Transcription
[Praise] The first question, while listening to the discourse yesterday, it felt as if I was not on this earth, but a particle of light in the free and boundless sky. Even after the discourse, the emptiness of lightness continued to be experienced. The soul felt like wandering in that same sky. I do not know knowledge, action, or devotion. But when alone, the soul feels like being immersed in this state. But sometimes this feeling also arises, is this my madness? Is this another game of my ego? Please guide me. We are on this earth, but on this earth, in reality, we cannot be, nor do we appear to be. We are strangers on earth. We have made a home in the body, but the body is not our home. Like someone settles in a foreign land and forgets their homeland, then suddenly one day on the road, in the market, someone is met who reminds them of home, who speaks in their own language, then for a moment the foreign land will disappear, the homeland will appear. This is the value of scriptures, this is the meaning of the words of institutions. Listening to them, for a moment, we are not here, we become where we should be. Flowing in their music, what surrounds us disappears, and what is far away comes near. The words of Ashtavakra are very unique. If you listen, this will happen again and again. Again and again, it will feel like you are not on earth. You have become of the sky. Because those words are of the sky. Those words have come from the homeland, from the source from which we all have come and to which we must go, and without going there, we will never find peace. Where we are is an inn, not a home. No matter how much we sit with pride thinking it is a home, inns remain inns. No matter how much you explain, console, or call, it makes no difference. The thorn continues to prick, the memory keeps coming. And sometimes when one encounters such a truth that pulls you, that shows you a glimpse of another world like a magnet, then it will feel that we are no longer a part of the earth. Did it feel right? Yesterday, while listening to the discourse, it felt like I am not on this earth. No one is on this earth. We appear to be on this earth. There is a perception. The truth is, we are in the sky. Our nature is of the sky. Soul means the inner sky. Body means earth. The body is made of earth. You are made of sky. Both have met within you. You are the horizon where the earth appears to meet the sky, but they never truly meet. The horizon always appears to be meeting the earth a little further away. Set out, it seems you will reach in an hour or two. Keep walking for lifetimes, you will never reach the place where the sky meets the earth. It only appears to be meeting, always appears to be meeting, just a little further ahead, just a little further. The horizon is nowhere, it only appears. Just as there is a horizon outside, so is our state. Here, within, the meeting has never happened. How can the soul meet the body? How can death meet immortality? Milk mixes with water. Both are of the earth. How can the soul meet the body? The properties of both are different. No matter how close they are, meeting is impossible. Even if they are close from eternity, meeting is impossible. Meeting cannot happen. It is only our perception. Our assumption, our belief, we have assumed it. Therefore, if you let the words of Ashtavakra pierce your heart like arrows, they will awaken your memory. They will bring back your forgotten memory. For a moment, the sky will open. The clouds will clear, your life will be filled with the rays of the sun. It will be difficult because this experience will be contrary to our entire life. This will cause restlessness. And these clouds that have cleared, they have not cleared because of you. They are the result of the words of some being. Then the clouds will gather again. You will be surrounded by clouds again by the time you reach home. You will not give up your habit so quickly. Then the clouds will gather again, and there will be more restlessness, was what was seen a dream? Was what was seen an imagination? Was it a game of the mind and ego? Did we fall into some madness? Naturally, the weight of your habits is very old. Darkness is very ancient. Although it is not there, it is very ancient. The ray of the sun sometimes bursts forth, it is very new. Extremely new. It is seen for a moment. Then you get lost in your darkness. The history of your darkness is very long. When you are born from both, you will be born from the ray, not from the darkness. You should be born from darkness. It happens from the ray because the ray is new, and darkness is old, darkness is like tradition. It is a stream of centuries. The ray is fresh and new, just burst forth. So new, how to believe it? It felt like I am not on this earth. No one is on this earth. We cannot be on this earth. It is our belief, our assumption. It does not feel true, and it appeared to me that I am a particle of light in the boundless sky. This is the beginning. A particle of light in the boundless sky. Soon it will feel that the boundless sky is the beginning, so we are not yet fully merged in the boundless sky. Even if it feels like it sometimes, even if that flight comes, that storm comes, the winds carry us, even then we save ourselves separately. We are no longer particles of light, we have become darkness. But there is still a difference from the sky, a difference, a distance. The event will be complete only on that day when you become sky-like. A particle of light is also different. The day you become one, the day it feels like I am the empty sky. It is said in language, "I am the empty sky." As long as "I" exists, how can this be possible? If "I" exists, the sky will remain separate. When it feels like the empty sky, then "I" will not remain. Only the empty sky will remain. It is said, "Aham Brahmasmi," I am Brahman. But when Brahman exists, how can "I" exist? Only Brahman will exist, "I" will not exist. But there is no other way to say it. Language is for sleeping people, it is for those who have settled in a foreign land and have considered the foreign land as their homeland. Silence is for the wise. Language is for the ignorant. As soon as you say something, the truth becomes untrue. "Aham Brahmasmi," I am Brahman. "I am the sky." As soon as you say it, it becomes untrue. It is the sky. But even saying this is "it is the sky." It is not the complete truth. Because "is" indicates that something else will also be. Otherwise, why the emphasis on "is"? It is the sky. Even saying this is a hindrance. Because what is, cannot be. We say, "the house is." Sometimes the house is not, it falls, it becomes a ruin. We say, "the man is." Sometimes the man dies. The sky is not like that. Sometimes it is, and sometimes it is not. The sky always is. So saying "the sky is" is redundant. The nature of the sky is to be. So why repeat "is"? Saying "is" is appropriate for things that sometimes cease to be. Man is. He was not one day. Today he is, tomorrow he will not be. Our "is" is between two "is not." The "is" of the sky is. It was yesterday, it is today, it will be tomorrow. It is between two "is." What does "is" between two "is not" mean? It means the sky is. This is also redundant. To say "sky" is. But as soon as we say "sky," as soon as we form the word, the mistake happens. Saying "sky" means something else will also be, which is different from the sky, different. Why is the word "otherwise" needed? If there is only one, then there is no purpose in saying "one." "One" is meaningful only when there are two, three, four, a number. Why even say "sky"? Therefore, knowledge is silence. It is impossible to bring ultimate knowledge into words. But we are fortunate that men like Ashtavakra have made tireless, impossible efforts. As far as possible, they have tried to bring the fragrance of truth into words. And keep this in mind, successful consciousness like Ashtavakra is very rare. Many have tried to bring truth into words. All have lost, losing is certain. But if one has to see even in defeat, Ashtavakra has lost the least, won the most. If you listen carefully, you will remember home. In the morning, it felt like a particle of light. Be ready for loss. One day it will feel that the particle of light is also lost, only the sky remains. Then complete madness will descend. Then you will drown in the wine of truth. Then you will dance. Then you will get a full glimpse of immortality. Even after the discourse, the experience of lightness and emptiness continued. The soul felt like wandering in that same sky. A small mistake happens here. Whenever we have a pleasant experience, we want it to happen again and again. The human mind is very weak. It becomes full of desire. It becomes full of greed. Temptation arises. The mind wants to repeat whatever is pleasant. But keep one thing in mind, the mistake happens in repetition. As soon as you wished for it to happen again, it will never happen. Because when it happened the first time, it did not happen because of your wishing. It happened. It occurred. It was not your action. This is the entire emphasis of Ashtavakra. Truth occurs. Action is not