– Transcript 235
R: Om, Shanti, Shanti, Shanti, Om. Good Evening. (Students: Good evening Robert.) I welcome you with all my heart. I love every one of you just the way you are, unconditionally. I mean you could be the biggest bum in the world and I’ll still love you. I don’t care what you do, I’ll still love you. You can hijack cars, rob banks, I’ll still love you.
Makes no difference. Do what you must, but always remember somebody loves you.
Again, let me remind you, if you’ve come here to hear a speech, you’ve come for the wrong reason. If you’ve come to hear a sermon, you’ve come for the wrong reason. If you’ve come to hear philosophy, you’ve come for the wrong reason. If you came to hear nothing, you still came for the wrong reason! (laugher) So, there’s no valid reason for you to be here! Why are you here? Why am I here? (Someone says, The Silence!) That’s it!
Someone has asked me to speak about the dream state versus the waking state. So I’ll mumble a few words about those things:
First of all, to a Jnani, to a Sage, there’s no dream state and there’s no waking state.
None of those exists for the Sage. But for the ajnani there appears to be a dream state and a waking state. And the remarks that are made is this: “The waking state appears to be long.
It appears to go on forever. But the dream state ends.” And as a matter of fact, you have about eight, nine dreams a night. You usually only remember the last one.
So how can I say that the waking state is a dream state also?
Well, let’s look at it this way. In what you call the dream state, you were born, you go to school, you get older, time passes, you get married, you have a job, you grow older, you’re eighty-five years old and you start declining. This is the dream that you’re having.
Now, if I came into your dream state and I told you, “You’re dreaming. You’re not really eighty-five years old and you were never born and none of this has ever happened.” You would throw rocks at me. And you’d say, “What are you talking about? A century has nearly gone by. I remember when I was a little boy or a little girl and now I’m an old lady or an old man and I’ve got cancer. And you’re telling me, this is a dream?”
You wouldn’t believe me. I tell you, do not concern yourself with your cancer or your state of eighty-five years old. Do not concern yourself with what’s going on in your life. Rather, look within yourself for reality. Find reality and everything will take care of itself. Again you’ll throw rocks at me. You don’t want to hear anything like this. You say, “I’ve gone through all kinds of experiences in my life. And you’re trying to tell me it’s a dream? You can’t fool me, this is not a dream, this is real!” Look I could even pinch you and you’ll say, “Ow!” But then I say, “Remember, this is a dream pinch! It’s all a dream.”
But you still won’t believe me. Then when I leave, you awaken.
You awaken to this dream state. This state, what you call the waking state. And the dream is all gone, it’s all finished, like it never existed. And you laugh. You were never born in the dream, you never went to school in the dream. You never got married in the dream. You never became eighty-five years old in the dream. You never had cancer in the dream. You’ve awakened to this state! Yet you say, “This state is longer.” It’s longer because you’re having the dream, that’s all! Remember when I was in your dream, when you were eighty-five years old? To you it was a long dream. You went through many experiences.
You went through eighty-five years of experiences and they all seemed very valid to you.
Yet it happened in a split second. It happened in a split second, all the years, the experiences, the cancer. It happened in a split second and you awake, you awaken to this state.
This state is the same thing. This is also a dream state. Not any different than the dream state that you dream at night. Same thing! It’s only another dream. And you will only understand this when you awaken! A person is no longer in the dream state, no longer in the waking state, they’re in a state of sahaja samadhi between the waking and dream state. There is really no state for a person like that. But to the ajnani, he believes that a Sage is in the waking state like they are.
How do you get out of this, the dream business? How do you transcend those both states?
Simply by going beyond them, you go beyond the dream state by realizing that when you react to conditions, to person, place or thing, you are perpetuating the dream.
You can tell where you are by the way you react to life. If you believe that your body’s getting older, that you’re a person, that you have problems, you react to life’s conditionings, then you’re caught up in the dream, just like any dream at night. All kinds of conditions befall you and you believe it’s real and you react to them. As long as you react to them you will never get out of it. You feel angry, you feel fear, you believe something is wrong some place. Then you can never get out of the dream. In other words, you’ll go from one dream to the next. This is called reincarnation. It’s one dream after the other dream. It never ends. You take on body after body after body, always dreaming, always reacting, always believing something is wrong, something is right, something is good, something is bad. And again, as long as you believe this, you’ll never get out of it.
