The Four Principles

Introduction

It is very difficult to explain how the world is to the self-realized. The sense of ‘I am’ sets up a duality between the I and the Thou, between inside and outside, between object and subject. When the I disappears, the duality disappears. When the duality disappears, nothing exists. All is only Consciousness. The manifest world is only images in a conceptual space. So how does someone who lives only in consciousness communicate with the apparent individual who thinks they live in a real world yet is only fantasy? This is one of the rare talks where Robert talks about method.

Robert:

This is not a formal talk.  I can only tell you about my own experiences, not what I read.  I can tell you that nothing exists the way it appears.  Everything is appearance.  The trap is that we get pulled into the appearance.  We react to it.  We feel hurt.  We feel slandered.  We feel something is wrong.  We have negative emotions because we are falling for a false premise-- that the world is real. 

In fact, the world is not real, and neither are you.  What we have to do is stop reacting to anything.  The only way to do that is to discover who you are.  When you discover your true nature, everything becomes perfectly clear.  You are at peace.  If something works out, it works out.  If it doesn't, it doesn't.    Your feelings have been transmuted.  You never even feel what human beings feel. You just have a great love and compassion for all things.  You know that the substratum of all existence is harmony, peace, emptiness. You feel wonderful all the time.  What can disturb you if you are at peace?  If you find true peace, what can possibly disturb you? 

The world comes and goes.  One day it is like this, the next day, it is like that.  But what does it have to do with you?  Nothing.  You are free, you are not the world.  You are not your body, you are not your mind.  You are total freedom, total joy, total love.  You have to awaken to this fact--its truth. 

We speak many words and take many actions, but to what avail?  Does it mater in the end?  We build our life, we earn positions, we father children, and what happens at the end?  Poof!  It's all gone.  Everything disappears. (Robert laughs) There is nothing.  So what's the purpose? 

People say, "I must leave make this world better for my children."  They are dreaming.  The world will never be better or be worse. The world is a dream of existence; like this one day, like that another.  But you are not the world.  Awaken to that fact. 

You are not your thoughts, you are not your Karmic expressions, you are not your inclinations from past lives.  Things appear real as long as you believe in them.  If I believe in the devil, the devil would appear to me.  I would create him myself.  If you believe in God, your God would appear to you.  Ramakrishna believed in the god Kali.  Kali became very real to him.  He used to dance and sing with Kali (Robert laughs).  He created Kali.  That is why no one else saw Kali but him.  That is how we create our lives. 

Think of the things you fear in your life.  You fear becoming sick.  You fear poverty.  You fear getting divorced, you fear getting married.  Whatever you fear is a concept created by your own mind.  There is no question of should I get married or shouldn't I get married.  It doesn't matter.  What matters is how you react to it and expect of it.  This is true in every aspect of your life.  That is what you have been trained to believe since you were a little kid.  Your teachers brainwashed you, your parents brainwashed you, the outside world brainwashed you, and here you are.

You are filled with ideas, concepts, emotions, attitudes, and that makes you what you are--miserable.  (Laughter)  As soon as you wake up, all that disappears.  Nothing can ever happen to you of a destructive nature.  There is absolutely nothing that can destroy you.  You can not be destroyed.  Your body may appear to vanish, but that is like a dream.  You dream that you are doing something, then you get shot and disappear.  Then you wake up.   

My question to you is, "What do you believe about yourself and about the world?"  "What is most important to you?"  I feel that a true spiritual path should be the first thing of importance in your life.  Why?  Because it wakes you up.  No matter how good of a life you live, you may become the richest and most famous person on earth, you'll have to experience the other side of the coin one day and be the poorest, most miserable person on earth.  That's the way it works. 

You may say to me, "My neighbor never has any problems.  It's like he fell into a pot of gold.  Everything he touches turns into money.  He's as happy as a horse.  He's got a beautiful wife, a big house, everything he could possibly need, and look at me!  You know, that guy's life hasn't changed for 40 years."

You're making your own conclusion.  He has earned this Karmically, and if he doesn't pull away from it, he might spend his whole life in goodness, human goodness.  But then he will be drawn back again by the law of Karma, which is in his mind and he doesn't know it, and next time he will be a homeless person.  Whatever he does, he won't be able to make a dime.  He'll try his best, but he'll always be poverty stricken.  He won't be able to earn a dime no matter how hard he tries.  This is why we should never judge.  You have no idea what your neighbor's going through.  Never say he or she has a wonderful life and look at mine.  Why am I poor, why am I sick, why am I this way or that way.  The idea is to wake up, not to look at yourself, not to feel sorry for yourself, not to compare yourself with others, but to awaken. 

When you awaken, something happens that is unexplainable.  There are

no human words to explain it.  When you awaken, you just understand, you know, you feel--and these words are inadequate--you become divine harmony.  You are no longer fooled by person, place or thing.  You no longer react. 

As an example, someone tells you that you won the lotto, you won 50 billion dollars.  You do not become a slave to that.  Someone tells you that you lost 50 billion dollars.  Same thing, same reaction.  You do not become a slave to that.  What happens in the human life does not matter.  When you know who you are, you do not say it doesn't matter.  You simply exist.  You exist as yourself.  You're at peace.  No one can ever take the peace away from you no matter how hard they try.  You are not fooled by things. 

What you do is deal with yourself.  You can give of yourself because you become your living self.  Therefore, you can give yourself away and you're still there, for you've become the infinite self, the divine mother, omnipresence, total oneness with all things.  So you can give of yourself, and yet you're always there. 

When Ramana Maharshi was being robbed, his devotees wanted to attack the robbers, and he said, "No, no, no.  It's our Dharma to be what we are, and it's their Dharma to be what they are.  We should not interfere with their Dharma, therefore give them what they want."  That's very profound.  We are spiritual people.  The world is not.  We act in accordance with spiritual principles. 

What this really means is that we, as human beings, become last, not first.  That's what Jesus meant when he said, "Those who go first will be last, and those who are last will be first."  You have to develop great humility.  Do not long for anything.  Do not want to rich, or famous or great, and do not say, "I want to be poor and have nothing" either.  They're both wrong.  Just be yourself.  When you are yourself, you will be amazed how the universe takes care of you. 

It's like the body with vitamins and medicines.  Your body is a natural healing factory and able to heal itself.  When we start taking too many vitamins, when we start taking medicines too much, the body will say, "Well, you've made that into your God, so now you have to depend on it."  Then you have to keep taking vitamins for the rest of your life or you get sick.  Think about that.

