Transcription
You are one seer of all, and truly free always. This is your only bondage: you look at the seer, leaving yourself behind. This sutra is extremely precious. Understand each and every word of it properly.
You are one seer of all, and always truly free. We commonly get the awareness of our lives from the eyes of others. We use the eyes of others like a mirror. Therefore, we forget the seer and become the seen. It is natural. A small child is born. He has no sense of himself yet. He will look into the eyes of others to see who he is. His own face is not visible. He will have to find a mirror. When you see yourself in a mirror, you become the seen. You cease to be the seer. Your recognition of yourself is only as much as the mirror said. If the mother says, "Son, you are beautiful," then the son considers himself beautiful. If the teacher says, "You are intelligent in school," then the person considers himself intelligent. Someone insults you. Someone criticizes you, and the tone of criticism enters within. That is why our sense of self seems very deceptive. Because it is made up of many voices. It is made up of conflicting voices. Someone said, "You are beautiful," and someone said, "Look at your face, you are even more beautiful." Both voices entered within, creating a conflict. Someone said, "You are very intelligent," and someone said, "There is no fool like you." Both voices entered within, joined together, creating great restlessness, great conflict. That is why you are not sure who you are. You have gathered such a crowd of opinions. You have looked into so many mirrors, and all the mirrors have given different news. Mirrors don't give much news about you. They give news about themselves. You must have seen mirrors in which you become taller. You must have seen mirrors in which you become fatter. You must have seen mirrors in which you look very beautiful. You must have seen mirrors in which you become very ugly. You would become like Ashtavakra. The glimpse you get in the mirror is not yours. Conflicting things of the mirror's own nature keep accumulating. You understand this collection of conflicting things to be "I." Therefore, you always tremble and are afraid. How much fear there is of public opinion. What if people think badly? What if people think I am foolish? What if people think I am unrighteous? What if people think so, because we have created our self through people.
The Guru used to tell his disciples, "If you want to know the Self, you must leave people." He spoke the truth. For centuries, the true Gurus have said this. If you want to recognize yourself, you must stop looking into the eyes of others. Many seekers of truth have left society. The reason for this was not that it is impossible to find truth while living in society. The only reason was that it is very difficult to know one's true image while living in society. Here, people keep giving news about who you are. Whether you ask or not. Flashes of who you are keep coming from all directions. And we gradually start living for these flashes. I heard that a politician died. His wife had died two years earlier. As soon as the politician died, his wife welcomed him at the gate of the other world. But the politician said, "I will not come in yet. Let me go to Rajghat with my funeral procession." The wife said, "What is the point now? The body is left there. It is dust." He said, "It is not just dust. Let me see how many people have come to bid farewell." The politician and his wife were not visible to anyone along with the funeral procession. Only the funeral procession was visible to Varun. There was a large crowd. There were newspaper reporters. There were photographers. Flags were lowered. Flowers were decorated. The funeral was on a military truck. Great respect was being given. Cannons were in front and behind. Soldiers were marching. The politician was overwhelmed with joy. The wife said, "Why are you so happy?" He said, "If I had known that so many people would come at death, I would have died much earlier." Why would we not have died earlier? Why would we have waited so long? So that so many people would come at death. This is what we live for. People live for the crowd. People die for the crowd. What others say has become so valuable that you don't even ask who you are. What others say? You collect fragments of their words and make your own picture. That picture is very unstable. Because people's minds keep changing. And not only do people's minds keep changing, but the reasons also change. Someone comes and tells you, "You are a great saintly person." There is a reason for that. They flattered you. Who considers you a saintly person, except yourself? Think about yourself. Whom do you consider a saintly person, leaving yourself aside? Sometimes one has to say it. Life has needs, there are obstacles. One has to call a liar truthful. One has to call a wicked person virtuous. One has to praise the ugly as beautiful. One has to praise. One has to flatter. That is why flattery is so valuable. Why do people fall for flattery? Even if you tell a very ordinary person, "You are very intelligent," he will not deny it. Because he knows nothing about himself. He only hears what you say. He becomes what you say. So their reasons change. Someone says, "You are beautiful," someone says, "You are ugly," someone says, "You are good," someone says, "You are bad." All this keeps accumulating. And based on these conflicting opinions, you create your self. You are riding a bullock cart in which bulls are yoked in all directions, going in all directions simultaneously. Your bones are loosening. You are just being dragged along, you are not reaching anywhere, you cannot reach.
The first sutra today is: You are one seer of all, and you are always truly free. The person is not the seen. He is the seer. There are three types of people in the world. Those who have become the seen are in the deepest darkness. Secondly, those who have become the spectators are a little better than the first, but not much different. Thirdly, those who have become the seers. It is important to understand all three separately. When you become the seen, you become an object. You have lost your Self. Therefore, it is difficult to find the Self in a politician. It is difficult to find the Self in an actor. He has become the seen. He lives only to become the seen. His entire effort is, how can I please people? How can I look beautiful? How can I look superior? It is not the effort to be superior, but the effort to appear superior. How can I appear superior? So, the one who is becoming the seen becomes a hypocrite. He wears masks from the outside. He makes all arrangements from the outside. He rots from within. Then there are those who have become spectators. There is a large crowd of them. Naturally, the first type of people need the second type of people. Otherwise, how will people become the seen? Someone becomes a politician, and then a crowd of applauders is found. So, there is a great match between the two. If there is a leader, there must be followers. If someone is dancing, there must be spectators. If someone is singing, there must be listeners. So, some are engaged in becoming the seen, and some remain as spectators. There is a large crowd of spectators. Western psychologists are very worried because people have become mere spectators. They watch films. They turn on the radio. They sit in front of the television. On average, a person in America watches television for about six hours a day. They go to watch a football match. They go to watch wrestling. They go to watch cricket. They go to watch the Olympics. They have just remained watchers. Standing like spectators on the roadside, while the procession of life passes by. You are watching. There are some who have joined the procession of life. That is a slightly difficult business. There is a lot of competition there. It is a bit difficult to join the procession. It requires great struggle and great aggression. But there is also a need for those who watch the procession. They stand on the side and watch. If they are not there, the procession will also depart. Think a little, if followers don't walk behind, what will happen to the leaders? "May our flag remain high alone." They seem very foolish, very mad. People are needed on the roadside, a crowd is needed, so even madness seems fine. Think a little, if no one comes to watch, and a cricket match continues. The life of the match is gone. The life of the match is not in the match itself, but in the millions of people who gather to watch. And man is amazing. Man even goes to watch horse races. This entire village of Koregaon is a settlement of spectators. This is a matter of great surprise. Make man run. No one comes to watch horses. Horses run. People go to watch. This is a situation worse than horses. Life passes by in the blink of an eye. Spectators. You don't love. You watch love happening in films. You don't dance. You watch someone dancing. You don't hum songs. Someone hums. You listen. If your life becomes impotent, if