There's Only One Job to Do, Let Go of Your Next Thought - 12th July 2023

Huh. So let's flip it, okay? Let's say we are in upside-down world where God is apparent to everyone. Everyone has found this God, but now everybody is just living in God and they bought into the idea that it's too peaceful, it is too joyful, it's too boring. You need some excitement, some drama, something personal, you see. So now you're one of those people who've come to reverse Satsang, you see. "I am just too peaceful. There's too much God, God everywhere. There is no ego left. Everything is happening through God's grace. It's so apparent. But I want some excitement, some fun, some drama. Most importantly, drama. So how do I do it? How do I make my life feel full, full of guilt, pride, resentment, remorse? All of this drama, I have to take it."

Just do it, okay? All of us. Don't worry, I'll pull you back out. So that could be—so let's go really slowly right now. Empty of everything. Just naturally you're empty. There is no trouble. You don't even know your name in this instance. So without name and form, there is no trouble, you see. All perceptions can happen naturally. Now, how do you create trouble?

So thoughts, just the identity pops up.

Identity pops up. Show me how. So there must be some identity which pops up. Okay, can we confirm identity pops up? "Oh, God is here, God is here" is the identity that you're asking about?

So, oh, identity, not oh, God. I am someone that is just—

So when we were empty, that someone was here? No. Then what happened? Just slowly, slow motion. Yeah, you're on the right track.

Um, it could start with an interaction. Someone interaction.

Okay, interaction is happening. Then what happened? And let's say you're—you're making fun of me. "Still haven't got this."

Yeah, yeah. And so with the lens, it lands well. It lands and dances here. Yeah, "You still haven't got this. How many years?" Exactly.

So what happened to it? These were words. That's what happens. Yeah.

Not even an interaction, like an interaction with myself, like how to do it. "You're still believing in your thoughts."

Ah, so the thought comes, yeah, saying, "You're still believing in your thoughts."

Yeah, and automatically identity is there. "Oh my God, I'm a poor disciple."

And, "Yeah, I'm a poor disciple. Oh yeah, I have been in Satsang so long. Yeah, and I spent so much money, spent tickets and come here and this country and this country with so much pollution, all of this stuff. Don't expect them to be hospitable."

Identities. I'm laughing with them.

Okay, so what happened? So these thoughts come, then what happened? "I'm so depressed, I'm so depressed." I mean, the thought is saying, "I'm so depressed," or you're saying you're so depressed?

I get if I—I get a feeling that—

You got the feeling. Yes, yes, yes. We live in the thoughts, create some sadness and frustration. How? Where did we come to believe from? So, okay, let's start again fresh. Empty, empty, empty. Now create trouble.

No, no. I thought I'm believing in—no, no.

So are you hostile to that thought, that there's a thought that, "I'm believing in"? So then the thought comes inherently with belief? And if the thought had that power, then for anyone for whom that thought came, they would all believe it, no?

Yeah.

What is the thought? "I'm going to leave in three weeks" or so? "I'm going to leave in three weeks." So if that thought came to anyone, then inherently it would have to be believed? Is it like that? The thought has that capacity?

No, no. But it's—it's—it's my life. It's—

So there is some thought comes, then what happens to it? The thought comes like Hulk Hogan and it's already throwing us around? A thought is a thought, which is an energy, which is signifying a particular message to us saying, "I am going to leave in three weeks."

I'm willing to—to look into this thought because these thoughts create identity and sadness.

So when the thought comes, "I am going to leave in three weeks," does the thought inherently have the capacity to produce belief in us?

No.

Then where does belief come from? And there can be no identity without belief, no? So that much is clear, that identity is merely a product of belief. And if the thought inherently cannot do that, then who does it?

Me.

So stop it. Easier said than—not another thought in which I believe. Okay. It's—I think it's not—they will come to a point where we are able to zero in on the actual battleground. We will keep fighting the wrong battles and then the ego will keep winning. God's light will not have a chance to shine through because we are fighting the wrong battleground, you see. The battle is happening in Paris and you've gone to Lyon or something to fight the battle, you see, all dressed up. You see, "It's my feelings, okay? It's my feeling, it's my life," you see. But that is not the battleground. Till you identify the battleground correctly, we are just fighting a losing battle. So what is the battleground?

I have to see that this is only ever thought and to keep my ground in—in here.

What is the battleground precisely? What is the battleground? What is the moment in which you lose this battle?

When I take myself to be someone.

What is that moment in which you take yourself to be somebody?

At the moment I—I believe in the thoughts.

So now, is this completely clear, that there is no other war going on except this one? No? This is okay. So this is what happens. This is what happens. So most of us, even after a long time in Satsang, you see, will not zero in on the fact that identity is a mere product of, "And I believe in the next thought which is arising." And without identity and ego, there is no trouble in life, you see. And we will keep blaming feelings, other people, life circumstances, childhood, all of these things, okay? But I am telling you that the only thing is what you are going to do with the next thought which appears to you. So can you zero in on just that? Moment by moment, thought by thought, okay? And the thought, of course, will scream and say, "Easier said than done," you see, because it is. Okay, suppose it is easier said than done, then should we go and fight some other battle just to make ourselves feel better? Suppose it is the most difficult thing to do, you see, then you say, "Okay, this is too difficult. Let me fight some imaginary idea that makes me feel better." I know what is the cause, the root cause of suffering. Just this one, no? Or something else?

Yeah, yes.

