Miracle Of Witness Consciousness - The Eye
Miracle OfWitness Consciousness(Based on Shiva Sutras)By PrabhuAtma Jyothi Publication,No 23, Srisailam, Indian Bank Colony, Rajarajeshwari Nagar,Bangalore -9Email : atmajyothi@gmail.com1
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Know ThyselfThis book is about you.About your inner Self astaught by Enlightened Master Lord Shiva in theancient treatise called Shiva Sutras.It is aboutknowing your Higher Self which is Light ofawareness and discarding your lower self which isborn out of darkness of ignorance.Who You AreYou are the Eternal Self (Atman), Eternal Witness(Sakshi) – of the drama of life involving the play ofmind and matter.You are the Light of the Self (Atma Jyothi) whichis also the Light of Universe (Brahma Jyothi)knowing which you become the light for the world(Jagat Jyothi) - light of Love, Compassion andWisdom.3
What you are notYou are not the body, nor the mind nor thememory or the intellect. You are not the doer, nor the enjoyer and notthe thinker.The wisdom of what you are not is the essentialmeaning of “Atatwam Asi - Thou Art Not that”Enlightenment and LiberationFreedom from suffering by knowing who youare not, is called Liberation (mukti).Experiencing Eternal Peace (Para Shanti),Eternal Bliss (Ananda) by realizing who youare, is called Enlightenment.4
Dance and DancerCan the dance be different from the Dancer?Can the Creation be different from the Creator?Behold the Great Cosmic Dance and the Dancer,The Glory, the Beauty of Divine DanceOf Shiva and Shakti,Of Consciousness and Energy,In living and non livingIn mountain and valleyIn Sky, earth and waterIn fire and wind.In Mind and MatterIn Atom and MoleculesAnd Galaxies.5
Cosmic Dancer –Nataraja on Cover PageThe cover page depicts the cosmic dancer Shivain the form of Nataraja. Shiva is the UniversalConsciousness. Shakti – the energy is His Consort.The ancient sculpture of Nataraja represents thedance of the Cosmos. The dance of Nataraja goes onat all levels in the Universe – from galaxies to subatomic particles.He is the creator. He is thecreation. He is the dancer. He is the dance. He is thesubject. He is the object. We are all part of thiseternal Cosmic Dance.This is what Einstein has to say aboutrelationship between us and the Cosmos.“A human being is a part of the whole, called byus Universe, a part limited in time and space. Heexperiences himself, his thoughts and feelings assomething separated from the rest-a kind of opticaldelusion of his consciousness. This delusion is akind of prison, restricting us to our personal desires6
and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Ourtask must be to free from this prison by wideningour circle of compassion to embrace all livingcreatures and the whole nature in its beauty.”–Albert Einstein.The sculpture represents the wonderful play ofShiva and Shakti– Creation, Sustenance anddestruction of the cosmos and also of participationin the cosmic drama in the form of individual soul„jiva’. It also represents the power of deluding andfreeing of the soul. The various symbols in thesculpture of Nataraja are described belowSarpa – Snake represents the kundalini, the energyresponsible for human evolution. Damaru – The drum in the upper right handrepresents the creation of cosmos in the form ofprimordial cosmic sound Om Agni – The fire in the upper left arm represents thepower of destruction of cosmos. Apasmara – The dwarf being trampled by Shivarepresents ignorance of the earth bound soul - jiva. Prabhamandala – Outer ring of fire represents the7
subtle and gross principles of cosmos and the innerring represents water. Together the outer and innerrings represent duality inherent in cosmos. Uplifted left leg represents the power of wisdom forliberating the jiva. Left hand pointing to the left legassures the Grace of Shiva for the spiritual aspirant.Lower right hand provides abhaya – fearlessness inthe form of Grace of the Lord. Un-matted hairrepresents the chaotic condition of the universeduring the process of creation. Tandava - The dance performed by Lord Shivarepresents the cosmic dance of creation, sustenanceand destruction.8
Table of Contents1.0 Who are you? . 122.0 Inner Self is Shiva! .473.0 The Bondage . 554.0 Path to Freedom . 775.0 Super consciousness .996.0 Flowering of Bliss .1127.0 Contemplations and Meditation . 1258.0 Recommended Books .128Annexure I : Spiritual Heart .129Annexure II : Macrocosm and Microcosm .1329
Dedicated to theLotus feetofSadguruFirst Edition – 24th May 2007, Kailas Manasa Sarovar.Revised Edition – 17th December 2010 – Gita Jayanthi.10
Grateful AcknowledgementsTo the existence SupremeTo the Enlightened Masters – Rishis and SadgurusTo the group of spiritual aspirants - SanghaTo all my students - carriers of Light – Atma JyothisTo Guruji Shri Ram BhandarkarTo Shri Sudhindra Tirth MaharajTo the family deities Shri Kathyayini-BaneshwarTo my wife Mamatha,To my daughters Kathyayini and Maithreyi,To my parents Smt Shantha and Shri Devadas PrabhuTo my in-laws Smt Kasturi and Shri K.M.N.Kamath11