all life energy is lost from it, then what is the surprise? There is no movement in your life. There is no flow of energy. You are sitting like a corpse. Your only job is to keep watching. Keep watching as long as someone shows you. The number of these two is very large in the world. Both are bound to each other. Psychologists say that every disease in the world has two aspects. There are some people in the world whom psychologists call masochists. They torment themselves. And there is another class in the world whom psychologists call sadists. They torment others. Both are needed. Therefore, when both meet, there is great revelry. Psychologists say that if the husband is one who torments others, and the wife is one who torments herself, then there is no better couple than this. The wife enjoys tormenting herself. The husband enjoys tormenting others. A match made by God. One blind, one leprous, they met. They met perfectly. They fit perfectly. Every disease has two aspects. The seen and the spectator are two aspects of the same disease. Women generally prefer to be the seen. Men generally prefer to be the spectator. In the language of psychologists, they call women exhibitionists. Their entire pleasure is in being an exhibition. Mulla Nasruddin was killing flies. There were many flies. So his wife said, "Remove them." He was killing flies near the mirror. He said, "Two females are sitting." The wife said, "How did you know they were females?" He said, "They have been sitting on the mirror for an hour. They must be females. What business does a male have near a mirror?" Women cannot escape the mirror. If they find a mirror, it attracts them like a magnet. Their whole life is spent in front of the mirror, in clothes, in adornments, in makeup. And the surprising thing is, they go out so dressed up, and then they get angry if someone pushes them. If no one pushes them, they are also sad. Because they dressed up so much to be pushed. Otherwise, what was the purpose? Women don't dress up in front of their husbands. In front of their husbands, they sit like a fierce goddess. Because the pushing and shoving has ended there. But when they go outside the house, they make great preparations. There they will find spectators. They have to be the seen there. Man, psychologists call him a watcher. His entire gaze is in watching, his pleasure is in watching. Not in watching women, but in showing themselves. That is why the couple of woman and man fits together. Two aspects of the disease fit together perfectly. And both these states are diseased. Ashtavakra says that man's nature is that of a seer. Neither to be the seen nor the spectator. Now, never make this mistake. I have seen many times that some people make this mistake. They think that if they become spectators, they have become seers. There is a fundamental difference between these two words. In a dictionary, there might not be a difference. There, spectator and seer might have the same meaning. But in the dictionary of life, there is a big difference. Spectator means the gaze is on others. And seer means the gaze is on oneself. If the gaze is on the watcher, then it is the seer. And if the gaze is on the seen, then it is the spectator. It is a revolutionary difference. A fundamental difference. When your gaze gets stuck on the seen, and you forget yourself, then you are a spectator. When all the seen departs from your gaze, and only you remain, only awareness remains, only consciousness remains, then you are the seer. So, you are a spectator only when you have completely forgotten yourself. You have forgotten yourself. Your gaze is fixed there. You are sitting in a cinema hall. For three hours, you forget yourself. You don't remember who you are. Sorrows, joys, worries, all are forgotten. That is why the crowd reaches there. There is great sorrow, worry, trouble in life. Somewhere, a way to forget is needed. People become completely engrossed. Their attention is fixed only on the film. They see something on the screen, but there is nothing. Shadows are moving, but people are completely engrossed. Illness is forgotten, worry is forgotten, old age is forgotten. Even death, if it comes, is forgotten. But you have not become the seer by sitting in the film. You have become a spectator. You have forgotten yourself. The memory of who I am is lost. The memory of this energy of seeing within is lost. Only the seen is in front, and you are drowned in it. Being a spectator is a kind of self-forgetfulness. And being a seer means all the seen has departed. The screen is empty. No more films are playing there. No thoughts, no words. The screen is completely blank. Pure and white. Nothing to see. Only the seer remains. And now, if you dive into the seer, then the seer, the seen, and the spectator, humanity is divided among these. Sometimes someone is a seer, like Ashtavakra, like Krishna, like Mahavir, like Buddha. Sometimes someone is a seer. You are one seer of all. And the beauty of this sutra is that as soon as you become the seer, you realize that there is only one seer. There are not many in the world. There are many seen. There are many spectators. The existence of multiplicity is only between the seen and the spectator. That is a web of illusion. The seer is only one. Imagine the moon has risen. The full moon has risen. In rivers, ponds, lakes, reservoirs, oceans, streams, reflections are formed everywhere. If you roam the earth and count all the reflections, you will find millions, billions, trillions of reflections. But the moon is one. The reflections are many. The seer is one. The seen are many. The spectators are many. They are just reflections. They are shadows. So, as soon as a person is free from the seen and the spectator, the desire to show, that someone should see, and the desire to see, are gone. The web of seeing and showing is broken. That pleasure is gone. Then there is detachment. There is no desire anymore. Someone should see and say, "You are beautiful, virtuous, saintly, righteous." If even this desire remains within, that people should consider you a saint, then you are still caught in the old web. If even this aspiration, this desire, remains in the mind, that people should consider you a saintly person, then you are still caught in the old web. The world has not yet left you. The world has taken a new form, a new guise, but the journey continues. The continuity is the same. What will you do by seeing? You have seen a lot. What have you gained? What will you do by showing? Who is here to whom you can show something and gain something? Beyond these two, beyond conflict, whoever drowns in the seer, finds that there is only one. This full moon is only one. It appeared differently in lakes, ponds, reservoirs, oceans. Because they were different mirrors. I heard there was a royal palace. The emperor built a palace only of mirrors. There were mirrors everywhere inside. It was a glass palace. The emperor's own dog got locked inside at night by mistake. You can understand the state of that dog. That is the state of man. He looked all around. There were dogs everywhere. In every mirror, there was a dog. He got scared. When a person is afraid, he wants to frighten another. Perhaps if the other is frightened, his own fear will lessen. He barked. But naturally, there were only mirrors there. Dogs barked at mirrors from mirrors. The sound returned to him. It was his own echo. He barked all night, and growled, and fought with the mirrors, and became bloody. There was no one there. He was alone. He was found dead in the morning. There were signs of blood throughout the building. His story is man's story. There is no other here. There is no other here. What is here is unique. There is one here. But until you grasp that one from within, it will not come to mind. You are one seer of all, and truly free always. Ashtavakra says, truly free. Do not consider this imagination. Man is very wonderful. Man thinks that the world is real, and all these talks of truth are imagination. He considers suffering to be real. If even a ray of happiness descends, he considers it a dream, an illusion. People come to me. They say, "I am feeling great joy." They doubt it. "Is this not some illusion?" They have lived in suffering for so many lifetimes that their trust is lost that happiness can even exist. Happiness has begun to seem impossible. The practice of crying has become so ingrained. The practice of suffering has become so ingrained. The familiarity with thorns is such that even if a flower appears, one does not trust it. It seems like a dream, an impossible flower. That is why Ashtavakra says, truly free. The person is not bound. Bondage is impossible because only the divine exists. Only one exists. There is nothing to bind, and nothing to be bound by. You are always truly free. Therefore, people like Ashtavakra say that one can be free at this very moment, because one is already free. There is no obstacle to freedom. Bondage never occurred. Bondage is only assumed. Your bondage is only this: you look at the seer, leaving yourself behind.
