So take a moment to really arrive where you are,
Which means just feeling the body resting in yourself,
Leaving the busyness of the day behind,
Whatever time of day,
And just go into being,
Leave the doing behind,
And feel that you are here.
And then whatever the experience,
I just notice its nature of appearing and disappearing.
So any sensations that are noticed,
A pressure,
A warmth,
Just notice that they're fleeting and also they depend on our attention.
We only notice them when attention goes there.
When the attention is not there,
They do not really exist.
So for example,
If you now feel your hands and feel the sensations,
Tingling,
Pressure,
The touch of the fingers to each other,
For that moment there's only hands,
And it's not even hands.
Hands is already what mind makes of it,
Just the sensations.
Notice ungraspable that experience is.
And then another experience comes,
Maybe the arms,
Maybe a pain or a shifting and changing.
Just quietly observe this.
Now the function of the mind is to add image,
The image of the body,
Interpretation.
My left knee is always hurting,
And things like that,
Interpretation.
And similarly,
We might bring our attention to the world of sound and start to listen for a while.
There may be some sounds outside,
Maybe traffic if you're in a city,
Maybe nature,
Wind,
Maybe silence.
But whatever the sounds or the silence are,
Try not to add anything.
The mind is ready to label and fantasize and have opinions.
So try not to go there.
Just notice when the mind starts and then just return to simple listening,
Plain listening.
And notice also how ungraspable,
Moment to moment,
The experience of sound is changing,
Moving.
Even the silence is not stuck.
It's alive and changing.
And then if thoughts come,
Thoughts may be passing,
Also notice them,
Also fleeting,
Ungraspable.
So we can sit like this for a bit,
Only sitting and noticing how the experience is always moving.
Nothing stays.
Nothing is the truth because it changes.
We cannot hold on to it.
And it is mostly depending on our attention,
Our awareness.
If our awareness doesn't notice anything,
In fact,
It's not there.
I'm not saying this for you to start thinking about it too much.
It's more about becoming this quiet witness.
And not holding on to any ideas or images of how things are.
In a way,
You could say that consciousness creates experience moment to moment.
And if you don't hold on to anything and don't resist anything,
Then you can simply watch and be.
I would like to read you a few lines from the Vashistha Yoga,
An ancient text.
It says here,
This samsara,
The world appearance,
Is nothing but the mind filled with likes and dislikes.
When it is free of them,
World appearance,
Too,
Comes to an end.
The consciousness in the mind is the seed of all substances.
And the inert aspect of the mind is the seed of all substances.
And the inert aspect of the mind is the cause of the illusory appearance of the world.
So what it says is,
The mind interprets,
Holds on to this and to that,
Rejects another.
And this is what we call the world.
But now we're very quiet.
And try to be very quiet and you notice that everything becomes very light and fluid and simple.
And if we don't hold on to any image or idea,
Then silence prevails.
And the world fades away.
Our idea of the world.
And you're just here.
The Vashistha Yoga says further on,
The mind,
Like a child,
Imagines the existence of the world.
When the mind is illumined,
It experiences the infinite consciousness within itself.
And the illumined mind means it leaves behind delusion.
It is open and still.
Like now you're here,
Just sitting.
Not attaching any added meaning.
Notice there can be no problem here.
You just are.
This is our natural freedom.
When we don't believe in anything the mind creates,
How light,
How joyful,
How peaceful,
Empty.
And still.
