BOOKS BY ANANTA Welcome to Satsang with Ananta

[19.3] Janaka said, “Where is past and future, or even present? Where is space, or even eternity? I abide in the glory of Self.”

Time and space. And many times, if we are open to this discovery that space is just a projection of Consciousness…, because we feel that yes, Consciousness also conjures up dreams, Consciousness also conjures up imagination, memories; some things that have never happened. There might be ten of you and you might have a very clear image or memory of something that happened, but the other nine are saying ‘What are you saying? This never happened?’ So, this whole projection ability of Consciousness (dreams, memory, imagination)…. are we able to accept that about space? But many times, we are unable to accept it about time. Then you will find that time and space is actually one. It is one space of experiencing, this space of existence; your Being. And That which witnesses this space is changeless. So, for That which is changeless, there is no time. Time is the measure of change. That which is changeless is beyond time.

“Where is past and future, or even present? Where is space, or even eternity? I abide in the glory of Self.”

[19.4] Janaka said, “Where is Self? Where is not-Self? Where is good and evil, confusion and clarity? I abide in the glory of Self.”

Where is Self, and even not-Self? [Silence] It’s like Ribhu Gita, chapter 26. After so many chapters about Brahman, it goes ‘Not even Brahman’. [Chuckles] Why? Because the Sages know that even these most pristine pointings can become positions. How many have we seen in this Advaita path who are just ‘I am Awareness’? (‘What would you like for lunch?’ … ‘I am Awareness.’) [Chuckles] It’s like Groot in Guardians of the Galaxy. ‘I am Groot.’ You say anything to them…, ‘I am Awareness.’ So, even Awareness or even Self can become like a position. So, even this, don’t hang on to it conceptually.

Although he starts the verse with “Where is Self? Where is not-Self? Where is good and evil, confusion and clarity?” [He ends with] “I abide in the glory of Self.” Self does not have to be held onto conceptually. When we are empty of concepts, what are You? The Self.

[19.5] Janaka said, “Where is sleeping, dreaming, waking, or even the fourth state? Where is fear? I abide in the glory of Self.”

Beautiful. Sleeping, dreaming, waking; all of them come and go, even turiya comes and goes. If this itself comes and goes, when is it going to go? Tonight it is going? Ultimately, even if you feel like sleep is only a temporary state, and we feel like there is death which is a permanent state, ultimately it is coming. So, this is going to go. What did the Sage say right from the very beginning? Focus on that which is unchanging. So, we’re still trying to sort out something for the changeful realm because that’s the only way the mind can function.

Who is That which is beyond these states?

Who are you in your sleep state that observed that there is nothing there?

Who is the witness of that nothing?

What no-thing witnesses nothing?

And what no-thing witnesses all things?

[Silence]

[19.6] Janaka said, “Where is close or far, in or out, gross or subtle? I abide in the glory of Self.”

So, all these concepts of time and space, and objects within time and space; now You See that You are beyond this entire realm.

[19.7] Janaka said, “Where is life and death? Where is the world and worldly relations? Where is distraction and stillness? I abide in the glory of Self.”

We just spoke about this. All these states of waking, dreaming, sleep, turiya, life, death; who are they for? Who witnesses them? Is That touched by them?

You notice now that the mind will run out of tricks because now every single concept of yourself (which the mind uses to convince you of your limitations) has been swept away.

You are neither this nor that.

You are neither in time nor in space.

You are neither free or liberated or bound.

Neither the doer nor the non-doer.

Not the desirer or the experiencer.

[Silence]

You are This Self.

And this abiding is Your natural state; because You are the Self. Abiding is Your natural state. You don’t have to try and abide. Some are doing this also: ‘I’m trying to abide as the Self.’ Why? How? It’s your natural state. You don’t have to BE natural. Like we were saying earlier, you have to try and be unnatural; you have to make an effort to pose as if you are the person, or to make the effort to pose as if you are an entity, the identity.

How do you make this effort? By giving belief to that which is meaningless. This power of belief belongs to You-as-Consciousness. And Consciousness chooses to play as if it is the ego when it believes the idea that ‘I am something’.

[19.8] Janaka said, “There is no need to talk about the three ends of life. To talk of yoga is purposeless. Even talking about Truth is irrelevant. I rest in Self alone.”

The ultimate ‘shut up’ talk. [Chuckles] Like Papaji. [Raises one finger] ‘Be Quiet!’

“There is no need to talk about the three ends of life. To talk of yoga is purposeless. Even talking about Truth is irrelevant. I rest in Self alone.”

Now, the only thing I will say (at the risk of upsetting Ashtavakra) [Laughs] is that: Don’t mistake the outer silence of this mouth as the True silence. That can be a helpful silence, but the True silence is this absence of egoic belief. Then nothing has to be said.

You only need a concept to establish a false position for yourself. The Truth does not need a concept. So, empty of concepts, there is no need to speak. No need for any proclamations, any judgments. [Silence] “Even talking about Truth is irrelevant. I rest in Self alone.”

Okay, we’ve finished Chapter 19 and there’s only one chapter left.

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Reading from the Ashtavakra Gita, Translation by Bart Marshall

http://www.holybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/Ashtavakra-Gita-ebook.pdf

We cannot keep one foot on the ground and board an airplane. We cannot come to this Self-recognition in the idea of your limitation, in the idea of your separateness. It must be disposed of, discarded. It must be [discarded] how?

Nothing to do, even in that; because right now, it is empty. Don’t fill it up again. [Chuckles]

I try to emphasize this almost every Satsang because I’m still in awe of this. I remember for this one [himself] who was a seeker for a long time, how it played out. So, if he was told that ‘All these conditions that you’re trying to get rid of, all the ego that you’re trying to destroy, it automatically just vanishes in every moment’ …, I’d be very happy to hear that. But somehow I don’t seem to get that response when I share it in Satsang. [Laughs]

If I’d been told this, that all this heavy lifting, all these projects (getting rid of tendencies, conditioning, ego, kill the ego, dissolve it) was ‘Nothing! It’s just happening. Done! So simple.’ [it probably also would have come up, the]: ‘But…’ That’s the only thing, isn’t it? This ‘But…’

It is just a thought. It’s just another thought.

What to do with this thought? Just let it come and go.

If you have not been able to let it come and go, and you picked it up: so what? Nothing. In this moment, it is all clean again.

Again, the same cycle repeats: ‘But…’ [Chuckles] That’s just this game; it’s all like this.

So, why is the Self-recognition in every moment important then? If, in every moment, the clean up job has all happened, why is the Self-recognition important?

Because, when the ‘But…’ comes, it is always speaking to you as if you are the limited one.

Then, when You have Seen Yourself to be beyond the concept of limitation, then the thought is not so believable. You don’t hold on to what it’s telling you. You don’t hold on to what the mind is selling. You are able to let it go. That’s why Self-recognition creates this space in which belief in the mind can be let go of. And as belief in the mind is let go of, it creates more space for the Self-recognition. That is Your True Self. That is Your True Satsang.

[18.100] Ashtavakra said, “One of tranquil mind seeks neither crowds nor wilderness. He is the same wherever he goes.”

So, like we said, no need to renounce the world and live in a cave in the mountains. And there is no need to become very focused on getting a lot of crowds or masses or meeting a lot of people, changing the world; these kinds of ideas. So, upon this simple Seeing: I Am the Self, it is Seen that everything that plays in this body/mind is the will of Consciousness. If it has to happen, it will happen. If it is not happening, it is not happening. Not attached to either happening or not happening.

This is the important part. Because many times, we can hear this instruction and we can feel like ‘I’m not the doer so now I will do nothing’. But even that is a sense of doership. You see? It’s a bit subtle so let me repeat. We can have this idea that because I’m not the doer, now I will ‘do’ nothing. But even that is a ‘doing’…, the idea of doership, of doing nothing. As long as you believe yourself to be the limited entity made up of the body/mind, then even the position that you might take of doer or non-doer both smell of limitation. It is only in Your recognition as Your True Self that it is not-applicable. Doership. You’re not the doer because it is not applicable. So, if the choice comes, which one are you?

