It is to make a definition about anything! Because everything is just an appearance within Your ‘I Am,’ within Your Being. When we give this notion to anything, to any object, with the presumption that ‘I know it in a conceptual way’ then that becomes the root of individualization.

I lost you all? [Chuckles]

I mean it in the sense that if I say ‘This is up and this is down’ …, without any reference necessarily to the person here. But even that makes like a locational reference, in the sense of distinction. Like in the ‘I Am-ness’ which is beyond time and space, we try to create a notional boundary of up and down. So, it is not just the labeling of ‘This body being this way, these desires or aversions being this way’ it is just anything that we presume to know mentally which seems to become the source of this individualization.

That’s why notionless Existence is such a beautiful term. It’s like a beautiful notion in itself, but it’s like one of those super-powered notions which we use to remove all other conditioning.

So, this that Bhagavan [Sri Ramana Maharshi] said: This ‘I Am’ is without trouble. It is only this

sense of individualization (‘Individualized Consciousness: ‘I am something’) that becomes the source, the root, of all this.

Notice, Right Now, whether you are something.

Originally, in the moment, Right Now, are you something?

Simplest Surrender: Don’t Make a Conclusion

Notice, Right Now, whether you are ‘something’. Originally, in the moment, are you ‘something’?

[Silence]

Do You have a name, originally? Do You have a boundary? Like, does something define You originally; what You are, in this very moment? [Silence]

So, what do you need now a concept for? Do you need a concept even for normal body- functioning like breathing? If you did not have the concept ‘breathing’ would you stop breathing? Would your hearing stop if you did not know what hearing was?

So, Existence is completely taking care of Itself. Like my Master [Sri Mooji] says ‘Let Existence take care of existence’ or ‘Leave your existence to Existence’. It is already doing all of this. In Your very Existence, the light of Your Existence, all this play is moving on its own. So, what support do you want to give to God or to Existence?

The One that is playing with this entire universe and many universes …, does It feel like it needs some support from the non-existent idea that we have about ourself?

So, when we make a conclusion, we feel that ‘What Is’ is not enough; the ‘Isness’ is not enough. ‘It needs the aid of my idea of what life should be, of who I am or what the world is.’ But those conclusions are not needed.

The simplest way to surrender (because sometimes we struggle with this ‘surrender’ (‘How do I surrender?’) …, the simplest way to surrender is: Don’t make a conclusion.

It is possible to live a notionless existence. But the trouble that many of you are having is that after hearing all of this then you’re getting into the cycle of self-judgment. Because you hear that ‘Notionless Existence is the best’ then it can feel like ‘Oh, then why do I keep picking up these notions?’ (Like we were saying the other day.) Then this can be so… [Circling his hand] ‘Why do I keep doing this?’ But that is another notion. So, then it becomes a vicious cycle. You see? Suppose you picked up the notion ‘Oh, I wish I had this in my life?’ It is fine. I call it the ‘starter’. That is the starter, but the desert (with the most calories) is the guilt. ‘Oh, why am I being so full of notions? Why can’t I drop this?’

That’s why I keep assuring all of you that the best amongst us, the best that have ever lived in this realm, have had moments of where they do pick up notions. Even the Sages pick up notions from time to time. But they don’t usually pick up the desert ‘Oh, why did I do that? I must not be free yet?’

Somewhere at the root of all of that is an individual self-concern. At the root of that concern is the concern whether ‘I have got it or not.’ But the ‘I’ in this case is still the one with the boundary. It is still personal. So, as long as that is there, then you will continue to judge yourself,

and say ‘No, no, I’m not there yet. I am not following Father’s pointings. I’m not following what I’m hearing in Satsang.’ (Or something like this). Then that becomes the vicious cycle. Then again, a notion comes and the whole cycle starts and then you feel ‘Oh, I’m really stuck now. Is it really helping?’ Then it can get into this sort of vicious cycle.

But actually: Just forget about it. Come back to the original-ness, notionless-ness, of this moment. This moment is your best friend.

Then the mind it picks up and it says ‘Yes, yes, this moment is fine.’ (This conversation which we were having that day; somehow it’s re-playing itself because I feel like it’s important for many of you.) Sharanya was saying that ‘This moment is fine, Father, because I am with you. But I know what is going happen. This always happens, that when I leave you, I start picking up notions and I can’t remain like this.’ Then I said ‘But why do you want to spoil this moment for something that is going to happen in the future?’

So, if you know, for example, that you are going to fall into a ditch tomorrow, then why do you want that falling to seem like it must spoil this moment already? It’s better that you don’t worry about that.

It can sound like a simple thing but actually, all of us know that death is coming. Ultimately, the end of this body is going to be the funeral; the burning on the funeral pyre or the burying under the ground. That’s what’s going to happen to this body.

If it is that way anyway, then why do we even bother with anything at all? If freedom was for this body then why would we bother with it? Because it’s going to die anyway. Of what use is that freedom? If freedom is for an individual, the individual has only one end, which is death. So, why would we then bother with it?

Two Modes of Consciousness ‘God Now’ or ‘Me-Ow’

There’s only one thing ever actually, which is ‘God Now’ or ‘Me-ow.’ [Smiles] These are the two main modes of operation. (It’s not true like this; but sometimes I say these things to clarify some things.) Consciousness is only operating in one of two ways: ‘God Now’ (with no sense of individuality; just Being ItSelf) or picking up the notion of ‘me’ and then inevitably playing with the sense of suffering.

Now, many of us feel like we can live a bit dangerously; in the sense that ‘I’m going to play with the sense of ‘me’ but the minute the trouble comes, I’m just going to become like in this ‘God Now.’ You feel like you have the ultimate tools at your disposal so you feel like ‘Let me play with the ‘me’ but I have the tools at my disposal so the minute the ‘ow’ starts to come (the suffering starts to come) I’ll get to God and I will escape it.’ [Smiles] Now this is kind of a dangerous game. Many times, you don’t even realize you’re playing this.

In this very moment, do you want to meet the most enlightened Being you’ll ever meet? [Smiles] In this very moment, do you want to meet the most enlightened Being you’ll ever meet?

How to have this auspicious meeting? [Smiles]

You have to meet YourSelf without any interpretation or judgment. Meet yourself without any interpretation or judgment. And as these interpretations and judgments come, you just have to let them come and go. This Being that You’re meeting, this Presence that is Here, is the One Consciousness, is the Atma, is the Beingness; which needs nothing, which is not bound.

[Silence]

You don’t meet a photocopy version of yourself; you don’t meet an idea of yourself.

Meet YourSelf in Your true openness.

This Being that is Here has been understood to be something personal (something limited) but it truly isn’t. We look for God everywhere but actually, God has just been Here as Your own living Presence.

But if you judge, then it will seem like this God is personal. It will seem like there is a person here. It is just an addiction; just a habit that one must consume, that ‘I must believe what my thought is telling me.’

But this Being that You are encountering Now as Your own Presence has no concept of past or future. It is not trying to hold onto a state. Even freedom and bondage have no meaning for this One.

Do You Want Truth for Truth Sake or the By-Products?

Usually what happens is that when you encounter this Being, it’s not usual that the mind just gives up. It also has some trump cards up its sleeve. So, it will say ‘But yes, it is so clear that my Presence is unlimited. It needs nothing, it wants no freedom because the bondage itself is not a problem, but where are the fireworks? [Chuckles] I was promised that all my chakras will open; that I will have unlimited bliss.’ And basically, it is not even the wanting of an experience but it is wanting of a certificate, that ‘Because this happened therefore, it must be true.’ It is more like a confirmation or validation that we are looking for in the form of an experience; not the experience in itself. Because at least if I said ‘Just meet yourself empty of the judgments, then you will meet the most enlightened Being ever’ and you just look within and came to Your Presence and this deep bliss started arising then you might conclude ‘Oh, that must be it because the bliss came.’ [Smiles]

But the trouble with that is that everything that comes, goes. And then, what will happen is that when the bliss goes then you will say ‘I had it and now I have lost it.’ That’s why my Master [Sri Mooji] says ‘Sometimes the sober seeing is the best’. Because when it comes with experiences (many of you are having and will have these experiences) but the point is then that that becomes trouble. Because you say ‘When I looked with you yesterday, I had such an experience of just love, just love. But now today when I woke up, I was not feeling love. Therefore, then my freedom must be gone.’ So, we use these things as conclusions and sometimes maybe it is better for these things to not happen.

When we just look at what we truly Are, without any by-products, without there being any need for any by-products…

That is why when I say: Do you want Truth for Truth sake? Do you want Self for Self ‘s sake? Or do you want it for the by-products; the experiences that accompany it?

I also want to tell you that if it is an experience it will come and it will go. The Self is not an experience. Your Being is not an experience.

Q: Does the same go for the experience of clarity?

A: ‘The experience of clarity.’ Can you define it a little more?

Q: It’s like today, we are Seeing …

A: How does this Seeing becomes unclear?

Q:Sometimes it’s like the thoughts and feelings slide by easily and then that brings about a sense of clarity. It’s like they are Seen. And other times, it feels like it is very cloudy.

A: That which is Aware of both clarity and cloudiness, is That ever cloudy?

As you are meeting YourSelf, you will find that there is a Seeing (a capital S seeing) which is beyond even our perceiving; That which is aware of sight (of inner sight or outer sight), which is aware of hearing, taste, smell, all of these things, but It Itself is not dependent on anything. Like the functioning of our attention, which can seem at some moments like the content is very clear and sometimes it can seem very blurry, but You that witnesses the functioning of attention is independent of either of these states.

So, once you see that You are That and there is not so much concern about ‘Okay, do I have clarity?’ because even this…, the quickest way to become cloudy is to try and hold on to clarity. ‘I must always have clarity. [Points to head] I hope it’s like this; I hope it’s like that.’ See, what is that? This is cloudiness. [Chuckles]

So, if you See that my Self in Reality is unconcerned with these moving waves; sometimes high tides, sometimes low tides (it is unconcerned with the movement of attention) then you will See that this question is truly not applicable for you. And yet, in the play of life, you will find that something seems to be mostly in clarity. You can’t approach it this way, by trying to hold onto clarity to keep the clarity. But you can approach it with the sense of finding the Source of all of this: What is at the center of all of this? You will see that this is independent of any blurriness or clarity. And then, in the outward manifestation, it will mostly play as clarity. [Smiles] You know what I mean?

Q:So, clarity is kind of like by-product?

A:It is a by-product, yes.

Q: That’s my …, that’s the stickiest notion that needs to be thrown away.

A:The notion could be that ‘I have to come to or create some clarity for myself.’ How would you do that?

Q: It’s like the notion comes up and I need to like catch the things that are coming up.

A:You see, the seeking or the attempting or the ‘trying to get’ is itself is a source of so much confusion.

Q:It’s like I am seeing now like the value in having this said again and again because what I realized when I am left alone and I am not following the guidance, it’s like ‘Okay, I am staying notionless’ but it’s slightly distorted by this notion I am speaking about.

A:Yes, these notions can become very subtle and we don’t realize it. But life pulls it out of us. [Smiles] In notionlessness, there is not even the notion that ‘I am being notion less.’ [Smiles]

Because that itself is a notion. [Chuckles] Because once we have something like that, then we set ourselves rules like ‘I have to hold onto this; I should be that or I should not be like that.’ Then we make a journey out of this which is not really a journey at all.

It is more intimate than sitting where you are sitting Right Now.

What ‘s Easier Than Sitting Where You Are Sitting Right Now?

What is easier than sitting where you are sitting right now? What is easier than even that? [Smiles]

Sangha: Knowing that you are sitting.

A:What is this Knowing? Is there anything easier than this Knowing? Sangha: Being.

A:Okay, suppose it’s Being. So, this Being is whose Being?

We said: What is the simplest? (And we will discuss that knowing; the small ‘k’ or big ‘K’ later.) Right now, it’s a good answer. You say ‘Being.’ So, Being is simpler than even sitting where you are right now. This Being is what everyone is looking for. This Being is what everyone is looking for.

Is it too simple? [Smiles] It is just doubt that we have to deal with because the doubt will come and say ‘But…’ There is a beautiful story which Ramesh [Balsekar] was sharing. He was saying that ‘A king came to a Sage and said ‘I will give you half my kingdom if you show me where God is.’ The Sage said ‘I’ll give you twice your kingdom if you show me where God is not.’

It’s just that switch. Like this beautiful interaction with Papaji where somebody who came to satsang with him said ‘Papaji, can you show me God?’ And Papaji said ‘If you drop doubt, then you will see God. What do you see now?’ The man said ‘I don’t see God.’ Papaji said ‘I said drop doubt: ‘Don’t‘ is doubt. What do you see now?’ And the man said ‘I see God!’

