Nature Of The Self Session 6 - Mouna Silence

Salaam.

Salaam.

Salaam.

Salaam.

Salaam.

Now the questioner says,

How to know this by direct experience?

He is still not getting it.

So this is a very important answer.

If we talk of knowing the self,

There must be two selves.

One,

A knowing self and another,

The self which is known and the process of knowing.

The state we call self-realisation is simply being oneself,

Not knowing anything or becoming anything.

Very important.

Please highlight.

A lot of people,

A lot of Advaitans walk this path and they get stuck at the witness and the witnessed.

And they love analysing the witnessed object.

They love analysing the thoughts,

The perceptions,

The sensations and the feelings.

What is the point?

You are still not coming to Advaita.

Advaita means non-duality.

When the witness and the witnessed object are there,

This is still a subtle duality.

Are you seeing this?

I am not getting consumed in it but it is still a subtle duality.

So Advaita's biggest pitfall happens when they stop at this level.

Because the knowledge is so delicious,

Understanding a thought is so delicious,

Understanding a perception is so delicious,

Understanding what is memory is so delicious,

Understanding what is intellect,

Whether intellect exists,

Doesn't exist is so delicious.

Oh,

You are still lost in duality.

Even if you are saying,

I the witness,

I am witnessing all this,

You are still stuck.

Yes?

So what is he saying here?

If I talk about knowing the self,

What is happening?

There is one self who is knowing and another self that has to be known.

No,

It's not possible.

So there is no knowing happening.

Knowing happens only when there are thoughts,

Perceptions,

Sensations and feelings.

So I,

The consciousness,

Am conscious of thoughts,

Feelings,

Sensations and perceptions.

I,

The knowingness,

No thoughts,

Feelings,

Sensations,

Perceptions.

Consciousness and knowingness.

These are two words for the same Sanskrit word,

Chid.

Yes?

Chid is the witness consciousness.

When the witnessing collapses,

There is just the sense of being.

That is called Sat.

S-A-T.

Sat.

Being.

So I can only be myself.

I cannot see myself.

I cannot taste myself.

I cannot touch myself.

I cannot hear myself.

I cannot smell myself.

I cannot know myself.

Is that very clear?

So there is no knowing here.

There is just being.

Hona.

You can only sense it.

Are these two stages very clear?

Chid and Sat is very very clear.

So this is your practice this week.

You recognize at what stage you are.

When something happens in the house,

Whatever little thing,

Your spouse says,

Can you take up the vacuuming?

I am not doing the vacuuming.

And your mind comes up.

A thought says,

No I don't want to do vacuuming.

Something silly like that.

Am I consumed right now?

Am I the witness of this thought right now?

Recognize that as number one step.

Okay.

Can I remain as the witness and observe this witness collapse?

Or am I getting consumed again and again?

Keep recognizing this as the first step.

You start doing vacuuming though you don't want to do it.

Can I just observe a version of this vacuuming arise and fall like a wave?

It's arising and it's falling.

It's arising and it's falling.

Can I just observe so that I am still a witness?

And soon,

Very soon you will notice,

Being the witness pulls you towards the field of nothingness.

Instead of being interested in watching this aversion,

Can I just be aware of my field of nothingness?

Can I be aware of myself?

So instead of keeping your attention out now,

Take the attention inwards.

While doing that activity which you are averse to doing,

Notice that you can be in that field of nothingness and perceive that movement.

Perceive the sensation of touch and perception of sight together.

And recognize that I am still in that field of nothingness.

So I am progressing step by step from being consumed as I am the body and I am the mind to I am the witness of the body and mind.

And from witness of the body and mind,

Dropping the awareness of this aversion,

Being aware of myself as that field of nothingness.

Observe the collapse of the witness and just be the field of nothingness.

Clear?

Homework is clear?

So we will read that again.

If we talk of knowing the self,

There must be two selves.

One a knowing self,

Another the self which is known and the process of knowing.

The state we call realization is simply being oneself.

Not knowing anything or becoming anything.

