You may spend a whole life as everybody has done: without the slightest notion about the real meaning of being here. Thus, your life ends up in a condition of deep misery. Any and every result you believe you have achieved shows up as something not worth at the end of your life. So much struggle to obtain things, so much work to conquer things… However, you can change this by Awakening, by getting out of this condition of purely mental life, which is complete unconsciousness about yourself.
So, Realization is not a matter of choice but an action of pure Intelligence. Choice is confusion! When there is Clarity, there is no choice! Choice is for mediocre minds. The Intelligent One does not make choices! You cannot choose to be happy or to be miserable. If you have this choice, it is because you are already miserable, you are already unhappy, you do not carry Intelligence. When there is Intelligence, there is no choice between being happy or miserable, between living the Truth or the illusion. Illusion is a false “me” you have embraced for all these years. This has been your lifestyle of dependence, fear, desire and suffering.
If you are Real, because you are Intelligent, you do not make any choice, you do not decide about being Self-Realized or not. Here, the meaning of the word “Realization” implies Freedom, Truth, Love and Consciousness. Thus, you need to learn how to live. You need to learn the meaning of being alive. You are only alive for Happiness, not for that model so common that you see around you, where there is much disorder and confusion. The war is the result of that! All human stupidity is the result of this, of minds that choose, minds that are entirely disturbed.
In relationships, you see all this conflict of choice. Notice that everything you choose is from your confusion. It does not represent Peace in your life, Freedom, Love, nor Consciousness. What is present in your life is illusion! This is what you call “my personal, private life.” “I do not want anybody messing with me, because this is my life.” You are proud of all this, of all “your” achievements, but none of this represents Happiness. You are not in this present moment. You are not living life as it is happening here and now.
In the mind, you experience a projection of existence. It is not the existence as it is. It is not life as it is. It is only a projection, a calculation created by thought, what I am calling as “choice.” Then, you are just a plaything of this unconsciousness. You live in a wonderful house. You have a beautiful family, a good husband or a good wife, also very beautiful children… You put them in College, give them a professional background, and they keep the model. They become respectable people later on for everything they have also achieved, for everything they have accomplished, but all of them are still trapped in unhappiness. All because they, just like you, have never known Real Life. They have never known Freedom. They have never known Happiness. That is because they have never known Themselves. Realization is to know yourself, which does not mean knowing this false “me.”
So, the word “self-knowledge” does not apply here. It is not about knowing yourself. I am using the word “Realization,” at this moment, and not “self-realization.” Realization of your True Nature, of your True Being, of your True Self! It is not this false “me” that only knows this model already prefixed by society, by culture, by the world around you. So, I always come back to this point: life is something that is happening, but you, in the false “me”, do not know this. Everything you are experiencing is within this model of the mind, of this pseudo-reality, which you call to be born, to live and to die, and in the meantime, to conquer, to accomplish, to procreate, to live what you call "love," "affectivity," "accomplishments of desires."
So, the point is to know what is here, at this very moment. What is it that is expressed temporarily here in a body, in a mind, through this organism? If you do not find out this, if you do not know the real meaning of this Realization, you are not really alive. You have never lived! It means just being in a dream… a dream of unconsciousness and misery. So, you need to Awake!
There was an emperor in Japan who was a very, very, very powerful. He became a very famous emperor. He was known throughout the world, but he was unhappy. He had everything, but he didn't know Happiness. He was one of those who chooses, who mistakes his being for appearances, for external achievements, for attainments. Then, he heard about a master who was in his country. This master also became very famous in ancient Japan. He was called Nain.
So, the emperor went to see the master and when he arrived before him, he said, “I would like to ask you a question. I am famous. Everybody knows me. Everybody knows the power and wealth I have. This made me famous throughout the world! I want to know about you. What has made you famous here in Japan? Everybody talks about Nain, the Zen Master. What has made you someone so famous? You do not have the power and wealth that I do, and I am the one who is coming to you to ask you a question, and not the other way around. What has given you such fame?
Nain looked at the emperor and said, “When I go to the forest, I cut firewood and bring it home.” There was a small well and he pointed to the well and said, “When I need water, I go to that well and I draw water from there and put it inside the house.” At that moment, the emperor, looking at him, said, “So what? So what?” And Nain replied to the emperor: “I cut firewood and bring it home. I draw water from the well and put it inside the house.” The emperor said, “Is that all?” And Nain replied: “Yes.”
