Robert: I welcome you with all my heart. Most of us have been searching for reality for many years. We've been to many teachers, many groups. But we still haven't found peace. Why? Because we're searching. That's a direct, succinct, answer. Because we're searching for something. No matter how many times I emphasize there's nothing to search for people still search. Sometimes it would be better if we tore up all the books. Books are only to motivate us, to make us know there's something else. But there comes a time when we have to go within and try to understand what this body really is.
The truth, of course, is not a teaching. I do not philosophize. I do not give a teaching as a rule. I simply give a confession and to most people it means nothing. But we're not trying to attract most people. Those who feel something in their heart will always come to satsang. And you'll always attract a teacher that is more to your liking. I do not consider myself a teacher or a guru. I do not consider myself anything at all. But the reality that is left over is your reality. It is omnipresence. There is one unqualified reality and this is it, right here, right now. There are no bodies here. What you see is your own business. When you see others you're making a mistake. There never were others.
We're always looking for something. We want to find the right teacher. But, as I often say, you are the right teacher. The right teacher is where you are. Person, place or thing is not the right teacher. You probably saw the movie Siddhartha, where he found the river and the peace of the forest. Even that's a mistake because he took the river seriously and made too much of the forest. He was the forest. He was the river. What we're seeking is utter foolishness. There's nothing to seek.
I get so many calls. People tell me their problems all the time. And I really don't know how to respond. To whom shall I tell my problems? There just are not any problems. There are no problems, there never were problems, and there never will be problems. You may say to yourself, "If he only knew my problems." But if you live in the moment, is there a problem right now, this second? There's nothing. Nothing is your real nature. A problem begins only when you start thinking. But if you learn not to think, where's the problem? So we have to empty the mind and then get rid of the mind. And we cannot empty the mind by thinking, only by observation. Only when there is no thought is there reality. There's no sense saying to yourself, "I am Parabrahman, absolute reality. I am unborn." Those are just words. And the next moment you have a problem, you have an emotion, you feel something is wrong. But you keep declaring, "I am unborn. I am the absolute reality." It is better to say nothing, to believe nothing, to be nothing, and that's just being yourself. It's better just to sit and think of nothing and try to become nothing, than it is to chant mantras, or to make affirmations, or to keep saying, "I am Brahman." Just by sitting you will become yourself.
Last Sunday I gave you four principles, which I usually don't do. But I shared four principles with you, and everybody was in awe. But in the next couple of days I received phone calls from people, still telling me their problems. If you understood the principles, where is the problem? Even if you understood one principle and you ponder that you would be at peace. So what are the four principles? Who can tell me? Do you remember?
Student: I know it but I uh...
Robert: But yet you know about food, you know about sleep. You know about girls...
Student: I know the first one. That everything emanates from the mind.
Robert: Yes. Think about that. Everything in this universe, person, place or thing, everything, your body, your thoughts, creation, God, everything you can think about, everything, and I mean everything, is a projection of your mind. If you really understand this, how can you have a problem?
But you may say, "Well, my rent's due on the first and I don't have any money, so how can this help me?" You would be amazed at what it does for you. Do the trees lack for leaves? Do the flowers fail to bloom? If you could realize the truth, that everything is an emanation of your mind, you would become yourself, and yourself is omnipresence. It includes everything for the survival of your body. Think about that.
Your body comes from your mind. But as long as you believe your body is yourself, and you understand that it comes out of your mind, it will be provided for, just like leaves are provided for the trunk of the tree. So this teaching is quite predictable and it can be used to improve your human-hood, not by trying to improve your human-hood directly, that's where you've got problems, but by forgetting about your human-hood and realizing everything is a mental projection.
