This is the Tuesday Talk held February 24, 2026. Tuesday Talks is a gathering on Zoom of devotees from the Ramakant Maharaj USA visit. This is a gathering of devotee’s to discuss and clarify the teachings of Sri Ramakant Maharaj. These spontaneous utterances are recorded and shared with anyone who may find them useful.
Jai Sadguru!
Tuesday Talk February 24, 2026
Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. With limited Edits
Q: I found a good thing this week on YouTube. We got French translation right now. Our meeting we do every Tuesday. And we get it in French. There's a bottom and you got all the script in French. A lot of language. Different language. It's very good. It's helpful.
John: Good, good. Sounds good. Yes, we got a couple of emails about the transcripts that I'm now putting on the website. So now you can go through and read and then take that and translate that as well.
Q: So, yeah.
Q: It’s most all the time the same conversation, but you have to be hammering and hammering. And gradually I just start to feel it sometime. It's natural. It's come. Okay, I'm not that. And it's not something I think about it. It's come natural. This is it. This is it.
And that's really, I enjoy it. I feel the difference between the first talk we had and where I am right now. I say, okay, it's melting. Gradually all the old resistance or old conditioning is going away. Do you see?
Q: Gradually I see, like I've said before, everything John says ends up being, I can totally see the truth in it or whatever.
John: This is the reality. That's the thing. It's not like we're trying to sell anything or say this “could be” if you remain with yourself. The reality comes about because that's the reality. The illusion is very hard to hold. Actually, you have to really be identified with the body form as yourself. Then you have to go with the flow of thoughts because of identification with the body that these things are happening to me, or I must do this, or this could happen to this, or I have fear of this. I want this, this desire. But when you begin to know yourself in a real sense, illusion can't. It can't stick. There's no kind of building blocks to make it stick. Nothing.
It's just freedom because the freedom was there all along. It was the illusion that you were not free that has now been dispelled because there's no longer an anchor for that illusion. Even as you say, gradually, it's falling away. It's because that anchor of illusion, it can't hold up. It's illusory. It's like if you went to the magic show and you saw the magic show.
If you went night after night after night after night, eventually, you're going to see. It's not true. At first, I was really impressed when he sawed the lady in half. But now, after the fifth time of seeing it, okay, there's little boxes and there's this and that. The same with illusion. Hey, you know what? For a time, I really identified with this body. And because that was so impressed from such a young growing of this body that I was impressed that I was the body. I am this person. Because the person is just the flow of thoughts with identification with the body impressed as I am this. I am someone. And because it's not true, it can be easily seen through.
It's like you pull the chair out from underneath the person and they fall. And it's a free fall because there's no support anymore. I am not body. I was not body. I'm not going to remain the body. At first. These are words. Then they start to become an experience. Then that experience deepens into an understanding. And then it's just known. Oh, that's the knowledge. I am not body. Because body form was available, there was a sense of existence that livingness, this. So, to speak, I am alive. I exist.
And because the body form was available, I'm this body. But the space in the room didn't know it was the space in the room. And suddenly an object within the space is available. And there's a knowingness and aliveness in that body form. And you say, I'm alive. But the space in the room is not really alive or not alive because it's outside that whole.
Even when you remain with your Selfless Self, you're outside of consciousness because that I exist is now your first seeing. Oh, the sense of Presence. The sense of Presence appears in consciousness. And the one that's observing this is outside of consciousness because the consciousness is the sense. I am. I exist. And the entire world is taking place inside this consciousness. As is the body that you used to believe yourself to be. And then it gets confusing of universal consciousness or individual consciousness, but both are the one consciousness.
It's just identification or no identification. And then at the most subtle level, the world is consciousness. And that all appears on your spontaneous Presence. And because you know the sense of existence, you're prior to the sense of existence. So, you're prior to world, consciousness, body, because all this has appeared to you that you are. Take all that away.
And what's left? Only you without any shape or form.
Q: Yeah. I've said sometimes it's a concept, but sometimes I think, well, I'm doing this to myself. In a way, but then now I'm starting to see, well, there really is no self to even be doing it to myself.
