यस्तु सर्वाणि भूतानि आत्मन्येवानुपश्यति
सर्वभूतेषु चात्मानं ततो न विजुगुप्सते ॥
Isavasya Upanishad
"He who sees everyone and everything in self; and the self in all beings and forms; feels no hatred for anything"
At many instances in our life , we feel miserable , restless and not at ease. At those instants we do not know how to come out of this state . Let us look at this situation closely and see what is going on.
Suppose there is a life situation which makes you really sad and miserable. Thoughts come on an on, emotions erupt and you feel crunched , unable to let go of anything. All these things are happening. So we can see this from a different plane . There are two possibilities in this
One is that you are not knowledgeable about the state of your mind. You do not view your mind so to speak. This happens for example when you sleep . There may be thoughts and emotions but you are not aware of the state of your mind. Does this create a problem?. No.
The second possibility is that you are knowing your mind . What happens ?. Suddenly these thoughts and emotions create issues. You come and say " I am disturbed and confused on what to do".
Here is the crux of the situation. It is the knowledge of the mind that created the issue. If somehow you were not aware of the things in your mind, you would not have said " I am disturbed". So it is the awareness of something that creates the issue. Now this could be due to two causes. Awareness caused the issue or the mind caused the issue. If awareness caused the issue, then in all wake state you would always feel disturbed. But this does not happen. So you conclude, it is the mind that created the issue.
Now there are many things in life which causes the thoughts in your mind as mentioned above. For example , you come to know the sad demise of your best friend's father then also you might feel disturbed. But at that time you would say " I feel sad for him". This sadness is different. When you see a tall tree what you conclude "The tree is tall" . But when you see yourself in mirror and remark you feel "I am tall". So the same tall thought in your mind is different based on situation. The same sad thought is based on situation. Your friend's father's demise produces a different sadness than your own sadness even though the sad thought could be similar.
When you look closely both a tall tree and your tallness both produce a knowledge about some tallness and so the idea is the same . How can a similar thought produce a different response when the content of the thought is more or less the same. Not only that , we also feel " I am tall " and "I am sad" etc. We feel identified with an object of our knowledge. A more accurate statement would be to say I am a witness of this knowledge. There should be something that needs to be independent of the knowledge to know it. If the something that is knowing itself is tall or sad, then it can never become short or happy later. It has to be independent of the attributes that it knows. Yet we know from our experience that we are knowing so many things of our mind's changes. Isn't our knowledge of these mind changes showing that the knowing principle is independent of our state of mind and is neither sad nor happy?. Yes. This is the liberating thing that we come to know.
No experience is exempted from this simple principle. You are consciousness and you are knowing these changes and stand independent of all. So it is more accurate to say , i am knowing sadness in me, but i stand independent of it. I am knowing happiness in me, but i stand independent of it. All changes are happening , but i am the knowing principle of all..You have known so many things in your life. You have studied many things, worked in many fields . All these things , memories, thoughts, emotions, feelings have gone through you and yet you stand apart without getting affected by them. If you were identified with each and every thing , how do you come out of it ?.
All this may be true. But when sadness comes, a tension comes, why do we feel so bad. What gave the mind the ability to do this. Here is the crucial thing to understand. Consciousness through which you know everything is turned into an object by the mind. It says consciousness is nothing but Body-mind. We now know consciousness or awareness can never be an object as it has to be independent of all objects to know them. But the mind conveniently says awareness is body-mind. Why ?. So that certain thoughts and emotions can feel more powerful and strong. Certain knowledge can feel more important than others. So a sadness pertaining to your body-mind is more important while other sadness is not so. A simple trick has divided your world. Now instead of understanding that the sadness or any thoughts are just happenings in the world, you become engrossed in it . You can spend hours and days thinking about them. So some knowing becomes pain.
A thought occurs and then the mind comes and claims that it is happening to me. If you believe it you are caught in the maze of your own thinking system.
Look at the moon. There is moon as an object and there is also space between us and the moon. So where is awareness? Is awareness in us and not outside?. It cannot be . It has to be there in the space also , since it has to know that there is a distance.It has to be in the moon also since it has to know about the moon. This is strange . Most of us might not be convinced about it. But how are you sure that there is space?. To know something you require awareness. So to know space it has to be there. If awareness is not , then no object can be. So the idea of separation arises because of attributing awareness to the body mind. In the real picture it has to be limitless and independent. The moon and your body mind are just objects in this limitless, formless awareness.
This is one of the reasons why many spiritual teachers want us to inquire into our own true self. When you begin to see the truth about awareness as separate from the objects especially the body-mind also, it becomes impossible for the mind to convince us in dualistic thinking. All happenings are going on independent of us. It is neither belonging to us, nor to anyone. They are all guided by the laws of the universe. Just as thousands of processes are going on inside the body, the thoughts also are happening guided by the laws. If you truly understand that there is a radiance knowing it and standing independent of it , and you are that , how is that you are affected Every experience is a pointer to this knowing principle which all the scriptures call the eternal , self effulgent principle. Every experience is enlightenment.
