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Robert's Early Talks

The below are Robert's early 1990-1991 talks, most of which I recorded and many of which I transcribed. I would note that sometimes two or more transcripts of the same talk would be floating around at the same time, as many people were taping the sessions.

These talks are brilliant in my mind. Robert's voice was strong and clear, which combined with his impecable ability to articulate the teachings made Satsang an incredible experience.

I have not included any introductions as those I provided for the 17 talks in Robert Adams-1 through Robert Adams-3 are more than enough of my interpretation. From now on, I leave Robert's own words to speak for himself.

I will be adding several each week until there are 15-20. Larger than that would take the page forever to download. So keep looking at the Early talks page until there are 20 talks. Then we'll move to Early Talks-2.

Remember the Reasons Why You Came Here

 

I welcome you with all my heart and with all my being. It's good to see you all here, everyone of you. In 1947 I went to Ramana Maharshi. After spending around three days talking with Ramana, I settled down with the devotees, in the hall, and I used to sit at the right side of the hall against the wall, watching all the people come in. They had devotees, disciples, and seekers. The devotees were always the same. They never said much. They were immersed in themselves. The disciples and the seekers quarreled with each other. 

 

I recall a particular Indian who was very quarrelsome with the disciples, and he used to find fault with everybody. He would go to Ramana and say, "So and so is doing this, so and so is doing that.” And Ramana would tell him, "Remember the reasons why you came here and keep silent.” The reason of course was to find the self, and not to interfere with anybody else. But there were all kinds of incidents going on. Sikhs came, Hindus, Westerners, Buddhists, Zen Buddhists. People were practicing Hatha Yoga. All these things were happening in front of Ramana. But it didn't faze Ramana one bit. 

 

I recall a Westerner, I'm trying to think of his name, Henry Wells, from Scotland. He apparently had read a lot of books about Ramana, and this was his first visit. He came into the hall, and I was watching this. He ran over to Ramana and prostrated himself on his stomach, and started going crazy. His feet were shaking, and he was chanting. The devotees wanted to pick him up, and Ramana said, “Let him stay.” When he came out of it he told Ramana, "At last I have found you. You are my father, my mother, my son, my daughter, my friend.” And Ramana just smiled at him. And I said to myself, and I was only 18 years old, I said to myself, “Someone this enthusiastic... let's see what happens, if it lasts.” 

 

The days went by and he kept prostrating himself every day for about a month. Then he finally stopped, and he sat down like everybody else. And after about two months or so, looking around the room at everybody, and he started complaining, that this wasn't right, that wasn't right. After about four months of being there he donated $40,000 to the ashram, and I'm just watching all these things going on. After about six months of being there, he started to find fault with the management. At that time Ramana's brother was managing the ashram. He started to whisper to the other disciples, of course the devotees would have nothing to do with this. It was the disciples and the seekers. He started spreading rumors. He hardly ever talked to me. I guess I was too young. He was about 45 years old. 

 

When about the seventh month he came over to me one day and he asked me, outside the ashram, "Do you think Ramana is really enlightened?” So I just smiled at him. I didn't answer and walked away. He started getting devotees to fight against each other and rebel against the rules of the ashram. 

 

On about the eighth month he saw me again and he tells me, "Do you think it is right for Ramana to stand naked like this? Let's buy him some clothes and dress him up, so when some Westerners come they won't be frightened.” So I told him what Ramana said: "Remember the reason for why you came.” This went on. 

 

A couple of days later I didn't see him in the hall. Second day passed and I didn't see him. Third day passed and I didn't see him. And the fourth day I inquired, "What happened to him?” And the house guest he was living with said, "Oh, Henry packed his suitcase and went back to Scotland,” and nobody ever heard from him again. 

 

The point of the story is this. If you realize the reason why you came you'll be interested in one thing, awakening. And that will dominate your life. Nothing else will. You will not be concerned with what somebody else is doing, and you will be at peace with yourself and everybody else. Everything is preordained anyway. Everything is karmic. So what's going to happen will happen, whether you like it or not. So why get insulted. Why get your feelings hurt. Be at peace. 

 

It's interesting, this morning I was looking through a magazine and I found an article by a devotee who lived at the ashram for quite a while talking about the same subject. Mary would you like to read it?

 

Now listen carefully to this. It's called Mind the Business for Which you have Come.

 

“All events in life are shaped according to the divine plan. What is bound to happen will happen. What is not to happen cannot be brought about by any human effort. On this point Ramana was quite categoric. When Deva Raja Mudalar questioned him as to whether only important things in one's life, such as major occupation or profession alone are predetermined, or even trifling acts, Ramana replied, ‘Everything is predetermined.’

 

“One of the purposes of birth is to go through certain experiences which have been marked out in the karmic unfoldment of this life. The whole program is chalked out. This would apparently be a damper to all effort, for one would be puzzled as to what the responsibility of man is. Is he an automation of karmic forces? Where do his free will and effort come in?

 

“Ramana points out that there is another deeper purpose to life. That is to search and find out the truth for oneself. He would say that the only useful purpose of life is to turn within and realize there's nothing else to do. Ramana would therefore constantly din into everyone the fact that the ultimate truth is sat-chit, immediately available here and now. 

 

 “When Natananananda asked Ramana, ‘Is it possible for everyone to know directly without doubt what exactly is one's true nature?’ promptly came the reply, ‘Undoubtedly it is possible. The ultimate truth is so simple,’ Ramana would say. ‘It is nothing more than abiding in one's own state.’ This is the essential message of all religions and creeds. Leaving aside the automatic course of our lives regulated by the creator, according to his law, one's duty is to channel effort to be self-aware. Steadfastness of purpose is in treading the inner path through vigilant self-inquiry. On such inquiry as to the source of the individual, the inquirer merges in the conscious source. 

 

“The inner odyssey is seldom smooth sailing. Full many a delusion would wean one away. For instance, people who go to Shri Ramana ashram to breathe its rarified atmosphere, while there, instead of surrendering to his flowing grace, they would get involved in the happening of the ashram management. Ramana used to jovially remark of some visitors on their first visit to Shri Ramana ashram, they seemed to be alright. On the second visit they discovered that the ashram is not properly run. On the third visit they start giving advice. On the fourth they know best how to run the place. And on the fifth they discover that the management is not responsive. On the sixth they suggest that the present staff should walk out leaving the ashram to them. They would thus get bogged down in things which are irrelevant for the search. When such people complained, Ramana would say: ‘Mind the business for which you have come.’

 

“This would apply, of course, not only to their visit to Shri Ramana ashram, but also to the purpose of human life itself. One has to constantly keep before the minds eye the liberating purpose, the only worth while one of freeing oneself from the karmic chain by discovering the hidden truth. Ramana would even seemingly chide if one failed to pursue one's own sadhana, but spent time thinking and talking of others

 

“A devotee once told Ramana, ‘I have been here for many years. People got into Samadhi. I close my eyes for a minute and my mind travels around the world.’ Ramana replied, ‘Why do you think about others? Let them meditate, sleep or snore. Look to yourself. Whenever your mind goes astray bring it back to the quest.’

 

“Once Bhagwan told a devotee to wake up, look at the mirror, it shows the growth to be got rid of. Instead of waiting time, start shaving. Similarly, heaven knows when the allotted time would end. Hence not to seek the truth by vigilant self-inquiry is truly suicidal. Many would like to blame their circumstances for their indolence and laziness and failure to pursue self-inquiry. Ramana would ask, ‘Why depend on that which is not in your hands. Go ahead with the business which is in your hands, under your control, leaving aside what you cannot do anything about.’

 

“Proper utilization of God given freedom of turning the mind is what is needed all the time. As for adverse circumstances in life of which everyone has a belly full, while sympathizing, Ramana would at the same time say, ‘You are always free not to be affected by the pleasure and pain consequent on action.’ The teeth have to be taken out of an event by an attitudinal change which neutralizes it. 

 

“Sometimes Ramana would advise leaving things to the sure hand of the sat guru, and to stick single mindedly to the effort which would make one self-aware. Ramana would say, ‘Why don't you do what the first class railway passenger does? He tells the guard his destination, locks the door and goes to sleep. The rest is done by the guard. If you can trust your guru as much as you trust the railway guard, it will be good enough to make you reach the destination.’ Again when someone pestered him for the darshan of Shri Krishna, he said, ‘Why don't you leave the shaktakara of Krishna to Krishna.’ We also have the pointed advice given by him to Ganapada Muni. ‘Remain all the time steadfast in the heart. God will determine the future for you to accomplish the work. What is to be done will be done at the proper time. Don't worry. Abide in the heart.’ Life becomes meaningful if we joyously tread the inward path, remembering that ours is to do the vichara and it is for the inner source to do the rest. Then bliss is not the end product to be found on reaching the goal, but is felt all along the homeward, heartward journey.”

 

There's another article prior, previous to that, before that. The Purpose of Life, by Lucille Osborne. Let Jay read this.

 “Those whose spiritual effort is in the right direction get progressively closer to their perfect self, become more peaceful, happier and are increasingly liked and helped by those with whom they come into contact. Some of the negative category will attend rigorously only to externals like clothing and pure food which will not help them much if it combines with egocentric selfish behavior and possessiveness. They will do anything to be able to possess a few more things of scarcely any importance. They do not realize the harm they do to themselves getting deeper into samsara with all its problems and suffering, away from realizing the glorious peaceful joy in their heart.

 

“This pertains also to those in positions of power who treat the people with whom they deal without goodwill, sincerity, or even truthfulness. They will usually be disliked, have a few friends, if any. Those who associate with them will either have some affinity, or feel sorry for them, combined usually with reluctance to forgo some convenience or other. Not a particularly spiritual motive. One might say that a misguided seeker forfeits the great opportunity of gaining the greatest fortune possible for a human being. The purpose of life is to return to the source. The source is mysterious, glorious, peaceful joy, which is God in everybody's heart. This is realization. We do not gain it. It is always there in the heart. Only the obstructions, vasanas, have to be removed to reveal it.”

 

Thank you Jay. Any question about that before we go on? Everybody understand it perfectly? Okay. Let’s play a song. 

 

Hello again. It's good to be with you. I talk to many people during the week, both on the telephone and in person. I speak to Zen Buddhists, Hindus, Americans, all kinds of people, and 80% tell me they're enlightened. Most of them tell me they've experienced the void. Some say they've seen lights. Some say they hear certain sounds. And they say, "What do you think?” So I remark, "Somebody has to be present to experience these things. As long as somebody is present, and somebody is present or you'll not be able to tell me about it, then there's no enlightenment. Find out who is present, and hold on to that you, because you are present to experience the void. You are present to experience the light or the sound. Who is that you? Find out. Hold on to that you. Hold on to I. I was present to experience the void. As long as I am present I cannot possibly be enlightened, because I still exist.” 

 

It is like a movie theater. Let's take rather a stage theater, stage play, where the lights shine on the players and on the audience. When the play is over the audience and the actors both leave, but the light still shines, even though it shines on nothing. So the empty theater is the void. The light is still shining on the void as well as on the people.

 

A better example is we see a room full of furniture, the eyes look and they see. Then somebody turns off the light. The eyes are still there but they don't see anything. That's how the void is compared to the seer. There has to be a seer to see the void. Who is that seer? And you find out by self-inquiring, "Who am I? Where did the I come from? What is the source of I that sees all these things?” Remember, all this phenomena is a projection of your mind. The mind appears to be very powerful. It projects voids, light, sounds, images, as well as the entire universe, and as well as your body and mind. It projects itself out of the mind. The idea is to stop the projection, and you stop the projection through self-inquiry. This is the fastest way. 

 

So whenever you have some experience, go beyond the experience, because there has to be somebody to have the experience. Just like the eyes see when it's light, and the eye is still there when it's dark, so the I is present when you sleep, the I is present when you dream, the I is present when you are awake. Find out who the I is. Dive deep within. Work on yourself. Just like the article we read before, forget about the world, forget about others, forget about your body, and inquire of the self. Find out who the self is. Who are you? Are there two I's or one I?

 

There cannot possibly be two I's because that's duality. There has to be one I only. Find the source of the I. Follow it diligently until you merge with the source. Then you will find that you're happier than you've ever been in your life. When you touch the source of I you have bliss, you have absolute reality, you have God. This is the most important question in life. Nothing else is so important. Can you think of anything else that is as important? Then why do you worry so much about others? Why do you get mixed up with all kinds of problems? Do your duty. Inquire. Find the source of I. It doesn't make any difference how long it takes. Think of how many incarnations you had to go through in order to be in this class today.

 

Make yourself happy. Forget about your troubles. They don't exist. Only God exists as yourself. But you must find it out for yourself. 

 

Do it.

Robert and Ramana

 

Robert: I want to thank Shankarananda for coming down and helping with the music. This is truly an auspicious day. What a way to bring in the New Year. I want to tell you that I love everyone of you just the way you are.

When I was 18 years old, I arrived at Tiruvannamalai. In those days they didn't have jet planes. It was a propeller plane. I purchased flowers and a bag of fruit to bring to Ramana. I took the rickshaw to the Ashram. It was about 8:30 a.m. I entered the hall and there was Ramana on his couch reading his mail. It was after breakfast. I brought the fruit and the flowers over and laid them on his feet. There was a guardrail in front of him to prevent fanatics from attacking him with love. And then I sat down in front of him. He looked at me and smiled, and I smiled back.

 

I have been to many teachers, many saints, many sages. I was with Nisargadatta, Ananda Mai Ma, Papa Ram Dass, Neem Karoli Baba and many others, but never did I meet anyone who exuded such compassion, such love, such bliss as Ramana Maharshi. There were about 30 people in the room. He looked at me and asked me if I'd eaten breakfast. I said, "No." He spoke some Tamil to the attendant and the attendant came back with two giant leaves, one with fruit and one with some porridge with pepper. After I consumed the food, I just lied down on the floor. I was very tired.

 

It was time for his usual walk. He had arthritis in the legs and could hardly walk at that time. His attendants helped him to get up and he walked out the door. When he was outside he said something to his attendants, and his attendants motioned for me to come. He guided me to a little shack that I was going to use while I might stay there. He came inside with me, and I bet you think we spoke about profound subjects. On the contrary, he was a natural man. He was the self of the universe. He asked me how my trip was, where I was from, what made me come here. Then he said I should rest so I laid down on the cot and he left.

 

I was awakened about 5 o'clock. It was Ramana again. He came by himself and he brought me food. Can you imagine that? We spoke briefly, I ate and I slept. The next morning I went into the hall. After the morning chanting there was breakfast, and everybody sat around just watching Ramana, and he’d go through his routine. He would go through the mail and read it out loud, talk to some of his devotees, and I just observed everything. His composure never changed. Never did I see such compassion, such love.

 

Then people started to come over to him asking him questions. His replies were very succinct. They weren't like you read in a book. Apparently, what you read in a book is his reply to three or four people. They condense it all into one question and answer. But people usually asked a question or made a statement. If he agreed he would nod or say, "Yes. That's it." If he didn't, he would offer an explanation in maybe one or two sentences.

