I Am That Session 58- Chapter 20 - Supreme Is Beyond All - 3

Listen to Ektaji talk about Nisargadatta Maharaj's book I Am That. Nisargadatta Maharaj was a teacher who did not propound any ideology or religion, but gently unwrapped the mystery of the self. I Am That preserves his dialogs with the followers who came from around the world seeking guidance in destroying false identities.

Transcript

There are moments when you take the stand of the witness consciousness and then there are moments when you slip from the stand.

What happens?

Why do I slip?

When I had correctly taken the stand of the witness consciousness,

I was in my true nature.

Now it is in my true nature,

It is the quality of my own nature to veil myself from the truth.

This is called the veiling power of Maya.

Maya is not external,

Somebody else doing some magic on me,

No,

No,

It is my own power.

I have the power to see the truth,

I have the power to veil the truth,

Yes.

I have the power to project an illusion,

I have the power to halt this illusion.

I the consciousness have projected body-mind and the world,

This is my personal creation.

It includes this body-mind called Ekta and Ekta's family,

Ekta's friends,

Ekta's colleagues,

Ekta's social circle,

The entire world including the body-mind called Ekta is the projecting power,

The projection of me the consciousness.

I am not Ekta,

Ekta is my projection.

So I have the power to project,

Similarly I have the power to forget about my projection and remember my true self.

I see this is only illusion,

This is only my own projection,

Oh I am the projector,

I have this power,

I drop this illusion and I come to the trip,

I correct my stand.

I recognize,

Oh see I am just witnessing Ekta sitting here,

I am only witnessing Ekta's hand move like that,

I am only witnessing what Ekta is saying.

In fact I am knowing what Ekta is saying at the same time that the personal world people are knowing what Ekta is saying.

I do not know it before Ekta says something.

I just create an idea that I know what Ekta is going to say next,

No.

If I look at the truth right now,

If I face the truth dropping the fake,

Dropping the pretense,

Dropping the entire idea of being the body-mind person called Ekta,

I recognize oh I am the witness of Ekta.

This recognition is very solid and clear.

This is my own power to recognize this is an illusion,

Drop it and be with my true nature.

This is my first power with respect to the projecting power.

Second,

I have another power where I can veil the truth from myself.

I can veil the truth that I am consciousness.

It is my own power.

I slip from my recognition as consciousness and then assume to be Ekta,

The body-mind.

Now in the story that I have projected,

I have also projected cause and effect in this world.

Do you see that?

So the moment I slip from the level of the consciousness to the level of the body-mind called Ekta,

Then I also have to assume all the stories that came with the body-mind person called Ekta.

Do you get it?

So cause and effect are a part and parcel of the story called the person.

Do you get it?

The moment you shun the idea of the person,

You also hand in hand shun the idea of cause and effect.

This is a part and parcel of the person.

It is projected together.

So now how do I see this?

This is Gyaana part.

This is the knowledge part.

Now how do I make this knowledge my own wisdom?

Only through Swapna Nidra Gnan Sadhana,

I can recognize this.

Then I see very clearly,

Oh,

I am only witnessing the dream state,

The dream falls and then I come out of the dream and that's when the person called Ekta comes up and Ekta's world comes up.

Till the time I was witnessing the dream,

There was no Ekta,

The body-mind person and no Ekta's world.

It was totally a different world and a different dream character at that point,

But I was there.

So the key is where?

Is in the transition from the dream state to the waking state.

If I can see in that moment,

Aha,

I was there in the dream state.

I am there in the waking state.

In the dream state,

There was another dream body and a dream world.

In the waking state,

There is another waking body and the waking world,

But I am neither of the two.

I am neither of the two.

Then this becomes very clear,

Aha,

This is my own projection,

The waking body and waking world and the dream body and the dream world were my own projection.

Projecting power becomes very clear.

Then the next step when I recognize that,

Oh,

This is the waking body called Ekta and immediately a thought comes up in the morning,

Oh,

I have to do this today,

I have to go here today,

Whatever thought comes,

A compelling thought,

A very attractive thought,

Something that compulsively pulls me and makes me become one with the body-mind person called Ekta.

Aha,

This is the reeling power.

Now it veiled the truth from me and it is my own power.

It is not somebody else external to me doing something to me.

No God up there.

