– Transcript 117
R: Good Evening. (Students: Good Evening.) Happy 1992. Whatever that means. I welcome you with all my heart. It is good being with you once again.
Many of you have been with me for over two years now and you’re all making progress. Some of you cannot see it for yourself. But I know you better than you know yourself and I can tell.
There are wonderful things happening to this group. There is something taking place within you. A tremendous happiness is growing within you. Happiness to be yourself. A happiness that does not require outside stimulation. A happiness that you always take with you wherever you go. That nothing can interfere with. The happiness that you are. No matter what is going on in this world, in your family life, at work, whatever, the happiness goes with you. Fear disappears. You are beginning to realize that all is well and everything is unfolding as it should.
The world is becoming less important to you. Yet you’re still functioning in the world and you are doing the things you came here to do. But it happens all by itself. You are at peace.
You notice the events that used to make you irritable, depressed, upset have disappeared from your life. Things in themselves perhaps have not changed as yet but you are feeling free. And you are beginning to realize there is absolutely nothing, no one, no thing, that can ever upset you. You are at peace. And because you are at peace beautiful things unfold in your life. Peace begets peace. You attract peaceful people. You are inclined to gravitate towards peaceful situations and you feel good all over. I know this is happening to approximately ten people here. And we’ll explain why?
There are three precepts that great movements have talked about in their inner circles. This is nothing that is broadcast to the human race. But the inner circles of spiritual movements have always known this. There are three precepts for self-realization, for awakening. And this is the fastest way you can ever awaken and become free.
The first one is to have a personal relationship with a Sage and to be of service to a Sage.
The second one is to be at satsang most of the time.
We’ll go into these more thoroughly.
The third one is to be in meditation with a Sage at appointed times.Those are the three precepts that have been known since the beginning of time in every spiritual organization. They are usually not discussed with the outer movements, for the average person does not understand these things. But the inner circle or people who are close to the Sage very well understand these things.
In Advaita Vedanta, in this teaching, everybody is the inner circle. There is no separation, everyone is the Self. Everyone is absolute Reality. So I share this with you.
The first precept: To be in close association with a Sage.
Many of you know of Ramana Maharshi. He had the same attendants around him for thirty, forty, fifty, sixty years. They were of service to him until he left his body or until they left their body. We always make sort of fun of this that the devotee who used to pull his fan to keep him cool all year round, that was the only job he did. He never spoke he just pulled the fan all day long for forty years. And then while he was pulling the fan one day he just dropped dead. And Ramana called it, he exclaimed, “He will never come back again. He is free. He is liberated.”
Now what happens to a person like that, who was in close proximity to a Sage and he was of service to a Sage. The self-realized Sage is the epitome of grace. The entire universe is that Sage. It is like sunlight spread all over the world. But when you get a magnifying glass you can pull the sunlight so strongly through the magnifying glass that it starts a fire. The Sage has this attribute without realizing it. For there is no one to realize anything. There is grace always flowing through the Sage. There is joy, happiness, love. That is what the Sage is made out of.
When you have a relationship with a Sage, when you are of service to the Sage, you are of service to your self. For the Sage becomes yourself. There is only one. Of course there is always always one everywhere. But yet through the Sage it shines brighter. Again it’s like the sun. The closer you come to the sun the more heat you get. The more you hang around the Sage the greater the awareness, the realization, the joy that becomes expressed through you. When you are of service to a Sage you, again are of service to your self. For remember always there is only one Self. And you become a living embodiment of the consciousness of the Sage. This is very important to understand.
For the few new people that are here tonight, simply open your heart. Do not try to figure this out, to analyze this. For in this new year we wish to discuss this thoroughly so we can know how to function in the next year and the following years. Never try to analyze what I say. It makes no difference whether you agree with it or you don’t. Just have an open heart and be still in your mind.
There is no greater way to become realized or to awaken than to be in association with a Sage or to be of service to the Sage. This will take you there faster than any form of meditation, any form of yoga or anything else you may do. It’s the fastest way. It is spoken about in the Upanishads, in the Kabbalah, in all of the great books in this world. Never forget this, hold on to this.
Therefore when you come to satsang you are sitting in the reality of the Self. Your Self. The one Self. And as I mentioned you take it with you wherever you go. You may go through trying circumstances but satsang will always remind you who you are. You may be in a prison. Karmically you may be in a hospital. You may go far and wander far away over the hill ‘n’ dale but when you recall satsang it’s just like you are at satsang because you are. Wherever you go, satsang has become a part of you. It is your consciousness, it is yourself.
