So,
If your eyes is not closed already,
Please feel free to do that and let go of any sense of anticipation,
Any sense of trying to focus or trying to get it right and see if you can just sit with the sense of your presence,
Presence that is not doing anything,
Presence that is not wanting anything and presence that isn't anything other than the presence itself.
So presence is not your name,
Presence is not your personal history.
So shake off all of those layers and layers of identity that we put on ourselves.
So let go of them and these identities are like thoughts,
Are like sensations,
So they are very easy to identify and put them aside.
So continue in this approach like this easily,
Normally,
Naturally as if you haven't done anything about it,
You have just heard it,
Understood it and what you have heard hasn't caused you to do something,
To do something new about it because that would be another effort.
So by now you would have recognized that in this approach it is all about understanding,
Deep understanding and understanding takes care of everything,
It is an essential point.
You don't take care of anything,
You as in separate person,
Separate identity,
You are not doing,
Controlling,
Managing your progress but by the virtue of understanding it all happens on its own,
Very important point to recognize.
So as you already are the awareness,
The presence,
Please smile and allow this presence to feel welcome,
To feel revered,
Respected,
Honored and allow it to shine on its own,
Not by your effort but with the smiling,
Welcoming attitude that you have.
So smile and allow the awareness,
The presence to shine on its own,
No effort needed and now relax in this,
Allow your body to fully relax in this,
If there is any part of your body still in strain,
Recognize it and alleviate it.
Let your body be also at peace,
Let your breath be at peace and you will see that your mind will also be at peace on its own and as everything is starting to become peaceful,
A natural response of your being is a gentle smile,
A gentle sense of warmth spontaneously arising on your face.
A smiling face is a natural,
Normal face.
This is the face that is telling those who are looking at your face that I have let go,
That I have become free,
Free from my own efforts and anticipations,
Free from my own intention to control and manage.
I have let go,
I have let go of whatever future that I was dreaming about and I have let go of whatever past that I was thinking,
Holding onto and I have let go because I trust in your presence more than all the stories about the past and future.
That is the smile,
That recognizing this letting go,
You have let go,
You have let go of whatever that was brewing in your mind one hour ago,
One minute ago,
Since the beginning of the day or for last few days,
Whatever that was brewing,
Featuring more and more has now taken back stage and the shining presence is coming forward,
Forward and you are recognizing this presence as yourself.
You are fully comfortable with this self.
There is no second guessing.
You are sitting in direct recognition of yourself and as you sit in your presence,
As your presence is,
You have recognized that you are not stopping the flow of life.
You are just being a silent observer of the flow of life,
As if the river of life is flowing by you and you are sitting at the bank of the river,
Unperturbed,
Smiling,
Watching,
Loving the river,
The flow.
But in my metaphor,
The river was outside and the observer was sitting on the bank of the river,
Whereas this river is flowing through you,
In you.
And those of you who have done the course,
They know that we start with differentiating ourself from the flow of river in order to clearly know our presence.
But that phase is step number one,
To identify your real self clearly as presence.
And then slowly,
We become familiar with the nature of the river and we identify that the river is multiplicity and diversity of your own awareness.
And that phase two is the lifelong phase where river is also you,
The observer is you,
The flow is you,
The whole is you and you and whole are one.
And then the life becomes as it was,
But with a deep sense of peace.
You play along,
But you know deep inside the real nature of this river of life.
So in Zen,
They say,
Before recognition,
Before phase one,
They would say,
Before the river was river and the mountain was mountain.
And then when they recognize themselves as presence,
They say,
But then the river was not the river and mountain was not the mountain.
And at the end of phase two,
They will say,
Oh,
Then again,
The river was the river and the mountain was the mountain.
And this non-dual recognition of the sense of oneness is the final destination.
And this destination is not a set point.
It is an ongoing journey into oneness.
So in Advaita Vedanta,
They say that recognizing yourself as presence is stepping at the doorway of God.
And the next phase is then exploring the nature of God,
Which is infinite.
So first you come to the doorway and then you continue.
But in all of this,
Nothing essentially changes because you were,
Even before your journey,
Always the presence,
Always the awareness.
The journey has only unveiled the truth that you always have been.
That is why the Zen metaphor of river and mountain is so simple,
But so effective to remember.
So just like this,
In some five,
Ten minutes,
You have understood the journey,
The nature of the self and a level of understanding has been unlocked.
Do not try to assess it,
The depth of this understanding right now.
Allow it to do its work.
Do not be the hindrance in your own pathway by constantly checking,
Confirming.
Trust and remember that you have let go,
That you fully trust in what is.
Even if there is some sense of pain in our mind and body right now,
You have let go.
