BOOKS BY ANANTA Welcome to Satsang with Ananta

[Reads the question]: “I am afraid that I cannot remain as ‘I Am’ after all the actions that happen through this body. It is like a leap of consciousness that is too big for the state of consciousness in which I live my life mostly. But I don’t feel these words to be true, Father. I cannot fathom how blessed I am to be in your company.”

A: That is why I say I have the best news. [Chuckles] Whatever might have happened, whatever you might have done…, in our minds we might be the biggest sinner ever, but we have never been forsaken.

God is Here.

And the good thing is that it is not even a leap of consciousness. It is just very natural Consciousness. Leap is the imagined one, which is the leap to limitation. The ocean pretending to be just a wave is too much of a leap to ever be real. For you to be the ocean is not a leap at all.

So, what can happen is that we might have this idea that we are looking at all of this through this limited lens. [Raises both hands and circles both eyes indicating lens] It might feel like ‘Oh, but that is too big.’ So, as we drop any mask, naturally You exist Right Now.

Existence is not possible for anyone but God. (Can we put it that way?)

You exist; therefore, you are God. (Sounds blasphemous almost.) [Chuckles]

Nothing exists but God. (Okay, let’s put it this way.)

Do you exist? Yes. I exist. It’s not a leap. It’s just a simple recognition of what is naturally present.

Then what can happen is: we discover that we are the ocean. Now, what happens is that just because one coconut has always been there, then we start to look at the movements of coconut and say ‘Why does the ocean behave like that?’ I don’t know if you have heard this visual; we used it very often in the retreat also: I say You are finding that You are the ocean. Now, on the surface of the ocean, there is one coconut floating, which is this body. Then you say ‘But why did the coconut go left? Why didn’t it go right? The coconut was told to go right but it still went left.’ [Chuckles]

You are finding that You are the ocean. This coconut body is just another appearance on Your surface. If you keep trying to fill the ocean in this coconut, then it can feel like so much confusion can come. ‘What do I do? It’s too confusing now. When I find myself, then I don’t know whether to go right or left.’ But you are finding that You are not this body; and You never have been. You are not the individual doer at all. And yet all doing, all actions, all activities naturally happen through this body. But if we have an expectation of how they have to turn out or what the meaning of the right way to live is, then it can seem like ‘Oh, this is starting to get very confusing.’ Because the ocean doesn’t conform to any idea. It is just naturally existing, and in Its Light, all bodies are naturally existing.

If we have an idea of where life should go or not go, then that is like trying to bottle up the ocean in the coconut; which we cannot do. That is why the great Sages…, there are many beautiful stories about them. They decide to go someplace but they start walking in the opposite direction. [Chuckles] ‘I don’t know. It’s just some intuitive voice telling me to go left.’ And you might feel like ’Oh, but there must be a beautiful end to that story’ but sometimes there just isn’t. [Chuckles] Have you heard the story of  (was it?) Yogiji, Yogi Ramsuratkumar, who just took his whole sangha and went to Chennai? [Asks audience; Was it Chennai?]  [Nobody replies. Laughter] So, he just took everyone to Chennai. (Okay, forgive me if it is the wrong story, but you get the idea.) He took entire sangha to Chennai and said ‘We are going there. We are just going to go.’ The minute he landed in Chennai, he said ‘No, we are going back.’ And everybody turned back. [Laughter] We can’t even have this idea that ‘Okay, there must be a particular reason. If he got to Chennai, he must have met somebody who needed his blessing or something.’ He was empty of that idea. He just reached there and then left. [Laughter]

So, life doesn’t have to make sense in that way. And this is the very difficult aspect to deal with because we have always tried to make sense; we have always tried to figure out the ‘why’ of it. ‘Why am I doing this? Why am I coming here? Why am I flying to India?’ All these various things have been there. But nobody has ever figured out the ‘why’ of anything. That’s why these days so often I have been saying ‘Why? Consciousness.’ Everything happens with the will of Consciousness. And why it is important? It’s a way to share this, that it’s Consciousness. [Laughter] But also, that if we drop these ideas that ‘Oh, life will make something greater; as we transcend the false, every action that I make will have some beautiful reason behind it.’ The only reason is: Consciousness. [Laughter]

So, this letting go of apparent control, letting go of having good reasons for everything, for  a while why it should be…, this can feel a bit unsteady. But as we let go and we start enjoying this movie with no idea why this current scene is here, why the next scene always turns out to be this way or that way, that’s what makes this movie more fun. Would you really go for a movie where every single thing is so straight-lined and logical, and the ‘whys’ are clear? There is no unpredictability in that. (I don’t know why am I saying all of this; it has nothing to do with the question.) [Laughter] (Maybe somewhere it does, I don’t know.)

