The Year Of 91 Years Of Age
Is The Year Of Blessings

I am very glad and happy to see all of you. [Applause] Although my eyes are not open, even then I can see you. … [Swamiji speaks in Hindi] It appears to me that we have been living for ages and ages, just together, seeing each other’s eyes and knowing who it is who sees. In sleep, we do not see. In the dream state, we see our own selves in a variety of fashions. In the waking state, we see our own individual. Human eyes have that light which is the light of Oneness, but when that light appears through the eyes of an individual head, then the eyes see somebody else, not themselves. Thus, the very light and vision through which the eyes see is not seen. Whatever is seen is the very light which is inside, yet a reflection takes place in that light that makes it seem as if it were outside. It is like what happens in a mirror. When houses, trees, the sun and whatever is outside appear in it, they appear inside the mirror. Yet the eyes and the mind, which are also light—one is the seeing power and one is the knowing power—taken together see the reflection in the mirror as being outside of it. It is as if the mirror were saying, “I am not the mirror, I am what is outside.”

Years have passed. I am 91 years old and you know me, so you must be greater than I am, which means that you must be longer in age. How it is that you know I am 91? You must be 92, 93, 94 or older than I am, so you can know this. [Laughter] Just as my mother saw her child and said he is two days old, three days old, or one year old, in the same way the Knower is ancient, who knows everything and everybody. How? Just as water permeates snowflakes, so it must know each flake, in the same way the Knower permeates all. But the moment each flake became grosser than the subtlest water, it does not see the water. It loses sight of its own Self and begins to see its individual self.

This year, all of you have gathered together with great excitement, joy and happiness. I too, with open eyes, see you with great joy, happiness and delight. Thus, delight is one. From that side, delight is one. From this side, delight is one. Delight is not flowers or thorns, or things such as gold and silver or gifts. Delight is that prasad (peace, blessings) which is always one. Today will start with prasad. [Laughter, for prasad (whatever is offered in devotion, such as sweets, is distributed as blessings) is usually distributed at the end of satsang.] The year of 91 years of age, it has been decided, is the year of blessings. So when anybody brings anything, it will go back to them by way of prasad. Thus, this will be a little different. Since delight is not different, since delight is one and the same, so this is the morning of Oneness. … I congratulate you for taking birth as the form manifest from nirakar, which has no form, no name, no sound. It is a delight for me when you offer flowers and when I give you prasad in return: it is the same delight. There is no difference in it, no sense of duality in it. I have planned for prasad to be distributed first, and then there will be a few songs.

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Everybody sitting here must have felt the sense of that freedom which you have always been seeking. [The song Mukt Hooa Hoon (I, the Self, am now free) was just sung.] You lose it when you talk—either in the waking state or in the dream state. As a human being, you will never know what I say—that you are Pure Free Forever, you are Shuddh, you are Mukt, you are Buddh. This cannot be known. Why? The waking state is so strong that it does not allow you to know You, who are hidden in the head and heart and are ever-present. Because of that ever-present, even the mind functions for the mind’s sake, the heart functions for heart’s sake, the eyes functions for the eyes’ sake, the ears functions for ears’ sake, the whole body functions for That. [A little child in the audience is talking, and her mother is trying to quieten her] Let her speak and sing. We were also just the same as her one day. We did not understand what was there.

The moment understanding arose, we forgot the freedom. When understanding becomes absorbed in That, then there is no world based on ignorance—no world of individuality based on ignorance, no world of relations based on ignorance. In the world, how many shows have you seen and known. Daily, there are shows. But the wonder is that not a single person gets that sense which you have now got: Mukt Hooa Hoon. In the waking state and the dream state it is not there; in deep sleep, it is certainly not there. Watch. How does a human being have deep sleep, the waking state, the dream state and the thinking and imagining state, the sankalp state? But you do not know that the Self is free unless Guru comes and tells you, because he has known it. He carries that Space, which is unborn.

You carry the space that is born. Everybody says they are born. Somebody says I am one year old, two years old, ten years old, thirty years old or eighty years old. All of you would say that I am 91 years old. But I have never felt that I am 91 years old. Even today, a 91 years old man would say, [he imitates a very old man singing Mukt Hooa Hoon to lots of laughter from the audience]. It is not like that.

