What Is Self Realisation?
Transcript: Non-duality Self-Realisation Satsang Meeting
Yallingup - Margaret River - Western Australia
Seeker: "It feels kind of like there's a judgment of myself, feeling like I need to do… not just like I need to do more clearing, but like I should always be clearing. And if I'm not clearing, then I'm kind of doing myself a disservice. So putting hobbies and play and other things aside and saying, no I should be clearing instead."
There's a time when that's true.
“What do you want and what are you prepared to pay for it?”
What are your hobbies doing?
Are they going to bring you into touch with the ongoing thing that's full of love and contentment, and just knowing who you are?
Or are they just something to entertain the mind, and distract you from other things?
There's a time where that's all you do. There was a time where that's all I did; 12 - 14 hours a day clearing and then I went to Satsang. That's all I did.
So, if that's the impulse, do it. If that makes sense, do it. The hobbies and the toys and the playthings are all just part of the habitual thinking patterns and what you think you're supposed to be doing.
I used to say it all the time, this is like winning the grand final in Australia, you know, and winning five years in a row. It takes dedication. It's not something you just wander around doing.
“Very few people awaken because
they’re not prepared to do what it takes.”
What would you have to do to win five Grand Finals in a year?
If the Commonwealth Games was playing four years in a row, what would you have to do to win it, four years in a row?
You'd have to work everything out and schedule everything and just get super organised, super clear, super-efficient.
You wouldn’t do anything extra that doesn't need to be done, you’d hone in;
Focus, focus, focus.
We're in such a soft, fluffy, toy-ridden society. Everyone's distracted into so many directions. So, if clearing makes sense right now because there's a lot of stuff going on, do so, (this is not) for those that are floundering, wandering around, thinking they can pull this off flippantly.
If you're clear and fine play, enjoy. This is a difficult game make sure you play, have fun.
Go play with the toys, spend time with your girlfriend, whatever it is.
“When there’s work to be done, work.”
See, I've got a very addictive personality, so for me when I honed in, I honed in. It became very helpful, that personality trait.
Maybe not addictive, but very single-pointed.
When I wanted to make something happen, when I honed in, that was it. It was quite detrimental to everything else. I got to the point where I'd stopped honing in on things like building houses, or whatever was, building businesses and things like this.
I thought they're just roads to nowhere and then that same focus came onto this and then, it became a great resource.
It was a great resource for a long time because when you throw yourself into anything with intense focus, you learn a lot. You hurt a lot, you make a lot of mistakes when you throw yourself into the world and just get hit from so many angles. So, you can learn a lot. And you learn just as importantly what not to do, the hard way.
The teacher I had in Perth, he was the same. He had the same personality trait. Probably stronger than mine actually, in that way. Intensely focused, extreme even.
So, it's not a bad thing. But make sure you get your rest too, it's important.
Feedback from another Seeker: "I would add, well it's kind of just a different angle, but the whole point we're clearing, and putting so much energy into clear is, well, to heal, but in that, to experience the expansiveness of what it feels like when we are clear. So, when you do start to find that space, it is important to allow yourself the time to sink into it, without the guilt, or the constant feeling that you need to keep doing more because that just takes you straight back out again. That's what I have found anyway."
Exactly, you're talking about a lot of doing, with the clearing. Make sure you enjoy the not doing that comes from it. The beauty of not doing that comes from it. Good point.
“It’s actually a really good point, you really need to get used to being comfortable in beingness, or in space, and allowing that.”
Because the mind is not okay with it, and it's not used to it. And the system is not used to it. So you need to get used to it, retrain the system. So if there's space there, trying to be with it without interruption.
When you find that space it becomes, how do I hold this, in between the intensity of my clearing?
But also play.
“That’s not easy. To hold a space, and move through the world is not easy. ”
It gets easier, it becomes normal, but early on it's very difficult, very challenging.
So then, the not doing becomes a challenge.
It may be active, but in a not doing way.
The way of no way.
Keywords: Self-Realisation, Spiritual Path, Yoga, Buddhism, Spiritual Awakening