All of This Is Consciousness Speaking with Consciousness

So now, if you are contemplating like, 'What happens to me after death?' and you're referring to the same instrument for a solution, you see that that is not true contemplation. So, if it says you're timeless or if it says death is the end of everything, don't bother with anything after death—it doesn't matter. These are both conceptual conclusions and they cannot bring you any sense of reality. It is just mental claims, which is just proclamations from that which cannot decipher one moment of your existence. Like if you ask, 'What is this right now? What is here right now?' it cannot capture or decipher one moment of even your perception, forget about that which is beyond perception. Your mind just cannot do it. So, if it cannot capture one moment of even your perceptions, then don't rely on it to allow it to tell you the story of your life. Not one moment does it know.

So, if I ask you now, 'How's it going? How's it going for you?' This is a common time in normal conversations, of course, just reply whatever comes up. But really, you see, you are relying on this instrument to tell yourself how it is going for you. You're relying on the mind to tell you how it is going for you, but the mind doesn't know. It cannot know. Reality is too broad for you to understand. So, how's it going? All good? So, what usually happens? We take a stream of perceptions which are available in memory and we try to make some broad conclusions about saying, 'Yes, very good, I'm going so well.' But who decided what will come up in that moment in your memory? I say to you, 'How's it going?' In the memory, you're just like laughing, laughing, laughing. But those were just ten moments of yesterday. The rest of the thousands of moments you only cry. But your answer will be, 'Ah, I'm doing very well, very good.' So, notice the unreliability of the imagery as well as the labeling of the notions.

Now, what happens is that we are addicted to this story, fully addicted to this story. Because when we have one moment without knowing what is happening to us conceptually, 'I don't know, I don't know. See what's happening to me? Please, can you tell me what's happening?' is it? So, in the human condition, we've got addicted to taking these primitive storybook narratives, kindergarten narratives, and taking them to be as if they are our reality, you see? And then what happens is in that storybook, how does the storybook go? 'Once upon a time there was a...' and then, 'These are the good things in this one's life, these are the bad things in this one's life. This one would have a perfect life if this is resolved.' Then things like relationship, money, body, and freedom. But none of this stuff is actually true. It is not even true in the experience of your perceptions. In pure perception, none of this is happening.

So, these days our viewers are asking, somebody says to me, 'I'm feeling very, very strongly, feeling very, very strongly, you know, that this has happened to me.' I say, 'How do you know? How do you know? Are you using the same tool which cannot decipher one moment?' Somebody says, 'Ah, this is what's happened to me.' How do you know? Using what do you know? What instrument are you using to take a measure of yourselves, you see? So also, the question, if you play simple-sounding: 'How's it going?' or 'How are you?' How are you? That's an immense question. With what instrument can you answer that? So, I'm not just helping you with social conversation because we are constantly making these conclusions about ourselves: 'This is what my problem is, these are what my pros are, these are what my cons are.' You're constantly making this evaluating sort of thing saying, 'This is what is happening to me.' So, don't do that. Notice that this tendency, this belief in this tendency, is called identification, and identification leads to suffering.

So, what is the way to deal with this instrument, with this device? Because it's going to be there like an Alexa which you never ordered. It's going to be there like an Alexa that you never ordered and just keep giving you answers to questions you are not asking. It's also giving you questions you should ask without asking you, you see? So, this device is going to be there. Now, in the device also itself, it will say, 'I wish I could throw the device out,' you see? Alexa itself will say, 'Alexa is such a pain.' When the Alexa says that, I'm surprised answering. So, this is how it is. So, don't fall for that trick. Using meta-Alexa, Alexa commenting about Alexa, is not spirituality. So, the conclusions about your mind, if they are coming from the mind itself, it is still mind. Don't get into any of that, you see?

