Can Anyone Leave Awareness? (Ashtavakra-Gita 1.4) - 21st October 2016

So now, how many of you have seen that it is to create this illusion of the sense of personhood that seems to require me to do something? That is what we were discussing yesterday also. Right now, is the illusion of person here just now? So even if, suppose, there was an intent to play which automatically arose, without the next thought coming, would you even know how to play as a person? So the first prerequisite is that the thought has to come. Then we have seen many times that just by the appearance of the thought, the illusion of the personhood is not there. It also requires the belief. So first the thought must arise, belief must go to it, and then the illusion of it is here.

So once we start to see that the seeming steps are the road to this illusion, once it's clear like this, when you see that this simple pointing "abide in awareness" only means don't go along with this thought flow, don't believe in this, then the sage also says you will be instantly free and at peace because you are right now. So the first thing to remember is that it's only an illusion, the person, you see. So your freedom is actually not got anywhere; it's actually not gone anywhere. Nobody can bind awareness in any way. Are you all tasting this verse? That's why I wanted you to contemplate it, so you can taste it for yourself.

So the only seeming bondage is this illusion of personhood. And to abide in awareness means to not fall into this illusion, which is one of the primal powers of consciousness itself: to pretend to be a person. So consciousness, now playing that game, wanting to stop the pretense, is realizing in the game that the only way to get caught up in this stuff is to go with this illusion of personhood, which is perpetuated by thought.