Attention Practices

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uw5KeJ1Fe18

amparajita is asking in step

four attention practice for initial one

month is only concentrating outsides

strictly and also fixing an object and

not keep changing it have i understood

it right you can change the object i

think and the point is to divert the

attention from the outside to the inside

that is one thing and the

second point is to discipline the

attention so

we do recommend changing the object of

attention from outside to inside first

it should be some object outside grass

object then the bodily feeling then the

sensations

in the body and then the

sound in the ear something like this

half physical half non-physical and then

then some imagination

or sound in the mind and finally you

need to let go of it and

remain as you are that is the proper

practice but

what happens is because of their old

practices people get tangled in the

attention practice so as the

as they proceed on step four i actually

reduce the practice we don't increase it

we reduce it to zero and

focus only on the awareness practice on

the inclusive attention and it must be

done by only those people whose

attention is very bad so these two

are the objectives of the attention

practice

like we say in the video most probably

it is mentioned in the video that

without attention there is no hope of

awareness what is awareness that

i am the experiencer of all the

experiences illusory experiences and

where is the attention for a normal

person it is drifting it is not steady

nothing is attended to actually it's all

mechanical

reactive

life

so as soon as you attend to something

you obviously become aware of it with

the awareness should come this

thought or a state of being that i am

not this it is a negative thought that i

am not this

i am not that objects not

body i am not anything any thoughts

any feelings or emotions i'm not this is

the awareness practice and the thoughts

can be look all these desires are coming

all these thoughts are coming all these

feelings are there pain is there or

pleasure is there or something like this

hunger is there and the actions are

happening this is the state of awareness

not being the doer not being the thinker

but being the observer this

identification is the state of awareness

and it is helped by the attention if you

don't pay attention to whatever is

happening the mind gets nothing to be

aware of even these thoughts will not

arise

and the inclusiveness will not happen

this is the point of attention exercises

and if the attention is not moved from

the outside to the inside inside means

in the mind then there is no possibility

of awareness also introversion must

happen like we say look within that must

happen usually the attention is focused

totally outside in the world so to make

it more inclusive we recommend that you

travel from the grass to subtle in steps

from gross objects to the body from

sensations of the body to the subtle

objects then totally non-physical and

then

none of the objects if you include all

the experience what does it mean it

means you are not attending to something

specific and then you reach this open

space of awareness

whatever i call as experiencing or

samadhi and you taste it a little bit

continue your life as usual in awareness

there is no need to extend the attention

practice beyond 15 minutes or 20 minutes

no need at all this is like weight

lifting there is no need to lift the

weight whole day 15 minutes 20 minutes

is enough and then the muscles build up

awareness is like walking yes you can

walk whole day you can talk whole day

work whole day that has no bad effect on

the body so hopefully the practices are

clear

graham is another message

this past week in awareness practice

there was feeling that no effort was

required

then there is concern that effort is

dropping too early the knowledge the

time the experience is solid but other

facts that follow from that i am not the

doer others are me i am shiva i do not

automatically arise how should we assess

the need for effort in awareness

practice and experiments it is very easy

if your bliss is lost

frequently if your peace is disturbed

frequently then more

effort is needed otherwise let it happen

effortlessly very

the scale

or the

instrument to measure your awareness

is the bliss joy state of joy

carelessness

in all these

higher qualities that arise

compassion and so on love and so on and

dropping of pettiness

carefree attitude

these things are the measures and then

if that is the state then no effort will

be needed in fact if the awareness goes

away after attaining these higher states

then we don't worry because it is bound

to come back

the thoughts like i am not the doer and

so on if they don't come

then they don't come there is no need to

bring them there is no no need to force

them why this thought is not coming in

my mind is that natural no and if the

thoughts they come then you need to

become aware awareness is most important

not not the other thoughts

the problem

with this thing is that people try to

do the awareness it is not possible

awareness is above

the action and awareness is about and

beyond the thoughts so how can you bring

it by this

lower activity all you can do is

surrender in the lower layers let go of

the action and let go of the thoughts

and you will find there is awareness so

