How to perform Nididhyasana

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Here are some key notes on how to perform nididhyasana correctly.

 

No matter what time of day or where you are, simply forget ALL objective knowledge.  In order to forget all objective knowledge, you must forget two things:

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1) Thoughts

2) Objects

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For most people, when thoughts arise, they automatically entertain them.  For example, if a thought about food arises, that person may get hungry and start thinking about food which will then lead to another thought about how to get the food or to prepare it.  This thought leads to another thought which goes on endlessly.  This is what happens throughout the entire day! Furthermore, when you entertain thoughts, you take on the identity of a thinker (ego). You now hold this false identity and these thoughts cause you (i.e. the thinker) to act and become identified with something that really isn't yours.  This causes bondage to the material world since even this material world is a thought! So, in order to transcend thoughts, you must not entertain or acknowledge them.  

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Thoughts not only arise internally out of nowhere, they also come to you when you perceive an object.  For example, if I look at a material object such as a plant, that may trigger memories which are essentially thoughts, or other emotions that tie back to a plant.  It may cause me to think about the times my mother used to say about how to water and take care of them.  No matter what object it is, that object has meaning, value and ultimately thoughts attached to it.  I may also think that one plant is more attractive than another plant depending on my perception of each plant.  This does not only apply to plants but every single object that can possibly be known. Again, this leads to endless thoughts that causes the thinker to entertain them even more which further strengthens and sustains the false identity along with the illusory world of objects.  

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So now that we know there are thoughts that arise out of nowhere and thoughts that come to you when you observe objects, how do we not entertain them? How do we withdraw from them? This is the point of nididhyasana.  When you practice nididhyasana, the aim is to turn your attention away from all thoughts and objects and point it towards the self (Brahman).  What does this even mean? This means that no matter what thought arises or what object is observed, your attention is turned away completely from them.  This means when you look at any object, your attention isn't even on them.  When attention is turned away, those thoughts and objects no longer have any value.  They become meaningless.  

 

For this to happen, you first need to come to a complete silence.  Silence the mind by first breathing slowly and letting all thoughts subside.  Then silently tell yourself (to the deepest part of your mind) to forget about the object or thought. This is not something you intellectually force to happen.  Doing something intellectually means you are using your thoughts to make something happen.  This is quite the opposite.  You have to give up thinking entirely to allow this to happen.  Therefore, you must give up thoughts and the perception of objects by withdrawing your attention away from them.  

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To withdraw attention, you must reverse it back to source.  How is this done? Well, the only way to truly reverse attention is if you have the power of viveka which allows you to negate through the inner sheaths as you pull attention inward.  How do you know if you have this power? Here is a simple exercise: Stay quiet for several minutes while not trying to entertain any thoughts and objects in front of you.  When you are in complete silence and feel a great sense of peace, ask yourself this: "Who Am I?"  Don't just ask yourself this question as an intellectual exercise.  You need to contemplate on it deeply! When you ask the question (assuming you've done it correctly), it will almost feel like you reverse attention back to a silent space (behind the thinker). It may only feel like a small shift. If you feel your attention go behind the thinker in this small shift, this is the direction you need to follow.  This doesn't mean you should stop and remain in that space.  In other words, don't just pause there in the space of silence after the question is asked within.  Once you feel that inward shift, you need to keep it in motion and keep reversing it!  In most cases, after people ask the question, they stop there and it gives them peace.  But this is not the self.  The self is much more profound than this and can only be revealed when duality collapses.  Therefore, you have to keep the inward momentum going further and further. The more further you go, the more layers of the mind you negate.  

 

At first, this exercise may be done intellectually, for you to understand what it is that you need to give up.  But the more you deeply contemplate and reflect, eventually you will be able to perform the inquiry as a meditative process while you remove rationality and logic.  Thoughts and objects will come in your way due to their attractiveness.  This is why you must forget about them all-together (i.e. keep turning attention inward until your attention is no longer on them even if they are in front of you).  If you totally forget about them in every way possible, they no longer have any meaning or value because there is no longer the comprehension available since attention is not on them.  This is similar to concentration (when nothing else distracts you) but without the need to concentrate on something in particular.  In this case, you are not concentrating on the self.  You are simply withdrawing from anything that can be known (via mind), until there is nothing left to know.  If done correctly, not only will you forget thoughts and objects, but you will even forget the feeling of being the experiencer of those thoughts and objects.  You no longer have the capacity to feel as if you are an individual experiencing something meaningless because even the thought of being the experiencer experiencing meaningless is given up and forgotten.  This will only happen if you forget enough to a point where you forget yourself as a doer/entity (the breaking point you must cross to expose the self). 

