BOOKS BY ANANTA Welcome to Satsang with Ananta

Chapter 16: Special Instruction.

[16.1] Ashtavakra said, “You can recite and discuss scripture all you want, but until you drop everything you will never know Truth.”

I was saying that this is very ‘meta’ because the scripture itself contains this. So, what is it saying? It’s saying that the purpose of satsang, the purpose of these scriptures, the essence of them is to bring us to our emptiness, to bring us to our not-knowing (mental not-knowing) because of the discovery of all of these mental conclusions that we have drawn; especially the main premise of all of these mental conclusions that there is a limited entity ‘me’ that is the doer, desire-r, experiencer of this world. This one is not true. And we say that all these mental conclusions have been in service to this identity. And as we drop all of this, we find that Existence still is here. The Sage might say ‘shining brightly’…, unattached, unadulterated, unconditioned; Your True shining Presence. So, you might read much scripture and talk about knowledge for lifetime after lifetime, but if it is not leading you to this emptiness, to this openness, to this surrender, to this acceptance, then it is as good as any other worldly knowledge (maybe even worse). So, we can no longer remain the gatherer of concepts.

I was saying yesterday that one man or woman is in prison. They feel like they were always in this prison. They were born here and they will die here. But something inside them called out to them and said ‘Oh, this is not your truth. There’s a deeper truth about you which will free you from this prison’. And this one makes an inner prayer saying ‘Please, show me this deeper truth because I want to be free from this prison. Anything that frees me’. Many solutions come to him and actually, he or she feels more and more imprisoned. Then one day, he hears this intuitive voice, the voice of the inner Satguru, which is telling him ‘Look. Look really. Where is this prison? Where are these limitations which seem to constrict you? Can you find the one that is in prison?’ This one actually looks and finds that there is no prison, there is no limitation. It has just been a fallacy. There is only unlimited Presence here. This is the recognition that he is coming to, that all of you are coming to in Satsang…, the discovery that all the concepts that I picked up, all the conditions about myself that were picked up just made this imaginary prison around me.

So, this moment of recognition happens every day for you in Satsang, when you See what is the Reality of what You Are. Then this one, for an instant, feels that they are free; he is free. And yet, he imagines again these prison bars and plays the game of freeing himself (or herself) from them. This is how Satsang is functioning.

In Your Intuitive Presence, to come to this simple recognition of What Is, is not difficult. You see now that you are free. This play of imprisoning yourself again is the play of doubt, is the play of judgment, is the play of wanting mental confirmation; the play of expectation. And when we buy into these things, then we imagine ourselves imprisoned again…, as an object who has this desire, these expectations; even out of freedom. So, then the game of Satsang goes on like this.

I was saying this yesterday, that it can go on like this for a few minutes, hours or weeks, months, years, centuries, lifetimes. There is no end to this. Because the bars are imagined and Consciousness has complete freedom to imagine for as long as it likes. Time is not really a concern for Consciousness; when this game is played. So, this is the simple game of coming to the recognition of what You Are (all the pointers are for that) and the game of your ‘But…, then…’

So, we play this ‘But…, but…, but…’ game for as long as you like, because that is also the will of Consciousness. And then come to this simple Seeing that ‘But I have always been only This! I’m not becoming a better Self. Therefore, freedom must have been the real discovery of what I have always been; what is already here’. So, Satsang is just the simple game of coming to this recognition of what truly is…, and dealing with all the tricks of the mind after that.

Whatever the ‘But…’ may be, know that it is your pretend-limitation. It has no real tangible power. It only seems to derive its power from your belief, your interest, your attention.

And many times, it is our spiritual concepts, it is our scriptural concepts, that also play as if they are the pretend bars of this pretend prison. Neither the person who is in prison you can show me, nor the prison in which he’s imprisoned you can show me.

That’s why the Sage has very beautifully said: that which points you to the Reality is the only knowledge which is worthwhile. And that which points you to your illusory nature, to your pretend, make-believe façade of being an individual entity is ignorance.

That is the difference between Vidya and avidya; Knowledge and ignorance. It’s simple like this.

~ ~ ~

.

Reading from the Ashtavakra Gita, Translation by Bart Marshall

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

Just remain in your simple openness.

[Silence]

No judgments, no doubts, no conclusions, no proclamations.

[Silence]

No yesterday, no tomorrow.

[Silence]

No speculation, no projection.

[Silence]

No ‘Yes’ or ‘No’.

[Silence]

No concept about anything at all; Even about the Self.

[Silence]

Don’t know anything about anything.

Come to your child-like nature, child-like innocence.

Become an infant.

[Silence]

Now we are free from this prison that never was.

[Silence]

Everything now that you pick up will be part of the make-believe, pretend prison again.

[Silence]

Every moment this is true: You Are Free.

[Silence]

This is the play of Consciousness.

[Silence]

[16.11] Ashtavakra said, “Though Hara, Hari or the lotus-born Brahma himself instruct you, until you know nothing you will never know Self.”

[Silence]

So, with this, we come to the end of Chapter 16, called: Special Instruction. It’s called ‘Special Instruction’ also because you cannot hold on to any specialness after this. [Chuckles] Special instruction to rid ourselves of specialness.

[Silence]

I just want to end by saying that many times, as we let go of all our concepts, it can feel a bit uncomfortable, it can feel a bit fearful. Not always; for some of you it might be completely neutral. For some of you, some joy might be coming. Everything is okay. So, for those of you for whom it feels uncomfortable, like you have to give up something, as if your life is ending or death is coming, don’t worry about these conclusions or interpretations.

Really, a big part of my function is this: to help you through this wobbly part. If you come with integrity and not with a lot of ‘knowing’ and specialness; if you come with the innocence of a child; with some fear…, very quickly we can look together and get over it.

But if you come here with the intent to achieve something from the perspective of a person again, we can keep playing ping-pong for a long time. [Smiles] And a part of the function is also that, I feel. [Chuckles] How long will you play this ping-pong? One day you will get tired of it.

You’re Seeing that the true value is in your Presence. There is no value in a concept by itself. The only valuable concepts are those which are bringing you to your true Presence, to your openness, to your emptiness.

[Silence]

May the Satguru’s Grace continue to bless us all in his beautiful Light.

May my Father’s Grace be ever-present.

May all the words that come through this mouth be his alone.

May any specialness that arises here be blown away in his Holy Presence.

May everyone who comes to Satsang discover the fruit of the pointings in their own Heart.

Let there be Peace.

Let there be Peace.

Let there be Peace.

Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.

~ ~ ~

.

Reading from the Ashtavakra Gita, Translation by Bart Marshall

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

[15.18] Ashtavakra said, “In the ocean of existence only One is, was, and ever will be. You are neither bound nor free. Live content and be happy.”

We discussed this so many times (especially this time when we stared sharing satsang) where we looked and we saw that: Before you pick up the problem of trying to find freedom, can you at least confirm your bondage? Before we pick up the idea that we must find freedom, let’s at least confirm you are bound.

So, most of satsang is about this. You are saying ‘Father! Father get me out of here, I’m stuck, I’m bound!’ And I’m saying ‘Show me the prison’. This is an ancient example. Guruji [Sri Mooji] tells a story like this.

You say, ‘I’ve been inside this prison for so long, what do you mean there is no prison?’

I say, ‘Okay, humor me, humor me for a minute (chuckling) and show me one bar of this prison.’

You say, ‘No, no, no. This is just…, it can’t be true. Can it be that simple?

Then ‘All of us’…, (you get others into the picture). You say: ‘It’s not just me in the prison, there are so many of us. All of us are stuck. What do you mean there is no prison?’

So, all of satsang is just about this. Can you confirm who it is that is stuck in this prison? That one is bound, he will get his freedom…, but can we at least show that one, produce that one? Can you say? [You say]: ‘I’m not finding it but my mind is saying I am bound. The mind is saying I’m limited, the mind is saying, I want this, the mind is saying, I must do this.’

That’s why I say, ‘Okay, for some time, don’t believe what the mind is saying. You check for yourself.’ And then we play this game for some period of time, which is ‘But my mind, but my mind…’ [chuckling] in one way or the other, ‘…but my mind’. Isn’t it?

And ultimately, after taking out all this ‘But, but, but…’ you say ‘It’s always been just This.’

Isn’t this the whole game actually? You have believed yourself to be an imaginary limitation, an imaginary person, in an imaginary prison. Then your intuitive Presence, in one way or another, gets through to you and says, ‘But who are you that is bound?’ And then you find there is no such thing. Then, for a few minutes, hours, centuries we play this game of ‘But my mind…’ Then we come to this simple peace, this simple recognition, that there was nobody here that could have been bound.

Very good.

[15.19] Ashtavakra said, “Do not stir the mind with ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. You are pure Consciousness. Be still, and abide in the bliss of Self.”

He caught on very well. He’s also used to it obviously, and he recognizes that even when something is shared in satsang, our mind still gets our belief in terms of either confirmation or rejection. And he’s saying to be empty even of that. Because it is the voice of this judge, the mind playing as the judge, saying ‘Yes, yes, no, no’ which also keeps us in check in a way, still believing that we need to rely on this mental confirmation, what I call ‘the mind certificate’. Especially about the words of satsang, its really funny when we go to the mind with the words of satsang for its confirmation. It’s like taking Einstein’s words and going to a three year old and saying, ‘What do you think about this theory of relativity?’[Chuckling] ‘Yes, yes, no, no.’ What does the mind know about what the Sage is saying? Has no idea.

