– Transcript 221
R: Shanti shanti shanti om peace.
Good afternoon. (Students: Good afternoon Robert.) I love you with all my heart. I love you unconditionally. Which simply means you can throw pies in my face, throw stones at me, do what you will I’ll still love you because that is my nature. I can’t stop loving. It makes no difference what you do or don’t do, it has nothing to do with it.
Love is all pervading. I love the Self. I love the Self in you. There is one Self. You are that. The Self which has always been and will always be. You may call this Self God if you will. It makes no difference what you call it. There is the Self, if you learn to love the Self you will become the happiest person on earth and you will receive love from everyone. No matter what is going on in the world. Man’s inhumanity to man. The dastardly conditions that are happening in the world. If you can love enough you will receive love back. For where does the love go? It is omnipresent. You are that. Learn to love.
Notice I’m not saying, “To love yourself or I love myself.” Myself is ignorant. It knows nothing. Robert is absolutely nothing but the Self is God. The Self is the substratum of all existence. That is your real nature, Self. Know your Self, love your Self, as Self, not as ego. What you see you become. What you feel you become.
See and feel the radiance of the Self and that radiance will be brilliant everywhere.
Wherever you look. Wherever you go. It’ll follow you. It will guide you. It will take care of you for it loves you, the one Self. Open your heart to it. Do not allow world situations to make you cynical, arrogant, afraid. We live in a wonderful universe as-it-appears. We are the universe. All is well. There are no mistakes.
Never allow your ego to tell you how things are or what’s right and wrong, what’s good and bad. For the ego will turn one against another.
Try to understand what the Self is. Know what the Self is and you will always be happy. You have to be happy. For the Self is infinite happiness and you are that.
I receive many phone calls. Sometimes I like to share them with you.
I received a phone call from a lady this morning and she asked me, “Robert are you really a Jnani or are you just Robert? What are you? You never say that you’re a Jnani.
You never say that you’re enlightened. You never say anything about yourself. What are you Robert?” Inquiring minds want to know. (students laugh) I will share the answer that I gave her with you. I told her neither is correct. I am not Robert and I am not the Jnani, because those are relative terms. They’re part of the world. The words mean something to you and it spoils the whole thing. Go beyond the terms, the words.
If anyone tells that they’re a Jnani or they tell they’re something important and they have a special message for you, be careful of those people. There are no special messages. There are no special people. We’re all one. I’m not any different than you. What you see is of your own imaginings.
Now lets talk about you.
To remove problems from your life, to get rid of unhappy situations, to remove fears frustrations, you do exactly the same thing. You do not try to change a condition by working on the level of conditions. Do not try to change bad for good, evil for happiness, for you’re working at an ego level. Rather turn away from both terms. Let go of both situations, the good and the bad, the happy and the sad. Turn from it. Turn to the source, the source of all existence. And you will find that the situations resolve themselves. For the source is total harmony, total peace and total love. The source is God, consciousness, pure awareness.
This is what you’ve always been but somehow you got lost in the shuffle, and you think you’re a human being. You think you’re limited to your body. You’ve been brought up this way with that kind of thinking. Your schools, your churches, your environment, your parents have emphasized the fact that you’re limited. You can only go so far.
But I say to you, you’re totally unlimited, you have no circumference anywhere.
You are space. Space is maintained by consciousness. You are really all over the place.
You’re falling apart. The atoms that you’re made out of are not permanent. You turn this way and you turn that way, you go in all directions and there is big spaces between the atoms. Just like everything else in this world. You’re simply a part of all things. All things are a part of you.
You are wonderful, made in the image of God, but what God? The God that you created in your mind. So if your God is a good God then you think of yourself as a good person. If your God is a santa clause God who lives in the sky, with a long beard that you pray for things to give you things, the anthropomorphic type of a God saying, “God I need this, I want this. Please let me have this,” whatever God you believe in you become. You become the God that you worship.
Or should you worship a God at all? If you believe that you’re an ego or a human being that is blown around like a leaf, then you should worship a God. For you have to turn to someone, you have to turn somewhere. But if you realize that God is within yourself, if you understand that you are the God that you’ve been worshiping all these years, it’s a whole new ball game. For you stop worshiping and you start meditating. By meditating I mean you keep still. You become quiet. You no longer need use words.
As the mind becomes quiescent, as the thoughts subside, the divine harmony which has always been appears to awaken within you. You become radiantly happy for no
reason. You become totally peaceful for no reason. You gravitate to the place that you’re supposed to be. The right people come into your life who are supposed to be in your life.
Everything happens by itself. You need not do anything.
