BOOKS BY ANANTA Welcome to Satsang with Ananta

Q: So, when the ‘I Am’ wants to experience Itself as limitation and it wants to experience existence through senses then that’s where you need to perform the actions. Because as the limited body, I need to feed and clothe it so I will need to do certain things to make that happen, right? And then the sensory enjoyments; this is the difficult one for me. I think even the suffering is what That one wants to experience, to know what it feels like.

A: Very good. Yes, this is difficult for many. But it’s completely true. It’s completely true, that even the suffering is being experienced because it is our will to experience it. This ‘I Am’ wants a taste of this suffering because it wants a taste of all contrasts. That’s why often I take this example (which is not very palatable. It can seem repulsive to some who are sensitive like this). In this realm of experience, all contrasts are available. If there are sages, there are also serial killers, axe murderers. Are they not Consciousness? They are. So, this is One Consciousness that is playing in all dual ways; good and bad, truth and lies. And we do not actually know what makes good, good. Just that, in this play on this realm, it seems like there’s an internal compass of some sort that guides us towards that which is good. Even a child knows that lying is wrong somehow, even if they’ve not learned it from their parents. It’s the programming of this realm. But for Consciousness, which is the impersonal experiencer, it tastes all the sugar and spice of this experience actually.

So, you are absolutely right that Consciousness experiencing Itself, wanting to play in a limited form, as if it is a body/mind complex, is then conscious of this ‘being a person’. It then gives it these ‘two D’s’. The ‘D’ of desire and the ‘D’ of doership. These are the main two ‘D’s’. ‘What’s in it for me? What’s in it for me?’ Every situation we go into ‘What’s in it for me?’ And not only ‘What’s in it for me?’ but ‘Me first. And if possible, me only’. [Chuckles]

We’ve also heard in the sangha that it’s most irritating ‘If somebody in the sangha seems to be getting it but I am not getting it. If nobody else is getting it, it’s fine by me’. [Laughs] So, not only only ‘What’s in it for me?’ but ‘Me first. And me only, if possible’. It’s true. That’s how it operates, the mind. So, the maha-mantra of the mind is ‘What’s in it for me?’ which means desire.

Then, when this one seems to abate in this way, then ‘What should I do? What should I do? What should I do? What should I do?’…, ‘What did I do? Why did I do? Why did she do?’ You see? Doership, doership, doership.

These two are the two main legs of the ego; desire and doership. Just like this. That’s is why, although these things which you are discovering are so obvious, there’s a lot of investment that has gone into our doership.

Also, there can be investment in others’ doership. We had one come to Guruji [Mooji] once, and she said ‘Yes. It seems pretty clear to me that I don’t exist. But I just can’t fathom that my husband doesn’t exist’. You see? So, very often it can be like this, that we seem to drop the idea that ‘I am the doer’ but it still seems like everybody else around me is the doer. So that then more and more feeds our victim identity…, all our guilt and pride. Those who are attracted to guilt will say ‘Oh, yes, yes. All the good things that happen to me, God is doing. But all these bad things, I am the doer of them’. So we feel guilty. Those who are attracted to pride will take credit for all the good stuff, and when one bad thing happens (supposedly-bad thing happens) they go to God crying ‘Why are You doing this to me?!’ So, all of this is stuck; guilt, regret, remorse, pride…, all of these are made up of this idea (false idea) of doership.

Once doership goes, then the ego cannot survive for too long. Once we see that there is nobody that is the doer, or there is One doer which is Consciousness (same thing) then you see that it’s like the oxygen mask has been taken off from the ego; the nutrition of doership has been deprived.

It’s very good. I’m very happy, looking like this.

Just to put it simply: The video game is in your head when you’re able to relate to the character. So you put on the video game ‘James Bond’s Missions’. But if the voice doesn’t come and say ‘Mr. Bond, your mission is…’ you cannot relate to the character. Same with this voice which is saying ‘This is what you have to do’. This is the ‘You are the doer’ and with that we get attached to this idea of being ‘Mr. Bond’. We want to do this.

Now, as doership is dropping and we see that this play, this game is moving on its own you’ll find a great sense of ease will come; because it seemed like this great burden of doership which has been carried. Then you just find the hand moving on its own. Mind comes post-facto and says ‘Oh, you moved this hand’. Even if it [thought] comes before, actually it has no way to move the hand. A thought cannot fire a neuron. [Chuckles] How do you move your hand? It only becomes a thought.

So, with this, then this becomes a very enjoyable play that we are watching. A beautiful play; without all of this pride, guilt, remorse, regret.

~ ~ ~

[Satsang 1 – Silent Retreat with Ananta – Day 1]

Reading from and Commenting on the Ashtavakra Gita (1.1-1.3)

~ ~ ~

Chapter 1: Instruction on Self-Realization

Janaka said:

[1.1] Master, how is Knowledge to be achieved, detachment acquired, liberation attained?

Ashtavakra said:

[1.2] To be free, shun the experiences of the senses like poison. Turn your attention to forgiveness, sincerity, kindness, simplicity, truth.

[1.3] You are not earth, water, fire or air. Nor are you empty space. Liberation is to know yourself as Awareness alone— the Witness of these.

~ ~ ~

Ananta: I won’t go through the introduction again. Most of you know about this beautiful scripture. So, let’s dive straight in. Chapter 1: Instruction on Self-Realization. Ashtavakra starts by saying ‘Master, how is Knowledge to be achieved, detachment acquired, liberation attained?’

Looks like a very sincere seeker, isn’t it? If I was to ask you if you want Self-Realization, what does that really mean? What do you really want? How many of us can actually answer this question? It might be some concept you heard in satsang. But have you really looked at what we want. We say Self-Realization or liberation or freedom. What does that mean? Aren’t you the Self already? What are you trying to realize?

So, then in the first verse itself, Janaka who is very mature has clarified this, because he says ‘how is Knowledge to be achieved…?’ Knowledge; and it is spelled by the translator with a capital ‘K’. What is this Knowledge that we’re talking about. Is it just a bundle of concepts? Just some new ideas? I can give you 10 concepts; actually one is enough. [Chuckles] I give you the concept ‘I am Awareness’. Is it done? Is that Knowledge? What must Knowledge really be? And what is this Knowledge with a capital ‘K’? It must be that which has become our living experience. It is not conceptual.

Often I have said that just replacing the concept ‘I am a person’ with the concept ‘I am Awareness’ is not enough. In fact, it might even seem more burdensome and slapping us about, saying ‘But nothing is happening to Me. I am Awareness’. You see, it doesn’t help. It just becomes more of a fight because we become in denial of our own suffering also.

So, is there some Knowledge which is not concepts? What is here for certain? [7:55 Audio cuts out til 8:27] Also we see in satang many times that just the recognition of the Self, like an Awakening experience is not enough. We do not call that liberation. Many…, most of you in satsang have had Awakening experiences.  Isn’t it? You’ve had glimpses of the Truth of who you Are. And yet, our magnetism of conditioning seems to pull us back.

‘How is Knowledge to be achieved, detachment acquired, liberation attained?’ To know what detachment is, we first need to know what attachment is. How is attachment possible? Often I have said that anything that we say after ‘I Am’ is a story, is a lie actually. It’s just an idea; it’s a belief. So, all that we have attached to this pure sense ‘I Am’, to this Beingness, ‘I am something, I am a person, I am good, I am right, I am truthful; I am this way, that way’ these are all attachments; these are all conditioning. It’s just that this pure Presence ‘I Am’ is able to play as if ‘I am something’ only using the power of belief, which leads to identity. And we’ll go through all of these things.

So, we’ve collected these bundle of concepts about ourself, and that makes the so-called ‘person’ identity. Not only is the recognition of the Self important, it is also important to drop all that is false, otherwise the recognition will become another mere experience.

So, Janaka has already understood both these aspects; Self-recognition and dropping of the false conditioning to imply liberation. ‘How is Knowledge to be achieved, detachment acquired, liberation attained?’ You see? Liberation attained is therefore ‘Liberation attained’.

Okay, the next verse [1.2] is a verse which I often say is an insert later on, for those who probably said ‘Give me something practical. I cannot deal with this’.

So, the sage [Ashtavakra] said ‘To be free, shun the experiences of the senses like poison. Turn your attention to forgiveness, sincerity, kindness, simplicity, truth.’ Forget about it.

[1.3] The sage [Ashtavakra] says ‘You are not earth, water, fire or air. Nor are you empty space.’ This is very important. We cannot find ourselves this way, in phenomena. This phenomenal realm is made up of earth, water, fire or air. And very often, we come to this Seeing that ‘I am not this’ (elemental, phenomenal, atomic, molecular). And then, what do we come to? We say ‘I am space’ and space is close, but even this space you are not; even a void you are not. Because the mind is trying to help you by giving you visuals. You say ‘I am none of this. So what am I? I am space’. Many of you visualize and you get stuck in your visualizations [Chuckles] You will imagine some dark space, emptiness. Who sees even that? So, not even the space you are. Who is Witness to even this dark space or white light? Can that be Seen? Is that spacious, that Witnessing? How spacious is It? This is where we leave the mind behind because the mind cannot fathom this. The mind can only work with forms; names and forms.

So, when the sage says ‘You are not earth, water, fire or air. Nor are you empty space’ what is left for the mind to do? Forget about it? [Chuckles]  You will not fathom this this way. You will fathom this only with your direct Seeing. You will not be able to conceptualize this.

The other day I was saying ‘Can you imagine nothing? Can you think about nothing? Think about something which has no attribute. Can you do it? That is why it seems like this spiritual journey can be so frustrating at times. Even in satsang sometimes, somebody gets angry with me. [Chuckles] They say ‘I have been here so long and what have I got at the end of the day? Really! What have I got?…, I am nothing’. You see, that’s the point. [Chuckles] So, if that is frustrating, we are missing the point actually. Because we have to look at this idea of getting something, of understanding something, and see what that would be about. That means there would be some lack in you right now. Truth would have something missing and now that would be given to you, to complete you. That’s a complete lie. There is nothing for you in that way. You see? Only a mirror.

So, the sage is shining his mirror upon us saying ‘You are not earth, water, fire or air. Nor are you empty space. Liberation is to know yourself as Awareness alone, the Witness of these.’

We are done, no? [Chuckles] Pretty much done. ‘You are not earth, water, fire or air. Nor are you empty space. Liberation is to know yourself as Awareness alone, the Witness of these.’ Simple. Are you unaware right now? How do you know that you are aware? Do you see it? For everything else, you perceive it. Are there flowers on this table? You see them; you say ‘Yes’. Are you breathing right now? You perceive it and say ‘Yes’.

How do you know that you are aware? Do you perceive Awareness? What form does it have? What are the attributes of this? Size, shape, color…, something? Do we perceive any attribute?

Are you aware now?

How do you know?

~ ~ ~

[Silent Retreat – 7^th October 2016 – Morning]

A: What is it that you find Here when you look Now?

Q: [Silence] I just find Presence of mySelf, my own Self. I don’t find any God.

A: This Presence, this ‘I Am-ness’, this Consciousness is God. God said ‘I Am that I Am’.

