DHANYA ON SELF INQUIRY

Yes. Right now, I think I am in my body. My husband is working,
15 feet away. I see us as two individuals in the same room
so dvaita.

Hi Ari,

I didn't have time yesterday to get back to you,
and even today is pretty jam packed, but I wanted
to reply to what you wrote.

First of all, I see that when I replied to your
original question 'What is nonduality?' I made too
many 'jumps,' way too many leaps in logic, which
assumed a familiarity with the teachings of
Advaita/Vedanta, and I see that was a mistake.

So I apologize for any confusion that may have caused.
It's really better, IMO, just to begin at the beginning
and go on from there.

Above you wrote: "Right now, I think I am in my body.
My husband is working, 15 feet away. I see us as two
individuals in the same room so dvaita."

Indeed that is your interpretation of what you are seeing,
and from a certain perspective, (from the perspective of
what one might term 'transactional reality') you are correct.
There are two people in one room doing different things,
thus dvaita.

So let's start there. You said, "Right now, I think I am
in my body." How about substituting these words for that
statement, "Right now, I think that I *am* my body."

I would assume that right now you think that you exist as
a separate body/mind/sense organs individual. Am I right?

Questioning whether this is true or not is a good place
to begin a process which is called 'self-inquiry. '

Would you say that these words, "I am, I exist,
I am a conscious being," apply to you?

If you say yes, (which most people would say), then the
next thing to do is to examine what this existent conscious,
being which you know yourself to be, actually is.

Most people logically assume that their existence/conscious ness
is a product of, and one with, the body mind. And that is
what makes me different from you. Correct?

So there is an exercise one can do, an exercise of inquiry,
asking yourself various questions, while at the same time
making various observations, to see if this is actually true
or not. The exercise goes like this.

Start with your body. Are you aware of various changing
sensations in your body? Does your sense of touch work?
Are you aware of it? If you say yes, then let's go on.

Are you aware that your other sense organs work
(assuming that they do)? You can hear, you can see,
you can taste, you can smell, right? You are aware of
all of those things. They are known to you, and they
change. Right?

Okay, then next, are you aware of the thoughts in your mind?
Are they known? Are you aware of your moods, your emotions,
and thoughts, thoughts such as, 'Now I am doing this or that,
now I am hungry, now I am happy, now I am sad, I was lost in
a day dream, and now I am back to reality, etc,' are you aware
of all of that?

The thoughts in your mind are constantly changing,
correct, and you are aware of them, right?

So, then there is a question to ask, which you might
never have asked yourself before, who or what is aware
of all of the changing experiences of the body/mind?

Is it your mind? Is it a part of your mind?

If it is your mind, then who is aware of that mind?
Is there a mind behind the mind, behind the mind,
behind the mind, and so on into an infinite regress,
or does the 'buck stop,' with that which is aware of,
and lights up, the thoughts in the mind?

This takes some time, some contemplation, and lots of
noticing. Who is aware of the thoughts in the mind?
And does that one change?

It isn't a question one can answer immediately.

It's better to sit with the question for a while,
to ponder it, as it were, to observe that everything
I take to be 'me' changes; and then to ask the question,
'Do I actually change, while everything else I took to be
me changes?'

Everything I take to be 'me,' the body, the senses, the thoughts change, but who is it that is aware of all of them? And does
that one which is aware of them change?

The teachings of Advaita/Vedanta say the buck stops with
the one who is aware of the changes, the one because
of whom the thoughts in the mind are known. The buck stops
with that which 'illumines' the mind, with that because of
which all thoughts in the mind are known.

So then, if you can sit with that understanding for a while,
examine it, and see that it is true, you might ask yourself
certain questions about this one who is aware of the thoughts
in the mind, questions like, does that one change?

This is a very simple exercise, but its results can be
extremely profound.

There is that about you which never changes, which goes
unrecognized amidst all of the changing experiences of
the body/mind. Because it is ever present in exactly the
same way, we don't notice it, until someone points it out
to us.

It may take quite a while to recognize that which is ever
present to the thoughts in the mind, which lights them up,
that which never changes, and because of which anything
having to do with the body/mind/sense organs, is known.

So ask yourself, while the sensations in my body change,
and the objects of sense perception, and my thoughts,
my moods, and emotions change, do I change?

Actually you don't.

It is to this *you,* which doesn't change, that the words,
"I am. I exist. I am a conscious being," actually refer.

In the teachings of Advaita/Vedanta this *you,* which
doesn't change, is sometimes referred to as 'the witness,'
that which is ever present to, and witnessing,
the changing experiences of the body/mind.

Another word for the witness is the atma.

Having stripped off from my self, anything that
changes, anything to do with the body and mind,
we are left with the atma, the unchanging witness
consciousness, in which all changing experience
takes place, and because of which all changing
experiences are known.

Then the teachings of Advaita/Vedanta will guide
you, through another process, to see that, that which
you took to be your bottom line individual unchanging
self, the atma, (the witness) is in fact, brahman,
the unchanging, ever present, self or being of all that is.

And that's another process which I didn't go into above.

What I outlined above is the process of self-inquiry known
in Sanskrit as drig/drisha viveka, which means seer/seen discrimination.

It is a process of making the distinction between that which
doesn't change (the seer) and that which does (the seen).

So just noticing that while everything I took to me changes, (anything having to do with the body/mind and sense/organs) ,
I, who am lighting up and witness to all of those experiences,
don't.

This is where the process of self-inquiry, which leads
to the complete, thorough, and direct recognition
of what the word nonduality actually means can begin.

Best wishes,
Dhanya