GC: Hello, everyone! We are here for another videocast. Once again, Master Gualberto is here with us. Thank you very much, Master, for being here. Today I will read an excerpt from Joel Goldsmith’s book called “A Parenthesis in Eternity.” In an excerpt from this book, Master, Joel makes the following comment: “Through our devotion to Meditation, we reach a higher degree and a deeper comprehension of God-Consciousness.” Regarding this subject of Meditation… Master, what is your vision about Meditation?
MG: Gilson, this is a basic subject for all of us. Meditation is the most important thing we have for direct understanding. We have emphasized to you a lot the importance of Understanding, of the truth about Understanding. In general, we use the expression “understanding” in the sense of an intellectual understanding of the subject, of a theoretical understanding of the subject. And, even when we talk here about the issue of Meditation, we believe that the practice of meditation, as it is generally known, is not yet a theory. The whole point here is that this so-called “practice of meditation” is still within a model that is not the Truth of Meditation. Because Real Meditation, and this is what we have been discussing with you… We need to have a true approach to Meditation, and not what we know by the name of “meditation.”
When this word arrived in the West, coming from India, Japan, China, coming from those who approached this Vision of Reality through Meditation, it became, here in the West, a practice, but a mechanical practice, a technical practice. The Truth of Meditation is the awareness of the Revelation of That which is beyond the mind and, therefore, beyond the ego. The awareness of this Revelation is Meditation. Therefore, Meditation cannot be a practice carried out by the ego itself, and yet this is how most people understand this issue of meditation, when they use a technique, a practice, a meditation system. As long as there is someone involved within a system, practice or technique, there will be a mechanical and unconscious movement, naturally, as the egoic mind works within this context.
We need to explore this issue of Meditation, to have a direct understanding of it and not a verbal, intellectual understanding, nor what is known as mechanical practice, where there is someone involved in this technique, in this practice. That is why it does not work. People have been meditating for forty years. Within a technical system, within a practice, the person is meditating, the “I” is meditating. This is still an involvement of the egoic identity. Of course, through a technique or practice, through a breathing model or quieting of the mind through a mantra or soft music, we can have benefits, but these benefits are still within this model of the egoic identity, they are still part of a stillness that is achieved. And who is this element involved in achieving this stillness? It is still the “I”! When the mind is quieted, silenced, by a technique, we have here, at that moment, a mechanism, still, of escape from the psychological condition of the ego.
In other words, meditation, as it is known and as it has been practiced, relieves stress and calms, but it is still a means of escape, and the Truth of Meditation does not propose this. The Truth of Meditation is the Revelation of That which is the Divine Reality of your Being, and this is only possible when the meditator is no longer present. Thus, it is not about quieting the mind. The mind quiets, but there is no one involved in this quieting of the mind. The brain becomes silent, but there is no one involved in this silencing of the brain when there is Real Meditation. And Meditation, Gilson, begins at this moment, it is always at this moment. You are talking to someone, this is the moment of Meditation; you are driving a car, this is the moment of Meditation; you are busy professionally, doing something, this is the moment of Meditation.
The question is: what is this, experientially? What is this, in practice? See, it is not a meditation practice, where you set aside a moment to do this, but here in this moment. What is this moment of Meditation in a practical way? It is becoming aware of the movement of the “I,” which involves thoughts, feelings, emotions, sensations, perceptions, your gestures, your tone of voice, the words you use, if you are talking to someone… Here, in this instant, in this moment, there is Meditation. Meditation only occurs now, and when it occurs, there is no such element, which is the “I,” doing something. Not separating yourself from this instant, from this moment, as being the observer of things, the thinker of thoughts, the one who manages gestures or behavior; being aware of the movement of the body and mind itself, without getting psychologically involved with it, is Meditation. So, we are faced with something that is wonderful: it is the Awareness of Being, of being here and now, disidentified from everything that occurs externally and internally.
So, there is no “I” involved in Meditation; it is the absence of the meditator, the presence of Meditation. Real work in this direction, Gilson, consists of becoming aware of your reactions at every instant, at every moment. Note, we are not faced with something so easy, because we are not faced with something technical. Through a technique, a practice, a system, we can make use of this so-called traditional “meditation,” and in a certain way, with a certain amount of time, we can quiet the mind, silence the mind, but this is relatively simple. Here, we are dealing with something that is not so simple and so easy, which is becoming aware of the movement of the “I” itself in this moment, and only in this moment. And why is this so? Because, without this, there is no true basis for Meditation.
