– Transcript 202
R: Shanti, shanti, shanti, om peace. Good afternoon. (Students: Good afternoon) If you cam here to listen to a lecture or a sermon you came to the wrong place. If you came here to listen to words of wisdom you came to the wrong place. If you came here to listen to total ignorance you came to the right place. For what I have to share with you is total ignorance, not wisdom.
Wisdom presupposes that there is something to learn, there is something to understand, there is something to attain. Ignorance is, you know nothing. We’re here to know nothing. Not to know something. Anybody can know something.
We’re all filled with somethings. We’re filled with preconceived ideas, with dogmas. All kinds of garbage since we were children. We do not want to add anything onto this. It will just make us greater idiots. We want to unlearn. To empty the garbage pail so-to-speak of all our beliefs, all of our concepts. All these things that tell you are a human being and that you have a goal to achieve. All of these things must go. What will remain?
Pure consciousness, the Self, pure awareness, boundless space, the ultimate reality, which really has no name. Again these are just words.
Many of you have been listening to words since you were children. Words from politicians, from teachers, from priests, from rabbi’s. What has it done for you? Where are you now? Perhaps it has built up you ego. Make you feel important, you have a good position in life. Fighting for your rights, fighting for survival. Trying to make it in this world. To what avail? Where will it all lead you? Before you know it you will be six feet under then who cares?
The whole idea of spiritual life is to awaken now to your own reality. Not wait until you die and go to heaven or to try to find some secret works that will make you feel better. Now is the only time, there is no other time. This moment. You’re either there or you’re not. If you’re not you’re nowhere and if you’re there you’re nowhere. You’re always nowhere because there is nowhere to go. You’re looking to go somewhere. This is what brings misery and unhappiness. When you’re looking to become something to be somebody, to be somewhere. But if you’re nobody, nowhere, then you are the eternal mystery itself.
As we begin to discover Advaita Vedanta, spiritual life, non-duality. We begin to learn that we have to identify with the source and disown the world. This is sort of a mistake, this is erroneous. This is not really true. Many people involved in non-duality principles, non-duality teachings believe they have to not react to the world, the world is Maya, the world is an illusion and identify with the source, consciousness. Yet the reality is, who is identifying with the source? In truth we do not identify with anything. We do not identify or react to this world yet we do not identify with the source or with consciousness or with God or with anything else. For you’re using the same mind to do both, don’t you see?
The whole idea of a truth teaching like this is to transcend the mind, totally absolutely and completely. For when the mind is transcended real unalloyed happiness will be yours. Peace that you never dreamed of. Bliss and joy that you never knew existed. These are yours when there is no identification.
When you try to identify with the source of life, what you may call God or the absolute reality you’re making a grave mistake. For again it is the mind that is doing all of this. The mind says I’m going to identify with God. I’m going to meditate, I’m going to do yoga, or I’m going to do pranayama. I’m going to do mantras. I’m going to do this, I’m going to do that. I’m going to practice kundalini.
Who does all this? Where does it come from? It’s all from the mind.
So why not go for the gusto in the beginning. Why not get rid of the mind. Forget about everything else. All these practices are really to no avail. You and I know people who have been meditating for thirty, forty years, practicing tantric yoga, practicing kundalini, practicing all kinds of things and they’re still all screwed up. They’re searching and searching and searching, becoming efficient in their practices, to what avail? The whole idea is to remove all of these things from the mind. To cause the mind to become still and empty then everything takes care of itself.
So the teaching is to become still. Not to think. Not to think about God. What do you know about God? Only what people have told you. Have you had an experience of your own? If you had an experience of your own you would realize that there is no God.
It’s a concept. To whom do you pray? Those of you who pray. Where’s this God that you’re praying to? Up in the sky? Where does this God live? Rather what you should be doing is asking yourself, “Who am I. Where did I come from?” What you should really think is, “Where did “I” come from?” You’re not speaking of yourself you’re speaking of “I.” “Where did “I” come from? The I-thought. Where did the I-thought come from?” That is what you should work with. This is what you should do.
