This is the Tuesday Talk held March 10, 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 March 10, 2026
Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. With limited Edits
Q: Hello, John. Jai Guru.
John: Can you hear me better now, or? Now. Which one is better?
Q: The second time is a little bit of echo. Okay. Can you try the first time again, John? I want to see how it listens.
John: Yep, I just tried the first time. Is this one better?
Q: You want to try the second one again?
John: Okay, hold on. How about now?
Q: This is better, even though it's a little echo, but this is much better. This is better, like 20% better.
John: Okay, let me see here.
Q: Yeah, this is better, actually. There's more bass to it.
John: There's more bass to this one?
Q: Yep.
John: Okay. So, this is the Microsoft array. Hold on, I'm doing a little test here. Okay. I don't know why it's doing this tonight. It just suddenly. Yeah, that's very terrible. It sounds terrible. Okay. Microsoft array. What is this?
Q: Yeah, this is much better.
John: This one's much better? Yes. Okay. All right. Good grief.
Q: Yep.
John: I don't know why it did that. Well, I was just about to read, and I'm glad you're here, because I was going to wait for anybody to come in, but I did get a question this week from someone who said, “I had a conversation with my mother today. She was wondering where her brother, who passed away a few months ago, might be now. For her, he is certainly in the spirit world, but she's also wondering whether he would still be aware of what is happening here on earth with his wife and children. This made me reflect. What do the Masters say about this? Universal Awareness was never limited to the body. So death changes nothing. It remains neutrally aware of all right. Is universal Awareness of Awareness still aware after the death of the body, even of the small everyday things too.”
And this is. Again, this is from a body-based perspective. So we'll go with a dream analogy. The dream consciousness, you have beings, people in the dream consciousness, in which your dream consciousness is animating those characters, performing, speaking, listening, activities, all of this. Within the dream, if one of the dream bodies were to pass away, so to speak, all of the other bodies, because they are, you, would be attending the funeral as yours. The same one that was in the one that's now in the ground, so to speak, or cremated or whatever, or burned is you. And all the people around looking at the coffin. Are you. All the people sending them off? Are you. The minister saying his words of niceness? Are you. So, again, this is understood about the universal Awareness of Awareness but understand that Awareness is only aware. It comes to know I exist through a body because the body is the, the vehicle, so to speak. It's like the space in the room suddenly clicks with the body and said, “oh, I'm aware.” But then forgetting that it's the space in the room, because as the space in the room, it had no knowledge of anything.
Objects appear in Awareness. And you could say, what is viewing the funeral? The individual consciousness, which is the universal consciousness through the filter of “I am somebody else”.
But there is no universal consciousness and there is no individual consciousness. Just as in a dream. In a dream. This is why the dream analogy is so like on point and can put you in Presence so fast because you lay down to sleep. There's a stirring of, I exist. And a dream world's created and you take a body. And then in the dream world, you go about and you do whatever it is. That's being done. It seems very real. Everything is hard. Everything is solid. It seems like there are people. It seems like there's interactions. It seems like you're swimming or running or dancing or enjoying yourself or not enjoying yourself. But when you wake up, you know, everything, all the people, all the activities, the water, the grounds, all the elements. So to speak, all arose from your own self. And now, you know this because you wake up and you say it was just a dream. And when you know yourself in a real sense, you will immediately see that this so-called waking world is just a dream.
You're currently the character of John, but you're also currently the character of the mother of the person who passed away. So, if you ask is Awareness aware of the little things in life, universal Awareness is not aware of anything other than “I exist”. Just like in the dream, all the individuals are that one. When you wake up, all the individuals are gone, but they were never individuals. And when you go to sleep again and you dream again, boom, another world, another creation, everything going on. But when you know yourself in a real sense, formless is just that, formless, no form, no attributes, no nothing.
Body form becomes available. “I exist”. And for a time, I play in the illusory existence because “I exist” is the key to illusion. Without ”I exist”, illusion cannot appear because you just are. You would just remain the space in the room which you are anyway. But through the conceptual idea of “I am somebody else”, this happens, this identification with the body form, these activities, spirituality comes, body-based concepts come, body knowledge comes, body-based relations come. But all of those are your own self, within your own self even. So, if this body were to drop, all the people that attended the funeral would say, oh, John this and John that, and would see John. But the one that was John is also all of these people seeing this dead body labeled John.