If you set aside a moment for meditation and, in that moment, you fight against thoughts, you battle against them, you push away emotions, you move away from the sensations of the senses, because you are in a place where there are no stimuli, you are in a room, breathing in a certain way, with your eyes closed, then you are, in fact, moving away from external sensory stimuli and fighting against the thoughts that arise, but this movement is still a movement of effort, of control, of presence of the “I.” From a certain point on, you achieve a certain result, that is when the mind becomes quiet, that is when the brain becomes silent, but as soon as meditation ends, you are back.
Here, what we are telling you about the truth of Meditation is that we do not need any of this. However, we are not dealing with something so simple, because it is not a technique that is done at some special time of the day, during the day or at night. Here we are faced with life happening, and the basis for the truth of Meditation… since Meditation is the absence of the meditator, we have to clear this ground, and clearing this ground is getting rid of the illusion of this identity that separates itself, which is the ego. So, the real basis for Meditation is Self-awareness. Without this basis, which is Self-awareness, which is in this moment perceiving your reactions to situations, events, happenings, to a challenge, to a stimulus… Becoming aware of your reactions is Self-awareness, and without it, there is no truth of Meditation. This explains why people have been meditating for forty years, but still carry this model of identity that separates itself from anger, fear, envy, jealousy, worries, anxiety... At the moment of practice, none of this appears, but it is only at the moment of practice. Here, we need to become aware of the Truth of That which we are in this instant, moment by moment.
So, the truth of Meditation is now, when your boss talks to you, when your husband complains about something, when your children cause some disturbance or there is some discomfort in the way someone treats you. Who is being hurt? Who is being wounded? What are your reactions at the moment of this given thing, here, in this moment? See, the basis for Meditation is Self-awareness. It is necessary to become aware of this sense of “I” that separates itself from the present moment, that separates itself from experience, that sees its image being hurt, wounded. It is necessary to become aware of the movement of the “I” itself, at this moment. Becoming aware of this is Self-awareness, and Self-awareness is part of Meditation. So, there is a break in this model of presence of egoic identity, and when this is not there, because we are aware of this model of separation, of duality, Real Meditation begins, here and now, in this instant.
We have to have this perfume in our lives, the perfume of this Awareness of Being, but this only becomes possible when there is Self-awareness. Without Self-awareness, you can use meditation techniques or practices for another two hundred years and you will never get rid of this sense of duality, separation, and ego-identity. Realization, the Truth of your Being, Spiritual Enlightenment, is That which is revealed when there is the presence of Meditation, not the technique or practice of meditation, but the revelation of Meditation, which is present when there is Self-awareness. Without Self-awareness, there is no Meditation.
Another issue involved in this presence of Self-awareness is this Attention on the movement of consciousness, which is consciousness of the “I.” So, this whole subject, Gilson, needs to be investigated, deepened. We need to become aware of what Meditation is, we need to learn the art of Meditation. The thing is that we don’t know what learning is. Here, learning is becoming aware, at this moment, of this disidentification with the egoic consciousness. It’s not taking a class or listening to a lecture, or learning this from someone. No one can teach you what Meditation is, and there’s no way you can learn what Meditation is by reading books or listening to lectures. This requires the presence of this Attention on this whole movement of the “I,” which gives you Self-awareness. And, when there is Self-awareness, this door of Meditation opens and this Reality reveals itself here, at this instant, in this moment.
The work consists of becoming aware of the movement of the “I,” of the movement of the ego. Then, there is the basis for Meditation. We need to understand this closely! That’s why we have online meetings, working on this with those who approach us. In these meetings, you have the opportunity to get closer to what the real experience of Meditation is, in a practical way, in a real way, in a way that you become aware of your reactions and can go beyond them, discovering That which is outside of the “I,” outside of the ego.
GC: Master, before I got to know the Master’s work, I myself had a meditation practice, indeed. I meditated in the morning, at noon and at night, at specific times. And, after meeting the Master, getting closer to this work with the Master, participating mainly in the online meetings, which are the Satsangs that the Master provides, then I was able to begin to realize how completely unaware I was of the number of thoughts I had. Unaware of emotions, unaware of reactions, and always identified with these thoughts, emotions, reactions, and unaware of this identification. And when I started participating in these online meetings that the Master provides, getting closer to this atmosphere of Presence in which the Master lives, then I was able to start to have this awareness of seeing how noisy my mind is, of seeing how much I identified with emotions and immersed myself in a “mess” of thoughts and emotions. And it is pure Grace, truly, to be able to participate in these meetings and, as I say, to hitch a ride in this State of Presence, in this Grace, in this Silence, that the Master is.
