Be Conscious! Be Aware!

In this talk, Ektaji talks about how No-mind is the only way to Enlightenment regardless of religion, caste, or creed. And self-effort (to be conscious and aware) will carve the way to the state of 'No-mind' - nothing else! The biggest obstacle on this path of self-effort is Ego and its various gimmicks to blind you from putting forth the necessary effort. Dropping the Ego will allow one to become a 'Patra' (being eligible to "receive").
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Transcript

Salaam. Salaam. Salaam. There was a Zen master. The way he thought was through halt. They call it halt. It's a different language altogether. You have to halt and wherever you are, Whatever seva you are doing in the ashram, I will just scream halt and everybody has to halt. Yes, Whatever you are doing. So in the ashram, We had a little river there. You have a dam where you can open and close the river. So the control of the dam is with the ashram people because it's owned by them. Very small, Not very huge. Don't imagine a huge dam. Very small dam, Just enough for irrigating their little farm in the ashram. So it was in their own hands to open that dam and let the water in. But now it was completely dry. There was no river. Some of them were working on their bed of the so called river. Physical work actually digging it out and clearing out the bed. And he screamed halt. Some had the axe like this. Some were picking up the stones and they had to halt. And what he did, He started the, He opened the dam. The water started coming and they kept standing there with their axe. Okay, It's coming, It's coming, It's rising, It's rising, It's rising. The first one said, Oh my God, I can't do this. I cannot be like this. I cannot be. Constantly the mind was like, Oh he doesn't care. What a master. He jumped out of that river and he was out. There was a second one. He was like, I'm not like that loser. I'm going to be here. I'm going to be here. Water started coming to the nose. No, I cannot give up my life for this and he ran out. The last person was left there. Luckily he was standing up with the axe. So he was upright. And the water came, The water came and he was like, It's okay. There's no point giving up. If the master has said something there, There has to be a meaning for this. And I have to figure that out. So the water rose, It rose, It rose. It went over his head. The Zen master jumped into the river, Pulled him out and he bowed down to the Zen master, Touched his feet and he said, Thank you. I got it. I got your message. So the other two who had played now felt like losers. They said, What, What did he get? What is it that we miss? So he says, Ask him rather than the master telling you, The person who has discovered this, Let him answer. And he said, When I was there and the water was rising, Rising, The mind went on and on, Run, Do this. This is silly. Why are we doing this? My mind was on. Yeah. When it came to my nose, It was talking. Yeah. And then I was like, It doesn't matter. I'm not going to run at this last moment. Even if it is my death, I'm ready to die now. The moment I said, I am ready to die and I let go, My mind stopped. The water rose over my head, But my mind had stopped and I experienced the stopped mind. I experienced the no mind. I got the message. In that ashram, He was the next Zen monk who got enlightened. No mind is the me. No mind is the key. Everything. That's all enlightenment is. So if you are in this big manohar ka hani wale dunya of yours, That no mind is white light or blue light or green light or something is going to happen, Drop it. That is not enlightenment. Enlightenment simply means no mind. It's got nothing to do with religion. It's got nothing to do with a person. It's got nothing to do with an idol. It doesn't matter whether you're a Muslim or a Hindu. It doesn't matter whether you follow this or that. It doesn't matter. Enlightenment means no mind. And it's not going to happen without that effort. Have you seen this? Lot of us have this thing. Guruji will bless me. I will get enlightened next lifetime. No. It's not going to happen. So forget about it. Guruji will bless me. Guruji's blessings are there. Your patra is upside down. You understand patra? I've explained this a million times. This is a patra, A vessel. Yeah. Patra. Your patra is upside down. Blessings are showering on you. Already the knowledge is there. The kriya is there. Guruji has given you a million meditations to stop the mind, To become no mind. What is anything happening? No progress. Why? Because your patra is upside down. Means you are not making an effort. Patra upside down means you are not making an effort from your side. You have to turn your patra up. That will happen only by your effort to be conscious. And what is the reason my patra is upside down? Ignorance. Okay. Maya is there all over. And? Ego. My ego does not allow my only patra to go in the correct direction. My ego wants to say, No, I don't want to do this. Or my ego wants to say, I already know. Finished. Your patra is upside down. You will never learn. Are you getting this? Ego is the only problem from the beginning of the creation. The creation of this body, Mind, Complex. Okay. Beginning of this little unit. It started with ego. It started with I. It started with I want. Yes. Turn that back. Drop that ego. Only a person who is humble, Who has the humility can walk this path. You've noticed this, No? When you get into your big ego zone, You don't get anything. Yeah. So drop that ego and be here as if, Yes, There is something I don't know that Krishna knows. That Krishna is saying to me. Let me listen to that. Not what my mind already knows. Then what's the point of being here? Who spent your time, Became at the movies? Your mind already knows and you're holding on to only what you know. Yeah. Move from what I know to there is a lot that I don't know. Then the patra turns around. Then I start receiving the knowledge rather than making big obstacle in front of it with my ego. Turn your patra up. Then start making that conscious effort to recognize where my mind is not letting me be in the present. Did you do that homework? Divided mind homework? Yes? What did you figure out? How much percentage and where? What I thought love or compassion, It doesn't exist. My feelings were