Between the Words

Good afternoon. It's good being with you again. I welcome you with all my heart. There's some of you who come hear to hear me speak. This is not exactly right. The message is between the words. The words themselves are fine but the real message is in between, in the silence, in the quietness. That's where reality is. The less you talk the more you achieve. Learn to be quiet. Learn to find time at home where you do not speak. The world will still go on without you. You don't have to worry. The power that runs this world does not need your advice. When you become still, quiet, you make a connection with a great power, and then things happen.

I would like to acknowledge you, not by name, but just to acknowledge you. There are those of us who believe that in the transcendental state we do not care about anyone or anything. This is not true. I am aware of each one of you. I am more aware of you than you'll ever know. I may not talk to some of you or say anything, but I know all about you.

How do I see you? It is true that I see everything as consciousness. Imagine consciousness as a gigantic screen and you are images on the screen. So I am aware that I am the screen and you are the images of myself.  There is only one self and I am that. Therefore I am aware of both, that your appearance exists on the screen, yet you are the screen. Or you are consciousness, but you are still seeing yourself as an image of the body, whereas I see you as consciousness and also as the appearance that you see, as a body. But I know the truth. Therefore I am aware of you.

There are some of you who come to see me from far away. We have people here who come from San Jose, Santa Cruz, San Diego and other far places. I'm aware of that. Thursday it was a rainy day, yet we had quite a few people here. That's why I explained, first things first. If you're really interested in your spiritual life, if you really wish to transcend the body, you've got to make this first in your life. You can not compare satsang to watching the TV, or going to a movie, or going bowling or anything else. If you put satsang in the same category, then there is a total confusion within you, and you don't even know what you want. But, where you put your energy, where you put your life force, what you go after with all your heart, with all your soul, this is what you ultimately become.

I appreciate you. I appreciate those of you who support me financially, who put funds in the collection box. Most of you realize this is my only source of income at this time. I appreciate that. Always remember whatever you give of yourself, you’re giving to yourself, because there's only one self. When you give away your love, you give your joy, you give your truth, you give your happiness, you give your finances, you give whatever you give, it's like your right hand giving to the left hand.

If you took away all space and all time there would only be one person. The reason we appear as many is because of time and space, maya, the illusion. It appears as if there is time and space. Therefore there are many. But as you go within yourself, as you begin to identify with pure consciousness, time and space seem to disappear, and wherever you look, you see yourself, for there's no room for anyone else. There is only one self. This is why you should never be angry at anyone, never judge anyone, never become upset with anyone or react to any one, for you are really doing it to yourself.

Whatever is going to happen will happen. Your job is not to react. Your job is to understand that everything is predestined. You are in your right place where you are supposed to be. If there is anything that appears in your life that you don't like, it's wrong to try to change it. It's right to go within yourself and see the truth within yourself. And then the appropriate changes will come by itself. Change no one. Change nothing. React to no one, react to nothing. Do not live in the past and do not, worry about the future. Stay in the eternal now, where all is well.

So I acknowledge you. After all you are me and I am you. There's no difference. I love you all, for I love the self. Love and the self are synonymous. And since the self is omnipresent, how can I not love you. Love is consciousness, absolute reality. We are all that. Why do you see others? Why do you see perverse situations? Why do you see all these dastardly things that seem to be apparent. Your eyes are meant for you to see, but to see the truth, whereas with most people the eyes see an object and send the message to the brain, according to your programming, and you react accordingly. When you begin to realize it's all a game, no one is born, no one dies, and in between no one prevails. There is only God, pure awareness, and you are that.

There are many methods to use to recognize this truth. This is why I share these with you. Not everyone can practice atma vichara, self inquiry. Therefore I share these other methods with you. There are many things that you should do. How many more years do you think you've got in your body? Why go after the fleeting things that change and disappear. Forget about trying to win the lottery. Forget about who's hurt you. Forget about your sins of omission and commission. Let go of everything. Be yourself. Do not react to the world. Do not even react to your own body. Do not even react to your own thoughts. Learn to become the witness. Learn to be quiet.

I know sometimes you get up in the morning and you feel out of sorts. You may feel depression, you may feel the collective unconscious of the world, which is a negative vibration. You should immediately snap out of this by realizing this is not the truth about me. The truth about me is I am love, I am consciousness, I am absolute reality. Identify with the truth about yourself. Do not allow your mind to tell you one iota of negative thinking. Catch yourself. It makes no difference what position you're in. Do not believe and think, “Well, when things get better I'll have time to do this.”  There's no such thing. You've got to start where you are. You've got to be yourself now and forever.  Things will never change. 

Get rid of your arrogance. Develop humility. Become humble. By that I don't mean become a door mat for people to step on. In humility there is strength. You understand the truth. Therefore you do not get involved in pettiness, in nonsense. The truth shall always prevail, regardless of appearances.

People were bored. Then a war started. It became exciting for some people. Something to do, to get rid of their boredom. Now the war is over and they become bored again. Always looking for excitement. Looking for something outside of themselves. I can assure you my friends there is nothing outside of yourself. Remember the whole world is a projection of your mind. Never forget this. It is you who make the world real.

The world picture is very strong in your mind, and the stronger your mind, the more real the world. This is why in all the higher teachings, we are told we have to destroy the mind. What do they mean by that? The mind is known to be a conglomeration of thoughts about the past and worry about the future. That's all the mind is. As you begin to understand your true nature, the mind settles down and goes back into the heart, where it's supposed to rest. The heart is the self. Therefore the mind becomes the self. The self is the universal. The universal is absolute reality, which results in bliss. Therefore your life can be blissful while you're still in the body.

