I Am That Session 57- Chapter 20 - Supreme Is Beyond All - 2

46:45

46:45

I Am That Session 57- Chapter 20 - Supreme Is Beyond All - 2

by Ekta Bathija

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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.

Self Inquiry Consciousness Non Duality Detachment Liberation Awareness Turiya Self Wisdom Identity Witness Consciousness Primordial Awareness Vasanas Duality And Non Duality Guided Spirits

Meet your Teacher

St. George, USA

Meet your Teacher

St. George, USA

Transcript

What is the link between the Self which is Vyakta and the Supreme of Vyakta? In other words, What is the link between witness consciousness and pure consciousness? Maharaj says from the Self's point of view, The world is the known. And the Supreme is what? The unknown. From whose point of view? The witness consciousness's point of view. The sense of I am comes up. The sense of I am knows thoughts, Feelings, Sensations, Perceptions. So this is the world. So from the sense of I am's point of view, This world is known. And can the sense of I am ever know pure consciousness or primordial awareness? No. That is the unknown. The unknown gives birth to the known, Yet remains unknown. The known is infinite. But the unknown is an infinitude of infinities. Just like a ray of light is never seen unless intercepted by the specks of dust. So, Does the Supreme make everything known, Itself remaining unknown? It's a very simple example of our own mirror reflection. How do you see this face there in the mirror? Because of the invisible light. Invisible light. Can you see this in the mirror when the light is not there? Yeah, It is invisible. It makes this face known in the mirror. Correct? Yeah. So just like that. The Supreme is that which makes everything known, Like light. Yet it is unknown. You cannot see the light. You're standing in front of the mirror, The space is there and the reflection in the mirror is there. You never see the light. The light is always unknown. Like that. The Supreme is unknown. Questioner says, Does it mean that the unknown is inaccessible? Maharaj says, Oh no, The Supreme is the easiest to reach, For it is your very being. It is enough to stop thinking and desiring anything but the Supreme. Highlight. He's given you a clue there. He's telling you it's the easiest to reach. And how do you reach there? You stop desiring all this. This waking state attractions, Name, Fame, Success, Failure, Relationships, Money, Sex, Power, Politics. All this, When you stop desiring all this and turn inwards, You have only one desire. That the Supreme has to reveal itself to you. You recognize that you are the Supreme. The questioner says, And if I desire nothing, Not even the Supreme? So Maharaj says, Then you are as good as dead. Or you are the Supreme. Maharaj is very straightforward. He doesn't do any sugar coating. He doesn't massage your ego. He's definitely going to put you in a good mood. Your ego is definitely going to poke your ego, If you ask a question like that. You are as good as dead. Or you are already the Supreme. You are already enlightened. Then you are as good as dead. Maharaj stopped there. So the questioner says, The world is full of desires. Everybody wants something or other. Who is the desirer? The person or the self? Maharaj says, The self. So hard no? So hard to swallow. Bitter pill to swallow. All desires, Holy and unholy, Come from the self. They all hang on the sense I am. So sense I am is born from that craving to exist. Yes, Because of the craving to exist, There is the sense I am. And then that I am attaches to this or that because it either wants or it does not want. Wanting and not wanting, Both are desires. Both desires, Whether holy or unholy, Come from the witness consciousness, The self, The sense of I am. Questioner, I can understand holy desires, Which is Satya Kama, Emanating from the self. It may be the expression of the bliss aspect of Satchidananda, Beingness, Awareness. Bliss is a better translation of the self. But why unholy desires? We have the same question. Maharaj says, All desires aim at happiness. Their shape and quality depend on the psyche, Which is the antahkarana. Where inertia or tamas predominates, We find perversions. With energy or rajas, Passions arise. With lucidity, Sattva, The motive behind the desire is goodwill, Compassion, The urge to make happy rather than be happy. But the supreme is beyond all. Beyond what? Rajas, Tamas and sattva. Yet because of its infinite permeability, All cogent desires can be fulfilled. The consciousness is the totality. The totality will have both opposites, The good and the bad, The light as well as darkness. What is the questioner