Driven by the Beast of Desire

Who feels that we are bound? Let us examine this important subject. When objectivity arises in consciousness it becomes conditioned, limited. This is bondage. When it is abandoned, when you become without objectivity, when there is no object in the mind, you can call this no-mind. No-mind is liberation, freedom, emancipation. There is no difference between No-mind and consciousness.

How is it possible to avoid this object? What is this object? This object arises in our consciousness. Just as a beast, an ox or bull is driven by a herdsman from behind; so craving is driving everybody. When you say, "I enjoy this, I enjoy that." it is not that you are enjoying, but you are driven like a beast by craving. You are driven by this craving from behind and you go to meet the object like a beast. You become a beast of this craving. You say, "I am enjoying, this is my desire." but this is not so. You have been driven and compelled by the object, by your craving. This craving is your herdsmen from behind. You are driven by any kind of desire. Almost all beings belong to this category: men, dogs, all are driven by cravings of this world and also of the next world. They are driven by this craving and therefore they suffer endlessly.

How is it possible to avoid this craving? You have been driven by this object, by this craving, by this desire since time immemorial; you do not remember. You have spent millions of years with this craving but each time you forget. You have spent millions of lifetimes. Where are the cravings, where are the objects, where are those relations of your incarnations prior to this one? You have been behaving in this way many times before. Now this will also disappear and you will begin another manifestation like this one. It is a never ending process.

This world cycle is a never ending. How is it possible to end it? Just by no longer giving rise to this craving. It is the easiest thing and the most difficult also. I say it is the most difficult because we see very few who have been able to do it, therefore there must be some difficulty. I say it is also the most easy, because if a man of reason chooses to be free he has to just get rid of this craving and it will end. So some say it is easy and some say it is difficult. It is difficult for those who are beasts of craving, for those who have attachments, for them it is difficult. But in their final incarnation or in the company of some good person, in contact with a sage, they will understand how to get rid of this craving. Staying near a sage they will come to know. This can be difficult; this can be very easy.

I remember a story. There was a king who learned from his guru how to be free, and he became free. As a king he was free. His wife, the queen, also used to go to the sage and she was also free. They had two sons. The elder also became free but the younger was too young. He had been hearing about the same subject but he could not do it. He was not very much attached. He had lost about fifty percent of his ego but yet he was somewhat attached. One brother was in difficulty, the other had done his work, and both parents had done it.

The king, the father of these two boys, died. The queen was very fond of her husband. She said, "Why should I live here now? We have lived together, why don't I go to this king? I'll give him company." She knew how to dispose of the elements. Our bodies are composed of five elements: earth, water, fire, air, and akash, or space. That is what our body is made of, and that is what is outside of us. Earth, water, fire, air and akash are all outside of us. Just as we borrow some money from our friends and return it, so we have borrowed these elements to fulfill our place. We borrow earth from earth, water from water, fire from fire. This Queen knew the art of disposing of her body and she turned back the loan. That which had been taken from the earth, the earth part of the body, is returned to the earth; the liquid of the body is returned to water, fire to fire, the air that we breath in and out is returned to air, and space to space. So she also disappeared.

This is an art. It belongs to yoga but everybody can practice it; it is not very difficult. Kabir did it recently in his lifetime, and many other people who prefer to disappear in this way have done it. At Kabir's death the Hindus claimed he was a Hindu and wanted to cremate him, and the Muslims said he was a Muslim and wanted to bury him. So they were having a dispute. His body was covered and they went near the body to drag it away and there were only two flowers! His samadhi is near here in UP near Gorakpur; he lived nearby in Magar. So one flower was cremated, the other flower was buried!

Like this the queen departed. The eldest son performed the ceremony which has to be performed for departed parents with great honor and respect. He did not feel any kind of sorrow. "My parents were enlightened. I am also enlightened by my enlightened parents. They are happy. They have gone to the region beyond this concept and I can see where they are." The younger brother was crying and sobbing. His brother was asking, "My dear brother, why are you sobbing? Why? What’s the matter with you?" But he didn't listen. He said, "Your parents were enlightened people. They are not to be born again. You should be happy." The younger brother didn't listen. He said, "You are crying for those who are very happy at this time. And you have had many parents like these your recent parents. You must cry for them also. You have been a tiger, what about your tiger parents? You have been a fish, what about your fish parents? You have been a mosquito, what about your mosquito parents? You have been a tree, what about your tree parents? You must cry for them also. Why don't you cry? I can show you all your millions of parents now, you can see them. I can also show you your recent parents now. I can see them and you don't because you are not an enlightened person. Therefore, you are crying, you are suffering. You will have to suffer."

