AD SE - Ch 6 I Without The I

Listen to Ektaji guide us through a self-exploration meditation, "I without The I", from Chapter 6 of Atmananda Krishna Menon's book Atma Darshan. Gaze beyond the window into infinity. Let names and forms dissolve into silence. As the embodied "I" fades, only totality remains- nondual, desireless, free from craving and aversion. Movement, thoughts, sensations, and feelings may arise as noise, yet the totality remains untouched and unshaken. All perceptions are merely small waves in the same ocean. This unconditioned equanimity is the I-principle, the I without an I- and is pure consciousness. Knowingness alone remains. This open-eyed deep sleep, free of ignorance, is Nirvikalpa Samadhi.

Transcript

Today,

Let's dive deeper into our own selves.

Let's inquire within.

Let's kindle that little spark within to help propel Nirvikalpa Samadhi.

For this self-inquiry,

Let's keep our eyes open.

If you are sitting by a window,

It would be a good idea to look out the window.

Don't look at anything specific.

Simply stare into infinity.

Dive into infinity.

Attempt to go beyond name and form.

Let the silence consume all names and all forms.

Allow the I to completely dissolve.

Dissolve into infinity.

In the totality of infinity,

There is no I and there is no other.

Are you able to recognize the oneness,

The non-duality,

The totality,

The completely unconditioned being that you are?

Isn't this totality an I without the I?

Isn't this unconditioned,

Non-dual totality?

Simply desireless?

Do you recognize that it is devoid of craving and aversion?

Do you recognize the straight line of equanimity?

Doesn't the unconditioned,

Non-dual totality transcend all objectivity?

Isn't there simply the absence of the embodied I?

When there is no I,

Is there a you or it?

Isn't there simply the I principle,

The pure consciousness,

The higher witness?

The knowingness,

Knowing knowledge?

Simply let the I principle prevail.

May it prevail in the silence.

May it prevail in the silence.

If there is a noise that disturbs the silence,

Recognize that the totality remains undisturbed.

Recognize that if there is a movement,

An action that appears to disturb the silence,

Recognize that the totality remains undisturbed.

If there is a thought that appears to disturb the silence,

Recognize that the totality remains untouched,

Undisturbed,

Unblemished by it.

If there is a sensation or feeling that appears to disturb the silence,

Recognize that it cannot disturb the totality.

Recognize that all perceptions of sight,

Sound,

Smell,

Taste,

Touch are completely helpless.

They cannot take the totality away.

In fact,

They are little waves in the same ocean of totality.

This unshakable equanimity of the totality is what I am.

That is the I principle.

The I without the I.

The I standing in front of the mirror in which there is no reflection.

The I without the I.

I am,

Yet I am not.

It is,

Yet it is not.

Everything is in the deep sleep state.

Devoid of ignorance.

Knowledge is knowing knowledge.

Open-eyed deep sleep state devoid of ignorance is Nirvikalpa Samadhi.