Part 2
'What you are chanting are just words. You have no passion for you have no experience behind them. You are engaged in an intellectual exercise. Where is the truth of what you are chanting?'
The father was shocked. I think it is from Ashtavakra the generation gap problem started.
Ashtavakra was the first person who created, who started the generation gap problem. Ashtavakra asked, what happened to the knowledge, what happened to the wisdom? You are just reciting words. These are just words. Your recital has no juice, it has no wisdom.
Of course, father was very much hurt.
Scholars' egos are always very strong because their whole personality is built on words. Actually you can easily hurt a person who just lives with mere words. Scholars can be more easily hurt than anybody else because their entire mind and whole life, every thing is centered on words. A scholar easily gets cheated. You can easily cheat a scholar, just give him a few compliments; just verbally tell him that you are a great person, over. He is forever yours. You can also easily hurt him by saying few negative words.
A scholar's whole life is centered on words and words and words. So he is complimented by words and also deeply hurt by words. The moment he was deeply hurt, the father cursed the infant*.*
What is this? Before taking birth itself you are questioning me and after taking birth what all you will do, who knows? So he just cursed him. Because of the curse, Ashtavakra took birth with eight problems or difficulties in his body. At eight spots, his body was bent this way and that way. There were eight curves in his body. Ashtavakra in Sanskrit means eight bends, eight points of being crooked in body.
I don't know whether the story is factual; whether it really happened and all those things. But the story has got significance; it has got truth in it. Let us understand the truth behind the story.
Usually the great masters who take birth in the planet earth, they take conscious births. Consciously they enter into the mother's womb and they enter into the body and start radiating their enlightenment. The meaning of the story is Ashtavakra was conscious even before birth. That is the truth; that is the meaning of the whole story. We do not know and we can't prove whether he really spoke; whether he was really cursed and all those things. But the truth that our masters are trying to explain through the story is that Ashtavakra was conscious of his being and he was conscious of his birth.
Next, the next story about him is this, there is another beautiful story; he goes to King Janaka palace. Janaka was a great king. He was a raja rishi, a king who was a sage; a realized soul. Ashtavakra goes to the palace of Janaka. The moment Ashtavakra entered Janaka's palace, the whole palace started laughing; because Ashtavakra was so ugly, he had eighty curves in his body. People started laughing, all the ministers, all the people including Janaka, everybody started laughing and Ashtavakra did not get hurt.
If you are hurt, you are defeated. At any point if you are hurt, you are defeated. If you became angry, you are defeated. Ashtavakra was not hurt, he was not disturbed. He was just completely relaxed. He says, 'oh, Janaka I thought you are a great rishi, I thought you are a great enlightened person, that you are a great yogi. But you are neither a yogi nor do you have any yogis around you. You have only cobblers in your court. You have only shoemakers in your court'.
Ashtavakra boldly says you have only shoemakers in your court. You need to understand this statement; it is a beautiful statement. Straight away boldly a twelve-year-old boy, twelve year old handicapped boy, he is straight away talking to the king of the country.
A twelve-year-old handicapped boy, Ashtavakra enters the king's court and the whole court is laughing. If we are in that place the very first thing is that we would have become angry. First our ego would have been hurt and we would be angry.
Next, either you would have shouted or you would have left the palace, that's all. But here is the person who responds with no anger, no hurt; nobody can disrespect a person who lives in spontaneity; nobody can disrespect. He has got respect for himself. Nobody can give you suffering unless you give silent permission. Unless you allow, unless you give your silent permission nobody can disrespect you; nobody can hurt you.
Here, Ashtavakra is such an integrated being, such a beautiful being, he is not allowing others to hurt him, depress him. Straight away he talks with spontaneity; you are only having shoemakers. Be very clear, if you become angry, you cannot use right words; he is using the right words; cobblers, shoe makers.
Janaka was shocked. 'What are you saying, my child?' the king asked
Ashtavakra explained, 'these people are seeing only my skin, not the being. Cobblers see only the skin not the reality. When the cobbler sees an animal, he will think only about the skin; not the being. When a tailor sees you, he will see only your dress. He will measure your being, only based on the dress you are wearing. A jeweler when he sees you, first he will see only the jewelleries you are wearing. He will judge you based on the jewelleries that you are wearing. He weighs you based on the gold that you are wearing. People look at things only from their angle, they have their own ideas; they have their own imaginations'.
Ashtavakra says, 'you have only cobblers around you, people who only see the skin, not the being. My body has got eight curves, no doubt; but my being is pure. My being is straight'.
You can't upset a man who lives in spontaneity. You can't stop him; you can't disrespect him.
There's a beautiful Zen story: there was a big Zen master who was giving teachings, he was giving a discourse. A Buddhist scholar who was well read but had not experienced anything, an intellectual, he came to the master. The moment he entered the hall, he started shouting. Scholars are professional shouters.
He started shouting, what Zen do you know, what spirituality do you know? What are you talking about?
