Guided Meditation: Seeing Oneness In Everything

Allow your whole body to be as natural as possible. If we just start the inhalation and the exhalation of the breath. At your own pace. Just keep inhaling and exhaling and we'll do this for around two to three minutes. Just silently. If you want to close your eyes or open your eyes, it's up to you. For two to three minutes, just be silent and watch the breathing. So observe the breathing. So observe the inhalation and the exhalation. So just observe or be aware. So remain as a witness, observing the inhalation and the exhalation of your breath. So remain aware. As you're watching your inhalation and exhalation of the breath, you may find, or now you may discover that something is watching you watch the inhalation and exhalation of the breath. The Sages call this being aware of being aware, or the observer becomes the observed. In this little exercise that you're doing of watching the inhalation and exhalation of the breath, watch the watching of the watching of the breath or observe the observation of the breath. And then I give everyone a couple of minutes and then what we'll do, we'll look at that being aware of being aware, that awareness Itself. Be aware of that awareness. Be a witness to the witnessing. Be a watcher to the watching. Be an observer to the observing. This is also in Advaita Vedanta. There's a very great text called Drg Drisya Viveka, which means the Seer and the Seen. Now this awareness that is in the background is this subject of all objective experience. The breath was an object. The seeing or the witnessing was also an object as it was a mechanism for the mind to observe. So we were watching the mind, watch the breath. That awareness is what we may refer to as Brahman, that Ultimate Reality, that Pure Consciousness. And if you've read a few of the popular texts in Advaita or in non-duality, it's what is referred to as 'I Am'. 'I Am' is the subject. And anything that follows 'I Am' is the object. So 'I Am' eating. 'I Am' feeling lonely. 'I Am' feeling happy. 'I Am' meditating. 'I Am' eating. 'I Am' sleeping. All those are objects or contents of that Pure Consciousness of that, 'I Am'. It is 'I Am' that is watching this whole play of our tiny finite existence. This 'I Am' in Sanskrit is referred to 'Aham.' so when the seers, or the sages said, 'Aham Brahmasmi 'as you know, that means 'I Am' Brahman. 'I Am' the Ultimate Reality. They may use the word, following. 'I Am' just so our mind could focus on that pure essence of Reality. That Pure Consciousness. Reminding us that 'I Am', Pure Consciousness, are One and the same. Now as Awareness, as Pure Awareness, which you are, that is exactly what you are. In this Pure Awareness, there is no beginning. There's no end. There's no religion. There isn't even, may I say this? That there's no spirituality here either, because essentially it's what we are In this there's absolute Joy, Ananda - Bliss and because there's Bliss, there's also Peace The 'I Am' doesn't need to seek peace in a chaotic world. The nature of 'I Am' is peace itself. A question to ponder about and we'll ponder on this for a couple of minutes. Does this, 'I Am' this Pure Awareness, when you're being Aware of being Aware, is that seeking enlightenment? You will find that Pure Awareness isn't seeking enlightenment because it doesn't know what ignorance even is. The concept of ignorance doesn't exist in Pure Awareness. Therefore, many of the radical sages of the east have said, "There's no liberation here. There's no mukti, there's no ignorance, there's no one bound, there's nobody imprisoned." And that is because this Pure Awareness, it's not just our being of our personal self, but this Pure Awareness is shared amongst everybody. Now the question may be, well, there's so many different people in the world. There's so much diversity and multiplicity. How can we all have one Shared Being? And a great example to highlight this is the blank screen and a movie that's being projected onto the blank screen, there's different characters. They appear, they show their emotions, some characters are born, some die, some get hurt, some face heartbreak, some find themselves. But when the movie finishes, does the blank screen inherit anything that was shown upon it? No. The blank screen remains as it is. Inheriting nothing and also giving nothing. It just is. It's just Being. I'm reminded of Ramana Maharshi used to often say, "Just be as you are." Sometimes people asked so many different questions, intellectual questions, devotional questions, questions about Karma but essentially it used to all go back to one thing and that was "Just Be As You Are." And if I can be as 'I Am' and you can be as 'I Am' and the world essentially, whether they know it or not is 'I Am', then we all have that One Shared Being. In essence, there is only Oneness. So right now I want you to see that 'I Am' that Awareness, conceptually still in your mind, we'll use the mind for this point and with everyone and everything you can think of friend and enemy, your critics and those are praise you, people you love or the people you hate. And I would extend this, not just to people, but to everything that we interpret in language of polar opposites. I want us to see that Oneness in everything. So I want you to see the 'I Am' that you've just experienced or you are experiencing. And I want you to see It being experienced conceptually in your mind. Or if you have your eyes open, you can do that as well. See everything and everybody in that Oneness of Being. As you see this Oneness of Being, in Everything, that is like seeing godliness in everything. That is like seeing Divinity in everything. So whenever you feel these feelings of polar opposites, or whenever you have thoughts of these polar opposites, go back to 'I Am'. Go back to that Awareness. Go back to being Aware of being Aware and let that decide what should happen in the moment. In that moment, it will decide whether, say somebody is going through a hard time or a difficult time. Do you offer your compassion because the 'I Am' will feel compassion in those times. When you're with your friends in that moment, be completely with your friends. Be in the, 'I Am' state. Essentially your offer your presence and your presence is always unconditionally loving, at peace, in bliss and it radiates and pervades everywhere. What you have or what you are is an Infinite Being and this is something that Rupert Spira says which is very beautiful, is that you're an Infinite Being with a finite mind. So enjoy the finiteness of your mind, but remember that you are an Infinite Being, you are a Being that is Shared amongst everyone and every little thing in the whole of existence And we'll end there. You can open your eyes whenever you feel comfortable.