Before You Say, "I Know," There Is That

… Everything is the manifestation of Pure Existence, yet the very manifest world does not know it. At least the world is near the sky. Everything comes from the sky. And the proof of it is that anything that is burned, blown or dried, all goes to the sky. So the sky is everything that there is under it. … Anything on earth can be known as the outcome of sky. As sky is the source, or existence, of the world as a whole, if you pay attention on sky, you have known the whole world. And if you put your attention on your own Self, who is prior to the sky in the form of Pure Existence or Knowledge, then you have come to know the sky and the world as a whole, as well as your Self. So that which is called Shyam Space is realized by Shyam Space. Truth can be realized by truth, love can only be realized by love, and happiness can be realized by happiness.

We are leaving all those things which we have come to know as human beings. They are not liked by us, because they are all negative to us: that’s why we don’t like them. What is the source of this negativity? Death. Death kills, finishes or ends all the forms which we like, to which we are attached. Thus, our positive aspect has its enemy in the negative aspect—and the utter negative is death. The fight is between the negative and the positive, which you have seen. Shyam Space is always positive Being, Sat Chit Aanand, Pure Free Forever Existence, where time, space, things and forms do not exist to be known—just as it is not known that in a seed, a tree exists. All the trees now have flowers. In flowers, the fruit will be there, yet fruit is not known to exist in flowers.

There is something which is discussed and realized while we talk to each other, especially to those people who want to know the Truth, from where all has appeared and is thus the same Truth. That Truth is to be known. When we are in deep sleep, we do not know anything. This means that if we have begun to know something, it must be illusion. For in deep sleep, which is positive, neither that nor the negative, its partner in the game, is recorded. In deep sleep, it is all free: it is neither positive nor negative. If that is what you are, then your knowledge—that you wake up and you know the world—must be negative. This is the fight for a human mind, which he is in between: neither is he positive space nor is he negative. And he is struggling to know, “What is my source?” Since a human being does not know what his source is, he is to be told, “Both the source of the world, which is present to your eyes and which you say is real, and the source of the illusion, which you say is not real, is Pure Space, Amaram Hum Madhuram Hum.” …

We actually never have the power to examine what we hear and what we know. Whenever we don’t know, we become quiet. Such as I came and told you as if I had gone to Manali and there had been a traffic jam on the way back, so I became late by half an hour. Now, you have heard this. But you won’t believe it. Because you knew something about me. And I’m telling you that I was not here. So you will say that either you are understanding a lie or I am telling a lie. For when I tell a lie, then you understand—that I have not gone to Manali. But when I tell you the Truth, then you don’t understand.

It’s a question of a deeper aspect. Such a forum for highly-evolved, intelligent persons is not found. Swadarshana has just said, “That remains”—whatever remains now. But we know “remains” as meaning when a war is there and trucks are filled with the wounded, soldiers have died, and there are only peels of bones and guns in them. Then you say, “Those are remains.” So how should I understand when she says, “Whatever remains”?

We join together to always stretch our understanding of the intellect, mind, ego and senses and why the whole world is saying, “The earth is real; from the earth to the sky is real; the states, such as the waking and dream states, are all real; all the laws are real; all existing things are real; wars and battles are real; birth and death is real.” That’s what we have heard. But why are you not convinced? Because somewhere in you there is the Being, who does not say anything, who does not know anything, who does not get disturbed by anything. That Being is there who gives knowledge to the intellect and mind—and that knowledge is illusory. Yet the intellect knows it to be real. So you can never think it is illusion.

Unless somebody comes and tells you to check. Such as, as soon as I came I threw a coin for you to get beyond, which I knew you would. I said, “I am coming from Manali, and there was a traffic jam, and that’s why I became late by half an hour. Sorry.” You became quiet. You did not check what made you hear this and conclude that it was a lie; or who is it who concluded it was a lie; and who was there before this lie, or the words, were spoken to you.

So how difficult it is for a human being to know the True Existence, or Real Being of his own. Because he only thinks what has been given to him to understand. The body has been given to him to understand. How would you expect Yahli [a baby] to understand that Manu, Tali and Dun [his brother and parents] are not three people, they are one as Yahli? So we don’t talk about such things, because you only grasp that Dun is Dun, Tali is Tali, Manu is Manu and Yahli is Yahli. A human being has the waking state of the type that it never thinks whether these were four, or that forty years before they were not at all. Swadarshana is speaking of what remains forty years before. She is speaking of what remains a hundred years before, of what remains when the world is dissolved. That remains.