 

There were foreigners at the ashram when I was there, Muslims, Catholic priests, people from all races and all nationalities. The devotees would sit around and say nothing, but the seekers and disciples would ask questions. When I was there a week or so, two of his disciples were sort of jokingly arguing with him about something in Tamil. I asked the interpreter what they were talking about. He said Ramana's couch is covered with lice, and he refuses to let us kill them. They climb over his body and his legs and he doesn't care. He even feeds them. We want to exterminate the couch, but he won't let us. So the next day they tricked him. When he went outside for his morning walk, they sprayed his couch with DDT. When he came back he smelled the couch, he smiled and jokingly said, "Someone has tricked me." He never got angry, never got mad. I don't think he knew what the words meant.

 

A couple of weeks later there was a German lady who had come to the ashram, and apparently she had made a donation of some kind, but she wasn't happy for some reason. She was complaining to Ramana, and he just kept silent. I again asked the interpreter, "What does she want?" The interpreter said, "She wants her donation back. She wants to go home, back to Germany." So she started to argue. Everything was going on in front of Ramana. She started to argue with one of the managers of the ashram and Ramana just looked. Then Ramana said in English, "Give her back her donation and add 50 rupees to it," which they did, and she left. This was his nature. He never saw anything wrong. He never took anyone out of his love. No matter what they did, who they were, where their ego was, he understood. He loved everyone just the same.

 

We're also celebrating the birth of Jesus this month. He was never born this month, but we're celebrating it anyway. Ramana used to quote from the scriptures. Jesus and Ramana said basically the same things. Jesus said, "The kingdom of heaven is within you." Ramana said, "The self is within you. Search for it and find it and awaken." Jesus said, "Son, I am with you always and all that I have is yours." Ramana said, "I can never leave you. I am always with you." His compassion never left him.

 

Six months prior to his leaving his body, I went to Bangelor to see Papa Ram Dass. I was informed that he left his body. I went back to Tiruvannamalai. But the crowds had already started to come, thousands and thousands of people. So I climbed the hill and went into one of the caves. Stayed there for five days. When I came down the crowds were disbursed. He had already been interned. I inquired of his devotee who saw him last, "What were the last words he spoke?" The devotee said, "While he was leaving his body a peacock flew on top of the hall and started screeching, and Ramana remarked to his devotee, "Has anyone fed the peacock yet?" and those were the last words he spoke.

 

Now, let's talk about you. Think of the problems you believe you have. Think of the nonsense that you go on with everyday. Think how furious you become, how you always want to stick up for your rights, as if you had any. The problem is you think. If you would only stop thinking. You say, "How can I function if I stop thinking?" Very well, thank you! As a matter of fact you would function much better than you do now, for you will always be taken care of. The universe loves you. It will always supply you with your needs. Forget about other people, what they do, what they don't do. Do not listen to malicious gossip. Be yourself. Understand who you really are. You are the absolute reality, unconditioned consciousness. Work from that standpoint. Do not work from your problems. Do not get lost in meaningless gossip. Understand your true reality. Be yourself.

 

What Ramana taught was not new. Ramana simply taught the Upanishads. "Who am I" has been around since time immemorial. If a teacher always tells you they have something new to teach you, be careful, because there's nothing new under the sun. Ramana simply revised the who-am-I philosophy and made it simple for people in the 20th Century. But what did he teach? He simply taught that you are not the body-mind principle. He simply taught that if you have a problem, do not feel sorry for yourself, do not go to psychiatrists, do not condemn yourself, simply ask yourself, "To whom does this problem come?" And of course the answer will be, "The problem comes to me." Hold onto the me. Follow the me to the source, the substratum of all existence.

 

How do you do that? How do you hold onto me? How do you hold onto I? By simply asking yourself, "Who am I? What am I?" The same thing, "What am I?" Asking yourself again and again, "Who am I?" Forget about time. Forget about space. Forget everything. Keep yourself from thinking. When the thoughts come, ask yourself, "To whom comes the thoughts?" Again, "They come to me." Hold onto the me. "I think these thoughts. Well then, who am I? Who thinks these thoughts? Who am I?"

 

An easier way to do this I have found is to simply say to yourself, "I - I, I - I," and you will notice as you do this that the I - I goes deeper, deeper, deeper within you into your heart center, right to the source. For westerners I have found that saying "I – I" seems to be more helpful than "Who am I?" Again, do not look at time. Do not ask yourself, "When is something going to happen?"

 

A devotee went to Ramana and said, "I've been with you for 25 years, doing “Who am I,” and nothing has happened yet, so Ramana said, "Try it another 25 and see what happens." Forget about time. Forget about when something is going to happen. Even if nothing happens in this life, you are ahead of the game, for if you've been sincere, and if you've really been working on yourself, you will come back to an environment that is conducive for your realization, and at that time you may have realization when you're about 12 or 13 years old, because you’ve earned it. But if you're like most people and go around minding everybody’s business and saying, "I have no time to do this. I've tried it for two hours and it doesn't work," then you keep coming back again, and again, and again, going through all kinds of experiences, until one day, maybe 10,000 years from now you may actually get it and start working on yourself diligently, what you should be doing now.

 

What do you do with yourself all day long? Think. From the moment you get out of bed, how does your day go? Do you think of God at all? Do you practice or do you think about your affairs and your body? Be honest with yourself. If you're not making any headway in spiritual life, it's because you're not putting anything into it. You have to realize that whatever you see in the world is only a reflection of yourself. If people are mean to you, if they abuse you, it is because you're seeing yourself as those people. In other words, you've got those qualities.

 

I recall, going back to the story of Ramana and the German lady, when he gave her back her donation plus some more rupees, the following afternoon a devotee asked him, "Ramana, why did you do that?" and Ramana explained, "When she gave us a donation, to whom do you think she gave it to? She gave it to herself, for there’s only one self. When she took it back, she took it away from herself. When she goes back to Germany I'm sure she'll have financial problems until she learns that anything you give is only giving to yourself, for there’s not two, or three, or four selves, there's only one self," and this includes everything you do in your life, the way you look at another person. You're simply seeing yourself.

 

This is why the only thing I can do for you is to love you, because I love myself and you are myself. When I say I love myself, I am not referring to Robert. When I use the word self I am referring to infinity, to omnipresence. It includes everything in this universe. So when I love myself I am obviously loving everyone and everything that exists. I also realize that everything that exists is a projection of my own mind, so I do not identify with the images. I identify with the source, with consciousness, with absolute reality, with ultimate oneness, with nirvana, with emptiness. While I'm talking to you, I realize I'm talking to myself because again there is only one self. If you can only remember that in your dealings with others, whichever way you deal with anyone else, you're doing it to yourself. Can you see now why a person like Ramana could never hate anyone or be angry, it wasn't in his nature.

 

How do you react to life? When a person displeases you, what do you do? Curse him or her, become angry or violent? How do you handle it? How do you react? Be honest with yourself. It's the only way. Start from where you are. No human being is perfect. We all make mistakes. Do not feel sorry for yourself, but start from where you are.

 

Where are you? You are consciousness. This is your true nature. Learn to love everything. Learn to see only the good. Realize there's a reason for everything. If a person displeases you, simply look the other way and forget it. Learn to stop your mind from thinking. And you do this by immediately catching yourself when you react to a condition, and inquiring within yourself, "Who is becoming angry? Who feels out of sorts? I do? I." Realize you're dealing with the personal I, and all the anger, all the frustration, all the karma, all the samscaras are all attached to that personal I. Consequently, when you get rid of the personal I, everything else will go with it. So don't try to solve your problems. Do not try to become a better person. Do not try to run away from your life. Simply see who it is who is running, who it is who needs to be a better person? Who has all these problems? I, I, always I. Hold onto that I with all of your might, but do not concentrate on the I. You concentrate on the source which is consciousness, God.

 

And everybody asks me over and over again, and I keep telling you. They ask me, "How do I hold onto the I?" By asking, "Who am I?" or just saying, "I - I, I - I, I  -I." Automatically you will notice the I going deeper, and deeper, and deeper, and deeper within your heart, and one day you will become free. But you're already free. Why not wake up right now? Why go through anything? Everybody is different.

 

If this appears too difficult for you, if vichara appears hard, then your next best bet is to surrender completely to God. Surrender everything, your problems, your ego, your body, your mind, your work, your world. Say, "Here, God, take it, I want no more of this. I am yours. Do with me as you will. Thy will be done." This means you no longer have anything to worry about. If you truly surrender, you will immediately become radiantly happy, for you have given your ego to God. And what’s left is God. You have no body. You have no mind. You have no work. You have no problems. It has been your ego all the time fooling you, making you believe that something is wrong, and you've been playing hide and seek, trying to find God here, there and everywhere, when all the time God was within yourself as yourself.

 

Begin to see the truth. Begin to stand up tall. Become fearless. Become strong. Leave the world alone. It’ll take care of itself. There is a mysterious power that guides the world to its right destiny. It doesn't need any help from you. If you're meant to do certain work in the world, it will be done, but you have nothing to do with that. It doesn't mean that you have to leave your job, or go sit in a cave, or give up your life. Wherever you are right now is where you're supposed to be. Just feel, "I am not the doer," and you're work will go on. Do not be attached to your work. Do not react to any situation or any condition. Be yourself. Focus your attention on consciousness, and your body will go on doing whatever it came here to do. Everything is preordained. Even when I raise my finger like this it is preordained. Do not be egotistical to believe that you have any power over everybody or anybody or that you are the doer. It's a privilege to have been born on this earth, and the reason you have been born is to find your real self. Go for it, do it, and become free.

 

I don't know why I talk so much. It doesn't do you any good. I always want to sit in silence, but sometimes we have some new people and they do not understand the silence yet, so I keep on chatting. I wonder if I know what I'm talking about. It doesn't matter anyway. Any questions?

 

S: What is the relationship between effort and realization, since only the ego is doing this effort. How can the ego doing this effort...?

R: What you call effort has been preordained.

 

S: Self-inquiry is the ego doing effort?

R: Self-inquiry is the ego trying to find itself as the self, so the effort is brought on through your karma so that you may become self-realized. It is a privilege to have been able to find in this life the method of self-inquiry. Therefore, it’s been predestined that you should make the effort to find yourself.

 

S: Since God or realization is something that really is like an effortless presence, how could it be...?

R: When you get on the path correctly, after awhile it becomes effortless. In the beginning there seems to be a little effort you have to take, because you're breaking away from your old patterns, and as you continue it becomes effortless, easier and easier. It becomes a pleasure. It becomes a joy and you're always doing it effortlessly, so the effort is only the beginning stages. It's not really effort, but when you break into a new habit, the old wants to still stay there and take over. So you still have to push it out as you inquire, "To whom does it come? Who feels miserable?" And as you keep practicing and practicing it becomes effortless, and pretty soon you do not have to do anything. It just happens by itself. You become happier and happier, more peaceful, and your life becomes a joy to others and to yourself.

 

S: I'm confusing the false I with the true I.

R: There is only one I, but for the sake of conversation we say there is a personal I which is your ego. The only confusion is your identifying with the personal I instead of the real I. The real I is absolute reality, pure intelligence, Parabrahman, sat-chit-ananda. That is the real I, and you have a choice: "With whom am I going to identify?" Identify with yourself, with consciousness, and there will be no question of two I's.

 

But again, when you begin, it is your ego as I that you’re working with. "Who am I?" means the ego. Who is this ego? Where did it come from? Who gave it birth? Why does it exist? And then you will realize, "Why I gave it birth by believing in it. I created my ego myself. I did all this." Then it begins to change. The personal I becomes weaker and consciousness becomes stronger until the personal I disappears altogether and you become free. So do not keep identifying with the personal I. Hold onto it, follow it by asking, "What is I? Who am I?"

…

All levels and all teachings are an emanation of the mind, for there has to be someone to experience those levels. Vichara, or self-inquiry, goes right to the heart of the matter. It bypasses every system, negates every system, and awakens you immediately. The mind, as I, gives you the problem. When the mind, as I, goes, everything else goes with it, all of your past teachings, the world, the universe, God, reincarnation, karma. You become free of the whole mess and you awaken. So again, every system is a projection of the mind. You have to be present to do the work, whereas in this teaching we get rid of the you that does the work. So if the you is gone, there’s no work to be done. In other words, who has to meditate? I do. There has to be somebody present for you to meditate. Instead of meditating, ask yourself, "Who meditates?" and the answer will be, "I do.” Then, “Who am I?" and the lights will come on and you'll be free. Once the I goes there is nobody left to do any spiritual work, for you become consciousness. You become absolute reality, omnipresent, infinite.

 

S: So you’re saying these are progressive systems?

R: These are progressive systems, and I suppose most people need these things. They’re good. There’s nothing wrong with these things, but the direct path is vichara. You bypass everything.

 

S: In the case of the man who spent twenty five years with Ramana, who isn’t understanding, is he not going through stages?

R: On the contrary, he is just there. He’s at peace with himself, and when the time is right for him, he’ll awaken. There are no stages to go through as long as he's present.

 

S: That brings up this question then. If someone comes in here and they never heard this teaching before and they start practicing, the first thing they have to do is to recognize that they have a mind and to recognize the storm within. And when they recognize that, then they have a herd of horses within, a stampede. So for a while, for atma-vichara and who-am-I to work, they have to slow down that stampede by working through a system. So that's a progressive stage in a way, because there are emotions involved and feelings and sensations that come up. And all of this, for a person to cut through this and to evolve, they must work on those levels.

R: How do you know?

 

S: Because I've been through it.

R: Does that mean everybody goes through it?

 

S: Well, looking at the average human being, I would say absolutely.

R: There are some people who just awaken. There are some people who go through stages. There are some people who do a lot of work. There are some people who practice meditation and mantras all day long. There are some people who do nothing and they awaken.

 

S: Yes, but most people like that are very few like Ramana. Ramana was an exception.

R: Well, then learn how to do it and become like Ramana. Practice what Ramana practiced, and you too can be an exception. Why should you identify with the other? Identify with Ramana's practice. He said the same thing. Why go through the trouble to go through yoga practices? You'll come back life after life after life and keep practicing yoga. Find out who's practicing and become free. Doesn't that sound reasonable? All you have to do is to find out who's practicing. Who needs to do all these things? I do. Well, who am I? Where did I come from? I, I. Get rid of that I and you're home free.

 

S: What about the identification with the body. I’m confusing the body with thought.

R: What about it?

 

S: Identification. When there's pain in the body, you're just involved in the pain, not the reality.

R: The reality is not the pain. The body is in pain, but you are not the body. So if you stick to your true self, you will hardly feel the pain. Let the body take care of itself. Do not concern yourself with the body. The body will still eat, it will still go to the bathroom, it will still take a shower, it will still take care of itself, but you have absolutely nothing to do with it. You are not the body, so why identify with the pain. Identify with consciousness, with the self, and then see what happens.