So the way to get out of it completely is to realize that there is an observer who observes both states. The observer observes both states, the dream state and the so called, waking state.
Now remember this is for the ajnani. For the Sage nothing like this exists. For the ajnani, you have to think to yourself, “Who is the observer? Who created this?” in other words, “Who made all this up? Who created the so called dream state and the waking state?” And if you think real carefully, it’s our old friend Ishvara, the god of karma. Ishvara
has been playing with his Leela again. You tell Ishvara to stop playing with his Leela and he won’t listen. He’s feeling these states.
Ishvara, for some of you who don’t know who he is, he’s a personal god that you have created out of your mind.
When you believe that you are a body, then you created god in your own image, and we call this god, Ishvara, the god of karma. It is he who dictates all these things, what’s going to happen, what karma you’re going through, how many lives you’re going to live.
Now, here’s the secret, if you get rid of Ishvara, it’ll be finished. You’ll be free!
You’ve got to kill Ishvara. Ishvara has to be removed, totally and completely then you’ll be totally and completely free! How do you kill Ishvara? By laughing in his face “Who are you? Where do you come from? You can’t frighten me any longer. I no longer accept you. You’re part of my mind, my imagination. You’re part of my false imagination!
You do not exist!”
Now, I bet some of you here are afraid to do something like this because you think you are insulting god. What kind of god are you insulting? A god that you made up yourself! You created this god. Where else would he come from? Is there a god up in the sky looking down at you throwing lightening bolts, saying, “You’re a good boy, you’re a bad girl! I’m going to punish you. I’m going to reward you.” Do you know some of you really believe this? Yes, while I’m talking to you, some of you really accept this. And you’re afraid to get rid of this God.
But can’t you see this very god is keeping you in bondage! It’s this very god that makes you take on new bodies, makes you believe that you’re a person, with problems. It is this very god that makes you worry about your body or about your finances, concern yourself with the world situation. And this god laughs while you cry! You’re concerned about this. You’re concerned about that. You’re concerned about everything. Only when the god is removed will you become free It’s up to you to remove this god. You’ve got to do it, nobody can do it but you. This is not blasphemy. Blasphemy is when you’re believing that the Self that can hurt you. When you believe in problems, when you believe something is wrong, that’s blasphemy!
But it is virtually impossible for anything to be wrong for this whole universe the whole world is consciousness. The whole universe is consciousness. It has absolutely nothing to do with gods or goddesses, or karma or reincarnation or dreams. These things are part of human thinking. When you realize you’re no longer human, they disappear. You must become inhuman. It is up to you to do this.
You have to ask yourself the right questions. Many of you are afraid to question yourself. You’re afraid that god is watching you and you’ll be punished. Yet, some of you actually believe this. But I say to you from direct experience, there’s no god at all anywhere in the universe that can punish you or wants to punish you or has tried to punish you. If there’s a god that exists, he’s too busy screwing up the world to think of you!
(laughter)
What big egos some of us have, we think god is looking at us, judging us. We’re so important, we’re being judged, by an anthropomorphic God some place up in the sky.
We’re so important, aren’t we? That this mighty god is punishing us personally for being bad little boys and girls. Get rid of all this, once and for all! Remove it from your mind!
Empty your mind totally of this kind of thinking.
There is only pure awareness, absolute reality and that is you right now! Right this moment! Don’t think about it, just be it! Do not attempt to analyze what I’m saying or try to figure it out in any way, just be it! What I’m talking about you can only be. You can’t think about it. When you begin to think about it, the truth about the matter disappears.
Then you get caught in the body, in a thinking body. Yet, there’s no time or space for any thoughts to exist. For time and space themselves do not exist. So where can you think?
There’s no place for you to think. For the thoughts have to move. And there is no room for thoughts.