saying? That no, It should only have light. It should only have holy. Yes, It should only have good. Then wouldn't the consciousness become only 50%? Would it be total? No, It would not be 100%. It would not be complete. What makes it complete? Both the opposites. Are you getting it? Is this very clear? Yes, So if we limit ourselves just to the positive aspects and say no, I reject the negative aspects as belonging to consciousness, Then I am saying that consciousness is only 50%. It is not complete, It is not perfect, It is not purna. Purna is complete. So it does not have totality in it. This is again a major difference between the dvaitampad and the advaitapad. Dvaitampad only focuses on the good and evil is rejected. Evil is not what God is. But on the advaitapad, Both good and evil are within God. Both are God. There is no outside of that. Is this very clear? This difference is very clear. Yeah, That is why he says that it has to be complete. There cannot be half. So rajas, Tamas, Sattva evoke certain qualities in you. Rajas is energy. Tamas is inertia. Sattva is an equanimity. All these bring out different tendencies. But all these are within the totality. You cannot say, Okay, I have to remove tamas from the totality. That means tamas is stronger now than consciousness. Now consciousness and tamas will fight with each other. Then consciousness is not full. It's not perfect. It's not purna or complete. You see, Tamas is not outside. Tamas is in consciousness. Do you get this? If this is very clear, Now you will understand that consciousness itself has the desire to be, To exist, To manifest. And out of that comes the dream state. Out of the dream state manifests the waking state. Now I'll give you an experiment to do. Whatever has projected in your life, The good and the evil, Both is born of your desire. Can you stomach that? Even the unholy, Even the evil is born of your own desire. Even the disease, The disease in the body, Even if it's a terminal disease, Born of your desire. Evil person in the family, Constantly creating drama with you, Born of your desire. Difficult situation at work, Totally intolerable boss, Born of your own desire. Work on this. Sit with this. Bring up the list of all those, I don't want to see this person in my life. Bring, Bring that list up. Bring up the memory of that person. Can I see this? This is my own projection, My own reflection. Even good and even is created by the mind. That is true. It's just an idea that this is a good action. This is a bad action. Does the witness label good and bad? The witness just is. It's just witnessing. That witness is like clear water. Out of it only it is born. The moment it leaves its stand of witnessing and has that desire to be ekta, The teacher, Then all these good, Evil, Right, Wrong, This should be, This should not be is born. The moment there is simply the witnessing, There is no good and bad. So going beyond this, Going beyond this good and evil, This idea of this person in my life is evil that person in my life is holy. Dropping that and just being in a neutral gear, What is, Is. No labels. That is the goal. You get it? If you go back home with anything, This is what you must go back home with. Ripping off the labels completely. Simply being the witness and seeing reality as it is. So now you have found a higher stand, A higher viewpoint. You always maintain that stand of the witness. Stay there. Look at everything from there. Oh, It's all neutral. It's all neutral. No good, No evil. Okay, So I'll read the last line by Maharaj because the question is in continuation with his last line. He says, But the supreme is beyond all. Yet, Because of its infinite permeability, All cogent desires can be fulfilled. So the questioner asks, Which desires are cogent? Maharaj says, Desires that destroy their subjects or objects or do not subside on satisfaction are self-contradictory and cannot be fulfilled. Highlight it. Which are the desires that cannot be fulfilled that destroy their subject or object or do not subside on satisfaction? Why? Because they are self-contradictory. Therefore, They cannot be fulfilled. Only desires motivated by love, Goodwill and compassion are beneficial to both the subject and object and can be fully satisfied. So questioner says, All desires are painful. The holy as well as the unholy. Yeah, Maharaj is saying only the holy will get fulfilled. So he's saying, Oh, But they're all painful. The unholy and the holy, Both are painful. So Maharaj says, They are not the same and pain is not the same. Passion is painful. Compassion never. Are you seeing where he is going? The entire universe strives to fulfill a desire born of compassion. So he's telling