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• Anggara Lesmana

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The Direct Recognition of Truth

Second Edition

Contents Dedication Foreword The Second Thorn A First Encounter with Mooji Recognising the Self My Piranha Question Forget the Answer… Stay as the Formless To Die Before I Die Suffering Your Experiencing The Land of ‘I Don't Know’ A Divine Play A Master's Help Knowledge Must be Experienced That, I Am This Shape-Shifting ‘I’ First, Know Your True Self Go for Gold Subtler than Thought Forget about All This Know It as Dream There is no ‘Way’ to Be The True Master has no Teaching Why Don't You Be My Guru? The Only Thief in the Universe Pay Full Attention! Who is Living your Life? What You See is not What I Am Be Like Space Off with Your Head! Could You Say You Are God? Nothing Exists Without a Knower Emptiness Walking… Don't Fill Your Mind with Instructions Freedom from Being ‘Someone’ Consciousness Plays as Everything Don't Carry Anything with You Don't Pull the Parachute Too Early! The Fire of Self-Discovery Trust the Grace that Brought You Here For the One Who Knows… Get Fully Naked Parting Words Glossary Copyright Acknowledgements Further Information About Mooji Photos of Mooji The Lost Little Wave In Loving Oneness

Foreword Before I Am is a selection of dialogues between Mooji, a warm-hearted spiritual master of the Advaita tradition, and seekers of peace, truth and freedom. At times humorous, at times tender, occasionally sharp and always loving, Mooji responds to questioners as they speak of fear, suffering, confusion, relationships, spiritual practice and how to live their lives in peace. His words represent unwavering invitations to investigate the nature of the self, and to rest effortlessly as the fullness and emptiness of beingness itself. His answers encourage, challenge and never fail to illuminate. Deeply touched by Mooji, people naturally wanted to carry his words home. And so, from live recordings Before I Am was lovingly put together by the sangha in a very short space of time. The book has always enjoyed great popularity. Four years on, we offer this refined and expanded edition of Before I Am. Many of the original dialogues were found to benefit from further editing. Compared to sitting with Mooji in satsang, a printed text is more one-dimensional in expression, as intonation and body language are lost. Taking this into account, we have done our best to preserve the potency and clarity of the words as originally uttered by the master without compromising its essence or losing his voice. While editing some chapters, original transcripts needed to be reviewed. In doing so, further material from the same time period came to light. Our aim with including these unpublished dialogues is to give the book more substance and to make these important satsangs available. This second edition of Before I Am is also further enriched by Mooji's most recent dialogues and spontaneous talks. A selection of fresh quotes was included for added depth and an opportunity for further contemplation. These, combined with some of Mooji's spontaneous brush drawings, make this book a treasure. Even more potent than the first, this edition acts like an unsparing sword, which chops the mind and leaves you fully naked as your Self. – The Editors A Postscript: You may be used to seeing concepts that refer directly to the ultimate truth beyond the experiential and physical realm capitalised. While we have still made use of this tool, we have favoured the lower-case spelling throughout the book. This was done especially in passages where the text invites contemplation. We felt that capitalising words would too easily accommodate the tendency to go with the mind's understanding, rather than following through with the introspection that Mooji is calling for. As a result we have used capitalisation sparingly. Most often, we have capitalised terms only when Mooji makes direct affirmations of the timeless truth. Any perceived inconsistency in our approach should not trouble you, because no such differentiation is possible when Mooji speaks and still the same benefit is reaped.

The Second Thorn In India, there is a saying: “If a thorn goes into your foot, you might use a second thorn to remove the first thorn. And then you throw both thorns away.” Before I Am is effectively a second thorn. Its purpose is to remove the thorns of conditioning and habit which are picked up in the forest of existence, and which appear to hinder or make painful what could be a joy-filled dance. The intention behind this collection of dialogues is to point to the essential truth of who and what we are: the unchanging, pristine awareness in which the play of the manifest world appears. Mooji's concepts are offered to neutralise our concepts from which we derive much personal identity. In keeping with the master's guidance to not make any tattoos out of his utterances, the words you glean from these pages can also leave your being once their job is done. Their aim is not to take on a cluster of sacred concepts as it were, but rather to truly assimilate what Mooji points us towards; when we do, we are finished, we have returned to where we have always been. Read these pages as systematically, sporadically, or spontaneously as suits your mood in the moment. Each, any and every page may speak to you because truth requires no method, cannot be categorised and is not chronological. Anywhere you open this book and meet these words, these words will meet you. Any moment is a moment for stepping into the fire of self-discovery. This fire will not burn you, it will only burn what you are not. When you are touched by grace—and do not doubt it, grace is already operating right here by even placing this book in your hands—surrender to it. Don't try to understand or solve the mystery; be willing instead to be dissolved into the mystery itself. You are being introduced to you without you, through the medium of these words—Self recognising Self through the mirror of inquiry.

A First Encounter with Mooji I first met Mooji in Brixton Market, London, in February 1999. At that time he was selling incense in the market and I was working at the French Embassy. Shortly afterwards, we met in his small flat for tea and had our first conversation. We ended up talking all through the night. Time vanished! I was amazed. As the talk deepened, I couldn't believe what I was hearing and what I had in front of me. I had discovered someone of the like of Socrates or an Indian sage of yore under the guise of a friendly and unassuming form. The deepest wisdom was pouring from his lips as I eagerly expressed all the questions which had been burning inside me for years, and I was finding at last living, direct— and baffling!—responses to them. These were not merely intellectual answers but rather a direct and authoritative pointing towards something which is altogether beyond the realm of understanding. For years, I'd been reading philosophical and spiritual books, but now I was face-to-face with the living embodiment of the truth I'd been reading about, right in front of me. Right away, Mooji made clear to me my own deep nature: this awareness, this emptiness, which nothing can improve or impair. Since then, I have had many occasions to witness his wisdom in action, wonderfully suited to the minds of those who come to him, a wisdom which springs smoothly from the uninterrupted source of living experience. It springs from, and is felt as, love—tremendous, genuine and pure. – Nataraaj (Noé J. Peyre)

Recognising the Self Mooji, could you explain self-inquiry? How do I actually begin? Begin like this: I am, I exist. This is the most natural recognition and knowledge. The sense of existence is spontaneously felt in you as ‘I am’. No one taught this to you. Be aware of this simple intuition, without associating it with other thoughts. Feel how it is to be simply present in this instant, without holding onto any intention. Don't touch any thought of doing something special. Keep inwardly quiet. If suddenly a wave of thoughts should come, don't panic. There is no need to control or suppress them. Simply let them play without your involvement. Observe with detachment. Remain empty of intention. Keep quiet. Imagine you are standing on a platform at the railway station. One by one the trains come—they stop, doors open, doors close, they move on. You don't have to get on. Like this, simply observe the thought activity appearing on the screen of consciousness without connecting up. Don't log on. Thoughts and sensations will be seen to move on by themselves, without being forced. Stay neutral. Be with the awareness as awareness itself. Feel the breath moving effortlessly, without will or strain. Observe the senses functioning, the sense of outer and inner; any movement is just happening by itself, unplanned and unforced. Whatever arises as thought, feeling, movement or sensation is quietly observed, only now there is less interest, less pull. All is arising; your self is not aroused. All this is smoothly observed. Even the sense of self, the feeling ‘I am’, is appearing inside the awareness. Make no greater effort than is required. You are here. That which is neither doing nor undoing, neither directing activity nor being affected by activity, which is effortlessly aware yet unconcerned, that is your real self. Not behind nor in front, nor above nor beneath, for it is not another phenomenon. It is unplaced, unborn, boundless awareness-self. Now, observe the observer: ‘Who am I?’ Check inwardly but remain quiet with alert attention. Don't collect any answer or clues; an answer would and could only be an opinion, an idea or another concept. Don't tie yourself to any concept. Turn the attention away from objects towards the viewing subject. What and where is the seer? Remain silent and neutral. There should now be an increased strength of focus in the looking. Now, again, watch the sense ‘I am’. What is ‘I’? From where does it arise? Watch. What do you find? It cannot be found. It does not exist! It cannot be found objectively. Nevertheless, the ‘I’ sense or intuition continues to be present. It is the non-finding of ‘I’, phenomenally, that proves its non-objective existence. ‘I’ or ‘I am’ is found to be without form, an intuition arising from, in, and as emptiness. Without focused inquiry, ‘I’ appears to be an entity comprised of body and conditioned mind. When searched for as a form, it is found to be merely a thought; the form of ‘I’ is thought. Formless, it arises from

emptiness as the intuitive sense of subjective presence. Now that ‘I’ is found to be formless presence, what recognises this? Does this possess form? Inquire like this. Thank you, Mooji. You are most welcome.

Mooji, I am unable to concentrate on the inquiry, I lose focus easily. Yes, you would rather walk to the moon than inquire into yourself! My problem is… Your problem is not the problem. We love our problems and cannot bear to be without them. They are our illegitimate children, demanding so much attention and we readily give it to them. Perhaps we feel bored without them. Who are you without your problems? Mind makes all this fuss. You are neither the mind nor its activities. How do I stop mind? Don't stop mind, leave it be. Ignore it and remain as Self. It won't allow me. Listen to this: A man has been taking driving lessons and can now tackle the main road. One morning, he is driving on the highway alongside his instructor and it begins to rain. The instructor advises the man to switch on the windscreen wipers, but as soon as the wipers start moving, the driver's attention begins to follow them and the car is now swerving from side to side along the road. Other drivers begin tooting their horns thinking the driver is drunk! “Can we turn the wipers off? They are distracting me,” asked the learner. “Keep your eyes on the road alone and the wipers will not distract you,” the instructor advises. “I think I need to at least go to the slow lane,” requested the driver. “No,” says the instructor firmly. “Only focus on the road.” “I can't!” says the man frustrated. “My eyes go involuntarily with their movement. Could we switch them off?”

“No. You must learn to drive with them on,” the instructor points out. “Focus only on the road.” “But it's too dangerous! I can't keep the car straight!” says the man. “No. Stay focused on the road only, ignore the wipers.” “But it's too dangerous! I will crash!” the man exclaims. Other drivers are now shouting and swearing at the man, “Get off the road, you drunk!” The rain is now torrential and the instructor pushes the wipers up to full speed. “Simply focus on the road alone. Relax.” The driver, although very anxious, trusts the instructor's calm voice. Gradually, the car straightens up as the driver is somehow able to hold his attention on the road despite the wipers swishing at full speed. The driver relaxes; now there is no distraction caused by the moving wipers. It is the same here with you. Focus on the road means to stay focused as the neutral observer rather than focusing on your thoughts, surrounding conditions or apparent problems. Remain as the observer. Don't follow the mind flow. You are not this mind flow. Keep the attention inside the awareness. What a beautiful example! The driver did not learn to focus by adopting a technique, by chanting mantras or by practicing yoga and meditation. He simply trusted his teacher's advice, applied it, and focus simply happened. Initially, trust, effort and grace are all required for the attention to remain merged in the Self. Now you carry on by doing the same.

My Piranha Question

Who or what am I really? Don't touch the ‘I’ and you will know. [Silence] And now? There's agitation and an attempt to go behind that. What is trying to go behind that? Drop this idea of going behind, stay where you are. Be neutral. So, agitation is felt. What is getting agitated or disturbed? My mind. What watches agitated mind? Is that agitated? No. That in which mind and its content is seen, can that itself be seen? Can it be described, touched or caught? No. It has no quality. And you who knows this, where are you in this? What are you? I am not separate. I cannot say or describe what I find. When I try to speak about it, words carry me away into mind again. Actually, that is not true. It is a popular myth and creates much mischief when believed. In truth, nothing takes you away from what you are. It is your attention that goes out. You watch the movement of attention; therefore, you are not the attention—you remain behind, as the awareness itself. Look deeply into this and both your self-image and this idea of leaving yourself will fall away. What watches leaving and returning? That cannot be known. It is not merely quality, it is something beyond. You are right in saying that it cannot be known. You can only be that. Then there is no separation in knowing and being. Is there something you must do to remain here? Is there a you as a tangible entity who is capable of leaving or returning?

Beneath the ever-flowing stream of sensations, including mind and the ‘I’ sense, there is only this. The wise refer to it as the sole reality—as That which Is. It could also be referred to as Buddha-being but no Buddha. [Silence] Now, what further inquiry is needed? Inquiry is necessary only when the sense ‘I’ arises and swells up, to the extent that detached and silent observation seems eclipsed or overpowered by intense personal identification with the unreal. Should this occur, find out immediately who is affected or involved in that play. Who suffers? Keep quiet, dive within and track down the sufferer. Is it real? Tangible? Can it be held in view? As this question bites in, watch the tendency to lapse into sleepiness or the attention suddenly veering off towards some trivial pursuit. These are common reactions, a form of avoidance from the ego. It is as if it throws a stone in the bush in order to put you off its scent, and so avoids detection. Hold to the task and do not abandon the inquiry! Focus the attention on locating the one who is suffering. Like this, it is found that no one is there to suffer. It is the idea you have of yourself that apparently suffers. What discovers this? Again, it is found that there is simply discovering but no personal discoverer. It is not enough that you believe these words being said. You must discover this by experiencing it for yourself. Only then is the grip of the ego's influence loosened and the spell of delusion broken. The one Self alone shines inside the body as ‘I am’. In each body it is reflected like one facet of an infinitely-faceted diamond, with each facet having the whole diamond behind it. This effortless knowledge is revealed in one who has discovered through self-inquiry or surrender, the unreality of the ego-mind. How can I speak or act from this place, Mooji? Just rest with this question, be quiet with it, and see what is there to be discovered. Truly, that which is neither speaks nor acts. It is beyond action and activity. This is at the very pinnacle of ultimate understanding. What or who am I? Can what I am be seen? And if so, by whom? Is there really such a thing as finding one's self? Are there two entities acting as a single being? If so, which is real? And how to know? Am I split as half and half? These questions cannot be answered by the mind with any lasting satisfaction. Such questions asked within the light of inquiry are deeply penetrative, introspective and explosive scout questions. Sometimes they explode, other times they implode! When asked with focused attention and an urge to know truth, they are bound to stir up some deep response inside our being. I call the question ‘Who am I?’ my piranha question—it devours the questioner! Something goes off inside, and whatever goes off inside is out of your hands; it is no more your business! Like the food you are chewing, while it is inside your mouth, you are in control but once it is swallowed, it is gone, out of reach. Something else takes over now. I call it grace. Can there not be awakening without grace? What is the work of grace? Grace is essential for liberation. It is synonymous with freedom. Grace is the activity of the satguru— our innermost reality. Grace is divine benevolence in service to itself.

Forget the Answer and Dive into the Question What do you mean when you speak of liberation, Mooji? Liberation is the natural outcome of sincere and steady investigation into the nature of Self. One sees that all that arises as manifestation, including the personality, is a play of consciousness in the fullness of the Absolute. In the recognition of this timeless fact, unbroken joy and peace shine inside the heart, body and mind. This is the real power of inquiry: to reveal the awareness-self as the source of all appearances. But who is inquiring? Forget about the answer and dive deep into the question. All answers come from the mind. I must be here to say, ‘I am pleased’ or ‘I am displeased by this or that thing.’ What is ‘I’? Find out what the ‘I’ is and you will discover, not merely assume, who inquires. There is no ‘I’. Your answer appears to be knowledgeable but it is concealing an avoidance to true discovery. Who sees that there is no ‘I’? It is arising in consciousness spontaneously. And you, who are you? What notices this or anything else? If you truly look and pay attention to your own findings, I will stop asking such questions. If you want me to stop hammering at your mind, look and resolve this dilemma for yourself. But you must be sincere. I’m that something, whatever it is… Prior to the arising of the statement ‘I am that something,’ what is here? [Silence] Whenever I am into the inquiry, I reach a point where no answer comes. What observes this? Consciousness… emptiness… something… ? Stop throwing peanuts at me! These are empty words. They are someone else’s words and testimony, not your own. Can’t you feel that they lack authority and conviction? Speak from your own direct experience alone. Look within. No thinking, imagining or visualising is required, only focused observation is of value here. This power is already in you. Whatever arises is observable and is therefore watched from somewhere beyond. What is it that stands apart and watches? Does it possess quality? Is it a ‘something’? No, it isn’t a ‘something’…

What knows this? From where are you observing at this very point? Give some feedback if you can— what is happening now? Umm… there’s something that is seen by… Nothing… and… I am before that. Be That! [Silence] Can you come out of this? No… I cannot. What I am, cannot… what I really am, is always here. [Silence] I came here to share some good news with you: You are complete, you are perfection itself, beyond the concept of perfection. You are the eternal principle. You are there before the concept ‘I am’ arose —immovable. From the highest standpoint, you perceive everything as your play. You are all there is. Discover and confirm this for yourself. It must become your own experience. Don’t quote from what you have read or heard. Read from your own book, the book of your immutable Self, this unshakeable truth.

Stay as the Formless This morning I called you because I was scared. There was only emptiness, and ‘Mary’ [questioner’s name] couldn’t be found… I wasn’t there! It was really scary! All is well. You were there but not personally, otherwise what would witness emptiness? You were tasting the fruits of your own inquiry. The sense of your old idea of self vanishing was being witnessed. Fear arises as the old reference points erode, but this is also seen. What was there, witnessing all of this? All searching is ultimately for one thing only: to find the seeker and to move beyond into lasting freedom. What is it that is searching? Can the seeker be found? Is the seeker a tangible, measurable entity? What exactly is it that I am then? No one else’s answer will do. It is said only the sattvic mind can ask this question. Sattvic mind means the pure mind which is free from distractions and searches for one thing only: ultimate liberation. That mind is the divine mind itself. The wise say a life is truly auspicious only when the question ‘who am I who lives inside this body?’ arises and is recognised and pursued until one is free from the bewitching and limiting influence of the mind. One becomes awake to the unchanging truth. I can say I have seen that I am not the mind and that my personality is an idea, but there is also a thought that somehow it could become clearer, that more could be done. Let’s look closely at this ‘I’ that you perceive yourself to be, the one that thinks it could do more, or feels itself getting closer to some goal. Today, in this instant, I want you to recognise that you are the Buddha itself, that you are the same consciousness as Christ-consciousness. You are not fully aware of this truth because you have adopted and identified the body and mind as your expression and real being. Therefore, you perceive yourself to be changeful, as body and mind are. As long as you cling to the idea of being a personal entity, you will imagine you have some task to stay as the Self—which you cannot do, no one can. You become very frustrated with the sense of being limited. Even realisation you will feel as a passing experience because your ‘I’ is rooted in separation itself. There is the ‘I’ which arises with historical and psychological force. It is associated with various qualities and tendencies, a mixture of mind and being. There is also the ‘I’ that arises from and as boundless space, and which is without form. Discern which is real. The personal ‘I’ is full of quality and self-seeking. Its self-consciousness is rooted in identity with the body and is therefore easily detectable as a phenomenon. That which witnesses this personal ‘I-me’ and its limitations may also be felt as ‘I’, but is more subtle, formless, space-like. This is the ‘I-Self’, shining within the body as space, silence, intuitive knowing, love and bliss. ‘I’ beyond ‘I-me-ness’, is the ever-perfect awarenessself. [Silence] So… as long as my attention is going to what arises, as long as there is an object perceived by a subject, there will always be duality. Therefore, at some point, I must drop even the search itself, no? In truth, you don’t drop anything. What actually happens is that at an auspicious moment, the search drops you! It is you that is dropped! Sri Ramana said, “Keep on inquiring until there is nobody left to

inquire.” This surrender is like watching a meteorite, a shooting star that disintegrates as it enters the earth’s atmosphere. As you continue inquiring, the inquirer fades away. There was once a great yogini who meditated deeply on the following, ‘I am here. I can clearly feel my being, so what exactly perceives even this beingness?’ As her consciousness deepened into a state of intense focus, there was a sudden awareness of the most beautiful sounds, such as she had never heard before. ‘Oh, how delightful!’ she thought, ‘but they cannot be what I am, because I am here to hear them!’ Some moments passed, and then there appeared a blaze of overwhelmingly luminous colours shimmering with brilliance. But again came the recognition, ‘How beautiful, how sensuous! But they have nothing to do with what I am, because I am here, unaffected, perceiving them. Even that which is captivated by their beauty is perceived in my Self.’ After another short while, celestial beings began appearing, floating in space and glowing with light and love. And again came the discernment, ‘Oh, how wonderful a vision! But I cannot be whatever they are, for I am already here experiencing their appearance!’ Finally, all the various phenomena merged into an all-encompassing silence, beyond duality. Even this emptiness of which you spoke earlier, even this cannot be what you are, since it is perceived phenomenally. Therefore, you are emptiness beyond even the concept of emptiness. And when ultimate understanding happens, even this realisation is watched, as it were, in What Is. Everything goes back into silence, and there is nobody there to assess the silence. Silence is not disturbed by thought or speech. Space is not affected by whatever appears in it. You are That. Stay in this imageless seeing. Om.

