Greater Than Anything That You Can Ever Imagine - 3rd November 2017

You can do nothing about your hearing; it is just happening. You are not doing your sight; sight is just there. Because these are just the automatic, spontaneous arising out of your own existence, your own consciousness, which is effortlessly present. God is effortlessly present. What more do you want to add to that? God is here and this God is motionless. Whatever notion that you might have of God, forget about them. We don't use them in that way. Pretend as if it is a new word that you are hearing without any cultural, religious, or spiritual conditioning. It is a word for your being, your existence. It has no limit, no boundary, no shape, no size. Just I am. What is aware of this I am? Who am I?

You are noticing that there is no trouble when you remain motionless, conceptless. Therefore the only trouble is I am addicted to picking up a notion, addicted to picking up a concept. Now the sages have prescribed two methods which are actually one, but they seem like two methods by which to get rid of this addiction to picking up a notion. The first is surrender. Let go. Whatever notion might be coming from the mind, you allow it to just come and go. Surrender it to the higher power. Whether you call that higher power Guru, God, Self, it doesn't matter. Know that that one takes much better care of everything than your notion about yourself ever can. Allow all notions to come and go. Even if you pick up a notion, in the next moment it is gone. Don't even pick up the notion that 'Oh, I picked up this notion.' It's all gone. Fresh now. This is surrender: allowing consciousness, your own holy presence, to be the doer and the experiencer of all things without getting any individual idea involved in surrender.

Now some of us, we don't have this temperament. You're not able to—you've heard it often enough but it doesn't seem like I can just let go. For those ones, the sages have said whatever you pick up, whatever idea you pick up about yourself, inquire and see whether that is true. 'I must be a better spiritual seeker. I must find freedom.' So we can inquire into these notions and check whether such an 'I' actually exists. Can you find the one who finds freedom? You cannot. And because you cannot, you see that this notion is false. So in this way we play the game of delusion and breaking the delusion, coming back to the truth. But the truth is naturally present here in your motionless existence. Now remain in silence in this motionless existence and if any notion becomes meaningful for you, see if you can just hand it over, surrender it. And if you can't seem to hand it over, then you inquire into it as I have just explained. Taste your being. Taste your existence. Taste your presence. Be open, allowing all things to come and go. Allowing all thoughts to come and move. All emotions are allowed. All sensations are allowed. And these instructions are not just for this satsang; it is for life. In this play, I have to get more and more used to unadulterated being, motionless existence. You will not ask for the limited self again. The 'but I', the 'but limited I' will not seem attractive to you anymore. Whatever has to be seen will be seen naturally. Whatever has to be heard will be heard naturally. No conceptual struggling about anything at all. Now you cannot suffer.

It's like, um, it makes me remember like how Guruji once said, 'You ask, but can you receive?' And it's almost like nakedness, moment of recognition. It's like not even that you have been just thrown into like actual... it's hard to know this unbound like peace and love and joy and contentment. It's like, it's not even like you've been thrown into the ocean, like seeing just undeniably there like you are that. And then there's some kind of like, but it's too much. Like it feels like overwhelming. So of course it's not overwhelming for the ocean. How can it be overwhelming? You know, how can what you are be overwhelming? But that's kind of incoming this sort of like... it's just... and it sort of makes me remember like a great devotee saying like, 'You ask, you say you want this thing, but it's here. Can you take it?' And I notice there's absolutely happening. It's just kind of like it's here. It's so clear that it's clear. It's so clear that not only is it mine, it's me. But it's like too much, too much joy, too much love. It's like...

So what happens is that because we have considered ourselves to be limited for so long, as we are coming to the seeing that I am this boundless being, there are two usual responses in the play. The first is the response of fear. What's going to happen? Whether we call this the fear of death or the fear of the unknown. And if you don't have a master, then many times when we first get a taste of a little bit of this fear, something is used to back off. Because the master is not there to say, 'It's okay, nothing will happen to you.' This is the first. The second is that as we find the vastness of this, we can be caught up to the feeling around it, the taste of it. It can feel like the excitement of it. But whether it is the fear of it or the excitement of this discovery, the discovery is not the fear or the excitement. So let that fear play out how it has to be. Let this excitement also play out how it has to. But you are seeing that neither of these you are. The ocean remains unmoved no matter what the quality of the waves might be.

So outwardly there can be this what's happening, that can happen. But in reality you have always only been this. So nothing is going to happen and nothing really is happening. It's just the false idea. These byproducts, they can come. Never about any of the byproducts itself. If they are sweet, we can enjoy them. Enjoy them as Prasad. That means the offering that you get after darshan. If they are scary, know that your master is taking care of everything. In this way all these movement of the waves can happen but you see that whatever expression might be playing out here, whether it is fear or excitement, I remain untouched, unmoved, and unchanging. So no desire, no aversion to anything that might play out. Because as this discovery is happening, as long as we don't get confused between the byproducts of the discovery and the discovery itself, the play cannot perpetuate the belief in their individual identity. In the play cannot perpetuate the play in the appearance of the play.