So, I know it's very nice to say, oh, my loved ones are watching over me, or, you know, I know he's in a better place. But he's not in a better place because there is no place. Because there is no birth. There is no death. This has to be hammered home. Otherwise, these illusory concepts will appear. And they're quite nice. You know, who wouldn't like to think about people on the clouds playing the harps and all that? But even if you look into that really hard, you'd say, well, how can this be a soul heaven for everyone? Like, what if I don't like playing harps? I like to play electric guitar. But then there's somebody up in heaven that doesn't like electric guitar. It's too noisy. You know, so that's individual. There's no birth, no death. Body is here. Presence is here. Body is no more. Presence is here. Birth comes again.
Just like, okay, let's say this body falls. My son grows up, has a family. He has a son. And he names it after his dad. And then he says, oh, my dad's watching over us. Well, true and not true. True because you believe yourself to be a body form. Therefore, the concept of otherness has to be impressed. And not true because there's no dad, no you, no baby. Lumps of goo that are animated by spontaneous Presence and say, “I exist”. “I exist as this”. And now I'm going to create a scene. I'm going to follow this so-called life. It's just not true. It sounds very lovely. But it's just not true.
And as far as Awareness even being aware, Awareness is only aware within the illusion as “I exist”. Other than that, quite happily, just like sky, sky doesn't know I'm sky. Space doesn't know I'm space. And you're more subtle than all of this. The knowledge of your existence came along with the body. And when the body is no more, the knowledge of existence is still very much there in whatever form it happens to be inhabiting. And again, most beautiful. Think of dream. Take your illusory concepts of heaven and put it in a dream. Because you see. No, no, no. I saw somebody die in the dream. It looked like they were, you know, gathered around and very sad. But I woke up and I knew that wasn't a person. And there could not have been a death. Because I'm all those characters in that dream. Nobody else is entering my dream. So, I have to just cut these concepts. Otherwise, it's nice. Mind can flow along and be like, oh, it's so beautiful. And oh, I'm so peaceful. But no. There are no individuals. There is no real individual, excuse me, individual consciousness. Individual consciousness is the illusion of “I am somebody else”. That you are kind of impressing, just like in a dream. Oh, in my dream, I'm somebody. I'm seeing all these people. It's not true, but it's impressed because of identification with the body. “I'm somebody else”. And you're somebody else. Objects are objects and all this, but it's not true. Everything is occurring within your own self. No birth, no death, nothing.
Q: One thing I wanted to ask is, like, lately I've been so busy at work. I know, because whenever I find time, I do the Mantra too. Of course, I keep kind of reminding myself I know what's the real thing. I don't know, how do I go about this? Sometimes when I get time, probably, you know, I kind of try to align with myself. I mean, through the Mantra, kind of reminding myself what I am. I know, again, from a standpoint of an individual identity, I'm asking this question again. From a real point of a self, there's no one doing anything. Because I read the Avadhuta Gita that it says, even meditation doesn't make any sense from a self-standpoint of you.
Because there's no one doing the meditation. Correct. I mean, from an intellectual point of view, the understanding is there. But again, from an identity point of view, to say like, you know, is it sticking in or like the real experience that's going to follow? It's not there. It's like, I know this identity is not the real deal. So, it's just like hammering the only way. I mean, keep at it until I know my true self. Is that the only way?
John: Mantra through all your experiences. When I was first given the Mantra, even at work, you know, it was like constantly going. And okay, working, doing this. And if you do get too caught up, pause just for a moment. Mantra. Any kind of meetings or whatever, before meetings, Mantra. In meetings, while listening, Mantra. And you just, you begin to see that all of these things are taking care of themselves quite nicely without all this identification with a thought stream. And the need to be a conscious doer.
