Chapter 4 Chapter 4 What You Can't Get

"Desire only what's inside of you." That seems absurd, contradictory, illogical: only desire what is in you.Desire is basically for something that is not in you.Desire means wanting something that is not in you.If it is already in you, is there any need to desire it? We never want to be what we are.We always desire something else.No one desires himself; there is no need.You are already there; you haven't missed anything.What you desire is what you miss. There are many reasons why this verse says, "Desire only what is in you."First, if you desire something that is not in you, you may have it, but it will never become yours.It cannot become yours.In fact, you can never become its master; you can only become a slave.The possessor is always possessed by his possession.The greater the number of possessions, the greater the slavery created.

You are possessed by your possession, and you desire to become the master.Frustrations come because your whole hope is thwarted.You have come to a point where whatever you want is there, whatever you desire has happened, but you have become a slave.Now the kingdom looks like nothing more than a prison, and whatever you have, or think you have, is not really owned, because it can be taken away at any moment.Even if no one will take them, death is bound to take them. In religious terms, what can be taken away by death does not belong to you.Death is the measure.There is only one measure of whether you really own something.Judge by death, and see if you have it after death.If death takes it away, you never had it.It is just an illusion.

Is there anything that death can't take away from you?If there is no such thing, then religion has no meaning.But there is something beyond death's command and hidden within you.You already have it.It is your innermost nature.It's already with you; you were born with it.Or it is better to say you are it than to say you have it.If you have it, it can be taken away.You are it, it is your essence.It is your foundation; it is your being.That is called atman.Atman refers to what you already have.No one can take it from you; not even death can destroy it.The scripture says "Desire only what is in you." Desire the Atman, desire your innermost self, desire the center that you have, but you have completely forgotten.Why do people forget?That is a need.In order to survive, attention must be focused on the outer world.In order to survive, to exist, to remain in life, you have to be constantly mindful of all kinds of things: food, shelter.The body needs attention.It gets sick, it has a tendency to suffer.The body is constantly struggling to survive, because for the body there is death.The body is constantly fighting death, so it must receive constant attention.

The body is always in a state of emergency, because death can happen at any moment.You have to be constantly aware and constantly aware of this battle with death, so your whole attention is turned outward.No energy is left within.It is a necessity for survival.That's why we keep forgetting that we have an immortal, eternal, center of absolute bliss within us. Suffering attracts attention; suffering attracts attention.If you have a headache, your attention goes to the head; you become aware that you have a head.If your head doesn't hurt, you forget about your head.You will become headless, as if you have no head.

The body is only felt when it is sick.If your body was perfectly healthy, you wouldn't feel it.You will become weightless.In fact, you will become bodiless.This is the only measure of true health: the body is completely unfelt.When the body is felt, that means there is some disease, some disturbance.Your attention is called. There are so many problems from the outside world that your attention is constantly occupied by the outside world.That's why you forget that right in the center of your being there is something immortal, divine, blissful. This passage says: "Desire only what's inside of you."

"...for in you is the light of the world, the only light that can shine on the Word. If you cannot receive it in yourself, it is of no use to seek it elsewhere." Next verse: "Only desire what surpasses you." "Desire only what is beyond you." Always desire the impossible, because only through that desire will you grow.What is the impossible?Climbing Mount Everest is not impossible; landing on the moon is not impossible.Both things are possible.Someone has been to Mount Everest.Even if no one has been there, it is not impossible.Difficult, but not impossible.Humans have the ability to get there.We have the ability to reach the moon, and soon humans will reach other planets as well.That is not impossible, it will only be difficult.One day it will become possible.There is only one thing that is impossible, beyond you, and that is your innermost self.

Why?I say that it is not that difficult to reach the moon, even if the moon is so far away, and I say that it is even more impossible to reach your innermost self, even if it is only within you.Why is it so difficult to get there?Because it is within you, and that is the reason.You just know how to get to what's out there.Your hands can reach out, your eyes can see out.Your senses are open to the outside world; you have no senses that can help you look inward.Your mind moves outward; it cannot move inward.That is why the mind has to be dropped.Only then can you go into meditation. The mind is basically an outward movement.You can observe this phenomenon very easily.When you think, you are thinking about something outside of you.Whatever you think about that thing is always outside of you.Have you ever thought about anything inside?There is no need to think about what is inside because you can experience it.There is no need to think about it; thought is a substitute.You can know what's inside you.It's just around the corner.You just turn your head, you just change direction.You can experience it just by turning from the outside to the inside.Why even think about it?

But we are always thinking, and even thinking about inner things.We think about what Atman is.We think: "What are we?" We create philosophies and systems.We keep creating theories saying we mean "this" and its definition is "this" and then nobody tries to feel it.It's so close to you, why do you need theory? Theorize about what is far away, because you cannot reach it now.You have to create a bridge.To go to the moon requires theory, but to reach the inner center does not require theory, because there is no gap.There is nothing for us to create bridges; you are already there.All it takes is a change in attitude, and then you'll know it.There is no need for theorizing and philosophizing.But we create philosophies all the time.We have created many, many philosophies, and philosophers have been wasting their lives on what they already have within them.They can jump in at any moment!

