Transcript:
Robert: It’s good to be with you again, the days go by so fast. The years fly by. Your life flies by. Before you know it you’ll be out of your body and where will you be? Where will you be? This is determined by what you know. If you know who you are, you will be nowhere. If you think you know who you are, you will be somewhere. Where we go is dependent on our thoughts. The mind is the same even after death, so called. Your thoughts determine where you go. As an example: If you believe in heaven and hell. If you believe in hell more than heaven, you will find yourself, after you leave your body in a hellish situation. But you have created that situation. Nobody sends you there. There’s no one to send you anywhere. You create the place you go by what you know. If you believe you deserve to go to heaven you’ll find yourself in a heavenly place. But that’s only for a short time. Then the law of karma takes over and brings you where you are supposed to be. You may incarnate in this planet again. You may go to a different planet. So, the smart person, doesn’t want to go anywhere. The smart person never dies. Because the smart person was never born. There’s nowhere to go and there’s nothing to do. You just merge into consciousness. You become consciousness. You become omnipresence and you’re always happy. So, for a Jnani there’s no birth and there’s no death. There’s no coming and there’s no going. There’s absolutely nothing. But the nothing I’m referring to is called bliss consciousness. The nothing I’m referring to is, you don’t lose your individuality, your individuality expands and you become as omnipresence. Now you may ask the question, “How can everybody’s individuality expand the same way? Then there’ll be trillions of individualities?” No! There’s only one individuality and that one is the Self. And that one is you. You are the ultimate reality. But right now with your finite mind it’s difficult to comprehend that. This is why you have to understand that you are not your body-mind phenomena. As soon as you get rid of the bodymind concept, you become free. Therefore you work on yourself. The spiritual sadhana that you do, is simply to awaken. To awaken to your Self, to the one reality. In the one reality you can have a body or not have a body, it makes no difference. But even if you have a body, you really don’t have a body. The body only appears to the non-Jnani. It appears as if the Jnani has a body. It appears as if the Jnani is doing something. But the Jnani does nothing. The Jnani is immersed in consciousness and has become the Self, the total reality, the pure intelligence, the absolute awareness, the sat-chit-ananda. Many people ask me this question, so what I’ll do is ask you the question and the question is this: “If it’s true that everything is predetermined, in other words, when I lift my arm like this, that has been predetermined. If that is the truth what does it matter what I do? What if I kill someone or cheat someone or rob someone? What difference does it make if I eat meat or I don’t? If everything is predetermined I’m going to do anyway. So why should I behave myself? Who can tell me? From the teachings, who can tell me that? What’s the answer, guess? SA: Can you say it delays awakening because it creates more negative karma that has to be lived through? R: True, your on the right track. Any more answers? SK: By what you do now, you’re creating a future of predestined karma, so-to-speak? R: But if everything is predestined what difference does it make? SK: I don’t know, I don’t necessarily accept what you’re saying literally, on that level. R: Get out! (laughter) Good I’m glad you don’t. SE: Your punishment is also destined, that too. If you kill then the consequences are also there, society kills you. Doesn’t really matter one way or the other. R: Okay. Any other bright answers? SR: It can only make no difference if you know that it makes no difference but if you don’t know that it makes no difference, if you are under the bounds or the illusion that there is karma it’s going to make a difference. R: That’s the answer, you’re right, exactly. If you have the consciousness of a Jnani that question never comes up. It’s only for the ajnani, that that question comes up. Because the ajnani is bound by the laws of karma, Ishvara. It’s Ishvara who metes out your karma. As long as you believe you are the body-mind consciousness, you’re under the laws of karma. And anything I do to him, comes back to me. I have to pay for everything. Whatever I do to somebody else always comes back. So the average ajnani, the non-Jnani or the average person, is always accruing karma, just by reacting. This is why the only freedom you’ve got is to understand that you are not the body and keep silent or not react to any condition. But that’s not only physically, it’s mentally. There are many people who sit in a meditation posture for days but their mind is going, going, going, going. The mind never stops. The mind doesn’t know the difference between the body taking action or the body not taking action. The mind moves by the very thoughts you have. It is only when the thoughts stop, when they cease, that the mind stops moving. And when the mind stops moving, all karma ceases. When there’s no karma you’re out of the