It is like a fruit tree. The tree bears fruit by itself. It doesn’t have to talk and say, “I’ve got to bear fruit.” It doesn’t pray for the fruit to grow. It doesn’t do anything, it just stands there and the power which maintains and sustains the whole universe takes care of the tree, in the correct way. So apples grow, oranges grow, mangoes grow, everything happens to sustain mankind and the animals and the bugs. Everything takes care of itself.
Now we call ourselves advanced people, human beings. We’re supposed to be higher than the vegetable kingdom, the animal kingdom the mineral kingdom.
But are we?
We as human beings appear to make trouble wherever we go. We’re selfish, greedy, lustful, we have a lot of pride, a lot of ego. We think we came to this world to take over the world. To leave our mark, do something great. This is not why we’re here at all.
We’re here to cooperate with the animal kingdom, the vegetable kingdom, the mineral kingdom and the human kingdom. We’re here to cooperate with the whole universe. It begins with yourself by seeing peace. We don’t try to change people to be peaceful like the way you want them to. Not by making people do what you want them to by your ideas of peace. What you think peace should be and try to enforce it on somebody else, but by keeping still, keeping quiet and allowing the divine circus to break through.
If you practice keeping still you will see what I’m saying is true. Things will happen all by themselves. You no longer have to fight for survival. You no longer have to change anybody at all, any situation, any condition. You just become still. That is all you have to do.
As you practice this being still, being quiet, you will find that you’re expanding.
Not because you had a big meal but because you’re becoming a part of all things. And you’ll begin to ask yourself, “Who am I?” This also will come by itself. The quieter the mind becomes the greater the inquiry within the self. You let it happen by itself.
When you’re busy, busy busy running around here and there trying to make things happen and thinking if you don’t do something everything will fall apart, the question of, “Who am I?” never arises. For you’re too full of yourself to think of something like this. But if you learn to keep still and keep quiet and stop reacting to things the question of “Who am I?” comes by itself.
And you realize that I is not Self, it is the ego. What you’re saying is, “Who is this person who is saying these things? Who is bothered by these things? Who is hurt by these things? Who feels something is wrong? Who is this I that feels this way? Who am I? Where did the I come from? Who gave it birth? What is its source?” All the answers are within yourself.
As you begin to investigate the source of the I, the I will one day disappear, for it never existed to begin with. And you will find that you are that which has always been.That which is, that oneness, that nirvana, that Sat-Chit-Ananda. It’s all within you awaiting to come out. But you hold your beauty back by identifying with the world, your body and your mind as being real.
You are holding yourself back from your Self, by continuing to believe that all is wrong. That something is wrong someplace. But as you let go, as you stop thinking, as you stop trying to change people, then it becomes very evident that the I is the ego. For you will see that it is the I that has been trying to change people, trying to change conditions, that reacts to things, that feels hurt. Not you but the I. You’ve always been free.
You’ve always been God. You’ve always been bright and shining, this is your real nature.
But it is the I that has caused all these problems.
Work on removing the I totally, completely through self-inquiry, “To whom does the I come? Who gave birth to the I? What is its source?” As you keep inquiring within yourself like this, things will begin to happen. Things will begin to change. You will find that you are not the same person who started years ago. You are somebody else completely.
You will feel that you used to be a bubble on the sea of consciousness. Now you’ve become consciousness and the bubble’s burst. You are no longer like the bubbles that come into play then disappear, come into play then disappear then return to the ocean. That is what all human beings appear to be like bubbles. You seem to be born here for a short time then disappear. More bubbles keep coming, more bubbles disappear. It goes on eternally.
But the ocean always remains the same. So it is with consciousness, pure awareness, it always remains the same and your body is only an image on consciousness. The whole relative universe rests in the lap of consciousness. It keeps changing continuously constantly, while consciousness remains the same forever.
So you have to make the right identification. Are you consciousness or are you the bubble or the image? If you believe you are consciousness then you begin to act like consciousness. You will stop worrying, you will stop fearing, you will stop thinking something is wrong someplace. You will feel all is well. Everything is unfolding as it should.
You will be at peace with yourself and the world. But you will know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are all pervading. Your essence is everywhere and you are total freedom, total freedom. Right now! Right this minute. You are totally free of any problem that has ever been bothering you. You are totally free right this minute of anything, of everybody.
You’re totally free, totally free. Feel it. You are free! You’re no longer in bondage to person, place or thing. You are infinite freedom, infinite bliss, infinite love. This is your real nature.
Love the Self. Love the Self always, and you will always be happy.
(short silence)
It is time to play stump the guru. So pass the stumpers.
(Q - Mary reads, A - Robert answers)
Q: If there is no reply to the question, “Who am I?” What would be our motivation for asking?
