– Transcript 69
What Happens To The Body?
R: It’s good to be with you again, welcome. I haven’t seen most of you since Thursday. A long time. All is well.
Someone asked me a question. They asked me, “Robert, you say we’re not the body. We are consciousness. If we are consciousness what happens to the body?” Now that’s a sort of interesting question. I explained this before. We’ll go over it again.
There are not two. There is not the body and consciousness. There is only one.
When I say you are not the body. That’s what it literally means. You are not the appearance of a body. The body is an appearance, it appears real, but you are really consciousness. In other words what you think is a body is pure consciousness.
An example of that is the water in the mirage. In this instance the sand is consciousness and the water is the body. You see the water in the sand but you don’t know it’s a mirage. When you try to grab the water, what do you grab? Sand, because the water never existed. But it appears to exist. It looks real and you will swear that there is water there. But once you discover it’s a mirage you will never be fooled again. Every time you pass you will laugh, for you will know through experience that’s really sand.
And so it is with the body. The body appears as if its real but upon investigation there is no real validity to it. What do I mean, “Upon investigation?”
If you put the body under and electric microscope, you would see vast spaces, tremendous spaces between each cell, between each atom. So the body is not what it appears to be. The body is a bunch of atoms revolving around a central core. It is not how it appears. So we can say, that the body is not so. There is only consciousness.
But do not get confused. Do not think that I am not the body I am consciousness as if there are two, the body and consciousness. The body just does not exist as it appears.
So we can say that the body is really consciousness. It is not a body. And if you get confused about this, go to the example of the water in the mirage and say to yourself, “The sand is like consciousness. The water is like the body. The body appears real as the water appears real.” But upon investigation you find that the water is sand. So upon investigation you find the body is consciousness. There is no body.”
But you have allowed your I-thought to produce the body as it appears. The body is only an I-thought. “I.” That is the body and the mind. In order to function, the body makes up a mind. So you have consciousness as the reality, but then for some reason you become mesmerized and you believe in I. Once the I-thought comes into play a body comes into play. In order for the body to function there has to be a mind. The whole thing came out of you. You invented it from the I-thought.
We now go backwards. We begin to intelligently, comprehensively realize that the body is non existent as it appears. Again if you put your body under an electronic microscope you will not see a body. You would see fantastic spaces between each atom. And the atom is not a body either. Therefore scientifically there is no body. If there is no body, a mind is not necessary, then there is no mind. There is only consciousness.
Unfortunately as long as you identify with your body the whole world and the whole universe becomes real to you. The world is only real because you believe you are a body. Take away that belief and there is no world. You say, “How can I exist when there is no world?” When you make that statement you’re speaking from the standpoint of an individual who believes he is the body. When you’re talking from that standpoint you can say, “How can I exist without a body? And there is no world, how can I exist without a world?” That is from the body’s point of view.
But can’t you see if you come to the realization that you are not the body the world is not necessary. For consciousness is not individualized. Consciousness is all pervading, self-contained, absolute reality. Consciousness is omnipresence. In other words, when you discover, I am consciousness then you become eternal, omnipresent and nothing else exists, but consciousness. There is no room for anything else consciousness is the absolute reality, the pure awareness. There is nothing else. But you have to come to that reality yourself.
When I tell you about this, I am speaking of my experience. I see my body and I see your body, but I see it like water in the mirage. I cannot be fooled, for I realize that I am that I am, Sat-Chit-Ananda. There is only consciousness.
The trick is not to identify with the body and the world. And you do that by realizing, I is the culprit. You follow the I back to its source and then you wake up. And you will wake up as consciousness, not my consciousness or your consciousness, just consciousness.
The question also arises, how can we all be consciousness and yet be individualized to be aware that we’re consciousness. It doesn’t work that way. You are not individualized. You are one ultimate consciousness and we are that.
The finite mind cannot comprehend this, it’s beyond the conceptual thinking. For when you begin to think of yourself as consciousness, some of you tell me that you become dizzy thinking about that. But the idea again is not to think about it. For when you think about it you’re using your mind. You have to become aware. The awareness has to awaken within you. And the awareness will tell you that you are consciousness. Without words, without thoughts, without reasoning, without questions. You are pure unadulterated consciousness but not as an individual, as all pervading, as omnipresence.
Another question people often ask me which is a continuation of this, “Robert when I get tried of practicing atma-vichara, self-inquiry can I say that I am Brahman, I am
God, I am consciousness?” Yes, you can if you understand what you’re doing. When you say, “I am God,” for instance, I am not referring to Robert as God, or Fred as God, or Mary as God. That is from an egotistical point of view. The ego can never be God. What you really mean is, “I am, is God.” I am, God, consciousness, they’re all the same. So yes you can say, “I am consciousness,” or “I am Brahman,” or “I am God,” but it’s wrong to say, “I as an ego am God.” Your ego will become more inflated than ever.
