Session 9: The Effortless Miracle (12 July 1966)
To sum up the whole thing, it's very simple. It's the old dictum, “Thou art that.”, and the way to know that is to be still. Being still is simply stilling of the mind until there are no more thoughts.
So this infinite being that we are, we discover by just quieting our mind, and when we do that, the infinite self shines on its own, and where no thought rises, — there we find God, our infinite self.
Alright, well how do we get to this state? Most of us have been on the path for some time, and we have not attained full realization.
Why? Why aren't we fully realized beings, knowing that within us is the infinite power, knowing that we want it, why aren't we fully realized?
Again, the answer is simple. In reality, we are fully realized here and now. We are all in a state of nirvana, samadhi, ecstasy, or whatever word we use for it, looking away from that state, looking away via the mind into thoughts and concepts that we are not in that state. — So our attention is pointed away from our natural state of full realization.
We are fully realized here and now. We are simply looking away from it. What I have been trying to do is to turn our attention, our eye, back toward that state by giving you methods that can be used every day, all day, no matter what you're doing, these methods could be used. And they simply point us back in the direction wherein we can see who and what we are.
I believe the first one was, the first method, — As you see the world, so are you.
By looking at all these things that we don't like or do like about the world, if we will turn our attention inward, we will discover that it's nothing but our own consciousness, that what we see out there is within us, and we can use this to free ourselves from the things out there.
I believe the second one was, — Every bit of joy that we feel is nothing but our very own Self, the infinite Self, which we allow to express more or less. When we allow it to express more, we are happier. When we squelch it, we are less happy. But every bit of happiness can only be the feeling of our very own beingness, of the Self that we are.
That if we trace all happiness to its source, we discover just that. And by discovering that, we confirm this fact for ourselves, that all joy is nothing but our very own Self.
On the opposite side, all misery, all unhappiness, has its source in the ego sense, the ego being the sense of separation from the all. I am an individual, separate from the all. The moment we do that, we don't have the all, we have want to get some of that all, we have frustrations, and we call that unhappiness. So if we will trace the source of all misery, we will discover that it has its source in ego desires frustrated.
Another meeting we had was on — Think what you want, think only what you want, and that is all that you will get.
The mind is only a creator. Whatever we hold in mind, we create. If we look into this, we discover this to be so, and when we see it for ourselves, then we become masters. And all we do is just hold in mind the things we want, and that is all we get. We begin to let go of holding negative thoughts in our mind. We begin to let go of receiving negative things.
The mind is only creative. It creates whatever we hold in mind. When we don't like it, we call it negative. When we like it, we call it positive. So if we would practice thinking only what we want, that is all that we would ever get.
I think the one I'd suggest for tonight is related to freedom, liberation, moksha. The very top state of beingness is called liberation.
What is it we want liberation from?
The thing we want liberation from is essentially what the world calls, — the unconscious mind, tendencies, habits. So this freedom that we are seeking is simply freedom from our own thought habits.
Now this method can be used very easily by anyone. It's really a simple method to use. We start by letting go or changing a very simple habit.
For instance, if we always go to work on a certain street, tomorrow we start going to work on another street. Or if we want to take a deeper habit, we can choose a food that we have been eating that we know we would be better off not eating. And we mentally say, “Well this I let go of as of today.” And we stop eating that food.
Breaking that habit is breaking a bondage. Breaking that habit is breaking an unconscious thing that's going on. Breaking an unconscious enslavement to prior thoughts. Any habit whatsoever enslaves us.
A master is free. He determines anything at the moment in accordance with the circumstances that he meets at that moment. Whereas most of us, we determine things by our feelings and things that have happened in the past by our habits.
So by beginning to break habits, we begin to break bondages that are unconscious. I think this is a method that's excellent and can be used every day to free us. And eventually it would carry us all the way to complete realization. We would become totally free. — There would be no more unconscious mind. There would be no more past tendency. We would be in control.
As I said, this is a relatively easy method because you can start with any habit you choose. You can start with an easy habit. As you practice it, it becomes easier to do. Then you can go after deeper habits and deeper habits. Again, I say it's a very simple and practical method that can take us very, very far.
Now, a master's body is a body of pure energy. And we look at it, and it looks exactly like our body. But in composition, it isn't, and if a scientist were able to look at it, he would see a far more purified state of energy where the total cells of the body are all in harmony. — Everything is functioning together very harmoniously.
As our bodies are now, there's a tremendous amount of disharmony, which is evidenced by sickness, pain, discomfort, heaviness. When we have a body of light, a body of purity, we feel no weight in the body. If we want to move it, it moves instantly, without effort. — If you lifted your hand up, there'd be no energy. It would feel as though it just floats up on its own.
So there is a physical change that goes on in the body. It goes from gross matter into pure energy.
Now, every master has a body of light, so as not to startle us, so as not to put themselves too far away from us. They don't show us what they can do, but they can instantly be anywhere they want to with that body. Or they can instantly make as many bodies just like that one as they choose.
But again, I say they don't do it because it puts them too far above us, and we tend to say, “Oh, that's all right for you, master. You're a master, you're God, but what about us poor mortals?” And a master looks at us and sees that we are masters just like he is, just acting as though we are not.
