There is no distance between you and the Truth!

What are we doing in these meetings? What does being here in Satsang mean? First, you need to ask if there is any real distance between you and the Truth. Every time I face up this difficulty in Satsang: trying, through the words, to show that there is no distance between the Truth and you! 

After all, what is the distance between this Consciousness and the objects of which It is conscious (body, mind and world)? Is there any distance? What distance is that? Where is this distance created, produced? If you investigate this, in a simple and direct way, you will see there is no distance, this separation is not real, this Consciousness is always present, and the mind, body and world are taking place in That - they are not separate things. 

In other words, you only look through a belief, a thought’s idea about that experience happening. You never dive deep within this experience. However, if you do so, you will discover there is no one present in it; there is only the experience happening in Consciousness. In this way, the mind, the world, the body, the sensations, the emotions, the feelings, and the thoughts are happening without the illusion of separation, of duality. 

Duality means two things happening: the "consciousness" witnessing and the mind, body and world appearing independently... but this is not real! The mind is not independent, the body is not independent, the world is not independent! There is no separation, there are no two things! The thought is not independent from the thinker! In fact, the thinker is only a belief, an idea, another thought as well that does not work independently from that Witness, from that Consciousness. 

There is no thinker, thought, body and world as a separate thing, with an independent life. All this is real, but only in this Consciousness. You do not need to get rid of the thought, the mind nor body. Who would be trying to do that? Only the illusion of separation, of duality; the illusion of someone that is present as the thinker separate from the thought, the observer separate from what is observed, the one who feels separate from what is felt. 

All problems you have are on the idea there is a life of yours, a particular life happening; the idea that this life is someone's life - someone and his/her choices, desires, determination, intentions... So, whom are you fighting with? Discussing? Complaining? All your problems with others, are they problems with whom? All your problems with the world, all your problems with the mind, with the body, are they problems with whom? Is your conflict between you and your girlfriend, your wife, husband, neighbors? 

"All problems you have are on the idea there is a life of yours, a particular life happening; the idea that this life is someone's life - someone and his/her choices, desires, determination, intentions..."

You like some few ones, but do not like some others... So, whom do you like? Whom is important to you? Whom do you get along with? Notice that it is the same duality, is the same sense of someone present. "Someone present" has always friends and foes; it is the same illusion: if you have friends, you have enemies too; if you do like someone, there is someone you do not like; if you love someone, there is someone you do not love. You cannot have one thing without having the other. This is the duality, the illusion of separation! 

So, who makes you annoyed or happy? In a moment you are happy, but in just another moment you are sad, but who is making you this way? Who is this that feels happy or sad? Why he/she feels this way? Why is there something outside that makes you happy or sad? To whom does this separation exist? To whom does this duality exist? 

That is very clear, isn’t it? All this is happening in this illusion of mistaking yourself for the belief of being someone separate, controlling this moment, this experience, that is, in control of the thought, sensation, emotion, world, body, others... 

Notice that I am always pointing out to the Natural State, outside duality, outside the illusion, outside this separation between subject and object, between the observer and the object of observation. Notice that in this Silence, which is Consciousness, which is Presence, there is no separation. It only arises as a belief when you, as an entity, are separate from what is happening. It is always a belief, an idea, the illusion of someone present creating a distance - "the body and I", "the mind and I", "the world and I"... As if there were two things! 

Right here is the challenge of this work, which is to approach this realization intimately; the challenge to not separate yourself in order to not produce conflict, suffering, illusion. When you get separate, you create the conflict. To not get separate means stopping this war, the fear, the suffering. You must do this work now, in this instant, until It begins to take shape, until This begins to take Its place over there. 

Remember that you are going to the opposite direction - the illusion of separation, the illusion of the egoic mind is going to one direction and you are going to the opposite way; the egoic mind, the separatist mind, the illusory mind is going and you are coming back. You are leaving this route, this way, this hand, you are getting off this road! You are leaving the ego, duality, illusion, Maya, sleep, unconsciousness, egoic mind, person's history... You are very used to this road, to this way, and now you are taking another way: the way back… back home. 

Home here means Happiness, Freedom, Consciousness, Wisdom. Namaste!

