Abide in the Stillness of No-thing (Ashtavakra Gita 11.1-11.4) - 22nd November 2016

So the certainty that the sage is talking about is to see this as a living experience, as a direct experience. The self creates all. To see this is to see that when we are asleep, there is nothing. There is nothing at all. There is only an awareness that there is nothing. So the self does not go, but this self is not phenomenal. That is why we call it the no-thing. So this no-thing remains. Then what happens when we wake up? There is a sense of existence, 'I am,' that awakens. But where does this come from? Did it come from outside? But there was no outside. There was no inside or outside. Therefore, what must this Consciousness, this sense of existence 'I am,' be made up of? It must be seen then that this sense of existence must be made up of what is here, which is this simple awareness, non-phenomenal truth, which now exhibits itself as the primordial vibration 'I am' or Om or Atma, beingness, Consciousness—whatever term we use for it.

This being, this Consciousness emerges, which is your own presence. And with the birth of this presence, within the screen of this presence, using the light of its own presence, this entire play of light and sound is created. Therefore, no separation has ever happened. Everything that you experience is experienced within you, and your attention is only moving inside of you. So separation is a trick. Separation is a trick of the mind. The interpreting mind, the labeling mind looks at this one appearance and interprets it as separate, creates duality where there is none by interpreting, judging, and labeling. Even now, you cannot do it. You cannot presume a sense of separation unless you label something as separate, unless you label something as anything. Even your own emotion, even your own sensations—unless we call them something, they're just a part of this one undifferentiated appearance. There are no two. And we already saw that this entire play, this entire realm of appearances, is made up of this non-phenomenal self, non-phenomenal reality of the self playing as its dynamic aspect as Consciousness, and then playing the game of pretend separation by giving belief to this mind. That is all that is happening. And once you see this to be true, that it is the self, the one self that creates all and there is nobody else, then we become... in the recognition of the truth, it is naturally followed by the Stillness, the peace that we are looking for.

So in verse number three, Ashtavakra says: 'One who knows for certain that adversity and success come and go in obedience to Destiny becomes content. He neither desires nor grieves.' One who knows for certain that adversity and success come and go in obedience to Destiny becomes content. He neither desires nor grieves. What is the meaning of Destiny? Very simply put, Destiny implies the will of God, the will of Consciousness. So very often the term predestined is confused to imply that something is pre-written, some script is there which is being followed. But the simpler explanation is to see that pre-ordained or predestined implies that all is the will of God. It is prior to any idea, superfluous idea of control we have as seeming individuals. That is the truer definition, you see. That which is the creator of time cannot be subject to time, and therefore the concept of predestiny in terms of time does not apply. It only means that all is the will of Consciousness. Consciousness is projecting the movie on the screen of itself as it sees fit.

There is nothing that the non-existent person can do about it. When we say it like this, it seems so obvious. That which does not exist, that cannot be the doer, isn't it? Only that which is, which is God himself, Consciousness itself, is the creator, enjoyer, preserver, and dissolver of this realm. And who is this one? It is your own dynamic aspect. So upon hearing this, if there's a sense of powerlessness, then know that you are confusing yourself to be something that you are not. Upon hearing this, if there is a sense of powerfulness, then also know that you're considering yourself to be something that you are not. Consciousness is functioning in this very natural way. The creation and dissolution of this universe is a very natural functioning of this Consciousness business. So one who knows for certain that adversity and success come and go... so in the play, sometimes it can seem like thousands of obstacles, and sometimes it feels like we just started and it is done. Both of these happen. And the mind uses these things to create guilt or pride, unworthiness or arrogance. Both of these are fallacies because all is happening only in obedience to the will of God. And once this is seen, then that is that beautiful surrender: 'Oh God, let thy will be done,' or whichever way you want to keep this body-mind is your problem. Oh Master, Satguru, whatever has to happen in this life is your will. And not only are you the doer, but you are also the one experiencer as Consciousness.

Therefore, what does any of this have to do with the person that I'm presuming myself to be? Nothing at all, because this person can neither do nor experience. To see this is very important because otherwise we keep falling into this trap that God is the doer but I am an individual experiencer, and why is God doing this to me? When will God make my life better? When will he change things? All of these are just ideas of the non-existent one. Then verse number four: 'One who knows for certain that birth and death, happiness and misery come and go in obedience to Destiny, sees nothing to accomplish. He engages in non-action and in action remains unattached.' So if birth and death, happiness and misery, they all come and go in obedience to this Consciousness, you see this, isn't it? None of us can say, 'Oh, I decided to be born, I decided that this is when I was going to be born.' We cannot see this as a person anyway. Only as a Supreme we can say that I decided to have this human experience. And most who have not come face to face with the truth cannot say that death was a decision that was taken by me, was my own doing.

