What can be added to the Absolute? Sailor Bob and Sangha. 26 Feb 2023

here is Peter and John, you say your names for now? Jan, Lockie, Ross, Patrick, Adrian, Aaron, Julebert, Mark, Laurie, Tarina, Carl, Geraldine, Ram, Tess, Josh, and this guy in the back, who is? Gavin. John? Jennifer. And I'm here to say hello. Well, good morning everyone. Good to see you. We'll talk about the same old, same old here. Those that knew, might hear what we talk about is what they call in the scriptures non-duality, or invader. Non-duality means one without a second, not two. That everything is that. And that is the great mantra. And we know that innately, because that's the chair you're sitting in, that's the room you're in, that's the space in the room.

Everything is that which we put different labels or different words on and discriminate it with the word. And when you look into the word, you'll see the word's not the thing. Take the word water, try and drink it. The word fire, cook with it if you can. So you see, the word I or me, which we believe to this personal self, it's not the personal self, just another word. Now I tell you in the Bible, in the beginning was the word. The word was with God, the word was God. And that's all that God is, is a word. When you look at it closely, you'll see that.

All things were made by him, by the word. And there was nothing made that was made without the word. Well isn't that so? Chair, floor, birds, everything is words. And the words are not the real. So we've got all these words and the worst ones are that we believe we are this person, this individual, this separate entity. If you looked into Nisargadatta at all, he's got a chapter in the book, I Am That. The person is not reality. And that's what you're going to understand. We believe these persons, we believe we are these separate entities. We've taken on the beliefs and suffer because of that belief in separation.

But when you investigate and look at it, you'll realise what they say, the false cannot stand up to investigation. When you investigate it thoroughly, it won't stand up. And you've seen that yourself because you investigated many things, you've studied many things that you believe to be true. And you find they're not as they appear to be. When did this idea of the personal come upon you? When we learnt how many words we were born with. You'll say, I was born. But can you remember your birth? People try and tell you they remember the birth. But you didn't have any words at your birth. So how can you say I was born?

It wasn't until you learnt words at about two, two and a half, when the capacity of reasoning developed in you, when you learnt words. And from then on we've taken the word to be real. Because we never questioned. Our parents fussed around you, we never questioned, we never looked into it. And learnt all these words. And you picked up the words from your parents. But when you recognise the word's not the thing, we don't recognise it, we don't recognise it until it's investigated. We go to school and we learn more words. And we've got labels on everything. We put labels or words on everything. But what are you in reality?

You call yourself human being. You believe in God, you call God the supreme being. Take away that word human. Take away the word supreme. Try and separate your beingness. Now without putting that concept, you can't. And understand that being will never be becoming. Because we're trying to become something. We think we're human beings and we're trying to become God-like or realised. But it never happens. Because you cannot become what you already are. How did you come about? And when the saga tells you something, you are the absolute. The absolute. And that's what some of the great traditions will tell you. You are the absolute. What is absolute?

Can you add anything to the absolute? You can't. Can you take anything away from it? You can't. It wouldn't be absolute. And they give it here in one sentence in Buddhism. The great perfection is non-conceptual awareness. It's that awareness. It's absolute. Which you already are. Nothing can be added to the absolute. And nothing can be taken away from it. If you realise you are the absolute, who could be superior to you? Who could be inferior to you? And what would you want of the other person? So if everybody recognises and realises their true nature, take away a lot of the hassle and troubles going on in the world.

I believe we are these human beings and we need to become something and we've got to do this or do that. And we're continually in conflict with everybody else. When you were born and learnt words, you took on the idea of this sense of separation. When your parents fussed around you were speaking words and they passed the words on to you and that's when you became Bill, Bob or Jane or Joan, whatever your label might be. And if somebody asks you who you are, you'll say I am Bill or I am Jane. Take it on to believe you are this person. Where did the word person come from?

It comes from an ancient Latin persona, the mask. Pointing out we've got this mask of concepts which we believe ourselves to be. A conceptual image. But they tell you that the person is not reality. How did you come about? Well, the sargonauts will tell you that there's only life. There's nobody who lives a lie. Life lives on life and out of life more life comes. Where did you come from? Well, when you look at it, you came from the life of your parents, didn't you? Where do they come from? The life of their parents. It's all come from life. That animating life as it's in your father, the pattern shape which forms your father, through the food he's eaten, the air he's breathing and the functioning that's going on in that pattern, enabled in that pattern a little microscopic particle called a sperm to form.

You can't see it with your naked eye. But that sperm was suffused with intelligence. It knew what to do. And the same with your mother. That animating life essence in your mother enabled in that pattern another microscopic particle called an egg. Or an ovum to form. That ovum was suffused with intelligence and knew what to do. It attached itself to the wall of the uterus. And the sperm, knowing what to do, swam to the ovum and penetrated the ovum. And when those two merged into the one essence, that cell doubled and redoubled and formed the little fetus, the little embryo which you are today. What were you doing about it then, if you think you're running the show?

You realise it did nothing at all about it. It grew and functioned by itself. And it's still what you are today. But we've forgotten about that, never investigated, never saw it, and taken on the words and the belief. And got this conceptual image. And with that conceptual image, we've separated ourselves and divided what they tell you in the scriptures is inseparable and indivisible. Can't be divided, it's the one essence. They call it the veda or non-duality. Translated means one without a second, not two, nothing other than that. And they've got the great mantra, I am that, pointing out that everything is that. And innately you know that.

Because you say that's the chair I'm sitting on, that's the room that the chair's in, that's the space in the room, that's the tree, that's the flower, that's the bird, that's the... Everything is already that. Which we discriminate with the word. And take the words to be real. And believe in the word. And the word's not the thing. It's not the real. That, thatness, is the life of you. And isn't it what the Christ told you years ago? And he said, I am the way. I am the truth, I am the life. People thought he was talking about himself. He wasn't. He was talking about that sense of presence.

The knowing that you are. That expresses as the thought I am. He says that's the way. That's the truth, that's the life. Go by that. Question your beliefs. And they tell you that too. A belief, cannot stand up to investigation. And when you take, investigate all these beliefs, and look in it, they'll fall apart. And in an investigation you must go back to your natural state. And they say, know the truth. And the truth will set you free. What is it to be free from? Matter of being free from these beliefs. That you're a separate entity. You're an individual, you're a person. You're this, that, and the other.