jurisdiction of the Lord of karma, Ishvara. Ishvara no longer has any power over you. You have become Ishvara and you’re under no law. So there’s no thing for you to do and you’re free. There is no longer birth or death for you. There’s no longer any coming or going. You actions become valueless, because the action is only seen by the ajnani. In reality the Jnani takes no action. In other words everything we see is an optical illusion. This is why the world is a joke, a cosmic joke. Because the only thing permanent in the world is change. Everything changes continuously in this world, especially your thoughts. You know yourself, one minute you’re thinking one thing the next minute you’re thinking something else. And somehow, if you want to find freedom and liberation in this life, you have to slow down your mind and stop your thoughts. It is your thoughts that keep you in bondage. The only thing your thoughts think about, is the past and the future. But somehow you’ve got to get yourself to become centered in the moment and become totally spontaneous. I know it sounds sort of crazy when you think about it. Because you say to yourself, “Well don’t I have to plan for my future? Don’t I have to learn lessons from my past? Don’t I have to work toward my goal, to achieve something in this world?” Those are all human tendencies. It sounds very logical when you think about it. But notice what I said, “When you think about it!” Now what do you think would happen if you had no thoughts? I can assure you your life would become better than it’s ever been in the world. You’d have a better life than you ever had in your life. Take that tree outside. That tree can’t think and yet it’s been here for hundreds of years, perhaps. All of the leaves fall off and new leaves grow. Let’s take a seed, a rose seed. If a rose seed were able to think like us, it would probably say something like this, “Do you mean to tell me that I’m going to turn into a beautiful rose? That sounds impossible. I’m just a little old seed. How can a seed become a rose? It doesn’t sound logical?” By those very thoughts, the seed would destroy itself. It would never become a rose. Because it cannot think it turns into a rose by the laws of nature. In the same instance, when you think, what do you think about? You think about your bodily comforts. You think about food, lodging, work and money, health and whatever. It’s those very thoughts that keep you away from your highest good. If you were able to stop your mind from thinking, a mysterious power would take over and you would find that you’re in a better position than you’ve ever been in your life, by not thinking. But every time you think you worry, don’t you? You worry about the future. You worry about man’s inhumanity to man. You worry if your relationship is going to last. If you’re going to get fired from your job. If this is going to happen, if that’s going to happen. Those very thoughts cause those things to happen. Therefore it behooves you to turn the mind within itself. When the mind is turned within itself. It automatically rests in the heart centre and the heart centre is nothing but consciousness. Consciousness is your true nature. Consciousness is omnipresence. Then you become like a gigantic screen. A gigantic universal movie screen. And all the images of the world and the universe are superimposed upon you. You awaken to the fact that you are the screen or the screen is consciousness or pure awareness. And you realize that everything is a projection of your mind. That everything is the Self. And you can truthfully say, “Everything that I behold is the Self and I am that.” So what do you think about that? SN: (Student moves places) I can’t hear too good can I squeeze in here? That’s good, thank you. (R: After I finish talking now he moves over.) (laughter) I think I’ve seen you before. (R: Yes you have.) In the valley there was a lady who had kidney trouble? SD: Oh that’s you, I thought I recognized you. (SN: It’s been a long time.) Probably a year. (SN: Yeah.) R: How have you been? SN: Something happened a few weeks ago that what you’re saying about, is integrating. I can’t put it in words, but something did happen. I can’t put it in words. I just can’t say anything. R: See this is the reason why I don’t give lectures and I don’t preach. Many people come and want to hear a lecture. They want to see a philosopher. I’m not a philosopher, I’m not a teacher, I’m not a lecturer. I’m no thing. And when I’m talking like this I’m talking to my Self. If you want to be part of my Self you’re welcome. This is why this is called satsang. It is not the average meeting. I really don’t know what it is. But as long as it helps you to awaken that’s all I’m concerned with. Why I am sitting here and you’re sitting there, I don’t know. But there’s no difference between me and you. I’m nobody special. You’ve asked me to sit here and talk so that’s what I do. But I don’t talk too much. Because if I talk too much, you forget everything I say anyway. So why talk? Isn’t that true? Most of you have read so many books, have been to so many teachers, that you don’t know what to believe. But I’m telling you not to believe anything. Stop believing a thing! Dive deep within yourself and your Self will guide you where you’re supposed