Gangaji Oh yes. Thank you. I’m happy to be here.

Gangaji Great. In our culture, often, stopping is heresy because everything says we have to go and just go harder and faster.

Gangaji Stopping was the central teaching that my teacher, Papaji, gave me and it was so radical. It is still radical that I’m always happy to pass it on.

Gangaji Well, to me, the invitation to stop is to recognize that we can still have all the goals for life we have, but if we are going to the goals for life, that’s very different from coming from fulfillment, and these goals for life are then an expression of that fulfillment. The invitation to stop is to turn your attention to what is already at peace and fulfilled within you. From that then, you can live your life. Of course, many people have no idea what that even means. They would say, “Well, I’m not fulfilled, and if I could just get these goals for life checked off, then maybe, I’ll be closer to fulfillment.” That’s what the conditioning of our society reinforces. When I say it’s a radical invitation, it demands just an incredible one second of being willing to lose everything. In that, to discover what is here, what is always here, essentially, who you are. And if we aren’t trying to find who we are through the manifestation of our goals for life, then we discover for a moment that it’s here. The fullness, the home, the truth, peace, love, the bounty is already here. From that, then, what a life?

Gangaji Yes, I have goals for life, and I appreciate my goals for life. I can even go too fast sometimes and need to physically and mentally stop. This stopping is a benefit. It’s not a loss. In the willingness to lose, you gain.

Gangaji That’s the paradox.

Gangaji Well, that’s a great question, and many methods support slowing down and stopping. Certainly, those are meditation practice or being in nature or simply having fun. It can all be quite supportive, but for me, the essential support is being willing to ask yourself the question, “What do I want?” The more superficial answer to that question is, “Well, I want to complete this task,” or “I want to make this money,” or “Get this relationship.” Then, the next question under that is, “What will that give me?” These are questions of inquiry, and when they are asked, “What do I want?” And if I get what I want, what will it give me?” All of these questions are designed to bring your attention back to what is already here.

Gangaji The practice for me is a practice of inquiry. It’s an inquiry, not the academics sense but in the alive sense of questioning yourself. “What am I doing?” In that, you see how you are perhaps over doing, and you’re trying to get something. If I just stop trying to get in this moment, what do I have? It’s very simple and you used the word remember. Of course, that’s a challenge. But, since we’re speaking of goals for life in particular, they do have something to do with desire. So, this “What do I want?” is already present. It’s just that it’s become focused on an external goal. Nothing wrong with that but there’s something deeper than that. Just simply tell the truth. “What do I finally, absolutely want? Whether this goal is met or not, what do I want? Who am I? What do I have?”

Gangaji Yes. Where do you look for that?

Gangaji That’s excellent Luis. In that moment of accomplishment, there is peace and fulfillment but it’s not a lasting peace. Pretty soon, we start to build up the next goal, and this is in one critical sense natural to active and alive human beings who are privileged to be able to pursue goals for life, but if what’s overlooked is this unconditional peace, then all of those accomplishments are finally in vain. If you recognize this unconditional peace and the achievements are aspects of coming from that peace, then, each goal is just another expression of the truth of this life living itself in multiple ways.

Gangaji Well, I like how you recognize that I’m not speaking against goals for life. I’m not anti-goal. I am interested in challenging people to discover what the ultimate goal is. What is the ultimate goal of your life? What is the desire of your life?

Gangaji If we just forget about the millions of things we will have accomplished by the end of our life, what is it we want our lives to stand for? What are we here for? That’s a goal that is not something we fabricate in our minds, but it’s something that’s revealed. It’s some purpose of what we are here for. Again, there are levels of depth to the answer to that question. For many people listening, it could be to create a successful business. That’s my goal. But what’s under that? What’s the purpose of building a successful business? What’s the purpose of being a good mother or a good father or a good friend? When we get underneath, we can indeed ask the question “What do I want?” In the sense of “Do I want to awake? Do I want to be free? Do I want to recognize my nature of peace?” And in that, there is such a broadening of the life that there’s plenty of room for transitory goals for life. Because the permanent and fixed goals for life have been realized, and there’s plenty of room for both success and failure which of course is a part of life. There are always more goals, but there’s a deeper realization of the ultimate goal of discovering the truth of who you are.

