Who Is Aware Of Awareness?

Now, most of you know that I have been offering these three questions as the enquiry. The first question is - Who is Aware of my existence? Who is Aware of my existence? And we don’t need to jump to the second question this question itself is good enough. And some integrity and some honesty, to yourself is needed. But if you feel in your heart that ‘This is clear, this is apparent’ then you can go to the second question. What is the second question? Who is Aware of Awareness? Who is Aware of Awareness? And it doesn’t matter if we are in this question (or either of these questions) for our entire lifetime it will be a worthy use of this life. There is no rush, there is no need to intellectually understand what the question means. Intellectual answers or that we have learnt from the books or the mouths of others are completely irrelevant. Whatever mental or intellectual answer that may be coming, let it come and go, don’t bother about it. So what we are after in a sense is a ‘perception-less Seeing’, ‘perception-less perception’. What we are after in a sense is a ‘concept-less Knowing’. And only you can be honest with yourself in your heart and say whether this perception-less perception or concept-less understanding is apparent to you or not. The Master may guide you and say ‘No, no, not yet, look for the…’ or may say ‘Okay, okay, you are fine’ like that. But really the true answer to this is in your heart. So be honest with yourself. Who is Aware of this Awareness? And like I said ‘Just this question is enough for this entire lifetime. Nothing else is needed’ and yet if it seems completely clear again in your heart that ‘This is completely clear, undoubtedly’ then you can go to the third question which is ‘Who am I?’ Who am I? [Meditative Silence] So these three questions are very clear, are very (in a way I have to say) very well designed pointers to bring you super easily and super quickly to this intuitive insight. The mind will tempt you to change the question. It will say ‘Oh, what works better for me is something else’ whatever that might be. So that much trust is needed, that they have been designed keeping in mind all the pitfalls, all the confusions that the mind can give to you. So as far as possible don’t change the question or the order of the questions. As I can see with all of you as the questions themselves are being asked something is quietening down for all of you, you are starting to look at your Reality. But let’s spend a couple of minutes on what I spoke about to create the inner environment for this enquiry. What is the pre-condition? Actually, there is (like I was saying the other day) only one pre-condition. And that pre- condition is that you will not, at least for the time that you are enquiring, you will not be bothered with anything that is of time and space. Now your intellect will come and say ‘But during that time… so isn’t that we bothered about time…’ (all that stuff) don’t be bothered with any of that, it is not a time for smartness. In fact, smartness will really trip you up. So don’t fall for any smart or interesting conclusions that your mind is offering you. So don’t be bothered with anything in time and space. If that needs to be expanded we can just say, don’t be concerned about any concept, about any perception and about any expectations that - what this must do for us. So the third one is very tricky because in a way the context is said that we are looking for an intuitive insight about ourselves. But even this expectation, after the enquiry starts must be kept aside. We must also forget what we are looking for. Don’t be so… ‘Oh, is this intuitive insight? Is this perceptual insight?’ Don’t bother with any of that, let the question just work on their own. All concepts let them come and go. All perceptions let them come and go And every expectation about ‘What this means? How this must help me?’ that must also come and go. Everything that is in time and space we just let it be. We are not in, we don’t have a desire for it nor an aversion towards it. So this neutrality is like the pre-condition for us to be able to have this intuitive insight which is being pointed to. And all, everything else in spirituality that is heard in Satsang is so that these three preconditions can be managed, that these feel comfortable. So whether it is chanting or whatever the type of practice there maybe, it is preparation so that when we are really coming to this intuitive insight then the mind does not hold sway over us or our desires and doer-ship does not traverse. So I feel like in these simple pointings, most of what is shared in Satsang and most of what is shared in this tradition that we call Advaita-Vedanta is captured. We don’t really need to know much else. Whatever else is just preparation and fun. That’s all. So all that you hear in Satsang is preparation for this intuitive insight. All other methods, means we may be using is preparation so that we are not getting caught up in our perceptions or intellect.