Why? Consciousness. [Laughter]

[Re-reads the question]: “I am afraid that I cannot remain as ‘I Am’ after all the actions that happen through this body. It is like a leap of consciousness that is too big for the state of consciousness in which I live my life mostly. But I don’t feel these words to be true, Father. I cannot fathom how blessed I am to be in your company.”

That is why last thing I want to say about this is that: It is our starting point which has been misunderstood. And if our starting point is presumed, if you have a presumed starting point of being a person, then we have to invent a journey. Now, I am telling that your starting point is unlimited Consciousness Itself. This is Your starting point and it is true about You Now. From that perspective, nothing is too big, because no matter how big it might be, You are bigger than that.

Everything happens only because You Exist.

Therefore, You are the light of that.

It is not the light of You.

The starting point already is the destination.

All the leaps have been taken.

What are the two examples I gave? Suppose you had a very strong conditioning that you have to ‘get there’. And what is needed to get there? Suppose you had this very strong idea that ‘One thousand years of meditation I have to do to get there.’

So, I gave all of you the guarantee that you have already meditated for nine hundred and ninety-nine years, three hundred and sixty-four days, twenty-three hours, fifty-nine minutes and fifty-nine seconds.

And the fruit of all your meditation is available now.

It might sound like a trivial point that I am making.

There is story of Swami Vivekananda. Now Swami Vivekananda is one of the most well know Swamis to ever come from India. Swami Vivekananda, ever since he was born, he had some special (some supernatural) abilities. What would happen is he would close his eyes and he would always see blue light. But he never mentioned it to anyone until he was much older. Then, when he did mention it, people said ‘Why didn’t say this sooner?’ He said ‘I thought this was everybody’s experience.’ [Chuckles] This, because it was so common for him, was not a big deal.

This has happed to all of us. Because you have ‘just existed’ always, we feel like ‘What is the big deal in that?’ [Smiles] ‘There must be something more.’ Because we truly start to explore this Presence, this Existence, this Being-ness, this Is-ness.

You see the misunderstanding? …, which was the idea of limitation.

Then you see that the Sages were not kidding when they said ‘You are the boundless Ocean.’

Astavakra was not making it up when he said ‘You are the one solitary witness of all there is.’

Guruji [Sri Mooji] is not being nice to you when he says that ‘Your Presence is the holy Presence of the Lord Itself.’

Any sensation that you might be identifying with as yourself, can I not add one more sensation to the mix? Suppose you are looking at the body sensation, saying ‘This is mine.’ But in the same space in which the body sensation is happening, you are also experiencing the sensation of this voice.

Unlimited space…, all these sensations and perceptions are contained within You.

If it was not the voice of limitation of this mind, what is telling you that something is your boundary?

Nothing in your experience is defining a boundary for you. Just the interpretation of it.

You are the limitless Existence.

And don’t just take my word for it. Check for yourself.

My Existence, if it is limited, then I should be able to measure it; I should be able to tell you the size, the weight of my Existence.

And if all of us were a separate existence, each of us will be able to tell you what are the limits to my Existence.

In Tiruvanamalai [refers to recently concluded retreat] somebody said ‘Fireworks’ [Chuckles] and that evening, there were some fireworks. Somebody was getting married or something. [Chuckles] So, fireworks also came.

But notice how the mind will try to sell you a story that ‘Some sensation or some perception must be there; only then you must be free. You cannot be God, You cannot be Consciousness until that one type of sensation or perception is there.’

How plausible is this story? That for the Existence of God, there must be certain type of (quality of) sensation?

The other thing that can happen is that, as we are talking, we might be having a three-sided conversation. I am saying all this, and you are giving it to the mind and the mind is saying ‘No but…, but…, actually, all this is fine but it’s easier said than done.’ [Chuckles]. Then you find that. Then you are listening to what I have as a counter to that. And then you are waiting to see what the mind has as a counter to that.

If that is happening, then leave all this. Stay with your own insight about what you are finding about yourself. Use the words in Satsang as pointers. For example, when I say ‘You have no boundary’ don’t just pick up the concept that ‘Oh, I have no boundary.’ Then the mind will say ‘No, but, but, but…, when you were arguing with your mother yesterday, you seemed to have a boundary.’ [Chuckles]. Don’t make it a conceptual idea. Check:

Where is my boundary?

Do you have a boundary?

And as you check, you experience some sensations, and the mind will come and say ‘See, this is your boundary. You are contained in these sensations. These define your boundary.’ Explore the validity of these words.

Are these sensations containing me?

Or do I contain them?

Find out what is your true position.

I know that these kind of questions can shake up all that we have believed about ourself. And that is why they are important.

All that you will ever be, you already Are.

How many don’t like this idea? [Glances at audience. Nobody replies.] That’s good. Are you just humoring me? [Chuckles]. Then why am I speaking so much? [Laughter]

You Are That already…, That which is not an object, not a thing.

