Welcome to Day 9 of our 40 Day Retreat 2009.
Yesterday I spoke on the subject of the Fourth State of Consciousness. Sometimes I think that when I approach some of these subjects and I bring new names to you, like Turiya or I quote some verse to you or speak about witnessing, you seem to study this or analyze it outside of yourself.
This Message is about You; Relate to it
You need to relate personally all of the things I am saying to you. When some people speak about the ego, it feels almost like they are speaking about something outside of them, when in truth they are speaking about the one who is speaking. On this journey it is important that you identify all of these things with you. Hence, my subject of today is about Awareness and Witnessing. Therefore, when I speak about observer I do not want you to think about something outside of you. Rather, I want you to think about you who are observing; the ego who is observing.
Your Ego is Witnessing
Just to remind you that ego means ‘I’ consciousness. So long as you assume a form as we have in this human identity, the ego will always be there. Ego is not something you eliminate or destroy. It is the ‘I’ consciousness. All that needs to be done is to transform the ego not to destroy or displace it, but to transform it. And the one who is looking at the whole process is also the ego, so the witness is also a part of your ego. It is your ego that is witnessing.
Your consciousness is so vast that your ego can take many roles. That is why you can multi-task. You can think of so many things at the same time. You can be doing something and thinking something else, and you are doing both very well. It is possible to be active and also to be witnessing at the same time. For example, if you are singing or speaking, you can witness whilst you are doing. That is a possibility.
Right now as I am speaking to you I am witnessing my hand movements. I am able to feel what is happening to my body as I speak to you. I am feeling what is happening to my voice as I speak to you. It is all in the awareness. I am witnessing all of it. I am watching into the camera and witnessing that. I am witnessing how I am reaching out to you.
Witnessing at Different Levels
When we begin to witness that witnessing can take different levels. I want you to think about this. When you are hijacked by emotions, how much witnessing is there? How much awareness is there, compared to when you can really look at your emotion and you are not hijacked? What is the difference? You then see how the witnessing can be at different levels. When you are hijacked by an emotion, you become the emotion. You are so caught up that reason goes out of the window, and you are hardly looking at what is happening in the whole process. You become consumed by the process. But when you train yourself a little more (note that I said ‘train’), you can actually look at the emotion as it arises in your consciousness, and you can see what it is doing to you. Then you are able to consider other possibilities, like transforming it or replacing it with another.
That calls for a certain level of witnessing; a certain level of awareness. If you walk into a room, for example, you do not see everything in the room that could be seen. Though you may think you have acquired a good awareness of everything in the room, if you really enter the room and decide that you are going to lift your level of awareness then you are going to see so many more things in the room. As you begin to look and try to be more aware, many more things will appear. Then you realize how, when you just walk in there and think that you have an awareness of the room, you really do not, in a full sense.
Train Yourself to See More
However, the more you desire to become more aware, and the more you give attention to it, you may see much more. In simply listening to this talk that I am giving to you, the first time you may pick up certain things that strike you immediately. But if you listen to the talk again you may pick up other things that you did not pick up the first time. And if you listen about five times, you will be amazed at how many things you pick up then. What does it say? Your awareness is heightened at the end of the fifth time. When you train yourself a little more, you may pick up more things in the first listening than you would have done before. This is learning to lift your level of awareness.
When you come into a space or you are in any interaction or exchange with some one or with your world, how aware are you? How much of the witnessing is taking place as you are interacting? Are you aware of what is happening to the body at the same time these exchanges are taking place? Are you aware of how grounded you are? Are you aware of the changes in your emotional Being as the exchange is taking place? Are you aware of your train of thoughts and how it is being impacted by the exchange? Are you aware of the subtle energies of the exchange; what kind of vibrations are coming from the person to you and going from you to the person? The more you train yourself to see and observe, the more you will pick up all of these. Witnessing can take place at different levels, and if we train ourselves to see more, we will.
In the simple act of eating, for example, sometimes when you have a number of other things to do, eating can become an activity of little awareness. This is by choice, of course, because you choose to think about other things. The food goes very quickly inside. You may remember some of the taste but you did not really pay full attention. You are not witnessing the event as you should. And the quality of your awareness would not have been high. But if you decided that nothing was more important than your eating, and you decided to chew that food so you can taste every flavour and ingredient that is in there; and to observe how you body is feeling in the exercise, and how the environment is impacting on you, then eating can become a grand activity when you are so much aware. Food will digest better, the body will feel better and the energy you get will be better. The whole event will be different simply because you are witnessing the event in a different way.
Cultivate Deeper Awareness
What I am saying in these talks I am giving, is that you need to observe more. The part of you that observes, that quality of our being to observe, that ability to observe needs to be trained and to be developed. And that is the witness I am speaking about, the part of you that observes an event. You can observe an event while it is happening when you train yourself. While you are doing anything, you can observe much more of the event you see and witness properly. However, when you become consumed you forget the other things.