You're unhappy, you're sad, you're fearful. All your psychological problems come about from that belief. Look up your dictionary and see what the definition of belief is. It's an unquestioned acceptance of something in the absence of reason. And if we haven't reasoned it out, we've just taken it for granted. Like, as soon as you were told you were little Johnny or little Billy, you believed it. We haven't questioned it at all. A question, an unquestioned acceptance of something in the absence of reason, an acceptance of an alleged fact without positive knowledge or proof. And when you put your beliefs to that test, they'll fall apart. And when they call this non-duality, describe it in the Vedas as Sat Chit Ananda, Nama Rupa, the five factors.

Sat is existence, and Ananda is the existence. And the five factors are, Sat is existence, Chit is consciousness, and Ananda is loving to be. Nama Rupa, Nama is the name, Rupa is the form, the body. And they tell you straight away that Nama Rupa, body, mind, is Maya. It's illusion. It doesn't really exist. And the Sat, the existence, aren't you existing right now? Chit, conscious, you're conscious right now, aren't you? You're not unaware. If you're not unaware, you must be aware. You're happy to be. You don't want to be dead right now. So realise you are already that. And that's where the great mantra comes in, I am that.

So you're not this individual, you're not this person we've taken ourselves to be. And so that's, need to look at it and question it, take it, see what it is. For it's only me that can be unhappy. Only me can be fearful. Me can be anxious, depressed, guilty, jealous, envy. All the psychological suffering is happening to this believed in me. So me is the cause of all my fear, my anxiety, my unhappiness, my depression, my guilt. Me is the cause. And they, those things, the fear, the anger, are the effects of the cause. What's cause and effect? Well isn't it so-called karma? Cause and effect?

If me is the cause, and I investigate the cause and see it's a fiction, and then ask the simple question, can there be an effect if it's not related to a cause? Well can it? Test it out and see. And you realise there can't be an effect if it's not related to a cause. I'm looking and investigating the cause, I can be fee of all these conceptual beliefs. And where would that leave me? It would leave me just as I am right now. Ever present and ever aware. Have a look at yourselves and see if that's not the truth. And the scriptural saying is, know the truth and the truth will set you free.

And that's what you need to be free from, this belief that you are this person. How does it function? Well see, something comes up in your life, you don't realise that everything is transient, this manifestation is transient, it's constantly changing. Nothing's static about it at all. We don't realise it's changing, we take it to be real and lasting. So when you investigate time, you'll see that time is transient also. Ask yourself what's wrong with right now if I don't think about it? And you pause a thought, or drop a thought, or let the thought go, what can you say about it without a thought? You can't say it's good, bad, pleasant, painful, happy, sad, or anything at all about it.

It's just as it is. But we don't investigate it. So the thought comes up, I like it, and the good things that come about, we don't want to get rid of. We want to not realise that everything's transient, constantly changing, we want to keep the good things. But they don't stay there, they change. We don't want them to go. So what do we do? Not really know how much you love them, how much you want to keep them there, how much you try or resist it. You can't keep them there because it's the nature of life itself to be constantly vibrating and changing. So the thought comes up, and you like it, you don't want it to go, so what do we do?

We fixate on it, and try and keep it there, which is resistance. We're resisting it from going. Realise that any resistance you are in, you are in conflict. You're at war with it, you're fighting with it. And conflict makes you uneasy. And another word for uneasiness is dis-ease. So you're no longer at ease. Something comes up, and you don't like. Oh, I shouldn't be thinking this thought. That's a bad thought to have. I shouldn't be. I've got to get rid of this. We resist that. Conflict and dis-ease. And that's what our life consists of. There's fear, there's anxiety, there's stress, there's guilt, there's romance. All the conflict that's going on is based on the thinking.

And Shakespeare told us 400 years ago, there's nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes you so. And Nisargadatta tells you that nothing can trouble you except in your own imagination. Now that's an amazing thing. Realise and recognise that. That nothing at all can trouble you except in what you imagine. Bring that word imagination down to imag-age, or break it down further, to image in. And realise that's all we're doing. We're creating these conceptual or imagined thoughts, concepts, ideas. The energy of belief is going into them. And this is the cause of all our fears, our anxiety, our stress, guilt. And it doesn't have to be that way.

With just a little bit of investigation, you'll see it for yourself. If you ask yourself, who is this happening to? Well, what's obvious is it's happening to me. But then you wait a minute, that fellow said there is no me. What's he talking about? Is he right? Is he right or is he wrong? I'll have a look and see for myself. What is this me or I? You realise that me is just a thought. I is just a thought. Just a concept. Am I a concept? Am I a thought? Well, if I was a thought, I'd be frightened of losing sight of it, wouldn't I?

And yet I gladly give up the thinking every night when I go to sleep. And if I ask myself a simple question, what's wrong with right now if I don't think about it? Well, I can't say it's good, I can't say it's bad, anything at all about it. What do I think of? The words, concepts, ideas. And the word or concept is not real. Am I this body? Am I this mind? Well, mind is thought. It's there. I'm not the thought. I'm not the mind. Mind is just a conceptual image. Am I this body? Well, don't you say my body? Don't you say my coat, my car, my house?

Are you the coat? Yeah, no, you're not the coat. Are you the car? No, you're not the car. Are you the house? No. Well, maybe you're not the body either when you investigate. Well, have a look. What's this body made up of? You see, the body's made up of elements. Air, earth, fire, water, space. Just like the elements around you. Well, if you think you're separate from the elements, take those elements out of your body. Take the water. Stop drinking water. See how long you last without that element, water. Take the air. Your body's 60% water. You take an air all the time. Stop breathing.

Take the body temperature. You see, you get hypothermia. You can't live without that, can you? Get off the earth. Get out of space. So you see you're not separate from those elements at all. And all those elements can be broken down to subatomic particles into pure energy. So all this body is is a vibrating pattern of energy which we take to be real because we haven't investigated, haven't looked into it and suffer accordingly because of it. The same with this mind. What's mind? Mind's nothing but thought. What's thought? Word. What's word? Sound. What's sound? A vibration. And what's a vibration? A movement of energy. And doesn't Einstein tell you that it's all energy?

Everything is that energy. Intelligence energy. The activity of knowing. And we don't realise that we take ourselves to be this person who will, if he practises it and does that and the mantra and listens to this, will become something. Understand that being cannot become anything. Because becoming implies a future time. And there's no such thing as time. To realise what you are, you are already that. And always have been. You're not this body. You're not this mind. You're not this separate entity or individual or person. You are the absolute. Not the body, not the mind, not the person. I am the absolute. What can be absolute?

Added to the absolute? Nothing. What can be taken away from it? Nothing. Where does it all appear in? What's the basic screen on which everything appears? Isn't it space? Aren't you in space right now? Can you postulate or think of anything that could be outside of space? What would it be in? It'd have to be in space, wouldn't it? Does space have any beginning to it? Can you find a static point or a beginning to space? You can't find any beginning to it. And can you postulate or think of anything that could be outside of space? What would it be in? Look into that a little bit, you must realise that the only thing it'll ever be in is space.