John: Correct. Even the practice. When people kept asking Maharaj, how long do I do the practice? Well, you do the practice until there's no practicer. There is no more. When you see there's no practicer because you've dissolved this concept. Practicer is within the bubble of illusion. You're outside the bubble of illusion because this sense of Presence is the first thing that created this concept of duality. And you're out of that.
So now what's left and that what's left is that black hole. There's nothing literally just nothing. You can't hold a thought or a concept. There's no thought to think about because there's no place to rest that thought. There's just nothing. And now with this understanding, go about, do your job, do your duties, take care of your responsibilities. Scenes will appear and disappear, and you behave in the moment. Spontaneously. You're no longer looking for outcomes because you're no longer holding on to a limited identification in a world, thinking you are that or thinking that you can even cause anything to happen because you are formless. The only way you cause anything to happen is just like you cause something to happen inside your dream. It's meaningless. As long as you're holding the body form, take care of the body. Doctor says, take these medicines, take this medicine, need a job to feed yourself. Have a job. Do your job. Do your duties. Have a family. Have friends.
No problem. As Maharaj says, it's practical spirituality and it's in no way hindering your day-to-day activities. The two are totally separate because one is absolutely illusion and one is the reality. And you understand this. So, therefore, just like in a play or in a drama where you've been assigned a role, do your job, do your duties, take care of your responsibilities while the body form is available. That's that.
You can enjoy. You can still have preferences of food or water or, you know, oh, I don't like orange juice so much. I prefer apple juice. Okay. And not sitting there and saying, oh, well, if I prefer this, does that mean that I've taken identification with the body or that I, if I was truly formless, would I care whether it was apple juice or orange juice? No, forget about all that because it's all within the illusion. Just as if in your dream you worried about, well, I drank apple juice in my dream and I really don't like apple juice. How did that, how is that possible? Well, who cares? Throw it away. In a real sense, makes no difference.
Q: It's sort of like you said you don't necessarily pay a lot of attention to the news and I'm noticing that actually that's kind of like what you're talking about with the apple juice. It's like you can give your attention to it, but I don't know. Anyway, I'm finding that I don't have to be affected by it or something. Yeah, of course. Not taking the touch type of thing.
John: Don't have to take the touch of anything. And it's not like you're being irresponsible. Like someone will say, oh, well, then you're not involved. Because people used to come to Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj all the time and kind of beat on him for not being involved and helping, you know, the people and the people that are suffering. And same with Sri Ramana Maharshi. If you read the books, they come and they say, well, how can you just say his illusion and disregard all the suffering in the world? Know yourself in a real sense and then ask this question.
Q: Then you won't be suffering if you find out.
John: There cannot be. And you'll know no one is suffering. Again, just like in your dream. If you dreamt about a refugee camp and people starving and all that in your dream, when you wake up, it's finished. You say, oh, that's very not human. That's not very nice. That's not this and that. No, but if you know yourself in a real sense, you could say you are the cause of all the suffering or that there is no suffering and both are the same. We talked about if the entire world were to completely explode right now, eight billion people evaporated, it would not make any difference for you.
You are that in which the world appears. On which the world appears, the sense of existence creates the concept of a you in a world and otherness. But it's not true. That's why we call it illusion or Maya. And then you say, oh, well, Maya this or illusion that. And you start to create concepts of what illusion is. Illusion is that which is not. There's no need to create a concept about what's illusion and what's Maya and all this sort of thing. Illusion and Maya are non-existent things.
They do not exist. And yet we have a whole freaking vocabulary to talk about all the things that don't exist. And we even have branches of spirituality that will explain the things that do not exist so that the mind is put at ease when inquiring about all the things that do not exist.
And the spiritual journey is just inquiring about things that don't exist with the idea that you're going to get something. You're going to get some answers. The who am I is not who am I, who am I, who am I, who am I, who am I, who am I?
