BOOKS BY ANANTA Welcome to Satsang with Ananta

[Reading from chat: “Spot on, Anantaji. I was always collecting spiritual words, spiritual concepts, while attending Sri Venkat Ramana pravachans. I was like a parrot repeating words, phrases, words of Bhagavan [Sri Ramana Maharshi] what this jnani [awakened one] said, what other jnanis said. I was a word and concept collector. Realized gradually, it at least helps one. It was good reiteration today. It led to a sense of high-headedness and spiritual superiority. I know this, I know that. On one level it was a deep frustration, nothing works no matter who or what I listened to, and at a diametrically opposite level, I’m a big concept bag.”

I hear what you’re saying completely. Because we had an idea that we will come to the Truth and everything will seem to work. It is like that, you see. It will just sort out my life. But the idea of ‘my life’ itself is fraud. So, when we realize that nothing works in that way, it can feel very frustrating. This frustration …, if not now replenished with fresh concepts, then this frustration is like a holy fire. And I’m also learning to not give you a conceptual balm when this fire is burning; to let it burn out; to let it burn out and not constantly reassure you. Because you will use those concepts again to build your house of cards.

So, I can say I understand your frustration and at some level it is a good fire to burn, this frustration; like ‘What is the point of this? What is the point of that? Everything is so pointless.’ Like this, you are getting frustrated (some of you) which is good, in a way, as long as you’re not replacing all of that with a new, fresh concept saying ‘Everything is meaningless.’ Then we’ll have to burn that also.

Just if you can leave with the giving up on being able to figure it out. That’s why I was saying that, one explanation for the term ‘openness’ is ‘those of you have a fully tired-out intellect.’ If you have a fully tired-out intellect, you can be quite open. If your intellect is still judging, it’s sitting there like a judge saying ‘Yes, yes, no, no, now, yes’ (this kind of thing) then coming to Satsang is a good remedy for that because every day you will hear contradictions upon contradictions upon contradictions. So, your framework, one day you will create it; the next day it’s like demolished; create, demolished. So, you get tired. Your intellect will get tired and it will feel like you are getting tired in Satsang, many times. Because this house of cards will not be allowed to fester for too long.

But once you’re are tired of conceptualizing, of intellectualizing, then this is that ‘mind by-pass’ that Guruji [Sri Mooji] is talking about. Then my words are reaching somewhere else. They are not reaching your basket of ‘Yes, no, yes, no, maybe’ (these kinds of things). They are just ‘something’.

So, till then, they are doing the mind by-pass, because they are tiring out. It seems like we’ve lived our life through this conceptualizing, intellectualizing, the yes/no, these opposites. Duality is held up by our intellect. Duality is held up by our intellect.

Don’t make it a thing. What I am saying is, my advice would be don’t make it a thing between effort and non-effort. Just forget about that duality. Sometimes we are watching, we are listening to the beautiful invitation and it’s clear. Sometimes, just like that, it’s clear. What does it matter?

Because in a subtle way, even in that, a position can be taken. Like ‘I used to be so effortful, now I am effortless.’ Now, this position of this effortlessness itself can become an effortful position.

So, like children, they are just effortless without being effortless. They are not trying to be effortless. Like Guruji [Sri Mooji] says ‘try’ to be natural. [Smiles] Then it can become like [trying]. And you can make your ‘effortless’ also in to ‘trying to be effortless.’ So, just forget about the term effort or non-effort. Because what you said is very beautiful ‘You are. You just are.’ That is not going anywhere. In all these ‘How to get to it or what is the best way?’ …, all of that is just made up. [Smiles]

And even in the term ‘effortless’ is implied the idea of ‘getting to it.’ I get to it effortlessly or I get to it with big effort. I know that this is not what you are implying but sometimes it can be held in that term itself. So, if it just Is . . . [Smiles] it’s like in a way saying ‘I was taking a lot of effort or making a lot of effort to sit exactly where I am sitting now. But now, I am sitting effortlessly where I am sitting now.’ But, both are not applicable. You are already sitting exactly where you are sitting.

So, to be the Self or to see the Self or to know the Self [Smiles] is just the most natural thing; more natural than sitting exactly where you are sitting now. So, on the seeming-path, whether it is effortless or effortful is not applicable. Because all these things even can lead to this checker guy later. Like ‘I used to be like that, now I am like this, then tomorrow I hope I am not like that.’ And tomorrow, if something feels a bit struck, it’s like ‘See, I lost that. It is so much effort.’ You know, it becomes like in our report card.

That report card; it’s thrown away. [Smiles]

This is how I do it. Throw it away. [Smiles]

This is how I get to the truth. Throw it away.

This is how I lose it when I get stuck. Throw it away.

Those stupid guys, they don’t know what they are doing; they are asking me to sign …

[Smiles] Throw it away.

Nothing can take you out of this.

What should I do now? Throw it away.

And also throw away the ‘Throw it away.’ [Smiles]

Otherwise, you will become just a ‘throw away-er.’ [Chuckles]

What am I doing? I’m just throwing away.

[Chuckles]

One garbage man is already there, you know. We do not need one more garbage collector.

Sometimes, to some of you, it will feel like your intellect is being strangled. So, in a moment of space, you will feel like it has left you; this constant judging, this constant tendency to be right, to come to a conclusion. Now, many of you are already predicting that ‘If I make this conclusion, then Father will say ‘Do you KNOW that?’ Then he will take every word of what I have said and he will say ‘What is that, what is that, what is that?’ [Smiles] Like ‘I think I am getting it.’ That’s just asking for trouble. [Chuckles] What is ‘I’, what is ‘think’, what is ‘getting’, what is ‘It’? You can just feel like there is no room; it can feel that. So, it can seem a bit frustrating.

Yesterday this one was saying ‘I am so frustrated, so frustrated!’ I was saying ‘Yeah, this is good.’ Because that is the attempt. If you keep relying on the intellect to tell us ‘It is like this, it is like that, it is this way’ then we will never give up on it, in a way. So, if I hold up the mirror and say ‘No, it is not whatever you are thinking about yourself, that you are claiming to be true. I see no basis for it. It is empty of any of that meaning that you are giving to it, any basis that you’re making about it’ …, it’s not fun, many times. It is not fun because nobody believes things thinking that they are false. We believe things only thinking that they are true.

What is a belief? A concept that we think that is true. So, we are holding on to it as a truth, as a version of truth. And somebody says [something] then it will become a bit of a tug of war. That can be a bit frustrating because I am not replacing your candy with another better piece of candy.

You say ‘I have this candy.’ And I’m saying: Come, give it to me, that is not really candy, it’s bad for your health. Then you say ‘What will you give me in return?’ Nothing. Truth for truth sake. [Chuckles] You know? Truth for truth sake. ‘And what will I get with that?’ Nothing. [Smiles] ‘Will I be at peace?’ I don’t know. [Chuckles] ‘Will I get joy, sat-chit-ananda? Ananda?’ [Smiles] I don’t know. No promises, no guarantees, nothing. You will feel like ‘No, I like this candy.’ [Chuckles] You’re stuck with this Father who’s not letting you keep your candy.

So, it is just like this. It’s no fun for the child, for a bit. So, that’s why the frustrations, tantrums and these things can come. Because fundamentally, you are saying ‘What is going on?!’ Like she said ‘What is going on?!’ That is the ultimate cry of the mind. ‘What is going on, what are you saying?!’ And I am not giving you a conclusive answer. Because one second, I may say this and the next second, I could say the opposite of that. I am not letting you rest on any conclusion about what is going on. And that can be annoying, unnerving; that can be shaky, wobbly. It can seem like that. It cannot be like that but it can seem like that.

So, that’s why I was saying the other day that I do not know which child to be concerned about. If one is saying ‘I’m really frustrated’ and one is saying ‘I’m not frustrated at all’ and if you were to say ‘You have to pick one child to be concerned about’ then I don’t know which one to pick. This frustration is not a bad thing. These tears are, many times, from when our concepts are melting here. Then the wax is coming out. [Smiles] Many times it can be like that. ‘Oh, what we thought was true is meting here.’ In the heat of Satsang, it is coming out

Suppose you didn’t have to be right. Right? [Laughter] It is this need to be right which seems to be our bondage. So, this knowing, this need to be right, we don’t even need to be right about this.

You might have an idea about why you come to Satsang but if I were to put it a certain way, I would say you come [to Satsang] to give up everything that you’re right about.

Now, what many of you would naturally do is say that ‘Oh, I’m so wrong about everything.’ But you are not right about that also. Because even to say that ‘I’m so wrong about everything’ is to imply that you know what is right. So, I’m trying to push you beyond this duality; right/wrong, true/false, yes/no, and ultimately up /down …, (ultimately and not ultimately also because these are also just notions).

Have you ever met a tree which is caught up in ideas of right and wrong? I like Guruji’s [Sri Mooji’s] example of the tree very much. [Silence] And so many things that you actually believe are wrong today, you actually thought were right at some point of time; and vice versa. So, inherently, did they mean something? Or did the meaning only come from our pretense about them? Our meaning always comes from our perception, our view, our perspective. (Our perception not in the sense of the pure perception but our perception mixed with our view about them.) Based on this perspective, we claim many things; we claim many things like what is the difference between inside or outside.