Space has got no beginning. Has it got any boundaries to it? Do you think you fly up in the sky, you can fly to the end of space? Does it have any boundaries? So it has no beginning, no end, nothing you can postulate or think out of sight of it. Everything is the content of space. And you and I and everything else are things. We are all things. So if we put the label of pattern, shapes and forms, humans, trees, flowers and everything else, that's what we basically are. Things. Space is no thing. Can something come from nothing? Impossible. So what you are is really no thing that appears as something, which they tell you again in the scriptures.

They call it a phenomenal universe. And the definition of phenomenon is that which appears to be. So we're certainly appearing and appearing to be real. But it's all phenomena. It only appears to be so. And when you investigate it, you'll see that the false cannot stand up to the investigation. And that's what you need to do. That's what we need to do. Look into this and investigate and see for yourself. It is timeless, spaceless, bodiless, mindless, beyond, where, when, how. But it just is as it is. What is means it's unaltered, unmodified, uncorrected. No preference, no partiality, no comparison. Let it rest, as they tell you in some of the scriptures, let it rest in its uncontrived singularity.

Don't divide it or separate it, which we continually do, and get lost into the concepts and the beliefs that we've taken on. Down through the ages there's always been some who have resonated with it and recognised it and known the truth. And that's what they tell you. Know the truth. And the truth will set you free. What are you free from? The bondage of belief. And those that have known it, might be one in a village here and there, that have spoken about it, and others have resonated with it, that sort of recognise there's got to be a bit more to life than what this unhappiness and fear of depression is, have heard about it and resonated with it, and taken it on, passed it on to somewhere else.

And it's only heard, by a few because of that. The ways of communication weren't like they are today. And only a few resonated with it and recognised it. And some of those got a concept of their own ideas, added to it, and put their conceptual beliefs on it, and created all sorts of concepts and put all sorts of rules and regulations. Like you're a sinner, you're unhappy, do this, you've got to do this, and become that, and try that, and put all these rules and not recognising. The others that have resonated have passed it on until this day, an age where the ways of communication, there's quite a few that are recognised, and passing it on.

And you wouldn't be here if you weren't dissatisfied with the way things were, with your religions, that you've taken belief in and formed, causing you all sorts of strife and unhappiness. It's come to you innately, and I read, there must be more to it than this, and it's brought you to look at it. And you get the taste of it, and it resonates, and keep recognising and settling to it, and it grows more and more in you. And it takes away that burden of belief. And then there's the sense of wellbeing. As Wei Wei Wei told you, a couple of hundred years ago, he says, why are you unhappy?

Because everything you say, everything you think, and everything you do is for yourself. And he says there isn't one. The ego, we believe, we've taken on the belief in the ego, which was only formulated a couple of hundred years ago, with Freud, I think, he coined that term, is a fiction. It doesn't exist. And there's a saying, when I go, I'm not the ego. And it's true. When you lose that self-centre, the ego disappears. There are many, or quite a few that realise it, with it today. And they pass it on, and when it resonates with you, it'll naturally come to you, to speak about it and talk about it, and others may hear it.

And others do, and will. And that's how it's been passed on, down through the ages. And it's the natural state. It's not the conceptual image we take on. It's the natural state. And it's there, right here, right now, to be resonated with and recognised with. So that'll do me for today. Oh, come on. And, got people here, who've been coming for a while, and looked into it, and they've got a good taste of it. And they'll be able to point it out, not in the same terms that I use, but something that you might understand, but you don't understand this. But that's, everybody is free to ask questions, and that's the way.

You can come to it. Question your beliefs. What you know, point it out. But away it goes. Get stuck into it. A bit of time to open up to it. I'll give you a bit of time. Yes, so, there is a time when we invite everyone to share. The best way is because the basic predicament is you are already that. You are already alive and conscious. So you are already as aware of your presence as is Bob and everybody else. That awareness of presence is present. And all the bag of pointers that he threw at it, they all really point to the same thing. So if you heard, one, one thing out of the whole spill, stay with that one.

That is enough. It will take you all the way. If one thing resonated, it will also be wonderful if you can actually speak it up so others can hear it. Because then that resonation, that energy will just build up. And we have 20 plus people in the community. A lot of good morning and namaste and welcome and love, but no questions today from people who are with us. So the questions are for you. Questions and sharing. There are people in this room who have really great clarity or complete clarity with years of maturity who come here because there is not an easy topic to discuss and here is a safe space to talk about it.

And also from love and gratitude to Bob and because they are really loved and welcome here. So I invite you guys to speak up as well. We just assist each other and help each other. And questions, doubts, discussions, disputes, all of it, all which doesn't sit right. And please, there is a mic. Dean was going to pass the mic around. First of all, thanks, Bob. Thank you, Bob. Wonderful. And Kat too. Thank you. Include you in it. Absolutely. That's totally fine. I'll probably be totally included in all this just by virtue of your incredible devotion to Bob. Can you speak up, babe? Yeah. Sorry. Of course, nothing that occurs here can prove that I'm not that.

That's the most important thing to consider, isn't it? Nothing that occurs, nothing in this human, no human characteristic can prove that I'm not that. So to that I hold firm. And then everything else sorts itself out in the ways that it does in this incredible drama we call life. Because I find it's just the me, the idea that thinks, oh, I don't want to say things in front of people. You know, I just love the way, Bob, you deconstruct the idea of the me. And I think this is an amazing thing because none of us, or in our day-to-day life, nobody really sees this. And I think we've become more and more human-centric, meaning that we use our brains so much more.

And this kind of overlay of words and ideas is so pervasive that what you're pointing to has been so lost. And, you know, and the realization that prior to the words there's this sense of awareness or beingness, which again is just a word, actually has the capacity to know is something that just, you know, literally blew my mind because it's not of the mind. And to kind of pick it all to pieces like you did is, you know, where the revelation or realization comes, becomes apparent. And, yeah, it's just an amazing thing to see that. And the fact that it is not of the mind, and as you spoke about space, that feeling of space and nothing and no-thing-ness is, you know, the mind can't hold onto that, can't make anything of it.

But it wants to make something of it because that's the habit of mind, is to label, but to sort of see there's no thing-ness with the capacity of knowing is really an amazing thing. Actually a question now from Zanti. And she says, Thanks. What to do about endlessly chattering mind? False talk. False talk. Don't go there. What's wrong if you pause a thought? Can't say it's good, bad, pleasant, painful. But you haven't stopped breathing. Heart doesn't stop beating. Food doesn't stop beating. The living is going on prior to the thought. Pointing out that you're prior to mind. And you didn't have any words until you were about two, two and a half years old, so you're prior to mind again there.

