BOOKS BY ANANTA Welcome to Satsang with Ananta

What we talk about, what Bhagavan [Ramana Maharshi] has pointed to (and Adi Shankara) is that there is no distinction between what we are and this supreme Self, the Brahman; but there seems to be this play of this appearance called Maya…, and Brahman himself or itself is choosing to play this way. And we have said very simply that to dispose of the mind is to come to this moksha or liberation, which is just a release of the false.

To recognize the Truth we don’t need the mind. To be free from our conditioning we don’t need the mind. But most of the traditional paths of Advaita Vedanta go with this idea, with this sense that to dispose of the mind is easier said than done. Sometimes I also feel that. When I see that what should be so simple and obvious doesn’t seem to be that simple and obvious and when I look back at the play of the seeker here, I recognize that it is not how it sounds: ‘Just keep the mind away and it is done’. For some, it could be, but usually it doesn’t play like that.

So most of the traditional Advaitans prescribe various methods and sadhanas to get to this point. But with Bhagavan, with Papaji (mostly with Papaji) it started that…, because with Bhagavan actually it was a lot of inquiry, a lot of contemplation. He used to stress on it a lot. In spite of saying that ‘There is nothing to do because you are the Self’ he recognized that most don’t seem to see that as simply as it is said. So he used to prescribe a lot of inquiry and sitting in quiet contemplation. With Papaji, he was very, very radical. At times and he would just say ‘Forget about all practices, just leave everything; and now’.

There is great beauty in that directness, great joy in that. But also sometimes I feel like it is good to go back to the roots of what we are sharing. Go back to what the sages have also said in the past and to look at what they have prescribed. When it seems like to dispose of this mind is beyond us and it seems like all of this world of suffering is too strong, then it’s good to sometimes go back into these traditional pointings like the Ashtavakra Gita or what the other sages of Advaita Vedanta have said.

So, the Truth is that there is no separation. We are this one Self and only the mind convinces us otherwise. That’s why the sages have said ‘As long as mind continues to get relevance, meaning and belief from us, we must find ways to let go of this. And all the sages have prescribed different ways but in Advaita some things are very, very common.

One is to clearly note the distinction between that which is eternal and that which is passing, which is ephemeral. So, what is being said is that we must come to this point by now, where we must have this distinction between that which is passing and that which is eternal or timeless, that which is fleeting and that which is real. And we must not get attached to that which is passing.

Actually only one question you need. Only one question you need ‘Who am I?’ That is all. Just come to some clarity about that. Come to a clarity of Seeing about this one and all other questions get answered. Can it be this simple? Everything else that we speak about in satsang is in service to this inquiry.

At some level we can say that its all been one big misunderstanding. But even that [a misunderstanding] it has not been; it has all been one big play. This sticky idea that I could be something which is contained inside this body, that I could be something which is a combination of this body and this mind; there is no such combination. There is no such thing as the body/mind complex, it is just a conceptual idea. The body is a set of energies appearing in this form, and our mind, our thoughts are a set of energies which are also appearing and disappearing. There is no entity which is the owner of either of these.

So get used to the point that your name points to nothing; your name points to nothing. And Your true name (which is the Self) points to no-thing; of which all things come and go.

Just the other day I was saying that ‘Ananta is dead’. But more accurate it would be to say ‘That it never existed, this one (Ananta, whatever this name was identified with here) really had no tangible existence’.

It is like the player of the video game: Suppose you are playing Super Mario Brothers or something, and you are the player of this game, or the witness of this game, and yet you have the power to identify and you played as if you are Mario.

Now for a long time we have played ‘as if’ we are (whatever your name is). But now it is time to recognize the truth of what we are. You are not just a bungle of bits and bites, not just a bundle of atoms and molecules, flesh and blood. You are much beyond that, so much beyond that that you cannot fathom it mentally. Even the largest space that you can imagine, the most infinite time that you imagine is nothing for the reality of who You are. And this question is all that is needed ‘Who am I?’ And the tip I want to give you is that: don’t settle for any answer. No matter how true the answer might sound, don’t settle for it.

You see, the answer is not the answer. When you realize what these words mean, then know that you are coming close to true insight, to true Self-recognition. So, reject all answers because answers are only conceptual.

The other day in my house, we read a story which was very nice and describes this entire game actually and the game of satsang, so I feel to read this story to you. It is a story from the *Yoga Vasistha, from a book called Vasistha’s Yoga by Swami Venkatesananda.

It is The Story of the Great Forest [Ch. 3, verse 98-99]

Sage Vasistha is speaking, and I’ll start from the middle.

Vasistha says: “In this connection there is the following legend which I heard from the creator Brahma himself. Listen to it attentively:

There was a great forest, so large that millions of square miles were like the space within an atom, in it. In it there was just one person who had a thousand arms and limbs. He was forever restless. He had a mace in his hand with which he beat himself and, afraid of the beating, he ran away in panic. He fell into a blind well. He came out of it, again beat himself and again ran away in panic, this time into a forest. He came out of it, again beat himself and again ran away in panic, this time into a banana grove.

Though there was no other being to fear, he wept and cried aloud in fear. He kept running as before, beating himself as before.I witnessed all this intuitively and with the power of my will I restrained him for a moment. I asked him, “Who are you?” But, he was sorely distressed and called me his enemy and wept aloud and then laughed aloud. Then he began to abandon his body; limb by limb.

Immediately after this, I saw another person running like the first one, beating himself, weeping and wailing. When I similarly restrained him, he began to abuse me and ran away intent on his own way of life. Like this, I came across several persons. Some listened to my words and abandoning their previous way of life became enlightened. Some others ignored me or even held me in contempt. Some others even refused to come out of the blind well or the dense forest.

Vasistha continued:

O Rama, this great forest is not far away, nor is that strange man in a strange land! This world itself is the forest. It is a great void; but this void is seen only in the light of enquiry. This light of enquiry is the ‘I’ in the parable. This wisdom is accepted by some and rejected by others, who continue to suffer. They who accept it are enlightened.

The person with thousands of arms is the mind with countless manifestations. This mind punishes itself by its own latent tendencies and restlessly wanders in this world.The blind well in the story is hell and the banana grove is heaven. The dense forest of thorny bush is the life of a worldly man, with the numerous thorns of wife, children, wealth, etc. hurting him all the time. The mind now wanders into hell, now into heaven and now into the world of human beings.

Even when the light of wisdom shines on the life of the deluded mind, it foolishly rejects it, considering that that wisdom is its enemy. Then it weeps and wails in distress. Sometimes, it experiences an imperfect awakening, and it renounces the pleasures of the world without proper understanding. Such renunciation itself proves to be a great source of sorrow. But, when such renunciation arises out of the fullness of understanding, of wisdom born of enquiry into the nature of the mind, the renunciation leads to supreme bliss. Such a mind may even look at its own past notions of pleasure with puzzlement.

Just as the limbs of the person as they were cutaway fell down and disappeared, the latent tendencies of the person who wisely renounces the world also vanish from the mind. Behold the play of ignorance! which makes one hurt oneself out of one’s own volition; and which makes one run hither and thither in meaningless panic.

Though the light of self-knowledge shines in every heart, yet one wanders in this world driven by one’s own latent desires.”

~

So, how long will we be this thousand handed, thousand limbed creature; or pretend to be this one? The Sage asked the question ‘Who are you? What are you running from?’ Our own ideas, our own delusions are all that can seemingly hurt us.

If you don’t go with your thoughts and your feelings and you check right now, just in pure inquiry ‘Who am I?’ without settling for an answer…, whatever you are witnessing, find out who is the witness and whether that witness can be witnessed.

Who is aware of the perceiver?

Who is aware of your Presence?

Is it not you?

What does this ‘I’ look like?

Don’t visualize, look.

Don’t think, look.

Don’t feel, just look.

Whatever might be happening, whatever is being experienced, you are aware of it. And this awareness is unhurt, unconcerned actually. And every time you buy a thought from this mind, you are picking up the ‘mace’ to hurt yourself [refers to story just read] to play the game of suffering.

If you were dead, what suffering could you have? And you are beyond dead; the identity never actually lived. What concerns do you have now that you are dead? [Laughter] Who has this concern? Who has this concern? [Hysterical laughter]

The one that is the presumed owner of this life, who says ‘This is my life, this is the way I want to live my life, this is how I am’ is just a big presumption. I am telling you that you are the Witness of this game and you say that ‘I am Mario’. [Mario is a gaming character in video games]

Many times we use this term ‘I am the Unborn’. If this is your experience then whose life is this? If we cannot even find out whose life it is then what to say about our problems and our concerns and our relationships? So, in this game, the wonder would be whether you check this for yourself, whether you see this for yourself, or whether you run from this; whether you run from this quietly or you run from this kicking and screaming.

The Sage says ‘Some heard me. They looked at this question ‘Who are you’ and all the limbs (all the conditionings, the related tendencies), they were allowed to drop off’. There was another who felt like the Sage was attacking him. So all these possibilities exist in the play. And the sages have said ‘As long as we have this presumption of choice, let’s make the choice to inquire’.  And one day it will be seen automatically that even this seeming-choice was part of the play of the one Consciousness itself. Until then, while there is still a semblance of doership, check out who you are. No other action, no other ritual, no other practice is needed. Ask yourself ‘Who am I?’ and don’t proclaim any answer. Let your Master make that proclamation for you. Remain empty of all ideas.

Is that which we claim ourselves to be…, can it remain without thoughts? Can it survive? Whatever separation you might believe has happened, it needs the nourishment of your next thought to sustain this wrong belief. So use the inquiry ‘Who am I?’ to come to the truth of the recognition of who you are and simply allow all these concepts, thoughts and ideas to come and go so that you don’t pick up any fresh conditioning. Allow these ‘arms’ to fall off. Many times what we are doing is that the old ‘arms’ are falling off and we are building new ones; the spiritual arms. Allow all of them to fall off. Remain empty.

These words are coming; I do not know if they are statistically accurate or not but they are coming so I will say them: No Master has ever become a Master by trying to become a Master. All Sages are only an expression of this Emptiness, of this Openness.

Allow all your intentions, admissions, aversions, desires. Allow this moment to dissolve all of them. Right now they are gone. If you pick on a fruit from this false tree of knowledge called the mind, right now the separation will start to seem real again.

This is the only game that is being played. You experience freedom every moment, right now. But you buy the story of bondage. You buy the story of ‘me’. Stop writing this story; leave the chapter mid-way, leave the page empty.

There is no ‘but’ after ‘I am Awareness’. You are the one solitary Witness of all that is; no ‘ifs’ or ‘buts’…, nothing at all. The ‘I’ that can be picked up is not the real ‘I’.

~ ~ ~

*From: Vasistha’s Yoga by Swami Venkatesananda

STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK PRESS

Find out the one who wakes up; what is that?

There is a beautiful encounter with Papaji, my Master’s Master, and he asked someone the same question: ‘What wakes up? What wakes up?’ and the response comes from the other side that ‘It is I’.

