Let's do a self-exploration meditation on I Am That,
Chapter 17,
Seek the Ever-Present.
Let's sit comfortably and easily.
Let's keep our eyes open for this meditation.
Look around the room.
Look at the furniture in the room.
Ask yourself,
What is the source of this perception of sight?
Whatever I am perceiving as an object of sight right now,
The room,
Its furniture,
The physical body sitting on the chair,
The sound from your computer,
What is the source of all this?
Source means origin.
What is their origin?
Where do these objects originate from?
Do these objects originate from the waking world?
Is this waking world their source or origin?
It might appear that the table in front of you is made of wood.
The wood came from the tree.
The tree came from the combination of fire in the form of heat in the earth,
Water in the form of rain and humidity in the air.
So it appears that the table's source or origin is this waking world,
Specifically earth,
Water,
Fire and air.
Now ask yourself the question,
Isn't there earth,
Water,
Fire and air in the dream world as well?
Isn't there a tree in the dream world as well?
Isn't there a wooden table in the dream world as well?
Is there any proof that the table in the waking world is different from the table in the dream world?
Is there any proof that the objects of sight that I am perceiving right now have their source in the waking state definitely?
No,
Because the same objects are experienced by me in the dream world as well.
So how can I prove that these objects have their origin or source only in the waking world?
Therefore,
By direct experience,
I can conclude that the waking world and the dream world both cannot be the source of my current perception of sight.
In my direct experience,
I do not have proof of the existence of matter.
Then what is the source of this perception of sight?
Instead of looking outwards towards the world,
Let me turn my attention inwards and seek for the source inwards.
Is it possible that the observer is the source of the observed?
Is it possible that the perceiver is the source of the perceived?
Is it possible that the thinker is the source of thought itself?
Is it possible that the feeler is the source of the feeling itself?
Is it possible that the observer is the observed?
Is it possible that the perceiver is the perceived?
Is it possible that the thinker is the thought?
Is it possible that the feeler is the feeling?
Is it possible that the observer,
The perceiver,
The thinker,
The feeler is the source of all?
Dive deeper within yourself and examine carefully.
Can you find an entity that can be labelled as the observer,
Perceiver,
Thinker or feeler?
Can you find the one that says I?
Search for the I thoroughly,
Dropping all assumptions.
Simply search.
If you look thoroughly,
You will notice that there is no I.
There is no entity that can be labelled as the ever-present I.
There is no entity that is called the perceiver,
Thinker,
Feeler or observer.
There is simply an infinite field of awareness.
This infinite field of awareness is aware of itself.
This infinite field of awareness is the one that forgets its infiniteness and bottles itself into a finite assumption.
The sense of I.
This infinite field of awareness is the one that projects a waking world and knows its own projection.
The same infinite field of awareness is the one that projects a dream world and knows its own dream projection.
This infinite field of awareness is the one that projects the absence of the waking world and dream world.
That is termed as the darkness of deep sleep.
And it knows its own projection of darkness,
Of absence,
Of nothingness.
This field of awareness forgets its infiniteness and assumes to be the projected waking body-mind personality in the waking world.
This field of awareness forgets its infiniteness and assumes to be the projected dream body-mind personality in the dream world.
This infinite field of awareness is the one that knows both the waking world and dream world contents and also knows their absence.
Look at your computer screen right now.
There is a light behind the images on the screen.
Don't focus on the images on the screen.
Take your attention to the truth that there is a light behind these images on the screen.
That is why these images are appearing bright and clear to you.
That light is the source of the images.
As a hypothetical example,
Let's suppose that the light behind the images has the power or the quality to know the images.
It also has the power to know itself.
Not only does it have the power to know,
It also has the power to not know or to forget what it has known.
So the light behind the images,
That is knowing the images,
Forgets about itself,
Its reality of infinite light and assumes itself to be the finite image on the screen.
That is exactly what is meant by projection of the waking and dream world.
The awareness projects the waking and dream world,
Assumes to be the projected image,
Forgetting its own truth of infiniteness.
The waking state along with the waking body-mind personality and the waking world appear and disappear in this field of infinite awareness,
Which is ever-present.
The dream state along with the dream body-mind personality and the dream world appear and disappear in this infinite field of awareness,
Which is ever-present.
The deep sleep state along with its darkness appears and disappears in this infinite field of awareness,
Which is ever-present.
How can that which appears and disappears,
That which is temporary,
How can that be the source of anything?
Is it possible that this infinite field of awareness,
That is ever-present,
Is the source?
Could this infinite field of awareness,
That is ever-present,
Be the projector and the projected?
Could this infinite field of awareness,
That is ever-present,
Be the real mother and father,
As well as the offspring?
Is it possible that this infinite field of awareness,
That is ever-present,
Be there when the body-mind are born and when they die?
Is the ocean present when the wave is born and when the wave dies?
May this self-enquiry continue until the highest truth is revealed to me.
May this self-enquiry continue until the highest truth is revealed to me.
