Recognize That Which Is the One Witness of All Things - 19th April 2018

So, when I say allow your mind to, you come up with whatever it has to as a result of the implication of this. The implication of this is that you are not an object contained in this world, because everything in this world is made up of the elements. In those days, the definitions of the elements were a bit different. We look at these primal energies, and for each of the elements in today's world, you can call it atoms and molecules and quantum physics and all of this. But the fact is that you are not contained in the measure of these elements. You might contain them, but that's another discussion which we'll come to later. But for now, consider in your intimate reality, you're pure, beyond phenomenal purity. The foundation for a sage. But I will tell you, in another verse: earth, fire, water, the wind, and the sky—you are none of these. If you wish to be free, know you are the Self, the witness of all these, the heart of awareness.

In this, as Ashtavakra said in the same chapter, Verse 7: 'You are the solitary witness of all that is, forever free.' The solitary witness of all that is, forever free. The only bondage is not seeing this. Verse 12, he says: 'You are the Self, the solitary witness. You are perfect, all-pervading. You are free, desireless, forever still. The universe is but a seeming in you.' Verse 16: 'Your nature is pure awareness. You are flowing in all things and all things are flowing in you. But beware the narrowness of the mind.' Your nature is pure awareness. You are flowing in all things and all things are flowing in you. But beware the narrowness of the mind. The rhythm of the foundation of this, which will be moderate: since you are pure consciousness, the substance of the universe, the universe exists within you. Don't be small-minded. You are not underneath this mind, which is the layer of limitations, which is convincing you that you are a limited entity contrary to what the sage is saying. The sage is saying that the universe exists within you, but the small-minded mind—this first movement—is saying that you exist as an object within this universe. So, 'don't be small-minded' only means don't identify as if you are something. This mind is pointing to not identifying with any limitation, not identifying with any distinction, as you are pure awareness.

So, contemplating some of these rules, let's see if you can... if I'm not mistaken, this is from Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi's Upadesa Saram, which is his main pointing, the essence of his main point. So, he says in Verse 26: 'To know the Self is but to be the Self, but it is non-dual. In such knowledge, one abides as That.' Now, how does this relate to this clue? Because it can feel like all this is about some sort of mental knowing or a sort of perceptual knowing, but it is not. And I ask you: are you aware now? You know the answer is yes. 'Yes, I'm aware.' But you did not perceive this awareness. You did not find it sensorily, intellectually, conceptually. You might have a Self-concept, and yet you say yes. To know the Self is but to be yourself, because when I ask you, 'So, is there an "I" and an "I" who is being aware?' you say they are the same. 'I am aware.' To be yourself, you cannot help but be That. But it is the play of this illusion and recognition which happens within you, within your dynamic aspect. So, all the rules are for this way of recognition.

How is it known that you are aware? Most often, I will hear the answer which is that it is because I'm aware of some content, that's why. 'Only I say I don't know this awareness, but I am aware of this content.' So, I respond by saying: but when you say you're sitting on a chair, you know who is sitting in a chair. So, when you say, 'I'm aware of my existence,' for example, or 'I'm aware even of my pain,' then what is this awareness? Is it an object? Can you find it sensorily? No. But you are doing this, except you.

So, the first clue was this one: that which is the one witness of all things, the all-knowing awareness beyond objects, perception, and concepts. The second clue is that which is unchanging. That which is unchanging cannot be enhanced or diminished and is forever untouched. That which is unchanging cannot be enhanced or diminished and is forever untouched. That's why I was reading this sage the other day and he said, 'Samsara has never affected you in reality.' Nothing ever changed you. So, there is this play of appearances, and it's never really touched you, nor is there Nirvana or this even liberation or your reality, because that would mean then that you can be diminished and enhanced—that some trouble really happened to reality and now reality is actually stuck in samsara, reality is actually stuck in an appearance and now we need to rescue reality and restore it. Although we might have believed in these notions in the past, you see how to decrease that is with as you are coming to that which is unchanging.

Where does this clue also bring you? Does it bring you to a point in phenomena, any place in phenomena, or anything in phenomena which is unchanging? Everything in the perceptible world is subject to time and space. So, recognize that. That one which is the unchanging cannot be enhanced or diminished and it remains forever untouched. Which appearance? Okay, before that, if it is unchanging, never born, never dies, is objective or still, then beyond any concept of time, it must already be here. Is it taking an unchanging God to go and to come? It must be the change. It was a beautiful point again in this clue that you have the possibility of the discovery of this truth right now. The unchanging is true, so it must be here.

