Stop Catering to the Non-Existent One and Enjoy the Presence of the Only One - 19th September 2022
Saar (Essence)
Ananta points to the unmanifest witnessing beyond all states, urging seekers to recognize that the world is a dream-like projection. He emphasizes letting go of the 'me' to allow the presence of God to prevail.
The point of the master is not to convince you, but to point to where you already know.
The lane is narrow: if there is God, there is no me; if there is me, there is no God.
Heaven is letting go; hell is holding on.
intimate
Transcript
This transcript is auto-generated and may contain errors.
Truth is what is being pointed to. It's still happening, of course. Maybe what is our notion of a dream versus the waking state? We readily admit that a dream is just a projection of, quote-unquote, 'my consciousness.' And that was the dream; still, everything was happening within my consciousness. People in the world may call it my mind—just in my mind, everything happened in my mind. And then we are also seeing that we could be having this conversation in a dream. We will look to that. So, what we are saying is there's really no way to tell what is the waking state or the dream state. And then is it just a question of then some convenience or maybe some arrogance to say, 'No, no, this has to be the waking state because I'm presently here'? Isn't it just like saying everything was invented in India because we didn't make that claim, so let's make it? This is the waking state. But can we really say that this is the waking state?
But it doesn't matter what state or in which conditions and events and circumstances. That which is being pointed at is beyond all of these states. If you received Ram Nam in a dream, you still received it. So, it doesn't matter what state this is and if you can really call it any different from a dream state, as long as you're being pointed to that which is beyond all states. Because that is... okay, was it really anything like we may even say reality, the Self, the absolute reality? What is reality? But who defined that in reality? We do. This is the play of Consciousness. The Consciousness can choose to give reality to anything.
Now you may see, like if you follow Vedantic notion, you will say all this is Maya. So they reversed it. Whereas everyone in the world says seeing is believing, in Advaita Vedanta you say that everything that you see is not true. Isn't that a huge sea change? So anybody who can come close to calling themselves a seeker has to first admit to Vedanta 101, which is this: then you have to admit that none of this is real, you see. But I don't have to admit to their notion of reality. I don't have to admit to any notion of reality. I may use it to point. So, a plant or an animal doesn't have to determine what is real what is unbelievable. Does that mean that they're lost?
This is the crunch thing. This is the crunch thing. That as you open and empty, an inner infantile sort of... Ram didn't talk about infants, the infantile sort of move may be in it, I'm not sure. So then, is it only perceptions that are apparent to you? Are they only perceptions, or do you recognize something which is beyond that also? And if we were to take a new notion of reality, which is a summation of everything that is clear to us, then how come in the worldly notion we take only this part to manifest from? I feel like this is an important point. As you open and empty in pure perception of the world, do you recognize that something is here which is beyond perception? And I use the word 'here'—beyond perception. It's apparent to everyone. So what value have we given to that aspect versus the value that we give to this aspect? And why this stepmotherly treatment then? Why have you given stepmotherly treatment then? If your reality is this summation of everything that is your direct experience, okay, then why not include that pure witnessing which is beyond perception also?
Because it is impossible to have a story after that. How will you include it? It is impossible to objectify yourself in time and space after that. But is this truth lost on you? And is this some special education that Ananta has received that is sharing all of this, or is he just speaking from what is obviously apparent, unclouded by the mental hypnosis? All this is just naturally unfolding. So the point of the Master is not to convince you about the reality or unreality of the world; it is just to bring you to the true source where insight is available. Then you can draw the same... like you will find every sage is saying the same thing, just in different ways to express and different ways to checkmate the head. That's all that's happening, no? Has a sage ever said, 'You must believe my perspective about this'? Has he ever said you must believe that in which the universe is coming? We're not going to talk about belief. He's saying, 'I'm showing you, showing you.' He's pointing you to where you already know that. That is the job of any Master: point to where you already know that, not to produce new knowledge.
Read more (12 more paragraphs) ↓Show less ↑
Now from there, what is reality? Even the Vedantic thought experiment then is deconstructed. It's a very worthwhile experiment because we had this, like I said, stepmotherly treatment to the manifest aspect, not at all given any focus to the unmanifest aspect. So that is a very useful thought experiment which tells you, 'No, now you take all that characters to be unreal.' Okay? And imagine the confidence of those sages to be able to say that: 'Take all of this to be unreal.' If you know the supreme intelligence running all of this, nothing will go wrong if you do. And there were people who were doing, 'Oh, everything will fall apart without my belief in this.' So they have said authoritatively it is unreal. They have never defined what we mean by real and unreal, you see. You say, 'Okay, what is here?' Oh, that is witnessing. 'What is real?' That it doesn't change. Who defined all this? We did. There's no... like God did not say, 'Oh, this is real and this is unreal.' It is like people are coming to satsang and they are finding a way to point to them. So okay, I'm gonna tell you all of this is unreal. What else you got? Only that I'm interested in listening to.
