I watched a woman approach Papaji a few years ago with what appeared to be a sensible, spiritual question. He exploded with anger, said that she was only interested in sex and told her to go away. We were all quite shocked because this was her first day, her first meeting. Later that day I spoke to the woman she had come with and asked her how her friend had dealt with this extreme reaction.
She laughed and said, ‘I’m so glad Papaji reacted like that. Every year she comes to India and goes to a new ashram, pretending to be interested in the teacher and the teachings, but every year she starts an affair with some devotee. That’s the real reason why she comes. After a few months she gets bored and leaves. I’m so happy that someone has finally seen through her game.’
I have witnessed countless strange reactions such as these in the teachers I have been with, all of them caused by hidden thoughts and desires that none of the rest of us could see.
There is something else that is going on when you sit in front of a true teacher. There is an effortless transmission of peace that stills the mind and brings an intense joy to the heart. None of this will be recorded in the dialogue that is going on between the two of you. It is something very private, and only the two of you are in on the secret. Words may be exchanged but the real communication is a silent one. In such cases the teacher is often reacting to the temporary absence of your mind, rather than the question you asked a few minutes before, but who else can see this?
...
Source: https://www.davidgodman.org/living-inspiration-sri-ramana-maharshi-2/5
She laughed and said, ‘I’m so glad Papaji reacted like that. Every year she comes to India and goes to a new ashram, pretending to be interested in the teacher and the teachings, but every year she starts an affair with some devotee. That’s the real reason why she comes. After a few months she gets bored and leaves. I’m so happy that someone has finally seen through her game.’
I have witnessed countless strange reactions such as these in the teachers I have been with, all of them caused by hidden thoughts and desires that none of the rest of us could see.
There is something else that is going on when you sit in front of a true teacher. There is an effortless transmission of peace that stills the mind and brings an intense joy to the heart. None of this will be recorded in the dialogue that is going on between the two of you. It is something very private, and only the two of you are in on the secret. Words may be exchanged but the real communication is a silent one. In such cases the teacher is often reacting to the temporary absence of your mind, rather than the question you asked a few minutes before, but who else can see this?
...
Source: https://www.davidgodman.org/living-inspiration-sri-ramana-maharshi-2/5
The real Master looks into your mind and Heart, sees what state you are in, and gives out advice which is always appropriate and relevant. Other people, who are not established in the Self, can only give out advice which is based on either their own limited experience or on what they have heard or read. This advice is often foolish. The true teacher will never mislead you with bad advice because he always knows what you need, and he always knows what state you are in.
You must get rid of this idea that you are a sinner because it is just an idea that gives you trouble. I don’t say that you are a sinner. I know who you really are. You are me, and you are free. The whole world is affected like this. It is in the blood of each generation, and it goes on indefinitely. But it is all imagination. It is a pile of straw that you can destroy with a single match. But you have been so trained to think about sin and good and evil, you even think that setting fire to this pile of straw might also be a sin. It is all these ideas about good and bad, right and wrong, that stop you from striking the match. Your impediments can all go in a bonfire that is lit by a single match. That fire is freedom. Burn everything with this fire of freedom.
You can meditate for 4000 years, but if avoidance is at the root of it, you won't be free.
The veil between you and God is only doubt.
The purpose of all practice is Silence, your real nature. Without Silence you cannot be in peace so strive only for this. Even while active remain in Silence as Silence and be conscious of Silence always. Ramana’s main teaching is Silence and it is this Silence that silently answers all questions and removes all doubts. Train your mind to go to Silence. As Kabir said: “Keep your body, your mind, your intellect, and your prana quiet and wisdom will follow behind you searching for you!”
Be Silent by directing your mind toward its Source. Mind directed toward object of senses is suffering.
The same mind must investigate its Source; the “I” must face its Source. This is true austerity, true practice, and true meditation. Face the Atman, this is Satsang, because this is home, the holy company of the Self. The most holy association is to Be as you are. This is Freedom. This is beyond imagination, very new and very fresh. So just keep Quiet. Do not think. It is you. It is you. Don’t stir a thought, and if a thought comes, let it, don’t waver, don’t doubt your majesty. It is so simple. The one who has It will know that they have done it. When you are quiet it is Beauty, Joy and Stillness. It is effortless.
Effort is to disturb your mind, effort is playing with corpses in the graveyard.
Just contemplate that which is always silence. Go to the Source. Do not believe anything, simply stay quiet and return home and do not rest until you are there. Peace is only available when there is no “I” and you need an “I” to do practice.
Be Silent by directing your mind toward its Source. Mind directed toward object of senses is suffering.