This boy understood his brother. We can also end bondage if we give up craving for objects. How is it possible to stop this craving? How did this boy do it? How did his parents do it? When the craving arises in consciousness it has to arise from somewhere. "I want this. I want that." is all in-between. When you become an experiencer you want to enjoy objects of experience. To have enjoyment of any object you must first become the experiencer and create an object of experience. These two things must be there: The seer and the seen.

Between the experiencer and the experienced there is experiencing. You are that experiencing alone. You are neither the experiencer nor the object of experience. This is missed. "I am experiencing both the seer and the seen. I am seeing." This you forget. You think, "I am the seer and this is the object of sight." We miss what is in between. If you stay between them in experiencing — this is consciousness. Everyone is having this experience of consciousness always. You will have to question this experience, between experiencer and experienced. What is this which is experiencing which is neither subject nor object? You will have to inquire into this. Or directly ask yourself, "Who am I? Who am I? Who am I?"

Many people have difficulty in understanding this. Every day I receive letters from people who find it difficult to follow this. Not everyone is capable of arriving at this understanding or making this inquiry. It needs some discipline, some ground that has not been fulfilled. It is not possible to be engaged and busy with enjoyment of the senses and fulfilling your cravings on the one hand; and also wanting to be free, wanting to attend satsang, wanting to make this quest for self-knowledge on the other hand. This difficulty exists for those who are not free of running after desires and cravings. It is not possible to have both things at the same time. If you want to enjoy the world nobody is stopping you. The world is there to enjoy, so enjoy it! And if you are already satisfied then return now to your own Self for enjoyment, having enjoyed your own beauty, your own consciousness, your own bliss, you have enjoyed everything. Either this is the time of satisfaction or you run after things. Nobody has ever been satisfied running after these objects. As one object is fulfilled in the mind there are thousands waiting in queue. You have spent millions of years picking up one object after another.

Those people who have found that these cravings cannot be fulfilled are fit for the instruction of the teacher. They come, saying, "Now let me have knowledge." They have come for instruction and it will work. A dull mind which is engaged somewhere else is not listening to the instruction of the teacher and will not get the teaching although the teaching is the same. It is said that those who listen to the teaching, those who come to the teacher, those who have satsang are in their last incarnation. They have tried everything else without finding satisfaction. They could not find it last time so they have returned with only this desire for freedom. When there is only the desire for freedom they will attain freedom. Whatever age they may be they will set off one day to find the teacher, and sitting with the teacher this instruction will drive deep into their heart. They will see that here is wisdom and here is light.

Trouble comes for those who are engaged elsewhere and still say, "We want to be free". This is not going to pay them at all. If you have amritam and cyanide in the same cup it will not work. If you have to take cyanide, take it cleanly and see the result. That is the result that you have always been seeing. Now is the time to taste a drop of amritam, of nectar, of bliss. What is this nectar? It is bliss, it is consciousness, it is existence. Nectar is that which, having tasted it, you get complete satisfaction with no more searching, with no more coming and going. The only trouble is this: You cannot at the same time have enjoyment of the senses and freedom. You will have to decide. Or use up your life and have another life; there is no problem. Each one of us has already lived 8.4 million incarnations to be here today. If this is enough then let us now aspire for freedom and for freedom alone, and let us see what happens.

We are not speaking of any method anymore — you have had enough methods. Certainly no method is going to give you freedom because every method will need body, mind and senses. Whatever you do — whether you travel to holy shrines, to holy rivers, to temples, practice rituals or yoga — you need a body, you need a mind, you need senses. This mind is the root of the problem itself; this mind is samsara. It is a demon 35 million years old. You are walking hand in hand with this friend since time immemorial and you do not know who this fellow is. Still you do not know. Why don't you part company with him just for five minutes and see — see how free you are without mind! We have seen that when all objects are abandoned from consciousness you have no mind. When there is no objectification in consciousness you are immediately free.