you there is a neutral gear. You think, Okay, There is negative quality and then there is this positive quality. The positive qualities of passion. The negative qualities of maybe inertia, Laziness. But there is something in which is neutral gear, The compassion, Which is good for both subject and object. That, That is what the universe strives to fulfill. Universe is what? Is me only. Is me the consciousness. I am projecting it all. I am projecting both the subject and the object. Yes, So only those desires get fulfilled that take both into account because take both into account because I, The pure consciousness, Am projecting all, Both the subject and object. Does the supreme know itself? Is the impersonal conscious? What is he talking about? The unmanifest. That into which the sense of I am dissolves. That is the supreme. So he's saying, Does the supreme know itself? Is the impersonal conscious? Because it is impersonal. Witness is personal. Do you see that? The avyakta or the unmanifest, The supreme is impersonal. So is the impersonal conscious. Maharaj says, The source of all has all. Whatever flows from it must be there already in seed form. And as a seed is the last of innumerable seeds and contains the experience and the promise of numberless forests, So does the unknown contain all that was or could have been and all that shall or would be. A very long sentence but all he's saying in one seed there is the potential of an entire forest. One seed can give rise to a tree which will throw out thousands of seeds. Those thousand seeds become thousand trees. Those throw out thousand, Thousand each. So an entire forest is born from one seed. In one seed there is the potential of an innumerable number of trees in a huge forest. Like that only. Consciousness is that one seed which has the potential for infinity, Infinite projections. The entire field of becoming is open and accessible. Past and future co-exist in the eternal now. Is this clear? This I also said few sentences ago. The now, The now contains everything. The past, The present, The future. So the questioner is intrigued by this answer. He says, Are you living in the supreme unknown? Maharaj says, Where else? Questioner says, What makes you say so? Maharaj says, No desire ever arises in my mind. Please highlight. In simple words, No vasanas arise in my mind. Did he say thought? No. He spoke about desire. Become very clear there is a difference between thought and desire. Thought is naturally, The thought comes up, Okay, I should eat this. It is coming from your past or impression. Oh, My body fell sick when I ate that. Yeah. Thought. Thought came, It dissolved. Another thought came, It dissolved. Another thought came, It dissolved. This is thought. It comes of its own accord. I know a thought after it arises. Yeah. When I jump in and say, Oh, I don't want this to happen. This is desire. This is vasana in Sanskrit. This is vichar. Vichar comes and goes on its, Of its own accord. Yeah. Why am I drawing waves? It arises, It plays for a while and it dissolves. It doesn't stay forever. Thought dissolves on its own. It arises, Plays for a while and it dissolves. I jump in and say, Oh, I want this or I say, I don't want this. When I say I want this, It is raga. When I say I don't want this, It is dvesha. Raga means craving. Dvesha means aversion. Both craving and aversion are vasana, Are desire. So, Learn to distinguish between desire and thought. When you take the stand of the witness, You drop desiring. That's how you do not project anymore. Now, There is only observing whatever thought is meant to come. If I again indulge, Become the body, Mind, Nectar, Don't like this thought, Oh, I don't want this, I don't want this, What am I doing? Again, I am sowing seeds of future thoughts. Again, This past, Present, Future is also again within me. Yeah, This is the whole personal world that I have created. It is not really there. I have created it. I believe it, Therefore, It happens. When I drop the manyata, When I drop the belief, There is no more projection, There is no more creation. Do you get it? The entire idea of because I sowed this seed, This has happened. This itself is my belief. That is why this has happened. That is why it manifested in this disease. That is why manifested in that family drama, Manifested as that discord at work. Very, Very clear? When you drop the belief, You will see there is no causal effect. Oh, I created a story out of it and that story comes back at me. Why? Because I am all, I am supreme, I am consciousness. Yes, Either I am the all director, Producer, Actor, Doer or I withdraw from all of it. I am done. Get it? Is this very, Very clear? I'll wait till Vedanta is