Nisargadatta's I Am That Session 4-The Living Present Part 1

58:21

58:21

Nisargadatta's I Am That Session 4-The Living Present Part 1

by Ekta Bathija

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4.8

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talks

Activity

Meditation

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Everyone

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30

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 Present Moment Non Identification Direct Experience Mindfulness Detachment Acceptance Potential Timelessness Self Present Moment Awareness Mindful Observation Full Potential Mind Memories Guided Spirits

Meet your Teacher

St. George, USA

Meet your Teacher

St. George, USA

Transcript

Ch 3. The Living Present Now we have to remember that in Chapter 2 we ended with Nisargadatta Maharaj advising all of us that our effort needs to be earnest, Daily, Hourly. So it's in continuation of this scene. Questioner, As I can see, There is nothing wrong with my body nor with my real being. Both are not of my making and need not be improved upon. What has gone wrong is the inner body. Call it mind, Consciousness, Antahkarna, Whatever the name. Maharaj, What do you consider to be wrong with your mind? Questioner, It is restless, Greedy of the pleasant and afraid of the unpleasant. Maharaj, What is wrong with it seeking the pleasant and shirking the unpleasant? Between the banks of pain and pleasure the river of life flows. It is only when the mind refuses to flow with life and gets stuck at the banks that it becomes a problem. By flowing with life I mean acceptance, Letting come what comes and go what goes. Desire not, Fear not, Observe the actual as and when it happens. For you are not what happens. You are to whom it happens. Ultimately even the observer you are not. You are the ultimate potentiality of which the all-embracing consciousness is the manifestation and expression. Okay. So, Questioner, Somebody like us who has recognized all my problems are here in my own mind. It is me. I am the problem. He has moved away from that ignorant position where we used to blame other people as my problem, Where the world is a problem for me. Okay. So, This is a questioner who has risen from that ignorant level to a little higher level where he has recognized the problem is my mind. It's me, Not the world. Okay. So, He says as I can see there is nothing wrong with my body nor with my real being. What does he mean by real being? That witness, That sense of being. There is nothing wrong with that and there is nothing wrong with the body. You get it? Yeah. Both are not of my making and need not be improved upon. Is the body of your making? No. Is the sense of being, Khone ka ahsaas, The sense of I am, Is that of your making? No. So, Are you understanding? He is a very smart, Very intelligent person who has thought about his question also. So, He is saying my body is not of my making, The sense of being is not of my making. Yeah. So, They are not something that needs to be improved upon. What has gone wrong is the inner body or the mind or he calls it consciousness or antahkarna whatever. He doesn't know what it is. Something in the middle between the body and the sense of being. Something in the middle is the cause of my misery he is saying. So, Maharaj says what do you consider wrong with your mind? Maharaj understands him. So, He says it is restless, Greedy for the pleasant and afraid of the unpleasant. Yeah. So, Maharaj says what is wrong with that? Yeah. Look at this. If you have come to the spiritual path thinking that the whole world is going to change, I am going to attain some magical siddhi and no pleasant and no unpleasant events will come my way. Is that a correct way to think? No. Then you are fooling yourself. The world is going to remain as it is. People are going to remain as they are. Situations pleasant and unpleasant both will come my way. The world is not going to change. What is going to change? My perspective. My perspective. Yes. And what specially in my perspective? I feel I am suffering because of this world. I feel I am suffering because of the feelings and thoughts. I feel I am suffering because of the pains and disease of the body or old age of the body. Yeah. This Tadatma is going to break. Yes. This you should always be clear that the Tadatma is what is going to break. It is not that unpleasant people and situations and things are going to be wiped out from the planet. No. Then you have a wrong understanding of the spiritual path. So Maharaj is saying what is wrong with the mind seeking pleasant and shirking the unpleasant? Between the banks of pain and pleasure the river of life flows. It is only when the mind refuses to flow with life and gets stuck with the banks either the pleasant or the unpleasant bank. Then it becomes a problem. Do you see this? So what is that? Only when there is Tadatma there is a problem. When I say I am angry, I am hurting, I am miserable, I am the sad person. When I am forgets itself and becomes one with the anger. When I am forgets itself becomes one with the pain in the body. When I am forgets itself becomes one with the emotion. That is where the problem is. The problem is not in the pain and pleasure and the mind seeking pleasure and not wanting displeasure. So recognize this thing. It is just the Tadatma that is the problem. Nothing else is the problem. Life will continue. Pain and pleasure will come my way. The way they are meant to. I cannot stop anything. That is the flow of life. One bank is pleasure. One bank is