Nisargadatta's I Am That Session 27 - Chapter 13 Part 1

Welcome to I Am That,

Chapter 13.

This is a very long chapter,

So we will divide it into multiple sessions.

The chapter is called Paramakash,

Chidakash and Mahadakash.

This is the Marathi title.

The same has been translated into English as the Supreme,

The Mind and the Body.

But if you like the Sanskrit word,

You can write those Paramakash,

Chidakash,

Mahadakash.

Questioner,

From what you have told us,

It appears that you are not quite conscious of your surroundings.

To us,

You seem extremely alert and active.

We cannot possibly believe that you are in a kind of hypnotic state,

Which leaves behind no memory.

On the contrary,

Your memory seems excellent.

How are we to understand your statement that the world and all it includes does not exist as far as you are concerned?

This is a continuation from the previous chapter.

Maybe it's the same audience that is now asking this question.

Maharaj says,

It is all a matter of focus.

Your mind is focused in the world.

Mind is focused in reality.

Again,

What does he mean by this?

How is our mind?

Our mind is extroverted.

We focus on people,

On situations,

On things.

We focus on this body.

This is also outside.

This is also external.

This also belongs to the world.

Maharaj says,

This world is not reality.

I am reality.

And what is I?

When you look for the I,

Can you find an entity called I inside?

Can you even find the mind?

Can you find the ego?

You cannot find anything.

In fact,

Even that sense of I,

When you follow it,

That sense of I dissolves into nothingness when you follow it.

That is reality,

Maharaj says.

That nothingness or void,

It is not a dead void.

It is a life conscious void.

It is infinite.

It is borderless.

That is who or what I am.

That is reality.

So,

Maharaj says,

Your focus is always on the external,

On this mahad aakash,

On people,

Situations and things or this body.

Whereas,

My focus is on the reality.

The reality of what?

The reality of my own self.

It is like the moon in daylight.

When the sun shines,

The moon is hardly visible.

Or,

Watch how you take your food.

As long as it is in your mouth,

You are conscious of it.

Once swallowed,

It does not concern you any longer.

It would be troublesome to have it constantly in mind until it is eliminated.

The mind should be normally in abeyance,

Means at rest.

Incessant activity is a morbid state.

The universe works by itself.

That,

I know.

What else do I need to know?

Because Maharaj has said in the previous chapters that,

I am not constantly in mind.

In the previous chapters that,

I am not constantly focusing on every activity of this body-mind.

He says that the mind looks after the body.

And they are a good team.

They perform their tasks perfectly well if I do not interfere.

And I have recognized this truth.

That without my interference,

They perform their tasks very smoothly,

Accurately,

And there are no blunders.

So then,

Why should I interfere?

When it is a perfectly performing machine,

I do not need to interfere.

This is what Maharaj says.

So the questioner has asked,

How are we to make some sense of this statement that the world does not exist for you?

So what he means is not that the people,

Situations,

And things in Maharaj's life have disappeared.

Things in Maharaj's life have disappeared.

No,

They are all there.

The body-mind is there.

He has just realized the truth that they function perfectly.

Why should I interfere?

And now when he has recognized this,

It has become his experiential reality,

His truth.

It's not his belief.

It is his experiential truth.

He has moved on to a stage where he does not focus on that which does not need focus.

So the Marathi word used for focus is Kendra Sthaan.

He is not focusing on the body,

The mind,

And the world anymore.

He recognizes they function perfectly.

How has he recognized this?

Because he sees very clearly that we are in a waking dream world.

In this waking dream world,

The body-mind of the dream character performs its task according to the dream script.

And who does the dream script belong to?

Obviously,

The dreamer.

I,

The dream character,

In this dream,

Do not have to interfere or meddle with the dreamer's dream script.

In fact,

I cannot meddle.

I have only assumed that I am the doer and I am doing something.

In this dream world,

I,

The dream character,

Am the doer.

I am doing something.

I,

The dream character,

Am the thinker.

I am thinking these thoughts.

I am making these decisions.

