November 12 2005

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Swamiji talks on the Ashtavakra Gita - 10, 11, 12 Nov 2005 in Bangalore Through a 3-day discourse series, The Ashtavakra Gita exploded into the Consciousness of the people of Bangalore in India. With the sheer authority of His Enlightenment, Swamiji introduced the boy-sage, Ashtavakra, to a packed auditorium at the St. Joseph’s Indian Boys High School.

Day 3 - Enlightenment - Have It!

We are either constantly visualizing or verbalizing, oscillating between pain and pleasure. This is the nature of the entity we have created and it is called the mind. This is not you. By your very nature you constantly renounce your thoughts. Whenever you visualize or verbalize, your Consciousness suffers. Even when you use a mantra, you visualize that one thought, and that too damages your Being. Do not think mantras are a way of getting Enlightenment. It is a sure failure.

By your very nature you are unattached. Your thoughts have only a vertical existence. There is no linear connectivity. It is your mind which finds a connection between independent incidences, which leads to a concept of yourself. Please understand that even in this connectivity, you choose the thoughts, depending on whether the basis is pleasure or pain.

The Original Sin is connecting thoughts. You create that which does not exist. The mind is a myth, and this myth runs your whole life. Why is this so? Like the parrot, we are afraid to let go, because we feel that we will lose everything; we are frightened that our mental and moral structure will collapse.

This fear is constantly exploited by your mind. The more you fear, the more you will cling. In this way, the mind has a tremendous hold over you. You exist in mental slavery, and you do not even realize that such a thing is happening to you. How can this be possible? This is like when a blind man is told by the eye specialist that he would be able to walk without the stick after his eye surgery, he asks, "I can understand that I can get my vision back, that I can see; but I cannot understand how I can walk without the stick!”

We too are like this blind man. The stick is our mind. Even when you are told repeatedly that it is possible to live with greater happiness than before, you always question this possibility.

Similarly, the Ego continuously cheats you by not letting you experience who you really are! It refuses to let you zero in the distance between you and your true Self. Your whole social structure is built around morality, based on either fear or greed. But understand, that this kind of living cannot take you beyond the body. Please understand that you are enough unto yourself. God is a great artist. By creating variety, he brings in the uniqueness of each individual. When you understand this and relax and let go, you move beyond the mind. It is verily possible to live blissfully beyond the mind. You are constantly given the input that Enlightenment is very difficult.

There was a Zen Master who was once crossing a river with his disciple. Suddenly the disciple slipped and fell into the water and started shouting to his Master for help. The Master just looked at him and said, "Help yourself. Stand up." The disciple cried out, "Master, do not talk philosophy now. I am dying. Please help me." The Master ignored him and walked on. This was too much for the disciple to handle. He shouted out, “Please help me, I am drowning!”. The Master simply turned around and shouted, “I said Stand up!” The disciple stood up and to his surprise, found that the water came only up to his ankle.

Techniques are used to give a blow to the mind. Only then you will wake up to who you really are.

Had Arjuna caught the truth that Krishna had given in the second chapter itself, the rest of the Bhagavad Gita would not have happened. Because Arjuna missed, Krishna had to give various techniques. Similarly, when Ashtavakra understood that Janaka had missed the understanding, he resorts to giving techniques. He creates a technology to transmit his experience to Janaka. Ashtavakra is pure Energy, pure Truth. He has the courage to admit, like all Vedic seers, that the techniques and technology of the inner world can be updated. Krishna too declares this very concept when he promises Arjuna that Masters will come down again and again whenever the need arises.

Techniques are given to fools. An intelligent man does not need techniques. No intelligent man can do any meditation technique for more than twenty one days with inspiration. By your very nature, you are intelligent. You understand the truth that Enlightenment is possible. You are already having it; now wake up and just have it!