"Eko drashta sarvasya mukta prayo sarvada ameva hi te bandho drashtaram pashya shitaram."
The only bondage is that you look at the seer, leaving yourself behind. And the only liberation is that you recognize yourself as the seer. So, let's start practicing this a little. Let's say you are sitting near a tree. The tree is visible. So, gradually, while looking at the tree, start looking at the one who is looking at the tree. It's a slight shift. Normally, the arrow of consciousness is going towards the tree. Let this arrow go in both directions. Let its fruit be in both directions. Look at the tree, and at the same time, try to look at the one who is looking. Do not forget the watcher. Catch hold of the watcher. You will forget repeatedly, it is an old habit. A habit of lifetimes. You will forget, but repeatedly catch hold of the watcher. As the watcher starts to come into your grasp, sometimes only for a moment, but even for a moment, you will find that an unprecedented peace has arisen, a blessing has descended, a ray of good fortune has emerged. Even if it happens for a moment, you will experience the joy of liberation for that moment, and that joy will change the taste of your life and the flow of your life. Words will not change the flow of your life, scriptures will not change it, experience will change the taste.
Will change. You are listening to me here. You can be heard in two ways. While listening, if your attention remains only on what I am saying and you forget yourself, then you will not remain a seer, not a listener, not a disciple. If your attention gets stuck on me, you become a spectator. One does not become a spectator only with the eyes. One becomes a spectator with the ears too. Whenever attention gets stuck on the object, on the subject, you become a spectator. While listening, listen to me, and at the same time, keep looking at, holding, and feeling the one who is listening. Certainly, you are listening. I am speaking. Do not keep your gaze only on the speaker. Keep holding the listener too. Keep taking care of them in between. Slowly, you will find that the moment you held the listener, in that very moment you heard me. All this was in vain. When you listen by holding the listener. Then only what I am saying will be heard by you. And if you have not held the listener, then you will hear who knows what, which neither I nor Ashtavakra have said. Then your mind will weave many webs. You are unconscious. How can you understand words of consciousness in unconsciousness? These words are of consciousness. These words are of some other world. If you heard in sleep, you will weave your dreams around these words. You will spoil the color of these words. You will paint over them. You will extract their meaning in your own way. In your interpretation, these wonderful words will become dead. You will get the corpse of Ashtavakra in your hands. You will miss the living Ashtavakra because to grasp the living Ashtavakra, you will have to grasp your seer. The living Ashtavakra is there. Do not take this lightly. You listen to me, while listening to me, start listening to the one who is listening. Let the arrow be double-edged, towards me and towards you too. If I forget, it doesn't matter, but you should not forget. And there comes a moment when neither you remain nor I remain. A moment of supreme peace comes when two do not remain, only one remains. You are speaking, you are listening, you are seeing, you are appearing. Ashtavakra is pointing towards that moment, that he is one, the seer, and is always truly free. Bondage is like a dream. Tonight you will sleep in Pune, but in your sleep, you can be in Kolkata, in Delhi, in Kathmandu, anywhere. Waking up in the morning, you will find yourself in Pune. If you went to Kathmandu in a dream, you will not have to travel by plane to return, nor catch a train, nor travel on foot. You will not have to travel at all. You will open your eyes in the morning and find that you are in Pune. In the morning you will find that you did not go anywhere. You went in a dream. Is going in a dream any going? The only bondage is yours, that you see another as the seer, leaving yourself. The only bondage is that we are not aware of ourselves. Not aware of our seer. This is one meaning of this sutra. Another meaning should also be taken into account. Generally, those who have written anything on Ashtavakra have given a different meaning. Therefore, it is also important to understand that second meaning. That second meaning is also correct. Both meanings are correct together. Your bondage is only this, that you see another as the seer, leaving yourself. You are listening to me. You think the ears are listening. You are seeing me. You think the eyes are seeing. What will the eyes see? If you consider the eyes as the seer, it is a mistake. The one who sees is behind the eyes. The one who listens is behind the ears. Touch my hand. Then you will think your hand touched my hand. A mistake is happening. The one who touches is hidden within the hand. What will the hand touch? You will die tomorrow. The corpse will remain. People will keep holding hands. This will not touch anything. The corpse will remain. The eyes will remain open. Everything will be visible and nothing will be visible. The corpse will remain. There will be music. Bands will play. The ears will be struck. There will be a jingle, but nothing will be heard. The one who used to hear, the one who used to see, the one who used to touch, taste, has gone. The senses do not bring experience. Someone hidden behind the senses. So the second meaning of this sutra is that you should know yourself as the seer. Do not know the body. Do not know the eyes, the ears, the senses. Know the inner consciousness as the seer. "I am the doer." Struck by this extremely black serpent of ego, you are. "I am not the doer." Be happy by drinking this nectar of faith. "I am the doer." Struck by this extremely black serpent of ego, you are. Our belief is everything. We are caught in the dream of belief. Whatever we consider ourselves to be, that is what we become. This is a matter of great thought. This is the essence of past experience. Whatever we have considered ourselves to be, that is what we become. If you have ever seen a hypnotist at work, you would have been surprised. If he hypnotizes a person and tells a man that you are a woman, and then tells him to get up and walk, the man starts walking like a woman. It is very difficult to walk like a woman. It requires a special body structure. To walk like a woman, you need an empty space in the womb in the stomach. Otherwise, no one can walk like a woman. Or one can walk with a lot of practice. But a hypnotist can tell someone in a trance, "Get up, you are a woman, not a man, walk." He starts walking like a woman. He gives him an onion and says, "This is an apple, have breakfast." He eats the onion and asks, "How does it taste?" He says, "Very delicious." He doesn't even realize it's an onion. He doesn't even smell it. Hypnotists have experienced this, and now it is a scientific fact, many experiments have been done on this. In a state of unconscious hypnosis, if you place an ordinary pebble in the hand of the unconscious person and say, "An ember has been placed," he will snatch it away and throw it, screaming that he is burnt. If it stopped there, it would be fine. But a blister would form on the hand. You must have heard news of people who walk on fire. That is also a deep state of hypnosis. If you have believed that you will not burn, then even fire does not burn. It's a matter of belief. If there is even a little doubt, it will be difficult, you will get burnt. It has happened many times that some people just went ahead with courage, thinking that since so many people are walking, we will also walk, but there was a worm of doubt inside, and they got burnt. Experiments were