‘I’ wakes up; that is the answer. It might not be totally accurate but it’s okay. ‘I’ wakes up. Then Papaji says ‘Don’t touch that ‘I’ that wakes up. If you don’t touch the ‘I’ that wakes up, then what remains?’ This is very important; to see That to which no state applies, That which did not go to sleep, That which did not wake up.

For an instant, not touching this ‘I’ that wakes up, what is it that remains? What was here prior to waking up? What was here after going to sleep? Don’t visualize, just for an instant don’t touch the ‘I’ that wakes up. That which remains is that the authentic Self, the ‘I’ (true ‘I’). Find out.

And as you discover yourSelf, you will find that all of this play of the world and responsibilities and rules is a beautiful game. For the enjoyment of Consciousness, this leela has been played. Then this becomes the Krishna leela and you are the Krishna; Krishna Consciousness, Christ Consciousness (whichever term you like to use). If there is a God, it is You. Many of you are ripe enough to hear these words. There is no God outside of You, there is no God separate from You; and ultimately you can even say that even God is My play.

How to come to this discovery? Just this simple question: ‘Who am I?’ Find the ‘I’, find the ‘I’. Don’t distract yourself from anything. Don’t distract yourself with anything. Find the ‘I’. The world will be fine, the world will be what it is. For some time your only job, your only function is to find the ‘I’. Who are you? Even as energy is moving, some energetic experiences are happening, find out if the witness of that is changing, is moving.

Can it be that this simple question ‘Who am I?’ can reveal the mysteries of this universe and reveal to you the substance of which this universe is made, reveal to you all this play of waking, dream, sleep and turiya?

Go to your deepest depths.

Don’t settle for anything on the surface.

What is on the surface?

This apparent universe moving about.

Go deeper than that.

Where do you come?

You come to this body.

So, the sensations of this body; go deeper than those.

Where do you come to?

You will find this realm where there are these energy constructs called thoughts and emotions. For the moment let us bundle all of that in one label called the ‘mind’.

Go deeper than that.

What is deeper than that?

You come to the experience of your own Presence, your own existence, the sense that ‘I Am’. This Consciousness, this Being is not suffering. It is not separate, it is not an individual. Being is just being, shining with Its own Light.

And notice that in all of these levels, we did not come across something called a person. There never was a person here, and never will be.

That is the end of all suffering, the end of all concepts which are ultimately false.

Anything that we say after “I am” is just a story.

Experience yourselves, taste yourselves as this Beingness itself.

Can you stop being?

Allow your mind, attention, everything to dissolve in this, to drown in this.

Stay with what I am pointing; don’t go here and there.

Allow everything that is appearing to dissolve within your Being.

Can we go even deeper than this?

What witnesses even this Presence, this Beingness?

This Source of this universe is also witnessed by what?

By who?

Just look. Don’t conclude anything, just look.

Who witnesses your existence?

Is it not you?

Who else is here besides you to witness your existence?

Is the fact of your existence second hand report?

Is it a news report?

Is it a social media report?

Or is it your direct experience right now?

This Witness, is it empty or full?

Is it bound or free?

Is there anything that we can truly say about This One?

You are That.

And ‘You are That’ and ‘I am That’ is a pointer for who?

Your own Being; to come to the recognition of Itself.

For your sense of existence, Consciousness, to recognize Its own source which is undeniable.

If you follow these words, you cannot miss the Truth.

But if you are trying to follow two voices at the same time then you continue to prolong your journey. The voice which you hear in satsang and the voice which is the voice of your mind; also telling you at the same time what to do. Also sitting and making a list saying ‘Yes, this is good. This is not so good. This I agree with. This I don’t’. Then it says ‘This is it. No, no, this I don’t see’. Throw away this one. It is only rubbish. Then you will find that the Truth is so pristinely simple and obvious. And you find that you only suffer your ideas. You only, only, only ever suffer your ideas. You are not suffering the world; no matter who is elected president. [Chuckles] You truly are not suffering the world, you are suffering your ideas of what the world should be, presuming that this tiny mind knows better than the Supreme Intelligence Itself (which is the one doer and one experiencer).

What really happens when the rubber hits the road? Does all our Advaita go out the window; all our openness, acceptance, love, non-separation? Many times it can happen like this. That is the play of this life. And as long as these ‘buttons’ can be pressed in your projection of this world, they will be pressed. There is no getting around that. That which is not transcended will keep showing up over and over again.

Like the game we played at the retreat when I asked everyone to pick between the three choices:

1. I am Awareness, but… [Fill in the blank]
2. I am Consciousness, but… [Fill in the blank] or
3. I don’t see how I am either of these because… [Fill in the blank]

And many of you saw clearly that whatever was after the ‘but’ was just a silly lie, or just an idea.

What are these conditions that we can’t drop? Just look for the conditions that you refuse to drop and you will find the causes of all of your seeming suffering. Because events are just events. What is happening is just happening. Based on conditioning, some can celebrate that same event and some can mourn the same event. What is the true position? The true position is that I-as- Awareness am untouched by this play. And yet the movie, the play, can be watched with a sense of wonder, with a sense of joy; joy even in the tears, joy even in the momentary grief. Some movies are comedies and some are tragedies, but you watch them for our joy. So, the dropping of our conditionings are the dropping of these ‘limbs from this thousand-handed monster’ called the mind. [Referring to a story he had read from Yoga Vasistha]

What is a tendency, a condition? It is to believe the idea. And right now you can be free of all of them. Do you realize the immensity of this, I wonder how many of you do?

This moment when it comes, it dissolves all of our conditioning. Yet there is a quick access (way) to get all of it back. This moment NOW, you are free from all of your conditioning; you cannot even tell me your name, your life, your story. This moment Now …, Now …, Now …, Now. Do you realize how immense that is? There is no bondage Here Now.

But the way we took quick access (as Guruji [Mooji] says: to log in) is just to believe your next thought. Just to give meaning to the meaningless, relevance to the irrelevant. And what do you get? Not just this one thought with one aspect of the conditioning, you get the entire tree of conditioning back. You pull at a branch or pull at a leaf and it seems like the whole ‘person’ is back here with the thousand hands with maces in each hand, ready to hit yourself.

But Now again, over! Over. And Now again, you pick up. And Now again, over. So, it is this ‘picking up’ which is being dropped.

There are potentially two voices you can hear. One is that of the mind and the second is your intuitive Presence. Isn’t it? And I have told you the distinction between those two. If that voice is accompanied by love, peace (not wanting something, it is not in a rush for an outcome) then you can trust that voice to be your intuitive Presence.

But if that voice is always ‘What’s in it for me? What’s in it for me? What is this for?’ …, if you ask that voice and you find that there is something in this for ‘me’ then that is the voice of the mind.

Q: What is there is a voice that lies in-between the two. It is neither this mind nor that?

A: So, while it is still not clear, it is best to just let it go.

Ashtavakra said ‘The mind is complex, let it go’. Try it. [Giggles] And I know you tried it.

The pointing ‘Don’t believe your next thought’ is not a strategy. A strategy means that you still want something from this. That means that our starting premise is that there is still a ‘me’ here who will now use this pointing to become free from this, become free from suffering; [will use] anything. You see? But that is not the way to start.

The way to start is to see what I truly am right now. Is there a ‘you’ [her name]? There is an appearance of one body; there are these appearances of these thoughts. Who is the witness to them?

There seems to be a sense of Presence, which is primal to my Existence, which IS my Existence itself. Who is the witness even of that? Who is aware even of that? Is it not ‘I’?

So, once you see like this, once we put our inquiry simply just to check ‘Who is this that witnesses all of this?’ you find that ‘I am actually This, without attributes, with no concern about how life is moving, with no real worry about what is happening on this screen where this movie is playing out’.

Once we see this for ourselves, then sometimes the question arises ‘How did I ever delude myself? How did I ever delude myself to be contained within this bucket of flesh and blood?’ And the answer to that question is only this: ‘By believing my thoughts’.

Nothing else is telling you that you are contained. Nothing else is telling you that you are separate. It is only this mind; and the mind which is (the same mind) seemingly-speaking through the mouth of apparent others. It is only the mind.

There is no separation right now, unless we label something, unless we interpret or judge something. So, once we start from that perspective to see what I really am right now…, so how do I?

If you flip the question and say ‘Okay, now I am just This’ then the mind will come and say ‘It’s so plain’. [So then Consciousness says] ‘Let me delude myself and say I am contained within this body and I am the subject of what the mind speaks. So, how will I make this delusion seem real? There is only one way to do this…, [that is] to believe my thoughts’.

There is no other way to delude yourself. But if you refuse to, at least for sometime, then you will see that this body is moving on its own, just like these words are coming out on their own. I know that the mind can come and say ‘You said this, maybe you should have said that’. It can still say these kind of things but it has no power. You see? It just comes and goes. Because there is no ‘you’ which is saying these words; they are just appearing.

Everything has always been like this. It is not that ever since the starting of sharing of satsang these words have just appeared. It has always been that way. But the mind has tried to keep up with that in the past: ‘You should have not done this or should have done this, look at what you did, look at what another did’. This doership has been a false idea, a fancy idea. This body has been moving, this mouth has been moving, these hands have been moving on their own. Just like the movement of thoughts happen on its own.

Many times (when we have initially come to Satsang) we also came with the idea that ‘I am thinking’. Is it true? …. ‘I am thinking this, I have so many negative thoughts, ‘I am just thinking this’.

So, then we just look and check: How are you thinking? How can you creating you next thought? ‘I can create my next thought’. Then we look, and you see that it just arises. The thought is just arising. We cannot predict it. To predict it we have to wait for the thought itself to come. It is just arising. In the same way our actions are also just arising. All these words are just arising. Everything has always been moving on its own.

Just like an ocean, and the waves which seem to come and dissolve in that ocean. But now the difference is that there is the power of the ocean to believe itself to be a wave. What is that power? The power of belief. The power of identity.

So, that which is the Supreme Lord is now playing the game of believing itself to be an individual entity. God pretending to be a person is ‘I’ believing my next thought.

This game God is playing for Its own enjoyment. And this game that It is playing (also the game of coming out of the delusion itself) is also for Its own enjoyment. That is all that is going on.

So, if you were to somehow drop the story, drop the past, drop our ideas of ‘What happened to me?’ …, because even that is just made up basically. If there were two of you…, even if you were twins and you went through the same experiences. If you speak to the twins, both twins…, (I am married to one of two twins. You will see that they could have gone through the same experiences in childhood but one will have a very clear idea that ‘This is what happened that day when we were young at the dining table’ or anything. And the other one will have a different idea). But we are so convinced that ‘This is what it was! This is what happened to me! This is what this one said!’ It is just previous chapters from the stories. And mostly we are just writing our interpretation of what is happening; coming from the mind, into our storybook.

So when we stop accessing this kind of mental, conceptual stories then now you will find that life is so full of freshness and wonder and joy.

In our story, what do we want? We want the same thing [wonder, freshness, joy] but we want them on our terms, we want them with our ideas: ‘Okay, this is what happened, this is what I did and therefore I got all of these things’.

But Right Now, what is missing? Truly what is missing Right Now…, before you think about it?