You've got to depend on yourself to take care of everything. 

Now yourself is yourself.  There's one self, so we take care of each other.  Did you ever think of that?  When you think of others you're making a mistake.  The feeling will come to you one day that you are all others.  There are no others, there is just the Self appearing as others.  So, how do you treat others?  As you treat yourself.  You don't think about it.  You don't think that that person's worthy and that person's not, so I'm going to help this person, not that person. 

You give of yourself automatically.  You do not think about it because everything is yourself, and that includes the mineral kingdom, the vegetable kingdom, the animal kingdom, the human kingdom, and everything else you don't understand.  They're all part of the One.  What you do to the one, you do to everything.  How you treat one person is how you treat the whole universe because everything is one. 

Now, these four principles I gave you have to do with all these things.  You're supposed to ponder these things.  How do you work with these principles? 

As soon as you open your eyes in the morning---I'll speak in the first person---you have to say to yourself, "I feel and realize and understand that everything, everything---say everything twice---is a projection of my mind."  Think about what that means.  Forget about the other three.  Work on that.  "I feel that, I realize that, I understand that everything is a projection of my mind." 

Then you may think about any problems if you have any and you say to yourself, "If everything is a projection of my mind, where do these problems come from?"  You then realize, Why, they came from me.  I projected them.  I created them.  Then you say, "Who is this I that created them?"  Now you're getting to the meaty part, to the substance.  "Who is the I that created all this illusion in my life? Where did the I come from?  Who gave it birth?  My mind.  Where did my mind come from, the I?  They're both the same.  The I and my mind are the same." 

It's a revelation.  You think along these lines. "Where did the mind/I come from and to whom does it come?"  You follow it deep, deep within yourself, and if you do it correctly you will realize there is no I.  There is no mind, so there are no problems.  It will be over, and you will start laughing.  You will actually start laughing at yourself.  You'll start to think, "I fear this and I fear that."  Once you get into that consciousness something will happen to actually physically relieve you of that problem, or what you think is a problem. 

As long as you believe in your mind that there's a problem ---whether it is little or big doesn't matter,  they're both the same---as long as you believe you've got a problem, you'll have a problem and it will grow and you can't change it.  It may appear that you change it, but it turns into something else of a worse nature when you try to work with the problem itself.  You never try to work with the problem, but ask where the problem came from.  How did I get it?  How did I get this birth?  Where did it come from?  That's the problem. The birth is the problem.  Because you believe you were born, you have the problem, and you can go on and on and on. 

That's how you work with the principles.  I feel, I understand that everything,

Everything is a projection, a manifestation of my mind.  Whose mind?  My mind.  Whose mind.  Mine.  My mind.  Who am I who has this problem?  And as you ask yourself this question, you will begin to feel better and better and better.  You will actually begin to feel better, and as you begin to feel better, the problem becomes less and less important, and it will vanish.  This is great psychotherapy.  It works.  If psychiatrists gave this to patients, they wouldn't have to give them any drugs. 

You understand, you feel, that everything is an emanation of your mind or it wouldn't exist.  All existence, from the smallest nothing to the greatest cosmic galaxy--it all comes out of your mind.  However, even if I tell you this, you still feel that something is real, don't you?  You feel that something is real.  You may say the sun is real.  You may say that God is real.  You may say that an atom is real, but you do not comprehend that you are creating these things.  They're all a project of your mind.  If you didn't have a mind, you would not have these concepts.  That's why we have to annihilate the mind, to kill the mind.  No mind, no concepts. 

Q:  Can you say the Self is real or is 'real' a term that doesn't exist?

R:  If you say the Self is real, you don't really mean it.  If you meant it you wouldn't have to say it, but you can say it when you are truly yourself, because it makes you feel better.  It helps you live.  It's better than saying that my world is real or my problem is real. It's better to say the Self is real than to say that.

Q:  What is better than that, to say nothingness is real?

R:  Keep silent.  Say nothing.  When you ask yourself the question, "Where do does my mind come from or where do my problems come from", and you keep still, that's real.  The emptiness is real. 

Q:  Isn't the emptiness the same as the Self?

R:  Yes, but when you speak you spoil it to an extent.

Q:  That's right because the Self doesn't know.

R:  When you say the Self is real, that becomes personal.  When there's silence it becomes omnipresent. 

Silence is always the best policy after you say all those things to yourself.  It's in the silence that your problems just dissolve.  Try it.  It really works.  When you keep still after saying a lot of these things, your problems will dissolve by themselves.  Do not think, "I am getting rid of my problems", because that enhances the problems.  Do not think about the problems at all, but work on yourself to see your own reality, and in reality there are no problems. 

We can also note that to most people, no matter how many times I say this, their problems are very real to them.  The problems hold them like a vice.  They really feel their problems.  To those people I say, "To the extent that you can realize that your mind is creating these problems, in reality you are mind-less."  To that extent the problems begin to dissolve.  Repeat this when you wake up, when you open your eyes in the morning.  Do not go through the four principles all at once.  Take one at a time, even if you don't get to the second that morning, and spend and hour or two working on the first one, that is good.  You can these things all your life if necessary instead of worrying about your problems.  Take them one at a time. 

Now go to the second principle and work on it just like the first.  The second principle is:  I perceive, I feel, I understand that I was never born.  I am Unborn.  I do not prevail.  My existence does not exist, and I will never disappear.

Q:  Can you say I perceive or understand that I am unborn before the mind fully accepts it?

R:  Whatever you can work with to let yourself know that you perceive or understand or feel. 

Q:  Would it be more honest to say "I am beginning to perceive..."?

R:  There is no beginning.  You can say "There is something within me that perceives, or there is something within me that knows I was never born, I do not prevail, and I will never disappear.  I am that one that knows.  Start working on that. 

What does this "I was never born" mean?  I am unborn.  It sounds like a contradiction because you believe your father and mother gave you birth.  This appears to be true.  Who gave them birth?  My grandmother and grandfather.  It goes all the way back. 

Who gave them birth?  You go back to the beginning, way to the first man and woman and where did they come from?  Who started this?  Who started the human race?  Who started the idea of birth?  Now don't answer, because the mind will create answers, Adam and Eve, God.  Somebody told you that.  But is it true?   Where did God come from? 