To Die Before I Die I’m trying to find the right words, Mooji, to find my clearest question for you. I say: Shoot the questioner! [Laughter] You know, there is something commanding about the kind of question which springs directly from the heart. It does not have to be styled in some philosophical language or posture. It can be the most simple thing, yet there is great power in its freshness and innocence and so the beingness rushes forth to satisfy its call. Yes, like a deep yearning, like the outstretched arms of a crying child, something within rushes out to meet it and to absorb it into itself. The mind rarely asks from this place. Questions coming from mind rarely come with this bite, this urge, this innocence. Some time ago, a man came to satsang and asked to see me privately. When he arrived, I asked him why he had requested a one-to-one. He said, “It’s a matter of some urgency for me. The doctors tell me I have a terminal illness, they say that I am dying. I have come to see you because I want to die before I die.” Who else comes with this urgency, this plea: “I want to die before I die?” [Long silence] Mooji, I’m not exactly sure what he meant. He meant: I want to stop being molested by the ego. I want to stop it determining the quality of my existence, before it naturally falls down by itself. I want to be free of the influence of the ego. I wish for an end to this hypnotic state of believing that I am this person who is going to die. Somewhere deep inside there is a recognition that what has been believed until now is not true. There is a great sense of inadequacy in the conception of myself as merely my body-mind functioning. There is a claustrophobia somewhere in me, and my beingness longs to breathe without being harassed by these thoughts. This is what I perceive he meant. How could he achieve all that? By finding out who or what his self is. One must be clear about one’s real position. Once it is irrefutably clear that I am that in which witnessing of the world takes place, that I am not that which is perceived, that I am beyond all forms and modifications, the effect of the seeing will follow spontaneously, perhaps even unconsciously. I remember Papaji telling me, “If you wish to be one with the Truth, you must vanish, you must disappear!” Up until that point, there had been years of bliss and joy. There had been a sense of being immensely blessed, chosen as a servant of God even. Suddenly, in the presence of the Master, in the hearing of these words, a great storm arose within my heart. Fierce resistance, anger and judgement flared up. My mind wanted to escape this throat-cutter, so it pictured him as a charlatan. ‘I cannot surrender to you. Now, if Ramana was here… He, I know is the real thing!’ But you see, Papaji wasn’t instructing my ego to do something special, like vanish. He merely spoke from Truth. The force emanating from there exposed the ego, grabbing it by the throat—it came up kicking and screaming. All, all, was the Master ’s grace. The offender was exposed and blasted, and there followed immense

peace, unbound silence and a new love, a very powerful love towards the Master. I remember that before my execution, some resistance was always in my mind. Sometimes Papaji would say some frivolous, inaccurate thing and I would feel my mind judging, ‘Papaji, that’s not true. If you were a true master, you wouldn’t say this or that thing.’ I kept up this judgement to protect my ego for as long as I could, but the Master ’s sword was moving ever closer until somehow, inevitably, I came to feel its cool blade against my throat. Ego always has an escape plan, a back door. I don’t know why I am telling you all this. Maybe I just want you to realise that you cannot design the way in which your mind will vanish. Something pulls you here, to the butcher ’s block. The beingness has brought itself in the form of the seeker to be reminded and to rediscover that it is objectless awareness—nothing, everything, and beyond. Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj expressed this beautifully: “When I see that I am nothing, this is Wisdom. When I see that I am everything, this is Love. Between these two valleys, my life flows.” Sometimes you will see—like here and now with me—that you are nothing tangible, objective or knowable. You will also discover there is no one personally seeking or discovering. The seeking is like an impulse from the Self to rediscover itself. There is just this expanse of being, a subtle intuition, and inside this, a wave of great love flows without interruption. Be bold and fire your bodyguards, for they cheat you out of real freedom while appearing to be your protectors. Take your door off its hinges. Pull down your walls. Allow yourself to be completely undressed by grace so that you may begin seeing with the eyes of God. You are the eternal being, beyond becoming—witnessing, but not a witnesser. Let all come and go. One day this body also will go, and that too you will witness. [Long silence] But you are that which remains unaltered by all that comes and goes. Mooji, I can feel the truth of this when I hear you speak of it, but when I leave here, when I’m back in the world, I seem unable to really remember this feeling. If I tell you a hundred times that you are one hundred percent Truth always, that you are one hundred percent free, that you are the one eternal principle, that your nature is joy, freedom and peace, you will be delighted to hear it a hundred times, and a hundred times you will forget it. Why? Because thousands of times, you have embraced the idea that you are not free, not yet, that you are not ready, not worthy, that more needs to be done. You have put so much effort into transforming a shadow into an object it is only a reflection of! [Silence] Your body was born but you were never born. You shall never die. Discover this now, while you have the body! The body will pass. I say, find that which cannot pass. This opportunity is available now— take hold of it. Find out: who says ‘I’ inside this body? Does it have an age, a size, a gender? Find this out with full devotion and attention. Now is the auspicious moment for this discovery.

Could you say something about death? I am petrified of the thought of dying. Death itself is a thought. All are afraid of death! To live without knowing your true nature is death, therefore all are dead. If you take yourself to be the body and mind only, you will die! When you discover yourself as awareness, the fear of death will not trouble you any longer. We fear physical death, therefore we also somehow fear life itself. Like Ramana, you too can witness your own death. He welcomed the approach of death, embracing the attitude, ‘Let the body die. Let’s see what happens.’ The body became like a corpse, yet he realised there was some power inside which remained unaltered. In that moment he knew—death was a myth. Years later, shortly before Sri Ramana’s body fell away, some devotees pleaded with him, “Bhagavan, please don’t leave us!” “Where can I go? I am always here,” was his reply. What Is remains eternally its unalterable Self. Yes, body falls, mind dissolves, breath merges with the air, but spirit remains—immutable. What is spirit? Self, the God-light, the Deathless, the Unborn, the eternal Reality; and we are This! To know this is freedom; to not know this is bondage and a death. I don’t want to die. Then throw away life! Reality is beyond the concept of life and death. Be fearless. Confirm, none of this is me or mine. I am the deathless reality. Search within by pondering, ‘Who dies or lives?’ And remain very quiet after asking this question. Have the attitude—I must find this out today! Something within wishes to reveal this to a mind graced with longing. It is the identity that is afraid to die. Where there is identity, there is an ‘I’ entity. Try to locate this ‘I’ entity now, and share your findings here with me. There is nothing there. Don’t settle too quickly with that answer. Otherwise, it could be the mind using this very response to avoid being caught. Dive in again, hold the question and plunge. There is nothing, it is empty. Is there a sense of mind going blank? No. There is complete silence. There is no fear, only indescribable peace. Peace is as infinite as space.

Suffering Your Experiencing

What about physical pain? What about suffering? Hand over your existence to existence and keep quiet. All is grace. If you really had the free will and power to shape your destiny, to create your ideal life, you would most probably leave out all discomforts, all that challenges your ego, all that exposes feelings of guilt or shame or anything that threatens your attachments. You would exclude all these and replace them with chocolate-flavoured experiences. [Laughter] But however much you try to construct and secure a life that satisfies your projections, you would still fail to match, in quality and auspiciousness, the life that is unfolding without human intention. A man once said to Sri Nisargadatta, “Maharaj, your words resonate deep within my heart. I feel their power and know them to be true. But if I am to be honest in describing my experience, I would have to admit that throughout my life, I’m continuously experiencing suffering!” And Maharaj replied, “No, this is not true. You are not experiencing suffering, you are suffering your experiencing.” Can you say more about Nisargadatta’s words, Mooji? I will tell you a story: In great pain, a man went to see the doctor. “How can I help you?” the doctor asked him. I hurt all over, doctor,” said the man. “Whenever I touch here,” he explained, touching a spot near his heart with his finger, “it hurts! And if I touch here,” he added, touching his nose, “ouch!—it also hurts!” The doctor looked on, perplexed, as the man continued. “When I touch here,” he said, touching his stomach, “it hurts like hell!” He then touched his eyelid, “Ooouch!” he yelled again. So, the doctor conducted a complete physical examination on the man. Finally, “Sir,” the doctor said, “I can find nothing wrong with the areas you showed me. The trouble is, you have a broken finger!” [Laughter] ‘I’ is this finger. Wherever ‘I’ goes, there is always trouble. The ‘I’ that shines without identity is the natural mind. When identified with the body, conditioned mind and the sense of doership, it becomes ego, the cause of suffering. Whatever it touches in ignorance causes itself and others pain. Yet, it imagines pain to be caused by other. When, through grace, it is realised that ‘I-me’ is the main cause of confusion and that it is only a dream inside pure being, suffering ends. Identification with this ‘I’ is the root of suffering. When you have a preference for a certain kind of experience, you suffer. When you have a preference for who you should learn from, you suffer. When you are constantly interpreting how things are or how they should be, what you deserve and what you do not deserve, you suffer. Wherever there is pride, attachment, judgement and desire, there is suffering. When we awaken from ignorance into our true nature, suffering is absent. But Mooji, how can you not feel suffering if there is strong physical pain?

Pain and pleasure both belong to the body, it is a package deal. Once you take a body, you will experience all the interrelated opposites and contrasts of the dance we call life. But this does not mean you automatically suffer just because the body is there. Identity amplifies suffering. In impartial and impersonal observation of the body-mind functioning, pain is perceived as a natural phenomenon. Non-personal experiencing is itself freedom. Nevertheless, for some people, suffering seems to be an inescapable aspect of the human experience. In the realm of sentient experience, suffering is unavoidable. Where there is strong psychological and physical identity, there is proportionate suffering—it is the tax for having a body! So, you say, ‘I have suffered.’ I am not going to fight with you about it. But also there are people who are ‘suffering’ with a deep sense of gratitude or even joy behind their apparent suffering. I won’t call this suffering really, because there is no resistance here. They have understood and accepted that grace sometimes manifests as an intense inner burning that purges the being of conceptual and emotional toxins, and to that extent they remain in peace. I don’t know how I would feel grateful when pain, physical or emotional, is really throbbing! There is no need to force being grateful. Due to a kind of conditioned reflex, the blood flow rushes towards the centre of activity like the flow of white corpuscles to the site of physical injury. In this example, the centre of activity is wherever the sense of personal ‘I’ throbs, and the subsequent attention given to it is like the blood flow. You are not that, you are aware of that. Just be clear about this, without panic. If you hold to the intuition, the sense ‘I am’, and do not allow this to connect with any other concept, if you just let the ‘I am’ incubate in itself, immediately joy and space prevail. Spontaneously, there is the silent and intuitive conviction that confirms, ‘I am timeless, unbound being.’ This is not a teaching, it is a powerful inner experience. Inexplicable. Thankfully, you don’t have to write a thesis about it. Something is seen, it is enough. You cannot prove it and you needn’t prove it. You don’t need to talk about it, not even to share it. Keep quiet. Remain in that natural inner solitude. [Long silence]

Is it wrong to contribute to the future of the planet and co-exist in harmony for the common good of all humankind? Is it wrong to aspire to be the best one can be? The opportunity here in satsang and with me is to discover who you are. This is the highest good. Begin with yourself through introspection. Can there be a world without you to know it? If you are not, can knowledge of the world or anything else appear? Therefore, you must be earlier, for you are the observer of them. Even existence is not, if you are not. Who, therefore, are you? Solve this first, then come and share your findings. Afterwards, we will discuss the other matters you raised, if they are still of concern to you. Is it a deal? You have not answered my question.

I have, but my answers will not satisfy you because presently you have very strong identification with your body and mind. As long as you believe you are the body and your mind is your self you will remain bound by these concepts and reject my advice. What to do? Somehow, you came here and have been bold in your quest. My advice is that you sit here for a while. Keep your mind open, empty and quiet. Do not ask more questions for the moment. At the end of satsang, if you feel nothing, then move on. I want you to address my concerns but you avoid them. Why? Are they not spiritual enough? Since you are bold and persistent I shall be equally bold: Your questions are not real. My answers are not real. The world as you perceive it is not real. War and peace, selfish and deluded projections of aggressive-natured beings, are equally unreal. Aspirations are unreal. Solutions based in egoic identity are unreal. Nature perceived as separate from one’s self, unreal. I also, as an autonomous entity, am unreal. You—equally unreal. Life itself, as is fashioned inside the human psyche is unreal. Death too, as is imagined based upon the ill-conceived notion that we are merely our bodies and personalities, is unreal. All is illusion—unreal. The Self, timeless and spaceless, immutable, beyond all qualities, alone is real. You must look within to find and confirm this for yourself. Until and unless you do, your comprehension of the world is based on very shaky ground; a ground of naive assumptions and second-hand knowledge. I am stunned! Stunned is also unreal.

The Land of ‘I Don't Know’

In the inquiry, one is not to get involved in what is arising. One is just witnessing, just listening, just looking at it, is that what you mean? But then, how do you listen to the being? There seems to be a kind of tuning in… Even ‘listening to the being’ is too much! Just be. Be being. You are already that. If you think, ‘I must listen to the being,’ you create some sort of split, a separation, and now there is a task to reunite one thing with another. This is the birth of duality. Instantly, a ‘me’ is created who must listen to the Self. This is a very subtle trap, and most believe it. Who is it who will listen to the being? You are the being! These are all mischievous thoughts, detect them and reject them swiftly. It’s just that sometimes I get confused between needing to listen to emotions that arise, and thinking of all that arises as just contractions in the beingness. And then there’s a remembering that it’s all just mind-stuff anyway! But then I... All these concepts have become very heavy, very burdensome. Put them down! If you pick them up, they will weigh you down and give you strenuous and valueless tasks to accomplish. Your mind lacks power and clarity because your attention has split away from the source and is flapping about. Don’t split off into the veins, stay in the main artery. What does this mean? It means remain as the witnessing core only. Don’t involve yourself with what comes and goes. Do you require something to simply be? No, not really… But maybe secretly you entertain some fantasy about being someone special. Maybe you want to levitate in front of your friends or something! [Laughter] Or perhaps it is that you wish, let’s say, for the power to heal people, or to predict the future. Should any of these accomplishments come to you, I tell you that these will become mere distractions for the ego. If you hanker after such special effects, you will not know true freedom. Somewhere inside, you are delaying the discovery of Truth. Give up all aspirations and intentions and keep quiet, and then see if you lack anything when you remain without desire and association. Just be still. Touch nothing. You say that all the time. Yes, but do you listen? [Laughter] And do you apply that advice? Perhaps, that is why I say it all the time! [More laughter] I’m sorry Mooji, but my mind just keeps throwing up ‘what ifs’ and ‘buts’! It’s like I have this habit of listening to my thoughts, and I can’t seem to break it! How can I make them quiet? What can I do with this noisy mind so I might know a moment’s peace? The belly of the mind is never satisfied.

Let me tell you a story: There was once a rich and shrewd businessman who took a holiday near a small fishing village. One morning when the sun was high and the coconut trees rocked softly in the breeze, he went for a stroll along the almost empty beach. Halfway up the beach, he came upon a small fishing boat. An old fisherman was sitting in its shade enjoying a smoke. “Good morning, friend. How come you’re not out fishing? The water looks perfect for a good catch,” the businessman said. “You are a man of the sea?” asked the simple fisherman. “No,” answered the businessman, “but I noticed all the other boats are out except yours.” “There are no other boats. I alone fish here. I fish at night. Now I take rest here in the breeze and shade,” explained the old man. “But if you went out now, wouldn’t you catch more fish?” “Probably. But what for?” “Well, I’m sure you could sell them all at that tourist beach over there,” the businessman said, pointing towards the next village. “And then what?” asked the fisherman. “Well, then you could buy a motor for your boat and go further out to really deep waters and catch even bigger fish.” “And then what?” the humble seaman asked again. “Well, then you could buy another boat, employ some of these idle young men to fish for you and so make more money!” “And what then?” said the old man. “Well, with all that money, you could build your own house. You could sit back, relax and enjoy life with a peaceful mind,” responded the businessman. “Thank you for your advice,” smiled the fisherman, “but that’s what I am doing now.” The businessman, humbled, touched his palms together and nodded in agreement. The peace you are looking for, you already are. Be still, and know this. But what about when there are things to be done Mooji, things to be considered, actions needing to be taken? Let actions happen without identification. In this way, actions are pure in expression. Is this so difficult? Thoughts and activity are not contrary to Truth and by themselves do not impose identification. I often say this because some people have this fear that they will become spiritual vegetables, that they will stagnate and spend the rest of their lives sitting in meditation. They see personal action and striving as a virtue and imagine this type of instruction or advice as unnatural,

lazy and restrictive. But if we follow your instruction and just watch the world before us, how will anything get done? Listen—mental, physical and emotional activities are continuously in play, the life-force is their master and originator. You, who witnesses their play, are untouched by it. Reflect, confirm and verify this for yourself. Impersonal perceiving of the cosmic activity, free of self-interest or judgement, these are the signs of the liberated mind. There is immense freedom and clarity in the light of such recognition. The problem has never been how much activity there is, or even what kind of activity the body engages in. The apparent mistake is the identification of the beingness, the Self, with the nonself, the idea we have of who we are. It is here that the sense of separation creeps in. With separation and an inflated sense of autonomy comes fear, desire, restlessness and arrogance. I say, remain as the impersonal seer, pure awareness itself. I sort of know what you are talking about, Mooji. I practice vipassana meditation, and I know that the restlessness of the mind falls away when I’m doing that. And I know a number of pranayama exercises which… You think you know so much, but what do you really know? You have been under the impression that you must develop skills to manage and control life, or at least to navigate safely through it. But your Self, you remain unaware of. That, as of yet, you do not know. Can’t you just let yourself be in the space of ‘I don’t know’? Of ‘I am’ without giving in to the temptation to define what this ‘I am’ is? Can you, for now, keep the attention only inside the sense of ‘I’ presence without connecting it with any other concepts or sensations? Can you simply rest in that natural feeling of being, beyond separation? Do not look for any special experience or benefit. Neither be in a state of waiting nor of expectation. Recognise this unique sense of natural being. No further practices are necessary if you continue the inquiry with singlemindedness, trust and devotion. [Silence] After listening to your words, I feel a little stunned… or perhaps it’s more like stoned! [Laughter] I begin to understand this much at least, that I don’t really know anything at all. [More laughter] In the land of ‘I know,’ there is always competitiveness, jealousy, pretence, pride and arrogance. It is an aggressive realm, the realm of the ego. I say, refuse citizenship! In the land of ‘I don’t know,’ the inhabitants move without conflict and are naturally quiet, happy and peaceful. The wise stay here.

A Divine Play You often say things like ‘don’t touch that’ and ‘stay neutral’, but my question is, what’s wrong with engaging fully with life? And what’s so good about being neutral? It seems to me that you’re suggesting not to embrace life, not to trust our feelings, not to bother to participate in anything, that life is a waste of energy. But surely this can’t be what you mean? No, not at all! Nothing is wrong with the senses or with sense objects, with any object of perception, with the taste and touch of personality, with any sensation, or with any of the phenomena we call life, if it is seen and accepted as just what it is: the manifestation or play of consciousness. The world, its experiencer and the act or functioning of experiencing, are all the play of the single consciousness. Seen with the pure mind, consciousness and its ever-flowing content are neither negative nor positive. They simply are. The entire manifestation is a divine play in consciousness; it is God’s lila, God’s creative expression. However, it is illusory. I do not offer this to you as a teaching, but as an invitation for you to take a closer look at what you consider to be yourself. Are you willing to be completely open-minded throughout this investigation? I say: Don’t touch anything. This is said only to counteract the tendency or reflex to engage oneself with what is often mere mental debris as soon as it appears in the mind. It is the advice or instruction offered to serious aspirants of Truth whose deepest urge is to be free from the hypnotic influence and power of the mind. By discovering the pure and immutable nature within, the spell of the mind is broken. For those who are ready to leave all else behind for freedom, this advice comes. Others will do what they want as compelled by their nature. That, too, is the play of the cosmos and is therefore also natural. The mature seeker minds his or her own business, goes his or her own way. But if I just do what I want, what if I do something wrong or unkind? I reap the result of my wrong action, don’t I? It doesn’t seem right to say it is all an illusion, or that it’s all just play! Or that nothing touches me or matters to me! I am not saying that exactly—and understand that there is no arrogance behind my statement—it is more that I am saying the life-force itself does everything. Mind is only an interpreter. If I shoot someone in my dream, I will suffer in the dream, no doubt. Even if uncaught in the dream, whatever moral values I have would confront me right there in the dream. However, when I wake up, can I be arrested in the waking state for the crime I committed in my dream? That which causes the dream to happen, would that not also be responsible for the occurrences in the dream? Can that itself be caught and charged with any offence? And if so, by whom? Contemplate this! For example, one flow of electricity is directed to this apartment. In this object, it produces heat, in that one, cool airflow. In the television, it causes moving pictures to appear, and in the fridge, it makes ice. But electricity is none of these things. It is neither hot nor cold. It has no image. If someone is killed by an electric shock, electricity cannot be charged, found guilty and sentenced to time in prison.

It is neither innocent nor guilty. It is the same with the life-force and the consciousness. If this is the case, what is the point of feeling alive, of education, creativity, evolution and striving for perfection in thought, word and deed? You make it all sound pointless! On the contrary, as pure understanding arises—and it needn’t arise suddenly, it may be gradual—the sense of a struggling personal self, which we have been so accustomed to identifying with, dissolves and is replaced by an expansiveness of being. The old psychological idiosyncrasies and habits may still linger but they have lost their power, just like a snake whose fangs and venom have been removed. As the Self within is seen to be the same Self within all beings, selfishness, arrogance and insecurity lose their hold and effortless compassion flows outward towards all of life.

