I Am That Chapter 16 Desirelessness-The Highest Bliss Part 6

So,

The questioner says,

I cannot give all my life to such practices.

I have my duties to attend to.

Maharaj says,

By all means,

Attend to your duties.

Action in which you are not emotionally involved and which is beneficial and does not cause suffering will not bind you.

This is very important.

Most of the times you make excuses,

Oh,

I have this thing to do,

I have that thing to do,

I have to go to my son's this and that,

My parents' that,

And I have to take care of the family,

I have to get the bread and butter to the table,

Spirituality,

All this practice I'll do when I'm 75 years old.

Now I can just take care of my life.

And yes,

For some temporary relaxation,

I come listen to all the spiritual talk.

Mind feels a little happy,

It feels it has a goal for when it gets to 75,

Good,

Good.

Ego is boosted,

Nice walls build up around me by amassing some scriptural knowledge,

Done.

Back to the drill of the waking dream.

No point.

No point.

Maharaj says very clearly,

You can do all this.

You do the action in which you are not emotionally involved,

Means the I is at the periphery.

It's letting the body mind go on doing its act for the script.

Remember the script is for the body mind.

The script does not apply to the witness consciousness.

The body mind is programmed.

The witness consciousness is not programmed.

The witness consciousness has the freedom to recognize I am consciousness and stay beyond.

And witness consciousness has the freedom to fool itself and think I am the body mind and I have to take care of this samsara.

Oh,

I am bound by the samsara.

It throws out its own stories and believes in its own stories and gets bound by its own stories.

The witness consciousness is free to recognize,

Oh,

I'm not this body mind.

I am separate from the body mind.

So,

Maharaj says action in which you are not emotionally involved,

The I does not jump in that action.

How is it?

It becomes beneficial and it does not cause suffering that will not bind you.

Please highlight that.

How will it not cause suffering?

Suppose this body mind is involved in an argument with the spouse,

With the family member,

With whoever.

If this body mind is involved in some action and the witness just stays at the periphery,

Still there is no suffering.

How is it possible?

It is possible.

This that is happening is not me.

It is very clear to the witness consciousness when it is standing apart.

It is noticing that this body mind is just continuing on its old habit pattern,

Old program.

It does not have much fuel because now I am standing apart.

The moment I am standing apart and noticing its fuel is reducing and finally it comes to a zero and the body mind stops indulging in that argument.

Suffering halts.

So this you need not believe Maharaj blindly.

You need not believe Ekta blindly.

You experiment and see.

Get into that argument or let the body mind indulge in its natural argument,

Whatever behavior with the family member.

You take the step beyond and notice this is all happening.

You stay at the periphery.

This is all happening within me.

This is me.

This is not me.

In this me,

This body mind is arguing with the family member and it's playing out like the scene of a movie.

It's playing out out of its past written script and I am very well versed with this script.

I already know what words are coming out,

What things this body mind is saying.

Nothing is unknown but I stand beyond and I do not fuel the body mind.

See automatically its fuel reduces,

Reduces,

Reduces and poof.

Experiment and see.

I'll read that again.

In which you are not emotionally involved and which is beneficial and does not cause suffering will not bind you.

You may be engaged in several directions and work with enormous zest yet remain inwardly free and quiet with a mirror like mind which reflects all without being affected.

The body mind is doing its normal things.

It's taking care of the family members.

It's doing its gardening.

It's doing its cleaning.

It's doing its office work,

Letting it just flow according to its script without interfering.

You will notice that you are standing behind.

You are just noticing everything happening automatically.

So he says you may be engaged in several directions and work with enormous zest yet remain inwardly free and quiet.

I am not doing gardening.

I am observing the body mind do gardening.

I am not taking care of the family member.

I am observing the body mind take care of the family member.

You will be standing beyond free and quiet.

Again don't believe Ekta blindly.

Experiment and see.

With a mirror like mind which reflects all without being affected.

That's beautiful.

Look at the mirror.

A mirror reflects everything but it cannot be touched by that which it reflects.

It can reflect the garbage lying on the street,

Lying in the garbage bin,

Around the garbage bin.

A mirror can reflect that garbage but the garbage cannot touch the mirror.

It remains untouched.

Similarly,

This mirror can reflect a holy man,

All the holy temples.

It remains untouched by that too.

Whatever this mirror reflects,

It remains untouched by that which it reflects.

Exactly like that when I take the stand as the witness consciousness,

I remain free and quiet.

I am reflecting the body doing gardening in the garden but I am not getting my hands dirty.

I remain free.

I am reflecting this body mind involved in a conversation with the family member but I remain free.

I am untouched.

Super clear?

The questioner is mesmerized by this.

He says,

Is such a state realizable?

Is this even possible?

Maharaj says,

I would not talk about it if it were not.

Why should I engage in fancies?

Questioner says,

Everybody quotes scriptures.

He thought even Maharaj is just talking something from the scriptures.

Maharaj says,

Those who know only scriptures know nothing.

Please highlight.

