There are several schools of Advaita. One says you must abide in the self and one day you will realize that all you thought was true, is not. The other school proclaims that the world is illusion and there is nothing to attain, but offers no clue how to get this understanding. You might say one is the practice school and the other, the no-practice school.
The latter group starts with the conclusion, while the former tells you to abide in consciousness and all will be revealed as conclusion. The former says it is not enough to hear it and cogitate upon it, you have to see it directly by abiding in the I.
Ramana talked from the position of liberation but he gave methods to those who needed them. Nisargadatta talked from the endpoint and had people try to catch up—at least Nisargadatta as portrayed by his editors. Yet, before Nisargadatta awakened, he stated he spent three years absorbed in his sense of beingness as directed by his guru. Hearing Advaita philosophy is not enough.
In this talk, if you listen closely, Robert says all practices, whether self-inquiry or breathing exercises, as well as all philosophical discourses, are meant to still the mind, nothing more, and out of the still mind the Absolute shines forth. He says dive within to find the source of I, of the ego. Then he says there is no source and there is no ego. These kinds of contradictions exist throughout his lectures, but the intent in all is to still your mind. So simple, yet, as Robert says here, “You want to play with the I.”
Both he and Ramana say the quickest way to awakening is self-inquiry, not mindlessly repeating, “Who am I?,” but introverting awareness to find and rest in the Void. The Void is the edge of realization. Abide there and let your Self do the rest.
Robert: Good afternoon. I welcome you with all my heart. It's good to see most of you again (laughter).
We have some new faces here today. If you're coming here to hear a great lecture, forget it. If you're coming to hear a sermon, you're in the wrong place. If you're coming to compare the speaker to other speakers, well, I won't say what I think of that (laughter).
You have a reason for coming here. That's the first mistake you made. There should be no reason. There should be no attitude. There should be no need. There is no thing I can give you that you don't already have. There is really nothing I can do for you, unless you realize who you are.
Who are You? The wisest answer would be "I don't know". For if you think you know who you are, you're on the wrong track. A self-realized person has no idea who they are, because the I, and they, have been removed. There is no "I" to know anything. If you say I am this and I am that, you're not really this or that; the I has just made the statement. When the I is gone, there is no one left to do anything or to be anything.
So again, think. Why did I come here today? To get out of the sun? To leave my screaming family? I saw all the movies in town and I have nothing better to do. Somebody told me to come. They're all the wrong reasons. There is no reason whatsoever. Everything should be spontaneous. Do not plan anything in your life. When you do not plan anything, your life will go smoother. Sounds strange, but true. There is a power that knows the way. When you get your little ego out of the way, this great power will take over and lead you into itself. What is this power? What is the undifferentiated power that is the substratum of all existence?
Some people call it Brahman. What is Brahman? There are no words to describe. For any word you use spoils it. Some people say Brahman is the un-manifest energy that runs the universe. But those are just words, not the truth. The finite mind can never know the Infinite.
So there is Brahman. When Brahman gets tired of being Brahman, it begins to play with itself and becomes personified. That personification is called God. God is what we call the first principle, the controlling energy of the universe.
When God had fun and created everything, he became consciousness. So Brahman becomes God. God becomes Consciousness. Consciousness becomes Brahman again. What a waste of time. Why would Brahman want to do all this? Why would Brahman want to play with himself or itself or herself? Does Brahman become tired? Well, we need an explanation of creation. So that is as good as any. It's better than Adam and Eve (laughter).
Those of you who are taking notes, turn the page, keep it blank (laughter). The blankness is the reality. Everything else is really a waste of time. How many teachers have you seen in your life? How many notes have you taken? How many tapes have you purchased? How many books have you read, and you're still here. Sometimes it's better if you never read a book in your life, if you never heard a tape, or ever seen a teacher.
You are what you've been looking for. The answer is always in you alone. There is nothing in the external world. For the external world is an emanation of your own mind, your own thinking and your own imagination. You created this world. Are you proud of yourself? (laughter). Look at what you've done. You caused man's inhumanity to man, wars, pestilence, tornados. Why would you want to do that? Shame on you. Repent (laughter).
Anyway, there's something interesting I must be able to say. There is a great statement that I'm going to make, very profound. I'm going to think of it first (laughter). O.K., here it is:
Consciousness is the only power, and there's no power in the effect.
Think about that. Consciousness is the only power, and there is no power in the effect. In other words, effect is the world and everything in it. All of your problems, so called, all of your needs, all of your wants, all of your desires, have no cause. They're all effects. There is no power in the effects, because effect is like a dream. It doesn't exist for real. Think of all the things that have been disturbing you. Illness, lack, limitation, they do not exist. Those are effects, and there's no power in effect. The same thing is true of the good things in your life, so to speak. All of your so called material happiness, family, friends, job, income, car, all are effect. It has no cause. In other words, nothing created it. There is no thing to create anything.
