BOOKS BY ANANTA Welcome to Satsang with Ananta

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.

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.

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.

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.

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’s 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.’

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 two, verse twenty, 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]

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.

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, ‘Samara 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 samara, 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]

[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.

[Reading from chat]: “How to expand the moment and rmain 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.

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.

Q: Is timeless existence is 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 in the ultimate reality) even your existence is an illusion. Ultimately, even your existence is an illusion.

Why? Because our definition [of Real] is like that. What did we call that which is Real? That which is the eternal unchanging.

And yet, even our existence comes and goes. [Every night in deep sleep] Ultimately, you must not be in too much of a rush to say these kinds of things. When you can truly say ‘Whether it is waking state or sleep state, it makes no difference to the Reality of what I Am’ and if the slaps that we get in our waking state are nothing 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 kinds of things, life has this beautiful way of testing them. [Smile] It is very easy to say conceptually ‘Ah, yes, even this Existence, Consciousness, Being is illusion for Me.’ [Smiles] And then two or three things happen in this existence and then we go [makes wild motion with his hands] [Chuckles]

So, if it is our insight, it is very beautiful.

Stay with this inner silence of this insight.

And if it is not your insight, forget about it.

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?

Q: [Looking into Ananta’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? All there left to do is (like you said today)…

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]

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?

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.

[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.

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.

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]

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.