– Transcript 115
December 12th, 1991
R: Good evening. It is good to be with you again on this lovely Thursday evening, freezing outside, people dying from the cold, people having colds, flu’s and all kinds of weird things, and yet, here we are.
The body is just like the world. The world seems to appear, the world seems to prevail, and then the world seems to disappear. Your body seems to appear, your body seems to prevail, and then your body seems to disappear. Yet what does this have to do with you? Nothing! For you are not the world. You are not your body. You are not the doer. You are not dreaming. You are absolute reality. You are effortless pure awareness.
You have absolutely nothing to do with this world. You have absolutely nothing to do with your body.
Yet no matter how many times I tell you this, you react to the world and you react to the body. Is it any wonder that you suffer, that you’re in pain, or you have bad thoughts and bad feelings, for you believe the world is real? You accept your body to be real. As long as you do this you must go through different experiences. It is only when you become the witness to all the phenomena that appears to go on that you can really find peace and be happy. Happiness and peace are the reality of your life, yet you can never really find these things or feel these things if you are reacting to your body or to the world.
Your body is really a replica of this world. The world appears, your body appears.
The world prevails, your body prevails. The world disappears, your body disappears.
There’s no difference. When you come to the conclusion your body and the world does not exist, you will no longer have feelings of being born, prevailing a certain number of years, or leaving your body.
People like to use the terminology that somebody has left their body, that you are leaving your body, yet in truth, you have no body to leave. There never was a body that you can just leave. This would mean there are two of you. This would be duality, would it not? This would mean there is a body and there is you, and at a certain time you leave your body. So where are you before you leave your body? You believe you’re in your body.
Where in your body are you? If I cut you open will I find you? Are you hiding somewhere in your body?
This is all new age philosophy, that there is a body that you have to give up and leave it. But I can assure you there never was a body that you have to leave, and there never was a world that begins and ends. There simply is no body. There is no world.
When you can comprehend this you will become the happiest being that ever existed. I should say you’ll become the happiest nothing when you can really feel and know that there is no body.
Yet you look around and you see all these bodies here. You observe bodies, you observe the world. This is the reason you have to always ask yourself, “Who observes this?
Who sees this? Who sees these dastardly things going on in this world? Who sees anything?” It is the I that sees. It is the I that believes it is the body. It is the I that has problems.
Begin to understand that you are not the I. You’re not I. The I is only a thought. It was never you.
The I is like a magic show. It causes everything to appear. It makes everything seem real. You should say “What have I got to do with this I? This I is not me. I have absolutely nothing to do with this I.
The world is like a mirage. Your body is an optical illusion. You have to separate yourself from your thoughts and from the I. And you can do this merely by observing, by understanding, by looking, by seeing correctly, observing, seeing and looking at the phenomena as it goes by. Do not get caught up in situations. Do not allow yourself to feel one way or another.
How can you tell if you’re making progress? Simply by the way you feel. If the world is getting to you and you feel there’s something in this world that you hate or you love, something in this world that upsets you or makes you happy, then you know you’re not making progress, or not too much progress. True happiness, peace, love, is your very nature. Their is nothing in this outside world that can give it to you.
Always remember that the outside world, the external world, is like a dream.
That’s all it is. A dream and nothing else. Yet the question arises, “Who is dreaming?’ And the answer is “Nobody,” for in truth there is nobody dreaming and there is no dream going on, yet all these things appear to be so. Where did they all come from? They come from nowhere. There is absolutely nothing happening. No one is really dreaming. There is really no dream going on.
The whole things a big joke. You do not exist. Doesn’t it make you feel good to know you’re a nobody, that you do not exist? You’re not even the absolute reality. You’re not even consciousness. Those are all words. You’re not nirvana, you are not emptiness.
You are none of those things. What are you? There is silence. You are the silence. Total silence. It is only when you rest in the silence that you appear to awaken. I say you appear to awaken for there’s no one to awaken, and there is no silence. What else is there to say?(laughter)
I really want you to feel, this evening, as if you are absolute nothingness. Feel yourself melting away. The whole dream is melting away. The belief that you are a spirit is melting away. The belief that you’re seeking liberation is melting away. The belief that there’s somebody who is something is melting away. It’s all melting, all of your preconceived ideas, all of your concepts, all of your learning, everything you’ve read in books, all this idea about Jnanis, gurus, students, teachers, it’s all melting away. There’s
nothing left. And now nothing is melting away. Don’t you feel good? There is no word to describe you.
