This is the Tuesday Talk held March 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 March 24, 2026
Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. With limited Edits
John: Because we did our time change, how other folks in other countries who don't do time change, if they'll be able to keep track of where we are, I don't know.
Q: There are less people, well, or anything.
John: Well, right now it's just you and me.
Q: Yeah, I mean, as far as listening or whatever.
John: Oh, I mean, listening, people listen on the YouTube, you know, they, whatever we do here, when it's recorded and put on YouTube, then people listen to it, and it gets a lot of views and people comment and stuff.
Q: But so not necessarily live people.
John: No, I mean, live people, you usually have the same kind of three or four people. No, it's not a big, a big chunk. And then they rotate through differently, sometimes with other people. Oh, hold on one second, I gotta take this call.
Q: Sure.
John: Oh, sorry about that. Had to take that call. It's April 7th, I have to go in and have a new, the battery in the pacemaker is now nine years old. So, it needs to be replaced with a little unit, they have to unplug and replug and do that. And that's April 7th. So, the person who's driving me back and forth just wanted to get some details. And I couldn't just blow them off, because I just asked him today, oh, please, please, please help me.
Q: So yeah, I have an electronic device in my body to for my lower back. So, I guess it's called a spinal stimulator connected to along your spine. It helps a fair amount.
John: Does it give like shocks and stuff?
Q: Oh, no, you don't feel it at all. It's not like a TENS unit or anything like that. It's a fairly new development in medicine. I was very lucky to get that.
John: Jai Guru, Patrick.
Q: Jai Guru, John. Yeah, I was in Nasik the year after you went.
John: Good, good.
Q: I was there in July for Maharaja's birthday and Guru Purnima.
Q: Is Patrick new to joining us here?
Q: I was there last week.
Q: Last week, yeah.
Q: Yeah, it was the first time, yeah.
Q: Good to have you.
Q: Well, thank you.
Q: Could always use some more input there. Never get tired of John's voice. I don't know about mine.
Q: One of my favorite Maharaj stories is that about a week, I was there three weeks. And about the week before I left, I gave some money to the steward there of the Ashram, a donation. And about an hour later or so, he came up to me and he goes, Maharaj wants to talk to you. In my mind, I'm like, oh, gosh, did I insult him and not give them enough money? I'm just trying to figure out why he would want to talk to me. And so, I walked across the lane there to his apartment. And Anvita gave me a cup of tea and a cookie. And I sat down and Maharaj was with the steward. And he said, “Did you give such and such an amount of money?” And I said, yeah. And he says, “It's too much. You've got to take half of that.”
Q: I was going to say, is he going to double your money or give it back? What's that? I was thinking maybe he would double your money and give it back. When I tried to donate, when I went to see him, I wasn't allowed.
Q: Oh, yeah. I just took back half the money because he instructed me to do so. But it flies in the face of so many of the money-oriented gurus around that everyone is kind of used to because they get all the publicity. And I've used this story several times to just show people that there's authentic Masters that are still around.
Q: There are some that won't take money. There are some. Not a lot.
Q: Of course, they didn't ask me for a dime. And I stayed at the Ashram for three weeks. So, yeah.
John: Same here. I had stayed at the Ashram for like a month. And the only thing we paid for was the food that was brought in. I'm sure you did that, too, like the little tin cans of food.
Q: Oh, yes. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. The lady that made the lunches and brought them by. Yeah.
John: Yep.
Q: Yeah. And then we go to the hotel that some of the people were staying at for dinner. Oh, OK. Really nice hotel. I forget the name of it. But we ate there just about every night.
Had really good food. I avoided the experience that you had there. Yeah. One thing I did do, I did violate my own. The cardinal rule in visiting countries like India is never eat anything raw. Don't eat raw food. Eat everything cooked and drink purified bottled water. But there was a banana vendor out front who would go by. And I don't know if you know Gopal from France. Was he there when you were there?
John: He wasn't at the Ashram during that time. No. But I know who he is. Yeah.
