Every Thought is an Offer to The Merry Go Round - 16th August 2016

You see, there are two counters in front of you. One counter is selling tickets to the same old merry-go-round, which is your next thought. Your next thought is your ticket to this merry-go-round. It's saying, 'Yeah, this one is still meaningful, relevant. We can make it as a person.' You see, every thought is an offer for you to make it as a person. 'You can still make it. You see, I have worked so hard to get in here. A little more, you can still do it.' You see, every thought is basically an offer from the mind. You think, 'I know, I know, I have taken you on a merry-go-round.' And Ananta is right, what he's saying, but you know, take this one. It will really get you there. Yes, this is the offer from one counter, this merry-go-round, which you see, a merry-go-round goes around in circles and comes back at the same point.

And the second counter, which is the quiet counter, the vendor is not yelling, saying 'Come, come buy.' Just sitting patiently, waiting for those who come. And this one is saying that all your ideas, presumptions, are you willing to let go of them? Because I have a mirror for you. Are you willing to see without mind contamination? A gentle voice is saying that, 'I know what it seems like for you, but you can actually now let it all be my problem.' This is the ticket from your own inner presence. Your own Satguru is speaking these words. And for a while, it can seem like you want both: to have the merry-go-round and have freedom, liberation. So we buy a little bit from here, a little bit from there. Mind comes and tells you, 'Okay, okay, this is okay for Satsang, but what about the real world?' You see, these kind of messages will come and you find, 'Okay, let me buy the real world ticket now and see where it goes.' And you find nowhere. It just goes around the merry-go-round again and you're back where you started.

So the seeming spiritual journey is like this when we are trying to sit on both these chairs at the same time, right? Both these horses at the same time, buying both these tickets. And that's okay. That's also part of the play. Then sometimes you become like little children. Now you get in the Guru's car and then you have... I read a thing... like the one used to say, no? You get on a train from Madurai to somewhere, and inside the train also you're still carrying your bags. My Guruji says you go to the flight and inside the plane you're running to get there faster. All part of the fun. That's okay. None of what I'm saying is meant to make anyone feel guilty. The guilt is not helpful on this path. We're just looking at this play sometimes and making some observations about it.

You know, one day if you want to become like Satsang teachers and spiritual masters—I should not give you this—and you want a million followers... if you want a million followers, just use guilt. Just make everyone feel guilty because we're attracted somewhere, most of us attracted somewhere to feeling like we've done it wrong, we are unworthy, we don't deserve it. That itself is like a comfort zone. And actually, we like to hear that. And we say, 'Yes, tomorrow I will try harder. Tomorrow I will do this better.' So none of what is being shared here is to make a follower out of you. It is just to share from the direct recognition here so that you can check for yourself and see if something resonates. The idea is not to say for you to believe these thoughts which might be coming, saying, 'Oh see, now you've been surrendering all wrong. You see, you should do a better job of surrender.' That's not the idea.