Sometimes the mind doesn't stop, you know, when you say it will stop, it doesn't stop. That's all. So you say, so sometimes the mind doesn't stop when you say full stop even. That's right. So you say align the mind to that. If the mind doesn't stop. Can you give it, no, he's got it on the mic. Yeah, if the mind doesn't stop. If the mind doesn't stop, what's there? Notice what's there. Right. They're still, they're still seeing, they're still hearing, there's a space prior to the thoughts. There's an awareness or beingness or knowingness that's prior to the thoughts. Get the taste of that. And that's what you mean by, because in the past you've said, align the mind to that, you know, that awareness, whatever you want to call it.

Align, is that what you mean by align? Well, some of the thoughts, when aligned, the mind, you know, they understood or resonate with better thought because all the thoughts that appear on it are conceptual. Where they say, what is it called? Non-conceptual awareness? No, when they drop the mind. Unborn Buddha mind? All the thoughts are conceptual, you said. It's relaxing really out of the mind because, Yes, it's relaxing. What a, what a, detach. Detach. Detach, yeah. Detach. Because any effort, any effort with the mind is just compounding the mind. Yeah. So any effort at all from the me or the mind is futile. The fact of your own being is you're not unaware right now.

You are aware. And as soon as the thought comes on it, it's just that now that we're adding to it. You're adding a story to it. So seeing it's just a spirit, adding a story. And that story grows and grows with the thoughts and carry on what's going on. Yeah. So if you detach from it, just leave it as it is without fixating on it. Right. You drop back into the pure awareness again. While you're attached to the story, every story has a beginning, a middle and an end. And it goes on. It goes on and on. Which, you know, that tendency of mind that you're talking about goes against all our conditioning to work things out.

Yeah. So it's kind of going against the grain of conditioning to do that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, and that's where that devotion, you know, that finding the attraction of non-duality. Like Bob says, things that bring us here. Things that come onto the search. Sometimes it's suffering, dissatisfaction with life and answers and beliefs and all that. Which brings that, either bring one on their knees where the mind is ready to surrender or bring that curiosity when the mind is ready to investigate. Because initially the investigation starts with the only tool that is actually in work. So it is really kind of almost like as if the mind is digging into the mind.

But over time, the more of that presence is highlighted and brought forth, the more of the attention goes directly to that basic screen, to that nothingness or emptiness. And that amount of attention relaxes out of the chatter. So this is, Xanthi was asking what to do about endlessly chattering mind. The ultimate freedom is to be with the one that doesn't care whether there is chatter or quietness. Yeah. Be the depth of the ocean, not the waves. The identification with the chatter is the problem. The belief in the chatter is the problem. When Bob says, why are the stories so attractive? And we go with the stories and we completely forget that if not for the awareness, the presence, the basic screen, the stories wouldn't even arise.

So how important are the stories comparing to that mystery, that energy, that life? So it really is the less of the attraction, the less of the attraction to the content, the more of the relaxation back from the mind into the heart, the essence, the love of being. And that happens through the pointers. Full stop is one of the pointers. Relax is another. And the whole... Oh, I think Gilbert was to say something. Did he? Yeah, when you finish. No, no, yeah, yeah, easy. We all say the same thing. Exactly. No, they don't. In different words. Yeah, some of the pointers appear to be tools, very efficient tools.

And one of the beautiful ones that sort of had an impact on me was watch the mind and see how it happens. See what's going on. And it's very, very potent. First of all, you have to start watching the mind and see what it's up to. Because you're never going to understand the mind unless you observe what's going on. So in effect, you become a witness of the mind, as it were. But that witness doesn't have any form. It's just the activity of knowing, basically. And so the activity of knowing, as Bob was saying earlier, you know, everything is energy, and it vibrates into the universe.

And it vibrates into these patterns. But the activity of knowing doesn't vibrate into a pattern. It doesn't become a form. It's no thing. So if you start watching the mind, it's kind of an impersonal, impartial witnessing of what's going on. And lots of insights come from that. So the idea of me is seen to be just a bunch of obvious things. It's not just ideas or images and memories. And this activity of knowing cannot be stored in memory. It's ever fresh, ever new. It cannot be stored in memory. So there's no point in going into memory, because memory is really, you can't trust memory. Every time you remember something, it can change subtly or whatever.

And this has been found in the law courts with witnesses altering their perceptions. And one needs to know that perception is not seeing or knowing. Perception is, once the mind has dealt with the impressions, it constructs something that goes into memory. But the direct seeing is happening spontaneously, and it's not separate from the activity of knowing, which is cognition. It's the same, no thing. So by watching the mind, you can recognize that the mind actually doesn't divide anything. It appears to divide things by putting labels and names and discrimination. You discriminate this from that. But do things exist as something independent from whatever's here? The activity of knowing is actually everything.

Everything that we perceive, every movement of energy, is the activity of knowing. It's not personal, it's impersonal. And you can say that blows the mind. But there is no mind. Mind is just an activity. It's just a label. And we blame the mind, and we think we've got a good mind, and blah, blah, blah. But it's all stories. And if you come back to watching the mind, and to that activity of knowing, that cognition, it's totally impersonal. It's cosmic. It has no beginning, it has no end. So you can't start it up in the morning. You don't wake up and say, now I'm going to start seeing, or I'm going to start knowing.

I need to have a coffee, like Ram, before I can get my brain working. Sorry, Ram. Yeah, so watch the mind. See how it operates. Yeah, beautiful. Well, the big thing that always comes back for me with Bob is the word is not the thing. And it's just so amazing that the livingness is already there. And then suddenly at some point, it gets given a label like Adrian. And then suddenly a personal identity gets built around this word, Adrian, which develops over time. And it's just ludicrous when you think from that perspective that that livingness, beingness is already there. And then it's something that's tacked onto it.

And then this whole illusionary identity gets constructed over a long period of time and is taken to be what I am. And this has helped to see the livingness part just grow and grow and see through those patterns more and more and more dissolving. And yeah, it's such a powerful illusion, but it's sort of, you know, where some of these pointers are just so fact-finding and just like fundamentally when you look at stuff like that, it's after the fact. And it's gone off on a tangent away from this stuff that's already, yeah, already here now that's, yeah, is prior to labels and yeah, anyway, so thanks.

