BOOKS BY ANANTA Welcome to Satsang with Ananta

Chapter 11: Wisdom. Ashtavakra said:

[11.2] “One who knows for certain that ‘Self creates All and is alone’ becomes still, desireless, unattached.”

Which is exactly what we’ve been discussing…

[11.3] “One who knows for certain that adversity and success come and go in obedience to destiny becomes content. He neither desires nor grieves.”

What is the meaning of this: “obedience to destiny”?

Someone in Sangha says: Surrender.

A: Surrender. Surrender to what? Destiny. And destiny means what? That which is the will of God, that which is the will of Consciousness.

This is one question that would have gotten the most referral in Satsang, which is that ‘Do I have will or not?’ And it’s a very good question; itself is filled with trouble. Because in this case, this ‘I’ which is asking is coming from which perspective? It makes the answer change. So, if you’re asking as an individual entity, then what will could you have? Same thing like that blue cat, isn’t it? Basically, it boils down to that. Do we still believe, somewhere, that there must be some person sitting here, one way or the other; there must be a person sitting somewhere. [Chuckles] I use the term ‘blue cat’ just so it sounds exaggerated and ludicrous. But actually, the situation is exactly the same. Just as there is no blue cat here, there is no person here. Exactly like that. Just like the blue cat is a mental concept believed in (if we were to believe it) in the same way, the person is just a mental construct believed in. So, if you say ‘Do I have free will?’ then I would say ‘Yes, you have as much free will as the blue cat in this room’. Because both are at the same level of reality or unreality.

I hope this is clear. How can something which doesn’t exist have will? So, behind the condition to not let go of this individual will there must be the concept of the individual. There must be a belief in my individual existence; that’s why I hang on so much to my idea of individual will. And if that is the case, then stay with that, with integrity, and say ‘Yes. Satsang is fine. I like it. But actually, I still feel like I’m a person’. So, let’s investigate that (which is what we do every day). And then, once we come to that direct recognition that there is no such entity as the person, then automatically, that non-existent one, all its attributes drop, isn’t it? Can the non-existent cat be blue? What is the shape of your second head? [Smiles] All these questions then ‘Do I have free will? What should I do? Is it wrong to desire?’…, all these then melt away. Because you’re referring to yourself as children refer to their imaginary friends.

So, then we saw that individual will is impossible. And yet, in the worldly play, there seems to be these beautiful [inaudible] which unfold, beautiful stories which play out, beautiful things which you all taste and experience in some way or another? So, who is doing all this then? If I don’t exist, then whose will is all of this?

We say (many of us say) Grace brought us to Satsang. Therefore, this which manifested as Grace must have some intelligence to do this; it brought us to Satsang. Who is this one? This is what we call the will of Consciousness, the will of God. And some people call it destiny. So, the sage says “One who knows for certain that adversity and success come and go in obedience to destiny becomes content. He neither desires nor grieves.”

Another example of this is how our mind can look at some things (and especially when we’re in Satsang) and can label some things as Grace and label other things as not Grace. [Chuckles] I’ve had some examples of this which happened over the years. One beautiful Being, he was staying with me, and the sharing of Satsang had just started then. I had met him in Guruji’s [Sri Mooji’s] sangha in Tiruvannamalai and he was staying with me. Now, he had been in a relationship for some time and that relationship started to give him some trouble. He said ‘You know, Ananta, it was so beautiful. The Grace that brought us together. But now, I don’t know what’s happened’. So, ‘Grace brought us together’ but now what is happening is not Grace. Can we examine this fallacy? So, ‘That which brought us together was the will of God, but now, there’s all this trouble in the relationship; it must be my doing’. This is the way the mind still finds a way to inject this ‘me’ based on these events which are bound to constantly change. So, it is like this: Grace brought us together and even the trouble that is being caused is also Grace. Mostly because Grace is playing with belief in this individual identity. And yet, even that is the play of Consciousness.

That’s why the Sage said “… knows for certain that adversity and success …” He did not say ‘just success’ is destiny and adversity is your fault. [Chuckles] “…adversity and success come and go in obedience to destiny…” and obedience to destiny belongs to the will of Consciousness, God’s will. Then, once it is seen, he “becomes content.” Contentment comes because the burden of doership and desire starts to fall away.

Even if you consider yourself a separate object, but you knew that ‘I am completely taken care of by the will of God; it is only His will that moves the blade of grass’ then you see the relief from lugging this burden of doership will come. Usually, for me, I don’t like to rest there. I don’t like to rest there for too long because many times, as we continue to retain the idea of our individuality, being a limited object subject to the will of a greater force, then we can pick up some victimization, we can pick up some specialness…, victimization in the sense that ‘Oh, God, I’m completely surrendered to Your will but why aren’t you fixing this life? I thought that somebody said just surrender, and everything will be fine. But it’s not fine’. Like that. When we still hold onto the limited identity (although the relief from the sense of doership can come) we can still have a certain idea about how life should go; what should come and what should not come. And it is usually in the transcending of this individuality, finding YourSelf to be this unlimited Presence (or ultimately, That which is aware of even this Presence) that even this sense of what is right for my life or what is wrong drops away.

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Reading from the Ashtavakra Gita, Translation by Bart Marshall
http://www.holybooks.com/…/uploads/Ashtavakra-Gita-ebook.pdf
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Chapter 11: Wisdom. Ashtavakra said:

[11.1] “Existence, non-existence, change; this is the nature of things. Realizing this, stillness, serenity and bliss naturally follow.”

“Existence, non-existence, change; this is the nature of things.” How big a statement is that? He is saying that for You, even existence changes to non-existence, non-existence changes to existence. What must You be…, which is independent of existence? This discovery can be only One, because everything phenomenal depends on existence.

Who’s with me? Can you name any phenomenon or anything that you can experience unless You exist? So, is there ever an experience of anything phenomenal unless I Am? I must be…, for the world to be; Consciousness. That’s why we call Consciousness This; or sometimes call it God, All There Is. Because when there is Consciousness, there is the play of this phenomenal. Now, the Sage is saying: For You, existence and non-existence are also in the realm of change. So, what is it that is even beyond existence?

That’s why the pointing is there, isn’t it? When I ask you ‘Can you stop being?’ [Silence] …, who is aware of this?

So, the Sage is saying, “Existence, non-existence, change; this is the nature of things.” So, he’s saying very clearly ‘All this is phenomena’. Many times, we call even ‘I Am’ the immaculate conception, the purest phenomenal, the primordial vibration. Because although it is not attached, it is not associated, it is not something. It is the Divine Presence of God Itself, yet You are higher than that.

All of you have heard that story of a Sufi saint who comes to a king’s door? (I’m always a bit shy to share the stories that Guruji [Sri Mooji] shares because he shares them so beautifully.) So, once there was this Sufi saint and he wanted to go visit the king. So, he knocked on the door of the kingdom and these soldiers, they opened the door. He said, “I want to meet the king.” They said, “Who are you? Are you a soldier in his army?” He says, “No, I’m higher than that.” So, the soldiers, they go back and forth between the king and the saint. And always he says, “I’m higher than that.” [They ask]: “Are you a general of the army?” [Saint says]: “I’m higher than that.” [They ask]: “Higher than that? Are you the prime minister?” [Saint says]: “No, I’m higher than that.” [They ask]: “Higher than that? Are you a king from a neighboring country?” [Saint says]: “No, higher than that.” [They ask]: “Higher than that? Are you an emperor which lords over all of these kings?” [Saint says]: “No, higher than that.” [They say]: “Higher than the emperor is only God. Are you saying you are God?” [Saint says]: “No, higher than that.”

What lips, what tongue can utter these kinds of words? “Higher than that.” Beyond even the play of existence and non-existence.

So, here (very dismissively) the Sage is saying, “Existence, non-existence, change; this is the nature of things. Realizing this, stillness, serenity and bliss naturally follow.”

‘Naturally follow.’ It’s a beautiful way to put it; both the Sage and the translator in this case. They’ve done a very beautiful job. Why is the word ‘naturally’ so important? Because you can start chasing these things. ‘I want serenity. I want stillness. I want bliss. Where is the Ananda?’ He’s just saying that ‘Even existence and non-existence, they change. Know who You Are. Then you will find that this stillness, serenity, peace…, all of this naturally follows’.

So, Sat-Chit-Ananda. Sat-Chit-Ananda is Truth-Consciousness-Bliss. Then You stay as the Truth. Exist effortlessly. And bliss is bound to follow naturally. If you have to chase something, chase the Truth. If you want to find something, find the reality of Who You Are Now. And you will discover this Truth, which is beyond even Being, beyond Existence, Chit, Consciousness…, and just Be, effortlessly, and allow bliss to naturally follow, ease to naturally follow. This is the right order of things. If we start chasing spiritual experiences, start chasing any kind of fireworks, then remember that any of that is just a by-product of Your Existence; and that Existence Itself is ultimately changing. Then how will you hold on to some experience?

Experiences are beautiful candy along the way; beautiful prasad along the way. But never confuse the prasad for the Lord or the candy for the Truth. Many of us have done this, which is why I emphasize this so much. When there used to be meditation and things like that and great experiences would happen, then I would have this expectation that that is the whole point; I have to get back to that particular experience. Then the whole intent of inquiry used to be lost. It was only about gaining experiences; which is the same as the worldly way to live, gather more and more objects, gather more and more experiences.

So, stay with the ‘Sat’ which is the Truth. That is why it is Sat-sang; the company of the Truth, the company of That which points us to the Reality of what we Are is Satsang.

“Realizing this, stillness, serenity and bliss naturally follow.”

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Reading from the Ashtavakra Gita, Translation by Bart Marshall
http://www.holybooks.com/…/uploads/Ashtavakra-Gita-ebook.pdf

Chapter 10: Quietude. Ashtavakra said:

[10.1] “Give up desire, which is the enemy. Give up prosperity, which is born of mischief and good works. Be indifferent.”

[10.2] “Look upon friends, lands, wealth, houses, wives, gifts (and all apparent good fortune) as a passing show, as a dream lasting three to five days.”

[10.3] “Where there is desire, there is the world. Be firm in non-attachment. Be free of desire. Be happy.”

So, let’s look at verse 3 first because then the first two will make more sense. We’ve looked at this. “Where there is desire, there is the world. Be firm in non-attachment. Be free of desire. Be happy.” What does it mean ‘When there is desire, there is the world’?

Who remembers the two things I said?

Who remembers the one thing I said? [Chuckles]

Who remembers anything I’ve ever said? [Laughs]

So, the first thing I said was that this term desire ‘…desire creates the world’ …, we can look at in two ways. The first way is the larger picture, where we say that there must have been an urge, a desire, a primal desire, a primal urge, in Awareness, the Self Itself…, this primal urge to experience Itself as if it is something manifest, as if it is something existent, which lead to this ‘I’ then playing as ‘I Am’.

And the minute there is ‘I Am’ there is the world…, except in the rare states of some meditation, then there is ‘I Am’ but there is no world. Mostly when there is ‘I Am’ there is the world.

