IAT - Session 91 - Do Not Undervalue Attention - Part 1

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. It was his mission to guide the individual to an understanding of his true nature and the timelessness of Being.

Transcript

Tattva Viveka,

Verse number three.

Consciousness itself is the experience.

You cannot taste food.

You only know that the flavor arose,

Peaked and disappeared.

It's not just taste with everything.

With smell also,

Smelling the same food.

The wave arises.

I know after it has arisen,

But I do not smell.

I cannot smell.

Consciousness knowing consciousness.

She said she was experimenting with taste.

She realized the taste wave arises first,

Then she knows about it.

And she only knows about it.

She cannot taste it.

Did you realize this difference?

A little more experimentation,

A little more diving deep into this.

Is there an I first of all?

When there is that perception or sensation or thought or feeling,

At that same time,

Is there an I that is knowing it?

Don't try to see with the mind.

Don't try to see with the words.

You won't be able to see through words.

Keep words aside and simply see the now.

When there is one arising,

There is nothing else.

There is no I that is knowing the arising.

When it itself is the experience,

Can it be separate from the wave of flavor?

So,

Who's knowing what?

H2O knowing H2O.

Consciousness knowing consciousness.

It's not separate.

It is knowing itself.

Because there is no other to know here.

Again and again,

Coming back to the witnessing level.

From that witnessing stand now,

Are you at that stand?

Are you at the correct stand?

Now,

From this level,

Are you knowing the wave of sound of ekta arise and fall or are you hearing it?

Do you see it?

What level of attention is required to see the truth?

When you just relax and you're not paying attention,

Can you see it?

No.

All you did was you came to witnessing,

You put your antennas up and you paid attention.

Did you see?

Yeah.

That is today's chat on attention.

Witness consciousness does not experience it.

You're saying witness consciousness is separate and the experience is separate.

We put an equal to sign.

Equal then one cannot experience the other.

This is a bell.

It is separate from me.

Means I am separate,

This is separate.

Means I am experiencing it.

Now,

We are saying consciousness is the experience itself.

So,

Is there a question of two?

Is there a question of experiencing it?

Yeah.

So,

What will you say?

Consciousness itself is the experience.

So,

Is there a need to even call it experience anymore?

So,

Then there is only consciousness,

Which means there is no world,

There is no experience.

The moment you say that consciousness itself is the experience,

That means there is nothing like experience.

There is only consciousness.

Experience gets cancelled out.

There is only consciousness.

It is primordial awareness only,

But you don't see it right now.

So,

You don't understand it.

Right now,

You only know it in whatever Maharaj's little words you know.

Yeah.

You try to pay attention to the same thing from the witness consciousness level.

There is no experience at all.

There is no possibility of an experience.

There is only consciousness.

Has this become clear?

It is only consciousness.

Like in the dream.

In the dream,

There is a dream Priya.

Is she really there?

Can you even say she existed for a little while Ekta?

No.

She never existed.

That dream Priya was never there.

Do you see this?

Yeah.

What is the dream?

Nothing but the mind.

Can you say the mind was separate and the dream Priya was separate?

No.

The dream Priya never existed.

From the beginning to the end,

It was the mind.

Is this very clear about your own dream experience?

From the beginning to the end,

It was only mind.

Now,

You yourself said here in your five perception work,

It is only consciousness and awareness.

Now,

How can you suddenly change your party and say there is consciousness and there is taste of the food.

You yourself said there is only consciousness.

There is no experience.

So,

How can there be the taste of food now?

How can there be flavor?

How can there be smell?

How can there be sight?

How can there be sound?

Are you seeing this?

It is all consciousness.

There is nothing like experience.

Experience does not exist because the world does not exist.

There is no world.

Is this clear?

Yes.

Now,

You experiment again.

Attempt to take your stand as the witness consciousness before you begin it and again see from that stand.

Can the witness really hear?

Can it think?

Can it do?

Can it feel?

Can it touch something?

Can it smell?

Or is there only the knowing of a wave that has been labeled as the smell?

Attempt to shift the way you are looking at it.

That's all that is required.

If you try to see from the body-mind level,

Then you will see,

Hear,

Taste,

Touch,

Smell.

You have to take the stand of the witness.

The witness is beyond a glass wall.

There is a glass wall in between and this glass wall is kind of magical as if,

You know,

It moves with the movement of the witness's vasnatmic hands going out.

