Your True Nature

When you just watch what’s going on with your seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, thoughting, feeling and your body-mind in general — it becomes very clear that you are not the things you see, the sounds you hear, the smells you smell, the tastes you taste, the objects you touch, or the body you have, or the thoughts or feelings you feel; but rather you are the one who gets to witness or become aware of them. If you hang around that insight long enough you will know that being the witness is your true nature.

Let’s ponder over the nature of the witness for a moment, examine the way in which it operates. We don’t have to read a book, or ask experts, or listen to a guru for this. We can just look at our as-lived direct experience, because we are the witness ourselves.

How exactly is the witness witnessing all of this reality?

You see witness doesn’t have eyes, ears, taste, nose, skin, mind, body and so on. Human organism does, but pure-witness doesn’t. It doesn’t have a body. So, how does the witness do all the witnessing?

As a thought experiment, imagine a blindfolded man in the forest using his hands to touch and feel his surroundings, in an effort to try and make sense of it.

As he touches the elephant and runs his hand along its trunk, ears, face, tusk and so on, you can notice how his hands track the shape and form of the elephant, which in-turn constructs the shape and form of an elephant in his mind. After a while when he gets to see the elephant with his eyes shut, what he is actually seeing is the shape and form of an elephant like figure he has made up. He isn’t seeing the actual elephant, because he lacks visual input. But he does see an elephant that he made up in his awareness out of knowledge sourced from instruments (hands and mind in this case). But make no mistake, he is seeing the elephant he made up in his mind.

Said in other words, he is seeing his own creation, which creation is made up of imagination and is seen in imagination. In other words, imagination is seeing itself. That’s the nature of the seeing of this man. That’s infact the nature of reality of the seeing of this man. Getting it?

Now, drop the elephant analogy aside, and stand in wonder as to how pure-witness is likely witnessing all of this reality. For sure, instruments of knowledge (aka body and mind) construct a sense of what’s out there. However just like the only elephant the man saw was the one he created in his imagination, the only reality pure-witness is witnessing is the one that it creates out of itself.

The nature of pure-witness is to also be the existents. Pure-witness is therefore also pure-existence.

Pure-witness or consciousness (the Subject) and pure-existence or being (the Matter) are one and the same. They are not distinct things – they are the same ONE. That’s the only reality out here. And that’s who you are!

The last post was all about driving home this point. As witness, you are the things you witness. That’s just the nature of being a witness. Just like the blind-folded man cannot see the elephant unless his hands take the shape and form of the elephant, as witness you cannot witness this world unless you assume its shape and form.

Pause for a moment, and really just ponder over it and get it.

• As witness you are assuming visual forms of the things you see
• As witness you are assuming auditory forms of the sounds you hear
• As witness you are assuming the smell forms
• As witness you are assuming the taste forms
• As witness you are assuming the thought forms
• As witness you are assuming the feeling forms
• As witness you are assuming the forms of deities and daemons
• As witness you are assuming the form of individual people and the collective
• As a witness you have assumed the shape and form of a baby, a kid, a tween, a teen, a young adult, a middle aged one, a grown up one, an aged one.
• As a witness you have assumed the shape and form of a happy one, sad one, successful one, failed one, rich one, poor one, struggling one, kind one, rude one, entrepreneur one, employee one, bold one, timid one, courageous one, scared one, corrupt one, loyal one, Dharmic one, Adharmic one, loved one, heartbroken one, married one and so on..

It’s impossible to witness something unless you assume the shape and form of the thing that’s witnessed. That’s how witnessing can happen at all.

You are all of it. It’s just not possible for you to be a separate distinct entity, or a specific appearance in all that is witnessed.

You really are all of it. Clearly, you seem to have no preference about the shapes and forms you assume. You just assume shapes and forms, on and off. No fear. No inhibition. No embarrassment. No preference. Nothing. Just total and absolute freedom to assume shapes and forms, on and off. You are eternally available to take up any shape, and any form, without a care or condition. That’s also your nature.

Constraining yourself to assume only specific shapes and forms goes against your nature. Try remaining eternally young, or happy, or successful, or rich, or loving, or for that matter eternally angry, or sad, or upset, or poor, or hurt, or bitter. Doesn’t work! Seems very unnatural isn’t it? By nature you have no preference for the shapes and forms you end up assuming, even as no shape and form is eternal. The shapes and forms you assume are a function of causes and conditions, of Karma. Don’t confuse your true nature with the shapes and forms you assume.

Your true nature is to be a pure-witness. And as a pure-witness, you are also pure-existence. And the fact that you are ready to assume any shape & form is a clear indication that you are blissed out in absolute freedom. Who you are is pure-witness, pure-existence and pure-bliss.

You are Sat, Chit and Ananda.

You are already Sat, Chit and Ananda – don’t go chasing enlightenment to get it. Worse, don’t invalidate yourself if you had a bad day. You are still Sat, Chit and Ananda.