8. You Are Before Birth And After Death

When you meditate you become aware of the space that is at the back of and permeating all of your thoughts, feelings, and perceptions. Then a shift happens between the belief that you are the limited body and mind only to the awareness that you are that unchanging space. That space was before you were born and continues on after death. When you know yourself as the Whole then you remain easy and peaceful.

Transcript

Satsang Podcast by Sri You are the one before you were born and after you die. We're up to now the eighth step to Self-realization or enlightenment. The seventh step that we talked about in the last podcast was based on how to create a sattvic, A light, Balanced state in your physical body and mind. Because without that you will not be able to know your true self. However, With that alone you also will not be able to know your true self because it's not the mind that actually knows the self. Or the knower that knows the knower. So once you've created within yourself that ease within your own system through yogic diet, Pranayama, Hatha yoga, Then you're more able to sit and do the dhyana, To do the meditation practice, To turn the attention to the space that you are. But without turning the attention to that knower, To that pure being, Just having a balanced, Healthy body will not be enough for Self-realization. In fact, Self-realized you already are. We already are that being that is pure, That is free, That is forever. However, To be liberated from the identification from the sannyoga or mixture of that self with the body, That's our practice. And that's where the meditation practice comes in. So part of it is the gyan or the knowledge of who you actually are. Knowing who you are as that pure being that's there throughout all the states of consciousness, You are there in deep sleep, You are there in dream state, You are there in waking state, And you are in fourth state. So you are actually always that realized one. However, The experience of the waking state is that you get covered. So in meditation, You free yourself from that covering, And you're left with who you've always been. What's left is you. And who you've always been is the one that you were before you became mixed with a mind and a body. So who you already are already is the one that you are, The one that you were before what you call taking birth. You've never actually seen your birth, But the family, The doctors, The relatives might say they were there when you were born. They saw you as a small child. As a small child, Somebody can say to you, You're going to die someday, And it has no meaning to you because for you, You weren't born, And therefore you will not die. You're just that space that has its instincts, Meaning that has the awareness that you know that you suck all the milk of your mother or the bottle of whatever you're fed, And that's necessary for the life. The breath just breathes by itself. You don't have to use the mind to direct your breathing to go in and out. The heart beats by itself. You don't have to tell your heart to breathe. The food digests in its perfect way. So you could see, As that infant baby, Everything is working perfectly without your mind. However, The mind has to develop in order to start to walk, To start to talk, To interact with the world. So you, The pure being that you've always are, In this body now, So-called, The body is small and helpless, And it has to learn to function in what you call now the world, The waking state reality. But you are that who you've always been. It's only now the mind as an instrument or tool that's now necessary for you to interact in this world that you've created with your own mind, Because before that you were pure free forever. After that you are pure free forever. So who you were before you were born is who you always are. That self that's pure. And then the rest is learned through operating through this machine, Just like you learn to drive a car. You learn other skills, Professions. So in meditation we allow all that covering, That you covered your pure self, That you were as a child, Where you just moved here and there. There was no thought of trouble or problem or death or fears, Worries, Anxieties. All that was learned through the operation of the mind and the senses. So now in meditation we go back to that source of who you've always been before you were born. And we come to see that it's only the you now that you've mixed with the body and mind, And you're saying now that's you, Which is only an aspect of you, Actually. That you has all the problems. The one you were before, Like as a small child, There were no problems. The one you are in deep sleep, Which is also you, Has no problems. So the work is now to function as you do in the waking state, Which will go on however it goes, And not get mixed or identified with your I being limited to the physical body, And to know you've always been that one that you were before you were born. So you always will be that one, Even after what they call death, Which is actually just the dissolution of the physical elements that made up a physical form that you call your body. You could see every night in the dream state. You're seeing the dream figures, The mountains, The rivers, The beaches, The roadways, The situations, The people, And when you wake up they've changed. And you don't even have to be told that that was a dream. You know it didn't have reality for you, Because now it's changed. But then in the waking state you say, This is my reality, Because your mind is awakened at that time, And it's fixated on believing that is the reality. But you've already canceled the dream reality. You've canceled the deep sleep reality, And you've made only waking state your reality, And that only happens for part of your day. So now as the meditator you become aware of what waking state is, That you're not limited to waking state. You existed throughout all the states, And that you, Who you are, Never slept, Never woke up, Never dreamed. You have not changed. That is the unchanging being that you are. The rest is what the mind has made as its conclusion, Because in deep sleep when the mind isn't actively making conclusions, You're just there, And everything's working fine. You're breathing fine, You're digesting fine, Your blood's flowing, You don't have to tell it what to do. So this is the awareness now we can start to apply in the waking state. So the waking state just comes on its own. You didn't ask it to come. It comes. But you have the power not to change the waking state as the doer, As