2. Saakshi Bhaav.

Saakshi Bhaav

Whatever occurs, whatever happens, whatever surfaces, simply occurs, happens and surfaces.

If I simply observe it, without adding anything to it, without adding the sense of doership to it, then what remains is only the happening, the occurrence, the surfacing.

It arrives, and it passes.

There is no separate physical role that needs to be created for observing. Observing is not a process that I have to perform. It is an experience. It is witnessing. It is simply being aware of what is occurring, without becoming entangled in the feeling of "I am doing this."

This does not mean that there should be no acknowledgement or response.

Something happens, there may be an acknowledgement. There may be a response. The response itself is also something that happens.

Why then is it necessary to mix the experience with doership?

There is no need to refrain from responding to a stimulus. A response may arise naturally and appropriately. But even that response can be witnessed.

The response is happening.

The acknowledgement is happening.

The thought is happening.

The emotion is surfacing.

The words are being spoken.

And all of this can simply be seen.

Consider an argument between two people. One person says something and the other responds. I can observe the other person's response. But can I observe my own response with the same clarity?

I can see the words arising.

I can see the thought behind them.

I can see the impulse to respond.

I can see the response itself.

The moment the thought arises, "See how well I responded. He could not even utter a word after that," something else has entered the picture.

The response itself may have been appropriate. There is no problem in that.

The problem begins when the response becomes an object of ownership.

"I responded well."

"I knew exactly what to say."

"I have this ability."

"I have been bestowed with such great acumen."

"This is why I am able to go ahead and grow in life."

What appears to be a simple observation has now quietly turned into doership.

The impurity is not necessarily in the response.

The impurity is in the ownership attached to it.

This is where Raag, Dwesh, Moh and Agyaan begin to operate.

Raag can arise towards the response that has been given, or towards the image of oneself that emerges from having given that response. The attachment is subtle. It may not look like attachment at all. Yet the moment there is a sense of "my response", "my ability", "my correctness", the experience begins to acquire ownership.

Dwesh can arise towards the opposite response, towards the person who disagrees, or towards the point that I want to establish as right. Again, the subtlety lies in the words:

"I want to prove my point."

Even this "I want to prove" can exist at a very micro, even nano, level.

This is why deeper observation is required.

Saakshi Bhaav is not merely observing the external event. It is also observing what happens within while the event is taking place.

The thought is observed.

The reaction is observed.

The response is observed.

The satisfaction after the response is observed.

The disappointment when the response does not go as expected is observed.

Nothing needs to be suppressed.

Nothing needs to be artificially changed.

It simply needs to be seen.

Moh enters when Raag and Dwesh become intertwined with the feeling of Maarapanu: my, mine, I, me.

Raag and Dwesh gain their binding force when there is ownership.

"My thought."

"My response."

"My point."

"My victory."

"My ability."

"My understanding."

The more weight given to this ownership, the more deeply the experience becomes entangled in the sense of self as doer.

And then comes Agyaan.

Agyaan is not merely the absence of information or knowledge. At a deeper level, it is the failure to recognise what is actually happening within.

When the doership mode is switched on, I begin to take ownership of what is occurring and identify myself with that ownership.

That very identification is Agyaan.

Shrimad Rajchandra expresses this beautifully in AtmaSiddhi Shastra, verse 100:

"Raag dvesh agyaan ae, mukhya karma ni granth;

Thaay nivrutti jeh thi, te ja moksha no panth."

Raag, Dwesh and Agyaan are the fundamental knots of karma.

And that through which their cessation occurs is the path to liberation.

The entire contemplation therefore comes back to where we began.

Whatever occurs, happens or surfaces, let it be observed through Nijbhaan.

If a thought surfaces, observe it.

If an emotion surfaces, observe it.

If a stimulus comes, observe it.

If an acknowledgement arises, observe it.

If a response arises, observe that too.

There is no requirement to stop the response.

There is no requirement to become passive.

There is no requirement to suppress the experience.

The response may happen.

But why add "I am the doer" to the response?

Why add ownership to what is simply happening?

Why turn an experience into "my experience", an action into "my action", a response into "my response"?

The acknowledgement can happen without ownership.

The response can happen without ownership.

The words can arise without ownership.

And the witnessing can remain.

This is perhaps where Saakshi Bhaav becomes much deeper than merely "watching".

It is not watching something from a distance.

It is seeing clearly, without adding anything that was not already there.

The event is there.

The experience is there.

The response is there.

But the additional layer of "I did this" need not be added.

And perhaps this is the most subtle part of the whole contemplation:

The effort is not to make witnessing happen.

The effort is to stop adding what does not need to be added.

The effort is to remain aware enough to see the moment when doership begins to enter.

And when that is seen, even that seeing is simply witnessed.

No struggle.

No suppression.

No new doership in the name of removing doership.

Just Nijbhaan.

Just Saakshi Bhaav.

Whatever occurs, happens or surfaces...

It arrives.

It is witnessed.

And it passes.

Paradoxically, the effort is about not putting any effort.