You have learned to accept it as part of the flow of this river.
Nothing in this river is not accepted by you,
Accepted to flow on.
Nothing in this flow of river you can hang on to.
By definition,
It is a flow.
So as you sit in this recognition of oneness,
Anchor yourself with your smile.
Anchor yourself as your smile.
And as you sit like this,
Marveling at the miracle that you are,
The sense of gratitude is intertwined.
You do not need to separate it out and call it gratitude.
This is gratitude.
This love for truth,
This becoming one as presence is gratitude for all that there is.
We are not being selective with our gratitude.
We are not separating out our hands who have read hundreds of books and held our loved ones,
Done so much work.
While you can separate it out in this wholeness,
You are gratified for being,
For all that you have experienced,
For all that is about to come and flow through you.
All of it is included.
This is the sense of gratitude I wish for you to know.
Continue with this sense of love for the presence.
Continue with your smile.
And if there is any part of your being,
Of your current experience that has a tinge of pain or suffering,
Allow it to feature for now in your presence.
There may be a minor back pain.
There may be a sense of loss.
See its presence in your presence.
Smile at it.
And say to it.
I recognize your presence.
Embrace it.
Recognize that it was also your companion in this flow of life.
And with love,
Allow it the space that it has without doing anything about it.
Just loving space that it has is recognized.
And allow the understanding of it to do what it needs to do about it.
You will never be able to figure out to fix the pain or suffering with your mind,
With your thought.
You would be trying to control a futile attempt to manage,
An ego trying to fix.
But this loving acceptance will do its job.
It may not get rid of it because it doesn't need removal.
It doesn't need removal for now.
Of whatever it may be.
It may be that you will live with this for thousands of years.
Even then,
It is fully accepted,
Loved without any hesitation.
Because you trust.
Because you trust what is.
Because you have let go.
In this pure surrendering there is pure courage.
Only courageous can surrender like this.
So be that.
Courageous seeker who trusts the presence.
A saint has always said this and it always remained with me.
That an invisible presence is in control of everything.
Then you do your bit and relax.
And relax.
That is let go.
Continue to smile and continue to feature this presence.
As the only experience that matters.
And see how effortlessly you are doing the best meditation that is possible.
And recognize that this meditation is not your efforting.
It is your understanding.
This is the value of understanding.
The understanding had a beautiful name in Sanskrit called Gyan.
And from Gyan the word Dhyan has come.
And Dhyan means meditation.
But we do not find this word with this glory and history Gyan in English.
That had the same connotation.
That's why the word understanding is often overused.
And it doesn't have the respect that it deserves.
But know that the meditation that is unfolding in you is understanding.
Continue to smile and continue to feel gratefulness.
Gratitude for all that there is.
Gratitude for all your life experiences that have been given to you.
Brought you to this.
Gratitude for everything that is going to take place.
Gratitude for the pull of the future.
And gratitude for the push of the past.
Gratitude for being in the middle of those two in equilibrium.
Gratitude for knowing that whatever may be you will always be this.
This unperturbed presence.
Gratitude for this refuge that you will always be able to come back to.
No matter how lost you can get.
And the pauses of your life are filled with the presence.
And you're comfortable with the pauses,
With the spell of silence.
You enjoy the stillness.
You are the stillness in the middle of the words,
In between the words,
Before and after the words.
Continue to smile.
You continue to feel gratefulness.
For the miracle of life.
For this recognition.
And as you soak this light of understanding,
You know that the understanding is doing its work.
It's living its imprint in every cells of your body.
It is living its imprint in every experiences that are going to yet come in your awareness.
And yet you're not trying to control it.
Because you have let go of that sense of effort.
Because in this you have full trust.
Not hold back and allow yourself to fully submerge.
Dive deep into the depth of your own presence.
And see how limitless this ocean is.
Continue to smile.
Gratefulness.
Gratefulness.
Those of you who have to proceed with the nights,
You're welcome to close your eyes and drift.
Drift away in the sea of gratefulness as you sleep tonight.
And for those of us who have the whole day in front of us,
Know that couple of days this weekend is marked as some very auspicious days as per the moon and the sun phase.
And whatever they may be,
Without analyzing or naming them,
Remain aware,
Remain grateful,
Remain open to whatever that comes,
Especially for next two days.
Do not allow anything to disrupt your peace,
Your stillness.
And try to return to this sense of presence,
Especially for next two days.
And as always,
We'll continue to explore this oneness,
This wisdom next Saturday.
And I'm very grateful for your presence.
Your presence is assisting all of us in ways we don't know,
We can't comprehend.
I'm grateful for your commitment,
For your company,
For your presence with me.
Feel free to sit with me for a few more moments or feel free to drift away.
