 This body has to make its way through this world and through life successfully without this much of suffering. It will go away but now that process has to start. Namaskar. Namaskar. Thank you so much for taking our questions. I've been following you for like a month or so and I'm familiar with surrender I guess from like Ramana Maharshi etc. and I'm trying to you know diligently ask questions and just be constantly surrendered and I'm noticing that usually I think 90 something percent of the time thoughts are just happening. I'm not thinking them like they're thinking me. So it seems like there's two things involved. There's guidance from ego versus soul and then you have to determine whether there's a yes or a no and then from what I've seen on your videos if it leads to suffering that was the ego and it leads to joy. It was soul and so all day long I was trying to surrender, surrender, surrender. I want to be full-time and surrender and I get to a place where like I'm feeling good and I'm not anxious or suffering or anything but this world seems to require work and I don't want to work. It's like everything leads to suffering no matter what you do. You know what I mean? Everything is just going to lead to suffering and I just want to be surrendered all the time. I don't want to have to go to work. I need money but like I don't know. I don't know if I'm being clear but if you could speak to that please thank you. I don't know how long you've been actually following the new advice in parts of detachment and observation of the self or also detaching from the illusory nature of the world around you and things like that. Ramana Maharshi though not the Neo people just basically him. Yeah the thing is that Ramana Maharshi and the sadhanas that are practiced by people who come let's say to Tiruvannamalai or read books about what he said and so on. A lot of the times the surrender if at all it's practiced is surrendering into the pain or surrendering into the suffering and detaching from it identifying with I am that will lead you to where you are now and now the step is to come out of it because when Ramana Maharshi himself was in Tiruvannamalai and when he was speaking he was largely speaking to people who were around him who came there and stayed there and who were in a material surrender they were physically there in surrender to the Guru it's Guru Shishya Parampara and Guru Vada these are ancient systems of transmission and I think I don't have to tell you all that you know that already and probably everybody in today's satsangh knows it. We're talking about a system where you are there in front of the Guru you know the Guru is showing you things is guiding you and you are in surrender and the surrenders outward the surrenders inward this is not the same thing as practicing surrender in the sense it is understood when one is reading from a book about what a Guru has said who is not even in his body anymore these are different processes you know because when you have to listen to a Guru who is there in a body who's breathing and shouting at you and kicking you he didn't do that but others have done it slapping you around and things like that that's when the wake up call in the materiality happens when it's from a book and it's by yourself where do you live Michael New York City exactly in New York City reading from a book and practicing after many years will lead you to where you are now and I'm not putting down the experience of those years I'm saying that now the next step has to come and that next step is to understand that yes those thoughts are not yours but they are engendered in your system they are created in your system they're not they're not all of them in any case flying around you and and trying to enter a lot of it is created in your system this body is creating those things so to detach from the thoughts and not to identify with them is wonderful but if you can do that being present in this body it's a matter of just realizing that the processes that you have undergone have removed you they have removed you from your reality from your materiality and that is why there is this suffering that you have to do a job you know actually technically what you want you just want to be somewhere and practice this surrender from morning to night and not have to earn money and not have to deal with that harsh world and the reason why you have reached that point is because the sadhana you have done is a sadhana that takes you away from the world and not into your system making you a tough strong guy that's out there ready to punch someone in the nose if required that is what this sadhana is it is making you strong powerful centered present connected with the soul and because of that tuned into the other when you're not tuned into the source because you have detached from everything around where you even don't feel the thoughts as connected with you at all then how will you be tuned in to the other how can you even feel the other person and when you don't feel the other person then you do and see and create things which alienate you from what is around and cause that suffering it exacerbates that suffering you know a person like you has made that root till now and now you have that chance to transform it to change it around you know to turn it around the compass whatever is happening to you right now you have to work you have to earn the money you have to bear all those strange people in in new york which by the way is a city i love very much and your whole system is in a state of detachment now you start becoming aware of your materiality i am this michael this body has got a name that name is michael the son of your mother where were you born michael uh in boston boston all right what is your mother's name and okay so i michael son of an from boston this is what this this body is that that is here you know and this michael has to become aware that it's a material thing this body has to make its way through this world and through life successfully without this much of suffering it will go away but now that process has to start and remember that if you're a serious seeker and you really want to get to that state of joyousness then you have to also make your way to places that will bring that into you for example you're in this online satsang this is a big thing this is a good decision to do this because it starts to bring you down into yourself there is some sort of a sadness in you or it's almost like bordering on a fear no don't worry you're not alone there are a lot of people here and you will be fine stand straight now beat off and come back into yourself by doing the kriya touch yourself say i'm michael this this this and yes those thoughts they are my thoughts they are also part of this whole system they are one sixth of my system yes my materiality is one part of it the emotions that are experienced the conceptual the thoughts is one part of it of this system michael the transformative part that part of myself i michael that creates that is able to create that has the capacity for the occult or for art or for all those supraconceptual abilities that is one part of you then there's another part of you which is the ability at unity with the other oneness with that tree there or with that person there you have experienced already i can see that and the pluriform state the this this chakra here when it