It Doesn’t Matter Which Piece of Nonsense Works

Anyway, the main point I am trying to make is that Self-knowledge is not missing; you don’t have to find it. As Bhagwan [Sri Ramana Maharshi] said, ‘Stop practicing the false’ and then stop trying to fit this, which is simple and apparent to you, into your mental compartment of knowing. Don’t try to fit this into some idea you have. Nobody is going to ask you to take an exam on this. Nobody will say, ‘Did you see the Self, tell me five things about the Self?’ [Smiles] Like this, [moves hand, as if writing] it is the unchanging, it is the unmoving, it is the unbound, it is the limitless one. Nobody here is going to ask you for this exam. [Smiles] So, in a way, when it is said, ‘Leave aside this fruitless thinking’, it is just trying to fit God’s foot into imaginary shoes. [Smiles] That is what we are trying to do. That which is so apparent. Are you not aware of everything that you perceive? You are aware of everything that you perceive. Now, what does that mean? When you start getting into that ‘Does this mean freedom? Am I now the Self? Am I really getting it? Am I faking or am I getting.’ You try to answer these kinds of questions. They are nonsensical, actually, because they do not apply to That which is aware. It applies to one idea of you, which is drawn with this art, this art. [Smiles, pointing to head and body]

Yeah, yeah, it is fine. It is fine. Anything that gives you trouble, unless the Master specifically asks you, ‘I want you to look at this specifically’, anything that causes this kind of trouble, just leave it aside. Because the Master, in any case, is coming up with various ways to express what is being pointed to. So, if something is too… [moves hands about], just leave that. Because the mind will say, ‘See! This is what you are not getting. Your Master is saying….’. But I have said ninety-nine other things also. Yet, it will keep saying, ‘But that one. What did he mean when he said that?’ It is not like that. It is not a struggle in that way. It doesn’t matter which piece of nonsense works. [Chuckles] I am not so attached to the words, they’re just words, and no words can actually represent reality. So if something somewhere, feels like this hits home, it is okay, it is fine. For all of us seem to, in this play, carry different conditions, and to neutralize these conditions, seemingly different things have to be heard. For some of you, when you hear ‘What do I know when I know nothing?’, it will seem like the most beautiful enquiry. ‘What do I know when I know nothing?’ is just the optimistic thing. Another will hear, ‘What do I know when I know nothing?’ and they will be like ‘What is he saying? This is insane stuff. Get out of here.’ It can sound so frustrating. So, the idea is not to necessarily frustrate you. Because frustration will come along the way anyway, so I don’t want to add additional. [Smiles] Why is there frustration? [The frustration is] because you cannot hold on to anything. You heard something one day in Satsang and you felt that ‘Aah…I got it.’ The next day or the day after that seemed like [grimaces]…. Then, one day, you have the experience ‘Aah, aah, aaha, aah.’ Then, ‘Am I just making that up? Is this actually happening? Maybe I’m exaggerating.’ Everything phenomenal is ephemeral, it comes and goes. So, the doubter will come and doubt everything. This mind is, ’Aah, aah…’ So, because you cannot grab a hold of anything either conceptually or perceptually, then frustration comes. You say, ‘What am I really getting? It’s been so many years. What have I really got? What’s the point of all this?’ But it is not that way. If you’re still trying to get it that way, that is not it.