– Transcript 122
R: Good evening. (Students: Good evening.) It is a pleasure to be with you once again. Welcome to satsang.
Most Westerners are used to going to meetings where they sit down as students and they listen to a teacher. This is completely different. I am not a teacher and you are not students.
There is one Self. One effortless pure awareness. That is what satsang is. The one Self already knows everything. The one Self already is everything. There is no message I am giving you. There is no teaching I am giving you. Satsang is being. Not being this or being that. Pure being. We are all being. One being. Ultimate oneness. Absolute reality.
Never look at yourself as a mere human being. As someone who does not know.
Never believe that you have to become enlightened, you have to become self-realized.
There is no becoming. Becoming never existed. Since there is only the moment, the now, everything is happening now. There is no yesterday, there is no past, there is no tomorrow, there is no future. There is this split second where reality shines and you are that.
It’s interesting how many phone calls I’ve been getting since this year has started.
From all over the world. It’s also interesting that when someone begins a question it sort of becomes a series of the same question that is asked by different student or different people who call me.
There were three particular questions that people have asked me since the beginning of the year. It is really quite amusing that people would ask the same questions so often. It’s like catching a disease. (laughter) One person has it and then somebody else on the other side of the world gets the same thing and asks the same questions. I therefore thought it would be interesting if we get into these three questions and talk about it.
The first one is: Robert what type of teaching do you give your devotees that is fast and best, in order to awaken in this life? The best and fastest teaching that will awaken you in this life.
The second question they ask me, it’s not a question it’s sort of a statement. Many many people are becoming enlightened these days or so it seems, people have continued to ask me, “Robert I’ve had a spiritual experience, I’ve seen visions. I’ve felt that I’m in another world, I feel as if I’m going to be self-realized very soon, now. Is this true? And approximately nine to twelve people ask me that same question. It’s catchy.And the third questions I was asked, “Robert are you really a Jnani? Are you self-realized? Are you a Sage? You never say that about yourself. Tell me, I won’t tell anyone else.” (students laugh)
So I thought it’d be interesting to discuss these things. For if these people had this type of understanding and this type of questioning I’m sure you also have the same thing, some of you in your mind wherever your mind is, so we’ll discuss it.
The first question: What type of teaching do you give your devotees? The best teaching and the fastest teaching to awaken in this life?
Well the thing we must remember is that not everyone that comes here is a devotee. We have the three classes of people I speak about once in a while. We have seekers, we have disciples and we have devotees. The seekers and the disciples and the devotees are different from one another.
Therefore when I talk in public like I am doing now I have to make sort of everyone happy. That is my job to make you happy. Is everybody happy? (students laugh) So I mix everything together and say all sorts of things. The seekers run around the world seeking different gurus, different teachers, different books they read. Always going here and always going there.
Therefore what I have to tell them is to go deep within, dive deep within yourself, question, “Who am I?” Realize that you are not the body-mind phenomena and become awakened. This is what they want to hear because this is what the rest of the teachers tell them also. So the seeker is never satisfied. The seeker is always seeking a special teacher that will give them seeker teachings that nobody else has given them. Of course they are always disappointed and they keep looking for new books, new teachers all the time.
Then there is the disciple. The disciple has sort of settled down. They go to different teachers but they stick to one teacher more often than the others but they too do not put the teaching first. The search, the awakening is not foremost in their mind. Their jobs, their families, holidays, all of these things are number one in their lives. Therefore how can they awaken.
I explain to them that you have to have God, truth, reality in your mind and in your heart as number one in your life. This has to come first if you’re seeking to awaken.
I’m not saying that they should give up their jobs or their families or their holidays or anything else. I’m saying that they should have a priority to put God in their life first. To put reality, truth in their lives and keep thinking about the truth all of the time.
The devotees of course are the closest to awakening. For to the devotee there is only the one, only the Self. They’re not interested in politics. They’re not interested in chit-chat. They’re not interested to nonsensical things that are going on in the world. They have one priority, that is the Self, to awaken. This is in their minds forever, all the time.
