Posts in Category: Captions
Golden Opportunity
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Q: What type of meditation is (inaudible), whether ask the self ‘Who am I?’ or meditate on the ‘Brahman’ (mantra)?
Maharaj: You are to recite some mantra, ‘Aham Brahmasmi’, ‘I am Brahman, I am Brahman’, like that, or ‘Soham’, there are so many. Every lineage is having some different words. The principle behind it is that through those words you are identifying yourself. ‘I am Brahman’, ‘Aham Brahmasmi’, ‘Soham’, ‘Sivoham’, these are the words. They are key-words, through which you are hammering your Selfless Self. All the time I am living as a man or woman, limitations, body limitations are there. Your Presence is beyond that, beyond sky. The entire world is projected out of your Presence. If there is no Presence who will talk about the world, who will talk about the God? To say ‘God’, your Presence is required. To identify God your Presence is required. When did you come across with the God? Be free (to reply). If there is no Presence in the body can I identify ‘Brahman, Atman, Paramatman, Master’? Any relations are there?
Nothing is impossible.
Yes?
Q: So why is the realization of Ultimate Truth so scarce and rare…
Maharaj: See, ‘Realization’ means Conviction. Realization means Spontaneous Conviction. At present we are saying “I am somebody else”, “I am man or woman”, that is illusion. So I’m talking about that Realization, Spontaneous Conviction: ‘I am Brahman, Atman, Paramatman, God, Master, I am nothing to do with the world’.
This is an illusory world. The moment Presence clicked with the body you see the world. Where is the world prior to beingness? That means the entire world is projected out of your Presence. Therefore I define it as ‘Unidentified’ Identity, ‘Invisible’ Identity, ‘Anonymous’ Identity which cannot be defined, cannot be guessed, cannot be imagined. This Reality is supposed to be absorbed totally. Only dry discussion on spirituality will not help you. And the human body is a golden opportunity to identify yourself.
There’s No Body
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The Invisible Presence within you is Final Truth. It has a strong power, strong energy. And therefore not to measure oneself in body form, that is most important. Because you are shapeless, there’s no body. Though you’re holding the body, there should be Spontaneous Conviction: “I am not the body, I am not going to remain the body”. So mind, ego, intellect came along with the body and dissolve along with the body. All concepts, so many concepts are there. All needs, all requirements came along with the body. Concepts like ‘God’: to say ‘God’ your Presence is required. To say ‘Master’ your Presence is required. You are Master of your own! But because of long association with the body you forgot your identity. And to identify yourself in a real sense, meditation is most important.
Everybody’s asking regarding the Naam Mantra, Mantra – these are the words! There are so many words. ‘Aham Brahmasmi’ is a word, ‘I am Brahman’ is a word, ‘Soham’ is a word. This is the media, it is an indication. Through meditation you are inviting the attention of the Invisible Meditator that you are Brahman. You’ll forget your body-identity.
I’m not saying neglect your body identity. There aren’t any conditions or any restrictions. Since you’re holding the body you can take care of the body. But it is open fact that the body is not your identity, the body was not your identity, the body is not going to remain your identity. So literal knowledge, bookish knowledge will not help you. You might have visited so many Masters, read so many books. Just ask the question to your Selfless Self: “Will all this knowledge be helpful at the time of leaving the body? Whether after reading so many books do I have complete peacefulness? I’m happy? I’m tension free? Fearless?” Ask the question to yourself. Directly or indirectly we are having the subtle ego: “I am somebody else”. That ‘somebody else’ is supposed to be dissolved totally. It is not impossible, it is not difficult at all. You can do it, you have tremendous power, you have tremendous energy. We are neglecting that. You pray “Oh God bless me, Oh God bless me”. Where is God? If your Presence is not there who will talk about the God? It’s a simple thing. To say ‘God’ your Presence is required. If your Presence is not there who will talk about God? Where are the Masters? You approach your own Master! – through which you say ‘I’. To say ‘I’ your Presence is required. I’m inviting the attention of the Invisible Presence within you that you are Ultimate Truth. It’s a very simple thing. But, it needs some involvement. Everybody knows you are Brahman, Atman, Paramatman, God, Master. But it should be absorbed, “Yes, so that I!”. Just like this body is called man, this is called female, man or woman, when you are neither man nor woman, you are Brahman. It’s fact. It is very easy to understand but a little bit difficult to absorb because we’re lacking involvement, for which nothing is required.
What is the purpose of the human life? Everybody wants happiness, peacefulness, tension-free life, fearless life. The moment you identify yourself in a real sense, spontaneous peacefulness will be there. Who wants peacefulness? Prior to beingness do you know what is peacefulness? Any happiness? The moment the Spirit clicked with the body we say “I want everything”. We want happiness, peacefulness, tension-free life, fearless life.
