– Transcript 194
R: Om, shanti, shanti, shanti, om. Good afternoon. Here we are again in Henry’s house. Here comes Eric. We’re just beginning Eric. So we’re in Henry’s house once again, beautiful view. All is well.
It makes no difference what happens at satsang. Satsang is a very interesting phenomena. People want certain things to happen at satsang. Some of you want to keep quiet all the time, some of you want to make noise all the time. People want to do different things, and they believe what they do is right. Nothing is right and nothing is wrong. Just to be at satsang is the thing, whether you are sitting in the silence, whether you are talking, or whether there’s something going on, or I am talking, or music is playing.
Do not be opinionated. Do not believe that things have to be a certain way. Why?
If you look at the world, the world is orderly to an extent, but at the same time it’s also chaotic. Both are happening. There is law and order in this universe. For instance if you plant a potato seed, you’re going to grow a potato, not a cabbage. And you always get a potato when you plant a potato seed. But at the same time a hurricane can come and rip up the potato seed, rip up the ground. Earthquakes come. So you have chaos and beauty, and beauty and chaos. It is really all the same.
The whole idea of being here is to awaken to the truth that you are not the body, nor the mind, nor the doer, that you are the absolute reality. This is really the only thing you should be concerned with. Everything else will take care of itself. In other words, do not worry about being sick or healthy, rich or poor, depraved or sane. Makes no difference.
You are here to awaken to your true nature, to the reality of your life, of what you really are, and you are not what appears to be.
Many people inquire, “Well, do I have to go through many sadhanas, spiritual practices, in order to be self-realized?” When I was with Ramana Maharshi, the last three years of his life, many people came from all over the world and asked him this question.
“Do I have to practice sadhana?” They asked him this question because they realized that he never did. He never meditated, never practiced mantras, never did anything. So they asked him this question because they wanted to be the same way, and awaken by doing nothing.
He gave everyone a different answer. One person asked him, “Do I have to practice sadhana?” He said, “Yes, by all means, get into it deeply. Do what you’ve always been doing.” So another asked him the same question. He said, “No you don’t have to practice at all. Just be yourself and awaken.” Another person asked him the same question, and he kept silent, didn’t answer at all.
Now what is the truth? There is no truth. Some people told him, “You probably practiced in a previous existence.” He agreed and said, “Yes.” But what did he really mean?
There is no previous existence to begin with. There’s no one to practice anything. You are living in time that doesn’t exist. The time that you’re living in right now, the second that you’re in, you’re already awake totally and completely, to divine nature. In this moment, where you are right now, you are self-realized and you are free.
But when you begin to think about it, you bring up the deluded world, you begin to believe other things. So then you begin to think. You bring your belief system to the place and it spoils everything for you. For the thinking is concerned with time and space.
The thoughts are concerned with the world, with the universe, the past and the present.
Yet there is no past and present at all. And there is no one to awaken from anything. For you were never really asleep.
Therefore there is a different answer for each person, depending on where you are coming from. Just the idea of wanting to awaken is a mistake. Just the feeling that I want to become awake, I want to become self-realized, I want to be liberated, is a mistake, for it’s part of the thinking process, and the thinking process can never liberate you. There are no thoughts that can liberate you. There are no emotions or feelings that can liberate you, awaken you, make you free.
It is only when you keep still, when you stop trying, sort of when you give up. For when you give up, are you not surrendering? When you give up all hope of ever getting anywhere, you’re really surrendering. And that’s a good sign. You’re surrendering your ego, your thoughts, your feelings, and then you become still. It is in the stillness that things begin to happen, in quietness, when things begin to happen. Not when you’re making noise, but when you’re quiet.
For many years we’ve been struggling in spirituality, looking for answers, looking for solutions, looking for gurus, for teachers, reading books, and yet some of us never seem to get anywhere. We must stop trying to get anywhere. The seeker has to be contented in the now, to be totally satisfied right this minute, right now. Totally satisfied. Do not wait until tomorrow. When you practice sadhana, and you’re meditating and using mantras, you’re practicing Vipassana meditation, doing deep breathing, what this does is put it off into the future, for you’re saying to yourself, if I practice sincerely, I will awaken.
This is not true. You and I know so many people who have been practicing spiritual practices for years, and years, and years, and nothing has happened to them, simply because of their practice, it’s really a practitioner who’s practicing. The practitioner has to go. The person who practices has to be depleted, has to be eradicated. When there is no one left to practice, there’s nobody there, aren’t you? As long as there is somebody who practices, you’ll always have a hard time, a problem. But when there’s nobody left to practice, then you have arrived. Think about this.
There is nowhere you have to go, there’s nothing you have to do. There is no one you have to see, there’s nothing you have to read. You just have to be your Self, the immutable Self, this wonderful, wonderful Self, that is the whole universe, all pervading. You are that Self right now, just the way you are. But when you think about what I just said, you spoil it. There’s nothing to think about, there’s nothing to accept. Just hear my words, and they’ll go where they have to go and do what they have to do.
