Let's do a self-exploration on Chapter 12,
The Person is Not Reality.
Let's explore to understand how the mind looks after the body.
Sit comfortably,
Close your eyes and relax.
Remember a time when you scraped your knee or bumped your foot or scratched your hand and did not even notice it.
Bring to your mind that little scratch or that little bump that which was brought to your attention by another person.
When somebody pointed it out to you then suddenly you became conscious of that little wound.
And you started feeling the pain.
Until that moment there was no pain.
Let's explore this.
We have all experienced something like this.
What does this mean?
This means that the body-mind function automatically like a program.
They remain mostly unperceived by the owner.
Just like right now you are not aware that the heart is beating or the breath is moving in and out or that digestion is happening.
A little scratch,
A small wound does not call for attention as the body-mind has a self-healing mechanism.
Recognize and acknowledge the truth that the body-mind mostly function automatically like a program and do not need your continuous attention.
Now remember a time when you had decided that you will continue to read the book that was in your hand as it was very interesting.
A signal came from the body that you should take a shower now as the body was getting sweaty and smelly.
And half the day had gone by.
You ignored the message from the body and continued reading.
Suddenly the body put the book down and the feet walked to the shower and you took a shower.
Have you noticed something like this happen?
What happened?
The mind looks after the body.
The body and mind function well together.
When I interfere mildly,
They can ignore me and continue their program efficiently.
Recognize and acknowledge the truth that the body-mind function automatically like a program without supervision,
Without your continuous attention.
In fact,
Their program is so perfect,
They can also ignore my mild cravings,
My mild interference.
Only mild means not so strong aversions,
Cravings and interferences.
Can be ignored by this program.
Remember a time when you went bicycle riding and you came to a fork.
The road on the right seemed very beautiful because of the green grass and the tall trees and the road on the left had wonderful homes that had manicured gardens.
You decided that maybe it would be a beautiful sight to go via the homes with the manicured gardens.
The thought wanted to go left but the body automatically swerved right and the bicycle moved on the right fork towards the green grass and the tall green trees.
Have you noticed something like this?
The body-mind function automatically like a program.
This program runs on a script which is predefined.
With mild interferences in the program,
Mild cravings or aversions introduced by me,
The program can ignore me.
Remember a time when you had the fear that you would overeat some delicious food.
You kept munching and kept worrying that this was too tasty to resist.
You kept creating a story in your mind of how it would affect your health,
Maybe affect the cholesterol or the blood sugar or simply increased calorie intake may affect your diet.
All the fears were rising and falling while you were eating that delicious meal and then the body stopped eating after the mind obeyed the feeling full signal from the body.
Then I the thinker suddenly became I the doer and took the credit for not overeating.
Do you remember something similar?
The assumption of doership is illusory.
A part of you knows that.
Recognize and acknowledge the truth that the body-mind make a good team.
Gather the courage to recognize that you are not the doer.
In fact,
You cannot do.
You cannot act.
Because you are simply the pure awareness,
Consciousness.
Stop assuming the lies.
Gather the courage to recognize that you are not the thinker.
In fact,
You cannot think.
You only assume that the thoughts are yours or you are thinking.
Stop assuming lies.
You are simply the witness of the body and the mind.
The body-mind function perfectly like a good team.
The ego just jumps in and takes credit for the good and rejects that which is not so good.
Remember a time when you just stepped into the shower.
You were constantly thinking about some tense situation and you did not realize the temperature of the water.
Halfway through the shower,
The thoughts halted and you suddenly realized that the shower water was very cold.
And then you started cribbing how cold the water was.
How it was not good for you.
How it might cause a cold cough fever.
And the story continued with some incessant cribbing.
Blah blah blah.
What happened?
How was it that you went through half the shower not realizing that the water was cold and realized it suddenly after some time?
What happened?
Initially,
I the witness consciousness or the sense of I am had assumed that the floating thoughts were mine.
I got consumed by them and I became I the thinker.
Then the thoughts halted on their own.
There was no more a stage for I the thinker to continue.
Immediately,
The sense of I am held on to the next available stage which was the assumption of I am the body.
It became I the experiencer of the cold water.
Earlier,
When the assumption of I am the body was absent,
The coldness of the water was not perceived.
With the assumption of I am the body,
The sensation of coldness arose.
And the story followed.
That story creation itself is suffering.
What does this mean?
This means that the body functions automatically,
Mostly unperceived by the illusory owner.
The owner is illusory because the assumption of ownership is not continuous.
It is intermittent.
And it is not real.
What caused the suffering?
The interference with the body-mind causes the chaos,
Causes the suffering.
The body-mind were functioning absolutely perfectly.
The moment I the witness loses its position and becomes I the experiencer and starts creating its own story,
That is called interference.
Notice that whatever you strongly fear or desire,
It manifests as chaos in the script of the body-mind.
The interference with the body-mind itself is the suffering.
The script always progresses as it should.
The unnecessary assumption of ownership is suffering itself.
Remain at a distance from the body-mind and watch it at work.
You will notice that it is the most efficiently programmed machine.
Let the thoughts arise and fall away.
Let feelings arise and fall away.
Let actions happen through the body and dissolve.
As long as you remain at a distance,
There will not be a problem.
The moment you interfere,
The suffering begins.
Embrace the truth.
The mind looks after the body.
I am always uninvolved.
Drop the false doership.
Drop the false experiencership.
Embrace the truth.
The mind looks after the body.
I am always uninvolved.
