Vedanta Retreat at Loon Lake on Who Am I by Swami Sarvapriyananda Lecture 2

0:15 oh [Music] shant [Music] sh oh lead us from the unreal to the real lead us from Darkness unto light lead us from death to immortality oh peace peace

1:01 welcome to the first session of this beautiful Retreat I have a better view not only can I see all of you but I can see what's behind you also whereas all that you can see is just plain old me I have the better half of the VG um vant tells us that that we are Brahman I am Brahman but to understand that we must first understand who am I really which ey is it that vant is speaking about is it the body is it the body mind complex

1:49 so first of all we must know who am I in order to understand that I am brahan we must start with the I we must start with what is most familiar to us and at the same time as vant will so show most unfamiliar to us we ourselves our own selves we have to start with the I who am I this is what we have to find out there are different ways in vant to discover this not only to understand this but also how to experience it the different techniques in vant among the well-known techniques are the pcha kosha via the method of the

2:35 five sheets P kosha via method of five sheets I will not go into all those details second one again pretty well known a aast the method of the three states waking dream and deep sleep would you prefer me to write the Sanskrit also or the English or

3:21 both because you many of you are familiar with these terms but still I translate all the time a you would want me to write English yes please yes so five sheets method of five sheets five sheets analysis three states analysis the way it is translated in most of our books is via is translated as discrimination but I learned that in America discrimination is a bad word you're discriminating against this or that so I have replaced it with

4:08 analysis me the same thing analysis analysis discernment we use discernment discernment is also pretty good word but then discernment has other shades of meaning Discerning person um discernment is okay not bad when two things are mixed up you if you can discern one from the other if you can analyze it into the two which are mixed up in your understanding that is VI and then the one which we are interested in now d

4:54 v analysis of sear and SE sear and the SE analysis these are some of the well-known methods in vant to discover who we are and why do we need to discover who we are because once we have a true a good understanding of our true nature then this eye properly understood then we can understand how this ey is Brahman what is BR and how am I Brahman these things will become more clear will become it will be possible to understand and experience that only when we realize

5:39 who we truly are not as we seem to be not what our driving license or passport tells us that we are but as we truly are if we can get an understanding and experience of that for that different methods are there now we will start there who am I and the method we will adopt is this one the text that we have selected is indeed called D the analysis into the OR it says an inquiry into the nature of the sear and the seene so analysis into the sear and the seene who is the experiencer who is the subject as aart from the experienced as aart from the object so this is what we're going to

6:25 take up this book specializes in this little text next um was written about probably about 700 to 800 years ago in the south of India in what is now presently the state of Karnataka at that time it was the vijayanagar kingdom about 800 years ago its authorship is not established we do not know clearly who wrote it it's attributed to different teachers of vant but probably again it's either it is either Vidar the famous author of padash another very well-known text of AD vant 15 chapters on ad vant the padash which was in our order at least

7:12 the book we use it was translated by Swami swah yes so viar the author of The padash the arguments the technique of presentation the language all seem to be like viyar but another good candidate for the author is BH another Swami who was a contemporary of vidara um maybe his Guru and in fact the padash 15 chapters on which VI wrote 10 chapters are actually written by viyar and he said in next five chapters the last five chapters from 11 to 15 were actually written by BH so this book

7:59 could be either by viyar or BH probably one of the two and less much less likely somebody else this book has 46 verses out of which 31 form the bulk of the book The The major portion of the book which we shall go through at leisure over the next few classes and the remaining portions the last uh 15 verses from 32 to 46 I shall quickly summarize whatever is there in those it's like an addendum now this first session what we are going through now is the most important session of the whole Retreat because the very first verse of this book is the most important verse of the whole book it's a powerful radical

8:48 statement it tells us who we are it tells us how we are to experience ourselves as the Atma and as pure Consciousness all of that is packed into that first verse we speak about a takeaway what do you take away from this seminar from this Retreat I would suggest that if you take away anything I hope you take the whole thing away but if that's not possible if you take away anything at all take away this first verse this first session so this first session is going to be extremely important it is the key upon which the whole thing depends

9:38 and so the whatever we will study depends on what we do in this first verse here we will speak about many things in the course of this Retreat we'll speak about primarily this is The Path of Knowledge Gana yoga we'll of course speak about Gan yoga but we will speak also in addition about biti I'm sure you'll have questions how does all this relate to the god of religion whom we worship we have the beautiful ARP in the morning and in the evening so what is the relationship between the two where is the connection we'll speak about meditation how it can help us we and other spiritual practices like Karma Yoga we'll speak about many things but in this first session which I

10:23 said is the most important session we will speak about only one thing just this one point which the first verse wants to make and that's the Central Point that's what we shall hammer on in this session um The Way We Shall approach it the first verse and everything else in this text and indeed this is a way of approaching ad vant nonel vant is in three stages first we must check within ourselves can I repeat back what the text told me it seems fairly simple step after all if I go to a class and I listen I should be able to say what the text of the professor told me so that's the first stage but you would be surprised after a long talk on vant or

