# Removing the Veil Reading Time: 15 min ## Introduction #advaitavedanta #mind Today I want to write about something that has become very important to me and a practice that I endeavour to maintain as continuously as I can. Today I want to write about the practice of "Witnessing". The term 'Witnessing' in this context is simply being aware of your mind and body in an objective way. What do I mean by that? If you watch your mind closely over time you will come to see that *'You'* have the ability to watch your thoughts and emotions arising and subsiding without becoming involved. You can look objectively at experiences rather than subjectively. You start to realise that there is a separate *'You'* inside you that is able to objectively observe the world along with the thoughts and emotions that arise and subside within your mind and body. You may also feel that it has been present all your life, unchanging and unaffected by the vicissitudes of life. This is the 'Witness'. An inner awareness, as I shall call it. It is always present and aware of everything even if our mind is currently on some other mission. It is the same awareness that we possessed as a child, a teenager, and as we progress through adulthood. This is the 'I' that we feel is our essential being. It is the start of every sentence that we care to write about ourselves: "I am a man", "I am married", "I am a carpenter", "I am happy", "I am miserable". Every thought we have of ourselves (which is most of our thoughts) is preceded with the word "I". We feel it all the time. It never changes and is completely unaffected by the vicissitudes of life, unlike the constant change and the suffering we experience in the phenomenal world. It is like the screen in a cinema. When the movie is projected on the screen the audience becomes engrossed in the plot and the characters and forgets completely about the screen. It is as if it doesn't exist. But of course, the movie projection would not work without the screen. The screen is the foundation upon which the movie is played out. Equally, the screen is unaffected by the movie projected on it, nor does the screen become involved in the plot or make judgements about the characters. Most people never become aware of this inner Witness because most people never really look within. They never really turn their attention inwards preferring instead to project outwards into the world of name and form - the phenomenal world. Most people are simply ignorant of the 'Witness'. This ignorance is caused by our belief that we ARE this mind and body. We have created an identity for ourselves that is based on who we are in this physical world. We have a name and we have a place in this world. We have a 'story' about ourselves that we have built up layer by layer from infancy. We ARE this story. Most people when asked who they are will reply with this story. Of course, such an identity is necessary if we are to live in the physical world. I am not saying we should dispense with this identity as it is essential to us in our daily lives. I am saying that we should recognise that there is this deeper awareness in which our everyday life appears. A deeper consciousness in which the entire phenomenal world arises. But most people, by believing they ARE their mind and body, look no further or deeper. Few people consciously make the effort to explore beyond the apparent reality they perceive all around them. ## Subject vs Object To progress in seeing beyond the obvious, you will have to learn to make an important discrimination between subject and object. This is very important. If you are able to discriminate between these two, then your journey of self discovery will be a lot easier. I am using the terms  ‘subject’ and ‘object’ only as a convenience, to explain the basics and am applying specific definitions for these terms to help aid understanding. **The ‘object’ is anything that is observable through our five senses and through our own mental awareness**. It is not limited to the external objects that you see, smell, hear, touch or taste but also applies to all the internal objects such as thoughts, feelings, sensations etc. In other words, anything that you can observe or notice in anyway is an object. Normally, our senses and our thoughts and feelings are defined as subjective. Cambridge dictionary defines the word ‘Subjective’ as ‘influenced by or based on personal beliefs or feelings, rather than based on facts’. But you can also notice your own thoughts and feelings. You can approach your own mind with an attitude of objectivity. The contents of consciousness can be carefully noticed by you at any moment, as if they have got nothing to do with you. This objective, witnessing 'you' that is unaffected and uninvolved in the thoughts - who simply Witnesses - **is the subject to which all the objects of the phenomenal world appear**. It has no attributes, because, any attribute will come under the category of an object. Put simply, this inner awareness is what enables us to experience everything. It is the ground of all awareness and experience for all living things. And it is at the centre of our being; of our existence. This subject is unchanging and unaffected by anything that arises within it. Everything else in your consciousness keeps changing and can be noted by the subject. The important thing that you need to understand about the subject is, it is not an object at all. The subject cannot be noticed because it is the one which actually notices. This