Nisargadatta's I Am That Session 11 - Meditation

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

Let me remind you how we have been going through all the chapters.

I am the dream character.

I,

The dream character,

Have realized that this world is the cause of my misery at first.

Then I started realizing,

No,

It's not this world that is the cause of my misery,

It is my own mind that is the cause of my misery.

Then slowly I progressed to a point where I said that my mind is the cause of my misery,

But one by one letting go of negativity of my mind will take me eons.

There has to be something more.

That's when you drop your dvaitam practices and you look for something more.

That's when you want to recognize your own true nature.

So now,

You start walking the path of advaitam.

You,

This dream character,

Recognizes there has to be something more than basic practices.

Because even if I meditate,

I am meditating,

Sitting here,

Doing some pranayam,

Doing some breathing technique,

Doing some japa,

At what level is that?

Oh,

It's still at the body and mind and my breath level,

Which is still the dream character.

Then you start recognizing this is not sufficient,

There has to be more.

I don't know what that more is,

But there has to be more.

Where does that come from?

That comes from that inner truth that I am that dreamer up there.

I am the dreamer,

I have voluntarily given myself to this dream character and I've forgotten myself completely.

I have no memory of I the dreamer,

I have taken on the role of this dream character and I've become lost in this dream world.

This is what advaita opens up to you,

Which was not opened up earlier with my dvaitam practices,

Which was not opened up earlier with all my japa,

With my mantra,

With my breathing technique,

With my pranayams,

Etc.

This is the truth that advaita opens up for you.

Advaita says that every time you are dreaming,

There are two aspects of you,

The dreamer and the dream character.

You forget that you are the dreamer and you start believing,

Assuming that you are only this dream character experiencing this dream world.

Advaita shows you that no,

See right now,

This moment,

There are two aspects in you.

The body and mind aspect is the dream character and it functions automatically like a program which runs automatically.

There is something beyond which only knows what the body and mind are doing.

That something beyond,

That witness is that dreamer.

So wake up to that level of your own true self.

Wake up to that,

That is the message of Advaita Vedanta and all advaita meditations are only in this one single direction.

You have forgotten yourself,

You have assumed to become this dream character.

Now wake up,

Recognize,

Go beyond the body-mind complex of the dream character,

Recognize that you are the witness,

The dreamer.

Every night when you dream,

There are moments when you recognize that you are just dreaming,

You are watching a movie.

Whatever is happening is happening on its own and you are watching a movie.

And most of the times you don't recognize this aspect of yours,

You become the dream character and you experience whatever is happening in the dream.

Advaita says a little more awareness,

Just a little more awareness and you will recognize the two parts in you.

One which is the dream character,

One which is just knowing whatever is happening to the dream character.

Very clear?

The message of Advaita Vedanta is very clear.

All meditations of Advaita Vedanta are only this.

There is no meditation outside this.

It doesn't matter if Nisargadatta Maharaj calls it Nisargayoga,

If Adi Shankaracharya calls it seer and seen,

Which is Drig Drishyam,

It doesn't matter what the name is.

Ramana Maharshi calls it following the I-thought.

The name does not matter.

Every Advaita Vedanta meditation has only one goal,

That this dream character wakes up to his true nature.

Simple.

Every Dwaitam Path meditation is only limited to the body and mind of this dream character.

Whether this dream character sits and does japa.

Keep doing japa.

Will you wake up to your true nature that you are the dreamer?

No.

How will just by doing japa you wake up?

Not possible.

Okay,

You sit and breathe.

Breathe in this rhythm,

Breathe in that rhythm,

Breathe.

Will you wake up to that truth?

No,

You won't wake up to that truth.

Do yoga postures.

Again it is directed at the body level of this dream character.

Zillion yoga postures.

Will you wake up to your true nature of being the dreamer?

Now do you see the difference?

You cannot wake up without the right instruction.

Not possible.

Very clear?

Dwaitam Path meditations and Advaitam Path meditations are very very clear.

The difference is clear.

Now we will begin the chapter with this understanding.

Chapter 6 Meditation Questioner All teachers advise to meditate.

What is the purpose of meditation?