A: (Robert answers.) The motivation for asking is because you don’t care who you are. Who are you right now? Are you sick and tired of this world? Are you sick and tired of all the situations that you’ve been involved in and you realize there is something else going on, then you inquire, “Who am I?” But if you answer it is the ego answering. It is the same ego that is giving you all these problems. The same ego that has brought everything upon you that you want to get rid of. When you want to get rid of that ego you ask, “Who am I?” You can’t answer that because the ego will be answering. “Who am I?“Goes goes deep deep into the heart center where it disappears forever and reality ensues. Your own reality. So you’ve to be motivated by the fact that life is impermanent as it appears. That you were born to die and that is the only reason why you’re living, so you can die. The world’s a mess and filled with fears and frustrations, that’s the motivation.
For you realize deep inside when you inquire, “Who am I?” you’re going beyond all these dastardly things that are going on in the world. You’re going beyond person, place and thing. You’re going to that place where there is eternal peace when you inquire, “Who am I?” That’s the motivation. By knowing all things are impermanent. Happiness is short lived, worldly happiness. Everything must change change change invariably. So you’ve been through life and its nonsense and you realize there must be something else.
And if you’ve been on a spiritual path no matter what spiritual path it’s been, for years then you will come across somebody that teaches you, “Who am I?” And you begin to inquire and you will begin to practice self-inquiry. And one day when you say, “Who am I?” One day the answer will come by itself and you will be totally free from all the nonsense you’ve been going through. That’s the motivation. Next case.
Q: Is there a way of combining the I-am meditation and self-inquiry or does one have to choose between them?
A: It depends what you want to combine it with. You want to combine it with a bottle of gin? What do you mean you want to combine? Combine with what? When practicing, “Who am I?” it is something that you do all day long, 24 hours a day. If you’re talking about other spiritual methods it depends how you use it. I suppose you can combine it with meditation. But “Who am I?” goes beyond all this. It goes beyond meditation. Beyond other forms of spirituality. It goes right to the heart of the matter.
So if you’re practicing “Who am I?” there is no time to practice anything else. It takes up all of your time if you do it all day long. But if you wish to combine it with other forms of spirituality then it’s up to you. You’ve got the tools of “Who am I?” to work with.
That is really all you need. You do not need anything else. Of course it’s up to you the way you feel. If you wish to combine them of course you can combine them. It’s your choice you must do what you want.
SD: Robert I’m just wondering if the person who asked the question isn’t confusing the I-am meditation, which you’ve taught us, with “Who am I?” Because you taught both the methods.
R: That’s good. The I-am meditation can be practiced at all times also. You can change it once in a while. If you get sort of frustrated doing self-inquiry, practice the I-am meditation. Self-inquiry is not a meditation. It is a method of denying the whole universe and allowing reality to come into your life. So self-inquiry is actually the better method.
But when you first begin you may get a little frustrated with it, get tired of it a little bit, then practice the I-am meditation. If you’re doing any practice at all you will know what to do. It will come to you by itself.
That’s the interesting thing about this, if you’re really sincere and you’re practicing you will be told what to do from within. Something will show you the way. It will tell you what to do. But if you’re just saying which method should I practice and not practice at all, then you will always be confused. Start practicing something and be sincere about it and something will happen to you and you will know what you’re supposed to do. It will come by itself.
Q: Since your realization came to you very early and without effort, how easy is it for you to understand and advise us who are struggling for it?
A: The idea of my being here is in itself a method of going within. When I had the experience it made me totally different than what I used to be, completely different. I realized that everybody is enlightened and all they had to do was get themselves out of the way. So it’s not very hard. I’ve been able to see that consciousness is your real name. Pure awareness is what you really are. I am able to see this, to observe this in you. So because of my awakening I am able to see that all you have to do is to get yourself out of the way totally and completely and you’ll be totally free. Remove yourself from your Self. This is what I’m able to see. So I’m speaking from a viewpoint… (tape break) …and what’s covering you is called ignorance. It doesn’t belong to you at all. It is because you become attached to person, place and thing and because you react to person, place and thing. That sheet of ignorance has overcome you. All you have to do is turn away from it and you’ll be free. This is my message to you. Turn away from all of your fears and your ignorance by inquiring, “Who am I?” and then you will see what happens. I am able to share this with you because this is what happened to me. The whole universe dissolved into nothingness.
If I didn’t have the experience I wouldn’t be able to talk to you about it. I wouldn’t be able to share it with you. So I can say to you truthfully and honestly, you are divine being, you are spiritual being, you are consciousness, you are pure awareness. This is your real nature. Go within and see it. I can give you this advice because I’ve been there. Do it and find out for yourself.
