Satsang is an opportunity to investigate the nature of Consciousness, the nature of experience, of the Self. After all, what is that experience happening here and now? What is that Consciousness appearing here and now? What is the Truth of this present moment?
We are in contact with the external world through the senses. In this way, our perception of the external world is sensory. This experience of the world is similar to the experience of the dream. This comparison is quite interesting; it is perfectly suitable for this sort of investigation. In the dream, you have a world and a body similar to this one and you have contact with the external world and objects through the senses, just like you are having at this very moment, in this so called “vigil state.”
So, your dreaming experience is similar to your experience in the waking state. Here I mean from the viewpoint of the sense of consciousness and of sensory experience. In the dream, you can hear, see, feel; all sensorial experience is present there and here. Just as during the dream you see yourself as the experiencer experiencing things, you also see yourself here as the experiencer experiencing things. In the dream, you are as separate from the experience as you are at this moment, in the waking state.
So, we ask, “What is the nature of that experience, what is the nature of that Consciousness present exactly in the same way in these two states? What is the nature of the Self, what is the Nature of your Being? Where in fact are you? What makes you so sure this waking state is more real than that sleep state? In what sense is it more real?”
When you leave the dream and wake up in the morning, you see the dream was not real. But throughout the dream it was quite real and there was no waking state, only the dreaming state. So, who assures you that you are awake at this moment? Who assures you this state in which you currently are is real, is the only and ultimate state of your Being? It cannot be the only one, because you know dreaming state presents itself as an experience in your life, just like deep sleep. Therefore, this can be neither your ultimate state nor your true state of Being, provided that you also have the experience of dreaming and deep sleep states.
OK! But why did I start talking like that to you? Because if you do not know your Real and True State in any of these three states – waking, dreaming and deep sleep – you are always incomplete. Incomplete because these states are not real, they are changeable, they appear and disappear. Deep sleep state is replaced by dreaming state, which is replaced by waking state, which is further replaced by deep sleep state again. So, what I am telling you is that these three states are not your Real and Definitive State, your Natural State. They are simple states experienced by the mind.
The mind is the one experiencing deep sleep in the absence of the world and of the experiencer. The mind is the one experiencing the waking state with the presence of the experiencer, of the experience as well as of the dream. The mind is constantly present in these three experiences, in these three states. In deep sleep, it plunges into the unknown; in waking state and dreaming state, it upholds the known. All these three states are happening in your Real Nature, in your True Nature.
We are naming your Real Nature as Being, Consciousness, Truth, Presence, but notice That is not part of waking, dreaming nor deep sleep state. We are saying the world is not real, the body is part of the world, the world and the body are part of the mind, and therefore the mind is not real either.
I am leading you along a path Ramana called as "self-inquiry." We are investigating the Nature of the Self, the Nature of Consciousness. All you can report, tell, remember, recall... none of this is part of your True Nature. It is only part of the mind’s dream, part of one of its manifestations.
When you wake up in the morning, you know the dreaming world was within the mind, was only part of the mind, of the personal illusion, because it was a personal dream. Notice there were many people present during your dream, however they were not in a common world but just in "your" private world. Currently, in waking state, you think you are in a world common to everybody, so you believe people you see in this "your" world, in the waking state, are in a common world. However, this belongs to the dream. Your wife, husband, children, employer, your employee, your business... They all are only in the private and individual world of this "me."
So, first it comes this "I" and then comes the world of this "I,” which is not a world common to everybody, since there is no "everybody." First you appear and then your world appears... But, you are your world and your world is you – there are not "many ones!" Therefore, there is only the mind and not "many minds." Mind is the basis of this illusion, the illusion of the dream of this "me."
When you mistake yourself for the body, you make the world appear as something separate from the "body" you believe you are. Actually, all this belief is only the mind creating this illusion, this game. In India, they call this as the illusion of Maya. Once this “I” appears, others, objects, people and the world arise – this is duality, this is the illusion of the dual mind upholding the illusion of suffering. I just said this: "The illusion of suffering!" And now you know exactly why. There is no such thing as "suffering!" This concerns the experiencer’s illusion separating him or herself from the experience of pain. So, there is no psychological suffering, because there is not any psyche, there is no such mind as a separate thing from the experience, from what is happening here and now.
