Anubhavananda speaks on Ashtavakra Gita Chapter 1 & 2 in the UK

I have watched all 20 of these lectures and learned many things from this wonderfully brilliant enlightened master. As each embodiment of the One has its own flavor of temperament, I would say that Anubhavananda is a bit of a maverick sage. He clears many confused areas and is quite blunt, perhaps meant for a more advanced audience. I consider the videos he has offered up for free of extraordinary value, priceless.

Here are a summation of my quickly scribbled notes that I took while listening. [My comments & explanations are in brackets.] I hope they will be of some value to you and if so, will encourage you to watch his lectures for yourself.

It is the transmission of the intensity of his consciousness that will enlighten the listener. You may think he is rejecting the world, but you will discover he rejects its ‘reality’ in the sense that under the delusion “We are the Doer” we get attached and drawn into unending polarities, pleasure-pain, likes-dislikes, etc. The liberated enlightened still live in the world and act if they so choose, but remain unaffected.

Anubhavananda:

Anubhava = unbroken presence

anu = continuous; and bhava = to be

“Happiness is the sign of God realization.”

“There is nothing to be gained in this world.”

The two most important understandings in spiritual Life are:

* Freedom from body identification: We are not the physical body. We are not even the ‘spirit’ body. The Sanskrit word for spirit body <sharira> in fact means that which is perishable. Only the One is eternal - and That is our Real Being.

* This notion of an individual soul is complete ignorance. There is nothing like an individual soul. There is not one soul per body! There is only the One Soul expressing through multiple bodies. We are all that one Soul.

***

Live as consciousness effortlessly.

You are Bliss right now!

Don’t live as the body; don’t live identified with the body.

Forget reincarnation!

[Our other lives belong to the realms of the temporal and the illusory, Prakriti’s Matrix.]

You are the Conscious Reality that is Bliss - PEACE.

Be at Peace with yourself.

Freedom from bondage resides in Peace.

Liberation MOKSHA is being Happy!

Moksha is now and here and nowhere.

[Not in the past or the future.]

You are not in words or even Silence - you are Beyond.

***

Get rid of body identification.

You cannot fix anything or help anyone. [Everything is God, the One enjoying their own adventure in Space/Time. You think you will change God’s Will? That is spiritual ego. Be compassionate by all means, and give to others as you please. But don’t imagine that you are the ‘Doer’ and expect to win heaven or merit by your deeds.]

The ‘identity selves’ who are identified with the body are fictitious.

We need to relax, be happy and “play” spiritual Life!

Worldly things and life can only influence us when we identify with the body.

[“I have gained this” and “I have lost that” are temporal delusions. We are never anything but the One Soul manifesting throughout the universe.]

When we are free from body identification, no one should be able to influence us [make us sad, depressed or hurt] and that is real Freedom.

When we live as [God]-Consciousness, nothing will disturb us.

We will be Happy, at Peace and Blissful.

The concepts of hell and heaven are not truth.

Truth is not for cowards!

[The Kashmir Shaivite master Lakshmanjoo also says this. Lakshmanjoo has said that Truth is for warriors.]

We are fit, [not recoiling from the world or our responsibilities] and yet we reject the whole world [as an illusion we are in fact constantly creating with the Mind & the sense organs, much like virtual reality].

Liberate yourself from ‘silly notions’ about yourself such as good/bad, etc.

Practice Wisdom Knowledge 24/7.

[In every moment be aware; practice knowing you are not the body but in fact the One that pervades All.]

Leave all classifications, like brahmacharya, Sanyasa, etc. [these become identities that tie us to the temporal] and live as a human being [with no ‘titles’ of personal identification.]

Insist on being Happy!

Don’t be a slave to any sense organ.

Be unattached!

Attachment is an Illusion.

Remain in utter Awareness.

Ignore matter, Prakriti's domain, [the matrix.]

Spiritual practices are our undoing, [they are in ‘form’ and become stale useless.]

Truth is Formless!

Truth is the Divine Potentiality that is the one Reality and our essential nature.

We are That.

Nothing is ours.

