Cup of Tea

Robert Adams
Excerpt from Satsang
“Cup of Tea”

The ordinary mind can never know the Self. The Self can never be known by the ordinary mind. Therefore what is the solution? More sadhana? More intense meditation? No. The solution is to have a cup of tea, to relax. The metaphor, "to have a cup of tea" really means to let go. Stop thinking about it. Relax completely. The Self will make itself known to you in it’s own time. You really do not have to do anything.

When you practice intense sadhana it will lead you to a quiet mind, but it will never lead you to complete realization, for the ordinary mind can never be realized. There is absolutely nothing you can do with your mind to awaken. It can make you more peaceful. Therefore you have to learn to relax, let go, to become desireless. You need nothing, yet you need everything. You have no wants or needs, yet everything is taken care of. It makes no difference whether you're sick or healthy, rich or poor, sad or happy. These things have nothing to do with realization.

You are to forget about your body- mind phenomena. Just observe your body but never react to it. Observe the world but never react to it. Observe your thoughts but never react to them. Allow whatever happens to happen.

The reason you act this way, as if you're crazy, is because everything in the world is transient - changeable. There is no thing in the world that is really meaningful as far as realization is concerned. The world pulls you deeper and deeper into maya. It's sort of a game. The more you become involved in the world the greater the illusion becomes, and you become a very serious person. Let the world alone.

Trying to overcome the world is a mistake. Not trying to overcome the world is also a mistake. Trying to become realized is a mistake. Not trying to become realized is a mistake. You are to be your Self but do not try to comprehend what the Self is. You are to be free but do not comprehend what freedom is. You are to be happy but do not try to figure out what happiness is. You are to become peaceful but do not try to comprehend peace. You are to be. Not this and not that. Just be. There is nothing to become. There is no thing to achieve. There is no sadhana that is better than any other sadhana. There is absolutely nothing you have to do.

When you catch a hold of what I'm saying your mind becomes perfectly still and ultimately disappears. But you are already that, so there's nothing to become. There are no teachers or books or words that can really help you. There is nothing at all in the world or the universe that can help you, because nothing exists. When you seek the help of a teacher or a tree or a mountain or a river or the sky or a lake or mantras, these things cannot possibly help you due to the fact that they do not exist. So what are you looking for? There is nothing to look for. There is nothing to search for. There is no one who can give you the answer. Some of you are saying "except your Self," but that's erroneous also, because your Self doesn't know the answer. The true Self has no question. Therefore there's no answer.

Everything that's happening to you is happening to you from the mind. As soon as you appreciate the mind does not exist all the happenings will stop and you will become free.