Satsang  –   Volume 2, Number 24
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Paying Attention to the Unchanging, Never-dying Self

Mukta (Philippa): I often find I am thinking unconsciously which perpetuates my individual identification. Ashtaawakr [in Ashtaawakr Gita] says, If you are not contemplating on the Self, then whatever you do will lead to your bondage.

Swami-ji:   Ashtaawakr was telling Janak that he should become conscious. As you think unconsciously, so you should become conscious of paying attention to the Self. Otherwise one will face grief, trouble, pain, suffering, and fear of death. If one doesn’t pay attention to the Self and rather identifies himself as the not-Self, he is committing a mistake and is not fulfilling the purpose of his life.

24-1.jpg (15171 bytes)The purpose of life, for Janak or for everyone, is that the Self should not identify with anything else which can be called other than the Self. After listening to me, let me know what is happening to you and I can say a few more things. But I won’t know what Ashtaawakr said to Janak or what Janak understood or what you, as Janak, are understanding after hearing what I said.

Mukta: I should identify only with the Self. Then I need to know the Self.

Swami-ji: That is very true. Children don’t have the conscious awareness of what the Self is, which is now being taught to you. From the very childhood, you have considered the existence of the Self as this body. The body is changing; it is dying daily, so the nature of the Self is not the body because the Self is forever, unchanging, never dying. If you keep the knowledge of your true Self as undying, unchanging, then you are attending the Self. This is the description of the Self.

You said you should know what the Self is. It is not that you can understand the Self. The Ashtaawakr Gita is spoken by a person who knows that human beings are not going to understand the Self. Therefore, in every verse Ashtaawakr says something. He could have said that Self is the Taj Mahal or the old parliament building in New Zealand or that Self is Philippa. The power in your ego, intellect, and mind knows this is Philippa, that is Basant and that is an umbrella, but the Self is not defined like that. Self is that which knows you, but you are not knowing the Self. The problem is for a person who is not knowing. He isn’t knowing because he is covered. He has not been given pure power. He has been the concretized power, body power.

You heard from me that Self is that which is unchanging. Unchanging is that which never appeared, which was never born. After hearing this, try to think of That, try to make any kind of concept of That.

That which is unchanging is You, the Self. All that which is changing is not the Self.

Mukta: When I perceive the changing aspect of my individual I, at that time...

Swami-ji: You are identifying. That is called the wrong knowledge of the Self. It is an investment. You should appreciate that at least it is wrong knowledge, so then you can have the knowledge of its opposite and know that all this is changing and That is unchanging.

 

Accepting what you already know

Bhakti Nath: I was meditating the other day and there was the thought that Self is all-permeating. In my meditation there were two forms. There was a knowledge that they both came from the same source and that source is one. That must have been the Self. When I opened my eyes there was a switch in my knowledge. All of a sudden everything was no longer Me, I was here, the TV was there. Everything was not Me. What happened? Did I lose that knowledge when I opened my eyes?

Swami-ji: That which you had come to know, you are not accepting. You didn’t lose the knowledge after opening the eyes. You are describing it rightly. If you accept it, you are realized. If you are asking what happened to you—did you lose the knowledge?—then it is still a dream. I

f you are realized, you just cannot lose it. There remains no question in it. That is direct realization. 

 

This I, that I, one I

The second part of my answer is: In your dream you became that which you are now. You are identifying with that I, saying, "I saw the dream," which is this I. There isn’t much difference in the two I’s. As this I is asking a question, that I is the same who was seeing the dream. The same I concluded that both the figures were from the Self. If I is the same, then, as this I is not realizing, not accepting, the reliance on the knowledge of that I is also not that you have seen two figures coming from the Self.

Bhakti Nath: The I is one. Then the second I, based on condition said, "No. I don’t accept that it is all one." Now it is separate. Is it just a matter of changing the acceptance?

Swami-ji: Yes. We have a conscious vehicle. We call that conscious vehicle 'I.' Therefore, this I is your reality in the waking state and you do not deny it. This I has already become blind to the knowledge and cannot see the source. Therefore, this I is always functioning. This I is considered to be conscious and whatever this I knows is considered to be right knowledge.

In the dream, this I has seen two figures coming out of the same Self. That was your knowledge. Then change this I when it goes to the dream and concludes that that was knowledge and say, "I was not there in this form of I, but dream was there. And dream state’s knowledge conveyed to me that I am the knowledge that manifested both these figures. Therefore these figures are nothing but me."

It was not your I that saw the dream. It was the real I who spoke to you, you think. But That was speaking to its own Self. So Self was realizing the Self. When you woke up, it was no longer called Self, it was called your I which is not-Self. And not-Self cannot accept. Self accepted.

If you want to be in harmony with the Self and have the same vision, the same knowledge of the Self, then this I will also be realized.

