Other Transcripts:


For Beginners - What To Do

Ultimately there is nothing to do because the pure absolute
Self that we all are is not a doer. The Self is pure Existence-Consciousness-Bliss. There is no doing involved in pure
Existence. In truth we are already completely free and
perfect. I'm sure you must have heard this before, but
just hearing the words does not make it your experience.

So if you are not unreservedly free and you suffer even a little bit, then certainly there is something you can do! Your real nature is happiness. You deserve to be completely happy. Vedantic Scriptures tell us to do three simple things:

1) LISTEN to teachings of truth
2) PONDER those teachings, and
3) MEDITATE -- dive within yourself to realize.

If you are the one who is bound, then you are the only one who can free yourself. It is the most fascinating thing you can possibly do-finding out who you really are.


Listen: You may have noticed that all great spiritual traditions are talking about the same truth. All rivers lead to the ocean, but if you keep changing rivers it may take you a very long time to get there! After you have checked out the spiritual supermarket, pick one teaching and stick with it. Then read sacred texts and associate with wise sages. Use all of your time wisely toward your own liberation.

Ponder: Contemplate and fully consider the teachings. Don't just believe them. See if they hold true for you. Use your mind like a sword to cut through illusion. Keep the teaching always in mind. Try to get to the deepest meaning of the words.
How can this be so? How does it apply to me? Eventually you will cut through ALL limiting ideas and concepts.
The true meaning of the words will be understood directly without the limiting adjunct of the mind. The teaching will be your own.

Meditate: Set time aside every day just to sit and be with yourself. Sit comfortably in a position such that you will not fall asleep in. Bring your attention inward, away from all worldly distractions. In our way, being with yourself involves finding out who that self is! We ask ourselves the question "Who Am I?" It is called self inquiry. It is not watching thoughts. It is diving directly into who has the thoughts. It is a systematic looking at who you believe yourself to be. Are you really a body? Are you always a body? Are you any of your thoughts, or all of your thoughts put together? If something arises in meditation, to whom is it arising? Who you are has to be true ALL the time. If something comes and goes (like a body) it can't be you. If you hold onto your sense of "I" and keep eliminating the "I" that is seen as an object -- you will always come to a vaster, more formless "I".

 


Always come back to the seer and eliminate the seen. In this way you should be able to come to a thoughtless state. The thoughtless state is much closer to who you really are than the myriad web of thoughts. The innate peace and joy of the Self becomes uncovered in this manner.