 

This is why when people like Ramana and Ramakrishna were dying, especially Ramakrishna, he literally wasted away, and they used to tell him the same way they did Ramana, "Master, heal yourself. We have seen you heal others. Heal yourself." And the answer would always be the same: "You foolish people, what do you see? Who sees a sick body? There is nobody to be sick. What are you looking at? Change your identification. See the truth."

 

That's why Jesus was able to say, "I am with you always, even unto the end the world," for he realized he was consciousness, not the body, not what appears to be real. Everything that most of you are looking at right now is an appearance. It is not the truth. There is another world of reality where there is only perfection, love, bliss, joy. With whom are you identifying? The choice is yours.

 

S: The I seems to be such a deeply ingrained habit. It seems like the primary addiction. It seems like all other addictions come out of the addiction of I. The ego addiction is the primary addiction. That's the problem is that it's so addictive.

R: Indeed. Correct. As you keep referring back to yourself and saying, "Who am I?" the I becomes weaker, and weaker, and weaker. Eventually it has to disappear, and then you're free.

 

S: It's funny that sometimes I feel a little loosened up, abiding, and other times it's all forgotten and it's back to the ego again.

R: That's how it appears to work, but as you continue practicing, and practicing, and practicing, the day will come when you're home free. That's why I said do not look at time, even if it takes more than a lifetime. You're still ahead of the person going bowling.

 

S: Even when you see the thoughts moving and you see how identified you are, it's almost like the ego enjoys this. It enjoys resisting the peace, silence and intelligence. It's so used to this that it seems to like its own suffering.

R: Are you talking from the standpoint of the ego or the self?

 

S: From the ego.

R: So ask yourself, "Who's going through all this? Who's suffering? To whom does it come?" Identify with the source, not with the ego. Do not go into all the details of what the ego does. Go into the details of what the self is, pure intelligence, absolute awareness, sat-chit-ananda, Parabrahman. Speak of those things, and let the ego take care of itself.

 

S: The ego doesn't seem to want all that.

R: No, you don't want all that because you refuse to identify with those higher things. You keep talking about the ego over and over again as if it were a power. It doesn't even exist. It's a non-entity.

 

S: I guess I'm possessed.

R: You're possessed by God, You can never get away from God no matter how hard you try.

 

S: I've been trying with all my might.

R: Maybe that's the problem. Just observe and watch. Stop trying. Watch your mind in action. Observe your thoughts, become the witness, and then you'll say, "Ah, look what's happening to me. Am I that? Of course not." Then it will become easier for you.

 

S: It's really embarrassing to watch my mind, because you feel like you should be committed to a mental institution. It's total nonsense, total craziness.

R: Again, to whom is it embarrassing? It's embarrassing to the ego. The ego watches, the ego's embarrassed, and the ego fights back but you do not react to it. Do not react. Watch, observe and ask the question, "To whom does it come?" That's all you’ve got to do, and everything else will take care of itself.

 

S: Watching it breaks the identification?

R: Observing.

 

S: It’s funny, when you start to forget to observe, you melt into the identification of it so easily. You melt into the identification with the ego. That's what is wonderful about inquiry, that it breaks it.

R: Don't get caught up in too many details. Make it simple, very simple. The simpler the better.

 

S: I think part of the problem is, speaking for myself of course, is that I don't believe it will happen. I feel it happens just to a favored few, like Jesus, Buddha or yourself. What's the sense of trying it if it's not going to happen?

R: Well, if you don’t feel it's going to happen, what can you do? Go see a movie. You've got to realize you are greater than you think, and you've got the same power within you as everybody else does. It may appear to be asleep, but as you work on yourself, work on yourself, work on yourself, you will awaken it, and one day it will become stronger than you are and take you over completely and you'll be free. But you've got to keep on working on yourself, and stop putting yourself down. That's the worst thing you can do is to put yourself down. That's blasphemy because you're putting God down. Think of yourself as a higher person, love yourself, worship yourself, bow to yourself. You are greater than you think.

 

S: Robert, at first when you were speaking to Bob, you said to make things simple and follow self-inquiry of who-am-I and at the same time you said, "Don't make it like a mantra." If you keep saying "I – I" or "Who am I? I am me,” you get caught in a circular answer and question thing. You said not to make it like a mantra.

R: Who-am-I is never a mantra. You simply observe yourself, ask yourself the question, "To whom do these things come? To me," then say, "Who am I?" or "I-I, I-I." It’s not a mantra. As you keep doing it to yourself, you will awaken.

 

S: Even if I do the question and answer, even though I come into a circle of three questions with three answers, and I kept going around and around, it's not a mantra?

R: No it's not. But you can ask yourself, "To whom do these things come? To whom do the three questions come?" There has to be a person to experience the three questions. Get rid of that person and you'll be free.

 

S: Would I be breaking self-inquiry if I got rid of the me with, "To whom do these questions come? They come to me."

R: Self-inquiry is only for the ego.

 

S: I’m like Bob then. I've got a big ego.

R: Keep practicing. Keep practicing and you'll break it down.

 

S: Robert, you said, when you ask yourself the question, you don't answer because when you answer, that just comes from the mind. When you ask, "Who am I?" just rest, don’t question.

S: Is consciousness observing the self-inquiry?

R: Consciousness is self-contained. It has nothing to do with self-inquiry. Only the ego does.

 

S: Then why do we have to do self-inquiry?

R: Because you have to use the ego to get rid of the ego.

 

S: So consciousness is noticing all of the self-inquiry then?

R: It doesn't notice anything. As you practice self-inquiry, your mind will disappear and your true self will come forth all by itself.

 

S: Isn't our true self here now?

R: Yes, you will awaken to it, but you don't believe it is, so you must practice self-inquiry.

 

S: How do you trace it to the heart, when you say that with self-inquiry you trace it to the heart?

R: Another term for the heart is consciousness, so the heart is really consciousness. You simply inquire, "Who am I?" It takes care of itself. The I becomes weaker and weaker and disappears.

 

S: Your attention then should always be focused on the source. When you hold onto the I that's just a way of focusing attention on the source from whence the I arises?

R: Yes, when I say hold onto the I, I mean you're witnessing the I. You're watching where it goes, from whence it came from and where it goes back.

 

S: When you say that consciousness or God dwells in you as you, that "as you" is not referring then to the ego?

R: No, it's referring to consciousness.

 

S: It's redundant really.

R: Yes. Consciousness is your true existence and nothing else. Everything else we talk about, everything else we do is to make you realize that your true nature is consciousness. Then everything becomes redundant, but we have to talk like this because you believe you're human. You believe you're the body. When will you stop believing that?

Time to eat!

 

S: Robert, if a person believes that they're happy in this alleged consciousness that we all possibly share, I mean your students, is that the same thing? Being in love with nature as being in love with life. Is that about on the same level in your eyes as...

R: All of these things that you're referring to is a projection of your mind. You create your universe, and you create your world, and you create the trees and the birds and everything else. So get rid of your mind and everything else will go.

 

S: There won't be any trees?

R: You'll be the tree. You’ll be everything you like.

 

S: So then it's really the ego that has all the beauty.

R: You can say that, yes. You bring fresh flowers into your room and then they die in a couple of days. So how can that be real ultimately?

Everything you fall in love with gets old and dies. So how can you say that's real? Contact reality and you will always be happy.

OK, let's eat.

One Self, One Consciousness

 

Robert: I had quite an interesting day today. I received approximately fifteen phone calls from people all over the place. My door bell rang about ten times. The dog was barking and biting everyone who comes in. My daughter was playing the stereo at full blast. And yet my body responded the way it's supposed to. But I had absolutely nothing to do with it. It didn't affect me, the self, one iota. Yet my body did what it had to do to get the calls, and answer the door, quieted the dog, turned down the stereo, but I had absolutely nothing to do with it.

 

I'm bringing this point up to show you that you can be in the most horrendous situation and be at peace. It doesn't matter what you're going through, even death. It makes no difference. The real you has absolutely nothing to do with it. You are free from the whole thing. There may be wars all around you, people fighting and stabbing each other, people quiet and peaceful. Look at both those situations the same way, with even mindedness. Do not react to anything. Do not allow your mind to go out and respond. Do nothing past your nose. Your body is going to do whatever it has to do, but you are not your body.

 

Anything that you respond to is a product of your mind. It is your mind that becomes angry. It is your mind that becomes stubborn. It is your mind that wants to get even. It is your mind that is hurt. But if you subdue your mind, tell me, where is the anger? Where is the depression? Where is the response to conditions? There isn't any. When the mind is subdued there is only eternal peace and that peace is the self, consciousness. Consciousness is always peaceful, always happy. It has nothing to do with conditions. All conditioning comes from the mind. Therefore I say to you, do not try to change conditions. Do not try to change situations. Simply learn how to control the mind by making it passive and quiet, and then you will find that things turn out better for you than you can possibly ever hope for.

 

There are no problems. There is nothing wrong. Everything is unfolding as it should. Everything happens in its own time. Space and time are illusions. They really do not exist. They're stationary. Causation doesn't exist either. No thing has a cause, therefore no thing has an effect. Cause and effects are again products of your own mind. When the mind is quiet, karma ceases. Samscaras are non-existent. There never was a cause for anything. But if you feel that in a previous life you did something wrong and now you are paying the price, or if you think that you did something wrong in this life and you’re paying the price, then you'll pay the price, because that's what you think.

 

There is virtually no price to pay, because nothing ever happened. If it appears to have happened to you then you have to go through the consequences of having the effect return, or karma will come back to you, because that's what you feel, that's what you believe. It's all in your feelings and your belief system. But if you feel as if you're born at every moment, every moment becomes brand new. Where is the effect? There is no time for any effect. There is no space in which to have the effect. Space and time and causation become one, the present moment. And if you feel like that then you can look into the future, which doesn't exist, and see what's happening. It all has to do with your mind. As long as you feel situations you know it's your mind that's doing it.

 

There’s a story about Buddha and the courtesan. One day Buddha and his devotees were going through a forest and they came to a town. The words spread through the town that Buddha was coming. And there was a beautiful home where there lived this courtesan, this high class prostitute. She heard about the wonder of Buddha, how beautiful he was, and she said to herself, "I must have this man." So she sent her handmaidens out to the edge of the forest where Buddha was camping, and they beseeched him to come see their mistress. Buddha's devotees tried to chase them away, but Buddha said, "No, I will go." And the devotees told him he was crazy. How come he’s going with them? He said, "I shall return later on."

 

He went into this mansion of a home, and he saw this beautiful lady. And she looked at him and she said, "I wasn't wrong." And she told the Buddha, "Stay with me, I will give you riches that you never dreamed of. I will give you love that you've never known." And the Buddha smiled and he said, "Not now." And she beseeched him and said, "I will give you my body and you will have love that you never experienced. I will give you my home. Stay with me. I will make you the happiest man that ever lived." And Buddha said, "No, not now." And this went on for a couple of hours. Finally she got worn out, and Buddha said, "Thank you," and left. He went back to his devotees, didn't say anything, they traveled through the forest and left the town.

 

Thirty years passed. The Buddha was going through this town again with his devotees. All of a sudden he remembered something and he told his devotees, "Stay here and wait for me. I have to go see my beloved." So he went back to where the house used to be. It was now nothing but a shambles. And he looked for the lady. He saw people laughing in the street. And there she was, a beggar with leprosy. People spitting on her. And he came over to her and he said, "My beloved, I have returned for you. Now I want you as much as you wanted me." And he kissed her on the forehead and she was healed. She became his disciple and spent the rest of her life with the Buddha.

 

The moral of that story, of course, is things are not the way they seem. We judge situations by the way they appear. We look at someone and we think that's the way they are. We respond to conditioning. We have been brainwashed since we were children to believe that things are supposed to be a certain way. But things are not supposed to be any way. Things just are. They have no substance, they have no reality. As you respond to conditions you are simply wasting your energy, when you can be using that energy to uncover your self, to discover your own reality.

 

What are you doing with your life? How do you spend your days? The appearance is that your body is getting older and older, and if you're still judging by appearances you try to look younger and younger by putting creams on your face, by exercising day and night, by buying the finest clothes. It's like beating a dead horse. The so called body is not meant to last. As soon as you were born you began to die. Therefore find out. Who is born? Who dies? Who has experiences? Who is going through this entire mess? Who needs it? Who wants it? Wake up!

 

The question is always asked in this respect, if it's necessary to do sadhana in order to awaken. Is it necessary to spend years in yoga techniques and pranayama, breathing exercises, to sit in meditation, to think of certain things, to pray? Is all this necessary? What do you think? Who can tell me?

 

S: It's not necessary, but it sure is helpful.

R: That's actually a good answer. My question is, therefore, to whom is it helpful? Who is getting satisfaction from sadhana? Only your ego. It is true to an extent you’re subduing your ego, but you and I know many people who’ve been doing sadhana for a hundred years and nothing happened. As a matter of fact some of you become worse. It's paradoxical. For some people it causes them to move ahead. But it's all in relative terms, and as we all know by now, relative terms do not exist. So for whom is sadhana?

Again it's for the mind and the ego. If you think it's helping, by all means continue. But remember I said, "You think it's helping." If you stop thinking you do not have to do any sadhana. I suppose sadhana is necessary as long as you believe you are the mind and the body. Again, after all, who is doing the spiritual disciplines? Does the self need to do that? Does consciousness need to do discipline? Does absolute reality need discipline? What needs discipline? The mind and the body. Therefore the more you are attached to the mind and body the more you have to do sadhana. Does that make sense?

 

S: Sadly, yes.

R: So I won't say to you, "Stop doing it," due to the fact that many of you have a strong connection with the body and your mind. As long as you do I suppose sadhana makes you sort of quiet for a while and gives you its own experience of some peace that doesn't last too long and causes, for some people, nirvakalpa samadhi. But if you're an aspiring jnani, what's the purpose of sadhana? You simply ask yourself, "Who needs to do this? I do. What is this I, this personal I? Where did it come from? How did it get here? Who gave it birth?" As you ask yourself these questions, that is your sadhana. That's all you need to do. But you continue doing this 24 hours a day. That's what it means by praying without ceasing. As you meet the challenges of the day you keep asking yourself, "To whom does this come? Who is feeling this condition? Who is going through this situation? Who feels emotional?" As you keep doing this all day long, you will find that you become more peaceful, you become happy, and your life becomes better. That's really the only sadhana you need.

 

But of course if you cannot do that then you have to do whatever you have to do. Whatever helps you, that's what you have to do. I suppose that's why it says that jnana marga, atma-vichara, is for the mature soul, one who can do this regularly, without reverting back to Hatha Yoga or Raja Yoga, or other Yogas. They all have their place, but self-inquiry is the royal way. It's the short cut. But it's up to you. It's your choice. And of course self-inquiry is merely to quiet the mind. It's a fast method to quiet the mind. For when you ask, "To whom does this come? It comes to me," and you hold on to that me by inquiring, "Who am I? What is I?" and saying "I - I" to yourself, "I - I," your mind becomes quieter and quieter. The deeper you go within yourself the quieter you become. And that's your sadhana.

