You Are The Trickster Who Has Tricked Yourself

In this opening teaching from our annual Rainy Season Retreat, Shunyamurti presents the radical path to liberation described by Ramana Maharshi, Huang Po, and other great sages across spiritual traditions: the dissolution of the ego and the transcendence of thought itself. The separate self is a structure of concepts, beliefs, desires, and fears that obscures the infinite consciousness already present. Through love of God, surrender, and profound inner stillness, the mind becomes empty of its habitual chatter, and the heart opens to the fullness of divine bliss. The goal is not to accumulate more spiritual knowledge or become enlightened but to let go of the one who seeks awakening. What remains is pure presence, Sat Chit Ananda, and the spontaneous expression of divine beauty and truth in every aspect of life.

What is the true spiritual meaning of Halloween? In this classic teaching recorded in 2018, Shunyamurti explores the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain as a symbolic passage through darkness and death into divine rebirth. Drawing on the Tree of Life, heroic myths, and the spiritual significance of sacrifice, he explains why the ego is the ultimate obstacle to humanity's return to divine consciousness, and why every new Golden Age must begin with the death of the old.

Note: Shunyamurti did not complete his explanation of why the Gaelic holiday pronounced Sahwen is spelled Samhain. The original settlers were Aryan speakers of early Sanskrit, and the holy day was a coming together of the living and the spirits of their dead ancestors, who were the gods of earlier yugas. The idea of coming together was expressed as a sangham, which could also be written as samhan. Thus, the Sanskrit root was preserved, though the spoken language evolved.

In this powerful and timely transmission, Shunyamurti calls on Sat Yogis to prepare for uncertain times through ceaseless self-inquiry and inner stillness. By transcending ego and body identification, we can abide in the freedom of the Real Self and radiate peace into the collective consciousness. We must be free of any trace of ego-consciousness so that we can fulfill our God-given functions during these final days.

Class 2 from the 2026 Rainy Season Retreat

In this profound Q&A, Shunyamurti explores the paradox of awakening: there is nothing to attain, only a recognition of what already is. Shunyamurti also explores how dreams reveal the unconscious patterns that prevent our divine nature from shining.

In this teaching, Shunyamurti describes a new phase of Sat Yoga: moving beyond concepts and intellectual understanding to the direct realization of God. The goal is not merely to understand the Self, but to surrender the ego completely and live in continuous remembrance of the divine presence. The practice must be ceaseless.