BOOKS BY ANANTA Welcome to Satsang with Ananta

So, we continue with our exploration of the Ashtavakra Gita and we are looking at Chapter 6.

[Chapter 6: The Higher Knowledge]

[6.1] Janaka said, “I am infinite space; the universe is a jar. This I know. No need to renounce, accept or destroy.”

Just playfully, for a moment, presume that this is true: That you are the infinite space; not even this space but the space in which this space arises. We can suppose, at least?

Now, look again. Using the clues, using all the tips we’ve heard in Satsang, find this Self. How to find it? Look for That which is the witness of all things.

If some ideas are coming in response to the question ‘Who witnesses everything?’ look at the witness even of these ideas. Don’t buy into any concept (for just a little while) and stay with your experience of what you find. We play with ideas all the time. Just for a little while, stay with just your insight with what you find.

Stay with That which witnesses everything that is phenomenal; everything that is changing.

Who witnesses both space and the objects within space?

[Silence]

If the answer is something that you know already, then forget about it. Look fresh! Because the Truth is what? It is unchanging (the second clue). The first [clue] is that which witnesses everything, which is aware of everything. The second [clue] is that it is unchanging. So, if it is unchanging, it must be the same now. We don’t need to refer to any past idea of this. This is what I mean by the third clue, which is that it must be your direct insight…., what you find for Yourself as the Truth about YourSelf.

If you’re having great spiritual experiences, forget about it. Find out who witnesses even that. You’re not clamoring for any experiences now. You’re going to the Source of all experiencing.

[Silence]

Now, from this unchanging Self, look at your dynamic aspect or phenomenal aspect; that which is moving, that which is changing. And notice that there is nothing here in the phenomenal play that can affect the Self …, (as you are discovering). The unchanging remains untouched by whatever the movement might be.

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

[6.3] Janaka said, “I am mother-of–pearl; the universe is the illusion of silver. This I know. No need to renounce, accept or destroy.”

[6.4] Janaka said, “I am in all Beings; all Beings are in me. This I know. No need to renounce, accept or destroy.”

“I am in all Beings; all Beings are in me. This I know. No need to renounce, accept or destroy.”

The ‘accept’ part is also very beautiful because I see many who are struggling to feel like everyone is them; like you heard this in satsang, and it is Advaita after all, so it can feel like ‘Advaita’. So, when this one is being rude or this one is being a certain way, we’re forcing ourself…, ‘Oh, that is also me!’ [Chuckles] But it’s not meant to work like that.

When you discover YourSelf to be That in which this entire play is happening, then you will see that all of it is You. It doesn’t have to be in this outward way. For some it will happen naturally; it is fine. It is good. But don’t pick up this ‘That I must be one with everyone’ in this way. Because even in that one, your concept about yourself is still limited. The one that is trying to be one with everyone else already feels like it is different than everyone else; and in the trying to be one with everyone else, it is reinforcing that idea of individual limitation, individual ego.

Therefore, use Bhagavan’s [Ramana Maharshi] tool, use Bhagavan’s words, just to find out who you Are. Find out who you Are. And he has given so many clues to verify your answer. He has given and Ashtavakra has given; and so many great Sages have told us. So, nothing is missing. Just follow with the innocence of a child. Ask yourself: Who is it that I am?

And if there’s still some doubt, then use the pointings, use the clues, use the tips that all the great Sages have given.

Guruji [Mooji] has given this very beautiful one: Can the perceiver be perceived?

The mind can say ‘What is the advantage of this discovery?’ Why can’t I just understand something conceptually and then if my question goes away, fine. What is the advantage? I’ve seen that, in this life, it’s only the recognition of the Self which made this tasting of this Divine Presence so palpable. The taste of Being, the taste of God, the taste of Consciousness, I Am that I Am did not come as a result of some conceptual answers.

[Silence]

~ ~ ~

Reading from the Ashtavakra Gita, Translation by Bart Marshall

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

So, we start chapter 3 today. The chapter is called “Test of Self-Realization.”

What happened so far? The story so far is that Janaka asked Ashtavakra for help to discover himself, to find the Self. Then, Ashtavakra spoke for the first chapter and then Janaka started speaking from that discovery, as the Self. The beautiful second chapter was all about Janaka sharing his discovery. And what the Master will do is not just take your initial word for it because they know, the Masters know, that [inaudible] can come after that, so they keep poking you a bit, prodding you again. So, the “Test of Self Realization” is Ashtavakra saying:

[3.1] “Having realized yourself as One, being serene and indestructible, why do you desire wealth?”

Now, Janaka didn’t say he desired wealth but the question came because he was the king. So, Ashtavakra was prodding to see if there’s some attachment still that remains to the wealth or the kingdom.

[3.2] “Just as imagining silver in mother-of-pearl, causes greed to arise, so does ignorance of Self cause desire for illusion.”

We discussed all this in great detail in the past so I won’t elaborate.

[3.3] “Having realized yourself as That in which the waves of the world rise and fall, why do you run around in turmoil?”

[3.4]” Having realized yourself as pure Awareness, as beautiful beyond description, how can you remain a slave to lust?”

The key point there is ‘a slave to lust’. He’s not saying that lust should not arise. Only don’t be a slave to it.

[3.5] “It is strange that in a sage who has realized Self in All and All in Self this sense of ownership should continue.”

Ashtavakra is really pointing with all different ways. So, he’s talked about wealth, desire for illusion, running around in turmoil, all about doership/kingly duties, not being a slave to lust, and a sense of ownership, a sense that something belongs to me or something is mine; this ‘me/mine’…, this attachment that we’ve often spoken about.

[3.6] “Strange that one abiding in the Absolute, intent on freedom, should be vulnerable to lust and weakened by amorous pastimes.”

[3.7] “Strange that knowing lust as an enemy of knowledge, one so weak and nearing death should still crave sensual pleasure.”

[3.8] “Strange that one who is unattached to the things of this world and the next, who can discriminate between the transient and the timeless, who yearns for freedom, should yet fear the dissolution of the body.”

So, everything; now death. “Strange that one who is unattached to the things of this world and the next, who can discriminate between the transient and the timeless, who yearns for freedom, should yet fear the dissolution of the body.”

Now, this is not something which is rare; this fear of death. Even for those who have been in satsang, who sees themselves beyond this worldly play, this fear can be such a strong conditioning. This fear can be such a strong conditioning.

I saw, coincidentally, that (someone who was here today) she told me that this fear of death is a very strong feeling; this sense of death. She once said to me ‘At least if I know I’m the Self, at least I know it continues; there is no end’. But even this cannot be used as a crutch in that way. Of course, you’re discovering YourSelf to be That which is beyond time and space, but you’re also finding YourSelf to be That which is prior to all attributes. [Silence]

Is that one concerned about even life?

Is the play of existence something that makes a real difference to the Self?

[Silence]

Finding the Self, you See YourSelf to be beyond life and death, beyond birth and death.

You are the unborn, the undying.

[Silence]

Many times, it is a manifestation of this fear which comes which can seem to be an obstacle to our remaining empty of concepts. Many of you feel like this; you might not put it in this way, you might not express it in this way, but when you don’t have a concept about yourself, it can feel like something very shaky; as if you’re dying. And the mind will immediately come and say ‘No, no, no, don’t go there; that is trouble’. And the Master is saying ‘Stay there…., and See if that is really trouble. Or if it is just the mind saying it is trouble’.

What is that primal drive to pick up a belief about ourselves …, to make a position about yourself? [Silence] It is an escape from this fear of dissolution.

[Silence]

Many have actually come to this point and in the play, returned. In the play, returned when they find that it is relentless, our looking for the Self and staying Here. They find that really there is no room for belief in your personal identity. Then you discover that nothing you are finding here is making a spiritual person or an enlightened person out of you. You are asked to let go of all the concepts. You’re not becoming a good person. You’re definitely not becoming a better person. (Okay, in the play…) [Waves hand aside] [Chuckling] (Don’t pick up the opposite idea.)

I’m just saying that this is not personal. Beyond this ego. Beyond birth and death.

So, as you allow yourself to remain empty Right Now, notice the mind’s offers for you to take a particular position. The position is based on past, the position is based on future, the position is based on wanting something, the position is based on doing something, the position is based on some sensation that you might be experiencing. What is the doer for this ‘me’? Naturally, Right Now, there is no such ‘me’.

We can really slow it down:

Prior to the concept about yourself, what is it that You are?

~ ~ ~

Reading from the Ashtavakra Gita, Translation by Bart Marshall

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

Chapter 5 is “Four Ways to Dissolution.” This is very, very beautiful actually. “Four Ways to Dissolution.” Ashtavakra is speaking. So, this chapter is just 4 verses and each verse is a great clue. Is a great clue! So, use it like that. Take one, actually just take one (which ever one appeals to you after hearing them) and just marinate in that, contemplate that one.

[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.”

[5.2] “The universe arises from you like foam from the sea. Know yourself as One. Enter the peace of dissolution.”

And for this one, all that you have heard so far in Satsang will also help…, that actually you are just Seeing one appearance which is happening as one play. But we are breaking it into ‘many’ by using the mind, using concepts. You See that it is one appearance within your Self.

Where is the experience of sound?

Where is the experience of taste?

Where is the experience of sight?

Where is the experience of touch?

All of this is happening inside You.

Where is that You…, where this universe is experienced?

Is there anything outside of You?

(From your experience…)

So, let me repeat the verse. “The universe arises from you like foam from the sea. Know yourself as One. Enter the peace of dissolution.”