doesn’t mean that the subject is actually a hidden entity inside our head. By understanding this way, you are again making the ‘subject’ into an object. This pure subject cannot be conceptualised in anyway. Discrimination between the subject (your inner awareness that has been with you for life) and the objects that appear in it (the phenomenal world) is at the very heart of 'Witnessing'. If you just sit quietly and watch your thoughts as they arise and pass in your mind you can start to see how you react to those thoughts and how easy it is to blindly follow thoughts down rabbit holes. It is easy to get trapped in thoughts, particularly those that are negative. You can watch also how your body reacts to these thoughts. Thoughts, particularly negative ones, also inspire negative emotions. But if you remain objective about the thoughts (by not becoming involved) one can 'step back' and simply watch the thoughts and the bodily reactions as an uninvolved observer. You can be the "Witness" - remaining unaffected. By remaining a passive, curious, non-judgemental observer in every moment, the distinction between subject and the objects will become more and more obvious. If you can try to maintain this constant stream of passive, non-judgemental awareness even for 10 minutes, a new door will open up for the endless observation of your mind. ## How to Practice Witnessing? Let me give you something to practice. Sit in your chair and pay attention to your thought process. Don’t try to think of anything with your own effort but don’t try to stop your thoughts either. Let thoughts arise and just sit back and witness them. An attitude of detachment is necessary to do it properly. Don’t judge any thought as good or bad. Assume that you are peeking into someone else’s mind. Just observe each thought and be curious about the next thought or the bundle of thoughts that will arise. Even if you find yourself  judging your own thoughts, recognise that as just another thought. You may forget this witnessing and get lost in the thought stream again and again. But don’t feel guilty about it or feel that you failed. Because this is bound to happen again and again. But the key lies in recognising that you missed the attention. As soon as you realise that you have forgotten to pay attention to the thought process, you will be back on track again. It is important to maintain the attention moment to moment, without missing anything that is happening in your mind. When you forget, it is ok. But as soon as you realise that you have forgotten, bring your attention back to the thought process. You can do this practice whenever you are doing your daily activities like eating, walking, bathing, waiting in a queue etc. Extend this witnessing to your emotions as well. If you get angry, watch the anger arising in your body and feel it with attention. Pay moment to moment attention to the changes that it makes in your body and mind. Do the same for other emotions like sadness and fear. Allow the emotion to rise without resistance or suppression. Be mindful and watchful of those emotions as they gradually subside. The problem with our minds is that we are lost in the thought process all the time. We are not conscious that we are thinking. The tendency of mind is to go on in a continuous monologue, verbalise each and every thing that it comes across and always making some noise. When you pay attention to what the mind is doing, you stop giving the energy that the mind requires to continue the monologue. As you do it more and more, you will notice that the thought process is getting slowed down. Sometimes there might be even gaps in the thought process. You may have to wait for the second for the next thought to arise. The practice that I just suggested has been recommended by many people before. For example, Buddha taught a meditation practice called mindfulness, which is nothing but watching the breath, thoughts and sensations moment to moment with a detached non-judgemental attitude while sitting with closed eyes. But when we do the same with open eyes as we are engaged in daily activities, it is witnessing. Witnessing is a way to integrate mindfulness into our daily lives. This way, our life itself becomes a spiritual practice and every moment becomes an opportunity. As you do this everyday, pay attention to the unconscious thought patterns, pay attention to the games that your mind is playing and pay attention to the need to become as somebody. This is a very interesting practice and a powerful exploration of your own mind. As you bring awareness to the different layers of mind, you will become more and more peaceful. ## Vedanta - Self vs self [[What is Vedanta?|Vedanta]] says that this 'inner awareness', as I call it, is the real ‘You’.  