All Auspiciousness Is With Us (Silent Retreat) - 14th Oct. 2015

Enjoy the silence. Marinate deep inside this. Even if you're not here, I'm sure that the presence of the silence you are experiencing right now, wherever you might be, all auspiciousness is with us. I superly have to admit also that I didn't remember that it was Papaji's birthday yesterday. He started... so what an auspicious way to start. And also, this is the Indian festival of Navratri going on, which is where traditionally many are in silence, many are fasting. Without any such planning, Grace is automatically supporting us in this. So use this opportunity to fully discover what is being spoken about.

The mind will give you some trivialities, give you some trivial stuff which will not even matter at all, but it is the nature of the mind to try and distract you right now because what is being spoken about actually is the simplest thing. I'm just sharing what I see right here, right now. That's all I'm doing in all Satsang. No imagination, nothing conceptual. Just from whatever is clearly, directly experienced in this moment. And the good news is that it is exactly the same experience that you are having already. There is nothing esoteric or metaphysical that we are talking about. Yes, to the mind it is completely radical, not denying that. But it is the mind using imagination which has had it upside down all along, convincing the Immortal One that it is this mortal body, convincing the infinite that it is some finite being. And yet, when we look just for a few moments with openness, what do we find?

So use this opportunity to just let go. We're out of the world in some way because in the world there are always expectations of how we must be, how we must behave, what we must say and not say. Now all of that has been taken away. For some of you, the mind might be trying to create a picture of some gloomy situation because you're in silence. You know, some of you are carrying these glum faces, but actually it is a beautiful opportunity to just let go all ideas, all behavior. You can cry if you want, you can laugh if you want. Whatever is appearing, there is nothing right or wrong. And as usual, as is the nature of the mind, it is saying that I'm in some sort of prison. Actually, this is your opportunity to just let go. If the body wants to fall down like this, let it fall. If it's feeling energized, let it be energized. This is freeing silence; it is not a bonding silence. In silence, you're unconcerned with your own behavior and that of others. If you're dancing around as if you're crazy, that's completely fine. If you're sitting alone in your cave as if you're a monk or a sadhu, that's also completely fine. It's not about either of those. It is about the discovery of what Bhagavan was speaking about about 100 years ago in the same holy place. The same discovery is available to all of us here.

What is here which is beyond thought? What is here which is beyond feeling? We've gotten addicted to reportings from our thoughts, addicted to catering to our feelings. But who is the witness of both of these? Who is here that knows all of this and yet it cannot be defined? Who's here that knows the arising and disappearing of all phenomena and yet itself is not phenomenal? Don't go searching out there, because you will not find it there. What is already here? Who's looking? Who is hearing? Reporting to who? Who am I? The mind has convinced the entire world that either this question has no meaning or it is too difficult to find the answer. Both of these are not true, and the answer is available right now because you already are that.

So during the next four or five days that we have together like this, be vigilant to the mind's childish tricks and how it tries to make a person out of you again. As you are discovering your impersonal Self, observe how the mind and maybe sometimes even the world of this Maya is collaborating to distract you, to push your buttons, to convince you that you are still a person and the person must be real. This is the story of the mind. It's using every opportunity that it gets to convince you of this. Live 'Who am I? Who am I?' This is self-inquiry. Where must I look for 'I'? Which ashram, which temple must I look for 'I'? Is the 'I' not here right now? Can you not be 'I'? Can you leave the 'I' aside? What is it that cannot be left? The body will be left, the thoughts will come and go, emotions—all of this will come and go. But what is the 'I' which is not left behind? What does this one look like? This is the simple looking.