Stop PracHcing the False
The recognition of our true nature is not a phenomenal experience to be practiced but the immediate aparoksha that becomes apparent when we stop identifying with the false.
When I withdraw my aZenHon back… there seems to be a clearer reflecHon of that Consciousness what is being called ‘chidabhasa.’ [Chidabhasa is a Sanskrit term which means reflecHon of Brahman, the Universal Self, on or through the mind] When the aZenHon goes out to the external world there seems to be refracHon instead of reflecHon.
Yeah.
It seems that the attention gets divided.
Okay, just do…so that was the theory, show me practically. Like keep your attention here, you have no ‘chidabhasa’?
Yeah, I do have. But no I don’t have actually.
You have. [Sangha Ananta Smiles] Because that abhasa, that experience of your existence, the experience of that which is aware of even this existence is just so completely apparent to you every moment. Unless you are making it into an experience. It is not a phenomenal experience. That’s why its aparoksha [direct intuitive knowledge]. It is not a phenomenal experience. The immediacy of it comes because it is empty of any phenomenal prerequisites or that it to be having to be this way or that way.
So what is it that happens?
So this anubhuthi, this experience, this recognition, is independent of all phenomenon. It doesn’t matter what’s in your phenomenal dream. You try, you try and show.
So when a gyani opens his eyes he is almost, always in the state of samadhi irrespective of his physical activity.
[Smiles] Best to forget all this. Because we make… in the devotional, in the devotion of the devotee the Master’s life is presented in very glorious terms. That is beautiful because it can inspire a lot of devotion. But then it becomes a benchmark which is so high that we always create a distance between that and our own direct experience. And and the Master would never want that because the Master is constantly telling you that ‘You are It, just don’t take yourself to be that which you are not.’ Bhagavan [Sri Ramana Maharishi] has said very clearly ‘you don’t have to practice the Truth, all you have to do is stop practicing the false.’
Key Teachings
- The reflection of Consciousness (chidabhasa) is apparent when attention is inward; outward attention creates refraction rather than reflection
- This recognition (anubhuthi) is direct intuitive knowledge (aparoksha) - independent of all phenomenon, not a phenomenal experience
- You don't practice the Truth; you stop practicing the false - the Master says 'You are It, just don't take yourself to be that which you are not'
From: Your Starting Point Is Freedom - 18th December 2020