Witness Consciousness

[Guest guest]

Namaste Sri Paulji,

 

You raise some excellent questions and I will forward your post and my

response to as well.

 

The key point is in the statement you make that "I find mindfulness similar

to witness

consciousness in that in both....I am aware that I am aware." It seems you

already grasp the essential unity of the Advaitic and Buddhist approaches to

unraveling the mystery of consciousness.

 

If the notion of mindfulness makes more sense to you and appears natural,

you should certainly stay with that. Spiritual effort and practice should

feel comfortable and pleasant. Witness consciousness can be cultivated but

can not be forced.

 

Many of these concepts and practices such as witness consciousness come

from the experience of yogis and sages who underwent subtle but fundamental

and irreversible shifts in their cognitive consciousness and perception. If

such a permanent change were to happen suddenly in someone, there would be a

potential for mental and emotional suffering. This is probably why laying a

spiritual foundation with prayer, devotion, meditation, and surrender to the

divine is universally recommended in all yogic traditions.

 

Harsha

 

 

Paul Cote [pjcote]

Wednesday, May 30, 2001 4:45 PM

advaitin

Witness Consciousness

 

 

I am very interested in Witness Consciousness. In Siddha Yoga, I

believe it is held to be somewhat of a goal. Nevertheless, I don't

fully understand it. 21 Years ago I visited the Ramakrishna Vedanta

Institute in Boston and this elderly swami asked me who I was. I

said, me. And he told me I was the witness. Then, for the rest of

the day, I watched myself. I thought it was pretty cool. Years

later, I am seeing the same idea put forth in Siddha Yoga. Be an

observer, the seer; not the seen. I don't quite get it. It seems to

me there has to be a sort of dissidentification with the person.

 

Because of all of all the communications, internet etc... I have

learned about "mindfulness". I find mindfulness similar to witness

consciousness in that in both....

 

I am aware that I am aware

 

but it seems that in mindfulness, there is no necessity on being

separate from the consciousness in the body, whereas I get the

impression that witness consciousness involves some sort of

separation.

 

Could someone describe for me the differences between the two?

 

Also, it seems to me mindfulness is much easier to cultivate than

witness consciousness. I have all but given up on witness

consciousness for mindfulness because mindfulness is so much easier

and very peaceful. I figure if witness consciousness dawns, great!

But I have not found it easy or desirable to cultivate.

 

Any help on understanding this would be greatly appreciated.

 

also, too much sanskrit doesn't help me too much, it just confuses

me; so if it could be described in plain english, that would help me

out even more.

 

Thanks

 

Paul