Q: Why should we call it ‘God’?

A: This is a very good question. Because God is what? That which is everywhere. Isn’t it? One of the aspects, when people talk about God, they say ‘God is everywhere’. Now you find whether (of anything that you’re experiencing) whether anything is outside of this Presence.

This voice that you’re hearing, is it inside this Presence or outside this Presence?

Q: Inside the Presence.

A: This body that you see outside, this room that you see outside, the world that you see outside… is it inside this Presence or outside this Presence? Is it experienced inside you or outside of you?

Q: Inside.

A: Therefore, this Presence, in which everything is appearing and disappearing, That is everywhere; or actually, everywhere is within That.

Q: Yes.

A: Isn’t it? Okay, so, that it one aspect of God. So, if This Presence is everywhere, then that is God-like (at least in that way, that It Is everywhere).

Second, they say that God is the principal that brings everything to life. Now, in your direct experience, is it not true that: First I Am. And then this world is? Is there ever a world without this ‘I Am’?

Q: No.

A: You see? So it is This, Your Presence, that gives light to the appearance of your waking state, of this appearing world. So, That which gives light to the appearance of the world, That is God.

So, It Is everywhere. It is That which gives life to the entire world. Then what else must God be?

Q: [Silence]

A: It is Omnipresent, Omniscient and (let’s see) all powerful. [Omnipotent] So, if God (as we discussed in the morning) is the one doer and the one experiencer, then who is the only one with power? Only this Consciousness. No? So, this Being is the one doer and the one experiencer, this Being is everywhere, this Being is all-powerful, then which attribute of God does not match your Being?

Q: Sat-Chit-Ananda. [Truth-Consciousness-Bliss]

A: Very good. So, he says that ‘Sat’ [Truth] is clear. ‘Sat’ is there. No problem…

Q: ‘Ananda’ [Bliss] is the problem.

A: ‘Ananda’ is the problem. ‘Sat’ is there. ‘Chit’ is there. Chit is Consciousness Itself, Beingness Itself.

Q: Yes.

A: The trouble is ‘Ananda’. [Laughter in the room]

The way to get Ananda is to remain with ‘Sat’ and ‘Chit’. Just remain with ‘Sat’ and ‘Chit’. [Truth and Consciousness/Presence/Beingness] Don’t pick up any other idea. Then you show me how Ananda does not come.

Ananda, Joy, is only in service to your unassociated Being. You see? If you’re not confusing your ‘Chit’ [Consciousness/Presence/Beingness] to be a person, if you’re not burdening it with false ideas, then love, peace, joy, Anandi Ananda…[ Silence] It is in service to you.

You are not to be in service to joy. Your position is the Master of joy, not the servant of joy. If you keep chasing love, peace, joy then they keep running. You stay as Being. Then you tell me if it doesn’t come.

~ ~ ~

[Satsang 2 – Silent Retreat with Ananta – Day 1]

Q: When we say Witnessing, then Witnessing and Knowing is the same?

A: You tell me.

Q: Yeah, that´s what I am saying. From the mind, from the phenomenal point of view, knowing means like the knowing the attributes of this object.

A: That is the small ‘k’ knowing.

Q: And this witnessing is just Knowing Its existence in a way, without necessarily knowing any attributes.

A: Yes. So, Witnessing (capital ‘W’), Knowing (capital ‘K’) and Awareness (capital ‘A’) all are the same. Knowing (small ‘k’) is to know a concept of something.

Witnessing with a small ‘w’ is the phenomenal perceiving of something. Awareness (small ‘a’) is related to the mental knowing or the conceptual knowing of something, or the physical perceiving of something.

But what we are talking about is the capitals; the absolutes. So, when the sages say Knowingness, Witnessing (the primal Witnessing)…, I’ve stopped using that word so often because it get confused with the phenomenal perceiving.

Q: So, that would be like in deep sleep. The one who Knows there was nothing (even no ‘I Am’) is the primal Knowing. So, when this ‘I Am’ arises with the world, there is immediately a Knowing that now something has come which was not there. But it felt like that the person also knows that. (No, the person can´t know … )

A: The person is a product of this later, no?  The person is a conceptual product; not even ‘I Am’.

Q: So, before coming to satsang and recognizing, being shown that, you know, the person is not

there; before that, where the sense of the person was there, it felt a bit illogical because you still knew that there was nothing there. Even before satsang I knew that there was nothing.

A: Of course.

Q: But I knew I must be there to know that nothing, right?

A: Yes.

Q: So, it felt like the person knew there was nothing and now the person knows…, like I know my dream, I know my sleep was not there.

A: It is not that there was a person there and now after satsang there is no person here. Our experience is always been One. There actually has been no person ever.  There is always only Awareness that has Known the sleep and waking.

Q: So then (like you just said) even before satsang, the Knowing was there that there was nothing, but I was there to …, when I contemplate it, then I find ‘Who was the ‘I’ that was there?’

A: Very good.

Q: Who was this ‘I’ who was there? I guess I am looking again from the point of view as a person and then I feel that ‘I’ was there. You know …

A: Yes, but what knows person about it? No, no don´t worry. ‘I was there and I knew in the sleep state there was nothing’. Now, this ‘I’ that was there, what was personal about it?

Q: Nothing.

A: Nothing. So, we cannot call it person.

Q: Yeah, yeah, exactly. So, there was no meaning, there was no world, there was no sense of ‘I Am’, no Being, nothing. I yet there was…, I mean, when we are there or experiencing there, you don´t even miss anything in a sense; it´s just …

A: Exactly. There is no lack. There is no idea of anything. Many times, the confusion that comes for many is that ‘But how can you say ‘I was there’? You can say ‘I was there’ because it is a myth for you? Is it…, if I say ‘There is another state in which you see a hundred rainbows. [Giggles] That is something’. Then you say ‘But I am not experiencing that. I don´t think there is such a state’. But when I say about sleep, you say ‘Yes, of course. I went to sleep and I woke up’. So, you were not there. You are the most primal sense of existence as ‘I Am’. And yet to be able to say this itself means that there was an ‘I’ which knows that even ‘I Am’ was not there.

Q: Yeah, but the same one is now also saying (the same one that was there) has to be here to be able to answer that question.

A: Of course.

Q: But then when I say ‘the same One’ now suddenly the ‘same one’ becomes a person.

A: No.

Q: No, I am saying it feels like a person who is saying …

A: No, no. What of you feels like a person?

Q: You know, Anantaji, (I mean if I say just mentally like a question/answer) I know that it must be the Awareness which is talking. Okay? But like experientially now (I am trying just not to give a mental answer) experientially I am coming to a recognition that there is no person. So, it always must be the same One all along. It can´t be this one, then became that one. Even if it became, it’s the same One who became this, became that. It´s not that there are some three, four, five things. There must be only …

A: I am with you completely.

Q: So, when we say that ‘Oh, the person does not exist’ somehow to understand the meaning that this person does not exist, meaning ‘I, who always Am, exist’…, not as ‘I Am’, that primal one, the Consciousness who knew that, always Is. And this person; to feel that I do not exist as this person, it has to be an idea or something which can go away.

A: Of course.

Q: Because I can’t go away. I mean, I’m still here and I am the Knowing of My own existence, always. Right?

A: Exactly. Very good.

Q: Somehow this same originally One (I am calling it the original One) has come into a conclusion. The person is not concluding that it is a person.  I (the original One) must be concluding that I am the person.

A: Yes. Okay, is this confusing for you? So let’s break it up a bit. So, there is no confusion in sleep state.

Q: No.

A: Waking state, the being takes Birth, Consciousness takes birth; I Am. So, now this sense ‘I Am’ appears and it is the same ‘I’ which is now ‘Aming’. ‘I Am’. It is not another one. There are not two now.

Some of you hear this some time and say ‘But that sounds dual’. It is not. It is ‘I Am’. It is not that there was an ‘I’ and now there is another which ‘Am’. It is ‘I’ Itself as the dynamic aspect of Itself, which now appears as ‘I-Am-ness’.

Now, with the birth of this ‘I-Am-ness’ or the appearance of this ‘I-Am-ness’ comes the birth of all the powers that come along with it. You see? There is the power of attention, there is the power of belief, there is the power of gravity, there is the power of electricity, there is the power of magnetism; there are all of these forces that come into play. You see?

Now, let’s zero in on the power of belief. ‘I Am’ (before it believes something) remains unassociated just as ‘I Am’. When it pretends it is something, it picks up a belief. That is the moment of biting the apple; the forbidden apple. Then it goes from this pure ‘I-Am-ness’ into pretending as if it is ‘I am something’. When it is pretending as if it is ‘I am something’ that is what we call ‘person’.

But just because it believed Itself to be something that doesn´t give any tangible existence to this idea of the person. It is still only a belief, only an idea. So, when it is said that ‘You don´t exist as a person’ it means that you never actually existed; it was only a myth, it was only an idea. Just like the cat example. Isn’t it? The cat never existed.

~ ~ ~

[Silent Retreat with Ananta – 7^th October 2016 – Morning]

This Being, what is the process that it seem to go through? It seems to go through this process of giving belief to all kinds of ideas and therefore carrying this ‘basket’ of the person on Itself. And these ideas can be about the energies that are being experienced; the states of mind, the states of emotion, the states of pain in the body. All of these You can pick up ideas about. So, It seems to play first by diving into the delusion (of ideas, of concepts, of personhood) and using whatever is appearing to dig deeper into the role of personhood.

Everything in this realm can be used as part of the delusion also; just in the same way as it can be part of freedom from the delusion, by inquiring. If we want to go deeper and deeper into personhood (‘He said this, she said this, this energy is coming) it can just reinforce our sense of personhood also.

When the true urge become to drop this delusion, then this process of adding more and more into this basket of personhood starts to drop. Then we start the process of emptying it out; emptying out all these ideas. We look at them; like a rotten apple, we throw it away. We look at the idea; rotten apple, throw it away. So, this process of emptying the basket is happening.

And along with the picking up and the emptying, as part of the design of this play, there will be some energetic movements that will happen. Like love, peace and joy are in service to our unassociated Being. So they will be experienced more and more as these concepts are being emptied out. The so-called darker energies (grief, sorrow, other so-called darker energies with no name) will appear more and more as we’re filling up our basket of concepts, of personhood.

Now, what happened is you filled up. Now, sometimes as you’re emptying it out, then also some energy wants to play out. It wants to play out because that is also getting released. So, let that unfold on its own. This is very good.

So, this seeming process of getting into the delusion and getting free from the delusion, it happens very naturally in this play. And along with that, all of this energetic movement also plays out.

That is the only evolution actually. It is not that Consciousness now fundamentally changes in any way from where it started out; because God is always the Supreme Being. It cannot get more Supreme in any way. It is fully Supreme. So, it cannot evolve to a higher level. It can only pretend as it is playing at a lower level and then drop all the pretenses and come back to Its Absolute Supreme-ness.