the more you try to do it the less the

awareness will be because you will

remain in mind the point is to rise

above the mind not to do

let it be let things be as they are and

notice

noticing observing

graham is saying i have all those

positive centers by your grace things

going so smoothly worried just related

yes if there is no storm then the boat

is you know already sailing nicely there

is no need to bring in the storm that is

the whole point we need to drop the

practice as soon as possible just like

we drop the attention practice we drop

the awareness practice also there's no

need to do it it should become your

nature to be aware it should not remain

a practice just like riding the bike if

you keep practicing all your life how to

ride the bike that is

not very logical something is wrong

there you should practice riding the

bike for few months and then

it should become your nature you sit on

the bike and the bike runs

does not fall see

very common sense very very simple

why people can't understand the

simplicity of the practice because of

their past they are coming from the

paths where the practices were so

convoluted and so difficult and so you

can say enigmatic

mysterious

that they have this

the minds of the people are now

completely distorted regarding what

should be the practice so what i have

done is i have cleared it up a little

bit but still i could not make it this

simple be that which you are one line

practice

no need to correct your behavior it will

correct itself no need to change

anything they will change themselves

things will change themselves just

observe whatever is happening should

observe

if no change happens that should be

observed and if change happens that

should be observed if this dream takes a

good turn

no problem at all and if it is going as

it is smoothly no problem at all

nothing needs to happen actually if

nothing is happening you're simply aware

best best thing

and if there were lots and lots of

impurities and lots of challenges in

your life and they are now getting

solved

then also it is okay so some people will

get this kind of explosive corrections

done in their mind which is okay and

some people because they are already

pure mostly or they have minor things or

it is you can say some imaginary

impurities

i need to be like this not like that

because somebody else is like this

imaginary

failure in self evaluation so that is

not good so what do we recommend you

practice for three months under me then

your program ends or you move on to

other things you see but continue the

awareness practice in the background and

drop the attention practice totally if

you keep doing the attention for many

years what is what does that mean

probably it means that you did not

understand what attention is why it is

being done or probably it is producing

some kind of reward in the mind with to

which the mind has become habitual it

has become dependent on this sitting

practice and probably there is a notion

in the mind that this is called

spirituality to sit with the eyes closed

is called spirituality that is the wrong

notion in the

minds of many people that is called a

practice that is not called spirituality

living your life fully in this moment in

complete awareness is spirituality the

awareness in the knowledge component

makes ordinary life spiritual life

remove the knowledge and awareness

ordinary life it is so simple

add all the practices and all these

things yes

like lot of madness

depends on person to person what do they

like to do in their life but that is not

spirituality you are still doing there

is still effort there is still

compulsion to do it's not called freedom

freedom is to let go and just be

rajid is saying these attention

practices triggered my earlier practices

she shared with you that day yeah that's

why i recommend you know give up the old

at least

for the time being while you are in the

program you should give up the old

because what happens is

then they fall back into the old pattern

and i hope that after three months four

months six months whatever time you take

the old will not be required anymore

that is by hope but if you still need to

do the old then continue it after the

program you see no harm some people were

asking me should i join this

new course should i do this new

meditation and all and i said yes what

you after the program you are the master

of your will since the program

requires a bit of discipline that is why

people are stopped from doing whatever

they are doing

if it is something harmless then okay

then continue or there are major

problems in the

life and there are some tantric

practices and all so okay continue

sometimes i add to their practices so

this happened to one person that he said

i cannot let go of worshiping the

deities

in my house i said add add the deities

into your you know collection of deities

like he had five or six of them and it

is old pattern to worship them because

if you don't worship the deities what is

the fear in the mind

they will become angry on you and

something bad will happen in my life

superstition you see

so could not let go of it i'm in

awareness i have the knowledge but i

cannot stop this practice so okay i said

add more you know add the photo of

shankaracharya i said add

the picture of saraswati there and add

more photos of ramad maharishi and all

these people let your worship take the

