A Nisarg Maharaj quote was presented to the group: My world is just like yours. I see, I hear, I feel, I think, I speak and act in a world I perceive, just like you. But with you it is all; with me it is nothing. Knowing the world to be a part of myself, I pay it no more attention than you pay to the food you have eaten. While being prepared and eaten, the food is separate from you and your mind is on it; once swallowed, you become totally unconscious of it. I have eaten up the world and I need not think of it any more. Q: Don’t you become completely irresponsible? Nisargadatta Maharaj: How could I? How can I hurt something which is one with me? On the contrary, without thinking of the world, whatever I do will be of benefit to it. Just as the body sets itself right unconsciously, so am I ceaselessly active in setting the world right

Om chants begin…

Greetings…come beloveds, see yourself at the sea shore and just hear the sounds of the tide coming in and out…gently in and out…gentle lapping waves. And as you sit watching this gentle tide, there is nothing on your mind, you are at rest, no thoughts or so you think – because the large storehouse of thoughts that are present, are under the level of your current awareness raised by the gentle tide. The soothing sounds of the sea,  being one with nature - has raised your level of awareness  and therefore the thousand teaming thoughts which are present are present under the surface, below that level of awareness -  and therefore it feels like no thoughts…beautiful…peaceful…empty mind…with just the sounds of the sea. If you really drag your attention away from the sea…from the sun…back to that self you may become aware of tiny tiny tiny thoughts…but once again you tune into the waves…the sound…the sun…you raise your awareness and those tiny tiny thoughts seemingly disappear…in real they remain under the level of your awareness...

And then there are those thoughts which appear like large waves which roar and crash on the beach of your mind/awareness - those thoughts which you identify as thoughts: usually your fears, worries or anxieties, and unfulfilled desires. These are usually the thoughts you call and identify as ‘my thoughts’ - but today we make you aware that unknown to you, beneath those apparent thoughts, are many tiny tiny tiny thoughts (which keep the world alive).  And these thoughts which you feel are your thoughts - are only those that rise above the level of your awareness – and so you are aware of them!  Those thoughts which are higher than your level of awareness!! And therefore you are caught in the chain of these thoughts…these worries…these fears…these anxieties…these unfulfilled desires…your frequency has dropped…and these thoughts rule you! (For those of you, who are students of the flowers, the Bach flowers, this is also the white chestnut state of being - when your thoughts take over and you cannot get them out of your mind.  What is happening in energy terms is simply that your awareness has dropped and the thoughts therefore become more powerful. Of course this is how the Bach  remedies work - when you take the remedy white chestnut or any remedy corresponding to the thoughts you have - the remedy simply raises your level of awareness…higher than those of the thoughts…and so the thoughts seemingly dissipate and disappear…actually it’s your raised  awareness that makes them not apparent)

The only (other than Bach)  external way that these large crashing waves of thoughts are dealt with are when  a) the trigger that have triggered the thoughts goes away b) or you are distracted by something else c) or time in its own way takes the thoughts away. But these are all external tools, out of your control, and therefore very often you are caught up in this whirl of thoughts.

The reason we are explaining all this to you today is so that you are aware what is actually happening: it’s all about the level of your awareness/ your frequency. The higher your frequency - the higher your levels of awareness - the less will you be aware of thoughts…the less will they disturb you…the less will they be (in your terms)  present.

And so what is the answer? How do you raise your frequency? The answer of course is what which we have been sharing with you week after week…month after month: Self enquiry- raising your levels of awareness/your frequency. You can call itself enquiry or the shift from self to Self - from participant to witnessing to awareness rather than what you are aware of. So many terms, but in all of them all that you are doing, is raising your levels of awareness…raising your frequency so that automatically the lower denser darker frequency that you call your thoughts disappear. And there you are once again on the beach and the waves are once again the gentle lap, lap, lap, and thoughtlessness… peace of mind and free! Your level of awareness is higher than those of all those thoughts…like Nisarg Maharaja you have raised your level of awareness.  In his words: “You have eaten up the world…digested the world…unconscious of that world.” So thoughts are present but beneath your level of awareness, digested, you don't have to bother about them, you claim them not, you identify with them not- they do their work whatever the work they are meant to do…!