~ ~ ~

[From Satsang 1 – Silent Retreat with Ananta – Day 1]

Q: In satsang, with you, with Guruji, one can see or understand that ‘No, I’m not a thing. I’m not a thing. I Am, but I’m not a thing’. And you can also see that the Presence or whatever is also unidentified anyway; it’s just Presence. And you feel the Presence of God when you’re there. You feel ‘Here He Is!’ Because you know God inside yourself.

A: So, is ‘Here He Is’ (which is very beautiful, of course) more accurate? Or ‘Here I Am’ more accurate?

Q: ‘Here He Is’.

A: That’s more accurate?

Q: When you’re there with Mooji or in this Presence, you feel the Presence of God. There, you recognize it instantly, you know? You recognize it. [Pause] There is still some separation sometimes; yeah.

A: Well, let’s look at it. The outer form of the Guru is the most transparent form of your reflection of your innermost Being; is the most beautiful reflection of your innermost Being; most clear reflection of your innermost Being. But even the outer form of the Guru ultimately is a reflection. It is your own God-Presence which is being reflected.

So, this Being…, ‘Here He Is’ …, is pointing you to ‘Here I Am’. The Satguru is this ‘I Am-ness’ Itself. Unassociated.

That is why it is a mirror. It is still a reflection.

[Silence]

Q: I just want to stay with that …

A: It’s very good.

~ ~ ~

[From Satsang 1 – Silent Retreat with Ananta-Day 1]

[Recap of From Ashtavakra Gita 1.4 from Day 1, Silent Retreat]

A: He [Ashtavakra] says: “Abide in Awareness with no illusion of person. You will be instantly free and at peace.”

Now, he has said that ‘You are Awareness alone’ in the previous verse. He said ‘You are Awareness alone’. Now, why is he saying ‘Abide in Awareness’?  But I am Awareness alone. No? If I’m Awareness, then why do I need to abide in it?

This is a question you must ask the sage: What’s going on? You say ‘I am Awareness alone’ then you say ‘Abide in Awareness’. What does it mean?’

So, he has clarified this. He says ‘With no illusion of person’.

What does this mean? It’s very simple, actually. Some of us, we have children. When we play with the children, the child might say ‘Let’s play doctor/doctor’. So, we pick up the pretense of being a doctor while we continue to be who we are.

So, we’ve picked up the pretense of being a person while we’ve always continued in reality to be Awareness alone.

Therefore, the abidance in the Self or the abidance in Awareness only means not to pick up the pretense of personhood.

Right now, in this moment, you don’t have the pretense of personhood. You don’t have it.

You are free. Right now, you are free! You are [Laughs] unless you pick up the pretense by picking up the next thought.

Show me how you are bound without buying a thought. Show me how you are suffering without buying your next thought.

That’s why Papaji [HWL Poonja] said that ‘We need nothing for this natural happiness; but we need something to be unhappy’. What does it mean? It only means this.

So, this is the bad habit that we are here to ‘cure’. This is the ‘rehab’ for this habit.

Q: I don´t know what to say.

A: Where are you now? What is happening with you? Give me an update. [Giggles]

Q: It´s a kind of … it´s swirling around in my body and in my mind. And actually I wanted to come up and share what I have experienced so far. So, at the meeting last night it was very, very hard and very, very powerful. And as soon as I saw you sitting here and especially when I saw Guruji, I started to cry. And the crying went on for the whole time. And there was a very strong desire to leave everything, to just surrender everything. It was in a way I had never experienced before. And after this meeting ‘the person’ was here 100%.

A: You found the person? Have you didn´t claim the $1000? [Laughing] At that minute you should put the claim in. [Ananta has had a joking/serious offer that if anyone can find and show ‘the person’ they would get $1000 from him]

Q: Yes, yes. But I couldn´t show him.

A: But what does it mean? Let´s look at it. ‘When the person is here’ means what?

Q: It means suffering; a lot of suffering all the time.

A: Yes. But can suffering happen without our belief in something?

Q: No.

A: So, something was believed.

Q: Yes. This is very clear to me. But I can´t see it because it´s covered by this. I think I am a suffer-er.

A: ‘I think I am a suffer-er’?

Q: Yes.

A: That is one of the most terrible thoughts you can believe. [Laughing] Why would you want to suffer? Why must you suffer? Why?

Q: I don´t have to suffer.

A: Of course not.

Q: No. I know that. [Silence]

A: Is it some sort of a deeply ingrained concept? Like a religious belief or …

Q: No, no, not at all. It has been with me actually my whole life. This suffering has been quite heavy. I tried to manage this with a lot of …, to find this, to get this and nothing has helped. And suddenly I found Guruji and it was quite a while ago. So, I know I am on the right path for sure, for sure.

A: Yes. So, now forget about the past. Where are you right now?

Q: [Silence] I am right here and I am very much aware of it.

A: Very good.

Q: And there is a lot of energy. It´s just energy. I don´t want to label it.

A: Yes. So, energy is there. What is it doing to you in reality?

Q: It´s just happening.

A: It´s just happening. That which is aware that you are here, can that in any way be touched by this energy? And don´t answer conceptually, look and answer.

Q: Can you say it again.

A: Yes. That which is aware even that ‘I am here’ (this Awareness) can it be touched by any energy? And we don´t have to go with the right answer mentally but we have to check and see how this can this be touched by anything.

Q: [Silence] I need a little time

A: What would time do? How would time help? What is missing right now? What is missing?

Q: [Silence] Nothing.

A: Nothing.

Q: [Silence] What´s happening is that there is just this wave of energy.

A: Yes. But are You in the wave?

Q: Quite loudly, quite heavy.

A: Heavy. Yes, yes. But are you inside the wave?

Q: No, I am not.

A: Is the wave hurting you?

Q: No.

A: So, let the wave be then. If you are not inside it and it´s not hurting you, what is the trouble?

Q: Yes.

A: Just the idea that it should not be there is the resistance. And it feeds it. Our resisted ideas to this energy just feeds the energy further.

Q: Yes.

A: But now you are saying that ‘I am untouched by this energy’ (the reality of who I Am). And we are no longer trying to help that one that doesn´t exist. So, we are only talking about the reality of who you Are.  Now?

Q: Now, suddenly I flow away.

A: Yeah. You flew away? [Laughing]

Q: Yes, my mind.

A: Which means what? Mind, what happened to?

Q: Yes, suddenly I didn´t hear what you say.

A: Ah, distraction. I said ‘This wave of energy’. You say that ‘That which is aware of everything’ that is untouched by this wave. Now, either you´re believing yourself to be something which is touched by this wave or you see that you are This Witnessing Itself in reality. Which one is it?

Q: [Silence] I must be the Witnessing to be able to report about it.

A: Yes, but is this your inference or is this your direct experience right now?

Q: [Silence] I want to say ´It is my experience right now’ but I can´t tell you, right now, if it is my experience.

A: Okay. Why? What is your experience?

Q: It makes me very stressed.

A: Don´t worry about it. What is your experience? What is your direct experience?

Q: I am here.

A: The wave is there.  Are you not aware of it?

Q: Yes, I am aware of it.

A: And that which is aware of it, how is the wave hurting that one?

Q: Nothing at all.

A: Now, if this one is you (this Awareness) then you remain unhurt by it, isn´t it? So, either you are untouched or you must be something else and not this Awareness. What do you find, when you look?

Q: I am this Awareness.

A: You are this Awareness and it is untouched.

Q: Yes.

A: You see. Is this not your direct experience?

Q: Right. Yes, it is my direct experience.

A: It is. So now, you see that this is your direct experience. Now, any wave can come and go. Can your direct experience change from this?

Q: No.

A: Now, how will you show me trouble then? [Chuckles]

Q: Is it possible?

A: Impossible. [Silence] If you wanted to create trouble now for yourself, what would you have to do?

Q: [Silence] Believe my next thought.

A: You would wait for some energy to come and you would wait for the interpretation of that energy and you would say ‘Yes, this is true for me’. You see? And in that belief then the pretense of suffering starts.

Q: Yeah.

A: Without this can you suffer?

Q: I know this so, so, so very well.

A: Yes, but what is happening is that to ‘know it’ just here. [Pointing to his head] That doesn’t help. So, the more often we check like this, the more helpful. Because we’ve believed the false for so long that when we see the Truth, then the mind still has the potential to create some doubt about it. ‘Maybe it only happens like this when you are in satsang. Maybe it only works when Guru is there’. These ideas can come and these doubts can come.

That´s why it is good to check over and over that the sun actually comes from the east; and the belief that it raises from the west was false. Suppose that for 20 years someone had told you that this is Nisargadatta Maharaj. [Points to photo of Sri Mooji] Somebody had told you ‘This is Nisargadatta Maharaj’. Now, for 20 years you heard that, then I come and say (somebody with credibility comes and says) ‘No, no. In this form, this is Satguru Sri Moojiji. This is not Nisargadatta Maharaj’. And because I have credibility with you, there is some acceptance of that. But after I go away, the mind can still throw some doubt because ‘I´ve believed for so long and so many people told me this is Maharaj’. You see? So, then the doubt can come and the belief can go back. So, in the same way, because we believed for so long that ‘I am a person’ even though at moments of checking, we glimpse of the Truth. So, then what happens is the mind tries to make a conclusion out of it. When we say ‘I know this actually’ we are talking about a conclusion that we have made.

Throw away all conclusions and everything that you know.  That keeps the freshness of the checking alive.

Q: Yeah.

A: Because it makes regret out of it; it makes you feel unworthy. ‘Oh, I should know this by now. I should be done with this by now’. You see? Like this.

Q: Yes. That is getting stronger and stronger.

A: Exactly, because you feeding it.

Q: It is almost like some kind of conceptions about it.

A: Yes. So, throw it away.

Q: So, the mind thinks ‘Okay, I have the right thought about it’ and so the suffering is increasing.

A: The right thought will not help. So, we have to throw away all our conceptual knowing; even our most favorite Advaita concepts. And that keeps us alive in the checking right now.

What is my true position now? We don´t have to make notes about it. I never prepare for satsang.

Just whatever is fresh is being spoken. What needs to be checked, can be checked, instantly.

That is the power of the Truth. A lie needs a lot of crutches of thoughts and beliefs. The Truth is always available fresh for us. Isn´t it?  And this will not change whether you’re sitting on the hot seat, whether you’re outside, whether in your country; this does not change.  But instead of quickly going with a thought about how it should be and what we should know by now, we should just keep that freshness and say ‘Yeah, let’s check. Where I am truly in this? Who is suffering?’

Q: Exactly.

A: If we can keep it alive like this and fresh like this then it will not feed our spiritual ego in a good or bad way. All that; we don´t want to make the ego bigger or smaller because the victim spiritual ego is also a terrible one. ‘I am so unworthy. I am so guilty. I don´t do the practice’. All this is also spiritual ego actually, but it is the victim form of the spiritual ego.

Q: Yeah, yes, indeed.

A: You will not have an instant where the truth leaves you. That which we have seen now, that you as Awareness remain untouched by all appearances, this will never change. It is always the case. Therefore, if there is still some suffering, it must be because of something false which is being believed, including the false belief that ‘I should be through this by now. I should know this by now’. Isn´t it?