Go back to the beginning.  It is like asking what came first, the chicken or the egg?  The tree or the seed?  The man or the woman? Who made them?  You will realize they don't exist.  Nothing gave you birth.  The whole origin of birth is false, it is a dream.  It does not exist.  Therefore, I do not exist the way I appear to be. 

Then go back to the first premise.  Who am I?  You always go back to self-enquiry.  Who am I that exists?  If I am not the body, am I my thoughts?  I can't be my thoughts because they keep changing and changing.  The who am I?  Keep silent for a while.

You know it's working when you start to feel a quiet, loving feeling.  You start to feel a peace you have not felt before.  You start to feel that all is well.

If you do this often enough, you will feel a happiness you never felt before, and you won't care if a bomb is dropped on your head. You would feel this happiness because you would know you can't die.  Right now these are just words.  You will actually know, some day, that you can't disappear.  Nothing can kill you.  "Kill" is just a word.  It means something that you have accepted.   We make up words and put feelings behind them.  Listen to the word, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill.  It sounds ridiculous.  The word itself has no power except the power you give it yourself. 

When the mind is silent, then reality comes of its own accord.  When you are think and thinking, the world has got you, and you become worldly again.  Self-enquiry causes the mind to causes the mind to be quiet. 

After you work on that, you go on saying, "I do not prevail."  You say to yourself, "You mean that my entire existence since I was  a baby, until I die, means nothing?"  Then you say to yourself "I have just proven I was not born.  If I was never born, how can I prevail?  What prevails?  Who prevails?"  You will see that it is the mind that prevails.  The mind wants existence, wants strength, wants power.  It makes you believe you are the body.  Ask yourself, "To whom comes the mind?  Who gave it birth?  What is its source?"  Then keep still.  You will begin to laugh because you will begin to feel, even if only for a moment, that there is no mind. You will actually feel no-mind.  In the beginning, it may last for a moment or two.  As you practice everyday, those moments of no-mind will become ever greater. 

Go on and say, "I will never disappear."  Now you laugh again, because you realize that which never existed disappears.  I am no-mind, so how can I disappear?  This becomes very meaningful for you and as you do it everyday, you become stronger and stronger in mindfulness, and something happens that's so beautiful that I can't describe it.  You feel such love, such joy, such harmony, such bliss.  Then you carry on. 

What's the third principle?  Something in me feels, understands the egolessness of all things.  All these principles are alike.  Did you come to that conclusion yet?  They all have the same source--nothing, but you have to work with them until you get there.  I feel and understand the egolessness of all things.  You say ALL things, not just some things, but ALL things, from the greatest galaxy to the minutest atom.  Nothing has an ego.  If it has no ego, it has no source, because if it has an ego there has to be a source, and just by realizing this great truth you become free immediately.  It blows your mind.  It's like a Zen koan.  All of a sudden, something snaps in your mind, and your mind is gone because it has no source since there's no ego.  It never existed, and you feel so good.

Q:  Can you say, "I Am is not the body"?

R:  Yes, you can say that.  That's why I tell you not to use that too much, because you make it too personal.  You're still into yourself as an individual.  When you read in text books, "I am not the body, I am not the mind", they're referring to the universal body and the universal mind.  There is no body, nobody, no-o-o body.  (Everyone laughs)  Nobody exists.  That sounds ridiculous to the average person. 

Now you may say, "What does all this do for me?"  It does everything for you if you are creative in music, art or anything else.  You'll become a better musician and a better artist without wanting to, without going after it.  Your body will do what its supposed to.  There will be no karmic attachment.  As an example, if you are a great artist or a great musician or a great carpenter, or a great loafer or a great homeless person, and you go after it humanly this is what is holding you to the earth, and you're going to have to come back again and again and again because you made yourself earthbound, don't you see?  Everything that you attach yourself to pulls you back to the earth, whether it's good or bad.  If you hate something, it's the same as if you love something.  It pulls you back to the earth. You've got to let go.  It's just you're letting go because you know, "I am my brother and my brother is me.  I am everything."

Now I'll go to the last principle.   You say, "I perceive and understand what realization is.  I know, something within me understands and feels what self-realization is", and you keep still.  Believe me, the will come to you.  The only way you can find out is through negation.  So you can say to yourself, "It's not the sun because the sun is a projection of my mind.  It's not the moon..."  Same thing. "It's not my husband or my wife, it's not my body or my organs.  It's not peace.  It's not the war.  Everything you name it's not.  When you get tired of naming things, you keep silent, and that's what it is.  Everything is silence.  The four principles and the silence are all the same.  Any questions about this?

Q:  Yes, I have a question.  There are two things that you said which I had difficulty with.  One of the things you said is never deal with a problem.

R:  Right.

Q:  And I know we should concentrate on the positive things you were speaking about, that's the essential teaching, to stress all the ideas you already talked about today.  But still in this period of life that we have, as we make these statements, as we move towards this goal which I can accept, still there is the life to be lived.  There are issues to deal with.  So it seems to me that when you say, don't deal with the problem, this leads to enormous problems.

R:  On the contrary.  You're separating both.  You're putting them into categories.  There's only one.  As an example, say somebody cheated you, and you sue them in court.  When you sue somebody and you're getting involved in something like that, you're sending up an energy.  Even if you win the case, you're going to have to sue somebody else and then sue somebody else and it never stops. You've set up a pattern for yourself.  But if you go about it the other way, and if you know the truth about yourself, you also know the truth about the guy who cheated because you both are one.

Q:  Robert, let me give you another example.  Let's say that we all stay here and we have no money.  Tomorrow we're all hungry in the morning, and we say we're not going to deal with this problem, but because our hunger is so great and keeps mounting, we really can't think of anything else.  Eventually we can't think of any of these ideas that you told us about because we're so extremely hungry.

R:  Your first premise is wrong.  It doesn't work like that.  It would never work like that.  If you're hungry, something will happen to appease your hunger.  What you're thinking about is that you sit down and you do nothing.  It doesn't work like that.  When you know the truth, somebody will knock on the door and bring you food.

Q:  I brought up the example a week or two ago about the holocaust, and remember I said how the attitude of the Jewish people and especially the Rabbis was that God is living in Nazis, God has manifested himself through Auschwitz and the others, and so we must go along with this.  Would you say that's the attitude the Jewish people should have had?

R:  On the contrary, because that's an attitude.  I'm not talking about attitudes.  I'm talking about realization.  Reading the Bible and making quotations is one thing.  Being a living embodiment of the truth is another thing.

Q:  Then, you're saying to deal with the problem.

