Transcription
How do I know whether I'm making progress on the spiritual path? The degree of absence of thought tells you how far you advanced on the spiritual path.
Sometimes people say, "I've had enough of this. I don't want to come back." When I die, I definitely I've had definitely had enough. I'm not coming back. And because this world I have overcome this world, I can see it's all illusion and I'm not coming back. I don't need to. Okay.
And an hour later, the telephone rings and says the voice at the other end says, "Uh, the deal has fallen through. Your your investments are lost and they're suing you." What? How can what? How dare they for? Oh, how suddenly the world is very real again. An hour ago you said you had transcended it all [clears throat] and then somebody didn't you say you were a spiritual being and then you are no longer the same person you were an hour ago because there's you were perhaps perhaps an hour ago you were connected to something deeper but you can't stay there. Uh what about the spiritual? Oh leave me alone with that spiritual. I don't don't have time for that now. [laughter]
A friend of mine or acquaintance of mine had uh um uh in she's a writer. She had in invested on the um advice or the recommendation of a friend. She had vest in invested 90% of her money in uh New York in an investment company run by somebody called Maidolf. Uh and one day and she's quite spiritual and one day the phone call came and told her about Mr. made of it was a Ponzi scheme as the expression goes. So the whole thing evaporated, everybody's savings evaporated. [clears throat] So the phone call came and the shock and she called immediately called a friend. Uh well, you know what happened? It's all gone. All my life's work, all the fruit of my life's work is gone. And the friend says to her, "Well, um, think about this your spiritual teachings and what you and she said she told me that story herself. She said, "This is not the time to be spiritual." [laughter]
And many people are like that. If they are okay when they are not being challenged by the world, then they have transcended the world. But when they're being challenged by the world, suddenly they're in the middle of it again. So a an excellent criterion to judge your how far let's say how conscious you are how far you have advanced on the spiritual path is how you uh react to various situations in your life. What how do you deal and react with challenges and challenging situation and that could be uh quite revealing to observe yourself and that has a lot shows you quite how conscious you are and whether consciousness can be you don't have to beat yourself up if you lose it that's an expression in the English language I lost it you can ask what did you lose normally people don't know what They say just I lost it means I got very upset. I got very angry and so they I lost it. But it's a good expression. What did they of course they lost consciousness.
So the world what what power does the world and the things of the world have over you still? And that gives you feedback. People do do people make you upset and angry? That gives you feedback. And uh if you if if you find you're encountering situations in your life that before used to bring about an some upset reaction and that doesn't happen anymore. That's a great sign. That's a great sign. So it's not so much whether you are able to visualize angels which is lovely if you can vis go into meditation and some angels come and speak to you it's great but how do you operate in this world that's even more important or you might have conversations with in your meditations you might have conversations with Ashta commander of the gac actic fleet uh which is all very good but how do you operate in the when you're being challenged by the things of this world that and then that's where the real work is where the real test is and it's good.
So if you recognize unconsciousness in you, usually if it still happens occasionally to some of you, it's there's a remote possibility that some of you still occasionally lose it. And if it happens, you may find that uh after you lost it to use that expression, the consciousness comes back and you suddenly realize, oh, in that situation, I lost it. Uh, and then after a little while, you may find that in the midst of losing it, so to speak, I'm using that expression. In the midst of losing it, you realize that you're losing it. And that means you're not losing it. If you know you're unconscious, you're not totally unconscious. If you know you're insane, you're not totally insane. The really insane people don't know they're insane, of course. But if you know you're insane, there is a knowing there that's not part of the insanity. So that's always good. If you know you're insane, you're not that it's not that bad. And the knowing can grow. And as the knowing grows, the insanity shrinks. And as consciousness grows, the unconsciousness dissipates. So it's good that uh the world gives you always feedback.
Now when the the Indian sage Ramana Mahashi uh had profound teachings uh when he was asked how somebody asked him how do I know whether I'm making progress on the spiritual paths uh and he said that's an even more simple answer Um the degree of absence of thought tells you how far you advanced on the spiritual path. The degree of absence. How much how much thinking are you still burdened with? In other words, in or let's put it in other words, are you able to uh be free of thought? Not continuously. Obviously, nobody is free of thought continuously. But are you able to experience these gaps in the stream? That's the beginning of it. You experience these gaps in the stream of thinking that otherwise has no gaps in unconscious people. This goes good on and on. Are you able are there gaps? Uh, and that's great. Could just be a gap in between two thoughts or gap while you do something, perform an action and you're not you're just present with it. You're not thinking. You're able to sit quietly in a room for a minute or two. You're able to go out into nature and contemplate the trees and so on. Without interpretation. You're just present. You're able to walk from A to B. A short walk and be present with every step. And you're in your car driving being present. Uh with each traffic light that that turns red and with each red traffic lights, you're just there. There's a stillness in the background. So become familiar with this not with not thinking and that is that will empower your thinking when you do need it. Uh because your thinking can become more creative and more empowered if you are connected to that deeper realm of being. Then being can act speak through you. The consciousness, the unconditioned consciousness can act, speak through You.