MG: Yes, Gilson. That's exactly how it happens. People spend the whole day unaware of their reactions, thoughts, feelings, emotions, sensations, perceptions, and at that particular moment of the day or night, they sit down, close their eyes, put on some music, or apply some technique to quiet their mind. See, we don't need a quiet mind. We need a silent mind, but it can't be silenced. Becoming aware of your reactions is the mind becoming aware of itself, here and now, in this instant. So, in this moment, the mind becomes silent, the brain becomes quiet, but in a natural way. There is no element busy with effort, concentration, or breathing to quiet the mind at any given specific moment. It is here, in this instant!
We need to become aware, Gilson, of our reactions. Human beings do not live with awareness of what is happening inside them. We are, for most of the day and night, unaware of this process, this pattern, this mechanical, unconscious, repetitive, chatty way of thinking inside our heads. So, any technique that can be applied at a given moment will not work. It is at this moment that we have to become aware of our reactions, to go beyond this mechanicalness, this unconsciousness, to go beyond this restless mind. This requires direct work on oneself, it requires the revelation of Self-awareness.
GC: Master, we have a question here on this topic. The question is from a subscriber named Ione. She asks the following question: “How can I remain conscious twenty-four hours a day? How can I shield my consciousness so that it is not shaken by unfavorable circumstances?”
MG: Look, Gilson, our questions need to be understood. Notice here, when you ask how to remain conscious twenty-four hours a day... The Reality of your Being is not in time, so it is not about how many hours a day or how many minutes “I” will be conscious. This sense of “I” is exactly this unconsciousness, and what we call consciousness, as we know it, notice, is still part of this sense of “I.” This is not the case when we have an approach to the Truth of Meditation here. The Truth of Meditation is the end, exactly, of this consciousness, which is the consciousness of “I.” This does not require time; this requires exactly the end of this time, of this model of continuity of time.
An approach to the Truth of Meditation, you see, is not something to shield you from unfavorable situations. Our model of thought is exactly this: to get rid of what is bad and keep what is good. We want to use meditation to protect ourselves psychologically from adversity. An approach to Meditation is, exactly, to be vulnerable to whatever is arising in this moment, becoming aware of what arises. Therefore, it is not a way to escape or get rid of unfavorable psychological circumstances, but we need to become, exactly, aware of everything that is present here, revealing itself.
So, point number one here: we do not raise this issue of time. You only need this moment to become aware of your reactions, aware also of the thoughts that arise, whether they are good or bad; just become aware of them. The very awareness of the movement of this consciousness, which is the consciousness of the “I,” which involves this model of mind, which is always bringing thoughts… Notice, Gilson, these good thoughts, these bad thoughts, these favorable or unfavorable circumstances, it doesn’t matter! All that really interests us is becoming aware of these reactions. Just that: becoming aware of a thought and not maintaining its continuity; becoming aware of an emotion and not maintaining its continuity.
We are maintaining the continuity of thought, emotion or something that arises precisely because we are inattentive to these reactions. Becoming aware of these reactions is going beyond these reactions, just becoming aware of them.
So, how can we free ourselves from this psychological condition, which is the condition of the “I,” of the ego? By becoming aware of this movement, of what is happening here and now, within each one of us, and also externally, how we respond to challenges, to stimuli, to external reactions, to this contact with him or her, to this perception of the senses, to whatever is arising here, at this moment. Being aware of this is enough. And I will repeat this again: we do not place this element of “time” as an important factor. We only need this instant. It is here in this instant, it is always in this instant, moment by moment, that the work happens. So, let me repeat this: it is not about doing something to protect yourself. Your Real Nature is Freedom, Love, Peace, and Happiness. Only this sense of “I,” of the ego, in this model of unconsciousness, is what remains within this old condition. Becoming aware of the movement of the “I,” of the ego, in this moment, is Self-awareness. This is the basis for Real Meditation, and this is here and now, moment by moment.
GC: Thank you, Master. Our time is over. Thank you for this videocast. And for you who are watching the video so far, here is an invitation: if you have sincere yearning to know yourself, to self-investigate, here is an invitation to come to the online and in-person meetings and retreats that Master Gualberto provides, which are called Satsang, which is the encounter with Truth. Because, in these meetings, the Master, who already lives in this State called Awakened or Enlightened State, shares a Presence, shares a Silence, shares Something that is outside of the known, and then we end up taking a ride with this Silence, this Grace, and it is something indescribable. So, here is the invitation.
In the first comment, pinned, there is the WhatsApp link to be able to participate in these meetings. In addition, you can give a “like” to the video and leave a comment with questions for us to read here in other videocasts.
Master, thank you!
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