Transcend Your I

…. Everybody is working for their I. The moment the I comes, then you say, “I came because of this friend, therefore I have to take care of him.” You forgot that the Being is Forever Pure. You’re not taking care of your friend, you’re taking care of your I [which has become identified with your friend]. I say that I is the illusory ego, a ghost. And as long as you’re alive, you cannot give up the ghost. [Laughter.] But we have to. If you do not, I’ll continue saying “Pure Free Forever,” but you’ll continue being somebody—a teacher, a lecturer, a professor, an engineer, a name, a resident of a country, a wife, a husband, a child, all that. This is what Guru knows, so he can tell you. But he is helpless in bringing in you that Purity if you do not work on it. …

You have to bring in your examining power. Whatever I have said, but you have come to know that Brian is and Brian is not; Barbara is and Barbara is not; her medical story is and is not; Swamiji is and Swamiji is not. … How to figure this out now? What to do? That’s a query with everyone. … If you use your intelligence, you can see that the flower is and the flower is not. … As long as your duality remains, for you there is “is and is not.” So you can imagine how much you have to work on that, how much you have to practise. Aatma Shakti is, so Nandi [her daughter] is. Aatma Shakti is not, only then Nandi is not. As long as Nandi is, Aatma Shakti is. And Nandi was never there. But now Aatma Shakti is worried—about that person who was never there. … You came to know that when the I will arise, all the problems will start. The dog will be there, he will be barking, and you will not like it. Birds will be chirping, and you will not like it. Because the I is there. So they say, “Transcend, Transcend.” What does transcend mean? …

Only because of this I, every nonsense on earth is going on. Everything. And if the I is not, how easily [life goes]… If you have not practised, at the time of death, family, doctors will all be there, and nobody will harm you, but your I—the negative—will harm you. That is where the ego is. But “Give up your ego, Give up your ego” does not work. Why? You do not know where the ego is. Guru says that there is no ego. You never accept this. You cannot. Because you are a human being. Guru says, “There has never been your I. There has never been your name. There has never been your body, your emotions, never your hormones.” Now, what is it? When I say, “You’re sunshine, that’s all,” then you say, “I should be shining very brilliantly, have a great crown and things like that, and then shine.” Sunshine means you are not. Now, Guru cannot say you are not. The moment you are sick, he says, “Go to the hospital.” That is essential. …

Today, you came to know—rather you came to hear, not that you came to know—you came to hear that by interaction of any kind in the waking state on the level of the senses, your I arises—which was never there. So if you can be convinced one day that it was never there, then you will [know your Freedom]. …

Guru expects you to work together with him. That’s why he prays to the Lord ,,, [He begins the classic prayer from the Upanishads in Sanskrit]: “Now, we are together. Let us remain alive to talk and hear. We may not fall sick. We should not have cudgels to cavil. We should remain friendly. Amicably, we should do the trip. Let us sit together and evolve that we both were never there.” All this. Now, it should not be possible that anyone can know that “I was never there.” Immediately he will ask, “How to get along in social interactions? [Someone’s question to him recently.] Swamiji, if I’m not there and they’re not there, then how to have social interactions?” You can check the difficulty of a human mind. When you have realized or heard this, there is only one thing you should have in your awareness: you should not mind and put your hand in that which is never there. Even Larry King knows this. [Laughter.] …This where I end up, by letting you know that your I never leaves you. So your work is to try to do something and find and realize that knowledge which may help you to transcend your I. Thank you.

Dan: … It feels like when you say “is and is not,” what I was understanding is as if it’s like a ghost?

Swamiji: That’s correct. A ghost means that it’s not. Whenever we talk about anything ghostly, that doesn’t exist. So that which is attributed to the truth of the ghost—whatever the ghost says, has said, and will say—don’t accept. Then, what will remain? That should be your question. What will remain if the ghost is not there? You will come to know that the Knower is. That’s all. Then you won’t have anything to do with that ghost. The Knower is the first Being, who is making the whole world move. That is the Knower—who is making the sun move, the earth move, the air move. The Knower. The Knower is not a ghost. You can check: if you have realized the Knower, then the Knower is in the appearance of Dan. So the one who knows, he will know that Dan and the Knower are one and the same. But then Dikpal will say, “What about his I?” Then Rita will answer, “The I is fictitious. He has made it. Because of imagination, so he is I.” The answer.

All children have been made to accept the ghost which is the I. And now the I became a real being. So how can Guru succeed in removing it? He will need your cooperation. Because it is you who are the Knower forever. Yet you say that you are not the Knower, that the I is, that this is Dan, that Dan is. So Dan is and the Knower is not. Dan is and the mind is. So the ghost is. And the mind is never there. The mind was made by repeating “Dan, Dan.” …

This I is a human being. It is the greatest hindrance in the spoken language of a human being. Yet he cannot communicate without language, and in language there must be somebody who should have the I as the subject, and there must be somebody who must be the object. Both are subject and object, but one does not know who is the subject and who is the object. This is where the functioning of the I is. I describe it because you can identify with it. For me, I never say what I think or know about it. You just have a conjecture that “It is just possible that Swamiji must be thinking all are I,” or “He must be thinking the I is not,” or “Let me hear one day when he says I. Whenever he will speak, does he say ‘I have a poncho’ or not?” This is where the problem will come. But when you realize, then the Knower is. So the Knower is Dan. The Knower has been Mendel [Dan’s father]. And the Knower has got nothing to do with Mendel. Mendel disappeared, but the Knower never disappears. Because the Knower never appeared as Mendel. The Knower just blew [he blows], and there is Mendel. …

Dan: Can you say that whatever is happening is just the Self experiencing the Self?