For some this is very easy; listening to the instruction of the teacher alone is enough. For some dispassion and effort is advised, dispassion and sadhana is advised. This sadhana is: If you forget yourself, again and again return to This. Again return to This. You will get rid of this mind.

What is the mind? Just one thought is mind. This one thought is manifestation, is 35 million years. Abandonment of this one thought is freedom. So this is very easy or very difficult. When you utter the word ‘I’ it takes you back 35 million years: just the thought of ‘I’. As far back as you go you will find an endless past in this one ‘I’. You will find the future and the present also contained in this ‘I’ thought. This one ‘I’ thought has created millions of people. It has created heaven and hell.

This one thought is also the key to ending past, present and future. It can also liberate you. To abandon this one ‘I’ thought is liberation; to cling to it is bondage. One is easy, other one is difficult. This is your choice and you have to make your choice this instant. You are free from the beginning. Who told you that you are bound? You have chosen to be bound because of craving to enjoy, and you are not satisfied so far. Now let us sit together and help each other to get rid of just this one ‘I’ thought. How can this be called difficult, just to get rid of this ‘I’ thought? Where does it exist? When you search for it or try to see it or touch it or feel it or even conceptualize it, it does not appear. We never look for this ‘I’ thought; we like to be chased by it like a beast.

June, 1992

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Doubt

Let us speak together about doubt. I tell you when attending satsang, not to bring doubt along with you. I receive many letters describing beautiful experiences, but they all end with: "Am I on the right path?" Also the people who leave here begin to experience doubts.

It is like someone going to dig rubies in the river in Bihar State, where rubies are found. A man finds a ruby on the sand at the riverside but he throws it away. He doubts his luck, "How can I find it so easily?" he says, so he throws it back in the river. "People around me are digging for 150 feet and they still have not found anything, so I will throw it away." He doubts, "Is it a ruby or a piece of glass?"

Doubt is the only thing that is troublesome. The books of knowledge give you the highest teaching directly, only doubt stands between you and that teaching. Since time immemorial they have been passing this ancient teaching from chest to chest that "You are That." The teaching was coming directly, only doubt exists between you and That. Secondly it is taught that "I am Brahman." and thirdly "All this what I see, feel, hear, touch and taste is all myself." But doubt is in the way so that we don't believe.

It is true of all the teachings: if we listen without doubt one word is quite enough. When you come to satsang do not entertain doubt by questioning, "Is it going to happen to me?" Do not use the intellect as a test stone, because it will not give you the correct indication of gold. Throw it away. But many are not ready to do that so they will not get the point. They will take this teaching and continue to suffer endlessly, for immeasurable time. Your suffering will not end unless you remove this doubt from within you.

Somehow, since my childhood I have not carried any doubt. I didn't have doubt, I had never heard of doubt, because my first teacher was my own mother. Whatever she told me instantly happened to me. I was a child and I never knew or heard about doubt. I got it instantly. She used to tell me stories and they manifested in front of me instantly because I had no doubt whether this reality or not. Usually when you hear a story you entertain doubts. I tell you stories here as the mothers tell stories to their children, but they are not really stories. This is truth in an essence, in simple words, spoken in story form.

I will tell you a story about doubt which I have heard from my mother when I was six or seven years old. In ancient times people used to go to satsang early in the morning, at four in the morning, before going to their business or office. In my own town in Pakistan there was a bank manager. He used to conduct satsang in his own house from four to five. About twenty people used to gather and he used to speak on a book called Vichar Sagar, I remember. It's a very ancient book of direct teachings from Vedanta, written by a Punjabi saddhu called Nichildas. I used to attend that morning meeting when I was very small, maybe seven or eight. This was happening every morning and evening. There used to be gatherings in my own town, vedanta teaching, devotional teaching, yoga teaching and kundalini yoga. All these different teachings were there. There were also discourses in the evening. This was only 70 or 80 years ago. People used to take their food and sit near their lane to attend the Satsang till 10:30 or 11:00 and then come back home. Morning and evening satsang were a must for everybody. He may be an office boy, he may be a business man, he may even be a worker. Even people who were driving hand carts used to attend.

