The Mind Is To Be Dissolved,
Not The World

… People have understood neti neti as not this, not this, not this: not London, not the family, not the earth, not the sky, not in between. But when neti neti was expressed by the Upanishadic sages, they said, “We have said this, we have said this, we have said this. Still, we could not say that which was needed to be said.” That is the meaning of neti neti. “We have spoken so much, we have given so many Upanishads, so many teachings, we have been speaking constantly about that which is unseen, unknown, indivisible, and we could only speak that much. How much more there is to be said! So ‘not this, not this’ is sufficient.” Daily, we have to continue to speak about it, daily to hear about it. Then it’s just possible you can get some of it. That’s the meaning of neti neti. But people have understood that neti neti means “not this, not this”—not their house, not their city, not their work, not their family, so they should give them up. That is not the meaning.

It is by “not this, not this” that the meaning of That is being explained—which cannot be explained and which cannot be seen and known. Yet a human being wants to know it. How much you have to hear, still you will not get it. Because that power has not been given to a human being, a human mind or intellect; it is so imperfect and given only that much power with which you can know the varieties of forms, persons and names—and they are all changing and dying. How much can you speak about them? For a hundred years; again for a hundred years; again for a hundred years. So they say, “It’s not this—which you have heard enough of. Still, I have not been able to succeed in telling you.” So “not this, not this” means “something more, something more.” That’s the meaning.

In the light of that, you should use the words “not this, not this.” Otherwise, you’ll say, “Not this, not this. So then, the world is gone: that.” It will be totally wrong. But that is the interpretation those people have given. They gave up everything, yet they could not reach That. So the right meaning of the words spoken in the Upanishads is to be understood. They say, “Thou art That. Sarvam Khalvidam Brahm [The whole universe is the Self].” They are saying Brahm, but you have a total imagination about what Brahm is. How would you know Brahm? How would you know the Infinite?

The Infinite is that which has no material powers—and you only know from aakaash [space] to earth. They were never there; along with you, who were also never there. Even now you can conceive that if all this world gets dissolved, then what is there? Do you want to get this world dissolved? You have to find out where the world is. Unless you wake up and your mind begins to know something, there is no world. So the world begins from your mind. The mind is the world. It is the mind that is to be dissolved—not the world. You cannot dissolve the mountains and all these things with your hands and make them into powder. How to dissolve the mountains will only be when your conscious wave gets absorbed in the Pure Consciousness Sea. But check: it is not dissolved. Yet the wave will say, “I am established in my Self and this is my dissolution.”

So according to what you have learned, that is your property, that is inside your head. And whenever you speak, that comes out. That which you have not learned, from where will you bring it and then express it? Still we do it, because we are a team. You are the ones who have learned enough. And I am the one who absorbed that which is learned and is now the Sea of Happiness, the Sea of Joy. The Sea of Joy is not as against death and destruction. The Sea of Joy means that which is neither happy nor unhappy. What is that state for a human being? He will say neutrality—neutral to that which he says is yes and no. When he cannot say yes and no, then he says he is neutral. But again he is denying both. So where is the neutrality?

So all these three never work. That is why you are supposed to first know what you are hearing. You are hearing the sound, the words, the source of which you call my mouth or your ears. Confined. Whereas the Source is indestructible, undivided—it has not been scattered, not even been made two. What is that? We use the word “Whole.” Each individual can understand the Whole according to his own concept. The same is the case for “not this, not this.” Now you have understood. …

I say that you have the power to know that which remains after the finest and the grossest is gone. But you try now. When the grossest is not, where would you reach? Where the finest is not, where would you reach? This means that which you have known, the finest and the grossest, should be discarded; otherwise, you think that the gross exists and the fine exists. Whereas the real meaning is that in the fine and the gross and in between, nothing exists other than You. That is ever-present Reality. If that is realized, for that, realization itself should be realized. Because the mind will only get the finest and the grossest. So you have to drop the use of the mind. But science says that anything which is useful is that which we can understand. With this scientific knowledge, or mental knowledge, you will declare that That does not exist. And you will never go for that which you say does not exist; while that which actually is not, yet exists according to you—the changing and dying—you will go for that.