The same mind must investigate its Source; the “I” must face its Source. This is true austerity, true practice, and true meditation. Face the Atman, this is Satsang, because this is home, the holy company of the Self. The most holy association is to Be as you are. This is Freedom. This is beyond imagination, very new and very fresh. So just keep Quiet. Do not think. It is you. It is you. Don’t stir a thought, and if a thought comes, let it, don’t waver, don’t doubt your majesty. It is so simple. The one who has It will know that they have done it. When you are quiet it is Beauty, Joy and Stillness. It is effortless.
Effort is to disturb your mind, effort is playing with corpses in the graveyard.
Just contemplate that which is always silence. Go to the Source. Do not believe anything, simply stay quiet and return home and do not rest until you are there. Peace is only available when there is no “I” and you need an “I” to do practice.
Question: How can one be free when one is attached to people, objects or ideas?
Papaji:
One is already free. One need not make any effort. Simply keep quiet.
Mind is past, all is past. There is no one who does not speak of anything that he has not read from a book or heard from any teacher.
When you reject everything that belongs to the past, you will enter a new, unspeakable dimension.
In the moment between past and future, just look at who you are. No effort, no thought. Just keep quiet.
In this quietness you will experience for the the first time a peace, love, beauty that you have never felt.
Papaji:
One is already free. One need not make any effort. Simply keep quiet.
Mind is past, all is past. There is no one who does not speak of anything that he has not read from a book or heard from any teacher.
When you reject everything that belongs to the past, you will enter a new, unspeakable dimension.
In the moment between past and future, just look at who you are. No effort, no thought. Just keep quiet.
In this quietness you will experience for the the first time a peace, love, beauty that you have never felt.
When I speak about quietness - when I tell you to keep quiet - it is not easy for everyone to follow. Most people here are from different backgrounds, practices, sadhanas; and therefore feel they need to do something, to put something into practice. When I say, "Keep quiet." it is not a practice. There is nothing to be done and nothing to be undone. This cannot be followed. There is nothing to think about, no need to make any kind of effort. This is an indication of the quietness I am speaking about. Truth always exists. Existence alone is. It is called satyam.
We speak about enlightenment, but first we have created bondage. Bondage does not exist. How can you remove that which does not exist? First, teachers impose a concept of bondage and then various practices are prescribed. There may be millions of books in the world, thousands more are published every day. Nowhere does it say, "Be quiet". When you simply say "Keep quiet," what is the rest of the book to be about?
There is no ignorance at all; there is only existence - there is only satyam. If you simply keep quiet you will know that only this exists. Before the sun rises early in the morning it does not first try to remove the darkness of the night. The sun does not say, "Let me brush away the darkness and only then, in the daytime, I will rise." For the sun there is no light, there is no darkness to be removed. The sun does not even know that such a thing as night exists. What practice is needed to remove darkness, where is this darkness? All practices imply the reality of darkness, of ignorance, when in fact they do not exist. The river in the sand is a mirage; it does not exist, it never existed. If you go closer and closer the sand not even is wet; it is only a belief that makes us run after a mirage, nothing else. There is only satyam; there is only Truth. What need is there of practice? It is only practice which is concealing the truth.
We speak about enlightenment, but first we have created bondage. Bondage does not exist. How can you remove that which does not exist? First, teachers impose a concept of bondage and then various practices are prescribed. There may be millions of books in the world, thousands more are published every day. Nowhere does it say, "Be quiet". When you simply say "Keep quiet," what is the rest of the book to be about?
There is no ignorance at all; there is only existence - there is only satyam. If you simply keep quiet you will know that only this exists. Before the sun rises early in the morning it does not first try to remove the darkness of the night. The sun does not say, "Let me brush away the darkness and only then, in the daytime, I will rise." For the sun there is no light, there is no darkness to be removed. The sun does not even know that such a thing as night exists. What practice is needed to remove darkness, where is this darkness? All practices imply the reality of darkness, of ignorance, when in fact they do not exist. The river in the sand is a mirage; it does not exist, it never existed. If you go closer and closer the sand not even is wet; it is only a belief that makes us run after a mirage, nothing else. There is only satyam; there is only Truth. What need is there of practice? It is only practice which is concealing the truth.
No tension, no intention, simply attention. No struggle between the in and the out,
just stay relaxed and at ease.
just stay relaxed and at ease.
On three accounts searching and practice
are foolishness and misleading
and are only the clever mind postponing Freedom.
The first is that it creates a searcher.
This reinforces the concept of an individual sufferer
that is separate from Freedom, and
that Self is something "other" than that Here and Now.
