Contemplation on the Ashtavakra Gita Chapter 16 - 29th August 2017

One who claims liberation as his own, as an attainment of a person, is neither enlightened nor a seeker; he suffers his own misery. One who claims liberation as his own, as an attainment of a person, is neither enlightened nor a seeker; he suffers his own misery. Though Hara, Hari, and the lotus-born Brahma himself instruct you, though Hara, Hari, and the lotus-born Brahma himself instruct you, you will know nothing. Though Hara, Hari, and the lotus-born Brahma himself instruct you, until you know nothing, you will never know.

So these 11 verses actually are called 'Special Instruction.' We can say at some level where they are not for everyone, in the sense that what is being spoken about here, if you've really not been in the previous 15 chapters, then you jump in straight to this chapter, 'Special Instruction,' what's going on here? But this one, if you have been, I think you enjoyed the first 15 chapters, and this chapter is actually encapsulated part of what has been shared, unclear absolute most of the clues, and actually it takes them even further because he says to go beyond desire and not desire, go beyond even this, the seeker identity and also the enlightened one identity. So it takes us deeper into emptying of all the concepts that we picked up.

Let's go verse by verse. So Ashtavakra says: You can recite and discuss scripture all you want, but until you drop everything, you will never know truth. So this is very meta because scripture itself contains this. So what is it saying? It's saying that the purpose of satsang, the purpose of these scriptures, the essence of them, is to bring us to our emptiness, to bring us to our not-knowing, a mental not-knowing. Because all the discovery that all of these many conclusions that we have drawn, especially the main premise of all of these mental conclusions, that there is a limited entity 'me' that is the doer, desirer, experiencer of this world—this one is not true.

And we see that all these mental conclusions have been in service to this identity. And as we drop all of this, we find that existence still is, more the same, might I say, shining brightly, unattached, unadulterated, unconditioned, true shining presence. So you might read as much scripture and talk about knowledge for lifetime after lifetime, but if it is not leading you to this emptiness, to this openness, to this surrender, to this acceptance, then it is as good as any other worldly knowledge, maybe even worse. So we can no longer remain a gatherer of concepts.

The thing is today that one man or woman is in prison. We feel like we were always in this prison, they were born here and they will die. But something inside them called out to them and said, 'Oh, this is not your truth. There's a deeper truth about you which will free you from this prison.' And this one makes a prayer saying, 'Please show me this deeper truth because I want to be free from this prison.' Anything that frees me. Many solutions come to him; actually, he feels more and more imprisonment. Then one day he hears the same Satguru voice, the voice of the inner Satguru, which is telling him, 'Look really, where is this prison? Where are these limitations that seem to constrict you? Can you find the one that is imprisoned?'

This one actually looks and finds that there is no prison, there is no limitation, because just by now fallacy, there is only a limited presence here. This is the recognition that he is coming to, that all of you are coming to. The discovery that all the concepts that I picked up, all the conditions about myself that were picked up, just made this imaginary prison around me. So this moment of recognition happens for all of you every day in satsang when you see what is the reality of what you are. And this one, for an instant, feels that they are free, he is free, and yet he imagines again these prison bars and plays the game of feeling himself or herself from this. This is how satsang is functioning in your intuitive presence, to come to this simple recognition of what is. It is not difficult.

You see now that you are free. This play of imprisoning yourself again is the play of now, is the play of judgment, is the play of wanting mental confirmation, okay, of expectation. When we buy into these things, when we imagine ourselves imprisoned again as an object, what is this desire, these expectations, even out of freedom? So then the game of satsang goes on like this. I was saying this yesterday, that it can go on like this for a few minutes to a few hours or weeks, months, years, centuries, lifetimes. There is no end to this because the bars are imagined and consciousness has complete freedom to imagine for as long as it likes. Time is not really a concern for consciousness when this game is played.

