Gilson – “My question is: we don't have to try to be better or silence our bad tendencies and vices?” To answer this question from Cris Fabbro, Master Gualberto is here with us once again.
Guys, for those who don't know who Marcos Gualberto is, I'll briefly tell you how I met him.
I have been on a spiritual journey for many years. For the last few years, [I've been] focused here on the study of Joel Goldsmith, and in the last few months — the middle of last year, to be exact — something inside made me go silent. It made me move away from the channel, from studies, from study groups, and I stayed in silence, in stillness, without many external activities. And, by Grace, I found a video of Master Gualberto on Youtube. He has a Channel called “Master Gualberto,” where he deals exclusively with this theme, which is Spiritual Enlightenment, which is the theme that Joel also addresses about God Realization.
And in the video I watched of Master Gualberto, he was dealing with these subjects, and something caught my attention, not because of what he was saying, but because of what was being shared in that video. Something that touched me in a different way in his gaze. And then, studying the Channel a little more, I discovered that Master Gualberto had already “attained” this Natural State of Being, this Spiritual Realization, this Spiritual Enlightenment. And that made me curious to get to know his work better, to see what made me feel different when I looked into his eyes.
I found out there are Satsangs, which are weekend intensive meetings — online as well as face-to-face. I participated in an intensive weekend online meeting and, over the weekend, I was able to experience what I was looking for so much with the studies of Joel and in this spiritual journey, which is this State of Stillness, of Silence. And this State of Stillness and Silence was simply something that happened in one of those meetings called Satsang. Because, being with Master Gualberto in Satsang, this sharing of Consciousness — something that is beyond words and thoughts, as Joel himself often says — touched me. I felt a Silence, something very different from what I had already experienced, and from then on I remained very close to this work, participating in face-to-face meetings and also in retreats.
It is true Grace to have the opportunity to find a living Master in life, a Master here in Brazil, available, doing a work of sharing this Truth, this Divinity, this Truth that Joel speaks of in his teachings, that there is only God, but in a practical way, something experiential. So, I just have to thank you, Master, for this Grace of God through you.
Bringing a question from the people here at the Channel... The question we are going to bring today is from Cris Fabbro, which is exactly the one I asked at the beginning of the video. But I'll read her entire comment first and also read an excerpt from Joel’s book: “Practicing the Presence.”
Cris says: “Good morning. First, Gilson, I'd like to thank you and Master Gualberto for these videos” — these videocasts that we've been making — “I'm always waiting for Saturday to be able to listen to them. I want to ask a question, not really a question, I would like Master Gualberto to talk more about one of his speeches in a video called ‘Real Guided Meditation.’
In this video, Master says that we are not here to fix the world, change the world, move things around, nor change the world, that I had already understood. Master goes on [saying] ‘you are not here to change yourself.’
I even understand it, because there is no “me” to be changed, correct? My question is: don't we have to try to be better or silence our bad tendencies and vices? I know it’s paradoxical, if the Master says at all times that there isn't an ‘I’, a person to be changed or perfected. But I would like to understand better. Should I then not try to leave my vices and misconduct? I don't know if I made myself clear. Thanks.”
Master, before you answer Cris’ question, I want to read an excerpt from the book “Practicing the Presence,” where Joel says: “To recognize that there is no individuality separate from God is to understand the meaning of Master’s commandment of the denial of yourself. We must deny that we, by ourselves, have qualities, character, strength, health, wealth, wisdom, glory, or potential. It is our inner Being, God, manifesting outwardly as You or as I.”
So, I'll pass the floor to the Master so that he clarifies this for us.
Master – Okay, very well. “Shouldn't I try to change my bad habits or bad tendencies?” That’s the question she asks. “Shouldn’t I try to fix it, change it?” The question I ask you is: who is engaging in these bad tendencies and these bad habits?
So, the bad habits and misconduct and all the bad or unpleasant behavior coming from this “I” need to be corrected by this “I”? Is this “I” the fundamental element for this correction? After all, who is occupied with these bad habits? The one who is occupied with these bad habits is the “I” itself. Is it this “I” that will correct these bad habits?