Its hands go out to grasp something.

It thinks it is grasping it but it can never taste.

That's why it is never satiated.

It can never touch.

It can never feel.

That's why you never feel satiated with as much as sensual touch you have indulged in till today.

You never feel satiated by seeing.

That is why how much ever you see,

You want to see more.

This unending,

Ceaseless yearning,

This thirst that you have,

That is that thirst.

The witness cannot be satiated.

Recognize this truth and you are trying to get to the impossible.

You're never going to be satiated.

It's not possible.

And the moment you recognize this truth and accept it,

Everything becomes futile.

Everyone becomes futile because they are all beyond a glass wall.

You cannot get there.

If you don't see this yet,

The answer will be in this chapter.

What is the problem with me?

Why am I not able to see that the witness cannot see,

Smell,

Taste,

Touch,

Hear,

Think,

Do,

Act?

Why do I always feel unsatiated?

I'm ever unsatiated.

The answer is in this chapter.

Chapter 31.

Do not undervalue attention.

Questioner,

As I look at you,

You seem to be a poor man with very limited means,

Facing all the problems of poverty and old age like everybody else.

Nisargadatta Maharaj was very simple and humble.

He had a very small,

Humble home and he opened up even that little space to people to come and listen to his talks.

And of course,

He was aging when the series of talks were done.

Maharaj,

Were I very rich,

What difference would it make?

I am what I am.

What else can I be?

I am neither rich nor poor.

I am myself.

Questioner,

Yet you are experiencing pleasure and pain.

Maharaj says,

I'm experiencing these in consciousness,

But I'm neither consciousness nor its content.

See,

At what level is he?

At primordial awareness level.

He's not at witness consciousness level.

In witness consciousness,

The arisings arise and fall,

Arise and fall.

So,

He's saying,

I am not that witness consciousness nor its content.

You keep identifying with one little perception,

One little taste.

I'm telling you,

You don't taste and you're like,

No,

No,

I taste the food.

See how you're holding on to that one little experience.

And he's saying,

I am not the consciousness and I'm not its content.

Okay.

Questioner says,

You say that in our real being,

We are all equal.

How is it that your experience is so different from ours?

Maharaj says,

My actual experience is not different.

It is my evaluation and attitude that differ.

Please highlight evaluation and attitude that differ.

I see the same world as you do,

But not the same way.

There is nothing mysterious about it.

Everybody sees the world through the idea he has of himself.

This is projection.

You see the world through an idea.

And it is your own personal idea.

That's how you project moment to moment.

Moment to moment is your own personal universe that is projected out there.

As you think yourself to be,

So you think the world to be.

If you imagine yourself as separate from the world,

The world will appear as separate from you.

And you will experience desire and fear.

I do not see the world as separate from me.

And so there is nothing for me to desire or fear.

Is this very clear?

When I see that it is separate from me,

Then only I want it or I don't want it.

But if it is me only,

There is no question of I wanting myself or not wanting myself.

You see the difference in the two perspectives?

You take the stand of the body mind all the time and you think there is a beautiful world out there that I want or an ugly world out there that I am fearful of.

This is your perspective.

Maharaj's perspective is at the consciousness level.

There is no difference between the world and me.

It is all me.

It is all made up of me,

The consciousness,

Me,

The awareness.

Then there is nothing to desire or fear.

Like the right hand does not desire or fear the left hand.

It is one and the same.

There is no question when there is oneness to want or not want.

Projection is inside out.

When it is inside out,

There is obviously a recognition this is coming from here.

This is me only.

Like in your dream,

Those who are doing a successful Swapna Nidra Jnan Sadhana,

In your dream when you suddenly recognize,

Oh,

I am dreaming.

Why does the dream collapse?

I realize myself.

I see myself in the mirror.

I see myself projecting unnecessary desire and fear out of the belief that I am two.

And there is a sudden realization of oneness there.

When you wake up to the dream,

You witness the dream,

There is a sudden realization of oneness and that silliness of desiring myself.

It is like standing in front of the mirror and doing puja of your own self and suddenly becoming aware of what am I doing and quitting it.

That is it.

That is what is witnessing a dream.

You suddenly become,

Oh,

Oh,

Okay,

Okay.

That is it.

That is witnessing.

Easier in Swapna Nidra Jnan Sadhana than to do it directly in waking.

