GC: Hello everyone! We are here for another videocast. Again, Master Gualberto is here with us. Gratitude, Master, for this opportunity.
Master, today I'm going to read an excerpt from Joel Goldsmith's book called “The Art of Meditation.” In this excerpt Master, Joel talks a little about meditation, and he says the following: “All meditation on God is fruitless unless we realize that what is true in relation to God is true in relation to us as individual and infinite beings.” Master, can you tell us a little bit about what Real Meditation is?
MG: Meditation, Gilson, is the awareness of your Being. This full awareness of That which is You in your Real Nature is Meditation.
The problem with not understanding what Meditation is, is that it has led people to dedicate themselves to a certain model of practice, to become involved in some type of system of how to meditate.
In general, people consider Meditation as something that they will do, that they need to do, that they are determined to do. They do not understand that Meditation is their nature. So, the only real thing with regard to Meditation is not the practice of meditation, but the awareness of this Natural State, which is Meditation in an experiential way, in a practical way in living. So, it is not a practice of meditation, but it is Meditation in a practical way, with Meditation being the expression of the very nature of the Being.
So, we have to investigate the truth about Meditation. Investigating this means understanding that Meditation is what establishes itself as being real in our lives when we approach this study of ourselves. Without studying ourselves, any meditation technique or practice is not Real Meditation, because it is something mechanical, it is something that you force yourself to do, determine yourself to do, technically you do it. But who is this element involved in this doing if not the mind itself, the “I” itself, the ego itself? Therefore, this is not the Truth of Meditation, it is just a meditative practice. So, they are different things.
We can explore this a little bit here, within this meeting. We can investigate this: the real difference between True Meditation and a technique, a practice, or a system of meditation as it is generally done out there. People dedicate themselves to meditation based on a technique, an exercise, a practice. So, for them, meditation is a practice, while, in fact, Meditation is awareness of Being. When there is awareness of Being, there is Meditation. We can work on this. If you have any questions, we can delve into it further
GC: Master, within a path, within spirituality, I learned a lot about meditation practices, and a practice that has a goal, always with an objective. And, even within that, we have a question from someone subscribed to the channel. She asks the following… Nely Flávio asks the following question about meditation: “Apparently, this meditation is empty and aimless, right?” Can you talk a little bit about this, about the purpose of meditation?
MG: The purpose of Meditation is the awareness of your Divine Nature. This is not at all empty, this is of great importance. However, it is of no importance and is completely empty from the ego's point of view. So, the awareness of your Being is the awareness of Happiness. This is the real purpose of life, and This is not something empty.
There is the emptying of illusion, emptying of self-interest, of ego-centeredness, when there is this Truth of Meditation. But I understand her question. It's because, in general, people do meditation as a purpose to obtain something, to achieve something, to accomplish something. So, people practice meditation to find something. Whatever they find in meditation, as a result of their search, is still within that condition, that movement still of the known. So, what people call meditation, and aim and purpose within meditation, is still something within self-interest.
So, it is possible, within a meditative practice, to achieve a certain silence, a certain stillness, a certain relaxation... However, this is still within the sphere of the known. This has nothing to do with the Truth of Meditation, because the Truth of Meditation is the end of the known, it is the end of the “I,” it is the end of the ego, it is the awareness of something that is beyond the known, beyond time, beyond mind, beyond this movement of stillness and restlessness, of relaxation and non-relaxation, as usually happens.
In general, the person enters into relaxation within meditation and, when leaving meditation, the relaxation is gone. He goes into stillness within meditation, and after he comes out of meditation, the stillness goes away.
Real contact with Meditation is the end of this movement of stillness and restlessness, tension and relaxation, purpose being achieved or not, since the awareness of Meditation is the awareness of That which is outside the “I,” outside the ego, it is real awareness that God is the only present Reality. It's not even about this very common idea of communion.
For us, the idea of communion is between two, between this “I” and God, while the Truth of Meditation is the expression… the revelation that the only Reality that expresses itself, which is present when the “I” is not, the ego is not there, is pure Divine Reality.
So, the Truth of Meditation is the end of the “I,” the ego, the experiencer. When there is Meditation, there is no meditator. So, it is not something within time. It does not require a specific moment, it does not require a specific time, it does not require a specific environmental condition for this awareness of Meditation, since Meditation, I repeat, is not a practice. It is a discovery of your True Nature, which arises from a very natural way when there is an approach to the truth, to the understanding of this entire movement, which is the movement of consciousness, which is the consciousness of the “I.”
So, the foundation for Meditation is the truth of Self-awareness. Becoming aware of one's own movement of thought, feeling, emotion, and perception, thus eliminating the sense of an identity present in it, is the basis for Meditation. And one detail, Gilson: it's only real if it's now. It is only real if it is faced with any situation. At this moment, you are within the ideal moment for the awareness of Meditation, for the Truth of practical Meditation, of experiential Meditation, at this moment. This subject is fascinating!
