– Transcript 190
R: Greetings and salutations. Happy Sunday. All is well. Everyone feels wonderful, don’t they? Some of you don’t look too good. You’re probably worried about the presidential debates. It’s good to be with you once again.
People often ask me, “Can a person become self-realized while living as a householder? Or living with people or a family who are not inclined this way? By having relatives, children, whatever that give you a hard time, think you’re crazy because you come here and follow this kind of a teaching and they’re right.”
Of course this to me is a very humorous question. Due to the fact that it has nothing to do with self-realization, nothing whatsoever. It doesn’t matter what you’re going through or what’s going on in this world this is something we have to understand. Self-realization, moksha, liberation transcends this plane of existence totally and completely. It has absolutely nothing to do with what is going on in your life. Which may sound strange but true. Some people may have a horrible life going through all kinds of physical experiences. Perhaps poverty or lack or limitation or abuse from a spouse, whatever, this has nothing to do with self-realization. Due to the fact that self-realization is your real Self. It is your true nature this is what you are. So why do you have to go find it? Why do you have to make it happen? There is nothing that has to happen.
In other words you do not have to be with a group of enlightened beings to become self-realized. You do not have to be in a monastery, on a mountain top in a cave or anywhere else to become self-realized. Due to the fact that you’re already self-realized. You are already free. You are already bright and shining. What you do have to do is leave everything alone. You have to stop being concerned about person, place or thing, about who is right or wrong and what is going on in your life. As far as your life is concerned these things have absolutely nothing to do with it. In other words you may be a thief and be self-realized. It’s a very strange understanding but it’s true. To be self-realized all you have to do is to wake up no matter what position you’re in.
The reason why so many people are in negative experiences and not become self-realized is due to the fact that they accept their negative experiences. They accept what the senses show them and tell them. They accept the world as it appears as real. They accept their body, whatever it’s going through to be real. How can you become self-realized if you’re doing this? It is up to each one of you to drop the world from your mind, mentally.
Not to make any changes. Some people still believe that if they make positive changes they will be happier. They’ll have more of an opportunity to study, to meditate, to think.Again remember self-realization has absolutely nothing to do with all of these things. It has nothing to do with meditation, nothing to do with thinking, nothing to do with changing to a positive atmosphere.
Why is this? Because the ground upon which I stand is Holy ground, that’s why.
Everything is sacred. Everything is holy. Because everything is God or consciousness or absolute reality. If anything were not God it wouldn’t exist. Everything that exists is God. Most of us when we think of God we think of only the good things. We think of harmony, peace, love , etc. But in truth God is everything.
God is in the serial rapist. God is in the mass murderer. God is in the person dying of AIDS. It is all God. The only problem which appears is that you see it differently, that’s all. It is your identification, it is your perception. It is what you see. This is what matters.
This is what counts. So, if you’re able to see through appearances and see the reality how can the appearance hurt you?
You were not born to cry. You were not born to have bad experiences in your life.
You were not born to have negative conditions in your life, so-to-speak. You were born to be happy. Yet you allow the conditionings of the world to affect you. You allow you’re bodily condition to affect you. What the newspapers tell you, what the TV tells you. You respond to these things. This is the only reason that you’re not enlightened, so-to-speak.
For you have allowed exterior conditions, external conditions to make up your mind how things are.
Things are things and that’s it. They’re not good, they’re not bad.
We have been trained from childhood to judge and say, “This is good. This is bad.
This is this and this is that.” If we learn to keep quiet. If we learn to shut up. To be still. To stop judging, everything will take care of itself. Everything will take care of itself! All of your needs will be met. Your destiny will be fulfilled. Everything is sacred. Everything is pure awareness. Everything has the Buddha nature. Everything is. But yet you give everything a name and you label it good or bad, right and wrong. This is what keeps you back.
You have to begin to understand that this whole universe is imagination. It comes from false imagination. It’s an optical illusion. Everything, the good things the bad things and stop reacting to this world.
