Consciousness Recognizing Its Divinity - 28th June 2017

So the phenomena, what can you do with it? This is at the phenomenal perception; all of that is here now. Be with this or not, even if you will try to say no, you cannot step out of your existence and say no. When your 'yes' or 'no' comes with the basis that you exist, even if you say, 'Oh, I don't know if I exist,' it implies that there is an 'I' which you're confirming exists. Now that it exists, it has been told to us by parents, by the words of this mind, that that is a limited entity, that that is something enclosed in this body, or it is the body itself. Or if you want to become fancy about it, you can say it is the body-mind organism. You see, there is no such thing. There is that phenomenal sensation called the body and there is a set of phenomenal sensations called the mind. There is no such organism which is the body-mind; it's just a convenient way it is to refer to this mishmash of sensations.

And that's why some terminology becomes important. Anytime we replace this term 'body-mind, body-mind' so much, it can feel like there's an actual entity which is the body-mind. Actually, there is no such thing. All that we are perceiving, the set of sensations, can we call them sensations? All our perceptions, phenomenal, let's call them sensations. So everything that is experienced is experienced within the space of sensation. Very simple, what I'm saying. If everything that is experienced is experienced as a phenomenal perception, for a while let's call it a sensation. Now whether it is this voice you're hearing over the computer or phone in front of you that you're seeing, all of that, let's say for a while that will be the sensation. Everything that's in your experience, let's call it a sensation.

Now in this set of sensations, if we didn't have the ability to divide it up and say, 'This is me'—some sensations like the sensations of the body—if we didn't have the ability to label this 'me,' the thoughts 'me,' the sound from the clip 'not me,' the people who are sitting in the room with me 'not me,' but actually, what is it? It is to go through both sensations as part of one phenomenal experience. There only ever is one experience, one exterior appearance of this phenomenal play. It always will be one. So in our perception, it can be a hand here, it can be another body sitting over there. So if we cannot apply the label 'me' to this hand and 'not me' to that body, and I can see my existence on the film, so this notion of separation, this notion of a separate identity as a separate 'me' is the conditioning. It is what we have become conditioned to believing.

Children are not born with this. We learn it from parents and then you learn it from this mind itself. It is supremely simple because if you were to open up this body, you cannot discover an entity for 'me' in over there that is the owner of this body. And many different bodies you experience. This body, then you say, 'I had a dream in which I had another body, it was visiting another realm.' So it is like, at the end of this day, what is the sensation of this body? It is the visual of this body and it is the fact that I seem to be visiting this realm through these eyes that make it seem like I am an entity enclosed. Because if you also just remain with your insight about what your true position is, you will find that all experience—the sound of this bird, the sound of the traffic on the road, the hearing of these words coming out of this mouth—all of this is happening within my own being. I have no experience outside of this.

So the mind has one primary function, that is to convince consciousness itself, its own creator, that 'Consciousness, you are limited. You are an identity.' I Am, which is unlimited being, which is unlimited—this is the job of the mind, is to convince it, to convince you that I am someone. That 'something' is just a notion. So sensations of your body are experienced within the same space that you are experiencing these words, that you experience the visuals of this world. In fact, it is visuals that keep changing, the content of the play will keep changing, but this space remains unchanging. Even if your mind is making a special visual out of what I am saying, even that space the mind is conceptualizing is within the space of you. Very simply, where are you experiencing these words? Experienced within me. But this 'me' is not something contained within this body. Where is the body experienced? The sensations of the boundaries of the body also in that same being, the same existence, the same existence.

So if for five seconds we lose the ability to give a notion about ourselves, to believe our limitation in any way, you will see that you're experiencing oneness. In fact, even when you're believing notions, you are experiencing in fullness, but it feels like you are taking a more limited perspective about yourself, repeating a more limited perspective about yourselves. And that is where this is consciousness speaking with consciousness, one being experiencing all these sensations including these words. So oneness is not a new cell. Advaita stands for oneness. It is not a position to aspire towards, it is not something that we will get to. It is our fundamental reality which cannot be changed. So this oneness is unchanging and all of this phenomenal play relies on the existence 'I Am,' on my being, to exist.

