श्रीरामSatsang with Ananta
Awareness & Attention

There Is No Distance in Your Being

In pure perception without judgment, you recognize you are the witnessing Awareness beyond all sensations and thoughts, and there is no distance in your Being.

Seeker

There are very strong forces playing and my quesHon is ‘how to observe without going into it?’ I mean the whole Satsang was about this but…it sHll plays out very strongly and there are desires and jealousy and it is in the in the outer world it is very strongly coming.

Ananta

Yes, okay so let us see if we can give you some pointers to help with things. Now, let us break it down to all the things that are happening. So when there is a sensaHon then we can say that there is a sensaHon. When there is a thought that comes, which tries to claim ownership over the sensaHon and say ‘the sensaHon is desire’ then let us noHce that thought also. It says ‘Ah, the thought also comes and says that.’ So let us really bring our looking into very fine-tuned sort of looking. So the mind doesn't create this fog of war. [Both hand moving in the air] This fog of war [where] everything seems to get a bit blurry, there are emoHons, there are thoughts, there is memories, there is imaginaHon, there is dreams, everything is showing up, then we feel like ‘Oh…[looking in the air with head upwards] ’ like that. Let us really break it down and see. Okay, what all is actually here? Is there some shakiness, emoHonally… some vibraHon, some sensaHon? So just keep describing it to me. Do not explain what it means. Do not explain what it means. Just describe your experience exactly how you are experiencing it as, as simply as possible.

Seeker

There is a pain in the heart.

Ananta

Yes, it is like a pain experience in the heart, okay.

Seeker

And there it is also like in the throat… like also pain in the in the throat.

Ananta

There is a constricHon or a pain in the throat. There is some pain in the heart and some constricHon in the throat as well. Very good, this is exactly what I wanted you to do. Just keep looking like this.

Seeker

And it is like there is always an controller who tries to see everything.

Ananta

Now this part let us break this down even further. What exactly are you perceiving right now, when you say controller?

Seeker

It is like the mind tries to take the posiHon of the Self to see everything.

Ananta

Very good, now break it down even further like - what is your experience of the mind? Is it as a thought?

Seeker

It’s an ‘I’

Ananta

What is your experience of this ‘I-thought’?

Seeker

It wants to hold the posiHon.

Ananta

No, no but what is your percepHon of this ‘I- thought’? What is your experience of it? Just like you said that ‘there is a pain sensaHon in the heart region, there is a constricHon in the throat region’ aeer that what you described, just describe it in the same way. What is the exact phenomenal experience of that?

Seeker

It is like this ‘I’ wants a certain outcome.

Ananta

That is an explanaHon of what it wants. What, what are you seeing right now? Are you seeing this ‘I’ as a body, as somebody, as a shape of some sort, is it saying with its mouth ‘I want this’? What is the exact experience? Break it down into as small as possible.

Seeker

It is a strong feeling.

Ananta

A feeling, which is experienced where? Which aspect does it feel?

Seeker

It is like I can feel it in…here [Hand poinHng forehead]

Ananta

There is feeling in your forehead. What is the experience of the feeling? Is it like a vibraHng sensaHon or a constricHon…?

Seeker

It is… like the whole. It is like I am paralyzed.

Ananta

But that is what is the outcome of it but can you describe it itself like what is it that you are experiencing? What is the taste of it?

Seeker

Like there is a strong sensaHon in the body like its shaking.

Ananta

Yeah, it is very good, very good. So this is what I wanted. So there is a pain in the heart, there is a constricHon in the throat and there is like a shakiness in the body or shaking experience in the body. Okay, very good then what else? And don't have to rush to find anything else. If it is this then stay in the percepHon of this without any judgment about what any of these three mean. Are you able to follow what I am saying? This is important for all of us. Because we feel like we suffer from these things. I’m just poinHng you away where you can experience the taste of these and you tell me whether it is just being tasted or there is suffering involved? So just allow yourself to just effortlessly perceive all of these percepHons, without judging them to be good or bad, without judging whether they should come or go. No mental involvement at all, just in a full acceptance, full perceiving of whatever is being perceived.

Seeker

It is much lighter now.

Ananta

Unburdened by our narraHves everything is lighter. Stay in your pure percepHon that is the highest healing. If there is healing needed in the world there is no higher healing possible than just this pure percepHon. Which means meeHng absent of judgment, meeHng without judgment. You do not have to wait for it to vanish from nothing. You are just perceiving, effortlessly.

Seeker

And then there are… someHmes I can hear a voice saying some something and this I also should only see?

Ananta

Yeah, just perceive, just perceive. Do not get involved in whether the voice is saying right things, wrong things, good things, bad things. Do not judge anything at all, just perceive.

Seeker

Am I perceiving from the right posiHon?

Ananta

You cannot proceed from the wrong posiHon. Do not worry about any of this. Even this you do not have to judge. The one the last thing I have to say is that, in this just perceiving or pure percepHon, is it not apparent to you that ‘you are beyond your percepHons’? (Without having to think about it) Is it recognized that you are just one of your percepHons or is it apparent that you are beyond these percepHons? I want you all to just play with this experiment with this. My submission to all of you is that ‘in this pure percepHon, in this open percepHon, just perceiving; the Reality of yourself primarily as the pure witnessing, the pure Awareness of all this that comes and goes is fully apparent and available. The intellect may try to categorize and say ‘No, these percepHons are you and the other percepHons are not you; they are other or the world’ but in the percepHon itself no such disHncHon is made. It may also categorize saying ‘These are more inHmate, that is less inHmate, this is closer, that is farther’ but all of these are just conceptual categories. There is no distance in your Being. It may actually also say ‘This is bigger, this is stronger and this is weaker, milder’ but this such these levels do not exist actually in your game. These are all just conceptual categories. For That which is All there Is - all pervasive, all-powerful - nothing is either this or that or too much or too liZle.

Key Teachings

  • Practice pure perception by simply describing sensations without judgment or interpretation - don't explain what they mean, just observe what is being experienced
  • The 'I' or controller is just another perception appearing in awareness; you are the witnessing Awareness beyond all perceptions, not identified with any of them
  • There is no distance in your Being - all distinctions (close/far, strong/weak, good/bad) are conceptual categories, not reality; you are That which perceives all
pure perceptionwitnessing awarenessnon-judgmentsensationsself-inquiryobservationliberation

From: This Is the Fastest Way to Self-discovery; Just Let Go - 7th August 2020