“Do not stir the mind with ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. You are pure Consciousness. Be still, and abide in the bliss of Self.”

[15.20] Ashtavakra said, “Give up completely all contemplation. Hold nothing in the mind or heart. You are the Self, forever free. Of what use is thinking to You?”

So, we were saying the other day: What is the usual term, contemplation? The usual term contemplation is that ‘I’m going to think about it. I’m going take a particular topic, I’m going to think about it.’

What do we [in Satsang] call contemplation? What we call contemplation is coming to this inner insight, which is more like an intuitive recognition (which, in fact, all the words of the Sage so far have been used to guide us to).

So then, the Sage at the end of chapter 15, after hearing 100s of verses, is basically sharing his version of ‘Drop the search’. Because he recognizes that, many times, that all that is keeping the ego alive is the seeker identity itself.

“Hold nothing in the mind or heart. You are the Self, forever free.” All of you know that it is one of my favorite words is ‘open’. We remain empty of any preconceived notions, we remain empty of any belief systems about ourselves and we are open. We let go of everything.

Now when we let go of everything, does the Truth also go?

Then that which must be holding on, must be false. If the Truth by definition is ‘not coming and going’ then does it need holding on to? This is important.

We have said Reality ‘is not coming and going’. Then, ‘to hold on’ only means to try and prevent the going of something. So, if it can go it cannot be the true.

So, as we let go everything, are you also gone?

[Silence]

All that you’ve considered yourself to be has gone.

[Silence]

That which I call the basket of beliefs, the tools of identity, all of these are gone.

But you witness this going also. You are the witness of this unburdening of Consciousness.

Brushing off all the conceptual knowledge; brushing off the basis of identity, the dust of ideas…,  You remain to see the beauty of this Pure Consciousness, unassociated by duality and doership and desire; no longer the bewildered burdened beast that the Sage called ‘a person’.

Now this Consciousness, empty of personal conditioning, which cannot remain unless Consciousness pre-decides to hold onto something.

[Silence]

Open and empty. Open is empty, empty is open.

No grievance can survive, no guilt can survive, no specialness can survive.

No seeker can survive, no journey can survive.

Yet, You remain as the Self.

~ ~ ~

.

Reading from the Ashtavakra Gita, Translation by Bart Marshall

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

Q: When I am Awareness, then I see that this entire play is coming and going; my hands are moving, these sounds are just coming on their own. There’s a sense of no control, of anything. It’s unsettling.

A: Yes, it is a bit unsettling. It’s true. [Chuckles] It is a bit unsettling, that’s why I say many times that it can be a bit shaky because this happens when you are switching over from the false perspective to the true perspective. So, it is like the shakiness; because we held on to a lot of crutches which are now being left aside. So, it can feel like ‘But I’m not moving anything. My hands are moving, my mouth is moving (this which I considered my hands and my mouth which are just moving, just like every appearance is moving in this world) and this recognition that there is no sense of individual control here can be a bit unsettling.

Q: [Inaudible]

A: All that is coming and going, You are beyond that; beyond the time and space and whatever you call the dimensions of this phenomenal appearance. You are very much beyond that. And yet, all of this is not outside of You.

I was saying the other day that the distinction between father and son (although they are one) is that the son comes from the Father, the father does not come from the son. So, this Awareness, the Source of even Being, the Source of Consciousness, is what You Are.

Now, time and space, dimensions, all of that is post. So, You cannot be contained in anything which comes after You.

Q: It also means that I can do nothing.

A: Yes, not in the way that we thought about ‘doing’. All of this is Your doing…, You-as-Consciousness. You-as-Awareness remain untouched by any doing and non-doing. And you-personally never existed so never did anything. It was just Consciousness playing with the belief of individual doer-ship.

So, the only question I would ask you then is when you say ‘When I am Awareness…’ is there a time when you are not?

Q: [Indicates ‘No’ off camera]

A: There isn’t such a time. So, this doesn’t only apply to that moment in which we have the recognition…, but the recognition is of That which is always True.

[15.14] Ashtavakra said, “Whatever you perceive is You and You alone. How can bracelets, armlets and anklets be other than the gold they are made of?”

“Whatever you perceive is You and You alone” (And both the ‘You’s’ are in capital.) “How can bracelets, armlets and anklets be other than the gold they are made of?”

What is the substance of this Universe. It is You. Fullness arises from fullness and yet fullness remains full. This infinite play of Consciousness arises within Awareness, which Itself is infinite; and yet in the arising of this Consciousness, Awareness remains untouched and complete as before. Therefore, this entire play of Consciousness must be made of up Awareness alone. I am Aware. And most intimately then, when the play of phenomenon is here ‘I am Aware of my Existence’.

There is nothing closer than this. And your Existence is the substance of this apparent Universe. From Your experience, You have no trouble with this. You cannot have the experience of any object unless You are Aware of your Existence.

Without Existence, without Being, without ‘I Am’ there is no phenomenon. And who is Being? You are. That is why it is ‘I Am’. [Silence] Confirm your Existence.

I know the trick of the mind, which is that every time we hear this, the mind can come and say ‘I am not really sure whether this is the same Existence that I am finding that he is speaking about because mine seems so limited’. But if you were to truly investigate this, you will find that this Existence which you are calling limited right now has no limitation. We can have the idea that it is limited within my body. We can have the idea that it is in my physical heart. But upon investigation, all these ideas fall away.

Then you start to see that it is actually all these sensations and experiences and visuals and sounds that are contained within This. Attention never leaves my Being. From there you can say words like this, which is “Whatever you perceive is You and You alone. How can bracelets, armlets and anklets be other than the gold they are made of?”

[15.15] Ashtavakra said, “Leave behind such distinctions as ‘I am He, the Self’ and ‘I am not this’. Consider everything Self. Be desireless. Be happy.”

Don’t even make any distinction. Don’t label anything now. What the Sage is pointing to is a mental conceptual knowledge which must be dropped now. He is saying to leave these distinctions, don’t become a conceptual Advaitan going around saying that ‘I am Awareness’ (just conceptually). If these words have to emerge, they will emerge, if this tongue has to be used in that way they will be used in that way, but the fragrance that will accompany these words will not smell of concept anymore.

So, drop all mental distinction and “…consider everything the Self.” How to consider everything as the Self?

If the thought is the voice of limitation, then as we are empty of this egoic belief, then automatically you’ll find that there is no separation. So, we don’t have to work towards considering everything the Self. You will find that that is your natural insight, your intuitive insight.

~ ~ ~

.

Reading from the Ashtavakra Gita, Translation by Bart Marshall

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

[15.13] Ashtavakra said, “In you who are One ~ immaculate, still Awareness ~ from where can birth, action or a separate person arise?”

The Sage has constantly made a distinction right from the beginning between Reality and appearance. What is Real? And to help us, he also gave us the meaning of Reality. He said: ‘That which does not come and go.’ At least in satsang, we call that the Reality. And that which is coming and going is called an appearance. And over and over, what we check is that this Reality, this Self, this Awareness, is that which does not come and go.

I posted over the weekend that it’s so beautiful that even in its denial, it only affirms itself, it only confirms itself. When you say ‘I am not aware’ what you are actually saying is that ‘I am aware (or) I Know that I am not aware’. This Awareness, this Knowingness, is not a coming and going. It is the constant witness of all that comes and goes. So, if Reality is that which does not come and go, then where is the ‘person’? That which we consider ourself to be is actually the opposite of this. If this does not come and go, the person is never actually here. It is just an idea.

[Silence]

Just digest this for a few moments. Just look at this beautiful play. That that which we have considered ourself to be is never truly found. And That which is always here; we seem to be looking for that.

[Silence]

And this would be really a funny joke [Chuckles] except that it seems to cause so much suffering. You cannot pose as, pretend to be something limited unless you believe a limited notion about yourself. Therefore, it is not your original state; it is not your natural state.

[Silence]

And I’m speaking about You right now. What is Your original state Right Now?

Even if we leave aside what is real and unreal, who is it that is the cognizer? Who is it that witnesses all of this movement (even if we don’t worry about whether it is real or not)? What is it that witnesses it?

[Silence]

Whatever might be the situation of the world, the true position or the untrue position of the world, what is the true position of the perceiver of this world?

[Silence]

Who is it that witnesses the thoughts…, and that space between two thoughts?

[Silence]

What is the shape of you?

[Silence]

“In you who are One ~ immaculate, still Awareness ~ from where can birth, action or a separate person arise?”

Birth itself mean what? It’s a coming. So, if you were born, then you cannot be that which is beyond coming and going as well. If you will die, you cannot be beyond death. Can we find this birth-less, deathless one? All the clues in the Ashtavakra Gita, all the clues in satsang, are for this discovery. That is why I posted this post from the Bhagavad Gita yesterday where Krishna said, ‘I am sharing that Knowing by which you will come to your immortality.’ It is no small promise.

So, don’t let the regular-ness of satsang fool you. Because something is being pointed at; that which you Know (with a capital-K) …, not perceptually know or mentally know but that Knowing which is beyond the play of the world, beyond the play of birth and death. That’s why Krishna said, ‘Sharing that Knowing by which you will come to your immortality, to that Brahma.’ Brahma is the Absolute Self, this Awareness that we speak of, which is beyond even Being and non-Being; the Presence of Consciousness or the absence of Consciousness; the presence of this universe or the absence of it; this is what is being pointed to.

