So,
Hope everybody is doing well.
We are getting ready to start this ninth session in our journey towards Mahan Mudra.
So we're going to start as usual with a short ceremony just to align ourselves.
So let us take our seat.
Make sure all the noises and sounds pinging around us are silent.
And let's take a deep breath in and let go.
And let's close our eyes and take another deep breath in and look.
And the next breath in we're keeping,
We don't breathe out.
And slowly breathe out and let go.
Let go of all your efforts.
Let go of everything that already happened in the past.
Let go of everything that may happen in the future.
And allow your breath to guide your attention back to the present moment to whatever is happening right now around you.
Become aware of your surroundings and all the information it produces.
Become aware of the presence of your body in this surrounding and the position it took upon its seat.
Become aware of every sensation you may feel when your body may be pleasant or unpleasant.
As you observe,
Make sure there is no tension hiding anywhere in your body.
Your belly is loose,
Your breath flows in and out of your body effortlessly.
Become aware of every sensation and all the information produced by your body.
Your body's,
Your dearest friend,
Give it some attention.
Comfortable and relaxed,
Gently allow your attention to move and observe your thoughts.
What are you thinking of right now?
Without getting too entangled with any specific thought.
Just observe as thoughts come and go.
Observe without identifying.
Become aware of every phenomenon that happens around you and within you.
And as the realm of phenomena continues to blast you with information,
Allow your awareness to turn away from that flow and observe itself,
The origin of awareness,
That space within that exists before and beyond any phenomena,
Where there is no movement,
There is only silence.
And for a moment,
Become that silence.
And a deep breath in and out,
Gently allow your attention to come back to your body as it is seated here upon its seat in this room,
A part of our virtual circle.
Let us unite our individual intentions into one unified intention.
An intention to grow,
To develop,
To evolve.
With a smile,
Let's take another deep breath in and when you feel comfortable,
You may open your eyes.
Hello again,
Everyone.
Welcome to this ninth session on our journey,
Where we follow a poem that was written by a great master called Tilopa 900 years ago,
Trying to describe a very special and unique state of consciousness that he was experiencing.
So far,
We've been through eight chapters,
And I'm not going to review all of them now.
Recordings of these chapters are available on my Insight Timer website,
So I strongly recommend if you haven't,
Go and listen to them.
But in a nutshell,
I'm going to say that so far,
Following his poem,
His attempt to describe the indescribable,
It is obvious that a tantric state of consciousness is unlike any other.
It's unique,
Revolutionary,
Unprecedented,
And difficult to digest,
Difficult to understand,
Impossible to understand.
Actually,
He starts his poem by claiming that this journey that they are starting is an impossible journey,
And the task they are facing is an impossible task.
And there is no way he can actually describe using words or symbols or any other method the intellect can use to figure it out.
It's not about figuring it out,
It's not about getting the point.
It's about the ripeness of your heart opening to this invitation.
So when we follow the script,
I urge you,
Don't try to figure it out to get the point.
There's no point in trying to get the point.
Just see if you can relax and allow these words to penetrate and resonate within something,
Waken something within.
And one more thing before we go back to the text.
Remember,
This is not a lecture,
I don't have a pre-presentation here prepared.
And this is a conversation.
So the more engaged you are,
The more questions you ask,
The higher we go together as a united consciousness.
So don't be shy.
And this is the time to contribute by getting involved.
Okay,
Are we ready?
The first one to write yes gets a prize.
Angie is ready?
Okay,
Angie is ready.
Volume is very low.
I don't know if I can do anything about that.
So maybe just try to increase your volume as high as you can.
Okay,
So here we go.
Chapter 9.
Beyond and beyond.
The song continues.
One should not give or take,
But remain natural.
For Mahamudra is beyond all acceptance and rejection.
Since alaya is not born,
No one can obstruct it or soil it.
Staying in the unborn realm,
All appearance will dissolve into dharmata,
And self-will and pride will vanish into naught.
So let's gently unfold the mystery between these lines.
First we need to discuss three types of mind people have.
The first type is the ordinary mind.
What is the ordinary mind?
The ordinary mind is obsessed with taking,
Grabbing.
Why?
Because it is propelled by an endless sense of need,
Of lack.