Option A: Doer

Option B: Non-doer

Option C: Not applicable

It is not applicable because you are not that which would have been either the doer or the non-doer. This…, if you keep it your Heart, if you contemplate a little bit about this, it will clear SO much subtle misunderstanding which can come in Advaita. Because there are many who can take the non-doership position also as a limited entity; they can take the non-desire or pure mind position also as a limited entity.

Why are you empty of desire? Because desire and desirelessness both are not applicable. So, when you hear ‘You have no desire’ then the mind will come and say ‘Oh, this means I must be free of my desire’. See what You Are. You are beyond any phenomenal attributes, so what could you want which is phenomenal? Only in the idea of your limitation can you truly want something.

Therefore, in desire, doership and duality is hidden this ego, this limited identity. And also in their opposites. So, it is not that you have to take their opposite position. It is to be empty of all positions. [Silence]

You might say, ‘So, how do I become empty of all positions?’ The instruction (like Guruji [Sri Mooji] would say) sounds a bit like when I would say ‘be natural’. You are then ‘doing’ the ‘being natural’ …, trying to be natural. [Chuckles] ‘I should put my shoulders down; yeah.’ That’s also doing.

How to be empty of all positions? SEE what You Are. What are You in this very moment?

You will find that You are the witness of all phenomenal movement and that Itself is beyond anything that you’ve conceived yourself to be in the past. And then when the thought comes and it tells you ‘Oh, this is your position’ or ‘This is what my offer of a new position for you is’ …, you’ll know. It’s the same wrong idea. It’s selling to the limited idea about yourself.

That is why I keep emphasizing this Self-recognition which is ever available. It is not difficult. But you cannot hold on to a limited position about yourself AND hold on to the Self.

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Reading from the Ashtavakra Gita, Translation by Bart Marshall

http://www.holybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/Ashtavakra-Gita-ebook.pdf

[18.88] Ashtavakra said, “The wise one has no sense of ‘mine’. To him earth, stone and gold are the same. The knots of his heart have unraveled. He knows neither ignorance nor sorrow. He is excellent in every way.”

“The wise one has no sense of ‘mine’. To him earth, stone and gold are the same.” Now, again there is scope for misunderstanding. So, it might feel like, once I see that there is no separation, this world becomes like one blurry appearance. If there is a stone in your hand, you can’t make out the difference between a stone and gold. It’s not like that. He’s still talking about attachments here.

When the sense of ‘mine’ is taken away, then whatever is appearing is accepted as God’s gift; the prasad from God. Or as an appearance within the play. Whichever way we want to look at it. Then we’re not picking and choosing our next experience. We’re not saying ‘What’s next?’ Guruji [Sri Mooji] says this very beautifully. The mind is constantly troubled about something next.  He says, ‘When lunch is here, the mind is already thinking about ‘What am I going to eat for dinner?’ The ‘What’s next’ … ‘Okay, I came to this experience, now what’s next?’

So, this holding on to experience, saying ‘I want something to be mine and I want (or I don’t want) them to appear is a misunderstanding. That which is appearing and disappearing is all moving with the Supreme Intelligence of Consciousness. Like I say more simply: God is the ultimate chef and He is not messing up your recipe.

We constantly have this bemoaning attitude. ‘God, why are you doing this to me…, making a hash out of my life?’ And then, once you start to See that everything is a play of Consciousness, then you will find that the boundary-line which you have defined between yourself and God itself starts to fade away. Then you come to a point where you say ‘One experiencer, One doer’. There are no two.

Then, one day you might even come to the point where you say ‘I am That which witnesses even the play of this pure experience. Even Consciousness comes and goes; as far as I am concerned in Reality.’

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Reading from the Ashtavakra Gita, Translation by Bart Marshall

http://www.holybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/Ashtavakra-Gita-ebook.pdf

All the clues for this discovery are present here. ALL the clues are here. What is That witness which witnesses all things? Can that itself be witnessed?

What is it that remains unchanging? Everything else is changing. Everything is changing; what remains unchanging?

They point to the same; all these clues. But one clue you always have to remember is: Don’t expect to find a ‘thing’. Don’t expect to find something sitting there. ‘The Self; I will come to the Self and it will be so beautiful. It will have all the colors within Itself.’ It will, but not in the way you’re expecting it to. It will be empty of all qualities, yet all qualities emerge from It. This is a discovery that all of you are making.

We have 11 or 12 clues now.

‘You are the solitary witness’. What is the one solitary witness that is looking at all things? Then, when we are without any boundaries, without limitation. ‘I am the shoreless ocean in which the ark of the universe rises and falls. All these verses are there. What are they pointing to? The Self in this way.

So, many times, when I say ‘Look for the witness’ you might feel like there’s an entity there, a supernatural entity which is the witness. But one of the clues is ‘It is boundless’. So, an entity must have a boundary, you see. What witnesses even this idea of ‘entity’? That which is boundless.

Then, you might come to this idea that ‘I am something which awakens in the waking state and goes to sleep’. And, what is it; the clue? ‘That which is the unchanging Reality’. What witnesses all of these states; waking, dreaming, sleep, turiya, any state that you might be having? What witnesses that?

All the clues are there; pointing to Your Reality. Don’t come into any sort of mental conclusion. Don’t come to any sort of conceptual idea. Your discovery will not be conceptual. In fact, mostly you will find yourself empty of words. In the outward play, mostly you will find that it is difficult to speak. Proclamations become very dull. The idea that ‘I have found it’ or ‘I have not found it’…, both lose their relevance. The idea of ‘what should I do now?’ or ‘What should I do next?’ seems to dissolve because you find YourSelf to be beyond time and ‘What next?’ You find YourSelf beyond the universe. So, what should appear in the universe? What else is there for you to know? All this worldly Knowing loses its relevance but it can continue to be part of the play.

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Link to ‘Eleven Clues to Awakening”

https://anantasatsang.org/transcript/eleven-clues-awakening/

Suppose that you came with a belief that you were in a prison; you were in a box, in a jail; you were stuck. Now, there are many different ways which have been prescribed in this world about how to get out of this prison. So, some will say, ‘To get out of the prison, you need a lot of muscle to break the bars. So, everyday what you have to do is pushups. Everyday do these 120 pushups, so you’ll build the spiritual muscles, then you’ll be able to break the prison bars.’ Some will say, ‘The problem is actually that your mind is not pure, that is why you are always thinking about the prison. So, stop thinking about the prison and I’ll give you a replacement, something else to think about.’ That could be a mantra, an image of God; something to keep your mind away from prison walls into this, so that it can change the quality of your mind by giving you something else to focus on. And for most of the seeming-prisoners, these things seem attractive.

Now, there are some paths (which are the direct paths) which tell you, ‘But all that you have to do is find out whether you actually are in a prison or not.’ And because the conditioning is so strong, [the reaction is] ‘What? That much I’m clear about. I am a person. That much I’m clear about. I’ll tell you what kind of person I need to become, so then I can escape this prison.’

Here the question is: Are you the prisoner? Is there a prison? Both questions are the same. It might sound different. Are you a prisoner? Or is there a prison? It’s the same question.

It’s for those who can accept this question, for those who have come to this point where the yearning of the Heart is for this discovery:

Who is it that I am?

Am I the prisoner?

Am I the person?

Who wants freedom?’

That’s why Advaita Vedanta is called the direct path. Why do they call it the direct path? Because once you hear, once you have the Knowledge from insight, intuitive insight, that You are not this limited one, then what path do you need? What path do you need?

So, this illumination, this recognition, is this discovery that ‘I’m beyond time and space, I’m beyond all phenomenon. There is no bondage for me’. Once you see this, and if then somebody comes and says ‘Oh, I have a nice set of scissors for your rope so that you can cut it’ then you say, ‘But I’m not bound.’ That’s why it is called the direct path.