[Silence]

So, what is prior to birth? “…from where can birth, action or a separate person arise?” Action means the idea of this separate person, of this individual doer that was born, and then did a particular set of actions and then died. That is our idea of who we are. ‘I was born as a separate entity, I had some doership and some desires, I did some things, and then ultimately, I died.’ The Sages have reminded us over and over again ‘You are not this. You are deathless and you are the un-born.’

[Silence]

Even if you go to the past and remember a moment from the past, if you look for your true position, you will find that you were the witness of it. You were neither the doer nor the experiencer of everything that happened on the screen of this movie. And even if you project a future outward, even in that, you cannot step away from your true position, which is the witnessing.

Why do I say ‘witnessing’ and not ‘the witness’? Because I know that the term ‘witness’ can imply as if there is an entity there.

[Silence]

That’s why the Sages, over and over, they use this example that the rope has been confused to be a snake. But when truly examined, we find that there is no snake. That is why this one is an even more beautiful example than the wave in the ocean. Why? Because in the wave in the ocean [metaphor] at least we have the feeling that at least there is the feeling of the arising of an individual wave which we can point to and say ‘Hey, this is what I am.’ But in the rope and the snake [metaphor] there is no such arising. It is a pure misunderstanding.

And although it seems to be qualitatively present, there is no denial that Consciousness appears, arises…, yet when truly examined, we find that all that is here is this Awareness, this Knowingness.

[Silence]

So, what if we were to throw away all concepts and not be concerned about any appearance that does not point us to the Truth? What if we were to throw away everything that does not point us to this ultimate Reality. And now we have enough clues to know what is it that is meant when we say ‘Ultimate Reality’.

The Guru is supposed to be the dispeller of darkness, the dispeller of ignorance and the bringer of Light. What is this Light? The Light of True Knowledge. So, ignorance must be that which points to that which is untrue about us. Agreed? Ignorance must be that which shows us something which is untrue about us. And Knowledge must be that which points us to that which is true about us.

And this Truth, you don’t have to rely on somebody’s statement about it; not even Krishna’s. You have to rely on your own inner intuitive recognition (which I call insight).

[Silence]

We did a raising of hands the other day and most of you said ‘When I check, I find that this is true about Me.’ And most of you said ‘Every time I check, I find that the words of the Sage are true.’ Therefore, now, ignorance must be that which is pointing to something which is untrue; in my intuitive recognition, in my inner insight about MySelf.

That is the reason why I say: Don’t believe your next thought. Because it is just buying into ignorance; the ignorance of separation; the ignorance of duality, doership and desire.

~ ~ ~

.

Reading from The Ashtavakra Gita, Translation by Bart Marshall

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

A visual is coming to me, so I’ll share from there. Many times, the mind can also play this trick that we better drop this attachment to the Guru. It’s like saying that we feel like we are drowning in the ocean and we are holding on to some rocks or some seaweed or something trying to keep ourself from drowning. And then the Master comes and he gives out his hand; he’s sitting in a boat, so he gives out his hand. And the Master says, “Let go. Let go of everything else. Hold my hand.”

And then, the mind will come and say ‘If you have to let go of everything, then you will not only let go of the seaweed and the rock but you will also let go of the Master’s hand.’ So, that’s why Guruji has said that even this one is his problem.

When he knows that we are safely at shore, then he will let us go.

So, we remain empty of all other worldly attachments. If we find that there is attachment for the Guru, then even this attachment is his problem.

As we empty our hands of phenomenal attachments, when we become open like this, that is when actually the Guru is holding our hand and this hand is not let go of in a worldly way. This hand actually becomes a communion or a merging.

Q: It is hard to give up this last attachment, which is enjoying the Knowledge of Self for Self. I come to satsang because of the joy of this recognition, yet if it was taken away, there would still be this pure Knowledge. But…, attachment to the Guru and satsang is so sweet.

A: [Silence] Actually, in your report itself, it is clear that what you say that ‘Even if this was to go away, I know that I would be the Self. Nothing real would be taken away from Me. So, that itself means that you are starting to witness this entire play as a movement of Consciousness and Consciousness playing both the roles of coming to satsang and sharing satsang. All of this is the one play of Consciousness.

You are also starting to See that all this idea of coming to satsang ‘because…’ or deciding to come or not to come, all of this is more or less getting wiped away now because you See it all as a movement of Consciousness. [Silence]

So, why do you come to satsang? You don’t know. Why do I share satsang? I don’t know. I can give some answer but I don’t really know. So, from this ‘not-mental’ Knowing, there is trust in this Grace about how all of this has moved and great wonder about how this play functions.

Then you say something very beautiful; you say, “Attachment to the Guru and satsang is so sweet.” It is a rare, sweet attachment. [Chuckles] A rare sweet attachment. Like Guruji [Sri Mooji] says ‘If you have to be attached to something in this world, be attached to the Master because even this attachment is his problem now.’ The Master takes care of all our attachments, including this, which can seem like it is the final attachment.

As long as it can seem like ‘There is a me and there is my Guru’ then best that if there has to be an attachment, let it be to that One. Then you will See that (not that you ‘will’ See it, I know you already See it but) in the worldly play, I know that this feeling can seem so sweet. And I’ve said also that if there are a few attachments that remain here, it is to Guruji for this sangha and to my physical, phenomenal family there is some attachment which continues to play out; knowing fully well that this is also his problem.

It’s been such a great blessing to move away from all this painful attachment to come to this beautiful point that we can even say that ‘This attachment is so sweet.’

[Ananta had read: (Ashtavakra said): “Whatever you perceive is You and You alone.”]

Q: Father, there is no sense at all of identity in Consciousness or Awareness, so it feels so strange when they say ‘You’ …, but it’s not ‘other’ or ‘another’ also. No question. [Comments welcome]

A: Yes, it can feel a bit strange, this ‘You’ doesn’t apply. He himself has said that ‘There are no two’ so where would there be an ‘I’ and a ‘You’.

So, just a reminder that even these scriptures are part of this play which are giving you those concepts that are getting rid of all the concepts of separation actually. That’s why the ‘dream alarm clock’ metaphor is very useful. These scriptures, the voice of the Satguru, is that alarm clock in the dream to remind us ‘You are not that which you consider yourself to be’.

That is why it is ‘You’…, just because it is a reminder that Consciousness has made for Itself. The reminder that there is no ‘me’ and ‘You’ is also for the apparent ‘you’. And when this apparent ‘you’ …, this individualized ‘I’ is dissolving, then it will sound strange, all this talk; that’s true.

Q: So, it seems that is the way to find this no-identity-True-You that he [Ashtavakra] speaks of, is that ‘I remain when all else is gone’. Then no word ‘I’ is needed, or even felt; what he calls ‘You’.

A: Yes. What remains is just This; Awareness without any separation, any ‘I’ or ‘You’. And yet, the discovery is the most intimate discovery that we are making about our Self.

[Silence]

This is a beautiful distinction because many times it can happen in the world that we’ll come across a worldly object and we get very besotted by it. But then also we can have this feeling of forgetting about ourself, our limited self. In India, it is said “Jab pyar kiya toh darna kyun” meaning ‘When you are in love, then what is there to fear?’ And people have been known to give up their lives in love and these kinds of things, you know, that kind of phenomenal love.

So, when we come to the discovery of this Awareness, it is not a discovery like that where we discover something outer where we then forget about the limited self. Here we are discovering something which is so intimately ‘I’…, closer than anything has ever been [Silence] that we are forgetting about the limited self. And because it is the Self that is being discovered, it is unlike the worldly infatuation. Because it is not coming and going.

It’s very beautiful, isn’t it? So, our experience of fearlessness, desirelessness, has been in the past because of our infatuation with a worldly object; when we experience this kind of fearlessness or courage, it’s because of letting go of our limited self because we got so devoted or infatuated with an outside object.

Here, what you’re finding is that innermost Truth about Your own Being (in fact, prior to Being…, that which is not coming and going, is not changing) Consciousness is discovering the immaculate nature of its own Source and letting go of the fear and the desires of the limited self.

And this even fits in very well with what Shanti was saying earlier, which is that the outer Guru might seem to come in an external form and there can be some times that they feel they become so attached to that and that [the Guru and satsang] has actually has brought us so much peace in our life. But this will be the only external attachment which will lead you to your own inner discovery. That is the true function of the Master.

In India actually, there’s a lot of controversy around some Masters and all the stories of exploitation and all of that. So, this is how you do your ‘due diligence’. (We’re speaking just worldly for a minute.) This is how you check:

In the Master’s Presence, the Master’s words:

Does it have the fragrance of my own inner Being?

Are they pointing me to that unchanging reality that I Am?

Are they saying that the outer Master is just a representation of your inner holy Presence?

And initially, when we come to satsang, we ‘smell’ like this: What is the fragrance around a Being?

In this, you will find that the words that are being spoken…

Funny, it’s been reported also like this, isn’t it, that ‘Wow, before the words are emerging from your mouth, I’m already hearing them.’ Someone reported like this. [Chuckles] Some have said ‘You are answering all the questions that I had, without my even asking them.’ Some say that ‘I’m discovering what I find as You is My own Presence, My own Heart.’ All of this…, the sense of coming home, the sense of being at peace; all of this is how you come to this beautiful recognition.

