I have described it like this for a friend before:
Ok, so if you imagine an AI (artificial intelligence) robot that has five inputs (sight, sound, taste, touch and smell (sensors)), that enabled it to operate and interact with the external (material) world though feedback from these inputs (senses), so if it touched something hot it would burn, so it would learn not do that again (reactive (not active)), and so on etc… (And) all this information gets stored on its’ hard drive (mind)). So it constantly learns how to act and interact with its’ environment (world) though past experiences recalling information stored on its’ hardware, then one day it realises that it’s running a program based on all these (past) interactions and experiences. So now you have the robot (body), program (hard drive (mind)) and something that is aware of both of them… so now there are three things, body, mind and awareness, these are three of the Koshas, Annamaya kosha (body), Manomaya kosher (mind) and Anandamaya kosha (awareness).
Awarness was there all the time
It is not the third thing that appears
It is the one and only
Awareness of the body
Awareness of the mind
Awarness being aware of itself is the main thing where body, mind ,the world, time , space, egos surface
It is the screen, everything else is shadow
Maheswari, I always appreciate your attempts to share the non dualist perspective. I could relate to Yogabuzz108’s scientific perspective as it aligns with mine. In some ways this back and forth exploration in the dual and non dual reminds me of Plato’s allegory of the cave. For the cave dwellers (dualists) all is explained by interpretations of the shadows on the walls. As a cave dweller desiring to leave the cave I can understand the deeper truth of awareness you point to, yet, I live in the cave of the 5 senses and am very much teathered to the realities they dictate (e.g. I will burn my finger if I stick it into a flame). What frustrates me is the people outside the cave tell me the shaddows are an illusion and I just need to step out of the cave. As a serious seeker it is frustrating to be told your world view is a myth, an illusion. To access “reality”, e.g. nonduality is not an easy task. AYP seems the best path I’ve found that points in that direction, yet the patience required while waiting for the guide to show me the way out of the cave (that illusive silent witness)seems almost heroic. I have sensed an impatience directed at us lowly cave people by those who have escaped the cave. Is that a projection of my dualistic mind?
Hey interpaul I can relate with you here, when I started pondering on the shadows on the wall ( a great mike oldfield song by the way) I always listened to non-dualistic teachers. Mooji, echkart tolle, krishnamurti etc, and I exhausted myself trying to be one, or rather zero. But after letting it behind, and starting practices, I began seeing silence as the non-dual factor, that which ties all together. And so, with my previous tendency to self-inquire, I began releasing my dualistic impressions and questions and what-not into silence, realising in a way that it is not that I don’t perceive the non-dualistic nature, but that I create duality. Now of course, I don’t feel unity with everything and neither do I feel the self in people, but the silence, the inner space, it surely is not dual. And so, for me, it is not about dual or non-dual, is about beign, like playing instruments or sports, when the mind is not, everything else is, even if we (or rather the mind) are not aware of the all. Is more than worldviews, it is that I don’t know, and stop taking in what I read. If I don’t experience unity, I won’t try to understand it, so I am at peace with the dualistic world, but then neither do I think of it that way, so perhaps the illusion is separating everything in dualistic or nondualistic, when all there is is our experience of life, however that may be. The again, no need to change it or inquire too much into it, doesn’t matter to me that it is thought as an illusion by others. I think it is a balance, I once went too far into words, and then too far away from them.
[quote=“interpaul”]
people outside the cave tell me the shaddows are an illusion and I just need to step out of the cave.
[/quote]I am sorry to hear that you had to listen to this kind of talk. What an unhelpful thing to say.
[quote=“interpaul”]
have sensed an impatience directed at us lowly cave people by those who have escaped the cave.
[/quote]It it possible that you might have noticed some reluctance to talk about non-duality? If that is the case, then I would say there are good reasons for such reluctance. The best thing is to stick to our sitting practices.
We are all beggars hoping for grace to find us. Looking down on anyone else wouldn’t make any sense.
Beautifully put, absolutely grace is the most important part…
As Ramana Maharishi out it
“Realization is the result of the Guru’s Grace more than of teachings, lectures, meditations, etc. These are only secondary but that is the primary and essential cause.”
Ramana maharshi.
