Self Inquiry 16 - Advaita In A Nutshell

Listen to Ektaji talk about Ramana Maharshi's self-inquiry teachings. These teachings are aimed at the experiential understanding of the true nature of the self and that consciousness is the only existing reality.

Transcript

Salaam. Salaam. Salaam. Salaam. Salaam. Let's first go higher. There is a higher thing in this. Let's make that attempt to figure out how I can experience it. Now you're understanding the difference between belief and experience and you're understanding the difference between intellectual understanding and experience. Is that two different things? Intellectual understanding is everything that I have read. Yeah, My intellect has understood but experiences that which I can really see right now. Yes, So that's what you saw in stage one. You started distinguishing between the awareness and the objects that awareness is aware of. Yes, First you were aware of the world. You were aware of people. You were aware of this room. You became aware of the thoughts. Yes, If a pain arose in the body, You became aware of that. You straightened your spine. Maybe you were not sitting correct. A judgment arose. You became aware of that. Yes, Some sensation arose somewhere in the body. You became aware of that. That constant awareness of objects need you realize there are two. There is a duality to begin with. There is awareness and there are objects whether they are physical or they are mind objects, But they are still objects. You started with duality. Remember that was stage one slowly. You kept looking in you kept looking in you kept looking in you realized. Oh, There is no duality. This awareness is there and these objects are in awareness rather than outside it. Did you come to that? Yeah, It's not it feels like initially there is a background and foreground, But when you go deeper and deeper and rest in awareness, You realize it's not like a background and foreground. It's more like a space of awareness and all these objects the feelings perceptions thoughts sensations pain in the body even other people. They are all in it. We start recognizing the awareness is all pervading. That's how you come to stage two and what is this awareness? Tell me what is the nature of this awareness? It is very calm very silent and very peaceful and full of love fullness. Okay, There's that feeling of fullness. So tell me something can this awareness be destroyed by anything? No, Can it be stained? Can it be burnt? Can it be removed? Yeah, Okay. Is there a limit to this awareness? Check check see right now. Is there a border? Can you look outside it go to the edge of awareness and look outside it? For my limitation of my intellect, I am limited to this awareness. Okay, So I'm not aware of what's going on in India or even outside. You don't have to be aware of right now. I'm aware of awareness. I've come to stage two. I'm not in the stage one anymore. Stage one was just objects physical mind the people in this room. I've come to stage two where I'm in awareness and I realized that awareness is aware of itself. Yes, It is not really just a background and for a ground. It is more all over. Are you there now find a border is there really a border? It's all in. Going to the experience of awareness. Is there a limit? So it is everywhere everywhere everywhere. So are all the things in it? Yes. Yes. Am I in it? Are you in it? Is the room in it? Yes. So everything is in it. Yeah, So that means all objects all matter are a part of this awareness. Are you there? Yes, So it is limitless. It is infinite. It includes everything. You only gave me the answer see. Yeah, What is the nature infinite all-pervading includes everything there is no border. There is no limit. So if each one of us is in awareness, Is it that my awareness is different from your awareness? My awareness is different from your awareness. Come on. There has to be a little pot pot. No, No. It doesn't exist. There is nothing like that that there is a border again. Go back to the experience get out of the mind the moment you are in the mind you lose the experience go back to the experience. Look inwards. Look inwards. Now in that experience, Do you see that it is all-pervading? That it doesn't have a border. Yes. Yeah. Now, Do you understand how everyone is in it? All the objects are in it. Now, Do you understand what she said yesterday? She felt the tree and herself one. There was no difference now. Do you understand where she got yesterday? Yeah. Now is this awareness? Empty and boring. It's reactive. Okay, It's active. Okay, That is why it is consciousness and it's full. Yes. Yes, And it's burden free actually. Yes. So some people experience this piece where there is no pleasure, No pain. It is just peace quiet. Some people experience the joy of knowing it. But when you are in that state and then say you need to work or you need to make a decision. That's what I said. No, It will percolate. No, It will now slowly with practice, It will start like a wave comes and you can't stop it from coming to the