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We are like butterflies who flutter for a day and think it is forever.
Identification with your mind creates an opaque screen of concepts, labels, images, words, judgments, and definitions that blocks all true relationship.
We choose our joys and sorrows
long before we experience them.
long before we experience them.
Emotional ties bring only sadness and fear. Avoid attachment in emotion and you avoid sadness and fear.
The intellectual is always showing off,
the lover is always getting lost.
The intellectual runs away,
afraid of drowning;
the whole business of love
is to drown in the sea.
the lover is always getting lost.
The intellectual runs away,
afraid of drowning;
the whole business of love
is to drown in the sea.
Meditation is the art of cleaning your mirror from all the dust that the society, the religion, the educational system has poured on you, to take away everything that has not been born with you, to bring you to your absolute innocence as you were born as a child.
This place is a dream. Only a sleeper considers it real. Then death comes like dawn, and you wake up laughing at what you thought was your grief.
Nobody can tell you who you really are. It would just be another concept, so it would not change you. Who you are requires no belief. In fact, every belief is an obstacle. It does not even require your realization, since you already are who you are. But without realization, who you are does not shine forth into this world.
To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders.
The Guru is the Self. At some time a man grows dissatisfied with his life and, not content with what he has, seeks the satisfaction of his desires through prayer to God. His mind is gradually purified until he longs to know God, more to obtain His Grace than to satisfy worldly desires. Then God’s grace begins to manifest. God takes the form of a Guru and appears to the devotee, teaches him the Truth and, moreover, purifies his mind by association with him. The devotee’s mind thus gains strength and is then able to turn inward. By meditation it is further purified until it remains calm without the least ripple. That calm Expanse is the Self.
In the now you are both the movable and the immovable. So far you took yourself to be the movable and overlooked the immovable. Turn your mind inside out. Overlook the movable and you will find yourself to be the ever-present, changeless reality, inexpressible, but solid like a rock.
Abide at the centre of your being,
For the more you leave it, the less you learn.
For the more you leave it, the less you learn.
The objects in the world are many, but the eye that sees them is one.
The Truth cannot be directly indicated; that is why this mental process is used. You see, he who eliminates all the ‘not-I’ cannot eliminate the ‘I’. In order to be able to say ‘I am not this’ or ‘I am That’, there must be the ‘I’ to say it. This ‘I’ is only the ego, or the ‘I’-thought. After the rising up of this ‘I’-thought, all other thoughts arise. The ‘I’-thought is therefore the root thought. If the root is pulled out, all the rest is uprooted at the same time. Therefore seek the root ‘I’; question yourself: ‘Who am I?’; find out the source of the ‘I’. Then all these problems will vanish and the pure Self alone will remain.
---------- What Is A Jnani? ----------
We're going to talk about something I don't usually talk about which is what is a Jnani?
The reason I'm talking about it this evening is because many people ask me this question and I usually do not answer.
If they call me on the phone and they ask me, "Robert are you a Jnani?" I usually keep silent when such a question is asked.
But I've been keeping silent for a long time and people keep asking the question.
So I'll try to explain what this is all about.
What I usually do now when people ask me the question, "Are you a Jnani?" I say, "First tell me, what do you mean by you and what do you mean by a Jnani?" and they usually say, "You Robert, I mean is Robert enlightened?" And I have to laugh at that because Robert cannot be enlightened.
There is no such thing as Robert being enlightened.
Robert is an idiot (students laugh).
Robert has absolutely nothing to do with enlightenment.
So if I say, "I am a Jnani".
I'm referring to Robert and that is erroneous.
Therefore be careful when people tell you that.
When they tell you, "I'm enlightened.
I'm a Jnani".
Be very careful of people like that.
Because I refers to the I-thought.
The I-thought is an illusion, it's part of maya it's all a mirage.
The 'I' can never be enlightened.
'I' can never be enlightened it's impossible.
'I' can never be self-realized.
But the Self which is your self, my self the one Self, which exists all by itself.
Self contained absolute reality is enlightenment itself.
Now the question you may say...you may ask, "Is "I-am" enlightened?" "I-am" is enlightened when you speak of "I-am".
Not a you enlightened.
Not a you self-realized.
"I-am", enlightened, those words are all synonymous.
"I-am" enlightened is the same thing, but that is not a person place or thing.
In other words we're all the same.
We're all one.
There is really no difference between me and you.
I guess that the only difference is when you look at me you see a person.
You see a simple human being.
When I look at you I see the Self.
I see pure awareness.
Why do I see this?
I don't know?
For when you look at me you see yourself what you think you are.
