Satsang with Papaji

(Selections from http://www.satsangbhavan.net/santsang-with-papaji-reading/)

This is the proper time for all of us to introduce the mind to the Self. What is the Self? It is your own original nature: satyam, shivam, sundaram – which means truth, consciousness, bliss. This is the Self which was before the origin and which is going to be after the end. That is the place where you always are.

It is not that you have to become something or that you have to attain something, or that you have gain something afresh. You are going to lose anything which is gained or obtained because it is not your nature. Anything gained is not permanent because you did not possess it previously – you got it through effort. It was absent before you attained it so you cannot keep it forever.

Somehow this notion arises and this notion becomes mind. This notion is only mind, which is not distinct from ‘I’. ‘I’ arises – this is what is called mind. ‘I’ is not separate from ego. How did it all start? The ego is not separate from the body; the body is not separate from the senses nor their respective objects, nor the entire manifestation with the notion of time – beginning, middle, and end. It all started with ‘I’. We got involved in it.

This is the appropriate time to return home. You have to do this here and now by withdrawing the outgoing tendencies of the mind. That is how we meditate: We sit quiet. During meditation the mind is running outwards following its own tendencies, its own desires for respective objects and enjoyments that are deep-rooted in the mind.

During meditation this has to be checked. This is the meaning of meditation: to bring back all the outgoing tendencies of the mind wherever they are going. Check them! Bring them back to ‘I’. From here you have to be very vigilant, very attentive. Do not make any effort. Do not become involved in any thinking process. Simply keep quiet. Through incessant vigilance allow it to happen, allow this revelation to take place, without keeping any gain in your mind, without making any effort to become anything else. This is an unfoldment – this is called revelation.

At this point bring everything back, bring all these tendencies back to the ‘I’ thought. Be very vigilant and find out how this notion of ‘I’ arises. It is absolutely necessary to keep quiet, to remain without thinking, without making any effort.

I don’t think anybody could describe what is going to happen beyond this. It has never been described. It is for you to dive into your own source, to arrive back home. You don’t need anyone else to lead you, you don’t need any companion. You have to do it alone – without the mind, without the intellect, without the ego, without the body, without the senses, without their objects. Only vigilance is needed, natural vigilance with no effort, without even a thought. That can be had here and now… or never. This is up to you.

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Who are you? Where do you come from? Many times you came and many times you returned. You have never attempted to ask yourself who you are. If you had done so, you would never have returned to this miserable samsara. When you have known, this karma ceases to function, samsara ceases to exist. You return to your original fundamental nature – to Being, to Existence, to Bliss. That is what you are. That is what you have been. That is what you are going to be.

So here is how to do it – it is very easy. Let me introduce you to what is going on here. To begin with, find out who is the one who sees. Ask yourself the question: “Who is the seer?” Find out what is seen. That which is seen is the object and the seer is the subject. The seer – subject – must be separate from the object, different from the object. It is that which is seeing the object. The object is that which is seen. The seer is looking at the object – you are not the object. You may see anything: a horse, a cow, a car, a building, or anything. You are not that. You are the seer.

When you experience your own body you may think that you are the body, but you are not the body. You experience, “I see the body.” so you are the seer of the body. It is here that you make the mistake: You become the body and you forget that you are the seer. You have become an object when you say, “I am doing. I am seeing. I am tasting. I am touching. I am smelling. I am hearing.” You have lost your bearings and become the body – the seer is no longer separated from the body. Whatever is seen is an object, so when the body is objectified who is the seer? When you see the body it becomes an object. Whatever you see is an object. If you see your eyes they are objects; if you see your hands they are objects.

What about the mind? You know very well that if your mind is suffering it is not at peace. You know the activities of the mind also. You know, “Now my mind is thinking or not thinking.” This means that you are also aware of the activities of the mind. You are something other than the mind. You are not the mind. You are neither the mind nor the body.

The same is true of the working of the senses. When you are working, walking, or talking, you know very well, “I am at work, my hands are working.” You know very well that you are not the hand; something else is commanding the hands to work. You are something other than the movement of physical activities. You are not even that.

Now consider the intellect. You decide, “I have to do this. I have to go to Lucknow.” You decided and you are here. You guided the intellect to make the decision, “Let’s go to Lucknow.” then you followed the intellect. So you are guiding even the intellect and you know very well that the intellect is something other than you.

Find out who you are – here and now. You are not the mind. You are not even the prana – the breathing. You know very well that breathing is in and out, inhaling and exhaling. You can feel, “I am inhaling, I am exhaling.” You know this activity also. Who is watching the inhaling and exhaling? This is all that the body is.

So who are you? You are not all these functions. You will have to ask the question, “Who am I?” This is what we have come here to understand, and we have not done this at any time before. This question must be solved but we have postponed it. Everyone has postponed it for millions of years. We will not postpone this here. There is no method to practice. Simply find out, “Who am I?” This is not a method or practice or sadhana.

This can be done here and now – in this instant – because the Self is here. Enlightenment means to know thy Self – to know, “Who am I.” This is Enlightenment. This is Wisdom. This is Bliss. This is Existence. This is Being. This is Truth. This truth is not located at a distance – it is your own Self through which you are searching for truth and freedom. It is not any distance from here. It is within you, nearer than your own breath. It is behind the retina of your eyes, which you cannot see. You need not look outside. It is behind the retina; it is that through which the retina sees. You need no effort to see it.

When you still all activities, without doing anything, without thinking any thought – when you do not stir any thought from the mind ground, without moving, without moving the mind, without starting a single thought – in an instant of time you are free. When you give rise to any sadhana or practice, when you go to any center or ashram, when you go to any teacher or pilgrimage or church, when you make any prayer, you have postponed it. This you have done.

Be free of all these things right now. Because free you have been, free you are. You cannot achieve anything other than what you are. Anything gained afresh or achieved for the first time – anything which is new to you – you will certainly lose because it was not there at all. All that is natural to you is already there. Do not try to achieve anything or gain anything or attain anything which is not already there. This is not a fresh gain. People think, “At the end of this sadhana I am going to be free.” But it is not like that. You have been looking for something else, not freedom. Freedom is already here.