This is the simple game of coming to the recognition of what you are. All the pointers are for that. And the game of being done with your 'but.' Then we play this 'but, but, but' game for as long as you like, but that is also the play of consciousness. And then come to the simple saying that 'I have always been only this. I am not becoming a better person.' The full freedom must have only been the real discovery of what I have always been, what is already here. Satsang then is just the simple game of coming to this recognition of what truly is and dealing with all the tricks of the mind after that. Whatever the 'but' might be, know that it is your pretend limitation. It has no real tangible power. It only seems to derive its power from your belief, your interest, your attention.

And many times it is a spiritual concept, it is a scriptural concept that also has via the pretend bars of this pretend prison. Either the person who is in prison, you can show me more the prison in which he is imprisoned, you can show that. That's why the sage very beautifully said that that which points you to the reality is the only knowledge which is worthwhile, and that which points you to your illusory nature, to your pretend make-believe facade of being an individual entity, is ignorance. That is the difference between Vidya and Avidya. Now let your ignorance be simple.

He says: You can enjoy and work and meditate, but you will still yearn for that which is beyond all experience in which all desires are extinguished. So 'enjoy' means play as the one who is an individual entity who is experiencing the world, tasting the fruits of this world. 'Work' from the idea of individual devotion, that 'I must do this, I must do that.' And 'meditate' means that from the meditator perspective, take on the spiritual seeker perspective. And all these three perspectives might be there, but somewhere inside you, you will still yearn for your unlimited Self, yearn for that which is beyond all experience. In satsang, actually, you see a beautiful master plan, and many sages will have demystified these words for us. Otherwise, 'yearn for that which is beyond all experience,' see what you would make out of it. 'Yearn for that which is beyond all experience' would sound like 'I can never experience it,' so no point, it's pointless. Wrong interpretations can come.

But because you can be guided to this non-phenomenal seeing, non-phenomenal experience, that is what is Atma Gyan. That which is beyond all experience, what is it here now for you that is not an object of experience? That is beyond objective attributes, beyond color, shape, and size? Is there something? Is there something? It's not a thing that comes out to use language. So I see this question to ask is useful either way. Even if you feel like it is nothing or you haven't found it, then move. And if you see that there is, of course, that which witnesses all phenomenon itself is not phenomena. That reality for which everything else is an appearance itself is not an appearance. You are not an appearance, or are you? And if you are an appearance, then who are you appearing to? Who are coming and going in relation to what?

But you will still yearn for that which is beyond all experience and in which all desires are extinguished. Once you discover your unchanging non-phenomenal reality, can you truly, truly in your heart thirst for something which is phenomenal? If you realize that this appearance, which is an aspect of you, whatever other appearance might be, but you see the ground on which this appearance stands on is the non-phenomenal Self, the reality of you, that awareness, not thirsting for anything, desire loses its bite. Because you find that you are already all there is, that beyond all there is. Now don't get confused by this to mean that in the great external expression you will not express, like 'I have no desire, therefore I cannot want anything to eat,' something like that. The expression as this body, as this expression, all these desires, all these expressions, preferences can still be played out. But what you will notice is that the feverishness, the thing that 'I can suffer if I don't have this,' that goes away. This idea of psychological lack.

Find that you are already all there is, and that you are beyond all there is. Now, don't get confused by this to mean that in the gross external expression you will not express. Like, 'I have no design, therefore I cannot want anything.' It is not something like that. The expression as this body, as this expression—all these desires, all these expressions, references—can still be played out. But what you will notice is that the feverishness, the thing that 'I can suffer if I don't have this,' that goes away. This idea of psychological suffering because of the lack of something, that goes away.

You can still go to a restaurant and order pasta if you prefer pasta over pizza. It is not that you are owning out of that. Our benchmark for freedom is not that. Really, it is when you feel like, 'Okay, if I don't have this pasta, then my life is miserable.' For example, you can replace pizza with whatever, and you will quickly find that whatever it is, if you really look, you think, 'If I don't have this, then life is not complete. I am not happy.' Then there is a lack of something. The 'this' can be anything, including freedom for the seeker. Even that must be looked at.