The third precept is to be in meditation with a Sage. There are certain times a Sage meditates. A Sage never really meditates because meditation means that you pick out an object and you meditate on the object. For the Sage there is no object and there is no subject. The Sage sits in the silence. The silence is a better word than meditation.
When you sit in the silence with the Sage you can be in Japan and the Sage could be in Africa, it makes no difference. But you check your time zone and you sit in the silence with the Sage then you begin to pick up the oneness, the peace, the joy, the love of the Sage. It is like being of service in association with the Sage, when you are in the silence with the Sage.
Most of you realize by now that if the Sage sits in the silence from 6 to 9 in the morning and from 12 to 3 at night. You do not have to spend all of this time in the silence.
Spend as much time as you can at that time. And you will see the results that ensue.
Those are the three precepts. There is nothing else you have to do in order to awaken. Everything else will take care of itself. If you just follow those rules and you do these things, you will soon see how everything takes care of itself. But the idea is to do it.
Many people like to hear words, they like to read books, yet they never practice.
They never do anything. These things I shared with you are very simple to do. They’re the easiest things in the world to do. They are for lazy people like us. They do not want to sit in the sadhana of the lotus posture for four or five hours, contemplating their navel. There is no particular way we have to sit. There is nothing we have to remember. It’s just a question of doing.
Life is very short in this body and all of the things you’re going through will soon come to an end. If you have not made any spiritual headway you will be under the delusion of karma. And you will return again and again in a delusory body form going through many experiences that appear real to you. You will be caught up in Maya and you will fight for survival, sometimes living from hand to mouth. If you have been a good humanitarian you might gravitate to an illusory planet where you appear to have a relatively good life but this will be only temporary. For the pendulum has to swing the other way and again you will go through pain, ordeals, then you’ll have a rest or you will appear to have a semblance of happiness and then go back to pain again, it never ends.
The only way for it to come to an end is to give it all up now. Make up your mind that this is going to become the year for you to totally become realized. To awaken totally.
You’ve had enough… (break in tape) …do not become deluded into believing you want to change bad things for good things. I’ve told you so often that the bad and good things are the same sides of the coin…two sides of the coin. Bad and good. We’re trying to transcend totally, completely good and bad. And by following the three precepts as outlined this will happen to you faster than you can breath, if you allow it to.
Do not allow the world to run your life. Do not allow people to run your life. Be yourself. Know yourself. Realize that you are Brahman, the pure awareness. There is nothing that can interfere with you. You are pure consciousness. This is your real state. This is what you are, whether you know it or not, whether you care or not. You can walk out of this door and go about your business like you always have, but your nature is pure consciousness and one day you will have to awaken. So why not begin now. Why wait?
Do not let the world fool you. I reiterate again and again. The world appears very powerful. It makes you want things. It tells you to pursue this, to pursue that, to become successful. All this is an illusion.
You are already successful. All your needs will be met if you have faith and trust the powers that be that are within you and without you. You will always be taken care of.
There is no doubt about this. You have absolutely nothing to worry about. You have absolutely nothing to fear. Everything is right just the way it is. There never were any mistakes.
Leave the world alone, mentally. Physically you will gravitate to where you’re supposed to be and go through the experiences that you’re supposed to go through. Yet do not react to them, leave everything alone.
SD: Robert I have a question. I think the three precepts are wonderful but what about self-inquiry which Sri Ramana said was the most direct route to awakening where would that fit in to these precepts?
R: That fits in for a person who would rather do something external, such as practicing self-inquiry. There are certain people who will not do the three precepts for their own reasons. Sometimes because the ego is too big. So those people have to work on self-inquiry. (SD: Would it be appropriate when sitting in silence with the guru if your mind wanders to do self-inquiry at that time?) Yes it would. The best thing you can do is to be in the silence but if your mind doesn’t stay still you can practice self-inquiry. (SD: To bring it back…) Yes.
(SD: …to being one pointed?) Yes. (SD: Thank you.) We’re trying to make it easy for you. (SD: So in sitting with the Sage, is there a subliminal communication because everything is the self in a
(tape starts abruptly after a pause)
R: …inhale and say, “I,” exhale and say, “am,” to yourself.
Fred (SF): What are the three attributes? It seems to help so I want to make sure I have the three of them correct. (R: It is unconditional effortless pure awareness.) (SF: I thought you had a third attribute?)
SE: Choiceless.
R: Choiceless, right. (SF: Choiceless, that’s it.) I can never remember those things.
