Nidhidhyasana- Baby Steps

Now comes a very important topic of this teaching – namely bringing it into my life, in my understanding of myself. My understanding of who I am, has to match with what we have studied. So before we get into the topic of samadhi, let us understand the few first steps.

The very first step is sharangati – so  the mind is free from seeking security and pleasure in anitya jagat and more or less free from fear, anxiety, hurt, guilt, anger, sadness and mental restlessness. This kind of mind-set is required for this study to become fruitful in one’s life.

The simple prayer I sent out today, is a prayer that is based on sharangati. It will bring about sharantagati. What was the prayer?

Om Harih Sharan

Om Vishwa-chaitanyaya namah

 O Lord, my profound thanks, a thousand, thousand times unto You who are all-powerful,all-knowing, who are here, there and everywhere.

 Whatsoever I am, whosoever I am, I am Your and Yours alone. You are my support, my Guide, my Protector.

 Your Divine Light  is always with me. Bless me, at all times, with unswerving devotion towards You, who are the Truth.

 Om Harih Sharanam

Om Vishwa-Chaitanyaya Namah

 Now assuming we have sharanagati we go ahead  in understanding the truth about ourselves.

Ask yourself, do I understand myself as self-evident consciousness. If I do not, then we must start there itself. Who am I? I am consciousness that is self-revealing. And everything else is an object of my consciousness. Is this clear to me? Do I understand myself as svaprakash chaitanyam?

If it is not clear to you totally – then ask yourself, who do I think I am? Many different ideas will come up. Your roles in life will certainly come up. So now examine them – are they not objects of your awareness, objects of your consciousness – because you know them. You are the knower of your roles, distinct from them. Can you see this clearly? If not, spend time understanding this fact.

As knower of the roles you assume, you are a conscious being. And nobody needs to tell you that you are conscious. You are self-evident consciousness, in whose presence the roles which involve identification with the instruments of body and mind, are known.  So do you understand that the body and mind are instruments of experience, rather than you. You are the conscious being who USES the mind and body, by identifying with them, to have different experiences. This consciousness that you are is a continuous constant presence – it is present in every experience of waking, dream and deep-sleep, witnessing as it were every experience.

This fact must become very very clear.

How to become clear about this? By spending dedicated time to see these facts again and again. When you are doing anything, just pause and step back, and ask yourself right now who am I? Am I what I objectify or am I the one who objectifies, using the mind as an instrument to objectify?

As the one who objectifies, am I not consciousness? For me to be consciousness, do I need anything else – do I really need a thought to be consciousness? Or is it that thought is revealed in my conscious  presence?

Just do this again and again – until you totally assimilate that you are self-revealing consciousness and everything else is an object of your consciousness. Body and mind are naturally included in objects of consciousness. And you are consciousness that is a continuous constant presence in every experience.

You go to the next step only after understanding the previous one. This assimilation you have to do. The teaching can only take you this far. The assimilation is to be done by each of us.

The next step is to understand very intimately that consciousness is the changeless, independent illuminator of every experience  and is not displaced by any experience. Use the example of light to understand this – is light displaced by whatever it illuminates? In the presence of light all objects are revealed. Whatever is seen does not in any way change the light does it? Light is formless, it pervades the objects illumined and yet it is never stained by them.

Similarly in the presence of the light of self-revealing consciousness that you are, every thought, feeling, decision, doubt, sensation, activity, body is revealed – they are all known, drshya and they have no power to change consciousness in any way. Again in terms of reality, they are mithya, so they cannot change consciousness. Like wave does not change water, or ornament does not change gold. Consciousness is not an object to be changed by another object. Consciousness that you are is SATYA- whereas drshya is mithya.

Again understand intimately that consciousness is the changeless principle because of which it is possible to know change. To know change, we need a changeless reference or substratum and consciousness that you are is that changeless substratum. The changeless nature of consciousness must be assimilated very thoroughly.

Spend time to assimilate the differences between consciousness-you and objects of consciousness. Consciousness is never an object. Drshya is ever an object. Consciousness is always present, always the same. Drshya is changing all the time. Consciousness is the independent reality, whereas drshya is dependent on many factors, and eventually dependent on consciousness. Drshya is jadam, not self-revealing. Whereas consciousness is self-revealing. Drshya is limited, consciousness is not.….. and so on and so forth.

So thus we need to spend dedicated time to assimilate what we have studied, so that we can own up the knowledge. That spending dedicated time is called as nidhidhyasana.