My Colourful Peacock ( BMI) Is Dancing….

Do you know; everyone of us is having a beautiful and colourful peacock? And we watch it’s dance 24×7? 

Let’s know…

I hope; you must be meditating daily through the Black lotus app. Up till now; I have completed 7 goals.
I love these moments of meditation with the guidance of Om Swamiji, reading and doing random acts of kindness, breath work, reinforcing with reading wisdom and humour and last but not the least daily evaluation.

I find last task of this sadhana,i.e. daily evaluation,  very helpful to understand our nature of Witness Consciousness in the waking state.

In this task, we have to answer / respond to few introspective questions; regarding our behaviour, stress and anger level throughout the day and concentration level in meditation.  Among the four options, we have to select the proper answer; by introspecting all the activities we were engaged thoughout the day.
These four options are-
○Not at all, ○Somewhat, ○Mostly , ○Completely.

For example, in initial goal packs, there was the question,

# Did you eat mindfully throughout the day…
I had to choose the option as per my own observations;  how did I eat throughout the day.
So I have chosen ○ Somewhat.
Because although I ate my lunch and dinner mindfully, rest of the day; I just gobbled other stuffs like samosa, cake, custurd apples, chocolates and what not without being mindful.

Similarly, day before yesterday; I have chosen option ‘○ Completely ‘ for the enquiry, # I concentrated well in the meditation.
Because that day; I followed each and every instruction by Swamiji with full attention.

There are different types of self assessment questions in different goal packs. If we respond them honestly, it really helps us to know whether we are progressing in this path or not.

As a doctor, I have been attending many medical conferences. On the last day of every conference, they give us feedback form; in which we have to respond their questions by choosing one option among the four.
○ Non satisfactory ○ Satisfactory○ Good ○ Excellent.
And the questions are-
#Was the session helpful?
#Was the food delicious?
#Was the interactive session good?

I may be wrong; but I usually choose to mark  ○ Good , for all the questions. (Let the every session be a total mess.)
Because; I don’t want to hurt them. Because I don’t want to criticize them.
But deep inside; I am aware of what I am doing…that I was not truthful and straightforward enough to respond honestly. 

There come many occasions; when we have to say something contradictory to the facts;  just not to hurt anybody. But deep inside we are aware of our real response.

Why do I respond honestly in the black lotus evaluation task? Why don’t I dare to hide the facts of my daily physical, mental and intellectual activities while responding?

No one from the black lotus app is watching or checking my daily activities, intentions, gestures, way of eating and thinking, my stress and anger levels, concentration level in meditation etc.  Still I prefer to answer every question honestly.
What is the reason?

Because; My consciousness doesn’t allow me to lie. We all hear such phrases like;  ” मेरे अंतरात्मा की आवाज कहती है, ऐसा करना, ऐसा कहना सही नहीं है।” ” मेरे Consciousness को नही पटता ये सब.”
Thus we are aware that there is something deep inside us which always intuites us about the Truth. Externally, our body, mind, intellect may be engaged in the actions, thoughts, ideas respectively; which may or may not be rightous. But deep down, we are made aware/ conscious about the truth.
There come so many circumstances, when we are in dilemma or doubt;  when neither mind nor intellect work. The only option remains is; to just sit in silence…and you feel some guiding force within….that inspires your mind, intellect and you follow it. At these moments you say  ” My gut feeling says that it is right.”  What is this gut feeling? It is not the mind or intellect but something beyond that…the intuition.

There is something  beyond the mind and intellect, which is 100% trustworthy. This is the entity before which, we can’t lie.  You must have heard people saying, “You may hide anything from the world, but you can hide nothing from yourSelf”.
That proves that something is there who is watching your every activity….your desires, thoughts, actions, intentions..
You may be in waking state, dream state or deep sleep state, there is the one who is witness of all.

This entity is the Pure Consciousness….Witness Consciousness. It is the real you. It is the Truth. It’s very presence enlivens all the activities of body mind intellect whether bad or good, right or wrong, true or fake.

The lamp post illumines the road. It is the witness of all the happenings on the road, be it the marriage procession, some religious procession or some eveteasing or even someone’s murder. It remains uninvolved and unaffected.

In the light of the Pure Consciousness, everything is going on. Every activity is being witnessed. This is how; real you are a nondoer. Doer is your ego….(You; the consiousness identifying with the bmi. )

In a lighter mode, just remember any court scene from a movie; when a serial murderer also says to the judge; ” My lord! I have not done any murder, any crime.” ( Swami Anubhavananda often gives this example.)
In fact, as a Witness Consciousness; he has done nothing. But as the ego/ individual jiva, he has done the crime. The doer is the enjoyer or sufferer. So ego has done the crime, so he is entitled to the punishment. Pure Consciouness is neither involved nor affected in any actions; thats why never entitled to punishment. 