SH: That was Krishna Murti’s favorite too, choice-less awareness.
R: Choiceless. Umm, it’s a good word.
SD: How would you define choice-less in this instance? (R: It means that you have no choice you are pure awareness.) (laughter) That’s it, right.
R: You have absolutely nothing to do with it. It’s not your business. Your nature is pure awareness, that’s what you are whether you like it or not. So there. (laughter) It’s funny, we always think we have a choice. It’s like asking a God, “Can you become a cow.
Can you become a Kangaroo?” God is everything. God is all and encompasses every…choice-less awareness, self-contained choice-less awareness. And that’s what we are.
There is no room for anything else. We never had a choice.
Egoically we think we make choices. We think we’re in charge we have anything to do with our lives. I can assure you, you have absolutely nothing to do with your life, as crazy as it sounds. You have no life. Someone’s probably told you, “Go get a life!” They’re trying to fool you. They want you to exist as a human being. Tell them, “No thank you I don’t want a life. I’d rather be choice-less awareness.” But watch who you tell that to, they might put you in the funny farm.
Fred (SF): I had an interesting experience one time, shortly after I got sober I was telling you of a guy that experienced a lot of D.T.‘s. And I asked him if the things he saw and the things he felt were real. And he said, “Oh they’re more than real.” And what I’m wondering is if what he’d saw and what he experienced was a direct happening that did not have to go through the conditioned mind?
R: When he had his D.T.‘s? (SF: Yeah the things he saw when he had the D.T.‘s.) Well what he saw was his subconscious mind. The subconscious mind invented all of those things. It’s just like we invented the world. The subconscious mind is full of all kinds of illusory things. We can see pink elephants, we can see kangaroos jumping up and down we can see all kinds of things. But it comes from us. (SF: I realize that but it…those things don’t have to go through the conditioned mind we ordinarily…) No. (SF: That’s the point I was…) No it doesn’t go through the conditioned mind. (SF: That’s the reason it seemed more real than real.) Yeah just like LSD. (SF: Yeah, okay.) And you see all kinds of things, you have all kinds of experiences. (SF: Oh boy!) (laughter) The conditioned mind does all this. You know where Fred’s coming from. (laughter)
SD: The sixties were good to Fred. (laughter) (pause) But the subconscious would still be part of illusion right? (R: Yes.) Because it’s still of the mind.
R: Yes, everything is of the mind. Whether it’s karma or God or the universe or astral planets or subtle awareness, everything comes from the mind. The whole object is to destroy the mind completely until there is no you or I left. Then we’re free.
Feel free to ask any question you like.
SY: If there is no you or I why would we meditate on “I-am?”
R: You meditate on I-am because you believe there is a you or I. If you didn’t believe there is a you or I there would be no need to meditate on anything. As long as you think you are the I then you meditate on I-am in order to pull you in closely into the I-am.
And then you’ll be the I-am and nothing else.
SD: Perhaps a distinction should be made between the little I, the individual I and the I-am which is the name of God? (R: Umm.) When you say, “I-am,” you are not reinforcing the individual I but the greater… (SY: The big self.) …the I-am, exactly.
R: Yes. But if you’re already without a body, without an I, without a you there would be no need for that because who is left to do it? (laughter) SF: I’m beginning to see that everyone is exactly where they’re supposed to be. (R: Sure) Pope John Paul and the punk rockers on Hollywood Boulevard and people in this room. (R: Even you.) Even me. I belong here I guess. (R: Umm.) And to think that any one of them ought to be dealt with bodily or mentally is very terrible…
R: That’s an ego mistake. We try to change people, we try to change things, there is absolutely nothing you can change. (SF: Can’t even change myself basically, it’s a result of will.) But, because most of us do not realize this, we have to be of service to humanity. We have to help the homeless. Do what we can to make this planet a better planet in which to live but then when you know yourself, it’s a different story.
SK: Robert you’re saying then just the realization that my existence is a dream, I’m dreaming - I mean who is going to realize this if I’m the dreamer and I’m dreaming this dream?
Where does this realization come in to so-call free me from this so-called dream?
R: By realizing when you wake up that you dreamt, you exist. You realize I dreamt, I slept and now I am awake. The I never changed through all three states of consciousness. The I remains the same. Then you have to find out who this I is and where it came from. When you find out where the I came from you’ll be free. Do you follow that?
(SK: And that’s possible?) (laughter) Of course it’s possible. If it weren’t possible would I tell you about it? (laughter) (SK: I’ve been told a lot of things tonight.) (laughter) Well it’s up to you to use your discrimination. (SK: Umm-hmm.)
