Ashtavakra Gita Ch. 15, Vs. 13-20 Commentary and Contemplation - 28th August 2017

Even if you go to the past and remember a moment from the past, if you look for your true position, you will find that you were the witness of it. You were neither the doer nor the experiencer of everything that happened on the screen of this movie. And even if you project in a future outward, even in that, you cannot step away from your true position, which is so depressing. Why do I say witnessing and not the witness? Because I know that the term witness can imply as if there is an entity there. That's where the sages would use this example: that the rope has been confused to be a snake, but when truly examined, we find that there is no snake. That is why this one is an even more beautiful example than the wave and the ocean. Why? Because in the wave and the ocean, at least you have the feeling that at least there is an arising of an individual wave which you can point to and say, 'Hey, this is what I am.' But can we find the snake? There is no such arising. It is a pure misunderstanding. And although it seems to be qualitatively present—there is no denial that consciousness appears, causes it—when truly examined, we find that all that is here is this awareness, this knowing.

So what if we were to throw away all concepts and not be concerned about any appearance that does not point us to the truth? What if we were to throw away everything that does not point us to this ultimate reality? And now we have enough clues to know what is meant when you say ultimate reality. The Guru is supposed to be the dispeller of darkness, the dispeller of ignorance, and the bringer of light. What is this light? The light of true knowledge. So ignorance must be that which points to that which is untrue about us. Agreed? Ignorance must be that which shows us something which is untrue about us, and knowledge must be that which points us to that which is true about us. And this truth, you don't have to rely on somebody's statement about it, not even Krishna's. You have to rely on your own inner intuitive recognition, which I call insight.

And we did a raising of hands the other day, and most of you said that when I check, I find that this is true about me. And most of you said every time I checked, I find that the words of the sage are true. Therefore, now ignorance must be that which is pointing to something which is untrue in my intuitive recognition, in my inner insight about myself. That is the reason why I say don't believe your next thought, because it is just buying into ignorance—the ignorance of separation, the ignorance of duality, doership, and desire. Whatever you perceive is you and you alone. How can bracelets, armlets, and anklets be other than the gold that they are made of? Whatever you perceive is you and you alone, and both the 'You's are in capitals. How can bracelets, armlets, and anklets be other than the gold that they are made of?

What is the substance of this universe? It is you. This arises from fullness, and yet fullness remains. For this infinite play of consciousness arises within awareness, which itself is infinite, and yet in the rising of this consciousness, awareness remains untouched and complete as before. Therefore, this entire play of consciousness must be made up of awareness alone. I am aware. I am most intimately that. And the play of phenomenon is here. I am aware of my existence. There is nothing closer than this. And your existence is the substance of this apparent universe. From your experience, you have no trouble with this. You cannot have the experience of any object unless you are aware of your existence. Without existence, without being, without 'I am,' there is no phenomenon. And who is being? You are that. Where it is 'I am,' confirm your existence.

And I know the trick of the mind, which is that every time you hear this, the mind can come and say, 'I'm not really sure whether it is the same existence that I am finding that he is speaking about,' because the mind seems so limited. But if you were to truly investigate this, you will find that this existence that you are calling limited right now has no limitation. We can have the idea that it is limited within my body. You can have the idea that it is in my physical heart. But upon investigation, all these ideas, they fall away, and you start to see that it is actually all of these sensations and experiences and visuals and sounds that are contained within this. Attention never leaves my being. From there, you can see words like this, which is: 'Whatever you perceive is you and you alone. How can bracelets, armlets, and anklets be other than the gold that they are made of?'

Be behind such distinctions as 'I am he, the Self' and 'I am not this.' Consider everything the Self. Be desireless. Be happy. Don't even make any distinction. Don't label anything. Now, what the sage is pointing to is that mental, conceptual knowledge must be dropped now. He is saying leave these distinctions, or you become a conceptual awakened person going around saying that 'I am awareness' just conceptually. If these words have to emerge, they will naturally emerge. If this tongue has to be used in that way, it will be used in that way. But the fragrance that will accompany these words will not smell of concept anymore. So drop all mental distinction. Consider everything the Self. 'I will consider everything as the Self.' If the thought is the world of limitation, then as we are empty of this egoic chief, automatically you find that there is no separation. So you don't have to work towards considering everything the Self; you will find that that is your natural insight, your intuitive insight.