*Online meeting transcription, originally held on February 13^th, 2017 - First published in Portuguese on September 21, 2017. Online meetings every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 10 pm (Local time: Brazil BRT), except during Retreat periods. For more information about Paltalk app and how to participate, please access: http://mestregualberto.com

When you search outside, you forget who You are.

In these meetings I am pointing out What I consider as the foremost thing, and it is not the talking itself. Your experience with the world of the senses, with the sensorial world, is the experience the mind knows and appreciates. You have such an education, such a bias that forces you to look at the outside world, at the world of the senses. My emphasis in these meetings is always to point out what I consider as the foremost thing: your own recognition, What you are inside; not the experience you know, but the Nature where those experiences are arising from, where they are appearing… The Nature of the experience itself, this Consciousness that You are.

Your whole existential frustration is bolstered by the orientation you have been experiencing through the senses. In other words: you are forgetting who you are and you are mistaking yourself for the experiences of the senses. All that matters to the egoic mind is the experience of the senses. So, if you observe it thoroughly, you notice you get very impressed by what you see, by what you listen to, by you touch, by what you perceive. The sensorial perception is something very important to you and is always at the service of an ego identity, of the person you believe to be. So, you are unable to see from the viewpoint of What you are. You see from the mind’s point of view; you hear, you speak, you touch, you feel from the mind´s standpoint... Here I mean this separatist mind, this egoic mind.

That is why your life lacks beauty, as it lacks depth. The person’s nature is superficial. It is the ego’s nature. No matter how pretty the things are in your surroundings, you remain shallow, considering others as people. You talk to people as if you were a person. You listen to someone as if you were “someone” too. So, all your contact with the external world is only a consequence of that internal superficiality of the egoic mind, because there is no depth, and when there is no depth, there is no Wealth, there is no Grace, there is no Beauty, there is no Truth.

It works like this: you see yourself as someone and you want to be fulfilled by others; you want to find wealth in others, depth in others, fulfillment, happiness... You want to experience love, you want to experience freedom, but always in relation to others. What do we do in these meetings called Satsang? We investigate the illusory nature of this "me" you believe to be, a fundamental thing, as it immediately frees you of expectations to attain any kind of fulfillment in the "outside world”. The ego lives in a very needy, frightened, dependent... quite unhappy way. It needs appreciation, recognition, love coming from others - always from there into here, from the outside into the inside. It is a constant search for being someone to others. This is the nature of the ego and you got to go beyond that, beyond this illusion of being this someone that has caused your life to be so superficial. The consequence to all this, to this lack of depth, is boredom, loneliness, depression, anxiety, shyness and all other forms of fear.

One fundamental thing you need to realize how to feel Love independent of others, how to reach Peace independent of others, how to attain Freedom independent of others. In order to do that, you need to get rid of the mind, to abandon those images the mind produces all the time in your head on who he or she is to you. You cannot depend on it! Only then, you will begin to be serious about yourself, to enjoy Life as it is.

You need to look at what is happening at this moment, without mistaking yourself for it or getting impressed by it, without a romantic appeal to life with the belief that something or someone in the outside would provide you what you already have therein. When you search outside, you forget Who You Are. When you begin to listen to me, I “demolish” your relationships, because I want you to find Love in yourself. Only then, you can go outwardly and then date, marry, have children, friends, since nothing else can make you suffer anymore, especially boyfriends, friends, husbands, children... What you call as "my world", the story of a character you believe you are.

"You need to look at what is happening at this moment, without mistaking yourself for it or getting impressed by it, without a romantic appeal to life with the belief that something or someone in the outside would provide you what you already have therein. When you search outside, you forget Who You Are."

Is it hard to get this?

In this history lies your misery, not your happiness. First, you realize yourself and the Happiness, and then you look outwardly. This is completely different from what you have learned. You have heard phrases like "you will never be happy if you do not make others happy!" This is a lie! You are not here to make the world happy. You are here to realize there is no world and, therefore, there are no others, but You. Your liberation and happiness are the world’s liberation and the world’s happiness. However, the world and the others are not separate from You. Therefore, when you realize Happiness you realize who You are, not what others are. This way of thinking "the others and I" is totally wrong, pure duality.

