How to Experience What I Know Intellectually? - 8th Sept. 2016

Yes.

Okay. Are you aware now?

Yes.

You are aware now. This answer is coming because you saw some visual of Awareness?

No.

Did you see a thought of Awareness?

No.

Then where did the 'yes' come from?

From Awareness itself.

From Awareness. Is this mental?

No.

Can it be this simple?

Yes. But when I go out, maybe...

Yeah? What happens?

Get caught up.

'Get caught up', means what?

Get distracted.

Yes. So, this... Awareness that is here now, does something happen to that?

No. Nothing happens to that. My mind interferes.

The mind interferes…

Thoughts happen.

Thought happen. Then…?

I get caught up with the thoughts.

How do you catch a thought? If a thought just repeats itself, is it enough to catch it? So, if the thought came that, 'He’s wearing a pink shirt.' and kept repeating. Will be it caught?

No, actually I... unconsciously I don’t pay attention to all the thoughts. There are some thoughts, some feelings of insecurity, fear, those kind of things, they…

They get caught, yes. I have this old example, which is one of my favorites actually. I don’t know whether you’ve heard it. Now, suppose that our problem was the reverse. Our problem was that we have not suffered for a long time. We have not felt any suffering. We’re saying, 'I’m missing suffering.' Suppose we are saying, 'I’m missing suffering.' 'How can I make myself suffer?' Because if I ask you, 'Right now, in this moment, is there any suffering?' You say, 'No'. Now, to get suffering, what do you have to do? Can you tell? Then I’ll tell my example.

Listen to my thoughts; pay attention to the thoughts.

Okay, attention is going. Attention is enough?

Not just attention.

Then?

Too much of identification.

How do you identify with a thought? Because you believe it. You see? So, the example is this. If we want misery, we have an ATM: 'Any-Time-Misery' machine. We have this 'Any-Time-Misery' machine; which is what? The mind. Now, if you want to withdraw misery from this ATM machine, first, what do you have to do? Put the 'Attention-to-Mind' card; ATM card is 'Attention-to-Mind' card. But just putting the card, not enough. It doesn’t give. You also have to put in your Personal-Identification-Number: PIN. Which means what? Your belief. So, if you go to this mind, give it your 'Attention-to-Mind' card and also put in your belief (Personal Identification) then unlimited amount of misery is available to you. Now, how to be then rid of this suffering? Because we don’t want this misery actually. Then if it was that straight-forward, you would just say, 'Don’t give attention to the mind.' Problem finished. But it doesn’t happen like that. Because the nature of attention is that it’s a naughty monkey. You say, 'Don’t go there.' it goes there. I say, 'Don’t think of an orange.' very quickly the mind will start giving you a visual of an orange. Isn’t it?

Yes.

But I say, 'Don’t believe you’re an orange.'…, easier? Easier to do. So, we can start by working at the level of belief. So, simply, I say that, 'Just don’t believe your next thought, and then show me how you can suffer.' Then what happens is that, in hearing this pointing itself, you see that a lot of the thoughts are allowed to come and go; they just come and go. But some will still get you. Which are these ones that get you? If I say, 'You are horrible at Olympic-level rifle shooting.' Does it bother you? Doesn’t bother you. Why it doesn’t bother you? Because you’re not interested in that. There’s no identification with that. But if I say that, 'You’re hopeless at finding enlightenment. You will not find it!' Then…? It bothers you because there is an identity of being 'A Spiritual Seeker’.

Yes.

So, like this, now, when we know, 'Don’t believe our next thought.' but something still gets our belief. The random ones will mostly just go now, but these ones which still have our identity. It could be relationship, it could be security, it could be health of the body; these kinds of identities. Then what are we supposed to do? When we spot that ‘This one still gets to me’ then we pull that into our inquiry and say, 'Who is it? Who is this one?' So, what is one identity that bothers you? Lets check a real example.

I don’t understand.

Name one identity which still has some juice for you; some strength.

Body identity.

So, in this way we can check: Whose body is this? Who is the ‘me’ that owns this body? Because many bodies I have experienced. Like we were talking about the dream state; also there is a body which seems to function, experiences pleasure and pain. So, this one: Who is the owner of this body? See, the body is just sitting quietly. It is not concerned about the body also. It is definitely not concerned about money in the bank account, not concerned about relationship; also not concerned about freedom. Poor innocent thing, it is just sitting here. It gets a lot of blame actually in spirituality, which is unfair. So, this body... Who is the owner of this body? Can we find this one? The person or the one who remains that owns this body, can we find this one?

As of now, it’s the mind that owns this body.