Remaining with your Selfless Self. All the answers are within. When you look for them without, mind is like, yeah, gotcha. Because you're going to ask this question. And then that question is going to breed another question. And that question is going to breed another question. Then you're going to be satisfied for a short time that you now have knowledge until something rocks that knowledge. And then you require more knowledge. Just like Sri Ramakant Maharaj said, when people come to the Ashram, and then they have this whole plan of, I'm going to go see the Amanda Ma lady or whatever.
And I'm going to go to Ramana Maharshi Ashram. And I want to go to Tiruvannamalai and all these places. And it's like this, this tourism. And that's why he says last destination, last stop. It's very sad. Once you're knowing the truth that you don't just sit there and say, okay, I need to sit with myself. Everyone says meditation. Everyone says, just sit with yourself. Just see what's there.
But it's a lot easier when you're identified with the body form to go on a spiritual journey, to bow to some different, various gurus to recite these different things, to walk around Arunachala, to sit in a cave, to torture the body because there's identification with the body form. This is needed. Instead, you just remain with yourself, the self, and all this dissolves. No requirements. As Sri Ramakant Maharaj says, were there any requirements prior to beingness? No. Sense of existence. I exist as something. All requirements came again.
All requirements came along with the body form. And you are not body. You were not body. You're not going to remain the body. Guru hopping is not going to help. It's going to just add more fuel to the mind's fire to keep you on the spiritual journey. And worse than that, to build egoistic spirituality that you are progressing on this spiritual journey. And in today's market, so to speak, not only will that happen, but you'll also be being fleeced. You know, all the free retreats that just say, oh, yes, the retreat is free. However, you have to rent a room in order to go to the retreat and the rooms are on the Ashram site and there'll be $2,000 for the week. And we don't provide food. You need to provide food, and you have to wear a certain kind of clothes. And we just happened to be selling on site the clothes. We strongly recommend you read this book before you talk to our master. I mean, come on now.
Q: Well, we do recommend reading the book before we participate too much in this.
John: You have to have a little bit of a base. Yes. But the truth is you'll never come to this unless there's something stirring inside you. Like most of the population is walking around happily, blissfully, and unaware of themselves. And yet that is your own self. Nothing is wrong with this. You desire to experience in a different way through that particular form. But when the time comes, yes, you'll be introduced slowly into the books and you. And usually, because the life that you were living, that you were holding on to and clinging so much, began to shake. And there are little cracks. There's a little vibration. Is this all there is? Or, oh my God, I'm really in trouble.
And that's just enough to say, okay, now I need to research. Then books, of course, is good. Go see a master, good. But come to the real master and know, like Sri Ramakant Maharaj says, this is the last stop. This mantra will free you from any ideas you've been holding about yourself that aren't true, that currently you believe they are true. And not by any kind of intellectual exercise. By slowly, silently, and permanently removing all the illusory layers until you know yourself. And then be with you always. Be with you always.
Don't give yourself away for every little thing that happens in the world. Because the world is illusion. When you get angry and you blow up at somebody, or you're very impatient waiting in lines, or you don't like the traffic, or there's bills to be paid and you're worried about it, all of this is because you don't know yourself in a real sense. And so you just remain with your Selfless Self. Okay, do your job. Do your duties. Take care of your responsibilities. In the moment, whatever needs to be happening is happening. And again, like Maharaj says, everything, every action, no matter how much it may have seemed important before, pick up the water, drink, put it down. That's it. Go to your job, pick up the water, drink, put it down. On your commute, pick up the water, drink, put it down. Out with friends, pick up the water, drink, put it down. Nothing like earth shattering. Be normal, be simple, be humble, be always with you.
Q: Because you don't really have to make objects of anything, because the objects are really not other than you in a sense.
John: Well, if you believe yourself to be an object, you'll see other objects. If you believe yourself not to be an object, I am not body, I was not body, I'm not going to remain the body, there's a deep understanding, then there are no objects. It's scenes appearing and disappearing and appearing, and disappearing. Not even I'm formless and you're an object. It's just because if I'm formless, you can't be an object. There could be an appearance within the formlessness, but it could not be an object unless I am an object in space and time.
Q: Because I was going to ask you, I had this question, are objects self-evident or are they only illusion? But you sort of answered, there are no objects.