That is why this practice.

That is why I keep insisting on continuing the practice.

That is the only way that you will get there because dream is so easy to see.

It is not reality.

It is so easy to see.

And it is so easy to accept there.

It is harder to accept here because of attachments.

Personal attachments to relationships,

Personal attachments to money,

Personal attachments to whatever name,

Fame,

Status,

Situations in society.

All this keep me bound here,

But in a dream so quickly I see.

That is why I insist on Swapna Nidra Jnan Sadhana.

The moment you see it there and then you bring it out to the waking,

It is so easy.

Struggle drops.

Instead of going this way,

You come this way.

So,

Strengthen your Swapna Nidra Jnan Sadhana.

It is just taken off here.

Continue.

And one per day,

Quote,

One per day,

Can I see this one thing tonight?

Can I see this one scene tonight?

And in that only there is a lot of space on that page.

Make your little notes.

Yes,

I saw this.

Yes,

I saw this.

Oh,

This I am not able to see.

Inculcate Swapna Nidra Jnan Sadhana as a daily sadhana.

Automatically,

You will start seeing all this.

You cannot get there without it.

Ramana Maharshi has talked about it.

Nisargadatta Maharaj has talked about it.

Anybody,

Buddha has talked about it.

Anybody who got fully enlightened has gotten there.

Without Turiya and Turiyatita,

There is no moving ahead.

Forget about it.

In the ancient Indian tradition,

Turiya and Turiyatita is the way.

How can you see the fourth without seeing one,

Two,

Three?

What is one,

Two,

Three?

Waking,

Dreaming,

Deep sleep.

Do they even have to talk about it?

The moment they say Turiya,

The first three have to be seen.

What am I recognizing in this moment when I am aware in the dream?

That oneness is there.

And the silliness of desiring myself is there.

Seeing yourself as fake in the moment is there.

When you see yourself as fake,

Have you noticed you withdraw?

That's what happens in the dream.

You see yourself as fake and you withdraw.

That's what is the meaning of the collapse of the dream.

So,

If this has not happened,

Please take it down as a note.

I have to really work on my Swapna Nidra Gnan Sadhana so as to understand this oneness in the dream.

I'll read it again.

My actual experience is not different.

It is my evaluation and attitude that differ.

I see the same world as you do,

But not the same way.

There is nothing mysterious about it.

Everybody sees the world through the idea he has of himself.

As you think yourself to be,

So you think the world to be.

If you imagine yourself as separate from the world,

The world will appear as separate from you and you will experience desire and fear.

I do not see the world as separate from me and so there is nothing for me to desire or fear.

You are a point of light in the world.

Not everybody is.

There is absolutely no difference between me and others,

Except in my knowing myself as I am.

I am all.

I know it for certain and you do not.

So,

He is encouraging you that you start seeing that you are all.

Everything that you project,

That is you.

Your waking projection is you.

That is the sutra.

Consciousness is equal to experience.

Do you get it?

My waking experience,

All of it is me.

Start seeing this.

Not just believing or thinking about it.

Start seeing this.

First in your five perceptions walk and then in your samadhi.

Make it real.

I know it for certain and you do not.

Questioner says,

So we differ all the same.

Maharaj says,

No,

We do not.

The difference is only in the mind and temporary.

I was like you.

You will be like me.

So,

He is encouraging him that even I was like you.

I thought I am a body-mind person in a world.

I was like you.

Now,

I have turned around.

You will also turn around and become like me where you recognize you are the consciousness in which just waves arise and dissolve.

So,

If in me the sea of consciousness,

A wave arises,

Isn't that wave also me?

It's me,

Right?

All is me.

Very clear?

So,

He is encouraging him.

I was like you and you will be like me.

Questioner,

God made a most diversified world.

Maharaj,

The diversity is in you only.

How?

Projection.

You have projected what is the idea of yourself.

You have projected.

So,

The diversity is in you only.

The diversity is in you only.

See yourself as you are and you will see the world as it is.

A single block of reality,

Indivisible,

Indescribable.

Your own creative power projects upon it a picture and all your questions refer to the picture.

Have you started seeing it all as one single waking projection?

Not yet?

One single waking thought,

One single dream thought,

One single deep sleep thought.

Has it become that one single thought in which there are these few moving parts and I get lost in these little moving parts?

So,

This is what he's saying.

Your own creative power projects.

What does it project?