I am only God.

I created the waking body-mind person,

I created the waking world,

I created the dream body-mind person,

I created the dream world.

How can there be another God then?

The whole idea of a God is also that which belongs to the story of the waking projection.

Very,

Very clear?

Yeah,

Now this shuttling that happened,

You saw it when moving,

Transitioning from the dream to the waking.

Now if you have not seen this,

Please take this down as the next homework for my Swapna Nidra Jnan Sadhana.

In short,

The one-line homework is attempt to see the projecting power of maya and the veiling power of maya while transitioning from the dream state to the waking state.

That is a one-liner homework for yourself.

Power means your nature,

Like the power of the body-mind called Maheshwari is to speak.

Do you get it?

You don't consider it as a power,

You consider it as,

Oh,

It's the normal thing for the body-mind to speak.

No,

But it is your power to speak,

To see,

To hear,

To touch,

To smell.

Does the consciousness have this power?

No.

So are you seeing this?

What is the meaning of power?

That which is a part of your nature,

The consciousness,

Forget the pure consciousness,

Even the witness consciousness cannot see,

Cannot smell,

Cannot taste,

Cannot touch and cannot hear.

The witness wants to touch,

Wants to taste,

Wants to smell,

Wants to hear,

Wants to see.

It wants all this,

That is why it projects and it is trying very hard through the projected body-mind person,

The witness is trying so hard to touch,

But it never ever touches.

That is why there is never that satiation,

That yes,

I touched,

Yes,

I experienced touch,

I am satiated.

I am never satiated.

Why?

Because the witness cannot touch,

The consciousness does not have the power to touch,

The consciousness has the power to project a body-mind person that can touch.

It is touching its own dream world,

No?

The dream body is touching its own waking dream world,

Yeah?

An idea is touching an idea,

It's not truly there,

Yes?

So,

The consciousness that has created the idea has another expectation that I,

The consciousness will be able to touch,

But it can never touch,

It is not the power of the consciousness to touch.

The only power that consciousness has is to know.

It projects and it knows the projection,

It cannot touch,

Yeah?

It projects and it knows the projection,

It cannot taste,

It can project a yummy strawberry.

It's a beautiful picture,

Like a picture on the movie screen,

Yeah?

How much ever 3D it is and how much ever the strawberry comes closer to you and you attempt to eat the strawberry,

You can never taste it,

Right?

In a 3D,

It's exactly like that,

A 3D projection.

The consciousness expects to taste,

Expects to be satiated,

But it is never satiated,

Never content,

It never ever feels full,

That is why it is called BIN PENDE KA LOTA.

I don't have Avanti's pot here,

But she gifted me a very beautiful pot she made,

Yeah?

It doesn't have the bottom,

Yeah?

She made a pot without a bottom,

A bottomless pot,

Yes?

It actually is a symbolism,

What is the meaning of consciousness not ever being satiated,

Yeah?

It can never ever get joy from the projection,

Because projection is nothing but like a movie projected on a screen.

How much ever you watch the movie,

You cannot be in the movie,

Do you see the difference?

You can watch the movie,

But you cannot be in the movie.

You can imagine to be in the movie,

You can imagine to be the hero or the heroine,

You can imagine to experience all that,

But you cannot really taste it,

Touch it,

Smell it,

Hear it.

This is the story of the consciousness.

And Didi,

When you say imagine,

I can completely understand or like feel how it is,

Because in imagination,

I'm imagining things,

But I can't really touch them,

Taste them,

Hold them,

Do anything about it.

I can imagine elaborately in detail and everything,

But I cannot really ever perceive it the way I want to perceive it.

Perfect.

So the way you imagined the whole scene in your head,

That is called projection.

That is how consciousness is projecting,

Yes?

And consciousness is actually just sitting in the auditorium,

Watching it on a screen.

That is what I truly am.

Right now,

Take the step beyond the body-mind-person to the witness consciousness.

Now don't you see the Advaitin student looking at the computer screen,

Watching the Advaitin mentor on the screen?

Don't you see both the student and the mentor?

Don't you see the full conversation?

Don't you see you are separate from this entire conversation?

So see how the slip will happen.

It must have already happened or it is just going to happen.

That slip is because of the veiling power.

You yourself have that power.

You are projecting and you are veiling the truth from your own self.

