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That which everyone of us is looking for in this world is exactly the same thing. Every being, even the animals, are looking for it. And what is it that we are all looking for? Happiness with no sorrow! A continuous state of happiness with no taint whatsoever of sorrow. Now, if this be the Goal, why is it the Goal? The reason why it is the Goal is because unlimited happiness is our very basic nature! This is the real natural state, before we encumber it with limitations. Now why is it that most of us do not have this continuous happiness with no sorrow? There's only one reason: being this infinite Being with infinite happiness we do a way with this joy, this happiness, by saying, I am an individual, separate from the All. To make myself separate from the All, I must set up a means to accomplish this. The means is my mind that creates my body and the material world. Then I proceed, creating more and more thoughts that create more and more matter until the thoughts and matter have me so bogged down and blinded that I have lost my real identity as the infinite Beingness that I am.
The original thought of I am separate from the All necessarily creates a lack. Lack creates desire. Desire therefore cannot undo the lack, as lack is not there in the first place, it is not real but assumed. And we go on and on trying to satisfy desire and we never, never succeed. If we could succeed, we would be able to satisfy desire and therefore all desire would disappear! And then we would be desireless!
The only real purpose of being here on this earth is to learn, or to remember, our original natural state of totality, of complete freedom and no limitation. Once we are led to see that this is our natural state, then we proceed to let go of all the limitations. The prime, the very first limitation is: I am an individual separate from the All. Eliminate that and you eliminate all limitation, all trouble, all sickness, all poverty.
To say this in another way is to say: God is all! Let go and let God be. It is not I but the Father who worketh through me. We must let go of the ego sense which is the original sense of separation from the All and allow our natural Being just to be and then everything would fall perfectly into line.
This is all very, very simple. If you want complexity you'll never see simplicity. Once this is accepted as the overall way, however, we do not find it easy of accomplishment. We don't find it easy because of past habits that have been established over thousands and thousands of years. And for some silly reason we subconsciously like these past habits of trouble and so we continue them. We do it in a manner that we refuse to look at. We call it subconscious behavior! And we go on and on and on repeating all this behavior of limitation automatically, calling it subconscious. Now the subconscious mind is only that part of the mind that we refuse to look at! When our desire is strong enough we will dig up these subconscious habits and begin to let go of them.
There is no growing into the natural Being that we are. That Being is whole and perfect, here and now. There is only letting go of concepts to the contrary, that we have troubles, that we have limitations. Anyone who says, I have trouble, has it in his mind. That's the only place where it is because you can't see anything anywhere else but in your mind. Whatever you look at, whatever you hear, whatever you sense, is through your mind. That's where everything is. Change your mind and everything out there changes. Change your thinkingness and you change the world for you. Do this and you have the proof!
So the way, the path, is simple. The method of undoing the limitations is not easy because of habit. We need a very strong desire to begin to let go of these wrong habits from the past. Without that strong desire there is no growth. This desire must be stronger than the desire to possess and control this world. The world as now seen really is a fiction when you see the Truth. It turns out to be a dream. First you'll see it as a dream, then you'll see it as a dream that never was. It is exactly as happens in a night dream. While you're in the night dream you have a body there are other bodies, there's action, interaction, there's good and there's bad. And so long as you remain in that night dream everything there is real to you. When you awaken from the night dream you say, my gosh it was just a dream! It never happened! This dream was all in me! And exactly in the same manner you awaken from this dream called the waking state. You come to see that it was only a fiction of your imagination, it was only a dream, and then you let go of it lock, stock and barrel and what is left over is the infinite you! Then you call yourself fully realized totally free.
We are actually fully realized all the time. We are fully realized Beings saying that we are not. So all we do is let go of we are not and what's left over is the fully realized Being that we are. Are there any questions on what I've said so far? No? Then everyone understands this, at least intellectually.
Alright if you understand it intellectually and you are not able to use it, it's because you're not looking at yourself honestly, truthfully, with deep desire to see your Self, in the process of which you have set up as the subconscious mind all the things you will not look at. However, it's not necessary to dig up this unconscious mind, in fact it's much better to try to quiet the mind. When we're able to get the mind totally quiet, what's left over is the infinite Self. Every thought is a thing of limitation. Therefore when we quiet the mind, we still these limiting thoughts and this infinite Being that we are becomes self-obvious to us. The Self is then not occluded by the limiting thoughts! We see It, we recognize that we never were that mind, that body, and from that moment on, the mind and body have no influence upon us. We determine for the body as we would a puppet and it has no effect upon us, as a puppet that we would be controlling would have no effect upon us. So the very best method of all methods is to quiet the mind to see the Being that you are. Pose the question: Who am I? and if other thoughts come in, ask, To whom are these thoughts? The answer is To me. Well, who am I? and you're back on the track, seeking to see your Self.
''Who am I? is the final question that everyone answers, so why not begin with the final question? If you can, all good, all wonderful. But there are very few of us who are capable of using this method of just holding onto Who am I? and rejecting all other thoughts that come in. We have gotten ourselves so involved with thoughts that we cannot let go of them and therefore we need other methods, other aids.
