What is singular in this Realization is the fact that we are not facing anything we can describe in a positive way. We can point out what it is not That, and not what That Is. It is not like pointing at an object and saying, "Self-realization is similar to this." Self-realization is always beyond what the mind can describe, explain or translate.
The focus of your attention is always on things, ideas, situations, and people. So, you never find Yourself. You do not bring this focus to Yourself. Your focus is always on ideas, which are thoughts, objects, experiences, and perceptions. When you are working on this Realization, you need to become aware of your own Existence, of the importance of your Existence, and to bring your focus to Yourself.
Every habit, culture and addiction of yours is about turning to the exterior, to what is external to You. You are working to obtain an external fulfillment, to achieve what is outside. So, you do not have focus on Yourself, on your own Being, on your own Existence. You have to see how you work, to observe the motives and results of your actions. This way, you can go beyond that prison you created for yourself, for pure unconsciousness, for not knowing who You are.
Now, notice how interesting this is: by knowing what you are not, you can recognize your Real Nature, the Truth about Yourself. So, if you know, due to this investigation, that you are not the thoughts, the experiences, the sensations, and the external accomplishments, you can recognize your True Nature. This is how to make this prison - which you have built around yourself inadvertently, unconsciously – disappear.
You always carry this sense of "I Am," but this “I am” is immersed in external experiences, in the experiences of the mind, then you lose the real purity of that sense. So, this "I Am" is just something lost inside this prison of the experiencer, the thinker, the doer, which is an illusion. There is no experiencer, no "doer," no thinker. Here is the illusion! So, when you discover you are not this, you are in direct contact with the Truth about your Real Nature.
It is not enough just saying, "I am Consciousness," "I am God," "I am the Divine Presence." This is also another thought of the thinker. We are not interested in this here, because this is also illusion, belief, idea. One thing is sure: what is Real is not an imagination. It is not a belief. It is not a conclusion. It is not an idea. We are currently facing a moment in which many ideas about the Truth are being spread out, which is just another illusion. This is still inside the prison. Here, you cannot be interested in ideas! If you are interested in knowledge, you are in the wrong place.
What is Real is beyond knowledge and ignorance. Only the intellect is interested in knowledge. Your Being does not need to know, does not need to understand, does not need to learn. Once you are clearly aware of this, that no teaching can tell you anything about the Truth, about your Being, then you are ready to go beyond the imprisonment of theories and beliefs of knowledge.
Does that scare you somehow? All you need to do is to get rid of this tendency to seek definitions about who you are, to attempt to have an idea about That by listening to speeches and reading books, which would be just another imagination.
A piece of gold covered by dust continues to have the same value. The dust, in this piece of gold, does not threaten at all its value and beauty. What I mean is that all the illusion you have about yourself does not reduce at all the Truth about who You are. Every illusion, fear, misery and suffering does not diminish the present Truth of God. When that obsession with your mind and body disappears, there you are in your Real Nature, in your Being! All you need to do is to get rid of these tendencies of mistaking yourself for the mind and the body, of being focused on the outside, on exteriorities. The difference between the Sage and you is that the Sage is aware of his/her Natural State, of his/her Natural Being, while you are mistaking yourself for the illusion of a doer, a thinker, an experiencer.
Participant: How to become aware about That? How can the gold piece get rid of all the dust?
Master Gualberto: You discover this by being determined, being persistent, questioning it daily, in every moment. This must be your only purpose.
You are like a leaf going down the river. If you lose the purpose, this leaf will cling to one of the banks and stay there for a while. When you are back again to the purpose, the leaf detaches itself from the bank and continues to go down.
In Satsang, before a living Master, you are like a leaf going downstream. This leaf may even try to stop at one of the edges, but then a larger volume of water comes and washes down that leaf once again, detaching it from the bank again. Every time you try to remain in the old model of the egoic mind, there comes a new volume of water from that river, which is the Guru, Life, the Divine Presence, to drags you back into the water. Whenever you try to get attached to your old fears, desires, purposes, and outward accomplishments, a volume of water again releases you from one of these banks... You have to “go down” a little further.
This flowing with the river, with Life, with the Guru means acceptance, not resistance, and surrender. You find out that you cannot be attached to anything, absolutely anything, for things, people, and relationships come and go, experiences come and go. If you are attached to one of these things, you are stuck, standing on the bank of the river. In front of the presence of the Grace, you discover that all these are just clouds: experiences, sensations, thoughts, emotions, feelings, objects, people, places, achievements... Whatever of these things can imprison you! This is the old, the old dust; the very old dust over the piece of gold.
So, this prison you built around you can only be destroyed by a deep, honest, determined investigation of this illusion.