This is the ordinary person you meet in the street.
95% of the population are motivated by the sense of lack.
So the background for interacting with life is always propelled by I need,
I want,
I don't have enough.
And life should provide that to me.
It could be comfort,
It could be a sense of security,
Reassurance,
Could be love,
It could be possession,
Right?
I don't have enough.
So I'm engaging with life,
Trying to get that,
Take it from life.
Fill that hole within me with whatever I feel I don't have enough of.
Most of us are like that.
And why is that?
That's because ego is dominant.
The element of ego.
What is ego?
Ego is that illusion of separation,
Me and life.
And because I'm not intimately connected to life,
I'm also not connected to the bounty,
The wealth of life.
I'm only relying on my limited resources.
Of course I feel lack.
I look around me,
I see so much abundance,
And I don't have that.
I'm not connected to it.
It's not a part of me,
Of who I am.
So of course I feel the need to take,
Right?
This is ego.
So this is the first type of mind,
The ordinary mind.
Extraordinary minds are more aware,
And they are more about giving,
Not taking.
You can see that some people have that naturally within them.
Some people are educated to do that.
Many religion paths recommend you give,
You adopt that sense of sharing,
Giving.
In some places,
It's the law.
You have to give 10% of whatever you earn back to society,
Et cetera,
Et cetera.
So we are encouraged to give,
To become a giver,
Not a taker.
That's fabulous,
Extraordinary.
Some people are just like that,
You know,
They just dedicate their lives to give for the benefit of others,
Extraordinary.
Third type of mind is different.
Third type of mind is what we call no mind.
What is no mind?
No mind is elevated beyond the giving and taking,
Renouncing that relationship with objects of Buddhism and other spiritual paths,
Mostly in the East,
Educating their disciples to renounce,
Not be engaged in that give and take commerce with life.
No mind.
It's a very unique state of mind.
But still,
If you look closer into that state,
You see there is negativity built into that position because I see the objects,
I'm focused on the objects,
And then I train myself to renounce them,
Persuade myself,
Even artificially in the beginning,
That I don't need that.
I don't need that.
I don't want to be a part of that give and take.
No mind.
There is negativity built into that position.
Do you see that?
It's a bit enforced.
Of course,
It has its value,
Especially while you are on the path,
In the process of training yourself for a higher and higher level of consciousness.
But it has limits.
Because back there,
Behind your decision to renounce,
There is that clinging to objects.
For example,
If you decide that you want to be celibate,
There is always that thought about sex,
Renouncing it,
Of course,
But sex is there,
Right?
And you keep renouncing it,
Renouncing that natural urge for sex or sexual relationships.
Or if you decide that you don't want to eat meat,
You decide that you want to be vegetarian because of health reasons or conscious reasons,
It doesn't matter.
No,
So there is that thought about meat.
And sometimes you have that urge to eat meat,
You know,
You feel the juice flowing.
But you say,
No,
No,
No,
No,
No,
I decided it's against my principles,
Right?
So no,
I don't eat meat.
But you still have that thought about food,
About meat.
That desire is there that you need to overcome.
So these are the typical three stages of mind that you find around you.
The ordinary,
The extraordinary,
And the no-mind.
But Tilopa is speaking about a fourth state,
A different one from the first three states of mind,
A tantric state.
What is a tantric state?
A tantric state elevates and it's not focused on objects anymore.
It's not about taking objects or giving objects or elevating beyond objects to a state of no-mind,
Which hides a clinging to objects.
It's naturally elevated beyond clinging to objects.
This is very rare.
The Siddha,
Tantric consciousness,
Is not obsessed about the objects anymore at all.
But completely focused and dissolved into its own consciousness.
Consciousness that is found to be the background of all phenomenas that starts and ends,
Of all objects,
The background that embraces every option,
Every possibility.
I like to give that paraphrase of a theater hall.
Imagine a theater hall.
On the stage there are endless possibilities of plays and shows that could be performed in any given evening.
It could be a concert,
It could be a stand-up comedy,
It could be a tragedy,
It could be an American Idol,
America's Got Talent,
Or whatever.
Anything can be performed on the stage.
But the theater hall itself,
It has no preference.
