โ€Ž---------- Leave the world alone, go within your Self ----------

What is the Self?
The Self is your real nature, that's what you are.
The Self is consciousness.

What is consciousness?
Consciousness is the power that is conscious of itself.
It is self-contained, it is omnipresent.
When you speak of love, of peace, of God, of joy, of happiness, of bliss, you're speaking of consciousness.
These words are just other words for consciousness.
Consciousness is you.
The Self, consciousness, they're all synonymous.
They all pertain to you.

Now what have you been seeing? What have you been reacting to?
The mind goes out and causes problems and you try to resolve them. You cannot. For when you resolve one problem another one pops up somewhere else and there's no end to it. It's like trying to figure out, what came first the seed or the tree? You never get anywhere, there's no solution. People have been trying to resolve problems, since the beginning of time and the world is getting worse. There's no adequate solution in trying to resolve anything in the outside. The great secret of course is to;
Leave the world alone, go within your Self and there you will find happiness, joy and peace.

But how do you go within yourself
How do you dive deep within yourself?
By asking the question, "Who am I?"
I have found this to be the fastest method there is, to awakening.
There are other methods, but personally I found this the fastest.
All you have to do is question, "Who am I?"
You do not have to answer, you do not have to analyze anything, you do not have to come up with any solution.
You simply ask the question, "From whence did 'I' come?
Where did the 'I' come from?
What is the source of 'I'?"

Many people have been practicing Jnana Marga have made the mistake of concentrating on the 'I' and this is why you do not get anywhere.
You concentrate on the source, not on the 'I'.
The 'I' is only an illusion.
It is only is something that appears to be like your body.
It has no momentum, it has no substance.
But yet you have to watch the 'I'.
You have to abide in the 'I'.
For it leads you to the source of existence.
The source of everything.

You do this by again questioning, "Where does the 'I' come from?"
You do not answer.
And you ask again, "Who am I?" You never answer.
If you answer, it is your mind playing games with you.
Your ego is very powerful, it does not wish to be destroyed.
It will play games with you.
You simply pose the question yet you never answer.
The answer will come in due time.
It will reveal itself to you as you.
You need patience, take your time.
Do not think it is going to happen overnight.
It may, it may not.
Yet do not think of those things.
If you're really busy working on your 'I', you will not have time to find fault in the world.
For the 'I' will take all of your attention.
What do you give your attention to now? What hurts you? What bothers you?

This continues simply because you are placing all of your attention, all of your focus on the thing that you think is wrong with your life or something that's disturbing you.
Let me remind you, you will never resolve anything that way. It may appear that you resolve it that way, but something else will pop up.

As an example: A lady is having problems with her co-workers. She can't get along with them. She says, "They're doing this to me, they're doing that to me, it's not my fault", so she quits her job and she moves to San Francisco. Gets a new job. Everything is okay for the first couple of months.

But then she finds the same problem with her new co-workers. Because she has taken herself with her. Yet she does not realize this. She thinks it's the people. She thinks it's the environment. She thinks it's the economy. But she never goes to search herself, to ask herself, "Why do I have this problem? Why do I perceive these things? Who is the perceiver? I am. Who am I? Who is the 'I' that perceives these problems? Where did that I come from? What is its source?"

You abide in the 'I', yet you do not concentrate on the 'I'.
You abide in the 'I', you follow the 'I' to the source.
One day you will awaken and you will become free.
But again, do not look for a timetable.
Do not try to make it happen this year, or tomorrow or yesterday.
It may, leave it alone.
Do the work that is necessary and everything will work out.
Time passes very fast.
Before you know it, it's time to leave your body.

More on Satsang - December 9, 1990