I Am That Chapter 19 - Reality Lies In Objectivity Part 2

Listen to Ektaji talk about Nisargadatta Maharaj's book I Am That. Nisargadatta Maharaj was a teacher who did not propound any ideology or religion, but gently unwrapped the mystery of the self. I Am That preserves his dialogs with the followers who came from around the world seeking guidance in destroying false identities.

Transcript

Questioner says when I see a tree,

A face,

A sunset,

The picture is perfect.

When I close my eyes the image in my mind is faint and hazy.

If it is my mind that projects the picture,

Why need I open my eyes to see a lovely flower and with eyes closed I see it vaguely?

Very relevant this question is,

It's for you also,

Think like that.

Why is your belief so strong in this waking world?

Because you say oh with these eyes I can see this waking world but then if it was me who projected it,

Why can't I see that same world inside?

Very valid question,

So let's see what Maharaj says.

It is because your outer eyes are better than your inner eyes.

Your mind is all turned outward.

The word in Marathi used there is Bahiyamukhi.

In Hindi we say Bahirmukhi,

In Marathi we say Bahiyamukhi,

In English outward turned.

Your mind is all turned outward.

As you learn to watch your mental world,

You will find it even more colourful and perfect than what the body can provide.

Of course you will need some training.

So what training is Maharaj talking about?

Maharaj is talking about Swapna Nidra Jnanam,

The wisdom of dream and sleep.

So it takes a little practice like we have discussed this before.

Every night before I lie down in bed,

I remind myself I am not this body-mind.

I do not sleep.

It is only the body-mind that sleeps.

I always witness it.

So like I have been witnessing it during this waking state,

I will witness it now in dream state and deep sleep state.

And you lie down with your eyes closed.

Recognize,

See the body was the one that lied down.

The mind is assuming that I am going to sleep now.

But I am simply knowing that the body is lying down.

I am simply knowing that the mind is assuming that it is going to sleep.

I cannot sleep.

There is no question of sleeping for me.

I am simply knowing what the body is doing and what the mind is thinking.

Then close the eyes,

Observe how the body slows down.

The heartbeat starts slowing down.

The breath starts becoming softer and softer.

Slowly,

Slowly all the activities of the body slow down so the muscles also start relaxing.

And soon you lose sensation of the body completely.

Once you are in a comfortable position and the blanket is in the proper position the way you want,

You are warm enough and the temperature is right,

You don't move anymore.

Once you stop moving in bed then the sensation of the body disappears completely.

Eyes have closed so the perception of the world is gone.

But there is still the perception of thought.

Thought is going on.

And slowly you start seeing that the thought also starts receding and it goes into some images,

Some dream images come up.

All that logical sequence of thought that was a part of waking is gone now.

Complete illogical thoughts,

Illogical sequence of images appears.

Nothing makes sense.

You are witnessing it.

That's how you know that you have been dreaming all your life.

There is not a single human who can say that I do not dream.

I have never dreamt in my entire life.

Not possible.

Everybody remembers at least one dream in their entire lifetime.

That means I do not sleep.

I only am witnessing what is happening during that phase that I call sleep.

Correct?

This is the training.

When I start training more seriously,

Every night,

Night after night,

What happens is I start seeing everything within and I recognize,

Oh,

Everything is within.

It arises from within.

In deep sleep state,

I notice the absence of the waking state.

I notice the absence of the dream images.

There is nothing,

No thought,

No sensation,

No feeling,

No perception.

But I am there.

That is how I know there is nothing.

How do I confidently say there is nothing?

Who said it?

Who knows there is nothing?

That means I am there.

Recognizing,

Oh,

I am the higher witness.

Till now I was stuck in the images that were there.

In the name form,

Name form,

Name form,

Nama Rupa,

All the numberless images in the mirror,

I was stuck there because I could see that.

I could not see the one that was being reflected in the mirror.

Now suddenly I have started recognizing this that is reflecting in the mirror.

And this,

The true this,

Is what?

Is nothingness,

Is shunyata.

That is the meaning of the higher witness.

The shunyata,

The no-thingness,

That darkness of deep sleep.

And that darkness of deep sleep now sees the sense of I come up.

The deep sleep state is over.

