BOOKS BY ANANTA Welcome to Satsang with Ananta

Now, if in this moment itself, you are empty of all notions about yourself, then what work do you have to do?

Bhagavan [Sri Ramana Maharshi] had this beautiful example of boarding the train. We are boarding the train to Tiruvannamli. Do you doubt every one minute, saying am ‘I going in the right direction? Am I getting there? What’s happening?’ No. You trust the conductor of the train, the driver of the train, and you know you will get there. But we can use a more contemporary example. Just like you are flying to Portugal or something; then do you want to get on top of the plane and run, believing that you will get there faster? [Smiles]

What can be faster than Right Now?

What can you do (which you can do Right Now) before the next moment is tasted?

So, if in this experience of the Now, you are already notion-less, what do you need to become free? That’s why Bhagavan said that ‘You are the Self’ not that you will become the Self.

And then all the prescriptions after that are about what to do with the belief that ‘I’m not the Self…, I am something.’ All that is prescribed in Satsang is also is just for that. You might get the idea that it is to make something out of you; to make you an enlightened person or something like this. But it is not.

That is why all these ideas of ‘How will get there? When will I get there? How come this one is getting there? This is just their third Satsang and they got it. I’m not getting it. I have been to so many.’ …, it’s all fiction. Because the idea is only to get rid of the ‘something’ notion; even the idea of getting something.

In our neutrality, in our emptiness, if the Truth was not there, then there would be no Truth.

There’s nothing that you have to do to become That, because You Are That.

That’s why Bhagavan [Sri Ramana Maharshi] said ‘First, clarify the I.’ Sir said something very beautiful also before we started the broadcast. He said ‘Bhagavan used to say that: You will find me, only when you find Your Self.’

So beautiful. Just like Rumi (was it Rumi?) who said ‘I went looking God and I found myself. I went looking for myself and I found God.’

And all of us know these things, actually. If I was to also ask you ‘Is the Self ever-present? Does it come and go?’

It is ever-present.

So, where to look for the Self?

In the present.

Can there be an incomplete Self?

Can there be a half-Self which is trying to become the full Self?

An even stranger idea: Can you lose YourSelf that now you are trying to find it?

Lose YourSelf and show me.

I have been asking this for couple of years now but nobody has actually lost themselves.

Just don’t be.

Stop existing for a moment, then I’ll point you to Existence.

[Smiles]

Nobody can do it.

You just Are.

Effortlessly the Truth is Here.

And don’t confuse what I’m saying to be some sort of inaction. That is level confusion. The actions or inactions of the body will continue to happen. I’m pointing about the ‘You’ which is much beyond this body, much beyond this universe. You are so much beyond this universe that even to say ‘The Universe is Your body’ is stretching it a bit.

That is the Maya, that is the illusion. This…, which is so much beyond this world, has given Itself the power to consider Itself to be just this limited body/mind, which is the ego. That is a divine mystery in how it is playing the game of seemingly-struggling to come out of this identity. [Smiles] Struggling to make YourSelf now as You Are.

There is no body, there is no world, there is no universe. There is only the Self. All distinctions are mental. Whether it is (saguna) with qualities, whether it is (naguna) without qualities, it is only the Self

The mind wants to divide. The Self is ever united.

All notions are nothing but distinctions in time and space. If you stop making distinctions in space, then we start making distinctions in time. ‘Oh, it’s okay now, but what about the future? It’s okay now that I’m in Satsang but when I leave, what happens?’ This is also distinction.

Where is the future? Has anybody experienced it? Where is the past? Is there any clear evidence of this past, except this very unreliable memory? All these are also distinctions. It is just one Consciousness playing this game of light and sound. And the mind is designed to chop it up in to pieces (past, present, future; me, other; my family, other family; my sangha, my Guru, my Truth.)

What has this ‘me’ and ‘mine’ ever gotten anyone…, except suffering?

If truth needed a thought to be true, then that would be useless truth. Now what exists without any concepts? If you didn’t have the concept ‘man, woman, husband, wife, parent, employee, manager, business owner’…? All these are concepts. Even the body is a concept, actually; a set of sensations that are experienced. You have labeled a similar set of sensations and called it ‘body’. But suppose you didn’t have a concept of ‘body’ and you didn’t have a concept of ‘world’…, did you stop existing?

Concept-less-ly, Your Existence is Here, isn’t it?

So, this Existence is All There Is. The greatest con has been Consciousness believing Itself to be something limited. This Existence has been confused, has been (in the Leela) played as if it’s the existence of somebody personal. That ‘person’ is not here; it has never been, except as a belief system.

And you are tired now. You are tired because it is effort to believe yourself to be ‘something’. And I’m happy if you are completely tired. (Otherwise, you tire me, you see?) [Smiles] So, if you are completely tired, I’m very happy because you played with all the notions now. You’ve tried this way, that way; all the positions you’ve tried. And you come to me completely tired and say ‘No, I have tried everything. It doesn’t work.’ This is music to my ears. [Smiles] ‘I’ve tried to be humble, I’ve tried to be special; I have tried to be a devotee, I have tried to be an enlightened one.’ You have tried all these positions and none of it works. If you say these things I’m very happy. But if you are still like ‘I have been a devotee, when will I become enlightened?’ or ‘I have been humble, when will I become special?’ then you mean that you are still yearning for some other positions to see if they work personally.

But if you See, and if you also learn from the experience of so-called others, then quickly you will come this realization that no personal position works. No matter how glorious that ‘something’ might be, after you attach it to ‘I Am’ it can’t meet the glory of ‘I Am’ Itself. Nothing is greater than Your natural Existence. This is all that You will ever be.

Shankara said that ‘The root of all trouble is ignorance. What is this ignorance?  Just this…, ‘I am something.’

So, in which way will you let ‘I am’ be ‘I Am’? A simpler way to put it is: In which way will you leave ‘I Am’ to just Be? Leave it alone, unmolested by any notion you have about yourself.  Who is willing to try this for a few days? Or a few minutes? [Smiles]

Truth is Here, Existence is Here; Consciousness, Sat and Chit. Don’t worry about ananda; don’t worry about bliss.

