श्रीरामSatsang with Ananta
The Self (I Am)

Self-RealizaHon is only a Switch of Instrument

Self-Realization is not gaining new knowledge but switching from the mind (which can never know the Self) to intuition where what you are is already apparent - stop paddling and use the steering wheel.

Ananta

So how do you know that you’re being intuiHve? How can you say for certain? Because the mind can also pretend to be intuiHon. The mind can also sound like the Master’s voice. [smiles] It can also pretend to sound intuiHve: “Yes, you must love everyone.” IntuiHon can also say that of course. But many Hmes if the mind feels like it is under aZack, then just like a jilted lover who’s trying to get back in the relaHonship and say, “I’ll change for you. What do you want? Want spiritual? I can be spiritual.” So, it can put on those poses. But you don’t need any of that knowledge. What you need to understand, whatever intelligence you need, is already apparent to you as you are open and empty. As you’re open and empty, you are aware that you are aware. You are aware that it is you that is aware of percepHon. If you add a step, if you try to understand, if you try to evaluate, you’ve gone in the wrong direcHon. So, retreat from that. Retreat from there. That is not going to get you anything. So how do you know that you’re with your intuiHon? When it is apparent to you what you are. When what you are is apparent to you, you’re with your intuiHon. Who is having trouble with this? Is it apparent to you what you are? No peer pressure, not because I’m asking authoritaHvely. It’s apparent? Ok. So that is the end of all problems. Firstly, because unless that one has a problem, you don’t have a problem. And I’ve never met one, that one, the same one with a problem. My Self with a problem - I’ve never met. So that is the end of problems, suffering, Hme, space, object, the objecHve aZachment to things in this Universe. All of this - this is the end of that. Unless you’re trying to juggle [juggling gesture]. Are you trying to juggle your faults and the Truth? So don’t. Stop juggling. Stop it. You can do it. Stop [clicks fingers]. Done [smiles]. In fact, the moment does it for you. In fact, the moment does it for you. [Reading from the chat] How does one, one asks: how does one come to know that it is apparent? You can’t help it for it to be apparent. That you, which is aware of hearing right now, you’re hearing these words, you’re seeing the sight in front of you. You’re feeling the feeling. You’re experiencing the touch. You’re aware of all of this. It is you that is aware. So this is apparent to everyone. It is Universal Knowledge. But because it cannot be contained in the mind, you can feel like: “I don’t know it yet. Who is that I? Who is that?” But in reality, you have no trouble with it. If the doorbell rings in your house, you’re not going to say, “Who’s hearing that door?” Especially, if you’re expecHng an important package. “Who’s that? I don’t know.” [smiles] And it’s true that at the level of evaluaHon and judgment you don’t know. And don’t ever expect to know. Ok, this is very important, so we’ll take a few minutes on this. There where you don’t know…there where you don’t know, you will never know. Ok, so is there a part of you that doesn’t know who you are? Is there a part of you that doesn't know who you are? That is the mental aspect, the mental aspect of your Being - you will never know there. This one is too big to fit into the room of the mind. Won’t get through the door. The Self is too big to squeeze in through the door of your mind. Okay? So if there is an aspect of you that is shouHng, screaming, throwing a tantrum maybe passive aggressive, whatever way, saying, “I don’t know, but I sHll don’t know” - that part of you will never know. That is the end of the journey. And the only part of you that knows itself, always knows itself. So Self-RealizaHon is only a switch of instrument and not something new. So you’ve been using a paddle to drive your car. You just have to switch to the steering wheel. That’s it. You can’t paddle your way through on the road, no maZer how hard you paddle. It’s just not going to work. Okay? So all of you recognize the aspect of yourself that doesn’t know the Self? Can you all do it? Can you humour me and raise your body’s hand? You recognize that aspect? Okay, now promise me that you understand that it cannot be known in that aspect of yourselves. It cannot be goZen over there; it cannot be understood over there. You can understand that you can never understand. That is the highest you can understand. Yes? Okay. Now, are you aware now? Yes. So you know yourselves. That aspect - you can’t spot it like the mind. The mind you can spot as a thought. Is it a thought? Ah, there’s the mind. But this…are you aware now? Where does that knowledge come from? You can’t spot it, your mind can’t spot it. And yet it is apparent to you. So this you can never lose, you’ll always have, and with this instrument you are never lost. So live from here. That is to live in no-mind. In fact, when you’re in no-mind, you live from here, and if you live from here, there’s no mind. Either way. So are you being intuiHve right now? How to confirm? If what you are is apparent to you, is being intuiHve. Are you being mental? How to spot if you’re being mental? And by mental I mean going to the projecHon of the mind, believing the projecHon of the mind. How to spot?

Seeker

If what you are is not apparent.

Ananta

And another way of saying that is?

Seeker

If you believe in a thought.

Ananta

Another way of saying that is?

Seeker

Process is needed.

Ananta

Process is needed, very good. What else? Another way of saying that is? You have a story. All of these are symptoms of being mental. Like if you can narrate a story and take that to be true, then you’re not being intuiHve. You’re construcHng conceptually. Okay? So now, recogniHon is apparent and how? Because for many of you the mind sHll screams and says, “How do I be? How do I exist? How to live now?” Live in your heart. [Reading chat quesHon] Once it’s suffering, how do you know when you’re being mental? Yes, suffering, yes. Suffering is a trickster actually. Because someHmes you can have the delusion of winning for a short period of Hme. SomeHmes we feel so good being right, you know. Feels so good, like: “I don’t care about the Truth, I just want to know that I’m right. So that can give us a momentary feeling of some winning: “I feel good, I’m so right.” But it doesn't last long, so you’re right. Suffering is definitely a by-product. Grasping – to put very simply, the grasping is mental. And not grasping is no-mind. Now, okay, let’s try to experiment the other way. In no-mind: are you lost? There’s no mind, you need the mind, you’re lost otherwise. How will you know what to do? [smiles] Are you lost without the mind? Not lost. In fact, many report that they are found. In the no-mind, many report: “I’m not lost. In fact, I don’t need anything, everything is just fine”. These are the kind of reports that come. Now what could be missing? What could be missing now?

Seeker

Believing the thought that something is missing.

Ananta

Believing the thought that I can make something beZer. Believing anything, even the thought of grasping this, what you’re discovering now.

Key Teachings

  • Self-Realization is simply a switch of instrument from mind to intuition - you can't paddle a car, you must switch to the steering wheel
  • What you are is always apparent in awareness; the mind can never know the Self because it's too big to fit through the door of the mind
  • When what you are is apparent to you, you're being intuitive; when you have a story, need process, or believe thoughts, you're being mental - suffering is the by-product
self-realizationintuitionmindawarenessdirect pathsufferingnon-dual

From: There Is No Difference Between Self and Self-Knowledge - 18th July 2019