Yeah, then that is all you have to work at. Yes. And you have to do it moment by moment, thought by thought. Cannot jump over this. So what happens is—we're coming to the first question now—so we make categories and say, "No, no, these are the thoughts that I like. These are good for me. You see, please help me. These are practical." Because the one that is running this universe, you see, running all these planets and making our heart beat and the breath flow, cannot send an email for us? Is it? I cannot write a message for us? For that I have to become somebody? Not the one that is doing the trillions of processes even in one body, that one can't send my email? So what happens is that then first we—it's a question of capability. Can God do it or not? You see. Then the main question is a question of whether I want what God is going to do, or do I want it my way, you see? So if I hand it over to God and he makes a mess of it and I wanted it some other way, then who am I going to hold responsible? Come back. "I feel that—" What do you mean by feel? "No, my experience is—" What do you mean by experience? Why are you changing the battleground?

Ah, okay, okay. I follow what you say.

You see, when the thief is being caught, what is the thief going to say? "I'm the thief"? Huh? So did you see what the mind is able to do? You're close to identifying the trouble and it says, "No, no, it's not me, it's not the thought. It is my life experience which is causing the trouble. It is my feeling which is causing the trouble." What's the problem right now? Right now, right now, now, now? No, nothing. Can I have a minion on top device? Yes, we are going to pretend such an invention. Thank you. Is God real or no? I feel like fundamentally it boils down to that. If God is going to be just a notion, if God is just going to be a feel-good device, if God is just going to be a genie which will make our wishes come true, if God is just going to be a figment of our imagination, then none of this is going to help because the mind will find a way to—to sell you on something which seems more valuable in the moment than God himself. And it's not—for many of you who've been in Satsang, it's no longer a question of belief. It has to be now a question of insight. So if God is real and God's presence is apparent to you, and God's presence gets cloudy, it gets hidden when you buy into any notion, any thought, then what in the world can make you make that exchange? Unless somewhere we still don't feel that what we are meeting is truly God, God himself. How can we exchange the presence of the highest being in the universe for just an idea which—which will be about an identity which is not even reality? It is not the body, not even tangible like the body. Yeah. So who wants freedom before she goes back to France? I believed identity and what are you—

It gets hidden when you buy into any notion, any thought. Then what in the world can make you make that exchange unless somewhere we still don't feel that what we are meeting is truly God, God himself? How can we exchange the presence of the highest being in the universe for just an idea, which will be about an identity which is not even reality? It is not the body, not even tangible like the body. Yeah. So, who wants freedom before she goes back to France?

I believed identity.

And what are you exchanging when you buy this identity? What are you exchanging?

I'm exchanging quite shallow life.

So, what I'm asking is that the mind offers is this temptation. The temptation is, 'Oh, I'm going to go back in three weeks. Am I really finding God? I wanted to find God before I go.' And will believing that thought get you closer to God? No. What will? Not believing any thoughts and remaining empty. Because as I say in every satsang, the lane is too narrow. The lane is too narrow. There is room either for God or for me, you see. Until spirituality remains an endeavor for me to get something, including get God, then the lane is already filled with me, you know? There is no room for God. And the only way to get over yourselves is to get over your next thought by thought, moment by moment. What do I need to do to get you to do this? It's like a super simple message. Yes, there's one thing. Yes, you ask. Giving you one job. One job, yeah. What do I do to get you to work? Yeah, do it as if your life depended on it, because there is nothing else that your life depends on. Do you want to live this whole life as if you're a bundle of food and then die? No, don't want to do that. So the only way to not do that is to live in God's light, you see.

So you must now—if the mind bothers you with the fact that 'I've been in satsang so long and I still haven't got it' and all of this nonsense—then just say, 'Okay, what is the one job my Master's given?' You see? And if I do exactly the opposite of that job, what is going to happen? Misery assured. Exactly, exactly. So I have not even given you a job where you say, 'Okay, no.' I'm saying spend this life miserable? Yes, many can say that. Many ideas of sadhus and renunciates and all of that in the mind is the idea that we have to spend this life miserable and then we will get eternal happiness. But I'm not even saying that. I am saying spend this life empty of the false selves, and naturally what happens is that there's joy, there's happiness, there's peace, you see. So spend this life happily and let go of the false one and live in God's light. So there is no downside. There is no downside, except it seems like a downside to say that I don't get exactly what I want. Is it? If you didn't want anything at all, which thought can tempt you?

Grasping is suffering, so must be true. I confirm. As simple as that. Grasping and suffering, non-grasping is non-suffering. So is this grasping? What is grasping? Is to take shape to something that I am doing it? How to grasp? What can we grasp at? Can we grasp with our attention? And try as your mind, you can't grasp. You're just perceiving. We have to believe.

Yes. Can we have—so how do you function? You have thoughts, right?

Yes, but you don't believe that there's a—it doesn't believe what they're saying. You don't believe what they're saying. You feel like, 'I'm telling everyone for 12 years, don't believe your next thought, don't believe your next thought.' Or myself, no way. You have thoughts because some don't have thoughts. Come on, hypocrisy at the highest level. Do as I say, don't do as I do. That's what you feel. So when you're observing me for many years, yes, does it feel like when you come to satsang, does it look like I'm thinking my way through?

No, absolutely. These conversations, no.

No. So then when you say that there are thoughts—the thoughts come and go. They are not served except a very few rare exceptions that are true for a moment or two. So how is it possible that a thought is appearing and that you're not believing in them?

Because yeah, for me it's like instant grab.

So try to do it. Let the thought come and instantly grab it. Don't do anything. You sit still. Let the thought be instantly grabbed. All of you try it. Does the next thought come and let it come with inherent grabbing, grasping?

Yes. What? Yeah, a thought came, grabbed also. Yeah, thought was 'I have no thoughts' and a thought came like that. Yeah, and what happened? Just like because it came, you grabbed it. Another thought came. Don't laugh. The one who's the culprit also had that thought in the past. It's serious stuff.