In Hindi or Sanskrit, it is said ‘antarmukhi sadasukhi’ which means ‘The one who is facing inwards is always at peace.’ Now this ‘inwards’ is what? For many of us it can seem like ‘What is he asking? It so obvious, I close my eyes, I let go of my senses and here I am, inside.’ But inside what? And that which we call ‘outside’ …, once the senses are open, where does that come? There only, whether we call it inside or outside. So, this idea of duality itself is completely mental. (We can say intellectual if that makes us feel better.)

In a way, we are caught up in our intellect. Even now there might be a judge sitting there saying ‘Yes, yes, no, yes’ to everything thing that is being heard. So, let me be open about what the attempt here is. It is to push you beyond this realm of opposites, the pretense of duality.

Now this is a strange attempt. It is a strange attempt because … (let’s call it a non-dual space for a minute; I don’t really like that term, but I have to say something) … something has to show up which makes you give up, at least for a moment, on your duality, on your opposites. But that something will not be itself captured in any statement. We have been looking at a few statements, like I said ‘No thought in itself is neutral.’ And you can see that even that thought is not neutral, it itself is an assertion, itself can be negated. And we have been looking at a statement like ‘the Truth cannot be spoken’ which is a very nice Advaita quote but itself is full of contradiction because to say that ‘Truth itself cannot be spoken’ is to speak about Truth.

Now, it can seem like a very tough job then. But I have a best friend. I have a best friend which is: This Moment. In this moment, duality is gone. Even before the statement ‘Duality has gone’ it has gone. If you make the statement ‘Duality has gone’ then the ‘gone/come, duality/non-duality’ (all this dual stuff) is back. With me? [Chuckles]

So, this ‘giving up on notions’ then, is all that is needed. Because the good news is that there is no inherent duality in anything at all. There is no separation. All separation, all duality, is notional. And in this moment, you are beyond all notions, just naturally.

This could be the end of the conversation. But usually it isn’t because: ‘But…’ The ‘but’ could be ‘Can I just stay like this? Is it possible to live like this? Can I do my job?’ All of these notions are there. So, your intuitive Presence then recognizes that there is still a condition, there is still a seeming-affliction, which seems like that is addicted to certain ideas about yourself. And then the Master questions your question.

Guruji said ‘Nothing in the world has inherent meaning.’ And we also looked and saw that no thought is neutral. So, if nothing in the world has inherent meaning but no thought is neutral, therefore, no thought can claim to be a valid thought. (If it is too complex, forget it.)

So, if nothing in the world has inherent meaning, but a notion is claiming to assert a meaning about it, the Master’s attempt is to bring it back to its meaning-less-ness. So, the Master will question whether we really know what we are talking about.

Do we really know what we are talking about? So, we say ‘I can’t live my life like this.’ And the Master will say ‘Okay, how have you been living your life so far? Do you know any of this? How to live life? Do you know how to move a finger?’ These kinds of things are for that. So, it shakes off this meaning you are giving to these things. Or the Master will say: ‘Who’ … can’t live their life like this? Or the Master will say: Leave it. It’s the Master’s problem to live your life. That is surrender. Or the Master will say: Come now, what is it? Now, Right Now, are you living? How are you living?’

So, all these tactics are what Masters use to show you that basically your thoughts are pointless. What you are convinced to be reality, attachment to this is reality; ‘This is my Truth, I have to live my truth’ and these kinds of things. What is it? If you investigate for one moment you will see it is nothing, it is garbage, it is just made up. So, then you find that the attraction to these notions, these ideas, is not so much. And when you find the attraction to notions is not so much, I can ask you strange sounding questions like: What is the difference between yesterday and tomorrow, up and down, left and right or coming and going? When our attraction to notions are not so much then I can ask you these strange questions and you will see that these were just ideas. All of these were just notions. And everything was referring to ‘me’ in a localized way, in a limited way. Even the notion of inside and outside means that there is a notion of boundary. But you investigated these things and see that: What boundary? I don’t find it.

No appearance defines You and no disappearance of appearance defines You. No experience defines You and no dissolution of appearances define You. So, when you interpret the world, you actually just interpret yourself; and when you interpret yourself you are making a judgement about the whole world.

If there is a sense of what I am saying then it won’t sound so strange when I say ‘To know even one thing is to know too much.’ It won’t sound strange.

To know ‘too much’ in what way? It’s to burden yourself with limitation and identity. But it doesn’t end there. The inquiry is: ‘What do you know when you know nothing?’

I noticed that on the first day there were lots of answers coming. ‘I know nothing’ and I kept asking: Do you know that? Do you know that?’ (Then it is to know too much.) So, the first few days may be some pruning [of concepts].

But I feel like in this inquiry (in terms of its directness) it could be really the essence of what I am pointing to. And the first statement actually provides everything that you need to know about the inquiry itself and it is, in a way, self-inflaming, self-destructive.

To know even one thing is to know too much.

What do I know when I know nothing?

Once we start to admit, with integrity, that we don’t know what it means to even ‘know’ or we don’t ‘know’ what it means to Be; that we don’t have any valid conclusion about ‘What Is’ (the Is-ness itself) then it can seem like an easier ride, in a way.

While we are so attached to our past experiences that we think we figured out what something means, these things can play the game of seeming like impediments.

And this is what the Masters meant when they spoke about returning to an innocence. And what that fundamentally means is that we have never grown up actually, out of the innocence, but we all are just pretending to be grown-ups. [Chuckles] And that is very apparent to me these days also. I look at everyone just like I am looking at a five-year-old, just pretending to play ‘grown-up, grown-up.’ [Chuckles] Because all the rest after that is just our mental concepts, our knowledge, that we have picked up.

This duality is what seems to have been picked up. So, all that is needed, in a way, is to drop the pretense. We don’t have to be in a certain way. You can let go.

What is the doubt that comes? ‘How can I live like this?’ Because we have been taught that you must know these things to survive in this world, to live in this world. That’s why it comes as a primary doubt. ‘It seems fine right now, but how can I live like this?’

But Right Now is ‘living.’’ [Chuckles] This is the thing. We can live only Right Now or we are just naturally living Right Now. But we always have this fear because this is how conditioning was taught. We need to know what is a nose and what is an ear. Otherwise how will you live? You need to know what is head and what is toe. We were taught like that. We need to know what is up and what is down. We need to know what is right and what is wrong, what is true and what is false.

And yet what happened? Did we become more natural after knowing all this? [Chuckles] The child is a very good version of naturalness. After knowing all this, did we get more natural? (And by the way, I’m not suggesting anything about parenting. It’s not ‘Don’t teach your children what is this and that.’  I’m not talking about that at all.)

I am just using that to show you how it unfolded. And it was not just parents but also this instrument, this device called the mind primarily which then started to be the guide that ‘This is right, this is wrong; this you know, this you don’t know; this is how it should be, this is what my life should be, this is what I am here for.’

We were taught that there has to be a point. It’s like this. It’s like ‘What’s the point? What’s the meaning in all of this?’ Because we were taught that there’s a point. We didn’t wake up out of our mother’s womb and start saying ‘What’s the point?’ In our natural existence, there was no ‘point’. A child didn’t wake up in the morning and say ‘Today, this is the point of my day. These are the five things I’m going to achieve and I’m going to get my freedom.’ But this sort of meaninglessness is misunderstood when I say this, because what you sometimes hear is that what I’m saying is that ‘The world is meaningless’. I’m not saying that actually. I’m saying that the term ‘meaningless’ is meaningless. Because if nothing has inherent meaning (Guruji [Sri Mooji] has said, okay? …, that nothing has inherent meaning) then what does the term ‘meaning’ mean? It, itself, doesn’t have meaning because nothing has it.

It’s like a pink rainbow. There is nothing like that so, it is meaningless. So, the term ‘meaning’ itself is meaningless because nothing has it. (What is a better metaphor than a pink rainbow?) [Laughs]

It’s just the idea that ‘Life should have meaning and now I’m seeing that it is empty of meaning’ …, this idea is false because the initial premise itself was false. That we can define life in any way, itself, is just an idea. That any idea can represent the reality of this life, is false. Or at least if not false, is just nothing, meaningless; because neither is it true nor is it false. It neither defines it nor leaves it undefined.

So, it’s not about that whole game of ‘Ah! I thought life will have meaning and my quest for freedom was finally to come to the meaning of life.’ It was not like that. ‘And then I saw, oh, because I came to Satsang with Father then he is saying: life is meaningless’. Nah! I’m not saying that. I’m saying that this quest itself was fraud. The quest itself is made up, that it must have a meaning in this way. Because it is too vast, in a way, to be constricted by any meaning that we can give to it. It is too much (for want of a better word) for us to be able to claim the meaning of life.

Like we were saying yesterday, just after Satsang got over, that very often, when we meet this moment naked of any notions, the notion that we pick up is ‘Is that it?’ or ‘Is this it?’ Like that. ‘Is this it?’

Q: This can’t be it.