SK: But Ramesh said something one time which I’ve always remembered which relates to what you were just talking about, that if I have nothing to do with being born and I have nothing to
(R: Exactly.) You know that is a pretty profound statement. (R: Umm.) So when I say that to myself, there is a sense of letting go right there. (R: Yes.) There is a sense of surrendering… (R: Yes.) …freeing from myself. (R: All that works. When you do it right.) Yeah.
(silence)
(tape break then tape restarts abruptly with students question) SJ: …if you sit in silence with the teacher?
R: If you have been with a guru or a Master, as you say, for a lengthy time, that Master can never leave you, whether he is embodied or not. And when the Master seems to leave his body he will always be with you. But if you’ve just come under the tutelage of a Master recently, let’s say a few months and then the Master leaves his body, you should look for a new Master. For you haven’t had the light strong enough to keep this Master with you all the time. So you need a living Master to show you the way to continue the process. But if you’ve been with him or her for quite a while, that’s all you will need for the rest of your life, and after your life, and after that.
SD: So you mean if one reincarnated the same guru would still remain? (R: Yes.) How would the guru be known? (R: Intuitively.)
R: For the few people who are new here tonight it seems sort of strange, we talk about Masters, gurus and Sages. Yet it has been known from the beginning of time, most people can go only so far by themselves, spiritually speaking. And after that they need the help of someone who has been further on the path than they. For it becomes most difficult to have self-realization by yourself. Yet this has been done by a few people. This is possible. But the best bet is to find yourself a Sage or someone who has gone further on the spiritual journey than you have and surrender totally to that Sage. Then you will be free in this lifetime.
SD: Could you explain exactly the meaning of darshan?
R: Darshan means the light of the Sage. The divine light. Having the presence of the Sage in your life when you are in darshan, you are looking at the Master or the Sage and by direct transmission the Master or the Sage can give you a look or touch you or sing a mantra to you or do something. Which will lift you up from where you were before into a higher state of consciousness. So darshan also means looking at the face of a Sage.
SD: Is it the same as grace? Is darshan the same as grace shared by the guru?
R: No, darshan is the glimpse, the look at the Sage. Grace is what emanates from the guru, from the Sage. (SD: Thank you.) As an example, when Ramana Maharshi left his body there was a line of thousands of people getting their final darshan from him, passing in lines. Looking at him for the last time. That was darshan. As far as the Sage is concerned it makes no difference whether he is dead or alive, you get the same darshan.
(tape break)
(Continues with Robert)R: Thank you Glen. (pause) I have to admit I have a little problem with that because I’ve been glancing at these cookies all night. (students laugh) They look so good.
SD: Desire. (laughter)
R: Would you like to read the Jnani Mary? (SM: Okay.)
R: Tony knows these are my favorite cookies so he teases me all the time and brings me bags of them so I can look at them and not eat them.
SD: Is that what you were thinking about while we were meditating? (students laugh) R: Is there anything else to think about? (more laughter)
SH: Longing for cookies. (laughter) That makes you still human. (SD: But not really.) (Mary reads the Jnani. Robert interrupts when Mary reaches the part where it mentions …He is free from all longings…and Robert says, “Except for cookies” and everyone laughs. A student adds, “Spoken like a man. (more laughter ensues) (Mary then continues till the end of the reading) R: Thank you Mary. (SM: Thank you Robert. Now do I get a cookie?) You get two.
R: In this new year let’s try to keep our lives less complicated. Keep your life simple. Forget about your fears, your frustrations, drop them. You will be taken care of. There is more going for you than against you. Stop worrying. Surrender to God which is your Self. No one wants to hurt you. No one wants to punish you. As far as your past is concerned, forget it. It never existed. This is a new beginning for you. It’s up to you.
Do we have any announcements?
(Students talk about transcripts and about copying them and bringing them back) R: We have transcriptions here most of the time and if don’t see them get after Mary. (laughter)
SD: Robert for the newcomers would you explain prashad please?
R: Prashad is food that has been blessed. The prashad itself is the teaching. When food has been blessed and you eat the food, you are eating the teaching. The food is complete in the teaching itself. So we always have prashad here when somebody brings it.
When they don’t bring it we don’t have it. (students laugh) And this is it. So we’ll pass it this way.
SU: Everybody leave a little for Robert to take home.
R: Feel free to take it whatever is left, is left.
SD: Robert I brought prashad also.
(general prashad talk as prashad continues to end of tape)
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.