That is what all intelligent and highly aware people are doing. Still, we have the chance to see that they must be able to grasp that which remains. After the finest and grossest is gone, then the mind is gone. When the mind is not, then the dissolution of the mind is That. But then everybody at this time in the waking state says, “How would I work if the mind is not?” The answer is very simple: when you were not born, how did you work? Thank you. …

Whether we reach or not, whether we understand or not, whether we realize or not, but that which is fear, or fatness, that is gone. That’s all. The gross intellect, the gross mind, that’s called fatness. Ignorance is called fatness. So all human beings with the mind became fat: they do not understand other than name and form, which is fat. In a human being, that Existence, which you already knew as a born boy or girl, can be known as “I exist.” The child has not to say that “I exist” or “I do not exist,” yet he knows, “I exist.” That is why when he’s hungry, he knows, “I am hungry.” When he drinks milk, he knows, “I am drinking milk.” That is real, that is Knowingness. …

Suffering is so deep. By birth, there is suffering. The newborn child weeps. It’s not that he has been ordered to weep. He suffers: “Where have I come?” It means he knows, “I have come in the field which is not my own Self.” So he is born as not-Self. He knows this. And he doesn’t want to remain not-Self. Therefore, all the time he is seeking that which is his own originality. But he does not know it, because he calls this body as his self. When we began to call this body the self, why would we call it not-Self? So then we say that you are seeking your Higher Self. We say all kinds of things. It’s a kind of compromising formula for people to be free and to then continue.

But the main thing is, by birth you are weeping. And nobody sympathizes with the child. What do they say? It is necessary. As if you are born to suffer, as if your ultimate purpose for being born is to suffer and die. That’s what human beings have made. They say, “It’s the struggle of life. Well, you have to do this.” Whereas you are hearing from me that the purpose of life is not to suffer. The ultimate purpose is not to suffer and become unhappy. Rather, the ultimate purpose of this life is to gain that knowledge which is always Happiness Absolute, Atyantik Sukh. …

To say you don’t want to come back into the waking state is like wanting to say that a little ant took an elephant on his back and ran away. It’s not that you say, “I want this” and “I don’t want that” and it will happen. Many people say, “I’m hungry,” but it’s not that you can read a recipe and then you’ll be satisfied. So it’s practice—practical practice. … You are supposed to exert for your well-being. For that you have come on earth. Nobody can do this for you. It’s a very clear, very naked truth: nobody can make you happy unless you make efforts yourself to become happy by yourself. And since you are dependent from your very childhood, you are not trying to be independent. … The whole human system has been spoilt because of dependence. Yesterday, you saw someone sitting over here talking about their family feud over there at home. And he’s independently sitting over here—with good air, good atmosphere, good mountains and good company. Still, he’s here talking about old stories. Historians can do it. But how does it help us? …

Hundreds of examples are being used to negate that which bothers you, involves you and is there constantly. And that is your mind. So every human being, without any teachings and without any instructions or orders, says that his mind does this. This is everybody’s knowledge: “My mind does this. I have to apply my mind. I have to use this thought. I have to think like that. I have to give up wrong thinking, because wrong thought brings the results of wrong actions, and I suffer.” Such things happen. But when you are in deep sleep, why does it not happen? It’s very simple. You do not initiate thinking the way you do in the waking state. You are in a position to not initiate and use the mind in deep sleep. You hear this, but you do not know who is there in deep sleep. You are in meditation. You hear this, but you think that deep sleep is a kind of big lake into which you have gone and so you are there; that the meditation state is also some sea in which you are living. But this sense of living is the mind. And you do not leave it.

That is the human difficulty. Because it is a maaya. You have not done it. You read the Gita again and again where it is said, Naaham prakaashaha sarvasya yoga maaya samaavritaha: my power is such that I am hidden because of the curtain or cover of the mind in a human being—which I have introduced, for which there is no purpose with me, yet I have introduced it. That is why nabheejaanaatee, nobody knows, because he is moordo, which means infatuated by the power of this mind, which says that the mind is there. And all the time Guruji is saying, Krishna is saying, “Arjun, this mind is saying, ‘I am weak. I cannot fight. They were my relations and they became my enemies.’ Why do you think like this?” Then Krishna said, “Well, look, there is a way out. I will leak out the truth about this mind, which is maaya, because you are my friend and deserving.”

If you are not deserving, you will not get it. The deserving one hears and is open to that Space, which means he has no such mind which will block him and have a curtain—so it’s called open. That open space is called knowledge, knowingness. Krishna says, “Traigunyavishaya Veda,” there are all the powers of the three gunas, which one feels—such as, “I should be good; I should be active; I should not be dull.” We only have this tool in which these things should come, and you want all three. And all three are powers which are surrounding your I. You may want sattwa, but it’s not coming; you may want rajas, but it’s not coming; and you may want dullness, but it’s not coming. They come by themselves, not by your wanting. “You are victimized by this want, the mind and its desires. This is why you don’t understand, Arjun.” So Arjun said, “Please tell me, I have come to your shelter. I’ll try to understand.” Krishna responded, “Traigunyavishaya Veda. That with which you are knowing all this is made of the three gunas—which were never there. They are all illusory, yet you think they are real. So be free. Nistraigunyo bhav. Be free from these three powers which are making this illusory mind. Because they are illusion powers.”

