Robert: I welcome you with all my heart. It's good to be with you again. Get the preliminaries out of the way. Ask yourself, "Why did I come here today?" What is the reason you came to satsang? Is it because you had nothing better to do? Or you are an active person and you've got to go somewhere on Sunday? You could have gone to the beach. You could have gone to play golf. You could have gone to a local bar and got drunk. You could have done many things, but you chose to come here.
Or did you? There is something within each one of us that moves us. The body is like a puppet, manipulated by cosmic forces, and where you go has all been predetermined. In other words, it's no accident that you are here. Perhaps you verbally said, "That's where I'm going," and you believe you made the decision, but the decision was made a long time ago, before you came into the body. This is true of your every act. This is true of everything you do in life. If you can truly understand what I'm saying, why worry? Why fret? Why be upset over anything? Whatever is going to happen, will happen. You simply watch. You do not react. And you realize it's all for the good. You are not what you appear to be. You think you've made decisions today of what you should wear, where you should go, what you should eat. Every thing has been made for you. What I'm trying to say to you is you do not have to carry the load.
It's like when you go on a train and you have your suitcase in your hand. Do you sit with the suitcase on your head and carry the load? Or do you put the suitcase on the train in the compartment? You will still get to your destination. It's the same with life. You're going to your destination. Your destination is awakening, liberation. You do not have to carry the load. The load is desire. You want it very bad, and the more you want it, the more you're pushing it away, because a strong want, a strong desire, is a strong ego. It's not desire you want to develop, it's love, compassion, understanding. Let everything happen as it may. When the smoke clears, you will still be who you are, and you'll be totally free.
There is absolutely nothing in this world, or anywhere else, to worry about. No matter how things may appear in your life, all is well. You are divinity itself, just the way you are. Now when you start to think about just the way you are, you spoil it, for you say to yourself, "How can I be divinity? I'm this and I'm that." Who told you to think? Your thoughts will do it to you all the time. You simply remain in that moment. In that moment all is well. In that moment you are free. In that moment you are filled with joy. As soon as you start to think about that, you spoil it.
The secret therefore is to stay in the moment. Never leave the moment. You become spontaneous. You never dwell on the past and you never concern yourself with the future. For if you are truly in the moment, the moment becomes your tomorrow, and your next week, and your next year.
I've got a new song on tape which is a beautiful poem that comes out of the guru Gita. It was originally in Sanskrit. It was translated into English. The bhaktis here will love it. The aspiring jnanis, when you hear the term sat guru, you can change that in your mind to consciousness, or absolute reality. I think that should be our theme song. See if you agree with me. Swami Muktananda's name is mentioned a couple of times. If you like, you can change it to what Muktananda really means, bliss of liberation. But listen to it and let me know what you think.
(Robert plays Kindle my heart's flame with thine.)
What do you think?
Student: Beautiful, beautiful.
Student: I was just feeling the energy. I wasn't even listening to what he was saying.
Robert: That's good.
Student: Because you really don't have to. You can just feel the energy while I listen to that.
Robert: Any other comments?
Student: I think we ought to have a half hour chanting before every satsang.
Student: And the rest please.
Robert: Should we use this as a sort of theme?
Student: Robert, we need someone to get the words down.
Student: Let me bring a copy in Sanskrit. It's really beautiful in Sanskrit.
Robert: I want everybody to hear the words to know what they are talking about.
OK Make no mistakes about it. If you want jnana, you have to have bhakti, in other words you have to have an open heart. When your heart opens, automatically the self appears. But how does the heart open? Through love, through devotion. Through devotion of that self. Many people do not understand this. When people get involved in jnana they become very talkative, and they discuss it, and talk about it, and memorize it, and read books about it. The years pass and you become a walking encyclopedia, but you’ve hardly make any progress. To make progress there has to be devotion. You have to love yourself, not what you appear to be, but your self, God. When you begin to truly become a bhakta, and you love your self, the self you love becomes omnipresence, all-pervading. So naturally, automatically, you love everybody in this world, insects, animals, insentient and sentient beings, everything. You can only do that when you open your heart and you love your self. That person becomes self-realized.
I have never known a person, who had a cold heart, who is self-realized. They may say they are, but it's impossible. You have to open yourself to the universe. You have to have a great compassion, loving kindness, and that's when everything happens by itself. But there are so many mean people around, so to speak, not here, but in the world. And they find out about self-realization, Advaita Vedanta. They start to read book after book after book, and they add it on to their arrogance. When you try to talk to those people they throw quotations at you from the books they've read. You've got to have love.
I received an interesting phone call this morning from a disciple who comes to this class, and many other people have asked me similar questions at various time. I talk about this once in a while. So I asked her, "May I share this question with the class today and give you the answer then." She said, "OK, but I want to be anonymous." I agree. And here's the question:
"Robert," she said, "Why don't you advertise that you are a direct disciple of Ramana Maharshi? Why don't you make circulars? Why don't you put it in the newspaper so you can attract thousands of people, and then you can have ashrams all over the country, and have intensives, and charge a lot of money, and you can travel internationally. You'll be well known, and you'll have a lot of money, you can do with what you like?"
Well, first I kept silent. Because usually when people ask me ludicrous questions like that, I will try to explain this. Number one, Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi never had any direct disciples. He was not a guru. It is true there are many devotees who claim he is their guru. When they used to ask him, he would keep silent. He does not acknowledge devotees or disciples. Yet thousands claim to be disciples and devotees of his.
When I came to see him many years ago, I came because I wanted to confirm my own experience. I first went to see Yogananda, and I wanted to become a monk, because I no longer fit into the world patterns. But after a couple of weeks talking to me and observing me, he told me to go to India and see Ramana Maharshi. Of course I'd seen him before when I was a baby in the crib. We won't go into that right now. When I got to India and went to Ramana Maharshi, it was about 5 o'clock in the evening. He was about to take his stroll. He was with an attendant and I was climbing up the hill with my knapsack on my back. He turned around and looked at me, and he gave me one of his beautiful big smiles. I smiled back at him and he continued his walk.
For the three years I was there we had many conversations. Most of them are personal. But the first day I saw him personally he told me we had been together before in a previous life. I never thought that I would be a disciple of his, or a devotee or anything else. While I was sitting in the hall, during this talking with people, there were people who insisted that he is their guru, and he would keep silent. And they would pressure him. They wanted confirmation. And once in a while he would say, "If you believe I am, that's sufficient." But in all of his life he never claimed to be a guru or to have disciples. That's number one.
Number two, find out what a jnani really is. Read the works of Shankara, the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita. Another word for jnani is an Avadhoot. The literal translation of that means a crazy, adept, non-conventional. This body has no desires. This body runs from fame and name. There is nothing that this body wants. If it usually appears that I'm in need of something, it's for others.
The only reason we have the transcriptions of the talks is because so many of you wanted them. And if you want the transcriptions, you should use them in the right way. And I talk mainly for the devotees now. The right way to use the transcriptions. I would suggest that for about six months, do not read any other materials. It's not because I do not want you to see what else is going on, but because it becomes confusing if you read the transcriptions, and then read books by others. Sometimes there are many transcriptions that are not only confusing, but contradictory.
You only see me about four or five hours a week. That's another reason why we have transcriptions. If we were together every day I'd tear them all to pieces and throw them away. But since you only see me four or five hours a week at this time, the rest of the time everything you need to know is in the transcriptions. So the proper way to read it is this. Go through it one time completely. Before you go to sleep is the best time. Then go over it again, paragraph by paragraph. Read one paragraph and ponder that particular paragraph, until you go through the whole thing. Do this for about a week for each transcriptions. If you do this and you come to satsang, I can assure you that you will make fast advancement. Any questions about that?
As I always tell you, I would rather have five devotees that are really into this, than have a thousand seekers and disciples who come and go, and compare notes, and compare me with other speakers and other people around town. Everything takes care of itself.
Think about your purpose. What do you really want? You should be an empty vessel. When you empty yourself of all your preconceived ideas, all of your concepts, all of your desires, when you empty yourself out completely, then reality shows itself. But you cannot add on what you learn here to your existing self with a small s. Remember you've got samskaras to work out. You've got the brainwashing you received since you were a baby to get rid of. You are full of nonsensical ideas, and that all has to go. Being here is the focal point for going further with your self-realization. It makes no difference what I say. I can be talking about ice-cream, or chocolate bars. It doesn't make any difference. Just by your being here there is a subtle energy that takes over and pushes you forward.
Many people call me, they want me to talk about this, or to change some of the things I do, or to do this, or to do that. If I were a minister or a philosopher and rehearsed the program, and had a written text to go by, then there can be changes. But I am what I am, and that's what I am, I'm Popeye the sailor man. I do not plan anything. I do not have any rehearsals. This body just does what it does. What you see is what you get, nothing more and nothing less. Any questions about that?
Student: What is this energy, how does it come about? It always happens when I get here?
Robert: It always happens when you get here?
Student: When I come here it always happens without doing anything.
Robert: The seat you're sitting on is charged. I have a little button here when you sit in the seat.
Student: I couldn't understand it, why, it just comes about naturally, without doing anything.
Robert: There is no real explanation for it. An explanation would be futile. Accept it.
Student: Amazing.
Robert: You know what's interesting. That's a good point. The people who do not try to analyze these things are the people who make progress. What difference does it make where it comes from as long as you are receiving it.
Student: Then why do I have to come here for it? Why not analyzing it? It happens consistently here. Instantaneously without any effort.
Robert: It has to do with our relationship.
Student: You know, you say you are not the doer. And I was thinking you're not the thinker either. So if you're not the doer and you're not the thinker, then you can let it all go.
Robert: Exactly. There's nothing to hold on to.
Student: There's nothing at all there.
Robert: And when you let go you feel the subtle energy you're talking about. Just be yourself. Everything we do here is important. Every song we play, every chant we do, every word, every silence, it's all important. I know there are some people who would like to keep quiet all the time. They'd like me to shut up and not say a word, and just sit still. There's a time for that also. But remember, if you will, that the words that come out, are words of silence. Even though I may be appearing to talk to you, you're sitting in the silence. Think about that.
What I'm trying to say is, do not look for faults. Do not say to yourself, "Well, I'd rather be doing this," or "Why don't you give us more of this and less of that." Remember it's you that says this. This is coming out of your ego. Allow everything to be.
That's what I meant before when I said you have to become a bhakta first. That means you just give out love, compassion, joy, kindness. You become a living embodiment of that. Then jnana starts to develop inside of you. But if you always find fault with others, you're always trying to correct something. You always see what somebody else is doing. When your mind is full of doubts, apprehensions and suspicions, all of this negative energy pays a price in your consciousness and you develop in reverse. As the years pass you wonder why you haven't made too much progress. Give of yourself. Open up. Love. And then see what happens.
The chanting we do has a very positive effect on the nervous system. It clears the chakras. It makes you one-pointed, so you can turn into your original self. The whole object of everything we do is to make you one-pointed, so you can ponder "Who am I?" The mind becomes quiet and everything unfolds as it should. So let us do a little chanting.
(Chanting)
There is only one problem that affects everyone. And that is, you think. It's your thoughts that get you into trouble. You have an opinion on almost everything. If you would only learn to control your thoughts you would become absolutely free. Even now, while I'm talking to you, there are many thinking of something else. Your mind appears to have complete control over you. Now if your mind were real you would have a battle on your hands. But, since your mind doesn't even exist, you merely have to see the mind for what it really is, the self. There is no mind. There are no thoughts. There is only the self. All the scriptures of the world have tried to explain this. Be still and know that I am God. Focus you mind on God, and all will go well with you. They're saying the same thing.
Do not allow your mind to persuade you with all the different thoughts that come into your head. Your mind is not your friend. It appears that it wants to survive, so it's going to do everything in the book to cause it to survive. It will tell you all kinds of stories. It will bring up everything from the past. It will bring out doubts, apprehensions, suspicions, anger, greed. It will make you believe that you're right to act the way you do, and to feel the way you do. Great rishis, sages, since time immemorial have realized that the only problem you have to deal with is your mind. If you can only stop your mind from thinking, self-realization will come of itself.
How do you do that? Through self-inquiry, no matter what thoughts come to you. Makes no difference what they are. We're not talking about negative versus positive thoughts. We're talking about all thoughts, no matter how true they may appear. Even if your eyes show you, even if your brother is over to your house and while you're sleeping he takes $50 out of your pocket, your eyes are showing you something is wrong. It doesn't mean that you let him go away with the $50. You confront him, but you do not react. You simply take back your $50 and you forget it. It's finished. It doesn't even mean that you have to continue inviting your brother to your house. Yet nothing is done with malice. The secret is to forget and forgive as fast as you can. Remember your brother is going through his own karma, and this is what he was supposed to do, so how can you hate him? You have a vocabulary of different names. You are ready to call him thief, crook, no good and so on. All this has to be forgotten. Remember again, you do not become a doormat for him to step on. You merely take the right action that you will do, and you forget it. And that's the end of it.
Your body knows what to do by itself. It's your mind that makes up all these things, that holds grudges, that holds malice, day after day, week after week, that's hurt by words. Give it all up.
Even the job that you have. You don't have to think about your job. Your body will know what to do. But if you allow your mind to get into control, you will hate your job. You will wonder why you have to do this kind of work. You will compare yourself with others, and cause all kinds of problems for yourself.
Remember where you are at the present time is your right place. There are no mistakes. Do not try to analyze it. Just be. And if you identify with God, with the self, with absolute reality, with consciousness, it will not even seem like work. You will always be filled with joy, with happiness, for your mind is on God, and your body is doing the work.
Now how do you keep your mind on God? By asking, "Who am I?" By inquiring, "Who am I? Who does the work? Who has the problems? I do. Who is this I? From whence did it come?" In other words, "How did the I arise?" and trace the I back. Trace the I back to its origin, which is your spiritual heart at the right side of your chest. As you abide in the I by tracing it back, that's how you're thinking about God. It's just another name for God, I.
Then you will do your work without thinking about your work, whatever you have to do.
So you see, it's your mind that causes you the problem. Your mind is just another name for I. If there were no I there would be no mind. Whatever pops up, ask yourself, "To whom does it come? Where did it come from? Who gave it birth?" Remember, you're not to do this only with things you don't like, but with all the stuff that comes to you of a good nature. Materialism, good and bad, are both sides of the same coin. They've got to go.
Student: Robert, I want to ask you a question. Is it possible to realize the self through a jnani without a body?
Robert: Yes.
Student: It is?
Robert: Yes it is. Because the jnani is all-pervading. And if you focus your attention on his presence, you'll make contact, if you are sincere enough.
Student: So even at a distance one could just focus on your picture for example.
Robert: It doesn't make any difference. The only difference is your mind. Your mind will tell you all sorts of stories. But if you do not listen to your mind, then the jnani is everywhere. People are still getting healings from Ramana Maharshi. And they claim that he comes into their lives and solves their problems. For a jnani there's no time and space. That's been obliterated. There is only the self as omnipresence, so he or she is everywhere. Of course it's up to you to exude the right energy from yourself, so you make contact. It's just like grace. God's grace is everywhere, but it's up to you to make contact with it. And of course the easiest way is through devotion, through love.
Student: When one has doubts, does self-inquiry help to bring oneself from doubts?
Robert: Of course. That, to my way of thinking, is the easiest way, for you merely ask yourself, "To whom do these doubts come? Who has these doubts?" Every time they come up, ask the same question, and the doubts will eventually cease.
Student: I don't understand this thing about love, because it seems to me that grace has nothing to do with anything. It just is.
Robert: Grace just is, and so is love.
Student: Well yes, but you don't necessarily…
Robert: If you surrender your heart to grace, surrender your heart to grace and you'll feel it. Love, grace, self, they're all the same.
Student: Robert, I was reading the other day, there was a guy in India who said that he felt that the human body was very precious. That it was very difficult to obtain. And he says that a number of beings around him were humans, reincarnated as animals who seek their liberation that way.
Robert: This is part of yoga. That's all possible on a lower plane. It depends where you are at yourself. The body is very precious so that you become self-realized by having a body. But since you are self-realized already, for whom is the body? There are all kinds of psychic, physical, causal planes that you can play with and get lost in those planes. Go beyond all that. Always try to remember that everything is an emanation of your own mind. Causal planes, astral planes, other bodies, demons, spirits, genii's, it all comes out of your own mind. When the mind is controlled you no longer see these things, and you have nothing to do with them. They exist on lower planes.
Student: Robert. On this business of letting the body do the work, according to your mental work....
Robert: What, if you never work?
Student: That's one thing. But what if you are doing mental work?
Robert: Mental work?
Student: Yes.
Robert: You mean you work with your mind?
Student: Yes.
Robert: Actually it seems that you work with your mind. But even if you're an accountant, you have to write figures, you have to calculate, and your body has to do those things. So your body will use the portion of your mind that it has to use, to make all those things happen. The body and the mind are synonymous really. When the mind goes, the body goes also. But for appearance sake in this world, the body appears to carry on. Therefore in order for the body to carry on, it has to use the mental energy that's available for it, to carry on. Consequently it will take care of itself, and the work will get done, without you being identified with it.
Student: Or it comes through in the practice. It seems like there is a procedure when you're doing physical work. It is easy to see how you can do self-inquiry. Or, if you're trying to calculate figures for example, it seems to interfere, seems to be different.
Robert: I understand what you're saying. It appears that when you're using your mind and you have to concentrate on what you're doing, it's more difficult. That's not true. When you get up in the morning, if you prepare yourself well and practice self-inquiry at that time, it will carry on when you go to work, by itself, and your mind will concentrate on the figures. And at the same time, the self-inquiry will go on.
You’ve probably hummed a song before, and the song was in your mind. And while you're doing your work, mentally you're humming the song. Yet you're still calculating, you're still doing whatever you have to do mentally. You're doing all the mental work, but the theme of the song never leaves you. The song is in the mind also. And so it is with self-inquiry. When you begin to practice as soon as you open your eyes, it will carry you through the day. No matter if you're doing mental work or physical work, self-inquiry will still go on.
Student: Robert, is there a reason why you are a vegetarian? Does it have a practical benefit in your practice?
Robert: There are so many ways to explain that. When I was about thirteen years old, I had eaten meat until that time. And then one day my mom gave me a steak, and I just blurted out, "I don't eat dead flesh.” And I've never eaten it since.
Now if you're in the body, and you believe you are the body, you have to look at the moral reasons. What right do we have to kill these thousands of cows and pigs and chickens, so we can stuff our face with dead flesh. Think about that. Right now there are cows standing in line to get killed. McDonalds alone uses a million cows a year. All these cows are grown and they put them in a feedlot, and torture them with all kinds of antibiotics, and then slaughter them, so we can eat them. Morally it doesn't seem right. It's been proven a pig is smarter than a dog. It makes a better pet. Would you like to see your dog or your cat slaughtered and people eating them? You have preference. All animals are the same. On one level, the reason the world is degenerating is because of what we're doing to all of the animals and the earth. But that's on one level. So you have to take it for what it's worth.
Student: You know, we see in the zoo, we see them feeding one animal with another animal, and you give your dog meat. And you say, well my dog can eat meat, why can't my husband?
Robert: No comment.
Student: Her husband doesn't bark.
Student: So if you could stop all the animals…
Robert: Well one thing leads to another. Because of ecology reasons the animals know how to take care of themselves and eat certain other animals, to balance everything out. But human beings are mercilessly killing animals for the fun of it. We think we have to eat animals, but we don't. Humans are not supposed to be carnivorous. You want me to prove it to you? Look at your teeth. Now look at the vegetarian animals that don't eat meat and look at their teeth. Like horses, cows, elephants. They have teeth like ours, gorillas. But when you look at your carnivorous animals, they have fangs, to tear flesh apart. This shows us that we're supposed to be vegetarians. We come from the animal family of vegetarians. You know when man started to eat meat? In the old days during the floods, thousands of years ago. Prior to that, man was vegetarian. But the floods destroyed the earth. It was impossible to plant, and man degenerated and started to eat meat. We've been carrying on ever since.
It's a personal thing. You've got to look at your self, and see what you're doing, and ask yourself why. I know somebody can be a smart ass and say, "Well nothing exists anyway, so what's the difference?" If nothing existed, you would know not to eat meat before that, and you wouldn't do it anyway. If you realize you're not the body, you would not eat animal bodies. You would eat very little, and mostly grains, vegetables and fruits. But you have to come to that conclusion yourself.
Or did you? There is something within each one of us that moves us. The body is like a puppet, manipulated by cosmic forces, and where you go has all been predetermined. In other words, it's no accident that you are here. Perhaps you verbally said, "That's where I'm going," and you believe you made the decision, but the decision was made a long time ago, before you came into the body. This is true of your every act. This is true of everything you do in life. If you can truly understand what I'm saying, why worry? Why fret? Why be upset over anything? Whatever is going to happen, will happen. You simply watch. You do not react. And you realize it's all for the good. You are not what you appear to be. You think you've made decisions today of what you should wear, where you should go, what you should eat. Every thing has been made for you. What I'm trying to say to you is you do not have to carry the load.
It's like when you go on a train and you have your suitcase in your hand. Do you sit with the suitcase on your head and carry the load? Or do you put the suitcase on the train in the compartment? You will still get to your destination. It's the same with life. You're going to your destination. Your destination is awakening, liberation. You do not have to carry the load. The load is desire. You want it very bad, and the more you want it, the more you're pushing it away, because a strong want, a strong desire, is a strong ego. It's not desire you want to develop, it's love, compassion, understanding. Let everything happen as it may. When the smoke clears, you will still be who you are, and you'll be totally free.
There is absolutely nothing in this world, or anywhere else, to worry about. No matter how things may appear in your life, all is well. You are divinity itself, just the way you are. Now when you start to think about just the way you are, you spoil it, for you say to yourself, "How can I be divinity? I'm this and I'm that." Who told you to think? Your thoughts will do it to you all the time. You simply remain in that moment. In that moment all is well. In that moment you are free. In that moment you are filled with joy. As soon as you start to think about that, you spoil it.
The secret therefore is to stay in the moment. Never leave the moment. You become spontaneous. You never dwell on the past and you never concern yourself with the future. For if you are truly in the moment, the moment becomes your tomorrow, and your next week, and your next year.
I've got a new song on tape which is a beautiful poem that comes out of the guru Gita. It was originally in Sanskrit. It was translated into English. The bhaktis here will love it. The aspiring jnanis, when you hear the term sat guru, you can change that in your mind to consciousness, or absolute reality. I think that should be our theme song. See if you agree with me. Swami Muktananda's name is mentioned a couple of times. If you like, you can change it to what Muktananda really means, bliss of liberation. But listen to it and let me know what you think.
(Robert plays Kindle my heart's flame with thine.)
What do you think?
Student: Beautiful, beautiful.
Student: I was just feeling the energy. I wasn't even listening to what he was saying.
Robert: That's good.
Student: Because you really don't have to. You can just feel the energy while I listen to that.
Robert: Any other comments?
Student: I think we ought to have a half hour chanting before every satsang.
Student: And the rest please.
Robert: Should we use this as a sort of theme?
Student: Robert, we need someone to get the words down.
Student: Let me bring a copy in Sanskrit. It's really beautiful in Sanskrit.
Robert: I want everybody to hear the words to know what they are talking about.
OK Make no mistakes about it. If you want jnana, you have to have bhakti, in other words you have to have an open heart. When your heart opens, automatically the self appears. But how does the heart open? Through love, through devotion. Through devotion of that self. Many people do not understand this. When people get involved in jnana they become very talkative, and they discuss it, and talk about it, and memorize it, and read books about it. The years pass and you become a walking encyclopedia, but you’ve hardly make any progress. To make progress there has to be devotion. You have to love yourself, not what you appear to be, but your self, God. When you begin to truly become a bhakta, and you love your self, the self you love becomes omnipresence, all-pervading. So naturally, automatically, you love everybody in this world, insects, animals, insentient and sentient beings, everything. You can only do that when you open your heart and you love your self. That person becomes self-realized.
I have never known a person, who had a cold heart, who is self-realized. They may say they are, but it's impossible. You have to open yourself to the universe. You have to have a great compassion, loving kindness, and that's when everything happens by itself. But there are so many mean people around, so to speak, not here, but in the world. And they find out about self-realization, Advaita Vedanta. They start to read book after book after book, and they add it on to their arrogance. When you try to talk to those people they throw quotations at you from the books they've read. You've got to have love.
I received an interesting phone call this morning from a disciple who comes to this class, and many other people have asked me similar questions at various time. I talk about this once in a while. So I asked her, "May I share this question with the class today and give you the answer then." She said, "OK, but I want to be anonymous." I agree. And here's the question:
"Robert," she said, "Why don't you advertise that you are a direct disciple of Ramana Maharshi? Why don't you make circulars? Why don't you put it in the newspaper so you can attract thousands of people, and then you can have ashrams all over the country, and have intensives, and charge a lot of money, and you can travel internationally. You'll be well known, and you'll have a lot of money, you can do with what you like?"
Well, first I kept silent. Because usually when people ask me ludicrous questions like that, I will try to explain this. Number one, Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi never had any direct disciples. He was not a guru. It is true there are many devotees who claim he is their guru. When they used to ask him, he would keep silent. He does not acknowledge devotees or disciples. Yet thousands claim to be disciples and devotees of his.
When I came to see him many years ago, I came because I wanted to confirm my own experience. I first went to see Yogananda, and I wanted to become a monk, because I no longer fit into the world patterns. But after a couple of weeks talking to me and observing me, he told me to go to India and see Ramana Maharshi. Of course I'd seen him before when I was a baby in the crib. We won't go into that right now. When I got to India and went to Ramana Maharshi, it was about 5 o'clock in the evening. He was about to take his stroll. He was with an attendant and I was climbing up the hill with my knapsack on my back. He turned around and looked at me, and he gave me one of his beautiful big smiles. I smiled back at him and he continued his walk.
For the three years I was there we had many conversations. Most of them are personal. But the first day I saw him personally he told me we had been together before in a previous life. I never thought that I would be a disciple of his, or a devotee or anything else. While I was sitting in the hall, during this talking with people, there were people who insisted that he is their guru, and he would keep silent. And they would pressure him. They wanted confirmation. And once in a while he would say, "If you believe I am, that's sufficient." But in all of his life he never claimed to be a guru or to have disciples. That's number one.
Number two, find out what a jnani really is. Read the works of Shankara, the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita. Another word for jnani is an Avadhoot. The literal translation of that means a crazy, adept, non-conventional. This body has no desires. This body runs from fame and name. There is nothing that this body wants. If it usually appears that I'm in need of something, it's for others.
The only reason we have the transcriptions of the talks is because so many of you wanted them. And if you want the transcriptions, you should use them in the right way. And I talk mainly for the devotees now. The right way to use the transcriptions. I would suggest that for about six months, do not read any other materials. It's not because I do not want you to see what else is going on, but because it becomes confusing if you read the transcriptions, and then read books by others. Sometimes there are many transcriptions that are not only confusing, but contradictory.
You only see me about four or five hours a week. That's another reason why we have transcriptions. If we were together every day I'd tear them all to pieces and throw them away. But since you only see me four or five hours a week at this time, the rest of the time everything you need to know is in the transcriptions. So the proper way to read it is this. Go through it one time completely. Before you go to sleep is the best time. Then go over it again, paragraph by paragraph. Read one paragraph and ponder that particular paragraph, until you go through the whole thing. Do this for about a week for each transcriptions. If you do this and you come to satsang, I can assure you that you will make fast advancement. Any questions about that?
As I always tell you, I would rather have five devotees that are really into this, than have a thousand seekers and disciples who come and go, and compare notes, and compare me with other speakers and other people around town. Everything takes care of itself.
Think about your purpose. What do you really want? You should be an empty vessel. When you empty yourself of all your preconceived ideas, all of your concepts, all of your desires, when you empty yourself out completely, then reality shows itself. But you cannot add on what you learn here to your existing self with a small s. Remember you've got samskaras to work out. You've got the brainwashing you received since you were a baby to get rid of. You are full of nonsensical ideas, and that all has to go. Being here is the focal point for going further with your self-realization. It makes no difference what I say. I can be talking about ice-cream, or chocolate bars. It doesn't make any difference. Just by your being here there is a subtle energy that takes over and pushes you forward.
Many people call me, they want me to talk about this, or to change some of the things I do, or to do this, or to do that. If I were a minister or a philosopher and rehearsed the program, and had a written text to go by, then there can be changes. But I am what I am, and that's what I am, I'm Popeye the sailor man. I do not plan anything. I do not have any rehearsals. This body just does what it does. What you see is what you get, nothing more and nothing less. Any questions about that?
Student: What is this energy, how does it come about? It always happens when I get here?
Robert: It always happens when you get here?
Student: When I come here it always happens without doing anything.
Robert: The seat you're sitting on is charged. I have a little button here when you sit in the seat.
Student: I couldn't understand it, why, it just comes about naturally, without doing anything.
Robert: There is no real explanation for it. An explanation would be futile. Accept it.
Student: Amazing.
Robert: You know what's interesting. That's a good point. The people who do not try to analyze these things are the people who make progress. What difference does it make where it comes from as long as you are receiving it.
Student: Then why do I have to come here for it? Why not analyzing it? It happens consistently here. Instantaneously without any effort.
Robert: It has to do with our relationship.
Student: You know, you say you are not the doer. And I was thinking you're not the thinker either. So if you're not the doer and you're not the thinker, then you can let it all go.
Robert: Exactly. There's nothing to hold on to.
Student: There's nothing at all there.
Robert: And when you let go you feel the subtle energy you're talking about. Just be yourself. Everything we do here is important. Every song we play, every chant we do, every word, every silence, it's all important. I know there are some people who would like to keep quiet all the time. They'd like me to shut up and not say a word, and just sit still. There's a time for that also. But remember, if you will, that the words that come out, are words of silence. Even though I may be appearing to talk to you, you're sitting in the silence. Think about that.
What I'm trying to say is, do not look for faults. Do not say to yourself, "Well, I'd rather be doing this," or "Why don't you give us more of this and less of that." Remember it's you that says this. This is coming out of your ego. Allow everything to be.
That's what I meant before when I said you have to become a bhakta first. That means you just give out love, compassion, joy, kindness. You become a living embodiment of that. Then jnana starts to develop inside of you. But if you always find fault with others, you're always trying to correct something. You always see what somebody else is doing. When your mind is full of doubts, apprehensions and suspicions, all of this negative energy pays a price in your consciousness and you develop in reverse. As the years pass you wonder why you haven't made too much progress. Give of yourself. Open up. Love. And then see what happens.
The chanting we do has a very positive effect on the nervous system. It clears the chakras. It makes you one-pointed, so you can turn into your original self. The whole object of everything we do is to make you one-pointed, so you can ponder "Who am I?" The mind becomes quiet and everything unfolds as it should. So let us do a little chanting.
(Chanting)
There is only one problem that affects everyone. And that is, you think. It's your thoughts that get you into trouble. You have an opinion on almost everything. If you would only learn to control your thoughts you would become absolutely free. Even now, while I'm talking to you, there are many thinking of something else. Your mind appears to have complete control over you. Now if your mind were real you would have a battle on your hands. But, since your mind doesn't even exist, you merely have to see the mind for what it really is, the self. There is no mind. There are no thoughts. There is only the self. All the scriptures of the world have tried to explain this. Be still and know that I am God. Focus you mind on God, and all will go well with you. They're saying the same thing.
Do not allow your mind to persuade you with all the different thoughts that come into your head. Your mind is not your friend. It appears that it wants to survive, so it's going to do everything in the book to cause it to survive. It will tell you all kinds of stories. It will bring up everything from the past. It will bring out doubts, apprehensions, suspicions, anger, greed. It will make you believe that you're right to act the way you do, and to feel the way you do. Great rishis, sages, since time immemorial have realized that the only problem you have to deal with is your mind. If you can only stop your mind from thinking, self-realization will come of itself.
How do you do that? Through self-inquiry, no matter what thoughts come to you. Makes no difference what they are. We're not talking about negative versus positive thoughts. We're talking about all thoughts, no matter how true they may appear. Even if your eyes show you, even if your brother is over to your house and while you're sleeping he takes $50 out of your pocket, your eyes are showing you something is wrong. It doesn't mean that you let him go away with the $50. You confront him, but you do not react. You simply take back your $50 and you forget it. It's finished. It doesn't even mean that you have to continue inviting your brother to your house. Yet nothing is done with malice. The secret is to forget and forgive as fast as you can. Remember your brother is going through his own karma, and this is what he was supposed to do, so how can you hate him? You have a vocabulary of different names. You are ready to call him thief, crook, no good and so on. All this has to be forgotten. Remember again, you do not become a doormat for him to step on. You merely take the right action that you will do, and you forget it. And that's the end of it.
Your body knows what to do by itself. It's your mind that makes up all these things, that holds grudges, that holds malice, day after day, week after week, that's hurt by words. Give it all up.
Even the job that you have. You don't have to think about your job. Your body will know what to do. But if you allow your mind to get into control, you will hate your job. You will wonder why you have to do this kind of work. You will compare yourself with others, and cause all kinds of problems for yourself.
Remember where you are at the present time is your right place. There are no mistakes. Do not try to analyze it. Just be. And if you identify with God, with the self, with absolute reality, with consciousness, it will not even seem like work. You will always be filled with joy, with happiness, for your mind is on God, and your body is doing the work.
Now how do you keep your mind on God? By asking, "Who am I?" By inquiring, "Who am I? Who does the work? Who has the problems? I do. Who is this I? From whence did it come?" In other words, "How did the I arise?" and trace the I back. Trace the I back to its origin, which is your spiritual heart at the right side of your chest. As you abide in the I by tracing it back, that's how you're thinking about God. It's just another name for God, I.
Then you will do your work without thinking about your work, whatever you have to do.
So you see, it's your mind that causes you the problem. Your mind is just another name for I. If there were no I there would be no mind. Whatever pops up, ask yourself, "To whom does it come? Where did it come from? Who gave it birth?" Remember, you're not to do this only with things you don't like, but with all the stuff that comes to you of a good nature. Materialism, good and bad, are both sides of the same coin. They've got to go.
Student: Robert, I want to ask you a question. Is it possible to realize the self through a jnani without a body?
Robert: Yes.
Student: It is?
Robert: Yes it is. Because the jnani is all-pervading. And if you focus your attention on his presence, you'll make contact, if you are sincere enough.
Student: So even at a distance one could just focus on your picture for example.
Robert: It doesn't make any difference. The only difference is your mind. Your mind will tell you all sorts of stories. But if you do not listen to your mind, then the jnani is everywhere. People are still getting healings from Ramana Maharshi. And they claim that he comes into their lives and solves their problems. For a jnani there's no time and space. That's been obliterated. There is only the self as omnipresence, so he or she is everywhere. Of course it's up to you to exude the right energy from yourself, so you make contact. It's just like grace. God's grace is everywhere, but it's up to you to make contact with it. And of course the easiest way is through devotion, through love.
Student: When one has doubts, does self-inquiry help to bring oneself from doubts?
Robert: Of course. That, to my way of thinking, is the easiest way, for you merely ask yourself, "To whom do these doubts come? Who has these doubts?" Every time they come up, ask the same question, and the doubts will eventually cease.