This dream character has become disillusioned that this dream script is his.

All that Advaita Vedanta is telling you is that look at your own true experience,

Direct experience.

Look at your own direct experience.

Aparoksha.

Aparoksha is direct experience.

Not that what my five senses tell me.

Not the calculations that are made by the mind and the conclusions that are reached by making assumptions and inferences.

Not Pratyaksha Gyan,

Not Paroksha Gyan.

Aparoksha Gyan.

Look at your direct experience.

Your direct experience will tell you,

You are not doing anything right now.

You are not listening to Ekta.

You cannot listen.

You are just witnessing the body-mind sitting there on that chair and listening right now.

You do not make notes.

You are simply witnessing the body-mind make notes.

It is happening automatically.

Everything that the body-mind does is happening in an autopilot mode.

I,

The dream character,

Have only assumed that that which is happening is because of me.

I am doing it.

That thought that just arose is because of me.

I am thinking it.

Direct experience throws a challenge at you.

Okay.

Prove it that you thought that thought.

Prove it that you decided to pick up the pen right now and start writing notes.

Prove it that you are the doer of the action and thinker of the thought.

If you seriously investigate,

You will reach a point where there is a big gap.

You will notice the action happened through the body.

There's a big gap and then you assumed that I did it.

Recognize this truth that we do not act.

We cannot act.

The body-mind acts.

Similarly,

We cannot think.

The mind thinks.

Again,

Second challenge thrown at you from a paroksha.

A paroksha tells you,

Prove it to me that you are the mind.

The mind.

Just because a thought arises,

I start assuming this thought that came is my personal thought.

It is about my family.

Therefore,

This is my mind.

That thought which arose in him or her is about his or her family.

Therefore,

It is his mind.

Do you see this?

This is again inference.

I am assuming something and I am drawing an inference.

It's a deductive logic.

It is not my direct experience.

It is not my direct experience that the thought is mine or I thought this thought.

When we dive deeper,

We start seeing,

Oh,

I pretend a thought arises.

I pretend that I thought this thought and I tell my family member,

This is what I'm thinking.

I pretend that the thought is owned by me.

I am the owner.

Similarly,

An action happens through this body.

I pretend that I am doing the action.

I create the justification story of why I did this action and that's what I present to the world.

Start recognizing the pretense.

Maharaj says that he has recognized this pretense and dropped it.

His focus is not on this pretense anymore.

Means he is not focused on the world anymore.

He is now very clear.

I am that infinite silent stillness.

That stillness cannot act.

That stillness cannot think.

That stillness does not do anything.

That stillness just is.

I am that.

Thus,

Maharaj is strongly holding on or his foothold is strongly set in reality.

That is the meaning of Kendrasthan.

His focus is not on the pretense of this world.

Is that clear?

Then he just gave us examples like when the sun is out,

It is brightly shining.

Why look at the moon?

The world is the moon.

For Maharaj,

The sun has started shining.

It is bright daylight.

In this beautiful light,

He cannot take his attention to that moon.

He is not even interested in the moon.

Similarly,

He gives one more example saying that when you eat food,

Your attention is only till the time you swallow it.

And after that,

Your attention is not even to the food.

All the way it would be stressful to even pay attention till it is eliminated from the body.

You see the stress that would come from paying attention to it,

Going down the esophagus,

Going down the stomach,

Into the small intestine,

Into the large intestine and then eliminated.

It would be so stressful.

Yes,

That kind of stress is experienced by Maharaj to even now pretend to be the body,

To pretend to be the doer of the action.

That kind of stress is involved in pretending to be the thinker,

In pretending to be the mind.

Thus,

His focus has dropped.

The kendra sthan has dropped from the body-mind world and has moved to reality which is the param akash,

The abode of the primordial awareness.

He says the mind should be normally in abeyance.

Abeyance means at rest.

Incessant activity is a morbid state.

It's constantly feverish.

If your mind is constantly feverish,

It's like a state of disease.

You're not healthy.

It's a morbid state.

