
Saint Kabir Session 16 - The Ocean Merges With The Drop
by Ekta Bathija
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
MinusOUGHTRANSLATE So as you become stronger and stronger Kabir says and you start establishing in this witness consciousness what will happen.
Nirgun aage sagun naache.
Now you have to understand these words because nirgun is used many times.
Nirgun is that witness consciousness.
It is devoid of qualities.
Nirgun.
And sagun lots of qualities.
Mind has lots of qualities.
No ego,
Hatred,
This,
That,
Blah blah blah.
All these qualities of the mind are there.
So this is sagun.
This is nirgun.
Nirgun aage sagun naache.
The mind is always dancing in front of the witness consciousness.
Baje soham tu.
On the sound of this creation,
On the sound of this universe which of course right now you cannot hear,
Not the physical hearing or you cannot experience.
You will experience once you become steady in the witness consciousness.
Chele ke paon guru laage.
Yahi achambhah pur.
Who is the chela?
This sagun which is dancing,
The mind,
The intellect,
Memory,
Ego.
This mind is the chela.
This is the guru.
The guru is touching the feet of the chela.
This is so achambhah.
This is so surprising.
Yeah,
What does it mean?
This witness consciousness forgets itself and becomes one with the mind and it bows down to the mind.
The mind has become a master.
The mind is now taking me for a ride into its happiness and sorrow and misery and anger and hatred and jealousy and I am the one who is led.
Yeah,
This is so surprising.
This is so surprising.
You will experience this,
Not know it because Ekta described it or a book described it or a guru described it but as your own experience you'll see,
See I let go.
I was standing quietly for a moment.
I let go and this mind took me into its hatred and jealousy and I played along in the drama.
I suffered in that drama and it happens to you know,
You shout,
Scream,
Get angry.
You do all the drama and then after some time all your fizz is gone.
Your anger goes away.
Then you come back and you're like what did I do?
Why?
Why did I get into the drama?
Yeah,
Right now we might not see it so clearly but as you become steady and steady in the witness consciousness you become so clear because the gap between the real I and the fake I will start increasing the more you stand alone.
And when this distance increases you can very well see dancing and trying to pull you,
Lure you.
It's enticing you.
Come,
Come.
This is fun.
No,
You stand alone.
I'm not interested in this crowd.
I'm not coming.
I'm standing here alone and this doesn't have much energy to dance in front of you.
This is finally going to give up.
Has to give up.
Yeah,
This is actual progression of really how you will progress on this path.
Stand alone.
Stand alone in that witness consciousness.
Stand alone.
Yeah,
When you learn to stand alone your conditioning starts falling.
How does that distancing happen between the real I and fake I?
Your conditioning starts falling.
Conditioning is like colouring really.
Yeah,
So he says,
Kabir Haldi Piari.
The colour of turmeric is yellow.
Chuna Ujwal Bhai.
The colour of plaster is white.
Maybe he had a shop of a spice seller and he had a potter with his plaster and all.
So that's all he could see.
That's how he came up with those words.
The colour of turmeric is yellow.
The colour of plaster is white.
Ram Usme hi yumile jio sab varna gavai.
The witnessing consciousness,
The Ram is attained only by the one who loses all the colour,
All the conditioning.
Without losing conditioning you are not getting there.
Forget about it.
Yeah,
Because the last step is oneness.
Remember I described this earlier that oneness that we are all one consciousness.
If you are still stuck in doi ki bhavana,
In duality,
I and the other,
My path and your path,
My guru and your guru,
My organisation,
Your organisation,
My seva,
Your seva,
My religion,
Your religion,
My side of the world and your side of the world now,
West and East.
There also we have come up with.
Oh,
Spirituality is better here than there.
There it is a mess.
Yeah,
All these divisions in the mind,
Everything needs to be dropped,
Everything.
Otherwise you are not getting there.
Forget about it.
Yeah,
You will get closer.
You will get close to the door,
But you will not be able to step in.
Yeah,
And there are many yogis,
Many sadhus,
Many teachers,
Many gurus who are still standing at that door.
Mind you,
They're still standing at their door,
Especially those who say,
My path is better than your path.
Yeah.
The priest who says,
My path is better than their path.
Yeah.
The mulla who says my path is better than their part.
Yeah.
The sadhu who says,
My path is better than their path.
The guru who says,
My path is better than their path.
Remember that if you see somebody have this kind of doei,
Duality,
Run.
Fast you don't have enough time to spend.
You don't know how soon you will kick the bucket.
Doi ki bhavna means run.
Next teacher,
Next sadhu,
Next priest.
Or simple,
Keep it simple,
Go to the scriptures.
You've got enough experience from outside.
Dive into the scriptures,
Understand them.
Do not believe in Ekta.
You take it from her but now you say,
Okay,
Let me see if I experience this what she's saying.
I experience it,
I understand it,
I make an effort,
I do thousands of days of my self-introspection,
My contemplation,
My sadhana,
My meditation.
Figure it out for myself.
Then nobody can take it away from you.
Then even if Ekta comes and says,
No,
No,
That was a lie.