Of course, as soon as you start thinking about it, you spoil it. The mind has to be made quiescent, quiet. Do not try to analyze what I say. Do not even think about it. Every time you think you spoil it. There’s absolutely nothing to think about. There’s nothing to argue about. There’s nothing to debate over. There’s nothing to believe. There’s nothing to accept. There’s nothing to give up. You are beyond nothing. There never was a time when you were something. There never was a time when you were nothing. (someone coughs) There’s a nothing over there coughing himself to death.(laughter) When you concern yourself with your body, when you concern yourself with worldly conditions, when you try to improve something, all you’re doing is admitting that you are a fool. In truth, this is all nonsense. Everything is nonsense. Therefore, why not be happy? Why think about conditions, situations? Just be happy. Do not try to analyze what happiness is. Do not even try to be happy. Just be happy. How do you become happy? By not thinking. If you have to think about it, it is not happiness.
True happiness has no name. There is no one who can ever be happy, for no one really exists to be happy. Therefore, if you try to make yourself happy you’ll have to experience the other end of it, which is unhappiness. So stop believing that you want to be happy. Also do not believe that you want to be unhappy. Do not believe anything. Especially do not believe what I am saying. (laughter) What am I telling you?
S: Holy cow dung! (R: Sure.)
S: Scrambled eggs. (R: Scrambled eggs? Good. How about scrambled tofu?) Toy food.
R: Everybody wants something. They want to become something. They want to achieve something. They want to remove one quality and attain another quality. But since you do not really exist, and you have never existed, the whole thing becomes folly, for there is no one to become happy, there is no one who is unhappy, for there is no one who exists. There are no words being spoken. There is no speaker. So what are you listening to?
When you find out what you’re listening to, you’ll know who you are.
The worst thing you can ever do is to try to change your condition, to be dissatisfied with the way things are. Things are the way they’re supposed to be. Do not try to think about it or to analyze it. Things are exactly the way they’re supposed to be. When you think about this you spoil it. There are no mistakes. No one is right, and no one is wrong.
Take a look at the world in which you appear to live. Look at this world. Look what’s happening in this world. It’s crazy. How can you possibly believe in a world like this? Yet, the world has always been like this, in one way or another. There have been people just like us, five hundred years ago, discussing the same things. It was probably us. Arguing about who’s liberated and who’s not liberated. This is not new. A thousand years ago, same thing. There were wars, disease, and groups of people sitting around like were sitting around now, discussing nonsense. It’s always been the same.
You don’t even want to wake up, for there’s no one to wake up. Sometimes I tell you to awaken. When I say this to you something may happen sometimes, that you become something that doesn’t exist. If someone had to awaken they would not awaken to reality, for there’s no reality to awaken to. Those are just words. Be yourself!
Yet there is no Self and there’s no one to be, so how can you be yourself? Why do you listen to me? (students laugh) You want to be something. You want to be liberated.
You want to be yourself. You want to be a Jnani. Why don’t you want to be a banana? A banana is just as good as a Jnani.
S: The peeling.
R: So be an unpeeled banana. Everybody wants to be something. You will find when you are satisfied with the way things are, just the way things are, right now, at any given moment, that’s it. Just the way things are. Not when things are like this or things are like that. Just the way things are. It makes no difference where you are, what’s going on in your life, with whom you are living at this time, what’s going on in this world. When you’re allowed to be just the way you are, when you allow everything to be just the way it is, then you are yourself, for you’re living in that split second of eternity.
It’s like an atom exploding. You are that center that goes nowhere, yet is everywhere. And you’re always living in that center, in that second. There is no time or space.
There’s only that second, the instant of a second. You have to find this out for yourself.