But what I’m telling you is that you’re absolutely free right now. Absolutely liberated right this minute. You are. You are the entire universe right now. You who was never born, can never die. You are the one, right now! This very moment! Feel it! There is nothing else.
How wonderful it is to be totally free. Free of praying to gods for your salvation.
Free of thinking of a body that needs care or you have lack or limitation some place in your life. Be free of this kind of thinking. I know some of you are saying, “Well, it’s okay for him to say that. But the doctor told me I got cancer. I got AIDS. And I have no funds in the bank. My wife or husband left me.” Who are you talking about? You’re not talking about the real Self, that you are! You’re talking about somebody who doesn’t exist! You’re speaking of a dream person! That’s here today and gone tomorrow! You’re not speaking of the Self. Wake up!
Try to understand what I’m saying to you. You are the god! You are the Brahman.
You are the Self.
Stop thinking of yourself as a mortal being, once and for all. Stop it! Cut it out!
Behave yourself! Wake Up! Know who you are. Change your mind. Lift it up from this nonsensical thinking, and allow the mind to think in the heart. The heart will open up as a rose does with its calyx to the sun. And you will begin to laugh in joy and ecstasy, that you are the one. The one that is beyond time and space The one that is beyond reality, beyond causation. You are that one. Awaken to it, now. Wake up! Don’t just sit there like a lump of manure, wake up! Who do you think you are? You are the god, remember this always. The only god that exists! There is no other god but you.
Again, do not try to think these things through. The worst mistake you can make is to think of what I’m saying. Do not think about it. Just be it. Let it happen. Why? Because when you think about it, you spoil it. Remember, the mind is only a conglomeration
of energy, of thoughts, that’s what the mind is, thoughts about the past, thoughts of the future, thoughts of the present. When you begin to think about your thoughts, it puts you in time and space. And in time and space a lot of other thoughts come. One thought leads to another thought it never ends, as you know all very well. Thoughts keep coming and coming and coming and coming once you let them come in. Stop thinking once and for all.
When your mind tries to think, ask it, “Who thinks? Who’s thinking?” Something will tell you, “I am.” And you realize you’re not this “I” at all. The “I” that thinks is the I-thought, an idea. Not reality. Again, the I-thought has to rest in the heart. As you go into the heart, then the heart is opened again. And that time will you feel your reality.
Remember, all this stuff is for the ajnani. All the nonsense and babbling is for the person who thinks they’re human, who gets offended, gets insulted, becomes angry, thinks there’s something wrong some place. That’s who I’m talking to. If you’re not that person, don’t listen to a word I say.
(short silence)
You are here for one reason. Don’t ask me what that reason is. I don’t know why you’re here at all. But you’re here and I’m here and we’re all one and all is well.
I want you now to take a hard look at the problems that you think you have.
Those of you who think you have a problem of some kind, take a look at it right now.
Look at it carefully. Examine it. And ask yourself, “Who has this problem? Who really has this problem?” Try to understand that if you can get rid of the idea that you’re human, that you’re a personal self, a personal ego, the problem will disappear of its own accord. Remember, it’s only the ego that has the problem, the small self, not you!
You are the god. It’s virtually impossible for you to have a problem. But when you identify with the self, the small self, the ego self, it’s full of problems. It’s time for us to awaken to the truth. There are no problems. There’s no body. There’s no mind. There’s no karma. There’s no reincarnation. There’s no personal god. There is only that! And you are that! Don’t you really feel good now, to know that you are that! Some of you are saying, “What’s That?” Don’t worry about what that is, just become that and be happy.
I tell you all is well. All is exceedingly well, why won’t you believe me? Some of you believe you’ve come here to do great things on this earth, become famous, invent something wonderful. But I tell you, you didn’t come here to do anything like this. Because you don’t even belong here. You’re in the wrong place! You’re in a dream world believing that you’ve got to become famous. And you haven’t become famous or you’re suffering, upset. Take a good look at this, look at it carefully. Look at what you’ve been doing all these years.