If you notice, when I say ‘Right Now, what is missing?’ many of us have this impulse first to go to the mind and say ‘Okay, what is missing…, what?’

But even before that, if we just see, if we just look, there is no such thing as lack actually. There is no such thing as bondage and therefore there is no such thing as Freedom.

Actually all the trouble seems to come from just this attraction to a story, because when we find this stillness, when we find this peace which is Here Now, this emptiness which is Here Now, something still is attracted to the idea of ‘But what about my story? Where is it going? Can I write the chapter on enlightenment now?’ [Laughs] It will say ‘Okay, is this what is happening to me? The freedom?’ It wants some glorious ending to this story about nothing. Because peace, Freedom, Awareness, the Self; all of it is just Here Now, already. Undeniably for some of you who have been in Satsang, it is so clear that ‘What I am must be here. The reality of who I am is not coming and going’.

So, what must we be chasing? Whatever the identity is (seeker identity, the one who wants freedom) what is that chasing? Something that is presumably going to come in the future; that next bowl of milk for the pretend cat that we presume our self to be. But really it is just Now, the Truth is here Now. That is why it is invaluable. If it came later then it would be another appearance, which by definition just comes and goes.

For the Truth to be True it must already be here. I know I make this point often but many times we don’t hear it. Many times we don’t hear it that the Truth (we are looking for) is before we even start looking. It has always been here. Before we can decide our next step, our next move, our next words, our next thoughts, there is the Truth. It is what we are. It is never something that we will become.

There is no such thing as an enlightened person. We use the term to signify that which is beyond the person idea; to signify who is not believing themselves to be this non-existent person. So sometimes conversationally we can say these things. But what does it really mean? Like yesterday I was saying, it means that that which we believed our self to be is dead. Actually it is Seen that (because death can seem like a morose term) it is just Seen that it was never alive, it was never real in the first place.

So, whatever your name is, know that that one was never alive; it was just a label for nothing. At least for the body we can say ‘Okay, these set of atoms and molecules appearing energetically, this is the body. So, is this the name for the body? No. It is the name for the mind. And the mind is so frivolous; when there is a thought there is mind, when there is no thought there is no mind. So we have made a conceptual entity where no real entity exists; then we call it the body/mind complex, the body/mind entity. There is no such entity! There is nobody which is the body/mind.

Once we see this; we see that one which never existed can never be Me in reality. That’s all that is being pointed to actually; that the false never existed, and the True has always been here. That which Witnesses all of this play is not coming and going. That which Witnesses the states coming and going, that one is not coming and going…, because it is not a state. And You are That.

So the story.., now the problem is what? That One (which is not coming and going, which is the Witness of all of these states) has no story. So, then the mind comes and says (because this is the story engine, like the gaming engine, we are the story engine) it’s just saying ‘But, so what? How does it help me? If I’m just this solitary Witness which has no attributes’… You see? ‘So, what happened?’ And the asking of that ‘What happened?’ means ‘What is next on the next page of the story?’

That’s why when I say that ‘This moment could be the end of your story’ (your novel finishes now, the story of ‘me’ comes to an end now) would you truly be okay with that? And many of you I know are okay with that. There’s just some prior magnetism that the story held for you which is still playing out. Maybe that is what is played out even after the Truth is seen; just some remnants of prior magnetism to the prior story.

Now what happens is that many times we want to include the Master as part of our spiritual story. You see ‘I have a spiritual life, I have a work life, I have a parenting life, I have this…’ And one aspect of my story is this spiritual life in which ‘I want to have the best Master’ as part of my story ‘because I am so special I must have the best that is out there’. [Laughs] Isn’t it? So, you say ‘Okay, this one I didn’t like, this one I liked’. So then we have this, where the Master becomes part of our seeming-story.

If we are lucky then we find someone who can just show us what we really are and has no interest in our story. So, then you just find that ‘Okay, I just wanted it in that aspect of my life for my Master to be this way so that it’s a nice inclusion in my overall book that I am writing about myself’. Now this Master doesn’t want that; he wants you to drop everything. Every chapter he is saying ‘Drop it, forget about it, let it just be on its own, everything is just happening. Who is that story for? Who are you?’ He is always poking with these kind of questions.

Now there are some who will say ‘Okay, yes, this one is not just a chapter of my story and I’m okay with the end of my story’. And there are some saying ‘No, now he’s asking for too much. Now he’s asking for too much; give me this also, give me this also, give me this also’. And some are just oscillating between these two. Because all that I’m saying is ‘Don’t buy what your mind is selling’.

The recognition of the Truth is not difficult. Only what seems difficult is to drop our ideas about ourself.  So what I say ‘Don’t believe you next thought’ there is so much resistance that comes to this simple pointing. ‘Does it really work? I tried it but belief goes automatically’. All kinds of stuff will come. But it is actually very simple. It’s like somebody is standing in front of you and says ‘Oh, you are actually from Mars’. Do you have the power to believe or not believe them? You do.

Reading from and Commenting on The Ashtavakra Gita [10.1-11.8]

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Chapter 10, [Quietude] Ashtavakra said:

“Give up desire, which is the enemy.” [Chuckles]

“Give up prosperity, which is born of mischief and good works. Be indifferent.” Again, remember he is talking to a king. So ‘Give up prosperity’ means give up the idea of owning, the idea of ownership; give up the idea that some material possession will give you eternal happiness or peace because all that is material is coming and going. So, in chasing theses appearances we lose this sense of serenity and openness. [Repeats]  “Give up desire, which is the enemy. Give up prosperity, which is born of mischief and good works. Be indifferent.”

“Look upon friends, lands, wealth, houses, wives, gifts and all apparent good fortune as a passing show, as a dream lasting three to five days.” [Chuckles] [Repeats] “Look upon friends, lands, wealth, houses, wives, gifts…’ (so it becomes clear he is talking to a king) “…and all apparent good fortune as a passing show, as a dream lasting three to five days.” [Chuckles]

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

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

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

“Attached as you have been to kingdoms, sons, wives, bodies, pleasures, life after life, still they are now lost forever.” [Repeats] Attached as you have been to kingdoms, sons, wives, bodies, pleasures life after life, still where are they now? They are lost forever.’

“Prosperity, pleasure, pious deeds; Enough!” [Chuckles] [Repeats] “Prosperity, pleasure, pious deeds; Enough! In the dreary forest of the world, the mind finds no rest.” Even if you engage yourself in these activities (prosperity, pleasure, pious deeds) the mind does not find rest.

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

Any arguments, please go to Ashtavakra. [Laughs]

Chapter 11 [Wisdom] Ashtavakra said:

“Existence, non-existence, change; this is the nature of things.” Existence, non-existence, and change, we keep talking about this changeful realm; ‘This is the nature of things. “Realizing this, stillness, serenity and bliss naturally follow.” So, to see that this realm of appearances is constantly changing, to see that ‘I am the witness of these’ then you find that stillness, serenity and bliss naturally follow.

“One who knows for certain that ‘Self creates All and is alone’ becomes still, desireless, unattached.” [Repeats]  “One who knows for certain that I the Self creates All” (and is all there is, is the Only One) “… becomes still, desireless and unattached.”

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

“One who knows for certain that birth and death, happiness and misery, come and go in obedience to destiny, sees nothing to accomplish.” [Repeats]  “One who knows for certain that birth and death, happiness and misery, come and go in obedience to destiny, sees nothing to accomplish.”

“He engages in non-action, and in action remains unattached.” He engages in non-action means he no longer considering himself to be the doer, dropping of doership, then the action (when the action does happen) that one remains unattached.

“One who has realized that only by caring is misery caused in the world becomes free, happy, serene, desireless.” [Repeats]  “One who has realized that only by caring is misery caused in the world becomes free, happy, serene and desireless.”

As I was posting these verses for contemplation, I realized that the term ‘caring’ can lead to some trouble [Chuckling] but some of you had put up very beautiful answers to this. ‘Caring’ means just the attachment. Only when we are attached to something, or to some outcome, or to some object in this realm does it have some potential to cause suffering. So, caring is not the spontaneous compassion which can come, the spontaneous empathy which can come, the spontaneous love which can arise. It does not mean that caring. It means to be attached to something phenomenal in the world is misery.

“I am not the body, nor is the body my possession.” Many of us have this idea when you say ‘I have this body. My head is paining. My hand is writing’. So, (although it is ultimately true if you are referring to yourself as Consciousness) but most of live in this belief that there is a person who is either the body or at least he is the owner of this body.

So, he is says: “I am not the body nor is the body my possession. I am Awareness itself. Only one who realizes this for certain has no memory” (meaning ‘inclination’ or ‘no concern’) “…of things done or left undone. There is only the Absolute.”

“From Brahma to the last blade of grass; I alone exist.”

‘From Brahma’ who is supposed to be the creator; not Brahman. So, there are two terms; many times we get confused between the two.

Brahman means the Absolute Self. Awareness, without attributes.
Brahma is that aspect of Consciousness…, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva…
Okay, a lot of confusing terminology. Let’s see if I can take a minute and explain it.

[BRAHMAN] So, Brahman is the Absolute Self; no attributes.

[ISHWARA] Then is the birth of Consciousness Itself. Some call it Ishwara.

Now, this Consciousness has various aspects in the play; in the appearance.

[BRAHMA] The energetic aspect which is responsible for creation has been given the name:
Lord Brahma, is ‘the creator’.

[VISHNU] The one who is the preserver or maintains this realm, maintains the balance in this realm, this realm of duality made up of all the spectrum of opposites, so Vishnu who is the preserver (the way we describe in our scriptures) his job is to keep this balance of this phenomenal realm. That is ‘the preserver’.

[SHIVA] Then Shiva is (some will call it) ‘the destroyer’. Actually I’m not so attracted to that idea. It’s more that when there is enough of this play, it is time to dissolve ALL of this (the end of phenomenal experiencing) the energetic aspect which is responsible for that aspect is Shiva (Shambo, MahaDev; there are many, many names).

[SHIVA, SHAKTI] Now, what can also be confusing is that there is another representation, which is that Shiva is the Awareness (attributeless Awareness) and Parvati or Shakti or Durga Devi, this is the Consciousness.

So, sometimes when we say ‘Shiva’ (I noticed that there was some confusion on Facebook about the term ‘Shiva’) sometimes when we say ‘Shiva’ we are referring to this pure, attributeless Awareness. And other times when we’re referring to Shiva, we’re referring to that which is ‘the dissolver’ or the one responsible for the dissolution of this realm.

So, Ashtavakra says, “From Brahma to the last blade of grass; I alone exist. One who knows this for certain becomes immaculate, serene, unconflicted. Attainment has no meaning.” For them.

“One who knows for certain that this manifold and wonderful universe is nothing becomes desireless Awareness and abides in the stillness of No-thing.” [Repeats] “One who knows for certain that this manifold and wonderful universe is nothing becomes desireless Awareness and abides in the stillness of No-thing.”

Reading from and Commenting on The Ashtavakra Gita [9.1-9.8]

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Chapter 9: Detachment. Ashtavakra said:

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

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

[9.3] “Seeing all things as threefold suffering, the sage becomes still.”