to be. And your Self will tell you what to do in every situation. Because your Self is omnipresence. Therefore your being here with me is no accident. Because your Self is my Self, there’s one Self. And you’re here because you’re supposed to be here. If you weren’t supposed to be here you would be some where else. (laughs) But you’re here so what can I do? I never really invite anybody to these meetings, Henry does. Because it makes no difference to me if there’s one person here or there’s nobody here. There was a time when I used to talk to my Self. I still do, but silently. SD: To what end? What was the reason for talking to yourself, making a confession? R: I was just confessing the truth to myself, yes. Usually I don’t do anything. But sometimes I like to say something to myself, because myself gets lonely. It’s lonely in there. (laughter) Not really. SD: Robert what did you mean when you said earlier that we become Ishvara because on the highest level there is no Ishvara, is there? R: No, that’s why you become Ishvara. (SD: I don’t really fully understand.) Ishvara or God has always been you. When you awaken everything merges into oneness. So Ishvara has become you. (SD: And always was?) Always was, yes. But you have given it separation. As long as you give it separation, you’re under the law of karma. SN: You can’t help but give it separation? (R: Why?) Because it’s the way we are. R: On the contrary, if we couldn’t help it nobody would ever become enlightened. SN: I understand that, I agree with you on that, but I’m saying, programming, for me is so strong that even what has happened to me – I repeat over and over what happens but sometimes something will happen that comes to me that I have no control over, it just happens. R: Do you practice sadhana of any kind? (SN: Who?) Sadhana, spiritual practices? (SN: Do I practice any spiritual?) Yeah. (SN: No.) That’s why. (SN: That’s why?) That’s why things are like they are. SN: I’m reading Wayne Dwyer, I think he’s such an incredible person, the psychologist, psychiatrist, Dr Wayne Dwyer. (R: I’ve seen his book.) Really? He wrote this latest one, “When you believe it you’ll see it.” That’s the title, and most people say, “When I see it I’ll believe it,” you know. Ed probably knows about this stuff. But it doesn’t make any difference, it can be through a psychologist or meditation or through you, what’ll happen will happen there’s no one to say how it’s going to happen? R: This is true to an extent, but most people should practice some type of meditation or do something to themselves to help. Otherwise you can say, “I want to play the piano but I’m not going to take any lessons.” (SN: That’s not a good analogy.) If it’ll happen it’ll happen. Why? SN: That’s not a good analogy. How many years you meditate Ed? (Ed: A long time.) A long time, years and years and years. I’ve meditated too and all I did was get a blank and a wall and I said I’m not going to do this and I haven’t. I know I’m speaking from myself. (R: Of course, I understand.) I’m not adverse or opposing you. R: I know, it’s okay if you were. You have to look within yourself. That’s where all the answers are. You have to ask yourself the question, “Who has these feelings?” (SN: Who what?) “Who has these feelings? To whom do they come?” Then you have to find your ‘I’ and discover who ‘I’ is. See you’ve got to do something. There are very few people who do not have to do anything. Maybe you’re one of them, I don’t know. But like you say if the years pass and nothing happens from doing no thing, then get involved in some spiritual practice and give yourself over to it. Like Bhakti for instance, devotion. Surrender your life to God and let God take care of all your problems, give it all away to God. Are you willing to do that? Give everything to God. Let God carry the load and become free. Any more comments about that. SE: I’ve known Nate for many many many years. I don’t think there’s a practice he hasn’t practiced or a teacher he hasn’t followed to a large degree. He’s struggled, I’ve watched him struggle for year after year after year and he still feels a kind of frustration with the progress. I know him very well, he has really tried almost everything. R: Then don’t give up. (SN: (Feeling sorry for himself) I don’t know what to say.) SK: Robert when you say, by all means do something, really what you’re saying is do nothing? (R: In the ultimate you do nothing.) So that’s the whole process it seems. R: But you have to realize that you are nothing first and if you’re confounded with all kinds of material things you can’t see that yet. SK: It seems so logical for me because I’ve done much meditation and coming across this path, the idea of self-inquiry as you say all things are attached to the self, the ‘I’. Until we find out about this ‘I,’ What is the use of practices or reading books, who’s practicing, who’s reading books, to what end? (R: That’s the practice, to follow the I.) But really it’s not so much practicing, it’s not practicing in a sense. (R: True.) So I’m trying to make a point that as long as…well, just can’t make the point. (R: I know what you mean.) You meditate to learn that you don’t have to meditate in other words. (R: Yes.) You are That. R: Yes. (Turns to Nate.) But Nate the whole problem