So, this primal urge, this primal desire, at one level has been called this Creator. The Creator of the world has been there and been said to be the cause of Creation: I wanted to experience MySelf in this way; in an existent way; I Am. And then, because I Am, then I am everything. You see? When I am manifesting MySelf then that which is everything is manifest; therefore, all colors, all shapes have to manifest. There is actually no way around this. Just like white has to disperse into all the colors, in the same way Consciousness disburses into all Its shades.

And if we truly understand this, if we truly get an insight about this, then this question about why something has to happen in the world or other things like ‘Why do bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people?’…, these questions will start to reveal themselves from that insight. It will never make sense personally. But when we look from the perspective of Existence, only then can these kinds of things make more sense. What is revealing itself is that Consciousness Is as everything. In all shades, in all qualities, in all attributes, there is only Consciousness.

So, this is the first: Desire creates the world.                                                                     [See Ananta’s further clarification on this at the bottom of this transcript]

The second is the desire which is part of the 3-D’s; the 3-D’s of the ego. What is it? Desire, Duality and Doership which make up our so-called individual representation, our ego, our sense of identity. So, only then this ‘D’ is there.

What is the basis of desire? It means that there must be something which is already ‘not me’…, only that I can desire. If it is already Me, how can I desire it? Or if I Am everything already, is it possible for Me to desire it?

So, desire must come as a result of a belief that there is a separate ‘me’ which is separate from some other object or some other creation…, and ‘I must have that, I want that’. So then, about this ‘me’ and the world is what I ask you, isn’t it? Is there ever this appearance without this duality of me and other, me and the world? This inherent play of duality in this Existence seems to play out, always.

So, the creation of the world, if you have no desire…, (and even greater if you have no sense that there is a separation): There is not a world which is apart from MySelf. All is My own Consciousness, My own Being, My own Existence. When there are no battles to fight, there’s nothing to win or lose, there is no lack, there is no bondage, there are no-two.

So then, looking from this perspective, then we can look at what he said about:

“Look upon friends, lands, wealth, houses, wives, gifts (and all apparent good fortune) as a passing show, as a dream lasting three to five days.”

“Where there is desire, there is the world. Be firm in non-attachment. Be free of desire. Be happy.”

How to be firm in non-attachment? Be clear about what You Are.

All of these can be a bit tricky, you see? That’s why we’re taking so much time over every verse so that we can make it clear; otherwise, there can be this idea that ‘I must now be unattached’. But you have to smell a little carefully and make sure that the personal-I, the individual-I, is not sneaking into this. Whose resolution would this be?

That’s why I say that, many times, in the highest of spiritual pointings, in the highest of Advaita pointings also, there can be a great defense system for the ego itself, which can then make a conclusion that ‘I-Ananta have to be unattached’…, ‘I-as-something-personal have to become unattached’. It’s not that!

What is Your True position? Come to That. You are That Awareness which is aware of Its Existence. How can that Awareness be attached? So, to become unattached is a clue to seeing that You already are unattached.

If we go back to the ‘blue cat’ for a minute…, if I say ‘The blue cat should not be attached to the milk’ and if you believed yourself to be the blue cat all this time, then would take that instruction from the perspective of the blue cat. ‘Ah! I will not. It will come, it will pull me, but I will not be attached to the bowl of milk’. I’m not referring to the blue cat at all; I’m referring to You…, which is beyond attachment and detachment.

So, basically everything is pointing us back to the two main things in satsang. The two main things in satsang are:

Recognize what Your Reality is

and

Don’t buy into any story which does not conform to Your recognition of what You really Are.

Don’t buy into any story which is not true; simply put. ‘Not true’ means? Not true about Your Reality. All the pointings, all satsang, all the scriptures are about this: true Self-recognition and dropping of the false conditioning. Both are intimately the same, as well.

“Be firm in non-attachment. Be free of desire.” I’ve made it simpler for you. Just don’t believe your next thought and all this happens on its own.

[10.4] “Bondage and desire are the same. Destroy desire and be free. Only by detaching from the world does one joyfully realize Self.”

Now, there’s a beautiful clue in this. Why did the Sage add the word ‘joyfully’? Because the usual objection to not being attached to the world is that it can feel like ‘I will have a very insipid, robotic life. If I give up my attachment to the world, then it can seem like my existence will become robotic; will become so plain’. That’s why the Sage very strategically [Chuckles] put the word ‘joyfully’ there. Because no Sage has ever reported that ‘My experience has become so insipid and robotic’. Why? Because when you come into the Presence of a Sage, you find yourself inexplicably coming into so much joy. So much joy comes to you. How can it come from that which itself which is so joyless and insipid?

So, it is not the giving up, the renunciation which is usually understood by the mind, almost like a depriving yourself of something. It is not that kind of renunciation. It is only the dropping of the false belief, the false identity that you have picked up about yourself. And then it is not that you contract into this measly object. It is truly an expansion which is beyond any sort of visible expansion, beyond any expansion that the mind can understand. Nothing is outside of You, and yet, You are not contained within the whole of everything. How do I explain these words? [Chuckles]

Nothing is outside of You; yet, even the ‘everything’ which is appearing does not contain You.

It is You. But it is not a container for You. It cannot hold You. That much magnificence is there in your discovery about YourSelf. [Silence] You are wonderful indeed!

Can you handle this wonder about YourSelf? Only if you don’t try to contain it; only if you don’t try to make a limitation of it.

How was Janaka able to say “I am wonderful indeed, beyond adoration” …, was it egoistic? ‘I am wonderful’…, was he speaking personally?

[Silence]

He was talking about You.

I am always only talking about You.

You are talking about YourSelf actually.

[Silence]

So, all the clues are like this. It’s for this discovery; this magnificent, beyond magnificent…, the discovery of the Self.

[Silence]

Must there be a halo for it to be magnificent? Must there be some great, sugary, blissful feelings for it to be magnificent? No. Just in the naturalness of ‘What Is’ already You are wonderful.

[10.5] “You are One; Awareness itself. The universe is neither aware nor does it exist. Even ignorance is unreal. What is left to know?”

So, the first part ‘You are One; Awareness itself” is this: the recognition from all the inquiry, from being in satsang, from the contemplation, from finding out ‘Who is that which witnesses even my Existence?’ …, this One Awareness. This is Your discovery.

Now…, “The universe is neither aware nor does it exist.” So, this is like saying that ‘I am aware of the world. I am aware of sight, smell, taste, of all the perceiving [but] sight, smell, taste, all of this, is not aware of Me’.

So, You are aware of Your dynamic aspect [but] Awareness is what You Are. Awareness is what You Are. You are aware of the world.

He says: ‘Neither does it exist’. Why? Because he means ‘neither is it Real’. Real in what way? According to his own definition, which is that ‘It must be unchanging’. What is your experience of the world? Sometimes the world is like this, sometimes the world is like that; sometimes this world, sometimes some dream world. It always is changing. So, what is it which is unchanging?

Is this Awareness changing?

Is this Witnessing changing?

This is the one constant.

So, when he says ‘It does not exist’ it is only from that perspective.

We have to be careful not to (within the world itself) come to just a verbal denial of the world. We have to clarify the definition of Existence for this reason. Otherwise many might come to this point of saying ‘But there is no Consciousness, there is no Being’. How could you say that? Don’t you exist first, to say that? …, to say even anything? To say that the world does not exist or to say that there is no Being can only be spoken from this perspective that it is not the ultimate Reality. Because even Being (ultimately, for the Absolute Self) is a coming and going.

I…, then playing as ‘I Am’ …, then ‘I Am’ dissolving back into its own Source.

“Even ignorance is unreal.” Ignorance is unreal. Which means that (from this definition, of course) it’s coming and going. That’s why many times we say that even if you identify as if you are something personal, you identify as an ego for millions of lifetimes, it doesn’t ultimately matter. Because the Truth is unaffected, untouched, by this. [Silence] It never really happened. It can never really happen that the Real became the unreal. The ego never was born; it was just a play of Consciousness; a disguise of Consciousness, a mask of Consciousness. [Silence] All that you believe about yourself, all that needs a belief to exist is a mask; is not the Real You. It’s a condition that arises in ideas about yourself.

Suppose you lost the functioning of this ability to understand what the mind is saying. (Somebody should make a movie like that. [Chuckles] Somebody wakes up one day in Bangalore and suddenly the mind starts speaking in some Arabic or some Russian or something. We went ‘Huh?’) [Chuckles] Would you not exist now? [Silence] Of course, your outward appearance might seem very strange to most others who come across you. But it’s not about the outward appearance, is it?

What has fundamentally changed for Your Reality…, if suddenly something changed the switch in your mind and it became a different language?

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Q: [Inaudible] Being Awareness shows that you don’t have a desire. You are quite okay. So, the one who has become unburdened and content is the ‘I Am’ itself.

A: Yes, because nobody else is there.

Q: Because nobody else is there. So, Consciousness Itself, playing as the burdened one, picking up this burden ego and individuality, and Consciousness Itself being the unburdening itself.

I’m happy she brought up that point because I did not mention this earlier but it’s important to understand, that when we talked about the urge or the primal desire in Awareness to experience itself as something, it is just an answer; it is not the Truth. Nobody can truly say what is the cause of the creation of this universe; can truly say what is the cause of the creation of the universe.

We have to find some answer to remove the question. Because when you come to the recognition of the Awareness, then to say ‘it has a desire’ will sound completely laughable. So, we’re not talking about ‘the desire of Awareness’ in the same way that we talk about the desire to experience energetically or mixed with thoughts in this worldly play. So, I wanted to mention that when I started speaking about desire for creation of this world.

I just wanted to say that there is a primal urge in Awareness to experience Itself as something, or to love itself, or to experience the love for itself or for it to evolve and play this game, or even for the leela or the play…, you cannot really say that it had the urge for anything at all, or it has a desire about anything at all. It is beyond that.

It is only when worldly terms, when we need to describe something, we need to remove these pokey questions ‘Why was the world created?’ For me, from the beginning, I said ‘I’ll give you four answers; whatever appeals to you the most’. Because actually, there is no answer. And has it ever been created in the first place?

We’ll come to that.
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Reading from the Ashtavakra Gita, Translation by Bart Marshall
http://www.holybooks.com/…/uploads/Ashtavakra-Gita-ebook.pdf

Chapter 10: Quietude. [10.7] Ashtavakra said, “Prosperity, pleasure, pious deeds. Enough! In the dreary forest of the world, the mind finds no rest.”

So, we have looked at this many times. And again, not to cause any misunderstanding; he is just talking about what is the position we are operating from? As if we are the doer of these pious deeds…, and after doing something, as if we will find something which is out of ourselves. So, as if in the chasing of prosperity, you will find that complete happiness. As if in the chasing of pleasure, you will find ever-lasting pleasure. And as if in the performance of pious deeds, rituals or other deeds, you will find your Self.

It is not that. He says, “Enough! In this dreary forest of the world, the mind finds no rest.” So, if we are still following this mind (which is this voice of our individuality, the ego) then, do as we might, we will not find rest.

Mind could have said ‘Ah, my only desire in life is this’. Many times, desire comes true. ‘My only desire! Please God, get me this job’ and we get it. ‘Get me this job then I will be at peace and I will be happy’. Then we get the job and what happens? Does the mind keep quiet? Is it gone forever; bye-bye? ‘God, one more thing. This manager I have at work, this supervisor; please change that one. The job is good!’ And it goes on and on… ‘Can you do something about my salary? Can you take care about my progress in the career?’ So, it never stops.

