Nothing exists apart from consciousness. It is pure knowing or the ocean of infinite and unconditional love in which the mind and the world of names and forms appear in separation. Separation is suffering, while the unicity or oneness is absolute love.
Sushi.: Yesterday, I heard a woman asking Rupert Spira how she may silence her thoughts.
Spira told her to stop seeing them as being separate from her, though that usually is the first step (distancing)…the next step involves seeing them as part of you as there is nothing here but consciousness. He said all those thoughts aren’t meant to disturb you…they are just there. You can think of them if you like or leave them.
It was a very interesting clip. All these sensations and knots of energy…I sense these retreating into me when I observe them. It’s like fusing with something and shining with it.
I don’t doubt that only that which seeks can stop seeking…and it wasn’t me that wanted to seek.
Questions do arise, though. If we are the witness, then what exactly is our role in this? Who is the source pulling — the ego?
Jagjot.: What he’s saying is correct, and I know in what context he must have said that. However, from personal experience, what I’ve seen is that it’s impossible for the ego to see thoughts separate from itself because the ego or “me” itself is a conceptual thought. The illusion cannot be dispelled by an entity that itself is an illusion.
Whether the ego gets involved or not is not in its control. The source of every thought is the ego. I personally don’t believe in steps. I believe in surrender, which comes only in stillness or silence. And the individual has no control over when that happens. Sometimes, the ego even loves to take ownership of its own awakening experiences.
You cannot consciously separate yourself from thinking using your Will power. You may block a thought temporarily, but it will come back. The thinking gets cut off by the source (that is what Witnessing is) and not through the individual’s effort. Generally, people have a hard time accepting that things are not in their control, and deep down, they don’t accept it. Their own resistance to What-Is exacerbates separation or suffering.
When the surrender is complete and all of the ego-mind’s tricks are exhausted, witnessing happens by itself. Everything is known, but there is no individual knower – if you remember, this was my third and final understanding.
Witnessing is the absence of the ego or “me” that cannot be conceptually explained. “You” cannot conceptualize your own absence. In witnessing, there is no “I” sensing or observing anything. Everything is “seen,” but there is no “seer,” and the seer and the seen become ONE. That puts an end to “Me and My Story” or the thinking mind.
We have absolutely no role in anything. There is no you or me (I know it’s unsettling). The source is all there is. The source is manifesting as Sushi, Jagjot, Sushi’s family, and the rest of the world. Only in relative context do we say that the source is pulling the ego merely to explain a concept.
The source and ego are not two. According to Ramesh, the source projects itself as many egos so that interhuman interactions can take place and life as we know it can happen. The same source dissolves a few egos according to its own will.
Our limited consciousness cannot comprehend the source’s functioning and on what basis it decides to dissolve a few egos. Surrender is accepting that “nothing can be known.” Awakening is “knowing” that there is “no knower.” And, of course, these are one and the same.
Till the questions remain, the questioner does not dissolve. It does not mean that we stop asking questions. It has to happen by itself without ego trying to “do” (or manipulate) anything. All this game of a seeker seeking something is a part of the illusion.
The witnessing is happening all the time, only our mind clouds it. There’s never a time when you’re not witnessing, but you “BE” (or know yourself as) “IT” only when it’s the will of the source. You can’t know your “being” as an object of experience. You can only “BE” it. There is no such thing as your “being” or my “being.” Being is the same for all.
So, think of egos as the waves in the ocean. The waves always experience a pull from the ocean. An individual wave may think that it has to grow big and complete with other waves. At times, it may feel lonely and isolated. It may feel abandoned even in the company of other waves. Therefore, it thinks that it has to fight and survive against all odds, but its final fulfillment is in dissolving back into the ocean. You are not the wave, Sushi. You are the ocean.
Sushi.: So what would be your suggestion to the woman who asked Spira that question?
Jagjot.: I would tell her to allow thinking (whatever may come) to manifest in awareness without resistance. And gather all the love and compassion she can for herself. I know it sound’s like a prescription, but it’s not. This is not the Ego doing anything to achieve an outcome (stop thinking). It is the pain that the Ego has to go through to surrender finally. And if you notice, it’s more or less the same as what Spira said.
But the thing is that the moment the ego thinks it can “do” something about a situation (thinking in her case). It activates and makes it a goal to follow steps to reduce thinking. When we allow moments of awareness, self-inquiry happens on its own, and at some point, witnessing begins to happen on its own, and the conditioning gets exposed. Otherwise, dealing with the mind is tricky.
In my experience, nothing can stop thinking. Even in Sages, the thinking happens. Thinking and suffering are a part of human conditioning that cannot be stopped altogether. The only difference is that the Sage is aware that the thinking is happening and that itself cuts off the involvement, which creates suffering in horizontal time. He does not offer resistance to anything (surrender), and therefore, he does not suffer (or let’s say that the suffering is cut short). An ordinary person suffers in horizontal time because they’re desperately trying to find a solution to what they “perceive as a problem.”
Say, if you’re being attacked by a tiger, that’s a real problem, and in that instance, you need the Ego to find a solution immediately. That is why the Ego is there – for self-preservation. When crossing a road, you have to be mindful of the ongoing traffic. Who does that? The Ego. However, when you’re thinking about being attacked by a tiger, that’s an imaginary problem. In finding a solution to an imaginary problem, the Ego diverts attention from now. All imagination ceases in the now.
Here’s the thing Sushi. My path was the path of direct surrender. It came spontaneously to me. But It may not necessarily be your path. Some investigation may happen in your case. So I tell people to allow for all possibilities. If you think a particular practice or technique is helpful, try it by all means. Maybe it’s meant to happen that way. But all paths ultimately lead to surrender only.
Sushi.: Will I be wrong if I say there is no ego in the now? And because there is nothing but the now, the ego is as illusory as the dead past & uncertain future. What would help me decide what to do when a tiger strikes is a spontaneous reaction — a lightning display of energy — that rises out of inbuilt programming. Is this right?
Jagjot.: Yes, absolutely right, Sushi! This is it! There is nothing more to it, honestly. Ego is the movement, whereas the now is the stillness. Therefore, now is your very “Being,” beyond all personas and layers of mother, daughter, wife, sister, writer, female, mind, body, and so on. It is your restfulness beyond all identifications. When you completely relax, you are simply the “being” or “presence” or “love.” All the same thing.
In the now, you become one with the source or pure love. It is similar to deep sleep. That is what Sages mean by love. It is not dualistic love that is based on conditions and forms. In duality, love comes packaged with hate. But for the source, love and hate are simply two expressions of the same energy. Only the mind creates discrimination and decides what-should-or-should-not-be based on its limited understanding. The absence of hatred is the absence of “me.” So what remains is pure love which is your true nature. Love is the end of separation.
