What If I Say Instead of Trying to Drop, Don’t Pick Up?
True freedom is not in the realm of doing or understanding - stop trying to drop or become anything, and simply don't pick up the false identification.
Let me ask you something, who are you trying to help in this conversation?
We are trying to drop the false ‘I’. The ‘I’ which is having all this problem. Which simply is doer-ship, which is the one we are trying to drop.
What if I say that instead of trying to drop, you just don't pick up.
Okay.
Because otherwise sometimes we can get into this pattern of picking up and then trying to drop off. So ‘open and empty’ actually (since you talked about it) is just letting it go. Don't be concerned with all that comes and goes. And like you said, you will notice that all that comes to pinch you, all that comes to bite you is - expectations. Because the mind will come and say: ‘Oh, is that it then? Am I done?’ But then again, it is the peddler of the false ‘I', the seller of the false identification which will come and say ‘Pick me up, pick me up, because I am concerned about you. I'm concerned about your Freedom. I'm concerned about whether you really got it or you're fooling yourself”. This is just mind trick, just trying to get you by trying to be a friend.
Then it is… Just be open and empty - that’s it?
This may be the final pointing for you for today… As long as you're ‘being’ open and empty you are not being open and empty. As long as you're being open and empty like anybody who's ‘trying’ to just be is not just being. Or anybody who thinks that they are just being is not just being. Anybody who is saying; I'm just living in the moment, is not living in the moment. So anyone who can say; I am just being open and empty - it can be a pointing, but if it becomes a representation of how you're being, then that is still too full. It is not empty.
Can you repeat the last part? It should be pointing not the representation of ..
Correct. It can be one thing like we can say it to point, if somebody says ‘So, how do I be Free’ the Master may say (for example) that ‘Just be open and empty, let it come and go.’ But if you take yourself to be ‘someone who is being open and empty’ then you are not empty of the notion of being open and empty.
Same words but the entire meaning and the context and how we relate to it change.
It should be something that chops your head off. In the sense there is nobody doing anything after that. But even that can become like, we try to do - there is nobody doing. I feel like you're getting stuck a bit in this kind of thing. So don't try to be this way or that way, just let them both go. Be simply like a child or a bird or a tree, unconcerned with trying to be Awareness, or trying to be open an empty, or trying to not be the doer because we know so much spirituality. That is the return to your innocence. But if you try to return to your innocence then it is not return to innocence. Just - [Snaps twice] I realise that these words may be very confusing to many, especially if you are new to Satsang. But what I'm saying, really is very very simple. You don't have to do anything or not do anything at all. It is not in the realm of doing. It is not even in the realm of understanding. In fact, if you want the way to be in Satsang - just get out of my way. Just don't try to understand or perceive what I am saying. All that is just creating a road block. I'm doing my job, you don't have to assist it at all. Because when I do get through to you in that way, you will not understand because what I'm saying, really you cannot understand. Be open and empty by not being open and empty. Who can understand these kind of words? Nobody can understand these words. But there is something that latches onto this instruction, which is subtler than your intellect. It is like your own Being coming to very subtle recognition.
Key Teachings
- Instead of trying to drop the false 'I', simply don't pick it up - it's about non-engagement rather than active removal
- Even the instruction 'be open and empty' becomes another trap if you identify as someone being open and empty - the pointer should point, not become a representation of how you're being
- Don't try to return to innocence or try to be Awareness - the trying itself is the obstacle; just be unconcerned like a child, bird, or tree