11:10 many talks on vant you come out and somebody asks you what did you learn um well something about it's all rather confusing Swami ranganathan and the famous lead he used to tell this funny story many many years ago decades ago in New Delhi he was giving a speech on vanta and he came out and they um rather elderly lady came gushingly up to him Swami G Swami it was wonderful it was wonderful and then the Swami said what did you like what did you understand in the top and then she replied I tell you in Hindi first and then translated to English what do I understand all those all that high philosophy of but it was

11:57 good I remember I gave a talk once in B long several years ago and after the talk somebody came up to me and said I really liked it and I would have liked it even more if I had understood it so the first step towards understanding the three steps of understanding ad understanding and experiencing first step is very simple step but essential I must be able to say after the talk what did he say what does the text tell me you don't have to say it in the original Sanskrit you don't even have to tell me the exact translation but the gist of it so that should be don't worry I will not ask you there won't be exams

12:43 after the class no tests but definitely I should be able to repeat back to myself or to anybody else who's interested that this is what is there in the first verse this is what is there in the second verse the traditional method of teaching was that the student was expected to memorize the verses before you come to the class you must have the text memorized and I've seen people we have done it to some extent ourselves and I've seen swam in the Himalayas got these entire texts by heart they memorize the whole thing I remember walking through the forests of gangotri once about a decade ago in the afternoon after taking our our Bika our food begging for our food and then walking with the Swami and he was talking to me about Nia philosophy the Indian

13:28 philosophy of logic Naya and uh the text we talking about was which is an introductory text OFA and he recited more or less the whole text while we were speaking about it and I I was impressed and I said Swami I can imagine memorizing vant text which is Central to us but anciliary text like Naya and other philosophies and he said to me again in Hindi this is how one studies Swami by memorizing everything you must have the whole thing not in printed books but in your memory so that was the traditional method uh you have a class you taught certain verses and when you enter the next class you expected to recite the

14:13 verses which have been taught in the earlier class if you do not recite you asked to leave the class I'll take it for granted not that you memorized it but at least you know what's there the that's stage one stage two not only can I repeat back what there in the text at least to my own satisfaction but have I understood it understood at least intellectually at least in the sense of um I have a general idea of what they're talking about I'm not confused so can you see that these are two distinct stages one stage is I can tell you what the book says second stage is I can not only tell you what the book stage says but I have understood it I get what they're trying

14:59 to say more or less at least in general and the third stage is this I will not insist on but this is the goal do you feel it do you taste it do you experience it does it feel true to you does it feel real to you not as a goal right now right here today does it feel at least a little bit real time these are the three stages and we must have these in mind when we go through these verses so without any further Ado let us start the text D a word about the

15:48 title viao is analysis or you can say discernment or even discrimination dri and D remember we are trying to find out who am i d means the sear the subject the self disia means the scene the object the not self why should we need to separate them why should we need to discern what is the self and what is the not self vant says in order to know what we are are who we are we must first see that we have confused The Seer and the seen we

16:35 have mixed them up what we consider ourselves to be vant will show us it's a mixture of the sear and the seene we must separate it in our understanding The Seer is who you really are the seeing is something that you experience the problem is as we shall see now something that we experience seeing the object not self we have taken the not self as the self we have taken the object as the subject we have taken the scen as the Seer we will see now so you have to separate the two that's the meaning of the uh of the title of the book let us start now I shall recite the Sanskrit and please recite after me do you have this

17:22 all of you do you have the the Roman letters thingle if you do not have it please distribute as we go through this text a suggestion is that uh read the original in the Sanskrit letter or in the Roman read the translation each word has been translated here in the text you can read that and read the transl ation but go through the notes at your own risk the reason is what is written there is not wrong but it can be a bit

18:08 misleading it's not very clear in order to understand what the text says and I cannot emphasize this enough in order to understand what it's being what's being said here please listen carefully to what I say I say this without any ego but please listen carefully to what I am saying what is being discussed in the class rather than going back to know sometimes students I have done that myself not listen too much to what the teacher is saying and go directly to the text and try to understand go directly to the text if you must but not so much to the explanations given below they'll just serve to confuse the issue all right they're not wrong but they are not very clear now let us start verse number one

18:59 please repeat once again

20:02 what does it mean remember we are trying to separate the Seer and the seen it starts in a very simple way like any good teacher the text takes us from the known to the unknown to what we already understand to what it wants us to understand from the near to the Far So starts with something very simple AAR rupam literally needs color actually you know when you look around just look around we will say we are seeing shapes and people and things and pictures and so many things but if you look carefully all that we are seeing is color all that we are seeing is color

20:48 and naturally after all the eyes biologically they are designed to take in only light not people and bird birds and things and trees are not going into the eyes luckily all that is going into the eyes is reflected light that's all so the eyes literally taking only color so rupam here literally means color but we can extend it a little more and say shapes forms so rupam you can translate into forms the eyes see forms when you are seeing in the world literally seeing when we are seeing the world what is happening is we are seeing the forms the fs are the scene the eyes are the seer right the fs are the scene the eyes