I didn’t say to stop being a part of this world I just said stop reacting. You can work. You can have a family. You can watch a movie. You can go bowling. You can do whatever you like. But it is your response to these things that determine where you’re coming from. It’s your reactions to what’s going on that determines where you are. When you become angry, when you become upset because something isn’t going your way. This is the only problem you have. This is your problem.
You should ask yourself, “Why do I become angry? Why do I become upset? Why do I think the world has to turn a certain way for me to be happy? Why do I believe people have to say certain things so I can be feel good, be happy, be joyous? Why do certain words affect me? Why do certain conditions affect me? Why do certain people affect me?”
This is the problem that you’ve been carrying through incarnation after incarnation. This is why the time has to come when you inquire, “Who am I? Who am I really? Who is this person that is going through incarnation after incarnation and finds themselves in a mess?
Who is this person? Is it me? Am I a person who is like a leaf being blown around by the breeze of time? Finding myself in one time or another time? Being born again over and over again? Going through experiences that people call karmic? Is this what I’m here for?
Is this me?” Of course not.
You are a divine being, a spiritual being. You are a God. They have so many Gods you are one of them, why not? The Hindu mythology has hundreds and thousands of Gods. Christianity has many Gods. Judaism has many Gods. Every religion in the world has many Gods, so why can’t you be a God? Make up your mind that you are going to be a God. If you don’t then you’re something else aren’t you? What are you? What do you believe deep inside about yourself? That you’re not worthy? That you’re a sinner because you made some mistakes in the past? What do you believe about other people? The only thing you can believe about other people is what’s in yourself. That is all you can see in other people. You can only see yourself wherever you look. For there is only one Self and you are that! You are the one Self, nothing else and nothing more. Consequently wherever you look you see yourself.
Why not make up your mind to drop the past totally and completely, to forget about the future and live in the eternal now, in the eternal moment, fresh, with spontaneity, peace and love. Why not make up your mind to do this? When you make up your mind to do this something happens to you. Your mind begins to fade away. The past impressions that have been with you for so long begin to fade away. All of your fears, emotions, anger, sorrows begin to fade away into the nothingness from whence they came. You have only to be aware. To be aware of what? That you are a God.
As you think of yourself as a God that notion begins to expand within you. So you begin to laugh at yourself because you’re able to see and perceive that all of the Gods that ever existed are you, your Self. They are not within you, they are you, you are those Gods.
You are Krishna, you are Vishnu, you are Shiva, you are the Christ, you are everybody that has ever lived. It is you. But if you think this way you have to think also that you are Hitler, you are Mussolini, you are Genghis Khan, you are Napoleon. You can’t just think about the good guys. The bad guys existed also. Therefore you are all of these things and you are! If it weren’t for you these people would not exist at all. They came out of your mind.
You created all of these people all of these conditions or where else would they come from.
You are the one that has given life and substance to every condition in this universe.
And now personally you are giving life and substance to every condition that you’re going through. Whatever it is you’re going through good or bad. You are giving substance and life to this condition. Take a look at your life honestly, truly. See what you believe all day long. What you feel all day long. What you think about all day long. What goes through your mind all day long. Think!Can’t you see now that you are the one holding back your self-realization. The self-realization in which you are wants to come forth and let itself be known. Yet you refuse to acknowledge this by believing so strongly in this world and its manifestation.
Without recognizing that you have created this world, yourself, and your mind and you’re partaking of your creation right now. You refuse to let this go. All you have to do is let it go. The truth will shine all by itself.
Why don’t you let it go? Because you wish to play games. You wish to play hide and seek with yourself. By hide and seek I mean that you wish to forget who you really are and take on a new identity life after life and go through all kinds of experiences. And you begin to seek for reality, what you are already anyway. You begin to search for it everywhere. This is the game you’re playing. You believe you can find reality in a book, in a teacher, in a church or a mosque or on a mountain top or being secluded in a cave. You believe your reality is found this way.
So you’ve covered yourself up with all of these beliefs, all of these thoughts, with all these ideas of who your reality is. Somewhere far away from you and you have to go seek it to find it. Yet in truth every…everything has been right here all of the time. Just where you are right now. Everything has been with you all of this time. It’s never left you.