[15.16] Ashtavakra said, “Your ignorance alone creates the universe. In reality, One alone exists. There is no person or god other than You.”

Can you hear these words? Ignorance is that which we have discussed earlier, which is the seeming opposite of reality. It is the play of that coming and going. Because this universe also is a coming and going. This universe is part of one of the four states we can experience. It is not even the entirety of our experience. It is just one of the four states that we experience if we make the distinction between waking and dream.

So, in the waking state this universe, in the dream state some other universe, in the sleep state no universe. And some of us… when you experience something like turiya where there can be some sense of Existence but without the appearance of an apparent universe. (Don’t worry about that; turiya)

So, just this, to See, between this time that I call waking up and this time that I call going to sleep we experience one universe…, which is one of the four states which can be experienced here. So, ‘Your ignorance creates the universe’ is the idea that there is a universe which contains me and all these subject/object relationships in this apparent play are real.

As you begin to rest in your reality, you will become more and more comfortable with saying ‘But none of this has ever happened’ and knowing fully well that even this statement can be made only within the play of Consciousness; and yet there will be more comfort about saying these kinds of things. Because you see that your true reality is untouched by this play of Consciousness.

“In reality, One alone exists”. And which One is this? “There is no person or god other than You.”

This ‘You’ is that which contains every experience that you can fathom. So please don’t fall for this silly mind trick which tells you ‘Oh, if it’s only me then that’s very lonely’. You are the source of all the multi-verses. There is nothing to be lonely. You Are That in which all this play is happening. You are that Supreme intelligence which has designed this entire play.

[15.17] Ashtavakra said, “One who knows for certain that the universe is illusion, a no-thing, becomes desireless, pure Awareness, and finds peace in the existence of nothing.”

Again, “…certain that the universe is illusion” from which perspective? From that definition of Reality which was previously defined, which is that: it is our direct experience, our inner insight, intuitive discovery and yet is something which does not come and go. So, what stands up to this definition of Reality? Only the Self. From that perspective, then all that is coming and going is referred to as illusion.

“One who knows for certain that the universe is illusion, a no-thing, becomes desireless, pure Awareness, and finds peace in the existence of nothing.”

Desire is what? Desire is that idea that there is a ‘me’ and ‘I want something to be mine’. Only if there is an individual ‘me’ can there be an idea of ‘mine’. So, when it is Seen that all of this is a coming and going, and actually, You remain untouched by it; or it is Seen that ‘All of this is contained within my Being, what is here for me to desire?’

Now, in the appearance, if there are lots of things or there is nothing it truly makes no difference to the Self. This recognition is peace; this non-resistance to whatever might be appearing in the world is peace.

~ ~ ~

.

Reading from the Ashtavakra Gita, Translation by Bart Marshall

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

Chapter 15: Knowledge of the Self. Ashtavakra said:

[15.3] “This knowledge of Truth turns an eloquent, wise and active man mute, empty and inert. Lovers of the world therefore shun it.”

It can seem like that from outside. If you were to see me like that after I meet Guruji [Sri Mooji] you would wonder. I’m not exchanging properly. Somebody’s saying ‘Are you depressed?’ Actually, I was very happy. I don’t want this; whatever he’s on. [Chuckling] Because for a bit it can seem very fearful [to those around] …, ‘What’s going on?’ So, those who are very attached to the world can shun this. It can bring a lot of fear for them. ‘This should not happen.’ That’s why Guruji also reminded us that nobody who has come to the discovery of the Self has regretted it. Nobody has said ‘Okay, take back this recognition of this undying Self. Let me not be the unlimited Being. Let me go back to my limitations and my guilt and my pride.’ Nobody has said this. [Silence]

It is beyond any experience you can taste. You are discovering that about yourself which is not coming and going; that which will make suffering great difficulty for you. You will have to work really hard if you want to suffer. [Silence]

Even phenomenally, actually you can tell. You’ve seen some of the group photos of sangha’s. You can see that there is so much joy, so much happiness there. And you’ve seen group photos of some of the richest people. Is there so much joy and happiness visible there? The light of Self-discovery…, even in the showing itself in the phenomenal play. That’s why so many started to gather around Bhagavan [Sri Ramana Maharshi] even when he was not speaking. There was another great Indian sage called Meher Baba, he was in Poona and he met another saint called Baba Jaan. She never used to speak. Half of Poona would still have considered her a crazy woman or something like that. She just touched him [tapping his hand to his head] and he just discovered what he was; then for many, many years he stayed in silence. A small box he built for himself and stayed in silence after meeting Baba Jaan. [Silence]

This beautiful silence, this beautiful period of resting (as Guruji would say) this switch-over from running around like a frightened ghost to coming to this rest is very beautiful. And then, if the energy has to come back, very, very often it does. That’s why the Zen masters would say: Before enlightenment, chopping wood fetching water. After enlightenment, chopping wood fetching water. Because this movement can then come back.

We will look at a few more verses before we get into the questions.

[15.4] “You are not the body. You do not have a body. You neither do nor enjoy. You are Awareness only; the timeless Witness. You are free. Go in happiness.”

So, we looked at this. For most of us actually, it feels like ‘I’m not the body but it feels like I’m the owner of the body.’ So, neither of these are true. You are the light in which all of this is appearing. You are the screen on which all of this is appearing, you are not contained or limited just to this body (although it might continue to feel like a very intimate instrument; a beautiful instrument at that).

“You neither do nor enjoy” means the same thing. In sanskrit it is said ‘twam karta, twam bhokta’ which means ‘You Consciousness, You, Guru, are the one doer and the one experiencer.’ I’m very happy that in the Ashtavakra Geeta both aspects of this are considered.

So, I want to say, neither are you the doer nor the non-doer; you cannot take a position. The position is not you. So, if you take a position ‘Oh I’m not the doer so I’m not going to work today’ that is also not valid. You see? It is being empty of this position and allowing the movements of this body to happen on their own. So, both doer and non-doer you are not. You, as an individual entity, that which you consider yourself to be, is neither or these.

If the doer you are not, then also the experiencer you cannot be. It is very, very common in India, like ‘God I prayed to you but just make sure it goes like this.’ Somebody in satsang, just the other day, also said it like that: ‘Father, I surrender this to you. Father, this I surrender to you, just make sure it goes well.’ Where’s the surrender? [Laughing] So, we can hold on to the idea of the individual experiencer: ‘Guruji, why are you doing this to me?!’ The fact is that if Guruji is doing it, then Guruji only is experiencing it. There are no two there. Surrender means ‘All is Yours, even the experience of what is to come.’ It cannot just be this half-surrender. [Silence]
This is how the path if prayer, the path of devotion can move; staring with this prayer: ’Take care of me. Make everything go well for me. Make sure I have a good day.’ Then it moves to ‘Dear God, whatever is Your will, You bring to my day; I will experience it. You are doing everything here.’ Then it might move to saying ‘Dear God, who am I to make this prayer? You are the doer and You are experiencing it. All this is Your play.’ Then it comes to seeing that there is no separation, there is no God and me; all there Is…, is One. [Silence]

“You are Awareness only; the timeless Witness. You are free. Go in happiness.”

[15.5] “Attachment and aversion are attributes of the mind. You are not the mind. You are Consciousness itself; changeless, undivided, free. Go in happiness.”

So, this aspect we have looked at many times; attachment and aversion.
~ ~ ~

.

Reading from the Ashtavakra Gita, Translation by Bart Marshall

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

Chapter 15: Knowledge of the Self. Ashtavakra said:

[15.2] “Aversion to the world’s offerings is liberation. Attraction to the world’s offerings is the suffering of bondage. This is the truth. Now do as you please.”

Well, I wouldn’t have used the word ‘aversion’ there, I would have used something like detachment or allowing, non-resistance “to the world’s offerings is liberation. Attraction to the world’s offerings is the suffering of bondage. This is the Truth. Now do as you please.”

What does this mean? The ‘world’s offering’ means what? The world is appearing, the mind is saying ‘I must have this or I must not have this’. When something appears, it just appears. You see something of great beauty and you say ‘Ah, this I want to own’ and you see something which seems horrible and ‘This I want to run from’. Without the interpretation from the mind, the appearance of the world is just the appearance of the world.

When it becomes the sense that ‘I must have this’ …, who is the ‘I’ in that? When we buy the idea that ‘I must have something’ that ‘This offering is meaningful for me’ or ‘This desire I must fulfill’ …, who is the ‘I’ in that? Is the ‘I’ what your insight is? No.

The ‘I’ is that which you are believing about yourself. The ‘I’ in that case is the idea of the body/mind. ‘I must be contained in this body-mind and therefore, something outside this body is something that I must be something I want’. And once you start to see, using this inquiry, as you surrender more and more, as you start to See, actually there is nothing out of You. This body might be a very beautiful, very intimate, very sweet instrument but it is not Your container. You contain it.

Now, we have been taught right from childhood (and maybe many lifetimes) that actually it is the body container that contains me. Actually, this is just a condition; it is a teaching that ‘I am restricted only to this part of the appearance and the rest of the appearance is not me’ …, is something we have been taught.