The mind lives constantly connected to this imagination. This creates your dream, the dream of your life, this ego identity history, the person with a name, a father, a mother (or that had one once), with brothers, friends... The person has so many things and lives deeply entangled in the midst of everything he or she has. The person lives worried, scared, in jealousy, and strives to control, to hold and to protect things in the attempt to avoid the unhappiness of the loss.

To be someone, to see yourself as someone, is very miserable. When you see yourself as “someone”, there is always something new coming into your life, and this "new thing" gets old, so you want to replace it by something new, which later on you will wish to replace again, as it gets old too... and therefore, there is no freedom. In Satsang, I invite you to disappear, to be only What you were born to be. So, everything is already gone and curiously everything is already present! Here is a different "math": when you have nothing, you have everything. In the ego, in the mind, the “math” is different: you have everything, but you have nothing, since you do not have yourself. It is very miserable to be someone …

OK? That’s all for now! Namaste!

* Online meeting transcription, originally held on August 11, 2017. First published in Portuguese on September 19, 2017. -Online meetings every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 10 pm Local Time: Brazil BRT, except during Retreat periods. For more information about Paltalk app and how to participate, please visit: http://mestregualberto.com

A new view about yourself

You have been living under restraint, for this is the burden of personality. You look at everything around you through that personality, which is the sense of identity created by yourself due to your imagination. You have been identifying with your daily experience, creating an identity with your professional experience, family, friends, objects (such as houses and cars), activities ... So, the sense of personality is attached to a so-called "life" based on externalities, and it is from that you have assigned this sense of identity you call "me." You consider yourself a person, so you are a personality.

The word "person" means "mask," an individual feature, and that is the restriction. You are restricted to a personal experience, so the Mystery, the Beauty and the Grace of Life are lost, because your way of seeing everything around you is always limited by personal decisions, choices and concerns. There is no Intelligence!

When you really understand the need to investigate this, you open up yourself to the opportunity of going beyond this situation of mediocrity, which is the situation that everyone is undergoing. Everybody lives that way, because they are mistaken him/herself for an image he/she does of him/herself, a belief about who he/she is. So, when you live identified with that personality, with that person, there is a huge limitation What are you doing to yourself? What are you doing when you are living within that sense of person? In Satsang, we say that you are living in the ego, living in a false identity, establishing your daily life within this condition of "personal life," in this limitation, subjection, restriction.

From the person standpoint of view, which means living within one's own concepts and beliefs, within common ideas, that is a very heavy burden, a huge burden. This is the human unhappiness, unhappiness of the ego, unhappiness of the “I,” personal unhappiness. This burden is the search for safety, the search for recognition, comfort and fulfillment, somehow. One thing that never happens, because personality never gets filled, never finds comfort or safety. The ego, however it seeks, does not know Happiness. In fact, its search is precisely by reason of this situation. The nature of the ego is non-safety, is fear, is desire.

Your work here is to investigate the Nature of the Truth about yourself, and then the fight ends. When you are free from the "person," there is no more struggle. This personality is only a mask, a false identity and, therefore, a hallucination. Notice that all that is required is a new view about yourself. This new view gives you a correct perspective about the external world, your world of relationships with people, with objects, with professional activities, or any other activity.

"Your work here is to investigate the Nature of the Truth about yourself, and then the fight ends."

It is possible to attain Liberation from this hallucination, this experiencer, this observer, this thinker, this "I," this "me" ... It is when this limitation, this restriction is totally swept away, totally destroyed, broken. When this new and real perspective, which is the right perspective, is present, there is no one else! Some call This "Awakening," or "Enlightenment" - the end of confusion, of disorder, of war, of fear.

You were born to be absolutely and unconditionally free! Something possible in this Intelligence, but impossible in this limitation, in that mistaken relationship with Life, with Yourself. The love to the Truth, to the Life is the surrender to the Real. This courage to surrender to the Real is possible when you are really "burning" for This! Truth must be the first thing in life, because That is Life! Without it, it is only illusion in this hallucination of being someone; the illusion of personality in this hallucination of the false “me.”