Beautiful. Just in relation to the question that was asked about the chatter and how to stop the chatter in the mind, the person who said, the person that asked the question has already identified that what's going on in the mind is chatter. That's the usual rubbish that goes on when we're not really thinking. It's just automatically churning. So there are plenty of tricks we can use. The first one from the, in Sanskrit, is nati nati, which is saying, not this, not this, immediately cuts the chatter. In the Dzogchen teaching of Tibet, they used an expletive, P-H-A-T, fat, which immediately shocks and clears the chatter. And so there are other tricks that can be used by the intelligence behind the mind to deal with this artificial structure.

Thanks, Raj. Yeah, go ahead. Hi, I'm Marie. There were lots of gems in what you said. One of them that really struck me, actually, Katju said that, that don't identify with the one who cares. Don't identify with the one who cares about things being this way or that way. Can you speak up a little bit? Yes. I was saying that what really struck me, and I'm going to try and remember that and work on it this week, is don't identify with the one who cares whether things are this way or that way. And I'd like to relate that to an experience I'm having, which is a few years ago, I started to take cold showers.

And that was only at the end of a hot shower, I have to say. Cold showers, we do that too. Do you? Okay. But every time I really, you know, fret at the idea, but I do it anyway. And just the last maybe weeks or months, I started not caring. And what's happened is there is no more fretting and the body does not fret either. And I find myself being able to transition from hot to cold, without stress. It feels like nothing, almost. Almost. But it's a huge improvement, just because I was fearing it and I was making it to be something. So that's really great teaching and I know that applies to everything else.

The less you care about things being this way or that way, the more relaxed you can be. Yeah. Thank you. That is beautiful. That is a beautiful insight. And I'll just tell you something funny on that, because we do that Wim Hof thing and the cold showers too. And I found it really brilliant the way Bob described the same experience as you do. He says, well, it's actually quite pleasant when you ignore the mind which kicks the stink. And after a while, the mind doesn't kick the stink anymore. I just like the Aussie slang in that saying, because, you know, it's so pictures. Mind kicks the stink, but so what?

This is its function. This is what it's designed for. Yeah. And it's what it's meant to do. But this is not to be taken seriously. It is just to say, okay, well, thank you. That's its job. But that's not who I am. That's not personal. Yeah. But that was a really, really good example. Thank you. Thank you. And just a couple of little things. One of them has been said already. Just watch it. Watch the mind and say, oh, there it goes again. It's actually not me. It chatters. It's like, you know, my foot might hurt if I've got a thorn in it or something.

But my foot's not me anymore. My mind is me. And when it does do that, just, oh, well, there it goes again. And not make any sort of judgments about it, because there's nothing really to do about it. It's just something that's happening. Yeah. But the other one I wanted to just say, a long, long time ago, I used to get criticized because I never used to listen. People say, my goodness, listen to me. And then I used to go to meetings, and I used to have to listen to what was said. And I never listened. I was, you know, there was mind chatting going on.

And then I went to a course. And then at the end of the course, there was a couple of big guys, and they said to me, you know, just shut up, you know. And listen to me. And they really hoed into me, and really heavily. And they said, just listen. Listen to what's being said. And don't listen to the mind chatter. And I actually turned around inside, and I listened to what they said. And that was wonderful, because it was so easy. I didn't have to do anything. So. Yeah. So that was a big change for me. And it was quite sudden. Yeah. So. Wow.

There you are. That's listening. That is brilliant. And it's beautiful. And it's also really about what Gilbert was saying. The difference between the perception and the constructing world out of what you see. The difference between real listening, like from the bottom of your heart, and waiting, being ready to comment on it. And just constantly comparing, oh, this is right. No, I heard it before. No, it's not. This is wrong. True listening is really being empty, holding space for what comes. And this is listening with the heart. And if there was this feel that Bob gave us, if anyone was in that mind state when, oh, yeah, I agree with that.

I don't agree with that. Well, just this is going to be uploaded. Re-listen again, just in the way that Cole pointed. Because that is, as you say, effortless. It's easy. It's a game changer. And it's a shift. It's a shift from the identity to being space, to giving space to that pearls of wisdom. Thank you. And I think someone was going to... Oh, yeah, go for it. Last time I ever bought you a coffee, Gilbert. Just following on from what Gilbert and Cole were saying. So with watching the mind and neti neti. Neti neti is effectively, it's effectively canceling all phenomena arising in consciousness. So that's thoughts, feelings, emotions.

Everything that's arising in consciousness is recognized as not this. I am not this. I am not that. And in doing that, you eventually come to a point where you're negating the witness itself. There's the idea that there's somebody actually watching. Whatever is arising, that's also canceled. And that ultimately is the gateway to Parabrahman, which is the absolute. And that is the totality of space in which all phenomena is arising. And in watching the mind, you recognize that in that space, all these, all this phenomena arises. The thoughts, feelings, emotions. And that's just... Within this sphere called the body-mind. But not just that, but it's everything that's arising.

The entire manifestation. And it's all appearing in consciousness. And that consciousness is the space like awareness. And then it becomes... Yeah, then it's just a pure witnessing. Yeah. Beautiful. I have... Actually, this is really well said. I have a couple of questions, and I think that one will really apply as an answer to just what you said. British Julia says, insights appearing for no one. And Joyty says, in relation to watching the mind, that also tends to create an endless loop. Something being aware of mind, and then something being aware of that awareness. And that, I think Ram just answered. That... Like, mind can actually really fool you to the point that, oh yeah, there is something always step back, step back, and it's looping.

But if you really realize that there is a looping happening within the space of conscious awareness, now you're out of the looping. Now you are the conscious awareness, and a looping happening within you. Just like all phenomena arising within you. Just like chatter arising within that space of consciousness. Or like there is a capacity for seeing, and the world of phenomena arises in that capacity for seeing. Like Bob was saying, talking about the body being the elements. Like you can't separate the body from the air it breathes. So if you are a body, you're also the air that you breathe. You're also the water. You're also everything.

Within that everything, the chatter arises, the phenomena, the looping, all of it arises within the awareness of presence or conscious being. But yeah, you said it perfectly well. And now there is Zanti. She says, thank you everyone for your kindness and wisdom. A great sharing. And thank you for your question, because that always brings up that energy. And JB says, as far as mind, another thing to consider is that when judgments pop up, they either can be noticed and ignored, or on other side of the coin, judgments are strengthened and re-enacted. So you can strengthen the mind, because this is identification with the judging thought, and create a personal perspective instead of impersonal perspective.