The story from the mind always will be that you are a limited entity, a limited object contained within this phenomenal experience. And it will always tell you this to say that you are all there is is arrogance. And yet very simply say, 'God is everywhere.' That won't sound like arrogance or blasphemy, but it is saying the same thing. All that is, is one, and that one is you. Now what label you put on that? Will you say consciousness, God, I? It is all right. It's my total interpretation. So the real import of the question 'Can you stop being?' is to make this clear that this existence is unstoppable in that way. It is this being, this consciousness, which is the light and screen, the director, the producer, the actor of this entire phenomenal play. But we don't have to rush to these insights. All that is important is to have a simple insight into what you are this very instant without coloring that insight with some judgment or inference. What is your insight about yourself?

All these are words which are not meant to be believed; they are provocations. So use them to check for yourself whether these words are true in your own experience. And also as you're watching, observe the tendency of the mind to rush to make an inference about what your experience is. Okay, let me expand a little further on what I mean. So there is an insight. We look at this flower; it is looking at the plant. It is our immediate perception. Now very quickly the mind can come and offer up its inferences about it. 'Oh, it's really big, it's merging with the white of the wall.' Okay, for real, is this one Photoshop or something? The insight about it was clear without even the label 'flower.' Immediately you see.

So in satsang, especially for something like this which is direct, if you can keep inference to the side for some time, and if you have to use words, we use words just as cleanly as possible to describe our direct insight. Then you find that that which is being pointed to is completely obvious. And then if you decide—and you mean if you, as consciousness, decide—that you are not done with this play of 'I am somethingness,' you're not done with it, you like the taste of it. Like before we started sharing, we were talking about dentists with the ones over here. Now telling them that some days when I brushed my teeth in the morning, I see some craters in my teeth and I know that is all the late-night desserts which are causing them, but I'm not done with it. You see that? So I keep playing with it. Very bad.

So as you are getting this insight about what you really are, there will come this invitation from the mind to continue to play as if you are something, as if you have a boundary, a limitation, you have a name and a form. And it is completely up to you, as consciousness, to continue to play with that notion or to allow that notion to just come and go. But at least after hearing these words, after checking for yourself, you know that it is part of your play. Because in this moment, I know that you are that. It has become 'you are that' which I am. No difference. The outer expression, as you can see, is how consciousness is playing out in those expressions and whether it is being as if it is believing the limited notions about itself. Which I'm saying that another way to inquire into what you are is to say, 'Okay, what is here?' We already saw that there is a phenomenal world which includes...

For yourself, you know that it is part of your claim because in this moment, I know that you are that. It has become... you are that which I am. The difference, the outer expression, as you can see, is how consciousness is playing out in those expressions and whether it is being as if it is believing the limited notions about itself.

Another way to inquire into what you are is to say, 'Okay, what is here?' We already saw that there is a phenomenal world which includes all phenomena. Is it just that? Are you also here? Are you a phenomenal object? Are you an appearance? Are you something which comes and goes? And if you are an appearance, who are you appearing to? If we are limited by time and space, then we must be another appearance to the appearances that have duration. If you are just an appearance, who is aware of this appearance? Who is aware of your existence?

That brings us to the second part of what I want to share now. There is no rush to get into this. The great sages say, Guruji says, that consciousness is the dynamic aspect of myself. What does it actually mean? Let me just explore an exploration of your being, of your existence, of consciousness now. It is also said that even this, it is all there is, all that is, even as an aspect of existence. So the mind is completely strained going on, 'Okay, can all there is be an aspect of myself?' which is a beautiful pointing if it is bringing us to the discovery of the Self.

