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Don’t get caught up in illusory thoughts.

Illusory thoughts. Don’t get caught up in illusory thoughts. Every thought about ‘me’ myself’ or ‘I’ or ‘my story’ is an illusory thought. As Maharaj says “clouds coming and going, don’t accept these illusory thoughts”. Any thought that is flowing through that has to do with a ‘me’ or my circumstance, my job etc. that is an illusory thought, because it is based on illusion. Someone that is not existing, so that thought should be discarded immediately. When the thought comes in and it is discarded immediately, it does not get to germinate, antivirus software. In keeping with your Selfless Self through Mantra, a thought comes in ‘oh, I wonder how my boss thinks I am doing, or I am so busy at work, etc.’ No, no, no, Mantra, this is an illusory thought, I know it is an illusory thought because it is about ‘me’. Keeping with your Selfless Self through Mantra and you will see that it was not as your mind was presenting it. It never is. Keeping with your Selfless Self through Mantra allows you to see things as they are, observing this body moving around, and your reactions coming universally, rather than through the lens of individuality. ‘My boss might fire me’; that is a thought about the illusion. It is appearing on Presence, everything that appears on Presence is an illusion, this ‘me’ that I am worried is getting fired, is illusion, this job is illusion, so this is an illusory egoistic thought. Right away you discard it with Mantra and remain with your Selfless Self. There is no getting caught up in the thinking process. The mind wants to say ‘If we don’t think about this something bad is going to happen to you, we need to try and fix this’ but in reality there is no fixer. It is all occurring in mind, through belief. And you are believing, these thoughts that are put together using mind in sequence, ‘this is going to happen’. Before you know it you have lost your house and you are homeless living under a bridge. In reality nothing has happened. You are experiencing all of this through the instrument of mind, feeling emotion and ‘living’ the moment that is not. It is not the reality. It is going to be what it is anyway. It was Ramana Maharshi who says “If something is meant to be, it is going to happen no matter how much you try to avoid it. If it is not meant to be, it is not going to happen no matter how hard you tru to make it so. Best just to keep quiet.” Keeping quiet through Mantra and remaining with your Selfless Self knowing any thought about a ‘me’ is illusory and nothing is required.

There is nothing that needs to be protected. Someone can say something, whatever, there is not that self-consciousness because there is not a little me that is created through mind identifying with the thought flow and bringing attention towards ‘this is me’. When that idea takes shape than ‘I’ have to protect this idea. I am supposed to know something and I don’t. I either lie, or become aggressive, try to deflect or something. Remaining with myself through Mantra, slowly, silently, permanently, all the ash is removed exposing the fire that was always there. Lighting the Arati that fire is there, it is pure, there are no qualities and nothing is covering it. It burns bright, and the light, You Selfless Self are the light, the spontaneous Presence on which everything appears. Everything that you are seeing is just an illusion. All the thoughts about what is seen are illusion. The ideas that there is a seer, who that seer is, if there is an idea formed about that seer, that is also illusion. There is just the seeing. No experience, everything is just moving about in front of the seeing, images flowing. Everybody is experiencing this in various different stages in different ways. You ‘see’ sometimes, like an athlete being ‘In the zone’ taking the basketball effortlessly to the hoop and slam dunk. He is ‘In the zone’ it is just flowing. That is that Selfless Self type state. After the shot I might think about it. I might analyze the shot and try to bring up thoughts about it, or that I needed to change something. Even though this nice shot was made, I may analyze the action and then start believing ‘Oh, I was a little too much on my left foot, maybe I should have taken off on my right foot’. That is the after effect, the commenting after the fact of the action, in essence creating the doer, because I am sitting there thinking about what has been done.