The second is the search.
Searching is a distraction which causes postponement
and endless needless suffering.
Searching promotes religions, traditions,
and paths to be adhered to,
which serve only to trap you deeper in illusion.
The Truth is only Here and Now,
but the search says it is tomorrow.
The third account is that search creates an object to be found,
and this can be the subtlest and most misleading trap.
As you start a search you conceptualize
what it is that you are searching for.
Since the nature of Maya, of illusion,
is that whatever you think the goal to be you will attain it.
There is no doubt about this: as you think so it becomes.
So because of your search you will create and then attain
that which you think you are searching for!
Any heaven or high spiritual state you long to attain
you will attain after you conceptualize and create it.
Then you will rest satisfied in this trap
thinking that you have attained your "Heaven."
This pie-in-the-sky freedom custom made for you
out of your very own thought and conditioning
of what the ultimate is.
The Truth is beyond thought, concept, and conditioning
and this Truth is what you are, and only the Truth Is.
So stop your search, simply be Quiet.
are foolishness and misleading
and are only the clever mind postponing Freedom.
The first is that it creates a searcher.
This reinforces the concept of an individual sufferer
that is separate from Freedom, and
that Self is something "other" than that Here and Now.
The second is the search.
Searching is a distraction which causes postponement
and endless needless suffering.
Searching promotes religions, traditions,
and paths to be adhered to,
which serve only to trap you deeper in illusion.
The Truth is only Here and Now,
but the search says it is tomorrow.
The third account is that search creates an object to be found,
and this can be the subtlest and most misleading trap.
As you start a search you conceptualize
what it is that you are searching for.
Since the nature of Maya, of illusion,
is that whatever you think the goal to be you will attain it.
There is no doubt about this: as you think so it becomes.
So because of your search you will create and then attain
that which you think you are searching for!
Any heaven or high spiritual state you long to attain
you will attain after you conceptualize and create it.
Then you will rest satisfied in this trap
thinking that you have attained your "Heaven."
This pie-in-the-sky freedom custom made for you
out of your very own thought and conditioning
of what the ultimate is.
The Truth is beyond thought, concept, and conditioning
and this Truth is what you are, and only the Truth Is.
So stop your search, simply be Quiet.
One of Ramana Maharshi’s students; Papaji, discussed practice oriented methods:
“During the course of our conversation I said, ‘You are asking people to “be quiet” or “be still”. Some of these Buddhist meditators have been practising vipassana meditation for years, and many of them have attained a strong inner silence. Are these people not better equipped to follow your “keep quiet” teachings than those who come here with no background in meditation at all?’
I asked this because, as many people know, Papaji didn’t have a high opinion of formal meditation.
Papaji replied, ‘No, they are not better equipped, and I will tell you why. When you start to meditate, you usually have a goal that you want to reach, and a route by which you intend to attain that goal. These are just ideas that you invent, nourish and sustain. You are already the Self. You are never away from it, so there is no route to get there. You just have to stop pretending that this is not true, and the way you do that is by giving up all ideas, not by accumulating and cherishing new ones.
‘The ego is very clever and very powerful. If you set up a goal – such as inner silence – and then earnestly devote your time to a practice that you strongly believe will help you to reach that goal, your ego will then create an inner mental realm into which you can immerse yourself and dualistically enjoy peace and silence. You, the enjoyer, will immerse yourself in this inner self-created world, and there you will enjoy the experiences that you desire, or the ones that you think indicate that you are making progress towards your self-created goal. Through effort and concentration you can enter this self-created inner realm and have extraordinary experiences. However, they are all experiences of the mind, created and sustained by your powers of concentration. In ancient time rishis such as Viswamitra could create whole universes in this fashion. But all these inner worlds are imaginary; they are sustained by your belief in them and by the effort you put in to discovering them and abiding in them.
‘If you have an idea of what enlightenment is and how it can be reached, the mind will happily create a place inside itself where your idea of enlightenment, or the steps along the way to attaining it, can be experienced as a pleasant, beautiful, peaceful and blissful place. However, these experiences don’t last because they are not natural; they are created and sustained by the mental effort of the person who wants to experience them. That is why experiences wear off when you stop meditating. Everyone who meditates says, “I experienced some bliss when I meditated, but soon after I stopped meditating, the bliss went away”.
‘What comes and goes is not real. If you experience an ananda that ceases when you stop making an effort, then that ananda is not real. It is something you created yourself because you had an inner desire to enjoy it.