completely filled with hatred and anger. Very honest. She's so honest about it. Only an honest person will be able to really progress on this path. You don't have anything to do with her answer. You see your own answer. You recognize your own answer. And did you do the third homework? Did you meditate? Does it happen in meditation? Why was it not happening in meditation? Why were you not conscious? Why were you in a dreamlike state? What is the meaning of a dreamlike state? Dreamlike equals to unconscious. Equals to thoughts. Equals to images. I'm getting this. All this is same. It's synonymous. You are not understanding this. You are thinking all this is different things. This is all one. Unawareness. Are you getting this? When I'm saying be conscious, What do I mean? Drop the images in the mind. Drop holding on to thoughts. You start talking to a thought. A thought comes. Krishna said this. No but I understand it as this. Who started the but I understand. I started talking to the first thought that came in. Are you getting it? And that first thought that actually knocks at your door and pushes you to start talking to it, To start an internal dialogue. You have to refrain from that. That is silence. Are you getting it? Drop that thought. Drop in image. We think in images. Why do you think in images have you ever thought? Why? How did I get into that habit? We experience a Buddha back and so I just want to experience again or don't want to experience. Emotions? The mind is so designed that it understands images before words. When you were a little baby, Two, Two and a half year old, Mommy taught you A, B, C, D before you went to kindergarten. And when she taught you A, B, C, D, How did she teach you? She showed you the picture of the apple. You did not understand the attribute A. You looked at the picture of the apple and said A. You looked at the picture of the ball and said B. Do you understand this? You really didn't know even that letter is B. You could not understand that. You could not understand that. Alphabet is C. Words did not register. First word registers? Image. Yeah, That is the first thing as a baby that registers in the memory. That's how memory is formed. Memory is only images. Have you noticed? You will not remember in the far past, You will not remember exactly what matter what he or she said. But you will remember that whole scene, The image. She stood there, He stood there and they both said this to me. That is created, He did inside. I don't remember exactly words from him or her but that image and there is a relation, That sensation that that image produces in me. Image is equal to sensation. Are you understanding sensation now? It's more like you can remember better if there is an emotion attached to it. Sensation. Don't call it emotion yet. It's just a sensation. If you went on vacation say to a mountain top in Colorado and that really cold feeling, That crisp feeling. How much ever you come back home and describe to her that feeling that was awesome. But you remember it more as a connection of the image and the sensation in the body of that cold crispness. You see what I am saying? The words are later on added to explain that but in the memory words are not there. In the memory, Image connected with sensation is there. You see this? So, When I am saying you are dreaming, You are also holding on to a sensation. This also needs to be drawn. Recognize at least that it's happening. Silence is like not even the thought should come. Not even an image. Not even a sensation in the body. Isn't the sensation more of a Rajasthama Sattva thing? Sensation might come but you don't have to react. When I am in complete silence and no mind state, It doesn't matter if there is Rajasthama Sattva outside. External heat does not cause the sensation inside. Externally I might say something bad, Insulting to you. When somebody insults you, What happens inside? Foil. Inside something happens. Got it? Externally that is not going to go away. Inside that sensation should also not happen. So stable the inner environment has to be. That is no mind. Unaffected by external stimuli. So, If you just imagine there is a fire. Imagine a big fire. And you take ghee or oil and you throw it in the fire. It will change. You throw water. There will be an instant and immediate reaction to what you are doing. Now imagine a fire where whatever you are doing, The fire is still the same. It is just glowing. It is just keeping on. That is the state you want to reach. Right now whatever happens, A wind blows, The fire will go. You throw water, You throw sand, Anything is going to react to it like that. That reaction is the reaction that we feel. Someone says something, There is a sound, All that. There is immediate flutter inside your body. And flutter is the sensation I am talking about. Can you tell me? So what is the difference between sensation and emotion? Next level of sensation is emotion. When the sensation gets, No. You start giving it extra emphasis. Have you attended our karma? Do you know what is impression? Sensation happens. One impression. Again I emphasize it. Oh this happened to me. Oh I hate it. She did this. Why did he do this? This constant, That big impression that I found, That is emotion. Caused by my constant attachment to that sensation. So first is sensation, Then happens the attachment to the sensation. The product of that is emotion. Anu Sook? So like once you gave an example of like the chalk, You are writing something that gives some weird sensation. At this time actually even we close our eyes, We hear only the sound. Image is really not registered. But why do we still have the sensation in our heart? The image is there in the past. So image of sound also stores in my memory. Not as a sound, As an impression it is stored in my memory. Yes, From the past I had this impression of the teacher doing it when I was a kid and I ate the summer of the job. And it's registered, It's saved in. So now when it happens, Actually I am not even reacting to what is happening right now in the external environment. What am I reacting to? That impression is stored in my memory. That is why sometimes it's not very loud right now but you have reacted as if it has been very loud and very screechy. Are you seeing this? Like that we form constant impressions. So for example, Suppose, As we