Again what happens? When you realize that the whole universe is a manifestation of your mind you become omnipresence. And in the omnipresence is contained all of your needs, and all of your needs are met from within. But when you start worrying or thinking about it, you spoil it. Then you have to do human things to take care of you. But if you leave the human-hood alone, and go back to the understanding that it's all in your mind, you automatically let go of your mind, and the self takes over, bringing the right people into your life, the right situation, the right address. Remember again, your body came to this earth because of karma. And it's going to go through whatever is has to go through. But you've got absolutely nothing to do with that because you are not your body. But if you think about it you spoil it. Subsequently, allow your body to do whatever it came here to do. Do not interfere. Do not fight. Simply observe. Do not react. You will be okay.
Student: Is it OK to ask questions during this?
Robert: Sure.
Student: How about following inner feelings? What I've been doing lately is going by my inner feelings more. This feels really right for me.
Robert: You've got to watch yourself because most of the time inner feelings are really habit energy from past lives, and from this life when you were a little kid. You developed certain habits. Most people believe they're inner feelings.
Student: Well I feel I go against my inner feelings, like church. I stayed in there against my inner feelings and it tore me apart to stay there. I feel so much clearer now that I've left.
Robert: Well you were meant to leave, so you did. You were meant to leave. You were not meant to be there.
Student: Well what about this inner voice people talk about? Is that the unconscious, and how reliable is that?
Robert: Most of the time it's a bunch of nonsense, because to whom comes the inner voice? The mind.
Student: It's all part of the body.
Robert: Yes. It's all part of astral planes, mental planes, causal planes. It all has to do with the body. So you have to ask yourself, "To whom does the inner voice come?"
Student: Would it be distinguished from instincts?
Robert: It would in the mental plane. When we're speaking of the mental plane we speak of distinguishing between instinct and intuition.
Student: And is one better than the other?
Robert: They're both the same. When we're talking about this path we realize that intuition as well as instinct comes to the ego. It is the ego that feels these things. The self is omnipresent. There's no room for anything else. It's emptiness, nirvana, the unborn.
Student: Is it possible that this body and mind can go on living, like it seems like if you go on inner feelings, maybe not, that always looking beyond that into who am I?
Robert: Your body will go on living anyway. It'll take care of itself. And all those thoughts come from the ego.
Student: OK. So that's the point, if you look at it properly. It goes on by itself.
Robert: But do not concern yourself with what you should eat, what you should wear, or where you should go. There is something within you that guides you. It'll direct you when you become still, when you make the mind quiescent, quiet, calm. You will then be guided to know what to do. It is true that some people use their intuition and accomplish great things. But how long does it last before it attracts misery to it? As long as you're living in the world of cause and effect, the world of duality, for every good there's a bad, for every bad there's a good. For every up there's a down. Don't be fooled. You use your intuition, hear voices, and they guide you and tell you to do this, and you become successful. And you think you did something good. But before you know it the IRS gets a hold of you and they throw you in jail.
Student: I think the question is, “Is the inner voice superior to regular feelings.”
Robert: Nothing is superior to the self. Be your self. Abide in the self and you'll never go wrong. But when you hear voices it comes out of your mind. You're trapped. The mind is very powerful.
Student: Isn't that one of the questionStudent: Who's aware of this?
Robert: Tell me who. Who is? Who's aware of it? There's nobody to be aware of anything. Nobody is home. Emptiness.
Student: I feel that that's true.
Robert: Who feels this? Even the feeling is wrong. You just abide in the self. There's no feeling. There's nirvana, there's emptiness, there's the state of the unborn.
Student: It’s really interesting that all the manifestations can point to that. Even the words, “Who am I?” It just says, “Oh.” To me it says something's aware of it. That seed.
Robert: The seed's got to go. You should have no feeling as yourself. But something will take over. Something that's beyond words. There's a something that will come. It can be called sat¬-chit-ananda, bliss. Call it whatever you like. But something will take over, and you'll feel divine, and you'll be OK, just the way you are.
Now, what's the second principle we were talking about. See, the secret, as I told you Sunday, is to think about these things as soon as you open your eyes in the morning. As soon as you open your eyes, what do you think about? You think about food, you think about your day, you think about work, you think about money, you think about friends, relationships, but you do not think about your mind being a projection of all the things that happen. Whatever you think about in the morning will carry you through. Therefore, you have to think about the right things in the morning as soon as you awaken. Don't wait. So what's the second principle we discussed Sunday? Who remembers?