[5.3] “Like an imagined snake in a rope the universe appears to exist in the immaculate Self
but does not. Seeing this you know: There is nothing to dissolve.”

So, we talked about this in the past. We talked about the two ‘A’s. That which is the primal witness, this Self, is the capital ‘A’ of Awareness; That which Itself is not the small ‘a’ of appearance. So, in relation to Reality (which is unchanging, this capital ‘A’) there appears this realm of appearances. In that way, it is unreal because it is not unchanging, it is not constant. So, the third way is to look at the world as an appearance and stay with that which is not an appearance. Ask yourself: ‘Am I an appearance?’ So, use this kind of contemplation.

[5.4] “You are perfect, changeless, through misery and happiness, hope and despair, life and death. This is the state of dissolution.”

Now, many times what can happen is that as we are contemplating this, we are not able to relate to ourself as perfect and changeless. But in our life, we are blessed with the Holy Presence of the Satguru which is perfect and changeless. So, this is another way of saying (what one of my favorite pointers is to say) ‘Stay at my Master’s feet’ or ‘Keep your eyes at my Master’s Feet’. If you can find your own Presence in this way (That which is perfect and changeless) …, beautiful. Because the external embodiment of my Master is just in service to this Divine Presence. But if that seems confusing, we are blessed to have the Presence of the Master. We can stay with that. So, this is another way of saying ‘surrender’.

The Sage says, “You are perfect, changeless, through misery and happiness, hope and despair, life and death”. Everything is the Master’s problem. Whatever events might come, you surrender. Just let it come and go. And if it feels like it cannot be let go of, just say ‘It is God’s problem, Guru’s problem, Father’s problem’ (whatever terminology you want to use).

Don’t pick up anything as your conditioning.

Don’t pick up elation or suffering as your conditioning.

Remain as this surrendered one, who is saying ‘You are the one Doer, You are the One experiencer, my Lord, my Father, my Satguru’.

I feel like in the last two weeks we have provided so many tips, pointers and clues to this. The Sage said, “The mind is complex, let it go.” So, to let go of this complexity, you have gotten enough tips, tricks.

Using the words of Ashtavakra and Janaka, we have gotten some very clear insight into what it is, what the discovery is like, what is the outcome of this discovery, what life becomes like if this discovery happens. Is it possible for everyone to see this clearly or not? All this has been answered.

For some reason, it is sounding like a closing session. [Chuckles] I don’t know why (although we will continue next week). But for some reason, there is the feeling to say that even this much, what you have heard over the last two weeks, is more than enough if digested fully.

Chapter 4 is “The Glorification of Self-Realization.” So, this is the response from Janaka.

[4.1] Janaka said, “Surely one who knows Self, though he plays the game of life, differs greatly from the world’s bewildered burdened beasts.”

So, he’s trying to explain now. Because Ashtavakra poked him with all the possible identity of money and work and kingdom and all of these things. So, he’s trying to respond to him, sharing that he “who knows the Self, though he plays the game of life” …, that there’s a fundamental difference that happened. Not in actuality, but even in the play there’s a difference between the Sage and that expression of Consciousness which is still pretending to be a limited entity, a person. So, he’s comparing a Sage (the liberated one) to most of humanity who seem to be running about like “bewildered burdened beasts.” So, that which burdens us, which bewilders us, which makes beasts out of us [Chuckles] all of that is this sense of individuality, the sense of identity.

[4.2] “Truly the yogi feels no elation, though he abides in the exalted state yearned for by Indra and all the discontented gods.”

Now, don’t worry too much about what I’m going to say (especially if you can’t relate to it). I just want to say that, in this appearance, it is possible for anything to appear. You might, in the next moment, find yourself living in a realm which is completely un-identifiable with this one. You might be appearing as one of the gods, like Indra who he is talking about. Anything. Anything might appear. But that which is being spoken about here in the scripture is beyond any realm and any experience. So, it doesn’t matter whether you’re looking or whether you’re a god or whether you’re whatever it might be. This is beyond the realm of appearances, no matter how terrible or sublime that experience might be. So, this is all that he’s trying to say.

[4.3] Janaka said, “Surely one who knows That is not touched by virtue or vice, just as space is not touched by smoke, though it seems to be.”

[4.4] “Who can prevent the great soul, who knows the universe as Self, from living life as it comes?”

So, this is a great clue, because don’t expect that something should change in the events of life because of the discovery that you are making. Life can continue to be as it likes.

There’s a famous Zen saying: ‘Before enlightenment: chopping wood, fetching water. After enlightenment: chopping wood, fetching water’. But I like to add two words to that, which is: ‘Or not’. Even that can seem to become like a position; that it has to be that way. So, many can say ‘See, now before this happened to this one, he had a job, he had work, he had these things; now after that, he just left all of that. Therefore, he cannot be enlightened by Zen standards.

So, what they’re saying is that it is completely possible for the same-seemingly regular day-to-day life to continue and it is completely possible that it doesn’t, actually. Anything can happen. This is important because many times this can become a condition or position that ‘Okay, so then, now what? I found this witness, I found that it has no attributes, I found that it is unchanging. So, now what is supposed to happen to me? Where is my halo and where are my followers?’ [Chuckles] ‘Where is my satsang program?’

Q: [Jokingly] Then…, that’s the only career path. [Laughter in the room]

A: That’s the only career path. [Laughs] Actually, I was saying yesterday that many who come to this discovery go on with their regular life with never really outwardly sharing satsang in this way. But of course, their Presence blesses everyone around them. So, it is not necessary for it to play a certain way.

There’s a beautiful story (because it’s so relate-able). Once, someone in the sangha was sitting with Guruji in satsang. And he sat there and he felt on that day, really, it was just So clear. Guruji’s pointing was getting through, it was just becoming So, So apparent. (Okay, [Chuckles] this is not one of those stories where I say ‘a friend’ but it actually happened to me; it’s not like that.) [Laughs] Actually, a friend. He was sitting and he just felt So clear, So, So clear. He felt that it was done; what had to be done was done. So, then he started to wonder ‘So, now what’s going to happen?’ Satsang is getting over. He’s starting to wonder ‘Is it visible? Can people tell? Is there some radiance? Is it something that can be seen?’ So, then he gets outside the satsang hall (in Rishikesh). He comes out, and he sees this western lady coming to him with great intent! She’s coming to him with great intent so he’s wondering to himself ‘Ah! Has it started now? Can she see it?! Can she see it?!’ That feeling came. And then she said to him ‘Are you the auto-rickshaw guy?’ [Laughs. Laughter in the room] And he says, in that moment, all of this went … [Makes fast hand movement like throwing something onto the floor] That expectation of what should happen outwardly; this fell apart.

It’s a beautiful story because it shows us that even in the light of clear insight and recognition, the mind can come and play ‘So, what does this mean? Is it visible now? I wonder how my life will be now?’ [Jokingly]: ‘Where are my devotees?’ [Chuckles]

So, what did he [Janaka] say? “Who can prevent the great soul, who knows the universe as Self, from living life as it comes?”

[4.5] “Of the four kinds of beings, from Brahma to a blade of grass, only the sage can renounce aversion and desire.”

That’s what I was saying earlier. It doesn’t matter what form is appearing in life, what form you have, but only those who have seen beyond this phenomenal play can see that they are truly beyond this.

[4.6] “Rare is he who knows himself as One with no other ~ the Lord of the Universe. He acts as he knows and is never afraid.”

Guruji [Mooji] says something very beautiful; he says ‘Once you discover that this world is a dream, or if you discover that this world is a dream, it doesn’t give any advantage to the dream character’. There are no phenomenal benefits (at least outwardly) to this discovery. So, don’t expect anything out of this. Because anything that you expect can become a benchmark; like an expectation. ‘But only once, I’m no longer angry. Only once, I experienced only bliss. Only once…’ (whatever the ‘only once’ might be). That becomes a condition. You see? And what are we doing? We’re dropping all conditioning…, including the spiritual one.

The movie is best enjoyed when you know nothing about the next scene.

~ ~ ~

Reading from the Ashtavakra Gita, Translation by Bart Marshall

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

What is happening now? What is happening now is that you are coming to the recognition of YourSelf. How are you coming to the recognition of YourSelf? You’re using the 3 clues. You’re finding out:

What is it that witnesses all phenomena? What witnesses every phenomenal movement, everything with any attribute, any quality…., including that which witnesses the sense of space?  So, the Sage has said ‘the witness of all the elements AND the space in which the elements are included. This is the first clue; this witness.

What is the second clue? You are finding That which is unchanging; has no past nor future.

And third clue is that: It has to be your direct insight. Although, unlike most other experiences, you will not be able to call this a phenomenal experience. So, in a way, we can say it is your own real non-phenomenal experience.

[Silence]

As you are coming to this recognition of the Self, you will find that every belief is totally of the mind, which is the opposite of your own insight. It is saying that you are phenomenal object, you are full of change and you’re perceived through the power of perception just like any other object. This is what the mind is saying every time that you hear the story of your limited, objective existence, which is actually contrary to your own insight about YourSelf. That is why you will find that it becomes more and more difficult to believe what the mind is saying. What the mind is saying becomes more and more laughable; un-relate-able. And as it becomes more laughable, then you find that you have more and more space for this recognition.

That’s why I call this the ‘virtuous cycle’. The recognition aids the dropping of the conditioning and this belief in the mind …, and this dropping of belief in the mind aids the recognition. That’s how the play operates.