This implies a true recognition of the Truth about yourself, the realization that there is no one present here and now in this day-to-day experience, in this so-called "daily life." This is what we call Consciousness, Presence, Being, Life as It Is, the State of pure Wisdom. You are a Sage - this is your Real identity - but a Sage does not live in suffering, because He is not in hallucination, not in a hypnotic effect, in a suggested effect, attached to a belief model. This is how human beings have been living; but not the Sage!

|*Online meeting transcription, originally held on August 3, 2018. First published in Portuguese on September 2, 2018. Online meetings every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 10 pm Local Time: Brazil BRT, except during Retreat periods. For more information about Paltalk app and how to participate, please access: http://mestregualberto.com

The matter of Guru and disciple

To be in Satsang means being open to the Truth, being ready to be a disciple. The disciple is the one who is ready to investigate and to find out the Truth about oneself. Thus, to be a disciple is to be in this position, preparing oneself to face the Truth. This preparation is a deep and meaningful requirement. This is something fundamental! I am going to talk to you a little bit about this matter of Guru and disciple.

It is interesting to mention the ego does not have this kind of attitude. The ego wants to be a Master without even knowing what being a disciple means. This explains how easy there are many new masters arising presently. This readiness to find out the Truth about yourself is a consequence of being open to look directly and to investigate life itself and its meaning. You cannot find out the meaning, but you need to investigate yourself in order to know directly, by yourself, there is no meaning at all. However, this inner question must come first and then you find out that there is no answer, but you have to find out this; an idea, a belief about it is not enough. This means being a disciple of Life, and here Life is the Guru. Life (as It is) is the Consciousness itself, the Presence itself. That is why it is a real requirement to find out how beautiful and graceful is to be a disciple.

There is an internal feeling of orientation, because the Guru is inside, and if He is inside, He can present himself externally too. When you are ready to look at life and ask the question: "What is the meaning of all of this?" you are ready to see the Guru, and thus the Guru appears and attracts you. The external Guru is this internal Guru, it is Life manifesting itself to show you, to reveal you how mysterious Life is. Therefore, it is a great blessing to be attracted by this Grace. The Guru's Presence is very important, but if you are not mature, it may take time. When the disciple is ready, which means being completely open, the Master appears. This is the role of the Guru in human shape. When you are open, you are a disciple of Life. You are in Satsang to open yourself, to investigate and to experience this Truth directly. You need this, because you are not settled in It yet. There is something inside you that feels the importance of being here. The inexplicable joy you feel of being in Satsang is a proof to this need.

The ego can never see anything else but itself, and what it sees is always an object. Only the Guru sees the Guru, and by means of this, He finds You. The Guru's Presence is instantaneous, but if you are not mature yet, it may take time for you to see Him. There is only one Guru! When you look at Him and you see a person, something objective, it means you cannot see Him and meet your Self yet. You can only see the Guru when you are not attached to this image of "person" anymore. Until then, you are not seeing the Guru, he will be just a "teacher", and, as such, it will not work out. It is important to be open, living in deep and complete innocence, sensitivity and openness; this is the beauty of this meeting. Only then, the sense of separation vanishes. Then, the Real Guru is found within you.

However, if you are still identified with the body and attached to the idea of being a person, you are not a disciple yet, you do not have a real interest in This. When you have the right feeling, the perfect surrender, the perfect openness, you are always with the Guru. When you really feel what You are, there is no separation between You and the Guru. This is not connected to the concept of time and space, of shape and names. It is not!

*Online meeting transcription originally held on July 4th, 2018. First published in Portuguese on September 4th, 2018. For further information about our meetings, please click here.

Your freedom lies in not identifying with results

We are before this great wonder: life! In the nature, only the so-called “human being” is in the pursuit of an answer to life. The beauty of this meeting is the possibility of assessing the present Truth, this Mystery. Life is something that just happens, but the human beings have a huge problem, since life does not provide answers to their questions: “Why am I living?”, “Why am I breathing?”, “Why is the heart beating?”, “Why are things happening this way?” Some things may seem to be fair or unfair; others may seem good or bad; right or wrong. Why are some people good while others are bad? Why are some children  healthy born while others are sick born?

