Stay in the I am, meditate on the I am, then you will go beyond the I am

Stay in the I am, meditate on the I am, then you will go beyond the I am Download Link

Sri Ramakant Maharaj a recorded discussion from Ranjit Ashram in Nashik of Satsang with Sri Ramakant Maharaj.

Q. When people practice the I Am meditation, they don’t seem to know how to cross over, or go beyond it?

M. Forget about spirituality. .to say I is ego. Why are you trying to remain in/as I? It means you are taking some ego and saying I am somebody else. I am… this means you are somebody else and you are to stay like this (eyes closed) “I” – this is duality. I! You have not to make any efforts. In the beginning, you are to accept that your I am is in existence. You are knowing I am through body only. It is open fact, the body is not your identity. So while remaining in the I am, you are considering yourself as somebody else and, with the subtle ego, you want to stay as “I Am”. This is not the Ultimate Truth which will not give you happiness. So your presence is spontaneous – don’t think, don’t apply the intellect, so, to stay in the I am, how to stay there is all illusion. You are already in that. It is already within you. But you are trying deliberately to remain in the I am. I am somebody else and I am to remain in the I am. Illusory concept! Be as it is! Reality, don’t think, don’t pressure the brain. The spontaneous feeling is just that… I am… there is no concept. As Nisargadatta Maharaj says: What is this body? Just glimpses of “I”. Just the glimpses of I which has no shape. no colour, no witness, no experiencer, just… (M holds his hands up and relaxed saying”I”. We’re tryng to experience I to be Brahman, Atman, and to do that you are having to be somebody else.

Q. So there is duality, there is a split?

M. Immediately! When you try to stay like that. Why to try? I want to stay Charles. I am Charles. You are already Charles, so why to be I am Charles. Charles has been given the name to this body. .It is not your Ultimate Reality. Similarly, your spontaneous presence, existence, is without shape. It is called Brahman, Atman, God… Name is given – I also is illusion. To say I, you are to take ego; to say Master, you are to take ego. You are neither Master or disciple. But for beginning, for understanding, we have to remain in that I. Q. Be as you are? M. Because you are. As I told you – you are Charles, why to remain in “I am Charles”… so, who says I am to remain there? Who says I am to remain?

Q. I think the understanding was that if you stay in the I am, meditate on the I am, then you will go beyond the I am. But everybody seems to be staying in the I am and not managing to go beyond.

M. You see your spontaneous existence manifested, so without you, there is not any focus. When I say I am, I stays there – subtle ego. Don’t make any effort. What to know through the various spiritual words, what they were trying to convey – don’t take literal meaning. Meditation is concentrating on the concentrator. It is spontaneous. It is spontaneous action.

Just like you are remaining as Charles, not as I am Charles, I am Charles. So, for 24hrs you are remaining as Charles, without making any effort. Similarly, to stay in I, to remain in I, you are already I, and name is given to the I – the invisible, anonymous identity. Name is given “I” to the invisible, anonymous, unidentified identity.

Q. So when people sit down and meditate on the I am…

M. At the beginning, meditation means you are concentrating… I told you what is meditation. Someone talks and abuses you, so for 24hours you are remembering that. That is meditation. So the same thing when you are told ‘I am Brahman’, you forget all body expressions / experiences, so like when a person abuses you, you won’t let go. I want to know Brahman, so you are taking the revenge, you’re all … every cell in the body, is having one goal, which is I am to take revenge on that, (mistaken body identity). And if someone tries to convince you or to forget, no, no, no.. the entire body is wanting to do the meditation. Entire body is consumed by anger, this is meditation. So when you are told that you are Brahman, you are Ultimate Truth, you are accepting life in this way. Then totally and spontaneously you forget about the body. Though you are living in the body, body is the external cover. That is why I told, to say I, to say you is illusion. I means through which you feel, through which you spontaneously feel. But it is presence without any shape, without any form. And then you say ‘I’ – the Ultimate Truth through which you know yourself in the real sense. Sometimes called I. I does not have any figure, no shape, formless.

You can’t realize presence through bodily I. Prior to beingness did you have any I? The total body dissolves and the presence also dies. Where has that I gone? The beingness disappears. And if the beingness disappears, where is that I? There’s no I, there’s no you, nothing is there. So why to say stay in the I? Why to remain in the I? You are dumping yourself in an illusory muddle. You’ve kept yourself in this balloon. You have this balloon and in this balloon you are dumping yourself, and trying to concentrate and remain there in the I. So you need to pop the balloon. So how to break the balloon?

Chickens, you know, eggs. Inside the chicken has a beak and it pecks and breaks out of the hard shell. So beak is given in the form of knowledge. You are in the circle the beak is given to break out of that circle (of illusion). That chicken inside, that baby is spontaneously breaking it – a thick cover. Q. So the beak represents knowledge which is used to break through the shell. M. Ultimate Truth is like that. What you call Brahman, Atman, Paramatman.. its action is spontaneous. When the egg matures the breakthrough happens. You see it is a very hard core. But that small chicken breaks it. So around us is hard core illusion. So with the knowledge, Ultimate knowledge, spiritual truth, peck and come out. You are your own Master.

So whatever you read or listen, to some extent, it is helpful but after reaching the final destination you do not need an address. So don’t take literally the meaning of what the Masters say. What they want to convey is most important. To remain in I is stuck… you have created a balloon, a concept, how to stay – it is not.

