Question:

Ektaji, please would you help clarify this from the ‘I AM THAT’ homework on the Gnyana Sangha website: Pure Witness Consciousness does not indulge in Name & Form [Naama-Rupa]. Rejecting the stand of the ‘Person’, take the stand of the ‘Witness’ and rip off all labels. See reality as it is!

Answer:

When the witness forgets the awareness stand and assumes to be the person, there arises labeling of a waker in the world. It is like pretending to be the actor on the movie screen. This means you are no longer the witness, you are the indulgent one. When you withdraw from faking to be the actor on the screen, you stand as the pure witness of the movie playing on the screen, then all labeling drops.

You reach a point then where you see yourself sitting in the auditorium aghast at the realization that you are simply the empty witnessing awareness field devoid of all names and forms of the movie-story. When you simply stay as the pure witness, you have turned away from the world (bahirmukhi) towards your true self (antarmukhi), then only is it pure witnessing. You the witness are witnessing your own empty awareness.

This inward turning is the master key for the witness to dissolve. On the dissolution of the witness, what remains is Pure Consciousness.

The level of Pure Consciousness is revealed only on the inward turning and dissolution of the witness. This aspect is covered in detail in the Advaita Advanced retreats when we do the 10 degrees of seeing. For now, keep practicing simply turning inwards. Turn the arrow of attention inwards while the movie continues to play on the screen. There is no point in keeping the arrow of attention pointed outwards, which cannot change the movie story. Turn inwards and stay there unconditionally.

Let the enchantment of unconditionality sweep all into nothing!

#AdvaitaVedanta #Non-duality #MandukyaUpanishad