Thoughtless awareness – “come to present” technique

Theory – all past moments came as present moment and all future moments will also come as present moment. Every yesterday came as today and every tomorrow will also come as today. Present is the more solid reality of life, because past is memory and future is uncertain dreams and in reality, past was also experienced as present and future will also be experienced as present only. So, living in present is the real essence of life. Every thought/desire/fantasy/image belongs to either past or future. When one is fully in present, one is in thoughtless awareness and likewise, when one is in thoughtless awareness, one is fully in present.

Technique:

1. Sit in Sidhasana or any other sitting posture or even on a chair and make the spine and head erect in a relaxed manner.
2. Place the palms on the knees and close the eyes.
3. The breathing should be natural throughout the entire practice. No attempt should be made to regulate either inhalation or exhalation during the practice.
4. Watch the present thought/desire/fantasy/image in mind. Observe if it belongs to past or future. If it belongs to past, say to yourself, “This thought/desire/fantasy/image belongs to past. Come to present now.” few times (2-5 times should be enough) and focus the mind on dark space before yourself (when one closes one’s eyes, there is a dark space before the mind.). Similarly, if present thought/desire/fantasy/image belongs to future, say to yourself, “This thought/desire/fantasy/image belongs to future. Come to present now.” few times (2-5 times should be enough) and bring the attention to dark space before yourself (when one closes one’s eyes, there is a dark space before the us.). If it is done correctly, one will experience thoughtless awareness.
5. Simply be in it till this state is disturbed by any thought/desire/fantasy/image, in which case repeat the process of step 4.

Benefits:

1. This technique may suit some people. Find out if it suits you or not. I am including it because it suited my elder sister very much, so I thought, who knows some more people may find it suitable to them. And second reason is, it has a good philosophy of “live in present”. So, even if one practises other thoughtless awareness techniques, just reading this technique will give them a positive approach of life.
2. Note: please practise 3-5 minutes of Abdominal exhalation (also known as Kapalbhati pranayama in yoga) just before practising any thoughtless awareness technique in sitting position. This increases the quality of thoughtless awareness practice to the extent which one can’t even imagine without trying it first. Never miss it.
   
3. This can be and must be practised even with open eyes to keep the mind free from thoughts during free time like bath/meals/travels etc and thus, to enjoy peace and relaxation of thoughtless awareness whole day. The practice of this technique during free-time apart from in sitting position for 30 min, is indispensable to gain maximum possible amount of peace and relaxation whole day.
4. Note: please practise this technique for 30 minutes (more is always welcome) in sitting position for satisfactory result. Less than that will be too little practice and will not give satisfactory result.

Thoughtless awareness – “observe the observer” technique.

Theory: When one sees a dream, one finds one’s body and mind acting in dreams. Body may act through various movements of body and mind may act through various thoughts in the dream. But, who sees the dream? The ONE who sees the dream, is not those dream-images, those dream-thoughts and dream-movements of the dream-body. The ONE who sees the dream cannot be mind also because it sees the mind and mind’s activities in dream.

Thus, the ONE who sees the dream can be called “witnessing awareness”/witness/observer/seer and it is separate from our mind. This ONE is our real individual self, which is a state of silent awareness.

If one tries to “watch this witness”/”observe this observer”/”see this seer”, the thought/desire/fantasy/image dissolve into this witness/observer/seer and the state of thoughtless awareness will happen. One can legitimately raise question here, “Who is the one who tries to ‘watch this witness’/'observe this observer’/'see this seer’”, then the reply would be, the ONE who tries to ‘watch this witness’/'observe this observer’/'see this seer’ is none but the witness/observer/seer itself. How surprising! But, this is so. “The seer can see itself”/”The witness can watch itself”/ “The observer can observe itself” because the awareness can be aware of itself (awareness, seer, observer and witness all mean same here.). If this phenomenon of “The seer seeing itself”/”The witness watching itself”/”The observer observing”/”The awareness being aware of itself” happens to 100% extent, it results into something more than thoughtless awareness, which can be called the state of pure awareness (awareness being aware only of itself). But, in almost all of us this phenomenon will happen only to some extent, and hence, will lead us only upto the state of thoughtless awareness.