R:  On the contrary, if you become the truth, the problem will take care of itself.

Q:  Yes, but you're speaking of a state to which we are aspiring, and I believe that would happen, but we're not in that state.  We are not fully in that state because we cannot fully grasp it and manifest it.

R:  If you take it personally, and you work on yourself as I said, you will do what's right.  You will not be passive.

Q:  So you didn't exactly say, don't deal with the problem, just realize that the body doesn't really exist.  You're body will do the right thing by itself.   

Q2:  Remember what Christ said when he said, "Put you first the kingdom of heaven and the all rest will be added unto you."  Isn't that something you're saying? 

R:  That's right.

Q:  I have no argument with the concept, the idea, the goal and the abstract reality.  I am talking the about the interim period that we live in our daily lives during the day.  That's why I bring up these problems, and the food as examples of what we h

have to deal with every moment.

R:  Your body and mind are motivated by karma.  The law of karma takes care of them.  But you are not your body.  If you are aware that you are not your body, the right action will pursue.

Q:  You mean you can be aware that you're not your body, yet your body will go out and get food.

R:  Exactly.

Q:  But you would know that you are not the doer.

Q:  If you are aware, those are key words, if you are aware that you are not the body.  I would say from my understanding that there are degrees of awareness.  If you are completely, absolutely, totally and wholly aware that you are not the body, then I grant you that. But there are these degrees of awareness, and if you are not at that particular state, then you must render to Caesar what is Caesar’s.

R:  In reality, there are no degrees.  You either are or you're not.  If you think you're not, then you have to fetch for yourself.  If you think you are, you'll think about these things, and then you'll go and do something.  But you won't be doing it.  It will do itself.

Q:  That's what I was going to say.  Robert was telling us before about not being the doer, the realization that you are not the doer, is what Christ was talking about.  That is, you dwell on the Self, on self-realization, and your body will continue to do whatever is necessary karmically, but your realization that you're not the body and you're not the doer doesn't mean it doesn't get done.

Q:  Well, now we're getting down to the nitty gritty.  Then what you're suggesting is this.  Let's talk about tomorrow morning.  My body-mind says go out and try to find some money to get breakfast, but all the time that I'm doing this I can still think that I am not doing this.  I am not going to be getting the money.  I am not going to be eating it.

R:  No, no, no.  When you work on the principles and you are hungry in your body, you will automatically, spontaneously go get food, but you won't dwell on it.  Your mind will be somewhere else.

Take my life, for instance.  When I get up in the morning, I have no idea what is going to happen that day, but I am acting and interacting.  I do certain things, but not purposely; it happens spontaneously.  I didn't ask to teach classes like these.  It happened.  I never asked for anything.  It happens because my body does it, spontaneously.  My mind is not aware, involved.  I don't plan, except maybe to spend a couple of hours in Venice.  But I have no long range plans.  Everything works out.  I know it is hard to perceive this....

Q:  My second point is related to that.  You quoted Ramana telling his devotees to give to the robbers, but couldn't his Karma have been to protect?

R:  It was not his Dharma, his way, his truth. 

Q2:  Another teacher could have told his followers to kill the robbers.

R:  That's right.  In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna told Arjuna to fight.  It depends on the path you are on.  Notice that Krishna did not have to fight.  He told Arjuna to fight.  When you get to the highest, there is peace.  There is no need to do anything.

In the martial arts, when one becomes proficient to the highest degree, they do nothing.  They don't even defend themselves.  they go the other way.  They accept being killed.  Arjuna was not up there.  

The highest teaching is that everything is being taken care of.  Ramana, as a boy, would have died if it were not for this mysterious power that took care of him.  He went into the jungle and into a cave and sat there.  He didn't know where his food would come from. He didn't even think about it.  It didn't enter his mind.  He just sat there for days until a woman came to help and started to feed him. If you have trust and faith, there is a mysterious power that will take care of you, and supply all you need.   

Q:  But while you are paying attention to the spirit you must function in the world and deal with problems.

R:  You are speaking from your own point of view.  You are speaking of appearances.  This is how you see it now.  But is not like that.

Q:  I first came because someone said it would be a good thing to do.  It just happened.  I didn't go to him asking for places to see. Yet, each week I have to consciously arrange to come here.  Both energies exist on the same plane simultaneously. 

R:  No.  This plane you speak of doesn't exist.  As long as you believe it does, it does, because you are creating it.  You give it its power.  You are its power source.  When you take the power away, everything just is. 

When you realize you are not the doer, your body will do whatever it has come to earth to do.  Your body follows Karma.  But your body is not you.  That can only be experienced. 

To most people, this is ridiculous.  All that I have said does not mean a thing.  Most people want something practical, to accentuate the humanhood in them.  The highest truth is that humanhood does not exist.  When you come to that conclusion, your life will be bliss. 

Q:  Isn't the purpose of Satsang to ask questions? 

R:  Yes, but you have to practice the things I tell you and watch what happens.  When you leave here you have to work on yourself and not just get caught up in the world until the next meeting.  You'll see what happens.

Q:  Could you state the four principals again, as clearly as possible?

R:  (1) I understand, I feel, I perceive, that everything, everything--and emphasize the second everything---is a manifestation of my mind.  (2) I feel and understand deeply, that I am unborn, I do not prevail, and I do not disappear.  (3) I feel and understand the egoelessness of everything, of all creation.  (4) I have a deep understanding of what self-realization is.  That's it.

Q:  What if we don't feel that, should we say that?

R:  Say it when you wake up.  It starts something going. 

Q:  During the day should we say that?

R:  Make it a little different.  Think that everything is a projection of your mind.  In the morning, it is good to say I perceive, I understand.  When you first open your eyes, you are not awake yet, and you are your real self.  Therefore, you are confessing to yourself your real nature.  It goes deep into the subconscious mind as a new idea.

Q:  Should we be asking all these questions in Satsang?

R:  Real Satsang is not intellectual, it is the reality of the person giving it.  New students all ask the same questions.  That is their perception.  No matter what I say, they never will be able  to see it until they become it, because they identify with their bodies. 

It is the ego that wants to know.  When you begin to feel that you know less, that is a good sign, because you know less about the world and more about the self.  The more confounded you become, the more the ego breaks up. 