The key to the Truth of Awakening is, yes, the awareness of Meditation. Without Meditation, which has as its principle the Truth of Self-awareness, there is no Awakening. Some people can live within a technique, a practice, for many years, for a lifetime, and never know the Truth of Real Awakening, because the Truth – and I say “Real Awakening,” because Awakening is not what many others put it there as “awakening”... Nowadays, any mystical experience or any transcendental experience, or one that goes a little outside the model of the common mind, people, in general… any level of experience of this type is called “ awakening.” This is not the Truth about Awakening!
Awakening is the end of the sense of separation, it is the end of the sense of duality, it is the knowledge of That which is present when the ego is no longer there. This is Awakening! It is not the awakening of the person, it is not the awakening of the “I,” it is not the awakening of someone; It's Awakening! It is the awareness of the Truth of That which is the present Life without this element, which is the illusory identity. This is Awakening!
GC: I was going to ask a question exactly about what the Master said just now. For example, I learned many meditations to find this “Higher Self,” this meditation for inner connection, or a meditation for inner communion with God, and occasionally I had experiences: experiences of peace, of ecstasy... What could these experiences be, Master?
MG: So... these experiences are still at the level of a perception from the one who perceives. So much so that one registers, one keeps the memory of the experience. So, when you go through the experience, the memory of that experience is recorded. So, what we have within an experience of stillness, of peace, of relaxation... this may involve a deep emotion, a deep feeling, something very, very pleasant, but, after the experience, the record remains, and, if it is an experience that left a record, it is no longer there, what we have is always a memory.
You can observe, Gilson, that these experiences come and disappear, and they leave these records. This is a sign that it was just an experience for someone who recorded the experience. So, if there is a record of the experience, it is because that experience…in it, we are still present – because it is something that can now be remembered, recalled – the experience linked to an experiencer. So, this cannot be something real from the point of view of non-duality, of non-separation.
As long as there is the experiencer with his experience, there will be separation. This separation is duality. Reality, Truth leaves no record, because it is not something outside this moment. In other words, Reality, Truth is present in this moment. This is not something that one registers. The awareness of the Truth of Meditation is not an experience, it is the absence of the experiencer.
You do not live the Truth in the past. When the Truth is here, It is the only Reality present, there is no experiencer. So, in that sense, you are the Truth, but there is no record for an experiencer. Record is always memory, Gilson, record always comes from the past. The experiencer is always an element that comes from the past with a description. So much so that the description is: “there was peace, there was silence, there was tranquility…” There was! This is something that is always in the past: it is gone!
You cannot describe the Truth here and now, unless you separate yourself as being the experiencer, but you are no longer in this Truth. That's why when a person comes out of meditation, what they have now is just a record, it's just a memory. It is a sign that what one calls “meditation” was just a recorded experience. So, this cannot be the Reality of Meditation, because the presence of Meditation is the absence of the one who meditates; the presence of Truth is the absence of the one who records the Truth.
Note that this is very important to understand. We are used to living in time, Gilson. So, as people, we are always recording anything. This record begins to take part, it becomes incorporated into this identity, which is the identity of the “I,” which lives on memories.
Reality is not a memory. The Real Vision of God is the absence of “I.” It’s not someone seeing and recording, it’s God’s Reality taking over Its space. No register! So, you ask, “What are these experiences? Experiences! Experience requires the presence of someone who lived it and recorded it. Gilson, we need to discover what life is through experiencing, without keeping records, because, when we keep records, the identity of the “I” assumes these records as being the experiencer, the one who has remembrance, recollection, and memory.
Basically, the “I,” the ego, is exactly that: a center of records, memories, and remembrances. There are memories of the aspect of material life and memories of the aspect of this so-called “spiritual life.” These aspects also include mystical contact, the so-called “spiritual” contact, the bliss of the mystical experience… but this is now just a memory for this “I.” It's very interesting, because people keep looking for that experience again. Now, they are projecting, from a memory, the idea of an experience that is no longer there. The Awareness of your Being is now, there is no record, there is no memory. The brain does not capture This as part of its knowledge.
GC: Master, it's funny, because that's exactly what happened to me. I had, in some meditation, an experience of great peace, of lightness, I recorded that there and, obviously, later I wanted to repeat that, and I started to collect these experiences, the ego started to collect these experiences, and I thought that was the best, because I was told that this was what spirituality and realizing God were all about and.
But what happens... I saw that it wasn't working, because, even though I had these experiences, I came out of meditation, a deep peace, a cool experience, a few minutes passed and it was already “normal me” there, you know? And with the same conflicts, with the same internal restlessness.
Then, I began to suspect that there was something wrong with these experiences, because it was always “myself” there in a mental experience, the ego taking possession of a mystical or transcendental experience and adding more to its identity. That's it, Master?
MG: You observe, Gilson, that this is what happens to everyone! You go through experiences… they are rich, they are deep, they are wonderful, but they are now just memories! And why don't they carry out a radical transformation in this mechanism, in this body-mind? Why don't they establish themselves as something true and definitive? Because they are happening at the body-mind level, at the level of feelings and emotions. They are not based on the dethronement of the ego.