Now, I’m not putting down any path. I’m not saying that any other path is right or wrong. Many times, to come to this openness to accept this truth, it can seem like you need to do some spiritual pushups. It can feel like ‘I need to get some peace in the mind by chanting something’. All of these are useful along the way, because they can cause this sense of openness. Peace of mind can come to the sense of openness for the inquiry. But if the path is being confused as getting us to something as a limited entity (if I do my hundred spiritual pushups every day, I will become a super-power or something) that is just giving more and more energy, giving more and more belief, to the idea of a limited ego trying to become something special.

That is why it’s called the direct path, which means that if you are seeing a snake, but it’s a rope (or you feel there’s a snake but actually there’s a rope) there are no real methods for how to kill the snake. You are just being reminded to see carefully that it’s just a rope; there’s nothing to fear. You see? That way, once you see that it’s a rope, if someone comes and says, ‘I have a solution that this snake will lose its poison’ then you say ‘But I already see it’s a rope, why do I need to deal with the snake?’

That is the reason why we focus on the recognition of what is truly here. And it is easier actually. Once there’s a little bit of openness, it is easier to deal with the rope as a rope. So, it’s not difficult. Don’t let your mind convince you that ‘Because he said only few are attracted to this, that must be because it’s very difficult’. It is the easiest!

People want to do more difficult things because our condition is that (we have been told that) ‘When you do difficult things, then you will achieve something’.

Here, it’s super simple.

It’s already what You Are.

Boom.

‘Oh, there’s nothing to do? Nowhere to go?’ [Chuckles] You see? Then it can feel like it’s not valuable because of that.

It’s direct because it’s already what You Are. It’s just a simple looking. Just like this:

Am I in prison?

Is there a prison here?

Who needs freedom?

What is my bondage?

I saw a message on Facebook the other day where they said ‘Awareness is a function of the waking state’. They started with a false presumption and obviously came to a false conclusion. ‘Awareness is a function of the waking state’ therefore, those who say ‘You must just be aware’ they are saying ‘You are completely wrong; because how can you be sleep deprived?’ [Chuckles] I’ve never heard such a thing.

So, then, who is aware of sleep?

We can’t really, truly blame them because of how it is understood in worldly terms (awareness) might be like this. ‘Are you aware that there is a hotel close to your house?’ So, that is some sort of a conceptual knowing which has been used as ‘awareness’.

Q: Are you conscious of it?

A: Are you conscious? But what we’re saying is ‘What witnesses even Consciousness?’ What we are really pointing to is That which is beyond all states.

It is not a functioning of the waking state. Because if Awareness was just a functioning of the waking state, how would you be able to even say something like ‘sleep state’? Who was aware of sleep? Is sleep just an idea that you’re making up? Dream states, other states; are they just ideas? No. ‘She has deeply meditative experiences so she has these states.’ You can’t call it the waking state. Who is aware of those states? That witness stays the same. That witness that is witnessing this, that is witnessing the other meditative experiences, is also witnessing sleep. But Itself is empty of qualities. Because in sleep, what is there? What is there? [Silence]

Q: The absence of all phenomenon.

A: The absence of all phenomenon. And yet, there must be something that witnesses the absence of all phenomenon. But it is not a ‘some-thing’. This, to the mind, is far out. ‘Oh, you came to Satsang to find some peace or happiness or love or something like this, but now, you’re being told that ‘You are no-thing’.

That is why this sort of direct path is something which is rarely attractive. In this world of six or seven billion people, it seems rarely attractive because we are still (most of humanity is still) in that phase of wanting something for themselves that is phenomenal. If I come and tell you ‘I will give you something. You can’t touch it, you can’t feel it, you can’t taste it, you can’t see it in that way, you can’t hear it…’ [You would say]: ‘For this, you charge money?’ [I say]: ‘But I don’t even charge money. For free, I’m giving you this.’ [You would say]: ‘But what’s the point? I can’t touch it, I can’t taste it, I can’t feel it…’ [Chuckles]

Where this is coming from… [Chuckles] … yesterday, I met someone and I was just talking to her and she said, ‘What do you do?’ (That is one scary question, isn’t it, for most of us; what do you do?) I said, ‘There is some work but my attention these days is in sharing something called Advaita Vedanta. But I share it from my own experience and with a little bit of scriptural help.’ She’s like, ‘So, what do you get as a result of this?’ [I said]: ‘You don’t ‘get’ in that way.’ [She said]: ‘Then do I pay for coming to you?’ [I said]: ‘You don’t have to pay anything.’

But still the question remained, ‘So, what do I get?’ [The answer comes]: ‘You don’t get anything. In fact, you will lose the ‘I’ also.’ [Laughing and laughter in the room]

It is not something that you will ‘get’ in this way. You will lose this false idea of ‘I’. You will See something about YourSelf which is beyond phenomena. So, don’t be so quick to discount that which is not phenomenal just because we can’t fathom it, we cannot make a concept around it and say ‘This is the Self’. You will See that in the recognition of this Truth, You will find this Self, then You will find such beauty emerging even in Your outward play in this world. Because as Consciousness is coming to this recognition of Itself, there is play; in a way that all of this worldly creation will become just a beautiful play. This fear of death, the fear of something happening to you, will start to become more and more laughable.

Almost every Satsang, I’ve been saying ‘How can the Self be scratched by anything that might appear in this world?’  Once you See that ‘I cannot be dented, no matter what happens; I cannot be scratched or hurt by anything that happens here’ … when this recognition becomes settled, then You will See such beauty unfolding in Your life; such wonder, such joy. There will become a natural fragrance to Your Presence. And yet, You will be unattached even to this.

[18.87] Ashtavakra said, “The wise one stands alone, caring for nothing, bereft of possessions. He goes where he will, unhindered by opposites, his doubts rent asunder. He is truly blessed.”

“The wise one stands alone, caring for nothing” doesn’t mean that he become uncaring. It is just that the Self in unconcerned by any play of the phenomenal world. The Self is unconcerned, yet in the outer expression usually what happens is (I have said often) that when true spirituality meets the world is met with kindness, it is met with compassion, it is met with love; usually. Even these benchmarks we cannot make. But usually in the Presence of a Sage, we experience it on our own, isn’t it? Go to Ramana ashram or be with Guruji [Sri Mooji] automatically you will feel something in the Presence of a Sage. It is not a derisive sort of letting go of the world, which is like ‘This world is useless and pointless. Who are you people? You don’t even exist.’ Not like that. It is usually met with compassion; usually met with love…, knowing fully well that everything that moves in this Universe is play of Consciousness and is therefore the Will of God. So, it is not in opposition to anything that might be appearing; including the responses which come from the body itself. Even that is included in the appearance of the world.

That’s why the Sage says, “The wise one stands alone, caring for nothing.” It’s like ‘unconcerned’. Whatever might happen is God’s will, is the will of Consciousness, therefore, this individual sense of doership, the individual sense of individual identity, the separation…, all of this is not picked up.

“Bereft of possessions. He goes where he will.” What does this mean? Not that the Sage doesn’t have anything. In the outwardly play, they can have a house, they can have a family. So, what is “Empty of possessions”? Really it means empty of attachments to them. This idea of ‘me’ and ‘mine’ is not there. This ‘empty’ you are. Like Janaka, the Sage himself, after this, continued to run the kingdom. He had a palace; all the possessions. He possessed a kingdom. And yet was empty of them. How? Just this. What is that linkage between the appearance of the world and that which we consider ourselves to be? This idea of ‘me’ and ‘mine’.

What would your life be, if there was no such idea as ‘me’ and therefore such idea of ‘mine’?

You find that nothing can truly come which makes you suffer. If everything is God’s (including this body) then can you have a problem? That is devotion. That is surrender. Everything is God. Including actions, including words that happen here. Everything is God. Everything is whose problem? [Smiling] God’s problem.