John: There are no objects. There's appearances in space and time, appearance, just appearance in the formlessness that you are. Objects, if I identify as this is me, then there can be something other. There's no identification. Again, we go back to there's no hook to hang your hat. The hat of John, no hook on the wall, I try to hang it, it just falls. How does John feel about this?
Q: You don't really see that until you see it, kind of. But that's what we're doing here.
John: It's an intuitive understanding. That's how they call the knowledge. The knowledge is not some kind of objective knowledge to know. It's an intuitive understanding, oh, so that I am that, without having to say that, because there is nothing other than that, and now that is known.
Q: It's intuitive because it's not object based.
John: Direct recognition. And once the direct recognition is there, like I talked about last week about how seeing Conner and playing with the kids, and just the understanding was like the formless Presence is animating these bodies and moving them around, and each one is like experiencing a separate world and a separate existence, just like in a dream. It's consciousness that's just animating and moving things around and creating stories. But inside that little body is not a person. A person is a concept and an idea.
Q: And if I want an explanation of it, I just think, well, you can imagine.
John: Well, and it's deep. It's expressive. It was, yeah, just like when you understand that formlessness is not just a concept, it's how in the world could you be involved in this world? Like you just, it's not possible. And you go right back to dream to try and explain it. If you want to be mind logic, you say, okay, in a dream, you lay down sleeping, and sense of existence, it stirs, and the consciousness, objects appear within the consciousness, because there's identification with an object within the consciousness. There are other objects, and there's the subject-object duality, and suddenly now you have a scene, a world. You have people, you have movement, you have activity, you have speaking, you have conversations. When you wake up, you know none of it was true, and it had to have been all you.
Who else could it have been? When you know yourself in a real sense, this so-called waking world, this worldly existence, how could it possibly be true? And that's why going back in the beginning of this whole talk, we said, illusion is very hard to maintain. That's why it's easy to know yourself. And once you know yourself, illusion is just gone. It's just, there's no, nothing can hold it.
There's no structure, because illusion is illusion. And as we discussed in the beginning too, the, oh, you know what? It's starting to deepen, and deepen, and deepen, and what is being said is being impressed. It's because that is the reality. And literally, you know, we're on YouTube, and we have the website, and all that. Anybody stumbling across this, and starting to have curiosity, and listening, you discover your own self, because that is the truth.
That is the reality. It's not something where it's like, only when we're in these talks, or only when we're doing this, or only if you think a certain way, or if we hum, or we have to play some music in the background to get your mind right. No, it is the reality. It's open and available for everyone, because you are everyone. When you discard illusion, there you are.
Q: It's, you know, it's removing the layers, like we used to say.
John: Yeah. Layers of illusion gone, fires burning bright, there you are. There are no individuals, there is no body form, there you are.
Q: So, when the layers are removing, it seems like there's like a bliss kind of thing there, where it feels good to be free. And so, I was thinking, is bliss the, I wrote it down, is bliss the limitless power behind, is there any equivalency between bliss and the power, the formless power that animates everything?
John: Well, again, we talked about the Amrut, the nectar of immortality. This is like the Selfless Self intoxication. As you get closer and closer and closer to your Selfless Self, that sense of Presence, of course, for the first time it's felt, and it has no other things layering it down. So, there is this feeling of, oh, oh, I like this. And Sri Ramakant Maharaj talks about chocolate you're giving, and Nisargadatta Maharaj says, chew the chocolate, because this is this Selfless Self intoxication. It's a little reward for being with yourself and continuing to know yourself in a real sense. As illusion fades, you feel the freedom.
Q: So, at first, it's a contrast, and it might seem like it's more powerful or something, but then it becomes more normal or regular.
John: You will no longer have Presence, seeing Presence. You'll have to, like, use the body form to drop back into Presence. Like, if you sit here and then, okay, you won't be, Presence will no longer be a thing, because you are that.
It's no longer like a fascination of your awareness of an object of, this is Presence, or this is consciousness. It's not like that. You just are.
Q: Then you're not concerned about whether it's dissolving at one time or another.
