Wisdom Teachings - Sat Yoga, Costa Rica

Student Question:  In your teaching you said that consciousness is bound to the ego, and I was wondering how that works?

Student Question:  Why is it that there are people like monks who are living in Monasteries who have committed their lives to a path but have not achieved liberation?

Student Question:  Can you talk about autistic people and what has happened with them internally and what their experience is like?

Student Question:  What is phobia?

Student Question:  What is the purpose and function of illusion?

Excerpt:  “It is said that there are many paths.  It is also said there are no paths. And it is also said that there is only one disguised as many…  And here we teach what has historically been considered the most direct understanding of Self-realization and liberation…  Liberation from suffering and that means liberation from illusion….  And so to say that a path is the most direct path is to say that you are not going through any indirect intellectual concepts or belief systems or practices that require you to believe that there is someone who is trying to achieve something because that is already the illusion that we are trying to break free of….  And so if you carry that further you come to the recognition that all concepts are false because they are indirect representations of what is, rather than simply being what is….  What is, is Emptiness….  There is an awareness, if you want to call it that, or consciousness that is prior to all the objects that appear in consciousness, because no objects

Student Question:  Can you define self-esteem?

Student Question:  You said tonight that it in meditation it doesn't really matter if you do not experience something amazing and the truth is that I have never experienced anything like that.  All I can say is that I feel better and I am not even interested in putting it into words how I feel better, but sometimes a question does arise - How do I know that I am growing?

Student Question:  Do we have to understand to really let something go?

Student Question:  How are we supposed to learn from people who complicate our lives?  Is it a case of seeing the way not to behave and the way not to treat other people?

Student Question:  What is the egos relationship to money and how can we develop a more authentic relationship with it then what it currently represents in society today?

Student Question:  My whole life I was taught that we are human beings who are here to live a human experience.  I mean as human beings we are afraid and we cry and experience anger and all of those things that supposedly define human beings, as well as having an ego.  But here in Sat Yoga what I have learned, and I don’t know if I am misunderstood, but we are divine beings?  The Atman, the True Self is the Divine.  My question is, are we truly human beings?  What defines human nature?  Do we want to separate from the human experience and focus more on the divine self?

Student Question:  How do you define humility, and is it something that you can cultivate, or does it come from the heart?  Sometimes when I feel that I am practicing it, for example, if someone says something that I know is untrue, or feel that they are judging me or an injustice has been done, but I keep silent, after a while when I am alone I feel really sad and I cry.

Student Question:  We learn here that every issue that one experiences in life comes from the root idea of separateness from god.  Can carrying through with one particular issue and using all of our focus and will power  to follow that to its core and not letting the mind become distracted be enough to then in turn dissolve other issues that are all somehow intertwined?

Student Question:  Sometimes in relationships you can recognize that you are acting out and that the relationship is illusory but there is a great strength that you cannot leave that illusion.  It seems like you still like to stay in that place.  I am wondering if one cannot go beyond that illusion because one has not gone deep enough into the silence, or if there is something else that you can elaborate on?

Student Question:  Sometimes if we observe Maya it seems like there is a higher purpose even within itself.  Is this higher purpose to be a waking of the mind?  Is that the only purpose of it?

I have read about so many spiritual teachers and gurus who have woken up because of suffering?  Is that just the old fashion way to do it?  I know of five or six who got to the point where they were so miserable and they didn't want to live anymore and then they were able to see through.  What are your thoughts on that?

Excerpt:  “We are here to meditate together.  Do we all know what that means?  It is very simple, we tend to make very complex ideas and make it difficult for ourselves.  It is the simple clarification of what is meant by the word ‘I.’ That is all; nothing more difficult than that...  And so a good meditation is when clarity is achieved; that is all.  Don’t think a good meditation means you are seeing lights and you’re in some trance or you have achieved some exalted sublime state.  No.  Clarity on the nature of ‘I’ and you’re done, because when that is clear there’s really no one left to meditate anymore…  Everyone seems to use the word ‘I’ a lot, but do we know what we mean when that word comes out of the mouth or in thought?  Do you know what it means?....  As Sri Ramana says, tiny little word - and because we get it wrong - we don’t know accurately what it means - all the suffering in the world is created by one tiny mistake.  So if you want to end all the suffering in the world, just get clarit

Excerpt: “The Self comes under no laws, but is the source of all genuine law. And that law is naturally holocentric because it serves no individual, it plays no favorites. The Self is therefore the source of divine order and it brings about unity, fairness, justice, community. Community is only possible from and as the presence of divine love. No humans can create community – no human egos – they can only distort and pervert the love that is our true legacy, destiny, identity.” Recorded on the afternoon of Monday, February 27, 2012.

Student Question:  You spoke about how the most important thing is to have a desire for realizing the Self.  I found that while I was meditating I really needed to have an image or something that I could focus on so that I could center all of my desire into that and try to realize the self, but I couldn't find anything?