After reading the last blog ‘Who am I?’, we now look at ‘I – the Changeless Witness’. Answers to some questions have such far-reaching implications, they fundamentally change the way we live and, consequently, the world around us. With incisive analysis and methodical reasoning, Swami Swaroopananda pulls back the layers to reveal, in the simplest terms possible, the amazing reality at the heart of our existence and the corresponding potential this holds out to each and every one of us, in the book ‘Who/What am I’.
Now, I begin to recognise that I am not the body. I am not this breath. I am neither hunger nor thirst. I am not this mind. I am not the intellect. I am Consciousness, who is aware of all this.
It is very important to note that this Consciousness never becomes an object. If it is an object, it is the reflected Consciousness in the mind, called ‘awareness’ or ‘attention’. Here, Consciousness is pointed to by the idea of ‘changeless’. Here, we shift our attention from all that is changing, to the one who is the Observer of the change – the Changeless.
This fact – I am Changeless – has to be asserted over and over again. Because the mind’s ignorance has to be removed, let the mind alone declare: I am not this body, I am not this mind, I am the changeless witness of all this. As we continue this practice of affirmation, we will perceive more keenly the functioning of both the body and the mind. We will be able to observe the swings and vagaries of the mind — sometimes joyful, sometimes miserable. But we will be able to stand apart and remain unaffected.
The moment we detach from the mind, it loses its power over us. When we unplug a piece of electrical equipment, for example, it turns off. Pranayama and other methods of regulated breathing yield a temporary quietude of mind, but they do not remove our ignorance. It is through the process of enquiry, when we shift our attention to the Witness, that we come to realise we are other than the mind and its thoughts.
Remember, the mind has a hold over you only for as long as you allow it to. To cite a simple everyday example: suppose while you are reading this booklet, the aroma of coffee from the kitchen reaches you. You then think of hot coffee with delicious chocolate cake! Immediately, the mind starts buzzing: where you might be able to get some cake, how nice it would be to have some, your experience the last time you had some… and so forth. But if you stop the flow and tell yourself, “Hey, don’t mind it; don’t get swayed by these thoughts. Let us first complete reading this,” the thoughts die away. They have power only for as long as you give them that power; in other words, so long as you identify with them. The moment you disengage, they dissolve and disappear.
‘I’ – Santam, Sivam, Sundaram
In the same way, when you shift your identification, the mind comes to a standstill. This is natural. It is not a forced state. The moment the mind comes to a standstill, that very moment, it totally fades away. It is in the purest state of sattva. In that absolutely quiet state, the extreme bliss that you experience is an eternity. Thereafter you merge to become that Bliss itself.
Once you have discovered this, you will never have to beg for joy from the world. You will on the contrary be a giver of happiness – a person who knows how to love, and who is loved by all. Such a blissful person knows that all distinctions and distortions exist only in the mind. He comes to realize, ‘I alone am. I am infinite, one without a second.’ Is that not an underlying definition of God in all religions? It is this very God, the Infinite, that you discover as your one self.
The limited ‘I’, not identifying with limitations, is Infinite. It is Bliss. It is Eternal, therefore It is Sat. It is of the nature of Consciousness, therefore It is Chit. It is fulfilling. It is of the nature of Bliss — antam, peaceful; Sivam, absolutely pure; Sundaram, the beauty of all beauties. That you are, Tat Tvam Asi.
Reference: Who/ What Am I by Swami Swaroopananda