It Is Not a Struggle to Find the Self

Thank you, just let's pause here. Let me see what comes up in response to this already. So, very good, beautiful report. These are nice things that happen along the way for us. I'll give you a few tips so that the ups and downs of the spiritual journey don't seem so troublesome then. Because these experiences, all of this will happen to many of you. One tip I have for you is, never exchange fresh God, never exchange fresh God for any experience that we've had in the past of God or of anything else.

Don't value your presence, God's presence, that is here now and fully palpable to all of us, don't value that less compared to anything that happened. It could be the most magnificent, most sublime experience, it doesn't matter. It's beautiful as it happens, it can be enjoyed. I'm not saying we must have some aversion to spiritual experiences. But This that is here now contains everything about all there is, including everything in time and space. So we don't need to hang on to any experience, cling on to any experience and say, that was better and this is worse. This is never worse. The presence of God in this moment is here and that is never worse. Fresh God is fully, fully God, and if you don't like the notion of God, you can say Consciousness, Being, whatever. The Self is fully here and don't say that this is not good enough, because that is not true, that is just your mind which is judging and evaluating, saying it has an idea that this is more spiritual, that was more spiritual, this is less spiritual, that was more comfortable, this is less comfortable, that was more beautiful, this is less beautiful. But these judgments, these interpretations are just coming from the mind. Not that the experience was not authentic, the experience of course is authentic, but then the evaluative tendency of saying this is worse than that, that is coming from the mind.

Okay, so then I'll make it easier for you. So, how do you know, from where do you know that all of this happened to you? [Pause]

Yes, and what if it didn't happen? How will you answer that, with what? Let me reintroduce all of you to a very important part of what I'm sharing. The biggest trouble in the human condition is that we have this device which is able to ask these big questions, but this device cannot assimilate the answer. That's why in humanity we are struggling so much. Because it can ask big questions like Who am I, What is my purpose, What is the meaning of this, Did this really happen? That's a very deep question, because What is real, What is happening, all of this. So it can ask these big questions and it can trouble itself with these kind of questions. But does that have the capacity to assimilate the answer? It is just a bucket of words. A bucket of words cannot really assimilate an answer about the Truth. So when we say anything, like what did you just ask? I'm questioning whether...

So now in the mind this thought would come 'I'm questioning whether any of this really happened'. But do we realize what we're asking? 'Really happened', what is 'really happened'? 'Real' and 'happen', what does 'something happening' mean? Is that happening an appearance or a Reality? What are we calling real? You see, we don't know these things, so we have the ability to ask 'Does this really happen?'. But where can the answer be received? It cannot be received in that same device, and this is the trouble with the human condition. So what happens is, we provisionally may accept some answer and say 'Ah, there is no happening' or 'All happening is God's will' or something like that, and you say 'Ah, got it, thank you'. But what did we receive? We received a bundle of concepts. That is not the answer. Now, all I am doing in Satsang, or the meaning of Satsang is to come to the company of the Truth. So what I'm doing in Satsang is introducing you to that aspect of yourself where the insight about this is already present, not even can be received. Then all true knowledge already is there. And that definitely is not the head. That aspect is definitely not the head. So, where you can get confused, you don't bother about that playground at all. Where there is a notion of time, don't bother about that playground at all.

Yes my dear, that's exactly what I'm doing. As you're open and empty, as you let go, you're resting in the Heart. There is no two steps to it. Don't judge your condition based on your attention. So, what if attention is on the thoughts? [Silence]

If the notion of resting is troublesome, throw it away. [Silence]

Yes. But they may try to grab at you but they don't have any instrument to really grab you. They can appear, isn't it?

Don't worry, it's okay. This kind of reaction is very natural in the mind. This is the mind itself saying [demonstrates a panicking expression] 'I don't know, I don't know what's happening, I'm so confused, I'm going crazy, what's happening to me?', but it's just children playing in that playground called the mind. You don't have to worry. [Silence] All that thoughts can do is audition, as Guruji [Sri Mooji] says, for your attention and belief. That's all that they can can do. They cannot force you to believe them, they cannot even force your attention, but I'm making it really simple for you by saying, even if attention goes, don't worry, let it go, it's fine.

Why is there anything, my dear. If we spend time on trying to answer ‘Why’, then we are actually distracted from the ‘Who'. The Why is the mind's favorite question and the Who is the mind's least favorite question.