This is not just word-play. It’s a switch of perspective. We have been mis-labeling things for so long that as you come to this unlabeled life, you’ll wonder at the nonsense you use to believe. You’ll really wonder how you considered yourself to be a separate individual when all there is, is God. Those who are spiritual mostly have this concept that ‘Everything is God but me. Everything is God but I am not. I have to get to God or I am seeking God.’ You see, this itself is arrogance. It can seem like a very humble thing actually but it itself is arrogant, that ‘I can separate myself from God.’ That ‘I am a separate individual who’s been running my life.’ Nobody has met this individual, ever. Nobody has ever met this person who is running your life. All you have met is Your own Presence, Your own Being.

So, the first set of doubts are about this ‘Where is my special experience; fireworks, bliss?’ (Or something like that). The other set of doubt is ‘But how can I live like this? How can I live like this?’ But the one that is presuming that it has been living [Chuckles] (with all these notions) has never lived.

The True Master Will Demolish Your Belief Systems

Suppose that 10 years ago you started building a house. You wanted it to be the best house possible. [Smiles] So, you decided that ‘I am going to make the best house possible.’ Then you spend one year on the plan. You hire the best architect. Then every part of the house …, the floors, you picked Italian Marble, the best among the best. You picked for the kitchen platform some Belgium Granite or something. Everything top notch. And you’ve been building slowly with care. And whatever you built which you didn’t like, you demolished it. You rebuilt it to get it right; to get it just right.

Now 10 years have gone by and only the roof is left. Let’s say the roof is left. Then you ask around and say ‘Who is the best one who can make this roof?’ And somebody says ‘This one is the best one.’ So, you go to this one, who looks at your house and says ‘Okay, okay.’ He doesn’t seem too impressed. [Laughs] That itself is upsetting, firstly. He doesn’t seem too impressed with the house that you’ve built. And next he looks up and says ‘Come, I’ll show you something.’ So, he takes your hand and takes you out and walks with you till you get to the middle of nowhere. You get to the middle of nowhere [Smiles] and this one says ‘This is your house. Here is your house.’

How will you feel? You spent 10 years building a house and this one seems crazy by now. You’re pretty clear he is crazy. He takes you to the middle of nowhere and says ‘This is your house.’ [Smiles] What will be your reaction?

Many of you can correlate your initial Satsang reactions to this. So, what does this mean, really? Slowly and slowly, we have built up a belief system that we call ‘the person’. All the learnings from all the teachers and from parents, from all the books, from all the people we have met, from all the self-help that we’ve applied; we have taken these ideas and built this identity.

And then we said ‘What is cherry on this cake? How can I top off this identity? How can I give it a halo?’ And somebody said ‘Go to this one.’ And this one, that is the Master, doesn’t give you a halo or doesn’t give you a roof. He says ‘Even all of this that you’ve built up, if you want to come with me, you have to leave.’

And we’ve got to be honest and say, mostly, this doesn’t feel good. [Smiles] It doesn’t feel good, at least initially. Because you will say ‘Tell me what is wrong, I will fix it. If this wall is wrong, I will demolish it and make a new one. I’ve done it many times before. I was in this movement, I was in this class, I was in this Satsang and I realized that something is not right and I changed it. I exchanged it, for something else.’

So, the disciple says to the Master ‘Tell me where you are going to take me or tell me what I can do instead of this. I’ve done this before. I’ve taken a set of beliefs. I realized that they were wrong. I dropped them. I believed in a new set. If that is what you’re saying, tell me I am wrong, and tell me how I am wrong and I’ll replace it with your philosophy. Oh! God isn’t like this? You tell me God is not like that and I will take your version of God and I’ll put it there.’ [Smiles] You see? ‘I’ll demolish what I believe and I’ll take your version and put it there.’

But the Master is saying ‘Let’s just go from here.’ You’re saying ‘But is this a better place? Where you’re taking me, is it going to be better? Tell me how is it going to be better? I’ve given my life to this, to building this house.’ [Smiles]

So, this is why this spiritual search can seem to have this…, like many times in Satsang we use this term ‘burning’. A lot of burning is happening, a lot of things are burning, I am burning from inside. What is burning, actually? What is burning is our concepts; even our spiritual concepts. And many times, when this burning is happening, it does not feel good. Why doesn’t it feel good? I was hearing somebody yesterday; very beautifully they were explaining the mechanics of belief. And they said ‘In every belief that we have right now, while we hold it, feels good, it feels right.’ It’s only when it’s given up that you realize ‘Oh, that was not true.’ While you have it, it feels like it is the right thing. You see? That’s why it’s your belief. So, you might go through that journey of starting to feel like there is something wrong with this, and then testing it some more, inquiring into the nature of it, and dropping it. But while you hold it, it doesn’t feel to you that it is limiting you.

How many of you are hearing this? It’s very important. While you’re holding a belief, it does not feel to you that it is limiting you. It feels to you that it is necessary, it is helpful. And when you meet someone who, in your heart, you feel is to be trusted but they are taking you to a place where there is no such belief system, it can feel like some burning is happening. Because you feel like ‘What I am burning is what I invested in for so long. I’ve invested in this belief system for so long, for so long. And the bigger problem here is: at least tell me what to put in its place.’ [Chuckles] ‘You’re telling me to demolish the house but are you going to give me a trailer at least to stay in?’ This is the burning.

The Master says ‘All of this is within You. You don’t need a house in this world.’ (This is a metaphor, okay? I am not asking you to give up the physical house.) [Chuckles] You don’t need this identity, you don’t need this house of cards.

Try living open.

And this can feel strange; it can feel scary. The Master says ‘Don’t worry. I know it wobbles but I am with you. I’ve been through this wobble, and I will take you through it.’

Now, what can happen is that (in the design of the mind) the mind is not designed to just give up without a fight. [Smiles] When a belief starts getting questioned, it also gets everything to try and reinforce it. Everything, to reinforce it. And that works with all our beliefs but it especially works with our doubts. [Smiles] It especially works with our doubts and our negative belief system.

So, if you feel…, for example, suddenly a thought comes to you today that ‘Oh, Ananta has…

like this…’ [Gestures like a belief that the mind is thinking as if it were a bug and brushes it away] Notice how the mind will use that opportunity to say ‘Yeah, this is also like last Thursday when he did that to this one, and you know, when this one said this, and then he said that.’ This is the nature if the mind, to quickly produce enough evidence (seemingly, since they’re just concepts) so that the belief can get deep-rooted very quickly. So, it’s almost like a spider. Have

you seen a spider; like when a mosquito goes in the spider web, what happens? It quickly goes to the mosquito and… [Gestures wrapping it up in the web] The mind is a bit like that. It plays a bit like that, where you feel like something got caught and then it doesn’t want to leave it. It wants to spin all the stories around it…, and soon! This one can be really soon, really soon; like in 10 minutes, you could be convinced.

And what did they say? That every belief feels right anyway. You see? So, within a short period of time, we could be caught up in this huge web of beliefs and can feel like ‘Yes!’ [Gestures as if having won or achieved or triumphed over something]

Now, with most of the traditional spiritual paths, what can happen is that they will provide you an auxiliary ‘replacement belief system’ which is supposed to last for a bit. It’s supposed to last for a bit. [Smiles] They say ‘Okay. It feels too naked, too open, to leave your house (to be without an ego) and come to this, literally, middle of nowhere; without any walls. So, let me construct a temple around you, a ‘kutiram’ for you; a hut. Let me give you a hut. This is how it looks. Wake up at 5:00 every morning, do this kriya, do this thing, be a good disciple, have your own personal mantra, chant it like this.’

I know I might be saying that in a bit of trivialize-ation but I am not trying to put any of that down. I’m just saying that if you look at some of this, at least it feels a little more comforting; that ‘I left my old way of thinking and replaced it with a new one. I left my old lifestyle and replaced it with a new one.’ And that can seem to provide some sense of comfort.

But when you come to Satsang like this, it is more direct …, where I don’t really want to give you a replacement to your belief system. I want you to be able to step back from this entire paradigm of believing and not-believing.

Come to a greater openness. I’m not replacing old walls for new ones. We’re replacing it with a completely naked, complete lack of conceptual support structure.

And it is the Master’s job to hold your hand through this all. Because initially to you, it will seem like, in a way, he is setting your house on fire. It may seem like he is setting your house on fire. So, it is up to the Master what speed the house has to be set on fire; whether to put down the fire a little bit and make it a little more comfortable or to increase the intensity of this fire. And the Master is relying on their intuitive insight, which allows this Satguru’s Grace to function. But it has to come to this.

Get out of this limited paradigm of belief in something …, or belief in the opposite of that something. Get out of this paradigm of duality; of ‘that’ and its opposite; of truth and lies; of good and bad; of past and future; of me and other; of time and space.

This is what it means when I say ‘Notionless Existence’.

What Concept Is Holding Up Your Existence?

Actually, it is completely verifiable in this moment: To Exist, what concept are you using? To Be, what concept do you need? What concept is holding up your Existence?

You will find that ‘No concept is holding up my Existence, my Existence has been holding up some concepts. My Being, my Consciousness, ‘I Am’ which has been giving power to concepts such as ‘I am something, I am this or I am that.’ And around every concept, I have built a limitation, a boundary, a house around my existence. But this house is never real; it has only been notional, only been conceptual. [Smiles]

So, the Sage Ashtavakra said ‘The mind is complex, let it go.’ Such a simple statement. [Smiles] Guruji says ‘Don’t identify’ and what do we identify with? A label of something creates a sense of identity. Like nobody really knows what a man is; what a woman is. And yet we have used these labels and identified ourselves with that. This is how belief works. It creates a sense of identity around That which is completely beyond all limitations. It plays as if this one is a man, not woman.

Now, the thing with labels is that it not only it defines (tries to define) what you are, it also tries to define what you are not. [Looks around. Smiles] The minute you say ‘I am a man’ it automatically defines that you are not a dog, you are not a cat, you are not a cow, you are not a woman. [Chuckles] And I know some of this might sound strange to you, but when we pick up one label, one leaf from this ‘tree of conditioning’ (as I call it), we feel like this entire tree is valid.

But what all do we have to know? If you are a man, what all does that mean? [Looks around]. Let’s just take a simple example: If you have a beard. [Points to his beard. Chuckles] What is a beard? Hair on the face. What is hair? [Chuckles] This piece…, it is just one aspect of defining a man. So, one notion we picked up: ‘man’ (it seems harmless) but actually we picked up the entire lot; everything, all these meanings. This is how we pick up conditioning. Because we pick up one label, one idea, one concept about ourselves, then it seems like we pick up the entire structure of personality.

That’s why I was saying the other day that ‘Don’t try to play this game and live dangerously where you can say ‘I can play with the ‘me’ for some time and the minute it starts to get too hot in this kitchen, I can go to ‘God-Now’. My Being is there, I know this. How will I forget?’ But actually, every notion that you pick up, you are picking up this entire conceptual structure. It seems to define you; it seems to limit you. It tells you what you are and what you are not. [Smiles] In Reality, there cannot be something that you are, or are not. Because not only are You the light of ‘all there is’ …, You are also the screen of ‘all there is’. Simply put ‘All there is’ is just made up of You, but You are beyond that. It is not beyond You but You are beyond even that. So, the minute we define ourselves this way (‘I am this and therefore implying I am not that’) we wear this mask, this presumed mask of separation, individuality.

Now the thing is that when I say ‘Remain in your notionless Presence’ or ‘Stay in your notionless Existence’ …, around this also we can create like a hundred notions. And the thing

with any pointing like this is that it’s always self-referential anyway. Because many of your minds might be saying right now is that ‘This is also a notion: notionless Existence; this is also a notion.’ [Chuckles]. So. any of this pointing is completely self-referential. And yet in the play of this life … That’s why some of the Bhagavan’s [Sri Ramana Maharshi’s] examples are so beautiful because he given us beautiful ways to relate to this. He says ‘Treat the inquiry (or treat some pointing like this) as we treat a stick that we use to light the funeral pyre. The funeral pyre stick is also a stick and yet you use a stick to light it. And then what happens to this stick? Even this is also thrown. [into the fire]

Now sometimes, in our over enthusiasm, [Chuckles] we throw this one first. ‘Done. Okay, now I have gotten rid of notionless existence.’ And quickly it is forgotten [Chuckles] and all the other notions start to come back in; quickly. We are quick to forget the inquiry ‘Who am I?’ You say ‘Now I don’t need to discover. I had an insight about myself. Now I don’t need any tool.’ So, we throw that out first.