About one bandit – robber — this was also a profession. Some go for satsang and some go for their game in the night, so he goes. So one day he was passing, he just heard someone speaking about… about a young boy having a diamond padded cap on his head and a garland of celestial gems around his neck and that's all he heard; and he stopped. He sat down near the gathering and listened. So at about 10:30 this satsang was over and the priest has collected whatsoever money was given to him after. After satsang some money's left for the priest and some gift also; so he collected and put them in a bag. And everyone is leaving for his house and he's leaving for his house — his family is waiting. This is his profession, to recite stories in the evenings.

And he's going his way and this man [the bandit] just went to him… asked him, “Give me the address of this boy you spoke about – having the diamond imbedded cap and the garland of gems around his neck… a garland. Give me this address.” Now this Brahmin priest, he's reading a story. This man tells him, "Give me the address of this boy." He says, "You know that path going to the river Yamuna, that side. At that time he goes for bath every morning at four o'clock. You go there and you will see him." "Okay, let's find. But I cannot… I cannot recognize him. I've not seen him. You come with me." So he said, “My family is waiting for me and later on your family, you know.” Then he put the pistol on the chest and he gave his introduction now: "I do not know him. You come with me and you simply tell me this man, that's all, and then you go. But two cannot hide behind one tree. You stay in that tree and I in this tree. You simply point out this is the boy and then that's all. Then I will come." And then he tied him with the rope so that he doesn't run away.

Time is now 11 p.m. He [robber] has tied him [priest]. He's hiding and now the time is passing — 11 to 4. This man spoke like this is a story, and this man says, “He didn't take it as story; he took it's a fact.” And this priest is counting every minute of his death, and this robber is counting every minute of his luck, “I will have this diamond. I'll be very rich, you see. I'll be very rich.” So he's totally concentrated. Nothing else… nothing else between him, and his mind is only concentrating on the diamond and this boy which he described — a young boy wearing a cap imbedded with diamonds, garland around his neck. Time is passing… time is passing now. This thought that this boy having diamonds around his neck. Now the time is now 4 o'clock.

And now this thought itself has manifested. You can also manifest what you think; you are not away from your thought. You are a thought itself — you become what you think. You become what you think instantly. You… you are thought. You have conviction, “I am the body.” so you are. You listen every day, “You are existence, consciousness, bliss.” This is also a thought, nothing else. Because conviction of the body is stronger than this conviction that, “I am consciousness. I am bliss.” So whatever is the stronger thought so you become. There's no doubt — you are thought itself.

So at 4 a.m. this manifested itself. The boy comes in front of him and gave him the garland and the cap he was wearing himself. “So it's very nice of you, but wait… don't go away… because I didn't have your address. There is another partner in this deed and you have something else that I did not hear. I only heard cap of the diamonds and the garland but you have something on your arm also. So this I will… this gift I will give to this priest. You come with me.” So he took this boy in front of that one. He's still tied with the rope. He thought, “He's now going to kill me. He's going to kill me.” Before reaching him he folded hands, “Sir, I told you a story from the book. Don't kill me. My wife, my children are waiting for me. Don't kill me now. I told a story — it was a story only.” Then he says, “No, no, no. You were right. I'm very thankful to you. Exactly at that time here is the boy; here is the boy and here are the diamonds. And I can only take garland and only the cap but here is something on his arm also, so I will give you this gift. Still he doesn't believe. He said, “Don't, don't, don't bluff me please. You have to kill now… kill me now, that's all. Kill me.” “You don't see?” “No, no, no, I don't see. I don't see.” Then he says, “You see this… you see this hand?” With the touch of his hand he saw who this boy was… who this boy was. And this Brahmin, this priest, now immediately saw, “I am confronting him.” He untied the priest and this priest prostrated in front of this bandit and never returned home. And this man — this is a true story — he is known as Bandit Saint. He is known as Bandit Saint still.

So I am just speaking about doubts you see. This doubt is the only thing that gives you trouble, so without doubt if you have straight away this teaching as the story has been told to you, you just listen. Anything if it is even falsely told to you it will materialize. You simply hear the word; it will manifest.

