There is No 'Seer' There is Only Seeing (Ashtavakra Gita 1.7) - 8th October 2016

So there's no inside and there's no outside? There is no inside and outside in reality? Yes, you mean the body boundary. Body boundary. When I say I am the witness of that which all there is, it's a concept for me. That must be... it's just a concept right now. It mustn't be a concept, right? It mustn't be a concept. It must be real.

Okay, the first part is clear, that you are the solitary witness. Yes?

Yes, it is. The second part which is causing trouble is 'of all that is.' Is it that it is only seen? There's a seeing. It is saying the solitary witness, and then what part is it? Is it just conceptual? Is there no entity that is seeing? Yes, it's vastness that is seeing? Like that? Still, that is not... it is not very clear.

Oh, yes. Yes. Okay, maybe your question could imply two things. First is that the solitary witness... he says it's a solitary witness, and sometimes when we hear the word witness, we can imagine or conjure up an idea of an entity that the witnessing belongs to. So this witness has the power of witnessing, but actually there is no witness per se; it is only the witnessing. So although it sounds like a noun, it is actually just a verb. There is no seer; it is just a seeing. You are not a thing. The witness is not a thing, you see? Because if it was a thing, then even that would be witnessed, you see? All that has attributes... to say that something has an attribute, it must be seen, isn't it? You see? So this seeing itself is... so this witnessing itself actually has no size. Even to say vastness, although we say that in Satsang sometimes, is not accurate because it does not conform to any paradigm of time and space at all. Time and space come much later. I often call them the grandchildren of awareness. So to say it is vast or small, both is not true. It does not operate in spatial terms at all. This awareness that you are aware of now, what is the size of it? Is it vast or is it small? Can you check and tell me? The witness that you are aware of now, is it vast or small?

I feel I am not there.