The Realised Masters are aware of their own nature; the Pure Consciousness and thats why they view all the worldly activities just as a play; witnessing all.  

When Shankaracharya was asked by his Guru,’ Who are you?’
He answered- “Shivoham! ” ( And he composed the nirvan shatakam….I am not the mind, intellect, etc)

What about us?
Our intellect is still in ignorance, let it be sharp. It can help us succeed in achieving materialistic goals.
To succeed in spiritual path;  one needs to cultivate viveka. The ability to discriminate between satya and asatya.( Self and not Self)

Intellect is the seat of ignorance. The Consciousness gets reflected in the intellectual sheath and called as chidabhasa/the reflected consciousness. This gives rise ‘jivabhava,’ sense of limitedness. The very ignorance in the intellect gives rise to the ego/ ahankar; that expresses;   ‘ I am the jiva/bmi complex.”
In case of Self realised persons, this ignorance in the intellect is replaced by the Self knowledge. Thats why the very expression of them is always one and the same- “I am the Pure Consciousness.”

Just like we remove the outer hard covering; the bran to get the white rice,  We can negate the not self/bmi by using our intellect (method of logic and reasoning), through our daily activities; to know the real I.

Try to be as a third person / observer and watch your own thoughts and activities of your bmi.
Let’s try-
You are eating an apple.
How to analyse and witness this action.

The desire of eating apple arises in your mind. Mind gets sense data through the senses about the apple. Mind sends this data to the intellect for analysis. Intellect analyse and endorse this data by retriving the stored information from the  memory and sends the decision to the mind. The mind sends instructions to the karmendriya ( faculty of locomotion and grasping, etc). Your legs walk towards dinining table and  hand holds the apple and takes it towards mouth. Your mouth eat it with the help of teeth. Your tongue has taste buds so it tastes delicious.
Thus, your mind is delighted. And your ahankar/ ego / jivahood expresses – ‘I am eating a delicious apple.’

Real you is not eating the apple. It is watching and enlivening all the components of these actions.
You are aware that your ego/ jivahood is the doer/ eater as well as enjoyer.

To see a bottle in the dark room, you need a ray of light to illumine it.
To see anything in the outer world and  thoughts, feelings/ emotions in the inner world;  you need the illuminitions of the Consciousness. This Illuminor/ Enlivener is real you.
Whole process is carried out within you; the Pure Consciousness. Inert insentient components- mind, intellect, chitta, body, senses ; all get animated by the Consciousness..real you..

From the point of view of Non-dual Brahman, there is no world. So as there is ‘no other’ to watch, Non dual Brahman is called ” Brahmachaitanya’…not the Sakshi chaitanya/ Witness Consciousness.
It is from the point of view of the ignorants and their world, the very Brahman is called the Witness consciouness. ( For us there is a world…so there is a watcher/Witness of the world.)

I am very fond of one saying- जंगल में मोर नाचा; किसने देखा; किसने देखा?
This world needs the proof for everything you do.
No one will believe in you if you have done RAK;  but not shown it’s proof. They will doubt.

With this much understanding of the Witness Consciousness, you may call It the God( without form)…within and outside (at vyashti and samashti level- invisible but watching).
And you can answer that- जंगल में मोर नाचा. किसने देखा पता नहीं ; पर भगवान ( God, the Witness Consciousness) ने जरूर देखा।

This God, the witness Consciousness watches everything my body mind intellect does; along with the intentions behind it ..
The desires, thoughts, actions of spiritually evolved ones ( who are aware of or at least have the knowledge of our true nature/ God), are always aligned with the truth.
Their actions are always honest and kind,  not for the sake of praise from the people but for the sake of the Truth/ the God.

So; how can I hide the way; my peacock danced throughout the day; from the God; who watches all 24×7? That means, how can I dare to respond wrongly in self evaluation task; when I know that He is watching all…..? 

Peacock is my body mind intellect complex. It is colourful because of the different shades of three gunas of maya. It dances on the tunes of the desires. What I need to practice, is to contemplate upon the fact that – I am not the peacock but I am the witness of its dance.
    Hari Om !

(BMI/bmi= Body Mind Intellect Complex.)

(RAK= Random Act of Kindness- mentioned in the Black lotus app.)