[Silence]

Notice how much allegiance we’ve had to this mind. Even now. Many times, even when we are in satsang, we are believing mental conclusions even about the words of satsang. Notice the various poses of this mind; when it poses as a judge saying ‘Yes, yes, this is right, this is right. Oh, no, this I don’t agree with’. It’s a judge over there, confirming or denying even what it is hearing in satsang. Then sometimes it poses as a judge, sometimes it poses like it is the frustrated one. ‘I don’t think I’ll really get any of this. All this is beyond me. I’m so tired of spirituality and the search for freedom. It’s pointless, it’s meaningless; I’m not getting anywhere’. You see? This kind of pose. Then, sometimes when the recognition happens so beautifully, then it comes as that enlightened pose. ‘Oh. I got it. I AM That’. You see, all these various masks of the mind…, auditioning for your attention as Guruji [Mooji] says. Showing up in all these poses to audition for You. Which mask are you going to pick up now?

You be empty of these masks. So, what a Master is doing actually is un-masking You. Something is being drawn towards the Master, and yet the Master doesn’t want to meet you through the obstacles, through the prison of this mask. So, he’s saying ‘Throw this away so we can meet as one’. Throw this away, so we meet as one.

So, if the words like ‘position’ or ‘reference’ seem confusing, know that I’m talking about this mask. What is this persona, pose, façade that we are presuming about ourself just because the mind is selling us a story? Why would we believe something that is contrary to our own insight? Am I saying that just because I’m saying it, you believe it? No. I’m saying that, using these three clues, you find out what you are, and you stay with your insight and what your discovery is, irrespective of what the mind is saying for some time. And don’t be so quick to say ‘I didn’t get it’ or ‘I’m unable to get it’…, or ‘I got it’. Neither of these conclusions is valid …, because even that can become a pose; even that can become a mask.

Remain in this empty, mask-less nakedness…, in spite of all the mental attacks, all the feelings of shame, of guilt. This wobbly-ness will not last. Don’t be fearful of it. I have crossed this river of wobbly-ness where I can also tell you that it doesn’t last. Just like somebody standing on the shore, saying ‘Come, come. Cross; nothing will happen. Just come’. Nothing to be afraid of. You will not die. In fact, you will discover your death-less reality, just by following these small, simple pointers. All it needs is a little bit of openness; dropping the arrogance of your prior knowledge, coming to the innocence of a child, coming to the discovery of YourSelf. This is what Jesus meant when he said ‘Only the babes will enter the kingdom of heaven’. You are becoming babies now because life is playing in that way. What does it mean to run out of moves? All it means is that you don’t know where to go, what to do. All our concepts are not helping us.

There’s a deeper longing now to come Home; to that home which we never really left but we just dreamt that we are far from it.

[3.9] “Whether acclaimed or tormented the serene sage abides in the Self. He is neither gratified nor angered.”

I notice again that (although the words may sound like it) this doesn’t imply that gratitude or anger cannot come. It only implies that even these are seen as aspects of pure phenomenal manifestation. There is no resistance to this because we’re not saying ‘I am angry’ or ‘I am frustrated’.

[3.10] “A great soul witnesses his body’s actions as if they were another’s. How can praise or blame disturb him?”

So, we’ve spoken about doership.

[3.11] “Realizing the universe is illusion, having lost all curiosity, how can one of steady mind fear death?”

Whatever candy this phenomenal realm has to offer, even that pales in comparison to your non-phenomenal discovery. How can that be? You see, the mind cannot understand this. Many times in satsang, we hear ‘Yes, yes. I found the Self. But is that it? Is it so boring? There’s nothing happening there’. So, when the recognition has been given too quickly for the mind to interpret, we see that any form of sensory pleasure, any form of perception, we tire of very quickly. It doesn’t want to deal with it for too long. It doesn’t want to have the best things. I’ve spoken like this; I’ve talked about the best music, the best taste or whatever, if it is constantly only that, you will say ‘No, I want the contrast’. So, it cannot be that the discovery of the Self will have a particular quality or taste, because even that Consciousness will tire of. Consciousness [manifestation] is made up of all the opposites. So, if it is only playing as one aspect of the opposites, it will want to include the other aspect also. That is the play of Consciousness in this world. In this realm of duality, it plays as every aspect. It doesn’t want just one side of the spectrum. It is only the mind that is saying ‘Only this should be there; only this should be there’.

And then, what is happening now as You are coming to the discovery of the Self, then you might struggle to use words like ‘It is so pure, it is so innocent’. Actually, none of these also apply. It is empty of all attributes; beyond purity, beyond innocence. You are coming to the discovery of this quality-less Self. And yet it is not empty like an empty glass. Not empty in the way of an empty room. (You walk into a room; there is nothing. Not that.) It is full of the non-phenomenal. Can we say it like that? That fullness from which all things arise, all phenomena arise. Even Consciousness arises from That.

So, don’t fall into that notion that the emptiness that we fall into is the kind of emptiness that is just so devoid. It is not devoid of anything. It is not phenomenal, yet it is a complete taste of fullness. If the sages made this discovery that ‘I found the Self and it is just like walking into an empty room’…, why would they want everyone to join them in this empty room? So, it’s not that kind of emptiness. It is not an empty coconut. It is that which is the source of all things, including intelligence. Supreme Intelligence arises also from that.

[3.12] “With whom can we compare the great soul who, content knowing Self, remains desireless in disappointment?”

[3.13] “Why should a person of steady mind, who sees the nothingness of objects, prefer one thing to another?”

[3.14] “He who is unattached, untouched by opposites, free of desire, experiences neither pleasure nor pain as events pass through.”

This also has some capacity for misunderstanding. Pleasure and pain will be experienced but he will not say ‘I am an experiencer’ as an individual entity. There is no sufferer, there is no enjoyer; as if it is something limited. It is all happening in the space of your Existence. This much, all of you will be able to testify (whether it’s your first satsang or you’ve been here for years) that without Your existence, there can be no experience. So, Your existence is the substratum for all experience …, (even though it might not yet be your insight that ‘All of this is happening in the space of My Being, in the space of My Existence. That really doesn’t matter at this point).

Know that You are That in the Presence of which all experiencing can happen. That much is enough for now. That, in the Presence of which experiencing is happening, is not affected by whether the experience is that of pleasure or that of pain. The body might still be going ‘Ouch, Ouch’. Don’t think that this is going to make you into the man of steel, Superman or something. [Chuckles] You hear the Ashtavakra and then the body will be leaping over buildings and even if you are cut by knives or fired at by bullets … [Chuckles] It’s not about the body. You find YourSelf to be beyond this. You come to the discovery of that Shivoham: it cannot be cut, it cannot be burnt in that way. And know that the vibrancy of experience will continue. Both pleasure and pain; the spectrum will be felt. But you will not amplify the seeming-suffering because of your mental conceptualization. Like a child; the most beautiful thing, isn’t it, the children. When they’re in pain, they cry. Next moment, they forget about it and start laughing. When pain comes again, they start crying. Very, very natural. They’re not holding on to grievances and resentments.

~ ~ ~

Reading from the Ashtavakra Gita, Translation by Bart Marshall

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

One tip I want to give you before we close for today. No words that you hear (even the words in satsang) should contribute to your having a reference point or a position because of that. What that means is that, sometimes, even the greatest of pointings (‘I am Consciousness, I am that in which the world is contained’) we can very quickly make a visual out of that and start to define our position; as if we are ‘something’.

All of these words are meant just to shake away all ideas that we have about ourself. So, don’t even take on Awareness as a position. Don’t even take on Freedom as a position. Don’t take bondage as a position. Don’t take ‘person’ as a position. Don’t take ‘seeker’ as a position. Don’t take Consciousness as a position. Nothing, nothing, nothing.

Don’t even take ‘nothing’ as a position. [Laughter in the room] Because our ‘nothing’ becomes like this big, black, empty space. Even that is not your position.

I know that for a while it can feel a bit shaky to not have a position; it can feel like ‘I’m falling’ or ‘I’m dying’. But I’m here for that. Nothing will happen.

One of my first satsangs (when I was in Tiru) I saw, with Mooji, there was this girl who came and said ‘Mooji, I feel like my head is going to explode. What do I do? I feel like my head is going to explode’. And he said ‘I’ve never seen a head exploding. I’d like to see it’. [Laughs] See what happens? When we invite it like that, then we see that it is nothing. It’s just this tiny [makes a sound ‘ching’] something and yet, before it came out, it was so strong! (My head is going to explode!)

So, don’t have any fear about these things. Sometimes the mind will play with the tiniest of sensations and tell you that ‘Oh, they are so big. You’re drowning in them. You don’t know what to do’. That is the benefit of having a living Master in our life, is that he can tell you that ‘All these things happened here also, but actually, they have no power. Just stay with it. Stay with satsang.

So, don’t make any position out of anything that you’ve heard; either in the world or in satsang. All concepts can be dropped safely and you will see that life continues in its own beautiful way.

The mind might not agree that it is beautiful. [Chuckles] Don’t wait for the mind’s certificate or the mind’s consent.

[Silence]

This is surrender; this is openness.

Just let everything come and go.

[Silence]

Otherwise, what can happen is the most well-intended pointing (even a pointing that ‘You are not the doer; You are not the sufferer’) even these most well-intending pointings can translate into a ‘still-limited’ position about ourself. ‘Oh, I-as-the-body/mind am not the doer’ …, like an inert flower pot or something. That is not the discovery in satsang.