That which is aware even of existence, and yet it awakens as consciousness, and yet that which awakens as consciousness remains the 'I'. Which is what? That there are no two here. It is all Self. To the witness, 'I' being as I am, you are seeing now, playing as being and being. So it awakens as consciousness, and with its awakening is the awakening of this waking state, of the dream state, any state where 'I am'. And yet the second part of the phrase is very important: although it awakened this being, it itself continues to remain as it was.

That is why in Indian spirituality it is said, when the 'I-am-ness' arises, and with the rising of this beingness, fullness continues to remain as it was. So the Self, this definition of 'I' is the Self. This Self remains unchanged, untouched with the rising of this being, the rising of the waking state, the dream state, Turiya, or any other meditative state. And it is being itself coming to the recognition of its own source. And being itself which has the ability to pretend itself to be something small, something limited.

So that which is aware of existence, that which is aware, can see here there is an experience of a change. There is an experience of dreamscape, there is an experience of waking state, there is an experience of Turiya. If you don't know the term, forget about assumptions. As I was saying the other day, it's like saying, 'Yes, I was in the garden, I was in the playground, I was on the street, I am in this room.' In all these appearances and disappearances, I am aware of this. This, for the mind, is unfathomable, and yet to you, it is very natural.

So if I ask you, 'Are you aware?' you must say 'Yes'. We do not have a phenomenal experience of this awareness. Your mind will come and say that you only say 'Yes' because there is a perception of phenomena. 'Because I am aware of something, therefore I must be aware. If there was nothing there, then I would not say I am aware.' This is not true because we know subtly, 'I am sitting on the couch and I am aware of both sitting and the couch.' These are subtle things. There are no two, really. So to reverse: what is our experience of awareness? And that which has the experience of awareness, what is the nature of that one? It is 'I am aware'. Is there an 'I' and then 'aware', or is 'I' and 'aware' the same?

And please, please, please don't let the mind convince you this is some abstract intellectual mental discussion that we are having. I'm speaking a very simple thing which needs some silence to hear. When I ask you, 'Are you aware now?' you say 'Yes'. I ask you, which is the 'I' which is aware? Is that separate from awareness itself? All that is needed is to allow this question to hit home, and not by a judgment or an answer, but by a sense of insight about it. So all that we are saying today is that 'I exist' and ultimately even this 'I am aware of'. I am aware that 'I' am all these words. All that I have said is this 'I' is awareness itself.

Another thing I want to say is that for many who really believe this idea that, 'Okay, I come to this discovery of awareness, and this awareness is really nothing, it's really the real point.' In this world, to come to this discovery, what's the point? What is it bringing? For many who still have a limited notion of the 'me', then even in this, they ask, 'What's in it for me?' I want to tell you that as consciousness is coming to the recognition of its source, consciousness is experiencing its own divinity. It is the fragrance of the divinity that separates the words of a sage from the words of an intellectual.

All of this is only shared for consciousness to remember, to recognize its divinity. Divine and unlimited existence. For nothing can change for awareness. Absolutely, it remains the Absolute. Nothing really changes. Fundamentally, for consciousness, nothing changes. For the person, no person has ever existed. Only in the play of consciousness, consciousness pretending itself to be a limited entity and consciousness recognizing its divinity have a different flavor, have a different scent. And from an absolute perspective, we can say that nothing has ever really happened. But when life happens and my mind convinces consciousness that it is something limited and it's all messed up, then it's not easy to say these words, 'Nothing has really happened.'

Satsang is introducing you to your God presence, to your existence, which is the light of this universe. What a wonderful existence this is. Even its creation was so sublime, in some way, so that being can taste its own being, for you to taste your presence. With the altar of your heart right now, tell me if you find a person sitting there looking at the floor. Okay, existence, all outer phenomenal images, all of our spiritual travels can culminate in this falling down at the altar of your own presence, at the altar of your own heart. This is what the longing is for. For example, Mooji was saying the other day, the river returning to its own source. All our running around in circles, all of that is fine as far as the play is concerned. This is it. This is the sense that the belonging is for, it is for the realization, the recognition of the truth. The longing is for... all that is needed is to be still.