And this opens up what we call the working mind: the thinking mind subsides and the working mind comes into play! We have discussed the working mind often before so we won’t go into detail again, so as you know the working mind and its thoughts are not thoughts…they are clear connection to the universe … the universe functioning through you as required. So you will have what you call or appear as thoughts like:  I need to get up…need to put my foot forward… time to write an article…pay this person…fix this deal…  etc etc - whatever you really need to do the working mind (not the troubled worrying thinking mind) will do! Indeed as the thinking mind subsides and the working mind takes over it’s the shift from self to Self , from i/me to I /Am thus there is clarity rather than confusion,  spontaneous action rather than doubts! Thus abiding in the working mind is state of thoughtlessness. Like self enquiry is not thought - which we have explained to you previously

That is why when you come here to meditation you become in your terms thoughtless…you feel peace…you feel love…you feel silent because your level of awareness increases - you abide in the higher frequency - that you call witnessing or awareness…and those little little billions of thoughts are eaten up…digested…doing what they need to do in their field of existence….

And so this brings us to the surrender of thoughts. If you have been practicing surrender of thoughts you would have realized that surrender of thoughts is nothing but Self enquiry and possible only as a) one abides as witness and thus surrenders the thoughts it witnesses. In that are you better able to surrender your thoughts. b)  Possible only because of abiding in a higher frequency  can one surrender the hold of the lower frequency!   It  can only happen through the shift from the engaged involved participant -  to witnessing / awareness  -because if you are the participant engaged involved in them you can surrender them not…no matter how much ‘you’ may try.

Because surrendering of your thoughts as already shared with you is not trying to fix them, change them, end them; not judging them, labeling them; and at the deepest not identifying with them. And only when you abide as witness do you move into that space - where judgment falls away and there is nothing good or bad or right or wrong! And as you shift into the higher frequency of awareness - you identify not with the thoughts…! And therefore it is easier to surrender them: just the way you surrender the thoughts of a stranger walking on the seaside…they matter not to you…your own thoughts you will not identify with them and there will be automatic surrender…!

One of the key concepts in this group is ‘automatic’ ‘spontaneous’ growth and dissolution…rather than struggling to surrender your thoughts…or struggling with desires or any kind of struggle associated with the path! As you shift from participant to witness to awareness… as you raise your frequency and abide in higher awareness, surrender (like so many things we have taught you like the dissolution of the me/ego self etc) happens more and more automatically! 

For those of you who have been practicing what you gather here, doing the sadhana, you may feel…yes…yes we are able to do it… It happens but then we fall back…we fall back into the thoughts and its hold on us. And our response is yes of course beloveds that is what these meditations and gatherings are about - to raise your levels of awareness so that you may ceaselessly abide here; right now you go in and out from this, from participant to witnessing and back…which is fine... the sadhana will spontaneously take you here. Where surrender of thoughts will be spontaneous, where automatically you will claim them not…identify with them not. Where your levels of awareness will be higher than those of the thoughts…and you will therefore be what you call thoughtless…! The thoughts will be there below your degree of awareness…doing what they need to do…but you will be sitting as though your head is above the clouds…unaware of what is happening below. And so today again we urge all of you don’t merely go home and hear the recordings and sit with your eyes closed going into a daze…practice what we tell you here. Let this be your sadhana rather than meditation of sitting with your eyes closed…that will lead to a meditative state of being as your natural state of being over time.

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So we repeat and this is important: go home…and practice… lie on your bed perhaps… become aware that you are in quiet a peaceful state of mind… but then a) take your attention to those little little little thoughts and you will be surprised how many little little thoughts are there - which you had not even paid attention to- but they were there skimming below the surface. Become aware only as an exercise…so that what we say doesn't just remain an academic understanding but becomes your experience. b) Then be aware of those large crashing waves, those big thoughts, your worries… your fears… your anxieties… see how out of control they are… how you cannot struggle with them…how you cannot stop them…! Be aware of these steps just for your learning…not everyday…just experience it once so that you know what we are talking about  

And at that point practice self enquiry… becomes the witness.  Ask yourself from where do these thoughts come? Who is aware of them? In that see you move from the thoughts to your Source, from self to Self; from the lower frequency of participant to the higher frequency of awareness!! We are giving you so many methods of self enquiry - if you practice even one of them at those times - whichever you resonate to most- you will see for yourself how those thoughts magically…and we use the word magically start to dissolve…subside…fade away…till you are like Nisarg Maharaj eaten up the world…digested it…the thoughts are there but below your level of awareness.