Q: Yeah. Anyway, he was buying bananas. So, I bought bananas a couple of days. And then one day, the guy had oranges. And I got an orange. And the problem with the orange is that you peel the orange and then you touch the fruit. And so the contamination is on the outer peel. And I did get a quick bout of diarrhea for a day. But it wasn't real bad. It wasn't real bad. But you got to watch out for the raw foods in India. You just don't have the bacteria that can deal with that.
John: Yeah. Well, mine was just, we went to like a lunch to celebrate. One of the devotees was leaving. And I don't know what was wrong. Because the other people had eaten and they were fine. But I just got wiped out completely. Had to go to the hospital. And it was very terrible.
Q: Yeah. I had a friend that happened to, not on this trip, but some years ago. She was somewhere else in India. I think she went to see Sai Baba or something. And the day before she left, she ate a salad. And yeah, she was on IVs a few hours later. All good lessons in the dream, though.
John: Indeed. On how you react, how you put, what you've learned, what you've been shown in the Ashram to use as these different challenges arise. It strengthens your spiritual, you know, you're giving yourself, like Maharaj says, you're not in little puddles. You're diving into the deep end.
Q: I'm in San Antonio, Texas. I don't know if anybody knows of any Ramakant devotees here, but probably not.
John: Not in Texas, in Arizona. I know, I forget his name now. Shoot. He used to be a regular attendee here. And Andrew, there you go. Yeah, he was a minister of, like, Franciscan order.
And then he's doing weddings. So, he's in Arizona, which I guess is kind of close, right? Not real close, but.
Q: Yeah.
Q: So much for your omniscience, you forgot Andrew's name.
John: Yeah, no, I mean, because, you know, the people, and even, I remember we had, in the beginning, we had, like, the two ladies.
Q: Yeah, yeah.
John: And.
Q: There were some other people.
John: Yeah, there was, like, Sandy, and then the other Sandy. So, because they're coming and going, it is, their names are not.
Q: So, I don't know if they got it and didn't need it anymore, but I find that I'm still gradually going deeper and deeper as time goes by. Like, especially today, like, early, when I woke up or whatever, I do my contemplations for, you know, every day. And I just go off of what I feel, after waking up is my best communication with my, again, I don't call it oneness or whatever. And today it was so, so, like, the one that I usually feel that is me was, you know, kind of like, it was no longer, it was just the one that, it must be everybody's one. It's like a self that is not limited to so-called Keith, you know, and that just keeps getting more and more, gradually, as time goes on, it becomes more self-evident that there's just one self. And it's just, I don't know what to say, it's a beautiful thing or something.
It's like, it is liberating from what the sense of being a limited own self to being one, I don't know, call it whatever you want, greater or words or whatever, you know. Oh, my tendency is always words will end up taking me back into feeling not that I'm sort of like my own Keith or something, but, you know, and then when I'm feeling that though, I'm starting to recognize that, which is that Keith is more like a dream than a reality or something. So, anyway, it's good to be here, and then I guess maybe that will, well, the thing is, you know, I'll feel that like for part of the day, and then my thoughts start giving me a sense of being like Keith again.
John: You know yourself in a real sense, the conviction is there. It's not like, oh, now I'm Keith, and then there's this other thing. Keith is appearing as an illusory layer on Presence, and it's not true. And yet you can do your job, do your duties, because right now Keith is a body form that's available until it's not. But you're not having to like say, oh, now I'm Keith, and then I wake up and I feel the sense of oneness, but then I lose the sense of oneness. The sense of oneness, the sense itself is an experience, and there's no experience, no experiencer. So, all these experiences are appearing on your spontaneous Presence.
Q: There's still some limitation going on there.
John: No limitation. An appearance of limitation due to identification with the body form in the moment, performing some activity as I'm doing something. But even with that whole thought train, it's not true. You know this. It can be discarded. You're not losing oneness.