Take one step forward, Maharaj takes the other step. Not Maharaj in body form where you need to talk to him, or do anything. Maharaj, the Maharaj, Selfless Self. Act as if. In that moment know, it is an illusory world, and I am just moving forward. Without saying it. Mantra allows you to do that. You will see your body moving, remaining with yourself through Mantra, you see you are making a sandwich, your doing this thing, every thing is getting done smoothly and not a single thought has come. Mind has been kept busy with Mantra. As the challenges seem to progress it will be automatic, remaining with yourself through Mantra, until there is no arising of anything. No matter what may be happening outside, there is no experience, no experiencer, because there is nothing here anymore. Every moment is a test and you just have to stick with it. Stay with yourself whatever challenge, of course because we are human beings in these bodies, there are going to be challenges. These challenges, turn up the heat, so that you the Selfless Self can see. Using Mantra I remain with my Selfless Self through this, and there will be amazing peace that can not be described. You start to see that the whole world is projected from me. Not me in body form, this Selfless Self is continuously projecting, there is a recognition in the projection through the eyes, of the person that you believed yourself to be at one time, and now you are aware that you are using this body as an instrument. Moving about in this world, but there is not someone in this instrument. This body is just an instrument. An instrument with no need to give it any identity, no need to fill it, not to worry.

Of course what needs to be done is done, no need to form a doer. There is no deed there is no doer. There is no need to form a doer, no need to form an experiencer, you are formless, remain as you are. Without form, without identity, no next. In the next moment, no next. Mind wants to go to a next, no next, just here. What am I going to do, nope, no next, here. Like Nisargadatta Maharaj says “when there are no customers for thought, thought vanishes”. If you think about any economy if the factory of thoughts are making thoughts and no thoughts are being purchased, they lay off the factory workers, they close the factory, because no one is buying the thoughts. If no one is buying the thoughts, than you are no longer creating a you. Thoughts are flowing to poke and prick a you. Do you believe in this thing? Do you believe you are this? Because if you have this idea about yourself and whatever form you have taken, the thoughts will come in and prick that form, that’s what identification with thoughts does. You create this ‘my mind’ and as soon as ‘my mind’ is created, it starts to buy thoughts under the table. Black market thoughts. All because of a belief. Thoughts that are flowing and they are not used to create or form a ‘my mind’ are just thoughts flowing. Like Maharaj says “clouds, coming and going”. The only time the clouds appear to not come and go is when there is a form that is created, a mind that is created, and then ‘This is happening to me’. I take form as person, that person has this and that, these are my possessions, this is what I do, this is how I feel, my friends and family etc. This is who I am. Thoughts then will be given attention if they have anything to do with any of those ideas being held I am believing about myself in any moment. Remaining with yourself through Mantra allows you to see this process, thoughts can come and go and cease, as there is no attention paid to them. They may still be flowing, I don’t know because there is nothing here that has attraction to any passing thought. No interest of thoughts of what needs to be done, or taking a position as a man or a woman, these just are not there. You are just here, with no next, no nothing. Fully here. Using this body in the moment and dropping, something. nothing, another scene arises, 100% in to this, and then dropping. Knowing inwardly that it is just scenes passing. Nothing is sticking. There is not even an idea that you are continuous in all of these scenes it’s just here is the scene now, then finished, not taking anything with you.

John Richards
Sadguru Shri Ramakant Maharaj Dakshina

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You Experience Many Periods of Your Self Without Yourself

In everyday experience, through Mantra, through staying in touch with your Selfless Self, you experience many periods of your Self without yourself. But, then your attention is drawn back in to something and instead of staying with yourself through Mantra you allow the thought process to begin. An identity is created, you form this form and instantly believe in what is going on and how it relates to this form you have taken. These are opportunities, turning up the heat, the more the heat is turned up that is beautiful, that is the time to stay with yourself in a real sense. As you start to see your attention move towards something and notice, ‘Oh, I am kind of involved in this’ before you become involved in what is going on, Mantra. When the Mantra is running the mind is busy, and without the mind you can’t be involved. The mind is an instrument that creates a form, this thought train that is identified with and labeled as ‘my mind, my thoughts, my actions, my body’. The more the heat get’s turned up that is the time. That is when progressive steps come in as a use to you the Selfless Self using this instrument to know yourself, without identifying. You have processed all of these different times where there could be a pull to form an individuality, to say ‘oh this individual, this is happening to me’. Then every moment is just passing, up to and including there will not be any concept of ‘I am dying’, the scene, the scene, passing no identification with what is going on, that’s it.