You are the Self. End of Satsang. [Smiles]

Actually, Bhagavan [Sri Ramana Maharshi] said that if I just tell you that you are the Self and you see this about yourself, you have the intuitive insight ‘I am the Self, the unchanging, the pure Witnessing Principle Itself, the One that has no limitation, no border, no boundary’ …, then no instruction you need now, because You Are the Self.

The instructions are needed when you start to believe that you are ‘something’. And when we say ‘I am something’ we’re not referring that something to as the unlimited, unchanging, Absolute. It is an idea about ourself …, ‘I am the body, I was born, I will die, I have family, I have money; I have so many things that are mine.’ All this becomes the basis for the notion that ‘I am something’. And all that these Sages are ever saying is giving you ways to get rid of this ‘something’ notion; the identity of ‘something-ness’.

My Master [Sri Mooji] invites us to taste the Is-ness of the Self, which is beyond all phenomena. The Is-ness. The Is-ness is not ‘something’. Bhagavan said ‘Inquire: Who am I?’ And he said if you start the inquiry expecting to find something, then you will be frustrated. Then you will not find some ‘thing’ there. The Self is not a thing.

So, I also mentioned [Nisargadatta] Maharaj. Maharaj said ‘Stay with the sense I Am.’

He didn’t say that stay with these sense that I am ‘something’. He said ‘Stay with the sense ‘I Am’ and that itself will become the gateway, the portal, to the true I.’

So, these pointers are available to us. You can accept the invitation to see our Self as we truly are. We can inquire in to the Reality of Self.

Another beautiful way (if you can call it that) is to surrender. All the something’s you give to the Satguru, to God. ‘I just Am.’ So, I was saying ‘Just be’. And all that is required to ‘Be’ is Guru’s problem, God’s problem. Then we remain empty of the notion ‘I am something’.

Now, the biggest, best news (and one day you will react like you won the lottery; I hope one day it will come like this. [Chuckles] Mostly I just get a poker face response) the biggest, best news is that you don’t have to even drop this ‘something’. You don’t even have to drop ‘something’. Even that is done for you, by grace.

In This moment, You are egoless.

If you are not believing me, if you believe that ‘I am not. I have an ego.’ [Smiles] then actually you picked up a ‘something’. What I’m saying doesn’t need belief. You are egoless right now, in this moment. There is no ego. You cannot define boundary for YourSelf.

What is ego? Just the idea, the limited notion, I have about myself.

But you’re free from it. It is done.

It was never undone actually.

Happy? Or no? [Smiles] All that you’ve been working hard to do is already done. There’s is no greater lottery you can win.

It’s all done. You Are the Self.

I’m not saying that ‘You Are the Self if you come for hundred Satsangs.’

You Are the Self because only the Self IS.

This ‘Is-ness’ is a very beautiful word; which not many of us have truly explored actually. Because we’ve used it many ways. We can say the table is, the hand is, the computer is…

But what does it mean to exist?

What is ‘IS’?

What is it that never is not?

It is You. You always Are.

These bodies will come and go. All these experiences are unique. You’ll experience that Consciousness doesn’t like redundancy at all. This very same experience, in this exact quality, you will never experience ever again. Perceptions will be different; the sensations will be different. So, all that plays the game of being born and dying, the Sages have said is not the ultimate Truth about You.

What is That which never is not?

Even to say that ‘it doesn’t exist’ would mean that it has to be there to be aware of it’s non-existence.

What is this?

That beautiful No-thing, You Are.

What is Real about you?

Is there something about you which is not an object?

Is there something about you which is not just a perception?

Or are you only a bundle of perceptions or set of sensations?

This is Inquiry.

So, one set of perceptions, sensations, they are called ‘The World’.

Let these perceptions be as they are.

Another set of sensations, perceptions we have called ‘The body’.

Let these sensations be as they are.

Let these sensations be as they are.

Another set of sensations we have called ‘Emotions’.

Let them also be.

Don’t meddle with anything at all.

Another group of sensations are called ‘Thoughts’.

Allow them to come and go. Just let them are.

Don’t try to control anything about anything.

This is what I mean by: Your notion-less Existence, concept-less Being.

Now the merchant of positions will come and say ‘But this set of sensations you have to do something about! These appearances, you can’t just let them be.’ And in that story, you believe yourself to be a limited entity. You believe yourself to be the body, the mind. You exclude, divide and separate. The oneness which is so natural seems to get pushed to the background and we believe ourselves to be something limited.

And that is the reminder we have in Satsang:

Let the world be as it is.

Let the body be as it is, including the actions and non-actions of the body.

I’m not talking about the state of the body. The body can be active or inactive. Just let it be. Just like the waves of the Ocean can be tumultuous or placid. The Ocean is not doing it. ‘Let the body be’ doesn’t mean that it has to be like a vegetable. All actions, reactions and non-actions can come in the body. Just like all thoughts, with all various qualities, can come and go. Just like most of you see that you are not trying to improve the quality of thoughts anymore. Some of you might still be trying to change the quality of your emotions, but that ‘trying to control’ itself seems to make them oppressive.

Let everything be.

What is the past now, except another group of perceptions and sensations?

What is the future? Just another set of projections.

But you remain untouched, like space.

This shadow is behind me. Actually, if I was to try and fix something for ‘the person’ it would be like trying to change something for the shadow. You cannot grasp this person. This entity that we believe ourself to be is so elusive.

Trying to grasp at this person is like trying to say ‘Can you just move this shadow? Bring in front of me so I can fix it?’ It doesn’t work that way.

Find out if you are this shadowy entity…, or if You are something beyond this.

All the clues in Satsang, all that we speak in Satsang, is for us to come to this recognition: What is it that I truly Am?

Now, the mind will use the shadow as a benchmark about you. If you have believed that when you are free there will be a halo around the shadow, then you will keep waiting for that. If you have believed that the shadow becomes full of light, then you keep waiting for that. If you are waiting for anything objective to change, then know that this is not what is being pointed to here.