You have to find this out for yourself. Don’t look at me. For all you know I may have escaped from the funny farm.(laughter) Find out for yourself. And you do this by keeping still! You can never find out for yourself by reading, or by meditating, or by discussing scripture, or by trying to prove a point, or by thinking you’ve got it. It is only when the noise in your head stops, only when the chattering stops and you go beyond silence.
(silence)
SU: I don’t know how to even talk about it but Ill just ramble along and see if it comes out with any thing that makes sense. Yesterday I was teaching, and my neighbor, next door, with whom I’ve had very good relations, came to the window and said “Too loud,” and I went over and I wanted to talk to her. There was just nobody there to talk to. She was livid, she was mad, she was like a tiger. She talked about the law, she was going to get the law. I’ve no right to teach there, and when I saw that there was nobody I could reach, I just went back. But what happened there was… it brought up such a terror in me, such a guilt, that I was in total amazement at my reaction to it.
Of course I would shrug my shoulders and say it’s too bad, you know, but I couldn’t shake this, and as the day went on it rolled around in me, and around, and around, and around, and it took me back to my childhood where I was always getting into trouble and I was always thinking up excuses to make, and always feeling guilty, and always being afraid of being punished by God. And
so this thing of crime and punishment came up and I just lived with it, watched it, but it went inside of me and there was just no controlling it.
As a matter of fact, it awoke me about four o’clock this morning and I was dreaming of a judge and being questioned and all that, and I’m in total amazement at what the mind can do with a simple thing that has really no meaning. It has nothing, you know. It is of no consequence. But it affected my teaching today. I couldn’t let go, I couldn’t feel free. I had to work around and do things that I wouldn’t ordinarily think about. So I don’t know where this comes from. I don’t know what’s going on.
R: It’s really a good sign because it’s coming to the surface. You’ve had it inside of you for many, many years and now it’s coming up, and it’s going out. (SU: Right, I hope.) So it will pass. Don’t think about it, don’t put your mind on it, don’t consider it. Just observe it, and watch it as it comes out of you. It’s coming to the surface, and it’s coming out of your pores and out of your body, and out of your life. (SU: Well I’m glad I brought it up because I was still scared about it.) Yes, it’s been inside of you since childhood. (SU: Yes it has.) And now it’s coming to the surface. So it’ll go out and you’ll never have it happen again.
(SU: Good, great, thank you.)
SH: And you won’t have to be psycho-analyzed. (laughter) SU: No I had that too, it didn’t come out then.
R: Say, “Asta la vista. Asta le wago” (SU: Oh I’m so glad I brought it up it was like a secret I didn’t want to tell anybody about it.) Now that you’ve shared it, it’s gone. (SU: Great.) You’re finished with it forever.
Fred (SF): Robert, on Sunday I wrote a question about if you wanted to comment on nish karma karma, which, as I understand it, karma means work or action rather than destiny, and as I understand it nish karma karma is something done without any motivation. As an example, Sri Bhagvan spent a whole lot of time making a walking stick and polishing it, and when they came across a young shepherd boy he just gave it to him, and that was all there was to it. I’ve experienced this a few times, just doing something just because it’s there to be done, not because it’s going to produce any results, and it’s kind of a nice feeling. Do you understand what I’m talking about?
R: What’s more important is how come you’re on that side instead of this side.
How come you’re sitting there? You usually sit here. (laughter) (SF: Well I thought I’d try it.
I’ll get back on the other side next time.) (laughter) That’s important. Nish karma karma is not important. This is important. You’re sitting on this side instead of this side. (laughter) (SF: Thank you I accept.) Don’t worry about nish karma. (SF: I’m not worried. I just thought maybe you’d say something.) I said enough. If you sat on this side I wouldn’t bother you.(laughter) SU: He’s very funny tonight. (laughs)
SL: Robert, what is meditation? How would you define meditation?
R: Meditation is when you sit and you think of something. You have to have something to meditate on. (SL: Is it repetitive, or just anything?) If it’s repetitive it’s japa, mantra japa, when you repeat a mantra over and over again. That’s repetitive. But when you meditate, you meditate on a candle flame, or you meditate on a guru, or a flower. You have to have an object and a subject to meditate. (SL: And what’s the objective?) The objective is to become that which you’re meditating on. It makes your mind one pointed. It makes you quiet. It quiets the mind and makes your mind one-pointed so you can think about the object of your meditation. And this leads you to higher ground.