This is even for you.

If you just know the scriptures,

You don't know anything.

Then what is the meaning of knowing everything?

Let's see what Maharaj says.

To know is to be.

I know what I am talking about.

It is not from reading or hearsay.

That's why I keep warning you that it should not be just your intellectual understanding.

It should be your experiential recognition.

Get it?

To know is to be.

Please highlight.

To know is to be.

So take this very seriously as your homework.

Do I experientially see everything that Maharaj has said in this chapter?

Or is it simply my intellectual understanding?

I have to sit and evaluate myself.

Because to know is to be.

So the questioner now tells Maharaj,

I am studying Sanskrit under a professor.

But really I am only reading scriptures.

I am in search of self-realization.

And I came to get the needed guidance.

Kindly tell me what am I to do?

Maharaj says,

Since you have read the scriptures,

Why do you ask me?

The questioner says,

The scriptures show the general directions,

But the individual needs personal instructions.

How many of you feel like that?

Maharaj has an answer for you.

Your own self is your ultimate teacher,

Sadguru,

Ultimate teacher.

The outer teacher,

Guru,

Is merely a milestone.

It is only your inner teacher that will walk with you to the goal,

For He is the goal.

So who is the goal really?

This I.

This I is the goal.

And this is the Guru.

This is the inner teacher,

The Sadguru.

This Maharaj gives importance to the sense of I am.

He says this is the Sadguru.

Who is the disciple here?

The mind.

The mind is the disciple or the sense of person.

I am this person.

That sense of being the person,

The belief that I am carrying,

The conditioning that I am carrying of being the person,

That is the disciple.

The teacher or the Guru is this I.

The sense of I am.

That is the Guru.

That is the goal itself.

That is why you must focus on the inner Guru,

Not on an external Guru.

External Guru is just a milestone,

Maharaj says.

What is the meaning of a milestone?

A milestone is just a signpost to give you some direction,

Which means an external Guru just tells you look within.

It is giving you a sign.

It is telling you the correct direction.

That's it.

That is the job of an external Guru.

You heard this in Ramana Maharshi's teachings on the Guru and now you're hearing it directly from Nisargadatta Maharaj.

The external teacher is not the real Guru.

The external teacher is simply a milestone or basically that which tells me in which direction am I supposed to go.

It is the GPS.

In olden times,

They didn't have the GPS.

That is why he has used the word milestone.

If Maharaj would have been today in this modern age,

He would have said the external Guru is simply a GPS.

It's telling you which direction to move into.

That is all.

You take directions from the milestone and you move on.

Yes.

Just because the directions are written on the milestone,

You don't stop there,

Build your house in front of it,

Sit and worship the milestone,

Do puja of the milestone,

Pour water and whatever,

Give it fruit and flowers and sit and worship and do rites and rituals at the milestone.

No,

No.

Very wrong understanding.

Very wrong understanding.

You have deviated from your path.

You have stopped your journey.

External Guru is a milestone.

Take the directions.

Taking the directions is honoring the Guru.

Practicing what those instructions or directions lead you towards,

That is honoring the Guru.

Your flowers and your fruit and your water and your rites and rituals,

No point,

No point.

Very clear?

So whenever you see a true teacher,

A true teacher will tell you,

I am only the GPS.

A true teacher will not tell you that you sit here and you worship me for the rest of your life because I am enlightened.

No,

That does not work.

That's not right.

Clear?

So,

The true teacher tells you,

Look within,

That is the Sadguru.

Who is the Sadguru?

The I.

Yes?

That I is pointing something to you.

The background is constantly there,

Constantly making you aware.

It is constantly knocking on your door and telling you,

Look within,

Here,

This is the direction.

Look within.

Now you look within,

Go towards the I,

Follow the I and dissolve with the I.

The person and the witness,

Both dissolving into nothingness,

That is meditation.

So the external Guru's job is only this much,

To tell the person,

Look within,

Look at that I.

The moment the person turns within and looks at the I and follows the I,

The person along with the I disappears,

Gets sucked into the black hole of nothingness.

That is meditation,

Open-eyed,

Walking,

Talking meditation.

Don't need to sit down and do a technique.

You don't need to get caught up in any sounds.

You don't need to get caught up in anything related to the body-mind.

You just look within.

It's an important sentence,

So I'll read it in Marathi as well.

Maharaj says,

Tumcha aatmaach tumcha sadguru aahe,

Tumcha aatmaach tumcha sadguru aahe.

Baahiyo guru haa keval mailaacha tappa aahe,

Baahiyo guru haa keval mailaacha tappa aahe.

Tumcha antaryami guruch tumcha samvet dheya kade jaayil,

Karan toch dheya aahe.

Translation is perfect.

I'm just reading it out in Marathi so you're very clear in what words Maharaj said it.

If Maharaj was that kind of a guru who wanted more and more people come to me,

Worship me,

Think about me as the enlightened one and get a Nobel Peace Prize for me and put my name up everywhere and make me popular,

If Maharaj was that kind of a guru,

He would not say these words,

Yes?