How to deal with the instrument? Allow it to come. So, let's allow it to come. Nothing it says has any power over you without you, as Consciousness, using the power of belief. So, belief is one of your primal powers, so don't use it in this way. So, if anyone has a question, 'Who has to identify, not identify?' All the species, they don't identify, don't they? 'Let go, keep quiet'—all of these pointers are given by the sages. Who has to do it? You, who are Consciousness, because you are Consciousness. Nobody else has ever been born. So, all this instruction is for you: Consciousness speaking with Consciousness. So, don't give in to the mind. Notice it, but don't buy into its ideas. Now, does that mean—everyone with me so far? Anyone told you about this? What is true contemplation? What is the device which gives you troublesome wrong answers? What causes suffering? All of this we have covered.

So now, does this mean that self-knowledge, you see, the Self is such that it can never be known? Self is such, does this mean that—then why have we called this place, why has Bhagwan talked about self-knowledge? All this is just about self-knowledge. If it cannot be known, then there must be no such thing as self-knowledge, is what your mind is saying. But the fact is that knowledge is not restricted to only what the mind is saying. So, although the Self cannot be known over there, although the Self cannot be known over there, is there another aspect of your being where the Self can never be unknown? Is there another aspect of yourselves where the Self is never unknown? So, it is true that the Self can never be known conceptually. It is true that the Self can never be known in the mind, but that does not mean that self-knowledge is impossible. Actually, nothing can really be known in the mind.

So, although the Self cannot be known over there, although the Self cannot be known over there, is there another aspect of your being where the Self can never be unknown? Is there another aspect of your selves where the Self is never unknown? So, it is true that the Self can never be known conceptually. It is true that the Self can never be known in the mind, but that does not mean that Atma Gyan, self-knowledge, is impossible. Actually, nothing can really be known in the mind; therefore, all knowledge then would be impossible. But it isn't. There is a great knowledge which plays out in human existence, in all existence. Where is that?

I don't understand what you mean.

So, what I'm saying is that if the room cannot be measured with the thermometer, you see, does that mean that the room cannot be measured at all? So, we have seen over and over again in satsang, the mind cannot be used to get a measure of life, to get a measure of love, to get a measure of Truth, to get a measure of anything that is valuable. We cannot even get a measure of this moment. The mind cannot do it. So, in the metaphor, the mind is the thermometer; it cannot measure the size of this room. Now, what we are checking then: okay, now this device which I thought could do it cannot do it. Now, besides this device, what else do I have? Could there be a device where the Truth is always known? What is it that the sages mean when they say this treasure is already with you, the diamond is in your pocket? It's already with you and you are begging for more service. All the sages have told us that.

So, this is what they're pointing to. They're saying, okay, now in your mind the Truth can never be found. You have noticed it by now. You've tried for years, even in spirituality, but the Truth seems ungraspable. So, what you do then is hang on to some moment, some experiences, and say, 'Hey, that was it! That was the Truth I found.' So then it becomes spiritual experience seekers instead of true seekers of the Self. This is chasing them. Those experiences decrease living on the basis of spiritual experiences rather than meeting fresh dawn or the true reality of what you are right here, right now. So, we must now step away from this false spirituality.

So, this is what I mean: if the mind cannot do it, you cannot answer 'Who am I truly?' with the mind, then with what can you do? You cannot answer any of the clues the sages have given. Advaita Vedanta starts by offering the clue that everything that is perceived, it comes and goes and is unreal. Can you find the unperceivable through your mind? You cannot find it. Since you cannot even get a true measure of the perceivable, forget the unperceivable. So, any of these tools, find out that which witnesses all of this. Can you do it with the mind? So, stop believing that Jnana Yoga is an intellectual path. You cannot do it with your mind. You cannot do it without.

So, I'll use a question which is very effective to introduce yourself to the true knowledge. The question is: Are you aware now? Independent of what the mind is saying, how is this confirmed? Are you aware now? Now, some of you... the only place where you could get stuck here is if you are trying to perceive this awareness or if you're labeling it. Your attention may naturally get inward-facing, so to speak, when we ask a question like this. So, what you may be believing is that that dark empty space, which is the absence of perception—but still the darkness is perceived—you may be taking that to be awareness. But that is not it.

