The communication of silence

People say that Ramana was in silence. His Upadesa, his teaching, was always through Silence; but you should not mistake Ramana's Silence for the silence of non-speech. He was in Silence and has communicated in silence. For us, communication is speech; for the Sage, communication is communication. He was giving a message in silence, but He was not in silence of not communicating. Even in our ordinary experience, we know that communication does not depend on speech.

The sound of the voice, the speech, is only a way of communication, but it is not the most important one. For the Sage, the greatest form of communication is Silence, but Silence does not imply absence of voice or speech... Ramana also spoke!

What we see in the mind is a speech that does not communicate and a sound that does not say anything. In our common day by day experience, we may notice that just a glance, a gesture, or a facial expression is sufficient for something to be communicated. When there is an anger face expression directed at you, you know the other is angry. When one opens a smile, you know he/she is happy to see you, that you make one fell well.

You are in Satsang to receive communication, to know what is being asked from you. You come to Satsang to find out how to Realize What You Are, and the primary premise is that you are in front of a Buddha, or it should be like that. You are here to find out how not to suffer anymore, how to make no mistake, how not to be unhappy. So, if that is the purpose in Satsang, you need to find out what to take and what to abandon, what is relevant and what is not relevant to you.

The question you have to formulate in Satsang is, "Who am I?" Then, you wait for communication, which may come by speech, by gesture, by look, by silence... If your willingness is to receive, to find out what you have to take and what you have to abandon, communication will come.

This picture for me [Master points to the picture of Sri Ramana Maharshi], during all these years, was not just an inert image, a facial expression. My Guru, the Master, was saying, through this picture, what was false and what was not, what was an illusion and what was real, what I had to take and what I had to abandon in order to realize Happiness. So, this image was never the same. It was always communicating this investigation.

It is no wonder at all, because life is all the time giving you signs of what are mere repetitions, habits and practices that mean absolutely nothing to you, to your Happiness, to your Realization, and you should let it go. In the same way, life is showing you what you should get, what is relevant and what is not relevant, what is important and what is not important.

In general, a person cannot see these signs of life, cannot see these expressions on the "face" of life. So, this person needs a living Master, a Guru, to see on the expression of a human face what is Real and what is not real, what is worth sustaining and what is not worth. Therefore, the Guru will always be important.

The Guru does not necessarily need to have a human form, but the Guru must have a face. If the Guru has a face, He/She is the Satguru, and if you can look at Guru’s face, He/She is your Master. Nevertheless, if you cannot look at his/her face, you are still blind. The ability to look at Guru’s face comes from a work of Grace, that mysterious power that provides you openness, intelligence and fervor... A Real Passion for That! I call It Grace, which is what gives you the possibility to approach This, so that you can see It.

I was blind, but now I see! You see, the face communicates, and then you have the intelligence, the fervor and the ability to "learn." You "learn" when you unlearn! When you unlearn your model, you "learn" what is Real. In a moment, this "face" will be smiling at you, and the next moment it will say, "You are holding what you should not hold, you are sustaining a misunderstanding, a mistake, a lie. Let it go!" In fact, this "face" is not Santa Claus’s communication - "Ho, Ho, Ho! Merry Christmas to everyone!" Santa Claus is an illusion and his bag of gifts too.

What are you sustaining that basically keeps you away from Realizing Happiness? What is your real impediment?

Participant I: Myself!

Master Gualberto: What is this "myself" which is the real impediment? If this "myself" is a fiction, how can it be a real impediment? How is this "I" configured? What is it made of?

Participant II: It is made of appreciation! When I value the thoughts that appear, when I give importance to it.

Master Gualberto: When you value your thoughts, what are you basically valuing?

Participant I: The illusion of someone separate, with his/her own life, who must have things the way he/she wants, who must have the desires achieved... It is conflict! It is to stand against life!

Master Gualberto: That´s it! Knowing what you want and what you do not want, the right and the wrong, what should be and what should not be. This is the impediment!

* Presential meeting transcription, originally held in meeting held in João Pessoa city, Brazil, on December 2017. - First published in Portuguese on May 21, 2018. For more information, please access: http://mestregualberto.com.