At that moment, the emperor was very furious! He said, “I am the emperor; have I travelled many days to listen to such an answer? Nain remained in silence. The emperor got even more furious! He turned to Nain and yelled, “I am the emperor! I came here for a spiritual counseling and is that all you have to say to me?” Nain waited a few seconds and replied to the emperor, “This is the spiritual counseling I give to everyone. This is the only thing I have to say. When some people come to me to find Peace, Happiness, Freedom, I say it to them.”
"It took me years to reach that point to just cut wood and bring it home, to go to the well and get water and put it inside the house. It took me many years because when I used to leave the house my mind was full of thoughts. During all the way to the forest, a lot of thoughts were going on inside me, a lot of worries, a lot of desires, a lot of feelings. There were a lot of conflicts here until I got where I would cut firewood. While I was cutting the firewood, thoughts were here anticipating the future, concerned with future achievements, with what had happened in the past... There was a crowd of thoughts here! So, I went back home. While carrying firewood, thoughts, concerns and feelings were still here. So, it took me many years to learn how to cut firewood and bring it home. When I went to the well to get water, the thoughts and feelings were here. In everything I put myself to do, I was not present. The thoughts were present, so were the feelings, the sensations, the perceptions, and I mistook myself for this all the time. I believed I was all of this! I was sleeping!”
“Now everything is clear. There is not dream anymore. There are no thoughts anymore, and then the only thing I have to say to you is that I have learned how to cut firewood, how to draw water from the well. Today, when I cut firewood, I only cut firewood. When I carry firewood, I only carry firewood. When I draw water from the well, I only draw water from the well. When I am bringing home the water from the well, I am only bringing home the water from the well. There is no dream anymore. I am not sleeping anymore! So, this is what I say to everyone, ‘Learn how to cut firewood and how to bring water home.’ ”
Remain in your Being! That is the matter here! This is Life! So either you are in Life or you are attached to the identifications with the mind. If you identify with the mind, with this huge amount of thoughts, feelings, sensations, emotions, perceptions, you live in a world of desires, in a world of fear, in an unreal illusory life. Then, when we talk about Realization, we are talking about the Realization of the Truth about who You are. This is Real Life!
So, Realization is not a matter of choice but an action of pure Intelligence. Choice is confusion! When there is Clarity, there is no choice! Choice is for mediocre minds. The Intelligent One does not make choices! You cannot choose to be happy or to be miserable. If you have this choice, it is because you are already miserable, you are already unhappy, you do not carry Intelligence. When there is Intelligence, there is no choice between being happy or miserable, between living the Truth or the illusion. Illusion is a false “me” you have embraced for all these years. This has been your lifestyle of dependence, fear, desire and suffering.
If you are Real, because you are Intelligent, you do not make any choice, you do not decide about being Self-Realized or not. Here, the meaning of the word “Realization” implies Freedom, Truth, Love and Consciousness. Thus, you need to learn how to live. You need to learn the meaning of being alive. You are only alive for Happiness, not for that model so common that you see around you, where there is much disorder and confusion. The war is the result of that! All human stupidity is the result of this, of minds that choose, minds that are entirely disturbed.
In relationships, you see all this conflict of choice. Notice that everything you choose is from your confusion. It does not represent Peace in your life, Freedom, Love, nor Consciousness. What is present in your life is illusion! This is what you call “my personal, private life.” “I do not want anybody messing with me, because this is my life.” You are proud of all this, of all “your” achievements, but none of this represents Happiness. You are not in this present moment. You are not living life as it is happening here and now.
In the mind, you experience a projection of existence. It is not the existence as it is. It is not life as it is. It is only a projection, a calculation created by thought, what I am calling as “choice.” Then, you are just a plaything of this unconsciousness. You live in a wonderful house. You have a beautiful family, a good husband or a good wife, also very beautiful children… You put them in College, give them a professional background, and they keep the model. They become respectable people later on for everything they have also achieved, for everything they have accomplished, but all of them are still trapped in unhappiness. All because they, just like you, have never known Real Life. They have never known Freedom. They have never known Happiness. That is because they have never known Themselves. Realization is to know yourself, which does not mean knowing this false “me.”
