Nothing of Value Is Lost, As You Come to This Conceptual
The greatest gift you can give the world is first coming to the end of your own suffering - you can only share peace with others when you have tasted it yourself, and this naturally radiates to all those around you.
I have to thank you because I feel like the last couple of weeks have been very helpful for me. I feel like I’m in a better state of stability and feeling a lot more spacious, and sometimes feel the dissolution of thought and a 360 degree connectedness with what’s around me. So, grateful for that because it’s definitely a very serene place to be. I have a question about the how and what of interacting with others. Certainly I feel good, as you said, you feel like you got a bath from the inside. So, it’s a great self- indulgence, but is it making me a better being in terms of how I’m interacting with people around me? And there is a gnawing feeling because we are the most fortunate that we have the luxury of having the time to be able to give to ourselves, but what we’re not doing or doing for others who are, particularly at this time, more afflicted. And I just have this gnawing feeling that am I—somebody might get their kicks from playing a sport or going shopping and I….I’m feeling very happy and serene, but am I doing anything for the world or the people around me, is my conduct improving? Because I do have these flashes when I do get irritated, I do react, and I’m sure I do cause some pain to other people, and I say okay, maybe this is just how it was meant to be, I didn’t think about it, I just reacted and I’m not really giving all of myself that I could be to other people. I’m still very much centered on how do I feel more serene. So, again, is it back to I? Whereas if I’m really everything, then I should be feeling the pain of the person with Covid who’s next to me or the person who can’t get medicine, and I’m not really doing anything for that. I’m spending my time on trying to make myself more blissful. So, I’d just love your thoughts on this, please.
Yes, yes, okay. So, let’s look at this; there are various ways we can enter into it; let’s see what shows up. Firstly, I want to say that we don’t really know how to help another; we don’t really know what is helpful to another. We can only follow our heart and say this is what’s arising from it and hope that the Master’s grace helps that one. But one thing we can fairly approximate, pretty conclusively, is to say that we can only give what we have. So, if our intention or our feeling in our heart, or we’re drawn by some sort of seva to the world by trying to help the world or even our neighbour in some way, we cannot at all hope to give them what we ourselves do not have. And what is the world clamouring for, no matter what the circumstances may be, no matter what else may be happening, they are clamouring for some peace, they are clamouring for some end of suffering. To experience just not-suffering is, I feel, like the foremost help that we can give to the world. But it is not possible for us to share that unless we have it for ourselves. So, all the other things that we can give—money, we don’t know what is going to happen with that, will that actually be helpful for the one that we gave to? Anything that materially we can give to another, we don’t know what direction that can take. You see there are many examples of this. Like, in Rishikesh, we had one of our Sangha sisters who came from overseas and there was this man who had no income, so she said okay, I’m going to send him 20,000 a month or something like this, and what happened is that that man started drinking and took to drugs and things, so the family was saying that it was much better before this money started coming in. So, we can’t say. And, of course, others could have been helped much more by getting that money. So, we can’t really predict. So, what is it that we can help the world with, independent of whatever else may be the by-products of it or not. If we can bring someone to the end of their suffering, that for me seems like a beautiful way to be of service in this world. Now, this is not to say that I’m in opposition to every other form of seva to end the suffering like we’ve been trying to help the Covid patients, and we’ve done some things there as well, but I’m saying that those have to be done with the surrender to Master’s grace and say okay, may all this financial help, may all this physical help, may all of this go towards