occurring. It happened while listening. What were you doing? Listening means you were not doing anything. You were sitting in a state of emptiness. You were silent. You were aware. You were awake. You were not asleep. Right. But what were you doing? You were merely a receiver. The state of your mind was like a mirror. Whatever came, it reflected. Whatever was said, it was heard. You were not adding anything to it. If you were adding, then what happened would never have happened. You were not even interpreting. Sitting inside, you were not saying, "Yes, it's right. It's wrong. It doesn't match me. It's not in the scriptures." You were not arguing. If you were arguing, this event would not have happened. I know Swami Om Prakash Saraswati, who asked the question. His mind is very far from logic, very far from doubt and debate. Those days are gone. He might have argued, might have doubted. He has matured from life's experiences. That childishness is no longer in his mind. Therefore, the event could happen. He was listening, not doing anything. He was sitting. It happened while sitting. So when it happened the first time without your doing, then the second time if you wished for it to happen, it would become an obstacle. The wish was not the cause of its happening. Therefore, when such unprecedented events happen, do not wish for them. Accept them with joy when they happen. When they don't happen, do not complain. Do not ask. Asking is forcing. It is an insistence. It happened once, so why is it not happening now? This happens every day. When people come here for meditation, they are fresh and new in the beginning. They have no experience, so it happens. This is a matter of great surprise. Understanding this will help in understanding Ashtavakra. This is my daily experience. When people come fresh and new and have no experience of meditation, it happens. It happens, and they are filled with joy. But that's where the mistake happens. Then the asking begins. Not only should what happened today happen tomorrow, but it should happen even more. Then it doesn't happen. Then they come to me and cry, saying, "What happened? Where did the mistake happen? It happened before, now it's not happening." The mistake is that when it happened before, you did not ask for it. Now you are asking. Now your mind is no longer innocent. Asking has corrupted it. Now you are not simple. Now you are not open. The mother has closed the doors. Desire has awakened. Desire has distorted everything. Lust has arisen. People have arisen. This happens every day. Those who have been meditating for a long time, doing various practices, find meditation very difficult. Their experience becomes an obstacle. Sometimes, someone comes along, carried away by the waves. A friend used to come. He never even thought about meditation. A friend came. He thought, "Let's go, let's see what it is." He came out of curiosity. There was no lust, no search for spirituality. There was no effort. He just came. Seeing others meditating, a wave came, he joined. It happened. The man bowed down. I didn't even come to meditate, and meditation happened. Then, Arjuna, when he comes again, there is desire. In the mind, there is the desire for it to happen again. There is greed. There is the feeling of "I." The mind has come. The mind has ruined everything. Where the mind is not, it happens. Remember, the mind is the desire for repetition. What happened pleasantly, let it happen again. What happened unpleasantly, let it never happen again. This is the mind. The mind chooses, "Let this happen, and let this not happen." Let this happen again and again. And let this never happen again. This is the mind. When you start flowing with life, whatever is, is fine. Whatever is not, is fine. If sorrow comes, accept it. If sorrow comes, do not resist. If happiness comes, accept it. If happiness comes, do not get ecstatic. When one becomes equal in happiness and sorrow, when equanimity arises, when happiness and sorrow gradually seem the same, because there is no choice in your hands, nothing is in your control. What happens, happens. We keep watching. Ashtavakra calls this the state of being a witness. And he says, "Always be a witness." Always being a witness awakens equanimity within and without. Equanimity is the shadow of being a witness, or if you attain equanimity, then being a witness comes. They both go together. They are two legs or two lines of the same event. The soul feels like wandering in that same sky. Be careful of this. Do not give the mind an opportunity. To spoil the moments of meditation. This mind has spoiled the world. It has distorted all relationships in life. This mind has made the entire life dry like a desert. Where many flowers could have bloomed, only thorns remained in hand. Now do not bring this mind along on the inner journey. Bow to it. Bid it farewell. Even if it is with love. But bid it farewell. Tell it, "Enough is enough. We will not ask anymore. Now, whatever happens, we will be awake. We will see." As soon as you ask, you can no longer be a witness. You have become a enjoyer. You have become an enjoyer of meditation too. So meditation is gone. Enjoyer means you said, "I enjoyed this. This gave me happiness." I do not know knowledge, action, or devotion. But when alone, the soul feels like being immersed in this state. Leave this soul, and you will drown. You will drown not only when alone but also in a crowd. You will drown even when in the market. This state has no relation to being alone or in a crowd. Not to temples or markets. Not to solitude or company. This state is related to the calming of your mind, to becoming equal. Wherever there is peace and equanimity, this event will happen. But do not ask for it, otherwise, it will become restlessness, it will become tension. Ashtavakra says, "Now and here." This asking is always for the future. Asking cannot be for "now and here." The nature of asking is that it does not stay in the present. Asking means "let it happen." Let it happen tomorrow, in an hour, in a moment. Asking cannot be for now. Asking requires time. Even a little, but it requires time. And the future does not exist. What does not exist is called the future. What exists is called the present. The present and asking have no relation. When you are in the present, you will find no asking. And then this event will happen. When there is a life of letting it happen, then it will happen abundantly. Understand this puzzle properly. Recognize every corner of this puzzle. The day you ask for nothing, everything will happen. The day you do not run madly after God, He will come after you. The day you do not show eagerness for meditation, there will be no tension within you, on that day you will be filled with meditation itself. Meditation does not come from outside. When you are not in tension, what remains within you is called meditation. When there is no lust within you, what remains is called meditation. There is a lake, waves are rising. The wind is blowing. The lake is completely filled with storms. There is a storm. Everything is in turmoil. There is the moon in the sky, but its reflection is not formed because the lake is trembling. How can it become a mirror? The moon's reflection is formed, it breaks into a thousand pieces. The moonlight spreads over the entire lake, but the moon's reflection is not formed. The lake has become calm. The waves have gone somewhere. The waves came from somewhere. The waves belonged to the lake. Then they subsided back into the lake. The lake has returned to its stable state. That which spread like moonlight, which was the moon, contracted on the lake's chest, in one place. A clear reflection began to form. As soon as there are no waves on the lake of your mind. Waves mean lust, waves mean asking, waves mean "let this happen and let this not happen." When there are no waves on the lake of the mind, then truth is reflected as it is. Then what is formed, the moon within you, what to say of its beauty, what to say of its essence, a stream of nectar pours, it is a union, then it is only a wedding night. But you asked, and the mistake will happen. And I understand that asking seems very natural. It's a big hurdle. So much happiness is obtained in such moments, how to avoid asking? It is human. I am not saying you have made a great inhuman mistake. It is a completely human mistake. Sometimes, when the window opens for a moment and the sky flows, when the darkness breaks for a moment and the rays descend, it is impossible. Almost impossible not to ask for it. But this impossibility must be learned. Learn today, learn tomorrow, learn the day after, but you must learn. The sooner you learn, the better. If you are ready now, then there is no delay in the event happening. There is no need to wait even for a moment. The soul feels like being immersed in this state. This state will end. It has nothing to do with your mind. Therefore, leave your mind behind. When it comes in between, tell it again and again, "Forgive me, enough is enough. You have spoiled the world, do not spoil God. You have distorted all the happiness of life. Now these inner joys are coming, do not