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Beyond ideas are wrong doing Beyond ideas are right doing There is a field A beautiful field I'll meet you there I'll meet you there. Beyond ideas are wrong doing Beyond ideas are right doing There is a field A beautiful field I'll meet you there I'll meet you there.nice precious things to share about him and we could all benefit from hearing it. We could all enjoy hearing everyone like and would anyone like to start how Bob came into your life, howHow did you go? I'll start. So I did a search straight on the internet. Straight away, first thing, Sailor Bob, non-duality teacher, pretty much right next door.
Let's say 2004 or something like that, a while ago, like a long time. And then I think straight away his presence and that sort of confidence that he always sort of had was very like... Different and quote-unquote the vibe the energy it was very very different but I don't think I noticed that so much in the meeting as afterwards but well I did you like him or dislike him or did you feel like he was just too ordinary to be I think I I want to say I respected him straight away it was like that I was just like clearly it's very clear that yeah I don't know I can't really you know but it's just definitely like oh yes this is like that sentence from Bob like you are the life itself like that was one that just popped up in my head and I think It's a really powerful statement and it scares me, but it also makes me feel wonderful at the same time.
So it's, yeah. Bob, about 22 years ago, we clashed. Oh, wow. We didn't get on. He was very polite, I was polite, but it was like, And then, particularly after Barbara died,We started going out and having coffee together because I'm a coffee snob and Bob used to drink coffee. And we got to be friends, which was really nice. He thought the stuff that I believed was a bit rubbish. And I said that to him one day. I said, so you're telling me what I teach is rubbish? And he goes, hmm. But we became really good friends and a couple of things in my life got difficult.
And he could get me back on track with just one word, or even just a sentence. I remember one time I said to him, you know, what am I going to do? I can't find my way out of this. And he just said, you've got to let it go, otherwise it'll make you sick. And I thought, yeah, you're right. Yeah. So that was really good. The other really great thing about being next door to Bob was he was so kind, and especially to my granddaughters. They just got to love him. He loved them. And I remember one time he had a huge group one Sunday morning and the little one wanted to go and see Bob.
And I said, you know, he's kind of busy. And she just went and he...She rang the bell and she called out to him, hey Bobby! Because she used to call him Bobby. And he came out and he was talking to her and you know, there was some people there who were sort of, you know, a little bit. Oh, this is Bob the guru. But with Zoe, he was like, hey, Zoe. So that was really nice. That was more than nice. That was really special because he was incredibly kind to those girls. And he just was so kind to them. And it meant a lot to them.
So that was the Bob I knew. Yeah. Yeah. Beautiful. And then I noticed what, Bob is different. He'd pick up on it. Yeah. And then here we found out about what Bob was into and in my youth I'd sort of learned about a guy called, a character called Ram Dass who, Yes. It was originally Richard Elford. Yeah. He spoke on the phone with Bob a few times. Really? Yeah. So, Bob's talking a bit like Ram Dass, so, yeah, we're getting on really well. Yeah. And, you know, Bob and I have a little phrase which we sum up. What you've been thinking a long time and, you know, much in a nutshell.
Can you see your problems or are you...They all come out of your own story about the situation. And I started seeing it. And it made sense to me. But I've never been to any gurus or chased non-duality or anything like that before. It was not something that took my interest until I got into coming to the meetings. Learning what Bob was saying. Yeah, it was a big change in my life. And yeah, I was always grateful to Bob for that and sharing whatever I did with him, you know. And not being good. And not being good. No, I never saw him as that. He would never, ever allow anyone to look up to him.
I never thought of him as such. He would say, Julia sometimes quotes it, when people come, and Indian people, they want to bow to his head, touch his lotus feet. They wanted to kiss his feet. He said, you can kiss my ass. That's why I was so spot on when Zoe used to just come up to the room and say, Hey, Bobby! Yes, that's cutting all the balls in your life. I think he just enjoyed being talked to like a normal person. Exactly. And I said to him, you know what, it was his 95th birthday and we were out at Judith's place. Is that right?
Was that 95, 2004? 96. 96. We were at your place. And 90 also was at your place. And 96. There was a quiet moment where he didn't have anyone around him. I just sat down next to him and I was talking to him and I said, look, Bob, I've just got to say to you, I really want to thank you for, you know, you've really, really helped me. And you know what he said to me? He said, well, Cliff, you've helped me too. It cuts both.I couldn't believe it, you know. But I know what he means. I know exactly what he means. I remember calling him up in my icebreaker because I wanted to break, I'm like, he's this enlightened guy.
What do you say the enlightened guy that you're calling the first time? So I got him on the phone and I'm like, so, I said, there's nobody here to be enlightened. And my understanding was, secondly, think about it, the very definition of enlightenment suggests there's someone who is one with the all. If you could have someone who's one with the all, then you could have someone who's not one with the all, and that would be more than one. There's only the one. And I was like, whoa. Pretty fucking enlightened answer for somebody who says there's no such thing as enlightened. And I thought he was cool.