Threefold suffering means what? Let’s see what could it mean. You can feel like the body is suffering, one can be the body level suffering. Second can be this suffering felt because of some emotions which are coming up: guilt, regret, remorse. The third can be mental suffering; the mind is saying you are unworthy, you are never getting your freedom. So, this kind of suffering. Actually all of them rely on this mind interpretation but when the Sage is saying threefold suffering, he is talking about generically how different types of suffering can be experienced.

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

Sometimes these words might seem too strong to you. It might seem like we are putting the world down or something. But maybe sometimes (because Janaka was a king) maybe he had to hear these words from Ashtavakra because sometimes when our attachment to something is high or the feeling of meaning in something is high, then Sages have to use strong words to neutralize that to come to our openness, to our neutralness.

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

To be content with what comes (is what we are talking about yesterday) is that in this openness, in this allowing, everything is allowed to be just what it is. Now sages like Buddha, now Ashtavakra, have used their term perfection for this but it is not our mind’s idea of perfection. It is just to See: what is, just is. Because sometimes when we use the word perfect or perfection, there can be the sense that once I am just allowing then everything should become…, like my Master [Mooji] said, we have this expectation that everything will become chocolate flavored, everything will just become goodie, goodie and nice, nice. It doesn’t have to be like that. In this openness the play of the world can continue; sometimes sublime, sometimes terrible. But to see it as just what it is, just an appearance which is coming and going, that seeing is perfection.

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

You see? So, ultimately you have to drop even all this; all the words, all the pointings, everything to be dropped and to just remain empty, open, still. As Bhagavan [Ramana Maharshi] said to throw away the thorn at the end; but remember not to throw it away at the beginning.

This reminds me of a point, we must stop (and it’s not a rule or something, it’s my advice) we must stop all this Facebook debating about Advaita and saying ‘You are right, I am wrong’. It is not helpful at all. The Sage has said ‘The greatest seers, saints and yogis, themselves they agreed on very little’. So, seeing this, who could not become indifferent to this? Forget it. Everybody is using concepts to describe their experience and unless someone has come to you and said ‘Please share with me, what is the truth as you see it; you don’t have to go down knocking, barging down people’s doors and tell them that what they are thinking is wrong, what their concepts are is wrong. We don’t know anything. So, become indifferent to any concept that we might have. Become free from this.

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

So what is the test of a true teacher? One who has come to the true recognition and achieved serenity; who has come to this space of openness, allowing. So what is the Sage saying? Forget about all these words and who is saying which concept. Nobody, not even the greatest sages have not agreed with each other in the past. Therefore in the mind of the seeker the question can come ‘Then what am I supposed to do?’ So the sage says find this one. ‘One who through worldly indifference, through serenity and reason sees his true nature and escapes illusion. Is he not a true teacher?’

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

Myriad forms? This realm of appearances that we speak about. What is the source of these? What is the pristine element, the primordial vibration, the Immaculate Conception? Everything else has phenomena for its parents, everything else has a cause, everything else is an effect. Can we see this? All that is appearing and disappearing is subject to cause and effect. What is That which is the primal cause, the primordial vibration? Stay with That. See for yourself what That is. ‘See the primal element alone. You will be instantly free and abide in the Self.’

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

The last line is very important. He said ‘Desire creates the world, renounce it’. Means what? Our ideas of ‘What I should have. What’s in it for me?’ Renounce this ‘What’s in it for me?’  ‘Renounce desires and you renounce the world.’ All that you need to do is to stop believing this idea ‘What’s in it for me?’ Drop this idea of getting something for this ‘me’. And then he says ‘Now you may live as you are’. What does he mean? That life will continue to flow as it is.

Ananta reads from and Comments on The Ashtavakra Gita [8.1-8.4]

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Chapter 8: Bondage and Liberation. Ashtavakra said:

[8.1] “When the mind desires or grieves things, accepts or rejects things, is pleased or displeased by things, this is bondage.”

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

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

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

That is why the sage Ashtavakra says in Chapter 8, verse 1, “When the mind desires or grieves things, accepts or rejects things, is pleased or is displeased by things, this is bondage.” This disillusion of separation is actually a 3-D system. It’s a 3-D system. For the disillusion of separation the mind uses 3 things:

1. Desire

2. Doership

3. Duality.

Desire is what? ‘What’s in it for me? What’s in it for me?’

Doership is what? ‘What should I do or what should the other have done?’ In these time, there is so much doership. ‘What did everyone do? How could they do such a thing?’

Desire, doership, duality is the sense of separation; me and another. It is constantly telling a story of duality, of separation. If we resist this desire of ‘What’s in it for me, what’s in it for me?’ …, this is doership pretending as if this appearance for the body is in some way linked with this appearance of energies called thoughts. And it is made a presumably a body-mind complex out of these energies and presumed that it has some individual, personal free will.

These appearances are just dancing. The body is just dancing on its own, these thoughts are just dancing on their own. But the story that these thoughts are telling is that there’s one unit called a ‘me’. It’s just doing or not-doing; there’s a set of these ‘units’, this set of individual ‘me’ everywhere which are deciding to do things or not do things. This is doership basically, the idea that there’s an individual doer and this relies on this concept of duality. All of this desire and doership relies on this idea of duality. There’s a ‘me’ and there’s another. There’s ‘me’ and the world. Even when we accept that everything is God…, when we say ‘Oh, God is doing everything’ then very quickly the next question is ‘But why is He doing this to me?’ [Chuckles] If God is doing everything, then there is no ‘me’. The one doer is the one experiencer. Both cannot be true. So in this way, we float between desire, doership and duality and seem to get caught up in this disillusion of personhood.

So what does the Sage mean when he says ‘When the mind desires or grieves things’? He is talking about saying that something should be mine. Then when that ‘mine’ is taken away then it can suffer because of that. ‘It is mine; now it is not there’. This sense of desire and the manifestation of a seeming-loss, then suffering because of it, is the trick of the mind.

Then he says ‘accepts or rejects things’. What does this mean? The rejection is clear. So, I have an aversion to something. ‘This should not come in my appearance. Only these things should come’. And life insures that which we try to avoid keeps showing up. That is a test of our openness.

Or we can say ‘Yes, this is okay, this I want. I want only more of this. Every day should be like this’. We feel like we can create a plan about how life should appear for us. So, ‘When the mind desires or grieves things, accepts or rejects things, is pleased or displeased by things this is bondage’. Why? Because it relies on the presumption that the story of the mind is true; that there is a separate ‘me’ that is a victim to this world, that has some separate control over this world and that is an individual experiencer of this world. Because we accept this premise from the mind, this leads to suffering. And it must be this way. It must be this way because if the lie did not even lead to suffering then we would be just lying all the time. If this lie (that there is separation, that the separation could have happened) if you could just believe this lie then there would be no suffering as a result of it. Then it can seem like the lie in the play can go on for much longer. So, suffering is God’s own alarm clock…, which God has set to look, to wake up and see what is real. What are we still attached to? What delusion of control are we still believing?

‘When the mind desires, accepts or rejects things, is pleased or is displeased by things, that is bondage. When the mind does not desire or grieve, accept or reject, become pleased or displeased, liberation is at hand.’

This is the openness that we’ve been talking about. What is, just IS. It is not good. It is not bad. It just is. So, when the Buddha said ‘Everything is perfect and knowing this you are free’ he did not mean that everything is perfect in a phenomenal way. He just meant that everything is just what it IS. Then if we are open, then we are not bound, then we are not pretending.

If you are open, actually we will see that all of this appearance is a play in My own light, in Your own light as Consciousness. Telling you that you are going to die, you have to hold onto some independence. Know that this is not where the Truth is leading you. Truth is pointing you to Your pristine existence, Your pristine reality.

And as this disillusion of this fear will happen more and more, you will see for yourself that there is nothing to be scared of. When you let go of this branch of the ego, when you let go of this identity, you fly. Not even fly, you see that everything is contained within You. [Silence]

Therefore what to do? Just… let… go.

How to let go? Just remain open. Allow everything to move on its own.

How to resist? How not to be open? Is only to go with your thoughts.

If the mind is attached to any experience, this is bondage. We looked at this. We want only this. [Pointing to the right]. ‘This should be my appearance. What should appear to me should be just like this’. We feel like ‘I can decide’. When the mind is detached from all experience, this is liberation.

Can it be as simple as this? The mind is detached from all experience. Don’t say ‘When all experience ceases to happen’. Experiences can still come and go. When it is not desiring or becoming averse to them; when you are not becoming averse to anything, neither are you saying that ‘I want only this’…., this simple openness is liberation.

So, if some of you are listening carefully you will notice that Janaka had asked two questions leading to liberation. The two questions were:

How is true knowledge to be attained?  And, detachment achieved?

The Sage has now spoken about true knowledge for the first few chapters quite a bit, about Awareness, one solitary witness. Now the Sage is talking about detachment. And both are interlinked. To see the truth of who we are and to not to go with the false conditioning, to remain in our openness, this is liberation. Liberation is only the dropping of this false bondage. Self-recognition is very important for us to let go of that which is false; and to let go of that which is false is very helpful in our Self-recognition.

So in that way it is a virtuous cycle. The more we are recognizing who we are in reality, the more we are able to let go of the false; and the more we are able to let go of the false, we remain in the recognition of who we are.

It works as the vicious cycle also. The more we believe the false about us, it can seem like there are so many resistances and blocks to our recognition of the Self. And the more we get caught up in false ideas (this refusal to look at what is really here) the more we feel a tendency to go with our mind.

So, this same realm, this same universe, the same maya operates as if more and more delusion can happen here. And the same realm can be used to use appearance to look back and see the reality of who we are. Depending on what your true urge is…., (this is very important, depending on what your true urge is) this realm is used in either of these two ways.

So, if your true urge is to continue to play personally, then you can use everything (even in satsang) to make everything seem personal. What I’m saying, how I’m behaving; everything can become personal…, if there’s still urge operating like to play personally.

But if the urge is to let go of this identity then everything, the entire world becomes your satsang. So, if the urge is for specialness, if the urge is for individuality, even satsang will seem like an opportunity for perpetuating this delusion. And if the urge is for freedom, then a marketplace also will point you to the truth of who you are. [Silence]

How to check ‘What is my truest urge?’ My Master [Mooji] asks this question often. He says ‘If there’s one wish that you could have, what would that wish be?’ Sometimes we can say ‘If all (everything) was taken away from you but you found the reality of who you are, would you be okay with that?’

What is the point of this checking? Is not to make anyone feel guilty, it’s just to bring some integrity into our lives. Only that. To shine our light on ‘What is it that I truly want?’ And if truly you are okay with ‘The end of your story’ then the words of the Sage Ashtavakra will not seem like they are attacking you…, and the world will not seem like it is attacking you.

Sometimes what happens here is that…, you know what happens when a sangha grows, various things can happen. Sometimes those who are close to you can sometimes become your attacker, [Laughs] your opponents. So, when that happens, sometimes momentarily it can feel like ‘How can my children be attacking me?’ But then it is very clear ‘What are they attacking? That which they are attacking is dead. There is no Ananta actually. What they are attacking is already dead’. In Hindi there’s phrase which says ‘Mare huae ko kya maroge!’ which means ‘If you are already dead, how will you kill that one? If someone is already dead, how will you kill that one?’

