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MOVING INTO THE 3RD FACTOR
FROM DUALITY INTO TRINITY- THOUGHTS TO
THOUGHTLESSNESS
Our usual experience is made up of ‘me’ (the subject) and the ‘other’
people, events or things that we are engaged with (the object). This 2-way
engagement, which is happening moment to moment, is : ‘life’ as we usually know
it... the wholly involved/engaged ‘me-participant’ … DUALITY and its
pleasure-pain, good-bad, knowledge-ignorance, empowered-powerless, love-anger,
peace-turmoil, clarity-confusion…. syndrome of ‘ups and downs’.
And all we need to do, is to bring in
the ‘3RD FACTOR’, and break free from the duality of self unto abiding as the
TRINITY of Self…! Call this 3rd factor (in layman terms) ‘watching’ self
moment to moment! Call it (in spiritual parlance) ‘witnessing’! Call it (in
more abstract ways) abiding as ‘awareness’ rather than what we are aware of!
Call it (what it truly becomes) a 24/7 meditation!
Indeed through the simple act of bringing in this 3rd factor we
shift (automatically!) from : duality to Trinity ; self to Self; from the maya
of subject object to the vantage point outside the picture; from me/participant
unto Creator enjoying the cosmic play ; from ups & downs into the
detachment, empowerment-surrender, equanimity and stillness… of Trinity! This
'3rd factor' becomes a simple coinage of words/a symbol/trigger/reminder to
enable this shift...
Try this meditatively… move into the 3rd factor…!
Increasingly move into ‘watching’ your thoughts (the play of subject-object)
rather than being engaged in them; gradually this witnessing will happen
faster, firmer, longer; at some point you abide as awareness rather than what
you are aware of… objects (thoughts/life events/ ups & downs) start to lose
their all engaging hold on us… and thus the subject (me notion) having nothing
to do, automatically starts to fade …and
no object, no subject….we go into what words describe as the ‘silence’ of our
true nature/Self = Meditation!
This can then more easily be taken ‘out’ into our day to day world on a
24/7 basis –beyond the 3rd factor of witnessing- being present only
whilst ‘sitting’ in mediation! Ofcourse, both meditation and day to day
practice enable each other! Meditation establishes us here firmer…and thus its practice in day to day life… the
watching/witnessing … ‘happens’ more and more effortlessly and spontaneously…
because through regular mediation we have already begun/deepened the shift from
self to Self! And we you live it out in our day to day life we further
establish in /as Self/Witness … and so meditation takes us deeper, firmer … a
beautiful circuit comes into play. At
some point, this… Awareness turns within (as what its aware of pales) and is
then absorbed in Its inherent nature/state of pure being…no words to go here.
Which also over time Masters bring out into their day to day world…remain
thoughtless and absorbed in Self and yet the self plays out its role…
In lay man terms the 3rd factor is simply ‘watching’ the two
way (subject-object) engagement moment to moment: watching self awake in
the morning, watching self’s every activity, watching what we see, hear, smell,
taste touch! indeed even as we watch self, we (automatically) shift into a
space beyond self… (to be able to watch
self)…and this is the beginning of the 3rd factor…
In spiritual parlance the 3rd factor is called witnessing!
Witnessing (automatically) separates us from what we are witnessing… and thus
automatically brings distancing and thus detachment… even whilst the ‘me’ of
duality goes about his/her participation!
In more abstract terms as we increasingly abide as awareness rather
than what you are aware of… the disengagement is furthered…our life events
and thoughts about them start to
fade…indeed effort is required to think /worry about them at this point!
Try this meditatively – see yourself seeing and this new seeing is
not happening through your eyes but some outer un-determinable point! hear
yourself hearing and this new hearing is not happening through the ears but
some outer un- determinable space! Become
aware of some taste/smell and this new tasting/smelling is not happening in the
mouth/nose but some un-determinable area!! become aware of some touch and you
move from the physical touch to the more intangible! become aware of awareness!
you may initially even feel a (pleasant) buzz heady feeling and distancing
(objects start to fade/blur ever so slightly like a camera shot going into soft
focus) as you move into this space… from self to self… from participant to
witness …into heightened awareness of awareness
Then try it everyday, through the day… when you awake see your self
waking… see yourself doing your daily ablutions….see your self go about your
day…indeed use every event as a
trigger to move you into witnessing…indeed use
all your sensory experiences… as a trigger as a trigger to move you into
witnessing (when you see, hear, taste, small or feel some touch!!)…yes indeed day to day life and its ups and downs and
those much maligned senses all become a trigger to
self/witnessing/awareness! 27/7 meditation! more so, as you move into
witnessing rather than participating, you automatically move into all the
‘qualities’ of the state of witnessing: detachment, surrender- empowerment;
stillness, silence…
Then do this for your thoughts and emotions…move into the 3rd
factor… from their ups and downs… into watching them… indeed if witness both
your downs … and ups… and the contrast neutralizes … the up (pleasure) and
downs (pain) neutralizes into one state of equanimity…! What’s called
going beyond duality even whilst living in it!
Both meditation and day to day practice enable each other! If you
have been meditating this becomes easier to practice in day to day life… the
watching/witnessing happens more and more effortlessly and spontaneously…
because through regular mediation you have already begun the shift from self to
self /awareness/witness! And as you live it out in your day to day life you
further establish in /as Self /awareness/witness… and so it becomes a beautiful
circuit taking us deeper unto Self!
Divyaa Kummar
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