It is always great we are together. What I consider important here is not the words, but the fact of your Own Presence. It is not a presence of a person, of a participant in a room where people get together, but it is the very own Presence of Reality.
Right now, you exist and you are conscious. That is the important thing! Without any thought, you are absolutely sure about your Being. You are sure of being conscious. This is the essential Reality which we are pointing out in these meetings. Just that! This is the Essential Reality: Consciousness. All Sages throughout all time, all Buddhas talked exactly about this, only about this. This is the core, the essence of the message of Buddha, Ramana, Jesus, all of them.
In Satsang, we are talking about this Consciousness, which is Presence. This is the unique Reality. Therefore, it is the only “thing” that matters. You cannot obtain nor lose This! This Consciousness is not an object. It is not a thought. It is not an idea. I may now say something that, intellectually, seems to be hard to follow, but this Consciousness is real despite you. It does not matter if you are in “sleep” state, “dreaming” state, imagination, or identification with thoughts. Consciousness remains as the unique Reality, That what You are in your Being.
The common state of the human being is “sleep state.” He/she is born, grows up, gets married, raises a family, gets old, gets sick, and dies. All this happens while he/she is “sleeping,” but even so this Reality remains always present. Then, what you call “life” is just a “dream” state of the mind in which you identify with and experience the world. In fact, this world of yours, the world of someone who dreams, is inside your own mind. However, this Consciousness You are is beyond all of this. It is full, total, complete, now, right here. You are prior to the mind. Your True Nature is the unique Reality and the only “thing” that matters.
People get involved with every kind of spiritual practices and religious exercises, and so they get fantastic skills in this so called “spiritual world.” It gives them much power. They become “differentiated,” “special” people, but what is behind it all is still the movement of the “dream,” the movement of the egoic mind. It has absolutely nothing to do with the Sage’s purpose, the One who is free, living in His/Her True Nature. I know that some of you here in the room are shocked by listening to it, because for many years you have been acquiring skills in this so called “spiritual world.”
Satsang has an entirely different purpose. It has nothing to do with the result of fantastic skills in the world of spirituality. A Realized man is not a spiritual being; He is just the Natural Being. People believe the contact with Divine is the contact with spirituality, but the contact with Divine is the contact with Reality. Reality is natural; it does not make anybody special. The Natural State is the end of the sense of an identity present in this so-called experience “human life.” It is the end of the ego, and therefore it cannot make you a special being.
The deepest understanding is the simplicity of your True Nature, the recognition of that Presence-Consciousness that You are. It is not about finding something through fantastic skills in the so called “spiritual world,” but just about recognizing the Reality of your own Home, your own True Nature. When This is present, imagination disappears, and then the imagined “person” disappears from the “movie,” from the “dream,” from this “life.” Notice that I did not say the “dream” or the “movie” disappears; the “movie” goes on, but there is not the “person” anymore. Thus, there are thoughts, but there is not the “thinker” anymore; actions, but not the “author;” choices, but not “the one who chooses.”
So, basically, there is not any difference, except this one: there is no more the sense of “person,” of the “character in the movie.” There is not the sense of separation anymore; it is gone. It is clear that when it is gone, there is no "someone" to psychologically suffer, fear, envy, control, and so on. Notice that it does not make you someone special. It is just the realization that You are Free, living in your Real Nature, without conflict, suffering, fear, and without the illusion of being in control, doing things. You are Pure Consciousness!
When you look at the sea, it is not possible to imagine that it is worried about its waves. Inside a small boat with a broken rudder, or with broken outboard motor, lost in the middle of the sea, at the mercy of the wind and the heavy storm, with huge waves coming up and down, someone worries about the waves, but the sea is not worried about its own waves.
You, as Consciousness, aware of Yourself, of your True Nature, are the Real Sea. In the illusion of the sense of separation, you are just a broken boat in the middle of the ocean under a heavy storm, heavy wind, rain, and before rough sea. This is the illusion of your “dream”! In this sea, which is the existence, “you,” as a separate entity, feel like that: afraid and lost. This sea, in which you are lost, is in your imagination. In the Real Sea, You are not separate from the waves. You are these waves and they are the Sea. Therefore, the Sea is You! In Consciousness there is no the sense of separation, and so there is nothing like a “lost little boat.”
In your imaginary world, your life turns around beliefs, concepts, ideas, thoughts, stories, of a past you believe you have lived, and a future you believe you will live, or you are afraid it will not happen, or yet it will happen differently from imagined. All of this is in your mental imaginary world, in which you are a small boat lost in this ocean of existence – an imaginary existence for a small imaginary boat. This is the sense of separation, the illusion of a false “me”.
