Stop Practicing the False

What does Bhagwan [Ramana Maharishi] mean when he says, ‘All we have to do is stop practicing the false.’ So right now we have an advantage, not because we are in Satsang but every moment is like that. You have an advantage because you’re completely free right now. Don’t wait for any mental confirmation of that. I have told you for now and that is enough for now. You are free right now. This is the Self, this is Awareness, there is nothing you can do to change that. You are the Self. Now try to practice the false. Today we are here. Our project is reversed. Not going to practice the Truth, we are going to practice the false. Okay you’re too free right now, get bound again [Clicks his fingers] get bound again. [Silence] how you do it? [Pause] [Looks into the Sanghas faces] You’re too right now, come on, make some orange juice [points to his head] in your heads, think of some problems to solve. [Silence] how will you become free, come on, how will you get freedom! how many lifetimes will it take? [Chuckling] It’s not easy when we say it like that is it? Because freedom keeps pulling you back. Trying to think, think, think [makes a gesture of stress] and Ahhh… [opens his hands wide] free. What to do now? So this is hard work, this is practice. To be free is effortless. In this instant [Snaps his fingers] in this instant who are you right now? [Silence] You don’t even have to think about it. In fact it’s pointless to think about it. Right now, who are you? Are you not Awareness? You Are. So you didn’t have to practice to get there. It is just naturally there. You can’t say here and there of course, just to use some language. Now, you’ve figured out how to practice the false? [Chuckling] No? You’re just too free, is it now? In the next five seconds I want you all to believe a thought about yourselves. I’m counting now, one two three four five. Did ? How many did, put your hand up. Oh good job, good job. [Looking into the Zoom chat] The rest of you are too free, come on I’ll give you another five seconds, one two three four five. The rest of you’ll, you got a thought about yourselves you believe? SHll the same ones as first time! [Chuckling] So this identification, this belief, this apparent knowledge, which you gave your assent to, and you said, yes, this is valid, this has truth value one, this is how you practice the false. Because I can guarantee you, and I’ve heard every single thought possible in the last eight years, that I can guarantee you no matter how wonderful that thought was or is it does not truly represent you. So it’s always a step down, never a step up. And this is radical because most of us end up believing that I am in a personal state and I have to go a higher thought which is a step up but actually this is never true. Your naturalness, in your organic Here-ness, your way higher than any concept can encapsulate. So whatever you end up thinking about yourself, whatever you end up believing about your self is always a step down from that. And that is called ignorance, that is called conditioning, that is called vasanas. So there are ideas that we perpetuated and believed for a long time and nurtured them with our belief for a long time and that is called strong conditioning. So, is it becoming clearer? So you start off completely as the Truth, the unspeakable Truth, unexplainable, unborn undying, it is naturally here. The minute you take yourself to be something, ‘I am something’ that is ignorance. Whatever that ‘something’ maybe. So this ignorance is how we practice the false. So whatever practice it takes so that we stop practicing the false is the practice that is needed. For some, [Snaps his fingers and indicates it is done] now no practice is needed, naturally you find yourself open and empty, without conditions. Some feel that when a notion comes, ‘I am this way’ or ‘I am this’ then it feels helpful to, with all sincerity and integrity ask ourselves, ‘Who am I?’ that is self-inquiry. [Silence] just to check, to inquire into our true nature and whatever we may perceive in our inquiry, to ask, ‘what witnesses that’ or ‘who witnesses that?’ [Silence] So that is one way to not practice the false. And this is only for, you have to be true in your heart, if you feel like you need a way, then you can use that. Or you can ask yourself, ‘What am I doing here?’; ‘Where am I?’ any of these kind of questions which hit at the root of what you take yourself to be. Am I aware now? ; Who is aware of my existence? ; [Silence] What do I know when I know nothing? And if you don’t feel like you want to ask any of these kind of questions or look inside yourself, then just let go. Let go to that which you feel devoted to. Whether you call that Master, whether you call that Krishna or you call that Jesus or you call that Allah doesn’t really matter, what’s important is for you to let go. So when the mind is proposing something for you to resolve, for you to take on, [Silence] you let it go, saying it is for my Master or my Father to resolve.