(Students guess).
Robert: See? So again I ask you, what do you remember? You remember your personal problems, you remember your needs, and you think you're human. You think about the body continuously. That's why there is trouble with self-realization. So you've got to investigate your mind and watch it all the time. See what it's doing to you. Watch how it controls you. It makes you emotional. It makes you believe something is wrong. It makes you angry. All these things come from the mind. The idea is to be aware of this. The awareness alone leads you to the light. Just being aware of that alone. You don't have to know any book knowledge. Just be aware of what your mind really is. That's how you conquer your mind. By being aware of it, and no longer responding to it, no longer to react to the mind. Something that usually makes you angry, before you would respond, and you'd want to win the argument, but now your reaction is no reaction. You simply smile and you watch. When your mind sees there's no response it will become weaker and weaker, until it disappears. Its just like arguing with a person. What happens if you stop arguing. The person goes away. They don't know what to think. They just won't have anything to do with you. They just leave. So when you stop responding to your thoughts your mind will go away, and become weaker, and weaker, and weaker, until there is no mind. So what's the second principle?
(Students guess some more).
Robert: See, think about this. There are so many things you remember. But they all have to do with your body. True?
(More remembering).
Robert: OK. The second one was to have a deep feeling, and a realization, that you are unborn, that you do not prevail, and you will never disappear. Remember? You will never die. Think about that. Just to think to yourself that you are unborn. There's no cause for your birth. Cause doesn't exist. There's no reason for your birth. You never were born. And as far as your existence is concerned, it's not there. You do not prevail from birth to death. There is nothing going on. Absolute nothing. And you do not get older, you do not disappear, or you do not die. Think about that. How free you'll become when you understand what this means. It's a beautiful feeling to know that you were never born, that you've always existed, but not the way you think you are.
Your life as it is right now, whatever you think you're doing, however important it may be to you, is totally meaningless. Why? Because it'll be gone soon. So whatever you're getting into, whatever excites you, is only for a time. Take Elvis Presley. People still remember him. But will anybody remember him 500 years from now? Take your great classical musicians, concertos, Bach, Schubert, everybody else, Rachmaninoff. They're important to you right now, but 500 years from now nobody will remember them at all. Everything will be so different it'll be like you're in another universe.
So the point is, if you get too involved in those things you're missing the mark, because you're not understanding your real nature. You're not understanding who you really are. You should be searching for the meaning to yourself, and spending 80% of the time doing that. I know it's not easy to do for some people because they seem to be involved in life. But yet you can do it. It doesn't matter. You don't have to set aside a time for meditation. You can do it while you're driving your car, while you're at work, while you're playing music. Just be aware of yourself, of who you really are, and realize the rest are a projection of your mind. To be aware of these truths sets you free. Just to be aware of them.
Student: Would that be the same when you say you are unborn or you will never die, would that be the same as saying nothing exists?
Robert: Yes, it is. Nothing as you think or as it appears, exists. It appears to exist but so does a dream. A dream appears very real. But is there a creation in a dream? Is there an end? Everything just begins, and ends when you wake up. The world is the same.
Student: You should not say nothing exists, because even “exists” is an idea.
Robert: It's an idea. That's got to go at the end. In the beginning, when you're finding yourself, you realize that I exist. “I am that I am,” means I exist. Same thing. But then you find out who is the I that exists and you follow it through. And that's got to go. Everything has got to go. Now the average person will think, "If everything goes, what's left?" What's left is everything. You are left as your self, and that's beyond explanation. Then you turn back to yourself and you become humble, compassionate, loving, because you are aware that you are the whole universe. And you can say, "All this is the self, and I am that."
Student: Is that an experience?