The immersion of the mind into the heart

Welcome to Satsang! We are once again together in this wonderful purpose, which is the approximation to the recognition of this moment. Our Natural State of Being is right now, at this moment, of absolute Happiness, and that is what has escaped from us. What obscures the flow or expression of this Happiness are these constant thoughts occurring inside the head, in a rapid succession.

Thoughts are like clouds obscuring our Natural State of Happiness. The habit of the mind is this restlessness... The "egoic mind" is extremely agitated. In this state, we are unable to experience this inherent Happiness.

Unhappiness is the agitation of the mind – too much occupation, preoccupation, anticipation – and all confusion is a consequence of that. The truth is that the mind is constantly being driven by its old habits and conditionings. So, this movement of identification with thoughts, which produces desires and fears, is something very constant.

So, mind is constantly encouraged to move outwards, always moving toward its externalities, always toward things that it imagines to be important for itself. You can observe it, the mind is always occupied with particular subjects, always involved with stories connected to the sense of personality, personal one. The purpose of the mind is to accomplish something for itself, for the sense of "person" is very important to it. The mind is basically this sense of "person." So, our Natural State of absolute Happiness, present in this instant, is being obscured by the constant movement of the mind and its thoughts. The greater is the activity of the mind, the more obscure this State becomes. The faster is this restless movement of the mind, the more is anxiety, stress, nervousness, preoccupation, and suffering.

Right now, in this room, you have an encounter with a speech born of this Natural State of Happiness. So, the Master is the one who shows us it is not possible to realize or to reach Happiness, because it is something already present here and now, in this instant. All we have to do is to turn ourselves to the right direction, which is not the exterior. The correct direction is the immersion of the mind into the "Heart," and this is the space or place of Happiness.

Perhaps, your question is: "How to lessen this agitation? The mind and its agitation, the mind and its thoughts, the mind and its plans, projects, worries, anticipation?" Maybe, that is your question, and this is why our emphasis is on Meditation.

The art of Happiness is the art of Meditation, but it is not what you mean by meditation, for Meditation is not quietening the mind temporarily, so it will get agitated again. This kind of meditation has been taught around the Planet.

What I understand by meditation is to be quiet, not to be physically quiet, nor to force the mind to stillness. In a certain way, with some exercise, some practice and time, you can do this, learning to focus the mind on one single point, to breathe in a certain way. There are several techniques that can give you this, in this format. Our emphasis here is completely different.

Basically, Meditation is the flowering of your Natural State, and the "soil" for the flowering of This, of this Meditation, your Natural State, is the careful, patient, applied observation of the movement of the mind, moment by moment. So this self-observation is the Real way of investigating the illusion of this false “I.” Therefore, self-investigation is self-observation.

If you are driving your car or walking somewhere or sitting watching TV, this is the time to observe this false "I." Just watch it! Observe the thoughts that come up, the concerns, the motivations, the memories of two hours ago, from a previous day. So, in front of the TV, driving the car, or walking, you are watching the story of a false “I" revealing itself. When that comes, it tries to capture you in time, which is created by thought, by that imagination, which is memory. Thought is always imagination, which is knowledge.

This knowledge, which is thought, imagines the past and the future. When you get lost in this time created by thought, you are identified with a character, with the story of that false “me.” As you drive the car, walk or watch television, it is not this moment that matters to the "ego-identity," but the story that arises at that moment. When you are captured by the story, you are in the illusion of the false “me” agitated by this "ego-identity," and there is no Freedom, Peace, Love, Happiness.

So, Happiness is not present in driving the car, walking or watching television. You are identified with a character, trapped in the story of the "I," of this false identity. This is the illusion of this character, its illusory state of being; it is the absence of your Natural State of Meditation. Therefore, Meditation begins when this space is completely free from mental agitation, memory, imagination, these thoughts.

You have to discover the Happiness of your Natural State, which is Meditation in that instant, in this present moment. This is Real Meditation: to completely disidentify from this illusory "I," this character. This fundamental Presence of our Being is pure Consciousness, pure Freedom, Truth, Happiness.