‘These Buddhist meditators, and all other kinds of meditators, are experts at abiding in self-created states that give them validations of their spiritual world view. These meditators get attached to their inner states of quiet and don’t want to give them up even when I tell them that their thoughts about practice and their experiences from pursuing it are actually keeping them away from the place and the state that I am trying to direct their attention to.
So, the people who come here with no mental baggage about enlightenment and how to attain it are often the ones who get what I am pointing at. The ones who have heads full of ideas about practice listen to what I say, and then they tell themselves that they are well on the way to this state of peace I am describing to them because they have been looking for this silence in their meditations for years.
‘The only true ananda, the only true peace, is that which is there all the time. You discover it when you desist from all mental activities. Permanent peace is discovered when the mind stops, not when it concentrates on an object that it thinks will give it peace.’
“During the course of our conversation I said, ‘You are asking people to “be quiet” or “be still”. Some of these Buddhist meditators have been practising vipassana meditation for years, and many of them have attained a strong inner silence. Are these people not better equipped to follow your “keep quiet” teachings than those who come here with no background in meditation at all?’
I asked this because, as many people know, Papaji didn’t have a high opinion of formal meditation.
Papaji replied, ‘No, they are not better equipped, and I will tell you why. When you start to meditate, you usually have a goal that you want to reach, and a route by which you intend to attain that goal. These are just ideas that you invent, nourish and sustain. You are already the Self. You are never away from it, so there is no route to get there. You just have to stop pretending that this is not true, and the way you do that is by giving up all ideas, not by accumulating and cherishing new ones.
‘The ego is very clever and very powerful. If you set up a goal – such as inner silence – and then earnestly devote your time to a practice that you strongly believe will help you to reach that goal, your ego will then create an inner mental realm into which you can immerse yourself and dualistically enjoy peace and silence. You, the enjoyer, will immerse yourself in this inner self-created world, and there you will enjoy the experiences that you desire, or the ones that you think indicate that you are making progress towards your self-created goal. Through effort and concentration you can enter this self-created inner realm and have extraordinary experiences. However, they are all experiences of the mind, created and sustained by your powers of concentration. In ancient time rishis such as Viswamitra could create whole universes in this fashion. But all these inner worlds are imaginary; they are sustained by your belief in them and by the effort you put in to discovering them and abiding in them.
‘If you have an idea of what enlightenment is and how it can be reached, the mind will happily create a place inside itself where your idea of enlightenment, or the steps along the way to attaining it, can be experienced as a pleasant, beautiful, peaceful and blissful place. However, these experiences don’t last because they are not natural; they are created and sustained by the mental effort of the person who wants to experience them. That is why experiences wear off when you stop meditating. Everyone who meditates says, “I experienced some bliss when I meditated, but soon after I stopped meditating, the bliss went away”.
‘What comes and goes is not real. If you experience an ananda that ceases when you stop making an effort, then that ananda is not real. It is something you created yourself because you had an inner desire to enjoy it.
‘These Buddhist meditators, and all other kinds of meditators, are experts at abiding in self-created states that give them validations of their spiritual world view. These meditators get attached to their inner states of quiet and don’t want to give them up even when I tell them that their thoughts about practice and their experiences from pursuing it are actually keeping them away from the place and the state that I am trying to direct their attention to.
So, the people who come here with no mental baggage about enlightenment and how to attain it are often the ones who get what I am pointing at. The ones who have heads full of ideas about practice listen to what I say, and then they tell themselves that they are well on the way to this state of peace I am describing to them because they have been looking for this silence in their meditations for years.
‘The only true ananda, the only true peace, is that which is there all the time. You discover it when you desist from all mental activities. Permanent peace is discovered when the mind stops, not when it concentrates on an object that it thinks will give it peace.’
Just as a bird leaves no trail in the sky as it flies, the true teaching leaves no trace in memory. The teaching must have no teacher and no student. If the teaching comes from the past or memory or concept, it is preaching not teaching. This teaching never was. It never will be. And it never is.
Whatever thought comes,
whatever it is,
even the thought of meditation: stop.
Discover the source of these thoughts:
“I have to meditate,
I have to be free,
I need freedom”.
Keep quiet and wait.
Find out from where these thoughts are coming.
Return back to the source of these same thoughts
and tell me
what you see.
What do you call this?
Where will it lead you?
It will strike at your mind forever and
you will become what you have always been.
You will not find this
through any method,
don’t be deceived once again
by your mind.
You are here to be free,
in this very instant,
without doing anything,
without even stirring a single thought.
That’s why you are here.
I don’t tell you to go to the Himalayas,
or to the caves or to the forest.
I have seen many people
with head hanging down, doing penance,
I have seen many in the higher altitudes of the Himalayas:
they did not discover freedom.
