The Experience of the Witness Consciousness

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The standpoint of the witness
consciousness separated from the

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external being is not something
that is acquired through

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thinking or the exercise of
willpower based in the mind.

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Many people have developed
approaches or systems to not

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react to outer circumstances,
such as Stoicism, various forms

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of training, disciplines, or
attempts at acclimating oneself

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to particular forces and thereby
increasing 1's capacity to

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resist their influence.
These approaches may be useful

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in gaining some manner of
overview or control over the

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actions and reactions of the
external nature, but they do not

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actually provide the experience
itself.

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People who have had an out of
body experience report a sense

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that they can see the body.
They can see others responding

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to the body, but they feel
disassociated from the body and

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its activities.
They can observe but do not have

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the sense of wanting to
intervene in any way.

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This experience is akin to the
separation of the witness from

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the nature and provides us an
inkling about the experience

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itself.
An individual reported an event

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that occurred to him at the time
of the mothers Maha Samadhi in

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1973.
He was residing at the Shrioro

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Bindo Ashram.
He notified the mother secretary

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of his birthday and he received
the mother's birthday blessings

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on November 17th, 1973 in the
morning, in other words, earlier

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in the same day as her leaving
her body.

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The message he received said
live within, be not shaken by

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outward happenings.
He reported that he fell into a

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deep state of walking
meditation, feeling separated

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and abstracted from everything
occurring to him that day.

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That night as he slept, he had a
dream that he recalled upon

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waking that everything had
become intensely dark and

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foreboding, and then suddenly
there was a brilliant light and

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the darkness was dispelled.
He was working during that

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period in the fruit room,
helping to hand out fruits to

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the sawdocks each morning, and
this required him to reach the

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ashram building while it was
still dark early in the morning.

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When he reached the ashram, he
was surprised to see all the

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lights on and people milling
about everywhere.

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Some people were grief stricken
and crying.

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He learned that the mother had
left her body.

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He indicated that he was still
experiencing the almost trance

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like separation of his awareness
that had begun the prior day and

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he had no reaction other than
that this seemed like an outward

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happening and his dream
experience told him an entirely

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different tale.
Over the next several days, as

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people poured in from all around
the world, he continued to feel

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the state of abstraction and
separation as he became an

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observer of the event, as the
mother's body was placed in the

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meditation hall for the darshan,
as he participated in all the

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activities, and as the samadhi
was prepared for the internment

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of the body.
His report, that was that he

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would could carry on all the
activities of his life, but felt

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totally separated, uninvolved
and unaffected by all of them.

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He became a pure observer.
This was not some mental idea,

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nor was it some discipline.
Rather, he indicated that it was

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to him a grace, a gift he had
been given by the mother, and he

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accepted it without question.
He surrendered to the experience

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and simply observed his own
internal responses and

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everything going on around him.
While eventually the intense

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experience receded and his
normal psychological standpoint

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reasserted itself, more or less,
he kept the remembrance of the

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experience and recounted it as a
modest extended period of a

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shift of standpoint to that of
the witness consciousness.

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He later indicated he had been
able to remain observant of his

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inner thoughts, feelings,
perceptions and reactions to

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some degree since that time.
While this is a first hand

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recounting of an experience,
there are many such a similar

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experiences recounted in the
spiritual literature.

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Individuals who have such an
intense experience frequently

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find that some constant sense of
separation and observation stays

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with them while the intensity
recedes and the experience

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becomes normalized.
Srioro Bindu observes quote the

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attitude of the witness
consciousness within.

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I do not think it necessarily
involves an external seclusion,

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though one may do.
That also is a very necessary

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stage in the progress.
It helps the liberation from the

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lower procrity, not getting
involved in the ordinary nature

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movements.
It helps the establishment of a

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perfect calm and peace within,
for there is one part of the

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being which remains detached and
sees without being disturbed the

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perturbations of the surface.
It helps also the ascent into

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the higher consciousness and the
descent of the higher

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consciousness, for it is through
this calm, detached and

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liberated inner being that the
ascent and descent can easily be

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done.
Also to have the same witness

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look on the movements of
procrity in others, seeing,

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understanding but not perturbed
by them in any way, is a very

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great help towards both the
liberation and the

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universalization of the being.
As for the surrender, it is not

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inconsistent with the witness
attitude.

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On the contrary, by liberating
from the ordinary procrity, it

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makes easier to surrender to the
higher or divine power.

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Very often, when this witness
attitude has not been taken, but

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there is a successful calling in
of the force to act in one, one

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of the first things the forces
does is to establish the witness

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attitude so as to be able to act
with less interference or in

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mixture from the movements of
the lower property.

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End Quote Reference Shrioro
Bindu and the Mother Looking

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from Within, Chapter 5.
Attitudes on the Path, pages

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1:48 to 1:49.