Consciousness is the only power.
Consciousness is self-contained absolute reality. You have been identifying with the world of effect. This is why things appear as they do in your life. You're trying to exchange negative for positive, bad for good. But they're two sides of the same coin. And they both have to go.
Do not take the universe seriously. Nothing is ever as it appears. Nothing can hurt you when you realize your infinite nature. You are not your measly body that was born, and goes through experiences, and then appears to dissolve or die. That is not you. You have nothing to do with this world. This world does not exist the way it appears. But as long as you believe you are the doer, that you are the body/mind phenomena, the world is very real for you, as most of you know.
Where did this world come from? I just told you. It didn't come from anywhere. Why do you keep asking the same question? Where does a dream come from? The dream appears very real, doesn't it? Most of you had a dream or two last night that you can still remember. How did the dream begin? Did it begin with Brahman creating the universe? Did it begin with God and Adam and Eve?
The dream just began in the middle and it ended when you awoke. Is there such a word as awoke? Awaken, awoken, awaken, they're both lies. And then you found yourself outside the dream. Your body, your mind, your self, was as it always was. In the dream you may have dreamt that you got hit by a car, you had to have your legs amputated, and so forth. Yet when you awake, it's not like that at all.
Think of the things that have happened to you in your life now. You appear to be getting older and older. Things come into your life, as it appears. You try to exchange wrong for right, good for bad. Yet you refuse to acknowledge that this too is a dream. You want to continue playing the game. You want to play hide and seek by believing there is a God somewhere, and if you find this God, all your problems will be over. So you keep searching.
You can never find your reality by searching.
Reality is where it's always been, right where you are at this moment. It is you.
There is not reality and you. You are not in the body of God; God is not in you. For there is no you. There is no body. There is no God. You are perfect pure awareness just as you are now.
There is really no thing you have to do. You simply have to wake up. Why will you not awaken now? Even while I'm talking to you, many of you are thinking, thinking, thinking. Can't you see by now, that this is what is holding you back from your freedom, from your bliss, from your joy? It is your thoughts.
Where did your thoughts come from? They really didn't come from anywhere, for they do not even exist. Yet unfortunately most of us believe that thoughts exist, for we are bombarded by them day and night.
So sages come along and invent methods, means, in order to obliterate the thoughts. Meditation was invented for that purpose. Self-enquiry, all of these yogic exercises, pranayama, mantras, kriya, they're really used to stop your thoughts from blossoming, to keep your mind from thinking.. All of these procedures are to make your mind quiescent, quiet, still. If you're able to do this without the methods, then you would be realized. You would be your self. You would be liberated. But you refuse to do this. You want a teacher to give you methods to wake you up.
But I say to you, wake up now. Awake. The methods will keep you back because you get stuck with the methods. But it makes no difference what I say. You are still going to identify with the world, with conditions, with your body, with your mind. We therefore have to think of a way, the quickest way for you to awaken. Of all the methods I, know, self-enquiry is the fastest if you are mature enough to be able to handle it. You begin to understand that the I is only a thought; it is an idea called the I-thought. It is the I-thought that dominates your existence. True?
How many times have you said "I" today? “I” am going to hear Robert. "I" am going to eat breakfast. "I" am going to take a nap. "I" don't think I feel too good. "I" feel great. "I" need this. "I" need that. The first person pronoun I, dominates your entire existence.
Yet it has been known by Sages, if you were only able to annihilate the I, destroy it, kill it, you would be free. The I is attached to all of your thoughts. Therefore, begin to follow the I to its source. I have to tell you in truth and in reality, there is no I and there is no source, but you will not believe me. You want to play with I. You therefore follow the I to the Source, and when the I has been dissolved into the source, you become free.
You do this of course by enquiring "to whom do these thoughts come?" Or, whatever is disturbing you, you enquire "to whom do they come? Who is experiencing this? Who is going through this? Who thinks they are human? Who feels depressed? Who feels discouraged? Who feels there is a difference between birth and death? “I do." Can't you see now, that if you get rid of the I, all those feelings, depression, and worry would disappear?
So you ask, "Who am I? Where did this I come from?" You never answer that question. When thoughts come to you, you enquire "To whom do they come? To me? I think these thoughts. Who am I?" You do not answer. As you continue to do this process, you find that your mind is becoming quieter and quieter. The confusion stops. You begin to feel happier and happier. You are no longer reacting to person, place or thing. You become spontaneous in everything you do.