And we still yearn for that. Why is he guaranteeing that you will still yearn for that? Because that is the truth; it is not subject to time. But somewhere, at some point, even if there are many in this world who you might read about recently who are enjoying and working and meditating and they are just fine—who said you couldn't do all of these things? But you will still yearn for that because the design of this place is like this: that ultimately, in the play also, we come to the truth of what we are. The sense of complete satisfaction, desirelessness, or feverishness-less, let's put it that way. English-less, yes, English-less. We discover that I am not something limited.

As long as we carry a notion of limitation, desire is bound to creep up on you at one point or the other because your intuitive nature is telling you that you are unlimited, you see. Okay, this is a very subtle point. If there is still some belief in your limitation, then desire is bound to creep up on you because somewhere it is known that you are not just that limitation. So the mind's version of getting over that limitation is to acquire more so that you can seem larger than what it believes itself to be. We will not find that satisfaction in that way. So, acquisition of more and more objects—nobody comes to the satisfaction of a sage that way. See, that completion is here, this way.

Beautiful story of when Bhagavan was in the body in Tiruvannamalai. There was a story about him being an Avatar or someone—I forget the words. It means that one who came from a traditional spiritual background came to him and said, 'Is it true what they say, that you are an Avatar of this one?' Bhagavan, as was his nature, which I realized later, used to not answer 90% of the questions. So the answer was no answer. Again, the person says, 'But answer us, it's important. Are you the Avatar of this one?' And this one got very agitated and said, 'No, no, you must answer!'

So Bhagavan said—and they tell the story like that, as if it's a special thing, but it's nothing like that—he quietly said, 'An Avatar is just an aspect of consciousness. A Guru is the entirety of consciousness.' Such a beautiful story. That which is your simple recognition of this unconditioned being, this unconditioned presence, is this consciousness as Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. All the aspects of consciousness—the creator, preserver, and destroyer—are all the functions of your being, of your existence itself.

That's why the great Indian saint Kabir Ji said that if Krishna and my Master were both standing together on the road, 'Should I bow down to first? I bow down at my Master's feet because it was only his light which brings Krishna alive for me.' To this consciousness, which is the source of all this manifest world, including the aspects—all the aspects which then humanity has moved on to eventually as various aspects and even their names and leelas—all of this arises from consciousness itself and goes back into consciousness itself. So that you are. Then, if you are the source of all of this, what desire can you have? What sense of lack can you still believe about yourself? Desire only means that 'I am limited and something else will give me some completion of some sense.'

Everyone is miserable because they exert constant effort, but no one understands this. Right? The mind can become unshackled upon hearing this one instruction. What should happen in reaction to this? This is just like we talked about, this heavy burden of doership. What would your life be if there was no need for this kind of effort? Imagine the world, the idea that you have to do something. That's why when we go through this simple exercise to see that this world, which includes this body, exists here and is moving effortlessly. Everything is happening effortlessly. Your existing here now, your presence here now, is effortless. Are you working hard to be? We are only working hard to be something, to become something. But being is prior to becoming.

And you are aware of your presence, whether your mind is as yet giving you this certificate or not. It doesn't matter. Know that you exist. Nobody doesn't know that they exist. That is also effortless. So if the existence of this world is effortless, which includes all the actions and movements that have come through this body also; if your existence here is effortless, and this awareness of your existence is completely effortless and natural, this idea of personal effort, individual effort, must be what? Ignorance. Because they don't understand, or 'not a good word' for most to come to that.

Because you feel that even if you come to the point that, yes, the world is moving on its own, what is moving the world? But the mind has this trump card up its sleeve which says, 'In the sensations which we call the world, let's separate a group of sensations, which is your body. Let's separate that out because that is you. That is your responsibility. God cannot take care of this. God will operate only on the rest of it. But this group of sensations which we call the body, and sometimes the mind, then that is out of this and this is my responsibility.' The mind will say, 'You cannot give it up. This is escapism.' The mind will come with this, 'This is some sort of escapism.'