 

That's all you have to do.

 

Any questions?

 

S: You said that you had an interesting day, but it seems that you were alluding to the phone calls and the door bells as being annoying to you, except that you were aware that it didn't bother you, that it wasn't any interruption.

R: No, I wasn't really aware of anything.

 

S: It was just something that was just happening?

R: Something was happening and I was responding accordingly. But there was no feeling or emotion or anything.

 

S: I see. The card you gave us on Sunday said, "Be an irrepressible fountain of happiness." If a person feels that way, then is that also just the ego entertaining itself or is this...?

R: It depends why you feel like that. Do you feel that way...

 

S: No specific reason.

R: Well that's good. That's all you need to do. If you feel like that because of a reason or because of condition…

 

S: Is it the same thing as... I can't find the words.

R: See, that card is really for the ego. When you're working out of the ego you have to force yourself to be happy, to try to be good to people, to develop loving kindness, and develop all these emotions.

 

S: What if it just happens to you without any purpose?

R: Then you're advanced. That's a good sign.

 

S: If opportunities, if the door bell ringing becomes a wonderful opportunity and the telephone ringing... when it rings, feeling like something wonderful is happening, is that back to the ego again too?

R: Well, when the door bell rings and the phone rings, it's not supposed to feel that something wonderful is happening. You're supposed to be wonderful within to begin with, and then that's just a happening that's going on. But if you were true...

 

S: What if everything seems to be a good lesson?

R: Well that's good for your growth then.

 

S: Even going bowling could be good way of working on oneself.

R: It could be. There's no question about that, but for whom? We get back to the ego again.

 

S: The ego goes forward.

R: The ego is everything. Everything you do is the ego. When the time comes, when you know with certainty beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are not the ego and you're not the body or the mind, then everything happens spontaneously. The door bell rings, you answer the door.

 

S: I suppose most of us would be acutely aware of that when you are not attached to our body.

R: Oh, of course. When you are not identified with the body there's nobody left to be aware. It's just a spontaneous happening. There are no words to really describe it.

 

S: I'm hogging all the questions here, but another thing, when you were talking about the Buddha kissing the courtesan and healing her. Healing was a good thing then, it was good for her, it was something he gave to her. It was, in other words, the appearance of her being a leper was not as good as the appearance of her being a healthy woman. So he choose to heal her.

R: For her it was necessary for this to happen. This was her experience.

 

S: It isn't necessary for everyone to be healed.

R: No, it's not. It's neither good nor bad. Because after all, what is healed? The body which doesn't even exist. So why should you waste your time healing a body that doesn't exist?

 

S: If there are more lessons to be learned in this life, then a person who is well is more able to advance, and I don't understand reincarnation, but is more able to, well to get further and, as you said the other night, come back with more advantages of understanding.

R: That's how it appears.

 

S: Pardon me?

R: That's how it appears. But in reality there's no causation for existence. So none of that is relevant. It's only relevant when your mind’s on that level.

 

S: There really is no cause and no effect?

R: In reality, it doesn't exist.

 

S: Absolute reality?

R: Absolute reality.

 

S: But on this plane as we know it, as we're making our way towards understanding.

R: But who knows this plane? The ego. Therefore if you work on destroying the ego there are no planes to contend with. And there's no relative world to contend with. It all goes back to the ego. The ego has to work things out. The ego has to make progress. The ego tells you you're healthy or sick. The ego gets you in trouble. So don't try to change the condition.

 

S: Can it get you out of trouble too?

R: When you destroy it.

 

S: It is trouble.

R: It's trouble to begin with.

 

S: The only trouble.

R: Sure, and it doesn't even exist.

 

S: If one is, as we are all, apparently stuck in this ego…

R: Speak for yourself. And it doesn't even exist.

 

S:... on this side of the room.

R: How do you know what's going on in this side of the room?

 

S: … as we are, as we appear to be, in this ego life here, if we find it easy, or not even easy, but natural or whatever, to live as an irrepressible source of happiness, that point of view seems to make everything work on that level, on a good level, as we see, as we hear, to want things to be smooth, like the plumbing doesn't break all the time.

R: Well, as far as the relative world is concerned, what you are saying is true. But there is a happiness that is beyond plumbing, there's a happiness beyond everything.

 

S: Well that's why we're here.

R: The idea is to find your real happiness, to find out what is real happiness. It's unconditioned. It has nothing to do with person, place or thing. Happiness is your real nature. You are happiness. Happiness is another word for you. But it's unconditioned. It's not replacing good for bad or bad for good. It has nothing to do with good and bad. Those are relative terms. Happiness is another word for absolute reality or consciousness, for ultimate oneness, for pure awareness. That's synonymous with happiness. And it's omnipresent. So when you have the real happiness you see it in the world because the world becomes yourself. And there is none other than your self that exists.

 

S: But there’s something beyond that, just being as we are, seeing beauty, happiness, joy, peace, everywhere.

R: Who sees that?

 

S: That's, even though it is the ego seeing that, it's still not good.

R: That's the opposite of bad.

 

S: Pardon me?

R: It's the opposite of bad.

 

S: Yes?

R: Seeing all these good things.

 

S: Yes?

R: So when you see a beautiful flower, and then it fades the next day and dies, you become disillusioned. You have to go and pick another flower.

 

S: But it never does die, because the seed in the flower is making another seed.

R: But as far as you are concerned there's birth and death. Just like with bodies. All flowers die and new ones are born, just like people. So you look at that condition and you say, "What does this mean?" I think you say that. "What's the purpose to all this? Is that what life is all about?"

 

S: Creation.

R: For whom is creation? Creation is a bad dream.

 

S: Creation is a bad dream…

S: Or a good dream.

R: No, all creation is a bad dream. Because some of creation is birth and death.

 

S: As a dream.

R: Yes.

 

S: That's why they don't worship Brahman anymore. They just worship Shiva.

S: Creation is a bad dream?

R: Mmm. Because everything you see happening in the world is happening in creation. The United States is about to go to war with Iraq, that's creation. And then you fall in love and you think it's going to last forever, that's creation. But people grow old and grow tired, they die. That's all part of creation. Now what is the cause of creation? The mind. When the mind slows down creation ceases and you just become your self. So do you want to be your self or be creation?

 

S: Is that mind synonymous with God?

R: Mind?

 

S: That mind.

R: Yes, synonymous with God, because God is a result of mind. Everything comes out of your mind. Everything that you behold: the universe, God, people, places, things, reincarnation, karma.

 

S: It would be God if it were to point to some kind of absolute.

R: Ishwara, personal God, that's right.

 

S: It's not using God as a word to point to that absolute.

R: No. When we talk about God, whenever I refer to God, I'm talking about absolute reality or consciousness.

 

S: So then God would be the mind.

R: No, not in that case. But usually when people refer to God, they refer to a personal God, which is OK as long as you believe you're the mind and body.

 

S: The ego does everything, and Bhagavad Gita says God is the doer, that's coming from the point of the body-mind .

R: God is the doer, yes. It comes from the body-mind . That's right.

 

S: So God, as we think of as God, as the creator, is still the ego's idea.

R: Exactly, yes. That's pure ego. But I don't like to call it pure ego, because it sounds important.

 

S: So who’s the doer?

R: There is no doer.

 

S: There is no doer?

R: No doer exists. Never has existed.

 

S: So does the Bhagavad Gita say God is the doer?

R: There is a point yes, it says the personal God is the doer. Because that God is...

 

S: Is what?

R: Is the doer, because God tells you do this and do that. You say God made me do it. That kind of a God is a doer.

 

S: Where is the relationship between absolute consciousness and functioning of the mind, if there is any?

R: Functioning of mind?

 

S: Yes, the mind that is an offspring of consciousness in some way.

R: I don't think so.

 

S: Where does it arise from?

R: It doesn't.

 

S: Where does the appearance come from?

R: The appearance comes from your imagination.

 

S: I imagine there is a mind.

R: It's called false imagination, that you imagine there's a mind and then there’s an appearance. It's like the optical illusion I always talk about, the sky is blue, or the mirage in the desert. You're looking at the desert and you see tanks coming, and they're coming and you think it’s false, and they blow you apart, and your troubles are over.

 

S: Shankaracharya said that all is illusion, there is only Brahman, and the universe and Brahman are one. But you don't have to come to a place of first seeing everything as an illusion. Then there is a place where everything is simply the self to that extent…

R: No, you don't. Because when you come to that place when you see everything as an illusion, it's the ego who sees all that. But if the ego is destroyed then where is the place, where is the illusion? Everything is gone with it. The ego/mind invents all these things.

 

S: The illusion is that there seems to be an illusion.

R: That's the illusion, right.

 

S: But you said you see the illusion, you see like pictures on the screen.

R: Sure I do. I see everybody sitting in this room. But I see everyone as consciousness.

 

S: Also, do you also see your body of Robert in this room too?

R: Well sure I do.

 

S: Do you see that as consciousness?

R: I see my body as consciousness.

 

S: We make the mistake of thinking that the bodies are seeing the bodies, and that's why we seem to see them as bodies. Whereas the truth is consciousness is not seeing it from a place, so it's only seeing itself.

R: It's just a different viewpoint. That's right. In a movie you see the screen and you see the images. But most of us forget there’s a screen, and we’re only concerned with the images. But the screen exists whether there are images or not. The screen always exists. In the same way consciousness exists whether you are aware of it or not. You can identify with your body and that's where all the trouble starts, or you can identify with consciousness and become free, and realize all of life is only superimposed on the screen, on consciousness.

 

S: And only the screen exists, period.

R: That's it.

 

S: Since there is no time, in a certain sense, we're always free to really make that choice. It's not like we're stuck for a long time and then maybe some day we'll get that choice. But it's really as long as we drop that idea that we're bound in time.

R: That's right. It's an idea. It's a belief.

 

S: That question, "How long does it take?" is really making the first assumption that we're stuck in that to begin with.

R: How long does it take? When you say how long does it take, it holds you back. It keeps you back from realizing.

 

S: This lady said that we see, or the ego sees, the flower, and in a sense that's really not true. Consciousness knows, in a sense, everything. It's only the reaction that seems to be ego.

R: There's no ego and there's no flower.

 

S: Right.

R: There's only consciousness.

 

S: And when there's reaction there seems to be an appearance of ego.

R: When the mind is active.

 

S: Right.

R: Everything takes place. Flowers, death, birth. Imagination.

 

S: Can the mind be active if there's no ego?

R: No. The mind and ego are synonymous. We use all these words. But they mean the same thing.

 

S: It seems like a person would become a vegetable.

R: To whom does it feel like that?

 

S: Oh, sure I know.

R: That's your ego you're fighting. Your ego doesn't want you to do anything. It wants you to stay the way you are. So it will tell you all these things about vegetables and everything else.

 

S: When you say about ego, not to react, I think this surely is, it’s impossible for the ajnani not to react. Because not reacting is reacting. I think maybe for the jnani

R: So why not start at the top, and just awaken and become free of it all.

 

S: When we ask these questions it’s like the awakened stage has to come first to someone. When we say other people, they are in the waking state of the ego that's asking the question. So right there you've got the fact that the waking state is appearing, and you're taking it to be real. So it seems like there's the time for inquiry.

R: Of course. You should spend your hours all day long asking yourself, "To whom does this come?" Every time you react to any condition ask the question, "To whom does it come?" Even if it's a good reaction.

 

S: Even if it's just seeing that the world is in front of your eyes,...

R: "To whom does it come?" And you should start as soon as you get out of bed.

 

S: I find it just as disruptive having something I wanted to come to me and that giddiness and the happiness, that supposed happiness for having it, I lose... self-inquiry on that as well....

R: Of course. Remember happiness and unhappiness are two sides of the same coin. Do not allow happiness to fool you, human happiness, because you know how long that lasts. Therefore work on yourself. Catch yourself. Catch yourself being humanly happy. Enjoy the happiness, but ask yourself, "To whom does it come?" and you'll realize that it's your ego being happy, with itself, for a while, and then it will turn into something else. Remember the only thing apparent in this life is change. Everything must change. Therefore do not become disillusioned, because you won the lottery or you met someone whom you love very dearly or you inherit a home or a car. Do not allow that to cause you not to work with your sadhana or self-inquiry.

 

S: From your point of view is it impossible to love one person more than another?

R: No.

 

S: Except to be able to see their development as different.

R: Who sees?

 

S: Well, from your point of view.

R: From my point of view, all is well.

 

S: All is well.

S: Robert, does the jnani get angry?

R: Nope, except sometimes to teach a lesson.

 

S: So he fakes it.

R: Sometimes.

 

S: He has the appearance of anger.

R: Sometimes.

 

S: Cause he effects happiness. I mean affects the appearance.

R: Sometimes.

 

S: Of course I'm not asking whether he faked it or not. What I'm asking is does anger come to a jnani?

R: Not really. Unless he fakes it.

 

S: I've been reading I Am That and Nisargadatta was known getting angry a lot.

R: I know

 

S: He did too.

R: He used to get very angry at Balsekar. But that was the appearance.

 

S: So you're saying it was an act.

R: Yes.

 

S: Because someone asked him a question on that and he said, "When I identify with the gunas, then anger arises. When I stop identifying with it, then anger disappears." So he was saying, at that moment, because I was identifying with it, the anger arose. But when I recognized the anger and discontinued identifying with it, it disappears.

R: He didn't mean that.

 

S: That's how he speaks.

R: If he spoke like that he wouldn't be a jnani.

 

S: No, no..

S: Well that’s what he said in the book.

R: I know. There's no emotion in the jnani. There is no anger or happiness, human, unless he's putting on an act. Because the mind has been completely transcended.

 

S: There are no bodies.

R: There are no bodies?

 

S: So he's acting.

R: Apparently.

 

S: He acted a lot.

R: He sure did

 

S: That couldn't be understood just as his samskara? I remember reading in Tripura Rahasya, they were talking about three types of jnanis. One type completely destroys any kind of samskara. Another type, that hasn't occurred, and that he draws from that from time to time to appear to be human I suppose.

R: Yes, I recall that. But that's only for an interpretation of a book. But you have to understand, in reality there's only one jnani, not two or three or four.

 

S: But I suppose the question really is then was Nisargadatta coming from the level of the mind or was he a jnani.

R: He was a jnani.

 

S: So regardless of all the things we hear about him, I mean I heard at one point he was really angry at this one woman because she was going to see another teacher and he was trying to throw the table at her and yelling at her, "Get out, get out, go and see him, don’t come back," you know.

S: Did he miss with the table?

R: They do all those things. But it was all in fun.

 

S: Many things in I Am That can be misleading.

R: Yes they can.

 

S: If you don't read it the right way.

R: That's why I've told you many times, those books are dangerous to some people.

 

S: Somebody said, an old teacher of mine, that Jesus never laughed. Is that true?

R: He never laughed?

 

S: I don't believe it.

R: I wasn't there. I don't know.