I take this example and often I say like this, that if you give a baby a toy that hangs on the pram and it rotates…, we got one like that for our kids and we want them to play with that because we spent money on that so we feel like wish they would use that. We say ‘Look there, look there, look there’ and many times it happened (with our kids, at least) they would look over there and then start playing with their hand instead. Their hand is also moving and that is also moving and they found the hand more attractive somehow. So, for them, they don’t have this distinction that ‘I must play with something which is this or this’. For them, both is an appearance, you see, till we teach them ‘My hand, my hand, your hand’.

So, this appearance of this body, this instrument, can feel like ‘This is my container, my boundary is defined by this’. And yet, you find in your experience that you feel that you are not contained in this.

Many say like this ‘I will rest only after I am dead’. Which means what? That I will get some true rest after the body is gone; rest in peace. When the body is gone then I will find some rest. My body is very tired today. So, there is this sense that there is an owner of the body, which we consider ourself to be…, but this one we cannot find.

Other ways to look at this are: suppose you try and find the one who is concerned about (Mr. Banker is here) so concerned about money in the bank. Who is the One who is concerned about how much money is in the bank account? Does the body care about that? No, there is an ‘I’ who does. There is an ‘I’ who does. Who is concerned about state of our relationships? The body is not. There is a seeming ‘I’ who does.

What is this ‘I’?

And if you had no idea about yourself, if you did not hold a concept about who you are…, [then?] I used to take this example very often. I used to say that if I told you ‘You are a terrible ice skater, just a terrible ice skater’ would that hurt you? No. Just ‘terrible, terrible at it, ice skating; just leave it, it is not for you’.

But for those of you who are attached to work, if I say ‘You are terrible at your job’ or if somebody at work comes and tell you that (especially the boss) …, ‘How can you say that? I work day and night’. Immediately, something gets attacked. In terms of energetic content, the number of words spoken could be the same, the energy with which they are spoken could also be the same; I could be very vehemently telling you that you are terrible at ice skating but it doesn’t seem to hurt.

So, it must be if I say ‘You are a terrible husband, terrible father, terrible mother’…, like that, those things. Why? Because there is a concept that is picked up that there is an ‘I’ here who must be a good father, good mother, good husband. So where is this one? Where is this one that owns the body, that owns our relationship, that owns our money and now has transformed into the spiritual seeker; who owns the quest for Freedom also. Where is that one?

So, when Bhagavan [Sri Ramana Maharshi] says ‘Who am I?’ he is asking so who are you representing? Are you representing this one or are you representing that which is Your own insight, Your own discovery, about what You Are?

Now, you will find that there seems to be only one problem with this. There seems to be only one problem, which is that your mind doesn’t agree with this. You mind is still saying ‘But what is he saying, what is all of this about? I have been working hard trying to make something of my life, trying to make money, trying to take care of my family. How can he say that this ‘I’ which is doing all of this doesn’t exist at all?’

It will come with this trump card of resistance. That is why Bhagavan says: ‘Just ask who is this I? Who Am I? Is there such an entity in Existence?’

Now, for this, this kind of thing is very scary, almost destructive-sounding to the mind. Because it is trying to eradicate all the seeming-work that it has done over I don’t know how many centuries and how many lifetimes, trying to create this identity, trying to make something out of Your Divine Presence ‘I Am’.

As I was saying the other day, this is the misunderstanding. We have misunderstood this Existence and believed somewhere that this Existence is something individual, something personal: ‘This is ‘mine’ as an individual entity. I exist here as if I am the person.’

If you start exploring this Existence, then you find that this Existence contains All There Is. Your mind will not agree with this. But Your Seeing, Your direct insight will.

And I am not saying that you must go with what I am saying.

I am saying that you must go with what you are Seeing.

What is it that you See about your Self? Go with that.

~ ~ ~

.

Reading from the Ashtavakra Gita, Translation by Bart Marshall

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

Chapter 15: Knowledge of the Self.

[15.6] Ashtavakra said, “Realize Self in All and All in Self. Be free of personal identity and the sense of ‘mine’. Be happy.”

So, “Realize Self in All and All in Self.” This realization comes with your recognition, not as trying to force yourself to feel as one or be as one.

“Be free of personal identity and the sense of ‘mine’. Well, you are free. You are free right now. Before the mind’s conclusion is coming with ‘No, no, no’ …, before that, you are free; during that you are free; also after that you are free.

It is only the pose you can pick up. That is why I have started calling it ‘a mask’. You can pick up the mask of the bound one. So, therefore, that is effort. To be free is effortless. Truth is effortless. It is the lie to which we have to make effort. Have you noticed that in real life also, in this day-to-day life also? To lie is a big struggle, isn’t it? Say one lie and then you have to remember what you lied about, but next time it is more; then you have to lie many times, a hundred lies to cover up one lie.

So, this basic lie of our ego; we have been reinforcing this with all these other lies, that ‘I will come to my peace and happiness if I have this. I will come to my peace and happiness if I have that’. And you are starting to realize that all of these have been lies. And what is the good news? The good news is that actually none of this you had to do. You were completely complete and full. The source of happiness itself is what you always have been. You don’t need to go helter-skelter and running about here and there trying to find it. All that you needed was to look inside your own box, on top of which you were sitting with a begging bowl. ‘Give me some happiness, give me some happiness’ [Chuckle] until you actually got up and saw: ‘What is there in the box?’ And you find that the source of all happiness has already been here, has always been here.

At least this much is very simple to check, that the happiness never comes from outside you. Even if you feel like it is coming as a result of some desire being fulfilled, you see that it can only come from within you. Nobody can give you happiness. [Indicating giving something] ‘Take 10 grams of happiness. How much is it you want, maybe I can give it?’ It is not from outside, it is only coming from within. So, the source of happiness must be where? Within.

In that instant where you feel like ‘My desire got fulfilled and therefore I am happy’ we find ourself empty of the knot of desire. We find ourself open in that one instant. Then you can feel like some happiness is emerging. So, the mind will say ‘Okay, let me give you the next thing to get so again you can feel happiness; and give you the next thing to get, and the next thing to get’. And I have seen that this play can go on and on and on. That is why (here at least, in the expression) it does not play like many Sages have said in the past: ‘I give them what they want so one day they might want what I want to give them’. Because I have seen that this desire has an unlimited tongue. The more you put into it, the more it wants; the more you put into it, the more it wants.

“Be free of personal identity in the sense of ‘mine’. Be happy.”

[15.7] Ashtavakra said, “You are That in which the universe appears like waves appearing in the ocean. You are Consciousness itself. No need to worry.”

We’ve explained this quite a few times.

[15.8] Ashtavakra said, “Have faith, my son, have faith. You are Awareness alone, the Self, the One. You are the Lord of Nature.”

We have looked at this a few times.

[15.9] Ashtavakra said, “The body is made of worldly stuff. It comes, it lingers, it goes. The Self neither comes nor goes, yet remains. Why mourn the body?”

So again, I am saying that I am not asking you to have any sort of aversion to the body, any sort of even disrespect to the body. I am just saying to notice its fundamental reality. It was most likely born in a hospital and most likely the last moments will be spent in a hospital or at least on a death bed. So, it is going; one day or another it is going. Just notice that, as beautiful it might be, as amazing as the system of the body might be, it is leading to the cremation ground or the cremation fire one day or the next. So, does it make sense that we invest all our attention, all our time, on just tending to this body which one day has to go? Especially when so many beautiful Beings, through centuries and forever, have pointed us and said that there is something beyond this body existence. Is that not worthy of some attention? Is that not worthy of some inquiry, to see: ‘Can I not find that which is beyond this bodily existence?’

That is why the Katha Upanishad is a beautiful metaphor for this, where the Lord of Death himself comes and tells this young boy that ‘I will give you whatever you want; riches, pleasures, life time of the best life you can have’. And the young boy Nachiketa says ‘Will this make me deathless? Will this make me immortal? Will this be beyond you?’ And Death said ‘No, all that is phenomenal one day or the other has to go.’ So, then the young boy said ‘Okay then tell me about that which is beyond death.’ Then the true discourse starts, the true communion starts.

“The body is made up of worldly stuff, it comes, it lingers, it goes. The Self neither comes nor goes, it remains. Why mourn the body?”

And if you take away this distinction between waking state and dream state, I can tell you that we have experienced many bodies. I often take this example. Usually I sleep quietly at night. So, one day the kids were going to school (and this was 7:30 am) they woke me up and said ‘Bye, Father. We are going.’ I said ‘Bye.’ They went to school. I went back to sleep. Then a dream came, and in that dream, I lived a full lifetime. (I am forgetting more and more the specifics of that dream but still a lifetime was lived). I was married to Garima [Ananta’s wife] in that dream also and I was getting late for an event and she was waiting for me for, and she was late, or I was late (I am forgetting the specifics) but I remember being half-an-hour late. After living an entire life time, then I woke up. It is God’s sense of humor, how it works. I woke up. What time was it in this realm? 8:00 am. In that seeming half-an-hour, a whole lifetime has been lived. And it wasn’t lived in fast speed, (like every year is going in a few seconds; it was not like that). It seemed like a normal life time.