And you do it again and again and again.

So cause and effect are only a part of that projected range of imagination.

The moment I go to the truth,

There is no cause and effect,

Or everything is its own cause.

Everything is random.

This arose and it fell.

The previous question arose and it fell.

The next question will arise and fall.

There is no cause and effect.

There is no continuity in what Ekta is saying.

There is no continuity in the sight of Ekta.

Can I attempt to see this truth?

Mind creates a story.

This is all,

This is cause and effect.

No,

There is no cause and effect.

The whole movie has been shot,

Produced,

Edited and uploaded.

I'm only watching the movie.

I'm only watching the movie and I'm creating an imaginary cause and effect.

There isn't one.

There isn't one.

So take this into your entire day today.

As you move through the day,

Moment to moment,

Can you see the person and the person's world?

Distancing.

Let me practice distancing myself and being very clear,

Look,

I am projecting this.

I am projecting this.

Then recognize,

See when am I projecting something and I shift from,

I slip from my true nature and then I assume,

See,

He said this to me because of this cause and effect.

Right now I created a story.

Can I create a distance from the story and see,

No,

It is the cause is in this random moment itself.

There is really no cause and effect.

So attempt to see it in your daily routine with your family member,

With your friends,

With your colleagues tomorrow in office.

Create that distance again and again.

Number one,

Look at how you are projecting.

Number two,

While projecting,

How you slip from your stand and assume cause and effect.

And again,

Number three,

Become aware I have slipped.

Come back to the stand and see,

Oh,

There is no cause and effect.

Yeah.

So invalidating my own wrong assumption of cause and effect.

This is the exercise we have to do this week.

Again and again,

At home,

In office,

At the grocery store,

While cooking,

While cleaning,

While doing something with the kids,

Wherever you are,

Whatever you are doing.

See these three steps.

So even as a person,

I realize that most of the effects that I have seen and the causes that I have kind of attached,

They were mostly imaginary.

Yes.

Woulda,

Woulda,

Shoulda.

Yes.

Something like that.

Yes.

Yes.

All ideas,

All stories.

And I believe in my stories.

I hold on to them.

The more I hold on to a story,

The more I suffer.

Recognize all the suffering has been born out of holding on to a story.

When I let go of a story,

The veiling power of maya is so strong,

It actually erases most of the memory of what happened in that incident,

What he said,

What she said.

The veiling power of maya is just like the no-thingness,

A tsunami of no-thingness taking over the projection and eating it up.

Then you're back to your peace.

But again,

Because I have attached to that one cause,

Effect,

That story comes up.

And then it bothers me again.

Again the veiling power of maya is so strong.

Again the no-thingness will come.

The tsunami of no-thingness will wash away the events.

Again I'll be at peace.

So observe all of this.

Maharaj said in today's chapter that all habits,

Memories are very contradictory.

Don't try that I should make peace with them.

Do you remember that part?

Don't try to make peace with this.

You're trying to say that,

Okay,

Now that I know the truth,

The idea of cause and effect should not come up.

Oh,

But it's again coming up.

Oh,

It should not come up.

Oh,

It's again coming up.

So what are you trying to do?

You're trying to make peace.

Maharaj is saying they are too contradictory.

The peace will not happen.

Yeah,

Forever it is going to be that there is going to be the wave of no-thingness washing it away.

And again this coming up and again the wave of no-thingness coming and washing it away.

Again this idea of cause and effect coming up.

Let it come.

It's coming because of its own habit pattern.

You be with what is,

Is what Maharaj said.

Do you remember that sentence?

Do you want me to read it again?

It was on page 61.

If you come to almost the middle of the page,

He says,

Can I make peace between them?

Maharaj says,

How can you?

They are so contradictory.

He's talking about all your samskaras,

All your habit patterns.

See them as they are,

Mere habits of thoughts and feelings,

Bundles of memories and urges.

Stop them.

Just see them as they are.

That's all.

This is the only way you can make peace with them.

Your entire dvaitam path has been a struggle.

Why?

You have been trying to erase a habit,

Erase some memory,

Erase,

But you cannot erase.

It's a strong samskara and it is part of this movie story it is going to come up.

You're saying in the middle of the movie,

I don't like the story,

Please change the story.

