Natalia: some weeks ago, you gave a talk on the Sunday Zoom satsang on the prickly issue of zero sum. I really struggle with this idea and have been looking out for your satsang on the website, but cannot find it. Please could you send it to me? Thank you
Sundari: There has been so much talk lately on the topic of the zero sum nature of reality, which I think is not well understood. Many people have a problem with that idea because the ego thinks zero sum means nothing means anything. It seems to make life worthless, hopeless. That no matter what you do, you can’t win. We all want to believe that we can game life in our favour, that it is possible to make gains in life, that we will stack up more pluses than minuses. But the inescapable truth is that if we are talking about mithya, the apparent reality, zero sum is correct and unavoidable. It is a no win game. Whether you like it or not, zero sum pertains directly to discrimination between satya and mithya, so it is important to understand what it means.
Where the difficulty comes in is that among the many genuine pleasures life affords, it does seem like we make gains. We can succeed in our goals, be it in love, in living true to our svadharma, finding satisfaction in our profession, raising happy offspring, nurturing good friendships, finding joy and fulfilment in a good life well lived. There are many things that do and can work out well for us, alongside those that don’t. This is why ‘zero sum” does not make sense and sounds like such a negative assessment.
And yet, think about this quote from Rumi, which is hard to argue with:
“Life is strange. We arrive with nothing and fight for everything. And we leave everything and go with nothing”.
No matter how good your life, this definitely pertains to you – if you are identified with the body mind. It will end in death for the body. Does this mean our lives here are truly worthless and meaningless? No, that quote, zero sum, doesn’t apply to you if you know you are the Self because you are whole and complete, you were never born and cannot die. Life for the jiva, however good or bad, is a dream known to you. Did anything happen at all? Not from the Self’s point of view. It’s all good, no need to win because you cannot lose.
Love Makes Mithya Real
But from the mithya perspective, all those you loved and left behind, your legacy whatever it was, did it ever mean anything at all? Yes it does mean something if your life is or was totally surrendered to love, because love is all that matters. Then it’s all pluses because love never dies. Love doesn’t change, nor does it come or go because love is who you are. Love is what is real, so it is eternal. So the ultimate answer to the existential question, does life mean anything at all, is this: your life’s purpose is fulfilled if you realized the Self and that your true nature is Existence shining as Consciousness, which is to say, as love. And if you lived your life in the service of love yet did not realize your true nature as the Self, though the knowledge was not assimilated, love is never lost because it is not ‘in’ mithya. The bare truth about duality is that everything IN mithya has an upside and a downside. So, if you lived and died without love and knowledge, better luck next time.
Zero Sum Is Duality
Please take note that when we insist on the accuracy of ‘zero sum’ as a description of the truth about life, it does not denote nonduality. Non-duality means nothing other than. To have a sum, even zero sum, you need at least two things. But there is only one ‘thing’ and that is Consciousness. Zero sum is duality because it pertains to multiplicity, separation. It is in mithya. There is no way around this no matter how much you don’t want to accept it. While it may seem like the score of your life experiences IN MITHYA weigh up on the plus side, take a closer look. Put your nondual specs on. Unless love rules, the downside of the mithya score is always the same as the upside because the apparent reality is not actually ‘real’.
NO-SUM Is Nonduality
There are only two orders of reality, that which is real, satya (nonduality) and that which is apparently real, mithya (duality). If something is real it is always present and does not change. It’s not ‘in’ mithya. Mithya is in it. If something is not real (i.e., it’s in mithya) it begins and ends, it’s not always present and it’s always changing. This is where satya – mithya discrimination is so important. For this, you need to know without doubt the distinction between the two orders of reality, what is apparently real and what is not, and never be confused by the two again. Then you are not just ‘taking a stand in Awareness’. You are Awareness.
Who Has A problem With Zero Sum?
So, if you are having trouble with the zero sum fact of life, ask the logical question: who is it that has a problem? It won’t be the Self, that which is always present and unchanging, the ONLY ‘thing’ not ‘in’ mithya. It will be the ego. If I know reality is not real, only I am, then and only then, do I have nondual vision. I know that whatever I am experiencing as the apparent person, no matter how good or how ‘bad’, is NO SUM. It can only be because there is always only ME. I don’t need to chase or hold onto any experience. The experiences the jiva has, good or bad, even as an ‘enlightened’ jiva who knows it is not the jiva but the Self, are just a movie appearing in me, Consciousness. Nothing ever happened.
Discrete Or Permanent Experience?
Though you will have a much better life as a jiva who knows it is the Self, that does not mean that discrete experiences are any more real. Only their essence, which is the nondual witness, is real. If love rules in your life, that is not a discrete experience. Love is who you are – so it is permanent. All experience takes place because of the presence of you, Consciousness, but discrete experiences come and go, which you do not. The only permanent unchanging experience you are ever having is Consciousness, the witness. Meaning, love. In that, there is no actual movement, nothing to add, subtract or cancel itself out. Love is Existence, Isness.
The Essence Of All Experience Nevcr Ends
Therefore, it doesn’t matter that the good or bad experience for the jiva will end, as they all do, because the essence, you – the Self/Love/Existence – do not begin, change or end. Take for instance something as deep and beautiful as the experience of love for your partner, spouse, child, or friend. Or achieving something you have worked hard for, promoted at work, the satisfaction of completing a difficult task, or the glorious and joyous experience of oneness with the beauty of nature, another person, or a spiritual high. Even the pleasure of a good meal, good sex or good anything. There are many wonderful experiences to be had in life. Who wouldn’t want these experiences? They are exquisite, and are what make life sublime.
Though these kinds of experiences seem like they are exempt from zero sum, they are not, from the mithya perspective. Why? Well, they are not permanent. They are exempt from zero sum from the satya perspective if you know that you are Love, the essence of every experience, the ever full nondual Self, and not dependent on any experience. It is all you. The fact that the experience is known to you does not make it separate from you, so you cannot ‘lose’ the experience when the experience ends. That is the bliss of Self-knowledge – you never need any particular experience or to fear losing anything, ever again. Your mind is under new management, nonduality. The war that duality creates in it is over. Ownership, anxiety, regret, blame and dissatisfaction may appear as a blip on the screen of the mind for a very short while, but they can gain no purchase because ignorance (duality/zero sum), is a thing of the past. Only no sum applies, which is very good news if you know who you are. It is not, if you don’t.
A healthy ego makes peace with zero sum, even without Self-knowledge. But a negative ego hates zero sum when there is still some duality in the mind. Even advanced inquirers can get stuck here, and not realize that they are discriminating satya from mithya as an ego, not as the Self. Or just as limiting, they are imposing satya onto mithya. Which means you are trying to ignore or jump over mithya to satya without confronting and negating the egoic entitled doer. Good luck with that!
I hope this helps!
Much love
Sundari