The question for you is this: for us, this notion of good habits and bad habits… the bad habits we don't want to have, the good habits we do. But who is this that cultivates good habits like, for example, all kinds of virtues or cultivates bad habits with vices and bad actions?
Isn't this the element that we need to investigate here and see if it has reality in our life, in our existence? Is not this “I” the element, in fact, that is completely corrupting this condition of Free Life, in Peace, in Freedom, in Love, in Happiness?
So, it doesn't matter if what prevails in your life are virtues or vices. If that sense of “I” is present, whatever it is doing it is doing in corruption, in a sense of illusory separation from God. And whatever it is doing is not at all bringing you the Happiness that You already Are, the Peace that You already Are, the Love that You already Are, the Happiness that You already Are.
So, here, it is about learning to look at that movement, which is the movement of the “I,” becoming aware of that movement without any intention to change or alter that movement. It is possible to become aware of it and in that awareness, it disappears. And when that disappears, when that sense of “I” disappears, then the virtues disappear too. It’s curious, people want to get rid of vices and bad actions and not of good actions and virtues. But the sense of “I” in good or bad actions, in vices or in virtues, is always an element of separation, contradiction, conflict and, ultimately, always suffering.
And when you observe this movement of the “I” in this elimination of this movement of this false center that is the ego, this “me,” when this disappears, virtues and vices, good actions and bad actions also disappear. What remains is an action freed from the sense of “I.” It is the action of Intelligence.
So, I would say to you: don't worry about virtues or vices. Trying to turn vices into virtues or to abandon virtues for vices is the same thing from the point of view of Truth. From the point of view of Truth, it is always the sense of an “I” engaging in this kind of action. Rather, occupy yourself with the self-observation of this movement, which is the movement of the “I.” When you pay proper attention to yourself, here and now, as the sense of separation, which is this sense of “I,” disappears, the vice disappears.
So, the real intention here is to understand the movement of the “I,” not the intention to get rid of bad habits or addictions. Free yourself from the illusion of this sense of “someone” within this experience – be it a good action or a bad action, whether it be a virtue or a vice – and you will discover the Freedom of simply Being, and that is Love, That is Peace, That’s Freedom.
This is the contact with your Real Nature. Otherwise, Gilson, we'll always be busy with self-improvement. So, people are concerned: they want to improve as “people,” they want to exchange vices for virtues, bad behavior for good actions, but they still remain identified with that false center, which is the “ego,” the “me,” or “I.”
As long as it persists, as long as it lasts, the illusion of separation remains, which represents fear and suffering.
So, self-improvement doesn't help. Self-development does not help. Or, better said, for the sense of “person” any help is a help, but the sense of “person” is still there. And if he [“person”] is present, suffering is present, illusion is present, the absence of truth is present.
So, here, I have been telling people to get busy with looking at themselves. It’s not to correct themselves, because this look at yourself with the intention of correcting yourself is introspection. The ego has been doing this for millennia, and until this moment it is still there. You introspect, you do self-analysis, you seek self-help and you continue to live within a sense of ego-identity. Some personality improvements come, but along with that, the sense of ego lingers, continues. So, that’s not what we're dealing with.
If anyone here is looking for an improvement for that sense of person, yes, they should seek help therapy — self-help —, should study personal development. But if the purpose is to Realize God, the end of the illusion of the sense of “I,” of the “ego,” the sense of separation and therefore the end of suffering in a Real and definitive way – Real Self-awareness and True Meditation – , then this occurs. This happens, but this approach is necessary and not another. So, there cannot be an intention at this level of personal improvement but, yes, awareness of the person’s illusion.
When person’s illusion disappears, its vices and bad actions as well as its good actions and virtues also disappear, because this is all part of the ego, of this illusion, of the sense of “I.”