No,

The movie has already been shot,

Edited,

Compressed,

Uploaded.

It is running in cinemas all over.

You cannot change it now.

You're standing and screaming in the interval,

Change the story now.

That is why you're suffering.

You get it?

This is called spiritual suffering.

When I'm trying to wipe away material world habits,

Ideas,

Memories of,

For example,

Cause and effect.

I'm trying to wipe them away.

You cannot.

Maharaj is saying,

Do not even try.

They are contradictory.

They are part of the story.

So what do you need to do?

Simply be with what is.

Okay.

This is the story.

Many times you go for a movie.

By the time it's interval,

You've decided you don't like the story,

But you just sit through it.

No?

My family members have come,

They are enjoying the movie and don't like the story.

I don't want to be here,

But you know,

Now I have to be here.

So you sit through,

Right?

And you just watch it.

Then there is no more involvement.

Just watch it.

Okay.

I'm just watching the story.

Exactly like that.

Habit pattern comes up from the past.

It's saying,

See,

He's the cause for this.

See she is the cause for this.

Just a habit pattern.

You take your stand,

Observe it.

You will also notice the tsunami of nothingness come and wipe away the cause and effect story.

You just maintain your stand.

This is the meaning of be with what is.

Don't try to make peace with two ideas on the screen.

They are both ideas.

Then you are in trouble.

You're trying to change what the hero said to the heroine on the screen.

Not happening,

Dear.

Not happening.

You're going to struggle.

What does this imply?

This body mind will continue with its habit pattern because this body mind is the idea which is trying to fight the other idea of cause and effect in this projection.

One single projection.

Do not jump in.

Let this body mind continue with its habit pattern.

It is its sanskara and its sanskara will exhaust.

Means the story will change at its own point of time.

You don't try to change this story.

Don't try to change this idea.

Is this becoming clear?

This is an idea.

I am not an idea.

This body mind person is an idea.

This body mind person idea is in conflict with another idea in the story,

In the waking world story.

Whatever,

Cause,

Effect,

Whatever the story is,

I am simply witnessing both of this and I will not make any attempt to change the story because it is anyway out of my hand.

This is the higher level of understanding now and I have to move higher,

Trying to just be with what is,

Not trying to change what is.

Don't put a condition on what is.

Just be with it.

Have I elaborated enough on the cause,

Effect,

On how the cause is random,

There is no cause or it is a cause of its own.

Very clear?

Thank you,

Didi.

These Advaita sessions are a part of your story projection.

They are a part of helping the mind come to this acceptance level that the mind can never be happy.

Therefore,

The mind can never be helped.

Just accepting this,

This is something,

It's like a bitter pill that the mind has to swallow.

It's not ready to swallow right now,

But slowly as it goes through this understanding and hears this often in Advaita sessions,

Hears Maharaj say it,

Hears Atmananda say it,

Hears Adi Shankaracharya say it,

Actually dives into its own real experience of what it considers real,

The waking world,

Then it will finally be able to digest this bitter pill.

Yes,

I cannot be happy.

Yes,

I cannot be satiated and the reason is because truly I am not this body-mind person.

I am not this mind.

I am the witness that is projecting this mind.

I am the witness of the mind.

There is like a glass wall between me,

The witness,

And the mind.

And I'm trying to touch through that glass wall.

I am trying to taste through that glass wall.

I'm trying to smell through that glass wall.

But I cannot get to the other side of the glass wall.

It's impossible for me.

Oh,

I am the witness of the mind.

I am not the mind.

This is the final understanding.

That is when the mind has really digested the bitter pill that I can never be satiated.

I can never be happy.

When it accepts that,

It stops struggling to find happiness.

Do you see this?

A very big shift happens.

You will experience this shift.

You will understand that shift in you.

You will no more have that compulsiveness to satisfy some thought or satisfy some desire because you know you can never be happy.

The compulsiveness to satisfy drops away.

That is the biggest achievement.

That is when the mind has digested the bitter pill that I can never be happy.

And there is a certain joy in it actually.

It's a relief.

Oh,

I can never be happy means what?

I do not have to run behind this or that to gain happiness.

Oh,

No more running for me.

No more work for me.

It's a relief.

No more responsibility.

No more feverishness.

The entire gamut or domain range of suffering was because of running behind people,

Situations or things.

