Some people may say that no effort is needed for the Realization of Truth, because you are already what you seek. It seems quite logical! If you are already what you are looking for, your search is not necessary.
Others say the search is necessary, and therefore effort is necessary. For those, the seeker must be dedicated, needs to qualify for this Achievement. In my view, both sides are correct.
There is an illusory appearance of an "I," but it is suffering and looking for a way out of the end of suffering. In this Realization, you know that this is not real, but this apparent "I," this apparent sufferer does not feel that way. It feels that everything is very real!
There is only the idea of an “I” suffering, of a “person” present suffering, but for those who feel that way, to believe they are not a person, although they feel themselves like one, does not solve anything. So, in my perspective, the work of investigating the nature of the mind is important. When this work exists, there is the possibility of discovering the illusion of that identity. However, without this work, there is no possibility of this acknowledgment.
In this sense, effort is important and necessary. This is not the work of a “me." It is the investigation of the illusion of a “me." This is the work of Grace, of Consciousness itself. It is Consciousness revealing Itself, discovering Itself. This is something that sounds paradoxical, for It is not hidden from Itself, although It does realize Itself, It does discover Itself.
The Truth is already present, but until It is seen, this apparent seeker must do something. This includes self-investigation, surrender, meditation, and thousands of other things, until one finds that no effort is needed. However, until this is found out, effort is quite important and necessary. That is because, in fact, you always carry the idea of "someone" who suffers, who needs something. So, until that idea is removed, every movement has its place.
However, the moment will come when you will discover Truth is present and has never ceased to be. The only thing that disappears is the illusion! But if it was never there, how could it have disappeared? You are already that Truth, you are already free, and this Freedom is to be Nothing!
Some people search through philosophy. For others, it happens through religious experience. There are also those who seek fulfillment in different experiences of the world. In any case, there is always an internal search.
If you are here, there is a seeker there, looking for something outside of this common life condition. There is thirst, dissatisfaction, restlessness. So, your work is to discover the Truth! If you are in this meeting, it is because, somehow, something has already hit you, you have been touched by the need to discover the Truth about Yourself.
You have already studied, read, heard, learned. You now have a keen intellect. You have already explored philosophy, religion, worldly life... When my Master appeared to me it was like hitting on a stone wall! I had read the Bible a lot, learned various church rituals, various doctrines, and when I came across the image of the Sage, the Guru, it was like hitting my head on a stone wall!
When that happens, you stand up bleeding, semi-conscious, and see that all the knickknacks you carried, all these toys of spirituality’s practice, suddenly do not make any sense! So, the whole search turns out to be meaningless, something even shameful! You are faced with something entirely different from all of this! You were looking at the future, looking for a change, looking for something special, but all of a sudden you discover it is nothing like that!
Some of you are experiencing exactly that kind of feeling in these meetings called Satsang. All your belief and search, all your vision of a future, your search for something safe, this search of "someone" for something, is no longer making any sense! These trinkets, beliefs, ideas about life, about yourself, about God and everything, they are not making any sense! That is because you are now facing the Truth that what you are looking for is already here: Yourself! You are not in the future, so there is nothing to be achieved there! All you are, is nothing! Here is Realization: discovering the Truth about Yourself, about this Absolute Nothingness that is Consciousness, which is the absence of the seeker.
This Recognition of the Truth about Yourself is what I have called Intelligence. It is not your intelligence. It is not the intelligence of a "person." It is only Intelligence! In fact, this Real Intelligence is the end of this "person," the end of this seeker and all these religious, philosophical or worldly beliefs. It is not about the content of “knowing”: “I know this” or “I know that,” because this is something acquired, and therefore it is still part of ignorance, is still conceptual. All this subject is still part of the trinkets, of this conditioning basis, of beliefs, ideas that are learned, which are just words.
I am talking about Intelligence that is Pure Recognition, and not about accumulation of ideas, information, beliefs. It is not a greater “knowing,” it is the Intelligence in Intelligence, it is the Consciousness free from content, free from the burden of memory, ideas, imaginations, of spiritualistic, philosophical, worldly beliefs, of all kinds! You are Consciousness, and Consciousness is Nothingness! This is the end of identification with body and mind. It is the end of this completely false assumption that there was an entity separate from Life. It is the end of the belief in a "person," in a "me" imprisoned inside a body and a mind.
To recognize this, not intellectually, not verbally, but as a fact, is Intelligence! This is seeing without any filter that creates a kind of fog made up of assumptions, theories, ideas, concepts. So, you open yourself up to the Truth, and every belief falls apart in this. When all the fog vanishes in this openness, there is complete Intelligence. This is the end of the search!
Thus, it gets clear it is not a matter of achieving or becoming something, nor of an intellectual understanding. It is only about the Intelligence of recognizing the Truth, which is Freedom, Love, Peace, the end of conflict and suffering.
Then, the search ends, clearly and unequivocally, not because all the answers are found or discovered, but because the "seeker" is seen as false, a fiction, an imagination, a non-existent "me." So, you remain with the perception that "someone" was never present in this or that experience. We are talking about the end of the illusion, of the ego, of the "person,” of the sense of "I." This is liberation!