Even in the scriptures, there are example of these kings who start doing these rituals. They start with one and go to the next and the next one, which gives them even more power, money, fame. Then they do all kinds of rituals…, Ashwamedha [Sanskrit: aśvamedhá] where they send a horse out and they are praying at the same time, they are doing the ‘Vakrakund’ to all the gods and the horse is running. And all those territories where the horse ran (if it goes unobstructed, if no other kings or nobody else in those kingdoms stops them) then those territories are under you; they become a part of your kingdom. So, it never ends. If they had access to planes and things they would have sent planes. If it does not get shot down, then it’s mine. [Laughter in the room]

So, there is no end to this. This is what the Sage is trying to say. He is not saying that any of these things by themselves are bad (so we are not to create aversions to prosperity or to pleasure or to pious deeds) but if we have the idea that the doing of something will get me to the Self …

I keep taking Adya’s example (referring to Adyashanti) where very beautifully he said once ‘Where does this shoe have to walk to become a shoe?’ So, we can apply that, isn’t it? Does the shoe have to become more prosperous to be a shoe? Does it have to find more pleasure to be a shoe? Does it have to do some rituals, some walking (as Adya said) to become a shoe? It already is!

So, this is what?

Self-realization! Self- recognition!

What is it that I am?

Prior to all of this and prior to all my conditions about myself, what is it that I truly am?

And is there ‘something’ that I am?

[10.8] “For how many lifetimes have you done hard and painful labor with body, mind and speech? It is time to stop.”

It’s quite conclusive. “For how many lifetimes have you done hard and painful labor with body, mind and speech?”

What are our ‘active organs’? In spirituality, these are called the active organs in the body; hand and speech. Where have they gotten us? For how many lifetimes will you try to find this eternal happiness with these kinds of actions? Why don’t you stop?

And when to stop?

It is time Now.

Now is the time.

Just for this one moment.

Ashtavakra did not say ‘Time to stop just for this moment’. I am adding that to make it easier for you. Because I know otherwise the mind can come with a lot of fear ‘If I stop all this, what will happen to my life?’

So, can we start with just a moment? Can we give our utmost to our Self just for this one moment…, irrespective of what this mind might be saying? Don’t jump into a mental conclusion!

What is our discovery about our 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

Many times, after I met Guruji [Sri Mooji] many asked me ‘So, what happened?’ Especially after I started sharing satsang, many wanted to know. I was like a spring chicken starting to share satsang so everybody wanted to know a little bit. ‘What really happened with Guruji?’

So then, very often when I didn’t feel like sharing a story, I just said ‘It stopped’. Stopped; this idea that I am doing something or I have to be this or I have to go there, I have to say this; I have to control, basically…, that just stopped. So, when I say that ‘Guruji picked me up on his lap and has never put me back down again; I continue to be there only’ this is what it means. This whole idea of running my life…, a baby doesn’t have that.

Because of our conditioning, we’ve been conditioned that ‘You must do like this, you must be like this, you must behave like this, you must say like this’…, somehow that stops and we realize that, just like one of the teachers I used to go to used to say ‘It’s like a heavy bag that you put down’. Somebody would ask them about liberation, freedom; it was like ‘You’re carrying this heavy bag, school bag, and you just … [Makes a gesture of reaching hands up and dropping it off his shoulders] The unburdening.

What burdens us? What burdens us is our ideas about the past and our projections about the future. But none of that…, if this was the time to stop, Right Now, if we don’t give relevance or meaning to any of that for some time, we find ourself unburdened; free.

Guruji says ‘If you want to be free, nobody can stop you; nothing can come in your way’. If that is the truest longing in your heart, then you will find that in this one truest longing, you will find yourself much more able to let go of this monkey-mind. You are behind it. Even now it might be chattering; it’s okay. Don’t get it opposition with it. I did not say ‘Stop the mind’. I said ‘YOU stop’. [Pause] Let the mind go on in its own merry way. Just like this.

The simplicity of this is contrary to the mind. That’s why it can seem a bit abstract; a bit confusing. Why? Ashtavakra said, “The mind is complex. Let it go.” [5.1]

He did not say ‘You have to climb the ladder of complexity; more and more complex spirituality and then you will come to this ultimate truth’. You’re actually coming down from the realm of complexity…, with this simplicity which is Now.

No concept is needed for the Truth. Are you using a thought to BE right now? (We are unaccustomed to this kind of checking so it can seem like ‘What?’)

So, just check: Are you using a concept to exist?

[Silence]

If you had no memory of a concept, would you not exist?

[Silence]

And no concept is inherently present. The struggle is for the mind, for the concepts. The struggle is not for You. (Stay with me a little bit and you’ll see what I’m saying.) The struggle is for the mind to keep convincing You over and over again. It is not the concept which inherently exists. In THIS moment, you are empty of that.

You have to give it at least some time; for the concept to come, for you to buy into it and for that to seem like it is part of your existence.

Inherently, in every moment, you are free.

~ ~ ~

Reading from the Ashtavakra Gita, Translation by Bart Marshall

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

[Reads from Ashtavakra Gita, Ch.9, V.5] Ashtavakra said, “The greatest seers, saints and yogis agree on very little. Seeing this, who could not be indifferent to knowledge and become still?”

We’re talking about the concepts that various expressions of Consciousness are using to point those who come to them to the Truth of what they Are. And different concepts are there because all our conditioning is different.

See, for some of you, the concept of surrender is more appealing. For some, the concept of inquiry is more appealing. For some of you, neither are appealing; maybe some hatha yoga is appealing. So, based on our conditions, based on what is imbedded, the tool we need to remove it is also different. That’s why it can seem like even the Sages are constantly disagreeing.

But one thing that they must agree on…, (not one thing, actually) most of these clues about the Self (at least for most of them) these must be there:

That it is not coming and going; it is unchanging.

It is that which witnesses al things.

Some of these absolutes, there can be agreement on. On how to get there, whether it is possible, the format, inquiry or puja or meditation or what is the way to do it, this may be different; but it’s all Consciousness. It’s all Consciousness.

~ ~ ~

Reading from the Ashtavakra Gita, Translation by Bart Marshall

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

[10.6] Ashtavakra said, “Attached as you have been to kingdoms, sons, wives, bodies, pleasures (life after life) still they are now lost forever.”

It’s a simple one where you See: I am beyond all limitations, I am beyond all qualities, and I see that it is the ‘I’ that I considered myself to be (this limited entity, name and form) that had relationships, that had attachment to money, that had attachment to body, that has attachment to everything.

So, once I See that I’m beyond that, and the appearance of all of this doesn’t make a dent on the Reality of what I Am, the appearance of the phenomenal world doesn’t change the reality of what I Am, then I See that I have not removed these attachments, that I have transcended them. I See that “they are now lost forever” …, not in the way that they don’t appear anymore; my life still appears. The children still appear; the appearance is there. But the one that is attached, that one…, if I was to look for that Ananta, that one is not here. I See that the play of Ananta continues, the play of Consciousness playing as Ananta continues, the role of Ananta continues but that one is not there.

What is Real is MySelf, That from which My Being emerges and That into which My Being dissolves. So, all of this, all of these, are aspects of My own Being. So, they vanish in that way because the owner of these relationships is not to be found; has transcended and has been replaced with That One which is True, the Unchanging 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

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(Clue 10 of 11 from “Eleven Clues to Awakening” transcript)

~ ~ ~

Q: The second to the last [clue] is not clear.

A: ‘That which is the Source of your Being.’ We come to this Seeing that the Self is All There Is, the Absolute is All There Is. That’s why it is the Absolute. There is no movement, there is no sense of existence; nothing at all. Yet, when ‘I Am’ emerges, when the sense of Being or Consciousness emerges, it is undeniable that a qualitative emergence has happened. Nothing has changed in Reality, yet the tasting of Being, the tasting of Presence, is undeniable in our waking existence, in our present experience.

Therefore, this Being also must come from All That Is or the Absolute. We have contemplated this many, many times together also; where we looked at what is that ‘I’ which is ‘Am-ing’ …, which is now ‘Being’. I Am. It is not ‘you are’. It is ‘I’ which is the Self, the Absolute, is now ‘I Am’.

We have done this a few times, so it maybe the second part is what was confusing. So, I said ‘in its unassociated form’. So, ‘I Am’ remains. The whole point of letting go of all of these conditions is to remove attributes which have been wrongly attributed to ‘I Am’. Because all attributes are pointing to limitation. So, we are dropping all concepts about ‘I Am’.

Just ‘I Am’.  Not even ‘I Am’ as a concept; just Presence, just Existence. I am not ‘some-thing’.
What Bhagavan [Sri Ramana Maharshi] has said: ‘I Am’ is Atma and ‘I-am-something’ is the play of Jivatma.’

Beyond this play of individuality, of some limited existence, is just ‘I Am’. ‘Unassociated Being’ as Guruji [Sri Mooji] calls it. We are coming to our unassociated Being in which Consciousness is just Consciousness, God playing as God, ‘I Am That I Am’.

Then, when it picks up an association that ‘I am something (I am man, I am woman, I am husband, I am wife, I am seeker) all this becomes the identity, part of the identity. The person identity is nothing but a basket of these concepts, a basket of these beliefs. So, as we’re freeing…, as Consciousness is freeing Itself from this basket of conditioning, basket of beliefs, It is coming to unassociated Being.

That’s why I said ‘In Its unassociated form, is Consciousness’. And ‘In Its associated form, appears as ego’ …, doesn’t actually become one; it only appears as ego. So, you can appear as if you are a person when you are attaching an attribute to YourSelf. But it is just an appearance, just a sense of some individuality, a sense of limitation. But never the reality of it.

The last few weeks I’ve been speaking like this, about the clues to Awakening. Yesterday, I was feeling like I want to find out: What are all the clues that are in Ashtavakra Gita? And some just came from there. So, eleven clues I have found so far. Eleven clues to Awakening. The first is:

CLUE #1: [That which is the witness of all things.]

We are looking for That. So, the play is that of looking for, finding, this Self recognition. So, we’re looking for That. ‘That’ as in ‘I Am That’ first. (That with a capital ‘T’.)  So Ashtavakra, for example, has said ‘You are the one solitary witness of all things.’ This is what we are looking for: What is That which witnesses all things. So, one that immediately came to me is this popular one. ‘You are the one solitary witness of all things.’ Use this clue to look; to look within.

[1.7: “You are the solitary witness of all that is, forever free.”]

CLUE #2: That which remains unchanging. That which remains unchanging. What is the verse that came to mind? Where Ashtavakra said: ‘The Self cannot be that which can be enhanced. It remains unchanging.’ So, that which cannot be enhanced nor diminished. That which remains unchanging.

[7.2: “In me, the shoreless ocean, let the waves of the universe rise and fall as they will. I am neither enhanced nor diminished.”]

CLUE #3: That which is beyond limitations or boundaries. Beyond limitations or boundaries. The verse that came to me when I was contemplating this is the verse where he said ‘I am the shoreless ocean.’ Shoreless ocean, you see?

[6.2: “I am a shoreless ocean; the universe makes waves. This I know. No need to renounce, accept or destroy.”]