This is how freedom is already attained: You are already free. If you can hear this once from a teacher you are free. If you cannot hear this, then practice. If you can listen to a teacher who is not a liar, who is speaking the truth, and if you are honestly longing for freedom then listen once and you are free.

If you are not honest and if the teacher is not authentic it will not work. You will have to take up a practice if something is false somewhere. What is that practice? At all times, walking, sleeping, dreaming, on waking, while standing, sitting, lying, go on chanting the mantra. I can recommend mantras also, as a second best. If you can repeat this mantra from now till your last breath I guarantee you will not appear again in a next birth; you will not fall into any womb. What is the mantra? “I AM FREE!” Take up this practice if you do not believe me.

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We are looking for freedom. What is freedom?

It is not in anything objective. It is neither the creation, nor the creator of this universe, nor the God who is looking after preservation, nor destruction. It is none of that. It is neither the sun, nor the moon, nor the stars, nor the wind. Those are not freedom. No object is freedom. Go on rejecting everything objective from the mind. Freedom is nothing that the mind can conceive or perceive or understand. Finally you will arrive at that which cannot be rejected. Go on rejecting everything that can be rejected, all objects. Get rid of all objectification.

Finally, when you see nothing more to be rejected, the mind will be quiet. Mind will be no-mind: That cannot be described. All description belongs to the objective world only and consciousness cannot be objectified. In the beginning when there was nothing there was consciousness – total consciousness – where no objects and no subjects existed. You are this consciousness.

Starting from the beginning, before the beginning, you are this consciousness. And this consciousness became all that you see. You are this consciousness itself. There are millions of kinds of manifestation existing in consciousness and you have become all this. You are the fountain of all this creation.

For this you do not have to exert or make effort, or search for any way or method or practice. Somehow you have to arrive here. How can you do it? Through adoration of the wisdom of the Self. That is consciousness. Adore your own consciousness with wisdom and you have achieved what you are aspiring for here and now.

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When I speak about quietness – when I tell you to keep quiet – it is not easy for everyone to follow. Most people here are from different backgrounds, practices, sadhanas; and therefore feel they need to do something, to put something into practice. When I say, “Keep quiet.” it is not a practice. There is nothing to be done and nothing to be undone. This cannot be followed. There is nothing to think about, no need to make any kind of effort. This is an indication of the quietness I am speaking about. Truth always exists. Existence alone is. It is called satyam.

We speak about enlightenment, but first we have created bondage. Bondage does not exist. How can you remove that which does not exist? First, teachers impose a concept of bondage and then various practices are prescribed. There may be millions of books in the world, thousands more are published every day. Nowhere does it say, “Be quiet”. When you simply say “Keep quiet,” what is the rest of the book to be about?

There is no ignorance at all; there is only existence – there is only satyam. If you simply keep quiet you will know that only this exists. Before the sun rises early in the morning it does not first try to remove the darkness of the night. The sun does not say, “Let me brush away the darkness and only then, in the daytime, I will rise.” For the sun there is no light, there is no darkness to be removed. The sun does not even know that such a thing as night exists. What practice is needed to remove darkness, where is this darkness? All practices imply the reality of darkness, of ignorance, when in fact they do not exist. The river in the sand is a mirage; it does not exist, it never existed. If you go closer and closer the sand not even is wet; it is only a belief that makes us run after a mirage, nothing else. There is only satyam; there is only Truth. What need is there of practice? It is only practice which is concealing the truth.

You have been given a concept by most of the teachers that there is darkness, and that you have to spend your whole life clearing this darkness. No one speaks about light; everyone is trying to remove darkness and ignorance when it does not really exist.

First of all, look for yourself! Has anyone seen any ignorance? Sometimes when people who come to see me come closer to keeping quiet they say, “I do not understand.” What is there to understand? Simply keep quiet – this is what you really are. How can there be any doubt? In keeping quiet you discover what you really are.

Through spiritual practices you overlook the one who is causing this to happen. Who is involving your limbs in the practice, your intellect in the practice? Who is causing your mind to be involved in trying to get understanding? If the one causing activity is not there you cannot conduct any practice. This is why I tell you to simply keep quiet. Then you will know what you truly are and what you have always been, and this is indestructible. All else will be destroyed, only Existence itself remains. The Truth will always remain – it Is – it is eternal. That which is not this truth does not exist at all.

You have two choices: Either you follow most teachers and spend your life trying to remove or clean out the mind. First you will have to find out if the mind exists. No one has seen the mind. Even if you found it, how do you propose to clean it? Everyone is practicing cleaning the mind but there is no one so far who has cleaned it. Where is this mind to be cleaned?

The second choice is to keep quiet and you will know who really you are. This is very simple. It is not going to take you time; in fact time does not appear. There is nothing outside that can help you, you have just to keep quiet – that’s all – and you will know then you are eternal. You are Eternal Existence itself.

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If I show you a handkerchief you will see its form, its length, width, thickness, its uses, and its name – “handkerchief.” You will not see the cotton from which it is made; you will not call it “cotton.” If I show you this kerchief even – this is a kerchief – length, width, height, its uses, name is “kerchief”. Form is this you see, but you know the cotton you can’t see. Cotton is not seen. No one can say it’s cotton… kerchief! If you remove the name and form you will see the cotton.

If you remove the name and form, all that you see here and now – whatever you see – remove the name and form. You are in that state beyond the fourth which I described, you see. It will appear itself. It is here. That’s not to be gained, it is already there. Because you are already otherwise engaged in your fantasies you have no time to look. What is concealed? You only give importance to what is seen. Importance to form and your notions, you see.

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We are here for Freedom. Our aim is freedom but we get lost in sadhanas, practices, yoga methods and reading books. Why did you come here? What was the purpose of wearing this human body which so precious among 8.4 million species, the highest temple? Once in 35 million years you wear this beautiful form – don’t waste it. You only need to be reminded like this prince, and you are the prince. You have been saying, “I am the body, I am the mind, I am the ego, I am the senses, I have objects to enjoy.” With this burden how can you face your own nature, how can you get on the throne? How can sit on the throne of the emperor if you have forgotten who you are? You have to be reminded; you do not need to perform any practices.