The universe works by itself.

That I know.

I explain this to you,

How everything works by itself.

Not just the body-mind of this dream character is part of the dreamer's script,

But this entire dream world,

Everything in this universe functions automatically.

Everything is happening like clockwork.

So,

Maharaj says the universe works by itself.

That I know.

What else do I need to know?

Questioner says,

So,

A jnani knows what he is doing only when he turns his mind to it.

Otherwise,

He just acts without being concerned?

The average man is not conscious of his body as such.

He is conscious of his sensations,

Feelings and thoughts.

Even these,

Once detachment sets in,

Move away from the center of consciousness and happen spontaneously and effortlessly.

So,

Look at yourself.

You consider yourself as an average human being.

What is your focus on?

Aren't you always conscious of sensations,

Feelings and thoughts?

You are not so conscious about your body all the time.

Have you noticed that?

Only when there is some pain in the body,

There is some discomfort in the body,

Your attention goes there.

If there is no discomfort in the body,

You are not paying attention to it.

So,

That is the meaning of the first sentence.

The average man is not conscious of his body as such.

He is conscious of his sensations,

Feelings and thoughts.

Even these,

Once detachment sets in,

Move away from the center of consciousness.

So,

Once he becomes a little clear that,

Oh,

I am not the body,

I am not the mind,

He is not very clear yet that he is the primordial awareness.

He has somewhat recognized,

I am not the body,

I am not the mind.

That means,

Little bit of detachment has set in.

Even when little bit of detachment sets in,

His focus starts moving away even from sensations,

Feelings,

Thoughts.

Do you see this change in yourself?

So,

Even these move away from the center of consciousness,

Is what he is saying.

And that happens spontaneously and effortlessly.

So,

The questioner says,

And what is the center of consciousness?

What do you mean by center of consciousness?

So,

Marat says,

That which cannot be given name and form,

For it is without quality and beyond consciousness.

You may say,

It is a point in consciousness.

Like a hole in the paper is both in the paper and yet not of paper.

So is the supreme state,

In the very center of consciousness and yet beyond consciousness.

It is as if there were an opening in the mind through which the mind is flooded with light.

The opening is not even the light,

It is just an opening.

So,

Let's do an experiment.

On your page,

In your notebook,

Do not tear the page,

Just take a new page and make a little hole with your pen.

Just with your pen point,

Make a little hole in the center of your page.

On this side of the page is primordial awareness.

The page itself is witness consciousness.

Yes,

On the other side is the mind or chidakasha.

So,

This side of the paper is paramakasha.

Starting from the paper,

Towards the other side is chidakasha.

And there is a little small opening in the middle of this paper.

If you've done that little experiment,

Let's read the paragraph again.

Question is,

What is the center of consciousness?

Obviously,

Consciousness means witness consciousness here.

That which cannot be given name and form,

For it is without quality and beyond consciousness.

So,

What is center of consciousness?

That which cannot be given name and form.

Name and form can be given only to everything in the world.

This body has a name and form.

Mind also has a subtle form and name.

So,

The sense of I am,

Which is the witness consciousness,

Which is the witness consciousness belongs to which realm?

Belongs to this chidakasha,

The mind's realm.

Because it has a subtle form,

The form of I.

It has a name.

So,

The witness consciousness and the mind both belong to the realm of chidakasha.

You can say,

The sense of I am or the witness consciousness is the beginning or the starting point of the mind.

First there is I and then there is I am this,

I am that.

This and that comes later,

That is the story of the mind.

But even the sense of I am is,

The witness consciousness is the birth of the mind.

Very clear?

So,

Where your paper is,

That is the beginning of the chidakasha.

The witness consciousness itself is the beginning of the mind.

On the other side of the paper is the chidakasha.

On this side of the paper is paramakasha.

So,

Now we'll read again.

That which cannot be given name and form,

For it is without quality and beyond consciousness,

Beyond the witness consciousness.

So,

That which is beyond the witness consciousness is the center of consciousness.

You may say it is a point in consciousness.