And whatever is being played is not a threat to the theater hall.
Its nature is to embrace whatever is happening and allow it to happen and to be experienced.
That's the role of a theater hall,
Right?
At the same time,
Tantric consciousness is that background that allows everything to happen and to be experienced,
With no attachment,
With no identification,
With whatever is happening on the stage.
You know,
Sometimes the play is so attractive,
It's so compelling,
That you easily get sucked into the drama,
And you forget that you even sit in a theater hall,
You just observed in the happening,
In the show.
And then you say,
Wow,
This was really fantastic.
I was completely lost with the plot,
And I didn't feel the two hours passing.
You call that good entertainment,
Right?
But when this clinging happens with life,
It becomes your drama,
Then you're lost.
Then you're lost.
Do you see that?
So let's go back to text and see if we can unwrap what Tilopa is trying to convey.
One should not give or take,
But remain natural.
You see,
Ordinary mind is not fully baked.
Extraordinary mind,
Which is oriented in giving,
Which sounds beautiful,
Is not fully baked.
Even no mind,
Which is considered to be the highest level of consciousness Sannyas can hope for,
Is not fully baked.
Tilopa is aiming us to go even further than no mind.
And how to do that?
Don't put yourself in this position of giver or taker.
One should not give or take.
Don't be in that position.
If giving is happening,
Great.
If taking is happening,
Fantastic.
But you don't identify with that role.
I am the giver,
I am the taker.
It's not that Tilopa is saying,
Don't share anything,
Keep it to yourself.
No,
No,
No,
No.
If it happens,
Then that's beautiful.
For Mahamudra is beyond all acceptance and rejection.
Well,
Mahamudra,
Do you remember Mahamudra is the greatest,
The most,
Greatest and fantastic position to be in.
This is Mahamudra.
And Tilopa says it's beyond all acceptance and rejection.
It's so beautiful.
When you reject something,
It's easier to understand.
When you reject something,
Of course,
You are in a position of suffering,
Right?
What is the definition of suffering?
Is that gap between what is happening and the idea that you have about what should have happened,
Right?
This is the definition of suffering.
So when you reject reality,
When you reject the present moment,
Of course,
You are putting yourself in suffering.
But Tilopa says also when you accept,
You suffer.
Why?
Because there is this still,
There is a gap between whatever is happening and that judgmental mind of your self trying to persuade yourself,
Oh,
OK,
Yeah,
Yaron is right.
I don't want to suffer anymore.
So let me accept instead of reject.
But still there is this duality between the present moment and the experiencer deciding now to accept instead of reject.
Tilopa is taking us one step further,
He's saying,
No,
No,
No,
No,
It's not about accepting or rejecting.
It's about staying natural.
So let's see what you're saying here.
To remain natural goes against everything we have all been taught.
If you try to be natural,
You are judged by most.
Listen to those words.
It's almost sounds like an excuse.
Why am I unable to accept or to go beyond rejection and acceptance and be natural?
Why?
Because I will be judged and I don't want people to judge me harshly.
Why not?
Think about it.
Why don't you want people to think ill of you?
Be with me,
Angie.
Why don't you want people to think ill of you?
Why is it so important what other people think?
The answer is very simple.
We are obsessed about what other people think because we don't know who we are,
Truly.
We walk around this world with this huge question mark on our forehead.
What are we?
What is this?
Who am I?
I don't know.
So what do I do?
I go and ask other people.
Maybe they can tell me.
And then their opinion is crucial.
Because if they think I'm beautiful,
Then apparently I'm beautiful.
If they think I'm good,
Then apparently I'm good.
If they think I'm ugly,
Terrible person.
If they think I'm bad,
Then apparently I'm bad.
So it's extremely important what other people think.
It builds my own self-image.
Why do you need a self-image?
Because you don't know yourself.
You need an image.
Do you see that?
An awakened consciousness does not have a self-image.
Because it knows itself.
Without images,
It has a direct experience with itself.
With the essence of itself.
What is the essence of itself?
In Sanskrit,
It is called alaya.
Alaya is the essence of everything.
The essence of yourself.
The background of every phenomena.
The theater hall.
This is alaya.
