Uncover yourself🔗

To tell you honestly: you are not going to surrender to me. The disciple never surrenders to the Master. He only surrenders to himself. But as of now, you do not know who you are, so if I tell you to surrender to yourself, you will not be able to fully understand. The moment you surrender to the Master, you will be thrown back to your self. The Master is the path back to your Self. Guru Bhakti - devotion towards the Master - suddenly leads to Atma Bhakti - devotion towards the Self.

An old devotee tells swamiji that there are times when he is not quite sure who he is following. 'There are times when I feel like I am following You', he says, 'and there are other times when I feel like I am following myself.'

You see: whether you follow yourself or you follow me, there is no difference. It is as if you are looking into a clear, still pond. When you stare deep into the pond, your reflection stares back at you. So who are you looking at; the pond or yourself? If you understand this one truth, you will understand the relationship between the Master and disciple.

The Master is the pond. He is a mirror which the disciple can simply look into and see his own reflection. Understand?

You are looking at me only to see yourself. And this is why I am going on telling you to surrender. You are not surrendering to me; you are only surrendering to yourself. It is just like a mirror. A mirror has to reflect you; otherwise it cannot be called a mirror. So the only purpose for your looking at me is to look at yourself. As you look at my face, your real face will be revealed to you. Then the mirror is no longer needed because you have seen yourself.

And this is what being a disciple means; to simply look at the Master and lose your self. The Master will reflect what you already are.

When I say look at the Master, I mean be with him. But in the ashram, there are a few guys who sit around and just look at me while the others discuss their doubts. They will go on gazing at me. I call it 'gazing meditation'! As you go on gazing, you will simply drop my form and turn inwards. But you must not get caught up with the form and forget you are looking at a mirror. Simply gaze at me with the deep feeling that you are experiencing yourself.

A brahmachari says that there are times when he feels like he is fighting with swamiji.

Actually you are not fighting with me; you are fighting with the transformation. You are afraid there is no way back to what you have always lived with. And you know there is no way back. This is why there is a fight.

It is a battle against yourself. Your pseudo self will go on being defeated, yet it will go on trying. The Master is a reflection of you. So it will feel like you are fighting with me.

As of now, there are two patterns within you: the artificial and the natural. If you are open and allow the Master to do his work on you, he will effortlessly pull the natural from its depths and bring it to the surface. But if you continue to fight, you will nurture the artificial and it will only take longer. Understand: because you have two different things within you, there is an inner fight, an inner argument. One side wants to be open and receptive and the other side wants to remain closed and sealed off.

It is like you are a mirror, a shiny mirror. But through the years, dust has collected. If you become open to the Master and allow him to do his work, he will simply wipe your mirror clean. But if you go on fighting and resisting, more dust will accumulate. And poor guy, he has to wipe that also!

So just become receptive and allow your mirror to be wiped clean. Then you will be able to see with more clarity. You will be able to see that I am you - there is no difference. And if I am you, with whom are you fighting? There is no one to fight with!

One more thing: in the presence of the Master, all the emotions which you have been carrying your whole life will come up. And they will be more total than what you have experienced before. This is why your mood changes so frequently when you are with me. Society has taught you to allow only certain emotions and suppress others. Here, all the emotions will come up and be chiseled; all of the emotions will be worked on.

What you project yourself to be and what emotions lie within you are two separate things. And it is a very powerful technique to be in the Master's presence because everything will come up and be expressed totally. When it is expressed, it will pass.

There was once a very powerful king. Despite his power and wealth, he wisely chose to be a disciple of a Master. He often visited the Master to receive guidance. The fact that he was king did not matter and had no effect on the relationship as a Master and disciple. One day, during his usual visit, the king asked, 'Master, what is ego according to our ancient truths?'

The Master's face turned red and in a very arrogant tone he shouted, 'Fool! What kind of an idiotic question was that?' His response shocked the king and he became serious and angry. The Master then smiled and said, 'This is ego.'

If you go on fighting, you will just be defeated faster because if you are fighting with me, you are fighting with yourself!

Sometimes the fish swim against the river's currents and sometimes they flow along with the current. But either way, the fish is in the water. Whether you go along with me or you resist me, you are still here; you are still in the water. If you want to waste your energy in swimming against the currents, go ahead and tire yourself out. Once you are tired, you will flow with the current. But understand one thing: you are still in the water!

As I told you earlier, life with me will not always be a honeymoon. There will be many ups and downs. And there will be times when you will be sitting in front of me and you will feel like you are not with me. You will even feel like I don't care for you at all. There will be many emotions which come up. Everything that has been lying within you will now come up. But unless all this gets churned and comes out, you will not be free from them.

When my work on you is happening, you will feel like escaping; you will feel like dropping everything and running. Be clear: by hiding from me, you are only escaping from yourself; you are only hiding from yourself. Ultimately, it is your choice. You can either hide or allow. By hiding, you will only miss. If you allow, the transformation will happen.

A devotee says he never feels satisfied no matter what happens.

First thing: I do not teach satisfaction. I teach you how to be contented. They are two completely different things. Satisfaction is a part of the ego, but to be content comes from deep within, much beyond ego. You can create satisfaction but you cannot create contentment. It has to happen on its own. And it will come when you experience total discontentment with full awareness.

When you are talking about satisfaction, you are actually talking about wanting more. When you are talking about contentment, you are talking about a settled state within which doesn't need any 'more'. It already has everything that is needed.

And this is the meaning of realizing. It means to live in awareness in any situation. This is what I am continuously teaching you. I am telling you to live and enjoy the bliss which lies within you. When you do this, you are content every moment. There is no need to search for any 'more'; there is no need to go in search of bliss. It is within you every moment! Bliss is not something that can be found, because it is already there.