opens when there is when you experience yourself as being a devta being a god you know those men in in new york who stand on the corner of the streets and say i have come down to bring the word of the lord i am the lord himself they actually have that experience you know just the people there in new york don't know it in india he would be treated as a as a saint saint god one one who has seen god who is god god one so those experiences are it's all part of this system and when you start to feel one with this system then you will start to realize those thoughts are okay then they don't feel like mine but they have something to do with this body and this me there's no need to observe yourself observing yourself observing yourself and going back seven different layers of observation it just leads to one place and is the mental institution which you are not going to go to because you are now going to do this and one doesn't have to think too much oh is it the ego asking the source or is it the source asking the ego or is just as bent down put a smile on that face and feel this body as being real it is real it is real and yes it is also an illusion but we don't need to look at it as an illusion because we have to function with it as being real finally it's also atoms right if you go in and it's all space anyway that we know by now but we also have to keep sanity and bear normal that is the spiritual success to be normal centered in surrender tuned into the love which is you within that you know already you've experienced already and reflect that to the other love the other if you love the other you'll like your job and if you really yarn and there is a deep deep need to be in the presence of a guru or a teacher you will find your way to the one that is meant for you because there are some seekers they can't they have to be at the feet of a guru or even feet that's what we say in India but sitting on top of the head is actually what they normally do so don't worry it will that situation will change itself but you have to also make that effort and who is making that effort doesn't matter his name is Michael and son from Boston that's what that who is any other question leads to the mental institution you don't need to know who you are why do you need to know that there's no need to know it you know it already you're Michael son of and from Boston it's more than enough to know about yourself I have been doing this surrender and I feel it in the heart chakra like very much I had a kundalini wake in many years ago so I feel I feel a third eye very deeply but I don't concentrate on that because I don't like the way it is so I am bending down I'm bending down I'm an entrepreneur and a lot of success I've got a lot of failure and it goes up and it goes down it goes up and goes down and I'm just like enough enough enough enough I am so sick of this like honest to God I'm so sick of this and so I was looking for guidance and that's how I found you online you're offering guidance and like because because Michael I can't listen to him but yes he's he's gotten an amazing height but he's also messed up like yeah but it's not another person I didn't want to interrupt you but I have to Michael is not another person you are this Michael you are this Michael you have to accept that we are not talking about another person say I am an entrepreneur I have my ups I have my downs I've had successes I've not I'm tired of it I don't want it but it's not Michael it's you understood you have to identify to consolidate then life will be a bit more tolerable is what I'm saying it's not Michael it's you like I understand that that's me and I'm I'm I'm humbled I make mistakes often things outside of my control completely like COVID I lost the business lost two businesses because of COVID but look the successes are my fault too but like I want like a higher guidance like like it seems that you're offering deeply deeply deeply this is what I want like more than anything I just I don't want to continue I feel like I'm in a loop see Michael someone like you you know who's really in that existential big question mark I would say to someone like you try to find a way to spend time near the guru find a guru that suits you it doesn't matter that much who the guru is it's more important who are in the connection with the guru you know what I mean and try to find that space where you can experience that surrender in an external sense it's not necessary for everyone but for someone like you it's important I feel even if it is for a short time do seva you know I'm sure you can find a way to organize yourself like for a month or two you can go somewhere and do that you need to be in a material presence of a guru I'm not saying this to everyone in the satsang not at all but reading from books and sitting in New York and fighting the world it's it's not gonna it's not gonna quiet you down you need to be quiet down now you cannot be an entrepreneur in the spiritual realm hey you can't it's not in your hands you can only surrender in that realm you know what I mean you can only surrender and that surrender that flow quiets down everything because you start to believe in your core that core experience is not yet there there's a lot of suffering in this phase there is everyone's suffering each one has their suffering but this is a sort of an existential suffering which is not put on even would be nice if it were put on that's better this is a real thing going on here so you better take a take a take a step you know you can read a thousand books about Ramana Maharshi and all the question and answer is not going to take you anywhere it'll take you right there with a brick wall at the back behind you which is very beautiful background by the way I like it so think about what I'm saying try to understand that you have to bend and someone like you I mean you'll have to bend mostly I would say to a living master the toughest of all it's the most difficult thing to do for a seeker but for some it is indispensable whatever resonates for you try to flow with it but it's a strict thing I mean you are really in a desperate state and not desperate in the sense that you're dangerously desperate but it's existential spiritual existential crisis long crisis if you don't want this to continue then that is the way to go for you but it will be all right sometimes one has to pull oneself together you can wear a hat with Ramana on your head but it doesn't change anything it's not going to enter into your brain the experience is yours and yours alone all those people who were in Tiruvannamalai and sitting with Ramana Maharshi they had a living master to contend with he was not that gentle soul that you see there in those sweet pictures no he also had to deal with some of them very tough time for you to have a living master Michael do you mean I have to physically be there I would suggest it I mean it's not always possible for a person but yeah I would suggest at least for a for a month or two or three at least to come back into your body who's going to pull you back into your system aha you're floating in some spacey plus you have a Kundalini awakening on top of that can it be you if it resonates with you you can come whenever there is a possibility to be in savor you'll have to cross many jungles and many snakes and alligators and tigers you have to fight for it if it's important