These revelations will come here when momentarily there is some feeling that there’s some hurt or something, [to inquire] ‘So, what is going on? They are attacking (or somebody is attacking presumably) this Ananta but there is no Ananta here’. There is nothing really that I can say about myself or this Ananta with some conviction. So, this body can appear again and again every morning (at least seemingly) and our loved ones and acquaintances can appear but there is really nobody that your name refers to; there is no individual that it is pointing to. It was just a fancy idea. And now most of you are dropping it. So, the entire attempt has been to try and make ‘something’ out of this nothing; trying to bring this never-existed one, this non-existent one to life…, a refusal to see what is True Life. So when my Master [Mooji] says ‘You are life itself’ what does this mean? It means You are this light of this life. You are the light of Consciousness which is bring all of this to life. You are This itself. The false one will never come alive. Life and death do not apply to that One who You really are.

In Verse 4 the Sage says ‘When there is no ‘I’ there is only liberation. When ‘I’ appears, bondage appears with it. Knowing this, it is effortless to refrain from accepting and rejecting’.

So, we see that when the Sage is now saying ‘I’ he is referring to this non-existent one, the false one, the imaginary one. When we buy into the idea of this one, that is bondage. When we see that there is no such individual entity ‘I’, that is freedom. And once we know this, then openness comes naturally.

That’s all the Sage is saying here. It is encapsulating what we already discussed. Just to see that  the non-existent one does not exist, it never has; and that the reality of who I am is not personal…, then the letting go of that which is false…,  to remain in openness, non-resistance, is very natural to us.

You know there was a presidential race that is on today?  Donald Trump, he won. Yeah, he won. The results were there today, this morning. He won by a big margin in the end; I don’t feel it was so close also. So, most messages I got today were from the ones that were upset about this. And I can understand. I can understand, given all the statements he made, and all the things he has said. I can understand where the feeling of being upset must be coming from.

But can we even use this? Can we use even this situation as an opportunity to check? Because this openness; we keep talking about it. When it comes, when these kind of things come, can we really be open? It doesn’t that mean we have to like it, doesn’t mean that we have to show our support in some way. But just are we open to the possibility that anything can happen in this life? Are we open to the possibility that we cannot predict what tomorrow will be?

This is a very good example because all the polls, all the experts and everyone was saying that ‘it is not going to go this way’. Using all the methodologies and everything, we can be wrong.

In the ‘Course of Miracles’ it is said that when something happens that we don’t like, we must look at them as if they are forgiveness opportunities. But we cannot truly forgive unless first we are open. So, can we look at them as openness opportunities? Because so much resistance can happen in these strong moments. So many concepts can happen which can tell you that ‘I know what is going on, I know what is true, what is good, I know what must happen’. But life does not dance to these tunes.

[Silence]

If you have seen that everything is grace, if we are starting to see that everything is grace…, Guruji [Mooji] also uses this strong term called ‘acid grace’. Sometimes it can really burn. There are these moments in life. And this year seems to be this kind of moments, isn’t it? With all these of political events and all kinds of things happening. And again and again this year, we’ve been proved (at least my Facebook friends have been proved over and over) that we don’t know anything. It can feel like we can predict, like we know where something will go, what is good, what is going to happen; but we don’t know. So, all that we are attached to is being tested, is being shown to us.

Can we be open and see that this is how it is. This is how it is. All our ‘should’ve could’ve would’ve’…, (you know like the Americans say ‘should have, could have, would have’) doesn’t really help. Isn’t it? The way it is, is just the way it is.

[Silence]

What I’m suggesting is not some sort of a passivity. It is a simple allowing even of the reactions to come from this body, if they are coming. So, that’s why I prefer to use the word ‘openness’ rather than ‘acceptance’ more; because although it implies similar things sometimes in ‘acceptance’ we presume that I’m speaking about some sort of a passive acceptance, like sheep or something like that. No, what I’m saying is that this acceptance, that openness which is not resisting what is, is open to what is and open to allowing our actions and responses also to come from that space of non-doership or openness. And over and over, all of us are being made to become open.

[Silence]

Shall I tell a joke?

Once there was a man and he was walking and he fell off the side of a cliff. As he fell off, he grasped for something and he managed to hold onto a branch of a tree on the side of the cliff. So as he’s hanging there, he starts shouting, “Help, help! Somebody help me. Is somebody there?”

And then he hears this voice which goes, “Let go. Let go.”

And he says, “Who’s there? Who’s there? Help me please!”

Voice says, “This is God.”

He says, “God, God, oh God, help me!”

The voice says, “Let go.”

He says, “Let go?! I can’t let go. What are you saying God? I can’t let go. Please give me some other way. Please tell me something else I can do.”

And voice says, “Let go.”

And he keeps praying and begging for God to help and God is only saying, “Let go.”

Then man becomes quiet and dejected. He’s hanging there and the fingers start to burn, the hand start to burn, and he makes one last try. “Help! Is there somebody there?”

Voice says, “Yes, I’m here.”

Man says, “Who is this?”

“God.”

And the man says, “Is there anybody else up there?”

[Laughter]

Basically all that we are saying in satsang when we say ‘Don’t believe your next thought’ when we say ‘Open, allow’…, all of this is an attempt for you to let go. There is a primal fear of falling. There is a sense that ‘If I let go, I don’t know what will happen to me. I’m going to die’. Because of this fear of losing our individuality, losing our specialness, losing our conditioning, we hold onto some concept; we pick up some concept. We are seeing over and over again that there is no control. Everything is just happening.

[Silence]

Q: I’ve been looking for that ‘somebody else’ my whole life.

A: Yes. Instead of hearing to that voice that says ‘Let go’ we want to grasp onto any branch; security branch. We feel like something here will give us security.

[Silence]

And we know this somewhere actually. That’s why it’s ignorance, because we know that all we can hold onto in this life is eventually going to go. And as we look at this, then our favorite ideas and concepts (which pretend as if they will get you something or somewhere, including the concept of freedom itself) comes and distracts you from this simple ‘letting go’.

We look for that somebody else in our relationships. Anything that we call ‘mine’ in this realm of appearances is that yearning…, is that playing as if there is a separate individual here.

What are we refusing? This is not something where we are saying is that ‘You are this mere person. You must now surrender to God because you are one powerless creature.’ We are saying that what you are ignoring, what you are avoiding, is your own recognition that You are God, You are That. This is the play.

[Silence]

So, to let go only means to let go of that which is false. False only means that which is not constant, that which is coming and going, that which is changing.

[Silence]

The irony of all of this is that we want permanency and constancy from something that is constantly changing. And that which is already constant and permanent, we refuse to accept. This is the divine hypnosis. We want the ever-changing to become permanent, yet we refuse to look at That which is always here; what You Are.

[Silence]

That is why the sage Ashtavakra says in Chapter 8, verse 1:

[8.1] “When the mind desires or grieves things, accepts or rejects things, is pleased or displeased by things – this is bondage.”

A: You know, I love comic books and these super-hero movies. So, if there is something that is my arch-nemesis…, (in comic books you have these arch-nemesis, no? Like Batman will have the Joker, Superman will have Lex Luther…) then my arch-nemesis is ‘the checker guy’.

Let me explain who is this ‘checker guy’. The one that is constantly checking ‘Okay, I was like this. This is what happened to me. Now I am 80% there, only this last thing is left’. You see? It keeps checking and making its report card. And this one is very sticky. So, this one, why I call it my arch-nemesis is because whatever I tell you, it will use that and add it to your report-card…, ‘Ananta said this, now I am going to track myself on my progress as far as that is concerned’.

I can only tell you that this one which is trying to storify something (make a story where there is none, trying to make a conclusion basically) this one you leave here with me today. Because this one will give you a lot of trouble. And the only place where this one will get to is the spiritual ego.

So, don’t have any story. Nothing has really happened. The recognition and everything that has happened with you has been a very natural part of the unfolding. Remove all sense of idea that ‘this happened’ or ‘that happened’ or ‘this is going, this much is left’. This report-card and the creator of this report-card, you leave here today. You be empty of this.

Q: This helplessness…, I know this checker guy very well. I can totally relate with it, what you are saying. But there is always this checker guy and it’s like it’s kind of born out of this (after the last year) and it wasn’t even there and it’s like …

A: It doesn’t exist. It’s as harmless as the rest of the mind only because it has been nourished with our belief so much. We have mistaken this one to be vigilance…, this one to be our inner guide; we have mistaken this one to be the Satguru. This one is not. Leave this one aside.

Q: I have come to a point where I can see the person very clearly and it’s there; but this checker guy is going in memories when I was 5; I was roaming around…

A: Can I tell you something? Even the one that is reporting that ‘I can see the person very clearly’ is the checker guy. It is very tricky and subtle, you see? It’s very subtle. It is the most icky and slimy manifestation of the ego. Because it is uncomfortable not to have a conclusion about ourself; it is uncomfortable to just be open (initially). But this is what you have to get used to. You have to get used to your emptiness without any interpretation of the emptiness, without any conclusion about anything. This is openness, you see.

As we are open, we have no interpretation, no conclusion, no label. All there is, is this natural sense of existence and a natural sense of awareness of even this existence. All other reports, everything, can be allowed to just come and go, just come and go. Don’t make any conclusion about yourself, you see. That is my bhramastra against this checker guy. Don’t make any report, don’t make any conclusion about yourself. And soon, it is my blessing that, we will make some reports about you.

Q: It’s really, possibly…, it’s a part of the play because when this such a seeing happened, it was so clearly seen that really everything unfolds as it’s supposed to be. It was really like ‘wow’. I have not done anything; the whole life everything was unfolding, from the first opening when I was 26, everything was just gift from there. And now this last part, as you said, the sticky…

A: Everything has been grace, everything; all our sublime experiences, all our seemingly-terrible experiences, have all been part of the play. And not a blade of grass moves without the will of my Father. You see? So, all has been His play, always. So, just allow it to unfold naturally. In fact, if I were to give you a blessing, I would say ‘You forget about that experience’.

Q; Yeah, absolutely. I am here to listen to that which the most egoic self doesn’t want to listen; forget about it.

A: Sometimes it can hurt. You see? Sometimes it can poke because ‘Don’t take away this from me, it was the best experience; don’t take this’. But, you see, in that itself is attachment. Attachment means to label something ‘mine’. Even if you label an experience ‘mine’ it is already an attachment. But (whatever) no matter how sublime the experience was, this recognition of the Truth is always fresh and Here Now.

To go to memory is not needed at all. To go to memory only means that I am still catering to the idea that ‘I am a separate entity who had this experience and now there is something left to be done again’. Leave all these ideas. Remain open, fresh, in your simple allowing; allowing everything to come and go. That’s why actually in the beginning of Satsang today I shared that:

Recognition experiences (which can be labeled awakening experiences) are very beautiful but not necessarily the end of conditioning.