A: ‘This can’t be it.’ [Chuckles]. ‘This can’t be it.’ But can you manage even this? ‘This can’t be it’ …, in the sense that there should be more than that. But, okay, manage this. Like, taste just this and stay with that. Don’t avoid it.

Q: So scary.

A: See? That’s the thing. So, our fear of being as this (the mind’s fear of being as this) is now

‘representing’ [itself] as ‘Is this it?’ So, it’s another of avoiding this by saying ‘Is this it?’

So, okay, I’ll say ‘Okay this is not it. I’ll give you more; but first you taste this. First you taste this. When you’re done tasting this, when this is done, I’ll give you more.’

So, taste this. Like, This, uninterpreted, and the pure perception of even this (even this phenomenally). Forget about that which I call the elephant in the room, which is that which is even beyond all phenomenon; don’t even worry about that. Just stay with This, uninterpreted phenomenon; pure perceiving of phenomenon itself. You will never ask for anything more. [Laughs]

Only the non-tasting of it, only in the not-tasting, in a way …, in the impure perception (perception mixed with notion) can we even have this idea of that ‘There should be more. I want it to be this way.’

After tasting yourself, tasting your Being, tasting This (even the appearance aspect of This) then ask me about meaning and meaninglessness. Ask me the point. [Chuckles] But to remain in denial of even the pure perception of This, and just dealing with the photocopy version from the mind, then it’s very easy to make claims and want more. Even to remain in the uninterpreted pure perception of phenomenon is more than enough.

Now, if what Bankei said was true that ‘All things are perfectly resolved in the Unborn’…, then what is all of this about?

I have also reminded you again and again that there is no such thing as a neutral thought. Even this thought is an assertion, it is not neutral. Even to say ‘There is no neutral thought’ is an assertion. It in itself is not neutral.

The Unborn is this neutrality, this notion-less-ness is this neutrality, this ‘I Am’ empty of notion of something is this neutrality.

It would be a struggle if you had to go looking for it ‘Now where do I go to find it?’ But I’m telling you that it is just Here Now, naturally present.

Now depending on what you say (which could be ‘But…’) then I can give you an answer which fundamentally will only say that ‘Whatever the but… is, it’s not true’ (in varying degrees). [Chuckles] And I have also been quite open and told you all the tools I have in my arsenal for this. Isn’t it?

I say ‘Do you really know this?’

You say ‘But, how can I stay in it?’ (for example) ‘Yes, it’s here now, I sense it when I come to Satsang, in your Presence.’ (all of these things) ‘But how can I stay in it?’ Then the Master will say something like:

Can you leave it actually and show me?

Do you really know that you have to stay in it …, if you can’t leave it?’

Or the Master will say:

Who is it the ‘I’ that wants to stay in it?

Or the Master will say:

What does it mean to stay? Or to go?

Or the Master will say:

Guru Kripa Kevalam: to stay or not stay is the Master’s problem.

That’s all that the Sage is doing. You might feel that he is very intelligent; he has got lot of tools. [Chuckles] All he is doing is questioning your doubt. He is not answering your question; he is just questioning your question. And mostly, it is very irritating when he is questioning your question because you came or answers presumably.

Now, these children, they’re new [new ones in Satsang] so suppose she says ‘I came for this and I wanted to understand that’ and ‘I want freedom’ or something like that? If I say that ‘The question itself does not apply to the Reality of you’ [Makes a of her leaving and pretending that she is thinking]: ‘All of these people here come to listen to this every day?’ [Laughter]

The question itself is not applicable to the Reality of You … is all that I am pointing at, isn’t it? All the answers are not giving you (hopefully, not giving you) too much that you can put in your bag of beliefs and concepts further. You are not feeding more milk to the cat, to the non-existent cat ego. So, all that is really happening is that the Master is trying to find a way in which to deconstruct any notions that you have about yourself so that you can come to this notionless Existence, this Unborn, this I-Am-ness-without-something, prior to the birth of (the seeming-birth of) the individualized Consciousness. This is all there is.

Now, if in your naturalness it was needed that you knew something, then Bankei would have said ‘The Unborn plus this knowledge.’ [Smiles] If it was needed that you understand something, that you have figured something out, that you have calculated the equation to freedom, then Bankei would have said ‘Not just the child-like innocence of the Unborn but also you need to have solved this equation.’ But it is not that.

So, the premise itself, what we are trying to sort out or figure out …

And maybe ‘Jnana Yoga’ is a misleading term somewhere because it can feel like ‘I need to get more and more knowledge.’ So, ‘Jnana’ truly must mean the light of pure Seeing, not the light of some concepts or the shadow of some concepts. [Chuckles]

What is here in the light of your pure Seeing? …, independent of any notions that you have about yourself? Now, my proposal to all of you is that: The complete, compete, complete Truth is completely apparent Right Now to You in your Seeing …, but not in your saying or thinking, not in your intellectualizing.

This is my proposal, that the Unborn is Here Now, your notionless Existence is naturally present. Therefore, the Truth cannot be distant, cannot be in the future.

Now who will you go to for confirmation? Who will you go to for confirmation? Will you go to the voice in your heads? ‘But…’ [Laughs] This is what the voice will say, no? ‘But … Ah, very good; today’s Satsang. But…’

This is the thing. When it knows it is outnumbered (in a sense) then it also tries to be your spiritual friend and say ‘This is very good, it’s all making sense, but…’

So, my proposal was what? Who remembers my proposal? [Laughs]

Q: Truth is absolutely apparent Right Now without any interpretation from the mind.

A: Good. Truth is absolutely apparent to you Right Now. Now, where will you go for confirmation?

Q: Who is it that wants this confirmation?

A: ‘Who is it that wants this confirmation’ is the same one that wants anything else, in the sense that: Who is it that wants freedom? Who is it that wants to come to Satsang? (That same one.) [Chuckles]

So, who is here? When someone asks me this question, I say ‘Okay, let’s make it simpler.’ (Like my son is studying for his SAT’s, okay? There they have these ‘multiple choice.’) So, can you give me the options? [Chuckles] What the various options for this: Who wants confirmation?

[First option] (A) is person, personal identity. Okay, what is the second option? [Smiles] You can make it simpler for me, no? [Laughs]

Q: Maybe the mind wanting something to…

A: ‘The mind wanting something.’ Now, another proposal for you is that the mind, whatever it wanted, is already gone. Whatever the mind wanted is already gone. Now, what is left?

It can come back of course and say [gestures ‘whatever’] It’s like that tree which vanishes but if you pull one leaf, it seems to come back. [Laughs] It vanishes this moment; you cannot bring your mind back into this moment naturally. Whatever your conditions are, whatever your belief systems are, whatever you think is true, all is gone. The best cleaning lady in the world has done her job. All is cleaned up.  Now, the mind will come again with ‘but., but…, what about…?’

Q: The fear of the unknown.

A: Fear of the unknown, she says. Yes. This fear of letting go is just this fear of the unknown, whether you call it ‘the unknown, the fear of losing identity, the fear of dying, the fear of not existing.’ It takes all of these various forms. It can even take a very worldly form like ‘How will I live my life?’ It is the same fear of the unknown. And that is why the Master is here to tell you that ‘This fear, it comes very naturally, but I am here to hold your hand through this fear so that you can see that it can take nothing which is Real away from you.’ [Smiles] And this fear of the unknown is what many of you have been encountering because I have given you another proposal:

I have told you that ‘To know even one thing is to know too much.’

But I have asked you to look and tell me ‘What do you know when you know nothing?’

Q: I’m done looking for this.

A: ‘I’m done looking for this.’ You have to elaborate a bit.

Q: I don’t even know what this is; there are so many ideologies behind. You get close and then something else comes puts you behind.

A: Take an example.

Q: Like you think you get a glimpse of it, and then it just doesn’t last for long and then you go back to your life. And then you hear and it resonates with you and you say ‘Oh my god, that’s what it is. And it goes back and then I can’t let go because you know it’s the Truth, but can’t seem to sustain it.

A: I’m a bit nuts in a way. Why? Because when you report to me that ‘I get a glimpse of it and then I lose it’ I want to invite you to actually Right Now lose it. Don’t have it, lose it. Is it lost?

Q: Not really.

A: If it can be gotten and it can be lost, it was never It anyway. So, the glimpse (as you call it) can be an insight, an experience of it, in a way, which can seem uninterrupted by the mind, or uninterrupted by something else; some clarity or something like that. But if it becomes about that, then it is not that. It is not that. You’re not trying to get to something. I’m inviting you to lose it. Like, instead of trying to find it, you lose it. Like you would say ‘I come here looking for myself.’ Now I ask you, can you stop Being?

Try to stop Being. Don’t be.

[Silence]

Can’t.

[Chuckles]

So, that Being which everyone seems to be chasing, that Atma, that sense of Presence, that Consciousness, is just naturally Here. In fact, whatever you might do, you cannot lose it. Now, are you aware of this? Or not? You’re aware that you exist. (Before it sounds very fancy; I have to catch you quickly because otherwise it’ll become a thing.)

You’re aware that you’re Here. You’re just aware.

Now, this awareness, can you switch it off?

Q: No.

A: That’s It.