Maharaj,

We know the outer world of sensations and actions but of our inner world of thoughts and feelings we know very little.

So we are lost in this external world of people,

Situations and things.

We know a lot about this but we know very little about this dream character,

This body-mind complex and its own mind,

Its own thoughts,

Its own feelings,

Its own sensations.

The primary purpose of meditation is to become conscious of and familiar with our inner life.

The ultimate purpose is to reach the source of life and consciousness.

So he gave you two purposes.

The first purpose is the primary purpose and the second one is the ultimate purpose.

The primary purpose,

You become conscious,

You awaken,

You become aware,

You become conscious of and familiar with your own inner life.

This happens at the first level.

That's the primary purpose of meditation,

To become aware of my own inner self.

That is the mind,

The emotions,

The feelings,

The thoughts,

The sensations,

Whatever is happening in my inner environment.

What is the second ultimate purpose?

Is to finally reach the source of life and consciousness.

What is the source of this dream world?

What is the source of this dream character?

The dreamer.

The consciousness is the source of this dream world as well as this dream character.

The consciousness is the source of the body,

Mind and the world as I know it.

So I have to get to that source.

That is the ultimate purpose.

And how will it begin?

With the primary steps of recognizing my own inner life,

Becoming aware of my own inner life.

Incidentally,

Practice of meditation deeply affects our character.

We are slaves to what we do not know.

Of what we know we are masters.

This is a very important sentence.

Highlight it.

Whatever I do not know,

I crave for it.

I hanker for it.

I want it,

I want it,

I want it.

And then I'm ready to do anything to get it.

Do you recognize it?

When you didn't have enough money,

You became a slave to money.

When you didn't have good relationships,

You became a slave to running behind relationships.

When you didn't have name,

Fame,

Social recognition,

You became a slave to running behind social recognition.

So what we don't have,

We become a slave to it.

And then whatever we have,

We are masters of it.

Whatever little you have in your life,

You see,

You become a master of it.

Whatever bias or weakness in ourselves we discover and understand its cause and its workings,

We overcome it by the very knowing.

Recognize the bias or weakness that you have,

Whatever it is.

In the previous chapter,

We spoke about contradictions in the mind.

My goal and my way,

There's a big contradiction.

If spiritual path,

Goal and way is not clear yet to you,

In your own life,

Look,

You have a goal that you want to lose weight.

You want to lose 5 kgs in the next 3 months.

This is your goal.

But what is your way?

Eat unhealthy,

Don't exercise,

Sit on the couch.

This is your way.

Are you going to get there?

Not possible.

Contradictory.

Goal and way are contradictory.

This is my weakness.

I am lost in this contradiction.

So pick up any one contradiction or any weakness,

Any bias in you and apply these 3 steps to it.

What is the first step?

I'll read it again.

Whatever bias or weakness in ourselves we discover and understand its causes and its workings,

We overcome it by the very knowing.

That's the first step.

Understand the cause,

Understand how it works.

Oh,

I am eating unhealthy.

Why?

What is the cause?

Because I am lazy to cook healthy.

I'd rather just open a ready to eat package and just put it in the microwave,

Heat it in 5 minutes and just sit and eat it.

Who wants to cook?

So I've recognized the cause,

The working of my mind.

Oh,

I've never lost weight ever in my life.

What am I going to lose weight now?

And blah,

Blah,

Blah,

Whatever excuse your mind comes up with.

Recognize,

See this is the way my mind goes.

This is the way I always procrastinate.

So,

Number 1,

Find the cause.

Number 2,

Recognize the working.

Just by knowing it.

Now you don't have to do anything else.

He says,

You overcome it just by knowing it.

You're intelligent enough.

You don't have to now educate yourself that,

Oh,

I have to eat healthy.

Oh,

I have to not procrastinate.

Oh,

I have to not be a lazy bum and sit on the couch.

You don't have to educate yourself.

You have to just become aware.

So step number 1,

Whatever vice we have,

We discover its cause,

Its workings and we overcome it by just knowing.

He tells you how it happens.

The unconscious dissolves when brought into the conscious.

I was unconscious that,

You know,

Unconsciously I'm just reaching out to the packet of potato chips and just eating and one after the other while watching the movie,

While being lost on something on Netflix.