shore. Like that, It will just come and engulf you slowly and it will engulf all the activities that you're doing. While in activity, You will maintain that peace being there. But you have to keep practicing for that. If you don't practice turning inwards, You will lose it tomorrow. You continue practicing, You will come to a point where you will see just pervading every activity, Everything. Yeah, There will not be a difference between activity and this peace that you are experimenting with right now. Because it's new to you right now. It still seems background and foreground. Correct? The way I'm saying is correct. Yeah, As if it's somewhere behind. Yeah, Either I'm here or I'm here. Right? Yeah, Background, Foreground. That's the word I'm using for here or there. So I keep feeling it's separate. It's separate, It's separate. I have to make an attempt to be there only initially. Give it a few months of practice. Come what may daily, Zillion times without stopping. You don't know when that floodgates will open and you will see it just happening in all activity. Yeah, It does not mean that if some karma has to come my way in the form of a nasty person from my past, He won't come. He will come. But now I'm so engulfed by this peace. For a moment I was going to react and I realized, Oh I'm losing my peace. Like what? Pavan said yesterday that, Oh why should I think about this? I'm spoiling it. And then you come back to your happiness. You just get into that reactive mode and then you will come back. Again you will get into that reactive mode, You will come back. When things are very quiet you'll notice you're there longer. It's easier. Mind is becoming quieter and quieter and again some past karma, Husband, Wife, Some family member, Dog comes and bothers you again. And again you are about to react and you realize slowly, Slowly you stop reacting to the past karmas that are already a part of my life. They are not going anywhere. Yeah, They are there but I have stopped being reactive. I have stopped taking that stress. I have stopped finding interest in I thought and ego and the activity of the mind. So that's the point of master. Yes, That's where you become a master. Yeah, Yeah. It's just a matter of practicing again and again inwards, Inwards because here I'm more peaceful. This is just noise. This is just noise. So let me be here only as long as it's required. You know the term need to know basis, No? Like that need to act basis. I act only when it's required otherwise I'm back here in my rest. Yeah, Just keep practicing matter of just going back in again and again and again and again and then after a point you don't even have to turn in. You're there. Just a reminder you're there. Reminder you're there. You don't even have to do the turning in or even asking yourself the question. Who am I or am I aware or am I there? You're just there. Just there. And that's where you feel that melting feeling the complete relaxation. Yeah, And then you come to that state of there is it's everywhere. It's here. It's here. It's everywhere. Initially you started with the thing that the awareness is inside the body. Do you remember the first stage now? Yes, The body is inside awareness. Yeah, So you move from the awareness inside body at stage one to stage three where body is inside awareness. Just rest there. Rest rest. It's a very beautiful state to be in. It's not a state really. That is what reality is actually. Your reality is only your experience not what other labels you have collected from outside. Objects are just labels. You never experience objects. You only know through what you are experiencing. Right and I experience only thoughts, Perceptions and feelings. Yeah, If everything is in this awareness, My thoughts are also in this awareness. My feelings are also in this awareness. My perception is also in this awareness. So right now I am seeing this room and the people in this room. The perception of seeing is that in this awareness. Can anything be outside it? Yeah, So the knowing of what I am seeing. Is that different from seeing? You are seeing Ekta right now. Yes, You are seeing. Look at your process of seeing. The knowing of seeing is a different from seeing. It is the same thing and both exist in awareness. Now from your experience really look hard. Do you really know an object? By touching it, Do you know this is a body sitting in front of you? It's your perception of seeing that you know. You don't know if there is this object really sitting in front of you or not. You only know your perception of seeing. How do you know this is real? Even in dream you only know the perception of seeing your dream. How do you know this is real? What is real? What is an illusion? How do you know this is not a dream? Objects are not real because you do not experience objects. You only experience your perception of seeing or your perception of hearing. Perception of hearing or perception of seeing is not different from knowing. You only know that this is the perception of touching this light. But you really