Now, if you don’t go to the peddler of objections (it will come and say, ‘Objection, your honor’) [Chuckling] the Truth of this is completely apparent. And even if you do go to it, all it will sell you is a doubt.  But the fact is, as you experiment with this, you will see that if it is real it can never be lost anyway. ‘I can’t stop being and so naturally I’m aware of my existence.’

So, if that story went away, the story of the spiritual seeker (‘Why do we struggle, she went here, she went there, she went to this teacher, she went to this satsang, this retreat, this practice, this book …, all this is gone) now, what is left?

Q: I don’t know what else is there.

A: And is this ‘I don’t know’ good news or bad?

Q: Is it good?

A: I would say it is good. [Chuckling] Actually, is it nothing like everything else but if we were to say good or bad, I would say it is good. Now how will you make yourself suffer? Which concept will you use? Because without concept, you know that you can’t suffer. Have you seen this?

Q: Yeah

A: So, now what will you use?

Q: Concept? … Right, right. [Laughing] Using that state …?

A: Even that state is not it.

Q: Even that state is not it.

A: Aahhh. [Surprised laughter] Don’t misunderstand what I’m saying. It is neither It nor not-It.

It is not applicable. The thing is that we’ve been using this instrument [the mind] to measure Reality in some way. And we’re waiting for a certificate from that one in some way to say ‘That is it’. It’s just like saying I use the weighing scale in the kitchen to measure the weight of the earth. It is too small; it cannot fathom this Reality. So, its objections and its certifications don’t mean anything to the Reality of You, which we just experimented and saw you cannot lose.

Q: Something is coming and its saying ‘It can’t be that.’

A: Yes, yes, I’m used to that one. [Laughter] That is why we have Satsang Monday to Friday.

[Laughter in the room]

See, if wasn’t that one, then one Satsang would have been enough. I’ve shared thousands over the last five years. This doesn’t mean that any of what it is saying is true, it is just that you seem to be playing in that way that you buy into its story …, of either achieving or not achieving. So, if the weighing scale says infinity or zero or five, I’m telling you this weighing scale cannot measure it.

Q: Okay.

A: So, it just seems like there is a habit, there is a condition, where we seem to refer back to the mind over and over to give us confirmation or a certificate about something. Initially, it can seem like a bit of a three-way conversation; I’m speaking here, your listening here and mind is also speaking there. This seems to be a bit of a struggle. And that can feel a bit uncomfortable because it’s like trying to ride two horses at the same time or sit on two chairs at the same time. It’s not so comfortable. But you’ll get used to it as you come to Satsang, that you start listening to this voice, which is just representative of your own intuitive voice anyway.

(Okay, we won’t get into that, why it has to play like this.)

[Silence]

Q: Do I let life pass me like a dream?

A: All of these confusions are not about the content of life or any event or how we should live. It is about who You Are.

Are you speaking as this Being who you saw here so naturally?

Or are you speaking as That which is aware even of this Beingness?

Which one, which one is worried about life passing?

Q: [Laughing and crying]

There is this example I came across the other day. (Every time I say ‘the other day’ these people laugh at me because it could be last week or it could be two years ago, I can’t really tell.) [Chuckles] The example was that two men are standing; two men were standing and a breeze blows. One man says, ‘Ah, the wind is so cold today’. The other man says, ‘The wind is quite warm.’ One says it’s cold and the other one says it’s quite warm. What is the truth?
Q: None and both.

A: None and both.

Q: One’s an Indian, one is Canadian. [Sangha laughs]

A: She says ‘One is Indian, one is Canadian.’ [Laughs] But if your life depended on it …, if you’ve been seeking this truth, if you’ve made yourself this seeker of this truth of the temperature of the wind, and your life depended on it, what would you say is the truth?

Q: Logically, it would be that my body is (what I am feeling inside) is determining what is hot or cold of that wind, to me.

A: What is the temperature of the wind?

Q: So, if I had a thermometer, where we had made a concept of that (zero is zero and above that it is warm and below it is cold) then if I would measure it in (let’s say) wind temperature, we get a number 25 degree Celsius or 5 degree Celsius or minus five degree Celsius …, but that would be because I had decided that zero was normal.

A: That’s cool. So, supposing we had two thermometers and they also give different reading.

Q: And my life depends on it?

A: Yes. [Laughs]

Q: So, I would just say ‘I surrender, I don’t know.’

A: If your life depended on speaking the truth, what would you say?

[Sangha]: I don’t know.

A: Yes, I don’t know. Exactly. [Laughs] This is good, this is good.

So, now if I was to tell you that everything, everything, everything in life is like this? We have made our perspectives, we have made opinions, beliefs, out of just perspectives, out of just thoughts, but actually now, because there is so much investment into those opinions, beliefs, perspectives, we feel like ‘I don’t know’ is a waste.

Q: So, Father what came to my mind was there was something here confirming that it’s true.

A: [Laughs] So, not even this. It’s good. Not even this.
Bhagavan [Sri Ramana Maharshi] says, for example, that ‘As long as ‘I Am’ is ‘I Am’, everything is fine. The minute you buy into the idea that ‘I am something’ that is the ego, jivatma, separation, individualization, ego; all of this. But this idea ‘I am something’ depends on what?

Q: I Am.

A: It depends on I Am, of course …, but what is the position that you have with regards to this something?

Q: Individual perspectives.

A: It’s a perspective, a notion, an idea that ‘I know what I am. I am this thing. I am man. I am woman. I am good. I am bad.’ And the minute we put these perspectives onto ourselves, we also put them onto the world. ‘I am like this but the world is like that’ … ‘I want to be free but the world wants me to be earning a lot of money’ … ‘I want to be free but the world wants me to look after my responsibilities.’ See? The minute we define ourself, we start defining everything.

[Reading from chat]: “Namaste, Father. I had a question. Bhagavan [Sri Ramana Maharshi] always said ‘There’s nothing to practice.’ He pointed directly by the inquiry ‘Who am I?’ But then why did he still practice all those practices of rituals, like offerings to the fire before cooking food? How does that make sense? Why to fallow these rituals? At least for me, there is no meaning or they make no sense. But I was curious why Bhagavan followed these. Please explain. (We will watch the video later tomorrow.)”

There is a sweetness in these things. There is sweetness in these; even these rituals, if they are done playfully and lightly. Playfully, if you play this game of seeing that ‘God is there, God is here’ and you are bowing down to everything as God (or whatever that from of that playfulness might take) …, because the waking state is full of activity.

So, nothing is required. Bhagavan never said that we need to be this way or that way. It is something which naturally unfolds, something that seems light, playful, easy.

Like, in the Kendra [Satsang hall) here also we have all these photos on the walls. [Smiles]

Why do we have them actually? Why do we need them? It is just for sometimes when buying into some story from the mind and we look at that photo, Papaji [Sri Poonja] for example. It just drops. [Smiles] Or look at Guruji [Sri Mooji] Pass me that Guruji … [Holds up the photo] It is a good reminder. [Sangha Smiles] No matter how seriously you are taking yourselves, in that one moment, we see him and … [Chuckles sweetly]

So, these are beautiful reminders that we have everywhere and we pray to them, we give them thanks, we hold them in our hearts with gratitude.

So, nothing is required. There is no prerequisite prescribed or any daily schedule or anything like that. And yet, because the waking state is there, you will see that this realm full of activity. Even if the body is lying down or sitting down, it is also activity. So, in this realm of activity, something, something …, some sweetness is there normally.

So, what do we need to do to give ourselves this gift of one moment of un-interpreted Existence?

If you call that effort, then that effort can be made. It is just that.

What do you need to do to give yourself this gift of not labeling ‘What Is’ … of letting go?

So, if it takes the question ‘Who am I?’ then of course, ask it.

If it takes the reminder ‘Guru Krip Kevalam’ of course, use it.

If you need to be reminded that ‘You do not know anything at all’ you might use it.

Whatever the case.

But the point is not what it takes you get you there but what this is. What is here?

Give yourself this gift, this moment.

Empty of right and wrong.

Empty of got it, lost it.

Empty of truth and false.

Empty of effort and non-effort.

Empty of abiding and non-abiding.

Empty of recognition and non- recognition.

Empty of every idea and its opposite.

Empty of lower and higher.

Of truer and falser.

Of ultimate and practical.

Empty of time and timeless.

Empty of the idea of emptiness.

Neither this way nor that way.

Q: I start the day trying to be there, so I seek the help of meditation with Mooji and it goes on. I’m quite content being there. And after I did a session with you, I looked at Instagram (I don’t do that every day) and there it was: Ramana saying ‘You need effort to be there. You need a conscious effort to be there.’ I don’t know, it seemed so, so strange, like He was taking to me, like he was telling me ‘No, the effort you’re doing to be there is necessary at this point’ because I’m not naturally there. But I’m just rambling now…

A: No, no, it’s good. It seems like a slight shift in perspective because the way you conveyed it to me the other day was that ‘I’m on this constant treadmill trying to get it.’ It was not like ‘I’m quite content.’ You see? It was more like ‘Oh, I feel like I’m on this constant treadmill to try and get it.’