I don't realize when I finish the full packet.

At an unconscious level,

I'm just going on eating.

I'm not conscious about this habit of mine.

When it comes to the conscious level and I recognize,

Oh,

This is how my mind is working.

That itself gets dissolved.

The unconscious dissolves when brought into the conscious.

Now see,

I'm giving you a very simple example.

You have to work on your hatred,

Your anger,

Your jealousy.

All those vices that are hidden within.

That is the only way you will be able to really come to this point where from the unconscious,

It moves to the conscious and gets dissolved.

More than others,

We fool ourselves.

Recognize when you are fooling your own self.

Please take this down as homework from this chapter.

Recognize my own weaknesses,

Whatever they are.

Anger,

Hatred,

Lust.

Continuously lost in sexual thoughts.

Continuously lost in thoughts of why she did that,

Why he did that.

Continuously lost in jealousy of why that person has this and I don't have this.

Constantly criticizing people.

There could be so many vices,

You check.

Or constantly beating your own self up.

I am only rubbish,

I am because everybody is good,

I am bad,

Blah,

Blah,

Blah.

You recognize your vice or weakness this week.

And you recognize the cause and how it works.

And just by knowing it,

You see how that bringing from the unconscious to the conscious level dissolves it.

The dissolution of the unconscious releases energy.

The mind feels adequate and becomes quiet.

In the Marathi book,

It's not mind becomes adequate.

It is mind becomes content because of the release of energy.

Why?

All this energy is required in hiding things from myself.

I push things under the carpet again and again and again.

Have you noticed you do that?

Even when some of your own weakness comes in your face,

You just push it.

Oh,

It's okay,

It's okay.

And you just,

You don't want to accept it.

You don't face it.

You in fact justify how your behavior was right,

How your thinking is right.

You just find a way to justify it.

This is called pushing under the carpet,

Pushing it deep into the unconscious.

When I do this,

I harm myself.

It's not about others.

I am the one who's getting harmed.

So he gives a very important thing here.

He said you don't even have to work much on it.

You just recognize first,

Okay,

This is something that I have been pushing away.

Some vice,

Some weakness.

The cause is this.

I don't like to face that I made a mistake maybe.

Yeah,

That is the cause.

Third,

This is how my mind works.

It justifies how I was right and the other person was wrong.

I'm just throwing out examples.

You just check how it happens within you.

This will bring that which I pushed under the carpet,

The unconscious,

To the conscious level.

And then when it comes to the conscious level,

The energy is released and the mind feels content.

Okay,

Now there is one thing that I know about myself.

When there is one thing I know about myself,

I become its master.

Remember he said that in that sentence before?

Something that I know,

I become its master.

Till the time I did not know about my own weakness,

I was not facing it really.

I was its slave.

I was its slave means what?

It took over me.

The anger took over,

The jealousy took over,

The ego took over.

How dare she say this to me?

How dare he speak like that to me?

That took over.

So,

Very clear?

What is our homework this week?

We make a list of all our vices and weaknesses.

We recognize the cause and the working of them.

Just by knowing,

Maharaj says,

It comes from the unconscious to the conscious level and it dissolves.

Now,

I have brought it into my field of known from the field of unknown.

So,

Now I become its master.

When I become its master,

The mind becomes quiet and calm.

So,

The questioner asks,

What is the use of a quiet mind?

Maharaj says,

When the mind is quiet,

We come to know ourselves as the pure witness.

So,

When the mind of this dream character is calm,

Is quiet,

Is not lost in this dream world anymore,

When it is settled,

Then some knowledge like Advaita Vedanta can help this mind open up to the possibility,

Oh,

I am that dreamer,

The witness.

And in that quietness,

Calmness,

He can recognize,

I am the witness and rest there.

Very clear?

When the mind is quiet,

We come to know ourselves as the pure witness.

We withdraw from the experience and its experiencer and stand apart in pure awareness,

Which is between and beyond the two.

Let's stop there.

So,

He says,

We withdraw from experience.

Who is experiencing?

The dream character is experiencing this dream world.

So,

The dream character is the experiencer.