Gangaji Oh, I like this. This is very real. I like that it’s terrifying because it’s real. It’s not something you can just feed information to. You’re on the spot then. Yes, nothing may come but there is an opening just in the willingness regardless of the terror. The willingness to open and consider the question ‘What is the purpose of my life?’ deeps life experience.

Gangaji This energy we call terror often accompanies the most important moments of our life. To fall in love is terrifying too. To have success can be terrifying. To fail can be terrifying. This terror has to be met, not as something that keeps us from delving very deeply inside but as something that appears or not when we ask these profound questions.

Gangaji Yes.

Gangaji I believe most ancient, and current teachings speak of this goal of self-discovery as something in the future or something you have to work to get, something you have to deserve.

Gangaji What I’m inviting you to is something that’s already here and always been here. It’s not a question that you’ve earned it or have you achieved it, or you can lose it. It’s only paying attention to what is always here in the midst of all the changes in your life, the failures, the fear of failure, successes, what substance has never left you. This is not new but somehow turning the attention of your mind toward it. It reveals that “Oh yes! I am here. I am awareness.” Then, the feelings come from that as by-products, and they can be a whole range of emotions including fear. What I’m trying to say is you don’t have to do it. It’s not like a common goal that you have to accomplish. It recognizes what has already been done from the moment of your birth to the moment consciousness arrived in this form that carries your name what is always here. In that, we are humbled because we recognize it’s much bigger than any goal we could imagine even if we’ve imagined grand spiritual achievements. This is both simpler and deeper than our imagination, and as beautiful as our imaginations are. That’s the thrill for me of speaking with people who are willing to tell the truth. If you are prepared, to tell the truth regardless of what you are feeling or your self-judgments, there is a truth of that. This alive consciousness that knows itself and the thinking mind can recognize that and say “Yes” and surrender. I hope that was clear. I loved your question.

Gangaji Good.

Gangaji I think it’s always been rough times if you look through history. I do accept that we’re in very strange and dangerous times. Our democracy is threatened from my point of view. Yes, it’s a dangerous time, and that can serve us to shake us out of our core taking everything for granted. We can recognize how fleeting our privilege is and have forms of relative freedom are. If that shaking shakes us to the core, then there’s the potential for the creative force to be released, and we can discover what appropriate action is. We can think what has never been thought. We’re not just talking about forms of government here. We’re talking about the life of the planet. All human beings everywhere are becoming more aware of that whichever side of the divide they’re on. The energy is there if it will be. How will it be spent? I think we will have to discover and each of us can take responsibility for that. How we are spending our individual life energy in our particular place, minuscule place relatively speaking on the planet and yet, also huge if we recognize we are all connected. When Buddha would talk about may all being awaken, that’s the way Papaji and that each of his meetings that may all being find peace. May all being recognize itself as the truth of one being.

Gangaji We have to recognize ourselves as the truth of one being. It is about me. I have to take the responsibility to inquire what is my life about, where am I looking for my fulfillment, what is always here but that willingness to go completely inside is an expression of all points of being in the known universe. For me, it’s a mystery how it will be used or what will happen. Civilizations have ended. Great governments have stopped. In fact, they usually have stopped by reactionary forces internally and externally. It would not be unique for our civilization to end, but maybe it’s unique that we are aware of how many civilizations have ended and we’re aware the fragility of life forms. Life forms are very fragile. In that, we need each other, and also in that, we have each other. If we can listen to each other, we can discover what all beings need for well-being

Gangaji I would say it’s a part of my invitation for you to tell the truth about what you want. When you are willing to tell the truth about that, and you have a glimpse of the bigness of that whether you understand it or can put it into words is secondary. Then, the word that I would have around that is to trust that. Trust yourself at the deepest level. In that trust, open and discover what you really want.

Gangaji I’m honored. It was a beautiful conversation about goals for life.