It is very difficult to understand all this intellectually, but it is hoped that a few will be able to understand and gain from this technique. In fact, I was thinking not to give this technique, but then I thought, who knows some people can really understand this technique. Hence, I am including this technique for sake of completeness.

Technique:

1. Sit in Sidhasana or any other sitting posture or even on a chair and make the spine and head erect in a relaxed manner.
2. Place the palms on the knees and close the eyes.
3. The breathing should be natural throughout the entire practice. No attempt should be made to regulate either inhalation or exhalation during the practice.
4. Now, observe the thought/image/desire/fantasy of the mind with full attention and complete neutrality (neither judge them as good or as bad, neither feel attachment nor aversion to them). Imagine that the mind is a screen and thoughts/desires/fantasies/images are pictures on this screen and you are an observer of these pictures. Observe each and every thought/desire/fantasy/image with full awareness and say to yourself, “I am not this thought/desire/fantasy/image. I am only its observer/witness.”. Do it 2-5 times.
5. Now, be aware that the one who is observing the thought/image/desire/fantasy, must be different from that thought/image/desire/fantasy. Ask yourself now few times (2-5 times are enough), “Who is observing/seeing/watching this thought/image/desire/fantasy.” and then, turn the attention on the one who is observing this thought/image/desire/fantasy. If it is done correctly, it results into the state of thoughtless awareness. Repeat this step till thoughtless awareness is experienced.
6. Simply be in it till this state is disturbed by any thought/image/desire/fantasy, in which case repeat the process of step 4.

Benefits:

1. This technique may suit some people. Find out if it suits you or not.
2. Note: please practise 3-5 minutes of Abdominal exhalation (also known as Kapalbhati pranayama in yoga) just before practising any thoughtless awareness technique in sitting position. This increases the quality of thoughtless awareness practice to the extent which one can’t even imagine without trying it first. Never miss it.
   
3. This can be and must be practised even with open eyes to keep the mind free from thoughts during free time like bath/meals/travels etc and thus, to enjoy peace and relaxation of thoughtless awareness whole day. The practice of this technique during free-time apart from in sitting position for 30 min, is indispensable to gain maximum possible amount of peace and relaxation whole day.
4. Note: please practise this technique for 30 minutes (more is always welcome) in sitting position for satisfactory result. Less than that will be too little practice and will not give satisfactory result.

Thoughtless awareness – “next thought/image/desire/fantasy/sound” technique.

Theory: The thinking process stops when it encounters an unknown state which our conscious mind cannot comprehend. It results into the state of thoughtless awareness.

When we have a thought/image/desire/fantasy/sound in mind, our conscious mind cannot be sure about the next thought/image/desire/fantasy/sound in mind. Hence, if we ask the question to ourselves, “What will be the next thought/image/desire/fantasy/sound in my mind?”, the thinking process will stop and we will experience thoughtless awareness.

Technique:

1. Sit in Sidhasana or any other sitting posture or even on a chair and make the spine and head erect in a relaxed manner.
2. Place the palms on the knees and close the eyes.
3. The breathing should be natural throughout the entire practice. No attempt should be made to regulate either inhalation or exhalation during the practice.
4. Now, observe the thought/image/desire/sound of the mind keenly, say to yourself few times (2-5 times are enough), “This thought/image/desire/fantasy/sound is fully acceptable to me.” and then, ask yourself the question: “What will be next thought/image/desire/fantasy/sound in my mind?” as many times as needed to experience thoughtless awareness.
5. Simply be in it till this state is disturbed by any thought/image/desire/fantasy/sound, in which case repeat the process of step 4.

Benefits:

1. This technique may suit some people. Find out if it suits you or not.
2. Note: please practise 3-5 minutes of Abdominal exhalation (also known as Kapalbhati pranayama in yoga) just before practising any thoughtless awareness technique in sitting position. This increases the quality of thoughtless awareness practice to the extent which one can’t even imagine without trying it first. Never miss it.
   