A Master’s Help

What is the point of being in satsang? To know the truth of your Self with your entire being. True knowledge and understanding removes the feeling of separation or alienation from the completeness of being. Direct knowledge of Self, confirmed in the heart, is whole, not partial. When the egoic tendencies are cut, reality reveals itself as pure awareness. How can one cut the tendencies? Aren’t tendencies also illusion? Yes, they are. But your mind is not yet fully established in that understanding for this statement to be true. You have it intellectually but it is not enough, it won’t last. Like a reflex, re-identification with the ego will jump in and in a flash, you will again be in the mind stuff. It all appears to be an impossible situation. Investigate yourself or trust the supreme power. The identification with body and the active ‘I’ sense gives rise to the personal mind, to personality. Identity implies there is an ‘I’ entity. Find the entity you take yourself to be. When searched for, it vanishes. Why? Because it is not the real Self! Self-inquiry reveals this in a way nothing else can. Simply to say ‘no one is there’ is only mental affirmation and has no lasting value. You may call it knowledge but it is not your authoritative or direct experience. Some teachers say investigation is also false, for it implies there is a ‘someone’ there to inquire. I am not interested in what other teachers say, unless their words and presence strike me in that undeniable place. I don’t agree anyhow. It is most misleading to say that investigation is also false, for it assumes the seeker has already recognised and realised he is the Truth he has been searching for. Unless the seeker has had that profound recognition, this will merely remain a concept in his mind and he may even believe that he has found the Truth. And, for a while he will feel great joy and freedom at the thought that it is enough, but he is in denial. His mind is simply relieved that it does not need to tackle its emotional and psychological stuff. The seeker is constantly wearing an assumed identity. He is aware of the strength of his tendencies and wants to be free of them. It is as a result of the rising of tendencies and more importantly, the identification with them, that the reality appears hidden or difficult to reach. Effectively, the tendencies or habits of mind, believed in, hold the being hostage, as it were. If the seeker is deeply touched or moved by the force of Truth or the energy field of satsang, he begins to feel the power of the real Self within. He experiences the effulgence of heart energy which shines as peace, space, joy, freedom and love. However, sooner or later, the hardcore stuff, the latent tendencies of mind, begin to surface and causes the seeker to feel agitation, a sense of failure, disillusionment and much discomfort. Feeling far from the great peace he has tasted within himself, he becomes unsure, isolated and often shrinks back, for fear he will be overwhelmed by the mind force.

What is one to do? I feel so alone, there is a sense of desperateness. If the urge for liberation is strong, the seeker will not give up. He will seek further guidance from a master. Like this, the seeker will be encouraged and guided to either surrender his personal identity or to investigate who suffers or feels the impact of such suffering. The true teacher will offer whatever advice is suited to the capacity of the seeker to grasp his real nature. A master ’s help is vital for success. But you said all this is illusion and then you speak all these words of instruction. I don’t understand. Stay in and as the wholeness. Don’t fragment your mind. Words by themselves are not enough but where I speak from and what I speak of is true and Truth. This is confusing! Because you are listening only with your mind. If you know this, why do you bother saying all this to me? For now, others will benefit from this more than you. You may catch up later. Do not rely on the rational mind only. Mind and heart are required. This is the real purpose and value of the guru, to recognise the needs of the seeker and to guide him appropriately until he moves beyond the need of help or external guidance. The sincere seeker must come to know he is the same as awareness.

Knowledge Must Be Experienced

Is there some practice we have to do? There is nothing you must do or change to be what you are. However, there is something you must recognise in order to stop being what you are not; investigate who you are. Through self-inquiry, the ego-self is exposed as a ghostly appearance in the light and presence of the real seer, the Self. I know I am that. It’s just that I forget easily. It feels that there is nothing one can do to help one remember. It is not to know or to do, but to be. Knowledge must be experienced. When knowledge and experience are one, there is no separation. When they are one, knowing is being. Mind must remain in the Heart. Only then, knowledge becomes the direct experience of Truth. Develop the habit of investigating yourself. Ask and seek earnestly within but don’t accept answers, such as ‘I am this or that’. Allow the question to open up its light within your being. Be quiet and alert. Try to find out what ‘I’ is. Who or what is ‘I’? Can ‘I’ be seen objectively? Keep quiet while watching the various guises that ‘I’ may assume. Sometimes, the field of vision may suddenly become blurred or blank. The ‘I’ thought may vanish. But do not start celebrating! [Laughter] Observe that the observing core of any activity is unmoved by any object of attention. Now find out, what watches the sense of self? Like this, search out the ‘I’ concept and its observer relentlessly, until both merge into silence. This will happen. In much the same way that great artists are ever contemplating their work, or a good detective is always thinking about solving a case, like Detective Colombo! The one yearning for liberation contemplates the nature of pure Self continuously, driven by some inner compulsion, until there remains only the concept-free silence of being. All you say is crystal clear, there is so much power even in the hearing of this alone. However, my mind won’t let go of the thought that there is a hurdle to jump over. Then resistance comes up and I just don’t feel I have the strength to investigate. Engage single-mindedly in the inquiry as though your life depended on it and this resistance will drop away in no time. The effectiveness of the inquiry is its immediacy in revealing the false as false, thus leaving the Self as the irrefutable reality. When your mind settles down in the Heart, no one will have to convince you this is your natural and original Self. As maturity grows, recognising the false, and intuitively experiencing the Self, will be as swift as looking into a mirror and recognising your face. Eventually, the mind or attention will remain effortlessly in the Heart, thereby putting an end to all doubts and confusion.

Is there any scripture that backs up what you are saying here? Has any other master recommended this advice? What I speak is nothing new, but is original in the sense that it is timeless and ever-fresh. Sages over ages have discovered this simple truth and have pointed countless seekers towards constant investigation within, so that they may come to clarify and confirm it for themselves. I say: quit dillydallying! If Truth is what you yearn for, then go straight to the root of the matter. You won’t get anywhere by sniffing around. Find out! I have shown you the way. Step boldly into this inquiry until your doubts are removed.

Mooji, what is the point of your question: Can the seer be seen? All experiences parade in front of you. You see them. You are the seer of them. They do not see you. Mostly, you identify with the seen. This is why I call attention to the seer itself. What is the true seer? Who can answer this question but the intellect of the seer itself? Let me ask you, can the seer have any form or quality that is discernible? Can you be that which has form? Can what you are be an object? Anything that has form, isn’t that an object of perception? What is the position of the seer who sees the seen? The one who is attempting to clarify if the seer can be seen, is that one the seer, or is it also an object in the seer ’s view? Who is the true seer then? How will the true seer be identified? Can it be identified even, and if so, by whom? Another seer? Contemplate this deeply and earnestly. I cannot see the seer. Who cannot see the seer? I don’t know… my mind? The mind is naturally pulled into the inquiry and you mistakenly take the mind as the seer. But it itself is seen and can therefore not be the ultimate seer. Do you understand? The power of the question, ‘can the seer be seen?’ is not in receiving an objective answer. The power lies in the introspection, in the attempt to locate the seer devoid of quality. This introspection burns a lot of psychic noise. What remains is only That, the indefinable One in recognition of itself in this body. This recognition is non-phenomenal, because the seer-self is imageless. Images are recognised in that one Self, because there is no other to recognise any image as phenomenal. If the mind is the recogniser of images, then the seer is the recogniser of the mind. Do you follow? When you surrender fully into this investigation, you are led into the deep mystery of this universe. Such is the potency of self-inquiry that by searching out the seer, involuntary revelations emerge. You begin to sense the greatness and vastness of that immortal being which is dwelling in the body. Before the discovery is made, the being lives and appears in drag as a person. The Supreme itself is playing, portraying itself as all this. It plays the fool and the wise alike, yet it remains untouched—immutable. When the being dreams itself as a journeyer travelling to meet its own Self, it appears to believe in its

identity as a seeker so strongly that it does not even realise that it is chasing its own tail. Therefore, when it contemplates the ultimate Truth, it perceives it only abstractly at first, and fear may spring up, ‘If I push deeper and discover this, I might disappear!’ Something is laughing at this game but you cannot hear it. Perhaps it is laughing at its own majesty. It is not a cynical laugh, it is a divine laugh. I am sure God is pleased with his own tricks. Who but the Supreme could create such a play? I tell you that there is a room that you can only enter when you leave your mind outside and hold firmly to the inner Being. I’ll meet you inside.

That, I Am Once there lived a king who desired enlightenment. He was deeply attracted to the spiritual philosophy of Advaita, which states that there is one undivided and all-encompassing reality and that this is what we are. The king loved spiritual discussions and enjoyed the company of saints and sages. One day a naked monk stood outside the gate of the palace. He had very long hair and long, curling nails and carried only a staff. He had the appearance of a wild forest-dweller. He tapped three times on the great door of the palace. The guard opened the door and, after scanning the monk from top to toe, asked, “What do you want?” “I have an appointment with the king,” uttered the monk. “Wait here,” replied the guard, closing the door. “My Lord,” the guard reported to the king, “there is a naked monk outside. He says he has an appointment with your Majesty.” The king enjoyed playful pranks but this time, being a little puzzled, he instructed the guard to ask the stranger if he was one of the royal ministers. So, the guard returned to the door and asked the monk, “Are you one of the king’s ministers?” The monk slowly shook his head from side to side and, pointing his finger up towards the sky, answered, “Higher than that.” The guard reported his answer to the king, “He says he is higher than that, your Majesty.” “Higher than a minister? Is he my counsellor?” “Are you the king’s counsellor?” the guard asked when he returned to the entrance of the castle. And again came the reply, “Higher than that.” “Your Majesty, the naked monk says that he is higher than that,” the guard told the king. “Higher than my counsellor? Is he a priest? Or a prophet?” the king inquired. “Are you a priest or a prophet?” quizzed the guard. “Higher than that,” indicated the pointed finger. “Higher than a prophet?” The king asked, now straightening himself up. “Then he must be a king from another country.” “Are you a king from another country?” the guard asked, regarding the monk with some skepticism. “Higher than that,” came again the reply. When the guard reported this to the king, the king drew himself up to his full height, and, gathering his robes around him, he himself strode down to the great door of the palace. “Above the king is only God,” the king declared when he saw the monk standing in the moonlight.

“Are you God?” There was a long, intense silence. Finally, “Higher than that,” uttered the monk, his eyes filled with a wild brilliance. The king was struck by the power and presence of the strange monk but he could not contain his curiosity. “What?!” exclaimed the king with surprise and awe, “Nothing is higher than God!” A soft smile opened on the monk’s radiant face. “That… I Am,” came the astounding reply. On hearing these words, the king’s energy left his body and he collapsed, unconscious, on the floor. The royal attendants brought his body to his bedroom where, for a whole week, he slept deeply. Finally, on the morning of the eighth day, he rose suddenly. The attendants brought the king his royal robes but he would not put them on. “Give them to my son,” he ordered. “My work here is done. I go in search of that One who is beyond all.”

This Shape-Shifting ‘I’

When you say ‘Fix the attention in the Heart,’ the thought comes: No matter what I do, I am identifying with an ‘I’. It is enough to know that when the sense ‘I am’ is recognised phenomenally, something more subtle lies behind and beyond. Looking for this something which lies beyond, no objective entity is found. The seeker and the sought merge in oneness and all that remains is boundless silence and intuitive presence. The advice of those who recognise this is, “Be There. Be That.” Now, is there something left to say? [Long silence] There’s a kind of total ‘I’. In your haste to label it, ‘I’ becomes a concept before it has time to be absorbed within. What rushes forward to name it? Trace to the root this urge or tendency to label, evaluate or qualify perception. At the crucial point of recognition, a wordless instant, something springs up, “Yes, there is an ‘I’, a total ‘I’,” or some such remark. Don’t identify with that thought. Instead, investigate, what makes this response? It will become clear that it is still the ego creating a separation, a distance between ‘I’ and Self until it is exposed as nothing, nothing at all. If left unquestioned, the hypnosis of identity will remain undiscovered. Investigate your assumptions until they are exposed and recognised as mere thoughts, all of them, including the one who appears to be affected by them. This emotional, psychological ‘I’ is also a thought. Throughout the life of this body, something has been saying ‘I’ millions of times. Yet, when asked who, where and what is ‘I’, no one can say. Real Self-discovery is the recognition and realisation of what this ‘I’ is. The complete understanding that ‘I’ is the Supreme Self and not a person, and that you are that One, is what is called liberation. And crucially, vagueness about ‘I’ is the ace card up the sleeve of the mind and is often missed or overlooked. ‘I’ is the master-thief itself. This is the thief Sri Ramana speaks about, the one dressed in the policeman’s uniform who goes out to catch the thief—who is himself! Of course, the thief will not be caught. This policeman-thief will run around, blow his whistle and pretend he is earnestly seeking the thief, but he will never put himself in jail. Ego will not and cannot kill ego. It is unreal! So this thief, who really is it? This shape-shifting ‘I’, when investigated turns out to be only a thought—the most intimate and primal thought in manifestation. I think I have several identities playing simultaneously. I regard each as a part of the one Self I am.

Whatever ideas you may hold about yourself, however profound, however accurate or objective you consider them to be, they cannot be true, cannot contain, convey or represent that which you are. Ideas, feelings and opinions are variable, they cannot be more stable than their observer. Bring your attention away from the objects of perception and rest it on the witnessing awareness alone. Who are you here and now? I am nothing. Yes, you are no ‘thing’. You are no body. Is this a painful or disappointing discovery? When attention is absorbed in the Heart, with that absence of identity, there is supreme contentment, peace and joy. This is the realisation of the Self. If you say to most people, “You are nobody,” they would feel hurt or insulted. “Why do you say that? Who do you think you’re talking to?” they would cry or rise to fight with you. But if you say to a sage, “You are nobody, you are nothing,” he will reply, “Thank you for reminding me,” although in truth, he is beyond reminding. My Master often said, “You need nothing to be happy. You need something to be sad.” As long as you are invested in the world of somethingness, peace remains elusive. If ego persists, there will always be the need for another trip, another book, another course, another chance or another day. Your vision is shaped and influenced by the conditioned mind.Therefore, you seem always one, two, three steps apart from yourself, your goal. Of course this is not true, but it will feel true to you, because you place that which you are at the end of some striving. The mind tricks you easily with its promises because you are eager to co-operate with its suggestions. True insight springs from emptiness. So again, right now, what are you clinging to? The idea that something needs to be done. Activities will continue. They are the universe’s spontaneous expressions and are not in conflict with Truth. But ‘Something needs to be done’ is a thought, a very familiar, persistent and believable thought. We rarely question such thoughts for our culture trains us to strive and struggle for what in reality is the most natural, for what is already effortlessly present in ourselves. It paints Selfdiscovery, Self-awareness, into a poetic fantasy or a strenuous striving, attainable only for a few. Therefore, the need to act, to do, to strive towards a far off goal, seems inevitable. A voice we know says, ‘All this sounds true. I will do some research, learn something about this new philosophy. It gives many great insights and teachings, the best I’ve heard. It will, no doubt, help me on my journey.’ And you believe it straight away, unquestioned. So, in that instant, the waters divide, the sense of separation is wedged in more tightly. And thus a journey is born. You are like the empty space in which the wind roams around. The nature of wind is to move from place to place, whereas space is infinite and still, and being infinite, incapable of even the slightest movement. There cannot be wind without space but there can be space without wind. Space is not troubled by the activity of the wind; neither gentle breeze nor hurricane affects it in the least. Similarly, you, the Self, are boundless and unmoving like space, but you identify with the movements of the wind-mind playing inside you, and you forget your real nature. Sometimes, the mind blows like a tornado. How can I calm it? It seems impossible. Even meditation doesn’t help. Even if wind turns into a tornado, how could it affect or disturb space? Contemplate this! You

meditate and do all sorts of things to make your mind more quiet. Let me ask you: is space more space-like when no wind blows? Knowing this is to free oneself from illusory efforts to control the wind-mind. Be space, and let mind roam where it wills. This is the secret my Master revealed to me. Remain as the ever-present awareness. To know and understand mind is to transcend mind. Mind is wind and wave, Self is ocean and space. Identify ‘I’ as ocean, as space, not as wave or wind, and instantly you are out of the ‘I’ trap. Better still, identify with nothing and remain as you are. No one can remove ‘I’, therefore, accept ‘I’ as Self and God and everything is included within it. Where there is only one, no fear can exist. Take ‘I’ to be the impersonal Self and not the personal ego. What remains now? Nothing. Only… some feelings arising… Yes, now your words come from the true. Remain as the nothingness beyond the concept of nothingness. Let thoughts arise but don’t nurse them, because if you say, ‘Now I have to let feelings arise,’ the mind can quickly turn that into another task again. Let what arises arise and move about by itself without your involvement. Don’t be a thought policeman. Actually, my heart is in total peace. The attention has merged with the source, the Self. There is neither interest nor disinterest. There is a state of effortless detachment. Therefore, you are happy. When you engage your attention with anything, you give it life. This is not to say you must not enjoy beautiful flowers, the beach, the sun, fine food, or that the choice between having some sleep or a swim should not be made. Be clear about this. The play of choice is a natural expression of the Self in manifestation. Be natural, be yourself in every situation with everything, be at ease with everything! Do not be a pretender. Recognise that whatever manifests in consciousness is a playful, momentary and superficial expression and not a definition of what Is. It may be the playing out of age old conditioning on the body-mind level, but you are pure and beyond all definitions. Stay here.

First, Know Your True Self I struggle with the ideas of ‘you’ and ‘me’. Let ‘you’ and ‘me’ be there. First find out who you are! When we see clearly that we are one… What do you mean? In what way are we one? We share everything… Share means two or more. We? What is this ‘we’? What is a person? What do we share? When you look at another person, what is it that you see? A bundle of illusions, sufferings, dreams. [Silence] You can have a so-called spiritual life, but still you may live in ignorance. Who are you? This is the most auspicious question that can present itself. Don’t walk away from it. Many find it highly irritating. Perhaps this is why so few come to my satsangs. [Laughter] In the beginning, I thought many would come, climbing over each other in search of freedom, but… where are they? Who really wants to be free? If you take yourself to be ‘I’, a person, you will take others to be you, him and her. That is why this saying stands true: I don’t see the world as it is, I see the world as I am. This entire world, including its perceiver, is a great seeming. Look into this ‘I’ you take yourself to be. You don’t know how you know anything. We don’t know what knowledge is, and we don’t know what there is to know. I ask, what is the source of mind itself? In what does it appear? Don’t think, don’t imagine. Just look! Stay with this investigation. When you pursue this question with yearning and determination, it will feel like you are on the back of a wild horse. It will try to throw you off but you stay right there. Mind is being witnessed. What witnesses mind? If our basic assumptions about who we are remain unchallenged, mind will be our identity. Something is prior to mind, watches mind, knows its vibration, yet is unsoiled by mind. What is that? Can it be other than you—the sole Self? [Silence]

Could you say something about love? Love is life and life is love. Before all else, you love yourself. This love is the love and joy to be, to

exist—the first attachment. It comes after the identification with this particular body has happened. Prior to this, you only had the intuition ‘I Am’, which is just impersonal presence. Later you identify with the body and feel ‘I am this.’ This is the introduction and birth of ego, the ‘me’, the unreal self. First self-love, then love, hate or indifference for other… but I suspect you were hoping to hear about intimate relationships and emotional love. [Laughter] Yes. Why are relationships so challenging, painful and full of struggle? Because you don’t know your own Self. You imagine you are the needy ego, therefore, you always want something from ‘other ’. You are not content with yourself. You wrongly imagine the other can fulfil your longing for completeness, but completeness can only be realised when you know who you are in truth. You believe that relationships will make you happy, which they may seem to do, for as long as they meet your projections. I would like to get the right balance. Forget about all these things! Mind makes all this trouble. It always wants more and more. It is never satisfied. So many thoughts, so many desires and projections, it’s never ending. The belly of desires is never full! First, know your true Self and the rest will not trouble you. Life is desire. How can one live without desire? Nonsense! You don’t know what you are saying. Mind is full of desires, but you are not the mind. You know the mind, therefore you are before it, you are apart from it. Find this understanding and you will discover with great delight that you are this unaffected presence. You live well without mind. Use mind for practical things only; this is the best use of the mind. I have read that many sages had partners. That is true. Where is the fault in that? They enjoyed each other without attachments, if that was their destiny. Some of them suffered and had to run away to preserve their peace and sanity. Still, knowing this was just the playing out of their karmas, their minds remained merged inside the heart of being. Your idea of relationships is based on desires and strong body-mind attachments, therefore you suffer —they did not. A realised person does not hold such ideas in their mind. Their minds are empty as space, free from personal identification.