Just like when you go to work, you're not constantly aware of your clothing. You know, you go into a meeting and you're, oh, I'm in my clothes, and I'm doing this and I'm doing that. You don't have to put on this identity to do your job. You can respond, of course. Someone says something, oh, yes, yes. You get tasks to do, yes. You know, when it gets busy at my job, it's still just, it just flows. It's just a flowing. And you're not bothered by all these individual flow of thoughts of, what do they think of me? Am I going to make this timeline? Am I messing up too much? Do I really know what I'm doing? Any of these doubts creeping in, because there's no place to hang that hat. And when you're not concentrated on any of the, like, little itty-bitty goings-on, the intricacies, it just flows. It’s scenes appearing and disappearing. Here I am at work, and I'm doing this job. Okay, I'm doing this job. If I go into a meeting and somebody says, oh, John, that was a terrible job. You did this and that. Okay, what do I need to fix it and do this and that? Because they're not speaking about John. Like, John's not going to say, uh-oh, you know, here I am. I'm not doing well. Or, on the other hand, I'm not also saying, oh, it's me, it's me. Look, boss, how well I'm doing. For approval. No.
It's just doing your job, doing your duties. Everything is pick up, drink, put it down. Everything. And Mantra. Just remain with Mantra. Just constant Mantra. Walking in between buildings to different meetings, Mantra. In the meeting, Mantra. Manager sends you an email and says we have this project due, and what are the updates? What are the project reports or whatever? Mantra, and then just begin to type. These are the updates. Because you're not trying to. You know that your manager is you. You know that all the people that you're working with are you.
So, you're no longer looking to, like, maneuver or do this job here or try to get this team or to make it look good or any of these things. It just doesn't happen. And that, honestly, is what a lot of people spend most of their time on, is how will this look to other people, or how is this going to present, or what team am I on, or how this is happening, what the manager thinks of me, all these sort of things.
But the manager is you. And always honesty will also be absolute utmost, so you won't get into any trouble about, like, did you do this? No, I didn't. You just say, no, I didn't. I'm in the process of this, or I have this other thing to do. Everything is just you'll respond appropriately in the moment if concentrated on Mantra. It's like life goes on quite nicely without you having to manage it. Yes.
Q: I was so caught up, so caught up, because I have an eye on the real deal. At the same time, I kind of lost in the illusion so much. Again, when I get time, again, I sit through it, but not like doing it on a continual basis. But again, the body identity kind of kicks in and, you know, kind of get dragged into the illusion.
John: And as soon as the body identity kicks in, you Mantra, because that will slowly, silently, and permanently erase it. And eventually it just won't be there.
Q: I want to see that feeling. And then I keep reading some of the books, too. They kind of speak to me as well. Like any Avadhuta Gita, Ashtavakra Gita, Ribhu Gita. It's the same thing, what Maharaj is saying. I mean, I can see the point, straight to the point. Like, what's the hidden meaning to it? Okay, this is what the meaning to it. But again, it's still like, how do I read? I know it's a question, again, from a religious point of view. That's not how I can be it. It's only one thing. When I lose myself, I can be it.
John: Correct. Yeah, because the you that's trying to be you is not...
Q: Yes, I was so caught up, so caught up. Yeah, because I have an eye, I mean, I have an eye on the real deal. At the same time, I kind of lost in the illusion so much. Again, when I get time, again, I sit through it, but not like doing it on a continual basis. So, but again, just the body identity kind of kicks in and, you know, kind of get dragged into the illusion too.
John: And as soon as the body identity kicks in, you Mantra, because that'll, that'll slowly, silently and permanently erase it. And eventually it just won't be there.
Q: Okay, I want to see that. And then, you know, and then I keep reading some of the books too. They kind of like, you know, speak to me as well, like any Avadhuta Gita, or Ashtavakra Gita, Ribhu Gita, you know, it's the same thing. What Maharaj is saying. Yes. I mean, I can see the point, straight to the point, like what's the hidden meaning to it. Okay, this is what they mean to it. But again, it's still like, how do I be it? I know it's a question again, from an illusory point of view, that's not how I can be it. It's only how I can, when I lose myself, I can be it.
John: Correct. Yeah, because the you that's trying to be you is not true and can never be that. But the you that you are, is just sort of impersonating this other you, so to speak. And that little impersonation just needs to be removed. So, the reality is there.