You are the universe. The whole universe rests inside of you, like bubbles in the ocean. The bubbles keep changing, popping, new bubble’s come, but the ocean remains the same. And so it is with you. The world, your body, everything, rests in consciousness.
You are that consciousness, that space, that boundless space, the space that you call the glue that holds the universe together, the space in between objects, in between bodies. You can call the space consciousness, pure awareness. You are that space.
When you think of yourself this way, you will find you have to keep thinking of other things. So you keep thinking, and thinking, and thinking. Do not think of yourself any way. When I speak these words to you, do not think about them, simply absorb them.
For you are the words yourself. The words are you. You are these words. Every single letter is your Self. You are that.
There is not a speaker and a receiver, or a speaker and a listener. There is only the speaker. The speaker is speaking to himself, and you are that Self. If you are the Self as the speaker, why do you have to practice sadhana, or do anything at all? If you were separate you would have to do all kinds of things, to try to become enlightened, self-realized. But you are not separate. You are the immutable Self, that is all pervading, forever present, that is beauty, bliss and joy, that is Sat-Chit-Ananda, the absolute reality. This is you, now and forever. When I say this is you, I do not refer to your body. The body is an illusion. It doesn’t really exist. When I say this is you, I mean the whole pervading Brahman, the one ultimate reality. This is you. And there’s no separation. The you is not separate from me.
The body may appear separate, but you are looking through deluded eyes. You’re looking through the senses, so you see separation. But as you let go of all of those thoughts, and feelings, and emotions, and become still, you’ll never again feel separation.
What’s going on within yourself right now? What is happening to you? Most of you here are very still now, very peaceful, and this is all you need. You need nothing else.
Some of you here are still struggling, trying to quiet your mind, trying to become still, trying to stop the thoughts from coming. That’s just the point, do not try to stop anything.
Do not try to do anything to make yourself feel better. There is no doer to do anything.
Stop what you’re doing and be still. Watch the mind, observe the mind. Let the mind do what it will. Let it bring up all kinds of thoughts and pictures. You simply take a step backward and observe, watch.
Peace is your real heritage. Happiness is your real life. Joy is your real nature.
When you feel troubled, it’s only because you believe you are the body. Only the body feels troubled. But you’ve never had any troubles yourself. The Self is God. Be your Self. Do not try to change the world. Do not try to change anybody. Do not try to change yourself. See, the power within you knows exactly what to do, when it’s left alone. This is the secret. You have a power within you that knows how to bring you home, that knows how to lead you and guide you to your ultimate good. It is only when you interfere, by trying to change things, that troubles ensue.
Have no concern about what’s going on in this world, what’s going on in your life.
The answer is already there. You will always know what to do. You will always be led to your highest good. Trust the power that knows the way. You are that power. You have always been that power. Rejoice. You are totally free right now.
(silence)
It is now time to play stump the guru. Any good stumpers in here?
(Q - Mary reads, A - Robert answers)
Q: Robert, I’m beginning to feel a space in my head, Identifying with space. But in the rest of my body, I feel body, any comments?
A: You have a problem. (laughter) You better go see somebody about that. Actually you are all space to begin with. When you feel space you’re feeling yourself that is what you really are. You’re not the body. As I told you so many times the body is in a state of flux, like everything else in this universe. It is in constant movement. And the atoms of the body, the space between the atoms of the body are equal to the space between the planets. It’s all relative. You are that space. Dive into that space. Become the space. And you will be happier than you’ve ever been in your life. For space is consciousness. Space is God. The space is yourself.
Q: By your body having an illness is there any learning or further letting go or purification involved? Or is your body’s illness absolutely unrelated to you?
A: Who has a body? Who has an illness? What do you see? You are the seer. It is you who sees these things, not me. There is only that which is perfection, infinite joy, infinite life. Nothing else exists. When you see somebody dying you’re seeing an illusion.
When you see somebody ill you’re seeing an illusion. When you see a person becoming old you see an illusion. It’s all an optical illusion.
You have to get to that place where everything is just quiet and peaceful. And you stop looking and seeing so many things. You become what you see on this relative plane.
Whenever you see something wrong, you’re seeing yourself. Do not look for things that are wrong or right. See God everywhere you look. Then you’re seeing yourself. See love wherever you look. See joy, see wholeness wherever you look. If you feel something else you have to dive deep within yourself and ask yourself, “Who sees these things? To whom do these thoughts come? Who is the seer? Who observes these things? Who worries about these things?” The ego, I, the I-thought. And then realize that you are not the I-thought.
You are not the ego. You are total freedom, total love.
See only the good, see only the real, the truth. Which is nothing, nothing is the truth. Nothing. Anything that you see is false. The space between the things that you see
is nothing. That is reality and you are that. The reality is perfect, complete, whole. And that is you. Accept it and be free.