If You Are already all that you will ever be, what needs to happen now?

[Glances at audience]

Q: False notions should be dropped.

A: But Now, in this moment, they are dropped. Forgot? He said what needs to happen is that the false needs to drop. I have been giving all of you this good news that: All that is false cannot survive even this moment. So already gone.

False means: coming and going. False means that which cannot really survive the light of your Presence in this very moment. So, false is already gone. What is left now?

Do you have to hold onto a particular state?

Do you have to only be a certain way?

The problem is the opposite. The problem is: if you were to try and leave the Self. Then that would be a big problem. It is not in trying to find the Self: Can you leave yourself? Please. [Laughter] Please; for one minute. [Check for yourself]

So, Self is Here.

False is gone

Self is Here.

Now what needs to happen?

Now, the mind’s job is to come up with the doubt. So, it will say ‘but…’ (something). So, the path of surrender is to say ‘But… (whatever it is) but God is here.’

That is the path of the surrender. ‘But…, Guruji is here.’ or ‘But…, God is here.’ Whatever doubt that the mind might bring, You are the bigger answer.

And the path of the inquirer is to say ‘Is this true? Who am I?’ Mind comes and says ‘You are not there yet.’ Then the inquirer says ‘Who is this ‘I’ who is not there yet?’

Very simply, these are the two main paths. They can seem like very complicated or something. But actually, it is just this.

Mind says ’You are not there yet.’

You say ‘But that is Guruji’s problem.’

You have surrendered.

The mind says ‘But you are not there yet.’

You say ‘Who is this ‘I’ who is not there yet? …, and by the way, who is the one who is speaking.’ [Chuckles]

Either or both are ok.

Many feel like ‘Oh, the mind is my true voice.’ Have you ever made a phone call to yourself? Dialed your number and called yourself?

Why do you need a voice to speak to yourself?

So, in response to the mind’s doubts, if you were to ask ‘Who are you speaking to?’ or ‘Who is it who is speaking?’ Either question will do.

We have become so attached to perceptions and sensations that we are looking for the Self also as if we will find some new sensations, some new perceptions. But what you are finding is That which is aware of all of these and yet Itself is not the sensation; Itself is not a perception. It is beyond the play of attention.

Who is here right now?

Can the one that IS be just a sensation or perception?

Are You just a sensation or perception?

Are You an appearance?

You already know that you can’t be these things. And yet the mind can create this expectation that ‘A certain appearance has to happen and then I will be free; a certain sensation has to be experienced and then I will be free.’

We can’t produce the one that is bound. We only presume that one. So, we presume the false and we swear allegiance to that false. And we are in denial of the Truth, which just IS.

You just Are.

You Are.

You can’t rid yourself of this.

But the person never is.

Your idea about yourself is never Your Reality.

Suppose that you had to undertake a journey to find Freedom. And if you were told that the destination is where you already are, how would you undertake this journey?

It can sound a bit silly, I know. But, this is the story of all of us in a way. If all that was needed for Freedom was to see that you already are free (in fact, you are that which is beyond freedom and bondage) would that be good news or bad news?

I know most of you will say it is good news…, but sometimes the mind has this idea that ‘No, actually I feel it is bad news because I spent already twenty years doing it. And because I’ve already spent twenty years doing it, this makes it feel like a waste’ or something like this.

In business there is a term called ‘good money chasing bad money’. So, because twenty years have gone we will spend the next twenty years also saying ‘I will derive something out of the time which has been spent but I will not be open to the possibility that this bondage itself has been a wrongful notion; just an idea which has no place in Reality.

Now, when I ask you to check, nobody finds some bondage. But many times, what you don’t also find is what your idea of freedom is. That is where it can seem a bit unsatisfactory. ‘Yes, yes, it’s true, I don’t find bondage. But I don’t find anything. This can’t be freedom. I was promised the nectar of immortality.’

Now you are actually finding it. You are finding the immortal Being as you are meeting YourSelf. But you expected it to be dressed differently. You did not expect that the same old self, the same old Presence, the same old existence which has always been, is the immortal Being. You felt that something special has to happen to it. But this Being is already more than your mind can ever fathom. And therefore, to interpret it, to judge it is useless, is pointless.

[Silence]

So, to recognize it, to realize it, is just to meet YourSelf in this non-judgmental way; uninterpreted way. And you see that even the concept of meeting becomes invalid. Because how does the hand meet itself? It IS itself. You are Your Self. There is nothing missing in Your Self. There is nothing limited about Your Self.

The Absolute does not come and go. It is Your Reality. All your ideas about what self-realization should mean have also come. They are not actually present but they have also come. And they can go now. Because this Self which is beyond qualities and attributes will not match any notion you have about yourself.

