Sri Vasudeva:
This is an exciting subject for me as this is the field I live in. My awareness is heightened everyday to everything I do. So I’m not just giving you a theory, I’m giving you what I practice. I would like to continue to share with you this marvelous world of seeing differently – seeing with the eyes of the wise, the eyes of the one who can see more. And this is extremely important if we want to be able to manage the inner world. If you want to be able to manage thoughts and manage emotions, we need to have this awareness. We need to be able to witness and we need to be able to witness in a field of expanded awareness.
Comment:
It seems that my ego is my biggest problem. I try to be more friendly to my thoughts when they come up and lead me in a direction that is not good, and replace them with something nicer and it worked out fine so far.
Sri Vasudeva:
I’m happy to hear that. Especially after struggling with it, you can deal with it by observing and transforming because you can observe what’s happening.
Comment:
And then the minute I ask, “Why do I feel this? It starts coming up with another possibility and it gives a bigger change.
Sri Vasudeva:
And that’s also a way of taking responsibility. It means that you are taking responsibility. Instead of blaming anyone else, you are taking the responsibility to transform it.
Comment:
I really like the topic of today because it is so practical. Thinking about the Source – it’s pretty hard to go in the Source but this topic, we can all do it during the seva, observing ourselves, during conversations with people. So it’s something I can really work with. It’s more practical, I think. I like it.
Question:
Describes a meditation experience where she was guided to use her breathing to heighten the meditation experience and she asks, “Was it the observer doing this?”
Sri Vasudeva:
First of all, when you say ‘was it the observer’ or ‘is it the witness,’ is it me that I am witnessing differently? You need to say that rather than say some other observer. “Is it that I am witnessing differently that I can feel this?” So shift it into you. And yes, it is because you are witnessing differently, observing differently and being quieter in the observing that you can feel this intuition inside that this energy wants you to do something different. Because the energy is a power inside – we call it an evolutionary power. It wants to open up the consciousness for you. It’s programmed to do that. So when you allow it to or when you invite it to by your desire, to experience more and you follow its prompting, then this is what happens. So yes, you were observing better. So not that ‘the observer’ was observing better, you are observing better. I like when you personalize the language and say, “I am witnessing, I am doing this,” because then you make it relevant to you and not something out in the sky. I am happy that you had this experience inside because in truth when the energy is coming up, it comes along a central channel along the spine.
Question:
I have another question about entanglements. On the body conscious level, you have attachments but you are aware of them. For example, I don’t want to eat much chocolates and when I feel the need for it, I do something else. I have experienced energy levels that are very pleasant and I want to experience more and more so there could be also a risk of becoming attached to those experiences?
Sri Vasudeva:
That’s a good point but I think in the beginning when the experiences are all new, it’s not about being attached to it. You need it. Some people when they feel their body shaking, they love the shaking and moving the body all over the floor, never minding who is around. They don’t need it anymore but it just feels nice to shift the body all over and sometimes it can be inappropriate. That kind of addiction can happen. Sometimes when you are past something, you can go back and do it. For example, a number of experiences that I have had along the way, I can go back and do them but I don’t need them. So we could go back to old experiences and that can be a kind of addiction or attachment. But certainly, when you are new and new things are happening, you need to stay with them and not think in terms of attachment to them. But if you have gone past something and still using the movements that you don’t need, or trying to go back to a vision that you don’t need anymore. So when experiences come, they come for a certain reason and once you fulfill that, you don’t need them.
Question:
We have to be aware of that moment when you don’t need them anymore?
Sri Vasudeva:
It’s not like you should be looking out for those moments. In a very natural way, the spirit will be guiding you inside, the inner self will be guiding you. So if you just be humble and follow the guidance, they will lead you in a very natural way, in a protective way, in a way that wouldn’t cause that. It’s really our ego that creates the attachment. So if the ego is more humble and more in seeking in the journey, there wouldn’t be any thing to worry about that. So I would say, in the beginning, whilst you’re doing all of this, there is no need to worry about that because the ego is more in the seeking mode rather than addiction mode. This is an important point because sometimes we can be caught up in experiences that we no longer need like reading people’s minds or trying to figure out the kinds of thoughts that are in the space.