This dream world is the one that is experienced.

The dreamer up there,

That is actually just the witness of this dream,

But he's forgotten that he's the witness of the dream and he's become one with the experiencer.

He has got consumed with the experiencer.

He feels he's this dream character and he's experiencing this dream world.

So,

Maharaj says,

When the mind is quiet,

What happens?

We withdraw from the experience and the experiencer.

So,

The witness withdraws from this experience and the experiencer,

The dream character.

He withdraws and he stands apart in awareness.

Suddenly you realize,

Oh,

This body-mind is speaking.

The hands are moving,

Words are coming out through the lips,

The mind has certain thoughts.

But I,

The witness,

I can only know what is happening at the body and mind level.

I cannot do.

I am not doing.

I am only witnessing what is happening.

Do you understand this?

That is the meaning of,

We stand apart as awareness.

Stand apart from what?

Both the experiencer and the experience.

First part of that line is clear.

Second part of the line is,

Which is between and beyond the two.

The dreamer is beyond this dream character and this dream world.

Beyond is very easy to understand.

But he's also in between the two.

Whose dream is this?

The dreamer's dream,

No?

Whose dream character is this?

The dreamer's dream character.

So he's between the dream character and the dream world.

And he's beyond.

From our own daily experience,

We can recognize that in my dream,

There are moments when I am simply knowing what is happening in the dream.

Exactly the same situation is there in this waking dream.

In this waking dream also,

There are moments when you know that the body is working automatically,

Mechanically.

I am not doing anything.

Thoughts are arising on their own.

Knowing is my only possibility.

I am not the doer.

I am not the thinker.

I do not act.

I do not act.

I just know.

So this is what he means by,

We stand apart from the experiencer and the experience.

We stand apart in awareness.

We withdraw from the experience and the experiencer and stand apart in pure awareness,

Which is between and beyond the two.

The personality,

Based on self-identification,

On imagining oneself to be something,

I am this,

I am that,

Continues.

I am this,

I am that,

Continues.

But only as a part of the objective world.

Its identification with the witness snaps.

This dream character can function in this dream world of its own accord because he is coded.

This body-mind has a code of its own.

The code has already been inserted into the software at the beginning of the life cycle of this software.

So this continues on its own in this objective world.

The only difference is what?

I continuously know now that I am the dreamer.

I am no more lost and I am no longer becoming one with the dream character's experience.

Which means what?

Again and again,

I stand back as the witness of this body and the mind.

I am not consumed in this body-mind anymore.

I am not lost in the kit and kin of this body-mind.

I am not consumed in this objective world.

Consumed means what?

Of course,

I know what is happening.

I know it like a movie is playing.

When required,

I take care of the kit and kin.

I take care of the family members.

But I am very clear that I am the witness.

I am not this body-mind.

I am not this dream character.

So identification with the witness snaps.

Very very clear.

When you reach there,

Then you have attained the witness consciousness 100%.

Once it snaps,

Then there is no more getting lost in the dream world again and again.

Now,

Continuously 24 by 7,

I know I am the witness.

I will still see the body-mind work like the way it used to work before.

It still does the same things,

Takes care of the family.

It still goes to work.

It still brings money home.

It still does the grocery shopping.

The body-mind does everything as it did.

Nothing will change in your external world.

Internally,

You know I am the witness.

The identification with this dream character has completely snapped.

Clear?

That paragraph is clear?

That's the most important paragraph of this chapter.

This is the reason why we meditate.

There is no other reason for meditation.

This is the reason why we meditate.

So that we recognize that I am the witness.

The moment I recognize I am the witness,

Suffering drops.

Then 24 by 7,

I am in the same equanimous mood.

The same straight line of equanimity.

I don't get excited with some major attainment or achievement.

I don't get depressed with some loss.

I have a straight line of equanimity.

This is the only reason for meditation.

Now we can read further.

As I can make out,

I live on many levels.

And life on each level requires energy.

The self by its very nature delights in everything.

And its energies flow outwards.

Is not the purpose of meditation to dam up the energies on the higher levels or to push them back and up so as to enable the higher levels to prosper also?

What is he talking about?