And this is the mistake that most of the New Age groups make. Occult groups.
They like to go around saying, “I am God.” But they’re referring to their physical self. Even when they say, “I am not really the body, I am God,” they still think “I am” still refers to their mind-body principle. But it will not be correct unless you go beyond that and realize, “I am is God, I am is consciousness, I am is absolute awareness, I am is pure intelligence. I am that.” That is correct.
And when you make that statement to yourself you do not stop to evaluate it. For if you evaluate it, you are using your mind to come to a conclusion. And you never come to a conclusion in your mind. The way the mind becomes weaker and weaker, is when you never come to a conclusion. For when you do not come to a conclusion the mind becomes stupefied. It’s caught off guard. It doesn’t know where it belongs. It loses its power.
You therefore say, “I am Brahman,” which actually means, I am is Brahman. That takes you away completely from your body. You do not even think about your body. I am is consciousness, I am is absolute reality, I am is Sat-Chit-Ananda, I am was never born, can never die, I am. You do not think.
Now you can practice self-inquiry. For when you say, “I am,” and you keep silent, as soon as the mind begins to tell you anything you practice self-inquiry. You ask, “To whom does this come?” And again you never answer. Again if nothing comes to you, you can again make the statement, “I am is Sat-Chit-Ananda.” Nothing else, quietness, silence, no questions. If a question comes to your mind you ask, “To whom does this come?” If something says, “It comes to me?” You follow it all the way through. “Who is this me? Who am I? What is the source of the I?” You hold on to the I and follow it to the heart center where it disappears. Then you can go right back and say, “I am is God,” and go through the same procedure.
If you do this often enough, I can assure you that something within you will give and you will breakdown your bodily thoughts. You will think less and less of the body. As the days pass, as the weeks pass, as the months pass, you will stop concerning yourself for the body.
Many people tell me, “Well Robert you take vitamins and you take care of your body?” And that is true. It is the body taking care of itself. The appearance is taking care of itself. I do not give it any thought. Someone presents me with a bottle of vitamins, I take them. I do not think this is going to make me stronger or this is going to make me feel better.Let’s face it, how long will the body last at all? No matter what you do to it, it’s going to disappear one of these days, one way or another. So all the taking care of your body in the world is not going to change predestination one iota. Yet some of us are so wrapped up in the body we think we can prolong life. We think we can make the body live forever.
Would you want your body to live forever? Would you want to go through thousands of years? Watching mans inhumanity to man? Sticking up for your rights? Carrying a chip on your shoulder? Trying to fix things? Most of us can barely stand for eighty years.
Imagine if you had to it for two hundred years or three hundred years. It would be unbearable. Therefore there is a time when you drop the body, so it appears. In reality there is no body to drop but that’s the appearance. And if you’ve been practicing and you’ve been a good boy or a good girl there is no longer a need to take up another body. You exist as consciousness.
But to the extent that you’ve been involved in your body movements and the belief in the world and the belief in your mind, to that extent you will be drawn back to the earth as another appearance. You will go through the same rigamarole again and again.
Until you become non-attached to your body or the earth.
When I speak of being non-attached, I don’t mean you’re supposed to forget about your body, so-to-speak and let it rot. You do not take a shower and you stink. You think you don’t have to eat and you waste away. You do these crazy things like yogi’s do, believing they’re doing penance. All that is unnecessary.
If you pay attention to consciousness your body will always take care of itself. It will live out the years it’s supposed to live and you will find that everything will unfold as it is supposed to. You have to trust life.
As long as you feel that you’re tied down to the body and to the world you have to trust life. You can do that much. In other words you have to believe that the universal is your friend. It can do nothing but help you and love you. You have to begin to understand, when you’re thinking from a mind-body standpoint that there is one life and that life is God and that life is your life now. The substratum of all existence is bliss and you are that.
If you have to use your mind, this is the way you should use it. Think of those higher things. Think of yourself as absolute joy. That all of your needs are met from within. Everything you need will be supplied from the power within yourself. It’s better not to think like this at all. It is better not to think. But if your mind appears to have dominion over you, think of the higher things and the day will come when you no longer have to think of those things at all. You will become pure awareness, until then do the best you can.
