– Transcript 138
R: It is good to be with you once again.
Many people when they come to satsang for quite a while, begin to take satsang for granted. We get together twice a week in this way. We get to know each other intimately. Yet after a time some people take satsang for granted.
When a teacher comes from out of the country or out of state, people flock to see this teacher. To hear new things, new methods, new ideas, and the teacher is gone for another year or so. Yet, we’re together twice a week.
Never forget the truth about satsang. Every word, every breathe, every moment of Silence, every joke, everything makes up satsang. And this is your Spiritual unfoldment.
This is what causes you to evolve, to grow, to transcend. It is sort of difficult to see your own growth in progress but I can assure you everyone who comes here, especially twice a week, is unfolding beautifully. No matter what you may think or no matter what you may see in your own life things are happening to you good things wonderful things. Try to understand this. Never forget you’re not coming to a lecture or to hear stories or to get out of the rain. There is a reason why you are attracted to satsang. You have prepared yourself for many lives to take the final step, to become totally free. Consider this. The question arises, “Can I come to satsang only and not practice sadhana or Spiritual exercises or practices? Is satsang sufficient? Or do I still have to do Self-Inquiry and other such things?
What is the truth about this?’ People ask me this question. In reality, satsang is all you need. If you come to satsang twice a week, you may hear a word, a sentence, you may be sitting in the Silence and you will become Realized. In an instant.
So the question that is asked, “Is satsang alone sufficient?” The answer is yes and no. Yes it is sufficient because you have gone through many incarnations where you have practiced various sadhanas. And you have earned your way to satsang like this.
No, you cannot just become Enlightened by coming to satsang, if it is the first time you have been into Spiritual practices. This is why I have said that satsang like this is for mature souls. People who have been through many experiences of religious training, practice in previous incarnations. In other words, you are where you are suppose to be. Yet, to unfold and become Realized just by coming to satsang, there are two considerations you have to ponder. The first one is the practice of divine ignorance. Now I’m speaking about the mature soul who has gone through pranayamas and raja yoga, Hatha yoga, various spiritual disciplines, various tapas and they are here now. Therefore, the first thing you have to do is practice divine ignorance. Divine ignorance merely means that you are totally ignorant in a Divine Way of everything in this Universe. In other words, you become very humble and very truthful, when you realize you don’t know what anything really is. You really have no idea in your mortal mind what anything is all about.
Take a tree for instance, we have no idea what a tree is in its Reality. Oh, we say it’s a tree, we take it for granted. Yet, where did the tree come from? We were born into a world where people have told us when we were kids, this is a tree! And we say good, a tree. But when you think about it, we are totally in a State of Ignorance, for we have no idea what the tree is doing here. What’s its purpose? Where did the first tree come from?
What’s it all about? We don’t know.
We look at minerals, gold, silver and in our mind they are very expensive minerals. Everybody wants gold and silver. But it is we as human beings that gave them names and gave them value. We say gold is hard to get, so it’s worth a lot of money because it’s shiny and it’s pretty. Same with silver. But what is it really? What is its purpose? Where did it come from? This is true of everything on this earth.
Take a cat. What is a cat? We have no idea, if you’re being very truthful with yourself. We were born into a world where when we were babies people said this is a cat. If people would have called it a tree, we would have called a cat a tree. It is we who have given names to everything. Therefore, in the practice of Divine Ignorance we admit to ourselves that we really don’t know what anything is. We really have no idea what these things are all about. What does it do for us? It makes us humble. It develops humility.
Instead of walking around thinking we know something, believing we know anything at all, we realize we don’t know what a damn thing is on this earth. Everything just exists and we take it for granted.
We see a mountain we’re used to it. We see water we’re used to it. It’s hard for us to realize that the earth is spinning around its axis and that the water doesn’t fall off the earth we don’t fall off this earth. We call this gravity. We give this a name. Yet, no matter what scientists have done to try to understand what this is all about, no scientist has ever understood these things. Science only tells us what something appears to be and what its molecular nature is. But we have no understanding of why it’s here.
We take a look at ourselves, as human beings so called. What are we doing here?
Why are we here? Where did we come from originally? We don’t know. Therefore, to a person who wishes to become liberated, divine ignorance is very important. It’s a sort of surrender. It’s the same as practicing neti-neti, not this, not this. We see all of these things and we understand that they do not exist like we think they exist. Nothing is the way it appears! That’s the first consideration you have to have. And you have to keep thinking about these things pondering these things, everyday.
We’re told were supposed to live certain lives, doing certain things, becoming professional people in certain objects and subjects. Why? If were going to die in any event.
What’s the purpose of going to school for 25 years becoming a professional engineer, doctor, lawyer, whatever when we have to leave all of this behind. The average person does not want to consider this it’s too frightening! The average person wants to go on with their duties, with their work, with their families, with their life as if it is never going to end. But alas, here comes good old death which takes us away.