Through Wisdom Knowledge we withdraw from the world, we reject the world [understanding that there is nothing to be gained in the world because whatever we gain will be lost], and thus we gain Freedom [from Samsara, death & birth.]

Religion is used to control the masses through the doctrines of sin and dharma, guilt and fear.

[The One that we are is Beyond all polarities, all judgements.]

God and Wisdom co-exist in Spirituality.

Guilt makes you fearful; [you will be punished, etc.].

Cause and effect are an illusion [in the polarity Matrix - we are not that].

Time is another Bluff!

Don’t get lost in [concepts] of heaven & hell and reincarnation [which are all a part of the temporal realms, not the eternal One.]

No one is ever born; only the body is born.

Think of the body as an apartment you are renting for a short time.

Joy & sorrows are also illusions, not real, only relative polarities.

That which is not included in the mind does not exist for us.

Things enter our mind when we give attention to anything or anybody.

The mind only values the polarities and they exist only in the mind; they are not us.

You are not ‘the Doer’.

Don’t ‘DO’ meditation; then you are the Doer.

Live in meditation.

Control the mind.

Give up the notion that we have done something.

Give up the idea of cause and effect.

Things only happen because of the Divine Being [which pervades All.]

Don’t get lost in ‘karma’!

All that happens is God’s Grace.

[The great masters who say that in the end, their Enlightenment was due to Grace.]

The authority of the Lord surpasses the Law of Karma.

Karma is foolishness.

Don’t get lost in karma.

Unless there is Divine Sanction, nothing can ever happen in this world.

This world doesn’t need us.

We need to work, but with humility.

Things do not move because of us [our ego].

Change yourself, not the world!

Everything we do is done solely for our inner purification.

Keep the mind occupied [with the sacred texts or what will lift the frequency of your consciousness. I have noticed that many masters spend their lives either reading the sacred texts, translating them, or writing similar. Keep your thoughts in the Real.].

***

Changing oneself is the Spiritual Life.

Get rid of the notion of ‘Doer-ship’.

Joys and sorrows are our own choice.

No one can make us miserable unless we allow that.

Be at Peace and gain your Freedom.

View life as a “time-pass”!

It is only the ego that suffers.

God has no ego.

God is Bliss and is never depressed.

Only fools are disturbed by others.

We do nothing.

Even a blade of grass grows by Divine Will [because there is nothing else.]

The is no happiness in ego; less ego, more happiness.

A clear understanding is our guidance.

“Play” meditation.

Be happy.

Be sincere - not serious.

The highest spiritual achievement is to be Happy!

Let the Divine express through you.

You are not the body.

You are the embodied.

Have no doubt!

Doubt is the forest of ignorance.

Don’t give importance to anything in this world.

[The Kashmir Shaivite Lakshmanjoo refused to read a newspaper.]

You will be disturbed.

There is no need for struggle.

We were never the body.

Stop trying to prove anything to others!

The Wise are Happy.

And the Fool is Happy!

This world is nothing but the Divine Presence.

We are that Supreme Bliss in which the whole world is appearing.

We are here for a VACATION!

[The God-within me said this exact same thing to me many years ago. I laughed.]

Prepare to die happily!

Be eager to come Home.

[Come Home to the One we have always been.]

See the Joy of Life.

[Anubhavananda considers his own Heart his favorite home.]

Miserable people are only seeking attention.

They are not unhappy.

[Could you ever actually ‘fix’ anything for anyone?]

Don’t tell your miseries to the world.

The ego of “goodness” [the dutiful do-gooder] is terrible.

Always be a Seeker!

Don’t be a guru. That closes doors.

The process of learning never ends.

***

As long as there is a ‘Doer’ there is karma.

Purity of the mind will get rid of the sense of Doer-ship.

Live life as a ‘time-pass’!

There is nothing to achieve; don’t be ‘doing’ meditation.

Don’t involve [the small identity-self] “I” sense.

Remain aware.

Action without ‘Doer’ is God.

Only a deluded fool thinks ‘I am doing…’

This ‘I’ [small identified with the body] is the poison in our system.