Sometimes we may begin to have the gift of feeling the energies of thoughts around us – we don’t need that. We need to go deeper and deeper within. So we can become caught up in those kind of power seeking … they are called siddhis. Or we may have visions of things that are going to happen and we become so excited about this that we want to find out more about what’s going to happen around rather than going deeper. Because the visions are coming simply because we have opened up a spiritual center. But the goal is to open up and go further, not to be caught up in the little gifts that they bring. So this is what we need to avoid on the path.
Comment:
The last few days I have broadened my witnessing (for example the subtle energy while acting with people) and that brought me much more peace. And there are more levels to broaden into that gives me motivation and joy as I have possibilities to go even further. Thank you for the inspiration.
Question:
When I go into nature and touch the trees, I can feel in my body the same strength (as the trees). Is that what you mean by feeling the subtle level?
Sri Vasudeva:
There are several things that can happen there. When you look at a tree and see the tree grounded very strongly – it looks like a sturdy tree. Then it can be a psychological boost for you. You are inspired by how sturdy the tree looks. It’s not that you are picking up the energy of the tree but you are inspired by just looking at this image. So it has a psychological effect on you. Also, you may actually be able to pick up the energy of the tree and you can feel that you are standing like the tree. Here you are feeling a communion with the tree and it is not just psychological – not just an idea in the mind. So those two possibilities exist.
Question:
But that’s not what you mean to witness the subtle level?
Sri Vasudeva:
They both involve a kind of witnessing. You need to witness to be aware of the tree. You need to look at the tree, observe the tree and be inspired by the tree or you can become silent inside and open up your inner senses and try to sense the energy of the tree. They both require witnessing. But I am saying that when you become inspired by this strong tree, it can be as a result of just looking at the tree and the image of the tree inspiring you or it can be that you are actually connecting with the energy of the tree. It can be two. Being inspired by the tree whether it’s from the energy of the tree or the way the tree looks – they are both good.
Question:
Is witnessing easier when your eyebrow chakra is opened?
Sri Vasudeva:
Yes, that is what I would say. Eyebrow chakra brings greater stability and eyebrow chakra brings greater concentration, so naturally it will bring deeper witnessing because witnessing requires concentration. Witnessing requires managing thoughts, clearing the mind and being focused and both these powers come from an awakened brow centre. And the brow centre brings intuition and allows you to open the mind so that thoughts … from outside of you can come. So definitely the brow center makes witnessing stronger.
Question:
Is the opposite also true. If you are training in witnessing, are you opening the eyebrow centre?
Sri Vasudeva:
Well that’s a good question. He’s asking if I just begin to witness, if I just open the eyebrow chakra. Well, you can witness for ages and no chakra is going to open. But for me, the awakening of a chakra requires readiness on your part and a desire for deeper spirituality and awakening and requires assistance. If you are in a field of strong energy which means a field of grace, if you are being guided by someone who has it awakened, then it’s easier. Then it’s more likely to awaken the chakra more or to help you to develop witnessing power more than just trying to witness by yourself or by reading a book. Of course these things help to a certain extent. But if you want magnificent opening and tremendous experiences, you need to be guided by someone who knows it -someone who is aware.
Comment:
When I start witnessing, it creates thoughts because I start thinking about what I have just witnessed – whether it’s good or bad or whether I want it or don’t want it. Then I find that by witnessing sometimes, it just brings me further away than it actually helps me.
Sri Vasudeva:
Well you are thinking it brings you further away but the witnessing is actually bringing up thoughts and every thought can be a possibility. So witnessing is not just to clear the mind but it is also to observe all the possibilities of things that are coming up in the mind. So by looking at your thoughts, you might become aware of what you are preoccupied with, what is disturbing your mind. Or it may bring up thoughts that you are unable to control. So if you are witnessing, you can actually see where your weaknesses are, based on the thoughts that are coming up. What kind of thoughts are coming up? Why are they coming up? So when you begin to further witness and ask yourself these questions, then chances are, you can do so much more about getting rid of the thoughts you do not need. So I would say it’s a good sign that thoughts are coming up. Because it means that you have cleared the space for things to come up. And these things are just beneath the conscious level. So it means that they are important to look at because they might be detractors. They might take away from your peace of mind or from your concentration. So it’s good that they are coming up. What you do with them is important.