Consequently when you think you're a human being and have human attributes you're going to see the same in me.
And you will ask me a silly question, "Am I enlightened?" If you want to know anything about enlightenment you have to become enlightened yourself.
If you want to know anything about self-realization you have to become self-realized yourself.
That is the only time you'll ever know this.
Other wise words are a waste of time.
Think of all the words we speak continuously they're really all a waste of time, they get us nowhere.
Think of all the words you've spoken since you were born, a lot of words.
You had a lot to say.
Where did it get you?
And here you are sitting here looking for enlightenment, looking for something.
Trying to become something and you believe words will do it.
Words are really totally meaningless even when we speak words of spirituality.
Such as absolute reality, Brahman, nirvana, ultimate reality those are just words.
What do these words really do for you, nothing.
What you want to do is contemplate the truth.
You have to ponder the truth in order to awaken.
You have to ponder the truth for instance, that Brahman is and because Brahman is, "I-am".
When you can ponder this, think about this what this really means to you.
What you're really saying when you say this you will see that something is happening inside of your heart.
Your heart is opening up and when your heart opens up you will find out that you are the Self, consciousness which has always been.
There never was a time when consciousness was not.
Consciousness accommodates you, accommodates the universe, accommodates the galaxies, accommodates God.
In other words everything that you physically see rests in consciousness.
But consciousness does not rest in anything.
It so beyond words and thoughts that trying to explain it is like trying to explain fire.
So we get to the stage where we stop looking for answers, we stop looking for anything and we just remain the way we are.
If you can only remain the way you are you will be the Self, for the Self knows no past, no future.
The Self doesn't know anything because it's everything.
It's self contained absolute reality.
So there is nothing for it to know since it is all the things already.
You can only know something when you are not that at all.
To know something means you don't know so you have to know.
But what we call consciousness is all-pervading.
It is everything.
So it's nothing.
You can only be nothing when you're everything.
When you think something is missing you have to search for something.
As an example most of us here are looking or self-realization looking for Buddhahood, we're looking to become one with the force.
The looking will keep you back.
For you are looking for something that already is.
It always has been.
Yet when you're looking for it you're saying it is not here.
So you have to search, you have to look.
It is the mind that causes all this nonsense.
It is the mind that makes you search for yourself when you're already the Self.
It is the mind that tells you all these stories that something is wrong someplace, that you're not happy, or that you're too happy.
When you hear that the mind does all this it is therefore your duty to transcend the mind, to stop the mind from doing these things, to stop the mind from leading you around from pillar to post, causing you happiness sometimes and causing you misery sometimes.
It is the mind that has created this whole universe.
Everything that you behold with your eyes, with your senses, you hear, you taste, you touch, you feel, it is really the mind.
Nothing else but the mind and yet there is no mind.
So what's going on around here.
We thought the mind caused our problems then we hear there is no mind, well both are correct.
As long as you believe you're a human being you've got a mind to contend with.
As long as you believe you are a person, place or thing you'll have a mind to contend with.
When you begin to sit still and you look upon the mind, the thoughts, you witness the thoughts, you watch the thoughts the mind slows down.
As you continue witnessing the thoughts, watching the thoughts the mind becomes weaker and weaker and weaker and you become happier and happier and happier.
Bliss comes when the mind is at rest.
Unalloyed happiness comes when the mind is inactive.
We're going to talk about something I don't usually talk about which is what is a Jnani?
The reason I'm talking about it this evening is because many people ask me this question and I usually do not answer.
If they call me on the phone and they ask me, "Robert are you a Jnani?" I usually keep silent when such a question is asked.
But I've been keeping silent for a long time and people keep asking the question.
So I'll try to explain what this is all about.
What I usually do now when people ask me the question, "Are you a Jnani?" I say, "First tell me, what do you mean by you and what do you mean by a Jnani?" and they usually say, "You Robert, I mean is Robert enlightened?" And I have to laugh at that because Robert cannot be enlightened.
There is no such thing as Robert being enlightened.
Robert is an idiot (students laugh).
Robert has absolutely nothing to do with enlightenment.
So if I say, "I am a Jnani".
I'm referring to Robert and that is erroneous.
Therefore be careful when people tell you that.
When they tell you, "I'm enlightened.
I'm a Jnani".
Be very careful of people like that.
Because I refers to the I-thought.
The I-thought is an illusion, it's part of maya it's all a mirage.
The 'I' can never be enlightened.
'I' can never be enlightened it's impossible.
'I' can never be self-realized.
But the Self which is your self, my self the one Self, which exists all by itself.
