Truth for Truth's

So, “Can you stop being” and “Are you aware now?” – they sound like the same question to you?

Okay, let’s try now. Try to stop being.

Don’t be. Yes? Notice what you notice. And are you aware? Let me…let’s do this another way so: “Can you stop being?” and “Have you stopped being?”

So that which is Aware of this Being, which is…your question is beautiful because it’s very subtle, isn’t it? So Beingness is what I call primordial. It’s at the cusp of phenomena and non- phenomena. In India it’s called the primordial vibration OM. I Am is called OM. So that primordial vibration – is it phenomenal or is it non-phenomenal? It’s a bit of both, therefore neither. So this being, when I say, “Can you stop being?”, like “I AM, I AM”. Then notice that this “I” is aware even of “Am”. Another way I could ask this question is that if both were the same, then you would not be able to say that “I woke up at 7:30 this morning”. You see? Because what woke up?

I woke up. We don’t just say the world woke up. We say, “I woke up”.

“I” that woke up was the sense of Being. And where does it rest? Within Awareness itself. So it’s beautiful contemplation so you don’t have to make it like “if I don’t find this alone then I’m not fully free or something like that, just full contemplation, I feel like it’s so beautiful…

Yes, yes, yes.

Yeah. So one of the things that may be causing a bit of confusion is the, uh, is the production of effect. So let’s examine whether when we are something like, uh, “Am I aware now?”, do we have a phenomenal effect that we have to observe and then confirm that I am aware?

Yeah (smiling).

Yes, so let’s all experiment with this. I feel like this is a cool one. So just keep your attention on this hand (or anything in front of you) and look at the question “Am I aware now?” But don’t change your attention at all. So that’s experiment one. The confirmation will be apparent that even when attention is fully on the hand and the long nails, which I need to cut (smile), then in spite of all of that, it’s simple, effortless to answer, “Am I aware now?” Now, do the other thing – keep your attention fully on this hand and try to stop Being. Or let’s do something else. It doesn't have to be my hand, maybe the computer or whatever you see in front of you. Is there a difference? Can you see that subtly the Being used…(inaudible)? Some effort, some attention, some movement of attention. And you will find that the perception starts to become a bit blurry. So for the first question, with your entirety of your attention being on an objective scene, it doesn't make a difference to that. But just to try to stop Being or just notice your “Amness”, notice your Beingness, you will see that a little bit, that’s why it’s very subtle so that is why I say that this Being is on the cusp of phenomena and non-phenomena, but Awareness is beyond. So before I Am, it’s completely beyond all phenomena, therefore needing no attention at all and for Beingness – so of course, everything that you perceive is Being, but that’s a different conversation… We are talking about noticing the central core of our Beingness which is experienced as a Presence. But of course, when we look we notice that the Presence actually never stops, that’s a different experiment. But here when we are talking about ‘try to stop Being’, you notice that heart or whatever term you want to use for that which is the pulsating life core for your very existence, which most experience in a localized way. And that is experienced in a localized way with our attention. Whereas Awareness is independent of even that play of attention.” We are traversing some very subtle realms and thank you for these questions.

Yes. Now, this Me, we have to do something about that one [Chuckles]. Because, it starts like that for everyone that 'I want to use this so that it becomes better for me' and 'I want to use this, and this works better, and this does not work so well', you see, 'for me'. But in our case we are noticing that this ‘Me’ itself is mythical. So, how can we make these discoveries in service to the non-existent one? [Silence] And this question can sort of pull the rug from under our feet in some way, because then we're just like -Okay, it was going so well and I was figuring out what I can do and what works best for me. But now he's saying 'Which me? Who?' So, that sort of brings us into some [waves hands to demonstrate a puzzled expression].

So, [clicks fingers] empty of them. Empty of them. The Truth is not here to serve the false. And, what will happen if we continue on that track, that's why I have to point it out pretty strongly, is that if it continues like that then what will happen is that you make spiritual conclusions which will serve only the spiritual ego eventually. So I want to pull the rug out of under the ego's feet immediately before there's any chance that that gets better.