You cannot solve it! I have said it is a maze that you have not entered, because there is no door, and therefore there is no way out either. Chinese and Japanese Sages in Zen use Koans, which are questions or enigma that cannot be answered or solved. So, notice it: I have told you here this Realization is not something special. It is Natural, but at no moment did I say it is something common, ordinary, something the mind can access. This is “something” beyond the mind, beyond religious and spiritual practices, beyond all kind of “gymnastics.”
You cannot find in the mind any answer to This we are talking about here, which is “something” Natural, simple, but not ordinary or easy. You may gather a great amount of information, read all the books that have ever been written about Self-Realization, Awakening, Enlightenment. You may watch all the current videos of the so called “gurus” talking about This. You may listen to all speeches, including this one here and other similar ones; however, none of this will make you Free. No technique, practice, discipline or exercise will be able to help you.
There is only one way, a direct path, which is not an easy one, but it is the most natural and the simplest one: Consciousness. You need to pay attention to the movement of this subjective, psychological world of yours. Moment by moment, you need to see yourself, become aware of yourself, of what goes on inside, of what are your thoughts, feelings, perceptions, emotions, imaginations, beliefs, fears, desires… You need to be aware of your story and not be identified with it. In other words, you have to be aware of this character you are identified with, but which is not you.
Thus, the only direct way is this self-investigation in this Consciousness, which is Meditation, and in this surrender, which is to abandon all this. You only awake from the dream when you become aware that to keep on sleeping is not worth. For the great majority, everything is fine, comfortable. If you are here in Satsang, it is because there is something already bothering you in this “dream” model, otherwise you would not be here, because the great majority has good friends, a beautiful family, a bright future ahead. They have already accomplished their goals or they believe that they will be able to achieve them in the future.
Actually, the dream is not exactly the problem, but not being aware it is just a dream, yes. So, there is a lack of Consciousness, and It comes from self-investigation. What we are doing together is to perceive the illusion of this character who has a name, a shape, a story and a world of relations. This self-investigation reinforces in you this sense of inadequacy, making you suspect of this "dreaming" state in which you live. When this is defined, the real Awakening work begins. That is what we are doing in all of our meetings.
Your family, your friends and all society are “sleeping.” When you start to question this “dream,” you are approaching the possibility of stopping dreaming. If you stop dreaming, the “dream” goes on, but no more to you. Thereby, in your Natural State, the world is seen as 3D movie, a great movie of ideas and thoughts, which now can no longer capture you.
Right now, you exist and you are conscious. That is the important thing! Without any thought, you are absolutely sure about your Being. You are sure of being conscious. This is the essential Reality which we are pointing out in these meetings. Just that! This is the Essential Reality: Consciousness. All Sages throughout all time, all Buddhas talked exactly about this, only about this. This is the core, the essence of the message of Buddha, Ramana, Jesus, all of them.
In Satsang, we are talking about this Consciousness, which is Presence. This is the unique Reality. Therefore, it is the only “thing” that matters. You cannot obtain nor lose This! This Consciousness is not an object. It is not a thought. It is not an idea. I may now say something that, intellectually, seems to be hard to follow, but this Consciousness is real despite you. It does not matter if you are in “sleep” state, “dreaming” state, imagination, or identification with thoughts. Consciousness remains as the unique Reality, That what You are in your Being.
The common state of the human being is “sleep state.” He/she is born, grows up, gets married, raises a family, gets old, gets sick, and dies. All this happens while he/she is “sleeping,” but even so this Reality remains always present. Then, what you call “life” is just a “dream” state of the mind in which you identify with and experience the world. In fact, this world of yours, the world of someone who dreams, is inside your own mind. However, this Consciousness You are is beyond all of this. It is full, total, complete, now, right here. You are prior to the mind. Your True Nature is the unique Reality and the only “thing” that matters.
People get involved with every kind of spiritual practices and religious exercises, and so they get fantastic skills in this so called “spiritual world.” It gives them much power. They become “differentiated,” “special” people, but what is behind it all is still the movement of the “dream,” the movement of the egoic mind. It has absolutely nothing to do with the Sage’s purpose, the One who is free, living in His/Her True Nature. I know that some of you here in the room are shocked by listening to it, because for many years you have been acquiring skills in this so called “spiritual world.”
Satsang has an entirely different purpose. It has nothing to do with the result of fantastic skills in the world of spirituality. A Realized man is not a spiritual being; He is just the Natural Being. People believe the contact with Divine is the contact with spirituality, but the contact with Divine is the contact with Reality. Reality is natural; it does not make anybody special. The Natural State is the end of the sense of an identity present in this so-called experience “human life.” It is the end of the ego, and therefore it cannot make you a special being.