That's why Maharaj says when people are talking, oh, I meditate for two hours, and I get into this very nice peace and all that, and he says one second is enough for you. Just sitting here quietly, sense of Presence is there. I know the sense of Presence. Who knows the sense of Presence? That you are. If the sense of Presence is not, you are. The sense of Presence is, you are. So therefore, the sense of Presence is like an illusory layer, the first illusion, and it can be discarded. So, it's not like you constantly have to feel like this oneness or this sense of Presence. You are that. That's it. You say, oh, I don't feel like that in this moment. But that doesn't matter at all. Oh, wow. Yeah, my pacemaker's buzzing.
Because the battery is like 0.3% or whatever. That's why I said April 7th. So, as I'm talking, it went bzzz. It's kind of crazy.
Q: It's not going to run out of juice or quit working.
John: No, no, no. I asked about that. It'll continue to buzz down until it gets more and more and more buzzing, which is kind of annoying.
But like I told the lady, it's the same as if you had your phone in your pocket on vibrate. So, it's just in your chest. So, it's like having a cell phone in your chest that's on vibrate, and people call you a couple times a day.
But yeah, there's no losing it. That's the misconception. Because of identification with the body, you say, oh, sometimes I'm Keith, and sometimes I know I'm not Keith. But just one experience of sense of Presence, there's a knowing. The sense of Presence came along with the body. I am not body. So, I identify more with the sense of Presence than I do with the body. And yet the sense of Presence, whether it is or is not, I am. Because you're prior to the sense of Presence.
Without knowing yourself, the knowingness came along with the body. I exist. But giving it over to the mind flow and saying, well, now I've lost it. I have to go and search for it. I don't have time right now because I'm very busy in my daily activities, but I'm definitely going to make time to be back with myself. And see, even if you were to read that, it doesn't make sense. Like, right now I'm with myself. Oh, I lost myself. And I'm going to make time tonight to sit with myself again. You are that. It's just hammering, hammering, hammering, but it's known. Hey, Rene.
Q: I can't help it when I describe my experience that that's the way it seems.
John: Yeah, but there's no experience, no experiencer. Just know that it's just illusion. It's the same as in your dream. You say, you know what? In my dream, I had a dream that I was a guru on a mountain, and I was totally at peace, and the birds were flying around me, and everything was so beautiful. And then I woke up.
But that experience was just not true. It appeared true at the time. Same with your experience in the waking state of Keith. Oh, I'm thinking I'm Keith. Keith is having these experiences. But knowing yourself in a real sense is waking up from this illusory dream of I am Keith. I am somebody else. You're nobody. And then if you even try to defend it, you're like, no, no, no, no, I understand that. But, you know, in my experience, I find this works best for me. Well, but then this is also more illusory layers, and giving it to mind. Hey, mind, please help me figure out how to get rid of you. Shri Ramana Maharshi talks about the thief being hired to catch the thief. And then he's the thief. So, it's not.
It's the same as the okay, you're walking in one room, take one thorn to remove the other thorn. But then you have to throw both thorns out. You don't hold on to a thorn. And that's why Mantra so important. You know, when you speak about like, contemplating or thinking or going into the I am and trying to figure out, no Mantra. And it has to be kind of strict.
You know, Master says Mantra. That's, that's it. Oh, but I think I have a good way of my own that works for me. There is no me. The you that's trying to figure out a good way to work is nonexistent. It's an illusory layer that the Master has already said, please remove this illusory layer. Because that's what's gumming up the works. You believe yourself to be something separate and other. There is no individuality.
So, when you say something works for me, or I find this works for me, or, or, you know, I understand that I'm supposed to sit with Mantra. Yeah, I think I know I can do this also. That's why Maharaj gets a little irritated when people would come to the Ashram and say, “I don’t like to meditate.” Oh, what do you mean you don't like to meditate? You want to know yourself, correct? Master says, here's a Mantra. Sit with your Mantra. Mantra removes the illusory layer slowly, silently and permanently. So, the illusory layers are dissolved. The invisible listener. Oh, so that I, I am that not all these things. Not all these thoughts. Not in this world, not in this body. Nothing, nothing, nothing. Totally without any attribute. Sense of Presence. I identify more with the sense of Presence than I do this body form. I say, okay, this sense of Presence, this feeling, this just I, just I, this I am.