Knowing yourself in a real sense you don’t need all this knowledge, this body knowledge. You are no longer holding onto that as something that is needed, something that needs protection. At the time of leaving the body if you truly believe that ‘I’ have this knowledge and that everything is going to be OK for this, that I am going to leave the body very smoothly, because of all my knowledge I know I am Brahman. This is not good, because you knowing yourself in a real sense know that all of that was just for a time, and now it’s not. But there is no idea that I am dying or that I am losing this knowledge that I have collected. Especially on the spiritual journey, like Maharaj says “If you have been on the spiritual journey for 20 or 30 years, you are not going to want to give that up.” That is something, that is this body who has knowledge and has gone to this temple, seen this master and that master, taken this mantra, and practiced all these things for so long. Your not going to want to give that up. That is the body knowledge. Selfless Self through Mantra erases all of this, this you, this virus, this body knowledge and all the things that you believe you have acquired are erased slowly, silently and permanently. Then you know yourself in a real sense without any ideas, beliefs or concepts about yourself. You can “live” by using this body, doing your job and all the activities as they arise, take care of your responsibilities. Knowing fully, ‘I know myself in a real sense, everything is OK, All of this is appearing on my spontaneous Presence’

Space can appear to be divided, but it can’t actually be divided, a box that has space both inside and outside is actually appearing in the space, rather than containing any space. Even if the box is closed, it is a form that is appearing in the space, it is appearing in the space and your attention is being drawn to the box as an object in space, but space is space. Maharaj uses the example of the Ashram sky and the toilet sky. If the building collapses does the space in the Ashram go to heaven and the toilet sky go to hell? Is the Ashram space more holy? Space is space. What is happening inside the space? Anything can happen inside the space, the space is provided for whatever the elemental objects may do inside the space without the space doing anything. The Space is provided, and there are objects that are appearing in the space. For a time you believe yourself as one of those objects. Until the objects that you are observing as the observer, believing that it is observing as this body form, start to observe that observer and sees that there is nothing there. Ultimate Truth, there is nothing else. Recede, recede, recede, Selfless Self, except your Selfless Self nothing is there. Everything came out of nothing, everything dissolves back into nothing, in between there appears to be something, but that something dissolves back into nothing. It was always nothing, there was just an appearance of something.

You recognize yourself through body form. That sense of Presence is felt through body form, that is the purpose of the body instrument. That is not an experience, that is a knowing of yourself in a real sense. The conviction is as I know myself more and more through this body form, I must not be this body. ‘I am not body’ will arise and this will be known. You are using this body as an instrument to feel this sense of Presence. That is not an experience. Bowing to the masters and having the recognition in the projection. Even going to McDonalds and looking at the fry lady and their is a recognition in the projection. In every being my Presence is there. That spontaneous conviction is ‘I absolutely can not be body’. Because how could this body also be in that body, no it is not possible, yet the recognition is there. So this formless Presence is in each form, recognizing itself, using body forms. You sense yourself through this body, and you are reflecting the recognition in the projection through all of the other bodies, because all of it is inside yourself and everything is arising on your spontaneous Presence. That spontaneous Presence is felt through body. That sense of Presence, the knower of the sense of Presence is who I am. I am not the presence, the Presence is kind of an indicator and I am knowing this sense of Presence using body form. You are the knower of that sense of Presence. There is constant conveyance, when Presence is speaking and flowing, the recognition arises, the speaker and the listener are one and the same. That presence is conveyed, it is conveyed in every moment. The more you continue in the mantra and keep with your Selfless Self you will see. Absolutely so that I! My Presence is in each and every being. The squirrel, the dog, the ducks, the birds. An experience may be the birds flying and you somehow feel them flying through you, that is an experience that you would not want to continue in the line of oh, this is happening. Recognizing the sense of Presence is the purpose of the Mantra to invite the attention of the invisible listener, so your intention goes in there, you concentrate, you feel that sense of Presence. This automatically gives great happiness, without any material cause.