So this celebration is not a celebration like all the festivals, pleasure fairs and holidays. Through them, people are seeking to come together and be happy. It does not matter if you have celebrated for two, three or four hours, if somebody thanks you, wishes you Happy Birthday, or wishes you a happy holiday when you are already sorry or sad, you don’t become happy thereby, however it may have been said to you. No. To a dying man, you cannot say, “You are happily dying.” This is the state of affairs of a human being. But here, when you come to satsang, you become enlightened, which means you are exposed to your Self. Mukt hua hoon, mukt hua hoon. Raha, raha (what remains). Mukt hua hoon. When everything is gone—when the senses are gone, when the ego-intellect-mind is sleeping, when the eyes and ears are sleeping, when the whole world is sleeping—still something remains. What remains? That you do not know. That is Mukt. That is liberated.

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We have got human life, and life is so beautiful, so wonderful. Whenever a child comes in the lap of his mother, what a great delight she has. She suffered for nine months, hoping that “God will be coming in my lap.” As soon as the child came, her eyes are turned into knowing that she is his mother and he is her child. That happens. It happened to all of us. Yet each of us, when we were born, never knew that we were born. We never knew that there was a mother, there was a father, there were relations, there was a cradle or there was a lap. Who was that? That was ever-eternal Existence, Pure Awareness.

Since we forgot that, we had to suffer. When suffering became very acute, then you began to seek. “Let me know why this suffering is there. Do I have to undergo this suffering all the time?” Somehow—by kak tali nyay, by chance—you met a Guru on the way. [Laughter] He said, “You need not suffer anymore. Why? You have forgotten your Self, that you are Sat-Chit-Anand. You are Pure Awareness, Pure Existence, Pure Bliss. You have forgotten this.” So unless Guru comes in your life, in the life of a person, he is always thinking with his mind, “Let me know, who am I?” He has already made the idea, “I am this person. I am living. I will live these many years, and then I will die.” Thus, no human being ever can know himself, unless Guru is awakened in him. Guru will be awakened only when you meet Guru. If you meet non-Guru, then you will have non-Guru. That is why this is a very unique moment that all of you have appeared. Seeing you as my Self, I am delighted and delighted.

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To everyone, my enormous love and blessings. I am really delighted. It does not matter that I am 91, my delight is the same as when my mother got delighted when I came on earth. Thanks, everyone. God bless you. Amaram Madhuram Amaram Madhuram everybody. Thank you very much. [Applause]

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February 1, 2015

It Is Simpler Than The Simplest: Close The Eyes, It Is Self

Happy Birthday to you! We could not meditate yesterday, so we will take a chance to meditate now, and then have songs. We do meet together and celebrate each day, as well as festival days, but the purpose is to get that which you always get in meditation. In meditation, you get your Self. And without meditation, you get not Self. However hard a person may try, he cannot get his own Self without closing his eyes. In deep sleep, his eyes are also closed, but he does not get his own Self. Why? Because there is no waking state. So if at all realization of your own Self will come, it will always come in the waking state. When does it come? This is what you will know. When did it come, or when it has come, you know.

But blindness in the waking state comes by birth. By birth, the child was blind inside the womb of his mother, he came out blind, and he remained blind even when he became big. The word “blind” is being used because he does not see sunlight, nor does he see the dark night. A blind man remains blind throughout. A man whose eyes work has the power to open his eyes and know the light of the sun. But the moment he records the light of the sun, he forgets that light which is the truth or knowledge of his own Self. So the knowledge of his own Self is light. …

There is no chance for a human being unless the grace of Guru comes. Grace or Guru is the same: grace or Guru is Gyan (Knowledge of Self), which is well versed in the nature of Unborn. The scriptures called that Unborn Sat-Chit-Anand: Sat, or Truth, Chit, or Pure Awareness, and Anand, or Bliss. But a human being who is born interprets sat (truth) as that which he sees. He sees flowers, fruit, a person, the sun—it is all sat for him, because he is born. Thus, that Sat which is real, or Truth, has become asat (untruth). When his eyes are open, all this becomes sat for him—anything, whatever form he sees, to him it is sat. Thus, asat is truth for him, and Truth is asat for him. With the ego-intellect-mind and senses, with this whole group being used, a human being is not supposed to know Sat. That is why there has been difficulty. …

