What we use here sometimes which is a very good beginning is the I-am meditation. You relax your body and you inhale and you say, "I," and you exhale and you say, "am, I-am." You can do this while you're waking, while you're walking, while you're wash- ing dishes, while you're resting. What it does is it makes your mind one pointed, so it'll stop thinking. In other words, you use whatever method you have to, to still your mind. The whole secret is to quiet your mind. To keep it from thinking. To keep it from being active. Your mind is a bunch of waves. You want to stop the waves and you want your mind to become still and the fastest way to do that is by self-inquiry or by observing your thoughts, watching your thoughts, becoming the witness to your thoughts.
If you truly want to repent, just sit in silent meditation and see the perfect reality within, for all manners of error merely arise in erroneous thought, and like the morning due before the rising sun, can perfectly be eliminated through the benevolent light and wisdom.
Suffice it to say, that you as you exist now are complete emptiness. You are pure intelligence, pure awareness, absolute reality, nirvana, just the way you are, right now! Do not think about it. If you think about it you spoil it, just the way you are this moment. You are pure intelligence, absolute reality, you are the unborn, but every time a thought comes into your mind you spoil it.
There is nothing outside that is not within you.
This is something that should be remembered all of the time.
You should always be aware of this.
There is nothing out there that is not within here.
If you understand this totally where do you have to go?
Whom do you have to see?
What do you have to read?
What is there to do?
You can simply sit and be the universe and bask in glory and total love, total joy.
102 Awaken! - October 13, 1991
This is something that should be remembered all of the time.
You should always be aware of this.
There is nothing out there that is not within here.
If you understand this totally where do you have to go?
Whom do you have to see?
What do you have to read?
What is there to do?
You can simply sit and be the universe and bask in glory and total love, total joy.
102 Awaken! - October 13, 1991
The only burden you have ever had is your mind.
One of the best ways to let go of your emotions is by practicing Self-Inquiry.
I know some of you have got tired of practicing this.
Some of you believe nothing is happening, but all the same make it a habit.
Think of the many habits you have now, destructive habits.
Habits that do not help you whatsoever in your unfoldment to the Self.
But yet you do these things without thinking, the destructive habits.
Develop a good habit, like practicing Self-Inquiry.
Do not look for results.
Do not look for anything to happen.
Just do it.
I know some of you have got tired of practicing this.
Some of you believe nothing is happening, but all the same make it a habit.
Think of the many habits you have now, destructive habits.
Habits that do not help you whatsoever in your unfoldment to the Self.
But yet you do these things without thinking, the destructive habits.
Develop a good habit, like practicing Self-Inquiry.
Do not look for results.
Do not look for anything to happen.
Just do it.
You have to jump within yourself.
You have to learn to sit in the silence, to quiet the mind and it will come by itself.
You do not have to pray for it, or practice sadhanas, as I said before, do certain rituals, or read certain books.
You simply have to sit, quiet the mind, by observing it, inquire,
"To whom do the thoughts come?"
Be still and know that I am God.
You have to learn to sit in the silence, to quiet the mind and it will come by itself.
You do not have to pray for it, or practice sadhanas, as I said before, do certain rituals, or read certain books.
You simply have to sit, quiet the mind, by observing it, inquire,
"To whom do the thoughts come?"
Be still and know that I am God.
You have to awaken, now.
And let go of the dream world.
Many of you are so concerned with your future.
You're so worried about your past.
You have all sorts of plans in your mind.
You're conditioned to believe this, to believe that.
This is what is keeping you back from waking up.
You must let go, in it's entirety, of any hold the world has on you.
You have to stand naked before God.
In the last analyses you have to be your Self without the help of books, teachers, systems, governments, religions.
You have to step out of that rut of your conditioning.
Become totally unconditioned, as if you were just born.
Reading too many books simply adds to the confusion.
And let go of the dream world.
Many of you are so concerned with your future.
You're so worried about your past.
You have all sorts of plans in your mind.
You're conditioned to believe this, to believe that.
This is what is keeping you back from waking up.
You must let go, in it's entirety, of any hold the world has on you.
You have to stand naked before God.
In the last analyses you have to be your Self without the help of books, teachers, systems, governments, religions.
You have to step out of that rut of your conditioning.