Your ignorance alone creates the universe. In reality, one alone exists. There is no person or God other than you. Your ignorance alone creates the universe. In reality, one alone exists. There is no person or God other than you. Can you hear these words? Ignorance is that which we discussed earlier, which is the opposite, the seeming opposite of reality. It is the play of that coming and going. So this universe also is a coming and going. This universe is part of one of the four states that we can experience. It is not even the entirety of our expression. It is just one of the four states that we experience if we make the distinction between waking and dream. So in the waking state, this universe; the dream state, some other universe; the sleep state, no universe. And some of us experience something like Turiya, where there can be some sense of existence but without the appearance of an apparent universe. Don't worry about that.

So just digest this: between this time that I call waking up and this time that I call going to sleep, we experience one universe, which is one of the four states which can be experienced here. So your ignorance creates a universe is the idea that there is a universe which contains me. All these subject-object relationships in this appearance are here. As you begin to rest here in reality, you will become more and more comfortable with saying that none of this has ever happened, knowing fully well that even this statement can be made only within the play of consciousness. And yet, you will be more comfortable saying these kind of things because you see that your true reality is untouched by this play of movement, this play of consciousness. In reality, one alone exists. And which one is this? There is no person or God other than you. This 'You' is that which contains every experience that you can fathom. So please don't fall for this silly mind trick which has you over: 'If it is only me, then that's very lonely.' You are the source of all the multiverses, the thing in which all this play is happening. You are that supreme intelligence which has designed this entire play.

One who knows for certain that the universe is illusion and nothing becomes desireless, pure awareness, and finds peace in the existence of nothing. One who knows for certain that the universe is illusion and nothing becomes desireless, pure awareness, and finds peace in the existence of nothing. Again, 'certain that the universe is illusion.' From which perspective? From that definition of reality which was previously defined, which is that as it is our direct experience, our inner insight, our discovery, and yet it is something which does not come and go. So what stands up to this definition of reality?

One who knows for certain that the universe is illusion and nothing becomes desireless pure awareness and finds peace in the existence of nothing. Again, certain that the universe is illusion from which perspective? From that definition of reality which was previously defined, which is that as it is our direct experience, it is a discovery, and yet it is something which does not come and go. So what stands up to this definition of reality? Only the Self. And that then means all that is coming and going is an illusion. One who knows for certain that the universe is illusion and no thing becomes desireless pure awareness and finds peace in the existence of nothing.

Desire is what? Desire is that idea that there is a 'me' and I want something to be mine. Only if there is an individual 'me' can there be an idea of 'mine'. So when it is seen that all of this is a coming and going and actually you remain untouched by it—or it is seen that all of this is contained within my being—what is here for me to desire? Now, in the appearance, if there are lots of things or there is nothing, it truly makes no difference to the Self. This recognition is peace. This non-resistance to whatever might be appearing in the world is peace.

In the ocean of existence, only one is, was, and ever will be. You are neither bound nor free; live content and happy. In the ocean of existence, only one is, was, and ever will be. You are neither bound nor free. We discuss this one many times, especially this time since I started sharing satsang again, where he looked at me and said, 'Father, if you pick up the problem of trying to find freedom, can you at least confirm your bondage before we pick up the idea that I must find this freedom? Let's at least confirm that you are bound.'

So most of satsang is this. You are saying, 'Father, Father, get me out of here. I'm stuck and bound.' And I am saying, 'Show me the prison.' Also, the ancient example he tells us... I'm saying, 'Show me the prison.' You say, 'But I've been inside this prison for so long.' I say, 'But there is no prison.' You say, 'Okay, humor me. Humor me for a minute and show me one bar of this prison.' You say, 'No, no, this cannot be true. Can it be that simple?' Then you get the others into the picture: 'It's not just me in this prison, but there are so many of us. We are all stuck. What do you mean there is no prison?'

