Satsang with Mooji
A human mind cannot comprehend
the wisdom of the Supreme.
Compassion and Empathy (with subtitles)
Silent Retreat 6 May 2012
Zmar Odemira, Portugal
[Questioner] It really is a grace and a blessing
to be here in your magnificent presence.
The question that I have is regarding empathy and compassion.
[M.] Empathy and compassion. [Q.] OK.
[Q.] I find myself here, after listening to you on YouTube.
[Q.] It has been guiding me deeper to go within. [M.] Yes, yes.
[Q.] But 20 years ago I received the techniques of self-knowledge
from my beloved Master, whom I love very, very deeply.
And in the practice of this knowledge, and going within,
it has definitely sensitised the feeling of vibrations and energy.
So, what I find is that I have become much more empathic.
So the question is,
sometimes the empathy, it kind of - what is happening with ...
in the world and with other people,
it really reaches deep inside as a pain,
[Q.] felt as a pain of the world. [M.] Yes.
[Q.] The question then is,
how do I remain more detached within this experience? Thank you.
[Mooji] Very good.
This sensitivity is natural to all, to an intelligent being.
Once you have recognised Self, and know, 'I am that Self',
not as belief, but as pure experience, let's put it like that,
then compassion is not something you do.
My Master said also, Papaji said,
'If the hand puts food into the mouth,
should the mouth say, "Thank you" to the hand?'
No, they are one movement.
This is compassion, if you want to say.
I am not doing something to another.
It becomes an action expressed from the Self to the Self.
This becomes your own intimate ...
That's your sensitivity, do you see this? You don't have to say that.
Outwardly it takes the form, 'We're doing something for the world',
but inwardly you know, this is not what it is.
The Self is caring for itself.
It's another opportunity to express its beauty,
its love to itself, not another, there is no 'other'.
You come to see this thing.
So, at a certain point, of course, when we see pain taking place,
and it seems like some agonies 'Ahh!'
Something naturally responds to that.
But if it goes further than that,
where it starts to be, you're seeing suffering here
and, 'How can I, how can we put a stop to this?' and so on,
then, you've traveled too far, actually.
I want to say this because it is like to say,
'This thing should not be'.
And I know, there's a sensitivity in us that feels,
'We'd like to see the end of poverty.
We'd like to see the end of suffering.'
It's not going to end. Not like that.
It's also an instrument of consciousness
that consciousness uses to refine itself.
A human mind cannot comprehend the wisdom of the Supreme.
At best, something just says, 'It is inscrutable',
and offers up, you may say, as consciousness,
its own sense of independence to the service of that wholeness.
It does it, but it does it without any obsession.
You may say, if a sage happens to be passing through some place,
and suddenly there's an earthquake,
buildings are falling down, people are screaming and trapped.
That one, he or she, would go there,
and would also be busy helping to do everything,
move and help and do what's to be done.
When the work is done, they carry on,
not with the story, 'Oh, I went to the city, it was so terrible,
and I don't know what to do, and why is ...?' No! Just like this.
Now, this kind of detachment is not uncaring.
It is profoundly appropriate, and beyond this,
you cannot suffer on behalf of others. It is not a help.
And also, sometimes, we need to be careful,
because, how your mind can create
a sense of what is happening, may not be true.
It is quick to show suffering,
but some suffering, on some level, is also necessary.
You say, 'But how? Show me!' I don't know, I can't show you how.
I see that if you take this one out of this position
and say, 'My life's like this, and so ...'
OK, what would you like? 'I'd like them over there'.
After two weeks they're right back here.
'Because their life seems to be here, This is where it's real for me.
It's not real for me here. I thought it would be.'
To live a life, like, sucking honey all day. [laughter]
And then, somehow, it's not what I want.
I am here with my difficulties, and all of this.
There's a reality to it and something that must be gone through also.
But you say, 'But yes ... 'But what about the children?
And what about these?' The children are also ancients.
We are all in this together.
I am not saying, Don't care! Not at all!
But there's something.
Stay as the Self and let your eyes witness the actions of the Supreme.
Because your suffering on behalf of others does not help them.
And, the word 'suffering', also,
it is so misused, misunderstood often,
because we identify, 'Oh! I wouldn't like that to happen to me'.
And, yes, that is a motive, motivation also
to go and to share, to be present, to be true there, also.
So, I cannot put it ...
I don't want to put it into any kind of shape, too much.
I just tell you, stay as the Self.
Somehow all this will come to make sense at some level in you.