Everything in this world is attached to the I-thought. I am something, I am nothing. I am good, I am bad. I am happy, I am sad. It is all the I-thought. If you remove the I-thought what will be left? Reality. So your job is to remove the I-thought. You do this by becoming still, absolutely still, quiet. You stop arguing. You stop trying to prove points.
You stop trying to get anywhere. For there is nowhere to get, there is nothing to prove, there is nothing to achieve. You are already that, you’ve always been that.
You are nothing else but that, but when the I comes into play it makes you believe you’re something else. It makes you believe you’re important, you’re somebody special.
When in truth you’re really dust in the wind, here today and gone tomorrow. We stick up
for our rights doing all these silly things for what avail? Where does it lead us? Where does it get us?
True spiritual life begins with you, not with anything else outside of you, but with you. It’s all within you. The only thing you know for sure is you exist. You know that you exist there is no doubt about this. Everything you’re not sure about. So you start with yourself. You inquire within yourself, “Who am I?” Again you’re asking, “Where did the I come from?” This is what, “Who am I?” means, what is the source of the I? “From where did it arrive.” As you inquire this way a profound peace comes over you and you go deeper and deeper within the Self. Until reality appears. You become happy you become peaceful, you become still. Things no longer disturb you.
When thoughts come up you inquire, “To who do they come?” As I’m speaking to some of you thoughts are coming to your mind. You’re thinking of certain things. This is the only problem you’ve got you’re thinking. You’re allowing your mind that has been conditioned for so many years to tell you what’s right, what’s wrong, what’s good, what’s bad. You’re allowing your mind to think. Your mind is in control. Whether you like it or not your mind is in control. All of your beliefs shape your universe the way it appears to you today.
The universe in which you live has no existence of its own. It doesn’t exist by itself. You give it existence. It is you that has created this whole universe. It has come out of your concepts, your beliefs, your ideas. And now you’re living in a universe of your own creation. You have done this to yourself.
If you do not like what you see do not try to change things externally you cannot do this. If you try to change things externally you will only suffer in the end for the external world is a creation of you. The world is a replica of yourself. The world is always in a state of flux, always changing, changing, changing. It changes into your beliefs. The world keeps changing into what you think it is. You are a very creative individual. Look what you’ve accomplished. Man’s inhumanity to man, wars, nonsense going on in this world and also beautiful things. Beautiful trees, mountains, rivers, lakes, oceans. But never forget you have created all this it comes out of you. Where else would it come from? Do you think there is some deity up in the sky that has created all this for you? Some sort of God that made all of this? Where does this God come from except your own mind. Awaken and be free!
This world is the same as a dream. It’s no different. If you think it’s impossible to be a dream you take your dreams for granted. But think what happening when you go to sleep and you dream at night. You live in this world while you’re dreaming of some place else. And in that dream you’re having all kinds of experiences, good and bad. You can have a dream that you’re a little girl, you grow up and get married you have children, your parents die they get old. There is a war, there is a famine, there is a hurricane. All sorts of things happen in your dream. Yet if I came into your dream and told you, you were dreaming you would tell me I’m crazy, you wouldn’t believe me. If I told you not to react to this world. Not to react to conditions, not to react to person, place or thing in the dream you would not listen to me. You would even pinch me and say, “See Robert you said ow I pinched you, so how can this be a dream?” Yet you don’t realize it’s a dream pinch. It’s all coming out of this dream. No matter how horrible the dream is you’ll wake up and it’s gone and your at peace.