When we pick up ‘Something that I have to do’ or ‘This is my problem’ we are picking up what identity? The identity of the ego which we cannot find. This one is the idea of our limitation. Because if it is all God, then who must God be? If there is a You what must You be? Now, to the mind, this sounds like a very arrogant statement. Actually, it is not arrogant. Arrogance is the idea that I can be separate from God. So, either we say ‘I possess nothing’ or we say ‘Everything is I’. It’s the same thing, actually, because in neither is there separation. The ‘me’ and the ‘other’ is not happening. Either we say ‘Everything is God’ or we say ‘I am everything’. It is the same thing.

So, in all these relationships, in all this struggle with problems, who is the one who is the owner of relationships? So, possessions also include relationships; we possess our relationships, in a way. We possess not just worldly objects. The more troublesome, in fact, can be sometimes these things that we feel like we possess as people, as relationships. There is no individual ‘I’ in that way to possess anything at all. All is One.

And we are not moving from one belief system to another belief system. So, we’re not replacing just a concept (‘I am this individual person; I am the body/mind’) with another concept (‘You are God’). That concept just as a concept itself is useless. Better not to pick it up, actually, because as the spiritual ego it will cause even more trouble. [Chuckles]

So, we go from this concept of ‘I am this individual entity’ to the recognition that there is only One…, whatever we call it; whether we call it ‘God’ or we call it ‘the Self’.

So, in that way, that is why the Sage can say “The wise one stands alone.” It’s not that ‘stands alone’ means the wise one becomes very lonely. [Chuckles] They are just sitting alone; nobody wants to talk with them. It’s not like that. The wise one stands alone because they realize ‘Only I Am. There is nobody else. The appearance of this body and the appearance of every body is part of one Consciousness, one play’. So, in that way; not in the worldly, corporate way that ‘It’s lonely at the top’…, so the Sage has got to the top of the mountain so, poor thing, he or she is standing alone. [Chuckles] That’s why it’s good to have these sessions because sometimes when we read these words, we can get misunderstandings about them. ‘I must go then live in a cave because I must be alone; because I want to be this wise one.’ Not ‘alone’ in that way. The Self is only One. That is why it is Advaita: not two. Truly, Advaita means ‘not two’.

“… caring for nothing.” Again, the potential for misunderstanding here. It’s not that ‘Oh, I don’t care for any of you’ or the Sage is now saying ‘Oh, who are you? You’re just a bucket of flesh and blood. Go away from me.’ [Chuckles] or something like that. The Sage is not saying that. The world is usually met with a lot of caring (different expressions, of course) but is unconcerned with what fears they used to have. ‘I wish my life only goes this way. I hope this doesn’t happen.’ Then, once You See that only Consciousness IS, then You See that all is the will of Consciousness. Then You’re not resisting what is appearing in life. There is an acceptance of that; including the responses that come.

Why do I make it a point to say ‘including the responses and reactions that come with this body? is because many times, when we hear we must accept life, then we become like ‘Oh, yes, the body must be like this’. [Makes gestures of open hands, namaste hands, receiving] It’s not about this. It’s acceptance even for movement of this body. Even if something comes and it feels strong and a strong reaction comes from here, you don’t pick up guilt about it. (It is not an Advaita excuse for bad behavior, by the way.) But just Seeing that everything is a happening; everything is a movement in Consciousness. And to See that ‘everything’ includes this body, these words, these hand movements.

See this for YourSelf. How are these words coming? Is there an Ananta sitting here doing them? It might seem like it, but it is not true. They are just emerging. And the hearing of them is happening in the same way; even through these senses as it might be happening through those senses. There truly is nobody individually saying these words. They can seem to belong to some mythical Ananta. [Chuckles]

“He goes where he will, unhindered by opposites, his doubts rent asunder. He is truly blessed.”

So, that again reminds me of that beautiful interaction in Satsang with Papaji, my Master’s [Sri Mooji]’s Master, Poojaji, affectionately called ‘Papaji’. So, somebody came to him, sitting over there, and said ‘I don’t see God. Show me God. I don’t see God.’ So, Papaji said, ‘Don’t doubt. Doubt is false. ‘Don’t’ is ‘doubt’. What do you see?’ And this one [man] said again, ‘I don’t see God.’

At first, it can sound like it’s word play, like he’s just playing with the words. How can removing …  ‘Don’t’ … show me God? But try it. Just try it.

Remove the ‘don’t’.

Remove the ‘but’.

Remove the ‘if’.

Remove all these doubts.

And See What IS.

~ ~ ~

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Reading from the Ashtavakra Gita, Translation by Bart Marshall

http://www.holybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/Ashtavakra-Gita-ebook.pdf

[18.95] Ashtavakra said, “The man of Knowledge seems to think, but has no thoughts. He seems to have sense perceptions, but does not experience. He seems to have intelligence, but is empty-minded. He appears to be a person, but is not.”

“The man of Knowledge seems to think, but has no thoughts.” Again, he is not attached to the ‘thinker identity’. Not that all thoughts have to go.

“He seems to have sense perceptions, but does not experience.” Again, this means he does not take a position of the individual experiencer. Experiences are still there. All this is being tasted. There’s a room full of people. It’s fully tasted as an experience. There is no individual experiencer of them; just like there is no doer of these words. As I was saying earlier ‘There is no Ananta which is speaking these words’. There is no experiencer which is experiencing all of this. You are just emerging; all of this is just Your own Being. All of this is just an emergence and a disappearance in Your own Consciousness.

So, that’s what it means. “He seems to have sense perceptions, but does not experience.” Otherwise, if I don’t explain it like that, there might seem to be contradiction.

“He seems to have intelligence, but is empty-minded.” What does it mean? Even after all conceptual knowing is put aside, you See that whatever you seem to have known and valued so much…, that it’s actually value-less, in a way. And yet, in the articulation, in the speaking, you’re not finding a Sage using a different language; you’re not finding a Sage which has a completely different conceptual articulation. Still, we find that he seems to know a lot. Then you meet a Sage and you say ‘Oh, did he say ‘I know nothing?’ How does he know about this and that?’ He is not attached to the knower identity, not attached to a conceptual belief system.

And the final one is the clincher. “He appears to be a person, but is not.”

So, the Sage is that outward expression of the One who (in that aspect of Consciousness) has come to the recognition of the unchanging Self.

Again, this is still clues for you. If you still think you are a person, can you show me? It is not just for the Sage (‘Oh, the Sage is so wonderful’). It is clues for our own awakening.

~ ~ ~

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Reading from the Ashtavakra Gita, Translation by Bart Marshall

http://www.holybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/Ashtavakra-Gita-ebook.pdf

[18.89] Ashtavakra said, “The liberated soul has no desire in his heart. He is content and indifferent. He has no equal.”

We have discussed most like this. “He has no equal” because there is only One. There are no two.

[18.90] Ashtavakra said, “Only one free of desire knows nothing of knowing, says nothing needs saying, sees nothing to see.”

That’s quite clear.

[18.91] Ashtavakra said, “He who is without desire excels, be he beggar or king. He no longer sees good or bad.”

“Excels” not in the worldly or popular term of excellence; just everything is so full of wonder. Rather than “excels’ we can look at it more as ‘wonder; wonderful’.

[18.92] Ashtavakra said, “What is lust or restraint, or the desire for Truth to the yogi who has reached life’s goal, and who embodies virtue and sincerity?”

So, what is the goal that the Sage is saying? To find This which is beyond this worldly play. So, what is the Sage pointing at? The Sage is saying don’t waste too much time trying to work on lust or trying to overcome these tendencies which seem to exist in this worldly play. Find out who You Are. Find the Truth which is beyond all of these; and these will themselves settle down, take care of themselves and be Seen as a very natural functioning of the human existence.