Because the mind can try and use that also, to try and get some hold over you that ‘I had this experience, this happened with me’. Anytime you find yourself making a story, know that it is the checker guy which is operating.

Q: So, the one who is watching the checker guy? Because I have to say I can see the checker guy, it’s still there. Its existence is here and it is there…

A: Show me. [Chuckles] Show me: Where is it? Where is the checker guy? Now, when you check: Where is it?

Q: [Laughs, baffled]

It doesn’t exist. It only seems to exist when we believe our thought. [Silence] Stay with this feeling of limbo. You see? A feeling of limbo will come. You will feel like ‘Okay, but now what? What?’ It can seem a bit strange. But allow yourself to experience that. This is just some withdrawal symptoms from our addiction to the mind. It will try and make a report because this has been nourished. It will keep coming to you with a report like ‘You are not being open enough, you are not really [there yet] this is still the checker guy. Only the checker guy is still working’. It is still trying to sell you these stories. Just let them come and go. Allow them to come and go.

Q: Yes.

A: Very good.

[Beeping sounds] That’s my UPS which means our electricity may be going. So, if our lights go off, just know that:

All my love, all my blessings are with all of you.

May my Father’s grace bring you all to this beautiful recognition of the Self,

and the dropping of the false conditioning of the pretense of personhood.

If that is your urge,

then may my Father’s grace take care of it in double-quick time,

which I know he’s doing.

Two things can happen. When you look for the Self ‘Who am I?’ and you find that there is no-thing; one is that you can be disappointed and you will feel that ‘Oh, I am not finding the Self’. This is not true. Second is you can come to a conclusion that ‘The Self is nothing’. This is also not true. It is no-thing, it is non-phenomenal, yet it is the unchanging reality; the nomenon from which all phenomenon comes. It is the substratum for all things. Therefore, when I ask you ‘Are you aware now?’ you say ‘Yes’ but not because you saw Awareness as if it was an object of sight but because there is a deep Knowing of this; Knowing of Itself.

Don’t try to make your mind understand this. As the words are being spoken from here, just allow yourself to follow them and See that this is True. At the ‘center’ of your existence, there is this no-thing from which all things come and go. It Itself is not a thing, therefore don’t expect to perceive it as if it is something that will be found.

This Awareness You Are.

This is not changing. All the states keep changing; waking, sleep and dream. But That which is aware of these states is this unchanging Self; this no-thing.

I was saying the other day that if you are trying to use your mind to understand this, it is like trying to use a hammer as a toothpick. You’re only going to hurt yourself. [Chuckles] It is not going to help. What is the approach we must have towards the mind? See it for what it is; just a bundle of thoughts and other similar energies like imagination, memory. Just See it for what it is. But keep looking deeper. Try to find the One that is witness also to the mind.

Then what will you find? You will find that there is a Presence here; the sense that ‘I exist. I Am’. But You are aware even of this. This which is the light of this world; You are aware of it. That which is aware even of Consciousness, even of ‘I Am’, Itself is not subject to time and space and any phenomenal rules. It doesn’t have form, shape. It was not born, It is not going to die. And You are It.

This Truth remains unchanging, no matter what you are believing or not. Therefore, all that is needed to find this Self is some openness to just look (like all of you are looking)…., and the openness to reject all the answers from the mind. Because when looking is happening, the mind will come up with all of its defenses. It will try to come up with some conclusions. Both the conclusion ‘I got it’ and ‘I haven’t got it’ are false. There is nothing to get. You have always only been this Awareness. ‘I haven’t got it’ is impossible, because You are aware. And You are aware that You are aware. Therefore, it is not possible to not get what I’m saying. To say ‘I got it’ or ‘I haven’t got it’ are just conclusions in the mind.

Could it be that the recognition of the Self is this straight-forward? This simple?

Many times you have this experience of clearly Seeing ‘I Am This Awareness’ and yet the mind can play this very subtle trick on you, telling you that there is still an ‘I’ which is an individual entity which is separate from Awareness. And to help you with that confusion, I ask you: Who is aware of Awareness?

We have mis-used ‘I’ for so long, we have mis-used the term ‘I’ for so long to denote the ego, to denote the sense of separation, that there can be some mental denial about this. The fact is that it is ‘I’ which is aware of Itself; that I Am this Self, I Am Awareness, I Am Brahman, I Am the Absolute, I Am That…, that no-thing from which all universes come and go. Everything comes from within This Self and dissolves back into This Self.

Don’t visualize. This is your experience already. When I Am, the world is. When I Am goes to sleep, there is nothing (there is no-thing) and I am aware even of this. I exist prior to the sense of existence also.

Who is aware of Awareness? Who is it if it is not ‘I’? Is it a second-hand report that Awareness is here? Or is it our direct experience? Isn’t it our living Truth, Right Now? I am Aware. ‘I’ is Awareness.

Then what happens? Then, as [Nisargadatta] Maharaj very strongly used to say ‘Then the ‘I Am’ infection comes’. I still find it a bit blasphemous because this ‘I Am’ is Consciousness Itself. But sometimes we can look at it like that. All this drama would not be possible without the birth of this sense of Being, this sense of existence. So, I-Awareness, is playing in My dynamic form as ‘Consciousness-I-Am’. [Silence] ‘I Am that I Am’ is the voice of Consciousness, of God Itself.

Anything that we attach after this ‘I Am’ is a story, is the pretense of separation; is a lie ultimately. So, satsang is the dropping of all that we have attached to ‘I Am’ because it is false. Being is just being.

So, the play of attaching ideas to Myself (‘I am this way, I am that way, I am right, I am honest, I am old, I am young…) all these ideas belong to nobody actually; belong to the mythical entity called the person or the ego. It is just a myth. To see that it is just a myth is to kill it. Sometimes when the Sages say ‘You have to kill the ego or destroy the ego’ it feels like I really have to strangle somebody. [Chuckles] It is not like that.

You just have to See it as non-existent. There is no separation; there are no two. Look around you right now. Are there two? Not unless you buy a story from the mind; not unless you buy a label from the mind. Are there two? It is just One appearance. It is as simple as that. There are no two. There never have been. To pretend to believe this lie, we have to have a label to objectify this appearance, to make separation where there is none. As the Sage Ashtavakra says ‘Your folly is ignorance’.

There are no two! This is your experience right now. What you are experiencing is Oneness. But you’re labeling it as two, as separation.

So, this is the only functioning of the mind, to make duality where there isn’t any. To make the story of ‘me’ and ‘another’ where there actually isn’t any. Play with this; even after satsang. Just look at this appearance and See that it is just one appearance. Look at everything without labels. It will make everything so light and easy. And as you stop labeling, this constant desire ‘What’s in it for me?’ will start to thin out a bit. Otherwise, we walk into every situation, every event, every meeting expecting something (‘I should get something’…, the non-existent ‘me’). So, this constant mantra, the maha mantra of the ego ‘What’s in it for me?’ starts to lighten up if you stop labeling your experiencing, or at least not believing the labels.

In this way, then ‘I Am’ remains unassociated and pure.

When we believe our labels, or ideas, our concepts, nothing really changes for Consciousness; only the pretense of personhood seems to be full of suffering. And something tells me that those who are in satsang are done with this play of suffering.

So, what happened now? We saw that there is this unchanging, unmoving attribute-less Awareness within which there is the birth of this light called Consciousness, which is playing the movie of the world…, upon Itself; It is the light as well as the screen. And emerging with this light is this entire play of this world.

No separation ever happened. But as part of the play, there is the birth of this energy called the mind; the energy constructs called thoughts which seem to have this function to make Itself believe (Consciousness Itself believe) that the separation is real. So, Consciousness decides to play with it for a while, maybe to get some juice from this experience. It wants to experience itself personally in some way; and then soon enough tires of this play and then invents ways and means for Itself to become free of this delusion.

One of the ways is to come to satsang to remind Itself about the Truth of what It is. And in satsang you hear that ‘You are this Presence, You are this Being. You are not contained within this body nor are you contained outside the body. You are not to be found in reality in this realm at all’. And you check and you confirm this. You find that ‘This separate entity which I believed myself to be never was here. I have always been This light of Consciousness’.

And then, some of you might look and say ‘I am aware even of this light of Consciousness’. Primarily, for that which is the Self, the Absolute, even Consciousness is coming and going. So then, Consciousness comes to this recognition of Its True Source, of what it is really made up of. And the idea of suffering seems to feel so alien, so far out, that a Sage will struggle to suffer. As Bhagavan [Ramana Maharshi] said ‘For a jnani to believe a thought is as much of a struggle is as it is for an ajnani to let go of a thought’.

So, all of these thoughts which seem so meaningful and relevant to you today will lose their relevance and meaning. You will see that they are only the voice of the non-existent one…, just a mouth without a face; just words that belong to nobody. And in keeping this mind aside, to divest it of your belief, you will come to the end of this seeming-suffering, this seeming-separation. And satsang is the aid to that.

So, both the recognition of who I am (this unchanging Awareness) and the dropping of this false idea about myself (which is the end of this false conditioning) is what is called Liberation or Freedom.

The recognition that ‘I Am Awareness’ (that I am not a thing) can come in a very sober way or it can come as a very strong awakening experience. In spite of how it comes, it is helpful for us to drop this false conditioning, this false idea of separation. But many times it is not enough. Many times it can be that some of you have had the most beautiful awakening experiences, yet are very quick to buy some idea of specialness. Therefore, it is good to keep coming to satsang and to let go of all of this conditioning, of these vasanas, tendencies, (whatever you might call them) the dropping of all arrogance. False humility is also arrogance. And arrogance only means separation.

So, what are we doing here? [Chuckles] Some of us are together Monday through Friday and some of us are together once a week, but we get together for what? What is it that we really want? What are we looking for? Someone might say that ‘We are looking for the Self’. So, first, when you lose something (you know, when my children lose something) then the first question I ask is ‘When did you see it last?’ [Chuckles] Or ‘Where did you see it last?’ So, if you feel like you lost the Self, where did you see it last? Where were you when you saw the Self that you lost and now you’re looking for it? It’s the most obvious question to ask, isn’t it?

Then someone might say ‘But I’ve never seen it actually’. Never seen it. Then what is it that you are…, the one that has not seen it or is looking for it? Which one is that one? Hmmm?

Who is it that is already Here? Can it be that this is a case of even more absurdity than looking everywhere in the house but the spectacles are on our head? [Chuckles] Could it be even more absurd than something which is right under our nose and we don’t see it? That’s why Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi said that the most direct way to the recognition of the Self and the realization of the Self is to ask yourself ‘Who am I?’ And he was not the first one to say it. Maybe he was the first one to give it so much focus and attention but for a long time, a lot of Sages (right from the Upanishads) have said ‘Inquire into who you are’. Even Western philosophers have said ‘Know Thyself’. So, if we’re all looking for the Self, where must I go to find it? What is it that you are Right Now?