3. This can be and must be practised even with open eyes to keep the mind free from thoughts during free time like bath/meals/travels etc and thus, to enjoy peace and relaxation of thoughtless awareness whole day. The practice of this technique during free-time apart from in sitting position for 30 min, is indispensable to gain maximum possible amount of peace and relaxation whole day.
4. Note: please practise this technique for 30 minutes (more is always welcome) in sitting position for satisfactory result. Less than that will be too little practice and will not give satisfactory result.

Thoughtless awareness -”surrender every desire” technique: this will suit those who have genuine devotion and spirit of self-surrender to God/Allah/Guru or any name of God, be it Rama/Jesus etc.

Theory: Every thought is born out of some gross or subtle desire. If we keenly observe our thought, we can verify this fact. For example, when someone sits for thoughtless awareness practice, a thought may come, “I have to do this work.” – now, this is clearly a desire to do some work. Similarly, a thought may come in which one talks with a beloved friend in imagination – this again, is a desire to talk to some beloved friend.

Thus, one can say that thoughtless awareness is same as desireless awareness and desireless awareness is same as thoughtless awareness.

If one has genuine devotion and spirit of self-surrender to God/Allah/Guru or any name of God, be it Rama/Jesus etc., one can surrender the desire manifested in form of present thought/fantasy/image/sound and that desire will vanish and corresponding thought/fantasy/image/sound will also vanish, leading to experience of thoughtless awareness.

Technique:

1. Sit in Sidhasana or any other sitting posture or even on a chair and make the spine and head erect in a relaxed manner.
2. Place the palms on the knees and close the eyes.
3. The breathing should be natural throughout the entire practice. No attempt should be made to regulate either inhalation or exhalation during the practice.
4. Now, observe the thought/fantasy/image/sound of the mind keenly and ask yourself the question, “Which desire is giving birth to this thought/fantasy/image/sound?” few times (2-5 times are enough). If one questions so and then observes keenly, one will find that the present thought/fantasy/image/sound is manifestation of some gross or subtle desire. Pay attention to that desire and say to yourself, “I surrender this desire fully to God/Allah/Guru/Rama/Jesus etc. (depending on who is the object of your genuine devotion)” as many times as needed for that thought/fantasy/image/sound to vanish from the mind. If one’s devotion and spirit of self-surrender is genuine, the desire and its corresponding thought/fantasy/image/sound will vanish and thoughtless awareness will be experienced.
5. Simply be in it till this state is disturbed by any thought/fantasy/image/sound, in which case repeat the process of step 4.

Benefits:

1. This technique will suit those who have genuine devotion and spirit of self-surrender to God/Allah/Guru or any name of God, be it Rama/Jesus etc. One should use only one object of devotion during the practice.
2. Note: please practise 3-5 minutes of Abdominal exhalation (also known as Kapalbhati pranayama in yoga) just before practising any thoughtless awareness technique in sitting position. This increases the quality of thoughtless awareness practice to the extent which one can’t even imagine without trying it first. Never miss it.
   
3. This can be and must be practised even with open eyes to keep the mind free from thoughts during free time like bath/meals/travels etc and thus, to enjoy peace and relaxation of thoughtless awareness whole day. The practice of this technique during free-time apart from in sitting position for 30 min, is indispensable to gain maximum possible amount of peace and relaxation whole day.
4. Note: please practise this technique for 30 minutes (more is always welcome) in sitting position for satisfactory result. Less than that will be too little practice and will not give satisfactory result.

Thoughtless awareness – “observe the thought/desire/fantasy/image” technique.