But you’ve been seeking and searching and looking and arguing and fighting, sticking up for your rights and here you are. What are you going to do about it? It’s up to you.
You can vehemently make up your mind that you’ve had enough of this nonsense and drop it all. You can do this you have this freedom. Yes, you can consciously make up your mind that you no longer wish to play the game of hide and seek. You’re finished playing games.
You know who you are. You are the Buddha, the Christ, the absolute reality, nirvana, the pure awareness, this is you, right now this minute, this second. There is nothing else to do. Freedom is yours. Take it. Assimilate it. Digest it. Chew it up. Freedom is yours.
Total freedom, not partial freedom. Not freedom only in certain areas, total freedom.
Oh I know you may tell me, “If you only looked in my home and see what is going on in my house. See what is going on in my job, my work then you will see why I can’t be free.” That’s utter nonsense, foolishness. You are reacting to conditions that is why you feel this way. Leave everything alone. Whatever is going on has absolutely nothing to do with you unless you identify with it.
Your family, your friends, your relatives are all with you because of karmic influences. They have to go through their experiences. See this. Know this. Therefore have a great compassion but leave it alone. People appear to drop dead every minute of the day and we’re concerned about death as if it’s not going to happen to us.
As long as you feel that you’re human you have to die and you have to be born and you have to continue this process. So why worry about it why be concerned about these things. As soon as you begin to lose your humanhood things change drastically. For to the extent that you lose your humanhood to that extent do you find yourself becoming
freer and freer and freer. Things may not change too much in your world perhaps but you will see the whole thing totally differently.
You will see everything unfolding as it should. You will find that everything is in its right place. Going through those experiences that are necessary for its unfoldment. You will stop arguing with people. Stop judging people. You will speak very little. And you will inquire, “Who am I? What am I? What am I going through here? Who is going through anything? Who needs everything? Who needs all this?” and you will keep still, you will be still, you will be quiet.
(pause)
Isn’t it wonderful when everything is quiet? Especially when I shut up and don’t talk anymore. Things become much better. So let’s really sit in the silence. When I say, “Sit in the silence,” I’m not speaking of human quietness. I mean the silence beyond human quietness, the silence beyond understanding. The silence which is God, Infinite intelligence. Let’s just sit in that silence.
Close our eyes, be still, put a smile on your face.
I am not my affairs. I am not my experiences. I am not this life I appear to be going through. I have absolutely nothing to do with this world even though I may appear to others to be doing things in this world, working, whatever. I am free from fears. Free from past karma. Free from other peoples thoughts. I-am-that-I-am.
I go deep, deep, deep within the Self and then become the Self. Realizing that there is only one Self. I am touching that place where I’ve never been before. The ultimate reality. I am touching that place where there are no thoughts, no emotions, no feelings. I am touching that place where there is bliss, eternal love. I now go deeper beyond all that where even love, ultimate oneness, self-realization are mere words. I go beyond all words and thoughts to that place where there is absolutely nothing and yet I exist.
(long silence)
It is now time to play stump the guru, so pass the stumpers.
(Q - Mary reads, A - Robert answers)
Q: Dear Robert how does your sitting in silence help us?
A: When I sit in the silence at the prescribed times and when someone focuses their attention on me there is a direct connection. What we call grace is always here and always available. But the thoughts of the silence cause that grace to become manifested in the person who is thinking of the guru or the teacher of God or the Self. Since there is only one Self and that Self is you by thinking of me in the silence you are thinking of your Self.
And since that Self is perfect automatically you have all of your emotions resolved, you have all your problems resolved so-to-speak. Things begin to happen. It is up to you to be sincere when you do this and try to keep your mind quiet. You don’t necessarily have to think of me personally, you may think of your favorite deity if you’ve got one. You may think of God in the abstract as white light. The whole idea is to become still in the silence.And then you tune into my Self, you tune into me. Like a radio set. You turn the dial on the radio until it’s finely tuned and you pick up the station that you want.
In the same way when you’re sitting in the quietness in the silence when you’re thinking of a deity of some kind, it’s all your Self, it’s all my self they’re all one. It’s all one person, one being. This brings happiness and joy and bliss. For those of you who have not tried this yet, try it, do it, see what happens. Next case.