A human being can think only as a human being—about form. So form is thinking. No human being can get to the Truth unless Guru tells him, “That which you are thinking, you the form, is not going to lead you towards That, unless your intellect reaches the height that forms do not exist. Whatever remains, Raha Raha as Alka sang yesterday, that is You.” …So we continue working. If you can get it, then there are no difficulties, no hurdles. For that we say, “No problem.” Because whatever the eyes see, that is the problem; whatever the ears hear, that is the problem; whatever the mind thinks, that is the problem—he himself. The mind is the problem. So we stop the celebration of the eyes. Then you say, “Well, nothing remains.” When the eyes are closed, the celebration of the eyes is finished. Then the mind interprets that nothing is happening. That is why nobody likes meditation: they shirk meditation. They say, “If I meditate, then I won’t be able to hear anything. I won’t be able to see anything.”

This trio, the eyes, ears and mind, is ego-intellect-mind illusion. Illusion is one, but illusion has created three assistants, saying, “You should continue helping me.” But when you hear me, it becomes that Self. That is why you always seek that “somebody should tell me something, because I cleanly open the eyes, and I forget. I hear, and I forget. I use the mind, which associates with the eyes and ears, and I remain forgetful.” This forgetfulness became human. As long as he is a human being, everybody says, “You are born.” A mother sees her child as born. I have continued for some time saying Unborn, but you do not get it. The one who is getting Unborn after hearing about it, that is the Self. It is very simple, simpler than the simplest. Close the eyes: it is the Self. That is the knowledge, that is the truth, that is Unborn, that is the source. When you open the eyes, you say, “Where has the source gone?” Immediately, the mind comes and says, “The source was never there.” That is the work. So close the eyes and continue doing it.

Whatever you do, it is alright. Whatever you not do, it is alright. I mean, for you there are two words, alright and not alright. This a human being knows. He knows gyan (knowledge) and agyan (no knowledge). He knows gyan as that which is seen with the eyes directly. And what is not seen with the eyes, he knows as nirakar (no form), or agyan (no knowledge). So for his whole life he remains with gyan and agyan, and he does not have the grace to transcend this. Guru is the grace. Guru is seen with your eyes directly, so to you, Guru’s form is the truth. It doesn’t matter that you came to 31st January or not, but somehow you know Guru. The same Guru has been everywhere. But unless Guru is there in front of your eyes, your Guru will not come from your head. You can understand that whatever I say you hear, but you do not get it—because of the eyes. The eyes will see me as a form, and the eyes will not see me as a form when I leave the seat. So form or no form, sakar or nirakar, both are ahan-kar (I-form, or ego). Because when akar (form) is not, then aham (I) remains. When akar comes, then ahankar comes. These are the words that I use, and I expect that you get it. … [Meditation]

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Any word which has the association with some form does not allow you to know that which you get with closed eyes. Because with closed eyes, immediately the mind terminates the Ganga (the current of Pure Awareness): he thinks it is not flowing, that flow is there only when the eyes are open. That is why it takes time. You know three words: Sat, Chit, Anand. You close the eyes and it is Sat—but not form which is directly seen with the eyes, which human beings call sat. So as soon as a human being opens the eyes, he terminates Sat. And when the mind arises with consciousness, it terminates Pure Consciousness, Chit. Then, when delight, joy, laughter, the taste of something good, or a friend comes for whom you have rag (attachment), and love arises, then Anand is gone.

When you close the eyes, if you know that is Sat-Chit-Anand and if it becomes matured, only then will janam-maran (birth and death) be gone. Otherwise, janam is happiness and maran is unhappiness, and this is the life of a human being. Ganga means Pure Awareness. That is all. The moment the mind comes and physicality comes, any joy that has been arrived at is destroyed. You can check this again and again. That is why, Guru guna gao (Song: Be established in Pure Awareness), Guru guna gao, Guru guna gao, Guru guna gao. Continue it. There is no alternative but that. In that singing, if sleep comes, it is not sleep; if tears come, they are not tears; if joy comes, it is not a joy. That sense is Pure Free Forever the same.

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These were very fine two days that we lived, while singing, enjoying, laughing, eating, drinking, going and coming. It is the sameness which each drum sounds, but it never makes any meaning.

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Swamiji and the audience sing: Jai Jai Satsang Jai Jai Jai (Glory to Satsang)!
Swamiji: Jai Ho (Glory to you)!
Audience: Bolo Swami Shyam Sat Guru Maharaj Kee Jai (Speak the glory of Swami Shyam, Sat Guru)! [Loud applause]