So naturally, this lack of investigation about what we truly are is that escapism. The presuming that in the group of apparent sensations, a set of sensations makes a 'me' and everything else is 'not me,' while at the same time finding no contradiction in saying, 'Oh, but what is everywhere is the Self.' That is a sort of mental askew. So when you come into this seeing that everything is one, if we were to investigate the next time something is spoken from this body which seems to be you, notice again the words which are spoken or any movement of the hand and see that it is just a happening. Just a happening.

And you will see that this is like the clouds which are moving in the sky, the movement of the ocean. In this sky of this entire apparent appearance, this body is a tiny cloud. If a cloud was given a mind—let's give it a mind—and it said, 'See, this is your boundary and you have to acquire that other stuff so you become bigger,' that is desire. Let's see how far we can stretch this metaphor. Now, you are like the sky, but suppose now you had a mind which is convincing you that you are one cloud and it was saying that you are separate from the rest of it. You are just this one cloud. Then as a cloud, it is telling you what to do. Why? Because you don't want to be this tiny, measly cloud; you want to become a happier cloud.

Because water particles just evaporate, this feeling could be there that the cloud is doing something that makes a difference in the overall movement. So if the cloud decided to move towards those water particles and to try and get bigger—and sometimes it gets them, sometimes it misses them—that is desire. If movement has to happen, movement has to happen. But sometimes something is acquired, sometimes something is not acquired. This doership or this pride—'Hey, I did it all, I worked hard enough'—is just like that. The cloud is saying, 'Oh, I moved fast enough to merge with those water particles and become bigger.'

So this duality means you are not the sky, but something separate, just one cloud amongst all of this. All the sensations are there. Now, I'm really stretching it. Suppose that the perceptual centrality, the way that you are experiencing the rest of the sky, was from the perspective from the center of the cloud, you see? So that is there, and also this voice is telling you that you are this cloud, you are this cloud. So this disguise is very possible because the perceptual way that you witness creation seems like it's contained within this, and there's a voice also which is saying, 'Oh, I am just this.' So it is a very convincing disguise. The sky itself is made to believe that it is a cloud.

Then what do we do in satsang? We say you consider your boundaries to be these boundaries of this cloud, but notice that this entire boundary of the cloud is contained within you. Then I ask you to check the boundaries of your body and where they are contained. This is the discovery which is happening to you: that I have considered this to be my boundary, but actually all of this is something. If you were not the container and you were the contained, how would you find the boundaries within yourself? If you were not the container but you were the contained, could you discover that the boundaries were within yourself? You would not have any idea about the boundary because it is outside of you.

But what happens with you in the body? You find that the visuals are happening inside me. The sensations, the space in which they are perceived, is the same space in which everything else is perceived. The birds in the sky, the traffic on the road—all of this is contained in the same space which we call the space of being, or the space of perception, the space of experience. All of this is part of your being. This way, you finally find your unlimited sky nature. So everything is contained within you.

The master to whom even blinking is a bother is happy, but he is the only one. What does this mean? This definitely does not mean that you blink 30 times a minute and it becomes a bother in that way. The blinking is happening. Suppose if I have to be the blinker—imagine if I have to time my blinking. I say, 'Every three seconds I must blink.' Okay, let's see. But you can hand this over to God. God knows when to blink. I don't have to be the blinker. Imagine the kind of doership it will bring if you picked up an idea about something to do with your blinking. If you picked up the idea that it is healthy for your eyes to blink precisely every ten seconds, then life will become a living hell very quickly. That is what doership does to us.

Understanding now, all the sages say, when he says everyone is miserable because they exert constant effort, it is like we are holding this life up. Without our holding it up, this life will just disappear. We cannot hold this life. That which considers itself to be holding this life is not even here; it doesn't even exist in a phenomenal way. Also, this sage is taking this metaphorical example for the same reason. If I was told that I have to run this life, then there are two perspectives left. The greater perspective is that I am not this individual entity, the imprisoned—or did you say it's a bewildered golden beast? Not this one.