is yourself. You’ve got to get yourself out of the way and let the divine circuits take over. SN: I am aware of all these things in fact I don’t want to talk because sometimes people laugh and… (R: Nobody laughs.) Some of these people are afraid to ask questions and things like that. I’m aware of getting yourself out of the way, then the question, “How do you get yourself out of the way?” And there’s no how, it’s like going in a circle. R: Then you should take one of the answers. (SN: One of the what?) Answers that you get and follow it through. Like when you get up in the morning. The first thing to realize is, I exist and then you realize I slept, I dreamt and now I’m awake and I exist. So who was the I that was present during the waking, sleeping and dreaming? I. SN: I would like to say that in this book – I only read about half of it – Dwyer he has made some connections, no doubt about it, he explains how he does it. But he explains how the waking dream and the sleeping dream are the same. He does such a beautiful job that you think when you’re reading it that the waking dream and the sleeping dream are the same, it’s really succinctly put. R: Well that’s great, does he tell you what to do to get there. SN: You know I’ll tell you what happened since you asked me. (laughs) I read about half the book, but I must be on some mailing list but I received – he’s in Chicago – and I received a set from Dr Wayne Dwyer. “I’ll send you six tapes and keep them for thirty days. If you feel they are a value to you, send me forty dollars,” the price. “If you don’t send the tapes back.” Well, I’ve never heard anybody give a presentation like that. So I called up the eight hundred number in Chicago, and I expect the tapes any day. I’m curious what they’re like, I think he might have something. R: That’s good, perhaps they can help. (SN: Perhaps.) But in the last analysis Nate, nothing can help you but your Self. (SN: That’s the self that’s the problem, since I’m expounding.) Then for whom is the problem? (SN: My ego, my searching, my wanting.) Follow it through, rather say, “The problem is for me. I have the problem. Then what is the source of the I?” (SN: I’ve created the problem with wants or desires.) No, follow the I. All the things that you are saying, they’re all attached to the I. If you solve the mystery of the I, everything else will go away with it. Because everything, the world, the body, the mind are all attached to I. So when you ask the question, “Who am I?” or “From whence do I come?” or “What is the source of I?” and you keep silent everything else will be diminished, all your problems. It will all go away with the I. SN: What was that Guerdjeff, expounding the different I’s? Remember Guerdjeff? R: Yes. Perhaps he was, but no matter who’s expounding it, practice it, do it, make it happen, that’s the whole thing. There are so many teachers but you’ve got to be your own teacher, and you’ve got to work on yourself or do something, until something gives way. No matter how long it takes, never give up. SD: Did you get the tapes? SN: No they haven’t come yet. I will share with – he said you play them over and over. And each time you play them, you’ll hear something different. (students laugh) SK: Subliminal. (SN: No not subliminal.) SG: You got the tapes playing over and over and you don’t know what he’s saying. Why don’t you just burn up the tapes. (laughter) (SN: That’s true.) R: Well again your being here is no accident. So let’s see what happens to you. You’ve got my blessing. All is well. What difference does it make what happens to us if we do not react? The secret is just not to react, come what may. And the only reason we get upset is because the world is not turning our way. (SG: That’s right, it’s true.) He agrees. (SG: I Absolutely, 100%, no doubt about it.) At least I’ve got somebody who agrees with me. (students laugh) See what Shakespeare has said, “Nothing is either good nor bad, but thinking makes it so.” (SG: That’s right.) Therefore when something happens to us of a negative nature, it’s not because something bad has happened. That’s just the way we see it. It’s our perspective, our concept. We have preconceived ideas, what’s good and what’s bad. So we expect the good things and we want to avoid the bad things. But the so-called bad things are just the other side of the coin of the good things. As long as you believe you are the body or the mind, you have to experience both, good and bad, everybody does. You cannot avoid it. It’s only when you stop reacting that you transcend your karma and you become totally free. What do you think of that? And as I mentioned before, the fastest way to become awakened is to stop the mind from thinking. There’s no faster way. And the way you do that is by investigating your mind. Investigate what your mind is. You will soon discover it is nothing but a bundle of thoughts, about the past and the future. And if you stop and watch those thoughts, observe those thoughts, become the witness to those thoughts, then you become silent and the thoughts diminish. You ultimately become free. And that’s the way you do it. Any questions? SH: Can you witness? If there’s a you witnessing, then it’s not witnessing. R: In the beginning you have to use your mind to destroy your mind. So