It's just so like as a person coming into this, it's kind of like, 'Oh, you know, I just signed up for like a bit of what people get,' and then being given like... it's like finding it. It's like, I don't know, let's just say you just wanted to win the lottery and then actually found out that like, you know, God and the whole universe is greater than... it's like that. You go to a restaurant expecting a meal to be so tasty, so amazing, but you realize that the whole universe is just a speck within. Never thinking you look at and you want it. So I like this example. You came in expecting to win the lottery. If you are lucky, you found that all of this already belongs to you.

Like what I was just going to say, it feels like I think it's just too great to receive. But I'd like to play your gratitude. No, you don't have to feel like I must always take, bring it, my gracious. That's like... maybe that's why it has to happen gradually because otherwise... I do. It is. You just saw what kind of the vastness between usually takes its time. You can really, really see anything. Consciousness which is definitely... we can never say it has to not come this way or not. But even we say it has to mean usually. How do you do anything without identifying with the doer thought? How do you do anything without identifying with the doer thought? Actually if you see, it's what today. Anything happens with this body without even the thought of doing it. Well, it's hard to have to do, right? You're doing everything without the doer.

Usually, it takes its time. You can really, really see. Anything in consciousness, which is definitely—we can never say it has to not come this way or not, but even we say 'has to'—mean, usually, how do you do anything without identifying with the doer thought? How do you do anything without identifying with the doer thought? Actually, if you see, it's worth today. Anything will happen with this body without even the thought of doing it. Well, it's hard to have to do, right? You're doing everything without the doer thought. I will see the doer thought also comes back to you: 'Shouldn't have done that. Why did you do this? Oh, good, good, you did that. That was the right thing to do.' Many times it comes post facto. Suppose it can also come this way: the event, because it comes before and after, it can seem like there is a real 'I'. But I am telling you right now, this experience that these words are just coming out of this mouth, there is no doer thought which is doing them. There is no individual entity which is speaking these words. This is what I can tell you from my experience. Now you must see from your own experience: how do all these movements happen? Who is doing them? And is there a prerequisite that you must be identified before some action comes from this body? And you will find, as I did, that there is no such prerequisite. Like the flow of consciousness, the world is moving effortlessly, and this body is a part of this world. But the separation, the boundary idea of all the way, then you will see that just as the movement of consciousness is changing the colors of this whole world, it includes changing the colors of what appears from this body. Yes, who is the doer? To whom does the doer thought come? That is the question.

Fear of the unknown is so strong, so the right side of my body is tightening extremely. Tension, ecology. What do I do now? If you are on camera, the camera doesn't seem to work.

Don't fight with this fear. They see naturally, and if the answer doesn't come, it's fine. But naturally, some answer arises for this: how much space is this fear truly taking within you? It can seem like our entire attention is getting used up in this sensation of fear, but allow the question to make some room effortlessly. How much space is this fear taking inside me? And if it is taking all the space, then where am I hearing these words? In which space are these words being heard? Then you find that this space, your existence, can contain not just this fear but the entire universe. And we see like this: let me stop fearing the fear. There is nothing to fear about fear. Let fear come. There is a huge vastness within you which is completely untouched by this fear. It is just the nature of these things that they pull in all our attention, so it can seem like it's too much. But the example is just like I like to say: if there is a big white wall behind me and I put a small black dot there, and I ask most of you—if you hadn't known the context—I would say, 'What do you see?' Most of you would say, 'Oh, there's a black dot.' So glad. Very rarely would someone say, 'There's a big wall.' We're so used to this space that we've forgotten its vastness, its boundarylessness. You can contain the entire universe, and many times this universe, with no trouble. Just like the screen remains untouched no matter which visual is being projected on it, your being, your consciousness, remains untouched no matter what the sensation might be. So we don't have to resist any sensation. We don't have to fear any appearance. Allow it to come. In fact, if you want, you can keep a slightly welcoming attitude. Simply want to live here sometime; let's see how long you will last. Can you see that compared to the reality of you, all these sensations are just coming and going?

Allen says, for example, when I'm studying, a phenomenal 'I' sticks out who seems to be gaining knowledge, learning concepts, and retaining them. I know the nature of this 'I'. If there is such a thing, then the belief in concepts could be happening. Consciousness is doing them. The learning or unlearning of new concepts is happening. All is the play of consciousness itself. It is the belief in this individual 'I' which is the cause of suffering, is the root of suffering.

See if it actually exists. See if there is such a person sitting there, home or something, or doesn't move something. If you just imagine there is no such entity, there is no person to get rid of. Just imagine. Like if you had believed yourself to be a blue cat all your life, then you will now say that 'I feel like the cat is learning new things.' Play with this, experiment with this, and you will see that there is no such individual 'I'. Your being is the being of God, of consciousness, existence itself. The mind tries to convince you that it is a limited 'I', but there is no such thing.

Rahul asks: Since not always being able to join satsang, I go with the recording and I have a question. Now, when hearing in the space with closed eyes, two different sounds are being perceived: one at my end, local surrounding, and one from your side, traffic or something. Can distinctively sort them as two different sounds: one local from my side and the other from the recording recorded in Bangalore. Now the sounds can be distinctive, just like the experience. They can be either hearing of these words, there can be a traffic noise, there can be various different perceptions. The only confusion is: what is mine in this? What makes the 'me' in this? What makes something local to me? Is it the quality or the intimacy of the sensation?

