Last Terminus

Maharaj: You have got knowledge, but that knowledge is supposed to become part and parcel of your spiritual life. Everybody knows that this body is not going to remain constant. But as long as you have got attachment with the body, attachment with the mind ego intellect, that knowledge will not be absorbed. At present, there is the pressure of mind, ego and intellect on the body. We are supplying energy to mind, ego and intellect. Your energy is most important. Your Presence is most important. You are not knowing your importance. Still you are considering “I am somebody else, male or female”. That is not your identity. Basically you are formless. It is fact. You are not accepting it. Listen carefully: human body, human form, is a golden opportunity to identify yourself. Though it is not your identity, human form is a media through which you can identify.

What is the necessity of this spirituality? In human life, what is the necessity, the importance of spirituality? See, the moment that Spirit clicked with the body, you started knowing “I am”. Instantly you see the world. And in childhood, father and mother, called parents, social life, relatives, everybody tries to impress their own thoughts. Social culture, spiritual culture. And it is the nature of this Spirit to accept those illusionary concepts. You are man or woman, you are father or mother; these are your relations, and so many concepts, hundreds of concepts, thousands of concepts. And our lifestyle is within the circle of these illusionary concepts. We are totally ignorant. We are not knowing ourSelves properly. We live in this human life with so much attachment to body, so much attachment to body related relations, father, mother, sister, brother, Master, God, so many. But we forgot what is the truth? Where are the attachments prior to beingness? No attachment is there. All relations came along with this body. All relations dissolve, disappear, along with the body.

So at the last stage, there should not be any desire. At present, we have got lots of desires. A lot of needs, a lot of requirements because body knowledge is not tolerable? It happens, every being, in animals also? But in human form, we are having some intellect. We are having some mind, we can understand. Mind means flow of thoughts, a continuous flow of thoughts is there. Good thoughts, bad thoughts. Mainly there are three types of thoughts flowing inside: spiritual thoughts, commercial thoughts and criminal thoughts. Spiritual thoughts means we are thinking always about gods and goddesses, prayers, self-knowledge, spiritual knowledge, etc. Commercial thoughts means all commercial life, enjoyment and so on. Criminal thoughts means hatreds, struggle and all. So spiritual thought will help you to develop your identity, to convince yourself. Therefore, which thoughts to be accepted, and which thoughts not to be accepted, it is up to you. There are so many questions; hundreds of questions are there, because all these questions appear upon your Presence, because you forgot your identity.

Basically, you are Ultimate Truth. Which is called God, Brahman, Atman, Paramatman, Master. In spite of this literal spiritual knowledge, still you have got so many questions. All questions are body related questions. So first thing, first priority to be given, after knowing the Reality “I am Brahman I am Ultimate Truth”. So why are these concepts appearing? All concepts are appearing upon your Presence. They are creating confusion; mind is such that it is creating confusion. So many questions are being raised, body based questions. I receive sometimes so many questions from devotees, seekers, always body-based concepts. So first thing, discard your body based concepts. Discard your body. Body is not your identity at all. Unless we accept the Reality that “Body is not my identity, body was not my identity and body is not going to remain my identity”, the experience of a body appears upon your Presence. Body is having life problems, depressions are there, unpleasant atmospheres are there, we are afraid, we have tension, no peacefulness, no blissfulness, always fear of death. All these illusionary concepts are supposed to be dissolved, that is the main goal of spirituality.

“How can I discard all these concepts?”: that is the question. To know your self in a real sense, we are knowing ourselves in body form, and body form is not going to remain constant. Prior to beingness, prior to consciousness, you are not holding any body. Prior to one hundred years, have you got any body? No. After leaving body, what body remains? You are neither man nor woman. You are not Brahman, Brahman is a name given to Ultimate Truth. “Then how was I?” That is the question. Spiritual science says you are just like space or sky, sky is everywhere, it is not limited with India. It is everywhere. Sky does not have any special identity; sky does not have any individuality. It is vast.