So,

You have a paper which is the witness consciousness and you have a little opening in the paper now,

That is a point in consciousness.

Like a hole in the paper is both in the paper and yet not of paper.

Now,

Look through that little hole in the paper,

That little opening.

It is both in the paper and yet not of the paper.

So,

Is the supreme state in the very center of consciousness and yet beyond consciousness.

So,

The supreme state,

The primordial awareness is in the center of consciousness,

Yet it is beyond consciousness.

Means it is in the center of the witness consciousness and yet it is beyond the witness consciousness.

It is as if there were an opening in the mind through which the mind is flooded with light.

The opening is not even the light.

It is just an opening.

So,

Suppose you had a little torch light and you could shine it from this side of the paper and the light would come to the other side of the paper.

Like that is what is primordial consciousness.

But again,

This is only an analogy used.

It is not light.

There is no light that you can see inside.

That's why he says the opening is not even the light.

It is just an opening.

That is why he said it is as if there were an opening in the mind through which the mind is flooded with light.

The opening is not even the light.

It is just an opening.

To add more clarity,

I'll read out the Marathi as well.

Marathi Sadhak asks,

What is the center of the witness consciousness?

Marathi That which cannot be given a name or form.

Marathi Because it is devoid of gunas or qualities and it is beyond the witness consciousness.

Marathi It is beyond the witness consciousness.

Yet it is a point in the witness consciousness.

We can say like that.

Marathi Just like a little hole made in the paper belongs to the paper,

Yet it is not of the paper.

Marathi Similarly,

The swaroop means the primordial awareness or the pure consciousness.

That swaroop or that pure consciousness is in the center of the witness consciousness,

Yet it is beyond the witness consciousness.

Here Maharaj is trying his best using an analogy of a paper and a little opening in the paper.

Marathi But this is only to point in that direction.

It's a pointer.

The person who has even got a little glimpse of this will click with this and say,

Aha,

Yes,

This is it.

But somebody who has not had an experiential glimpse also of the primordial consciousness will not be able to understand this.

Marathi That only the primordial consciousness is in the center of the witness consciousness,

Yet it is beyond the witness consciousness.

Marathi It is as if an opening in the mind through which the mind is illuminated,

But yet it is not light.

It is simply an opening.

So,

The questioner asks,

An opening is just a void,

Absence.

Marathi Maharaj says quite so.

From the mind's point of view,

It is but an opening for the light of awareness to enter the mental space.

Again,

Look at your little paper with the opening.

On this side of the paper is the primordial awareness.

The paper itself is the witness consciousness and on the other side of the paper is the mind.

So,

That little opening is an opening through which awareness shines onto the mind.

I'll read that again.

Quite so.

From the mind's point of view,

It is but an opening for the light of awareness to enter the mental space.

Mental space in Sanskrit is Chidakasha.

By itself,

The light can only be compared to a solid,

Dense,

Rock-like,

Homogeneous and changeless mass of pure awareness,

Free from the mental patterns of mean and shame.

This has been beautifully described.

Again,

We are using words from the samsara to explain something from the realm of the Brahman.

So,

You have to understand they are just pointers.

Rock-like.

It's not solid.

It's not made of matter.

Awareness is not rock-like.

This is telling you that it is so solid.

It is one.

It is not discontinuous.

It is not broken.

It is one big solid block of awareness.

A better description of awareness would be absolute nothingness.

So,

Your mind does not hold on to words.

But here,

To explain how it is just one single whole.

W-H-O-L-E.

One single whole.

That is why the word solid,

Dense,

Rock-like has been used.

Homogeneous has been used.

And it is changeless.

There is no break in continuity.

There is no breach in continuity.

It is one continuous mass of pure awareness.

Free from the mental patterns of name and shape.

There is no name there.

There is no shape there.

Easier way to describe it.

No thingness.

There is no thing there.

Only for a thing,

I can put a name and shape,

Right?

And then I hold on to the name and shape and get attached to that thing.

This is a space of no thingness.