the ego that you've already created in the waking state, But you have the power to know that this is illusion, As the famous analogy always is of the rope and the snake. There's a rope lying on the road, And you're walking down, And you think it's a snake. It's never been a snake. It's always been a rope. You've never been limited to a body and mind. You've always been the self. So then, How can there be cause and effect to anything? Because the snake is not there. So what is the cause of the snake? It's like saying, What is the cause of the illusion? So birth is not the cause of your existence. Your life now is not the effect of your birth. Therefore, Death will not be an effect of your birth. Birth and death, What we call cause and effect, Because you're born, You will die. But if you know you are the one who's there before you were born, If you know that there's never been a snake, It's always been a rope, You've never been the one that's born, It's a great show, It's a great movie that you've created for your own enjoyment and liberation. Patanjali says that the purpose of existence is for bhog, Experience, And abhavarg, Which means liberation. So for you to experience as a human being, But remain liberated, That's the goal that we seek, Because we know now that that is the only way for you to be easy, Peaceful, Throughout all the changes, Throughout all the dream images that come in the waking state. So we want to go before what we call the cause, And know there's never been a cause, Because there's never been a snake, There's never been a waking state mind, It's all the creation of that same self, Of that same source. So therefore, You are who you were before you were born, You are who you'll be after what you call death of the body, And when you know that, There's actually no birth and no death for you. There's a change in the physical elements of the body, But there's no change in you. Now this is very difficult to grasp with the mind, Because the mind is the tool that the body uses to function. So it would require the dissolution of what you call your mind in the waking state in order to grasp this, And the mind doesn't want to let go of its creation, Because you've enjoyed and you've suffered, And the mind's work is to keep making you enjoy more and minimize your suffering. So the mind thinks, The ego thinks that it's necessary to hold on to your existence so that your life can go the way the ego thinks it could, Forgetting that your breath happens on its own, Your digestion happens on its own, Your blood flows on its own, Birth and death happens on its own, Sleep happens on its own. So you've become the doer, Thinking that you're the one who's in control, But you're limited with that, So that's where this work begins. You see your limitations and you want to know you are vast, You are infinite like the sky. And when your attention's on the space, As the sky space, And not on the changing thoughts, Then you have access to that whole, To that pure being. And from that, You have so much more than you have when you're limited to a physical body ego mechanism. And you've seen that in your life, That when you're limited as a physical body mind, You're victim of your thoughts, Of your feelings, Of your senses. But when you're knowing the space, You're pure free and forever as you are. So therefore, This eighth step to Self-realization, To liberation, Is a very important one, Because you can be doing your hatha yoga, Eating the best diet, Even meditating on a mantra or on the breath, But without the jnan, Without the knowledge of who you truly are and who you've always been, This state will not be apparent to you, Because you'll never leave the perch of your own human mind. And if you do, It'll only be left shortly, And then you go back to it. So to know that realized state that you already are, That you've always been, Is to know you prior to birth, What remains always after what you call death. And when you know yourself as that, When you keep practicing that, Never believing in the mind, Just like you don't believe in the dream, Knowing and trusting that the body and mind will function in the waking state, As it does, In a wonderful way, When you tune into your source, That decisions will be made from that space, That you will be guided from that space, Because that's the power of the whole universe. That being doesn't do anything, But that being that you are is your own source of power. The prana comes from that. The breath comes from that. That's what's moving your breath. That's what's moving your prana. And the mind holds you in the physical body, Because when the prana moves, The mind moves. When the prana is still, You are still, Left as you are. But as soon as the prana moves, The mind moves, And then the identification, Sanyog, With your mind and body, Comes, And then you're the victim to that. We don't have to get into that too much more, Because we've talked about that a lot. But now we want to know the way out, To know who we are, Already liberated, Already realized, Free from the confinement of the body, The mind, And the senses. So it's said that what's necessary to know that is the vik and the rajya. The rajya, To renounce any ignorance, To renounce the belief that you are limited, That you are just this mind and your thoughts. So if you think this good thought, You feel good. If you think this bad thought, You suffer. So that's all you have to renounce. You don't have to renounce things or people or situations, Although certainly, As we said before, Creating that sattvic environment and company will assist you in your practice. But you do have to keep turning the attention to the source of your mind, Rather than believing your mind. That's the vairagya, Detachment from your own ignorance. And the vik is the knowledge of that true self that you are. And from that practice, The vik and the rajya, Knowledge and detachment, You come to know who you are before you were born, After you die. You always remain as you are, Immortal, Blissful, Amaramham maduramham, Amaramham maduramham. So all we can do, Because that self is not the doer, You are not the doer. You just borrow the power from that self and then you say you are doing. So it's the power of the self that allows you to do. So tuning into that power of the self, You know you're not the doer, And you just allow that power that you are, As the whole, As the one being alone everywhere, One without a second, To guide this physical form through the dream-like experiences of what you call your life and live totally free. Amaramham maduramham, Amaramham maduramham.