He was a true teacher,

True to his role that was given to the body-mind.

He said that the external guru is simply a milestone.

The real guru is within.

You look there in that correct direction,

Yes,

Because that itself is the goal.

That is the direction and that is the goal.

That is Sadguru.

Clear?

So the questioner says,

This is a valid question,

Lot of people who have not searched internally,

Who have been lost all their lives in name,

Fame,

Money,

Relationships,

Etc.

Don't know what is the meaning of this inner guru or this inner teacher.

So a first-timer,

A beginner on the path of spirituality might be confused by these words.

So his question as a first-timer is valid,

Not as an Advaitin who has been walking the path.

If you are an Advaitin who has been walking the path,

You should know the answer that Maharaj is going to give.

So the questioner says,

The inner teacher is not easily reached.

Maharaj says,

Since he is in you and with you,

The difficulty cannot be serious.

Look within and you will find him.

And Advaitin would also say,

Look within,

You will find him.

It's simple.

It's not so difficult.

The questioner says,

When I look within,

I find sensations and perceptions,

Thoughts and feelings,

Desires and fears,

Memories and expectations.

I am immersed in this cloud and see nothing else.

Beginner on the path of spirituality would see only these.

And Advaitin would say,

No,

No,

Look at the background.

Hopefully you are the Advaitin and not the beginner.

If you are the beginner and you have this question,

Then very strict instruction from my side.

Back to chapter one,

Please take it seriously,

Even if I am smiling here.

Back to chapter one.

So Maharaj says,

That which sees all this,

All this means sensations,

Perceptions,

Thoughts,

Feelings,

Ideas,

Concepts,

Expectations,

Memories,

All these,

That which sees all this and the nothingness too,

Is the inner teacher.

So back to our diagram.

This I,

If you recognize,

I'm sure you've recognized it by now,

This I can go towards the nothingness and dissolve itself and it can go towards the body-mind and forget itself.

In both directions,

It disappears.

Did you notice?

When it comes towards the body-mind,

It feels I am the person.

It loses itself.

When it goes towards nothingness,

There is no more I.

It becomes nothingness.

So it has a purpose.

It has a very beautiful purpose.

This I is the Sadguru.

It is the teacher.

It is not difficult to find.

You have to just look within.

You have to have that interest.

And it is that which sees sensations,

Perceptions,

Thoughts,

Feelings,

Desires,

Fears,

Memories and expectations when it is facing towards the person,

When its focus is towards the person and when its focus is inwards,

It notices the nothingness.

Very clear?

So your homework is what from this to recognize,

Am I able to maintain my position of this I and look both ways and identify both the sides.

On one side,

When I look towards the body-mind,

I see thoughts,

Feelings,

Sensations.

I see all this mess.

When I look at the other side,

I notice the nothingness.

That's your homework,

Most important homework from this chapter.

Something that I have to experientially recognize.

That which sees all this and the nothing too,

Is the inner teacher.

He alone is,

All else only appears to be.

It is your own self,

Swaroopa,

Your hope and assurance of freedom.

Find him and cling to him and you will be saved and safe.

These are beautiful words.

He is your hope and assurance of freedom.

A Marathi word is haami for hope.

Cling to him,

He says,

Cling to him and you will be saved.

The translation is a little different.

It says saved,

But in Marathi,

It is you will float.

You will not sink.

You tend to sink into the ocean of maya and lose yourself.

So you will not sink,

You will float.

That's the way it's written in Marathi.

But he would have to explain it in like two,

Three sentences.

That's why I think he just said you will be saved and safe.

So,

Questioner says,

I do believe you,

But when it comes to the actual finding of the inner self,

I find it escapes me.

Maharaj says,

The idea,

It escapes me.

Where does it arise?

Questioner says,

In the mind.

Maharaj says,

Who knows the mind?

The questioner says,

The witness of the mind knows the mind.

Smart guy.

He got it very quickly.

So Maharaj said,

Did anyone,

Anybody come to you and say,

I am the witness of your mind?

Questioner says,

Of course not.

He would have been just another idea in the mind.

If somebody came and told me,

He would be another idea in the mind.

So Maharaj says,

Then who is the witness?

The questioner says,

I am.

Maharaj says,

So you know the witness because you are the witness.

You need not see the witness in front of you.

Here again,

To be is to know.

Beautiful dialogue,

No?

Ask yourself,

Did somebody come and tell you,

You are the witness?

No.

Even if Ekta pointed it out,

Still Ekta could not go in and point out the witness to me.

I had to figure out,

Oh,

Yes,

This is the witness,

But I figured it out without seeing.

I could not turn back and look at the witness.

I knew,

Aha,

I am the witness.

To be is to know.

Only when I recognized myself in my true being,

Did I know myself.

Till that time,

I did not even know who am I.

I was lost in this jungle,

Wandering from here to there,

Here to there,

In search of me,

But not knowing that I am seeking myself.

Now that I know myself,

I am at peace.

To be is to know.