All your chakra meditations,

All the meditations,

Kundalini where you try to pull up your energy from the base of the spine to the top of the head.

Where you try to bring all your energies channelized and take them up.

That is the question.

He has come from the Dwaitam Path.

So on the Dwaitam Path,

He sat and he did all these meditations.

He did Japa,

He did Tapa,

He did Kundalini,

He did all these chakras.

Pulling that energy up.

So you say,

Isn't that what is really meditation?

So let's see what Maharaj says.

It is not so much the matter of levels as of Gunas.

Gunas means qualities.

Meditation is a Sattvic activity and aims at complete elimination of Tamas and Rajas.

Tamas is inertia,

Rajas is motivity.

Pure Sattva or harmony is perfect freedom from sloth and restlessness.

So you can make three columns in your notebook.

Rajas,

Tamas and Sattva.

These are the three Gunas.

He says meditation is not about all these chakras and levels and trying to pull up your energy from the base of the spine to the top of the head and all.

No.

Meditation is more about balancing your Gunas.

So what is Rajas in English?

Motivity,

That is the translation here.

Or activity,

To understand that better.

Action,

Activity is Rajas.

What is Tamas?

Tamas is rest.

Simple words we use.

We get up,

We have a lot of energy in the morning,

We do a lot of activity.

You have a lot of Rajas.

By the end of the day what happens?

All the energy goes down.

Now there is more Tamas.

The body is thirsting for rest and relaxation.

So Rajas is activity,

Tamas is rest.

Let's understand it very simply in our own life,

In our daily routine.

Sometimes it's 11 in the night,

12 in the night and you are still full of energy.

Now Rajas is out of balance,

You cannot sleep.

You are turning right,

Turning left,

Turning right,

Turning left,

Getting up from your bed,

Going out,

Disturbing all the family members.

Everybody is telling you,

Why are you making noise,

Please go back to sleep.

And you don't know what to do.

What has happened?

Rajas is out of balance.

It's too much.

Yes?

All of us have experienced this some or the other time.

Now similarly,

The opposite happens.

Tamas is out of balance.

10,

30,

11 am in the morning itself,

You are yawning and lazy and not able to focus on work,

Feeling dull,

Feeling tired.

When you sleep for 2-3 hours in the afternoon,

You wake up,

You are still groggy and you are still heavy.

Your whole day has gone in a very Tamasic fashion.

Do you understand Tamas now?

Tamas is out of balance.

Yes?

What is Sattva?

Sattva is simply the perfect balance of Rajas and Tamas.

It's harmony.

So Rajas is out of balance.

Surajas is activity.

Tamas is rest.

Sattva is balance between the two.

Harmony.

So Maharaja is saying,

When these go out of balance,

It's not just that it reflects in this physical body only.

It reflects in your mental level also.

Right?

When you are too Tamasic,

You are so restless even at the mind level.

You are agitated.

You get angry quickly.

You get upset very quickly.

You are very disappointed with your kids and with your family members.

You are constantly criticizing.

You see all these things?

This is extra Rajas at the mental level.

Tamas at the mental level,

You are just not interested in any work.

There is lack of enthusiasm in life itself.

Everything is bad.

Everything is negative.

You sneeze and immediately you start thinking,

Oh,

I have COVID.

I am going to be COVID positive.

Oh,

Finish.

This is the end of the world.

I am going to die.

And then you go on and on and on with all your morose thoughts and become Devdas of the house.

Oh,

I am going to die.

I am going to die.

So you see Tamas is out of balance and this is affecting at the mental level.

So what is Maharaj saying?

This is what affects your life.

Your Rajas and Tamas,

When it goes out of balance,

That is where problems happen with the spouse,

With the parent,

With the kids,

With the neighbors.

You get into drama and then you beat yourself up.

Oh,

Why did I get into drama?

The whole chain,

Vicious cycle continues.

So Maharaj is saying it is more about balancing of Gunas,

Taking care of your Gunas than bothering about the energy levels.

Very clear?

Meditation is a Sattvic activity and aims at complete elimination of Tamas and Rajas.

Please highlight complete elimination.

So you will say right now we learned that Sattva is a perfect balance between the two.

Then how complete elimination?

