Transcript
Speaker: Hi, I'm Alan Finger. Welcome to the Genius of Nothing podcast. Nothing is no particular thing.
Speaker: It's all things at once. Genius.
Speaker: Hello, everyone. I'm Katrina Repka in London, and I'm here with Sebastian Forsman in Sweden. Good evening, and just great beer.
Speaker: And Alan Finger in Florida. Namaste. Have a good day. We're working through the yamas, which are the do nots, the deprogramming of the mind, the ethical approach to um interacting, I guess, in the world. And today we are focusing on stea, which means non-stealing.
Speaker: ah This is quite a broad topic because literally it means not to steal or to have the intention to steal. But it also has a broader um context in which you could be someone who steals time or energy from people, um more of a drain than a radiator kind of person.
Speaker: And that's also something that we want to be conscious of when we become more evolved or sattvic. So, yeah this is an interesting topic because it doesn't mean literally stealing, although, of course, it can.
Speaker: Al, would you like to ruminate on that for a moment? Well, all the all of these yamas and niyamas are really to show more energetic energy ah quality of one's mind, not right down to just the word.
Speaker: So it's things that we do. we so We don't just steal things that I think in our culture... It's pretty obvious to us now that we shouldn't steal.
Speaker: but but But for those who aren't, um in when you actually steal something, you're reinforcing in yourself that you are...
Speaker: you are that you don't have enough. And so you you're actually reinforcing that there's no limit for you to get abundance from the universe.
Speaker: So when you don't steal and you just go with the flow and you be content with what you do have, you find then stuff comes to you more so.
Speaker: So when you steal, it's not only that you're stealing and it's it's it's it's it's wrong for you to do that. It's just that you're going to limit yourself from being able to be infinite and abundant.
Speaker: And that's actually so linked together with Samposha being content with one's karma, dharma. Yes, that's one of the niyamas. the yama One of the niyamas.
Speaker: yeah Exactly. So we'll talk about that. It's our forthcoming attraction. But basically, yeah, you've got to become content. But here I just use the word content because it's an acknowledgement that you're don't you're not content when you steal.
Speaker: um It's interesting to me to think about what you said, Al, related to people who steal, feeling like they have a lack in themselves. And in my experience, when I've encountered people who want to steal energy from me,
Speaker: It's often because they're seeking or they want something I have. It could be information, like if I'm teaching and I have a student who really, really wants a lot of time and energy.
Speaker: It could be that they lack something emotionally in a relationship and are looking for someone else to fill it. So when you have a sense of abundance in yourself and you are content, you're less likely to even want to steal from others and more likely to want to give and provide.
Speaker: um So we're really talking about also how do people then come to fill themselves up if, for example, they've had...
Speaker: know, like a difficult childhood where they really do feel a lack of um abundance or they are just so unaware. Because in my experience, it's always people who are really unaware of themselves that have this behavior.
Speaker: And it's hard to point it out. I think that's very true. And I have actually done that a lot, you know, when I was younger, my teen years, because I was suffering from ADHD and I wasn't diagnosed.
Speaker: And after that, I've had, you know, ways to deal with it in a much better way. But I didn't know actually that people with ADHD had a huge problem usually with time management.
Speaker: So I used to joke even that my you know that my my bedroom was a different time zone from my kitchen because it could literally take me you know an hour to go from my bedroom to my kitchen because I constantly found other things to do along the way that distracted me and that pulled my attention towards something else.
Speaker: But I've caused a lot of people problems, I've noticed over the years, because of this. Not because I wanted to do that, or even knew about it, but sometimes I think this is a deeper issue because sometimes we're not even aware that we're doing it.
Speaker: And it's helped me to look at it compassionately when people are doing that, whereas I used to just think I had to run away, but actually looking at compassion with compassion and wondering how to help that or where it comes from.
Speaker: But it's interesting that you said that about time, because I'm someone who really likes to be on time. And I used to be much more rigid about it than I am now. But I used to feel quite...
Speaker: um inconvenience by people who were late that in a way they didn't respect my time and my, you know, i would be sitting there and there are people who are habitually late, but to think about it from your perspective that it's really something you couldn't help or... Yeah, we would not have been friends...