distort them. Be aware, bow to the mind, bid it farewell. Slowly, slowly, such moments will begin to come from your experience when the mind is not there. Then again that window opens, then the stream of nectar flows, then light descends, then you are illuminated, then you are immersed, then you are drowned in immortality. When this happens again and again, the matter will become clear. Then you will become skilled at keeping yourself away from the mind. When it happens, let it happen. When it doesn't happen, wait peacefully. What has come once will come again. Do not interfere. Do not come in between. Do not create obstacles. But sometimes this feeling also arises, is this my madness? The intellect will also raise such feelings. Because the intellect cannot accept that there can be happiness. The intellect is completely at peace with sorrow. The intellect has fully accepted sorrow. Because the intellect is the mother of sorrow, its own child, who would not accept it? So the intellect believes, sorrow exists, so it is absolutely fine. But great happiness, something must have gone wrong. Does this happen somewhere? Is it an imagination? Did you see a dream? Did you get lost in a hallucination? Something must have gone mad. The intellect will say this again and again. Do not listen to it. Do not pay attention to it. If you pay attention to it, those events will stop. Those doors and windows will never open again. Keep one thing in mind. Joy is the definition of power. Where there is joy, that is truth. Therefore, we call God "Sachchidananda" (Truth-Consciousness-Bliss). Bliss is His ultimate definition. Above truth, above consciousness, bliss is.
It has been kept. Where is Sachchidananda? Satya is one step down. Chit is one step down. Bliss is supreme, from where bliss flows, from where bliss is obtained, then you will not worry. You are close to Satya. Just as when someone comes near a garden, the air becomes cool, the songs of birds start to be heard, coolness begins to be felt, then even if the garden is not visible, it starts to be experienced that the direction is right, you are reaching towards the garden. Similarly, as soon as you start approaching Satya, bliss showers. The mind starts to cool down, balance begins to come. Courage increases. Happiness increases. An exhilaration surrounds you. Unexplained, even without a reason, you feel it. No lottery was won, no big profit was made in business, no big position was attained. It could also be that the position you had is also gone, what was in your hand is also lost, the business has also sunk, but there is an uncaused exhilaration, as if someone is dancing inside, it doesn't stop. Then the intellect will say, have you gone mad? These are the symptoms of mad people. This is a very strange world, here only mad people seem happy. That's why the intellect thinks they must have gone mad, because have you ever seen anyone other than mad people happy here? Here, even with a thousand reasons, a person is not happy. Even with a big palace, wealth, property, comfort and convenience, a person is not happy. This world is a world of unhappy people, but a crowd of unhappy people. If you start laughing here without a reason, people will say you have gone mad. If you say, I am laughing, there is no reason. It is spreading, rising from within. It is waving. People will say, your mind is spoiled. Here, walk with a sad face, remain sad. If even ghosts and spirits get scared seeing your face, then you are perfectly fine, there is no obstacle, everything is going well, you are a human like a human, as a human should be, but if you start smiling, if you start laughing, if you start humming a song, if you start dancing by the roadside, then you have gone mad. We have denied God the possibility that if God came, we would lock him up in an asylum. Perhaps for this reason, he does not come. He is afraid to come. Just think, if Krishna were to be met at a crossroads, playing the flute, wearing a peacock feather crown, dressed in yellow robes, with the Gopis dancing. What would you do? Immediately go to the police station. What is happening? What should not be happening is happening. You would put this person in jail. Bliss has been expelled. We have pushed bliss outside of life. We are hugging sorrow to our chest. Here, a sad person seems intelligent. Here, a blissful person seems mad. The entire order is reversed. So it is natural that what you have considered intelligence all your life, if it suddenly starts to open, to slip, if your so-called intelligence suddenly starts to uproot itself and happiness starts to peek in, remember, madness means this: unexplained happiness. There is no reason. Some people are sitting alone, a smile is coming. They have gone mad because we have only seen mad people like this. Remember, there is a slight connection between mad people and Paramahansas. Mad people also laugh, they are happy because they have lost their intellect. Paramahansas also laugh, they are happy because they have gone beyond intellect. Both fall below intellect. That's why the mad person laughs. The Paramahansa has gone beyond intellect. That's why he laughs. There is a slight similarity between the two. There is one thing common between a mad person and a Paramahansa: both have lost their intellect. One has lost it consciously. One has lost it unconsciously. Therefore, there is a big difference. A difference as vast as the earth and sky. But still, there is a similarity. That's why sometimes you will see a Paramahansa in a mad person, and sometimes a mad person in a Paramahansa, and sometimes a mad person in a Paramahansa. So, mistakes happen. In the asylums of the West, many people are locked up who are not mad. There is a big revolution going on regarding this. Some psychologists, especially R.D. Laing and his colleagues, are leading a big movement that many mad people are locked up by law who are not mad. If they were born in the East, they would have been respected and honored like Paramahansas. R.D. does not know that the opposite has happened in the East. Here, there are some mad people who are considered Paramahansas. But man, man, in the East, many mad people have been considered Paramahansas. But mistakes happen because the boundaries of both overlap. So this doubt is natural. Keep one thing in mind, if bliss is increasing, do not be afraid. But bliss can also increase due to madness. So what is the criterion for safety? The criterion for safety is that your bliss is increasing, and due to your actions, no one else's sorrow is increasing. Then know without worry. If your bliss does not depend on violence towards anyone, aggression towards anyone, causing pain to anyone, then there is no reason to fear madness. If you are going mad, then this madness is absolutely auspicious, it is fine. Then enter into it without hesitation. The reason to fear is only when you start harming someone. Your dancing does not cause any obstruction to anyone. But if someone is sleeping and you go and dance on their chest by playing drums, your dancing is not a problem. If you hum the name of Ram, it is fine. But if you put on a microphone in the middle of the night and start an unbroken chant, then you are mad. Although no one can call you mad, you are doing Ram Dhun. Many such mad people are doing it. They say they are doing unbroken chanting, 24-hour Katha. Whether you sleep or not is your wish. If you cause obstruction, you are irreligious. Just keep this in mind, your bliss should not be violent. That is enough. Your bliss should be your own. Due to it, no obstacle should arise in anyone's life, no stone should be placed. Let your flower bloom, but due to the blooming of your flower, no thorns should prick anyone. If this much is kept in mind, you are going in the right direction. Where you feel that it is now causing obstruction to others, be a little cautious there. There, instead of going towards the Paramahansa, you have taken the path of madness. No one is harmed by Om Prakash. You can go without hesitation, without fear. Yesterday I was reading a song that was beautiful. In the work of love, what was good and new, I brought it piece by piece, offered it as Naivedya. But what happened? Everything became old, withered, dried up. It did not take anything with an outstretched hand. It was written somewhere. But what I gave, what I got, what I drank, what I dropped, what I poured, what I mixed, what I separated, what I knew, what I took down, what I offered, what I joined, what I broke, what I left, whatever was adorned by all, I saw that it fell into the flame of that sacrifice, and I felt that I was liberated. Okay, my head has spun. It spins. Man, you offer your head to God by spinning it. Offer good things, chosen things. Nothing will happen from that until the head is offered. Listen. Then, whatever was beautiful in the work of love, whatever was good and new, I brought it piece by piece with everyone, offered it as Naivedya. But what happened? Everything became old, withered, dried up. It did not take anything with an outstretched hand. You bring the most beautiful, searched for, the most precious, offer it. Kohinoor will