Everybody Knows the Self

Namaste my dear.

Very good, very good. Thank you for asking and it`s a very nice report and quesHon. So, let`s examine one thing. Suppose that money, health of the body, relaHonships and freedom – these are the four main problems in the human condiHon – so, let`s put them in a box, let`s call them for a moment 'Cat problems', they are the problems of the cat, okay? Now, before we start running aeer solving these problems we have to first confirm that we are a cat, isn't it?

Yeah, yeah, let's say cat, whatever, rabbit, whatever animal you want, just to create some distance from the human condiHon. So, let's say that these are cat problems, and before you run aeer 'I have to solve my money problem, I have to solve my body health problem, I have to solve my relaHonship problem and ulHmately I have to solve my freedom problem', all of these, let's put them in the compartment of the cat problem. Now, first, using even the intellect, even logic, it wouldn't make sense if you are a rabbit to try and solve cat problems. If you`re a rabbit you should be solving rabbit problems. Or, if you`re a horse you should be solving horse problems. So, you wouldn't want to waste your whole life solving problems which are not really yours, because you are not really a cat anyway, isn't it? So, that is why I'm saying that most important first is to find out who we are, and find out if that one really has a problem. Does that one have a want, does that one have an aversion, you see? So, if we know that, then we can determine what are the problems that I should be solving and to solve the perennial human quesHon which is 'What should I be doing?'. You see? It all depends on who you are, isn't it? So, who is it that you truly feel you are?

Yes.

Very good. Let's pause at this point, because that is a very important point. So, you said, that when you look from your true posiHon, there is no problem. That means, in the true posiHon you don't find a liZle old human being there. You see, in the true posiHon you are not finding a person there because if you were a person then there is one big problem, which is death is coming. This body is fading away, it is definitely coming. Then, always in the world there are changes. So, nothing is stable, money is not stable, relaHonships are not stable, even how free you think you are is not stable, everything in this world is unstable. In your true posiHon you must have definitely discovered that you cannot just be this body- mind, you must be something else. Isn’t it? So, already that is great. Now, the problem is, the problem that can happen is, (and we can just verify some of this), is that we can make two posiHons, but both posiHons could be conceptual. So, if I look at this [raises a cell phone] I could say 'This is a phone'. If another one has not seen a phone like this, maybe he comes from some village or something, he would say ' Is this a brick?' , you see. So, what this is, noHonally or conceptually, depends on what we have learnt. So, these are examples of two posiHons. So, we could look at this and say [gesturing to the body] 'Here is a person, here is a body, here is a body-mind organism’ if you like, and 'This is not a person, this is the Self' or, 'This is Consciousness' or 'This is God'. Now, what I want to check with all of you is whether both of the answers come from the same place. So, let`s do a quick experiment, yes? How will we take that? So, look at this object in my hand [showing cell phone]. What is this? Simple – it’s a phone. All of you see it`s a phone? Yes. Now, are you aware now?

If the answer to both quesHons comes from the same place – look again [showing cell phone]. What is this?

Yes. You see, it’s a phone. Now, are you aware now?

So, what is the difference between the confirmaHon of both of these? [Silence] Take your Hme with this, because this is the master key, in a way. [Pauses] Is the confirmaHon of yourself as Awareness or 'You are Awareness', does it come from the same process that you are able to call this a phone?

Very good, that is very good. So, I am aware of the object of percepHon, whatever the object may be, it may be this Universe. That is apparent. But, the way we confirm the presence of an objecHve appearance versus we confirm that I am aware – what is the difference in the two? [Pauses] Okay, so let me make it simpler, it's not a test or something. I`m just saying that in the first one [shows cell phone] we take a set of phenomenal percepHons and we search our mind for the label for this and say 'Ah, phone'. The label comes and we are able to put this in a set of familiar percepHons and say 'This is what defines a phone'. But when I ask you 'Am I aware?', that Awareness itself, you do not see it as a percepHon. You do not see this phenomenally. And yet, you confirm it.