The other major methods are called in the East Jnana Yoga, Raja or Kriya Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga. (By the way, the only reason I go to the Eastern Teachings is that they are a total and complete methodology and such a thing is non-existent in the Western world. The Western world methodology is only partial and is included in the Eastern.) I think we are all familiar with those various paths. So if we cannot use the Self-enquiry, Who am I? we use the one that suits us best. The path that we like now is the very path that we have been on formerly in prior lives. The path that is best for you is the one that you like best. Now each path includes all the other paths. The only difference is the emphasis. If we are intellectual we emphasize the Jnana Path, the path of intellect and wisdom. If we are devotional, then we emphasize the Bhakti path of love and devotion to God. If we like to be of service to mankind we use the Karma Yoga path. Each path leads to the quieting enough of the mind so that we may see the infinite Being that we are.
Raja or Kriya Yoga is a complete and integral path that suits the greatest number of people today. It is a path of doingness in eight steps, with each step leading to the next step after it. I think you are all familiar with the eight steps. If you are not, you can get it from a book. The first two steps are the moral and ethical ones, the do's, the don'ts. The third is posture and body exercise. The fourth step is learning to control the breath and life force. The fifth is letting go of the external world, interiorizing by disconnecting the sense telephones and turning one's attention within. The sixth is concentrating the mind, getting it quiet, holding one thought to the exclusion of other thoughts. The seventh step is meditation, one-pointed meditation, and one-pointed meditation leads into the eighth step, or the top state called samadhi. So this Raja or Kriya Yoga path is one of step-by-step doingness that everyone can use. We happen to be in an era that is in relatively low vibration. That's the reason why we find the way difficult, and that's the reason why we need this Raja or Kriya Yoga, a gradient and a most integral path.
There are two ways of growing: one is what I call the negative way, eliminating the negative, going into the mind, seeing the cause of the problem that originated in a thought some time in the past. When we see this thought, when we bring it up into consciousness, we naturally let go of it. We see how silly it is to hold onto it and therefore correct that thought and behavior. However, the other way is the better. It is the positive way. Quiet the mind and see who and what you really are, the infinite Self. In the over all, there's really only two ways: eliminating the negative and the better, putting in the positive, I am that I am, I am He. The latter is by far the faster.
Let's now take a look at this so- called apparency, the world. The world is only an illusion that we created mentally. It is not external but in reality within us, within our mind. Someday you'll discover that you created this entire universe that you see. The method of creating is by first creating what we call a mind. We create our mind, which is nothing but a composite of all our thoughts, conscious and subconscious, and the thoughts create the material world. Every little thing that happens to each and everyone of us is created in our thinking. We mentally set up a thing called time which makes it even more difficult to see things because we think now and things happen years later. But the only creator there is, is the mind, your mind. Is God a creator? Yes, because you are. Thou are That! You set up a mind and through the mind create. It is necessary and good to discover that everything happening is caused by our thinking. Everything that happens to us is created in our thought. It's a stepping stone toward realizing and recognizing that we are the creators. First you discover that you created your trouble, then you discover that you can create anything you desire. After you discover that there is nothing that you cannot create, you're still unhappy. The reason is that you have separated yourself from the Infinity. Only on recognizing your Infinity are you perfectly satisfied.
So if there are any problems that remain, they only remain because you are holding onto hem in thought. The moment you let go of them, they are gone! If you tell me that isn't so for you, that isn't true. The truth is you're still holding onto them, telling me that it doesn't work. Now trying to get rid of a problem is holding onto it. Anything we try to get rid of we are holding in mind and thereby sustaining that problem. So the only way to correct a problem is to let go of it. See not the problem, see only what you want. If you would only from this moment on see what you want that is all that you would get, i.e., what you want. But you hold in mind the things you do not want. You struggle to eliminate the things you don't want, thereby sustaining them. So it's necessary to let go of the negative and put in the positive if you want a positive, happy life.
This subject cannot be learned intellectually, it cannot be learned through the mind because it's perceived just behind the mind. We can use the mind to gradually undo the limitations enough so that we can get behind the mind by getting it quieter. If it were possible to get this subject through the mind intellectually, all we would need to do is to read the books on it and we would have it. But it doesn't work that way. We have to very concentratedly dwell upon our Self that is just behind the mind. Turn the mind back upon the mind to discover what the mind is, and then go be yond the mind to the Self. So to get this subject, each one must experience it, realize it, make it real by going to the place just behind the mind and perceiving it there.
Now the very highest state is simply Beingness, and if we could only be, just be, we could see our Infinity. We would see that there are no limitations. We would see that we are the All. We would be in a perfectly satiated, permanent, changeless state. And it is not a nothingness, it is not a boredom, it is an Allness, an Everythingness, a Total Satiation that is eternal. You will never, never lose your individuality. The word I as you use it to mean your individuality will never ever leave you. It expands. What happens as you re-remember what you are is that you'll begin to see that others are you, that you are me, that you are now and always have been gloriously Infinite.
Look at your mind. That in itself is a good practice. It puts you apart from it. You are looking at it. Watch your thoughts. It's a wonderful practice. If you examine thoroughly the mind, you will discover that it isn't, it's an illusion. Let it go it's way, just watch the mind. The ultimate witness is the Self. It's a tremendous thing to watch the mind. Not only does it quiet it, it makes the mind not you. If you trace the source of the mind, you find it is nothingness. This whole world is a dream illusion, which means that it isn't.
***
This Session was recorded in New York City, September 28, 1964.
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