It is here and now.
What is there to think about this?
Even without thinking,
you are That.
The habit of thinking,
of doing something,
is your only impediment.
Give at least one second to yourself,
without doing anything,
without even thinking.
Do not make any kind of effort,
and see the result.
whatever it is,
even the thought of meditation: stop.
Discover the source of these thoughts:
“I have to meditate,
I have to be free,
I need freedom”.
Keep quiet and wait.
Find out from where these thoughts are coming.
Return back to the source of these same thoughts
and tell me
what you see.
What do you call this?
Where will it lead you?
It will strike at your mind forever and
you will become what you have always been.
You will not find this
through any method,
don’t be deceived once again
by your mind.
You are here to be free,
in this very instant,
without doing anything,
without even stirring a single thought.
That’s why you are here.
I don’t tell you to go to the Himalayas,
or to the caves or to the forest.
I have seen many people
with head hanging down, doing penance,
I have seen many in the higher altitudes of the Himalayas:
they did not discover freedom.
It is here and now.
What is there to think about this?
Even without thinking,
you are That.
The habit of thinking,
of doing something,
is your only impediment.
Give at least one second to yourself,
without doing anything,
without even thinking.
Do not make any kind of effort,
and see the result.
The power of illusion is very strong,
so be vigilant in a joyful play with tendencies because when one is near freedom all demons will consolidate and attack.
Continue being self meditating on self,
do this playfully always.
so be vigilant in a joyful play with tendencies because when one is near freedom all demons will consolidate and attack.
Continue being self meditating on self,
do this playfully always.
Love has no traps.
If you are happy all will be happy,
if you suffer, all will suffer,
if your mind smells bad
others will be affected.
Keep yourself happy in peace,
Light, Wisdom, Consciousness
This is your responsibility.
Be happy and have compassion
and live hand and hand with nature.
This makes birth worthwhile.
Start from Heart and see
that all arises from Heart.
Always do this,
Always be This.
If you are happy all will be happy,
if you suffer, all will suffer,
if your mind smells bad
others will be affected.
Keep yourself happy in peace,
Light, Wisdom, Consciousness
This is your responsibility.
Be happy and have compassion
and live hand and hand with nature.
This makes birth worthwhile.
Start from Heart and see
that all arises from Heart.
Always do this,
Always be This.
Everything and everyone have to be abandoned at some point. All possessions and all relationships will leave you. No matter how much love you have for a person, that relationship, will go one day because it is not who you are. Who you are never goes, never leaves. A king in India built the Taj Mahal to enshrine his love for his dead wife. She was the love of his life, but the relationship ended and left him.
So what is your nature? It is 'I am'. Not 'I am this' or 'I am that'. Not the 'I' that owns a house or has a relationship with a wife. Just 'I am', with nothing attached to it, or identified with it.
Let your will burn in this fire so that it takes you nowhere else. Let your self be burned in this fire of eternity, love and peace. Don't be afraid of this fire, it is love itself. This desire for freedom is the fire of love!
So what is your nature? It is 'I am'. Not 'I am this' or 'I am that'. Not the 'I' that owns a house or has a relationship with a wife. Just 'I am', with nothing attached to it, or identified with it.
Let your will burn in this fire so that it takes you nowhere else. Let your self be burned in this fire of eternity, love and peace. Don't be afraid of this fire, it is love itself. This desire for freedom is the fire of love!
Papaji: The last net [of bondage] is scriptures; God is the last hurdle. When you renounce everything, then you are free. Free of God, free of scriptures, free of samsara.
What you have studied must be forgotten. Then you can leap forward. You cannot leap forward if you cling to the understanding of the scriptures. Then you discover that you are not to try to understand. This is leaping forward beyond scriptures. No difference in holding scriptural concepts than in holding worldly knowledge.
~ from the book "Wake Up and Roar"
What you have studied must be forgotten. Then you can leap forward. You cannot leap forward if you cling to the understanding of the scriptures. Then you discover that you are not to try to understand. This is leaping forward beyond scriptures. No difference in holding scriptural concepts than in holding worldly knowledge.
~ from the book "Wake Up and Roar"
Love has no traps.
If you are happy all will be happy,
if you suffer, all will suffer,
if your mind smells bad
others will be affected.
Keep yourself happy in peace,
Light, Wisdom, Consciousness
This is your responsibility.
Be happy and have compassion
and live hand and hand with nature.
This makes birth worthwhile.
Start from Heart and see
that all arises from Heart.
Always do this,
Always be This.
If you are happy all will be happy,
if you suffer, all will suffer,
if your mind smells bad
others will be affected.
