This is the Tuesday Talk September 1, 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 September 1, 2026
Transcribed by TurboScribe. With minimal edits.
John: He sent an e-mail that he probably won't be here to, so.
Q: I didn't hear you.
John: Oh, you didn't hear, can you hear me?
Q: It was cutting, right now it looks like okay.
John: Oh, okay. Yeah, I don't have the wireless headphones right now.
Q: Okay.
John: But you can hear me or does it like cut and cut only, only when I'm speaking does it come through, like.
Q: Right now it's okay.
John: Okay. All right. Yeah.
So, yeah, I just said that Keith emailed and said that he wasn't going to make it tonight probably so. He's not going to be here.
Q: Our, our questioner leader.
John: Indeed.
Q: Yeah. Yeah. And where I am right now is to summarize all these teachings is one phrase, is knowing yourself in a real sense. This phrase comes back to me a lot of, many times during the day because sometimes I just catch myself out. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's not true, come back. And before there was something was judging. It's wrong. No, no. There's nothing to judge. Just come back. Keep quiet. It's a big gift to know that.
John: Absolutely.
Q: I got a lot of gratitude because my life was crazy. I didn't make the 12 steps, but I knew some people helping me and I stopped everything. And from there, I said, okay, why I'm there? Why I'm here? That question was running and running and running. And when I found Advaita, I said, okay, okay.
The first step was with Mooji, like something similar to you. First step was with Mooji and okay, and it's good for introduce, but there's something inside. There's a way to go more deeper than that because there's something was turning around. Arrive at certain points. Okay. No, it's just only theory. It's not practical enough. But from Mooji, and then I discovered Papaji, Nisargadatta, and Ramakant, one by one, I said, okay, okay, now it's finished. Knowing yourself in a real sense. And just, and that I trust because I just spend, like another phrase, spend some time with you. And that I see resistance on that. Sometimes I say, okay, just spend time.
Just be there, quiet, and just see what's going on there. But no judge, no thinking, less as possible. And it's strange because there's one part says, yeah, this is it. And the other part is a resistance of that. There's not total peace. Maybe it's a matter of time and just get used to it like any new thing or I don't know. Because it's conditioning. We just remove and remove conditioning.
John: And even peace appears on your Presence. Like you are there. Peace is a layer.
Q: Yeah, okay. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay. That's good.
John: Because you're experiencing the peace. Whether peace is or is not, you are. So, remain with your Selfless Self that you are. And peace comes and goes. Peace, okay, it's very nice. And now no peace, okay. That's also just coming and going. You're not coming and going. That's why even disturbance. Okay, there's a disturbance. Because, again, this is a five-elemental body. We see all the time in the five elements disturbance.
Wind, rain, hurricanes, tornadoes, all this sort of thing is disturbance of the five elements. So, this body, five-elemental body, disturbance in the five elements. But no need to say I am disturbed. Or I am sick. Or yes, okay, this body is experiencing a disturbance in the five elements. We call that I am sick. I have the flu, something like this. Go to a doctor, take medicine, but don't identify with the one that's sick. This sickness has appeared. And yet it also will come and go.
Q: That's the main thing. That's the main thing to remember. Everything's coming and going.
You, you don't move. But all the rest is moving.
John: Correct. Where all experience ends, there you are. Maharaj uses the example of being on a train. You're on a train, and you see everything passing by. You go through the cities. You go through the country. You go through mountains, all this sort of thing. But you're not moving. And yet, the experiences of moving and seeing, and you're not traveling. You're just sitting. And everything's going around you. And that's the true you. You're unmoving. And all of this is moving around and within you.
You're able to see what's going on because of this body form. It's like a telescope inside yourself, so that you can see, oh, all this is happening. And yet, to the one, nothing is happening.
Q: It took me a long time to catch that one. Nothing is happening. There was all the time reference to this body. For this body, a lot of things are happening. But for who you truly are, nothing is happening.
John: Correct. No birth, no death to who you are. This is, you know, and like you said, you can tell. And that's why Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, they used to say, okay, when he gives a response, he's speaking to the formless consciousness, not to the body form. The people have asked the question, believing themselves to be a body, and have framed it in a position of what happens with this. But yet, if you knew yourself as formless, this question wouldn't arise.
So, when Nisargadatta Maharaj answered this question, he's answering it to the formlessness that you truly are, and discarding this illusory thing that you believe yourself to be in the moment. One of the greatest joys was reading I Am That, and literally understanding that it's like the space in the room is occupying one body form and speaking a question. And then the space in the room is occupying this other body form and giving the answer.
And they're actually talking to themselves through two separate body forms. And one is very confused and is like, oh, you know, how's this? Or what about this? Or what do you think about this religion? Or what do you think about this? And this one is not confused at all and speaking directly to its own self.
No, no, no. You're a little bit confused because you're still identified with the body. Once you're no longer identified with the body, these questions won't arise because there'll be nowhere to hang your hat, nowhere for a question to be.
If you're formless, how can the question arise? Even what about my formlessness? That doesn't make sense because in your formless natural self, there is no question, there is no questioner, and there's no instrument to ask a question.
Within the waking dream, you can ask a question. As an object has appeared, oh, how has this object appeared? Well, and then even Dasbodh makes very, goes all the way through the whole thing.
