Shunya and the Self

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tKloBo-pU0

so

nick is asking now

sir is the experience of shunya is the

experience of the self

yes it is the self is nothing but sunita

emptiness

uh you can see it right now also

the experience of shunya is not really

an experience

it is that place from where the

experiencing is happening

you can look at it right now also

what is there to experience in the self

and if you can experience it

you can categorize it as an experience

not the experiencer

the self is defined as that which

experiences

the self is the

experiencer keep this in mind always you

see on the path of knowledge the success

lies in this

discrimination

discriminate between what is experience

and what is experiencing it that which

is experiencing is the self

always discriminate so when you say

experience of shunya it is an

impossibility because shunya the

experiencing happens from shunya it

cannot be it can convert it into an

experience of any kind it is that which

is

taking in the experiences

and since it cannot be experienced it is

also called soon which means zero which

means emptiness

you cannot call it nothing isn't it and

nothing cannot experience anything

although sometimes we say you know it is

nothing it is nothing

it is but it is best to call it

emptiness because that is what it looks

like

that is what it feels like it is empty

of all experiences

empty of all feelings empty of any

content that place which is experiencing

in you right now

that place which is aware of all

experiences aware of our feelings

thoughts

mental activity

is even aware of

the concept of emptiness

so

you will find a concept of emptiness

that is in your mind

like the mind is thinking about

emptiness what is emptiness where can i

find it and there is an emptiness that

is looking at the mind thinking like

this

so it cannot be known intellectually

it's impossible to know the

intellectually it is impossible to

experience the shunya don't even try

because

because it will be always the place from

where the experiencing happens

and you will find something

extraordinary that that which is being

experienced is also shown now you are

experiencing yourself

yourself with capital s

the emptiness is

experiencing itself and these

experiences appear as forms

they appear as illusory forms like

flimsy images

and sensations and so on

this is what we call as the mind

what are we experiencing we are

experiencing a mind

we are not experiencing a world you are

not experiencing people this voice is

not a voice

it is just a mind it is

like appearances of various kinds

even the thoughts that happen even the

emotions that happen

your planning your desires your

intellectual abilities the skills and

whatever

the impulses

and

everything that you are experiencing is

a mind

what is that mind

you see you can take a metaphor like

the space and the wind

and the air if you want you see take a

space a room

which is empty and then there is air in

it and and

when the air is in motion it becomes

wind then it starts

uh producing an experience things start

waving changing when the wind blows if

the wind is silent if the wind is

standing there just stand still

there is no experience you call it the

experience of the space or experience of

the shunya when the movement happens the

wind blows we call it mind

is there anything which is separate from

in the air

are all these things you know

different from each other

the still air is same as the moving air

only that the moving air produces an

experience when it is still you cannot

see it

the still air is space it is you know it

occupies the whole space there is no

difference between space and air when it

is still

that is the stationary mind

that is no mind

still air you can compare it with no

mind and no mind is my real nature

the mind which is not moving

is shunya that is what

you know

the word emptiness points to a

non-moving mind

is shunya but it will not happen so

it will it is not going to happen very

frequently

you will need to pay attention you will

need to try to discriminate the wind

from the air

wind from the space

this discrimination is important that

which is watching the wind blowing is

the self and it is the space it is

emptiness the wind is mind it is

illusions it is just taking shapes forms

vortices

and sometimes it becomes a storm but who

cares it is just wind path anjali says

in the yoga sutra

is the yog that means

when the mind stops you can see the

union union of what the experience and

experience are

it happens

even if it happens for a second you know

that it is true

the space between two thoughts where the

wind is not moving you see close your

eyes and sit and think something

and the thought comes and the thought

goes and the wind stops

wind of the thought stops for a split

second between two thoughts if you are

paying attention you said that is what

is the meaning of the practice you will

need to sit and

see that

the mind is different from the space

that is experiencing

that is what is the essence of the

practice of

which is the seventh stage stage of

ashtang yog the eighth stages yog the

seventh

stage is dhan

which is trying to discriminate between

the activity of the mind and the one

that is

aware of this activity of the mind

discriminate and the eighth

step is samadhi that means you

incorporate the activity as activity of

the space itself the wind is nothing but

space in motion air in motion still

there in motion

that is

so that is why we say the forms that are

created that appear you know created is

not a good word the forms that appear in

our experience are nothing but the

experiencer in movement

since experiences is empty space the

empty space moves and still air moves it

does not make it real

it is just an experience that was still

as a self

and when it starts moving it becomes an

experience the same thing that is why we

call it non-duality advaith oneness

because it is one thing it is one thing

that that is appearing as two things

the way it is happening in that way you

see the wind is blowing in the space of

oneness

when it stops it is all one when it

is in motion it is still one appearing

as two

this everybody should be able to

discriminate

you all you all you need to do is look

at your experience right now right now

you must be experiencing something like

my voice

the sound the

birds around or anything

and that is happening

you are seeing the visions you are

seeing the

objects and people around you and the

sensations of the body and thoughts and

all

this

experience is happening on the

background on the screen of

consciousness

which is purely pure emptiness and these

are the movements these are mind you see

these experiences are nothing but mind

mind is nothing but the activity of the

mind mind is not a separate object which

you can experience

on the activity of the mind is all that

you can experience you see you can

experience only the moving wind

not the air

and

this

wind is nothing but

the same emptiness

that that has taken on a dynamic form

appearance right now it is happening in

the same way

all there is is this dynamic

experiencing

don't try to steal your mind because the

still mind is same as the moving mind

discriminate simply oh it is moving now

it was still now it is moving the space

between the thoughts is still then the

wind of the thoughts and the perceptions

uh and feelings and emotions starts

impulses desires and then after after a