The Zen master was a young guy. 'What are you talking about, what Zen do you know? You can make only these fools listen to what you say, you can't make me listen. Can you make me listen to what you say?' he screamed*.*
The young Zen master was very polite; he just said, 'Sir, can you please come here, I am not able to hear*'.*
The scholar came near with all his arrogance. Then the master says, 'Can you please come this way?'
The scholar moves to one side. Then master turns his face to him, 'Can you come a little nearer?'
Then the scholar came a little nearer.
Then the master says, 'you seem to be a nice person. You have already listened to what I said thrice. Now, please sit down and listen carefully to what I am saying!'
Person who lives in spontaneity can never be disrespected. You can never catch him. And Ashtavakra is a person who is living in spontaneity. He lives completely in the present moment. He can neither be disrespected nor be deluded by the ego. He is not disturbed, he is just clear about his being. And he says clearly, 'Janaka, you are having only cobblers around you'. Janaka understood.
Janaka was an intelligent person; he was a rare politician, an intelligent king, a rare being. Being a king and having intelligence is really something. Janaka was a king and an intelligent being; he understood the meaning of the words uttered by Ashtavakra. He immediately came down from the throne and touched the feet of Ashtavakra saying, 'Please forgive me, I understand what you said'.
Not only did Janaka ask Ashtavakra to forgive him, he said him with folded hands,' oh Bhagavan', he calls Ashtavakra Bhagavan, a title reserved for enlightened beings. 'oh Bhagavan, just from your very words I understood that what you spoke was from your experience'.
Please understand, if you want to find out whether somebody is an experienced person, an enlightened person or just an intellectual pundit, look at him when he is hurt, and look at him when he is being disrespected. See how he behaves when he is disrespected and that will clearly show whether he has experienced. It will clearly reveal whether he is an experienced person or just an intellectual scholar. You can keep your face or post; you can keep everything as long as your ego is not hurt. The moment your ego is hurt, the venom that is inside will come out. If you have ego, simply the venom will come out. You will radiate the anger, violence and vengeance. When somebody is hurt, when he is disrespected, how he behaves, how he responds, that will give you clarity about whether he is really enlightened or whether he is an intellectual scholar.
Here, Ashtavakra was completely disrespected. See, if someone says something and if people laugh at him that may not hurt so much. But just by looking at someone if people laugh at that person the very being is rejected. See, you enter somebody's house; if you start talking and people laugh, then you can understand that they are not ready to accept what you speak. They are not ready to accept your speaking and that you may accept. But if they start laughing the moment you enter your very being is not accepted.
Sometimes, you don't open your mouth, people may think you are a fool; if you open it, you may confirm it; you will confirm it. So at the most they may reject your speaking, but just by your entering if they start laughing, your very being is rejected.
Here the very being of Ashtavakra is rejected, disrespected by the ministers of the court. But he was not offended, he was not disturbed, he is relaxed. Of course, when you address the masters you can't use the word was, we can only use the word is. We can't use the word was, for them. We can't say he was, we can only say is. Of course when you mention the incidents of the past, you have to use the word was, but when you mention about the masters they are; they are available. You can't use the words of past tense. He is not hurt and he is so clear about his being and he is clearly expressing the reality.
Janaka says, just by your very words, your few words, I can understand you are an enlightened being; it is from your very being. Please teach me; please give me the wisdom that you have. Janaka is requesting.
Because Janaka asked, whatever Ashtavakra taught him became a big help. It helped Janaka to transform his life, to awaken his being, to achieve enlightenment.
Here, I request you, unless you ask, this help cannot be given. If I give you without you asking, it will be just like the boy scouts helping the old lady cross the road. Three boys have to help one lady, because she did not want to cross the road.
So please be very clear, I do not want to force the help on you. By you being here, I assume you are requesting this help. So I am entering into the sutra, I'm entering into Ashtavakra's Gita assuming you need the help, that you need the wisdom and that you need the knowledge of Ashtavakra.
Let me read the verses in English itself, and then I will give the explanations.
Janaka said,
How can knowledge be acquired, how can liberation be attained, how is renunciation possible, tell me this, oh lord.
Beautiful question. Janaka by his very being is a seeker. By mistake he might have laughed, that is different. By his very being he is a seeker, seeker of truth, seeker of the reality. So he is asking the boy sage how knowledge can be acquired, how liberation is attained, how renunciation is possible, addressing him as Bhagavan, Lord.
You need to understand the word liberation. Liberation means, not disturbed, polluted and not touched by the inner or outer world goals. If you are not touched, polluted or corrupted by the outer world or inner world goals, you are liberated.
The moment you understand the purposelessness of the whole existence, you are liberated. Please understand, I am using a big word, purposelessness. Whatever you think as purpose, binds your life. Bondage is thinking that there is a purpose in your life. Immediately you start the next question, what do you mean Master? Do you think there is no purpose in our life?
Your life has got meaning, but it has no purpose. Be very clear, purpose means you are constantly worried about the goal. You are constantly worried about the achievement. You are constantly bothered about what has to be achieved, the goal.
