Let's do a self-exploration meditation on I Am That,
Chapter 18.
To know what you are,
Find what you are not.
Let's sit comfortably and easily.
Let's keep our eyes open for this self-exploration meditation.
Sincerely ask yourself the question,
Who am I?
If a verbal answer arises like,
I am so-and-so,
Recognize that the name is simply a label for the physical body.
The physical body is nothing but an image plus sensations.
Look down at the mass of sensations that is labelled as the physical body.
Isn't this image simply a thought?
It is a thought limited to the waking state.
It is not available in the dream state or the deep sleep state.
That which is limited only to the waking state,
Can that be called permanent?
That which cannot be called permanent,
That which is not continuous,
Could that be anything other than a fleeting thought?
Look carefully at the image of this so-called physical body.
This image has sensations in it.
These sensations are limited to the waking state.
How can that which is limited,
That which is transient,
Temporary,
Not permanent,
Be anything other than a fleeting thought?
Isn't the so-called physical body simply a waking thought?
Look at your room.
This is your waking world.
Isn't the name world simply a thought?
Isn't the image of this waking world simply a thought?
Isn't the perception of sight of this waking world simply a thought?
Isn't the perception of sound of this waking world simply a thought?
Isn't the smell of this waking world simply a thought?
Isn't the perception of taste of this waking world simply a thought?
Isn't the perception of touch of this waking world simply a thought?
How can that which is not permanent,
Not continuous,
Not there in the dream state and the deep sleep state,
How can that be anything other than a fleeting waking thought?
Isn't this so-called waking world simply a waking thought?
Thus we arrive at the conclusion that the waking state physical body thought and the waking world thought are simply thoughts.
They are simply thoughts.
Simply thoughts.
Similarly is the dream state thought.
The dream body thought is again simply a dream image thought plus a dream sensation thought.
Isn't the dream body thought transient,
Temporary,
Limited to the dream state?
Isn't the dream world thought transient,
Temporary,
Limited to the dream state?
When you can so confidently agree that the dream state is simply a thought,
Why not clearly look at the waking state in the same way?
Both the waking state and the dream state,
Both are simply thoughts.
Is it possible that everything related to this body-mind personality is simply thought?
The body,
The name given to the body,
The family in which this body was born,
Parents,
Siblings,
Teachers,
Relatives,
Friends,
The school,
College,
The profession,
The office,
The business,
The wealth,
The health,
The relationships,
The ups,
The downs,
The finances,
The stories are all simply memory at the moment.
Isn't memory simply thought?
All the memories together build a self-image,
An idea that I call me,
I,
Myself.
What parents said about me became a memory.
What friends said about me became a memory.
What the world thinks about me became a memory.
All the knowledge collected from the world is all simply memory.
All these memories together build the self-image that I address as me.
I have looked in the mirror since childhood,
Through teenage,
Through adulthood and saved the memory of the face.
I give a face to the self-image idea.
I think of the self-image as a person with the face,
The memory face.
If I examine the self-image,
I will notice it is all memory.
The self-image is an object that I nurture.
After I come across new ideas,
I want the self-image to transform.
I create an expectation out of my self-image.
I create an expectation out of the so-called person.
When the person becomes so-and-so,
There will be happiness.
When the person drops this habit,
There will be happiness.
When the person attains so-and-so,
There will be happiness.
And the list goes on and on.
A false future story about procuring happiness is created.
This burden of creating happiness is then thrown on that object called the person,
The self-image.
Wake up and see the person is simply memory.
The self-image is simply a thought.
A thought is an object.
You are considering yourself to be an object,
A thought,
An idea.
If you consider yourself to be a parent,
Child,
Sibling,
Spouse,
Etc.
,
That is simply a label for the relationship of one physical body with another physical body.
In other words,
It is a label for the relationship of one thought with another thought.
Isn't the relationship between two thoughts also simply a thought?
Thus,
The person in the waking state is simply a waking thought.
The person in the dream state is simply a dream thought.
The absence of the person in the darkness of deep sleep is also simply a thought.
Ask yourself the question,
Am I a waking thought?
Am I a dream thought?
Am I the darkness?
Or am I the knower of all these thoughts?
To know what you are,
Find what you are not.
Reject all thoughts.
What you are left with after rejecting all thoughts,
That is what you are.
The shunyata,
The nothingness,
The vast expanse of virgin awareness.
There is no I there.
It is a virgin stillness.
Just be.
Just be.
Rejecting this and rejecting that,
Simply abide in I AM.
I AM.
When there is simply the virgin awareness,
There is no person there.
There is no self-image there.
This happens not only in deep sleep,
But also several times a day when you are not conscious of the self-image,
When you are not conscious of the person.
Check right now.
Did you just become conscious of the person,
Of the self-image?
That means just before you became conscious of the person,
There were gaps in your consciousness of the self-image.
There were gaps in your consciousness of the person.
Who were you in that gap?
Discard the self-image.
Discard the person.
Neeti.
Neeti.
Simply.
Simply be.
Don't be this or that.
Simply be.
When you simply be,
You recognize that the person is not true.
The person is simply an idea.
You are not the idea called the person.
Discard all illusory ideas.
The person is in a difficult relationship.
This is simply an illusory idea.
Because the person does not exist.
The person is not successful in the world.
This is simply an illusory idea.
Because the world as well as the person does not exist.
The person was born and will surely die.
This is an illusory idea.
Because birth,
Death,
Person,
All do not exist.
The person is blessed with wealth,
Health,
Pleasures or is devoid of them all.
This is simply an illusory idea.
Because wealth,
Health,
Pleasures or their opposites are all simply thoughts.
They do not exist.
The person does not exist.
You are not all these.
When you know what you are not,
What you are reveals itself.
When you know what you are not,
What you are reveals itself.
Recognise that you are the shunyata beyond and abide in your own true nature.
You are the shunyata beyond.
Abide in your own true nature.
