Thoughtless Awareness

 

Thoughtless Awareness 

The Indian scriptures describe the following four states of human awareness:

 Jagruti the waking state of consciousness

 Swapna the dreaming state of consciousness 

Sushupti the state of deep sleep in which the mind, the ego and superego are still 

Turya the state of thoughtless awareness beyond the mind 

The first three states of awareness are commonly experienced in our daily lives. 

The fourth state is the state of thoughtless awareness or nirvichara samadhi. This is the state in which the constant rising and falling of thoughts in the mind comes to an end. At first a gap—vilamba—begins to appear between the thoughts. As this gap grows the thoughts diminish and, with the regular practice of meditation, the mind enters easily into thoughtless awareness. Theattention becomes still like a lake without any ripples on it and a deep inner peace begins to dawn upon our awareness. 

When there are no ripples on the water of a lake, its surface becomes almost invisible as it reflects the beauty of the landscape around it—the trees and the sky and clouds. In the same way, the still mind reflects the beauty of the creation and melts into the bliss and the peace of the divine. Our growth in Sahaja Yoga lifts us to this higher level of consciousness. “Now, instruction in Yoga (Union). Union is restraining the thought-streams natural to the mind. Then the seer dwells in his own nature. Otherwise he is of the same form as the thoughts.”

 Patanjali – “Yoga Sutras” “Enjoyment is only possible when you are beyond your mind. With your mind you can never enjoy. It’s like a big load. It will not act, it will not help. Enjoyment comes when you are in complete silence—in a rippleless lake. The reflection of all the joy that is created on the shores of that lake are completely reflected, they are scribble about GAP Gap between thoughts  

 Let the mind become still.” Lao Tze Tao Te Ching, verse 16 4 What is Sahaja Yoga Sahaja Yoga – a beginner’s guide X not deflected. If there were ripples it would have been a different image altogether and would have been something nowhere near the image of reality.” Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi – Italy, Oct 1, 1995

 In the state of thoughtless awareness we think neither of the past nor of the future. We are entirely in the present moment, in the state of being and do not waste the precious moments of life thinking about times that are finished forever or yet to come. We start to enjoy our Self, our Spirit, our own inner beauty and the beauty of creation. We start to enjoy being. We are able to enjoy the singing of birds and the scent of flowers at a much deeper level as we are no longer bombarded by the meaningless mental chatter that assails our awareness and pollutes our attention, distracting us from the simple joys of our existence.

 In this state, we start to feel the vibrations of our chakras and our surroundings (and the effect of our behavior and lifestyle) on our fingertips. As a result we spontaneously and naturally change ourselves and our environment so that we maximize the joy, both for ourselves and for those around us.

 Shri Mataji has described this as“innate religion.” “The Self, which is in fact the Lord and which is called ‘I’ because it abides in the body, is different from the physical and subtle bodies. ‘I am that Spirit. I am without attributes, actionless, eternal, ever free and indestructible. I am not the body which is ever changing and unreal.’ This is called Knowledge by the wise.” Shri Adi Shankaracharya