The focus of your attention is always on things, ideas, situations, and people. So, you never find Yourself. You do not bring this focus to Yourself. Your focus is always on ideas, which are thoughts, objects, experiences, and perceptions. When you are working on this Realization, you need to become aware of your own Existence, of the importance of your Existence, and to bring your focus to Yourself.
Every habit, culture and addiction of yours is about turning to the exterior, to what is external to You. You are working to obtain an external fulfillment, to achieve what is outside. So, you do not have focus on Yourself, on your own Being, on your own Existence. You have to see how you work, to observe the motives and results of your actions. This way, you can go beyond that prison you created for yourself, for pure unconsciousness, for not knowing who You are.
Now, notice how interesting this is: by knowing what you are not, you can recognize your Real Nature, the Truth about Yourself. So, if you know, due to this investigation, that you are not the thoughts, the experiences, the sensations, and the external accomplishments, you can recognize your True Nature. This is how to make this prison - which you have built around yourself inadvertently, unconsciously – disappear.
You always carry this sense of "I Am," but this “I am” is immersed in external experiences, in the experiences of the mind, then you lose the real purity of that sense. So, this "I Am" is just something lost inside this prison of the experiencer, the thinker, the doer, which is an illusion. There is no experiencer, no "doer," no thinker. Here is the illusion! So, when you discover you are not this, you are in direct contact with the Truth about your Real Nature.
It is not enough just saying, "I am Consciousness," "I am God," "I am the Divine Presence." This is also another thought of the thinker. We are not interested in this here, because this is also illusion, belief, idea. One thing is sure: what is Real is not an imagination. It is not a belief. It is not a conclusion. It is not an idea. We are currently facing a moment in which many ideas about the Truth are being spread out, which is just another illusion. This is still inside the prison. Here, you cannot be interested in ideas! If you are interested in knowledge, you are in the wrong place.
What is Real is beyond knowledge and ignorance. Only the intellect is interested in knowledge. Your Being does not need to know, does not need to understand, does not need to learn. Once you are clearly aware of this, that no teaching can tell you anything about the Truth, about your Being, then you are ready to go beyond the imprisonment of theories and beliefs of knowledge.
Does that scare you somehow? All you need to do is to get rid of this tendency to seek definitions about who you are, to attempt to have an idea about That by listening to speeches and reading books, which would be just another imagination.
A piece of gold covered by dust continues to have the same value. The dust, in this piece of gold, does not threaten at all its value and beauty. What I mean is that all the illusion you have about yourself does not reduce at all the Truth about who You are. Every illusion, fear, misery and suffering does not diminish the present Truth of God. When that obsession with your mind and body disappears, there you are in your Real Nature, in your Being! All you need to do is to get rid of these tendencies of mistaking yourself for the mind and the body, of being focused on the outside, on exteriorities. The difference between the Sage and you is that the Sage is aware of his/her Natural State, of his/her Natural Being, while you are mistaking yourself for the illusion of a doer, a thinker, an experiencer.
Participant: How to become aware about That? How can the gold piece get rid of all the dust?
Master Gualberto: You discover this by being determined, being persistent, questioning it daily, in every moment. This must be your only purpose.
You are like a leaf going down the river. If you lose the purpose, this leaf will cling to one of the banks and stay there for a while. When you are back again to the purpose, the leaf detaches itself from the bank and continues to go down.
In Satsang, before a living Master, you are like a leaf going downstream. This leaf may even try to stop at one of the edges, but then a larger volume of water comes and washes down that leaf once again, detaching it from the bank again. Every time you try to remain in the old model of the egoic mind, there comes a new volume of water from that river, which is the Guru, Life, the Divine Presence, to drags you back into the water. Whenever you try to get attached to your old fears, desires, purposes, and outward accomplishments, a volume of water again releases you from one of these banks... You have to “go down” a little further.
This flowing with the river, with Life, with the Guru means acceptance, not resistance, and surrender. You find out that you cannot be attached to anything, absolutely anything, for things, people, and relationships come and go, experiences come and go. If you are attached to one of these things, you are stuck, standing on the bank of the river. In front of the presence of the Grace, you discover that all these are just clouds: experiences, sensations, thoughts, emotions, feelings, objects, people, places, achievements... Whatever of these things can imprison you! This is the old, the old dust; the very old dust over the piece of gold.
So, this prison you built around you can only be destroyed by a deep, honest, determined investigation of this illusion.
* Presential meeting transcription, originally held in Ramanashram Gualberto in Campos de Jordão city-SP-Brazil; on March, 2019. - First published in Portuguese on April 23th, 2020. For more information about how to participate, please click here:click here.
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