[18.93] Ashtavakra said, “The inner experience of one who is free of desire and suffering, who is content and reposes in Self; how can it be described, and of whom?”

That’s self-explanatory.

[18.94] Ashtavakra said, “The wise one’s state never varies. Sleeping soundly, he is not asleep. Lying in reverie, he is not dreaming. Eyes open, he is not wakeful.”

“The wise one’s state never varies. Sleeping soundly, he is not asleep.” Find the clues in this. I hope at least by now (when we are at verse 94 of Chapter 18) we’ll be able to hear what the Sage is saying and look for the clues in that. Almost every verse is a pointer for Your Self-recognition.

He is saying, “The wise one’s state never varies. Sleeping soundly, he is not asleep. Lying in reverie, he is not dreaming. Eyes open, he is not wakeful.”

So, what did we just talk about? The same thing. The states of waking, dream, sleep; any states, they are coming and going. What is he talking about? Is he talking about the Reality of You? Is Your state changing? Or do You continue to be You, that eternal witness? Do You continue to remain that unchanging One? Do You continue to remain the boundless, shoreless ocean, empty of qualities? Whatever state might come and go…

So, this is not an ode to Sages or something like that. You know, sometimes when we read we might feel that ‘This is just paying homage to the great Sages. That is so beautiful that all of this happens with them’. No. They are pointers for You to See. What is it, there?

‘What is Your Truth?’ begins actually with ‘Not this’.

So, it is for You to find this Reality for YourSelf. It is not to say that ‘The Sage is something special and you are far from that because for the Sage all these things are happening’. It is to find this for YourSelf and See that ALL the Ashtavakra Gita is about You.

What is that, for You, which is unconcerned with the waking state?

Is there such a thing?

Or no-thing?

Is the entirety of You just contained in the waking state?

The waking state is a realm of appearances.

So, is the entirety of You an appearance?

Are You just an appearance?

Or is there something about You which is beyond the waking state,

Beyond these appearances?

Then, when you start to make this discovery, then this clamor, this feverishness for more and more within this one state will become a struggle, actually; to pick up feverishness about something within a state which is itself just appearing and disappearing. You will find it a very funny play. But You are not contained within it. And all is already so beautifully taken care of. What to desire? Like the Sage was saying, ‘Empty of desire and suffering.’ Same thing; if there is no ‘mine’ there can be no suffering. If there is no idea of a limited ‘me’ the mind itself cannot be there. That’s why this pointer.

~ ~ ~

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Reading from the Ashtavakra Gita, Translation by Bart Marshall

http://www.holybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/Ashtavakra-Gita-ebook.pdf

[18.73] Ashtavakra said, “Until Self-realization, illusion prevails. The Sage lives without thoughts of ‘I’ or ‘mine’. His connection to illusion is severed.”

So, it the connection which is severed in this way; the sense of ‘I’ and ‘mine’. So often we have said, isn’t it, that it is the ‘me’ and ‘mine’ that drops away. That is the source of all attachment. There is a ‘me’ and there is a world in which some things are ‘mine’. This body is ‘mine’ but the rest is ‘not mine’. The objects in my house are ‘mine’ but the rest are ‘not mine’. But where are all of them appearing? Where does this come from? How come when I see a certain set of objects, they seem to be ‘mine’ and when I see another set of objects, those are ‘not mine.’ Who is the ‘me’ to which they belong or they don’t belong?

You see some bodies and they are ‘my children’ and you see another set of bodies and they are ‘not my children’. How does that distinguishing come? Who is the ‘me’ at the center of this?
Is it tangible, this one?

And there are many ways in which this illusion plays out. We have talked about the various ways in which this feels like ‘This is my body’ …, the intimacy of sensations, the centrality of this visual perspective, the visual appearance of this body so close and another body not so close.

Somewhere, even the ego is searching for that kind of closeness, intimacy, but it’s looking for it the wrong way. It feels like it will complete itself by the attaining of something from outside but it is a misrepresentation of what You Are. You need nothing to complete You. And yet, funnily enough, this discovery itself is completion. [Smiling]

Why is it like that? Because if I had the idea that ‘I need something to complete myself’ then that is how the power of belief is designed. These ideas (which could be completely funny) can be believed in and it can seem like they are true. That’s why it is the pretense of separation. It can feel like they are true. Anything that has the limited ‘me’ at the center is just an idea. We can go as universal as that: Anything which has the limited ‘me’ at the center is just an idea.
It is not the unchanging Reality or the unchanging Truth that the Sage is talking about.

So, notice that the illusion prevails…, not in the sense of the appearance of this phenomenal world; that can still appear and disappear but it is the connection which is severed. And what is the connection? The idea that there is a ‘me’ (an individual ‘I’) and the idea that something is ‘mine’ and something is ‘not mine’.

Just look at even the phenomenal world around you right now, without the filter of these ideas of ‘me’ and ‘mine’ …, without having a reference of an individual entity at the center of it.

What do you find?

Separation will not be there. It’s just an idea.
~ ~ ~
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Reading from the Ashtavakra Gita, Translation by Bart Marshall
http://www.holybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/Ashtavakra-Gita-ebook.pdf

[18.74] Ashtavakra said, “What is knowledge? What is the universe? What are thoughts like ‘I am the body’ or ‘the body is mine’? The Sage is imperishable and sorrow-less. He is Self alone.”

What happened to all the things we knew? Many times, we feel like we come into Satsang to know more. ‘I want to ‘know’ spirituality.’ We realize that everything we pick up is dropped soon, either in Satsang itself or life forces have to drop it. It is a coming to an emptiness in terms of concepts. What can we truly say? Even Freedom, we cannot say. Bondage, we definitely cannot say.

“What is knowledge? What is the universe?”

Only the relationship changes. We are so convinced that we are some object within this universe. The Universe is at times like a glimmering light, at times like nothing at all, at times ‘Wow, what a magnificent creation’.

“What are thoughts like ‘I am the body’ or ‘the body is mine’?”

These are the two relationships with this appearance called the body. The first relationship is this idea that ‘I am this itself’ itself. But many don’t have it as severely as they feel they do. It is the second one; ‘This body is mine’. That is why we can say things like ‘I will rest only after I die. My body is very tired today. I wonder which body I had before this, or I will have after this’. All these can only come from the relationship of there being an ‘I’ which is the owner of this body. Just like there is an ‘I’ who is an owner of their relationships, the owner of the house, the owner of anything phenomenal; where is that one? The one that has a bank account, the one that has a job; where is this one?

“The Sage is imperishable and sorrow-less. He is Self alone.”

So, it is not that the Sage’s body becomes something special; that the body should become imperishable. But the Sage is not the body. When Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi was coming close to dropping this body and his disciples, crying out of pain said, ‘Please Father don’t leave us.’ He said, ‘Where will I go? Don’t mistake this body to be me. I am always here.’ So, this Consciousness itself is the purest expression.

~ ~ ~

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Reading from the Ashtavakra Gita, Translation by Bart Marshall

http://www.holybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/Ashtavakra-Gita-ebook.pdf

[18.79] Ashtavakra said, “Patience, discrimination, even fearlessness; what use are these to the yogi? His nature cannot be described. He is not a person.”

So, really, we cannot place a quality on this Sage, although in the outward expression, the Sage may seem to have certain qualities. But in reality, they are empty of these notions about themselves.

“Patience, discrimination, even fearlessness.” See, many times, for those who are new in spirituality, they can get a bit confused. How is it that this one who is supposed to be awake is behaving in this way? How is it that Maharaj [Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj] was shouting at those who were coming to him? How is it that many great Sages, when they used to have Satsang, somebody would ask a question and they would get so irritated with the question that they would say ‘You! Get out! Right now! Please!’ Somebody even said ‘There is limited space in this room. You’re just taking up space. Get out!’ Like that. And then, the next day when they come, the Master says ‘Oh, you came back? Okay, sit right next to the door. I might want to throw you out again. I don’t want you disturbing everybody else.’ So, how is this possible?