Q: Sometimes I just focus on the Maharaj, I don't know much about this, I just simply be, again, the Mantra chanting in the background. So, of course, the thought that keeps coming at it, but yeah, I try to simply be it most of the time. And I guess, as the second Maharaj says, I mean, just simply be and see, you know, things unfold, and we'll see how that comes out. I'm just too eager to see what the outcome is.
John: Absolutely. Just like, let life come and go as it is, you remain with yourself, don't give yourself away for anything, knowing that it's all illusion, it flows by, it passes. Yeah, no matter what moment is coming, you know, oh, this is the moment. Oh, just Mantra, especially, you know, waiting in lines, being stuck in traffic, all these sort of things, you know, any kind of inconvenience, rather than flipping it over to mind to give an explanation to what's happening, Mantra, just Mantra. And yeah, the readings every morning, I read a little bit from Sri Siddharameshwar Maharaj, Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, Sri Ramakant Maharaj, Dasbodh, you know, all these different little things, just read a couple of pages as I'm on my way to the Metro, and then I don't experience a Metro ride.
Q: Being in the tech field, we get, we have to read a lot to keep up to the pace, right? And then that kind of takes our time to, this is one thing, I don't know how the balancing thing, I don't know how the balancing thing works for the seeker, per se.
John: Well, remember, the two are not, it doesn't affect your spiritual life at all, your regular normal routine duties don't expect, don't affect your spiritual life. Because even while reading, you can read up on tech stuff and be researching and such and still, just Mantra. Even if you have to get up for a moment and go get a cup of tea, Mantra, just Mantra. Every night before you go to sleep, Mantra.
Q: Sure, that I do it. Every time before going to sleep, I do it. I'm so busy, I don't get to do anything, at least before I go to sleep, I just chant the Mantra and sleep.
John: Yeah, it should put you to sleep very, very quickly, actually, because it's like, it just, it puts you in a very nice state of just nothing. And, and then you're, you're as closest to sleep awake as you can be.
Q: And mornings when I wake up, definitely when I have energy, definitely I sit, I sit, kind of spend like half an hour, one hour, and then chant the Mantra. And then go about my duties later.
John: Yeah, on the days when I have to get up and go into DC, rather than just work from home, I keep all music off. And while I'm driving in, Mantra is running, I'm just listening to it as I'm naturally breathing, and drive that little, I don't know, 15-minute drive to the Metro, and park the car, all Mantra. That way, then I'm not worried about like other cars on the road, bunch of traffic, people pulling or doing anything. It's just same thing going home, just Mantra. Actually, coming home, I usually do listen to music, because by then, I've been listening to music on my commute back. So, but in the morning, no, always like, no music until I've actually gotten into work. And other than that, it's just like a good silent zone, basically. Then when I get on the Metro, I listen to the Kakad Arati, Morning Bhajan, and do all the readings that I just told you on my phone. I've been doing that since seeing Maharaj, and that's, it's just a very nice, relaxing way to start the day.
Q: Looking for the signposts, even though I don't want to look for the signposts. Yeah. It's just, just as a token of, of progress, which again, it's again, that's in the standpoint of an identity. Yeah, well, I'm trying to see for that, that unfolding moment when it happens completely, like, oh, it looks like, but again, I understand the part, but again, yeah, well, I'll see when that happens.
John: Yeah. It's more like just a letting go. Yeah. It's just the, you just begin to flow with everything, because there's no longer a block of you that's blocking up everything. Just, just a nice flow. And as I've spoken before, from the Ashram, when I had that feeling of expansion while we were doing the Bhajans, and it felt amazing, like the feeling of expansion was just amazing. Cause I was like, suddenly I was like the Ashram, and all the people were inside myself and we were doing the Bhajan. But again, that is a conceptual, like the mind is seeing the loss of constriction. And so, the feeling of expansion, because the mind is no longer, you're no longer so paying attention to the mind that, that you're being crammed into the little body form, you know, conceptually, you're not like pushed in. And so.
Q: Also not the real deal, you know, to go past Samadhis. I mean, again, I'm taking from a standpoint.