We speak here of Existence, Consciousness, Bliss. When are you not that? When was the time when you were not that? When will the time come when you will not be that? How can you lose Existence itself? How can you lose Consciousness? How can you lose Bliss? You have been lost somewhere else so you do not know who you really are.

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Freedom, Love and Peace will be attained instantly as soon as you abandon vasanas – the impressions of the past that you have stored in your memory. If you abandon vasanas right now you can be free and happy, you can be in peace and love.

You can live well without vasanas, without desires, just as when you take off your hat or your coat you can live well and nothing is lost. Likewise, if you renounce vasanas – if you renounce the tendencies of the past – you will be well and happy. No time is needed, it is as easy as plucking a petal from a rose flower. It doesn’t take time. You can attain freedom, light and wisdom now – instantly you can be free. You do not need to toil endlessly. Penance, austerities, even meditations – just abandon them. This notion that, “I am bound.” has to be dropped and instantly you will be free and happy.

This is a very simple way to freedom. You are free. The notion that you are bound has been dumped on your head by your parents, by your priest, by your society. If you get rid of all these instantly you will find that you are what you have always been. If you give up all that you have read, heard, seen, touched or tasted, freeing yourself from all past notions – what will be left? You alone will remain – that which you have always been, what you will always be, and what you are now. The exercise or sadhana or way is not something to be borrowed from the outside. Just keep quiet, keep silent, and you will know freedom from sorrow and suffering. I wish everyone would try this and see.

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Simply keep quiet. Do not do anything and it will happen. Abandon even the intention to get something in the next moment. Do not even make the distinction between “this moment” and “the next moment”. Then something will happen instantaneously.

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Once many years ago a planter invited me to visit his coffee plantation. He took me there on a Sunday; it was my day off from work. He said, “We’ll go on Saturday night in the jeep. My cook does not sleep in the bungalow which is at the top of the hill. The coffee is grown on the slopes and the area for drying it is at the bottom. When I go there I stay in the bungalow, which is well equipped, and the cook stays down the hill with his family, in the area for drying the coffee. So as soon as I wake up I will go down the hill to get him.”

In the morning he drove off before I was up. I awoke to a very beautiful sight. The plantation was all around me, covered in orange trees. The trees were there just for their shade, to protect the coffee plants from the direct sun. He was not interested in selling the oranges so all the fruits that dropped in the fields were ploughed back in as manure. I came out of the bungalow and saw bushes and bushes full of oranges, very big loose jacket mandarin fruits. I felt so happy to see them, so many bushes laden down with oranges touching the ground, so many orange fruits. I saw all these oranges in the morning sun, and I felt such joy.

As this feeling arose, standing in front of a beautiful bush I addressed it and spoke to the bush out loud: “Good morning, Mother, how do you do? You are very lucky, you have so many children.” It did not occur to me to hurt her, not even to pluck one of her fruits for myself. It was enough just to see the beauty of the oranges and this woman so proud of her children. I liked her, I loved her, and I kissed that tree itself. I was so very happy! The thought of picking the oranges did not even come into my mind. In that same moment she also spoke to me: “I am very happy with you so I offer you these fruits,” and instantly twelve big oranges fell from the tree.

I am not making this up. This really happened as I am describing it. I have seen many things happen like this. We are all one – there is no separation between us, only we do not realize it. The same is true with rocks, with trees, with birds, with rivers: you can speak with all of them, and you will see how you can get love from everything. So I spoke with this tree, and she responded. She said, “I am also happy. I want to give you my oranges, please take them.” I took one and again I kissed her. I could understand how she was feeling; I could understand her language.

What was the trick? It was only love. See everything with eyes full of love. If you look at anybody with that love I do not think that they can be angry with you. Sometimes anger may visit you. When the hotel is full, no rooms, no accommodation available, no one will go there. In the same way, if your house is full of love all these other tourists as anger, lust and greed will see that the house is already full and they will not come inside; they will go away and look for some other lodging house. If the doors are open to greed, lust and anger they will enter immediately; they will not wait for the check-in time.

If you love people who will not return love to you?

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Identify yourself with cosmic consciousness during meditation. You are That. There is no difference. A notion arose that you are a separate individual with some higher supreme consciousness to arrive at, which is not true.

A wave rises from the ocean and feels she is separate from her source and is therefore not the ocean. But let the wave inquire, “Who I am?” Let her discover the place from where she arose. She will arrive at her source, at the ocean itself. Her notion of being a separate wave instantaneously vanishes. A river discharges into the ocean and becomes one with it.

This understanding arises through inquiry. What is the relationship between a ring and the gold from which it is made? Can you separate the gold from the ring or the ring from the gold? It is impossible. Without the ring you can’t see the gold, and without the gold and you can’t see the ring. Abandon the name – ring, and the form – round. The ring is name and form only, the substance is gold. When you remove name and form what is left to be separate?

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All you have to do is to still the mind. There are two ways to quiet the mind: One is through inquiry, which is suitable to a very few qualified people; and the other is through yoga, which includes concentration, meditation and other practices.

First you need the capacity to discern the real from the unreal, to embrace what is real and to adhere to it. Reject what is unreal and false. Fascination with study, karma , pilgrimages, or dips in the holy waters will not help you. Learning all the Vedas, all the sutras, like a parrot is not going to help you. No gift, austerity or charity is going to help you.

More important than anything is the burning desire for freedom. This alone is enough. If you have this burning desire you will be led to satsang. Satsang means to stay quiet, to still the mind, to bring it back to the center wherever it goes. If you can’t do it by yourself then search for a perfected teacher, but do not make any mistake, you see.

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We are waiting, thinking that we have to do something about it. It is this doer-ship which is concealing the truth, existence, consciousness, and bliss. Otherwise this has always been with you, is with you now, and will always be with you. You can never separate yourself from it at any time. You cannot breathe without it, you cannot live without it. It was only a concept that the wave was different from the ocean, that the ring was different from the gold, or that the vessel is different from the clay. Because we do not see the substratum we find a difference.

