This Idea of 'Me' Is Just a Myth - 27 May 2016

So then, as we let go of ideas of this pink elephant, then there comes a point that the memory of believing yourself to be one itself seems laughable. All our concerns are just like the concerns of this elephant saying, 'Where will I find my next sugarcane patch?' Come to terms with the enormity of this discovery. Don't shy away from it even if it seems too vast. Don't run to a concept, no matter how spiritual or advanced the concept might seem with the promise of your completion, of your understanding. The completion of our true understanding is the dropping of our mental understanding. As long as we are looking for the mind to get to concepts of who we are, then know that it is still mental, it is still personal. Why must that which is prior to the appearance of the mind, why must that need the mind to find out who it is? That which is present prior to all appearances continues to exist with or without the mind. What is that which is prior to all of this?

How can it be that we consider ourselves to be so much this non-existent entity and we miss what we are in this moment right now? Just because some sensation is there, just because some thought is there, just because some constriction is there—who is aware of that? Are you the constriction or that which is aware of it? Are you the thought or that which is aware of it? Who are you? And a very good place to start is 'I don't know.' Don't be in a rush to know, and to know mentally is not going to help. So a very good start is to see that I don't know who I am, but one thing I do know is that there is no person here actually. This much is enough, to come to this 'I don't know,' because then in this space of I-don't-knowness, all insights come. There is no need to rush to get more and more insights as long as we can see that I am not a person.

What does it mean to see this actually? It is just the seeing that that who has these stories has no existence here. And the story is also the same old, same old. You talked about the four stories they usually have. All life is just a combination of these four stories: wanting better relationships, wanting monetary or financial security, wanting a healthy body, and wanting some lasting happiness, peace, and joy—the search for freedom itself. Basically, all our lives are just different variations of these four stories playing at different times. So who is it that wants better relationships? Are the atoms and molecules which make up your body interested in any relationships? In the same way, who is it that even wants freedom? There is no need to rush to any answers. Don't be afraid to admit that 'I don't know,' because in this not-knowing, you're letting go of mental knowledge. We are admitting that the mind cannot actually have a good answer for this. So 'I don't know' is much more useful than a mental answer which could be 'consciousness' or 'awareness' if it is just mental, you see. Because the mental saying that 'I am consciousness' or 'I am awareness' will not help us when we have a breakup in our relationship, when we lose our money, when the health of the body starts to deteriorate, and when we find this mythical freedom we are not getting. There is no value to these concepts except if they are used as pointers to point to what we are, to give direction to our looking. In a way, that is the only use. But when we start mistaking the milestones and the arrow marks for the destination itself, then that is the spiritual ego.

To look for the person—really look. All of you, really look with full integrity. Look for the one who wants better relationships, wants freedom, wants financial security, even wants a better body. Who is this one? And I know you've done this before. Like a stewardess in the airline, I say I know that you all heard these announcements before, but I still request you to look again.

Father, may I share something?

Look for the person. Look for the one that has likes and dislikes, desires and aversions, and don't go with any mental conclusion. Continue to look. The mind says, 'There is no person.' Yes, yes, you see this? Then inquire into who's speaking and who is looking at this thought. Is there anything personal there?

Father, may I share something?

Is there anything personal there? Where is this person sitting? Is there an entity sitting inside your head? Because I remember that it was the predominant feeling like this: that there was somebody sitting inside our head, then driving this car called the body, saying, 'I can direct the body, I can move it.' It has no idea! Not a finger it can move, and yet the finger moves. The mind doesn't know how to move it. Which thought can move something? Just like a sage there, presuming on the doer is like presuming that I am doing the digestion of my food. It is just happening right now. Millions of processes are happening in the body. I've been helping my son with some biology studies that he's doing, and you're amazed at the intricacy of the functioning of this body and the supreme intelligence which runs this body. The mind does not have a clue. The germ enters, then the whole body reacts and it sends, you know, warriors to meet them. Who's doing all of this? Is it our thought? 'Now you go, the germ has come, the antibodies follow the...' It's not! It has no idea who is doing all of this. Even if you don't know who is doing all of this or we don't admit that it's God, at least we can see who's designed this supreme intelligence.

Father, may I share something on the dynamic aspect of you?

The bad news for the person is that in knowing this, that I am God usually does not help the person in any way. And if there is this persistent desire that the discovery that I am God will lead to my life becoming a certain way, then even that will have to be dissolved in one way or the other. So the person doesn't even know—if this voice in our head doesn't even know how to move a finger, then how can we say, 'This is my life, what should I do next?' And how can a bundle of thoughts be experiencing our life also? You see?