CLUE #4: That which can only be found in the present or Now. That which can only be found in the present or Now, which means that it is ever present. It does not come and go. It is not subject to time.

So, Ashtavakra has many times said ‘Let go of that which is coming and going. Stay with that which is not coming and going.’ Which means what? That it must be Here Now; every time we look.

[2.1: “I am now spotless and at peace, Awareness beyond Consciousness.”]

[5.1: “You are immaculate, touched by nothing. What is there to renounce? The mind is complex. Let it go. Know the peace of dissolution.”]

CLUE #5: That which has no desires or aversions. That which has no desires or aversion is beyond attachment. We just looked at some of the verses. An entire chapter actually about this; that which has no desire or aversion.

CLUE #6: That which is beyond doership, beyond action and inaction. That which is beyond doership.

CLUE #7: That which is beyond separation and union. Beyond both the concept of separation and union.

CLUE #8: An important one. That which cannot be found by the mind. That which cannot be found by the mind means that which cannot be described or got to by concepts, judgments or inferences.

CLUE #9: That which is your direct insight beyond any phenomenal perception. It is your only non-phenomenal experience (if you can call it an experience). So, direct insight beyond any phenomenal perception; your only non-phenomenal experience.

CLUE #10: That which is the Source of your Being.

Many clues Ashtavakra has given, the ark of your Consciousness, the ark of your universe also coming and going. That which is the Source of your Being which, in Its unassociated form) is Consciousness and in Its associated form, appears as the ego.

[6.4: “I am in all beings; all beings are in me. This I know.”]

CLUE #11: That which is discovered by following the guidance of the Divine Presence or the Intuitive Presence of the Satguru (whatever terminology we use): The dispeller of ignorance.

[17.20: “The sage is free. His empty mind no longer projects delusion, dreaming, dullness. This state is indescribable.”

The form of that is not as relevant. But there must be this Intuitive Light (what we call the Satguru) discovered by following the guidance of the Satguru.  So, either by following the guidance of the Satguru and (or) surrendering to this Presence; surrendering to the Divine Presence. Similar to what Bhagavan [Sri Ramana Maharshi] said: inquire or surrender.

~

I feel that this would make a very useful book or booklet for everyone because it captures the essence of most of our pointings; not just of Ashtavakra but most of what we are pointing to in satsang. And sometimes it may be very confusing, the terminology and the contradictions, so this can serve as a very useful set of pointers for anyone coming to satsang or interested in awakening or enlightenment.

I feel we captured a lot of (or most of) what Ashtavakra is saying. But if you feel that there is something we missed or something which must be added, we are happy to include that in the small booklet.

~ ~ ~

Quotes from the Ashtavakra Gita, Translation by Bart Marshall
http://www.holybooks.com/…/uploads/Ashtavakra-Gita-ebook.pdf

Ashtavakra said:

[9.6] “One who through worldly indifference, through serenity and reason, sees his true nature and escapes illusion; is he not a true teacher?”

[9.7] “In the myriad forms of the universe, see the primal element alone. You will be instantly free, and abide in Self.”

Very beautiful.

[9.8] “Desire creates the world; renounce it. Renounce desires and you renounce the world. Now you may live as you are.”

“Desire creates the world.” This can be understood in two ways. The first way to understand this is: it is often said that there was a primal urge or a primal desire within the Absolute to taste itself as if it is Existent; taste its own Existence. This primal urge. It is said that must have been present in the Self for it to create this manifest phenomenal creation. So, it could be pointing to that way, where it is looking at the very, very at the primal aspect of creation; that the primal urge came within the heart of Awareness or the Self which lead to this world. So, this is the first way.

The second way to understand this is that: this duality of me and the world, this idea of me and the world relies on this (which I often call the) maha-mantra of the ego, which is ‘What’s in it for me?’ This is the voice of desire. ‘What’s in it for me?’ So, this sense of separation rests very much on the idea of ‘What’s it in for me?’

Once we are free from this idea and we are able to just let go of it, then this idea of a separate world will cease to exist. All of it will be You; all of it will be an aspect of You.

So, this verse can also be looked at in both these ways, either of these ways.

“Desire creates the world; renounce it. Renounce desires and you renounce the world. Now you may live as you are.”

One misunderstanding that can come because of this verse is that you might want to renounce your job, your life, your house, your partner, your children; that is not what the pointing is about. All you have to do is renounce just this voice of the mind. All you have to do is renounce just your next thought; that is enough to renounce. Many of those who have renounced all those things in the world, still have not renounced the ‘What’s in it for me?’

Why to renounce it? Why to renounce this mantra of ‘What’s in it for me?’ Because it is not referring to the true You. It is referring only to this identity which has been the source of all your suffering. So, just renouncing this is enough.

~ ~ ~

Reading from the Ashtavakra Gita, Translation by Bart Marshall

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

Let’s continue to look at the Ashtavakra Gita. As I’ve been advising from the beginning don’t look at these sessions as something you have to just listen to and hear; beautiful words. See, it is all of that but look at each of these as spiritual pointers, as spiritual contemplations, almost as spiritual exercises. As you look at each verse, it is pointing you to some condition which might wrongly have been picked up; something which we are believing about our self which is not true in Reality.

So, these are pointers to your awakening. And each of the verses is filled with so much power, spiritual significance, that the contemplation of it, the looking at it with your direct insight (not just adding to your basket of concepts but looking at it in your own present experience) can lead to that which we are all longing for, looking for.

Okay, we’ll so look at Chapter 9: Detachment. Ashtavakra is speaking now.

[9.1] Ashtavakra said, “Opposing forces, duties done and left undone; when does it end and for whom? Considering this, be ever desireless, let go of all things, and to the world turn an indifferent eye.”

[9.2] Ashtavakra said, “Rare and blessed is one whose desire to live, to enjoy and to know, has been extinguished by observing the ways of men.”

We’ve discussed this. Don’t let any of the terms create any misunderstanding. We’ve explored in detail what the sage is really pointing to.

[9.3] Ashtavakra said, “Seeing all things as threefold suffering, the sage becomes still. Insubstantial, transient, contemptible; the world is fit only for rejection.”

[9.4] Ashtavakra said, “Was there an age or time men existed without opposites? Leave the opposites behind. Be content with what comes. Perfection.”

I was waiting for this paragraph so I could explain what is happening. See why? Because he explains now that the chapter is called detachment.

So, what do I say? That sometimes the sage has to give a whack from this side [waving his right hand] and sometimes he has to give a whack from that side [waving left hand]. So, if he feels like there is something like attachment, then he’ll say ‘What is this world? It’s all rubbish, leave it behind. Don’t look at it. It’s full of these meat-buckets and nothing but death and decay’ …, these kinds of things; to take us out of this attachment position of ‘me’ and ‘mine’. And at the end he says ‘Leave all opposites behind’ which includes attachment and detachment.

Sometimes the sage has to loosen the position so that we come to neutrality. So, if we are very attached he will say some very strong thing. ‘Leave all of this! Why are you so attached to this meat-bucket? Why you so…’ like that. But it can sound like there is an aversion towards something, but actually it is just loosening that attachment and then saying ‘Leave even that, leave the realm of opposites’. That’s why the previous three or four verses sound very harsh; things like ‘Insubstantial, transient, contemptible; the world is fit only for rejection’. You see? Because we can be holding on to something here for dear life as if it is giving something substantial to us. The Sage is saying ‘Just leave it’. Like earlier he said ‘Shun it like poison’. Then he says ‘Be empty of even aversion’. So, it brings us to this. It loosens our position, loosens our attachment to things and then says ‘Be empty of even aversion’.

The point of the pointings is not to create this opposite value: not that we go from attachment to detachment, not even that we go from doership to non-doership. We leave all these opposites behind and come to this openness, to this neutrality.

“Was there an age or time men existed without opposites?”

What does this mean? The person entity, the person identity, is dependent on this play of opposites. Without it, can there be this identity? You see? Every concept contains some judgement, contains a picking up of an idea, a position, a reference point as I keep saying.

Now he says, “Was there an age or time men existed without opposites?”  What is implied is that this identity relies on these positions which are on opposite ends of the spectrum.

“Leave the opposites behind. Be content with what comes. Perfection.”

Perfection. Perfection. Not that perfection which is also in the opposites of perfection and imperfection, perfection or defective; not like that. This perfection of openness, neutrality. Just what IS right now.

So, the sage is very nicely shaken us out of our attachments and then, as we are getting an aversion or the idea that ‘I must be opposed to the world or in opposition to something’ then he says ‘No, leave all the opposites behind, remain empty of these opposites’.

[9.5] Ashtavakra said, “The greatest seers, saints and yogis agree on very little. Seeing this, who could not be indifferent to knowledge and become still?”

“The greatest seers, saints and yogis agree on very little.” This is very good. [Chuckles] What is he saying? “Seeing this, who could not be indifferent to knowledge and become still?”
What is he saying then? Don’t be attached even to your spiritual concepts. As Guruji [Sri Mooji] says ‘Don’t make tattoos of my words’ and as Bhagavan [Sri Ramana Maharshi] says ‘These are just thorns to remove other thorns; at the end, even these are thrown away’.

And what is the clue to discover this? That even the greatest sages they don’t agree. They don’t agree on the path, on what freedom is. You see? On how to get there, especially.

The experience of the Present, the recognition of the Self, is what the sages seem to agree upon. The “very little” could be that. But how to get there? What is the path to follow? Are there steps or no steps? Is there practice or no practice? Is effort needed or not needed? Is devotion a part of this Self-recognition or not? Many, many, many disagreements can happen, even amongst those who have recognized the Self.

So, don’t allow these confusions, these contradictions, to confuse you. That’s why I’ve given all of you a clue that no pointing actually is the ultimate truth. No pointing is the ultimate truth. That’s why it is a pointing. It can only point to the Self, the Truth; it cannot itself contain it. No term, no path, nothing actually. Because what are you being pointed to? [Pause] That which you already Are.

Now suppose you are on a road and you feel you are lost. You ask someone. ‘Sir, can you point me the way to myself?’ What will he say? Some will say ‘Go straight, take a left, take another left, take another left, walk for a bit, you’ll get to the Self.’ Some will say ‘You are already yourself.’

All different kind of directions. But what are we all looking for? The Self. The Self itself is a big clue, you see. We are not searching for something that is outside of ourself. Just the Self.

So, the direction could be different, but you stay with this discovery. What does the sage say? “Seeing this, who could not be indifferent to knowledge…?” He’s talking about detachment. The whole chapter is about detachment. And he knows that for spiritual seekers, spiritual knowledge itself can become a big attachment. ‘I’m attached to my concepts because I must be right. I’ve invested so much time and energy on something, I must come to a valid conclusion.’ The sage says that even the great sages have not agreed. So, even these have little value except as that which points to YourSelf. Be still. Be still means: remain Here. See what Is.

[Silence]

“Seeing this, who could not be indifferent to knowledge and become still?”

So, let’s quickly recap, “Opposing forces, duties done and left undone…” So, he’s talking about doership; action and inaction. We are attached to these ideas so he’s saying ‘Contemplate: “When does this end and for whom?” Is there ever an end to doership?’

“Considering this, be ever desireless, let go of all things, and to the world turn an indifferent eye.”