The world of objects, including this body, can play out how it wants. I am talking about You. The You that is so spacious that it contains all of this and yet does not run out of space. Even if you are imagining this, even this imagination is contained in You. Nothing is excluded; everything is included. And this is actually how it has always been. You have always been the ocean and the waves of appearances have always come and gone.

That is why I say:

Don’t make a reference point about yourself.

Where does that leave you?

Don’t refer to yourself as anything at all.

What are you now?

Take no position.

Right Now, You Are Free.

The Truth is always true about You.

The false is coming and going.

This is direct. You see? What is most direct is without direction. But we have got so used to the indirect, that it seems like we might need some direction. But I will tell you that all directions to the Self will point you to exactly where you are right Now. All directions to the Self will point you to This that You Are.

So, then I can give you directions. Take one step to the left and one step to the right and you will reach your destination. Take one step forward and one step backward and you will find your Self.  But if that is what it takes to extinguish our doer-ship, then we might as well do this dance of back and forth and left and right. But the Truth is that wherever you may go you will only find YourSelf.

That is why, often in the last year we have been laughing at this concept of ‘Looking for the Self.’ This is the funniest thing, no? Because if I say ‘Have you lost it? Can you not be yourself for a moment?’…, you see that it is not possible. Just don’t be yourself! Just don’t exist for a moment. Don’t be Aware of your Existence for a moment. [Chuckles]

Is this Awareness coming and going?

No pointers are actually needed except those which help you demolish whatever you might be believing about yourself.

Maybe it was a Zen Master who said ‘Dharma is only that which helps you forget all that you know about Dharma.’

I meet many of you who come burdened with notions of guilt about how you’re not being true to yourself, true to the path.

It’s better if you forget about these ideas…, because nobody can actually be true to the path or become true to the path.

There is no path. There is no ‘way’.

To recognize this is the path, is the way.

All that burdens you, keep it aside.

Your Existence is indepent of any notion of existence; of any path or way of existence.

You are That space in which all ways and paths have come and gone.

You’re done with all of it now.

Everything has brought you to this moment.

Here it is as it has always been.

What if, in truth, this phenomenal play is actually a play of this shadow behind me? It seems so vibrant and real and strong. But what if this No-thing is the greater truth, the Source of even this shadow?

Who is willing to look along with me?

Who is willing to explore the Source of this shadow?

Who is willing to go beyond the veil of ‘I Am’?

Beyond the veil of Your very Existence lies That which is beyond ‘I Am’…, before ‘I Am’.

With no benefit …, with no promises of how the shadow will change:

Who are you?
Who is the ‘I’ that is existing as ‘I Am’?

[Long Silence]

What if you discovered that to find this truth, all you have to do is stop playing with the false? Then you will see that it has always been here.

If you don’t imagine, can you tell me what is the basis of all things Right Now?
What is That which exists, without which nothing would exist…, in your direct experience?

What came into existence…, and all things came?

[Long Silence]

Notice how the mind will try to use any perception to convince you of separation.

Your noticing of it is the dropping of it. Nothing needs to be fixed, beyond that.

‘I notice that the mind is not speaking the truth about Me…, and now there is no need to fix it. Just to See this is enough. It can keep doing whatever it wants. I notice that this body is not my boundary. In fact, this universe is not my boundary, so I don’t need to fix it, change it. I notice that these emotions do not define Me. Just more waves on the surface of What-I-Am. And because they don’t define Me, I no longer want to make them less salty or more salty. They are what they are.’

Now, I’m left with nothing to do …, just because I noticed all of this. [Smiles]

As you Exist, on this Existence all these perceptions are being perceived, isn’t it? Whether eyes are open like this, so this visual stimulus is there…, or eyes are closed, where other stimuli can come (thoughts, imagination, memory). All of this is dependent on what?

[Someone says]: Being, Existence.

Yes, on Your Being, on Your existence. It’s a beautiful example that Bhagavan [Sri Ramana Maharshi] shared I think: ‘In which light is this world in front of you now? In whose light is it?’

What is shining Right Now?

What is that light, without which nothing IS?

Is it this physical light, without which nothing IS?

Where is that light coming form?

In the light of which even the Sun is seen.

The Sun is perceived in whose light?

This is the glory of You, that Your Being, Your Atman, is the light of this Universe. But this very same Atman is also given Itself the power believe that It is just some minor object, subject to time, limited in space.

These is the only misunderstanding. And if we can clear it up on the first day, it’s fine. Your Presence has been taken as something personal by Presence itself and now it is ridding Itself of this misunderstanding though this play of Satsang. Nothing has actually ever become limited or divided or separate. Therefore, nothing has to be fixed actually. Only this misunderstanding has to be looked at. And once you clarify the truth for yourself, it’s thrown away.

I was saying the other day (some of you, it’s your first time) if you believe that you are in Kormagala and I say ‘No, you are in Mrugeshpalya’ would I have to move you from Kormagala to Murugeshpalya? You are already here in Murugeshpalya. So, only the misunderstanding has to be thrown away. Only the idea of Kormangala has to be given up. What do we give up? Not to replace the beliefs that ‘I’m in that place’ with another belief that ‘I’m in this place’ …, but actually checking where you are.

So, you considered YourSelf to be limited and now I’m pointing out you that You are not. All you have to do is check and stay with whatever you find. So, the pointers in Satsang are for that; not to bring you to a new state.

This can be one misunderstanding: ‘Why can’t I hold on to a state?’ Sometimes I get questions like that; that ‘I have glimpses of it, but why can’t I hold on to it?’ Because it is not about that. See, all states can come and go.

What is the substratum for those states?

Can any state exist without You?

This ‘You’ has been misunderstood as something personal. That’s why no practice is really needed, no movement is really needed and no practice or movement can get in the way also. Whatever might be happening in this world can keep happening. But when you really want to check who you are, nothing can really get in the way. That is the beauty of this.

Namaste everyone. Very warm welcome to satsang today. Satguru Sri Mooji Baba ki Jai!

Wishing all of you a wonderful, wonderful New Year. May this year be the most auspicious, filled with Guruji’s grace and blessings in your lives, for your families, your friends and the entire world.