Oh,

The moment I recognize that I can never be satiated by people,

Situations or things,

I stop running behind.

The moment I stop running behind,

The suffering collapses.

There is no more suffering.

Then what is remaining if the suffering collapses?

The background of peace that was always there.

Then the mind says,

Oh,

I have been so stupid.

Oh,

I have woken up now.

This was right under my nose and I didn't see it.

Oh,

How silly of me.

This is the journey that the mind will go through and you will see it.

Your entire script,

Your own projection of this Advaita class is meant to take the mind there.

It will happen on its own.

You don't try to change.

Oh,

Now it should happen.

Okay.

Now is the interval.

I'm done.

I cannot wait any longer.

No,

No.

You can't change anything.

These are two events in the movie happening on of their own accord.

The mind and the instruction that is coming to the mind.

Two ideas in the same movie,

On the same movie screen.

You cannot say,

Oh,

Rush.

More,

More of this instruction comes and this mind changes quickly.

No,

It's not in my hands.

This two-idea projection will take its own course.

A moment will come when the mind will accept.

I can never be happy.

And then its feverishness to be happy will collapse.

When the feverishness to be happy collapses,

The suffering collapses.

And what is left behind?

The background of nothingness.

Of peace.

Of quietness.

That which I was always hankering for was me.

Was always there.

This is your story.

It will happen.

Let it happen at its own time.

There is no other way.

There is no other way.

Yes.

There is no other way.

It's a one-way street,

No?

Understand the meaning of a one-way street.

A movie is already made,

Shot,

Produced,

Directed,

Acted,

Finalized,

And it is playing on this screen.

There is only one way for that story to go.

Do you get it?

It gets revealed to me scene by scene.

But it's already decided.

All of it is already there.

Yeah?

Like this book.

All the knowledge is already here.

It's already there.

Yeah?

But it gets revealed to me page by page.

Page by page.

Yeah?

Exactly like that.

Whatever is happening in this projection and this body-mind person that is maturing and recognizing,

Oh,

There is no joy here.

There is no happiness in this projection.

Oh,

This projection is not real.

This progress is a one-way street.

And it takes its own time.

It will be revealed page by page by page to me.

I have to only maintain the correct stand of being the witness.

Yeah?

The one which is just at a distance knowing the story of this.

Do not jump in and become the story.

That's when your suffering begins.

Yeah?

I am not the body-mind person.

I am the witness of the person.

Yeah?

That's exactly what Maharaj is saying.

Be with what is.

Be with what is.

Means what the body-mind person said.

Means what the body-mind person said.

See,

This was the cause and this was the effect.

Okay?

That is a part of the story right now.

I,

The witness,

Maintain a distance knowing it is only a story.

Let it continue.

Let it continue.

When I do not provide any more fuel to this story,

Automatically the story will exhaust.

Don't try to fight the story.

That's exactly what I am saying,

No?

On Dwaitam Path,

You were fighting with the story.

You were trying to change the body-mind called Shailaja.

No,

Don't try to change it.

The change happens automatically as part of the story.

You just know when the change has happened.

Whenever it gets revealed to you,

You just become aware of the change.

But if there is no change,

Have the courage to stand back and say,

Yes,

There is no change yet.

That's it.

Don't try to fight it.

You don't have to change anything because you cannot change it.

Do you get it?

It's already projected.

The story has already been projected.

It was already projected that there would be a plan to go and then there was already a projected story that the plan will get cancelled.

The whole story was already projected.

It was only revealed to you page by page,

Scene by scene.

That's it.

It is that simple.

It is that simple.

What is,

Is.

This is the meaning of what is,

Is.

I do not try to change the story.

I do not try to challenge the nuances of the story.

And I do not even try to change the person that is a part of the story.

I just stand at a distance and know,

Okay,

There are contradictory ideas going on here.

Okay,

Good.

Let them go on.

Just being aware is sufficient.

That is the meaning of be with what is.

You're still trying to put a condition on the body,

Mind,

Person,

That the person should stop believing in cause and effect.

Are you saying this?

No.

Then again,

You're going the wrong way.

No conditions on the person.

Be what you are.

Can you just leave the body,

Mind,

Cause alone?

I say leave the mind alone.

No,

I'm saying now leave the person alone.

