Once This is Truly Known (Ashtavakra Gita 1.18 - 1.20) - 10th October 2015

Verse 18. I like the way we're going today. 'That which has form is not real; only the formless is permanent. Once this is known, you will not return to illusion.' So, that which has form is not real. Real from which perspective? You see, from the reality of the truth. Because we've seen that in the worldly realm, everything is changing, you see. So can we say that it is the truth? So if I was to say the curtains are yellow, you see, then tomorrow they could become red; they could fade in the sun, you see. So, is 'the curtains are yellow' the truth? No, because it is possible for them to change, you see.

So in the same way, everything at the level of form—these bodies, this room, this ashram, this city—everything is subject to change, constantly changing. In fact, I like this example where I say that every cell of the body, it seems, changes over a period of five years, you see. So we say, 'I have had this identification with this body forever' or 'as long as I have lived,' you see. It is not true, because there is nothing in common between this which is here now and that which was here five years ago, you see. Those cells have all dropped off, all gone; these are all new cells, you see. So this form is changing. All forms we see are changing, and that is why attachment is a folly, you see.

Attachment is a folly because this is the realm of change. To attach means to say that 'this is mine and should not change; it should always be like this.' So we get attached to someone or something being a certain way, you see, so that when the change comes—and it is bound to come, you see—then that gives suffering. To presume that which is the ever-changing for that to be a constant is a folly, you see. To see that this realm is constantly changing, you see, is to see that this realm is ultimately unreal. So you don't have to go about labeling everything and meeting your friends and saying, 'Hey, you're not real, you're not real.' Not like that. But just to know inwardly that we are in this, we are experiencing this ever-changing realm, you see. Therefore, to attach too much, to attach to it in any way, would be a folly.

We read that 'that which has form is not real; only the formless is permanent,' you see. So what is the formless? What is the formless? 'Once this is known, you will not return to illusion.' Is this true? So you know this now. Do you know this? How many know this? Not just mentally, but really know this, you see. But will you return to illusion? Yes. I've not seen so much enthusiasm for returning to illusion! So how can that happen? Because there is this power of pretend, you see. The power of belief is our power, the power of pretense. So this will continue.

Actually, it is a fallacy—not that the sage was speaking something which is a fallacy, but it is a popular fallacy in India especially, where you feel like the moment of self-recognition is the end of all spirituality, you see. And we feel like, 'Oh, I had that awakening experience and now I cannot be bound,' and that concept itself becomes a bondage, you see. It becomes a spiritual ego; it becomes a specialness, you see. So that is why I say that in spite of these moments of recognition, which can become clearer and clearer, you see, you will find that the false conditioning will still try to lure you away: 'Come, come, come, come, come with me,' you see.