Through the day practice the surrender of thoughts…see what happens when you are surrendering thoughts - see the shift from self to Self  - be aware that the surrender of thoughts is nothing but shifting from participant to witness to awareness…raising your frequency!

Be aware how judgments fall away…be aware how you identify less and less with the thoughts - be aware that the struggle happens and you get caught in them again…and be aware how do you break out once again but through self enquiry…continued everyday…every moment…try and snap into self enquiry.

And so today what we are highlighting to you is that you are actually doing one thing and one thing only - you are raising your level of awareness…you are raising your frequency! You can call it a) self enquiry, b) you can call it surrender of your thoughts, c) you can call it the shift from self to Self d) the shift from participant to witnessing e) from what you are aware of into awareness f) from the seen to the seer g) you can call it raising your frequency! But in all of this, the gamut of self enquiry, you are actually doing one thing and one thing only - you are raising your level of awareness/ your frequency. That is why when you reflect upon Self you become one with the source, because in that very reflection on Self, you have raised your frequency! That is it…that is what self enquiry is about.

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Thus all that we have done with you over the years, every gathering here, every gathering is like a nugget that has ripened now – thus even the earlier learning which might seem to have nothing to do with witnessing or thoughtlessness  was actually leading to it:

-You learnt and moved into acceptance of whatever is…into non resistance (understood how pain is in the resistance and not the act that you resist…you understood the gifts of acceptance). And beloveds if you had already have not embraced acceptance and non resistance this surrender of thoughts would have been so much more difficult…there would have been such a bigger struggle…because it in the deeper acceptance and non resistance that one is able to witness/surrender thoughts!

-You learnt and moved into  non judgment; forgiveness; the knowing that destiny is something you have chosen for your highest good…all this…all this understanding makes the surrender of thoughts possible! If you had already not embraced forgiveness there would be so much anger…if you had not practiced non judgment there would be so many judgments… if you did not know destiny was what you chose with your free will there would be so much angst…that this witnessing or surrender of thoughts would not have been easily possible…! So do you see beloveds every step is valuable…every step leading upto here has been valuable.

- Even positive thinking, perhaps your earliest learning with us! Even positive thinking is actually nothing but raising your frequency from participant to witness to awareness!  Do you see that? Even chanting - shifting your frequency!   Even prayer - shifting your frequency! Darshan - shifting your frequency! Gyan - shifting your frequency! Meditation - of course shifting your frequency! And at the deepest Self enquiry…it culminates in self enquiry

-Sixteen years of work with us culminates where we are today, but no step was wasted…no step was redundant. Self enquiry becomes easier…more possible…and therefore you enter this beautiful inner silence which most of you here have experienced or experience on a daily basis. A strange inner silence in the midst of all that is happening externally. There may be the noise and clutter on the surface but there is a strange untouched place in you -  that’s the place of this seer not the seen; that’s the witness; thats awareness not what you are aware of!  Stillness in the face of momentum; silence in all the chaotic noise; oneness amidst the issues of life; vastness rather than the small little self.

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And this brings us to positive thinking! So many of you are confused! How does positive thinking fit in with surrender and witnessing?  If we surrender our thoughts…can we not do positive thinking? Can we not do affirmations? Beloveds, listen carefully, and from hindsight become aware, how even positive thinking is a degree of self enquiry - it is a raising of your frequency to the higher -- it is the shift from self to Self and from the seen to the seer … surely otherwise positive thinking would not be possible? Do you see this today?

So of course whenever you feel the need or call for positive thinking do it - it is one way of raising your frequency. But at the deeper level, when you do positive thinking, that means it is not your positive belief - that’s why the need to do positive thinking? For example you do not need to practice positive thinking that you are a woman - you know it! And through the years of the gyan partaken by you, its deep understanding and acceptance of all that you have understood, so many of your negative thoughts have automatically fallen away and you have moved into a positive belief: you feel safe in the universe…you know you are looked after…you know you are part of something vaster…etc etc etc! So much… so much… so much of your negative thinking, doubts, fears  have dropped - positive believe is its place – thus you need to do your positive thinking less and less. Are you aware of this?