Yes, but you can try, no, it can say 'Oohh, come, come', but it can't really get you.

Don't decide. Because, where will you receive this answer? Where do you want this answer and where will you receive it?

It's very important that it becomes troublesome because all the dregs of spiritual knowledge which we still may hold on to in our heads, I'm not buying into any of that and I'm not providing easy answers which you can hold in your mind. So then the mind hates that, you see. This is the point where the mind will hate the Master more than anything else.

‘It was angry’. It's good that it happens. If the mind is really attacking, it's the point where it's really feeling threatened, it's feeling like its game is up. I don't know if I shared it in the broadcast, but with those living in Bangalore I've been sharing that. What happens if the policeman is just about to catch the thief, what will he do? He picks up a rock and throws it as a diversion, 'See this feeling, this is anger, you see this is happening to me all my life, I've come to satsang and all my relationships are a mess, my work is a mess, my money is a mess, why did I even come and the Master doesn't even care', you see, this is the mind's response to distract you away from the power of the insight, from the power of the beautiful looking that you had. And when are these tantrums coming? Just after the most beautiful insights, inevitably.

The mind is creating both sides of this war. I'm not at war with any of you, I'm not even at war with your mind. Mind will say, one side is the Master's side, the other side is the worldly side of the ‘me’ and all of that. Actually I'm not in that playground at all. I am where I showed you a few minutes ago.

Very good. So, don't be, don't be. And those times where it is difficult, know that I am right there in your Heart.

First, come back to where I really am, which is your Heart, which is your intuitive presence, and if then life has to move in that direction, if things just flow that way, you are very welcome of course to come. But don't make that any sort of prerequisite. If the mind says, okay, now the Master also said you're welcome, so come, then the mind will say okay now, it's only going to happen after I go to Bangalore. But it's not a prerequisite. Know that that is also a mind game.

Are you aware now?

How do you know?

Stay there. Stay where you know that you are aware.

Don't worry with whatever feeling this kind of wobbliness, this claustrophobia, you see, it's just your mind attacking you. You're finding the immensity which is beyond the space of this universe and the mind's report about that [is] that it's too claustrophobic. It's impossible. It's impossible for it to be claustrophobic. It maybe seems claustrophobic because it's so vast, it's so beyond any space actually. So, the number one thing I want to tell all of you firstly is just, first relax, just relax. There is no stress about any of this, you are not missing anything, nothing stressful is going on, just relax. Otherwise what will happen at best is you will try to mix both the instruments of intuition and mind, or at worst you will try to solve this mentally, you see. Because in the Heart you cannot get stressed. So, before anything else, just relax. It is just a clue that maybe some mixing is happening between both the instruments of head and Heart. Don't worry.

Don't remember anything. Don’t remember anything. It is not a classroom like that, it's not an exam where you have to remember what's been said. Just relax, first relax, all of you. [Silence] Just allow. If relax means just allow, then just allow. Don't worry, you don't have to fix, change, hold on to anything, nothing. [Pause] If there are any mental stories about being at the edge of the cliff and you just have to now make the final leap, or just now you're at the precipice of this extreme full understanding and you're just to grasp that final grasp, and you'll get it – all of that is nonsense. Just throw it away. Don't bother with any of that. There is no rush, there is nothing happening, just relax [Chuckles].

Stop. When I say Open and Empty, that means that we are not to judge or evaluate any feeling that is coming or not. It is completely beyond perception what I'm pointing to. So, if the perception feels like something is grabbing your throat and squeezing it, or you feel like you're at the top of a mountain and it's all space and all the clouds under you, it doesn't matter. Either of them don't.

Any perception the mind will use as if it is evidence to create its narrative.

Yes, exactly. Just allow it, and then let's see what comes. Just with the words of the Zen Masters, keep your front door and back door open, all thoughts are visitors, let them go, don't serve them tea. Just relax. [Pause]

Don't know anything, don't conclude anything. You don't have to know. [Pause] I will start all interactions like this- first you relax [smiles]. [Silent]

Don't worry, it's just a thought. You relax, let the thought come and don't worry, nothing is happening. The thought can run, you don't have to worry.

How do you know what is coming up? With what instrument can you tell what is coming up? The mind cannot tell about anything at all.

When the mind says, ‘I don't want the mind to trick me any more’, it is the thief dressed up as a policeman, pretending to help you. Notice that and let it go.

Yes, yes, yes, I’m the one that cannot go, the mind can come and go.