Q: Thank you, thank you. I needed this.

A: So welcome. Very good, very good.

~ ~ ~

[Silent Retreat with Ananta – 7th October 2016 – Afternoon]

A: Are we willing to go back as a speck of dust? Not even a speck of dust, as nothing at all.

Sangha: Yes.

A: If you are open to that then the possibility of the complete recognition of the Self is completely here. But if you want to keep something in your pocket; if you say ‘Yes, freedom, but also these special relationships’…, if you say ‘Yes, freedom, but I also want the bliss and joy’…

What if freedom is not an experience? What if you get no halo? What if great words don’t appear from your mouth? What if you never become a Master? What if this is the end of your story; this great novel that we have been writing with all the ups and downs…, what if it ends with just a sputter…like this…whoosh? Nothing fancy at all. Would you be okay with that?

Sangha: Yes.

A: Or do we have some expectations that something should happen; which itself is the biggest fallacy because You are already That. So, it is a re-cognition you see. It is a re-cognition.

So, empty out your pockets. Free yourself from all of this. We have created this environment for you, where you can just…, if you go crazy, go crazy. It’s actually a very Western notion that crazy people are disrespected. In India we have always had a great respect for the crazies. Some of our greatest sages have been quiet crazy. If you lose your mind here, it is very, very good.

What are you unwilling to leave? And I am not asking for any outward renunciation. Are we willing to renounce our mind? That’s all!

For too long we have had two Masters (at least for those of you in Satsang). One is this voice which speaks through this body in Satsang. And the second is this voice which goes on inside your heads; which is judging even these words right now, saying ‘Yes, yes, no, no, yes, no. This is good. What am I doing here? I should run’. So, if you are trying to balance sitting on these two chairs at the same time it is going to be a journey; it’s going to seem like effort. If you can just let go of this one, just let go of this one, only auspiciousness will emerge. Your Presence will bless everyone around you.

The mind is the form of Consciousness which is meant to lie. Consciousness in this play is completely dual, isn’t it? All extremes; sugar and spice, love and fear, joy and grief. All duality is possible here. So this voice…, if there is an intuitive voice which is your Truth, your own Satguru Presence which guides you to the Truth, then there is also there is a liar. Don’t try to make friends with the liar too soon. This liar, which seems like a tormentor now will become like a comedian and you can enjoy the comedy of the nonsense that it speaks. [Laughter]

Forget all our ideas about Freedom. Forget all ideas about effort. And ultimately can we even say something which will sound absurd to you: Can we even forget about Consciousness? It’s absurd isn’t it? Because only within Consciousness can we say like these things. And yet what I am speaking about is to be unconcerned with this play of existence.

What is appearing and disappearing? Stop checking on your state. ‘Today I am 90% free. Today these emotions are coming so I am 75%’. We don’t need this report card. We don’t need the checker guy.

It is coming again and again here to say: Forget even about Consciousness. What is it that remains unconcerned even with this movement of Consciousness? What is that? Is there something?

I am going to be asking a lot of questions this time. Contemplate on this question: What is the Truth? What is the Truth?

I will tell you what to look for: Find that which doesn’t change, which is unchanging, and that which is un-deniable and therefore verifiable.

So the truth cannot be that which changes; because if you say that the Truth is red and tomorrow is it yellow, then this Truth is of no value. So, there must be a Truth that is unchanging. And a truth, if it is just conceptual and not a living experience, then all concepts can be denied. Even ‘I Am Awareness’ if it is only a concept, it can be denied. Somebody can come and argue with you and say ‘There is no Awareness’. It is completely deniable if it is just conceptual.

So what is the Truth? What is undeniable and un-changing?

Using this question, all of our mental knowledge will start to disintegrate. And it is very important that it does. Because this is not true Knowing you see, this is just conceptual ideas.

So, if you are here for the Truth at least let’s contemplate this for ourself: What is the Truth?

Satguru Mooji Baba’s Grace is completely here with us now.

May his Grace guide every word that is spoken through this mouth.

May he give you all the strength and courage to drop that which is false.

May you all shine in the light of your un-associated Being, un-adulterated Presence.

May your Presence bring peace, love and light to this entire realm.

Let there be Peace

Let there be Peace

Let there be Peace

Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti

~ ~ ~

[Silent Retreat with Ananta – 6^th October 2016 – Evening]

[1.7] Ashtavakra said: “You are the solitary witness of all that is, forever free. Your only bondage is not seeing this.”

~ ~ ~

We’re looking at chapter 1, verse 7, the sage Ashtavakra is says: You are the solitary witness of all that is, forever free. Your only bondage is not seeing this.

So, we covered the first part yesterday. Let’s look at this part today: Your only bondage is not seeing this. Every line is so strong, isn’t it? Because he doesn’t deal in relatives at all. Just very absolute. Your only bondage is not seeing this.

If you are the solitary witness of all that is, and you are forever free; already he’s saying ‘forever free’ then how can one that is forever free have a bondage at all? So, what is it implying there? It must be implied there that…, if you are forever free, then the bondage must be a pretense, must be a pretend bondage. So, when we pretend ourself (like he said earlier) the dropping of the illusion is only the dropping of the idea of being a person. Therefore, our only bondage is to not come to this recognition, not to allow this recognition that ‘I am the solitary witness of all that is’ and pretend as if I am not this. And this refusal, this pretense, is our only bondage.

Therefore, satsang is for this pretend bondage. It is a pretend game to get rid of the pretend bondage. But from the perspective of a person, it all seems very real. So, as the recognition is coming, and the conditioning is dropping, you will wonder what all of this is for. What is all of this about? This seeming journey which seems to take years and years, we wonder ‘But it has always been so obvious. I have never been this person. What is it that I always used to struggle with and say ‘This is too strong, this is too much like this, I am too attached to this’. I cannot even find that one now that can be attached’. Because the only attachment is this myth of bondage.

Therefore, you are forever free. As long as we are pretending to be separate, we are pretending not to be this solitary witness of all that is, until then this seeming-game will continue.

~ ~ ~

[1.8] Ashtavakra said: “The thought ‘I am the doer’ is the bite of a poisonous snake. To know ‘I do nothing’ is the wisdom of faith. Be happy.”

~ ~ ~

So, verse 8 is: The thought ‘I am the doer’ is the bite of a poisonous snake. To know ‘I do nothing’ is the wisdom of faith. Be happy.

Often we have spoken about this, that one of the strongest legs of the ego is this sense of doership. And you will find it ludicrous and hilarious at some point because you will find that ‘I cannot find who is the doer’. And yet I have the sense ‘What should I do next? What am I doing? And based upon the seeming-doing that I am doing, I can feel pride or guilt’. Then the seeming doing of another, we can feel anger; all kinds of projections can go onto them because of their seeming-doership.

So, like we were saying earlier that the recognition that this Consciousness is the one doer and the one experiencer is the dissolution of this false idea that I am the doer in a personal sense. The thought ‘I am the doer’ is the bite of a poisonous snake. To know ‘I do nothing’ is the wisdom of faith. Be happy’.

But what is the way around this doership question? The debate about free will vs. God’s will won’t end unless we first try and understand ‘Whose free will would it be?’ And then, when this is inquired into, we find there is nobody here that can have a free will. Nobody can have a free will, because no person exists.

So, free will actually is the pretend will; is the idea of the individual will. And this individual will implies that there must be an individual here. But do we find it? When we look, even in this phenomenal realm, we find only this body here. And this body is not interested in most of the things we are doing. What is there for the body in satsang? The body is not the doer, the body is not seeking freedom. The body is not even seeking security.

From this perspective, it is seen that (as the sage says) ‘To know I do nothing’ is referring to what? This idea of personhood does nothing.

So, then, who is the doer? We can either say ‘nobody’ (because nothing is actually being done) or we can say ‘That which is here, the sense of existence or God, Consciousness; this must be the one doer’.

Who could be the experiencer of God’s doing? Many times we pray as if God is going to do something, but it has to be for me; or ‘God must take care of my life’ or God must lead my life to a particular outcome’. This is what I call the half-surrender. God is the one doer, then can there be a separate experiencer. Cannot be, isn’t it? Then this Consciousness is the one doer, one experiencer. And as the sages have said, this Consciousness itself is the projector, it is the light, it is the screen, it is the movie, it is the characters, it the script, it is the director, it is the everything. And this Consciousness is moving this entire manifest creation according to Its own will. This is God’s will.

‘To know ‘I do nothing’ is the wisdom of faith.’ To see it like this, God (This Consciousness) is the mover and the experiencer of the universe, then to see this itself is faith. That which runs the universe is also running this life. To see this is faith.

~ ~ ~

[1.9] Ashtavakra said: “A single understanding ‘I Am the One Awareness’ consumes all suffering in the fire of an instant.”

~ ~ ~

So, verse 9: A single understanding ‘I Am the One Awareness’ consumes all suffering in the fire of an instant.

So, this understanding sounds like a master key, because if I just because know this: I Am the One Awareness, it will consume all my suffering in the fire of an instant.

But who comes to satsang that does not know that we say this every day? I Am the One Awareness. Is it the end of suffering? [Chuckles] Then what is the contradiction? What is the contradiction? The contradiction is that just as a concept (even this concept, although very beautiful and poetic: ‘I Am the One Awareness’) just as a concept, it is not enough to come to the end of suffering.
Therefore, when the sage says ‘understanding’ he is talking about the direct recognition of this truth. Coming to this Seeing, coming to this pure recognition of the Self. ‘I Am the One Awareness’…, where even these words fade away. Even these words are not needed there: ‘I Am the One Awareness’. Awareness does not need these words.

So, as the Being is coming to this recognition, that I am this one Awareness, then this is truly the end of suffering. If you were to look at this term ‘understanding’ it must mean that this is clearly recognized. But even in this recognition, which many of us in satsang have had, is it still the end of suffering? Many times it isn’t; in fact, most times it isn’t. Because understanding must also contain the dropping of that which is false understanding. That’s why he said ‘A single understanding’ (that I Am the One Awareness).

So, to come to this recognition non-conceptually, as a living experience, that’s why we have the pointers ‘Are you aware now?’ and ‘Who is aware of this Awareness?’ to bring us to this recognition.

The recognition does not really convert into the true understanding unless that which is false and conceptual is also dropped. Both the recognition and the dropping of the conditioning is contained here.

And it’s important to see that the sage says here ‘In the fire of one instant’. Because when I say the dropping of conditioning, it can seem that now we’re talking about the realm of time. But even the conditioning has to be dropped NOW. Must be dropped NOW. As we are allowing these thoughts to come and go; it is so simple actually. It can seem like ‘Now I have a big task. I have to recognize and I have to drop the conditioning so I have a lot of work to do’. Actually it is nothing. It is just to use these pointers:

Am I aware now?

Who is aware of this awareness?
I am.

And then, just simply allowing everything to come and go; our thoughts, our emotions, everything that is coming and going in this realm is allowed to come and go at its own pace; without attaching to it.