Okay, so 'I have no thought' can be a thought that comes and goes. And it's about doing any work. Let the thought believe itself. You sit still. Let the thought come and let it believe. I want to meet a thought which has so much power. That's a long time, yes. So this is to zero in on the right battleground, because what can happen is otherwise we keep changing it. We keep saying, 'Oh, it's my feeling, it's my life, it's my where I am, whether I'm in satsang or not.' All these ideas. It's as simple as that. How to remain in the no-mind? See, these have been given glamorous names in spirituality: 'Remain in the Unborn,' 'Remain in the no-mind.' So we've learned all of these things, but we don't do it. Maybe it is because how it is sold also. 'Only the rare one will come to the no-mind. In the no-mind, the truth will be found.' The no-mind is the question of now. Now. In fact, every moment you are in the no-mind. It's what you do after that. If you keep buying into the notion from the thought saying that the thought itself is automatically believed, then my sharing is worthless. So find a thought which is so powerful that the instant it comes, automatically it has been believed. It's like a superhero thought. Not only does it command your attention, but automatically it gets belief as well.

Yeah, it's like they are all trying to keep me small with a problem with the goal to your tank. Yes. Now this is intuitive or this is thought? Yeah, yeah. It's like I'm here, I'm here.

Very good. So now what happens is that most of us will buy an idea that without a thought, how am I supposed to function? It's easy for him to say; he mustn't be having a job, or he must be just sitting here sharing satsang and having some, you know, inheritance or something like that, so he doesn't have to worry. But we have a job, we have family. How can I function like this? Isn't that the fear that comes from most of us? 'Without a thought, I'll just be a vegetable.' So many of us. So is there an alternative guide, an alternative way to live our lives which is not stupid and dumb as the mind would have us believe? Yes. And what is that alternative? It's Presence. So that inner presence is called the Guru presence for a reason. The Satguru is our highest guide. So the greatest scientists, the greatest sportsmen, the greatest everything—not that I'm tempting you with all these notions, and none of that needs to happen—but I've always said that when they go beyond the mind, they meet something intuitively, and that's where the highest solutions have appeared to them.

So we replace the mind's limited ideas with the universality of Presence. So it is not that we are left helpless and hopeless. In fact, that is when we truly start to shine. After coming to satsang, and some of you have been here for years, have you found yourself more vegetative, yes, closed? Or are you finding yourself more alive, relaxed, and natural and organic? And you're not bothering about this small stuff anymore. Life has become more of ease. But does that mean you'll become stupid? Because that's what the mind will tell you: 'Without me, you're dumb. What are you going to do with God's light? God's light is not going to pay your bills.' This is how it tempts us. Who's going to pay your bills if you don't get your next heartbeat? And you're going to pay your bills? Whose light is your heartbeat? What intelligence is running this world? How does the plant know which leaf to grow next? How does the bird know where to fly? Are they thinking, 'North, north or south?' Have you found a bird ever thinking like Rodin's 'The Thinker'? 'I don't know where to go, north or south.' Very pleasant. They don't do it.

And that's why it's such a stunning example, and I keep repeating it. When I saw this bird on TV on one of these channels, and in the first years of its life alone, it knew where to fly when the season was changing, in which direction to go, which was hundreds of miles away. And it goes exactly to that beach where it is supposed to land. Exactly to that beach. No compass, no calendar saying 'season is changing, date is coming,' no nothing. But intuitive intelligence. How does it go hundreds of miles alone to the beach where all these birds land? What intelligence is that? Yeah. How does the plant know, 'The next mango I'm going to grow is going to be these many grams so that the branch does not fall'? What is that intelligence which is making all of this unique beauty all around us? And what is it that we take about ourselves which is so special that this intelligence we neglect and we go to selfishness and ignorance?

Remain in the Unborn. Remain in the no-mind. Why is it that we put up their photographs all over these places? Why do we call them Guru? Why do we read their books hundreds of years later, thousands of years? We're still reading the Upanishads from thousands of years ago. There's no scientific book that we are reading from thousands of years. There is no book on philosophy that we're reading from thousands of years. What is it about this intuitive knowledge which is timeless? So the trick is that for most of you, you will not say, 'What he's saying is nonsense, forget about it, there's nothing like this.' No. Most of you will say, 'Tomorrow.' That I was half-jokingly saying that my son has never said no to me, but he's always said, 'Tomorrow.' So I forget this gun. Yes, yes. When? Tomorrow. And tomorrow is tomorrow, it's tomorrow.

And the mind will always find some excuse. For some it will say, 'I'm too young.' For somebody it will say, 'I'm too old.' For some it will say, 'I have too much to do.' For some, because they have nothing to do, 'I have to find a job first.' For some it will say whatever to get out of the highest possibility, a true opportunity to meet what is the highest possible in the human condition. And I'm not asking for anyone to believe me, because if it's a belief, then one slap from life, the belief is the first to go. And we've seen so many instances of this where those who have believed in God, but it's been a mere belief, then when some suffering, something happens in their life, they get upset and they say, 'I'm not going to believe in you anymore.' Just a belief. How do we move from belief to insight? I don't want to leave you with just a belief system. You have enough belief systems, and to create a belief system you just need to read a book. Is it possible to come to a true meeting? And now I have told you that it is possible. It is possible. It has happened here, and it is available for all of you now. I've told you this, you know, I've spoken about this. Now your response can be, 'He's a fraud, forget it.' You see, it is fine, but try to prove it. Second is that he's got some vested interest. He wants my money, he wants some physical relationship, he wants something. And some of you have seen me for 12 years, and most of you, all of you will hopefully say that none of this is true. He doesn't want anything also. Then you can say, 'Okay, he's a madman. He doesn't want anything, he's not a fraud, but clearly he's got some psychosis. Clearly there's something wrong with him. Yeah, he's saying all this absurd stuff. All of this must be some medical condition.' You can make that sort of conclusion. Or you can say that, 'I met this strange man who's telling me all these things, and he's saying it's possible for me while this body is still warm to come to the same insight. What do I lose if I try to follow the instructions, the guidance which is being provided?' So you can take any of those three.

