What is Awareness?

 

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What is Awareness?

If we can live this moment, if we can be here in this moment, then everything takes care of itself. Then we need not worry. Then there is no need to ask - before we ask, the answer is delivered. The answer has always been there, but we are not aware.

We live as if we are fast asleep – our life functions in a stupor – moves, works, is born, lives and dies, but almost fast asleep, snoring. There have been many intelligent people, but finding an intelligent mind is rare. True intelligence, wisdom comes when the mind is dropped. The mind is never original, never radical – it is always orthodox, repetitive, mechanical; it functions like a robot. It keeps repeating the same thing again and again.

The mind is like a computer – ‘garbage in, garbage out’ – whatever data you feed it, it processes that and spews it out. Just observe the mind – have we ever seen our mind thinking something unique – it usually is thinking about the same something or other, applying its given past impressions to current situations and coming up with some kind of ‘response’. Never anything original – just a rehash of past impressions. We are too much attached to this mediocre, stupid instrument. It is good to use it; it is good as a reservoir, as memory; it is good to keep records - but it is not a way to see into reality. It has no eyes. Mind is blind like a bat. It has no eyes. Mind can never be intelligent — only no-mind is intelligent. Only no-mind is original and radical.

Once we start dropping our thoughts, the dust that we have collected in the past, the flame arises - clean, clear, alive, young. Our whole life becomes a flame, and a flame without any smoke. That is awareness. Consciousness without thinking – that is awareness.

Being alert and with no thought. Try it! Whenever we see thoughts gathering, disperse them! Get out of that mind frame! Look at the trees with no thought filters between us and the trees. Listen to the chirping of the birds with no chirping of the mind inside. Look at the sun rising and feel that a sun of consciousness is rising within us also… but don’t think about it, don’t assert, don’t state, don’t say. Simply be.

Slowly, with the passage of time, we will start feeling sudden glimpses of awareness - as if a fresh breeze has entered into our room which was getting stale and dead; as if a ray of light has entered into the dark night of our soul; as if, suddenly, life has called us back.