21:35 are the Seer then it tells us the eyes become the scene the mind is the sear then the Mind becomes the scene and there's a witness to the mind which is the sear and the witness is never seen I have translated it now let us try to understand it step by step there are four stages to this four stages to this understanding this verse stage four stages let us see the four stages the fourth stages go like this here is the sear and the seene stage

22:20 one the whole entire world is the scene for us what are we seeing the word all that we have been seeing since childhood we have been seeing the world from the time we opened our eyes we've been seeing the world the world is for I'm translating the word Ruba for whatever you see is a for and what sees in a very na way take it in a in baby steps in a very naive way what is it that is seeing everything all these things are seen by the eyes so loam Sanskrit means eyes so the eyes are the Seer you may at this stage object and say that not true Swami it's I am seeing

23:06 the mind and the Consciousness Through The Eyes I'm seeing the word very true but we are taking it in a very naive way in a simple way baby steps eyes are the sear and the forms are seen forms of the world are seen and the eyes are the sear now at this point here is a c IAL operating principle which I will give you we will have to hold on to this all throughout notice that the eyes are separate from the forms the organs physically they're separate entity and the forms are a separate entity and notice that it has to be so because the eyes can see only something

23:51 that is separate from the eyes in fact the only thing that the eyes cannot see are the eyes themselves true think about it you bring something closer and closer at one point it'll disappear and the eyes themselves you cannot see the eyes Swami I can see it in a mirror you can see a reflection of your eyes in the mirror you see the squiggly in your eyes so you're seeing the inside of your eyes the what in the eyes swiig a little of yeah but then the it's some the organ of vision is seeing something on the surface of the eyes or the lens of the eyes yeah floating but even then it's not the eyes seeing themselves because just as you see my eyes I cannot see the eyes

24:37 themselves you see the pen in this way I can also see the pen in this way more or less the same way you see it but the way you can see my eyes I cannot see at the most I can see those faint squigglies float they call them floaters Flo yes but I cannot see the eyes themselves what am I seeing I'm seeing floaters so the eyes cannot see themselves I can see a picture of my eyes I can see a reflection of my eyes but not the eyes themselves not directly so the Seer and the seeing it seems are different that which sees and that which is seen are two different entities please hold on to this operating principle for the four stages as we

25:23 shall go through the four stages it's important to hold on to this operating principle what is that The Seer and the seen must be different now one more thing not only are the eyes different from the forms which they see but note also that the forms are many the eyes are one I'm not saying suggesting that you are one eyed what I mean is it's one organ it's one organ by the eyes The Seer being one and the seeing are many it sees the many just now when I look ahead of me when I look in front of me I can see many of you I

26:08 can see so many things outside this this room a vast range of things to be seen so many forms many many forms all seen by the one organ of vision the eyes so the sear seems to be one and the seene are many thir the sear relatively unchanging the same eyes I saw the darkness of the evening yesterday I saw the early morning light today now I'm seeing daytime now people are coming and going things are changing in the world relatively speaking the eyes remaining the same they see so many changes in the scene the sear is relatively unchanging

26:55 the scene are continuously changing three things SE and seen are different number one number two the Seer is one the seen are many number three the sear is relatively unchanging the seene are continuously changing is this clear again in a very simple way don't overthink it the great French philosopher s John Paul S existentialist now when it seems that when he was uh graduating from University there in Paris he was of course a brilliant student but he failed his examinations graduating examinations why he's a

27:42 student of philosophy he thought that these questions are just too easy there must be a catch so all his answers were critiques of the questions and he got an F grade failed the professor said why can't you just answer the question but then he was a real philosopher so so don't overthink it in a very simple way what have we got very quickly the sear and the scene are different one the sear is separate from from the uh the SE SE is separate from the scene that's number one Seer is one the scene are many Seer is relatively unchanging the scene keep changing not Theory it is just repeating back to ourselves a daily experience which we

28:27 have nothing more that it starts so simply why do you even need to tell us this we will ask every child knows this wait as it goes you know the trick about vant is it starts with baby steps and you go along this is very simple go on move ahead and very soon you have taken us into deep Waters wait wait wait wait where did we come what's going on here you'll see stage number two let's go deeper he says watch your own eyes not with eyes you just said you cannot see the eyes but can you not experience your my eyes are open my eyes are closed class is so boring I can't keep my eyes

29:13 open are we not experiencing this I'm not the last I hope but I need glasses for my eyes I can't see properly so the conditions of the eyes are well known to us we can immediately think about it which what knows the eyes what is the sear I can use I'm sorry for using air coats but if I can say that what what sees the eyes sees within Coates the mind is the Seer and the eyes are the SE isn't it true yes can we not experience the different conditions of the eyes I can see well I cannot see well eyes are open eyes are closed we can