And yet after just some time. There's a knowingness whether the Presence is or is not. I am. Presence has appeared to that You are. Whether it is there or not. There felt or not felt. The one to whom Presence has appeared is. You have not appeared to yourself. You are the one to whom the sense of existence appears. And you say, “I exist”.
And suddenly this lump of goo is, is a me. And there are other lumps of goo pointing to you and saying, oh, good job, Keith. Do this nice thing, Keith. And then the flow of thoughts comes. I am Keith. I am doing a good thing. Oh, I did a bad thing. I don't want to do bad things because then pleasure and pain principle come involved because I've identified limited body identification. Local identification. This is me. And then you say, okay, remove this me. But this me was never there in the first place. The me is a ghost. It's like, oh, and, and Sri Siddharameshwar Maharaj talks about finding the I. Oh, is the I in the body? No. Okay. Is it, is the I the mind? No. I is the flow of thoughts. No. I is the great super Consciousness. No, all these things can be known. You cannot know yourself because you are the knower. Anything you know is not you. I know this cup. I am not this cup because I know it. I know the sense of Presence. I am not this sense of Presence. I am prior to the sense of Presence because it has appeared to that you are.
And with this sense of Presence comes the feeling “I exist”, comes the birth of this dualistic illusory existence because I am now something. There are other somethings to see. You say, oh, of course I'm doing things. I wake up in the morning. I'm brushing my teeth. Does that mean I'm not actually brushing my teeth?
Well, the you that's brushing your teeth is within you. Just as in a dream. In a dream, you can be brushing your teeth and wake up and still the body needs to still have the teeth brushed because that was an appearance at the time with identification with the body form, which you are not.
Q: This body has an ability to remember things, and then it makes, the mind makes something out of the memories, and it seems like there's a personal Keith, or Keith's own being rather than just being without any ownership.
John: It's not remembering anything, nor has it memory. Body is lump of goo. The flow of thoughts that you call mind, because it's like, oh, there's thoughts flowing. And for a time, you believe, because identification with the body form, that the mind is somehow inside this, this little region. But when you know yourself as formless, the flow of thoughts is literally this outside appearance of a world. And when you say memory, even as you get to know yourself in a real sense, the impressions weaken.
Yes, you could still like, I can still sit there and say, oh, I remember the Ashram and the food poisoning and this and that. But it's not as like, it's like telling a story. There's no like, there's no experience of it or re-experiencing of something based on identification and saying, oh, this is my story.
Q: And last week you used the word loose, looseness, or it's like, it's. just
John: Yeah, like clothes. And of course, the body is still, you know, and you're still going to see a world. It's not like you're, you're, all of this doesn't just disappear. You're like, suddenly, I know myself in a real sense. And it's just, I'm now like traveling in space, like a comet.
Q: It does what it feels different, though.
John: Well, because there's no pressure of being in a body form. Like, as you slowly, silently and permanently remove these illusory concepts. They're not pressuring you into believing you're a limited body form. Right. So, you can go through your day without having to worry about this clothing that you're wearing called Keith. And yet somebody can say, Hey, Keith, good to see you. And you're not like, Oh, I am not Keith. I am more like space than this body. No, you say, hey, how you doing?
It's just response. And that's why Maharaj says practical spirituality, because your day-to-day activities have nothing to do with your spirituality, have nothing to do with, you know, yourself in a real sense. There's no birth, no death. There's no individuality. All these other forms are just lumps of goo animated by your own self within your own self. The same as a dream.
And yet you do your job. You do your duties, take care of your responsibilities. You don't have to egoistically say, Oh, you know, I know myself and I'm like above everything, or this is not good either. As Maharaj says, Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, he kept his little beadi shop, his little cigarette shop. He didn't just say, Oh, I'm a great Master now. So close up all shops.
