Transcript:
Robert: You people are funny. When I look at this side this side starts singing and when I turn my head away they stop and this side starts. (students laugh) You only sing when I look at you. Oh well, can’t have everything. (laughter) I welcome you with all my heart and with all my being. It’s good to see you all here, every one of you. In 1947 I went to Ramana Ashram. After spending around three days talking with Ramana, I settled down with the devotees, in the hall, and I used to sit at the right side of the hall against the wall, watching all the people come in. They had devotees, disciples, and seekers. The devotees were always the same. They never said much. They were immersed in the Self. The devotees and the seekers quarreled with each other. I recall a particular Indian who was very quarrelsome with a disciple, and he used to find fault with everybody. He would go to Ramana and say, “So and so was doing this, so and so was doing that.” And Ramana would tell him, “Remember the reason of why you came here and keep silent.” The reason of course was to find the Self and not to interfere with anybody else. But there were all kinds of incidents going on. Sikhs came, Hindus, Westerners, Buddhists, Zen Buddhists. People who were practicing Hatha Yoga. All these things were happening in front of Ramana. But it didn’t faze Ramana one bit. I recall a Westerner, I’m trying to think of his name, Henry Wells, from Scotland. He apparently had read a lot of books about Ramana, and this was his first visit. He came into the hall, and I was watching this. Ran over to Ramana and prostrated himself on his stomach, and started going crazy. His feet were shaking, and he was chanting. The devotees wanted to pick him up, and Ramana said, “Let him stay.” When he came out of it he told Ramana, “At last I have found you. You are my father, my mother, my son, my daughter, my friend.” And Ramana just smiled at him. And I said to myself, I was only eighteen years old, I said to myself, “Someone who is this enthusiastic, let’s see what happens, if it lasts.” The days went by and he kept prostrating himself every day for about a month. Then he finally stopped and he sat down like everybody else. And after about two months he started looking around the room at everybody, and he started complaining, that this wasn’t right, that wasn’t right. After about four months of being there he donated fortythousand dollars to the ashram, and I’m just watching all these things going on. After about six months of being there, he started to find fault with the management. At that time Ramanas brother was managing the ashram. He started to whisper to the other disciples, of course the devotees had nothing to do with this, it was the disciples and the seekers. He started spreading rumors. He hardly ever talked to me. I guess I was too young. He was about forty-five years old. When about the seventh month he came over to me one day and he asked me outside the ashram, “Do you think Ramana is really enlightened?” So I just smiled at him, I didn’t answer and walked away. He started getting devotees to fight against each other and rebel against the rules of the ashram. On about the eighth month he saw me again and he tells me, “Do you think it is right for Ramana to stand naked like this? Let’s buy him some clothes and dress him up, so when Westerners come they won’t be frightened.” So I told him what Ramana said: “Remember the reason for why you came.” And this went on. A couple of days later I didn’t see him in the hall. Second day passed and I didn’t see him. The third day passed and I didn’t see him. And the fourth day I inquired, “What happened to him?” And the house guest he was living with said, “Oh, Henry packed his suitcase and went back to Scotland,” and nobody ever heard from him again. The point of the story is this: If you realize the reason why you came you will be interested in one thing, awakening. And that will dominate your life. Nothing else will. You will not be concerned with what somebody else is doing and you will be at peace with yourself and everybody else. Everything is preordained anyway. Everything is karmic. So what’s going to happen will happen whether you like it or not. So why get insulted, why get your feelings hurt, be at peace. It’s interesting, this morning I was looking through a magazine and I found an article by a devotee who lived at the ashram for quite a while talking about the same subject. Mary would you like to read it? Now listen carefully to this. Can you see? Mary: Yes I can see fine. It’s called “Mind the Business for Which you have Come.” All events in life are shaped according to the divine plan. What is bound to happen will happen. What is not to happen cannot be brought about by any human effort. On this point Ramana was quite categoric. When Deva Raja Mudaliar questioned him as to whether only important things in ones life, such as major occupation or profession alone are predetermined, or even trifling acts, Ramana replied, “Everything is predetermined.” One of the purposes of birth is to go through certain experiences which have been marked out in the karmic unfoldment of this life. The whole program is chalked out. This would