Robert: That's an experience. It's beyond experience. It's a revelation that stays with you all the time. That can be called sahaja samadhi, when you abide in the self all the time. But that's ineffable, it's beyond words.
Student: The experience doesn't matter how deep?
Robert: There's no such thing as deep. Deep is a mind concept. You're either that or you're not. So what's the third principle?
(Silence).
(Robert laughs).
I'm going to ask you again on Sunday. Egolessness is at the basis of everything. Everything has no ego. Now I'm not just talking about sentient things. Everything. The mineral kingdom, the vegetable kingdom, the animal kingdom, the human kingdom, and so forth. There is no ego behind it. That means there's no cause for its existence. And just to understand this perfectly makes you live in the moment all the time. It gets you centered. Think what that means to you personally, that there's no ego in back of anything. There's no cause for anything to exist. Like the dream again, is there a cause for the dream? All of a sudden you find yourself dreaming and everything exists. Where did it come from? It came from the mind. It's a dream. And the only way to get out of the dream is what? To wake up! So this is also a sort of a dream. It has no substance. Everything is transient. No ego in back of it.
Student: I don't quite understand there being no ego and there being no cause as being the same.
Robert: The ego is what makes something real. The reason your body is doing what it does is because of your ego. That's the cause of your body function, the ego. So if there's no ego, there's no lack, there's no limitation, there's no sickness, there's no death, there's nothing like that.
Student: Are the ego and the mind the same, or are you making a distinction?
Robert: They can be synonymous, in a way. Take for instance, you've got a sickness of some kind. If you realize there's no ego in back of it, there's no cause, where did it come from? It didn't come from anything so it doesn't exist.
Student: So could you also just say nothing exists?
Robert: But is it meaningful for you when you say that? See, it has to be meaningful for you. If you say nothing exists, your mind and your ego will come and fight you and say, "What do you mean? Look, the chair is solid. It exists." So you become disappointed. But when you understand the entire principle, that everything is egolessness, everything, then you just exist in the moment, like that (snaps his fingers). You exist in the second, in the moment, and in that moment all is well, and everything is unfolding as it should, in that moment. But as soon as you start to think, then there's a cause.
Student: So the only cause is the thinking process.
Robert: Exactly. And you may think its hard to do, to think like that, to be like that, but it's not. Just by remembering the egolessness of all things will wake you up. And you will become free. Now, what's the fourth principle?
(More guesses, including, "None of these principles exist").
Robert: You're right. I usually don't do this. But I'm giving you these principles to help you. (laughs) Right. They don't exist. But as long as you believe your body exists they exist also. As long as you feel the world exists, and your body exists, and the mind exists, then the principles also exist. And karma exists, and God exists, and creation exists. Nobody remembers the fourth principle? Well I'll share it with you again. You have to have a strong feeling and realization of what self-realization means. And what's the only way you can do that? Remember?
Student: Practice the other three principles?
Robert: That helps. By realizing what it is not. You can't know what self-realization is because you are already that. But you can know what it's not. So by eliminating everything, then what is left is self-realization.
Student: So how would you simply define number four?
Robert: By realizing there's no body, there's no world, there's no God, there are no organs, there is no mind.
Student: It sort of summarizes all the others.
Robert: Yes, that there's nothing. So every time you think of something you say, "Neti, neti." "Not this, not this." And you go all the way down until there's nothing left to say. Then you're that.
Student: I still would like a simple explanation, three or four words.
Robert: Three or four words? (laughs).
There are no others. Nothing else exists but the self, and I am that. You've got to work it out in your own head. You've got to use your mind to destroy your mind.
Student: But it's based on neti, neti?
Robert: Yes. Even if thoughts come to you like, "I am perfect." Get rid of that.
Student: I don't have that problem.
Robert: I am not the body. Get rid of that thought. Whatever you come up with, it's not that, until you're completely empty. It's like emptying out a garbage can. As long as you keep turning it back over, the garbage will stay in. You've got to hold it upside down 'till all the garbage falls out. So, we've got a lot of samscaras, past tendencies, karma. All that's got to go. So empty everything out so there's nothing left. Stay upside down. Then you become free. It's really simple. It's not complicated. But if you remember the principles it helps you. That's all I've got to say.