Please,

For God's sake.

The person is tired of you and of your attempts to trying to change.

Him.

Yeah.

So please leave the body,

Mind,

Person called Shailaja alone and be at a distance and watch it.

Just know that's it.

Just know how a mother allows the child to go and play in the garden.

But her constant eye is on the kid.

He's playing on the swing now.

Now he's gone to the jungle gym.

Now he found some friends.

He's sitting and talking with them.

Oh,

There he fell down and he got hurt.

That's okay.

If I don't jump in,

Let me see.

Is he mature enough to now just wipe away the dirt and stand up?

And then she watches them.

Yeah,

He wipes the dirt away.

He stands up.

He does his shirt.

Again,

He starts playing.

She's at a distance just watching the kid.

Exactly like that.

You watch the person.

Now stop getting into the person.

The person is really tired of you.

Really,

Really.

Now you know you are the witness consciousness and it's high time.

You take your stand.

Maintain the distance and simply watch the person.

Do not try to change the person.

Again and again recognize,

No,

I have just slipped into the idea that I am the person.

I cannot be the person.

In that situation which made you slip,

Experiment and see.

Immediately experiment and see.

However dramatic the situation might be with your beloved at that moment,

Experiment and see.

Can I really touch this beloved?

Can I really hear?

Can I really smell this beloved?

Whatever is going on in this situation.

Can I really perceive or am I only knowing the perception?

Am I really the person?

Then challenge yourself.

Am I really speaking or am I only knowing what speech is happening?

Then challenge yourself.

Am I really doing the action with the beloved or is it happening and I am just knowing after it is happening?

At that moment,

Knowledge needs to be applied.

No point sitting on a Sunday class like this in Advaita group.

Very easy to apply right now.

Right there and then you challenge.

Am I this person?

Do you get it?

So you have to take this into your entire week and experiment again and again and again at home,

With friends,

With strangers in a grocery store where you don't know anybody.

With strangers,

With your attachments,

Go shopping.

Really am I this person?

Can I really enjoy this item that I have picked from the shelf?

I want to possess this right now.

You have Thanksgiving coming up.

Very good opportunity.

Go purchase that thing that the body-mind is craving for.

And see,

Can I really enjoy this?

Can I really relish this thing?

Can I really really feel satiated with this?

Stand there in that whole Thanksgiving frenzy where people are like feverish to buy.

Recognize that the feverishness is collective.

The feverishness to possess,

The desire to possess something,

The something is important.

What that something is not important.

The mind will take one thing then it will run behind the second and then it will run behind the third.

It does not matter to the mind what is in the cart.

What is mattering to the mind is the feverishness.

It likes that frenzy.

Observe can I really be satiated?

If I was satiated,

I would be done with the first item in the cart.

But I am not.

The mind went to the second.

Means what is happening here?

Oh,

I the witness,

Am trying very hard right now to be the person that will love this object,

That will enjoy this object,

That wants to possess this object but there is something in me that already knows the truth that I can never be content or satiated with this and that is why it goes to the second object and then it goes to the third object.

It's just filling up the cart.

Observe this.

Even if at the end you decide not to buy anything and walk out of the store empty handed,

That's fine.

Just go to a Thanksgiving sale just to have this experience.

And just to recognize how strong am I the witness?

How strong am I?

Or how weak am I?

So experiment with yourself and see this truth.

Those who are outside the country and don't have Thanksgiving sales,

Just go to any sales.

I am sure there are sales in every country around the world right now.

So go.

Just go shopping and see why am I shopping?

Why does this tendency to possess come up?

What is it?

And can I really acknowledge the truth that I cannot be satiated by it.

I want to be satiated but I cannot.

Why?

Because there is this thin glass wall between me the witness consciousness and this mind that wants to possess this and that.

Don't stop it.

Don't stop the person from doing what it wants to do.

Let it do.

You just stand at a distance.

Leave the person alone.

After you filled your cart and come to the cashier,

Now don't say,

What will Ekta think about me?

Ekta doesn't know that there is stuff in your cart.

Please leave the person alone.

If the person wants to buy that whole cart,

Let it buy that cart full of goodies.

Let it enjoy.

None of your business.

Do not interfere.

You just recognise the strength of yourself.

The witness consciousness.

You are not the person.

Very clear?

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