Yeah, great point, JB. Yes, don't get attached to the opinions or judgments. Like Bob often quotes, since in mink, hold no opinion for or against anything. It doesn't mean the opinion is not going to arise. Of course it is. It's an automatic process. Just like noise outside the house is going to arise, the noise inside the so-called house is also going to arise. Labels are going to arise. Concepts are going to arise. Judgments and opinions, that's how the machinery works. But hold not onto them. Don't hold onto them. Let them come and go, pass like clouds. Because if you are the space, hold space for them to just pass through.

While the holding happens, oh, this is me, this is my. This is personal. I have to defend it. I'm right and you are wrong and I'll prove it to you. Or you think I'm wrong or I'm threatened. This is unnecessary suffering that can be questioned. Even the tendency to hold onto opinions is just a program, a behavior pattern, completely automated, automatic, learned by imitation as children. If you see it as such, again, you're holding space for that behavior pattern. Yeah. For that behavior, that program, that action to arise and pass by. You are that freedom. You are that space. Jyoti says, thank you, and Zulma says, thank you so much, Bobcat and everyone.

This is a present. Thank you, Zulma. Anyone? Mark, can you tell us the point that Nisargadatta expressed to you? Yeah. What did he express to you about consciousness when he asked you what the consciousness was? Pass him the mic. Yes. When Bob and I went to the loft room for the first time, the second time, and of course, Nisargadatta didn't talk English and there was a translator. He was like an eagle. It seemed that he was fierce, right? But he wasn't. He was fearless. If a person is fearless, it seems they're fierce, right? Yeah. But then he sort of pointed and bobbed at Ian and me, you, you, right?

He said, are you conscious? And I said, obviously, I'm sitting in this loft room. Yes, I'm conscious. There's no one in this room who isn't, but we're taking it for granted. And of course, then there was a second question that really threw me back, because normally, I'm looking out there, right? I'm not looking here to where there's nothing. I'm looking out there. I'm looking out there. And the second question was, what is that consciousness? I never thought to think what it was. I was loyal to the guru. I was devotee and all this. I was a nice guy, but I didn't know who I was.

And the second question, what is that consciousness? For some reason, probably I'd been doing devotional practices with Muktananda for two years, just chanting mantras, right? So that had sort of purified the body. It purified the body up to a point. And the second was, what is that consciousness, right? And I closed my eyes to look back to see what it was. I said, my God, it's inconceivable. It just is. It never begins. And that's the truth for everyone, right? And there was a sort of a light, a penny drop there. That was the seeing of that. The search was over, because I was already that.

But there was a lot of unresolved issues here, and crap came up quite a few years later. You know? And that's the basic understanding now. And now a consciousness, that's the godliness of you. You know? We say, if I ask you to be a conscious, you say, yeah, well, so what? Well, so everything, for heaven's sake. You know? And I say, well, so can this body, physical body, which is insentient as a piece of wood, can it shine by itself? And the answer is no. It can't without the consciousness. It's inside this insentient body, as though it was really a corpse. Can you do that?

You know? He said, in my house, my karma, I'm not any of those things, right? I'm basically the consciousness. And so are you. Is that very complicated? You know? Yeah, that's it for me. So, Mark, what did he say next, after you said that? Yes, well, after that. And when I said to him, the question was, what is the consciousness? And I said, well, it's inconceivable. It just is. He said, that's right. So don't you try to conceive it or grasp it with a concept, as you've been doing out there in Mukta and in the Zatron. You've been wasting your time out there. Because that's the way these people talk.

They don't spare your feelings. Because I had a big investment out there, you know? But I still was in, you know, it wasn't that important, really. But, you know. So, anyway. That's all I'll say. Lovely. Very good. Thank you. Thank you, Mark. Oh, we don't have any comments. So, nothing. All right. Lock it, or do you? No, I don't think it's that bad. Oh, you do? Come on. No, no, no. I don't know. But it is so. Come on. Everyone loves when you speak. Come on. Oh, yeah, yeah. Well, the consciousness is like this. And this is like this. And we're like this. And you've got to do this to fix that.

And then everything will be better. And you'll be happy. Oh, gee. Weird. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Yeah, this is theasseness. Hey, can we get it out of例えば Michelle, for real, Michelle Connelly? Yeah. Oh, now it's working. All right. We'll step away. And I'm always struck when you go back to the genesis of embryo, and well always, I realized, I did nothing. It was given to me, whatever. It's not the right way of saying, but I didn't invent my capacity to think. And this is very striking. Yeah. Right. to me. It was there or whatever I think this capacity to think was given, it was there.

So that strikes me each time I think about it, each time you present it, yet it doesn't make a click. Because you have expectations of how clicking looks like, don't you? What does it mean click? Oh, I don't seem to understand. I don't seem to, well, there's no shift happening. I just realized it's true. It's obvious. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, it's true. It's obvious. See, the idea that because someone, Byron Katie, Eckhart Tolle, Terry or whoever had the big light bulb going or fire, fireworks or opening up and sitting, it doesn't mean that this life essence or this energy is so boring and repetitive that it's going to happen in the same way with you.

It's like Tony Parsons walking through the park and then hundreds of people wanting to find which park it was because they wanted to walk through it too. Majority of the realizations according to statistics by Jeffrey Martin happens through flourishing science and other challengers. drei the peeling off the falseness, rather than just the big opening, it might be. Like Mark was saying, a pennie drop, or like, in Bob and my case, it also was like the big sort of a shift. But for the many people who come here, there wasn't any one big point of a shift, oh yes, Santa's not real, Earth is not flat, that is a mystery that I don't do the thinking, the thoughts are rising.

And slowly, slowly, slowly, that realization takes root and at some point there is no self to take credit for it anymore. But it goes kind of gradually, it deepens up and the falseness just peels off, the fanaticism drops away. I believe that I should be like this or I believe that this is right. And that just kind of becomes less and less relevant and more and more beautiful is the mystery of aliveness and what you say, the fact that, oh my God, this is all given. I can't take credit for the seeing, I can't take credit for the thinking, I can't even take credit for my attempts to control myself and keep my weight or keep my partner this.

I can't because that is also a mechanical conditioned behavior. I can't take credit for anything. Yeah, it was all there. Yeah, it's all there. But, yeah, but, but what? It's so obvious. It was all there. Yeah. But the penny doesn't drop. Yeah. Why would it need to drop if it is already clear? I mean, if it's already clear, what would... See, the expectation, the subtle expectation, the story that we have, that we've been told, that this is grand enlightenment, this is the liberation, this is being equal to Jesus and Buddha or Jehovah, I am that I am. Well, Jehovah means I am that I am.