apparently be a dampener to all effort, for one would be puzzled as to what the responsibility of man is. Is he an automation of karmic forces? Where do his free will and effort come in? Ramana points out that there is another deeper purpose to life. That is to search and find out the truth for oneself. He would say that the only useful purpose of life is to turn within and realize there’s nothing else to do. Ramana would therefore constantly din into everyone the fact that the ultimate truth is sat-chit, immediately available here and now. When Natananananda asked Ramana, “Is it possible for everyone to know directly without doubt what exactly is ones true nature?” prompt came the reply, “Undoubtedly it is possible. The ultimate truth is so simple,” Ramana would say. “It is nothing more than abiding in ones own state.” This is the essential message of all religions and creeds. Leaving aside the automatic course of our lives regulated by the creator, according to his law, ones duty is to channel effort to be selfaware. Steadfastness of purpose is in treading the inner path through vigilant self-inquiry. On such inquiry as to the source of the individual, the inquirer merges in the conscious source. The inner odyssey is seldom smooth sailing. Full many a delusion would wean one away. For instance, people who go to Shri Ramana Ashram to breathe its rarified atmosphere, while there, instead of surrendering to his flowing grace, they would get involved in the happenings of the ashram management. Ramana used to jovially remark of some visitors, “On their first visit to Shri Ramana ashram, they seemed to be alight. On the second visit they discovered that the ashram is not properly run. On the third visit they start giving advice. On the fourth, they know best how to run the place. And on the fifth they discover that the management is not responsive. On the sixth, they suggest that the present staff should walk out leaving the ashram to them. They would thus get bogged down in things which are irrelevant for the search.” When such people complained, Ramana would say: “Mind the business for which you have come. This would apply, of course, not only to their visit to Shri Ramana ashram, but also to the purpose of human life itself. One has to constantly keep before the minds eye the liberating purpose, the only worth while one of freeing oneself from the karmic chain by discovering the hidden truth. Ramana would even seemingly chide if one failed to pursue ones own sadhana, but spent time thinking and talking of others. A devotee once told Ramana, “I have been here for many years. People got into Samadhi. I close my eyes for a minute and my mind travels around the world.” Ramana replied, “Why do you think about others? Let them meditate, sleep or snore. Look to yourself. Whenever your mind goes astray bring it back to the quest.” Once Bhagwan told a devotee to wake up, look at the mirror, it shows the growth to be got rid of. Instead of wasting time, start shaving. Similarly, heaven knows when the allotted time would end. Hence not to seek the truth by vigilant self-inquiry is truly suicidal. Many would like to blame their circumstances for their indolence and laziness and failure to pursue self-inquiry. Ramana would ask, “Why depend on that which is not in your hands. Go ahead with the business which is in your hands, under your control, leaving aside what you cannot do anything about. Proper utilization of God given freedom of turning the mind is what is needed all the time. As for adverse circumstances in life of which everyone has a belly full, while sympathizing, Ramana would at the same time say, “You are always free not to be affected by the pleasure and pain consequent on action. The peace has to be taken out of the event by an attitudinal change which neutralizes it.” Sometimes Ramana would advise leaving things to the sure hand of the sat guru, and to stick single-mindedly to the effort which would make one self-aware. Ramana would say, “Why don’t you do what the first class railway passenger does? He tells the guard his destination, locks the door and goes to sleep. The rest is done by the guard. If you can trust your guru as much as you trust the railway guard, it will be good enough to make you reach the destination.” Again when someone pestered him for the darshan of Shri Krishna, he said, ‘Why don’t you leave the shastrakara of Krishna to Krishna.” We also have the pointed advice given by him to Ganapada Muni. “Remain all the time steadfast in the heart. God will determine the future for you to accomplish the work. What is to be done will be done at the proper time. Don’t worry. Abide in the heart. Life becomes meaningful if we joyously tread the inward path, remembering that ours is to do the vichara and it is for the inner force to do the rest. Then bliss is not the end product to be found on reaching the goal, but is felt all along the homeward, heart-ward journey. Robert: There’s another article prior, previous to that, before that. Mary: Before that? (R: Yeah.) The Purpose of Life? R: Yes, let Jay read that. Jay: The Purpose of Life, by Lucille Osborne. Wife of… R: Arthur Osbourne’s wife. Those whose spiritual effort is in the right direction