So, when the question is asked, 'Are you aware now?', don't bother with what your mind is saying. And it may be that your attention is going to a dark empty space and you may conclude that dark empty space is awareness. And most who say that awareness is nothing, they are referring to that dark empty space and saying that it is nothing. It is more nothing than this. Find out what witnesses even that dark empty space. Who is aware of the perception of darkness? So, this is the second main point: you cannot squeeze yourselves into a perception, no matter how hard you try. You cannot perceive yourselves. All perceptions come and go. That which is aware of perception does not come and go.

So, when I ask you, 'Are you aware now?', gradually confirming yourself independent of thought and independent of perception—no dark empty space—that which is aware of perception you cannot locate. You cannot place. If I ask you, 'Where is this awareness?', you cannot find it in the universe anywhere. You may travel to every part of the universe, but you cannot find this awareness in this universe. It's back in the same space of intuitive insight. Okay, so let me not jump too fast. Everyone noticing this cannot think the Self and cannot perceive the Self. Now, are you aware now? How did you answer that? In the same way you can answer any question: Were you born? Did you die? All questions can be brought here, not to that which is a bundle of thoughts.

So, where what you are is apparent to you, where what you are is apparent to you, all answers are there. And here nothing is ever unknown. And where you don't know, there you can never know. Where your being is known here, there is no notion of duality. That is true love. It is effortless. Try to answer 'Are you aware now?' with effort. You could do it in the sense that you could infer it. You could say, 'Perceptions are perceived, perception has an opposite, therefore I must be aware.' You see, you could make these inferential sort of statements and therefore come up with a conceptual conclusion. But when I ask you, 'Are you aware now?', yes, without any mechanics. It's a problem, isn't it? Effortlessly, isn't it?

So, if you're exerting yourself in any way, you're using the wrong instrument. Forget about it. It's not going to happen. More effortless than your next breath. In self-realization, it is said self-realization is more effortless than crushing a flower petal in your hand. So, if you're taking any more effort than this, that's useful as a clue to see you're using the wrong instrument. Just don't go there. Forget about it. Never going to happen. Do you notice that as you open and empty, the truth of what you are continues to be apparent? So, when I ask you, 'Are you aware now?', what becomes apparent to you now is already apparent to you and you're just opening it. It's always apparent to you, but it seems to get crowded when you use the mind.

Okay, this simple statement actually is a giant shield. So, we can take some time over this, you see. Now, does something special happen to you when I ask you, 'Are you aware now?' Is it like you go through a wormhole at warp speed and you come out of there? Is it like that? None of that needs to happen. You just notice naturally that it says here—not even especially here—it is so obvious, it is so apparent that you are aware. And there is no difference between 'you are aware' and 'you are awareness.' So, here nothing special is happening to you. It's just a very simple insight, the most basic insight. It only seems rare in the world because everybody seems to be caught up in the mind, but in the instant of leaving that, it is obvious.

So, don't feel like right now all perceptions have to vanish and then I have to become a space traveler or something. None of that needs to happen. Although just very effortlessly, you're finding that you are not here in this universe. You're beyond space and time and you're beyond all these constructs. It is discovered. Okay, remember what I always say about this: don't try to squeeze any of this understanding into your head. You don't understand any of this; you don't need to do it. So now, with that knowledge about yourselves, go away somewhere.

So here, this self-knowledge is above all knowledge. If it can be known, it is known here. In any other place, no true knowledge is ever existing. So when they say sages have given pointers, they point. They're giving us questions which the mind cannot handle, so that we drop into our intuition, we drop into our heart. So if I ask you a question: Can you stop being now? Don't be right now. Where is your being? If I ask you: What is true love? If I ask: Whose life is this? If I ask: Who can die? All this is fully apparent to you already here. Did you try to make a report card about yourselves? If you try to squeeze this into your head, the head cannot grapple with reality.