form of path of knowledge now worship

the path of knowledge so i don't know

what happened after that but

hopefully the uselessness of that

practice was seen because when you are

standing before the deities obviously

you forget the path of knowledge so

these more deities were included more

gurus were included in the worship guru

nanak and all this and then instantly

the mind remembers

what am i doing here so

sometimes some tricks are useful

to get back on the path sometimes

letting the practice old practice happen

will be useful but not always 90 percent

of the time they cause problems

getting the knowledge immediately there

is a question what is the use of this

knowledge

it does not look like practical and

obviously there is no use of it that is

not practical it works at the higher

layers

not the knowledge is not something which

should be employed or which should be

done it is not a you can say training of

some kind that okay i gave you this

knowledge now do this that is your

indoctrination that if i learn something

in the college in school

now i need to do it

but

the knowledge on the power of knowledge

is simply clearing of the impurities

clearing of the ignorance that's all it

is purification of wrong thoughts see

how simple it is

i again and again i'll focus on

simplicity no need to make it so complex

that you're lost in the path of

knowledge then what is the use of this

path then if this path is also doing the

same that the other parts are doing what

is the use of this path it is also

making you go round and round and round

in practices and some kind of lifestyle

and so on wear this don't fear that eat

this don't eat that and so it's there is

nothing here

simplify reduce let go minimize

destroy this is the practice

what happens is people cannot deal with

this simplicity because the mind likes

complexity so we have added the step

number four after knowing after chapter

20 no need actually no need of anything

after the self-realization is there

nothing is needed the naturally natural

abidance should happen immediately this

has happened to many people i'm not

saying that everybody fails no no no

very very brilliant people are there

they hear me and the path ends there

nothing needs to be done now

in my case also i continued many

practices even after realizing the true

nature and so on because of the inertia

of the mind and obviously the body

continues to live so continuation of the

desires fulfillment

this thing this wheel will come to a

stop somewhere

who knows

and

then slowly the letting go happens

slowly we realize that this is a dream

and no amount of fixing things in the

dream

works

what works is waking up from the dream

keep fixing the dream forever it will

keep giving you something to fix the

nature of the dream maya is such that it

keeps giving you something to do

something to fix this is the trap now

you need to wake up let go of fixing

everything

we are not meant to fix it we are meant

to leave it

this much is very difficult for people

very very difficult

knowledge is easy yes

give them the most difficult practice in

the world easy ask them to climb the

mountain very easy letting go is most

difficult

because of the inertia of the mind it

has

done nothing but accumulation since many

thousand years probably millionaires who

knows how many years you know the years

are not meaningful many lifetimes it has

done only accumulation to you cannot

simply reverse it you see the train will

crash if you stop it suddenly so we'll

let the train continue and then keep

turning it in the reverse direction

finally it goes around and then reverses

back and the letting go starts

and if this is not happening

simply keep keeping the awareness on

will turn your train backwards

awareness is nothing but stopping and

looking

practices are letting the train

run for a while same with the desire

fulfillment i say fulfill it why that is

your nature that is what you do it if

you stop it suddenly it's like an

accident crash so we break it slowly

then turn it back and this happens

naturally actually you don't need to do

much keep the light on that's all i ask

no i i lose it

here and there and then you know after

three hours of awareness there is no

awareness for

six hours as in no problem it is there

there is forgetting that's all some

people have this fear that i am going to

lose my awareness forever i'll forget

whatever i learned

remember that

the learning that happened is not

something which you should remember it

is not a memorization of the teachings

it is a clean up of the ignorance will

the ignorance come back no if there is

enough awareness

it will not repeat that is why i keep

giving this example of hot pan if you

touch the hot pan do you worry that i'll

forget that i need not touch the hot pan

again you never worry about it it will

not happen again and even if it happens

yes next time it will not happen

will you forget your real nature what is

the loss in that

you are additional you cannot change so

even the forgetting does nothing to the

experiencer you have the proper

impressions in the causal body and it

will come back if it come back comes

back after many lifetimes no problem at

all because you have eternity how much

is that the mind cannot even grasp what

is this and it worries about small

things that today i was not aware i

forgot everything look at the eternity