Become totally unconditioned, as if you were just born.
Reading too many books simply adds to the confusion.
When you practice Self-Inquiry and follow the thoughts back to its source, the whole secret is to realize, there is no source to your thoughts.
It is only the source that exist, but there is no source for your thoughts, for your body, for your mind.
That has no source.
For Brahman is self-contained absolute reality.
There are no thoughts in Brahman.
Brahman is not a source.
Brahman is something beyond words and thoughts.
Something that you alone can experience.
In other words Brahman can be experienced.
Not as anything you're aware of now, not as a person, place or thing but as life experiences itself.
Ponder these things deeply.
232 The Ground Upon Which I Stand Is Holy Ground - March 18, 1993
It is only the source that exist, but there is no source for your thoughts, for your body, for your mind.
That has no source.
For Brahman is self-contained absolute reality.
There are no thoughts in Brahman.
Brahman is not a source.
Brahman is something beyond words and thoughts.
Something that you alone can experience.
In other words Brahman can be experienced.
Not as anything you're aware of now, not as a person, place or thing but as life experiences itself.
Ponder these things deeply.
232 The Ground Upon Which I Stand Is Holy Ground - March 18, 1993
A Sage does not belong to this world or to the universe.
Therefore a Sage does not become interested in healing or this would put a Sage on a plane of relativity.
We will not judge who is a Sage or who is not.
But the fact remains in Advaita Vedanta we do not try to heal people.
By your very presence healings may take place, just by being.
This is why it's so important to work on yourself, transcending your body and the world, going beyond health, sickness, wealth, poverty, good, bad, going beyond this duality.
And coming to the place where there is ultimate oneness.
Where you have become pure being.
130 Health, Sickness and Death – February 20, 1992
Therefore a Sage does not become interested in healing or this would put a Sage on a plane of relativity.
We will not judge who is a Sage or who is not.
But the fact remains in Advaita Vedanta we do not try to heal people.
By your very presence healings may take place, just by being.
This is why it's so important to work on yourself, transcending your body and the world, going beyond health, sickness, wealth, poverty, good, bad, going beyond this duality.
And coming to the place where there is ultimate oneness.
Where you have become pure being.
130 Health, Sickness and Death – February 20, 1992
A Satguru, a Sage, a Jnani comes to upset your life. To pull you out of your samskaras. To resolve your karma, to make you free. But in order to do that, he does not add on.
•~•~•
Anyway. A Spiritual Master does not come to please you. A true spiritual Master is not lovey-dovey and brings you kindness and good cheer. If a spiritual Master does this he or she is not a true spiritual Master. The truth is you are already filled with all kinds of nonsense, ideas, concepts, foolishness, stuff from previous lives, this has to be pulled out of you. So the Sage through certain methods, certain disciplines causes certain things to happen in your lives in order to become free.
•~•~•
This is the reason why only mature people really attract a true Sage.
If an immature person attracts a true Sage they will not be able to stand the fire.
It will be too hot.
For things will begin to burn up in their lives.
Which means in English, that things will appear to become progressively worse.
People come to a Sage for health problems and their health becomes increasingly worse.
As a matter of fact some people even die.
People come to a Sage to increase their financial bank account and they go bankrupt.
•~•~•
The whole idea is your approach to a Sage has to be unconditional. You cannot have preconceived ideas of what the outcome is going to be and what's going to happen to your life. Yet you may be assured of this, as time passes all your so called stuff will be burnt up and you will become free, if you can hold on. So the Sage does not come in peace. If you're looking for peace you came to the wrong place.
•~•~•
Anyway. A Spiritual Master does not come to please you. A true spiritual Master is not lovey-dovey and brings you kindness and good cheer. If a spiritual Master does this he or she is not a true spiritual Master. The truth is you are already filled with all kinds of nonsense, ideas, concepts, foolishness, stuff from previous lives, this has to be pulled out of you. So the Sage through certain methods, certain disciplines causes certain things to happen in your lives in order to become free.
•~•~•
This is the reason why only mature people really attract a true Sage.
If an immature person attracts a true Sage they will not be able to stand the fire.
It will be too hot.
For things will begin to burn up in their lives.
Which means in English, that things will appear to become progressively worse.