They always think of the Sage. And because they are always thinking of the Sage the grace of the Sage flows through them. They realize that they are responsible for the
welfare of the Sage, the support of the Sage and the livingness of the Sage for they are the Sage themselves. There is one Sage and that is the Self. The only one.
So to these people, I give the best and fastest teaching to awaken in this life and that is silence. Absolute silence. But the devotees know this already. Even if there is noise going on in their lives, turmoil, bodily dysfunctions, recession, whatever is going on in the world they are in silence. They are aware of the world but this is secondary. They sit in the silence by themselves whenever they can at home. They sit with the Sage at certain times.
But they realize that the silence is the fastest way to awaken. The devotees are actually the backbone of every spiritual organization. So try to understand this.
The fastest and best way to awaken is not self-inquiry, is not observation, being the witness. Those things are for the disciples or for seekers but for the devotee the fastest and best way is the silence. Keeping the mind quiet, keeping the mind peaceful. Not fighting the mind. When you fight the mind it’s like beating a cow with a stick to take the cow where you want him to go. Looking at the mind in quietness without troubling to change any thought is like coaxing the cow with some grass, so the cow will follow you wherever you want him to go. When you learn to sit in the silence, in the quietness, everything will happen by itself, everything will take care of itself, everything will happen by itself.
There are those of you disciples or seekers who say, “Robert I’ve tried this for years. I cannot sit in the silence. For as soon as I sit in the silence the thoughts come, feelings come, I’ve got to move, I got to get up, I’ve practiced self-inquiry it doesn’t work. I’ve tried being the witness it doesn’t work.”
The idea is not to care or be concerned about your thoughts whatsoever. It does not matter what type of thoughts come into your mind. It makes no difference what thoughts come into your mind. Do not try to observe them or be the witness to them or try to change them or even to ask, “To whom do they come?” Merely sit with a smile on your face and allow what to happen to happen. Allow what is going to happen to take place.
Without your interference. Just to be still. So that is the fastest and best way to awaken in this lifetime.
Question number two: I’ve had a spiritual experiences Robert the last couple of months. I’ve had visions and I think I’m in the process of awakening. Is this true?
We make a big fuss about awakening. The only reason I use the term like awakening, self-realization, pure awareness, is so that the disciples and the seekers can have some meat to hold onto so-to-speak. The devotees couldn’t care less about those terms. Those terms are meaningless to devotees.
When you awaken from your sleep before you awaken you’re having a dream. Do you say in your dream, “I have to awaken so I’m going to practice all kinds of yoga’s. I’m going to practice mantras and japa and pranayanas. So I can awaken.” Of course not.
When you wake up in the morning you just wake up. There is absolutely nothing you do. You didn’t plan to wake up. You didn’t outline and say to yourself, “I have to wake up in this life or next life or in the next ten minutes.” You just woke up. Awakening to the Self is the same thing. There are no plans you have to make.
There is no itinerary you have to keep. There are no yogas or meditations you have to practice. There are no teachers you have to see. You just wake up. Think about that.
You’ve been sleeping all night, you’ve been dreaming and now you wake up to this world. When you wake up to the fourth state of consciousness it’s the same way you do when you wake up in the morning. You simply awaken.
So again all of the profound teachings that you’ve been looking for, all the books that you’ve been looking for, all the Masters you’ve been looking for, all of the yoga practices, the kundalini yogas, the leya yoga and rajah yoga and the rest of the yogas, they may make you feel better but they have absolutely nothing to do with awakening.
You may say, “Well many people who have awakened have practiced these things in a previous life, perhaps or in this life and doesn’t this bring you closer to awakening?”
Not really. The reason they’ve practiced these things is because somebody told them to.
They’ve learned this from a person who is a yoga teacher, a kundalini Master and so forth.
It has absolutely nothing to do with awakening. Awakening is a direct experience. An instant experience. It happens.
