Tuesday Talk September 18, 2018

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.