So, this, when it says ‘A single understanding; I Am the One Awareness’ also implies that I am not an object in the world, I am not the body, I am not this phenomenal world; and to See that I must be this One Awareness is the true understanding; and Right Now, You Are Free.

Right Now, You Are Free. In the fire of this instant. So, don’t wait for some holy instant. This is That.

Also, the sage reiterates that ‘I Am the One Awareness’ and we’ve been stressing on this over and over in the past few weeks. The recognition is that it is this ‘I’ which is This Awareness. It’s very important to see it like that. It is not that Awareness, a distant Awareness. It is not an experience that you had of Awareness. It is to see that Awareness is ‘I’.

~ ~ ~

[1.10] Ashtavakra said: “You are the unbounded Awareness-Bliss, supreme bliss- in which the universe appears like the mirage of a snake in a rope. Be happy.”

~ ~ ~

Verse 10: You are the unbounded Awareness-Bliss, supreme bliss!

This Awareness; we cannot find a boundary. We cannot find a start or an end. It is not contained within in any phenomena. It is not even contained within this phenomenal realm. That is why when I ask you ‘Where are you, really? Are you here in this universe at all? Or are you just witnessing this universe?’ So then you See that ‘I am not in the universe. My ‘I Am’ is the universe itself. My Being contains this universe. But my truest nature, my true Self, is not to be found in this realm’.

And in Seeing it like this, we see that there has been this sense of trying to discover the Self, as if we will find it as an object within this realm, or within the body or within the mind. But it is not to be found here. Who witnesses the realm? Who witnesses the body? Who witnesses the mind? That is already what You Are, and You have never left this position.

So, you are this unbounded Awareness. And as this recognition is coming, then bliss can arise in service to it. But for now, you don’t be concerned about the by-product [bliss] because the recognition that ‘I Am this unbounded Awareness’ is the important thing.

So, ‘You Are This unbounded Awareness in which the Universe appears like the mirage of a snake in a rope. Be happy’.

Within this Awareness, the universe appears. What form does the universe take? The most primal form of the first appearance is what? Existence.

So, we experience this no-thing-ness in the [deep] sleep. And this primordial appearance comes; the primordial vibration, which is ‘I Am’. It is also called ‘Om’. And in the light of this primordial vibration, the universe seems to exist. Seems to exist.

Q: Could you talk a bit more about the bliss?

A: We’re searching for the by-product more than what we are truly recognizing for ourselves. So even when this recognition could be happening that ‘This Witnessing is I, this Awareness is I’ then the mind could say ‘Hello. Where is the bliss?’ [Chuckles] ‘Are you truly coming to the true Seeing? Because they said it’s going to be supremely blissful’. So, then we don’t give it any space to unfold itself; the recognition. Because immediately we go back to wanting something; the seeking of the bliss, which will supposedly make everything else seem tasteless; all other worldly experiences.

[A bit more Q&A on this subject of wanting the bliss]

The important thing is that you are the unbounded Awareness, which is accompanied by bliss as its servant (in a way). Actually, even that would not be completely accurate; because this unbounded Awareness (manifesting in this form of Consciousness) remains un-associated. When this not associated personally in any way, then it is completely followed around by love, peace, joy, bliss.

So, in this Awareness, we saw that the universe appears, and then he says ‘like the mirage of a snake in a rope’. So all of this is just one big ‘seeming’. So, from the perspective of Awareness, nothing ever really happened. The mirage never really existed. But it can seem to be there. When you’re in the desert and you’re searching for water, it can seem like the mirage is real. Just like when we consider ourself to be an object, it can seem like this world of objects is real. But this mirage is ‘like the mirage of a snake in a rope’. It could be late in the evening and you see a snake; you see a rope on the side of the road and if the light is dim, it could feel like a snake. That has happened to many.

So, like this mirage, the universe is appearing. When we truly look (it’s a beautiful example of the mirage, isn’t it?) when we truly get close and we look and we don’t see the mirage anymore. So, when we truly look at who we are, we find that we are this unbounded Awareness.

[1.7] Ashtavakra said: “You are the solitary witness of all that is, forever free. Your only bondage is not seeing this.”

~ ~ ~

So, in chapter 1, verse 7, the sage Ashtavakra is saying: You are the solitary witness of all that is, forever free. Your only bondage is not seeing this.

Actually, this one paragraph is enough actually. You are the solitary witness. So, in this also, this misconception that ‘Yes, there is Awareness here and there is Awareness there and there is Awareness there; there is Being here, there is Being there; this is demolished. Because it is not like this. It is not that there are 7 billion bundles of Beingness (and if you count animals and insects, trillions and trillions of bundles of Beingness). It is One Beingness. In fact, when someone says ‘Beingness here and Beingness there’ I say ‘Why are you not counting the space in between? It’s appearing in the same Beingness’. Just like the one dream is appearing in one Consciousness. The space in a dream is not different than the characters appearing in the dream. You see? It’s part of the same Consciousness. The mountain in the dream is not different than the people appearing in the dream. They are part of the same Consciousness; just appearing differently.

So you are the solitary witness. Now, for the idea of a person this is very scary. ‘I don’t want to be solitary. I don’t want to be lonely.’ For the person-idea this solitary-ness is a scary notion. It sounds very lonely, it sounds very boring, it sounds very numb-ing. But to That which you Really are, to this Awareness, to this Oneness, it is all there is.

If there is nothing beyond this, how can there be two?

And then “You are the solitary witness of all that is.” And the other day also, we were re-emphasizing this point. It is ALL that is. Only that which you are a witness of, exists. The rest is all presumed. The rest is all conceptual.

So, can we check this now?

Who is the witness of all that is?

Can we go layer by layer?

Who is the witness of this outside realm?

Is it you? Or someone else?

The outside world is witnessed by…?

Who is the witness of the body, the witness of thoughts?

The witness of emotions? Sensations? Pain?

Who is the witness of all of these?

Who is the witness of your own existence, the sense that ‘I exist’? …, which is another name for ‘All there is’ actually. This ‘I Am’ is actually all there is.

This is the One Being. And who is the witness of that? The sage says, Ashtavakra says that ‘You Are That. You are the solitary Witness’.

Now, are we to treat these just as nice-sounding, fancy words? Or is this a recognition which is available for us Right Now?

I want to tell you that it is available for you Right Now. Because there is on dichotomy in these words. They’re very direct.

“You are the Solitary Witness of all that Is, forever free.

Your only bondage is not seeing This.”

So, first: Forever free. This Witnessing…, okay, so let’s look at the word ‘witness’ also. When we hear the word ‘witness’ it can feel like there is an entity which is witnessing. It can feel like there is a thing called ‘The Witness’ which is witnessing the world and the Being and everything else in between; as if there is an object called ‘The Witness’ or an entity called ‘The Witness’ which is actually witnessing.

But if this witness was an object, then it would have an attribute. An object has to have an attribute. And that would be witnessed.

Stay with me. It’s a very, very important chapter. And as I was saying yesterday (in the mythology at least) Janaka got enlightenment just by listening to this chapter once through Ashtavakra’s mouth. And it’s very direct, what it is saying; so don’t let your mind come and give you any concepts.

When we see that this Witness, if it was an entity or an object, it would also have some attributes; but those also would be witnessed. All attributes must be witnessed, so there must be a Witnessing which is prior to that.

So, in this, when we check, we find that This which is the primal Witness, or the Awareness or the primal Witnessing (as we call it)…, that Itself is not an entity. Therefore, we say that there truly is no witness. It is just the Witnessing. It is not a Seer.

You are not a Seer. You are the Seeing Itself. And for the mind, this is an impossibility. So, you don’t have to go with the mind or any sort of mental understanding because the mind can only understand you to be an object, a thing. Can the mind fathom that you are not a thing, You are this Witnessing Itself? That’s when the trouble starts to come and we start grappling with something which tries to describe us as a thing. Even to say ‘space’ makes us feel like there is some element there; but even that element we are not.

We are just this pure Witnessing. What does it witness? All that exists, of all that is. There is nothing outside of this.

So, when we say ‘You are the Witness of the phenomenal Universe’ that means that the phenomenal Universe consists of that which you’re witnessing at this point.

[Segments posted as separate transcripts are all combined here: From Day 1]

~ ~ ~

Knowledge with a Capital ‘K’

 ~ ~ ~

[1.1] Janaka said: Master, how is Knowledge to be achieved, detachment acquired, liberation attained?

~ ~ ~

We were talking about the instruction on Self-Realization, which is the first chapter of the Ashtavakra Gita, where Janaka said ‘Master, how is Knowledge to be achieved, detachment acquired and liberation attained?’

What is this Knowledge with a capital ‘K’? It must be pointing to that which is true, the truth.

What is it we can truly say is the truth?

What can we define as the truth?

Because this is the only kind of Knowledge which will point directly. So, that which is unchanging, timeless, and verifiable. What is the point of that which cannot be found directly? If it is not direct, verifiable, then it is just like saying that the Earth is so much distance away from the sun. We cannot directly verify it; at least right now without the instruments.

So, this ability to find this true Knowledge for ourself must be important. So, we’re moving away from conceptual knowledge with a small ‘k’ and moving toward direct recognition of the truth, coming to the Knowledge of who we are in the most direct way.

So, this is Knowledge. This is Knowledge which I’m presuming that Janaka wanted.

.

~ ~ ~

Attachment and Detachment

~ ~ ~

[1.1] Janaka said: Master, how is Knowledge to be achieved,
detachment acquired, liberation attained?

~ ~ ~

A: ‘Detachment acquired’. Who can speak a little bit about detachment?

Q: It feels like detachment is allowing everything to come and go.

A: Yes. So, what would attachment be?

Q: Attachment is when you believe what the mind is offering as an alternative to what already Is.

Q: Yes. Very simply I describe also sometimes in satsang that attachment is to believe that something that is appearing in this realm is ‘me’ or ‘mine’…, to say that ‘this is me’ or ‘this is mine’ (which, even to say ‘mine’ implies that there is a ‘me’ first to be able to call it ‘mine’).

This must be attachment, to say that ‘This belongs to me’…, the sense of ownership; my life, my family, my relationships, my money, my spirituality, my freedom.

So, attachments can be possible only when it seems something can be mine.

.

~ ~ ~

What Must This Liberation Be Then?

~ ~ ~

[1.1] Janaka said: Master, how is Knowledge to be achieved,
detachment acquired, liberation attained?

~ ~ ~

A: So, he [Janaka] said: ‘How is Knowledge to be achieved, detachment acquired, liberation attained?’

So, what must this liberation be then? We’ve said Knowledge which is the direct Self-recognition, and detachment which is the letting go of all our attachments. And we’ve spoken about this in satsang often, isn’t it?

To recognize the truth AND to drop the conditioning; both imply liberation. Because recognition, a momentary recognition, sometimes is not enough to drop all conditioning.

And at least I have not come across a case where conditioning can be dropped without the recognition of what is true. Some conditioning can be dropped, but not all; or a majority of it cannot be dropped unless there is a valid recognition.

So, it seems like the first two are the pre-requisites for the third. ‘How is Knowledge to be achieved?’ which means the direct Self-recognition to be found; and ‘Detachment acquired’ which is the dropping of the conditioning.

