Saint Kabir Session 15 - Tips For The Spiritual Seeker

Listen to Ektaji talk about Saint Kabir's teachings on non-duality. These teachings are aimed at the experiential understanding of the true nature of the self and are focused on the idea of the oneness of everything.

Transcript

Em like a Now we move on to the tips he has once the spiritual seeker finds the right path, Finds the knowledge, Saves himself from the spiritual vyaparis, Spiritual traders and recognises which is the right path. What tips did Kabir give? That is what we will do next. So he goes to Bhavra Bilma Bhagma Bhahupulan Kiyas Hanstala Ghar Apne Tajbadi Kiyas He says like in the garden the bee keeps flitting from flower to flower for searching for honey, Searching for fragrance. Like that only you have been lost in your world looking for happiness in the husband and the wife and the child and money in career in name in fame you've been flitting from one flower to another one flower to another. A day comes when this bhavra gets tired the bee gets tired. The day he gets tired he transforms into a hunch, A swan. The swan now abandoning this desire for this garden, This beautiful garden he now returns home. He's saying this is your first step of the journey, The first little inkling that you had that there has to be more in life than just this name, Fame, Money, Sex, Relationships that I'm lost in. There has to be a meaning. Who am I really? Am I this person who's trapped in this body and is trapped in this cravings and aversions of this world or is there something more to me? The day you started looking in that is step number one. So I'm sure most of you have already covered this step but if you have not then this Doha might be your story that this might happen to you. The bee gets transformed into a white beautiful swan. What does a bee do? The bee is just hungry, Is consuming in the world. Swans fly alone. They are so beautiful, They are magnificent and they are not interested in the consumption. They are just within. So again understand he's a simple weaver. He's going to give you very simple examples of what he sees in his little village. So the bee keeps flitting from flower to flower consuming honey and the swan returns home abandoning this garden of desire. To help everybody understand he's to keep singing these songs. Somebody asked how do we know that these songs are authentic? These songs came down orally in the past 500 years. So if you go into the small villages of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Even today you will hear these songs people just sitting at a chaikatappari singing these songs. Where did you learn from? Oh my mother taught me. Who taught her? Oh my grandfather taught her. And that's how it's come down the ages. So the songs have maintained their beauty, Their quality, Their authenticity. So that's why if you want to check the authenticity of the words go to the folk singers. He is singing these songs. They have come down by the tradition of singing. So when he is to sing loudly he was a weaver, A very poor weaver living in a very single small room which didn't even have a proper window or door. So anybody passing by could hear him. It's not a proper room like our rooms here. So they used to stop outside, Listen, In fact start repeating with him, Learn from him and go. That kind of a thing. So while weaving he is singing this next song. Kabira bahut bhat kiya man le vishay viram. Chalat, Chalat jag bhaya til ke ote ram. Kabira you have been wandering from here to there, Here to there. You have been searching and searching. Now let the mind withdraw from these objects of senses. What are the objects of senses? Objects of sight, Objects of sound, Objects of taste, Touch, Smell and continuously lost in these objects in the world. Yeah. Withdraw from them. Enough you have wandered in them. Thirsting, Craving, Rejecting, Liking, Disliking, Wanting, Not wanting. Enough, Enough you have done this. Withdraw man le vishay viram. Take a stop, A halt from these objects. Chalat, Chalat jag bhaya. You have been walking and walking and walking through these ages relentlessly. Looking for Ram. Ram is witness consciousness. Not Ram, Darshan sun. You have wasted ages looking for Ram. And really where is Ram? Til ke ote Ram. In a sesame seed you will find Ram. In a sesame seed you will find Ram. How? Because it is that same consciousness, The same witness consciousness, The bubble in which the waking state appears and all the objects of waking state appear. Just like you sleep and in your sleep in the night when you go into dreams, Your dreaming state appears. Yes? Everything in that is made up of the dream. This dreaming state is not different from the waking state. It is the same. It is the same. Everything is made up of the consciousness. There is no outside of this consciousness. There is no outside of this witness. No outside of this knowingness. Til