Contemplative Prayer and The Ashtavakra Gita Chapter 3

Having known yourself to be that in which the universe appears like waves on the sea, why do you run about like a miserable being? You are that in which the entire universe appears; it is superimposed. Then why are you grasping for this and that, running around here and there? Sages bring him to the attachment to wealth—material wealth versus spiritual wealth. Then he says: 'After hearing oneself to be pure Consciousness and surpassingly beautiful, how can one yet be deeply attached to sense objects and thus become impure?' It is strange that the sense of ownership should still continue in the wise one who has realized the Self in all and all in the Self.

It is strange that the one abiding in the supreme non-duality and intent on liberation should yet be subject to lust and weakened by the practice of amorous pastimes. Because kings, especially in those days, were famous for all of these kingly pastimes which are not so good for the heart. It is strange that knowing lust to be an enemy of knowledge, a man who has grown extremely weak and reached his last days should yet be eager for sensual enjoyment. It is strange that one who is unattached to the objects of this world and the next, who discriminates the eternal from the transient and who longs for emancipation, should yet fear dissolution of the body. See, so he's talking about all the main things we speak of in Satsang: material wealth, attachment to worldly things, relationships, lust, pleasure, and fear of death—fear of losing this body.

Fed and feasted or tormented, the serene person ever sees the absolute Self and thus is neither gratified nor angry. So whether he is getting great acclaim in the world or is looked down upon and insulted all the time, the wise one remains empty of these and does not take either to heart. They're not disturbed by praise or blame. So what you could do is you could take the topic which most pushes your buttons, whether it is material wealth that prevents you from staying with Him in your heart, or relationships, or sense pleasures, or fear of death, or an inability to handle insults, or the propensity to start flying high when being praised. Whatever is your main button, you can frame your questions, you can make your prayers, and let's spend a few minutes in contemplating that, praying on that, so that you're free from these afflictions.

Take a few minutes and frame your requests or your questions and then we can start your contemplation. If it is something like lust, which can seem like it has such a stranglehold over you, then just offer it to God. You'll see the miracles that He can do, how free He will make you, just surrendering it to God, offering it to God. And the same for praise, any sort of desire. The time that we are spending in Satsang like this—and hopefully forever—you can count that against your prayer quota. It is very focused prayer.

Also remember that if you fall into the prayer of the quiet, or you come into the no-mind, or you notice that your heart continues to chant the prayer, your japa becomes ajapa, then don't fight that. Allow that to unfold. Allow the spirit to guide you, the Atma to bless the process and to guide you. It does not have to follow the agenda that we are setting. It does not have to answer the questions that we are asking. It may reveal very different things to us in the process. So we have to be a part of the process like beginners, like children in the discipleship of the Atma. It is the one setting the curriculum.

All the contemplations that we are suggesting are just so that we bring ourselves to that innocence to be guided by Him. But don't allow that to become an excuse for the mind to do whatever it wants. Like the mind will say, 'I don't want to contemplate, I just want to do this.' So don't fall into that trap. Make sure that you're being guided from a deeper place by a deeper guide. As we contemplate the nature of attachment, if you can't find what you're attached to, then find out what makes you angry. What are you scared of losing? The fear, anger—all these symptoms are of attachment.

Sometimes you'll see things; you will not be able to tell whether it's imagination or visions. Welcome them, don't be averse to them, but don't attach to anything. Allow them to take you deeper into your heart. Like if the Atma sends you to the presence of a holy guide and it seems like their form is revealing itself, that's fine. Don't resist that process, but don't get too attached.

Let's read a bit more and then see where it goes. 'Realizing this universe as mere illusion and losing all curiosity, how can one of steady mind yet fear the approach of death?' And curiosity in the sense is that this constant need to understand 'What is this? Why is this?'—this kind of stuff. 'With whom can we compare the great-souled one who is content with self-knowledge and does not hanker even after liberation?' Why should that steady-minded one, who knows the object of perception to be in its very nature nothing, consider one thing acceptable and another thing unacceptable? Which means that once you see that there is no snake, it is a rope, then to say, 'Oh, but I prefer it to be a rattlesnake and why is it a cobra?'—those are meaningless conversations, meaningless, fruitless thinking. So we must let go of all of this.

