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In the first comment on my previous article, What happens to our mind in sleep? , an anonymous friend wrote: ‘It cannot be correct that we experience ourselves in sleep and mind is absent. If that were true, everyone is realized during sleep. And once realized, he does not come back to the world. That is why it is said that the mind is in the dormant state. The I thought exists in its primitive form’. As this anonymous friend wrote, this seemingly common sense reasoning is why it is generally said that our mind or ego exists in sleep in a dormant condition (known as the kāraṇa śarīra or ānandamaya kōśa ), but such reasoning oversimplifies the issue, failing to recognise not only some important nuances but also some fairly obvious flaws in its own arguments. Let us therefore consider this issue in greater depth in order to see whether we can understand Bhagavan’s teachings in this regard more clearly. Nāṉ Yār? paragraph 1: in sleep we experience ourself in the absence of our mind Upa...

After reading my previous article, What is meant by the term sākṣi or ‘witness’? , a friend wrote to me expressing some thoughts that he had after reading it cursorily for the first time, so this article is adapted from the reply that I wrote to some of his ideas. Other things seem to exist only when we experience ourself as this ego Nisargadatta and ‘the witness attitude’ Sākṣi-bhāva can mean either a state of being or a state of mind Sākṣi-bhāva can also mean meditation on the sākṣi , namely ourself There are no distinguishable stages on the path of self-investigation At no stage on this path should we try to be a witness of anything other than ourself Self-attentiveness alone is the key to real detachment Vipassanā is similar to the practice of sākṣi-bhāva as it is generally understood When we experience what we actually are, there will be nothing else for us to observe or witness 1. Other things seem to exist only when we experience ourself as this ego My friend started by writ...

When I attended a meeting of the Ramana Maharshi Foundation UK in London earlier this month, one of the questions I was asked was about the concept or practice of sākṣi-bhāva or ‘being a witness’. I do not remember exactly what I replied at the time, but after seeing the video that was made of that meeting, a friend wrote to me saying that he agreed that the term sākṣi or ‘witness’ as it is often used is a misnomer, and he recalled that Bhagavan said in certain contexts that we should take this term to mean just ‘presence’ (as in the presence of our real self) rather than ‘witness’. He also added his own reflections on this subject, saying: Many gurus ask their disciples to maintain sakshi-bhava towards the events or happenings of the world. They feel that if we do not react to the outside happenings we will become more equanimous, and thereby our vishaya-vasanas will be destroyed. I believe J. Krishnamurti, Nisargadatta and many others recommended second and third person attenti...