ke ote Ram. Even in a sesame seed the same consciousness is there. What? Where are you looking for it? In a temple, In a church, In a masjid, In a guru, In a mullah, In a priest. What are you doing? You have run. You have gone through these rounds relentlessly. Jug after jug. This is not your first lifetime you have been doing this. You have spent lifetimes doing this. Now stop. Bus stop. Wake up and see the truth. So people used to feel, Oh this is so revolutionary. This guy is so revolutionary. He is almost standing in the bazaar with a torch in his hand. He wants to burn down our houses. Houses here mean belief. They are belief systems. I don't think I have that slide. But imagine Kabir standing in the middle of a market place. Yes? No it's not there. Just give me a moment. Let me check. It's not there. Okay. Doesn't matter. We will do without the slide. Kabir is standing in the middle of a market place. It's a Doha. He is not really standing in the middle of a market place. It's a Doha. It's his song. He is saying that I am standing in the middle of the market place with a blazing torch in my hand. Whoever is ready to burn down their house can come walk with me. You will be like what? You want me to burn down my house? He says yes without burning that down you will not walk. What house are you talking about? My kids? My family? He says no that is not your house. It is not even yours. It's going to go away when you kick this body. Or the body kicks you even better. So that's not even yours. Forget about it. Then what? What house do you want me to burn down? This house of beliefs. This house of conditioning that I have. I have a conditioning from my family, From my neighbours, From my friends where I grew up. The school I went to, The friends I had. I have just collected conditioning, Conditioning, Conditioning, Conditioning all my life and because of this conditioning piled onto me I cannot see the truth. I cannot see the truth. My real experience, Anubhavka Ghar is inside. Anubhavka Ghar is the house of experience and this house of experience is now slammed with mud of conditioning. You will have to burn this conditioning down. Then only will you find the core within. The Anubhavka Ghar. Why is he saying this again? We did this in the Advaita retreat. I will quickly revisit it. When you were a little baby in the cradle just born, Mommy gave you a toy. All that existed for you was maybe if it was a toy that made sound was some sound that you heard and the touch of the toy. Yes, You had no idea that there is something called a toy. What is your pure experience? The experience of touch and the experience of sound. Yes, That is pure experience. As this baby grows up, Mommy teaches this baby A for apple, B for bat, C for cat. You are conditioned to believe this is T for toy. That is a conditioning not my experience even till now. My pure experiencing is nothing outside of perception of touch, Perception of taste, Perception of sound, Perception of smell and perception of sight. That's it. The same perceptions exist in a dream. Correct? The objects in the dream are not real. You know that when you wake up. You don't know that when you are in the dream. In the dream, The tiger is really real and you are sweating also. Your sweat is also real. Your fear is also real. But when you wake up to the waker, What the dreamer was dreaming is unreal now. Yes? Yeah? At that time, You had the same perception. Touch, Taste, Smell, Sight and sound. The same feeling of fear. The same thoughts running through your mind. The same sensations in the body. How do you know? What proof do you have that this is not a dream and this is really matter? Where is the proof? Conditioning. It is the conditioning. I have just learnt it. Science has come up with all this. Where is science? In this waking state, No? Is science outside this waking state? You do not have proof. That is why scientists are still struggling with consciousness. That is why they are still struggling whether matter really exists as a particle or is it a wave? Or is there no matter at all? Why is the struggle still there? We do not have proof and we just go on learning things. That is called conditioning. So my concepts, My ideas right from the moment of me being a little baby till now, I have created a house of concepts and conditioning. This house needs to be burnt down. To be actually giving me the ability to go to that house of experience. Anubhav ke ghar ma. You see what Kabir is saying? Now just imagine somebody who is poor, Somebody who has not gone to school, Who is not educated, Who makes just enough money so he can have his dinner tonight and when he starts having a little extra money, The sadhus who come to listen to his song, You also eat and go. You also eat and go. He finishes the money in feeding them also. This kind of a person, Simple person teaching you about the truth of matter and the truth