Be very clear, goal is not the result of the life. Life itself is the result of the life. For example, one month if you are earning 20,000 rupees, you measure your thirty days time as 20,000 rupees. Mentally by and by you start calculating your one-month equals to 20,000 rupees. Whenever you go to a shop, you measure in your mind oh, to buy this sari, I have to work 15 days. To buy this jewelry, I have to work two months. Only based on the money, you measure your month. Be very clear, if somebody says, they will give you 100 years salary in one go and asked you to die will you accept?
No, but your mind is conditioned so much that you measure your whole life based on the money that you make every month.
The value of your life is calculated by your mind based on the money, which you make. You need to understand one important thing; your life is not equal to the money or wealth that you are creating. Money or wealth is beautiful as long as you use it. When you start measuring your whole life, when you start calculating your whole life just based on the money, when your whole life is minded, when your whole life is centered only on money, be very clear, you are seriously missing out on something in life. Something is seriously wrong with your thinking system.
Money is beautiful as long as you use it. But when you start measuring your life based on the money that you make, you are living in a miserable condition. If you measure your whole life just based on the money you are making, you will be happy only on the first and the second day of the month, when you receive your paycheck, when you receive your salary. The next twenty-eight days you will be doing penance just for the two days of joy. You will be selling your twenty-eight days just to be happy for two days. Please do not sell your life. Do not sell your life for some goals.
Two things: if you sell your life for some goal, you may not achieve anything at all and feel frustrated. That may happen, first thing. Second thing, you may achieve your goal, but feel depressed. Be very clear, there is an important word you need to understand, depression of success. You may have experienced depression of failure. Depression of failure is depression that happens after failure; this is not real depression. Because there is always somebody who can give you hope.
There are hundreds of these self help books, how to 'whatever' books. If you want to become mad, read 'how to' books; they take you straight to hell; it is a direct way to hell. These how to books, these self help books, what they actually do is this. If you are normally living with your problems, you may have ten worries; and if you read these self help books, they constantly teach you don't worry, don't worry, don't worry; now you have one more worry, how to stop your worrying.
All self-help books lead only to hell, direct way to hell; they will create one more worry for you. Let me tell you a small incident, it's not an incident, it's the truth. How to stop worrying, start living - it's a great book, written by Dale Carnegie. Dale Carnegie is the author and he wrote two books How to stop worrying and start living and another one book, How to win friends and influence people. Both are best sellers, international bestsellers. They are the largest selling books after the Bible. Next to Bible, understand, it means practically the second Christ. Next to Bible, these books are printed and sold all over the world.
In the first book he tells you 'How to stop worrying and start living'. He teaches you how to stop the suicidal thoughts. In the next book he says, how to have a good relationship with your wife. These are the two main ideas. Have any of you read his books? Have any of you read his biography? He committed suicide because he was not able to live with his wife happily. Really, I tell you this is the truth. Please understand, I'm not being negative or anything, it's the truth.
He committed suicide, just because he was not able to live with his wife happily. And I tell you the secret, how to write these 'how to' books. There's an important secret. Whatever you can't practice, just write and publish, it will become bestseller. Three simple steps to become a philosopher and best selling author. First thing, whatever you can't practice, write it and publish. Second thing, it should not be told in a simple language. Third thing, complicate things as much as possible, that's all.
If you can complicate a simple thing as much as possible you will become a great philosopher. And one more small tip. Try to criticize all other systems as much as possible. These are all few simple tips on how to become a great philosopher or how to write these how to books. These self-help books will neither give you peace nor guide you. Here, when you start working with these books, if you have ten worries, now you have the eleventh worry of how to stop worrying, how to start living.
Liberation, the concept of liberation means understanding the pure purposelessness of life. Even if you face the depression out of failure, it's ok. You always have some hope, somebody can inspire you to run again; but if you face the depression after success, nothing can be done; and if you are an intelligent man, around the age of forty to forty-five, you have to face the depression of success. This is the scale to find out whether you are intelligent or not. If you are forty to forty-five, and still you have not faced the depression of success, be very clear something is seriously wrong with you. Something is missing in your life.
Around the forty to forty-five, you have to face the depression of success, because around that age you would have achieved whatever you wanted to achieve. But suddenly you will realize, I achieved whatever I wanted to achieve, but I have not achieved what for I wanted to achieve. Achieving what I want is different; achieving what for I wanted is different. You always wanted the house, car, relationships, and bank balance, for the sake of happy life. By the time you achieve all these things, you are conditioned to suffer.
In the young age, when you are happy, blissful by nature, when you are bubbling, overflowing with energy, you postpone your joy. You always tell your mind no, no, no; after college, I think I will rest and I will be happy. After college, you think, once I get a job and settle down, then I'll be peaceful. Once you get the job, you think after my marriage I'll be happy and blissful. After marriage, you know; now you know. And after that again you think, once kids are there, I'll be happy. And after the kids, once they all grow up and start and finish their education, I think I'll be happy. By the time they are settled in their life, you are conditioned to suffer.
The stress of suffering or worrying becomes part of your being, part of your very being. You are completely conditioned to suffer. After that, if the worry or stress is taken away from you, you feel lonely; you feel you are missing something. You feel you are not as you are. That is the reason old people cannot sit with themselves. Either they'll catch somebody and start talking, 'in 1962, when I was in the army…….'; they'll start telling these stories to anyone they can catch hold of.