Everyone wants to know about death. What is death? What is birth? There’s no birth, no death. Birth and death are connected with the body only, and as you know, you are unborn. It’s a fact! You may not believe, but you are unborn. Because we are measuring ourselves in body-form therefore we are saying “I am born” and counting age, “I am somebody else”. We’ve got lots of attachment, related to the body. Mind you, I’m not saying to neglect your body-knowledge, just to identify it. Except your Selfless Self there is no God, no Brahman, no Atman, no Paramatman, no Master. You are Master, you are Brahman, you are Paramatman. It’s a fact. For which, at the initial stage, you are to undergo the discipline of meditation until you have Spontaneous Conviction. Why is medication required? To develop Spontaneous Conviction. “This body is called man, I am somebody else, my name is something-something given to me”, and I have accepted it. If a thousand people ask “Oh, John” you say “Oh, I am John”.
No I Am
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Maharaj: Have you read Ramana Maharshi and all?
Q: Yes, all the books.
Maharaj: So you have a good background. Everybody is having spiritual knowledge. Everybody knows ‘Atman’, ‘Paramatman’. But practical knowledge is most important. Because what happens? We’ve accepted the body as our identity. Prior to beingness there was no body, no shape. But because of long association with the body we’ve accepted the body as our identity, forgotten our identity. As a matter of fact, Reality is there. Your Spontaneous Invisible Presence is Reality.
What is the importance of spirituality? Because of long association with the body we are considering ourself in body-form. What are we requiring? Everybody wants happiness, peacefulness, tension-free life, fearless life, the four things required in one’s life. We’ve accepted the body as identity and therefore we’ve forgotten our identity.
So the purpose of spirituality is just to identity oneself in a real sense. We’re identifying ourselves in body-form. As a matter of fact, you’re shapeless, there’s no birth, there’s no body at all. Prior to beingness there’s no body, after leaving the body nothing remains.
The purpose behind this is just to identify yourself in a real sense. We’re identifying ourselves in body-form which is illusion. To dissolve all these illusions spirituality is most important. What is spirituality? Just to identify oneself. We’re identifying ourself in this form, and that is illusion, as I told you. So the same simple question is ‘how were you prior to beingness? After leaving the body?’.
We have so many concepts. We’ve got literal knowledge, a lot of literal knowledge, “I am somebody else”. We are knowing ‘karma’, ‘dharma’, so many religions are there, so many concepts are there. We’ve wrapped all these concepts around us and are trying to live within the concepts. We have to dissolve all concepts. Your Spontaneous Invisible Presence is Ultimate Truth, that you are not knowing. Your Invisible Listener is Master. But because we are measuring ourself in body form, we forgot our Master.
Except your Selfless Self, nothing is there. God, Brahman, Atman, Paramatman, God, this is your name – not in body form. Therefore I am inviting the attention of the Invisible Listener within you that you are Ultimate Truth. But we’re not accepting this because of the impact of the body. It’s a fact, even if you think intellectually. Prior to beingness there is no body, no concept, no ‘I am’ also. The moment the Presence clicked with the body you say “I am somebody else”. You are nobody, you are everybody. Your Presence is just like space or sky – you’re everywhere. Therefore not to measure yourself in body-form, that is the most important thing. And for which the only source is meditation. I’m telling you, meditation is also illusion at the advanced stage.
So Many Words
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So basically, you are unborn. There’s no death and no birth to you.
We’re using so many words, just for communication. Language is created by us. So instead of defining the spiritual words, analyzing spiritual words, try to identify yourself in a real sense. When trying to identify yourself in a real sense, the identifier will disappear, nothing will remain. There’s no ‘I’, there’s no ‘he’, ‘she’, ‘it’, nothing is there. Complete silence. There’s no experience, no experiencer. There’s no witness, no witnesser.
Your Presence is there prior to beingness, and that Presence will remain, just like space or sky. But not to measure yourself in body-form, that’s the first thing. And how does it happen? The only source, I told you: meditation is the only source.
Through meditation you’re inviting the attention of the Invisible Meditator within you that you are Ultimate Truth, you’re hammering all the time. Some words are given: ‘I am Brahman’, ‘Soham’, so many words are there. Through these words you’re hammering yourself. You’re inviting the attention of the Meditator: you are Ultimate Truth, you are Final Truth. After Spontaneous Conviction, you’re not required to recite the Mantra, it will be spontaneous, it will be automatic. (So recite the Mantra) until you’ve got Spontaneous Conviction: I was not the body, I am not the body, I am not going to remain the body. So, no concept will impress you or depress you.
Thousands of concepts are there. We’re a victim of our own concepts: ‘I’m somebody else’, ‘I’m a man or woman’, ‘I’ve got some knowledge’. Even ‘I am Brahman’ is also a concept.