People come to a Sage for health problems and their health becomes increasingly worse.
As a matter of fact some people even die.
People come to a Sage to increase their financial bank account and they go bankrupt.
•~•~•
The whole idea is your approach to a Sage has to be unconditional. You cannot have preconceived ideas of what the outcome is going to be and what's going to happen to your life. Yet you may be assured of this, as time passes all your so called stuff will be burnt up and you will become free, if you can hold on. So the Sage does not come in peace. If you're looking for peace you came to the wrong place.
If you try to practice Self-Inquiry you will find as many of you tell me,
"It's so hard because there are many things happening in this world".
So many people are getting killed.
So much man's inhumanity to man and you cannot hold onto "Who am I?"
So go the other way.
Begin to reason this out for yourself.
Begin to see that there is a power within me that knows the way.
I surrender to this power.
I surrender my feelings, my thoughts, my emotions, my frustrations.
I surrender everything to this power that knows the way.
In other words get yourself out of the way.
"It's so hard because there are many things happening in this world".
So many people are getting killed.
So much man's inhumanity to man and you cannot hold onto "Who am I?"
So go the other way.
Begin to reason this out for yourself.
Begin to see that there is a power within me that knows the way.
I surrender to this power.
I surrender my feelings, my thoughts, my emotions, my frustrations.
I surrender everything to this power that knows the way.
In other words get yourself out of the way.
Do not want to be free of your pain.
Do not look for freedom from your pain.
Do you know why?
Because when you look for freedom from pain you believe the pain has substance and it's reality, now you've got to get rid of it.
But in truth and in reality there never was a pain.
There is no pain.
You have to ask yourself,
"To whom does the pain come?"
Your Self can never have pain.
Do not look for freedom from your pain.
Do you know why?
Because when you look for freedom from pain you believe the pain has substance and it's reality, now you've got to get rid of it.
But in truth and in reality there never was a pain.
There is no pain.
You have to ask yourself,
"To whom does the pain come?"
Your Self can never have pain.
The Sage will never interfere in your life.
Remember the Sage is not a problem solver.
All problems are of the mind.
What does the Sage have to do with this?
Nothing, all works out of the mind.
The Sage is beyond the mind, beyond thinking, beyond thoughts, beyond doing, beyond appearances.
This is why there is nothing more powerful than being with the Sage, and having a quiet mind.
Remember the Sage is not a problem solver.
All problems are of the mind.
What does the Sage have to do with this?
Nothing, all works out of the mind.
The Sage is beyond the mind, beyond thinking, beyond thoughts, beyond doing, beyond appearances.
This is why there is nothing more powerful than being with the Sage, and having a quiet mind.
Watch yourself become depressed.
Watch yourself become angry.
Do not deny it, but observe it.
And if you observe yourself correctly in that calm way, you can ask yourself,
"Who becomes angry?
Who is feeling depressed?"
And follow it through.
Do this over and over and over again, as many times as you have to.
54 Abiding in the 'I' - March 28, 1991
Watch yourself become angry.
Do not deny it, but observe it.
And if you observe yourself correctly in that calm way, you can ask yourself,
"Who becomes angry?
Who is feeling depressed?"
And follow it through.
Do this over and over and over again, as many times as you have to.
54 Abiding in the 'I' - March 28, 1991
There is nothing to learn at all (laughter).
Who has to learn?
The person who has to learn doesn't even exist.
It is the ego that wants to learn.
The mind wants to learn.
The ego believes it has to know knowledge.
It has to acquire wisdom.
But you are wisdom.
Wisdom is your real nature.
When the ego is gone then you know because you are the universe.
But the one who wants to know is the ego.
123 Does Karma Really Exist? – January 26, 1992
Who has to learn?
The person who has to learn doesn't even exist.
It is the ego that wants to learn.
The mind wants to learn.
The ego believes it has to know knowledge.
It has to acquire wisdom.
But you are wisdom.
Wisdom is your real nature.
When the ego is gone then you know because you are the universe.
But the one who wants to know is the ego.
123 Does Karma Really Exist? – January 26, 1992
The first thing to understand is that everything that has transpired in your life has been necessary.
No matter how it looks, no matter what has happened, everything has been necessary.
The second thing to understand is, everything has been preordained.
