Background
Yesterday Satsang began around midnight, going past 4 AM. Sri Mahaprabu continuously sang songs from the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. He even said that Paramahamsa was in the room, requesting him to keep singing. Today’s satsang started after a few hours. Mahaprabu is sitting still, eyes closed. Our minds slow down too. An hour goes by. Sri Mahaprabu stirred slightly. This turned into strong convulsions, followed by that long, deep, belly-laughter that is so characteristic of him when he emerges from Samadhi. He then said the following:
IT alone is doing everything
The effect of yesterday’s singing, unable to come out of this room (pointing to the room adjacent to Sadhu Om hall). After a very long time, came out and sat here. (referring to this morning) But still unable to speak. That is the power of devotion. Once you cross the boundary of the ego, then you will be in the hands of That. No freedom for the ego. So no freedom for the mind, or body. Our whole thing will become the property of That. Whatever IT wants IT will do. So we cannot plan anything.
Actually whether you are with ego or without ego, everything is controlled by That only. Everything IT only is doing. Whatever is here is the property of That. But when you are with ego, it seems that you are doing, that you have control. It apparently seems that way, but not real. (Laughing). That is realization. We had been thinking that everything is in our control, but actually not. This is realization.
Where Enquiry is needed
The mind is simply thinking that things are in our control. It believes it. Without analyzing whether it is fact or not, it blindly believes, it has strong faith that ‘we’ are doing. That is where enquiry is needed. That is where we need to investigate. But we don’t need to do investigation throughout the life. That is my objection to all those who think of it as a mantra and do it their entire life. Through investigation you will come to a conclusion. Once you find out that something, there is no need of further investigation. That too, the investigation is a turn-inward process. And once you turn inward and enquire about the mind, the mind will shut down. That’s all. There won’t be anything to investigate. If something is there you can go on investigation. But here once you start investigating, immediately it stops. Then that realization you should have. Where is that, which I was investigating? Am I now investigating the one that is nothing. That realization, that spark, that recognition is needed. That alertness is needed. At least after 2 or 3 more attempts of investigation, you will realize that whenever we start investigating, the one that was being investigated disappears. So there is no more meaning in investigating that which is disappearing.
From there you should have an alertness, a spark. Then only you can jump from investigation to Experience. Otherwise you will go on investigating. When you start, it disappears, and when you stop it appears. Again you investigate, it disappears, and so on. Like a dog chasing its tail, it is a never-ending process.
So, you shift from investigation to experiencing That which is existing after the disappearance of the mind. In the disappearance something is absent. But is there some more presence? Did something new enter? That you have to look into. So the one that started the investigation (the presence) is still present, even though the mind disappeared. So you should stay in that presence. You should be that presence. Whenever you are staying as the presence you cannot find the appearance of the other thing. Whenever you miss staying as the presence, immediately the mind appears. This is the second thing you should realize. Due to this realization you will have an understanding that whenever we are staying as the Presence, there is no mind. Whenever we missed that, the mind comes. Now you will have a clear idea as to what is permanent and what is temporary. You will then give more and more importance to that which is permanent and reduce the priority for that which is temporary. This leads to further progress.
Then after some time, you will get an understanding that this is all happening due to a habit. You will find that whether you are staying as the Presence or not, the Presence is continuing as the Presence. This much you will know. The one that is here and now is continuing. It cannot be avoided. It cannot become absent. Then you will not mind about the mind, nor will you mind about the presence. That is the real no-mind state. (Laughing). Totally you are throwing it out. No more putting attention on the mind, nor putting on the presence. That shows that you are really in a no-mind state. When you are really in this no-mind state, the one that is Present alone will be present.
Total Independence
These are the various phases of growth. As it is a flow, you cannot draw a line between two phases. It is a continuous process. Then you will have the understanding that everything is in Its control. When it wants to come out, it will come out. When it wants to hide it will hide. That is total independence. It is doing it all. No time, no space. As it is everywhere, it cannot confine itself to the body, since body is space. As it is everywhere, it cannot possibly think that I am only here (pointing to the body). And since it is existing always, it cannot be confined to time and timings. I will come at this time etc. It is everywhere and always. So your whole system will be in a rhythm. When the universe wants to come out of it, you will get up. When it doesn’t want to come, you will stay there in a shutdown. You will like, you will enjoy that rhythm, that harmony, that resonance. You cannot come out of that harmony. You will not find value in anything other than that harmony. That harmony is defined as bliss or Grace. No separate identity. As a whole, As a whole.
You will not dance, but you will be in the dance. (Laughing). You will not be singing but you will be the song. You are the song. Singing will be there, but you are the song. Dancing will be there, but you aren’t the dancer. You are the dance.
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