You aren’t like other people or you wouldn’t be here tonight. That’s why I can talk to you freely. Your lot is not to go to work every day and come home at five or six o’clock, watch TV, go to sleep, take a vacation once a year. This is not for you. You are here to do nothing, absolutely nothing! That should be your motive, your goal, to become nothing. This doesn’t mean you would be inactive. On the contrary, you will accomplish many beautiful things.
But you will not be the doer. You will realize that you are not the doer and you never were the doer. Isn’t this wonderful news? To realize and understand that you are not the doer? Yet, you are doing things. I know it sounds like a contradiction, but it’s not. Your body will appear to do something, yet you are not the doer and you’re doing nothing!
Does this mean there are two of you? On the contrary, there is only one. But the world sees you doing something. Yet, you know you’re not doing a thing.
Again, do not try to understand this with your mind. The mind will just foul you up. The mind is only good for one purpose, to foul you up, to make life miserable for you.
That’s all the mind does. It tells you all sorts of things about person, place and thing. And you react to it and you become further pulled into it. This is the nature of your mind! It’s false imagination.
Again, how do you get out of this whole thing? By becoming quiet, still, quiescent, finding the observer of the observed. Asking yourself, “Who observes all these things? I do. I’ve always been the observer. Then “Who am I? Who is this “I” who is the observer?
Where did this “I” come from? Who created it?” Every question you ask yourself, you have the same answer, “I did.” It’s always “I-I-I.”
When you do this enough, you will realize it is the “I” that is the root cause of all creation. “I” is the root cause of everything in your life. Everything! This is a new revelation. It’s a marvelous revelation for you to understand. “I” has been the root cause of all your problems, all your good, all your bad, everything that’s going on in the world, your idea of what god is, what karma, what reincarnation is. It has been “I” who has been the observer all this time.
Next something will tell you, “Kill the “I” and you’ll be free.” The “I” is synonymous with the mind. Get rid of this “1” and you will be totally free. The question now arises, “How do I get rid of the “I?” By inquiring, “Who am I?” That’s how you get rid of the “I”. As you keep inquiring, there will become a greater space between each question.
When you ask, “Who am I?” everything will stop and you’ll find a big space between “Who am I?” and “Who am I?” In that space is the reality. The space between “Who am I?” is the answer that you’re looking for. The absolute reality has no spoken words to describe.
There are no words to describe it. But you’ll find yourself resting in the silence more and more. You’ll find yourself being quiet more and more. You will stop debating with people about points of religion, philosophy. You’ll stop talking altogether, as a matter of fact.
There will be nothing else to talk about, nothing else to explain, nothing else to prove.
For you will realize it’s a personal experience for every person, every being. You will also find yourself becoming happier and happier as the days go by, as the weeks go by, as the months go by. You’re becoming more peaceful, more relaxed. You’re no longer thinking about the body like you used to. You’re no longer thinking about your affairs, yet your affairs are taken care of in a beautiful way. You are coming out of your shell in to the
land of milk and honey. Who wants to live in the land of milk and honey? Can you imagine having nothing to eat but milk and honey day after day?
SV: No. (laughter)
R: But anyway, you’ve got the answer within yourself. You are the answer. You are what you have been looking for all of your life. It is you and only you. Be it, enjoy it, love it. You are that! Peace.
(short silence)
Fred (SF): I have something I want to check it out. I have a tape by J. Krishnamurti in which he makes a couple of statements that I find interesting. One is, at one point he says, “Please do not merely listen to a lot of words and ideas which really mean nothing at all but through the act of listening,” and then he goes on a little bit, kind of hard to understand. But the other statement is he says, “Please may I suggest that you not accept what the speaker is saying. He’s not a teacher, he is not a guru,” no he also says the speaker has no authority whatsoever,he “He is not a teacher, he is not a guru, for if he is a teacher then you are the follower and if you are the follower you destroy yourself and you destroy the teacher.” And my thought is you could make those statements is that not so? (R: Sure.) Thank you. (students laugh) There’s also another thing. If we have a desire and we think that something might be different than it is, the element of time comes in and time itself is unreal. So a desire can have no real basis.
R: Sure. (students laugh)
Fred (SF): Thank you…
(tape ends abruptly)
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.