Bhagavan also had this other metaphor where he said ‘If you have a thorn embedded in your finger, then we use another thorn to remove it and then this thorn can also be thrown.’ But what would happen if we threw this thorn first? When the seemingly deep-rooted, embedded conditioning appears in the form of a thought then it can seem like (like I said before) belief feels right to us initially. It feels, in fact, righteous that ‘I must believe this. This is a position I must take because it couldn’t be right. All Satsang and all that is fine but this I have to take for my relationship, for my country, for my gender, for my something.’ [Chuckles] How many of us have had moments like this, where ‘I will come back to my notionless Existence just after I deal with this particular thing …, this particular thing that ‘I need to be somebody.’ [Chuckles]

This is the thing. So, this is what I mean when I say don’t presume that we can play with this ‘me, me, me’ and then on call [snaps fingers] I will make God available. Just before the ‘ow’ when the suffering is about to come, I will have a dial-a-pizza type God. [Chuckles] It is true actually and yet the web of this spider can seem to entangle us so quickly that you might not even remember about your Presence. Because the speed of these thoughts coming is … [Makes a gesture of thoughts coming like rain] I know the nature of the mind will take it to the extreme. It will say ‘See, you did that yesterday; you picked up the ‘me’ and Ananta had said ‘Don’t pick up the me.’ [Chuckles] What is all of this? It’s also a notion. Just like it can initially feel like a fine line; like a razor’s edge almost, neither this, nor that.

Then you will discover that it is the most open field: notionlessness. This same notionlessness which for many of you might feel like a razor’s edge where you have to tread carefully, will become like your open filed. You will see that nothing can come and make a difference, make a dent on This.

Neutrality Is Not Fathomable to the Mind

How many actually want to step out of this paradigm? That’s a most important thing…, in the sense of, are we in Satsang so we can build a better house for ourself? Or are we in Satsang even in the sense that even if the Master has to blow away this house of cards, it is completely fine?

This is a critical question and I’m not really asking it like ‘Yes, come on, and say yes.’ This is for real, sincere questioning. Shine your own light on this question.

One day it happened that I was called for the inauguration of a house. ‘Come, come, let’s go from here.’ And they take you in the middle of a forest and say ‘Why don’t you live here? This is better.’ Because our attachment to the material is just a tiny aspect of our attachment. Our attachment to the material, objective surroundings is a very tiny aspect of our attachment.

This is what I mean about the razor’s edge. This switch in interactive; going from attachment to neutrality. Not from attachment to renunciation. (Are you hearing these words? Are they making sense? Because this part is where the mind starts to create trouble because it doesn’t get that.)

I’m saying: We’re moving from attachment to neutrality; not from attachment to renunciation. Because what is renunciation but another attachment? An attachment to not having anything is renunciation (in a way).

So, when we step back from this entire paradigm, and not consider ourself to be just an object which is defined by the movements of this flesh and blood, we find that this body is just another notion, just another idea. Step back from this paradigm; from all belief in something and its opposite. It’s important to reiterate that.

So, if you feel that you’re at a cross-road, where there is a left and there is a right…, you say ‘Ananta, which way is the Self?’ So, I say ‘It is not left.’ Then automatically, you presume it is right. ‘Oh, then it’s right, then.’ And I say ‘It is not right.’ And you say ‘Is it left then?’ [Chuckles] And as this conversation continues, your irritation levels might increase. ‘Is it left then?!’ …’No.’ … ‘Then it must be right!’ … ‘No’ … ‘But… left!’ [Smiles]

This is the thing with the mind: Neutrality, What Is, Is-ness, this Is-ness, is not fathomable to it.

So, the invitation actually is to just step back from this. No left, no right; no up, no down; no right, no wrong; no truth, no freedom; no lies, no mis-beliefs; no concept applies to the Reality of You. No thoughts; no instinct. [Smiles] See? If I say ‘There is no path’ you say ‘I must get it this instant!’ If I say ‘There is nothing to get in this instant’ you say ‘Then I must be having to walk on this path longer.’

Snap out of this! [Snaps fingers]

Awareness Is Empty of All By-Products

Q:Hello, Father. For some time, this question has been arising if awareness is not negative nor positive, why do we experience happiness and joy when contemplating on our Self and why do we not feel sadness or negative?

A:Yes. [Smiles] So, That which is empty of quality…, if we have to make a comparison, we can compare it with the deep sleep state.

(Perfect timing! [Laughs] Just as I said that, somebody went to sleep.)

So, this Awareness is very much like the deep sleep state; neither negative nor positive.

[Mock conversation]: ‘How happy were you in your deep sleep state?’ … ‘I was fine.’ … ‘Were you unhappy in your sleep state?’ … ‘No, I was just sleeping.’

You see? So, these qualities also don’t apply there. The qualities which are a part of our physical phenomenal existence don’t apply there. So, that’s why actually I’m happy to see that you say that you don’t feel sadness or negative. Because many feel like ‘It’s so frustrating to inquire on the Self. I feel a lot of irritation and anxiety coming.’ But either joy or sadness will be part of this phenomenal construct; which Awareness is beyond, is prior to. And that substratum does not change. That substratum of your Truth (this Brahman, this Absolute) does not change.

So, this is like the ocean. (It’s all a metaphor, okay? There is no real ocean like this.) But this is like the ocean, on top of which these waves arise. The waking state, the dream state and all the objects; in all of this, the ocean remains the ocean. But on top of this come moments of sadness, moments of joy; then identification with one of the waves (waves identification with the state itself) …, then other waves, like that which we call relationship…, then we try to collect a full bank account of waves to be secure as a wave. All of this is part of just this appearance. And all of this is going to go to Nothing. All of this is going to go to Nothing. And you cannot truly predict that this world, this body/mind, this system, will ever truly repeat itself in this way ever again or not. We can’t predict. You might say ‘I have a memory of yesterday’ but we have memories even in dreams. It might be the first time you experience a dream but you’ll have the full life story of that dream- character.

But we can have some fun with this at times, in the sense that maybe it’s a rotational system. Like we are sitting in sangha together. I feel so clear that ‘I am Ananta, this is Matthew, this is Radha, this is Gabriella, this is Drishti.’ So, it might feel so clear that ‘I am this one’. But suppose tomorrow when we wake up ‘I am Mathew, he is Radha, she is Gabriella.’ [Laughs] It’s completely possible that you might have the experience of the centrality of another character, which you feel like is an auxiliary character today in your story.

So, all of this is Your play. You are playing with all of these roles and characters, all of these appearances. Now, allow these to be your deeper insights. All you have to do is remain empty of this belief system, empty of all these notions.

In a way, I can say that all you have to not do is pick up a notion. [Smiles] Because when I say that ‘All you have to do is remain notionless’ then it can feel like there a ‘doing’ to it, like the effort is in remaining notionless.

I feel the effort is in picking up notions; the energy goes in that.

So, the question he asked was like in this way: Awareness is empty of all of these qualities. And when we start to recognize that ‘This is my very Source’ then, at times, it can seem like a completely sober Seeing, a sober recognition. And at times it can seem like so much joy, so much love, so much peace is coming as a by-product of this recognition.

Some have also said (although it is rare) that they had a moment of great clarity and then some sadness came because of the remnants of the attachment to the past must have played out as some sadness. It seems some have had these kinds of experiences also.

So, my advice would be to not worry so much about the by-products of what is coming, as you inquire: Truth for Truth ‘s sake. Because why? It is the Truth, no? [Smiles] You must not need a ‘Why?’ for Truth because it is the Truth.

Truth for Truth’s sake; irrespective of the by-products.

I am happy with this report, that you enjoyed this contemplation, which I remember very well also.

Are You Willing to Question These Ideas About Yourself?

Ultimately, it boils down to this: Whether you are happy to just continue with the presumed idea of ‘me’ or you’re willing to explore this ‘me’.

This is what it comes down to (at least in the type of Satsang that is shared here) is that if you’re happy to just presume that there is an individual ‘me’ and then ‘What’s in it for ‘me?’ is natural …, or are you willing to explore?

Not just actually ‘willing to explore’ (not just as a kind of a curiosity) but more like a deeper longing to really find out:

Who am I?

What is going on here?

Whose Existence is this?

Because literally there is nothing here for the presumed ‘me’. For your idea of YourSelf there is nothing much that I can offer anyway. At best, if you have to say something, I can say that I have a mirror.

Suppose you went to the mirror one day [Smiles] and you did not see a reflection. Your first impulse will be what? It will be to doubt the mirror itself. ‘This is not a mirror. It’s not working well.’ [Smiles] Because you’re expecting to find a reflection. Then when you don’t see anything then you will start by first doubting the mirror and saying ‘But how can this be? I have always known myself to be some ‘thing’. So, how can it be that when you are showing me a mirror I find no-thing?’

And I’m not mispronouncing ‘nothing’. I’m specifically saying ‘no-thing’. (But we’ll come to that.) You’re not nothing. But You Are no-thing. You are not a thing.

If this was true, would you want this Truth? If this was true that You are not a thing, would you want this Truth? Or would you rather go back to the presumed idea about YourSelf? This is the key.

And I know that every day I come and say ‘This is the key’ to something else. [Chuckles] That’s just how it’s being said at the moment. [Chuckles]

If it was true that You are not a thing, do you feel that you would want to align with this Truth just because it’s true? Or would you prefer just a false idea because it makes you feel comfortable?

Because initially this can seem uncomfortable. For some a bit uncomfortable; for some a lot. And for some of you, it’s already starting to feel natural.

How much burning are you willing to go through for the sake of this Truth?

Are you willing to burn every single idea that you have (if you were to start to find that it is untrue) for the sake of the Truth?

And which idea are you unwilling to give up?

Which means: What do you still want to be right about…, even if it is contrary to your discovery of the Truth?

And you can give me some feedback on how I’m sounding. If it sounds too abstract, we’ll try to make it more real-life examples. If it is fine, it is fine. [Chuckles] But I really want you to hear what I am saying. What I’m saying is:

If you were to come face-to-face with the Truth and you find that there is nothing that you’ve believed about YourSelf which is true (now that you have come face-to-face with the Truth, you cannot hold onto any idea about YourSelf) what is your inner-attitude about this? Would you still want to hold on to something? Or would you be willing to say ‘Whatever it is, I want to now align just with that which is true’?

Even if you had the idea for twenty years…, thirty years…, if it feels like you’ve always had that idea: Are you willing to come to Satsang and question these now-sacred ideas about YourSelf?

In some ways, this is Surrender. In some ways this is Devotion.

It can feel like (especially for those for whom this Indian culture is a little bit strange) it can feel like devotion means this outward bowing down and touching the feet, or just expressions of devotion like that. Actually, true devotion implies a great trust mixed with a great love. [Smiles] A great trust mixed with a great love …, which means that if my Master asks me the question, then even my most sacred idea about myself, I’m willing to question it.

[Silence]

This is what I mean when I’m saying that I have a mirror for You.

What does that mean if I say to you: Explore in this moment, in your experience, whether you can find the ‘I’ that you think you are, the ‘I’ that wants some thing, the ‘I’ that is suffering.

Are you willing to explore it and stay true to Your direct experience?

Or would you exchange this direct experience again with the idea you have about YourSelf?

[Silence]

When I ask you to look, you have to look and show me the one that wants anything at all (including freedom). And if you’ll feel like you have found something, you must say it!

If you feel that the body wants freedom…, say ‘The body wants freedom.’ If you feel that there is some other entity here that wants freedom then say that ‘There is an entity that wants freedom.’

But no longer can we rest on just a presumption of this one! [Silence] Because there comes a time when we must be willing to look at this so-called imaginary friend called the ego. A parent will let you play with it for a few years with the hope that you will grow out of it. But there comes a point when the parent will tell the child that ‘It’s about time that we look together and I’m not going to let you presume anymore.’ The Master is like a parent in this case who is inviting you and saying:

How long will you keep presuming that there is a ‘me’ like this?

When will you look and stay with what you actually find?

[Silence]

Don’t be scared of any peer-pressure. Don’t be scared of trying to look enlightened and saying that there is no ‘me’. [Silence] Have the integrity to say what really you are finding.

If you are looking and you still feel like ‘But this is the ‘me’ …, I found the ‘me’!’ then say it. Then let’s look together. But don’t keep on presuming that ‘The ‘me’ is there but Ananta won’t understand. Actually, his experience is different. I have not gotten there yet.’ Don’t use all these ideas to shield the non-existent one. Expose yourself.

[Silence]

I’m not offering a conclusion to you. I am offering what I find when I look.

That must become your exploration.

I find when I look that all these perceptions are appearing and disappearing on the screen of My very Existence, I Am. And it is this Existence which seems to be that creative light. [Silence]

I find that unless I label something, I find no division.

What is your experience?

Using the Tricks of the Mind for Deeper Inquiry

[Reading from chat]: “After thinking about my parents, I felt sad at the thought of giving them up, and then a feeling of contraction happened in the chest; an intimate, personal feeling.”

So, ‘After thinking about my parents, I felt sad at the thought of giving them up.’ So, if neither of these thoughts had come, then what division would there be? First, let’s suppose that neither of them came. Then let’s look at: if they come, then what? So, firstly, if neither of these thoughts appeared at all, then…? Then you’ll say ‘It’s fine.’ Mostly, you would say that; if the thoughts had not come at all, it would be fine.