Technique:

1. Sit in Sidhasana or any other sitting posture or even on a chair and make the spine and head erect in a relaxed manner.
2. Place the palms on the knees and close the eyes.
3. The breathing should be natural throughout the entire practice. No attempt should be made to regulate either inhalation or exhalation during the practice.
4. Now, watch the thoughts/desires/fantasies/images of the mind with complete neutrality (neither judge them as good or as bad, neither feel attachment nor aversion to them). Imagine that the mind is a screen and thoughts/desires/fantasies/images are pictures on this screen and you are an observer of these pictures. Observe each and every thought/desire/fantasy/image with full awareness and say to yourself, “I am not this thought/desire/fantasy/image. I am only its observer/witness.”
5. After practice of step 5, a time comes when the mind becomes thoughtless (this is the state of thoughtless awareness). Simply be in it till this state is disturbed by any thought/desire/fantasy/image, in which case repeat the process of step 4.

Benefits:

1. This is a technique which is very effective if one’s mind is already relaxed to a good extent. But, if one’s mind is not relaxed to a good extent, this technique may not work. In such a case also, “observe the breath“, “observe the origin of I-thought” and “observe the origin of thought/image/sound“ techniques will work with a high probability. Hence, those who are able to successfully practise latter 3 techniques need not bother about this technique. But, if one is not able to experience good state of thoughtless awareness in latter 3 techniques, there is no harm in experimenting with “observe the thought/image” technique.
2. Note: please practise 3-5 minutes of Abdominal exhalation (also known as Kapalbhati pranayama in yoga) just before practising any thoughtless awareness technique in sitting position. This increases the quality of thoughtless awareness practice to the extent which one can’t even imagine without trying it first. Never miss it.
   
3. This can be and must be practised even with open eyes to keep the mind free from thoughts during free time like bath/meals/travels etc and thus, to enjoy peace and relaxation of thoughtless awareness whole day. The practice of this technique during free-time apart from in sitting position for 30 min, is indispensable to gain maximum possible amount of peace and relaxation whole day.
4. Note: please practise this technique for 30 minutes (more is always welcome) in sitting position for satisfactory result. Less than that will be too little practice and will not give satisfactory result.

Thoughtless awareness – “observe the origin of thought/image/desire/fantasy/sound” technique.

Theory: There is a gap between any two consecutive thoughts/images/desires/fantasy/sound (“mental talk” or imagination of conversation creates a sound in mind. Sound can be present due to other kind of thoughts also.). This gap is thoughtless awareness. When the mind is relaxed and calm, the gap is of order of few seconds and when the mind is tense or excited, the gap is of order of a fraction of second. This means, one thought/image/desire/fantasy/sound is present in mind and then there is gap of few seconds or a fraction of second and after that gap of thoughtless awareness, another thought/image/desire/fantasy/sound comes to the mind.

This implies that all thoughts/images/desires/fantasy/sound in mind arise from the state of thoughtless awareness. Thus, if we focus our attention on origin of present thought/image/desire/fantasy/sound in mind, we will experience thoughtless awareness

Note: All questions and answers must be done in one’s mother tongue, although for the sake of communication, they are given here in English.
Technique:

1. Sit in Sidhasana or any other sitting posture or even on a chair and make the spine and head erect in a relaxed manner.
2. Place the palms on the knees and close the eyes.
3. The breathing should be natural throughout the entire practice. No attempt should be made to regulate either inhalation or exhalation during the practice.
4. Pay attention to the thought/image/desire/fantasy/sound in the mind keenly and say to yourself few times (2-5 times are enough), “This thought/fantasy/’mental talk’/desire is fully acceptable to me.”
5. Then, ask either of the questions: i) What is the origin of this thought/image/desire/fantasy/sound or, ii) From where is this thought/image/desire/fantasy/sound originating, and focus all your attention in seeking the origin of “present thought/image/desire/fantasy/sound” in the mind. If it is done correctly, it results into the state of thoughtless awareness. Repeat this step till the present thought/image/desire/fantasy/sound gets removed from the mind and thoughtless awareness is experienced.
6. Be in this state of thoughtless awareness as long as no thought/image/desire/fantasy/sound disturbs this state. If any thoughts disturb this state, repeat step 4 again.

Note 1. In step 5, one can focus attention in seeking the origin of “present thought/image/desire/fantasy/sound” in the mind directly and wordlessly also without using any question. Do step 5 using questions or without questions depending upon what suits you more.