So, don’t take on any position, don’t buy any offers from the mind to make ‘something’ out of you; whatever that ‘something’ might be. If it is coming with the offer that ‘You will become the most enlightened Sage’ …, don’t buy this offer. When it comes and says ‘Come and say this; then they will see what is the extent of your spiritual accomplishment’ …., No. The best pointing is: Forget about it.

[Silence]

When we are empty of concepts, we discover our True fullness. It is independent of any phenomenal fullness.

[2.21] Janaka said, “I see no differences or separation. Even the multitudes appear as a single formless desert. To what should I cling?”

~ ~ ~

“I see no differences or separation. Even the multitudes appear as a single formless desert. To what should I cling?”

Very beautiful, isn’t it? And he has emphasized this yesterday also; Seeing One. (What is it?) Seeing One, I see many…, but actually we are just Seeing One but we believe that we are seeing multitudes. [“Looking at One and seeing many…” Ch.2, V.16]

So, this is a very, very beautiful discovery and I encourage each of you to just notice how this happens. Take anything. Take anything and see if you can just See it empty of concept, empty of judgment, empty of interpretation. Look at a flower, and See how the mind tries to contribute to the Seeing; that it can only make some interpretation, some judgment, some desire.

Q: It’s also made up of that Seeing.

A: It’s also made up of that Seeing.

Q: Yes.

A: You see? Just like this entire manifestation is also only Awareness. Just like the finger is always the hand always; it is not separate from it. Now, what is the game that Consciousness is playing? Consciousness is playing the game that first we’ve decided to pretend as if it is subject to this voice and actually is the one that is affected by this manifestation in some way. And now it is playing the game of Seeing that no, it is beyond the voice’s limitation. What can happen is that although the voice is also Consciousness, It is recognizing that ‘What the voice is saying about Me is not the Truth about what I Am’. ‘It’s just part of My own design?’ Of course, it is. Is it made up of Consciousness Itself? Of course, it is. And yet, Consciousness contains both aspects, isn’t it? So, if here is Truth, if there is a voice of intuition, the Satguru’s voice, then there is also the opposite of that. If there is a Sage, there is also the murder, the thief. So, the manifestation is both; both aspects of Consciousness. And yet, there is something which is pointing us to the play of individuality (which is the voice of the mind) and something which is pointing us to the dropping of this individuality (which is the intuitive voice).

Q: Inaudible]

A: Yes. That is why I stress so much on the ‘belief’ aspect of it; not the ‘attention’ aspect. It is very beautiful what he said. He says ‘Even the appearance of this thought construct (energy construct called thought) is part of the One appearance in perception, perceiving with attention. There is no separation even in that. But what is this unique power of belief which makes the pretense come on as if there is a separate entity here? So, even that, of course, is part of the play of Consciousness Itself. But this is the way the play is designed.

I say often that most shops in the world are selling you individuality. There are some shops, like the satsang shops, which are selling you the idea that you are not. All of this is part of whose play? The same Divine One. Through the design of this play, someone is designated as alarm clock; and all they have to do it beep. [Chuckles] They can’t help it. Knowing fully well that the waking will happen when the waking will happen. It is not that there is confusion of ‘Oh, we should wake up’. The alarm clock is not worried about that, really (although sometimes it has to pose as if: Get up! Get up!) But it knows; the waking will happen when the waking has to happen. My job is to beep. The job of that expression seems to become that.

Q: [Inaudible]

A: That’s what I wanted to clarify so it’s good that you asked again so I can clarify.

There is this Awareness that doesn’t have imagery; is non-phenomenal. That’s why I said when the author or the translators use the word ‘Imagination’ what he is implying is not what we usually call imagination. Like we say ‘Person is an imagined entity; it does not even have a phenomenal existence’. We call the person a ‘second-level illusion’. So, whether you believe this phenomenal existence to be illusory or not, you will admit (like you are doing) to saying ‘This person I cannot find’. But the appearance of this body is undeniable as an appearance. So, what Ashtavakra is saying or what the translator is using toward ‘Imagination’ to mean is ‘that aspect of Itself’ which creates/projects all this imagery; all this world of appearances. It’s not the way we usually use the word ‘Imagination’ …, ‘Oh, you are just imagining that there’s a blue cat sitting there’. It’s not like that.

It is apparent in this world of appearances that this body is there. That’s why the distinction between Reality and appearance. So, what is that the definition of Reality…, in the case where we’re studying like this? It is unchanging. So, then you find that everything in the world in an appearance because you cannot find anything which is unchanging. At least in that definition, it is an appearance. Isn’t it?

So, just keep it at that. Because otherwise, what will happen is that we’ll try to see this apparent world as if it is imagination or something like this, and that will be another trip that we’ll be on. You don’t need to so that. Just see that the way the word ‘Imagination’ is used to just to convey the dynamic aspect, the imagery, the phenomenal aspect, which includes the body, all the feelings, all our emotions, thoughts, everything. All the content of perception is imagery, the play of this light and sound.

Q: [Inaudible]

A: So, we’ll go very slowly. When we search for this witness that witnesses all phenomena, do we find that It Itself is not phenomenal? [Silence] You have to tell me if that is clear. So, this witness, this witnessing Awareness (whatever you call it) Itself is not phenomenal. Therefore, there is no imagery involved with that. You cannot imagine Awareness. If you imagine Awareness, you have to look for who witnesses even that imagination. You see? Just like if I tell you ‘Just think about nothing’ (and this ‘nothing’ has no color, no shape, no size) at best, your mind will give you some blank, black-colored space. But not even black it is; not even transparent it is. You cannot imagine it.

So, this Awareness, is it like that? Or does it have some attribute, some quality? [Silence] You find that it has no quality. It is quality-less. No image can be made out of it. Then, all that IS the image; what is that? Like, our body has an image, our thoughts have an image, imagination has image, memory has image, sensations have an image, all of this has an image. So, what is that?

Q: [Inaudible]

A: Yes, it is phenomena. So, where does it come from? So, that is broader definition of ‘Mind’ which is the ‘Big Mind’ or Consciousness Itself. Then, I Am. We call that the waking state. Then all this play of all this memory comes. But I-as-the-Self remain image-less. Isn’t it?

So, when he [the Sage] is saying now that ‘all of this is imagination’ he’s talking about that kind of projection as imagination. He’s not talking about imagination that is part of the imagery.

Q: [Inaudible]

A: Yes. You have not to get into any of those denials. We’re only saying that from [the perspective of] That-which-is-the-Self (which is non-phenomenal) from the perspective of that Self-which-I-Am, all of this is the play of imagery, the play of light and sound and space.

It’s very good to clarify because often times we hear this and then we come into some sort of a denial of the appearance of this world. No. The appearance is appearing. No further denial is needed. Just to call it ‘appearance’ is enough. Appearance means what? That which comes and goes; therefore, it is not the fundamental Reality, That-which-is-unchanging.

“I see no differences or separation. Even the multitudes appear as a single formless desert. To what should I cling?” So, what the Sage is saying is there is nothing to cling to in this world, because I am beyond this phenomenal creation. I do not exist in this realm as if I am an object.

That’s why I said it’s a cheat-code. As long as there can still be this belief that ‘I am an object in this world’ and for those who have been blessed with at least a little bit of devotional temperament, they have the cheat-code that they can hang onto the Master. The Master means what? Your own Divine Presence. And it is okay if you are blessed with a beautiful physical embodiment of this Divine Presence as all of us are blessed with the Presence of Guruji [Sri Mooji] …, [falls into silence, hand on heart].

~ ~ ~

Reading from the Ashtavakra Gita, Translation by Bart Marshall

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

[2.20] Janaka said, “The body exists only in imagination, as do heaven and hell, bondage, freedom, fear. Are these my concern? I, who am pure Awareness?”

~ ~ ~

Okay, we’re looking at Verse 20 from Chapter 2. “The body exists only in imagination, as do heaven and hell, bondage, freedom, fear. Are these my concern? I, who am pure Awareness?”

So, this verse, we must look at it from the end. The end is what? “I, who am pure Awareness.” Yesterday, we discovered (we said) the three clues to find the Self. What are the three clues to find the Self?

Find that which is the witness of all phenomena; find that. And if the insight is still phenomenal, then you find out who witnesses even that. So, if it is a mental image or a concept or something, you find out who witnesses even that.

What is the second clue? What is that which remains unchanging? Because if it is coming and going, then it cannot be the reality that we are looking for. We already have the unchanging; the changeful seems apparent to us anyway. We already have the changeful. This world, this realm, is a realm of change. So, we’re looking for the stability of that which is the unchanging.

First clue: Find out that which witnesses all things; the one solitary witness of all that is.

Second: That which does not come and go. The Sage has said ‘You do not come and go’.

Third: It must be your direct insight. It must not be something that you have just heard in satsang or read in a book. You must speak then from your direct experience of this.

In fact, for most of you I would say: Use the word Awareness as little as possible. Because the more we use it more in a worldly sort of way…, it happened once (I rarely get upset with the sangha but) I got upset once when I noticed that everyone was becoming very casual and just making jokes about Awareness. Sometimes it’s okay…, but you know what happens is that all of these words in satsang, they have a certain potency about them. And if you are to realize them, if you make them run-of-the-mill, then they stop being those pointers, those potent pointers, that they are. So, it’s a sacred word, it’s a sacred pointing; just like the inquiry.

We must be very grateful for these pointings: Who Am I? Am I aware now? Can I stop Being?