But we don’t want to think about these things we don’t want to consider them. We want to have fun we want to run around we want to become the top in our profession we want to acquire millions of dollars be in perfect health that’s all we care about. But when you begin to ponder that you have to leave all of this behind, and one day you will leave your body behind we wouldn’t like to ponder this at all.
Therefore, the first step to consider in Advaita Vedanta is divine ignorance. When you admit to yourself I don’t know? I don’t know anything! But most of us have never wanted to be this way. We want to make people think we know! So we talk and talk and talk about things to make people think we know. But we know nothing. To know that you don’t know is Divine ignorance. To not know that you do not know is plain ignorance.
That’s the first consideration.
The second consideration to ponder is to tell yourself, I am consciousness. And Consciousness is like a gigantic Screen that takes up the whole Universe, that is the whole Universe, beyond the Universe. And you think of a screen which takes up all time and space there is absolutely nothing but this screen is consciousness and this is my true nature Yet, somehow, consciousness appears to produce a replica of Itself as a human being as a person, that is superimposed upon itself. I know some of you are thinking, ‘But Robert, you told us that consciousness is nothing it is self-sufficient, all pervading. How can it produce a human being?” Well, it is like water in the mirage. It doesn’t really do this but in order to explain it and for us to become evolved and liberated we have to think of it this way. This is a process. Something to think on a higher level. It is true when you see water in a mirage, when you’re walking in the desert and you’re thirsty and you go after it and you jump on it and you grab it you grab sand! In the same instance, when you try to grab the human beings, so called on the Screen of Life, which is Consciousness, you grab the screen!
So the first person appears super imposed on consciousness. This first person is the I-thought. The personal self. Now the personal self thinks of itself and creates out of its mind other beings like itself all super imposed on consciousness or the Screen of Life. You create families, friends, enemies, different types of situations. They all appear on the Screen, until the Screen is totally covered with people, places and things and you forget about the Screen and get involved with the people that you have created out of your mind and the situations and the conditions and everything else. I am referring to all of us.
Everything you behold everything you see the stars the moon the sky, the trees, the water it is all a superimposition on consciousness on the Screen. It doesn’t exist. Yet it is difficult for most of us to understand that when something exists it doesn’t exist!! It exists and at the same time it doesn’t exist at all. Like the sky is blue. The sky looks beautiful, blue if you go up into the atmosphere there is no blue sky. There never was a blue sky.
It’s an optical illusion. Like the snake and the rope. The rope appears to be a snake and frightens you until you find out it’s not really a snake. Therefore, you will never be frightened by a rope again.
So these pictures on the Screen, some are frightening, some are happy some of this and some of that. You get involved in the play of life. You appear to get old and die and you are reborn again, go through different experiences
Remember you are creating all the time, with your mind.
The further you get involved in this picture the more you create images, situations, persons, places and things the more that you get stuck in these things. And they appear So real to you that again you forget this is a superimposition on the Screen. The Screen has long been forgotten. Consciousness has long been forgotten. The reality to you is the people, the things, the places the things that make you happy you go after things that make you happy trying to get rid of things that make you unhappy.
And you keep on like this, life after life after life after life after life. The time comes when you get tired of playing and you begin to take the search for the answers of life seriously. You begin to ponder and wonder what this is all about by practicing divine ignorance, which is what we’ve been talking about. You realize everything comes and goes and within time no one will remember you ever existed.
Therefore, you begin to ponder this. “Who am I?”, you say to yourself. ‘What is my Real Nature?” You begin to give up the places, things, situations that seem to make you happy or sad, because you begin to understand this will not last long. So what I really should be doing is trying to find out the Truth about all of these things. Where did they all come from? What gave them birth? What is their purpose? You’ll finally come to the conclusion that ‘you’ exist and yes, that everything is within your Self. This is the greatest discovery a human being has made.
All of the answers are within you.
Why you die, life on other planets, everything, the answers are within yourself.
After you ponder these things, more and more the answers are revealed to you.
This is what the Sages of old did. They sat down near a tree they weren’t interested in going anywhere, doing anything, becoming prosperous, making a name for themselves, looking for love in all the wrong places. They were interested in one thing, to awaken. They had many interesting experiences books like the Upanishads were written, the Vedas, many other spiritual works that where thousands of years old, giving other people an opportunity and a chance to also discover this Truth. When this Truth was discovered, they realized they had Eternal Life. There never was a time when they where born and there would never be a time when they would die. They understood that they are the one! And there is no other, but the one, the screen. They had gone back to the screen, which is consciousness. And they experienced the fact that the body does not really exist it is like the water in the mirage like the snake and the rope like the sky is blue 1491
They became Eternal Beings, awakened, self realized.