But that is beyond.It is beyond the senses, because the senses cannot open to it; the senses open in the opposite direction.And beyond the mind, because the mind cannot take you there; the mind always takes you somewhere else.The mind is a worldly tool; it is a device that moves outward, away from you.It was designed for that function.That's why people emphasize so much that in samadhi there is no mind.Samadhi is the state of no mind; the mind stops. In the techniques of meditation that we do, all the effort is: how to stop being the mind, how to drop the mind, how to drop the thought, how to get to the moment where the thought is not there, where there is only attention, only awareness. "No thought" means there are no clouds in the sky; there is only the sky. "No thought" means that there is no cloud in the mind, only consciousness.In that awareness, you are within.

When you are in the mind, you are outside; when you are in no mind, you are inside.This whole journey is to transport you from mind to mindless.If you can put "no" in front of the mind, you have arrived.That's why it's called transcendence. "Desire only what is beyond you." Beyond your senses, beyond your mind, beyond your ego. "You" will not be there.Your innermost center is not you; you are just the periphery.The periphery cannot be in the middle.When you move towards the center you leave the periphery.The periphery cannot exist in the center.The periphery belongs to the center, but it exists outside the center, only around it.

When you realize that you are just a periphery: your name, your identity, your image.You are a Hindu, Mohammedan or Christian; you are a black man or a white man; you are this and that.Your country, your race, your culture, these are just the periphery; they are all just conditionings on the periphery. The world cannot enter your center.It can only cultivate the periphery; it can only touch your borders.Only your border can be Hindus, Christians, Jains. "You" are not; you cannot be. Only your borders will belong to India, Pakistan or America.You cannot belong to any country, any race.You belong to existence itself.All distinctions are false at the center, but at the periphery it makes sense. Whatever you know yourself to be is your "self." "Ego" is just a convenient word.Your whole periphery is "you".But this "you" is thrown away when it starts to move inward.This "you" will gradually be abandoned; this "you" will disappear; this "you" will evaporate.Then the moment comes when you become who you really are; your old self no longer exists.That's why the scripture says, "Desire only what is beyond you...."It goes beyond you; because when you reach it you lose yourself. "Just want what you can't have." "Desire only that which cannot be obtained." What is the unobtainable?Look around, everything is available.You may not have it yet, but it is available.You can get it if you work hard enough.Its underlying condition is that it is available. Alexander created a great empire.You may not have created an empire yet, but you can do what Alexander could.That's not impossible; it's just not available yet.You may not have made as much money as Rockefeller, but you can do what Rockefeller did.That's human: that's within your power.You may be a failure, you may not be able to get it, but it is attainable.Your failure is your own failure, but in terms of potential, you may still succeed, so you can't say that you can't get these things. So what is it that is not available?What is the unattainable?If that is what it means, then why desire it?The desire is useless if it cannot be obtained.Why desire that which is not available?What is the meaning of it? Its meaning is very deep, very mysterious.What it means is that your innermost self is unavailable because it is already available.You cannot have it because you are it.You can't turn it into an achievement.It is not something that has to be obtained.It's there, you never left it.You have never lost it; it is your nature.It is you, your innermost being.You cannot get it; you can only discover it.You cannot get it; you can only expose it, you can only recognize it. It is impossible to invent it; it already exists.It's not meant to be earned; it's already there.You just have to be aware of it.You have to focus your awareness on it, and suddenly that which was never lost is found. When the Buddha became enlightened, someone asked him, "What have you got?" Buddha said, "There is nothing, because whatever I have gained, now I know it is always there. I have never lost it. I have just found it. I have understood something that has been in me from the past until now. treasure." "Just want what you can't have." "...it is unattainable because it is always receding. You will go into the light, but you will never touch the flame." It is also unattainable in another sense.You can never say, "I got it." Because who is to say I got it?The "I" that can be claimed is no longer there.The ego, the periphery, is no longer there.In getting, in finding, it has to be lost.The ego has to be abandoned, abandoned.You can only achieve it when you become egoless.You cannot get there with the ego, because the ego itself is the hindrance.So who is there and who will claim it?The Upanishad says if someone claims that he has attained, it will be very clear to you that he has not attained, because that claim itself is egoistic.If someone says, "I have understood God," you will clearly understand that he does not understand God; because once God is understood, who is there to claim it?The understander is lost in the phenomenon of understanding.Knowing happens only when there is no knower.Understanding happens when the knower is not there, so who is going to claim it? Once upon a time there was a Zen master named Nanyin.Someone asked him, "Have you understood the truth?" He laughed, but he remained silent.The man said, "I cannot understand your mysterious laughter. I cannot understand your mysterious silence either. Please use words, tell me. Please be kind. Tell me yes or no. Have you understood the truth, the divinity? " Nan Yin said: "You make me difficult. If I say yes, the scriptures will say: A person who says 'I already understand.' does not understand. So if I say yes, it means no. And if I say no , that would be untrue. So what am I going to do? Don't force me to use words. I'll laugh again and be silent. If you can understand, it's okay. If you can't, it's okay. But I don't know how to use words. Don't push me, because if I say yes it means I don't understand yet, and if I say no it will be untrue." You will achieve, but in your purity.In that purity your ego will not exist.The ego is the impure, foreign element within you, just dust gathering around you.That's not you.Get naked and you will achieve.Your ego is like your clothes.It won't be there. "Just want what you can't have."