Go For Gold Very often, thoughts come but they do not carry us away because we have no particular interest in them. We struggle only with thoughts and feelings which have meaning for us. Only after we have formed a personal relationship with them, can they command and engage our attention. This leads to a subtle state of hypnosis, in which our attention has hooked into a flow of thoughts and feelings which can quickly escalate into an emotional state of confusion and restlessness. We suffer because we are distracted from our true Self. But can we not also perceive this drifting of attention? At this point, we are not inside the dreaming mind yet, we are observing it and if we don’t ‘log in’, the thread of thoughts will quickly subside. We need not panic nor be afraid of thoughts, for thought activity is the natural display of the lifeforce in its expression, through the human instrument. It is our mistaken identification with the ‘I’ thought, the root thought, which allows other thoughts tenancy in our being. The earnest seeker must develop the habit of observing, without identifying with the phenomena arising as mind. In this way, thoughts themselves are used to expose the ego-self. When eventually the seed-thought that is the ego is strained out, pure seeing remains. When Truth is recognised and confirmed within his Heart, mind seems to switch sides, now moving into service to do the will of the Lord. How can we attain that state? Thoughts seem so unrelenting. Remain as the space-like intelligence, the beingness which sees without personal interest or engagement. Being formless, it is incapable of association. Recognise and confirm its presence, it is already here as the ground of being. Be one with it. The attention drifts off-course easily. Each time the attention runs out, bring it back inside where it merges with awareness. There might be a little resistance and discomfort in the beginning, but this will gradually settle down as the silence comes to the foreground. This is the fruit of detached or passive observing. It gradually becomes effortless and natural, ripening into an unbroken state of space, peace and joy. Detached inquiry exposes the personal identity as a myth. It leaves the Self in a state of passive and panoramic perceiving, free from the burden caused by personalised seeing. Gradually, the vast superstructure of conditioning and concepts that appears to have covered the Self, begins deconstructing until its concealing power is neutralised. Don’t limit yourself to any state, however pleasing. Don’t settle for bronze. By bronze, I mean spiritual knowledge, short-lived blissful states and paranormal experiences. Find the one substratum of all these states, the one that is unmoving, undivided and unaffected by events in time and space. Go for Gold! And I thought that you have been telling us not to go anywhere, that we are already there! [Laughter] This is the one and only race you will win by going absolutely nowhere! [Laughter]

Subtler Than Thought I know I am not what appears in the consciousness, that I am the witness and formless. Nevertheless, the force of the mind-stuff continues to throb and doesn’t seem to be subsiding. This knowledge is what I call ‘unswallowed food.’ It is mental and not the full experience of Truth. If, as you say, you are the witness only—and we have seen that the witness is impersonal and formless— who will be there to be affected or disturbed by any mind-stuff? No one. But… Stop there! Where is the place for but? Who says ‘but…’? Who even says ‘no one’? Can any answer be correct? There is no answer to the question ‘who am I?’ Why? Because that question is a subjective one, it is a search for the subject, and cannot be satisfied by an objective response. The subject, that which I truly am, cannot be contained or conveyed by an answer which is merely a concept. The questioner along with any answer, should be discovered as the mind, and can thus be rejected as false—as an object in the view of the conceiver. I am that which witnesses mind, therefore I am earlier, subtler than thought and entirely formless. Therefore when you say there is no one, you are to stop at that. Sink into and be one with That. Enter and rest in the evidence of your own discovery which reveals—no one and nothing am I. Nothing alone Is. This is the confirmation. After this subtle intuitive recognition, all subsides into emptiness. Emptiness alone remains. Know and delight yourself in That.

Forget About All This

There are some areas in which my attention gets caught, for example in the relationship with my family. Whatever engages your attention becomes your experience. There is a kind of habit, an easiness with getting involved, and the result is that you feel yourself to be a ‘somebody’. Why does this happen? Attention goes because of habit. I think that all the questions around spirituality boil down to this point —the habit to identify our conscious being with personhood and thereafter, to suffer. Some unconscious tendencies may hook your attention, which leads to a state of agitation, and you make effort to change or suppress the feelings in order to avoid pain. When we see that is the past playing out, can we just let it go? This seems a very good question. If I continue along the line of this particular question, I am cooperating with an idea which is not true, that there is a you who lives your life. If you think you are a someone acting from your past, you are reinforcing this false identity. Find who it is that sees things in that way. Who is the one acting and reacting? Is there really an actual ‘I’ who has this conditioning? Do not ask merely to get rid of the strain of conditioning or the discomfort of egoic tendencies at play, but to really see if that is what you are. Look for that which has no family, no gender and no past. Go beyond all association until you alone remain without a personal self. The problem is not the person itself, but the belief in it. Yes. But for example in my family, they see me as a person. You have no control over what others think and do. You will only create a burden trying to change this. Just be honest and true in the moment. ‘I’ has some past associations and future projections, it is a role, and because of the belief and identity with that role, consciousness is held hostage in the identity. Who is ‘I’ and precisely where is ‘I’ right now? Can ‘I’ be any thing? What would that be? Such questions guide consciousness back to emptiness, its source. Through satsang you have the chance to recognise your Self directly, to discover that which is timeless and unchanging. Why do we forget our nature? What we really are does not forget. It is not capable of remembering and forgetting.

Mooji, why do I feel like I made a wrong move? I don’t know anything as a wrong move, everything is just perfect. This idea is holding you hostage and it is a complete fabrication of your mind! Stop thinking that you produce yourself; there is no actual, factual you, nothing there at all, except as an idea. The seer of this is the single reality we are. Mind perceives emptiness as absence of activity, powerlessness, personal non-existence; it does not realise that in emptiness there is purity, peace and complete satisfaction of being. Even now, this is so. Even now, as you ask these questions, the one who speaks is the one who listens. This one is ever content. There is a stage in this inquiry which can feel quite paranoid, when even the subtlest of sensations is inquired into. Gradually this kind of zealousness subsides and only inquiry is left, without an inquirer. Who is inquiring? No one is inquiring. This cannot be understood rationally. In truth, this cannot be explained, and you cannot find yourself because you have never been separated. Paradoxes and riddles exist only for the mind. You are that which contains all paradoxes.

You told me, “Don’t look with the mind, look with the Heart.” I don’t know how to look with the Heart. Who is this ‘I’ that says, “I don’t know how to look with the Heart?” This ‘I’ is arrogance itself. For a moment, forget about anything you have heard or read. Forget about all this. I am not expecting that there is any personal ‘you’ who will understand, remember and carry out this instruction. The understanding simply takes place, spontaneously and automatically inside the surrendered mind. Personal mind is like a ball of wool that has been tangled up, and each time it comes here to satsang it cries, ‘Oh, how did I become entangled like this?’ An explanation seems to be offered to the mind, but the explanation is just like bouncing it against the wall. The ball cannot really receive the advice to untangle itself. What must happen is that compassionate consciousness holds the entangled mind until it is unraveled through grace. But by itself, mind is not able to carry out that advice! This should be very unburdening for you. You don’t have to do anything whatsoever. More than the words being understood, the dialogues are a kind of play—the cooking is somehow happening underneath. Whatever needs to happen is happening by itself. Just make yourself available. The only thing I can describe is what I can see. Therefore, what I can see is happening to me. What is aware of this happening? Each time you follow this question, it is like perceiving a reflection in the mirror and the mirror itself. How real can any reflection be? However close it is, it is never going to become you, because you are seeing both the reflection and the reflector. Everything is just now. Your existence is just now—timeless now. All the rest is a dream due to desire, conditioning and memory.

Whose memory? No one’s memory. It appears to be a mystery! For whom is the mystery? This is an intriguing question. Find out!

Know It as Dream

I find life to be beautiful and full of adventure. I don’t feel any urge to question it. I feel this is the natural way. Right now, this is your feeling. But will it last? Life is beautiful, ugly and much more. For you, this moment is merely a white cloud in an ever-changing sky. Leave the clouds and remain as sky. Should we not enjoy the beauty? Why not? Only, there is no need to hold onto any state. What is seen and felt is an ever-changing flow. By all means enjoy the show! Whatever is pleasing, you will enjoy. What is displeasing, you will try to avoid. The opportunity here is to recognise that which is behind the flowing as your real and stable Self. Should we always do inquiry? Why bother if there is no urge? I am not here handing out instructions willy-nilly. Only if the urge to realise the Self is strong will one feel inclined to listen to this kind of talk. How do you experience the world? World is not. You, me and all else that you see within and without are unreal, they do not exist independent of yourself. The world you inhabit is created inside your own mind. It is all a dreaming. For me, this is a fact. Consciousness, breath and body are there first, and then the dreaming begins. Is this your main teaching? No, it is not a teaching. It is an observation confirmed through insight, contemplation and grace. Student, teacher and teaching are also dream. Like you, I too perceive the world but I know it to be a subjective play, shaped, sustained and driven by conditioning. I feel, move and experience just as you do, only with this difference: I know it as dream. Therefore, I am not overwhelmed. Whose dream is it? Consciousness’ dream. Consciousness is the creator, creation and its unfolding. You are its witness, as consciousness also. The witness of consciousness is nameless and bears no title. This is the ultimate Truth. This is what you are. There is no effort there, neither separation nor union—undivided, whole. But I don’t realise that. It is not my intimate experience. That is not true. It is your most intimate and natural experience but you are presently unaware of it. You identify with body and mind and take these to be yourself, and so you suffer trying to stabilise the ever changeful. Therefore, I remind you again and again until you go beyond the need to be

reminded. Whatever your attention grasps becomes your experience. You are aware of that experience. Something knows both experience and ‘feel’ of an experiencer. Find that and you will know who you are.

There is no ‘Way’ to Be I feel like I still watch a lot of the movie. Something is viewing the watching of the movie. Be completely clear. In listening to the mind you sometimes create a sense that there is a certain way to be. There is no way to be. You are. It is enough, full stop. But you must find out what this ‘you are’, meaning ‘I am’, is. For this, some introspection is necessary. This will reveal that thoughts appear and flow like waves on the surface of the ocean, and are observed as transient movement. Ocean is synonymous with being, wave with mind. Waves are inseparable from the ocean—they are one, as both are water only. It is the mind that sees wave and ocean. Beingness merely sees. What you do, the way you move, your likes and dislikes, belong to this form and are therefore natural. They do not affect your real nature. You like ballet, someone else likes hip-hop; that’s your thing, enjoy it. Even your questioning arises out of this manifestation spontaneously. It is dancing by itself. It is not you doing it! Who is making the waves move? This is felt somehow. But I see that there is still a judgement that operates through thinking. This judgement, where does it come from? This identity is kept somehow, you know? Kept by what? As belief. As belief, good. Whose belief? Nobody’s belief. Just belief in the mind. Stay put right there, otherwise the profundity of what you have just uttered will turn nicely into philosophy. [Silence] Be one with that recognition. Do not leave it as mere comment, “It’s nobody’s belief.” Belief is also perceived. If you stay put here, it is as though a wave of emptiness washes away all dirt from the mind. Nobody can say what this emptiness is. Yet, when recognised with mind and Heart, it is the inescapable ground of all that appears to exist. Know this deep in your Heart so that it becomes inseparable from what you are. That is the crucial point, you see. Even if you should spend one thousand more years in spiritual training, you will eventually have to come back to this point where we are right now and right here. Why waste a thousand years? Face the one that wants to run away, for it is a trickster and a thief who, if left unquestioned and untraced, will keep you on the suffering wheel of existence—of samsara. Knowing this, would you willingly allow yourself to be tricked out of lasting freedom? This doubt is very strong in the mind and I am striving because I want to see it clearly.

‘It’ being what? It is simply the very seeing itself. The saying, ‘What you are searching for is where you are searching from,’ is it true or is it not? [Silence] If the mind keeps this idea that there is a kind of ultimate ‘it’ to reach through practice, it will then imagine the Self as some elusive phenomenon or some image that will always be just out of reach or completely unattainable. Like this, the journey for ultimate Truth is turned into a mighty epic or a journey of severe hardships. As our spiritual search deepens, we experience moments of great clarity and real peace. We are further encouraged by occasional glimpses into the beingness. Then we question if these experiences are an illusory projection of the mind or if they are actually of the Self. The idea that we might already be the unchanging Self we are searching for is rarely considered. This becomes very clear. I’ve been looking for something for a long time. And then I saw that I could have never seen anything, because the seeing alone is the only thing that was there. Whatever I would have seen would have been a phenomenon. Stop right there. There is nothing more to chew. All this has brought you here. I am always quick to ask, what is the trouble here? If you have been in prison for ten years and then you are set free and you come out and start lamenting, ‘Why did I spend so long in prison?’ This shows you are still in prison! These thoughts come to you again and again because they get five-star service. [Laughter] I call them thief-thoughts. Papaji says, “Let them be like thieves in an empty house.” The most precious thing you have right now is your attention. The body grows with food and exercise. Mind grows with belief, intention and interest. But this ‘I’ also is growing through the sense of identity with, and interest in the body. If ‘I’ is not contaminated through identity with the body-mind functioning, it stays as neutral perceiving. In just the same way, if you are driving in a panoramic landscape, you’re taking in a broad field of impressions but your attention is not landing on anything. There is a sort of neutrality in that. There is still a habit of giving importance to some things more than others. I can see that this is because the attention is used to residing on those things which have held meaning and importance. Once you have really come to this place of clear seeing and it is recognised that there is no actual person giving importance to things, except as an idea that arises quite naturally in consciousness, the poison is taken out of the serpent. You don’t have to kill him, he will die by himself if need be. Life dances as the spontaneous expression arising from the wholeness. It requires no story teller, it simply is. When the mind is aligned with the heart-light, this body will behave spontaneously and appropriately to the needs of the moment. The sense of duality is still present, but again, you are not a prisoner of it. On the contrary, it is embraced and enjoyed as the playful dance of the Supreme Being. This state is inscrutable. No one can lay down rules or tracks for it. There are no maps for being. In every expression, it is the sole presence and source. We are That.

The True Master has no Teaching

Mooji, what happens when two masters meet? What would you talk about if you met another master? They may say: “How guru do?” [Big laughter] Whatever will happen, will happen. As for being a master, when I look within, I don’t find any master here. We entertain all kinds of fanciful notions that some cosmic shift should happen, like bringing two big magnets together, and this is nonsense. There are no two masters meeting. What is the difference between the space in this room and the space in the kitchen? None at all. So, whatever will happen would not register to them as an event, because in truth nothing is happening. Nothing happens! But surely there must be some recognition between them? Recognition between whom? Between the two of them, of course. Perhaps an interest in each other’s way of expressing this, for their Truth is one, but the teachings are many. Within all cultures, there is a spectrum of modes of conveying the unveiling of the obvious, so to speak, but also a unique philosophical perennis, that each initiates words in a peculiar way. They should enjoy this diversity. You don’t know what you are saying or how things are. If they are masters as you say, they would not hold any such concept of themselves as masters. That principle which you refer to as master wears no concept of itself. Free from all ‘I’ belief, it exists as awareness only. The true master has no teaching, he or she merely points the way. No teaching, no student, no master. [Smiles] This is the truth taught by all masters to their disciples, isn’t it? Then what are we doing here? What is the purpose of satsang? To find this out, discovering and confirming this for yourself. But aren’t these just the usual Zen-like phrases that many Advaita teachers use? ‘No teacher, no teaching, no student,’—it doesn’t ring true for me. It seems clear to me that you are the teacher and I am here benefiting from your teaching and your presence. What is the value or point in saying this isn’t so? I enjoy coming here and being with you. Your words and presence have clearly helped me. Surely, you love teaching, or let’s say, sharing what you have found. Wouldn’t you say teaching is your role in life? Your presence seems stronger than ours. You speak with more authority and clarity than anyone I know. I love and respect you. Do you not feel the same for us? How do you perceive us, the ones who come to you? Do not place me on a pedestal and do not box me in. I am not what you perceive me to be. There is nothing objective I can say about myself that can remain true. I have looked and found no objective location for what I am. I know I am aware and perception is happening within my Self spontaneously, but there isn’t a ‘someone’ there doing or achieving something. There is no difference between you

and me, except that I know that I am not a person and you feel you are. I try my best to challenge, confront, stimulate, inspire and encourage you in order that you may see and confirm it for yourself. I cannot help doing this, it just happens. Teacher and student are roles and forms appearing in the consciousness we are, as it is expressing itself. Why and how consciousness does it, I do not know. And I don’t need to know. Somehow, it seems to me that consciousness creates this play in order to have the experience of awakening to itself as the pure, immutable Reality. That is its joy. Self assumes all these masks. Self forgets itself, and in that it seems to discover itself again. Yet it remains pure Self all along. This is my view, my finding. When it dreams itself to be the individual ‘I’, the ‘me’, it manifests as a separate entity, restless and often arrogant, unaware of its true nature. Under the spell of maya, it is prone to feelings of fear and resistance, doubt and anxiety. As ‘me’, it suffers; it cannot avoid suffering and struggling, because we all have this intuition that our individual existence is bound to end. This I call the trauma of existence. Still, the self is slow in giving up its arrogance, its identity as ‘I-me’. Why? Even here in satsang, people are often prideful and arrogant. Somehow, when the beingness gets stressed enough and tired of it all, and when it chooses to wake up, the mind-force backs off, as it were, while the pull towards Truth and satsang increases. In all of this, there is no doer. No one doing or undoing anything—all happens by itself. This is what one observes, and a great unburdening takes place, real peace and joy prevail as a result of this recognition. You ask, ‘Do you love to teach?’ I have no agenda to teach and do not feel I am actively teaching anyone or anything. I am just doing my thing, dancing my dance. It is all completely spontaneous. I am enjoying my Self in all its expressions, rough or smooth. While the body is here, the dancing goes on. Somehow, everything is fine and harmonious around me, for I know that nothing can go wrong, except in some superficial and temporary way. I enjoy the satsang salsa, but I am not attached to it. Though it may appear so, I am not attached to anyone or anything. If I had to walk away and leave all of my present life behind, it would be totally fine. When and if it falls away, I remain as emptiness. Even now this is so, I am emptiness walking in the guise of a human being called Mooji. Presence, stillness, clarity and authority prevail when mind is transcended, seen through and understood as the play of waves on the ocean’s face. One realises and identifies as Self only. This is the divine attraction, the divine romance. Like the butterflies are drawn towards the buddleia flower, all the beings who are ready to wake up come to bathe in the ocean of peace and compassion. They come to satsang. Their minds re-integrate with Source, thus the yoga of knowledge and understanding is consummated. This is the play, the satsang play. Now, you ask as well, “How do you see us?” As forms of the oneness in expression. This is not some mystical, effortful, heady or sentimental sense, but the natural and simple way that is felt and confirmed when the mind is not interfering anymore, not projecting nor taking account. Compassion replaces fear. I stopped fearing you and began loving you as forms of my very Self because the understanding came. Self has nothing but love for Self.

Why Don’t You Be My Guru? You say that at some point some thoughts arise and the identification with them seems to pull you into a state of suffering. These are all thoughts, and they must be observed and acknowledged as thoughts. Is what I am saying of any value to you or does something inside go, ‘I knew you were going to say that’? I want to see that you really crush this habit rather than cover your face in all this mud. Just look at the ‘I’ to whom the thoughts appear. What is this ‘I’? What is saying these things? Why is this thought and this feeling purchased so easily? It always boils down to a feeling of unworthiness. The ‘I’ concept believes in feelings of unworthiness and an unworthy entity is being created. That creation itself is illusory as it is based on thought alone. At present there is not really sufficient courage or stamina to force that thought back to where it came from. By identifying or taking these thoughts, as well as the one who is affected by them as truth, you have to deal with them at the level of identification. If you are going to do that, I start to give up. It is just impossible work. You will get to a stage where you feel, ‘Yes I got it,’ and you will lose it because the one who gets and loses it is itself nothing but a thought. Though illusory, it is the most intimate thought arising in the ‘I am’ consciousness. It creates all this mischief. I get a bit weary and tired if I have to start at the place of the person and try to pull the person up into consciousness. I want someone to start at the place of the ‘I am’ presence so that I can take you to the Absolute. If you start at the place of the person, I can barely get you to the place of the witnessing ‘I am’ state and it is only when you are in that place, that effective spirituality and inquiry can begin. I tell you a story: There was a rich man who visited his Guruji. He said to the master, “I have been with you for six years. I’ve been listening to your discourses. I know that they are true, but when I look at my life I see that I haven’t changed. What am I doing wrong? I have so many family and business concerns. There are so many things in my life to take care of, which means that I am not able to make use of your spiritual advice.” So the master took his hand and studied it carefully. Suddenly the master exclaimed, “Oh my God, oh my God!” “Sir what is it, what can you see?” “I can see that within seven to ten days you will be dead.” This news had a very strong impact on the disciple and left him completely exhausted. As he got home, his wife reminded him, “Darling, you have an appointment tomorrow to play golf with your business associates.” “Cancel, cancel everything!” was his response. “Cancel all my appointments because I don’t have time for them. I’m going to die in ten days. I cannot die in ignorance!” And so he kept on meditating. The following day his wife started complaining, “Why are you not spending any time with the family?” The husband said, “I cannot do that. What is the point of having a family? I’m going to die in nine

days. I don’t know if I’m going to be reborn again! I have been wasting all my energy so far. My only focus has been family and business.” After eight days the master visited his disciple and inquired about his health. “Sir, I don’t care about my health,” he said to his master, “What is health to a dying man? I haven’t thought about it.” Then the master asked, “How is your business doing?” “I don’t care about my business. What is the point of having all this business when I’m going to die in a few days and won’t be able to spend any of the profits?” “How is your family doing?” “Sir, I have not been able to focus on my family. As a matter of fact, I see all things as illusion. You are my Guruji, why are you asking me all these questions? You know very well that they don’t exist. None of it exists. Only the Truth exists. I don’t know what to say to you, Sir.” “You have done very well,” the master replied. “These have been the eight best days of your life because you have saved yourself. I had to lie to you so that you would use this time wisely.” I don’t know if anyone of you is using your time wisely. After two months of daily satsangs in Tiruvannamalai, people are still requesting more satsang meetings. I say, you don’t need more, just go deeply into your inquiry and finish off this suffering that you yourself have created. Speaking and acting from the place of ego is laziness. This is unworthiness actually, not because you are unworthy but your attitude is. Pull yourself in! I have spent enough time with you for you to be able to converse with me on the basis of consciousness. The personhood stories are exhausting my energy. I have been collecting persons in my body and it cannot take it anymore. I want to see you coming home once and for all. Maybe I shouldn’t be in your company so much if I do that to you? You are doing it to yourself. You should take care of yourself. Take care of me and my body also. Taking care of me is to know who you are. You say that you should not be in my company so much, but without my company what are you going to do? Wake up more quickly? Are you taking my company for granted? I don’t think I encourage any one of you to waste time. I am myself, whatever I am doing, while you are constantly dividing yourself. Stop doing that! Why don’t you be my Guru? Why don’t I come to you to take your darshan? How much time will it take for you to stand firmly as Truth, like the rich man in the story I just told you? After all this time we have spent together, all you can say is, “Sorry for wasting your time,”? You have to do better than that. No it is not like this. There are times when there is a lot of strength inside but then the habit to identify with the person returns. No habit is stronger than you. If somebody you love deeply is dying and the only way you could save

their life is to break a habit or make a sacrifice, I know you would do it. I have this much faith in you! If one of you was dying and I had to lose a lot of weight so that you could live, I would do it for you. We are all dying, Mooji. No you are not, you are playing. You’re just trying to trick me into losing weight. [Laughter] That’s why you speak like that. I know when you are serious. I would lose all this weight for you but I won’t die for you—until it is worth it.