wither, flowers of lotus, roses will wither. Only one thing is accepted there, and that is your head, your ego, your intellect, your mind. Different names, but the same thing. Offer yourself there. And I felt that I was liberated. Okay, my head has spun. People will say this only, Om Prakash, your head has spun. Let them say. Don't worry about what people say. When people tell you your head has spun, they are only protecting their own heads. Nothing else. When people tell you your head has spun, they are saying, save us, don't come this way, don't tell us this song, don't bring this laughter to our door. Don't show us these eyes, these gestures. Don't tell us these things. They are panicked. Inside them too, this is the path. Inside them too, there is such a lute lying dormant, waiting for someone to strum it for ages. But they are afraid. They have created and settled a lot in this false world. What if it gets uprooted? I was in Allahabad for so many days. They were listening to me sitting right in front of me. Millions of people have listened to me sitting in front of me. There are very few people who have listened with such emotion as they were listening. Tears were flowing from their eyes. Suddenly, in the middle, they got up and left the assembly hall. I was a little surprised. What happened? I inquired. I told the coordinator. He was a very famous person. I didn't know him. He was a litterateur, a poet, a writer. The coordinator went to his house and asked. He said, Baba, forgive me. I got scared. After 20 minutes, I said, it is appropriate to run away from here. If I stayed a little longer, something would happen. This person's head has spun. I will see my head spinning. I will definitely come, but give me some time. And for two nights I couldn't sleep, and the words were asking me. I still have a lot of work to do. There are still young children. The household responsibilities have to be managed. I will definitely come. You go. Tell him I will definitely come, but not now. When someone tells you your head has spun, they are just protecting themselves. They are saying that by assuming your head has spun, I am stopping my attraction. Inside them too, there is an unquenchable desire. Who is there who has not set out to find God? Who is there who is not thirsty for bliss? Who is there who does not seek truth? Such a person has never existed. Those whom you call atheists are those very people. They got scared. They are the ones who say there is no God, because if they don't deny God, they will have to go in search. My own experience is that an atheist has a deeper desire for the search of truth than the so-called theists. He is afraid to go to the temple. You are not afraid. You are not afraid because there is no such strong desire within you that you will go mad. You go to the temple as you go to the shop. You sit inside and outside the temple. It has no effect on you. An atheist is a person who knows that if he goes to the temple, he will not be able to return. If he goes, he will not return the same. So the only solution is, he says, there is no God, religion is all hypocrisy. He is saving himself, explaining to himself that there is no God, so why go to the temple? If there is no God, why get confused? Why meditate? Why pray? In my view, an atheist is engaged in self-defense. I have not seen any atheist who is truly an atheist. How can a person be an atheist? Atheist means a person trying to live within nothingness. How can anyone live within nothingness? How can anyone live in negation? To live, one needs affirmation. Flowers do not bloom in negation. Affirmation is needed. Acceptance is needed. The more acceptance there is in life, the more flowers bloom. But there is fear that flowers might not bloom outside the limit, that too many flowers might bloom that I cannot handle. Last night a young man told me, "Save me. This is becoming too much. I am so happy that I feel I will break. So much bliss that I feel I cannot handle it. This vessel of my heart is small. Save me. I am overflowing with it. All my limits are breaking. And I am afraid that if I flow with it, I will not be able to return. Control might be lost." This is the fear. The ego lives well with sorrow because it does not lose control in sorrow. No matter how much you cry in sorrow, you remain master of yourself, you have control. In bliss, the limit breaks. In sorrow, no limit ever breaks. Even in hell, no limit breaks. Even if you are lying in hell, you remain strong within yourself. The limit breaks in heaven. There, control is lost. Where control is lost, the ego is lost. Wherever control is lost, the grip of intellect loosens, the web of logic loosens. That is what is happening. Do not be afraid. The time for transformation is near. But without you, no one is ever yours. I am searching for a melody. That doesn't sit on the lips but churns in the veins, burning like lava. I am searching for a fire to melt, so that every pore is cooked and I become transparent. I want someone to weave me a net so that I become transparent. I am searching for a fragrance, so that I can float weightlessly in the air, tremble in the fine showers of light rain. I want to shine on the slate-grey sky of the deepening evening for a while. I am searching for a vibrant color. Om Prakash, that vibrant color, I have given it to you. These dark clothes, that vibrant color. Flow, leaving the limits, flow beyond intellect. Let go. Control means the doer. Let go of the doer. If there is any doer, it is God. Do not compete with God. Do not struggle with him. Surrender. You will float with his current. Those who drown, drown. Those who try to float, drown. The second question, which has always been the observation of seekers, is that the attainment of God is an extremely difficult event. But wise men like you have always emphasized that God can be attained here and now. Is repeating this again and again a challenge and a method to create thirst, a way? The truth is, it is neither a method nor a way. Your asking like this is a method and a way to escape. Our mind does not agree to accept that God can be attained here and now. Why doesn't it agree? It doesn't agree because if it can be attained here and now, then we are not getting it. So what will be the reason for this? Then how to explain it? If it can be attained here and now, why are we not getting it? Restlessness arises. It can be attained here and now. We are not getting it. So how to explain this? Then it becomes a matter of great difficulty. To resolve this difficulty, you say, it can be attained, but one needs eligibility. The intellect finds ways. Where confusion arises, it resolves it. A path will have to be found. Eligibility will have to be found. One will have to become pure. Then it will be obtained. And if Ashtavakra says it can be attained here and now, then surely there is no reason for this. He says this so that you engage in the effort with intensity. But you will have to engage in effort. The mind is very clever. Ashtavakra's words are very direct and clear. God can be attained here and now because God is not an achievement. God is your nature. The entire emphasis is direct. You are God. The very idea of 'can be attained' is wrong. When we say 'can be attained here and now', it only means 'it is already attained'. Just open your eyes and see. The language of 'can be attained' is not right. In 'can be attained', it seems as if you are separate and God is separate. You are the seeker. He is the goal of the search. You are the traveler. He is the destination. No, 'can be attained here and now' means only this: you are the one you are searching for. Just recognize yourself. Open your eyes and see, or close your eyes and see, but see. It's a matter of vision, not eligibility. Eligibility means that God is also a commodity. Just as when you go to the market, some things are cheap, some are a lakh rupees, some are ten lakh rupees. Everything has a price. So eligibility means that God also has a price. Whoever acquires eligibility, pays the price, will get it. You want to make God a commodity in the market too. If you renounce, if you do penance, you will get it. If you pay the price, you will get it. Does it ever occur to you what you are saying? You are saying that your actions can be related to obtaining God. What you do will be your doing. What you do cannot be greater than you. Your penance will be yours. Just as you are, humble, dirty. Your penance cannot be greater than you. And whatever is obtained through penance will also have a limit, because only the limited can be obtained from the limited, not the infinite. Whatever is obtained through penance will be some notion of your own mind. God is not. Ashtavakra is saying that God is, he is throbbing within you, he is breathing within you, he is born, he will die. He is manifesting in infinite forms from eternity. Somewhere he is a tree, somewhere a bird, somewhere a human. God is. Nothing else exists. The affirmation of this truth, the remembrance of this truth. I have heard. A king got angry with his son and banished him from the kingdom. He was the king's son. He knew nothing else to do, because a king's son never did anything. He could only beg. When a king is no longer a king, there is no option left but to beg. He started begging. 