This happens to human beings and to animals, but human beings are the only one who asks questions and searches for answers. As they don't find the answer, they end up creating a very logical one, such as: “It is the cause and effect law, action and reaction”. This is very logical and therefore explains and balances everything, but the only true answer to all this is the presence of  duality. 

There is no good without evil; no health without sickness; no pleasure without pain. So we realize this applies to everything. There is no life, no existence without duality: right and wrong, positive and negative, male and female, good and bad, pleasure and pain, to be born and to die... This is easy notice! Without the pain  experience, you would never know what pleasure really is. As you experience health, you know what sickness is. As you experience life, you know what a corpse is, what a “cold body” is, breathless, dead. This is quite simple and does not require any sort of philosophy, as the mind tries to create. The mind creates “cause and effect”, “action and reaction”, God doing good and Devil doing evil.  

Not to accept the duality of life is to be in conflict and this is something created by the mind. The egoic mind creates the sense of separation between good and evil, between positive and negative, between pleasure and pain. So, it lives in a battle in the pursuit of one thing while trying to get rid of another one. The sense of separation is basically to not welcome life as it happens, acknowledging that everything happens in accordance with the Divine Will. 

There is only God doing everything! There is only God happening! There is only God present! To wish one thing and not another one is to be in conflict; it is to believe in the sense of a “me” making choices. All the human suffering lies in this idea of being a person, a separate entity, with the power to make choices. The person “decides”, “solves” and “does” things, which indeed is an illusion. There is not anybody doing absolutely anything! There is not anybody deciding absolutely anything! This is just a thought and you have believed in it for a long time. Life is just what happens.Then, for the question “Why?”, there is no answer. “From where did I come?”, “What am I doing here?”, “To where do I go?” -  There are no answers to none of this. 

"There is only God doing everything! There is only God happening! There is only God present!"

You did not come, you are not here and you are not going anywhere because you do not exist! I know this destroys  philosophy,  religion and  psychology too. I am sorry, but this is pure fantasy. A fantasy created by the thought that created a thinker to think such things. What I am saying is that the thought itself has created the illusion of a thinker, trying to unveil the mystery of life. It is pure training, proclivity, the bias you all have since your childhood, since you were raised within a culture that has bolstered this. 

So, the whole matter is the illusion of a useless “me”, since life is already happening without it! Imagination is unnecessary! Life is happening through this mechanism, through this living organism; this Presence is breathing there, making the heart beat, shaping the body, the world and all appearances. The fact is that Life expresses itself in this duality and nothing is logical, sensible or can be answered. There is no answer! 

You must act as if you had fully choice, freedom and responsibility, but you must give up the illusion of believing the results come from your choice, your freedom,  your will and determination. Results will always come from the Consciousness in accordance with God's will. God is the result of everything happening! The consequences of your choice, of your will, of your determination are not under your control. Only the illusion of your determination, of your will is, as a belief, under your control. 

The time will come when it will be clear to you that there is no “you”, neither in the results of decisions, nor when you come up with them. The fact is that internal bias will define these choices. You can make the clear decision that you need to go on a strict diet because you have morbid obesity and, even though, not be able to go on a diet. This intellectual decision will not determine absolutely anything, and even if you can go on the diet, the outcome will be in accordance with the Divine Will. 

The point is that all actions take place in God. Things can happen in three ways: you may get what you want, you may not get what you want and things can happen in an unexpected way, for better or worse. All this is always determined by God, by this Consciousness, by this Divine Will. There is only this Will and there is not any “me” deciding, choosing, solving and making things happen. 

The thought passes, the desire arises, but this does not determine absolutely anything! Everything happens according to this Divine Will, and your freedom is to not identify with the results,  to not pursue pleasure, to not escape from pain, to not choose one thing over another; it is to abandon the illusion of a “me” in the control,  doing something. 

Online meeting transcription, originally held on May 23rd, 2018  - First published in Portuguese on August 24th, 2018. Online meetings every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 10 pm (Local Time: Brazil BRT), except during Retreat periods. 

For more …