See, it's not accidental; around the world, all grandparents tell stories to their grand kids. Not only in Hindu culture, around the world in all the cultures this is the tradition. It is not for the sake of the kids, it is not for the benefit of the children but for the sake of the grandparents this tradition started. Elders feel lonely and they need to talk. You can see that in your own life. Elderly people who would have been married, their kids would have been married and sometimes even their grandkids would have been married. But they will be sitting and reading the matrimonial column in the newspaper wearing thick glasses. They cannot sit with themselves, they cannot relax with themselves.
Relaxing within your own self is what I call liberation. Person who can sit with himself without needing anything from the outer world is liberated. Please understand, the word jeevan mukta, one who is liberated in this life does not mean something very difficult. If you have big, big ideology about jeevan mukta, you will never think it is possible.
Today's subject is 'Enlightenment- it is possible'. You will never understand it is possible. Understand, it is very simple and this is actual definition. Jeevan mukta refers to a person, who can sit with himself. He is one who doesn't need anything from the outer world to entertain him, excite him and make him peaceful or happy. He can sit with himself.
Liberation means the understanding of the purposelessness of life. It is to understand clearly that the money that you make cannot measure life. It is something that is more than the money that you make. Your life is not the twenty-five thousand rupees per month, which you make. If you think that twenty-five thousand is your life, you will live in hell for twenty- eight days and you will be in heaven only for two days. You will be selling your twenty-eight days for two days.
The person who keeps the money as his goal or the person who keeps something as his goal will be happy and blissful only when he achieves it, and then also only for a few moments; or he will be just thinking he is happy. When you understand that whatever goals you have achieved, none of them has a purpose, no purpose at all, you will start living moment to moment. When you understand the purposelessness of life and that life itself has no separate purpose other than life, every moment you will respect. You will start respecting life every moment and be grateful. You will start living in the present.
When you drop the goal from your mind your very work will become beautiful. Your very work will become joyful; you are not running for something, the very running is beautiful. The very running becomes beautiful; if you are running thinking of a goal you will never see the beautiful garden which is around you.
If you are just running just for the pleasure of it, you will enjoy the garden and you will reach the goal, both. Infuse little bit of peace and bliss in your life and you will understand the purposelessness of life. If you think life has got purpose you will never understand the meaning of life. The moment you understand that life has no purpose, that moment you are liberated. You will understand the meaning of life. Meaning of life is living in this moment. That is what Krishna says:
You have right only to do your duty; you have no right for results.
What He means is this: do not live a goal oriented life and do not think life has a purpose. Understand that our whole life is just a small wave in the ocean of the cosmic energy. In this big cosmic energy, in this cosmos, in this infinite Brahmanda we are just small waves. You are a small wave in the cosmic ocean.
Suddenly the waves start thinking oh, I should protect myself and starts asking the neighboring waves, please you be my wife, you be my husband, you be my son, let's all protect ourselves, let's all live together and let's all live a happy life.
Then the wave collects a few pieces of sand from the beach and says, this is my treasure, and the wave starts thinking, this is the purpose of life. It thinks that now it is protected. And it locks two or three sand pieces and two three pebbles with another wave and gives it to another wave and says see, I'm lending all this money to you; you have to give back when I ask. The wave thinks it is completely secure, protected. It doesn't understand that the next moment it is going to disappear again into the same ocean.
In the same manner we are all waves; few minutes' of drama and the next moment we are going to disappear into the same ocean. Just like how the wave thinks it is separate from the ocean and wants to protect itself and starts collecting few pebbles from the beach and thinks it is rich or it is protected or it is secure and it has got life insurance, we do exactly the same thing.
Life insurance is another one big drama. You cannot use that word life insurance at all; it is death insurance. See after you die your family or friends or relatives get that money; they are waiting for it. So you cannot call it life insurance; you can only call it death insurance.
So, be very clear, just like how the wave thinks he is secure by collecting few pebbles, same way you think you are safe by having few diamonds in your locker. That pebble and your diamond are both one and the same. Because few ignorant people want to possess these diamonds they have a market value, that's all. Few foolish people want to possess these stones and so they have resale value, that's all. Otherwise in reality that and this are one and the same. Whether that stone or this stone, they are one and the same. Because few fools are competing to possess the same stone, it becomes valuable.
Be very clear no stone can protect us. How the wave thinks that by collecting few pebbles, it is protected and it's life is insured, it is secured, in the same way we start thinking that having a few material things is what makes us secure. Life is pure purposelessness. Even though it is little difficult to understand this truth because of our social conditioning, the moment you understand you are liberated. And be very clear, a person who understands life is purposeless, he will start working ten times more intensely than you do.
Do not think you will become lazy. Always people ask me, Master, you say life is purposeless. If we start thinking like this, we don't want to work, what to do now? Be very clear, because you have created too many negative thoughts about your work, because you are conditioned to think work is punishment, work is hell, working is wrong, working creates stress, because you are again and again taught all these ideas, because again and again you are conditioned with these ideas, the moment you understand life is purposeless, you want to escape from that work. It is just because of your conditioning, not because of your understanding.
