1.1.1 FNS

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The world is an ever-changing phenomena. There is a time in the life of each and every person to grow, to expand and to go forward. There is a time for death, a time for growth; a time to build and a time to depart. The cycle of life goes on and on, and human beings come into one body, wear it for a time, and then leave it behind so that they may go forward to pursue the innermost longings of their heart. And again they will take another body, and again they will go forward. They will grow, develop and pursue the longings of their heart. Then a twilight time will come, and again they will move forward to begin the process again. And so goes the cycle of birth, growth and death, again and again. It is constantly playing in the world of creative beings.

But who is it that is taking birth? Who is it that is growing? And who is that dies? The one who takes birth and who leaves the physical world and who comes again, you consider to be your small self. You identify this little person in a body, with a mind, as a particular phenomena. This phenomena you give one name - it is given to you at birth. You call yourself by that name, and you begin to define yourself. There are so many characteristics you have. Some of them you like very much, some of them you don't like at all. And you begin to count the pluses and minuses of your life, and you try very hard to be successful in the life. Then comes the twilight years. And again you pass from the body, and again there is a new body. Who is it that inhabits that body, has a name, begins to think "There are so many pluses to me, so many minuses," begins to have a sense of personal identity.

Again and again, this round of reincarnation goes on and on. But who is it who goes from life to life? Who is identified as one person, then identified as another person - who may be a boy in one life, a girl the next, perhaps a cat the next? Who is it? Who is taking these round upon round births and identities? Is it you? Who are you? Do you think you are the name you are given at birth? Do you think that you are the person with so many pluses on one side and so many minuses on the other side? Is that who you are? You will grow and leave this world, and again you will come. You will have a new name, new pluses, new minuses. And who will be then? Who is it that you are? Are you these pluses, these minuses? Are you this name that you have?

The key to yoga is to know the person who you are, know the one who you are. Then you may know anything. It is easy to know so many facts, so many figures about the world, about places, about things. The mind can become occupied with so many attractions and so many self-concepts. Then you may think: "I am a very intelligent person who knows so many things." Is that who you are?

It is better to know the one who is the knower of all of these facts than to know the facts themselves. You may know the facts, you may not know the facts - it does not matter. In one life perhaps you are a great intellectual, a great scholar with vast knowledge of the world and of so many important subjects. And in the next life you are a simple riksha driver, you are uneducated, or perhaps you are a simple boy, a simple girl with not much intelligence. You do not know what you will be. So if you identify with your knowledge, perhaps next life you will have none at all. And then who will you be?

You may also identify with the things that you possess, that you are the owner of so and so, such and such objects; you are the son or daughter of so and so; you are married to so and so; you are involved in this or that program. These all become identities. But they are passing. All of them. And when they have passed, who will live then? Who is it that is in all of these things? Who is very knowledgeable, who is very simple, who is the son or daughter of so and so, who has acquired so many things and will lose those things? Who is it that you are? If you are not the objects with which you associate, if you are not the actions that you do in your life, if you are not the pluses and minuses which you have scored up on one side and the other to see if you meet up to the mark or not, if you are not these things, who are you?

The One who is the witness of your existence, of all of these involvements, of all of these identities that you possess, of all of the roles that you engage in, the One who is the knower of all of your experience, who is that One? Who knows who you are? Who really knows you? Who knows who you are - who you are now, who you were forty years ago, and who you will be forty years hence? Who is the One who will know you, know what part of you will be around in forty years, in one hundred years, in five hundred years? Who will know who is the you who will be there?

I think that all the great accomplishments that you have achieved, and all of the failures and disappointments and self reprimand that you engage in will not be with you. Perhaps you will have new successes and new failures. But you will still exist, will you not? And who is the one who has existed, who exists now, and who will exist in five hundred years? All of the things which you associated with come and go. But you, that which you call your self, that which you know deep inside you is your own self, that will remain. One day you may be brilliant, a great orator, speaking to thousands. Next life perhaps you are mute.

These things are not you. You may be brilliant, and then there is an auto accident and you are no longer brilliant. These things are not you. You exist behind all of these involvements. You are infinite. If you identify yourself with the consciousness which underlies your existence, with the pure immutable awareness which has continuity through all of the changes, all of the differences and variations of your existence, then you will find that which is beyond all limitations.

So look to that which is the witness of all experience, which is aware, conscious, self-aware through all experience. For in that self-awareness is the door to freedom - freedom from bondage, freedom from suffering. For all the joys that are attached to temporary experience are not lasting. And when your welfare is attached to those joys, then they will pass and become the cause of your tears. So place your welfare, place your personal security, not in temporal experience, but in your own self, in the self-aware existence, the immutable pure consciousness which is the knower of all that you experience. Place your welfare in the hands of the Infinite. Bring your heart, mind and intention to the Infinite Consciousness, the knower of your existence, the pure, immutable self-aware expression upon which all that you are is built.

Like a kind of artwork you have painted on this canvass, your existence lies painted upon your awareness. All of the identities that you possess are the brush strokes which you have most creatively expressed upon the canvass of your awareness. But painting the picture you have become so absorbed that you have forgotten and believe you are the painting itself. So now is the time to remember: "Ah, yes. I was painting this picture when I lost myself, forgot who I was, and imagined I was the picture I was painting."

Become self-aware. The self, this awareness which witnessed your life forty years ago, witnessed all of your pains and your joys, witnesses this very moment, and will witness five hundred years in the future. Remember who you are and never, never forget!