Question:
But doesn’t meditation become more like a kind of analysis?
Sri Vasudeva:
No, after a while, you need to say, I don’t want to even think now. But I was responding to witnessing in a normal situation. For example, if you are walking, and you are witnessing, or spending a quiet moment and witnessing. But if you decide in the meditation, that you want to clear the mind, you want to rest the mind and you want to think only about a particular subject, then you begin to empty the mind and do not allow other thoughts to come in because this is not the time for that. So you learn to train the mind so that when you sit for meditation, it must be empty because the journey here is becoming quieter.
Question:
I was speaking about meditation specifically.
Sri Vasudeva:
Yes, in meditation you should not give to much attention to keeping the mind busy. So when thoughts arise, you try to find out why they are coming up, try to reason why they’re coming up and try to clear them as quickly as you can. So all your meditation should not have lots of thoughts. That will show some weakness. So if it begins with thoughts, it should end up thought free.
Question:
So if you find out where they are coming from, does that mean you have dealt with them?
Sri Vasudeva:
No, it means that you can file them away and decide that you will deal with them at the appropriate time. And if you decide that meditation is the time that you want to deal with it, fine, deal with it. But you should not make it a habit to sit in meditation and do the same things that you do outside of the meditation.
Comment:
The ‘I’ consciousness is becoming clearer and all that is involved in the ego which has many, many roles. Describes a nice meditation experience.
Question:
It seems that you are saying that on the journey until the turiya state is achieved, the student can still get caught up in qualities of the other bodies. Is that correct?
Sri Vasudeva:
Yes, that is very correct. In the turiya state, you are completely free. In the other states, whilst on the journey, you have to be careful because you can still become entangled in these different bodies and their qualities, positive and negative.
Question:
When you say that we need to transform ego, do you mean transform from a more physical witness to deeper energy levels?
Sri Vasudeva:
You have different shades of the ego, you have physical ego, you have emotional ego, intellectual ego and in some of us, spiritual ego as we develop more and more spiritual power. Transformation of the ego really means from the negative side to the positive. So if you have a good physical ego that loves the body and loves to use the body in good service, that’s good physical ego. Good emotional ego is the one who is loving and is aware that you are loving through an ego – you are being a good friend, you are being loving towards people. It makes you more selfless. Intellectual ego is when we use the intellect well and we don’t have too much pride in our knowing in the sense that I know more than other people though I’m thinking in a good way, I’m thinking positive but I can also think in a way of pride. So it’s transforming all the shades of the ego – pride to humility, negative thinking to positive thinking. That’s what I mean by ego in transformation. Not just physical. Physical is just one aspect of the whole field of the ego but transforming every aspect of the ego that we see is on the negative side and which is taking away from our well being.
Question:
Do I have to live out all the things in the causal body or can I go past it into the Turyia state?
Sri Vasudeva:
One of the reasons why I am helping you to understand the energy body is that if we begin to pierce the chakras or go deeper into the energy centers, we can expand the awareness. When the awareness is expanded and we are able to experience a higher state of consciousness, then we no longer have to go through all those experiences in the causal body that pull us down. We can go through them into a higher state of consciousness and they will all be ineffective. They will be there but they wouldn’t have the impact that they would have had before. So that’s the power of the energy path in transforming the causal.
Question:
Does different inspirations for example being inspired by a tree come because of the chakra level that you in?
Sri Vasudeva:
Yes, depending on which chakra you are operating from, I guess, so you will see the tree. You will be able to relate to the consciousness of the tree from where you are in you.
Comment:
I had an interesting day. I’ve been witnessing quite a lot. I was at the dentist. Did a lot of witnessing. It’s very strange because you could go on forever witnessing from all sorts of angles. So I was trying to feel what they felt like, and I was very aware of how I felt, how tense I was at times. I could take my awareness away from what they were doing and be somewhere else. So there is no limit.