The trouble then is: What to do once the thought appears? This Satsang (this type of Satsang) is just about this. What to do (or not to do; we’ll get into that exploration later). What to do once these kinds of thoughts come? (‘My parents, giving them up.’)

Already in the way I’m saying it, I feel like you’re getting some ideas about where I’m going first. Where I’m going first is the inquiry. So, where I’m going first is the inquiry; which means that if your temperament is a bit of an explorer, then when the thought comes like ‘Oh, what about my parents?’ then we inquire into this and say ‘Whose parents are these? Who is this ‘mine’ who has parents?’

And it doesn’t have to be logical or intellectual, but it’s okay sometimes to start like that. We can look and say: That little baby that was born has nothing in common with this man that is here. At least physically, every cell is different in this body. So, what then remains a constant between that baby that was born and this man that is there? That one; does it have parents?

Now be observant of the nature of the mind, that as I’m saying these kinds of things, the mind will be quick to pick up the opposite kind of idea, like ‘Oh, okay, I have no parents so I can give them up’ or something like that. I’m not saying that also.

I’m saying that as we inquire into the nature of this thought, we find that this thought is making a ‘me’ where there is none. This thought is making a ‘me’ where there is none. So, like that, we continue and say ‘I felt sad at the thought of giving them up.’ So, in each aspect of this sentence, the mind is convincing you about this ‘me’ …, like the one that felt sad, the one that has to give up.’ (‘I did not pick my parents but now I have to give them up.’) [Chuckles] This kind of thing.

This is all misunderstanding. This is how limitation gets created. In this case, the one that has parents, the one that has to give them up, is which one? That one is ‘the presumed one’ …, exactly the one that I’ve been talking about, the one that we presume ourself to be on the basis of some ideas that we have. So, as Guruji [Sri Mooji] would say: Can we bring this one to the witness box?

So, this is a beautiful example; a very beautiful example. Are we willing to live in the presumption of this one? …, especially because these ideas are so intimate and sacred almost? Are we willing to explore even this, like ‘giving them up’? Who is here that can ‘give up’? That

must be the same one that picked them in the first place. Who picked their parents? You see? Like that.

So, when I said that ‘All of Satsang is about what to do when a thought arises?’ the first approach is to inquire. Because it is the thought which is [causing the trouble]. We looked at that so beautifully in this example, that before the thought everything was fine. Even the term ‘fine’ is just a thought, actually. Everything is just ‘what it is’. But once the thought comes then it seems to cause this struggle, this suffering, this resistance. So, what to do with that?

Firstly, we can inquire:

Which is the ‘me’?

Who has to pick up, give up?

Whose parents?

And we don’t presume any such ‘me’ unless we find it.

And we can go on with this entire sentence actually. [Reading from chat]: “…and then a feeling of contraction happened in the chest, an intimate, personal feeling.”

Now, it is fine as long as it remains phenomenal; like a feeling came and it seemed to corelate somewhere with this experience of the sensation that we call the chest. And even to go as far as this, we can say ‘intimate’ …, although even this we can explore a bit and say ‘Intimate? At what distance? How intimate was it?’ Then if we start to explore like this, we can say ‘How intimate was it? How close? One inch? One centimeter?’

Because intimate means there are two. Do we say that ‘This computer is very intimate with the space of this room’? We don’t say that. Why don’t we say that? Why don’t we say that this computer is very intimate with the space of this room? Because there is no duality as far as that is concerned. It is clear that the computer is an appearance in the space. So, we don’t say it is intimate. But when we insert an idea of ‘me’ and then the feeling comes, then it can feel like ‘This feeling is very strong and it’s very close to me.’

So, what is important is this exploration.

But the trouble is that we explore the content in great depth, like the feeling: ‘The feeling feels like grief, the feeling feels like separation, the feeling feels joy, feels happy.’ All these names we’ve given to feelings because we love exploring that.

But that other part of this feeling, the one that it is ‘close to’ or ‘intimate with’ …, when we start to explore that, then what happens? Who is the feeling intimate with? You see? That is the presumed idea.

So, when I said (for example): Are you willing to look at every idea in a true way and stay with the Truth of what you are discovering? … and willing to throw out every idea based on what you are discovering? …, then it’s talking about all these aspects.

Because in this one paragraph there are so many presumptions about ‘me’. One is a physical presumption, that ‘I am a child of my parents.’ Then there is a presumption of knowing what sadness is. Then there is a presumption of ‘I can do something’ which means ‘I can give them up or accept them’ There is presumption that there is a feeling inside the chest. The presumption of distance or intimacy. And then a massive presumption which ‘personal feeling.’ You say ‘An intimate personal feeling.’ So, what is that? …, a personal feeling? Like, can a feeling confirm the existence of a person? It cannot.

So, this is a beautiful example. Thank you, Mahesh. Because in this one paragraph, you can see how it becomes like that web I was talking about yesterday. One idea after another idea; all (‘my limited existence, my desire, my doership, my duality’). Everything is contained in this one small paragraph.

But the beauty of exploration, open exploration, is that we look and say ‘Wow, there is no basis for this. There is no basis for this. There is no basis for this. There is no basis for this. There’s no basis…’ In two or three small sentences, a few small sentences; so much that is presumed. But when we start to Look, we say ‘What is this about? What is going on? Actually, I’m not experiencing any of this.’ And we’re not denying any experience. When I say ‘I’m not experiencing any of this’ I don’t want anyone to use it just as a concept. You must say this only if that is your experience: ‘I’m not primarily experiencing this ‘me’. That is just being presumed here.’

So, a lot of the tricks of the mind are being exposed in this one sentence; like intimacy, which means there’s some distance between two. Can there be intimacy in one? There cannot be. So, there must be one (which is the feeling itself) and two (that is the experiencer of this feeling, which is like a limited entity; like ‘my feeling’.) And the mind quickly comes onto that and says ‘See, therefore, it is personal.’

So, we cannot go with any of these inferences now. I’m really spelling it out today because it’s important to look at what Self-inquiry actually means. It is not just about sitting twenty minutes a day and asking ‘Who am I? Who am I? Who am I?’ It is really openly checking: Who Am I?

And everything that the mind says can be used for this exploration.

Who is the ‘I’ at the center of this? (‘My parents; I felt sad, giving them up.’) Who can give up or pick up? Then ‘Contraction happened in the chest.’ Do we really know it is in this physical chest? If I were to get a surgeon here and do a surgery of the chest, would we find that contraction? Or actually this level of feelings is a completely different level of existence? But we’ve presumed that it is in the chest. Maybe there’s a bigger sensational space within which the chest, the physical experience of chest, is just another set of experiences. Like we can say ‘Gratitude in my throat’ or ‘Grief in my heart’ or ‘Grief in my throat.’ Is it really physical objects? You see? Because if it is the physical throat we are talking about, it can only contain other physical things. So, this feeling we are talking about is not a physical entity.

It can feel like a feeling of constriction happened in the chest but once we start to explore, we say: What is this? …, these two set of sensations which seem to intermingle in some way? Is it

true that one contains the other? No. From my experience, I can say that in the space of My Existence these two sensations are playing out. This idea of container-ship, the idea of ‘the chest contains sensation of sadness’ is a notion.

But you must not just take these ideas at face value because of what you’re hearing from me. You must explore for yourself. ‘An intimate personal feeling’ (especially this personal one).

So, first part, let me recap for everyone. What did we say?

Before the thought arises, no trouble. Then suffering must be a product of at least the thought having to arise, and our belief in it. ‘What to do with that?’ is what we are exploring.

So, the first method (if you want to call it that) is the Self-inquiry; to really explore ‘Whose is it? What is it? What do I really know about this situation from my direct experience?’ And staying true to that rather than inserting a presumption of the ego or inserting the presumption of separation.

Now, some would have heard all of this for the last half an hour and said ‘What is this, man!?’ [Chuckling] Because some are just not inclined to this sort of exploration. This sort of inquiry seems very alien to them. So, it can feel like ‘What is Ananta saying? How can I look? It is so pointless, it is so intellectual, it is so abstract.’ Actually, it is not intellectual; it is anti- intellectual. Whatever I’ve said so far in Satsang is anti-intellectual because I’ve said: Don’t go with your intellect for any of these answers. You go with your direct experience.

But the mind will label it and say ‘But this is too intellectual or too abstract.’ It is anti- intellectual, anti-abstract, because I’ve said: Stay with your direct experience; don’t intellectualize it, don’t infer it. Stay with what you’re truly finding for YourSelf

But I know this is deep human conditioning for those for whom this Self-inquiry sounds too intellectual. And it is how it is. So, are we to then say ‘There is no hope’? No. Then we say: What can you relate with?

Do you have some trust in a Divine force? Do you have some devotion towards God or Satguru or any expression (form) of a Master? Do you feel like, in your heart, some devotion comes naturally to you?

For those, there is another way; and this is the way of surrender. This is the way of surrender which means that all of this is the problem of this Divine Force. And this faith in the Divine Power could have come just naturally or it could have come with some exploration …, when we look back at our life where we say ‘It just happened. I decided to do something else but life took me this way, life did this to me, life brought me to Satsang.’ So, we see that there a Greater Unitive Divine Presence, the One that is growing the trees, the One that is making the earth spin, the One that is making the light and sound function. And we say: If it is doing all this, why can’t it run this life?

This is the path of surrender.

Whatever little will we presume we have, we see that it does not compare with this beautiful, enormous, magnificent functioning. So, then we come to this point of saying: Why do you have to carry this heavy burden of trying to run this life, when Life is running itself? When the Divine Presence, God, is running this life, why do I have to carry it?

[Silence]

So, those who are inclined to surrender can also look at this; when the mind is offering up these problems. Like when you said ‘I’ve been thinking about ‘my parents’ [then just saying/feeling]: ‘Guru Kripa Kevalam’ [Everything is the Master’s grace, is in the Master’s hands, in God’s hands]: ‘God is looking after my parents, God made them my parents.’

You can get a bit mechanical about it like [Nisargadatta] Maharaj would do sometimes. ‘A sperm travelled; one-in-a-million shot it had, and then it reached the egg, then the body was formed.’

‘Who did all of this? Who made these my parents?’ Then ‘That Divine Force which did all of this is taking care of my parents. I felt I had a thought of having given them up but who is here that is the doer? It is the Divine force which will keep them or give them up. All positions are decided by the Divine Itself because it is the One that is doing everything anyway. So, who is here that can do anything, including giving them up?’

When we explore our thoughts in this way, with a sense of surrender, with the Divine in our heart, there is no trouble. You don’t have to decide to give them up or to stay with them or any of these positions. Life is doing it. Life has done all of this so. It is doing it; whatever It is doing.

So, a sense of devotion, a sense of trust in This, with a sense of surrender, comes to this very simple but beautiful statement that Guruji makes. He says ‘Leave your existence to Existence.’

[Silence]

Leave your existence to Existence then also you will find that these thoughts do not create the kind of trouble like they would if it is met with a sense of individuality and personal doership.

Now, these are the two main paths. [Inquiry and Surrender]

Then You Can Look Deeper

[Reading from chat]: “Feedback: I keep looking (am not sure if something is blocking something) …”

Yes, because I was saying ‘Are you willing to look, or are you just willing to presume that there is a ‘me’? And I said ‘Give me some feedback about what your experience is.’ That’s the context in which I’m reading this now.

[Reading from chat]: “I keep looking (am not sure if something is blocking something) but I can’t find something that’s stuck as ‘feeling right about it’.”

Yes. Because I’d said ‘What are you going to say that ‘I am right about’ in spite of not finding a ‘me’?’ So, she says ‘I keep looking and I don’t find anything that is stuck in the sense of ‘I’m feeling right about this and unwilling to give it up.’

[Reading from chat]: “What to do if we can’t find something?”

If you can’t find something that is feeling blocked, then it is already good news!

[Reading from chat]: “Just surrendering everything will work?”

Yes. Because then we can look deeper. First is to look for ‘What presumption am I still feeling right about?’ And if you find that ‘There is no presumption that I’m feeling right about’ then we can look deeper into this and say: ‘The ‘I’ that is aware of this’…, or we can start even with the sense of perceiving and look at:

The ‘I’ that is perceiving block or no-block: which ‘I’ is that?’

Can this be perceived?

The ‘I’ that perceives either blocking or no-blocking, can this ‘I’ be perceived?

And if it cannot be perceived, then on what basis do we know this perceiver?

If it is not a qualitative, phenomenal experience, then what is it?

So, then this exploration deepens away from the conceptual blocks into a deeper inquiry; just checking:

What is truly here?

And as you find that there is perception of the world, who is the witness of it?

Who is the perceiver of it?

And what witnesses even this perceiver?

And what kind of witnessing is that?

So, then it becomes a very beautiful exploration (if our feeling is to explore like that).