So, there’s an easy way, and there’s a hard way.

The hard way is that you start by making any assumptions about yourself.

That becomes your starting point.

The easy way is just to remain empty of all assumptions.

What are you discovering about yourself Right Now?

I’ve been saying these days: just meet YourSelf.

And as you meet YourSelf, you will see the concept of ‘meet’ falls away.

And as most of you know by now, this Being, which is your Self, has a special hotline with me. [Chuckling] …, a special hotline with me. So, your Being has told me that It is always there. It is the Presence of the Lord Itself.

And this is such good news!

[Coughs and drinks water] I can’t wait for my throat to get better before I share it; I have to share it now. [Smiles]

But if you make an assumption about your Being, if you make an interpretation about your Being, it will seem like it is limited, like it is the ego, it personal, it has duration, it has limitation.

But what’s the best news?  The best news is that even if you made millions of interpretations, assumptions, about your Self, they are all gone Right Now, in this moment. Your God Presence is fully Here.

[Silence]

So, are you meeting YourSelf? …, empty of judgment, empty of time; of notions of past and future?

You Are.

But how you subtitle this movie might be something else. Your interpretation of your meeting does not take away from the purity of the meeting itself.

I’ve been saying these days: it’s simpler than sitting where your sitting right now. Just go and sit exactly where you’re sitting right now. Did it? [Chuckles]

Then you say ‘It’s not a doing.’ Yes. Because You Are That.

To Be, is even more effortless. But if you pick up a mask of some untruth about yourself, like ‘I am lost’ or ‘I have to get freedom’ …, for this one, when that one takes on the strategy ‘I’m just going to Be’ …, for that one it can seem very tough. Why?  Because that itself doesn’t exist. [Laughing] So, not only is it tough, it’s impossible.

So, when Guruji [Sri Mooji] says ‘Meet me naked’ he is speaking about this conceptual nakedness, empty of any judgment, any notion about yourself.

[Silence]

Embrace that which is the closest to you. What is most intimate? More intimate than your breath, more intimate than the sensations you call your body, more intimate than your emotions; so intimate that your concept of embracer and embraced…, the difference between them cannot be found.

And now, for the good news: You cannot leave This.

Now, if This is your starting point, where do you want to go; what do you want to get?

Now, Your Being has told me that it is unlimited Consciousness. [Smiles]

What are you finding out? Not what you are assuming; what are you finding?

Your Being is effortless.

If all that you can ‘be’ is Being, and the Being is effortless, then what is all the trying about? It’s not a riddle. You know what I mean?

You just Are. Effortlessly.

So, if you just Are effortlessly, with all your trying will you become one ounce more Being? [Chuckles]

With all your trying can you become one ounce less Being?

You Just Are.

[Silence]

I hope some of you can see what I am saying. No movement is needed. And this is not effort.

I was sharing in the retreat that effort would imply that, some energy has to be consumed. Now to Exist is just natural. It is the presumption, the idea that we superimpose on top of this Existence, which is effort.

Now, if your reaction is ‘Is this it?’ then either you are making a limited picture out of ‘it’. Or you have mistaken notion of what it should be like. Because what you are discovering is that which all the great Sages have discovered: The One Self.

Okay, the effortless part everyone agrees with? I exist effortlessly? [Audience nods]

What about it does not come and go? I cannot turn it off and on? You try to stop Being? Could you? You just Are.

Then you See that all perceptions, all sensations, are perceived in the light of your Existence. Without you, could you perceive a sun? You can say that everything shines in the sun’s light, but the sun shines in whose light? You have to be there to perceive the sun.

This light of your Existence…, what lights up this?

Maybe to have a bad throat is a very good opportunity to explain, in as short a way as possible, what I’m conveying to all of you.

As you meet YourSelf now, the concept of meeting falls away and all that is found is YourSelf. Now, whether you call it Good, Guru, Self, the Absolute, the dynamic aspect, it really doesn’t matter. It is Your Self.

But if you superimpose a judgment, an interpretation on it then it can only play as if it is limited. The notion makes it seem like Your Being Itself is notional. This is called the ego.

But the good news is that even if you have identified with it, if you have superimposed a notion on Your own Being, in every moment You are completely fresh. The Self is fully available Right Here, Right Now.

You are the Self. And once you identify with your own thought creations, you play with the mask of individuality. To recognize this is Self-Recognition.

Within YourSelf, within Your Being, all things arise and disappear. Your Being naturally is not in opposition to anything at all. Because all that appears is only shining in Your own light.

The Seeing of this doesn’t need any particular special circumstances. Wherever you might feel that you are, Your Self is there.

Once you pick up the primary notion ‘I am something’ then it can feel like you can fill this something with millions of other ideas (‘This way or that way, I want this, I don’t want this, I like this, I don’t like this, I want to be this way, I don’t want to be this way, you should be this way, you should be that way’) only if you pick up the notion of somethingness about YourSelf.