get progressively closer to their perfect Self, become more peaceful, happier and are increasingly liked and helped by those with whom they come into contact. Some of the negative category will attend rigorously only to externals, like clothing and pure food which will not help them much if it combines with egocentric selfish behavior and possessiveness. They will do anything to be able to possess a few more things of scarcely any importance. They do not realize the harm they do to themselves getting deeper into samsara with all its problems and suffering, away from realizing the glorious peaceful joy in their heart. This pertains also to those in positions of power who treat the people with whom they deal without goodwill, sincerity, or even truthfulness. They will usually be disliked, have a few friends, if any. Those who associate with them will either have some affinity or feel sorry for them, combined usually with reluctance to forgo some convenience or other, not a particularly spiritual motive. One might say that a misguided seeker forfeits the great opportunity of gaining the greatest fortune possible for a human being. The purpose of life is to return to the source. The source is mysterious, glorious, peaceful, joy, which is God in everybody’s heart. This is realization. We do not gain it. It is always there in the heart. Only the obstructions, vasanas, have to be removed to reveal it. Robert: Thank you Jay. Any question about that before we go on? Everybody understand it perfectly? (SF: Just keep your eye on the ball.) Right. (laughs) Okay, let’s play a song and we’ll carry on. (After song played Robert continues) Hello again. It’s good to be with you. I talk to many people during the week, both on the telephone and in person. I speak to Zen Buddhists, Hindus, Americans, all kinds of people, and 80% tell me they’re enlightened. Most of them tell me they’ve experienced the void. Some say they’ve seen lights. Some say they hear certain sounds. And they say, “What do you think?” So I remark, “Somebody has to be present to experience these things. As long as somebody is present, and somebody is present or you’ll not be able to tell me about it, then there’s no enlightenment. Find out who is present and hold onto that you, because you were present to experience the void. You were present to experience the light or the sound. Who is that you? Find out. Hold onto that you. Hold on to I. I was present to experience the void. As long as I am present I cannot possibly be enlightened, because I still exist.” It is like a movie theater. Well, let’s take rather a stage theater, stage play, where the lights shine on the players and on the audience. And when the play is over the audience and the actors both leave, but the light still shines, even though it shines on nothing. So the empty theater is the void. The light is still shining on the void as well as on the people. A better example is we see a room filled of furniture, the eyes look and they see. Then somebody turns off the light. The eyes are still there but they don’t see anything. That’s how the void is compared to the seer. There has to be a seer to see the void. Who is that seer? And you find out by simply inquiring, “Who am I? Where did I come from? What is the source of I that sees all these things?” Remember, all this phenomena is a projection of your mind. The mind appears to be very powerful. It projects voids, light, sounds, images, as well as the entire universe and as well as your body and mind. It projects itself as mind. The idea is to stop the projection, and you stop the projection through self-inquiry. This is the fastest way. So whenever you have some experience, go beyond the experience, because there has to be somebody to have the experience. Just like the eyes see when it’s light, and the eyes are still there when it’s dark, so the I is present when you sleep, the I is present when you dream, the I is present when you are awake. Find out who the I is. Dive deep within, work on yourself. Just like the article we read just before, forget about the world, forget about others, forget about your body, and inquire of the Self. Find out who the Self is. Who are you? Are there two I’s or one I? There cannot possibly be two I’s because that’s duality. There has to be one I only. Find the source of that I. Follow it diligently until you merge with the source. Then you will find that you’re happier than you’ve ever been in your life. When you touch the source of I you have bliss, you have absolute reality, you have God. This is the most important quest you have. Nothing else is so important. Can you think of anything else that’s as important? Then why do you worry so much about others? Why do you get mixed up with all kinds of problems? Do your duty, inquire, find the source of I. It doesn’t make any difference how long it takes, think of how many incarnations you had to go through in order to be in this class today. Make yourself happy. Forget about your troubles. They don’t exist. Only God exists as your Self. But you must find it out for yourself. Do it! I don’t want to keep on talking about different subjects. We’ve covered some very interesting topics this afternoon and I’m