And so it is with this world. This world is your dream. It may appear real. Everything appears real, so does the dream when you’re dreaming, doesn’t that appear real? You never knew you were dreaming until you wake up. And so, as we practice self-inquiry, as we learn to be still one day we will awaken. And we will find that we are eternal bliss, eternal peace, eternal happiness. It’s all been a dream. Yet you have to come to this conclusion yourself. Why should you believe what I’m saying? You shouldn’t believe a word I’m saying. Why should you accept what I’m telling you? You shouldn’t. You have to find out for yourself. You’ve got to prove it to yourself and you can only do this by awakening. Not tomorrow, not next week but right this moment to awaken. And you awaken by not identifying with anything, not with the world, not with a God, not with the Self. You awaken by becoming totally still and quiet in the mind. And as you become still the mind becomes weaker and weaker and weaker until it’s totally transcended and then you are home free.
You should start practicing in the morning when you get out of bed. The morning is the best time to start as soon as you awaken. Become aware of yourself. Become aware of your environment. And question yourself, “Who sees this? Who feels this? I do.” This is a clue. Remember every time you say, “I,” you’re not referring to yourself. I is separate from you. I is a trouble maker. It is I that makes you do the things that you do. Therefore when you say, “I do,” don’t believe that this I is you. Yet you do not know where the I came from so you inquire again, “Then who am I? Who is this I that thinks these thoughts? Sees this world as objects? Where did this I come from?” And you keep still. You never answer that question. Due to the fact if you answer the question it is the mind that’s answering.
The same mind that asks the question is the same mind answers the question. So it doesn’t do you any good to answer the question. When the questions ??? you will be full of concepts. The answer will be full of concepts, preconceived ideas. You become still and wait.
Soon other thoughts will come to you. Thoughts that you’re hungry, you have to get dressed, you have to hurry, you have to do this, you have to do that. Again you inquire, “To whom do these thoughts come? They come to me.” Again, “I think them.” You’re always getting back to that I. Then you realize that the I is not you and you then inquire, “Where did it come from? I say I all day long. Where did this I come from? What’s its source?” Remember you’re not identifying with the source of I. You’re not identifying with anything. You’re simply inquiring, “Where did the I come from?” and you begin to trace the I back to the heart, the spiritual heart on the right side of the chest about two to three digits to the center. You trace the I back to the heart center. As you do this you will find that you’re becoming happier and happier again. More peaceful and more relaxed. You’re
taking control of your life. Everything becomes better and you feel wonderful. Just by practicing this type of teaching.
It’s up to you. You can walk out of here this morning and say, “That was an interesting lesson, interesting teaching,” or you can say, “that teaching is a bunch of crap, nonsense.” Yet whatever you say you still have to live with yourself. You still have to confront yourself. You’re not getting away from the fact that you’re getting older and older. You don’t know when you’re going to drop your body, tomorrow, next week. You may have a heart attack anything may happen to you. So to pursue the material world is ignorance.
This doesn’t mean that you should live in a cave. Give up your family or your friends and go to the jungle or some place in India, on the contrary. Everything I’m referring to is done mentally. It is all accomplished mentally.
What you call your body will take care of itself. It knows what to do and how to do it. As a matter of fact if you get yourself out of the way the body will achieve much more freedom, much more happiness then you can ever have while you’re thinking. Do not concern yourself with the body. Leave the body alone. It’s hard to understand how you can leave the body alone and it will take of itself. All these years you think you’ve been taking care of it. But look at nature. Look at the leaves on the tree, grass, the food that grows, there is a power that takes care of everything in this universe. The same power that takes care of everything takes care of what you call your body. It will lead you to the right path. It will guide you to the right place you’re supposed to be. It takes care of you. But this only happens when you surrender your body, your ego, everything to the Self. The way you surrender is by not reacting to life. Not reacting to person, place or thing. When you stop reacting that is surrender. And the power that knows the way will take care of your body. But you are not your body. You have absolutely nothing to do with your body.
You are that consciousness, that joy, that happiness, that peace, that bliss. This is your real nature. You are Sat-Chit-Ananda, Brahman, the absolute reality, this is you.