John: Exactly. Yeah, well, Samadhi is, again, if you could say it's like the natural state, unless you're saying, oh, I had a good Samadhi or I'm having a good Samadhi, because then of course it becomes an experience and there's no experience, no experiencer, because there's no, you're just, there's no, you just flow.
Q: Yeah. It's like the space, like background. I mean, I don't know what to say because I've never seen it. Yeah. But again, I only understanding, again, as in one of our verses, it was saying the ultimate deal is just an understanding that who you truly actually are.
John: Yes. And that you absolutely could not be this body. You could not be a little person in a world. You just, you can't even wrap your head around this concept because only by dream analogy could you say, oh, okay, now it, this is how it appeared for a time that I'm a body in a world performing activities is because it's like a dream. The formlessness attaches with the body, creates a world and a scene and all this sort of thing. And that's how I was lost a little bit, or that's how it appeared. The concept of I'm a body in a world and all these other bodies are other people. But that knowledge, it's not unknowing. You can't like unknow that that's, that's the conviction. The oh, so that I, I am that. But now you go, do your duties? Go ahead. I'm sorry.
Q: Yeah. No, I'm saying this is like so crystal clear. Like how come we missed it all this time? I mean, then this knowledge I was, I was reading these books like from 24 onwards. No, I'm like I mean, it's the same, like it's, it's becomes clear and clear every day. I mean like one, one day, but at a few readings of pages, I can clearly tell this is what they're pointing to. The only thing is I'm still not that, whatever this, whatever they talk about it, which even though I can understand it clearly. Yeah. Okay. I mean, it can be only stated in a, in a negative terms only, not this, not this only. Yeah. Yeah.
John: Whatever you believe yourself to be surrender that. Okay. Absolutely. And, and mind flow will tell you if surrendering could be very tricky because maybe you lose your job. Maybe you'll have this, maybe you have that. But the truth is all of that is happening in this moment. Now there's just an illusory layer that you're paying attention to rather than the reality. And I'm sure you have pictures of the Master at home, and you do bowing to the Master, yes or no?
Q: Because my family stays in India, John, I work here in the U.S. So then whenever I get time, I go back probably next year. I'll go back for good. Yeah. At home, I have pictures of Master. Yeah. Only thing is like, I kind of do the Mantra. I mean, it didn't even occur to me. Sometimes I ask Maharaj for help, but not per se, I don't bow, which I should technically.
John: Absolutely.
Q: Yeah. We have a concept called like, Ishta Devata as well, like Guru and Ishta Devata. Ishta Devata is like our, like a, like a, like a shortcut, like a divinity shortcut or something. So I pray to a divinity shortcut and then I'm chanting Mantra. So, so.
John: Yeah, definitely bowing to the Master. I do that and I have at my work, even I have pictures of the Masters in, in my little like cubicle area and I'll pause for a moment, and I'll sit there and I'll say, oh, thank you, Master. Thank you. Especially, I mean, just all throughout the day, just thank you, Master. Thank you, Master. Thank you, Master. Or Master, I really need help with such and such a thing or, or something like this because Master, of course, is your own Selfless Self, but this kind of devotion is, is very good for removing any kind of egoistic sense of doership because, oh, Master, please help me with this thing. This is happening. And okay, now I release, I go take care of this. It turns out great. Thank you, Master. It doesn't turn out so well. Thank you, Master.
Q: It goes like so high that you think like you're in the play so deep and it feels like I'm the one running the show. And in the case, like you were just only an actor.
John: Yeah. Release everything to, to the Master. Everything. Oh, Master, please help me with this. Thank you for this. Something good, something bad, whatever. Then there's no good, no bad. Everything is just, just a gratitude and a constant devotion. And of course, the highest devotion and how we started this whole thing about death and all that, the highest devotion is to remain with the sense of Presence, that feeling of just I, just I, that, that sense of existence, because that sense of existence is you.
Q: It was like I went there; I had given, I had got like the perfect apartment to stay. So, in Nashik, because it was still, in Nashik had some of the, still had the old structures. Like I just happened to land in a new apartment, and everything was so suited for me. I was like, this was like, this was purely due to Maharaj. I was like.
John: Yes.