And yes, when you will truly abide as this seer-as the witness -as awareness you will automatically not judge anything as good or bad or negative or positive (as witnessing means not judging , surrendering means not labeling, awareness implies detachment from what you are aware of ) - and  in this ripening  the need to do positive thinking will further  fall aside because you as you establish even firmer and deeper as the seer rather than the seen; you will dis-identify with all those thoughts that you call negative and thus once again the need to do positive thinking will fall aside? But yes beloveds as long as the need/call to practice or use positive thinking is there - whenever and we mean whenever you feel ‘I need to do positive thinking’ - do it! At that point positive thinking is the answer to raise your level of frequency.

So you will ask us when to not do positive thinking…? And our simple response: only when the notion of positive thinking doesn’t even arise to you…!  Like you don’t feel the need to do positive thinking to remain a woman? Thus when you truly abide as the seer – witness-  awareness…automatically detached are you from the thoughts…automatically ‘you’ judge you not them as negative or positive…or there is no you left to judge. And like Nisarg Maharaj you would have digested all your thoughts and the question of positive thinking doesn't arise…!! But that happens when it does - it cannot be forced and should not be forced- and none of you, we repeat none of you abide as Seer on a 24X7…thus all of you will need to do positive thinking time to time or prayer or chant. At that moment, allow it to happen! Its actually on helping you raise your frequency; it can only happen because to some degree you have made the shift into witnessing to even be able to do the positive thinking rather than getting caught up in the troubling thoughts!

And we have told this to you in a gathering here long before – in response to your query how do I know what to do from all the tools and practices that have come your way? Do… allow… what rises in that moment…what that moment calls for…the natural response of that moment…!! So if right now you feel “I need to do positive thinking’- do it beloveds! Self is aiding you - you are only changing your frequency!! And over time less and less will you feel the need to do positive thinking or chanting or prayer arise- and as that happens it will drop spontaneously; it will drop - not due to a conscious effort of I should not do! The sages don’t do it… simply because they don’t identify with the thoughts…they see them not…they have digested them… like you don’t do positive thinking that you are a woman! But till then, till it happens beloveds - use the beautiful tools. This should end your confusion on the how positive thinking co exists with surrender!

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And so self enquiry , witnessing surrender of thoughts…is the shift from what you call the ego participant to awareness; self to Self; seen to the seer - call it what you like -  either way  it is simply a raising of your consciousness.  And as you abide incessantly in the raised consciousness/Self/Awareness -  the ego self automatically dissolves…till one day like Nisarg Maharaj you will live where you live…in that home…in that work…with that family…whatever thoughts are there will be there…they will matter not…they are there to do what they need to do…and in this thoughtlessness will the working mind be clear and open…it will know what tho say…when to say…what to do…when to do…what action to take…what not to take…more and more spontaneously will you be the non doer…the vehicle …the chalice universe uses!

So beloveds use this new year to do the sadhana…not simply by coming here week after week and closing your eyes and enjoying this state of being- do the sadhana to remain in this state of being quicker…longer…firmer till one day it is your natural state of being and the state of being that you are now fades away.

‘That’’( which you call ‘That’ witness …That awareness)  becomes Ah ‘This’! And ‘this’ Divyaa ( put your own name here)  becomes the Oh! That! Continue the sadhana the self enquiry… I am awareness not that which I am aware of…I surrender…who is the ‘I’ who surrenders…ask yourself that? I am not the body…I am not the thoughts…I am not the feelings…who is this who is saying that ? Not the participant but the witness…who is aware of every thought and every action? Who is that ? That is the awareness that you are.

Through the day when you think…you speak…you act…just ask yourself what is that - which is aware of all this- that is all…that one question and then focus on I AmThat…I Am That. When you wake up in the morning…who is that who sees yourself waking up? I Am This! Who is aware of brushing your teeth ? I Am this. Who is aware of the fretting and worrying ? I Am this…who is ? who is ? who is ? I Am That…I Am That…I Am That…Tathastu .Even as I sit here and hear these beautiful words who is it that’s hearing ? Who is aware ? I am that awareness…if I am aware of something I cannot be that…the very fact that I am aware of the chair means I am not the chair. Keep going back there…keep going back there…keep going back there…till that’s where you will abide!

And So It Is…And So It Is…And So It Is.

You may open your eyes whenever you are ready…but be aware who is aware of you opening your eyes…I Am That. Everything around you brings you back to me…I AM at your service …