Can You Stop Being? Ananta Book
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About Ananta Ananta gives satsang with the blessings of his Master, Mooji. He lives in Bangalore, India with his wife and son and daughter. He offers in-person satsangs twice monthly in Bangalore and occasionally in Pune, India. On-line satsangs on Youtube with Google Hangout and Youtube chat participation are offered Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 11 am and Tuesday and Thursday at 4:30 pm Bangalore, India time. Satsang with Ananta Youtube channel and satsang link is: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmc83jyrwpCNBT2xywXVoLg/feed Website: www.anantasatsang.org Facebook site: https://www.facebook.com/satsangwithananta This book is a distillation of full satsangs between Ananta and the sangha or guests who came to ask questions and be in his Presence. All “in quotes” are shorted questions from those attending. Can You Stop Being? Table of Contents Preface: Self-Inquiry The Core Aspects of What We Speak About Here Chapter 1: What is Enlightenment? 11 Witnessing 14 Am I Aware Now? 20 An Individual ‘I’ Never Existed 24 Spiritual Identity is Ego 29 The Satsang ‘Channel’ 32 Off with the Head! 38 It is Done 39 The Ultimate Choice 45 True Independence 49 People Change Chapter 2: Who is Witnessing? 53 You Are This Pure Witnessing 56 It is the Most Obvious 58 Satsang Style Games 65 Are You a Person? 69 About Surrender 76 From Self-Inquiry to Joy Beyond Words 79 The Person Concept 85 Just Let Go of Your Next Thought 90 Who is Speaking? To Whom? 95 It’s Not a Personal Understanding Chapter 3: Beautiful Neutrality 100 Emotions 102 Simple, Simple, Simple 105 Can You Stop Being Now? 109 One Doer, One Experiencer 114 Can You Stop Witnessing? 118 ‘Person’ is a Presumption 124 Clarity Has Emerged 128 All Happens in This 131 Freedom is Always in the Now 133 All is Grace Chapter 4: Master Key 136 Doubt 140 Divine Love Has No Need 146 Ego Needs to be Special 151 It’s Only You that You Want 155 Give Me All Your Problems 158 The Master Key 164 This Silence Cannot Be Disturbed 168 There is No Person 175 How to Become Miserable Very Fast Chapter 5: It’s All About You-as-Presence 179 What a Silly Question! 185 Withdrawing Belief from Thoughts 189 You Are Your Own Destination 193 Convert This Belief to Disbelief 198 Your Own Being is the Satguru 203 Complete Surrender/Devotion 208 About Money 211 Supremely Simple Satsang 214 Dissolving the Seeker Identity 219 Consciousness Speaking with Consciousness Chapter 6: It is All Grace 224 Come to This Heart 228 All Questions Dissolve in This 233 Washing Machine of Consciousness 238 Drop All Effort 240 The Call of Advaita 244 You-as-Awareness 249 Untouched by Maya 255 You Are Only Just Watching 258 Just Enjoy the Movie 263 No Excuse for Suffering Now 266 This Sober Seeing Preface Self-Inquiry When we say 'Self Inquiry' what is it that we are really saying? What is the inquiry really about? What is it that we want to find out? Ultimately, what we are looking for is an answer to the root question. We start off by looking for an answer to the root question which is 'Who am I?' We can say 'Who am I?' or even we can say 'What am I?' So, the inquiry starts off with this simple question. It is greatly auspicious, in this play, when there is openness towards the simple question 'Who am I?' There must already be some seeing, isn't there? There must be some seeing that 'I cannot be this person'. Only then can there be an openness to this question. If there is total conviction in the belief of being an ego, total conviction in the belief of being a 'person', then the question will face so much resistance. And because this question faces so much resistance, it is good to have a Master who you have faith in, who you trust, who you love. Because if the question is asked by somebody that you trust, that you love, then this trust and this love will help in overcoming the resistance coming from your own mind. The Inquiry is just a simple questioning about our true nature: What am I in reality? Initially there seems to be a process prescribed as to how this inquiry can be done, and this aligns very well with the ancient Indian process called 'Neti-Neti' which means 'Not that-Not that'. Basically what we are saying is that whatever is clearly not me we are keeping aside. We say 'This world which is appearing through my senses, this world of objects and phenomena, is ever changing, but I am here witnessing this change. I am the constant in this, but this world is ever- changing. Therefore, I cannot be this’. We say 'Not that’. In one swoop we have thrown out all the phenomenal existence of the world saying 'I am not that’. Then we turn inward and we see 'What else could I be?’ ‘What else could I be if I am not an object in the world?' Also, when we look at the body, we see that 'I cannot be just the sum of what I seem to have eaten. I cannot be just made up of the food that has been consumed. There is something more to me than that. This body is also constantly changing and I am the witness of this change also. This body is changing all the time, but I am looking at this and I don't seem to be changing. Therefore, I cannot be this body’. So we say 'Not the world and not the body also’ which is part of the appearance. ‘Then, what else can I be?’ 'Can I be the thoughts? A thought would come and a thought could go. It is constantly coming and going. It is coming and it is going and there seems to be a witnessing of these thoughts. I seem to be the witness of these thoughts. I don't seem to be the content of it. Therefore even this thought, I am not. The mind appears to be only a bundle of these thoughts. These thoughts: including thoughts of past which is called memory, thoughts like imagination; all these are also witnessed by me, but I don't seem to be any of them. So I am not that also. Then, who am I? I am not the world. I am not the body. I am not the thoughts’. 'Then, who am I?' 'What else is there? Can I be my emotions? One minute there is anger, another minute there is joy, another time there is frustration, and another time there is peace. I am aware of all of this and I seem to be the witness of these. It does not seem like I am any of these changing emotions also. Therefore, I am not that. Then, who am I? Not these emotions also’. 'Then, who am I?' Then I see that, prior to all of this, there appears to be the sense that I Am. Only when I Am, all these other phenomena come into play. It seems like I Am Being. That there is a Being here. This Being seems to have a beautiful Presence, a pure innocence unassociated with any other concept; just the pure Beingness itself, just the sense that ‘I Am’. It is not the thought 'I am'. Many of us mistake the sense ‘I Am’ to be the thought 'I am'. This Being is prior to thought. The simplest way to become aware of this Being is to ask: 'Can I stop being now?' ‘There can be a time when there is no thought, but I am still being. Isn't it? I am still Being’. This Being is ever-present. In the waking states and the dream state, this Being is always present. But even then we ask: ‘Is there is something which is aware of even this pure Being?’ There is awareness of this pure Consciousness itself. Isn't it? Even this Consciousness seems to come and go. When I am asleep, then even this presence 'I Am' is not there. But I am aware of its presence and of its absence also. I am able to report that in deep sleep, it was not there. So, I am not even this Consciousness. 'Then, who am I?' What seems to be left now is only the pure Witnessing of all of this. There is a witnessing of all of this. It is the Witnessing itself which is witnessing itself. Therefore in the simple question 'Are you aware now?' we see that Awareness is aware of itself. This Awareness seems to be all there is: the unmoving, untouched witnessing to all that exists. 'I am this which no words can accurately describe'. This simple seeing is the fruit of the Self Inquiry. Om, Shanti, Shanti, Shanti. So, we see that the inquiry starts off with a question, but if all that you have at the end of the inquiry is a verbal answer, then that smart answer is not the end of the inquiry. It is just the simple seeing that: I am this pure Witnessing itself. I am this pure Awareness itself. In this simple seeing there is no room left for a personal identity. No ‘person’ can exist here at all. ~ Ananta Core Aspects of What We Speak About Here Let me share some core aspects of what we speak about here.