Here and now, if we do not make any effort, if we do not activate a single thought, if we do not even allow the thought ‘I’, if we do not hold to the concept of time, if we do not postpone anything to the next moment, to the next breath, this is going to reveal itself. Here and now means out of time all together. This has nothing to do with any meditation or any process. We have tried endlessly through numberless incarnations and we have not been able to complete it. This time let us decide to return home. We have been different waves, different name and form; but if name and form does not arise where is the wave? We are the ocean, existence, consciousness and bliss. We have come here to realize this without any effort. We have tried every kind of effort, we have been advised in our different backgrounds to “do this” or “do that.” Now, here, for the first time you do not have to do anything. Simply sit quiet for one moment in time. That is all that is required to realize existence, consciousness and bliss.

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Freedom is Here and Now! It is to be found in the very second of your life span which you spend devoted to your own nature. You have not been told this before. Freedom is not the outcome of any exercise or of any sadhana that you have to perform. If it was it would be contained within that sadhana. How could that which is free be bound within your mind, within your sadhana?

I do not impose any such burdens on you. I only offer you this advice: When you come to satsang devote one second to find out who you are. You will have to steal this one second at some point from one birth or another. You have already spent 35 million years moving from species to species, and now you have arrived in the blessed temple. This is the temple of God.

Why not spend this one second in inquiry and see what happens? What is this one second that I speak about? It is satsang. What is satsang? Satsang is association with the Truth. And where is the truth to be found? To be truth it must be Eternal, it must be Omnipresent, it must be Omniscient. This is the very nature of truth. So where is the Truth to be found?

Let me offer you this hint. Wherever there is name and form; that is not the truth. Whatever has name and form begins and ends. And whatever begins and ends is not eternal, is not real, is not atman. You will have to search for the atman. To remain with the atman is satsang, to be in continuous association with the Atman as the atman itself. This will be accomplished by not doing anything; neither by thinking, nor by making any kind of effort at all, nor by postponing.

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When I was a young man my friends used to say, “I will do this after my retirement.” They used to tell me, “Poonjaji, you are still young. This is the time to earn money and save up for your rainy days. If you are spending all your money now like this, going to pilgrim places, going from saint to saint – if you don’t even open a bank account, who will look after you in the evening of your life when you have retired?” But all those people who used to give me this advice are no longer alive!

Association with the saints has paid me very well and I am very happy. I want to share with you what I have received. You are all here. I welcome you, so let us share together. Knowledge is the only thing which you cannot keep. You can hide wealth. Rich people with many bank accounts are all suffering. They have no place to hide their money; they are afraid of income taxes raids. Everyone is in fear. You only need to eat. You can’t eat more than a certain amount or you will end up in hospital, so what is the use of accumulating a lot of money? The peace you are longing for you will find in satsang. Money will only bring you trouble when you try to accumulate it.

You will have to be wise, you have to work. I am not telling you to run away – you have to be active. Soldiers have done it even on the battlefield. Arjuna was a soldier. There were nine military divisions on each side and the war was about to begin, and who was his charioteer, his guru, his teacher? It was the Lord of the Universe himself, driving him. Arjuna pulled him out of the battle. He was lost and he received knowledge from Krishna in the midst of the battle.

This was a great battle fought in this part of India 7034 years ago. As a soldier he received this knowledge and he also won the war! Knowledge and war are not incompatible. If you first know yourself – know who you are – you have won the whole world. If you have not conquered you own self you will end up empty-handed despite your riches. Alexander the Great wanted to conquer the whole world and his tutor, a student of Socrates, told him first to conquer his own mind. Alexander did not listen and had the man arrested and thrown in jail. He went to conquer India. He met a great yogi, and before he died he realized his foolishness.

In satsang you will have to devote time to not touching the past or the future. This instant can be called satsang, but really it has no name. If you enter into this you will discover the nature of peace, which is known as shanti. You will discover the nature of Light, of Wisdom. This will be the end of all suffering for the whole world, the end of the cycle, the end of hitchhiking from womb to womb. This is in your hands. You are here and it does not take any time – it takes just a moment. And this moment has to be exactly now.

Whether it is now or next year or next birth doesn’t matter. You have to return home. Everyone has to return home, all of us. Whenever it happens it will always be just now. It will always be the same moment – no moment – which gives you satsang, which indicates freedom, which is Here, Now. Freedom is already here.

The concept, “I am bound.” is only a notion. The concept, “I have to become enlightened after retirement.” is also a notion. Get rid of all these notions and you will return to this. This is called satsang. This will lead you to Freedom, to Moksham, to Liberation, to Emancipation, to the end of the cycle of birth and death. Do this here and now. Why postpone? The mind needs to postpone. This postponement is called mind. The mind is nothing but the past. Discard all these concepts and you are Free.

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Now ask yourself the question, “Who am I?” for the first time. This question has never been asked. You have simply trusted the mind to tell you what to do and you have obeyed. This is the time for all of us here to ask this question. Do away with this guide and you will return to your Eternal Home, to Existence, to Consciousness, to Bliss.

Is there any time when you are not in the mind, when you stop your race after pleasures of the senses, when you simply see? Keep still and this guide disappears, simply with the question, “Who are you?” Then you will know what the mind is, and it disappears. This question has never been asked. This guide has never been challenged before. Wherever you have gone until now you have allowed it to deceive you. It has told you this or that is good, and you accepted it – that this is a world of pleasure, and you accepted it – that these gods will give you pleasures in heavens, and you accepted it. When you challenge the mind it disappears instantly. This is why every day we emphasize the question, “Who are you?”

The qualification needed to ask this question is discrimination – the ability to know the real from the unreal, the eternal from the false, the pure from the impure. Discrimination must first be developed, and it will lead to the capacity to ask the question which dissolves all that is false. When you ask this question with discernment you will come to know what is real and what is unreal. Turn to any thing which has name and form and see where this name and form came from. Was it eternal or did it appear in the past a few years ago, and will it disappear after a few more years? Everything will disappear. In fact the whole world disappears when you sleep.

Whatever is eternal must remain constantly. It never disappears. That which appears and disappears is falsehood. All relationships up to this point have been with appearances and disappearances, and so there has been no relationship with that which is Eternal, which is your own Home, which is your own Self, your own Friend, your Atman, which is Existence itself.

Existence will remain always. It will never become non-existence. Consciousness will always remain consciousness. In the waking state you are conscious of doing this and that. In the dream state you are conscious of the dreamer doing something. In the sleep state you are conscious of not knowing anything, of enjoying the bliss of deep sleep, you are also very much conscious of this. Existence is there always, consciousness is there always, and bliss can also be there always. In the waking state, pleasure is mistaken for bliss. Pleasure is temporary. We may call it bliss, but bliss is eternal. It is your nature. It is your Atman, your own Self.

