The Body is a Beautiful Instrument (Ashtavakra Gita 2.22) - 25th October 2016

Let me see, let me see some nice things to say about the body. I was a bit harsh with my words, so it's a nice change to say nice things about you because also, as I say it often, it's all in good fun. In satsang today, it was said that if it was just some technology, then all of us would be willing—suppose we all needed a body. Let's see. We are talking about the body as a spirit. We go to the body shop—not the cosmetic Body Shop, but the real body shop—if there was a shop where you buy a body. And then one says, 'This is the last body which is available with you now. How much are you willing to pay for this?' I would say that for technology like this, if we ever have to get hold of this beautiful instrument, more than any other gadget or car... when we hear the materialistic house, how we go to a TV show or anything, if we were willing to pay a lot for this kind of experience, this instrument is so beautiful. Also, the sensation... this was right there this time, this week. It's a good food, good influence. The idea was not to condemn the instrument itself, but for us to tell you that it is beautiful as an instrument. But the idea that 'I am just this instrument' is the fallacy.

There is nothing wrong with this body because the instrument will have a life; it'll play a play. It's a beautiful instrument in this game, but it is not the unborn. So the idea is not to create some aversion towards the body, not for you to neglect the body. It's just to remove the idea that 'I am this body.' I have this body, just like we can have a very, very expensive virtual reality system. We take care of it, you see? In the same way, this beautiful instrument which shows me sensations and perceptions, it's a very, very big power function, but it is not 'I'. So care for the functioning of the body, be compassionate towards the body, but the only mistake is to say 'I am the body.' It's the identification. Then, if all that is something for you to contemplate when you go home: if all that we ever experience is finite phenomena, then I will sit there intuitively. These ideas of eternal, unbound—they seem impractical. Is it purely like fantasy, or does it have an intuitive ring? Something feels like when it is hurt, or the eternal one feels like this leads to the practical.

So in spite of anyone, for the most part, if you were to say like that, some concept of soul, some concept of what happens after death—most of humanity has it. Why? Because they feel like this body is not the end of all of us. This intuitive sense because we are the unborn. The Buddha used to ask everyone, 'What will you do for this body?' What he would even sometimes use in the movie with that little strong... he would say, 'So what were you before your parents got together?' That kind of question. And you can feel like something... you can feel like you're new to society, you feel like you have to defend this body or just get after it. But something intuitively has a sense of it. It was not prior to my time, not prior to 'I'. I could not have been born or existed. Even this idea that there will be a time where you won't exist is very hard to swallow, even for those who are not in satsang. It's very hard to swallow. I try to look like this sculpture, statues, and photos because buildings we do not... it's a complete like the legacy that you know something continues until you do, because something that enhances the idea is not limited in this time. The ego wants to replicate this eternal nature by just saying, 'My name and my legacy will continue.' It's a beautiful way to remove the concept of 'I' assuming the caravan.

So this sense of the eternal, the sense of being unborn, is intuitively appealing to us because we always know we are this eternal unborn in reality. At times we were pretending, and then the victory is when she says, 'I am awareness, not a person.' The thirst for life bound me, we'll see. So 'I am awareness, not a person' is something you hear every day. So respond to the statement, 'A thirst for life bound me.' What does this mean? Just the sense that there are many versions of this. So some say that there was a time we urged to experience itself as some phenomena, which led to the creation of the final vibration, which is the same as this 'I am'. This is light, the light of all of this. The thirst for life was getting extinguished. This urge to experience itself as if it is something, to witness itself as if it has a form. In reality, it is said that awareness itself, one without attributes, itself for some divine reason had this urge. In the blink of an eye, all of this play of energy happened. But awareness, how it is, just was. It hit with its attention only to get in a chamber. Physics or these other systems have said different things. Even said like, 'Oh, some recruits the same.' A tiny mad idea. That tiny mad idea came into the mind of God. This tiny mad idea for some divine play came into the mind of God, led to this idea of separation.

Many people, and actually all spiritual paths and all religious systems, have tried to explain this creation urge, this thirst for life. Some say it is simply saying there must have been an urge if I wanted to experience life this way. This bound me to this seeming of life, and you should also say that it seemingly bound to this seeming of them. Because he said that 'I am awareness' and this awareness has never been bound. So this urge to experience life, I played this game of pretense. Seeming life seemingly bound me. It's the power of my thoughts, the power of my belief in my thoughts, that is the only bondage. So he says, 'I wouldn't know where he talks about bondage,' and says that if man does not achieve this, then he says, 'My urge, the thirst for life, bound me to the seeming of that.' I am that. Oh, the thirst for life. So this way, experience for them to see that all of this is just an appearance. With no sense of tangibility or something happened to me, no sense of this play being real, then would it be really extreme? We must dispatch to play this life. I don't feel it would feel that we need that drama. See, this is me, this is to me. Just like we need that drama when we go to a movie theater. It says this awareness is just like me. So like that in which parents live in this way with all its ups and downs, then we could see that there comes a point where this thirst is quenched. So okay, perfect escape. What is it that I really am? Do I need anything with this one that I cannot find? What is it then? I must be reality. Basically, what are we saying? I'm quenched of this thirst for experiencing life as if I am a separate individual. Then for some time, it can seem like the play is pure presence itself. So God playing with this creation, then time for dissolution. Then the dissolution. Then actually even the sense of time... but some of this particle please. God is not gone, but 'I' am you.