सर्वभूतेषु चात्मानं ततो न विजुगुप्सते ॥
Isavasya Upanishad
"He who sees everyone and everything in self; and the self in all beings and forms; feels no hatred for anything"
At many instances in our life , we feel miserable , restless and not at ease. At those instants we do not know how to come out of this state . Let us look at this situation closely and see what is going on.
Suppose there is a life situation which makes you really sad and miserable. Thoughts come on an on, emotions erupt and you feel crunched , unable to let go of anything. All these things are happening. So we can see this from a different plane . There are two possibilities in this
One is that you are not knowledgeable about the state of your mind. You do not view your mind so to speak. This happens for example when you sleep . There may be thoughts and emotions but you are not aware of the state of your mind. Does this create a problem?. No.
The second possibility is that you are knowing your mind . What happens ?. Suddenly these thoughts and emotions create issues. You come and say " I am disturbed and confused on what to do".
Here is the crux of the situation. It is the knowledge of the mind that created the issue. If somehow you were not aware of the things in your mind, you would not have said " I am disturbed". So it is the awareness of something that creates the issue. Now this could be due to two causes. Awareness caused the issue or the mind caused the issue. If awareness caused the issue, then in all wake state you would always feel disturbed. But this does not happen. So you conclude, it is the mind that created the issue.
Now there are many things in life which causes the thoughts in your mind as mentioned above. For example , you come to know the sad demise of your best friend's father then also you might feel disturbed. But at that time you would say " I feel sad for him". This sadness is different. When you see a tall tree what you conclude "The tree is tall" . But when you see yourself in mirror and remark you feel "I am tall". So the same tall thought in your mind is different based on situation. The same sad thought is based on situation. Your friend's father's demise produces a different sadness than your own sadness even though the sad thought could be similar.
When you look closely both a tall tree and your tallness both produce a knowledge about some tallness and so the idea is the same . How can a similar thought produce a different response when the content of the thought is more or less the same. Not only that , we also feel " I am tall " and "I am sad" etc. We feel identified with an object of our knowledge. A more accurate statement would be to say I am a witness of this knowledge. There should be something that needs to be independent of the knowledge to know it. If the something that is knowing itself is tall or sad, then it can never become short or happy later. It has to be independent of the attributes that it knows. Yet we know from our experience that we are knowing so many things of our mind's changes. Isn't our knowledge of these mind changes showing that the knowing principle is independent of our state of mind and is neither sad nor happy?. Yes. This is the liberating thing that we come to know.
No experience is exempted from this simple principle. You are consciousness and you are knowing these changes and stand independent of all. So it is more accurate to say , i am knowing sadness in me, but i stand independent of it. I am knowing happiness in me, but i stand independent of it. All changes are happening , but i am the knowing principle of all..You have known so many things in your life. You have studied many things, worked in many fields . All these things , memories, thoughts, emotions, feelings have gone through you and yet you stand apart without getting affected by them. If you were identified with each and every thing , how do you come out of it ?.
All this may be true. But when sadness comes, a tension comes, why do we feel so bad. What gave the mind the ability to do this. Here is the crucial thing to understand. Consciousness through which you know everything is turned into an object by the mind. It says consciousness is nothing but Body-mind. We now know consciousness or awareness can never be an object as it has to be independent of all objects to know them. But the mind conveniently says awareness is body-mind. Why ?. So that certain thoughts and emotions can feel more powerful and strong. Certain knowledge can feel more important than others. So a sadness pertaining to your body-mind is more important while other sadness is not so. A simple trick has divided your world. Now instead of understanding that the sadness or any thoughts are just happenings in the world, you become engrossed in it . You can spend hours and days thinking about them. So some knowing becomes pain.
A thought occurs and then the mind comes and claims that it is happening to me. If you believe it you are caught in the maze of your own thinking system.
Look at the moon. There is moon as an object and there is also space between us and the moon. So where is awareness? Is awareness in us and not outside?. It cannot be . It has to be there in the space also , since it has to know that there is a distance.It has to be in the moon also since it has to know about the moon. This is strange . Most of us might not be convinced about it. But how are you sure that there is space?. To know something you require awareness. So to know space it has to be there. If awareness is not , then no object can be. So the idea of separation arises because of attributing awareness to the body mind. In the real picture it has to be limitless and independent. The moon and your body mind are just objects in this limitless, formless awareness.
This is one of the reasons why many spiritual teachers want us to inquire into our own true self. When you begin to see the truth about awareness as separate from the objects especially the body-mind also, it becomes impossible for the mind to convince us in dualistic thinking. All happenings are going on independent of us. It is neither belonging to us, nor to anyone. They are all guided by the laws of the universe. Just as thousands of processes are going on inside the body, the thoughts also are happening guided by the laws. If you truly understand that there is a radiance knowing it and standing independent of it , and you are that , how is that you are affected Every experience is a pointer to this knowing principle which all the scriptures call the eternal , self effulgent principle. Every experience is enlightenment.
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