Try to stay happy. Do not allow any condition in this world to upset you, make you angry or cause you to react in a negative way. For when you understand the way the universe is setup then you will realize that in whatever you way you react you’re doing it
to yourself. For there is only one Self. What I think about you and what I do to you, I am doing to myself. This is why I can only love you. I am not interested in what you are, or what you do, I can only love you. This is the way you should think if you identify with the body.
But the best way of course is to inquire, “To whom do all these thoughts come? All these good thoughts, all these disturbing thoughts, who thinks them? Why, I do.” Hold on to the I, follow the I to the source. That is the best way.
But if you have to play mind games, begin to feel as if your real nature is God and all is well, there are no mistakes. Everything is in it’s right place unfolding as it should. Do not feel sorry for yourself. Everything that has been happening to you has been preordained. And the way to get rid of it is not to attach yourself to your problem, but to inquire, “For whom is the problem?” Over and over and over again until you become free.
(silence)
Questions, statements and answers?
Jorge (SR): Thinking that ethical training or ethical striving for a consciousness identified with its body, possibly is doomed to failure but rather maybe what is needed is for the consciousness to give up its identification with the body and that maybe the only chance that ethical behavior has of being manifested. Could you correct me if I’m wrong?
R: Consciousness never identified with the body to begin with. Consciousness has never identified with the body. Consciousness has not become anything. It is self-contained absolute reality. Everything else has to go, but don’t blame consciousness. Consciousness is the reality and there is nothing else. Everything else is an emanation of your mind.
Jorge (SR): Would you say that there is no chance for moral behavior on this planet until everybody is identified with consciousness only?
R: No you have the whole idea wrong. (SR: What?) Moral behavior, immoral behavior does not exist as far as consciousness is concerned. That is only part of the mind.
When the mind goes no thought like that comes to you. That kind of thinking only is developed through the mind. As long as you’re thinking with your mind you will think of amoral behavior or moral behavior and the rest of it. When the mind becomes transcended no question like that arises. (SR: So whatever happens is just accepted?) There is no one to accept anything. (SR: Whatever happens is just observed?) By whom? There is no one left to observe. (SR: Whatever happens just happens.) (laughter) There is nothing happening. (laughter) Nothing has ever happened and nothing will ever happen.
Jorge (SR): Can one keep maintaining that consciousness and do so called duties in a working world and kind of see that nothing is really happening?
R: Again you’re working under the wrong premise. (SR: What?) There is nobody to observe. There is no one to do anything. The doer is eliminated. There is only consciousness. That’s it. (SR: So when the boss says do this George, this is your duty today, these three things, what should be experienced?) The body will take care of itself. (SR: Just does it without thinking?) It will do whatever it came here to do. (SR: But it requires the mind to perform the task?) The mind has nothing to do with it. (SR: It just performs the task without thinking?) It’s like the power that grows mangoes on the mango tree, that grows wheat, that makes the sun shine. The same power moves your body and takes care of it. You have nothing to do with it.
Jorge (SR): So even if it’s something that ordinarily requires some thinking or some analyzing in this person, in this case, when one is identified with consciousness it just happens without thinking.
R: But there is no one to identify with consciousness. No one is left, to identify with consciousness. There is only consciousness and the appearance of the body will take care of itself. (SR: Can I say to the boss, who me? I’m not here. Who are you talking with? Who are you? What are you…) From what point of view do you ask the question? From your ego point of view. If you were self-realized that question would never ensue but everything would be taken care of properly. (SR: We should always be seeing the bigger picture?) There is no one left to see any picture. You are still speaking as if there are two. (SR: That’s as far as I can go is seeing the bigger picture.) Who sees? (SR: Or being aware of the bigger picture.) Who is aware? Can’t you see when you awaken there is no one left to do anything.
SK: So who is it that awakens?
R: No one, because no one ever went to sleep. (SK: What is it that transcends the ego then?) Nothing there never was an ego to be transcended. The ego never existed. It’s just for the sake of talking that we talk about an ego. When you awaken you will realize there was never an ego, there is no mind, there is no world, there is no universe, there is no God, there is only that which has always been and you are that.
(silence as tape ends)
Absätze ohne Sprecherpräfix gehören dem zuletzt genannten Sprecher — so steht es im Buch, wo der Präfix nur den Anfang einer Rede markiert. Die Zuordnung ist eine Folgerung dieser Ausgabe. Namen in Klammern sind aus dem Text erschlossen: sicher belegt sind SM = Mary, SF = Fred, SJ = Jay, SC = Nate, wahrscheinlich SG = Glen, SR = Jorge. Alle anderen Kürzel bleiben stehen, weil der Beleg nicht trägt.