you use your mind to witness and then the witness goes from the mind to the Self and observes everything and does not react. (SH: Doesn’t react?) But in the beginning you’re using your mind. Like Ramana used to say, “It’s like a policeman becoming the thief to catch the thief.” So you use the mind in the beginning to subdue it. (SH: The mind as the ego-mind?) The ego-mind. The ego and the mind are simultaneously alike. They’re the same thing. You simply observe your thoughts. You observe yourself thinking, you watch, you observe everything around you. You react to nothing, you just observe. As you keep doing this day after day, day after day, day after day. The mind energy begins to slow down. As the weeks and months go by the mind slows down, until the mind is conquered. Then you will realize there never was a mind to begin with and you’ve been fighting nothing all these years. The mind is an optical illusion, it appears real. Just like a dream appears real. So the mind appears real. And as long as the mind appears real, it projects and manifests the whole universe. Therefore the whole universe, especially all of your affairs, are nothing more than a minds projection. When you turn yourself inwardly and ask, “To whom do these things come?” You will soon discover that there’s no me and you will be free. How does that grab you? SH: Seems like a lot of nonsense. R: That’s what it is. No sense. (laughter) No sense. (SH: Yeah no sense to you.) Thank you. (SH: There was never a you or a separate you or me in the first place, so all this has gone through just to arrive at that obvious fact.) Why not just awaken right now? (SH: Why not?) And forget the whole thing. (SH: Great idea, but it’s an idea.) Do it! Make it happen, become centered. There is no past or future for you. You are ultimate oneness, you’re free right now. Accept it, take it, it’s yours. Enjoy it. SA: Robert I have a question. (R: Sure.) It seems to me that if we accept the teaching and the practice. You said again and again, you can pursue your ordinary life except that you pursue all of your activities with non attachment. With detachment, indifferent to what happens. You’ve said this many times. But it seems to me that if you do this, if you go along with the teaching and the practice that eventually it becomes very difficult to live in the world. And that your physical world will change greatly and that it’s almost impossible to pursue this life unless you have some type of organization, some type of support which allows you to persist in it. R: That’s how it appears to you right now. But that’s not true. As I mentioned before, your body’s going to go through the motions and do whatever it came to this earth to do, but it has nothing to do with you, that’s your body. When you awaken, you observe your body just like you observe everything else in the world. But you understand it’s not you. And your body will go through the motions. So if you’re going to be an artist, you’ll become a great artist. If you’re going to become a musician, you’re going to become a great musician. But you will realize this has nothing to do with you. (tape break) R: If you see a lot of evil in the world, you realize that you’re seeing yourself. And you must ask yourself, “To whom does this come? Who sees all this?” and again the answer will be, “Well this all comes to me.” Hold on to the me. Follow the me to the source. There is no source, there is silence. And in that silence you become free and liberated. So the highest teaching, is silence. Now remember, when I speak of silence. I’m not referring to you just sitting still like a statue. Because when you’re sitting still like a statue, your mind is still chattering away. I’m talking about silence in your mind, in your thoughts. Quietening the mind, making the mind quiescent, calm, still, by not reacting to person place or thing. Then you’ll always be happy. If you don’t react, you’ll always be blissful. What do you think of that? SH: All reaction is the activity of the notion of a separate self? R: All reaction is the activity of the mind. (SH: Same thing.) Umm. (Robert agrees) (SH: There’s no mind in separate self, how do you get rid of it?) So ask yourself, “To whom does this come?” That’s how you get rid of it. “Who reacts? I do. Well, who am I. What is the source of the I?” And follow it to its culmination. Then you will realize that you’ve always been free. That there are no problems. There never were any problems. There will never be any problems. Simple, why make it difficult? SD: I cannot quite understand how non-reacting really relates to bliss. I would think it would relate more to nothing. R: Nothing is bliss. The nothing that you’re referring to is the ultimate reality, absolute oneness, bliss, that’s nothing. (SD: And everything?) When there’s something that’s duality. Something is always duality. (SD: How is nothing different from the void?) The void is the same as nothing. What Buddhism means by the void, they mean Buddha-hood, absolute bliss, nirvana, emptiness. They’re all synonymous with bliss. (SD: I guess that’s a nuance, so in our culture we don’t usually relate.) Of course not. That’s why I always tell you, when someone says to you, “You’re good for nothing,” say, “thank you.” (laughs) SG: I have a question