Notice that in our lines, we never separate "Being" from "Happiness," because Being is Happiness and Happiness is never separate from Meditation! This is the truth behind everything. When, by an action of the Grace, you are attracted to Satsang, when you come to Satsang, the only purpose of this encounter is the encounter with God, which is Being, Consciousness, Happiness. So, the Guru, or the Master, is the one who attracts us exactly to show us the irrelevance of the mind, the illusion of this character you believe you are.

It is quite interesting... Everyone is drawing your attention to exteriority. When the Master comes up, the Master captures your attention so that you turn inwards – here is the importance of the Guru.

The Guru is the one who tells you, "You are not the mind, you are not the body; you are not these feelings, nor these thoughts." My comprehension of this reveals you have no condition to discover this alone, otherwise you would already have done it. The Master is the one who points out, who highlights, who shows you this, because this work is already done in a true Master.

What I am talking about is that a true Master is the One who has already realized This. I am not talking about a teacher, a mentor, someone who still feels like a "person" but speaks theoretically of this "non-person." Therefore, sharing the Truth is sharing the Being, the Happiness, and This is Meditation!

OK? Let's stop now. Thanks for the meeting! Namaste!

*Online meeting transcription, originally held on September 20th, 2017 – First published in Portuguese on November 28, 2017. For more information, please access: http://mestregualberto.com.

The imaginary world of the mind

Until nowadays, you believed God would come, would appear in your life to save you. I am saying that when God comes into your life, it is to put an end to this illusion you need to be saved, rescued. When God comes into your life, it is for the end of this illusion you are here and God is there, that you were here waiting for and God just came to meet you. It is about the end of this illusion there are God and you.

Look at the people around you... What do they say? What do they deal with? They talk about the past, or their personal experiences, their desires, their fears, their beliefs, their disbelief, their hopes, their yearnings, concerns, dreads, their particularity... a constant search for self-fulfillment by sharing something with someone, just to be important, to be seen, to get the validation of the person they believe to be. They are using you, and all of you – as people you are – are using others. You all are playing the same game.

This conversation about nothing never ends! Pure stupidity! Only the “mechanisms,” the “machines” are changing, but it is just the mind talking to itself.

These “machines” see each other in an illusory way as separate entities, in a relationship based on reciprocity, fellowship, friendship. However, this is not real, because you are not real. If you are not real, the other is not real either; and since the other is not real, who are you talking to? Who are you? It is only the mind in its old and tireless "blah, blah, blah."

When you are with me, you are in Satsang, and that means being apart of the constant and feverish activity of this inner “blablablá,” of this chattering saying things to yourself and to others.

Being in Satsang means remaining in Silence, and that is the purpose of coming to me. You come to me to get silent, not to daydream. Do you know what “to daydream” means? This constant walk that takes place in this virtual world created by thought, like this 3D roller coaster, which we have just seen. You wear glasses and take a trip: you go up, go down, go through the loop... but, in fact, you have not left any place.

Ego works like this. It is as real as this 3D virtual trip with special glasses. You do not leave the place and however you travel... A journey that never ends, which is corroborated by everyone, that everybody helps you to make it. Everyone says it is like this anyway, this is the model, the formula, the format, that this is how it should be, and I come to Satsang to question it.

In Satsang, which means establishing yourself in Silence, entering, plunging into this Silence, I question this illusion – the illusion of someone in a trip. In my talk, in my silence, in my look, I am saying, "you are there, you do not have to take this trip. You do not have to daydream. You do not have to move into this illusory world of thought, belief, relationship, where you need people and things, where you need to be with others to vent, to unburden yourself... What to unburden? What to vent? With whom?

If you remain with the pain, you go beyond it. If you share it, it becomes stronger, maintaining its continuity in this illusion, which is the illusion of someone in it, of someone within that pain. There is no one in this pain! This pain will not kill you, because you were never born, so you cannot die. You cannot experience immortality or mortality.

So, keep that pain and find out it has no reality, except in this imaginary world of thought in which you take a trip on a roller coaster with 3D glasses.

*Online meeting transcription – First published in Portuguese on November 26th, 2016. For more information, please access: http://mestregualberto.com.