Not a fraud, but clearly he's got some psychosis. Clearly there's something wrong with him. Yeah, he's saying all this absurd stuff. All of this must be some medical condition. You can make that sort of conclusion, or you can say that I met this strange man who's telling me all these things, and he's saying it's possible for me, while this body is still warm, to come to the same insight. What do I lose if I try to follow the instructions, the guidance which is being provided? So you can take any of those three: say fraud, deluded, or 'I'm going to follow.' But what you should not do is 'tomorrow.' Tomorrow is another way of saying it is absurd. Because if I told you that the greatest treasure in this universe is available if you go and dig over there, you would not say tomorrow. You would say, 'I better get it first before I die.' Or if I said there's a wish-fulfilling genie, even if you think I'm a fraud or deluded or whatever, you will still say, 'Let me check it once.' So don't postpone. Don't leave it for tomorrow because there is no time. We don't know how tomorrow is going to be, whether there will be a tomorrow. We don't know.

Interesting. So postponing is not an acceptable answer. Any of the other three is okay. You may say, 'Something is wrong about you. I don't like you. I don't want to follow. You seem suspicious.' Okay, fine. Now, you may say, 'You clearly need some help and I can give you a good doctor's number.' You can say that; that's fine. But you can't say, 'Yes, I trust you, I hear you, and I want this also, but tomorrow.' Especially because I'm not asking you to change a single thing about your life externally. I'm only asking you to create, to empty the room for God within you. Outward activities and events can continue to happen. That is a risk you have to take. But don't think that what you're being pointed to is just some source of light, although we talk about it as light. Is it like a light bulb? You're sitting there, you come to that, and your life becomes happy? Or some light force like this? No, you see, or electricity? Because we hear sometimes—the problem of this kind of direct satsang is that we look at this as some sort of scientific discovery. Oh, we look within and we find the presence, and this presence is like a light. Oh, nice, nice, good, good. And who's aware of this? Oh, there is awareness which is unfathomable. Nice. I discovered it, so I am the spiritual Einstein. So you see, I've come to a great discovery.

It's not like that. Who are you discovering? Whose presence lives within you? I'm telling you that that is the highest being in this universe, the source of all creation, the light of life itself, the most intelligent being, the most loving guide. The true Satguru is within yourselves. The greatest secret has been hidden in plain sight. So learn to trust that presence. Be devoted to that presence. Love that presence. Be humble. Don't waste your time with nonsensical things because it's tomorrow, tomorrow. It's about this question. I don't believe in all this. I don't believe there's any God. You see, you may say like that, but what if you're wrong? And if you have concluded to yourself that you just cannot be wrong, then how can we meet? But if you open, give them a little bit.

So what's your next move? You can return to the safety of your concepts. You can return to the safety—seeming safety—of your individuality, seeming safety of taking yourself to be a body. But you know that this is all ephemeral. How long will it last? How you can take a risk of coming to the unknown, of becoming an explorer with an open mind to seek reality? You can be a soldier defending your point of view and opinions and fighting like a soldier, or you can be a scout. You know what a scout is? When a war starts, then scouts are sent out. Go find out what's happening in the north, go find out what's happening in the west, east, south. So these scouts go everywhere and say, 'All quiet, all quiet,' or 'Some troops are coming over there.' So you can be a soldier who then is sent later to defend: 'I'm right, I am right, I'll show you I am right.' Or you can be a scout: 'What's going on? What's really going on?'

So the mind wants to make a soldier out of you in everything. It's about attack and defense. Attack. 'I agree, I disagree. I agree, I disagree.' Nobody cares. But 'I agree' or 'disagree.' Nobody cares. Does anybody really care? Nobody but me. And yet, whole life you spend playing this game: right, right, wrong, wrong, right, wrong, right, wrong. And then when you die, what happens to all these beautiful opinions you collected? Zero. Or you meet this strange one who's saying that there is a different life possible, an eternal life that is beyond birth and death. But for that, you have to let go of your pride. You have to be open. You have to move away from soldier to scout. Come on, think.

I'm just picking up where Atma—you were asking how does the belief in thought arise? So for example, I look at the watch and I say—the thought comes that I'm going to be late. Yes, and I believe it, and I don't question that believing, and then the day goes on with many such examples. So what I'm trying to express is this whole believing thought is very insidious. It begins with something as simple as 'I'm getting late,' and because of that belief, I end up doing things that seemingly need to be done.

Okay, yeah. You feel like a belief in thought leads to action. So, okay, let's look at it this way. If, like, I am going to leave here at 7:00, 7:10, right? You believe, I believe, because I've come in with that belief, because there are some things waiting for me on the other side. But I'm not carrying it through the whole two, three hours. It's there somewhere planted. Around 6:50 it'll happen, the thought will come, and life will go on. There's no suffering in that, or seemingly there's no suffering.

But I'm just trying to ask myself, these kinds of belief of thoughts seem to be harmless, but then the slippery slope is then the actual suffering thought happens, and the differentiation is lost. Right, right. So my real question is, am I supposed to evolve to a point where even the thought of 'I'm getting late,' I'll just—because I can hear that as a clear thought, it means it's not... I mean, I don't know. If you ask me, is it coming from intuition or is it coming from thought, I wouldn't know how to answer that. So that's my kind of conundrum.

