IAT Self Exploration - Ch 11.2 Be THE NOW

Listen to Ektaji guide us through a self-exploration meditation from Chapter 11 Awareness and Consciuosness from Nisargadatta Maharaj's book I Am That. This meditation dives into THE NOW. What is THE NOW? Is it the present moment or bigger? What is the past if not repeated thoughts that come up again and again. What is the future if not a bunch of anticipating thoughts? Lets dive in and find out!

Transcript

Let's do a self-exploration meditation on I Am That, Chapter 11. Be the now instead of being in the now. Let's sit comfortably. Let's close our eyes and relax the body. Simply relax. Relax from all thoughts, All ideas. Relax into the now. Recognize the contents of the now. A thought, An idea, A sensation, A perception, These are simply ripples in the now. Ignore the ripples and take your attention to the vast infiniteness of the now. The now is not simply the present moment. It is greater than that. The now is not simply other than the past or the future. The now is much vaster and deeper than the mind's interpretation. The now contains all the thoughts that arise, Play and dissolve into it. Thoughts that are repetitive are called the past. Thoughts that are pertaining to an action or an event are called the past. There is really nothing like the past except thought. Similarly, Thoughts of an anticipatory action or event are called the future. There is really nothing like the future except thought. Thoughts pertaining to the current action or event are called the present. There is really nothing like the present except thought. There is nothing like the past. There is nothing like future. There is even nothing like the present. There is only thought. All thoughts, Whether labelled as past, Present or future, Arise and fall in the now. Recognise the vast infiniteness of the now. Let's dive deeper into the now, Beyond all thoughts. When you dive deeper, You can clearly see that the now is the present. The now is beyond what we have labelled as time. What makes this now so special? What makes past, Present and future simply thoughts? There is only the now and there are thoughts. Dive deeper. Is this now different from me? The presence of me, Is the real definition of the now. I am there. I and now are not two separate entities. In me there are arisings. These arisings are labelled as feelings, Thoughts, Sensations, Perceptions. These arisings arise and fall in the now. In me. These arisings are not alive or conscious. They are dead. The special thing that imparts life to the now, Is the presence of me. I am the now. Ignore the dead thoughts, Feelings, Sensations and perceptions. And simply latch on to the aliveness of the now. I am the now. I and now are not two. There is no duality there. There is no dvaitam there. Be yourself. Be the now. Be yourself. When you remain as the now, You will notice the sense of I arise and dissolve back. The now is the primordial awareness. The sense of I that arises is the witness consciousness. I falsely identify myself with that wave of I that arises. And I forget that I am the vast infinite now. Let me unhook from the wrong identity of the sense of I and just remain as the vast infinite now. This now-ness is my real identity. My real identity is not that I thought or the I sense. I can recognize that I sense arise and fall. I can recognize the witness arise and disappear. What I can perceive, I am definitely separate from it. If I can perceive the I arise and fall, I must be beyond the I. I am beyond the I. I am the now. I am the vast nothingness, Emptiness, Void. I am the primordial awareness. I am beyond the I.