The Only Thief in the Universe

Mooji, this search for my Self seems to be taking a long time. Sometimes it feels like I’m going crazy! There are still so many thoughts, all racing around in my head, sometimes I just can’t get behind them. Finding peace feels like a dream. Do not be willing to touch anything that slows you down. Let everything go! Now! It is time. You have spent lots of energy, lots of attention, lots of power on things which are of little value. You have given a tremendous amount of energy to trivial things. Why don’t you give a little of your time to explore, ‘What am I without all these things?’ Here in satsang it feels fine, but out there in my daily life… This is already a concept. It is not true. That which you are cannot go. It is your attention that goes elsewhere! My challenge to everybody is this: Right here, right now, step out of this ‘here-now’—and tell me when you come to some edge where ‘here’ becomes ‘there’, and ‘now’ becomes ‘then’. Give your attention to this. In this inner space all manner of things may appear, but this one, the one who dwells here is untouched. Within this space-like emptiness, you observe life as a flow of sensations— momentary yet divine. Allow yourself this freedom, allow an inner freedom, ‘My life can be totally chaotic!’ Do not touch the feeling that you have lost anything and you will experience a great freedom despite experiencing turbulence. ‘Turbulent’ is not even how you will speak of experience anymore. You will fire the inner journalist. Let everything happen as it does, and you will meet everything from this emptiness… then tell me what difficulty you have! How do I fire this inner journalist? First of all, don’t entertain this idea of ‘how to’ because it will bite you. How do you drop a hot potato? When you are curious, you learn, but when you are desperate, you discover! You believe that the architect-mind has to decide everything. But there is a deeper mind, the cosmicmind, doing everything perfectly. This thing of ‘how to’, and racing thoughts and feelings of guilt and regret will all leave. Tamasic energy is swallowed up by rajasic energy and raja is swallowed by sattva, and then sattva is transformed into total presence. This search for complete understanding cannot be a part-time job but this does not mean that you have to give up your day job! Actually, you will find that everything that needs to be done happens more efficiently when the sense of ‘I’ as the doer of actions and the thinker of thoughts falls away and is replaced by simple being. Carry on with what you have to do, the activities of life are not in conflict with Truth. To stop being a chef and becoming a priest is not going to make you more yourself. For

many, profound internal changes will get reflected in the outer expression, although discovering Truth does not require any external display. Realising one’s true being in all its naturalness is itself holiness and purity. Right here, right now, you could be the Buddha itself—the Buddha in jeans! [Laughter]

Pay Full Attention! How long did it take you to get this? No time and long time. To try and realise it—a long time; to realise it—a flash. My Master ’s words, grace and presence peeled away the cataract of illusory identification with the false, and the real revealed itself instantly. I wish to be peeled away. You have been peeled but you keep putting your skin back on. [Laughter] Mind has been detoxed but then you quickly retox. [Laughter]

When you discover who this ‘I’ is, you do not need to ask any more questions. Then whatever arises for you, this entire world will be only appearing in your consciousness. Everything comes to the surface of mind, you must be there to perceive it. ‘I’ is the common denominator of all experiences. So, ‘Who or what is I?’ should be the foremost question of all intelligent introspection into the nature of Truth, because all ‘other ’ is subsequent to its arrival. Why is this the most auspicious question? Because without questioning what arises as ‘I’ inside the body, you remain asleep in the notion that it is what you are. You already assume personhood by taking this body to be what you are—a dreadful mistake. Look at the world as it is experienced through the belief in ‘I’ as person. It is not a pretty picture, unless you have a lot of imagination or can powerfully distract yourself from the selfish and intense projections of humanity. We are not happy as ‘I’ lived in its current self-image. Pay full attention! While the ‘I-me’ feeling persists, whatever role ‘I’ assumes, the fact that ‘I’ is watched gives proof of a deeper perceiving, free of personal identity—a concept-free realm of imageless perfection. When ‘I’ is recognised and embraced fully as the Self, man becomes truly free. Through the wisdom, guidance and grace of a master, the sincere seeker of Truth finally merges his mind in the ‘I-less’ Self and becomes the embodiment of this understanding. Why, after hearing this does identity still remain? Somehow beingness is manifesting in such a way that it seems to be sucked into identification as an individual. In satsang, you are asked, ‘Who are you?’ You feel confused because you are not accustomed to this kind of question. You have never been challenged in this way. We have been conditioned to pose objective questions such as, ‘How far, in miles, is Japan from Israel?’ or ‘How does such or such work?’ This is objective knowledge. Now you are asked, ‘Who are you who knows this knowledge?’ And you say, ‘It’s me, of course, what kind of question is this?’

When you say or feel ‘me’, what is the substance of ‘me’? What comprises this ‘me’? Who are you, in light of this question? Ummm… lots of things. There’s my mind, my feelings, self-image, my life story, expectations, desires… Yes, but what says my mind, what knows that? I can see these things. In this seeing, there is a place from where Satu [questioner’s name] is seen playing a role. Stop! Now speak, do not comment but speak from there and as That itself. Who is the ‘I’ who notices them? You have just reported these things you notice, the ‘me’, my memory, my conditioning, my feelings, my body and so on; they are still there but now just as passing phenomena. Something is able to notice them. Who or what is it that notices them? Find that source in yourself, while the noticing is happening… Something is unmoving but the effort to try and be that is also observed. And there is a tendency to go to this memory of the experience of seeing. The confirmation, ‘I am That’ is seen and felt without effort, there is no effort there. Where usually there would be judgement towards what is familiar, there is no judgement. And now? From where I am looking now, I see there is always, in identification with Satu, an anticipation to what the next moment will be and so there is often a restlessness, something in movement. Whereas in this place of seeing, it is intuitively understood to be the play of the body-mind process—and that it is all happening in, from and somehow, inside my true Self. And who are you? Right now I can see that all bodies, including yours, are inside my own Self. For the person there is always this effort to be That, and so the sense of failure for not reaching that state is also there. I feel I fail but now I see that’s all the mind’s play. When I see clearly, then Satu is seen as an image. When there is a reference towards Satu as a person, that person is moving in the mind. But when Satu is moving in her natural state, it is felt as a oneness with being. Now you are speaking from the place of the unmixed ‘I am’. Here you are at perfect rest inside your own being. When I listen to you reflecting my words to me, I feel it is more subtle than that. It is good. What you are sharing now, I have waited a long time to share with you. You speak with the light of Truth. You are That in which Satu and her projections appear spontaneously. The ‘person’ is often a self-torturing entity, whether it feels good or bad about itself, the self-image is poor. The ego attacks through both the doors of positive or negative self-image. Self-image is not necessarily bad if it is felt as a playful expression of the Self. Best is no self-image at all. Right now I am fully relaxed in your presence because I am relaxed and true inside my heart. I can only meet you like this. Whereas normally, there is always a fear because of this feeling of failure, but

I stay because the pull to freedom is stronger.

I am full of intense feelings at the moment. Your words move powerfully inside me but there is also a confusion. I feel surrounded by thoughts, fear and a feeling that I am going to die. Let the feelings just be for the moment. Only watch. What is aware of all this as it is happening? Where is that? If something surrounds you, as you indicate, you must have some distinct form, no? Who are you? I’m a spirit. But has it a form, if it is surrounded? ‘Surrounding’ is a kind of feeling—who is the ‘me’ that feels surrounded? Is it an object? You can only be surrounded if you are something, an object—is it not so? I’m many things… all of it. I’m this heart beating… Now you change your tune. What knows and watches beating heart or any other thing? Who are you who sees and feels this, and with what identity do you see? It should be from the mind… What is saying, “It should be from the mind?” It implies there must be something behind the mind capable of observing this and it cannot be the same as the mind—do you follow? [Questioner laughs and throws up hands, indicating ‘I am giving up’. Mooji encourages him to stay with the inquiry] Let’s go back to this ‘I’ you speak about. Okay… when I’m here, I feel peace, I feel relieved from agitation. But when I’m away from here, my attention seems to go outward, and I seem not to be aware of what’s behind. Here in satsang, when I turn my attention inwards, I see that I am that emptiness. Emptiness is there. And can you find a ‘me’ distinct from emptiness? Is there a ‘you’? [Silence] If you perceive a personal self in emptiness, must that not necessarily be a kind of objective, tangible entity, to which you, the one who sees, are prior and to which you are the observer? When your attention turns towards your Self, the very turning is observed instantly. Attention itself is a quality of the mind, and it is also being observed. This ‘turning towards’ is what you believe you are —an entity that does something and gets something in return. It is rarely questioned. A feeling of joy is present when you remember and turn within. Again, I stress: There is that awareness in which the turning or non-turning of attention is witnessed. The movement of ‘I’ in its momentariness does not make any difference, because it is seen phenomenally and clearly does not affect the pure awareness in which it appears. When this understanding is grasped, all is done—well

done! By whom is it grasped? By the un-nameable! When this insight implodes, the ‘somebody’ who apparently grasped it vanishes inside the ineffable. All is a thought appearing on the screen of consciousness, but this screen, remember, is a threedimensional screen. Oh, that’s so deep… ! This is also an appearing thought. Don’t miss this recognition. It is a key to untouched presence. Are lots of fears coming up? These are also triggered or energised by thought! There is a tendency to identify with an ‘I who does something’, but this ‘I’ is also a thought. As long as the body is there and the life-force is active in it, the potential for thought-activity is there also. The habit to identify oneself as a person is a reflex in the consciousness. When this false identity has been removed through selfinquiry or surrendered to the Supreme Lord of the universe, life and Truth become one. The ‘I-me’ sense, though appearing, will have the effect of the moon appearing in full sunlight—uninteresting. When the ‘I’ thought or ego identity, the only thief in the universe, has been exposed as a myth, delusion ends. The nature of any illusion is that when it is exposed, its power is gone! To the one who is unaware of Truth—‘I’ is the person. To the seeker of Truth—‘I’ is Being. To the finder of Truth— ‘I’ is the pure Self.

When I am close to you, I feel the presence and peace very strongly, and then some ego comes. It doesn’t matter if ego comes. Ego swiftly comes to take credit. This is ignorance. All beings are initially covered with ignorance, the main cause of all evil in the world. Often, when seekers of truth get some spiritual knowledge, they quickly develop arrogance and pride of learning. They feel power. Knowledge is power; spiritual knowledge without inner realisation is one of the worst powers. Reject these by remaining as neutral awareness-self. This is best. Ignorance, knowledge and pride are all untrue, all nothing. Reject them all and finally, reject the ‘I’. When I go deep into the inquiry, much sadness and fear comes. This is a natural reaction due to the potency of the light emanating from the Self as it turns its face to its own source. Inquiry brings mind back to ground zero, to the bare ‘I am’. Then sadness comes because mind as ego is losing ground. Personal identity is thinning away by the force of introspection, so fear naturally comes. Be aware of this and remain firm but not rigid. Mind seeks to salvage something it holds as precious. Now some old stagnant stuff arises with a kind of new-found appeal. This is the serpent’s voice appearing as nostalgia. Be on guard about this. It will linger as long as it captures your attention. Remember this. Now you must go beyond ground zero into quality-less reality. Grace is here present within you. In truth, there is no going, for you are already here as the ultimate witness. Be confirmed in this over and over again. Get into the habit of verifying that which has become clear to you by effort or by grace. There seem to be so many traps along the way.

The first trap is ‘I’. Reject ‘I’ and no trap can entrap you. Reality cannot be trapped. You are that unbound Reality. Why does it seem so hard to realise it? Because you rely far too much on your mind. Mind is useful for practical functioning but is unhelpful or even demonic in the realm of spiritual seeking. Rather than developing the mind, focus your attention on recognising and being the Self. If you keep the attention on the unassociated being and ignore the pull from the restless mind, it will starve and lose its influence over you, the Reality. But you said Reality cannot be trapped. Reality cannot be trapped or freed. When Reality manifests as mind, it falls under the spell of its own creation. This is called the trap, the fall. The way out is to inquire, ‘Who falls?’ Mind, or the dynamic consciousness and life-force, creates and causes everything in the manifest world to appear. The dynamic consciousness arises from Reality and is illusory. Your Self is the Reality. This is Truth.

Who is Living Your Life?

Today I went for a second operation on my eyes. The first time I went, I thought I had been very good, very still and calm. There was an ‘I’ who was achieving this state. This second time there was only the sensation of an ‘I’ trembling in… this. It was like air seeing all of this. There wasn’t a somebody watching the ‘I’ reacting. This seeing is being, and this experiencing is being—all one thing. When I was given the command to keep my sight on the flashing light, I thought that if I had carried on just giving my attention to this space behind, instead of falling into that ‘I’ with all its investment in what was going on, I wouldn’t have been able to follow the instructions that would make the operation possible, that would keep it safe. We think that the ‘I’ cannot operate if wholeness alone is. It shows that there is attachment to the ‘I-me’ sense. Some say that the ego is necessary to be in the world. Who is it that is living your life, taking care of your family, making sure bills are paid, if there is no ‘I’? Somehow consciousness dreams individuality, in order to have the illusory taste of having a life. But it seems necessary for ‘Joan’ [questioner’s name] to be dreamt up for that story to happen. Does it make you feel that you are Joan? What is the result of seeing that Joan is an expression of consciousness? All manifestations of life, variety, contrasts, etc., necessarily create the sense of an ‘I’ in order to experience the sense of other, distance and time. Duality is necessary for manifestation to happen. Time and space are necessary constructs for things to appear and to have movement. In this, is the consciousness that you are, hammered into a role, for example the role called Joan? Yes, in a way it feels like that. It seems that in me the consciousness only tells Joan’s story. This feels like a limitation. Who says this? Are you apart from consciousness? If Joan is taken to be an autonomous entity, then you have misunderstood. Look at who or what is Joan. What is she made of? But if a story has to be told here, it can be only through Joan… It is not that. You are assuming still a great volume for this Joan. It is like saying that all you are experiencing is the illusory Joan’s life. It is like a character in a book telling her own story and the reader falling in love with the person’s story without realising the character ’s life is the invention of the unseen writer. There is no Joan in reality. Consciousness makes her up and identifies itself with its own illusory projection, and then suffers from the identity! When I relate to you, I relate only as consciousness interacting with consciousness. Look for Joan! [Long Silence]… There is nothing there. Keep looking and confirming there is nothing there until this delusion ends. Recognising Joan to be

illusory, you return to your natural state as pure unmixed presence—a very happy ending… or perhaps an awakening. Let others talk to you about her, but yourself, you won’t be able to find this one. There is no name for you, not even consciousness. Be the un-nameable being. [Silence] Thank you.

What You See is not What I Am Mooji, you always throw the ‘Who are you?’ question in our face, so now I ask you: ‘Who are you?’ I am the timeless, the unchanging, the real. Where did you come from? From nowhere. But you are here! Yes, ever so. I Am. Why have you come? The question ‘why?’ is irrelevant. I have never come, I will never go, I am existence beyond any reason or cause. I am, beyond the mind and its world, just like you. But I can see you, sitting here before me! Yes, before the ‘me’, I Am. What you see is not what I Am. Not what Is. I don’t understand. You cannot understand Truth, you can only know it by realising that you are Truth itself. Do not think the mind will help you. Its job is to confuse you, to keep you dwelling on your physical existence and to raise doubt in you—a job it does very well. [Laughter] The only thing is that it needs your cooperation to deceive you—a job you do very well. [Laughter] It is a game, a divine game—not in a cynical way. This is why it is called lila, God’s play. It is your own maya playing with you. Thoughts come and go, being does not. You witness thoughts. You are the unmoving screen on which thoughts and the various activities of the mind are perceived. You have the sense you are also part of this play as an independent entity, while simultaneously perceiving it. This is the riddle of existence. As long as you identify with ego-mind, you miss the obvious—your own formless Presence. How can I find it, this Presence you’re speaking of? It cannot be ‘found’. It simply is, and you are that already. Can you draw a line between yourself and being? When you say ‘I’ innocently, this refers to the formless Presence itself. They are one. But I don’t actually know what ‘ formless Presence’ is! Of course you don’t! It cannot be known either. You are it. This is what I’ve just said. Who is

searching? What is it that wants to know? Me! Okay, and what is ‘me’? Introduce yourself. All of it: my body, my mind, my thoughts, desires also, my soul… Who or what says this? Who sees this? Before they reached your mouth, out of what did these words emerge? You hand me a list of things: You say ‘my body,’ I say whose body? Does it belong to you like your car or your clothes? You say also ‘my mind,’ don’t you? Meaning it’s yours, not you. Even ‘my soul,’ you say ‘my soul is rejoicing’ or ‘my soul was heavy with grief.’ Soul is changing, you remain behind, you witness what happens in your soul—so what are you? Me, myself… Prior to thoughts and words and their arising, that which neither precedes nor follows them, what is that? Don’t touch this ‘me’, it is just a word, a concept. Look, don’t think! Be still and observe. Nothing… I see nothing at all! No-thing is correct. Nothing, meaning formless, beyond form, beyond time. You are not a thing, how could you be? Anything, mental or physical, appears, floats by or swims through your consciousness. And we are the witness of this consciousness, its content and activity. Can you confirm this? Yes… yes… so I am the same as you? Yes. Yes… slow down so that the words you speak are not different from what you are. Only remove the thought ‘the same as.’ I am you. Yes. [Pause] And what about deleting the ‘you’? Can you do that? [Long silence] When you said, “I am you,” did the word ‘you’ refer to Mooji? Do you refer to this body sitting on this chair? [Mooji shakes his body like a puppet] In the light of this introspecting, is this body Mooji? Who is Mooji? This body is not different from that body or all other bodies [pointing to people in the room], it is made of the elements and is elemental food. Worms or fire are waiting for it. Is it what you are? Many mystics say such things: ‘All are One,’ ‘I am you, you are me, no difference,’ ‘All this, I am.’ But if it is not your direct experience or understanding in the Heart, these are mere words for you, hollow words. If you speak only what you believe or have heard, it can be felt straight away that it is untrue. At an energetic level your perfume will be smelt and recognised to be only that of a person.

Better not to say anything, keep quiet. So, again, what are you? I am. Yes, very good. Now, drop the ‘I am’. [Long Silence] Who is to delete the ‘I am’? You tell me! [Questioner smiles] If I am nothing, then nothing deletes anything, deleting happens. This is so. Very true. Now, don’t even bother about ‘deleting’ and ‘happenings’. Don’t pick up any arrogance or cleverness. Don’t pick up any notions. Don’t pick up anything at all.

Be Like Space Reject the idea of a one, or someone, who is doing the looking and living, and let the looking and living be. That deceptive ‘me’ is imagined into existence in order to make duality spicy. It creates much mischief until it is finally recognised and understood to be illusory. Leave it be—it is not what you are. Do not get rooted in ego. Break off from this ‘I-me’ sense by constantly recognising it as a phenomenon appearing in the space of your Self, the unchanging. Physical senses will still function, perceiving will still occur. But intentions are not needed. Do not offer tenancy to any concept; in the end, not even to the personal ‘I am’. Give attention to this question, ‘Who am I?’ Plunge into the sense of ‘I’, the persistent sense of being. What arises as ‘I’, here inside the body? Is it recognisable? Does it have a gender? Can it be identified as a tangible entity? Find this out! Why do you stress the need for inquiry so persistently? So unsparing is the inquiry, that when one understands the purpose of the introspection and follows it with earnestness, it is immediate at exposing the ego-sense in us as an apparition, as unreal. The very attempt to catch hold of the illusive ‘I’ sense breaks its spell and thus leaves you as pure Selfawareness. Inquiry is not a teaching. I say it is like looking into a mirror. The mirror will not teach you anything. It neither judges nor complains, it merely reflects the pure subject. This mirror helps us to remember what we are, by exposing what we are not. Initially, there is some struggle because nobody asks ‘Who am I?’ We always ask, ‘Who are you?’ or ‘Who is she?’ or ‘How do I get to know her?’ [Laughter] Nobody is asking this question, ‘Who am I?’ Why? Perhaps because there cannot be any satisfactory answer to this question at the mental level and this can be frustrating for the ego. However, with persistence, faith and patience, an inner vibration will subtly begin to be noticed and with it an increasing ease and joy. Be one with this inner sense without letting your attention drift about. Soon, it will become natural to be and to know you are the pure Self. I started by saying nobody is asking this question. Perhaps you also will come to discover that nobody is asking this question, or any other question—ever! Questions, like anything else, simply appear, compelled by some unknowable power. Beingness seemingly brought itself here to fully experience duality, and yet remain in its original awareness-being. Under the spell of maya, the beingness will, for a while, be under the influence of time, space and seeming events. While imagining itself to be a person, the beingness will often experience confusion and conflict, for personhood is an aggressive state. But in reality, it is the witness of them, the unconcerned and impersonal witness to all phenomena. Suffering sometimes serves as an instrument to help the deluded being remember and become established in its pure source. For some time, the beingness enjoys playing the role of a person. This is part of the dream existence and is inevitable.

