Misunderstanding Presence as a Task

Adi Vajra is a teacher of truth, interested in sharing and extending the invitation to freedom, presence, and the fulfillment of human potential. This short podcast exemplifies Adi's non-dogmatic approach to inner life, reverent of the ancient mystical core that every spritual tradition expounds. Adi teaches that instead of conventions of language, belief, and structure, that many sprirtual teachings are based on, the truth of one's inner being is beyond words and concepts. This is a live recording and is a shortened meditation for ease of practice.

Transcript

I've seen over the years that people often misunderstand what the practice of presence is.

And of course there are different methods or different techniques for practicing presence,

Different ways one could go about practicing presence.

Often though there's this very subtle underlying current that to practice presence,

To practice being present is somehow in addition to what's already going on.

Like I'm having an experience of some kind,

Or I'm having a feeling of some kind,

And I'm going to be present.

And often when we have this kind of approach,

The practice of presence will feel like a task.

Eventually it'll feel like a burden,

And it'll feel like something that we,

It'll often end up feeling like something we don't know if we have the capacity to continue.

So often people will be faced with this experience that they don't know how,

Or they don't feel that they have the power or strength or endurance to continue with the experience of presence.

And in most cases when this is our mindset,

We're missing something very elemental.

And what we're basically missing is the intimacy of the experience that we're having in that moment.

In other words,

What we try to do,

We try to turn the practice of presence into a time-based activity.

So what I start looking for when I do this is I start looking for how am I going to be present later on at work?

How am I going to be present tomorrow when I have to go do this important interview?

How am I going to be present next week when,

You see,

You're not even present now,

Right?

We're trying to figure out how to be present tomorrow,

But we're not present now.

Because if you were present now,

You would realize that you're trying to figure out how to be present tomorrow.

And you would realize that that's a completely useless activity,

Right?

And this is what we do,

Right?

Because we're so accustomed to our mind being in charge of our experience,

Right?

So we think that we're going to figure out a way to put our mind in charge of the practice of being present.

And often what we do for that is then we look for some sort of technique that will help us be present,

Right?

Bring our beads along or whatever it is.

We have our little bell that goes off every 10 minutes in our pocket or,

You know,

You name it.

We have our mantras.

We have all of our techniques.

But what often is missing is just this very simple element of being engaged with the experience that you're having right now.

Reviews

Useful reminder for sure. Thank you.

Aid totally resonate with your teachings. Truly spoken.... why the ongoing need for more, just be. Thank you Jenni P South Africa

So true. You just explained the reason why I often fail to reach this moment. Good scrape of that subject. I would really like to hear the rest of it

Very good information!
Thank you!

So helpful in this current world.

Presence to 'just be' is challenging, however, perhaps a curious journey to explore the Stillness of be-ing.

So true 🌀Please provide a longer version 🙏🏼

Engagement with heart rather than struggling to control breath, mind and thoughts. Thanks for the short insight & reinforcement of your longer talk.

Great! Wished it was longer!

That’s a good reminder, thank you.

Wise words, thank you🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

Good reminder, thanks!

Adi! I found you on insight👏👏so thrilled and I love your message here. I remember hearing it in satsung with you. Thank you for this.

Always in the past or future! Argghhhh I just need to get out of my own head for a minute 😅😂

Wise words thank you