Benefits:

1. This is one of the most powerful and fastest technique for experience of thoughtless awareness.
2. Note: please practise 3-5 minutes of Abdominal exhalation (also known as Kapalbhati pranayama in yoga) just before practising any thoughtless awareness technique in sitting position. This increases the quality of thoughtless awareness practice to the extent which one can’t even imagine without trying it first. Never miss it.
3. This can be and must be practised even with open eyes to keep the mind free from thoughts during free time like bath/meals/travels etc and thus, to enjoy peace and relaxation of thoughtless awareness whole day. The practice of this technique during free-time apart from in sitting position for 30 min, is indispensable to gain maximum possible amount of peace and relaxation whole day.
4. Note: please practise this technique for 30 minutes (more is always welcome) in sitting position for satisfactory result. Less than that will be too little practice and will not give satisfactory result.

Thoughtless awareness – “observe the origin of I-thought” technique.

Theory:

We can easily notice that all thoughts originate from “I” thought. Only after the rise of first person (I, my), second and third persons (He, they, my brother, my school, etc) rise. e.g. “When I pass my exam, I will throw a party to my friends.”, “My parents came tomorrow to my school.”, “My brother wants to be a doctor.”, etc.

So, “I” thought is the root thought. “I” thought is the origin of all other thoughts and the origin of “I” is thought is the state of thoughtless awareness. So, if we focus our attention on the origin or source of I thought, we naturally become thoughtless.

Note: All questions and answers must be done in one’s mother tongue, although for the sake of communication, they are given here in English.

Variation 1.

1. Sit in Sidhasana or any other sitting posture or even on a chair and make the spine and head erect in a relaxed manner.
2. Place the palms on the knees and close the eyes.
3. The breathing should be natural throughout the entire practice. No attempt should be made to regulate either inhalation or exhalation during the practice.
4. Pay attention to the present thought/image/desire/”mental talk” in the mind. Now, ask either of the following questions: i) Who is thinking/desiring? or, ii) Who is imagining or fantasizing? or, iii) Who is talking? (if the thought is a type of mental talk – imagination of conversation with anyone). Answer “I”. Repeat the process of asking the question and then, answering “I” as many times as needed for removal of present thought/image/desire/”mental talk” in mind. Now, go to next step.
5. Now, ask either of the following questions (all questions have same meaning): i) From where does this ‘I’ originate or, ii) Who am I or, iii) What is the source of this “I”, few times (2-5 times are enough), and focus all your attention in seeking the origin of “I” thought. If it is done correctly, it results into the state of thoughtless awareness (meditation). If thoughtless awareness doesn’t happen, again repeat step 5.
6. Be in this state of thoughtless awareness as long as no thought disturbs this state. If any thought disturbs this state, repeat steps 4 and 5.

Note 1. In step 5, one can focus attention in seeking the origin of “I” thought directly and wordlessly also without using any question. Do step 5 using questions or without questions depending upon what suits you more.

Variation 2.

1-4. Steps 1 to 4 are same as in variation 1.
5. Chant (Repeat) ‘I’-'I’ as long as required to make mind free from all thoughts except the chant of ‘I’-'I’. When mind becomes thoughtless, drop the chanting of ‘I’-'I’. Then, the mind becomes completely thoughtless.
6. Be in this state of thoughtless awareness as long as no thought disturbs this state. If any thought disturbs this state, repeat steps 4 and 5.

Variation 3.
1-4. Steps 1 to 4 are same as in variation 1.
5. Now, say , ‘Observe/Look at this “I”‘ and make an effort to observer/’look at’ the “I”. When one tries to observe/’look at’ “I”, the mind becomes completely thoughtless.
6. Be in this state of thoughtless awareness as long as no thought disturbs this state. If any thought disturbs this state, repeat steps 4 and 5.

Note 2. Variation 2 will suit even children or illiterates. But, variations 1 & 2 should be considered the main technique and variation 2 should be used only if variations 1 & 2 are not grasped by an individual or are not proving effective at a given point of time.