It does this without losing or altering anything of itself at the subtle level of consciousness. There are still a lot of preferences operating in my mind. Do not pay so much attention to this. Put your attention just on the sense of being which is natural, quiet and actionless. Like this, you will notice more quickly that the mind appears as desires, but being illusory in nature their effects are inconsequential and so they leave no footprints in the consciousness. Realising this, your life, the experience and remembering of it becomes a writing on water—you cannot read it a minute later, it is gone! Internally, you will feel weightless, calm and free. Beingness does not have to hold onto a history of itself. It is without history, it is timeless. Mind is like wind, being is like space. It is the way of the wind to roam about—that is its nature. But space, being infinite, does not roam about. You are like space, formless and unbound. Know this. That consciousness, which is unmoving, effortless, still beyond the concept of stillness, does not know itself as such. Yet, there is this strange paradox. Out of itself arises all this compassion, all this love that it shows for itself in the form of humanity, in the form of ‘other ’, and when searched for, this ‘other ’ cannot be found as independent from the Self. [Silence] Fear may arise as the conditioned self is moving away from the apparent known into the apparent unknown. The idea we hold of ourselves, which is so prone to feelings of suspicion, guilt and fear, needs constant reassurance. It is afraid to surrender to the unknown, picturing this to be an unfair abandoning of power, leading to a huge sense of vulnerability without guarantee. It senses deep unease and mistrust, ‘If I let go of my self-control completely, then there will be no me to take care of my life anymore! I might end up being one of these hairy babas you see wandering the streets. No, no, I can’t and won’t take that risk!’ Suddenly that boring office job seems really appealing! [Laughter] Can I ask you something about fear, Mooji? Can I tell you that sometimes I feel as if fear is actually poisoning my life? And yet right now, sitting here with you, I’m amazed at how this fear comes! Why not be amazed at how this fear goes? [Laughter] In the moment of seeing it and finding out who suffers it, it is gone! How often we are brought to some edge where doom seems inevitable. ‘Oh my God, I’m going to be eaten alive, swallowed by this monster!’ Now, inquire: What monster? Where is it? Who will be eaten? What will die? You must put pictures to your fears. Be strong and bold. Say, “Ravish me, swallow me up. Here I am!” Invite this happening. Hand your existence to existence but do not cover your eyes. Be very determined to miss nothing in this disaster movie. Watch from the front seat, your own moment of destruction—if there is one. But remember one thing, to be aware of the one watching this. Will you do this? Isn’t it amazing how quickly that fear goes! Isn’t it amazing to see that nothing is actually touching you when you come to the recognition, I am space-like awareness! Isn’t it an incredible discovery that this entire existence is nothing but a Divine play, a great seeming—and that it can be enjoyed as a great seeming, once identity is transcended?

That ‘I’ who will travel to Pondicherry in the morning is also a great seeming. Enjoy the journey! But Mooji, fear is literally… I mean, all that I’ve done, actually has somehow been dictated by fear. It’s really hard to ‘enjoy the journey’ when one is attacked by fear, when it really blows up. Then there’s no real peace… just feeling lost… Yes, yes, some fierce throbbing can come and may come with such force, you might feel completely helpless. Should helplessness come, lay yourself down at its feet and keep quiet. Don’t fight and don’t judge. Surrender to what Is. As Rumi says, “Let the one who has brought you here, raise you up again, if it wills.” There may be some sense of being caught, of being ambushed by old fears or patterns that appear so loud energetically that you are unable to inquire into them in that moment. Should this happen, then do not inquire; hand yourself over to the burning, let it just happen. This you must do. Don’t fight! Welcome this moment. Do not embrace it, but allow it full expression and it will become a momentous freedom! Become open, fearless and wise through continued observation. Know the unmapped pathways to the ever-free life. Remain as the silent awareness and the unseen will appear like a good housekeeper who comes and sweeps your house clean. This is grace serving grace. I will fight on! Stop fighting. Enough fighting! Look how tired you have become through this unnecessary struggling. Who and where is the enemy? It seems to be everywhere! This is the drama and the antics of the mind soaked in delusion. Now try a new approach: hand your existence over to existence itself. Stop swimming. Abandon the urge to save yourself. Do it now. I am here watching. Don’t entertain the thought, ‘No! I can’t! I cannot reject effort!’ That is what makes it painful, you see? In letting go, letting it be, there is the peace, silence and clarity that arise from complete abandonment. Let life be. [Mooji inhales and exhales deeply]… aaaaah… yes! [Another questioner] Mooji, who lets go? Not an individual. Not any person. It is the mistaken idea that a person can do or undo action to bring about freedom that leads to all confusion, struggle and frustration—you see? It is the beingness itself which lets go of the sense of being a person. This can be expressed another way: In accordance with its inner wish or impulse to be freed from psychological suffering due to mistaken identification with the body-mind functioning, there occurs spontaneously within the Self a sense of release or letting go. When release from the spell of the illusory ego occurs, instead of the anticipated crisis imagined, space, lightness and joy prevail. So, letting go is not a grand initiation, “Sooooo, today, everybody, let’s all together let go!” [Laughter] No. It is an inner vibration, a subtle intuition. A gentle opening appears and a fresh flowing begins—a flow of grace. [Silence] [Mooji returns to the original questioner]… You were going to say something more?

It’s just that… well… this fear attacks very often. There have been nights when fear comes five or six times. Fears jump out of nowhere, you know? Yes, yes… and where did they go? Well… they just left. In the end, they just left… thank God! [Laughter] But where did the fears go? They came out of nowhere. Where did they go? I don’t know, Mooji. Sometimes, I’ve tried to catch hold of them, but they just… left! [Laughter] Somehow out of nowhere, unexpectedly, grace appears and removes the dirt from your eyes and a thorn from your Heart. But when the fear is there, it’s so strong, so suddenly there… it comes so fast! But when it’s gone, it’s as if it… I don’t know how to express it. I don’t invite or encourage anyone to try to make sense of this happening. It is as though some kind of mysterious taxidermy is taking place, by which you are being scooped out from inside and filled up with emptiness. Hand your existence over to existence and stay quiet. It is a good thing you don’t have to write a polished thesis about this; you are spared that burden. As soon as the trouble comes, it is gone! [Laughter] But you, you are not gone. You are here to witness the subtlest announcing of anything arising in you. Even if it is this fast [Mooji snaps his fingers], you are faster still. Why? Because you are here to witness even lightning speed. You are the quickest by being one with that effortless stillness!

Off with Your Head!

You know, Mooji, I think I don’t understand this self-inquiry thing at all. I don’t know… I don’t get it. I really have to be totally honest. Yes, yes, total honesty is what is required. [Laughter] [Another questioner] Sorry, I have exactly the same question. I don’t understand either. Am I supposed to locate me? I’ve been attempting this for years… [First questioner] Yes, me too… [Second questioner]… and I still don’t really know what I am supposed to be doing… [First questioner] Me neither! [Huge laughter] What comedy! ‘What to do?’ is the mantra of the mind. ‘Keep quiet’ is the response, but the mind misses this excellent counsel. ‘What to do, what to do, what to do?’—who employed you to do anything in the first place? [Laughter] Okay, start again. Work with me! Forget about all you have already heard. Start from scratch. Words are pouring out, ‘I cannot understand, I, I, I, am I supposed to look here or there? It’s too much for me!’ Who speaks these words? I wish to be introduced to that one right now. [Laughter] [Mooji points to one questioner] You! Respond! [Questioner sighs] But I can’t! I don’t understand the inquiry. My mind becomes confused and agitated. Don’t understand inquiry. Don’t think, look! Who is it that is saying, “I can’t, I don’t understand…” Does it have a shape, size or body? How am I supposed to look for it when I don’t… ‘I’ is what again? [Laughter] ‘I’ is what? I am baffled. Who is baffled? Me! [Laughter] I am absolutely bamboozled! I don’t have a clue! Yes, yes. You are aware of bamboozled-ness. And if you are not bamboozled, then you say, “Aaaah, I am delighted!” So, the bamboozled state and the delighted one—it is you who is aware of both when they arise. Therefore, you must be apart. Be there where you already are, in that undividable place.

Can I say something? Am I supposed to ask, who am I that is aware of being bamboozled? Is that how it works? [Laughter] No, seriously! Seriously? Off with your head!!! [Mooji slices his hand through the air, mimicking the movement of a sword] [Laughter, then silence]

Ohhh, this ‘I’ has gone! I’m trying to locate where it’s gone… It has gone now, but which ‘I’ is trying to locate it? Don’t think, look! Behold the absurdness of the mind all venerate! I’m trying to feel it by going into the heart, I think… well, somewhere in my centre or… no, it’s not quite that either… it’s more that I… Shut up!! [Silence]

When I am inquiring at home I just say, who is feeling this emotion? And then the next question is, what is behind this? Okay, that’s it! You are fired! [Huge laughter] And can I inquire into who is fired? [More laughter] Just for now, you are fired! Your mind is fired. But it’s going to keep on showing up for work. [Laughter] Just keep quiet like this. Just be quiet. You have nothing to ‘do’, nothing to ‘get’. Don’t touch the idea you are missing something. Don’t touch any idea at all, okay? I will take care of you. You are no more your business. You are my business. Okay? Yes… okay… [Small laughter, then long silence] …Thank you Mooji. [Silence]

Could You Say You Are God?

What is your view on the various religions of the world? All is good. Even the irreligious is good. All play their part and serve their purpose, yet I stand apart, detached from them all. Good or bad, I have no need for them. This is not a position of judgement, nor of arrogance. It simply means that all that arises within the scope of my perceptive field such as thinking, seeing, feeling, being, must depend upon my being here to see and know of its appearance. Without ‘I’, nothing is. ‘I’, the necessary conscious presence, is the crucial, the most important factor throughout. Without me, nothing exists, for if I do not exist then there cannot be anything else apart from myself to know of the existence and nonexistence of any phenomena. So, could you say you are God? I could say I am God but it would not mean anything, as words cannot contain the speaker of them. I also cannot be the speaker, for having thoroughly searched for him, he has never been found in any shape, size or form. God also must exist as a conceptual entity in my mind for me to have knowledge of him, however subtle. He cannot exist outside of my own consciousness, therefore he must, at best, be the consciousness I am. Purely speaking, whatever it is that functions as the searcher, I am also not that, since I witness the sense of searching happen without any tangible seeker. All that may be said is that what I am must be more subtle and earlier than even the sense ‘I am’, the intuitive sense of subjective existence, for the ‘I am’ is also perceived. Therefore, what I truly Am, what Is, must be the subtlest principle. This principle must be the only constant, for all ‘other ’ is what comes and goes and is witnessed inside the unchanging. Do you believe in a personal God? Like Hindus believe in Ishwara, Muslims in Allah, Christians in Christ? For me, God is both personal and impersonal, is and is not, and beyond any of those ideas. He is there naturally when the mood inside me yearns for him as God. Then I enjoy him as father, mother, friend, wisdom, presence, grace, mystical knowledge, benevolence and compassionate love. Other times he is not, meaning he is merged in my consciousness as pure, qualityless being, beyond belief, beyond duality. I do not encourage any theological or philosophical debate about God, for these are mostly a distraction and a waste of time and energy. They do not bring about any real insight or significant shift away from dry intellectualism. Avoid this.

This is what mostly drew me to you, this balance of Jnana and Bhakti [knowledge and devotion]. This is what I find unique in your expression. It is this warmth that makes you come alive for me, for it opens the path of trust towards your teaching, which is most important, in my view, for it brings me into the presence of God himself. I want to thank you for this. [Silence]

Nothing Exists Without a Knower

When I look at nature I feel in awe of its splendour and greatness and I wonder, where does it all come from? From God. God creates it all. My Father; he alone creates and sustains the universe. What about man’s creation? God creates mankind, therefore man’s creation is also God’s creation. All is God, all in God and God in all. Why do you call God ‘he’ and ‘father’? It is my upbringing, nothing else. God is neither he nor she, father nor mother, for God is formless. Must one believe in God in order to obtain liberation? No, belief in God is not necessary for liberation. There is a great hadith in Islam: ‘Who seeks himself, finds God. Who seeks God, finds himself.’ Therefore, try to know your Self. You exist before knowledge, belief and even experience for you can be aware of them. Your Self is the earliest. All forms, ideas and sensations appear later; you are the first and prior, for without you, how can existence be perceived? Your Self is prior to form, but knowledge of Self requires a body. Nothing exists without a knower. No form can testify to its own existence. It is sentience that alone can perceive and experience. You are this sentience and beyond, for even sentience is perceivable. You should contemplate this deeply. What about religions? They seem responsible for a great deal of suffering and wars in the world. How can someone who makes war know God? Forget about all this. All these concerns will not help you to realise your Self. Mind wants to know all these things. You are not in a war situation now, you are here in a beautiful place. Enjoy this environment; make use of this opportunity to discover your real nature. If there is something to learn from war, it is that aggression comes from ignorance of the real Self. When mind discovers final reality, all hostilities, inner and outer, come to an end. The sage alone is a perfect example of what humankind is capable of attaining. One who seeks Truth should emulate the sage. And if one cannot find a sage? The real sage is within you, is your innermost reality. It is not your mind. Mind hides the sage. When mind is there, sage is not; when sage is there, mind is not. The principle behind the knowable—that within which the power to perceive and conceive arises, yet itself does not arise—know that to be the real. You are That.

Sometimes you say ‘forget everything,’ at other times ‘inquire,’ and then you also say ‘trust God.’ Which advice is best? For each, the appropriate advice is offered in accordance with their capacity to assimilate Truth. Advaita stresses the one indivisible reality, but you, an Advaita master, speak about faith, trust, God, surrender and inquiry. I am a bit surprised by this. However diverse my expression or language may seem, however diverse the manifestation appears to be, all share the same DNA as consciousness, all emanates from the one source. For me, all is consciousness and exists in and as consciousness only. It is the consciousness which plays like this in this body you call Mooji. What can I do? My words taken by themselves are not real but where they point from and where they point to, is real.

Emptiness Walking in the Form of a Human Being

Be empty. Be emptiness. This is the secret; try it. Read a book but stay completely empty—reading happens in perfect clarity, and the words remain on the page. Enjoy a conversation also in complete emptiness—conversation happens as a natural flow. Observe, and gradually you will come to see that all existence is occurring in empty awareness. Like this you realise that perception, activity, dreaming, everything happens as natural expression of the beingness in manifestation. In fact, life functions and is perceived with greater clarity, harmony and spontaneity without the assumed management and subjectivity of the person—a revolutionary discovery! Look for your beginning and your end. You are emptiness walking in the form of a human being. Forget yourself and discover your Self. Let what you know mentally be confirmed with your entire being. This is the purpose of your coming to satsang, to discover what you have imagined you have lost—your indivisible Self. Your presence, body and mind will ooze that realisation with such power and beauty that other beings, thirsting for Truth, will come to take shelter and shade in the peace of your presence. Everywhere they go, people carry their rucksacks of personality. Even on the beach everybody has one! [Laughter] What is this rucksack? It is ego-identity. ‘I am unique. I care for myself, body and mind. See how it has paid off! Observe my beauty!’ [More laughter] They can’t let go of this bag of dust. All the while, it is simply nature that is playing through each form in unique ways. It expresses judgements and preferences superficially. It acts as though it is an autonomous individual, unconnected with other sentient beings but in fact, the opposite is true—it is the One playing as the many. Take the example of the wave and the ocean. The movement of each wave has the total ocean underneath and around it. No wave, including a tsunami, has autonomy. It cannot say, ‘I will go this way by myself, I will not follow the others.’ When there is strong identification with the instrument through which the life-force and consciousness experiences, that identity seems to take the qualities of the instrument as itself, and becomes smothered with arrogance and pride. Perhaps it even feels secretly, ‘The world would be a better place if everyone was like me.’ I say, be a spectator not a dictator. Learn to observe this ego-sense through constant discernment of what is real from what is not. The unreal is changeful. It manifests as mind, mood, time and personal relationships. The real is the invisible within the visible. It is the single seer which itself cannot be seen phenomenally. It is known only by negating all that is apparently knowable, quantifiable, relative and variable. As one recognises and identifies as the impersonal witnessing, the unfolding stream of thoughts, effects and events are observed to shine in their momentary ‘here and gone-ness’, leaving no footprints in the consciousness. As ultimate understanding ripens, it dissolves the personal idea of self. Things are not happening to a ‘me’ anymore, they merely happen of their own accord, but unfold without chaos. Instead, a real harmony is felt and witnessed, held within boundless joy, stillness and love. Everything we do, everything we perceive, arises from and in emptiness. This emptiness is not stagnant, sterile or blank.

It is quality-less, like space. All this magnificent universe is dancing in unborn awareness. All is sourced in That. That’s a beautiful way to describe it, Mooji. Such beautiful words. No one is able to convey it through words alone. I don’t think even the pure-tongued Buddha did it. Neither Papaji nor Sri Ramana Maharshi could do it. I don’t think anyone throughout history, however inspired, has done it. However, their presence somehow having merged in the source, in the single Truth… [Long silence… there are tears in Mooji’s eyes]… shone brightly with the light and peace of that pure awareness-self. This is undeniable. I lack any spiritual training. Perhaps this is why, though I love hearing you speak, I find it a little difficult to really grasp what I have heard. All that is required you already possess in abundance. Be sure of this. Some people come to satsang, they speak no English and still, something resonates deep within them and their minds fall effortlessly into silent recognition of the Origin. It is beyond language and intellect. Even animals have come. Indeed, satsang is not only for human beings, satsang is for all beings. The word satsang means association with Truth. All beings, graced with the urge to simply be, respond to Truth. Life is perpetual satsang.

I have been inquiring for a long time and don’t feel I have made any real or lasting progress. Try a little experiment with me. Right now, don’t touch any idea about progress, future, selfevaluation etc., and don’t expect anything at all from what is taking place now, okay? Make no effort for just this moment. Don’t rush. Do you understand my request? [Questioner nods in agreement] What remains? Emptiness and peace. What effort did you make? No effort. I just followed your advice to not engage with my usual stuff. Are you suppressing anything here? No. My mind is as clear as space. This is your Buddha nature, your pure and natural state, only don’t evaluate it or call it an experience. I want to remain like this. This is a natural request, but please tell me, who wants to remain like this? Who says this? Find out now.

My mind. Reject this thought immediately. Mind wants to claim this. It wants a piece of the action. What is the action? There is no action. [Laughs] It Is. There is no one to remain as anything. Thank you, Mooji. Most welcome.

Don't Fill Your Mind with Instructions

Place your hand on your heart and then say something from there. I feel a strong urge to surrender. I see how my desires for passing pleasures and security do not serve me. I think I’m at a crisis point. I see something in you that inspires great confidence in me but I feel I have far to go yet. How many miles, meters or kilometres do you have to travel? Sitting right here, where do you need to go to be more here than you are right now? Give up these kinds of thoughts and intentions. See if you lose anything of real worth in doing so. I’ve spent so much of my life on a path, trying to get somewhere, trying to find something. This is your blessing in disguise! It enables you to seek out Truth unrelentingly. It brought you here. Initially, it cannot be avoided, this roaming about on the path. God alone knows. Through trust and faith, deeper and deeper discoveries will unfold. They will bring joy and of course, joy is naturally known to the beingness! There is no difference between the joy of sexual union, the joy of a politician winning the local election or the joy that arises in meditation. But the joy arising from knowledge of the Self is impersonal, fresh, unassociated and timeless. Once this recognition has happened through real understanding, there is a beautiful loosening, no mental rigidity remains. Everything is seen, lived and experienced as the play of Consciousness or the dream of God. I still have a question. How does that recognition happen? How does that shift in perspective occur? Do not fill your mind with instructions. They suffocate your spontaneity! Throughout your life, you have piled up instruction after instruction, one on top of another. Have you been able to carry any of them out? So what should I do? I believe everything you’ve said today, I trust your words completely but I don’t know what to do now. What need you do? What can you do? Keep quiet and dive inward in the direction I keep pointing to, that signless core. Belief is good, trust is better, but direct knowledge and experience are the highest. If you are fortunate enough to meet a master who you spontaneously are drawn to and feel deep respect for, then surrender your pride there and follow their guidance with faith, courage and resolve. As a result of this seeing, what remains is that unbroken experience called Reality.

