Contemplation on the Ashtavakra Gita Ch.15, Vs. 13-20 - 28th August 2017

'In you, who are one, immaculate, still awareness, from where can birth, action, or a separate person arise?' Birth itself means what is a coming. So, if you were born, then you cannot be that which is beyond coming and going. If you will die, you cannot be beyond death. And we find this worthlessness that leaves all the truths in the Ashtavakra, all the clues in satsang, for this discovery. That is why I posted this quote from the Bhagavad Gita yesterday, when I said that I am sharing that knowing with which you will come to your immortality. This is no small promise.

So, don't let the regularness of satsang fool you. It is something which is being pointed at, that which you will know with a capital K. Know, not mentally know or perceptually know, but that knowing which is beyond the way of the world, beyond the play of birth and death. As Krishna said, 'Sharing that knowing with which you will come to your immortality, to that Brahman.' Brahman means Absolute Self, this awareness that we speak of, which is beyond even being and non-being, the presence of consciousness or the absence of consciousness, the presence of this universe or the absence of it. This is what is being pointed to.

What is prior to words? 'Birth, action, or a separate person arises' actually means the idea of this separate person, this individual doer that was born and then did a particular set of actions and then died. That is our idea about who we are: 'I was born as a separate entity, I had some doership and some desires, I did some things, and then ultimately I died.' The sages have reminded us over and over again: you are not this. You are deathless and you are the unborn.

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 into a future outward, even in that, you cannot step away from your true position, which is the witnessing. 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 sage has over and over used 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 point to 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. When truly examined, we find that all that is here is this awareness moving.

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 we 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 'Yous' 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 phenomena. 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 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. Then 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?'

'Leave behind such distinction 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 a mental, conceptual knowledge which must be dropped. Now he is saying leave these distinctions. Don't become a conceptual Advaitin going around saying that 'I am awareness' just conceptually. If these words have to emerge, they will 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 words of limitation, then as we are empty of this, it will leave, and automatically you find that there is no separation. So, you don't have to work towards considering everything as the Self. You will find that that is your natural insight, your intuitive insight. What is said so far?

You can also stop me from making a mistake and hearing you say, when I am aware in this, then I see that this entire play is coming and going. My hands are moving. These arms are just coming and going. The sense of control... yes, it is a bit unsettling. It's true. It's a bit unsettling that so many times they say like this, that it can be a bit shaky. Because this happens when you are switching over from the false perspective to the true perspective.

So, it is like the shakiness because we held on to a lot of crutches which are now being left aside. It's like, 'But I'm not moving anything. My hands are moving. A mouse is moving.' Is this which I considered my hands, my mouse, which is just moving? This is like every appearance is moving in this world. And this recognition that there is no sense of individual control here can be a bit... all that is coming and going, you are beyond that. Beyond the time and space and whatever you call it, the convention of this phenomenal appearance, you are much beyond that. And yet all of this is not outside of you.

I was saying the other day that the distinction between father and son, although they are one, is that the son comes from the father; the father does not come from the son. So, this awareness, the source of even being, the source of consciousness, is what you are. Time and space, dimensions, all of that is post. So, you cannot be contained in anything which comes after you. Yes, not in the way that we thought about doing. All of this is your doing as you, as consciousness. You as awareness remain untouched by any doing and non-doing. And you personally never existed, so you never did anything. It was just consciousness playing with the belief of individual doership.

So, the only question I ever ask you then is, let me see, when I am awareness, is there a time when you are not? Is it first? So, this doesn't only apply to that moment in which we have the recognition, but the recognition is of that which is always true. '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.

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. 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 this to see: 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. It is the idea that there is a universe which contains me, all these subject-object relationships in this apparent universe. As you begin to rest in your reality, you will become more and more comfortable with saying, 'But none of this has ever happened.' And 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 asks, 'Oh, if it's only me, then that's very lonely.' If you were the source of all the multiverses, there's nothing to be lonely about. You are that 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 no thing 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, including discovery, and yet it is something which does not come and go. So what stands up to this definition of reality? Only the Self. From that perspective, then, all that is coming and going is the third-class view.

Father, there is no sense at all of identity in consciousness or awareness, so it feels so strange when they say 'you'.

Yes, but it's not other or another also, no? Question, yes, can feel a bit strange. This 'you' doesn't apply with him saying that there are no two. So what would there be? Your 'I' and a 'you'? So this is a reminder that even these scriptures are part of this play, which are giving you those concepts which are getting rid of all the concepts of separation. Actually, I find that the dream alarm clock analogy or metaphor is very useful. This scripture, the voice of the Satguru, is that alarm in the dream to remind us: you are not this that you consider yourself to be. That is why it is 'you,' just because it is a reminder that consciousness has made for itself. A reminder that there is no 'me' and 'you' is only also for the apparent 'you.' And this apparent 'you,' this individualized 'I,' it is dissolving. So some find all these terms strange also.