But prior to awakening comes a complete surrender. Not visions, not spiritual experiences but a total and complete surrender to the Self. When I say it’s a complete surrender it’s exactly what I mean. You surrender your entire life. This means all your problems, all the things you think are bothering you. All the good things, all the bad things.
Everything is totally surrendered to the Self. And as you’re doing this you automatically become compassionate and have a tremendous amount of humility transpires within yourself.
Those are the three things that happen to you prior to awakening. There is a total surrender to God. Not certain things. I know some of you like to surrender the bad things, forget about that. You just surrender totally and completely. The bad and good things are all part of the relative world. And the whole relative world has to be totally and completely surrendered. Totally given up.
Then a great compassion and a great humility will come by itself. You see we’re not trying to do these things physically? We just let ourselves fall into the space where all these things happen by themselves. And this comes from sitting in the silence. You see how all these things are connected to each other?
As you sit in the silence without desire, without want, without trying to change bad for good. All of a sudden you will feel yourself surrendering. Surrendering all of your ego. The body-mind surrenders. Everything let’s go. And you become the epitome of compassion. A tremendous humility wells up within you. When you can feel these things the next step is to awaken totally.
The third question I was asked is: “Robert are you a Jnani. Are you a Sage? You can tell me I won’t tell anybody else.” Of course I had to laugh at something like this.
When a person who is a seeker or a disciple or does not have love in their heart, or ultimate surrender in their heart asks me a question like this, I can usually tell their motive and I keep silent. I hardly ever answer a person like this. But when a sincere devotee who does not understand, asks me this question, I have to answer the devotee and the answer is something like this; The word Sage, enlightenment, Jnani is really nonexistent to the Sage. Those words are for the ajnani. The ajnani thinks there is something different between what he is now and what he is when he awakens. So they’re are looking to see if the Sage or who they think is the Sage can tell whether they’re a Sage. Yet there is no one to see anything like this. For that word doesn’t exist.
We use the word Sage to explain to the seekers, to the disciples that there is a being who has awakened to the Self. Robert is not a Sage. Robert has nothing to do with being a Sage or a Jnani or anything else. Jnana is all pervading. It is the reality. You are that reality, I am that reality. There is one reality. One understanding. One awareness and I am is that. I am is that, not Robert, but I am. And since you are I am, I am I-am, we’re both in the same boat. There is no separation.
Therefore there is no one to say that, “He is a Sage or a Jnani.” For that would mean there was somebody left over who can claim to be a Jnani or a Sage. That would immediately mean that his being is not a Jnani or a Sage. Because he exclaims that he is. For the ego is the one that makes that exclamation. The ego is the one who exclaims, “Yes I am a Sage.” But when there is no ego, who is to say what? There is only silence. So again the best for you is to stay in the silence, remain in the silence and forever be free.
Now as I mention so often. Most of the disciples and seekers I always say to you, “Do not necessarily believe what I say.” Why should you? Do not accept what I tell you, for you have no idea where I’m coming from. You have to find out yourself what you are.
Check yourself out. Understand yourself and you’ll understand me. Know yourself.
You cannot know yourself when you’re thinking of your problems. When you’re thinking of the world. When you’re thinking of others. The only way you can really know yourself is when you let go of all the thoughts, all the feelings of separation. When you stop thinking. And that is the only time you will really know yourself. But do not take my word for it. Go within yourself and find out. Understand where you’re coming from.
When I thought of sharing this with you I wanted to get another point of view. So you can hear it from someone else. So I looked through the pile of books I’ve got at home, they’re all dusty. And I came up with a “Ma Yoga Bhagvan Sri Ramana by Who?” There is a chapter there that is five pages called “The Sage.” And then in the end there is a commentary by a devotee of Sri Rama Krishna. A swami who visited Ramana and he makes his comments. So I think it’s apropos if we read this and see what you think.
When you read a book like this, it’s best to close your eyes and feel it in your heart, so let’s see what Who says about this. Who says? Dana would you like to read Who?
SD: Okay. Unprepared as I am.
(Dana reads Who)R: Now you know the truth about yourself. You are that Sage. It is you. All these years you believed you are human. You believed you were a person with an ego, desires.