The truth, of course, is not a teaching. I do not philosophize. I do not give a teaching as a rule. I simply give a confession and to most people it means nothing. But we're not trying to attract most people. Those who feel something in their heart will always come to satsang. And you'll always attract a teacher that is more to your liking. I do not consider myself a teacher or a guru. I do not consider myself anything at all. But the reality that is left over is your reality. It is omnipresence. There is one unqualified reality and this is it, right here, right now. There are no bodies here. What you see is your own business. When you see others you're making a mistake. There never were others.
We're always looking for something. We want to find the right teacher. But, as I often say, you are the right teacher. The right teacher is where you are. Person, place or thing is not the right teacher. You probably saw the movie Siddhartha, where he found the river and the peace of the forest. Even that's a mistake because he took the river seriously and made too much of the forest. He was the forest. He was the river. What we're seeking is utter foolishness. There's nothing to seek.
I get so many calls. People tell me their problems all the time. And I really don't know how to respond. To whom shall I tell my problems? There just are not any problems. There are no problems, there never were problems, and there never will be problems. You may say to yourself, "If he only knew my problems." But if you live in the moment, is there a problem right now, this second? There's nothing. Nothing is your real nature. A problem begins only when you start thinking. But if you learn not to think, where's the problem? So we have to empty the mind and then get rid of the mind. And we cannot empty the mind by thinking, only by observation. Only when there is no thought is there reality. There's no sense saying to yourself, "I am Parabrahman, absolute reality. I am unborn." Those are just words. And the next moment you have a problem, you have an emotion, you feel something is wrong. But you keep declaring, "I am unborn. I am the absolute reality." It is better to say nothing, to believe nothing, to be nothing, and that's just being yourself. It's better just to sit and think of nothing and try to become nothing, than it is to chant mantras, or to make affirmations, or to keep saying, "I am Brahman." Just by sitting you will become yourself.
Last Sunday I gave you four principles, which I usually don't do. But I shared four principles with you, and everybody was in awe. But in the next couple of days I received phone calls from people, still telling me their problems. If you understood the principles, where is the problem? Even if you understood one principle and you ponder that you would be at peace. So what are the four principles? Who can tell me? Do you remember?
Student: I know it but I uh...
Robert: But yet you know about food, you know about sleep. You know about girls...
Student: I know the first one. That everything emanates from the mind.
Robert: Yes. Think about that. Everything in this universe, person, place or thing, everything, your body, your thoughts, creation, God, everything you can think about, everything, and I mean everything, is a projection of your mind. If you really understand this, how can you have a problem?
But you may say, "Well, my rent's due on the first and I don't have any money, so how can this help me?" You would be amazed at what it does for you. Do the trees lack for leaves? Do the flowers fail to bloom? If you could realize the truth, that everything is an emanation of your mind, you would become yourself, and yourself is omnipresence. It includes everything for the survival of your body. Think about that.
Your body comes from your mind. But as long as you believe your body is yourself, and you understand that it comes out of your mind, it will be provided for, just like leaves are provided for the trunk of the tree. So this teaching is quite predictable and it can be used to improve your human-hood, not by trying to improve your human-hood directly, that's where you've got problems, but by forgetting about your human-hood and realizing everything is a mental projection.
Again what happens? When you realize that the whole universe is a manifestation of your mind you become omnipresence. And in the omnipresence is contained all of your needs, and all of your needs are met from within. But when you start worrying or thinking about it, you spoil it. Then you have to do human things to take care of you. But if you leave the human-hood alone, and go back to the understanding that it's all in your mind, you automatically let go of your mind, and the self takes over, bringing the right people into your life, the right situation, the right address. Remember again, your body came to this earth because of karma. And it's going to go through whatever is has to go through. But you've got absolutely nothing to do with that because you are not your body. But if you think about it you spoil it. Subsequently, allow your body to do whatever it came here to do. Do not interfere. Do not fight. Simply observe. Do not react. You will be okay.
