Question: You said that the Teaching is not training its guns on thoughts, but it is training its guns on beliefs, right?

Answer: Yes, and thinking associated with all those beliefs.

Question: So is it correct to say that beliefs are the building blocks of the house of the ego?

Answer: Absolutely.

Question: So is a belief the same as identification?

Answer: Without identification there won’t be beliefs, so it is the same. Two sides of the same coin.

Question: So, is every concept a belief?

Answer: Yes, because it is a concept.

Question: Can we say that beliefs are a kind of congealed energy?

Answer: Yes. What is not congealed energy as such is the sense of presence. As I keep pointing out, as my teacher would, if your memory (the basis of your beliefs of good and bad things happening and your conditioning) was completely wiped out right now, you would still be aware that you exist: I am. That ‘I am’ does not depend on memory, it is always there, always present. That is the uncongealed energy. Let’s consider the system of Kundalini yoga, which I’m familiar with because my mother is a Kundalini master. The process of awakening should certainly not be forced, but many people go to courses with the intention of raising the Kundalini, which should be a natural process. When the energy rises, all the congealed trapped emotions, beliefs, thought processes, and structures start opening up through the light of Shakti (the pure power, the pure presence). That congealment starts dissolving with any system, be it Advaita, Kundalini yoga, or Kriya yoga. Disintegration of the congealment allows the pure light of awareness, being, peace to shine through more and more. So in that sense, it is quite literally a journey to the light. It is amazing.

In the Indian tradition, it is believed that lifetimes upon lifetimes and rebirth after rebirth occur if one is not aware, if one is not conscious. Death is only the process of dropping the physical body. The congealed energy, which contains the vasanas and samskaras (unfulfilled desires and tendencies), is like a subtle ball that remains because the issues have not been resolved, and only the physical body has gone. So you could say that ball of vasanas and samskaras is the congealed energy that keeps reincarnating. The spiritual Teachings illuminate all of this. This is the gift of the human birth, to become aware of those vasanas and samskaras and dissolve them.

Question: But there seems to be a tendency to avoid this confrontation or this resolution. There seems to be some kind of defence mechanism. I have a feeling that the problem is always that the problem is not confronted. It is not so much the problem itself, but the fact that the problem is not confronted.

Answer: Yes, and this happens because the ego really wants to survive. If the ego sees any threat to its existence, it is going to do whatever it can to survive, even if it means avoiding the problem. It does not want to die.

Question: So apart from being part of us, the ego also seems to have its own consciousness, its own intelligence.

Answer: Absolutely correct. And this is what is witnessed. Because who knows that? The grace of the Teaching exposes all of this in daily living. Let’s say that previously you were blaming people, or saying you should not be this way, or you should not be that way. Now, you suddenly start to see that you are judging based on what you think is right and wrong because of your beliefs, and you begin to understand that someone else’s beliefs may be as relevant as your own because you are both shaped by circumstances, genetics, and conditioning. In this way, your relationships get redefined, and the Teaching does not need the help of the ego in this process. It will happen if it is meant to happen. As the Teaching permeates your life, you see that your vision changes, your relationship dynamics change, how you view people changes, and how you view yourself changes. That is the grace of the Teaching, your beliefs start dropping away, your beliefs that this person is good and this person is bad. This congealed energy drops away.