of consciousness. This kind of a simple person. Why? Because he was not conditioned as much as we are. We get more conditioned with education, With things we learn, We pick up. He had very basic conditioning of his entire banara sadhus and all the spiritual industry trying to sell things to you. Such a simple person coming up with such a profound understanding which actually made people think, God does matter really even exist? I don't know. I don't have that proof. Simple people, These are potters and parmurs and chaiwala, The tea shop guy or whatever, Khariwala, The cookie man. These are all simple villagers listening to him and they are coming up with this understanding, Oh does matter even exist? This is Kabir. Why do you think he became so famous? Without a scripture, Without a teacher, Somebody who could just convey something so simply in poetry. That is the next Doha. Kabira khadha bazaar mein lee lukati haath. Kabira standing in the bazaar with a blazing torch in hand. Jog har jalaai aapna. Jog har thuke aapna. The one who is ready to burn down his house. Chale hamare saath. He can walk with me. Burn down your house of conditionings, Of belief, Of ideas, Concepts. This is the way it should be. This is the way it should not be. This is right. This is wrong. And you burn all that and just go to my pure experiencing. Oh life becomes simple, Baby-like. Live a life simply. There is joy in simple. There is a lot of distress in complications. Live simply. Well, Then he doesn't stop there. He says next level of your spiritual search will be such that you will have to learn to drop all your likes and dislikes because how do conditionings develop? Oh I like this so I am going to hold on to this and now this is true for me. Whether it is true or false, I don't care but because I like it now it is true. Or because I have spent 10 years here so this is true. This is the right thing to do. Again conditioning, Conditioning. He says you will have to drop your likes and dislikes to be able to burn down this house. Now he clarifies, Kabira khadha bazaar me manghe sab ki khair na ke si se doasti na ke si se behar. I am standing in the marketplace wishing well for all. I am not anybody's friend and I am nobody's enemy or foe. What does he mean by that? Means I don't have any likes and I don't have any dislikes. I have gone beyond that stage of likes and dislikes. That is why I am telling you what I have done. Why will you listen to somebody who is telling you to do what he has not done himself? You will never listen. Correct? So first he clarifies to them. Let's see I have given up my likes and dislikes. I am not your friend. I am not your enemy. I am standing in this marketplace. I am not standing on the Himalayas. His way of teaching was such that the beliefs of those times were you have to go up to the mountain somewhere, Isolate yourself, Meditate for 10 years, 15 years, Do penance and only then when you come down the mountain and then you are with the world and then you will be the one who is enlightened. He says no no no no you don't need to go on to the Himalayas. Here right in the middle of the marketplace I am standing with you. With this dhobi and with the fisherman and with the farmer and with the seller I am standing in this noisy loud marketplace with you. Right here it is possible for you to go beyond your likes and dislikes, To go beyond ragas and vishas, To go beyond friendship and enmity. Here in this marketplace. This is a very modern teaching. Right here at home I have to do it. I do not have to go to the Himalayas. I don't have to abandon my house. With my family, With my kids, With my colleagues, With everything my name, Fame, Money, Whatever insults, Criticism, Nonsense here in this marketplace of my mind I can rise higher than likes and dislikes. I can go beyond. Yes so take this as the next lesson from Kabir. This is the tip for a sincere seeker. If you really want to go ahead on the path, Number one you will have to break down your house of conditioning otherwise you are going to hit a glass wall. No progress. Number two to break down your house of conditioning you will have to make an effort to go beyond likes and dislikes. So you will say oh yes I like being in spiritual company. Is that okay? I have a big spiritual group and I don't have one spiritual group. I have one spiritual group in this Mandir and one spiritual group in that Masjid and that spiritual group in that organisation. You have a marketplace yourself of spirituality now. Forget the material world marketplace. You have a spiritual world marketplace now. Next Doha is for this person who is asking this question. Lalanki nahi boreya aur hansen ke nahi path. Sihan ke nahi lahade aur sadhu na chale jamat. Rubies are not found in sacks. You will never find them in one big sack full of rubies I found. No? One one one one ruby you will find. Yes? Hansan ke nahi path. Swans