I am what the sage is saying: I am the shoreless ocean in which the arcs of the universe come and go. Even simpler: I am the solitary witness of all there is. What is more in line with your intuitive insight? The mind is giving you opposites like 'this is done' and 'this is yet undone.' One becomes indifferent to merit, wealth, pleasure, and liberation. Very subtle messages have been put in this. The cleanup is cleaning up everything. What is the first one? Merit. Whatever we...

Not this one. I am what the sage is saying: I am the shoreless ocean in which the waves of the universe, they come and go. Even simpler: I am the solitary witness of all there is. What is more in line with your equation? The intuitive insight and the mind are figure opposites like this: 'This is done and this is yet undone.' One becomes indifferent to merit, wealth, pleasure, and liberation. Very subtle messages have been put in this. The cleanup is cleaning up everything. What is the first one? Merit. Whatever we will always be... in India it is very popular that our job is to do as much good karma as possible so that is counted as merit. With more and more merit, by doing more and more... now we're even undoing this concept that there is no good here. This body is in service to consciousness itself, exactly the way it chooses to. So this idea of gaining more and more merit so that I can enjoy the fruits of this merit, which is also a never-ending cycle, it's kept us well. I spoke about this security perception about pleasure. So often we've spoken about this oscillation between pain and pleasure being the state of the body, and us making a conclusion about ourselves based on the state of the body or the sensations experienced. So then life can seem to be just about avoidance of pain and rushing towards pleasure.

And then he also put in liberation. And the mind is free of opposites like 'this is done' and 'this is yet undone.' If you don't have a concept, one becomes indifferent to merit, wealth, pleasure, and liberation. This is so important because this is the arch-nemesis of satsang: the checker guy. 'This is done, this is not done. You're free, 90% free, 70%... issues, please check again.' Just keeping track of your liberation. Something else cannot... you can be free of this. This way to come back one more. One who is averse to objects avoids them. One who desires them becomes ensnared. One who neither abhors nor desires is neither detached nor attached. This is very, very important because so much of spirituality, especially traditional spirituality, seems to tell us that we must be free from our attachments and we must be detached. What is more important is to see what you are. Why? Because when you see what you are, you will realize that you're already pure. On attachment and detachment, he says that which we abhor then becomes like an avoidance. You want to run away from that: 'Oh, please God, make sure this does not happen in my life.' It's an avoidance of that. That which we desire, then we are caught in that foolishness about it, ensnared by it.

A lot of tendencies, vasanas, conditions get created just because we hear that we must be free from conditions. If you hear you must be free from your lust, then the condition will be there that 'I must become free of my lust.' And every time lust appears, then you will say to yourself, 'No, this is not good, I'm not good enough here, I cannot be me because I am not free from lust.' So on top of the lust, we added another four conditions. That's fine, but once we... which is very... the best is to know who you are. Who is it that you are referring to as myself? Are you subject to conditions? Are you also an appearance? And in this desire, illusion doesn't apply to me. Worship, non-dual doesn't apply to one who neither abhors nor desires, is neither detached nor attached. You are beyond all of this. As long as there is desire, it is the absence of discrimination. There will be attachment and non-attachment. This is the cause of the world.

What does this mean? As long as there is a desire, which is the absence of discrimination... how can discrimination help the desire? What is discrimination? To be able to... okay, discrimination is not the way it is usually used. In the English language, it is also discrimination. The same: discriminate between what is real and what is unreal. It is called Viveka. It's like a positive discrimination. So you know that what is changing and what is unchanging. Oh, this truth, what is false, what is real and what is not true. Why does he say that desire is the absence of discrimination? It's the minute you see what is real, you will find that which is already complete, which can have no lack or desire. So desire is only your... as I call it, the three Ds: duality, desire, and devotion. They are all a product of the absence of discrimination. Confusing the impermanent to be true and being in denial of the unchanging. That which is coming and going in appearance, you want to hang on to that forever; that is desire. That which is already here and complete and unchanging, that you don't look at; that is what the sage means by absence of discrimination.