Will the dream character ever reach a point where he can completely eliminate Rajas and Tamas?

Is it possible in his entire lifetime?

Even if he lives for 100 years?

Not possible.

100 years of sadhana cannot take him there.

What is the way?

Only when you recognize,

I am the dreamer.

I am that witness.

Then you completely snap out of the dream character's role that you have taken on.

Do you see what I am saying?

When you completely snap out,

When you are the witness,

At the witness level,

Is there any Rajas?

Tell me.

At the witness level,

Is there any Tamas?

No.

So that is the complete elimination.

Only possible with Advaita Vedantic meditation,

Which leads you to the point of snapping out and standing apart as the witness,

As the awareness.

Not possible with any Dwaitam,

Pranayam or Yoga,

Or any energy level shifts,

Any breath technique.

Any mantra meditation.

Extremely clear?

Your meditation,

If targeted at this body-mind,

Can never lead to the complete elimination of Rajas and Tamas.

Only when meditation is targeted to have the witness stand apart from the body-mind.

Then only can you attain complete elimination of Rajas and Tamas.

And what happens once there is no Rajas and no Tamas?

There is no Sukha,

No Dukha.

No pain,

No pleasure.

You attain a complete straight line equanimity.

That is the meaning of peace.

That is your true nature.

Pure Sattva.

Harmony is perfect freedom from Sloth.

Sloth means laziness.

Laziness at the body and mind level.

And restlessness.

So restlessness is extreme Rajas.

Sloth or laziness is extreme Tamas.

Complete freedom he is talking about.

Complete freedom from the two.

So indirectly what is he saying?

The nature of the witness.

The nature of awareness is pure Sattva.

You don't have to cultivate it.

You don't have to manufacture it.

You don't have to work to get it.

You just remove the cause for Rajas and Tamas.

And what is that?

Very clearly recognize I am the witness of this body and mind.

If the mind is lost in a lot of negativity then take one step down.

And he said that bring it from the unconscious level to the conscious level.

Become the master of whatever the vice or the weakness is.

Once you become a master the mind will calm down.

Once it is calm again take that step back.

Go one level higher now.

Take the step back from the mind and be the witness of the mind.

That eliminates Rajas and Tamas completely.

You get complete freedom at the level of the witness.

So the questioner is still not clear about it.

He asks how to strengthen and purify the Sattva.

Maharaj says the Sattva is pure and strong always.

It is like the sun.

It may seem obscured by clouds and dust.

But only from the point of view of the perceiver.

Deal with the causes of obscuration not with the sun.

Who is the perceiver?

This dream character is the perceiver.

From his point of view,

Oh there is so much restlessness.

There's so much problems.

There's so much whatever Tamas or Rajas depending which way your mind is leaning.

All that is an obscuration.

Obscuration means it does not let me see the sun.

It does not let me see that I am the witness.

Because this perceiver's vision is obscured He cannot see that he is the dreamer.

So Maharaj says okay now work on what is obscuring your vision.

Whatever it is.

It is your own mind.

It is not these external people.

It is not this external world.

It is my own mind that is an obscuration.

So find your weakness.

Whatever your weakness is on the path of Advaita Veda.

Whatever it is.

Your doubts,

Your beliefs,

Your conditioning,

Your attachment to your family members,

To your kids,

To your money.

Whatever it is that is becoming your obstacle to your own realization of being the true witness.

He says deal with the causes of obscuration not with the sun.

What is the sun here?

The witness consciousness.

The witness is always pure.

It is always strong.

It is like the sun.

So questioner asks what is the use of sattva?

Maharaj says what is the use of truth?

What is the use of goodness?

What is the use of truth?

What is the use of goodness?

What is the use of harmony?

What is the use of beauty?

They are their own goal.

They manifest spontaneously and effortlessly when things are left to themselves.

Are not interfered with.

Not shunned or wanted or conceptualized.

Please highlight.

This is the most important line.

All this truth,

Goodness,

Harmony,

Beauty,

Sattva.

All this will manifest effortlessly,

Spontaneously.

How?

When things are left to themselves.

When will you be able to leave things to themselves?

When you truly recognize that I am the witness.

I cannot do.