So our life just becomes such that we are empty of all these what sounds to me like pressure points. It sounds to me that there is a somebody sitting there with a ruler, you know, like a scale in their hand, saying, 'Do this, do that, you're getting late, this is going to happen.' And the presumption is that without that, we make a mess. We'll be late, we'll miss our meeting, we'll miss our appointment. Many times, not necessarily with you, but many times it can just be that 'If I leave it to God's grace, to God's will, then I will make a mess somewhere, something will get broken.' Now, what that gets replaced with is that we live empty of this oppression in our head which is constantly—it's just like living with an authoritative teacher constantly, you see? It's just like, 'Do this, do this, do this, don't do this, this is right, this is wrong, he is right, he's wrong.' Is it okay? So that I have some memory of living like that, and it seems like hell, I have to tell you. Not that I'm saying that this is how you're there, but I remember that my life used to be like that, where this authoritative voice in my head used to feel like it is my voice. 'I am saying it, it is helpful for me,' you see? But it was just a very easy, stifled way to live.

So what does that get replaced with? It gets replaced with God's will. And God's will means that we are empty moment to moment. And while we remain empty, then just like these words are arising from the heart without prior thought or concluding whether this is the right thing to say or right thing to do, it's just unfolding in this way. The same way our life also unfolds in this way. So you look at the time, at seven o'clock your feet start moving. Okay, that is to live in God's presence. The simple is in the unborn. And sages like Master Bankei have told us that all things are perfectly resolved in the unborn. You see, all things are perfectly resolved in the unborn. And what does he mean by all things? He's not talking about godly things, because godly things are always resolved, you see? So he's giving us the reassurance because we are worried about worldly things, right? Everything in the world is perfectly resolved in the unborn. But remember that perfectly resolved doesn't mean according to our mind's idea of what it should be. This is—that's not a cheat code to fulfill our mind's wishes.

So these things are perfectly resolved in the unborn. So as we learn to live in the unborn, in no-mind, then something behind the hand will actually move to pick up the glass to drink. I didn't have to think, 'Okay, now I need to drink, I must be thirsty.' This unfolds. Second, as we get used to living like this, then we get used to the second part of your question where you said, 'I can't really tell you.' You will be able to. You will be able to tell me whether the guidance was received in the heart or whether it was just conceptual. So one tip I have for you is that in the perception itself, you see, there is as much intelligence as you need available in the perception. But if your heart is guiding you, then you can trust that even more than the perception.

So Father, I think maybe I am taking you too literally and that's causing my confusion. I'll tell you the core of the confusion: looking at the watch, thought comes, 'Hey, it's time to go.' Then another voice says, 'No, no, you can wait ten more minutes.' And there's no suffering there. So if you asked me, 'Is that intuition?' both those things—I would honestly report that as it's intuition. The voice telling me it's going to be seven, the voice also saying, 'Oh, it's okay, another five minutes.' I don't feel any resistance in that.

Yes, but you can report it is intuition when you can confirm that my Self is apparent to me.

So where I am getting hung up when I'm saying I'm taking you too literally—which is the core of my question—is just because I detected the thought that 'Hey, you're getting late,' I'm taking it literally. Or because the thought has come and Father says, 'Once thought comes and you're believing it, you're doomed already.' I've said that, it's a quotable quote. You know what I'm saying, right? I'm dramatizing it, but that is the core of my confusion. Maybe I'm taking you too literally and it doesn't have to be like that.

So let me clarify. This is a very good point. So what happens when we believe a thought? For that moment or for that time frame, we get caught up in the limited notion of our individuality, therefore us being an object within time and space and all of those things, okay? And then what happens? The next moment comes, and the next moment is the fresh start. We are never doomed. Every moment is a fresh start. No, I don't want to get hung up on the doom part. I'm talking about the fact that what happens is that when we get into 'Did I buy that thought or was I really open?'—and this is similar to what we spoke about last time—that analysis is not important. What is only important is now, you see? Because that somewhere is linked to our idea of progress, doing it right, living truly openly. It's truly living in the unborn. But that itself becomes the only aspect of dust that we have left in many, many, many ones who are sitting in reality. This itself can become... So what is the approach that I am suggesting? Five minutes back this thing happened, you're not able to confirm whether it was head or heart. Forget about it. Right now, live in the heart. Don't have to at all have this tracking spreadsheet and what happened then, 'Did I do it right? Did I do it wrong?' No, no, no. Now, you see? Because what will happen is that in thinking about whether you ate the right stuff for breakfast, you see, you're going to spoil your lunch. So in this moment, if you think, then think about not thinking.

The approach that I am suggesting: so five minutes back this thing happened, you're not able to confirm whether it was head or heart—forget about it right now. Live in the heart. You don't have to at all have this tracking spreadsheet and 'what happened then?' 'did I do it right?' you know, 'did I do it wrong?' No, no, no. Now, you see, because what will happen is that in thinking about whether you ate the right stuff for breakfast, you see, you're going to spoil your lunch. So in this moment, if you think, then think about not thinking and whether we were thinking earlier, you see. And of course the mind is saying, 'This is the only way you will improve, this is the only way you'll stop yourself,' when you know that is not the only way. The only way is now. I'm telling you that your dream has just started. This dream has just started. Of course, when the dream starts, we can still report and say, 'Oh, I came from my house, my name is this,' you see, but the past is as relevant as that.

