There Really is No Difference
Between Heart Devotion/Bhakti and Jnani.
We have a ‘holier than thou’ attitude. This will never do it. There really is no difference between a Bhakti and a Jnani. One Surrenders to God, and they have no other life. They realize that
whatever they do, it is God doing it. Therefore, It is Good. They never complain. They never think of their problems. They think of others, and their problems, rather than their own. And the other one realizes that the I is responsible for all of their problems, and for their existence. So, they trace the I back to it’s Source, to the Heart, and they become Free. At that stage there is a merging of both Bhakti and Jnana.
So a Bhakta is a Jnani, and a Jnani is a Bhakti.
Therefore, if you see a teacher who thinks they are better than anybody else, and they seem egotistical, be careful. Most Jnanis never take on a teaching role at all, and they have very little to
say, after all what is there to talk about?
The Words Have Value- Open You Heart so the Grace may enter. Just being is enough. Not being this, not being that, just being. Being at ‘satsang’. And whether I talk about ice cream or jelly beans it makes no difference. The words themselves have
value, because the sound of the words are the Grace that you fee. But, the meaning of the words are only interpreted in your mind. That is why, whatever I say is taken differently by each one of you. For it filters through your mind. And your Consciousness and your Being-ness mix with the words, and the words come out according to your way of life.
But, if you listen with no mind, then you get the true meaning. In other words, do not put too much value on everything I say.
But open your Heart so the Grace portion of it may enter, and you may pick it up and lift yourself upward.
How do you do this? Just by becoming still, by stopping the mental activity. And you may stop the mental activity by any method you know. If you like to do pranayama breathing, do
that. If you like to practice vipassana meditation, do that. You wish to observe your breath, do that. If you wish to practice Self Inquiry, do that. In other words, do whatever you have to do to
stop your mind from thinking.
The empty mind is not realization Vichara, Self Inquiry, is only to keep your mind from thinking. That is all it is. All the practices
of yoga lead to the place where you stop thinking. All of the higher religions are to make your thoughts one pointed. And when your mind stops, you become your SELF. You are Free. There are no rituals you have to go through really. You don’t have to chastise yourself and try to get rid of your guilt feelings, samskaras, or anything else. Identifying with an empty mind will do the job for you. But, the empty mind is not Realization. It is the step before Realization.
Realization is not an empty mind. Realization cannot be explained. Suffice it to say that Realization is beyond everything and anything you can ever imagine. But, if you achieve empty
mind, then you are on the way to Realization. At that stage the Guru within your SELF will pull you inwardly, and you will awaken to your SELF.
You see, I AM is your Real Nature. Therefore you do not have to try to bring it about. All you have got to do is to realize that this stuff that is holding you back, has to be given up. Everything has to go, your whole belief system. What are you holding on to? Think, what is in your mind that is so strong?
Fear, a job? All of these things are meaningless if you want to awaken. You will still have your job. You will still do whatever you came here to do. I have to emphasize this, because we always
believe, and the question that I get from most of you is that, “How will I function if I do what you say?” I keep telling you, “Have no fear, you will function.”
You will function much better than you can ever imagine. It is hard right now working with your ego, to think, “How can I function without a mind?” But you will. Here is something that cannot be explained in words. When you get to the Ultimate State, you become human like everybody else. That is why it is difficult to know what a Sage is, because a true Sage appears no
different than you and I.
The Ultimate State is functioning like everybody else, except there is something inside, there is something that makes you understand that you are like the mirror, and your body, your affairs, and everything else in the Universe is a reflection. You become both. It appears that you act out your human-hood, but you are not human. And this is the most difficult
state to explain. For it is beyond words. It is beyond thoughts. It is beyond reasoning.
~ Robert Adams ,Silence of the Heart