Keep yourself happy in peace,
Light, Wisdom, Consciousness
This is your responsibility.
Be happy and have compassion
and live hand and hand with nature.
This makes birth worthwhile.
Start from Heart and see
that all arises from Heart.
Always do this,
Always be This.
Unexplainable knowledge
will take charge for you.
Supreme activity, unheard of,
will take charge for you.
will take charge for you.
Supreme activity, unheard of,
will take charge for you.
Unexplainable knowledge will take charge for you. Supreme activity, unheard of, will take charge for you.
Papaji: The concept "I am a body" is a dream.
Questioner : This is very difficult to understand.
Papaji: No, it is not difficult. Every day your experience this. Every night, when you go to sleep you experience this. You leave your body and friends behind and fall asleep. At that moment, are you happy or unhappy? To leave everything behind – apartment, car, money, friends – and say, "Good night, I am going to sleep." You leave the body, the mind and the ego all behind. And where are you wanting to go and disappear from all the pleasures of life? Why do you want to hide yourself and be alone? It must be a happier place than this world, that's why you want to run away. To enjoy your Self, alone. No one likes suffering. You must be very happy in sleep, therefore, you turn your back on everything and go to sleep alone, don't you?.
Papaji: First, I will tell you a little story. The story runs like this. Every day, a local washermen goes down to a river to wash clothes. He loads the soiled clothes on the back of several donkeys, washes the clothes, waits for them to dry on the river bank, and then returns home at the end of the day.
One day, a lioness goes down to the river to drink some water. In those days, lions were hunted for their skin and their head. Nowadays, it is forbidden. While this lioness was drinking water, a hunter hiding behind a bush shoots and kills her. This lioness was pregnant, and while skinning the lioness, the hunter pulled out a lion cub and left it on the bank.
A little later, the washerman goes to the river and sees the dead lioness and the newly born lion cub. He decided to look after the cub instead of leaving it to die. He washed it before putting it in a basket and returned home with it. He fed it milk and slowly when the cub grew big enough, he took the lion cub with him each day down to the river, where he left it along with the donkeys to eat grass on the bank of the river. It got used to walking with the donkeys. After awhile, it got rather big, so the washerman decided to load the soiled clothes on the young lion's back as well, treating it like the other donkeys. This lion slowly became a 'donkey', doing exactly what the other donkeys did. He lived with other donkeys – carried clothes on his back, drank milk and ate grass just like them. He had no idea what a lion was.
Several months later, another lion came to drink at the river and was amazed to see this lion cub eating grass near the river bank along with the donkeys. Lions usually eat donkeys and humans, not grass. It moved closer for a better look. He couldn't believe his eyes. Was he dreaming? How could this be? He got even closer, which caused all the donkeys to flee away and the washerman to climb a tree. The tame lion also tried to run away, because he was afraid just like the donkeys. The hunter lion chased and caught the tame lion. He jumped on him and knocked him to the grass.
The tame lion was very afraid. "Please, sir, please don't eat me", he said. "Let me go and join the others."
"But you are a lion", the one on top replied.
"No, sir, I am a donkey."
So the hunter lion took his charge down to the river.
"Look at your reflection", he said. "We are the same."
The tame lion looked into the water and saw two lions looking back.
"You are a lion and you have always been a lion."
"Then how is it that I felt I was a donkey?"
"By associating with donkeys you became a donkey."
"Then how can I now live like a lion since I have only lived as a donkey?"
"Listen, look, open your mouth and utter a roar, like I do." He roared and then the other lion roared!
"It is as simple as that. Don't practice being a lion. Roar! How long does it take to roar? No time! Open your mouth and it's finished."
"I am a lion!" He never returned back with the donkeys.
He needed a teacher to tell him, he needed someone similar, another lion to tell him,"Utter the roar." And what is that roar? "I am Reality. I am free! I am God itself!" This is the roar. Afterwards, you will not go and play with any donkeys. Playing with donkeys means listening to the senses, chasing after objects which constantly change. This is what I call "sleeping to the Self". So, for one instant of your life, turn your face towards the Self. Keep quiet and see who you are. Utter a roar.
Those who cannot keep quiet, they are donkeys. Let them play all their life with other donkeys, getting loaded with soiled linen, under the command of the washerman.
Questioner : This is very difficult to understand.