 

S: But if you're a jnani, and Jesus was the same, the consciousness would be the same, would that permit... I've seen you laugh.

R: No, see what you do, as you develop yourself, you have some of your personality left in your body.

 

S: You have what?

R: Some of your personality. That’s sort of human. That's still part of the illusion, that appears to be there. So when you see a jnani reacting in a different way it has to do with their personality, which doesn't even exist. But it appears to exist for your sake. None of these quirks exist. But they appear to, for your sake.

 

S: So from the onlooker actually the jnani looks like anyone else.

R: Yes, and they see in the jnani what's in them.

 

S: But don't we see in each other also what is in us, not just the jnani?

R: Yes we do. The onlooker sees, wherever he looks, he sees himself.

 

S: From the point of the view of the onlooker the jnani is not any different than anyone else. How is one to distinguish?

R: That's why it is said that you must turn within yourself and the answer will come out of yourself and you will know.

 

S: But Ramana would say that you can tell because when you're in the presence of a jnani you feel a great peace. In other words their peace becomes your peace.

R: That's true to an extent. But if the jnani is walking in the market place and you bump into him you will not be able to tell, usually. But if you're in a class with a jnani then there's a peace.

 

S: But what I'm saying is when people were with Nisargadatta he was getting angry and carrying on. Obviously he looked like anyone else.

R: But people felt a great peace with him, except those he chased away.

 

S: A lot of people didn't feel anything around Ramana.

R: That's right.

 

S: Yeah, I guess that's the point.

R: It all depends on yourself. If you work on yourself, if you go within, then you'll be led to the right teacher at the right time and all will go well with you. But if you're only doing things externally you'll make a lot of mistakes and go to the wrong places.

 

S: If that is also part of where you need to be at that time too?

R: Yes. Everything is preordained. So why worry about these things? Turn within, find yourself, and be free. Most people go around saying who’s a jnani, who’s not, who’s enlightened, who’s not. That's a waste of energy. Forget about all this. It doesn't matter. Find yourself. And then see if those questions come to you.

 

S: In the process of finding yourself the question of practice comes up. And is not vichara itself a practice?

R: You can call it a practice, but it's a technique for destroying the ego. And if you're practicing enough, when you call it a practice, you will see amazing results. But we're using words as semantics. We say this is a practice, this is a technique. It doesn't matter what you call it. We should all do it.

 

S: Well it's not to say as if vichara is the only...

S: Technique to destroy the ego?

S:...the only path?

R: Oh, there are many paths of course. It depends on the temperament of the devotee.

 

S: But it is a practice itself. So in the end if everything is predetermined, the question arises why do a practice at all, nevertheless.

R: Because you act as if it is not predetermined. And you are to act as if nothing is predetermined, even though it is. You will do what you are supposed to do. That's why we are told to stop reacting completely, and to dive deep within the self and become liberated.

 

S: But jnana marga is a pathless path.

R: Sure you can say that. Of course it is. But what good are those terms if they don't mean anything.

 

S: Well, it almost seems as though you were saying that, well we need to do vichara and you know, we talked about surrender, that was another path, and witnessing. What I'm getting at is, whether we should think in terms of cause and effect. If we do this, that will be the cause, and effect will be self-realization. What I'm saying is that self-realization ultimately is something that just happens of itself. In the meantime you just pretend, well if I do this, this will happen.

R: What you should do is to stop thinking.

 

S: Touché.

R: And you should do everything you can to stop your mind from thinking these things. Because all the things that you say seem important, but they have no validity to atma-vichara. The less we think the better off we are. Even about practice.

 

S: That’s a question I have, about the mind. What is the point? There is a point of encounter between an inquisitive categoric mind, wants to know everything, only it takes one side. And the other side is, you yourself have said before, don't take for granted all that I tell you. Come up with your own conclusions. The Buddha said, "Be a lamp unto yourself."

R: Yes.

 

S: So you have to find a medium term or position between those two extremes.

R: Not really.

 

S: No?

R: Because when you say you have to find, who has to find? You go right back to the ego.

 

S: Right.

R: All we have to do is still the mind.

 

S: Right.

R: All of the things that help us still the mind are good, as long as they are helping us to still the mind. But if they make us too active, they're on the wrong track.

 

S: Trying to clarify any point to the utmost extreme, or trying to read too much. All that fits into the ego or the mind extremely.

R: Yes. Simplicity. Keep everything simple, quiet.

 

S: Who doesn't want to accept atma-vichara. I mean if I don't want to accept atma-vichara as a practice, if I don't want to practice, also I'm sort of resistant. And who is resisting? It's the ego I guess.

R: Of course. And then you look for other paths and you try this and you try that for a couple of months and you try something else. But you never sit down and try to quiet the mind. You keep searching. The mind searches. The mind never wants to rest. So you've got to observe your mind, you've got to become the witness to your mind, and keep inquiring, "For whom is the mind?" And then you come home free.

 

S: We're really looking for our questions to be extinguished, and not answered.

R: True, of course.

 

S: When we refer to the mind we're just referring to thoughts that occur. There isn't anything such as a mind.

R: Exactly. A mind doesn't exist.

 

S: No.

R: The mind is only a conglomeration of thoughts. So nothing of your mind is an entity. It's the thoughts that you have to subdue because you think too much. It doesn't really matter what's right, what's wrong, what's good, what's bad. All thinking has to stop, and then reality comes of itself.

 

S: Ramana said that the mind is nothing more than a bundle of thoughts.

R: That's true. There is no location for that bundle of thoughts.

R: There's no what?

 

S: No location.

R: No location.

 

S: I mean there isn't a bundle...

S: There's no real bundle.

S: It's a finite bundle that finally gets the last stick, the last thought. It's gone.

 

R: That's right. Thoughts do not even exist, but they appear to exist and that's called a personal I. So that's why we're told to follow the I. And when the I disappears, so will everything else.

 

S: Follow the I inward to the source, not outward.

R: Inward, yes. If you follow it outwards you have all kinds of problems. You follow inwardly and it becomes the I am, pure reality.

 

S: It’s funny how we take words it's to be so real, like the word bundle.

R: Like what?

 

S: Like the idea of "bundle.” Funny how you give reality to these things that are just meant to be tentative descriptions. Like we miss the intention then.

R: And the mind images all these things how they look, and makes a case out of them.

 

S: Yes, it will.

R: And then we have to destroy everything.

 

S: That is because we don't really focus on the silence. We focus on what comes out of it.

R: Exactly. Be still and know that I am God.

(long pause)

See? Most of you are thinking. Why do you allow yourself to think? Catch yourself before you make up stories. Always catch yourself before the thoughts go past your nose. And you can catch yourself by simply observing and being aware that you’re thinking, becoming the witness to your thinking, or keep asking yourself, "To whom do these thoughts come?" But do it as often as you have to. That's why satsang is so important, because it's easier here. So if you come to enough satsangs you carry it through during the working day and you keep remembering not to think. And the remembering becomes stronger, and stronger, and stronger, until you actually stop your thoughts. And then you're free. There's really nothing profound about this teaching. Simple. Stop thinking.

 

S: So simple it eludes me.

R: Who is eluded? You can never be eluded. Never put yourself down. Watch what you say about yourself. No matter how many mistakes you make, get up again, brush yourself off, and carry on.

 

S: Now that is one problem I find about being old, that there were so many things in my memory that I find myself carrying that phrase I heard somewhere and I thought it was funny, and I said, it wasn't my thought, "So simple it eludes me." I think W. C. Fields said it as a matter of fact.

R: Really? Where do all these thoughts stay? There is no cause. So they don't even exist. They appear to exist as I. That's why I tell you get rid of the I and all your thoughts will go also. There's nothing else to do but be still.

 

S: Robert, in the phrase "I am consciousness," what I is that?

R: The real I. I am consciousness is simultaneously both correct.

 

S: And when you say to us, "I love you," you were speaking from?..

R: I'm speaking of the universal I. I as omnipresence. Love as omnipresence. You as omnipresence. So the I is the entire universe, the I is the self, the I is pure consciousness.

 

S: But when we, speaking from our ego's point of view, say we love you, it seems like in most of life, it seems manipulative.

R: Well, change it.

 

S: Well I don't think I mean it that way. I think it comes from a deeper place.

R: Well why even think about that?

 

S: Pardon me?

R: Why think about that at all? Why do you think about it at all? Stop thinking and just do it.

 

S: Say I love you?

R: Speak from your heart. In other words do not think where it's coming from. You don't want to walk around all day saying, "This came from here and this came from there." Simply say what you mean and forget it.

 

S: It's afterwards that comes in the doubt.

R: Yes. Of course.

 

S: There's no doubt at the time.

R: Exactly.

 

S: It's not the ego until that doubt comes in.

R: That's right. It's always yourself. You are always yourself until your mind starts thinking. Then you lose it.

 

S: But even when you're like thinking of your grocery bill, or you know, that's not a problem.

R: You're still yourself if everything is spontaneous. But as soon as you become attached, when you start worrying about it, or fearing it, or thinking something is wrong, then you can know the ego is at work.

 

S: It's the manipulation of whatever occurs.

R: Manipulation.

 

S: If it occurs and it's gone there's no problem.

R: If it occurs and you let it go there's no problem.

 

S: It's the analization.

R: Analization.

 

S: What you say Robert is that every thought is non-dual and someone concerned... is just the I.

R: Yes. All thoughts are pure.

 

S: Non-dual.

R: Until you start thinking about it.

 

S: Someone concerned, just the I, starts identifying with them.

S: So when you say don't think, you don't mean stop all thoughts. You mean stop identifying with the thoughts that are occurring.

R: Yes.

 

S: Thoughts come before the thinker comes on the picture.

S: So is there any point where they stop, where the thoughts do stop?

R: The thoughts do stop, yes, and you just act spontaneously. But they appear like thoughts, but they are no longer thoughts. For instance if I think I'm getting up off this chair, the thought comes to me spontaneously, but that's the end. So I'm not really thinking about getting off the chair. I just did.

 

S: That's like the end, the duration, is no longer present. The thought arose, died, there was no concern.

R: That's right.

 

S: There is no separation between the thought and the action.

R: Exactly. It's all one.

 

S: One.

S: So really what happened is you lost all sense of division like there was separate thought identities. They come, they end, another one comes, it's just like…

R: There's no beginning and no end.

 

S: Right.

S: So actually non-duality is the real thing, and what appears to appear is the I or the one concerned with thoughts, and that's when duality surges up.

R: It all has to do with time and space. Time and space are non-existent.

 

S: That's still the personality or ego.

R: The ego has to do with time and space. So when time and space stops everything is spontaneous and there's no ego, and all causation ceases. Causation has to do with time and space.

 

S: So memory ends too.

R: Memory ends also.

 

S: This is so important Robert, because when you say that we should stop the thoughts, I hear what you're implying is not to slow them, but actually let the thoughts be as they are in a non-dual way. The only thing is, don't let the I come up in between or

R: You can say that.

 

S: Or the duality to appear in that sense.

R: Yes, if you just are spontaneous...

 

S: Right.

R:...and you just act from your spontaneity, then you're safe. But if you have to think about it too much, then you're caught up in it again.

 

S: Right.

S: Sitting here, there's no need for thoughts.

R: Right.

 

S: There's nothing to do. So there shouldn't be any thoughts. So when the thoughts are coming, and I catch them and they go down, I play along the thought line.

R: You keep catching your thoughts faster and faster.

 

S: Witnessing just takes over.

R: And then it all starts slowing down.

 

S: When you're spontaneous there's no possibility of the ego occurring.

R: There's no ego at all.

 

S: Then it's vanished.

R: It's gone. The ego has to do with thinking.

 

S: Excuse me, but when you try to catch the thoughts, there is an observer there which is the I-thought or the ego trying to somehow catch the thoughts.

R: The I, the ego, the mind, simultaneously the same. It's the same thing. So when you think, it becomes the I. I think. Then I act. My mind thinks. But when you're spontaneous there's no I to think.

 

S: But that's how it usually happens. Everything is spontaneous. But the I still almost is in an atomic... time immediately...

R: I think.

 

S:...and captures the actual thought or the thought which is occurring.

R: That's right. You identify with the I. So when you work on yourself and keep asking, "To whom does this come?" the personal I becomes weaker and weaker until it disappears.

 

So let's practice this together. Let's become still. Now what we're going to do now is just close our eyes and watch our thoughts, and catch them. As soon as you see yourself thinking ask yourself, "To whom does it come? It comes to me." Hold on to the me and ask yourself, "Who am I? Who am I?" over and over again. Or you can say, "I - I, I - I." Then the thoughts will start again. Do the whole procedure over again, "To whom do they come? To me. Who am I? Who is this I to whom they come? What is this I?" Then some more thoughts will creep in. And you do it again, and again, and again until they start slowing down. And as you say, "Who am I?" that will last longer and longer, until it stops. So let's try that.

...

So remember to love yourself, to bow down to yourself, to worship yourself, because God dwells in you as you. I love you all. Peace until we meet again. Have a good time. Enjoy life. Keep eating.

 

Does a Sage Get Angry?

 

Does a Sage Get Angry?

 

Robert: Hello, welcome to the, what do we call ourselves? the being nobody group, because when you leave here you'll be nobody. If you want to be somebody you came to the wrong place. We are a bunch of nobodies. How many of you are here for the first time? Please do not be dismayed by what you hear. I am not a lecturer. I am not a philosopher. I am not a sermonizer. Is there such a thing as a sermonizer? I've heard of womanizer.

 

Student: Are you a womanizer?

 

R: I'm not a sermonizer. We're one big happy family here. Some families aren't too happy. So we're one big family, we're one big, we're one.

I want to thank most of you for sharing your Christmas and Chanukah gifts with me. It's very unusual being in Los Angeles. In the past I never used to take anything that was given to me. But since I got to Los Angeles things have changed. Anyway, thanks.

 

I received a phone call this morning from somebody who isn't here now. They asked me to elaborate on the question that Glen asked last week (Glen's in the corner.) His question was, "Does a realized person, a sage, a jnani become angry?" and I briefly touched on that. I was most succinct, didn't say too much about it. Somebody wanted me to elaborate on that for some reason. It's an interesting question. Humans get angry. Therefore when you've reached self-realization, do you still have feelings of anger, of rage, or outrage? A question like this is usually asked by a seeker or a disciple. A devotee couldn't care less. When you ask a question like this you're asking from the viewpoint of the ajnani, and there are different answers. It's very paradoxical.

 

It reminds me of the time I was initiated by Paramahansa Yogananda in self-realization when I was 17, prior to going to India to see Ramana Maharshi. And during the initiation I was on my knees and he put his hand on my head and he said, "Robert, do you promise to love me no matter what I do, or no matter what you think you see me do?" I hesitated. I said to myself, "What is he going to do? Is he going to kill somebody, and wants me to love him no matter what he does?" But then I also realized that I didn't have all the answers. So I said, “Yes.”