But the best, best news is that this ‘something’ notion is gone now. This is the gift of the Present; Your own Presence, empty of all ideas about Itself.

Here it doesn’t matter if you feel like you have made lots of mistakes or you feel you have led a very pure life. The Truth is fully available for all Beings, because all Beings are only the Truth. The false has only been a mask. And all masks fall away in the light of the Present.

Now, it might sound funny to you when I say it but all efforts, all attempts that we are making in spirituality are to get rid of this egoic idea of ‘something-ness’. But actually, it is already gone, Right Now. Nobody can produce this ‘something’ in the Present; only from ideas of past and future.

So, why does it seem so sticky, this ‘something’ notion? Only because we are so invested in this idea of our ego that we want God while continuing to be a person. We want to be that special person who for himself or herself has come to the ultimate discovery.

You want to swing with a chain around your legs. Like I say, it’s like trying to carry the ‘monkey me’ on your back while you cross the portal of Existence. Nobody has done this and nobody can do it.

Q: Can you speak to this subject of purpose?

A:  It was question which was very alive here as well. I don’t want to get into too much of the story but there was a point where it really started poking here. ‘What I am doing here? Why I am here? What’s my purpose?’

Through some sort of Grace, I realized that I truly cannot answer this question till first I am clear about who this ‘I’ is in the first place. So, till we have clarity about what is it that we are referring to as ‘me’ or as ‘I’ then it is trying to figure out the road-map of something that we can’t find. What road should this one travel, when we can’t even find this one? This man at the door; should he come into the room or should he go out? You will say ‘What man at the door?’

So, I know that this presumption that ‘I know what I am, I must be this body/mind and therefore where do I decide to keep this body mind? What should I do with it next?’ …, it can seem alive at some point in our life. It was alive here also. But I can only speak from what has been experienced here, and I saw that I was just shooting in the dark till I came to clarity about what this ‘I’ really was. We were trying to find the destination for this ghost-like ‘I’ which is seemingly very difficult.

Through Satguru’s Grace, I just saw that most importantly, before ‘What should I do? What is my purpose of being here?’ that I need to be clear about what this ‘me’ is in the first place.

It doesn’t have to be the same way for everyone. I can just share based on what was here.

Q: What I really want to say is that it seems like that breath of the Self is moved and felt in the body. But also, it’s pervading everything else as well. And I was wondering if you could speak to this at all.

A: It’s a very good report. This is all that I have been speaking of. I was saying that this ‘something’ notion that ‘I am a limited entity’ relies a lot on the circumstantial evidence of the feeling of intimacy of the sensations that we call the body. So, the mind relies on these sensations and says ‘You must be this, because look at this how intimate this is.’ But actually, we are discovering a greater spaciousness about Your Being which already includes All There Is. And you are saying that although the sensations might seem very intimate that actually they are just perceptions; as is everything else that is here.

And then, in this, we find that it doesn’t become easy now to constrict yourself, to limit yourself, as if you are something contained in this bucket of flesh and blood. You find that I Am that Being which pervades all things, even though it is beyond all things.

So, what I hear from your report is that as you are contemplating on the book with your own insight, you are coming to own recognition of these things. And as you are discovering your own inner spaciousness, you will find that no energy, no constriction, no collections of the strongest energies in the world is bigger or stronger than You. You’ll find that You have infinite space for all of this to come. Nothing really constraints You.

So, all my best wishes and blessings for your beautiful contemplations, as they are. And you are always welcome to come and clarify these things here.

A: [Replying to question about ‘perfect imperfections’] So, what really you are saying is that if you move away from the concept of perfection itself, then ‘What Is’ just Is.

This Is-ness is all inclusive. Everything just Is (without interpretation).

At one level we can say that all is perfect, including the imperfections. But even that then is meaningless. What it really means is that ‘What Is just IS’. And this implies that in ‘What Is’ (unless we interpret) there is no trouble about anything. Even the phenomenal trouble. (There is no real trouble.)

[Silence]

When we don’t have an idea of how things should be, everything Is just as It Is.

And you can call that perfect…, which includes all the imperfections. And in this you find that all is shining in the light of Existence, shining in the light of Consciousness. Everything is made up of that very same light. This Consciousness is All There Is, even in this play of perfections and imperfections.

Even in such a beautiful, silent environment, it can seem like it is imperfect because all these ambulance sounds are there. [Points to noise from outside] But it Is just what it Is. Everything in the phenomenal world is like this. There is no 100% of anything.

Q: [Inaudible]

A: Every dish has some spice, which we can call ‘the imperfections’.

As You are meeting YourSelf in this way, You are meeting the Truth; Your Shiva nature.