pain. I have to be very vigilant that I keep flowing in the middle. I do not hold on to this bank or that bank. The moment I hold on that is called Tadatma. Identification either with the pleasant or with the unpleasant. You react only to pleasant and unpleasant. You really don't react to external people situations and things. Have you noticed this? If there is an unpleasant sensation in me, I react to that sensation. I don't really react to the external person that is the trigger. This person just comes and says some bad things to me, Insults me. He says it once and he goes his way. His words were just a trigger for creating that unpleasant sensation within me. I reacted to this unpleasant sensation. The person has already gone. He has left. But because of Tadatma, I became one with whatever words he said to me, Irrespective of what that is. The moment I become one, I replay it in my mind. I am like this. He said this to me. I am like this. Maybe he's right. Maybe I am wrong and blah, Blah, Blah, Blah. And because of the replay, The sensations keep getting replayed. The same nasty sensation arises and I react to that sensation. Again it arises, Again I react to that sensation. Mind you, The person said it once and has left the scene. Do you notice this? I do not react to the external person. I react to my sensation. And I keep reacting, Keep reacting, I keep playing it and react, Playing it and react. Maharaj will help us see this even more clearly as we go ahead. But this should become very clear to you at this stage that I do not react to an external person situation and thing. I react to my own sensations. I become one with that sensation of fire. Because in this situation it is criticism. Some words that were not pleasant to hear. So I become one with that sensation of fire. That is called Tadatma. That is the problem Maharaj is saying. If you learn to flow, He says, Without doing the Tadatma with either the painful bank or the pleasant bank. No Tadatma. I just keep flowing, Keep flowing. Then there is no issue. Very clear this paragraph? It is only when the mind refuses to flow with life and gets stuck at the banks that it becomes a problem. By flowing with life I mean acceptance. Letting come what comes and go what goes. I all the time have a condition on life, Oh this should not happen and this should happen. Yes? This is Tadatma. I am has forgotten itself. Has forgotten that it is the changeless background. I have forgotten that sense of being and I have identified with getting something or rejecting something. Yes? So I have to constantly moment to moment to moment separate myself. The I am has to constantly create the distance between itself and whatever the perception or sensation or feeling or thought is. Yes? That is the only remedy. There is no other remedy. There is no other solution. So whatever comes, Let it come. Whatever goes, Let it go. Yes? No Tadatma. Desire not. Fear not. Observe the actual as and when it happens. Yes? You have to recognize that perception, Sensation, Thoughts and feelings are waves. They arise and fall, Arise and fall, Arise and fall. They are not in my control. My problem is that I have fooled myself to believe that I control thoughts. I control perceptions. I control sensations. And because I have fooled myself to believe that I can control them then doership has come up. And then because of that doership I want to control and then obviously it's not in my control. Then I become sad and unhappy. So I am creating the drama myself, For myself. I have to wake up to this truth. Yes? So he tells you desire not and fear not. These are two opposites. Desire is Raga. Fear is Dvesha. Yes? Drop both desire and fear. Observe the actual as and when it happens. For you are not what happens. This is very important. Please highlight. For you are not what happens. You are to whom it happens. This is stage number one. I am the experiencer of Sukha and Dukha. Of happiness and unhappiness. Yes? Or stage zero in fact you can say. I'll tell you the other stages as we go through the paragraph. Yes? Stage zero. I have become one with the Sukha or the Dukha. Next line he tells you the next stage. Ultimately even the observer you are not. So second stage or stage one now. Previous stage was zero. Stage one is I am the observer of this Sukha or Dukha. I am the observer of this pain and this pleasure. Or I am the witness of this pain and pleasure. That's where you reach. He is telling you you are not even that. Go one more step beyond. What is the next step? Step two. You are the ultimate potentiality of which the all-embracing consciousness is the manifestation and expression. First let's understand the meaning of potentiality. Completely different example. This is the waking state. I go through this for 14-16 hours. Then I lie down in the bed 11-12 in the night and I start thinking with eyes closed. I go into the dreaming state. A point comes when the dreaming state pauses and there's a complete shutdown. Yes? I am not experiencing any thoughts and I am not experiencing this world. No physical objects, No mental objects. Yeah? So it is a complete pause. That's the deep sleep state. What is happening in this deep sleep state? Can you say that you are not there? No. You are there. You are very much there in the deep sleep state. The potentiality of the next dream to arise is there in a seed form in this deep sleep state. The potentiality of the next day's perceptions, Sensations, Thoughts and feelings are all hidden in a seed form in this deep sleep state. Are you seeing this? Do you understand the meaning