Q: Does our body do each moment what it’s supposed to do regardless of whether we are identified with the Self? Or identified with the body? Or does what we are identified with affect the body to some degree?
A: What you call your body has already been programmed to do what it is doing.
What you believe is your body is not really your body. It’s just a body that appears to be real. And this body has no life of its own. It is motivated by your mind or by God’s mind or by the absolute reality, wherever you’re at, that’s how it is motivated. You live the stage you’re at, your body is motivated by that stage. So you do not have to concern about your body. It’s been taken care of the way it’s supposed to. It will always be taken care of without any help from you. The more you lose your body, the more you awaken, you become free and you’re happy. The more you identify with the body the more miserable you become. Because the body is part of Maya. The body is part of the problems of this world.
Stop thinking you are the body and you have to do something to correct it. Realize that you are absolute intelligence and the absolute intelligence knows what to do every step of the way. Get your self out of the way and let it happen.
Q: Dear Robert you always say, “Don’t let people walk all over you.” But how do we learn humility if we’re looking out for our interests, defending them and asserting them. How can we surrender our ego, our world if we’re going to be trying to defend and protect ourselves? Don’t we have to forget world and completely trust Self or God? Thank you.
A: Of course, the body will always take care of itself without any help from you. It knows what to do. Can you imagine yourself just being without thinking you’re a body, without thinking you’re anything? That you don’t have to defend yourself but yet the body will appear to defend itself when it has to. This is paradoxical but true.
Say an example somebody comes in here with a gun and tries to shoot me. I don’t know what I’ll do? I might get up, grab the gun, shoot the person. I might do nothing at all. But I am not the doer and I will do what has to be done without knowing about it, without thinking about it, without asking about it. Whatever will be done, will be done.
Try to understand this. You are programmed to do what you will do. But you are not the doer, you are not doing anything. So whoever appears to be doing something is an illusion because nobody does anything. But yet in the same instance you will appear to be doing something. You will appear to be the doer. You will be doing nothing. So whatever has to be done will be done. It’s not up to you. Your job is simply to surrender, to be still, to stop fighting life, stop trying to think you have to make things happen, yet something within you will make things happen in the appearance world. You will always be doing something, something will always happen but yet you’re doing nothing in reality. You appear to be doing something. I know it sounds a little confusing to some people but it’s true. There is no one doing a thing yet you’re doing things. Do not worry about it. It will all work out.Q: What is the difference between the self-realization that all we in this room seek and the self-realization of someone like Satya Muni Buddha or even Jesus, the Christ?
A: There is no difference whatsoever. The difference is in your own mind. You see the difference. You see Jesus being somebody special, Satya Muni Buddha as being somebody special. You see all these things but a Sage never says they’re special. A Sage is a part of yourself. There is nothing special about a Sage whatsoever. It is you who give the qualities to the Sage. I see a Sage as this and a Sage as that. You are every Sage that ever lived.
Every Sage that ever lived is within you. You are the one. You are that yourself. You are the Christ, you are the Buddha, you are everything. It’s all within you. You are the one there is nobody else but you. Stop seeing separation. Be yourself.
That’s all Robert. Anyone like to say anything, make a statement? You want to curse at me or something?
Mary (SM): Got some transcripts, is it that time? (R: No not time.) Okay.
SY: Robert what are some of the things that close your heart?
R: Why do you think your heart closes? Your heart never closes. There is no such thing as closing your heart. It’s your belief system that thinks that. (SY: Why is it that sometimes your heart feels like it’s really open? And other times it feels like it’s really closed?) Because you’re identifying with the relative world. The more you identify with the relative world, the more you will think something is wrong and something is right. Something is good and something is bad. But when you stop identifying with the relative world you will find that you’re okay, you’re peaceful. There is nothing good and nothing bad. So when you identify with the relative world you can say that things like selfishness, fear, hatred, animosity, jealousy close your heart so-to-speak. These things don’t really exist and your heart is always open. Identify with an open heart. So you’ve got to identify with an open heart and it will never close. (SY: Are there actions, I mean if you catch yourself doing an action that would be detrimental, doership?) Watch yourself, observe yourself, see what you’re doing, be aware of yourself, do not react. If you’re aware of yourself, the action will stop by itself. But if you’re aware you’re the body and you’re involved in the emotions then of course you’re acting out a part. It seems very real to you. You are not the actor. You are alright, just the way you are.
Do we have any announcements?
Mary (SM): (Student hands out transcripts for photocopying)
R: Any prashad today? I don’t see any. No food. Why do I come here? (laughter) (SH: Yeah big time!) Thank you for coming, God bless you. Remember to love yourself, to bow to yourself, to pray to yourself, to worship yourself. For God dwells in you as you.
Om shanti peace. Until we meet again. Good luck. (laughter) (SH: Thanks pal. We’re sure going to need it.)
(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.