But we allow that to become 'me'. Without this interpretive voice, without the voice of the mind, we would not have this idea of 'me'. You would not say that 'this is my hair' as much as we would say that 'this is my universe'. The same feeling of belonging. We have been taught to separate this 'me'. All you're experiencing is a set of sensations in the same space of your being. Now, we have been taught how to differentiate between 'me', my sensations, and the sensations which are outside of me. A baby does not have this. That's why one of my favorite examples, and which can explain this so clearly, is that if you are a parent or if you see a child, you will notice that you buy a toy and they are really young, really small, and you hang it on the crib and you keep pointing to that child: 'Play with this toy, we bought it for you.' And the child's hand is reaching up there; it starts playing with the hand. So it makes no difference to the child whether the playing is happening with the toy or the hand, because that distinction of 'me' and 'outside me' is not there. Then our parents taught us: 'your hand, your face, your you.' Make these actions, do these, make these faces, walk like this, talk like this. So we've been taught how to individualize a certain set of sensations, calling them 'me', and how these are 'outer me' and the other. Now what you're saying is that all your experiences, all your perceptions, are all happening within you. But if you are still feeling that 'within me' must mean 'within the body', then this can seem confusing. Where are the sensations of the body happening? Your conditioning is so strong that when I say 'within you', you might be thinking 'within my body'. I am not saying there. In the space of your existence. When you exist, all these sensations are there, all this perception is there, all of this. This is the screen of consciousness in which the body is playing and all other lights and sounds are playing. The mind has taught us whether it came this—that which you got my mind—these thoughts which are so intimate, or the seeming thoughts of others. But it is the same mind. It has taught us that this boundary is 'me' and this outside this boundary is 'not me'. So how would you define 'me' and therefore how would you define 'local to you'? This distinction is starting to fade away. You will notice that all boundaries are being experienced as sensations within you, but this 'you' itself, you will not be able to find a boundary for. So then these ideas of really ideas will believe about 'me' and 'other', 'me' and 'mine', see which is the source of all suffering, you start to fade away. There is no such 'me' who could have a mind. There is no such 'you' that is the owner of that computer. If there is an owner, that owner owns everything in your perception. There are no two. And more and more as you are finding out who you are, so don't struggle with this insight. I see many of you wanting to struggle with this insight, trying to see the oneness of the world. Don't have to do anything of this. Just see what you are. Are you a thing? Are you an object contained in this world? If you were an object contained in this world, then you would be the individual doer having individual experience. But what you're finding is that you are not an object. All these objects are just perceptions within you. So come to your seeing of your non-objective truth and all these insights will be so apparent. But as long as the condition is that 'I am an object in this world', then these insights will seem like a struggle. Stay with the main quest, which is why then all this confusion about 'me' and 'mine' and 'you' and 'yours' starts to fade away. Who is aware of this world? Who is aware of the million others? Who is aware of your existence? Stay with these questions. In all of this, oneness becomes so apparent, so clear without any struggle. All confusion—remember, all confusion is a confusion about who I am. It might seem like the confusion is about whether the world is within me or outside me, whether the world is real or illusion. 'Who am I in this world?' is it. But the real confusion is always about who I am. Once you resolve that, all the insights will be so naturally clear. Once you see that you are not an object, once you see you are beyond time and space, once you see that you are all there is, then you will find that all that is moving in time and space are just aspects, appearances within the dynamic aspect of you. So find out who is aware of your existence. What is the shape and size of karma? Where is it located? This will resolve all these seeming conclusions about the world. Not that same for the question about doership, but the question about whether I have free will or not. Still mistaken identity. Is there such a 'you' which could have anything at all, including free will? In fact, that there is no such 'you', you can find that will is just a mistaken notion that there is an individual or an individual experiencing. 'What should I do? How come this is my experience?' All of these come from a mistaken notion about who you are. Once you find that you are not an object in this world, once you find that in your true nature you have no qualities or attributes, yet you are the substratum of all qualities and attributes, then all of this, all of these insights, get clearer and clearer. So very good. Even though you are not able to join satsang regularly, your watching the satsang is good enough. Stay with the main inquiries and all the insights will become apparent. Today's Friday. Okay. Sometimes they have a motionless, concept-free weekend. Don't come back on Monday full of ideas about yourself. This emptiness that you're seeing about yourself now, this can continue. We have satsang Monday to Friday so that every day you have this inner bath, inner training, to remove all this conceptual baggage we seem to pick up. But the weekend is time that my family has asked of me, after we have the break from satsang Saturday and Sunday, and to give this body a little bit of rest. You see how what has been shared in satsang, how life can be completely lived now without having to cook up a single idea about yourself. And if you do pick up ideas about yourself, don't pick up guilt about that. Just drop the next notion because now you are free in every moment. Thank you. Thank you for being in satsang today. As well as any of you are giving something daily, there is much gratitude for this openness and much joy seeing your discovery. Guru Sri Mooji Baba Ki Jai.