As long as there is this absence of discrimination, there will be attachment and non-attachment. This play of conditions and this play of wanting to be rid of conditions, of desires and of aversion, this is the cause of the world. So we talked about... right, this is the cause of the world. So we talked about two levels of how the term desire is used. He's talking about this worldly play. The idea that there is me and there is the world comes only when we have this lack of truth inside and we have this absence of discrimination between what is true and what is false. We call this play what? A play of duality: me and the world. Only the me with respect to something else: me and my experience. This duality is a product of false ideas, concepts, indulgences. Indulgence creates attachment; aversion creates abstinence. Like a child, the sage is free of both and thus lives on as a child. Clear of all these opposites: indulgence, aversion, attachment, non-attachment. Oh, Nirguna Brahman, free of all these positions. What are you? Just like a child enjoying whatever's in the play, of the play, that it is free of guilt and pride. Clearances. And we were a child before we learned how to pick up all this content.

So this is the theme, isn't it? We picked up all of these and now we are dropping all of these. We have got these limitations and suffering also. And so commonly everyone says, 'I wish I could go back to my life as a child.' And so happy as children, you see, right? Because you're not buying all these grievances and bits here. You can cry it out, so much life is lived fresh. One who is attached to the world and renouncing it to be relieved is miserable. So even this position of renouncing the world is actually a symptom of our attachment to it. So if you have to take a position with regard to something, that means it really means something to you. Even in the case of the position that 'I am renouncing the world,' still my attachment is playing out as a symptom that I have to do something to get rid of it. One who is attached to nothing is free, doesn't need to renounce.

So this is the power of this discovery, this recognition. You transcend this level of play as an individual entity and you come to the substratum. You see that 'I am the substratum.' Then do you have to attach or detach to anything? It is only when you consider yourself to be part of the play, an object within the view, do all these concepts still apply. Oh, this one who is attached to nothing is free and does not feel miserable even in the world. Doesn't have to renounce the world. Doesn't have to put on the saffron robes, walk away from house and family. When did they complete? There is this seeing that 'I am not that which can be attached or unattached.' I don't need to accept or... who remains several. Acceptance and renunciation don't look like this. Very, very... he who claims liberation as his own, as an attainment of a person, is neither enlightened nor a seeker. He suffers his own misery. In religion, there is no such thing as an enlightened person. It's a paradox in terms. If you feel like 'I am an enlightened person,' then what is that? 'I am now a special sort of person.' This is the voice of arrogance versus intellectual understanding or spiritual ego.

And clear like this: I have now picked up... what did he say right in the beginning? You can read the best scriptures, but till you come to this point of knowing nothing, you will still suffer. And this is how it plays out. 'I have been to a hundred satsangs and I know all the concepts that are shared there. I am Brahman,' which can also be one of the concepts if we realize it's a concept. 'I have free... for you to be free.' If you are enlightened, then it is independent of this belief about yourself. And it exists in this mind plane as a spiritual ego until even these concepts... that's why he's trying to fight it really well. He who claims liberation as his own as an attainment of a person—that 'I as an individual entity got something special'—is neither enlightened nor a seeker. Enlightenment, we want to come to this light of your presence, unshackle the conditions. So because they're still holding on to concepts and conditions, you cannot call them liberated. And they are also no longer the seeker because they are minding the concept that they are free. So there is a special kind of misery reserved for these people. He suffers his own misery.