Now if you really understand that life is purposeless, the stress to achieve success, the pressure to achieve success, the peer pressure to achieve success, all this will be removed from you. The moment peer pressure is removed from your being, you are liberated. And I tell you, liberated person will be creative. Liberated person will be energetic. Liberated person, by his own understanding, will start working.
Understanding life's purposelessness will not lead you to laziness. If it is leading you to laziness, be very clear you are having negative attitude towards your working. You had already built up the negative attitude towards your working. That's the reason you try to escape, the moment you get this understanding. But sincerely if you understand the beauty of purposelessness, if you understand life is purposeless, you will be continuously working without stress, without the pressure of the goal, without constantly thinking about the goal.
As of now you are split personality. Half of your being is thinking about the goal, half of your being is thinking about the path. The moment you understand goal is useless, you are integrated and you live in the path. The very path, the very life, becomes liberation. Working out of liberation is what I call working as an enlightened being, as enlightened CEOs. If you are working out of liberated consciousness you live in leader consciousness. You achieve the state of the leader.
Two things: status of the leader is different; state of the leader is different. Status of the leader is related to society. Status of the leader is related to your society, your position, your bank balances and all these things. State of the leader is related to your understanding of the life. If you have this deep understanding you will achieve the state of the leader, the leader consciousness. Man will be liberated, if he lives in the leader consciousness.
Here Janaka asks: How to achieve liberation, how renunciation is possible, tell me this oh lord.
Renunciation is another beautiful word. Always people come and ask me, Master, should I renounce everything to achieve enlightenment? Should I renounce everything to realize the divine? I tell them: just renounce what you don't have, that's enough. You don't have to renounce what you have, just renounce what you don't have.
You live mentally with fears, anxieties, unnecessary worries, unnecessary fantasies, too much of imaginations and all these things even if they are not there in your real life. Mentally you are constantly fantasizing about all these things. 99% of your worries never come true. Whatever one percent comes true is always good for you.
Let us give our prayers and requests to Ashtavakra, the great-enlightened master, to help us to understand the technology created by him, the formula created by him, to achieve the same state of Ashtavakra, the same state of enlightenment. Please close your eyes and pray to that ultimate energy, which gave this science through Ashtavakra to all of us, pray to him intensely. Let him give us deep understanding about this science, let him make us understand this science, let this become our experience. Let this become part of our being. Let us digest the teachings and the technology of Ashtavakra.
Ashtavakra starts the answer beautifully:
If you aspire after liberation my child, shun the objects of the senses as poison and seek forgiveness, sincerity, kindness, contentment, and truth as nectar.
You are neither earth, nor water, nor fire, nor air, nor ether. In order to attain liberation, realize yourself as the knower of all these and consciousness itself.
These two beautiful verses are two beautiful sutras (techniques). In the first sutra, he speaks about few things, few qualities, very basic qualities, like shunning the objects of the senses, seeking forgiveness, being sincere, being kind, being content and living with the truth. In the second sutra he says, please understand, in the second sutra he expresses the technology. He says you are neither earth, nor water, nor fire, nor air or ether. In order to attain liberation, realize yourself as the knower of all these and consciousness itself. It's a beautiful sloka.
In the first part, he gives few disciplines, few moral lessons. In the second part, he gives the technology to achieve the state. I feel that in those days this is the way they presented. First little bit of discipline, then enlightenment. But I tell you, for modern men unless the experience itself happens, we can't even ask him to be disciplined. If you tell him, please shun the objects of the senses, he will ask what for, why? What's the need, we are very happy, why should we do all these things?
Unless you can give the direct experience you cannot tell anyone anything, you cannot give all these advices. Advice is one thing that everybody gives and nobody takes; which everybody can give and nobody wants. For modern man you cannot tell him first to enter into all this, then experience, no. That's the reason our spirituality is outdated.
In the modern day, we'll have to put the second sutra first and first sutra second. After your experience, extraordinary discipline will follow in your life. We cannot force discipline on you. We can't force discipline on ourselves. We can only work towards the alchemy, the transformation of our being. We can only work towards enlightenment. Once that experience starts happening, automatically the morality happens to you. The discipline happens to you.
So I am explaining the second sutra first. Let us enter into the second sutra first. Then first sutra will start happening in your life.
You are neither earth, nor water, nor fire, nor air or ether. In order to attain liberation, realize yourself as the knower of all these and consciousness itself.
Constantly you think about your life, whether positive or negative. Whether you think your life is a chain of beautiful incidents, or whether you think your life is a chain of many sufferings. Usually you think it's only a chain of suffering. Whether you think your life is a chain of sufferings, or you think your life is a chain of beautiful incidents, both are ignorance. Both are just expressing your ignorance.
Be very clear, your life is not a chain as you think. Every moment is individual, separate independent moment. You are just an unclutched being. Because usually you are clutched, you think life is a single shaft. Because you never unclutched, you think you are a shaft. Be very clear, any moment you can just unclutch yourself; any moment you can liberate yourself.