It projects upon it a picture.

A picture is projected on itself,

On yourself.

You are there.

It's like hologram.

You've seen a hologram?

Yeah,

It seems to be as if there is something real,

Some person standing here.

But if you go and touch,

It is nothing but light.

It's made of light,

Like that.

You are projecting this world and you're believing it to be real.

Where is this tomorrow?

Where is day one of the retreat?

Where is day two of the retreat?

Where is day three of the retreat?

Forget that.

Where is what we discussed in the afternoon?

Where is that?

It's all wiped away,

Wiped away,

Wiped away.

Moment to moment,

There is just one waking projection and it gets wiped away.

There's another waking projection and it gets wiped away.

Are you able to see this?

Yes?

Moment to moment,

There is a waking projection and it's getting wiped away by the now.

There is only the now.

Your own creative power projects a picture upon itself,

On yourself you are doing this.

And all your questions refer to that picture only.

There are moving parts in the picture and then they intrigue you,

Interest you and you start questioning them.

Questioner,

A Tibetan yogi wrote that God creates the world for a purpose and runs it according to a plan.

The purpose is good and the plan is most wise.

Maharaj,

All this is temporary while I am dealing with the eternal.

Gods and their universes come and go.

Avatars follow each other in endless succession and in the end we are back at the source.

I talk only of the timeless source of all the gods with all their universes,

Past,

Present and future.

What is the timeless source?

The pure consciousness,

The primordial awareness.

That is the source.

From that the idea of God comes and from that the idea of universe comes.

So,

Who is God?

Where is the God?

I am God.

There is no God out there.

I am God.

I am the one creating and projecting my universe per my desire.

So,

Am I not the creator?

So simple.

There is no God out there.

It is all within.

Just like there is no Guru out there.

He is within.

So,

He was talking about gods and their universes in the last paragraph.

So,

The questioner asked,

Do you know them all?

Do you remember them?

Maharaj says,

When a few boys stage a play for fun,

What is there to see and to remember?

What Maharaj was really saying,

What is there?

It's just a play.

It's just a game.

This is all nonsense.

It's a projection.

Why give any,

Even a second look at it?

Why bother about it?

Why is half humanity male and half female?

Maharaj,

For their happiness.

The impersonal avyakta becomes the personal vyakta for the sake of happiness in relationship.

By the grace of my Guru,

I can look with equal eye on the impersonal as well as personal.

Both are one to me.

In life,

The personal merges in the impersonal.

Tell me,

What is he talking about?

What is the personal,

What is the impersonal?

So,

Avyakta is primordial.

Vyakta is the witness consciousness.

Simple translation of the word vyakta is that which is manifested.

Avyakta,

Which is unmanifest.

There is the deep ocean and from that deep ocean only the wave arises.

So,

The avyakta became vyakta.

It was avyakta,

Unmanifest till the time it was the depth of the ocean.

The moment it becomes the wave,

It is vyakta.

Is this clear?

Manifest.

The moment it is manifest,

It says that I am somebody.

So,

There is personal.

Yes,

When it was at the depth of the ocean,

It was unmanifest.

So,

It was impersonal.

That's how the play is,

He is saying.

Very clear?

So,

He stopped at both are one to me.

In life,

The personal merges in the impersonal.

Questioner,

How does the personal emerge from the impersonal?

Means how does the witness consciousness arise from the primordial awareness?

Look what Maharaj says,

The two are but aspects of one reality.

It is not correct to talk of one preceding the other.

All these ideas belong to the waking state.

Yes,

Even if it is spoken of like that,

It is only for communicating like that.

But in your direct scene,

Do you see that?

Or do you see it as one?

When you see it as one,

There is nothing one after the other,

Or one before the other.

You cannot say one precedes the other.

It is.

It is all one.

For example,

Everybody had that successful test when you went to do your five perception walk,

That there is no toucher,

Sense of touching,

And no object of touched.

You could see that all is one,

Everybody.

Yes,

You saw the oneness,

Right?

Once you see the oneness,

Can you say there are three?

No,

You cannot say it,

Right?

Exactly like that,

When you see everything as one.

Now,

You cannot say there is one before the other.

That itself becomes wrong.

It falls flat on its face.

Is this clear?

Yeah,

For that you have to see.

Not think,

Not intellectualize,

Not imagine,

But see.

See that you are the primordial awareness.