[Papaji’s advice to Gangaji] Do nothing. Your whole problem is
that you continue doing. Stop all your doing. Stop all your
beliefs, all your searching, all your excuses, and see for yourself
what is already and always here. Don’t move. Don’t move
toward anything, and don’t move away from anything. In this
instant, be still - p 5
To “stop” is to stop searching for yourself in thoughts, emotions,
circumstances, or bodily images. It is that simple. The
search is over when you realize that the true and lasting fulfillment
you have been searching for is found to be nowhere other than right
where you are. - p 9
It is easily apparent that you are much more than a body. You are
actually that which animates the body. - p 40
You are already free, and all that blocks your realization of that
freedom is your attachment to some thought of who you are. - p 45
The most important question you can ever ask yourself is “Who am I?” -
p 47
Let all self-definitions die in this moment. Let them all go and
see what remains. See what is never born and what does not
die. Feel the relief of laying down the burden of defining
yourself. - p50
Are the stories true? Yes and no: yes as an account of experience, no
as the finality of being... - p 53
Stop telling your story right now. Not later, when the story gets
better or worse, but right now. When you stop telling your story
right now, you stop postponing the realization of the truth that is
beyond any story. - p 56
For most spiritual seekers, the belief that personal identification
obstructs self-realization gives rise to the drive to get rid of the
personal story. But this is still just another part of the
story. It is so important to recognize this. Attempting to
get rid of the story is just another tangent of the story, another
example of the power of the mind to control. - p 60
The true self is not your self. It is what your mind and body are
in, what nothing alive can exist without, but which is limitless and
blessedly exists without your effort. I say “blessedly,” because
if it depended on you for its existence, then you would have to make
some huge effort to establish it, to maintain it, and to make sure that
it didn’t die. Generally, once people have tasted the nectar of
their true self, this is what they get very busy trying to do. - P 67
Consciousness is not an object. It is hereness itself. Our
minds are usually involved with an object that appears and disappears
in the hereness, and because of that, we overlook the nature of
hereness. Pure consciousness is what these words appear in, what
this book appears in, what all bodies appear in. It infuses all
words and bodies, and it is conscious of itself, and it is you.
In your recognition of yourself as pure consciousness, you awaken to
yourself. - P 68
I invite you to stop. Right here. Right now.
Stop. Whatever it is you are searching for, stop. Whatever
it is you are trying to keep away, stop. Stop and see what is
always here. It may appear terrifying, it may appear thrilling,
it may appear dead, it may appear blank, but if you stop reaching for
it or running from it, you cannot help but finally see what is. - p 71
Fear is often a part of this essential shift away from identification
with concepts toward identification with the silent ground of being
because the shift threatens the known structure of life. Fear can
have many different disguises, including anger, numbness, and
despair. This existential terror is like the gargoyle at the gate
to the sanctuary. Unless it is met and exposed as just another
strategy of mind, it can keep you away from the revelation of the
silent, aware peace at the core of your being. - P 74
Mind patterns of defense against nothingness, against emptiness, can be
found wrapped around this fear. These pattern are strategic
responses to fear. The mind may quickly become very active: “Yes,
but what does this mean? This can’t be so. How will I be
able to do my job?” Just for this moment, let all those thoughts
fall aside. Allow your mind to rest in nothing – being nothing,
doing nothing, having nothing, getting nothing, keeping nothing.
In this moment, if you can actually, willingly, consciously, simply be
nothing at all, in a flash you can discover the peace, the expansion,
the freedom from boundaries inherent in nothingness. - P 78
The mind is not the enemy; there is nothing wrong with it. The
tragedy is that we believe the conclusions of the mind to be reality. -
p 84
A very strong habit of the mind is the perceived need to know what will
happen if thoughts stop. In the end, you just have to stop and
see. You have tried every technique except stopping. If you
have not stopped, you are still searching. - p 99
Our minds are inactive for many moments during the day, but we are
conditioned to pay attention only to the activity of the mind, and
these points of silence are simply overlooked. When I speak of
“stopping,” I am pointing to that silence between thoughts, which is
formless consciousness. There is a presence there, and we can
recognize that who we are is that presence. We have been taught
to believe “I think, therefore I am,” rather than the truth , which is
“I am, therefore I think.” - P 102
Stopping first occurs by recognizing the activity of the mind and not
following. Not following mind activity is different from
resisting the mind or repressing thoughts. Not following thought
has a relaxing, opening quality. Although it may feel unfamiliar,
and the fear of the unfamiliar may, in itself, generate mind activity,
to stop following thoughts is effortless. In following thoughts
and further spinning our stories, the simple and profound ease of being
is overlooked. - P 103
This one instant is elusive for most people, because as they approach
the instant of stopping, an enormous welling of fear usually arises:
“If I stop, if I really stop, I will slide back and lose the ground
that I have gained through my efforts and practices. Even though
I am still not fully satisfied, I am more satisfied that I was. I
have a better life, my mind is calmer, my circumstances are better, and
I might lose all of that.” - P 111
There is nothing wrong with remembering the past or projecting into the
future... However, the danger of this power is that in overlooking
permanent presence... God itself is overlooked. - p 119
The perseverance you need here is to give up the hope that the mind can
deliver freedom; give up the hope that the mind can deliver
enlightenment, which is truth. In that recognition, surrender can
naturally follow. - P 126
At the most basic level, spiritual maturity has to do with the
realization that you are not in control... The desire to be in control,
the illusion of being in control, and the hope of being in control are
all based on the megalomaniacal belief that you know when and what the
outcome should be. - P 177
For another opportunity of self-inquiry, I invite you to ask yourself
this question: What will enlightenment give me? Depending on how
willing you are to tell the truth, the possibilities of this kind of
inquiry are limitless. Inquiry has nothing to do with the right
answer, but it has everything to do with telling the truth. Take
a moment to really consider: What if enlightenment gives you nothing,
nothing at all? What if you get not one thing – physical, mental,
emotional, or circumstantial? The trust is that enlightenment
will not give you one thing. Are you willing to hear that
truth? If you are, you are free. If you are not, your mind
will still be bound to some thing you hope will give you freedom. - P
191
You may have heard certain spiritual statements such as “Silence is
always here,” “Awareness is always here,” or “Awareness is who you
are.” You may have experience at least a glimpse of these
truths. But a glimpse of truth will also be lost because it is
still an experience. All experience appears, exists for some
time, and then disappears. Usually the mind then scrambles to get
that experience back, or to attain another, better, bigger experience.
Once this mental cycle goes around many hundreds or
even thousands of times, a certain disillusionment can set in.
This disillusionment is necessary, because it generates the field
required for the maturation of the mind. A mature mind has the
willingness and fortitude to tell the truth. And the truth is
ruthless and relentless. The truth is that you will lose your
youth, you will lose your health, you will lose your pleasure, your
understanding, your lovers, your mate, your children, and finally your
senses and your body. You will lose everything. Although
deep inside you know that this is true, there is usually a
subconscious, desperate grasping at the hope, “Maybe not me.
Maybe not!” - P 194
The horror is that if what you are protecting is the thought of who you
are, it does not, in reality, even exist. It is only a thought,
and whenever a thought is honestly investigated, it is found to have no
inherent reality. - p 217
Take a moment to consider the strong possibility, even the certainty,
that all these stories are lies made up through the imaginative power
of the mind. What if nothing is needed for freedom? - p 270