done on this at Oxford University. Some Buddhist monks were called from Sri Lanka to walk. They walk on fire on Buddha Purnima every year in memory of Buddha. That is absolutely correct. One should walk on fire in memory of Buddha because the entire memory of Buddha is that you are not the body. So if we are not the body, how can fire burn us? Krishna said in the Gita, "Neither fire can burn you, nor weapons can pierce you." Neither fire will burn you, nor weapons can pierce you. So on Buddha Purnima, Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka walk on fire. They were chanted to. They also walked at Oxford. When they were walking at Oxford, one monk got burnt. About 20 monks walked, one monk got burnt. An investigation was done to find out what happened. That monk had only come to see England. He had no faith. That he would be able to walk. His intention was something else. He had just come to travel. His aspiration was only to see England, and he thought, "If these 19 people are not burning, why will I burn?" But there was a worm of doubt inside, and he got burnt. And the very same night, another incident happened. A professor from Oxford University, a professor who had never seen or heard of such an event, was just sitting and watching. Seeing this, he gained so much faith that he got up and started walking, and he walked. He was neither a Buddhist nor religious. He knew nothing. He just felt this by seeing so many people walk. This feeling arose with such depth. This faith became so intense that he got up in a state of deep joy and started dancing on fire. The monks were also surprised because the monks thought that Lord Buddha was protecting them. This man was not a Buddhist. He was an Englishman and not religious either. The church also did not want it, so Christ would not care for him. He had nothing to do with Buddha. He had no master. Only faith. Whatever we believe in, with deep faith, that is what we become. "I am the doer." Struck by this extremely black serpent of ego, you are. "I am not the doer." Drink this nectar of faith and be happy. Keep these words in mind. Again and again, Ashtavakra says, "Be happy." He says this can happen at this very moment. "I am the doer." This is our belief. According to that belief, our ego is formed. Doer means existence. "I am the doer." Our ego is formed from that. Therefore, the bigger the doer, the bigger the ego. If you haven't done anything special, what ego will you have? If you built a big house, your ego becomes that big. If you built a great empire, your ego extends to that limit. That is why mad people set out to conquer the world. They don't set out to conquer the world. Who has ever conquered the world? People come, they go. Who can conquer the world? But they set out to conquer the world to declare that my ego is so vast that I will make the whole world small, encompass it, define it. I will become the definition of the entire universe. Alexander, Napoleon, Timur, Nadir, and all the madmen set out to encompass the world. This aspiration to encompass the world is an aspiration of ego. You must have seen someone become a minister or chief minister, then observed their gait. When they are no longer in power, you see them. They fall into such a bad state after leaving power. The person is the same, the strength is lost. That ego-driven force that was giving momentum, giving intoxication, that swagger in their gait, that raised head, that straightened spine, all that is lost. What happened? A moment ago, there seemed to be so much strength. A moment later, they became so weak. People do not live long after retiring from political positions. They remain powerful as long as they win. As soon as they start losing, they lose strength. Psychologists say that people die soon after retiring. It makes a difference of 10 years. Not a small difference. A person who lived to 80 years, if they retired at 60, would die at 70. They could have lived to 80. There was no other reason for death. But a reason for death was found. When you were a collector, commissioner, police inspector, or even a constable. Even a school teacher has pride. They too have a world. They keep 30-40 boys under control. They suppress them. There, they are emperors. It is said that when Aurangzeb imprisoned his father, his father said, "I don't feel like it here. Do one thing, send 30-40 young boys. Open a madrasa." It is said that Aurangzeb said, "My father is in jail, but his old emperor's pride hasn't gone. He will now rule over 30-40 boys." He made arrangements for a small school. Even a school teacher is a king in a world of 30-40 boys. Even the greatest king does not have so much power. Say "get up," and people get up. Say "sit down," and people sit down. Everyone is with him. Even a school teacher, a collector, a deputy collector, a minister, anyone. As soon as they retire, they lose their strength. Now no one greets them on the street. Now they have no significance anywhere. They seem useless. As if thrown on a garbage heap or put in a junkyard. Now there is no need for them anywhere. Wherever they go, people tolerate them. But from their expressions, it is clear that they are thinking, "Please leave now, forgive us for now. Why have you come here? Let us do our other work." Those same people who used to flatter him now avoid him on the street. Those same people who used to massage his feet are now nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, the balloon of their ego shrinks. As if the balloon burst. Air started escaping. It got punctured. It starts shrinking. Life seems meaningless. The desire to die arises. They start thinking, "Let me die now." Because what is the point now? People die soon after retiring. Because all the strength of their lives was in their empires. Someone was a head clerk, so they were harassing 10-5 clerks. It doesn't matter who you are. You might be a peon. But even a peon has pride. When you go inside the office, the peon sits. He is sitting outside on a stool. But see his pride. He says, "Wait." Mulla Nasruddin used to work as a constable. He caught a woman driving a car at high speed. He quickly took out his notebook and started writing. The woman said, "Listen, don't write unnecessary things. The mayor knows me." But he kept writing. The woman said, "Are you listening or not? The Chief Minister also knows me." But he kept writing. Finally, the woman played her last card. She said, "Are you listening or not? Indira Gandhi also knows me." Mulla said, "Stop the nonsense. Mulla Nasruddin knows you." The woman said, "Who is Mulla Nasruddin?" "What do you mean?" He said, "My name is Mulla Nasruddin. If I know you, then something can happen. Otherwise, let anyone know. Even God knows you. This report will be written. This case will proceed." Every person has their own pride. Even a constable has his own pride. He too has his own world. His own kingdom. Trapped within it, he will oppress. Ego lives on the boundary that you can set. Therefore, you will see that an egoistic person experiences great difficulty in saying "yes." You should observe yourself. I am not giving you a yardstick to judge others. You should analyze yourself. It is enjoyable to say "no" because saying "no" feels like strength. A son asks his mother, "Can I play outside?" She says, "No." There is no harm in playing outside. If the son doesn't play outside, where will he play? And the mother also knows that he will go, make a little noise, show his strength, there will be a clash of strengths, some politics will happen, he will make a fuss, throw utensils, then she will say, "Okay, go play outside." But when she says, "Go play outside," it's fine. Then he is going by her command. Mulla Nasruddin's son was being very mischievous. He was repeatedly saying, "Sit quietly, listen to my command, sit quietly." But he was not listening. Which son