The Ultimate Knower

Has the thought ever occurred to you as to who is actually seeing or witnessing all this that is going around? Or have you felt that something just happened even before you could just realize that it happened. Who is the one who is aware of all that is happening while it is happening? Where is all this happening? And really where is the one, who is aware of all this?

Let’s do a little exercise to understand this. Pick up any book and observe its pages for a minute. The outline of the pages…the colour of the paper…the feel of holding the book in your hands…. Observe your hands holding the book…. read through a page and see how the reading is happening.

And now, right now, notice how the observation is taking place. Feel the presence of the eyes that are now seeing the book… The eyes are watching the page. Notice the feelings and thoughts that arise as the book is being observed. Now… who is knowing these eyes, these feelings, these thoughts? Who is knowing that the reading is happening? From where are these being known? Notice that all these are also being known at a subtler level. Let’s stop this exercise for a moment and understand what’s in store.

There are three elements involved here. The book which is the “seen”, the mind that reads through the eyes and dwells in feelings is the “seer” of the book, and the act of reading or ‘seeing’ is happening. However, the knower who stands apart distinctly from “seer, seen, and seeing” is also present. This is very subtle.

The mind becomes the seer (subject) and witnesses the ‘seen’(object). But what enlivens these three? In whose presence do these three come alive? Who is actually knowing all the “seer, seen, and seeing”? The real knower is the Self that exists beyond the mind.

The seer, seen, and the act of seeing are stacked together like the slices that make a sandwich. You prepare a sandwich by stacking slices of bread with some toppings or butter between them. You then press the slices together to make the sandwich.

Just as you prepare the sandwich to enjoy eating it, the Self has created this sandwich of the “seer, seen, and the act of seeing” to enjoy knowing itself! Just as you are separate from the sandwich that you eat, the Self is separate from this sandwich. When this sandwich of ‘seer, seen, and seeing’ is witnessed with the eye of wisdom, their underlying oneness is known. The sandwich then serves as a mirror for the Self to know itself.

The Self (Consciousness, God) is the ultimate knower. The Self is ever aware. When the Self gets attached and identified with the mind (seer), the underlying oneness of these “seer, scene, and seeing” is lost. The Self forgets its real identity by being lost in the details of these three. Due to this entanglement, the Self assumes itself to be an individual mind. The individual mind believes itself to be separate from everything else. The three, which are inherently one, appear fragmented. It assumes a limited existence, instead of being one with totality. This false assumption is called ego. Thus, the mind that lacks wisdom becomes an obstacle in seeing the oneness of the “seer, seen, and seeing”. You may also call trinity as”knower, known, and knowing”.

So the mind is assumed to be the separate knower. As a result, the Self cannot experience itself. Let us understand this through an example. When you keep an iron rod in fire it becomes red-hot. If you bring anything in contact with this red-hot iron rod, it acts like fire. The iron rod assumes the role of fire. But the heat held by the iron rod is not originally its own. It is borrowed from fire.

Similarly, the mind borrows the witnessing ability from the Self and becomes a false witness. This drama of the false witness goes on for some time. Eventually, the mind has to fall back on the Self when it is exhausted of this ability, so that it can be replenished. This replenishment, this rejuvenation occurs in deep sleep. Then it wakes up after sleep and again assumes the role of the seer. When the mind assumes a separate identity as a witness, the seer appears separate from the seen. For Self-experience, it is essential that the “seer, scene and seeing” should be sandwiched as one. For this, the mind has to drop.

The action happening in the form of “seer, seen and seeing” creates this phenomenal world. The Self uses whatever has been created as a mirror to experience itself. It is important to experience “seer, seen, and seeing” as one.

Otherwise, when the three are experienced as separate elements, the Self forgets its original nature. The mind assumes the role of a false subject and considers the seemingly separate world as the seen, the object. The mind claims, “I can see this… I am seeing that…” It tries to take credit for experiences. The Self is just present; it just exists. It does not need to stake any claim!

The real purpose is to sense the presence, to experience existence, to be aware of pure awareness itself. This purpose is not being served. The mind derives energy from the Self to assume the role of a seer. However, the Self is the original seer. Let the three be sandwiched into one instead of the fragmented perspective of a separate seer and seen.

In a laboratory, the mind observes the equipment placed on the laboratory table. It becomes the knower of everything in the laboratory. However, from the standpoint of Self, the mind itself is placed on the laboratory table. The mind and the world, together, become the object! The Self is the ultimate knower.

Summary:
The action happening in the form of “seer, seen, and seeing” or “knower, known, and knowing” creates this phenomenal world. Self uses whatever has been created as a mirror to experience itself. It is important to experience “seer, seen and seeing” as one.The real or the ultimate knower is the Self that exists beyond the mind.