In other words, everything was supposed to happen the way it happened.
There were no mistakes.
The third thing to understand is that the first two things are all a pack of lies, for these things do not even exist in Reality.
No matter how it looks, no matter what has happened, everything has been necessary.
The second thing to understand is, everything has been preordained.
In other words, everything was supposed to happen the way it happened.
There were no mistakes.
The third thing to understand is that the first two things are all a pack of lies, for these things do not even exist in Reality.
The realized person has no name, for they are sat-chit-ananda. They are Brahman, emptiness, all-pervading, never born, always has been, always will be. Those words will not come to you, but the feeling of being will come to you. Pure being. Not being this or being that, but absolute reality, pure awareness. That is the final result.
Be still.
Stop struggling.
Enter the holy shrine of your heart, and there find peace and joy.
You have always been perfect and you will always be perfect.
There's absolutely nothing you have to delete or add.
Stop struggling.
Enter the holy shrine of your heart, and there find peace and joy.
You have always been perfect and you will always be perfect.
There's absolutely nothing you have to delete or add.
If you practice Self-Inquiry you should do so continuously without stopping, night and day.
By inquiring,
"Who is this person going through this experience?
Who is having these feelings?
Who feels depressed?
Who feels negation?
Who feels that they have been dealt a bad hand in life?
Who feels they're going to die soon?
Who feels all these things?"
Ask your self, inquire within yourself.
The answer is within yourself.
And the answer will come,
"I feel this way.
'I' feel this way.
I feel troubled" Catch yourself saying this and scrutinize the 'I'.
"Where did the 'I' come from?
The 'I' that feels these things.
I've just admitted to myself that I feel this.
But am I, I?
I, I, I.
I, I, I, I, I.
Who is this 'I'?
Am I this 'I'?
I feels tired, I feels sick, I feels depression, I feels it's too good to be true, I feels all of these things", not you!
Not you but "I!"
Therefore the next question you ask yourself is,
"Where does I come from?
What is the source of this 'I'?
Where did it come from?
How did it get here?
Who am I?"
When you get to that point you keep totally quiet and still.
206 You Just Ain't There! - December 6, 1992
By inquiring,
"Who is this person going through this experience?
Who is having these feelings?
Who feels depressed?
Who feels negation?
Who feels that they have been dealt a bad hand in life?
Who feels they're going to die soon?
Who feels all these things?"
Ask your self, inquire within yourself.
The answer is within yourself.
And the answer will come,
"I feel this way.
'I' feel this way.
I feel troubled" Catch yourself saying this and scrutinize the 'I'.
"Where did the 'I' come from?
The 'I' that feels these things.
I've just admitted to myself that I feel this.
But am I, I?
I, I, I.
I, I, I, I, I.
Who is this 'I'?
Am I this 'I'?
I feels tired, I feels sick, I feels depression, I feels it's too good to be true, I feels all of these things", not you!
Not you but "I!"
Therefore the next question you ask yourself is,
"Where does I come from?
What is the source of this 'I'?
Where did it come from?
How did it get here?
Who am I?"
When you get to that point you keep totally quiet and still.
206 You Just Ain't There! - December 6, 1992
When we talk about Advaita Vedanta we talk about the five elements, the three gunas, the food body.
All this talk is nonsense.
It is exactly what it is, spiritual talk.
Spiritual talk gets you nowhere.
Spiritual talk is for novices.
People who are still debating trying to win points.
Trying to come up with answers.
Asking all sorts of questions.
Debating spiritual points.
All this is nonsense.
So the wise person keeps silent.
148 Be "That" - April 23, 1992
All this talk is nonsense.
It is exactly what it is, spiritual talk.
Spiritual talk gets you nowhere.
Spiritual talk is for novices.
People who are still debating trying to win points.
Trying to come up with answers.
Asking all sorts of questions.
Debating spiritual points.
All this is nonsense.
So the wise person keeps silent.
148 Be "That" - April 23, 1992
The guru, the Self are one. There is no difference. A better way to understand this is, the Sage is all-pervading, omnipresent. So in truth there is nothing but the Sage. The Jnani pervades the whole universe. That is how the Jnani or the Sage can pull you in. Because he or she is already within you. They're everywhere, they're everything. In other words there is no personal Sage who does anything. There is only the universal Self that is called the Sage, that is everything.