It remains. If you are not That, then you are worried. Because you need your permanent existence. When we talk, we hear it. But you can hardly participate. So I have to say all such things as, “You are very good, you are very gentle, you sing well, you give good speeches, you have sympathy for everyone, you help everyone, you do everything.” But that which is being sought by you should come from somewhere. And it cannot come without your cooperation, without your making efforts. Scriptures are helpless, and a teacher can only say things indicating that you are Pure Free Forever. Why? When the whole body is dissolved, whatever remains is Pure Free Forever. This you can understand, that “Yeah, it must be Pure Free Forever, because here it is not Pure Free Forever, it is changing.” Pure Free Forever means that which is forever Truth. That never changes. Now, I use words. But you think, “ ‘That never changes’ means it must be like the Himalayan mountains. But they are getting eroded day by day, and on them lots of forests are appearing.”

Swadarshana indicated to me that she came to know, “That remains.” Now, I’m not supposed to ask, “What remains?” because there is no description for That. But at least she has realized that That remains. “That remains” means that which is birth, you should not be worried and sorry about; that which is death, you should not be worried and sorry about; that which is changing, you should not be worried and sorry about; and that which is coming, you should not be worried and happy about. So a human being has come on earth to find the Space, which somebody should talk about and which is not known to each person. Each person knows waking state affairs, dream state affairs and deep sleep state affairs—or no affairs. After that, you don’t know.

So we say it is Space—Shyam Space. Then we bring in a kind of backing material, such as the Gita, in which Krishna is the representative of that Space—whom people have called an incarnated god. There it finishes. All intelligent people would not like to hear about such a Krishna, because there are many incarnated gods in all countries. Yet each person needs to know, “Why am I not Krishna? Why I am not ever-present?”—which you feel.

There I say, “Whatever you feel, before feeling it, what are you?” You feel, “I am changing. I am loving. I am doing. I know.” That’s what you feel. But how do you feel it? Again the system has not been communicated to you, and you have no background. So we cannot say, “How do you know, ‘I know’?” In deep sleep, you do not say, “I know.” So there must be some system inside your nerves, either in your head or in your heart, so that you come to know, “I know.” Then comes, “I know something right. I know something wrong. I know something beautiful. I know something ugly. I know something loving. I know something hating.” That is “I know.” But before “I know,” what remains? When “I know” goes away, what remains? There must be something there which says “I know.” Because “I know” cannot come from nowhere.

That is why this work of the evolution of a pure intellect has become very important for us. We know the ego, mind and intellect are there—and that when a mans sleeps, all three are not. If they are not, then they are not real, or they come and they go. But that which remains forever, you have the power—I say—to realize. Because before you say, “I know,” there is That. But the moment you say, “I know” [he snaps his fingers], it changes, it becomes negative to That. So all the bodies born are negative to That—which has been and which remains after the body dies. The body was not.

Again something happens to you that you understand, “Well, as soon as I am born and I’m in the field of action, in time and space, I have to compromise. I have to continue the way others do.” But why are others not here? Because they don’t need to make an experiment for forty years. But you have somehow decided to examine, with whatever little power you have in the waking state, from where the intellect gets its light. That light is your reality. It is forever. It is pure. It is free. It is uninvolved. It is not affected by birth. It is not affected by death. …

You will know the Life when your tool, the instrument which is the intellect, gets expanded or purified. But it does not find any time to. As soon as you are born, you are in the middle of things and forms, eating and drinking, and you have no chance for the intellect to expand. For the last forty years, you have been making an experiment, attending the Life—yet not being convinced that you attend the Life by the Life. It is that hard. When I communicate this to you, you say, “Well, I meditate.” You are a person, so as you do eating, you do meditation. As you do the giving of thanks, you do meditation.