sure you have many questions concerning these things. So let’s talk about what we’ve covered and see where we go. SR: Robert you know the emphasis is on effort because It is all happening and all predestined, but you talked about making that effort to locate the I? (R: Yes.) Is it possible that that would be an unfolding destiny anyway? But the only effort that is to look, or we do have to do something or is it illusion that we have to get involved? R: No, the only freedom we have is to turn within. The only freedom we have is to make the effort not to react to any condition. That’s the freedom we’ve got, everything else is preordained. So when you are involved in any circumstance it makes no difference what it is, your freedom is not to react, by realizing that the circumstance is preordained. By not reacting you put a stop to your karma. You end it once and for all and then you turn within and you become totally free. So that is the only time that we get freedom, everything else is preordained. (SR: It’s like we should just sit back, watch it and let it all go?) I know, if you’re not supposed to do that you will not be able to. If you’re supposed to unfold by sitting back you will do it. If you’re not supposed to do it, if it’s not your karma no matter how you try you will not be able to do it. So don’t worry about that question. SN: I look at it all positively, you’re just realizing it’s all predestined you can go through it and enjoy it like a film that you are watching really. R: But again remember it’s not your business, it’s Gods business, what you are going to go through. In other words you can’t say, “I’m going to this and I’m going to do that.” The only thing you can do is to turn within and seek reality. Everything will be taken care of for you. Everything else is ordained. (SN: Robert, even if you don’t react is that also ordained?) In a way, but we really have a choice. That’s the freedom we have got. To react or not to react. (SN: But if our own self-realization itself is preordained through the process of not reacting then not reacting is also preordained?) In a way you’re right. But your job is to think about not reacting. When you think about it you are using your mind for the right purpose, by not reacting. (SN: Using the mind to turn off the mind?) Yes, and let the preordainer take care of the rest. (SN: So in a way it’s preordained but in a way it’s not, it’s real?) R: Correct, in other words we are not to think that turning within is also preordained. We’re to turn within and forget about everything else. That’s the best way and not to say, “Well I don’t have to turn within because if I’m supposed to I will.” Do not think this way. Do not ask too many questions to yourself about this. But simply turn within and do the work that’s necessary and everything else will take care of itself. SB: Robert, there’s some new people here today so what do you mean by turning within? If everybody on the yogic path is turning within and they are still all unrealized. Is the ego turning in on itself or…? R: By turning within I mean turning within on your I. You say to yourself, “Who am I?” or “What is the source of the I?” and you hold on to the answer, the source. You hold onto it and you follow it through to the end. As you turn within this way you will know what to do to take the very next step. You will be guided and lead. But don’t get all worked up by this. Simply turn within and we can say that God will take care of the rest. And the only way you turn within is by inquiring, “Who am I? What is the source of the I?” and you follow the I thread to the source. If nothing happens, you keep repeating the question over and over again, “Who am I? Who am I?” something will finally happen. SB: Robert you have said that there is always an experiencer experiencing the light, sounds or void. But when realization occurs and there is sat-chit-ananda, bliss as consciousness, bliss… R: Sat-chit-ananda? New York accent. (laughter) (SH: Southern version.) SB: So who experiences omnipresence? Who experiencers that realization, that no bliss? R: The mind originally experiences it. Then the mind turns within itself and the mind is totally wiped out. So there is no one to experience anything. You just become it. SK: And that’s the difference between temporary realization and permanent realization? R: Yes, you become sat-chit-ananda. You become absolute reality. (SH: Is that your present condition?) My present condition is nothing. I have no present condition, only what you see. What do you see? What you see is what you get. (laughter) (SH: A Jnani called Robert sitting in that chair.) Then that’s what you got. (SH: That’s good enough, I like him.) (laughs) Well enjoy it. Enjoy him while you can. (SH: He doesn’t look like he will be around for much longer.) You can never tell. ST: That’s a terrible thing to say. SH: You’re on your way out too sweetheart. (students laugh) Just a matter of time. R: Whatever you see? We have thirty or so people here today. Everyone looks at me and sees something else. And what you see is what you get. (SB: That’s your appearance Robert that’s not your essential reality?) Well who tells you to see my appearance. That’s up to you. (SB: I see an unoccupied body.) Well then you are seeing your Self, that’s your Self. There is only one Self, and wherever you look you see it, because you are the Self of all. When you look out the window you see mountains, a lake, a tree, you’re seeing your Self. That’s all you can ever see, your Self. So if you turn within and stop looking out there, or stop looking at people you will find something else completely. You will find that you are spirit that you are ultimate intelligence, ultimate oneness, absolute reality, nirvana. And then when you look, you will see consciousness everywhere. When you become consciousness then you can see consciousness wherever you look. And you will know all is well. But if you still believe you are the body-mind phenomena, wherever you look you are going to see a body. You are going to see a healthy body or a sick body or all kinds of bodies, a fat body or skinny body, a tall body or small body, a female body or male body. And you will see nothing but bodies because you think that you are the body. Get rid of the notion that you are the body, experience consciousness and you will see bliss wherever you look. (SB: Robert, can we say that going within is the same as giving up the centre.) Giving up the centre? (SB: Giving up the me, centre.) Oh if you mean the me, of course. When you are going within you are inquiring, “Who is me?” not “Woe is me?” but “Who is me?” (students laugh) (SB: Most people take their centre as their ego?) Most people cry, “Woe is me,” all day long. (laughter) But see let most people take their centre as their ego, what do you take? That’s the question. Don’t worry about most people. (SB: Because the reason I say that because when you say go within, people tend to cling and clutch to their ego as their centre because they are so identified with it.) But why are you worried what people do? Let them clutch and let them hang on and let them do whatever they want. (laughter) SB: Because the spiritual path I used to be on would say, “Go within, go within, ” and you have three thousand people going within for a hundred years and they are just hung up with the ego. So I think giving up this centre is a more precise way of saying it. R: Then give up the centre, give it up. Make it happen. (SB: Yeah lay it down.) Do it! Let the three thousand people do what they do. SN: Robert when you say go within by means of self-inquiry asking, “Who am I?” The purpose is not really to find the I but the purpose is to quiet the mind. Which can also be done by devotion or negation. So if you get caught up in the process of trying to find out, “Who am I? Who am I? Like there is an I that I need to find and not trying to stop the mind and just let it manifest of itself I think I’m missing the point. R: The mind appears to be very strong in some people. So the mind is another word for the I, the personal I. And we find the easiest way is self-inquiry. Where you find out the source of the I or the mind. As you investigate the source of the I, the mind becomes quieter and quieter and quieter. Until it disappears all together. Because the I is really the mind, the personal I they are both the same. Self-inquiry is therefore the fastest way to quiet the mind. (Sound in background) The fireplace agrees with me. The fastest way to quiet the mind is to search for the I, because the I is the mind. And when you discover that the I is the Self there is no more mind. Then you have transcended the mind automatically. That’s the easiest way. SH: The I is the Self coming out and wrecking it for everybody? R: Yes, the I is really the Self. The I is consciousness but you’ve individualized it. So because you’ve individualized it you’ve got to observe it in action and follow it to the source, which is the Self. As soon as you experience the Self there is no longer any mind and there is no longer anything else, but the Self. (SH: It sure is simple. Why does it seem to be difficult?) (laughter) To whom is it difficult? (SH: Got me?) You make it difficult because you think it’s difficult. (SH: To whom are you referring?) Whoever thinks it’s difficult. (SH: I didn’t say that?) Sure you did. (students laugh) (SH: You’re trying to confuse me?) Simply look at yourself, make it easy, discover who you are and be done with it. Awaken and become free. (SH: Then you see nothing but the Self wherever you look?) Everything becomes the Self. Everything is consciousness. (SH: Must feel pretty good?) Of course. Or why would you go after it? SK: It doesn’t really become the Self you just recognize what is really there, and that’s the Self? (R: What’s really there is the Self, consciousness.) So it doesn’t become the Self it’s just… R: No, that’s true indeed. Nothing becomes anything. The Self has always been and always will be. Everything else is an illusion. SH: Just wake up to what you already and always are? (R: Wake up, do it!) I will, don’t worry. (R: When?) Don’t push me. (R: When will you do it?) What’s your hurry? What’s the rush? (R: I’ve been waiting for you to do it and get rid of yourself.) It’s occurring, it’s occurring, have patience. (R: Become the nobody you really are.) (laughter) Have patience. SR: Robert, I know you don’t like this kind