Questioner says,

Is there any connection between the mental space and the supreme abode?

Here,

I'll pause and tell you the name of mental space in Sanskrit is Chidakasha and supreme abode is Paramakasha.

So,

Is there any connection between Chidakasha and Paramakasha?

The supreme gives existence to the mind.

The mind gives existence to the body.

So,

Now look at your paper again.

This side of the paper is the primordial awareness or the Paramakasha,

The supreme abode.

The paper itself is the witness consciousness with a little opening.

The primordial awareness shines through this opening and reflects on the other side.

That is the Chidakasha or the mind.

So,

The supreme gives existence to the mind and the mind gives existence to the body.

You can take the same analogy forward and have another paper through which the mind shines on the body and gives existence to the body.

Again,

There is no white light,

Blue light,

Yellow light shining through.

There is no light.

It is akin to light.

You have to again use samsaric words to explain something from the paramarthic realm.

That's what Maharaj is doing here.

He is using the word light but there is really no light.

It's simply an analogy to tell you something that shines and illuminates everything like light does without being biased,

Without being prejudiced.

It shines on everything equally like that.

The primordial awareness shines on everything equally.

Questioner asks,

What lies beyond?

Maharaj says,

Take an example.

A venerable yogi,

A master in the art of longevity,

Himself over thousand years old,

Comes to teach me his art.

I fully respect and sincerely admire his achievements.

Yet,

All I can tell him is,

Of what use is longevity to me?

I am beyond time.

However long a life may be,

It is but a moment and a dream.

In the same way,

I am beyond all attributes.

They appear and disappear in my light but cannot describe me.

The universe is all means and forms,

Based on qualities and their differences,

While I am beyond.

The world is there because I am.

But I am not the world.

So here Maharaj is just quoting an example.

There are many people in the world that have lived beyond regular human shelf life as has been determined by science.

Some of them are yogis and can teach you the art of living for many many years.

But Maharaj says,

What is the point?

What is the point of longevity?

When this body-mind is trapped in time and space.

But I have recognized that I am not this body-mind.

I am beyond time and space.

So if I recognize that I am beyond time and space,

What use is the longevity of this body-mind to me?

I am beyond.

He recognizes very clearly.

He says that he is in the world.

There is no confusion.

There is no hallucination happening here that there is no world.

No.

No.

He recognizes there are people,

There are situations,

There are things.

There is this body.

This body has its needs.

It does these things.

It falls sick.

It becomes healthy.

It does action.

It gets into inaction.

All these things are happening with Maharaj.

There is no doubt for him that this world exists.

That the world is.

He says they are simply attributes that appear and disappear in me.

In me what?

In me the primordial awareness.

That space of nothingness.

This body appears and disappears.

The mind appears and disappears.

The world.

World is nothing but perception of sight,

Sound,

Smell,

Taste,

Touch.

These perceptions appear and disappear.

They are all attributes of this realm of time and space.

They appear and disappear in me.

So the most beautiful part over there is I am beyond all attributes.

They appear and disappear in my light but cannot describe me.

So even if you figure out a way to live a thousand years,

This body is going to live a thousand years.

But that longevity will be an attribute of the body,

Not mine.

I am beyond all attributes.

They appear and disappear in my light but cannot describe me.

The universe is all names and forms based on qualities.

Qualities means gunas.

Sattva guna,

Rajas guna and tamo guna and their differences.

The universe is nothing but these three gunas.

Different permutation combination of these gunas is what describes any naama roopa,

Name and form in this world.

He says I am beyond these.

I am beyond the gunas.

I am beyond the differences of the gunas.

The world is there because I am.

But I am not the world.

Have you recognized that you are not the world?

Body is the world.

Mind is the world.

Perception of sight,

Sound,

Smell,

Taste,

Touch,

People,

Situations,

Things in other words are nothing but the world.

Do you recognize that all this is there because I am?

Only when I wake up in the morning from the deep sleep I transition out.

I am there that is when the world is there.

When I am not there in deep sleep there is no I.

There is no world even.