By being in satsang it helps tremendously also. As the weeks go by, as the months go by, as the years go by, you will find out that you are not the same person that you are when you started. Wonderful things are happening to you. So be happy, all is well.
Q: If we keep telling ourselves that all is well where will we find the energy needed for the final breakthrough. Is it not dissatisfaction with our ego and the world that is needed for the extra push?
A: Not really. If you’re dissatisfied it motivates you to do spiritual work. To do something else. Dissatisfaction makes you do spiritual work, go after spiritual life. But to
become totally enlightened you let go of everything. You let go of dissatisfaction. You let go of spiritual life. You let go of everything you’ve ever done, and become quiet and still.
It’s a paradox.
In one way you have to do something, you have to always do something, to do spiritual work and another way you let go of everything you don’t do anything. But it will take care of itself. As long as you are sincere and you’re trying and you’re doing something within yourself, things will happen, things will happen by themselves. Then you can say, “All is well.” When you’re saying, “All is well,” you’re stating the truth to yourself. What you’re doing, you’re voicing the truth that in reality all is well, there are no mistakes. Mistakes appear to the outer world but yet everything is happening the way it’s supposed to.
Do not judge by appearances. Leave things alone and everything will fall into place.
Q: You teach us not to react but to be the witness, which in bad or unpleasant situations, seems quite helpful. However would this not also diminish the good or pleasant?
A: What you call good or pleasant in a human standpoint, is only temporary, only here for a while. The real good and pleasant is your real nature. It can never diminish, for it has no size no shape, no dimension. The happiness which you are is your real nature.
It will always be with you. As you remove the others, reality will shine forth by itself and you’ll be happier than you’ve ever been in your life. So do not worry about getting rid of your goodness, the goodness will expand into infinite goodness which is indescribable.
You see the substratum of all existence is bliss. Bliss is the greatest happiness that you can ever imagine. There is no word to describe bliss. You have to experience it.
The happiness that you’re afraid of losing in your question, is only human happiness which is not real to begin with. But bliss will come and take its place when the ego has been totally been annihilated. You’ll never lose anything that you haven’t gained. You are not worried about losing the happiness in the world. It will just increase. The right thing will take place. The right thing always takes place. There are no mistakes. Nothing is here to harm you or lead you astray. Do not be afraid, go for the gusto, dive within yourself. Do not worry about losing any happiness. Happiness will only increase.
Q: Can you give an example of a right self-surrender attitude?
A: When you surrender you’re surrendering the ego. The way this is done, is by looking at the world with humility. Looking at the world with love and peace. Saying to yourself, “Not my will but thine.” Feeling that you have no will of your own any longer.
You have no questions, you have no wants, you have no desires, you let them all melt in your heart. You leave it alone. You stop worrying, you stop fretting. You stop trying to accomplish things or to change things. By realizing there is a power greater than you. It’s available to you right now.
As you do this you’re surrendering all of your wants, all of your needs, all of your fears, all of your stuff that you’ve been carrying on with all these years. You’re surrendering it all. Everything must go, everything.You can say something like this, “Take this God. Take it. I give it to you. Take my life. Take my possessions. Take my family. Take my problems. Take my goodness. Take everything. I just want you alone.” This is perfect surrender. When you give everything up to God, everything. Hold on to nothing and you stand naked before God. Then something wonderful will happen to you.
But not many people can do this. Most of you can give up certain things that you don’t like. When it comes to giving up things that you like you won’t do it. You think you’re going to lose something. This is what is holding you back. So perfect surrender is when you give up everything, everything to God including your body. Do what you want with me. Do what you want with my body, with my mind, with my affairs, with everything. Not my will but thine. If you can surrender like this you’re already free. Try it, it’s hard, because you’re afraid what will happen after you do that. You believe everything will be taken away from you. This is human thinking. Stop being human. Surrender yourself and become totally free.
Q: How do I know that the changes you are talking about which I do perceive in my life is not a result of intellectual integration rather than a spiritual transformation?
A: Intellectual integration will be changeable, that’s why. But will never be permanent. Anything intellectual is changeable. But a spiritual integration is forever. What happens is you know you’ve been transformed. Intellectual integration is only on the surface.
Spiritual integration is deep within. They’re both different like night and day. You will know. You will know because you will feel joy, you will feel a bliss that you’ve never felt before, it stays with you. If it’s intellectual you feel good but you will worry about it that it’s going to go away. If it’s intellectual you will feel it for a short time only. You will feel somebody can take it away from you, can hurt you, can change it for you. But if it’s spiritual you’ll feel its eternal. It will always be with you. It’ll never leave you.
(Robert says to himself) That’s it Robert.
(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.