But sitting where you are, in our dualistic thinking and egoic mind,
we cannot fathom the inscrutability of God's ways.
We cannot do it.
Gradually, you come to understand and see,
yes, somehow, there's a trust and there's a seeing,
and where there can be help, help will manifest.
Because you cannot go by and see a brother or sister
suffering or in some pain, and just walk over and say,
'It's nothing, it doesn't exist!'
No! Something compels you, if you are true, to be there.
At least to be present and to look. But don't overdo.
You don't have to become a missionary about it.
I don't want to cut any category of this, or anything,
This not, this not.
But my purest sharing with you is, remain as the Self.
Remain as the Self.
And whatever actions come in that moment, they will be expressed.
It's almost the actions of the universe if there's not the person there.
The person is not an accurate assessor of What Is.
And I gave an example, also, on one occasion,
I always talk about this because I find it such a profound insight,
in a Satsang very much like this,
that took place some years ago in Bombay.
One man stood up after Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
was talking a bit about life, the same topic, in fact.
And he said, 'Sir, I'm listening to you,
and I trust your words, I'm touched by what you have to say,
but if I am to be honest, in my case,
I am always experiencing suffering'.
And the Master quickly retorted, he said, 'No, it's not true,
you are not experiencing suffering. You are suffering your experiencing!'
Yes. You're not experiencing suffering because suffering is not a thing
that you can say, 'I'm experiencing suffering'.
He says, 'You are suffering your experiencing'.
That puts the power right back with him, you see.
How you meet, what you see, is determined by who you think you are, also.
And the level of wisdom that you have gained.
How deep your understanding dwells inside the Self of Being.
Then you will see that you will not suffer your experiencing.
In much the same way as the example I gave,
if a sage was walking through some place,
and there was some catastrophe, some calamity, you will address it?
Be present with it. When what is done is finished,
and you will know also when it is finished. Here, you know it.
Something will say like this, and that body will move along.
Now others may say, 'But, you know, that's very ...
how can you be so calm and so unfeeling?'
But maybe, that one is in a purer state of functioning
than the one who is simply crying and screaming in the street.
Sensitivity is natural, but it must not predominate.
It cannot be on the front page of consciousness.
It is included with all the other expressions that may come,
but the predominant, prevailing presence
will be that of pure awareness Self.
I gave an example some while ago that
if suddenly there was some scene where complete devastation ...
Phew! A bomb goes off or something, or whatever ...
and if we could see angels attending that scene,
if you had the eyes to see it,
they would not be crying and weeping, 'Ahh! I am terrified!'
There will be a serenity, a presence, a power,
an authority, a calmness,
a compassion inconceivable in the human mind
that will move to bring change in a way that we cannot grasp.
These forces are here.
They are part of our own makeup, inner makeup,
but we fail to see and to appreciate
the potential, the power and the presence of the Supreme,
because our eyes belong to somewhere else,
are in service to something else.
Our projections, quite often, blind us.
We don't have to over-prepare for any calamity.
Just be the Self.
Nothing is as fresh as the Self.
But, while we carry the breath of the whole mind,
it'll keep telling you, 'But you know, you're not doing anything,
you're just sitting there, just passing time.'
So, everyone goes on the treadmill, running around. We can't stop.
We give no value to silence, to rest in space.
So, yes, that sensitivity is there,
it is part of that sweet fragrance of the Self,
but it cannot be the most prominent thing.
It's feeling this thing,
and if you stay in this, it will pull you in, then you'll start to feel,
'What's it all about? How can God let this happen?'
and it can happen, if it goes too far. You stay put, here.
Say, there's so much that you will never understand.
Not by effort.
It is like the Supreme is saying,
'You can gather all your greatest minds to figure me out,
and you cannot come near me.
But if you love me, I am yours'.
Nobody is clever enough
to comprehend the glories of God.
If you are clever enough,
surrender yourself at the feet of the Supreme.
Don't even determine what you think is good for you.
Be so complete in your offering, self-offering, as if you can.
Even there, grace is the biggest part.
Even to imagine ourselves as instruments of the divine will,
is still an arrogance.
It is still an arrogance.
It still requires an 'apart-ness'.
We are one.
Laughing together, suffering together,
living together, dying together, and beyond all of it,
together as one.
'How you meet what you see is determined by who you think you are
and the level of wisdom that you have gained,
how deep your understanding dwells inside the Self of Being.'
'Stay as the Self and let your eyes witness the actions of the Supreme.'
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