Why Consciousness in the First Place? - 1st March 2018
Saar (Essence)
Ananta invites seekers to drop all conceptual meanings and labels, revealing that suffering arises from the pretense of individuality. He emphasizes that truth remains ever-present only when we abandon the need to mentally understand our existence.
Nothing is originally a thing; we give conceptual meaning to appearances and then call it the truth.
Every time we pick up a notion about something, we are making a limited idea about ourselves.
Leave this existence as unlabeled. It is completely possible to lead a life mostly like this.
contemplative
Transcript
This transcript is auto-generated and may contain errors.
Welcome to Saturday Satsang. I joke with you sometimes that you will have to, as you can see, my highest one thing is: don't make anything. Actually, nothing is originally a thing. How many are? No clue. Originally, we are not giving any conceptual meaning to anything. So, to give this conceptual meaning, to give belief to a concept, is what I mean by 'making it a thing.' I'm not talking about manifestation or materializing something, creative visualization—I'm not speaking about that. When we attach some false sense of meaning, a conceptual idea that 'I know what this is for, I know what this means,' a certain sense of appearances is moving a certain way, the mind comes in and tries to make a conclusion about it, saying 'this is what this means.' If you don't know what it means, we don't know what anything is for. And it is these meanings that we attach, these notions that we have, that seem to become the source of our suffering.
This play of light and sound is happening. This narrative mind says, 'This is what this movement of light means, this is what these sounds mean,' but you are just the witness of all of this. Let's go back a little bit and see: we don't even know what is the meaning of our existence. We can try and attach various meanings to it. You know, I love to call it a play. We exist because it is a play of consciousness. And then they will say, Shankara will say, it never really happened anyway; it appears to happen. You would see like the snake appears to be, but it is only just a rope. So, it is neither real nor unreal. So, if the very light of this existence, you don't know what it is for—and actually, we cannot know mentally—then what is the point of trying to derive some meaning from aspects, from minor little plays within this big play of your existence? It is completely pointless.
The only point it seems to serve is this pretense of identification, this pretense of individuality, the pretense to be. Because it might seem like I'm making a meaning or a notion about something, but actually, you're making meaning about yourself. You make a meaning about a perceived object, whether it is seen to be perceived in the world, whether it is a thought, whether it is imagination, memory—any of these objects of perception, you're actually making a conclusion about yourself. There is never another person behaving badly, for example. Is he making meaning out of nothing? Like suppose a partner—a very popular notion to come—there is never a partner individually behaving badly or not understanding unless first we presume the idea that 'I also must be a person.' From the space of spaciousness in which all of this is contained, none of these ideas have any meaning.
We have become so deeply conditioned to these notions that it seems like we cannot exist without these labels. If you like, the table will no longer be a table unless I call it a table. This is not truth. The appearance can continue to be whatever it is appearing as. You don't need to call a glass a glass to drink from it. There's a deeper intelligence, a deeper homogeneity in a way, which already is moving in its own detectedness. What is perceived and moves, all of this is you. So, I make the point very trivially sometimes that the answer to all life is consciousness. We must try to answer 'why' for something within consciousness. Really, if you feel like we can answer 'why consciousness'—why consciousness in the first place? Why do I exist? You want to tackle a 'why,' take the biggest one. Because everything else which is within the functioning of this consciousness—'Why does he behave like this? Why does she do this to me? Why can't they understand? Why is the world so bad? Why do bad things happen to good people?'—we want to know the answer to all this 'why' within a particular aspect of consciousness. But every time we pick up a notion about something which is within, then we are making a limited idea about ourselves.
Do you really, really know why you exist? If I get enough time with you, I can convince all of you that it is a play. Why you exist? Because you want to play. If I get enough time with you, I can convince you that none of this has ever happened, we have never existed. If I get enough time with you, I can convince you that it is so that you can experience yourself as something. So, if it is convincible through concepts, then we don't actually know; we just have a concept of it. So, what I'm basically inviting you to do—all this long explanation now—is inviting you to throw away any ideas you have about anything at all. In fact, the invitation is even simpler: it is to show you that all ideas are gone. There is no reason, no validity in any notion that you might want to pick up now.