You'll say,
Haat.
You will not believe it,
Also.
Because now it is no more a belief.
It has become my experience,
My anubhav.
You cannot take my experience from me.
You can take my belief away.
You can take my conditioning.
But you cannot take away my true experience.
Super clear?
Yes.
If you have to aim for something on this path,
Aim for experience.
Anubhav.
Anubhav.
It's just a direct translation into English as experience.
I'm not talking about experience in the material world.
What I can experience inside.
I can experience the witness right now observing that the eyes are closed,
That the mind is formulating the sentence,
That the lips are speaking,
The hands are moving.
The witness is there.
It's my experience.
Nobody can take this away from me.
Do you see what I'm saying?
Experience.
Ek palka.
It just takes one second of search.
Super clear?
Yes.
And he says,
You will have to go through this churning.
Yesterday we did the song,
No?
That the ghee comes out only after,
The butter comes out only after you churn the milk.
Churn,
Churn,
Churn,
Churn.
The butter was in the milk only.
I didn't manufacture it from outside.
That only,
The witness consciousness is in me only.
But if I cannot see it,
Cannot understand it,
Cannot grasp it,
It's because my churning is going on.
My churning is not complete.
It's okay.
I will voluntarily,
Willingly go through the ups and downs of this life.
That is my churning.
And then I will one day become butter.
I know that.
Definitely.
So recognize that the potential is here,
Not here,
Kabir says.
Once you become very,
Very clear,
The biggest opening happens.
The biggest opening that I am this witness consciousness.
I am not this body.
I'm not this mind.
So if this body dies,
I don't die.
This is the biggest opening that will happen,
The blossoming where there will be no fear left.
You have only one fear really.
You have fear of death.
How much ever you say,
No,
No,
I don't care about myself.
I care about my family's death.
No.
Family,
Whose family?
This body's family.
Yes.
So till the time I think I am this body,
I am attached to the body and I don't want this body or its belongings to die.
Lots of attachment to the body.
I have still not recognized that I am the witness consciousness.
Little more churning of the ghee is required,
Of the milk is required for the ghee to come out.
You're still not there yet.
After little more churning,
Little more churning,
Wait for it.
Has the opening happened?
Oh,
It's okay.
The body will die.
I'm okay with it.
Others will die.
I'm okay with it.
I'm fine with it.
But you know,
My mind is mine.
No?
Mind will go with me.
My mind,
My sadhana,
So many years of sadhana,
My understanding,
That has to go with me.
You're still clutching on to something,
Still ragas,
Still likes.
Spiritual likes are also likes.
Still liking,
Still wanting.
Why?
Because I still want to come back into another higher spiritual life.
Thirst,
Thirst is still there.
No.
Little more churning of the milk is required for the ghee to come out.
It's not there yet.
The final blossoming will happen when you recognize I am not this body and I am not this mind.
That day you recognize there is no death.
There is no death.
Neither do you become old nor do you die.
A complete separation happens.
If you can completely separate yourself from the body,
Then you have established in Sakshi bhav.
Then you are there.
That is the exact process as it is going to happen.
And once you are there,
Then there is no fear,
Oh I have to take care of my family.
I have to save my money.
I have to take care of this because you know everything is just the consciousness.
The same consciousness manufactures everything.
It is just apparent like a dream and it goes away,
Dissolves.
I am the consciousness,
Not this dream that came up and that will dissolve.
I am the consciousness.
So Kabir's wife had not really reached where Kabir had reached.
So she used to tell him,
Why are you not worried about tomorrow?
You don't want to save money.
You don't want to do anything.
Whatever money you have,
You just give it to the sadhus and you feed them.
So he says,
Hari aage khaare piche khaare chakcha hai mil jai.
The consciousness is in front,
In behind,
Above,
Below.
It is always there.
Whenever I need it,
It will give it to me.
And this is really true.
When you don't bother about things,
They come to you.
In fact,
You don't want them and then they are following you.
No feverishness in anything,
In anything.
It comes when it has to come.
The funds will come,
Things will come,
Money will come,
Relationships will come.
You will say,
No,
No,
First let the relationships come,
Then I will go establish in the witness consciousness.
No,
No,
No.
Witness consciousness is very smart.
It has put a condition.
First you get established here,
Then you will see that it comes.
So when Kabir's wife used to tell him this,
He used to always sing this song,
Not just his wife,
His kids,
Other people.
He says,
Sai itna deejye,
Jaame kutum samayi,
Maydi bhuka na rahum,
Sadhu na bhuka jayi.
He says,
God give me only that much,
How much is required for my family to survive.
I should also not go hungry and let this sadhu who has come,
The seekers who used to come to Kabir's house and to just listen to him.
So this sadhu,
The seeker who has come,
Let him also not go without food.
That is the real seva bhau that develops.
Somebody was asking about seva yesterday.
That is the real seva bhau.
It develops at that level where you see the oneness that I am not different from this person.
This is the same witness consciousness.
If my toe is hurt,
I will take care of it.
I will bandage it.