There comes a time where even all of these become meaningless and irrelevant but don’t be in a rush to proclaim anything yet. Allow them to do the work. I know they are thorns. They are thorns being used to remove other thorns, and ultimately to be thrown away. But as far as it is helping right now, then don’t be in a rush to put it away, to throw it down. Don’t become too Advaita too quickly and say ‘Oh, I’m not the doer, so why are you asking us to do the inquiry? Inquiry will happen when it has to happen’. [Laughs] Those words will smell true one day. The same words could smell completely true one day. But they will smell [true] when all idea of doership is dropped away and you see this instrument just moving, like a wave is moving on the ocean of Consciousness; and then those words will have a different fragrance. And when you say ‘Who is here to even do the inquiry?’ [And the direct experience is] ‘I find nothing like this here’…, they will carry a different perfume; they will not sound special.

So, “Are these my concern? I, who am pure Awareness?” So, when we find (using these clues) we find the Self, then what is This One concerned about? [Silence] What concern can You have, as That Awareness?

So, then when a concern comes, we’re not to pick up an idea of unworthiness or guilt or something. You see? Because hearing these words sometimes you can feel like ‘Oh, now a concern should not come’. In fact, welcome it. When a concern comes, welcome it. Invite it in and say ‘What is this? What is going on? I’m concerned about money in the bank’. Don’t push it away ‘No, no, you can’t be concerned’. Welcome it. ‘I’m concerned about money in the bank. And I See: Who is this ‘I’ who has this concern?’ Just like this.

So, don’t treat anything as an obstacle now. When you’re in satsang, everything becomes a tool for your recognition. Don’t come in a resistance to anything. We were talking sometime about: Don’t get into any sort of Advaita denial. Because Advaita also gives you the best tools for the ego to perpetuate itself; through resistance, through denial. Don’t try to brush things away. A sweeping is happening from under your carpet, a sweeping of all the conditionings. If you continue to push things back under the carpet, then it will seem like this spiritual journey continues; it perpetuates. So, just remain open. Open with a slight welcoming attitude.

[Silence]

Then, when you See that I-truly-as-the-Self remain unconcerned with anything that might be appearing in this play.

When the translator or when Ashtavakra has used the term ‘Imagination’ he doesn’t mean it the way we usually understand it…, ‘I’m just imagining. It’s not appearing in the physical realm; I’m just imagining it’. He’s not saying it like that. He’s calling this entire process of dynamic manifestation a manifestation of this power of imagery, creating imagery; this power to project appearances. So, from there, we can understand that:

“The body exists only in imagination, as do heaven and hell, bondage, freedom, fear. Are these my concern?”

So, you see that it is only when this dynamic aspect comes into play that all these manifest worlds, manifest emotions, manifest thoughts, manifest body all comes into play. But, for Awareness, it is just a play within Its own Being, within Its own dynamic aspect.

~ ~ ~

Reading from the Ashtavakra Gita, Translation by Bart Marshall

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

[Ananta answers a questioner (who has long been coming to satsang) after a long conversation preceding this]

~ ~ ~

The true disciple is not ‘being’ a disciple. You understood what I said? The true disciple is not ‘being’ a disciple; is not becoming a better disciple. The true disciple is empty of identity; is like the infant child. Is the infant child being an infant child? [Silence] Therefore, in the same way, the best disciple is one who is empty of all concepts, including disciple; empty of the concept of being empty ‘disciple’ also. I have to tell you this because the nature of the mind is such that it will pick up this aspect of it. Forget both the opposites and remain like an innocent child.

Now, I don’t feel that in all of Advaita Vedanta there is a concept which you don’t know. You know every concept there is to know. But when push comes to shove, when rubber hits the road, what happens to all of these? If I answer to you ‘You are Consciousness’ or ‘You are Awareness’ and it just becomes a concept for you, all these concepts get thrown out of the window [then]. Then ‘you have to leave the house and go to fly’ [the questioner had said he was struggling to get out of the house] all these concepts are gone. So, let’s have that honest and say ‘These are not helping. All I can do (because in this expression it is playing like this in this moment) is be this infant child in my Mother’s lap. I say simply like that: infant child in Mother’s lap.

Then you say ‘There’s Shiva, then there’s Mahamaya’ …, you see? Does a child know all of this? This is what I meant by ‘And’. It is not a ‘But’. It is not countering the Guru’s words, but it is appending. It seems like something is smart enough to append something. So, that can then become a resistance because it can feel like, in the most astounding, most beautiful-sounding concepts, you are not finding your freedom from suffering. And I’m pointing you so directly to that.

When I said: Don’t add an ‘and’ …, this is exactly what I meant. I know already that you know everything you need to know. But this is no value to me right now. I would like to discuss it one day with you; and we will. That day will also come; because I enjoy it. I enjoy these concepts. You know that. But not at this moment because it is not in service to you.

Right now, what life is showing you is your true innocence of her child. It’s making a baby out of you; whether your mind agrees or not. So, then, accept that this is how your life is. Without the Satguru’s grace, without the Satguru’s words, without his will nothing is moving. Come into acceptance of that. All the ‘buts’ and the ‘ands’…, just throw them away. All this categorizing of the Divine Presence (between Bhagavan and Papa-van and Guruji and Father) all of this, throw it away. It is not helping you. You might feel like it is helping. It’s One Divine Presence trying to convey to you the same thing in all different expressions. And if you make categories and you say ‘Okay, I know this is this and I know that is that and I know who my true Master is and I know what …’ you’re not being a baby and seeing what life gives you then.

This is getting squeezed out of us. All of us have it. This is the by-product in some way; the negative by-product of spiritual knowledge. Everything in this world of duality has the pros and the cons. So, if something is in service to your giving up every concept and coming back to the innocence of a baby, use that concept. You need only one; the one I have given you. [Silence] Then we meet with integrity. Otherwise, I’m meeting a version of you (which is part of the play). And I’m okay to play. We have unlimited time. Time is nothing but a toy here. But something here still feels your pain when you cry. So, it might feel like I’m trying to chop you. (Sometimes my children have this complaint that ‘Father is too blunt with me and whatever I say, he just chops.) Why? Because your tears, they hurt something here. You see? If I did not have that feeling, then I enjoy talking about all the fancy Advaita concepts. I don’t mind listening to it. I have a full library of Advaita concepts. You know that. But will that (when push comes to shove, when the rubber hits the road) will that help you, will that feel like you have the support of the Master with you? It’s not doing that. In fact, it is being counter-productive. It is getting squeezed out of you. Life in not tolerating any of this from you! I can see it. I wonder if you see it. It is not tolerating any…

Q: I see, Father. I see, Father. For a long time, I see.

A: Very good. Very good. You see that life doesn’t want this. It is squeezing all of this out of you and making you like a baby. And there is time. Time will become your play-thing. Don’t worry about it. As you become empty of this, as you flower more and more in Your own words which you Know are true, all you have to do is abide in the Master’s words. All you have to do is rest in the Divine Presence…, without interpretation, judgment; without any arrogance or shame. You see? Empty; empty of all of this. Then we meet as One. Then we laugh at all these categorizations and funny things. You see? I also enjoy very much. Sometimes I read what you write and I enjoy MySelf very much. But I would be happier if all of this was helping you when the rubber was hitting the road.

I see that, in your case (and again, not to make any concept out of any of this also) in your case, life is operating like it is Kali; cutting off everything that you can throw to it, all your ideas about what you know.   You see, it’s operating like that. It’s making a baby out of you; crying for milk, a small baby. It is happening. I can see it. So, I’m the pediatrician (maybe) [Chuckles] in this case, and I’m saying that what is causing all of this to go is: ‘My dear child, no need to cry. All you have to do is throw away all of this.

I’ve been saying this for some time now. You say ‘I abide by the Guru’s words’. Just abide by my words. I asked you ‘What does it mean to have my hands and eyes at your Master’s feet?’ You point to your Heart. ‘Yes’. That is where the Master is. It’s not in Bangalore. It’s not in any other [place]. All of these are representations of your Divine Presence. But it will not tolerate any of these childish ideas of specialness.

I will hear these words from you, I will hear about Shiva and Mahamaya when your words smell of them; I will hear them from you as much as you like. But right now, I will not hear them because right now this is not how life is playing with you.

Thank you, my love.

[Ananta puts hand on this chest/heart]

[2.22] Janaka said, “I am not the body. I do not have a body. I am Awareness, not a person. My thirst for life bound me to a seeming of life.”

~ ~ ~

Very important words: “I am not the body. I do not have a body. I am Awareness, not a person. My thirst for life bound me to a seeming of life.” The first part, that “I am not the body” …, not so many believe this. Although we have a belief that everyone believes that they are the body; if you really examine it we will find that mostly it is the second part that ‘I have a body’. Even when we report about the body, we report like this, that ‘My body is like this’ or ‘When this body goes away, I will find some rest’ (like we say ‘rest in peace’. Now that the body is gone, I will be able to find the real). What does that convey? That we already See. Most of us already See ourSelf to be beyond the body, but we still feel like ‘I have this, I am an entity/person which is the owner of this body’. Now, that ‘entity’ has been investigated we find that actually there is no such entity here; there is only God. There is not a limited entity. It is the unbound, the Divine Presence, it is this Being Itself, which is the owner of all things, not just this body.

The voice of separation convinces us that this is your container; you have this container and this defines your limitation in some way. Most of us have this idea that ‘I am an entity sitting inside this head’ or something like that. Then you start to see that ‘This does not contain me, I contain it. I contain it as I contain everything phenomenal’. So, these become our insights. This is what it means. It does not mean that there is no body, there is no appearance of the bodies. Of course, it is appearing but there is no identified personal entity who can say ‘This is my body’.