The deepest understanding is the simplicity of your True Nature, the recognition of that Presence-Consciousness that You are. It is not about finding something through fantastic skills in the so called “spiritual world,” but just about recognizing the Reality of your own Home, your own True Nature. When This is present, imagination disappears, and then the imagined “person” disappears from the “movie,” from the “dream,” from this “life.” Notice that I did not say the “dream” or the “movie” disappears; the “movie” goes on, but there is not the “person” anymore. Thus, there are thoughts, but there is not the “thinker” anymore; actions, but not the “author;” choices, but not “the one who chooses.”
So, basically, there is not any difference, except this one: there is no more the sense of “person,” of the “character in the movie.” There is not the sense of separation anymore; it is gone. It is clear that when it is gone, there is no "someone" to psychologically suffer, fear, envy, control, and so on. Notice that it does not make you someone special. It is just the realization that You are Free, living in your Real Nature, without conflict, suffering, fear, and without the illusion of being in control, doing things. You are Pure Consciousness!
When you look at the sea, it is not possible to imagine that it is worried about its waves. Inside a small boat with a broken rudder, or with broken outboard motor, lost in the middle of the sea, at the mercy of the wind and the heavy storm, with huge waves coming up and down, someone worries about the waves, but the sea is not worried about its own waves.
You, as Consciousness, aware of Yourself, of your True Nature, are the Real Sea. In the illusion of the sense of separation, you are just a broken boat in the middle of the ocean under a heavy storm, heavy wind, rain, and before rough sea. This is the illusion of your “dream”! In this sea, which is the existence, “you,” as a separate entity, feel like that: afraid and lost. This sea, in which you are lost, is in your imagination. In the Real Sea, You are not separate from the waves. You are these waves and they are the Sea. Therefore, the Sea is You! In Consciousness there is no the sense of separation, and so there is nothing like a “lost little boat.”
In your imaginary world, your life turns around beliefs, concepts, ideas, thoughts, stories, of a past you believe you have lived, and a future you believe you will live, or you are afraid it will not happen, or yet it will happen differently from imagined. All of this is in your mental imaginary world, in which you are a small boat lost in this ocean of existence – an imaginary existence for a small imaginary boat. This is the sense of separation, the illusion of a false “me”.
You cannot solve it! I have said it is a maze that you have not entered, because there is no door, and therefore there is no way out either. Chinese and Japanese Sages in Zen use Koans, which are questions or enigma that cannot be answered or solved. So, notice it: I have told you here this Realization is not something special. It is Natural, but at no moment did I say it is something common, ordinary, something the mind can access. This is “something” beyond the mind, beyond religious and spiritual practices, beyond all kind of “gymnastics.”
You cannot find in the mind any answer to This we are talking about here, which is “something” Natural, simple, but not ordinary or easy. You may gather a great amount of information, read all the books that have ever been written about Self-Realization, Awakening, Enlightenment. You may watch all the current videos of the so called “gurus” talking about This. You may listen to all speeches, including this one here and other similar ones; however, none of this will make you Free. No technique, practice, discipline or exercise will be able to help you.
There is only one way, a direct path, which is not an easy one, but it is the most natural and the simplest one: Consciousness. You need to pay attention to the movement of this subjective, psychological world of yours. Moment by moment, you need to see yourself, become aware of yourself, of what goes on inside, of what are your thoughts, feelings, perceptions, emotions, imaginations, beliefs, fears, desires… You need to be aware of your story and not be identified with it. In other words, you have to be aware of this character you are identified with, but which is not you.
Thus, the only direct way is this self-investigation in this Consciousness, which is Meditation, and in this surrender, which is to abandon all this. You only awake from the dream when you become aware that to keep on sleeping is not worth. For the great majority, everything is fine, comfortable. If you are here in Satsang, it is because there is something already bothering you in this “dream” model, otherwise you would not be here, because the great majority has good friends, a beautiful family, a bright future ahead. They have already accomplished their goals or they believe that they will be able to achieve them in the future.
Actually, the dream is not exactly the problem, but not being aware it is just a dream, yes. So, there is a lack of Consciousness, and It comes from self-investigation. What we are doing together is to perceive the illusion of this character who has a name, a shape, a story and a world of relations. This self-investigation reinforces in you this sense of inadequacy, making you suspect of this "dreaming" state in which you live. When this is defined, the real Awakening work begins. That is what we are doing in all of our meetings.
Your family, your friends and all society are “sleeping.” When you start to question this “dream,” you are approaching the possibility of stopping dreaming. If you stop dreaming, the “dream” goes on, but no more to you. Thereby, in your Natural State, the world is seen as 3D movie, a great movie of ideas and thoughts, which now can no longer capture you.
*Online meeting transcription, originally held on July 22nd, 2019. First published in Portuguese on September 13th, 2019. For more information, please access: http://mestregualberto.com.
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