Q: How is the act of suicide regarded on this path? Since it takes place in Maya would there be spiritual consequences?
A: Suicide of course is a waste of time. Unless you want to commit suicide and carry on again, and bring back the body again. Now this is not altogether true. It depends on the individual. It depends on many factors. It is true it is all Maya. Who commits suicide, who dies, who doesn’t die but unless you believe that first and you have a consciousness of that committing suicide will mean you just take birth again, faster. And you begin where you left off. But if you have a high consciousness then committing suicide doesn’t affect you whatsoever. But then again if you had a high consciousness why would you commit suicide? There would be nobody to commit suicide because you already don’t exist to begin with. So it’s an individual proposition. A person who feels that they’re in extreme pain and suicide is the only way out, this is okay. There really is nothing wrong with this. It’s neither good nor bad. It may give you a rest but you’ll have to come back again only because of the fact that you haven’t been enlightened in this life. But then again there is some people who only come here for a short period of time to work out certain karmic qualities. Sometimes they get hit by a bus or they get shot or they commit suicide or something happens which ends their karma forever. Their karma is finished.
What I’m trying to say is every case is different. Every person is different. There isn’t one standard law that says, “This is right and this is wrong.” Every being is different.
The only points to remember is if you’re not enlightened you have to continue the process.
If you were enlightened you wouldn’t care at all about suicide or no suicide it doesn’t exist for you. You would be beyond that. Therefore ponder these things. Ask yourself, “Can suicide really help me? Is this the answer? Will this free me?” Perhaps it will, perhaps it wouldn’t. It’s all an individual case an individual proposition. Everyone came to this earth for their own karma so-to-speak. So what’s advisable for one person is not advisable for another person. That’s why if you all want to commit suicide I’ll get out the Kool Aid.
(laughter) I have the fresh batch in the refrigerator. It’s all an individual proposition.
If anybody is thinking of something like this see me personally and we’ll discuss it. Next case.
Q: Some people say Buddhism has become too cerebral and lost its soul. Comment please.
A: Buddhism like Christianity, like Judaism have become very commercial. But yet there are real mystical Christians around. There are mystical Buddhists around. There are mystical teachings, mystical teachers. The commercial Buddhism has lost its soul, this is true. For many people go to Buddhist churches, Buddhist temples in order to acquire
wealth, to acquire health acquire all kinds of material objects. Yet real Buddhism is not like this. Real Buddhism is sacred. You should question yourself and ask yourself, “Why do I think it’s become so secular? It’s irrealistic, perhaps I have become that way? So I am attracted to those Buddhists that are not sincere, who are false themselves. Where do I belong,” you say. “What teaching should I follow. Whom shall I follow?” Ask yourself. All the answers are within you. Next.
Q: Robert, if we are one, why does the universe appear with so many forms, entities, etc.
A: To whom does the universe appear this way? To the ego, to the mind. We are one beyond the ego, beyond the mind, beyond the appearance. Since you believe that you are a human being you cannot see the total freedom, you see the diversity. You see the many, you see duality because you are a human being. You have not been developed yet.
You have not been completely cooked yet. Therefore there is diversity. But take a dream. In the dream, there is diversity, many things happen in your dream but then you wake up and you realize the whole dream of diversity was in the one, you. You were the one dreaming the dream. The whole dream was filled with people, places and things that seem so real to you until you woke up and it all came out of you. You’re the one. So it is with this life.
This life is exactly the same way. You see the many. You see diversity everywhere you look. But yet most of you refuse to accept the fact that this is a dream. That is why I see this way. When you accept the fact it’s a dream you dive deep within yourself then you will become free of this dream also. So dive deep within yourself, make it happen. Know the truth and the truth will make you free.
Q: Can a self-realized person still have negative thoughts and do negative actions?
A: A self-realized person will appear to many people to be different things. It depends on the mission of the teacher. Sometimes the teacher has to do certain things in this world as in the form of a teaching that may appear to be evil and wrong to many people.