The art of proper communication

24-3.jpg (83717 bytes)In this group situation, it appears that all of you are understanding Swami-ji. Swami-ji has been speaking for the last many hours and everybody is understanding differently. That means there is no proper communication between me and many of you.

Wherever proper communication has taken place, that has become the knowledge of Swami Shyam. But ability differs from person to person. I make this point so that you will not worry what somebody else has understood and compare it with what you have understood. They will not be able to communicate to you, nor will you be able to communicate what you have understood to them, because the Self is unseen, unobvious.

When I say that the Self is unborn, undying, you think that it is not there and that you have got nothing to do with that which is not there!

Meditation and action

Harsh Kumar: If I meditate for a long time and then have to get into activity and responsibility, I sometimes feel intolerant of it.

Swami-ji: That is correct. At that time, activity was not supposed to be conducted by you. It was an unnecessary activity that was presented to you. You are not supposed to deal with it but, because of the physical entity, you are forced to act. You hate doing it, you revolt against doing it, and you want to become angry with the person who engaged you in that activity. You don’t know how to get away from that.

You are aware that this activity doesn’t belong to you, so why should you tolerate it? But, because of the body and body consciousness, you are bound to feel that you have to do it, as it is your duty and responsibility. You are not yet free. When you were meditating you were free, but then you came to the body and the mind began to function, saying, "This is your responsibility and you have to do it." If you decide that it is your responsibility, get busy with it. Whether you tolerate it or not, you are bound to tolerate it and you are bound be angry. You have to do it whether you succeed in getting the proper result or not. That is the only way and all human beings are trapped in it.

The one who comes to know that he cannot tolerate it, doesn’t tolerate it, which means he doesn’t do it. But people tell you that you have to do your duty. It is imposed on you. You know it is not your responsibility. The power which should enable you to be free from duties, responsibilities, and work situations hasn’t arrived. You also haven’t gained the knowledge how to appoint someone else to do the job.

You are compelled to act. You are getting sick of it, but you act. Slowly you adjust to it, and then you become bound to do it continuously. That is the human predicament. They cannot get out of it.

A technique for performing action

Since it is so difficult to get out of it, then use all your power to get out of it and continue doing it. I can give you the technique. You should know that you have nothing to do with this [body]. Know that you are pure enough not to get touched by it, and then act. It is not affecting you. The proof of it is that even when you are unable to tolerate it, you do it, and ten days later you are the same person. Even though you may have the thought that something wrong would happen, ten days later nothing wrong has happened. You are just the same person. That means that you are forever the same while doing all the duties, all the responsibilities. You should have this knowledge and then act.

When you do Karm Yog [action performed in the knowledge that the Self alone acts and the body and mind are merely instruments], you have to take the assistance of rajogun. [For definition, see rajas]. You cannot do away with rajogun and act. When activity is conducted and you don’t have sattwagun [See sattwa], then tamogun [See tamas] should assist you to stop.

But when you do your duty and begin to enjoy your duty, you begin to enjoy your helping, you begin to enjoy the karma [action]. That means you got caught in the karma and you became a motorcycle. You are not a motorcycle. You are not the doer, but you became the doer. The moment you become a doer you cannot get the result of being non-doer. Actions will affect you.

Becoming non-doer

By performing your duty, you are slowly, slowly becoming non-doer. It is not that you can say the words, "I am non-doer. It is God doing. I am not doing anything." That is not it. It is not that as soon as you take medicine, the fever is over. You have taken the medicine but the fever still continues. You have the knowledge, "Swami-ji, I am non-doer. It is for God’s sake that I am performing the duty." That is why you are growing into the state of egolessness much more than before. It is coming, but unless is has come [completely] you will be affected, because you became the one who is supposed to be affected. You are to be the one who is never affected.

I told Kaanti that she is the most insignificant creature on earth. She understood that nobody remembers her, nobody talks to her, nobody invites her to good dinners or to go to Manali or to the Apple Valley because she is insignificant. But [inside] she understood that she is not. Then my remark was nothing for the one who says, "I am Kaanti." My remark was for one to know you are infinite. She understood, "At least he came to know I am nowhere and he says I am insignificant. My insignificant little dot or particle of earth belongs to earth. In his vision I may be insignificant, but at least I exist.

Your duty will performed if you come to know that you have nothing to do with duty and responsibility but, out of courtesy, you have to help people do this and that. Know that you act due to God’s body, because body is part of that, but know too that you are not part of that. Unfold the power that you are not at all part of the world of change.