He was really friendly. So we talked a few times. But then as luck would have it, I'm married to an Australian. So I flew down. And I remember... Just, yeah, just, yeah, I hit it off with him immediately. I remember him telling me about you before I met you. And saying, oh, I think you're going to get along with my partner pretty well. And I was picturing an 80-year-old woman, not somebody younger than me. And we did hit it off. I read it. He was right. And I remember that weekend that I met him saying,I don't want you to feel disrespected in any way, but we're going to have to be friends.
Because if I see you as a teacher, you'll always be up here and I'll be down here and I'll never see you as me. And he didn't have a problem with that at all. And it was like the friendship was instant. It was like, yeah, how beautiful. And I really never felt like in my whole life, and that's on you, so sorry. I know you wanted to be all Bob Bob, but it was you that made me feel included. But I found a little community because I used to go four times a year to see one guy talk about non-duality. And then I come to your meetings.
I think now there's like Bob's meetings. It's like there's a whole shit. Everyone's like talking about it. It's like, whoa. Oh, my God. It's like, wow. And the guy who had mentioned him, he said, when you're looking for a spiritual teacher, you want to look for a sense of absolute quality. There's no more than or less than or I'm more than you or less than you. And so that's probably why he recommended Bob. But it was, I loved him. I loved the community. I loved her. I loved, and so. When COVID happened, there were many things that made me want to leave the U.S., so I can't claim it was only Bob.
That would be a lie, but that was a big part of the reason why I moved to New York.Sydney or not Brisbane because I wanted to milk whatever time he had left. You know what I mean? And enjoy it. Just like, yeah. There's opposite the pathfinder is opposite your house and opposite that on the other side of the road, like the other corner is a block of units. So I happened to be going out on a date. And I've only been on a couple of really dates in my life. Like I haven't really... But I met this girl and we had dinner and then she said we're going back to my place.
And I go, all right. So I'm up at her apartment, which happens to be in that block. And I'm up there and she started to freak me out. It was a really hot day and there was all these things that happened. Anyway, she's got this black cat. And this black cat is just walking around me and this and that. It comes near me and it's really like, it's very... Imposing thing and it's like going just circling me constantly and and I just you know having a drink or something I don't know what and didn't think much of it and then after a while she turned around she said ah so the black cat hasn't bitten you yet I think I might keep you and then I just go I've got to get out of this place and then and then there was this whole thing of like this this whole seductive process whereby everythingAnd there was all these little signs, like I had driven a Pathfinder car, but with no badges.
And she just, she knew that somehow, and she said, you're here for a reason. And she came and takes me to the balcony and says, it's the Pathfinder Hotel. The path has found you to the Pathfinder Hotel. Here with me now and my black cat. I've got to get out of here, right? It wasn't just, but the finale, there was all these other little things that happened, and it was an absolute... Like this witchcraft seduction thing that was going on. And, you know, as I said, all I wanted to do was leave, but I couldn't leave. She was like adamant that, no, I'd pass the test.
I'd pass this test, I'd pass that test, and I was just passing tests. I just wanted to fail. And anyway, then she gets me on that balcony. She looks over across to where your place is, and she points over there and she said, It's your destiny. There's a guy called Bob and you're going to meet him. And he teaches this thing, non-duality or whatever. And I go, all right, okay, okay. And so she basically spelled it out and all of that. That night, at some time of the morning, I escaped. It was really, really difficult. So I'm out. I finally, yeah, it was a date from hell.
And anyway, I escaped and I got out and then I was abused for a couple of weeks actually.Because I escaped and because she didn't actually finally catch me. Consumed it. Yeah. Anyway, that was the end of that story. And then two years later, I find myself driving to Bob's. Two years later. So all that story's gone, it's finished, it's dead, it's the end of that era. And two years later, I'm driving to Bob's. And actually, the first time I was driving there, I might have just found him on YouTube or something like that. Oh, yeah, I might just go see Bob. So I'm driving there and...
And the car breaks down, the Pathfinder car. And it breaks down in the middle of the two freeways, right there. And I owned it for 12 years, this car. It's the only time it broke down. And it was on the way to Bob's, like in this prominent position. And it got towed away and the mechanic said, we cannot find why it stopped. It never stopped ever except for that day. And so there was all this like intrigue in going to Bob's. But I didn't know all this until I tried again. I thought, well, you know what? Next week or a couple of weeks later, a month later, I end up going to the front door of your property.