Your Presence is everywhere. In every being, your Presence is there. Bodies are different, Presence is there. How can you identify? Because the moment that Spirit clicks with the body, the entire world is projected. Just like in a dream, you are in deep sleep, you see the dream. Who has created the dream world? You are seeing yourself, you see the entire world, you see the sun, moon, gods, goddesses, friends, father, mother, everything, all things. Not even that, you are seeing yourself, you are acting there. You are having some role. You are playing some role. In that dream you feel that dream is true. You are enjoying that dream or not enjoying it, there may be good experience or bad experience. Who is experiencing that dream? Who is watching that dream? That is your identity. Because you are sleeping, there is subtler and subtler identity there, which is called Brahman, Atman, Ultimate Truth. I am talking about that subtle unidentified identity which is called Brahman, Atman, Paramatman, God, Master, That you are. Though you are holding body, you are unconcerned with the body. So this Reality is supposed to be absorbed. So literally you are knowing everything. You have got literal conviction. It should be spontaneous Conviction.

After having spontaneous Conviction, though thoughts are flowing, good and bad, you will not give them importance. Just like in a dream world, after awakening you say, “I had good or bad dreams”. Just like Janaka, he was king, but he had seen that he was begging, so he questioned all his stalwart spiritualists “Is that true or is this true?”. In the Ashtavakra Gita, this story is there, it is a good book. Ashtavakra was a great spiritualist in those days, he was only a 14 or 15-year-old boy. But he was having exceptional realization. It is a big story, I am now talking about a big story. And here, he replied to Janaka. Janaka asked, “The only question I have is whether this is true or that is true?” He told him, “I was having a dream where I was begging as a beggar and now I am king”. Ashtavakra was a very very brilliant spiritualist. Instantly he said, “That is also false, this is also false”. What you see in a dream, that dream world is also an illusion, what you see today with this body form, it is also illusion. No other question is there, but the Presence in a dream and the Presence in this body form are one and the same. Without Presence, you can’t watch a dream and without Presence you can’t watch this body-based knowledge. So your Presence is there also and it is here but you are measuring, you are counting yourself as body form. That concept is supposed to be dissolved.

And all this is okay, some basic knowledge you have got, how to implement it? How to digest it? That is the main question. And the main question will be solved with meditation. Why is meditation required? Because within this body, invisible Presence is very sensitive. Considering the virtue of sensitiveness of this Spirit, the words are given, “Aham Brahmasami”, “I am Brahman” or “Soham”, whatsoever the words may be. Every lineage gives different words. Those words are creating vibration when you are reciting Mantra, meditating with the Mantra, concentrating with the Mantra. You are asking how to meditate: in the beginning you are to have some discipline. You sit in this fashion, half closed eyes, you concentrate on the tip of the nose. Why do this? Because your mind is very crazy. To keep the mind busy, we ask you to concentrate on the tip of the nose. So while the mind is concentrating on the tip of the nose, at the same time, you are reciting the Mantra. When the mind is busy, it will not play against you. After keeping it busy, your purpose is served. You are hammering it. Keeping the mind busy with concentration, you are not allowing it to create any questions or any crazy activity. And then by reciting Mantra, you will be directly hammering your Selfless Self : “You are Brahman, you are Brahman, I am Brahman, Brahman I am, I am Brahman, Brahman I am”. After nonstop reciting, Originality will be open: “So that I!” And instantly, after some time, of course it depends upon your involvement, seriousness in meditation, not casual meditation. What Master says, you have to accept it, and then instantly, Reality will be open with you. Where experience and experiencer will disappear. You will forget form. There isn’t any witness or witnesser. Though you are sitting for meditation, you remain unconcerned. You  will forget everything. You will get exceptional peacefulness inside. Through meditation, some vibration are created inside, and the waves create a spiritual atmosphere within you. That spiritual atmosphere helps to absorb the Reality.