Do you recognize this?

Questioner says but you are living in the world.

Maharaj says that's what you say.

I know there is a world which includes this body and this mind but I do not consider them to be more mine than others minds and bodies.

They are there in time and space but I am timeless and spaceless.

So we go back to our dream world example.

This dream character is not different from that dream character.

Both are dream characters.

There is no difference between the two.

For whom is there no difference?

For the dreamer.

The dreamer is dreaming of multiple dream characters.

A,

B,

C,

D.

For him they are all the same.

They are all nothing but the same mind.

They are all nothing but the projections of the same mind.

Correct?

Maharaj has broken the false identification from the body-mind and recognized I am the witness of the body-mind.

He has moved beyond the witness also and recognized oh I am just this dreamer's mind.

The awareness.

The primordial awareness.

It is nothingness.

So this body is not more mine than the other body.

They are equally mine or they are not mine at all.

All the dream characters in the dream world are equally belonging to the dreamer or they don't belong to the dreamer.

They are all mine or nothing is mine.

Remember the time when you woke up from a dream and you had a very pleasant dream and you were happy that you saw whatever you dreamt of.

Maybe you dreamt of some meeting some happy friends and you all had a happy happy time so you got up with that happiness and you said ah my dream all the dream characters were mine.

They all are mine.

The entire dream is mine.

The entire dream world is mine.

Now remember another time when you woke up from a nightmare.

A snake was swallowing you.

You say no this is not my dream or that snake is not mine or maybe somebody came in the dream to try to save you.

That person is mine and the snake is not mine.

Can you say that?

No.

When you wake up you say the entire nightmare was not mine.

I would never want to be swallowed by a snake.

So do you say this?

From the dreamer's point of view either everything is mine or nothing is mine.

Do you see that?

One particular body mind complex is not more mine than another particular body mind complex.

Just because one particular body mind complex is a little nearer and that is a little further away just because this is a little more tangible and that is intangible it does not mean that one is mine and one is not mine.

Yes,

Is this clear?

So I'll read that sentence again that paragraph again.

I know there is a world which includes this body and this mind but I do not consider them to be more mine than other minds and bodies.

We are there in time and space but I am timeless but I am timeless and spaceless.

Does the time in this dream world affect the dreamer?

No.

The dreamer,

The dreamer's mind is completely timeless,

Spaceless beyond the time and space belonging to this dream world.

Similarly,

I,

The primordial awareness,

I am beyond the time and space in which this witness consciousness,

The mind,

The body and the world operate.

I am beyond I am beyond Mahadakasha and Chiddhakasha and in that realm beyond there is no time,

There is no space.

Thus,

I am timeless,

I am spaceless.

Questioner,

But since all exist by your light,

Are you not the creator of the world?

Maharaj says,

I am neither the potentiality nor the actualization nor the actuality of things.

In my light,

They come and go as specks of dust dancing in the sunbeam.

The light illumines the specks but does not depend on them nor can it be said to create them.

It cannot be even said to know them.

Look at the sunlight coming in through the window in your room.

Do you notice little specks of dust shining in the light?

Do you notice that the light has got nothing to do with the specks of dust?

It only illumines them.

Yeah,

It is not the creator of the specks.

It is not even knowing the specks.

It has nothing to do with them and the light does not even depend on the specks.

It has nothing to do with them.

Yes,

Similarly,

I,

The primordial awareness,

I shine in my illumination.

The body,

Mind and the world appear.

I have nothing to do with this body,

With the mind,

With the world.

I am not even the creator of the body,

Of the mind,

Of the world.

I do not depend on the body,

The mind,

The world and I do not even know them.

Let's take the example of the dream world again.

The dreamer is dreaming the dream world.

In that dream world,

There are many dream characters.

In that dream world,

There is a city,

There is,

There are houses,

There are people,

There are things,

There are situations happening.

Is the dreamer really the one who is dreaming the dream world?

Is he really the one who knows about the city,

The dream characters,

The people,

The things,

The money,

The name,

The fame?