But now you can see that you’re not that at all. You are absolute reality, effortless pure awareness. That is your true Self.
Feel free to ask questions about this.
SV: Robert, it’s not a question but during the reading I’m quite amazed how a person can hold a point of view and it’s very logical, what you say, logical and another can hold an almost opposite point of view which also seems logical. And today there is all points of view. (R: Of course.) Many of them quite differently. It’s almost like a trap when it comes from the ego and just seems so right, you can believe it all your life.
R: The point of our view comes from our upbringing. The way we were trained.
The schools we went to, the churches, the synagogues, mosques we attended, all this has established our point of view. Also from past lives, there is the karmic that we carry over, the samskaras and this also causes our point of view to be what it is. The object, the idea is to transcend every point of view and become perfectly clear and free and don’t have a point of view about anything.
Fred (SF): I read something the other day that I found bodily fascinating. In the issue of the mountain path, it has several things about Krishna Murti. It tells of a man who was a disciple or devotee of swami Ram Dass, who had led him to believe that everything was in the name and the name was in everything. And he tried to live his life according to this precept. And then he heard of a world renowned Indian philosopher who was teaching that the name means nothing, forget it that it’s no good. Anyway, so he…this confused him and he was determined to find this philosopher to see what he had to say about it. And of course Krishna Murti went to Madras where he was supposed to but he never did get to see him.
So he went to Rishi valley but he still couldn’t see him. And also to Bombay and finally back to Madras. He was so determined to hear what he’d say that he decided to wait in the garden of this great home where Krishna Murti was staying. And he was standing there and Krishna Murti came out and he bowed to him or whatever they do and Krishna Murti lifted him up by the shoulders and said, “We are both saying the same thing.” And this relieved this great yogi who wanted to know what would be said when he asked that question. Do you have any comments?
R: The comment I have is, does it relieve you? (SF: Yes.) Are you free because of it?
(SF: No but I have what I think is an accurate intellectual understanding.) As long as it affects you positively then it’s good. See it really makes no difference what other people really do.
Even what Sages do. You have to become aware that you are the Sage yourself. Within you are all the attributes of Sagehood. It merely requires that you drop your thoughts, you drop your opinions, you drop your values, you drop everything that you were brought up to believe and you enter a state of nothingness. When you enter a state of nothingness you become the universe and you become absolutely free.
We have a tendency to rely too much on the words of others, for we are so well read. We visit so many great teachers, scholars, all types of people. We’ve been around the
world we’ve seen all kinds of things. Whereas the truth is you may stay where you are and be what you are and simply drop everything and become totally free.
SY: Robert, does self-realization occur when it occurs? If there is nothing anybody can do to achieve it?
R: Yes and no. It will occur when it’s supposed to occur but when you come into contact with a Jnani because of your past experiences in another life and it’s time for you to do something like this and as you surrender yourself completely then the grace of the Jnani pushes you towards the self. And your inner Self expands becomes your reality and your ego becomes completely destroyed.
Fred (SF): I think most of us think that there is some change will be brought about but the fact of the matter as I understand it, there is no change, nothing need be added to what we are now, nothing need be taken away, it’s already there.
R: Yes again the only change that I mentioned before, when we’re in dreaming, when we’re in silent sleep and we are awakened. So now we are awake to this world and the dream world is gone. The world of rest is gone and we are awakened to this world. It isn’t strange, as you say, “there is really no change.”
For when we were dreaming, in the dream there were people like us, situations that we were involved in, places we went, things we did. And now we have simply awakened to this world where we do virtually the same things. And when you waken from this world you will be in the world of reality.
Where the same things will appear to happen but you will see through them that they are images, you are the screen and the images are superimposed on the screen. And you will not be fooled any longer by the images, that’s all. You are awake, you are clear, you are free.
(silence)
Shanti om, peace. Remember to love yourself, to worship yourself, to pray to yourself for God dwells in you as you. Be happy, I love you.
We have prashad.
(Handing out of prashad 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.