During these talks I am giving to you, I am inviting you to see more and to witness more. This is an essential part of the spiritual journey. Witness what is happening to you at the physical level. Witness what is happening to you at the subtle level. Witness what is happening at the deeper level that we call spiritual. This is where you tap into a field that is beyond the limited fields of physical body, mind and emotional being. There is another field inside and that is the place of the fourth state.
Become More Aware of Subtle Energies
You carry different energy bodies. This physical body is energy and it holds your consciousness, your Being in a dimension that transforms the consciousness into the waking state. So the experience of this material dimension by your Being brings you into a waking state. In this waking state you use your physical senses and they make you alert or vigilant to the material world. However, you have an energy body inside and if you limit your awareness only to the physical world, you miss out on the awareness of the subtle world that is constantly impacting you, and you are constantly impacting your world at a subtle level.
When you train yourself to become more aware of energies, you begin to pick up and witness other information in your space. In the subtle world of energy there are thoughts, emotions, and other qualities of energy or vitality flowing from you into the space, and from the space to you. In witnessing, we try to expand the awareness to witness all of these. That is the training to be aware of; all the different levels as you interact with your world.
Experiencing Heightened Awareness
Of course, I know the journey. I have been on this journey. I remember the days of seeking. I was so physically held in this body and I could not feel very much more. I remember the misery there was in being caught just in this dimension of pleasure and pain. I was seeking something higher. Somehow my soul knew that there was something higher, something more than this physical dimension.
Ultimately, when I had this experience of being in a group of people with a higher level of energy, something happened. It triggered something inside of me. Suddenly I looked at myself and saw my body moving to music and sound. I was watching the whole event seeing my hands clapping for themselves, my body swaying for itself. I was looking; not doing this completely. But it felt nice to allow it to happen and watch the whole play of it. Then it took me into a whole new level of witnessing. Then when I started to walk I could feel an energy field while walking. It was amazing!
Then I realized that life is not just the physical dimension, but it also involves the energy dimension. That awareness was awakened in a certain energy field. However, when awakened, it became mine. I could feel it afterwards, and I continued to explore that. The discovery was amazing. In those 40 Days of 1978 my awareness grew and grew and I could feel that I am witnessing more and more, and it gave me greater possibilities.
Subtle Dimensions:
Dream state
The physical dimension holds you in the waking state, but when you slip into the dream state you are in a different dimension because you are conscious of it. You are conscious when you are dreaming. Of course, the degree to which you are conscious may vary, but you are conscious. You wake up remembering the experiences in that dimension. That is the dimension where your energy body is predominant. You have shifted into a different dimension so the experience is like a dream. Those of you, who had very clear dreams, know that in a dream state you can become conscious and clear almost like the waking.
Memory Field
There is another dimension inside where all the information is stored from so many lifetimes. It is in a static field. It is held in a memory field. Whenever our being goes into that dimension completely, there is complete rest as the mind is no longer active. And we are not conscious because the mind is not active. The consciousness is in a deep sleep state, so on waking up, we remember. But some do have an awareness of that. It is a possibility as well that in deep sleep you can become aware, but everything will be inactive.
Therefore, the more aware you are of all that is happening in your Being, the more you can witness. The more you will see the different states that exist, and the more you will be able to appreciate the fourth state.
Turiya – the State of Freedom
The fourth state is one that you slip into; it has the peace of deep sleep. But it has the awareness that you are different from the body, the mind, and emotions. You have the awareness that you can observe all of these without being attached to them or driven by them. You can drive them. You feel in contact with the Source inside of you. That is so powerful. You begin to realize that there is some power inside of you that you cannot fathom. You begin to be in touch with the heart of the Universe, and the Source of infinite power in the Universe. This is the fourth state, and you feel free! Free of all the entanglements with the other bodies and supported by that vast state inside.
That is the turiya, it is a state of freedom. It is a state of inner bliss; you are held by this wonderful state inside. In biblical terms, ‘In Him/That we live, move and have our Being’ and in the language of the Vedas, ‘Aham Brahmasmi’. My ‘I’ is in that vastness of the Supreme Power. That is how we feel in the state of turiya, completely supported.
This journey is a journey in your consciousness and the more that you witness, the more that you become aware during the witnessing, the more you can see in this journey. Turiya is not something outside of you. It is the call of your soul to go into a state that is supported by the Infinite within you. It is a state that is free from the entanglements of the other dimensions. That is turiya.
Ready for the Journey
That is possible for you; otherwise you would not be listening to this. The fact that you are listening to this now means that you are called; that you are ready. If you listen to this and it makes sense to you, it means that at some level you are ready. Begin the journey.
There is so much that I can say to you but we have many more days.
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