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When attention fully withdraws from the body-mind, you will completely isolate awareness (who you really are) from the body-mind (who you never were). It's almost as if you are now abiding in a completely new identity (pure presence) with the complete and pure knowledge that you are the source of what it all previously was (given the appearance of the body-mind is still contained within you). This self-abidance is its own world of peace and complete stillness that simply witnesses the body-mind run on its own without an operator that is controlling it with volition.  This witness principle is now the source in which you identify with.  How do you know? YOU BECOME IT. This knowingness comes with complete conviction.  There is no second guessing nor questions as to whether or not it is true because there is no separate thing apart from it that can ask this very question.  It's a knowing ALL-AT-ONCE. 

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The more you practice nididhyasana and keep it in motion throughout the waking state in your daily experiences, the more you burn vasanas or the deep rooted tendencies and impressions that keeps you entangled with the body-mind who desires experiences. The more you fix attention on the self, the more you begin to observe the world and body without judgement, or assigning anything values because they are known to be false and transient.  It is only the body-mind that entertains thoughts and objects and continues to experience a dualistic world full of delusion.  You will no longer feel as if you are the person doing anything but rather the observer that is witnessing the person move.  This witness principle is incapable of assigning things value or giving meaning to objects.  It is a silent witness and free (detached) from all attributes and karma that perpetuates samsara or bondage to the material world.  When you abide as this pure presence through nididhyasana in your everyday experience, the deep rooted vasanas that keeps your ego alive will be removed (manonasa) and you will firmly abide as witness principle permanently until it is gradually dissolved in its source.  Even the witnessing function of consciousness will eventually vanish as there is no longer the need for consciousness to witness if it no longer underlies an appearance. 

 

Nididhyasana therefore is the practice of turning attention away from all phenomena until attention is firmly fixed on the self.  When all phenomena is negated this way, the only thing that remains is consciousness (Brahman).  You must surrender to the knowledge of Brahman and let the unbroken knowledge persist on its own.  So long as you strive to do something while resting in turiya, you are using the ego and therefore the samadhi will be broken and attention will now reidentify again with body-mind (the instrument of action).

 

The more you perform nididhyasana, the more meaningless things start to become because there is no longer the outer comprehension of it.  Thoughts become non-existent, because from your perspective, you are not entertaining them and therefore they are as good as dead.  Though the body and mind will move on its own, you will subtlety and intimately know that they are not unfolding because of you.  This is because you become the witness of them.  It is a silent space of complete and utterly stillness where you become frozen in the complete knowledge of what you truly are.  

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Nididhyasana at first will be difficult because the ego is so used to entertaining thoughts and owning them.  You may find yourself practicing and then get so immersed in thoughts that you forget you were practicing in the first place!  This is because the ego is so used to entertaining a wandering mind.  Therefore you need more practice.  The more you practice nididhyasana, the more the mind disturbances subside.  It will allow you to pull attention inward without being broken so quickly.  If the self is exposed, you will start to transcend all feelings, emotions, sensations, thoughts, etc. that ultimately causes suffering because you no longer identify with the body-mind that is the perceiver of experiences that includes suffering.  This is complete non-attachment, even the attachment from the body-mind that gets attached to thoughts and objects.   

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So to conclude, you must practice nididhyasana at all times.  Every second of the day it will need to be performed if you truly want to be liberated directly from this physical world.  It can also be practiced in several moments of the day if you use it as a means to burn karma. However, if you don't practice, you will succumb to thoughts and objects and be strongly identified with the body-mind and therefore succumb to the mechanical process of karma that will carry you from body to body. 

 

When you practice nididhyasana more, it will become easier for you to transcend thoughts and objects and even the ego that experiences them.   Eventually, it will start to happen on it's own without any effort on your part.  If this is done permanently and naturally without effort, liberation will be produced.  ​​​​​​​​​

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