29:59 see I remember I was once in a very dark room in the Himalayas no electricity no furniture not a lodge like this it was something very beautiful something like this but none of the amenities so no heating nothing and you just had a log cabin and a few um Hindi they call them razai comforters comforter comforters yes but those comforters were older than me and two below three on top that's all it was so dark you couldn't open any Windows because a howling wind outside if you open it's like having six air conditioners blasting in your face and it's cold there um but not not very cold

30:45 not like you get in Canada but uh the thing is whatever it is outside it's also inside inside the inside the room so you don't have any difference if it isus 5 outside it's also - 5 inside and your bed is also- 5 now it was so dark I used to experiment with opening and closing my eyes I couldn't make out anything My Eyes Are Open I would shake my hand here I wouldn't be able to see anything it's only when the static electricity would jump from my w Woolen clothes like sparks then only I would see something I know okay my eyes are open but we are aware the mind is aware when the eyes are open mind is aware when the eyes are closed mind is aware aare of the conditions of the eyes so the eyes

31:30 become the seen and the mind becomes the sear apply the three condition the the first condition the SE and the scene are separate separate yes if you look at look within yourselves clearly the eyes seem to some be some kind of physical organ the mind seems to be something psychological we don't know what it is if you don't know what it is don't feel bad even the the greatest scientists today and psychologists and psychiatrists none of them really know what the might is so far as the old joke goes in philosophy classes mind and matter the great decaan dualism mind and matter they will ask what is mind no matter doesn't matter what is matter never

32:18 mind but whatever the mind is clearly it is something different from my eyes in fact different from my physical body it's not doesn't seem to be another part of my physical body here are my eyes there something called the mind which is observing the eyes so the mind and the eyes are different Seer and seen are different number two the various conditions of the eyes and also the entire body all the other sense organs all of them are cognized recognized understood by the same mind so the sear being one seen are many sort of I'm fitting it in and third the relatively unchanging mind is changing no doubt but mind changes into mind thoughts into thoughts more

33:03 thoughts come and go but the eyes the nose the skin the ears the whole body under go various kinds of changes all those kinds of changes are known by the same thing thought SE and seen are different Seer is one seen are many s is unchanging relatively and c not changing three points so far not bad again do you see it's just repeating what we experience it's not making any big claim but now the magic starts let's go to the third part of the verse look at the mind are we not aware

33:50 when you feel happy are you not aware of your own happiness after all who else is Happy who else reports I'm happy who reports I'm miserable I report because I am able to understand the feelings in my own mind am I not aware of my own memories am I not aware of my own desires my hopes my frustrations that I'm able to understand vant I'm unable to understand all of that is in the mind and I'm aware of it something within the mind is aware of whatever is in the mind is that not true right now yes it is true so the mind is also I'm using the mind in a very general term covering thoughts emotions

34:35 ideas desires all of it and all of it we are aware of there is something with Witnesses call it the witness there something within is within us which understands the mind now apply the three principles one the sear and the scene must be separate Seer and the scene are separate not only that the witness remaining the same the Mind changes so much the sear remains unchanging the scene keep on changing the sear is the same sear and the mind is full of variety so many thoughts feelings

35:21 emotions ideas memories come into the mind and go so the sear and the scene are different the SE is uh one the scene are many and the sear is unre is unchanging the scene are continuously changing same principles but now we have taken a huge step into the unkown think about it what this says is Seer I who am I Seer it tells you you are the witness of the mind you are not even your own mind the the mind is there it's not denying that the mind is there of course the mind is there you're experiencing your mind you are not the mind you are not the body and you're not the external word you see when you deny that you are

36:08 the the eyes you are not the eyes it includes all the other five sense organs it includes the physical body also at this stage we are separating ourselves from the entire Mind Body complex this is the Mind Body complex this is the world it's not just the eyes it is the ears it is the the skin the nose all of them the tongue and the physical body and here is the mind all our thoughts feelings ideas in fact most grownup educated aware persons intelligent persons consider themselves to be the mind we feel if you look at ourselves at the best we feel ourselves to be Minds within bodies our bodies with Minds that's how

36:56 we look at our Body Mind complex sometimes the stress is on the Mind aspect I am in this body my body I say and sometimes I refer to the body as I myself here am I so it is the body mind complex which we consider ourselves to be in this process we have actually isolated something called the witness we know not what it is from the body mind the witness of body mind this is what we are this is the claim of vant already you can see some remarkable applications think about it we'll come to questions um most of these sessions afterwards will be a little more relaxed where we can interact more here I'm trying to transmit a core

37:42 idea and then we'll take questions think about it all the problems of the world our personal problems are either out there in the world or in our body or in the mind problems problems of the body problems of the Mind problems in the world outside in society in our interaction with others the witness has no [Music] problems in fact very interesting thing is in deep Sleep we have no problems I say the person in the in the Intensive Care Unit of Cedar siai very good Hospital the person who is sick and