John Richards
Sadguru Shri Ramakant Maharaj Dakshina

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There is no self-consciousness when the attention is on the Self.

There is no self-consciousness when the attention is on the Self. If there is self-consciousness it is from the position of the Self observing the self-consciousness. If you are having self-consciousness, then there is a Self that is observing the self-consciousness. When there is no self-consciousness than you are just in your natural state as Your Self.

Nothing can not be described, as soon as you describe it, it’s something. As soon as you put a label on nothing, it is something. That is why the appearance, when everything comes out of nothing and everything dissolves within nothing, there is an appearance of something, this body, this life and all the concepts that come along with this body, the ‘I am somebody else’ which starts from that sense of Presence. When I know that sense of Presence, then I want to identify what that sense of Presence is, rather than just allowing. Not thinking, not labeling, just being. Not being anything in particular because if I want to be something, then I have to create a something out of nothing.

All of this life, these forms are forming, and that power is moving all of it and all of it is contained within That. That is all there is, and That You are, That Selfless Self. Invisible, Anonymous, Unidentified, Identity. Invisible, because like Maharaj says ‘You can’t see it, you feel it.’ That feeling of the sense of Presence, and if you can feel the sense of Presence, then you are the knower of that sense of Presence. You feel that sense of Presence through body form. You can’t do that without body. You don’t know yourself, you can’t feel the sense of Presence without a body form. You have to have the instrument, which is body, that sense of Presence is arising, you can feel that sense of Presence, you are the knower of the sense of Presence using the instrument of body.

This knower, with knowingness, that knows nothing. Because there is nothing other than it to know. You don’t know yourself, there is no knower that can know anything. That is where you must have the courage, living in this body form, Be with You Always and not with the outside world and all the bobbles and dangly things that are trying to attract the attention, trying to form a knower to know those things. Things can come and go, thoughts come and go, scenes come and go, people come and go, but there does not need to be a knower being formed to know something “other”. It is not a “void” because there can be a knower of a void. Through Mantra you will see that there is nothing created, there is no form being taken, just a formless sense. A formless sense that can use hands, that can speak, that can move about, without taking any position, not using mind for labeling anything. That is the spontaniety. Spontaneous Conviction, that Selfless Self, “Oh, So That I”.

Maharaj says “Everything came out of nothing, and everything dissolves back into nothing, and in between there appears to be something.” That something is just nothing, and will return to nothing. In each moment stepping forward this is happening. Something is coming out of nothing, and going back into nothing. Something, nothing, something, nothing. No thoughts, no footprints, no sense of time, no sense of you. Nothing, not even a knower of the absense of a sense of you.

“self-consciousness” comes because I perceive “other”. First I see myself and I say ‘I am’. I am what? I am John, and then all needs all requirements come along with the body. Because I believe I am a body, then I believe you are a body, then I believe in my mind that ‘my mind’ is separate from ‘your mind’, that we are two separate individuals, then I develop a fear of you because I don’t know what your thinking. I don’t know what you are doing. When I am aware and knowing that all of this is just coming through or projected from the Selfless Self, and it is like a dream where there is just one dreamer, dreaming all of this. If I don’t know myself, I don’t know “other”. I don’t take a position as a self knowing something. So it is seen like a dream, just transitory with illusory people coming, and this body is just an illusory person, and there is only one thinker. That is the key thing, there is one. Somehow, someway interacting based on beliefs and ideas that are held about yourself, that is creating a world through mind in any given moment.