The problem is that most of you are following the wrong teacher. [Chuckles] The wrong teacher means this one which we call the mind, who is constantly directing us to look outside in this phenomenal realm. The mind is saying ‘Look, look’ like how we find other things phenomenally in the same way, by going place to place, teacher to teacher, satsang to satsang, we might come across this Self. But nobody has found it that way. The only recognition, the only true recognition that has happened is by looking in the other way, looking within. As long as there seems to be a boundary between outside and within; until then we must look within, not in the phenomenal realm. Find that One who witnesses this moving world, this moving realm. Is that moving? [Silence] Every movement (be it objects in the world, emotions, thoughts) isn’t there something which is unmoving, unchanging, which is aware of these movements?

I know the mind might come and say ‘But I don’t see anything’. Wait, wait. Don’t rush. Slowly. What are we doing? We’re looking for that which is unchanging; the witness of that which is changing. Let’s look.

You will not be able to deny that there is a witness; that which witnesses even sight, that which witnesses taste, smell and all these sensory perceptions. Are you not the witness of these? What does this witness look like? [Silence]

Allow that which is moving to move. Find this witness which looks at the movement, but in itself is not moving. [Silence]

What did we learn today…, children? [Chuckles] We learned that you are nothing, but it is a very good nothing; it is no-thing. [Chuckles] It is that nothing from which all things come and they go. Now, the root of all this coming and going is the sense ‘I Am’, the sense that ‘I exist’…, Atma, Consciousness. With the light of this ‘I Am’ switched on, all of this play comes on; light, sound, electricity, gravity, universe, (all these forces) attention belief. All of this is a beautiful movie being played upon Itself by Consciousness. The only seeming-trouble is that along with this movie came this voice. It said ‘You are the protagonist of this movie. You are this character which seemingly lives inside the protagonist’s body and you must control the events of the movie according to the preferences of this character’.

Now, we bought this idea that ‘I am this body/mind’. This itself is Divine magic. For Consciousness to play in this way as if It is just this tiny object itself is some Divine hypnosis. It played this way because It wanted to experience the life of a person. It got too bored being everything, being all there is, so It wanted to get a taste of what it would be like to just be an object. So, It created this mind so that this mind could constantly be selling the story of the separation.

Now It is tired of playing this game And in coming out of this game also It created a beautiful scene for Itself in the movie, which is your coming to satsang, your doing the self-inquiry or any path. So, Consciousness pretending to be a person and then dropping the pretense of personhood in this entire game.

This Jnana path, the path of inquiry, is to see things for how they are. The unreality, the changing nature of this phenomenal existence is seen. And we are interested in the Truth which is unchanging. We are interested in that God, that Self, which is unchanging. Therefore that which changes is kept aside. What remains? We find that this Consciousness remains. But ultimately even this consciousness comes and goes; with the coming of the waking state and the dissolution of the waking state into dreamless sleep, we find that even this Consciousness goes.

There is a Witness even of something called ‘sleep’. Even to say that ‘There was nothing in sleep’ means that I am aware that there is some state called ‘sleep’ in which there is no phenomena, not even the root of all phenomena; the primordial vibration OM itself is not there.

So, this which is beyond the states is what we are in reality; and this remains unchanging, no matter which state is appearing. Anything appearing in the waking state cannot hurt this reality, cannot touch this reality. This is the discovery. And then this world becomes just a wonderful movie to watch; nothing to attack, nothing to defend, nothing to get, nowhere to go, nothing to do…, and yet all movements of this dream character, dream character body, they continue to happen in their own natural way. This is all there is. And this is the voice of your own recognition, of your own Truth.

Now, if you want to see God pretending to be a person, all you have to do is believe your next thought. But if you are tired of God playing the person, then you (God) please do not believe your next thought. [Chuckles] This is God having a monologue with Herself/Himself.

Q: [About deep sleep and Awareness]

Deep sleep is that state in which there is only pure Awareness (in comparison to other states like waking state where the dynamic aspect is also present, or dream state where the dynamic aspect it is also present) deep sleep is the name for that state where only Awareness is. Only the Self remains, yes.

There are two ways to look at this. When we are speaking in comparison with other states then we are saying ‘Okay, this is what happened in the waking state. My dynamic aspect is there, this world of movement is there’. Then this state goes away and another state appears, which is deep sleep. Now, you can decide whether this complete absence of phenomena (whether you want to call that a state or a non-state, it is okay. It does not really matter, it’s mostly terminology), the fact is that this (as Guruji says) ‘Wake up in the waking state’ is to come to the recognition of That which never goes to sleep. That which is present even in sleep state…, to recognize that ‘That is here as my Self’ is to wake up in this waking state; to find This One that is not subject to sleep or to waking. This One remains unchanged no matter which state is coming.

Why is it a beautiful no-thing? It is such a beautiful no-thing because from this no-thing so much arises (seemingly). All of this play arises and yet it remains unhurt, untouched, un-tired. It is not as if, in the world when something has potential and then it plays out then it becomes empty of potential; this is That which is so beyond all of this. That is why I said that the creation of a million universes leaves this untouched, unconcerned. That is what You are, the no-thing that You are.

Commenting on Readings from the Ashtavakra Gita (6.1-6.4)

~ ~ ~

So, yesterday actually in the Ashtavakra Gita there was this term called ‘The Shoreless Ocean’. Someone was sitting here and she just felt like on hearing those words something went so deep and it became so clear what we are speaking about. Because the mind it works on limitations. It cannot fathom that which has no limit. It works on boundaries. It works on definitions.

So, as we allow our attention free, if we allow it to go as wide as it wants, you find that you have no limits; because your attention is only moving within You. Wherever it might seem to be going in the so-called outside world it is only reporting the things; bringing content that is all within You. There is no such thing as attention outside You.

[Silence]

So, see if this which is your own Presence has any limitation. And any limitations you will find are within this space; all that has limits, appearances [are] within this infinite, boundless space, this shoreless ocean. That is Your own Being.

[Silence]

That is why Janaka said, “What is there for me to renounce or even to accept or to destroy?”

All of this is one Consciousness, one Being; My own Presence.

[Silence]

Just like the appearance of silver in mother-of-pearl, these appearances are illusory and changing. What is here which is apart from these appearances? If you could keep aside (all that is subject to change) what is here that remains?

The mind can speak about that which is changeful. What can the mind report on? It can report on phenomena; and speak about the objects in this world, the people in this world, this changeful body. It can report even on itself; its thoughts, emotions which are changing. All of this changeful world, if you were to keep it aside, then what remains here? Is there something which is unchanging; not coming and going? There must be. Because even those who are not spiritual (who never really contemplated who they are) even they can tell you that everything in this phenomenal world is constantly changing. Yet what are they looking for? They are looking for a constant peace, a constant joy, a constant happiness.

Where did the idea of constancy come from? If all that we have experienced was only the changing then how would this notion of constancy even have come? If all that we had experienced was only the finite then where would have this notion of the infinite have come from? So there must be a deeper knowing which is pointing us to this Truth of the eternal and the constant, the unborn, the infinite.

[Silence]

Observe this slowly, that only that which we have had some experience of (even the experience in our imagination, but at least some experience of) only those notions we really seem to pick up. So if we never had the notion, we never had the experience of the infinite, then how did this notion of infinity come? If there never has been an experience, even conceptually, of the unchanging then how would have this notion have come?

So these notions themselves are beautiful pointers, pointing you back to the reality of what You Are; infinity, this boundless-ness. Our imagination cannot keep up with this notion. Our concepts cannot keep up with this notion. It is only our recognition of who we Are that comes close to this concept of infinity.

[Silence]

Nothingness. Can we imagine nothingness? No. Even in our imagination of nothingness there will be some space; some black space, some white space, some visual representation of nothingness. We cannot imagine That which witnesses this no-thing…, without attributes, formless. As we hear these terms over and over again something will start to give up on our mental representations, our visual ideas of these things.

Can you imagine something which is neither transparent nor opaque and yet It Is?

It is important for all of you to hear these words because many times you are still buying some visuals from the mind and saying ‘Yes. I am this Awareness’.

Who is aware of these visuals?

Who is aware of this space that you are visualizing?

Find this one.

Don’t settle for anything along the way which the mind is offering you. All resistances, all the mind’s stories and advice, all the mind’s ideas of having got it; who is aware of those? Don’t fall for the trick. You trick the trickster by using whatever it has to offer you as fuel for the fire of your own inquiry.

What is it that you are finding for yourself? Then you will find that what you are discovering about yourself is in resonance with what the Sage is saying. All these words will not seem like the report of another; they will seem like they are just simple utterances from Your own experience.

Guided Contemplation on Ashtavakra Gita (7.1)

~ ~ ~

Chapter 7: Nature of Self-Realization

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

~ ~ ~

So, Janaka said in Chapter 7 (which is ‘The Nature of Self-Realization’) he said, “In me, the shoreless ocean, the ark of universe drifts here and there on the winds of its nature. I am not impatient.”

So what is the Sage looking at? He is looking at this infinity, eternity; this boundless, unborn Self…, upon which even the play of the universe just feels like a boat or an ark on top of this ocean just moving about with some divine power. Sometimes left, sometimes right. Any thing can happen in this appearance.

So when the Sage says ‘I am not impatient’ it only means that ‘I have not expectations of what must happen here’. Once it becomes so clear who we are then we are able to just leave this world alone, leave this play alone to play out as it wants to. What is happening here is just happening here. The divine wind, the divine mystery called maya is moving the ship of this universe wherever it likes. The wise have come to see it for what it is. The ignorant continue to see themselves as an object within this.

What am I?

With no expectation of an answer let the question permeate into your depths: What am I?

Am I an object which appears only when this waking state comes? Where do I go when it is not here? Do I cease to exist? Am I part of this phenomenal functioning, this movement of this world; only to come to my dissolution, my death?

Who will die?

Who came alive?

Who is sitting inside this body?

Or if I am the owner of this body, where am I controlling it from; outside or inside?

Why does this bundle of energy (which appears and disappears within me) seem real?

Why does it seem like a world?

How could it contain me?

Am I just a construct of this energy moving from my birth to my death?

Am I just fooling myself with concepts of eternity and infinity when all I really have is this day, this waking state, right now?

Am I just confined just to this?

What am I?

Where did I come from? Where can I go?

If I am here then who is looking for the Self?

I am here.

Whether there is time or space, I Am.

Whatever the experience might be (dreamless sleep, this waking state),

who is the witness of these?

What am I?

Why it is that all the Sages for centuries have said that ‘I am eternal’

when all that I see is subject to time?

Could there be something, which is beyond time?

If I am eternal, I must be here now.

I cannot come and go.

Who is myself?

Can there be a path to recognize that which always is?

[Silence]

What am I? The Witness of these words; the Witness of these worlds.

Words and worlds, they come and go. I remain.

[Silence]

All that is perceived, all that can be imagined [Silence] is just a dance of Shakti, my own dynamic aspect. This immortal, unchanging, un-moving.., this which is prior to beginning and after the end. This Shiva, this Shiv-O-Hum. I Am.

[Silence]

Knowing this, in the play I am Free.

Ignorant of this, in the play I move like a “Burdened beast”.

[Long Silence]

Unchanging; I Am Shiva, as this moving Universe.