We may stumble on different experiences but we are still searching for the same thing. The one who is searching – the seeker itself – is what is needed. We are lost in a search without knowing who it is that is enjoying all this. We are attached, so we attribute the source of this joy to the object without knowing the enjoyer. It is the Self – the Atman – who is enjoying; not the object. No object has any capacity to give you happiness. It is ‘I’ who enjoys the object, whatever object it may be; anything, any relation, any idea, any concept, the source of their joy comes from ‘I’, not from the object or idea or notion.

When you rid yourself of all notions, all intentions and ideas, this will be revealed. Stop for a while. Give an instant to your own Self – just an instant that you have never found time for so far. You have spent 35 million years for others, seeking love, seeking beauty, seeking rest, and you have not got it. You have been hitchhiking millions of times and yet again you are here.

If this sounds good you can go through it and it is done, not by any kind of practice for you have done enough. What had to be done is done now. It is finished. What had to be attained is attained. You are here in satsang. In satsang no practice is needed, nothing is done. Only you are asked to keep quiet. Only you are asked to keep still. Only you are asked not to stir a single thought. And wait… Turn your back on whatever appears in front of you. Now is the time to turn your back on what you have done in the past. Turn your face to what has not been done before. Turn your face towards your own atman for the first time and turn your back on this name and form.

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You do not need to go to any ashram, because nobody there knows how to sit quiet. In every ashram and center recently different therapies have been introduced. There should be at least one person who could teach you silence, peace, and tranquility, and direct you to that place. He should be in the know of things himself, but nobody is there like that. Therefore wherever you go, some kind of therapy has been introduced in every ashram. Because no one teaches, “Sit quiet and don’t do anything.” If a center were to do that what would be the use of that center? A center is there for some commercial reason, for some material gain.

This is the only teaching that is not practiced anywhere in the world! What better teaching could there be, or what better teacher who tells you, “Keep quiet!” This was the teaching of my master. Nobody else has taught this recently, in this century. There were a few teachers also in the past but not in this century. In the twentieth century he alone was the teacher who could say, “Keep quiet!”

To keep quiet is the only goal that you have to practice to do away with this cycle. If you can’t keep quiet, then the practice closest to this quietness is prescribed: To repeat, “I am Brahman.” There is no harm in this, because when you utter the word “Brahman” it has neither name nor form. This Brahman word is not a name, because name and form go together immediately. When you utter a name there is a form. There is no form to accompany this name, so the mind is again formless and nameless. This does not depict any object or any subject.

This practice is not even a practice. It can be continued at home with whatever you are doing in your routine of life. Just keep this thought here and do whatever you want. This is the way which is nearest to your own Atman. In this life a human body is very rare so we have to make the best of it. Once lost it cannot be regained. We would have to go around again.

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Many people have difficulty in understanding this. Every day I receive letters from people who find it difficult to follow this. Not everyone is capable of arriving at this understanding or making this inquiry. It needs some discipline, some ground that has not been fulfilled. It is not possible to be engaged and busy with enjoyment of the senses and fulfilling your cravings on the one hand; and also wanting to be free, wanting to attend satsang, wanting to make this quest for self-knowledge on the other hand. This difficulty exists for those who are not free of running after desires and cravings. It is not possible to have both things at the same time. If you want to enjoy the world nobody is stopping you. The world is there to enjoy, so enjoy it! And if you are already satisfied then return now to your own Self for enjoyment, having enjoyed your own beauty, your own consciousness, your own bliss, you have enjoyed everything. Either this is the time of satisfaction or you run after things. Nobody has ever been satisfied running after these objects. As one object is fulfilled in the mind there are thousands waiting in queue. You have spent millions of years picking up one object after another.

Those people who have found that these cravings cannot be fulfilled are fit for the instruction of the teacher. They come, saying, “Now let me have knowledge.” They have come for instruction and it will work. A dull mind which is engaged somewhere else is not listening to the instruction of the teacher and will not get the teaching although the teaching is the same. It is said that those who listen to the teaching, those who come to the teacher, those who have satsang are in their last incarnation. They have tried everything else without finding satisfaction. They could not find it last time so they have returned with only this desire for freedom. When there is only the desire for freedom they will attain freedom. Whatever age they may be they will set off one day to find the teacher, and sitting with the teacher this instruction will drive deep into their heart. They will see that here is wisdom and here is light.

Trouble comes for those who are engaged elsewhere and still say, “We want to be free”. This is not going to pay them at all. If you have amritam and cyanide in the same cup it will not work. If you have to take cyanide, take it cleanly and see the result. That is the result that you have always been seeing. Now is the time to taste a drop of amritam, of nectar, of bliss. What is this nectar? It is bliss, it is consciousness, it is existence. Nectar is that which, having tasted it, you get complete satisfaction with no more searching, with no more coming and going. The only trouble is this: You cannot at the same time have enjoyment of the senses and freedom. You will have to decide. Or use up your life and have another life; there is no problem. Each one of us has already lived 8.4 million incarnations to be here today. If this is enough then let us now aspire for freedom and for freedom alone, and let us see what happens.

We are not speaking of any method anymore – you have had enough methods. Certainly no method is going to give you freedom because every method will need body, mind and senses. Whatever you do – whether you travel to holy shrines, to holy rivers, to temples, practice rituals or yoga – you need a body, you need a mind, you need senses. This mind is the root of the problem itself; this mind is samsara. It is a demon 35 million years old . You are walking hand in hand with this friend since time immemorial and you do not know who this fellow is. Still you do not know. Why don’t you part company with him just for five minutes and see – see how free you are without mind! We have seen that when all objects are abandoned from consciousness you have no mind. When there is no objectification in consciousness you are immediately free.

For some this is very easy; listening to the instruction of the teacher alone is enough. For some dispassion and effort is advised, dispassion and sadhana is advised. This sadhana is: If you forget yourself, again and again return to This. Again return to This. You will get rid of this mind.

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When your mind is not clinging to any object, to any person or idea, its face is turned towards its Source.

