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*** Don't to allow the 'I' to take 'YOU' over ***

Everything you grab in this world is like sand. It seems so real. And then your emotions grab a hold of it and give it more power, so that the maya becomes stronger and stronger and stronger, until you're in such a state that it takes you many incarnations to get rid of all the fears, all the frustrations, thoughts about the past, samskaras.

You have made these things real for you, but they do not exist. None of these things are real, but you have made them real. You've done it to yourself.

Therefore when you leave your body, you appear to go through an astral plane, and you take a rest. You meet your long lost relatives, that you couldn't stand. And then you go onwards and go back into a body again. And you continue, and continue, and continue. But it's a lie. You are making it the truth. It is your truth because you believe in this, and you refuse to let go.

Therefore the mature aspirant of Jnana will always work with their 'I'.

That's where it begins.

Trace the source of 'I'.

Where did my 'I' come from?

Watch it.

Observe it.

Watch when you get up in the morning.

You feel so peaceful in the beginning, but as soon as you start to think about 'I', all your problems, your troubles in the world, gang up on you.

But if you begin to catch yourself, grab hold of the 'I',

"Where did it come from? Where did it just come from?

A moment ago I was at peace.

A moment ago everything was all right, but now I'm worried, I'm upset, I'm thinking about my job, my future, my finances, my health.

Where did the 'I' come from that thinks about these things?" and trace the 'I' back, back into the heart, which is the source.

People have asked me what they are supposed to look for in the heart?

Well, remember the heart we're talking about is on the right side of your chest, two digits from the center, that's your spiritual heart, that's the source.

The 'I' comes out of there.

So don't follow the 'I' externally, follow the 'I' internally.

You see the difference?

Don't go catching the 'I' as it thinks about the world.

Reverse the procedure.

You want to follow the 'I' back to its source.

So, you can see the source as a brilliant light a thousand times more brilliant than the sun.

You can imagine the 'I' going back into that light, merging with the light.

Or, if you're bhakti-inclined, devotional, you can think of your favorite saint or Sage, and see your heart center as that Sage, and the 'I' goes back into the Sage or into the light.

The Sage absorbs your 'I'.

I can assure you that if you practice this only a little bit, you'll have some amazing results.

But for some reason, most people have to be on a spiritual path for years practicing some form of yoga before they can come to that stage where they can follow the 'I' back into the source.

Yet there are those people who do not have to be like that.

There have been those people who have had no previous experience.

They were just able to see that the source of their 'I' is the Self.

And they became liberated that instant.

The secret is not to allow the 'I' to take you over.

How does the 'I' take you over?

You begin to allow it to identify with worldly things, and you do that by thinking about them.

Now, as an example, you got up in the morning and you start to think you've got to conserve water, you've got to pay your rent, you've got to buy new clothes, and a million other things about 'I', 'I', 'I'.

But if you keep remembering that all worldly things are attached to the 'I', you become introverted, and the 'I' goes back into the source.

Once the 'I' goes back into the source, even for a few moments at first, you become joyously happy.

You have much peace and harmony.

You feel it immediately.

In the beginning it might not last, but at least you had it for a few moments, and you are able to prove the truth of what I'm saying.

And some of you have told me you've been able to do this for a few moments, and you felt a joy, and a bliss, and a peace, that you never felt before.

You're beginning to feel your Self, your real Self.

As you continue to do this every day, especially when you wake up in the morning, those periods will last longer and longer.

They will expand, and you will be able to rest in that space, which is called the fourth state of consciousness, the gap between sleeping and waking.

You will be able to stay there for longer periods of time, and you will feel what I'm talking about.

Yet there are some of you who do no practice whatsoever.

If you are a bhakta you really don't have to.

All you've got to do is surrender, total surrender, which leads to the same thing.

But if you're an aspiring Jnani, and you want to get it over with, grab hold of your 'I', follow it to the source, and become free, totally and completely.

~ Robert Adams