So, the truth is that which is unchanging, cannot be enhanced or diminished, and is forever untouched. Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2, Verse 20, Shri Krishna has said: 'That which is not born, nor does it ever die; not having been, does it ever cease to be. That unborn, eternal, abiding, primeval being is not slain when the body is slain.' This one was from a talk on Bhagavan, who is one of the devotees of Bhagavan, and this shared with the Bhagavad Gita. It's another one from... she pulled it from you. It says: 'It was not born, it will never die. Not having once been, can it cease to be. Unborn, eternal, ever-enduring, yet most ancient, the spirit does not die when the body is dead.' Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2, Verse 23: 'Weapons do not cleave him, fire burns him not, water drenches him not, wind dries him not. Weapons cleave him not, fire burns him not, water drenches him not, wind dries him not.' So, nothing can diminish this reality. Nothing can happen in this phenomenal world which can be many, surely, or clean anyway. But the opposite is also true, because your Self and reality can never be enhanced. So, all this talk of 'I want to be a better Self' is also more in terms of a very sort of description. The reality is there, forever unchanging. So, not only am I the eternal witness, you also remain unchanged no matter what changes. By hearing now, if you thought what I'm going to say next is going to trouble you, then forget about it. But if you just feel like something resonates and I'm saying like this, then keep it in your heart. Now, many times we have been confused with a master that said nothing...

So all this talk of 'I want to be a better self' is also more in terms of a very sort of description. The reality is there forever. I am changing, so not only I am the eternal witness, you also remain unchanged no matter what changes. By hearing now, if you thought what I'm going to say next is going to trouble you, then forget about it. But if you just feel like something resonates and I'm saying like this, then keep it in your heart. Now, many times we have been confused with a master that said nothing has ever really happened, nothing is ever really so. Now these clues are revealing to us: you are the unchanging one. You are the unchanging one. That which changes is not you. You do not come and go. That is where it is said that it is in appearances. There is a worldly meaning of the term appearance, which means that which appears and disappears, comes and goes. But the deeper meaning of the term appearance is that which never really ever happened anyway, because no change can happen to the unchanging one, or no change has ever happened in reality.

That is where, to explain this, Shankara used examples that actually there's just a rope; it might appear to you that there is a snake there. Actually, there is just a mother-of-pearl; it might appear to you that there is a piece of silver. That snake, that silver, that illusion never really happened, has never really been there. So this seeming superimposition, which is never true, is what Shankara himself called Maya. The clue is to recognize that which is beyond limitations of boundaries, beyond limitations of boundaries, the shoreless ocean. We notice that everything the mind says about you, its actual intent is to convince you that there is a limitation about you and therefore you must want something, you must get somewhere, you must do something because you are not unlimited. What would the unlimited want? It is all that is. How could it really have something missing?

So you'll notice and all of these clues actually bring you to the same place for the same recognition. See it for yourself. Recognize this consciousness. So this clearing, this attending awareness, is forever pointing out of this part which we just said actually has never happened anyway. Is this form, which is your seeming existence 'I am,' then has played as if I am a person? My God is playing with all of its own appearances, which are acting in its own language, but now is recognizing: so what am I really? It's like turning inwards and coming to the recognition of its source. So if it has been playing with identifying with its own children, its own creation, now it's recognizing with the Father, to use the worldly terms. It's been playing with the children and identifying with that. Where did I come from? What am I really?

So these pointings are like those elements of the game which are unique to this place. Everything else in the world is pointing to other things in the world. There are only a few pointings like this which are pointing you to this which is beyond. So this Self, which is manifesting in its manifest aspect as this existence 'I am,' is playing this game. It manifests as the game of identification, of egotism, and the game of doingness, selfishness, called egotism, coming back to the recognition of what it really is through this process of inquiry, through the process of coming to Self itself. That is why the consciousness is speaking to itself. And you cannot—I mean, you can hear these words personally, but that would mean just to hear them intellectually. All these pointings can be taken personally: 'Oh, I have this knowledge now, I am that witness of all.' But it has a different fragrance if it is just intellectual, and that is part of also the design of this place. The fragrance is different if it is said, 'Yes, I am the eternal witness, you know, all this can't bother me, I am this.' It's like that. This comes from a place of truth. To outsiders, all of this today carries the fragrance of Atma Gyan. You must be there to let that which is true automatically be the truth of the Self.

Listen very carefully, but something is coming. So anyway, the point was that this consciousness itself, this being itself—so this is 'I,' this is being 'I am.' Before this, if I could say to you, forget about existence. You must know the concept of what to do, where, and how all things continue to play out. Forget about me. Don't be concerned about anything which is in the realm of existence, including existence itself. But usually, we still get caught up in limitations in space and time, limitations of birth and death. And so the sages have looked at all this conditioning, all these conditions that we get attached to, and given us ways to de-condition ourselves by really inquiring into reality with all of these clues. And we again, those aspects of consciousness playing as if they are separate entities or separate you, that which is beyond limitations of boundaries, explains the shoreless ocean.