And I'm walking there. And as I'm walking to that door, it's like, geez, this is a familiar place. I know this place. Like, it looks somewhere. And then I look over, and I'm right at Bob's front door. And I look over, and there's a block of flats. And there's the message.You're going to meet this guy Bob. Oh, fuck it. No, no, no. I'm not going there. At least you didn't have to. No, no, no. That would have flipped you out. But I'm at the door. I remember this really, really clearly. I'm at the door facing, like, I've got such a vision of that door and the bell.
And I'm looking behind at the block of flats and the prophecy of this witch saying, you're going to meet this... And I'm, ooh, to knock or to not knock? I've got destiny in my own hands here. I'm running this show. I'm in control of the whole show here. So what am I going to do next? Do I knock? Do I knock? I can walk away now. Now that I know what's going on, I can just walk away. I don't have to meet him. There we go. I don't have to fulfill this crappy prophecy. I, you know. And I was like, here, oh, no, fucking hell, I know.
So I knocked and then I met Bob. That was the story. That's a great story. Yeah, it's a good one. Yeah, something like that. Yeah, about 12 years ago or something. And then I was there for a while and then I left because I had these commitments for a couple of years. And then when I came back, I think you might have been on the scene and everything changed and the whole, my whole view of Bob and the whole message and everything started to really collapse and become absolutely magnificent. And, you know, and just got better and better actually.better and better in every way until the idea of a me and a Bob and the teaching and everything actually starts to collapse in itself and there's all this one back to the very thing that the whole show is all about, like the one essence expressing itself in all these different ways and all stories sort of culminate into that.
And are that, and all of them are the expression of that same one essence, infinite expressions. My Australian wife and I moved here, we landed in April 2nd, 2024. Went on the internet and looked up the website and saw that they meet every Sunday. Lo and behold, it's 10 minutes from where I live. And that was on a Friday. And so on Sunday, I got up and drove there to the house. And I was greeted by Kat. She goes, well, this is Bob. She introduced me to Bob and I shook his hand and told him, Hi, I'm Anthony from California and it's an honor to meet you.
And he gave me an amazingly authentic hug.And it was lovely. Yeah, it was a true thing right from the very beginning. And so I went, I would go, not every Sunday, but I would go on Sundays and up until his passing. Still going Sundays. Yeah. Nice to have you there. Yeah, yeah. So, that's it. I found this book, I was looking up more books about non-duality, I was trying to understand what is this about. I found this book by John Wheeler. Oh yes. And I read the first page and he said, in the year 2000 I flew to Melbourne to meet with this teacher and I was like, wait, wait, 2000?
That's recent. Wait, so Melbourne? Wait, I'm in Melbourne. And I didn't even finish the first chapter. I looked it up and the meeting was starting, I think, like 30 minutes after or something. Wow. I didn't go that week because I live too far. But the next week I go, I show up, I'm sitting in the corner somewhere and I'm like, Oh, I wish this is not a cult. Just don't be a cult. Don't be a cult. It's like everything was scary and everything was heavy, but then people were just kind of chill. And I didn't understand anything from the spiel, like whatever. And we went to have lunch.And that was nice.
And everyone with the non-duality jokes. And I was like, okay, okay. Maybe I'll come back. I don't know. This could still be a cult. I don't know. And I came back a week after. And I think a couple days after we had one-on-one session with you and Bob. Yeah. And I remember I left that and I was like, I don't know if something happened. It didn't feel like anything happened. It just felt like whatever. And then four days later, I'm like, well, what's wrong with right now if I don't think about it? I was like, oh, damn. Wait. Like, it just snuck up on me.
Just the understanding, the ease of it. Yeah, and that's pretty much it. Like, it was just, it just felt too ordinary to be real. But then it is. It's just ordinary. That's how it is. Yeah.And Elliot, well, for a start, he mentioned this Sailor Bob, and I thought, well, what a ridiculous name, Sailor Bob. It's like a cartoon. I followed Shantinandas Saraswati, and he had a title. He was the Shankaracharya of the North. Anyway, Elliot started telling me about the Santa Bob and he was also telling me that I was already enlightened or I was already, I already knew everything that I had to know.
About everything.Anyway, there must have been something that Elliot said that... I rang a bell or something because I came rushing back about 22 years later. And I thought, this is Santa Bob. This is after studying a Dwight away dancer for, I think about 19 years.I thought, this, um, so, but where does he live? Oh, he lives up the top of, uh, Burke Road and, uh, Whitehorse Road. Yeah, so I came along and And it was just like meeting your father or someone like that. It was absolutely natural and accepting and there was no rubbish about it at all. This booth by Ronda. Ronda, yeah, the greatest secret.
