श्रीरामSatsang with Ananta
Awareness & Attention

Nothing of Value Is Lost, As You Come to This Conceptual

The resolution of suffering is prior to conceptual understanding; looking without narrative reveals that what we are cannot be hurt and the 'nothing' is our true self.

Ananta

Can I Just ask you, without all of this [Sangha member reports of pains and fears arising] what is here? [Pause]

Seeker

My first impulse is to say a headache but I know that is being perceived so that doesn’t exist so….

Ananta

Well…without the label, what is here? [Silence]

Seeker

Nothing.

Ananta

Is it? [Silence] Are you sHll here?

Seeker

I am here.

Ananta

Yes. [Silence] But not as a thing. That’s what ‘nothing’ would mean then. [Silence] Now for this ‘not a thing’ that you are, what energy can hurt you or affect you?

Seeker

when there was physical pain here, aeer a number of hours and again asking for help from someone else, a thought came I should use my higher pracHce, which is Gurujis [Mooji Baba] teaching.

Ananta

So what is here now?

Seeker

I am.

Ananta

Suppose for just a few seconds, you were not concerned with any narraHve. [Silence] And I’m not saying we should have some denial of pain or something. Or we should say ‘There’s no pain, there’s no pain’. We are just looking, without any story, just pure percepHon. And that which is even aware of this percepHon. [Pause] NarraHve equals mind. Mind equals suffering. You cannot have narraHve and no suffering. [Silence]

Seeker

Thoughts are coming…

Ananta

Let them come and go, let them come and go. [Smiling] they are offering you a narraHve, they are offering you and apparent understanding. But it is not an understanding of any value. Which has sort of been the whole theme of Satsang today.

Seeker

Yes.

Ananta

What is the weight of the space in this room?

Seeker

The same as the weight of the space in my room? [Smiling]

Ananta

Yes, but what is it?

Seeker

Nothing.

Ananta

[Laughing] We cannot say. [Pause] When you lose the mind or you lose the dependence on the mind, all that is lost is to make serious narraHves about our seeming Hmeline. But you’re much beyond your Hmeline, you are much beyond this linear story. [Silence] Anybody who would have witnessed everything that you have witnessed in that life can make that into ten million different stories. Which one is true? We cannot say.

Seeker

None

Ananta

What does this all mean? This is the pervasive quesHon in the human condiHon, ‘What does this all mean!’ And again, like I was telling [another Sangha Member] we are in this sort of spot because we feel that only when I understand can I fix it. But actually the resoluHon of it is prior to our conceptual understanding of it. [Silence] Or a great sage like Master Bankei was just lying. [Pause] So run out of the pages, run out of the ink for your stories now and enjoy Hme in all direcHons. If you’re going to play with Hme then play with it in all direcHons, why do you have to have linear stories-yesterday, today and tomorrow? Start with tomorrow, go to yesterday. [Chuckling] Maybe it’s been a long Satsang, I have to shut up! [Laughter in the room]

Key Teachings

  • When you look beyond labels and narrative to what is actually here, you discover 'nothing' as a thing - but you are still here as the aware presence that is not a thing and cannot be hurt by any energy
  • Narrative equals mind, mind equals suffering - the stories we tell ourselves create suffering, and the resolution is prior to conceptual understanding
  • When you lose dependence on the mind, you lose only the serious narratives about your timeline, but you are much beyond your timeline and linear story
non-conceptual awarenessself-inquirynarrative mindsufferingdirect perceptionfreedom

From: Nothing of Value Is Lost, As You Come to This Conceptual Emptiness - 28th May 2021