And yet I am not two..,

I remain as ‘I’.

These are your words.

This Truth is your Truth.

I Am That because you are That.

There is only One.

[Long Silence]

Om Shanti Shanti Shanti

Reading and Commenting on Ashtavakra Gita [5.1-5.4]

~ ~ ~

Chapter 5: Four Ways to Dissolution

Ashtavakra said:

[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.”

[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.”

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

~ ~ ~

This is the first thing the Sage said yesterday: ‘I am this one Awareness. What is there for me to renounce now?” There is nothing to be done.

Then the Sage said that if the appearance does appear, know that this universe and everything that comes takes birth within this one Awareness. It is not separate; it can only seem to be qualitatively different. But knowing that this Being is one with the Self (there are no two and because there are no two) there is no suffering, there is no idea of separation. This is the second insight, the second verse.

The third verse was that all of this…, just like an appearance of foam on the top layer of water can appear to have some tangible existence but in reality there is none; it is just an appearance, it is only water. Just like a bracelet is only gold although it might appear to be something other than gold. And his most famous example ‘just like a rope can appear to be a snake but actually just remains the rope’. In the same way this universe is just an appearance coming and going; and that which comes and goes is not real.

The fourth was to see that all of these states and events that happen in this world (happiness or grief, life or death) there is no individual sufferer. There is no entity which is responsible for this individually. Consciousness has the entire infinite space in which everything can be experienced and it remains unhurt; just like the sky remains unhurt even if the darkest cloud passes through it, there is nobody there to suffer the darkness of the cloud.

To see this that there is no individual experiencer is to come to our open surrender, this open acceptance of All-There-Is. And in this openness, the false cannot survive.

So these are the four main insights (or the four ways, as the Sage called them) to come to this dissolution.

The dissolution of what? Just this false idea; egotism. ‘I am the doer, I am the experiencer, I am guilty, I am unworthy, I am free, I got it, I will never get it’ …, all these are just the representations of a non-existent one. There is nobody here to whom this kind of ‘I’ can apply; (the ‘I’ with conditions).

So, we are coming to this dissolution. Allow that which can leave, to leave. Allow it to leave. Because if it can go it is not true; it is just a concept.

Even if you were to speak phenomenally for a minute, there is nothing that can happen in this movie that can actually hurt you in Reality. Many times I say ‘You don’t need to believe me’ but today I feel to say: At least believe this much, that there can be nothing in this movie, in this play, that can hurt the reality of who You Are. This will make you open.

My Master [Mooji] uses this term ‘frightened ghost’. You will no longer be a frightened ghost worrying constantly about ‘What’s next? What is going to come now?’ There is so much fear in this way of living, constantly trying to prepare to face the next moment. Living in fear of what it might throw up, trying to control our circumstances and our life. This way of living is not worthy for You now.

Let whatever has to come, come. Nothing can truly shake you. Even the shaking you will See. And history and our own experience teaches us that whatever we have resisted, whatever we have not been open to, it keeps repeating in one way or another, it just persists.

You are in Satsang now. The company of the Truth, the Presence of the Truth is with you. That is the true meaning of Satsang. And those who are in company of the Truth, who experience the Presence of this Truth, find that their life becomes fearless. Fearless does not mean reckless; it simply means that there is an open acceptance, an open allowing to allow everything to appear.

Seeing this for yourself, Knowing this to be true, be free. See that you are free. You will find that nothing can bind You. See that everything here is just in service to You. This entire realm is for your play. And I feel to say today that you have played long enough as if you are some tiny, measly object. Play now as your truest dynamic expression, play as God, play as One. In this Onenness there is no arrogance.

So, all of this is what Ashtavakra really wanted to say in Chapter 5.

Everything that is appearing can just be watched without this idea that ‘I am the doer of something’ or ‘I am the experiencer of something’. Your primary nature is the Witness. We are fundamentally the Watching; this Awareness which sees everything coming and going. If it helps for some time, we can see if we can take the Witnessing position; even if it does not feel natural for some time. Because the habit has become to take the position of the doer, or the experiencer. And we can see this right now. This body is sitting here in front of me and it is saying all of these words and the hearing of these words is also happening. I cannot find the individual doer who is saying these words. In the same way, your body (this so-called ‘your body’) is also sitting in front of you. (Just because you are using the term ‘in front’ doesn’t mean there is a physical ‘in front’ but you know what I mean.)

This body is here, it is moving in its own natural way. The senses are functioning in their own natural way. All of it is happening. The idea that ‘I am hearing’, the idea that ‘I am speaking’ (this one is false) this is the idea of doership. You are That in which this entire space appears. All of this is playing inside You, within You. Some can seem intimate like the sensations of our body, and some can seem less intimate. Some can seem closer and some can seem distant, but actually for you there is no distance, all is within you.

And you will notice that your mind is trying to create some visuals as I am speaking these words. It is trying to give you visual representation of what I am speaking. We do not need that. This (your experience right now) is what I am speaking. There has been no individual entity here who has ever spoken any words. If it could exist, it wouldn’t know how to move this mouth. You see?

All has only been a movement of Consciousness within Consciousness. There is no individual ever hearing these words. You are this One Being; That ‘I Am’. And in this way there is no separation. That is why the sages have said that ‘Those who see two where there is only one are the ones that are suffering’. That is the source of misery, to presume that there is some separation, that there is a distinction in this one appearance.

Let these words become our living truth now. See for yourself (when your own body speaks) see how the words are just emerging, how they are also heard. See how your breath is just happening. There is nobody doing it; only the mind saying that ‘Yes I am’. [Laughs] Or this voice, these thoughts? [Laughs] These thoughts, they wouldn’t know how to. You see? If they could, they could tell you how; how are you breathing? You cannot explain it because this is just a voice which is claiming to be the king of this world, at least the king of your body. But it isn’t; it is just one measly voice, the pretender. So, all that is moving, all the functioning that is happening is the movement of one Consciousness. Action, reaction, relationships, drama; all of this life is just God having fun. Even if my mind comes in and says ‘But how can this be fun? What kind of sadist is God? [Laughs] But God is the One, all-encompassing, so every extreme of expression is tasted here.

Just experience for yourself that if white had to separate itself into all the colors it is made up of you, would find that the entire color spectrum is there, isn’t it? Just in the same way the One pretending to separate Itself (into many or into two) then expresses Itself in everything that it is made up of (at least to the extent of physical expression possible). So this is the One Consciousness which is whiter than white, purer than pure, then expressing Itself in the entire spectrum of colors. Then the mind comes in and says ‘But I should have only blue’ or ‘I should have only red’. That is when the trouble starts because that is not the purpose of this creation. The purpose seems to be to experience everything that is possible to be experienced.

So, see for yourself today that there is no individual entity. And because there is no individual entity, there is no individual doer, there is no individual experiencer. Because soon after these words, you start hearing the mind which will be quick to say ‘But, but what about me? But what about my life?’ Don’t fall for that trick. You say ‘Yes, yes, all this is fine, I see this, but….” [Laugh] It says (very convincingly) ‘What do I do about my emotions? What do I do about my negative thoughts? What do I do about the sensations in my body?’ Nothing. Forget about it, if you can. It is needless, pointless, meaningless and we are done with this play now. All your identity is being emptied out; already in this moment. How do you want to play now?

Some of you call me ‘Father’. That means there is some trust. So, if there is trust, then know that what I am saying is true. Check for yourself. You are free, Right Now; you are not bound. The instant you buy the ‘but’ is the instant you seem to be playing again; but at least then know that it is your play. Meet me as God saying ‘Yes, I see that I am God, but for the fun of the play I choose to continue to play in this way’. Then that will be a much more fun conversation.

For years all of us have looked together; and for years we have not found this person. And yet this is the power of your belief; that it can still seem to be real for you. You find no evidence of it in reality and yet it can continue to seem real for you. This is the great game, this is the great leela, this is the great hypnosis (self-hypnosis actually) that that which does not exist seems to get so much belief. And That which is All-There-Is seems to only get our denial (or mostly get our denial).

What kind of magic show is this? There is no magic ‘person’ living inside this body, you know this! And there is no person living outside this body, you know this. So, what are we really representing? What is at the core of your existence? What are you really recognizing about yourself when we check?

Because all the Masters, for thousands and thousands of years, have gone hoarse now saying ‘Check, check, check’. [Laugh] So, what are we really finding? You will only find your Self. This Self is All-There-Is. Actually it gives birth to All-There-Is; all that exists…, and yet remains complete. All you need to do to confirm this is to leave everything alone. Just let everything be. Don’t even try to know yourself. As you leave everything alone, this knowing is unavoidable, inevitable. And what comes to be known? It comes to be known that I am this One Awareness. There are not two. Nothing has ever touched this Self I am and always have been and always will remain.

Reading from and Commenting on the Ashtavakra Gita [5.2]

~ ~ ~

Chapter 5: Four Ways to Dissolution

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

 The first way is: Are you aware now?

Awareness aware of Itself. You come (as Being, as Consciousness) to the recognition of what you are. You are that Awareness which remains immaculate.

The second way that the Sage talks about is to see that there is no fundamental difference between the finger and the hand. So, the finger comes from the hand and yet it remains part of the hand. So ‘I Am’ is also ‘I’. Consciousness is also Awareness. It is made up of Awareness. My master calls it the dynamic aspect of Awareness.

See that this Being is not separate from this Seeing, from this Awareness, but just an aspect of it. And the Yin and the Yang, like Siva and Parvati, they are not two. Therefore all that emerges in the light of this Presence, in the light of Consciousness also arises from within Me and plays Itself out and comes back to Its own Source. Therefore no two has ever arisen. There is no distinction between ‘I’ and ‘I Am’. The Yin and the Yang are one; so too Siva and Parvati are one. It is ‘I Am’. It is not-two.

All of this universe is just a leela; sometimes stormy, seemingly on top of the ocean and all movement happens. The waves are not separate from the ocean. So, the waves (call these universes) they arise and they fall within Myself. They never were two; there is only One. And as you See this, you enter the peace of dissolution; because you are not in resistance to anything. The waves are allowed to dance; all these universes can come and go. The sense of Being can play and come back to Its own Source.

As you see that this non-phenomenal Self and this appearance of phenomena (that they are One, not two) there is peace.

So, this is the second way.

Reading from and Commenting on the Ashtavakra Gita [5.3]

~ ~ ~

Chapter 5: Four Ways to Dissolution

[5.3] Ashtavakra said, “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.”

A: So, to see that which comes and goes, that which is constantly changing is not real, is an illusion; just like it can appear that there is silver in mother-of-pearl, just like it can appear in the dark that there is a snake where there is only a rope. Therefore through the play of maya (which is divine energy) it can feel like there is this world, but once we see that there is no distinction between this world and a dream world, that it is just an appearance, then you find that nothing in reality has ever changed. The rope was always just a rope.

To see the illusory nature of this world is the third way. To see that which changes, that which can be measured, that which has name and form, that is maya or illusion. To See this is to see that there is nothing in reality to dissolve, because all of this was just one great ‘seeming’. It seems to exist, but has no reality. So this is the third way.