of potentiality now? Yeah? So I have an aspect in me in which I can have the potentiality of thoughts, Feelings, Sensations, Perceptions. Yes? That is me only. I only go to sleep every night and I only move towards the dreaming and then towards the waking. Every night I go back into that seed and from that seed through that potentiality the possibility of certain thoughts, Feelings, Sensations, Perceptions arise. Do you understand the word potentiality now? Yes? And each one of us has that. Yeah? So what are we doing in our waking and dreaming states? We are manifesting and expressing ourselves. Yeah? So that is the meaning of potentiality of which the all embracing consciousness is the manifestation and expression. This will open up more as we go into chapters 4 and 5. Yeah? Right now it's just an introduction into your own potentiality of manifestation. You yourself create everything. You yourself express yourself through perceptions, Sensations, Thoughts and feelings. It's just an introduction. You'll understand it better in the next chapters. Questioner, Yet between the body and the self there lies a cloud of thoughts and feelings which neither serve the body nor the self. These thoughts and feelings are flimsy, Transient and meaningless, Mere mental dust that blinds and chokes. Yet they are there, Obscuring and destroying. Maharaj, Surely the memory of an event cannot pass for the event itself nor can the anticipation. There is something exceptional, Unique about the present event which the previous or the coming do not have. There is a livingness about it, An actuality. It stands out as if illuminated. There is the stamp of reality on the actual which the past and the future do not have. Questioner, What gives the present that stamp of reality? Maharaj, There is nothing peculiar in the present event to make it different from the past and the future. For the moment the past was actual and the future will become so. What makes the present so different? Obviously my presence. I am real for I am always now in the present and what is with me now shares in my reality. The past is in memory, The future in imagination. There is nothing in the present event itself that makes it stand out as real. It may be some simple, Periodical occurrence like the striking of the clock. In spite of our knowing that the successive strokes are identical, The present stroke is quite different from the previous one and the next, As remembered or expected. A thing focused in the now is with me for I am ever present. It is my own reality that I impart to the present event. So he is still stuck with his question about the mind and the thoughts and feelings and he keeps saying that these thoughts and feelings are flimsy, Transient, Meaningless, Mere mental dust that blinds and chokes, Yet they are obscuring and destroying. We all feel like that about our mind. So here Maharaj is helping you again drop the past, Drop the future and recognize that there is only the present. So this is the crux of the chapter. The chapter is the living present. These two paragraphs are the crux of the chapter. Surely the memory of an event cannot pass for the event itself, Nor can the anticipation. So memory is the past, Anticipation is the future. There is something exceptional, Unique about the present event, Which the previous or the coming do not have. Have you noticed that you can never ever step into the past? Five minutes ago we did the previous page. Can you step into the past and hear that again? Not possible. We will read the next page in the future. Can you step into the future and read that page? No. All that we have, Moment to moment, Is only the now. We never experience anything outside the now. So pay attention to this. Do you think time really exists? That which I cannot experience, That which I logically deduce, Can I say with proof that it exists? I have only logically deduced past. I have put a label to some event yesterday, Maybe last night's dinner, That I'm calling past. Right now I'm attending this session, I'm calling this present and maybe tonight's dinner will be future. I have just created events and I've drawn a line in my mind and I say, Okay, This point in this line is the past and this point in the line is future. Are you seeing that this is a mental construct? Yes? In my direct experience, What is direct experience? As I can experience with this body-mind complex right now. That is called direct experience. In my direct experience, Can I ever experience past or future? Can I step out of the now and go to the past and check it out again? Can I step out of the now and check out the future and come back? In my direct experience, I only experience now, Now, Now, Now. I do not experience anything else. Even now is a word I'm using but it doesn't come with a label that says now. Are you seeing this? The entire timeline is an assumption. Time is an assumption. It's a mental construct. Time does not really exist in my direct experience. So, Do this homework. Is it possible that I can actually go to the past? Even when I'm thinking about my own Have I gone to the past? Do this contemplation. This is homework number one. Even when I'm thinking about my childhood, Have I left the now and stepped into the past? Homework number two. If I think about my old age and if you're already old, Extremely old age, Can I really step out of the now and go to the future? Is that even possible? So, Start looking at things in my direct experience. Every contemplation begins with in my direct experience. Not assumption, Not hypothesis, Not mental constructs. In