Who Is the Central Character in Your Story?

Yes, very good.

Now, all of spirituality (I want to use this quesHon to tell you about this) all of spirituality is about one thing, is about changing your central character in your story. Who is the central character in your story? The main protagonist, the hero or heroine. [Smiles] Who is that main character? We know, it is this one body, one (as I call it) bucket of flesh and blood. But because we have this mere bucket as the main character, that is not so much fun. It’s bound to be a life full of suffering and limitaHon and failure and some small wins, some small failures. All of these things then become representaHons as if they mean something. Now, as we start to loosen up on that central character, there are some who feel like they want to make the whole world the central character. They want to be in service to the world so they don’t care what happens to this body. So, some have this feeling in their heart that they just want to be, they are Hred of this egoisHc way of leaving, (which means what) just catering to this [body]; how much does this one have? And they say I want to be in service to the world. So, then what happens is that the central character in their story changes. It goes from this one [poinHng to the Self], it could be helping young children or helping some other subjugated secHon of society in some way or the other, so then it becomes more about that. And then you have seen what happens with them - they don’t care so much [if] the body is Hred. SomeHmes what happens is that if you are a soldier and you are in love with your country, then you are willing to give up this one [poinHng to the body] just so that it is in service to the country. So, that is also a form of spirituality isn’t it? Because the central character has changed even there. It’s like devoHon. Same thing for devoHon. You come across the Master, or you come across an aspect of Consciousness that you really adore. It could be Krishna, it could be Ram, it could be any aspect that you really adore and that becomes central. Now, what happens with all of these things I have seen in the world is that many Hmes the central character remains the same which is ‘me’, and then we expect that God or Guru or spirituality or any of these things should help this ‘me’. So, Ram is great because I love Ram. So, actually our Ram is sHll ‘I’… ‘Ah, no, no, Shiva is the best, because, Shiva – I love Shiva, he helped me so much’, so again the central character – who is the God actually? – is me. My master is great because he helped ‘me’. My master is not so great anymore because he is not helping ‘me’. So, then again our Master really is sHll ‘me’. You may feel like my Master is that [poinHng outwards from body towards Master figure]. So, really coming to spirituality or coming to God, or coming to devoHon or coming to service; is to really let go of this central representaHon which has been fed to us in a spoonful by spoonful ever since we are young children. It was fed to us. ‘Me is what is important, this is me, this is me, this is good for me, this is bad for me’, we have gone catering to this ‘me, me, me’ expecHng that this ‘me’ one day will reach Godliness and what happens is that, that is the ulHmate aspiraHon of the ego - for this me to become immortal and we feel like we can co-opt the Master or representaHon of Gods or the world or our family or whatever those things are and they should help me aspire to that fantasHcal representaHon we have of me. And most, 99% of spiritual seekers get stuck in this trap where the central protagonist is sHll the ‘me’ and we are just sHll si^ng around picking and choosing ‘This is good for me, this is bad for me, me, me, me, me, me’ and we don’t realize. And we might have this idea that we are very devoHonal, very spiritual, very service oriented or something like that. But remember that if it is at the root of it and you can be honest with yourself, in your heart you know what is true. In your heart you know what is true. If you noHce that it is sHll about ‘me’ offer it up, surrender it up and if you feel like you are not of that devoHonal temperament, you can’t surrender it up, then inquire - ‘Who is this me? Who am I?’ These two poinHngs are more than enough. Be honest with yourself first in your heart. You don’t need somebody from outside, you don’t need a Master to come and chop your head or something like that, but in your heart, you know what is true. If all your spiritual games are sHll about ‘me, me, me’ then inquire, who is this ‘me’, who am I? If you feel inquiry is too heavy or you don’t enjoy it so much, surrender it. Let it go, whatever has to happen with the ‘me’ leave it to the Master, leave it to the God… whatever you feel you are devoted to. These two very simple ways, actually they are one they are not two ways, but it can seem like two ways, it’s fine. But this is a very good check and in away it is answering a lot of the quesHons that have come up today. Because everybody somewhere or the other is hoping that my spirituality is going to help ‘me’ and I can go hoarse saying ‘Truth for Truth’s sake, God for God’s sake’ but really, we have to really look at it. The job of spirituality is not to help ‘me’, it’s to - like Guruji [Sri Mooji] says very beauHfully, ‘Rid me of me’ and all of you already when we come to Satsang, have already signed the contract – I have already signed the contract with each of you that you have made that request, ‘Rid me of me’ and I am operaHng under that pretext. That’s why many Hmes I will ask, ‘So, who should be helped when you come to Satsang. Who is the one that we are looking to help?’ And then what happens is that you feel like some balm has been given one day, you feel like ‘Ah, Master really helped me’ and if instead of the balm it is like a chopping and you feel like ‘He didn’t really helped me anymore, I don’t know if I am in the right place. I am not so resonaHng today.’ And it is the google world, you can just go and say ‘Advaita Vendanta India’ or ‘Advaita Vedanta’ something. So, all the technologies helped us, where we can have these beauHful conversaHons, [but] it’s also got it’s down side which is that, that which used to be so rare and so precious now has become so much more widely available so our mind can just keep jumping around from place to place. The minute this ‘me’ is put under the spotlight, put under the hammer a bit something starts to scream, something starts to want to escape. Why am I saying all of this; not to make any of you guilty or unworthy or anything like that, it is just so that you can noHce this. Even if you ask yourself for one instant ‘Who am I trying to help?’ that itself is great auspicious. Because many maybe coming to Satsang trying to help the fake me and Satsang is to rid me of this me. Then we are working in counter purposes. We are working and then that contradicHon will lead to even greater suffering. So first clarify to yourselves - What are you here for? Are you looking as a limited person, as a ‘me’, for that which you were not finding so easily in the world and now you are looking at spirituality as an escape, as a simple cheat code to get those things, but without all that hard work and effort and trouble. It is not there for that. It is not even here to make you a beZer person. There are many programs out there which can help you become a beZer person. It is to let go of the false. It is to let go of that which is ephemeral, that which will come and go. And that is why I keep asking you to check on this checker guy. The checker guy will keep represenHng a ‘me’ who is progressing or not progressing spiritually. Who is that one who is progressing or not progressing? Who is that one?