Self contained absolute reality is enlightenment itself.
Now the question you may say...you may ask, "Is "I-am" enlightened?" "I-am" is enlightened when you speak of "I-am".
Not a you enlightened.
Not a you self-realized.
"I-am", enlightened, those words are all synonymous.
"I-am" enlightened is the same thing, but that is not a person place or thing.
In other words we're all the same.
We're all one.
There is really no difference between me and you.
I guess that the only difference is when you look at me you see a person.
You see a simple human being.
When I look at you I see the Self.
I see pure awareness.
Why do I see this?
I don't know?
For when you look at me you see yourself what you think you are.
Consequently when you think you're a human being and have human attributes you're going to see the same in me.
And you will ask me a silly question, "Am I enlightened?" If you want to know anything about enlightenment you have to become enlightened yourself.
If you want to know anything about self-realization you have to become self-realized yourself.
That is the only time you'll ever know this.
Other wise words are a waste of time.
Think of all the words we speak continuously they're really all a waste of time, they get us nowhere.
Think of all the words you've spoken since you were born, a lot of words.
You had a lot to say.
Where did it get you?
And here you are sitting here looking for enlightenment, looking for something.
Trying to become something and you believe words will do it.
Words are really totally meaningless even when we speak words of spirituality.
Such as absolute reality, Brahman, nirvana, ultimate reality those are just words.
What do these words really do for you, nothing.
What you want to do is contemplate the truth.
You have to ponder the truth in order to awaken.
You have to ponder the truth for instance, that Brahman is and because Brahman is, "I-am".
When you can ponder this, think about this what this really means to you.
What you're really saying when you say this you will see that something is happening inside of your heart.
Your heart is opening up and when your heart opens up you will find out that you are the Self, consciousness which has always been.
There never was a time when consciousness was not.
Consciousness accommodates you, accommodates the universe, accommodates the galaxies, accommodates God.
In other words everything that you physically see rests in consciousness.
But consciousness does not rest in anything.
It so beyond words and thoughts that trying to explain it is like trying to explain fire.
So we get to the stage where we stop looking for answers, we stop looking for anything and we just remain the way we are.
If you can only remain the way you are you will be the Self, for the Self knows no past, no future.
The Self doesn't know anything because it's everything.
It's self contained absolute reality.
So there is nothing for it to know since it is all the things already.
You can only know something when you are not that at all.
To know something means you don't know so you have to know.
But what we call consciousness is all-pervading.
It is everything.
So it's nothing.
You can only be nothing when you're everything.
When you think something is missing you have to search for something.
As an example most of us here are looking or self-realization looking for Buddhahood, we're looking to become one with the force.
The looking will keep you back.
For you are looking for something that already is.
It always has been.
Yet when you're looking for it you're saying it is not here.
So you have to search, you have to look.
It is the mind that causes all this nonsense.
It is the mind that makes you search for yourself when you're already the Self.
It is the mind that tells you all these stories that something is wrong someplace, that you're not happy, or that you're too happy.
When you hear that the mind does all this it is therefore your duty to transcend the mind, to stop the mind from doing these things, to stop the mind from leading you around from pillar to post, causing you happiness sometimes and causing you misery sometimes.
It is the mind that has created this whole universe.
Everything that you behold with your eyes, with your senses, you hear, you taste, you touch, you feel, it is really the mind.
Nothing else but the mind and yet there is no mind.
So what's going on around here.
We thought the mind caused our problems then we hear there is no mind, well both are correct.
As long as you believe you're a human being you've got a mind to contend with.
As long as you believe you are a person, place or thing you'll have a mind to contend with.
When you begin to sit still and you look upon the mind, the thoughts, you witness the thoughts, you watch the thoughts the mind slows down.
As you continue witnessing the thoughts, watching the thoughts the mind becomes weaker and weaker and weaker and you become happier and happier and happier.
Bliss comes when the mind is at rest.
Unalloyed happiness comes when the mind is inactive.
Whenever I was collecting courage to tell Bhagavan about my desire to leave, he would seem to read my thoughts and forestall me by giving me something special to do. I felt I had too much to do and that my life was being wasted.
One day Bhagavan was looking at me intently and said:
"It looks as if you are still hankering after meditation." I replied: "What have I got except endless work in the kitchen?"
Bhagavan said with deep feeling: "Your hands may do the work but your mind can remain still. You are that which never moves. Realize that and you will find that work is not a strain. But as long as you think that you are the body and that the work is done by you, you will feel your life to be an endless toil. In fact, it is the mind that toils, not the body. Even if your body keeps quiet, will your mind keep quiet too? Even in sleep the mind is busy with its dreams."