Certain that the universe is illusion and no thing, become 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 then it is seen that all of this is a coming and going, and actually you remain untouched by it. Already 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—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 discussed this so many times, especially this time since I started sharing satsang again, where we looked and we saw that before 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'm saying, 'Show me the prison.' Also, the ancient example really tells a story. Like I'm saying, 'Show me the prison,' and you say, 'But I have been inside this prison for so long.' There is no prison. I say, 'Okay, humor me. Humor me for a minute and show me one bar of this prison.' You say, 'No, no, this is... yes, it cannot be true. Can it be that simple?' All of us, and 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?' In all of satsang, we exist about this. Can you confirm who it is that is stuck in this prison? That one is bound, we may 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 am limited.' 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, which is 'But my mind, but my mind.' But you know, one way or the other, and 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, not a missing person, an imaginary imprisonment. 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.' When we come to this simple place, the simple recognition: there was nobody here. You? Very good. So this age says: do not stir the mind with yes or no. You are pure consciousness. Please chill and abide in the bliss of Self. He caught on very well. He's also used to it, obviously, so he recognizes that even when something is shared in satsang, the mind still gets our belief in terms of it's either confirmation or rejection. And he's saying, 'Be empty even of that,' because it is the voice of this judge. 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 satsang. 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 three-year-old and saying, 'What do you think about this theory of relativity?' Yes, based on what? Does the mind know about what this is? 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. Okay, give up completely all contemplations. Hold nothing in the mind or heart. You are the Self, forever free. Of what use is thinking to you? What use is thinking to you? We were saying the other day that it 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'm going to think about it.' That we call contemplation. What we call contemplation is coming to this inner insight, an inner intuitive recognition, which in fact all the words are the same so far have been used to where it is true. So then this age, at the end of chapter 15, after hearing all these voices, he's 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? I mean, 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, are you also... for 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, must you? 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 for this age called a person. Have this consciousness empty of personal conditioning, which cannot remain unless consciousness freely decides to hold on to something. Open and empty. Open is empty and empty is open. No grievance can survive, no guilt can survive, no specialness can survive, no seeker can survive, no journey can survive, and you remain as the Self.

Jyoti says: It is hard to give up this last attachment, which is enjoying the knowledge of Self for Self. I come to satsang because of the joy of this recognition, yet if it was taken away, it would kill me, this pure knowledge with a capital T. But attachment to the Guru and satsang is so sweet.

Actually, in your report itself, it is clear that what you say is that even if this was to go away, I know that I would be the Self. Nothing real could be taken away from me. So that itself means that you are starting to witness this entire play as a movement of consciousness, and consciousness playing both the roles of coming to satsang and sharing satsang. All of this is the one play of consciousness. You're also starting to see that all this idea of coming to satsang because of deciding to come or not come, all of this is over less right away now because you see it all as movement of consciousness. Why do you come to satsang? You don't. Why do I share satsang? I don't know. I can give some so-called reasons. So from this non-mental move, there is trust in this grace about how all of this has moved, and great wonder about how this play functions.

You see something: attachment to the Guru and satsang is so sweet. It is a rare, sweet attachment. Where is she? Mooji Ji says if you have to be attached to something in this world, be attached to the Master, because even this attachment is his problem. The Master takes care of all our attachments. You think this can seem like it is the final attachment. As long as it can seem like there is a 'me' and there is 'my Guru,' then this... if there has to be an attachment, let it be to that one. Then you will see that there is no real 'that.' Then you will see it already. I am using it in the only play I know that this feeling can seem so sweet. And I said also that if there are few attachments that remain here, the biology of this Sangha and my physical, phenomenal family, there is some attachment which continues to play out, knowing fully well.

As long as it can seem like there is a 'me' and there is my Guru, then if there has to be an attachment, let it be to that one. Then you will see that there is no real 'that.' Then you will see it already. I am using it in the only play I know, that this feeling can seem so sweet. And I said also that if there are a few attachments, they remain here in the topology of this Sangha and my physical phenomenal family. There is some attachment which continues to play out, knowing fully well that all of this is also His problem. It's been such a great blessing to move away from all this painful attachment to come to this beautiful point where we can even say that this attachment is so sweet.

Anytime the mind can also play this trick that you better drop this attachment to the Guru—I know it's not necessarily for Shanti, I'm just sharing for everyone—where it's like saying if we feel like we are drowning in the ocean and we are holding on to some rocks, some seaweed, or something trying to keep ourselves from drowning, and then the Master comes and he gives out his hand. He's sitting in a boat, so he gives out his hand and the Master says, 'Let go. Let go of everything else, hold my hand.' And then the mind will come and say, 'But you have to let go of everything!' Then we openly let go of the seaweed and the rocks, but we also let go of the Master's hand. He said that even this one is His problem. When He knows that we are safely ashore, He will... we need to remain empty of all other worldly attachments. If you find that there is attachment for the Guru, even this attachment is His problem. As we empty our hands of phenomenal attachments and we become open like this, that is when actually the Guru is holding. And this hand is not let go of in a worldly way; this hand-holding actually becomes a communion or a merging.