Maharaj says “All needs all requirements came along with the body” if I believe I am this body then ‘I Want, I Want, I Want.’ I want to acquire body knowledge for this body. I want to acquire possessions for this body. I want to acquire publicity for this body. Money for this body. Sex for this body. ‘I’ needs these things. Because I believe I am this body. Knowing yourself in a real sense you know there is nothing you could possibly need. Everything is appearing upon your spontaneous Presence, and all these things that are being seen, appear upon the spontaneous Presence so they must be illusion. How can this formless sense of self desire a nicer car? It doesn’t even make sense. How can this formless sense of self not be happy doing what it is doing? All of this appears upon your Presence. And in this game all of this is appearing upon your Presence so that you do know yourself in a real sense, so that you can see. So that you are smacked enough times, that you don’t desire these ‘fluffy clouds’ anymore because they are seen as ‘fluffy clouds’. You will no longer create worlds of concepts, and worlds of ideas. ‘I am a doer, and I need to do more, and congratulations I did this great thing, uh-oh this is not going as planned let’s find someone to blame, because it can’t be me’. The the thought train of concepts takes you away, and your lost deeper and deeper in the belief in the illusion and further and further away from your Selfless Self.

John Richards
Sadguru Shri Ramakant Maharaj Dakshina

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Tuesday Talk September 18, 2018

John Richards Tuesday Talk September 18, 2018

The Master Is Always With Us

This is the Tuesday Talk held September 18, 2018. 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!

One thing that I will say that I have found really, really profound and I will pass this on is looking at the image of Maharaj's body, with the closed eyes. If you sit there and kind of, you have to use duality to feel the sense of Presence, but if you concentrate on the sense of Presence while you are looking at that image you can see that that Presence that you are feeling was speaking through that form. That it no longer is, but there is a very kind of profound seeing, at least there was in my experience. Where I was sitting there, and I do it now every night after I bow to all the Masters. I will sit there and kind of just separate, so that I am feeling this body, feeling the Presence. Notice the image with no life because the presence has been removed, and then knowing that the Presence that I am feeling was speaking through that form, telling me that I am that same Presence. There is just a powerful kind of, just for people if they are wanting to do this.

S:Yeah, that's nice.

I also liked in Ultimate Truth I read today that it said "The invisible, unidentified Presence is in front of you in the form of my Mother, my Father, my Master, my Boss" I thought that was pretty cool. A reminder, a nice hit so to speak.

T: That is nice.

It's like, You don't know yourself and that invisible, anonymous, unidentified identity, that does not know itself, is appearing in front of you in the form of my Friend, my Mother, my Master these sort of things.

And I will say there was a lot of emotion about Maharaj. Because, having gone to India and been with him, and him going through the food poisoning and all that. Of course Maharaj is Master and the formlessness that you are is speaking through that form, understood. But also on the relative level, of him being a body, that I got to know, I really cared for, I loved this guy. So when he passed there was, I got online on WhattsApp "Oh my God". I was crying, it was very powerful. There was a lot of emotion. I didn't get carried away with the emotion. But the emotions were allowed to be felt and there was a time looking at Maharaj's picture I was just 'Oh'. Then of course the understanding, and I think that is why the picture of the body, and feeling the Presence knowing the Presence was speaking through the body, and now it's not. There was a grieving process, like Maharaj says the body has relations, you see these people around you, you know that it is just Selfless Self in form. There is still an impression that these people are there, you have family members and different things and when you lose them you are going to feel some pain. And even though, you could say 'OK, I have a nice still mind, there are really no thoughts coming, I am in the formless Reality, that I am seeing myself.' These thoughts, this pain was there. Maybe I accepted those thoughts, like Maharaj says 'Which thoughts to accept, which thoughts not to accept, are up to you.' I think there was something in me that wanted to just release, to fully feel this sadness that this very great man who I had met in India, who I loved like a father, was no longer here. At the same time knowing that the Master, this is the really powerful part. The Master, like Maharaj says when people come to him and they say "Oh, I am so happy I found a living Master." Maharaj says "What do you mean by living Master?" Master is not in body form. Master is Master. You are Master. Your inner Master is calling to you through the form of what you are labeling as Master only because you still believe you're in a body form. Master is Master. So, it was a really nice, at least in my experience, being able to fully experience the sadness and the pain. To not be caught up into it as far as suffering and at the same time being able to rejoice, knowing that Master has just shown.....