You are in pravritti marg [the path of being engaged in the world], so act. You have chosen it. Who is that who has chosen it? You never choose anything. You never do anything. You never suffer over anything. You never enjoy anything, so you have not chosen that. You are the one who has never done anything wrong. You are the one who is never born. That you is free and never involved. But the day that you think that you are Harsh Kumar, involved in this body, that is identification. It is as if you became a motorcycle and somebody will ride on you.

Remain liberated and free

You have made some duties and responsibilities. I see you having absolutely no duty and no responsibility. You already have money. Why do you bother about anything? Depute somebody to do the job and have a cigarette and make smoke rings! [laughter]. You did all the karmas last incarnation. Don’t worry about doing any kind of karm this lifetime. Remain liberated and free, Harsh Kumar. That is your job. You are born liberated. Don’t listen to anybody who says that you are bound to do it. Know what a fool he is.

You are free to do it!

Whenever a situation arises that you cannot tolerate, just go the bathroom for a few minutes and there you can scheme who you can depute to do that work.

One day I will say, 'You'

Pavitra: You had said we haven’t practised treating our body as other. It is easy to treat other forms as other, so then I wondered how am I not treating myself as other. In the same way that I serve the house or serve a friend, I will also serve my body, but the idea of my is still intact, that it is my body now that I am serving. You say that this body is also other, so I was meditating on what that other is.

Swami-ji: Reverse the meaning. By saying ‘others’ you know that you are this [body] and they are others. Pay attention to that. It means that they are separate and you have no identification with them as yourself. If all, who are in plenty, say that you are other and you don’t accept it and you say, "No, no. All of you are other, but I am myself," then you are not identifying with the Self, you are identifying with one of the others. That is raag. That is desire. That is attachment. That is ignorance. That is the cause of the trouble.

You always think that you are the body. Inside you should know that you are the Self, holding a motorcycle. It doesn’t mean that you became a motorcycle. I am the one who is holding the body, but that doesn’t mean that I am the body.

You have to get into the process which you are already doing. You help everyone without an expectation of gaining anything for yourself. But even if you have the expectation that you will enjoy someone’s company, you get caught. Whether you are enjoying their company or not, you keep acting. But the moment the sense, wish, and the desire to enjoy the experience came, it became bhog [experience for joy’s sake] and you became the bhokta [experiencer]. Why? Because you became karta [doer]. Then you become karta, bhokta, marta [doer, enjoyer, and the one who dies] [laughter].

In satsang, you should identify with sat [pure existence] and not the conch shell which rides on sat. That Being is the Knower, unchanging, unborn, without appearance and disappearance. You have to practise that incessantly, in all your activities, in whatever maximum capacity you can. When you know, "When I meditate I am really not Pavitra, the body or the photograph. I am not hair. I am not alfalfa sprouts which I have eaten for years. I an not even blood. I am not old hamburgers." You must know who you are. In the same way that you came to know that you are not others, you will come to know that other [your own body] you are not. That means that you are Self.

Karm yogis are in majority. Karmas are recommended for them. We are actually all karm yogis. We are hearing through the ears. We are not gyaan yogis. A gyaan yogi is one who thinks, "I must not identify with the knowledge of the things and forms. I am only gyaan." He doesn’t worry about doing actions which waste his energy and time.

A karm yogi reaches faster than a gyaan yogi because a gyaan yogi has to think all the time. A karm yogi knows, "I have done all the actions and I produced nothing [ laughter]. It means it doesn’t belong to me." He knows that bodies and bodies are one realm. Stone and stone are one realm. Earth and earth are one realm. Water and water are one realm. Flower and flower are one realm. In this way bodies, bodies, and bodies in time and space are all dying.

It is a harsh word for you. I can say that they are changing.

You keep knowing that you are immortal, you are blissful, Amaram Hum Madhuram Hum.

 

'Call it other than Me, or call it Me, but Me is to be realized'

The essential meaning of the words ‘see yourself as other’ is that you should become carefree. You are the Self who is forever carefree.

By knowing that these are others, the world is other, you become carefree, which means that Self is evolved. Apply the same method on this [body] knowing this is also other than you. Then you will become carefree.

‘Other’ does not mean ‘me’ and ‘other’. For a realized one there is no other. There is only one love. When you know that love alone is, then whoever you see has love in his heart, you are seeing your dear one. Seeing the one who is dear to you in every heart is the same as seeing God everywhere.

One who has seen love never hates anybody. I can identify with that. Those who know this will always be filled with that love. Those who have seen the light of God know that wherever light is, it is their light or the light of their beloved one.

The human incarnation is most wonderful—call it other than Me or call it all Me, but Me is to be realized.

In place of love, I said 'Me.'

In place of love, I said 'light'.

In place of love and light, I will say 'Me.'

Tomorrow, in place of love, light, or Me, I will say 'Self.'

The next day, in place of love, light, me, or Self, I will say 'Paramaatma.'

One day, I will say 'you.'





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