You do not have to give up anything really. You simply have to put everything in the right perspective. You can work, you can play, you can go on vacation, you can do anything you like, but you'll always be aware of the truth of your being, that's all. Do not think when someone attains liberation they have to go and live in a cave and forget about the world. On the contrary, you're in the world but not of the world. You see through appearances and you become happy.

Now one of the ways of quieting the mind is chanting. It has been known for centuries that chanting makes the mind one-pointed. It works through the nervous system, bringing peace and tranquility to the mind. Then the mind disappears of its own volition. Let's do that now, shall we?

(Chanting)

Anything to stop the mind from thinking

I receive mail from various parts of the world and sometimes, when I think it's apropos, I share it with you, for many people have the same questions. We're going to do that now.

(letters are read)

Understand that we do not come here to overcome a problem. We do not come here to acquire profound knowledge. We do not come here to memorize words that I say, or books that you've read and you memorized, the beautiful quotations, and you'll be able to repeat these things. We come here to empty ourselves. It's only when you become an empty vessel that the truth, which you really are, can shine forth. When you have too much head knowledge you keep yourself from enlightenment. When you have too much book knowledge, you keep yourself from awakening.

This is why words are always inadequate. You are already liberated. All you really have to do is to get rid of those things that tell you you're not. When thoughts come to you, when ideas come to you, whatever comes to you, realize that's not what it is. Neti, neti. Not this, not this. Reality is your real nature. You don't have to go anywhere to find it. You don't have to travel the world looking for teachers. All you have to do is become humble, have humility, go within, and the truth will reveal itself. It makes no difference what your condition may be. This is totally irrelevant. You can be rich or poor, sick or healthy, deformed or otherwise.  Makes no difference. It has nothing to do with reality.

It's like you go and see a movie and you identify with the plot and the actors and the actresses. Then the movie ends and you're nowhere, for you spent all your energy identifying with the actors and the actresses, the roles they're playing. This is what we do with our lives. We identify with conditions, with situations. We try to protect our interests, and that's only ego. We have no interests. We own nothing. We come into this world with nothing, and we're going to leave it with no thing. What you do in between birth and death determines what happens to you from thereon in.

If you're like most people and you've been bound by the earth, identifying yourself with earth things, believing you are the body, you'll come back again and again as a body, until you wake up and realize it's all a dream. You have to wake up. There's nothing else you have to do but wake up. Forget about the world. I'm speaking of mentally. Allow your body to do what it must, but mentally forget about the body, the world. Keep your mind on your heart center. Practice self inquiry. Become the witness to all of your movements and to all situations. Do not react to anything. Watch. Behold how the world keeps changing day after day after day. Realize that you are not the world. You are watching the world, but you have really nothing to do with the world. You are consciousness, you are the self, this is your true nature. Identify always with the pure self.

It's like the story of a bird who lived in a gigantic tree. The bird represents most of us, and every time it would eat sweet berries on the tree it would be cheerful and happy and sing. But when the season changed, and the berries became sour, he would stop singing and become angry. Isn't this like us? When things appear to be going our way we say we are happy, because we are getting what we think we want. But when something does not go our way, we become despondent and angry.

One day the bird was flying around the bottom of the tree and it looked up to the top branches, way far up in the air. On the top branch it saw a translucent beautiful gigantic bird, smiling and happy. And the little bird said, "How I wish I could be like that big bird. I'm going to fly up there and discover what makes this big bird happy.” Isn't this like most of us? We get tired of the run around of life, and we discover some truth that we go after. But look what happens.

On the way up to the big bird, when the little bird was a quarter of the way up, flying up, it saw some delicious berries on one of the branches. It therefore forgot all about the big bird, landed on the branch and decided to eat the beautiful, succulent berries. When they were all finished, there was all these sour berries left. So again it became despondent. Again it's like us. In the beginning we go after truth, after reality. But if something wonderful happens to us materially, or physically, we forget about it. We say I can go after that later when things are bad. And we get caught up in our experiences.

So when the little bird became despondent enough it remembered the big bird. It looked up and there it was again, sitting so majestically on the top branch, translucent, shining, happy. And it said, "This time I'm going to go right up to the big bird and find out it's secrets.” Halfway up again it saw a branch with beautiful berries and forgot about the big bird once more. Just like we. We search for truth, we read books, we see teachers. But let's say we win the lotto, and we have a million dollars. How many of us will continue to search? Not too many, I'm afraid. We'll get lost in riches and what they can buy for us, until the IRS comes knocking, or your relatives steal your money, or the stock markets go down, and you become despondent. That's like the little bird eating sour berries.

After it was despondent enough, again it remembered the big bird. That's like us. When things get too bad, we start thinking about God. So again the little bird started to fly up and up and up, and this happened again and again, until when it was three quarters up and the berries became sour again, it got completely disgusted and said to itself, "I'm tired of sweet berries, I'm tired of sour berries. I'm tired of the whole game. I don't care about anything I see on this tree again. No matter what I see on this tree, it doesn't make any difference. I'm going straight to the big bird.” And that's like some of us. When we've been kicked around by life enough we become determined to go all the way in the pursuit of truth.

So the little bird started to fly closer and closer to the big bird. It bypassed all the sweet berries and the beautiful berries that's on the tree. And the big bird became more and more translucent and shining and beautiful and majestic. And it finally landed right in the center of the big bird. And when it did, it found out something very interesting. It found out that it was the big bird all along. So it is with us. When we finally awaken we will realize we've always been awakened. There never was a time when we were not, and become free.