This is very simple. Millions of books about enlightenment and freedom have been written and are available in the world, and what is the result? People have been working for enlightenment, freedom, liberation, emancipation, moksham, since thousands of years. What is the result? Everything that you do, everything that you have been told to do, it is with the mind. When you read a book you are reading with the mind. When you are meditating you are meditating with the mind. When you are doing anything you are always doing it with the mind. This is why there is no result.

Distract the mind immediately from any object, person, or idea. It is that simple. Then the face of the mind is turned towards its source for the first time, and a reflection from somewhere un-told, un-described will fall on this mind which is not dwelling on the past. All objects, ideas, and people belong to the past. Now for the first time the mind has been directed towards its own native place, its own abode.

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You have heard the word Consciousness. When a finger is pointing to the moon, you see the moon. When you hear this word – consciousness – where is it pointing to? The finger pointing to the moon shows you the moon. Now the word ‘consciousness’ is used pointing to something. After having heard this word what do you see? What do you perceive? Who are you?

You are always consciousness: You have been, you are, and you always will be. Where is the difficulty in accepting the truth and what is real? Who told you that you are ignorant? Where did this ignorance arise from in the first place? Again and again you have affirmed, “I am ignorant, I am ignorant, I am ignorant.” and then we suffer. With the repeated affirmation, “I am bound.” and “I suffer.” this universe is created with endless suffering, incarnation, reincarnation, and endless birth and death. Somehow this cycle has started. Who is responsible for it? It is only your affirmation that this is real, this ignorance is real, this snake is real. There arises the fear; this snake has concealed the reality of the rope.

How is it possible to remove the concept of the snake? Who will remove this doubt? Now you cannot see the rope because you are attached to the idea of the snake. But there was never any snake. In the same way, you cannot see consciousness because you are attached to the imposition of ignorance. There was never any ignorance; you are consciousness itself. The snake will be removed by reasoning, not by sitting near it and meditating. Meditation will not remove the snake. You will have to see through reason that the snake is not moving. You are in shock, you are suffering, you are trying to pick up a stone or stick to beat the snake with; that is how you are engaged here. You have not used reason, and this is called ignorance. Move towards it, look at it carefully, or listen to someone coming from the other side who tells you that this is not a snake; it is just a piece of string lying here. He had not seen the snake, so on hearing his words the snake vanished because it never existed. There was only a rope underneath; through ignorance you took it to be a snake.

In the same way, through lack of reasoning you have accepted your affirmations that “This samsara is real.” and “I am bound.” It may never have existed at all. Sit down quietly and reason it out. Through this reasoning you will find out who has concealed consciousness and created ignorance. Or listening to someone who knows it was a rope can remove your doubt. On hearing this once from a responsible person the snake will disappear and you will see that it was a rope, that “I am consciousness.” Now as I say the word ‘consciousness,’ put it to the test stone and see if this word is correct. Go near and see if ignorance is real or not. Only then will you know that you are consciousness and Truth itself. You are satyam, shivam, sundaram.

You have been told from the very beginning that ignorance exists, and now this has become a reality. This ignorance does not exist at all. When you sit quietly where is the ignorance? Somehow we have accepted it, so the question now is how to remove this ignorance. When you add wood to a fire it becomes fire and burns completely, so that there is no more wood left. And when all the wood has become fire, when there is no more fuel, the fire also goes out. What is the fire that will remove ignorance and return you back to your own status, to your own abode, to atman, to Brahman?

There is really no name for your original nature but we have to converse. I say the word ‘consciousness.’ It is perhaps a finger pointing to the moon, but the finger is not the moon. It is only pointing to the moon because you can’t see the moon. Someone who has seen it points his finger. If you cling to the finger you can’t see the moon. Most people cling to what they have learnt, they cling to a teaching and start meditating. They become so interested in the means that they forget why the means was needed – the finger was needed only to see the moon. Meditation is a finger pointing to freedom. But everybody got attached, and now different societies are running meditation and nobody speaks about enlightenment.

The only fire which can burn everything is the fire of inquiry. Any practice which you perform is with the mind, and the result will be only mental. The trouble is with the mind, so we must find out how to get rid of the mind itself. The whole creation of past, present, future, hell, heaven, creator, preservation and destruction is just mind. The mind is simply a thought. There is no difference between a thought and the mind.

There is one prime thought that becomes the mind, that becomes the ego, body, senses, manifestation and time. All these millions of universes are hanging like dust particles in one thought. Give rise to the thought – ‘I’ – and everything arises. In this one thought exists the past, present, millions of universes, hells and heavens, and gods and creators, preservers and destroyers. How can this ‘I’ be arrested? If this ‘I’ ceases, everything ceases. When ‘I’ arises, everything arises in front of you. Now everything has arisen because you use the word ‘I’, but when there is no ‘I’ there is nothing.

When you enter into the deep sleep state without even any dreams you do not see any object, you do not see any subject, you do not see any manifestation – no creator nor creation. This is a dull state because there is no awareness at all so you may not recognize it. In deep sleep you forget yourself completely. There is no body, there are no senses, there are no objects. Nothing is there because there is no ‘I’ thought there. When you wake up in the morning the first thought to arise is the thought ‘I’. You think, “I am so-and-so”, and instantly the whole world arises before you. How is this thought to be checked?

There is a fire in this inquiry; if you simply inquire, “Who am I?” This is a fire which will burn everything: all the modifications of the mind, past, present and future. Just these three words: “Who….am….I…..?” are a fire which will burn everything, as the fire we talked of earlier. After having burnt past, present, and future, they will also burn the memory. And this inquiry will also be burnt as wood burns completely in a fire. The ‘I’ thought which went to inquire into its own nature is no longer to be found, and in this your true nature is revealed.

This inquiry can be conducted in this very instant. It is not a long procedure, it is not a practice. You do not have to do anything for this inquiry. You simply need to investigate, to inquire without thinking about anything and without performing any kind of practice. No effort or thought is involved. This is the inquiry that I speak about: to find out what this ‘I’ is which has created this manifestation. After having made this inquiry, keep quiet. If you do not think, and do not make any kind of effort that which you have never heard described, that which cannot be achieved or attained will reveal itself. It will reveal itself once you have conducted this inquiry and given up all kinds of thought and effort.