Parbar is asking,
Could natural mean,
Could natural that he refers to be more like English word neutral?
In a sense.
I'll explain natural in a second.
We haven't gone to that part of the text.
Ah,
Actually can.
We did.
But remain natural.
For Mahamudra is beyond all acceptance and rejection.
Yeah,
Definitely.
What is natural?
Natural is embracing life without any preconception about what you see with free from any preference.
Agenda.
You see,
Agenda,
Preferences,
Doesn't allow you to be natural.
It keeps you in a position.
Well,
You have to embrace certain things and reject others that are counterproductive to your agenda.
For example,
I want to feel comfortable.
And sometimes life is not comfortable.
And so that contradicts your agenda.
Or I want to feel safe and sometimes life is really dangerous.
That contradicts your agenda.
So you have to put yourself in a situation where you embrace one thing and reject another.
You see,
Again,
You're trapped.
So being natural is the ability to stay open,
Free from any preconception about what should have happened.
And how is that promoting or rejecting my agenda?
Being natural means you stay completely loose,
Un-intimidated.
Try to imagine that state of being,
Un-intimidated by life.
And why are you un-intimidated?
Since Alaya is not born,
No one can obstruct or soil it.
Listen to those words.
It is so beautiful.
Since Alaya is not born,
No one can obstruct or soil it.
What is Alaya?
Alaya is the essence of your self.
The realm of phenomena,
How do I describe the realm of phenomena?
Everything that has a beginning and an end,
It doesn't matter because everything that has a beginning has an end.
So everything that begins belongs to the realm of phenomena.
Alaya is not born,
Alaya doesn't have a beginning.
Everything that you experience is temporary.
You can experience only phenomena,
Pleasant or unpleasant,
Doesn't matter.
Phenomena that align with your hopes and dreams or phenomena that contradict it,
Doesn't matter.
But all phenomena have a beginning and therefore have an end.
Your very essence is eternal.
You essentially were never born,
Therefore you will never die.
Consciousness that is awakened to this reality of self cannot be intimidated by life,
By changing events.
Just like the theater hall cannot be intimidated by the temporary event that is currently happening on stage.
Do you see that?
Alaya is not born,
So no one can obstruct or soil it.
It is unthreatened because it's indestructible.
Life will destroy all phenomena eventually.
Everything you look,
You hold,
You hug,
Everyone you love,
Every possession you have,
They will all be taken away and destroyed by life.
Guaranteed,
100%.
If you think otherwise,
You live in a dream.
If you try to create a sense of stability,
Eternal stability,
By holding on to things,
You are doomed to fail.
Doomed to fail.
Why?
Because the essence of the realm of objects and phenomena is a constant change.
Birth and death and birth and death and birth and matter changes forms,
Energy changes forms.
That's the nature of reality.
The only thing that is stable and unchanged is your own consciousness,
Which is eternal,
Therefore cannot be threatened,
Destroyed by life.
Do you see what I'm saying?
Isn't that beautiful?
See if you can meditate on that,
On the eternal aspect of your own self.
Ask yourself,
Who was I before this body was born?
Who will I be after this body will die?
Don't be intimidated by this question.
This is an invitation for eternal bliss.
That's got nothing to do with life,
Changing events,
Staying in the unborn realm.
All appearance will dissolve into dharma.
Allow yourself to be there,
In that space where you are naturally observing the realm of events,
Of phenomena,
Unidentified,
Just like the theater hall allows the play on the stage to happen,
With no agenda,
With no preconception.
Observe life without identifying with it.
Invite yourself to come back to your eternal self.
And then,
Tilopa says,
You will realize that all appearances dissolve into dharmata.
What is dharmata?
It's that essence of things.
This is so special.
All appearances dissolve into dharmata.
Anything you look at as an object that has a beginning and an end,
That has a start and finish,
Everything dissolves into its essence,
Which is just like waves,
Phenomenas,
Waves of energy,
Waves of energy.
Sometimes this energy materializes as matter.
Sometimes this energy stays as potential energy,
Just an invitation of endless possibilities.
Staying in the unborn realm,
All appearance will dissolve into dharmata.
If you remain in that position,
Connected to the eternal aspect of yourself,
You will eventually realize that all appearances are just waves of potential,
Possibilities.
