Over the last few days we have been exploring awareness. We’re beings of awareness or consciousness, and we explored about expanding awareness, moving from limited awareness to cosmic awareness or universal awareness or heightened awareness. We spoke about being in the moment with our attention, our intention and we call that “present moment awareness,” being fully in the present moment.

And we spoke about multi-dimensional awareness. Not only to be aware of our physical space, but to be aware of our mental space and emotional space and spiritual space. As we become more and more aware we can actually be aware of these dimensions of being, and especially so in communication.

We spoke about multi-dimensional awareness and in our present moment awareness we reflected on the past: “What do we do with the past when we are fully in the present? What do we do with the future because we are beings who think of the past when we think of the future?” So we have dealt with those. We are still on the subject of awareness and today I’m going to deal with what we call: “Witness Consciousness.” This is extremely important in the subject of awareness.

Witness consciousness

You will notice in the human experience that though we are engaged in things and we are thinking of what we are involved in, there’s always a part of us that is looking in an objective way. There is always a part of us that is witnessing the experience. Now, when we are caught up in the experience we don’t realize that we have this ability to act and observe at the same time. As you become more and more spiritually aware and as your consciousness expands, you begin to see this part of you; it’s very visible. And I can recall as a very young boy that I would reflect upon this quality. Sometimes we call it: “Self-Consciousness.” We are always self-conscious.

Growing in the self-consciousness

No matter what I was doing, I found that I was aware of what I was doing. That I couldn’t just be completely into the thing without losing “me.” I couldn’t be totally involved, losing that part of me. And I thought in those times it was a bad thing, because people say, “Don’t be too self-conscious.” But it was difficult to get rid of that because I was always self-conscious. The remarkable thing was that as I grew in my spirituality, the self-consciousness grew, and was not a weakness then, it was a strength. And as a young boy I could actually see how I could play games; I could do different things. I could observe. If I wanted something I saw how I could, for want of a better word, “manipulate” the situation. How I can dramatize and play a certain game and I get what I want. It was amazing because now I could see how I could see from a different space, so I could see how you can do things and get things. So as a young man I was exploring this. So that ability to observe myself in action was something that I’ve always been aware of, and as I grew in spiritual awareness it became a powerful strength, because I realized that spiritual awareness is all about growing in the self-consciousness.

Growing in the witness consciousness

So we carry this part of us, this witnessing part of us, but most of us do not give attention to it. But in your meditation this is the goal: How to be completely aware of everything you’re doing, everything that you’re thinking of, everything that you’re feeling – all your intentions, to be aware of it. And to also be aware that your spiritual being is a witness being. It is an observing being. And as you grow spiritually, the view of this witness, the experience of this witness grows because the witness gives you an idea of your true spiritual identity. So it’s extremely important to understand this witness and to explore it, to follow it. As I grew spiritually, one of the profound experiences I had was that I could sing and I could speak and I could watch this happening almost effortlessly. Though when I started to sing the words would just come out and I’m watching myself singing.

And in some conversations, there is no need to think about what you are going to say, the words just flow. And you’re watching yourself saying all these things.

I had a very profound experience when I was first awakened spiritually in a deeper sense in India. I found that I could walk, and my feet, my hands, everything, my motions, were being, were happening and something else was doing them, performing. So that gave me a very wonderful feeling of witness, that I could do things and stay in a very comfortable place while it’s happening - almost as if in auto pilot. And then I understand when people speak about being in the “zone.”

Being in the zone

A dancer would say, “I didn’t do anything, this dance just happened.” Or a singer would say, “But this song, it happened. I don’t know how it came out like this, but it just happened.” But in moments of very deep inspiration where the inspiration came from a deeper space, it happened, it happened! I just witness! It just happened. I gave this talk but it happened! I dance and it happened. I sang and it happened. I had this conversation and it happened. I just watched myself and I couldn’t do anything, it just happened.

Profound state of witness: State of expanded witness awareness

And then you experience the profound state of witness and that’s an experience of expanded consciousness where the witness becomes dominant, prominent. So we have a doer inside of us. There’s a part of us, and we’ll speak more about that in subsequent talks, the idea of “doership.”

So we have a doer inside of us but we also have this witness inside of us and it’s extremely important to explore this witness in your daily life. You will see the more you begin to be aware of it, the more you feel the effortlessness of doing things when you begin to sit in that space. And when I say “effortlessness” I don’t mean completely non-effort. I mean you’ll begin to act and then you’ll feel that your actions are just happening very easily. The actions are flowing. So when you act, you just know how to act, you feel intuitively how to act in every moment. And so it becomes what we may call: “effortless.” The actions are happening easily. That is when you are truly in a state of expanded witness awareness. So, this witness awareness is something beautiful to explore.

Practising expanded witness consciousness

Now, in terms of practice, in the same way that you practice “Present Moment Awareness,” by using the breath or the mantra, you can do the same thing with “Witness Consciousness.”

In this one, you have to move into a space where you feel that you are not doing, it’s happening. That’s the difference. In present moment awareness, with the mantra or the affirmation or the prayer and the breath, the observing the affirmation or observing the breath allows you to stay in the present moment when you keep your attention in it. It holds you in the present moment.

Observing

The witness consciousness is about observing how it’s happening and you’re looking - how it’s happening and you’re just looking. So it is the experience of being the observer and watching it happening inside of you. So let us say you are repeating a word for example in your mind, mentally, you’re watching yourself repeat the word. You’re watching yourself repeat the word so you’re hearing the word in an expanded consciousness as though there is a lot of space and you’re hearing this word being repeated inside of you. And some of you know that, after awhile, when you repeat a word, you can almost hear the word inside of you as though it’s repeating itself.

So you are observing this, you’re saying it but you’re observing how you are saying it that you have a more expanded view, that you’re doing and that you can observe yourself doing. You’re doing but you are observing yourself doing so now you have moved back your view to where you can see yourself doing.

So you’re breathing, but you’re watching the breath and the breath is happening. The breath is happening whilst you’re observing. So watching the breath as it moves and moving into a more expanded space or repeating the word inside of you and looking at it from a more expanded space, is what the goal is. And that takes you more and more into your spiritual being. So in meditation I always ask you, I try to hold you in that attitude, that outlook of the witness that when you are saying, you are observing: “Now observe your breathing. Look at the breath move in and out.” I’m trying to get you into the place of observing.

And it is the same with the word: “Now say the word and observe yourself saying it.” Observe yourself saying this, and it’s a nice experience when you begin to do that. And as you go spiritually deeper, you feel as though the burden of effort is removed, that you are going into a more expanded space where you can do it effortlessly. And when you become aware of what’s happening in that effortless moment, you will see that the witness is expanded, that there’s a part of you that can observe the whole event from an expanded space.

This is an extremely important principle in your meditation and in life, the idea of being the witness. And I am so centered in that space that whatever I do as I speak to you
now I’m witnessing my hands move. I’m witnessing my voice, I’m witnessing my eyes, and I’m doing and yet not doing. And there’s an expanded part of me that’s looking at the whole thing and being able to enjoy the drama, the play of movement, of voice, of energy and I’m watching the whole game, so I get a chance to view the whole thing from a wonderful panoramic space, or view. And that allows for a really beautiful experience where the burden of effort is removed. And effort happens in a very sweet space where we tend to call it “effortlessness.”

So, I want you to think about what I’ve said today. It’s an important part of the discipline of heightening the awareness, and of understanding the awareness. So, we’ll go now into the meditation practice.