Speaker: 20 years ago. I think in all perspectives, it's good to be compassionate because I tend to be a little bit more judgmental than compassionate in the first instance. And then I have to remind myself to try to put myself in someone else's shoes.
Speaker: What do you think, Al? It's all very interesting because, you know, when you get into all of the psychological stuff of how and what you're doing, you become very critical of yourself and you become more trapped in your mind.
Speaker: So I always like to make the emphasis that we're not doing these things to try and lead a better life.
Speaker: We're doing these things to help just get our minds set to understand it because these are the things we want to happen to happen to us, not that we are making them happen.
Speaker: So when you're in tune with truth, with a greater intelligence, not with your mind, when you're the witness of your mind, then automatically you see yourself.
Speaker: If you can't see yourself, then you're going to be lost in these things. hey you'll You'll say, I shouldn't steal. i shouldn't lie. I shouldn't hurt.
Speaker: Next minute you'll be doing it again. yeah So the key is in Tantra is, okay, these are the things that um we understand what they do to us.
Speaker: how they affect us. Yeah, don't steal time, don't steal things, don't create a weakness in yourself, a statement that I'm insufficient.
Speaker: All of these things are good to understand, but when you in Tantra, it's like change yourself, and then these things become, they just happen in your life.
Speaker: And I think that's usually something that... well that's right It's what you said, Sebastian. you said You said something like that that was hard for you because of your condition not to you know to know when you were doing these things.
Speaker: Yeah, I was totally unaware of that I was doing it. Exactly. And it's only when you get space from it that then you become aware of it and you see yourself doing it and that's when you can make the change.
Speaker: So it's always very, very, very important to be able to, who am I? i am who? I am the ask, I'm not the eyes.
Speaker: I'm not the mental part. And that is the thoughts. The thoughts. So when you are just the background consciousness watching the thoughts, it's much easier than automatically, you know, not to lie, not to steal, not to injure. Yeah.
Speaker: You just can't do it.
Speaker: So Patanjali, which was an ancient yogi master, really, who wrote the Yoga Sutras, he actually has a sutra about this in the Yoga Sutras about Asteya. ah And it reads, he who is established in Asteya, all treasures and abundance will come too.
Speaker: So just my interpretation of that, which is when we steal, or when we rather don't steal, whether it's time, money, energy, or really whatever it is, that makes us into a magnet for abundance rather than the opposite.
Speaker: But really, to get to that point, you need to quiet your mind to be able to feel that you are enough, that you have enough. And the funny thing is, when usually you get there, you get everything you want, but then you don't really care about it.
Speaker: So that's the irony of the whole thing, I guess. Right. You get it all when you don't want it or need it anymore. Exactly. Because you that's what I tried to say in the beginning. And I stole it. when With our stayer, when you're when you're content and you're not stealing, you then things come to you.
Speaker: But you're creating limit in yourself when you steal. So that's an important part to understand with the with the yamas.
Speaker: So to be perfectly honest, actually, there instances where I do catch myself sometimes where I'm taking up somebody's time a little too much or I ah take up space where i perhaps shouldn't take up space.
Speaker: And for me, it's usually I catch that before it happens. I can catch that thought or that feeling before it even arises or before I act on something. But sometimes it's during. And for me, it's been...
Speaker: The ability to see that in my mind or or acknowledging it and and catching it really has really helped me to grow a little bit more and really to understand and stay in a different way that for me now, it's not so much, you know, something you try to do. more...
Speaker: more way of being, rather. i think at this point, you're catchy the word catching yourself means you're bouncing in and out from being the observer and not.
Speaker: Because when you're the observer, you're sensitive to it rather than catching yourself. You're sensitive to this is enough.
Speaker: yeah I've got to pull back out of this. I've got to do this. I've got to do whatever. And you become sensitive to it. So that sensitivity that you develop happens with everything between your consciousness and the mind, the manas.
Speaker: So when you see the mind and you're not in it, then when you're in it, that's why I said you're jumping in and out of it when you say, I'm catching myself.