Just like a child, all expressions are possible in a Sage. There is no way that I must only be like this or only be like that. For a Sage, there is no such thing. Consciousness is moving. You see? We find that, in the outer expression even sometimes like a child; mother would say one thing and a very beautiful reaction comes and sometime, the mother says the same thing and a lot of irritation would come. You cannot predict how a Sage will respond to something.

And yet, I feel like it is important in this way also to make the point about this aspect; about the unpredictability of a Sage. It cannot be used for any sort of exploitation. Just like a child cannot exploit anyone, cannot manipulate anyone, cannot make use of someone. They are just in their own play. The same way with a Sage; momentary anger, momentary irritation but all with a feeling of Oneness, a feeling of Love. A true Sage can never bring themselves to exploit any of the children who come to him; mentally, emotionally, physically, financially. It’s just not possible. It can only be possible if there is a sense of two. If the sense of two-ness is gone, exploitation is impossible.

[18.80] Ashtavakra said, “No heaven, no hell, no liberation for the living. In short, Consciousness is Void. What more can be said?”

So, when we come to this emptiness…, (we had this long discussion the other day about ‘void’ and ‘not void’ and how the term can sometimes be confusing in Advaita Vedanta) …, empty of all qualities; including any quality that our mind can think of about ‘being a void’. This is the important point. When we think of ‘void’ many of you could be imagining this big, black, empty space or something like that. But This One is empty even of this quality; these qualities. Then when we think like this, we feel like ‘I must come to this big, black, empty void’. It is not that. It is aware even of this. Does this Awareness have a color? Is it big or small? Is it light or dark? Empty of all quality! Qualities like “No heaven, no hell, no liberation for the living. In short, Consciousness is void.” Empty.

[Silence]

All these tips are so that you can avoid these mind traps. I know that when you hear ‘empty’ or ‘void’ it’s very natural for the mind to conjure up an imagination of this vast emptiness; the great void. It is ‘great’ because it is beyond qualities, beyond time and space. “No heaven, no hell, no liberation for the living. In short, Consciousness is Void. What more can be said?”

[18.81] Ashtavakra said, “The Sage neither yearns for fulfillment nor frets over non-attainment. His mind is cool and brimming with sweetness.”

We’ve talked about this, many times; about the opposites of desire and aversion both can be dropped.

[18.82] Ashtavakra said, “Detached from desire, the sage neither praises peace nor blames the wicked. Equally content in happiness and misery, he would not change a thing.”

Whatever might be the situation, whatever might be the life event, whatever might be stirring in the body, whatever thoughts might be appearing, whatever emotions are there, the Sage is not resisting. He’s not chasing the taste of anything; he’s not running away from the taste of anything. Whatever might come is allowed. This is openness.

[Silence]

Nothing phenomenal is bigger than Consciousness.

Nothing phenomenal can be bigger than Consciousness.

Because everything is just appearing and disappearing within Itself.

The Being has nothing to fear.

Consciousness has nothing to fear.

Nothing can appear which is stronger than It.

All that appears derives its strength from You;

From Being, From Consciousness.

~ ~ ~

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Reading from the Ashtavakra Gita, Translation by Bart Marshall

http://www.holybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/Ashtavakra-Gita-ebook.pdf

[18.83] Ashtavakra said, “The Sage neither rejects the world nor desires Self. He is free of joy and sorrow. He does not live and cannot die.”

We have looked at all these aspects.

[18.84] Ashtavakra said, “The wise one lives without hope. He has no attachment to his children, wife or anyone. Pleasure means nothing to him. His life is glorious.”

“The wise one lives without hope.” It’s not a hopeless life. [Chuckles] ‘Hope’ means a form of desire. ‘I hope this comes to me’ or ‘I hope I don’t have any visitors today’. [Chuckling] Like Guruji [Mooji] tells this very beautiful story:

He said that one evening he was just tired of meeting everyone, he just wanted to rest; no satsang, no visitors, nobody…, [saying to himself] ‘This evening, I’m just going to have this nice long bath and I’m not meeting or talking to anyone.’ (Most of you heard this story?) That evening he had no appointments, nothing in the diary; all clear. Then he makes this nice English bath [Chuckles] and he gets into the bath tub and the body starts to relax and (as all of you might predict by now) the doorbell rings. ♪♫ ting tong ♪♫ [Laughing]

Guruji says, ‘No, no, not today. I’m not opening the door.’ So, the bell rings again, ♪♫ ting tong ♪♫ a few times. Guruji says, ‘No, today is my relaxation time. I’m not moving, I’m doing this.’ Then, a few minutes later, this contemplation arose to him: ‘But who am I to decide what my evening is like? Who am I to desire a particular event can or cannot happen?’ So, this intuitive realization came that he’s going to be open to whatever comes. The next time the bell rang, after a few minutes later, his friends had come back. And this time, in the openness, something moved and it opened the door. There were his friends. And Guruji said they came in and it was one of the best evenings he’s ever had; the best time.

So, not deciding on a particular outcome. “He has no attachment to his children, wife or anyone. Pleasure means nothing to him. His life is glorious.”

Don’t worry about the 100 % because you will make a benchmark out of this: ‘Oh I’m still attached to my children so that means I’m not yet Ashtavakra or something’. Don’t worry about 100% and you will start to notice that you will become more and more aware of these attachments. And all this play of the human role will also start to get a lot more space within it.

When we think of attachments, the natural idea is to think about ‘Oh, what if they were taken away from me? Would that cause some grief?’ Something like this. We think of attachment in that way. But actually, if you look at our relationships, the nature of attachments…, even the subtler attachment which is the cause of more suffering is the attachment that ‘The relationship should be this way, or they should be like that, this is how they should behave’. There is a thing is about not giving freedom to the world. We are attached to how our partner should be, we are attached to how our children should be, (anyone) …, attached to how the sangha should be, attached to how the Master should be.

So, look at this, and you will start to find that as more and more freedom is found, we are not attached to the idea of how our children should be, how our partner should be, how anyone should be. These notions start to fall away.

It’s very natural in this human play that in one’s close relationships (sangha members, children, partners) if something happens to them, some grief is natural; it is experienced naturally.
Can we at least be free of our expectations of how they should be, how they should behave? That much is enough.

[Chuckles] I still wish my children would open the door softly (like this; something) compared to how they do.

[18.85] Ashtavakra said, “The Sage wanders about as he pleases and lives on whatever may come. Contentment ever dwells in his heart. And when the sun sets, he rests where he is.”

So, king or beggar is actually irrelevant. We talked about this, renouncing or not renouncing. And I’ve said that we don’t really have to renounce the world as long as we can renounce our limited identity. That much is enough. Whether, after that, you are in a palace or you’re in a hut, it really doesn’t matter. There is no perquisite for freedom except this openness; to open to the reality of what You Are.
~ ~ ~
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Reading from the Ashtavakra Gita, Translation by Bart Marshall
http://www.holybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/Ashtavakra-Gita-ebook.pdf

Q: Guruji, it gets difficult for me to understand who is this Self. Who is the one that I call myself? Who is the One these thoughts come to? I try to introspect but get no answer. It feels frustrating. What can I do in such situation when I am not able to understand who is it that I call Sweta? It’s not my body. Not my thoughts. Then what is it? Even this question is not letting me look beyond it; to understand it. Can you please help me with that?

A: [Smiling] This is a very good place, firstly. It is a very good place. It is this place which is more auspicious than the idea that ‘I know who I am’. The feeling that ‘I know that I am Sweta’, the notion that ‘I know that I am Sweta’ is closed. We are convinced that we are the identity. Then this beautiful point comes where you say ‘I don’t know whose body this is. I don’t know whose thoughts these are. I don’t know whose emotions these are. Where is this Sweta?’