opening up a little bit. So, No desires arise in my mind. So, Questioner says, Are you then unconscious? Maharaj says, Of course not. I am fully conscious. But since no desire or fear enters my mind, There is perfect silence. Questioner says, Who knows the silence? Maharaj says, Silence knows itself. Are you getting this? The primordial awareness that I am, That is where knowingness happens. That is the one who knows. I asked you a question yesterday, Who knows? It's here. Who knows? The primordial awareness, The pure consciousness which is even beyond the sense of I am. Silence knows itself. It is the silence of the silent mind when passions and desires are silenced. Very, Very clear? How is vasana generated? Tell me. How is desire generated? Whenever the witness forgets its stand, Jumps and becomes the person and says, I want, I don't want. That is when vasana is born. This does not happen to Maharaj. Means what? He's very clear. He's always here. 100%. So the questioner is very interested. Yes. Do you experience desires occasionally? So Maharaj says, Desires are just waves in the mind. You know a wave when you see one. A desire is just a thing among many. I feel no urge to satisfy it. Highlight. No action needs to be taken on it. Highlight. Freedom from desire means this. The compulsion to satisfy is absent. Highlight. This is your key. This is something I need to work on. A thought arises, I want to eat one extra piece of papaya. There is no jumping in of the witness and saying, Yes, Yes, Yes, I want to do this. There is no desire to satisfy this. There is simply observing it. Letting it go. Observing the next thought, Letting it go. Observing the next, Letting it go. No action needs to be done. No jumping in. No jumping in. In fact, If there is ice cream served, Automatically the body will go pick it up. You will know after the body has picked it up. Do you see it? So if there is that desire first to have, That means vasana has arisen. The action happens naturally. You just reach out to the shocker goose, Eat it and realize, Oh, I already ate it. You know later that you ate the chocolate. This has happened naturally. When I'm constantly thinking, I want that chocolate, I want that chocolate, I want that chocolate. This is vasana, Desire. Have you started recognizing the difference between these two now? Maharaj has explained it very beautifully even before. Yeah, The body-mind work within maryada. Do you remember that chapter? Very beautifully explained maryada. There's a limit. The body-mind knows that this is my limit. I should eat this. I should do this action. I should do this. The body-mind works in its maryada. And that's why I stress on the specific Marathi words because the English does not convey it. They work automatically. When they work automatically, You know afterwards. I know afterwards, Oh, That I already ate the chocolate. The body needed it. It could digest it. But in desire, The chocolate is going round and round in my head. Now I know this is vasana. Vasana and thought, Two different things. Yeah, Those who are not clear, Please can you work on this a little more. Distinguish in your own personal experience, Oh, This that came up is a thought and this is the vasana. And write it down for yourself, Everybody. Okay, That is very important. I feel no urge to satisfy it. No action needs to be taken on it. Freedom from desire means this. The compulsion to satisfy is absent. This is freedom. Freedom from desire. So, Questioner says, Why do desires arise at all? So, Maharaj says, Because you imagine that you were born and that you will die if you do not take care of your body. Desire for embodied existence is the root cause of trouble. Please highlight. What is the Sanskrit word for desire for embodied existence? It's been translated very beautifully. Desire for embodied existence is the root cause of trouble. Yeah. So, Is this very clear that on the Advaita Vedanta path, There is no birth, There is no death. So, Is there a question of past lives? There is no past life. You imagine that you were born and you imagine that you are going to die. And now, Oh, I have to preserve this body, I have to take care of this body. This is a whole story that has been created by me. This body, Plus only the waking state, Every morning it is born, Every night it dies. Yeah. In Advaita Vedanta, If there is many births, This is the meaning of it. There are many waking states in which there is the waking body. It dies before you move to the dream state. Yeah. But I still am. That means I am not this body. It means I am. I was never born and I will never die. So, Questioner says, Yet so many jivas get into bodies. Surely, It cannot be some error of