Speaker: But eventually i want I would like to see people just being sensitive enough to know because your mind is not blocked.
Speaker: haven't made limits, you haven't stolen, you haven't lied, you haven't injured. Those things are not happening anymore to you when you're sensitive. But how do you deal with people? So for example, you know, in certain situations, like with my child, I feel like I do 98% of the giving and i get two percent back and then But in um all other relationships, you're looking for some parity.
Speaker: The best relationships, I think, are very equal where you there's a give and take and it doesn't have to be itemized. But certainly in my friendships and my other relationships, it's very much a sense of I might need to take a bit more now, you might need to take a bit more in the future, or you have taken more and it balances itself out.
Speaker: And it's an intuitive thing. and but if somebody is a real taker, then my over time, and you see that and you continue to see it, my tendency would be to back away from that relationship.
Speaker: And ah It's hard for me, and I know, Al, you're pretty good at telling people and showing people what their weaknesses are, but I would rather not have to show somebody their weakness. I'd rather just think they can't change and move away.
Speaker: I think even there, thecent when you're in your mind, then you're not sure of where that limit is or where you should be or where you shouldn't be.
Speaker: But when your sensitivity is guiding you when you, when you're the witness, you can see the mindset, oh yeah, pull out here. Oh yeah, get in there.
Speaker: Oh, here needs a little fire. Oh, here needs to be quiet and because they're not going to get it anyway. And so you move through it all. Witnessed.
Speaker: You witness, it's not you trying. You're not trying to do any of these things. If you're trying, you're not doing them. But do you think that the best relationships between people are equal in that sense of give and take? Obviously different with a child, but in all other contexts, do you think that I'm using psychological speak here, obviously, and you don't like that, but healthy relationships are based on...
Speaker: an equal exchange of energy. It doesn't have to be money. It doesn't have to be solely time, but that both people feel, feel, feel filled up and not depleted.
Speaker: Yeah, is that a question are you just making? Yeah, sort of. i mean, it's a comment, but it's ah it's a it's a question of is it sometimes okay for relationships to be a one-way street? You know, um you know or is that relationships, there's no rule because two individuals and two minds are always different.
Speaker: And the line of where to speak up and where not to speak up, when you're witnessing, becomes very clear. and when you do speak up, you'll feel good about it.
Speaker: And then, again, it's no good being quiet if you see you need to talk up because you're scared of the result that it might bring, right?
Speaker: and Then you're not the witness, you're your mind. Yeah. Because your witness has no fear. Your witness is able to say, well, I've got to go and do what I've got to do, but I've got to be truthful and I've got to be in that right balance, but not to injure someone.
Speaker: But even in a relationship, you can always make it work. I think you said in a relationship or not, Katrina? Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, okay, for that example. I think there are friendships that are relationships, but okay, let's just talk about a relationship, sure. Yeah, well, in a relationship, I mean, in any anything's a relationship between a child and a parent, between friends, between lovers.
Speaker: It's all relationships between a teacher and daughter. Yeah. And so really feeling where the line is,
Speaker: It's a matter of realizing that you when you're in the witness state, that the one actually is like a to a tightrope walker, you know, with a pole, and you're balancing yourself as you move through it.
Speaker: And you'll even shift words a little and change and adjust, just like a tightrope walker. when you're a witness and going, you're never in it. You're never, like while you know.
Speaker: And if you are, if you are, take space. So before when you were traveling a lot teaching, there was usually a lot of people that were trying to hog your attention and trying to get, you know,
Speaker: ask you questions and be around you a lot. And you really had to give, you know, tell people to give you space and sometimes in a more stern way or direct way. And even in sessions, sometimes with people, I've heard you, you know, say some real hard truths to some people. But because it comes from it that teacher... I never look at myself as being, what sorry, Sebastian, but as being successful in a teaching on my opinion.
Speaker: I just look at where the limit is, how much to put, how much not to, and try and find that balance and then let it be.
Speaker: I was um playing tennis this morning and one of my the instructor told me that one of his previous students told him he's Indian, that he needed jade um to protect him and to you know make his life run smoothly. And he put some jade on and then he got two parking and speeding tickets within five few minutes.