John: Well, because it's dissolved. Because it's dissolved. There's nothing.
There's no illusory, again, because that hook on the wall labeled Keith is no longer there. So, when I say, Keith thinks this, oh, no hook anymore. There's no hook for Keith. Where's the thought about Keith? Where's Keith's ideas, his conditioning? Nothing, because there's no hook. You've removed the hook, and you didn't actually do it. It's just that the hook was so false that by remaining with your Selfless Self, it could no longer appear as true. It never was true, but it appeared for a time true.
Again, going back to dream. Dream seems very real. Wake up. It's finished. Know yourself in a real sense. The illusion of the world is finished.
Yeah, there will be different stages towards getting this. I told you before about the Ashram. I had the experience where we were doing bhajans, and suddenly there's this feeling of expanding into the entire Ashram, and knowing that everything, all the activity in the Ashram was going on inside myself.
But this, again, was from the perspective of the mind. Mind views this as expansion, because the illusory layers are being dissolved slowly, silently, and permanently. Through the mind, it's interpreted as an expansion. I'm expanding, but no. If you're formless, you cannot expand. It's just that pressure of a limited identification is crumbling slowly, silently, and permanently. All concepts are removed. Even the concept that there were concepts, or that there's someone there on which concepts can hang, such as the hook. John, Alan, Keith, no hooks on the wall.
So, I say, well, Keith, how do you feel about this? Oh, where's that? And yet, in the moment, there's a response, still using language. Still, of course, body form is available. Body and world are synonymous. But world is no longer so. It's loose, like the clothes. You just wear the world as a loose garment.
Q: I was thinking, from a perspective of a Keith, that the mantra is enabling me to start. I'm getting a better connection with the mantra, and so I'm thinking the mantra is enabling me to dip into the bliss more, whereas maybe before it didn't seem to be connected with the mantra. But anyway, it's still just a perspective coming from a sense of limitation that's still there for a time, I guess.
John: And don't get hung up. You know, Sri Ramakant Maharaj and Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, Sri Ramakant Maharaj was very clear about, don't sit and remain with this I am, because this is just a progressive step, a lot of stopping of, oh, this is it, this is the bliss, I love bliss, bliss on tap, I can escape to this place anytime I want. But no, you're Selfless Self, because all of that is still within the bubble of illusion. The I am is within the bubble of illusion, because there's a knowingness, I exist. That creates the concept of duality. You're out of it completely. So, just because that bliss is available doesn't mean you want to sit there and just bask in it. You want to remain with your Selfless Self, continue with mantra until you concentrate on the concentrator, until the concentrator dissolves within the concentration. You meditate on the meditator until the meditator dissolves within the meditation. Nothing is there. Even Samadhi. Samadhi is very nice, very blissful. Oh, I like a nice Samadhi state. For three days I didn't know anything, and I was just floating around, and I had no concept of body, and then it stopped. No, again, this is within the bubble of illusion. No experience, no experiencer. No witness, no witnesser. Nothing is there. Not the concept of nothing, the absence of everything.
Q: But you did, but then, you know, there's like contradictions and non-contradictions. It doesn't make any difference, but it's kind of like neither exists.
John: We use words, and words are meaningless, but we tie words together to try and, I don't know why I would do that, language.
Q: I did ask you a couple weeks ago, one true statement is, I am. So, even that's kind of like not true. That's the first illusion.
John: I exist. That's the key, the doorway. Shri Nisargadatta Maharaj talks about stay at the doorway, and then you understand there's no door, and there's no, because the doorway is the I am. On this side is the world, on this side you are. But if you're on this, if you are on the other side of, I am, then that means I am is an appearance on you, or to you. And along with I exist, comes I exist as something in a world. Look at all these things. I have actions. I have activities.
Just like when you first wake up in your dream, when you attach yourself to any kind of a body form, any kind of a form at all, doesn't even have to be a body, any form at all within your dream, then you, I exist as this object in a world with other objects, a story is created, dialogue, words. And when you wake up, you know none of that was true. The building blocks of illusion.
Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai.