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REALITY
HAS
NOTHING
TO
DO
WITH
WORDS
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Let
there be peace and love among all beings of the universe. OM
Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.
You
have to have the conviction:
"I am totally unconcerned with the world."
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AMAKANT
Maharaj
is a direct disciple of the late Sri Nisargadatta
Maharaj and spent 19 years with him. From 1962, he
visited Nisargadatta Maharaj and listened to his
lectures regularly, until his master's Mahasamadhi
in 1981. During the last decade or so at his ashram
in Nashik, Ramakant Maharaj has been introducing
devotees from around the world to the ultimate
Truth.
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Ramakant
Maharaj: Why all the struggle and fighting to
understand words and meanings, all this
intellectual analysis, comparisons and conclusions?
Reality has nothing to do with words, and nothing
to do with the intellect. It is beyond all
body-knowledge.
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You can't
say how you were prior to beingness.
There were no words, no knowledge,
nothing.
Words cannot describe
"nothing".
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Spiritual
knowledge is OK for the body-form, for as long as
the body-form exists. When the body-form
disappears, who knows what will happen? After
conviction, this knowledge [jnana] comes
quick and sharp, very quickly, with an edge. When
this happens, there is no longer any need for peace
or happiness.
Happiness and peace are for the body,
Because existence in the body-form is
intolerable.
The moment you are convinced that the body-form
is not your ultimate Truth, then whatever
"negative" thing may happen to the body, is viewed
with some distance, like something that has
happened to your neighbour's child, and not to you.
You will feel it because this body is a material
body. At the same time though, you will not be
involved because it is your neighbour's child, and
not you.
Detachment is one of the signs of
realisation.
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Question:
Before this stage, there is a strong sense of
ownership, that people own their bodies which is
very important.
Maharaj: Oh yes! But not ownership, you are
not the owner. It is the five elements. You are
staying on a rental basis. It is just the borrowing
force of the body: you are borrowing water,
borrowing food. For a few years you have a license,
then the license is extended, Keep Out! As soon as
you stop providing food and water?
Question: Then you get thrown out of your
house!
Maharaj: It is a cage, not a house. You are
staying in a cage and chewing a carrot. It may be a
golden cage, silver cage, brass cage, whatever
comes one's way. Rich people make a golden cage,
and the poor people get an iron cage.
Question: It is still a cage.
Maharaj: The sage is staying within that
cage. It is a "sage-cage". The moment you have
conviction, you will break open that cage. I'm
giving you courage:
You are to leave! Open the cage!
Open it wide!
You are a free bird!
These are the ways of conviction, using stories,
various words, metaphors and analogies. But listen
to me! The whole of spiritual science is just
talking about this unborn child.
At the initial stage, people do listen.
But afterwards, there are not so many
Who continue to go deeper and deeper into the
Reality.
They much prefer to dissect the teachings
And contest the words that have been used to
express them.
When it comes to the crunch, generally,
people are not so keen to turn within and be quiet.
They are more comfortable with the old ways of
body-knowledge. They find it easier to discuss and
debate the meaning of Reality. This is
pointless!
Reality is not up for discussion or
debate.
This is why I ask everyone the same
question: "What is your conclusion after reading
all the spiritual books?" If you are fearless, then
OK, you will hopefully be fearless when the time
comes to leave the body. But make sure! If fear is
still roaming around you, then all your literary
pursuits have been a waste of time.
Trembling in the face of fear, is not
knowledge.
Knowledge has to be useful to you on your
deathbed.
Spirituality makes you fearless, with the result
that you have spontaneous peace and happiness. Just
like, if you have no money in your pocket, you have
no reason to be afraid of the thief! Let the thief
come! Your pocket is empty! Now that you have
conviction, it will help you at this time. There
will be no fear, nothing, just peace. Some day or
other, you are to leave this house.
Every day you are to say to yourself,
"This house is not mine."
Forget it!
You have an opportunity to use this body to
know your Selfless Self, and how you were prior to
beingness. Every moment in your life is very, very
important. Every moment in your life is very, very
important. Otherwise, there will be another dream,
another dream, another dream.
You are to come out of this vicious
circle.
You can do it with your own power.
Break the vicious circle with your own power.
You can break it because
You are ultimate Reality.
Don't sign anything blindly again! You are
unborn. Be cautious! Don't ignore Reality because
of pressures from external forces, invisible
forces. Don't ignore Reality because of spiritual
forces, physical forces, mental forces, logical
forces, intellectual forces.
Don't ignore Reality.
Everyone's trying to impress his own ideas
in the name of the masters. Generally, it is
expected that you nod your head to them and say,
"Correct, correct". Not you! Not you, not you any
more!
Now you can decide what is correct or
incorrect,
Authentic or inauthentic,
Using the mirror of knowledge,
In the light of that mirror of knowledge,
You can discriminate and decide.
You have conviction! You may need to use some
words, just remember that words are not ultimate
Truth.
Don't become a victim of words again.
Don't fall into that trap again.
It happens. I have seen it
happening.
Question:
I am not going to be seduced by any books or
teachers, Maharaj. You don't have to worry about
that. I understand their body-knowledge
limitations. And why should I look for
book-knowledge, when Self-knowledge is unfolding as
never before?
Maharaj: Very nice! We have created the
words and given them their meanings. We are using
words all the time. Take the words, "God" and
"donkey". We say "God" is a deity, whereas "donkey"
is an animal. If we were to say that "Donkey means
Deity", what happens? Nothing! It is simply the
words that have changed, not the essence or
substance. Forget about the words. Be with Reality!
Have a nice time, enjoy your spirituality.
Be quiet and happy!
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Except yourself
there is no God, no Brahman, no Atman, no
Paramatman, no master.
Know yourself in the real sense. We're knowing
ourselves in body form. It's not your identity.
Your identity is unidentified, invisible, anonymous
identity. So your spontaneous presence is the cause
of the projection of the world, so you are ultimate
Truth, you are unborn. Devotees are people that
want some happiness, peace of mind, tension-free
life, fearless life. These things can happen once
you know yourself in the real sense. You're totally
unborn but you're thinking I am born and I am going
to die. That concept is an illusory thought. True
knowledge will help you realise what is the
ultimate Truth, final Truth.
After knowing yourself in a real sense, you will be
completely out of fear. Knowing "I am unborn",
there is no fear of death and birth. There is no
birth and death. You are beyond knowledge, beyond
"words and worlds". This is conviction,
enlightenment, realisation – you become one
with the final Truth
That anonymous, that invisible, unidentified
identity, called Parabrahman, Brahman, Atman for
which there is no death or birth, no need of
salvation. Questions of heaven and hell never
arise. There is no prarabdha [concept of
accumulated deeds from previous incarnations,
brought into the present lifetime as "karma"],
no religion. This is body attachment, body related.
It came across [rises] with the body form.
"This and that" – all have to do with the
bodily state. It came across as the body form.
Outside of yourself there is no God, no Brahman
– God is in you and nowhere else. This is very
liberating because it means outside of myself there
is no God, no nothing!. I am the Source of
everything! You are the Source, you are the power.
Enter the cave and uncover your treasure.
Be practical, everything is in you, but you are
searching here and there. You are ignoring the
searcher, you are ignoring the finder. You have
tremendous power, but you are unaware it. You are
underestimating yourself, saying "I am man or
woman." That is not your identity. This identity is
to be dissolved some day or other.
There is no mind at all! This is exceptional
knowledge. This is Reality. It's not book
knowledge. It's not literal knowledge. It is beyond
everything, beyond knowledge, everything, beyond
imaginations. Nisargadatta Maharaj used to say,
"How you were prior to beingness, remain like
that." So how were you prior to beingness? You were
"not knowing". You were totally unaware of
everything. You did not know anything.
It is invisible, anonymous and unidentified. It is
That with which we feel, without which you can't
utter a single word, without which you can't raise
your hand. No movement can be there without Its
power. That spirit is called Brahman, Atman,
Paramatman, God, Parabrahman. Names are yours. What
is the content of spirit? It is not your death, nor
your birth... Just That, just That!
Self-enquiry, Self-knowledge and Self-realisation
are the set stages. Everybody's reading so many
books, they are talking about Brahman, Atman,
Paramatman, God. It is very easy to talk. But one
should question oneself. Out of all this knowledge,
"What am I? What have I got?" Question whether I am
completely free from the fear of death? Whether I
have complete peace, whether I have complete
happiness without any material cause? One should
question oneself. If the answer is "No", then it is
only literal knowledge that one has – both
literal and little.
If you are strongly dedicated, it is not difficult
to absorb the teachings. You know better. This
external identity is not going to remain constant.
Conviction is essential for spirituality. Some
spirit is there through which we are talking. Some
power is there working. We are looking, we are
hearing, all activities are for the body, all are
for the body. Some power is there, some strength is
there, some spirit is there, just like
electricity.
There is the story of the rope and the snake. You
are afraid of the snake. It is a matter of fact
that there's no snake, it is a rope. Similarly, we
are afraid of our death. Who is dying? Who is
taking birth? Because [you realise] there
is nobody, [you are] totally unconcerned,
totally indifferent. This presence is spontaneous
just like the sky. Out of presence the entire world
is projected, we merge. Without presence we can't
see the world, we can't see anything.
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Prior to body
form, nothing was there. Prior to beingness, to
whom do these individual names belong? Just to
stimulate a peaceful life, religions and the
principle of religion were formed. This is the
essential principle form, frame – "praying
form". It is OK. The secret of your life, the gist
of your life you must know, understand, realise
what it means. Then only you will be totally
fearless.
Your master is your reflection. As a matter of fact
there is no master, no disciple. The sum total is
that all of this is a dream which has come out of
body relations – which you are not, which you
were not, and which you are never going to be. So,
how do you get rid of the body illusion?
You are the architect of your own life. Eventually
you come to know that everything is a dream. In
other words, you are acting in some drama/movie
– you are the hero, heroine or villain –
and even after two and a half hours, you know this
is just my role. I am still doing my role, but
there is not any connection with that role.
Similarly, we are accepting these roles, like "man"
or "woman", without question. It [Reality]
has nothing to do with all these concepts. You are
unborn.
You should ask yourself, "Why should I fear death
when it is common for everybody?" You say, "I can't
escape death". Who is dying? Who is living? Just
enquire. Nobody is dying, nobody is taking birth.
We're thinking from the body point of view, blindly
accepting all these concepts, illusory concepts:
man or woman, this religion or that religion, last
birth, next birth, present birth, rebirth... so
many concepts, illusions.
You've blindly signed and accepted all these
illusions. You have not committed any crime yet you
are signing "I am a criminal." [You are guilty
of accepting a false identity of an individual
person.] Masters say you have not committed any
crime, but you sign "I am a criminal."
"I" is illusion,"you" is illusion,"Brahman" is
illusion. Entire world is illusion.
Just think how I was prior to beingness? At that
time there was not any God, Brahman, Atman –
these are the words. After dissolving the body,
what is my status? You say "I don't know." So all
these requirements for these things, God, Brahman,
Atman are body related. To have these, there is a
material cause. That is illusion, so we have to
come out of the illusion.
After the death of the body, what remains? There is
no experience, no experiencer. No knowledge,
nothing is there. Simple. Simple! After the
disappearance of the body what remains? Nothing!
But for some persons for whom body is their world,
for them, all is the body. Suppose his body
disappears. How is his world coming, appearing
then?
Body is having some time limit but you are
everywhere, you are Omnipresent, just like the sky.
If at all you want to compare yourself, let it be
like the sky. We are bound by the body knowledge,
food-body knowledge, therefore we are trying to
find out where there is happiness, where we can
find complete peace. Complete peace and happiness
are only words.
How is this world for me? It is merged with
nothing. Something merged with nothing. And out of
nothing, there is something. They are interrelated.
Just for conversation we are using some words. All
these relations, conditions, sensations are there.
All expectations are there. All needs are there. I
am totally unconcerned with the world. They are all
body things. All body related. We want peace. Who
wants? We want happiness, more happiness. Who? We
want a tension-free life. Tension-free life,
happiness, peace. We are not knowing all these
prior to beingness. They came across with the body.
They are the bodily requirements, not the spirit
requirements. The body dissolves. We fear that
because of our attachment to the body. No one wants
death, everyone is afraid of death. But when you
come to know the truth of death, there is no
fear.
You have to have the conviction: "I am totally
unconcerned with the world."
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