Walk with Moojibaba
The First Great Step of Awakening: From Person to Presence
1 October 2020 (with subtitles)
Something comes to mind as I'm on my walk this morning
and it is some words that were spoken
by the great sage Sri Ramana Maharshi.
These words, they have stayed,
because they are so potent and point so powerfully
to how true seeing happens.
The sage said, 'The 'I' removes the 'I' yet remains the 'I'.'
Of course, many people say, 'What is he talking about?
How many 'I's are there?' Apart from the two [points to eyes].
These are not the 'I's he is talking about.
When consciousness, when the pure, absolute God-Self
manifested this existence, the play of existence,
to experience it, it came in the form 'I am'.
By appearing in the form, 'I am' - the consciousness, 'I am',
it did not lose any portion of itself in its absoluteness,
but it manifested, and it manifested also in a form.
It needed a form in order to taste experiencing,
the diversity of the experience
and of all the myriad things that it created,
the sky and earth, the heavens and the earth, and the seas,
and all the creatures, and all the beings who roam about
on the land, in the sea and in the air,
the play of existence, the dance of existence.
It also appeared inside the sentient or living beings,
the conscious beings, in the form 'I am'.
Not the words saying, 'I am',
but the intuition, the natural sense 'I am'.
This 'I' is I-consciousness.
'Am' means to exist, 'I am here'.
'I am', it is quite impersonal.
It's not personal, it's not the person,
just like the body is not a person, and it's not personal.
The sense 'I am' entered the body,
and experienced itself as the experiencer or the witness,
the feeling or vibration, 'I am, I exist'.
But as soon as it entered the body, functioning in the body,
the way of the world, in order to manifest as individuality,
the belief, 'I am the body', came.
It developed naturally also,
but it also developed, supported by collective conditioning
from family, from parents, from society,
which strengthens this feeling, 'I am the body'.
And this, 'I am the body, I am the conditioning',
is received inside this body as mind,
and then the sense of person, the 'I' became something personal.
That was called the birth of the person,
not the birth of the body, but the birth of the person.
And the person is a mode of consciousness,
a reduced component of consciousness
that feels then, 'I am this person'.
Thereafter, we don't know how long,
this consciousness is sleeping,
or dreaming itself to be only a person.
So it is on much reduced power,
because it is infinite and broad, but it came to the person.
The person takes on the limitations of the body.
Maybe we come out of the sun a bit?
We walk a little bit here. Come, come.
This personhood identity of consciousness
which is formed with the feeling, 'I am the body',
became the basis of the personal existence,
'I am my mind', 'I am my conditioning'.
So as soon as that came in,
consciousness became very limited in its expression.
So it became selfish, insecure,
because it recognised that the body
is subject to pain, suffering, mind and body,
also sickness, death also.
The consciousness which is actually imperishable, because it is formless,
took on fear through the body identification.
So, by coming to satsang and learning now,
being shown the way of observing, witnessing impersonally,
one begins to see, the seeing becomes self-evident that
the person and all of its characteristics and identity
are actually thought-based,
that has been strengthened through habit,
and it is observable.
And if it is observable, as with all things which are observable,
it must be accepted that they are not stable, they come and go.
And if something comes and goes, it cannot be the reality.
It is like the clouds, they are part of the sky, but they come and go.
But the sky is always here.
In the same way, thoughts, feelings and ideas come and go.
Everything is coming and going.
Not only that, they are observed to come and go.
So that which is observing their coming and going
cannot be made of the same thing.
Because if it was, first of all, it was here,
that which is here was here before the thoughts came
and it witnessed the thoughts coming and now present,
it also witnesses them going.
So if it was those, then it would also be gone,
but it remains as the witness.
And so it becomes increasingly clear that
the witness is capable of witnessing
even the sense of personhood and personality.
The recognition of that, Ah!
It is as though you have been imprisoned
by limited consciousness,
consciousness, but limited consciousness,
and now the field is opening in an immeasurable way.
So then, once we are freed from the cage of personhood,
from the limitations, not cursing personhood,
it has its play, it has its purpose, it had its time.
But now it is time to expand into the fullness of your Self,
you are coming into the place 'I am'.
So this is the original 'I am'.
The 'I am' removes ...
The 'I' removes the 'I',
so the 'I am' removes the I-person identity
and again abides naturally in the 'I'.
So 'I' removes 'I' yet remains 'I'.
So this is an explanation
of what is meant by this seeming riddle.
And experientially, this is wonderful,
now you are experiencing yourself more as Being.
When you say 'I', most people, when they say 'I',
there is very much a strong sense of, 'I am this body', 'I am my person'.
The person is the background,
it is like it is the ground of the sense of being.
But as you come to see from the Truth,
you see, 'No, it is the Beingness
that is the background of the life,
not just the body-mind'.
They can still be there.
And your functionings that happened
during the body-mind belief period,
many of those are just what is destined to happen,
but they were interpreted
only from the limited perspective of personhood,
and so they were not experienced in the full way.
Now, as the 'I am', the broader field of consciousness,
all those things which were not true
will start to fall away more, without fear, without sacrifice.
They are simply going. Happily!
And those that will stay
are those that were from the beginning,
they were right to be here, for now.
Now they are in service to the broader consciousness.
That is the leap,
the change from person to presence.
From person to presence,
then from presence to complete purity.
We will talk about that another time. OK?
The first step,
the first great step of awakening,
other people may call it salvation, freedom, or liberation,
is the shift from person to presence.
Person, we know what person is, how it behaves,
everybody is different, sometimes selfish,
sometimes kind, sometimes this, sometimes that.
The range of personhood is very, very wide.
From the lowest which is very aggressive and mean,
and afraid, and insecure, and judgemental, and slanderous,
and quick to believe wrong things, that is the low end,
to the person which is more pure-minded
and honest, open, kind,
that is also within the range of personhood.
But beyond this, in the space of 'I am-ness',
there is equilibrium, there is harmony,
there is not a somebody being that,
it is just the Being being itself.
And so in this space the mind is more intuitive,
more spontaneous as life, more free, more open.
That is the quality of Beingness.
That is the true human being, you can say.
But beyond this is absolute purity
and this I will share with you.
Eat now what you have been served.
For those of you who feel in your heart to follow this,
you will see and taste the fruit of it.
This very day it will begin and continue to strengthen.
Thank you.
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