All of our dreams are like this. Many of us have these morning dreams where a lot happens in this so-called ten minutes. So, just like the space of the dream is completely malleable, I like to say ‘You don’t run in a dream and come to the edge of the dream and fall off. It is continuous, it keeps going.’ In the same way, time is also malleable. That’s why it is a space/time continuum. Somehow, we are more in acceptance of the space which is unlimited in the dream. We say ‘Aha, this Consciousness can project this space.’ But when it comes to time, it seems a bit crazy. But actually, it is not. Even physics now is discovering that this is one continuum of space/time. There are not two objects. (Why did I share this story? Because):

“It comes it lingers and it goes.” So many bodies that we have experienced. And they all have come, they have lingered and they have gone. Many of us who are not even in satsang, maybe not even spiritual; at least in India…, (often I like to say ‘Okay, it must have been something I did good in my last life, or something bad, depending on the situation…, like it must have been something bad I did, or something good; or because of this reincarnation or karma) …, it is part of our basic conditioning that most Indians also have.

[15.10] Ashtavakra said, “If the body lasts until the end of time or perishes today, is there a gain or loss for you? You who are Awareness?”

“If the body lasts until the end of time or perishes today, is there a gain or loss for you? You who are Awareness?” So, this non-phenomenal Self, beyond all objects, is untouched by any movement of phenomena. So, whether it is this suit [indicating the body] or another suit, it doesn’t really matter. To the Self, this body, the next body, the previous body; all these bodies are just phenomenal appearances. They come, they linger and they pass.

[15.11] Ashtavakra said, “Let the waves of the universe rise and fall as they will. You have nothing to gain or lose. You are the ocean.”

Now he has expanded the definition. Often, I say that this universe is the body of Consciousness. So, he went from body (coming and going) to very quickly saying, “Let the waves of the universe rise and fall. You have nothing to gain or lose. You are the ocean.” Like the Masters sometimes say that if this entire world was to burn or to drown or to collapse, you Yourself will remain untouched. So, although the Sages are always blessing the phenomenal creation and all that appears within it, it is also clear to them that the Self remains untouched no matter what the state of the phenomenal appearance might be.

Now, the mind will paint a fearful picture and say that ‘If I come to this discovery of the Self, then I will have this negativity towards the world, an aversion towards the world.’ It is not true. All Sages are just blessing this creation. Nobody is saying ‘Now, may you burn.’ They are just saying that even if it does burn, I remain untouched.

That is why in Sanskrit, another verse goes: ‘Even if you are cut or you are burnt, You remain untouched’ which means ‘That which weapons cannot cut and fire cannot burn, that Shivoham You Are’.

*[nainam chhindanti shastraani nainam dahati paavakah, na chainam kledayantyaapo na shoshayati maarutah  // 2.23 // Weapons cannot cut It, nor can fire burn It; water cannot wet It, nor can wind dry It.

http://www.esamskriti.com/e/Spirituality/Bhagavad-Gita/Bhagavad-Gita~-Chapter-2-(Part~3)-Saankhya-Yogah-~-Yoga-Of-Knowledge-1.aspx ]

[15.12] Ashtavakra said, “You are the substance of Consciousness. The world is You. Who is it that thinks he can accept or reject it? And where does he stand?”

That is why I say that this openness…., to see that all of this is just a movement of Consciousness. This reference-less-ness, this position-less-ness is all about this. Because the clue is that the ego is another word for resistance. What Is, just Is. And now if you take any position with it (including a position saying ‘Yes, I accept you, I forgive you’) you are making yourself into something limited again. So, that acceptance which we are talking about, that openness which we are talking about, is this simple allowing which is not a position that we are taking. It is just to see the Truth. We are not buying the pretense that there has to be a pose with regard to anything at all. We remain empty of position and we are not in resistance to What Is.

“You are the substance of Consciousness. The world is You. Who is it that thinks he can accept or reject it? And where does he stand?” He is pointing out our acceptance and rejection (if it means, in that way, the doer sort of functioning) also comes from the ego; whereas we can take no position with regard to the world

~ ~ ~

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Reading from the Ashtavakra Gita, Translation by Bart Marshall

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

Chapter 15: Knowledge of the Self. Ashtavakra said:

[15.1] “A man of open intuition may realize the Self upon hearing a casual instruction, while a man of cluttered intellect inquires bewildered for a lifetime.”

So ‘man’ is not gender here. It is a generic term. “A man of open intuition may realize the Self upon hearing a casual instruction, while a man of cluttered intellect inquires bewildered for a lifetime.”

This is what we were discussing yesterday also. And it is apt that there are so many children here in Satsang today because I was saying that Jesus had said, ‘Only the children will enter the kingdom of heaven.’ What is the meaning of that?

Now, what happens in Satsang many times is that there are two tracks playing. One is the track which is sharing Satsang, the second is the track of the mind. And you can watch that even now; it is saying ‘Yes, yes. No, no. Why this? I am not hearing what he is saying’. You see, this constant track is going on.

Now what does the second track rely on? It relies on everything we have known previously; mentally. You see, all the knowledge that we have collected (including spiritual knowledge) it uses to actually get in the way of this meeting. Because here we are meeting this Oneness. But the mind track will come and say ‘No, but this…, maybe’ …, whatever it might be saying. It is just using some knowledge that it has picked up. So, this is what the Sage is trying to say: “cluttered intellect.” If you already know too much intellectually then these words might not make sense.

What happens is many times when we start Satsang, we feel that ‘I will get some useful concepts here which I can add to my bag of concepts that I already know’. And then when it is seen that actually what is happening is these concepts don’t leave room for any prior concepts. It is actually what the Satguru is working on, using the instrument of this body, is to clean-up (it’s a full clean-up job). All our treasured articles are being thrown away; even our favorite antiques which we feel are our most treasured possessions are being wiped clean. So, this is the openness the Sage is talking about.

If you are open, even a simple thing you might hear like ‘Father said that everything is His problem from now’. Even this much might be enough for you to not have to bother with anything else. But if there is a lot of knowledge, if there are a lot of things you know which you think are helping you become the perfect seeker or the perfect enlightened person, then that will only become confusing. Why? Because the words of Satsang can also sound like they are full of contradiction. The ultimate Truth cannot be spoken. Therefore, what is being spoken also in Satsang is also not the Truth. What we are saying is not True; but it is pointing to the Truth.

Whereas, what is the difference in Satsang and the rest of the world then? Mostly what is happening in the rest of the world is what we are pointing to is to our individual egoic identity. Whereas at least the concepts that are used here are pointing to That which is your limitless Self.

So, if there is still a judge sitting in your head or a lawyer sitting in your head saying ‘Objection, objection!’ just observe that voice. You don’t have to force anything to move away. You don’t have to get rid of your mind. Just notice that it is there and it is trying to compete with this voice, which is the voice of your own heart, voice of your own Presence. And it is trying to tell you ‘No, no, you don’t need this one [voice of the Satguru] …, I am enough for you as a guru’ (the mental voice): ‘You don’t need the divine Presence which is your own heart. This mind voice is enough’. It also is telling you what you want. It also says ‘But I am fine, I don’t want this’.

Who is that voice representing? If you don’t want anything, why do you need a voice to remind you? This mind’s voice is the trickster which is trying to make a limited identity out of you. It is trying to tell you that you are constricted by this body and you are represented by this mind.

“A man of open intuition may realize the Self upon hearing a casual instruction, while a man of cluttered intellect inquires bewildered for a lifetime.”

Adi Shankara-charya at one time met this great Sanskrit scholar; probably he knew all the Sanskrit, the nuances of the language and the literal translation of every word and what all it could represent. So, it was for him in that encounter that he composed this beautiful song (you can say) poem (you can say) …, set of verses called Bhaja Govindam.

So, he told him…, his set of instruction to this Sanskrit Brahmin was to ‘Chant the name of Krishna, chant the name of Govinda, you fool’. Literally he said mudha-mate (meaning ‘Oh, fool!’) ‘Chant the name of Krishna because all this grammar, all this mental knowledge is not going to get you anywhere’.

Empty out your intellect from all of this and come to the innocence of a child and see how simple what is being pointed to is. Why is it simple? Because it is Here Now. Not one step you have to take. Only this little bit of insight on what Already is Here. This checking is the inquiry: What is here? and Who Am I?

Dilip and I were speaking last time and he said, ‘It’s a bit complicated, this inquiry in the scripture’. And I promised him that we would look together at this inquiry.

So, basically, what is happening is that if you remove all the complications and all the instructions, what is being checked is: ‘What is it that is here?’ And you might say ‘There is the appearance of a body here, there is the appearance of this room here, there are these thoughts which come, emotions come’. So Bhagavan [Sri Ramana Maharshi] had suggested that ‘Can we find out who is the witness of these? Is that also coming and going?’ You see, whatever might be moving in front of us, what witnesses that?

You might very intimately experience this body; find out who witnesses the sensations of the body …, the arm, the leg, the torso, the head. That which witnesses it…, is that also contained within this set of body sensations?

If you don’t let a mental answer come in the way and you stay with your insight (even if that insight feels like it is nothing) …, even if the insight feels like it is nothing, stay with that nothing; even if the mind is getting frustrated that ‘I am not coming to an answer’. Actually, this ‘not coming to a mental answer’ is very useful because we allow ourselves to remain with our true insight, without making a conclusion about it. We are not struggling to make conclusions. And this is the opposite of how we learnt to study in the past; quickly, quickly we must come to a conclusion and if you come to the right conclusion, then you get full marks. Here it is the other way. It is emptying out every conclusion that I have carried about myself and coming to this pristine Seeing: Who is That which witnesses all that moves?