You have never been a frail human being. Awaken to your true Self. Come on awaken to your true Self right now. Remove the concept that you’ve got problems and there is something wrong someplace. You live in a universe of joy, all pervading joy and you are that. So all is well and everything is unfolding as it should. There are no mistakes.
You are not a sinner. Know this truth. Awaken to this truth. Be your Self. Rejoice, you are free. Peace.
It is now time to play stump the guru. We have a basket of questions. Why don’t we pass it around and we put some questions in there? Let me see what we can do to stump the guru.
(Q - Mary reads, A - Robert answers)
Q: If consciousness is everywhere how can it enliven a human body now and how can a human body die and disintegrate because of no consciousness energy later, if consciousness is always everywhere?A: You’re getting confused with both parties. You’re getting confused with consciousness and human beings. They’re both different categories. The human body does not exist at all. It’s an illusion, hallucination. There is no such thing as a human being. It’s a mirage. It’s hypnosis.
I know this sounds sort of strange to some of you but it’s the ultimate truth. You do not exist the way you appear to be. You have never existed and you will never exist.
You’re just not here. As strange as it may sound, it’s true. Yet you’re hallucinating and you see bodies and you see worlds and you see all kinds of things. I can assure you they do not exist. What we call consciousness is the reality. It is self-contained absolute awareness that exists by itself without any needs, without any space or time it just is. When you’re speaking of consciousness you are speaking of your true nature this is what you are. You are the absolute reality this is your real Self. But yet we’re looking at ourselves as human beings, as people, places and things which we’re not! You therefore will become very confused when you try to put them both together.
When you go to sleep at night, when you’re in deep sleep, do you exist then? Who exists? As far as you’re concerned there is no universe, there is no people because you’re gone out of it, totally unconscious. But when you wake up the world appears again. It appears out of your own mind. But you don’t exist as a person in reality. Just as the water in the mirage is an hallucination and again if you see a mirage you think it’s water, when you grab it, you grab sand, it doesn’t exist.
Just as the sky is blue. It appears blue but if you go into the atmosphere there is no sky, there is no blue. It’s an hallucination, optical illusion. We think all these things are true, real. Yet they are all part of the false imagination. So we bypass the body by not thinking about it and not giving it any credit. We leave it alone. Instead we try to make the mind still. By not identifying with person, place or thing. We keep the mind steady, quiet.
It becomes weaker and weaker it will disappear and when the body disappears your true Self will come into play. But don’t confuse both worlds. Next question.
Q: Lately I am being meditated by an energy flowing in and through me. It feels right like maybe this is how life should be? How does it sound to you? Is this the way life should be?
A: Sounds great. (laughter) If it’s helping you, it makes you feel better. It makes you more peaceful, more blissful by all means follow it through. Try to lose yourself totally and completely in consciousness. If your body is improving let it improve. But always realize that I-am not the body. I-am not the doer and let what happens, happen. But by all means if this is helping you continue doing it. Next.
Q: The other day one of your disciples talked to me about your limitations as he saw it. I listened, enjoyed hearing different ideas and opinions. The next day I noticed I, who had felt very close to you and this path, felt like quitting, not looking for another teacher just quitting. I was shocked at how easily doubt or thinking of dropping this devotee attitude and attendance at satsang could come to me. Can you explain why I so easily and quickly thought of quitting and giving up satsang attendance?
A: You should have doubt. You should investigate. You should never accept anything blindly at all. You shouldn’t believe a word I say. Investigate yourself. The doubt is in you. It has nothing to do with me. You’re doubting yourself, you’re doubting your existence. As you see yourself as a divine being as you begin to see yourself as a higher spiritual being, being omnipresent and all-persuasive then you’ll see me like that too.
Remember a mirror cannot see itself but sees its reflection wherever it looks.