This auspiciousness is your own swarupam, your own Self, your own atman, your own Brahman. It is that which is everywhere. This is very simple for those who can hear innocently, without working the thinking process and the memory. You can postpone this, but sooner or later you will have to return home; and whenever this happens it will be this very second. You can postpone this second endlessly and endless universes will arise. It is up to you. Decide now. You can end it in this very second or you can create more universes. This very second is out of time because ‘I’ is time, mind is time. When you inquire into this ‘I’ it is gone. What happens is a revelation which does not take place in time at all. It transcends time, ego and everything.

Simply keep quiet and do not do anything at all.

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Do not waste your life this time, this human incarnation. It is very difficult to maintain the desire for freedom in human life. Most human beings are just two-legged animals, two-legged beasts interested only in sex, food and sleep. This is what animals and man have in common: food, sex and sleep. The only difference between animals and man is that we have the option, we have discrimination, to utilize this blessed human temple of God for the sake of freedom. We have had better sex as a pig. We have had better food as a wolf. If you overeat you have to go to the doctor in the evening. We don’t even have the stamina to eat that a wolf does. And animals sleep much better that we do. Man has to use sleeping pills and other drugs to be able to sleep.

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Whatever changes is not real. Starting with the body it changes, from childhood to youth to old age to death it changes. Even the whole world changes with earthquakes, with cyclones. The world which was here a hundred years ago or a thousand years ago is not now. Even money changes, and whatever changes is not the truth. The mind is also changing. Sometimes it is peaceful, sometimes it is restless. The states that you pass through every day also change. We have a firm belief that what we see in the waking state is real. This reality disappears in the dream state. Both waking and dreaming disappear in the sleep state, and sleep also disappears in the next waking state. What is alternating is not real. This is a fact.

Whenever there is a change there must be an underlying substratum which does not change, on which these changes are taking place. When you see a clay jar, instantly you have a consciousness of earth. When you see a ring, instantly you are conscious of gold. When you see a table, instantly you are aware that it is a wood. Like this there must be some substratum which has taken a different shape and a different name. Whatever changes has a substratum.

Whatever you can objectify and externalize, do it. Finally you will reach the body itself. Whatever you see must be external to you. If you see the body it is external, and something must be internal – something must be inner. That is why you can see things; because whatever you see must be external, must be an object. Even in a dream everything is external to you. There are mountains, there are rivers, men, trees; all are external to you. The sleeping man is not affected by the dream, he is only seeing.

So now we are advised to discover the changeless on which these changes are taking place. How is this to be done? By rejecting. Whatever changes, reject it. Sit down coolly for some time and see. Whatever you see, whatever you perceive or conceive or feel can be rejected. Something will be left which you cannot reject. That is the permanent abode of existence, consciousness, bliss and freedom. This can be done instantly or this may take ages.

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The desires are dancing. Let us see this dance. This universe is only the dance of desires.

Whatever your desires are, they manifest as objects so you can enjoy this dance. Your own desires are dancing in this samsara, in whatever you see in this manifestation, in all these objects. The rise of this everlasting dance depends upon ignorance. Samsara is just ignorance. We observe this dance because of ignorance. How is it possible to get rid of this dance? Objects attract the mind and we run after these objects – we run after our projections. Then the mind joins company with these objects, with this dance, and forgets how to wake up. This drama and this dance can only end when the sun rises. When the sun rises this drama will be over. This sun is inquiry – vichar. When the sun of vichar rises in your mind this drama immediately ends there, and it can not end otherwise. We have come here for freedom only; to end this drama. Therefore again and again we are coming and going. We forget why we came and we get lost in the enjoyment of the senses.

So only one thing will help you to be happy, that is to check this vasana, check this vasana, check this desire for enjoyment, and perhaps you will have the highest degree of enjoyment if you check your desire. If you don’t give rise to desire you will have utmost peace, love and beauty you will see for the first time, and even with your desire something what happens? In desire also, it is the end of desire that gives us peace.

Supposing you need something. “I need a new model car. So I am not happy because I want to have one, so I go to look at it. I have no money so I borrow money from the bank, from friends. Now the car is in front of my house.” You are happy. Has the iron given you this happiness? Or the rubber tires? Or the benzene? What has given you happiness? Because the desire to have the new model Toyota is now over. So then this desire is gone then you are happy. So for all – every desire, in every case, you see – it is not the object that you desire. Having that object will give you happiness only because your desire has ended. After the desire has ended and that emptiness is giving you happiness, you see.

If you know it was the emptiness, it is the desirelessness, thoughtlessness that gave me happiness, why not have this happiness here and now by not giving rise to a thought? Any thought, you see. First thought is, “I am the body, I am mind, I am intellect, I am senses.” So even this: If you don’t give rise to thought… and then you have to know how to do it also – inquire. There can be no any other method, maybe yoga, or anything else, even going to the pilgrimages, or chanting the formulas, meditating, practices – nothing is going to help you. Only you have to inquire at the root of the first thought. That is, we every day speak about I-thought, you see, so this ‘I’ and samsara. There is no difference, you see. To create samsara there must be rise of ‘I’. Then only you see samsara. And when you don’t give rise to this I-thought… in the sleep there is no samsara, no objects, no birth, no death, nothing ever, you see. So this ‘I’ itself, just ‘I’ is samsara.

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Freedom is already there, you see. You have only to know that you are free. You have never been bound. It was the desire, “I want this.” and “I want that.” that you have to abandon. And see… after this see, if you abandon this desire and then if the result is not good return back to the world. It’s always there. When you are not quiet there is world. When you are quiet, if you don’t like return back – if you like, stay on.

If you stay on you will see and you will notice for the first time that it never existed – nothing ever existed – before, now and later. This is the ultimate truth that you have to be told. When you see any form there is falsehood. What you have to do? If you simply get rid of one thing – just form – for one instant of time you just abandon the concept of form from your mind – for one second – and see if you are not happy. And form is falsehood. Where there’s a form there’s falsehood, you see. And all forms are seen in ignorance; and in wisdom there’s no form, in light there is no form. So there’s no pressure on you. Do as you like.