Yeah, of course we didn't have such an easy time of it because then we went on to describe a hundred other things which all belonged to the realm of that which they themselves call unreal. So there's like so many paths, so many takers. Go on any zone, solve it. She follows this Vedantic experiment: all that you perceive is unreal, it's changing, and I am changing. Just take anything. There are so many ways. Every day you come to satsang, you find a way to discover yourself. What is the only thing that gets in the way? 'I want me also, and I want God near the God for me.' And God is not with any value unless it is for me. It's some song also like that, you know, some Punjabi song or something, like he's just lamenting, 'What kind of God are you? You don't even take care of me.' And God said, 'We have a deal that the truth should take care of the false.' Ah, there's all kind of... yeah, this kind of thing. This is like, 'Oh, you have the capacity to judge God.' Like you can say, 'Oh, you Khuda, you don't know what you're doing, I'll tell you.' To the human condition, and we see this everywhere. Whenever there is talk about God, there is talk about how God is helping me. And who's the 'me'? We never find. You never find.
How did we get here? Are there any dreams? See, these are very broad things. Like when you say, 'What is I am?' But what is this 'am'? So we don't realize, like the intellect... this is the human condition. We can ask the broad questions, but we realize the magnitude of what we are asking because we want like a conceptual... yes, they only lived. But what is 'are'? There are only the existence of... I mean, what are we saying? I mean the possibility of the potential of the existence of the being of the experience of whatever. What do we mean? Is it 'this is a phone,' implying the existence of something? Now is that real? Is it unreal? If you listen to the Vedanta, then it's completely unreal because it's perceived, you see. If you listen to the world, then seeing is believing, of course there's a phone.
So maybe it's worthwhile to ask: what would it mean to say 'exist'? Like what is existence itself? And then even more worthwhile to ask: in what way do I have the capacity to know any of these answers? Where in me to hold an answer to this question in my head? Hold what 'is' is, what 'I am' is, what 'are' is, what value is, what truth is, what meaning is, what love is, what peace is, what joy is, what God is, what Brahman is. Where can we hold these answers? To take any one question and dive deeply into it. If you have to, like if you have to word just 'what is true?' What is true? What true is? Whose word can I take for truth? Then we spend a whole life defending our truth: 'No, this is true, this is true, this is true.' But what do you mean by truth? Aren't we just... isn't it just a charade for a perspective in the garb of truth? We're just saying, 'My perspective is this,' and saying, 'No, true,' and trying to say... So the Greeks used to say, I said this before, the Greeks used to say whoever wins the argument, that is the truth. Okay? So in those days, then the lawyers were the highest paid in Greece, you see. And that was the most... because the lawyers were taught how to argue and how to win.
Then another sect of philosophers came. They said, 'No, no, you can't see it now. It all depends on how things turn out to be.' So if I say tomorrow I feel like it's going to be a very good day, you know, I can't say whether it's a truth or a lie, but based on how tomorrow turns out, then it'll tell us. It's also sweet in a way. Don't be so attached to your notion of truth. Life will show you the many, many explorations that have these things like truth, knowledge, being. You got in a way in the human condition obsessed with the smallest aspect of knowledge, which is the 'what should I do? How should I live?' That ethics part of it. I mean, so many people in the world will say, 'But I am so truthful, I can only tell the truth.' What is truth? From what perspective? Take any questions from the invitation or any question from anyone. Question that the mind can't answer really, just dive deeply into that. Were you born? Is he born? Can I go? Anything like that. Any one question from the invitation you can take and really ask yourself: do you really know? It's easy to say, 'No, no, no, no, no,' and it's really easy actually. But can we really say it from the heart? Are we just visualizing some dark empty space and looking at that space? And how does the space go? Destroy? How do you know?
You know what day is... language is that? I mean, some other questions always... yes, it just went on like, you know. Yeah, all right. He's like, it's even empty or, I mean, not even a perception. Religious music is falling back. Well, it certainly... I could become so not to lose that question fully. Okay.
So, who's aware of the perception of this hand? I am. Yeah. How do you know this 'I'? You're calling it 'I.' Yeah, 'I.' That's the central thing in your life because 'I,' you're calling it that, you better not be mistaken about it, you see. So what is the basis for this? So don't worry about the mechanics, what else is happening. Just all right. Is it really a story? 'I am aware.' Who is that? It's worth finding out, you know. Everything else you wanted to belong to you. This is you. Before you can be clear about who that 'you' is, how can you decide on what should belong to you?