This person's suffering is my suffering.
That is real seva bhau,
The true seva bhau.
How do you do seva?
No,
No,
I should get recognition.
I should get appreciation.
Oh,
I will do seva only on my terms,
My way or highway.
That is not seva.
That is not seva.
Again doing business again here.
Same business that you did in the corporate world you are doing here.
You don't have that bhau of doing seva professionally because you don't get money in seva.
But the same task,
Preparing the same excel sheet if you have to do in office,
You do it very professionally.
Why?
Because the boss will cut your salary.
Your appraisal will be affected.
Money,
No?
Greed,
Greed drives us.
That is not true seva when it is driven by greed.
It is not true seva if it is driven by ego.
It is not true seva my way or highway.
That is seva.
That kind of seva bhau Kabir had.
Give me this much only Sai in which I am also not hungry and that seeker is also not going home without food.
Which means for you,
You won't have a seeker coming to your place who would go without food.
But what you can do if you are a part of a group like this where there is knowledge as seva,
You see that you do everything perfectly from your side.
There should not be a single miss,
Single goof up.
If one session is missed because you forgot that the session was there and you forgot to send out that email and send a zoom link out,
You forgot you went to sleep or you started fighting with your husband or wife,
You got lost in your samsara,
Somebody else could have who could be attending that session,
He could have had a window in which he could get enlightened.
Just by a few words of that wisdom.
He was standing at the threshold.
He just needed a little push with a few words and because you goofed up in your creation of zoom links and sending them out,
That person missed his chance.
Such a big goof up,
No?
That is why they say gyan dhan is the highest dhan.
Gyan dhan is the seva serving of wisdom,
This highest wisdom.
So serving somebody with this highest wisdom is the highest kind of serving.
Higher than taking care of somebody physically or somebody is upset and helping them come out of their mental stress,
Higher than that,
The highest kind is gyan dhan.
Helping somebody get enlightened.
So that is why seva is supposed to be done professionally or not at all.
Forget about it if it's not your cup of coffee.
Don't do it,
It's okay.
If you do it,
Do it with this thing that somebody can get enlightened from this gyan dhan and I have the opportunity to be a medium for this person.
With that enthusiasm if you do,
You will experience the love,
You will experience the joy.
It's all here.
Yehi bhavara.
This is where the bhavara,
The fountain is of joy.
It's not outside,
Not outside.
You experience it here,
Right here.
So Kabir's path is the path of joy,
The path of love.
The path that not many understand.
The path where you have to come to the witness consciousness and then only the second leg of the journey begins.
Lot of people are thinking,
Oh I reached the witness consciousness,
I am enlightened.
Wow,
Yehi.
Wait,
Wait.
You are jumping onto the train too fast.
There is a second leg of this journey.
So the first leg of the journey is to come to the witness consciousness.
Recognise it.
The second leg of the journey is in the witnessing.
The second leg of the journey is in the awareness.
The second leg of the journey is in the consciousness.
For that he gave you the first tip.
Learn to stand alone.
Just be,
Just be,
Just be.
It's okay how much have I given interest to this greed,
This hatred,
This jealousy.
My mind is coming up with all these enticing things to pull me away.
The crowd is pulling me.
Let me not get enamoured.
Let me be here in the witness.
Stand alone,
Stand alone,
Stand alone.
You will slip because of past habit patterns.
Don't beat yourself up.
This is another mistake people do.
Oh I am bad,
I am bad,
I am bad,
I am bad.
Now you will not be able to stand only then.
And then you come in a one on one,
Oh I am bad,
I failed,
I couldn't do it.
No,
No,
Relax.
You first stop beating yourself.
Have compassion for yourself.
Yeah.
First here,
Then you can have compassion outside.
If your only pot is empty,
How can you give compassion to others?
First fill yourself with compassion for yourself.
Love for yourself.
It's okay.
I slipped.
It was the shaping,
Getting into shape for the pot.
Now let me be there.
I do not beat myself up.
Again stand up.
Again stand alone.
Stay in that witness.
Stay,
Stay,
Stay,
Stay,
Stay,
Stay.
A point will come that the distance between the real I and the fake I becomes so big this loses power on you totally.
You win.
You win.
And it's not too far.
It totally depends on your interest.
How much interest you have in your own self.
How much love you have for your own self.
Yeah.
Bhund padi samundame jane hai sab koi.
Samund samaya bhundame jane virla koi.
The drop fell into the ocean.
Everybody knows.
The rare one knows that the ocean merged into the drop.
This ocean of consciousness merges into you,
Into that little I.
That little I is nowhere.
You know there is no I.
I does not exist.
I is just a thought.
I does not exist.
The ego does not exist.
Only the ocean is.
Can I say I have my private ocean and you have your private ocean?
No.
It's one big ocean.
One big ocean.
Single ocean.
There is no I.
There is a we.
There is an us.
That is the final step.
When you come to the us.
When you come to the we.
You have reached home.
You have come to the final step.
The oneness.
This is the meaning of non-duality.
No to,
No other.
Yes.
There is just oneness.
Super clear?