Therefore you’re seeing yourself wherever you look. So if you see doubt, if you see apprehension, if you see something is wrong it’s coming out of you. You are that. Whatever you see you have created. After all there is nothing else but yourself. I’m not any different than you. I am your very essence, your very Self. When you doubt, you doubt yourself. But do not look at me as something important. Look at me as your Self. For there is only one Self and that one Self is all pervading. That’s all that exists. There is not me and you. There is only the one. When you become happy in the one. When you can become peaceful in that one, you become joyful in the one then you’ll see me as the one. For you are that.
Q: Since you’re identified with Self what causes your body to hang on even in appearance?
A: Who sees this? Who asked the question? Forget about hanging on. Forget about appearances. Go deep within yourself and find out who you are then see who is hanging on. Forget about all these things. Investigate yourself it’s always yourself. Everything comes out of yourself. As far as I’m concerned I’m not hanging on to anything. There is nothing happening here. But you see something happening. Who is the seer? Who sees this? Find out. Next.
Q: (starts abruptly) …to God and their different gurus for many years. Both of their gurus have died for some years now. Because they want to spend time with me and I do value them, I invited each discreetly to meet and experience you separately. One has openly rejected meeting you and rejected me for meeting another guru. The other ignored my invitation and merely continues to invite me to his functions. Why do both who have lost their human form guru ignore or refuse to even experience or meet one who means so much to me? A friend they revere and have highly respected for years. I only gave the invitation to each of them, time and in a very respectful manner.
A: What a problem. Life’s a bitch and then you die. What is all this about gurus and about meetings or… this is not a social event. Do not try to make your friends discern what you want to happen. All of the ideas that you’re speaking of is in your mind they’re your ideas. You think your friends have to meet me because you’re coming here? Leave your friends do what they want to do. Bless them and let them go. You do what you’re supposed to do and let them do what they’re supposed to do. You don’t hate or change anybody one iota. You’re not here to try to convince anybody to do anything. As the old saying goes, “When the student is ready the teacher will appear.” Everybody belongs wherever they belong. Stop pushing, stop fighting, stop trying to change things. Keep your life simple. Don’t make a big issue of these things. Everybody has their place. All is well. There are no mistakes. Everything is all right. Leave it like that.
Q: Was Christ a Jnani or a yogi? Can a Jnani heal people like he did?A: Never mind Christ. Who are you? Where did you come from? What are you all about? Leave Christ alone. Leave the healing alone. Understand who you are. Try to find yourself then you’ll understand Christ. By understanding Christ but not understanding your Self will be folly. You’ll never have the right answer. But by understanding your Self you will understand what Christ is all about. It always goes back to you. You are the one.
Work within yourself. Ask yourself, “To whom do all these thoughts come? Where do all these mind boggling thoughts come, these opinions, these questions? To whom do they come? Who is thinking them? What is their source?” Go back within yourself. Inquire within yourself. Find out for your Self. It makes no difference what I say. It’s all up to you.
You are the one. Dive deep within yourself and everything will be revealed to you.
Q: Can you explain what happens when a non-Jnani helps a Jnani or does anything to serve the Jnani in some manner? How is the life of the non-Jnani affected?
A: You’re speaking of the guru-disciple relationship, I guess. There are certain people perhaps from previous incarnations who were put here to be of service to spiritual teachers. And in that way they themselves become enlightened and become totally free.
There are certain people who are here who are not supposed to do anything like this. Everybody is different. Every situation is different. There is a place and a time for everything.
Ask yourself, “What am I supposed to do in this life, in this incarnation. What is my duty? Where do I belong?” And you will find out and you will realize what you’re supposed to do, where you’re supposed to be. But leave everything alone until you’re moved to do something. You will be moved by the power that knows the way then you’ll do the right thing but do not force yourself to do things that you are not sure of. Do not be of service to a spiritual teacher because it says so in books that this is what you’re supposed to do, on the contrary. Do what your heart tells you. Listen to your heart and you will never make a mistake. Be free within your Self. Know yourself. Worship your Self.
Love your Self. Bow to your Self. For God dwells in you as you. You are the one. And if you do this then you will know what to do in every other situation.