It sounds just like Bulleh Shah (a Sufi Mystic)! [Chuckles] Bulla ki Jana main Kaun (the great Indian sage said) where he said, ‘How do I know who I Am? I am not this, I am not this, I am not this.’ [Chuckles]. So, this ‘I don’t know’ is very auspicious. It is very, very auspicious. This ‘I don’t know’ is very beautiful.

Don’t let the mind convince you that ‘This is a bad place, it’s frustrating.’ This is the beautiful place. In fact, for the journey of Satsang, 99% of the seeming journey is to come to the idea of ‘I don’t know’. [Chuckles]. It’s me shaking out the notion of who you are from all of you. It takes all the effort out of it when you say ‘I am prebaked’. [Chuckles] ‘I’m a ready-to-eat meal’ is what I hear in this. When you say ‘I don’t know who I am’ then it is music to my ears. And I can tell you that from this beautiful ‘I don’t know’ (if you don’t let your mind convince you that ‘This is a bad place. It is frustrating. It is wrong. I must know.’) …, let it come and go. You remember Bulleh Shah? He is like the happiest. He doesn’t know who he is but he is fine. He is singing, no? [Chuckles]

Then from this openness, from this emptiness of not-knowing, I give you the pointer and I ask you:

Can you stop Being?

Who is it that is here?

Then one day this question will just hit Home and be so clear; because they are not resisted.

What resists the inquiry in only the notion of who we are, which is just ideas. Now, you are saying that ‘I am empty of these ideas. I see that there is nobody called Sweta’. And yet, You still are here. Are You here or no? Sweta is not here but You are here. So, which is that one which is here? This is a beautiful inquiry! Enjoy this part of the play. It is the sweetest part.

I know mind will come as a villain over here and it will come and say, ‘But you have to know the Self. Find the Self.’ No. This is very sweet. Empty of identity. Enjoy this emptiness. Emptying of any mental identity. You say very beautifully, I like it very much: ‘I see there is no Sweta which is the body. No Sweta which is the mind, thoughts, emotions. Who am I?’

This is beautiful. [Softly] It is very beautiful.

And it is for you, people like you, who have come to this discovery that ‘I can’t find this individual identity’ that we have created all these clues. All these clues. So, Ashtavakra Gita…, now, I see you for the first time today but we have been doing Ashtavakra for few weeks, where all these clues have been given.

[Anantaji says he will have someone send her the ‘Clues’ so here is a link to them]:

https://anantasatsang.org/transcript/eleven-clues-awakening/

[18.86] Ashtavakra said, “Rooted in Being, no thought of being born or reborn, the great soul is indifferent to the death or birth of his body.”

What has happened, because of beautiful spiritual concepts, is that there can seem to be an aversion to having another birth. ‘I don’t want to come back to this world again. I want to come to the end of the cycle of birth and death.’ But actually, as You start to recognize more and more Your true position, then You start to see that nothing moves without Your will as Consciousness; and you see that whether you have no dreams, whether you have just one dream, whether this is your last dream or you have a million more, it really doesn’t matter. What is unchanging is the Self. This is the recognition. You are the unchanging, unmoving One. And this One truly does not have a preference in that way; Knowing fully well that the dynamic play starts when it has to and it ends when it has to.

There comes a point when there is a fatigue with this experiencing. Then, whatever the experience might be, sleep is calling. Papaji [Sri Poonja] said ‘You might be on your wedding night, in the arms of your beloved, and yet, when you’re done with the experiencing of this world, sleep is calling, and not even the arms of your beloved will keep you awake.’ This whole universe, it dissolves. Nothing to experience, nothing to taste, nothing to desire, no aversion; yet You Are the unchanging Truth.

Then, for some reason which cannot be articulated or verbalized (we cannot even call it a primal urge within the Self truly) for some non-articulate-able reason, there emerges this sense of Being again and the entire play of experience begins; the phenomenal world. The non-phenomenal witness remains the same. Now, there is the appearance of this phenomenal play. The body appears. The mind says ‘This body is you.’

For Awareness, nothing has changed. That’s why this entire infinity of the phenomenal play hails out of it and yet the Self remains unchanged; therefore, unconcerned with how many times this whole cycle will happen. But it is not held hostage. It is not that You are in a hostage situation, trapped in the cycle of birth and death. ‘Being caught in the cycle of birth and death’ is a concept of the idea of who you are, not the Reality of who You Are.

How can the One without qualities be caught in anything?

Who has taken birth?
Who is dying?

Like I said, only when you put a limited notion of yourself do these ideas apply.

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Reading from the Ashtavakra Gita, Translation by Bart Marshall

http://www.holybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/Ashtavakra-Gita-ebook.pdf

Q: Can you speak on “Rooted in Being”? How to be rooted in nowhere?

A: So, Being is synonymously used with Presence, ‘I Am’. So, like Maharaj [Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj] said, ‘My Master told me one thing: Stay with the sense ‘I Am’ and I just kept my attention on this sense ‘I Am’ and I discovered This which is beyond even this ‘I Am’. So, this is that kind of instruction.

Rooted in Being is like when I say ‘Can you stop being?’ our attention naturally goes to the sense of Presence that exists.

Now, I’ve said often that in my case maybe my attention span was not so good so when I hear this instruction ‘Stay with the sense ‘I Am’ or that Maharaj said ‘I was just with the sense ‘I Am’ for three years; just three years and I was finished’…, it was like ‘Just three years?!?’ [Chuckles] ‘I can’t even do just three minutes.’

So, there are some you have seen (also in the sangha) that for them it is very natural to stay with the sense ‘I Am’ and then there are those like me who didn’t have this kind of attention span to be staying that way. In fact, it became more of a frustration here. ‘I have to just keep my attention on Being.’ So, it was easier for me (and that’s why now I prescribe for the sangha) to just remain open; allow everything to come and go.

Then what happens in openness? Naturally you will find attention is with Presence; without the sense of having to ‘root it’ over there. You find that naturally it is there.

From verse 86: “Rooted in Being, no thought of being born or reborn, the great soul is indifferent to the death or birth of his body.”

Then you see that this Being is the Light of this Universe; is not dependent on the body. The mind has co-opted this Being and made it as if it is an aspect of the body itself. Many of you feel like this sense ‘I Am’ is contained in the body. That’s why very often we do this contemplation, just checking: ‘Is it that this Being is contained in the sensations of the body? Or is it that the sensations of the body are contained in the Being?’ Then we See that this Being is beyond the body sensations, the body visuals.

Consciousness is I Am. As we recognize OurSelf as this ‘I Am That I Am’ then the comings and goings of the body are no longer so relevant.

Q2: I’m glad you said you were unable to stay with ‘I Am’. When I try that, it feels strange; like there are two in ‘I Am’. So, I always feel that this beyond me.

A: Yes, here, when I used to hear it before meeting Guruji [Sri Mooji] it was always this idea that I feel the notion of the doer; having to ‘do’ this to find freedom…, and the idea was getting perpetuated. But there are also those who find it very natural to stay with it, so I’m not putting down what Bhagavan said as a practice. It is a beautiful thing. So, I’m not putting it down in any way. I’m just saying that here (I have to speak from what is experienced here) I find there is no prerequisite. If you don’t have the attention span to stay with ‘I Am’ for three years, it does not mean that you cannot recognize the Self. Otherwise, I would not be here sharing with you.

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Reading from the Ashtavakra Gita, Translation by Bart Marshall

http://www.holybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/Ashtavakra-Gita-ebook.pdf

Q: So, one has to be free of both want and not-wanting?

A: One Sees that there is no one here that wants and doesn’t want.

Now, I don’t want to say ‘Yes’ unreservedly to what you said because I know the nature of the mind will pick it up. And since getting rid of the wants itself has been so difficult, then now you must be rid of the non-wants also; [Chuckles] I don’t want to give you that project.

