Is the Mind- A Bundle of Thoughts, All of You?
Stop trying to understand or construct with the mind; remain open and empty where Supreme Natural Intelligence operates and the Absolute becomes fully apparent without identification.
SomeHmes in this path there can seem to be many frustraHons, many frustraHons. And it`s very natural, because what the Masters are asking us to do is actually impossible to do. And then we can feel helpless about it. So, for example, if I tell you 'Don`t do this, don`t do this' and you feel like 'I have to do that' and I say 'Don`t even do that', and then you say 'But then, ok, I just have to stay here', but if I say 'Don`t even do that', you may come up with some more to which I`m gonna say 'Don`t even do that'. You see? So, the thing is, you feel at a loss. We feel frustrated, we can feel angry. Like, somebody was talking about Maharaj [Sri NisargadaZa Maharaj] a while ago and I remember reading 'I Am That' before I met Guruji [Sri Mooji]. And for a long Hme I used to feel very frustrated, very angry. How to stay in the 'I Am' for so long, I can`t even do it for a few moments [and] he is talking about three years as if it`s a short Hme? So, all of this can get to us. So, but actually that is why I feel like saying more and more these days, that that aspect of our Being where we can do or we can understand, just keep that aside. Where we think we can do, or we think we can understand, all of that is an idea in our mind. And I was saying to Bram, I think last Hme, 'What about the rest of you?' Over there [poinHng to the head] we can have confusion, we can want clarity, we can want answers [you see], but what about the rest of you? Is the mind all of you? And, when I`m saying 'mind', I`m not using the bigger definiHon, I`m using the smaller definiHon, which is a bundle of thoughts, you see? So, besides the thoughts which you want to make coherent or you want to make conclusive, where you want to have some final answers - if you were to accept that finality is not possible there, because itself, the seller of limitaHon itself is limited, you see? It cannot fathom Reality. Then, what struggle is lee? [Silence] So, if you don`t try to understand, if you don`t try to make sense of anything – how are you struggling? You may say, 'I`m struggling with some desire, I want something', but that is also in the same aspect, the mind aspect of our existence. So, we feel like we have to construct our house there by collecHng the best spirituality. And best spirituality is a bundle of ideas that we have about God, or Self, or the Absolute, as well as ideas about the experiences that we have been able to collect. You see? We feel like if we have enough of those, we have enough bricks to build that house. But we cannot build a house there. Everything that we build over there is changing, is going. So don`t construct anything there, and for a moment we won`t even try to deconstruct anything there. [Silence]. Now? [Pause] Even to check on how you are, where will you go? Are you ge^ng this? Where will you go to check that? [Chuckles] [Silence] So, to remain in the Unborn is to not go to the birth of the mind. And, not go to the birth of the mind does not mean that the thought cannot arise, but the birth of the mind is to accept it to be true, accept it to be valid. You see? When you think you know, you don`t actually know. And when you think you don`t know, also you don`t actually know. Then, what is lee? [Silence] If you did not have to determine anything in your head today – what would be there? Now, for the important stuff, presumably important stuff, like, your very existence, or the existence of this play, is that dependent on your thinking? Now, independent of your mind, is everything not funcHoning? And again I`m talking about the 'small' mind. Independent of your conceptualizing, independent of your judgement, independent of your noHons is everything not in the light of natural existence conHnuing to play? So, human arrogance or our mental arrogance is to presume that I can add to God in natural existence, add to Being-ness with my value added ideas. You see? And what happens then, we all know. Most of us have experienced that enough, and we come to satsang aeer that. [Silence] And even if what I`m proposing to you is not true, even if you say 'Okay, but my life is going to be a mess if I let go, if I remain open and empty', it`s worth at least some experimentaHon, as we`ve tried it the other way for long enough, thirty, forty, fiey, sixty years. So, at least for a few weeks we can try. A few days we can try. And then you will find, I guarantee you, that in your natural openness, in your empHness, there is a Supreme Natural Intelligence which conHnues to move whatever needs to be moved in this waking state. But you remain the same as what you are in the sleep state. That doesn`t mean that you are like sleeping and le^ng the world pass by, that’s not what I`m saying. I`m saying that you remain undisturbed, unshaken with the content of what may be appearing, and unshaken, undisturbed with the content of what may be appearing in this very body which you call 'me'. Even that you are independent of. [Silence] You may say 'Okay, fine, I cannot suffer this way if I`m open and empty'. Suffering is to be closed, is to resist. Open and empty is the absence of suffering. 'But, what about God? I came to spirituality to find God'. When you are open and empty, that which you are looking for, whether you call it God, or the Absolute, is completely apparent to you. Not as a disHnct enHty away from you. Not even as your Self. Beyond any of these consideraHons. You see? So, open and empty is worth it, because not only the recogniHon that you`re looking for is fully available, but also the worldly struggle, problem, resistance, condiHoning – we are empty of all of that. And if you did not want anything out of this, if you do not want anything out of this, then you will not get confused again. [Silence] So, confusion is deeply linked to misidenHficaHon. In fact, the basis of all confusion is only who we are, who we think we are. And, it is deeply linked to what we want. [Silence]
Key Teachings
- The mind (a bundle of thoughts) is not all of you - there exists a deeper aspect of Being beyond mental activity that cannot be grasped or constructed through thinking
- The attempt to understand or achieve spiritually through the mind is futile because the mind itself is limited and cannot fathom Reality
- Remaining open and empty allows Supreme Natural Intelligence to function, making the Absolute fully apparent while keeping you undisturbed by appearing content
From: Coming to the End of This Falseness - 27th May 2019