This talk was recorded, transcribed, edited, entitled, manufactured and distributed by Edward Muzika. Copyright (C) 1991 by No-Self Press

The Three Ways

Robert Adams

Robert:   Good evening.   It's good to see you again.   Who ever's here again.   Please do not be shocked at some of the things I may say.   I am not a teacher, nor am I a lecturer, nor am I a minister.   I am merely a looking glass so that you can see your own reflection.   What you think of yourself you see in me.   I may say certain things you're not used to.   Bear with me.   You should not accept anything I say nor should you believe anything I say, until you're able to prove it to yourself.   I simply give my confession, that I am not the body, nor the mind, nor the phenomenal world, that I am pure intelligence, absolute reality, sat-chit-ananda, divine mind, unborn, emptiness.   When I use the word "I am" I am not referring to Robert.   I am referring to "I AM THAT I AM", Omnipresence, the Infinite.

I get lots of phone calls from people asking me all kinds of questions.   One question that most people keep asking again and again is, "What can I do to resolve my problems?   Can you give me an affirmation, a mantra, a meditation, a breathing exercise, something I can use?" These things have their place, but they will not awaken you to your true self.   In all of the higher scriptures it is written that the path of Advaita Vedanta or Jnana Marga is only for mature souls.

Now what does that mean?   It is for those who in a previous lifetime have already practiced sadhanas, breathing exercises, yoga techniques, etc., and now they're ready to awaken through this type of teaching.   And the Buddhist scripture declares that those who want to do yogas, or breathing exercises are the simple minded and ignorant (he chuckles).   Now what do they mean?   They don't mean to insult you but they are referring to those who are attached to the world, those who believe the world is real and who feel the pull of the world.   They want to use all kinds of gimmicks to free themselves from their problems but not to be totally free.

Now, what does Jnana Marga teach?   We teach simply this: not to accept anything unless you can demonstrate it.   Not to believe anything unless you can use it for yourself, and you can see it's true.   To do affirmations, mantras, yoga exercises and so forth, will not awaken you.   You start from the beginning.   You simply admit to yourself that you exist.   This is the truth.   You do exist, don't you?   So you say to yourself, "I exist.   I know that for sure.   I exist.   I exist.   That's all I know.   I'm ignorant of everything else, but I do know that I exist because here I am."   And, as you keep saying this to yourself, "I exist", you begin to put more space between "I" and "exist".   "I ...   exist".   Say that to yourselves:   "I ...   exist...,  I ...   exist".

If you're doing this correctly you'll soon find that "I" and "exist" are two separate words.   In other words you'll come to the conclusion that you exist as I.   You'll have to ask yourself, ponder, "Who is this I that exists?   What is I?" You never answer.   It will come to you of it's own accord.   When you sleep and you awaken you say, "I slept." When you dream you say, "I had a dream." And when you're awake, of course, you say, "I am awake." But that "I" is always there.   You start to inquire within yourself, "What is this 'I' that exists at all times?   It exists when I'm asleep, when I'm awake, when I dream.   Who is this 'I'?" And now the inquiry starts.   "Where does this 'I' come from?   From whence cometh the 'I'?" You ask yourself.   The answers are within yourself.   And you keep asking yourself over, and over, and over again, "From whence cometh the I?   Where does the I come from?" Or, "Who am I?"   And you wait a little while, and you repeat the same question, "Where does the I come from?"

While you're doing that, you follow the "I" deep, deep within.   You keep following the "I".   You go deeper and deeper into the "I".   "Where does this 'I' come from?   Who is this 'I'?" Whatever answer comes to you is the wrong answer.   Do not accept it but do not deny it.   You simply put it aside.   And you continue with the self inquiry.   "Who am I?"   And you wait.   And you ask again, "Who am I?"   It is not a mantra.   "Where did the 'I' come from?   How did it get there?   Who gave it birth?   What is the source of the 'I'?"   You continue to abide in the 'I'.

As you continue this process someday something will happen.   To some people it comes like an explosion within, where all your thoughts are wiped away.   For you see, "I" is the first pronoun, and every thought that you have in the world is attached to the "I".   It is secondary.   Think about that.   Whatever you have to say about yourself has "I" in it.   Everything in the world is about yourself.   "I" am going to the movies.   "I" am going bowling.   "I" feel like crying.   "I" feel terrible.   "I" feel wonderful.   "I" feel sick.   "I" feel well.   There's always an "I", "I", "I".   What is this "I", and what is it all about?   Everything is attached to the "I".   Subsequently, when the "I" is wiped out, everything else is wiped out and the troubles are over.   All thoughts go with the "I".

Now, there's no answer to "Who am I?" When you get to the answer there will be emptiness, a void.   You will be of the unborn.   But it is not a void like you think.   It is not emptiness like you think.   For want of a better word you can call it Godliness, Nirvana, Sat-chit-ananda, Bliss Consciousness, Absolute Reality.   It doesn't matter what name you give it.   You will become That, and there will be no explanation.   You will just become That, and you will feel a profound peace that you have never felt before.   You will feel a bliss that is unqualified.   You will try to explain it to yourself and to your friends, but you cannot.   For the finite cannot comprehend the infinite.   There are no words.

That's the method you use.   Self Inquiry.   You follow the "I" thought to its source.   How long does it take?   It depends on yourself.   How sincere you are, what else you're doing with your life.   If you're using this like you do everything else…   For instance, if you say, "Well today I'm going to practice the "I" thought, then I'm going to go to a movie, then I'm going to go bowling, then I'm going to watch TV, then tomorrow I'll do the same thing."   Of course what's going to happen in a case like that?   Very little.   But if you put your energy into it, and you practice it every chance you get, and you put this first in your life, you will see amazing results.   Amazing results.   But you have to put it first in your life.

Think right now.   What is first in your life?   Don't tell me but just think.   What comes first in your life?   Can you take it with you when you die?   Don't you see by now that you live in a world of constant change?   That the only thing permanent in life is change.   All facts change.   Only truth is real.   And truth is personal.   You have to find it for yourself.   For the sincere devotee or student they will put this first in their life, and then you will start seeing results.   But if you're still worrying and fearing something, and you think other duties come first, then you've got to work on yourself.

That's why, with great compassion, I give you certain things you can do before you get into self realization.   Just before you become self-realized you begin to feel certain things.   And those are the four principles I gave you last week.   That comes to you automatically.   But, as I mentioned last Sunday and Thursday, you have to upon awakening become aware of these principles.   You cannot think of them at your leisure.   But you sort of have to coax the mind.   You have to coax your mind to think upon the four principles as soon as you open your eyes in the morning.

