Here, in this meeting, we have an expression that I want to work with you on: the expression is “Atma Vichara.” Ramana Maharshi, the sage of Arunachala Hill, shared this vision of life with those who approached him. He addressed to them the importance of approaching themselves through Atma Vichara. There is a way to directly approach Truth, Reality, the Nature of God, and that way is by accessing the Reality of your own Being. This requires looking at oneself.
We are not usually looking at ourselves, we are looking outward. Our purpose in life is to accomplish things, to achieve things, to obtain and gather things. Very few people are occupied and involved with what we have called here “the fundamental questions of life.” A question is something to be solved; you cannot put a question aside. A question left aside is still a problem that you intend to forget. As far as life is concerned, this is a deception, a self-deception; trying to forget that which needs to be seen, understood, clarified, and solved.
Thus, this question of who you are – and therefore the question is “Who am I?” – this is the most important question in life and we cannot simply turn our backs on it. Human beings spend 80 years of their lives accumulating assets; movable assets, immovable assets and relationships. So, we have these inanimate assets, which are movable and immovable, and these animate assets, which are our relationships. Thus, we live accumulating things around us, and we forget or try to forget this basic question that we are here in life to solve, and the question is: “Who am I?”
This is exactly the question that resolves who God is. You were born – listen to this carefully – you were born for Love, for Peace, for Happiness, for Freedom. And you don’t find this out there, in external achievements, in these movable and immovable assets, inanimate goods and in these animate goods, which are relationships. As people we gather things, we gather people around us. Note, family is part of these people, they are around us. We gather animals, just as we gather material goods, so we live collecting things, acquiring things, obtaining things.
We do not know the truth about who we are, this Reality beyond the body and beyond the mind. Especially because we mistake ourselves for this body and this mind and we see ourselves as an entity present in life. And, for us, life consists of this confusion that we, as human beings, get ourselves into, in these different relationships. Relationships are with people and relationships are with things, with objects, with situations, and with places. So, we see ourselves as an entity present within this experience, this so-called “life” as we know it. But what do we know about this life? Absolutely nothing! Only what we are living, which are the different problems that we face.
Thus, without comprehending this situation, which is the situation of the “I,” which is this basic problem of “who I am,” we have many other unresolved situations. They are present because we are living in a condition of ignorance, of absurd ignorance about who we are. And if we do not understand the Truth about ourselves, we do not know the Truth about the other person with whom we have been living for 15, 20, 30 years. There is no Peace, there is no Love, there is no Freedom, there is no Intelligence in our relationships, because our relationships are conflicting.
It all starts with the very fact that, internally, you are restless, you have internal problems with your own thoughts, with your own desires. And it is easy to confirm this: human beings have concerns. So, notice: the inability to deal with situations in life when they arise, puts us in an internal condition of worrying about them, and the presence of this worry shows us that there is no Intelligence to deal with life without producing conflict, problems and suffering. Since worry is a form of suffering, it is a form of problem, it is the absence of this Intelligence to deal with the matters of life.
And why does it happen? Because we do not have the awareness to deal with ourselves. How can we comprehend life as it is, as it happens? How can we deal with life, exactly as it shows itself, if we do not know how to deal with our reactions, with our own thoughts, feelings, and emotions? They are always contradicting themselves, we have internal contradictions, we are dealing with images within ourselves, producing emotional disorder. The fact is that all of this is present because we have never investigated anything about ourselves.
All our energy is available to achieve things, to obtain things and to deal with these things in the best possible way, so as not to lose these things. This is another interesting element present in this identity of the “I,” of the ego, in this ignorance about who we are: we do not just achieve things, we do everything to keep them with us. As human beings, living in this sense of the ego, we are possessive, controlling creatures, loaded with attachments. Naturally, if attachment is present, insecurity is present, and we have the presence of fear. We do everything to achieve and then we do everything to not lose. In this doing there is effort, struggle and everything to obtain something that will one day inevitably go away.
Let us comprehend this clearly here. There is nothing that you can take with you. There is nothing that you can take with you because there is nothing that is really yours, not even this sense of this “I” is yours. This is an imagination of the thought about who you are – about who you are and what you have, and what you control. There is absolutely no control over anything! (laughter) Nothing is under the control of the “I,” of the ego, and yet we are living in this fantasy. This is the condition of inner contradiction, of disorder, confusion, and suffering. There is nothing – I say again – there is nothing in life that can make you happy.