I am quite a one-track. [Chuckles] Even in the greeting ‘Happy New Year’ I find a satsang clue.

So, if the year is new, who is it new for? A new year is here now, and a new year was here last year also, and a new year was here the year before that, and before that also, and before that also. Before it was not. But there comes a point where there is no experience of a ‘new year’.

The one who had these ‘New Year’ experiences over these years, is which one?

[Someone says]: The ‘I/me’ one.

[Chuckles] So, if a year is a measure of time, and time seems to present these new possibilities for us at regular intervals, then you who are tasting this flow of time, are you subject to this time? If it is a year that rejuvenates and it is a ‘new year’ which comes for you, a ‘new day’ which comes for you, a ‘new minute’ which comes to you, a ‘new second’ which comes for you…,  is the ‘you’ for whom it comes subject to it?

And on the other hand, if You were not here, would there be this next minute? Next moment? New Year? Only in imagination. Even for imagination, You have to be there.

You are the actually the substratum.

So, this is another one of the mind’s convictions, which will say that ‘you’ are the one that is subject to time. Actually, You are the subject of time. Time is the object for You.

So, this wonderful New Year appearance is appearing for all of you and I hope you have the most joyful, blissful time in this New Year. And of course, as with every year, it will be mixed with some sugar and spice. [Chuckles] So, don’t expect it to be only a certain way. Know that in this world of duality, all the ups and downs will come. But more and more you are starting to See that You are not oppressed by time, You are not controlled by time. Even for time to exist, You must Be.

[Silence]

If there was no such thing as time, then for one thing, we would not have to (or get to) wish each other Happy New Year. [Chuckles] But also You would experience YourSelf in your entirety; in just THIS moment.

Your dynamic aspect also is being stretched out (seemingly) over that which we call time, but actually nothing is moving. It is all already Here.

[Silence]

We are just visiting it with our attention, and the movement of this attention leads to what we call this time and space. What is the screen on which all of this IS? You might feel like it is outside you, because you might believe that you are this body, and the world (where all this is happening) is outside of you. But actually, you are just experiencing all of this on the screen of Your own Being. That is why, whether you call it internal perceptions or outer perceptions, there is only one space in which You are perceiving them.

If you are convinced that you are in Kormangala [A location in Bangalore] then you’ll continue to play as if that is true. So, if your belief is that ‘I’m a body/mind, I’m limited entity’ then you might continue to play that way. Nothing can get in your way.

So, usually what happens is there must be some openness to drop the false belief.

Many times it can happen (even for those who come to Satsang, it can happen) that it is just some sort of reinforcement. They want a reinforcement of a false belief. Are we taking this Kormangala example too far? No, I still feel it’s of a little use.

So, you might say that ‘Okay, just tell me how to be happy. Don’t try to drag me off or bring me to Murugeshpaly. [A location in Bangalore] I just want to be happy in Kormangala.’ [Smiles]

And I’m saying ‘Did you have this misconception?’ It’s not going to be the end of suffering because a lie just pinches you. There is bound to be a poking sensation in the play of this world as long as you believe in a lie about yourself. That is the design of this play.

That’s why I was saying to somebody else other day that mostly we become open to Satsang because we have suffered in life. We have seen that all our belief system somewhere is not brining us to that contentment, that peace that we are looking for. So, many times when you come to Satsang with the openness to drop the idea (the Koramangala idea) even to say ‘I don’t know where I am’ for me that’s enough. But if you want for something for that one is seemingly-sitting in the other place, how can anybody help?

So, now you can replace ‘Koramangala’ with the basic notion ‘I am something, I am a person.’

How many of us are willing to let go of this notion? That is openness.

If you want freedom personally, then I can tell you that there is no such thing. Personal freedom actually is the mind’s version of freedom. ‘I should have the freedom to do whatever I think. I should have the freedom. If I think of a million dollars, I should have it; if I think I should have the best relationship, I should have it; if I think I should have the healthiest body, I should have it.’ This is the mind’s version of freedom. What is the Truth’s version of freedom?

[Someone in the Sangha replies]: What Is.

A: What Is. Just ‘What Is’. This is your freedom, already.

The appearance of this world is in Your light. So, separation is nothing but resisting ‘What Is’. Can you suffer without resisting ‘What Is’? Possible? [Chuckles] It is not possible (unless we have an idea ‘That the people in my family should be this way. But why are they that way?’) You cannot suffer because of that.

‘What Is’ just Is. They are how the are. But to have an expectation ‘It must be some other way’ is how we separate. All these interpretations are a way to avoid ‘What Is’…, to resist ‘What Is’.

Now, some are suffering because of interpretation of worldly appearance, some are suffering because of some idea of career or money; some are suffering because some emotions are being experienced. But even with [our friend here] …, if he is experiencing fear, he is hardly ever saying that ‘The fear right now is too much’. But the interpretation from the mind is coming and saying ‘But what if it doesn’t go away in the future?’

Nothing in your present experience is ever too much, because it is just a reflection of Your own light. And Your light is always stronger than the reflection. But it can start seeming like too much when we believe our notions about them.

I was joking with someone the other day, saying ‘If it’s too much, even in the design of this play, you will lose Consciousness.’

Then, if ‘What Is’ is already true, and You are the light of this Presence which contains all of this, then what would you want next?

[Silence]

Can you want something without first picking up the idea that ‘I am something limited’?

[Silence]

Are the mind’s offers coming for God? Let’s at least clarify that. So, whatever I’ve said, I said in a very long way that ‘You are God’. [Chuckles] Basically, that’s what I am saying. Now when the mind is offering or doubting, is it offering or doubting for God? Or is it offering and doubting for a limited version of you?

[Silence]

And does your direct experience resonate more with what I am saying than what the mind is saying?

Are you thinking about it? [Chuckles] Then I know I am in trouble.

If you are looking, then I know that the Truth is inescapable.

[Silence]

Now, I am saying that You are the super magnificent, super luminous, glorious Consciousness Itself.