Many of these great Sages became teachers, many did not and the message was passed down. If you want to awaken you have to give up all of your foolishness mentally.
You have to stop wanting things, being attached to things. You have to stop worrying about anything and let go of fear.
Focus only on the self, on consciousness whatever you focus on you become.
If you desire to focus on things of the world, you become a worldly person. And you go through trials and tribulations, good and bad times, until you learn and understand that this whole world is nonsense. No sense!!! The world has no substance. No reality. The world is without a foundation for it is a mental image.
Now take a look at your life. Think of the things that are so important to you Think of the things that annoy you That disturb you Think of the things that make you happy These are all things. As long as you’re dealing with things, they must change. They will never be the same. Nothing is ever the same. Everything must change. Why should you chase after things that change? Don’t you see the folly in this? You’re wasting your precious life. Then you come back again and again, until you refuse to any longer get involved with this world and you become free!
So it is easy to say that the world does not exist. Everything is Consciousness, the Self. Yet, if you have not experienced this State, it is foreign to you. If you ponder divine ignorance and ponder the fact that you are really a screen, which is consciousness, something will begin to happen deep inside you. You will begin to let go and your real self will shine through. You are the power. You and you alone are the creator.
I know some of you are saying, “I don’t look like a creator, I seem to create hell.’
But this is what you do anytime you think! Every time you think you are creating. The world in which you are in right now is a creation of your mind. Whether you’re single or married, rich or poor, sick or healthy, all these things are created in your mind, subconsciously. You may say, “I didn’t choose to live this life, I didn’t choose these things to happen to me.” Yet, subconsciously you are in that wave length. And everything that is happening to you is suppose to happen. That’s what I mean when I say, “Everything is in it’s right place. All is well. Everything is unfolding as it should.’
Do not cry over spilt milk. Let go of the past, totally. Forget about the future. See yourself now. What do you see? What you see is what you get. You are more than you can ever imagine. You are the one!
Do not be fooled do not allow this Universe, the world to shape you and mold you making you believe you are this or you are that. Rather, stand up tall and do not identify with the body or the mind go beyond that There is really no one on this earth that can hurt you There is really no one who can do anything to you except if you allow it to happen.
Start from the point of divine ignorance. Develop this beautiful humility, this humbleness I was talking about. Admit that you know nothing. Then see yourself as the 1492screen, that takes up all the time and space. And try to realize your humanhood came from this screen. Without the screen, without consciousness you wouldn’t be at all.
You can practice exhaling and the whole Universe comes into existence. Inhaling and you suck up the Universe in your Heart Center. This is a very profound exercise to practice. Try it. Inhale feel the whole Universe, everything, the stars, the planets, the galaxies, people, places and things-all being consecutive inside your Heart. And when you exhale all of creation begins again. It comes out of you. Let’s practice this with our eyes closed. Feel this.
You and you alone exist. All of this creation comes out of your mind. With every exhalation you are creating the entire Universe. With every inhalation the total Universe is sucked back into your Heart. There is nothing but the Self, the screen. And as you exhale again the entire Screen Of Life becomes covered with images, planets, galaxies and there is movement and life everywhere. And as you inhale all of the movement and all of the life disappears in its entirety and there is only the self and that is consciousness! Feel this peace!
Do any of you have any unusual experiences you like to share with us? Do you have any questions?
SD: I have a question but first I have a comment. The exercise we just did which I thought was really wonderful reminds me of Sri Bhagvan once saying something like, “We create the world like the spider throws the web out from its body and in the same way it can reabsorb it.’ So that was the comment. My question is when you were talking about our subconscious creation of our lives and circumstances how do you reconcile that with karma of which I thought we had no control.
R: Yes. The subconscious part of you is your karma. That is karma. It is that which decides what is going to happen to you. (SD: In other words, we are predestined to create the reality in which we live?) Yes, it is all predestined. (SD: So one does not conflict with the other.) No there is no conflict whatsoever. There is only karma that acts as a subconscious.
SX: Isn’t our karma something that we really don’t control?
R: By not controlling it you are controlling it. It’s controlling you by you not controlling it at all. Whatever you do, whatever happens to you it is because of karma. It is karmically predestined. But as you work on yourself you get to the point where you transcend it and there is no karma at all. You become totally Free. So for whom is there karma?
For the mind, for the subconscious mind, for the ego, for the self, the personal self.
SD: So the subconscious is part of the illusion. (R: Of course.) Then why is it sometimes we are sort of led to believe the subconscious is reality and Consciousness is illusion if they are both illusion?
R: Well that is psychology, psychiatry they lead you to believe that your subconscious mind is a power. But it’s really karmic, it’s all karmic. If karma didn’t exist, we’d be totally free! But you have to see that.
(Readings by students followed 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.