This is why I tell you so many times, not to read too much.
Not to read too much because when you read too many books on Buddhism and Daoism, on Ramana's books, on Nisargadatta and everybody else in the world, total confusion sets in.
Isn't it better just to sit still at home in the silence and stop the mind from thinking?
That's the easiest way, it's the best way, it's the simplest way.
•~•~•
If you don't believe me, try it.
Try it for a week and see what happens.
For one week I would like you to experiment.
I don't want you to read any book.
Think you can do it?
Don't look at any spiritual literature.
Just sit by yourself as much as you can.
And watch your mind, watch your mind.
Do whatever you have to do to slow down your mind and then you're going to be amazed.
You will laugh at yourself.
For when the mind becomes quiescent, reality will rush in.
And you'll see it's so simple, it's so simple.
Why didn't I know this all the time?
I used to believe by reading volume after volume I'll become enlightened.
But it was so easy, I just had to quiet my mind.
019 Slow Down The Mind And Let Reality Rush In - October 28, 1990
Not to read too much because when you read too many books on Buddhism and Daoism, on Ramana's books, on Nisargadatta and everybody else in the world, total confusion sets in.
Isn't it better just to sit still at home in the silence and stop the mind from thinking?
That's the easiest way, it's the best way, it's the simplest way.
•~•~•
If you don't believe me, try it.
Try it for a week and see what happens.
For one week I would like you to experiment.
I don't want you to read any book.
Think you can do it?
Don't look at any spiritual literature.
Just sit by yourself as much as you can.
And watch your mind, watch your mind.
Do whatever you have to do to slow down your mind and then you're going to be amazed.
You will laugh at yourself.
For when the mind becomes quiescent, reality will rush in.
And you'll see it's so simple, it's so simple.
Why didn't I know this all the time?
I used to believe by reading volume after volume I'll become enlightened.
But it was so easy, I just had to quiet my mind.
019 Slow Down The Mind And Let Reality Rush In - October 28, 1990
You have to dive deep, deep, deep within yourself, deeper than you can ever imagine.
And the only way you can do this is by giving up the external world, mentally, not physically.
In other words, by not reacting to things.
To observe things, watch the world go by, leave it alone.
It’s neither good nor bad.
It has nothing to offer you.
Yet at the same time you’ll be doing what you have to do, what you came here to do.
If you’re supposed to work, you will work.
If you’re not supposed to work, you’ll not work.
If you’re supposed to be married, you’ll be married.
If you’re supposed not to be married, you’ll not be married.
Everything will happen by itself.
Yet you will know within yourself, that this is not you.
The situation is not you.
It has absolutely nothing to do with you.
You are beyond conditioning, beyond situations, beyond experience, beyond everything.
Yet you are everything also.
And the only way you can do this is by giving up the external world, mentally, not physically.
In other words, by not reacting to things.
To observe things, watch the world go by, leave it alone.
It’s neither good nor bad.
It has nothing to offer you.
Yet at the same time you’ll be doing what you have to do, what you came here to do.
If you’re supposed to work, you will work.
If you’re not supposed to work, you’ll not work.
If you’re supposed to be married, you’ll be married.
If you’re supposed not to be married, you’ll not be married.
Everything will happen by itself.
Yet you will know within yourself, that this is not you.
The situation is not you.
It has absolutely nothing to do with you.
You are beyond conditioning, beyond situations, beyond experience, beyond everything.
Yet you are everything also.
There is only one Self and we're all that. So whatever you do to anybody else, you're doing to yourself. To go further into this, if you see me as a human being, if you see me as a body, you're making a big mistake. I see you as the Self, as consciousness. There is only consciousness. When you abide in consciousness, you become free.
When you get on the path correctly, after a while it becomes effortless. In the beginning there seems to be a little effort you have to take, because you’re breaking away from your old patterns, and as you continue it becomes effortless, easier and easier. It becomes a pleasure. It becomes a joy and you’re always doing it, effortlessly, so the effort is only the beginning stages. It’s not really effort, but when you break into a new habit, the old wants to still stay there and take over. So you still have to push it out as you inquire: “To whom does it come? Who feels miserable?
Beings
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