Otherwise, what you said: ‘You surrender everything’ and it is fine. Yes. Because as we don’t find presumptions there about who we are…, to the mind, it seems like there is an ‘I don’t know.’ Even that ‘I don’t know’ is a very beautiful surrendered state. (Unless we get attached to [with frustrated voice]: ‘Oh, I just don’t know!’) Then the ‘I don’t know’ applies even to the ‘I don’t know.’ [Chuckles] When the ‘I don’t know’ applies even to the ‘I don’t know’ then it does not become a sticky position of ‘I don’t know’ itself…, like if we don’t even know if we know or don’t know. So, that is a beautiful surrender.

And this actually, I’d like to say, that everything is actually fully apparent to you but it is not yet translate-able in terms of concepts. So, we don’t know yet conceptually what is apparent but the Truth is completely apparent.

Build Your House Where Nothing Can Be Seen

[Reading from chat]: “I also like what you said yesterday about the home in the middle of nowhere.”

Because when Sri Prahlad Tipanya came to our house and had the program where he sang a lot of the Kabir words, then I liked one thing (and I’m not even sure if I got the translation right but I loved it anyway) which is that Kabir said ‘Build a house where nothing can be seen.’ Then what kind of a house would that be? Or [maybe it was] ‘Build your pillars where nothing can be seen.’ It’s a beautiful thing. And it astounds me sometimes as to how these Sages will use such very regular terminology to convey something which is so beyond phenomena. It’s almost like a Zen koan.

If I say ‘Jyotima, build a house where nothing can be seen.’ [Smiles] It’s a beautiful exploration. How will you go about it? Where will you go, where nothing will be seen? Nothing can be seen. And if you go to a very dark place then I would say that the darkness can be seen then. Even in a very dark place, you see darkness. It’s not like you see nothing. [But Kabir says]: ‘Where nothing can be seen.’ Where can you go, where nothing can be seen?

So, in the same way, the Master is leading you from this idea of just a very limiting phenomenal existence to something which is beyond phenomena; which is not a ‘thing’ (we have to use words) something which is beyond phenomena. Now, in the phenomenal experience, everything is a ‘thing.’ Everything has size, shape, color, duration; it was born, it dies. Even for this entire world of time and space, we have theories about it; will we find the end? …, and what will happen at the end of the Universe? So, this entire world of time and space has duration. It might seem like billions of years but it’s still in the realm of duration. So, everything is a ‘thing’ here.

So, a Sage could say ‘Build your pillars where nothing is seen’ and you might even feel ‘Ah, beautiful; very nice.’ But if you really jump into that, if you take the Sage as your Master and you say ‘My Master said that I’m to build my pillars only where nothing can be seen’ this itself, this one instruction, is enough for you.

So, I don’t build any attachments, any pillars, in that which comes and goes, in that which is just phenomenal. I’m looking beyond that which I am attached to; where I cannot see anything, not even darkness or light. It’s a beautiful, beautiful exploration.

I was saying yesterday that if you invite a Sage to an inauguration for your house (your house- warming) and he says ‘Oh, this is your place? Come, I’ll show you better’ and he takes you literally to the middle of nowhere, where you cannot even find up or down, and says ‘Live here’ …, what will your initial reaction be? It will most often not be very good because of our sense of investment. We’ve invested so much in this identity, we’ve invested so much in being a person.

Like, all of you (or most of you) will have this idea that you’re very truthful. If I call you in and say ‘You have not spoken a single word of truth in your life! You’re the biggest liar I’ve ever met!’ …, it will seem strong. Isn’t it? It will seem strong, like ‘He has not really understood me. I thought you were my Master but it turns out you are another fake.’ This kind of attack/response

will come because we’re so invested in this identity of speaking the truth. (‘I’m a truthful person. But sometimes I lie. It is for the good. But I cannot take it that you call me a liar about everything I’ve ever said!’ Isn’t it?

So, in some way, this is what is happening in Satsang. I’m calling out every lie that you believe. But I’m trying [Chuckles] to do it in such a way that you do not feel like it is a full-on attack, because then you will not see it. You will run. This is what’s happening in Satsang. I’m confronting this house of cards that you have built. But you’ve invested a lot in this house of cards. Just imagine you built it with great care. Some of us, as kids, have built it. When we have siblings, what have we told our siblings when we are building this house of cards? ‘Don’t come close, okay?’ Then the sibling comes at a distance and then he’s trying to scare us. I don’t know how many of you played with cards like this, but here we would build it for some days.

You’ve spent now years, maybe lifetimes, maybe a hundred-million years. You’ve built this house of identity lifetime after lifetime trying to make yourself into God; or this house into something that you can actually live in. And now comes this one who is saying ‘But this is not right. Looks a bit like it’s slanted. It doesn’t feel like this is true, what you’ve built.’ And the initial reaction can be ‘Leave me alone!’ or ‘Tell me a better house that I can build.’ You see? ‘If you see that these cards are wrong, at least give me new ones.’ And this is the way we’ve renovated this house, lifetime after lifetime. ‘Okay, now I’m going to do a better concept. I started with one teacher, then I went to another teacher who gave me a better concept, then I went to another teacher who gave me a better concept and it feels like I’m making my way home. The cards are looking better. I’m starting to get a handle on it.’ But then you come to some place where they say ‘No, none of this is true. None of this is really true.’

And I don’t have a truth that I can tell you, to replace this with. Now, this is the struggle. Because if I tell you ‘You are Awareness’ you will take that as a concept to replace [other concepts] and use it. If I tell you ‘You are God’ you will take that as a concept and use it. But then it becomes a part of your house of cards. You feel like you’ve replaced the whole deck with a better one, with a super gold shiny deck which is Awareness cards…, you see? …, which is Advaita cards. ‘I used to have personal cards, now I have Advaita cards.’ [Chuckles] So, I don’t want to give you that.

Then what are you left with? You are left with your direct insight. You are left with your direct experience. You cannot rely on any concept; even the concepts that you hear in Satsang. It cannot be second-hand information. Only rely on that which you find for yourself.

Do you find a ‘me’?

If you do not find a ‘me’ …, don’t be scared of ‘I don’t know.’

Seeing Without Labels

[Reading from chat]: “Father, when nothing is labeled, then attention withdraws and what I am becomes apparent. “

A:It doesn’t always have to function like that also. Attention can be very much a part of the functioning of this phenomenal experience and yet an unlabeled life can happen. Like in the life of a Sage, hardly any labels are getting created and yet it is not that attention is always withdrawn and no perceptions have happened. This perception needs attention. There is no perception without attention. So, normal perception (in fact, much more vibrant perception) can happen in the life of a Sage. So, attention can be very intimately with objects and yet the unlabeled existence can continue.

In a sense, this is what I meant when I said that only after I met my Master did I see a flower for the first time because I was seeing it without the label ‘flower’. I only tasted this phenomenal experience for its full vibrancy only after the labeling went away. Otherwise our attention is dissipated and everything seems blurry. And we can use this to check on our experience right now.

When I say that the maha-mantra of the mind is ‘What’s in it for me?’ …, although this is the maha-mantra, many times this is misunderstood. [Smiles] It can feel like that means that ‘My mind will just keep saying What’s in it for me?’ It doesn’t use that exact terminology. But if you notice the content of your thoughts, they’re always about ‘What am I getting in this? Me, me, me!’ So, as that is happening, are you tasting even this phenomenal experience in its full color? That’s why sometimes I say ‘Look at something in front of you in the room and also try to bring your attention to a thought or bring your attention to an image of a tree. So, imagine a tree and keep looking at an object at the same time, with full color. You cannot do it. One of those images will become blurry. This is why attention (although is very similar to Awareness in a way, in terms of its attribute-less-ness) is different from Awareness Itself.

So, although it is true that what I am becomes apparent, for ‘what I am’ to become apparent does not require the withdrawal of attention. Even in your tasting of the phenomenal experience in it’s full vibrancy, what You Are is completely apparent to You.

[Continues reading from chat]: “I can’t tell if division ceases or not.”

Yes. I can. [Chuckles] It does. Because there is no actual division that has ever happened. The sense of divisions is caused only by the labels …, even with our Satsang labels of ‘Consciousness and Awareness.’ And ultimately, you must throw even these away. [Smiles]

So, let’s look at a very primary division that we’ve made, even in Satsang. We say that there is a body and there is a world; but it is not true. One set of sensations we’ve clumped together in one label called ‘body’. Another set of sensations we’ve clumped together and called it ‘world’. There is no actual need in Existence to make these clumps. There is no need to term a set of sensations and call it ‘body’ and term a second set of sensations and call it ‘world’ or ‘realm’ or ‘universe’ or something like that. Then we seem to have taken another set of sensations and said ‘Oh! This is

thoughts, this is memory, this is imagination. Let’s clump them together and let’s call it ‘mind’.’ There is no need to do that in Existence Itself. Only for conceptual understanding, we need to do these groupings. Another set of sensations is ‘Something is like this, something is like that.’

I feel that nothing is ever repeated. But it can feel like we start labeling. ‘Okay, this is sadness, this is happiness, this is joy, this is bliss, this is anxiety, this is grief; all of these sensations, let’s put it in a convenient basket and let’s call it emotions.’ [Smiles] There is no reason to do that; there is no need.

What has happened is that to make a photocopy for the mind, for that which the mind can fathom out of this Existence, then we use all of these labels to define that which is indefinable. Because the mind can only fathom limitations, boundaries. So, we’ve created these labels which act as apparent boundaries.

No actual separation or division has really happened. It is not that there was one in the sleep state and now there are two in the waking state. Ultimately, we’ve got to even say that. [Smiles]

So, no division has actually happened.

We Don’t Know Anything for a Fact

[Reading from chat]: “Father, here on simply Seeing, something feels pain, unsettled, just on noticing the body and that the gender does not match the strong emotional feelings. Both the masculine and feminine are felt separately. This is in my view…”

A:[Closes eyes] You see, if there is some space for this exploration…, in fact, yesterday it came like this where I said ‘You can use the term ‘man’ but even to use the term ‘man’ we have to pick up the entire lexicon, the entire set of language. Because ‘man’ implies so many different terms.’ When we start looking in one direction, a man has more facial hair, facial hair means face, hair means calcium (or whatever, something), face implies the appearance of these sensations [Points to face] and has a particular shape and size. Explore whether it is possible to have an existence without even these very primary labels of masculine and feminine. Why do we have to separate this Being, which is genderless, and make labels and notions about it and say

‘Okay, this is this way and this is that way’? I know it is prevalent. I know it is prevalent in humanity but just because something is popular doesn’t make it true. Like it was very popular to believe [Chuckles] (funnily, it is becoming popular again) to believe that the earth is flat. [Chuckles] It was very popular to believe that the earth is flat, then for a while it lost its popularity and now, somehow, it is regaining its popularity. [Chuckles]

So, these notions, although they are popular, it doesn’t mean that they are true. I don’t feel like I can look at any appearance of any human and say ‘This is male or female.’ Everything has aspects which are so beyond definition; and change actually, from time to time. So, to Exist in this moment, do we really need a definition that implies that ‘I am this’ or this implies that ‘I am this’.

You Are. Actually; in fact. It is a beautiful exploration because what is this Source of both this and that? It is Your very Existence. You came to Be. You came. You-I has to play as ‘I Am’ or ‘Being’ for there to be even these qualities emerging.

What gender are you in your deep sleep?

So, this is our Unchanging Reality; That which remains in deep sleep when all gender, all differentiations, all of this [is absent]. Now, I am not saying (as with everything) I am not saying that we must take some opposite position. [Smiles] I am just saying that in our openness, in our acceptance, then we find that in some moments we feel masculine and in some moments we feel feminine. But it is possible for that feeling and those expressions to play out without necessarily becoming defined. They don’t have to define a ‘you’. They can just become the play which is happening in the substratum of You.

[Reading from chat]: “This is my view. Until I don’t pick up a thought about the feelings and emotions; it’s all okay.”

Exactly.

[Reading from chat]: “But something repeatedly feels in disharmony.”

Now, just explore even this term ‘disharmony.’ Let’s suppose [Makes a gesture of holding one hand still and waving the other hand in front of it] disharmony is like this. When we just view it from our neutrality, can you say whether this is disharmony or harmony? So, truly, when I am saying ‘When we are coming to our notionless Existence’, when you see it from …, like when I say ‘The Truth becomes apparent’ then you will find that I cannot use the term disharmony or harmony for anything. In a way, I can say that when you are aware of disharmony, it becomes harmony. [Smiles] In a way, I can say that: When you’re aware of it, then what disharmony can still remain?

And a feeling comes that ‘Maybe it’s the time to harmonize the body.’ These are ‘really something’ …, these are ‘either this or that’. If something has to change at phenomenal level, even this can happen. There is no resistance to that. But this idea that ‘I know what needs to be done to resolve this’ can be the doorway into suffering.