Benefits:

1. This is one of the most powerful and fastest technique for experience of thoughtless awareness.
   
2. Note: please practise 3-5 minutes of Abdominal exhalation (also known as Kapalbhati pranayama in yoga) just before practising any thoughtless awareness technique in sitting position. This increases the quality of thoughtless awareness practice to the extent which one can’t even imagine without trying it first. Never miss it.
3. This can be and must be practised even with open eyes to keep the mind free from thoughts during free time like bath/meals/travels etc and thus, to enjoy peace and relaxation of thoughtless awareness whole day. The practice of this technique during free-time apart from in sitting position for 30 min, is indispensable to gain maximum possible amount of peace and relaxation whole day.
4. Note: please practise this technique for 30 minutes (more is always welcome) in sitting position for satisfactory result. Less than that will be too little practice and will not give satisfactory result.

Thoughtless awareness – “observe the breath” technique. This can also be called “will suit all” technique because it will suit everyone who knows how to count .

Variation 1.

1. Sit in  Sidhasana or any other sitting posture or even on a chair and make the spine and head erect in a relaxed manner.
2. Place the palms on the knees and close the eyes.
3. The breathing should be natural throughout the entire practice. No attempt should be made to regulate either inhalation or exhalation during the practice.
4. Now, focus your awareness gently on breath.
5. Start reverse counting with each incoming breath (and no counting with outgoing breath). One may do reverse counting from 50 to 1, decreasing the count by one with each incoming breath. In case, you forget the count or reach 1, go back to 50 and again repeat the process. <<<Why reverse counting - because it makes the mind one-pointed faster as mind is not habituated to reverse counting>>> <<<Why reverse counting with only each inhalation/”incoming breath” – because with exhalation, our nervous system relaxes and with inhalation, our nervous system gets energized. So, it is easier to experience moments of thoughtless awareness during exhalation. So, we leave the counting during exhalation for the experience of thoughtless awareness to happen>>>
6. Repeat step 5 few more times till the mind becomes free from all thoughts except the thought of counting. When it is attained, go to next step.
7. Now, stop the counting and focus on the incoming and outgoing breath without any counting. If any thought comes to the mind, neglect it as if it is a complete stranger and keep on focusing the awareness on the incoming and outgoing breath. If thoughts are disturbing too much, go to step 5 again.

Note: If someone doesn’t know counting, then he can instead say AUM/AMEN/AMIN with every inhalation (and say nothing with every exhalation for the experience of thoughtless awareness to happen during the moments of exhalation).

Variation 2.

1-3. Steps 1 to 3 are same as above.
4. Now, focus your awareness gently on breath.
5. Keep on focus of awareness on breath. If any thought/fantasy/’mental talk’/desire disturbs the focus, say few times (2-5 times should be enough) “Every/This thought/fantasy/’mental talk’/desire is going out with breath.” while simultaneously imagining that during exhalation, every/this thought/fantasy/’mental talk’/desire get removed with outgoing breath. Continue doing this as many times as required to make the mind free from that thought/fantasy/’mental talk’/desire. When the mind becomes thoughtless, continue the gentle focus of awareness on breath.

Benefits:

1. Both variations 1 and 2 are very simple technique and can be done by even children.
2. Note: please practise 3-5 minutes of Abdominal exhalation (also known as Kapalbhati pranayama in yoga) just before practising any thoughtless awareness technique in sitting position. This increases the quality of thoughtless awareness practice to the extent which one can’t even imagine without trying it first. Never miss it.
3. It equalizes the flow of breath in both nostrils, so it lead to calmness of the mind, which in turn induces the state of thoughtless awareness.
4. When his disciples asked the question, “How can one control the ever wandering mind?”, Lord Buddha replied, “Do reverse counting with breath keeping the awareness focused on breathing and keeping the breathing completely natural.”. His advice is used in step 6 of variation 1 to induce one-pointedness of the mind. So, one can use this method to concentrate the mind.
5. Note: please practise this technique for 30 minutes (more is always welcome) in sitting position for satisfactory result. Less than that will be too little practice and will not give satisfactory result.