.

~ ~ ~

Awareness is the True Reality of What I Am

~ ~ ~

[1.3] Ashtavakra says: You are not earth, water, fire or air. Nor are you empty space.
Liberation is to know yourself as Awareness alone—the Witness of these.

~ ~ ~

A: [Ashtavakra said]: ‘You are not earth, water, fire or air. Nor are you empty space. Liberation is to know yourself as Awareness alone— the Witness of these.’

So, he jumps straight in. No? He’s saying ‘You are not earth, water, fire or air’. In Indian education, in our Indian tradition, the Earth is made up of these elements; earth, water, fire and air and space. The sage is saying ‘You are neither earth, nor water, nor fire, nor air’.

Then, the mind has this tendency (many times in satsang also) that we start imagining some empty dark space or black space, or some room full of white light is what we are.

So, nor are you that empty space. It’s important that he mentioned that line very clearly. So, I feel we are very clear that we cannot be the elements of this realm, and neither are we the empty space.

‘Liberation is to know yourself as Awareness alone – the Witness of these.’

Very good. So, even this space (many times we visualize a space when we’re in the inquiry) but who is That which is aware of even this space?

This Awareness is the true reality of what I am.

So, when we ask the question ‘Are you aware now?’ it brings us here: to See that this Awareness which is here, which is just the Witness of all of these elements but is not made up on any of these elements.

It’s important to read also that ‘Liberation is to Know Your SELF as liberation alone’. This is what I’ve been pointing to the last few weeks, that sometimes we come to the discovery of Awareness as if it is something external to us. ‘Oh, nothing is happening to Awareness, but what about me?’ [Pause] ‘I have seen this Awareness, but what about my life? Will it get better?’

So, still sometimes in our inquiry, in our satsang, it can be that we come to a recognition of this Awareness, but the mind still keeps alive the sense of a separate identity which is coming is coming to the discovery of Awareness. You see?

So, it’s important to Know: ‘Liberation is to Know Your SELF as Awareness alone’.

That’s why I’ve offered you this question: Who is aware even of Awareness?

And this I feel like you cannot truly escape, the discovery that:

I am this Awareness, even prior to ‘I Am’.

I Am This Awareness.

So, ‘…to Know Your SELF as Awareness alone’. He’s not saying ‘Come to the discovery of Awareness’. Many times in Advaita satsang, this is what’s happening. We come to it as if it is another experience.

You must be able to find that it is ‘I’ which is this Awareness; the ‘I’ before the ‘I Am’, The ‘I-I’

This ‘I’ is the ‘I’ that remains, as Bhagavan [Ramana Maharshi] said.

.

~ ~ ~

Abide in Awareness with no Illusion of Personhood

~ ~ ~

[1.4] Ashtavakra says: Abide in Awareness with no illusion of person.
You will be instantly free and at peace.

~ ~ ~

A: Then he says: ‘Abide in Awareness with no illusion of person. You will be instantly free and at peace’.

How does one abide in Awareness?

The sage says ‘Abide in Awareness with no illusion of person. You will be instantly free and at peace’.

So, for me, I would read the second one very importantly, which is ‘with no illusion of person’. I feel that abiding in Awareness is our natural state anyway. The only delusion or the only play is this play of being a person.

So, how do we play this play? We play this play only by believing ourself to be an object within this realm; believing ourself to be a separate entity.

‘Person’ means what? He’s not saying ‘with no illusion of body’. He says ‘with no illusion of person’. Because the body illusion or reality (whatever you like to call it) can still appear. So, what is this person? This is a pure imagination, it is a pure construct made up of our beliefs.

But to ‘Abide in Awareness with no illusion of person, you will be instantly free and at peace’.

We can actually just stop here. [Chuckles] Because he says ‘You will be instantly free and at peace’ if you were just to not fall for being a person. And already, being in satsang, we know that to abide in Awareness is just happening on its own. Can you be un-aware? You cannot be. So, abiding is the natural part.

Many of us make this mistake of trying to become the Awareness, trying hard to become the Awareness. ‘Can I get myself to be the Awareness?’ But in that, we already picked up the illusion of personhood.

So, the dropping of the illusion of the person is already the abiding in Awareness because you are aware now. In fact, it would be impossible for you not to be aware. So, if I was to say ‘Abide in the un-awareness’ that would be impossible. To abide in Awareness is the most natural state.

But we have the power, as we know, we have the power to believe ourself to be a person. This is the illusion of personhood.

So, he says to ‘Abide in Awareness with no illusion of person. You will be instantly free and at peace’.

So, what about conditioning then? We’ve spoken about this. Isn’t it? What about conditioning then? But even to pick up conditioning requires this: the illusion of person. Without picking that up right now, can you pick up any conditioning?

Very often we’ve said in satsang that it’s all about the ‘Right Now’. Even right now, if you don’t tug at a leaf of the conditioning, a thought about yourself as a person, then the whole tree has no power over you. You see?

So, in this moment, right now, you are free. This is what we say in satsang every day. Right now, you are free. You start free. Freedom is not a destination that you’re going to.

I read something very beautiful from Adya[shanti] today, where he said ‘What are you going to do right now to pretend to be un-enlightened?’ (I’m paraphrasing.) What are you going to do right now to pretend to be un-enlightened? That is the real question. What are you going to pick up from the conveyor belt of the mind?

.

~ ~ ~

What You Really Are…is Invisible

~ ~ ~

[1.5]: Ashtavakra says: ‘You have no caste or duties. You are invisible, unattached, formless. You are the Witness of all things. Be happy’.

~ ~ ~

A: ‘You have no caste or duties. You are invisible, unattached, formless. You are the Witness of all things’.

We’ve discussed the person, so unless the person was a reality, it is not possible to have a caste and then the duties of that caste.

Then he goes on to describe what you really are; and he starts with ‘You are invisible’.

[Smiles] Is that a big help? [Chuckles] For those of you who are new to satsang [might be thinking] ‘If I’m invisible then how do I find myself? Because I am looking for my Self and you are saying I’m invisible’. So this must be a contradiction, isn’t it?

So, who can tell us? (Also in the Hangout (online) you can tell us something). Why is invisibility not a contradiction to finding your Self?

I’m just reading this [Comment from hangout typed]: ‘Because the Self is invisible’.

Yes. But if it is invisible, then is it possible to find something which is invisible? We’re looking for the Self, and the pointer is that we are invisible.

And then Amba said ‘Because you are your Self’. Yes, but what does this mean? If I’m Janaka right now.., ‘But invisible, then how do I realize this Self? How do I realize my Self?’

Q: I feel like it’s such a beautiful pointer because it completely knocks the mind right out of the park, right away. Like you just have to leave it.

A: Yes. Very good. [Chuckles] It’s a very beautiful pointer because I say ‘Please imagine something which is invisible’. Can you do it?

Q: Space.

A: Can you imagine space? Only if you put a room around it. [Laughs] You see, it is not part of the functioning of the mind. Even if you were to imagine space, you would imagine a dark space. You cannot imagine a colorless space; you cannot imagine something which has no attributes. Can you do it? Actually take a minute and do it. [Chuckles] You can’t. Something which has no attribute whatsoever; can we think about it? Can we report something on it?

So, this ‘invisible’ actually doesn’t mean…, (I don’t know what the original Sanskrit was but) invisible doesn’t just mean invisible in that sense of, you know, the invisible man. But more in the sense of no attribute at all. ‘Invisible’ could still mean that it has some weight, it has some mask. Here we are talking about that which has no attributes.

Q: As soon as you said ‘invisible’ what came to mind is that it’s not anything that you are perceiving, on any level.

A: Yes, exactly.

Q: Because that’s really, for me, I would say that as much as believing thoughts is also the just basically identifying with vibration or sensation or something like that which gives way to the personhood, the sense of personhood.

A: Yes, but the good thing is…, Ziya posted a quote today which said that: ‘Even with sensations, if they’re just sensations, it is impossible to identify with them’. We must put the label; we must say that this is happening to ‘me’. There must be at least some subtle interpretation. Because the Witness of a sensation is not identified with a sensation. The sensations will still appear. But the identification is possible only…, identification itself means that ‘I have a concept about this sensation’. It is impossible to be concept-less about the sensation and yet be identified. You can then only be the Witness actually.

We’re really looking at this beautiful scripture and we’re finding that there’s a very direct correlation with what’s being spoken in satsang, in a very condensed form. And sometimes because it is so condensed, it can seem like it is obvious already. That’s why we’re relaxing through the verses, taking our time, going over every word because every word has so much meaning in these beautiful scriptures. And we are finding that this is what has been spoken about in satsang. And it’s a beautiful way to actually have a framework around what has been shared here. Because in the verses we are finding that it is familiar; not just in the content but also familiar in terms of the voice which is speaking. It seems like it is the same voice that is using this mouth now to speak, the voice of the Satguru which is your own Holy Presence.

So, as much attention as we feel is possible to give, it’s very beautiful. Because it is in the Ashtavakra Gita, just upon hearing the chapter one, that Janaka came to the recognition of his real Self. Just a few verses were enough to allow him to let go of his personal identity. And the same is possible for us right here, right now.

So, let’s continue where we left off. We were reading Chapter 1, Instruction on Self-Realization. I’ll quickly go through all the verses that we’ve already read. So, it starts with:

[1.1] Janaka said: “Master, how is Knowledge to be achieved, detachment acquired, liberation attained?”

Already very beautiful, isn’t it? Because in this is the encapsulation of Self-Realization, what it actually means? Recognition; but the dropping of conditioning as well through detachment. Is this clear for most of us?

[1.2] Ashtavakra said: “To be free, shun the experiences of the senses like poison. Turn your attention to forgiveness, sincerity, kindness, simplicity, truth.”

It was inserted (most likely) later on. It’s very beautiful for someone who is new to satsang and they’re wondering ‘Okay, all this is fine, but what do I do?’ If this question is still bothering us, then we can focus a bit on this paragraph. My feeling is not to focus on this one too much, because it just feels like this was inserted later. It does not feel like it belongs in this text.

[1.3] Ashtavakra said: “You are not earth, water, fire or air. Nor are you empty space. Liberation is to know yourself as Awareness alone, the Witness of these.”

We discussed this yesterday and we found that the mind can have this tendency of when we say that we are not material in any way, then there is a sense of space; like dark space or white light or something this. But even that we are not. Who witnesses even this? That is the question that the sage is asking. And he’s also answering ‘Liberation is to know yourself as Awareness alone’.

Again, a very important point that we discussed yesterday, to know your Self as Awareness alone; not as a discovery outside of Me. Because many times in satsang this can happen that we feel like ‘Oh, Awareness is there. But what about me?’ still. But I am this Awareness, prior to even ‘I Am’. So, that’s why this is a very important verse.

[1.4] Ashtavakra said: “Abide in Awareness with no illusion of person. You will be instantly free and at peace.”