Freedom from Being ‘Someone’

I spent thirty-five years in a school of Advaita Yoga, and after all those years, one day I just walked out. I realised everything I’d learned was directed at the mind, and that which is true is so present that it cannot be found in the mind. But still there is an idea that in order to be free, I should experience myself as everywhereness. And yet the sticking-point is that experience remains in the mind and body. You should forget about trying to experience yourself as everywhereness. Any attitude of setting a goal is misleading. If an experience comes like that, fine! However, it will be momentary. Such a phenomenon may occur spontaneously as a flash or spark from grace, or may arise from your practices, yoga, mantras or prayers. Everything is experienced in, through and by consciousness. It is the all-possible, unlimited grace. As long as a body is present and the vital force is there, the sense ‘I am’, along with other thought activity and phenomena, will be there also. Duality entraps me. I lose focus and end up in a forest of conflict and confusion. It need not be so. Can you experience anything if the concept of separation or division is not there? Could you even taste knowledge of yourself without duality? There is no need to escape from or erase duality, for without duality there cannot be experience. Duality is not a mistake but the vital tool of creation. Enjoy the all-encompassing movie called life with all its tears and laughter, dreams, desires and loathing, all its devotion, pranks and prayers. The full spectrum of consciousness in expression is available and beautiful when seen through eyes emptied through understanding and grace. There is no particular way to be. Relax, be yourself and remain open and quiet as much as possible, in all of life’s manifestations. Just remember: you are the seen, the seer, and beyond both as the unborn awareness. It could also be said you are the person, the knower of the person and the space in which both appear. So what is the work then? Just to rest in emptiness? Yes, what else? Or better still, rest in emptiness as emptiness itself. In fact, as the joy increases, the work decreases. That so-called work or practice will become increasingly spontaneous, without any sense that there is someone carrying it out. It will arise by itself and take care of all your affairs. So the sense of being a person, of having a particular personality and preferences need not be felt as injurious at all when understanding is there. It is just the functioning of manifestation in the role of a person. This play arises in consciousness, and it is being witnessed from nowhere. Or, if you prefer to say, from everywhere—same thing. Don’t stick any label on it. I can see now what my error was, I kind of wanted to experience myself as That but it is not possible! Exactly! That is so one with itself that it is incapable of seeing itself. Take the example of a knife that

can cut through so many objects but cannot cut itself, being one inseparable unit. Or similarly, a scale that can weigh many objects but cannot weigh itself. What Is cannot perceive itself, being already one with itself. So, the freedom of which you have spoken, is the freedom from being someone? Yes. Ultimately, it is freedom from even the concept of freedom. It is the end of striving. We put all our attention, efforts and energies into becoming the best someone we can be. That is natural, it is the whole story of mankind. But it is not freedom. By all means, live the highest expression you can. Changing what you feel does not serve Truth. Follow your heart’s promptings, but do not take the expression to be a measurement or definition of the Self. Enjoy with gratitude your life as a gift from life, as an expression of God, as the dance of the cosmos while remaining throughout as the formless seer. The sage looks into a mirror at the pictures appearing as himself, but he is not confused. He remains as the unalterable being in the shrine of emptiness.

Consciousness Plays as Everything

There seems to be the idea that something is missing. Consciousness in its human expression is always hungry for something. As soon as it touches the sense of autonomy, there manifests, almost spontaneously, a feeling that something is lacking—a sense of completeness, a sense of stability, of coming home. It may be felt in different ways, like a need for healing, repairing, for progress or for all of these things. This tendency seems deeplyrooted in the human psyche. ‘Something is missing,’ is a thought. ‘If it wasn’t, surely I wouldn’t feel like this! Surely Jesus didn’t feel like this. I feel miserable, so, obviously I cannot be what he is, for he is pure.’ These are assumptions. Who says that in the morning Jesus didn’t wake up feeling a little grumpy? [Laughter] Who says that when he was walking with disciples that he didn’t feel irritated by their petty squabbles? Who can say? That time when he saw people gambling in the temple, he snapped, “This place is not for gambling, get out!” I am sure he didn’t say, “Please, don’t be offended but…” [Laughter] Who says he was without such feelings? Who says he is so different from you? Jesus was God and man. Do you know what this means? It means he was aware of himself as egoless being, moved by God-force, presence and grace. This too, you are. Why is your mind always wriggling to escape the obvious? Why, when you are directed to this clear Truth, do you prevaricate? When the mind-set feels challenged by the deeper looking, it switches to avoidance mode! ‘Better we practice a bit more! Let’s go step by step, gently, gently does it…’ [Laughter] Something seems to be avoiding being exposed. What is it? Look at it. If you follow your mind it will always avoid the seeing that sets your Heart free. Now, understand that this way of avoiding is also the play of consciousness. Consciousness plays the sage, the seeker and the fool. What else can it be? Mind is the expression of consciousness. Sometimes consciousness manifests as tremendous stupidity. Who else can do it? Recognising this, one becomes at ease with all things. I saw a man on a television documentary who said he had fallen in love with a cow. He said this in front of the whole nation. [Laughter] “I am deeply in love with her! And she is in love with me! Look in her eyes!” he said, pointing to the cow, who, it must be said, had a look of utter boredom on its face! [Laughter] And he could not understand why people did not bless their relationship [More laughter] or why they should think it wrong that he should wish to marry this cow! [Laughter] And he was totally serious! He had children also, who went to school where everybody teased them saying, “Your father loves a cow! Your mother is a cow!” [Laughter] He said people did not understand, but in his mind he was clear about this affair. He was completely at peace with himself. What else but consciousness is performing this play? Consciousness plays as everything, as each and every role in the entire play of creation. There are some people who come to this deep awareness in a short space of time. In the course of a single meeting with Truth their minds are resolved into complete silence.

I had such a realisation a few days ago Mooji, but the mind came back—and with greater force than before! Why was that? Take this example: If you shoot a rabbit with a tranquilliser gun, he drops right away. Some people are like that; in the hearing of Truth, the Heart opens and mind falls irretrievably into silence—no further words will come. But for others, it is more like if you shoot a rhino—off it goes, buggudupp, buggudupp, buggudupp! [Laughter] But you do not need to chase her. You can just keep walking in her direction. Because even though she may carry on running a little further, she gradually slows down as the effect of the tranquilliser takes over. Eventually, she will drop. Somewhere you will find her, fallen, heavy as a tree, happily snoring. [Laughter] It is only now that you can touch her, “Miss Rhino, how are you? Why do you run so?” Some egos are like that. At the first blast, the first hit of the Truth, instantly mind rebels—buggudupp, buggudupp, buggudupp! And she’s off! [Laughter] There is no fault with that. This also is the expression and play of consciousness. What to do? Consciousness pervades all that manifests. Even the elements are consciousness and the perceiving of them is consciousness. The perceiving of the perceiving happens in the Unspeakable, the Unnameable. And you are That. Consciousness manifests as diversity and the perceiving of this diversity. This changefulness, this blessedness, this cursedness, this healing, this pain, this joy, this bondage and this freedom—all takes place inside consciousness while it undergoes no change in itself. It is just like when one dreams. In our dreams we see a world full of diversity, fashioned just like this world; emotions, thoughts, creativity— all are there in dream state. In dream one can meet people speaking languages that one is unable to understand. One would have to undergo language study in order to communicate with other beings inside one’s own dream. When one wakes up, one finds all this occurred in dream only. The same is true of the waking state. How can it be that the eternally unchanging manifests as the changeful, and seems to undergo a state of hypnosis believing itself to be what it is not, and then strives towards rediscovering the knowledge of itself through the mind? How can it be that it creates all this dreaming, and then also manifests the capacity to awaken itself from its own self-induced slumber, only to finally realise it has never been asleep? What a strange thing! [Laughter] Such paradoxes! Everything explodes into paradoxes. Still, that which witnesses them is beyond paradoxes. Leave it all alone. You are That within which even the advice, ‘Leave it alone’ is heard as nothing more than a soft ephemeral whisper inside itself. Who is there to carry out any advice? Each one here, in their own unique flow, has been brought to this moment, to this point of recognition. How much further to go, towards what, and for what purpose? From monkey mind, to monk’s mind, to no mind, and still no change in you. No change! Something knows this intuitively. You are untouched. [Silence] Keep your mind inside your Heart. Could that not be called a practice? If you want to call it a practice, fine. Why not? There is nothing wrong with the word or act of practice. Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj was a perfect jnani, and still, three or four times a day he sang

bhajans with great vigour. Did he feel, ‘Oh no, I mustn’t do this any longer. I am a sage now! What will people think?’ No. His being was in perfect affinity with everything, one with the flow of existence. Therefore, his actions were spontaneous, uninhibited. Don’t suppress your dance in order to play some role. Be yourself. It is said that he who seeks God, finds himself. And that he who seeks himself, finds God. Whether your path is one of devotion, surrender or wisdom, the end is one. That’s it! Your words have finality about them. I think I’m just waiting for the final chop. Who will notice this chop? Who will know, ‘I have received the last chop’? Leave aside the idea of a final chop and also this waiting for something to happen. The axe is falling but the head is still talking. Now the axe has fallen, and still the head is talking! [Silence] You are that unspeakable One. Thank you.

Don't Carry Anything with You

Anything that you can describe, all your ideas, leave them aside just for now. Anything you can expect, remember or imagine, leave aside. Stay as what remains. The ‘I’ thought is the generator and support for all other thoughts. The magnetism of some thoughts will feel stronger than others. These thoughts will strongly reinforce the sense of ‘I’ as a person. In fact, they arise together, forcefully. In that moment, the clarity of the original Self may seem to be masked by the intensity of the identification with ‘I’ and whatever other sensation it has hooked onto. See for yourself, at this very moment try to catch hold of this ‘I’ using its current fascination as a scent. Sniff out the ‘I’. See if it can be caught and if it can, take a good look inside and see what it is made of. [Silence] Truly, what you are searching for is where you are searching from. Do not touch the idea that something or some action stops you from being what you are. When examined, it is found to be untrue. Nothing stops you, except the idea that something stops you! If you hold onto this idea, it will suck your strength away. One must really want this… I have three options to offer you: one, throw away the idea of a ‘one’ who wants something, two, ignore all attempts or invitations to reach somewhere or to gain something new and three, if the desire to know yourself should arise from within, accept it as the workings of grace. It’s a kind of suicidal desire as well. This suicide is okay. The ego that commits suicide becomes the Self. This suicide is not harmful. This is a good suicide! [Laughter] There is not much more to hold onto. All the ideas on which I thought I was built, they don’t stand up anymore. Yes, how fortunate! The mind works perfectly when it is not clinging to identity. This is pure mind. This feels like quite a challenge. For whom? Find the one who feels and fears the challenge. There are a lot of ideas about attachments and…

Attachments are also an idea. I have no teaching to offer. Satsang is not a place for mere learning. For discovering, yes. For deconstruction of all mental and psychological strategies, yes. For ghost busting, yes. It is a place for dying to the untrue. And indeed, for ego-suicidal ideas. [Laughter] It does feel quite frightening, Mooji. Be bold! At the most auspicious opportunity, at the highest possibility for total seeing and clarity to appear, resistance often arises and takes centre stage. What is it that is trying to escape? At this crucial point, be aware of all kinds of excuses, fantastic projections and avoidances. There was once a man who came to my house and the deeper his inquiry drew him, the more he sought distraction. “Can I use the bathroom?” he asked. “Can I have a glass of water? It’s a bit hot in here, can we open the door?” And this was in the middle of winter! [Laughter] Finally, I challenged his prevarications. “Can you see what is going on? You are not a prisoner here, you can go anytime you want. Go now if you don’t want to be here!” Only then, when exposed, did he manage to steady himself in the inquiry and merge his mind in peace.

So there is nothing to be done? Allow yourself to be undone! Let Grace undress you. Everything that you have done, every practice that you have made, has brought you to this point, right now. There is nothing to regret. Now, keep quiet. Rest yourself here and now, in the very source of your awareness, in its silence, in its fullness, in its emptiness. In the absence of that person you imagined yourself to be, there now shines pure presence. And this presence is all-pervading. When ultimate seeing occurs, pure energy is released which blesses and energises every other aspect of your expression. Nothing remains to be understood. Projections, opinions, interpretations and ideas drop away and all that Is dances its dance in complete freedom and joy. My Master used to say, “Self reveals itself in a pure mind.” Leave all your intentions aside. Enter here naked.

Don't Pull the Parachute Too Early!

There are some emotions where there is space to observe, and I don’t get sucked into it. But then with others, like anger, there doesn’t seem to be any space and I’m just there in the middle of the anger. It is still just a phenomenon. Let it happen! Perhaps there is a feeling, ‘I don’t want to feel anger,’ but you must also let anger have space to be expressed. If you stay only as the witness of it, it will not be so terrible. If anger comes and you feel to express it, and you live in the city, then scream into a pillow. It is just something being thrown out of the beingness, there is no need to manage anything. I don’t think you are going to go out and kill anybody. No, but this is important for me to understand because what you’re saying is that it is possible to be in the anger and at the same time to be… You, the Self, are not in the anger; the anger is in you. In the space of your infinite being, there is enough room for every expression to be exposed or expressed, to be there and to finally exhaust its expression. Then it comes again into silence. Do not interfere with any expression, welcome it. In the beginning some people feel, ‘What’s happening? My world is falling apart. I’m going crazy!’ These are also reactions coming from mind and personality, you see? It is still not your true being, you are earlier than this. Very often we are functioning from a reactive consciousness, but these reactions, actions and interactions are taking place spontaneously in an awareness that is not participating. It is not caught in the bubble of these reactions, but there must be consciousness of this awareness. You must discover that deeper space of Self and stay there, because when these effects begin to happen, there is sometimes fear and panic. I say, don’t judge, don’t jump in, just look! Don’t pull the parachute too early. [Laughs] Some people look for rescue as soon as something comes, but don’t pull that parachute. However some people pull it inside the plane! [Laughter] Something feels, ‘But I’m going to crash, it’s going to be bad.’ But all these are thoughts! The inclination of the egoic mind is to think something terrible is going to happen. What is going to happen to you? Nothing. If you identify prematurely with these thoughts, then you miss the opportunity to come into the depth of the being. Pure auspiciousness is here. If you feel lost and are burning in this inner fire, it is grace! Bear it. It’s not terrible if you do not believe mind’s interpretations but instead see it as an opportunity for Self-discovery. Behind the fires of grace is the light and joy of pure Self.

All these things, these dormant tendencies, have to be burped out. A lady once told me, “Mooji, something is coming up and I feel like there’s a whale inside me! How am I going to burp up a whale? I feel like if I say ‘yes’ and cooperate with this, something inside will feel too big and I will explode!” So I said, “I want to see somebody explode.” [Laughter] Don’t turn back! Just welcome this movement and trust grace. Then you will burp… and ‘plop!’—a tadpole! Not a whale! [Laughter continues] There is not really a whale inside but the mind tells you that you cannot handle this, and this voice is a very cunning and mischievous voice! Expect this voice. It will come, as it did for every freed being, every Buddha, every Christ, every Krishna. Something is stirred up, but also something is not. The Self is there quietly, as it has always been—untouched. The very fact that you exist is evidence that this One Is. [Silence] Time is passing in front of timelessness. You are the invisible within the visible. The visible is your temporary aspect. These things will come but they will also go. Observe and confirm this. Recognise that which neither comes nor goes. It cannot go because it never came, it can only be revealed. Everything that you perceive in your meditation, you cannot be. They are all emanations or aspects of consciousness, but they are not definitively you. Recognise they are all expressions coming from the sentient source but they are not stable. Don’t judge, don’t identify with them, don’t identify with anything. Remain without self-image. Not even with joy? Don’t identify even with joy. Don’t try to throw it away but do not identify; it will still be there as beautiful as ever. When you don’t identify with anything, then you are not a thing, and when you are not a thing, there will be a joy that does not belong to somebody. A joy synonymous with pure Self. [Laughs] The joy that belongs to someone must go because even the person cannot stay. [Silence] The joy which is the joy of being cannot go, because that which is formless cannot come or go. They are synonymous, that joy and peace. [Silence]

The Fire of Self-Discovery

Often when you are in satsang, whatever has been hiding, lurking behind shadowy places, comes to the surface because of the revealing power of Truth. Once these dormant tendencies are exposed, it is as if you have been punched, stabbed in your very solar plexus, and a big tsunami of feelings arises. When the light of Truth uncovers all of these false notions, everything comes up to the surface. The beingness is vomiting up the untrue, burping up all this filth. And it is not a pretty feeling! It’s not beautiful or sweet. It feels as if your whole being is on fire, as if you are being torn up from inside. I say, be torn open! Surrender to this inner burning. Be willing to step into the fire of true selfdiscovery. This fire will not burn you. It will burn only what you are not. I feel like I’m going to lose everything… Many people try to rescue this egoic identity. The mind tries to understand, to analyse what went wrong, asking, ‘What is happening to me, what should I do now? I’m falling apart!’ Everybody wants to save their tail, to hold onto something because you imagine that to be so completely burnt is to be made useless. Yes, you as ego are completely useless, but you as the Self are fully content and free. And this is the difference. Simply keep quiet and surrender within this storm of resistance. It is so important that you recognise the significance of what is happening to you! You are in the arms of Grace. Something has habituated itself to be held in secret. The ego tries to protect itself; you taking yourself to be ego only perpetuates its existence, to the extent that you feel like a victim in your own mindmanifested story. You are being enslaved by these tendencies, and they are effectively holding the beingness hostage. Who will pay this ransom? I say, this is the most opportune moment. Change your attitude from feeling sorry for yourself to being very grateful that you have been picked up by life in such a powerful, ferocious way. You are in the tiger ’s mouth! And once you are in the tiger ’s mouth, you cannot escape. If you were in the chihuahua’s mouth, you would have a lot of trouble, but in the mouth of the tiger, you as a person are finished. You see? How lucky to be in the tiger ’s mouth! I feel this fear arising when I begin to surrender. Something says, ‘Yeah, but then?’ and with this there is a sense of fear. In the surrendering, you must include the surrenderer. If you don’t do this, the one surrendering will continue to bargain. She will say, ‘But if I surrender everything, then what’s going to happen to me?’ This one who is bargaining, who is talking about surrendering, is also the deluded aspect of Self as ego. It is not the true one. When this one is exposed and thrown out, then what is always here but seemingly hidden will reveal itself fully. In the moment when the fire is burning most fiercely, I am reminding you: Keep quiet! You are

surrendering… continue to surrender. Grace has accepted, it is in the process of burning all that is untrue. Don’t try and salvage anything, nothing is worth salvaging from these screaming flames. Just be open. Do not try and crawl out of the fire, simply be in this fire. A true being understands the beauty and the implication of this statement. Pain only exists when there is sheltering of the ego. But if in your heart you feel: ‘I have to be free of this! Enough bargaining, enough promises, enough approval seeking.’ Come to this fire, be stripped completely naked. Go beyond nakedness, be completely empty. Then this fire will reduce you to eternal nothingness. Very good.

Trust the Grace that Brought You Here

Understand and trust that grace is already operating in you. Your being here is impelled by grace. The speaking and the listening enter and leave through the one source. When words and actions arise from the depth of Truth, they carry a force, an authority that is capable of imbuing silence and recognition in the listener. It flows with a different frequency from the personalised mind, a frequency of total clarity. Mooji, it seems that your presence and words help to strengthen my resolve to step into—and stay in— the fire that burns the personal mind. I don’t promise you anything. At best, something said and heard feels provocative, slaps your attention into alertness or focuses it on the unmoving Self. Again, the impulse to step into the fire of self-sacrifice, to lie down on the burning ghat for the ego, this is an impulse arising from grace itself. Why does Beingness or God bring about such suffering sometimes? Is it that we deserve it? It is not like that. Suffering enables us to feel compassion and empathy for other beings also. It deepens and lightens our own being by washing off the slime of the trivial, and prepares the soil of the psyche for higher understanding. Adopt an attitude of gratitude in all expressions of life. It is hard to find one’s true purpose. It seems impossible to know what is the correct path and action to take in any given situation. Why bother with all that? Forget yourself and be happy! Life is not merely a personal journey. It is not only the experiencing of material existence through identity, projection and desire. As far as I know there are no reliable how-to-do manuals for managing life. Only when the sense of the personal, limited self merges with the universal being does the real life begin, and not before. Even as one’s face is turning towards the light of awareness, the soul begins experiencing a higher and lighter sense of being, from where it draws encouragement to press on towards complete absorption in the effortless Self. When the ego-identity is isolated and sieved out, pure power is discovered to be already present in you as the witness. Then, one finds appropriate responses are simply taking place spontaneously, without any private operator moving them. Only in pure listening, when the attention is fixed upon the formless being, does recognition of one’s true position as the imageless witness, intuitive self-knowledge and unfading joy get established in the Heart. I really want to pay attention to the things you’re saying, Mooji, but honestly, my mind is just going blank!

In this type of intense probing, it is not unusual for your mind to go blank. Still, you are not the mind. You are that which watches this sense of contraction, or the ‘blank’ as you put it, and the drifting attention. At this point, the attention easily swings towards trivial things as the ego struggles to keep out of the view of the deeper witness. Stay as one with that which casually notices all appearances to be superficial sensations occurring in and as mind. Be on guard against the mind’s distracting schemes. Rest as awareness—neutral and untouched. Truth is revealed when the seeker, what is sought for and the very seeking itself are scrutinised and found to be nothing more than the play and content of consciousness as the waking state.