No experience dethrones the ego. You go through the experience, and the ego, the “I,” assimilates those experiences, records those experiences, as part of itself. Afterwards, the ego itself misses that and says “where did it go?”, because it was just an experience, still emotional, sentimental… At that moment, it seemed rich and deep, but now what we have are just memories.
The fact, Gilson, is that this doesn't work. So, people spend many years of their lives living experiences, and thought builds a story around
these experiences, saying that the thing will arrive, the thing is coming. But no! The years come and go, and the person, looking at oneself honestly, begins to realize that they are still just a person. Perhaps with a wealth of so-called “spiritual” experiences that other people do not have, but, from the point of view of egoic identity, they continue to be possessive, jealous, greedy… they continue to be full of desires and fears. The various forms of suffering are still there. Perhaps not those apparent gross sufferings of someone who is not involved in spirituality. Someone outside of spirituality suffers in a very gross way, and one who is involved in spirituality has an apparently milder form of suffering, but the sense of “I” is still there! Jealousy, fear, possession, afflictions, anguish, sadness, everything is present!
So, the person improves, they may even have a different model of life and patterns compared to others, they may even be seen as someone different, someone special... they may even achieve a certain respectability in their environment, because they will be seen as a spiritual or spiritualized person, but internally the “I” continues to be present. As long as the “I,” the ego, remains present – whether gross or subtle illusion will be present, Gilson!
So, the Truth of Awakening is the end of the “I.” We have to discard this search or quest for increasingly deeper and richer experiences from our lives, since these experiences are only at the level of memory records. This does not bring about a radical and profound change in this body-mind structure. We need something beyond that. This something beyond is a real work of Self-awareness, of True Meditation, in a practical way, in an experiential way.
What you are saying is very common, it is very common. The people listening to us now must be realizing what we are saying. We spend many years reading books, studying, and having experiences, and it seems that we always see it confirmed, by books and others, that we are becoming spiritual. But who is this person who is becoming spiritual, Gilson? All of this is still within the illusion of the “I,” the illusion of the ego.
GC: And, by Grace, I ended up meeting you Master, and there is a Freedom, because Master brings this vision where there is no need for a practice, but, rather, a constant state of alertness in life and, also, a discard of studying anything outside, other than studying myself, looking at this madness of being someone, looking at this person who suffers, looking at this person who seeks experiences, who sought so much and collected experiences, and nourished so much – as the Master said – the hope that, by adding mystical, transcendental experiences, something could happen one day. And the Master brings us this vision, to discard all this hope, which is time, which is just the continuity of the “I,” right, Master?
MG: Yes, this is within illusion, the illusion of time that the “I” has formed, that the “I” has constructed, through memory, through thought, to maintain its continuity. The whole idea of growth, evolution, and change within this structure, within this projection of the “I,” requires the presence of time. So, it ends up that this “I,” which is this set of memories, remembrances, that form the experiencer – this experiencer who is also the one who is thinking about all these subjects, who is the thinker; he is the one who is thinking about all this – he is always with an ideal of, in the future, being able to free himself from these addictions, these problems, these mistakes, this limitation, this suffering.
So, there is always the idea of becoming “someone enlightened,” of becoming “someone awake,” of becoming “someone ready” ... When the ego does not say that the person is already ready and that he or she is only improving, developing oneself, and becoming better and better over time, which is an illusion!
All the ego is doing is maintaining its continuity based on a belief, based on theoretical concepts of everything it has ever read and everything it is experiencing, and transforming that into a past experience for it, as being real.
The Truth of Revealing your True Nature, Gilson, is the discarding of the “I,” which is the experiencer, with all its experiences. So, there is something new present, which is no longer within a process of experience with its experiencer. It is no longer about experiences with its experiencer, it is no longer about evolution towards that center, which is the “I.” There is something unknown present, which is the reality of simply Being, without past, without future and, naturally, without this notion that the present has something to reveal that is not here yet, that is, the present being a door yet to the future.
This all falls away, this all disappears, when you become aware that the only Reality is something that is present when the experiencer, the thinker, the “I,” the ego, is not. So, there is nothing to achieve and nothing else to get rid of when your Real Nature – which is the Truth of experiencing life without the ego, without the “I,” which is Meditation – is present.
GC: Master, our time has come to end. Thank you for this videocast. We stop here. For those of you watching the video: leave a “like,” this helps YouTube recognize that the content is relevant, and also leave a comment, asking questions for us to bring to future videocasts. And, mainly, for those of you who want to understand ... more than understanding, but experiencing, comprehending what this Real Meditation is, we invite you to face-to-face and online meetings with Master Gualberto, which are called Satsangs, where the Master shares this State of Real Meditation. And, being in this connection in Satsang, we end up receiving and entering this atmosphere that is totally unknown, which is no longer an experience for the ego to collect, but something that is beyond words, beyond what we can talk about. So, here's the invitation.
In the first pinned comment, there will be a link to the WhatsApp group with information about the meetings.
Ok, Master! Thank you for this videocast.
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