Physical pain is the pain of the body itself, there is no one in that experience. So, this is not suffering, but a neural, physiological experience. Whatever is happening to the body is happening within the dream, within one of the forms of mind´s manifestation, but this is not personal, there is no one to suffer. The body may be cold, hungry, hot or in pain, but this is a neurophysiologic, sensorial, absolutely natural experience. There is no one there! So, it is simple to say, "No one is born and no one dies... It is just the body that seems to appear and disappear!"
All you seek is to find out your Real Nature. This is the unique intense longing everybody carries within oneself: the wish to go beyond suffering and therefore the desire to go beyond the desire. The ultimate Nature of the desire is the end of the desire, is Happiness. It is interesting to say here that Happiness does not mean somebody’s "happiness" but the Happiness of Happiness, God in the pursuit of Himself; Happiness encountering Itself; the Being in search of the Being, in search of the very own Being; Consciousness becoming Consciousness. This is the Nature of God. This is your True Nature: Being, Consciousness, Happiness.
This is the time for you to realize That – the only thing you are here for! In India, the one who assumes one’s Real Identity, Real Nature is called as Bhagavan... a Jivamukti! If you do not assume That here and now, your life will remain similar to the life of a cockroach, of an ant, of a bird or of a tree. You appear on the scenery (in this so-called "birth"), grow up, work, get married, have kids, fall ill, age and die – just as it happens in the nature. Perhaps, you may suffer a bit more than a cockroach, a bird or a tree, just and simply because of this strong belief in an entity separate from Existence. We do not know how far this goes across nature as it does among human beings.
When you realize or acknowledge your True Nature of Being, of Consciousness, of Happiness, you are beyond these three states we have just spoken of. This is your Natural State! Ramana called this as the "Fourth State," "Turya," the State of Being, the state beyond the illusion of separateness. Then, there is no longer the illusion of the experiencer in the experience, and the entire sense of ego identity – only possible in the dualistic mind, in the dream of separation – is undone... Ok, let's stop now! Until the next meeting. Namaste!
We are in contact with the external world through the senses. In this way, our perception of the external world is sensory. This experience of the world is similar to the experience of the dream. This comparison is quite interesting; it is perfectly suitable for this sort of investigation. In the dream, you have a world and a body similar to this one and you have contact with the external world and objects through the senses, just like you are having at this very moment, in this so called “vigil state.”
So, your dreaming experience is similar to your experience in the waking state. Here I mean from the viewpoint of the sense of consciousness and of sensory experience. In the dream, you can hear, see, feel; all sensorial experience is present there and here. Just as during the dream you see yourself as the experiencer experiencing things, you also see yourself here as the experiencer experiencing things. In the dream, you are as separate from the experience as you are at this moment, in the waking state.
So, we ask, “What is the nature of that experience, what is the nature of that Consciousness present exactly in the same way in these two states? What is the nature of the Self, what is the Nature of your Being? Where in fact are you? What makes you so sure this waking state is more real than that sleep state? In what sense is it more real?”
When you leave the dream and wake up in the morning, you see the dream was not real. But throughout the dream it was quite real and there was no waking state, only the dreaming state. So, who assures you that you are awake at this moment? Who assures you this state in which you currently are is real, is the only and ultimate state of your Being? It cannot be the only one, because you know dreaming state presents itself as an experience in your life, just like deep sleep. Therefore, this can be neither your ultimate state nor your true state of Being, provided that you also have the experience of dreaming and deep sleep states.
OK! But why did I start talking like that to you? Because if you do not know your Real and True State in any of these three states – waking, dreaming and deep sleep – you are always incomplete. Incomplete because these states are not real, they are changeable, they appear and disappear. Deep sleep state is replaced by dreaming state, which is replaced by waking state, which is further replaced by deep sleep state again. So, what I am telling you is that these three states are not your Real and Definitive State, your Natural State. They are simple states experienced by the mind.
