Sharing Pointers from Ashtavakra Gita 1.7 (Day 3) - 29th September 2016

Okay, so in Chapter 1, Verse 7, the Ashtavakra is saying: 'You are the solitary witness of all that is, forever free. Your only bondage is not seeing this.' This one paragraph is enough, actually. You are the solitary witness. So in this also, this misconception that, yes, there is awareness here and there is awareness there and there is awareness there, there's being here, there is being there—this is, you see, because it is not like this. It is not that there are seven billion bundles of beingness, and if you count animals and insects and things, and trillions and trillions of bundles of beingness. It is one beingness. In fact, often when someone says, 'But beingness here and beingness there,' I said, 'Why are you not counting the space in between?' It is appearing in the same beingness, just like the one dream is appearing in one consciousness, you see. The space in a dream is not different from the characters which are appearing in the dream. See, it is part of the same consciousness. The mountain in the dream is not different from the people appearing in the dream; they're part of the same consciousness, you see, just appearing differently.

So, you are the solitary witness. Now, for the idea of a person, this is very scary. 'I don't want to be solitary,' you see. 'I don't want to be lonely.' For the person idea, this solitariness is a very scary notion. It sounds very lonely, sounds very boring, sounds very numbing, you see. But to that which you really are—welcome to that which you really are—to this awareness, to this oneness, it is all there is. If there is nothing beyond this, how can there be two? And then, you are the solitary witness of all that is. And the other day also, we were reemphasizing this point: it is all that is. Only that which you are a witness of exists; rest is all presumed, isn't it? Rest is all conceptual.

So can we check this now? Who is the witness of all that is? How can we go? Can we go layer by layer? Who is the witness of this outside realm? Is it you or someone else? The outside realm is witnessed by who? Who is the witness of the body? The witness of thoughts, the witness of emotions, sensations, pain? Who is the witness of all of these? Who is the witness of your own existence, the sense that 'I exist,' you see, which is another name for 'all there is,' actually? This 'I am' is actually all there is, see. This is the one being, and who is the witness of that? The Ashtavakra says that you are that. You are the solitary witness.

Now, are we to treat these just as nice-sounding, fancy words, or is this a recognition which is available for us right now? I want to tell you that it is available for you right now because there is no dichotomy in these words; they're very direct. 'You are the solitary witness of all that is, forever free. Your only bondage is not seeing this.' So first, 'forever free.' This witnessing is... okay, so let's look at the word 'witness' also. When we hear the word 'witness,' it can feel like there is an entity which is witnessing, you see. It can feel like there is a thing called the witness which is witnessing the world and the being and everything else in between, as if there is an object called the witness or an entity called the witness which is actually witnessing, is it?

But if this witness was an object, then it would have an attribute. An object has to have an attribute, and that would be witnessed. Stay with me; it's a very, very important chapter. And like I was saying yesterday, in the mythology at least, Janaka got enlightenment just by listening to this chapter once through Ashtavakra's mouth. And it's very direct what it is saying, so don't let your mind come and give you any concept. So when we see that this witness, if it was an entity or an object, it would also have some attributes, but those also would be witnessed. All attributes must be witnessed, so there must be a witnessing which is prior to that, you see.