As long as you believe yourself to be a body, we're going to talk about the creation of the world and all the elements and how the elements came into themselves and then Brahma came and breathed life into this and did that, only because you believe yourself to be a body. At the end of Dasbodh, it's like, okay, now we've proven, irrefutable proof in the last however many slokas, chapters, that you are not a body and that these words were written by that you are to that you are. You have a name? Jai Guru
Q: Jai Guru
John: So, Keith is not there, so any questions?
Q: So John, can you hear me?
John: Yes, I can. Yes. Can you hear? Yes, yes, you can hear me.
Q: Were there any ashrams in Nepal when there was the flood in Nepal? Were there any ashrams from our organization, or do you know?
John: I don't think in Nepal there's anything.
Q: No? Oh, okay. I wasn't sure, so.
John: I don't think so. Mumbai, I know the, like, Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, the house there, and they have a temple there, and Nashik, but I don't believe anything is in Nepal now.
Q: Well, I wasn't sure.
Sitting in silence……..
John: I guess if nothing is arising in consciousness, I just said your meeting will end in 10 minutes, but we can go ahead and end if no one has anything more.
Q: So, I have a quick question. Okay. So, what happens if you see somebody that's asleep and then you look up and you see them floating in a translucent form above the bed and then being somebody of the medical profession you scream because you think they're deceased. That's the initial assessment. And then that person sits up and says, what's going on? And they were asleep and you woke them up. Why would that happen?
John: Well, I mean, again, in the phenomenon, anything really can happen. I'm not sure that there's any explanation for anything. And in reality, nothing is happening on the level of body forms and this sort of thing.
It's just like in a dream, you can dream you're flying because anything, literally, your consciousness is able to create like any sort of scenario. That's why Maharaj in the ashram, when people would do the mantra and say, oh, they see the masters, the masters are appearing to them or they're glowing, the pictures are coming to life, any sort of thing like this, it could happen. It's not anything that, I mean, if I saw somebody levitating from their bed or whatever, I'm not sure it would just be, okay, there's something happening here.
But there's no, uh, there's nothing that when you know yourself in a real sense, these sort of things, they're just not impressed anymore because you're not like even the concept of miracle is not really impressed because you know, okay, in a dream, it can be the same way. In a dream, you can walk through fire, you can fly. Sometimes you can be underwater and, breathe.
So, these are all phenomenon because consciousness is constantly creating, whether it be in the waking world or the dream world. So, these things like astral projection and chakra and all this sort of thing, these are concepts to try and explain these phenomena based on the concept that I am a body experiencing an experience. However, when you know yourself in a real sense, it's just a dream. It just comes and goes. And you may see, you know, anything really. Yeah.
And it's just, okay, this is, this is something, there it is. And that's it. Because in reality, all these bodies are, are just lumps of goo. There's no person inside them. There's, there's nothing. So, what these bodies may or may not be doing or how they may or may not be appearing is only within the bubble of illusion.
And within the bubble of illusion, so many things, you have a concept of magic, you have concept of flame, people bursting in flame, you have concept of people levitating, you have concept of people knowing the future, all these sort of things. But this is all within the bubble of illusion. And so it's not impressed.
There's no, it's just like, okay, anything could happen, a dog could talk to you. And it wouldn't be anything other than oh, look, consciousness is creating. There's another empty lump of goo. And for some reason, consciousness has decided to play through this lump of goo. And it's a dog that's not supposed to talk, but here it's talking, anything. I've never heard a dog talk, but I'm just saying it's not a dog.
Q: I've never, I've never seen, I've never seen a ghost and I'm around dead people all the time, but this was just a unique thing that I saw. Yeah, I have no, not much to know or say about it. I just, it's experience. Sure. That I think about.
John: Yeah. But again, it's just anything could happen. Like, like literally any kind of thing could happen and miracles and all these sort of things.
You just know, okay, they're all occurring within my own self. And it could be the same as in a dream because the waking and dream consciousness is the same. And we know the dream consciousness creates like an entire world was projected and everything's populated and all of this sort of thing.
You could dream you're a fish. So, anything could happen at this, the same in the waking world, because you're before you're prior to the laws of physics. You're prior to anything that has to do with some illusory existence. It's phenomenal. You say, oh, that was interesting. And that's it.
The main thing is not to get like so many people get hooked on the Kundalini and the Kundalini awakening and the rising and the chakras and all sort of thing. Anything that has to do or Kali, any of these things, they may appear to be true. But as an appearance, they are not true.
Because in appearance, they are the one to whom this is appeared is the reality. And everything else is just appearing on your spontaneous Presence. No matter what appears good experience, bad experience miracles.
I remember Sri Ramakant Maharaj told the story about Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. He was out in the wilderness. He was so thirsty and so tired and needed food. And a little cottage appeared. And he went into this cottage. And he had some food and he had some water.
And then the person that was inside the cottage bid him farewell. And he felt fulfilled and started to leave, turned around and the cottage was gone. And Nisargadatta Maharaj wrote the poem; My master has become water for me. My master has become food for me. My master has become lodging for me. But this is all in the bubble of illusion. It's a nice experience. Interesting experience.
Q: Yes, indeed.
Transcribed by TurboScribe