don't fly in a flock. Most of the times you will see a swan by itself. That's why swan is very relevant in Kabir's Doha's. You will see a swan only by itself alone. Sihan ke nahi lahade lions do not move in herds. He is the king of the jungle. He walks alone. Aur sadhu na chale jamat. A true seeker, A true spiritual seeker always walks alone. Not in a group. Na chale jamat. So look look look within. Why are you in a group? Why are you in a group? Something is missing. Something is lacking. Some conviction is not there. Some assurance is not there. Time to really introspect whether you need to be in a group or not. Sadhu nahi lahade lions do not move in herds. Sihan ke nahi path. Sihan ke nahi path. Sihan ke nahi path. Satya achela hi kadare hai satpa hai. Lies, Needs, Support. Truth can stand alone. Yeah. Can you stand alone? Do you have the guts to walk alone? Why is he telling you why I can walk in a group. I have a very good group. I am telling you my spiritual group is the best. I am telling you it is the best. All other spiritual groups must be bad but my group is very good. I am telling you. Why can't I be in the group? Walk. Walk. Very soon you will know. Walk. There are only two ways to know. One, By falling on your own face. Second, By listening to somebody like a bee and preventing the fall. There are only two ways to know. If a group is going wrong, You will also go wrong and then you will be lost. And then after 5, 7, 10, 12 years you will look back and say, What? We were all in the wrong direction. It's all because of you, Because of you, Because of you. No, No, No. You cannot blame them now. Oh, You deceived me. You deceived me. No, No, No. You cannot blame them now. Whose fault was it? Mine. So, Walk alone. Walk alone. Yes. Take the teachings from outside obviously because I am not born an expert. So I take the teachings from outside. I reason them out. I check with my experience. Does this make sense? If it makes sense, If it appears true to me, Then I walk. Not because I believe you. Oh, You're smarter. I am a duffer. You're better than me. No. Everybody puts you on a pedestal. That is why I will blindly walk behind you. Please do not do that. Do not do that. Even Buddha repeatedly said this. Do not blindly believe me. You experiment with your own self. You attain the truth by your own experience. Anubhav ka ghar mahi. Only there will the Sadguru come alive. Only there will your witness consciousness become your true guru. And it happens spontaneously, Naturally, Only by you experiencing it. So don't walk blindly outside. So be like the lion or be like the swan or be like the ruby. Remember, Sadhu na chale jamat. Only when you walk alone will you gather the conviction. Now the courage is required to stain the witness consciousness. I am sure all of us, 100% of us got there just by explaining behind the eyes is the mind, Behind the mind is the witness. You got there very easily. 100% of us get there. But we are not able to stay there. We get pulled by the mind. We get pulled by the mind. Why is that? You know, Number one, The mind does not like the state of no mind, The state where you are absolutely at peace. It wants the crowd of thoughts. It wants the crowd of feelings. It feels at home. This is home. This noise, This chaos, This is home. Yes. The shouting, The screaming, The anger, The hatred and noise in the head. This is home. It can sleep in that noise. Lies, Needs a crowd to support it. The truth will stand alone. When you come to the witness consciousness, There is no mind. There is no crowd. Yeah. You need the courage to stand alone there. I am not going to give in to the likes and dislikes of the mind. It is just a thought that came up. I don't need to bother. Just be there. But what do you do? A thought comes up and then you jump in and you add another thought. Then you add another thought and you add another thought. Stand alone. Stand alone. In that witness consciousness, Stand alone. You will stumble. You will fumble and that's okay. That's a part of the process. It's a part of that chote. Remember? Yeah. The potter is beeping the pot from outside. Take it as part of that chote. Getting into shape. It is helping me get into shape. Good. Good. I slipped. Good. This is for my own growth. Now I stand alone. I stand alone. Only then can you really be steady in the witness consciousness. This is what Kabir is explaining to us that we are too lost in the crowd of the mind. Yeah. First of all, We are lost in an external crowd. That external crowd gives us lots of thoughts and feelings. So then we are lost in this crowd of thoughts and feelings. He said, If you need to learn to be in the witness consciousness, You have to stand alone. So stop holding on. Yeah. Same thing applies to me. You've come to me. I am just giving you these tips. Now you start walking the path. You become spiritually independent. That is my only intention.