But remember what I said the other day? As soon as you interpret it, it will seem like it is limited or personal. As soon as we judge it, it will seem like it was a limited entity. That is all that is going on.
Meet YourSelf naked of all interpretation. This is Your notion-less Existence. You’re not fighting anything. In this simple openness, all things are coming and going. You don’t have to get to any state. And because you are not trying to get to any state, nothing can get in your way.

[Silence]

What are some of our most favorite interpretations that we might buy?

It cannot be this simple.

[Someone says]: My way is right.

A: That’s an interpretation.

[Someone says]: What am I missing?

[Someone says]: Where are the fireworks?

[Someone says]: Does this mean I have got it now?

I’m making this list so that all of you can recognize them when they come, and know that they are just interpretations. So, when I’m saying the list that I’m going through, look.

[Someone says]: I don’t feel it.

[Someone says]: I haven’t dropped something yet.

A: But I never said to drop anything. [Smiles]

[Someone says]: I already know it. [Laughter]

[Someone says]: A label can also be an interpretation.

A: Yes, Yes, not needed here. Not the label of Awareness, not the label of Consciousness, no ‘Self’…, nothing. What I’m using is just pointing you to That, and then labels will be dropped.

[Someone says]: Un-label-able.

A: Un-label-able.

What you’re Seeing is fine. Now, if you were to bring your mind into it, you bring confusion into it. You said very beautifully that ‘I looked and I saw that there was nothing.’

‘I saw that there was nothing.’ This ‘I’ is what I’m asking about. The one that saw the nothing, Itself, was it something or nothing?

Q: Nothing.

A: Nothing. Then how is it ‘I’? Where does the ‘I’-ness come from? Can nothing have ‘I’-ness?

Therefore, it is No-thing and yet, It is I.

Impossible for the mind. [Chuckles and laughter in the room] Impossible. That’s why Guruji [Sri Mooji] says it’s a mind-bypass. Because the mind cannot fathom a No-thing ‘I’…, it can only fathom a ‘something’.

Meet YourSelf. And don’t say anything about anything.

[Silence]

No notions are needed about anything. You don’t have to give me an answer. You don’t have to give yourself an answer. Let all interpretations come and go.

[Silence]

As long as it feels like it is easy to come to this conclusion, then come to this conclusion very easily. As long as it feels like ‘I can’t let these interpretations come and go’ then we need some form of instruction. Either surrender it or inquire into it, or meditate or chant; as long as it is needed, if it feels like interpretations are still for the Self. But for many of you, it is just so natural.

We are all here presumably to recognize ourselves, realize ourselves. What is the promise of the spiritual path? Self-Realization.

To meet this Self, where must we look? We have also been told that the Self does not come and go.

The Self does not come and go and it is also unchanging. These are beautiful clues. It does not come and go and it is unchanging. Now, what are you discovering about yourself? When you meet yourself …, many of you are still believing that there is something missing in this Self. But if it was there something missing in this Self then it would be the changing. It could not be the unchanging. If there were still somewhere to get to or something to happen to the Self for You to realize YourSelf then we would call it ‘the changing Self’ that gets better; every time you meditate, the Self gets better. But nobody says that because the Self is unchanging.

Now, meet YourSelf.  Meet YourSelf. The term ‘meet’ will drop away; the pointing ‘meet’ will drop away. Then you will see that there is just this Self.

What are you finding? What are you finding when you meet YourSelf?

Let’s make it a bit interactive: What are you finding?

[Someone says]: Nothing.

Let’s start with this ‘Nothing’.

When you meet YourSelf, you-something are meeting Nothing?

Nothing Is meeting Nothing?

So, is this Nothing that you are meeting aware or unaware?

[Someone says]: I cannot ascertain it.

As you meet this Self, what is left of you now?

You say ‘I meet the Self; nothing is left of me?’

True?

How many say this is true?

You are still there and you are meeting a Nothing.

[Many voices]

Everyone will have a different answer. I got you.

So, what is happening when I say: Meet YourSelf?

[Comments]: Just alone. Just is. It’s a vibration.

Yes, vibration. So, let’s say all that is vibrating, meet that One that is aware of it.

All that Is moving, all that is sensation, all that is hearing also.

Don’t exclude anything from your experience.

Meet that One that is aware of it.

Now, who is meeting who?

[Someone says]: You are It.

You are IT. You are IT.

So, are you nothing? Are you something?

This No-thing is neither nothing nor something. That is why for the mind it is completely confusing. ‘How do you call something which is No-thing you?’

‘I am meeting MySelf as nothing’ …, that means you are still there but not as a thing.

That’s why I say that This is that No-thing which Is the essence of all things.

It is not that essence-less nothing.

It is not that nothing which is like ‘What Is there on the empty table? Nothing.’