listens? Finally, exasperated, Mulla Nasruddin said, "Okay, now do as much mischief as you want. Now see how you disobey my command. Now my command is, do as much mischief as you want. Now see how you disobey my command." "No" comes to the tongue quickly. You think about it. In 90 out of 100 occasions, where there was no need to say "no," you still say "no." You don't miss an opportunity to say "no." If you get a chance to say "no," you snatch it. Saying "yes" feels like great helplessness. Saying "yes" feels very pathetic. Saying "yes" means you have no strength. Therefore, those who are very egoistic become atheists. Atheist means they have said the ultimate "no." They have said, "There is no God either." Forget about others. Atheist means they have given the ultimate, absolute denial. Theist means they have accepted the ultimate. They have said "yes." There is God. Saying "yes" to God means "I" am gone. Saying "no" to God means, "I" am here. Now there is no one above me. No one beyond me. No one to set my limits. Our actions fill our ego. Therefore, keep Ashtavakra's sutra in mind. "I am the doer." "Aham karta iti." Struck by this extremely black serpent of ego, you are. You are suffering and troubled in vain. This suffering does not come from outside. This sorrow we endure is self-created. The greater the ego, the greater the suffering. Ego is a wound. Even a slight gust of wind causes pain. It is impossible to make a non-egoistic person unhappy. It is impossible to make an egoistic person happy. An egoistic person has decided not to be happy. Because happiness comes from a "yes" attitude, from acceptance. Happiness comes from knowing what I am. A drop in the ocean. I am a drop of the ocean. It is the ocean. What is my existence? As the feeling of not being becomes intense in a person, so many heaps of happiness start showering upon them. Whoever is destroyed is filled. Whoever shows arrogance is destroyed. "I am not the doer." Drink this nectar of faith and be happy. "I am not the doer." Ashtavakra calls this feeling nectar. "Aham na karta iti." This is the nectar. One more meaning should be understood. Only the ego dies. You never die. Therefore, ego is death, it is poison. The day you realize that ego does not exist. That only the divine is within you. It is just its expansion, its ray, its drop, then you have no death. Then you are immortal. With the divine, you are immortal. With yourself, you are mortal. With yourself, you are alone. You are against the world. Against existence. You are engaged in an impossible war. In which defeat is certain. With the divine, everything is with you. In which defeat is impossible. Victory is certain. Take everyone along. Where it can happen with cooperation, why do you struggle? Where it can be obtained by yielding, why do you try to take it by fighting? Where it is obtained easily and humbly, why do you create unnecessary commotion? Why do you create unnecessary output? "I am not the doer." Drink this nectar of faith and be happy. Janaka asked, "How can we be happy? How can we find happiness? How can we get liberation?" Ashtavakra is not telling any method. He is not saying, "Practice this way." He says, "Look this way. The vision should be like this." This is all a disturbance of vision. If you are unhappy, it is based on wrong vision. If you want to be happy, it is right vision. Drink this nectar of faith and be happy. The definition of faith here is also worth understanding. Lack of faith means you do not consider yourself one with the totality. Doubt arises from that. If you consider yourself one with the totality, then what lack of faith? Wherever existence takes you, that is auspicious. We do not go by our will, nor do we go by our will. We have no knowledge of why we were born before birth, nor do we have knowledge of why we will die. No one asked us before birth if we wanted to be born. No one will ask us before death if we will die, if we wish to die. Everything is happening here. Who asks us? Why should we unnecessarily bring ourselves in between? We will merge into that from which life originated. And what distrust is there of the one who gave life? What distrust of the source from which this beautiful life has emerged? From where these flowers have bloomed, where these lotuses have bloomed, where these moons and stars are, where these humans, animals, birds are, where there is so much song, where there is so much music, where there is so much love, that
Why distrust? Trust means we do not consider ourselves alien, not strangers. We consider ourselves one with this existence. As soon as this oneness is proclaimed, a shower of happiness falls upon life. Drink this nectar of faith and be happy. Drink the nectar of faith, be happy. Become happy now. Drink, be happy. Become happy this very moment. I am a pure consciousness. By burning the forest of ignorance with the fire of certainty, you become free from sorrow, be happy. Become happy now, beyond sorrow. By knowing a small thing, sorrow is dispelled, that I am pure consciousness, that I am merely a witness, that I am only an observer. The disease of ego is the only disease. I have heard that Mulla Nasruddin also participated in a poetry gathering in Delhi. When the poetry gathering ended and the organizers started distributing remuneration, he was not satisfied. He did not receive as much remuneration as he had thought. He became very angry. He said, "Do you know who I am? I am the Kalidas of Pune." The organizers must have been shrewd people. They said, "Alright. But tell us, which neighborhood of Pune is this Kalidas from?" There is a Kalidas in every neighborhood. There is a Tagore in every neighborhood. Every person thinks that his talent is unique and unparalleled. There is a saying in Arabia that when God creates a person, he whispers in his ear, "A better person than you has never been made." And he says this to everyone. This joke is very profound. And every person lives with this thought in their mind that no one better than them has been made. I am the supreme creation. If someone doesn't believe it, it's their lack of understanding. Living in this arrogance, a person suffers greatly. Because due to this arrogance, he makes great expectations which will never be fulfilled. His expectations are infinite. Life is very short. Whoever ties expectations will be unhappy. There is also an art of living life in another way. A life devoid of expectations, filled with gratitude for whatever is received without asking. That is the process of a believer. What you have received is immense. But you don't see it. I have heard that a man was about to die. He went to the bank of a river where a Sufi fakir was sitting. He said, "What are you doing?" He was about to jump. He said, "Don't stop me. Enough is enough. There is nothing in life. Everything is useless. What I wanted, I didn't get. What I didn't want, I got. God is against me, so why should I accept this life?" That fakir said, "Do this. Stop for one day, then die. What's the hurry?" You say you have nothing. He said, "Nothing. If I had something, why would I come to die?" That fakir said, "Come with me. The king of this village is my friend." He took him. The fakir took him. He whispered something in the king's ear. The king said, "I will give you one lakh." That man heard this. He did not hear what the fakir said in his ear. The king said, "I will give you one lakh." The fakir came and said in that man's ear, "The king is ready to buy both your eyes for one lakh. Will you sell them?" He said, "What do you mean? Sell my eyes? Even if you give 10 lakhs, I won't give them." So he went back to the king. He said, "Okay, we will give 11 lakhs." That man said, "Leave it, I don't want to do business. Why would I sell my eyes?" The fakir said, "Will you sell your ears? Will you sell your nose? This king is ready to buy everything. And he is ready to give