Contemplation / A Dip in the Gangha - 11 Feb 2015

A question just came to me as I joined satsang. The question came to me saying: why do we wake up? And I don't mean wake up in the liberation sense or moksha sense; I just mean why do we wake up? Why don't we just spend all our time in the deep sleep state? Even if it automatically wakes up, we can take some medication and just sleep all day. Why do we wake up? There must be something which wants to taste this being, the experience of being. Why? Because this being is so sublime, so beautiful. But then what happens is this being comes and very quickly all the other seeming distractions also come—the world of appearances—and we very quickly put all our attention and belief into the distractions of the appearances which are there. And we forgot that this pure being woke up. Your own presence, the presence of God, is already here. Waking state means the presence of God is here.

This is exactly what they must have meant when they said that you're already sitting on top of the treasure and you're begging for pennies. Gangaji has this book called... is it called 'The Diamond in Your Pocket'? Yes, like this. So what is this diamond in your pocket? And if you have a diamond in your pocket, then why do you go around looking for other small, small rocks and pebbles? It's very simple like this. Waking state means the presence of God is here. The mind will say, 'But I don't feel the presence of God,' but it's very simple. In this simple question, we made it very easy because you cannot stop being now. Can you stop being now? This being which cannot be stopped, this presence which is here that 'I am,' 'I exist'—it's undeniable except from the mind. The mind can say anything it wants.

So if waking state is here, that means the presence of God is here now. What else could we want? Can there be any wanting which is more beautiful than what is already here? So the true point of satsang actually is to bring you back to this holy presence. And if this is done, then it is done. Because this presence is there, then to see that 'I am aware even of this presence' is very easy, you see. And sometimes in satsang actually you take a giant leap which is beyond even presence. You automatically, very quickly see that yes, I am this simple awareness of all there is. Some of you have said this, isn't it? That 'I did not even come to this stage of experiencing this presence; it was so clear that I'm just the simple witnessing of all of this.' That I see no inclination even to marinate in this holy presence. Any of you have had this also? The direct, like quantum leap beyond even presence, straight to the Absolute like this?

So you must not feel, if this happened, then you must not feel, 'Oh, I missed out on something.' So even this being, even the presence of God, is born within you and you have tasted this now. Taste the presence of your own true Self. So awareness has no taste even, you see. When we say, 'Are you aware now?' the mind will look for a taste, but actually you see that yes, of course I'm aware, but there's no taste in this. It's like pure water has no taste. So awareness being aware of itself has no taste. It can be very, very easy like this: the tasteless awareness and the sublime beingness. What else is needed? Can there be anything at all which you can say is missing?

But neither of these are understandable by the mind. So if you try to convince your mind about something, you want to know something, then the whole thing starts. Then the seeker identity, all that trouble will start. But isn't it very simple like this? Just to see that this pure awareness is here. And sometimes you find that attention, everything, is drowning in the holy presence of your own being and you lose track of all time and space. There's no room for time, there's no room for space. There is no interest in it actually. So there is this beautiful sublimity in your own being. There is no experience in the appearance which is as pure as this. Nothing that the senses can bring you can match this pure innocence of being itself. Everything is complete here. It's no effort, no time, nothing.