Empty Of The Mind Only Truth Is

What are we doing here? [Smiles] Looking for the Self? Not looking for the Self?

Yeah. She said that she feels that more than looking for the Self, I am reminding all of you to not look at your mental representation of yourself. Yes, this is very well said actually, because that is the fundamental premise — that the Self is not lost and found, it only seems to get obscured in the layer of false representations coming from the mind. But empty of these representations, what I’m saying is that the self-knowledge, self-realization, enlightenment is apparent. [Silence] So, this much is understood? That is probably the greatest height to which the intellect will go; the intellect cannot grasp it. That is as far as the intellect can go because even this is the intellect, no? But, in a way it’s useful; it’s like a neti neti [not this, not this]. So, all our struggle — if this is the ‘lazy one’s’ way to enlightenment — then you must cut out all the struggle and the needless. That’s how you can be fully lazy and find the Self. But it is not possible if you had to do ten things to find it, or even one thing. Then the lazy way cannot work. The lazy way means that there is no way, nothing to work on. So, don’t confuse this with some outward activity or non-activity of laziness. What I’m speaking of is the effortless discovery of that which just is. [Pauses] So, let’s look at it this way — the first point was that: Nothing to find; only the false has to be given up. And we clarified what false means — we said, just a false representation of yourself which is coming from this tiny voice which we seem to hear in our heads; that is what we call the mind, which is painting a certain version of you. Now, just don’t bother with that version for some time and see for yourself. So, that is the first point. The second point is: How will you see for yourself? Which eyes will you use? [Silence] Often in satsang you hear this: Don’t think, just see, just look. How to look? Where will you look? What type of looking is this? Who can clarify this one? [Silence] So, that’s why the second clue comes. So, empty of the mind, only the Truth is or the Truth is apparent. What do you find when you look, empty of the mind? What all is seen? [Silence] Let’s be a little interactive; see what is happening. When you look empty of the mind what happened?

And?

Yes, all the perceptions. So we can list them out — all these perceptions in all the layers of our existence are perceived. Then, what else?

Yes, no distinction between perceived, perceiving and perceiver. Now, in the looking, empty of notions, is there any doubt about who is perceiving? I’m not saying there is any claim that ‘It is I’, but is there any doubt about who is perceiving? It is just natural to ‘know’ this — I’m using the term with some disclaimers — to know this, that it is ‘I’ that perceives, that it is ‘I’ that is aware of all perception. [Silence] Don’t worry; don’t try to fit it into any idea of ‘I’. It doesn’t have to land anywhere.

Yeah, so let’s look really at this. So, this that we are taking to be ‘I’, is it a feeling?

So, not a feeling. Is it a thought? We already kept the mind aside, so it is not a thought. Is it a set of perceptions which alone constitute ‘I’ and others don’t? And yet you are not lost to yourself. You see, this is the key. You’re not able to give a location or a duration to this ‘I’ and yet you are not lost. [Silence] So, this is the perpetual Self-knowledge. It is not dependent on anything. And yet, it is completely certain about you and about your Self, but not with the certainty that we are used to in worldly terms — it is not an intellectual certainty, mental certainty, perceptual certainty. It’s a strange sort of certainty, you see. Strange from which parameters? From mental parameters. So, nothing has to tell you about your Self or can tell you about your Self. It is that root Knowledge — capital K — which is just always present, beyond always and presence also. [Silence] So, when we say that the truth is always apparent or Buddha nature is never concealed, it’s very, very, very literal. Don’t take it as a metaphor. [Silence] That Self which is prior to even the coming and going of being and not-being; existence and non- existence, that is never forgotten or lost. That is why I’ve been saying that even at the root of false knowledge: “I am something; I am limited; I have birth and I have death,” only the True One is shining. That is why Bhagwan [Shri Ramana Maharshi] kept pointing us to: What is at the centre of all of this? What is the essence of I? Who are you?’ Then, you should ask, or you may ask, so if it is that simple, just the letting go of false representations, and this truth is just apparent, there are no distinctions left anywhere, then why does it seem like so many can struggle for lifetimes to try and come to this simplicity? It is only to take care of the first part, which is to let go of the false. Because we have been taught, conditioned, the way this human system seems to work, is to go from one set of knowledge to another set of knowledge: This is what I used to believe and now I believe this. Now, if someone says, “No, no, none of that what you believe is actually true or reality but I’m not going to tell what is, that you already are aware.” Then, most cannot deal with this kind of pointing. Because our condition is like that. Our condition is like, “Then, am I the Absolute? Then, am I Brahman? Am I the Self? Am I God?” And sometimes, provisionally, we may say these things to bring us out of our limited ideas about ourselves. But you are beyond that which can be encapsulated in any term. [Pauses] To know your Self truly is just to be free of any conceptual idea about yourself, (Isn’t that strange?) including the idea of empty.