And all of a sudden, we exist about this. Can you confirm who it is that is stuck in this prison? That one is bound? Can you get it with freedom? Can we at least show that one? Produce that one. Can you say, 'I'm not finding it, but my mind is saying...'? The mind is saying, 'I have omitted.' The mind is saying, 'I want this.' The mind is saying, 'I must do this.' That's why I say, 'Okay, for some time, don't believe what the mind is saying. You check for yourself.' Then we play this game for whatever period of time it is. 'But my mind... but my...' you know, one way or the other. But ultimately, after taking out all these 'buts,' it's always been just this. Isn't this the whole game?

Actually, you have believed yourself to be an imaginary limitation, an imaginary person, and an imaginary prison. Then your intuitive presence, in one way or the other, gets through to you and says, 'But who are you that is bound?' And you find that there is no such thing. Then for a few minutes, hours, weeks, or centuries, we play the game 'but my mind.' Then you come to this simple place, the simple recognition that there was nobody here.

Very good. So this verse says: Do not stir the mind with 'yes' or 'no.' You are pure consciousness. Be still and abide in the bliss of Self. We caught on very well. She is also used to it, obviously. He recognizes that even when something is shared in satsang, the mind still gets our belief in terms of its either confirmation or rejection. And he's saying be empty even of that, because it is the voice of this judge. So the mind playing as the judge—then 'yes, yes,' 'no, no'—which also keeps us in check in a way, still believing that we need to rely on this until confirmation. What I call the mind's certificate, especially about the words of the Satguru.

It's really funny when we go to the mind with the words of satsang for its confirmation. It's like taking Einstein's words and going to a toddler and asking, 'What do you think about this theory of relativity?' 'Yes, yes, well, I think...' What does the mind know about what the sage is saying? It has no idea. Do not stir the mind with 'yes' or 'no.' You are pure consciousness. Be still and abide in the bliss of Self.

Give up completely all contemplation. Hold nothing in the mind or heart. You are the Self, forever free. Of what use is thinking to you? Of what use is thinking to you? So we were saying the other day: what is the usual usage of the term contemplation? The usual usage of the term contemplation is that 'I'm going to think about it. I'm going to take a particular topic and I am going to think about it.' What we call contemplation is coming to this inner, intuitive recognition, which in fact all the words of the sage so far have been used for. It is true.

So then this verse at the end of Chapter 15, after hearing hundreds of verses, is basically sharing his version of 'drop the search,' because he recognizes that many times all that is keeping the ego alive is the seeker identity itself. Hold nothing in the mind or heart. You are the Self, forever free. It is here that we can... all of you know that one of my favorite words is 'open.' Can we remain empty of any preconceived notions? Remain empty of any belief system about ourselves and we are open. We let go of everything.

Now, when we let go of everything, does the truth also go? Then that which we must be holding on to must be false. If the truth by definition is not coming and going, then does it mean holding on to it is important? If we accept reality is not coming and going, then to hold on only means to try and prevent the going of something. So if it can go, it cannot be the truth. So as we let go of everything, can you also see that all that you have considered yourself to be is gone? That which I call the basket of beliefs, the tools of identity—all of these are gone. But you witness this going, no? You are the witness of this unburdening of consciousness.

Brushing off all the conceptual knowledge, brushing off the basis of identity, the dust of ideas, and you remain. See the beauty of this: pure consciousness, unassociated by duality and doership and desire. No longer the bewildered, burdened beast called a person. Have this consciousness empty of personal conditioning, which cannot remain unless consciousness freely decides to hold on to something. You are open and empty. Open is empty; empty is open. No arrogance can survive, no guilt can survive, no specialness can survive, no seeker can survive, no journey can survive. You remain as the Self.