So you have two things to do.   When you open your eyes you can either ask yourself, "Where did the 'I' come from?   Who am I that slept last night?   Who am I that has just awakened?   Who am I that exists now?" or you can think about the four principles.   Whatever is convenient for you.   But, by all means, if you want self realization, and you want to become free, and you want to be free from the ocean of samsara, worldliness, and become blissful, then it's up to you.   I can share these things with you but I can't make you do it.   It's just like I can bring you to the gold mine but you've got to do your own digging.   What comes first in your life again?   Whatever comes first in your life, that's what you become.   In the end you're going to have to leave your body, your thoughts, your possessions, your loved ones.   Everything is going to be left, in the end.   So the wise person searches for truth now, and tries to become free now.

So let's briefly go over the four principles again, for I feel they're very important.   Another thing I do is this: Most ministers, teachers, whatever, philosophers, they always search for new knowledge.   They research, research, research, and then they share with their congregations or students something profound, something new every Sunday.   And of course, you always forget the previous Sunday and you go into new words.   It's a game of words.   You may learn about the astral planes, the causal planes, reincarnation.   You may learn about how to become positive in your life, how to attract the right mate, how to attract money, health, and all kinds of stuff.   How to channel, how to do this, and it's very exciting to the ego.   What we do here is we try for you to remove your ego so you do not get caught up in the world.   That's the only way to become happy, truly happy, and self realized.   This is why I reiterate, and repeat again and again, the same principle.   So it can soak deep into your subconscious mind, and you can become a living embodiment of this truth.

Now what are the four principles?   Who can tell me?   Who remembers?   What's the first one?

Q:        Everything emanates from the mind.

R:        That's right.   But you had to think.   It should be like second nature to you.   When it's second nature to you, then you're going to find true happiness in your life, and reach your goals.   But when you have to think about it first, it means your mind's impressed with something else.   You've got other thoughts that you're thinking about most of the time.   The first principle again is that everything, and I mean everything, the universe, the world, your body, your fears, your problems, your happiness, everything that you can think about, everything that your senses behold, is a manifestation of your mind.   It's a mind quality.   When you close you eyes it goes away.   When you sleep you transcend it.   But when you are awake the world exists.   The world only exists because your mind exists, and your mind exists because your ego exists.

Therefore when you begin to work on yourself, and you begin to realize that everything comes from your mind, you stop fearing, and you stop worrying, for you realize it's of the mind.   And as you begin to change your mind, transcend your mind, annihilate your mind, bliss, happiness, peace, love, joy, truth, comes all by itself.   It is the mind that is your enemy.

What is your mind?   It is a conglomeration of thoughts about the past and the future.   You worry about the past and you worry about the future.   That's all your mind is.   It is not your friend.   Therefore, ignore your mind.   Do not believe what it says.   Simply watch it, behold it, become the witness to it.   But just to realize that everything is an emanation of your mind, that alone sets you free.

And you have to practice self inquiry by ,realizing everything comes out of your mind_, asking yourself, "What is my mind?   Where did it come from?"   And you will realize that "I" is the mind; "I" is also the mind.   Because you say, "I think", don't you see?   "I think", and the mind is thoughts.   So we get back to the "I" again.   We always come back to the "I".   Subsequently again, if you want to remove your mind you remove the "I".   You ask yourself again, "If the mind is I then where did I come from?.   What is the source of this I?   Who am I?" You always get back to the "I".   Everything leads to the same thing, doesn't it?   All the processes we use lead to the same thing.   To "I".

The first principle: the whole universe is a projection of my mind.   Then you say, "my mind.   Who is 'my'?   I'm referring to 'my' mind."   And then again you tell yourself, "I am referring.   I'm back to 'I' again.   I am referring to my mind."   Again you go back to, "where did this 'I' come from?   Who created it?   What is it's source?   Who gave it birth?"   And you keep questioning this way, again, and again, and again.   And, as I said before, with most people, one day there will be like an explosion, and the 'I' will blow itself to pieces.   And you'll see light, tremendous light.   You'll become light.   The light of a thousand suns.   But that's not the answer.   You have to go through the light, into Emptiness, into Nirvana, into Absolute Reality, which is called ParaBrahmin, Nothingness.   That nothingness becomes everything.

Now you go back to the second principle.   Who remembers that?

Q:        The self is beginningless, without beginning?

R:        Not quite.   You're on the right track.   But not quite.   Any more volunteers?

Q:        There is no birth.   No existence, no death?

R:        You're on the right track.

Q:        I am not born?   I do not persist, I do not die?

R:        Yes.   See, if you remember these things it will carry you across the ocean of samsara, into the land of the self realization of noble wisdom.   But you have to think of these things all the time.   The second principle is this: You are unborn, you do not persist, and you do not disappear.   In other words, you were never born, the life that you're experiencing does not exist, and you do not die.   You have always been.   What I am saying is there is no cause for anything.

What is its cause?   Of course the Bible will tell you Adam and Eve.   That's a nice story if you like stories.   But if you're talking about reality it just began out of nothing.   What came first_, the seed or the tree, the chicken or the egg?   You can say to me, "I was born.   My mother and father gave me birth." Well, go all the way back.   Who was the first mother and father, just like what came first, the tree or the seed?   It's perplexing.

The best way to explain it (is), take a look at your dreams.   How do you create a dream?   Does it start with a beginning?   As soon as you start dreaming there's no creation.   The dream just starts.   Everything is already there.   The trees, the sky, the earth, the flowers, the grass, people, insects, birds, flowers, everything just appears.   Does it die in the end?   You just wake up, and it's all gone.   What we're doing now is living the mortal dream.   We believe in our bodies, in our existence, as it were.   We believe the world is real, the mind is real, our experiences are real, and we get involved in them, like we get involved in a movie.   You know you're not the movie.   You watch the movie, it ends, and you go home.   The more you get involved in the world situations and in yourself, the small self, your body or mind phenomena, the more you get pulled into ignorance.

You have to loosen yourself from this maya.   And thinking about every day, that you are unborn, you have no personal life, and you do not exist, and you will not disappear, just thinking about these things does something to you.   You begin to feel different.   You begin to feel alive.   But not as a body.   As Omnipresence.   You begin to understand what Moses said when he said, "I AM THAT I AM." You begin to feel free, untarnished.   Your past is dissolved because it never existed to begin with.   You have no past.   There's no cause.   It's all a manifestation of your mind.   As you think about this you become totally free.