But what can a child do? To a child, whatever history you can say, he understands. You say, “This is your name.” He says, “Yes, this is my name.” You say, “This is your mind,” and he answers, “Yes, this is my mind.” You say, “These are your eyes,” and he answers, “Yes, these are my eyes.” We are all very sincere, we know that we are taught, “You are a human being.” We say, “I am a human being.” You are called an Indian, American, Australian, all that. You say, “Yes, I am.” Now, only a person like you, any one of you or all of you, think, “What is this state of affairs?! From where are these thoughts coming and to where are they going?” Thinking and thinking, sometimes you get tired. Then what state comes? Aatmavaan. When you’ve given up all three powers of the mind, then Traigunyavishaya Veda, then that state is nirdwandwa, so you are uninvolved; it is nityasattwastho, so you always think, “I will remain forever”; it is niryogkshaym, so you are not greedy to posses things and sit on them like a snake to keep them intact. What have you become? Aatmavaan [the knower of the Self]. So Arjun, be Aatmavaan. But he cannot understand. Why? Because the mind is covering him. So what do we do in satsang? Somehow the cover is getting thinner and thinner, thinner and thinner, and transparent. Whatever has been there, that is your Reality. You come to know this. Thank you. God bless you. …

Tasha: You said today that nobody will make you happy. But you make me happy.

Swamiji: Yes, I make you happy, I can agree with it, but only when I’m in your heart and mind. So then you became Me. Whatever food you eat, do you think you’re not that food? And the food is not visible. Whatever you have drunk, whatever toast you had, that is now Tasha. In the same way, when you have heard me, you became That. So I am your food, and you have eaten it. Those people who have eaten it, they feel happy, because they are satisfied. And you also make me happy. …

It is to have vairaagya [disillusionment] from this world, vairaagya from relationship, vairaagya from this weakness, vairaagya from this possessive mentality, all that. You have that power to know that without You, the world does not exist. … When you love your Self, it is the whole universe. But these eyes and mind delude you that it is separate from you. So the work is that you have to remove the sense of separation. That’s all. …

Amaram Hum Madhuram Hum. Why do we use this mantr? ... It can be known very easily. If you are Immortal, why have you changed from your childhood right up to when you’re this big? So Amaram means no change. Who is that Amaram? That is Hum. Where is that Hum? Hum is not language. Everybody, whenever you breathe in [he breathes near the microphone, and the sound Hum is clearly audible], from where does it come? It cannot come from a dead man. All of you are able to speak and know it. It means that nobody is dead. When nobody is dead at present, then why would you be dead in ten years? But see the illusion that has gone into your system that this Hum is coming from my teeth. I have a denture and I’ve put it on the table many times, but it does not speak. When I sleep, my lips don’t speak. When I meditate, nobody speaks. But my breath is going on and on in all four states.

Hum is going on forever, whether time is or time is not, whether good or bad, it goes on. Why would you not recognize your Source? Without the source Hum, your breath will not come. How will it go inside? [He again breathes near the mike] The breath goes inside. But if you are a hatha yogi, you can try to hold it in and be stubborn [he holds his breath, and then breathes in], but your mind cannot do it. Your mind is not able to control it, yet you say, “I have the power that I can do it, I can do praanayaam, I can make you do praanayaam.” That’s been happening. Your parents tell you, “I can give you milk,” as if they can. I can give you two kilos of blood, try to make milk. But if you have a child, the whole life you can feed him. From where does all this come if not from Hum? …

The whole Guru Poornima festival was going on, but I was not there. How, without the presence of the body, did all that go on? In Vancouver, in Montreal, elsewhere, wherever people are, they all had a good time. They gave some speeches, whatever they could do they did, it was their own idea of Guru and Guru Poornima. If you say that the Guru is not there, then the disciple is also not there. All the men one hundred years before died, and you are also going to die after one hundred years. So where do you exist? That is the Space, that is the Aakaash, that is the Mahaakaash [Infinite Space], that is the Chidaakaash [Pure Consciousness Space], that is the Infinite Being, that is the Reality, that is the Truth.

Truth is not against a lie. Victory is not against defeat. That is not against this. Me is not against you. The breath inside is not against the breath outside. The Source is. That is the basis that alone is the Truth, or Existence. Out of that You, the Pure Existence, the existing brahmaand, the existing universes appear, and they rotate in the air in a chakra. A chakra means that which never stops—a wheel. So we know only two things: appearance and disappearance, birth and death, birth and death. It just goes on. And when that stops, then death stops, birth stops, breath stops. It means that breath and death and birth are also not the Truth. But the human mind is not able to grasp That. What we are trying to make him hear is that with which he is hearing, so he should know that is the Truth. And that is Amaram Hum Madhuram Hum. Thank you everyone. God bless you. … [Om Poornamidam]

Should I tell you the truth? I was missing you for one hour [he came to satsang one hour late], so I came running, and I gave a good lecture. [Thunderous applause]