I Am Not Other Than Light (Ashtavakra Gita 2.7 - 2.10) - 11th October 2016

Then the second part of verse seven was: a rope is not a snake but can appear to be so. We talked about the unreality or the changing nature of this realm, but it can seem like 'I am this' or 'I am that,' you see? In this realm, you see so many of you sometimes you ask, 'So why did Consciousness create all this trouble?' That's a fair question. If it is really beyond this, then why create all this trouble? Why firstly create the power of belief itself if it is this belief that leads to identity, if it leads to suffering? Then why do all of this drama? What is it getting, you see?

And like I say, for me, my favorite answer to this is: it is all for its entertainment. It's a Leela for itself. How do we check this? We check on what we like for our own entertainment. What are the books we like to read? What are the movies you like to see? If you don't start to relate to the characters, believe that you are the character, the protagonist, then the movie will be lifeless for you. If you cannot relate to the protagonist in the book, or at least one of the characters in the book, then the book is lifeless for you, you see? So to make this entertainment, this game... like a video game. If you cannot understand what your mission is, who you are in the game, it is just appearing, you see? Hundreds of things just appearing and they're going. You don't understand who you are, what you have to do, you see?

So who you are is your desire? No. Who you are is your identity. What you have to do is your mission or doership, you see? So in this video game also, to make it seem like it has some joy in it, Consciousness created for itself the power to believe itself to be just this measly body-mind organism. See? Why? Because it wants to play this way. Now, I say that this is my favorite answer because I'm not claiming that this is the truth. Nobody can tell you what is the truth of this creation, why was it created. I can give you some options. I've told you my favorite one. You can also have another one which is also very nice, which is that only when this creation happens does this Being experience love. So we are here to experience love, you see? So if this one appeals to you, you can use this one.

The point of most answers is to get the question to go away, yes? It is not to tell you the truth. The point of most answers is to get the question to go away. So if you feel like, 'Ah yes, this realm is created to experience this love and peace and joy and Bliss,' then pick that answer, you see? Yeah, there's some others which don't appeal to me too much, like the evolution of Consciousness itself—Consciousness going from a lower level and creating this school for itself so it can progress to a higher level. All kinds of answers are available. My favorite one is the entertainment one, and I would say second favorite would be the experience of love.

So a rope is not a snake but can appear to be. And this 'can seem to be,' 'can appear to be,' is also by the design of Consciousness. So it is not as if Consciousness has fallen into some sort of a trap and now it must be rescued through Satsang, you see? Although we call it a rehab for Consciousness itself, by Consciousness itself, it is the game of rehab. So all of this is the design of Consciousness to play the game and to also play the getting out of the game, which is what we all as one Consciousness are experiencing. Okay?