Gilson – Master, this knowledge that you share is something very revolutionary. I speak for myself, because in my spiritual journey, of “personal development”, it is always this human “I” that has vices, that has problems and that wants to exchange these problems for virtues. Being good, being charitable, being generous, being loving and, as I already mentioned — I use this term to be really strong —, how naughty the ego is. The ego is naughty, because it masks itself in this personality of being good, of being a person who helps others and it stays alive. And, Master, I speak for myself, I would have no possibility of seeing this: as it is very strong in me, but it was not seen that “I,” Gilson, who wants to be good, who wants to help, who wants to transform the world, and the ego is hidden in that personality.
In Satsang with the Master, in these encounters with the Master, in that closeness with you, it was revealed how much the ego was behind these virtues, keeping itself very alive. If the ego is very much alive, the sense of separation is there and the God Realization is very far away. This vision is very extraordinary, Master. It’s something you can't find easily out there. It is a path as your Master [Ramana Maharshi] said, it is the Direct Path to that Realization.
Master – It’s because, Gilson, in people’s heads… In us, there is a central idea and from it derives all kinds of misunderstandings. The central idea is that “I am someone.” And as a “someone,” I can meet God; “I” can become good, “I” can become bad; “I” can be happy, “I” can be unhappy; “I” can find peace or live in conflict, in suffering. So, the central idea is always the “I.”
We do not understand that the One Reality is the Reality that Is God, that is literal. So, we use expressions like “Realizing God” for this “I” changing, transforming, altering, reaching an improvement, a self-improvement, to the point where God can be found. This is an illusion.
Here, the work of God Realization is God Realizing Himself or God assuming the place that has always been His and that, in a mistaken way, the mind, within this model of social, cultural, egoic, humanist conditioning, has assumed.
So, Realization is the Truth that God Is and the “I” is a fraud, an illusion. There is no “someone” present here and now, in this experience. There is speaking, there is listening, there is feeling, but there is no “someone” in this experience, unless thought constructs the identity of “someone” to listen, “someone” to speak and “someone” to feel. That is a fallacy, a lie, an illusion.
So, if you identify with or give identity to that thought, you incorporate the illusion of identity in the experience of living, speaking, hearing, feeling. But if this is broken and if this illusion is broken, it is undone, the only present Reality is God, and God has neither vices or virtues.
I would say that the Reality of God is Supreme and transcends this idea of sin and holiness that the ego has; of virtue and vice that the ego has. The Truth that Is God is Absolute Perfection, beyond this notion of virtue and vice, holiness and sin, good and evil, “me” and “not me.” All this disappears when That which is your Being, which is the Truth of your Essential Nature, takes over this body-mind.
So, this whole notion of improvement, of evolution, of growth, of transforming “someone,” of improving, of enhancing, disappears. There is no “someone” present in the experience of living. In living there is only Life and It assumes forms, names, and colors. And It does not separate.
The present sense of “me” — which is just a thought inside us creating all this story — is separating and dividing everything and wanting to fix the world, wanting to adjust things and separating good from evil, virtue from vice, right from wrong, the divine from the profane.
I know this is a little extreme for some of us here to listening to, but the Reality is that there is only God. Then, everything is in place. What needs to be corrected is this view that is based on a background of psychological, cultural, social, educational, religious, political, philosophical conditioning, which we bring and with which we interpret the reality of life.
The culture where we were raised gives us an inheritance background where we are always seeing from a particular prejudiced vision, full of concepts, full of ideologies, full of particular proposals regarding life. So, our way of looking at the world is completely wrong, because we are looking at it from a conditioned mind, within that cultural pattern model. The beauty of Self-awareness is to become aware that all this is a nonentity, it is part of a dream that thought has been building. If you can see this dream, you wake up. And if you wake up, there is only God, everything is in place, nothing is wrong. I know it’s weird, really weird.
Gilson – Master, asking right at this point: how to see this dream, this illusion? This Practical Meditation on this self-observation to see this dream?