To live in God's will is to just let Him unfold. Another topic I want to look at is in relation to this very popular notion, even in Indian spirituality, about because there is heart, thought leads to action, action leads to consequences—that is Karma—and then the whole cycle repeats itself, you see. In the Yoga Vasistha, it is said that the crow flies, it lands on the branch of the coconut tree, the coconut falls. In the mind, it will seem like because the bird landed on the branch, that's why the coconut fell. But who can confirm that? So if you want to look at the cause of anything, we can only say the cause is Consciousness itself. Consciousness produced thought, Consciousness believed or didn't believe it, Consciousness did or did not do. Consciousness does not need the thought to perform an activity.

The second thing I want to thank you and more of a report is, she's going to leave in two days and no, yeah, so how many semesters does she have? So usually I'm getting to be quite miserable by this time. Same. I'm joining that club. This time something interesting has happened. That fear voice that comes about missing her is now saying 'missing will happen' rather than 'I will miss her.' And I'm finding massive relief in not having to deal with the 'I will miss her.' Like, missing will happen and it'll happen and we'll see. Like that, like you said, I think curiosity is happening and we'll see what happens. Yes, it's more of a wonder. Yeah, so that valence of that 'I' is big relief. So thank you for that.

Can the voice move the body? Let the voice move the body. 'I have to go then.' God provides the life force. It cannot move. He's had enough. See, the door decides not to open.

In connection with what we just talked, yes. So in actions which, when the body-mind acts and it is, sometimes I think that if I have gone back on an action and wondered if I have said or done the right thing—'Have I upset someone? Have I pleased someone?'—then I know I was off the connection. But sometimes I get, and if I'm in it, then it's not that everything is very loving and nice what's coming. I can really yell at someone and then I don't think about it for a minute as maybe that was not in connection with. Is that sort of...?

Let's start from the very basics. So when we talk about 'my action,' body-mind acting, okay? So that's why I often start like this, saying: Is this a doing or a happening? Is this a doing or happening? What is it? This is happening. Yeah, this, this is the doing. So how is the doing different from happening? So doing implies what? So if this was a cloud floating in the sky, you would say, 'Cloud is floating.' This implies some agency, some volition, isn't it? Now, the thing to explore is if this is agency and volition versus the cloud passing in the skies—no agency, no volition—then whose agency could this be? That is the difference between doing and happening: that there is agency, that there is choice, there is volition, you see.

Now, can a non—now this will make it trivial—but can a non-existent one have volition? That which doesn't exist, like the cat sitting here, is it going to meow? Is it going to run? Yeah, it's an absurd question because there is no such cat. In the same way, the doing of the non-existent one can be called work? Not at all. It doesn't exist. It's absurdity because the protagonist doesn't exist, you see. So first we have to identify whether there is such an agent in the first place. And if there is such an agent, let's produce that one. Where is that one? See, then we may come to a point—and this may be going really far, but I'm going to see this in—so we say, 'Okay, there is no agent, therefore all this is happening.' These words are happening, the listening is happening. We will come to that point, you see. But for happening, what do we need? We need change, we need time, we need space.

So there will come a point soon where you will recognize that change, time, space are also notional categories of the mind, you see. And therefore, like Papaji, you may say at one point that nothing has even ever really happened. Okay? So when you first feel like, 'I want to get to this point where like Papaji, he said nothing has ever really happened, how can I see that?' But when you see that time and space are just notional, then that is the only way in which we can come to that point, you see. So usually it moves from the end of the notion of doing, you see. And it's not just the notion of doing, but notice that it's the end of most trouble. The end of most trouble. What is most trouble in life? 'Why did you do this to me?' 'I shouldn't have done that.' 'Oh, I am so great, I did that.' So it's all do, do, do, do, do everywhere. So once that is, if not completely dropped, at least relaxed a great bit, then most of this pride, guilt, remorse, regret—all this stuff is out of our lives, which is already a great blessing. But we come to a point where the doingness is dropped away, and then we come to a point where even the happeningness is dropped away.

Don't expect linearity. With this simple instruction you can follow, don't expect linearity. It means often up, about everything. Transfer's improvement would be so caught up in our linearity: 'this, therefore this,' 'but we had decided this, why didn't you do this?'

I love this concept of the fifth. Some of you may not have heard it. So the fifth is the fifth corner of the room. Okay? The first corner of the room is 'yes, true.' Second corner of the room is 'no, false.' Most of Western logic systems are based on two corners in the room. Something can either be true or false. Something either yes or no. How can I do anything else? But in the Eastern systems, in the East—and this I'm taking credit for the East, but this is true—it was not that linear. So what used to happen is that something could be both true and false, or neither true nor false. Okay? This is as far as the intellect can proceed.

So many times when the Buddha was asked questions: 'Is the enlightened one reborn?' And if he's free from the cycle of birth and death, how can there be rebirth for the enlightened one? You know that the Buddhists chase down babies and say, 'This is a reincarnation.' No, no, although they also say that it's the end of the cycle of transmigration. So then there's a concept of the one who comes back to help everyone else and all of those notions. But the Buddha used to say the fifth. The first was true, the second was false, the third was both true and false, the fourth neither true nor false. What is the fifth? That is as much as we force it. And it doesn't help the room, so you have to speak, but it helps the Zoom. Okay, don't take your time.

First of all, how do I address you? Yes. Are you 'bro'? Do anything in Spanish? My kids only call me 'bro.' So basically this particular, even frameable question to ask, did occur to me here listening to a few of the things as well as whatever basic information and understanding. So today I wish to ask you: Is the knowledge about action and consequences a sin?

Is knowledge of action and consequences a sin? It's a beautiful question to ask straight off the bat. Welcome, welcome to Satsang firstly, and just feel at home. It doesn't matter whether it's your first Satsang or thousandth time. So what is sin? Let's first look at that. And this is, I feel, applicable across all cultures, traditions, religions. So the basic premise of all spirituality is that our life must be lived in God's will. We are living in God's will. But there's another part which is open to us apparently, which is to live on our terms, you see. So God's will is available, God's presence is here, but we say, 'No, my way.' And for most, it's 'my way or the highway,' you see.