relating to the Self. You mentioned happiness. Is happiness really important for one to have in their life? R: We’re not talking about human happiness. We’re talking about unalloyed happiness. Happiness that comes from the Self. A happiness that is everything so it needs nothing. A happiness that is omnipresence, God, parabrahman, complete total happiness. That is foreign to us because we associate happiness with things. And this is beyond things. There’s some things we can’t understand finitely. We have to close our eyes and go deep within to find that happiness. SD: So it really requires an active faith to continue self-inquiry for years and years since we can’t conceive of it with the mind and we’re using the mind to try to conceive of it. It’s really faith we’re talking about isn’t it? R: No not really, it’s atma-vichara, self-inquiry. We’re not asked to believe anything, we’re asked to ask ourselves, “Who has this body come to? Who’s mind is this? To whom does it come? Who’s going through karma? Who’s experiencing cause and effect? To whom does it come?” That’s what we’re asked to do. Not to have faith in anything. (SD: Well in a way – maybe it’s just semantics – but it seems like you have to have faith that that would work?) It’s more scientific. You just practice something and want to see the result. (SD: Even many of the books that Maharshi wrote many have complained for having tried for years?) Yes. (SD: So that’s the point we’re talking about, so it’s obviously them feeling phenomena.) And he told them to continue. (SD: Um-hm. That’s the kind of faith I’m talking about here.) No what you have to really do, is analyze your life and look at your past and say, “Do I want to keep going through this again?” (SD: No. (laughs)) “Or do I want to go somewhere else?” So you keep on practicing. (laughs) SE: It also depends on whether you’re practicing self-inquiry as part of a goal to reach some state or for its own sake, because you don’t trust anything else. If you’re practicing selfinquiry just for the sake of self-inquiry because you don’t like the way things are, it’s an entirely different thing than practicing in order to gain enlightenment which sort of spoils the whole process. (R: Yes.) Because it’s colored by the goal of attaining something. R: Very true, there are no goals. Due to the fact that you can’t attain anything that you already are. There’s no thing to attain. It takes a waking up process, to just wake up, that’s all. SE: When I first read Nisargadatta for the first time I had utter faith in a teachers teachings in Advaita Vedanta. And when I first met Robert he shook me out of that faith and I’ve started self-inquiry again and they’re complementary but they’re different. (R: Umm) (agrees) SA: How are they different? SE: One from Nisargadatta’s point of view, it’s like you accept that you’re the absolute, and you don’t do anything. From Robert’s point of view you recognize you’re still a limited human being and have the power to investigate that I-ness and that there is something you can do – at least that’s how I conceptualized what’s happened to me – And I like the latter better because it feels more real. It’s more of an acceptance of your limitations and your humanity as you are. Self-inquiry’s more gentle than the kind of coldness that I felt with Nisargadatta, you just accept that you’re the absolute and pretend you’re God, or you pretend you’re Krishna and then wait for enlightenment to come to you. There was a coldness that I had with that that I don’t feel now. SL: I think you get that with Nisargadatta’s teachings, like you know when people who go to see Nisargadatta and who say things like, “Oh, I’m God, I’m… SE: Yes, I know. It’s true. Now when I read Nisargadatta I reason very differently, a very different understanding now. It was Ramesh’s Nisargadatta that… (SL: That was the mind’s Nisargadatta.) Yes, exactly. R: It’s interesting how we can look at a book and then come back to it and get a different meaning to it completely. (SE: Yes.) SL: That’s an example of his projection of the mind. (R: Yes.) They’re just projecting their own mind, it’s meaningless. R: This is why I say we should destroy all of our books and have no crutch whatsoever. And lean on your Self. See what you are, and where you are, and take it from there. When most people don’t feel too hot and they feel out of sorts, they take out a book from the library shelf and they read something and they say, “Ah now I feel good.” But the book becomes a crutch. Whether it’s the bible or whatever you read. You’ve got to become the living essence of the Bible. You’ve got to become the living essence of the book that you read and you do that by contemplating your Self. Whenever you feel out of sorts, do not go to somebody external, by taking a book or anything like that. But simply ask yourself, “Who feels out of sorts? Who has these feelings? To whom do they come?” And follow it through. And the feelings will disappear of their own accord. (silence) SL: It’s interesting too, you know. It depends on what ears this falls on. For some ears people get really sour when they hear this. (laughter) (R: Sure. (laughs)) Some they smile. SE: In most, it falls only once. SG: That’s the truth like a hammer which keeps hitting over and over