Student: I don't understand this thing about love, because it seems to me that grace has nothing to do with anything. It just is.
Robert: Grace just is, and so is love.
Student: Well yes, but you don't necessarily…
Robert: If you surrender your heart to grace, surrender your heart to grace and you'll feel it. Love, grace, self, they're all the same.
Student: Robert, I was reading the other day, there was a guy in India who said that he felt that the human body was very precious. That it was very difficult to obtain. And he says that a number of beings around him were humans, reincarnated as animals who seek their liberation that way.
Robert: This is part of yoga. That's all possible on a lower plane. It depends where you are at yourself. The body is very precious so that you become self-realized by having a body. But since you are self-realized already, for whom is the body? There are all kinds of psychic, physical, causal planes that you can play with and get lost in those planes. Go beyond all that. Always try to remember that everything is an emanation of your own mind. Causal planes, astral planes, other bodies, demons, spirits, genii's, it all comes out of your own mind. When the mind is controlled you no longer see these things, and you have nothing to do with them. They exist on lower planes.
Student: Robert. On this business of letting the body do the work, according to your mental work....
Robert: What, if you never work?
Student: That's one thing. But what if you are doing mental work?
Robert: Mental work?
Student: Yes.
Robert: You mean you work with your mind?
Student: Yes.
Robert: Actually it seems that you work with your mind. But even if you're an accountant, you have to write figures, you have to calculate, and your body has to do those things. So your body will use the portion of your mind that it has to use, to make all those things happen. The body and the mind are synonymous really. When the mind goes, the body goes also. But for appearance sake in this world, the body appears to carry on. Therefore in order for the body to carry on, it has to use the mental energy that's available for it, to carry on. Consequently it will take care of itself, and the work will get done, without you being identified with it.
Student: Or it comes through in the practice. It seems like there is a procedure when you're doing physical work. It is easy to see how you can do self-inquiry. Or, if you're trying to calculate figures for example, it seems to interfere, seems to be different.
Robert: I understand what you're saying. It appears that when you're using your mind and you have to concentrate on what you're doing, it's more difficult. That's not true. When you get up in the morning, if you prepare yourself well and practice self-inquiry at that time, it will carry on when you go to work, by itself, and your mind will concentrate on the figures. And at the same time, the self-inquiry will go on.
You’ve probably hummed a song before, and the song was in your mind. And while you're doing your work, mentally you're humming the song. Yet you're still calculating, you're still doing whatever you have to do mentally. You're doing all the mental work, but the theme of the song never leaves you. The song is in the mind also. And so it is with self-inquiry. When you begin to practice as soon as you open your eyes, it will carry you through the day. No matter if you're doing mental work or physical work, self-inquiry will still go on.
Student: Robert, is there a reason why you are a vegetarian? Does it have a practical benefit in your practice?
Robert: There are so many ways to explain that. When I was about thirteen years old, I had eaten meat until that time. And then one day my mom gave me a steak, and I just blurted out, "I don't eat dead flesh.” And I've never eaten it since.
Now if you're in the body, and you believe you are the body, you have to look at the moral reasons. What right do we have to kill these thousands of cows and pigs and chickens, so we can stuff our face with dead flesh. Think about that. Right now there are cows standing in line to get killed. McDonalds alone uses a million cows a year. All these cows are grown and they put them in a feedlot, and torture them with all kinds of antibiotics, and then slaughter them, so we can eat them. Morally it doesn't seem right. It's been proven a pig is smarter than a dog. It makes a better pet. Would you like to see your dog or your cat slaughtered and people eating them? You have preference. All animals are the same. On one level, the reason the world is degenerating is because of what we're doing to all of the animals and the earth. But that's on one level. So you have to take it for what it's worth.
Student: You know, we see in the zoo, we see them feeding one animal with another animal, and you give your dog meat. And you say, well my dog can eat meat, why can't my husband?
Robert: No comment.
Student: Her husband doesn't bark.
Student: So if you could stop all the animals…
Robert: Well one thing leads to another. Because of ecology reasons the animals know how to take care of themselves and eat certain other animals, to balance everything out. But human beings are mercilessly killing animals for the fun of it. We think we have to eat animals, but we don't. Humans are not supposed to be carnivorous. You want me to prove it to you? Look at your teeth. Now look at the vegetarian animals that don't eat meat and look at their teeth. Like horses, cows, elephants. They have teeth like ours, gorillas. But when you look at your carnivorous animals, they have fangs, to tear flesh apart. This shows us that we're supposed to be vegetarians. We come from the animal family of vegetarians. You know when man started to eat meat? In the old days during the floods, thousands of years ago. Prior to that, man was vegetarian. But the floods destroyed the earth. It was impossible to plant, and man degenerated and started to eat meat. We've been carrying on ever since.
It's a personal thing. You've got to look at your self, and see what you're doing, and ask yourself why. I know somebody can be a smart ass and say, "Well nothing exists anyway, so what's the difference?" If nothing existed, you would know not to eat meat before that, and you wouldn't do it anyway. If you realize you're not the body, you would not eat animal bodies. You would eat very little, and mostly grains, vegetables and fruits. But you have to come to that conclusion yourself.