38:29 dying will die within a couple of days maybe and in pain when that person goes into deep sleep for how however short a while that person has absolutely no [Music] problem in deep Sleep the so-called happiest person and the most miserable person are exactly one and the same experience they have the most learned of persons the most ignorant unlettered of persons have exactly the same experience the most powerful man in the world say the president of the United States and a powerless person a very weak person maybe wandering around in the streets of LA they have exactly the same experience in deep Sleep all those things are in the level

39:17 of the waking and the dreaming are in the level of the world our body or mind not for the witness witness still exists in deep Sleep that we later how it is true but so this is the point here is this point where I tell a story it's well-known story in the Himalayas um a man who was depressed went to a Swami that's what they do in India here at one time the style was to go to your therapist but that I understand has fallen out of fashion nowadays but earlier it was a part of used to have you have to have a have a therapist so this man who was depressed who went to a Swami in the Himalayas and he said to the Swami I'll

40:03 tell you the original it's nice in hindii and I translate into English he talks to the Swami and says I'm very miserable and the Swami said to him do you feel your misery do you feel your misery and the man said of course I feel miserable that's why I say I'm miserable that's why I've come to you I did not feel miserable why would I come to you and then the Swami says now you can do that also you know what the Swami is going to say if you feel your misery it is the scene for you you are the sear of your misery you cannot be miserable this sear and the scene must be different if you experience the misery in your mind then that's something that

40:49 you see that which sees the misery in your mind must be different from the misery in your mind otherwise it won't be able to experience the misery in your mind if you experience misery you cannot be miserable you are the experiencer of misery you are the sear of misery misery is a thought of feeling in your mind the Mind becomes the scene you become the sear this may seem strange to you but do go and think about it and the man went and thought about it and actually when you do think about it you will see to some extent at least the troubles in your mind will settle the be quite and when we put a little distance between ourselves and the mind let the mind go for a while

41:34 somebody say the mind in its natural state runs to God we disturb it we torture it we have been torturing it all our lives that's why it's such a twisted perverted miserable little mind so when you see yourself when you step back from the mind you are the Seer of your mind the mind is an object misery is an object which you're experiencing in the mind you are the witness of the misery in your mind you are not miserable and this might seem interesting a profound Insight but the real punch of the story is going to come next that man went back to the Swami and he said um you said what you said Is

42:22 Right shant now I'm very peaceful immediately the Swami came down upon him like a ton of bricks and said you are not peaceful you are the witness of the peace in your mind you see the Trap which we set for ourselves what that person would have F was I had gone to the Himalayas I had come to Lon Lake and attended the retreat and my mind became so calm but the moment I come out into the freeways in outside and go back home mine has become Disturbed again what happened you did dissociate yourself from the misery in your mind the misery settled down and there was peace in the mind and you Associated yourself with the peace in the mind the mind being what it is it will again get Disturbed it goes it under goes

43:09 continuous changes the moment that peace disappears you will because you are associated with the Peace of the mind you identify with it you will say I was peaceful earlier now I have lost that peace you are the ever peaceful witness witness to to the arising of peace and disturbance in the mind both of which are not yours no more than are the waves in the lake yards you watch the calm lake in the morning when the wind blows you watch the lake the waves on the surface of the lake just like that the mind is like is likened to a lake of which you are the Watcher you are different from the Mind indeed at this stage all the problems

43:56 are are committed to the body and mind they are not your problems the problems do not disappear they are there but you you assign them you put them where they belong you don't take it upon yourself I was giving the example yesterday SRI rrishna in cancer pain of cancer throat cancer and Har mahaj comes and says I see you are in great bliss now how can you do that s Krishna says oh he cut me out did the pain of the body go away no the pain of the body is there as long as I say I am the mind and body I am hurting as I when I acknowledge when I acknowledge when I clearly see here is

44:42 the body just like this pen is in my awareness this body is also an object in my awareness this mind is also an object in my awareness pen is a gross object it's a for the body is at this level and the mind is a subtle object but all of them are objects they are the same I am the subject The Seer and the Seer and the scene are separate they have to be otherwise I cannot experience it not only that you see all the changes are either in the world outside or in your body or in your mind think about it everything that changes so no I have also changed when you say you have changed what you mean was what you mean is that

45:30 you were a kid and then a teenager then a young man and then a middle-aged man maybe now an old person but that's the body clearly it is the body and uh elderly lady in Santa Barbara she told me that couple of days back I was passing by a store window and I looked in the glass and I looked at this old woman and thought who is that I don't even think of myself as that and it's true you are not that it's the body and the body changes body has changed so much you are the same person you do not say that little girl was somebody else and this elderly woman is somebody else no you

46:16 clearly experience it I was that little girl I am this elderly woman that's how you experience and the only thing vant adds to it is then in that eye you have to separate the The Seer and the seene The Seer is the Consciousness the seene is the body which has changed from a little girl's body to an elderly woman's body every problem is in the world in the body or in the mind none of it is in the witness you have whenever you say I have changed you mean either the body has changed or you mean the mind has changed in the kindergarten I was so different you mean your mind was so different what are what are the things you liked at that time what are the things that you knew at that time and in college I was so different what were the things you liked at that time whatever or you disliked what are the things that