Others say the search is necessary, and therefore effort is necessary. For those, the seeker must be dedicated, needs to qualify for this Achievement. In my view, both sides are correct.
There is an illusory appearance of an "I," but it is suffering and looking for a way out of the end of suffering. In this Realization, you know that this is not real, but this apparent "I," this apparent sufferer does not feel that way. It feels that everything is very real!
There is only the idea of an “I” suffering, of a “person” present suffering, but for those who feel that way, to believe they are not a person, although they feel themselves like one, does not solve anything. So, in my perspective, the work of investigating the nature of the mind is important. When this work exists, there is the possibility of discovering the illusion of that identity. However, without this work, there is no possibility of this acknowledgment.
In this sense, effort is important and necessary. This is not the work of a “me." It is the investigation of the illusion of a “me." This is the work of Grace, of Consciousness itself. It is Consciousness revealing Itself, discovering Itself. This is something that sounds paradoxical, for It is not hidden from Itself, although It does realize Itself, It does discover Itself.
The Truth is already present, but until It is seen, this apparent seeker must do something. This includes self-investigation, surrender, meditation, and thousands of other things, until one finds that no effort is needed. However, until this is found out, effort is quite important and necessary. That is because, in fact, you always carry the idea of "someone" who suffers, who needs something. So, until that idea is removed, every movement has its place.
However, the moment will come when you will discover Truth is present and has never ceased to be. The only thing that disappears is the illusion! But if it was never there, how could it have disappeared? You are already that Truth, you are already free, and this Freedom is to be Nothing!
Some people search through philosophy. For others, it happens through religious experience. There are also those who seek fulfillment in different experiences of the world. In any case, there is always an internal search.
If you are here, there is a seeker there, looking for something outside of this common life condition. There is thirst, dissatisfaction, restlessness. So, your work is to discover the Truth! If you are in this meeting, it is because, somehow, something has already hit you, you have been touched by the need to discover the Truth about Yourself.
You have already studied, read, heard, learned. You now have a keen intellect. You have already explored philosophy, religion, worldly life... When my Master appeared to me it was like hitting on a stone wall! I had read the Bible a lot, learned various church rituals, various doctrines, and when I came across the image of the Sage, the Guru, it was like hitting my head on a stone wall!
When that happens, you stand up bleeding, semi-conscious, and see that all the knickknacks you carried, all these toys of spirituality’s practice, suddenly do not make any sense! So, the whole search turns out to be meaningless, something even shameful! You are faced with something entirely different from all of this! You were looking at the future, looking for a change, looking for something special, but all of a sudden you discover it is nothing like that!
Some of you are experiencing exactly that kind of feeling in these meetings called Satsang. All your belief and search, all your vision of a future, your search for something safe, this search of "someone" for something, is no longer making any sense! These trinkets, beliefs, ideas about life, about yourself, about God and everything, they are not making any sense! That is because you are now facing the Truth that what you are looking for is already here: Yourself! You are not in the future, so there is nothing to be achieved there! All you are, is nothing! Here is Realization: discovering the Truth about Yourself, about this Absolute Nothingness that is Consciousness, which is the absence of the seeker.
This Recognition of the Truth about Yourself is what I have called Intelligence. It is not your intelligence. It is not the intelligence of a "person." It is only Intelligence! In fact, this Real Intelligence is the end of this "person," the end of this seeker and all these religious, philosophical or worldly beliefs. It is not about the content of “knowing”: “I know this” or “I know that,” because this is something acquired, and therefore it is still part of ignorance, is still conceptual. All this subject is still part of the trinkets, of this conditioning basis, of beliefs, ideas that are learned, which are just words.
I am talking about Intelligence that is Pure Recognition, and not about accumulation of ideas, information, beliefs. It is not a greater “knowing,” it is the Intelligence in Intelligence, it is the Consciousness free from content, free from the burden of memory, ideas, imaginations, of spiritualistic, philosophical, worldly beliefs, of all kinds! You are Consciousness, and Consciousness is Nothingness! This is the end of identification with body and mind. It is the end of this completely false assumption that there was an entity separate from Life. It is the end of the belief in a "person," in a "me" imprisoned inside a body and a mind.
To recognize this, not intellectually, not verbally, but as a fact, is Intelligence! This is seeing without any filter that creates a kind of fog made up of assumptions, theories, ideas, concepts. So, you open yourself up to the Truth, and every belief falls apart in this. When all the fog vanishes in this openness, there is complete Intelligence. This is the end of the search!
Thus, it gets clear it is not a matter of achieving or becoming something, nor of an intellectual understanding. It is only about the Intelligence of recognizing the Truth, which is Freedom, Love, Peace, the end of conflict and suffering.
Then, the search ends, clearly and unequivocally, not because all the answers are found or discovered, but because the "seeker" is seen as false, a fiction, an imagination, a non-existent "me." So, you remain with the perception that "someone" was never present in this or that experience. We are talking about the end of the illusion, of the ego, of the "person,” of the sense of "I." This is liberation!
*Online meeting transcription, originally held on January 30, 2020. For further information about online meetings and how to participate, click here.
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