It’s not that nothing.

It is still You and It is aware.

A: [Repeats the question from questioner] Guruji [Sri Mooji] at one point he knew (when he was with Papaji) that ‘It is done.’ So, the question is?

Q: Very regular, very regular, unless we pick up something.

A: Can I just look at this presumption right now? Because even we say it often. But if it is said that it is regular because it is so here, so available. But this is the most powerful Being in the universe. What you are discovering, when you meet YourSelf, is the most powerful Being in the universe and beyond that. It is regular only in the sense of its availability.

Q: Of course, what comes and goes is not true. This experience is …, I am not talking about [inaudible] I am talking about that the peak interval when you said ‘You are not an object’ then I knew there was no God, there was really nothing’. I was like ‘wow’. I don’t want ‘wow’. I want just …

A: Sure? [Laughter]. So, the interpretation now is that ‘Where is the ‘wow’. Let that interpretation come and go. Meet YourSelf.  It can seem like this one is a special one. The most well-dressed notions can seem like ‘Oh, no, but this must apply’. We have already said the Truth is ever present and it is unchanging. Therefore what you are meeting now as YourSelf, it needs no change. Even the ‘wow’ or the ‘okay, okay’ is a coming and going. If what you say is true, that ‘I am not attached to the wow’ then this interpretation will not have meaning.

Q: Yes yes. Something comes to buy it. The seller …

A: This is this just this one. [Silence] It is completely ‘wow’ and it is completely regular at the same time. Because it is beyond all interpretation.

Q: [Laughing]

A: This is the point of Satsang.

Q: [Inaudible]

A: He says ‘Why do you have to look at me for me to crumble? Why can’t it just happen on its own.’ Then we have just built all of this Satsang Bhavan… [Refers to new satsang space] [Laughter] (I’m just kidding.)

It is happening on its own already. This perception which you are calling ‘Ananta’ outside of you is just an appearance within You. This is how you are playing with YourSelf at the moment.

Where am I right now?

I am in your Being.

Where do you need to go?

Q: [Inaudible]

A: This is our leela. This is your leela actually. [Laughter] The outward movement is just the leela of Consciousness. What happened to your Being in Reality?

I told Ophelia the other day that I promise I will take her all the way. I didn’t tell her that it’s so simple. [Laughter] Because to take her all the way, all that we need to drop is the notion of ‘all the way’. You are This, already. Now, where do you want to go?

Another Q: [Laughter]

Q: [Inaudible] Too much problems; we want to change the mind.

A: It’s all God itself. And wanting to change so much is also God. Everything; then we must include everything. It’s so beautiful that once we exclude everything, we come to recognition of this God which is everything…, and once you include everything, you come to recognition of this God which is everything.

So, [Nisargadatta] Maharaj said there are two paths: ‘pravritti’, which is to include everything, love everything, and include everything …, and ‘nivritti’ which is to go within and find out what is the Truth. But the conclusion of both is the same.

One Consciousness, one Truth, one God.

Q: Namaste. In deep sleep, there is only Awareness; Awareness aware of himself and also aware of no-thing. And in deep sleep, there is no world. When I wake up the world comes again. So, Awareness needs my body/mind to see the world, no?

A: Doesn’t need. But it plays ‘as if’. Awareness doesn’t need anything at all. When it plays with Its dynamic aspect, which is this sense of Existence, then this sense of Existence can play in any way that it wants. Many have reported out-of-body experiences and some of us have also had them. So, the body…, although our usual experience is that the body is the tool for perception, but it is also possible for this Consciousness to perceive all things without a body. It is not limited by any limitation at all. All of this is just moving images in Its Light.

Q: But normally, this Awareness needs this body/mind to see the world; normally.

A: We can say ‘uses’.

Q: So, then, if I’m this Awareness, if I’m this Self, the same as yours, we see the same world. No?

A: What you are seeing is all there is to be seen. There is nobody else to see anything at all.

Q: Just Awareness Seeing.

A: Yes. The One Self which is perceiving all things. The idea of others itself dissolves here.

Q: That’s the proof enough to know ‘I am not this body/mind’ because when I’m asleep, this body/mind disappears.

A: Yes, exactly. And also, there is more proof. Because, at least for those of us who have dream states, then you can see that there’s another body there and another world there. So, not only are we not the body/mind but we are not a body/mind contained in a particular world.

Q: In dream state.

A: In a dream state, it can seem like there is just as vibrant a body, full of pain and pleasure. All things are there. Time and space; everything is there. So, this constriction about being an object located in this body/mind falls away when we start to investigate that there are other states which come. In deep sleep state, there is nothing at all, like you say. Only Awareness Itself. The dream state is just like this waking state, but when we are in this state, we call that the dream state. And when we’re there, we might be calling this the dream state.