Yes, this point is also contained in these beautiful words from Saint Augustine in his book called the Confessions. He says: 'But how should I call upon my God, my God and Lord? When I call on Him, I ask Him to come into myself. And what room is there in me where my God can come? God who made heaven and earth. Is there anything in me, O Lord my God, that can contain You? Indeed, do heaven and earth which You have made, and in which You have made me, contain You? Or since nothing could exist without You, does every existing thing contain You? Since nothing could exist without You, does every existing thing contain You? Why then do I ask that You come into me, since I too exist? I who could not exist if You were not in me. Why do I say this? Because even if I were in hell, yet You would be there also. But if I go down into hell, You are there. I could not exist then, O my God, could not exist at all, unless You were in me. Or should I rather not say, I could not exist unless I were in You, from whom are all things, by whom are all things, and in whom are all things? Even so, Lord, even so. Where do I call You to come, since I am in You? Or whence can You enter into me? Or where beyond heaven and earth would I go, that my God might come there into me? Or where beyond heaven and earth could I go, that my God might enter into me, He who said, "I fill the heaven and the earth"?'

Let's see something that Guru Nanak Dev Ji said. He said: 'There is but one and only one God, and His existence is eternal. He alone is the creator of all there is. He is not afraid of anybody or anything, nor does He have any enmity towards anybody. He never dies. His form is timeless and He is self-existent.' Self-existent. Beautiful term. That itself is a new word. Watch yourself exist. Can we name anything in phenomena which is self-existent? So like we can say self-existent, which exists without any other support, since Self alone remains. But we can also say it is only the Self which is causeless. Everything else in the world had a cause. This was caused by this, this was caused by this, this was caused by this, this was caused by this. We can keep going back. So it's caused by this, but this Self is the first, beyond cause, the only thing you see is self-existent. He is unborn and free from incarnations. One can realize Him only through the grace of the Guru. One can realize Him only through the grace. So this is what we call the Omkar, which is the main pointing, the sense of the being. It's beautiful, actually. We'll have different sages in different points of time; they are all pointing to the same reality.

Let's see what you can make of this where he's looking at the same thing. He's saying the Lord says: 'Although my form is without limiting conditions, although I am formless and therefore obviously without limiting conditions, not moving, the unchanging, beyond all qualities, changeless and all-pervasive, ignorant people ascribe to me form, limitations, action, qualities, and a definite place.' The Katha Upanishad, Chapter 2.1, verse 10: 'What is here is also there. What is there is also here. Who sees multiplicity but not the One? Who sees multiplicity but not the One? Who sees multiplicity but not the One, an indivisible Self, must wander on and on from death to death. What is here is also there. What is there is also here. Who sees multiplicity but not the One, in this indivisible Self, must wander on and on from death to death.' If we see being and another, we make this distinction, then we reinforce our belief that I am a limited object subject to birth and death. As long as this game is played like this, then you are something; you will believe yourself to be something that was born and will die. The good news is that as soon as the false belief is dropped and there is a distinction—if you cannot point to me, if you lose all the phenomenal references about yourself in this moment, you are beyond birth and death. And this is the unchanging reality. But remember again that we live in the world of appearances in your manifest aspect. A simple way of saying all of this is that in your manifest aspect, you can either play as God now, or you can play as me.

So before we close, we'll just read the rest of the clues without navigating on them so much, and maybe we take them up at some later time. Clue number four: that which can only be found in the present, and this present is not a present in time. Or that which can be found in the present is not subject to time. Number five: that which does not come and go and is beyond both birth and death. Clue number six: that which has no desires or aversion, beyond attachment. Number seven: that which is the one doer and experiencer, beyond all concepts of individual action, inaction, and suffering. Number eight: that which is beyond separation and union. That which is beyond separation and union. Remember that. That which cannot be described in concepts, judgments, or inferences. It cannot be described in concepts or inferences. Okay, that's right. Remember that all of these—what is being said, everything that is being said in satsang—none of it is actually the true description of reality. These are just pointers, clues. You are the truth. The truth will be found in your intuitive insight, see, not through any concept. So these clues, these pointers, are just to give some direction in this play so that you could come to your direct intuition, your own intuitive insight about what is real today. That which is your direct insight beyond any phenomenal perception, your only non-phenomenal experience available. That which is the source of all that is manifest in time and space and is all-pervasive, because the source which itself is causeless. That which is the source of all that is manifest in time and space and is all-pervasive; it is the source which itself is causeless. That which has being, that which has being, plays with the pretense of being the ego only through identification with the mind. That which has being plays with the pretense of being the ego only through identification with the mind. Clue number thirteen: that which is discovered by following the guidance of the Satguru, which is your own divine presence. Discovered by following the guidance of the Satguru, which is your own divine presence. Clue number fourteen, last one for now, it is fourteen. It says: that which is beyond the states of waking, dream, and deep sleep. That which is beyond the states of waking, dream, and deep sleep.

Thank you so much for being in satsang today. Satguru Sri Mooji Baba Ki Jai. Guru Kripa Kevalam.