And that is the beauty, that you confirm yourself as Awareness without needing a percepHon of Awareness. You see? And that is what we call intuiHve insight. So, intuiHve insight tells us the Truth about what we are. Now, if we rely on that intuiHve insight, it can also help, like, in the play, help Consciousness navigate this life. You see? It needs no other assistance from that which we call the mind or these conceptual understandings or even spiritual frameworks, none of those are needed. [Pauses] Have we gone too far? I need to realize you said that this is your first Satsang.

Exactly, exactly.

You are doing very well. I just want to ask you one quesHon. The one that is mostly here or can be there, is that one real?

You see? So, it's a habit that we put ourself back in a framework of that one which is between birth and death, and then to try to make even our Self, which is such a prisHne discovery, we try to make that a part of our narraHve or a part of our experiences in that way. But it is not possible that way. You see? The 'me'-idea or the personal idea can never get a hold on this Self. So, what is happening is that you`re having a true insight about your Self and the mind is saying 'Ah, this is good, I am able to stay like this'. You don't need that, you don't need to insert it into your narraHve because the minute you put it in your narraHve, you lose out in the integrity of the insight, you see, it becomes another experience. And that puts us in a very strange posiHon, because then we feel like 'How then am I supposed to report? How am I supposed to report what's happening to me?' But I am already aware that nothing is happening to you. You are the Self itself. So, if there is some narraHve that sHll feels strong, we can expose, there is no trouble, especially since you`re in the honeymoon period here.

You have a sense of what I'm saying?

Very good. Because this disHncHon between conceptual knowledge about what something is and intuiHve insight about your true Self, which we can just see with a simple example like 'This is a phone' and 'I am aware', so a simple experiment like this can take away a lot of spiritual struggle. Because many are trying to find the Self like they are trying to find the phone, which they cannot do. And what happens mostly is that you find your Self in this intuiHve way, but the mind has not confirmed that understanding, because to the mind you didn`t find anything. What is Awareness to the mind? It`s nothing, it`s like nothing, it`s a waste of Hme, it`s an empty void, you see? So, don`t try to convince your mind about your Reality. Let the mind do whatever it wants.

All of the four themes in the human condiHon...

So, once you see that the human construct is just part of the worldly play which includes everything, Hme, space, all these objects, as part of all of that, with some centrality of visual perspecHve that seems to be this body-mind. But because it has centrality it doesn't mean that it is you. Because many Hmes when we say this in spirituality that 'Oh, I see it is not my problem', we may be sHll subtly referring to ourself as this body-mind and saying 'Okay, because I – this one [Points to body-mind] – am not a human, therefore it is not my problem any more'. That is not what I am advising to do. I am advising that you lose all these limited references [Points to body-mind] to yourself, you see? And then you will see that the noHon of a problem itself does not exist. Are you ge^ng the disHncHon, because it is subtle? If you fall into the second one, if you fall into the idea of yourself sHll being someone, this one, and having no problem that can become like a spiritual ego, so what is important is to see that I cannot make a reference of myself truly to be this [gesturing to the body]. Once I make the reference of myself to be this, then this one will have all those problems. The only reason why it doesn't have those problems is because I am not this one [gesturing to the body].

Exactly. There is nothing personal because there is no person.

You are welcome, my dear. [Pauses]. [Looking up the chat] And remember that when I ask for clarity I`m not saying asking whether the mind is clear. For me it is completely fine if the mind is fully confused, I maybe be happier that way. Exactly, that`s it, you just know. (Inaudible 43:14) And when we say 'Knowing without thinking or percepHon', that knowing, which is independent of thinking or percepHon, that knowing is Self knowledge. [Silence] What do you know without having to think or perceive? [Silence] Once we fall into the paradigm of taking ourself to be the non-exisHng cat, then there is no use of trying to deny the cat problem. Then it just becomes like an Advaita denial. Truly, what is important is to see what you truly are. [Silence] Good, good?