– Transcript 245
No Date
R: It’s good to be here with you again. I welcome you with all my heart.
Everyone is looking for peace and happiness. Everyone wants to be happy and peaceful, without any restrictions. So here, with Advaita Vedanta, we hear about a teaching of one path, non-duality. And we become interested in this, thinking that if we become self-realized, well be very happy, very peaceful. This is a big mistake. For as long as you feel that you’re going to be self-realized, you never will be self-realized. For you’re already self-realized. You’re already awake. You’re already free and liberated.
And thinking that the body can become self-realized is a big mistake. The body can never be self-realized. Yet you believe you’ve got a body, and trying to make it self-realized. You can’t do this. What you must do is to let go of the body completely, totally.
Not looking for anything, not desiring anything, just being your Self, and then things begin to happen.
The question arises, if I become self-realized, will I still have a body? This is a question only a ajnani would ask. A person doesn’t understand and know, to the Jnani, there is no body. Yet it appears as a body, does things all the time. But that’s what you see.
I know I have no body at all. Yet I appear to have a body to you. The body does things, eats, sleeps. Yet the only difference between you and me is this. I realize Brahman is everything.
There is only Brahman. There is only the Self. There is only absolute reality appearing as the world, as people, places, and things.
Whereas most of you think that what you see is real. You take the body, the world, the Universe to be real. The body, the Universe, can never be real by itself. It is only consciousness that is real. What I’m saying is this. What you think is the body, is Brahman, the Self, the absolute reality.
Yet you do not see it that way. You see the body. And that’s where the problems begin. For you react to a body, the Universe, the world, people, places, and things, and you try to solve your problems that accrue, with the idea of a body, world, and Universe.
When in truth, you have absolutely nothing to do with this. You have nothing to do with your body or the Universe or the world. It’s a paradox. You think you are alive. You think you go to work, you do things. In reality, nobody is doing anything. Nothing is really happening at all.
Yet it appears to be happening to you, and then your mind reacts to it. And then the mind creates conditions, situations, and you try to solve them. You spend your entire life trying to solve conditions, situations. Whereas if you only let go of everything, and take things as they come without fighting, without interfering, you will soon find that all is well, very well indeed. For there are no mistakes.
In other words anything that happens in your life is right, necessary and good.
There are no mistakes. You are your Self, just the way you are. You are immortal, absolute reality, just the way you are right now. Only when you begin to think, you spoil it. For when you begin to think, your mind imagines all kinds of things. You start getting all kinds of feelings, emotions. You try to change things by psychological means. Yet your mind will never let you go. The more you worry, the more you fear. The more you think something is wrong, the more your mind will perpetuate these things and make them worse.
You must accept life as it comes. Never believe someone is trying to hurt you. Or you’ve made a mistake and something is wrong. Everything in your life is right, good. It is the way you see it, that the problems begin.
So the question arises, what is a Sage? What is the difference between myself and the Sage. There is no difference. Only you see the difference, but there is no difference. If you want to see a Sage look in the mirror, and see a Sage. You’re that one. I’m not saying there’s different.
Sages for everybody, everyone’s a different Sage. There’s only One Sage. Look in back of your face and you’ll see the Sage, the One. Not the body with a mind, but reality.
There is only one reality, and you are that.
You’ve always been That. All is well, just the way it is There is absolutely nothing you have to change in your life, nothing. But do not think about this. If you think about it, you spoil it. You exist right now this moment. And in that moment, All is well, true? It is only when you start to think about past and the future that problems begin. But if you stay centered in the here and now, how can there be a problem? How can there be a mistake?
When you have found this way, the power begins, power begins to move, Universal power. When your mind moves, trouble begins. When the Universal power moves, happiness and joy ensue. Therefore you have the choice to think which one you’ll identify with. Will you identify with absolute reality, or with mammon, the world, the trends of this world.
Who are you? Who do you think you are? Forget who you think you are, you are not that at all. Nothing that has ever happened to you has been wrong. No thing that has ever transpired in your life has been a mistake. Everything is in it’s right place, right now.
So why do you worry? Why do you fret? The past is gone if you do not think about it.
Your karma has no existence if you do not think about it. It is your thinking that causes things to happen. And that’s only an appearance.
I kid you not when I tell you that you are the Absolute reality, that you are consciousness, that you are Brahman, that you are God. But you don’t believe me. You think you are a mortal person, having problems, going through experiences. You have to rise
above this. You have to drop everything and rise above it. There is absolutely nothing in this Universe that wants to hurt you, or can hurt you. It is your false imagination that makes you hurtable. Therefore work on quieting the mind. Not in changing your life or changing your problems, but quieting the mind. When the mind becomes quiet, it changes by itself. But when you allow the mind to think, it creates new situations every day for you to solve, to be upset over. Know who you are. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Stop believing life has dealt you a bad hand. There are no bad hands. Everything is good. Everything is wonderful, just the way it is.
You should rejoice, continuously rejoice.
For when you make yourself happy, life comes along and gives you more happiness, and makes things work out for you. But when you believe something is wrong someplace, when you’re suffering, your mind will perpetuate the suffering and it gets worse. Therefore drop everything right now. Surrender it all, surrender everything. Become empty and free.
As you work on yourself, as you practice, you’ll know that you become more peaceful everyday, happy everyday. Things that used to bother you before, no longer bother you. This is your Universe, of your own creation.