20 years passed. He forgot. Now, if someone begs for 20 years, remember that I am a king. It is impossible, it will be painful. It will be difficult to beg. It is only appropriate that he forgets. He had forgotten. Otherwise, how could he beg? A king begging. Standing at door after door, with a begging bowl. Begging in front of hotels, for leftovers. A king has to forget being a king. He had to make it forgotten. That matter was over. It was like he had seen a dream, read a story, or watched a film. What does it have to do with himself? 20 years later, when the king grew old, his father became anxious. He had only one son, he was the heir. He told his ministers to search for him and bring him wherever he is. Tell him the father has forgiven him. Forgiveness has no meaning now. I am dying. Who will manage this kingdom now? Let it go into the hands of others. It is better that it goes into the hands of my own blood. Good or bad, bring him. When the ministers arrived, he was begging for money in front of a hotel. With a broken bowl, naked, no shoes on his feet. It was the peak of noon, hot summer days, the wind was blowing, his feet were burning. And he was begging for some money to buy shoes. Some money was in his bowl. The chariot stopped. The minister got down. The minister fell at his feet and touched them. He was the future emperor. As soon as the minister touched his feet, the event happened in an instant. The memory of 20 years, when he didn't remember that he was a king, then it wasn't like he sat down, thought, pondered, did penance, meditated to remember. In an instant, in a moment, a transformation occurred. He was still the same person. He was still a beggar, humble, naked. He still had no shoes on his feet, but he threw his bowl from his hand and told the ministers, "Go, arrange for my bath. Get me proper clothes." He got into the chariot. His glory was worth seeing. He was still the same, but there was a dignity on his face, a radiance in his eyes, an aura around him. He was the king. He remembered. The father had sent for him. It is exactly like this. When Ashtavakra says 'here and now', he means this. Come, you have been banished for 20 years, not 20 lifetimes. You have begged a lot. You have forgotten. You have completely put the memory to sleep. It had to be put to sleep. If you hadn't put it to sleep, begging would have been difficult. You wandered from door to door, with a begging bowl. Ashtavakra is saying, the call has come. Wake up, beggar, you are not.
Oh son of the emperor, if someone listens properly, the event will happen just by listening. This is the greatness, the glory of Ashtavakra Gita. There is no compulsion to do anything, just listen. Just let the truth reach your heart. Do not be an obstacle. Be a receiver, just listen. Let this arrow reach your heart. Its wound is enough. The forgetfulness of lifetimes will break, remembrance will return. You are the Supreme Being. That is why they say, now and here. Do not search for tricks. You say, perhaps this will be the method, the solution, that people's speed will increase, intensity will increase. Swami Yog Chinmay asked, Chinmay has too much effort, striving, penance in his intellect. He has the grip like an ordinary yogi. These words of Ashtavakra are not for the ordinary yogi. For the extraordinarily wise who awaken just by listening. Those who have a little bit of Hatha Yoga. If they are beaten up a lot, a little bit will work. They cannot walk by seeing the horse, only its shadow. Do not laugh, because there are many people like Chinmay. Do not think by laughing that you have laughed, so you are different from Chinmay. That see, you laughed, Chinmay at least had the courage to ask, you did not ask. This is the only difference. You too will be the same, Ashtavakra's Gita will be complete. And if you do not become the Supreme Being, then understand that you are that. There is no difference. If you awaken in this listening and become the Supreme Being, then only the shadow of the whip has worked. It has always been the observation of seekers that the attainment of the Supreme Being is an extremely difficult event. The seeker is mistaken from the beginning. The meaning of a seeker is that he has assumed that the Supreme Being has to be found, that the Supreme Being has been lost. He has assumed one thing, that the Supreme Being has been lost. Is this even a thing, that the Supreme Being has been lost? How can you lose the Supreme Being? People come to me. They say, I want to find the Supreme Being. I say, okay. Find it, but where did you lose it? When did you lose it? They say, there is no clue about this. First, find out about this properly. It might be that you haven't lost it at all. Sometimes it happens that the spectacles are on your nose, and you are searching for the spectacles by looking through those very spectacles. It might be that the Supreme Being is on your nose, and you are searching for it with that very Supreme Being. It is like this. The seeker is fundamentally mistaken. He has assumed that the Supreme Being has been lost, or has not been found yet. It is somewhere far away. It has to be found. The Supreme Being is never found through searching. By searching, one only realizes that there is nothing in searching. One day, while searching, the seeker falls. As soon as he falls from searching, the Supreme Being is found. Buddha searched for six years. Searched thoroughly. Where else would you find a greater seeker? Wherever he heard news of someone attaining knowledge, he went there. He bowed his head at all the feet. He did whatever the gurus said. The gurus also got tired of him, because gurus never get tired of disciples who disobey them. They never get tired of them because they always have something to say: "You are not obeying, that's why nothing is happening. What can we do?" The guru has a great convenience if you do not obey the guru. He can always say that you did not obey. If you had obeyed, it would have happened. The gurus were in trouble with Buddha. Whatever the gurus said, Buddha did. If they said one measure, Buddha did one and a quarter measures. The guru came and joined his hands and said, "Brother, go somewhere else. We have told you whatever we could." Buddha said, "Nothing is happening from this." They said, "Nothing more has happened to us than this. What can we hide from you? Go somewhere else." In front of such an authentic person, even the guru could not deceive. After searching everywhere, Buddha finally realized that no, it is not found by searching. The world was futile anyway, spirituality also became futile. Enjoyment had already become futile. The day he left the palace, it had become futile. That's why he left. Yoga also became futile. There is nothing in enjoyment, nor in yoga. Now what to do? Now there was nothing left to do. Now there was no facility to be a doer. Understand this principle properly. Neither enjoyment remained, nor yoga remained, nor the world remained, nor heaven remained, so there was no space left to be a doer. If there is something to do, the doer can remain. If there is nothing to do, that night the event happened. That evening, sitting under the Bodhi tree, there was nothing to do. He was in great surprise. He had left the world, so he had taken up yoga. He had left enjoyment, so he had taken up spirituality. There was something to do, so the mind was entangled. Now the mind had no place left. The bird of the mind fluttered. No place. The mind needs a place. The ego needs the taste of the doer. It needs duty. If there is something to do, the ego remains. There was nothing to do. Think a little. A deep indifference, which is called detachment, arose. A yogi is not detached, because a yogi is searching for new enjoyments. A yogi is searching for spiritual enjoyments. He is not detached. There is still a desire for enjoyment. If he did not find it in the world, he is searching for it in the Supreme Being. But the search continues. If he did not find it here, he is searching there. If he did not find it outside, he is searching inside. But the search continues. A person of enjoyment is not detached. A yogi is also not detached. Yes, their search for attachment is different. One goes outwards, one goes inwards. But both go. That night, Buddha had nothing to go to, neither outside nor inside. Imagine that night for a moment. Awaken that night and think about what kind of night it must have been. That day, for the first time, rest became available. What Ashtavakra calls, if one becomes available to rest in the mind, then truth becomes available. That day, rest became available. As long as there is something to do, effort continues. As long as there is something to do, tension continues. Now what is the use of tension? The body also became loose, the mind also became loose. He fell under that tree and slept. When his eyes opened in the morning, they opened as everyone's should. When his eyes opened in the morning, they opened for the first time. They had been closed for