He is shaking us out of our attachments. So, what has he talked about? He’s talked about the 2D’s. We’ve talked about 3D’s of the ego; he’s talked about the 2 Ds of this 3D ego which is the ‘doership’ and the ‘desire’.

What do both of these rely on? The D of duality. There must be some sense of separation, of duality, for me to be a separate entity, before I can desire something which is seemingly-outside of me. You see? There is a me who wants to make something mine. That is desire. And when that ‘something’ seems to have become mine, that becomes an attachment. So, this play of ‘me’ and ‘mine’ rests on this on this D of duality.

Then, if I have a desire, that there is somewhere to get to, something to get, then what to do? The ‘do’ comes. The ‘D’ of doership comes. So, he’s saying ‘When will this end? Things to do and things not to do’. And ‘For whom?’ is an important question. ‘Who is here which is doing and not-doing?’ “Considering this be ever desireless, let go of all things and to the world turn an indifferent eye.”

“Rare and blessed is one whose desire to live, to enjoy and to know, has been extinguished by observing the ways of men.”

So, when we have this idea that ‘I am living my life and I have some control over it; I want these particular experiences and I want to be able to pick and choose the content of my experiences’ …, which is what we talked about yesterday: pain, avoidance / pleasure seeking experiences or I only want pleasure, don’t want pain; those kind of beliefs…, which gives this false idea of what is going to show up on this movie screen. “…desire to live, to enjoy and to know “.We seem to be climbing a ladder of spiritual concepts to know more and more: ‘And, ultimately I will have best, most powerful concept which is what I really want.’ The sage is saying that it is not about that kind of knowledge also.

“…has been extinguished by observing the ways of men.” So, who has been able to get only those experiences in life that he wanted? That is not the tale of humanity. “…observing the ways of men” means to look at humanity and to see that all of this is actually not getting anyone anywhere. So, let go of all of this. Again, remember, the name of the chapter is “Detachment.”

Are you getting how? (We have done nine chapters so far) …, how in a beautiful way all the clues, all the pointings are looked at. And then, there is an invitation to drop it. And then again, going back to one of the clues and deeply diving into…, and seeing how the identity operates and how you can be free of it.

So, it’s actually very practical. The Ashtavakra is famous (or infamous actually) for being too abstract; only for very various seekers who are very, very accomplished in some way. But actually, when looked at with this lens, when you search for clues for ‘How do I discover the Truth for myself?’ you’ll find that it is full of that.

~ ~ ~

Reading from the Ashtavakra Gita, Translation by Bart Marshall

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

[8.4] Ashtavakra said: “When there is no “I” there is only liberation. When “I” appears, bondage appears with it. Knowing this, it is effortless to refrain from accepting and rejecting.”

So, the term ‘I’ is very confusing. It leads to a lot of trouble. ‘I’ (Guruji [Mooji] has defined it best actually) is the chameleon ‘I’. This chameleon ‘I’ can be applied to various things. It can be applied to this body, be applied to the mind; we even apply it to our attention (‘Oh, I’m sorry, I was driving but I was somewhere else actually’). Our attention was somewhere else. We apply it to Being ‘I Am that I Am’. And we also apply it to the Absolute, the Self, Awareness. Self – I.

Now, what does the Sage mean when he says, “When I appears”? Therefore, it must be that changing ‘I’. So, what he means is this individual sense of individuality, this egoic ‘I’. So, the ‘I’ is most often applied to this sense of person, which is a strange combination in our mind; some strange combination of body and mind together. There is no such entity there, but it feels like a valid entity. This ‘I’. This is what the Sage is referring to; the sense of a separate existence. This ‘I’. When this ‘I’ appears, then the bondage seems to appear. The appearance of bondage is just an appearance. Just like the appearance of this ‘I’ is just an appearance.

Now, how is it that we can buy this idea of individuality? [Silence] I was saying to someone today ‘If the task was to do it, if the task was to suffer…’ [Inaudible] So, if the project now was the reverse; if the project was ‘how to suffer’ …, what would you do? Only through identification with thought. So, only through our belief, our identification with thought, does it feel like this bondage of ‘I’ is real. There is no ‘person’ without belief in this thought. So, in this way then:

When we buy into this idea of our individuality, then bondage is bound to feel real.

When we remain empty of this belief, then we cannot suffer.

The simple, simple way.

Can it be that simple?

Can you suffer without thinking about it?

And I’m not even saying you have to withdraw your attention from thoughts. If attention feels like it is going to thought, it is fine. As your belief is more and more withdrawn, you find that attention doesn’t get so attracted. It doesn’t feel that thoughts are so magnetic.

[Silence]

Some of you, especially those who are new to satsang, might feel like there’s a ‘but…’. But…, something, something, something…, which is relevant, which is true for you. And I say ‘Don’t believe your next thought’. You might get a thought which is saying ‘But…’ which relates to something; mostly a projection about the future or some sort of fear of security; something. So, just like that crutch that is saying ‘What will you do without me? You will fall!’ …, I’m saying to all of you: You stay with me, in the heart. Everything will be taken care of.

We’re moving away from experiencing this world as an ego. We’re moving away from the sense of experiencing an ego.., coming to this simplicity of Being, effortless existence.

[Silence]

See, many times the thoughts come like this: ‘Without me, what are you going to do in the future? What’s going to happen to you? You’re just going to make a mess of your life’. Don’t follow this pointing, this kind of fear. As if it’s done such a bang up, smashing job of it so far. [Chuckles]

“Knowing this, it is effortless to refrain from accepting and rejecting.” What does it mean? It’s just effortless. We let this ‘I’ come and go. I-as-thoughts come and go. There is no acceptance towards rejecting the thoughts; nothing. Just the letting go. This is the meaning also.

So, that was the end of Chapter 8 where we discussed the contrast (the seeming-contrast) between bondage and liberation.

~ ~ ~

Reading from the Ashtavakra Gita, Translation by Bart Marshall

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

[8.3] Ashtavakra said: “If the mind is attached to any experience, this is bondage. When the mind is detached from all experience, this is liberation.”

How to attach to an experience? Suppose an experience happened; all the chakras, flashing light was seen. Then, how to attach to it? The thought will come saying what?

Sangha: I want to keep it.

Ananta: You want to keep it. So, what happens is that this ‘I want to keep it, I want this to be the way it is. Me! This is my experience and I want this experience to always be mine’. This play of ‘me’ and ‘mine’ is attachment.

The same thing is there for the opposite, which is aversion. It is also the flip side of desire. It’s a desire with another name. What is aversion? When an experience happens and something says ‘I don’t want this’. The opposite. ‘I don’t want this’. But even that, the ‘me’ is still there. We’re now saying that ‘This I definitely don’t want’.

So, the great experience is ‘I feel like I only must have this’. But the opposite end of the spectrum is we feel that ‘I don’t want this’. So, then our life becomes this avoiding pain and running toward pleasure. Pain avoidance and pleasure seeking is the basic movement of life for many, and they get attached to this.

But once we see (what did the Sage say?) ‘You are the shoreless ocean in which the ark of the universe is moving up and down. You are neither enhanced nor diminished by it’. In That, we remain untouched. Then everything is met with neutrality.

There are various tools to help us get to this openness. If you’ve been blessed with being with a Guru, when something comes you say ‘It’s not my concern, it’s my Father’s problem’. If you feel like you’re a different temperament and would like to understand everything, then See:

Who is the sufferer?

Or ‘Who is the enjoyer of this experience?’

‘Is there an Ananta here who is suffering or enjoying any experience?’

And That which is the true doer and experiencer, is It affected in reality by the content of the space?

That’s why Bhagavan [Ramana Maharshi] had said ‘Surrender or inquire’. (I’m sure he also meant ‘or both’).

Many years ago, I read this beautiful scripture called the ‘Narad Bhakti Sutra’. This stayed with me, in which it said ‘Treat everything as an offering to the Lord, whatever it might be’. Whatever the content of your experience in this moment might be, give it to the Lord. Surrender; our best experiences, our worst experiences. Desire, as he rightly said, becomes this idea that ‘I must have only this’. Aversion becomes this idea that ‘I must not have this’. If everything is an offering at the feet of the Lord, then nothing is any trouble. Nothing is for me. And as nothing is for me, this idea of ‘me’ itself starts to dissolve.

Sometimes it starts like this; like the other day, someone came and she said ‘I’m not sure if I really get what you’re saying. Can you give me some simple idea, some simple thing?’ I said ‘What is it that you enjoy?’ She said ‘I like to pray sometimes’. (If I remember correctly; maybe I’m paraphrasing.) She said ‘I like to pray sometimes’. I said: That is really good. Stay with that and you notice how your prayer will move. Prayer might start with ‘Yes, God, I’m praying to You. Please take care of my life’. And as this prayer continues, then it changes into ‘Yes, Lord, I’m praying to You but do with this life what you want. It’s yours’. Then it progresses to ‘That who is praying and that who is being prayed to are only You, my Lord. All of this is Your play’. So, even on the separate path of prayer, devotion, you can come to this Truth…, that there is only One; there are not-two.

So, whatever path you pick, as long as the longing in the heart is for the Truth (and you’re not lying to yourself) …, so, I would say ‘As long as the longing in the heart is for Truth’ and the second quality is ‘You’re not longer lying to yourself’. Lying to yourself means? Just this mental self-denial or self-aggrandization. If you stay with your direct insight and you’re not making up fancy ideas, nor are you making up unworthy ideas, and in your heart, you’re longing for the Truth, then you can walk on any path. There’s nothing here that says it has to be this satsang (or something like that). Anything that you do in this longing and you do with integrity (as [Nisargadatta] Maharaj used to say) …, this integrity means ‘Stay with the truth of your direct experience; don’t go with fanciful or terrible ideas’…

“If the mind is attached to any experience, this is bondage. When the mind is detached from all experience, this is liberation.”

What does this mean? Does it mean that it becomes lifeless; that this all becomes very bland or something? No. Detached means that we keep this mantra ‘What’s in it for me?’ out of the equation. We’re not looking at things and saying ‘Is this for me? What’s in it for me? What can I get out of this experience? Can I keep this forever?’ We keep the ‘me’ out of this and just stay with what it is.

Often I speak about this, that the first time I saw a flower was very late in life. I’d seen many flowers visually, but the first time I SAW it, without an interpretation and a judgment, it felt like I’m seeing it for the very first time. When you start to experience the world in this way, you will be surprised at the vibrancy and the beauty and the wonder of it.

The maha-mantra of the ego is ‘What’s in it for me’. If you allow it to just be kept aside, while it is just coming and going, it doesn’t bother us, it doesn’t get belief. Then what is here; there is so much wonder in every moment.

We’re sitting here… [Chuckles] (We don’t need this interpretation but just to point to something).

We’re sitting here talking about freedom on the day of India’s independence; Beings from all over the world in both this format [points to satsang room] and also the technology thing [online live satsang] …, we’re here talking about some ancient Sage (I don’t know how many thousands of years ago). Supposedly this conversation happened between a king and Sage. And we’re revisiting that after so many thousands of years, sitting on this auspicious day together. It’s so wonderful.

But even without this layer of interpretation, taste this moment for what it is. [Silence] Tell me if you don’t see God. […] Taste the Presence of Your Being. Be Here Now. This is God playing.