1.0 Who are you?"Enquire into the nature of yourself. Find out whoyou are and become free.” so said the EnlightenedMaster Ajja when we met him in his residence in asmall village of India. The glow in his face, the joyin his body language and the peace I felt in hispresence had a deep impact on me. I was startled byhis questions. This led me to a search for the answer- journey into my own consciousness. The questionbecame a quest a burning desire to discover myselfwhich led me to many great Spiritual Masters.12
This book is based on the wisdom andunderstanding I gained during the course of myspiritual journey, described through framework of“Shiva Sutras” one of the most ancient treatise onthe topic of enlightenment and liberation. “ShivaSutra” is a dialogue between Enlightened MasterShiva and his spouse and disciple Shakti on thenature of enlightenment and path to liberation.To understand ourselves, we need to understandour bodies first. We have three bodies according toyoga as shown in the figure below.13
First one is the gross body consisting of blood,flesh bones and all internal organs. Second one isthe subtle body, operating from the center of ourforehead which controls the physical body throughthe energy system of six chakras. The subtle body iscontrolled by causal body operating from the heartregion. We can explain the operation of these bodieswith the analogy of a car and its driver.14
Who is the Driver?When we see a vehicle moving on the road, weknow that there is a driver inside who is steering thevehicle. Is it the physical body of the driver which isdriving the vehicle or his mind? It is the mind of thedriver which is controlling the physical body. Thecar and drivers body are visible but the actualdriver – the mind is invisible. This is how the subtledrives the gross. Similarly, the causal body andsubtle body drive the gross body in human beings.Beyond the three bodies, there is the fourth body.The fourth body is the pure awareness – divinity inus. While the gross, subtle causal bodies belong toindividual, fourth body is universal. It is common toall beings. The purpose of self-enquiry is todiscover our essential nature – higher Self – theFourth body. It is called Sakshi – the witness.Our Spiritual HeartGreat Spiritual Masters pose one question. “Whoare you?” What is the importance of this question?It is an invitation for us to explore the treasure of15
Kingdom of Divinity within us. All the majorSacred Books of the world declare this Truth.Lord resides in the Heart of every being– Bhagavad-Gita 18.61Next question which arises in our mind is aboutthe Heart. What is this Heart and where is it?Obviously it is not the physical heart which is beingspoken of in this proclamation. The ancientlanguage of Sanskrit speaks of the heart as hridaya– center from which our sense of self arises. All ofus feel that we are the body-mind-intellect complex.This is feeling of “small i” or our lower self. Inreality we are not this lower self but the witness –sakshi. The witness in us is our Higher Selfrepresented by “big I”. The feeling of “small i”arises in our spiritual heart called antakarana. Thereal Self, the “big I” is beyond time and space andwitnesses the actions of ego self –“small i”. Thecall is for us to discover the Witness in us.16
The representation of our lower self and HigherSelf is shown in the figure in next page.Theessence of the wisdom of Higher self and Lowerself is given in the form of the story “Hiding Placefor God”.Higher SelfBliss, Love, WisdomLower self( suffering)Hiding Place of GodOut of creative urge, God created the beautifuluniverse. He populated the universe with plants,animals, and birds. All beings were living happily.Then God created man and woman. That was thebeginning of the trouble for God. Every day, Godstarted receiving complaints from man. This is notok, that is not ok. Winter should be hot and summershould be cool. So on and so forth. The list was17
endless. God got fed up with this list. He wanted toescape from man. He tried to hide under the sea.Unfortunately for God, man created submarine andcaught hold of Him. Then God tried to escape tomoon. He was peaceful there till the first manlanded on moon. God was worried. Based on theadvice of his councilors, He finally found a safeplace to hide - in the Spiritual Heart of humanbeings. So far God is safe there. People aresearching for God in various places Temple,church, mountain and sky.We are ignorant of our True Nature. Instead ofexperiencing the Bliss and Peace of our Higher Self,we suffer. We are stuck to our lower self.Fortunately for us, there is a way out of thissuffering. We can choose to drop our identificationwith the lower selfconsciousness ofto establish in the blissfulour Higher Self. For this,it isnecessary to understand our spiritual heart in greaterdetail before we proceed with our spiritual journey.The spiritual Heart has four components asshown in the figure below.18