what is the most auspicious for the recipient of that. But to bring one to the end of their suffering is probably or possibly the highest help we can give to another. But that is only possible when we are not experiencing this kind of psychological suffering for ourselves firstly. We cannot claim to lead another to it without having the taste of it ourselves. And everything else is transient, everything else that we may give to others is there today but is gone tomorrow. But this showing them the deathless reality of what they are is timeless, is beyond this construct of space and time. So, if we’re going to help the world, we have to start with ourself. If we’re going to help others in this way, there’s no way to do it without first tasting that for ourselves, you see? Because if you say okay, now I’m going to give you some advice, just start doing this, the first question that’ll come is, ‘But have you tried it, has this worked for you, what are the effects that you have found?’ And in that way, you become a living embodiment of that which you’re sharing, then. It goes from being mere philosophy to actually being a digested truth that you’re then an instrument of sharing. So, the greatest gift that you can give to the world is first come to the end of suffering for yourself because what will happen is that will immediately help all those around you because suffering is not really an individual experience. If you suffer, your family will suffer, the people around you will suffer, the people you interact with at work will suffer because you’re not going to be the Open Presence that everybody truly wants to meet; you’re going to be caught up in your own ideas and limitations. So, the greatest service we can start with is to give ourself this gift that we want to give others. Many times those in this kind of Satsang are called selfish, but it’s not the small ‘s’ selfish—when they’re putting you down of course they’re saying small ’s’ selfish, but actually, I would say it’s a very auspicious thing to use even this time when there’s so much apparent suffering in the world, to use that as an opportunity to rid oneself of their suffering, to come to the recognition of their true nature, that which is real about them, is the most auspicious gift you can give to yourself and to the world because, then, that shining light which has come to their true Buddha nature will also share that organically in everyone who comes in touch with your Presence. So, please don’t feel guilty about it. I’m completely familiar with this kind of mind tactic, you see, because there were times when the stated goal in life was to work very hard and to grow my work and business, and the impulse to come to self-recognition started becoming so strong that the mind would play this trick at times and say shouldn’t you be working, shouldn’t you be doing this, you have a team of people, you have employees, what are you doing for them, isn’t this so ‘selfish’ [makes air quotes]. So, I’m familiar with that line of thinking. But it’s not at all credible. Was there a Part B to what you were saying?
Yes. I think you alluded to it. I think you said digest the experience. In other words, it has to go from a philosophy to your own authentic experience. I think that’s incredibly important. And the distinction is subtle. You can imagine yourself knowing something which you don’t really know, I think. So, how does one come to the point where you authentically experience—how do you come to the recognition? Now, I suppose there’ s nothing to recognize—there’s no argument there’s nothing to recognize—but how do you draw a distinction between rote learning and true insight in this journey?
That’s a good question. And that is what I want to emphasize over and over in Satsang here today is the Direct Insight, the Intuitive Experience of your True Self; that is what all of this is for. Of course, the ability to have conceptual knowledge about this is with everyone. There is enough—you search Advaita Vedanta on the Internet or you search Zen or search any form of spirituality and everything that you could possibly consume in, forget one lifetime, in multiple lifetimes will show up for you. So, what is the distinction between, like you said, conceptually knowing something, having the concept ‘I am Brahman,’ and for that to be truly, truly recognized. What is the distinction between the two? Now, I wonder if you were here when we did the four bowls.
No, I missed that. I’m a recent entrant.