If one has realized one is that which alone is and which alone has always been,

One cannot describe that state.

One can only be that.

Of course,

We loosely talk of self-realization for want of a better term.

How to realize or make real that which alone is real?

How can you realize that which is already real?

It's like saying it's broad daylight,

Sun is shining bright on your head and you are saying I want to realize the sun.

It is already real.

It is already shining.

You have closed your eyes tightly.

That's it.

You don't have to realize the sun.

Open your eyes.

That's it.

And what is the meaning of opening the eyes?

Taking the attention away from sensations,

Perceptions,

Thoughts and feelings which is I am the body and I am the mind,

Wrong belief towards my own self.

I am the awareness,

The field of nothingness.

So self-realization also is a very loosely used term because we don't have enough words.

Very clear?

And this is the most important part because this is the part for your homework this week.

You sometimes say the self is silence.

Why is this?

For those who live in self,

As the beauty devoid of thought,

There is nothing which should be thought of.

Usually how is your mind?

Lots of feelings,

Lots of thoughts,

Lots of sensations,

Lots of perceptions.

You are lost in this world,

Kino.

But those who live in the self,

They do not give attention to even that which is arising.

That does not mean that the family members have disappeared from their life.

No,

They are all there.

Perception of sight,

Sound,

Taste,

Touch,

Smell is there.

Thoughts are there.

Feelings are there.

They arise because of their past habit pattern.

But they have turned their attention away from it to their own self.

Do you get it?

It is just a matter of turning your attention away from those things towards your own self.

So those are the people who abide in the self and so they abide in the beauty devoid of thought.

It does not mean that thoughts don't arise.

They don't give it importance.

For example,

When you meditate,

Aren't there some thoughts just hovering far away?

They just come,

They go their surface level.

They are not really disturbing you.

They don't bother you.

It is just a thought come,

There was some vehicle that passed from outside.

Some sound you heard but didn't bother you.

Yes?

So you have the experience of thought being there but not really bothering you.

That is exactly what we are talking about here.

The ones that are in the self,

They can be in that beauty devoid of thought.

That means being devoid of involvement in the thought,

Being devoid of indulgence in the thought,

Not holding on to the thought,

Not grasping on to it,

Not getting consumed by it.

There is nothing which should be thought of.

I don't find anything interesting enough to think about it right now.

Right now I just want to be in awareness,

In consciousness,

In silence.

That which should be adhered to is only the experience of silence because in that supreme state,

Nothing exists to be attained other than oneself.

They are always in that state of silence.

Why?

Because there is no interest in anything else now.

I don't need to adhere or stick to anything else.

Nothing else is so delicious now.

Not perception of sight,

Not sound,

Not taste,

Not touch,

Not smell,

No thought,

No feeling,

No sensation is yummy or delicious enough.

There is no need to adhere to that at all.

Only one direction within my own self and there,

There is only silence.

So we will read that paragraph again.

For those who live in self as the beauty devoid of thought,

There is nothing which should be thought of.

That which should be adhered to is only the experience of silence because in that supreme state,

Nothing exists to be attained other than oneself.

This is your main homework for the week.

How many of you are ready for something really difficult?

Yes?

One week of silence.

One week of complete silence while in activity.

We learnt that today,

How to do it.

I stay in my field of nothingness all the time and I speak only when I am required to.

Office phone call,

Some important thing to tell the colleague,

Some important thing to tell the child at home,

Some important message to convey to the spouse.

Only that much I talk.

In activity,

While doing my things with family,

With work,

Reduce social.

No social interaction.

No need for extra.

Only do that which is required this week and maintain silence and only one continuous attempt.

Disidentify with the body and mind and be in that field of nothingness.

Be in that silence.

Ramana Maharshi only taught silence.

That was the first teaching.

When somebody came to him,

He never tried to think that this person might not get it.

He might be a beginner.

He started with the assumption that maybe he gets it.

So the first thing that you would go into Ramana Ashram and do is sit in silence.

Some of us are ripe.