my direct experience. There is something exceptional, Unique about the present event, Which the previous or the coming do not have. There is a livingness about it. What is livingness? What is livingness? The sense of existence, The sense of it being real. Past is not really there right now. Future is not really there right now. They are only mental constructs. You're understanding mental constructs, Na? Mangadan Kahani. It's in the mind. It's not there right now. So, There is a livingness about this now. It is right now. An actuality. It stands out as if illumined. Illumined means as if there is light in the now, But there is no light in the past or in the future. Again, Poetic illumined, Okay? There is no blue light or yellow light you have to start looking for. Not that way, But that it is real. It is actual. There is the stamp of reality on the actual, Which the past and future do not have. So, The questioner says, What gives the present that stamp of reality? Maharaj says, There's nothing peculiar in the present event to make it different from the past and future. Be very vigilant in reading. Nothing peculiar in the present event. In this event, We are all sitting here talking about this knowledge. In this present event, There's nothing peculiar. For a moment, The past was actual. The previous page was the past. It was actual at that moment and the future will become so. The next page will become. What makes the present so different? Obviously, My presence. Maharaj is not talking about his presence. What is he talking about? The sense of I am. The sense of being. The sense of existing. I am is in this present moment. Now, Next question. Is this sense of I am, Which is there right now. Can you sense it right now? Right now. Can you sense it? The sense of I am. That is what makes this event, This present moment real. Now, Think about what we discussed right in the beginning. Is the sense of I am there? That is just a thought that you are replaying right now. Are you seeing this? Yes? It's just a mere thought. It is devoid of the sense of I am. The sense of I am was there when that past event was the present. Yes? We did this in chapter 1 that along with an arising, I am arises with it. So, There is I am and that thought arises and sets. With the arising perception, The I am is there and it sets. Yes? So, It is only in that moment that it is there. Yes? When that was real, The sense of I am was there. Yes? Right now, In this moment, The sense of I am is here. Now. Yeah? So, Every moment is only now. I only experience now. I never experience something called the past. I never experience something called the future. This sense of I am is what gives the present moment its livingness. Yes? Its specularity. All the words that Maharaj and the questioner are using. Yes? Its stamp of reality. All this has got, All this has come to the present moment because of that sense of I am. For a moment, The past was actual and the future will become so. What makes the present so different? Obviously, My presence. I am real for I am always now. Yeah? Understand? I am always now. Yeah? Don't see it from English perspective. See it from the sense of I am. The sense of I am is always now. Yeah? If you practice the entire week with the sense of I am, Did you recognize that in that sense of I am, There is no time? Yes? No? Little bit? Got a glimpse of it? Keep practicing. You will recognize that in that sense of I am, There is a timelessness. There is no time there. You don't feel time. Yeah? Sometimes in your best meditations, Maybe it is just ten minute meditation, Wasn't too long or something. You went into your best meditation and came out and felt, Oh, I didn't feel it only. I didn't feel even five, Ten minutes had passed. I had no idea of time. Or some people sit for an hour and they think that only five minutes have passed. So there is a timelessness that we experience when we go to that sense of I am. It can happen sometimes in meditation and sometimes it happens with open eyes. Yeah? When I am in complete awareness, Complete witnessing mode, I am not lost in this world. I am not lost in thoughts and feelings and emotions and ideas. I am just aware, Purely aware. There is a sense of timelessness there. Yeah? So this week, Attempt to at least get a glimpse of this timelessness. In my direct experience, Homework number three, In my direct experience, Can I get a glimpse of this timelessness that happens when I am in that sense of I am or witnessing or awareness, Whatever word you like. I am real for I am always now in the present and what is with me now shares in my reality. The past is in memory. The future in imagination. There is nothing in the present event itself that makes it stand out as real. It may be some simple periodical occurrence like the striking of the clock. In spite of our knowing that the successive strokes are identical, The present stroke is quite different from the previous and the next, As remembered or expected. He's saying whenever, Even if you have that clock that goes every one hour makes a sound, The cuckoo bird. You've already heard it a zillion times. You know how the cuckoo bird sounds. Yeah? And you have an expectation in the mind. Oh, Now in 25 minutes it's going to sound again. It's got to be top of the hour. So it's going to sound again. And you already played the sound in your mind. But still that is just a thought and it is different from the present moment, Really the cuckoo bird making that sound. Do you get it? So anything that is an expectation is only in thought. It is different from what