Okay, so we’ll recap that for you. Over the years, of course I’ve provided many, many ‘tips’ [makes air quotes] as to how does one come to a true recognition of the Self. In fact, we are going to start work on a project where we’ll compile some of these tips and ‘tactics’ [makes air quotes] to share with everyone so that it gives them a contemplation booklet or something that you can use. But recently, maybe a month or two ago, this came up as I was sharing—I feel like I was sharing with Ruchika first time and it came up organically, and I felt that this pointer was very helpful. So, what we did is that we said that we are looking for true Self-Knowledge, Atma Gyaan. And sages like Bhagwan [Sri Ramana Maharishi] have very clearly told us that Self Knowledge is not something that you will gain or you will attain; it is in the absence of false knowledge, in the absence of ignorance, self-knowledge is completely already apparent or available. So, how is it that we can come to this Seeing, how is it that we can come to this recognition? And it’s a strange conundrum because it’s always there and yet it’s also a recognition. It’s never lost but it seems to be gained, but not in reality. So, this sort of construct or thought experiment came here which I feel could be helpful to everyone. So, we’re looking for Self Knowledge, and the idea is to let go of all that is false knowledge So, all the knowledge that we have through our perceptions, everything that we know because we perceive it to be that way, we can put it in the first bowl. So, this is the exercise of the four bowls—so, every knowledge that we have attained or gained through perception, we can allow that to go in the first bowl. Like, I’m sitting on a chair, there’s a computer in front of me—all that we think we know as a result of perceiving, we can just keep that aside. Now, there’s another set of knowledge that we have which is not based on perception but is purely conceptual. Like, conceptual knowledge is that it is the Earth which revolves around the Sun. So, everything that we think we know but we haven’t actually perceived—we think we know that it is the Earth that goes around the Sun but actually in our perception we see that it is the Sun that goes around the Earth. So, everything that we think we know conceptually, we put in the second bowl. So, first bowl everything that we know through perception, second bowl is everything that we know through concepts. In the third bowl, we put everything that we think we want. Although our desire is also perceived, but yet it is important to create a separate bowl for those so that it can be kept aside. Our spiritual desire often gets the better of us. So, now, in which bowl did you go? Did you go in the bowl of perception, did you go in the bowl of conceptual knowledge, did you go in the bowl of desire? Where did you go? What remains to go in the fourth bowl? [Silence] So, I have a question which I call the hammer, along with the four bowls, which is: Are you Aware now? This question, I’m sure, you’ve heard in Satsang now. Now, the recognition of that Awareness—in which bowl can it go? Do you perceive this Awareness? Is it just a concept for you? [Silence] And, who is the one that is Aware of this Awareness? One (Sangha member on chat) says,“ Emptiness is aware of Awareness.” And, is there a distinction between that Emptiness and Aware and Awareness? So, the recognition of the Self is that simple, is that apparent. And mostly we trip up on the third bowl, which is: Okay, now what happens to me, how can I use this, how will my life change, have I become enlightened? [Pauses] One (Sangha member on chat) says, “Can I be Awareness if I am aware of Awareness?” As what are you aware of Awareness? Is Awareness a power that you have? Is it a force that is available to you? Is it something that you own? Is it an aspect of yourself? What is your relationship with this Awareness? [Silence] What’s in it for you? How do you want your life to change? Is life yours? Usually, I’ve found, that in spiritual seekers, it is not the recognition which is difficult, it is the selfishness that is more difficult to let go of. And, it’s a very subtle sort of selfishness; it’s very oppressive: Okay now, I had the recognition I am this Awareness, so now what? Now what for whom? We jump right back into the personal narrative. And, many can have this experience that they feel like they came to the recognition of this Truth, everything was so nice and spacious, and then suddenly, it can feel like ‘Oh, I’m back. I thought I was done with this. Why did this come back for me?’ So, if there’s going to be personal ownership, then it’s going to lead to personal struggle. And in the play of life it is usually that the higher we climb as a person the harder we fall. So, as we are coming to this intuitive insight—which is very obvious, actually—if we try to carry this ‘me’ along, it is the development of the spiritual ego. And there is no other champion sufferer like the spiritual ego. Have you seen now, over the past few weeks I’ve pointed out so many things which only spiritual people suffer from—and apparently, we came to spirituality to be free from suffering! Once we start owning our spiritual experiences individually or our apparent spiritual progress individually, then it’s bound to end up squeezing us. That’s why very often I used to say, Truth for Truth’s sake. Because if it is for the sake of anything else, it is bound to get squeezed out of us.
Key Teachings
- We can only give to others what we have ourselves - the greatest service is first coming to the end of our own suffering, which then naturally helps those around us
- True Self-recognition differs from conceptual knowledge - it requires intuitive experience, not just intellectual understanding; the four bowls practice helps identify where we are (perception, concept, desire) and points to the Awareness that remains
- The spiritual ego traps us with 'what now?' thinking - seeking Truth for Truth's sake, not for personal gain or transformation
From: Nothing of Value Is Lost, As You Come to This Conceptual Emptiness - 28th May 2021