What Bhagavan [Sri Ramana Maharshi] has said is not new to you. I’ve often said that because our habit is to try and pick it up, initially it can feel like an effort to leave it alone. So, that effort we must make. If you still buy into the idea that ‘I’m still not naturally there’ your perspective, in a way, defines this. Depending on what the nature of your doubt is, what you’re saying ‘But’ about, the Master will have one of these tools. If you say ‘But I’m not naturally there’ then obviously, the Master will say ‘Then inquire who you are.’

So, say something which is truthful about you, then the Master can give you a valid response.

Q: So, now the technique I use, I’m efforting. For that effortless place, I’m efforting. So, what do I say? These are things that help me, okay? I say ‘I’m not an object.’ I’m not an object, so straight away I go into that objectless place.

A: Okay, slowly, slowly. So, when you say ‘I’m not an object and I go into an objectless place’ …, now, is this ‘I’ which goes into an objectless place an object? Or what is it?

Q: No, it’s not an object.

A: What is it?

Q: It’s just plain Being; it’s just Being.

A: And what was its nature before you said ‘I’m not an object?’

Q: [Laughing]

A: So, it is not that something is actually changing, it is just that you’re recognizing in a more clear way the reality of what already Is. That is good. Because otherwise it can feel like ‘When I do this I become that or change into that.’ You recognize what already Is. Then that reduces the scale of the disease in a way, because you see that there’s no actual affliction; it’s just a ‘seeming’ that I had this affliction of objectivity, in the sense of the affliction of limitation. Okay, so that is one. What is the second trick you use? ‘I’m not an object’ is a good one.

Q: So, I say ‘I’m Being. Just Being. Just be.’ In that Being, I can just be. So, that much effort is required sometimes; most of the time.

A: Yes, and as long as this report sounds true, you must put in that effort; any inquiry (‘Who am I?’) You’re doing ‘the invitation’ which is good. As long as there’s a sense there is a ‘me’, whatever the affiliations of this ‘me’ might be, it is good to use one of these pointers. [Silence]

Q: The other day when I was sitting with you, the Isness was so …, it wasn’t a photocopy.

A: So, if you don’t worry about how it was that day, how is it Now?

Q: Even now, that object-less…, I don’t know. I’m looking for that which I experienced. This kind of stupid habit is coming.

A: To storify, in a way.

Q: Yeah, that’s like storifying, isn’t it?

A: Yeah, like ‘that day this happened….’

Q: Yeah.

A: That’s exactly what I was telling you even that day; the full Ganga is here. The full Ganga, the full river, is here. You don’t have to go to your cans of three days ago. Fresh water is completely available.

Q: [Laughter]

A: It’s all a habit to conclude a thing: ‘Okay, this is what I got that day, this is what I see today, this is what happened to me.’ You see? But suppose your son (when he was younger, suppose at five or six) he came to you; he was in a river of fresh water and was able to drink and he said ‘I’m running out of water in my can. What shall I do Pa?’ What would you tell him? You’ll say ‘Here drink this. It’s just here!’ It’s like I say sometimes: You have the best buffet in the world laid out for you but you’re worried about the morsels that you have in your pocket. This can happen. I’m not saying this in a bad way; it can happen. This is the habit, you see. All-There-Is is just Here naturally. All-There-Is is just Here naturally.

Q: The ocean there is …

A: You are there as the ocean …

Q: Drink the honey rather than be the honey …

A: What do you want with the honey? [Chuckles] Just don’t go back to your pouches of honey collected from previous dips. This boundless ocean is just naturally Here.

Kabir said ‘The fish is thirsting in the water.’ What to tell it? The fish says ‘Do I need to make an effort to gulp? Or should I just gulp? Or is it just naturally happening?’ What do you tell the fish? If it feels like effort, just drink; either way, you drink!

[Laughter in the room]

You see, this is the thing; actually, just like that. What instruction would you want to give the fish? What instruction would you give the fish who’s complaining to you that it is thirsty? The fish is saying ‘But the greatest authority has told me to make the effort.’ I’m saying ‘Okay, drink. Whatever it takes, you drink!’ [Laughs]

Now, the thing is, the paradigm is even funnier that that because it is not the fish that is complaining, it is the water complaining. [Chuckling] Even that line of separation is not there. It’s like a droplet of water is complaining ‘What do I do? I’m thirsty?’ But you are water! You know? ‘But it takes effort to say I’m water.’ [Chuckling] Okay, make the effort. ‘But it should be natural.’ Okay, it’s natural. Whatever …

It’s like we have to find a way to insert duality where there is none; even this effort/non-effort paradigm. It’s like the droplet has to find a way to do it instead of just doing it; instead of just Being it, in a way.

The water droplet is saying that ‘The highest authority came to me on Instagram.’ [Laughter in the room] It’s quite excited now. ‘You have to drink. You have to drink, man. How can you say….’

Q: Total bobo.

A: It has to be pointed out. The thing is, effort/non-effort; what is it? What is it? What is it? That is important. What are You, Now? Either you make effort or you don’t make effort: what are You Now?

The water droplet says ‘Shall I take a glass and drink? Should I fill it in my cup? Or should I just dip myself in it and drink?’ What answer will you give? Whatever you do, you drink. ‘No, tell me how. What is the best way?’

Fundamentally, it’s like saying ‘Should I make an effort to leave it, or should I just leave it?’

Either way, leave it.

Should I do ‘Om shanti, shanti, shanti, shanti … [makes a gesture of giving it up, then it’s been] left? Or is it just left?’ [Laughs]

Leave it.

Q: The total identity is not lost.

A: As long as you still believe that that is true, some pointing will come, some instruction will come.

Now, if the fish came to you and said ‘But my identity is not lost, so how do I drink?’ or the water droplet said this to you, what would you say?

The only thing that keeps up your identity in that moment is the belief in the idea that ‘Identity is not lost.’

Can I promise you one thing? …, that in your one moment of notionless-ness, you’re as free as Bhagavan was.

[Silence]

If he picked up the idea that ‘Full identity is not lost’ then he would be as bound as you are. There is no other distinction. (And even this distinction is not fundamentally true.)

This is for all of you. Because we can then otherwise have this projected idea that the truth is far, that the finality is at a distance away; then we project time and space into all of this.

But it is only This.

This is All-There-Is.

Otherwise, there could be no truth if it also came and went.

So, give yourself the gift of freedom Right Now …, as free as the greatest Sage ever was.

What is actually happening in Satsang when this messaging is coming and you feel like this is meaningful? Suppose the message was meaningful that ‘The mind has to go.’ This message; suppose it is meaningful. Okay, we talked about ‘What are the tools that ego has?’ So, what are the tools that the Master has? You know that by now. What are the tools? If this messaging is there, what are the tools that the Master will use?

He will say:

Who is it talking to?

Who are you in the first place?

Can you define for whom it has to go?

Or who is the perceiver of the mind?’

The ‘Who?’ questions.

Should I lay out all the tools or will you then just end up ‘knowing’ this? [Chuckles]

Okay, let’s say that is the tool. Because of what? Because of just this seeming-habit to give meaning to this. And if you were to deconstruct it (which is the second tool) it is to then look to see: Do we know any of this; what this is saying? ‘I wish the mind would just go.’ We don’t know what ‘I’ is, what a ‘wish’ would be, what the ‘mind’ actually is and what ‘coming and going’ is. We do not know any of this. So, that is what the not-knowing is about. It’s the same thing.

To let you remain without interpretation is the whole game, in a way.

So, what is the third? (Okay, fine I am sharing.) It’s that ‘Whatever it is saying, it is the Master’s problem.’ We do not have to worry about it. Surrender. Like that.

Without attaching anything, all these tools (just in the way the mind uses the tools of relationships, of security, of body of meaning of freedom) all of these things; the Master also uses these tools to deconstruct our interpretations, our knowing.

So, suppose that you say ‘I wish I would be empty of desire.’ That itself is so fake, isn’t it? Because that itself is a desire. So, start being empty of that.

Fundamentally what every Master is saying is that all our interpretations are invalid. And that is why they lose their meaning and you are able to let them go.

So, what am I saying? Fundamentally, it is all about giving yourself this gift of living in un-interpreted, un-labeled Existence; notion-less, concept-less (whatever you call it). We say: If this was clear, it’s finished. [Chuckles] Finished, just like that. Return to a child-like innocence. Just children …, ‘La, la, la.’  …, just playing; one second dancing, one second crying. It’s okay. Let it become like that.

But what usually happens is that we have a ‘But.’ It’s like an interpretation. It’s like ‘When will this become permanent?’ Then the Master can say ‘Who wants it to be permanent?’ Or ‘What do you know about ‘permanent’ anyway? What is permanent? What is time? Do you know any of these?’

It will become permanent when ‘Guru’s Kripa.’

So, leave it.

Either way, leave it.

If you do not know, leave it.

Who wants it this way? Leave it.

It is the Masters problem, leave it.

Any which-way, leave it. [Smiles]

And coming in to that un-interpreted state. (It’s not a state but let’s call it ‘state’ for a moment.)

