That Art Thou

That Art Thou

Talks on the Sarvasar Upanishad

Talks given from 08/01/72 pm to 21/10/72 pm

English Discourse series

51 Chapters

Year published: 1987

Originally titled "Sarvasar Upanishad" (first 17 discourses at Matheran), "Kaivalya Upanishad" (second 17 discourses at Mt. Abu) and "Adhyatma Upanishad" (last 17 discourses at Mt. Abu). Discourses were in Hindi and English, the tapes produced as "That Art Thou" are the English parts.

That Art Thou

Chapter #1

Chapter title: Sarvasar Upanishad

8 January 1972 pm at Matheran Meditation Camp, India

Archive code: 7201085

ShortTitle: THOU01

Audio: Yes

Video: No

Length: 102 mins

AUM, SUPREME ONE, GUARD US (MASTER AND DISCIPLE) TOGETHER.NOURISH US TOGETHER.LET BOTH OF US STRIVE TOGETHER.LET OUR LEARNING SHINE BRIGHTLY. LET US NOT HATE ANYONE.AUM, SHANTI, SHANTI, SHANTI (PEACE).

To know and to be are one and the same. To be is the only way to know. And there are two dimensions of growth: one of knowledge and one of being.

You can know more and more and more, and still remain the same. BE more. The being must grow; not knowledge, not accumulation, not information -- but being. Not knowledge, but consciousness, must grow. And only that growth which is of consciousness is spiritual. All else that just adds to your knowledge is nothing but a burden.

It is always dangerous to play with truths, because they will destroy you as you are. They will give you a rebirth. We are just pregnant for centuries and centuries, and lives and lives, and the birth has not happened. We are just pregnant, just a seed, because no one is ready to pay the price. And before one comes to that bliss which is our seeking, one has to pass through a deep suffering. That deep suffering is a must. That is the birth pain -- you cannot escape it.

Why this prayer?

The relationship of the master and the disciple is the most intimate relationship possible, because bodies are not related, but spirits. All relationships are bodily, even that of the mother and son -- it is just a physical relationship. The relationship of lover and the beloved is still something earthly. The only relationship on the earth which is unearthly is that of a master and the disciple. So if the disciple is lost, the master is lost.

One is never safe with the ego. The ego is the source of all errors. So, to feel that one is saved already, means that one is still prone, one is still tending to fall back down. Rather the more we know it, the more unknown it becomes. The other shore means the unknown -- not only the unknown but the unknowable. This is the mystery; this is what makes this type of knowledge esoteric. This is what mystery means: one knows and still remains ignorant.

Money continues to circulate, just like blood in the body. Knowledge cannot be circulated like money; this knowledge cannot be transferred. Then what to do? What should the master do with the disciple? The master only prays, "Give us strength. We should endeavor together, we should make an effort together" -- but we endeavor TOGETHER. The family of the master -- a member of the family, because they are not teachers.

To be a buddha is one thing, but to be a master is something plus.

To know truth is not as difficult as to communicate it. Communication is a greater difficulty, because the other comes in. In knowing, you are alone, but in communication the other comes in. And when you are trying to communicate, the other has to be considered. It becomes difficult. So there are many enlightened persons, but not so many masters. What has happened? The thing has happened, the explosion has happened, but even the person is not able to grasp the totality of it. What has happened?

Buddha remained silent for seven days after his enlightenment. Why? One of the reasons, amongst many, is this: for seven days he tried to comprehend "What has happened? To whom has this happened? What has happened and to whom has this happened?

Knowing is just riverlike. It goes on and on and on, and there is no end to it.

That Art Thou

Chapter #2

Chapter title: Sarvasar Upanishad

9 January 1972 am at Matheran Meditation Camp, India

Archive code: 7201090

ShortTitle: THOU02

Audio: Yes

Video: No

Length: 90 mins

WHAT IS BONDAGE? WHAT IS FREEDOM?

WHAT IS VIDYA (RIGHT LEARNING) AND AVIDYA (FALSE ONE)?

WHAT ARE THESE FOUR STATES: WAKING, DREAMING, SLEEPING AND TURIYA (THE FOURTH)?