~ ~ ~

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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: Dear Father, I’m the one with the cluttered intellect. Please pardon this foolish question. What is the difference between insight and thought? Does not insight also arise as a thought? Please do clarify this confusion. Thank you.

A: It is not a foolish question, it’s a very good one. Many times, earlier, I used to say ‘What do we mean by contemplation versus what is the idea of contemplation for most of the world?’

There is a great sculptor called Rodin, who made the sculpture called ‘the thinker’. What is he doing? He’s thinking. [Makes the pose of ‘the thinker’ and there’s laughter in the room] So, this contemplation is not what we mean by contemplation. I don’t want you to take a concept and think about it.

What I mean by contemplation is to look for yourself to see what is there using your inner insight. What do I mean by inner insight? You will see that just like there are these senses which give you these sensory perceptions, this perceptual knowledge, there is also this inner seeing which brings things like memory, imagination, thoughts, pain/pleasure, sensations; there is a full universe of inner objects (seemingly-inner objects. Actually, there is no difference between inner and outer). So, this insight; when you turn this insight and look: ‘What witnesses this?’ We divest it from these objects, either outer or inner, and say ‘Okay, what witnesses that? Who am I?’ That’s why Bhagavan [Ramana Maharshi] said ‘In the inquiry, when the thought comes, instead of worrying about the content of the thought, ask yourself: Who witnesses this thought?

[Silence]

Now, our worldly vocabulary is not meant for these kinds of contemplations so we have to borrow it from how it is usually used and give it our own twist. So, when we say ‘contemplation’ we are looking at this: just stay with your own inner Seeing rather than what picture the mind is painting out of that. The picture the mind is painting could be both as a thought as well as a visual. Many times, when we talk about the unlimited Awareness, the mind is saying ‘Okay, unlimited awareness? I’ll give you that. Here it is, this big black space of nothingness’. You see? And it will fool us like that. And every time we start to refer to ourselves, we are thinking that ‘I am some big black space’ or something. But the question remains:

Who witnesses that?

Who witnesses even this space?

Is that black?

Is that white?

Is it transparent or opaque?

Does any quality apply to that?

This Seeing, this exploration, is empty of conceptual content. It is your pure perceiving, till you come to the limits of perception itself. Then you find that there is an Awareness which is aware even of perception; independent of any concept, independent of any inference…, this recognition.

Okay, let me put it simpler. We can have a lot of concepts of the Eiffel tower, for example. It is like this, it was built after the world war, it was like this; we can have a lot of concepts of it. But when we have the perception of it, you say ‘Yes, I saw the Eiffel tower’.

Now this is the invitation. Can you see yourself?

But the trick is (that’s why one of the clues is) that you will not see it like other objects. You will find YourSelf but you will not perceive it that way, objectively. That’s why my Master [Sri Mooji] says this is the only non-phenomenal experience that you will have. And just because it is non-phenomenal, the mind will come and try to deny it. But actually, the recognition of it is undeniable. You are aware, and the ‘You’ that is aware is not different or separate from this Awareness itself. And this you will speak from your own insight.

This is what I mean. I can tell you; I can tell you that you are Awareness and you can have it as an inference that ‘Okay, I am Awareness’.

So, if someone asks you ‘Who are you?’
You can say ‘I am Awareness’ but it is just a conceptual.
Then I start to ask you ‘Are you aware now?’
You say ‘Yes’.
What saw what?

Nothing was seen objectively yet the answer is ‘Yes’. It is very subtle and yet it is very simple. [Smiling] It’s pristine actually.

If you can meet me here then it’s SO simple because all I’m saying is…, if I say ‘Do you see spectacles?’ [waving his spectacles] you look for spectacles. You find something in the shape of a spectacle, you have a phenomenal perception of that and you say ‘Yes, I see spectacles’. But if I ask you ‘Are you aware now?’ even if your attention goes to some objects, you are not saying ‘I am this computer’ …, you are saying ‘I am aware of the computer’.

What is that ‘aware’?

How is that perceived?

If you say ‘I’m sitting on a couch’ there is a knowledge of both sitting and couch. So, don’t let the mind trick you to saying ‘Yes, I am aware’ only because you saw some content.

Okay, let me go very slowly. If you are sitting on a couch, you know both what sitting is and what the couch is. It is not that there is couch therefore there must be sitting. So, when you say ‘I am aware of existence’ then you must be aware of both what ‘aware’ is and what existence is.

But just because awareness does not have a quality, it does not have an attribute, it does not have a shape or size, it can feel like ‘But I did not discover this, I didn’t recognize this’. But You Are! It is your most primal, most natural recognition. Because nobody taught you to be aware; you might have learnt how to sit or stand but Awareness always has been. And that’s what makes it so seemingly-ungraspable. You feel like ‘But that can’t be it, I’ve always just been this. Is it that?’

I was sharing a story the other day about Swami Vivekananda. Every time Swami Vivekananda would close his eyes he would see some light between his eyebrows and he never shared this with anyone because he felt ‘What’s the big deal? I have felt like everybody would have it’. Just like that; you’ve always been the Self and the discovery seems difficult now because when you recognize it you see ‘Oh, wow, this has always been here. Where was I searching?’ It’s almost embarrassing. [Chuckling]

I used to say at one point (half-jokingly, of course) that the awakening experience is almost like a ‘face palm’ moment! You know what a face palm moment is? [Touches his palm to his head, like an ‘Oh, my God!’ gesture of surprise at the ‘of course!’ moment). So, you get comfortable with it not being something special and yet at the same time very pristine

It’s very simple:

Without expectation: Are you aware?

What is the color of this awareness?

What is aware of your sight?

Of any sensory functioning?

Of even this inner perception?

What is aware of that?

[Silence]

You Are…, undeniably. Isn’t it? You are aware of this already. But it will not conform to any idea of what should happen now, as you discover this. The idea that something should happen can also be kept aside. It is not ‘a happening’. It is what You have always been. And yet in the play, the recognition of what You have always been can seem like a happening.

Chapter 14: Tranquility. Janaka said:

[14.4] “The inner condition of one who is devoid of doubt yet moves among creatures of illusion can only be known by those like him.”

How? Because mostly when it is said like that: ‘You are free Right Now’ …, what is the most common doubt that comes? ‘It can’t be that simple.’ … ‘Can it be this simple?’ That (although it seems like…) that is a doubt. It’s still saying basically that ‘It can’t be that simple. It can’t be this obvious.’ … ‘But, but, I’ve always known this.’

I’m reminded of two things; one from Papaji and the second one from Ramsuratkumar (so remind me later of Ramsuratkumar. I’m liable to forget by the time I’m done telling the first story). [Chuckles]

One came (and I shared this one with some of the local ones here) one came to Papaji. [Sri Poonja ji]

And he said, “Papaji, help me, because I don’t see God.”

Papaji said, “God is seen by those who don’t doubt. Don’t doubt. ‘Don’t’ is ‘doubt’.”

And then he said, “But, but, I don’t see God.”

Papaji said, “What did I just say? ‘Don’t’ is ‘doubt’. Drop it! Now what do you see?”

“I see God!”

And it was not this word-play. In that moment, something shifted in him, where he saw that all that he’d been seeing is only God. And he’s been labeling it as object, as thing, as me, as other. What a beautiful interaction! We are so lucky that it got captured on video. Such a simple satsang. One came and he said ‘I don’t see God.’ And he must have had some openness, some innocence when Papaji said: ‘Don’t’ is doubt. Drop ‘don’t’. What do you see?’ Just for one moment, it came back: ‘But I don’t see God.’ [Papaji says]: ‘What did I say? ‘Don’t’ is doubt. What do you see?’  … ‘I see God!’ And then, what did he [the man] say? ‘It’s that simple! It’s that simple!’ Isn’t it? He said it like that: ‘It’s just that simple!’

That’s all there is to it! We have been only misinterpreting All That Is. All there Is is God. We have been interpreting it as something individual, something as a separate object.

So, this is what I meant earlier when I said that Jesus said ‘Only the children, only the babes will enter the kingdom of heaven.’ Exactly what it means.

The mind will come and tell you ‘No, no, I know better.’ And if you buy this story from the mind that ‘I know better’ then why call anyone your Guru in the first place? Because even the mind is your guru still.

So, openness to the Master means that ‘Master knows’. And what is the Master? The Master is just the voice of Your own Divine Presence. It is Your own Satguru, which is the Heart Itself. That’s why in many forms of spirituality, the spiritual journey is known as the journey from the head to the Heart. You move from allegiance to the voice of the mind to this intuitive Presence, intuitive voice, intuitive guidance; which is Satsang.

[Silence]

So, the second one was from Yogi Ramsuratkumar where he said, “If you’re looking for God, then don’t give in to the possibility that anything else exists.”

[Silence]

And he said (and maybe I’m paraphrasing a bit) ‘If God is what you want, why would you look at the possibility that there is something else?’

…, the possibility that there is something else, which is actually against your most innocent insight right now?