Very beautiful. Just in three lines: Abide in Awareness; what to do to abide in Awareness? Nothing actually. But the sage tells us that ‘Don’t have this illusion that you’re a person’. So, don’t have this illusion that you’re a person. Then it takes no effort. So, to abide in Awareness, there is nothing that we have to do. It is our most natural state. Even before the sense of Being comes, that ‘I Am’…, even before that, we are Aware.

So, to abide to Awareness means to have no illusion of personhood, and you will be instantly free and at peace. Just for minute, we’ll look at this.

Is it possible like this? Completely! Because we are free now! We are free. Right now, we are free. It only happens NOW. And the dropping of the conditioning is also NOW. It’s not going to happen in the future. The dropping of the conditioning only means that we are surrendered in this moment. We are not picking up a concept about how this life should be, what should happen next. We’re not picking up our next thought.

So, freedom must be NOW. It is not something to be attained in the future.

[1.5] Ashtavakra said:  “You have no caste or duties. You are invisible, unattached, formless. You are the Witness of all things. Be happy.”

Since it was written many years ago, we know that the caste system was prevalent in India at that time. It seems politically incorrect talking about caste. But we are just looking at this from a higher perspective, which is to see that when the illusion of personhood is not there, then the attributes which can be attached to this so-called person also drop. Let the person drop.

It’s important that he says ‘or duties’. So, not only are the attributes of personhood dropping, but also the sense of doership dissolves. Duties must be to that idea that we had about ourself, that ‘I had to do something’. Now these duties are also dropped.

So, the way to look at this is to see that no attributes and no doership can then remain. Because he goes on to explain that ‘You are invisible, unattached, formless. You are the witness of all things. Be happy’. [Repeats] ‘You are invisible, unattached, formless. You are the witness of all things. Be happy’.

First, is the dissolution of personhood; no personal attributes. And what remains then? Without attributes, what remains is invisible. What he actually means is without any attributes. Unattached. That which is without attributes, this Awareness cannot attach to something in reality. So, all our attachments were about this idea of the person; never truly about that which we Are.

We said yesterday that what we say about attachment is to call something in this realm ‘mine’. And the ‘mine’ implies that there is a ‘me’ that owns something. But we are then not talking about the truth of what we Are; we’re talking about the imagined-one.

‘You are invisible, unattached, formless’. Now, for the seeker, he might enjoy the sound of these words. [Chuckles] But actually, if he was to try and find what is invisible, unattached and formless, it is very frustrating. How will you discover That? This is about discovery. How are we to find that which is invisible, unattached, formless? How do we start even looking for it? Where do we go?

When the seeker eventually shows his frustration in satsang, saying ‘What am I doing here? I’m not getting anything. I have been coming here, and initially some joy and peace was there but even that is gone’. [Laughs] This happens in satsang, isn’t it? ‘I’ve been coming for so many months, and it was nice but I just feel like it’s a waste of time. I’m not finding anything at all. Even what I knew, I have forgotten now. I can’t even speak knowledgably about anything’. [Chuckles] So, in this, that frustration is encapsulated because what is the discovery? We’re not discovering anything phenomenally tangible; only the invisible, unattached and formless.

But is the frustration warranted? Because we Know this already. It is only our mind which cannot fathom this. So, when we go back, we contemplate, we look at these things…, and I’ve given you the tools for it. That’s why I ask you ‘Are you aware now?’

Is your finding of this Awareness something that is visible? Does it have a form? Is it attached? Even to say that ‘I am aware of something’ we see that this content, what we are aware of, keeps changing, but this ‘Aware’…, to be able to say ‘I am aware of it’ means that I’m already aware that there is this Awareness here.

Very slowly. It is not confusing. Only the mind wants to fight this is a big way.

I’m only simply saying that when we are aware of something, you must first be aware of Awareness. Otherwise how would you say ‘I’m aware of it’? You see? Just like to be able to say ‘I am smelling this, I am seeing this, I am hearing this’ we must first be aware what smelling is, seeing is, hearing is. In the same way, to say ‘I am aware of something’ you must first know what ‘aware’ is. And this doesn’t have any attributes. It is invisible in that way; and formless.

So, then what happens is ‘Yes, Awareness is here’…, but even in this statement ‘Awareness is here’ there is a tendency in the mind to create some distance between Awareness and what this me is. ‘Yes, yes. I know awareness is here’. That’s why I’ve given you another tool, which is:

Who is aware of this Awareness?

Use this one. Who is aware of this Awareness? And for those of you who are open enough, you will find that this is the recognition of the Self. [This] I’ is this Awareness. I am finding that I am formless, I am unattached and I am not a physical object in this realm with attributes; invisible.

This is the recognition of the unborn, the no-thing, the eternal that we speak about.

Who is aware of the Awareness? … I.

Is this I distinct from Awareness? No, I find no separation.

There is nowhere where I is but Awareness is not; or Awareness is, but I am not.

The sage has given us a way to find this also. He says ‘You are the witness of all things’. (Before we come to the ‘be happy’ part). This phrase is very important. He says ‘ALL things’. Very important. He doesn’t say ‘You are the witness of things’. He says ‘ALL things’. That means that only that which is Witnessed exists.

Is it too far to go? But even physics is coming to these conclusions. Nothing exists without the observer. So, that means that this is our dream. Because if I am the witness of all things, that means that only that which I am the witness of exists. It’s like in a dream, if I get a newspaper from America…, the newspaper exists but does the America exist? This waking state is just like the dream state. That which exists in our attention; that exists. Because he says ‘YOU are the witness of all things’. It’s a very direct statement. Don’t allow the mind to mis-interpret it. It is very, very direct; needs no disclaimers. YOU are the witness of all things. And very often in satsang we’ve said that the Universe is that which You are aware of.

Then he says ‘Be happy’. And this seems to be from a different level than where we were speaking just now. I feel this is also very beautiful because the sage is saying that once we know this, is there any reason to be unhappy? In fact, this must be cause for celebration, isn’t it, that I am no-thing, that I Am That which cannot be hurt, that which is formless and unattached, that which has no attributes, and yet I witness the play of this realm. So, so much fearless-ness, so much cause for celebration.

Janaka was sitting with a sulky seeker face, and the sage says ‘As you know this, be happy. You are not a person’. Just this! Many times we say this: ‘You are not a person’. You’re not a person, you’re not a thing; you’re not even Consciousness. You’re that which is aware of Consciousness; That in which God takes birth and God goes back to sleep. What must You be? How is it possible for us to suffer now?

Therefore, he says ‘Be happy’.

[1.6] Ashtavakra says: “Right and wrong, pleasure and pain, exist in mind only. They are not your concern. You neither do, nor enjoy. You are free.”

~ ~ ~

Chapter 1, verse 6 is: Right and wrong, pleasure and pain, exist in mind only. They are not your concern. You neither do nor enjoy. You are free.

He says ‘Right and wrong’ which is just the realm of interpretation, judgment. ‘Pleasure and pain’. This might be a little different than the definitions we use in satsang. I like to say that the mind is nothing but a bundle of thoughts and similar energies like imagination, memory. Sometimes we say (let’s include) all the other perceived sensations like emotions, pain; let’s also for a moment include that in the definition of the mind. So, the sage is using the broader definition. He’s saying ‘All of these thoughts, all of these sensations, all the pain, all the pleasure’. Let’s look at that as the mind.

As the Witness of the mind you are apart from this. These do not touch you, although they happen within you, they only exist (as we saw earlier) in our play. Only that which we are aware of, only that which has our attention, only that which is perceived seems to exist in this realm of maya. So, the sage says that all of this interpretation and all of the sensations (either through our senses or seemingly-felt internally) let’s see that that is not original to Us. It is in the realm of the mind. They are not Your concern.

So, let’s look at this ‘your’ now. ‘Your concern’. He is speaking to us directly as Awareness Itself. This Awareness is unconcerned. Often in satsang, we use the term ‘unconcerned’. This Awareness is unconcerned with this play of Itself called Consciousness.

Then he says ‘You neither do, nor enjoy’. This is directly again pointing to what we speak in satsang, which is ‘Tvam karta, Tvam bhogta’ [meaning] ‘You are the doer, and You are the experiencer’.  What is this? It is a prayer to Consciousness. But usually the prayer is made from the perspective of a person, that ‘I am nothing, Oh Lord. You are the doer, and You are the experiencer’.

When he says ‘enjoy’ here, he’s talking about experiencing. ‘You neither do, nor enjoy’. But here, he’s not referring to you-as-the-person. He’s saying You-as-this-Awareness. So, an aspect of You, which is Consciousness, is doing and it is enjoying. YOU are unconcerned as the Witnessing; unconcerned with the movement of doing and experiencing.

From the perspective of the person, this is called surrender. ‘You, oh Lord (or Consciousness) are the doer and You are the experiencer’.

From the perspective of Awareness also, You are not the doer or the experiencer; although Consciousness is also an aspect of You.

So because You neither do nor enjoy, the sage says, you are free. [Chuckles]

In the fallacy of this doership and the fallacy that ‘I am the experiencer of this life’ mostly I am the victim of this life. Also another very strong leg of the ego. ‘Oh, I am the victim of what has happened to me. Look at what has happened to my life’. Victim-hood is a very popular ego belief; this fallacy of doership and being the experiencer of what is happening (the suffer-er would be a better term) of this life.

To see that I am the primal Witnessing, the primal Witness of this entire play, then even to say ‘You are free’ is actually under-selling it, because you can never be bound. This One, which is formless and unattached, is neither the doer nor the experiencer. It is impossible to find any attributes of it to even bind. You see? How would it be bound?

It is talking about You.

You Are Free.

[Chuckles]

You Are Free.

A: Then he [Ashtavakra] says: ‘Abide in Awareness with no illusion of person. You will be instantly free and at peace’.

How does one abide in Awareness?

The sage says ‘Abide in Awareness with no illusion of person. You will be instantly free and at peace’.

So, for me, I would read the second one very importantly, which is ‘with no illusion of person’. I feel that abiding in Awareness is our natural state anyway. The only delusion or the only play is this play of being a person.

So, how do we play this play? We play this play only by believing ourself to be an object within this realm; believing ourself to be a separate entity.

‘Person’ means what? He’s not saying ‘with no illusion of body’. He says ‘with no illusion of person’. Because the body illusion or reality (whatever you like to call it) can still appear. So, what is this person? This is a pure imagination, it is a pure construct made up of our beliefs.

But to ‘Abide in Awareness with no illusion of person, you will be instantly free and at peace’.

We can actually just stop here. [Chuckles] Because he says ‘You will be instantly free and at peace’ if you were just to not fall for being a person. And already, being in satsang, we know that to abide in Awareness is just happening on its own. Can you be un-aware? You cannot be. So, abiding is the natural part.

Many of us make this mistake of trying to become the Awareness, trying hard to become the Awareness. ‘Can I get myself to be the Awareness?’ But in that, we already picked up the illusion of personhood.

So, the dropping of the illusion of the person is already the abiding in Awareness because you are aware now. In fact, it would be impossible for you not to be aware. So, if I was to say ‘Abide in the un-awareness’ that would be impossible. To abide in Awareness is the most natural state.