So, allow this Existence to play out how it is playing out; without any need to draw a conclusion that ‘Okay, this that I do; this will resolve this.’ You don’t know that this is a fact. It’s like we don’t know anything for a fact. Everything is taken care of in itself. The universe, life itself, knows how to deal with everything it is creating for itself to taste. We don’t have to force it, we don’t have to feel like ‘The recipe of my life is wrong.’ [Smiles] The universe is the perfect chef. It is not messing up anybody’s recipe. It has not made any mistakes.

[Reading from chat]: “I stay in the Seeing of this but it keeps popping up.”

Yes, it will be popping up. These conditions are designed to keep popping up.

[Reading from chat]: “And at times it is picked up naturally.”

Yes, it can be Seen that, many times, conditions will keep getting picked up.

[Reading from chat]: “I try not to battle it…”

Very good because that itself becomes another position.

[Reading from chat]: “…and simply intend to stay in the natural viewing and allowing whatever is playing out to play out. However, this can cause a lot of confusion.”

If we take the resistive element out of it, then we find that the confusion aspect of it seems to reduce radically. And what is the resistive aspect in this? The feeling that ‘I can fathom this’ or the feeling that ‘I can understand and make a framework out of this.’

So, if you are willing to remain in the unknown then we no longer can call something confusion. If you are willing to remain in the unknown then what can confuse you? Confusion is just the battle to know; and when something cannot be put inside a box then it can feel like ‘I’m still confused.’ But if you feel at home in the unknown then what can confuse you?

So, this unknown can sound like the biggest curse at some point but you will discover that it’s the greatest blessing. ‘I need to know, I need to know’ …, but nobody can know the Truth. Not in that way. That which has opposites can never lead to true clarity. If there is an opposite of confusion (which means that this clarity that we are finding is the opposite of this confusion) then that is not the clarity I am talking about. I am talking about that clarity which is clear about the appearance of either but it is not participative in that; that Truth which does not have the opposites which is lies; which is aware of the play of duality but remains unconcerned (in a way) about that.

This true Knowingness, which is beyond knowing and confusion, is what we are discovering, as you allow your mind to remain in the unknown.

It’s Not Uncommon for Things to Come up in Satsang

[Reading from chat]: “It seems like life is orchestrating things so that I have to confront unresolved stories that still carry a strong emotional charge.”

It is not uncommon for these things to happen in Satsang. It can seem like you’re coming to some insights about Your True Self and yet, it also feels like a lot of things which we thought were past now seem to come up again. It’s a common experience for those in Satsang.

As these things are coming (it could be in terms of life events, it could be in terms of emotions) many of them will try to convince you that you have to deal with them in some personal sort of way; that you must put on the garb of personality so that you can finally deal with these things and get them out of the way.

But let’s see if it is possible to deal with all of this as Presence Itself.

Things come to you; they knock on your door and they are expecting to meet a person there.

But what happens to those things when they meet God?

[Silence]

You Are Already Free from Past and Personhood

[Reading from chat]: “Dear Father, please with your Grace, help me to be free. There is strong attachment to past and personhood. Help me, Father, to burn that which is untrue.”

A:[Closes eyes] Enjoy this moment, which is free from the past. It will take a moment even for the past to come. [Smiles] And you can tell me if what I am saying is not clear. In this moment, even for a memory to come or some attachment to happen, it still needs a moment. So, enjoy this moment before that comes; and enjoy this moment before that comes; and enjoy this moment before that comes; [Smiles] enjoy this moment before that comes; enjoy this moment before that comes; and this moment. So, if I give you no time to conceptualize, I give you no time to label anything as past or person…, [then?]

When to be and how to be free from past and personhood? How is it that in this moment you are free of it? Before the ‘But…’ comes and is believed, you are free from it. Before the doubt comes, you are free from it.

This is the trick. You might feel like ‘There is a process that I have to go through.’ But that process might seem like it’s from the outside perspective looking at the play of this body/mind. The burning will seem visible [Tangible] outwards looking into This. But from within [Points to inside] you are free Right Now.

In what ways is your Existence bound in this very moment, before the seller of doubts appears? [Smiles]

All your attachments are gone, you are fresh. But the mind will say ‘Really? That’s not my experience.’ [Chuckles] ‘That’s not my experience’ It’s just saying that. But actually, you have never experienced anything but your freedom. But when we look at it through the lens of what the mind is saying, through the lens of our belief system, it can seem like what it is saying is true.

The one that need to be helped…, bring that one to me.

What will you bring?

Will you bring this body?

It has no notion of bondage or freedom.

What will you bring? This is a worthy exploration.

‘Help me to be free.’ Whom should I help?

[Looks around] This is for all of you actually. Who can be helped?

Not a medical doctor; they can’t do anything for the body. If they can’t do anything for the body, then who is the one that is left?

[Someone says]: Mind.

A: Is there such a thing? Is there such an entity that can be helped?

Is there a mind which is an existent Being that can be brought here and can be helped?

[Smiles] We have no experience of them.

What is a mind?

When there is an existence of a thought, we say ‘There is mind.’

When there is no thought in the present experience, you say ‘There is no mind.’

This is not really an entity. It is just an energy construct, which is coming and going.

But this is worth exploring: ‘Help me become free’ (for the ‘me’ that wants freedom…)

Who Are These Thoughts Claiming to Represent?

[Reading from chat]: “I have strong attachments with the past and the personhood.”

So now, we are more clear. So, who is this one that has strong attachments? Then we might find that is it God that is playing this way That is a bit of a switch; that is God that is playing this way.

What is strong for God? Which attachment is too strong for God?

Either there must be two: There must be God and there must be ‘me.’ Or there is just ‘me’ and God is just a fiction. Or there is just God and ‘me’ is just a fiction. What other alternative? [Smiles] That there is ‘God and me’ or there is ‘God, and ‘me’ is just fiction. Or there is ‘me’ and God is fiction.

Now let us look at the first one. If there is ‘God and me’ then God is not everywhere. Then God is everywhere but ‘me’ …, the separation actually happened. Is this your experience? This is what we presume, but it is never our experience.

Second is that there is just God or there is just One Being. (Sometimes we can have conditions about the term ‘God.’ So, we don’t have to use ‘God’ as a word.) There is One Being and I find no two. So, this One Being leaves no space for a ‘me.’

And the third option could be what we started with, which is: ‘This ‘me’ is here this ‘me’ should be helped to become free.’ So, do we have an experience of this ‘me’ in this present moment? If we did, we should be able to produce it, for ourself at least. Where is this ‘me’? Found it? [Looks around the room at Sangha] No. Anyone found the ‘me’? Found?

[Someone says]: The ‘me’ thought.

The ‘me’ thought. So, if a thought about an elephant came, an elephant would be there? [Sanagha smiles] If the thought came ‘There is a pink elephant.’ Or ‘I am a pink elephant.’ is there a pink elephant just because of this thought about it? I am making light of it but actually what I am saying something important because just by the appearance of the thought which seems to represent a ‘me’ …, is that enough validation for us?

So, if you go to (let us say) the family of the King of Mysore and say ‘I deserve the fifty percent of the inheritance.’ And they say ‘But who are you deserve fifty percent of the inheritance?’ and you say ‘I had a thought that I am the son of the King (or the daughter of the King)’ …, would they accept that as evidence? They would say ‘Go away!’ Then how come we take just the evidence of this thought that ‘There is a me’ as the evidence enough for the actual existence of one? The thought can appear and say ‘Me, me. I want this, I don’t want this.’ All of these things they can say. But just the appearance of the thought, is this enough proof?

Then somebody comes and says ‘Show me your passport or your identification papers.’ You will say ‘But who are you?’ And they say that ‘I had a thought that I am a police man.’ Will you

agree to show? So, just the thought appearing and making a claim about a ‘me’ is not valid proof even in this world. So, how come it serves as valid proof for us?

Just the ‘me’ thought can come. ‘I this, I that; I whatever…’ But if we don’t accept evidence…

That is why Bhagavan [Sri Ramana Maharshi] said ‘What witnesses this thought? When a thought comes, when ‘me’ thought comes, when the ‘I’ thought comes, ask yourself: What witnesses this thought. Is this thought representing this witness?’ It’s not representing this witness. We can take a minute over this.

Who is this thought claiming to represent?

What is this thought claiming to represent?

So, when the thought comes, for example, that ‘I want this to be my last life’ …, many of us believe this thought ‘I want this to be my last life.’ So, obviously this thought is not representing this body because nobody is saying that ‘I am talking about this body; the last life of this body because this is the only first life of this body.’ [Chuckles]

So, who are these thoughts representing?

[Silence]

And don’t settle for an answer. Your mind will say ‘Nothing. We are representing nothing, or something.’ I don’t know what the mind is saying. [Chuckles]

Until you find this one, don’t settle for any thought about it. Settle for It. You know what I mean? Don’t settle for a thought about it. Settle for It Itself.

‘I want freedom.’ Don’t worry so much about what it is wanting. Settle for the ‘I.’ Who is the ‘I’? Don’t presume that.

So, who is the ‘I?’ Who wants freedom? Nobody? [Looks around] [Silence] Who doesn’t want freedom? [Smiles] We neither want or don’t want freedom? [Chuckles] [Silence] Shall we make it tougher? Who (so, stay in this room) will not get freedom? [Sangha laughs]

Impressive. I am very impressed. Nobody is moving. [Sangha laughs]

So, why do you come here? [Chuckles]

Who is in this room?

Can You Find the One Who Wants Freedom?

Who wants freedom?

[Silence]

Nobody?

[Silence]

[Reads from chat]: “Trick question.” [Chuckles] Yes.

Who doesn’t want freedom?

[Silence]

This is very good! I am very impressed with all of you. Because that means you heard that is not about what is on this side of the ‘want.’ Because what you put after ‘want’ can change. It can be freedom, it can be many things. Lots of phenomenal things can come over there. But what is important is on this side of the ‘I’ that wants or doesn’t want freedom. That is the important contemplation. Literally, to focus on the content of the ‘want’ is to literally put the cart before the horse. That is why it is important to clarify first. Before you build the cart, before you attach a cart, don’t you want to know who is going pull the cart? Is it going to a horse, donkey, buffalo, cow? (What else can pull a cart?) [Chuckles] It’s good to know. So, before you attach something to ‘I’ don’t you have to know what is this ‘I’ is? Whether you attach freedom, bondage or whether you attach worldly desire or no worldly desire, whether you want truth or lies, don’t you first have to confirm to what you are attaching it?

Are you happy to presume? How many are happy to presume who you are? [Smiles] Happy to presume who you are? Let us have a vote. Happy to presume? [Looking around at Sangha] Happy to presume who you are? No. And every time you presume who you are, you become unhappy anyway. Every time you presume who you are, suffering comes eventually anyway.

So, there is no (even rational) reason to presume. So, why do it? [Smiles] How do you do it? Because …, addiction? In this world when we see people harming themselves, you usually call it an addiction because there is no rational reason to it. There is no rational reason to have that 20th drink. There is no rational reason to have that fiftieth cigarette. There is no rational reason to inject yourself with substances which are harming your body. No rational reason.

And all of you already said that you don’t want to presume anymore. And every time you presume that we are the separate entity, suffering comes anyway.

Can the Witness Be Witnessed?

Q:Father, when we ask who witnesses, then that witness has no desire.

A:Who witnesses that witness having no desire? [Silence]

You say ‘When we ask ‘Who is witnessing?’ we see that there is a witness who has no desire.’ So, we who see, or the ‘I’ who sees that ‘By the way, that witness has no desire’ …, who witnesses that?

That is the claimant to the ‘I’ in this case because actually, what you’re saying is ‘I See that this witness has no desire.’

[Silence]

This ‘I’ that Sees that this witness has no desire, which ‘I’ is that?

[Silence]

Q: Please say that again slowly.

A: So, we asked the question in Satsang: Who witnesses that?

Or we can use it for anything phenomenal: Who witnesses the thought? Who witnesses the body? Who witnesses the emotion? Who witnesses any perception? [Phone rings] Who witnesses the ring of the phone? Yes?

Now you say ‘When I look, I find that this witness has no desire.’

But then we can ask: If you found that there is witness that has no desire, you must have witnessed this witness.

You say ‘I found that the witness has no desire.’ Then you must have seen it because you’re not making it up. You’re not making up the idea that the witness has no desire; it’s your experience.

So, who experienced it? Who was witness to this witness?

Q: It’s blank but somehow, I am there.

A:How many agree with this? When we say ‘What witnesses this witness?’ then the report is coming that ‘It is blank but somehow, I’m there.’

So, what does blank mean? Can you elaborate on this blank? What does this ‘blank’ means? Is blank an absence of light?

Q: It has no quality like the ‘wanting-I’.

A:Okay, let’s go even slower. Does it have the quality of blankness? Like blank means absence, you know, like when they say ‘Fill in the blanks.’ So, fill in the blank means ‘Ram ______ to the market’. The absence of a word to complete the meaning of a sentence is what we usually call blank.