again until it gets through. Could you say about what Ramana was like, could you say something, a little bit about it. R: What can you say, it’s like looking in a mirror. When I saw Ramana, I saw my Self. (SD: But you also have said that you asked immediately, what you could do for him, was that love of Self or love of what he represented?) I saw he had physical difficulties so I asked what I can do for him and he just told me to be my Self. Ramana was just like a rubber ball, his attendees used to just push him up the hills, carrying him along, push him on the bed and he’d just go along with everything. (SD: Well that Ananda Maya Mar she was sort of the same way, she was…) Oh yes. (SD: …always serene and out of the clutter and cluster around him. And you seem that way. You’re always the same.) Umm. So what else is new? (turns to student) Do you have something to read? Nerada always brings good things to read. (SK: He doesn’t follow your advice at all. (laughter)) No, he takes up our time and gives us something to do. So when you go home you can say, I was at a long meeting. Nerada: This is from the latest issue of the mountain path from Ramana Ashram. Magic quest: Know Thyself! Popularly attributed to Socrates has gripped the attention of the greatest seers, Sages and thinkers of all ages. It is the essential experience welling up from the heart of yearning souls belonging to every country of the world and giving expression to it, the terminologies, the words and the language may differ but the essence in its contents is the same. The command of Vedanta is: Atma-Naam-Vidi: Know The Self. In fact, this experiential dictum is at the back of all Eastern religions. Though it is true that the basis of this dictum is too fundamental to be classified under any philosophy or thinker or age. That is, knowing the knower is the aim of all spiritual strivings, in all ages and of all religions. Not to know the knower and yet to know all else is termed total ignorance, hence very great importance is given to knowing oneself. Know Thyself is the same as know who you are, or asking, “Who am I?” or seeking, “Whence am I” This ancient quest is the ground and fundamental teaching of Bhagvan Sri Ramana Maharshi. “Simple being is the Self,” said Maharshi. This being is consciousness. The very living principle of each one of us, is this consciousness. Any form of awareness is embedded only in this vast expanse of consciousness. The triple principle dominating man’s activities is called “Triputi” comprising the knower, the object known, and the act of knowing, occurs only in consciousness. Experiences are classified into At, Avata, Turiya and the waking, the dreaming and the deep sleep states. Which also take place only in consciousness. Likewise the pair of opposites like right and wrong, good and bad, day and night or concepts like being and non-being get exposed only in the back drop of consciousness. Thus consciousness is the ground or secret on which they play. While one is aware constantly and gets involved deeply in this drama, the basis substratum on which the play takes place is totally forgotten, by whom? To turn ones attention from the details or activities to the source of activity is called introspection. This turning inward is the beginning of spiritual effort called sadhana. Taking a right turn about, turn from total consciousness is the positive key to open the gates to know oneself. Becoming conscious or aware of something else brings in the triple, triputi, abhakta, turiya. But pure consciousness is pure awareness per se. It is the basis for all motion, while remaining motionless, unaffected by any movement. Perhaps an analogy will help us understand consciousness as our basis. Electricity flows through a wire. It is invisible and intangible. When the electric bulb is connected to the wire, the lamp gets lit up. The color of the glass of the bulb determines the color of the light. When flowing through a fan the current makes the fan rotate. Connected to a pump it lifts water. The current flowing in all these cases is one and the same, but its effects are different. Similarly when the pure light of consciousness passes through different physical, emotional, mental and ego vestitures, it looks as though it is limiting itself by taking the color and texture of that particular vestiture. Since the bulb, fan and pump are visible to the eye and not the electricity, the utility aspects engages ones intention, the root or the cause, the electricity being ignored. Likewise man’s activities ensnare him and make him forget his very nature as consciousness. When consciousness is confined to an individual or the body, it gets clouded by the manifestation. This descent results in the ego, the non-self mistaking itself, for the Self. Conversely ego fluctuating through the physical, emotional and mental fields, has the power to cloud or veil pure consciousness. Ego has no existence apart from the Self. Like the gold ornament has no existence apart from the gold. But the Self exists always. Ego is only a shadow of the Self. It catches hold of the body and through it projects itself as the Self thus ego thrives in the world as conscious perceiver and enjoyer of the world. It hops from one form to another, since no form is permanent. Such