might, Srinath and Malp. She is like, Oh she picked on me. Suppose they fight, Today they fight, Big fight. Impression stored in this mind, Impression stored in that mind. 10 days, 15 days, 1 month down the line, Event is forgotten, Impression is there. One month down the line, Again something happens. Very small thing happens. He put the shoes in the middle of the room and she started shouting and reacting. And he is wondering such a small thing and why that big explosion? What is she reacting to? The impression from 1 month ago. Are you seeing this? So recognize the power of impression and that impression is caused by just this sensation. This sensation is caused either by a thought or an image I am hanging on to. You would cause going down 1 month and 1 month and be holding on to, Oh this is the root. This is what is troubling me. This is what I need to work on. So the first step to this process would be to not react to the sensation and not worry about the sensation not coming in the first place. And then when you are doing that, I think there is a transition where you stop, The sensation stops happening. Do you create that sensation too or? You can create. You can do that. Sometimes because in the past I had an experience, One month ago, Experience, I have saved it. Now I create a sensation to this past memory. I do it. Why? Because of indulging in that dream-like state. Bringing that past memory back. He said this, Then I said this, Then this happened. This I am doing. I am pushing myself into the dream-like state and then I only kick in the wiggle of the sensation. Are you getting this? Yeah? So no mind is equal to being 100% conscious. Not going into this dream-like state. Or the letter words which we put on the slide yesterday, Reframing from slipping into this dream-like state. Yes? When I am not conscious, I slip into the dream. I have to make that effort of not slipping. The thought will come from external. Somebody will say something. Yeah, You don't like winter. It is going to get cold. Chicago is horribly cold. You cannot avoid it. But what are you really reacting to? To your past impressions of Chicago cold. Chicago winter. Winter is not here. But I have a memory of the past winter and I am reacting to that. And I start my dream-like journey inside me. Are you seeing it? We are constantly saying it past. I understood all thoughts are past. Even if it is about tomorrow, It is still past. Why? Because I am reacting to an impression I have saved about what is going to happen tomorrow from the past. All thoughts are past. Even if they are about the future. How is that? So if I worry about the future, For example, How is that thought from the past? How will you know what is really in the future? You don't know the real future. You are worrying on the basis of an impression from the past. Thinking that this will be the future. This might be the future. This should not be the future. What are you referring to? An impression from the past. How about when you are like planning something? You know, Some project that you haven't. . . Is that? Again, It is still a thought from the past. The thought is in the past. You might be planning for the future. But the thought is about the past. Both this should not go wrong. In the past I have done things like this which went wrong. I saw Rajiv doing this renovation project and it went all wrong. This should not happen. This should happen. Let me plan like this. So what is wrong with that? Nothing is wrong with that. Recognition. Recognition is important. That's it. So are you saying there is no conscious thinking at all? There is conscious thinking. You are not doing conscious thinking is what I am saying. So what is conscious thinking? Not thinking. It's conscious. No thoughts? No thoughts. So how are you processing right now? I am not processing. It's coming through me. It's very spontaneous. Somebody asked me yesterday this question. I said it's not me when I am talking over there. You think it is me. I am not processing. I am not thinking. I am not even here. It's coming through me. So how can that happen for me? That can happen only when you totally drop attachment to thought, Image, Impression. This person, That person, This thing. Dropping that attachment. Are you seeing this? Attachment is not faking yourself. Oh I am not attached to this. It is a real dispassion. When you are in that state of dispassion, You are in this world but you are not here. You become like an empty fruit. Somebody else is playing the music. I have told you this many times. I am not here. Can I give an example? Mostly it happens with mom and kids. Kids just come and ask me a question. You don't think like, Okay my kid will come, He will ask me this question. I have to say this answer. Now what if he asks this question? No. It just happens spontaneously. So we all experience such kind of things in our life but only thing we don't know is that it is conscious. The moment it becomes 100% in our life, We will be in that. So that is just, It happened to all of us. It's just an example. Spontaneous, Being totally a witness. Not even an answer not coming from my Ranga Odisha. You just be there, It comes. The problem is doership. Are you saying this? I am the doer, I am talking, I am saying, No, No, No darling, You are not puppets. You think you are doing. It is happening. Life is happening. Your birth happened. After your birth, Automatically your breath is happening. You are not breathing. You are not being born. Like that only when you become a mother or father, You are not creating. You are a channel through which it is happening. Like that only one day the breath stops. You don't stop breathing. When you are not born, When you are not breathing, When you are not dying, Then where are you in the whole process that is life? What is this big I, I, I, I, I? Drop this doership. You are not doing. It is happening through you. Wake up. Recognize this. Become that pure instrument. The problem is you have this doership. I am knowing. The day you drop the I, You are conscious. 100% because there is no attachment to this. The moment I drops, What drops? Attachment. Mind drops. Mind is related to I. I and mine. I and mine. I and mine. If I has dropped my will, Drop my will, This is true dispassion. I and mine.

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