So, this that witnesses this and can say that ‘The witness has no desire’ (that which is the witness to this) is it the absence of something? Does it have that quality? [Silence]

Does it feel like something could be there but it isn’t; or should be there but it isn’t?

And these words will only make sense if you’re looking along. If you’re just trying to understand it, it’s all rubbish.

[Someone in the room says something inaudible]

She says ‘Sometimes it feels like it’s so empty of all qualities that the closest word that the mind can pick up is that it’s blank.’

But it’s not even blank.

[Silence]

Q: It is Presence, not absence.

A:When you say ‘It is Presence, not absence’ …, what witnesses Presence? Even these two are opposites: Presence and absence.

So, That which witnesses either Presence or absence, is That present or absent?

This Awareness Is Undoubtable

A:The good news is that, in Reality, you cannot fall short. Are you aware now?

Q:Yes.

A:You didn’t fall short. I have been asking this question for years but I wonder how many of you actually can feel what I am really asking. It’s an amazing thing. You answer ‘Yes’ in spite of not having a visual or a sensual feeling of this ‘aware.’

You are Aware. Whatever else might be: Are you aware now?

Q: No.

A:No? [Laughs] Are you aware that you are not aware?

Q:Yes.

A:Yes. So, this ‘aware’ is inescapable in this case. It’s Undoubtable [Chuckles] because even to say ‘I am not aware’ what we are actually saying is ‘I am aware that I am not aware.’ [Chuckles]

So, when you said this, what did you see?

Q: Just my experience that I Am …,

A:What do you mean by experience? Like when you say ‘I had the experience of pina colada’ then you had taste of it. Then you say ‘I experienced pina colada.’ Now when you say ‘I experienced ‘aware’ what did you experience?

Q: No quality as such.

A:No quality as such, but …? [Chuckles]

Q:But I know that I …

A:How do you know?

Q:This Knowingness.

A:Suppose you didn’t know this term ‘Knowingness’ or ‘Awareness.’ I say ‘Are you aware now?’ On what basis do you say ‘Yes’?

You see? Isn’t it unique? It’s unique because everything else you have a phenomenal basis for saying ‘Yes’.

Is there a sofa in this room? You say ‘Yes.’ Why do you say ‘Yes?’ Because you see it is a phenomenal perception. Is the fan on or off? ‘Off.’ Why do you say that? Because you can see that it is not moving. Is it warm or cold? ‘It’s okay; a little warm, a little cold.’ Why? Because you had the experience. Is your mind active or quiet? You can answer from your experience. Are you happy? Or sad? Or in pain? Or pleasure? We have the experience of it, and on that basis of it, we say ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’ Are you happy? If you have a sense of happiness then you say ‘Happy.’ Sometimes you sense sadness is there and you say ‘No, I am not happy.’ It is on the basis of phenomenal experience that we answer all of these questions.

But when I ask you ‘Are you aware now?’ …, what is it?

What are you coming to face to face with? …, (in a sense)?

This ‘I’ remains unquestioned; in the sense that it is the most obvious that you cannot lose this I; you cannot lose Your Self. That is the most obvious. And yet the funny part about this spiritual seeking is what? [Chuckles] We are looking for this Self, which you most obviously cannot lose. When Guruji says ‘Everything else you can throw away but you cannot throw away your Self’ (I am paraphrasing) what is he talking about then? Is there any phenomenon that does not come and go? [Silence] Is there any phenomenon which does not come and go? [Smiles]

So, if all phenomenon comes and goes, who must be there to say that all phenomenon comes and goes? You know what I mean? If I was to say ‘Is there always traffic on this road?’ And you were to say ‘No, Ananta there is not always traffic. Sometimes there is traffic and other times there is no traffic.’ …, this means you have to be there. You’ve seen that there is traffic and that there is no traffic. So, the one that says ‘All phenomena comes and goes’ must be present even when the phenomena are not there. This non-phenomenal-You is That which witnesses even the appearance of this witness as a phenomenal witness (and the dissolution of it).

This is the third bird. One bird is making the nest, doing all the wok. All the phenomenal activities are happening. The second bird is witnessing, is perceiving, all of this. And then there is third bird which is not on the branch. This third bird, we cannot even call it bird; this third bird is the witness of all states, is ever-present, is always there. Even now it is there.

What is That which witnesses all of this? It witnesses this ‘bird’ speaking, speaking, speaking, expressing …, then the ‘bird’ which is perceiving all of this movement. It is my Being itself, my Presence, my Existence which gives a substratum for this play of perceptions to happen. But what is Aware of this Existence, this Being that perceives? How is this witnessed or perceived? This Being, which is the perceiver of all objects?

What is Aware of this perceiver is beyond even your phenomenal existence.

It Itself Is the Substratum, the Primary

[Reading from chat]: “Can’t tell if it’s present or absent.”

Because this is so empty of qualities that even blank or full, Presence or absence, does not apply.

[Reading from next chat]: “It is That which is aware of blank or dark or empty or light or nothing; and everything.”

That. Now the mind will come and say ‘But this is infinite regress: What witnesses that which witnesses that which witnesses that?’ The mind will come and say it like that. But it is just not possible for it to be infinite regress. When we step one step backwards (only conceptually) and say ‘What witnesses, when the witness is empty of desire?’ …, we come Here. And already, You are empty of all qualities, so therefore, there’s nothing to be witnessed. Even the qualitative perception you cannot find Here.

Now, if you were mentally to come up with an inquiry and say ‘But what witnesses that which witnesses the witness?’ then know that you’re just getting fancy with Advaita words. Know that we’re just getting fancy with Advaita words trying to get to some ultimate truth.

But there is no regress possible because That which Itself we can say is the formless Truth, without any phenomenal experience of it, there is no step left to go back one step further. There is no possibility to go backwards from There. Because It Itself is the substratum, the primary.

And this is a very beautiful exploration …, if any of you feel to do this. If any of you actually feel to convince me that it is possible to have infinite regress or go one step back, I’m happy to hear your experience. Not your concepts but your experience of this. Otherwise, it just becomes a philosophical debate. What was that joke about a philosopher?

We’re all standing on the world.

On what is the world standing?

The world is standing on top of a turtle. Where is that turtle standing?

On top of another turtle.

What is that turtle standing on top of? Another turtle.

(So, it is this conceptual riddle.) Where does it all go?

The philosopher says ‘It’s turtles all the way down.’

So then, it becomes this conceptual concept of infinite regress.

But from your experience, from your direct insight, it will be beyond intellectual, beyond perceptual. It will be intuitive:

Can you take a step further back from That which is aware of Your Existence?

None of us can do this.

You’re aware of Your Existence. What is aware of this Awareness? [Silence]

You’re aware of Your Existence.

What is aware of this Awareness?

Can we take any one step back?

Possible?

[Smiles]

Tell me how it is.

Trust That Which Brought You to Satsang

[Reading from chat]: “Father, I’m having a very hard time to follow. Could you please speak in a simpler way? Maybe my mind is feeling very confused. I’m new to self-inquiry and the invitation. Thank you.”

Yes, my child. Yes, yes. [Smiles] And don’t worry some about sense of frustration, confusion. All of this comes up. It is very natural for it to come. For a while, it can feel like there’s too much; every word can seem like it’s too strange. ‘What is he saying? What is he saying?’ It can feel strange like that and it is felt like that for many, many, many of those who come to Satsang initially. Like you say, you are new to Satsang and self-inquiry, so it can seem like the vocabulary is difficult to fathom.

Why does it happen like this? It is because you will not understand what I am saying, you will actually not understand what I am saying, but you will See what you’re being pointed to. Nobody has ever understood actually. And if they feel like they’ve understood, it has only added to their intellectual baggage. Nobody has ever understood what I am saying but many have Seen what I am saying. So, a part of this is a big confusion. You’re trying to follow, trying to follow, and it seems like you just can’t follow …, because where I’m pointing to is the Core, is the Essence of even Your Existence. Your mind cannot go with us there. You mind will not go with us, cannot go with us, there.

I know it’s super irritating because I talk about this as well. When I was reading Nisargadatta Maharaj, he would keep saying ‘Be with your sense ‘I Am’. And I just couldn’t fathom what is this sense ‘I Am’. I remember getting completely frustrated; feeling completely frustrated and confused. But one day, through the Satguru’s grace, it became apparent to me what had been spoken.

Meet me wherever you like. Meet me where ever you like right now. And then slowly we can go to where I am pointing to. So, if it feels like ‘Father, when you say ‘Let go and remain in your notionless existence’ …, this I understand’ then that much is enough. Or you say ‘Ananta, when you say, ask yourself ‘Who am I?’ Or ‘What does the I represent?’ …if that resonates, that much is enough. Or you might say ‘When you say ‘Leave everything to the greater power, leave everything to Satguru or God (or whatever name you want to call it) then everything will be taken care of’ …, if you are resonating in meeting me there, that much is enough.

Even if you say that ‘None of this is actually making any sense but something brings me to Satsang’ …, that much is enough. Like somebody said earlier [Reading from chat]: “Father, when you say there is no reason for me to come to Satsang, yet I want to keep coming.” [Smiles] You see? Like this. It can feel like ‘What am I getting here? I’m not even understanding a single word he is saying and still I feel to come.’ It can be a bit like that. And sometimes, like that, has been very good also, for many.

An Invitation to See What It is Completely Possible

It’s a very unique part of the play, where words that have been designed to create some conceptual understanding, we try to use the very same words to demolish all understanding. And this is unique in even a spiritual way. Most spiritual movements are about giving you some spiritual understanding. But what is being shared in my Master’s [Sri Mooji’s] grace in Satsang like this is an invitation to see that it is completely possible to live without a belief system, without a conceptual model, without any sense of limited identity.

[Silence]

[Reading from chat]: “It seems that there is no need for words for bliss to be; no need for concepts.”

Yes. But before coming to Satsang, how much time do we spend without words? It can seem like it is just words in Satsang. [Smiles] But how much time did we spend without this allegiance to these mental words? So, just because of this addiction to the mind, we come to this rehab called Satsang so that we can come to a silence which we speak of.

Because many times, we had periods of silence. And I noticed that all tough outwardly many of us are silent, inwardly we still continue with a lot of concepts, playing with a lot of words; without even mental understanding.

Therefore, what types of words are best?

Those words which speak of all that we think we know, we can throw it out.

Only the Master’s Grace is: Guru Kripa Kevalam

Suppose that in your life everything was always taken care of. Everything was always taken care of. Then how would your inner attitude change if you knew this? Unwaveringly, whatever it is, it is always taken care of. Then how would your inner attitude change?

We say these three words: Guru Kripa Kevalam. ‘Guru Kripa is ‘Master’s Grace.’

We could have said ‘We rest in Master’s grace’ or ‘We trust in Master’s grace’ but the word ‘Kevalam’ is very important because ‘Kevalam’ means ‘Only Is.’ Only Is. And why would we say it if it is not our living experience? Of course, it doesn’t seem, for many of us, that it is a constant living experience …, yet. And yet, something already in our hearts knows that this is true; that only the Master’s grace Is: ‘Kevalam.’

Now, this tells us a lot actually, because if only the Master’s grace Is, then the Master must always be there. His grace is functioning, her grace is functioning; so, this Master must always be there.

So, which is that Presence which is always there? Which Presence is that which is always there? This is the Presence of Being, Consciousness, Satguru, God. (It doesn’t matter which term we use.) This Existence is always there: so, let’s say this is the Guru; Satguru within. (Whatever terminology we want to use.)

This one can be trusted completely. So, when Guruji [Sri Mooji] says ‘Leave your existence to Existence’ this Existence is always there.

And It needs no help to run any of this. As soon as ‘I Am’ then I see that the world ‘Is’. It appears without any individual effort, it runs without individual effort. I don’t need to pick up an ‘Ananta’ to switch on gravity. [Chuckles] ‘Ananta, please come up’ and then this world starts functioning. All of this is naturally functioning. In the light of whom? In whose light?

In the Upanishads (and also Bhagavan) [Sri Ramana Maharshi] they ask this very important question: ‘In whose light does the Sun exist? The Sun seems to give light to all of this appearance. In whose light is the Sun perceived?’

So, this Guru is the light of our Existence, therefore, everything is this Guru’s grace. Everything is the doing and the experiencing of This One. That is why it is Guru Kripa Kevalam: Only the Master’s grace Is.

Now, you might ask an important question, which is to say ‘You say that the Guru is within. So, why do we then come to an outer Guru? Why do we then need to come to that so-called living Master?’ It is because the game that Consciousness is playing or has played is that It has identified Itself with name and form for so long that it plays this game of fooling itself, of delusion, that it can no longer relate to that which is nameless and formless.

