Question:

Didi, my understanding is that we are the dream manifestation of pure consciousness. Something prompted us to become the experiencer and once we came into this world, don’t know how long ago or in what form, Ego and Karma bind us here. Once we realize we are the dreamer (not this name, form) and walk the path without ego (and fulfill our Karma, staying in Turiya state), we can get Jeevan Mukti. I understand it intellectually (have seen body/mind work in auto mode) however I jump out of it again and again. When the dream is beautiful, it is more difficult to get out of it (or maybe I have to wait for that maturity to arise). Please let me know if my understanding is correct or not, Didi.

Answer:

Yes, your understanding is correct dear. But attempt to rise one step higher from intellectual understanding to experiential recognition.

Recognition Step 1] Take a step beyond the body and firmly establish in the truth that ‘I am NOT the name and form called the physical body’. If I were the body, then who is knowing the sensations of the body arise and fall. If I know the computer screen, I am separate from it. Hence if I know the body sensations arise and fall, it means I am separate from them. If I were the body, then how could I experience this sense of separateness from it? Once this is experientially [not intellectually] established, move to the next step.

Recognition Step 2] Now take a step beyond the mind. Notice that you can know the thoughts that arise and fall away. If you can know them, you are separate from them. Similarly, you can know the feelings arise and fall away. If you can know them, you are separate from them. Mind = Thoughts + Feelings. This means that ‘I am NOT the mind’. If I were the mind, then how could I sense the separateness from the mind? Once this is experientially [not intellectually] established, move to the next step.

Recognition Step 3] Can I take more steps beyond? There is nothingness there beyond the Mind. You will hit a wall. There is no more going beyond. You will recognize that ‘You are this Nothingness’. It is an alive and conscious nothingness. It is the space of awareness in which the thoughts, feelings. sensations and perceptions arose and fell away. That is when you experientially establish yourself as the witness of everything. That is when you clearly see that I cannot separate myself from this space of awareness, this means that I am the space of awareness/consciousness itself.

When these 3 recognitions are experientially clear, all that can prevent you from seeing the truth is your past false beliefs of being the body-mind. Reject every past belief again and again. Stay as the witness.

Pointers that can help are:

• • Attempt to stay as the witness in both pleasant and unpleasant situations.
  • If it is difficult to be a witness in pleasant situations, it is because of failing to see the reality of the futility of the pleasant dream objects of the waking-dream world.
  • Again and again, question yourself, is the joy coming from the pleasant object/person? Explore the truth of the situation dear. Look at every situation closely. Where is the joy coming from? If it came from the object, it should come from the object every time you see the object even after 20 years of use.
  • Ask yourself, is the joy everlasting? You will see that the joy is exactly the same as the joy from a sleeping dream; temporary, impermanent, fleeting.

This is when it starts becoming clear that the waking-dream is not different from the sleeping-dream.

Only when it becomes experientially clear that the joy is temporary, not lasting, not really coming from the object over a long period of time, then the hypnosis of the object breaks away. After the hypnosis breaks away, you actually start seeing the truth. The truth is that the real happiness is inside. The object was just a trigger to bring up real internal happiness. The joy is not delivered by the object. True happiness is delivered from within. This is the meaning of ‘being happy’. That is why the sage is always happy. This state of ‘always happy’ is called bliss because he now sees that the source of happiness is he himself [the space of consciousness] That internal space of happiness is called Ananda.

Keep recognizing that there is a difference between knowing that the mind is feeling happy & being happiness yourself. Contemplate!

 P.S. If the difference between feeling happy and being happiness is clear to you, share some experiential examples with the Sangha in the comment box below. 

#AdvaitaVedanta #Non-Duality