[Silence]

So, the world does not become some sort of insipid experience. Because many times, we say it like that …, ‘Oh, it’s only an appearance, I’m beyond that’. But it can seem like it can become very boring or lifeless or something like that. But it’s not that. In fact, the true vibrancy, the true sense of even this phenomenal appearance, we start to See it when we just taste it for what it is. Taste this moment. God tasting Himself.

~ ~ ~

Reading from the Ashtavakra Gita, Translation by Bart Marshall

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

.

[7.5] Janaka said: “I am Awareness alone. The world is passing show. How can thoughts arise of acceptance or rejection? And where?”

Here we don’t take so much of an issue with the arising of the thoughts. It is the identification with them which is the source of suffering. So, everything which is the pose from the mind, the pose of this thought, is a form of resistance which is to give ourselves a limited position. The only job of the mind is to convince (and designed by Consciousness in this way) is to convince Consciousness itself that it is a limited entity. This is the marvel of this world. Consciousness itself wanted to taste this world as if it itself is a limited entity.

So, Consciousness itself, in its play has created for itself this power (called ‘my’ thoughts) and given to itself the power to believe, to pretend as if it is something limited. And it believes some really far out things. We might feel like it is very normal to believe that ‘I am a person’. But actually, if we look at it, we notice that even scientifically it is impossible. Suppose you have a belief that ‘I am doing something, I am moving my hand’. It can seem like the most obvious thing…, ‘I can move my hand’. But actually, if you really start to explore it, then a scientist will tell you that you need to fire these many million neurons to move your hand. Who knows how to fire a single neuron? Nobody knows. So, this is just happening.

Another way to look at it is that for every atom (the scientists are saying that for every atom) there is a probalistic determination of what its next position will be. So, that includes the atoms which make up this body. So, already the probalistic determination of where it is going to be next is pre-designed. You see? So, we can feel like ‘Ah, I moved’. This non-existent ‘I’ can claim to be the mover of this hand. It’s not true.

Another BBC documentary came a few years ago where it said that before the thought comes that ‘I must do this or I can do that or I should move my hand’…, already the nervous system is getting activated with the movement of the hand; before the thought comes, before the seeming intent is there, something is already…, you know… [moving].

So, this Consciousness (which is the one doer, one mover, one experiencer) has created for itself this play of individuality through its belief in its separate identity.

What does the mind come and say? It says ‘But if I just let go, then I will become the most irresponsible. Who will take care of my family?’ But that is exactly the opposite of what is being said because even that implies a sense of individual control. What is meant to move will continue to move. It is just that you will not interpret it, not consider it to be the movement of an individual identity which we consider ourself to be. You will find that all of this…, what did the Sage [Ashtavakra] say? ‘All of this is the movement of the arc of the Universe. I am the shoreless ocean in which this movement happens but I remain untouched.’ So beautiful.

This is going to be (or is already) is your own discovery. When Maharaj [Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj] says, when Bhagavan [Sri Ramana Maharishi] says, when Guruji [Sri Mooji] says that you are beyond this play, their constant invitation, their constant prodding, is for us to transcend this.

Transcend what? The idea that there is an ego here. Transcend our ego. Ego means what?

The sense that there must be a separate entity here. But actually, no separation has ever happened. No separation has ever happened in Reality. It is just a pretense, a façade.

Some of you are new, so I can share my favorite metaphor or examples that we use in Satsang to make the human conditioning little more clear. Suppose that you were born in a world that had no mirrors. You could not check on your shape or size or form. Now, everyone is telling you that you are a cat. Everyone told you, you are a cat. But you have no mirror to check this. Not only everyone but also you have a voice which constantly is confirming this that you are a cat. And what is it saying? ‘To be happy, you need the next bowl of milk’.

So, what is it that is said? The next bowl of milk usually has been:

Get a good education then you will be happy!

Have a healthy body then you will be happy!

Find a good life partner then you will be happy!

Make enough money then you will be happy!

But has the cat been satisfied with any of this? It’s been moving from bowl to bowl to bowl, back and forth in various ways, trying to find this eternal bowl of milk.

Then somebody comes and says ‘Enlightenment, freedom, will be your final bowl of milk. Never ending nectar, amrit. Not bowl of milk, a bowl of amrit. It is Enlightenment!’

So, the cat says ‘Yes! This is what I want. I have seen that none of these give me happiness which is stable, which is unchanging, so I will go for Freedom. I have been told in this world the only way to always be happy is to find this bowl of milk called Enlightenment’.

Then we start looking for that Master or teacher who can show us the way to Enlightenment. You see? Then you meet such a Master (if you are lucky, you meet such a Master) who can say ‘You come for a bowl of milk but I have don’t have a bowl of milk, but what do I have? What I do have is a mirror in which you will see yourselves. And you will not find a cat that is chasing all of these things. You will find yourself to be that which beyond any cat and beyond any bowl of milk’.

So, then the mirror is shown. But the ‘cat-conditioning’ can seem to be so strong that even though we see for ourselves in a credible mirror…, (actually it is our own insight) …, when we do the inquiry, we are checking who we are: ‘Who Am I?’. Bhagavan’s [Sri Ramana Maharshi’s] constant pointing, isn’t it? ‘Who Am I?’ …, nobody has found a cat!

Nobody has come and said that ‘I looked within and I actually found a person sitting there’. Nobody has said. So, nobody has found this ‘person’. And yet, even after this Self-recognition, how is it that we can continue to believe ourself to be a cat?

See, this is the power of condition, this is the momentum of conditioning. That is why Bhagavan said that even after the fan has been turned off, it continues to spin for a while, till it comes to a stop.

So, the momentum of our conditioning carries us, continues to sell us the story that ‘I am an individual entity. ‘You must chase this, you must chase that and that’s how freedom will come’. And it is the seeker identity itself that wants some satisfaction in the form of that unending nectar.

Till I have Ananda, till then I will not believe is Sat and Chit’. Sat Chit Ananda. What does it mean? We keep looking for the ‘Bliss’ part of it and then the ‘Truth’ and ‘Being’ part of it are not valued. We feel that ‘Only after I have this bliss will I confirm that I came to This’.

But what do you find? If you just allow yourself to just Be (picking up no conditioning) where will Ananda go? It has to come.

If you come to the Truth, if you make discovery that you are the Self; the unchanging, the Witness of all, the direct discovery of the non-phenomenal, non-objective Truth of what you are:

Where will bliss go?

Where will love go?

Where will peace go?

All of these are for You to taste. They are in service to You. God does not have to run after them. As long as we consider our Self to be something limited, something other than the Self, till then all this will seem like illusory, elusive things that we are tasting that come and go. Because what is it about this Universe? Everything comes and goes. If we are finding something objective in this Universe, that also will come and go.

Use this opportunity to find that which does not come and go. It is completely possible.

[Silence]

If you feel like you are stuck, that you are not coming to this recognition, I’m always happy to engage, to inquire together, to look at this. If you feel you are stuck with the recognition, I’m always happy to help. If you feel like the recognition is clear but it is this momentum of past conditioning which brings you to this pretense again and again, the best thing is Satsang. Come to Satsang. Immerse yourself in the Presence of Satsang. You will find that the mind will lose its convincing ability, its power to tell you that you are something small.

If there are some thoughts which you find the stickiest, pull them into the inquiry. Find out who they are referring too? Including thoughts about Freedom, about being ‘the seeker’. Pull them into your inquiry. Ask yourself: ‘Who is here that is not free? Who is the bound one?’

[Silence]

These thoughts will become laughable. I said that and I got reminded that some in the Sangha are sending me reports that they are just laughing, laughing. These thoughts are coming and they are just laughing. They are finding all of this play so humorous, so funny. Not in a derisive sort of way. But sometimes we look at these which had so much power in the past and we find that they are laughable now.

All of us have that. Like for a child, suppose you were seven years old. You might have had a thought of desire that you wanted a car or some Lego set or something and it can feel like that is the most important thing in our life. Our life depends on having a skate board (or something like that). It can feel like that, isn’t it? Then when you out grow them, you’ll find those thoughts laughable; how I thought that owning a skate board was the most important thing in my life. [Chuckles] So, just like that. As you are coming to the recognition of what you truly Are then these measly thoughts about some objects will seem like laughable. ‘How did I ever believe that having an object could bring eternal happiness to me?’ [Chuckles] It becomes laughable in that way. Why? Because we out grow them. You see yourself to be beyond them. You have outgrown the seven-year-old child who had different form of desires.

In the same way, you will outgrow the ego, which has claimed to tell you what you need for happiness. Yet, in all our chasing, we have not found this stable, unchanging happiness. So, we will outgrow it and see that ‘It is not in these things that I will find it, I will find it in my Self’.

~ ~ ~

Reading from the Ashtavakra Gita, Translation by Bart Marshall

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

[8.2] Ashtavakra said: “When the mind does not desire or grieve, accept or reject, become pleased or displeased, liberation is at hand.”

So, when is liberation at hand? Some of these things, they’re pointing to something else but we don’t need to make it a misunderstanding. So, if you keep waiting for a time when the mind will come to this kind of state, then you will keep waiting forever. What is the pointing? The pointing is to Right Now. In this moment, you’re empty of conditions actually. You’re empty of all grievances and desires and what you accept or reject. So, liberation is at hand Right Now. Before you start to think about it you are empty of all of this. Every moment starts like this.

Can you imagine how cool this is…, that every moment you’re empty of all conditioning? It’s like all this burden has been taken away, naturally. So, in this moment, before you buy a thought about yourself, you’re empty of all of this story and conditioning and history; whatever.

Liberation is at hand now. Don’t expect the leopard to change its spots. Don’t expect the mind to change in some way. In this moment, are you not free of it?

Of course, the mind will come at any moment and try to sell you the next story. On the basis of that story, you picked up all the prior conditioning. But what about Right Now?

Don’t wait for the opposites of the mind to cease; don’t wait for the mind to stop. You stop. See what is true Now.

Who is it that is here?

Who are you?

[Silence]

This is the moment. You say ‘I want to come to the recognition of the Self. I want to use that moment completely’. Now I’m telling you that this is that moment.

If this was the moment of Truth, and you had only one choice, and the only choice you had was either to believe what the mind was telling you about yourself or to let it go (suppose you had this choice) …, what choice would you make?

Would you again be so concerned by phenomenal appearances that you leave this moment of Truth and buy into the story of the false; the cat which never was? [Silence]

Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi had said that there is no difference between God, Guru and Self. So, if the Master is telling you that it is completely possible, are you still going to follow what the ego is saying, what the mind is saying? Bhagavan had said ‘If you feel like you have a choice, then your only choice is whether to go along with this stream of thoughts or not. And one day you will recognize that this choice was only Grace’. But as long as it feels like you have some choice, in anything at all, make this holy choice.

~ ~ ~

Reading from the Ashtavakra Gita, Translation by Bart Marshall

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

Chapter 8: Bondage and Liberation. [8.1] Ashtavakra said: “When the mind desires or grieves things, accepts or rejects things, is pleased or displeased by things– this is bondage.”