As I was saying the other day, I have one pill, one medicine, for all ills. Let’s find out who we are. Who are you? This will get rid of desire and aversion, guilt, resentment, grievances; suffering basically…, because all of those rely on the individual limited identity. As you’re Seeing that all of this is not true because ‘I am not that’ then you don’t have to work on these aspects specifically.

I’ve seen many in traditional paths who could get stuck in wanting to free themselves of their desires; wanting to make the mind pure or something like that. Let the mind be what the mind is. Let everything be as it is. Let the world be as it is, let the body be as it is, let the mind be as it is, let emotions be as it is. You are That which is beyond all of this. You are the unchanging One.

[18.75] Ashtavakra said, “When a weak man gives up meditation, he falls prey to whims and desires.”

That’s it. That’s the entire paragraph. [Chuckles] The shortest paragraph in the whole Ashtavakra Gita. Probably what happened is that one of the students came to Ashtavakra and said ‘You know when you said that you no longer need meditation; that meditation also is the meditator identity; to give up on all practices? I’ve given up my meditation and look at what’s happened to me! I’m just getting caught up in all the objects in the world, I’m just getting caught up in all the notions of myself.’ So, that’s why the Sage said, “When a weak man gives up meditation, he falls prey to whims and desires.”

That is why this Knowledge of Ashtavakra was traditionally only shared with those who were, at some level, established in Satsang. They had openness to the idea that they are not the limited entity, the ego.

What does it mean by openness? Are we open to the idea that You are not something that is limited? Are you open to the idea that You are not something at all; You are not a thing?

[Silence]

Is it possible that You are not a thing? [Chuckles]

If there is even a slight ‘Yes’ then that much is enough for Satsang.

Is it possible that You are not a limited entity; not a thing?

Is it possible that You don’t have boundaries?

Is it possible that You were never born, and You will never die?

[Silence]

Notice all your ‘buts’. All the ‘buts’ will come from resistance to this idea, resistance to this recognition. But this Truth will have to be You. Because when you check really, this is what You find about YourSelf. When You check on the nature of this witness, you don’t find a thing sitting there. When you go looking for Reality really, you don’t find some ‘thing’ sitting there.

That’s why I say ‘When you bow down in the inner citadel, who do you encounter?’ Is that a person? Is that the ego? [Silence] Who is in Your Heart?

[18.76] Ashtavakra said, “Even hearing Truth, the man of dull intellect holds on to illusion. Through effort and suppression, he may appear outwardly composed, but inside he craves the world.”

I remember this beautiful interaction that happened on one of the first few days when I was in Satsang. This one [guy] comes to Guruji [Sri Mooji] and he’s sitting on the ‘hot seat’ [the seat for questioners which is in front of the Master for one-on-one communication] in Tiruvannamalai, and Guruji invites him to check ‘Who is this ‘I’?’ And he says ‘But I’m not the doer. How can I do the inquiry?’ And then Guruji says (something like this, I’m paraphrasing) ‘So, what do you want?’ The man says ‘I want nothing, what do you want?’ And Guruji tells him ‘It’s lies, what you speak. Because you’re filled to the brim with desire; just speaking with these words.’

This is what can happen when we get very Advaita in our concepts but we still haven’t dropped the limited notion of what we are. As long as we still consider ourself to be something limited, this play of desire will continue. It wants something. This limited identity wants to be seen as something special, wants to become something special; filled to the brim with desire.

Because the ego actually also cannot deal with this measly-ness. [Chuckles] The ego also (because it’s only an aspect of Consciousness Itself) cannot deal with its limitation. That’s why it wants more and more and more. That’s why I said ‘Where there is duality, there is bound to be desire and doership.’

Once it is Seen that there are no-two, then nothing to want, nothing to do…, and yet, all doing can continue to happen.

[18.77] Ashtavakra said, “Though others may see him working, the Sage does nothing. Knowledge has banished effort. He finds no reason to do or say.”

This is the same thing about doership; which we’ve looked at for a long time.

[18.78] Ashtavakra said, “The Sage is fearless, unassailable. No darkness, no light, nothing to lose. Nothing.”

Beyond all this play of opposites; of doing and not-doing, of effort and not-effort, of bondage and freedom; even beyond this darkness and light which is also a play of Consciousness, empty of all qualities. This is Your Reality. Once You See that You are beyond all qualities, what can You fear?

I’ve been asking recently, isn’t it, what can actually play in this world that can make a scratch or a dent on Awareness? [Silence] And if nothing can make a scratch or a dent on You, then what are we protecting, what are we defending, what are we attacking?

“The Sage is fearless, unassailable. No darkness, no light, nothing to lose. Nothing.”

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Reading from the Ashtavakra Gita, Translation by Bart Marshall

http://www.holybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/Ashtavakra-Gita-ebook.pdf

[18.86] Ashtavakra said, “Rooted in Being, no thought of being born or reborn, the great soul is indifferent to the death or birth of his body.”

Q: So, I am mistaken in believing that the cycle of birth and death comes to an end? This is confusing for me. Please elaborate.

A: Yes. Now, we have also discussed how, as the person, we cannot have will; especially this idea of free will just falls away. But as Being, the will of Being, the will of God, must be completely free, otherwise God Himself would be limited, Consciousness Itself would be limited.

So now, when we say (and it is common to say in spirituality) that coming to Freedom is the end of the cycle of birth and death, then we’re creating a limitation in Being. Then we have to make excuses like ‘When the Sages come, they just come to help others around them’. We don’t need any of that. Consciousness is free to experience Itself in any which-way it likes. Because after coming to the recognition of Itself as Self, if It wants to play in a hundred million more lifetimes, nothing can stop It. It causes no trouble. This trouble is only from the personal identity.

So, who has made this rule for Consciousness that it must be the end of the cycle of birth and death? Nobody can make such a rule. No person was ever born. See? So, this mistaken notion…, maybe it is derived from the idea that ‘I no longer consider MySelf to be that which is subject to birth and death. Therefore, I come to the end of the cycle of birth and death. I was considering MySelf to be a limited entity, that this body was mine. So that, of course, undergoes this cycle of birth and death. What is born will die. So, as long as I considered MySelf to be that, it can seem like I’m trapped in this cycle of birth and death. Once I’ve broadened my perspective, once I’ve Seen what I Really Am, I’ve Seen that even this birth and death have been only the play of My will as Consciousness. And nothing, not even scripture, can define the will of Consciousness. It is beyond all definition’. So, we come out of the notion of being the ‘entity’ which is being born and dying.

When we’re looking now, when you’re doing the inquiry, are you finding yourself to be that which is born and is dying? No. In fact, it can only be pretended. You were never really the cycle of birth and death. It is only what you considered YourSelf to be.

One of Maharaj’s [Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj] favorite questions was ‘What were you before you were born?’

[Silence]

And if you were dead…, then who was dead?

[Silence]

Was there a ‘you’ that was dead?

No.

Then if there was a ‘you’ that was born, where did that ‘you’ come from?

[Silence]

See? It’s like Saint Kabir said, isn’t it? [Speaks in Hindi]:’ Kahan se aaye, Kahan jaogey?’ meaning ‘Where have you come from? Where will you go?’

Who is it that was born? And who is it that was going to die?

So, the break the cycle of birth and death, come to the recognition of That which is beyond birth and death; the unborn, the undying One that You are recognizing. Now, if you find YourSelf to be this unborn, undying One, is that One really concerned about the cycle of birth and death? No.

This Being, this Consciousness which takes birth, can we say ‘We are Being when we went to sleep tonight, but don’t ever come back again because I’m free now?’ [Chuckles] We don’t say it like that. Being goes when Being goes. Being comes when Being comes.

So, some of these things have been said as reassurances in the past, that all this notion of birth and rebirth and death, all of this we are subject to; I will break through the cycle of birth and death. But actually, we have gone beyond this cycle of birth and death to see that You were never truly born and You will never truly die.

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Reading from the Ashtavakra Gita, Translation by Bart Marshall

http://www.holybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/Ashtavakra-Gita-ebook.pdf