don't know the light. That's a label taught to you from the books and from an external source. In my pure experiencing, In my domain range of pure experiencing, There is no red, Yellow, Green, Blue. These are labels collected from ten different resources and put it's a label. From my experiencing there is just some colour. Are you seeing it? Yeah, We do not experience objects. This can go deeper but we'll go into the deeper Amman Ammaharshi session only with people who've got to that level. Drop this logical analysis going on in your head. You're not experiencing what I'm saying. You're trying to intellectually understand. That's why you're getting lost. You're getting lost in your own thought. Drop the intellectualisation of the knowledge and experience it. Experience your truth. So in essence, What we're saying is that you only know what you experience and what you experience is what is the reality. Everything else is the reality. Correct. So just go with your experience, What I perceive. I don't perceive objects. I just perceive the sensation when I touch something. I just have this sensation. That's it. I don't really perceive anything other than the sight of the object. I don't perceive anything other than the sound that comes from the object. In it, There is food. There is I don't perceive anything other than the taste. I really don't know is this really a strawberry. I don't know if this is an object. I don't know. Anything that is not in my experience. In my experience, I only know the perception of that taste of strawberry or whatever. There is strawberry taste. Similarly smell. I just know the perception of that smell. Correct. This is your experience. This is where you are. Perception of hearing or perception of seeing is not different from knowing. So that means all objects all matter are a part of this awareness. Are you there? That's it. That's it. The world of matter is then? Is an illusion. What is the full sentence? I told you the full sentence. The world of matter. As I perceive it or as I conceive of it not perceive it as I conceive of it is an illusion. Conceiving happens from where? The labels and the conditioning that I have from external sources. My pure experiencing is different. It's just perception. The rest I have learned. Like she gave an example yesterday. We teach this young children. What did you say? We teach the kids what everything is. They're not born knowing what this color is. Red. We give them the labels. We show them a picture and say this is an apple. This is a ball. This is a cat. Now go back to that. That age. OK, Go back to that level where you were a baby, Where you were still not taught apple and ball and cat and dog. Or elephant. Go there. There were no labels in the mind. Are you getting it? Are you understanding it? You were purely perceiving things as they are. Understood? You were there. Where is the world of objects? Illusion. Now do you understand what they mean by this world of matter is an illusion? The world of matter as I conceive of it is an illusion. Clear? And then it is like I'm taught this is this. This is this. This is this. I have to do this. I have to do this. I have to do this. I have to do this. I have to attain this. And then I start running because I have to attain this and then I completely get sucked into all of this and I just don't. I am not there. Correct. I am an illusion of myself there. Correct. So nicely explained. Very nice. Now the same thing that you did in the material world you have done on the spiritual path. Are you seeing this? Now what is Ramana doing? He's breaking down all these beliefs, Breaking down all the conditionings and just bringing you to your pure experiencing back to the baby stage. So much unlearning we have to do now. The labeling of that experience is coming from conditioning. You will see when you start looking at things very clearly. Right now I put a label on this experience of mine. Oh, The label is not what I am really experiencing. The pure experience is what I'm experiencing. It's just a perception. It's just a sensation. The label of happiness, The label of unhappiness I have put. What I'm just perceiving is my pure experience, Nothing else. Just be with that pure experience. Are you understanding this? I have put labels from external world. Things are like this. Oh, If I am experiencing discomfort, I have put it as discomfort and then I have to react like this to discomfort. This also I have fed myself. How you feed the computer particular data and then it throws out the same data at you. You have fed yourself with labels and you have certain programmed reactions to those labels and those come out. Slowly, Slowly you start seeing that. Oh, Drop the label. If I drop the label, My experience is something else and my reaction is a pure experience again. There is no need to put a label if this is good or bad, Right or wrong, Pleasant, Unpleasant, Boss's word, Wife's word, This, That. All labels drop. Being pure experiencing, Pure experiencing and there is only two there. The experience