Here Ashtavakra says you are neither earth, nor water, nor fire, nor air, nor ether. Please be very clear, he is not requesting you to believe all these things, no. Whether he requests or not, I don't know, but I'm not requesting you to believe all these things. Let me be very clear, I'm not asking you to believe all these things. I'm just stating the fact, I'm just stating the truth; I'm just expressing the truth. If you are intelligent enough, it'll resonate in your being, you will feel connected to what I am saying; you will feel deeply the truth of my words. If it happens in you, come tomorrow. Otherwise relax, it's ok, do not bother about it.
You cannot believe; all these things cannot be achieved by believing. All I request you to do is, just be here completely present and try to listen to whatever is uttered and try. If you are a seeker or if you are going to be helped by these scriptures or by me, simply these words will start creating a new healing effect inside your being. You will experience a deep inner healing; you will experience a deeply connected feeling; a feeling of connection. You will start feeling that you are connected.
If that feeling connected happens, be very clear, you are ready for experience. You are now ready for the experience. You cannot prove all these statements logically. I cannot prove all these statements logically. These statements are not to be proved logically. These are not for logical analysis.
A beautiful story:
Let me tell you this story. Vivekananda goes and asks Ramakrishna, 'Bhagavan why don't you prove God logically?'
And Ramakrishna laughs: 'if I prove God logically, logic will become God. Logic will be raised to a higher level than God himself. God is at a higher level; God is great because, he can't even be proved by logic'.
Then Ramakrishna gives the same Ashtavakra book to Vivekananda and asks him please read. But Vivekananda was completely confused and depressed at that time.
He says: 'Why should I read all these things, I don't want to'.
But Ramakrishna says, 'I'm not asking you to read for yourself, please read it for my sake. Please read it for my sake. Just read. I'm old, I can't read, you are young, your eyes are fresh. Just read it for my sake so that I will listen; just few lines'.
And the narration says he was able to read only few sutras. The very techniques started shaking him, he started shivering. He started trembling and the tears started flowing. He just dropped the book and started begging Ramakrishna*, '*I don't know, but I can't read this book anymore. My whole being is shaken'.
Be very clear, if you intensely listen, your whole being will be shaken. If you are shaken, this book is for you; I am for you. If it doesn't happen do not bother, relax in the house tomorrow; there are so many other beautiful programs, use your time in a much better way.
When you work with the truth you don't need to believe, the very power of the truth will shake you. The very power of the truth will start working in you. The very power of the truth, you will not be able to forget.
People ask me, Master, how to remember all your teachings and follow them in our lives?
I tell them never do that mistake. Never try to remember my teachings. If my teachings are truth you don't have to remember them. They will remember you. Just listen and understand. Whenever it is necessary, they will automatically come up and they will make you do things according to truth.
If you have to force yourself, think and remember and then practice, it means that it is not truth. Truth needs no belief. Here Ashtavakra is declaring: you are neither earth, nor water, nor air, nor fire nor ether. In order to attain liberation, realize self as the knower of all these and consciousness itself.
He says you are neither body, nor mind or any of these five elements. Your body and mind are created out of these five elements. You are filled with earth, water, fire, air and ether; ether is your thoughts. You are filled with all these things, but you are not these. You are beyond all these things. You are beyond all these five elements. Understand yourself as a pure consciousness. Realize yourself as a knower of all these and consciousness itself.
The next question, the immediate question will come, how to understand this, Master?
Today we will do a simple meditation technique from this sutra. To realize that you are consciousness itself, the meditation technique derived out of this sutra that will give you the deeper level experience or understanding about what I am speaking. You do not have to think you are body, to be alive. Be very clear, you do not have to think you are mind to think.
Somebody goes to Ramana Maharshi and says, 'Bhagavan, to live in Tiruvannamalai six rupees is more than enough'. In those days, cost of living was very low. To live here one month, six rupees is more than enough. Bhagavan says, 'To live, even body and mind are not necessary, why do you need six rupees?'
Understand, even your body and mind is not necessary for us to live. If you understand you are beyond your body, your body becomes graceful. When you understand you are beyond mind, your mind becomes intelligent. You start radiating grace and intelligence, when you understand you are beyond body and mind.
There's a beautiful sutra in Ayurveda in which healing and spirituality are explained beautifully. In Bharat everything, art, culture, painting, festival, medicines, clothes and everything is connected to spirituality. Spirituality is the backbone. In Ayurvedic science, they say the stomach problems, constipation, all these things happen if you are constantly holding your body tense. If you can just relax and witness, if you start understanding that you are not the body, you will never have stomach related problems. Any of you have problem of the stomach, try this and I tell you it works.
In the last two and a half years I've met more than million people. One million people have taken the meditation techniques and technologies created by me and experienced the truth and bliss in their lives. Let me tell you this from my experience. If you have stomach problems, just for two to three days constantly think you are not the body. I assure you; you will be liberated from the stomach problem. Simply your stomach will be healed.