Q: Can you tell me what is creativity in doing a certain project or in being very imaginative? Also what is talent to be able to do certain skills. Where does that talent come from? So I am asking you what is (and we have three things) Creativity, Imagination, talent and where do they come from? Thank you, wow. (laughter)
A: That is where they come from, wow! (students laugh) All of these things come out of the mind. All creativity, talent, everything comes out of the mind. Where would it come from? Out of your own mind. The mind creates all of these things for you. But are you the mind that is the question? Is the mind really you? All the creativity that happens to you will one day have to cease. You will be too old and feeble to work anymore to be creative. You’ll have Alzheimer’s disease, you become senile. Fall apart at the seams. So what will happen to all your creativity then? It’ll be gone.
Therefore the smart person tries to understand where all of this came from. “Who am I?” they ask themselves. “Who is this person that needs all this talent, this creativity?
Where did I come from and where did those ideas come from?” As you begin to find yourself what you call creativity will take place by itself. It will all happen by itself. You see you came here for a certain purpose to this earth. Before you took on a body you already knew what you were supposed to do here. So you’re here for a certain purpose, everything is preordained. Everything. You think you’re creative and you think you’re doing something new, it’s all preordained.
For instance if you’re a musician before you came into this body you already knew you were gong to practice music and become a great musician. If you’re an artist, the same thing, it’s all been preordained, prejudged, preconditioned and you’re here now playing the part. That is all you’re doing you’re playing a part. It’s all a game. Your real job is to become free of the whole thing. You become totally free, totally liberated.
So find out the truth about yourself by inquiring, “Who am I? Where did I come from? What is my source?” and then you will see what happens. You will be pleasantly surprised how your creativity in here takes place by not thinking about these things. By diving in yourself and by finding out who you are. Do this and see.
Q: In his book, “The play of consciousness,” the Swami Muktananda says, “if one has not received the gurus grace the true nature of the universe will not be revealed.” Does this mean that shaktipat by a licensed guru is required for spiritual illumination?
R: By a licensed guru? (laughter) (SI: And if so can we see your license?) (laughter) A: I have my certificate of enlightenment. (laughter) Shaktipat is kundalini energy that has become active in a person. And you go through all these kinds of strange positions and postures, it is nice to watch, but unnecessary. Do we really need this? One of our people who come here by the name of Jonas has shaktipat, all the time he sits down and listens to what is going on. He goes through all kinds of Hatha yoga experiences and bangs his head against the floor and does all kinds of things, turns black and blue. To what avail?
What does this really do for you? It’s all mental. It all comes from the mind.
Remember kundalini, shaktipat, pranayama, mantras, japa all of these things are out of the mind. It is the mind that creates all these conditions and these things too. So if you go into the mind and control your mind and inquire, “To whom does the mind come?
What is the source of the mind?” You will find that you transcend everything. You go beyond everything. It’s up to you. If you want to play games with yourself or go right to the top then graduate by becoming free. Always remember that it is the mind that creates everything, every condition, every circumstance, everything is created by the mind. Your job is to transcend the mind and become totally free and liberated. It’s so simple, it’s not difficult. Even if you enjoy playing all of these games it’s your privilege to do so. But it doesn’t bring enlightenment. Enlightenment only comes when you have transcended everything in this world, in this universe. When the I has been sublimated. When the I is gone you are totally free. (pause) Mary.
Q: Robert, a Jnani has transcended the body-mind. You said that there is no mind but the body is still here. Any comment?A: The body appears to be still here. As I mentioned before it’s an optical illusion, it’s an appearance, like the snake in the rope. In the twilight you see a rope that’s coiled up and you think it’s a snake and you become very fearful. Then you find out it’s only a rope.
So it is with this world. This world is like the snake. It appears real you become frightened. You do all sorts of things to protect yourself. Yet there never was a snake, there never was a world, there never was a body. Find out for yourself. Dive deep within yourself and become free.