Why would you want to become a special enlightened person or something? [Chuckles]

What You already Are is all that what you will ever be. And it is all there is actually.

[Silence].

Not one inch you have to move, not one instruction you have to follow, not even a pointing is needed.

Nothing at all…, to Be.

[Silence]

This Being.

[Silence]

This Being is playing the game of being misunderstood, by Itself.

The feeling is that it’s a very, very useful pointer; that if you really must be something, then be space. (Another way of saying what I have been saying for quite some time: Just be open.) Just be space. Allow everything to come and go. What is space? Is space objecting to any object coming into this room or not coming? Is space wanting to do something about what is appearing or not appearing? It is just space. All things can come and go. All actions of this body also can come and go. Note that I am not saying that the body has to become the space. Sometimes the identification so deeply ingrained [Raises hand and makes a fist] that when I am saying ‘Be space’ you are trying to make the body like space. [Expands both arms suggesting to becoming like space] [Chuckles] I am not saying this. The body is also present, appearing in space, and it can do whatever it likes. You are the space in which all of this is appearing. You cannot resist as space. That’s a beautiful quality of space.

Actually, to be like this space, or to see that we have this spaciousness within us, is truly what it means to go on a silent retreat. It’s not so much about this outward silence but this inward, non-resistive-ness.

How many of you feel that ‘When he says: Be space’ that it is some strange sort of instruction, like ‘There is no space I can be.’ If you don’t feel that, then this pointing could be very helpful. Then you will find that even this space is notional, and that You are No-thing. You are not nothing, but You are No-thing.

For me, it sounds like a very simple pointer to what I am pointing to. Just allow everything to just be. Just let it be. No need for any judgment. But if judgment is coming, let that also come. Let it be. You don’t have to meddle with anything at all. Just let it be. [Silence]

Maybe this year, instead of saying ‘Don’t believe your next thought’ I’ll say ‘Don’t meddle with anything at all.’ [Chuckles] You don’t have to fix anything, don’t have to make anything better, don’t have to get anywhere; nothing to do. [Silence] You don’t even have to ‘Just be’. Because you can take on the task ‘I am just going to be’. [Chuckles] But you are not ‘doing’ the Being. Are you doing the Being? That would mean you could not do it. If you are not doing the Being, does Being fall apart? Stop Being. [Someone answers ‘Being is just Being’] Yes. Being is just being; naturally in its own, self-energizing way. And if the Being doesn’t want to be anymore, there is nothing you can do to hold it up. [Laughter] But You will witness even that.

After You Be, after You Exist, do you have to switch on the world? It comes on its own, no? Do you have to switch on the movements of the world? It also moving. Is this body separate from the world? This also moves on its own. The heart beats on its own? Or you have to switch it on? Breathing happens. Everything is happening naturally, on its own. Effortlessly this world is moving . Effortlessly You are existing and effortlessly You are aware of this Existence. All your doership was made-up.

Bring your attention to the body.
Keep your attention with the body.
Become aware of your body.
Stay with the body.

You are aware of Your body.

Your body is not aware of You.

Now bring your attention to Your breath.
Be with Your breath completely; follow it as it flows in and out.

You are aware of the breath.

The breath is not aware of You.

Bring your attention to Your thoughts; let any thought arise.
Welcome Your next thought; become aware of Your thoughts.

You are aware of Your thoughts.

Your thoughts are not aware of You.

Bring Your attention to any emotion that is arising.
Be completely open to all emotions.

You are aware of Your emotions.

Your emotions are not aware of You.

Bring your attention to the feeling that You are here.
The feeling ‘I am here’.
Become aware of this feeling of ‘I Am-ness’.
Stay with the sense that You are here.
You are here; You know that You are here.
Just stay with this feeling of Presence.

You are aware of Your Presence.

The Presence is not aware of You.

You know that You are aware.
This is awareness of Awareness.
Stay as this Awareness.
You know that You are aware right now.
Stay as this Awareness.

As this Awareness, You are completely untouched by all phenomena, by all appearances.

Stay as this untouched Awareness.

Allow all thoughts to come and allow them to go.
In their own time, they can come and go.

You are the eternal witness;

unchanging, undying, untouched.

May you always stay as this Awareness.

Om shanti shanti shanti
~ ~ ~

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From Satsang of 19^th June 2014

What if all that we could ever imagine wanting and much more was already yours; in fact, was already You? Would that be the end of seeking or not? And we can’t put the cart before the horse, okay? [Chuckles] You must come to this insight before you pick up the concept ‘I dropped seeking’ or ‘I stopped seeking’ or something like that. It must be your tasted discovery that you are That which contains all; and You YourSelf are uncontained. And I see that many of you are having this insight, but the sticky habit of trying to apply it personally still comes back.

As I was saying yesterday, you are finding out that you are the Ocean and now you are trying to full up this Ocean in the coconut. You are discovering Your limitlessness, and then you are asking ‘How does this help me?’ So, these are just remnants of an old habit. Because everything has been applied to this personal ‘me’ for so long that it can seem like even this infinite, uncontained existence you want to own as some body/mind organism. It cannot be this way. And that can seem very uncomfortable for a bit as you try to keep one foot in the Limitless Ocean and the other foot in the identity of being a body/mind. It can seem very uncomfortable as you are learning to let go of all identification.

Where do your feet naturally land when you do not have a notion about yourself? What is your natural state? When you are not trying to get something or hold onto something, where are you? This way makes it very simple.

Bhagavan [Sri Ramana Maharshi] said that the truest knowledge is just the letting go of the false.

What if I told you that the Truth is completely apparent to You, Right Now? It is completely apparent to You, but not to your translator. The translator is this one who is subtitling this life. We have been watching this movie with wrong subtitles. The movie has always been fine, completely perfect as it is (not even perfect; but the subtitles have been telling you that you are something bound, you are something limited, you are something that was born, and something that will die). And this notion of death is something innately repulsive; something doesn’t accept it (even in those cultures where these kind of Satsangs are not there, there are other concepts of resting in peace after death, or life after death, or resurrection) because something in your heart knows that what You Are in essence was not born and will not die. This Essence has not gone anywhere. It is your very Essence right now. How to get to this Essence? Find out That which does not come and go; find That out which Itself witnesses all things, but Itself doesn’t have any attributes or qualities.