If I come to you and say to you ‘I know someone who can be your best friend.’ And you say ‘Oh, good. I’d like to meet this one.’ And then I say ‘You can’t see him or her. You can’t talk to him or her. You can find no actual quality about this one.’ Then you will say ‘But how can I be friends with this one? I can’t see them, I can’t hear them, I can’t have a conversation with them. What do you mean by friends?’

So, in the same way, all of us have grown up hearing these things; that the Guru is within. But it can sound too abstract so that we don’t know how to communicate with this One, how to relate with this One.

In India, all of us hear what? That God is formless, God is everywhere, God is All-There-Is. We hear this. But how many forms of God do we have? [Chuckles] Millions! In every state corner, you’ll see a different form. So, what does this actually mean?

It means that although God is formless, in the play of delusion where Consciousness seems to have deluded Itself with attachment or relating only with name and form, there needs to be a doorway; there needs to be something relate-able which can seem like ‘This is the door to my True Being, my True Satguru.’

Then what happens? In some cultures, it is prescribed by some Prophets or Sages that ‘This is a good representation; use this one.’ The Priest will prescribe. ‘Okay, this is a good representation. Let’s use this form.’ So, you can have Jesus on the cross or some verses from the Koran…, in India, it became very democratic, in a way. Whatever you like, you can make a form. You like to relate to a god that is naughty, playful and fun, yet all-knowing and beautifully knowledgeable? Okay, let’s make Krishna. If you feel that God should be always righteous and struggle with all these human conditions and try to go through this journey of human exploration in a very authentic, vulnerable way then we have representations of Ram. So, whatever form that you can actually imagine, there is a representation which can be made or is available already. And the beauty of any such form is that it takes you out of this ‘me, me, me’ to a trust in the more Divine.

These forms also can be the forms of the Masters that have come and gone or still exist in their body. And it’s beautiful (although some find it strange; why, in India, we put all of these photos of the Masters everywhere. What is this about?) it’s very good, because at some point in time, we must have figured out that the human nature has become so forgetful about the truth that ‘Everywhere I look, I want to be reminded.’ Here [in Satsang hall] on this wall is Guruji there, and on this wall Guruji is there, and on this wall (next to the window) Guruji is there. (You know what I mean; the photo of Guruji is there. Guruji is actually everywhere.)

So, these forms of those aspects of Consciousness who have awakened, who stepped out of the paradigm of the mind and awakened to a deeper, intuitive Reality, they serve as good reminders of what possibility exists Here [Points to heart area] in Consciousness.

And I’m aware that some of these terms might sound a bit dualistic but we’re talking about how Consciousness operates when It is deluded as if It is ‘something.’ To remind ourself that everything is taken care of, we make (and we can even say that, initially, we even need) an outer representation to show us this.

I’ve often said that the beauty of having a living Master is that they show you the possibility. That it is possible to exist in this world. That even with a body and family and work, all of this is completely possible without hanging onto the notion of ‘What’s in it for me?’ or the idea of ‘me- ness.’ This is a great blessing which is available to us.

That is why when someone asks ‘Do we need a Master in form?’ I usually say that there is nothing in Consciousness which says that ‘Things must always be this way’ but I have to say that, from experience, I have never met one who has awakened to their inner Truth without the Presence of a Master in form. Even Bhagavan, though he said that ‘I have no human Master’ (or disciples for that matter) he also said that the mountain Arunachala is his Master. So, that representation of Shiva then became his Master. But where is Shiva? Shiva is the very Source of all of this existence itself. And yet, even for the greatest Sages, initially they need a representation (they seem to need a representation) which can be given a form and has a name.

So, that is the value of having an outer or external-seeming Master. And we must always be grateful for Guruji’s Presence in our lives.

At least for here I can say, in the play of this life, in spite of so much learning, understanding, reading so many books and doing many, many, many practices…, until I had the darshan of the Satguru within through looking into the eyes of Guruji, I did not step completely out of this paradigm of belief, this paradigm of thought system.

[Silence]

(And when I say ‘completely’ I use the term a bit loosely. There is no ‘completely.’ [Chuckles] We can say ‘mostly.’)

What Help Does Your Existence Need?

Now, this Existence is Here. What help does it need?

Does it need a consultant, an adviser, to run this world? Somebody who comes and says ‘Hey, maybe you got this speed-of-light thing a bit wrong, you might want to change that constant a bit.’ Or ‘You know, the way the Earth is going around the Sun? It’s seems a bit tilted. Maybe you want to straighten that out a bit.’ [Chuckling] It doesn’t need this consultant, this adviser, because It is experiencing Its Own Perfection, in Its Wholeness as this One Appearance.

Although if you look at it out if context, which means if you look at it only piece-by-piece, then it can look like ‘But there is no perfection in this world.’ So, if you look at life piece-by-piece, only at specific times, then you will feel ‘Oh, this is not right, this could be better, this could change.’ But if you look at the entirety of even human existence, you will find such a beautiful symphonic play of perfection.

You are like that tree that Guruji [Sri Mooji] speaks about, which doesn’t need a thought to grow its next branch. It’s growing by Itself. The flowers are flowering, the branches are growing. Sometimes a cleanup needs to happen and everything seems to go, and yet fresh beauty arises.

Can you imagine if a tree started thinking and believing it’s thoughts? (I don’t know if trees think. [Chuckles] Let’s presume for a minute that they do.) When the leaves are falling, the tree starts crying ‘Why are my leaves falling? What’s happening to me? I’m losing all my possessions!’ Its most intimate branch, if it falls away, the tree cries and says that ‘My best relationship is going. I was so attached to this one.’ What advice would you give to this tree?

Give that same advice to yourself. Say ‘Don’t worry. We might not realize it yet that everything is taken care of. Everything is functioning beautifully.’

Now, another way of suffering is to have a projection of how things should be. If a rose bush, a rose plant, has an idea that it should become a banyan tree, then what is going to happen? Every moment, all that it is thinking about is becoming a banyan tree. What advise will you give this rose plant? You will say ‘Look at your own beauty. Look at the flowers that are flowering. The banyan tree does not have these.’

What Is just Is. Once we apply our own projection on ‘What Is’ then we feel that ‘Life should be this way. I wanted to grow some banyan roots and only these thorns are coming.’ Then suffering can come.

But if you don’t have any idea, then sometimes…., if you don’t have any idea … (Now don’t take

what I’m going to say very seriously because you will make an idea about it, but…) [Laughs] if you don’t have an idea about either rose or banyan, then in your outer representation, although it may seem like you started out as a rose bush, you might become a banyan tree. This is the Divine possibility.

So, if your kitchen is full of food (if your fridge is full, your platform is full, everything is full of food) will you be running from place to place, from grocery shop to grocery shop, looking for bread?

The seeking must imply the idea that ‘Something is lacking’ is believed in. That’s why the Sage Kabir said ‘All of us are looking for the ruby but we are not checking in our own pocket.’ We go looking for God everywhere, for an unchanging Truth everywhere, for stability everywhere …, but we look everywhere but ourself.

So, that’s why you need an outer Guru because when you’re running from grocery shop to grocery shop for bread, he will say ‘Have you checked your kitchen? It is fully stocked up. It’s fully stocked.’ But every other shop is telling you ‘Buy this, buy that; this bread is multigrain, this bread is gluten free, this bread is whole wheat.’ You see? There’s one place you come to where he says ‘But have you checked at home?’

This, in one way, is also the value of the Living Master. Because everybody else is saying ‘Buy my bread, buy my bread’ but the Master is saying ‘I have no bread for you. But have you checked your kitchen?’ Then, when you come to your kitchen, you realize you have a magic fridge. [Smiles] It never runs out.

You Being never runs out of Beingness.

Your Self never runs out of Self-ness.

You can never lose It.

So, if you can never lose It, what are you looking to find?

Don’t Meet an Idea of Yourself, Meet Your Self

In whose light do these sensations that we call the body appear?

In whose light are your emotions seen? Are your thoughts seen?

Who has to be here before any perception can happen?

[Meditative Silence]

Where You Are, God Is.

God is not the result of some becoming.

God is Your very Being.

If you say ‘I am going to find God’ [Smiles] ‘going to find God’ is to play as if you are missing God. But the ‘I Am’ already IS God. Before you can say ‘going to find God’ …, who is Here? Before you can say ‘I am not happy’ or ‘I am not free’ or ‘I am free’ …, before you apply the attributes, can we check who you are applying it to?

Who is here that has this body?

Or perceives the world?

Whose existence is this?

That which you call ‘your existence’ is whose?

This is fundamental.

That which you call ‘your existence’ is whose? ‘My existence’ is whose?

If I tell you that ‘your existence is Guruji’s’ [Sri Mooji’s] would that be too much for you?

Now, lose him. [Looks around. Smiles] Lose him; the Satguru within. Lose It.

[Can you lose it?] [Silence]

For this Presence that you call ‘Your Presence, Your Existence’ …, the mind has only one trick now, which is to say that ‘This is an individual’s presence’ …, to say that ‘It is a person’s presence’. There is no such thing actually [Smiles] but it will say that ‘This Presence is personal, individual’.

So, when Bhagavan [Sri Ramana Maharshi] said that ‘I Am’ is playing as ‘I am something’ …, this is the trick. This is the mind’s trick. ‘I Am’ then plays with the mind and picks up the label about itself and plays as if it is limited, as ‘I am something.’ It objectifies itself in a way and then starts relating names and forms to this object. But if you can see this here itself, then you don’t have to do anything with any of that. You don’t have to get rid of any tendencies, any conditions;

you don’t have to work on any of that stuff, because the root of it is here. If you can see that without buying into the idea that this Being is personal, you don’t have to work on any other story. Then this seems like a beautiful, direct way.

What convinces you that your Being is personal?

Because when I ask you ‘Can you stop Being?’ none of you say ‘Yes, I stopped.’ You say ‘No, I can’t stop Being. I Am.’ So, this Being is Here.

Now the only exploration left is: Is this a person’s Being?

Or is this the Existence of Presence, the Existence of Consciousness itself; without limitations?

Maybe I will share one trick with you which can, in a way, change your life (and the rest I can leave to your own exploration). The mind will convince you that the sensations that you are experiencing (and it will call it the body) limit this Being, and that that is why this Being is personal. The mind will try to convince you. (And I will try to speak slowly because it is important and often forgotten.)

Now, many of you feel that this Being that you are finding is something contained within the body. But this is just a paradigm that we have gotten used to because of habit. It is not true. And it is worth looking at right now.

Those sensations which you feel contain this Being, can you find out where they are contained?

Those sensations which you call the body, which you feel ‘They contain my Being, therefore Being is limited’ …, can you find out where those sensations are contained?

What is that space in which those sensations are experienced?

Is that space different from the space where all perceptions are experienced? The sounds from the computer in front of you, this voice, sound of the traffic, all perceptions; are they within the same space? Or are there multiple spaces in which all these are contained, are perceived?

So, this space in which perception is happening…, is it independent of Your Being, of Your Existence?

Then you will start seeing that Your Being is more like space rather than like a container (or something contained in a container). It is more like vast space which is not just three- dimensional; which has no dimensions, which is everywhere and everything is within It.

And the sensations which you thought, so far, contain your Being are just another set of perceptions within this space…., this space-like Existence (because it is subtler than even this

space).

[Meditative Silence]

As you explore Your Existence, you will find that all these words, beautiful scriptures, just seem like very direct words. They might have seemed very abstract before this. I remember hearing, many years ago, the words of the Ashtavakra Gita and they just sounded like beautiful poetry. ‘You are the boundless ocean. You are the limitless ocean in which the arcs of the universe come and go.’ It just sounds like too much; sounds like poetry or something.

But as you explore Your very Presence, Your Being, You will find that the Sage is speaking about You; undeniably You …, (just not the ‘you’ that you thought you were).

[Meditative Silence]

But if you skip this step and quickly presume a ‘me’ then the spiritual journey will seem to be long. Because the ‘me’ will have many ideas. What does it mean? The notion that ‘I am something’ is a big collection of ideas. Like we’ve have been talking about the idea that ‘I am a man’ or ‘I am a husband’ or ‘I am a Father.’ This has so many, many ideas within it; the entire set of ideas of humankind, in a way. [Chuckles] So, if you pick up one idea about ‘me’ then you have to deal with all the ideas of humankind.

But if you meet YourSelf more naked, more open, without this basic presumption of ‘me’ you will find this unlimitedness. Even this idea of ‘unlimited’ actually does not apply to how unlimited It Is. Open. Not resisting.

So, don’t meet a projection of yourself.

Meet Your Self.

Don’t meet an idea of yourself.

Meet Your Self.

Then you will find that Your very Being is that Being that (in the manifest play; this Being, Your Being) is what all of us are bowing down to. This is Your Satguru’s Presence.

~ ~ ~

Satguru Mooji Baba ki Jai!

Guru Kripa Kevalam

~ ~ ~