Let the teacher tell you, “You are consciousness.” and you simply hear without doubt – and what's going to happen? You listen from the teacher that you are existence, you are consciousness, you are eternal, you are deathless, you are not the body. What does he tell you that is wrong? But you don't listen to him. What wrong is there? But you have a conviction, “I am suffering, I am born, I have to die because I have listened from my parents, I have listened from my priest. So nothing is going to work.” So it's not good to have any doubt in your mind when you speak about it, you see. And it is so simple not to have doubt — it's so simple. So simple and there is no confusion if you don't entertain doubt that you are what you are. Only this veil is a doubt you see. So this veil, this doubt has become this manifestation and this is your own creation, this is your own creation, you see. And if you don't have this doubt of, “Where is the creation, and who is the creator?” then instantly you will know who you really were and are.

July, 1992

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Turn the Mind to Face its Source

When your mind is not clinging to any object, to any person or idea, its face is turned towards its Source.

This is very simple. Millions of books about enlightenment and freedom have been written and are available in the world, and what is the result? People have been working for enlightenment, freedom, liberation, emancipation, moksham, since thousands of years. What is the result? Everything that you do, everything that you have been told to do, it is with the mind. When you read a book you are reading with the mind. When you are meditating you are meditating with the mind. When you are doing anything you are always doing it with the mind. This is why there is no result.

Distract the mind immediately from any object, person, or idea. It is that simple. Then the face of the mind is turned towards its source for the first time, and a reflection from somewhere un-told, un-described will fall on this mind which is not dwelling on the past. All objects, ideas, and people belong to the past. Now for the first time the mind has been directed towards its own native place, its own abode.

With the reflection of beyond it loses its entity as the mind. It becomes no-mind now. It is satyam — truth, shivam, and sundaram. Other than this I am not aware of any other process by which you could be free. If you have any ideas, any attachments to anything — including your own body, your mind, your intellect or anything else — how could you be free? Just by giving rise to one thought of the mind — the ‘I’ thought — and there is instantly past, present, future, manifestation, suffering and a cycle of incarnations, never ending reincarnations.

If you so choose, if you so desire, it can be put to an end right now. But you have not taken that decision so far. You have been postponing this decision and passing through millions of births, taking millions of years and this decision still is waiting. I do not know what you are looking for or why you are afraid to return to your own native place, to the abode of all auspiciousness, happiness, love, and beauty. Why are you shirking your responsibilities?

July, 1992

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Consciousnes

You have heard the word Consciousness. When a finger is pointing to the moon, you see the moon. When you hear this word – consciousness — where is it pointing to? The finger pointing to the moon shows you the moon. Now the word ‘consciousness’ is used pointing to something. After having heard this word what do you see? What do you perceive? Who are you?

You are always consciousness: You have been, you are, and you always will be. Where is the difficulty in accepting the truth and what is real? Who told you that you are ignorant? Where did this ignorance arise from in the first place? Again and again you have affirmed, "I am ignorant, I am ignorant, I am ignorant." and then we suffer. With the repeated affirmation, "I am bound." and "I suffer." this universe is created with endless suffering, incarnation, reincarnation, and endless birth and death. Somehow this cycle has started. Who is responsible for it? It is only your affirmation that this is real, this ignorance is real, this snake is real. There arises the fear; this snake has concealed the reality of the rope.

How is it possible to remove the concept of the snake? Who will remove this doubt? Now you cannot see the rope because you are attached to the idea of the snake. But there was never any snake. In the same way, you cannot see consciousness because you are attached to the imposition of ignorance. There was never any ignorance; you are consciousness itself. The snake will be removed by reasoning, not by sitting near it and meditating. Meditation will not remove the snake. You will have to see through reason that the snake is not moving. You are in shock, you are suffering, you are trying to pick up a stone or stick to beat the snake with; that is how you are engaged here. You have not used reason, and this is called ignorance. Move towards it, look at it carefully, or listen to someone coming from the other side who tells you that this is not a snake; it is just a piece of string lying here. He had not seen the snake, so on hearing his words the snake vanished because it never existed. There was only a rope underneath; through ignorance you took it to be a snake.