So this speaking of judgment about what my life should be, where I should go, what should I do—all of that in the presence of the Supreme intelligence of God, you see—that is the error. Let's start by calling it an error. So that is an error. We are by trying to follow our limited mind then to follow this Guru presence within, or the intuitive insight within, you see. So in what way is it possible to make that error right now? No error, isn't it? Right now in this moment you're fresh. God is living your life. Your heart is beating, my breath is flowing, all perception is happening. Now suppose that you have to take charge of the situation. What would you have to do? Live on your terms, your own terms. What would you have to do?

Yeah, so sheer innocence. In this moment we are in sheer innocence, naturally no trouble. Then what happens? This is the mechanics of the situation: that among all the perception, everything is fine, there is no trouble perceiving everything naturally. One of the perceptions is an energy form called a thought, you see. And the mind is nothing but a bundle of thoughts. So this thought appears. When the thought appears, what can you do with it? Either take an action, when feel it is actionable, or just leave it around where it doesn't make sense to take an action.

So let's look at this action thing once again. To move your hand, what do you have to do? I know it will sound absurd. Just show me. To move your hand, what do you have to do? How do you move your hand? Say, 'I move it here like this, like this move,' you see. But the scientists tell us that to move your hand, neurons have to fire in the brain, the nerves have to get activated, the nervous system has to move. Now, do you know how to fire a neuron? You don't know. Then how do you take the action? So in actuality, we don't even know how to move a finger, and we claim so much action in life. Ah! So to act based on thought is not something that you know how to do, at least here, you know, here. But we'll come to that here in a moment.

So here you don't know how to do. Your mind does not know how you fire a neuron. Yes, that much you can agree. So let's make it even simpler. Even before you can decide to act on the thought or not, what can you do with a thought? A thought is coming, you see. You may be about this, so you may say, 'Your thought is coming, no, no, I have to not pay attention to it, I have to be mindful with my breath,' you see. So you try to withdraw your attention. Most spiritual practices are about trying to withdraw attention from the thought, isn't it? Or pay attention to your breath, or just be with the pure perception of what is being perceived, but don't put attention on the thought. So the first thing you can do with the thought is to give it attention or not, you see.

Now, attention is called a crazy monkey because if I tell you 'don't think of a banana,' attention brings banana, you see. So it doesn't matter whether you say 'don't' or 'do,' attention goes there. So the more you think 'I won't pay attention to a thought,' the more difficult it becomes, you see. So if the thought says—if you've decided 'I will not think about that girl or that person' or whatever—then more and more that thought will come. So in this way, attention is very difficult. But what else can you do with thought? And that is...

It's called a crazy monkey because I tell you, 'Don't think of a banana,' and attention brings a banana, you see? So it doesn't matter whether you say 'don't' or 'do,' attention goes there. So the more you think, 'I won't pay attention to a thought,' the more difficult it becomes, you see? So if the thought says, or if you've decided, 'I will not think about that girl' or that person or whatever, then more and more that thought will come. So in this way, attention is very difficult. But what else can you do with thought? And that is the master key to everything that I'm saying.

So I told you, don't give your attention to a banana, and a banana comes. But I say, don't believe that you're a banana; that's easy. So when the Zen master said, 'Leave your front door and back door open; thoughts are visitors. Let them come and let them go. Don't serve them tea,' this is what they were saying. Because to notice the thoughts as visitors means attention is already on them; without attention, you would not notice the visitor. But what is the process of serving them tea? You see, the process of serving them tea is to bind to the narrative, to bind to the story, you see? So to live storylessly, as you may have heard in spirituality, is only possible when we are not giving belief, not identifying with the thought, you see? That is to not serve them tea.

So you become like the porter at the airport who's used to picking up thoughts from the conveyor belt of the mind and taking them to be yours. You now become somebody who's retired from that job. Whatever bags are coming, they can come, they can come. What happens? Can you suffer now? Try to suffer without picking up a thought. Not possible. So this suffering problem that everybody is dealing with, you see, it's over.

Excuse me, this would rather say that like, you know, no action taken will in turn have no consequences? Yeah, but it wouldn't be the same every time. But where, like, you know...

But notice that I did not say don't act, is it? So action can happen independent of thought, you see? Like right now, you may be nodding, you may be doing some other action, but it may happen without you thinking about it. Like you did like that—did you say, 'Now I'll put my hand like this and sit back'? You do not think, no. So how did that action happen? Are you saying not your head, not your head? Not saying that. Which thought? So where is the boundary between that which we call natural and that which we call 'I did,' you see?

Now I am telling you that this and all that sounds come naturally from intuition to mouth, from heart to mouth. There is no thought involved in the process, you see? So don't you think that it's fairly complicated action? Because otherwise the mind will say, 'Oh, simple, simple action can happen without thought, but really difficult ones...' You see? So to share satsang with all of you for so long, this just happened from the heart. I have no idea what is going to be said next. In fact, I'm hearing like you're hearing, you see, what comes from this mouth, you see? So who does this action? Yeah, so who is the owner of... yes, yes, yes.

So the first step is the end of identification. The end of grasping is the end of suffering. Then you can say, 'Okay, what is reality? And if God is reality, how can I find God?' So my answer to that is: try to stop being.