One more thing, I am not giving you false hopes, I am not giving any false statement. After the experience of two and half years and after working with one million people, I am giving this statement. After thousands of case studies, I am making this statement. After long research I am telling you, just try for a few days if you have stomach problems- ulcer, constipation, irritation, any problem related to stomach, just for two three days constantly think, I am not the body, I am not the body.
Just relax and allow the body to function. I tell you, within two, three days you will be healed. Because the moment you start thinking you are the body, you begin suffocating the body, you start forcing the body, you start abusing the body. You start disrespecting the body. When you think you are the body, you start disrespecting it, you start abusing it.
You can see it in your lives that for the sake of your enjoyments you destroy the body. Till night twelve o'clock in the night you sit and watch cricket on the television. Your eyes are burning, they are begging you, please give me little rest. In between the advertisements eyes are automatically closing; but no, no, no this is not the time for me to sleep. And you start watching the game again.
You are abusing your eyes for the sake of your pleasure. For the sake of your intellectual joy or ego joy, if somebody wins you associate yourself with somebody. Some country, whether it is Bharat or Pakistan or Srilanka you associate yourself with that country. And if they win you feel joy. By their winning you feel the joy. It's joy that comes out of ego and association. And I want all of you to understand; watching cricket is surely not patriotism. And somehow the idea has been spread, no, no, no we should watch and support to be patriotic.
One young guy came to me and told me: 'Master, we have to be patriotic, that is why I watch the cricket matches'.
I said, 'what are you talking about? If at all Bharat can be represented, it can be only be represented by enlightened masters and the rishis, not by one or two players or teams'.
Be very clear the backbone of Bharat is totally different. I am not against a particular player, a particular game or a particular group. I am just against the very concept, the very concept. All of you be very clear, if at all Bharat can be represented, if at all you want to associate, associate yourself with a group of masters, group of enlightened beings. Not with a game or group of players.
Be very clear, you start enjoying by associating yourself with the group and for your ego satisfaction you abuse your body, you disrespect your body. The moment you start realizing you are not the body, you allow the body to function as it is. You allow the body to function naturally. By its own very nature, it heals itself. Body has got its own intelligence.
Never think because of you, your body is healthy. In spite of you, it is healthy. Not because of you, in spite of you it is healthy. Constantly you abuse your body; constantly you torture your body. The moment you start thinking you are the body, you start abusing the body. If you can relax from the idea that you are the body, you will start respecting the body. You will allow the body to live as it wants. You will allow the body intelligence to function. You will allow the body to live naturally. You will not interfere with your body. You will be alive, bubbling, overflowing with energy. You will radiate grace.
The moment you start understanding you are not the mind, you will have the sharp intelligence and spontaneity. You can see in your lives. If two guys are playing chess, if you are watching the game, you will know of better moves than those two. And if you are playing, you will not know the moves. If you are just watching you will tell them, hey, why don't you do this, why don't you do that? But if you yourself are playing you will not be able to do that. Just because the pressure, the pressure to win makes you dull.
When you are witnessing, when you are away, you don't have the pressure to win. When the pressure to win is not there, you become so intelligent, you become so spontaneous, you become so alive, your mind starts radiating intelligence.
Ashtavakra says you are not the body, you are not the mind, you are not the earth, you are not the water, you are not the fire, you are not the air, you are not the ether and you are not the five elements.
We always think we are the five elements; body and mind made out of five elements. We always think we are the five elements. First thing, understand you are not this body and mind. When you understand you are not this body and mind, you start respecting the body and mind. You start living with your body and mind blissfully. You do not abuse your body. You do not disrespect your body intelligence. You let your body live naturally. You let your body to live blissfully.
The next sutra:
if you detach the body and rest in intelligence, you will at once be happy, peaceful and free from bondage.
I think that in these one or two sutras, Ashtavakra completely expresses whatever he wants to say. Ashtavakra clearly explains whatever he wants to say. Usually to say things in a clear way needs intelligence. One more thing, to understand things from two, three statements also needs intelligence. Otherwise we always understand from the other corner.
A small story:
One guy from Texas goes to a European country. There he meets a farmer. The European farmer starts speaking about his farming, agriculture, and all those things.
The Texan asks, 'Where is your farm, please show me'.
The farmer says, 'I have ten acres in front of my house; I have twenty acres on this side of my house'. The Europe farmer was very proud of his thirty-acre land.
Then this guy asks the Texan, 'How many acres of land you own? How you do farm?'
Texan says, 'How many acres? I don't know. Early morning I sit in my car and start driving. I go on and on. Only in the evening I reach the other side of the boundary.'
The European farmer immediately says, 'Oh, is it so, once upon a time, even I had a car like this!'
Please understand, one guy says I have a big land. But the other guy understands that he is talking about his car not moving.
You talk from one angle and the person understands from another angle.
Now, you need intelligence to present something with few words. Same way, you need intelligence to understand something with few words. Bernard Shaw wrote a forty-page book and then he makes a statement, 'I didn't have enough time; if I had enough time I would have written only a twenty-page book.* Because I didn't have enough time, I wrote a forty-page book. If I had enough time, I would have used my intelligence and reduced the contents to twenty pages. Because I didn't have time I had to write forty pages'.