centuries and centuries. When his eyes opened in the morning, the last star of dawn was setting. He saw that last star of dawn setting. Here, outside, the last star of dawn set. There, inside, the last line of the mind dissolved. There was nothing. Nothing remained inside. There was silence. There was emptiness. There was a vast emptiness. There was sky. It is said that Buddha sat like that for seven days. He did not move, did not stir. It is said that the gods were worried. The gods descended from the sky. Brahma descended and fell at his feet and said, "Speak something." Such an event happens in centuries, it happens with great difficulty. Say something. We are eager to hear what has happened. Hindus are very angry about this that in Buddhist stories, Brahma is brought down and made to fall at Buddha's feet. But the story is absolutely correct. Because gods are in heaven, outside of desire. Today an event has happened that a person has gone beyond desire. So no one is above Buddha. Buddhahood is the ultimate thing. Even gods are below. They still have the desire for heavenly pleasures. That's why there are stories. Indra's throne shakes. Whenever it seems that a competitor is coming, some sage or ascetic is going deep in penance, Indra gets worried, his throne starts to tremble. What happened to Indra's throne? Call it Indra's, call it Indira's, it's the same. There is not much difference. Someone is coming, so there is competition, worry, restlessness. Buddha attained without doing anything. What happened in Buddha's life must have happened in Ashtavakra's life. We have no story. No one has written it, but it must have happened. Because what Ashtavakra is saying is only this: "You have run a lot, now stop. You don't get it by running. The Supreme Being is found by stopping. You have searched a lot, now give up searching. Truth is not found by searching. Because truth is hidden in the seeker. It is hidden in the one who searches. Where are you running around? The musk is in the deer's navel, but when the musk pod bursts, the deer goes mad. The musk deer goes mad, runs here and there, searches. Where is this fragrance coming from? Who is pulling the breath? Where is it coming from? Because whenever it saw the fragrance, it always came from outside. Sometimes it was the fragrance of a flower, sometimes some other fragrance, but it always came from outside. Today, when the fragrance is coming from within, it still thinks it must be coming from outside. It runs, and the musk is in its own navel. The musk is in the navel, the Supreme Being is within you. As long as you keep searching outside, in yoga, in enjoyment, it is futile. An ordinary yogi takes you outside of enjoyment. Ashtavakra takes you outside of both yoga and enjoyment. Beyond yoga, beyond enjoyment. That's why you will find. The worldly person has ego. Have you seen the ego of a yogi or not? The worldly person has anger. Have you seen the anger of Durvasas or not? A worldly person walks with pride, carries banners. Have you seen the banners of yogis, elephants, horses or not? An ordinary person makes announcements. "I have so much wealth. I have so much position." Have you seen yogis making announcements? "I have so many siddhis, so many riddhis." But all these things are the same. No difference has occurred. Until yoga becomes beyond yoga, until a person is freed from the feeling of "I am the doer" in totality, nothing has happened. Until then, you have only changed colors. Until then, you are a chameleon, changing color as you see, but you have not changed. Only the color has changed. It has always been the observation of seekers that the attainment of the Supreme Being is an extremely difficult event. This is true in one sense. If you want to come by running a lot, then what can anyone do? If you want to catch your ear from the wrong side, catch it leisurely. Certainly, when you catch your ear from the wrong side, you will feel that catching the ear is a very difficult event. This is because of you, not because of the ear. Now, if you try to walk by standing on your head, and even walking 5-10 steps becomes very difficult, and you say that walking is a very difficult event, then you are not wrong. You are saying the right thing. But you are standing on your head. For those who walk on their feet, walking is not a difficult event. Now you fast, heat yourself in fire, do penance, torment your body unnecessarily, do a thousand kinds of madness, and then you say that attaining the Supreme Being is a very difficult event. You are saying the right thing. Where you could have reached easily, you are reaching with difficulty, so it seems difficult. But why does man choose the difficult? This should also be understood. What is the fun of walking on your head? While you have feet. Walking on your head has a fun, and that fun is the fun of ego. Maulana Nasruddin was fishing in a lake. He kept watching for an hour or two, watching and watching. He was not catching any fish. It seemed as if there were no fish in the lake. I asked him, "Nasruddin, there seem to be no fish in this lake. How long will you sit here?" "The other lake is nearby. Why don't you fish there?" "No other fisherman is visible here. All the fishermen are there." Nasruddin said, "What is the point of fishing there? Oh, there are so many fish there that there is no space for fish to swim. If I fish there, what have I achieved? Fish here." So there is also an attraction in the difficult. The more difficult the task, the stronger the ego becomes. Fish here, then there is something. If you do what everyone else is doing, what is the point? Everyone is walking on their feet. You also walked, so what's the fun? Walk on your head. In my view, the Supreme Being has no relation to difficulties. Difficulties are related to ego. Ego enjoys doing difficult things because everyone does the easy things, what is the point in that? If you tell someone, "I walk on my feet," people will say, "Your mind is disturbed. Everyone walks." But if you walk on your head, your name will be printed in the newspapers. People will start coming to you. They will bow their heads at your feet, saying you have attained some siddhi that you walk on your head. The worship of ego can only happen if you do something difficult. Like when Hillary climbed Mount Everest, the whole world heard about it. Now you go and stand on a small hill in Pune and start planting a flag. And you say, "No newspaper person is coming. No photographer is coming." What is the matter? Why is this discrimination happening? So much noise was made about Hillary, her name will remain immortal in history forever, and nothing is happening for us. We are also doing the same thing. She also planted a flag, but climbing Everest is difficult. For 50-60 years, people were trying to climb. Then one person was able to climb. So slowly a path will be made there. People will start going. Someone will go eventually. Everest cannot save itself from man for so long. When one person reached, the chain started. Women also reached a little while ago. When women also reached, what is left to reach? Everything is slowly reaching. In a few days, hotels and buses will also reach there. Then you go again and plant your flag. When buses etc. are all running there. You will say, "This is the same place where Hillary planted her flag." There is great discrimination. There is great partiality. Ego is satisfied in difficulty. Man makes many things difficult so that the ego can enjoy filling itself. We make many things difficult. The more difficult we make them, the more enjoyable they become. The difficulty is not in attaining the Supreme Being. The difficulty is in the mystery of the ego. So, what you say, "It has always been the observation of seekers that the attainment of the Supreme Being is an extremely difficult event," is correct. That seeker is egoistic. And when did the seekers find the Supreme Being? They found it when the search stopped. The Supreme Being is found only when the search stops. When you are not going anywhere, just sitting in rest, in supreme rest, where the journey becomes zero. Normally people think that if they attain the Supreme Being, then there will be no journey. The situation is completely opposite. If you rest now, you will attain the Supreme Being. Rest is the principle of meditation and samadhi. Effort is the principle of ego. That's why you will find. The more there is a system of effort within a religion for a monk, the more egoistic that monk will be. A Jain monk is more egoistic than a Hindu monk because a Jain monk will say, "What is the point in this? Let anyone become anything. A Jain monk is a difficult matter. One meal, many fasts, all kinds of difficulties. Then, among Jains, there are Digambar and Shwetambar monks. Digambar monks say, "What is the point in Shwetambars wearing clothes? A monk is a Digambar." Therefore, you will find the ego shining in a Digambar monk like you will not find anywhere else. The body will be thin, just bones, because of many fasts, remaining naked, enduring heat and cold, but the ego will be greatly ignited. His pride is like Hillary's. There are hardly 