Student: Is it OK to ask questions during this?
Robert: Sure.
Student: How about following inner feelings? What I've been doing lately is going by my inner feelings more. This feels really right for me.
Robert: You've got to watch yourself because most of the time inner feelings are really habit energy from past lives, and from this life when you were a little kid. You developed certain habits. Most people believe they're inner feelings.
Student: Well I feel I go against my inner feelings, like church. I stayed in there against my inner feelings and it tore me apart to stay there. I feel so much clearer now that I've left.
Robert: Well you were meant to leave, so you did. You were meant to leave. You were not meant to be there.
Student: Well what about this inner voice people talk about? Is that the unconscious, and how reliable is that?
Robert: Most of the time it's a bunch of nonsense, because to whom comes the inner voice? The mind.
Student: It's all part of the body.
Robert: Yes. It's all part of astral planes, mental planes, causal planes. It all has to do with the body. So you have to ask yourself, "To whom does the inner voice come?"
Student: Would it be distinguished from instincts?
Robert: It would in the mental plane. When we're speaking of the mental plane we speak of distinguishing between instinct and intuition.
Student: And is one better than the other?
Robert: They're both the same. When we're talking about this path we realize that intuition as well as instinct comes to the ego. It is the ego that feels these things. The self is omnipresent. There's no room for anything else. It's emptiness, nirvana, the unborn.
Student: Is it possible that this body and mind can go on living, like it seems like if you go on inner feelings, maybe not, that always looking beyond that into who am I?
Robert: Your body will go on living anyway. It'll take care of itself. And all those thoughts come from the ego.
Student: OK. So that's the point, if you look at it properly. It goes on by itself.
Robert: But do not concern yourself with what you should eat, what you should wear, or where you should go. There is something within you that guides you. It'll direct you when you become still, when you make the mind quiescent, quiet, calm. You will then be guided to know what to do. It is true that some people use their intuition and accomplish great things. But how long does it last before it attracts misery to it? As long as you're living in the world of cause and effect, the world of duality, for every good there's a bad, for every bad there's a good. For every up there's a down. Don't be fooled. You use your intuition, hear voices, and they guide you and tell you to do this, and you become successful. And you think you did something good. But before you know it the IRS gets a hold of you and they throw you in jail.
Student: I think the question is, “Is the inner voice superior to regular feelings.”
Robert: Nothing is superior to the self. Be your self. Abide in the self and you'll never go wrong. But when you hear voices it comes out of your mind. You're trapped. The mind is very powerful.
Student: Isn't that one of the questionStudent: Who's aware of this?
Robert: Tell me who. Who is? Who's aware of it? There's nobody to be aware of anything. Nobody is home. Emptiness.
Student: I feel that that's true.
Robert: Who feels this? Even the feeling is wrong. You just abide in the self. There's no feeling. There's nirvana, there's emptiness, there's the state of the unborn.
Student: It’s really interesting that all the manifestations can point to that. Even the words, “Who am I?” It just says, “Oh.” To me it says something's aware of it. That seed.
Robert: The seed's got to go. You should have no feeling as yourself. But something will take over. Something that's beyond words. There's a something that will come. It can be called sat¬-chit-ananda, bliss. Call it whatever you like. But something will take over, and you'll feel divine, and you'll be OK, just the way you are.
Now, what's the second principle we were talking about. See, the secret, as I told you Sunday, is to think about these things as soon as you open your eyes in the morning. As soon as you open your eyes, what do you think about? You think about food, you think about your day, you think about work, you think about money, you think about friends, relationships, but you do not think about your mind being a projection of all the things that happen. Whatever you think about in the morning will carry you through. Therefore, you have to think about the right things in the morning as soon as you awaken. Don't wait. So what's the second principle we discussed Sunday? Who remembers?