And for which, we are insisting, in the beginning, meditation is supposed to be strict and well disciplined, without which you can’t identify yourSelf. Only literal knowledge, dry knowledge, will not help you. So be strong, have courage to accept the Reality. I am always saying not to neglect your duties, not to ignore your responsibilities, not to neglect your family life, not to neglect your routine life. Do your duty. But at the same time, there is the conviction “I am not doer, there is no deed”. It is fact. You are not doer, there is no deed. For deed and doer, some form is required. You are not having any form, you are basically formless. This human form is not living constantly. How are you prior to one hundred years? Formless. No birth, no death. Not to do anything. You must have conviction, spontaneous conviction, in the beginning. Then after having conviction, though you are living in this illusionary world, you will remain unconcerned. All body-based concepts will dissolve, disappear. You are knowing, you can watch: “Yes, this is correct, this is false, this is illusion”. After knowing they are illusion, you will not have any attachment. No desire is there, thoughts are flowing, mind is very crazy. Previously, we were becoming slave of mind ego and intellect. The mind was dictating terms “do this and do that”. After knowing That: “I am providing energy to the mind”. Without your Presence, how can mind run? If there is no Presence, mind can’t act. Prior to beingness, or consciousness, there was no mind, no ego, no intellect. The question of thoughts never arises. The question of existence never arises. We feel existence because of the body form, but who is acting from the body? Who is listening from the body? Who does activities from the body? The invisible Presence called Brahman, Atman, Paramatman, Ultimate Truth, That you are. It is not having any experience. It is Final Truth.

So though you are living with this body, human form, you will get spontaneous Conviction. What is the Conviction? That “My role in this world is not the doer, no deed is there, I am nothing”. Everything came out of nothing and everything dissolves within nothing. So what you feel, what you experience “I am something”, that will dissolve. So the concept of body form is supposed to be dissolved. It is not your Ultimate Truth. The Presence within the body, through which you are acting and you are doing all these things, is spontaneous Presence, which is called Brahman, Atman, That you are. It is just like space or sky. So there is always the question, “After death, what happens to the body, what happens to the Spirit?” You know that death means leaving the body. As a matter of fact, there is no death and there is no birth. But these questions are there always because you see everything. Death and birth are connected with the body only.

Suppose in a dream, you see your body die, just imagine. Who is seeing that body die? Or somebody dies. After awakening, that man is there. When you see a dead in dream, after awakening that man is there. So what is true? The Presence of that man or being in this world is true? Or is his death  in the dream true? Question yourself. You will get all answers from you. Your Spirit is exceptionally powerful. You are unaware of your power. You are unaware of the tremendous energy within you. Not to beg for any blessing from anyone else. Not to go here or there in search of Masters. Master is not separate from you. You are a Master. My Master Nisargadatta Maharaj says: “I am not making you disciples, I am making you Masters”. Bodies are different, forms are different, but Masterly Essence, Ultimate Truth, is not different. Just like I am always mentioning, countries are different, houses are different, but the sky within the house is one and the same. Likewise, the invisible Listener within you and the invisible speaker within this body are one and the same. Which is called Brahman, Atman, Paramatman, God, Master,  That you are. But you are not accepting this truth because of long association with the body form. You are protecting so many concepts. We have developed so many concepts. Through meditation, all body- based concepts are supposed to be discarded. It is true. As in a dream, you see somebody doing a good or a bad thing. After awakening, you have nothing to do with that experience. So whatever experience you are having in a dream, after awakening all experience disappears. So this present life is just like a dream, a long dream. So like that you have to convince yourself because you are your own Master. You are the architect of your own life.

So don’t encourage body-based questions. Mind is always asking “Why this, why that? Question yourself. What is true? The illusionary world and all experiences? False. In this illusionary world, all questions are body-based questions. Nothing has happened. In a dream, you are seeing and experiencing so many things. Are you  asking “Why this thing, why that thing?” It is a dream! It is false! It cannot be true. Similarly, the present life is not true. As long as Presence in the body is there, you feel it is true. After leaving the body, what happens? No question is there. So just like nothing remains when the dream disappears, similarly, after this dream disappears, nothing remains. Where does it go? Body is burned or buried. Are there any problems for the dead body? Because you are holder of the body. Does sky die or take birth? Does sky take birth or does sky die? Just like the sky is not having death and birth, similarly your Presence is not having death and birth. You are unborn, you are formless. That Conviction is supposed to appear. It is not impossible, but in the beginning, follow the instructions of the Masters and strictly administer their meditation. Do the meditation. Unless you undergo the discipline of meditation, your foundation will be weak. Your foundation will be weak and all your building will be weak. It is very simple knowledge, for which you are not to do anything, you are not to spend a single penny. No garland is required. No rituals are required. In India so many rituals are there: “Do this pranam, do that pranam”. Why? When you entered this world, did you have to do any pranam? Have you taken any name? “Ram Ram Ram Ram?” When did you come to Ram? When the Spirit entered the body, you started knowing “This is Ram”. All this is ok, I am not criticizing this. It is faith. These names are having faith. Question yourself.