It says that you are not your thoughts, you are not your body, you are not your emotions and you are not your mind. These things are 'appearances' in consciousness. They appear in your inner awareness as a movie plays out on a screen. You are the subject in which all objects arise and subside. Vedanta states that YOU ARE THAT. YOU are the inner awareness that, in most people, is clouded or veiled by phenomenal existence. In Hindu thinking this is called 'Brahman' or the substratum of all reality. Brahman is the universal consciousness in which all objects arise and subside. Vedanta states that we are really Brahman - universal, ubiquitous, timeless, without beginning and end. Practicing 'Witnessing' enables us to see the divinity within ourselves and in every living thing. It is this that the word [[The Power of Namaste|Namaste]] refers to - a recognition that, ultimately, we are all the divine. Here, we need to remember that ‘You’ or ‘I’ are just  words. In everyday conversation, we just use the words ‘You’ and ‘I’ as points of reference. But  when you say ‘I’, it obviously refers to something which is more important for you, the person which is you, that includes your body and your mind. When Vedanta says you are not your mind or body, it doesn’t give you a new meaning to the word ‘I’ - it is actually a device to help you develop this ‘observer self’. Because, only when you assume the subject as you and only when you take the side of a witness, can you pay attention to the thought process and your body, without getting identified with them. This subject is self evident. It is like an internal light which makes the contents of the consciousness noticeable. Some of the modern teachers of Vedanta distinguish between the ‘I’ as a person and the ‘I’ as the subject using the words ‘self’ and ‘Self’ (with a capital S) respectively. Here, you need to notice that the person that you call as ‘I’, the self, is actually an image in your head, which is also an object that can be witnessed by the subject. You have a self-image, don’t you? Let me define it in a different way so that you understand this very clearly.  We all have concepts about various things in this world.  The concepts are fundamental building blocks of our thoughts. When we were young, we acquired concepts about various things in the world. A concept is a mental representation that represents an external object. We also have concepts about our internal objects as well. Psychology uses the word ‘mental representation’ when it talks about concepts. People have a huge web of interlinked concepts in their minds, which has become so complicated and solidified over the years. Among all these concepts, there is a specific concept called ‘self-concept’ which is nothing but the collection of all the beliefs, thoughts and concepts about yourself.  So, the mental representation in your head about the person called ‘You’ is actually this self-concept. This self-concept itself is made up of thoughts and beliefs, which can be observed by the subject. ## What Happens When You Practice Witnessing? Integrating Witnessing into your daily life is hard and requires commitment at first. But the more you practice the more you come to realise that you are not this mind or body or the 'story' that you think you are. You realise there is a deeper, calmer place within you that is readily available to you and always there. You can go there anytime, anywhere and find an inner peace not affected by the stresses of daily life. A realisation arises within you that is is our phenomenal self, with all it's mental concepts of likes and dislikes, good and bad, right and wrong, black and white that is the cause of all our suffering. Witnessing proves to you that you can reject dualistic thinking and see things as they really are. By Witnessing one can be aware when damaging habitual behaviours arise. This offers the opportunity to modify such behaviours before they emerge. You begin to realise that this inner awareness is not limited only to you but is inherent in every living thing. This inner awareness appears to be ubiquitous in the phenomenal world and it is in you; all the time. You start to see the 'oneness of all things'. By seeing everything as indivisible (oneness), you start to see the divine within yourself and within every other thing. This leads to the development of a deeper sense of compassion for all things. You realise that birth and death are simply transitions and that You (not your story) will continue beyond the demise of your current form. Witnessing removes the fear of death - for if you are timeless and ubiquitous there can be no death - only the passing of a temporary existence - to be replaced with another temporary existence until Liberation. The more one "Witnesses", the more is able to maintain equanimity in life. ## Conclusion In this article I have tried to convey a view of reality that is vastly different from that which is experienced by the average person in the western world. A significant proportion of the 7 + Billion people on the planet lives totally within the phenomenal world, driven by self interest and shaped by the culture and experiences of their place and time. Few people turn away from the phenomenal world to investigate the world within. Yet through the simple act of "Witnessing" we can start to discriminate between subject and object to see our true self. --- **Tat Tvam Asi** That Thou Art _(Tat Tvam Asi)_Sri Shankaracharya* (Advaita Vedanta Teacher) I am other than the body and the mind I am free from sorrow, attachment, malice & fear I am changeless, without form and the source of all I am eternal, devoid of conditions and stainless I am imperishable, limitless and free from nescience I am indivisible, unattached and non dual I am infinite, without attributes and pure I am beyond all conceptions, beliefs and thought I am Knowledge, the known and the Knower I am Oneness I am the absolute Consciousness of the Self I am full of Supreme Bliss I am the Supreme Self (Parama Atma) I alone am the Supreme Reality Alone Verily I am that Supreme Brahman ## Video  --- ##### You may also like... [[What is Advaita Vedanta]] [[Practicing Advaita Vedanta]] [[RAI'S NOTES/General Interest/💕 Love after Love|💕 Love after Love]]