Brief discussion of feedback noise etc.

K: What were you in the middle of saying there?

Just the idea that you can fully feel. See, like Maharaj says "You don't have to keep reminding yourself that you are the Selfless Self." You don't have to keep comparing and seeing your everyday activities and saying 'I am not supposed to feel that' or 'I am not supposed to feel this' or anything like that. Because you are aware of yourself, and you are in body form, body is going to go through different various things. Like Maharaj says 'A disturbance in the five elements can cause the body to go through something.' Just like Maharaj, his sickness, a disturbance in the five elemental body, caused the body to deteriorate to the point where it was no longer able to sustain the Presence. At the same time, this body form, the Selfless Self, seeing this person that he really cared for, through the instrument of body, felt a disturbance. That was OK. At no time did I say 'Oh no. Master is going to be very upset with me that I am crying about him passing, because his whole teaching was that I am not a body.' This didn't happen, this didn't occur and it was a really beautiful experience. To Remain with the Selfless Self and yet express through body form, that yes there was this 'wow'. Ramakant Maharaj is gone. Sadguru Sri Ramakant Maharaj is no longer speaking through that form. That's it.

I think I sent while I was driving up to Frederick, I sent that email about the fact that there was this dawning of 'Wow, Maharaj has become all of this' Then there was 'All of this that you are never becomes anything. For a time this formlessness clicks with a body and then through mind, ego, intellect there is a belief that 'I am this body'. But it never moves, it never changes, it always is. All of this manifestation s appearing inside that formlessness that you are. That's a really beautiful thing too. To see this body has nothing to do with me. I am absolutely not experiencing anything, of any kind, it is not possible. When I remain with that formless sense of Presence I know that Presence can't be cut, can't be burned, can't be destroyed, and that is that aroma of That You Are. All of this from world is appearing on that spontaneous Presence. Yes, you may have a job and your boss may be giving you a hard time. you don't take the touch as much when you remain with your Selfless Self because you just know that all of this is illusory. When this mind, that is another thing that has been noticed again, this mind is kind of surrendered trying to give problems. No problem is really seen as a problem. There is no place fo rit to land, which is understood. As you remain more and more with your Selfless Self it is like the mind is surrendering to that, That You Are. Because you are providing the energy and the power, like Maharaj says. It stops troubling you. It is seemingly like, and I think that is why Maharaj says "Be practical." In your everyday life know that this invisible, anonymous, unidentified identity is appearing in front of you in the form of your boss. In the form of your spouse. In the from of your mother, your father, etc. It isn't so tight. You're all of these. Your mind, once it sees, there is some seeing that this Presence is here and their is an understanding that none of this is happening. Then the mind, because it sees that you are kind of, you have changed your perception. It is no longer feeding you the lines that it used to about worry and troubles, and this and that. Because you are just remaining formlessly aware. That inviting the attention of the invisible listener is that profound sense of Presence that is coming through. You are just remaining. This mind is no longer trying to trouble you or torture you. The thoughts automatically slow down because you are not giving them your attention. Because you ignore this one thought, it doesn't birth all of these baby thoughts, that continue this thought process. A thought comes in and just goes away. There is no place for it to be.

The more you do Mantra. The more you listen to Bhajans. The more you are deeply involved and concentrating on the center of concentration. The more you the Selfless Self see, that mind that is basically just a flow of thoughts about the form world, it just ceases. There is just nothing. It is in the action, it is in the action everyday. Whatever you learned from Maharaj, you put it into action. Now you can say 'OK, this formless sense of Presence, Master is really here with me now.' You can even hear Maharaj's voice "You take one step I take the next, you take one step I take the next." Even more powerfully than that if you think that in the concept state of you have Sri Ramakant Maharaj,you have Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, you have Sri Siddharameshwar Maharaj, you have Sri Bhausaheb Maharaj and they are all in that Presence supporting you as Master. Master is there supporting you in every moment. Now you don't have to say Ramakant Maharaj is in India. No. He is here, now, with you. He has always said this, but now you get to fully experience what it is like to have Master with you guiding you in every moment, so you can step forward fearlessly. Because the bottom line: Except your Selfless Self, there is no God, no Brahman, no Paramatman, no Master, nothing is there. All of this that is appearing is the nothing. It is in the nothing and will return to nothing. That formlessness didn't go anywhere and it didn't become you. All the problems are the body's problems. All the desires are the body's desires. You're not body at all. What could you possibly want? What could you possibly desire? How can the mind that can only see things in form, how can the mind even present an idea of something that you might desire if you don't consider yourself a body or a thing?