For some time, bring the focus to this witnessing, and for some time don’t be so concerned with that which is witnessed. Move away from the content of the appearances for a bit because this content is constantly changing. But your Essence is not; your Self is not. It is ‘no-thing’ but it is not nothing. If it was nothing, then you would be Essence-less, you would not have an Essence then; you would have no Self. But intuitively, you can sense that that is not right. ‘I exist, and there is a Root of my Existence, a Source of my Existence which is undeniable.’

This ‘quality-less undeniable’ …, is there anything else like this?

This is our own Self.

In the beautiful Indian scripture, the Yoga Vasistha, there is a story of this mythical creature who is always suffering because this mythical creature has one thousand hands and each of these hands has a weapon with which it is hitting itself.

You know what is this mythical creature? It is your own mind with a thousand concepts.

As you are dropping each of these, you are finding that you’re running out of ways to suffer.

Now, maybe the creature also believed that these concepts are helping it. ‘How will I live without my hands?’

So, my invitation for you is to try it out. See if it is possible to live notion-less-ly.

You might realize that these were crutches that you never needed; that life was much greater than your idea about it.

And even if the notion is ‘I can’t do it’ or ‘I have done it’ …, even these you give up.

If the notion is ‘I don’t want to go that far’ …, forget about it!

If the notion is ‘I don’t want to end up like some crazy sadhu on the streets of Tiruvannamalai’ …, forget about it.

And I promise you that the taste of this life, unmixed with your concepts, is much greater, is much more universal, than the taste of this life which you are trying to contain with your ideas about it; which you are trying to control.

In any case, how is that control thing working out?

Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi said that ‘The most important question is to ask is ‘Who am I?’ And when he was asked to explain how to ask ‘Who am I?’ he said ‘Find that out which witnesses all things.’

If a thought is coming with an answer, find out who witness that thought.

If some resistance is coming, if some emotion is coming, some other sensations is coming, what witnesses that?

What is aware of your sight and sound?

All sense perceptions, you are aware of them.

But You YourSelf are unperceived.

Now I trust that most of you are having this insight and have had this insight. And you will also See that unless you pick up a concept about yourself, unless you pick up a story about yourself, there is no notion of personal suffering.

So, when the great Sages said ‘Abide as the Self’ or ‘Remain as the Self” it only meant: Don’t pick up the pretense of the false. Don’t identify with something which is not true. Don’t interpret any sensation as your boundary. It is just an interpretation. Don’t believe that any perception can contain You. Allow all things to come and go. Don’t become an opposition to anything at all. Become more spacious than this space in this room…, which has no judgement about anything that is dragged into it.

Your Being is limitless. It is unharmed by all experiences. Don’t pick and choose what gets your attention. Allow whatever has to come in this life to come. Everything shines in Your own Light. Nothing is appearing outside of the will of the Consciousness, which is Your own Being.

This Light is supremely intelligent. The Universe does not make mistakes and It has perfect timing.

More spacious than space You Are.

Q: I wanted to ask you, how do I bring my focus more to the one that is witnessing…, if it can’t be witnessed?

A: Yes. So, let’s do this together? You tell me what is being perceived. To start with (take as much time as you like) start with anything that is in your field of perception…, right off the bat, using the sense of Existence, of Being. But if there could be some confusion about what it is, whether it is something energetic, either is fine.

Q: It’s not so open. It’s just the sense of Being and there’s some energy there.

A: Whatever it might be, what can we say about That which witnesses that?

Q: Nothing.

A: So, if I was to say that there is nothing witnessing it, would that be accurate?

Q: No. (But I feel my mind is saying no, actually.)

A: That’s Okay. Let the mind also be witnessed. Don’t worry so much about what it is saying. Whatever is coming up as a perception for you, find out what witnesses that.

So, if the two options were that you are witnessing it or Shanti [Sitting next to her] is witnessing it, what would you pick?

Q: I am witnessing it.

A: You are witnessing it. Why does that seem more truthful then it being second-hand witnessing?

Q: Because there is only this.

A: Yes. Now when you say ‘There is only this’ …, is that your inference or is this your insight?

Q: I feel there is some insight there.

A: Yes.

Q: When I try to do this myself, it’s like I do…, I keep asking for what it seems and what it feels. So, I get like flitting. It’s like my attention can, finding moments, look inward again. And is that the way it is?

A: For attention? Yes. For attention it can seem like that. But whether attention is on an object or seems to be returning back home, what witnesses this movement of attention also? Is that also flitting?

Maybe it’s simpler than what we are believing it to be. (Not maybe, actually, it IS simpler than what we are believing it to be.) It is not even about the functioning of attention or trying to control attention. It is just a natural checking to see whether attention is on some content or running about to find some content, or just completely resting at home. What is aware of this attention?

Q: So, the frustration is that the focus or the attention keeps going. The focus is the attention, so I am actually tied now.

A: Let your attention go completely where it wants now.

Q: Okay. Then there is a feeling that I can’t find what I am looking for.

A: Okay, let’s do this together. Let your attention go wherever it wants; no effort to control it at all. If it wants to go to thoughts, let it go to thoughts, to emotions then emotions, and if it wants to rest on your Being, it can rest on your Being. If it is just all over the place, it is completely fine. Are you aware now? Whatever attention might be doing, is there ever a moment of unawareness?

Q: Stuck…

A: Yes, but you are aware that you are stuck? [Chuckles] Don’t worry. Don’t strain yourself too much. This is just playing. Explain this; when you say ‘Stuckness’ is it that there is some resistance to answer? …, that there are some words that are not coming? There is a play of intention happening. Sometimes you want to say yes, but the word is not coming out. All this can happen.

Now, you have to be there to see all of this? [“Yes”] So, it doesn’t matter what answer is coming up, it is already answered in your own insight that you are Seeing all of this, you are aware of all of this. Even this indecision, who is aware of it?

Q: Sometimes it comes; it is more clear. You know that. Yes, I am aware of it. And sometimes it seems only from inference that I can even say it because still the attention is going out to some false sense of Being.

A: Yes. And it can go. So, we are not even in the realm of attention now. Whatever attention is going to, its fine. The beauty about awareness is, that even to say ‘I am unaware’ actually implies that ‘I am aware that I am unware’. You see?

Q: Yeah.

A: It is that great inescapable.

But…?

Q: Well, you say not to come to any conclusions from inference and so talking about locations…

A: So, what we have to do is use this to come to this checking. So, when I say ‘I am stuck’ …, am I aware of this stuckness? Or am I inferring stuckness?

What if I were to say that our task for the next few minutes is to become unaware. Just don’t be aware. You are being aware; don’t be aware. [Chuckles] Can you do it? When you are able to do it tell me that ‘I became unaware for a moment.’ All of you, don’t try to abide in Awareness, push it away. Don’t be aware.

Q: When your awareness is like…., I know it’s there, and yet it does not seem to be what I am tasting. You know? What I am tasting seems to be already there.

A: Yes, because It Itself…, does it have a taste?

Q: No.

A: No, it doesn’t have to have a taste. And that is the beauty of it. Because every taste we get bored of. But this tasteless Awareness just is.

Q: Still there is…, I don’t know, there’s just this feeling that I am lost in phenomenality and it’s frustrating because I wanted to know how to do this.

A: Hold my hand and I will tell you what to do. Hold my hand so that I know that you are not going anywhere. Try to get lost in phenomena. Lose yourself as much as you can in phenomena. [Silence] Now? You lost yourself in phenomena?

Q: Yeah, yeah, I would say so.

A: Is that something you are Seeing? Or you’re relying on some inference that happened a few minutes ago?

Q: It’s what I am seeing. Because I am more…

A: So, every part of you now is phenomena? To be completely lost in phenomena would mean that everything is phenomena.

Q: Yeah, okay.

A: Now, that which is witnessing this phenomena, has that also become phenomenal? Can it; if you were to try push it out?

Q: No. But still I feel unable to bring my focus, because there is nothing to be seen.

A: Now, when I say focus, I don’t necessarily mean in the sense of bringing, keeping or trying to force our attention into this. I am just saying, for one moment, just check: What witnesses this? Let the question itself do whatever work it needs to be done. You don’t force anything at all. Which part of you now is completely contained in phenomena?

Q: There is no part that can be contained in phenomena.

A: Why is it not sounding like that? [Laughter] It seems like the answer is being forced out of you.

Q: I know. Yeah, yeah.

A: Somewhat like that? So, this insight, when you get it…, see, this is what I have been saying. That you’re finding that there is something which is limitless here. Now, don’t try to contain it in your life. Or don’t even worry for some time about the implications of this for your life. See, this is what I was saying about ocean and coconut. Don’t worry for the bit about the life of this world; what happens in it. Just leave the insight unmolested for some time, with no implication. It does not have to mean anything at all, for anything.

Q: Even right now, the insight feels like something very small. At other times it’s something very big and expansive.

A: Anything that comes that actually is very useful. So, don’t resist anything that is coming. If it feels small or if it feels expansive, find out: Within what space is the small or expansive?

Is the smallness of it inside something that is larger? You will get used to anything, even the blank coming; that’s fine. The blank is also perceived within You. The smallness, the largeness, the blankness; all of this is perceived within Your own Being.

Q: So, you are saying for a while don’t worry at all about the life of this one.

A: No, at least what I said was don’t worry about what implications your insight is bringing to the life of this one. Let the life of this one go on normally, even if it feels like it is identified most of the time. It is fine.

Q: And so, because you’ve been telling us don’t pick up these concepts, I am like aaahhh….

A: If it feels natural, if it feels like this itself is becoming a struggle, then you let that be. Because what is happening is that you’re having these moments of insight. But very quickly the mind can come and say ‘But what does this mean for me? My life has not changed. I am still mostly like this or mostly like that.’

Q: Failure…, I’m not making proper use of it.

A: Failure, unworthiness; all these things.

Q: So, it’s okay?

A: Of course! How…? That is too much pressure to say ‘I am not making proper use of it. That is just too much pressure. Nobody actually can make proper use of it. It is just the words themselves. If it’s anybody’s fault, it’s mine, because they have to carry that potency. Maybe I’m having a few off days. [Laughs] I’m just joking. [Chuckles]

But I am saying that there is nothing that you can do about this. That’s why even today when I was speaking, I even prefaced it by saying that Consciousness is the body of Consciousness. So, as long as we take on some notion of doership, then that one has nothing to do with this.

Q: But isn’t the one thing I can do is to just keep checking, you said?

A: Anything that I can say actually can be turned into something by ‘the checker guy’ to make you guilty.’ I am not checking enough. This is what I was told in satsang to do.’ And actually, there is no template for this freedom. Sometimes words come up because of the predominant condition in the room, or who could be listening to this, could be a particular way. And sometimes the opposite could be said because the condition could be opposite. So, to come to neutrality (like I was saying that day) sometimes the whack has to come from the right, sometimes the whack has to come from the left.

Now, what can happen many times is that anything that has been heard in Satsang, it becomes a way to make yourself feel guilty or not adequate enough or that you’re not doing things properly or something like this. If I were to say to you ‘Forget about it’ then would the checker guy even make this into a checking thing, saying ‘Are you checking about forgetting?’ [Laughs] You see?

Q: Yeah, my ‘checker guy’ would.

A: Would you say it is easier if you were to let this be my problem?

Q: Yeah.

A: Yes? Then you get on the Guru train. [Laughter] Bhagavan [Sri Ramana Maharshi] said this really beautiful example. He said when you get on the train and it’s going to Trivandrum, you don’t look every one minute and say ‘Am I getting to Trivandrum or am I getting somewhere else?’ Because you trust the engine driver. Then mind seems to have us in a hold like this, that no matter what in-road has been trying to make, it co-ops that inside. ‘You are not doing this well enough’ or This is not yet happening for you’ or ‘This is really not working’. Sometimes you just say ‘Okay, I am on the Guru train and it will take me where it wants to take me’ and all this pressure is off. Then like a child. Children are also constantly asking ‘Are we there yet?’ [Laughs]

Q: There is been a lot of resistance to like the feeling of like ‘I don’t know how surrender’.