You live in the now, but you're not doing that. It's doing you. In other words you have not decided, "I'm going to be spontaneous from now on. I'm going to live in the now." As you are aware, how many times have you tried that without avail? You can't make up your mind that you're going to be spiritual, that you're going to be consciousness, that you are absolute reality. How many times have you tried to do that, and the first thing that comes into your life, you become upset? You react. Something bothers you. Or something good comes into your life and you become elated. You react in a positive way. They're both impostors.
Remember you're not trying to change bad into good. You want to transcend everything, and become absolutely free. See how you're thinking? Your mind won't stay still, will it? Whose mind is it that won't stay still? Do you really have a mind? Are you the mind? Who told you this? There is no mind, there is no body, there are no thoughts. Accept this if you want to. All it can do for you, is liberate you. We listen to the birds, we see the beautiful trees. Who sees? Who listens? Why, I do. You're caught in the trap again. For many of you believe, if I behold the beauty of the world, that's good. It's better than beholding death, I suppose.
But the world is an illusion. It is not real. The so called beauty is here today and gone tomorrow. Change is the only permanent thing of the relative world. Everything changes continuously.
Therefore as you go through the vicissitudes of life, and you get rid of your dogmatic thinking, you open your heart, you begin to feel something different. You begin to loosen up.
The first thing to understand is that everything that has transpired in your life has been necessary. No matter how it looks. No matter what has happened. Everything has been necessary.
The second thing to understand is, everything has been preordained. In other words, everything was supposed to happen the way it happened. There were no mistakes.
The third thing to understand is that the first two things are a pack of lies. For these things don't even exist in reality. Everything is preordained, as long as you believe you are the body. Everything is karmic, as long as you identify with the world and believe you are the doer.
But as soon as you start to turn within, as soon as you begin to listen to the still small voice within you, as soon as you start to practice self-enquiry, your life begins to change drastically. You become happy. You no longer search for happiness, for you are beginning to realize that you cannot find it externally. You may appear to find it, but it does not last.
In other words, you may get married and you believe this is great, I found what I always wanted. Then you may get divorced and you say, this is great, I finally got rid of that person. You win the lottery and you say this is great, I'm rich. The IRS comes down on you, and you wind up in San Quentin. And then you say, this is no good. Well, all of these different things take place in your life. The world is not your friend. The world is a phenomenon that belongs to a dream.
You've got to be mature enough to ask the question, "To whom does this world belong? Who lives in the world? Where did the world come from?" And your answer to all the questions begins with I. "I" live in the world. "I" partake in the world. "I" see the world. And we're back to I again. You finally get the idea that the whole world is hanging on I. The I has to be transcended.
You begin early in the morning when you first wake up. Before you become aware of I, you know that you are in a state of peace, of joy, even if only for a few seconds. "I" was not present. You are not aware of the world. Catch yourself tomorrow morning. It only happens in a flash, in a few seconds. Yet all of a sudden the world becomes real for you. I, has awakened. Where did the I come from? If you investigate, you will see that your spiritual heart center is in your right side of your chest and the I has come out of your chest, out of your spiritual heart, out of the source, becoming more powerful as it emerges and goes into your brain.
Then you become more aware of your body and you say: I am alive. Once you become aware of your body and your mind, you become aware of the world, and then the Universe. Therefore the wise person catches the I before it goes any further. In other words as the I emerges from your chest, you abide in the I. To the extent that you can abide in the I or focus on the I, something phenomenal will begin to happen. The I will reverse its course and begin to return to its source. I will repeat this again.
To the average person, the I begins to become stronger and stronger when you wake up in the morning. It emerges from your spiritual center and heads up your spine to your brain where you become cognizant of the world. But for the spiritual aspirant who practices self-enquiry, you begin to watch the I doing this. You abide in the I. As you begin to abide in the I, it will reverse its course and head back to the center. When it heads back to the center, it will rest in the circumference of the center. This is as far as you can go by yourself. You will be in an effortless thought-free state. You will be in the Void as it tells you in Buddhism.
Yet most Buddhists think the void is self-realization. This is a mistake.
The Void is when your I is resting on the circumference of the center. When that happens you've come a long way. Yet the self has to pull the I inside to become liberated.
This is very rarely done by the small self alone. Only a very few will go directly into the heart center and be extinguished. This is why Sages are necessary. This is why Satsang is necessary.
For the Sage who may be a 1000 miles away from you, as long as you have a direct line to the Sage mentally, the Sage is omnipresent, all-pervading. Therefore the sage, the self, the guru and God are all one.
Even if you are away from the sage, if you have a close association, that particular sage is your guru. The self, which is really the sage, will pull the I into the heart, and you will be liberated.
That's how it appears to work. The rest is up to you.
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