Just a Little Bit of Openness - 10th January 2018
Saar (Essence)
Ananta challenges the conceptual identity of 'I', guiding seekers to look past mental boundaries and sensations to recognize their true nature as the solitary, boundless witness described by Ashtavakra.
Is it possible that you are the boundless ocean and you are just interpreting it differently?
One ounce of openness is more useful in satsang than a hundred conclusions.
Don't settle for any words as the truth; use them as pointers to your own insight.
contemplative
Transcript
This transcript is auto-generated and may contain errors.
When you see 'I', what do you represent? You see 'I', who is that representative? Okay, let's try again. See 'I'. Is it representing a group of sensations? Is it representing an idea you might have about yourself? It can represent all of those things. We are just gratefully looking at what the truest representation is. If there is a presence, this 'I' is a pointer. Like I was saying yesterday, Guruji calls it the 'chameleon I'. It can represent a variety of concepts, but does it also represent that which is empty of all qualities? Can it also represent the primal witnessing principle itself? Don't be scared of these words, you see. Sounds like that which Ashtavakra said: 'You are the solitary witness of all things.' He also said, 'I am wonderful indeed, beyond adoration.' Which 'I' was he talking about? Could 'I' also represent that which is beyond all boundaries, all limitations? In fact, the concept itself might not apply.
So what is the mythical notion? All these things that I am pointing to, or all that we have believed about ourselves? Because when we come to Satsang initially, it can sound a bit strange, almost mythical. If you were without boundary, you are the one solitary thing, witness of all things. You are that boundless ocean in which the arcs of the universe, they come and go. It can sound like some fantasy, no? But could it be? Is it at all possible that this is our reality right now and we are just interpreting it differently? Because he did not say you have to become the solitary witness. So either he was a complete liar or a fool if it is not you. He said, 'You are the solitary witness.' And I doubt very much Ashtavakra was any of these, either lying or foolish.
What is real about you? What about you is independent of any concept you might have about yourself? It means no tattoos at all to stand on. Is there something which is independent of any other thing? It cannot point into anything else as a cause. I'm hoping that one of these pointers will hit home somewhere. Only one of them has to. You don't have to understand what I'm saying or believe it, but it could be that you hear that you are the boundless ocean and something opens up to this insight. It seems like for most of humanity, 'I' has represented some sort of conceptual mix of body and mind, and that is what we are questioning. Only that much openness is needed. Could it be that although I have invested so much in this concept of 'I', could it be that there is a greater 'I' which I have?
Do you have to resolve or dissolve?
Resolved. In the noticing of the concept of 'I', automatically it is resolved. You don't have to dissolve it because we have no such tool to dissolve anything at all. What is the water we can provide to it to dissolve this? It will dissolve just as I'm speaking. You're just checking for yourself. They're checking for yourself there, looking at the boundary that you have believed to be your boundary and checking whether that is truly your definition. It defines you, it binds you. What is your boundary there? Where is it? Does it end at some perception? Does it end at some sensation? Or all these perceptions and sensations, could it be that they are contained within you but they do not contain you? Any of these possibilities, child, because this one ounce of openness is more useful in Satsang than a hundred conclusions that you might have today.
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Actually, if you leave this entire retreat with just a little bit of openness that the boundary that I have considered myself to have might not be here, it's more than enough for me. Just a little bit of openness that I might not be this object that I've considered myself to be. Or even 'I don't know' is completely fine. That 'I don't know' is very good. For this is the opposite type of exam. You type 'I don't know' for me, you get full marks. Because we have known a lot of things mentally, conceptually, and then we come to this 'I don't know'. Then 'I don't know', I don't even know my conclusions. See, we don't want to leave this retreat without coming to the conclusion that 'I am awareness' or the 'pure Self'. That conclusion is not helpful because how many times have you already heard that? That conclusion has been available from the beginning. Who cares about a mental conclusion?
The doubt does not go away. If you came into this room and you had a blindfold on, and there was no glass here, it would just be a hole. You had a blindfold on and people told you, 'You can take ten steps, but if you take the eleventh one, you're gone.' You have this conclusion and it's coming from credible sources, so you trust it. But the mind can still come and say, 'But what if they're just pulling your leg? What if it's not true?' Or, 'Is he a true master?' But once the blindfold is off and you see for yourself, this is it. And it doesn't matter if a five-year-old child tells you the proof that on the eleventh step you're gone. Then even the credibility of the words which is telling you the truth doesn't really matter because it becomes your own insight.
We have to move away from just beliefs and opinions and concepts. This is what Guruji means when he talks about digested food—digesting what is being offered up. We are not collecting all this material and storing it to go down in a warehouse. We rely on one thing, which is your own insight. And whichever master you trust, whichever master you use, the words that he is offering you are pointers to your own insight. Don't settle for any words as the truth. Nisargadatta Maharaj said, 'I can only truthfully say that I am.' But ultimately even that is not true. And why did he speak so much? A big book, 'I Am That'. He used all that he said, although it is not the ultimate truth, as good food, signposts, or pointers. They say, 'Look there, look here.' But without the looking, without the insight, it doesn't matter. The Mahavakya 'I Am That' creates nothing. It's seeing that 'I Am That'. All this Satsang is to create this environment for you, the energetics both for you and to point you in the right direction. The recognition of the truth you will come to for yourself.
The Thread Continues
These satsangs touch the same silence.
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