You Are Free, But Come to Satsang - 19th Jan. 2016

If I see all of you already free, then why do I also say you must come to Satsang? That can get confusing, isn't it? You see, I'm already free, then you also say, "Yes, now make sure you keep coming to Satsang." Why? I like that. It's only that the whole point of Satsang is to point Being towards the truth of what it is. But Being has the ability or belief of the capacity for pretense, and we've collected many, many, many, many, many pretenses over millions of years. Many subtle or strong identities have been picked up. So Satsang serves as a reminder to stop, stop, stop, stop, stop. And the Master says keep coming because we are dropping this together. When instead it is a picking up of the concept... okay, this is a little subtle, so just stay with me.

When I say that you are free, it is a pointing so that you look and you check that there is no bondage. "Now I am free"—that is the purpose of the pointing. The misuse of this pointing would be to pick it up conceptually, you see? So "I am free" becomes a concept that gets picked up. Then very quickly the concept "Therefore I don't need to come to Satsang" will also get picked up because "I am free," you see? So when I say you are free, it is to point you to see that there is no bondage. You are free to look, not to pick up freedom even as a concept. That's why I say that the way we define contemplations is different from typically how the world will define a contemplation. Because the world will define a contemplation as sitting and thinking about something. We say the contemplation is just the seeing of how it is. The direct experience of what is, is the most beautiful contemplation.

So what is happening in Satsang is that all of this bag full of identity is being emptied away. And today we empty away, and the strongest identities then seem to push back. They pull a lot of them... we cut some away and we don't even remember that we carried them with us. The strongest ones can stay. And the special relationship—the husband-wife, the partner relationship—can be one of the strongest. So when something is pushing a button in that way, we are not to Advaita it away and say, "Oh, but I am free and you know them, therefore they should not bother me." Because that creates a dichotomy in you and it will create an inner struggle. Because inwardly we're experiencing a sense of suffering because of what the wife is doing, and outwardly we're feeling the record, "But I must be free, I am awareness," something like that.

So instead of that, what we must do is just when something seems to bother us, then we look at that and say, "Okay, why am I upset with what this appearance, a woman, is saying? Why?" That must be the reason. If she was not my wife, then it would not bother me. If this is a random stranger on the street saying something, then it doesn't bother me. Why does it bother here? Because I am the husband. So we must then look at this husband and say, "Where is this husband? Is the body the husband? Who is the husband?" And you must really inquire. It can sound funny like this, or you know, "This is kindergarten stuff" or something like that, right? We must look and say, "Okay, where is the husband?" I am concerned on behalf of a husband, and we look and we look and we look and we say, "There is... wow, there is no husband here."

And this husband identity can be one of the most sticky ones. From my experience I'm saying, not for all of you, it can be one of the most sticky ones, you see? And it remained here and still remains to some extent here even after the sharing of Satsang began. And one day my wife actually came to me and said, "You know, have you seen that the way you communicate with the Sangha is different, or even if you were to meet a stranger is different from how you communicate with me?" You know? And the husband just wanted to react and say all kinds of things. But I looked and I said, "Yes, this is true." Why is this? The husband or "I" identity still operates. And I realized that this is a really sticky one. And then some deep inquiry can happen a little bit, and I can say that it's lighter than it was, but I can still not say that it's completely gone because it's been a long, long relationship. I've known Garima for more than 20 years now. So this can be sticky.