In a dream, there are so many gods and goddesses, where are the gods and goddesses after awakening? Where have they gone? You see so many people. After awakening what happened to them? Have they gone to hell or heaven? Nothing is there. Therefore everything came out of nothing, everything dissolves within nothing. That you have to know: your invisible Presence is the Reality. Brahman, Atman, Paramatman, God, Master is not separate from you. I am shouting all the time. But still some crazy mind creates so many questions “Why this, why that?” Some people say “Oh I have got depression, why this thing?” There was once a question asked by somebody “When I am doing meditation, I forget everything, but on awakening my mind is playing and I get depression”. This is a game of your mind. So your happiness in this world is also false and depression is also false. Depression, happiness, blissfulness, appears on your Presence. Your Presence is subtle. Does sky have depression? “Oh this Indian sky has got depression” or “Nasik sky has got depression”.

So you will get all answers from your side. Ask questions to yourself, make it answer. In the beginning, you will not get answers, but after hammering, just like the criminal in the police station, the criminal says “I have not done anything, I’m innocent, I’m innocent”. They are torturing him and then he says “Yes, I am guilty”. Similarly, with the Nama Mantra meditation, you are torturing yourself: “You are Brahman, you are a liar, you are Brahman”. And after continuous torturing and hammering: “Oh I am that!”. And then all answers, all replies you will get from inside. You are not required to go anywhere to solve your questions, all questions will be solved within you. For which, in the beginning, you are to undergo the discipline of meditation. Make it talk! Just like the police officer taking answer from the criminals, he did not reply, he tried to divert the mind. But after continuous torture, you will place before you all evidence: “Yes I am Brahman”. So after hammering yourself “I am Brahman, Brahman I am” or “Soham”, Ultimate Truth, Entire truth will be opened from you. You will be surprised: very difficult questions will be solved within you and you will not have to go anywhere.

Not to change any Masters. People are changing this Master, that Master, that Master, that Master. It is meaningless, you are wasting your time because you are not giving importance to your own Master within you. Master is not separate from you. Take the answer from your own Master, which exists in your human form. The holder of the human form is the Master. It is not having specific identity, so not to guess, not to imagine. Try to convince yourself. In the beginning you have got duality, but I am always advising not to make comparative study of the various Masters. Many times there are questions of whether this Master is realized or not: “Is that Master realized?” How are you concerned with who is realized or not realized? You are not concerned. Talk about yourself, whether you are realized or not! Some people compare “Why is Ramana Maharshi like this, why does this Master says like this?” How are you concerned? You are not analyzer. You are not to make comparative study. It is a waste of time. So instead of wasting such time, make yourself invincible, powerful, and get answers from you. You are fine, you are the central point of this world. Don’t ignore it. It is fact I am placing before you. So you need not to question. Why questions are there? All questions are related to form, they are basically rooted through mind. And mind, ego and intellect, it is itself an illusion. They are functioning organs. Your entire body functions through mind, ego and intellect. Who is supplying power to them? That you are. You are supplying electricity, you are supplying power. Survival of mind, ego and intellect in this form is because of you only. How were you prior to beingness? Unknown. After leaving body? Unknown. That means unknown dissolves in unknown. What you feel as known is because of this body only. Basically you are unknown to yourself. After leaving body, you are unknown. So unknown came into existence in body form and after leaving body, unknown will dissolve into unknown. In between you are posing “I am somebody else”. You are not somebody, you are everybody. You are everywhere. Just like space or sky. So be with you, it is not impossible.

