How are you?
This is a question that Mahaprabu never asks. But today he did. It was 2 months since he came to Tiruvannamalai due to the strict lockdown on travel due to the Covid situation. (Daily Satsang has been going on through WhatsApp without a single day missed). But this is the first instance in 15 years that he has missed coming to Tiruvannamalai on a weekend. The lockdown still is in place but Sri Mahaprabu rode a bike up to a mid-way point, changed bikes, and arrived at the Rest House.
Sri Mahaprabu gave the following talk explaining what he means by that question.
Who does that question refer to? It can be 3 things. Ātma which is existing here and now is always fine. fSo the question is not regarding Ātma. Next, the Body. The body is always not fine. It keeps changing. 1 hour back you might have had some pain, but not now. Even routine tasks such as passing motions/toilet habit is different from day to day. Due to the usage of the body, there will be deterioration over time, so really the question does not refer to the body either. Next: Thoughts. About Thoughts alone, you can ask. Only thoughts can be good or bad.
When Mahaprabu asks “How Are You”, it means are your thoughts good. Are they helping you to go towards the Source. The group of thoughts that help you move inward and abide in the source, those are good thoughts. So many thoughts are going on, so when I ask you “how are you”, it means how are your thoughts. Thoughts are like clouds. Even though we are sky, at least let us be like white clouds because the Sun penetrates through them easily. If you go to the Sun, then you can go to Sky. The Sun = I Am ness. White clouds = Good Thoughts. Dark clouds create fear. They are the thoughts that have been creating fear from young.
I hope that all of you are well. I assume that you are all well.
The one thought that matters
Only one thought matters. If you think that you are the Ātma, a deathless being, beyond body, beyond mind. It may be a thought but it will change the total scenario. On the other hand, if you think you are the body, the whole picture is different. It is like a toggle key. Who is having this choice? It is in your hands. Not in others’ hands. If you think you are the deathless being then no more thoughts, silence, a feeling of peace and security, a complete detachment immediately from all miseries. If you are able to disconnect immediately and dive into tremendous peace it is a good sign. That you are in a good state. It shows an improvement. The moment you think you are a deathless being, you can disconnect.
How to do this? Consciously avoid thinking that you are an individual. Various situations are coming. Ātma or Source or Self is not somewhere else. You are it. It is You. In a split second, you can lose yourself. So consciously in various situations, you must be alert in NOT thinking that you are the body. And voluntarily you should expose yourself to various situations such as Low, Medium, and High based on your ability so that you can experiment with this. Voluntarily and honestly you should do it. When you find that you are able to abide in the Self in all 3 situations, then you will have confidence in yourself, which will push you upwards.
All is in your hand. You have given your heart to me, but everything else is still with you. Why do I ask for your heart? Because unknowingly you should not give it to others! I’m like the locker in the bank. All your hearts are deposited with me. As your heart is with me I am able to connect with you all. And as we are able to establish this connection, my words will go inside you and they will work. They will work because these words are coming from my heart. My heart is always towards you all. But if your heart is in some others’ hands they will put a gate around it and then my words won’t work. When your heart is with me it is like your address is ℅ Sri Mahaprabu (care of). But if it is with someone it is ℅ Someone. Your address might be “care of someone” but they will not take care of you!
So where must your effort be?
On Thoughts. There are only 2 options for thoughts. Either the thought that you are the deathless being, Ātma, or the thought that you are an individual. If you are not sticking to the thought that you are a deathless being, if you are not doing things carefully with awareness, then you are not holding on to that thought. So then the other choice is that you will hold on to the thought that you are an individual. You must practice this very honestly, consciously. The thinking process or ignorance can be killed only by the honesty which you are keeping in your practice. That alone can kill your ego. If the Master can kill the ego directly, one Buddha would have been enough. He is doing the killing by asking you to be honest in your practice. He is establishing the mechanism inside you to kill the ego. Once it is established, whenever the ego comes, the mechanism will cut it. A single master cannot cut the ego of so many disciples, especially since the ego is continuously rising at different times even in one individual. It is called Self-Killing. So, develop honesty. Do the practice in 3 categories of situations, Low, Medium, and High risk. Once the ego is completely killed and you have tasted the joy of the deathless existence, living as the deathless one, once you have tasted that, enjoyed that, then the mind has that ability to be there automatically. For example, once a person has tasted alcohol and enjoyed it, there are more chances for him to get it again and again. He will seek that. Even so, due to ethics and health concerns, he could avoid it. But if a person indulges once in a sexual relationship, will he say “hereafter I won’t indulge in sex”. Again and again he will want to. Why? The Mind has the ability. It notes that some happiness is coming out of that. Again and again it will ask. It will follow. By using the same nature of the mind, once you make it taste the inner presence, again and again, it will ask. If it is not happening, if it is not asking that means you have not tasted it. That is the scale. Is it not true? Simple fact.
The whole effort is to enjoy it once
Whole effort is to get it to enjoy the taste for the first time. For this, we are struggling. It is a struggle because the mind says I found happiness here and there. But the Master keeps saying, happiness is not anywhere. It is inside. This is the struggle. Once you understand the struggle you have crossed half the way. As you don’t know that it is a struggle, you do it like a part-time job. Why part-time? Because the mind is continuously saying “if you do this you will be happy; if you do that you will be happy.” And as for going inward to seek happiness? That is just a hope. You have not experienced it. You have heard all saints say it, so you know something must be there. Based on that tiny hope you are putting in effort. So it won’t have the natural potential, since you don’t have the experience. You entered this realm through the study of Scriptures, various Satsangs, the pull of the Master, etc. It is a pull. Rarely do sorrows push you into spirituality. The majority of the time, your mind is working towards where it thinks happiness is. It has its own compartments for sources of happiness. Compartment A, B, C, D, etc. Even chatting unnecessarily is a compartment. So the mind will keep working in compartments A, B, C, etc. In one small compartment is Spiritual Enlightenment! That’s why it is a part-time job. So here, you cannot give your natural strength. The mind won’t cooperate. It will drag you to other compartments. Only by constant Satsang and when you put the effort in the right place continuously, that will make you progress and develop confidence. That will extract the natural potential within you. This will push you up and you will enjoy the presence inside. Once you have tasted it, then the mind will cooperate. Before that, it might be an obsession. But once it tastes, it will be a progression. Then it will say, “What is there in A, B, C!” The same mind will drag you to Spiritual Enlightenment. It will only want to go inside. Finally, the whole thinking process will dissolve. According to the situation, the system will look all around and make a decision and move on to the next moment.
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