You are ‘Niranjan’!
Question:
When thoughts would be all over and I start stressing and getting exhausted, I remember to shift my stand from body-mind to the witness. It just calms me down, seems a ocean of peace and calm is within me (I just have to remember to reach it). Same happens at work (people play office politics, show superiority) and I just have that subtle smile on my face as I being in witness recognize their stand in body-mind. I think to myself there would hopefully be a time of silence in the future from all this external noise. Will being the witness silence the external environment?
Answer:
If you thought that by following Advaita, your external environment is going to become less noisy one day, you are fooling yourself, dear.
Nothing is going to change in your external environment, not your office noise, nor your social noise, nor your family noise, not even your own minds noise. You are all going astray from the truth when you harbor and nurture any ‘expectation’ whatsoever! Expectation [itself equals] = Noise in the mind.
You need to break out of the old false conditioning that is built on false expectations. You need to break out of the stories created by your own mind and similar stories that you have heard from others. Your own expectation is creating more NOISE in your own mind.
Having understood this,
-
- Simply take a step back from the noisy environment,
- Now take one more step beyond the body,
- Now one more step beyond the mind and
- When you hit the void of nothingness and cannot go back anymore,
You will recognize it as ‘yourself’. There is no entity called ‘I’ in this nothingness, yet you will recognize it as yourself. You are the empty stillness. You are the VOID. You are the sense of being alive. You are definitely NOT the body-mind-environment.
You will recognize that the VOID is NOT silent. Every thought, feeling, sensation, perception arises and falls within this nothingness, so how can it be silent?
Yet when you have taken the stand of this nothingness, you recognize that you are NOT the noise. The noise is in the environment. The noise is in the body-mind. You are not the environment or the body-mind, you are the space of Awareness in which they appear and disappear. You always remain unstained. Recognize your truth and stay there!
The moment you create a wrong expectation that the noise will disappear, you are deluding yourself. The old conditioning from past spiritual and religious beliefs is blocking your vision of the truth. It will be helpful to go back to studying Advaita wisdom from level I – https://gnyanasangha.com/p/adv-basic-sem-1
See the Truth! You are ‘Niranjan’ [one that is spotless and unstained] right now. See the Truth!
#AdvaitaVedanta #Non-Duality
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Again a very eloquent post by Ektaji. Just because we are in witness, not all external circumstances will suddenly change for us.
I am writing this from my personal experience. The external environment did not automatically alter after embarking on a spiritual path. But eventually there were a lot of changes. And if I analyzed it, it was because of a transformation in my attitude. Be it office politics or family situations, my attitude made a world of difference.
Before embarking on a spiritual path, I was mind centric. Meet someone, judge them, size them up and project attitude towards them based on their social strata. I automatically looked down on some, looked up to some (even if they were vile people, just because they had power). My external attitude reflected in everything, how I wore clothes, where I would prefer to eat (only fancy restaurants), which car I drove, what kind of home I will live in etc. etc.
I projected aura of a successful professional externally. But internally I was afraid of tomorrow. What if I lost my position in the rat race, what if my family abandoned me, what if this, what if that? So, the external projection was just a facade. An elaborate charade of demonstrated confidence.
Many years into spirituality. Without actually actively trying to make any changes, I simplified my life. The alteration of psyche just automatically gravitated me towards that simplification.
Now when I meet people, I am more open, more receptive to their opinion. Instead of projecting my judgments, I am open to understanding ideas from their vantage point. The stubbornness of “I am right” has disappeared. I no longer worry about what will happen next. “Whatever will be, will be, Que sera sera”. Overall, I find people feel a lot more comfortable around me.
Vivekananda had written many good things about how this transformation helps a Yogi. According to him, yogi have a smooth, serene voice which automatically calms people. They have a sparkle in the eye. And many other good things.
So, Ektaji is correct that Advate will not automatically alter your environment. But, as you transform, things will start stabilizing and improving. This is my personal experience.