Just be open and gently listen. “When the mind desires or grieves things, accepts or rejects things, is pleased or displeased by things– this is bondage.” So, when we buy into the story of the mind, including an idea of what enlightenment should be, then we create a limited standpoint, a limited perspective about ourselves. So, be without a reference point or position from a mental standpoint. It’s completely possible. You might feel like it’s a bit unsteady or wobbly for a bit, a bit shaky.

Another example is that suppose you were told from a very young age that to walk, you have to use crutches. And what are the crutches you have to use? The crutches are our thoughts. You’re told that to live, or to live well, you need these crutches as props. So, then you can feel like, every few years ‘Yes, yes, every few years I will upgrade my crutches to better crutches’ …, improve my thoughts, make them more pure, make them better in some way. Then I’ll continue to live very nicely on the basis of my crutches’. Then you run across one that says ‘Why do you use these crutches?’ And you say ‘Because, without that, I can’t live’. Somebody says ‘Are you willing to experiment with that? Are you willing to check whether it is possible for life to continue in a very nice way without these crutches? Are you open to that?’ Very few. Because we’ve constantly been told that ‘Without these crutches, you are finished; life will be finished, this possibility is gone. You will not be able to get out of bed’ we have been told.

So, you come across someone through Grace who tells you ‘Come on, come on. Hold my hand and leave these crutches for 3 seconds. See what happens’. … ‘How does it feel to you?’ … ‘It feels fine’. In fact, you start to float a little bit. Not only are you walking, you actually start to feel good. You start to float. Then the mind comes and says ‘It is only because he is holding your hand’. This is what I hear every day. ‘Only because now I am in satsang, I’m fine, I’m able to let go of my thoughts. But the minute I leave satsang…’  It can feel like that. It can feel like the Presence of the Master has to be there for us to drop our crutches. ‘Ready to try yet?’ …  ‘Okay, we’ll leave it some more time. Let’s play like this for a while, where I’m holding your hand and you’ll see that there’s no trouble in walking’. But fear can come. As you start to float a bit, you find your feet on unsteady ground; you don’t feel like your feet are steady. So, it might feel like you’re falling. Actually, you’re learning to fly. Letting go of these crutches. And then you find that you no longer live as if you are limited by these limited ideas about YourSelf. You find that only God is living as God. You find only God everywhere. In this body, God. In this world, God. In everything that there is, God. God is taking care of Himself or Herself, the way He or She wants to.

So, can we leave the crutches of our thoughts? And are we willing to experience the fear? Because some fear will come. It might feel like a fear of death, it might feel like a fear of dissolution; it might feel like ‘Everything substantial that I’ve held onto is floating away’.

I’m telling you that it is worth it. It’s completely worth it. No crutch is worth your time anymore. If you had to play that way, it is fine. Play that way. But now I want to tell all of you: Let go. Nothing will happen to your life. (Or let me put it another way): Only that which is auspiciousness will happen to your life.

Nobody has come to the discovery of the Self and said ‘No, no, no. I don’t want this. Give me the ego back!’ [Chuckles] Nobody has said ‘Okay, I no longer want this Self-realization. Please, I would rather have a million dollars instead’ or something. Nobody has said this. Otherwise, at least a few of the Sages over the centuries would have said ‘Okay, okay, take this back. Give me my money or give me the best relationships’. Nobody has said this.

In our history, in our spirituality, there are many examples. There is Nachiketa who wants to find the immortal truth; that which is beyond death. Then the Lord of death himself comes and says ‘But no. I will give you the best life, I will give you the most money, you will have the best relationships; the best you can think of’. But Nachiketa stayed with this question ‘What is it that is beyond death? Can you show me that? Because whatever else you give me will come and go. Can you give me something which will not come and go?’ It is only this Self. That is why no Self-realized one has said ‘It is a mistake. I spent so many years looking and I came to this discovery and it was ‘blah!’. [Chuckles] Nobody has said this.
Sometimes, in our initial recognition, the mind can come and paint an initial picture of it and say ‘But that was it?! That was nothing!’ But it is not ‘nothing’ in that way. That’s why I keep stressing this point, that it is no-thing, but it is so full of Everything. You cannot find YourSelf yearning, longing, thirsting for some other phenomena after truly discovering YourSelf.

~ ~ ~

Reading from the Ashtavakra Gita, Translation by Bart Marshall

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

[7.3] Janaka said: “In me, the shoreless ocean, the universe is imagined. I am still and formless. In this alone I abide.”

[7.4] Janaka said: “The Self is not in objects, nor are objects in the pure and infinite Self. The Self is tranquil, free of attachment and desire. In this alone I abide.”

Now, if you were just an object, then you would be subject to change. Then I would understand why you would want another object. If I’m an object, then I’d want to enhance myself. Why? There are other objects, other things, which could add to ‘this’. If I were a glass, I would not mind a nice coaster. [Chuckles] So, because we are considering ourself to be this objective entity, then we have also believed that I can desire something, want something, to make myself complete; happier, better, stronger, whatever. So, this illusion of enhancement is based on the feeling that ‘I am an object’.

Now, the Sage is saying that ‘You are not an object’. In the world of objects, you will not find YourSelf. And when I say ‘objects’ we must include every phenomenal appearance. Because many will feel like ‘Yes, yes, when I find bliss then that is the discovery of the Self’ …, but actually from the perspective of the Truth, even bliss is an object. It’s phenomenal; that which is coming and going is objective.

So, again, don’t look at a phenomenal benchmark for your discovery. All the clues are there. Find out what witnesses all objects and find out whether that itself is an object. Is that itself an appearance? Does it have a quality, an attribute?

What is an object? At least one attribute it needs to have; some form, some shape, some color, some feeling, some taste. All these are objects; they have a quality.

The primal witnessing, does that have a quality? You that is perceiving all objects, what perceives this? What is aware of this? Does that have a quality?

That’s why I said that this will be your direct insight; but unlike all other insight, this insight will not be a phenomenal discovery. So, when I say that ‘Is there a computer on the table?’ …  Is there a computer on the table?

Sangha: Yes.

Ananta: How did you do this process of answering ‘Yes’?

Sangha: Saw it.

Ananta: You perceived an object and saw that, yes, this conforms to the shape of a computer and said ‘Yes’. Is there a green apple on the table? [No.] Why do you say ‘No’? Because you can’t see an object like that.

But Are you aware now?

Sangha: Yes.

Ananta: What did you see? [Silence] This one…, you did not see anything in that way. And yet, the answer is ‘Yes’. It is not even coming from conceptual knowledge. It is our direct discovery now: I am aware.

So, this is what Ashtavakra calls the Witnessing (the Witness) …, and is what we usually call Awareness …, or the Self.

[Silence]

Am I aware now?

This Awareness is a non-phenomenal discovery….,

beyond all things which are objects, beyond all qualities.

[Silence]

What is aware of Awareness Itself?

Awareness alone.

[Silence]

So, now, does it match the clues?

What is it that witnesses all things?

You see that it is this Awareness, unchanging.

What is it that is unchanging? This.

Everything that is perceived is subject to change;

Time and space, name and form.

Is it your direct insight, your direct discovery? Yes.

I don’t have to refer to a concept to See that this witnessing is Here,

This Awareness is Here.

But (unlike the green apple and the computer), did you perceive something like a phenomenal object? No.

[Silence]

So, he said, “The Self is not in objects, nor are objects in the pure and infinite Self.” What does this mean? It means that in this (the Absolute) Awareness, it is beyond any objective experience.

And yet, within Itself actually, arises the sense I Am, I exist, Consciousness.

[True] I – (which is the Self) then gives birth to I Am (which is Consciousness) and then when you are conscious (you exist) then this play of the world starts and plays and all the objects appear and disappear.

What happened to That Awareness in which all of this came? Nothing happened. So, although everything is the Self, the Source of everything is greater than that which manifests.

“…nor are objects in the pure and infinite Self.” Because the Source remains untouched. It is not an object.

~ ~ ~

Reading from the Ashtavakra Gita, Translation by Bart Marshall

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

[7.2] Janaka said: “In me, the shoreless ocean, let the waves of the universe rise and fall as they will. I am neither enhanced nor diminished.” [Also reads verse 7.3 but remains on 7.2 here]

“In me, the shoreless ocean, let the waves of the universe rise and fall as they will. I am neither enhanced nor diminished.” This is a very, very important pointer. Because even after satsang, many of us keep looking for some phenomenal change. ‘Something should happen.  …  Oh, if I recognized the Self, where is my halo?’ [Chuckles] Anything. ‘Why do I still get angry?’ These kinds of things can come. So, what is the Sage saying? That the waves, the movement of the rising and falling within this universe happen in Me. “I am neither enhanced nor diminished.”

So, no space for either pride or guilt. Because we can take on phenomenal things and become very pride-full about them or we can become very guilty about them. So, this; we See that all of this is one movement of Consciousness that is moving with Its own Supreme Intelligence. That which runs time and space, gravity, electricity all of these. It’s the Supreme Intelligence, isn’t it? So, that is really Its job; it is running this world. But I, which is the witness of this world, am neither enhanced nor diminished by it. Very, very subtle also. Because we say that ‘From the Absolute, the apparent universe appears’. So, the Absolute is like the potential of the appearance. But unlike potential and manifestation, it is not that something happens to the potential or the manifestation. So, the [a Hindi phrase; inaudible] stays complete in spite of the complete universe coming from within It. So, the emergence…, with the appearance of your Consciousness, this world appears; this universe itself is also unlimited. But That from which this unlimited arises continues to remains untouched. This is the discovery; in which the rising and the falling of the universe takes place with Its own ways that ‘I remain untouched, neither enhanced nor diminished’.

Now, notice all the judgments that we make about ourself on the basis of this phenomenal movement. Something happens, some interaction or something happens in life. Four main things, isn’t it? Four main things happen in our life. What is it? The health of our body, the state of our relationships, the security/money/work and ultimately, the quest for freedom or the thirst for liberation, the search for some meaning. These are the four things that usually bother humanity. So, within this, based on relationship, based on money, based on body, based on how we feel we’re doing as a seeker, the one who is searching for the truth, we make judgments about ourself.

But what is Sage saying? “I am neither enhanced nor diminished” no matter what is the movement of the universe. So, in hearing these words, then we take it as a pointer to let the universe be as it is; including the play of your own body as part of this universe. The movie is running on its own; the projector is there, the screen is there, all of that light and sound is there. Consciousness is playing this movie. Does it seem like Consciousness Itself is straining, is making an effort as if it is just one of the characters in the movie? It is playing as if it is a limited entity, a limited identity in this play.

It goes from being a far-out concept into being our own living discovery. All it needs is a sliver of openness. A sliver of openness. A sliver which can let the Satguru in the door. That’s all that’s needed to get in…, one foot in the door. If that space is not there, then all this could seem like the most difficult, most abstract scripture; Ashtavakra [Gita].

Funny enough, there have been a few swami-ji’s that I’ve spoken to and they say ‘Ashtavakra. Not many will get it’. Because it can seem like it is the most difficult. Who can relate to these words? “I am the shoreless ocean in which the ark of the universe comes and goes” but I remain untouched.