Q: [Inaudible]

A: It works in collaboration in some way with perception but it also continues to be an object of perception. So, when you see that it is because it is an object of perception (both in the visual way as well as a sensational way of the sensations of the body, the boundary of the body) that is why the mind has something to say, that ‘This defines your boundary, this is what you are’. That is what conditioning stems from, with our parents, with our mind: ‘You are that, move your hand, go here, walk here; oh, you fell down’. All of these things have been picked up as root conditioning. And then building on top of this, all the other: ‘Oh, I’m this, I did this, I am handsome’ …, this and that. Based on that, we have a husband, a wife; all of this.

If we see that this is just a visual perception, and there is a sensational perception; all of that is experienced in which container? The container of my existence…, which also contains the visual which is seemingly coming, and a sense of space. But where is that space contained? Also within the same. The time and space are also experience in what space? Unless you exist, is there an existence of time and space? From your insight, you have to See. If you speak from an inference then you say ‘Of course, while I am sleeping, the world is continuing’. But from your experience, if you See, from your insight if you See, that right now these words, although they might be seeming to come from outside of you, they are just contained within You. That space of Existence, that Being, that Consciousness.

When we say that the true meaning of Advaita is not this idea that ‘Oh, we are One’ because of some reason; because we all experience the same feelings and frustrations, we are not one because of that. We are literally One. We do not base it on an inference of something (that because this, this, and this…) Without an inference, we are One. Without the ‘because’ we are already One.

That is our experience also. That is our experience. But we have been taught by this mind and through conditioning (seemingly coming from the world) that it is not that way, that you are something limited within this boundary and everything else is outside of you, therefore it is not you.

~ ~ ~

[2.23] Janaka said, “In the limitless ocean of Myself the winds of the mind roil the myriad waves of the world.

[2.24] But when the wind subsides the limitless ocean, the Arc of personhood is swallowed up along with the universe it carries.”

~ ~ ~

“In the limitless ocean of Myself the winds of the mind roil the myriad waves of the world.” (Somewhat what we were saying.) “But when the wind subsides the limitless ocean, the Arc of personhood is swallowed up along with the universe it carries.”

In what way? Personhood. It means the boundary dissolves. If you don’t make the distinction that ‘I am this’ …, if you don’t have a distinction of your limitation that defines you in some way, then you will find that doership dissolves. I am shaking my head over there; this is this one. [Points to someone in the room] This is this one. I am shaking my hands over here [Shakes his hands a bit]. All very naturally. Don’t even be in a rush to infer like that when he talks like this. In your seeing it is that.

Once you just do this simple Seeing that the boundaries that I experience of sensation do not contain me; it is I which contain them. And the I which contains them, where does it stop? Then automatically we will see that it doesn’t stop, it is beyond. So then, you are not so tightly attached to this body and all this. It is allowed; it is given more space to just be.

Q: So, the ‘I’ is not even sitting there.

A: Basically, ‘I’ is not physically here. The only phenomenal representation of ‘I’ is ‘I Am’. Then all of that is just a play of light on that screen. That is why I say that Your position is not in this universe. I am pointing you to That which is beyond time and space, which is YourSelf. The position of time and space is within You, within Your Being.

These are not the pointings that you should inquire into. You just keep enquiring into ‘Who am I?’ then all of these will become your fun insights. But sometimes it is good to share with you also because sometimes very sticky things are there; like this ‘contained within the body’ can be a very sticky thing. And we can keep inquiring, and even at the end of the inquiry we might come to the conclusion ‘Yes, there is Awareness contained within this body’. The mind takes hold of our recognition and paints it this way. And so, I have to sometimes shake you out of this idea that you are contained in this body. Why? Because the question I feel many times is ‘Yes, I find that I am Awareness, but how do I know that she is Awareness?’ That is like missing the point in some way, because you bought a mental interpretation of the recognition.

Q: [Inaudible]

A: Can that ‘sometimes’ (where it doesn’t feel like it is One) can that happen without any concept?

Q: [Inaudible]

A: When it feels like ‘She is not One. She was One and then she said those words and after she said that … [Laughter] Whatever the trigger might be.

Q: [Inaudible]

A: But is it possible without having a concept? Do we need a concept to get to our Oneness? Or do we need concept to presume a two-ness?

Q: In this moment, I feel that I am so blank that everything, all experiences, have been dropped and I have no understanding. And I am not putting on anything like ‘Okay, this is how I am’. So now, everything feels new. Now when you are seeing it, it feels like ‘How? How is it happening?’

A: How could it ever happen?

Q:  How did this happen? How do I even express it; that we are One? How?

A: You don’t have to express it at all. These discoveries which you are making, mostly (there is no template, but mostly) these you will not find so easy to share because your discovery is that something which is beyond the phenomenal realm; and words are used to describe phenomenal things. It is only after great marinating in this discovery that some will have this energy or even inclination to open their mouth and say words about it. Most who come to the discovery of the Self just hardly ever speak about it actually, because it is so indescribable. So, you never know how it plays out and which expression are the words given, which expressions are not given. It is all part of the play of Consciousness.

So, these words will not come from any intent (that I intend to explain to somebody else what my discovery is). You will find yourself again and again at a loss. [Laugh] You’ll try to explain to your friends, family and those you care about what is happening with you; you try to and they are like [Makes a quizzical expression] ‘What?’ You will notice that those in your presence, (don’t even have this expectation but) some might start to experience something differently; and that is enough. If you try to explain it with some intention, that ‘This I must clarify to them’ you find yourself running out of words, becoming so inarticulate.

~ ~ ~

[2.25] Janaka said, “And how wonderful it is! In the limitless ocean of Myself, waves of Beings arise, collide, play for a time, then disappear ~ as is their nature.”

~ ~ ~

“And how wonderful it is! In the limitless ocean of Myself, waves of beings arise, collide, play for a time, then disappear ~ as is their nature.” And then we start to just witness all of this play. So beautiful, these words.

So that is [the end of] Chapter 2.

~ ~ ~

Reading from the Ashtavakra Gita, Translation by Bart Marshall

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

[2.16] Janaka said, “Looking at One and seeing many is the cause of all misery. The only cure is to realize what is seen is not there. I am One: aware, blissful, immaculate.”

~ ~ ~

So, what arises as One Consciousness, One Beingness, and all this world of appearances is One. And you can try this for yourself. You cannot create the idea of two just in the mere perception. It must be perception with some interpretation or judgment. So, when the Sage says ‘All I see is One’ it is not that he is not able to perceive that there are two bodies in front of him. It is just that all this pool of perceptions are happening in One Being, One Consciousness. Very often we do this exercise that:

Where is the experience of sight happening?

Where is the experience of hearing happening?

Where is the experience of any phenomenon happening?

That’s why even in spirituality there are two ways. There are many ways but main among them are these two ways. One is: we start from presumption that the separation happened and there is a real person here; and how to make it a better first, a good person, telling the truth, turning away from greed and lust and all the things that seem to get in the way of spirituality according to that [viewpoint] and then getting to the point where ultimately the truth is recognized that we are One. Now, that is not Ashtavakra’s way. Ashtavakra’s way is one preparatory verse, and then hundreds of verses talking about the One. That one verse, what is it? ‘Sincerity, forgiveness, kindness, truth; turn your attention toward all these’.  That’s the only preparatory verse he has. Because his way is to point like this and say:

Right Now, you See that you are One. You See; not that you believe or interpret or judge.

He says ‘You are the one solitary witness of all there is’.

That’s such a beautiful pointer, isn’t it? Just follow the trail of the witness. And the recognition will be undeniable. Without inference. . .

At best, at the end the mind will come and say ‘I see nothing!’ I want those to come up to me and share with me: When you follow the trail of the witness, and you come to this point where you feel like ‘I see nothing! I can’t be nothing’ …, those can come up to me and ask me then. ‘Ananta, when I check now…, I followed the trail of the witness like you said’.

So, what does it mean to ‘Follow the trail of the witness’?

Whatever the object might be, find out: Who witnesses that?

Then find out, who witnesses this witness?

Now, the mind will come and say ‘But this is infinite regress; you say the witness then about who witnesses the witness…’ But this is not true. Don’t fall into that mind-trap. If you were thinking this, if you’re believing this, come up. We’ll look together. Because here, in our subtlest discoveries, also the mind can come with a story which can seem very acceptable at times. But this ‘nothing’ I want to talk about. The second is if it’s giving you the idea that ‘This is pointless. It’s just infinitely reverse and backwards’. Or it might sell you the story that ‘I must only be there now. It must only be awareness of Awareness. There must not be any worldly perception’. If that kind of story comes to make you believe your mind, then you come. They’re all just various forms of mental resistance.

So, as we’re following the path, as we’re following the ‘smell’ of this witness:

Where is it coming from?

All the clues are there.

It does not come and go.

What is it that does not come and go.

We have been told that it is this witness, that which witnesses everything.

Now, who is this witness.

Is there really a witness?

~ ~ ~

Reading from the Ashtavakra Gita, Translation by Bart Marshall

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

[2.16] Janaka said, “Looking at One and seeing many is the cause of all misery. The only cure is to realize what is seen is not there. I am One: aware, blissful, immaculate.”

~ ~ ~

This is duality. Pain and pleasure, good and bad, black and white. There is an appearance of one world, one universe. If it is seen as one, then we step back from that duality. Otherwise, we participate in that duality by our belief. ‘This I prefer, this I don’t prefer’. You see? We participate with our concepts. But when we step back from this, it is still seen that the world, everything, is duality. White, dark. Everything is duality in the design of this world. But we see that it is One world which has two aspects.