of question. (R: Sure I do. I don’t care what you ask.) Say that you do finally reach that point of the void and all that understanding? Can’t you carry into that a curiosity as to why creation manifested in the ways it did or which appeared? Even if it is an illusion. Do you sort of get behind understanding maybe with the scheme behind why it manifests into so many souls that are living in illusion, the way it did? R: Well let me ask you a question. If you become self-realized who is left to do that? There is nobody left to ask that kind of a question. Only the mind asks a question like that. The Self has no question. (SR: I’d like to come back and tell my mind what it was about.) You can’t. (laughter) The mind has been annihilated. There is no mind to come back to. You will understand that you are the Self, you have always been the Self and that’s it. (SR: I understand it but I do sort of have a curiosity before I pass into that state.) Who has the curiosity? (SR: My mind.) And that will be wiped out so you won’t have the curiosity. (laughter) (SR: Before it ends I would like somebody to tell me even if it is just a kind of indulging this, why it manifested in the form that it did with all the creatures and different plant forms and – it’s fascinating!) Who said it did? (SR: Well it’s just my mind.) See as long as your mind is active the world becomes real to you. And everything manifests, people, places and things. But once the mind is gone so is everything else. And those questions become redundant. There will be no question. (SR: I understand that, I’m just curious.) There’ll be nobody left to ask that question. (SR: Then I’ll never know the answer then?) No, on the contrary. (SR: There is no answer?) You only want to be answered because you are not enlightened. But once self-realization ensues you will not care a darn about these things. It will be different. (SR: So until that time?) Until that time work on yourself, go within and find out, then come and tell me. (SR: Put it in a temple and hide it somewhere.) (laughter) You will not be interested. (SR: I can imagine that in the truth of it.) SV: Robert, I’d like to talk about some unexpected things that have taken place lately for me. Ever since meeting you and practicing, I find myself actually more emotional. Like watching a movie I feel very emotionally involved in it, seeing someone suffering, have tears come to my eyes when I see someone. It’s taken me by surprise because I feel I kept going in the direction of nonduality I shouldn’t feel these things. R: On the contrary, those are high signs. What you’re really doing is you are bringing all your samskaras up to the front. See all of our samskaras, all of our karmas, prarabdhic karma and everything else is inside of our subconscious mind as dormant seeds and they sprout in many lifetimes. But if somebody is really sincere on the path everything comes up at one time. And you start to get all of these feelings because you are getting rid of everything at once. (SV: Actually it doesn’t feel bad it just feels…) Yes, I know. It’s all coming out, it’s all draining out of you. So that’s really a good sign. Just watch it, don’t interfere with the process, watch. SV: It’s interesting because in the teaching I was in before wouldn’t allow any of that feeling because that’s not right to have feelings, you know what I’m saying? R: Uh-huh. I don’t know where you were before but the feelings are great, follow them, watch them, inquire, “To whom they come?” and see what happens. SF: Robert, to carry the same question a little further, with all these feelings that come up, would one become more greedy and more lustful? R: It’s possible but that’s only a temporary condition. Again we have all these samskaras, these latent tendencies from past lives inside of us. And as we get into a spiritual path like this, we are making them all come up. We have to imagine it’s like a shooting gallery and you have got a gun, as one duck comes up you shoot it down. So as one thought comes up, one fear, one frustration you shoot it down by asking, “To whom does it come?” You get rid of that one another one will come up just as fast, you shoot that one down. It keeps going, going, going until they are all gone. So you keep inquiring, “To whom does it come? To whom does it come?” and your mind will become empty soon and you’ll be free. SG: Like in watching a movie, should one not get involved in the movie or just keep inquiring to the movie or just let yourself get involved… R: When you watch a movie you have no choice what’s going to happen. Depending on your spiritual state you will act anyway. If I watch a movie I see the screen which is consciousness and I realize that the movie is simply images superimposed on the screen. If I try to get up and grab the image or the movie I’ll grab the screen. So I’m already aware of the screen. While other people are aware of the figures. So if you are aware of the figures you still have a long way to go. But if you are able to see through the figures, through the screen then you are identifying with consciousness. (The Room is heating up) I think you’re trying to roast me Henry. (laughter) For Thanksgiving and Christmas. (SH: Sacrificial love.) That’s what I thought. SM: Robert does that apply to frustration, to resentment to all the negatives things also? R: It applies to everything, everything, use the same method. SK: It goes back to predetermination in a sense like some things are predetermined whatever it may be? R: Yes, they are going to come up, it’s up to you to get rid of them, by inquiring, “To whom do they come? To whom does it come?” and if that gets too difficult. Surrender it all to God. Give it all to God and be happy. In other words say, “Take all this from me God, serious. Take it off my hands.” And feel free as if he did and you will be okay. SH: About inquiry, “To whom do they come?” Seems very similar to the injunction to being the witness. R: It is similar to that. It is similar but it’s a faster method. (SH: Why is that?) Because when you inquire, “To whom do they come?” the mind explodes within itself and it becomes weaker and weaker and weaker and weaker, faster. (SG: It’s more hectic right? Rather than passive?) Yes, so the mind disappears faster by asking the question. But witnessing is good also. SR: Robert, some of the Nanda people say, they talk about the feeling of difference with what the psychological people say that there is a subconscious mind and these things are actually stored somewhere and I guess we say there’s samskaras, and that’s the illusion in a sense that we have to penetrate, that there is a storehouse of these things and it could explode at any moment. R: (laughs) There is really no storehouse. But for the sake of those who have to do something, you explain that there is a storehouse of tendencies to get rid of. But there is really nothing to get rid of, because it doesn’t exist and it never did. Only consciousness exists. But if you want to discuss it further we tell you there is a storehouse of tendencies to get rid of. Open the storehouse and it will all fly out. (laughter) But let’s face it. You are free already and there is nothing binding you except your own belief system. Stop your mind from thinking and you will be safe. SR: Would that be a way in a certain sense seemingly speeding up the inquiry to get closer to the source of the idea, you know the idea that there is a latent storehouse of the subconscious mind rather than deal with one latent tendency as if at a time as it appears to arise. R: It depends on the seeker. It depends what your background has been. Why look at tendencies of storehouses? Why look at anything, just go within ask yourself, “To whom do they come?” Follow the I. Go to the source and be free. That’s all you have to do. SH: That’s more direct? (R: Yes.) Go straight to the point. R: Go straight to the point. Which is your Self. SK: Couldn’t you skip the point of asking, “To whom does this or that come?” and just follow the I? R: If you can do that, that’s fine, You don’t even have to do that, why not just awaken? (laughter) Wake up right now! (laughter) It’s up to you. It’s up to each individual, what path you are going to take? SB: Like surrender, if you just give everything up, there is nothing there and you don’t even have to inquiry right? (R: That’s right.) When you see that there is nothing there. R: That’s right. If you can do that, do it. Do what you have to do but by all means do something. (SB: And if you see that the doing is a non-doing then even don’t do that?) That’s right. You’re doing whatever you have to do at the moment and everything changes accordingly. (SB: If you see the doing is the undoing then you don’t even do.) If you can see it that’s good, but can you see it? Then stay with it. I’ll play another song. (music played) In the power of silence is the greatest teacher in the universe. There’s nothing greater than the power of silence. Things actually happen in the silence, that would never happen anywhere else and by any other method. So let’s keep silent for a while and find out for ourselves. (silence) Om shanti, shanti, peace, peace. When I sit like this at home in a chair for hours, people ask me if I’m meditating? And the answer is no. For to meditate you have to have a subject and an object and that implies duality. But if there is nobody home there is no subject and there is no object. So you’re not meditating. Some people ask whether I go into samadhi? Who is left to go into samadhi? There has to be somebody left over to go into samadhi. That also implies an object and a subject. Wipe out the object and the subject and you will become nobody. So what do you do you just stay in the silence and do nothing. There’s nothing to do. People always believe they have got to do something. When there is nothing to do it sounds too easy. But when you are doing something, meditating, going into samadhi, there has to be a doer. You are not the doer. You are no-body and you are absolute reality, pure consciousness, ultimate oneness, sat-chit-ananda, I am that I am. And this is your true nature, awaken to it. Anyone have any other questions or forever hold your peace. Okay remember to love your Self, to bow to your Self, to worship your Self, to honor your Self because God dwells in you as you. Have a happy Christmas, I love you, be happy. Peace… And that’s all she wrote. (tape ends)