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The Nature of Thought, Part Three

Author: Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami

Description: Claim yourself to be the watcher in meditation. Your perfected state as the watcher is right there, deep within you. Do's and don'ts in sādhana; suggestions for cleansing the dross from the mind as well as the subconscious. Do not allow mental argument and instinctive fantasy. Decipher the nature of awareness as opposed to the nature of thought. Shum perspectives mūlīf, shūmīf. By being the watcher, ignorance is dispelled, emotion is quelled, and the foreboding stampede of excitement is subdued. Shum series on awareness, concentration, looking out upon the mind from one central point. The practice of pulling awareness within and from there looking out upon the mind. "Master Course Trilogy, Merging with Siva" Lessons 209. 210.

Transcription:
Good morning everyone. And this morning we are continuing "Merging with Siva" Chapter 30 entitled "The Nature of Thought" drawn from "The 1970 Master Course" Lesson 208: "Being the Watcher "We can see that from the mystic’s point of view, he is the watcher. And as the mirror is in no way discolored by what it reflects, so is the mystic in his perfected state. Your perfected state, too, as the watcher, is right there, deep within you. The next time you sit for meditation, follow my guru’s advice to us all and witness your thoughts. Be that stationary awareness, holding form in its own perfection. All you have to do is to watch your mind think. Then and only then are you experiencing your perfect state of inner being. The only difference between the jñāni and the novice is that the jñānistays in there longer as the watcher, whereas the novice experiences this only momentarily from time to time. This is the result of a great abundance of your sādhana, and as the watcher, once stabilized within a new platform, a new beginning is commenced. There is much preparation that you can perform to attain this prolonged state more rapidly. There are some do’s and don’ts to be heeded and explicitly obeyed. Do regulate your in-breath to equal the same number of counts as your out-breath, and feel the bliss of your body as it becomes relaxed and harmonized. Don't allow indulgence in fantasies for even one moment. Do correct your diet to that of sattvic foods that grow above the ground. Don't indulge in mental argument with yourself or anyone else. "These four suggestions are the basic formula for cleansing the dross from the mind as well as from the subconscious by not putting more into it. Assuredly, results are dimmed if an aspirant meditates in the morning, engages in mental argument in the afternoon and fantasies before sleep, or at any other time. His yogic discipline then would simply strengthen his fantasies and their repercussions, as well as the excitement of mental argument. Therefore, having these two great barriers out of the way, the path is clear, the sādhana easier to handle and the results cumulative. "At the beginning of your practice of trying to decipher the nature of awareness as opposed to the nature of thought—which must be satisfactorily done before awareness can truly be detached—refrain from criticizing yourself or others as you begin to observe the many things you have been thinking about all these many years. For it is a fact that once you are able to observe your own thoughts even a little—though you may be unhappy with many of those thoughts, as they do not subscribe to the new philosophy and outlook which you have become interested in and appreciate, and even though you may abhor some thoughts and attitudes— you are already detached from them somewhat. So, don’t make matters worse by criticizing yourself for the thinking and mental habit patterns you are observing. This can cause tension in the nerve system and work directly against the prānāyāma that you may be practicing, and nullify the results. Rather, claim yourself to be the watcher at this early stage, and obey the two don’ts that I have just mentioned. Beautiful philosophical thoughts and refined feelings will fill in and take the place of minutes or hours previously used in mental argument and instinctive fantasy." Lesson 209 "Seeking a New Perspective "In the philosophical-theological perspective of the mind which I call mūlīf, we see thoughts as traveling from one to another. This is what they seem to do, from one point of view. They not only travel from one person to another, but are seen to pass rapidly before our vision, ever demanding and commanding our awareness to travel with them. We are then faced with the tedious task of quieting the mind by endeavoring to control these thoughts. Through breath control and various forms of prior understandings, which are cumulative as we persist in the performance of our sādhana, the deep, mystical perspective which I call shūmīf soon situates individual awareness deep enough within ourselves, undisturbed by physical or emotional upheavals and intellectual tangents, that the world of thought may be viewed as stationary, and it is awareness that moves from one thought to thought, scanning and registering what it sees. This, as I have mentioned before, is the perspective to be sought and attained through the performance of sādhana. "Remaining in one place in the inner depths of the mind, totally aware of being in that one place, as well as aware of that which is happening about you, is the state to be attained and maintained throughout your life. By being the watcher, ignorance is dispelled, emotion is quelled, and the foreboding stampede of excitement is subdued. (That's a pretty good sentence there, I'll read it again.) By being the watcher, ignorance is dispelled, emotion is quelled, and the foreboding stampede of excitement is subdued. By being the watcher, the overview of life is precise, and an equal balance between the inner and the outer is maintained. "During the course of this practice, you may feel totally apart from what you had come to believe were the realities of life. It must always be remembered that an initial dissatisfaction had occurred, compelling the search within to begin. It was this dissatisfaction that first consciously established the deep, inner state of being able to watch your mind think and experiences occur. But this state, once attained, is not easy to maintain. Practice is needed to give confidence and accept new habit patterns in the outer realms of daily expression. This practice is the constant pulling of awareness within, and from there, that one central point, looking out upon the mind. Only in performing this act time and time again does success come and stay..." Then we get as our commentary a Shum series. First one relates to constant pulling of awareness within. kamnam: A box, a tight container. nakamnam: Concentration, keeping the mind on what one is doing. kamnakamnam: Gently pulling awareness back to the object of concentration; concentration, focusing awareness, attention; this portrait names the process of handling the flow of thought which has wandered from the subject matter being concentrated upon; perceiving the flowing areas of the fourth dimension of the mind, which governs the third dimension and causes it to flow. And our second Shum series. Looking out upon the mind from that one central point. mûîf Actinic or soul identity, subsuperconsciousness; holding an awareness of oneself as the soul in juxtaposition with awareness of the physical-mental-emotional world tyêmmûîf Looking within with eyes slightly open; looking out into the exterior world through the physical eyes, which are slightly open, and at the same time looking back into the head as if one had pupils on the back of the eyeballs; tyêmmûîf may be practiced many times during the day; this is the practice and the state of being of protecting the inner life by remaining two-thirds within inner consciousness and one-third in external consciousness, in communication with the third dimension or conscious-mind world; tyêmmûîf brings a shûmîf perspective, as well as kamsatyêmnî; while in tyêmmûîf, looking within, the meditator will see many things—from balîkana (a clear whitish field of soft light) to pleasing and not-so-pleasing pictures; people are often seen in a state of tyêmmûîf while thinking deeply, working out a problem or intuiting an idea or plan; when one becomes sleepy in meditation, it is wise to go into tyêmmûîf by opening the eyes slightly. Thank you very much. Have a wonderful day. [End of transcript.]