Speaker: So he took his jade off, decided it wasn't for him. I don't know. Sometimes I think, you know, it's beyond the mind. We do these things and you can believe in it, but it's actually just energy.
Speaker: Exactly. But I will say one freaky thing that does always, always work for me is that parking. And when you do, when we, when I'm, especially when I'm in Florida with Al and we we are,
Speaker: you know, at a parking lot or somewhere, or in New York even, when we're there, you know, we don't find any spaces and we just, we we do the yantri mantra and, oh, sorry, Ganesha mantra, gam, gam, gam, ganapati, namaha, and we find a spot like that, like in in two, three minutes and there's a spot.
Speaker: mean, that scientifically not, doesn't prove anything at all. There's no scientific method, you know, proven there or at all, but but it it never... only only because Only because science is not ready yet to understand it. No, i guess so. But one day they'll understand how science, like sound, yeah shifts matter.
Speaker: the For sure it does. Okay, but what am I doing wrong that I don't get my parking space always when I want it right outside my house? Maybe you're doing it at the wrong time. You just sit in the car and do it until the parking space.
Speaker: appears for you. So I just double park in a row. sit and you wait and you do your mantra. And then something says you, go around the block. Oh, okay.
Speaker: And you go. And then around the block you find your parking.
Speaker: So you have to be a little bit flexible. yeah Okay, but I don't want it around the block. I want it in front of my house. yeah Yeah, but that's a problem. You have to be a little bit flexible.
Speaker: because you have to take what the universe is giving you. Exactly. I'll try not to steal from the universe, then the parking spot. It's not meant to be mine. Exactly.
Speaker: try Try it and get back to us and see let's see if it works. I'll do my best. Next time you park. Well, that was... Yeah, let lecture and and but you know what? Don't do it once.
Speaker: It becomes a lifestyle. where you sort of do and you see that it just starts happening. And so Sebastian noticed this, but it wasn't the first time I did it.
Speaker: I can't live by that now. Right? Yeah. But it's I would say it's also really, it's a form of living from a point, living from asteya is really relying on and trust that Shakti, you know, will come into your life, that the flow of Shakti that you need will come into you whenever you need it. And what you don't need will pass.
Speaker: that That trust that, you know, what what but do you need well is there and will come to you. And, That is the thing. When I learned that, that kind of made me not want so many other things. And whatever comes is great, but, you know, whatever doesn't come, that's, you know, fine. Okay. It wasn't for me.
Speaker: it's It's something that really made me, yeah. don't know why. just clicked. Yeah. You have to always, you see, that leads to one of the niyamas, which are coming down the line.
Speaker: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. which is Ishvari Pranidhana, which we'll come to, but it's living in tune with the universe, realizing that Brahman
Speaker: is always making this all happen. So if if it doesn't happen sometime for you, there's a reason for it, let it go. And you might find, wow, I didn't get the parking, but look, the next day a car crashed into that spot.
Speaker: Yeah, that's true. And it might be, that's that's being very ah sort of black and white with it, but it might be a bit more subtle. Yeah. That it could change.
Speaker: could change that you do park around the corner, because we were led there and suddenly you see somebody or something appears to you and you oh my God, that's so-and-so, you know?
Speaker: It starts to work like that yeah when you live in tune with the universal force. And it's really about just getting down with your meditation every day.
Speaker: Yeah. Just do your practice and let it happen. Don't expect it to happen as you do it. Do it as best you can. And then surrender. Don't look for results.
Speaker: No, and I think that's the hard part for a lot of people. Yeah, because when you're looking for results, you're stopping it from flowing or directing you. and And leading us back to daily practice Without concern in result.
Speaker: Be open to receive what the universe is giving us. That's why you have to be content with yourself and in yourself. First and foremost. yeah That's all. Yeah. Do your practice and have a super wonderful week. Okay.
Speaker: Great. Thanks, guys. Thank you. Namaste. Namaste. Thank you. Namaste. Thanks so much. See you next week. And don't forget to like and subscribe.
Speaker: Thank you for joining us today and have a super wonderful week. Namaste.