The mind is what? The mind is a bundle of thoughts, and similar energy like memory, imagination... So, how can a thought, which is coming and going, own anything? So, the thought came and went, no longer there to own this body. When a thought is there, we call that the mind. When a thought is not there, we call that the no-mind. So, if the thoughts are going, mind and no-mind is coming like this; then this coming and going, can it own even this bundle of atoms and molecules?

No, no.

It cannot own. You see? So, like this we have to deepen our inquiry and say, 'Who is this one?' And then you find there is nobody like that. There is no separate, individual entity which is the owner of this body. So, the first pointer is: To be free from your suffering right now: Don’t believe your next thought. Those which still get your belief, you pull them into inquiry. And the more you inquire into them, you will find that those identities will become lighter and lighter. And yet, the spontaneity of our life will continue to flow. Things will not stop. So, that is the first pointer. Then you might say…, You’re here only for two days, so I want to give you all the main things that we speak about…, Then you might say, 'Okay, this is fine.' 'But this is not what I really want. I want God.' 'This is fine, suffering is gone. But what about God?' You can say like that, suppose. So, 'Can you show me God?' is a very auspicious question. Even great sages like Swami Vivekananda have asked this question. So, a simple way to find God is when I ask you the question, 'Can you stop being now?' Can you stop being? You have to actually try. Don’t be!

No.

You cannot stop being. So, this Being is what? Is Consciousness, is God. Your own Being is God-Presence. Then, you can come to this point. I’m seeding all of this in you; it will unfold on its own. And it’s completely fine at this point of time, with the realization of God-Presence, to just be at peace and be comfortable with the rest of our life. We don’t need to find anything else. But some of you will come and say, 'But... I sense that there is something else also.' 'I sense that there is something which is even more absolute, higher.' And these words will sound blasphemous to some. But you might have this sense that there is something even higher than this God Presence. 'Can you show me that?' So, this simple question, 'Are you aware now?' points you to this which is higher even than Presence. Because it is your only ... even your answer, 'Am I aware now?' it is a very beautiful thing you are doing. Because for everything else, you’re checking something phenomenal. Isn’t it?

Yes.

You’re saying, 'There’s a candle here.' 'Is there a candle here?' if I ask you say, 'Yes'. Glass here? Checking. 'Am I aware now?' What is the phenomena you saw?

Nothing.

And yet you know it is true. If I say, 'You’re not aware'…, I have a lot of credibility with you, but you will fight with me also, saying, 'But I am aware! What do you mean I’m not aware?' And I say, 'Show me'. You say, 'I can’t show you but I know I’m aware.' So, this awareness is the only…, it’s not even an experience, but just to use language we can say it is your only non-phenomenal experience; which is higher than even the experience of the Presence of God or Consciousness. So, this is your discovery of your True Self which is not coming and going, no matter which states come and go; waking, dream, sleep, Turiya..., you call it whatever state you want. This One is the eternal witnessing of all of this which is coming and going. And it is available to you if you don’t give it to the mind too much but just keep it like pure and raw through the simple question: Am I aware now? Now, at this point... usually, I don’t share so much in the first meeting, but it’s coming now so I will share. The mind can play one subtle trick at this point. It can say, 'Yes, yes. I find this Awareness, and actually to this Awareness nothing is happening, to this Awareness nothing is happening. But what about 'MY' life?' It can play this subtle trick. 'What about when I leave this Satsang hall?' 'When I’m in the day-to-day marketplace of my life, what happens?' So, what is the mind subtly done? It has quickly come and created a dichotomy between this Awareness, which is Your True Self, and again this imagined ‘me’ has been allowed to take birth; because we believed that idea. So, to inoculate you from this idea, I have one more question for you, which will take you deeper than any phenomenal level, which is: Who is aware of even this Awareness? So, you say, 'Am I aware now?', you say, 'Yes' And who is aware even of this Awareness? What is that? Now, in this, the mind tricks will fail, because it cannot create that distinction between Awareness and a sense of a separate ‘me’. The sense of separation cannot really take a hold if you contemplate this question. Then, what will happen, as you’ve gone through all of this; not believing the thoughts, exploring Your own Presence, 'Can I stop being now?', this Being that is here, then looking at who is aware of this Being... or ‘Am I aware now?’ Then you will find, with a little bit of contemplation like this, all that you were calling intellectual knowledge is actually your direct living experience. It’s just these simple contemplations. Now, when you look back at the knowledge which you’ve picked up, you will be easily able to correlate. You pick up Ashtavakra Gita, or Ribhu Gita; none of this will seem like it is just mental, because you’ll read a verse, you’ll check…, 'Yes'. This inner tasting will happen of the Truth. And these words, which seemed so abstract and intellectual and mental, now will seem like your direct living experience. In this way, you will not feel that, 'My entire search has been just mental.'

I’m very happy to meet you.

I’m also very happy you came.