47:01 you had learned in the meanwhile from kindergarten to college that's all in the mind what what they saying you what they're telling us is to distinguish the subject from the mind it's a very big step because all of our conditioning is we are the mind we are the mind we can somehow think that we are Minds in bodies embodied minds but that we are not mind CS we are the witness of the mind that's a huge step forward now comes this is not the end the fourth stage now I would like to know this witness how do I know the witness I know I can see the forms I can see the world

47:46 outside I can see my own body experience my own body I can also sort of experience my own mind right how do I experience the witness and the answer given here is the witness never becomes the same I want to put the witness here and I want to say who will see the witness you see when I say I want to know the witness I want to know the Atma I want to know the pure Consciousness then what what am I saying know it means I want to put it as the as the seene but who will be the Seer of the Sear there's no sear then that will become the sear witness how can you witness the

48:33 witness the witness remains as you yourself it can never happen the witness remains here and you can never see the witness witness is the one which sees everything you may say oh that's so bad I would like to have seen the witness but no you wouldn't have liked to see the witness because then that you would make yourself an object rather you are the pure subject you are the Seer of all things the experiencer of all things that's how it is know that sounds a bit too clever for me how do I know that this witness thing exists it's like saying you know I know that the forms the world exists because I see it I know that my eyes and my body

49:20 exist because I experience it I know that my mind exists even though you may think you're mindless but I can experience my mind you can experience your own mind in your own head you have these thoughts emotions ideas so the mind is also experienced and we know all of these exist because we experience them but how do I know the witness exists follow this carefully if you say if I ask you yes if I ask

50:08 you how do you know that I am here in the class you see I see you Swami hopefully I hear you Swami I see you Swami so the proof of my existence in this class is that you see me right proof of existence is seeing anything is here you say I see it therefore it exists now let me ask you how do you know that your eyes exist because you don't see the eyes now don't tell me I ask somebody else just look at me do my eyes exist no I automatically know my eyes exist how do I know because I see see what here is a

50:54 very crucial question this pen exists because you see the pen you see the pen therefore it exists how do you know your eyes exist by seeing what don't say by seeing the Eyes by seeing anything the fact that you see anything in this world is a proof that your eyes are existing and they're perfect and they're functioning just fine experiencing anything in the world seeing anything in the world is a proof that my eyes exist and they are working right in the same way experiencing anything through eyes through the tongue through the touch through any sense organ through the mind the fact that we are experiencing anything at all in the

51:41 world is proof that you are the witness the witness exists and you are that that is the proof very fact every experience that we have is a proof that we are Consciousness without Consciousness no experience could be possible so this is what the verse has told us let's quickly summarize what has the verse told me verse has told me the Seer and the scene are different we must identify ourselves as the Seer start with the eyes the eyes see the forms look at our experience at every step match it with experience remember the three steps I told you about what does the text tell

52:27 me do I understand it and is it part of my experience can I is it true is it real let's watch this what does the text tell me eyes are the sear and the forms the word is the seene I understand this it's clear is it true is it real is it happening right now yeah that's our experience we are experiencing it let's go deeper the mind is the Sear and the eyes ears rest of the body everything is the scene seen in the sense experience known do I understand this yes is it real is it happening right now tell me yes can you not feel your

53:13 own own body I can feel the body and the mind is the sear and the body is the seed and it's true at this stage it's part of my experience it's not that I have to do a lot of spiritual practice to see that the body is the scene and the mind is the Seer it's there right now next step the mind is the scene and I am the witness of the Mind do you understand what they are saying yeah I know what they saying is it real is it an experience right now or do we have to do a lot of spiritual practice to get this experience I am the witness of my mind

53:58 this is the question at this stage are you the witness of the mind or is it something it's a nice idea but I not I'm not yet there I still have to do a lot of spiritual experience you see our first response would be to say that up to this it's okay it's clear this one is the one which we have to I understand the idea I understand the concept it's a great idea but I have to make it real I have to do lot of meditation and lot of spiritual practices and attend a few more retreats in lon l before I come to the position where I can say I'm the witness of the mind it's a natural reaction what vant tells us and here is the bombshell just as the eyes are the Seer

54:45 and the word is the scene the mind is the Seer and the body is the seene right now you the witness you are the Seer completely apart from mind and body in the world the world is changing you the witness of the changing world the body is continuously changing over the years you are the witness of the changing body the mind is changing from moment to moment you are the unchanging witness of the changing mind you are that right now it's not something that you have to become if you did become that you would again lose it that which is not true now which becomes true after some sad will again be lost after some time you must be that right now you are that

55:31 vant just wants to point it out to us there must be an Insight a moment of breakthrough a moment of insight where clearly you see the body and mind as an object like this pen in the palm of my hand whatever is happening to the body and the mind will go on happening you can't stop it but you can stand aside you will be free of it Swami VI says in the inspired TS the only Freedom we have is to stand aside a mysterious statement the only Freedom we have is to stand aside everything happens here by the