Sri Vasudeva:
Yes, there is no limit. The main thing is observing the practice.
Question:
During meditation, I could feel the gross body and I felt a floating feeling ..
Sri Vasudeva:
Whenever you feel that you are floating, you are actually in the subtle body. So you can be in the subtle body observing the gross body. The physical body weighs you down so you can’t float. You’re very grounded. So if there’s any sense of floating, you are in the subtle body.
Question:
People have been talking about the special experience they had while you were sitting there. Does it mean that the people who didn’t have those experiences aren’t ready for it yet?
Sri Vasudeva:
No, it simply means I inspired those people who got inspired. They allow me to inspire them.
Question:
And I didn’t?
Sri Vasudeva:
Well, I wouldn’t know, right? But don’t compare yourself to anybody.
Comment:
What struck me most in this morning’s talk was the physical energy with which you were talking to us.
Sri Vasudeva:
You mean the energy with which I was using the physical body?
Comment:
Yes. Also for a moment, I could feel that I was not this body.
Sri Vasudeva:
Yes, that’s how it is. Our Source is carrying all these bodies. So there is a part of me right now, that is infinite. It’s a spark of the infinite. It’s infinite in quality and it’s using all these bodies to interact with the world.
Comment:
What struck me the most was to be talking to someone and be aware of other things. And to witness those other things in the subtle body.
Question:
I find it difficult to meditate in the silent mode and when I’m singing, I feel that I am meditating. How can I improve my silent meditation?
Sri Vasudeva:
Singing is silent meditation. When you are sitting, you can sing inside. Just think you are in this hall where everybody is singing and you are hearing the sound inside and you are hearing the mantras inside. So in the meditation, whilst your eyes are closed and you are quiet, you are hearing all this beautiful music inside.
Comment:
It’s difficult to do it in silent mode. I like to chant loudly outside.
Sri Vasudeva:
Yes, but it can happen inside too. Try it. You can also say the mantra inside and tell yourself, “For ten minutes, I’m going to keep this mantra in my mind. Om Namah Shivaya. Om Namah Shivaya. Om Namah Shivaya. And I’m not going to miss anyone. Om Namah Shivaya. Om Namah Shivaya. Om Namah Shivaya.” And you are training yourself just to keep one thought in the mind. Not empty, not listening or looking at everybody but “Om Namah Shivaya. Om Namah Shivaya. Om Namah Shivaya. Wow, I did it for one minute! (laughter) And you go after it and for ten minutes you are saying it. When you come out of the meditation, you feel very powerful because for ten minutes you were able to say it. You mastered the mind for ten minutes. So you can feel like a champion.
Comment:
I had some difficulty with witnessing because there are so many angles to witness from and I never really knew what to witness or how. But since one or two days, I felt that the body was breathing and I wasn’t doing anything to it.
Sri Vasudeva:
That’s nice. You can continue observing how these things are happening. But I want to expand on the point of ‘what to witness.’ You can choose what you want to witness. You can put something in the mind and you choose to witness that. So you can witness your breathing and you can add a mantra to the breath. You have heard me explain the “Soham” before. “So” meaning the “universe” and “ham” meaning “I.” When you breathe in, you think that you are embracing all the energy in the universe.
You are breathing in “So.” And you try to harmonize the sound of “So” that you are mentally repeating, with the sound of the breath. You are listening to the breath and you are saying “So” and you are witnessing that. Then when you breathe out, you think of letting go, emptying. And you think of you. “Ham” means “I.” You’re breathing out and you are saying “Ham” and you are listening to the sound of the breath. You keep witnessing just that continuously. That’s good training for the discipline of the mind and good training in witnessing. What’s happening to my body as I say this? I can feel the breath moving in my body. I can feel my body in harmony. You observe how you are saying it. “I’m keeping very attentive as I say these sounds.” That is the kind of training that is very good for the mind.