We are just so ready and being in that little room with Ramana,

You could just be in that sense of being,

The sense of I am and get it in silence.

There was no need for words.

Then if people didn't get the silent sittings,

They would obviously come to question.

Then he would talk this chapter.

Whatever you hear here.

He is only talking about the Brahman,

Talking about the self,

The nature of the self,

Satchitananda.

He is only talking about Turiya,

Turiyatita.

He would say,

Maybe you get it.

Maybe you are that ripe person and then you would get that great.

But a person who would not go is somebody who is not getting it and then he would ask more questions.

Then he would start taking one more step below,

Which is the self-inquiry.

In self-inquiry,

We have done the session.

The videos are already there online.

You ask yourself the question,

Who wants to know this?

Who is asking this question to Ramana?

Then you follow that I and you notice,

Oh,

The I dissolves into a field of nothingness.

Aha,

That is who I am.

So you get there by that.

And there were still people who would not get it.

And then he would talk about Dvaita concepts,

Especially people who were suffering in life and could not let go of their suffering mind to at least for a second relax from the suffering and notice the field of nothingness.

Then he had to talk about karma,

Karma phalam,

Things like that.

Calm them down.

When they are calmed down,

Then again,

He would try to bring them to the field of nothingness.

So do you see the speciality?

He starts with teaching you Advaita and then he dilutes it a little for if you don't get it and dilutes it a little more if you don't get it.

And then goes to Dvaita concepts if you are really not getting it.

And then he brings you back up.

Other teachers,

They just try to first gauge where you are and then start at your level.

Ramana had a flat beginner policy.

Start with silence.

See if they get it.

Moana.

So you test yourself as if Ramana Maharshi is testing you this week.

The flat beginner spiritual policy of Ramana Maharshi we are going to apply.

Can I just get it in Moana?

No talking,

No listening,

No talks.

Don't listen to Ipta also this week.

Nothing you do.

Just be in Moana.

In silence.

Can I be in that silence in that field of nothingness?

I already got a pointer this weekend.

I don't need any more knowledge.

Can I just be there,

Be there,

Be there,

Be there?

And those who get it like that,

Then when we do the chapter on silence,

There is a separate chapter of Ramana Maharshi just on silence.

Then it will click,

Aha I had got it that week.

But don't read it before you really practice for some time.

The mind is very cunning,

No?

It makes you believe,

Aha I got it.

Get something intellectually and it fakes it that it has got it experientially.

So don't read that chapter till you actually finish one full week of Moana.

We will get to it when we get to it.

Yes?

So we will take up this challenge this week,

Moana challenge?

With work,

With husband,

With mischievous child.

Yes?

With a bickering mother-in-law constantly going on in the background.

With that I have to do it.

With a bickering father-in-law or a father or a mother.

Yes?

Without losing my temper,

Without getting identified as the person who gets annoyed by them.

I am not the person.

This week I am going to make an attempt to drop that wrong identity of a person.

Let's see if I can kill this person this week and just be that field of nothingness.

So let's read the next paragraph on Moana because he describes what is Moana,

What is silence.

That state which transcends speech and thought is Moana.

Both okay?

So it's not,

You're not just going to be silent where words are concerned.

Even thought.

I am going to turn away from the thought.

Again and again turn towards myself.

I the awareness.

That which is,

Is Moana.

And that which is means the background,

The field of nothingness.

That which is,

Is Moana.

How can Moana be explained in words?

Sages say that the state in which the thought I,

The ego,

Does not rise even in the least alone is self or swarupa which is silence,

Moana.

So your attempt this week is to just be in that field of nothingness without the sense of I.

Yes?

First step obviously come to the sense of I.

Then witness the arisings,

Thoughts,

Feelings,

Perceptions,

Sensations are arising.

Then turn away from them.

That is when your Moana starts.

So even if they are arising and falling,

I am not giving them attention because I am not looking at them anymore.

I have turned away.

Yes?

I am in that nothingness.

When you turn away there is still the sense of I.

Even that sense of I drops away and there is just a silent field of nothingness.

So there is no I.