Now one second. So now what tool is not at your disposal? This 'am I'... like would you put this one in the category of a teacher who has given the question but not showed you how to? You can see it if you have, because I'll reinforce that aspect of it. But the question is available, everything is available now. Self-discovery is really available to us. So unlike a Master who's like confused you in your head and not giving you a way out, I've confused you enough, but I'm also giving you the method out of the confusion. It's not possible to feel anything more than that because then otherwise it'll just be my discovery that all of you are just taking as your own. Now it's yours. It's yours directly. All buttons but me, but what about me, but what about me? Not in those words. So the tools are clear, the method is clear, the how to check if the outcome is clear, what trips you up, how what the tricks the mind will play is clear. Everything is all clear now. It's only a question of life. Like Guruji has this example of this where one day what happened is we are all sitting in the room and he threw a grape towards us, and then that was like... it was here.
Taking as your own now, it's yours. It's yours directly. All buttons, but me, but what about me? But what about me? Not in those words. So the tools are clear, the method is clear, the how to check if the outcome is clear. What trips you up, how, what the tricks the mind will play is clear. Everything is all clear now. It's only a question of life. Like Guruji has this example of this where one day what happened is we are all sitting in them and he threw a grape towards us. And then that was like, it was here. And then no, no, you have to throw it as Guruji said. No, this much you have to do: move your head, looking into it, and accept the grape. It's all laid out for you, everything. You just have to. In your heart, there is zero reason that you are not the next Buddha. There is zero reason. There is nothing that is blocking me. In the doubt, say you say about me, but what about my life and this, and what about my life and that? Know that God is running the dream intelligence which is running your heart, is running your life. Fear? All the outward play will go on the way it is meant to go. There's no reason that the intelligence can merge the stars in this and the sun, and you cannot run this tiny life. If you are stopping the birth of the Buddha because of some tiny 'but what about this' stuff, this passion comes in. So what? Middle age now, old age is coming, body is gonna start with the... all of this is getting over. What's going to be? What's your point of any of this, which is going to be about material stuff or even experiences?
Go back to the same, same model. Bam, gone. This whole game is going to dissolve many times. You can't see. Did we spend all our time here on that which is going to go in this? And I will... that tactic of 'I'm gonna remember the Lord in my last moment and then find freedom because of that' is not gonna work. You're gonna remember that which you're most attached to. Who is your life without the discovery of that light which is unperceivable? That is the light of... that is the light which gives life to God itself. And that discovery is yours for the taking. How blessed are we that discoveries are for the taking? That which seems like an impossibility, absurd, is available. The light of that unperceivable life, light of God's presence, the light of Consciousness is born. Miss God's presence for someone trivial?
Without your mental exercising, even if the perception of the world... there is no harm. No, I'm done. You can perceive this world, your attention can be anywhere, it doesn't matter. You're not missing the presence of God. In every light, you will see only His light unless you want something for yourself, for 'me' which doesn't exist. Stop catering to the non-existent one, enjoy the presence of the only one. Waste your time, miss your life? You don't have to juggle anything. That intelligence which is beating your heart is making your life run. There's nothing to fear. Although the lane is narrow, if there is God, there is no 'me'. If there is 'me', there is no God. We have some fanciful idea of God and 'why doesn't God do this for me?' 'Why is God like this to me?' Find this verse from Rahim Ji actually right now, I'll send it. It's very beautiful. In fact, it's the entire satsang, just that much. The lane is narrow. There's room for God, there is no room for me. If there's room for me, there is no room for God. Whose presence then I am? How blessed are we that we can find God in this way? Yeah, otherwise it only sounds poetic. You cannot find it through this, you cannot find it through that. Where are you looking for me? Some very beautiful and poetic, but this is your direct experience. How can you value anything over this? The holy Divinity, the presence of the Lord in our hearts. All you have to do is let go. You have to do is let go inwardly, let go outwardly. Whatever movement life animates, the life force elements, don't judge, don't explain, don't complain.
Only difference between Heaven and Hell: Heaven is let go, Hell is holding on. It's not about your life, it's not about the events in it, not about the people, it's not about anything. You are unshakable, you are the vastness itself. This space is born. You can check even this, the last moment. So maybe I've never seen this before. Ask me something which is going to last you lifetimes. Is something that you want for this just one easy? I have time. Either it's going to be... going to be at the end of all lifetimes or it's going to last two minutes. Yeah, the true use of Master, then you can't ask me anything else. Talk about this, but really give value, priority to those.