Q: I could, I could sense Maharaj whenever I'm in, but sometimes the ego is so high that we're thinking I'm running the show. So yeah, I'm used to that kind of a momentum thinking, of course, I need to let it go. So.
John: And even in the smallest things, you know, the apartment, that's, that's something that's like noticeable and kind of like, oh yes, thank you, Master. You, you have put me in just the right place. You knew best. Thank you. Thank you for helping me. But even this is a great lunch. I'm going to try something different. Oh, thank you. This went really well. You know, every single little detail, bring the Master in. Oh, Master. You are the doer. Even you see Sri Ramakant Maharaj, when he was speaking many times, he would say, thank you to my Master because without the Master and Master is not in body form. Master is your own Selfless Self. So that's why he says, you're not bowing to me. You're bowing to your Selfless Self, but your Selfless Self in the form of Sri Ramakant Maharaj lets you know, oh, you're, you're, you're Selfless Self. You're, you're the reality. Yeah.
Q: At one of the point too, when I was, uh, that was way before, uh, I think, yeah, way before when Maharaj, I think it was before Maharaj dropped his body, I guess.
John: Yeah.
Q: Before Maharaj dropped his body. So, uh, at the time, again, it was a 600 kilometers drive, and I was working at night times because I had to do US work in the daytime. Uh, the work kind of dragged on. I started to catch up like three hours or four hours or five hours of sleep. I never got to sleep fully. Like I think I was, I was kind of awake until the morning or maybe I slept two hours or something. Then I knew if I'm going to hit the road in that state with sun hitting and everything, I'll become sick. And to the, to my surprise, actually, there was not even a single vehicle on the road, and it was fully with clouds until Maharaj's place. I was like, surprise, this is, it's like there was a trucker strike and then there was no single vehicle, and the road was completely free, and it was completely with clouds, and it was all moist and cool in the sunny temperature. I was like, surprise.
John: Yeah.
Q: I kind of wrote this in one of my, uh, memoirs as well in Maharaj Experience X. But again, those are, but again, I want to be like, yeah, we'll see when, when that thing comes up. Yeah. I want to test what selflessness is like. Again, I cannot test it. I can only be it.
Yeah. That's it. I have a feeling for sure that Maharaj is watching his disciples for sure. Only thing is we need to dip into that kind of help or source. Maharaj is there, is always there to help. Only we are not looking at it. Yeah.
John: Yeah. That's when I was driving up to Frederick right after Maharaj left the body. I was very sad because Maharaj was like a father while I was there in the Ashram and talking. And when he came here to America and all that, so there was a sadness. But as I was driving, I thought, oh, well now Master is, has become everything just for a moment. And then a very subtle feeling and voice was no, no, no, no, no. Everything was always Maharaj. Like, and Maharaj knew this without any doubt at all. He never was this body, this leaving the body or whatever to become everything or to expand. No, everything is Maharaj and always was.
Q: And he was very gentleman and very mild to, and very approachable to Maharaj. Yes. Yeah. We felt very sad to drop and Maharaj dropped the body too. And that was the time when we went, John. And then when we, we thought Maharaj was very sick at the time.
And we started, we, me and my wife and a kid, right? We thought like, okay, since we're going back to our hometown from Nashik, okay, let's just say goodbye to Maharaj and then leave if they allow. So, they kind of told us, okay, we'll see if Maharaj allows, if Maharaj is okay to meet you, we'll let you in. Otherwise, you'll have to go without saying Maharaj. And to our surprise, Maharaj himself came and opened the door and gave us a send-off. I was like, surprised. Maharaj couldn't even walk. As if then we understood that was our last visit to the Maharaj. Yeah. Yeah. That's, that was one of, that was one of the memorable experience that we don't, we don't forget. To our surprise, actually, he came and walked and opened the door to us. And even when we were going back, he walked us out of the door. And then, then we kind of understood like, as we were like, why did Maharaj come down? We could have gone to him.
So, then we kind of talked to him. And the next month, again, in the next month after that, Maharaj kind of dropped the body. And then we understood it. That was our farewell experience. So, it is indeed very special that we found Maharaj. Actually, Maharaj found us, actually. Isn't it?
John: Yes. Yes. Absolutely.
Transcribed by TurboScribe.