And using that... oh, this spiritual specialness for each own ego and making even the play of the most humble seeker... how it can convert them into this arrogant, egoistic spiritual ego. So I split to be, right? So this fit to be accepted as the words of the truth. So quick to say that they have gone beyond their master. Although this is the play of consciousness as a person who is playing as if they were an enlightened person. As my Satguru says, if you feel like you don't... if you haven't got it, keep coming to satsang. But definitely if you feel that you have got it, keep coming to satsang. Working on that, he will keep chopping it from all sides and directions. It will teach me and tears. I mean, conditions about yourselves, except some momentary conditions once in a while. You see, sometimes we take even our most pure insights and use them as some sort of a claim for aspirational... many times it happens in satsang. I'm asking someone, 'So where is this coming from?' When you can smell that arrogance. 'So where did this come from?' 'This is from my insight, trust me, trust me.' So much holding on. That which you found yourself to be is free from all of this. Don't have to do anything to anyone. Your fragrance itself will be me to your feet.

He who claims liberation as his own as an attainment of a person is neither enlightened nor the seeker. He suffers his own misery. Oh, Hara, Hari, or the lotus-born Brahma himself... so what is Hara, Hari? Shiva, Ram, Vishnu, and Brahma himself come and instruct you. Until you know nothing, you will never know. Self-contradictory. There are two types of knowing which are being spoken about. You know nothing if you don't come empty. You open them naked. Till you're empty of all conditions, it is seen that the true recognition of this awareness, this doing, this seeing... as I say that one of my favorite words is 'open,' right? Because it is a beautiful pointer. And if you as consciousness play in this way that you apply this pointer of opening with integrity, you will see that these conditions have no power over you. Open. Allow everything to come and go. Allow your attention also to go wherever it wants to. Feel. I don't hold on to anything. Even if it feels a bit strange, a bit wobbly, you don't need a concept. No matter how high the concept might be, let that also come. No judgments, no doubts, no conclusions. No revelations yesterday, no tomorrow, no speculation, no projection, no yes or no. No concept of holding anything at all, even about the Self. Don't know anything about anything. Come to your childlike... to childlike innocence.

You're freed from this prison that never was. Everything now that you become will become part of the make-believe, tricking prison again. Every moment this is true: you are free. This is the play of consciousness. Though Hara, Hari, or the lotus-born Brahma himself instruct you, until you know nothing... so we come to the end of chapter 16. Our special instruction. Special instruction also because you cannot hold on to any specialness after this special instruction to rid the self of specialness. So how do I end? By saying that many times as we let go of all our concepts, you can feel a bit uncomfortable. It is a little bit fearful.

Again, every moment this is true: you are free. This is the play of consciousness. The hurry-hurry or the loot is born. The mind itself instructs you until you know nothing. So, with this, we come to the end of Chapter 16, our special instruction. Special instruction also because you cannot hold on to any specialness after this instruction to rid the self of specialness.

So, how do I end? By saying that many times as we let go of all our concepts, you can feel a bit uncomfortable. It is a little bit fearful, not always. For some of you, it might be completely new; to some of you, some joy might be coming. Everything is okay. For those of you for whom it feels like it's uncomfortable, like you're having to give up on something here, as if your life is ending or death is coming, don't worry about all of these conclusions or interpretations.

Really, a big part of my function is this: to help you through this problem. But if you come with integrity and not with a lot of knowing and specialness—if you come innocent in the sense of a child with some fear—very quickly we can put it together and get over it. But if you come filled with the intent to achieve something from the perspective of a person, again, we can keep playing ping-pong for a long time. Now, a part of the function is also that, at least, how long will you play this ping-pong until you get tired of it?

You see, the true value is in your presence. There is no value in a concept by itself. The only valuable concepts are those which are bringing you to your true presence, to openness, to your emptiness. This Satguru's grace continues to bless us all. This beautiful light is present. All the words that come through this mouth, let there be no meaning, no specialness that rises; let it be blown away in His holy presence. Let everyone who comes to Satsang discover the fruit of the pointings in their own heart. Let there be peace. Let there be peace. Thank you all so much for joining in Satsang today.