Q: Robert when Ramana had his spontaneous awakening he felt an urge to go into seclusion at Arunachala for years. Did you experience something similar when you had your awakening?
A: Well the difference is my awakening was in the Bronx in New York, a little different than Arunachala. But I had nothing in common with my friends any longer. Had nothing in common with my family. Everything changed. So I left home at a very young age and traveled to India and left New York and never came back again. But it’s the same thing. There’s no difference. (pause) Mary.
Q: Robert last night while asleep in the middle of a dream it seemed like I had woke up but everything was brighter and more vivid and I felt more alive than in regular consciousness. My daughter walked into the room and she was eight years old. I said to myself, “This is a dream because in regular consciousness she is twenty-four years old.” When I woke up in the morning I felt overwhelmed. Could you please comment?
A: It’s a dream. Just like this world is a dream. There is nothing particular important in this dream. You are simply dreaming about your daughter being eight years old.
There is no significance to this. It’s just like in your life right now you have an experience and this is a dream after the experience. It’s a worldly experience. Do not put too much importance on dreams for this life is a dream. When you dream it shows you that the dream seems real. That is all a dream is good for. To make you understand that life is like a dream. For when you dream you have nice dreams, you have nightmares you have all kinds of dreams, same with this life. In this life you have bad experiences, good experiences all kind of experiences. But it is your duty to go beyond the experience. Do not just accept the experience go beyond it. Go beyond everything. And then you will be totally free and liberated. But if you identify with the experience, try to change the experience, you work with the experience, you’re wasting time doing this. For the experience always changes to other experiences and you have one experience after the other.
So inquire, “To whom this dream comes? To whom this experience comes?” Find out who the experiencer is who has this experience, who has this dream. Where does it all come from? What is the source of everything? The source of the dream, the source of the experience. Find that out and you’ll be free. So again do not attach any particular significance to your dreams.
I know they’ve written voluminous books about dreams. Occult people dwell on dreams. They try to make every dream a big thing. What is a dream? Just some experience that you’re having like you’re having experiences right now. While you’re living, going to
work, being depressed, being happy, these things are like a dream. Accept nothing, transcend everything and be free.
Okay we’re all finished. Why don’t you read the Jnani Mary?
Mary (SM): Okay Robert.
(Mary reads the Jnani refer to beginning of this book for text) R: Thank you Mary. (SM: Thank you Robert.)
R: Next Thursday is thanksgiving. So we are having our meeting on Wednesday, remember not Thursday. Don’t show up next Thursday you’ll have to eat thanksgiving dinner with Henry. (laughter) (SH: I won’t be here.) (laughter) So it’ll be on Wednesday noon.
What else?
Mary (SM): Amelio has finished putting together the transcripts of Robert’s early talks. The finished copy will have a picture on the front and the cost is twenty dollars. There have only been fifty copies made and quite a few of them have already been spoken for. So the book will be out next Wednesday and you see Amelio for ordering it and it is beautiful.
Oh and we’re having a bhandara the last Sunday in November and the last Sunday in December. It’s a vegetarian feast and it starts at 1 o clock and you’re welcome to come. Bring a dish if you can and bring your friends and family, it should be very nice.
R: We’re going to have music. Jorge is going to do a dance for us.
Jorge (SR): Not enough room.
Mary (SM): We’ll make enough room. (laughter) There is a paper on the table so people can sign up and tell us what you’re bringing so we don’t have everybody bringing salads.
R: Anyone else have anything to say or forever hold your peace.
SH: Would you sing at the bhandara Mary please? (SM: No.) Okay then we’ll call it off.
(laughter) Pretty please. (SM: I’ve got a little story I’m going to read.) You can sing too. (SM: Don’t worry. I’m too old.) Too old? (SM: Yeah.)
SD: Play one of your tapes. (SM: Okay I’ll play a tape.) R: It’s now time for prashad. (students laugh)
(prashad continues 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.