What is an interpretation? Just a version of reality which doesn’t match up to the actuality at all …, in any moment of just looking. Can you have a version of what is going on, even right now phenomenally? …, (forget about the non-phenomenal aspect). Who can truly define what this is? Even phenomenally, we cannot. And the Reality is just apparent to us naturally. So, we do not need the photocopy, the facsimile version of it.

It is an invitation to Know. This version, which does not actually confirm to reality at all because it is inherently dual, is inherently full of separation; all our versions.

So, in this moment of un-labeled existence, it is enlightenment, it is freedom, it is truth, it is the most scared practice.

This is what I was saying the other day, that there is actually no distinction between any of these. It is just This. [Smiles] Even to say ‘It is just This’ would not be valid because then the mind makes a version of this, which is the phenomenal ‘this.’ And at least that has something; that or something, this and that. So, it is just a stepping back from duality (although I realize that even that is a dualistic phase).

So, if you have an interpretation of anything at all, the Master will have a ‘who?’ …, will have a ‘Nonsense’ …, will have a ‘Leave it to me.’ [Chuckles] These are the main tools.

Or he will have a paradox, which is available to you. You see, like a paradox. ‘If you think you know so much, okay, tell me more what this is, what this is’ …, just to help you return to your innocence. Because in your innocence, the truth is apparent …, it is enlightenment.

But the truly innocent is not even hanging on to the idea that ‘In my innocence, the truth is apparent.’ This is the thing. That is why I have said that most importantly what am I saying is that to know even one thing is to know too much.

At best, at best, if you say ‘I just can’t do it’ or some idea like that …, rather than the idea that ‘I just can’t do it’ then hold at least one notion. You are given license of one notion:

Maybe it is ‘Guru Kripa Kevalam.’

Maybe it is ‘Who am I?’

Maybe it is ‘What do I know when I know nothing?’

But fundamentally, even this will have to be left behind.

[Ananta had said: You have said you want to go ‘All the way’]

[Reading from chat]: She says: ‘Yes, all the way, but not this way.’ [Chuckles]

It is very good. Although it is very simple statement, it contains a lot; this idea of ‘It has to be my way’ or ‘I saw Ananta; we saw he sat in front of his Master’s chair [Guruji Mooji’s chair] and just something happened there on the hot seat. It should have been that way. What is all this business about oranges?’ [Chuckles] [Referring to an inquiry question Ananta had posed earlier involving oranges]

[Reading from chat]: “How to break this mental bond with the physical body as ‘I’?”

In you one moment of notion-less it is broken.

All that is false relies on a concept.

And this is why this sort of Satsang can be a struggle for many of us because there is nothing that you can actually grasp at. And we are used to learning by grasping in this way. Now you are getting used to something which is, in a way, the product of letting go and not grasping. All that you hold true, all that you think is valid, is being put into question. At all the various seeming layers of your existence (this apparent world, at level of your imagination, at your thoughts, at your emotions, at your intellect) in all of these layers, we have interpreted and made ourself believe that we are this entity called the ‘ego.’

So, as all of our beliefs, all our knowledge, seeming knowledge about each of these layers is being punctured, where will the ego stand?

And the good news is that even if it feels like you have not gone all the way or it is not clear (even these are just ideas, of course) at least there is very little room here to pick up any non-sense ideas. It might be posing as if it is ‘All the way.’ We might have an idea of ‘All the way’ but that idea is never ‘All the way.’ It is still ‘my way.’

Q: My ‘brother’ just was talking and as he was talking, you were talking back to him. And I’m like ‘Damn, Father says the same things to us every day every day. Every day!’ And I personally know …, I was riding my bike the other day and I know I had this moment. […] I was on my bike and I was having a really good day [Smiles] and I was just feeling alive. The sun was out and I was thinking about you guys and you, Father and I was just feeling good. And then I had this feeling that ‘I am the lights on. I’m the lights on’ like ‘I am life.’ I just had in my mind ‘I’m the lights on.’ So, regardless of everything that comes on, ‘I am the lights on’. Does that make sense?  Like I’m that. And actually, I know that I am life. I know that I’m no thought, at all. Somehow that is established in that. And I see all of us know that; I see all of us know that. I mean, I have beautiful moments. I even wrote a song. I write (I mentioned that last time) and the lyrics are: ‘It’s a celebration, no condemnation, no condemnation, no-ooo condemnation.’ So I’ve been saying that I’m knowing that I am Grace. I have these times where I’m just totally free. I know we all do. But then we get caught up.

A: You have to sing this whole thing for us before we continue. [Sangha Laughs] You sing this whole thing. It’s very nice. [Laughs]

Q: I sang.

A: [Laughs] Okay. Sing again. Let’s listen again.

Q: That’s like a little mantra song that I write. You know, I will one day. I would love to. I’ve been wanting to but I didn’t know if it was egotistical. [Chuckles] I question everything because I want to do every thing the right way. I know we all do.

What needs to happen? What needs to happen? Because we know the Truth. Do we need to just stand firm, sit on your lap, keep quiet, read the bible, listen to the Astral …, [Laughs] what? Something needs to happen; I don’t know. But right now I feel good and I know feelings are just visitors. I know that. I know I’m ‘the lights on.’ So, why do these times come where it’s not so established, it’s not so…? I don’t know. But then again, I just be like ‘Oh, throw it away! It’s just that simple. No stick; throw it away.’ [Laughs] And then sometimes it will just come up and it’ll be so strong and I start thinking about the past and beat myself up about something. ‘I passed the homeless guy. Maybe I should have gave him the quarters in my pocket.’ You know?’ [Laughs]  Just so much. And I just be like ‘Throw it away.’ Is that too much of the past? So, that’s it. I want to be quiet now.

A: He is very good. I have always enjoyed hearing your report very much. It brings great joy; not just to me (the mic was off here) but everybody here is smiling and happy to hear you, my dear. This is very good [Chuckles] And we needed that today (maybe, in a way). Laughs]  This is very good.

So, the main thing I understood from this is that: What needs to happen? And I feel like you know the answer but it’s good to hear it fresh every time because (as you said) I’m just saying the same things everyday. [Chuckles] So, what needs to happen is:

One moment of your Existence without any interpretation. And that is Now.

And what needs to happen Now? … is one moment of your Existence without any interpretation.

Which is Now.

And what needs to happen Now? … is one moment of your Existence without interpretation.

Which is Now.

Now, what gets to us is that sometimes there are moments that interpretation is believed. Something happens, you believe in idea about yourself, you believe in your limitation, in your constriction. Now, what needs to happen then?

It is exactly the same. It is not the post-mortem, it is not the guilt, it is not the unworthiness. But what needs to happen then … is one moment of your Existence without your interpretation.

Now, mind has many interpretations about this. Like it could say ‘This is too simple’ or ‘Is that it? … But what about something special? … But what about fireworks? …But why do I keep going back and forth?’

And in all of this, the only thing that ever needs to happen is … one moment of your Existence without interpretation.

It is just that straightforward. It is just that straightforward.

And that moment always can only be Now.

Now this answer many times is not satisfying to the mind. Like ‘Tell me what to do? Do I need to constantly be in self-inquiry? Do I need to be physically there in Satsang? What is it? What? What? What? … How is it?’ But with full integrity, I am telling you that this is the only answer:

If something needs to happen it is only this: that you leave this moment completely unjudged.

Q: Your wisdom blows me. Because you start off by saying ‘You probably already know.’ And I do! [Laughs] That’s … Yeah… What… I don’t want to stretch this out. But why do I need to still get the confirmation? Why can’t it just be like: What is Now, Now, Now. And I tell myself that, but the establishment in that …, I need to hear it from Father. You know? That’s how I’m feeling, like I need to read it somewhere, I need to get it, I can’t …, I don’t feel like I’m my own Guru.

A: Yes. So, just like this (as it unfolded that the body became so intimate to you that you might call it you) some words are arising from that body which is saying ‘What needs to happen?’ and all of that. You have to also leave that moment unjudged, uninterrupted. Because otherwise, this duality gets a hold; like these kinds of questions.

Every ‘why’ question is not actually a ‘why’ question. It is fundamentally only a confusion about who we are. And when you say ‘Why do I still need confirmation from Father?’ you are still making a separation between you and me. But as you leave it unjudged, no matter what’s appearing in this movie, no matter how the waves are flowing, as we leave it unjudged, uninterrupted, not judging yourself like ‘Why am I still like this? When will this be over?’ then you See you were still coming back to that duality that ‘I am this object.’

So, it is like this. These are the trump cards that the mind will use, these judgments, its interpretations of what is happening. So, in this play, in this game, you are playing in this way that the Oneness is being recognized so naturally in that moment of un-interpretation, non-judgment. But the mind seems to bring up what it knows is the trump card. It will say ‘Why do you still need Father? Why can’t you be on your own?’

Now, what have you made yourself to be in that judgment? You have again made yourself to be the one with birth and death, one with limitations; just that body, isn’t it? But in the moment where you are empty of any interpretation, what are you? Are you just this body? (You don’t have to answer that [Smiles] because that would be a judgment.) But you will see that at least that limitation is not there. That limitation is not there and that is the important thing; that is the pristine Truth.

You can say something.