And so as not to put a gap between us, a master doesn't show what he can do with that body. But because that body is a body of pure energy, because it's in a state of harmony, he can do anything with that body without effort.
On the other extreme, the more we go away from that state of harmony, the more effort, the more difficulty we have in moving the body. The extreme of which is sickness and so forth and so on.
Speaking of sickness, could you illustrate to us how, if I felt sick, for example, I would think of my body?
Yes, if we feel sick, we can only feel that way if we have the thought, “I am sick.” Nothing but nothing manifests in this world without a thought prior to it. It is impossible to hold on to a sickness without holding on to the thought of that sickness. And the moment you let go of the thought of that sickness, no matter how severe it is, that sickness is gone.
And I'm sure most of us have gone through situations — where we were really aching and sick, and something came about that took our interest intensely. We forgot about the sickness for a moment and felt fine.
Any time anything comes in that's of much more interest than the sickness, we forget it and the sickness is gone. I believe most of us have had experiences of that sort.
The easiest thing in the universe to do is a miracle. And the reason for that is it is effortless. It's only when we get to the point where we can be without effort that miracles happen to us.
And because it's effortless, it's the easiest thing to do. And the only reason why we don't do them now is the strong conviction that we cannot. So what we need to do is to let go of all these concepts of limitation. Peel off the covers over this infinite self that we are.
Even natives in the South Sea Isles perform these miracles. It doesn't take a master, it doesn't take a godlike person to do a miracle. We know that these natives run over red hot coals with their bare feet and are not burnt. There are natives that use telepathy to talk from island to island.
There is magic used in a negative way. They call it black magic, voodoo, where people are able to kill people mentally. But I should say that no one can do anything to us mentally unless we accept that they can do it to us. If you can convince me that with a thought you can hurt me, and I accept that, then you can. If I don't accept it, there's nothing you can do to me mentally.
Now the reason why natives who have no understanding of truth can use miracles is that each one of us has our base in God. Each one of us is the infinite, limitless being that we are, and therefore anyone can tap that source.
As we grow towards mastership we become more and more conscious of this, and then we can use this with far more ease and to a much better direction.
But I want to get back to the basic point of the evening. — To get this realization we must peel off the thousands and thousands of layers of negative thoughts that we we are not a master. All these concepts of limitation are now with us in what we call our subconscious mind.
The subconscious mind is nothing but all the thoughts we have that we are not looking at right now. Through necessity or convenience we have set up that mechanism of taking all the thoughts we are not interested in at the moment and pushing them to the background — which we call the subconscious mind.
But unfortunately the subconscious mind is active whether we look at it or not, and is effective and is holding us down even though we know we want to be totally free.
We are not able to move into it immediately because of the accumulation of all these thoughts — that we have pushed into the background and call the unconscious mind. Now the way to undo this as I said is “start with one habit — begin breaking that habit Now.”
When you succeed with that one habit take another habit. You'll discover that there are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of habits that we are enslaved to and that each time we let go of one habit we are a bit freer. We are one step closer to full freedom.
I like this method of habit breaking because there's nothing mysterious about it. It's simple and it's easy because ego wise we don't like to attack our ego. We don't like to let go of the ego.
But we can always take a habit that is a small habit and begin changing it. And the moment we do that we are doing away with a bit of ego. And therefore the drive in us for the self becomes a bit stronger.
And as we go along with this method we gain momentum. We gain strength. And then we move into what is called ‘Tapas’. — Discipline where we can start not eating when we're hungry and then eating when we are not hungry. Not going to sleep when we're tired and going to sleep when we're wide awake. This is a deeper layer of habit that we can attack.
To use this method and to suffer under — it is wrong! If I am a habitual smoker and I say, “Well, I'm not going to smoke.” and it just bothers me no end. I would be better off smoking than going through a constant trouble and struggle and negativity of thought of wanting it and not having it. It would put me down rather than up.
But when I start with these small habits of taking a different street of doing something small doing away with a small habit. Then I find out that I am capable of breaking a habit. And each time I break one habit it's easier to break the next. And then someday I can attack the smoking habit.
I think the one we're on today is the easiest one so far: “Start with one habit — begin breaking that habit Now.” And it's one that everyone can use every day. And if we start today we are starting with definite steps on the road to freedom.
By turning inward we begin to discover this great being that we are. And then when we discover that and we look outward we see no difference. — There is no difference between in and out when we discover the truth. There's no difference between the spiritual and the material when we discover the absolute truth. It's all one and the same. There's a total elimination of all differences. The top state is a state of non-difference. No differentiation.
But again I repeat the prime thing we could do is daily do something toward becoming freer. Toward letting go of a bit of ego. Where the ego rises not, there is the infinite Self.
Anytime you're in a state where the ego rises not but there is the infinite limitless omniscient omnipotent omnipresent being that you are.
But daily we must begin to let go of this ego. Daily we should let go of habits. Daily we must become freer and freer until we get to the point where we see these things that we are this infinite being. And then in one lump sum we drop the whole thing.
At first it's a chipping away, doing away with bit by bit until we get a clear enough sight of who and what we are. So that we use our will to drop the whole thing of limitation. And from that point on we are eternally free.
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