We'll continue on this one for just a moment because then what will happen is that okay, so then the question will be 'So, okay now, all my spirituality was so that I could help this Me, I wanted to make it better for me, I wanted to get freedom, I wanted this one. Now he's saying, don't bother with the Me. Then, what I'm supposed to do?'. Open and Empty, which means free attention with no grasping, you can hold on to that. Without any judgment about whether this is working for me, not working for me, better for me, worse for me. And Open and Empty, I don't mean only Open and Empty can do it, even if you're asking 'Am I aware now?' or 'Who am I', it's completely fine. But then, when you ask 'Who am I' and you come to an instant recognition [snaps fingers] of who you are, then notice that the mind loves to participate in this party and say 'Hey, this works really well for me'. But that Me was [inaudible] in that instant, it was not there. But it instantly makes a comeback and says 'Taraaa...Yeah, this is very good, well done, this works really well for me'. So, these conclusions you have to avoid buying into. So what happens to you when you do ask this question versus this question versus that question? I don't know, unless my Heart is telling me. I don't know. You could ask me 'Okay Ananta, you've been sharing Satsang for so long now. Which pointing would work the best?'. I don't know, you see. You may then say 'Okay, which pointing do you feel would be helpful to me at this point?'. So then I would say okay, intuitively I feel...something . So, there's a difference in the two things. One is to make a categorization of better and worse in our head, and the other is just to be moment to moment with our Heart and say, I don't really know here [points to the head] but I'm happy to be headless and allow my Heart to use this mouth in any way or to use this instrument in any way to express. So sometimes I may say in Satsang 'What do you know when you know nothing?' is my highest pointing, or 'Don't believe your next thought' is my highest pointing. Everything I'm saying I could say is my highest pointing. So, just how it is showing up in that moment in my Heart, you see. And we don't even need to make conclusions about 'Okay the audience needed to hear this', all these are nice conclusions and lead to some devotion and some reassurance that Grace is taking care of everything. But I feel like we are mature enough at this point not to even need that reassurance to come, just to trust 'Okay, my Heart is using the mouth in this way', so we can trust that. So, what is the best pointing that works for you? [Silence]

Yes, and if that came from the Heart it's fine, but just make sure it doesn't come from any evaluative tendency in the head. Otherwise then it can become like a spiritual treadmill that you're running on and we're trying to ‘Oh, when I ask myself 'Am I aware now', then this happened, but when I asked 'Who am I', then this happens. I feel that a) is better than b), therefore a)’ [Inaudible] So, what's the best pointing that's best for you? Nobody knows, it is all dependent moment to moment. All the seeding is there now, and allow the Heart to grow the plants out of that seeding in the way that it wants. Don't conceptually predetermine that this is my game plan now, this is my roadmap now. That can be a tough one because initially it may feel like, ‘It's so good I came up because then I have now a game plan, a roadmap as to what to do, which will take me to ultimate satisfaction.’ But that whole thing could be just troublesome in the sense that what I'm introducing you to is the pathless path. So if you are able to determine that these are the steps that I need to take to climb the mountain, then we need to demolish the path and the mountain.

It's very good that you spot that. Remember that the future of the best spiritual seeker is the spiritual ego. Only the future of Empty is Freedom. And this happens so often in Satsang, every Satsang that I know about actually, but here also in the last ten years so often, that the pointings have been heard, the spiritual experiences have been had. But what that has led to in many cases has been a person who now seems to understand spirituality, and not the birth of a sage. So I'm trying to preempt any of that trouble before it happens, because we don't want an expert on spirituality. The world has enough of those. And we don't want somebody who just wants to use God to help themselves. So it is not about that. [Clicks fingers] Just empty. What am I meant to do? It will show up in my Heart if I'm being headless. If it seems like there is trouble going to the Heart, then use the pointers, use them. ‘Am I aware now?’ Remain where it is apparent who you are. This is very, very subtle. On one hand, don't allow your mind to take hold of this journey, on the other hand don't let your mind get a hold of and say 'Ananta said, don't attach to any pointer'. So, that which is working, allow that to work, but don't make a thing out of it in your head. The answer will be revealed to you when you are headless. But if the headless itself is trouble, then use the pointer that works to make you headless. It's a bit [inaudible] now, I'm well aware of that. It's just like if you read 'Be As You Are', there Bhagavan [Sri Ramana Maharshi] has told us very clearly that the only thing you need to do is to be rid of all the false, all the conditioning, all the ignorance. Now the disciple says ‘Okay, now you say often that that is the only thing we need to do. Now, what do I need to do, to do that?’ And then Bhagavan says - ‘What? It already is so.’ Then the questioning mind will say, then what was the need to say the first thing? No, it is very important to say the first thing because you need to do that [chuckles]. How can I do that? [Clicks fingers] It is so. It is not something that the mind can grasp, in fact the mind may hate this also and say 'I was so clear till five minutes ago and he had to go and mix all of it up and make it all confusing' [laughs], but remember that the zone of clarity is the head, it's not the Heart. The zone where the opposite of clarity and confusion is, is the head. There is no confusion in the Heart ever. If the head is fully confused, then that is better maybe than if I left you with a clear conceptual plan about how you can make it. The conclusions of today are the confusions of tomorrow.