The four components of the Spiritual Heart are –the objective mind (manas), the subjective mind(buddhi), the subconscious (chitta) and the egosense (ahankara).The witness (Sakshi) illuminates all the fourcomponents of the Spiritual Heart.Just like thephysical heart which is responsible for pumping theblood, the Spiritual Heart generates feelings,emotions and thoughts which drive the physicalbody.19
It is the Spiritual Heart which moves to anotherbody after death. It is here we have to discover theDivinity. In yogic terminology Spiritual Heart iscalled as the inner instrument (antakarana). Thefunctioning of the spiritual Heart is explainedbelow.Functioning of the Spiritual HeartThe operation of the spiritual Heart is shown inthe ensuing figure. The inputs from sense organs arereceived by the objective mind (manas). When thesenses become aware of some object, an impressionof the object is created in the objective mind. Theobjective mind queries “what is this object”? Forfurther processing, the inputs pass through thesubconscious mind (chitta) – vast store house ofmemory and egoistic impressions (samskaras).20
When thematch for the object is found inmemory (smriti) associated egoistic impressions(samskaras) arise from the subconscious. For21
example if chair is the object seen by the senses,chitta identifies the object as “plastic chair orwooden chair”. Egoistic impressions color theperception with “my chair, nice chair . etc.” Theintellect takes decision based on the inputs fromchitta and directs the organs of action.Due toaccumulated impressions (samskaras), there is senseof ego – (ahankara) in every decision making. Thisego sense is our lower self.Spiritual PracticesThe purpose various spiritual practices cious (chitta) so that intellect becomes free.The freed intellect operates directly under theguidance of the Witness (Sakshi) – our Higher Self.The purpose of practicing the three systems of yoga– Karma yoga, Bhakti yoga or Raja yoga is to purifythe chitta. Purification of chitta leads to serenity ofthe mind. Serene Mind can enquire into true natureof ego self and get freed from the bondage. Thisprocess of self-enquiry is Jnana yoga.22
It is the process of self-enquiry which shatters theillusion of ego self and establishes us in our HigherSelf. The question “Who am I” is the tool used forself- enquiry. Whenever we ask the question “Whoam I?” we get various answers – “I am body/I amhusband/I am wife/ I am professional etc.” Allthese answers are nothing but impressions in chitta.To find the rights answer a simple question of thisnature becomes difficult for us due to our blind spot.Our Blind SpotThe question “Who am I?” - appears to be verysimple. Any answer we get for this question – “I amman/woman, I am Indian/German, I am musician”fails to address this question. Every answer seems tobe defining some aspects of me rather than tellingabout me.In this age, when information on every little thingin the universe is at our finger tips, why do we findit is so difficult answer such a simple question? We23
seem to have no difficulty in understanding verycomplicated subjects be it nuclear physics ormolecular biology. But we are at loss when we tryto understand ourselves. Why?We are good at understanding all things whichare objective in nature. But when it comes tosubjective matters, we are at a loss. We can see verysmall mistakes done by others while ignoring thegrossest blunder of our own relatives or ourselves.We seem to be suffering from a problem of shortsightedness. When it comes to something closer tous, our self-interest pops up. It distorts the vision. Itcreates the confusion. It is our blind spot.Thespiritual blindness is indicated through the characterof Dhritarasthra in the great epic Mahabharat.24
Story of the Blind KingBlind King Dhritarasthra in the epic story ofMahabharata represents the spiritual blindness ofhuman beings. He had one hundred children calledKauravas. He was very much attached to hischildren. He kept on ignoring the blunders done byhis children. Against the advice of the wisest peoplein his court, he ignored even the acts of outrage ofthe modesty of his own daughter-in-law Draupadi.Due to several such acts of injustice, a great battleensues where in all his hundred children get killedby cousins. Symbolically, the Kauravas representour egoistic negative thought patterns andPandavas represent our positive thought patternsand Dhritarasthra represents our spiritualblindness.Like blind king Dhritarastra in the epic story ofMahabharat, who tolerated every misdeed of hischildren due to the parental affection, our judgmenterrs when we look at ourselves. That is the reasonwhy we find the answer for the question “Who amI” so eluding. If we can observe ourselves and ouractions objectively and dispassionately, the answer25