So, for those who have been studying Vedanta for a long time, it can seem like this is very complicated. But I’m giving you the cheat code. Have a little bit of openness, follow these clues and it’s like nothing; it’s straight-forward. It’s like the Sage is speaking from your own experience. It must become like that. The point of satsang is that all these clues are pointing you to the direct truth. It must become…, it must seem like ‘Yes, this could be My voice because this is exactly what I am discovering for MySelf’.

Without any pretense, without any proclamation, just: What is it that you’re finding about YourSelf?

Just with a sliver of openness, we can follow these clues and let the mind just come and go for a little bit of time. It will be very straight-forward.

Many times, in the past, Ashtavakra would not be shared with many. It was secret. After many years of sadhana and seva and being in an ashram, then you would be called into a secret room and told ‘These are the words of the Sage Ashtavakra’. But as time is going along, because our life also seems to be more complex, maybe it is also brought forth in a more accessible, approachable way now.

If there is something like a pre-requisite, I would say there is one: (When I say openness…) Do you feel like you cannot dance to the tunes of the mind for at least a few moments? Because the mind will say a lot of things, especially when it’s faced with this direct knowledge. So, can we not pick up a notion about ourself for just a few moments? Do we have that much openness, that much willingness at least? Because if it is not there, then these words can also add to the confusion. The mind will mix this up with already-existent notions and it can seem like the world became even more complex.

That is why I keep saying in satsang: Go with your insight and not with your inferences, judgments, conclusions. Keep all of these aside for some time, especially when you are checking about your Reality, what is it that You Are. Because the mind’s supremacy is threatened, this is the time when the mind will come and resist in every possible way. By the Grace of the Master, do we have that much openness that we can allow this mind to come and go for a few moments without picking up the notion of a limited or an individual ‘me’?

If this much is present, this discovery (which is what all of us are truly longing for because we are in satsang) can easily, with great simplicity, be discovered. Even if it is for ‘one in a million’ then we are that ‘one in a million’. Because if it is for a rare number of people, then we are those.

Like Guruji [Mooji] says, “Be the cow that jumped over the moon.” You are here, already. Already you are here. And since you continue to be here, there must be some resonance, some openness for this. Trust this that brought you here in satsang. [Silence] Soon your suffering will become unreal. Freedom will become natural.

~ ~ ~

Reading from the Ashtavakra Gita, Translation by Bart Marshall

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

So, we’ll continue to look at the Ashtavakra Gita. We’ve actually reached Chapter 7 “The Nature of Self-Realization.” Janaka is speaking. In the first verse, he says…

[7.1] “In me, the shoreless ocean, the ark of universe drifts here and there on the winds of its nature. I am not impatient.”

What does it mean?  “…the ark of universe drifts here and there on the winds of its nature.” What is the nature of this universe? Subject to change, subject to time and space, not constant. This appearance is constantly changing. Nothing is stable here. He says “In me, the shoreless ocean…” So, already he’s saying that the universe’s nature is constantly changing; therefore, not only am I the shoreless ocean (which is unlimited) but also, I am the unchanging.

The clues, you see? Again and again, the same clues are given to us by Ashtavakra. Can we find the witness of this universe? Can these become our [direct experience]? Often what happens is that when we read a scripture like Ashtavakra [Gita] it can seem like it’s too far out because the words seem so big. How do I (who have considered myself to be a limited entity with birth and death and family and relationships and work and all of this) …, how can I relate to these words: ‘In me, the shoreless ocean, the ark of universe’ and its nature of changing? Can this be true about I? About you? Can these become your words? So, although it is simple, in phenomenal terms this task is huge! For the mind, it can seem impossible. The mind can come with strong resistance. Especially if you’re new to satsang, the mind can come and say ‘But this is too abstract, this is too difficult; I’m new to this’. It can say like that. But this is your truth. If Ashtavakra is a Sage who deserves our reverence, then the words he is speaking must be pointing to the direct truth of the Self…, and the Self is You. So, it is this discovery, this realization, that we are looking for.

Again and again, in the first 6 chapters, we’ve looked at the same clues. How to find this Self? Because it can seem like we lost it. So, we’re looking for Self-realization, Self-recognition; how do I find this Self? So, what are the clues. Let’s quickly go over them again.

Can we find that which witnesses all things? Can you find that which is the witness of all things? And what is the nature of that? Does it have an attribute? Does it have a shape? Does it have a size?

Now, what will happen is some answers will come from the mind, some visuals might come from the mind, but find out who witnesses even that? What is that witness?

Ashtavakra has said, “I am the one solitary witness of all these is.” Now, if this is true, it must be true NOW. Who is it that is aware of this changing universe? And be careful not to make a distinction between the universe and the body; the body is also an appearance contained within this universe. Include that as well. Include your thought, include your imaginations, memories. Include your emotions, sensations, pain, pleasure. What witnesses all this? And, that you exist right now; what is aware of this? Include everything in the appearance.

That which witnesses…, can That Itself be perceived? [Silence] This is the first clue.

Second clue is that this discovery must be of that which is unchanging. Because something here is tired of the changing. Everything is constantly changing and we’re looking for a sense of stability; we’re looking for that which remains unchanged. Because as we’ve defined Reality, this is it, isn’t it? The Real must be that which remains unchanging; the Truth must be that which remains unchanging. So, this Self must also be beyond change.

[Silence]

What is the third clue? The third clue is that it must be our direct insight. It must not be something we have learned, something we have read, something that we just have a concept of or imagination of. It must be our direct insight. But unlike any other insight, this is the recognition which is not phenomenal. This can sound a bit confusing.

If we’re looking for a blue light and you see this blue light, you say ‘Yes, I recognize it, I found it’. You look to see if you find something that is pink and has the shape of an elephant. But in this case, you are not going to find something objective.

Does the witness have an attribute?

Does the Self have a quality?

So, this recognition will be your only non-phenomenal recognition; beyond even space. If you can find something which is beyond time and space, then you are coming to the discovery of this “shoreless ocean” which has no beginning or end, has no birth or death.

All of these are our clues to Self-discovery. No concept, no visual can match this. Consciousness Itself comes to this beautiful discovery, using the pointers, using the clues which are provided in satsang. That’s why I said that this time, as we start the Ashtavakra [Gita] we’re not just going to interpret the words, not going to just make the words more accessible, but also experience the taste of what the Sage is talking about. Use what’s he’s saying as pointers to taste the Reality of what we Are.

~ ~ ~

Reading from the Ashtavakra Gita, Translation by Bart Marshall

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

Q: So, when we talk about this perception, you know, I read something where Guruji [Mooji] is saying that ‘If something is lost, are you not there? And when something is found are you not there?’ So, when we talk about this perception, even in perception isn’t there this knowingness? I mean, there is a knowingness in this perception; otherwise where is perception? What would I call perception? And this knowing…, like when we stay as that solitary witness, there is no additional identity of being a person or anything like that. There is just this pure knowingness [pause] of pure knowingness; like the deep sleep knowingness. But isn’t this same knowingness permeating everything…, I mean all my identities even when they come and go?

A: Yes. I don’t feel like there is a difficulty there. This Knowingness (with a capital ‘K’) this Awareness, this Self…, everything comes from that, everything is made up of that, therefore everything is That only. There is no escaping Knowingness, there is no escaping Awareness.

Q: I had this misconception actually, where I felt that when this Beingness came or when the person came, identity came that it had a different way of knowing. But then when I looked, there is no different knowing, there is only Awareness which can Know; nothing other than it which can know anything. You know what I mean?

A: Yes, that’s why in the beginning of the sessions (you were away, but maybe you can have a look at the recording of the first Ashtavakra session) we looked at this ‘knowing’ itself, what it can mean, you see. Is it a perceptual knowing? Is it a conceptual knowing? Is it a sensational knowing, emotional knowing? Where is it that all these seemingly-types of knowingness come from? What does it mean to actually know? And why is it that Janaka is asking for true Knowledge (knowledge with a capital K). Because presumably, everything that could be known perceptually or intellectually or sensationally, he would have known already.

Q: That is true.

A: What is this Knowing?

Q: No, but the ‘he’…, the ‘he’ that who would have known all this (intellectually or conceptually) at the root of all this there has to be Awareness, right? Because without that Awareness, where would there be an identity to even begin with?

A: That’s exactly what I’m saying.

Q: Yeah.

A: Nothing is possible…, can you say anything unless there is a Knowingness? Can we experience anything without the Knowingness? This Knowingness Itself is a different word for Awareness. But not a mental knowing, not a perceptual knowing. That which Knows even all of this; and yet all of this is made up of only That alone…, because only the Self is.

Q: So, when this discovery is made that this identity which I play with (as in my waking state which goes away in my sleep) it’s this Absolute Knowingness which is making this discovery? You know what I mean? I mean, who is making it? I’m making it.

A: I know. Okay, let’s look at this very closely. Now, as we find this, the question is who is finding this? Did Knowingness forget Itself? Or did Knowingness (also within its non-phenomenal functioning as the Absolute) play this game of forgetting and remembering? No, it’s not possible, Awareness did not forget itself, Awareness did not delude itself. This Knowingness, in its non-phenomenal aspect, never played this game because it is non- phenomenal. No game is possible; no quality, no attribute (including forgetfulness or recognition) is possible there.

So, if it is not possible there, then who is making this discovery? Because on the other side, we say that ‘the person never existed’. It is impossible for Awareness because it is non- phenomenal; it is impossible for ‘person’ because no person has ever existed. Then, what is playing this game of delusion identity? …, and then dropping delusion and identity and coming to the Truth?

This is Its dynamic aspect called Consciousness.

All of this is God’s play. God playing as if it is [your name] and God playing as if it is God and God playing as if it is coming to the recognition that it is even beyond God. All of this leaving and recognition is the play of Consciousness.

Therefore, all of satsang is to bring us to our unassociated Being. You see? Being …, not unassociated Seeing (which is a capital ‘S’ Seeing) …, not unassociated Awareness.

Awareness always is unassociated. That is Its functioning, Its conscious aspect, It’s dynamic aspect, as Consciousness which takes on identity using belief and then drops identity by recognizing its own Source.

Consciousness, for a long time, It keeps looking at Its children, Its own creation, and tries to look for Itself in them. ‘What am I made up of?’ It tries to find objects in the world, It tries to find everything phenomenal and say ‘Am I made up of that? Can I find my source?’ Then ultimately It comes to Seeing that ‘I cannot find my source in this. I can only come to the true insight of my Source when I look at That which is aware even of existence’.

[Silence]

What is it that is aware even of this existence?

So, who is making this discovery? Consciousness itself. What is it discovering? Something that itself is made up of, Its own Source…, looking at Its own Source. It’s like the finger finally turning its attention and looking at the hand. So far, it was only looking at its own play, outwardly. So, the inquiry ‘Who am I?’ is bringing us to this recognition. ‘Us’ means those aspects of Consciousness which are playing in this way; Consciousness coming to the recognition of Its own Source.

We come to this absolutely unchanging Truth …, untouched by this play of body mind, untouched by this play of states, all these that come and go. We’re recognizing the Source. But the Source never forgot Itself. The Awareness remains untouched, unchanged. That’s why there is really nothing to do, nothing to fix, nothing to change. It’s just a recognition …, which Consciousness Itself is making through all its apparent aspects.

‘All of its apparent aspects’ means that this one aspect, dynamic aspect, called Consciousness which is playing as a multitude of apparent aspects.