How Do You Know Your Experience?
The perceiver of all experience cannot itself be perceived, yet it is the unshakeable knowing presence - we already are what we seek.
To perceive the hand, I am using the eyes.
But you can’t perceive the eyes.
Correct, unless I look in the mirror. So, what is the mirror that I need to use to perceive that which is perceiving the hand?
[Smiles] That’s exactly what I am asking you; I am showing you the mirror.
There is nowhere I can even see… If I have to look for an attribute, then looking can never happen if there is no mechanism to look. Right now, the mechanism with which I am viewing the hand is the eye.
Okay, close the eyes. Imagine a tree. And sometimes when I say imagine a tree, the mind might show you an orange or something, that’s fine. Whatever it is showing you, what is perceiving that?
So, I have had an image of a tree before, which is again as a result of the fact that I have had eyes, and the image is what is coming up.
Okay.
If I was born blind….
Okay. Imagine the sound of an aeroplane, imagine the taste of a lemon. What is perceiving that?
It’s like a background.
Yes.
Like a white board.
Okay, very good. Like a white board, a background. What witnesses this? Is this also…
It’s not even white.
Exactly, it’s neither white nor black. Although the mind has a propensity to visualize it as black.
It’s interesting, because when you said ‘background’, the moment that you uttered the word, the analogy came of a white board. It was a very split-second thing; before that there was no concept of even that.
Okay, okay, good, good, but don’t get lost in the sightseeing now. So, I am asking what is perceiving all of this? White board, orange, tree, background, all of this — what perceives that?
Lost for words, I am just saying me, I am perceiving this.
Is there any confusion about that?
No.
That is completely clear?
Yes.
So, this that perceives it, perceives all of this, how did you perceive this one?
I cannot perceive that, but I know that this is me.
That’s it. [Smiles] You unshakeably know, even if all your senses were to leave you one by one and you never perceived anything phenomenal again, and yet you would see that I have lost all the perception. Without perceiving this I, it is known. This is the unique knowledge. Self knowledge is the only thing you know this way, that you don’t need a concept and you don’t need a perception. That’s why I say you never lost it. But? [Laughs] No but? I see a but on the face [Laughter]
But the whole effort, the whole point of coming to Satsang, the whole point of spiritual sadhana [spiritual practice], all of this, isn’t that to experience that which does not have…that which is perceiving the hand…
Yes.
To have some…
Exactly, it is that.
Tangible…
Tangible, no.
Experience of…
Yes.
Of that which is beyond experience.
A non-tangible experience of that which is beyond experience. Because for it to be tangible, it would be that which would be with attribute. And if you saw a Self which had an attribute, then you would say ‘This can’t be it. I was looking for a Self, the Absolute Being, Nirguna, empty of attributes.
What are we seeking? [Laughs]
That’s what I am asking. [Laughs] The whole game is in a way a fraud and yet in a way even to come to this recognition. That’s why I started by saying, ‘You have the specs already on your nose and you are looking for them.’ That’s why all the sages have said this. Paani mein meen pyaasi [the fish is thirsty in the water]. A sage can only laugh — not a condescending laugh, but a laugh that may be mixed with some joy of their own discovery.
Key Teachings
- The perceiver of all experience cannot itself be perceived - it is the background witness that knows without needing concept or perception
- Self-knowledge is unique: it is known unshakeably even when all senses leave, without requiring any attribute or experience
- We already are what we seek - the witness consciousness is already present, like 'the fish is thirsty in the water'
From: How Do You Know Your Experience? - 11th June 2021