about the nature of our own self becomes t of witness consciousness (Sakshibhava).Witness Consciousness (Sakshi Bhava)Witnessing is the ability to watch. It is the abilityto see things as they are in a non-judgmental way.byperceiving things as they are. At the outset it mayappear to be a very simple task. But it is not. Everyperception of ours is colored by uncontrolled noiseof mental chatter arising out of our chitta. Everyconclusion we derive is corrupted by explicit andimplicit belief system. Mind sees reality based onthe impressions rather than seeing it as it is.Cultivating the witness consciousness frees theintellect from the mental chatter and helps us todevelop the ability of seeing things as they are.Development of witness consciousness is the26
essence of spiritual life. It is the essence ofmeditation. It is the ultimate results of all the pathsof yoga, be it path of ac action (Karma Yoga) orpath of devotion (Bhakti yoga) or path of wisdom(Jnana Yoga) and royal path (Raja yoga). The lifeled in such a state is full of bliss.Witness consciousness is the ability to be adetached observer in every situation of life.Bondage and LiberationIntellect aligning with lower self “small i” basedon egoistic impressions in Chitta is called bondage.Intellect operating under the influence of thewitness in us – Sakshi is called liberation. One whois established in witness consciousness is called“enlightened”- sthita prajna by Shri Krishna.“ One who is not elated in joyful situation, anddoes not get depressed in sorrowful situations oflife, One whose mind is free from the attractions27
and repulsions caused by objects of senses and Onewho is free from the afflictions of mind in the formof anger and fear is indeed enlightened “. –Bhagavadgita.2.56That brings us to the question, how to develop thewitness consciousness and what to observe? Howto cultivate the ability of observing of various layersof our personality in an objective and nonjudgmental way to discover the weaknesses andtreasures within us? The cultivation of this abilitynot only helps us elevate spiritually, but also helpsus function efficiently in the worldly matters.Witness consciousness helps us to shed thesuffering in our life and experience the eternal blisswhich is our true nature. Establishment in witnessconsciousness (sakshi bhava) frees us from thesuffering.28
Pain and SufferingTo be free from suffering, we should know thereal nature of suffering. Suffering is different frompain. Pain and pleasure are part of life, part ofexistence. Pain can be physical due to illness orinjury to the body or it can be mental because ofreasons like separation from loved ones or loss ofvaluables etc. While pain can be of temporarynature, suffering can be long lasting. The sufferingin our life is due to the prolongation of painpsychologically. Suffering is the wound in the mindwhich takes long time to heal. For example loss ofmoney can cause momentary mental pain but,brooding over that loss over and over againthroughout the life causes immense idable, suffering is optional. Suffering is achoice made by the individual. Suffering can bereduced or eliminated by understanding the real29
nature of suffering. Suffering is the mentalimpressions acquired during interactions in theworld. This is what we call as karma or karmicbondage. With a proper attitude towards life,suffering can be minimized or ever eliminated. Forthat we need to understand the nature of life.Flow of lifeDuality is nature of life. Nature is full ofcontradictions and opposing forces. Light anddarkness, peaks and valleys, cold and heat, soundand silence are all part of nature. Every happeningin nature is transient. Everything passes away in notime. Nothing is permanent. Darkness of nightfollows sunshine in the morning. Life flowscontinuously like a river. It is the fluidity of lifewhich makes life interesting and challenging.Every moment of life is new. Every moment, a freshresponse or perspective is needed to respond to lifemeaningfully.30
While nature of life is fluidity, human mind wantsconcreteness and stability. The mind looks for statusquo. While change is the only permanent thing inlife, human mind craves for the stability. There canbe no stability or permanence in life. Very nature oflife is impermanence and change.This kind ofunrealistic expectation by the human mind is thecause of suffering.Root Cause of SufferingIn the heart of our heart, we look for stability. Welook for maintaining what we have – status quo.While aging is the nature of body, we crave foryouthful look. While death
Miracle Of Witness Consciousness (Based on Shiva Sutras) By Prabhu . 2 . 3 Know Thyself This book is about you. . Of Consciousness and Energy, In living and non living In mountain and valley In Sky, earth and water I
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