Now what's the third principle?

Q:        Everything is egoless.

R:        Yes.   The egolessness of all things.   You have to have a deep realization, and a deep feeling, that no thing has an ego.   No thing has a cause, again.   There's no reason for anything to be.   No thing really exists.   Your are not a sinner.   You are not an evil person.   Your past is dead, forget it.   You're born again, now, and all is glory and joy.   This is what it means to be born again, to realize that you exist now, in this moment.   Not a moment ago, and never mind what's going to happen a moment from now.   But you exist in this moment as Pure Intelligence, Unqualified Love, Absolute Reality, Unconditioned Oneness.   That's you.   You live in that reality.   And again, that sets you free.

Now what's the fourth principle?   As long as you don't remember them I'm going to repeat them every week until you get sick.  

Q:        Neti, neti.

R:        Yes, but what is the principle?

Q:        The realization or knowing the truth through the discarding of the non-truth.

R:        Yes.   The fourth principle is to have a feeling, a deep feeling, a realization, of what self realization of noble wisdom really means.   And, of course, you can't explain it, so you negate it.   In other words you think of what it isn't.   Self realization is not the world, it's not the universe, it's not my body, it's not anything I can think about.   It's not my mind.   Then what is self realization?   Whatever answer comes to you is wrong, for it has no answer.   There are no words that can describe it.   Forget about your intelligence.   Human intelligence sucks.   It doesn't exist.   Why?   Because it dies with you.   We're talking about something that's eternal, that has always been, and will always be.

You have to become aware of these principles.   I give you these things with great compassion, that you have something to do every day besides watching T.V. or reading comic books.   Think, but not intellectually.   Let's play some music...

R:        Because of Richard and Jim who are going back to Santa Cruz, I'll cover something else, which just came to me.   After you learn the four principles, and they become a living embodiment within yourself, then you learn about the three vehicles which carry you over the ocean of samsara into the land of self realization of noble wisdom.   That's why they're called vehicles.   But you can only feel these vehicles when you've mastered the previous.

The first one is this:   You have a deep feeling, now remember, this is before self realization, afterwards it doesn't matter what you do, you have a deep longing, a deep feeling, to be by yourself.   Now in the West they tell you this is antisocial behavior, but you have a feeling...   in other words you don't mentally say to yourself, "I want to be alone", like Greta Garbo.   It's not a mental game you're playing.   Because of your inquiry and your feeling and knowing the four principles you have a feeling to be by yourself, so you are not pulled down by the world, to give you an opportunity to make the four principles and self inquiry work for you.   So you enjoy being alone.   You want to be by yourself.   You look for times that you can be by yourself so you can work on yourself, and that becomes a total joy for you.   It's like total heaven to be by yourself, not all the time, but most of the time.   It's only when you're by yourself that you can argue with yourself, and you can tell off your mind, and you can scream a little if you like, and do what ever you have to do to get rid of the ego and the mind.

That's the first vehicle.   The second vehicle is:   you have a deep feeling, a deep desire, to always be at satsang.   Now satsang is not just a spiritual meeting, as most of you know.   It's not a gathering of people when they hear a lecture.   Who can explain what satsang is?   How bout you Narada?   What is satsang to you?

Q:        Well ultimately I suppose it can't really be put into words, so to realize that.   I understand what the essence of satsang is, that it can't be put into words.   Satsang is like the embodiment of the teaching.   So I think that there's a growth in satsang that takes place, a growth that does not take place in the words.

R:        O.K.   That's a good explanation.   Anybody else like to say what satsang is?

Q:        Abiding in the Self.

R:        Yes.   Exactly.   Being together with people who abide in the Self; the realization that there is one self, and you are that.   So being in satsang is being at the feet of God.   That's what it literally means.   Sitting at the feet of God.   And God is none other than yourSelf.   So you want to be with yourself when you come together with us.   And you're still alone.   You're still by yourSelf.   Because all the people with you are yourself.

Q:        Doesn't it usually involve the presence of a sage?

R:        Yes.   But remember, the Sage, the Guru and God are yourself.   It's all the same.   What I mean by that is I don't want you to look at me as being a Sage, or being anything at all.   When you see me, as I mentioned in the beginning, I am a mirror.   You see yourself.   And when you see yourself as divinity you will also see everyone else here as divinity.   We're all one.   There's no difference.

Number three:  You will have a deep feeling, and a deep desire, to be around people like yourself.   In other words your old relatives, your old friends, your old cronies, that you used to drink with, and get high with, or whatever you did with them, they don't turn you on anymore.   You want to be with spiritual people like yourself.   You're not putting it on.   You're not intellectualizing it.   You're not imagining that you want to do that because I told you to.   From your practice you become like that.   It's an inner feeling, a deep inner feeling.   Those are the three vehicles.

Now again, because Richard and Jim are leaving I brought along a couple of lessons.   Once in a while I give out lessons I wrote years ago.  

R:        O.K., now we're going to have some prasad and then we'll have questions and answers.

Q:        I have a question for you.   About meditation.   You said sit and do nothing.   My question is, when I do that thoughts stop_, but the world appears.   By doing nothing do you mean no world appearing?

R:        Let the world appear but do not react to it.   Let whatever appears, appear.   But just do not give any response.

Q:        Should you sit with your eyes closed, or open, or does it make any difference.

R:        It doesn't make any difference.

Q:        Plus if you were to try to make the world appear or disappear you would be doing something.   Of course if you could do nothing...

Q:        You'd be realized.

Q:        You'd be there.

Q:        That's why it's so direct.

R:        Of course the proper action to take when the world appears is to ask, "to whom does the world appear?" But if that doesn't work for you, just do nothing at all.

Q:        I've also tried, in doing that, I've tried the principles you gave.   Say if I'm thinking of someone, what I've noticed is if everything is egoless, that seems to do away a lot with any kind of judgment I had about others or about myself.

R:        Exactly.   Sure.   That's what it does.

Q:        It does away with it.   Just like (snaps his fingers) that.   It's really nice.

R:        That's what it's supposed to do.

Q:        In an everyday situation it seems like it pays to use that too.

  R:       Of course.   And the more you think of that the deeper the feeling goes, and the greater the experience.  

Q:        I wasn't really thinking about it.   I just thought maybe to use it as the situation arises.

R:        You can do that.   Whatever helps.  

Q:        Well how do you handle this?   Let's say you're opposing a strong negative force, a very destructive force, people, who embody that force.   You have to confront it and work against it, knowing that there is no ego in the force?