I am not the doer.

It's not that I do not do or do not want to do.

I cannot do.

Take your mind back to a dream you had last night.

You were dreaming.

Whatever the dream character was going through,

His situation he was going through.

Could you do anything about that?

You only knew what is happening to the dream character.

You could not even change what was happening.

Could you?

So leave things to themselves.

So leave things to themselves.

Things will take care of themselves.

This highest knowledge is given only at the Advaita Vedanta level.

At Dwaitam level,

You are not even ready to understand this.

It's not possible.

At Advaita Vedanta level,

When you come to the level of recognizing the witness,

You know,

Yeah,

Knowing is my only possibility.

I can only know what is happening to the body and mind.

I assume,

I become the ego and I assume that I did it.

But really look,

Honestly look,

Whatever you have attained in your life.

Did you really do anything?

Good or bad?

Whatever happened?

Things happen on their own.

You only falsely assume I took this decision.

What if I had not taken the decision?

It's always in retrospect that you say I chose A over B.

Absolutely wrong.

You just took the ownership after the choice was made.

The mind operates automatically.

Till now we were at the body level.

We see that the body operates automatically.

I am saying not just the body,

Even the mind operates automatically.

It is a pre-program.

It chooses on its own.

I am not the mind.

I am just the knower of the choice.

And I like to take credit so I say I chose.

I never choose.

Thoughts arise of their own accord.

I only know after they have arisen.

So he says when you leave things to themselves then only beauty,

Harmony,

Sattva,

Truth,

Goodness will manifest spontaneously and effortlessly.

When things are not interfered with.

Not shunned.

Shunned means no I don't like this,

I don't want this.

This is shunning.

And not wanted.

Wanted means I want this,

This only should happen.

Nothing else should happen.

And this should happen.

This is wanting.

So don't get into craving,

Don't get into aversion.

Don't get into even doership that I have to do something.

Just be the witness.

Recognize it is anyway automatically happening.

It always was like that.

From the beginning I always jumped in and assumed that I took the decision.

I did this.

Or I missed that opportunity.

That was also not in your hands.

Wake up to this truth.

This is homework number two for the week.

Most important for you.

And don't conceptualize them.

Conceptualize means I make a concept out of it in my own mind.

This happened because of this.

It's a concept.

See I always take initiative.

Concept.

Where is the I?

First of all there is no I.

The I itself is an assumption.

So don't conceptualize.

Just let things be.

You will start noticing that oh mind operates on its own.

Body operates on its own.

And things get done in this dream world according to a pre-coded script.

Where is the script coming from?

The dreamer.

The dream character only assumed later on that he did it.

How can the dream character do anything on his own?

The script is all pre-scripted by the dreamer's mind.

Yes.

But just experienced in full awareness.

Here I'll add one more word.

Instead of full awareness say choiceless awareness.

I am choiceless.

I the witness do not have a choice.

So just be aware moment to moment to moment.

Whatever happens with family,

At work,

With friends,

In your social group,

Wherever you are.

Moment to moment to moment.

It is all happening.

And I do not have a choice in this.

Recognize that.

Recognize that.

Again and again separate yourself from the body-mind and stand as the awareness or the witness.

Such awareness itself is sattva.

It does not make use of things and people.

It fulfills them.

The dreamer's mind is not making use of this dream world.

In fact,

It is the dreamer's mind that is giving birth to this entire dream world and this dream character.

It fulfills the dream character as well as this dream.

The dreamer's mind is the awareness,

Is the consciousness.

The choiceless awareness.

That is who I am.

So the questioner says,

Since I cannot improve sattva,

Am I to deal with tamas and rajas only?

How do I deal with them?

Maharaj agrees on that.

You can only deal with rajas and tamas.

You cannot do anything about tamas.

You cannot do anything about sattva.

Maharaj says,

By watching their influence in you and on you.

Be aware of them in operation.

Watch their expressions in your thoughts,

Words and deeds.

And gradually their grip on you will lessen and the clear light of sattva will emerge.

It is neither a difficult nor a protracted process.

Earnestness is the only condition of success.

So he is saying what?

Watch their influence.

What is the meaning of watch?