of duality that gets me under stress and the experience of non-duality when I move in words. There is no words for it. The moment you start putting words, You again start messing up in your head. All the mess up in the head is because of words. All the self-talk is because of these words. Start dropping labels in life. You'll get down to pure experiencing, Pure experiencing. It is what it is. You will start understanding what the same say, Be with what is. That is the true meaning of be with what is. Devoid of labels, Devoid of external conditioning, Devoid of everything that is not my own experience. Build a very strong foundation of your own experience slowly, Slowly, Slowly. Just build that strong foundation. And if it is built on pure experience rather than labels, It will not be shaken by anything. There will not be doubts. Then let the whole world stand against you. You will be able to stand alone because your roots are so strong. You're like that, Whatever, 2000 year old redwood tree. Cannot be uprooted, Cannot be shaken. You can't do anything to it. Scream as you must, Snow as you must, Rain as you must, Do all the drama as you must. This tree is not shaking. You get it? You become like that. Drop concepts, Drop beliefs, Drop ideas. They were good to start with, To learn about the world. But you went too far and got too lost. You lost the essence that you are pure experiencing, Pure knowing. Yeah, And that is the Advaita teaching. It's not even a teaching. It's an unlearning. It tells you to unlearn what you learned before now, Because now you've come to the PhD class. Now you have to forget. Don't sit and revise ABCD. Okay, That was important to learn how to formulate words, To communicate. You don't sit and revise ABCD anymore. You don't do 1234 in your head anymore. You can directly calculate now when required. You see what I'm saying? So you unlearn all the past and just be with my pure experiencing. And pure experiencing will again and again bring you back to the same. That there is just duality here in this world. Whenever I am in duality, I am not at peace. Go back to the non dual. Just being aware, Aware, Aware. You get to a point where this awareness just flows into everything, Floods everything. And there is no I left anymore. Because you have this thing of I being a limited small pot and that whole thing starts crumbling. Because it's everywhere. And that's how you started sensing that oneness and just knowing that oneness is. This peace, This happiness. Peace and happiness are the same at this level. It's not the peace and happiness that you get from something. The happiness that I get from money is not equal to this happiness. You can figure that out. Yeah, The peace that I get from not fighting with my spouse is different from the peace I get at this level. You seeing the difference? Yeah, Very, Very clear. Now you understand why it is called supreme peace and supreme happiness. Yeah. Now this peace and happiness is the same. The supreme one. I have left this behind. Now I'm here. Happiness is peace in action. Peace is happiness at rest. That is the way it is at this level. Go there. And you'll notice there is this silence and that is very peaceful. It's very quiet. Yes, And it is flowing and it is everywhere. It is not just inside me. I can experience it outside me. I feel it all around. It's as if the space is peace. Suddenly the quality of the space has changed. Everything inside it is at peace. And now there is peace above, Outside, Inside, Everywhere. This peace is ever expanding, Limitless. Wow. There's so much joy in just knowing this. And suddenly the flavour of that same peace becomes joyous, Becomes happiness. Get it? It's the same peace in action that becomes that supreme happiness and that supreme happiness starts resting, Becoming quieter and quieter and quieter. And then it is just the peace. So Sat Chit Anand means what? Sat is true knowing. In that state you are knowing. There is true knowing of Chit, The being. Who really am I? You find the answer to that question when you look inwards. The true knowing of that quietness, The awareness, The being. That is bliss. That's what he experienced yesterday. He was just happy. He could not point out why he was happy. That is the true Ananda. That does not come from an external thing that I think always, Oh this samsara should give me Ananda. But he experienced just being there. In fact he felt, What did you say? When thoughts were coming you were like why am I thinking? It's only spoiling it more. Yeah, So just knowing of being is Ananda. It's different from this material world happiness that you get from acquiring things and knowing people, Becoming rich, Name, Fame. There is a higher level of happiness that does not come from receiving. That just comes from resting. The knowing of being is Ananda, Is happiness. Copyright © 2020 Mooji Media Ltd. All Rights Reserved. No part of this recording may be reproduced without Mooji Media Ltd. 's express consent.

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