Q: I have nothing to say. I’m satisfied. Well, I have nothing to say. [Laughs] I don’t even want to say ‘I’m satisfied’ just …

A: Very good, very good. All that I am actually saying is this: Just leave this alone. Just don’t interpret, don’t judge, don’t bring any knowing into this. Because it’s all false. It only inserts duality where there is none.

I read something beautiful yesterday (I will post it maybe today) which said ‘Anytime you go hunting for duality, anytime you truly go hunting for duality, the results are bound to startle you.’ [Smiles] The results are bound to startle you. Because first you start discovering ‘Oh, I have been so caught up in this stuff? I thought I’m so spiritual for so many years but this is still here and this is still here. What have I achieved?’ It can feel frustrating in that way, also. So, although that might come out as if you are angry with the Master or something, much of it is just this not being happy with yourself because you feel like ‘I have been in spirituality for so long but I am still so attached to relationship, to money, to body, to the concept of finding my freedom. All these attachments are still there.’

So, this happens. Then you see that as you start hunting down notions of duality (everything that has opposites, we start hunting them down) we feel like ‘Ah, maybe I’ll just have a beautiful life. Maybe I’ll just have a beautiful life; it will be so nice. I will wake up smiling. I will just spend time with my family and just go back to sleep.’

But when you start hunting down duality, you realize that:

Time is duality.

Space is duality.

Cause and effect is duality.

Everything is duality.

This world is duality.

Truth and un-truth is duality.

Self and no-self is duality.

Being and not-being is duality.

Awareness, Consciousness, person, Presence; all is duality.

Where will you stop?

Everything is gone.

We discover that the concept of freedom is false, because the concept of bondage is false.

We discover that the concept of truth is false, because the concept of false is false.

That is what Guruji [Sri Mooji] means when he says ‘Nothing, nothing, nothing.’

And what do we do? We make a shrine to the ‘nothing’. [Smiles] Guruji says ‘Nothing, nothing, nothing.’ [And we’re like]: ‘Ah, but this is good. This is something now!’ … ‘Nothing, nothing, nothing’ is now something. [Chuckles] This is the thing. How to express this? Because everything that can be expressed, you make a shrine to that. [Smiles] So, ‘nothing’ is literally nothing …, even empty of even itself.

There’s nowhere to hang your ego on; nowhere to hang your ideas on. Because the substratum of time and space, cause and effect; all of this you have seen through. And you just started this as an innocent journey. ‘Oh, I’m just going to clean up all the notions; just going to clean up all the notions.’ [Then]: ‘Hey, what do you mean, there is no time?’ [Smiles] And the Master says ‘There is neither time or no-time.’ [And you’re like]: ‘What are you saying?!’ [Chuckles] Imagine you are a student sitting around Shankara and Shankara is saying ‘Maya; it neither exists nor does it not exist.’ At least there was no Facebook messenger in those days. [Laughs and laughter in the room]

If you were to ask me ‘Who are you worried about more, the ones who are frustrated or the ones who are not frustrated?’ …, I couldn’t give you an answer.

What is actually frustration? And I know when you’re frustrated, that’s the last thing you want to look at. It’s like ‘Can you leave me alone with my frustration and can we not look at what is frustration?’ [Chuckling] Isn’t it? And you don’t want to look. ‘Just let me be frustrated. At least leave my frustration alone. Why do I have to look at it?’ [Laughing]

But what is it actually? It is just that we thought we knew something and now that ‘knowing’ is meaningless. And we’ve gone through this many times in life without getting frustrated. Why? Because a greater seeming-knowing was offered to you. You were told ‘Hey, that is a lie, but here, this is the Truth.’ Now what is happening is that everything that you think you know, you are now being told ‘No, that is meaningless, pointless.’ Sometimes I even call it rubbish or garbage; something like that. So, what do I have in return? I can’t even tell you. That can be very frustrating. ‘Okay, now you’re telling me what I’m holding is garbage but you’re not even telling me that I’m going to get something good in return.’ Because although it might seem like I can present concepts to you which are greater concepts, ultimately even they are garbage.

Let’s take an example. If I say ‘The truth cannot be spoken about’ you say ‘Ah, that’s very good; the truth can’t be spoken about.’ So, what did I just do there then? In saying ‘The truth cannot be spoken about’ what did I speak about?

Q: The truth.

A: See? Isn’t it? It can be, at best, a pointer. That’s why in Satsang, all the Sages don’t tire of saying ‘These are pointers, don’t hang onto them for themselves.’ They are like provisional truths or temporary lies that you believe for a while to get to emptying your basket fully. So, whether you call it the thorn, whether you call it the stick, whether you call it the sheep dog, all of these are the provisional statements being spoken so that you can come to this complete dropping of this conceptual framework which you think is true.

So, everything spoken in satsang is just provisional. The Masters is not expecting that you become a master of these words. He’s expecting that somewhere these words work (what I was calling it the other day?) like a cleaning solution but not to build a temple to the cleaning solution. Like what happens is we then we start to idolize this Harpic? [A cleaning solution] That is not the idea.

That is what is frustrating many of you because you’re feeling like ‘But I know this. I’m sure I know this. This is definitely true’ while at the same time buying dualistic concepts about it, like, ‘I definitely know the Truth but the Truth cannot be known.’ We are filled with this stuff. And I’m just prodding for the dropping of all of this.

You may not be liking this examination. And what is the struggle? Many of you have said ‘How can I live like that? How can I live like that?’ In this statement itself is the biggest lie; the lie that you have been living in a certain way according to what you have decided …, as if you know how to live. This itself is a big lie. When you’re being asked to throw away everything you know, the struggle is ‘But it’s not possible to live like that.’ But we don’t know how to live; nobody knows. The philosophers haven’t been able to solve it for tens of thousands of years. How to live? Nobody knows.

Maybe it’s too soon for jokes but also sometimes I want to say ‘Oh, we’ve done such a fabulous job so far, have we?’ [Chuckles and pretends] ‘How am I going to live now?’ …, like so far, it’s been A1. [Chuckles] So, if our knowing how to live has not been that super-fantastic (let’s admit it) then why not give this a chance?

All of this is just resistance to not-knowing; just the mind’s fight back. Guruji [MoojiBaba] says ‘Don’t make tattoos out of my words.’ I’m saying the same thing, that everything that you hear, even in Satsang, the words in themselves are not the ultimate Truth. At best, they are these devices, provisional devices, that are being used to point you to something beyond them. But every concept is troublesome including ‘beyond.’ There is nothing which is ‘beyond’ which is not Here. This is the struggle with language. So, as we transcend that which is false, you will see that this Truth has been so naturally present. No tattoos, no monuments, no idolizing …, because no words are fundamentally true, inherently true.

Just like everything else in the world; like Guruji says ‘Nothing in the world has inherent meaning.’ Then (I don’t know how to say this) if nothing in the world has inherent meaning then the term ‘meaning’ itself doesn’t have meaning. We can forget about it. It’s not like you come from an idea of meaningful-ness to an idea of meaningless-ness, because that can seem like a sort of nihilism; but there is no such thing as ‘meaning.’ So, it’s not that there could have been meaning but it’s empty of that meaning. It is just that there is no such thing as ‘meaning’ …, so that doesn’t even allow you to get into any sort of meaningless-ness. Even this idea that ‘Life is meaningless’ is a fraud.

Just wobble and float, wobble and float, wobble and float, wobble and float; don’t settle for anything. See where that goes.

Q: Can you explain?

A: Yes, yes, in the sense that Guruji says ‘Nothing in the world has inherent meaning.’ If you take that ‘Nothing inherently has any meaning’ that doesn’t mean it is meaningless. It only means that the term ‘meaning’ actually itself is meaningless. Like ‘meaning’ doesn’t mean anything because nothing has meaning anyway. So, what does it apply to? You see, if nothing has the meaning then what does it apply to? Nothing. This is the thing, that without meaning, our ego cannot survive. Now, it also makes meaning out of it by saying [shaking his head] ‘Oh, it’s so meaningless, so pointless.’ But that is also meaning that you’re giving. If it’s meaningless, then it should be empty of that meaning.

So, these terms like ‘knowing, like ‘meaning’ they don’t actually mean anything. Like ‘knowing’ doesn’t know anything, ‘meaning’ doesn’t mean anything. Now, empty of this you feel like you’re going to collapse. ‘What is life? I lost all my meaning.’ Some people play like that. But you haven’t, because you still feel like you know that, that ‘I lost my meaning.’

Can we get emptier than that? And what to do to get emptier than that?

[Clicks his fingers]: It has happened Now.

[Clicks his fingers]: It has happened Now.

It has happened, okay?

It has happened.

[Laughing and someone in the sangha starts laughing then many start laughing]

No matter what is was, it is not Here.

You see?

In the freshness of Now … [Makes a gesture of nothing].

Now, if I say ‘What is troubling you?’ don’t take a second and tell me; don’t take a second and tell me: what is naturally here which is troubling you? You couldn’t do it. [Points to a sangha member laughing] You’re still taking a minute.

You see, it is not possible. It is not possible otherwise, I would be a fraud and speaking nonsense. If this was not true then naturally what is originally your nature Itself is burdened, Itself has some natural conceptual meaning that still remains, then I don’t know anything, then I’m just talking rubbish and please stop coming to Satsang, all of you.