56:17 will of God by Nature by whatever you call it nature is s philosopher would say PR is doing everything nature a Dev of God would say God is doing everything here whatever it is what about you Swami VI says the only Freedom you have is to stand aside it does not matter be careful it does not matter that you're going to just sit quietly you're going to retreat forever to Lon Lake and sit out your rest of your life what are you doing I'm standing aside not stand aside with your body stand aside from your body stand aside from the mind the body will go on acting you can't prevent it the mind will go on

57:02 thinking so whatever you're doing in life that that can go ahead but here there's a much deeper sense a separation is being spoken about that separation exists you just have to recognize it this is the profound Insight that I'm talking about look at one more point when the eyes become the seen they no longer the sear the Mind becomes the seene here so the mind is no longer the sear it is the witness alone which is the sear you see ultimately it is the witness alone which is the Seer the real dck is the witness the Sanskrit word for witness is sakshi it's a beautiful word sakshi means witness in many Indian

57:50 languages sakshi means witness Bengali Hindi and many languages so sakshi is the word used here in this in the verse so sakshi is the witness of the modifications of the mind and that's what we are what is the nature of this sakshi it must be pure Consciousness why Consciousness because it enables all experience I experience my thoughts the arising and disappearance of my thoughts I experience the arising and disappearance of my perceptions seeing hearing smelling tasting I experience the changes in the world outside all of

58:36 that is experienced experience means Consciousness otherwise how would there be experience so the nature of sakshi must be Consciousness why did you say pure Consciousness is there an impure Consciousness when this Consciousness is mixed up with the mind which is our normal state which is what we are mostly a conscious mind then many thoughts feelings emotions ideas desires they come and go in the mind that's the what you might call an impure State Consciousness in itself is what I call Pure Consciousness Consciousness in itself is what the text calls sakshi all right having said this in the little time remaining to me I will now do

59:21 something which is normally not done I will jump ahead to almost the end of the text at the end of the text after talking about everything six techniques of meditation are given which enables us to stabilize ourselves in this knowledge of the saki why don't you jump Straight Ahead then to the end of the text it will not work unless you have this idea down clearly in your minds unless this part is clear that technique will not work now hopefully to some extent this part is clear let's try out that technique and that technique is something that we will try out for every session little bit of time in every session that we the Practical aspect of whatever we discuss

1:00:07 we'll discuss many things over the next few days lots of things will come up in the verses ahead but this is the core idea this is the saving knowledge this is the knowledge that frees us right now we are the saki limited by the mind and body we are the billionaires we have forgotten that we have where the billions are all stashed away and we are now on wellfare it is true that I am a billionaire but then why are you collecting food stamps and why are you homeless on the streets of LA because I don't know where my billions are I know I have it but which bank has it where are the passports and account numbers I

1:00:53 don't know V tell where it is so that you can access what is already yours vant is the perfect Management Consultant you know definition of a Management Consultant he'll look at your watch and tell you the time look at your watch and then he'll tell you the time vant is looking straight at you and telling you what you are right now let's try it the technique of meditation come to verse number 24 we'll do 24 and 25 two techniques verse number

1:01:39 24 please repeat after me then I will we will go through this in a guided way [Applause] [Music] you can easily understand the meaning now I'll just tell you what it says

1:02:27 whatever thought comes up in the mind it may be desire it may be a bad thought it may be a good thought it may be a happy thought a miserable thought it may be the thought that I understand what this technique is it may be the thought I do not understand what this technique is let whatever thought come up in your mind be aware of yourself as the sear of that thought as the witness of that thought look at it as shining in the light of the witness in it in its in the light of the witness thoughts are arising and disappearing in the mind you are the witness in which all these thoughts are coming and disappearing the Mind itself

1:03:13 is shining in your light you are apart from it look upon your Consciousness as the witness of that thought which thought whatever thought comes in do you see here the difference between yoga and vanta in yoga in meditation just a point in meditation you imagine a deity you have a mantra and you're trying to hold on to one particular thought repeat that again and again that's a different technique this technique you are not interested in what the thought is here we are not interested in what is there in front of us what ever is there in front of us I must become aware of my

1:03:58 eyes watching that I'm not interested in the book I'm interested that my eyes are watching this book whatever you put in front of me is good enough for me so whatever thought comes into your mind use it use it it's a lever it's like something like like a pole water uses a pole to jump over a barrier use that s to become aware of your of the witness you cannot become the witness I mean you cannot become make the witness an object you can only become the witness or you can you know yourself as the witness just be aware just as follow this carefully just as I use this book or this pen to become aware of not the book

1:04:43 of the pen become aware of my eyes watching the book of the pen that's the best example I can give watch the arising of thoughts become aware of the Consciousness in which they are arising yourself you the Consciousness the witness the sakshi of that thought what thought any thought don't worry no thoughts are coming Swami my mind is blank my usual state when I listen to vant mind becomes blank wonderful you are the witness of the blankness of the Mind absolutely that Consciousness which is witnessed to the waking state all your life that Consciousness which