And then,
Self-will and pride will vanish into naught.
Self-will.
I want.
I want.
I need.
I need.
That egoistic aspect of yourself that is based on the sense of lack,
That is unforgiving.
And pride,
That identity that you built around your achievements,
It doesn't matter if that identity is positive or negative.
You can tell yourself that you are the greatest winner or the sorriest loser.
All this will dissolve.
And there will be no I anymore,
Separated from life.
I'm sorry about all the noises around me.
Today is not a quiet environment to teach,
But we are doing our best.
So all that illusion of separated self dissolves and vanishes into naught.
What is naught?
Naught is a word that he's already used a few times in this poem.
Naught is what hides between objects,
Between phenomenas,
Is the background of everything that you observe,
Everything you identify with.
The background,
The gap between thoughts,
Between ideas.
Observe your thoughts.
You think about this,
You think about that.
And see what happens when there is a gap between one thought and the other.
It could be a fleeting moment,
But try to be sensitive enough to identify that.
That gap where there is no phenomena,
There is no object that steals your attention and that you have an opinion about.
In that gap,
Alaya is hiding the essence of your consciousness in the naught.
And that takes skill,
Because we are so preconditioned to focus on the event,
On the phenomena,
Judging it,
Clinging to it,
Or rejecting it,
Taking it,
Or giving it,
Or trying to stay beyond it and ascend to a position of no mind.
These are all different types of relationship with the object.
And here there is an invitation to stop that relationship,
Shift your attention from the cloud to the blue that hides behind the cloud.
There Alaya is hiding.
You are that.
The what?
What do you say?
There is no way around it.
Tilopa is taking us as high as words can take us.
And I know this may sound very philosophical and unachievable.
But first you have to admit he warned us that this is going to be the journey.
So there are no surprises there.
And second,
Remember,
It's not about getting the point.
If you don't understand what I'm saying,
It's not the issue.
But can you recognize the invitation?
Can you recognize the guidance?
Does it resonate as something true to you?
Mm-hmm.
Well,
Chad is saying the stage doesn't have a consciousness of itself.
Consciousness is everything.
Everything is consciousness.
Everything alive,
Everything that grows,
Everything that is,
Is consciousness.
Various types of consciousness.
Some consciousness are more conscious than others.
But all is consciousness.
There is no place where God is absent.
There is no time where God is absent.
God is everywhere and everything.
And so are you.
You just need to wake up.
Barbara is saying,
Sounds impossible.
But my heart is open to listening to something I cannot yet hear.
Fantastic.
This song is not intended for the intellect to gasp.
This song is intended to open your heart.
Amen.
So you're in a beautiful position,
Barbara.
Liz is saying,
Definitely,
I feel it's the longing that we all have.
Yes.
Longing is such a beautiful word.
If you don't have longing in you,
I tell you,
You are dormant.
You're deeply asleep.
Longing is the first sign of an awakened consciousness that recognizes the source,
The origin point where it sprouted from.
And it's longing to come back to that,
To reunite,
To dissolve.
The longing dissolved into oneness.
The longing to dissolve back to the origin point.
Then when we've woken up,
What?
What's the question?
I don't understand.
We are just aware.
Don't worry about this question.
When you wake up,
This question will lose its meaning.
When you wake up,
You will know.
You don't need to ask.
So we've almost completed our journey.
Next week,
We're going to discuss the last chapter of this poem,
This fantastic poem.
And then we can return back to more mundane questions about relationships,
Shattered dreams,
Fear,
You know.
These have validity as well,
For sure,
On the spiritual path.
So we will make some space to address these as well.
But for now,
Just rejoice on this opportunity to ascend beyond the mundane,
Beyond the earthly drama,
What I have,
What I don't have,
What I hope for.
Use this as a window,
A glimpse to your fullest potential.
Aaron?
Good,
Good,
Good.
So I would like to thank you guys for your presence here today,
And your beautiful questions,
Your donations.
And bring your friends.
Next week is going to be the last session.
So let them rejoice as well,
Before it's too late.
So good evening,
Good night,
Good morning,
Wherever you are.
Love you very much.
Bye bye.