Can't you say I am that I am? Oh, yeah, but I'm not God. Well, again, this is the story that we are being told, that grand enlightenment is this and it looks like that and you are God. No, it's a natural state. It is a state that is us in nature when the chatter is not being identified with. It's us in nature. There's no penny to drop. Space is spacious. There is no form. No, there is... Where would that penny even drop for the space? If you are that open space of consciousness, limitless, boundless, spaceless, timeless. See, the concepts of, no, no, this is me, Geraldine.

I don't get that yet. This concept comes and goes in that awareness. This concept, I need the penny to drop, comes and goes in that awareness. But when you disidentify or you ignore that concept of being limited Geraldine who needs the penny to drop, you are in the natural state. You are the natural state. You are that open consciousness of space. Concept comes and goes. Impersonal. Just like any other thought. Yeah, but then how come in some people there's clarity or they say, they speak differently than I do. You see, I can say, all right. They all speak differently. Do I listen to them all?

Yeah. To his accent. See, there is clarity. There's a concept, again, which can be very helpful but it also can be very confusing because it is not something... It's not something like a lasting state. Ultimate clarity is when there is no speaking even required. See, we are within the dream right now, dreaming that there is a room full of people while in fact there is nothing happening. Nothing has ever happened. So why is it even a speaking happening? That's the dreaming of the dreaming. That's... Is it clarity or is what degree of clarity is that? Oh, the speaking may happen that, oh yeah, I'm a female body.

Is it the clarity? The whole communication, the whole content of the dream is relative, is dualistic, it's always and ever will be. There is clarity that is at times there and at times it's a story, it's a diving, it's a, you know, mind expressing itself. Bob can speak with wonderful clarity about the past of his, let's say, childhood, which is totally what not is happening, it's totally what is not present right now, it's totally just the content of the mind, and what, what, where would you put it on the scale of clarity? It is just what's happening, but you are the space without which none of that would be happening, and you know that, because you can't take credit for the form that is arising.

Maybe stop and... Sorry. Go on, go on. I was going to say maybe stop and ask yourself what do you define as the penance, the penny dropping? What do you define as clicking these concepts that you are using? There is obviously, they are not appearing out of nothing, there is a weight behind these concepts, there is a story behind these concepts. So maybe just dig and actually look and see what it is that you actually believe to be the meaning of clicking. What do you define as the meaning of enlightenment? What do you define as the meaning of the penny dropping? And stop and recognize what those stories are behind those words, and then recognize that they are just stories.

And whatever lack of clarity that you think that you are not having, it is all sort of there behind all these stories that are attached to these words that you have got floating around in your head, like clicking, you know. Yes, I suppose I expect my narration to change, and as long as it hasn't changed, nothing is happening. Oh, yes, good realization, good to know, isn't it? I expect my narration to change. So what is that story? Yes, that's another story, the narration to change. Yes, because the narration is not even yours, it is conditioned to the organism. The way, you know, your accent you would expect to change, or the content of it, it is all based on the past conditioning, of past experiences, every experience you ever had in the past, everything influences that, you know, like Bob was saying, the body grows from the fetus.

You expect your body to maybe grow differently. Just the same way, the way you express the narrative grows from the fetus. It can't change. It doesn't have to change. It doesn't need to change. Yes, but it has changed in you, for example, or in Bob. I don't know if it did. I don't know if it did. Just be careful with that. A lot of people can talk this stuff really well, because they've listened to it a long time and they've absorbed all the concepts and all the ideas around this topic of non-duality. And they can talk it. It doesn't mean that... That's not what I mean.

I mean, Bob isn't repeating concepts. No, no, he's not. I'm not saying, I'm not referring to Bob or Kat. I'm just saying... What comes out of your mouth has changed at a certain point. Yes, that's true. You have to see, focus the attention or focus the energy with the reality and not with the concept. You already know the truth. With 100% certainty, you know that you exist. You can't deny it. You can't try and not exist. Try and prove it to yourself. You can't stop existing. You will keep existing. So you know this is the final truth. This is it. Now, there are things that are showing up on top of it, and you give them attention.

So this is to be recognized and relaxed out of and coming back home to that truth of existence which is already fully 100% certain. So there are things that obscure seemingly, obscure the clarity because attention habitually goes there to those stories. But every time you recognize and relax out of that story, you're back in that certainty of presence. Like Bob's brilliant, brilliant questions. Are you unaware? Are you unaware? And that Mark was saying also, are you unconscious? Are you not being? That answer to that question, that's it. There's nothing else to be said. Am I aware? Yeah. Yeah, you are. Bob would usually ask the question, are you unaware right now?

That's how he would normally phrase that question. Yeah. I've heard that one. Sometimes an approach that's helped things out here is when there's a belief happening or it should look this way or it should look that way. I don't sort of question whether it's my belief. A kind of a more subtle approach that's been helpful is to which aspect of, let's say, a version of me, which character of me has that belief that it ought to look that way. So therefore I can understand its perspective, that I'm attached to, that I'm merged with that part of me that thinks, that believes, that believes the penny needs to drop in a certain way.

So there's a little, a subtle distance of seeing its perspective, which helps me to, which helps to kind of detach from just a one fixed me. It helps to kind of shift or include the totality of characters that might all be there but we just shift awareness to those. Who's there in that moment? Who's driving the bus that day? The other day I was here at Bob's and there was some mental loop happening. You know, I've sat in this chair many times with a similar thing. Bob at one point asked me, what else is happening? And that simple question really had me sort of include something other than that story.

Not to negate the story or try and stop the story but to include that there's something else happening alongside the story. That there's cars, there's this, that. Which I used to hate when he'd do that. I hated that. I was like, no, I want, because I was attached to a one me. But it just includes totality of experience. Anyway, I think that's it. That is so helpful. That is beautiful. Thank you. I'd just like to say that if we bring to question the notion that I am, I'm the one who hasn't got it. I'm the one that needs to get it in a particular way.

Then you could say, okay, let's try and negate everything in relationship to that. You might say, does this prove, for example, the idea that I don't have it, does it prove that I'm not the essence of life in any way? And does it prove I'm not aware, or does it prove that I'm not present? Does it prove I don't have spacious presence, little presence like awareness? And you see that all those things are totally free, totally free of that idea that you've chosen to believe in. They're never diminished by any way, shape or form. Can you say that your life essence in any way is diminished by holding that idea in mind?

And of course it isn't. So we are inherently liberated, in liberation right now, whether it looks this way or it looks that way or whatever. That's what you've done. Yeah, yeah. Oh, go on. Here, here. Thanks. I thought this was a whip. Now I realize it's a shoe. A shoehorn, yes. Okay. What a relief. I was just wanting to invite just to look at it, that is just another belief again, which I like the metaphor of the image, the image that comes in. That's another belief that the penny hasn't dropped or even the belief that anything will change if the penny drops because you cannot know that's true, right?