That is where we have to go.

That is the destination of this week's practice of Moana.

That is my swarupa.

I will read that sentence again.

Sages say that the state in which the thought I,

The ego,

Does not arise even in the least alone is self or swarupa which is silence,

Moana.

Two names for the same state.

Moana and Swarupa.

One and the same.

That silent self alone is God.

So this week is your meeting with God.

Let's see.

Can you meet God?

And how many times can you meet Him?

Meet the silent self.

Meet God this week.

Self alone is the jiva,

The individual soul.

Self alone is this ancient world.

Number one step.

I was consumed in the world.

I became the witness.

Yes?

I see the thoughts,

Feelings,

Sensations,

Perceptions arising.

Now I decide I am no more going to be the witness to them.

I am going to take my attention away from them and just be aware of myself.

So I am not giving any importance to arising thoughts,

Feelings,

Sensations.

I am just being the field of nothingness.

And I just stay there.

Stay there.

When the eye drops,

That is the silent self.

I have reached the silent self.

I have reached God.

I met God.

And now I recognise a thought arises.

Oh the thought is also made of the silent self.

The thought is also God.

A sensation arises that is also made of the same material as this nothingness,

As this awareness.

Oh this ancient world is the self.

In that again the eye arose.

It said I am this body or it said I am the mind.

That jiva,

The body-mind ego is called jiva in Sanskrit which gives me the sense of being an individual,

That which gives me a sense of being a person.

That is also the field of nothingness.

That is also made up of the same awareness.

That is also the self.

Yeah again and again he is taking you step by step towards reality.

Very clear?

These are the same steps I told you in the beginning.

You are consumed in the world.

You become a witness.

You turn towards your own self.

You are not giving attention to thoughts,

Feelings,

Sensations,

Perceptions.

You are aware of your own self.

The eye drops.

There is absolute nothingness.

This is the silent self.

And then you start noticing that oh everything that arises in it is made of it.

That is the reality.

Everything is made of it.

Everything is the self.

The world is the self.

This I,

This person is the self.

Very clear?

All other knowledge are only petty and trivial knowledge.

The experience of silence alone is the real and perfect knowledge.

Know that the many objective differences are not real but are mere superimpositions on self which is the form of true knowledge.

So there is only one perfect knowledge.

The silence.

Nothing else is perfect knowledge.

Only the silence is.

So know that the many objective differences are not real.

Objective differences,

Thoughts,

Feelings,

Sensations,

Perception of sight,

Sound,

Taste,

Touch,

Smell,

These are all objects.

Objective differences.

They are not real but are mere superimpositions on the self.

This needs to be recognised in your silence.

When I see the witness collapse and there is that absolute nothingness and in that nothingness I notice a thought arise which says I.

I recognise oh the jiva is nothing else but the field of nothingness.

It is made of the field of nothingness.

It's a superimposition on that field of nothingness on the self.

That is the form of true knowledge.

So we'll stop here today.

You practice morna.

Be in silence this week.

This should be done all in self exploration.

Open eyed self exploration.

This is not something that has to be necessarily done with closed eyes.

You can do it with closed eyes and you can do it with closed eyes.

This is the way you can do it with closed eyes.

You can do it with closed eyes and if that's easier for you.

But you see that you again open your eyes and go back into your family and there you are supposed to recognise the silence of the nothingness.

That's what we have come to the understanding now by the end of the last paragraph.

Everything is the self.

There is nothing outside the self.

The self has just forgotten itself and assumed itself to be the body to be the mind.

And it has assumed that I am experiencing this world and I am miserable because of this person and I am miserable because of that situation.

It has assumed.

You do the same thing every night.

Every night you go into your own dream,

Don't you?

Yes?

For example,

You start dreaming.

Here you are sleeping in your bed very peacefully.

Your bed is made of the cloud mattress shaped like a cloud.

You are sleeping in your house very comfortably.

And then you start dreaming about flying in space with your friends and you are so afraid of flying in space that you cover yourself with a chocolate wrapper,

A candy wrapper.