Beautiful, beautiful report and question. Thank you. Amaya said, 'So it seems that's the only way to find this no-identity truth you speak of, that I remain and all else is gone. No word "I" is needed. I even felt what He calls "you" actually.' Yes, what it means is just this awareness without any separation. I mean, I or you, and yet the discovery is the most intimate discovery that we are making about ourselves. This is a beautiful distinction, as many times it can happen in the world that we come across some worldly object and we get so besotted by it, so then also we can have this feeling of forgetting about ourselves or the limited self. Like I already said, 'Jab pyar kiya to darna kya,' which means when you are in love, then what is there to fear? And people have been known to give up their lives in these kind of things, you see, that kind of phenomenal love.

So when we come to the discovery of this awareness, it is not a discovery like that, that we discover something outer and because of that we forget about the limited self. Here we are discovering something which is completely closer than anything has ever been, that we are forgetting about the limited self. And because it is this Self that is being discovered, it is unlike a worldly infatuation because it is not coming and going. Very beautiful, isn't it? So her experience of fearlessness and desirelessness has been in the past because of her infatuation with a worldly object. When we experience this kind of fearlessness or courage, it is given because of our letting go of our limited selves because we got so devoted or infatuated with an outside object.

Here, what you are finding is that this innermost truth about your own being, that prior to even the belief that which is not coming and going, which is not changing—consciousness is discovering the immaculate nature of its own source and letting go of the fear and the desires of the limited self. This actually fits in very well even with what Shanti was saying earlier, which is how the Guru might seem to come in an external form and they can behave... sometimes we feel like we become so attached to that, and that actually has brought us so much peace in our lives. But this will be the only external attachment which will lead you to your own inner discovery. That is the true function of the Master.

Currently, there's a lot of controversy around some masters and all the stories of exploitation and things like that. So this is how you do your due diligence, if I can speak this way for a minute. This is how you check: Is the Master's presence, are the Master's words... do they have the fragrance of my being? Are they pointing me to that unchanging reality that I am? Are they saying that the outer Master is just a representation of your inner holy presence? And initially, when we come to Satsang, we smell like this. What is the fragrance around a being? In this, you'll find that words that have been spoken... when you have reported also like this in Satsang recently, that how you are before the words are emerging from your mouth, I am already hearing them. Some reported like this, saying, 'You are answering all the questions which I had without my asking them.' I'm saying that I find what I'm discovering as you is my own presence, my own heart. All of this sense of being at peace, all of this is how you come to this beautiful recognition.

Such is the play of this world. I mean, they're actually all the news channels and everybody on Facebook, everybody is saying you must come to the end of this Guru business. So this big case and all that is happening, and riots happened, people were killed because one Guru who has been sent to jail. So there is a lot of frustration, a feeling of betrayal is here in the country at the moment. Many times it can happen that we throw the baby out with the bathwater. Insanity is always there in this world. That is why it is good actually to have some basic moral guidelines even in Satsang. And here from the beginning, I have announced that if you find any sort of exploitation—be it physical, mental, emotional—any sort of exploitation, come to open Satsang and share it. Say that 'This is my feeling' and expose that opening. And I feel like all those who are sharing that must have this kind of openness. Now I feel like those times of all these very secretive sorts of Sampradayas... I feel like we can truly find a conclusion. But my feeling is to say we must go beyond those things and just openly share if there's any feeling of exploitation or resentment. We must get it out in the light.

Okay, Chapter 16 is not really a small one, so we won't start that today. Any questions with this chapter? She says, 'Father, you exploit my laughter muscles on a regular basis, please stop.' Cheeky monkey. Manisha says, 'Father, even the message in The Wizard of Oz is Dorothy was searching for happiness outside herself and everything was there at home.' Yes, she realized that when she woke up in bed. In fact, the most popular stories have always had this kind of message. I often speak about these movies, and most of these movies have the same ending, you see. It's a formula, the same formula about how the hero, the protagonist, he's trying to fight his way through all the struggles in life, but he's a terrible learner. He's not learning the tricks of kung fu the masters are trying to tell him, which is terrible. Every time he gets into a fight, he gets beaten up.

At the end, what happens in every... at least every cool movie that I have seen, it's always like this: it comes to that moment of self-discovery, and then what happens? He lets go, and then all the moves are happening on their own. No struggle, no blocking. So we struggle, struggle, struggle to try and make sense of this life, to live this life, to control this life. Then we see that all of this is just a movement of consciousness. I am that one which is the source of this play, and then this body is let go. That's a beautiful message because it's not saying that the body just gives up and becomes like a rock. Everything that needs to move, moves. So all this is like this. You take any of these movies, including even movies like The Matrix; they are like this about this discovery of the Self, not trying to control this life or control this body or this world. So all the truly popular stories, I feel, have the same spiritual message on that one note. Thank you all so much for being in Satsang today. Guruji ki Jai.