In the same way, through lack of reasoning you have accepted your affirmations that "This samsara is real." and "I am bound." It may never have existed at all. Sit down quietly and reason it out. Through this reasoning you will find out who has concealed consciousness and created ignorance. Or listening to someone who knows it was a rope can remove your doubt. On hearing this once from a responsible person the snake will disappear and you will see that it was a rope, that "I am consciousness." Now as I say the word ‘consciousness,’ put it to the test stone and see if this word is correct. Go near and see if ignorance is real or not. Only then will you know that you are consciousness and Truth itself. You are satyam, shivam, sundaram.

You have been told from the very beginning that ignorance exists, and now this has become a reality. This ignorance does not exist at all. When you sit quietly where is the ignorance? Somehow we have accepted it, so the question now is how to remove this ignorance. When you add wood to a fire it becomes fire and burns completely, so that there is no more wood left. And when all the wood has become fire, when there is no more fuel, the fire also goes out. What is the fire that will remove ignorance and return you back to your own status, to your own abode, to atman, to Brahman?

There is really no name for your original nature but we have to converse. I say the word ‘consciousness.’ It is perhaps a finger pointing to the moon, but the finger is not the moon. It is only pointing to the moon because you can't see the moon. Someone who has seen it points his finger. If you cling to the finger you can't see the moon. Most people cling to what they have learnt, they cling to a teaching and start meditating. They become so interested in the means that they forget why the means was needed — the finger was needed only to see the moon. Meditation is a finger pointing to freedom. But everybody got attached, and now different societies are running meditation and nobody speaks about enlightenment.

The only fire which can burn everything is the fire of inquiry. Any practice which you perform is with the mind, and the result will be only mental. The trouble is with the mind, so we must find out how to get rid of the mind itself. The whole creation of past, present, future, hell, heaven, creator, preservation and destruction is just mind. The mind is simply a thought. There is no difference between a thought and the mind.

There is one prime thought that becomes the mind, that becomes the ego, body, senses, manifestation and time. All these millions of universes are hanging like dust particles in one thought. Give rise to the thought — 'I' — and everything arises. In this one thought exists the past, present, millions of universes, hells and heavens, and gods and creators, preservers and destroyers. How can this 'I' be arrested? If this 'I' ceases, everything ceases. When 'I' arises, everything arises in front of you. Now everything has arisen because you use the word 'I', but when there is no 'I' there is nothing.

When you enter into the deep sleep state without even any dreams you do not see any object, you do not see any subject, you do not see any manifestation — no creator nor creation. This is a dull state because there is no awareness at all so you may not recognize it. In deep sleep you forget yourself completely. There is no body, there are no senses, there are no objects. Nothing is there because there is no 'I' thought there. When you wake up in the morning the first thought to arise is the thought 'I'. You think, "I am so-and-so", and instantly the whole world arises before you. How is this thought to be checked?

There is a fire in this inquiry; if you simply inquire, "Who am I?” This is a fire which will burn everything: all the modifications of the mind, past, present and future. Just these three words: "Who....am....I.....?" are a fire which will burn everything, as the fire we talked of earlier. After having burnt past, present, and future, they will also burn the memory. And this inquiry will also be burnt as wood burns completely in a fire. The 'I' thought which went to inquire into its own nature is no longer to be found, and in this your true nature is revealed.

This inquiry can be conducted in this very instant. It is not a long procedure, it is not a practice. You do not have to do anything for this inquiry. You simply need to investigate, to inquire without thinking about anything and without performing any kind of practice. No effort or thought is involved. This is the inquiry that I speak about: to find out what this 'I' is which has created this manifestation. After having made this inquiry, keep quiet. If you do not think, and do not make any kind of effort that which you have never heard described, that which cannot be achieved or attained will reveal itself. It will reveal itself once you have conducted this inquiry and given up all kinds of thought and effort.

This auspiciousness is your own swarupam, your own Self, your own atman, your own Brahman. It is that which is everywhere. This is very simple for those who can hear innocently, without working the thinking process and the memory. You can postpone this, but sooner or later you will have to return home; and whenever this happens it will be this very second. You can postpone this second endlessly and endless universes will arise. It is up to you. Decide now. You can end it in this very second or you can create more universes. This very second is out of time because 'I' is time, mind is time. When you inquire into this 'I' it is gone. What happens is a revelation which does not take place in time at all. It transcends time, ego and everything.

Simply keep quiet and do not do anything at all.

July, 1992

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