The mind is the one experiencing deep sleep in the absence of the world and of the experiencer. The mind is the one experiencing the waking state with the presence of the experiencer, of the experience as well as of the dream. The mind is constantly present in these three experiences, in these three states. In deep sleep, it plunges into the unknown; in waking state and dreaming state, it upholds the known. All these three states are happening in your Real Nature, in your True Nature.
We are naming your Real Nature as Being, Consciousness, Truth, Presence, but notice That is not part of waking, dreaming nor deep sleep state. We are saying the world is not real, the body is part of the world, the world and the body are part of the mind, and therefore the mind is not real either.
I am leading you along a path Ramana called as "self-inquiry." We are investigating the Nature of the Self, the Nature of Consciousness. All you can report, tell, remember, recall... none of this is part of your True Nature. It is only part of the mind’s dream, part of one of its manifestations.
When you wake up in the morning, you know the dreaming world was within the mind, was only part of the mind, of the personal illusion, because it was a personal dream. Notice there were many people present during your dream, however they were not in a common world but just in "your" private world. Currently, in waking state, you think you are in a world common to everybody, so you believe people you see in this "your" world, in the waking state, are in a common world. However, this belongs to the dream. Your wife, husband, children, employer, your employee, your business... They all are only in the private and individual world of this "me."
So, first it comes this "I" and then comes the world of this "I,” which is not a world common to everybody, since there is no "everybody." First you appear and then your world appears... But, you are your world and your world is you – there are not "many ones!" Therefore, there is only the mind and not "many minds." Mind is the basis of this illusion, the illusion of the dream of this "me."
When you mistake yourself for the body, you make the world appear as something separate from the "body" you believe you are. Actually, all this belief is only the mind creating this illusion, this game. In India, they call this as the illusion of Maya. Once this “I” appears, others, objects, people and the world arise – this is duality, this is the illusion of the dual mind upholding the illusion of suffering. I just said this: "The illusion of suffering!" And now you know exactly why. There is no such thing as "suffering!" This concerns the experiencer’s illusion separating him or herself from the experience of pain. So, there is no psychological suffering, because there is not any psyche, there is no such mind as a separate thing from the experience, from what is happening here and now.
Physical pain is the pain of the body itself, there is no one in that experience. So, this is not suffering, but a neural, physiological experience. Whatever is happening to the body is happening within the dream, within one of the forms of mind´s manifestation, but this is not personal, there is no one to suffer. The body may be cold, hungry, hot or in pain, but this is a neurophysiologic, sensorial, absolutely natural experience. There is no one there! So, it is simple to say, "No one is born and no one dies... It is just the body that seems to appear and disappear!"
All you seek is to find out your Real Nature. This is the unique intense longing everybody carries within oneself: the wish to go beyond suffering and therefore the desire to go beyond the desire. The ultimate Nature of the desire is the end of the desire, is Happiness. It is interesting to say here that Happiness does not mean somebody’s "happiness" but the Happiness of Happiness, God in the pursuit of Himself; Happiness encountering Itself; the Being in search of the Being, in search of the very own Being; Consciousness becoming Consciousness. This is the Nature of God. This is your True Nature: Being, Consciousness, Happiness.
This is the time for you to realize That – the only thing you are here for! In India, the one who assumes one’s Real Identity, Real Nature is called as Bhagavan... a Jivamukti! If you do not assume That here and now, your life will remain similar to the life of a cockroach, of an ant, of a bird or of a tree. You appear on the scenery (in this so-called "birth"), grow up, work, get married, have kids, fall ill, age and die – just as it happens in the nature. Perhaps, you may suffer a bit more than a cockroach, a bird or a tree, just and simply because of this strong belief in an entity separate from Existence. We do not know how far this goes across nature as it does among human beings.
When you realize or acknowledge your True Nature of Being, of Consciousness, of Happiness, you are beyond these three states we have just spoken of. This is your Natural State! Ramana called this as the "Fourth State," "Turya," the State of Being, the state beyond the illusion of separateness. Then, there is no longer the illusion of the experiencer in the experience, and the entire sense of ego identity – only possible in the dualistic mind, in the dream of separation – is undone... Ok, let's stop now! Until the next meeting. Namaste!
*Online meeting transcription originally held on November 22, 2017 – First published in Portuguese on February 18, 2018. For further information about our meetings, please, click here.
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