Samyama — The Awareness Process

The notes describe the Samyama process as progressively maintaining three things:

• 1. Thought
• 2. Breath
• 3. Gazing

The progression is important.

Stage 1 — Awareness of Thought

After:

• sitting comfortably;
• setting the proper condition;
• closing the eyes;
• mentally reminding yourself of the Shoonya mantra three times;

simply sit.

Because you are not engaged in any activity of the mind, the thought process naturally comes into awareness.

Maintain:

Awareness of thought

for approximately:

1 minute

You are not:

• following the thought;
• resisting the thought;
• creating a thought.

You are simply aware of the thought process.

Once you are able to maintain awareness of thought for approximately one minute:

Bring the breath into awareness.

Now maintain both:

Thought + Breath

together.

Maintain awareness of:

• the thought;
• the breath;

for approximately:

another 1 minute

So the progression is:

Thought → 1 minute

then:

Thought + Breath → 1 minute

Once you can comfortably maintain:

Thought + Breath

together for another minute:

Partially open your eyes.

Do not fully open them.

The eyes are only partially open.

The notes describe this as opening only a very small amount, approximately 5% initially.

With the eyes partially open:

Gaze at a point.

But there is an important distinction:

This is NOT concentration.

The point itself is not important.

It is a casual gaze.

At this stage maintain all three:

Thought + Breath + Gazing

So the complete progression is:

Thought

↓

Thought + Breath

↓

Thought + Breath + Gazing

The purpose is not to concentrate on the point.

Initially, the eyes are only partially open because:

• fully opening the eyes can make you easily distracted;
• most of the eyes remain closed;
• therefore it becomes easier to maintain awareness of thought and breath.

The idea is eventually to be able to keep the eyes open while remaining in this state.

But that takes time.

Therefore, begin with:

Partially open eyes → casual gaze → maintain thought + breath awareness.

At any point:

If you lose awareness:

Restart the process.

That means:

• Close your eyes.
• Begin again.
• Remind yourself of the mantra three times.
• Simply sit.
• Become aware of thought.
• Bring breath into awareness.
• Partially open the eyes.
• Gaze again.

So there is no need to worry about losing awareness.

Lose awareness → restart.

Once you become comfortable with:

Thought + Breath + Gazing at a Point

and you are no longer losing awareness:

Move gradually to a picture.

You can:

• partially open your eyes;
• gaze at a picture;
• maintain awareness of thought;
• maintain awareness of breath.

The picture can be anything.

The point is still not concentration.

Once the picture becomes comfortable:

You can sit and gaze at something farther away, such as:

• a door;
• a window.

Again maintain:

Thought + Breath + Gazing

When gazing at a window:

Many things may happen:

• somebody may go in a car;
• somebody may come in;
• somebody may be there;
• unknown people may move around;
• different movements may happen.

You simply watch.

At the same time:

• awareness of thought;
• awareness of breath;
• gazing at the window.

You are not getting involved with what is happening.

Preferably Avoid Strong Emotional Objects Initially

If something is strongly emotionally connected to you, it may become difficult to maintain awareness.

So initially, something emotionally neutral can make it easier.

If you know the person you are looking at, the mind may start analyzing:

• who they are;
• what they are doing;
• why they are doing it.

Therefore, an activity where you do not know exactly what is happening and do not know the person can help maintain the awareness.

The practice gradually becomes:

• Thought is happening.
• Breath is happening.
• Outside activity is happening.
• Everything is happening.
• You are not engaged in it.

You remain untouched by the outside activity.

After establishing the previous stages:

Switch on the television.

But:

Mute it.

Do not keep the sound because sound can easily distract you.

Now:

• movements are happening on the television;
• there is no sound;
• thought is happening;
• breath is happening.

Maintain:

Thought + Breath + Watching

If you are able to maintain awareness despite all these movements, it indicates that you are taking charge of yourself.

The description given is:

• nothing can poke you;
• nothing can push you;
• you become empowered;
• you become strong within yourself.

The deeper process described through Samyama is creating a distance between:

• B — Body
• M — Mind
• W — World

1. Body

When you become aware of:

• thought;
• breath;

you create a distance between you and your body.

2. Mind

When you become aware of the thought process:

• you are not engaged with the thought;
• you are witnessing the thought.

This creates a distance between:

You and your mind.

3. World

When your eyes are partially open:

• your child may be moving;
• your wife may be doing something;
• your office may be telling you something;
• TV may be running;
• something else may be happening.

Everything is happening.

But:

You are not engaged in it.

This creates a distance between:

You and the world.

When there is a clear distance between:

• You ↔ Body
• You ↔ Mind
• You ↔ World

this is described as:

The end of suffering.

The notes state that when this happens:

• you cannot suffer;
• you explore into a completely different dimension of experience.

The goal is not to force yourself to remain in this state 24 hours a day immediately.

Initially:

You practice it.

Samyama is initially something you sit for:

15–20 minutes

It can be done:

• before going to bed;
• or at any other time.

As the practice becomes established:

it becomes part of your life.

It is compared with:

• breathing;
• the things you naturally do.

The eventual possibility described is:

Being in a meditative state throughout the day.

This does not mean:

"I have to consciously perform the practice every second."

Rather, after practice becomes established, the meditative state can become part of your experience.

Even while:

• driving;
• talking to someone;
• working;
• doing an activity;
• watching something;

you can remain in a meditative state.

The notes define this state as:

Body

You are not engaged with your body.

You and your body are distinctly separate in your experience.

Mind

You and your mind are distinct.

You can use thought.

But you do not get caught up in thought.

World

You are engaged with activity in the world.

But you are not entangled in the activity.

Entangled = Fully Involved

You can still work in the office.

But you are not attached to it.

When this state becomes established:

• you look at everything the way it is;
• you are not ruled by the past.

The notes point out that:

Memory is distorting the way we look at the past.

Instead:

You simply look at everything the way it is right now.