Be very clear; do not think if the book is voluminous, it contains intelligence. Many times few sutras, one or two lines will give the whole clarity. It can transform the whole life.
Today all I wanted to express was simply one thing. Only one concept, there is something called enlightenment, and it is possible. There is something called living in the body and mind, without being touched by the body and mind. You can live inside the body and mind without being touched by the body and mind. You can live a liberated life.
First thing, it is possible; it is possible. If you understand the technology of Ashtavakra, not only it is possible, it is guaranteed. If you have the courage to enter into the technology of Ashtavakra, just have it. Today I say it is possible. Tomorrow I'll explain how it is guaranteed, and day after tomorrow just have it. And there is nothing else that needs to be done.
Now all you need to understand is simple two things. First thing, you are not the body and mind. Second thing, if you detach the body and rest in intelligence you will at once be happy, peaceful and free from bondage. The moment you think you understand that you are not the body and mind, immediately, that very moment you will become peaceful.
Tremendous peace starts happening in you. You start understanding and accepting you as you are. In that very moment you start relaxing into yourself. In that very moment you become silent. That very moment brings bliss in you.
The moment you understand you are not the body and mind you relax from this whole samsara sagara, ocean of life and death. As long as you associate yourself with the body and mind, you experience all the sufferings and pains of the body and mind. You start experiencing the pains and pleasures, sufferings of the body and mind. Just understand this simple thing. For an animal to breathe, for a cow to breathe, it does not need ego, it does not need a being and it does not need any character.
But you are afraid if you drop your being you will not be able to use your body. You are afraid if you drop your being your body will not function smoothly. You have an idea about yourself, 'I am somebody's father, I am somebody's brother, I am somebody's son, I am this, I am that'.
This idea that you have that this being which you are carrying, this ego that you are carrying is not at all necessary for the smooth functioning of your body and mind; of course very difficult for you to believe this.
A small story:
A born blind person went to the doctor and asked the doctor, 'Please do something and give me sight'.
The doctor said, 'I'll do a surgery and you'll get your vision back. Then you'll be able to walk without the help of the stick'.
Blind people use a stick to be guided when they walk. He says you'll be able to walk without the stick.
The blind man says, 'Doctor, I understand you'll do a surgery; I understand, I'll get my eyes back. But I am not able to understand how I can walk without the stick?'
You cannot convince him intellectually that he can walk without the stick after the surgery. You cannot convince him at all intellectually. Because, over time he started thinking that his walking itself is connected to the stick. Only after the surgery he can understand that he can walk without the stick. Once he gets his eyes back he will throw away the stick and walk.
I tell you, you don't need your ego to live in the body and mind. How the born blind person can never understand that he can walk without the stick after the surgery, you too are not able to understand that you can also live without the ego in the body and mind. You can live inside your body, inside your mind, without ego. How the blind man doesn't need stick, the same way you don't need ego to live.
The ego that you are carrying, the concept about you that you are carrying, the personality that you are constantly carrying, all this is not necessary for you to live inside the body and mind. You are afraid, no, no, no if I drop that personality, people may cheat me, they may exploit me, I may be taken for a ride and somebody may cheat me in my business; somebody may take away all my property. If I feel I'm not the body, I'll not maintain my house; I may give it away. All these fears rise in you; please be very clear: all these fears are created in you, by your ego.
As long as you are afraid you can be exploited by the ego. Whoever wants to exploit you, first thing they have to do is create fear in you, including your worker. If he wants to exploit he will create the fear in you that if he is not there you will not be able to do his activities. First thing, he will create a fear in you, that he is needed. If he is not there your smooth activities will be disturbed. Whether it is your company or your house or something else it'll be disturbed.
First thing, he creates the deep idea in you that he is an important part and without him you cannot run. He creates fear in you. Then according to the level of the fear, according to the intensity of the fear, he starts exploiting you. Same way, first thing ego does is, ego clearly tries to prove to your being, you cannot live in your body and mind without me; without the personality, you cannot live.
Once you are frightened, once you are afraid, once you start believing that without the ego you cannot live in your body and mind, it is very easy for your ego to exploit you, to cheat you. Be very clear, it is just simple fear, nothing but simple fear. We will do a beautiful, very effective meditation technique, from this sutra; just few minutes of meditation to realize the truth of this sutra. But before entering into the meditation, I'll spend few minutes, answering your questions. Because I've uttered too many big, big words and because I've expressed too many concepts, unless you question, you will not be able to digest what I said.
One more thing, usually you feel that if you ask questions, everyone will look at you and you may look like a fool. Please understand, if you put your question, you may look like a fool; if you don't, you will be a fool. Better look like a fool, ask and have an answer, than being and staying as a fool. One more thing, unless you analyze these concepts, with your questions and my answers, you will not be able to internalize this truth.
You will not be able to make this an experience in you. So I request all of you, if you have any questions, you are welcome. After spending few minutes of answering your questions, we'll enter into a simple meditation technique, to experience the reality or the truth of Ashtavakra's words.