K: Occasionally I get a fleeting sense of that, but it is not continuous or anything. It does almost seem that sense his passing that there has been a little bit of a speed up in my experience. I don't know if that is true or not, but.

Well if at all you are going to believe in a concept, that is a good concept to believe in. As Maharaj has continuously said "Sadguru's blessings are always with you." You the Selfless Self, you want this. As you are putting more attention into the Selfless Self and less attention to the world, you are releasing this stranglehold on the beingness. As you continue to remain in your formlessness and just keep that formless sense of Presence, just feel it fully. Dive into it. Prior to the arising of words. Prior to the arising of thought. Prior to the arising of anything. Remain there. It's intoxicating. There is nothing in this world like it, like your Self. There just is not. If you remain there, keep concentrating on the center of concentration. Someone emailed this week and said "How can we do Mantra more strongly, or anything like this." Mantra the strongest way to do Mantra is to concentrate on the concentrator, that is listening to the Mantra. Because the Mantra is running, OK. And see the beautiful thing is the Mantra is always running now. It will come to the foreground. Instead of an 'I am somebody else' being created. That One that is listening to the Mantra, concentrating on that one that is listening. Through which the Mantra is actually going, is inviting, it's rolling out the red carpet to your Selfless Self. Inviting the attention of that invisible listener. That invisible, unidentified, anonymous identity That You Are. That's coming forward.

Like Maharaj says all the time, coming forward. That's where, we spoke about before. You are inwardly seeing and the entire world is appearing on Your spontaneous Presence, you're absolutely one with everything. Without having to think about being one with everything. Because you are just formlessly aware. Like Maharaj has said "Just 'I', Just 'I'. That feeling that you have in the morning, That, this is the entire day every moment of the day. Until there is some disturbance, where you do for a moment, lose yourself in the world, so to speak. And you have Mantra to just pull it back. We talked about before the horses. You are trotting along and the horses start going crazy. You are going to pull them in, 'no, no, you can not do that.' Same. The thinking process, the activities, the 'I am somebody else' that 'needs to do something'. Pull that in. That is the other thing too, I just listened to a video of Ramakant Maharaj and the 'doership' thing. Like he says and this makes perfect sense. While you still believe that you are a doer that there can be things done, this is a concept, but you can use that concept to do Mantra, to do this remaining with your Selfless Self. To pull the attention back in. To put forth effort. The Truth is there is no effort, there is no deed, there is no doer. Until you are convinced of that truth you can use the concept believed in of being a doer of Mantra. Then by doing Mantra you will erase this concept of doership. Don't try to be more than what you are or how far. You hear people and they say 'OK, I am at complete peace my mind is very still' and you compare OK 'I need to be at complete peace.' No you just need to recognize. Like Maharaj says "Where do I stand?"