Prior to beingness there’s no concept at all. After leaving the body, what remains? So for which, you must have Spontaneous Conviction. Then pain will turn into pleasure. Everybody is having problems, the human body is full of problems. Everybody says, “My problem is a major problem”. So come out from all these problems, come out from all the tension. You have to go through the meditation only.
‘Where do I stand?’
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Maharaj: So, I’m not asking you to neglect your family members. Whatever job you’re doing, do your job. Do your duties, take care of all your responsibilities. But at the same time, there should be the Conviction, ‘I’m nothing to do with all these things’. As if you’re acting in some drama. I’m giving a simple example, you’re acting in a drama, your doing some role. You’re doing a very nice role, people are saying, “Oh!” At that time you are knowing that ‘I am nothing to do with this role. I have to act two or three hours only, or two and a half hours, or two hours.’
Like that you have to convince yourself. Knowledge is there, a lot of knowledge is there. In the light of that knowledge of Reality you have to convince yourself, ‘where do I stand?’ ‘What do I want exactly? I’m meditating, I’m doing bhajans, I’m doing all these things, I’m reading so many books, I’m approaching so many Masters. To what extent will this be useful for me? Where do I stand? Who wants all these things? What is the purpose behind that?’
Because, we are not peaceful, we are not happy. Everything is with us, no happiness is there, no peacefulness is there, always there is tension, and most of all fear of the death. Why this? Because we’re not identifying ourself in a real sense. We’re not having any experience of death and birth. And as you know, what is the time limit of this body? You are a small child, grown up as a young man or young woman, then you’re an old man, and some or other day, willingly or unwillingly we have to leave the body. It’s your Identity.
So be fearless. After having the Conviction, you’ll be fearless, ‘Oh, this is a dead body. Let anything happen’. Because I am unborn. These are allegations, you’ve taken birth and you’re going to die.
Therefore spiritual science says, if at all you want to compare (yourself), compare just like sky. Sky doesn’t know ‘I am sky’. So, your Invisible Presence does not know ‘I am Presence’.
We’re using ‘I’, ‘you’, ‘he’, ‘she’, ‘it’, it’s language, just for conversation. And therefore I told you, not to play with the spiritual words. “Who is ‘you’”, “Who is ‘I’”, it’s okay, just for understanding.
No Experience
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Q: So are we supposed to recite the Mantra at the same time?
Maharaj: All the time, all the time, you can recite Mantra all the time. When you’re sitting for meditation, sit in that fashion, what I told you. At the initial stage, I’m telling you again: Mantra, meditation are required at the beginning stage, until you’ve got Conviction, until you remain untouched with the body-based knowledge, body-based concepts. Then all your actions will be spontaneous, untouched with the world. Though you’re holding the body as a man or woman, male or female, you’re untouched with the world. No concern. You’re living in this body, doing all activities, as if you’re acting in some drama, as if you’re acting in a dream. Are you taking any ego saying “I’ve done a good thing or a bad thing” (in a dream)? There’s no deed, there’s no doer. No experience, no experiencer. Even if you have the experience ‘I am Brahman’, it is also illusion. Where everything ends, there you are! Everything came out of nothing, everything dissolves within nothing! If at all you want to compare, compare just like sky or space. Space is everywhere. Is American sky different and Indian sky different? Sky is sky.
Those who are here holding these bodies, the Spirit and Presence is one, there’s no difference. When I’m talking with you I have to take ego that ‘I’m something else’. There’s no difference at all. How we are prior to a hundred years, just remain, nothing, we don’t know. After a hundred years, how will you be? “I don’t know”. ‘I don’t know’ means we are shapeless, no birth or death. The body is only the media to identify yourself.
It is very simple Reality, it is the Listener’s Reality. Not to run after miracles. You don’t need to go anywhere. Everything is within you. But we’re not giving importance to ourself, we’re giving importance to something else. Your Spontaneous, Invisible Presence is having tremendous power. It is the Master of Masters. And again I’m repeating, to dissolve all body-knowledge, all body-based concepts, you have to undergo the meditation at the beginning stage. Whatever experiences are happening during the process of meditation, just ignore it. Good experiences, bad experiences.
And as I told you, spiritual science says there are three types of experiences. ‘Darshan’ means you can see the Gods and Godesses and idols. ‘Sparshan’ means you feel the touch also, and ‘Sambhashan’ means talking. It happens, it can happen, but it’s not Ultimate Truth.
So not to come across with such elements that will distract you from the Reality. Such elements may be that you come across some miraculous experiences, or unpleasant experiences. It happens. Where were those experiences prior to beingness? And after leaving the body, any experience remains? Nothing.