1:05:29 is witnessed to all your dreams in sleep that Consciousness which is witnessed to the blankness of Deep Sleep where your Waking Life is not there your dreams are not there nothing is there that which watches the nothing repeat pleas that which watches the nothing in your deep sleep the nothing in deep Sleep no experience absence of things to experience that's what is deep sleep but that absence is also illumined by the same Consciousness you are the witness you're the witness of the presence of thoughts you are the witness of the absence of thoughts you are the witness of the gap between thoughts become aware of that I'll take you to the second stage just sit

1:06:16 straight relax a little for couple of minutes you can keep your eyes open if you like or closed better is closed breathing in and out normally breathing in and out normally open your eyes slowly the whole world appears to your eyes your eyes are the Sear in the words the scene it's apart from you it's different

1:07:01 from you close the eyes you are you were aware of the opening and closing of the eyes the mind is what was aware of the opening and closing of the eyes eyes are something different from the Mind thoughts are coming and going in the mind you're clearly aware of the presence of thoughts they're arising and The Disappearance and the absence of thoughts the mind is something different from you the witness that witness which must be pure

1:07:47 Consciousness in which thoughts arise perceptions arise and disappear that witness is different from the mind it is one it is unchanging affirm to yourself I am the ever detached witness mentally tell yourself that witness is never attached the unattached witness witness is self

1:08:34 luminous that witness is s an existence Consciousness Bliss that witness which you are is non dual there is nothing apart from it every every time a thought comes up a feeling comes up a sensation comes up immediately see that you are the witness of that thought you are the witness of that sensation of that feeling use every thought idea emotion feeling

1:09:21 perception to return to the witness that witness which is unattached self luminous without a second s CH an existence absolute Consciousness absolute Bliss absolute do not worry if thoughts come just use that as another occasion to become aware of the

1:10:08 witness slowly open your eyes I actually introduced you to verse number 25 also the second meditation technique which I will read out now and just give you the briefest idea about it 25th verse you need not repeat I'll just chant in you just relax in the witness

1:11:03 now all of these words you will not be able to understand because we have not covered many parts but basically what they're doing here is you use a thought to become aware of the witness of the thought and then use a set of words use the words in the mind itself in the mind itself you tell this witness is AA unattached to anything all the changes are in the world all the changes are in the body all the changes are coming and going in the mind the witness is unattached to anything a this witness note that this witness is Asa means unattached to

1:11:48 anything in this universe it's not attached to your dearest most beloved person nor even more difficult not even attached to your worst enemy that is Arisen in your witness will also disappear in your witness not attached to anything in this world and this is not something that you have to become you are already that that's the amazing thing that V is telling us somebody says to me that oh only monks like you you can be unattached to the world but we have so many attachments I say vant tells us no at this moment you are as much unattached

1:12:33 to the whole world universe everything in that you consider to be yourself everything that you consider yourself to be attached to you are actually completely unattached to it as much as the greatest Shankar or rrishna anybody how so that does not seem to be true imagine the greatest possible attachment in this word the attachment of a young mother for a newborn baby young mother for a baby most attached deepest possible attachment whole life becomes about the child it has to be otherwise how will the child be part imagine that mother when she goes to sleep at night at this point somebody will smile and say Swami you don't know much about

1:13:19 being a mother they don't get much sleep they don't get much sleep but when when she does go to sleep she forgets the world she forgets herself just like us she forgets the object of greatest attachment in her life the baby completely forgot in a waking stage if the baby is out of her sight for some time she'll become worried where did the baby go for six or seven hours at night completely gone no thought of it she goes out of this waking world not with reluctance what will happen to my baby when I'm asleep with greatest of ease and you know relaxation thank God

1:14:07 going into deep sleep so actually speaking we have that capacity that is the witness it just slides out of this universe of our life without any attachment or the universe slides by it does not go anywhere it just shines a that is the meaning of the word contemplate upon it and as you watch it you will see that every problem comes and goes you the witness of the problem you are to say anything in your life even the body is born ages gets old diseased and dies you're the witness completely untouched you're neither born

1:14:53 nor do you get older nor do you die so and the other words will become meaningful as we go into the verses all right let me conclude this talk we have a run over time coming close to lunch time now om shant shant [Music] SH now what I want to say is this session was different it was a bit intense remember other sessions which will come we will learn many things in this session we learned only one thing you may think that we have said so many things but actually we learned only one

1:15:39 thing the witness and hold on to that that's the main major takeaway from this entire Retreat that's what you are or we are after this we will learn many things what is this weakness what is this world what is how does this world come and how am I Brahman what are the practices to be done many many things it'll come in this book slowly a very nice little book powerful little book but you can see already in the first verse the first verse which is most important in this book and almost equally as important is the 20th verse it's a tremendous verse again I know lot of you we'll come toight thank you very much in the next session it'll be more relaxed and more interactive we'll be

1:16:25 free to ask questions and interrupt we'll go at a more relaxed pace thank you thank you