Something deeper, when it is done with the experiencing of this realm, dissolves itself into its source. And we see this every day. When the urge for experiencing is done, no matter what, no matter what experience might be available, when the deeper feeling is to go beyond this experience, then sleep comes. And with the coming of sleep is the dissolution of this universe. In the same way, birth and death, happiness and misery come and go in obedience to Destiny. If I ask all of you, mentally you will be able to tell me five ways in which you can be happy. You'll say, 'Okay, to be happy all I need to do is this, do is this.' We say, 'I just need to remain in the present moment, I just need to think happy thoughts, I just need to...' whatever, you'll have a list of five things. But then why aren't you? If you already know that these are the ways to be happy, why doesn't it happen that way? Because it is not about coming up with a mental resolution. It is the design of this play that as long as we are believing ourselves to be this ego, you're believing ourselves to be this non-existent phantom, then this roller coaster of ups and downs, happiness and misery, will continue. And some are able to see this roller coaster and this urge comes within them that 'I want out of this game, I want out of this merry-go-round.' What is the truth? Like this young child Nachiketa, whose father was upset with him, and when Nachiketa asked his father, 'So who will you give me to?' the father says, 'I give you to death,' because he was just annoyed with him, upset with him. So then...

Believing ourself to be this non-existent phantom, then this roller coaster of ups and downs, happiness and misery, will continue. And some are able to see this roller coaster and this urge comes within them that 'I want out of this game. I want out of this merry-go-round. What is the truth?' It is like this young child, Nachiketa, whose father was upset with him. And when Nachiketa asked his father, 'So who will you give me to?' the father says, 'I give you to death' because he was just annoyed with him, upset with him. So then the Lord of death actually came. This is the story of the Katha Upanishad, the dialogue with that which I don't know did yet.

So the god of death comes and Nachiketa, this young boy, asks him, 'Tell me the secret to the eternal truths.' And Yama, the god of death, says, 'No, no, but you're too young for this. Let me offer you a kingdom and palaces and the best consorts and the best everything that life has to offer.' So then Nachiketa says, 'But will these last forever?' And the god of death says, 'No, I will take all of them. All of these are subject to death. All that is created will be destroyed.' So then Nachiketa says, 'I don't want any of that. Tell me only that which is the eternal truth.' And then the upadesa of the Upanishad starts and the Lord of death gives him the same pointings that are being shared with you in satsang, that have been shared by sages throughout time.

So there are some who will see the fallacy of this trying to cling to happiness and trying to run from misery, and their prayer will be to find that which is eternal. There are those who are, when there's very strong misery that comes, they're looking for solutions to this misery, to this suffering. So the true spiritual seekers are usually of these two types: one that have seen this play and have this intense urge to find the truth which is eternal, and others who are in the throes of such strong suffering that they become open-minded to hear the truths.

One who knows for certain that birth and death, happiness and misery come and go in obedience to destiny, sees nothing to accomplish. If death is going to come, what can we take with it, take along with us through this gate of death? So whatever we might acquire in this material realm, how long will it last? We don't even know whether it will remain till tomorrow. Who knows whether we will really wake up in the same realm tomorrow in the first place? So this one, he engages in non-action and in action remains unattached.

So that then what happens? What is he saying? Because this is another point that gets misunderstood. What is being said is that whether action or inaction is happening, he remains unaffected, untouched by it. So there's not a preference for either, but only that attachment doesn't have. So just like this hand is moving, but there's no idea that, 'Okay, it should go this way or that way.' It is just moving on its own. We are unattached. Just like our eyes are blinking and we are not attached to how often they are blinking or not, till I pointed it out maybe. Just like this, all is happening. Our heart is beating. Just in the same way in the life of the sage, then actions happen or inaction can happen; there is no attachment or aversion to either. So he engages in non-action, you see, and in action, and in action remains unattached.

Now there's another point to be made over here, which is that because our conditioning in these times especially has been so, so much to do with 'do, do, do, do, do, do something, make something out of yourself, become something, become somebody.' You see this beautiful ability, I would call it actually, to just sit quietly with nothing, just being. Not meditating, not chanting, not praying, not sleeping, not anything, just existing. What has happened is that this has become the age of boredom. Even my children I see this, for two minutes if they are just sitting with nothing to do, 'I'm bored, I'm bored, I'm bored.' And this boredom then becomes such a strong momentum to doership: 'I want to do something, I want to do something, I want to experience more and more and more.' Is it?

So a sage is one, one of the qualities of the sage is that this momentum of doership, this discontentment with what is in the present moment, is not there. There is no attachment to doership. If there is something to be done, it can be done or not done, and there is full contentment with just what is, which could mean the actions happening through the body or no action happening through the body. The concept of boredom starts to seem more and more alien. There is no longer an urge to try and create your next experience. There's more trust in Consciousness that whatever Consciousness will bring in the next scene of the movie will be exactly what is needed in this movie, in this play.