I replied: "Yes, Swami, it is as natural for you to know that you are not your body as it is for us to think that we are the body. I had a dream recently in which you were explaining this very point. I was dreaming that I was working in the kitchen and you were having your bath in your usual place behind the bamboo mat partition.
You asked: 'Who is it?' I replied:
'Who shall I say I am?'
You said: 'Exactly so, you are nothing of which something can be said.'
Now, just remember that was my dream and it was quite clear. Why can't I remember always that I am not the body?"
"Because you haven't had enough of it," he smiled.
- Varanasi Subbalakshmi, 'Face to Face with Bhagavan'
One day Bhagavan was looking at me intently and said:
"It looks as if you are still hankering after meditation." I replied: "What have I got except endless work in the kitchen?"
Bhagavan said with deep feeling: "Your hands may do the work but your mind can remain still. You are that which never moves. Realize that and you will find that work is not a strain. But as long as you think that you are the body and that the work is done by you, you will feel your life to be an endless toil. In fact, it is the mind that toils, not the body. Even if your body keeps quiet, will your mind keep quiet too? Even in sleep the mind is busy with its dreams."
I replied: "Yes, Swami, it is as natural for you to know that you are not your body as it is for us to think that we are the body. I had a dream recently in which you were explaining this very point. I was dreaming that I was working in the kitchen and you were having your bath in your usual place behind the bamboo mat partition.
You asked: 'Who is it?' I replied:
'Who shall I say I am?'
You said: 'Exactly so, you are nothing of which something can be said.'
Now, just remember that was my dream and it was quite clear. Why can't I remember always that I am not the body?"
"Because you haven't had enough of it," he smiled.
- Varanasi Subbalakshmi, 'Face to Face with Bhagavan'
Jesus Christ knew he was God. So wake up and find out eventually who you really are. In our culture, of course, they'll say you're crazy and you're blasphemous, and they'll either put you in jail or in a nut house (which is pretty much the same thing). However if you wake up in India and tell your friends and relations, `My goodness, I've just discovered that I'm God,' they'll laugh and say, `Oh, congratulations, at last you found out'.
If we unceasingly investigate the form of the mind, we find there is no such thing as the mind. This is the direct path open to all.
When the mind is backed by will, miracles happen.
Our separation of each other is an optical illusion of consciousness.
Every time you say to yourself: “Who am I?” you are moving a step ahead on the spiritual path. That is all you have to do. “Who am I?” and you will soon discover that the ‘I’ is not you. The ‘I’ that you are referring to is not you, it’s not anything. It is merely a thought. It has absolutely nothing to do with you. When you think to yourself: “Who am I?” you keep saying I-I to yourself and the ‘I’ begins to separate from your body. The ‘I’ begins to become a different type of entity whatsoever, the ‘I’ begins to disappear. And you keep thinking about the ‘I’, following the ‘I’. You follow the ‘I’ to the heart. Once the ‘I’ disappears you are totally free and liberated. So it all begins with you. You are the one. You can either free yourself or put yourself in bondage depending on what you’re doing with your life.
While you’re practicing your sadhana, keep in back of your mind someplace, there’s really no one who practices. After all who does the practice? It’s your body and your mind. If you can only remember there’s no body or mind that exists, then there’s no one to practice.
That which permeates all, which nothing transcends and which, like the universal space around us, fills everything completely from within and without, that Supreme non-dual Brahman — that thou art.
The Master wanted to train Narendra [later known as Swami Vivekananda] in the teachings of the non-dualistic Vedānta philosophy. But Narendra, because of his Brāhmo upbringing, considered it wholly blasphemous to look on man as one with his Creator. One day at the temple garden he laughingly said to a friend: "How silly! This jug is God! This cup is God! Whatever we see is God! And we too are God! Nothing could be more absurd." Sri Ramakrishna came out of his room and gently touched him. Spellbound, he immediately perceived that everything in the world was indeed God. A new universe opened around him. Returning home in a dazed state, he found there too that the food, the plate, the eater himself, the people around him, were all God. When he walked in the street, he saw that the cabs, the horses, the streams of people, the buildings, were all Brahman. He could hardly go about his day's business. His parents became anxious about him and thought him ill. And when the intensity of the experience abated a little, he saw the world as a dream. Walking in the public square, he would strike his head against the iron railings to know whether they were real. It took him a number of days to recover his normal self. He had a foretaste of the great experiences yet to come and realized that the words of the Vedānta were true.
Even an emperor is no match for a man with no wants.
Beings
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