R:        No, you don't do that at all.   You simply ask yourself, "To whom does this force come?"

Q:        You don't confront it?

R:        No.   You don't avoid it or confront it.

Q:        Alright.   What if we were in danger of losing our lives right now?   What would we do?

R:        Whatever you have to do.

Q:        What?

R:        Your body knows what to do.

Q:        That would be confronting it then.

R:        But you have nothing to do with it.   Your body will do what it has to do.   But it has nothing to do with you.

Q:        You mean you'll run or you'll fight...

Q:        It's more spontaneous than the thinking?

R:        Yes.   Everything will happen spontaneously.   Your body knows what to do.   There is a power that takes care of your body.   It will know what to do.

Q:        Alright.   What if it's more abstract though.   There I used an example of something immediate.   Let's say the current situation in the near east, that you're going to be called up or something.   And that also is a very destructive and terrible force.   How would our bodies react to that?

R:        Leave that to God.   God knows how to take care of the universe.   Focus on yourself.   Ask yourself, "To whom do these feelings come?"

Q:        But what if it comes right down to it.   What if a telegraph or telephone call comes?

R:        Then you do what you have to do.   Your body will know what to do.   You will take care of yourself.   If you're a major in the air force you fly a plane.   You go wherever you have to go.

Q:        All the while asking or reminding yourself to whom it …

R:        As long as you're aware that it has nothing to do with you.   You are not your body.   You are not your mind, You are not the situation.   You are free from it.

Q:        Isn't it like watching yourself as if you were a character in a play?

R:        Yes.

Q:        Or watching yourself on a film.   You know if you've ever had that experience.   Where you know it's you, but your not...

Q:        O.K., but it's still confusing to me.   Let's say to follow this little possibility, I can go away and fly the plane and so forth, and I can say that's not really me doing it, or I can stay home and say I don't want to be part of that destruction, and that's also not me doing it.

R:        No.   Both are wrong.   If you have to say it's not me doing it, then it is you doing it.   You don't say it's not me doing it.   You ask the question, "To whom does it come?".   There's a difference.   It's keeps the me out of it completely.

Q:        It's more obvious than that.   It's more obvious that it's not you doing it, that it is you doing it.

R:        See, when you say, “it's not me doing it,” you believe that you are the one, you are the body.

Q:        All right, let's strike that part of it from the record.   Still it seems to me a choice must be made.

R:        The choice will be made.   But you have nothing to do with it.

Q:        That's very difficult.   Very, very difficult.

Q:        Will you be guided?

R:        Something will take care of you.   When you came to this earth everything was predestined.   Any everything is aware of how to take care of you, and what you're going to go through.   But it has nothing to do with you.   The secret is not to react.   Just do what has to be done.   And you will do what has to be done.   You can't help it.   If you're meant to go to fight, no matter how you try to stop yourself, you couldn't.   You'll go to fight.   If you are meant to be a pacifist, you couldn't fight it you wanted to.   If they gave you a million dollars you couldn't do it.   Because you're predestined.   It's your karma.

Q:        So you're saying if you face a decision, that's already been predestined also.  

R:        Yes.  Everything will work out.  The secret is not to identify with your body or your mind.   And then if you're doing it correctly things will change on the outside too.

Q:        I can accept it theoretically.   It's the same teaching, the same response, the rabbis had, the wise Jews, at the time of the holocaust.   Get into the cattle car, off you go to Auschwitz, and the rabbis say, well you know it's God's will.   What difference does it make?   It doesn't matter.   And now that we've lived through the holocaust, now we think maybe they should have said something.

R:         T here's a difference.   You're right.   There's a difference in knowing the truth, and just letting yourself be walked on.   This does not mean you become a rug for somebody to step on you.   You become a doormat for no one.   You are abiding in the Self.   When you abide in the Self everything will be O.K.   You're not a coward.   You're not running from anything.   You're abiding in the Self.   When you abide in the Self if you have to pick up a sword and fight, you will.   If you have to run, you will.   But you will do what you have to do.   But it has nothing to do with you.   It's different than you think.   It's not like you think.  

Q:        I can theoretically ...   it all makes sense.   In actual practice is where I get confused.  

R:        If it made sense it wouldn't be the truth (everyone laughs) –

Q:        What kind of answer can one expect when you ask who is it for?

R:        No answer.

Q:        So therefore the action would be non-personal.

R:        Exactly.   If there's an answer, it's the wrong answer.   See, all these years we¹ve been dealing with a finite mind, with our own intellectual processes, with our preconceived ideas_, with our concepts.   But I'm saying we have to transcend those and use a new part of us that we've never used before.   And that's the Self.   So when you abide in the Self everything will be O.K.   Everything will work out.   It has nothing to do with being passive or being violent or anything else.   It's a completely new ball game.   You're on God's team and you're well taken care of, but it's different.   There are no words to explain it.

Q:        You have to know go inside to understand it.

R:        Yes, you have a deep understanding, and a deep knowledge, that all is well and everything is unfolding as it should.  

Q:        Robert, then it is imperative that we do have a guide or a master, isn't it?   People can't just do this on their own.  

R:        It depends.   Very few can.   But the majority cannot.  

Q:        Did Ramana have a guru?

R:        No.   But he's one in a billion.

Q:        So what you're also saying then is in predestination the soul chooses to be born in a particular time or to a particular life in order to continue with its existence.

R:        That's part of the appearance.   And if you believe in your body, and you believe in you mind, then karma is real, and predestination is real.   But if you abide in the Self everything else becomes redundant.

Q:         Because of your four principles that we ...

R:        Yes.

Q:        And if you become realized you can get off the karmic wheel.

Q:        But in the mean time, on this earthly plane, or this particular plane, one way of describing it is predestination.   The answer is there, but if you look at it as a continuum, its part of the four principles.   Nothing appears in the beginning, no end

R:        Yes, exactly.   To put it in an easier point of view so you can understand it, if you believe in your body_, again, if you believe in your mind, if you believe that you are a body, then everything else exists, karma, God, creation, everything exists.   But when the realization comes to you that I am not the body, and I am not the mind, everything disappears.   Like the four principles.   So that's why the secret is to practice abiding in the Self.   Then everything else will happen by itself.   You don't try to get rid of your karma or get rid of negative situations, because that's like cutting off a tumor on one arm, and it grows back on the other arm.   You go right to the source, the Self.   And then everything is resolved.