Just like (some of you might have seen) the statue of Shiva and Shakti as one statue. So, sometimes we can look at something and see only one aspect of it. Then it can feel like we make a conclusion about the world. It is like this. See, the world is full of suffering; it is also full of joy. And in my contemplations, I’ve seen that everything translates into this manifest creation; everything is available in equal doses. There is nothing which is lopsided. In fact, the times in which balance seems to get over-ridden, then it is said that the great Avatars and the Sages come to restore the balance. So, the balance is a beautiful thing to see in this realm. That’s why we can see that any conclusion that we make is true ultimately, because it’s always taking a side. The world is full of suffering; not a true conclusion. The world is only joyful; not a true conclusion. The world is only bliss, bliss; not a true conclusion. Nothing you can conclusively say because it is this; it is the balancing of the Yin and the Yang. [Clasps hands together with interlocking fingers] And in the design of it, there’s a stress between the opposites. It plays in this round and round with this constant stress of the opposites.

So, to see the world as a dual world but to See that You are not participating in that duality; You are not an object within this dual world. The world appearance, I mean, maya in that way, is one maya, one play, one leela (whatever you call it). So, you see that ‘I’ is not subject to the duality of this world. And then, that is the dropping of resistance.

See, what Is just Is. And What Is can be just What Is without resistance. Then, there can be no ego. And that ‘What Is’ includes the movement of this body. Everything can be heard as if ‘I’m an individual entity and now I’m going to decide to let everything be as it is’. That’s not what I’m saying. I’m taking a step back from this position and I’m including the movements, the words and the actions of this body also in the ‘What Is’. Then the false delusion of all this: duality, desire, doership goes away and you See all of this play as just one play. That is what you’re Seeing actually. Our Seeing is always true. It is our interpretation which makes it seem like I’m part of this duality.

So, coming to the recognition of the Source, coming to the recognition of Awareness, takes us away from this idea that ‘I am contained in this world of duality’. Then we just see that there is one appearance.

Am I an appearance? What is the definition of ‘appearance’? [Chuckles] Quick test.

Sangha: That which comes and goes.

A: That which comes and goes is called an appearance.

Am I an appearance? And if I also come and go…? I do not come and go. If I also came and went…, (you see this?) the reporting that I come and go would not be possible at all. There must be a constant which is able to see the change. If there is no constant witness, then change cannot be reported.

Q: Consciousness at rest cannot perceive itself?

A: Consciousness at rest? One of the primal powers of Consciousness is perception. If you mean ‘Consciousness at rest’ you mean that which is not yet I Am. Just I. Not yet I Am. It has not arisen from Its Source, it’s not appeared from the Self as manifest existence. You see? So, if you mean the non-phenomenal, the deep sleep, then there is no perception. And yet, there is Awareness…, because otherwise I would not be able to say there is no perception. [Silence, looking at questioner] It’s tricky.

Q: Yes, very.

A: Don’t try to understand it. Just hear the words. Because you cannot understand it that way.

Now, we’re saying: There is perception when I Am. The power of perception is there, to perceive all we perceive. There is sight, there is hearing, there is smell, there is taste; all this perception is there. Now, before I Am, even this perception is not there. Because there is no phenomenon to perceive and there is no existence, sense of existence, which is the perceiver or the creator of the Light of this realm. Now, even to make this report, I must be aware of it or I must be talking out of my hat. Either I’m just making this up that there is no perceiver (in deep sleep state, there is no perceiver, there is no perception) so either we’ve had the experience of deep sleep or deep sleep is just a common myth that all of us share. So, because we are aware that there is a time when not even perception is…, not even the sense of the perceiver is…, but there must be even a witness of that. So, That which is usually the Subject for all other objects (which is this Consciousness) is also ultimately an object for this ultimate Subject, which is Awareness.

Now, in the play of Consciousness, then come all of these powers. There is Presence, there is perception, there is space, there is time, there is light, there is all of this; there is body usually, there is the appearance of this dual world. When this Consciousness is done playing, then it goes back into the Source where there is no trouble, deep sleep, no perception, no separation, no identity, nothing. Everything is gone. And yet, you are aware that there is something called sleep. [Silence] Of course, you can report it only when this phenomenal appearance is there.

So, the power of the perception relies on this primal power called attention. There is no perception without attention. And yet, there is Awareness without attention. You can see perception fading when you run out of attention; usually later at night. I take this example because it often happens with me, that I’m reading something or I’m watching satsang, hearing or something and after a while, you feel like you can watch but the attention is depleting; it’s getting withdrawn from out of this world and something is just resting back in the Source. Then slowly, even this sense that I Am vanishes. Then from there, nothing to report, nothing to say; no phenomena.

So, this is Ashtavakra, where all the mental conceptualization is turned upside-down. Because if this Consciousness is God, if this Being is God (in our definition) then who is the Father of God or the Mother of God.

~ ~ ~

Quote from the Ashtavakra Gita, Translation by Bart Marshall

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

Yesterday, I was saying that I don’t ask for any Guru-dakshina. [The tradition of thanking the Guru with money or gifts for his service] But I ask for the greatest Guru-dakshina: Everything I want. I can’t leave you with anything.

Q: Pride. [Laughter in the room]

A: This also I want. [Laughter in the room]

So, what more to ask of you if I have already taken everything? [Silence] So, don’t be fooled by my not asking for anything phenomenal. It is also good in a way because you might feel like ‘Oh I have given something already’. So, it is good because I don’t ask for phenomenal ‘peanuts’. You have no excuses. You have to come with me out of this universe on this voyage that you’re taking; Your Reality…, which is beyond [all this].

Now, that which you are attached to will obviously pull (when you are flying on this voyage). It will seem to be pulling you back. It seems like it has some gravitational force; all our desires, all our expectations, all our attachments. It can seem like they have some power; some gravitational pull.

Does this mean that life will stop, that our worldly relationships cannot go on? No, it doesn’t mean any of that. It can or may not; for some it can, for some it may not. That is not the conclusion. That is irrespective. Here, Consciousness decided that it will continue. In some form work continues, in some form family continues; it is irrespective. In other forms, it just feels like  when Guruji [Mooji] just knew in his heart one day: ‘I quit’.

We cannot predict the movement in this. And that doesn’t actually matter. What is more important is what you See YourSelf to Be (irrespective of this ever-changing realm). And if you just continue to consider yourself an object within this ever-changing realm, then we are going to have a struggle between two forces. One is me going on this voyage…, it is like you have half-boarded a ship; one hand I am holding, the other hand the world is holding and the ship is leaving, So, you are going to feel stretched. ‘What is going on?’ The struggles; all of this you will feel.

Again, I am saying that none of these metaphors are meant to convey that you have to leave the world phenomenally. I am talking about Your recognition of what You Are. So, aspire to all of this. And leave this one who is convincing you, in spite of your recognition that the sun comes from the East…, it still comes and sells you a story that it comes from the West.

That is all that is happening. You are recognizing YourSelf to be the unlimited Self. But the mind will come and say ‘No, but you are still limited. Until this happens, until something happens, until then you are going to be limited’. It is exactly the opposite of what I am saying every day.

I want to give this homework to everyone: What is the concept that you feel is stronger than You? …that you cannot drop? That it has so much power over you that you just cannot drop it?

In spite of hearing in satsang every day, in various ways, not to believe any concept. It could be a fearful concept like ‘What would happen to my life? Will I stop taking care of my responsibilities? What will happen to my family?’ (These kind of concepts).

So, can we really bring our attention on the truth of these, and see what it is that seems to still be holding us in some way. Those which have the most magnetism. Those which seem to get our belief just automatically. [Snaps fingers] Many times we say ‘When this comes, it’s just automatic’.

And you will notice that, if you are experiencing suffering in life, you will find that one of these concepts is the basis for that.

Suffering then becomes a beautiful tool. It shows us what we are still attached to. It’s not something to run away from or to fight. When it comes (I know, I’m making it seem easier than it can feel) but when it comes, then have a look and see ‘What is the underlying belief that I’m believing about myself which is the cause of my suffering?’ And you will find how you’re believing yourself to be limited in some way. No concept is truly in service to You, because every concept is selling you a limitation about yourself.

What are the clues we’ve discovered so far? What are the clues to the recognition of the Self that we are finding today?

It is the witness of all that can be witnessed.

It is unchanging.

And it cannot be seen (perceived) objectively.

This recognition is your non-phenomenal recognition. You will not see it as an object. If you see it as an object, find out who witnesses that. Then you know that your mind is visualizing and giving you its alternative to Awareness. It’s creating an object out of it.  It is creating this fake space.

3 clues. Very useful.

What witnesses all phenomena?

What remains unchanging?

And do I have a recognition which doesn’t have a shape or size or color?

A: In the design of the play, most of humanity is receiving feedback from this one intimate instrument [Points toward his body] seemingly. And also, our visual perspective seems to be centered from this. That is the design of this play. So, just because the computer game is designed like that doesn’t mean there are two games. So, what I was saying (half-jokingly) was once you are not resistive to anything happening in your body, then you might perceive other bodies also at the same level. (That part is not important; the first part is.)

Q: So, the game is misery. Pain is misery.

A: No. Misery is suffering. Suffering needs a sufferer. Misery needs one who is miserable. Now, can you identify the one who is experiencing the pain? It is undeniable that it is ‘I’. But what is this ‘I’?

Q:  Awareness.