whatever price you ask." He said, "No, we don't want to do this business. Why would we sell?" That fakir said, "Just look, you are not ready to sell your eyes even for 11 lakhs. And you were about to die last night, saying you have nothing. What you have received, we do not see. Just think about these eyes. What a miracle this is. Eyes are made of skin. They are an organ of the skin. But how can eyes see? How transparent they are. The impossible has become possible. These ears can smell music, the chirping of birds, the rustling of the wind, the roar of the ocean. These ears are made only of skin and bone. Look at this miracle. You are this. This is such a great miracle. What greater miracle can you imagine? In this body of bone, flesh, and marrow, the lamp of consciousness is burning. Just assess the value of this lamp of consciousness. But you have no regard for it. You say, "I should have gotten a job of 100 rupees, but I got 90 rupees, I will commit suicide." "I should have been a minister, but I only became a deputy minister, I won't live." "I wanted a big house, but I got a small one, there's no point in living." "My business has failed, my bank account is empty, what's the point of living now?" "I wanted a certain woman, but I didn't get her." "I wanted a certain man, but I didn't get him. Now I will die." The more you desire, the more sorrow will be in your life. The more you see how much you have received without asking, how much has been showered upon you unconditionally. What have you earned? What was your earning for which you received life? What is your merit for which you dance in the sun's rays for a moment? Talk to the moon and stars. What is the reason? What is your strength? What is the proof of your strength? That the winds touch you and you hum, immersed in bliss. What have you done for meditation to be possible? Everything is given to you here, as a blessing. Yet you are troubled. Yet you keep complaining. Yet you are sad. Surely the disease of ego is consuming you. That is what is holding everyone. I have heard. All members of a family worked in films. Once the head of the family came to his family doctor and said, "Doctor, my son has a contagious disease, scarlet fever, and he believes he kissed the maid of the house." "Don't worry," the doctor advised, "blood rushes in youth." "You don't understand, Doctor," the man said, becoming a little restless. "The truth is, after that, I also kissed that girl." "Then the matter seems a bit serious." The doctor admitted. "What's the problem now, Doctor?" "After that, I have also kissed my wife twice." Hearing this, the doctor jumped from his chair and shouted, "Then we are doomed! Then this ridiculous disease must have infected me too!" He had kissed their wife. Such diseases spread. Ego is a contagious disease. When a child is born, there is no ego. It is completely egoless, innocent. It is an open book, with no writing, an empty book. Then gradually letters are written. Then gradually ego is created. Parents, family, society, school, university, then they keep strengthening his ego. This entire process of our education and upbringing, civilization and culture, creates only one disease. It gives birth to ego. This ego then follows us like a ghost throughout our lives. If you want to understand the true meaning of religion, it is only this: whatever disease society, culture, and civilization give you, religion is the medicine for that disease, nothing else. Religion is anti-society. It is anti-civilization. It is anti-culture. Religion is rebellion. Religion is revolution. The total meaning of the revolution of religion is how to teach you to let go of what has been given to you by others, and not to cling to it. That is your suffering. That is your hell. There is no burden in life other than ego. There are no chains or bonds in life other than ego. "I am a pure consciousness." By burning the forest of ignorance with the fire of certainty, you become free from sorrow. Be happy. Ego means connecting your consciousness with something else. A person says, "I am intelligent." He has connected his ego with intelligence, so his consciousness has become impure. You have seen that if someone mixes water in milk, we say the milk has become impure. But if the person mixing the water says, "We have mixed pure water," you will still say it has become impure. Whether you mix pure water or impure, it doesn't matter. The question is not that. Water has been mixed. It makes no difference. It makes no difference whether you mixed pure water; the milk has still become impure. And if you look closely, not only the milk has become impure, but the water has also become impure. Both water and milk were pure. They became impure by mixing. Trouble arises from mixing with the opposite, the alien, and the other. As soon as consciousness mixes with something different from itself, you say, "I am intelligent." Intelligence is a tool. Use it. Don't become intelligent. That is intelligence. Don't become intelligent. You said, "I am intelligent." Trouble began. Milk mixed with water. Then it doesn't matter how pure your intelligence is. You said, "I am virtuous." Milk mixed with water. Now it doesn't matter how pure your character is. Both the wicked and the virtuous have egos. I have heard an old story that in Russia, in Siberia, during the time of the Tsar, three prisoners were locked up, and they always argued among themselves about who was the bigger criminal and who had been in jail for the longest time. This often happens in jail. People exaggerate there too. It's not that you exaggerate your bank balance and borrow furniture from the neighbors to spread carpets when guests arrive. You deceive yourself. It's not like that. It's not that you start chanting "Hare Ram, Hare Ram" loudly seeing others. Or that when someone comes, the prayer becomes longer. The bells of worship ring loudly. If no one is there, you finish quickly. You don't do this. If guests are at home, you go to the temple, because you want to impress the guests with your religiosity. Prisoners do the same in prison. Those three prisoners used to argue. The first prisoner said, "When I came to jail, when I was put in the Siberian jail, motor vehicles were not running." The second said, "What's so special about that? When I was put in, even bullock carts were not running." The third said, "Bullock carts? What are bullock carts?" They were trying to prove who had been in that jail since the most ancient times. There is ego in this too. I have heard that a new criminal came to a jail. The cell he was sent to already had a seasoned "dada" (gang leader). That dada asked, "How many days will you stay?" He said, "I have been sentenced to about 20 years." He said, "Stay near the door, you will have to leave soon. Set up your bed near the door." The criminal also has ego. A person fills his ego with the bad and with the good. But in both situations, consciousness becomes impure. Ashtavakra says, "I am a pure consciousness." Neither am I intelligent, nor am I virtuous, nor am I wicked, nor am I beautiful, nor am I ugly, nor am I young, nor am I old, nor fair, nor dark, nor Hindu, nor Muslim, nor Brahmin, nor Shudra. I have no identification. I am the observer of all these. Just as you light a lamp in your house, the light of the lamp falls on the table, on the chair, on the wall, on the wall clock, on the furniture, on the cupboard, on the carpet, on the floor, on the roof, on everything. You are sitting, it falls on you too. But the light is not the wall, nor the roof, nor the floor, nor the table, nor the chair. Everything is illuminated by that light. But the light is separate. Pure consciousness is your light. It is your awareness. That awareness falls on your intellect too. It falls on your body too. It falls on your actions too. But you are none of them. As long as you identify yourself