 

It's only by being around him two or three months that I realized what he meant. He reacted differently to different people, to different personalities. It was Christmas and he was living with the monks in Encinitas at that time. So I recall one monk came over to him and said, "Master,” they called him Master, "may I go visit my family at Christmas time? I'll be gone two weeks.” He became very sweet and he said, "Of course you can. You should see your family. They miss you. Go and have a good time and come back in two weeks."

 

Then somebody else came and kneeled before him and he said, "Master, may I go see my family during Christmas?" He became outraged and started screaming at the monk and said, "How dare you ask me a question like this. Why do you want to see your family. They don't want to see you. Of course you can't go. Don't ask stupid questions. Go back to your quarters," This was the dilemma, same question with different answers.

 

I consequently realized that he was able to read into the person. He knew exactly what was going on with each person. He couldn't possibly give the same answer to two different people. He realized the first person had a loving family, and the first person had high self-esteem, so it wouldn't matter where the person goes. Their heart is always on truth, on reality, on God. But the second person had low self-esteem, and if he left he would be dragged by the powers of maya back into reality, of materiality that is, the reality of materiality, and he probably wouldn't even come back again. That's why he gave that answer.

 

And so it is with the answer to the question that Glen asked. Sometimes a sage puts on an act, fakes it for the benefit of the devotees or the disciples or the seekers. It's necessary. If you recall the incident with Jesus and the money changers, Jesus supposedly got very angry when he went to the temple and saw all of the merchants selling their wares on the steps of the temple. He overturned the table and said, "How dare you do this in my Father's house?" and chased them all away. It appears he also got angry. But did he? When you speak of a sage, of a jnani, supposedly they are transcendent. They've transcended. They have no ego, no personality left. So what gets angry? It is the ego that gets angry, the mind. If there is no ego mind left how can you possibly become angry? Therefore a true sage, a jnani, can never really become angry for he doesn't have the mechanism to become angry again. It's been transcended.

 

That's like the story of the Zen monk who came to the Master and said, "Master, I'm always getting angry. I can't help it. What shall I do?" So the Master took out his sword and cut off his head and said, "Let's see you get angry now." And as the story goes, he became enlightened. His head flew back on and he was realized.

 

There is no one to become angry. Think about yourself. You have emotions, you become angry, you have all kinds of psychological symptoms. Where do they come from? Why are they there? You have to ask yourself, "Why do I become angry? Why do I have these emotions? Why do I allow my mind to think past my nose? I'm responsible for my own life," That's how you should talk to yourself. "If I have all these negative emotions, how can I possibly function in the world? I blame others. I see the faults of others. I'm always judging. I'm always criticizing. Am I right? Even though if I appear to be right, I'm wrong. I'm wrong simply because I do not understand the universe. I usually get angry because things are not going my way. The world is not turning the way I want it to, so I criticize, I judge, for I believe things should be this way instead of that way. I believe people should do this instead of that. I believe this person should be this way instead of that way. Why do I believe this?"

This is the way you should talk to yourself. "What is it that's in me that makes me this way? Is it a power? Is it a force? Is it some kind of entity? Am I possessed? Actually who am I? Who am I with this great temper, with this anger?" And as you keep inquiring, "Who am I?" you will begin to focus on the I. "Who am I? What is this I? I'm always referring to I. I am angry. I am disillusioned. I have a bad temper. Why if this I weren't here there would be no one to experience these verities I just mentioned."

 

So what is the source of I? The problem really isn't the temper or the anxiety or the depression. The problem is the I. It is the I who has this problem, not me. Subsequently the secret is to dissolve the I, to annihilate the I. For I reason out that if the I is destroyed there will be no one left to get this problem. So how do I dissolve the I? Simply by inquiring, "Where did the I come from?" I wake up, I say, "I slept." I had a dream, I wake up, I say, "’I dreamt." I am awake, I say, "Now I am awake." I feel depressed, I say, "I am depressed," There is always I. Reasoning will tell you that all of your troubles are attached to I. The troubles have no validity by themselves. The disappointment or the disillusionments, the anger, the temper, they have no validity. It is the I that appears to have validity. So where did the I come from? Who gave it birth? Who feels it? Again, I do. It's always I. Who am I? What is the source of the I? By holding on to the I and following it to the source it will dissolve. It will disappear of its own accord.

 

So you inquire. Whenever you have a problem you must ask yourself, "To whom does it come?" It makes no difference how many problems you may have. It makes no difference what is disturbing you, how serious your particular problem may loom in your mind. The method is always the same: "To whom does it come? Why it comes to me." Me is the same as I. You hold on to the me or you hold on to the I. You do not concentrate on the I. You concentrate on the source of the I. But you hold on to the I like you're holding on to a rope. You’re climbing down to the end of the rope. And every time you say to yourself, "Who am I?" or "What is this I?" you're going deeper and deeper within yourself, deeper and deeper, into oblivion, into emptiness, into the void. As you repeat, "Who am I?" the space between the thoughts "Who am I?" becomes greater and greater, and you begin to identify with the space between the thoughts of "Who am I?"

 

All of a sudden you find a profound peace overtaking you, a peace which passeth all understanding. This is not a peace that you've known before. It's different. It's a peace that overtakes you completely, and you lose your body awareness. It has nothing to do with the things of the world. It's a blissful peace. You remain in that state. Included in that peace is a feeling of immortality. Without using words you just know, "I was never born and I can never die." It is as if you just studied a course at the university for five years, you're so sure of these things. You just know that all is well and everything is unfolding as it should. There is nothing wrong anywhere. You feel wonderful. You have become your self. You have not changed into anybody. You have become your natural self. That is your true self.

 

This feeling never leaves you. It is always with you. Whether you work, or you sleep, or you do nothing, this profound peace, this love, this feeling of immortality never leaves you. The question arises, "Who is born, who dies?" and the answer comes, "No one." There is no cause for existence. Existence is not real. You just know this. Whereas before you were identifying with the material world, the material world was real to you. But now you just know you have just become infinity itself. You become aware of the fact that this universe does not exist.

And something tells you further that the universe exists as if in a dream, that's all. When you're dreaming, you find yourself in the universe. You're flying in a plane, you're cooking, you're eating, you're killing, you're making love, you're doing all kinds of things. It's all happening in your dream. It seems so real. If anyone comes and tells you you're dreaming, you refuse to believe them, because the dream appears very, very real. Then you wake up and you're back to the waking state, which is just another dream.

 

In any event you are aware of all these things instantaneously, and no one can ever tell you again that the world is real. You are unable to explain it, for there are no words to describe reality. You just know. You also realize that there is nothing in all this dream world that can possibly harm you or cause you unhappiness, and you look at the world as an optical illusion. It appears to be here but it's not. You consequently stop reacting to person, place or thing, for if you react you are identifying with the dream world. You don't actually stop reacting. There's something inside of you that no longer allows you to react. You have separated yourself from the relative universe.

 

The question is, "Why do you want to become like this?" For it sounds to the average person like you become a babbling idiot. You're no longer part of this world. You have to ask yourself therefore, "What is this world all about? This world is a world of constant change. Look at my body. I am not the same person I was ten years ago or twenty years ago. I've changed completely. And I'm getting older and the body will die sooner or later. What am I working for? Why do I do all these things I do every day? Why am I so concerned with this life and that life, and this person and that person, and the world situation? I do not understand anything."

 

And that's the beginning of divine ignorance. You realize that you do not know what anything is. As an example, you look at a tree. You do not know what a tree is. You were born into a situation where a tree was evident for you. It's just there. People call it tree. They could have called it dog or cat. They call it tree. Where did it come from? What came first, the seed or the tree? It's a mystery. You don't know. You look at a spider, a dog, a cat. What are they doing here? Where do they come from? What is their purpose? You have no idea what anything is and you have no idea what you are. Therefore you no longer condemn, you no longer hate, you no longer judge, you no longer find fault, you no longer try to change anybody. You leave the world alone. You leave people alone. You leave everything alone. You keep working on yourself.

 

What are you doing with your life? How did you go through your life today? What kind of thoughts went through your mind? What kind of feelings and emotions did you have? You have to begin somewhere. Instead of identifying with your emotions, your problems, begin gradually to change by asking yourself the question, "Who am I? Who has these problems?" It makes no difference how long it takes. Time and space do not exist. They appear to exist.

 

We have learned that whatever you say, whatever you do to someone else, however you act, returns to you. Why? Because there's only one I. There is one self. There are not two or three selves. There is only one self. Therefore what I give to you, what I take from you, what I do to you, I am doing to myself. If I hate you, I hate myself. The trouble is we do not see the results immediately so we think we're getting away with something. You can not get away with anything. Everything always comes back to you.

 

As an example, say you're a pickpocket and you pick a person's pocket, and you find a wallet with $50,000, and you say, "Great. Look what I got," You justify it. You say, "That person is rich, they don't need it. I do," You move to Canada and you buy a house, you get a job. Ten years pass. This is the falsity of time and space. There appears to be time, but there’s not. It's really happening instantaneously, but time appears to be real. So ten years passed, you have a new home, a new job. One day you come home. You find your house on fire. All of your personal belongings that you loved so much, have all burned up. When you take an inventory you see that there was $50,000 worth of damage. It came back to you, but in a different way.

 

When we understand these things we stop playing games and we get down to spiritual work. We forget about all these human traits, and we begin to realize, "My true nature is consciousness. I am absolute reality. I am pure awareness, ultimate oneness. This is my real nature. And even if I do not feel it right now, I am going to work on myself continuously even if it takes me ten million lifetimes, I will work on myself diligently and do what has to be done, until I become free."

 

The rest is up to you.

Every Thing can be reduced to Nothing with Self Inquiry

Robert: To know total happiness is to quiet your mind. When your mind becomes quiet, quiescent, happiness ensues all by itself. There are many ways to do this. One of the best ways that I know is chanting. Chanting has a positive effect upon the nervous system. It also has other subtle qualities that cause the mind to become still and quiet. So lets prepare ourselves by doing a little chanting, shall we?

(Chanting)

 

I'm not really interested in any of your problems because I know that you are absolute reality. You believe that something is wrong with your life, you're not being treated right, you don't understand too much, or whatever it may be. It's a lie. You are absolute reality, perfect intelligence. You are pure awareness. This is your nature and there is nothing else. You allow your mind to dictate to you whether you're sick or well, healthy or poor, richer or not richer. You allow your mind to tell you all these things. Your mind is a liar. Your mind does not understand because you won't give it power, by feeding it more and more problems. When you begin to accept the fact that you are absolute intelligence your mind frees. It dissipates. Your mind is a tool that causes you problems. Stop your mind. Annihilate your mind. Do not allow your mind to tell you anything.

 

Things appear to happen in the world. You observe certain things and you react. Yet we live in a world of duality. Everything changes. Nothing is ever the same in this world. Therefore how can you believe what the world shows you? What can you believe? You can only believe yourself. You can only know that your self is absolute truth. I'm speaking of your self with a capital S. You are your self. There is not your self and you. There is only the self. There is only absolute awareness, absolute reality. If you would only accept this and not try to analyze, not try to compare. Just accept that “I am absolute reality,” for your self. When I use the words “I am,” I am referring to consciousness. Consciousness is omnipresence.

Therefore when I say, “I'm absolute reality,” I include the whole universe. I'm not speaking of myself, Robert. I include you. And if you accept my words there will be a transformation in your consciousness, and your consciousness will melt into absolute consciousness, and you will be free.

 

All I can really do for you is to confess my own reality, and my own reality is also your reality. I am sat-chit-ananda. I am Parabrahman. I am ultimate oneness. I am divine love, pure consciousness. I am that I am, emptiness, nirvana. There is nothing else. All of your worries, all of your fears, have no foundation. There is only the one and you are that. Why will you not accept it? Think of what you believe is wrong with your life for a moment. Where did this concept come from? Your upbringing? Samskaras from past lives? You begin to believe that you are the body, your mind, and that causes you to have other problems. And you identify with those problems. But I say to you that you are absolutely clean. The past is wiped out. There are no samskaras. There are no past lives. There is no sin. You are pure as the driven snow. Have you ever seen a driven snow? Where did that saying come from? I didn't make it up. But you are pure. There is nothing impure about you. You are divine. You are consciousness.

 

Why will you not believe me? You believe you are somebody else. You believe you are human, you're the body and your name is Mary, or Jane, or John or Joe. Remember your name was given to you at birth. What if your parents never gave you a name? Who would you be? You probably would pick out your own name. But you are not your name. You are not your body. You are not what appears to be. You are more than that.

 

The reason that humanity seems to suffer is because it believes it is human. It believes it is separate. And when you believe you're separate you begin to believe somebody is trying to do something to you. You have to compete with life or with other people. So you're trying to do strange things to others, to be above them, to outwit them. But I say to you, you do not have to do any of these things. You simply have to recognize the truth about yourself and you will be free. You simply have to accept that you are absolute intelligence, absolute awareness. That's you. The past no longer exists for you. It never was. It's a dream. The past can no longer hurt you. The future does not exist. Only now exists. Now exists as consciousness, as absolute reality, and as consciousness, self-contained. There is nothing else.

 

It is the nature of the mind to be restless, to want to find new things all the time, to go to new places, to become bored. It is the nature of the mind to move from place to place, to find new friends, new environments. In reality you can stay where you are forever and be totally happy. In reality you do not have to do anything to be totally happy. I'm speaking of mentally. Your body came to this earth to do what it has to do, but it has nothing to do with you. Watch yourself, be aware, but do not react. Unhappiness comes because you react to person, place or thing. When you no longer react to person, place or thing you’re free. We always want change in our lives. As if we make a change, we'll be free. Some of us get married, and we get tired of marriage after a few years, and we want to change. We think that will make us happy. But we find it doesn't. There is no thing that can make you happy except the experience of knowing the self.

 

Even at a meeting like this, if you keep coming all the time, the average person becomes bored after a while and they want to find a new teacher, a new environment. Then they get bored where they go. It never ends. People talk at this meeting of finding a house in Phoenix, or New Orleans, or New Mexico or in Seattle, and having an ashram, and then seem to live happily ever after. But if you're not happy now you can never be happy no matter where you go. Wherever you go you’ve got to take yourself with you.

 

Most people make the mistake of thinking about the future. They say, "In the future I'll be happy, when I get married, when I get divorced, when I find a new job, when I quit my job and do nothing." But I say to you, unless you are happy now there will be no happiness in the future. Every ideal condition you're looking for, you have to acquire it now. If you want peace of mind you can't run to another country or to another city to try to find it. Peace of mind exists exactly where you are. Peace of mind is you. But you think it's something on the outside. There is a person who hates their job, and they say, "I'm going to move to Seattle. The people are nicer there. I do not seem to get along with anyone at my job. I'm unhappy here in Los Angeles." So you move to Seattle. The environment is new, everything seems to be all right. Within six months Seattle becomes Los Angeles. Same problem, different people. You've got to take yourself with you wherever you go. You can't escape from yourself. Do not believe that others will make you happy, that a new environment will make you happy. It may appear to do so in the beginning. Sure there are people who never stay in one place long. They get bored and go somewhere else. They get bored and go somewhere else. How long can they keep it up? In the last analyses you have to confront yourself. No one can bring you happiness. No one can bring you peace except yourself. You have to stay where you are, even though the environment or your circumstances may seem unpleasant in the beginning.