He who has given up worldly attachment from his mind, who is beyond the pairs of opposites and who is free from desire—to him, no experience coming as a matter of course causes either pain or pleasure. So free from the duality of the world, we are free from the mental-emotional pain and emotional desire. The fundamental question in these contemplations is: what is seeming real to you right now? Is the Self real? Is God real? Or is the world real? And if the world is seeming very real and tangible, substantial, then all our talk of God is only lip service. This is like talking about a fictional character.

We can all speak of God being this, God being that, but it's going to be like a work of fiction because both cannot seem real at the same time. And when I say 'world,' I'm talking about Maya, which means the 'me' comes. Then we see the world through the lens of the 'me,' not the mere appearance of this light and sound which is happening within Consciousness itself, but the play of Maya itself where the 'me' is the central character in the narrative. If that narrative, that story, the play of the world, the Leela in this way is seeming very real and God is seeming less real or not at all, then you're stuck in the wrong place no matter what ideas or beliefs you may have about yourselves.

There are two questions. First: Is there any process to overcome lust and related desires? Second: Father, I am sorry, I am a bit tired. How do I look at the mother's identity, please?

The answer may be the same for both. As much as we can in this contemplative prayer process, in our day-to-day life, try to offer everything to God. Make everything belong to God Himself. Everything that appears, offer it as a holy offering to God, to His holy presence in your heart. Otherwise, the sort of mental lust—not even a bodily thing, but just the mind's—it becomes an affliction in the mind and then distracts you so much from the holiness of your heart.

I remember many years ago I took a much older friend, maybe in his late 60s or early 70s, to Tiruvannamalai. This man confided in me; he said that on the first day it was so good because he went so deep within himself, but on the second day he saw this beautiful Western woman and since then he was just so lost in thinking about her, obsessing about her. Actually, independent of age, this can be such a major distraction away from God. He knew that nothing was possible, he was not at the age to act on any of these impulses, but it spoiled his whole visit to such a holy place. So it's very important for us to be free from this stranglehold of these forces and to offer them to God, to offer everything that afflicts us to God in our heart and to request His help to make it right.

Yes, everything can be offered to God. The beauty of constructing this heart temple is that it becomes your refuge for everything that Maya afflicts on you—bodily, mentally, emotionally, everything. So every attempt to turn inwards, every attempt to behold Him and to be held by Him, helps you in deepening your construction of your heart temple. Then it becomes a natural refuge for you to turn. Otherwise, in our lives, we feel so helpless because we've removed the main character from our story. You made the story about 'me' by deleting the main one, which is God.

The beauty of prayer is that it itself reveals what we need to pray for. For a while, coming into spirituality feels like, 'I was better off before coming; all of this seemed fine to me, now I'm here and there's a problem with this also and this also.' You see, these kind of resistances can come. But remember that this is a complete override of the older operating system and it's a complete transformation of our life. Most things that we took to be true are upside down, so it is very natural many times for it to feel difficult.

I'm hoping that it's clear to me that the way Grace is building up our curriculum—how the Advaita came and then Satsang became more contemplative, now it's coming together as contemplative prayer and remaining more and more in the presence—I'm seeing the curriculum of the Atma play out. I hope that today's Satsang will give you a major tool as to how to be in our life. You see, where we spent a lot of time on fruitless thinking, instead of that, you don't have to throw away the questions; you can bring them into your contemplation, into your prayer. So much holiness will be spread in your life and in the lives of those around you. The focus will become so much clearer and the Atma will help you every step of the way. You will see that you're moving away from a head-centered life to a heart-centered life. It becomes the center of gravity for your life to remain in His presence.