Everything comes out of your mind, everything. Just as when you’re sleeping, you’re dreaming, and dreams seem real to you, then you awaken. So it is with this world.
You’re dreaming the mortal dream. You think it’s real. You get involved in it, and you’re caught up in it, and it gets worse and worse. You just have to realize it’s a dream and wake up. And what happens when you wake up? You do not find yourself in a place called heaven, in a strange land. You’ll be as you are. When you awaken, you will function as you do now. Except you’ll know you’re playing a part. That’s the only difference.
The only difference between you and an awakened person is that you figure the part you’re playing is real. And to an awakened person it’s a play, a show, a dream. Does an awakened person take a part in the dream? He plays the part that was given to him or her. But he is always happy, always peaceful. For it’s all an act on the stage. He’s playing a part. So why get angry, why get upset? As you get angry and upset, you know it’s a part you are playing, it’s a part that you choose. To be an angry person, an upset person, as long as you know the part that you’re playing is not real, it’s okay to be upset, it doesn’t matter. For again you know it’s only a part you’re playing.
But when you think it’s real, then you get pulled back into the mire, and you have to start all over again. In other words if you want to become free and liberated in this life, you don’t have anything to do with the part, the play, the movie. It’s all good indeed. But when you get caught up in it, then you have to play the part again and again and again. It is called karma and reincarnation.
As long as you feel the world is real, people are real, things are real, you have to keep playing your part over and over again. But when you get to the point where you give up, and just focus on reality. You focus on reality when you realize it’s all a dream. Then you become free and liberated.
So freedom and liberation, it’s not something foreign. It’s not far away from you.
It’s right where you are, and where you see life. That’s all awakening is. So you observe the life. How do you see your life right now? If what you can say about yourself, you feel bad, you feel limited, slighted, upset, then you have to turn around by realizing that you have chosen this world of play. You have chosen this world. It’s your play, and accept it.
But do not react to it. It’s reaction that causes the problem.
You see there are all sorts of Sages in this world. I refer to the term Sage to talk about an enlightened person. So Sages live in caves. When they come out, Sages roam around the world. They don’t stay in one place too long. Sages get married. Sages work in banks, work in construction. You see what you’re doing, your life has nothing to do with Sagehood.
That’s something that’s most difficult to understand for most people. What you’re doing has nothing to do with whether you’re enlightened or not an enlightened person becomes a simple person, uncomplicated. They sail through life easily, joyfully. Some people believe if you become enlightened, you’ll see visions, you’ll not see your body anymore. On the contrary.
Again, let me remind you again. An enlightened Being simply sees the world as Brahman, as the Self. That is all. They see everything as God. Everything is God in this universe, everything.
Where the ajnani sees the world as the world and reacts to it. That’s the only difference. By coming to satsang you should try to become free and liberated. Yet I told you before you are already free and liberated and don’t know it. So to know it you have to quiet the mind. That’s what you have to do. Stop reacting to person, place and thing. Be yourself. Very easy, no problem.
I recall when I was with Ramana Maharshi, I used to stand at the door of the meeting at the old hall, when people used to come in to hear him, to see him. I was interested in the people that came in to see him. And because I was a Westerner, the Westerners would stop and talk to me. They were very funny. They change expectations, and ask me, is Ramana going to speak today? What subject is he going to speak on?
Then one Westerner would ask me, does Ramana speak like J. Krishnamurti? I just smiled and said: ‘go in and listen.” Then we’d go into the hall and sit down, and Ramana would be lying on his couch reading a newspaper, saying absolutely nothing. He would look at some of the people,then go back reading his newspaper. And these people were insulted. They would get up and leave. Some people would remark, “that is just a silly old man. He has nothing to say.” And he had nothing to say. Fm sharing this with you because many of you think you have to find a Sage that give you profound lectures. or give you certain techniques.
Always remember a Sage is not a yogi. They do not teach meditation practices, or Hatha yoga, raja yoga, ashtanga yoga. The Sage does absolutely nothing. Meaning there is no thing of the Sage left. The Sage is an empty shell. Yet the empty shell walks, talks, goes to the bathroom, eats, and most people don’t like to see this.
They say something like this. How can this person be a Sage? He acts like we do.
This is a paradox. How do you want the Sage to act? What do you expect of a Sage? What you expect is erroneous. Expect nothing and get everything. Expect something and get nothing. It’s simplicity in itself. Just be yourself. Don’t put on an act of some kind, or imagine you’re holy or spiritual, be yourself. You are that right now.
What you’ve been looking for, that’s what you are right now. You are totally liberated right now, totally free right this minute. Can you feel it? Feel your freedom. Feel all the pain leaving you. All your negative emotions are disappearing. Feel yourself melting in consciousness.
Feel your Essence becoming all pervading. You have become boundless space.
And all the planets, trees, mountains, are superimpositions on your Self.
Just as the sun hangs in space, the earth hangs in space, planets hang in space.
You’re that space you’re hanging on. It’s you. It’s from you they come. In you they go.
You’re the creator of all persons, places and things. You are the one.
Rejoice. There are no others. All your fears are gone now. You are totally absolutely free right now. Right this moment.
Everything is all right, right now. Part of yourself is gone, the worries that you came in here with. The fears that you came in here with. The doubts, the illusions. They’re all gone. For you realize now that you’re not hurtable any longer. No one wants to hurt you at all.
The Universe is now your friend. You are that. Everything is your friend There is nothing against you any more. You feel wonderful. You feel wonderful all over. All is well.
(end)
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.