Master – The first thing to realize that all this is a big dream, a big game, a big Lila, as the sages in India say, is to realize that this “me,” this “I,” is the one that is always particularizing your experience.
The idea of this “me,” which is an idea, has to be seen. It is necessary, for example, Gilson, to realize that a thought present in you has nothing to do with you. Any thought of you is nothing more than a memory, a heritage of culture. You don't have any thought in your head that isn't memory, and that memory isn't you. It’s an idea, it’s an image.
What happens? This “me” appears along with this idea. So, where does all the confusion start?
The sense of an “I” arises when a thought arises. That thought says: “I'm thinking this,” “I'm feeling this,” “I like this,” “I don't like that.” Thought itself is passing as you in this experience and taking on an illusory identity when it says “I don't like” or “I like”, when it says “I think,” “I agree,” “I disagree.” That “I” is the element of illusion within experience, because in experience there is only thought. So, the first thing here is to realize that this thought is just a thought. If it doesn't receive an identity, it doesn't persist, it doesn't endure, it doesn't create that mistake, because that duality disappears.
If a thought appears and it is nothing but a thought to you, it is not important anymore. If it doesn't matter, it doesn't remain. We are, unconsciously, falling into this game that thought constructs, which is the game of the present “I,” thinking, agreeing, disagreeing, accepting, wanting this, wanting that.
So, this sense of a present “I” has to be seen. When a thought arises, it needs to be seen. A feeling arises, it has to be seen. An emotion arises, it has to be seen, and it is not seen. It already appears assuming an identity. With it you get confused and get lost in this principle of dream, in this principle of illusion.
So, whatever that body is feeling or going through, there is this idea of “someone in it.” This idea needs to be undone. So, the experience of emotion remains for the body, so does the experience of thought for the brain, the experience of sensation for the body, but there is no “someone” left to claim autonomy, identity and a life in this experience. That’s the end of the illusion of “someone” there.
So, that ends the problem of the dream. The dream continues, but there is no longer “someone” dreaming the dream, because this is a dream of God now. It is no longer a personal dream, particular to Gilson, Maria, or José. This is called Liberation in India. They have an Indian expression for it, they call it “Jivanmukta,” the one who has found Moksha, the one who has attained Liberation, Liberation, the one who is watching the game, who is free from the sense of an “I,” that “me,” that “ego,” the one who is no longer within the illusion of being the dreamer, of being the experiencer, of being the observer, of being the one who controls.
If this disappears, people, suffering disappears. Fear disappears. The sense of “I” has disappeared. If it disappeared, how can there be fear? How can there be suffering? How can there be an illusion? How can there be ignorance? This is the Awakening of Intelligence. It is the Awakening of Wisdom. It is the Awakening of your Being. It is the awakening of this God Consciousness. So, now yes, the dream is present and not the illusion of a dreamer named Gilson, Gualberto, Cristina, Cristiane, Maria or José. That sense of “I” is gone. And illusion is gone. This is the result of Realization, God Realization. I didn't say the realization of the “I.” I said the God Realization, because it is God who Realizes Himself. It is God who takes His place. It is God who recognizes himself. It is God who assumes the Truth of what He Is in this body, in this mind, in this organism, in this mechanism, in this biological mechanism, in this body.
That is God Realization. It is not the realization of an “I.” It is God’s realization.
Gilson – Gratitude! Gratitude, Master! It is really revolutionary to investigate this illusion of a present “I” and to be able to perceive it, as I had an experience in a Satsang with the Master, where it became clear that this “I” is a thought. It’s just a thought. I had only one experience, which is worthless, but it shows how real this “there is only God” is.
So, it is a Grace, Master, to be with you, to be in your presence.
And we're going to stop here. Our time is up. So, gratitude, Master, for this meeting.
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Subscribe to the Channel, if you haven’t subscribed. Approach this work, participate in face-to-face meetings, because it is a Grace that surpasses understanding, being able to be face to face with someone who has already Realized this Presence and shares this Natural State of Being.
Gratitude, Master.
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