(Students guess).
Robert: See? So again I ask you, what do you remember? You remember your personal problems, you remember your needs, and you think you're human. You think about the body continuously. That's why there is trouble with self-realization. So you've got to investigate your mind and watch it all the time. See what it's doing to you. Watch how it controls you. It makes you emotional. It makes you believe something is wrong. It makes you angry. All these things come from the mind. The idea is to be aware of this. The awareness alone leads you to the light. Just being aware of that alone. You don't have to know any book knowledge. Just be aware of what your mind really is. That's how you conquer your mind. By being aware of it, and no longer responding to it, no longer to react to the mind. Something that usually makes you angry, before you would respond, and you'd want to win the argument, but now your reaction is no reaction. You simply smile and you watch. When your mind sees there's no response it will become weaker and weaker, until it disappears. Its just like arguing with a person. What happens if you stop arguing. The person goes away. They don't know what to think. They just won't have anything to do with you. They just leave. So when you stop responding to your thoughts your mind will go away, and become weaker, and weaker, and weaker, until there is no mind. So what's the second principle?
(Students guess some more).
Robert: See, think about this. There are so many things you remember. But they all have to do with your body. True?
(More remembering).
Robert: OK. The second one was to have a deep feeling, and a realization, that you are unborn, that you do not prevail, and you will never disappear. Remember? You will never die. Think about that. Just to think to yourself that you are unborn. There's no cause for your birth. Cause doesn't exist. There's no reason for your birth. You never were born. And as far as your existence is concerned, it's not there. You do not prevail from birth to death. There is nothing going on. Absolute nothing. And you do not get older, you do not disappear, or you do not die. Think about that. How free you'll become when you understand what this means. It's a beautiful feeling to know that you were never born, that you've always existed, but not the way you think you are.
Your life as it is right now, whatever you think you're doing, however important it may be to you, is totally meaningless. Why? Because it'll be gone soon. So whatever you're getting into, whatever excites you, is only for a time. Take Elvis Presley. People still remember him. But will anybody remember him 500 years from now? Take your great classical musicians, concertos, Bach, Schubert, everybody else, Rachmaninoff. They're important to you right now, but 500 years from now nobody will remember them at all. Everything will be so different it'll be like you're in another universe.
So the point is, if you get too involved in those things you're missing the mark, because you're not understanding your real nature. You're not understanding who you really are. You should be searching for the meaning to yourself, and spending 80% of the time doing that. I know it's not easy to do for some people because they seem to be involved in life. But yet you can do it. It doesn't matter. You don't have to set aside a time for meditation. You can do it while you're driving your car, while you're at work, while you're playing music. Just be aware of yourself, of who you really are, and realize the rest are a projection of your mind. To be aware of these truths sets you free. Just to be aware of them.
Student: Would that be the same when you say you are unborn or you will never die, would that be the same as saying nothing exists?
Robert: Yes, it is. Nothing as you think or as it appears, exists. It appears to exist but so does a dream. A dream appears very real. But is there a creation in a dream? Is there an end? Everything just begins, and ends when you wake up. The world is the same.
Student: You should not say nothing exists, because even “exists” is an idea.
Robert: It's an idea. That's got to go at the end. In the beginning, when you're finding yourself, you realize that I exist. “I am that I am,” means I exist. Same thing. But then you find out who is the I that exists and you follow it through. And that's got to go. Everything has got to go. Now the average person will think, "If everything goes, what's left?" What's left is everything. You are left as your self, and that's beyond explanation. Then you turn back to yourself and you become humble, compassionate, loving, because you are aware that you are the whole universe. And you can say, "All this is the self, and I am that."
Student: Is that an experience?
Robert: That's an experience. It's beyond experience. It's a revelation that stays with you all the time. That can be called sahaja samadhi, when you abide in the self all the time. But that's ineffable, it's beyond words.
Student: The experience doesn't matter how deep?