SL: So that’s like a step. It’s kind of like trying to take a step in order to clear your mind and have a blank mind. To actually think of nothing?
R: That’ll help you if you meditate. But you have to ask yourself the question, “Who meditates?” And you will realize that your real Self, whatever that is, does not have to meditate at all. It is your ego that wants to meditate, and wants to become something, wants to quiet the mind, wants to make the mind one pointed. The ego wants to do this.
Why don’t you simply realize that there is no ego, there’s no mind, and there’s no one to meditate, and be yourself?
SL: But short of that, I mean not being able to do that right now, there is still the three things that you recommend that we do, is we go over the transcripts and break them down and keep reading them. The second thing is self-inquiry. And the third thing is just to say, “I am.” Right?
R: And to be aware, to watch, to observe, to be the witness. (SL: Isn’t that sort of like self-inquiry or is…?) That’s a sort of self-inquiry. But you don’t say anything. You just watch.
(S: Okay.) You become aware. You look. (SL: So as you’re getting angry, or fighting traffic, or fighting with the people in the malls for Christmas or wherever, and you’re observing yourself doing that, while you’re doing it. Is that sort of…?) Observe yourself going crazy. Ask yourself, “Why am I doing all this? Christmas, bah, humbug!” Observe yourself. Watch what you’re doing. Inquire, “Why do I have to do all of this? What is the purpose of all this? Who has to do all this?” And you will find out that you are pure awareness. All these things are unnecessary. Yet, your body will appear to be doing them, if that’s what you have to do, but you will not be involved in it, and you will be at peace.
(silence)
Fred (SF): Something else I’ve been wondering about, not long ago the swami inside of the Rama Krishna mission in Boston visited and he told a story that I felt was kind of interesting that when the Supreme Court building that was being built in Washington, back in the twenties, someone got an idea that they might have portraits of the founders of the great religions or at least people in who’s name the religions are carried on now.
And the portraits were commissioned and painted and hung. And when the Muslims started out they had a portrait of Mohammed and of course they raised hell and they had to take this painting down and it’s still in the basement of the Supreme Court building. And it occurred to me that Mohammed told his people that he didn’t want representations of him made.
He probably what he had in mind was, he wanted to them to be thinking of the ultimate reality or the atman or whatever the name. Rather than the perceiver or the self with a small “s.”.
And I doubt seriously that he wanted them to be fanatic about it the way they are now and the way they made them take down the paintings. What do you think about that observation?
R: Well I think you ought to ask Mohammed that. (SF: Well I will when I get a chance.) Because I have no idea what Mohammed was thinking. Or what the Supreme Court people were thinking. (SF: But I still think I’m right.) Why not? (SF: Why not be right?) Why not be right, you can think anything you like. (SF: You bet. Because I don’t think Christ wanted all the Jesus freaks to be fanatics either.) The question is what do you want? (SF: Sir?) What do you want? (SF: What do I want?) Yes. Never mind what Jesus wanted or what Mohammed wanted or what anybody else wanted. Let them rest in peace. (SF: Thank you, I’ll try.) The question is what do you want? Where are you coming from? That’s the important question. (SF: I don’t want people to be fanatics. Negligence of any stripe make me nervous perhaps they shouldn’t, but they do.) Leave people alone. (SF: I’ll try.) Don’t concern with people so much. (SF: Alright I’ll try.) Be yourself. Find out who you are then see if those things disturb you. (SF: Okay thanks.) Sure.
R: Mary needs a ride on Sunday. If anybody can pick her up. Her phone number is there. A ride to satsang.
SH: She requested that they just phone her and let her know. So I put the phone number down there. (R: So anybody who is going that way.) Anybody who wants to pick it up and do it well they can phone her.
R: So let us break bread together.
SH: Persian bread.
SU: Oh it should be heated a little bit.
R: What do you want everything? (students laugh)
(general prashad talk 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.