But I’m fully, fully Here in this emptiness to See that none of our conceptual garbage makes it through this moment. In this moment … [Snaps his fingers] … it doesn’t make it, so it is dead. But it gets a lease of life again. [Makes a gesture of something floating by which you give assent to] And this only pokes what you think is important to you.

There is a deck of suffering, it has four different types of cards. You know it, these four different types of cards you know: relationship, security, body, freedom. Now, the mind has only these four types of cards and it always plays the same cards. That’s it. That’s all. Everything that you think you know is actually a misery card. You might feel like it’s a ‘get out of jail free card.’ You might feel like it’s a ‘get out of jail free’ card but it’s actually a misery card. ‘I know I’m this’ … ‘I know this relationship is this’ … ‘I know this money should be like this’ … ‘I know this body should not be like this or like that’ … ‘I know I’m finding my freedom’ or ‘Why am I not finding my freedom?’ It’s all hell.

But the good news is that heaven is Here Now.

Heaven is nothing but being empty of all of this.

A: So, let’s go back to that Zen koan where there is a goose who is stuck in a vase. There is a goose who is stuck in the vase. Now because everyone cares for it, they feed it from the top. It is too big to come out. But the more it is being fed the bigger it is getting and if it gets any bigger it will die because it will be squeezed. If it is not fed it will die. And the vase is priceless, it cannot be broken. So, how would you bring the goose out? The top of the vase is too small, you can’t pull it out. Your job is to take this one out. How will you do it?

First you can think about why it is not possible. What are those things which make it not possible?

Q: You can say ‘Take the goose out of the vase.’

A: Yes, I accept that answer.

Q: The impossibility is in the thought.

A: The impossibility is in the thought. Now, when you say ‘I take it out.’ That’s it? What happened to the impossibility?

Q: There is no impossibility. [Laughs]

A: There is no impossibility. So, is there now a possibility? Did the impossibility get replaced with possibility?
Q: There is no possibility, no impossibility. [Laughs and everyone laughs]

A: She says there is no possibility; there is no impossibility.

[Reading from chat]: “I just have to leave all the concepts aside.”

A: Ah, you see? Not even that, because even that is a concept. It has to be more primal, just like ‘Ah!’ [Makes a quick hand movement] Something… Not like ‘Ah, now I see what I have to do, I have to leave something aside’ because then future, past, time can all come in. Just something more. [Snapping fingers] Not even this.

Q: Father, I just felt the contraction of the koan. I felt that everything was in that thought.

A: Yes, exactly. All that contracts was within that thought, within the limitation that the thought places on us.

Q: I was playing the role of the one who tried to resolve the problem.

A: Yes, so we give it to the intellect and say ‘Now, if I do this…’ and ‘How do I do that?’ You see? So, it cannot be solved. People have tried to solve it for thousands of years and not succeeded; with this same koan. Not in that way. [Points to his head meaning intellectually] The same koan.

Q: And it is very freeing because it leads to a place where I can hear myself saying ‘I (as the seeker) I don’t know.’

Shall we play a game? Just play it like children, okay? Just innocently. Because if you make it complex then it will become complex.

What is an orange?
What is an orange?

[Sangha]: Fruit.

A: And an orange; what is an orange?

[Sangha]: Juicy fruit.

[Sangha]: Orange color.

[Sangha]: Round.

[Sangha]: Sour.

[Sangha]: Sweet.

[Sangha]: Acidic.

A: So, just innocently. see if you can observe the space where these answers come from.

This, if you want to call it something for now, we call it the mind. This space where there is some storehouse of knowledge and from there a concept about it can come. So, this is (let’s call it for now) the mind.

Now, what is two oranges plus two oranges?

[Sangha]: 4 oranges.

A: Okay. So, four is the answer. So, four comes from (let’s call this space where this answer is) reasoning or intellect; this ability to apply a principle, apply some sense of reasoning and therefore, a resultant answer comes. So, let’s for now, just call it the intellect. (You can stay with this for a bit)

Now, go to that space where you can visualize an orange becoming larger and larger and larger so that it’s as big as the world. So, let’s call this space the space of imagination.

So, we saw that there’s a conceptual storehouse of information which has ‘orange’ as a juicy fruit (it is good, it is bad, it is round, it is whatever). That is the mind.

Then we asked what is two oranges plus another two oranges; the answer came four. Now, some of you visualized two oranges and two oranges, so used your imagination and counted the result and some of you just knew intellectually that 2+2 is 4. This is using the reasoning, intellect.

Then you saw that there is another power or space (whatever you call it) within Consciousness which is imagination. So, you can imagine something in this way.

Now, without visualizing (as much as possible, but don’t struggle with it; if visuals are coming, it’s coming, it’s fine) find that space where two oranges plus two oranges are no oranges AND are four oranges.

All the other layers will start complaining. Let them complain. The mind will say ‘This is nonsense.’ Everything else will complain. But see if you can find that place where two oranges plus two oranges are no oranges and there are four oranges …, that space where there is no orange, one orange, two oranges, four, six, ten, a thousand …., it makes no difference. They are all as true or untrue as answers.

So, now you can answer it: How is it that you can add two oranges to two oranges and make no oranges. Can you?

What I’m saying, to the mind it is completely absurd. That’s why I said you have to be like little children. Say what you were saying, my dear.

Q: There were no oranges at all in the first place.

A: There were no oranges, but now there were two and two and they made none.

How to do it? The mind has no notion like this so it can’t go there. Your intellect, this is against all the reasoning that you have so it can’t go there. Imagination is also used for this, imagination can conjure up some visualization like that, but don’t go there also.

Is there something else in you, where this is not a contradiction?

Q:  I read something this morning which says ‘Ego doesn’t know anything. Knowledge is Being. Ego doesn’t have any Being.’

A: Yes, yes, yes. It’s just an imagined construct.

Now I’m saying we add two oranges to two oranges and somewhere it is as true that there are no oranges as there are four.

[Looks at someone in the sangha who returned to Satsang after a few months. Pretending that she is thinking this, Ananta says]: ‘Did I come back for this?’ [Laughs] Special surprise just for you.

[She replies]: Thank you.

A: You can’t give it to your intellect because you won’t be able solve it intellectually. Your mind will just resist this kind of thing. Or even if it is saying ‘Oh, this is very good, it is really nice’ it is just another form of distraction.

Where is that where both answers are as true or as false? [Silence]

It can feel a bit stuck because on one side I’m asking you to contemplate something like this so, there’s a sense that ‘There must be something to it.’ And from the other side, the mind is saying ‘What!? Is he losing his marbles or what?!’ Then you’re a bit stuck. But there is something (it’s not a ‘thing’) …, I’m going to say ‘something somewhere’ but it is not in time and space [that you will find] where both ‘four oranges’ and ‘no oranges’ are true …, or at least equally true or false. You can’t figure it out and you can’t visualize it and you have no knowledge that confirms this. Where will you go? Where to look?

Q: What it means to me …

A: No, that’s not the direction. It’s very, very innocent; like an orange, like the fruit that you eat.

Q: But sort of letting go of my naming of the oranges…

A: Ah! Yes, yes, yes.

Q: … my labeling the oranges, how it can affect me? In that dropping, what’s counting the oranges. You know?

A: Okay, that which labels the orange, that which counts the orange, both are kept aside. Then?

This is good. This is good.

Q: I can’t totally keep it aside.

A: Okay, it’s okay. Maybe not keep it aside but don’t give it so much value.

Q: [Inaudible]

A: When I was saying initially that’s is not the direction I was feeling (because you said ‘What it means to me’ in the sense of ‘What memories do I have about oranges?’) you know? Not this kind of thing. But I know what you are saying now, which is good.

You’re saying that you have the label ‘orange ‘which comes from the mind, you have these visuals, these ideas; you have also ideas of what it means to add or remove.

Q: Yes. That’s more central, actually.

A: Yes, very central. Like what does it mean to add or remove? And from where are these ideas?

Q: And there is that space that can imagine this.

A: So, this example, as simple as it might sound, confronts very, very fundamental ideas; fundamental even for what we considered truth.

Q2: The need to conclude.

A: The need to conclude, yes. The need to conclude with ‘a truth’ …, with something which is valid. But I’m inviting you to find that space where you can add two oranges to two oranges and there are no oranges … is as true as … there are four or there are ten, or there are a thousand or anything. I don’t want to give too many examples like this because it will become imagination; you will just visualize it.

All our ideas of right and wrong,

good and bad,

up and down,

time and space,

cause and effect,

do they apply to the Reality of You?

And if they do not apply to the Reality of You,

for whom do they actually apply?

Who is in time?

Who is in space?

For whom is there is a past?

For whom will there be a future?

For whom is there even Being and not-Being?

For whom is there a Self?

Who is aware of Awareness?

And if all of these things do not mean anything to the Reality of You.

How is it that they seem to bind us?

Who is even bound or free?

Who is doing or not-doing?

What does any of these actually mean?

And what do you really know?

What is beyond the ideas of duality and non-duality?

What is beyond one or many,

same or different,

true or false?

What makes Truth true?