Papaji: No, it is not difficult. Every day your experience this. Every night, when you go to sleep you experience this. You leave your body and friends behind and fall asleep. At that moment, are you happy or unhappy? To leave everything behind – apartment, car, money, friends – and say, "Good night, I am going to sleep." You leave the body, the mind and the ego all behind. And where are you wanting to go and disappear from all the pleasures of life? Why do you want to hide yourself and be alone? It must be a happier place than this world, that's why you want to run away. To enjoy your Self, alone. No one likes suffering. You must be very happy in sleep, therefore, you turn your back on everything and go to sleep alone, don't you?.
Papaji: First, I will tell you a little story. The story runs like this. Every day, a local washermen goes down to a river to wash clothes. He loads the soiled clothes on the back of several donkeys, washes the clothes, waits for them to dry on the river bank, and then returns home at the end of the day.
One day, a lioness goes down to the river to drink some water. In those days, lions were hunted for their skin and their head. Nowadays, it is forbidden. While this lioness was drinking water, a hunter hiding behind a bush shoots and kills her. This lioness was pregnant, and while skinning the lioness, the hunter pulled out a lion cub and left it on the bank.
A little later, the washerman goes to the river and sees the dead lioness and the newly born lion cub. He decided to look after the cub instead of leaving it to die. He washed it before putting it in a basket and returned home with it. He fed it milk and slowly when the cub grew big enough, he took the lion cub with him each day down to the river, where he left it along with the donkeys to eat grass on the bank of the river. It got used to walking with the donkeys. After awhile, it got rather big, so the washerman decided to load the soiled clothes on the young lion's back as well, treating it like the other donkeys. This lion slowly became a 'donkey', doing exactly what the other donkeys did. He lived with other donkeys – carried clothes on his back, drank milk and ate grass just like them. He had no idea what a lion was.
Several months later, another lion came to drink at the river and was amazed to see this lion cub eating grass near the river bank along with the donkeys. Lions usually eat donkeys and humans, not grass. It moved closer for a better look. He couldn't believe his eyes. Was he dreaming? How could this be? He got even closer, which caused all the donkeys to flee away and the washerman to climb a tree. The tame lion also tried to run away, because he was afraid just like the donkeys. The hunter lion chased and caught the tame lion. He jumped on him and knocked him to the grass.
The tame lion was very afraid. "Please, sir, please don't eat me", he said. "Let me go and join the others."
"But you are a lion", the one on top replied.
"No, sir, I am a donkey."
So the hunter lion took his charge down to the river.
"Look at your reflection", he said. "We are the same."
The tame lion looked into the water and saw two lions looking back.
"You are a lion and you have always been a lion."
"Then how is it that I felt I was a donkey?"
"By associating with donkeys you became a donkey."
"Then how can I now live like a lion since I have only lived as a donkey?"
"Listen, look, open your mouth and utter a roar, like I do." He roared and then the other lion roared!
"It is as simple as that. Don't practice being a lion. Roar! How long does it take to roar? No time! Open your mouth and it's finished."
"I am a lion!" He never returned back with the donkeys.
He needed a teacher to tell him, he needed someone similar, another lion to tell him,"Utter the roar." And what is that roar? "I am Reality. I am free! I am God itself!" This is the roar. Afterwards, you will not go and play with any donkeys. Playing with donkeys means listening to the senses, chasing after objects which constantly change. This is what I call "sleeping to the Self". So, for one instant of your life, turn your face towards the Self. Keep quiet and see who you are. Utter a roar.
Those who cannot keep quiet, they are donkeys. Let them play all their life with other donkeys, getting loaded with soiled linen, under the command of the washerman.
Hidden tendencies arise to leave when you are Quiet,
so it is a good sign when vasanas arise.
Do not be dismayed because they are Self.
Let vasanas arise, they do not exist.
The world is a playground for the wise
and a graveyard for the foolish.
Let the vasanas play, they are transient imaginations
and even the "I" to which they occur is imagination itself.
Abide as Substratum and allow circumstances to come and go.
Stay Quiet with no intention, no notion,
not even inquire for Freedom, and don't utter the word "I."
Then the gods and demons of the vasanas will vanish.
Your true nature does not come and go.
Play with what comes and goes.
When they arise they will disappear.
Allow them to go away.
Let things happen through mind-ego
and just stay Quiet as they happen,
with the firm conviction: I Am I Am.
so it is a good sign when vasanas arise.
Do not be dismayed because they are Self.
Let vasanas arise, they do not exist.
The world is a playground for the wise
and a graveyard for the foolish.
Let the vasanas play, they are transient imaginations
and even the "I" to which they occur is imagination itself.
Abide as Substratum and allow circumstances to come and go.
Stay Quiet with no intention, no notion,
not even inquire for Freedom, and don't utter the word "I."
Then the gods and demons of the vasanas will vanish.
Your true nature does not come and go.
