What You Really Are ... is Invisible (Ashtavakra Gita 1.5) - 27th September 2016
Saar (Essence)
Ananta guides seekers to realize their true nature as the attribute-less witness, explaining that the self is 'invisible' to the mind and senses because it is the formless subject, not a perceivable object.
The self is invisible because it has no attributes and cannot be perceived as an object.
Identification is impossible without concepts; the witness remains untouched by sensations unless a label is applied.
You have no duties or caste because you are the unattached, formless witness of all things.
contemplative
Transcript
This transcript is auto-generated and may contain errors.
You have no caste or duties. You're invisible, unattached, and formless. You are the witness of all things. So we will discuss the person. Unless a person was a reality, it is not possible to have a caste or then the duties of that caste. Then he goes on to describe what you really are, and he starts with: 'You are invisible.' Yeah, is there to be helped? Yeah, for those of you who are new to this assembly, but then if I'm invisible, then how do I find myself? Yes, because I'm looking for myself and you are saying I'm invisible, so this must be a contradiction, isn't it? So who can tell us why this is not? Also in the Hangout, you can see something. Why is the invisibility not a contradiction to finding yourselves?
Can I say, Father? It's Nanas. Yeah, I think really because the Self is invisible, yes. But if it is invisible, then is it possible to find something which is invisible? We are looking for the Self and the pointer is we are invisible, you see.
And then embrace it because you are yourself. Yes, but what does this mean? If I'm Janaka right now, yes, yes, yeah, but invisible, then how do I find? How do I realize this Self? How do I realize myself?
And can I say, I've actually... it's such a beautiful pointer because it completely knocks the mind out of the park right away. Like, you just really leave it.
Yes, a beautiful pointer. Because if I say, 'Please imagine something which is invisible,' can you do it? Yeah, you might imagine space only if you put a room around it. Maybe it is not part of the functioning of the mind. Even if you were to imagine space, you will imagine a dark space. You cannot imagine a colorless space. Imagine something which has no attributes in it. It would actually take a mind into it. Can you think of something which has no attribute whatsoever? Can you think about it? Can we report something on it? So this 'invisible' actually doesn't... I don't know what the original Sanskrit was, but the invisible doesn't just mean invisible in that sense of, you know, the Invisible Man, but more in the sense of no attribute at all. Because invisible could still mean that it has some weight, it has a mass. Here we are talking about that which has no attributes.
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As soon as you said invisible, what came to mind was that it's not anything you're perceiving. Yes, exactly. So, on any level. Because that's really, for me, I would say there as much as believing thoughts is also just basically identifying with some vibration or sensation or something like that, which gives way to the personhood, the sense of person here.
Yes, but the good thing is, like Jia posted a quote today where she said that even with sensations, if there are just sensations, it is impossible to identify with them. We must put the label. We must say that 'this is happening to me.' There must be some, at least subtle, interpretation. You see, the witness of the sensation is not identified with the sensation. The sensation will still appear, but the identification is possible only... identification itself means that I have a concept about the sensation. It is impossible to be concept-less about the sensation and yet be identified. You can then only be the witness, actually.
The Thread Continues
These satsangs touch the same silence.
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