The key to transcending Illusion lies in just doing nothing.

[Ram]

Saint Tukaram said, "This God is quite ancient." The Self is first,
prior to all. He who has understood that the Supreme Being, Paramatman
who is prior to all while sitting in this body is a Jnani. Leaving
this God alone, people think of doing good or bad. That is Illusion
for the jiva. Maya makes man knowledgeable and a narrator of the
Vedas, and makes him play this worldly game. If a thing is good, it is
good, if it is bad, it is bad. If one is wealthy, he is wealthy and if
one is poor, he is poor. Who is the real aspirant? One who has
understood that Illusion is nothing. However much you may have
wrestled with the bear in the dream, it is all still false. But
Illusion does not want the aspirant to be victorious.

"The concept of "I" and "you" is delusion, as is the concept of the
"aspirant." Even the idea of "I am God" is a delusion. This world
itself is rooted in delusion. "I am God" is also a delusion. If "I"
and "you" are Gods, then why should there be any supposition or
assertion? As told before, abandon everything! Ignorant people start
beating cymbals for worship. This knowledge is actually ignorance.
Hence, even this knowledge is not of true value. Knowledge destroys
ignorance. The jiva is the one who dabbles in Illusion. So, just do
nothing. The aspirant is tortured. "You must do this, you must do
that" All this is only to fool him. "Maya has long horns on her head.
If one supersedes her, she gores him, and if one falls behind, she
kicks him.

Thus, the key to transcending Illusion lies in just doing nothing (not
becoming involved in objectivity). All happiness, misery, worry and
anxiety are included in Illusion. You have to do nothing, you have to
abandon nothing. All this action and non-action is Illusion. This is
what Saint Ramdas has said in Dasbodh. So those who have not
understood this Illusion may dance wild. Maya is dreamlike. If you
wrestle with a bear in the dream, your victory or defeat is
irrelevant. So it is said that Maya is unconquerable, even for Brahma,
Vishnu, Shiva, etc., (since they take it to be true).

Vishnu said, "I shall protect them," so he became a four-­handed God.
This is Illusion. All are engrossed in this Illusion. A barren woman's
son said that he held a torch at Maruti's (Hanuman, an eternal
celibate) wedding. This world in the form of Maya is just as
fictitious. Those who say that they have conquered Illusion are
thoroughly deceived. The devotees of God do not experience the
happiness or misery arising from Maya. His aspirant's glory is small
but higher than that of the gods Vishnu and Shiva. The reason is that
he has understood all to be untrue. There is no action, cause, or
doership. Wherever there is a feeling of cause and effect it is due to
the feeling "I am Brahman." This feeling is the effect, and the jiva,
ignorance, is the cause. When you feel you are not Brahman you become
a jiva. When you feel you are neither jiva nor Shiva you become
Parabrahman (Absolute Reality). Jiva, good, bad, etc., are all signs
of delusion of the nature of Prakriti, the material world. All this is
a game of blind man's buff. He is the one who covers the player's
eyes, hence he is not part of the play. And he blindfolds the
participants but once. Knowledge, and ignorance are of the nature of
Prakriti. This itself is called delusion. Who expounds the scriptures
and who gives knowledge?

Chanting, penance, methods, study, etc. are all the mesmeric
activities of Maya. You cross over Prakriti, the material world, only
when you are free from all duties. These are all matters at the
initial stage. As long as there is Knowledge, there is delusion. Leave
off whatever you suppose you are. "Leave off" means do not dabble in
anything. Continue your worship. "I am the Self, I am Brahman, I am
not the body, I am not so and so." One who is speaking inside is "I,"
he is God. Just be convinced of that. There was a princess who wanted
to marry a lazy man. Accordingly, an announcement was made in every
village. Prospective suitors claiming to be lazy soon arrived. The
princess wanted to ascertain the validity of their claims. Some
people, pretended laziness by arriving to the town seated on other
people's shoulders. Others feigned silence in support of their claim.
Yet others decided not to use their hands for eating food. There were
as many pretensions of laziness as there were suitors. The princess
rejected them all. But there was one shrewd fellow. He simply informed
the princess that he had come to get married to her. The princess
asked, "How can you prove that you are lazy?" He replied that he had
come to get married only because he was lazy. He said, "All the others
are merely pretending. They are only actors, they aren't really lazy."
Maintaining silence, not to walk, not to eat with one's hands, etc.,
are all only external actions meant to deceive. The really lazy person
cannot be traced through such pretension. The really lazy person is
lazy by nature. Similarly, for the Jnani, it is absolutely self-
evident that he is Brahman.

The true mark of a saint is taking the world to be untrue. Maya is
also untrue. If it is not understood that all is of the nature of the
material world, Prakriti (Illusion), then one cannot get married to
the princess. Lazy does not mean one who abandons outward actions, but
one who is genuinely lazy (not becoming involved with objectivity).
The jiva has the habit of engaging in some activity all the time. What
has to be done and for whose sake? To do something is of the nature of
body-consciousness. Illusion means our ideas or concepts. There is a
proverb that says, "He started worshipping God when he was tired of
doing things."
If you reject all that is untrue, then you become God. "I ought to do
this or that, manage this or that. I shall become rich and then I will
become a saint, and start acting differently," is all an indication of
Illusion. So leave things as they are. If you meddle, your body-
consciousness only gets increased. You always feel that you ought to
do something. This is the obstruction for attaining the state of the
Siddha (Absolute Reality). When you are not the body, then why all of
this useless thinking about wealth or poverty? All is untrue. Then why
this unnecessary query about what has not happened? To not do anything
is Godhood. We say, "Remain quiet, like God" and what is actually done
is that we indulge our body-consciousness. To not worry about anything
and to be at peace is called Om Shanti. This is my blessing to you
all.

- Siddharameshwar Maharaj from an upcoming new edition of Amrut Laya

Find books of Siddharameshwar Maharaj's teachings at

http://stores.lulu.com/sadgurupublishing

[Mark Carpenter]

Very timely and beautiful teachings. No one says it better than Master
Sid.

Do you think it is ok to know 'I am That' and then relax, drifting
down the river like Huckleberry Finn? Or should we really go through
our 4 bodies and vaporize our delusions first?

And, is the new version of Amrut Laya going to have any new material?

Thanks

[Ram]

Amrut Laya has been out of print for a couple of years now. The new
printing will contain both AL1 and AL2 together. It will be basically
the same text, but slightly edited to be a bit more readable for the
western mind.

I'm not sure what drifting down the river like Huck Finn has to do
with knowing "You are That."

Knowing that You are That, you don't remain. That doesn't drift
downstream. Going beyond the bodies takes you upstream to That.

Find out what it means to be lazy, ie. not becoming involved with
objectivity. Thoughts are objectivity.