 

The wise person remains where they are and begins to work on themselves. They begin to transcend the body-mind . To the extent you begin to transcend the body-mind , to that extent you find happiness and peace. How do you do this? It has been shown to us by great sages. The secret again is to quiet the mind by any means you can. You see, your real nature, remember, is pure happiness, absolute reality. It is only the mental impressions that make you believe otherwise. Therefore get rid of the mental impressions.

 

How do you do this? It begins by taking control of the mind. That's the beginning stage, of observing your fears, observing all of the thoughts that come to you. Realizing who thinks, and watching, becoming the witness to whatever goes on in your mind. I'm not speaking of taking a negative thought and changing it to a positive thought. Negative and positive are both sides of the same coin. It's all part of duality. For every negative there is a positive. And for every positive there is a negative. For every up there is a down. For every front there is a back. You want to transcend this. And you do this not by playing with your mind but by becoming still and watching your mind, witnessing your mind, observing your mind, in a gentle relaxed way.

 

It makes no difference how terrible the mental impressions may come to you. It makes no difference how deep your fears are. It makes no difference how justified you feel for being sorry for yourself because things are not the way you'd like them to be. That's the whole secret. Do not allow your mind to tell you anything else. For the mind will always tell you, "Look at you, you have a right to feel bad. You have a right to fear. Look at the kind of world in which we live, man's inhumanity to man, the precarious condition of today's world." Then it will tell you about your own life. "Something bad may happen to you tomorrow. You may go bankrupt. Your husband or wife may leave you. You may lose your job." All these thoughts come to everyone. You are not alone.

 

But I say to you there's a way to transcend this and become the self that you are, if only you would do it. You watch your mind, you observe your mind. You look intelligently at what your mind is. You do not listen to it. Remember also, we're not trying to exchange bad thoughts for good thoughts. Your mind will try to please you and once in a while give you what you want. Then you will start to believe in it again and believe it's your friend. But then all of a sudden the carpet will be pulled from under you, and you will feel disillusioned again, discouraged. Do not allow your mind to control you. Realizing that as you observe the mind, as you watch, as you stop reacting to what your mind tells you, your mind becomes weaker and weaker and weaker, and the thoughts come less and less and less. To the extent your mind becomes weaker, the happier you become. That'll be proof to you.

 

Then you can say to yourself, "Imagine if I annihilate my mind completely, I will have total happiness." And that's true. You begin to work on yourself. Makes no difference what anyone else is doing. Leave everyone else alone. Do not compare yourself with anyone. Be gentle with yourself. Be at peace with the whole universe. Reconcile yourself with the whole universe, with the mineral kingdom, with the vegetable kingdom, with the animal kingdom, and with the human kingdom. Have no enemies. Allow yourself to love everything.

 

As you begin to work on yourself this way you will find all the old mental impressions breaking down. Your true nature will begin to shine forth. As you continue on this path, watching, observing, the day will come when you can ask yourself, "Who am I?" It will come by itself. It's nothing you read in a book. It's nothing anyone tells you. It comes by itself. It's a natural consequence of observing your mind and watching your mind. If you do this long enough the question will come by itself. One day, as you are observing your mind, something will say from deep within yourself, "Who am I? Who am I? Am I my body? If I were my body I would always be the same. But I am not the same body I was 10 years ago. When I was a baby I was a different body. When I was a teenager I was a different body. Now I'm an adult. I'm still different. And I'm getting older. Who will I be then? When I'm feeble and cannot walk anymore and my days are limited, who will I be then?" You think deeply about these things. It comes by itself.

 

Then something else will happen to you. You will begin to notice every time you refer to yourself as a baby, as a teenager, as an adult, as an old person, you're saying I. And that's a clue. I always seems to be there. I was a baby. I was a teenager. I am an adult. I am going to grow old. I'm going to die one day. I'm always referring to I. When you go to sleep, you say, "I am going to sleep." When you dream you say, "I dreamt." When you're awake, you say, "I am awake." You begin to wonder to yourself, "Who is this I? Who am I really?" Just by asking those questions phenomenal results will ensue in your life, for there is an answer deep within the recesses of your heart. The answer will come one day as a flash of light and then quietness. At that time you'll realize that you are the universe. You are the self. You are not yourself as a separate entity. You’re the omnipresent self. You will feel It without words. You will know that you are the absolute reality, that you are no thing that can be explained. You are pure love, happiness. It will happen of its own accord.

 

What I'm giving you is not a teaching. It is not a philosophy. It is a way of life. You cannot force it to happen. People have been trying to force it to happen for years, to become self-realized, to become free, free of bondage. People have been searching for years. What they are doing unfortunately is that they are searching outside of themselves. They are looking to the world for assistance. The world cannot give you assistance because it does not exist. It is a dream. How can a dream help you? It just plays games with you. You achieve a certain profession and you believe you've made it in this life. You're making 500 million dollars a year. You have a house, you have property, you have land, and you think you’ve made it. All of a sudden you develop cancer and all your money, all your friends, cannot help you. Those are the tricks life plays on you.

 

So I say to you, do not go after things. Whatever you are supposed to have in this life, whatever you are supposed to do, will happen of its own accord. I know that's a little difficult to understand, but it's the truth. There is a divine plan for everything on this earth, for every leaf, for every bug, for every animal, for every mineral, for every human. Everything is preordained. It's been planned for you. Therefore you do not have to worry what will happen to your life. Do not waste your time pursuing things of this world, for you will have to leave them one day. Spend your time trying to discover who you are by inquiring, "Who am I?" And when you find out, not only will you find eternal peace and infinite happiness, but you will also have a feeling of immortality. You will know, "I was never born and I can never die.” You will realize "I am. I have always been. There never was a time when I was not."

 

You will try to explain this to your family, to your friends, but you'll not be able to, for there are no words to describe the infinite. Therefore you will be an example in the world, an example of love, an example of peace, an example of harmony. Everything will take care of itself. Your body will go where it's supposed to go and it will do the job it came here to do. Yet remember that it has nothing to do with you. Why? Because you're not your body. Leave your body alone. The same power that causes mangos to grow on mango trees, that cause apples to grow on apple trees, that makes the sun rise and the sun set, that gives just enough warmth to the earth to sustain human life, that power knows how to take care of you. You have nothing to do with it. Your job is to leave yourself alone and ask the question, "Who am I?"

 

We're going to do an experiment this week and the results of the experiment will be discussed next week. What I would like for you to do is keep asking yourself, "Who am I?" all week long, under all conditions, under all circumstances. In other words, no matter what happens to you, what you go through during the week, instead of looking for answers, instead of looking for solutions to the problem, simply ask yourself, "Who am I?"

It sounds strange, but if you do what I say you're going to find something amazing happens to you. We will discuss it next week. Remember, as soon as you get up in the morning, the first thing you say is, "Who am I?" You do not attempt to analyze it, think about it, or wonder what's going to happen. You simply ask yourself the first thing upon waking up, "Who am I?" As you go about your business you ask yourself, "Who am I?" The phone rings and your employer says, "You've just been terminated. Don't bother to come to work today." Instead of responding you say, "Who am I?" to yourself. You won the state lottery and you acquire 50 million dollars. Instead of reacting you say, "Who am I?" You trip down the stairs and you cut your leg, instead of feeling sorry for yourself you simply bandage up your leg, but you ask, "Who am I?" In other words, what I am saying is you are not to think of any condition, no matter whether it's good or bad. You are merely to ask the question, "Who am I?" under all circumstances, no matter what happens.

 

I'll tell you what you're doing. You're causing the mind to become confused. Your mind is used to you reacting. Now you're not going to react. You're going to ask the question, "Who am I?" Your mind will not know what to do. It will be in a state of confusion, for it seems you're doing something, taking some sort of action, either crying or becoming hilariously happy, or getting angry, or wanting to curse the world. That's what your mind knows you always do. But you're going to fool it because you're not going to do that. You're going to ask, "Who am I?" and keep still. If your mind troubles you again you say, "Who am I?" again. No matter what your mind brings up, you will ask the question, "Who am I?" It can bring up anything. It can tell you, "You better look about your business fast or something bad is going to happen.” Simply say, "Who am I?"

 

I'm not saying to become apathetic and stay in bed all day. I'm saying to go about your business without thinking about it. As I have explained before, your body will know what to do. Your body will do what it is supposed to do. Only you are not supposed to identify with your body for one week. You're supposed to separate yourself from your body by asking, "Who am I?" If you try this this week you will become the happiest being that you ever imagined. I can guarantee that. Only you have to do that. I know that some of you will drop out and you will not experiment this way for you will think that your mind overwhelms you, yet this is exactly what you have to do if you want to find eternal peace, infinite joy and total freedom. We will discuss the results next week.

 

Those of you who have been practicing “I am” for many years, or "Who am I?" and you're saying to yourself, "I've been doing this," but you haven't done it this way, have you? Forget about the past. This is a new day. You are to go back to, "Who am I?" And you are to remember to say this every moment of the day. If you do this you'll have some good reports to tell me next week if you will say, "Who am I?" only for one week. I know some of you will drop out in one day. Some in one hour. This will show you the control that your mind has on you. It will prove to you that you have been under the control of your mind all your life. Catch yourself and say, "Who am I?"

 

S: "Who am I?" will avert any idle thought?

R: Yes. “Who am I?” will transcend every thought and every feeling that comes to you.

 

S: Patriots missiles and scuds coming in?

R: "Who am I?" will knock them down.

 

S: So it's in the mental activity. So whatever it is is the cue to ask who am I?

R: Exactly. But you have to do it. When you're by yourself and you leave the meeting today you'll forget about it for a little bit, then you'll remind yourself. But you have to be strong. You have to say to yourself something like this, "I want to be finally free. I want to find total release from attachment to the world, and this is going to do this for me. So I will continue the experiment.” And again I can guarantee you, you're going to be the happiest individual who ever lived, if you follow it through.

 

S: I made a cassette at home that says, "Who am I? Who am I?" and I listen to it, not as an automatic noise, but in a questioning mode every time. Will that be all right to use that?

R: You can't have the cassette with you all day long.

 

S: But when I can?

R: Say you're going to a grocery and somebody bumps you with their shopping cart and you get angry. Immediately catch yourself and say, "Who am I?" You can't carry the cassette with you all the time. You can use the cassette when you're going to sleep or getting up. Again the cassette tape can become a crutch. You don't want a crutch. You want to take control.

 

S: It's my own voice, it's not somebody else's. I don't listen like automatic noises. I listen in a questioning.

R: I know, but still it's something outside of you even though it's your voice is helping you along.

 

S: Yes.

R: You want to be able to say it spontaneously, whenever you need to. It's better if you don't use the tape.

 

S: Even if I don't use it. In the evening it's all right.

R: Yes.

 

S: Okay. Got it.

R: Your body will do whatever it has to. You will do whatever you're going to do. If you go to work, you go to work. If you have to take a flight, you'll take a flight. You're simply saying, "Who am I?" But something in you has taken care of your life. Your life will go on. You will do whatever you're supposed to do. Everything will take care of itself. Wait and see. You simply say, "Who am I?" and you will make your reservation. You will go wherever you have to go but you will say, "Who am I?" It will not interfere with your everyday activities.

We are under the impression that if we do not take care of our lives nobody else will. But I say to you again, the same power that makes the sun shine and gives life so abundantly to the earth knows how to take care of your measly body. It knows how to take care of you. And you don't have to worry about those things. You just say, "Who am I?" to whatever comes up, and you will see. You will prove it the first day. For the first day you will go about your business and you will do what you always do, but you will be happier because you're not thinking about it. Instead you're saying, "Who am I"

 

S: My wife will think she has a sick husband, because I'm going to be quiet all week.

R: You don't have to be quiet. You can be spontaneous. You can answer your wife. You can talk to your wife. But all the while to yourself you are saying, "Who am I?" You're not to stop your activities. You are to continue your activities like you always do. You're just replacing your thinking about your activities with "Who am I?" Do you follow?

 

S: Yes, I think so.

R: The functioning mind will go on. Nothing stops. This is an analogy. Imagine that you have a pail of filthy dirty water that's been standing in one place for years and years, and it's filthy. There is a little hole in the roof and every time it rains drops of pure water come into the dirty water. The drops of pure water are "Who am I?" And as time goes by the dirty water dissipates and you have a pail of clean water. So it is your mind is becoming clear. All the dirt, all the thoughts, all the nonsense, is beginning to dissipate. You become quieter and quieter. Every time you say, "Who am I?" it's like a drop of pure water, but has to replace something. It replaces your thinking mind. Try it.

 

S: Does the need for "Who am I?" eventually drop away?

R: Not for the experiment.

 

S: No, I meant later.

R: It will drop away, yes. But for a week practice "Who am I?" When you become totally realized there is no need for anything. We're doing this to see the way the mind works and to cause the mind to become weak and the thoughts to stop. Everything that comes from the mind can be met with "Who am I?"

  

 

The Four Principles of 
Self Realization of Noble Wisdom

Robert:    I want to let you in on a little secret. There are no problems. There are no problems. There never were any problems, there are no problems today, and there will never be any problems. Problems just mean that the world isn't turning the way you want it to. But in truth, there are no problems. Everything is unfolding as it should. Everything is right. You have to forget about yourself and expand your consciousness until you become the whole universe. The Reality in back of the universe is Pure Awareness. It has no problems. And you are That.

 If you identify with your body, then there's a problem, because your body always gets into trouble of some kind. But if you learn to forget about your body and your mind, where is there a problem? In other words, leave your body alone. Take just enough care of it. Exercise it a little, feed it right foods, but don't think about it too much. Keep your mind on reality. Merge your mind with reality. And you will experience reality. You will live in a world without problems. The world may appear to have problems to others, but not to you. You will see things differently, from a higher point of view.

I had an interesting phone call this week. Someone asked me, "Do self realized people dream, or have visions?"   Now, in order to have a dream or a vision, there has to be somebody left to have it, and yet, if you're self realized, there's nobody home. There's nobody left. So it's a contradiction, as truth is. All truth is a contradiction, it's a paradox.

The answer is, sages do dream sometimes, and have visions. But they're aware of the dreamer. In other words they realize that they are not the person dreaming or having the vision. But as long as there's a body there someplace, there will be dreams and visions. Even though there's no one home, there will still, once in a while, be a dream or a vision.

As an example, Ramana Maharshi often dreamt and had visions. Nisargadatta dreamt and had visions. Any they were both self realized. But again, the question is, "Who dreams?   Who has the vision?" There's no ego left. As long as the dreamer is separate from the "I". I can only speak from my own experience. There's no difference, to me, in the waking state, the dreaming state, the sleeping state, or the vision state. They're all the same. I'm aware of all of them, but I am not them. I observe them. I see them happening. As a matter of fact, sometimes I can not tell the difference. Sometimes I don't know whether I'm dreaming, or awake, or having a vision, or I'm asleep. It's all the same, because I take a step backward, and I watch myself going through all these things.