And I'm just like, you know, no, most of the Masters in the lineage Sri Ramakant Maharaj worked in a bank, just a normal, you'd come in customer service, handling customer service issues. As he said, some customers get very, very upset. He'd listen. He'd do his job. I've seen Sri Ramakant Maharaj at the Ashram, discussing bills and stuff that the contractors were doing for something in the Ashram. And he wasn't like, you know, you're walking around like, Oh, I'm in the clouds. And this is beneath me, this, this little bill thing, because I am, I am that. No, just do your job, do your duties, be normal, be simple, be humble, be always with you. And don't give yourself away for every little illusory happening that seems to be happening, that of course is nothing.
Q: I guess I'm somehow giving myself away because I'm forgetting to do Mantra too often.
John: Well, that should be like a daily, like all the time. Matter of fact, by now you should be able to just pause at any time and just listen to the Mantra running naturally. Breathing in and breathing out, breathing in and breathing out.
I told you now in the morning, when I go into the Metro, I get in the car, and I have no music because I used to do like bhajan and stuff sometimes in the car. But I do that now only on the Metro on the way in doing the readings. But in the car, it's just Mantra.
And as you're driving, you're not experiencing a commute driving into the Metro. You just concentrate on a Mantra. Then when I get to the Metro, it's like, thank you, Master. You know, I woke up on time. Yay. Thank you. I'm here at the Metro. I have a roof over my head. I have clothes. I have food. I'm driving my car. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And most of all, thank you for introducing to the Selfless Self.
And that's why Master is so important because prior to seeing Maharaj, there was a sense of Presence. It was very nice. I could like drop into it, so to speak. But the people around were like, oh, no, no, no, no, no. You should go to church. You should do this. You should do that. So, there's all this illusory impression on the outside and going to a true Master and Master says, “Oh, you are not body. You were not body. You're not going to remain body. Body is not your identity except your Selfless Self. There's no God, no Brahman, no Paramatman, no Master. Nothing is there.” And the conviction, oh, so that I, I am that. And now you could line a thousand people out there and they could all say, you know what, John, you're crazy. Like there is no Selfless Self. There is no this or that. You know, probably you were just brainwashed, and you believe this because the brain can believe a million different things and all that. But you know, you know, as a matter of fact, you can consider it a test of your knowledge. I know myself in a real sense.
Q: Like I said, sometimes it seems like I know, but then I forget, you know.
John: But there's no forgetting, no remembering. You're formless. How are you going to forget yourself?
Q: Well, because the thoughts take over identification. They cover up, cover up the…
John: But they're not actually covering. And remember, underneath the ash, fire is burning bright. Whether ash is there or not, fire burning bright. You are that. You cannot not be that. Even if you wanted to say, oh, you know what, I'm Keith. I'm not that. You cannot.
Q: But sometimes it's clear, and other times I forget.
John: But see, there's no forgetting. Forget this idea of forgetting, because it's not true. It's concept. Instead of having the concept of I'm forgetting, why not have the concept I'm remaining with my Selfless Self? Both are concepts, and one…
Q: But I'll forget the one I want. Well, I see what you're saying, though, yeah. That's a good idea.
John: Anytime the illusory identity starts to churn, Mantra. Mantra is the eraser, slowly, silently, permanently. Or as Maharaj uses the example of a broom, you open the door, leaves blow into your house, you broom them out.
Okay, oh my gosh, I'm overwhelmed with the feeling that I'm Keith, Mantra. Because mind is busy with Mantra, it can't go around playing with other things. And the beauty of Mantra, no experience, no experiencer. You see this on the other side of the quote experience. This thing, I seemingly went through, but I did not take the touch. Therefore, was it an experience? Because there was no experiencer. And that's where scenes appear and disappear, and it's like channel surfing. Okay, this scene's here, fully into it, change the channel, new scene. Okay, new scene.