When I sit here, that’s what I’m doing. I’m looking very intensely at the breath and I’m watching the energy that’s associated with the breath. Sometimes I may use a mantra if I want to, or sometimes I don’t. But I’m intensely looking at the breath and where the energy is working and I focus the energy where I want to. And I’m just enjoying that.
So what I do is that I focus the energy here.. and when I begin to feel the energy at this .. point,.. I’m spreading that energy throughout the entire body so I can feel my whole energy body light and I am feeling myself suspended inside of this body and I love the feeling so I am staying with it through the meditation. My whole body feels better, my mind is very organized, my focus is perfect and I’m just enjoying this whole energy experience in the body. I’m feeling the effect on the body, the body is being uplifted. I’m feeling the energy body being completely organized and I’m just focusing on the point. At the end of the meditation, it’s wonderful. I feel masterful. All my bodies become synchronized. So this is the opportunity you have in the meditation, to witness.
Comment:
In meditation, it begins where I center myself and not allow my thoughts to take over and I watch them disappear. There is a point where I go into a stillness and when I’m in the stillness, there’s nothing. But then something happens where I either jump and it brings me back into my thoughts. It’s not that I’m trying to do anything to hold myself in there. It’s once I become aware that I am in this feeling of stillness, there is a jump and thoughts come back and that’s where I am.
Sri Vasudeva:
It is nice when you can go into the stillness because it is restful for the mind. But it’s nice when you can master thoughts as well. So in your meditation if you are going into a period of stillness and you are enjoying it and it’s revitalizing you, that’s fine but come back into a way of bringing energy into rejuvenating thoughts, energizing thoughts, positive thoughts. That’s how – learning to bring a mantra in the mind and feeling the mantra strengthening the mind. So sometimes, don’t let thoughts disappear, especially when you go into a passive field and you don’t feel that you are really being lifted into any place that is powerful. Then bring a thought into the mind and work the thought like a mantra and then go into peace and see how that one feels. So the peace that comes after generating activity is a much more powerful peace than if you just sit down and begin the meditation with an empty mind. Because, it is likely in that space, it can become like a lazy kind of feeling.
Question:
When I expand awareness consciously, there comes so much information and details to see that it makes me tired. I need a way to protect myself at the same moment that all this information does not come into my mind. What can you say about that?
Sri Vasudeva:
I think it is nice when you have a lot of information coming towards you. That’s why we enjoy the internet. We can go there and there is information from everywhere. But the power we have when we use a browser, is that we can use one tab at a time and we could use one site at a time, knowing all the others are there just at our beck and call. So can you try to take just one piece of the information of the many information that is coming to you – the most important one to you in that moment and work on it. And begin to witness that. That’s how you begin to train the mind to witness one thought. You need to be able to stay with one thought and one idea and pursue that in the training of the mind. Because many thoughts will always come to us and I think it’s a good thing when many possibilities are coming. But it’s better when we can choose one possibility and stay with it. So you need to train yourself with that. Of all the thoughts that are coming to you, stay with one. Or empty all of those and just stay with learning how to witness a mantra in the mind.
Comment:
Today I practiced observing when I was eating my lunch, and I was able to enjoy every flavor and ingredient and I thought to myself that everything in life is just as rich with diversity like my lunch.
Comment:
To add to your comment, I had to train myself to eat at the dining table instead of the TV. It is through this that I became a better cook.
Sri Vasudeva:
That’s good because a lot of us eat in front the television. So it’s good when you can eat away from the television. Then you do more justice to the food, to the cooking and to the person who cooked.
Question:
I find it difficult to understand that the causal body is related to the deep sleep state because the causal body is the storehouse of all memories, I would think it would be a place from where many impulses to activity could arise instead of being completely inactive. Please explain this to me.
Sri Vasudeva:
The causal level is a level where things are stored. You don’t want too many activities in the stored level. There, all our impressions are stored. The subtle level and the causal level work very closely together. So the tools are there in the subtle level – the tools of attention, of thinking, of emotion. All the tools are there. And the causal level is where all the impressions are stored after we have used the tools. These two levels are very intimately connected.