But we have the power, as we know, we have the power to believe ourself to be a person. This is the illusion of personhood.

So, he says to ‘Abide in Awareness with no illusion of person. You will be instantly free and at peace’.

So, what about conditioning then? We’ve spoken about this. Isn’t it? What about conditioning then? But even to pick up conditioning requires this: the illusion of person. Without picking that up right now, can you pick up any conditioning?

Very often we’ve said in satsang that it’s all about the ‘Right Now’. Even right now, if you don’t tug at a leaf of the conditioning, a thought about yourself as a person, then the whole tree has no power over you. You see?

So, in this moment, right now, you are free. This is what we say in satsang every day. Right now, you are free. You start free. Freedom is not a destination that you’re going to.

I read something very beautiful from Adya[shanti] today, where he said ‘What are you going to do right now to pretend to be un-enlightened?’ What are you going to do right now to pretend to be un-enlightened? That is the real question. What are you going to pick up from the conveyor belt of the mind?

Q: Suffering is caused by resistance, isn’t it?

A: Yes.

Q: Or suffering is resistance, basically. And suffering requires thought, or belief in thought. But it feels like resistance doesn’t.

A: Ah, maybe there’s a difference in the definition of resistance.

Q: When I’m resisting something, it feels like I’m suffering.

A: For me, resistance means a non-acceptance of what is. Is it possible to not accept what is, without a thought? So, if it’s energetic, one sort of energy is coming and another sort of energy is happening. There’s a Mahabharat of energies happening. I would still not call that resisting.

Q: It’s possible.

A: Did you listen to what I said? [Smiles] Let me repeat. So one sort of energy is coming and another sort of energy is coming. They are fighting, like the Mahabharat. They are fighting. I would still not call this resistance. Maybe this part is what you’re calling the resistance. Something which is coming in resistance to this energetically is not what I mean by resistance. It is still not the ego yet. It is a normal functioning. The Consciousness is functioning in this way where energies are coming, more energies are coming, and the play of this fighting is happening. But it’s still not the ego yet. This not the resistance that I am talking about. The resistance which I am talking about is the thought which comes and says ‘But why does this happen to me? This should not be happening. See, I’m resisting again’. And when that is bought, that is ego.

The play of energetic movements which are constantly there in the body whether we notice them or not (sometimes they are too subtle to notice) this back and forth is always there. Lower energies pushing downward, higher energies pushing upwards; it’s constantly there. So, then we would never be free from ego.

Ego cannot be this. Ego must be that which labels even this and says ‘I don’t want to experience this. Why does this happen to me? When will it stop?’…, anything like that. Then we put the ‘me’ in the picture. Otherwise it’s just a movement of energy.

Q: I think I’ve been somehow connecting…

A: This second one?

Q: Yeah, it almost feels like it’s the same egoic energy which either takes the form of a thought or takes the form of an energetic resistance; like it has two expressions, or something like that.

A: The identity would still not be born, the sense of ‘me’ would not be there, unless I get a ‘me’ into the picture saying ‘I am suffering from this’ or ‘I am fighting this’. There has to be at least some labeling happening.

Q: Yeah, who’s to say I’m anything to do with the second energy?

A: Exactly.

Q: But that’s what I’ve been believing. I’ve been feeling like something is in the body…

A: And it feels like this is a real aspect of me?

Q: Yeah, it’s trying to come out, it wants to come out and be released. And then there’s something which is desperately trying to keep a lid on that, and I’ve been looking at that second one and saying ‘Why can I not just…?’

A: But without this, even the label or any belief about the first or second one (it could be hundreds of energies but just to keep it simple) without this, it’s just a play of energy which is happening. This movement is happening, but there is no ‘me’ still in the picture who is the sufferer of any energies. This is a very important subtle point.

Q: It’s really subtle, because already when it’s very intense I don’t really feel like I suffer it any more. There’s just this allowing. But I guess it’s a conditional allowing. In allowing it, it should take place smoothly energetically.

A: If there’s still a sense of a ‘me’ which is in a fight energetically then we must see this, that ‘Okay, there’s this belief which is here that feels like I’m in some kind of fight with this energy’. Just to look at that. ‘Who is this me? Who is the one which is fighting? What control do I have over either of these?’ Then you’ll find that you come to the witnessing perspective easier.

(1.5): Ashtavakra says: ‘You have no caste or duties. You are invisible, unattached, formless. You are the Witness of all things. Be happy’.

~ ~ ~

A: ‘You have no caste or duties. You are invisible, unattached, formless. You are the Witness of all things’.

We’ve discussed the person, so unless the person was a reality, it is not possible to have a caste and then the duties of that caste.

Then he goes on to describe what you really are; and he starts with ‘You are invisible’.

[Smiles] Is that a big help? [Chuckles] For those of you who are new to satsang [might be thinking] ‘If I’m invisible then how do I find myself? Because I am looking for my Self and you are saying I’m invisible’. So this must be a contradiction, isn’t it?

So, who can tell us? (Also in the Hangout (online) you can tell us something). Why is invisibility not a contradiction to finding your Self?

I’m just reading this [Comment from hangout typed]: ‘Because the Self is invisible’.

Yes. But if it is invisible, then is it possible to find something which is invisible? We’re looking for the Self, and the pointer is that we are invisible.

And then Amba said ‘Because you are your Self’. Yes, but what does this mean? If I’m Janaka right now.., ‘But invisible, then how do I realize this Self? How do I realize my Self?’

Q: I feel like it’s such a beautiful pointer because it completely knocks the mind right out of the park, right away. Like you just have to leave it.

A: Yes. Very good. [Chuckles] It’s a very beautiful pointer because I say ‘Please imagine something which is invisible’. Can you do it?

Q: Space.

A: Can you imagine space? Only if you put a room around it. [Laughs] You see, it is not part of the functioning of the mind. Even if you were to imagine space, you would imagine a dark space. You cannot imagine a colorless space; you cannot imagine something which has no attributes. Can you do it? Actually take a minute and do it. [Chuckles] You can’t. Something which has no attribute whatsoever; can we think about it? Can we report something on it?

So, this ‘invisible’ actually doesn’t mean…, (I don’t know what the original Sanskrit was but) invisible doesn’t just mean invisible in that sense of, you know, the invisible man. But more in the sense of no attribute at all. ‘Invisible’ could still mean that it has some weight, it has some mask. Here we are talking about that which has no attributes.

Q: As soon as you said ‘invisible’ what came to mind is that it’s not anything that you are perceiving, on any level.

A: Yes, exactly.

Q: Because that’s really, for me, I would say that as much as believing thoughts is also the just basically identifying with vibration or sensation or something like that which gives way to the personhood, the sense of personhood.

A: Yes, but the good thing is…, Ziya posted a quote today which said that: ‘Even with sensations, if they’re just sensations, it is impossible to identify with them’. We must put the label; we must say that this is happening to ‘me’. There must be at least some subtle interpretation. Because the Witness of a sensation is not identified with a sensation. The sensations will still appear. But the identification is possible only…, identification itself means that ‘I have a concept about this sensation’. It is impossible to be concept-less about the sensation and yet be identified. You can then only be the Witness actually.

A: [Ashtavakra said]: Verse number 3: ‘You are not earth, water, fire or air. Nor are you empty space. Liberation is to know yourself as Awareness alone— the Witness of these.’

So, he jumps straight in. No? He’s saying ‘You are not earth, water, fire or air’. In Indian education, in our Indian tradition, the Earth is made up of these elements; earth, water, fire and air and space. The sage is saying ‘You are neither earth, nor water, nor fire, nor air’.

Then, the mind has this tendency (many times in satsang also) that we start imagining some empty dark space or black space, or some room full of white light is what we are.

So, nor are you that empty space. It’s important that he mentioned that line very clearly. So, I feel we are very clear that we cannot be the elements of this realm, and neither are we the empty space.

‘Liberation is to know yourself as Awareness alone – the Witness of these.’

Very good. So, even this space (many times we visualize a space when we’re in the inquiry) but who is That which is aware of even this space?

This Awareness is the true reality of what I am.

So, when we ask the question ‘Are you aware now?’ it brings us here: to See that this Awareness which is here, which is just the Witness of all of these elements but is not made up on any of these elements.

It’s important to read also that ‘Liberation is to Know Your SELF as liberation alone’. This is what I’ve been pointing to the last few weeks, that sometimes we come to the discovery of Awareness as if it is something external to us. ‘Oh, nothing is happening to Awareness, but what about me?’ [Pause] ‘I have seen this Awareness, but what about my life? Will it get better?’

So, still sometimes in our inquiry, in our satsang, it can be that we come to a recognition of this Awareness, but the mind still keeps alive the sense of a separate identity which is coming is coming to the discovery of Awareness. You see?

So, it’s important to Know: ‘Liberation is to Know Your SELF as Awareness alone’.

That’s why I’ve offered you this question: Who is aware even of Awareness?

And this I feel like you cannot truly escape, the discovery that:

I am this Awareness, even prior to ‘I Am’.

I Am This Awareness.

So, ‘…to Know Your SELF as Awareness alone’. He’s not saying ‘Come to the discovery of Awareness’. Many times in Advaita satsang, this is what’s happening. We come to it as if it is another experience.

You must be able to find that it is ‘I’ which is this Awareness; the ‘I’ before the ‘I Am’, The ‘I-I’

This ‘I’ is the ‘I’ that remains, as Bhagavan [Ramana Maharshi] said.

A: So, he [Janaka] said: ‘How is Knowledge to be achieved, detachment acquired, liberation attained?’

So, what must this liberation be then? We’ve said Knowledge which is the direct Self-recognition, and detachment which is the letting go of all our attachments. And we’ve spoken about this in satsang often, isn’t it?

To recognize the truth AND to drop the conditioning; both imply liberation. Because recognition, a momentary recognition, sometimes is not enough to drop all conditioning.

And at least I have not come across a case where conditioning can be dropped without the recognition of what is true. Some conditioning can be dropped, but not all; or a majority of it cannot be dropped unless there is a valid recognition.

So, it seems like the first two are the pre-requisites for the third. ‘How is Knowledge to be achieved?’ which means the direct Self-recognition to be found; and ‘Detachment acquired’ which is the dropping of the conditioning.

Janaka said: (1.1) “Master, how is Knowledge to be achieved, detachment acquired, liberation attained?”

~ ~ ~

A: ‘Detachment acquired’. Who can speak a little bit about detachment?

Q: It feels like detachment is allowing everything to come and go.

A: Yes. So, what would attachment be?

Q: Attachment is when you believe what the mind is offering as an alternative to what already Is.

Q: Yes. Very simply I describe also sometimes in satsang that attachment is to believe that something that is appearing in this realm is ‘me’ or ‘mine’…, to say that ‘this is me’ or ‘this is mine’ (which, even to say ‘mine’ implies that there is a ‘me’ first to be able to call it ‘mine’).

This must be attachment, to say that ‘This belongs to me’…, the sense of ownership; my life, my family, my relationships, my money, my spirituality, my freedom.

So, attachments can be possible only when it seems something can be mine.