Don’t waste your time going here or there. People are coming here “Oh I will go this way and that way”. Why to roam here or there? Not to go anywhere. You may visit it no problem, but not for spiritual knowledge. Spiritual knowledge is always within you. Don’t underestimate you. You do not know your greatness. Greatness is always with you. So we have created language, to convince with various words. Language is not important. Try to identify and understand the meaning of those words. We have created words, “Spirituality”, “Brahman”, “Atman”, “Maya” and so on and so forth. So instead of analyzing the words try to understand. What is the message out of those words? What is the message given by various Masters through their spiritual statements? And where do you stand in that message? That is most important. Question yourself, get answers from yourself. You will make yourself get answers for all the questions. See the fun. And then you will find so many complicated questions solved within you, you will make the Spirit talk just like the police officer made the criminal talk. So likewise, with meditation, with hammering, you will force your Selfless Self to talk and answer all questions. In the beginning, there is duality, it is a deliberate act. But you are to do it until you get spontaneous conviction. Then everything is easy.

Even if you think intellectually, logically, what is in this body? Just sit quiet and calm. What is in the body? Nothing. Just glimpses of ‘I’. Just glimpses of ‘I’. This body form is not going to remain constant. It is having a time limit, age limit etc. So what is appearing on your Presence, good thing, bad thing, don’t give so much importance. Sometime you feel some depression, some unpleasant atmosphere, it happens because you are holding body. The body belongs to the five elements. When there is an imbalance in the five elements, you feel it. I am suffering from a cold. Some weakness in this body form is there. So that you have to understand. So body concept, body feeling is not constant. Different atmospheres, different things are there. Just like seasonal things. Clouds are coming, clouds are going, you are there and there only. Like that, you are to convince yourself. Therefore, the first basic thing: you have to undergo the discipline of the meditation. Hammering yourSelf all the time. Recite Mantra non-stop. For which you are not to spend anything. There should not be any attraction of anybody else: “if I go to that Master, I will get different knowledge”. It is not necessary to go to any Masters. For what? That will only add confusion.

My Master Nisargadatta Maharaj has given a good message to all the devotees: “After knowing the Reality, after having Conviction, not to go anywhere or come across any elements which will distract you  from Reality”. Because somebody else may not be knowing the Reality, and he will try to impress his own thoughts, his own concepts? His mind will create confusion and your faith will be damaged. Don’t do that. This is a red signal. So have alertness. There should not be any attachment because attachment with someone else’s thoughts will create problems for you. So all your effort will be ruined. So be cautious. I’m not against anybody else, but now you have got realistic knowledge. Basically except your Selfless Self, there is no God, no Brahman, no Atman, Paramatman. What more do you want? If you go anywhere they will say “Do this thing, do that thing”. Why? Because you are not doer! Some people think past life, future life. There is no life at all. You have not done anything bad. Suppose you have done bad. In a dream are you thinking “Oh, I have done a bad thing”? How can it be a bad dream or good dream? Likewise, this is also a dream, a long dream. You are basically not doer, there is no deed. There is no experience, no experiencer. No witness, no witnesser. After leaving body, what experience is there? Prior to beingness, any experience is there? Any questions are there? Prior to beingness, no question was there. The moment that Spirit clicked with the body, all questions, all concepts started, all attachment started. So all these problems are to be solved and you can do it, you have that capacity. So be alert. I have tried my level best to convince you, to invite the attention of the invisible Listener.

So be strong, have some courage to accept the Reality. Ok. So what you have recorded you will display, it may be useful for beginners and all the devotees. The recording should be typed also, it will be helpful to everybody. Those who are not present here, they can see it in book form. I am insisting for book form because if book form is available, they will continuously read the book and that will lead to making them more and more strong spiritually. After listening to this, you are to make yourself very strong in spirituality. Not to hurt anybody’s feelings. Not to compare. Not to hurt anybody’s heart. Not to struggle with anybody else. There should not be ego “Oh I have got a lot of knowledge, I am a spiritual master”. Not like that. No comparative study. Sometimes there is temptation “Oh, I have got good knowledge, I am a great master”. Not like that. Everybody is a Master. Not to count yourself as an individual. Therefore the Reality of your formless Self, you are to accept it. Because you are not accepting the Reality, therefore all confusion starts, all illusion starts. So be strong. Again I am repeating: this human body is an opportunity for you. Don’t waste your time. Do your job, do your duties, take care of your health, take care of everything, but not to neglect It. If you take It lightly, casually, then you will be a victim of your own desires. So this will be the last terminal. No birth, no death, nothing is there. So be strong spiritually strong. Ok?