God is looking for a good instrument.

The Divine Principle will express through us and we will disappear.

Delusion brings suffering.

We live in a waking dream, as if it is real.

[Enlightened masters] no longer live in the contents of the world; the world exists in their Wisdom.

Start ‘playing’ that you are infinite space.

Every experience is meditation and a chance to learn.

[We are constantly ‘testing’ our own self-mastery.]

Don’t react [to anything!] as that entangles us, our own thinking in our own creation.

Spiritual practice is a process of deleting.

We make our own life miserable [by assuming all these illusory identities - wife,

husband, son, sister, etc.]

How can we be miserable when we are identified with infinite space?

Nothing can influence us [make us miserable and steal our Peace].

Live in meditation.

Ask yourself, “To whom do these thoughts belong?”

None of the mathematical laws apply to the Infinite.

Enjoy the [God] game of Life.

Win & Lose with equanimity.

The world is polarities.

The Infinite One is our essential nature.

Don’t over-do your spiritual practices.

We are not bound by anything, so why should we struggle for anything!

Don’t struggle for liberation.

Peace is the absence of desire, greed, anger.

It is the Eternal Presence.

Why struggle when we are not bound.

Just be Happy!

***

Be indifferent to thoughts.

“Play” being space.

Space supports all forms, but has no form.

Duality or multiplicity is only possible in the finite, not in the infinite.

We are that ‘space’ supporting all forms, the substratum that supports all changes, but does not change.

That changeless substratum is our essential nature.

We are not doing things.

We are only remaining in that awareness.

Our ‘Presence’ is not cognized by thought.

The Absolute is beyond cause & effect.

Nothing else is but the Self.

Live in God without fear, greed, desire…

Self-awareness does not have to struggle for concentration.

***

Visions do occur in the mind in meditation; they have absolutely no value.

[This was my experience. For so many years in the Eye of my Mind, I saw lights, dancing forms, etc. and lights in the room emitted from my meditation table. But one day I realized I was the same old person with the same compulsive behavior patterns that had haunted me all my life. Therefore, I gave up my ‘practice’ of seeing visions. Pretty lights and astral entities wont get you Home. Only the realization that you are the One and not the temporal small self/body.]

Expand to dissolve and disappear.

Be Happy is spiritual practice.

Our identities are only in our imagination.

Don’t identify with the body.

Undivided experience is our essential nature.

Everything is inside me - nothing is outside.

Then possessions and relations will never bother us!

Dispassion for worldly things and beings automatically happens.

Maturity of discrimination leads to detachment.

Live at zero complaint level!

With no expectations.

Say no!

Have the guts to say no.

Anything that disturbs us is not worth seeking in Life.

Be clothed in Dispassion.

When the mind is agitated, we are only reacting.

Our knowledge is based on fluctuating images.

Our possessions and relations are the burden which tie us down to this world.

Don’t get entangled with any being.

Discover your freedom.

We have done nothing.

Accept the world as it is.

Dissolve our individuality.

Don’t struggle.

Be free from efforts.

All efforts dissolve into the Infinite.

Don’t ‘bless’ others.

Are you superior?

Don’t try to solve anybody’s problems.

Remain in Peace.

Don’t try to justify anything to anybody.

Wise people never get disturbed.

Forgiveness is a low state.

It implies wrong doing.

Love can do no wrong.

Have reverence in your Heart for the world created by God.

Compassion is degrading sympathy [in disguise].

Time is a mental projection.

The Path of Devotion dissolves the poison of ego.

The world is the Abode of the Divine.

Serve the world [but not with ego, pride & attachment].

Don’t try to repeat spiritual experiences.

Don’t become someone ‘special’ - dissolve all specialty

The One is beyond mind and intellect.

Recognize how false the attractions of this word are.

Abide in the Divine and the world cannot touch us.

Just BE!

***

Even though I took more notes, I feel this is more than enough to introduce you to the very wonderful Anubhavananda.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1TO9mrnjrQ

Happiness is the sign of God realization.

http://behappyinc.org/

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