The Reality of life is Happiness, but life does not consist of this idea of the “I” with all that it has or believes it has. The Reality of life is the Reality of God, and this Reality is present when the sense of the “I” is not present. This represents the end of everything that is known, of everything that is monitored, controlled, possessed by this imagination, which is the imagination of the ego, of this “me,” of this “I,” that believes it has these things, possesses these things. Note that all of this is within this principle of ignorance, of illusion regarding the Truth about who we are.
Here, with you, we are approaching how to learn about Self-Awareness, discover the Truth about yourself – just that, discover the Truth about yourself. Once you have realized this, become aware of it, life, this external life becomes light, without conflict, without problems. We still have challenges arising, but they are answered not from this illusory center that is the ego, but from a present intelligence that knows how to deal with everything that happens without fear, without desire, without conflict, without attachment, without this sense of control, therefore, without this effort.
A life free from the ego is something indescribable, it is life as it is, in Beauty, in Grace. This coming closer to oneself requires the Presence of this art that reveals who you are. So, Atma Vichara, something that Ramana Maharshi shared in his days, we are working here with you. We are showing you how to come closer to the Truth about Meditation and, therefore, bringing you the answer also to the question: “What is Meditation?” We do not dissociate the comprehension of the Truth about ourselves, which is Self-Awareness, from the coming closer to the awareness of God, which is Meditation. This requires the presence of this self-observation, this looking at these reactions, which is Atma Vichara.
We have several playlists here on the channel that delve deeper into each of these subjects. In fact, these various fundamental questions of life are all addressed here, on this channel. Because our proposal is a life of Wisdom, a life of Grace, Beauty and Truth. This requires, in this life, Liberation, the end of ignorance, the end of illusion. The true solution to this question, “Who am I?” One thing we have been telling you here: there is a very well-known phrase, in some way you have come into contact with this phrase and we think it is a beautiful or very philosophical or quite spiritual phrase, but we know nothing about it, it is just theory. And the phrase is a very old phrase, from the ancient Greeks: “Man, know thyself.”
Note, we have many theories, many beliefs and many ready-made phrases. We repeat them, we think they are beautiful, we think they are something interesting, something intelligent to say, and so we repeat them, but we have no direct contact with them. We know nothing about this encounter with the Divine Truth, with the Truth of this Being, with this Reality of God. We are living within programming, and here on the channel we have worked and shown you what this programming is. It is the programming of psychological conditioning, mental conditioning, where we are alienated from the Divine Truth, living in this identification with the body, with the mind and with everything that culture has given us, in this feeling, also, and thought of being someone present in life to conquer things, to accomplish things.
Here, with you, we are approaching the Divine Reality, the Reality of God. This Reality is that which is present when there is this true Intelligence, which is Spiritual Intelligence, which is the Intelligence of God. Some call this state “Spiritual Awakening” or “Spiritual Enlightenment.” It has nothing to do with everything you have heard out there about this Awakening. It is an encounter with the Divine Reality, but this encounter with this Reality is something present when the sense of the “I,” of the ego, is not present.
So, we are working with you on the direct path to this vision. As we said at the very beginning: there is a direct path to this Realization, according to Ramana Maharshi, and that direct path is Atma Vichara, that's the answer – and now it is clear to you: it is not intellectual, it is not verbal, it is not something presented only as a concept, but in an experiential way – the answer to the question “Who am I?” Then, there is a comprehension of the Truth, of That which is Real, when this illusion of this sense of separation is not present. We are here for That, which is beyond the known, to assume That which is beyond the recognizable. It is paradoxical, but it is exactly like that.
The Presence of Divine Reality is the absence of someone to know anything, to see oneself as someone in the world and needing the world for something. Here, together, we are exploring this with you, going deeper into this with you: the Truth of this Divine Revelation, the Truth about what Meditation is. We have a playlist here on this channel: Real Meditation. Note, it’s about Real Meditation in practice… There’s another playlist here on the channel, which I recommend for you to watch, it’s “The Truth about Self-Awareness.” What is the Truth about this? How can we approach this in this life? This is Atma Vichara.
Here, on Saturdays and Sundays, we are together. We have online meetings on weekends. Here, in the video description, you can find our link to participate in these online meetings. So, we are together for two days, working on this with you. In addition, we have in-person meetings and also retreats. If what you've just heard makes sense to you, here is an invitation, go ahead, leave your “like” here and subscribe to the channel. If you have been watching the videos, several videos, and have not yet subscribed, please, subscribe to the channel too; don't forget this time. Write here in the comment: “Yes, that makes sense.” Okay? And we'll see you. Thanks for the meeting and see you next time.
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