That sense of I is the first reflection that is visible.

That sense of I now says,

Oh,

I am in this dream,

In this forest running away from the tiger.

Yes,

So first sense of I comes.

Then there is sense of sound first.

Yeah,

We'll do this in Ashtavakra.

So then the space element and sound is experienced in the dream.

And then the other elements come up.

I'll explain this sequentially in Ashtavakra.

The people in the Atmanirruti batch have already done this in the higher chapters.

Sight,

Sound,

Smell,

Taste,

Touch appear.

That is earth,

Water,

Fire,

Ether,

Air appears.

It appears first in my dream.

In my dream,

There is a world first,

Made of earth,

Water,

Fire,

Ether,

Air.

There is a dream body,

Which is made of earth,

Water,

Fire,

Ether,

Air.

There is first the sense of sight,

Sound,

Smell,

Taste,

Touch in my dream state.

Then it goes to the waking state.

I don't need these physical eyes to see that forest in my dream.

I don't need these physical eyes to see the dream tiger.

No,

I see the tiger so clearly.

There is real fear.

I really sweat.

I'm really scared.

I'm running from the tiger.

It is all real.

I didn't use these physical eyes to see that dream tiger.

I didn't use these physical ears to hear the roar of the dream tiger.

Is this very clear?

This is our own personal experience.

Yes,

100% everybody's.

This is not a story Ekta has made up.

This really happens to me.

Maybe there is no tiger in my dream.

That is just an example.

But I really see,

Smell,

Hear,

Taste and touch in my dream first.

Earth,

Water,

Fire,

Ether,

Air,

The world is there in my dream first,

In my dream state first.

Then I transition into the waking state.

I go deeper into the names and forms in the mirror.

Now I'm stuck in the furthest forms.

That is the meaning of coming into the waking state.

You're far away from the real one that is reflecting in these mirrors.

Super clear?

So I'll read that again.

It is because your outer eyes are better than your inner eyes.

Your mind is all turned outward.

As you learn to watch your mental world,

You will find it even more colourful and perfect than what the body can provide.

Of course,

You will need some training.

But why argue?

So the training is,

I start being very sincere about Swapna Nidra Jnana.

Every night,

Come what may,

I have to remind myself before I lie down to sleep.

So I keep a post-it near my bedside.

Put a post-it over there.

Keep a little notebook,

Notepad right next to the night table.

It's a daily homework now.

I am going to train myself.

So I recognise that my inner eyes are much stronger actually.

I was only ignoring it.

So many times,

The people who wear spectacles,

They put their spectacles on their head and then they go around the whole house looking for spectacles.

They were ignoring the spectacles sitting on their own head.

They're like,

I don't know where I kept them,

What I did with them.

Now how will I read this book?

I cannot see properly.

They go around the whole house and they're asking everybody in the house.

And everybody's busy on their phones nowadays.

So nobody's even looking up at the person to tell him,

You know,

It's right on your head.

He must be somewhere.

He must have kept it there.

Finally,

The bright one in the house,

Usually a little kid comes and says,

Mama,

It's right on your head,

Mama.

And then you say,

Oh,

Okay.

You come to the present moment.

You now saw what was already there.

The spectacles were not suddenly magically put there by your little kid.

No,

They were there.

You were ignoring them.

Similarly,

Your inner eyes are very sharp and strong.

Yes,

You're simply ignoring it.

Despite Ekta telling you again and again to practice Swapna Nidra Jnana,

You've not been practicing,

No?

You've been ignoring the spectacles.

That is why you still have this question.

So if you are interested in your spiritual search and you are interested in overcoming this obstacle,

You will have to work.

Ekta cannot do it for you.

Nobody else can do it for you.

Only you can do it.

Yes?

So if you are really sincere about your search and you want to get out of this doubt,

Why this world appears so real to me,

As if this is reality and this is not reality,

You have to do it for yourself.

You are the one being ignorant here.

Very clear?

So Maharaj says,

You imagine that the picture must come from the painter who actually painted it.

All the time you look for origins and causes.

Causality is in the mind only.

Highlight this.

Causality is in the mind only.

Means it is a story of the mind.

That there has to be a cause and there has to be an effect.

And you'll come up with great causes and effects.