And then I am afraid.

I am experiencing that fear and my friends are enjoying in space.

They are as a swimming in the air and I am fearful.

Isn't that fear real?

I feel I am suffering.

I feel I am miserable and see the others are enjoying.

It is swimming in space and I am scared here.

I am wrapped inside my own candy wrapper.

It was probably lying on my bedside when I went to sleep.

I take it to be real.

I think that this world is real and it is giving me misery.

I believe in my misery and I have forgotten completely that I am actually sleeping peacefully in bed.

I am untouched.

Nothing is going to happen to me.

And this is all a dream.

It is all unreal.

Exactly the same thing has happened.

I,

The awareness,

I,

The consciousness,

I,

The field of no-thing-ness have forgotten myself and I have started dreaming and I am dreaming that I am this body and I am this mind and this body-mind person is suffering because of this person,

Suffering because of this situation,

Suffering because of this thing.

And I have believed my story.

And all the spiritual teacher is telling you,

No,

Wake up,

Wake up.

You are just dreaming.

Wake up from the dream.

The moment you wake up from the dream,

The dream will vanish.

That's it.

You just have to wake up from the dream to recognise your true self.

Oh,

I am fine.

I am cool.

Nothing is happening to me.

That is the meaning of immortality.

That is the one who has to recognise itself.

So there are no two selves,

One that has to know and one that has to be known.

No.

It's forgetfulness of your own self.

You have to just remember yourself.

Clear?

We are not talking about the existence only of this.

It is all a dream.

They don't exist.

It's no point analysing a dream.

You are saying,

In that dream in which I am floating in space,

That planet,

Does that have consciousness?

I am telling you,

It's a dream.

It's unreal.

And you are trying to figure out,

In that unreal dream,

One little thing,

Is that real?

Does a non-living object have consciousness?

You are trying to find out,

Is it real?

Is it conscious?

Are you seeing this?

That's probably because a little bit more finishing in knowledge is required.

That's fine.

We will get there slowly.

Slowly.

For you Advaita level 1 would be advised.

Start at Advaita level 1.

Slowly,

Slowly,

Slowly,

Slowly you come up and you will figure out,

Oh what am I trying to analyse?

Non-living objects?

They are nothing but a dream.

That attachment will drop.

Again,

Don't start with these words.

Then you will start looking for an individual soul.

Then,

Then,

Ramana Maharshi already told you right in the first paragraph,

Big pitfall.

No,

There is no individual soul.

Vanantaratma,

My atma versus your atma.

No.

It doesn't work.

There is one field of infinite no-thing-ness.

Yes?

Drop your Dvaita conditioning.

There is no other way to understand Advaita.

You cannot have Dvaita conditioning in one hand and try to understand Advaita.

Impossible.

Exact opposite.

You will have to drop your Dvaita understanding.

Your Dvaita understanding of an antaratma,

An individual soul,

You will have to drop.

Otherwise Advaita is out of reach for you.

Simple.

Harsh but truth.

So start working on that conditioning.

Have the courage to bear the power of silence.

It's immensely powerful and the ego hates it.

The ego wants to chat chat chat.

Then distance yourself from it.

Don't beat yourself.

Don't beat yourself at all.

Be kind.

Be compassionate with yourself.

It's okay I stumble.

Witness it first.

Then turn away from it.

You drop away anyways.

Just be.

Let the eye drop.

Be in that no-thing-ness.

Even if it is one second,

It's good enough.

One second victory.

Very good.

Just be there.

Be there.

Then you can recognise that oh a thought that arises is made of the same thing.

It says I.

Oh that is the jiva.

Immediately there is the sense in the body which makes me feel I am the body.

This happens every morning.

You're not really aware of the body.

Even when you're dreaming,

You're not aware of the body.

The sense arises and then you feel the whole body and then there is this identification with the body and you feel oh I,

Eta,

Am now getting up and then the feeling of being in that room,

The spouse or your possessions,

The world appears.

So recognise this happening.

This is a path of self-exploration.

This can only be done in modern science.

Aum