is in the now. Anything that is in the memory, Even if it is your dearest memory from your childhood, Something that you remember clearly, Vividly. Yeah? Maybe just the memory of hugging your mom. Yeah? All of us have that memory. Just hugging mama. Yes? That in memory, In thought, Is very different from right now getting up and hugging mama. Do you get it? What do you think? Yes? So the now, Present moment, The actuality is always a living reality. It is different from that which was in the past or what is expected in the future. A thing focused in the now is with me for I am ever present. It is my own reality that I impart to the present event. So that sense of I am is what is imparting the reality to the hugging mom right now being different from the past zillion hugs. Yeah? Because all those are in memory. It's that sense of being that gives it the living flavor. So in this paragraph, There are two important things. Please highlight those two. In the middle of the paragraph was I am real for I am always now. Yes? And the last line, It is my own reality that I impart to the present event. Contemplate on these two things all week. Yeah? Every little event with family members, With the neighbors, At work, Whatever. Can you really see the I am imparting reality to whatever is happening in that present moment? Again and again and again. Keep being with the sense of I am and see it's it imparting reality to the present moment. Questioner. But we deal with things remember as if they were real. Maharaj. We consider memories only when they come into the present. The forgotten is not counted until one is reminded, Which implies bringing into the now. Questioner. Yes, I can see there is in the now some unknown factor that gives momentary reality to the transient actuality. Maharaj, You did not say it is unknown or you see it in constant operation. Since you were born, Has it ever changed? Things and thoughts have been changing all the time. But the feeling that what is now is real has never changed even in dream. So because he spoke about only the present moment having the stamp of reality, The questioner says, No, No, I keep thinking about my past and that is very real. I keep replaying my childhood. I keep replaying my whatever adult life, My childhood sweetheart. I keep replaying those moments. Very real to me. Yeah, So but we deal with things remembered as if they were real. So again, Highlight this sentence. Very important. We consider memories only when they come into the present. I have a zillion memories from childhood. Yes, But they are all forgotten right now. I don't remember anything. Suddenly one memory pops up into the present. Do you get it? So he's saying that only that one is real because it is in the now. That thought has popped up in the now. I am, The sense of I am is in this now. And that sense of I am is again reviewing the same old memory but as a new thought in the now. Do you get it? So you can never say that you go to the past. You don't go to the past. A thought arises. It arises where? In the now. Only in the now. You never go to the past. You never go to the future. You know all rosy words, English language. Yeah, Just used for communication. But it is not how it really is. I never ever step out of the now and go to the past. From the zillion data bank of past childhood memories, One little memory, One little thought came in the now. It arose like a wave. It played for a while and it receded. What imparted reality to it? The sense of I am which is there in the now. Yes, It relished that moment. Again it relished. Now only. I am not really repeating what happened in the past. If you've noticed, Every memory has a certain masala that you add to it in the now. A certain flavour that you add to it in the now. It's not exactly a replica of the past. It is a new thought or a new feeling or a new emotion or a new perception. This is just an assumption that it is exactly the same as the past. It is not. That is why you must experiment and experiment only with direct experience. Anything with Nisargadatta Maharaj, Any homework starts with in my direct experience, When a childhood thought arises, Do I experience it in the now or do I step out of the now and experience what happened in the past? Ask yourself this contemplation question. In my direct experience, There is always the now. But you experiment. Though I have given you the answer, Must. Experimentation is a must. The forgotten is not counted until one is reminded. Which implies bringing it into the now. From my zillion forgotten childhood memories, I just remember one little hug of mama. That's it. Or when mama picked me up as a little girl. That little hug I remember. That's it. Zillion childhood memories, All of them are forgotten. So all those forgotten memories are not here. Only when one little memory comes up, It is a reminded thought which arises in the now. It happens in the now. So now, If you recognize this in your direct experience, There are two words that you must delete from your dictionary. What are those two words? Past and future. Boss, In my direct experience, I do not experience past and future. So I am not going to use wrong language. I always experience the now. Even if I say I am planning for retirement, Where are you planning? In the now. The thought is now. It is arising. It plays for a while about retirement and it recedes. Where did the thought happen? In the now. Very clear? Yeah? So there is no past, No future. Keep it simple. Truth as it is. The questioner is relentless, Okay? Yes, I can see there is in the now some