judgment. There must be a purpose. What could it be? Maharaj says, To know itself, The self must be faced with its opposite, The not-self. This is very important. To know itself, The self must be faced with its opposite, The not-self. Otherwise, How would I know myself? There has to be not-self for me to recognize that, Oh, I am the self. So, The not-self, Not-self, Not-self, Neti, Neti, Neti process leads you to the self. Yes. Nama rupa is not-self. Perception, Sensation, Thoughts and feelings, Not-self. Desire leads to experience. Experience leads to discrimination, Detachment, Self-knowledge, Liberation. And what is liberation after all? To know that you are beyond birth and death. Yes, Please highlight. What is liberation? To know that you are beyond birth and death. By forgetting who you are and imagining yourself a mortal creature, You created so much trouble for yourself, That you have to wake up, Like from a bad dream. Inquiry also wakes you up. You need not wait for suffering. Inquiry into happiness is better, For the mind is in harmony and peace. Yes, So let me explain that a little more. Desire leads to experience. Jijivisha is the desire to be, To become. And that leads to the experience of being embodied. You get embodied in the waking state. So, Desire led to experience. Experience leads to discrimination. Now, I experience this embodied existence and I'm like, I'm trying to satiate, I'm trying to satiate, But the witness cannot be satiated. It cannot eat, It cannot touch, It cannot taste, It cannot smell, It cannot hear, It cannot do action, It cannot think. So, It tries, Tries, Tries, Tries for several years and it finally gives up. Experience leads to discrimination. So, Now it starts discriminating. Oh, This is anatma, Not-self, Not-self, Not-self, Not-self, Not-self, Not-self, This is self. So, There is discrimination between the not-self and the self. The desire jijivisha led to experience of embodied person. The experience led to discrimination because there was no satisfaction. After discrimination comes detachment. Oh, It's not-self, It cannot satisfy me. Vairagya. Discrimination is viveka. If you want the Sanskrit words, Detachment is vairagya. Oh, It cannot satisfy me. It's pointless. It's futile. So, Discrimination leads to detachment and that finally reaches or takes you to self-realization. Self-knowledge. Knowledge of my own true nature and that leads to liberation. Liberation from what? From this embodied existence in this waking state. You see, That one little sentence of Maharaj was the complete summary of truth. And what is liberation after all? That I was never born and I will never die. Jijivisha. That is what has got me in. That is what will get me out. The door that brings you in also takes you out. Have you seen birds? That's why they're called bird brain, No? They come in through one window and they will never try to go out from the same window. They'll keep hitting against all the other glasses in the room thinking that which got me in cannot get me out. We have become bird brain. We don't attempt to get out from the same way that we came in. Yeah, We keep trying other ways, Other ways. Oh, Cessation through name, Fame, Relationships will get me out. This happiness will get me out. That fulfillment will get me out. No, You're knocking on wrong glass on the wrong. That glass doesn't open. It's a fixed pane. It only gives you the illusion of an outside. There is no outside. The window that got you in, That will take you out. What got you in? The I. Jijivisha. That is why nothing else works. Nothing else works. You're just pecking on glass pane which is solid. It's like a wall. It appears that I will get out. I can see the outside sunlight but I can never get through the glass. The only way it will work is when I see the sense of I am arise and see it collapse. Oh, This is the way out. This is that window. This is what got me in. This is what will get me out. All I need to do is drop desiring this. Stay as the witness. When the final collapse happens, That is bliss, Ananda. I unite with my true nature. So I am, It's not just that it happens after the deep sleep into the dream, Even during the day. When you're just by yourself, There's nobody in the room. There's no other person. You're in a very calm, Harmonious state. You're just sitting, Doing nothing, Not major work, Just chilling out, Relaxing. There is no sense of I, No sense of you. Everything has collapsed. You're just quiet, Not even thinking or worrying or just peaceful, Quiet. That time the I collapses. There are moments when the I collapses and then it just comes back up in that sense of I comes up, When the thought comes up. The key is when there's