This is the reason it is written, “Judge not that ye not be judged.” It is not for us to judge all of these teachers and all of these people. ??? to do something like this. We have to learn to leave everybody alone. First know who you are then see if a self-realized being does negative things or causes problems in this world. If you do not understand a person, a teacher or anybody else why you do things in this world, how you do things do not come to any conclusions. Say to yourself, “When I become self-realized I will know the truth.” Work on yourself diligently to awaken then you’ll understand what is going on.
Therefore there is no real answer to a question like this at this time. For there are teachers who do many negative things in this world. So-called high teachers, high places of thousands of followers yet they appear to be doing negative things. So again this is not our business. We have not come here to judge anybody. We have come here to be totally and completely free. When we become free we will see everybody else is also free and realize it’s all a dream. Again work on yourself, dive deep within yourself until you get such thoughts out of your mind. Who is good and who is bad, who is right and who is wrong. Those questions do not belong in a person practicing sadhana. Drop it all, leave it all alone. Live your life to the fullest. See what you are and change your ways but judge nobody else.
Q: You have suggested that we adore the Self. How can we adore something we can’t even comprehend? Assuming that you are not referring to the personal self or I-thought.
A: When people first start practicing Advaita Vedanta they begin to understand that they are the Self just the way they are. It’s paradoxical but you have no body, you are not the body. You are the pure unblemished Self. Pure consciousness absolute reality. This is you just the way you are right now. In this moment. That’s the catch. You are like that in the moment. Like right now this is you because you’re not thinking. Sitting here quietly, peaceful, without thoughts then you are the unblemished Self. The ultimate reality, this is you right now. As soon as you start thinking about it, it goes away, it changes, it’s not you any longer, it’s your humanhood. So when I say to adore your Self I am referring to adoring yourself as God, as the ultimate reality which is really you. But if you think of yourself as a human being with problems who makes mistakes you cannot adore yourself at all.
You condemn yourself you put yourself down.
When you go home this evening practice this in front of a mirror. Put your arms around yourself and say, “I adore you, I adore you, I adore you.” You will notice if you think your self as a human being you will not be able to do this at all. Something in you will prevent you from doing this because you’re seeing yourself as a human being with mistakes with all kinds of nonsense you’ve gone through in this life. But if you’re able to drop it for a few moments when you say to your Self, “I adore you, I adore you, I adore you,” you will see in the mirror light coming out of yourself, bright light and then you’ll love yourself all over. That is who you love, the light. You are the light of the world. That is your Self. Adore that Self.
Q: Please explain specific differences between love and attachment. Thank you.
A: Attachment is something you hold onto for your own sake. Because you believe if you don’t have the thing you’re attached to you’ll have problems. You can’t live without a certain person, a certain thing. Therefore you’re totally attached to person, place or thing yet in your sick mind you call this love. You think this is love. Love is absolute freedom without any attachment whatsoever. Love gives it never takes. Love is letting everything alone, not judging anybody or anything. Allowing it to unfold in its own inimitable way, this is love. Attachment is when you’re thinking of your ego. So you make all kinds of rules and regulations in your life with people, how they must behave to you with objects, things. How they must be possessed by you and you call this love. In other words you love somebody or something because he or she or the something is doing whatever you want them to do. It’s pleasing you the way you want to be pleased. So you love that person or place or thing. It’s giving you happiness.
For instance when you buy a new car. You love that car with all your heart. You show everybody your car. You talk about your car how beautiful it drives, nice seats, the
wooden panel you’ve got inside. But as soon as the car crashes you’ve changed your mind.
You have a broken car now, the car has been mashed, to pieces. Therefore you no longer love the car the same way as you did before. As a matter of fact you’re thinking of trading in the car for a new one. For the car has become old. It’s no longer beautiful as it was.
You do the same with people. When we love someone we say that we love them terribly when we first meet them. Then as time passes and we get older we wish to trade them in for a new model. This was never love it was attachment. Therefore love is letting go and loving for its own sake. Attachment is never letting go and loving because it satisfies you, gives you something. If the something stops the love stops. That’s the difference.
Q: We seek the Self, at your stage of development what is the next unfolding direction?