Play with what comes and goes.
When they arise they will disappear.
Allow them to go away.
Let things happen through mind-ego
and just stay Quiet as they happen,
with the firm conviction: I Am I Am.
You have been given a concept by most of the teachers that there is darkness, and that you have to spend your whole life clearing this darkness. No one speaks about light; everyone is trying to remove darkness and ignorance when it does not really exist.
First of all, look for yourself! Has anyone seen any ignorance? Sometimes when people who come to see me come closer to keeping quiet they say, "I do not understand." What is there to understand? Simply keep quiet - this is what you really are. How can there be any doubt? In keeping quiet you discover what you really are.
Through spiritual practices you overlook the one who is causing this to happen. Who is involving your limbs in the practice, your intellect in the practice? Who is causing your mind to be involved in trying to get understanding? If the one causing activity is not there you cannot conduct any practice. This is why I tell you to simply keep quiet. Then you will know what you truly are and what you have always been, and this is indestructible. All else will be destroyed, only Existence itself remains. The Truth will always remain - it Is - it is eternal. That which is not this truth does not exist at all.
You have two choices: Either you follow most teachers and spend your life trying to remove or clean out the mind. First you will have to find out if the mind exists. No one has seen the mind. Even if you found it, how do you propose to clean it? Everyone is practicing cleaning the mind but there is no one so far who has cleaned it. Where is this mind to be cleaned?
The second choice is to keep quiet and you will know who really you are. This is very simple. It is not going to take you time; in fact time does not appear. There is nothing outside that can help you, you have just to keep quiet - that's all - and you will know then you are eternal. You are Eternal Existence itself.
First of all, look for yourself! Has anyone seen any ignorance? Sometimes when people who come to see me come closer to keeping quiet they say, "I do not understand." What is there to understand? Simply keep quiet - this is what you really are. How can there be any doubt? In keeping quiet you discover what you really are.
Through spiritual practices you overlook the one who is causing this to happen. Who is involving your limbs in the practice, your intellect in the practice? Who is causing your mind to be involved in trying to get understanding? If the one causing activity is not there you cannot conduct any practice. This is why I tell you to simply keep quiet. Then you will know what you truly are and what you have always been, and this is indestructible. All else will be destroyed, only Existence itself remains. The Truth will always remain - it Is - it is eternal. That which is not this truth does not exist at all.
You have two choices: Either you follow most teachers and spend your life trying to remove or clean out the mind. First you will have to find out if the mind exists. No one has seen the mind. Even if you found it, how do you propose to clean it? Everyone is practicing cleaning the mind but there is no one so far who has cleaned it. Where is this mind to be cleaned?
The second choice is to keep quiet and you will know who really you are. This is very simple. It is not going to take you time; in fact time does not appear. There is nothing outside that can help you, you have just to keep quiet - that's all - and you will know then you are eternal. You are Eternal Existence itself.
Don't waste your time purifying the mind because the mind can never be pure.
Even the desire to be pure is a trick of the mind. And you need not drop the mind because it doesn't exist. How can you drop something that doesn't exist?
Even the desire to be pure is a trick of the mind. And you need not drop the mind because it doesn't exist. How can you drop something that doesn't exist?
Q : Should I abide as the pure “I" and have faith that purity will come?
Sri Papaji :
Don't waste your time in the purity of mind
because mind cannot be pure.
Even the desire to be pure is the trick of the mind.
You will spend many lives purifying the mind,
but it will never be pure.
Look at the story of Vishwamitra and Manika.
After purifying his mind for 10,000 years
he still falls for her instantly.
It is better to just allow your desires to arise and
not let them touch you.
Let them arise and let them be fullfilled.
You simply stay Quiet.
Don't try to become anything,
don't go anywhere
and
don't do anything
and
don't undo anything.
Find the source of these concepts and stay there.
This is bliss, nothing else.
This knowledge is bliss.
~ Sri Papaji , from The Truth Is book
Sri Papaji :
Don't waste your time in the purity of mind
because mind cannot be pure.
Even the desire to be pure is the trick of the mind.
You will spend many lives purifying the mind,
but it will never be pure.
Look at the story of Vishwamitra and Manika.
After purifying his mind for 10,000 years
he still falls for her instantly.
It is better to just allow your desires to arise and
not let them touch you.
Let them arise and let them be fullfilled.
You simply stay Quiet.
Don't try to become anything,
don't go anywhere
and
don't do anything
and
don't undo anything.
Find the source of these concepts and stay there.
This is bliss, nothing else.
This knowledge is bliss.
~ Sri Papaji , from The Truth Is book
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