How Are We Attached to All of This? (Ashtavakra Gita 13.2) - 25th November 2016

So first the attention goes and then a thought must arise of either... a thought arises that this will make me happy or this is the cause of my unhappiness.

Now take a real example. Radha is in front of you. Yeah. How will you attach to her?

First I must at least believe that Radha is really there. Yes. Okay. If I don't believe she's there, maybe I won't get attached. But if I believe she's there... the funny thing is that first I have to believe that I'm also there. Yes, that is more important. I exist as an entity and then I must first think that, okay, I'm here as an entity who has likes and dislikes and can be attached. So I have to have this belief of 'me.' Then this subtle... and then I have to see, okay, this is this person, this is another entity like me sitting there. They're doing this, yeah. And just whatever actions or whatever she does, then I can like them or dislike them or have a story about them. Basically, take a story.

So the story can be that... do it lightly, okay? I don't want you to get obsessed or something with Radha. No, no, I'm just... no, but I'm getting obsessed with firstly what I just found myself saying: that I must believe myself to be a person to begin with. So can I go back to... let's take that very slowly. Yeah. The appearances are all appearing. No person is here yet. How do you presume yourself to be a person? Now suppose the thought is coming only about the appearance: 'Oh, she's a very good singer. Yeah, I want to be friends with her.' So this thought is coming. Now, in the buying of this thought itself, it didn't have to specifically tell you that you are a person. The presumption is already sold in that—that there is an entity here who wants to be friends with her because she's a very good singer. So not only did this thought create the presumption that I am an entity, it also sold you the idea that that appearance is a separate entity.

But these thoughts will appear. The thought came. Everything that is appearing... the usual state of humanity is that the interpreter mind is sitting over there and giving us ideas. So the thought will appear. Just by the appearance of the thought, are you attached?

No. Just by the appearance of... like you just said, if a feeling is just coming that I'm a person or something, it's just... now it kind of penny-dropped that it's also another thought and doesn't need to be bought into. Yeah, it can also be allowed to just... or at least can be witnessed to. If you patiently wait and see, it will go away. Yes, yes. But the reflex is so quick that it seems just like natural to... and then the story with the other one. I think they both arise together. Me and the other are coming at the same time.

Exactly. So if you were a real spiritual warrior with lot of spiritual muscle, then a Sage might come to you and say, 'Just let go of all your thoughts.' Finished. You have disposed of the mind. No attachment is possible. And when the sharing of Satsang started here also, the pointing was 'let go of your thoughts.' Then what started to happen was people would come and say, 'But I'm not able to let go.' And I would say, 'But what do you mean not able to let go?' Then they would say, 'Oh, my attention is still very attracted to these thoughts. I cannot divest my attention from them.' So I said, 'Okay, let's make it even simpler. Let go of your next thought.' That's all. Just the next one, you see? And they said, 'Okay, then now you're trying to trick us because thoughts only come one by one, so it's the same thing.' Then I said, 'Okay, let your attention also go to the thoughts if you want, just don't give them your belief.'

So if the thought comes 'I am a pink elephant,' attention can still go to it, but just because attention went to the thought 'I am a pink elephant,' you don't believe it. So then the pointing changed to become: don't believe your next thought. That is simple, isn't it? Simpler. But you see that it is only through belief in this presumption, which is sold through the thought that there is separation, that actually happened—that I can attach to the outside world. See, in the same way we attached to the body. Actions are happening in the body. A thought comes and says, 'You should not have done that' or 'Oh, good you did that,' is it? 'Maybe you should do that,' is it? And it is just a presumption that the movement is being controlled by the appearance of this measly energy construct called thought.

This doership is completely false, and doership plays a strong role in creating this sense of body identification. 'I am the body' because it sells you a lie that the body is moving to your instruction. Actually, the movement of the body is just happening, you see. The mind will come and say, 'No, no, I'll show you. I'll move the body now and show you.' And anytime this thought comes, if you believe it, the body also doesn't move. But sometimes it does move and the mind will come and say, 'See, I told you.' Just a series of random happenings. It is as it is said in the Yoga Vasistha: the bird came and sat on the branch of the coconut tree and the coconut fell. The story that is told by the mind is that these are a series of connected events, one is the cause of another. Post hoc ergo propter hoc—that's a popular fallacy that just because something precedes another thing, it is the cause of that thing.

Then you ask the mind, 'So do you know how to move your hand?' 'Yes, I'll move it and show you.' But how do you do it? Do you know how to fire a neuron? Do you actually know how to do anything even energetically? It doesn't know. So if it doesn't know, then why do we give it so much credit that it is doing these actions? So to believe ideas about doership is one, and to believe ideas about sensations happening to this individual me, the body being experienced. Look at those sensations now and tell me how these are your sensations. Who is the 'me' that is experiencing these sensations? Who is the personal 'me' who is suffering or experiencing these sensations, either of pain or of pleasure? Don't interpret, just look. Find the sensation in your body and find out in which space it is being experienced. See if there's a person there in this space. There's an entity which is suffering from this experience, whatever the experience might be.

And just like you cannot find the entity that wanted to have a relationship with the appearance of another outside, seemingly you cannot find the entity who is the experiencer of this pain. There is no individual entity. See if you can find a 'me' entity. What are the attributes of this one? What is the size and shape of this one? What is the location of this one? Know that because we say 'entity,' it means that it must be located within time and space. Find out whether the space in which these sensations are being experienced is limited in any way. See how the sensations which seem to define the boundaries of your body are actually not your boundaries. These sensations are experienced within your own space of existence, of being. How do we attach to these sensations? Only by believing an idea about them, by believing the subtle story that 'I am this body.' But I am not. Just like traffic on the street, the sensations are also appearing for you, appearing and disappearing. The space in which they appear is untouched by them.