A: So, okay, Awareness. If you say ‘Awareness’ …, not even Being, if you say ‘Awareness’ then can you say that That which witnesses this (which is Awareness) is suffering from any pain?

Q: It is extended pain.

A: Then, if it is not resisted, then many times extended pain is also accepted pain. And usually accepted pain does not seem as painful as resisted pain. So, many times, those who have had chronic pain can also be working for a time and forget about it; and suddenly it goes away. They say ‘Ah’. Something changes; they feel so light and easy. But it became part of their normal…

In fact, all of us. There is no body without any pain. Even now, if you were to put the attention on the body and I was to say ‘Put some attention on some pain in the body’ you will find something. It’s always there. It’s just that there’s a threshold that you’re used to. When that increases, or the pain goes beyond that threshold, it can feel like ‘Ah! I’m suffering.’ But if that becomes chronic, then the threshold also increases. It becomes part of our day-to-day life.

[Another question ends the talk here.]

[2.16] Janaka said, “Looking at One and seeing many is the cause of all misery. The only cure is to realize what is seen is not there. I am One; aware, blissful, immaculate.”

~ ~ ~

Let’s pick up our contemplation from Chapter 2, Verse 16. And this is still Janaka speaking. Janaka is saying “Looking at One and seeing many is the cause of all misery. The only cure is to realize what is seen is not there. I am One; aware, blissful, immaculate.”

He is quite absolute in his statements. He says, “Looking at One and seeing many is the cause of all misery.” Is it possible to have misery, to suffer, to be miserable without duality? If there was not this ‘me’ and ‘another’ what misery would there be? ‘Looking at one, seeing many’ is the story of our lives.  Looking, we see only one appearance. But we believe that we are seeing many. What makes that distinction?

Many times, upon hearing this, also there can be a distinction made, which is that ‘Ah, all of this is one appearance’ but it doesn’t count this. [Touches his body] So, even this body, even the seemingly-inner perceptions here are part of the one appearance. So, it’s the subtle ways that the mind can still make some separation. Many times, we hear that ‘All is one’ and we can feel like ‘Love everyone’ so it can feel like ‘I-as-somebody must now love everyone because they are one with me’. You see? Even in saying something so beautiful as that, there can be duality. ‘They are one with me’. Not that it is all one.

So, we are looking at One; One Consciousness, One Being.   If that is not clear, then at least one waking state. All objects within the same waking state…, and seeing many, as if they are many is the cause of all misery. I have said often that the ego is a ‘3-D’ ego. What are the ‘3-D’? [Asks sangha to name them] Duality, Desire and Doership.

So, the root of all of this suffering is this duality; I am something. Going from just I Am-Being. Just now, you just Are. I Am. This existence is effortless. This existence which is effortless.

~ ~ ~

Reading from the Ashtavakra Gita, Translation by Bart Marshall

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

[2.13] Janaka said, “I am wonderful indeed; beyond adoration. I am astounded at my powers. The universe appears within Me but I do not touch it.”

That’s why so many times I say that I’m not so concerned about healing or miracles or these things, because all of this is itself so miraculous! This moment itself is so miraculous. Apparently, there are bundles of millions of atoms which are all posing as if they’re individual entities, and they all collect in this room…, from various parts of the world, actually. And then, on the computer; many, many, [The online participants] We all just sit here like this, and we’re talking about That which is the unchanging reality. That itself is miraculous enough for me! [Chuckles] Within this, whether the coconut is empty then it became full again, it’s no big deal. Everything can appear in this moment. Consciousness is not limited by any idea.

So, this Light of Consciousness which is projecting this play and millions of other plays that are experienced in other states (we call them). How to describe the power of That? That…, of which Ram and Krishna and Jesus and Buddha and Mahavira all have just been representations of aspects of That. [Silence]

That is why our very Being, our very Existence, is That in which time and space are just toy-things. This play of light and sound is nothing but Its entertainment. This creator of all of this, the enjoyer of all of this, the experiencer of all of this is just an aspect of My Own Self. I am wonderful indeed! Allow me to say it for you. (Because you feel shy sometimes.) This is Your own voice.

Billions of centuries and billions of lifetimes are nothing but a blink of an eyelid. I am that space for which there is no meaning itself. Joy Itself, playing Itself; entertainment. That Being, That Consciousness, is an aspect of MySelf. That which no words can truly describe. All the opposites appear within It, in service to that Consciousness, that Being, that I Am.

I am wonderful indeed!

“I am astounded at my powers. The universe appears within Me but I do not touch it.”

[2.14] “I am wonderful indeed; beyond adoration. I am everything thought or spoken, and have nothing.”

Everything is Me; everything is ‘I Am’ and yet I hold onto nothing because all is One. All is MySelf, My Being. All that is spoken, all that is thought; even this mind is an aspect of My Own Being.

[Silence]

[2.15] “In Reality, knowledge, the knower, and the knowable do not exist. I am the transparent Self in which (through ignorance) they appear.”

So, ignorance here means what? It is not like a mental ignorance. Ignorance is another word for maya. So, My own Divine aspect; the Divine hypnotizer, the Divine illusion itself…, this great maya which uses the Light of My Presence and creates this apparent universe…, as if I could become an object in something.

[Silence]

So, in this Divine play, in this Divine manifestation, appears My own aspect [maya] but I cannot be bound by any of this. I am that timeless, formless, indescribable One.

[Silence]

Trying to get to me with your mind is like shooting at the moon with an arrow. Leave all your devices, leave all your techniques, leave all the ways …, and find Me, That which witnesses all of this.

Here we meet as One.

And that meeting is beyond sweetness.

No phenomena can match this meeting, communion.

[Silence]

I am wonderful indeed; beyond adoration.

[Silence]

“In Reality, knowledge, the knower, and the knowable do not exist. I am the transparent Self in which (through ignorance) they appear.”

So, when this apparent play starts, this play of phenomena starts, then all these possibilities that we know something… [are here]. We talked about it right in the beginning. There can be a perceptual knowing, there can be a conceptual knowing, there can be an emotional sensation of knowing; all of this knowing of content appears when this appearance of the waking state, the phenomenal state comes. In reality, all of these arise out of I: the pure Knowingness Itself, the pure Awareness Itself.

So, if this kind of knowledge (“the knowledge, the knower and the knowable”) we apply to this phenomenal play, then the ultimate truth that we are talking about cannot be obtained through this kind of knowledge. At best, this kind of knowledge can only point us to look beyond this.

[2.17] “I am unbounded Awareness. Only in imagination do I have limits. Reflecting on this, I abide in the Absolute.”

We have discussed this enough. We don’t need to elaborate.

[2.18] “I am neither free nor bound. The illusion of such things has fallen into disbelief. Though I contain creation, it has no substance.”

Yesterday, we were talking about this. “…neither free nor bound. The illusion of such things has fallen into disbelief.” We were saying that the mind knows only positions; opposites. Either I know something or I don’t know, either I am the doer or I am not the doer, either I am bound or I am free. You see? These are the opposite concepts. Either I am worldly or I am spiritual. Everything works like this. So, we can come to this…, (if we speaking with integrity) we can only come to this through our recognition. We cannot come to this mentally; that I am neither the doer nor am I the non-doer. Because I am not that which would have been the doer or the non-doer. I am not that.

Like Guruji [Mooji] says, the one who starts the search is also at the end eaten up by the search itself. You see? So, this one, this seeker does not finish the journey; he is finished by the journey. So, the seeker does not become the finder. You will not go from being the seeker into an enlightened person. There is no such thing as an enlightened person; just the recognition that there is no person. Then that aspect of Consciousness plays in that way where that belief in individuality has fallen away. What did the Sage say? “…fallen into disbelief.”

“I am neither free nor bound. The illusion of such things has fallen into disbelief.” The illusion of this play of opposites, the illusion of having an individual position; this comes into disbelief. And you’ll notice that everything that the mind is saying is trying to sell you a reference point to yourself, a position about yourself. And once we start to see this, then all the needless debates, the needless arguments, the needless position-taking it just falls into disbelief. You can do it for fun, if there’s no seriousness about it. Because truly you come to this position where you see that ‘I cannot speak anything that is really true, because there’s nothing true in that way in the phenomenal realm at all’. All our positions, which the ego has been using as crutches, then get thrown away. They fall into disbelief.

And this is very beautiful, because what is the meaning of ‘thrown away’? Not something physically has to be done, nothing has to happen; just it falls into disbelief. That which we falsely believed ourself to be, that has fallen into disbelief.

Q: [Inaudible]

A: The belief itself is the pretense. The belief is what? The power of Consciousness to pretend that it is something limited in some way. The power of belief itself is that; the power to identify with the mind. That power of the unlimited Consciousness. Why does it have this power? Because the mind can come and say ‘It was so much easier when just this power itself was not there’. But That which is everything must also contain everything; including the power to believe that which is less than everything. Everything is contained in this phenomenal realm.

That is also the answer for …, many people have questions like ‘Why do bad things happen to good people?’ and ‘Why is there evil in this world?’ Because this is the representation of everything. It is not the representation of just an aspect. That’s why every flavor is available here; every aspect of Consciousness is existing here.

[2.19] “Having seen for certain that this universe and body is without form or substance, I am revealed as Awareness alone. Imagination has no place here.”

“…has no place here” only means the same thing that he said earlier; it does not get belief…, that my imagined limitation, my apparent appearance as a limited entity does not apply to the reality which I’ve discovered …, (through the pointings of Ashtavakra, Janaka is reporting).