something to know, That's when I is there. When there is nothing to know, The I collapses. Maharaj has said this in the first or second chapter. Even the sense of I am is not continuously. So this is your key. This is what I am here for. I have taken the silence. I have isolated myself from all the attachments. This is my goal. Do I recognize this I that arises and that collapses? The door that got me in will get me out. That is liberation. So the questioner asks, Who exactly is the ultimate experiencer? The self or the unknown? Means the witness consciousness or the pure consciousness? So Maharaj says the self, Of course, The self, The witness consciousness is the ultimate experiencer. Questioner says, Then why introduce the notion of supreme unknown? Maharaj says to explain the self. Why introduce the ocean? To explain that the mere is nothing but the ocean. That is why the ocean is introduced. But is there anything beyond the self? Maharaj says, Outside the self there is nothing. All is one and all is contained in I am. In the waking and dream states, It is the person. In deep sleep and Turiya, It is the self. Beyond the alert intentness of Turiya lies the great silent peace of the supreme. I tell you the word that is Turiya Tita. The great silent peace of the supreme that is Turiya Tita. But in fact, All is one in essence and related in appearance. In ignorance, The seer becomes the seen. And in wisdom, He is the seen. But why be concerned with the supreme? Know the knowers and all will be known. This is the witness consciousness. The light is the witness consciousness. This witness consciousness is the witness of the waking. The waking comes, It passes away. The dream comes, It passes away. Both waking and dream are the person. Both waking and dream are the person. The deep sleep is the absence of waking and dream. Yes, That means it is the light itself. The light itself is the deep sleep and the light itself is the fourth. Waking is one, Dream is two, Deep sleep is three, The fourth is the light. Turiya. Where is this light, This witness consciousness? You recognize this also collapses. It collapses and it dissolves into what? Into nothingness. That is Turiya Tita, Pure consciousness. In essence, It is all one. Why are they explained like this? Because experientially, When you see it, You see all of them. You see it in stages. You recognize the waking character, The dream character, The absence of waking and dream. And then you recognize, Oh, I am the witness of all three. I am the witness of waking, Dreaming and deep sleep. Aha, I am the fourth, Turiya. I am not the waking body, Mind, Or consciousness. I am not the dream body, Mind, And I'm not the absence of the waking and dream. I am the fourth, Turiya. But in essence, That and deep sleep is the same. But it's not recognized that way because of the lack of awareness in deep sleep. Oh, I'm the witness of it all. I know it all. That's what he's saying. I'll read it once more. But you understand. Waking and dream, He calls the person. Deep sleep and the fourth, He calls Turiya. And beyond that, The supreme peace, Turiya Tita. Very clear? I will read that again. In the waking and dream states, It is the person. In deep sleep and Turiya, It is the self. Beyond the alert intentness of Turiya lies the great silent peace of the supreme. That is Turiya Tita. But in fact, All is one in essence and related in appearance. They're all related. It's the same thing. They're just waves in the same ocean. They are all one. Same ocean. The ocean of primordial awareness. So in essence, It is all one. In ignorance, The seer becomes the seen. Does this happen with you? In ignorance, The seer becomes the seen. That means I consider this body mind complex, Which is the same as I. That is ignorance. And in wisdom, He is the seen. When I take the correct stand of the witness, Then Oh, I am the witness of it all. This body mind person and the projection of this world. I am the seeing of it all. The witness of it all. But why be concerned with the supreme? Know the knows and all will be known. Basically, Know who is the knower. Yesterday's question. Who is the knower? Who is the dhrig? Knower. Who is the knower? Is the witness consciousness the knower? Can a thought know? Can a feeling know? Can a sensation know? Can this body know? Can the mind know? Can the witness consciousness know? So who knows? Who's the knower? So who knows? Who's the knower? The primordial awareness, The pure consciousness. Know the knower. Know the dhrig. Figure out the dhrig. Once you know that, Then you know all. Know Brahman and know all. Primordial awareness is the knower. Once you know that, All is known. So that completes the chapter.