Transcript of 25th June; Ananta Online Satsang _/|\_ ~~~ [Ananta]: Okay, is there sound now? Sound is there now? Okay wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. So Ustream was playing some tricks today. I logged in, it said broadcast and I started speaking; then Dee and some of the others were saying ‘Yes, audio and video are good’ but you were watching the recording from yesterday. And I was wondering why I am not getting any response on my question. Its good, its good, its good. Welcome, welcome once again everyone. Good to see you back. Maybe I can also put this mic closer. Do you know it is so wonderful that we are able to communicate like this? In spite of all the technical difficulties, the fact is, it is amazing that I could be sitting here in Bangalore, and all of you could be spread all over the world. There is Australia, there is New Zealand, there is South America, there is South Africa, there is North America, there is Europe. So from all parts of the world we are able to get together like this. It is very great. And the little technical difficulties we will get over soon. Its good. So if you are all a little tired of hearing my monologues, today I felt we would read a little bit from the Avadhuta Gita again. It has been quite a while since we did that. Very good. So we will read chapter two, the first paragraph. We are reading the Avadhuta Gita, The Song of the Avadhut and we are reading chapter two. Louise says, Thank you, Bill Gates. Yes, well, Bill Gates retired quite a while ago, but I know what you mean. Okay, so chapter two starts like this. He says, “You may be young, unlearned and addicted to pleasures, you may be a servant or a householder, it doesnt matter. Does a jewel require a Guru in order to be valuable or is it worthless simply because it is covered in mud?” You may be young, unlearned and addicted to pleasures. No matter what the content of your life is. You may be a servant or a householder, it doesnt matter. You are always the Self. It doesnt matter what life is showing up for you. Even, he says, ‘Does a jewel require a Guru in order to be valuable? With or without the presence of the Guru, you are always only the Self. The gurus only job…, he does not make you a jewel; his only job is to tell you that ‘You are not this mud, you are the jewel itself’. It is only the ideas that you have that the Guru works on. What you are is the same as the Guru himself. Or is it worthless simply because it is covered with mud? The second paragraph of chapter two is, “You may lack learning or literary skill, you dont require such qualities as these. Hold fast to the Truth and let go of all else. Even an unpainted boat will take you across.” There comes a point where all knowledge becomes unnecessary. All that is required is a clear looking at what is the Truth. And I am not ungrateful for the knowledge, including the knowledge from the scriptures like the Avadhuta Gita itself. So we are not to be disdainful or ungrateful about the knowledge, but there comes a point where no knowledge is required. All that is required is a clear looking at our own true Self. And sometimes knowledge can get in the way, because when the mind knows too much, too much, then when the inquiry is being done by the Master then the mind is answering all the questions, because he has heard all the questions before. That is where knowledge can get in the way. S so the Avadhuta is imploring us to let go of all that we have learned as well. Hold fast to the Truth and let go of all else. Even an unpainted boat will take you across. Paragraph 3 is, “The Self appears as both the animate and the inanimate world, yet it always remains in its own peaceful state. It is always pure consciousness, as calm as the sky.” So he says the Self appears as both the animate and the inanimate world. Lets look at this. So, as awareness, we can say that it is inanimate; no movement is possible at all. And with the birth of the Being, the birth of Consciousness, then it becomes animate. But both the inanimate and the animate are the Self itself. And you are this Self. Yet it always remains in its own peaceful state. It is always pure Consciousness, as calm as the sky. So the terminologies can be different. I would feel that what he is referring to as pure Consciousness is the pure Nomenon or the Awareness itself. The Awareness is the unmoving one. And if there are any questions about any of this, we can look at them. You can type them out and I will look back to the screen every minute or so to answer questions. Lets go forward. He says, “Though appearing as the animate and the inanimate world, the Self remains forever one. Where then, is the division? There is no duality. It is clear to me.” So, let’s look at this again: ‘Though appearing as the animate and the inanimate world, the Self remains forever one. Where then, is the division? There is no duality. It is clear to me’. This is the root of Advaita, that whatever appears to be animated, that is also one with the inanimate one; therefore there is no separation at all. This oneness is the oneness of Advaita. And Jyoti says, “I wondered about that. Can the ‘I am’ move? Or is pure ‘I am’ also unmoving?” Yes. It can be said that pure Beingness is also unmoving, as the pure Presence of Beingness itself. But it can also be said that the entire world comes from this Beingness; so in that way it is moving. But actually it can also be said to be the unmoving one. Just the unaffected ‘I am-ness’ is unmoved. When it becomes ‘I am the body, I am this person, I am the mind’ then it is the moving one. It can be looked at like this. As pure Beingness ‘I am’ it is unmoving, but when it starts taking on attributes, then it can be said to be animate. Paragraph 5 of chapter 2 is, “Indeed, I am the highest Truth. I am Shiva. I contain the world, both subtle and gross. I do not come, nor do I go. I have no movement, I have no form.” And one thing must be clarified here is that the Avadhuta is speaking on behalf of all of us. So this is your own voice. When he says that ‘I am Shiva’ he is not saying that I am Shiva as a separate being. He is speaking on your behalf. He says, ‘Indeed, I am the highest Truth. I am Shiva. I contain the world, both subtle and gross. I do not come, nor do I go. I have no movement, I have no form’. So, what is he referring to here as the highest Truth, as Shiva? He is referring to Awareness itself, as Shiva. One representation of this is Shiva and Parvati in Indian mythology. Awareness is Shiva and Consciousness is Parvati; but actually they are one. But in movement, which we refer to as Parvati; and when pure awareness is referred to, is Shiva. There are also representations of Shiva as half man, half woman; half Shiva, half Parvati. It is basically representing the same thing; the oneness of the moving and the unmoving. The oneness between the pure seeing and the pure being. 6th paragraph is, “I am unaffected by my component parts. Therefore, though the gods may worship me in my perfect wholeness, I recognize no distinctions such as gods.” So, awareness is the Supreme Lord that all manifestations of Consciousness worship; this Shiva himself. So this is just a visual representation of the truth. We are not preaching a religion here; it’s just a metaphor for aiding our understanding. So all gods must arise from Me alone. But I recognize no such division between Me and the gods. It’s like saying that we are forever at the feet of the Guru, but Guru recognizes no distinction between he and you. And if the Guru was to feel that there was anything special about him, or her, then that would be a spiritual ego. Therefore, there are two marks of the Guru. One is that he does not feel a distinction between himself and the student; and also that he has utmost faith that all Beings that come to him can get it instantly. He does not feel that some can get it, and some cannot. Paragraph 7 is, “Neither doubt or ignorance can cause the slightest ripple in Me. Let the modifications of the mind continue to occur. They are merely bubbles rising to the surface of a pond.” So, we’re not going through a word by word interpretation today. Just going to get the feeling from the paragraph, and see what comes up from there. So we have often said this in satsang, to let the mind be a tsunami; let it be as strong as it wants; let there be a whirlwind of thoughts. You stay as you are. You stay as the Self. So, very often we’re pulled in, saying ‘The mind was very strong, the mind was very strong’. And it actually feels that the mind was very strong, and that’s why we got pulled in. But we do not need to control how strong or weak the mind is. Let the mind be whatever it wants; you stay as Awareness itself. You stay as the pure witnessing. Let the mind do whatever it wants; let the world do whatever it wants. You stay as the pure witnessing itself. Paragraph 8 is, “The ephemeral elements that form all things manifest in many different ways: Some things appear soft, others hard; Some things appear sweet, and others sour.” The ephemeral elements that form all things, what we call the phenomenal here, manifest in many different ways. Some things appear soft, others hard; Some things appear sweet, and others sour. So, the point is, all is made up of the one Consciousness, of the one Beingness; it can take many of these forms. So it is best not to differentiate or to judge. What we say is don’t follow the mental interpretations about any objects. Paragraph 9 is, “The qualities of clearness, coldness, and softness are but qualities of water. Likewise, matter and spirit are but qualities of the one Existence.” He’s going deeper into the play of how this world appears. So Spirit as Consciousness appears first, and from this is formed matter. This does not mean that they are separate in any way. [Silence] Sometimes the Presence becomes so strong that the words don’t come out anymore. [Silence] Let’s look at some of the things from the chat. Cornelia says, “All question that appeared have disappeared.” Yes. Atma says, “It means I’m only worshiping only my Self.” Yes. “Father, thank you for your pure love. Only love is here.” Good. Vasu says, “Is this pure awareness the same as God?” It depends on our definition. So in some spiritual societies this Awareness is called God; in most others, it is Consciousness itself which is called God. In some, this Consciousness is called the Self, and Awareness is called God. In some it is the other way around; where Consciousness is called God, and Awareness is called the Self. So, the definitions and the terminology is not ultimately important. The point is the clear realization of these. Sometimes the Self is called the non-self. Sometimes the mind is called the self. All different traditions have used different languages, so we do not need to worry about these. That’s why I try to refer to them as terms which are more easily understood like Pure Seeing-ness, Pure Beingness. Just as Awareness and Beingness, or Awareness and Consciousness. So, we can decide on what we want to refer to God as. I most often refer to God as Consciousness itself, which is the one creator, and the one experiencer of this entire phenomenal world. Louise says, “Father, I have to get ready for work. Much love. Will join again tomorrow.” Very good. Have a good day at work, and we’ll see you again tomorrow. Paragraph 10, “Beyond all speech, beyond all names, beyond the subtlest of all subtle things; Beyond mind, intellect, and the five senses, the stainless Lord of the universe remains ever One.” That is why we say that awareness of Awareness is the only non-phenomenal experiencing. Even the subtlest phenomenon are created inside this awareness after the birth of consciousness. But beyond all this play of consciousness, there is the pure awareness itself. And it is so beautiful now that so many of you can speak about this so simply. In the olden days it was said that only the greatest yogis would understand this knowledge. But now the pure consciousness is making it available to all Beings. Paragraph 11 is, “If the Universal Self becomes known, how could ‘I’ continue to be? How could ‘you’ or the sentient and insentient world still be?” He’s saying that once this oneness is seen, this pure awareness is all there is, then there can be no distinction between I and you; between the sentient and the insentient also. [Silence] One interesting question to ask would be ‘Is it possible for anything to be insentient?’ If all is coming from this sense ‘I am’ itself, is it possible that anything can be insentient? That would be an interesting exploration. Cornelia says, “When we understand something or when we say ‘I understand’ then who actually understands?” It is the same Consciousness itself. The same Consciousness which has deluded itself into believing that it is a person, now is coming back from this delusion and saying that ‘I understand that I am God, I am not this person’. Atma says, “By your grace now we understand it; the supreme knowledge, the supreme understanding. It is so great and so simple.” Yes, it is so simple. “Thank you, beloved Father.” You’re so welcome. Jyoti says, “It seems like once I saw full life in the eyes of a doll, as though the doll was alive as a Being.” If all comes from Beingness, then can anything be insentient? Wendy says, “Insentient means not having Beingness, does it not? Can you define them?” So in the sense of, it is said that the entire world comes from the sense I am-ness, then can we validate that all objects, moving or not moving, (this table, this chair); can we validate that they do not have a sense of being? It might not be a sense of being as a separate entity, but is there a way to truly validate? Can we say that plants are insentient? Ultimately ‘I am’ is all there is; phenomenally ‘I am’ is all there is. It is all just this ‘I am’. Therefore, in this definition itself, it means that because all of this is This already, it is all sentient. But we don’t have to look and clarify with every object and validate it’s sentience, because we can only validate our own sentience. Those objects and other beings appearing in a dream, do they have a separate sentience? No. It is the same consciousness, same sentience; in the same way in this so-called waking dream, it is all the same sentience itself. All is Me. All is a play of consciousness. Jyoti says, “I also have a picture of Ganesh, and his eyes seem so full of life.” And Wendy says, “All is made of atoms, energy; so Beingness in all. However, thoughts would be a ‘second level unreality’, no?” Like we say, the person is a second-level illusion, because he does not even exist phenomenally; it’s just pure imagination. Wendy says, “Not trying to be mental. Just sometimes feel thoughts don’t matter since it’s all Consciousness.” Yes. Completely. That’s the whole point of satsang, to convince all of us that thoughts don’t matter, it’s all Consciousness. If this understanding is there, it is perfect already. Is the audio more audible today? Jyoti says, “Yes, I can only really testify to my own Being. Sometimes I even question if the people around me are real at all.” Yes. There is no way to verify that they are real. At best, through inquiry, this insight comes that everything that appears is a projection of the same sense ‘I am’. Okay, audio is very good today, [sangha says]. Wendy says ‘Yes, more audible. Just sometimes don’t catch every word you are reading when you turn your head’. Okay. [Silence] You are the light. In your presence, no darkness can survive. And the darkness of fear cannot co-exist with the light of your love. In your presence, more and more Beings will discover their own true Self. The Guru’s Presence is already in your heart; it has always been there. Hand over all power to this Presence itself. Don’t be fearful of any darkness. The strongest dark energy cannot survive your Presence now. You carry the light of Shiva, the light of Arunachala. May this light bring all Beings to their ultimate freedom. Om Shanti Shanti Shanti Moojiji ki Jai! Atma says, “True. All you say now, I feel and see in me.” Good. Jyoti says, “I have no fear of fear. Your words are making me cry. They are the most beautiful words I have ever heard.” Because they come from your OWN heart. Good. Cornelia says, “I am not afraid of anything. You are always with me.” Good. Clare, much love. Meera says, “Thank you, Father.” Thank you, my dear. Aradhana says, “Thank you.” Very good. [Radiant smile, silently reading other love/thank you messages]. Thank you all so much. We still have about 15 minutes today, but I feel they would be best spent in silence, just by yourself. Very good. And I’ll see all of you tomorrow, 4:30pm India time. So much love to all of you. [waves] Bye. [Namaste] [Sangha]: Thank you. Love you.
Posted on: Thu, 26 Jun 2014 01:39:47 +0000
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