What is the next step in evolution for you? What is the next step after self-realization?
A: For whom is there a step? For the ajnani. For the Jnani there is no step. There is nothing. There is no place to go. There is nothing to unfold into anymore it’s all gone. It’s all finished. It’s only when there is an ego or a mind left inside that there is the next step. If everything has been cleaned out completely, totally, the garbage pail has been emptied totally, completely where are the steps? There are no steps. There is nothing left. There are those who believe many different things about this teaching. This is if you follow Sri Arbinda who says the human body can be perfected into a God and its unfoldment is continuous, it never ends. Its unfoldment goes onward and onward and onward. The body becomes the atman. The body becomes spiritualized but there is always a body involved.
But it has been my experience personally that there is no body to involve. There is nothing to achieve. There is no place to go. There is only ultimate oneness. Effortless choice-less pure awareness this is beyond description, beyond finite understanding, beyond thoughts and words. So it is only the ajnani who unfolds in the different stages of consciousness. For the Jnani there are no stages of consciousness left, all is done, all is finished there is total freedom.
Q: Isn’t it true that for grace to come and give self-realization that we have to deserve it?
A: Well the first one is, no you don’t have to deserve it. Perhaps you earned it in a different life. Some where along the line you have done something to deserve grace and then it hits you in this life. In my own experience when I was fourteen years old, I never was studying spiritual literature I was a wild kid running around the place causing mischief as kids do. Yet this experience came upon me. I can’t say I was picked out specifically for this. And this is the same experience Ramana Maharshi had, Nisargadatta Maharaj, Shankara and many others. So in this life you do not have to deserve grace it will just happen to you if it’s meant to happen. Being at satsang is a special grace. You would not be attracted to a satsang if you didn’t have any grace within you. Some sort of grace. Because you come here this is grace already being bestowed upon you. And then you just have to let the grace unfold, to a deeper level and become totally and absolutely free.Q: As long as I have some occasional anger or impatience or arrogance or lack, unconditional love toward others here and there doesn’t that stop my deserving of the grace of self-realization?
A: Well I hate to say this but the answer is no. This doesn’t mean that you have license to go out and be mean or have the qualities that Mary just read. Because if you do all you’re doing is accruing more karma to yourself. This is a mistake many people make.
When they read in high spiritual books so they accept an answer that I say that it doesn’t matter what you do that the grace will come anyway if it’s supposed to come. Right away their evil mind starts to think. Oh I can go rob a bank, I can go beat on people, I can do all kinds of things it doesn’t matter? But it does matter. For again you will accrue negative karma to you which you will have to overcome sooner or later. This is why the whole teaching is very paradoxical. In the same instance the grace will come if it’s supposed to come. It has nothing to do with what you do in this world. Yet at the same time this world is a karmic world and what you do to others will come back to you. The saying, “What goes around, comes around is true.” There are a very few who achieve grace and have these qualities but it does happen.
So again I tell you do not use this as license to be mean to people, to be arrogant saying, “It doesn’t matter,” because it does matter. It matters a great deal. You do these to develop loving kindness, peace, compassion, joy and let everything unfold the way it’s supposed to.
Q: Don’t I have to be a near saint in my thoughts, words and actions before the Self will manifest itself?
A: We just answered that again. No, you don’t but in most cases you do. So you figure it out. (laughter)
Q: You talk about a dark room having a light switch turned on and light eliminating the darkness. But for self-realization can the person be really dark (and it’s underlined) or shouldn’t he or she be practically pure in that word…thought, word and action. Thank you for your reply.
A: Again, your duty is to rid yourself of dark habits. Develop loving kindness, compassion toward people, place and thing. Act as if grace doesn’t exist. You should act to people like you would want people to act toward you, there is no question about this.
What you give out has to return to you ten fold.
But then again what I mentioned to you before, illumination has nothing to do with this world whatsoever. Illumination is something that has to do with itself not to this world. So you can’t be illumined if you are an evil person but this is very few and in between this happens to. So the answer is, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Act as if what you are going to do to someone else is going to come right back to you and if you live this way you will know what to do and everything will take care of itself.
We’re all finished.
(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.