with something, ego will arise. Ego is the identification of consciousness with something else. As soon as you shed all identifications, you say, "I am just pure consciousness. I am pure consciousness. I am pure awareness." Then you are returning home. The moment of liberation is near. Ashtavakra says, "The notion 'I am a pure consciousness'." "Aham ekam vishuddha bodha iti." With the fire of certainty, what is this? The certainty of the matter. Hearing this will not bring certainty. Understanding it only with intellect will not bring certainty. You have understood this many times. Yet you forget. Certainty will come from experience. If you do a little experimentation, certainty will come. If you have realization, certainty will come. And if there is certainty, revolution will occur. "Burning the forest of ignorance, you become free from sorrow. Attain happiness. Be happy." "You are that bliss, the supreme bliss consciousness, in which this imagined world appears like a snake in a rope. Therefore, contemplate happily. There is no cause for sorrow here. You are unnecessarily getting suppressed and troubled in a dream of sorrow. You saw a dream of sorrow. A person sleeps with his hand on his chest. Due to the weight of his hand, in the night, it feels like a ghost or spirit has climbed on his chest. He has placed his own hand on his chest. Its weight is falling. But in sleep, that weight becomes an illusion. Or he placed his own pillow on his chest. It feels like a mountain has fallen. He screams, but no scream comes out. He wants to move his hands and feet, but his hands and feet don't move. Such panic sets in. Then, even when the sleep breaks, he is sweating. Sleep breaks, he wakes up, understands there is no enemy. No mountain has fallen. He had placed his own pillow on his chest, or his own hands on his chest. Yet his heart is pounding as if he has run miles. The dream has broken, yet the consequences continue. What we call the sorrows of this world are illusions of our own consciousness. In which this imagined world appears like a snake in a rope. Have you ever seen a rope lying on the road in the dark? The thought of a snake immediately comes. If the thought comes, the snake is superimposed on the rope. You run, you scream. You might fall while running, break your hands and feet. Then you find out it was just a rope. But then what happens? You have broken your hands and feet. But if you have even a little lamp of consciousness, a little light, then even in the dark night, you can see with the lamp of consciousness that it is a rope, not a serpent. In this consciousness, bliss and supreme bliss are born. Therefore, contemplate happily. You have the formula. You have the light. You have covered the light with unnecessary veils. Remove the veils. Open the curtains of the veil. Remove the veils of thought, desire, expectation, imagination, dreams. That is the veil. Remove the veil. See with open eyes. People are sitting with burqas. Because of those burqas, nothing is visible. They are stumbling, falling into pits. That is the bliss, the supreme bliss consciousness. Therefore, contemplate happily. "Yatra vishvam idam bhati kalpitam rajju sarpa-vat, ananda paramananda sa bodhasatvam sukham char." "Be happy, contemplating that you are the bliss, the supreme bliss consciousness, in which this world appears imagined like a snake in a rope." Understand this little consciousness, grasp it, recognize it, then wander in happiness. This existence is supreme bliss. You have not known sorrow in this existence. Sorrow is your creation. It is difficult to understand this because we are living in so much sorrow. How can we believe that there is no sorrow? He who ran away seeing the rope also does not believe that there is no serpent. He who is lying with his hand on his chest and thinks a mountain has fallen, he also cannot believe at that moment that a mountain has not fallen. Our condition is similar. What to do? Move from the seen to the seer. See everything, but do not forget the seer. Hear everything, but do not forget the hearer. Do everything, but remember that there is no doer. Buddha used to say, "Walk on the path and remember that no one is walking within." Everything within is motionless. It is indeed like this. The wheel of the car is seen moving, the axle remains still. The wheel keeps moving. Similarly, the wheel of life moves, the axle is still. You are the axle. The proud one who is liberated is liberated, and the proud one who is bound is bound. Because in this world, this saying is true: "As the mind, so the destiny." This formula is valuable. The proud one who is liberated is liberated. Whoever has realized that "I am liberated" is liberated. Nothing else needs to be done for liberation. It is enough to know that "I am liberated." Liberation will not come from your actions. Liberation will come from your knowledge. Liberation is not the result of an action, but the fruit of knowledge. The proud one who is liberated is liberated. And the proud one who is bound is bound. Whoever thinks "I am bound" is bound. Whoever thinks "I am liberated" is liberated. Try it yourself. Think for 24 hours like this: "Let's say for 24 hours, I am liberated." Try to remain liberated for 24 hours. You will be greatly surprised. You yourself will not believe that if you think you are liberated, no one can bind you. Then you are liberated. If you think you are bound, everything is binding. I had a friend, a professor with me. It was Holi. He drank bhang and created a ruckus on the road. He caused trouble. He was a very simple man. There is a danger with simple men. A lot remains suppressed within them. They are not troublemakers. His name was also Bhole Ram. He was a simple, innocent man. There is a danger with simple, innocent men. They should avoid things like bhang. Because that innocence which is on the surface, bhang drowned it. Everything that was suppressed within came out. He went onto the street, created a ruckus, caused trouble. He molested a woman. He was caught and locked up in the police station. He was an English professor. At 2 AM, a man came to me and said, "Your friend has been caught, and he has sent a message to get him out. Get him out before morning, or it will be difficult." With great difficulty, we managed to get him out. We got him out in the morning, but he was so scared. He was a simple man. He was so scared that trouble arose. For three months, he suffered so much. If a policeman passed by on the street, he would hide. He thought they were coming to catch him. He lived in the same room with me. At night, if a policeman blew his whistle, he would hide under the bed. "What are you doing?" "They are coming." Then his condition worsened to such an extent that he neither let me sleep nor slept himself. He would say, "Wake up, did you hear? They are coming. There's news in the air. They are sending messages on the radio. Where is Bhole Ram? Bhole Ram, you sleep." "How can I sleep? My life is in danger. They will catch me. There is a file against me." Finally, I became so troubled that seeing no other way, he stopped going to college too. He took leave and sat at home. That 24-hour cycle continued. What psychologists call paranoia. He became paranoid. He started creating things out of his fear. He was a good man, I never thought so. But I had an experience of what kind of imaginations a person can have. He would say, "The madmen are listening. Everyone is listening everywhere. Anyone walking on the road is looking at them. Anyone standing on the side and laughing is laughing at Bhole Ram. Anyone talking is plotting against them. The whole world is against them." Then, seeing no other solution, only one path appeared to me. A familiar friend was an inspector. I explained to him, "Come one day with a file, brother. If there is a file, we will bring it. There is no file, nothing. This man