Swamiji. No. Because the very “happening” is incorrect. The final thing will be that the world in front of your eyes, which you see is, has never appeared. So what is a happening? If it could be that this fact were imbibed by a human being, then nature would have not made you accept the I or ghost. Nature has played this treacherous part that it has made everybody know the I, and everybody’s consciousness with which he knows the Knower has been destroyed. I’m bringing in you that the Knower is. Why does one have to think about what happened and what did not happen? … Happening is mental. Happening is from that ego. …

Dan: Why are we attracted to have this experience?

Swamiji: Because we are bound and we want to have our ties released. That’s all. The very Knower got bound. And Swamiji says that the Knower is never bound. I say that for the Knower, the reality of the Knower is ever the same. Because I am Guru. Yet the very Knower says “No, I’m bound. I want freedom.” So that Knower is mixed with that which you call the mind, with that which you call the ego. …

The Knower is forever free. Yet we as human beings are born, and we think and know certainly that “I am born.” But you are born in your dreams many times. So, what happened to you? [He snaps his fingers.] That is the crudity. The moment the waking state comes, there is “I am born and named Steve. I am the son of so-and-so. I am the resident of so-and-so.” Now, what can you do? We don’t understand how Guru has been before the creation and creator. And you are on the Guru trip. Somehow all of you can think at heart that you are on the trip that you should be the Highest and should know “I am the Highest”—not only think, but actually be the Highest. In this way, each human being is wanting to get liberation. That’s why we’re here. That’s all. We are here on earth only for liberation. We place before you so many examples, just to know. … It’s just possible you might get what is that before happening. When the Self is, then identify that the Self is your reality, or You, as against that you are this. There will be something by which you can act like that. And whenever you become that, you are not involved. …

The Knower is such that at every step it jumps into the pot of the mind. [He snaps his fingers.] After doing everything, it’s the mind again. And the mind’s job is to either repent for getting happiness or for removing unhappiness. … You have to know what your nature is, what you want as a human being. You must have come to know up to this time, after fifty years or so, that your nature is Freedom. So why would you do anything with which your mind, intellect or body would be bound? You would not. That’s all. … I inform you that I know if you are a human being, then you have the potential to become the best human being. The best human being is the one who knows that the Self within me is the power that is making my eyes see, my ears hear, and all that—and not the I. That’s all. You are the greatest. Thank you. Very nice. [Applause.]

Why would you not have faith in your understanding that you are always there where there is nothing that begins or ends? That is your reality. For You, nothing begins or ends, so why is there something in the middle that is happening or not happening? Having realized this, you watch the way a man watches a movie. … With dancers, he shakes his feet. With singers, he sings. With villains, he becomes a villain at heart. When somebody weeps, he has sympathy. And when the movie is over, he exits. So realization is the exit from this world. Then you are in Free Space, you are not in the movie. …

That is where the work is: Again and again, you have to attend Being. But the Being, poor fellow, gets into the I-ghost. So you accept the ghost. We take these examples so that you can understand and unfold. Such as a shadow has nothing to do with any part of the body, but when I say, “Your own shadow,” immediately you look behind you. [Laughter.] This is where you should know that this is the mechanism of a human being. If that mechanism remains, it will function as the body. So that mechanism is to be transcended or transformed. That is the possibility. …

Only satsang will help you. Nothing else. Because Sat is the Self. So satsang is your work, game, or profession. Whatever you do, satsang. … Only satsang. Whatever you have heard in satsang, you should talk about to your friends. … Those who remember what is satsang have grown. They have the result of the situations automatically as they come—because they are Being. … The whole day and night, I always remain in satsang. I don’t want to do anything else other than satsang. It’s not that you wait for me. I wait for you. That means it is Oneness. So when Oneness will come, then you reach there. …

Unwinding takes place. A human being is made such that he is always winding, which means a whirlpool, the illusion. It is not our fault. When we reach there, then we know it is ocean water and that winding, a whirlpool, takes place. What is the fault of the water? In that very winding, the consciousness has appeared and says, “I am a body, a whirlpool, a bubble, a son of so-and-so.” … When you say “I transcended” it means that “I was not in the whirlpool.” Transcendent reality is Guru, the Self. To transcend means to know. … Just know that you are that Guru and Guru is Pure Free Forever. Having known this, nothing difficult will come to you—because I know this. But you have to know it. You cannot ignore it, or you will remain a human being. You have to know the transcendence, Guru. … Thank you very much everyone. [Applause.]