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All notions are about... you know, in the corporate world, you're taught to answer these questions about everything during your plans: Who, What, Why, When, How? Who? Who will do it? So the project has a lead, who will do it? What? What has to be done exactly? Why? Why are we doing it, whatever reason? When? What is the timeline for the project? How? How is this step-by-step? How is it? These are the kind of questions we are conditioned to because of the world, and I'm suggesting we throw all of them away. And if to throw all of them away seems like too much, then stay with the question. In the mere act of labeling something as something, we seem to be answering a question like this about it. The pretense that we know, that we know what anything is. I said these days I've been saying that: leave this existence as unlabeled. Everything is. Look around the room when I'm actually doing it, and always say, 'I've done this the other day.' I am here to tell you that it is completely possible to lead a life mostly like this. And all our fears about how our life will turn out, how is it going to be managed—they are unfounded.
So, look at the appearance of this energy also without even calling it the emotion of fear. That which has not left you as you have left existence unlabeled, the appearance of anything perceived unlabeled—this Truth has not left. This Truth means that which cannot leave, which has not come and does not go. And the best part about all of this is that we start this moment anyway like this. We are not caught up with any notion right at this very moment. You might try to see this for yourself also. It will explore something very magical, it will be really revealed to you. How does it seem like I'm constantly part of my notions? But every time I check whether right now I am part of any notion or not, you can really explore whether it is ever true that we are caught. It is a great truth that what I really am can never be caught up in anything, even though our memory might be testifying to it using the appearance of a body or some mental perspective.
So, all that you ever find is one consciousness, one movement. So, here you need to label something to create a distinct separation. Not create, but to create the pretense of a separation. It's also very important: if you pick up the notion that actually separation was created, then you pick up the idea of trying to fix the separation. It's like for one tiny moment you believe yourself to be a blue cat. What do you need to do to fix it? Just for one moment, you believe yourself to be a blue cat. It can happen. I can offer a really crazy idea, and the power to buy into it is one of your final powers as consciousness. You're rid of it right now, and it might sound like a crazy idea, but you have to follow what you believe yourself to be. This bundle of flesh and bones, as you decrease, as you decrease, open that space in which space arises. Be this coconut which is ultimately the back, which is aware of that space in which this space arises. Whatever it is, be this. This is as funny, as crazy as believing yourself to be a big elephant.
Look at all the things that you have given meaning to, and notice what belief in those meanings convinces you about what you are. All your grievances convince you that you are a person. All your... I've even given your humility, that convinces you that you are a person. Any position that you take convinces you of your limitedness. One instant of limitedness—shake off all the positions. So, you go, we're still here. But this is not a conception, it is not a position, it is not a stance. It is that which remains unchanged no matter what comes. If you're still looking for the ultimate position, you're missing the Truth. If you think you found the ultimate position, you're missing the Truth. If you think that you can use the ultimate position, you're missing that conversation. If you have any idea about yourself, the only thing you'll ultimately find is... if you're feverish about any notion about what something means, you're missing the Truth.
All controls... if you ever feel like you're responsible to find the ultimate truth, yes, I'm also unloading what this means. It's nice because what does that leave your mind with? And this is very good news, because this is nothing. It's a pointer to your truth: there is no thing. If you know something, this might lead you to pick up a version of yourself which is not true. But as you are now, empty of conceptual meaning, this greater truth is completely apparent. You don't think... the other day, maybe I don't know whether it was in the broadcast, I think that you can think you're doing it, but it is not so. If you think that you're doing it right, it is not so. If you think that you're doing it wrong, it is not so. If you think that there is something to be done, it is not so. If you think that you have to sit without doing anything, it is not so. If you think that there is something to be found, it is not so. If you think you have found this, it is not so.
If you think it is outside you, it is not so. If you think it is inside you, it is not so. If you think there is a 'you,' if you think you are the doer, it is not so. If you think you are not the doer, if you think there is no self, it is not so. If you think there is a self, it is not so. I'll take nothing. If you think that what I'm saying means something, it is not so. If you think what I'm saying doesn't mean anything, it is not so. Is it that there is the meaningful meaning itself? Meaning itself did not have meaning or position for it. That's the point of all of this. Nothing is. It's completely pointless. Yet, we still enjoy this, still enjoying sharing like this. We're mostly like... the mind is deeply uncomfortable with this, but this neutrality... Brahman, He is beyond whether there are no neutral points that I might want to take to be Brahman. Every concept is selling you a limited position about yourself.
Believe me, so leave some parts. Tomorrow we leave for the festival here. I remember someone came to Rishikesh and said, 'Well, thank you for this nice holiday,' and he said, 'It's more like a holy-day.' Give meanings to one word. It is our conceptual meanings which become the bars. The true meaning of life is completely abandoned, yet unexplainable. That's a song you have to compose, yeah.