Q. Similar to Ramana Maharshi – and people who sit asking ‘Who am I?’ and last night you said ‘The answer is the questioner.’ – which made people laugh. And yet many people are sitting for years asking who am I? Similar to Nisargadatta’s… It’s self-enquiry.

M. Yes, self—enquiry. First stage self-enquiry, second stage self knowledge, third stage self- realization. So after getting so much knowledge, reading so many books, listening to Masters, you must ask where do I stand? Whether I am fearless? If the answer is no… tension-free life? If the answer is no? So out of this reading it knows… I am a blank cheque. I am blank. So having such knowledge should make you fearless. Because it’s simple knowledge, yu are not the body, you were not the body, you are not going to remain the body. Through body, you visualize and come across so many concepts. Prior to beingness you are not knowing who am I? It’s open secret. After the so-called death of the body total knowledge is dissolved with the disappearance of the body. After leaving the body, who says ‘I am’? I am also disappears along with the body. The moment the beingness came when the spirit clicked with the body. So from the beginning yo say I, I, I… So prior to beingness there is no I, after the body dissolves
– no I. So why to concentrate on the ‘I’?

Siddharameshwar and the Dasbodh said prior to beingness there is no I, after the disappearance of the body there is no I, in between how did that I come? So think of this in the light of all the knowledge.

Q. So in a way one could say that I am needs to be removed?

M. In body form you are saying I am.

Q. But if the meditation on I am does not lead to Ultimate Reality then it’s not very helpful to meditate on I am?

M. Why to remain in the I am when we are already there. But you are colouring with form. Meditation on I am when you are already… Prior to beingness where is the I, as I told you, I is just like the sky. This is reality. We are giving this America, India, words, names like Brahman Atman, Parabrahman… I is there. Why to concentrate on I? You’re already there, just to realize the body is not my identity. Because you are not accepting that the body is not your identity, you like to remain in I. Because you are not coming out from the body identity. Body identity was not there, body identity is not going to remain there constantly. At present, though you remain in the body it is not your Ultimate Truth. So you’re concentrating on something else, I am going to remain in I. … Master says you are to undergo the meditation. Why you want to remain in I? This is not meditation. You are unaware of your identity. You are unknown to you.

That unknown spirit is covered with the illusory thoughts. Mind, ego, intellect, so many thoughts. To come out of this illusory field,….mantra is given. What is the meaning of mantra? I am Brahman, Brahman I am. So like I am That, I am That. So after concentrating this, you forget your identity, you forget I also. At a particular moment, you are totally

invisible to everything. No experience, no nothing. At a particular moment, I disappears, I also disappears. To say I some subtle ego is there.

So through meditation you… become blind to everything like a trance. But trance also has witness – so beyond trance. Trance also is witness, so …I had a good sleep, so who said, and who sleeps? The seer is there, I had a very good sleep, peaceful sleep. Who had the peaceful sleep? The seer is there in invisible form. We are using I. So likewise we are to convince you. It’s open secret – name I is given to that Ultimate Truth. Name I is given to that invisible Ultimate Truth. And therefore, to know yourself in the real sense, all this meditation, concentration, self-inquiry, bhajan, knowledge – these are the various steps.

After having conviction, nothing to do. Your reaction is spontaneous action. Why are you trying to remain in the I am? You’re already there. You’re already in the ashram, so why you try to remain there? You don’t say I will reamin in ashram, I remain in Ashram… So meditation is just to forget the body identity. Just to forget mind, ego, intellect. These are the
… your landmarks. So beginners are given meditation, after this it is spontaneous. So I am meditating I, is what? Meditating is different, I is different…

Q. Back into the duality – subject-object.

M. Yes! You see when there is no object, the question of subject never arises. So you say I am object, I am to become something else. You are already there, why to become. How to become Charles, you are already Charles. Likewise, you are already I. I am the name given to that Ultimate Truth, invisible, truth, anonymous truth. It is the indication, because names are used. How long are you going to remain I for? I does not have any identity. You are posing yourself I as someone else..….

I tell you a story… one foreigner came to India and he asked who made the Taj Mahal? And the guide said ‘I don’t know’. He visited so many places and asked that question… I don’t know the name of the person… sees a dead body being carried and asks who is that? Again guide says I don’t know. So he says this meaning he does not know the name of anything, any person. All is entire dream and therefore I don’t know….. I don’t know who died…Likewise the entire world is I don’t know. Just for understanding… So prior to beingness there was no
I. After dissolving beingness, there is no I. Whatever feels that I through body only. So here you are giving shape to that I. Making it a balloon. I does not have any identity.…

Q. Having read some Nisargadatta Maharaj, I got the impression that the I am was the doorway and like a tunnel, you had to go through the I am, like the chicken with the egg.

M. I am is the process. You know algebra – and you get the proper answer X or Y… and from that X you come to the right answer. So I is just an X after that process of I you are coming to the truth. The real answer. It is a process, through the I you are coming to the Final Truth…

Q. As long as you don’t stay with the I all the time? It is becoming no movement to stay in the

I. Because I told you that during a meditation, I had this concept of Nisargadatta Maharaj, ‘Stay at the door, the door is open… and the door became a block and then I realized that there was no door.

M. There’s no door at all. Because walls are there, bodies are there.

Q. I removed the door and I was through…what I mean is that the door was no longer there.

M. So you broke yourself with the concepts. Master has given key how to open the door. Ok

Sri Ramakant Maharaj