A: Yes. That’s the best part of this; there is no ‘how to’ surrender. Even the surrendering then is the Master’s problem.

Q; Yeah, I think yes, there has been this feeling like ‘I have to carry this myself’.

A: You don’t have to carry anything at all. This is what I meant the other day also when I said you have a lifetime pass. Now you have a lifetime card at the leela now. You can just walk in, eat when you like, don’t eat when you don’t like, let the insights come if they come; if they don’t come they don’t come. Nothing is your problem. The best part of this surrender is that even if you are completely at the wrong place, it still works. [Laughs] Even if you are holding the wrong guy’s hand, it still works. [Laughter] Nothing to do with this ‘Ananta’.

Q: Yeah, because I make that mistake a lot. I keep seeing you as a person. [Laughs]

A: Even that is my problem now. You can see that one looking through these eyes is not Ananta. Even whether it is personal or not, it’s not your problem. You don’t need to self-censor anything. You don’t have to speak anything, with the intention like ‘I have to speak this or not’. Whatever moves, just moves.

Now, Consciousness is asking itself: How long do you want to play with these mock boundaries that you have believed about yourself? How long do you want to play with the notion that you are just some-thing?

[Silence]

The truth of Your enormity, of Your Being that contains a multitude of universes, is your very experience…, in this moment.

[Silence]

Consciousness is reminding Itself: How it would be to live

… without boundaries?

… without notions?

… without position?

… without judgment?

… without resistance?

… as natural, effortless openness, which is your very nature?

I read this beautiful verse from Adi Shankaracharya, which I found was just a verse but it contains most of what we speak about in Satsang. That is the beauty of these great Sages.

He says, “Now, I shall tell you the nature of this Absolute witness.”

And it is pure grace that we get to even hear these words; maybe centuries down from when the body of Shankara lived. His words still have that power. We are blessed to have this grace in our lives where we can hear the Satguru in this form. So, the Satguru is now telling us the nature of this Absolute witness. Even before we get into the description of this, we can check this for ourselves. Isn’t this the same thing that Ashtavakra was saying? ‘You are the one solitary witness of all there is.’

Then Shankara says, “If you recognize it, you will be free from the bonds of ignorance and attain liberation.”

So beautiful, isn’t it? Just by the recognizing of it, you let go of the bonds of ignorance and come to the end of suffering and find that which you are seeking; attain liberation. Therefore, it must tell you that it is just a question of recognition. It is just a misunderstanding. It is not something to be done. It is just something that you have considered yourself to be. And now you’re coming to the recognition of it and then the false consideration will go away. And this itself is freedom. So, it is not a physical movement that needs to happen.

If you considered yourself to be a cat, but you were reminded and you were shown and you came to the recognition yourself that you are not a cat, then you are free from all the problems of the cat, aren’t you? They do not apply anymore. So, as you are recognizing the Truth, you will be freed from the bonds of ignorance and attain liberation.

Then he says, “There is a Self-Existent Reality which is the basis of our consciousness of ego.”

There is a Self-Existent Reality which forms the basis of our notion ‘I am something. I am limited. I am my name. I am my form.’

What is That which is Self-Existent? What a beautiful term. What exists by itself? Does your identity exist by itself? Can you pose as if you are a person without picking up a notion about yourself? You can’t even pick up any trouble, any problem, without picking up an idea. So, all of this is dependent on beliefs and ideas that you have about yourself.

Now. You are Existent Now. You are Being. You are Existing. What effort are you making to Exist? What is holding this Existence up? Hum? Are you forcing it up? It is just Here. You Exist. This Existence is the basis of all that then comes and goes. This is the substratum for all that moves in this world.

Now, what has happened is we have attached ourselves to that which is coming and going. All the things that you call ‘mine’ …, out of all of them, how many are not going to come and go? Everything that you say is mine, how much of that will stay forever; is eternal? Nothing. So, then this ‘mine’ itself is going to be the cause of so much suffering because you’re attached to something which is going to be going anyway. To say that anything that is in this phenomenal world is ‘mine’ is like attaching yourself to a drunken donkey or something…, because you know it is going to go away. So, in this play of ‘me’ and ‘mine’ we have forgotten the basis of all of this. What is my Own Existence?

Then, the Sage says, “That Reality is the witness of the states of ego consciousness and of the body. That Reality is the constant witness of all the three states of consciousness; waking, dreaming and dreamless sleep. It is Your Real Self.”

What a potent pointer, again, isn’t it? The same as Ashtavakra also shared. What is That which continues even in your dreamless sleep? And here, you cannot presume anything. You have to speak from your very experience. In this waking state, we have one body. There might be a dream state where it seems like you have another body. In the dreamless sleep, which body is there? What witnesses this state of dreamless sleep, where there is nothing at all phenomenal; and yet, you had the experience of sleep?

That which is untouched by the coming and going of any of these states: That You Are.

And if You are That, then what can come in this waking state that can, in Reality, harm You, hurt You? You have remained the unchanging; irrespective of what states have come and gone.

This is Your unchanging Reality.

So, then Shankara says, “It is your Real Self. That Reality pervades the universe. It alone shines. The universe shines with Its reflected light.”

The reflected light of YourSelf. That’s why Ashtavakra said ‘You are that shoreless ocean in which the arcs of the universe come and go.’ You are the basis of them. You are not an object in this universe. If you have to create a relationship, it is more accurate to say that the universe is an object in You.

[Shankara says] “It’s essence is timeless Awareness. It Knows all things, witnesses all things; from the ego to the body. It is the witness of pleasure and pain and the sense objects. This is Your Real Self; the Supreme Being, the ancient. It never ceases to experience infinite release. It is unwavering. It is Spirit Itself.”