Robert: There's no such thing as deep. Deep is a mind concept. You're either that or you're not. So what's the third principle?
(Silence).
(Robert laughs).
I'm going to ask you again on Sunday. Egolessness is at the basis of everything. Everything has no ego. Now I'm not just talking about sentient things. Everything. The mineral kingdom, the vegetable kingdom, the animal kingdom, the human kingdom, and so forth. There is no ego behind it. That means there's no cause for its existence. And just to understand this perfectly makes you live in the moment all the time. It gets you centered. Think what that means to you personally, that there's no ego in back of anything. There's no cause for anything to exist. Like the dream again, is there a cause for the dream? All of a sudden you find yourself dreaming and everything exists. Where did it come from? It came from the mind. It's a dream. And the only way to get out of the dream is what? To wake up! So this is also a sort of a dream. It has no substance. Everything is transient. No ego in back of it.
Student: I don't quite understand there being no ego and there being no cause as being the same.
Robert: The ego is what makes something real. The reason your body is doing what it does is because of your ego. That's the cause of your body function, the ego. So if there's no ego, there's no lack, there's no limitation, there's no sickness, there's no death, there's nothing like that.
Student: Are the ego and the mind the same, or are you making a distinction?
Robert: They can be synonymous, in a way. Take for instance, you've got a sickness of some kind. If you realize there's no ego in back of it, there's no cause, where did it come from? It didn't come from anything so it doesn't exist.
Student: So could you also just say nothing exists?
Robert: But is it meaningful for you when you say that? See, it has to be meaningful for you. If you say nothing exists, your mind and your ego will come and fight you and say, "What do you mean? Look, the chair is solid. It exists." So you become disappointed. But when you understand the entire principle, that everything is egolessness, everything, then you just exist in the moment, like that (snaps his fingers). You exist in the second, in the moment, and in that moment all is well, and everything is unfolding as it should, in that moment. But as soon as you start to think, then there's a cause.
Student: So the only cause is the thinking process.
Robert: Exactly. And you may think its hard to do, to think like that, to be like that, but it's not. Just by remembering the egolessness of all things will wake you up. And you will become free. Now, what's the fourth principle?
(More guesses, including, "None of these principles exist").
Robert: You're right. I usually don't do this. But I'm giving you these principles to help you. (laughs) Right. They don't exist. But as long as you believe your body exists they exist also. As long as you feel the world exists, and your body exists, and the mind exists, then the principles also exist. And karma exists, and God exists, and creation exists. Nobody remembers the fourth principle? Well I'll share it with you again. You have to have a strong feeling and realization of what self-realization means. And what's the only way you can do that? Remember?
Student: Practice the other three principles?
Robert: That helps. By realizing what it is not. You can't know what self-realization is because you are already that. But you can know what it's not. So by eliminating everything, then what is left is self-realization.
Student: So how would you simply define number four?
Robert: By realizing there's no body, there's no world, there's no God, there are no organs, there is no mind.
Student: It sort of summarizes all the others.
Robert: Yes, that there's nothing. So every time you think of something you say, "Neti, neti." "Not this, not this." And you go all the way down until there's nothing left to say. Then you're that.
Student: I still would like a simple explanation, three or four words.
Robert: Three or four words? (laughs).
There are no others. Nothing else exists but the self, and I am that. You've got to work it out in your own head. You've got to use your mind to destroy your mind.
Student: But it's based on neti, neti?
Robert: Yes. Even if thoughts come to you like, "I am perfect." Get rid of that.
Student: I don't have that problem.
Robert: I am not the body. Get rid of that thought. Whatever you come up with, it's not that, until you're completely empty. It's like emptying out a garbage can. As long as you keep turning it back over, the garbage will stay in. You've got to hold it upside down 'till all the garbage falls out. So, we've got a lot of samscaras, past tendencies, karma. All that's got to go. So empty everything out so there's nothing left. Stay upside down. Then you become free. It's really simple. It's not complicated. But if you remember the principles it helps you. That's all I've got to say.