So, the word “self-knowledge” does not apply here. It is not about knowing yourself. I am using the word “Realization,” at this moment, and not “self-realization.” Realization of your True Nature, of your True Being, of your True Self! It is not this false “me” that only knows this model already prefixed by society, by culture, by the world around you. So, I always come back to this point: life is something that is happening, but you, in the false “me”, do not know this. Everything you are experiencing is within this model of the mind, of this pseudo-reality, which you call to be born, to live and to die, and in the meantime, to conquer, to accomplish, to procreate, to live what you call "love," "affectivity," "accomplishments of desires."
So, the point is to know what is here, at this very moment. What is it that is expressed temporarily here in a body, in a mind, through this organism? If you do not find out this, if you do not know the real meaning of this Realization, you are not really alive. You have never lived! It means just being in a dream… a dream of unconsciousness and misery. So, you need to Awake!
There was an emperor in Japan who was a very, very, very powerful. He became a very famous emperor. He was known throughout the world, but he was unhappy. He had everything, but he didn't know Happiness. He was one of those who chooses, who mistakes his being for appearances, for external achievements, for attainments. Then, he heard about a master who was in his country. This master also became very famous in ancient Japan. He was called Nain.
So, the emperor went to see the master and when he arrived before him, he said, “I would like to ask you a question. I am famous. Everybody knows me. Everybody knows the power and wealth I have. This made me famous throughout the world! I want to know about you. What has made you famous here in Japan? Everybody talks about Nain, the Zen Master. What has made you someone so famous? You do not have the power and wealth that I do, and I am the one who is coming to you to ask you a question, and not the other way around. What has given you such fame?
Nain looked at the emperor and said, “When I go to the forest, I cut firewood and bring it home.” There was a small well and he pointed to the well and said, “When I need water, I go to that well and I draw water from there and put it inside the house.” At that moment, the emperor, looking at him, said, “So what? So what?” And Nain replied to the emperor: “I cut firewood and bring it home. I draw water from the well and put it inside the house.” The emperor said, “Is that all?” And Nain replied: “Yes.”
At that moment, the emperor was very furious! He said, “I am the emperor; have I travelled many days to listen to such an answer? Nain remained in silence. The emperor got even more furious! He turned to Nain and yelled, “I am the emperor! I came here for a spiritual counseling and is that all you have to say to me?” Nain waited a few seconds and replied to the emperor, “This is the spiritual counseling I give to everyone. This is the only thing I have to say. When some people come to me to find Peace, Happiness, Freedom, I say it to them.”
"It took me years to reach that point to just cut wood and bring it home, to go to the well and get water and put it inside the house. It took me many years because when I used to leave the house my mind was full of thoughts. During all the way to the forest, a lot of thoughts were going on inside me, a lot of worries, a lot of desires, a lot of feelings. There were a lot of conflicts here until I got where I would cut firewood. While I was cutting the firewood, thoughts were here anticipating the future, concerned with future achievements, with what had happened in the past... There was a crowd of thoughts here! So, I went back home. While carrying firewood, thoughts, concerns and feelings were still here. So, it took me many years to learn how to cut firewood and bring it home. When I went to the well to get water, the thoughts and feelings were here. In everything I put myself to do, I was not present. The thoughts were present, so were the feelings, the sensations, the perceptions, and I mistook myself for this all the time. I believed I was all of this! I was sleeping!”
“Now everything is clear. There is not dream anymore. There are no thoughts anymore, and then the only thing I have to say to you is that I have learned how to cut firewood, how to draw water from the well. Today, when I cut firewood, I only cut firewood. When I carry firewood, I only carry firewood. When I draw water from the well, I only draw water from the well. When I am bringing home the water from the well, I am only bringing home the water from the well. There is no dream anymore. I am not sleeping anymore! So, this is what I say to everyone, ‘Learn how to cut firewood and how to bring water home.’ ”
Remain in your Being! That is the matter here! This is Life! So either you are in Life or you are attached to the identifications with the mind. If you identify with the mind, with this huge amount of thoughts, feelings, sensations, emotions, perceptions, you live in a world of desires, in a world of fear, in an unreal illusory life. Then, when we talk about Realization, we are talking about the Realization of the Truth about who You are. This is Real Life!
* Presential meeting transcription originally held in Campos do Jordão city -Brazil, on March, 2018. - First published in Portuguese on November 11th, 2019 - For more information about how to participate, please access:http://mestregualberto.com/agenda/agenda-satsang .
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