When you watch something,

When you watch a movie,

You usually start judging the actors,

The characters.

You have a preconceived idea.

That is not the kind of watching that Maharaj is advising.

Instead of watching,

Please put,

Just be choicelessly aware of them.

So what is the meaning of choiceless awareness?

No judging,

No conceptualizing,

No creating ideas.

Just watching,

Just being aware,

Choicelessly aware of this thought that arose in me.

This is a rajasic thought.

I recognize right now my rajas is very high.

I am just aware,

Choicelessly aware.

Watch how it came up,

Watch how it works.

Means how it is in operation.

Be aware of them in operation.

Means how it is working.

And see how the same thing expresses in your thoughts and in your speech.

Be very careful in your observation of them,

Pure observation.

Devoid of prejudice,

Devoid of any labels.

Please don't start labeling yourself,

I am this kind of a person,

I am that kind of a person.

No.

No labels,

No concepts,

No judgments,

No criticizing yourself.

Just choicelessly aware,

See this thought arose on its own.

This is the way the thought manifests at the mind level.

This is the way the thought got converted to speech and I spoke to the family member like that.

And see this is the way the thought actually manifested as into action.

Just choicelessly be aware of them.

Moment to moment to moment.

Irrespective of whether it is a rajasic thought or a tamasic thought.

Irrespective of whether it is rajasic speech or tamasic speech.

Irrespective of whether it is a rajasic deed or a tamasic deed.

I will not label,

I will not judge myself,

I will not criticize myself.

I will just observe how it arises,

How it works,

How it manifests as speech,

As action.

And as maybe a continuous broken record in the mind.

Just by knowing it,

Maharaj says,

You will become the master of that.

From the unconscious it will come to the conscious.

You just be conscious of it again and again and again because it's going to happen many times.

So gradually what will happen?

Its grip will lessen on you.

It's grip on you which is like it's holding on to you,

Whatever it is.

Maybe the habit of being angry with your spouse or your kids.

Or the habit of constantly complaining or the habit of just not disliking the neighbor.

Whatever it is,

It has a strong grip on you.

That will lessen.

And the clear light of sattva will emerge.

That will happen automatically.

You don't have to do anything.

Because the clear light of sattva is beyond it.

It is neither difficult nor a protracted process.

Protracted means very long or very short.

It is neither difficult nor a protracted process.

Protracted means very long,

Prolonged process.

No,

It is not.

The moment I am choicelessly aware,

My two eyes are fixed on it.

Have you noticed if there is a very mischievous child in the house and you just look at him with big eyes,

He freezes in the corner.

That's all you need to do.

Just look at that vice with big eyes.

Be choicelessly aware.

It doesn't take too long.

You have to have that much interest in yourself.

That much love for yourself is important.

Otherwise you won't even start the process.

So are you interested first of all?

Do you love yourself?

Love yourself.

Love begins first here,

Then it is outside.

Be more interested here.

So be more interested in yourself and start working on this homework.

It is not a difficult process and it won't take too long.

Earnestness is the only condition of success.

What is earnestness?

Earnestness?

Tadmadi.

That's the Marathi word.

I have to know myself.

This is my number one priority.

Come what may.

This is earnestness.

This is Tadmadi.

Clear?

I hope the chapter is clear.

So this is real meditation.

On the path of Advaita Vedanta,

Whatever higher texts you take,

Ashtavakra Gita,

Avadhoota Gita,

All the higher chapters of these texts will tell you now drop all external meditations.

Even Ramana Maharshi says that.

Do not meditate.

Just be.

You don't need to do anything external now.

All those external techniques were for the dream character's mind to become calm and quiet.

If you have reached that stage where you are calm and quiet and only interested in yourself now,

Now is the right time.

Now drop everything and just be.

And take that step back and be choicelessly aware.

Be the witness.

Soon you will reach a stage where you realize you don't have to be the witness.

You are the witness.

You cannot not be the witness.

That option is only not there.

That happens later on.

For some of us,

We are still beginning,

We are not there.

For some of us,

We are somewhere at the cusp where we recognize it and then we still keep slipping.

And some of us have already recognized it.

That's true.

I cannot be anything else but the witness.

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