WHAT ARE THESE FIVE KOSHAS (BODIES): SHEATHS OF FOOD, BREATH, MIND, KNOWING AND BLISS?

WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THE DOER, LIVING BEING, PANCHVARGA (FIVE GROUPS), KSHETRAGYA (KNOWER OF THE FIELD), SAKSHI (WITNESS), KUTASTHA (THE SUPREME) AND ANTARYAMI (THE IMMINENT)?

THE SAME WAY WHAT ARE THESE THREE: SELF, SUPREME SELF AND MAYA (THE WORLD OF APPEARANCES)?

Right enquiry begins with prayer; otherwise, the enquiry is not right. Without prayer, doubt is just a disease. With a prayerful mood, with a prayerful heart, doubt becomes just a methodology to enquiry, and to enquire.

Doubt is healthy if inside there is faith. A faithful doubt is a good sign. The end remains faith; doubting is just a means. The doubt must not be the end. If doubt is the end, then it is an infinite regress: you can go on doubting and doubting and doubting, and there is no end to it. You go on falling, with doubt, into more indecisiveness. To reach somewhere, doubt must not be the end. Use it as a means -- it is helpful -- but remain centered in faith, because that opens your mind; doubt closes it.

Doubt is a closing -- you are closed. So doubt is a self-destructive process; it is suicidal, because you ask and you are not open to receive. You ask but you are not ready for the answer. You go on asking, and preventing the answer from reaching you.

Prayer means receptivity, festivity -- you are open. Be open and ask, be open and enquire. This UPANISHAD begins with prayer to the divine force for help, then the enquiry, and then the questioning. With prayer questioning is not just curiosity. With prayer it becomes a sincere quest.

The first thing towards freedom is to know that you are not free. The first step, the basic, is to know that you are in bondage. Then comes the longing, then is created the desire; then one begins to dream about freedom. But one must be aware that one is not free, one is just a slave. So the enquiry begins with the question: What is bondage?

Bondage doesn't mean knowledge. VIDYA is not knowledge. Vidya means the methods, the techniques. "What is wisdom?" It doesn't mean, "What is knowledge?" it means, "What is the methodology? How to achieve it; how to be free? Tell me about the highest, the supreme-most truth -- because the supreme-most truth is not to be born at all.

The primary truth, the foundational truth, the best, the highest the supreme-most is not to be born at all. And the second is to die as soon as possible after you are born.

False doors, false keys pseudo-methods are there. AVIDYA means pseudo-methods.

Dreaming is not just a dreaming; it is substantial, it is significant. You cannot dream without causes. Even a dream has a causality. It is relevant, it shows something about you. Rather, it shows more about you than anything you are doing and showing when you are awake, because one can deceive oneself and others when one is awake, but one cannot deceive in dreams. Dreams are more innocent because we have not yet found any technology to polish dreaming, to use masks in dreaming. Dreams are still naked real, authentic; they show the real face more sincerely than any face you use when you are awake.

So this paradoxical thing happens: a dream becomes more real than all that you think is real, because you cannot maneuver it, you cannot manage -- you are just helpless. A dream happens; you cannot do anything in it. You are not the doer, you can just be an observer. In a subtle way, you are totally helpless. Because of that helplessness, a dream becomes more real, more authentic, and shows many things about your mind. Dreaming is worth knowing, worth enquiring about.

So the UPANISHAD asks, "What is this awake state of the mind? What is dreaming? What is non-dreaming sleep? And what is TURIYA?"

This word "turiya" only means "the fourth." So what are these three states -- being awake, dreaming, being deeply asleep -- and what is the fourth which transcends all these three? The fourth has not been given any name; it has only been known as "the fourth," the turiya, because really that is not a state of the mind but one's being, one's nature.

These three are states.... When you are awake, this is a state, a mode, a form, a shape of your being. This is not your being. This is a state -- it can change. In the night you will be dreaming. Dreaming is still a state, because it can change. Then you will be deep in sleep, dreamless sleep -- that too is a state. By "state" is meant something which you can take and change. The fourth, the turiya, is not a state, it is your being. You cannot change it, you are IT. So the fourth goes on in all the three states, and transcends them. But the fourth is not a state, it is your being. So what are these four?