This doubt. And we have nourished this doubt, nurtured this doubt, every time we have believed the concept of an individual ‘me’. We have played the prodigal son every time we have played the story of the ‘me’. And if you played the prodigal son, then it can feel like, when we come back home there is bound to be some fear. ‘How will my Father accept me? Will he treat me badly?’ So, this guilt; this fear. And then the hope that maybe I can make it as a person. (You see? This is the story, isn’t it?) ‘Maybe I can still make it’ and he tries and tries and tries. Nobody has ever made it to this eternal peace, eternal love, contentment, by retaining the idea of separation, of separateness. It is only on the discovery of the Truth.

The Truth is possible only because of this. If it would happen that in believing a lie you could have a totally content life, then what is the value of Truth? It’s of no value, isn’t it? It must be that something, at some point or the other, starts to poke you…, that you are believing something that is not true.

So, this chapter is called ‘Tranquility’. If you don’t doubt, it is impossible to not be at peace.

So many things over the years we have heard in Satsang. We hear something like ‘The universe knows the recipe. It does not make a mistake; putting too much salt in your life or too much sugar in your life’…, God knows what It is doing.

If we doubt that: ‘Why God? Why does it always happen to me?’

I’ve said this before that ‘Why’ is the favorite question of the mind. And ‘Who’ is the least favorite. Just one alphabet letter change. ‘Why’ is the favorite question of the mind. ‘Why me?’ Especially this: ‘Why me?’ Including in Satsang [whining voice]:

‘Why, Father? Why me? Why am I still suffering? This one came yesterday, just for one day, and he looks like he’s free from all suffering. I’ve been coming for 3 years. Why me, Father?’

So, I say: What about if you change that question from ‘Why me?’ to ‘Who me?’

‘Yeah, yeah, I know, Father. Nothing is happening to awareness.’

[Laughs] Then, who is this you?

This ‘Why me?’ …, everything to do with the ‘me’ is the voice of the doubt.

There is a beautiful Satsang by Guruji [Sri Mooji] that all of us could watch and I mentioned this recently also. He is sitting with someone and he says ‘If I stick out my finger and I tell you ‘suck my finger’ and you come like a child and you do it; and you don’t question ‘Did he wash his hands? Why is he asking me? What is going on here? I don’t think …’ (You know, all these kind of things) and we have that kind of an innocence of child, then [snaps fingers] …

But doubt is this one: ‘Why? Is he really awake? Who is told him that he can share Satsang?’ …, this kind of nonsense that we play with. ‘Oh, this one is 100% awake. This one is 75%.’ We have a mental list of Satsang teachers. All this.

All it needs is one moment of emptiness, one moment of insight… [Silence] … for you to recognize what is your Reality; which is so far beyond this worldly play. The worldly play will continue, if that is Your will as Consciousness. But it does not affect You. You will not feel like Your existence is threatened by the play of the world.

[Silence]

This is the beautiful chapter on tranquility.

~ ~ ~

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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: Father, can we say the waves of the universe are nothing but the voice in the head, because perception of the world does not trouble us at all?

A: Yes, yes. What he is meaning, I feel, is not the feeling of the ups and downs. The feeling of the ups and downs (if that is what the waves are conveying to you) is because of the belief in the voice in the head. But what he is talking about is ‘I am the shoreless ocean’ in which all of this appearance and disappearance and objects and no objects, the coming and going of people, events, all of this is just like waves coming and going in this ocean within MySelf, within My Being.

This giddiness (because of the waves, it is giving you giddiness) is because of the voice in the head; if you feel like you are the sufferer of them.

Q: Okay, anyway, I have just a short statement to make. Because he said, [from Ashtavakra Gita] “The waves come and go, but I am not impatient.” So, we can say that only this interpretation which the voice is continuously giving us, this comes and goes.

A: So, the waves come and go, the events as they are meant to [happen; come and go] …, I find a job, I lose a job. But then the mind comes and says ‘No, no, but you have to make a career for yourself.’ Only when that voice comes and says that, I get impatient about something. The waves of the universe are just coming and going. It is when the voice of the interpreter is bought that this seeming side-effect comes, which is of impatience, of wanting to grasp something or to hold on to something.

~ ~ ~

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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: Isn’t thinking due to advertence only even in non-Sages?

A: Yes, well, let us define what we mean by thinking: Usually what I say in satsang is that thinking is not the appearance of thoughts because this appearance of thoughts is coming whether Sage or non-Sage, doesn’t really matter.

When we use the term ‘thinking’ we are including that belief in the thought; that condition, that picking up of the identity. So, mostly in humanity, what we see is that it is the standard operating procedure, so to speak, that we seem to follow the voice of this mind and the thoughts believe most of what it is saying. But for a Sage it is rare.

So, inadvertence in the sense of the rarity of it. In a Sage, sometimes …, (like there are beautiful stories like this) at one time one being came to Shirdi Sai Baba and he told Baba that this follower of yours who has been coming to you for many years, something has happened to him and he has fallen very ill. Then Baba also [gesturing anxiety] for a few moments got a bit worried and said ‘No, no let’s go and see what has happening and we call the doctor.’ (I am paraphrasing; I was obviously not there.) So, like that. But within a few moments, he came back and said ‘No, everything will be fine. Everything is taken care of now, nothing is outside the Will of God.’

So, Guruji [Sri Mooji] says sometimes, for example, ‘When I am irritated with someone, I want them to come right then! Because if they take two minutes, then the irritation is gone and I don’t know what to tell them.’ [Chuckles]

So, this is rare that something gets picked up even in the lives of Sages. And this is always a very beautiful aspect for me. Because, you know, if there was an exhibit (and I don’t actually like it when books and stories convey this very ‘hundred percent’…, somebody was there who was just hundred percent something,) because in reading all this, in hearing all this, the freedom which is so obvious became more and more unapproachable here. So, for a long time the seeking continued because the benchmark was [gesturing far away] this hundred percent ideal; that you must come to this. And when you start to hear stories like this, when you notice that: but is this hundred percent true for anyone? That is why they have done a great service to all of us by putting those moments in the lives of all the Great Ones. That is why the part of Ramayan (which is very enjoyable for me) is that Ram also cried from grief when Sita was taken away. He also considered himself to be husband for a few moments. Jesus also had a tantrum with God when he said ‘Father, oh Father, have you forsaken me?’ …, on the cross. In the face of so much phenomenal stimulus (especially of pain) it is very natural for a moment or two to buy into the idea that you are a limited object. So, the benchmark is not that hundred percent.

So, this is what is implied in the statement; that they go to thinking, not as a natural way of existence, but as an inadvertence. Whereas most of humanity, they seem to go to their thinking as their natural way of existence.

Chapter 14: Tranquility. Janaka said:

[14.3] “I have realized the Supreme Self, the Witness, the One. I am indifferent to bondage and freedom. I have no need for liberation.”

Who can say these words? When the Self is discovered, you realize that the Self never needed anything. Freedom and bondage were never concepts that apply to the Truth of what You Are, but only applied to that which you considered yourself to be. There’s a Zen saying, isn’t it? ‘Only once you climb the mountain can you say that there is no mountain.’ So, Janaka is now speaking from that position that he’s able to See that ‘Bondage and freedom never applied to the Reality of what I Am. It’s only because I considered myself to be limited that I considered that I could ever be bound.’ If you have no shape or size, if you cannot be found as a localized object, what can tie you? What can bind you? If you are more spacious than this space, the space in this room; if you are that space in which this space is there, what can bind you? Nothing can even bind this space. Nothing can even bind time. Both of these are the beautiful products of Consciousness; time and space, and they cannot be bound. So, that in which they arise, what can bind that? Therefore, first there must be the misunderstanding that ‘I am a limited entity in some way, within this objective time and space, then I consider myself bound, then I can presume that I need freedom’.

So, he is saying, “I have realized I am the Supreme Self.” [Silence] “The witness.” You see? Clues. Everywhere there are clues if we look. “The witness.” What is it that witnesses everything; all phenomena? This is “the One.” One with no-two.

“I am indifferent to bondage and freedom.” And not indifference as a mental attitude. Indifference means unconcerned. The movie is playing; but I know it does not hurt Me, it does not touch Me; the Reality of what I Am. “I have realized the Supreme Self, the Witness, the One. I am indifferent to bondage and freedom. I have no need for liberation.”

So, this time, after the break, I started satsang with ‘Can we start from the True perspective?’ Or do you all first want to pick up the perspective that you are bound and then star the journey again? Or can we be true to the present Right Now, and See in reality if there is any bondage?

Can we take that little bit of insight Right Now and See whether the mask of being an individual entity who is bound and needs freedom is still so attractive to you that you have to pick it up? The ‘have to’ only happens when you consider yourself to be less than the Supreme Lord, the Supreme Self.

‘Have to’…, for Consciousness, there is no ‘have to’. That’s why so often I describe it as a play, as a leela that Consciousness is playing with Itself. Not because it ‘has to’ but just because it is the will of Consciousness. It wants to.

And the best news is that You only experience Reality, but you interpret it as bondage. There is never a true experience of bondage. Suffering, bondage, all of this belongs to that one which you never can truly become; the ego, the identity. It is a minor aspect of Your existence which plays out …, because Consciousness must still be getting some juice from that play, some enjoyment in watching this movie, in relating to the character as if It is that.  Now, as it is growing out of that play, growing out of that individualized play, It is discovering Its true nature. What is Its true nature?

“I have realized the Supreme Self, the Witness, the One.”

~ ~ ~

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Reading from the Ashtavakra Gita, Translation by Bart Marshall

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