20 Digambar monks in India. There are 57,000 Shwetambar monks. There are 5 million Hindu ascetics. And if I had my way, I would make the whole world an ascetic. Therefore, there can be no ego in my becoming an ascetic. Because I am not saying, "You do this, you do that." It is a very simple matter. Wear saffron clothes, you are an ascetic. If asceticism is simple, where is the fun for the ego? People come to me, they say, "You give asceticism." So, a special ceremony should be organized for this. A special ceremony for asceticism. They are right, because it happens. If there is a Jain initiation, see how the band, the horse, etc., play, and it's all fun, and it feels like a big event is happening, like someone is being placed on a throne. Asceticism has also become like a throne, and people cheer, saying a big event is happening. And I give asceticism so quietly, no one knows. I can even give it by post, I don't even know who the gentleman is, and they don't know either. In my view, asceticism should be simple. In my view, the Supreme Being is found in rest, not in ego. It is not an action, not a search. The Supreme Being is already attained. Just become lighter, just become calm, just stop. Suddenly you will find that it has always been. The last question in our body, there are about 20 billion cells, and chemical reactions are happening in the body every moment. When you or Ashtavakra say, "Become a witness," to whom are you saying this? Who is it that is saying, "There are 20 billion cells in the body"? Certainly, the cells are not saying it. One cell cannot even account for the other cells. There are 20 billion cells in the body. There are billions and trillions of cells in the body. Who is saying this? Who came to know this? Surely, there is someone within you, different from the cells, who counts that there are 200 million cells in our body. There are about 20 billion cells in the body, and chemical reactions are happening in the body every moment. When you or Ashtavakra say, "Become a witness," to whom are you saying this? To the one who is saying, "There are 20 billion cells." If you say it to the cells of the brain, then the matter is futile, because the intellect is perishable. No, we are not saying it to the cells of the brain. We are saying it to you. Ashtavakra is also speaking to you. Ashtavakra is not so foolish as to speak to your brain cells. He is speaking to you. Your existence is beyond your cells. You are using the cells. It is true, like a driver sitting in a car is driving the car. He is moving, moving at the speed of the car, 100 kilometers per hour. But still, the driver inside is not the car. And if a policeman blows his whistle and says, "Stop," and asks, "To whom are you saying this?" To the car's engine, because the engine is running. To whom are you saying this? To the petrol, because the petrol is running it. To whom are you saying this? To the wheels, because the wheels are running. So, what will the police constable say? The same thing I tell you, "The whistle is being blown for you." If you are awakening the soul, then also the matter is futile. Because the soul is already awake. To awaken it and say "recognize it" is foolishness. Absolutely correct. The soul is already awake. There is no way to awaken it. And we are not awakening it. The situation is something like this: you are lying there, awake, and pretending to be asleep with your eyes closed. It is very easy to awaken someone who is asleep. Shake them, sprinkle water, they will awaken. If someone is lying awake and pretending to be asleep, how will you awaken them? Sprinkle water, it makes no difference. Shake them, they will turn over and sleep again. Call out their name, they hear it but don't respond. Such is your condition. Awakening someone who is awake has no meaning. But the awake person is pretending to be asleep. That's why awakening is needed. We are not awakening the sleeping, because the soul cannot sleep. What is sleeping is the body, and the body cannot be awakened. And there is no meaning in awakening the soul that is already awake. You are absolutely right. You are saying a great piece of wisdom, but it will be borrowed, because if it were your own problem, you would not ask. We are awakening the one who is awake and has forgotten that we are awake. The one who is awake and has fallen into the pretense of sleeping, is playing the game of sleeping. That's why there is difficulty in awakening. There is great difficulty. You people.
You are not being misled. You think people are not misled. If people are not misled, then surely I am misleading them. But if people are not misled, how can they be misled? So many wise men can be misled, and if people are misled, then what I am doing, the effort to bring them out of delusion, whatever you are, I am doing the opposite. If you think you are misled, then this is an effort to awaken you. If you think you are awake, then this is an effort to mislead you. But if you are awake, then who can mislead you? Remember, no one other than you can mislead you. And no one other than you can awaken you either. Someone can make an effort to awaken you, but until you cooperate, you will not awaken, because it is not a light sleep that someone can break. You are lying there, formed. Your cooperation is necessary. Cooperation itself means discipleship. Cooperation means that you go to the one who is awakening you, you say, "It has become my old habit to deceive myself. Please help me, please support me, to get out of this habit." A young woman came to me and said that she had become addicted to some intoxicants. She wanted to come out. She had a great desire to come out. She was very eager to know how to get out. But the addiction to intoxicants had become so deep. It had reached the cells of her body. If she did not take intoxicants, such pain and restlessness would occur throughout her body that she could neither sleep, nor get up, nor sit. So she had to take them, and when she took them, her mind would feel pain, "What a trap this has become." Now she came to me saying, "I need your hand of support to get me out." It is just like this state, you have deepened the practice of sleeping for lifetimes. You have misled the awake into the delusion of sleep. You have considered the emperor a beggar. But you have considered it for so many lifetimes that today, due to your own practice, just listening to something does not help. You can listen to my words. Nothing will come of it. Until you absorb them. Until you agree. No one other than you can awaken you. Otherwise, one enlightened being would have been enough. He would have made a lot of noise and awakened everyone. He would have beaten drums and awakened everyone. If 100 people are sleeping, one person is enough to awaken them. Not even one person is needed. An alarm clock can also awaken. One person can come and beat a drum. Everyone will wake up. Ring a bell, everyone will wake up. But why couldn't it happen that enlightened beings like Buddha, Mahavir, Ashtavakra, Krishna, Christ, Jesus, why didn't these people do it by ringing a loud bell, so that the whole earth would wake up? The bell was rung loudly, but if someone is sleeping, they will wake up. Here, people are lying formed. They are lying with their eyes closed. They hear the bell. They say, "Keep ringing, let's see. Who is awakening us?" When you want to wake up, you will wake up. I cannot mislead you. You are already misled. What more can be done to mislead you? You can be further misguided. You think, you think, is there anything else to be misguided about? Can you fall further down than this? Can greed, as much as is within you, become a little more, an inch more? Anger within you, can it become a little more? The lust that has surrounded you like a grain of a mass, and lust can increase. You are standing at the last place. What should be first is standing last. What should be an emperor is standing like a fugitive. You cannot go back from here. There is no way to fall beyond this. There is no facility to mislead you. Even if someone wants to mislead, they cannot. Yes, someone can only do this much. At most, they can change your delusions. If you get bored of one delusion, they give you another. This is what saints and ascetics keep doing. The delusion of the world started to unravel, boredom set in, "We have lived enough. Now there is no essence." If you have seen that, they create the delusion of spirituality. They say, "Come, now enjoy heaven. Now do some good deeds, practice austerity, enjoy celestial nymphs in heaven." "We have enjoyed enough here, found nothing. Here we drank wine sip by sip, there in paradise, in heaven, rivers of wine are flowing, take a dip." "What is here? In heaven, there are golden palaces. There are trees of diamonds and jewels, enjoy there." "There are Kalpavriksha trees, sit under them." "Here we have cried and cried, cried and cried a lot. But this is a new delusion." I am not giving you any new delusion. I am just telling you this. You have seen enough delusions. Now wake up a little. How can the state of being a witness be a delusion? Think a little. I am only asking you to be