Q: Neither this Awareness, this ‘I’, this Self …, why I cannot see the world when this body/mind is asleep…, through another body/mind? If I am the Self, the eyes of the Absolute are looking at the world. And why I am not able to see this world from another’s eyes?

A: So, if you are this body/mind, then that would be true. But we just saw that You are not this body/mind. Therefore, when You sleep, it is not this body/mind which is sleeping. It is Consciousness Itself which has gone back to Its Source. The entire world vanishes. Nobody else is there to see anything at all. Just like when the dream ends, what happened to the other dream characters? Why can’t you see through them, in that dream world?

Q: But I am saying in deep sleep state, not in the dream.

A: But I’m saying that we can ask the same question for the dream state, saying ‘I saw all these people that were there. They were also seen. But now that I’ve gone to sleep in the sleep state, why can’t I see through those that were there in the dream state? You see?

Q: So, the dream state and the awake state is the same.

A: Same. All is shining in the Light of…, in the projection of Your own Consciousness. Whether you call it dream, whether you call it waking, it makes no difference. There are no others in that way, you see, because the entire dream is Your projection; and the entire waking state is also Your projection.

Q: But when I am in the dream state, I dream about I don’t know what, and then the next dream was there…, but the world in the awake state is still there.

A: This we presume. Suppose the dream just started. Is it possible for us to have a dream where we’re having exactly this same conversation?

Q: Yes.

A: So, this dream…, suppose it just started. Do you start the dream by saying ‘Who are you? What am I doing here?’ This so-called memory which convinces us of the continuity is available in the dream state. Nobody starts a dream with amnesia. Everybody knows these are my family, these are my friends. So, memory is another projection of Consciousness Itself and presents this world of continuity but it is not verified through insight; this continuity.

Q: But everybody sees the same world.

A: Everybody in the dream also sees the same world. Where is everybody? Only a projection within You, isn’t it? In the same way, all of this is projection within You.

That’s why I said right from the beginning that the insight we are getting, we try to contain that as if it is being seen in this body or something. But what You are discovering about YourSelf is that You are not contained in this body. This body is just another appearance in Your dream, in Your waking (whatever you call it). [Silence] So, then the concept of ‘everybody’ is no longer there. This is the reason why Bhagavan [Sri Ramana Maharshi] said ‘There are no others.’

All of this is You.

Q: This is me, like mind? Or like Self?

A: All of this is Self.

Your mind is just one aspect of YourSelf which is this bundle of thoughts, memory, imagination; these. And there is no such thing as ‘a mind’. It is just a concept that we use to single out a certain set of sensations. Just like there is no such thing like ‘the body’. It is only another label for a certain set of sensations. Just like there is no such thing as ‘the world’. It is another label that we use for another set of perceptions, sensations.

There is only the Self.

Unconditionally, Right Now.

You don’t even have to drop the conditions, they are gone already.

Don’t even pick that condition that you have to drop the condition.

Whatever is naturally present here, meet yourself as that.

[Silence]

If you pick up a condition, it’s not a mistake, it’s not a sin. This moment is fresh again.

No harm done. Shiva is still Shiva, Buddha is still Buddha: Your own Self.

[Silence]

Nothing has changed.

[Silence]

This is the meeting you have all been waiting for; to meet Your Self.

[Silence]

Nothing is excluded from this.

Include all perceptions in YourSelf; they already are.

No distinctions about anything at all.

[Silence]

Even if it seems like you are stuck in doubt, doubting deeply,

You are still the Self …, playing with doubt.

[Silence]

Now that you have met YourSelf.

Try to leave YourSelf.

See if you can leave YourSelf.

Leave YourSelf completely.

[Silence]

Don’t add anything to the instructions that I’m giving you.

[Silence]

That which you are discovering about YourSelf,

see if that can be left, put aside.

[Silence]

You are not hankering for any state, not waiting for anything to happen.

It is not about yesterday or tomorrow.

[Silence]

This what is most natural about you is Here.

[Silence]

The words that might come from your mouth after this, the actions that might happen through your hands can come and go, whatever they have to be. They do not touch the Reality of YourSelf.

[Silence]

All thoughts might come and go.

You don’t even have to label them as good thoughts or bad thoughts.

[Silence]

You are open to all emotions as well.

[Silence]

More spacious than space itself.

[Long silence]

If you interpret or judge anything at all, it will only appear as if you are limited; a person.

But it will never be so in Reality.

[Silence]

And know that all interpretations, all judgments, are only about Your own Self, posing as if you are limited.

[Silence]

All of you are meeting YourSelf. It is inescapable.

[Silence]

Only the concept of ‘meeting’ itself will dissolve.

[Silence]

Because You are just what You have always been.

Full and complete.

[Silence]

Om Shanti Shanti Shanti