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We are dealing with consciousness only, but it’s very important to consider this matter. Many people write to me from The States and Europe. They say they are all right here, but when they return they forget it they lose peace and consciousness. I advise them to playfully worship whatever comes into their day-to-day life. Whatever they see has to be worshipped as the same consciousness – it cannot be other than consciousness. Eating food, whatever you do. Listening to music, worship through the ears. Whatever you see, it has to be worshipped, adored, honored. Like this, you will not forget consciousness. When you see that consciousness is everywhere this Cosmic Being has to be adored and worshipped in every being, every non-being, in every situation; when you are happy, in happiness; when you are not happy, in unhappiness. In all situations engage yourself. People say, “Sometimes I am happy; sometimes I lose it.” Beyond both is consciousness, their own Self. The Self reveals itself to itself. This Cosmic Being which resides in all beings, in human beings, and animals, and birds, in everything – is conscious within you. In the cave of your heart is the Conscious Being that directs you to see, smell, hear, activate your activities. This has to be worshipped, adored, honored wherever you go, whatever you do, whatever you hear, whatever you see. Then how can you forget? Wherever you are you are in consciousness and consciousness is within you. Worship this purusha – this cosmic being within you.

I do not know how this cosmic being has become an individual being. If it has become an individual being then the cosmic being is residing within it. This knowledge that, “I am individual being.” must be in the cosmos. This cosmic being has entered the cavity of your heart. Somehow you feel separated. You feel that, “I am an individual being, a different personality.” Where does this knowledge that, “I am an individual being.” come from? This knowledge is quite enough to be worshipped. Worship this knowledge at least, that “I am this individual being.” If you can’t agree that, “I am cosmic.”

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The concept that there was any work to complete has in itself been completed. This is all. What is there to complete? What was the work? To keep quiet. When you know this you have completed everything. Otherwise you will be hitchhiking for millions of years thinking that you have not completed your work. There is no work to be completed. The idea that you have to complete some work – that you are bound, that you have to be free – is all conceptual. You are fundamentally free all the time, and to know this is the completion of everything. The only hindrance was that you thought that you were bound. That was the obstacle. Removing this obstacle you can call, “completion of the work.”

Please remove all doubt by leaving it nowhere to reside. You call it doubt but there is no doubt at all. What is meant by doubt? Will you have any doubt if someone says, “You are not called so-and-so?” You know what your name is. In the same way you are That itself. In a dream you forgot your real nature and doubt arose. You will have to either remove doubt by yourself, or go to one who knows how to remove it – to one who will help you remove your doubt. Nobody can change you; you will remain what you are. A doubt arose: “I am not what I am.” The idea that “I am the body.” was this doubt. You are the in-dweller of the body, not the body itself. This simple understanding comes easily in satsang, but it will not arise outside in the world – or it will take millions of years – simply because everybody is clinging to the concept that, “I am the body.” In actually you are not the body; you are the one who is aware of the body. When you are aware of something it is an object in awareness. You are aware of everything including the body. What is this awareness? Who is aware?

Do not think. Do not even meditate. Meditation means postponing for old age or at least for next year that which is available now. Meditation means rejecting the rose flower and hunting for the thorn. Don’t meditate here. Just now! Sit quietly! Don’t think! Whenever you meditate you are postponing Now! Why postpone this until some other time, until some other moment? Have you ever seen the next moment? Why not now? Isn’t it available now? What kind of meditation do you need? There are people here who have been meditating for many years with all the teachers of the world and still they are not free. Meditation is only postponement. You may have made a habit of sitting in meditation every morning from six to eight, but the mind is very happy to have cheated you. You can do everything – there are some very professional meditators here – but still there is nothing inside.

You can complete this instantly because the Self – the Atman – is ever present. For whom are you seeking through method, through meditation, through thought? For whom? It is here and now. Even before you sit for meditation it is already here. Even the instinct to meditate came from the same source, to find the same thing. You are running away from it, never turning back. Whatever thought comes, whatever it is, even the thought of meditation: Stop. Discover the source of these thoughts: “I have to meditate, I have to be free. I need freedom.” Keep quiet and wait. Find out from where these thoughts are coming. Return back to the source of these same thoughts and tell me what you see. What do you call this? Where will it lead you? It will strike at your mind forever and you will become what you have always been. You will not find this through any method. Don’t be deceived once again by your mind.

You are here to be free in this very instant without doing anything, without even stirring a single thought. That’s why you are here. I don’t tell you to go to the Himalayas or to the caves or to the forest. I have seen many people with head hanging down doing penance. I have seen many in the higher altitudes of the Himalayas. They did not discover freedom. It is here and now. What is there to think about this? Even without thinking you are That. The habit of thinking, of doing something, is your only impediment. Give at least one second to yourself without doing anything, without even thinking. Do not make any kind of effort, and see the result.

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Trouble arises for those who say, “Sometimes I am happy and sometimes I am not.” When they are unhappy it is because unhappiness is arising from the mind, and when they are happy it is arising from the Self. The Self alone can give you happiness. All happiness is from the Self. All trouble, sorrow and suffering is from the mind. You have to be very careful to be vigilant to see what is coming from the mind, and to see the happiness that is coming from the Self.

Even in small things this is true. You might purchase a car or buy an apartment or meet a friend and you are happy. Why do these things bring you happiness? You are attracted to a particular person, or to a particular car, or to a particular apartment made of bricks and cement. It is not the steel, the rubber, or the benzene that brings happiness with the car. Nor is it the bones, flesh, blood, or marrow in a person. When you are happy you recognize the Self within the self, and you are free of desire. When you get a car your hope is gone, your desire for the car has left you. When you meet a friend your desire for the meeting is no longer there. When you buy an apartment your wanting to have an apartment is no longer there. This emptiness without desire or hope has given you happiness. If you know that it is this emptiness from the hope and desire that brings you happiness then you can always keep your mind empty. Then where is the problem to be happy wherever you are – walking, talking, sitting, standing, sleeping – you can be happy.

This moment you can try for one instant to not entertain any hope, any desire, and see what happens. The Self will reveal itself, the Truth will reveal itself to itself. This can be seen directly here and now. Don’t postpone it when you can simply get be happy without doing anything. Why miss it? This is the raft I speak about: Simply keep quiet.