So what is it that I can do? Yeah, try to stop being. Don't be. No, no, like, you know, when the genius of accidents or, like, you know, any happenings is happening without my control or without my thoughtful action, then what is... why was it even there for me to do? What are those actions without my intervention and with my intervention? We must be able to determine who this mind is. Who is this man? Me? Body, maybe? We don't like that. No, I'm not just the body. Your body is just food and not food, okay? And we don't like the concept of death. The body is going to die. But somewhere, even those who are atheists, they write on Facebook and all I've seen, they write if they hear of somebody passing, they write 'Rest in peace, rest in peace.' Everybody writes. So who are they wishing? If you believe you're the body, you can't be wishing the body because the body is dead, maybe burnt or cremated or under the ground. So who are they wishing?

So this notion that 'I am just this bundle of food' or that 'I am going to die,' nobody likes, even though they may be atheists, may not believe in God. But something already knows in the heart that there's something more to me than just this, you see? So let's look at it another way. Who is the one that comes to satsang? Because there is nothing here for the body. If you really believe that you are just the body, then why would you come to satsang? Nothing here for the body.

Longing will be there. Like, then who is... who is experiencing that longing? Again, no answer. Yeah, yeah. So we come to satsang to find that answer.

That answer, yes, you will find. Who is finding that answer? What is the way in which you will not find it? You will not find it in perception and in thought. Now, is there another mode of knowledge beside perception and thought? Do you have anything else that is... even if you know Advaita Vedanta 101, no? Is it everything in perception is Maya, it's unreal, so discard it? And thought is also perception, so discard it. Then what are you left with? After the first lesson in Vedanta, what are you left with?

What is it that knows about unconditional love? Do you need a thought to know that you love your beloved or your parents or your children? Don't need a thought. Do you need to perceive something? Like the feeling of love has to be there constantly? No. And I often say that with our children, many times it is anger, you see, and still we know that we love them. What is that knowledge? What is the source of that knowledge? That is intuitive inside. So the same place where you know intuitively about unconditional love, there you will find your true self as well. So you cannot do it through perception and by thought. When you leave reliance on these modes of knowledge, then the flowering of intuitive insight will happen. You know, the presence of God and the absolute realization of the Self can happen intuitively.

But then the action and consequences superseded this question, right? So in one of the satsangs where I heard, like, you know, the one that you mentioned about the Vedanta thing: anything and everything which has the feature of changing or which cannot stay the same is unreal or is not realistic, and something which doesn't have the capacity to change, that is real and that is reality. And now find, like, you know, what is reality? Yeah, so in fact, one of the Swamis, he just said this to find, and they left constantly thinking, like, half an hour, 'How do I find? What do I do?' And then I just started striking down everything that I can identify, yes, everything that I have learned, known, or something, because everything of such kind has a capacity to change. Then how long can I do this? How many more I can identify? The time when I cease to identify anything, I do not have anything to negate. So now, like, you know, all these years of exercise of knowing, identifying, distinguishing, and then treating it in a different way itself is a seed for all this jumbled thing which is happening and so-called identifying to something else. And this suffering thing can come out, not having a clarity would come and all these things. Basically, I wanted to ask is, I'm saying drop both opposites. What it means? So my problem is not able to drop. I'm not able to de-identify, de-distinguish.

How are you trying to not identify? What are you failing at?

I don't know what to do or how to do and that inability is like, you know...

Okay, I'll tell you the opposite. Identify without believing any thought. Your job is to identify. Get identified. Do it. You're too free. You're too free now. Your job is to get identified. Do it.

I can't. Have to put something in here.

You did! No, what did you do? A thought came, 'I can't,' then you bought it. So that is called identification. Don't do that. Without that, identify. Just keep looking at him now. Identify.

Yeah, come back.

You see, he's not coming back. He said, 'Give me a moment, I have to think about my response.' Don't do that. Stay with me. In this case, there is no thought, so I can't identify. Even if the thought comes, let it come, let it go. What is that temptation? So what happens is you feel like you've come to someone who can provide you the answer and he's saying, 'Don't go there,' you see? Don't go there. But because the habit is so much to go there, you see, and even when I'm saying, 'No, no, you don't go there,' it's like, 'Just a minute, just I'll be back.' See what happens when fear comes.

Excuse me, that's it.

He said you can't be identified. You didn't! Ah, don't go back. Don't make conclusions. Yeah, it will be tempting to make conclusions. No, stay empty. Okay? Stay. Stand empty, empty, empty. It's a habit, I know, but this is the way to disengage. What fell away? What of value was dropped when you were not buying the thoughts? Nothing. You're still breathing, the body was functioning fine, everything is natural. See, now that one is the double one, you can see it. 'I will switch,' 'Don't switch,' and so on. It'll tempt you from time to time because our habit is like that.

So I've told you that the porter is retired, but because the porter is used to picking up the bag, you see, so that is the habit. And satsang is a rehab center for that habit. Everything is rehab for that habit. Allow you to remain unoppressed by your mind, untempted by this. Allow you to live fresh moment to moment rather than past and future. It's not important what it is saying even now.

I go with an understanding, probably not go with any understanding, just be empty to satisfy... to satisfy one...

It can seem like, you see, if there's a jigsaw puzzle and sitting with the master, we got the last piece, okay? But I'm telling you that the jigsaw of this intellect is never complete. It's a leaky roof. You patch up one side, another question is done. So today's conclusions, even your spiritual conclusions, will be tomorrow's confusion. Break that cycle. Yeah.

So to break that cycle, like, you know, no action to be taken. Action, action means this, this is continuing organically in no identification. Yeah, processing of the thought or we believe in the thought, yes, attraction, I'm going to say. So then there is no consequence, and if that is the case, there is no time. So in the end of time, there is no notion of cause and consequence.

This is good. For the first time, very, very good. Yes, yes.