few seconds

drops down again calm and then again

starts so it is very futile to stop this

thing to stop the mind

it is the nature of the existence to

move we cannot stop it so

realize the shudnita in the movement

also in the movements of the mind it is

sunnah

it is only

see that it is the mind that is moving

there is no experience

besides this play of stationary mind and

moving mind actually the mind is never

stationary you will see it only drops

down to a level where it becomes

imperceptible

it is it does not even stop after death

it won't stop it simply goes beyond the

physical

range of senses

the range of physical senses

then it sprouts back with new activity

isn't it

so this is the

message of

advaith and buddhism both are same

yes the experience of the experience of

self in rough words you know um

in

like

words of ordinary person you can say it

but the

language of ghani is different

do not call the as experience

it is that which experiences that is all

there is there is no experience separate

from

the experiencer

you can see it right now

and the activity of the mind can be

observed and when you are observing or

the mind is silent then also there is a

subtle activity

of observing and deducing that oh it

became silent and there is so it uh

reduces inactivity that is all i have

seen only that and then

emerges as activity if the mind stops

completely like it happens in the state

of deep sleep

where also i think no it does not stop

actually in my experience but it goes so

low it becomes imperceptible

the movement of the wind is so small

that nothing blows nothing moves nothing

waves in the wind that is the experience

of the deep sleep and that is also the

experience of the nirvikalp samadhi

where the mind is not moving at all but

you cannot experience anything then you

see

when you come out of nirvikalpa samadhi

or deep sleep you recall oh there was no

experience and this new experience

becomes the experience of the no mind

which is not an experience if you if you

use strict words it is no mind no

experience

and no experience is also the

experiencer something has experienced

during no experience

or in more accurate words

in strict language you say that the

experiencer

remains in latent form

during the samadhi state the nirvikalpa

samadhi state

are the deep sleep state or the states

of the causal body like after death

states for some time

so

nirvikal samadhi is no mind but that no

mind can be known only by the mind

mind is necessary the activity of the

mind is necessary to know the presence

of the experiencer otherwise the

experiencer will never know what it is

now that answers a very

frequently asked question about why

there is an experience

why

if i am the self i am the nirugan

without qualities without activities why

i had to take this trouble of creating

the experience

and uh the whole trouble is only so that

you know you're you're present

you know it

by activity of the mind

it is not there for uh kind of uh

it is not a useless thing the mind is

the mind becomes useless only when it is

producing suffering when it is in

ignorance a mind that is purified by

knowledge is a blissful like thing

because it is giving you a

experience of yourself

what can be more beautiful and

complete than knowing what you are right

now right here can there be any other

experience that is more beautiful than

that

yes when it is entangled in stuff that

the wind of the mind is producing

and there is you know millions of

varieties of these things that is

producing it is creating the experience

for our entertainment you can say

when it the mind itself gets tangled in

it

which is also called the sansar or the

maya then suffering arrives then he does

not know what is happening

you see

like a child lost in a

fair

there is activity there are so many

people thousands of people so many

things are going on but the child starts

crying because cannot see his mother

cannot he does not know where his home

is and it becomes he becomes

fearful the fear takes over that is the

fear of ignorance

the mahabhai oh i'm lost

and

i'm i have nowhere to go and i don't

know what to what to do now nobody is

taking care of me

and i need this i need that

don't you see this is the condition of

an ordinary person who is not in on the

spiritual path

lost child in a grand

like fanfare of some kind

lost in the activity of the mind

and that's what we call them as lost

in the

they are kind of trapped here they don't

know what to do

and they will remain like that till the

guru shows up like it happened to me

also you see it happens to everybody we

are we are born here that means we are

lost already otherwise otherwise why

will why are you why will you choose

this physical life

you know

so this is ignorance only so we are here

that means ignorance is there and it

will happen to everybody nothing to

worry the guru will show up one day you

see and guru will show you that you were

never lost it was just activity of the

mind it was a movie playing before you

you thought you were lost in the movie

look at yourself you are you are the

home

you are the mother you are the father so

you were never lost

all you need to do is turn 180 degree

you say look at that which is

experiencing this drama

this madness of the world look at that

thing it is you and that is your home

that is your mother that is your father

now there is nothing else except this

actually

where are you going to get lost you get

lost in your home only

you think that i'm lost because

probably it is dark it is dark in your

there is darkness in your room turn on

the light you know light of the

awareness

every the darkness will be dispelled

this will happen when you meet a guru

that's what happened to me and many of

our people here

in the satsang and i i always get you

know emails and

like messages from people

that

they have suddenly woken up to this they

have turned on the light in their room

and no more lost now

now the play of the mind the movie of

the mind can

uh play a play as usual there's nothing

wrong in that you see it is perfect

even the suffering is perfect even the

pain is perfect even whatever you call

as your troubles and burdens everything

is okay because

you see it is just a play

it is

you cannot say it is not real it is real

when you are in the play

isn't it

when you

sit back and observe i'm in this

seat watching the movie then it is it is

a play when you are involved in the

movie

it is real

so we do call it as maya we do call it

as illusion but illusion is the only

reality that you will ever experience

you cannot experience any other reality

which is more real than this activity of

the mind

look at the activity of the mind it is

real for all purposes

now the only ignorance is if you get

trapped in this activity if it starts

producing suffering well now you will

need to remind yourself that look this

is not real

that kind of

the maya and concepts of illusion are

like a medicine

for the sick

if you take it too seriously like get

too involved in it

like the suffering is too much you know

a little bit of suffering cannot be

avoided because it is our choice know

what to do if it's too much then

and that means the darkness is too much

then this medicine is given look

everything is unreal and when the mind

like kind of heals a little bit and the

guru will tell you look there is no

other reality except this

maya is unreal if you are ignorant

meditate on this thing

so nick it's saying