Does he really know know them?

Ask yourself,

When you get out of a dream,

You're awake in the morning,

Do you say,

Yes,

I know them?

No,

You just dismiss all of it saying it was just a dream.

You do not claim to belong to the dream,

You never say,

I know them.

Let's see the second aspect,

The aspect of creating the dream.

Do you take responsibility that you created the dream?

You will say,

No,

I would not want a snake to swallow me ever.

So,

Obviously,

It is not my responsibility.

I am not the creator of the dream.

So,

Just like the dreamer is not ready to take the responsibility of all this.

Why?

Because simply he does not see where he would have wanted something like this to happen.

He simply does not happen.

He simply does not see the process of creating the dream.

You see this?

So,

He says,

I am not the creator of it.

At the same time,

He says,

I am not even the knower of it.

I am just the light illuminating the dream characters.

The dream characters appear in that light and they disappear.

The dream sequence appears in that light and disappears.

The dream world appears in that light and disappears.

I am the light.

That's it.

I did not create them and I do not even know them.

Similarly,

I,

The primordial awareness,

Have nothing to do with this particular body-mind and this world.

I am not the creator of this world.

You would say,

But this is a contradiction of what Maharaj said earlier that I project my personal world.

Maharaj said that when I have assumed to be this body-mind,

Mistaken myself to be the doer,

The thinker,

The actor,

I project thoughts which are thoughts of my cravings and aversions.

I find my own imagined thoughts as tangible and I believe the story of my thought.

And thus,

I project my personal world when I have mistakenly assumed myself as the body-mind.

But when I know the truth,

Oh,

I am not this body,

I am not this mind,

I am not even the witness consciousness,

I am beyond that,

The primordial awareness,

The no-thingness,

The light,

Then I drop my wrong association with this body and mind.

I drop the pretense that I had about being the thinker,

The doer,

The actor.

When I drop all these pretenses,

I notice that it does its function perfectly.

It is not related to me.

I am not the creator of the body-mind.

I have nothing to do with it.

In fact,

I don't even know how the actions of this body-mind happen.

I do not even know how the thoughts arise and fall.

I simply am the light which illumines them.

I am not them.

So,

I'll read that paragraph again.

Let me read it in Marathi.

I am not the creator of things.

That is translated as I am not the potentiality in English.

I am not the one who makes them real.

That has been translated as actualization in English.

I am not even the actuality of things.

I am the light which illuminates them.

Just like in the sun rays,

The specks of dust come and go like that in my light.

The objects of this body-mind world come and go.

But I am not dependent on them.

Light illuminates the specks of dust but is not dependent on them.

I am not the one who creates them.

It cannot be said that it produces them or creates them.

It cannot be said that the light knows the specks of dust.

Let me stop there.

Do you contemplate?

Do I recognize this experientially?

What we understood today is that I am Paramakash.

I am not the body-mind as I thought I was.

I am not even the witness consciousness as I thought I was.

In me,

The Paramakash,

The witness consciousness comes and goes.

In me,

The Paramakash,

The mind comes and goes.

Both the witness consciousness and the mind belong to the realm of Chiddhakash.

So,

In me,

The Paramakash,

The Chiddhakash comes and goes.

Within that Chiddhakash,

The body and the world come and go.

The body and the world belong to Mahadakash.

So,

Within that Chiddhakash,

The Mahadakash comes and goes.

This is experiential.

This is not theoretical.

This is paradoxical knowledge.

If you become very serious about recognizing the truth in your own daily experience of waking up in the morning,

In your transition from deep sleep to dreaming to waking and in going back to sleep in the night,

In transition from waking to dreaming to deep sleep,

You make an effort during these times to be aware,

To recognize the truth.

Once you glimpse it in your sleep and dreams,

You will be very easily be able to see it in the waking state.

Once you start making this attempt,

Get serious,

Develop the interest in the stream of your own witness consciousness.

That will take you to the primordial awareness.

We will stop here for today and continue the removing in the next session.

Happy Self-Exploring!