It's just another belief just to realize that. And then sometimes I don't even know if I have to investigate, you know, that I go like, what would it look like? What do I try to achieve? For me, sometimes it stops in the moment I see it. This is just another thought. This is like the radio playing in the background that doesn't come from me, but it enters me. And my thoughts, they come as well out of the blue, like the sound from the radio. And I hang on to it. And it's just another belief. My penny hasn't dropped. It's actually almost funny to listen to it.

I think. Bob, did you want to comment? Just to say that. Yes. Belief can never be the actual. Belief can never be the actual. Beautiful. Recognize that when you got it. Yeah, that was beautiful. There was a couple of people that wanted to speak. This way. Along the same idea that Katya mentioned before, it can also be helpful to identify with the one who doesn't care whether the penny drops or not. Because at the end of the day, it's all a bit like the embryo coming to become us. It's all automatic. And there's another image that I heard once, which I thought was very helpful.

It's that of the flower. When it's a bud, it doesn't matter how much you talk to it to try and make it open. It will only open in its own time because it's an automatic process. So there's nothing we can do to actually make it happen. All we can do is not care whether it opens or not or happens or not. And in its own time, it will happen. So just another angle on this, of course, another story. I think unconsciously, there's also in our conditioning a whole area that is so unquestioned normally. And that's the idea of God and the sort of hierarchical nature of all religions and spiritual approaches.

That we've got it in our society so much that there is a becoming of getting that or becoming, a sense of becoming. And this has happened for thousands and thousands of years in all the religions. And even in our society, there's this hierarchical, unquestioned approach to authority, which has its place in society. But in this area of so-called truth, spiritual truth, if you want to call it that, it's really nonexistent. And yet all the methods and systems and religions and even the more subtle ones have an inherent hierarchy of becoming. And that the person at the top is somehow illumined and I am not. So, you know, that I think is part of the picture here that just a simple person like myself is that, you know, which goes against that whole hierarchical conditioning.

So, you know, I think that plays a part in all the judgment, the getting it, not getting it, etc., etc. Yeah, yeah, that's right. Yeah, I'm not sure everyone understands about the moon and the earth, but the moon is actually falling towards the earth. And if the earth was stationary, the moon would crash into the earth. So the earth is actually travelling through space around the sun, the sun is travelling through space through the galaxies, blah, blah, blah. So, if we watch the mind and use this netty, netty, I'm not this, I'm not this, it actually stops the following of thoughts. We have the habit of following thoughts and thoughts lead to more thoughts.

But if you watch the mind, the activity of knowing is happening and the thoughts will disappear. They will fall away. Without leading to another thought. So, if you witness the disappearance of a thought, a single thought, try this at some point. Where does it take you? It's like the bell, when Bob hits the bell and you follow the sound of the bell, it just disappears back into the silence. And it's a beautiful thing. It's a really beautiful experience to recognise that the emptiness that the whole universe is moving upon and that things are appearing and disappearing in myriad, you know, endless numbers of things. But in fact, there are no things, there are no such thing as, there's no thing that has any independence or independent nature in the universe.

It's all emptiness appearing to be this amazing display of consciousness or awareness. But the key is the activity of knowing. Find out what that is without creating stories. And I know I'm telling stories. There it is. We love stories. It's a beautiful story. Yeah, it is a wonderful story. I have a question from someone here. Oh, no, the other way. Oh, OK. So this is from Jelena. All ideas of imperfection come from habitual occurrences stemming from childhood. If God, the Absolute, is perfect, then how could it create something imperfect? It can't. So how everyone and everything is is already perfect, but because of error in habit, we can't see that.

That's a beautiful, beautiful reminder. The concept of perfection and imperfection. The idea that I am the body and the body is imperfect. Comparing to what? Those are all concepts. Absolute. Yeah, good to recognize. Hmm. And now Kili says, Reading Silence of Heart by Robert Adams. Oh, he's sharing his book. That's it. No more comments. Yes. So the Absolute doesn't need to be defined. And the pure perfection doesn't need to be defined. What's going on in here is an incredible display that comes out of nothing. The one essence emerging as all those patterns, shapes and forms and ideas within that appear to judge particular part of the appearance as perfect or imperfect.

That is all part of that brilliance. And being attached again to judgments and ideas. Oh, I can't be that because I'm not perfect. I remember I used to come and see Bob in the same way like Catherine was saying. The hierarchy. Of course, he's beyond humanity. He's Buddha. I'm never going to be able to say the same about myself. He is, he's not human. He's superhuman. But now that you're living in the future. And the time has come. You should have seen him before breakfast. Yeah. I actually wake up next to him. Yeah, and he's as wonderful and as glorious and as mysterious and as miraculous and as beautiful.

But yes, the time has come. Then contrary to all my expectations and imagination I called him in the morning after the day that I came here in tears and walked out in tears of joy and elation. When I called him and I said, Look, you're not my teacher. You're my equal. You want to hang out. And then I came and I hung out and I said, Shit, you know, all those Buddhas and Jesuses, all those people, they can't, you know, that I think what Bob has commented. I said, I don't see the difference. There's no self. There is no one there. There's no one here.

So what's the difference? And he says, yes, there is no one who could go beyond that no-think. No-think. The moment you realize the no-think of no-thinkness. There's no superiority, no inferiority. Because the whole world with all the Buddhas appears within that space that you are. So, kaira, he drops away. But I couldn't fake it. The day earlier or week earlier, I couldn't bring myself to the point and believe it that, oh yeah, Bob and I, we are equal. He is that, I am that. No. That would be just so, not only inappropriate, that would be yucky, that would be fake, that would be wrong. But when it opened up, like, oh shit.

Of course. Of course. So that opportunity, that invitation, that question. Yes, Ram. One time when I came to visit Bob, it was a casual visit, it wasn't a meeting. I opened the door and I came in and he's walking in front of me and he's like, yep, the guru farts as well. Yeah, American Julia said that the first time when he farted and blamed it on her, she realized that she crosses the line. She said, no, no, no. She said, she crosses the border and now she's in a circle of friends. And yes, we are all circle of friends. As you see, he doesn't have the grandiosity delusions.

He doesn't want his feet kissed or touched. Aww. Nothing wrong with a foot massage, right? Yes, so that he did. But that's a different sort of devotion. That's not the superiority thing. But yes, thank you. Thank you for being here, for being here. For being here, for being equals, and for sharing that space and joy of coming back home to which we never left. Thanks everyone. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.