See,

I did this,

That is why this happened.

You'll come up with fantastic logic.

And your logic will fall on its face when that same thing happens in the future without the same cause.

And you'll be like,

Oh,

It happened again,

But this time that cause is not there.

Oh,

That means there are multiple causes for this thing.

Now your mind goes on another story and another story.

It is like literally,

You know how,

Is sufficient.

Like that one who is drowning,

For him even a straw is sufficient to hold on to.

Like that your mind is drowning into wisdom and it doesn't like it.

It wants to hold on to a straw to save its dear life.

Reject all ideas of cause and effect.

It is only the mind's story.

Causality is only of the mind.

Very clear,

That statement is clear.

Causality is in the mind only.

Memory gives the illusion of continuity.

Please highlight.

Memory gives the illusion of continuity.

And repetitiveness creates the idea of causality.

So many times you decide,

I am not going to eat junk food.

Now I'm going to eat all good food.

So I don't put on weight.

All this weight is because of junk food.

And you decide,

You make that great plan and you one day,

Two days,

10 days,

15 days,

One month down the line,

Again,

It's gone,

Disappeared.

You're too busy with life.

You're back to your old way of eating.

You say,

See,

The same cause.

Oh,

I go back to eating bad food.

That is why I'm putting on weight.

Otherwise I'm very healthy.

And you keep coming up with the same reason,

Same causes.

Two years down the line,

You go for a physical checkup.

The doctor says,

No,

Your weight gain is probably because of your thyroid.

And it seems you've had it for more than a decade.

Then you realize,

Oh,

My weight gain was not related to the food that I was eating.

My weight gain was related to the hormone.

So now you bring in another cause into the story.

But all this while you believed in another cause.

Are you seeing this?

And you were so adamant about that cause.

And sometimes you even underate and tortured your body.

And really the weight didn't go down.

So I'm just throwing out an example,

A medical example that came to me.

There's so many kinds of things that happen with you like this in your regular daily routine.

And you establish that this is the cause of this.

Maharaj says,

No,

Reject.

Story of the waking world for the waking body-mind personality.

Drop,

Reject.

It is only memory that,

Oh,

For the past 10 years,

My weight has been increasing.

Only memory.

Really,

Can you point 10 years?

Right now,

Do you think you are the number,

The age that your parents or family thinks you are?

Some are in 40s,

Some in 50s,

Somebody in 60s.

Do you feel like that?

I'm 60 years old.

I'm 70 years old.

No.

You don't feel a moment old.

Do you get this?

That 60 or 70 is the subjective idea.

Atmanishta idea.

The real feeling of not being a minute old,

That is an objective.

Vastunishta.

Is this becoming clear?

So,

Reject all subjective ideas.

All atmanishta ideas need to be rejected.

They only belong to this waking state.

I'm going to be different in a few hours.

The moment I get into the dream state,

All this is going to go away.

There is no cause,

No effect,

No story of weight gain,

And no blah,

Blah,

Blah,

Any other stories of the waking state.

So,

It's only memory that is establishing the continuity and saying that I am 40,

50,

60,

70 years old.

In reality,

I do not feel even a day old.

Again and again,

I am born now.

Born now.

This is reality.

This is my real experience.

I am only here now.

That is the meaning of the Sanskrit word,

Sadyojata.

That is ever new.

It's ever being born again and again and again and again.

Ever new.

Clear?

So,

Again and again,

Reject memory.

Again and again,

Reject stories of cause and effect.

So,

I'll read that again.

Causality is in the mind only.

Memory gives the illusion of continuity and repetitiveness.

Creates the idea of causality.

When things repeatedly happen together,

We tend to see a causal link between them.

It creates a mental habit,

But a habit is not a necessity.

So,

I am only in the habit of believing the story of cause and effect.

It is not true.

Reject it again and again and look at objectivity.

The truth is,

Right now,

I am totally new.

That story which I believed five minutes ago is not here now.

Again,

In the next moment,

You see,

The previous story is not here now.

So,

Moment to moment,

I am new.

Moment to moment,

I am new.

This is called objectivity.

Very clear?

Where I remove the personal fears and desires.

That is objectivity.

That is the meaning of being objective.

Reality is in objectivity.

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