never did anything. He just drank bhang once and caused a little commotion, and it ended. Now there is no such uproar. Bring any file, just come with blank papers. But the file should be large, and it should be written in Bhole Ram's name. And don't worry, hit him a few times and tie him with handcuffs. And until I give you 100 rupees as a bribe to release him, don't agree to release him. Only then perhaps he will be released." He had to hit him a few times. When he was hit, he became very happy. He said, "See, what I said happened. Here is the file, written in large letters, Bhole Ram. Now tell me, where did all that sensible talk go? Now this is happening." Bhole Ram was taken away, handcuffs were put on him too. But in a way, he was happy, and in a way, he was sad. He was crying, but in a way, he was happy that his belief was proven true. The man is so crazy. Even your belief in sorrow brings satisfaction to your ego. "See, I was proven right." His whole sentiment was that he proved everyone wrong. All the advisors were wrong. Finally, he was proven right. With great difficulty, we explained and persuaded him. We told the inspector, "Don't agree quickly, otherwise he will think it's a conspiracy." He said, "This cannot happen. He will be punished today." Then, when he said such things, he would look at me. "Say, with great difficulty, we explained and persuaded him, joined our hands, gave him bundles of notes. Burned the file in front of him." From that day, Bhole Ram was free. Everything ended. The situation is almost like this: "The proud one who is liberated is liberated, and the proud one who is bound is bound." Because in this world, this saying is true: "As the mind, so the destiny." What you think, that is what happens. Your thinking has created your world. Change your thinking. Wake up and see properly. Everything will remain the same, only your way of seeing, thinking, and knowing will change, and everything will change. "Muktabhimani mukto hi, baddho bhabhimany kim datim satyam, ya mati sa gati bhavet, ya mati sa gati bhavet." As you think, so your destiny becomes. The soul is a witness, all-pervading, complete, one, liberated, conscious, actionless, unattached, desireless, peaceful. It appears as the world due to delusion. Witness, all-pervading, complete. Listen to this word. Ashtavakra says, "You are complete." You don't have to become complete. Nothing can be added to you. You are perfect as you are. You don't have to develop anything. You don't have to climb any steps. There is nothing ahead of you. You are complete. You are God. All-pervading. Witness. One, liberated, conscious, actionless, unattached. No one has bound you. No companions. You are alone, in supreme solitude, desireless. It's not about becoming like this. This is the difference in Ashtavakra's message. If you listen to Mahavir, Mahavir says, "One should become like this." Ashtavakra says, "You are like this." This is a big difference, not a small one. Mahavir says, "To be unattached, to be desireless, to be complete, to be all-pervading, to be a witness." Ashtavakra says, "You are like this. Just wake up. Open your eyes and see." Ashtavakra's yoga is very simple yoga. "Sadhu sahaj samadhi bali tu kutastha bodha-rupa advaita atma ka vichar kar." "Contemplate the non-dual soul, which is the immutable consciousness." "Aham abhasa iti." "I am an egoistic being, a mere appearance." What you have believed so far is just an appearance. This is your belief, your conviction. Although there are people around you who believe the same, so your conviction is also strengthened. After all, a person borrows his conviction. You learn from others. A person imitates. Everyone here is unhappy. You too have become unhappy. In Japan, there was a wonderful saint. As soon as he attained knowledge, or rather, as soon as he woke up, he started laughing. Then he kept laughing his whole life. He goes from village to village. In Japan, people call him Buddha the Laughing One. He would stand in the middle of the market and start laughing. Then his name spread far and wide. People waited for him, wondering when the Laughing One would come. He had no other teaching. He would just stand in the middle of the market and laugh. Gradually, a crowd would gather, and people would also start laughing. People would ask the Laughing One, "Say something else." He would say, "What else to say? You are crying unnecessarily. You need someone to laugh with who can make you laugh. I just bring this message: laugh. There is no shortage. Laugh wholeheartedly. The entire existence is laughing. You are crying unnecessarily. Open your eyes. Laugh. I have no other message." He would wander from one village to another, laughing. It is said that he made the whole of Japan laugh, and people gradually experienced bursts of laughter, which was his meditation, his samadhi. People, while laughing, gradually experienced that they can laugh, they can be happy. "Searching for the cause of happiness is wrong." As long as you search for a cause, thinking "When there is a cause, then I will laugh," you will never laugh. If you thought, "When there is a cause, then I will be happy," you will never be happy. The seeker of causes becomes more and more unhappy. Causes are for sorrow. Happiness is nature. Sorrow has to be created. Happiness also has to be created. Happiness exists. Happiness is present. Manifest happiness. This is what Ashtavakra repeatedly says. "Be happy, contemplating that you are the bliss consciousness." "Be happy, drinking the nectar of faith." "Drink the nectar of faith, become happy." Man is complete, one, liberated. Only the illusion is creating obstacles. "I am an egoistic being, a mere appearance." Leaving this illusion and the inner and outer states, contemplate the immutable, non-dual soul. "Aham abhasa iti." "Leaving the inner and outer states." The soul is neither outside nor inside. Outside and inside are also distinctions of the mind. The soul is both outside and inside. Everything is in the soul. The soul is. Leaving all inner and outer states, contemplate the immutable, non-dual soul. "This translation is not correct. The original verse is 'Bahyam antaram bhavam muktvā, tam kutastha bodham advaitam, ātmānam parabhāva paribhāva kar'." "Contemplate that you are the immutable soul." This is not correct. "Paribhava kar" means to contemplate. "Vichar" (thought) is then a superficial matter. It will not happen from the head, but from the heart. It will be like love, not like mathematics. It will not be like logic, but like a song whose humming sinks deeper and deeper, touching the innermost core of the soul, making it vibrate. Contemplate that "I am the immutable soul." "I am the axle, not this rotating wheel." Axle means immutable. As long as you think you are on Earth, you are on Earth. The moment you show readiness, the moment you show courage, you can start flying in the sky. "Clouds float in flocks, immersed in the sky. I fly above the clouds. A strange world has opened before me. Where does a great dream awaken from sleep? Where does time fly? The river of the house, the house of the house, in the blind valley, in the icy, wavy currents, the shining fish sinks into the panel of darkness for miles. Even the sun is surrounded by a rainbow on my wings. Here and there, springs of colors erupt. A still river somewhere. Flying bridges over currents. Currents are restless, flowing down. Mountains and villages in the sky, white villages. Forests of Kans grass grow. These trees are infinite, whose breaths? Another earth has been created. Clouds float in flocks, immersed in the sky. I fly above the clouds. A strange world has opened before me. Where does a great dream awaken from sleep? Wake up. You have seen enough dreams. Now wake up. Just waking up is the key. Nothing else to do. No practice, no yoga, no asanas. Just wake up. Hari Om Tat Sat."