impermanent movement is called the cycle of birth and death. This limitation is technically termed samsarra. Freedom from such bondage is called Moksha, release back into total consciousness. Absolute release into pure consciousness is the ultimate goal of human life, the release from the ego. How to affect it; Through introspection, deep inquiry, atma-vichara, self-inquiry, release from the bonds of ego is gained. This is the process of, “Who Am I?” inquiry. The technique to know oneself. The bondage is the ego. The bondage is for the ego. Consciousness, conditioning or identifying itself into a body is this ego. The ego exists say the scriptures due to non-inquiry, Avi-Chara. This Avi-Chara is sustained and strengthened by ignorance. Consciousness is pure attention alone. When the attention is held unmoved there is no place for ego or non-attention. To hold the attention on itself, to dissolve or transform non-attention into total attention, total consciousness, the quest, “Who Am I?” is the vital process. To turn ones attention on oneself is the essence of true knowledge. Such self attention is the key to open the mystery gates of the immeasurable treasure, knowing the knower. The knower known there is none else, nothing else to be known. To remain as pure consciousness is the secret in meaning of “Know Thyself.” Bhagvan Ramana put it all in a sutra aferism. He summarized the whole process into four pregnant words. Dihum, Nahum, Kohum, Sohum. Dihum – Body symbolizing all objective and subjective perceptions. Nahum – I am not. Kohum – Who am I? Sohum – I am consciousness. Rid of all vestiges, vehicles, maps, abeyance’s and camouflages, pure consciousness alone will shine, if the inquiry, “Who Am I?” is relentlessly pursued within. Such atma-vichara releases one from the bondage. Release from bondage and drawing of wisdom are simultaneous, as the coming of light and ending of darkness are simultaneous. In this grand journey within, the gurus grace is absolutely essential. For one who is ready to plunge within, the gurus grace is totally assured. This grace is felt by one dedicating himself to the pursuit of self-inquiry to a deepening peace, welling up in him, independent of life’s circumstances. R: Thank you. These articles are written for the ajnani. They’re very wordy, they’re good but they’re wordy. For instance when it says, “Consciousness takes up all form and becomes all forms.” The question you should ask is, “Why? Where do the forms come from, that consciousness becomes all forms?” Well, the highest truth is, there are no forms, there’s no body, there’s no mind, there’s no world, there’s no universe, there’s no God, there’s no coming and going, there’s no ignorance and there’s no enlightenment. So why do we see it all? That’s a mystery. It’s an optical illusion, it does not exist. Go back to the dream state. When you dream it becomes externalized and in your small mind a universe is created with people, places and things. “Why?” it doesn’t really exist. When you wake up it does not exist. The same as this world, it appears real. We appear as bodies, there’s a sun, there’s a moon, there’s an earth, there are trees, there are birds, there are ants yet they do not exist, no thing exists, only the Self! and you are that. This is the highest truth. The reason I share with you the various methods of meditations, Jnana meditations, is because those of you who are really involved in the world and your mind is always thinking, thinking, thinking, if you practice the meditation, your mind will begin to slow up. Let me ask those of you who have been practicing, what has happened to you? Would you like to say? Anybody? Nobody’s been practicing? SY: I had a personal experience that I had… R: Well you haven’t been here before. We’re speaking… (SY: What meditations exactly?) The Jnana meditations, yes. That’s okay. SE: Well my depression went away and I have twice as much, three times as much energy as before. (R: Oh that’s good.) And life seems more real, in a sense, rather than empty. R: That’s a good sign, there’s hope for you yet. (laughs) SH: Can it be hopeless? (R: Yes.) No hope. (laughs) SD: How do you mean life seems more real? SE: I feel my body more and feelings more and reality seems much more clear and bright. It’s like my old days when I used to practice meditation a lot. The trees are beautiful and shining, and the sky is very blue. (SD: Some things are heightened?) Yes and I don’t read anymore. R: Anybody else? Remember on the path of Jnana yoga, Jnana yoga and Jnana Marga, there’s really no meditation involved, but there are some people that have to use it and as I said before, to clear your mind out, it causes your thoughts to decrease. There are three types of meditations we use, we’ll share one right now. So make yourself comfortable and close your eyes to remove obstructions. Forget about the world for a little bit. To relax you more, take twelve deep breaths from your diaphragm… (break in tape. Tape restarts after meditation) …peace, peace. If you practice this form of meditation, preferably in the morning or the evening, it will help. Any questions about that? Remember to love yourself, to worship yourself, to pray to yourself because God dwells in you as you. God bless and peace. And that’s it. (tape ends)