So, for some reason, lately, I've been dreaming about the queen of England. She was coming to satsang. I don't know why... for about three nights in a row. But I did have an interesting vision this morning, about four o'clock, and we'll spend the rest of the time discussing it, because I found it very interesting.

As many of you know, I have had a constant vision, periodically, of myself going to Arunachala, the sacred mountain where Ramana Maharshi lived. And the mountain is hollow, in the vision. And I go through the mountain, to the center, where there's a bright light, a thousand times more brighter than the sun, but yet it's pleasing and calm, and there's no heat. And then I meet Ramana, Jesus, Rama Krishna, Nisargadatta, Lao Tse, and others. And we smile at each other, we walk toward each other, and melt into one light, and become one. Then there's a blinding light and an explosion. And then I open my eyes. I've shared that with you before.

But this morning, for the first time, I had a very interesting vision, which I'll share with you again. I dreamt I was somewhere in an open field, a beautiful field. There was a lake nearby, trees, a forest. And I was sitting under a tree, in this open field. And I had on the orange garb of a renunciate. I must have been a Buddhist.

All of a sudden hundreds of bodhisattvas and mahasattvas come from the forest and start walking toward me. And they all sit down in a semi-circle around me, in meditation. And I wondered what I was doing. Then I realized that I had become the Buddha. And we all sat in silence for about three hours.

Then one of the bodhisattvas got up and asked a question. He said, "Master, what is your teaching"?   It was not in English. I don't know what language he spoke. But I understood it quite clearly. And without hesitation I said, "I teach Self Realization of Noble Wisdom". And he sat down.

We sat for about another three hours in silence, and then another bodhisattva got up and asked a question. "Master, how can you tell when one is close to self realization?   How can you tell one is about to become self realized?   How does one tell?"

And this is what I'd like to discuss today. How can we tell if we're on the path correctly. I gave four principles, which I really never do in the waking state. I never have a teaching. But I was giving a teaching, so I'll share it with you. I explained four principles,   where you know that you're close to self realization. Of course, we're all self realized already.

Principle   number   1:    You   have   a   feeling,   a   complete understanding, that everything you see, everything in the universe, in the world, emanates from your mind. In other words, you feel this. You do not have to think about it, or try to bring it on. It comes by itself. It becomes a part of you. The realization that everything that you see, the universe, people, worms, insects, the mineral kingdom, the vegetable kingdom, your body, your mind, everything that appears, is a manifestation of your mind. You have to have that feeling, that deep understanding, without trying to.

So you ask yourself, "What do I think about all day long?". Of course,   if you fear something, if you worry,   if you believe something is wrong somewhere, if you think you're suffering from lack or limitation, or sickness, anything, then you're out of it completely, because you're not understanding that all these things are simply a manifestation of your own mind. And if you worry about these things you become attached to false imagination. That's called false imagination. You've been attached to habit energy for many years, and all these attachments and beliefs come from habit energy.

It's like watching a TV. show and becoming one of the characters, when you know that you're not even in the TV. But you believe you're one of the characters in the TV. show. So it is with the world. Do not get involved. I don't mean you become passive. I mean your body does what it's supposed to do. Remember, your body came to this earth to do something. It will do something without your knowledge. It'll take care of itself. Don't worry. But do not identify your body with yourself. They're different. Your body is not yourself. And I'll prove this.

When you refer to your body what do you say?   Don't you say "my body"? Who is this "my" you're referring to? You say "my finger", "my eye". Who are you referring to? You couldn't be talking about your body, because you’re saying it's "my" body, like you own it. Who owns it?   This proves to yourself that you're not your body. So do not identify yourself with the body and the world.

Therefore the first principle, to see how close you are to self realization is:    you are not feeling that you are identified with the world. You're separate. And you're feeling happiness, because your natural state is pure happiness. Once you identify with worldly things, you spoil it. The happiness disappears,   it dissipates. But when you're separate from worldly things happiness is automatic. Beautiful, pure happiness. It comes by itself. So that's the first principle.

The second principle I explained to the bodhisattvas was this:    You have to have a strong feeling, a deep realization, that you are unborn. You are not born, you do not experience a life, and you do not disappear, you do not die. You are not born, you have no life, and you do not die. You have to feel this, that you are of the unborn. Do you realize what this means?   There is no cause for your existence. There is no cause for your suffering. There is no cause for your problems.

Some of you still believe in cause and effect. This is true in the relative world, but in the world of reality there is no cause. Nothing has ever been made. Nothing has ever been created. There is no creation. I know it's hard to comprehend. How do I exist if I was not born, I have no life and I do not disappear in old age? You exist as "I AM". You have always existed and you will always exist. You exist as Pure Intelligence, as Absolute Reality. That is you true nature. You exist as Sat-chit-ananda. You exist as Bliss Consciousness, but you do exist. You exist as Emptiness, as Nirvana, but you do exist. So don't worry about being non­existent. But you do not exist as the body. You do not exist as person,. place or thing. Do you feel that?   If you have a strong feeling about that, then you're close to self realization.

Principle number 3:    You are aware and you have a deep understanding of the egolessness of all things; that everything has no ego. I'm not only speaking of sentient beings. I'm speaking of the mineral kingdom, the vegetable kingdom, the animal kingdom, the human kingdom. Nothing has an ego. There is no ego. And do you realize what this means?   It means that everything is sacred. Everything is God. only when the ego comes, does God disappear, what we call "God". Everything becomes God. You have reverence for everything. When there is no ego, you have reverence for everybody and everything.

So you have to be aware of the egolessness of all things. Animals have no ego, minerals have no ego, vegetables have no ego, and humans have no ego. There is no cause, so there cannot be an effect. There is only Divine Consciousness, and everything becomes Divine Consciousness. So if you look at your fellow man and animals and everything else as being egolessness, you will see them as yourself. Can't you see that?

It's the ego that causes separation. When I am full of ego, I become strong within myself. I become totally separate. So the more you like yourself as a person, the bigger your ego is. You say, "Well, I'm not supposed to like myself?". You're supposed to love yourself, but what self are we talking about?   We're not talking about your body self, because that comes and goes. We're talking about your permanent self, that has always been here. And your permanent self is me, is you, is the world, is the universe, is everything. That's your permanent self.

Egolessness. That's the only time that you can love you fellow human beings, when you have no ego. That's how you can tell where you're at, if you're close to self realization. That's principle number three.

Principle number 4 is simply this:    You have a deep conviction, a deep understanding, a deep feeling of what self realization of noble wisdom really is. What is Self Realization of Noble Wisdom to you?   You can never know by trying to find out what it is, because it's Absolute Reality. You can only know by finding out what it is not.

So you say, it is not by body, it is not my mind, it is not my organs, it is not my thoughts, it is not my world, it is not my universe, it is not the animals, or the trees, or the moon, or the sun, or the stars, it is not any of those things. When you've gone through everything and there's nothing left, that's what it is. Nothing. Emptiness. Nirvana. Ultimate Oneness.

Anyway,   I   explained   these   four   principles   to   all   the bodhisattvas and all the mahasattvas. Then we sat three hours in meditation and they got up and walked back into the forest. Then there was a flash of light, and I opened my eyes.

What do you think of that?   Any questions?

Q:    Was it a dream or a vision, and how do you distinguish between the two?

R:    Well, I don't really know, to tell you the truth. I'm usually aware of what's going on, so all the time I was aware of the vision/dream's taking place.

Q:    Including this time.

R:    Yes, I realized I was doing all these things. It was like I was watching everything taking place. But there was never a time when I actually became the dream or the vision.

Q:    Or felt totally caught up in it? You were always observing.

R:    Right. I was always observing. But it was like an omni­present observer. So that's the teaching. That's how you tell when you're getting close to self realization.

So, do you remember the four principles?   Why don't you repeat them for those who came late?

Q:    I don't think I remember the four.

R:    I think they're very important to remember. Which ones do you remember?   (The students struggle with trying to remember the principles). See how easy we forget?   (more struggle, and something close to the first one). That's right. The whole universe is a manifestation of the mind. Everything. You've got to feel that and know it's true.

Q:    As long as we're identified with the body or the mind, then we're not very far off.

R:    Exactly. You're part   of the world.

Q:    Then how do you say the first one?

R:    The first one is that everything, and I mean everything, the mineral kingdom, the vegetable kingdom, the animal kingdom, the human kingdom, everything your senses show you, is an emanation of the mind. You're projecting a picture, just like you project a moving picture, and everything you see right now, in this room, comes from your mind. You may say, "How can we collectively see the same thing?". That's because of the habit energy that we're brought up in. So collectively we seem to be seeing the same thing, the same picture.

That's number one. What's number two?   Who can tell me? (students try to remember)

R:    That's right. We're not born. We have no existence. In between the time we're born and when we die we really have no existence. And we do not die. There's no disappearance.

Q:    So how would you summarize it? That we are non-existent, or that we have no beginning and no end?

R:    Both are right. We have no cause.

Q:    So you're saying that existence implies a relative cause, and existence only takes place in a relative world, and we're not really a part of that.

R:    Yes, exactly.

Q:    And non-existence?

R:    Non-existence also does not exist.

Q:    But then couldn't you say the mind doesn't exist. I mean you say that everything that exists...

R:    Nothing that you can explain exists.

Q:    But earlier you said that everything emanates from the mind.

R:    Yes. You're projecting the picture.

Q:    But then you have a mind.

R:    You don't have a mind.

Q:    I think he means everything in the earth plane world.

R:    In the relative world. In reality there's no mind. That's how the picture appears. The mind projects the whole universe. So if you get rid of the mind, there's no universe. We have to kill the mind. And the whole universe in annihilated, because it's the mind that projects the universe, and tells us all these stories.

Think, for a moment, of all the problems that you believe you have. Think of what's bothering you. You can tell me your story for four hours. This is wrong and that's wrong. It's all a projection of the mind. So by getting rid of the mind, everything stops, and beauty and joy and bliss ensue. But you're covering the beauty and joy and bliss when you worry, when you fear, when you think something is wrong someplace. So that's precept number 2. What's number 3?

Q:    Egoless.

R:    Right. Everything is egoless. Not only human beings, but everything. Mountains, trees, the sun, nothing has an ego. That means it has no existence. So where did it come from?   When you have a dream, where does the dream come from?   Same place. From nowhere. From false imagination.

Q:    I don't understand the expression "false imagination", because the word imagination implies a certain falsity.

R:    You're imagining a false world and a false ego.

Q:    That's sort of a paradoxical saying.

R:    Sure. It's all paradoxical. Because it doesn't exist. But that's how we imagine it. This is the reason I always go back to the sky is blue. Somebody takes me outside and says, "Look at the beautiful blue sky". And I agree with them, but I know deep inside that that's not true. There's no sky and there's no blue. It doesn't exist. Or the oasis in the desert. The water. It doesn't exist. It's a mirage. The world's the same thing. The universe only exists in the dream state. It's like a dream. Now what's the fourth precept?   What's number four?

Q:    It has something to do with "we are nothing".

R:    (laughs) Everything has to do with that. But it's actually to have an understanding, and a deep realization, of what Self Realization of Noble Wisdom is.

Q:    And how is noble wisdom defined from regular wisdom?

R:    It's the same thing. Just more wordy. It's a Buddhist expression.

Q:    They have all these real long expressions. And then they always say what it is.

R:    The eight-fold path. And then they take years explaining it. But when you get into the highest teaching there's nothing. So the fourth one is, the only way to know what self realization is, is by knowing what it is not. And whatever is left, that's what it is. So you say it's not the body, it's not the mind, it's not my organs, it's not my thoughts, it's not the world, it's not the sun, it's not the universe, it's not God, it's not creation, and you go on and on and on. When you get out of breath and out of words, that's it.

Q:    Is that what the expression "neti, neti" means?

R:    Yes.

Q:    Is it boring? If all that goes away and there is nothing...

R:    (laughs) No!   See, that's what people think. That's why I explained before, the mind will make you say that because it doesn't want to be annihilated. It wants to rule you and control you completely. Because that's it's nature. That's the nature of the mind that doesn't exist.

Q:       When you're meditating, are you totally separate from this physical world?

R:    When who's meditating?   When I'm meditating personally? Well, I don't usually meditate. I sit sometimes with my eyes closed but I just rest my eyelids.

Q:    Because there's no one there, right?   There's no one to meditate.

R:    There has to be someone to meditate. That doesn't mean you should stop meditating. It means you should look at these four principles and compare them to where you are yourself, and work on yourself so that you can apply these principles to yourself everyday, until the day comes when you don't have to talk about it any longer. You just become a total manifestation of those principles. You just realize; you become aware of.

R:    There are three methods we use to help us on the path, so we can realize what we were talking about before. Number one is self surrender, where we surrender completely to God, or to yourself. But that's hard to do for most people. It sounds easy, but it's not. It means that you have no life of your own. You surrender completely and totally everything to God. Totally. Every part of your life goes to God. "Not my will, but Thine". That's devotion, Bhakti. Again, it sounds easy to some people, but it's not when you get into it, because it means every decision that you have to make is left up to God. You give your mind to God, totally, completely, absolutely. And that leads you to self realization.

Number two   is mindfulness,   which we were talking about. Becoming the witness. Watching yourself continuously. Watching your thoughts, watching your actions. Sitting in meditation and watching what goes on in your mind. Not trying to change anything or correct anything. Just observing. Becoming the witness to your thoughts in meditation, and to your actions in the waking state.

And number three is the one that I advocate, self inquiry.  Asking yourself, "To whom do these troubles come?   To whom does this karma come?   To whom does this suffering come?   It comes to me? Well, what is 'me'?   I am me. Who am I?   From where did the I come from?"   And following the "I" to its source.

You can use any of those three methods, the one that suits you best. But by all means do something. Don't waste your life with frivolities. Work on yourself, if you want to become free. It doesn't mean you have to give up going to the movies, or going to work. or anything. You give nothing up. You just become aware of what you're doing. You become a conscious being. You become conscious of your actions. You become loving, compassionate, gentle to all people. You stop watching out for number one. Most of us say. "Number one. I'm number one". Forget it. That's how you suffer. That's ego. It's hard to understand, when you give up your ego, how you can have a better life, but you do. Try it and you'll see. When you stop thinking of yourself, and you start thinking on yourself, but yourself becomes Omni-presence, that means you're thinking of everybody else as yourself. So if any human being suffers, you suffer too.

But, in a way we differ from Buddhism. Not much, but a little. Because the bodhisattva says he will not be realized until everybody else   is realized. But then they have a higher bodhisattva called the Aghast. It's like the Overshoot in Hinduism, who becomes self realized, by himself, because he understands that his self is the Self of all. And that's what we accept. In other words, if you want to help your fellow man, if you want to make this world a better world in which to live, find yourself first, and everything else will take care of itself.




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