unknown factor that gives momentary reality to the transient actuality. Big words, Huh? Momentary reality means just for a moment, It becomes real. Yeah? But it is an actual thing which is happening right now, But it is transient. It is moving too fast. It is changing continuously. Yeah? So Maharaj says, Uh-uh, Don't call it unknown factor. Is the sense of I am unknown, Tell me? You heard it maybe two weeks ago when we did the chapter on sense of I am, The sense of being. Yeah? You only heard the words and didn't you get it immediately? Did I manufacture the sense of I am in you? Did Nisargadatta manufacture it? No. It was so real, Oh yes. Yeah? I see the computer. I see my eyes looking at the computer. Behind the eyes, I see the mind chatting about what it's seeing and there is something behind. Oh, That is the sense of I am. It was always there. Was it there in your childhood? Yes. Was it there in your teenage? Yes. Was it there as you became an adult? Yes. And if you've gotten older, Is it there in your old age? It was always there. So is it unknown? It is known. I just didn't know the word for it or I had not put a label to it. Yes, But it is completely known. It is what I really address as I. Yeah? My mistake because of not understanding that sense of being, I started calling this body as I. I started calling the mind as I because I did not understand it. But it was always there. That is what I am referring to when I actually say I. Because this body has changed, Right? From childhood to teenage to being a young adult then to being an adult and then to the senior life if we are there. The body has changed. Mind has gone through all changes. What has remained constant? That sense of being. That is what is I. Do you get it? Yes? That is the only thing that is known. That is not unknown. So when the questioner says that there is some unknown factor that gives momentary reality to the transient actuality, What does Maharaj say? You need not say it is unknown for you see it in constant operation. Since you were born, Has it ever changed? Things and thoughts have been changing all the time. But the feeling that what is now is real has never changed even in dream. Is it there in dream? The sense of I am is there. That is how you know I am dreaming. Is it there in deep sleep? Big question mark. I don't know if it is there in deep sleep. Why? Just because in deep sleep there were no mental objects and no physical objects to notice. But when I ask you, Did you sleep well last night? What do you say? Why are you nodding? You were not there, No, In your deep sleep? Your nodding means you know. Who knows? Yeah, That sense of I am knows that there was no mental object, There was no physical object, Nothing to disturb me. I really slept peacefully. That knowingness is what is saying yes right now. That is why you nodded. Yes, I slept well. Otherwise how would you know if you were not there? Do you get it? Yes? So, I will give you a higher level question at this level only. Homework question for you. Who knows? Who knows? Knowingness, Is this the function of the body, Of the mind or of something beyond? To know something, Who knows? Does the mind know or does something beyond know? Something beyond is the sense of being. Does that sense of being know? Don't be in a rush to answer this question to me. No, You explore. Get up during the day, You will watch some movie, You will see some TV, You will see something, Some new information you will get. Who is knowing? At that moment ask yourself that question. Who is knowing this? What knows? Is it the mind that is knowing? Whose function is it? And highlight that part. Things and thoughts have been changing all the time. But the feeling that what is now is real has never changed even in dream. That's a contemplation. Whenever I tell you to highlight something, It means you contemplate on these. Questioner, In deep sleep there is no experience of the present reality. Maharaj, The blackness of deep sleep is due entirely to the lack of specific memories. But a general memory of well-being is there. There is a difference in feeling when we say, I was deeply asleep from I was absent. In deep sleep there is no experience of the present reality. So, Maharaj says the blackness of deep sleep is due entirely to the lack of specific memories. Memories of what? Memories of the waking world objects which are perception, Sensation, Thoughts and feelings and the dream world objects which are nothing but again reflection of the same perception, Sensation, Thought and feeling. These are the only memories. There can be no other memory. There cannot be anything outside this. And in technical language they are called physical objects, Means objects that belong to this waking world are physical objects and those that are in the dream state or only in the mind are called mental objects. So, The blackness of deep sleep is due entirely to the lack of specific memories, Means lack of physical objects and mental objects. But a general memory of well-being is there. When I asked you the question, Did you sleep well last night? You nodded, Yes. So, You had that sense of well-being. It's a general sense that you already had. There is a difference in feeling when we say I was deeply asleep from I was absent. Please highlight this. Contemplate on this. When I go into deep sleep, Is it that I was absent? Or is it that I was just deeply asleep? And deeply asleep means nothing else. You can write in brackets, Means I forget all memories. There are no memories of physical and mental objects. That's a contemplation question.