What is the best way of spending the time here with you? This is a beautiful question, rarely asked. Keep your mind inside your Heart. Whenever or wherever the attention goes, bring it back to the unchanging Self. Gradually, it will come to stay here without effort. This is the only practice one need do.

For the One Who Knows, Nothing Happens Is discovering our true nature dependent on destiny or is our own effort necessary? Don’t pick up and run off with this idea of destiny. It is enough to say that if effort feels natural then it was destined to arise as such. Whatever the body-mind must go through cannot be avoided. There is great wisdom, order and harmony operating through and as the cosmic play. The point is to grasp the ultimate and timeless message and pointing that reveals you are the formless witness only, the unchanging reality behind the moving mind. You appear as a separate entity with volitional powers on account of maya, the cosmic illusion. Maya is the power that enables the Self to taste and enjoy the flavour of itself as existence. Within that, it undergoes some apparent maturing, which is not a quality of the Absolute, but is most important because consciousness cannot really know itself when it lacks the ripeness of subtle understanding and direct experience of Truth. These days, many people have heard and read Advaita philosophy or Zen teachings, but the truth they point to often stays only in the mind and intellect. They do not dissolve their identities. Instead, they keep on collecting more and more knowledge. They often make comments like, ‘No one exists and meditation is useless, for who is there to meditate? Belief in a God is superstition or a sign of mental and emotional weakness. All those rituals, what’s the use?’ and so on. Such cynicism is just arrogance. It shows that they are far from being like the Buddha they imagine themselves to be. If Truth is not one’s direct experience, then life itself will sooner or later expose any hypocrisies. Burn the ego in the fire of devotion until all pride is washed away. The awakened mind respects all ways of being, all forms of devotion, all religions, even the fanatical, without judgement or dismissal, knowing all emanate as expressions from the one single source. That is what is so loveable in Ramakrishna and all the saints and sages—they each display, through their teaching and life, this broadness of outlook and compassionate being. They are free from feelings of specialness and pride. With skill and compassion, their teachings adapted spontaneously to suit the maturity or temperament of seekers. To some they advised prayer or meditation if that was in affinity with their spiritual orientation, or until they became mature enough to inquire directly into their nature. There is no contradiction or conflict between the path of love and the path of wisdom. The aim or purpose of each is the same: to transcend the ego identity and its influence on the being. The sense of maturing lasts the duration of each apparent lifetime and happens against the unchanging background of the Absolute. For the one who knows, nothing happens. Yet even after awakening, there continues to be the sense of deepening and evolving, and there is a sweetness and beauty in that. Do not make the mistake of thinking you have transcended God or that you have killed duality. If there is a ‘you’ to claim such things, right there, ignorance prevails. Simply keep quiet. Remove all arrogance. Know this: The delivered mind is one with the law of causation.

Get Fully Naked

You are Truth. Truth is not some special bundle of concepts that you have to believe in. Truth is not a concept, it is where all concepts end. Concepts have no lasting validity to them. There is something in you which is absolutely effortless. It does not have to try to be, it just is. Are you aware of this? All thoughts, emotions, concepts and ideas which arise within the beingness are not what you are, because you are aware of them. They come and go. This is already a fact but we have not looked deeply into this because in day-to-day life, nothing compels or requires you to look in this way. Normally, within the context of conditioned interaction, no one asks you, “So, who really are you?” If this question has arisen within you, it must be that somehow something has begun to stir from a deeper level within you. Something inconceivable has been present in you for a very long time and is now starting to blossom into this beautiful flower and fragrance. Some say, “Oh, inquiry is so mental… too deep.” Another, “It’s so difficult, so intense!” Don’t imagine anything about the inquiry, or your mind will use this to put you off the auspicious trail. Trust in the inquiry. I ask this of you. Whatever you can think of or construct—whatever is not permanent—is momentary, is not the True. Do not follow the momentary. Anything the mind produces is only temporary. The time says five o’clock now. Five o’clock this morning, what was your thought? What was your experience? Five o’clock yesterday, what was your emotional state? Ten minutes ago, what thought was here with you? You cannot remember any of your thoughts! Such is the nature of everything transient. Leave everything alone for one moment, even if it feels like the most irresponsible thing to do. Even the need to control, for one moment, just leave it aside. Don’t associate or combine yourself with anything at all, so that you can clearly just be. And to be is not an action you will be doing, it is already there even before the idea ‘to be’ arose. You already are. Now you can examine and see. Imagine that you have come for a check-up, a full body, mind and spirit check-up using a machine that is so sophisticated that it can measure all of these things. Let’s begin by examining your body. In this moment, we are going to check your weight. Anything that does not belong to your body, you must remove. So you have to take out your nose ring, your fillings, contact lenses—yes, that has a weight too! Your weave-ons—you have to take those out as well. Everything which is not original to you, even the dirt under your fingernails, you must remove because it is not original to your body. Now we put you on the scale and get your accurate weight. This part of the exercise is now finished. Now, let’s go to the next step of the check-up: The mind and spirit. Everything that does not belong to you, every thought which is not original to you, let’s remove these things for the moment.

Let’s begin with all your concepts, what you have studied, what you believe, what you imagine, all the images you have collected in your mind. All memories, they came subsequent to your being, not along with it. We must weigh your original being which began at zero. Therefore, whatever has been acquired must be left aside. We will take all these things away, just for the moment, to weigh you completely as you are without anything attached. All your projections, your lovely dreams, your memories, we also have to take. Come on, take everything, everything off! Finally, your ‘I-Self ’, oh this precious ‘I-me’, this also is not original to you! Let’s include that also. Remove it. Now you are only as you were in the beginning, without any addition. In this moment, your consciousness is clean. Thank you so much… phum! Very good. We are back to zero—you are empty! Let’s now move to the spirit, where is it? What is there to remove? What is there to clean? All your notions have been cleaned already. All your ideas have been removed now. You are fresh! What do you have to say from this place? Any complaints? Are you keeping something that you should have handed over? Who are you without your notions? Feel your being. Feel what remains as it is, as it has always been. You are empty of everything, bound by nothing. Identity was a little tricky but now it is gone, no trace left. Now you see that you don’t have to suppress the senses; they are functioning naturally because they are original to this body. All the sounds, the feel of the wind, everything is passing but there is no story, there is no possession, no desire. Everything is fresh, all your perceptions are fresh. Like writing on water, you cannot read it a minute later. There are no pages to turn—so fresh! Does it hurt? Is it a disappointment? Perhaps the thought may come, ‘It’s fine as an exercise, but how can anybody continue to live like this?’ But that is just a thought which you do not have to accept. See how you can perceive any thoughts but there is no need to hold onto them nor identify with them. Still, nothing is lost from the ability to perceive fully. Perception is clean and clear. There is full access and liberty to perceive and to experience deeply without the need to cling to any concept.

Fear seems all pervading even though I am also aware of this space inside where I can confirm your words. Maybe some fears come up, ‘Oh my God! No, no, no, I don’t want to disappear. I’m not ready for such a big change.’ Look at what this is, at the one who feels this and recognise this also as only a thought, a sensation waiting to get accepted as truth. Do not register this as real and it will return to silence. Similarly, remove all other fears also through this in-looking. Hand in all these fears and concepts without reservation. After this exercise, you can have them back if you want, but right now hand them over completely. Take a deep breath in this, feel your being in its emptiness. Is anything missing? Are you in pain? Are you suffering? What will you say from here, from this place? In a few minutes, you can have all your stuff back—if you care to have it back. But before then, just for a short while, enjoy no-mind. Be genderless, beliefless, historyless, concept-free. Enjoy your Self as timeless Presence—as I am That I Am. You are not the product of an action made or a decision taken, just the immeasurable Isness.

Where is the end of being? Where is the edge of being, beyond which there can only be non-being? I see this unfading light of pure presence shining in all of you now. Look and see for yourself this light that dwells and shines from within, that shines brightly when the Self is marinating in itself. This is the state in which the sage experiences himself as existence itself. Here it is indicated, the secret to your own Buddha nature, the secret that you must find. A mystery you must unravel, where ‘I’ and ‘you’ are One. Ultimately, the final step is not taken but revealed through insight: That in which the being itself is perceived lies beyond all references. Call it unborn awareness Absolute. That—I Am.

Parting Words Beloved, be still and know the magnificence of the intuition—‘I am’. I am one with you as witness and conscious presence, timelessly unchanging. Recognise your own real Self and be happy. We are not our thoughts, emotions, memories or conditioning, but formless being, eternally changing—yet unchanging. Be integrated with that silent space behind the moving mind. Be one with That—that within which this grand dance of manifestation is perceived. Knowing and being this, the mind is stilled. Be willing to lay down, to leave aside the itch to tell stories, to share opinions and projections born of delusion—the outcome of identification with the unreal notion of self. Observe the unbroken silence from which all springs. Recognise yourself as attributeless being and be happy. Be still and know the ‘I am’ presence which is pure and untouched. Rest in presence, as presence itself. Observe that this conscious presence is not the mind, nor is it trapped inside the mind’s functioning. It is without gender, conditioning or identity. It is the witnessing principle dwelling in the Heart of all sentient beings. It is free from fear and is without judgement or desire. This beingness is our dynamic self—the ‘child’ of the Absolute Awareness. We are the unbroken and immutable Presence behind all phenomena. Do not any longer indulge the fickle tendencies of the ego-mind to stray towards meaningless chatter. They may seem harmless enough at the time but they gradually stupefy the mind and lead to a build-up of inner noise and restlessness which then appear to tyrannise the peaceful beingness. Again, be reminded: Curb the power of the latent tendencies by resisting again and again the pull to go with the mind-flow and nostalgic or sentimental behaviour and habits, so that gradually the mind and attention become habituated to remaining in the Heart centre. This is true sadhana, your true work. This alone leads to unbroken silence and harmony of mind and being, the true goal and purpose of conscious and intelligent existence. It is noble living beyond the concept of noble living, and it is true Self-honouring—true Self-respect. When consciousness identifies with body-mind, the result is egoism, which is the root and cause of all suffering. Ego is the hardest stain to remove but can be transcended through inquiring into the nature of the true Self. You are the witness of ego, therefore, you are beyond. Be as persistent as the ego appears to be. When you finally realise the immutable One, ego will vanish. Until such a time, be determined to slay this dragon. He is slain through prayer, surrender and devotion, and he is slain with the sword of self-inquiry. The illusory ‘I’ cannot prevail under the scrutiny and force of selfinvestigation. Do not indulge any sentiment towards the ego. Cease identifying and supporting what is effectively suffocating your spontaneity, your peace. Make your stand firmly with Truth. Hold the attention in the Heart. Persevere through any discomfort or resistance that arises, in much the same way as you may have had to do when you first began your inquiry. Like this, the ego-sense—which thrives on the oxygen of attention, interest, belief and mainly identity—will gradually get extinguished. Trust my words when I say you are already free; embrace them as though you already knew them to be true. Let your life be a living satsang, a steady attitude and application of self-inquiry and

surrender to Truth. Lose or shun the stubbornness, pride, resistance and cynicism that slow you down. Recognising the false, you need not search for the real, for the false is seen from the ground of the real. Be humble; humility is wisdom. It is wise to seek help until you go beyond the need for help. The seed of expanding insight and deepening understanding, which leads to complete peace, is already germinating in your Heart. Trust this. Awareness is not on the other side of working through any process, for awareness is already that in which any striving is watched. How true is the old saying, ‘What you are looking for is already where you are looking from.’ You are Truth. You are that in which the universe manifests—pure Awareness. Self-inquiry is the mirror in which the timeless is recognised and timelessly reflected. You are That! Surrendering oneself to the inner Guru, the Lord of all, is another way into the recognition of this in the Heart. We are ever one as Truth and Love. We are the unity of Being in its dance as existence. Selfromancing and probing into its own origin is the dance called satsang. Satsang is unending, yet paradoxically, it ends in perfect seeing where one realises one’s own nature is in unity with the Supreme Being. Knowing this is allowing oneself to be danced as the waves of dynamic existence, yet knowing I am beyond. It is my good fortune and privilege to announce and thus share with you this sweet message from within. My joy is to watch this play of awakening to the divine and timeless which is our own Self. Although we say the sun rises and sets, the sun never moves; it is in fact the earth that turns away from the sun. Likewise, the real Self never moves or leaves, being infinite and infinitely present. It is the earth-mind which turns away from the sun-heart. Therefore, keep your attention on and in that which is prior to attention, in which both attention and inattention are perceived, and which is beyond both. I have no interest in imparting to you any theoretical knowledge, however sublime, nor to create in you beautiful experiences or satsang nostalgia. It is enough if you awaken with clarity and conviction to the unchanging Truth you already are.

Glossary Advaita Non-dual, not two; this oneness is a fundamental quality of everything. Everything is a part of and made of one non-dual consciousness. Bhagavan God in Sanskrit; a name used in reverence and respect to a great Sage such as Sri Ramana Maharshi, Sri Yogi Ramsuratkumar, Sri Krishna. Bhajan An Indian devotional practice, prayer and hymn to the Divine. Bhakti The love felt by the worshipper towards the Guru or God. The path of devotion. The spiritual attitude of service to the Guru or God which helps the seeker to purify the mind. Darshan Blessings by the presence and grace of the Guru or God. Usually, darshan takes the form of contact initiation through sight, touch or by being in the physical or non-physical presence of the Guru. Ghat A series of steps leading down to a holy body of water, usually a holy river which is often named after a sage or god. A place of prayer and contemplation. Some ghats are for burning bodies, which is felt to help the soul’s liberation. Guru An enlightened spiritual teacher or master; the dispeller of darkness and ego; one who helps you dive within and realise the true Self. Hadith Islamic saying containing insights and great wisdom by the Prophets, directly linked to the holy Quran. Heart Not the physical heart nor the emotional centre, but referring to the Heart as the synonym for the Supreme Self. Jnana Knowledge inseparable from the experience of the one true Reality. Karma The law of cause and effect. Lila or leela The divine play of God. Maya The illusion and dream of duality in the phenomenal Universe. Philosophical Perennis Universal recurrence of philosophical insight independent of culture, including universal truths on the nature of reality. Pranayama A yogic breathing exercise to aid in calming the mind and cleansing the body. Prasad Blessed food offering. Rajas or rajasic One of three energetic qualities of the mind. The tendencies of a rajasic mind are described as extremely active, changeful and passionate.

Sattva or sattvic One of the three energetic qualities of the mind. The sattvic mind is pure, open, compassionate, attracted to Truth. Satguru A spiritual preceptor of the highest attainment, one who has realised the ultimate Truth. Also the inner Guru, one’s true Self, the impersonal, the Absolute. Sadhana Meditation; ego-transcending spiritual practice. Satsang Association with the highest Truth. Tamas or tamasic One of the three energetic qualities of the mind. The tendencies of a tamasic mind are described as strong identity with the body, resistance, laziness, insensitivity. Vibhuti Sacred ash; these substances are burned in a sacred fire. Vibhuti is placed on the forehead as it is considered sacred and holy. Many devotees add an amount to the tongue to receive the blessings of the deity. Vipassana A meditation originating from Guatam Buddha; an exercise used to cleanse and calm the mind which focuses on observing bodily sensations. Yogini The sacred feminine force made incarnate; the goddesses of Hindu mythology as well as the ordinary human woman who is enlightened, having both spiritual powers and deep insight into the Self.

Copyright Editors: Zenji, Turiya, Parvati, Mooji, Samadhi, Prema, Roma, Rose. Kindle edition published in 2013 by Mooji Media, an imprint of Padham Sangha Limited. Mooji Media, 12 Fairview House, Upper Tulse Hill, London, SW2 2RN, UK MoojiMedia.com | Mooji.org Also available as a paperback edition, and as a special hardback edition from Mooji.org/shop Brush drawings by Mooji. Cover design by Sivaganga. Ebook design by Ando at Modifo. All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, or transmitted in any form, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review; nor may any part of this book be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or other, without written permission from the publisher. © 2013 by Mooji (Anthony Paul Moo-Young) all rights reserved. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 978-1-908408-16-7 (ebook) ISBN 978-1-908408-13-6 (softcover) ISBN 978-1-908408-14-3 (hardcover)

Acknowledgements From beginning to end, we have been completely enveloped by Grace, honoured to have witnessed the blossoming of this edition under Mooji’s close guidance and care. We trust that the words contained in this book will carry the fragrance of joy, laughter and love experienced by those privileged to be encompassed by our Master ’s life and work. Editors of First Edition Nataraaj, Priya, Sharon Hogan Transcribers of First Edition Shanti, Tania Gerich, Tara Design GangaMa, Nataraaj, Rose, Sivaganga Ebook Design Ando at Modifo Transcribers of New Material Mukti, Niraja, Sumantra Reviewers of Transcripts Neti Read, Pam Pam, Shobha, Steve, Sophie Ganga, Sumantra Photographers Monica Onore, Tom Shade and all the photographers of the Mooji Sangha Special Thanks The recording and support team from Mooji Sangha With love Mooji Media

Further Information Further details about Mooji’s work and schedule are available at the website: mooji.org For Mooji’s other books, Writing on Water and Breath of the Absolute, and satsang recordings in audio and video formats, you are welcome to visit: mooji.org/shop Mooji is also on YouTube: youtube.com/user/moojiji For additional information and enquiries about books contact: Mooji Media 12 Fairview House, Upper Tulse Hill, London, SW2 2RN United Kingdom Email: [email protected] Web: moojimedia.com

About Mooji Mooji (Anthony Paul Moo-Young) is a disciple of the great Advaita master, Sri H.W.L. Poonja or Papaji, as he is affectionately known by devotees. Mooji was born on 29 January 1954 in Port Antonio, Jamaica. He later moved to Brixton, London where he lived for over 40 years. Here, Grace brought an encounter with a Christian mystic that caused Mooji to ‘walk out of his life’—an expression he uses to convey the profundity of that meeting. There was no longer a sense of personal autonomy. In his own words he says, “I felt I was sitting on the lap of God. A deep peace and trust in the Supreme arose inside my heart and has remained to this day.” Intrigued by this major shift in perception and wanting to merge fully in Truth, Mooji discovered the teachings of the great Indian saint, Sri Ramakrishna, whose utterances satisfied his heart deeply. This connection prompted Mooji to travel to India, where seemingly by chance he was to meet his living Master, Papaji. There, at Papaji’s feet, whatever still remained of a functioning ego was finally uprooted. Recognising Mooji’s radiance, seekers from various parts of the world began to approach him in search of the direct experience of Truth. The capacity to guide them arose spontaneously in him. Although Mooji’s presence carries a devotional fragrance, the words that spring from his being are of the nature of non-duality. His guidance evokes the love for and the direct recognition of the timeless Self we are. Mooji’s unsparing pointing to Truth, through the method of self-inquiry, forms the essence of this book. Mooji choicelessly dedicates his life to the calling of the Heart. It is this which has given rise to Monte Sahaja, an ashram and retreat centre being built in the south of Portugal. As Mooji himself explains, “I was compelled to come to this land, led by an unseen presence, so that seekers may meet the real land-Lord inside their own Heart.”

The Lost Little Wave Once upon a time, there was a little wave who had grown tired and restless, worn out from all her toing and fro-ing between horizon and shore. One day, she heard of a Great Ocean where there were no restless wanderings at the mercy of the tides, where everything was quiet and full of love. A huge desire arose in her to find this peaceful place—but she didn’t know where to begin. “Do you know the way to the Great Ocean?” she asked the other waves as they passed. One wave, an Elder who was greatly weighed down with seaweed, told her, “I’ve heard of this Ocean, but it is very far away and would take many lifetimes to reach.” Another wave gurgled, “I’ve heard that if we are very kind and gentle waves, and live very, very good lives, then when we die, the Great Ocean is where we will find ourselves.”

“You’re all deluded, there is no such thing as this Ocean,” added a swirling wave, cynically. “Hey! Come with me!” called a fresh wave with a friendly voice. “I know a wise wave who has actually been to the Great Ocean and knows it well. I will introduce you to him!” And off they went. As they were leaving, another wave grumbled, “Crazy kids! Why all this waste of energy searching for some mythical place? Why not be content with what you have?” Soon, they arrived at the abode of the wise wave. “Please, wise wave, can you show me the Great Ocean?” begged the little wave. The wise wave started laughing, in deep, warm gusts that sent spray skipping across the surface of the water. “What do you imagine the Great Ocean is, my child?”

“I’ve heard it is a wonderful place, full of beauty and joy, that there is love and lasting peace there,” trembled the little wave. The wise wave laughed some more. “You are searching for this Great Ocean, little friend, but you are Ocean itself! How funny that you are not aware of this!” This made the little wave more confused and a bit annoyed. “How can that be? I don’t see any ocean. All I see are waves, waves and more waves!” “That’s because you think you are a wave,” the wise wave smiled. At this, the little wave splashed against a nearby rock in frustration. “I don’t understand anything you are saying! Can you show me the Great Ocean, yes or no?” she pressed impatiently. “Okay, okay, determined little friend,” said the wise wave, “but before I do, would you mind diving below and massaging my aching feet?” The little wave dived… and disappeared as a wave. In that moment, she discovered that the Great Ocean was not different from herself—that in fact, she was the Great Ocean itself—she had simply been dreaming that she was a single wave! Knowing this, she enjoyed the play of dancing as each and every wave, in endless, immense Joy.