a witness. I am asking you to see whatever is. If I asked you to do something, a delusion would arise. If I told you to leave this and do that, a delusion would arise. I am only telling you this much. Whatever you are doing, wherever you are, whether you are a pleasure-seeker or a yogi, whatever you are, Hindu or Muslim, in a mosque or a temple, wherever you are, wake up. Wake up and see, how can there be delusion in waking up? There is no possibility of delusion for a person who is awake. In sleep, there are dreams. How can there be a dream in waking? And if people stop reacting to happiness and sorrow, will they not become like animals or plants? First of all, who told you that animals and plants are in a worse condition than you? You have assumed it. Ask the plants too. Ask the animals too. Peek into the eyes of animals. This is also human ego that he thinks he is superior to animals, and no testimony has been taken from them either. This is also a funny thing. A decision has been made on one side, you have decided on your own. If such books were written among animals, scriptures were composed, then they would have also written that man is a very fallen animal. I have heard that monkeys say to each other that man is a fallen monkey. Darwin says that man is an evolution of the monkey. But on what basis is Darwin? Ask the monkeys too. Both parties should be asked. Monkeys say man is fallen. Their words make sense. Monkeys are on trees, you are on the ground. You are fallen. Monkeys are above, you are below. Try to compete with any monkey. See if your strength increased or decreased. Try to leap from one tree to another. Your bones will break. Has art come or gone? Who told you this? You have assumed it yourself. This is a funny thing. Among human diseases, one disease is that man believes he is the highest. Then ask the men, they believe they are superior to women. Women were not even asked. No testimony was taken from them. There was no vote on this. Because men wrote the scriptures, whatever they wanted, they wrote. And people even stopped women from reading. If they read, they would create obstacles. Because the wife of the pundit who was writing would cause him trouble if she knew how to read. Reading was stopped. Women cannot read Vedas. They cannot do this. Men have gone to extremes. Women cannot even go to salvation. To go to salvation, they have to become men, come into the male form. Then ask among men, they consider themselves superior. Black people are also asked. I heard that an Englishman went hunting in the jungles of Africa and took a Negro with him as a guide. They got lost in the jungle and saw a troop of 100 jungle dwellers with spears coming towards the Negro. The Englishman was very scared. He told his Negro guide, "Our lives are in danger." He said, "Your lives, not mine. Why would mine be in danger?" The white man thinks he is superior. The black man thinks he is superior. Ask them. In their books, it is written that Englishmen do not even count them among humans. They are not even counted. This disease is all over the world. This disease of man is very deep. He keeps making decisions without asking the other party. These are all games of ego. If you look by leaving a little ego, you will find that all are forms of God. Animals, birds, plants, humans. Wherever God wished to become green, he is green. Wherever he wished to manifest through the songs of birds, he is doing so. Wherever he wished to become human, he has become human. There is no hierarchy, no up or down. These are all simultaneous infinite waves of God. The same is in the small wave, the same in the big wave. The same in the white wave, the same in the black wave. The same in the grass, the same in the sky-touching trees. The spiritual vision says that whatever is at this moment is God. Then how can there be any before or after in God? This will become very difficult. So it will be difficult to make some lower and some higher in God. It is one. If you see with the state of witness, you will find everything is one. Therefore, first of all, do not even ask if people stop reacting to happiness and sorrow, will they not become like animals or plants? If they do, there will be no harm. If Hitler becomes an animal or a plant, there will be no harm. Millions of people in the world will be saved from dying. No other harm will occur. If Nadir Shah were a lion, would there be any harm? He would kill ten to five people and be satisfied, he would kill for food. He would not fill the world with corpses without reason. It is certain that animals have not yet discovered anything like the atom bomb. They work with their nails, in very old ways. Work gets done. They kill for food. Man is the only animal that kills even without the desire for food. Man goes into the jungle for hunting, kills animals and birds. He says, "We have come for hunting, for sport." And if it attacks him, then it is not hunting. Let it happen. You kill for sport. No animal kills for sport. And another funny thing is that no animal kills within its own species. No lion kills another lion. No monkey kills another monkey. Only man is the animal that kills other humans. Ants do not kill ants. Elephants do not kill elephants. Dogs do not kill dogs. They fight and quarrel, we are not talking about killing. They do not murder. Man is the only animal that murders each other. Is there something in man that you are so worried about? Even if it is lost, what will be lost? Plants are very beautiful. Animals are very innocent. But I am not saying that you should become plants or animals. I am only saying, leave your ego. And secondly, I have not said that you should stop reacting to happiness and sorrow. Ashtavakra also did not say this. To have equanimity in happiness and sorrow does not mean to stop reacting to happiness and sorrow. To have equanimity in happiness and sorrow only means that I will be a witness. If there is sorrow, I will see the sorrow. If there is happiness, I will see the happiness. Does this mean that if you prick Buddha with thorns, you will not feel pain? If you prick Buddha with thorns, he feels more pain than you, because Buddha is more sensitive than you. You are like stone. Buddha is like a soft lotus. When you prick Buddha with thorns, Buddha feels more pain than you. But the pain is occurring in the body, Buddha stands away as if knowing, "Pain is occurring, I know pain is occurring," yet he does not identify with the pain. He knows, "I am the knower, the knowing self." He is not asking to stop reacting. He is not saying that if your house catches fire, you should sit there and become Buddha, do not run out. Even while running out, know that the house is burning, I am not burning. And even if the body is burning, know that the body is burning, I am not burning. This does not mean to let the body burn. It does not mean to take the body out. It is not asking to give pain to the body. To be devoid of reaction means that you have become a stone, inert. But Buddha is not a stone. Where have you found anyone more compassionate than Buddha? Those who have not become stones, the stream of love, from whom the fountain of love flowed, their sensitivity has increased, not decreased. Great compassion descended upon them. But you can misinterpret. And those who have asked seem to have a little scholarly intellect, a little more garbage in their intellect. They have read something, heard something, gathered it, and are going around in circles. They do not let you listen. They do not let you see. They keep distorting things. All travelers are stopped, the water inside is half, the ice outside is settled. On one side, a swamp up to the chest, an impassable river of flood. On the other side, winds blowing arbitrarily, bent forests. All travelers are stopped, all doors are closed. Half-open windows are peeking, some eyes. The black of evening on the face of the sun. Countless arrows like sharp spikes. Hidden silently behind their faces, all travelers are stopped, all hidden silently behind their faces, all travelers are stopped, all. Behind these faces, of wisdom, of scholarship, of scriptural knowledge, how long will you hide? Behind these layers of thoughts, how long will you hide? Remove them. Awaken the pure consciousness within. See like a seer. Not like a thinker. A thinker means the mind's activity has started. So, if you want to understand Ashtavakra, you can understand him only as pure consciousness. If you get caught up in thinking and contemplation, you will not be able to understand Ashtavakra, you will miss out. Ashtavakra is not a philosopher, and Ashtavakra is not a thinker. Ashtavakra is a messenger of consciousness, of witness, of pure witness. Just see. See sorrow. See happiness. With sorrow, do not say, "I have become sorrow." With happiness, do not say, "I have become happiness." Let both come, let both go. If night comes, see the night. If day comes, see the day. Do not say in the night, "I have become night." Do not say in the day, "I have become day." Remain separate, aloof, beyond. Past, above, far away. Do not identify with one thing, that I am the seer. Witness. Hari Om Tat Sat. Achut.