'Am I doing Mantra enough?' 'Do I have a sense that I can do Mantra?' and 'If I still have a the sense of doership' let's use that concept to do Mantra. To listen to Bhajans. To do meditation. To be with my Selfless Self. If I am still having the concept that I have a 'busy mind' let's listen to Master who says "Ignore this mind. This mind is a flow of thoughts" If it is still flowing, that's fine, not to take the touch, not to worry about it, OK this mind is flowing. That's where I am now. See where you are. Because I think, a lot of times it may be that I am trying to hear what is happening, or what, the Master is giving the perfect Reality. And I am trying, from where I am, access this perfect Reality. But in Reality I need to access where do I stand, where am I? Like Maharaj says "Am I fearless? Am I tension free?" If not then I need more Mantra, I need to use these concepts of being a doer, of being a spiritual discipline, devotee. I need to use these concepts to further my spiritual development. I need to invite the attention of the invisible listener. I need to listen to what Master says. And I need to move forward from that position. I can't move forward, like if I am climbing up a set of stairs, I can't go from step one to step ten. And just do a super high dive. And even if I do, it's very stressful I could still fall down the stairs. But if I put one feet and I admit, OK, here I am at this point right now. This is so important, this is where I am right now. And so I am going to, 'OK, I still have busy thoughts.' 'I still sometimes get lost in the day, where I totally forget Mantra, and then I say Ah, I should have been Mantraing.' Like 'Oh, I should have had a V8'. But, in the middle of the day I say 'Oh, OK, that's OK., Back to Mantra.' Because the more I do these things, the more I use my sense of doership while I am still seemingly a doer, the more the attention is invited of the invisible listener. The more that spontaneity is coming, the more I'll see that what Master says is true. I will start to see things and say 'Oh, ya. I remember Maharaj said this would be occurring.' But don't jump ahead, be where you are now, and fully be there. Like Maharaj says "Ask yourself, where do I stand?" 'If I am reading too much books and I am getting lost in all these different teachings, maybe this is not so good for me.' 'Am I doing Mantra as much as I want to do Mantra?' And I don't want to sit there and say 'Wait a minute I am not supposed to be a doer. So I shouldn't be doing Mantra.' No because as long as there, unless you can absolute have conviction that there is no deed and there is no doer, then use the conceptual belief that you're able to do something. By furthering the Mantra and the spiritual practice to invite the attention of the invisible listener, So That, So That I. Of course, except your Selfless Self there is no God, no Brahman, No Paramatman, no Master. Nothing is there. And the next time somebody cuts you off in traffic, that should automatically be 'There is nobody there, nothing is happening, everything is OK.' Unless there is a me that is involved. But see, if it is not that way, that is OK. Then we step back. We say 'OK, I got irritated.' But remember, the cool thing is, all these stories that Maharaj has told. Like the guy who spit on the other guy fifty times and he had to go take a bath. Now, surely none of us are going to allow ourselves to be spat on fifty times and then invite the guy for lunch. I would not do that right now. But that is showing you the most extreme case. When somebody is giving you a hard time, or cuts you off in line, or is rude to you, you think but they did not spit on me fifty times. You know, so, OK it is a little bit not good but it is OK. I remain with my Selfless Self there is no reason to get involved in that. And like when Maharaj talks about Jesus being nailed, no one is nailing me to a cross in this moment. I feel very disturbed, but that is the extreme, so I can remain with my Selfless Self. And see these are the things.

When Maharaj talks about Eklavya. This was very important to me in India, but Maharaj talked about Eklavya. The fact, he said, the Master didn't teach anything. But the full faith and trust in the Master the internal Master did all the teaching. Because it was directed at that statue. So the same for you. Let that internal Master teach you and guide you. And now know that you can have Maharaj's voice, teaching and guiding you. See, that is so important. That sense of Presence. You felt Maharaj adn you felt that Presence when you were with him. You felt at one time that this body is feeling that bodies Presence and the Presence is very strong around Maharaj. Now Maharaj is not here in physical form but that Presence is still just as strong when you concentrate on the concentrator. When you say, OK here is Maharaj. His picture is here, his picture is here. Yes, Master. 'I feel like having my attention out here, but you said no. You said don't take the touch. I'm here, I remain with my Selfless Self.' This is, because it is the Reality. See, even if you use these conceptual beliefs, to kind of baby step into the Reality, you know that it is the Reality. Then as you are moving forward you will start to see, Yes, this is the Reality. Because now I am experiencing something that Maharaj talked about me experiencing. And it is happening for me right now. Without of course taking the touch and making a big production. Because experiences come and go, but the idea is you will be feeling more fully, your Selfless Self and less and less taking the touch of the illusory individual in the illusory world.