If you have a discriminative faculty, then it is possible for you to use it. But all do not have it. Yet everyone claims, “I have a discriminative faculty.” You can check: this discriminative faculty must be in your head or somewhere in your body. You understand this. Why? You discriminate between salty and sweet. It’s not a big deal. Even an ant discriminates salty and sweet. In what way are you senior to an ant? [Laughter] So we go slowly, or daily practise, “What is that which is not speaking and not knowing ‘I exist’?” All beings know, “I exist.” Why? They are all afraid of death—which is against Life. If this is so, how should Life be known?

You try to discriminate, but you only know, “Death is not me,” or “An insentient rock is not me.” Slowly and slowly, you begin to examine, “If my nails are cut, the nails are not me—if my hair, ear, leg or arm can be cut, they are not me.” How do you know this? And how did you know, “This arm is me”? But now your arm has been cut, so you think, “The arm is not me.” This is what exists as a human being. And it has been considered to be sure. And that must be illusion—with which you know that because your arm, legs and body exist, so you are. …

I had said that I had gone to Manali and got stuck over there. And you know that “He was sitting here [in Gagan Anchal at a tea, the sound of which was piped down on the roof].” What is this? How are you sure that I was sitting here? Or that you were hearing that? A problem. A problem means that which is not known. So what is unknown is the problem of a human being. And I say that this problem can be removed. And the whole life will be happy.

What is it? You cannot sort it out. Therefore, I take the responsibility for you to grab or know who you are. So I say, “Look, you say, ‘I am Poornima.’ ‘I am Leela.’ ‘I am Sameepta.’ How could Sameepta and Leela be equal? Her legs are short and hers are long.” Short and long: again there is distinction. This means each person does not know why it is so. You can remove “Why is it?” and instead examine that you do not know I, yet each one of you says “I.” There is no short or long, left or right in it. It is only one I. And I say, if you use the word “I,” immediately identify, “I am Pure Free Forever.” Then, drive your car. You are not a driver. You are Pure Free Forever. You are not a car. You are Pure Free Forever. You are not the seer of the road. You are Pure Free Forever. Then you will have no attachment for this mundane existence. This will be the easy method. The difficult method is you should meditate on I, and find out. [Laughter and applause]

That’s all. You got the point. Anyone who will practise it, or who will get it, he will be free. Then he will not say, “Why does this man say this? Why does this man say that? Why does man die?” This will be no problem for you. You have come to know, “I am Pure Free Forever.” When you are eating, you know, “I am Pure Free Forever, but I’m feeding this body. I do not eat.” Because you do not become a doer. I always remains non-doer. So continue doing anything, but dedicate the result of the action to Me, the non-doer. …

A human being, with his intellect, gets deluded that words come from That, therefore words are That. If sap comes out of a turpentine tree into a little bowl, you think the sap is the son of the turpentine tree. In the same way, when you are born, you think you are the daughter of that turpentine tree—whom you have never seen. If you have never seen it and now, after hearing this, you came to know it, it is called identification. If you identify with That, then you will not be affected by the mind, or by this or that. The intellect is the only medium which we know. And I do not say it is very wrong. Why? Because you are convinced of it. So we evolve. We say, “Well, look, you have a mind.” You say, “Yes.” But why do these people have no mind? So they are sitting quiet. When you are silent, quiet and no thought is there, why would you call it the mind? That is Existence. So it is Pure Existence.

In this way, we know. But we do not hope that our mental illusion will die soon and we will not feel pain and suffering, this and that, or mine and yours. It is the work that we are doing. It clicks to you that before words, there is silence. But even in silence, words are coming. Even before that is your deep sleep being. You understand. But you don’t identify with it. So it’s called gyan bandh, bound by knowledge. For you do not identify with That which I say is Pure Free Forever, where there is no sense of duality, no pain and no suffering. The point has been carried that you don’t identify with it. That’s all. You know it, but you don’t identify with it. You know Pure Free Forever, but you are identified with this, which works. And it is all illusion. You say it is illusion, you think about it and you are afraid of it—so you think illusion is real. …

It is a surprise that that which is not, you say is there—that there are some peacock colours in the sky, a rainbow in the sky, which is not there. So whether your eyes are open or not, you are blind to the Truth. That which is colourless, rainbowless, is the Space when you close your eyes. You don’t identify with That. You say, “It is nothing. Let me try and see what comes in it.” If some little light comes in it, then you say, “Now, I’m closer to enlightenment.”