Yeah, yeah. And then she had a quote there from Sailor Bob. Yes. Sailor Bob, okay. And it was, you know, registered. And then I realized that, oh, they still had the meetings on. Yes. So that's when I came, the second.Just on my birthday, I think. Yeah, that was the first time I came. Yes, and then the week later he had the last public meeting. So I don't really know Bob. I only met him. Yes, but you did. And I've only just met him, that's all. But it was good, even though I don't know him. I'm really very grateful to have him. You guys, this group continuing and to share his message and it has helped me.
Because I've never really, I mean I've gone through all sorts of teachings but I don't really know non-duality. I've read a lot of Zen teachings and often they say you need someone alive. A live person to point it out to you. And I think that's what it is. And then at some point it was like, okay, I think there's going to be a move to go somewhere to get this from the horse's mouth. Because I've always just sort of seen everything as just an unraveling universe anyway. So it was like, okay, I suspect this is happening. I got the feeling I was couch surfing at the time.
And it's like organizing my life. So I had a pile of papers that I'd scanned everything of. She got biffed out the day that I left. I was going to come to my sister's wedding and my mum didn't believe I was coming and so I had about 900 bucks.No career. And I was like, what, 46? And staying in, you know, six-bed hostels in Melbourne. Yeah, because I never went home from the wedding, basically. And then mum was, oh, my God, and gave me a bit of money for some of the nights in the hostel. Rang, like, one person, but, yeah, there was nowhere to go.
So just every, you know, it was like, oh, half a week, and I might have to go back to New Zealand. Oh, it's a week now. We've got, you know, got a bit of... Yeah, I remember it. Yeah, you bailed me out a couple of times when some money got nicked or something and you gave me the cardio of your back and things like that. That was really handy. Thank you. Yeah, and it's just been noticing that the pattern here is to every week or two, the pattern process happens and things disappear a bit. There's a bit more emptiness around that notion. Life gets a bit smoother in that area.
And that's just tra-la-la-la, just something like that and whatever. I think it was your birthday gathering, Kat, and you were sort of standing, leaning, you know, near the table where the chairs are usually rolled out, the office chairs, and a regular at the Sunday meetings was there, you know. Really being very emotional tears, you know, so Bob playing for Bob and Bob kind of looked at me.It said, rescue me. Help, please help. Yes, get this person out. Yeah, and... This is real good luck. Oh, that is beautiful good luck. And so there were some balloons floating around and I kicked the ball, the balloon and kicked it to Bob and he wanted to play in a balloon.
Catchy and then other memories of him dean blowing bubbles yes so bubbles and catching them and you're reaching up and catching the bubbles yeah feeding him Vegemite sandwiches on whatever, because it was one of the few things you could still taste. And chopping them into tiny pieces. Yeah. Because all his taste, you know, ability to taste. Everything tasted the same and not good. But good about having, you know, someone else in the house, even though, you know, it signified that. Things were, you know, not easy anymore, you know, all of what it meant. And he was so gracious and, you know, he was, you know, I love how you play music and he'd tap his foot.
You know? And he would still, when there was a good Zoom meeting or something, he'd be so encouraging, wouldn't he? Yes. He's paying attention. Oh, so into it.So he spoke really well today. Oh, yeah. You know, you girls, you know, did a good job today. Well, he was just... Yeah, so supportive, always. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't start, but before it started, Kat came up and gave me the little white book, Beyond Words, Beyond Mind. And I thought, oh, that's lovely. I held on to it. I didn't open it or anything. In fact, I didn't open it for... weeks. I finally opened it when I was sort of alone in my little apartment in South Perth.
It might have been right towards the end of 23. Yeah, I think it was September. That I, yeah. I opened the book. Yeah. And this is a case of books being helpful, you know, without all the fluff and the nonsense. And read the first few lines, which Dean knows off by heart, but which I, you know, the gist of it. I already published that book yesterday. It came live yesterday, just for today, for having it. But the first few lines, it basically says, you know, take a look, and the title is Investigation. Yeah. And it's not a daunting book in any way. It's, you know, small and you sort of open it up and it's easy to hold.
And sitting there in bed, propped up and read it and it just says something to the effect, you know, investigation. A reference, a self-centered reference point. No reference. Panel found.And I'm... Oh, wow. Actually, take a look at that. Shit, shit, that's true. That's true. He's actually describing my actual experience. What's actually happening. I've never seen that done before. Ever. Anywhere. Wow. Love is the purest form of life essence that is just feeding your soul. And love, he was, you see, people are more afraid of love than anything else. Because love can really, really obliterate any sense of identity. And he was not. He was not afraid of love.
I could just blast the whole, like, rat. Kill him with love and he was just taken in. There was no reservations. We could just amplify that complete unconditionality of fearlessness in love to the point where we were just, ah, we were high on it constantly. There's no need for any other. All right, you're bragging now. No, that's how it felt.Beyond ideas are all going Beyond ideas are right going There is a fear A beautiful fear I'll reach you then. I'll meet you there.