All sociological interpretations of religion are just nonsense, sheer nonsense, because they cannot conceive that religion is born in a consciousness. They can only conceive that out of fear every god is born. No, never out of fear is any god born -- out of love, out of prayer, out of a deep glimpse into the nature of existence. But this glimpse is bound to be individual. When others begin to follow, they are just following a dead ritual.

The sun can become divine in a moment of opening, in a moment of deep exposure, when there is a deep opening in all of your five bodies and the innermost becomes one with the outermost -- even for a single moment. In that exposure, everything is just divine. EVERYTHING! In that exposure nothing remains material; in that exposure everything becomes just a benediction, a bliss, a blessing. Matter just dissolves; everything becomes alive.

Divisions fall, barriers are not, oneness is felt.

Out of this oneness, out of this love, religion is born.

So all sociological theories about religion are absurd. They just miss the POINT! But that is natural, because for one who has not known love, fear is the only thing in life, the only experience. These are the basic experiences: either you know love or fear; if your life is not oriented in love, then it is bound to be oriented in fear. So, man's mind can have only two conceptions about the universe: either fear-oriented or love-oriented. If it is love-oriented it becomes religion; if it is fear-oriented it becomes just a material science. If you are in fear, then you begin to fight.

Science is a fight, a conquering of nature, a conquest, a struggle -- nature becomes the enemy. If life is love-oriented -- and that is what is meant by a religious life -- then it is not a fight. Then it is a communion, then it is a reverence; you are not an enemy and nature is not your enemy. Then there is a deep friendliness; then you become one.

So, if one has not felt deep love, love towards each and everything, then there is only one interpretation possible -- one can only interpret through fear.

That Art Thou

Chapter #3

Chapter title: Sarvasar Upanishad

9 January 1972 pm at Matheran Meditation Camp, India

Archive code: 7201095

ShortTitle: THOU03

Audio: Yes

Video: No

THE SELF OR SOUL IS BOTH GOD AND LIVING BEING. BUT THE BODY, WHICH IS NOT THE SOUL, GETS INFECTED WITH A SENSE OF EGO, AND THAT IS WHAT IS CALLED LIVING BEING'S BONDAGE.

THE CESSATION OF THIS EGO IS WHAT IS CALLED FREEDOM.

THAT WHICH GIVES RISE TO THE EGO IS CALLED AVIDYA (FALSE LEARNING).

AND THAT WHICH LEADS TO THE CESSATION OF THE EGO IS CALLED VIDYA (RIGHT LEARNING).

One, is to analyze a thing, to divide it into its parts, but parts are not the whole. They constitute the whole, but they are not equivalent to the whole. The whole cannot be created without the parts. But still the whole is something plus, something more than all the parts combined. That something plus is the mystery.

Science divides, and the knowledge achieved is through analysis. Religion is quite the opposite dimension. Religion believes, not in division, but in synthesis. Religion goes on adding, totaling. And when everything is totaled -- nothing remains outside, everything is included; and this whole, taken as a whole, is looked at -- the divine appears. That's why science can never say that there is a god -- that is impossible. So no one should hope that any day science can say there is a god, because the very process of scientific analysis cannot lead to the total. The very process leads to the part, the minutest part -- never to the whole -- because it depends on division.

Science can never come to any divineness in the universe, in existence, because divineness is something like a perfume that comes out of the whole. It is not mathematical; it is organic. It is not mechanical; it is alive. You can divide me into parts; then put back all those parts, but I will not be found there. You have put everything again in its place; but I am not a mechanical device, I am not just parts accumulated and arranged. Something more is there, more than all the parts -- that something is lost.

Life can never be known by analysis.

Analysis can only know the material, never the spiritual. These are the two dimensions of knowing. So if someone concludes that there is nothing except matter, that only means that he has used the analytical method -- nothing else. When someone says there is no matter, but only consciousness, it only shows that he has used the method of synthesis -- not analysis.