The moment you think about something, you are prompting the causal level. The associated thoughts in the causal level, by the sheer force of attraction, they’re pulled up into your subtle level. So there is no need to think about activity in the causal level. It doesn’t need to have activity because the subtle level is the active part of it that is constantly prodding and pulling thoughts from the causal level and by the sheer attraction of these thoughts – let’s say the heart center is working in the subtle body, it’s going to pull all your heart centre thoughts from your causal body that are related to the subject.
So the bodies work perfectly and the causal body is ultimately the cause of what comes up in the subtle body and what the subtle body is pulling out of it. It is supporting and helping to create what the subtle body is doing. So there is a powerful relationship between the two. You don’t need to have conscious activity to have activity in the causal body. The subtle body is powerful enough to create all the activities that are required. That’s why we say that the causal field is a hidden or inactive field. But the subtle region is just next to that. They work in conjunction, like a continuum.
Question:
What is the difference between being centered in the Source and having the turiya consciousness? I would think both of them are the place of inner freedom, are they not? Or perhaps the turiya state has more accent on the aspect of being the observer which means striving to be more aware or conscious. Can you say more about this?
Sri Vasudeva:
What you are saying there is getting too complex for me. I think it is very simple. I think the state of consciousness where we can experience being connected to the Source, where the Source is supporting us – that is the turiya state. When we get close to the Source, when we can feel the Source consciousness, we feel freedom Being connected to the Source gives us such a freedom because we feel that now we are not attached anymore to anything else.
We are so supported by the Source, the Source is supporting all our needs, the Source is making us happy, it’s making us positive, it’s making us free. That is the turiya consciousness. It is being centered in the Source that is supporting us and makes us feel free. That is the turiya consciousness. It is neither the waking, nor the dreaming, nor the deep sleeping but it is that centeredness in the Source that can happen through all the states. So it is that ‘I’ consciousness that is able to observe everything from a state of deep happiness. So it’s the ultimate state of the witness. It’s the pure witness. It’s pure being.
Question:
You were talking about witnessing. Are you able to witness the spiritual level when you are not so good at witnessing the subtle level? Is there a kind of sequence? Do you need to be able to witness the physical level first, then the subtle level …
Sri Vasudeva:
No, for example, if you meet someone who is very powerful and you have some sort of receptivity, that person can jolt your energy inside, begin to create stirrings in your subtle energy body. When that happens, suddenly you start to become more aware and your awareness of your physical increases, your awareness of your subtle increases and your awareness of the inner space increases.
So as your spiritual centers awaken, then more awareness comes. As you become more aware of the subtle body, you become even more aware of the physical body. As the chakras open up more, they give you more awareness. And if you have more awareness, you could be more aware of the physical. I am more aware of the physical in this expanded field of awareness than I was when I was physical. Then, I didn’t care. I just focused on things in the body but I had no appreciation for looking at the body from a different space. Now I look at the body from every possible space that I couldn’t look at compared to when I was in the body consciousness. I didn’t have that scope of vision. So what I am saying is when the inner centers are awakened, when you are more aware of the subtle body, it gives you a greater scope of looking. So you can appreciate your physical body much differently than when you were only grounded in the physical .
Question:
And are you more able to observe the deeper spiritual level?
Sri Vasudeva:
Awakening the spiritual simply means tapping into the Source. Tapping into a power inside of you that has no end. That’s what awakening spiritual power means.
Sri Vasudeva:
Where is the subtle energy supported from?
Reply:
The deeper level.
Sri Vasudeva:
Exactly! If you look at the subtle level, you should think this is coming from a deeper level. When we look at the light bulb, we should be thinking that that is coming from a power station and not think that is generated by itself. So when your subtle body is bright, you need to think that the Source is supporting this in a better way.
Comment:
That makes sense. I was thinking too much in a separate level.
Sri Vasudeva:
So when he said he saw all this energy in me while I was talking, he said it was physical but I say no.
Question:
I can’t sleep because my mind goes on chanting all night.
Sri Vasudeva:
Well that is very good. At least the mind is doing something that is very good. So don’t worry about it. That’s a healthy activity and I am happy to hear that the chanting goes on while you are asleep.
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