Hi Interpaul and all,
The cultivation of inner silence can seem like it is the most heroic enterprise in the world and it possibly is. After all, we are conditioned from birth to cultivate an incredible number of things, other than inner silence, and which all push inner silence away. Unless of course we are very lucky, and have someone in our life who teaches us inner silence as a child. So we have a certain amount of conditioning to overcome. The irony is, that when inner silence does come, it appears to be the easiest and most simple thing in the world. In fact nothing could be more simple, or easy. But we cannot create inner silence with the mind, we can only set up the conditions within which it will arise.
The same thing is true when it comes to non-duality. We cannot create it with the mind, no matter what anyone may say. But we can create the conditions within which it arises. And creating the conditions means practice. Then we create the conditions to be able to receive grace.
Interestingly it is grace that gives rise to bhakti, which causes us to take up the spiritual path in the first place. So, grace leads to bhakti, which leads to spiritual practice, purification of the mind, samadhi, more grace, non-duality, the ending of suffering, diving love and so on.
As for all those Advaita teachers out there, are they helpful or not? They might be, for someone who is ripe. That means someone who has made themselves ripe through their spiritual practices and who has already cultivated enough abiding inner silence to be able to benefit from what they are saying. For the vast majority of people, it will not be helpful and could be harmful. And even for many who are ripe, it may not be necessary. Non-duality is everywhere when we are able to perceive it. It is in the mountain and the stars and the forest. In another person’s eyes. It is when you see everything and everyone as God.
So, this is why in AYP, the advice is to practice and cultivate inner silence before even considering the path of Jnana. There is even the option to practice, and to never consider advaita at all. It will lead to the same end result, as abiding inner silence will naturally lead to liberation.
Christi
Thank you all for your additional comments.
Christi, I definitely can relate to grace leading to bhakti leading to spiritual practices … I do understand the path of Jnana requires being “ripe” and is not something one can approach with the intellect. My bhakti is stronger than my patience. The benefits I’ve experienced and the growing trust in this path keeps me motivated to keep plugging away despite my expressed frustration. I imagine I must sound a bit like the kids in the back seat asking “are we there yet?”
I think the original purpose of thoughts was to enable choice. Choice infers preference /free will and it is through choosing that we create /sustain this world .
Something went wrong along the way?
Sey 
Hi Sey,
They say that in yoga, we do not get the answers to our questions, but we learn how to let go of the questions. This is especially true when it comes to self-inquiry practice. If questions are simply leading to more questions, then this is a sign that the self-inquiry is non-relational (not happening within silence). When it is relational, and therefore helpful, we find that the questions are dissolving without more questions arising. Otherwise it is simply thoughts leading to more thoughts, which can be never-ending.
The answers to all of your questions lie beyond the mind, which means beyond the questions and the questioner. And the answers cannot be described in words. But they can be known, because knowing exists before thoughts arise.
You may find these lessons useful:
Lesson 333 - Dissolving the Witness in Unity
Lesson 325 - Relational and Non-Relational Self-Inquiry
Lesson 350 - Practices for Moving Beyond the Witness Stage
and this lesson addition:
Addition 350.1 - The Witness in Relation to Self-Inquiry
Christi
Hi Interpaul,
thinking of thoughts as they pass by
wisps of conditions like friend or foe
or just a forgettable instances like now
just so like now or was it then or before
or even after the first or last
a purpose decreed by a reason or reason
just so because it makes sense to our humanity
the moon is there to tell us its winter
the sun at its height its mid summer eve
just a thought you see just so
to make sense of the something or the nothing
the void is just a contrast to know its full
just so you see its only a thought
now for the purpose the outcome the end
the consequence of thinking whilst doing
or doing whilst thinking a catalyst for change
even the amoeba acts by its nature in its thought
i must i must i must i will i will i will
Yesterday I saw a water hyacinth with four petals of the same light purple color and a fifth petal with a design and color of a peacock tail. I spend hours marveling at it and wondering how it got to be that way.
Everybody takes everything so seriously 
Sey
I’m very serious in my marveling 
And we take you quite seriously, Sey. 
Om Sey,
Interesting words you used to describe what you saw…
The four petals represent Mooladhara chakra, the light purple colour represents the crown chakra, and the peacock feather represents rebirth…
Very interesting indeed Yogabuzz
Sey
Om Sey,
I’m no Mystic Meg… but if was was to interpret this for you… and theres’ probably a million and one ways it could be interpreted so…, but I would say that because mooladhara (the four petalled chakra) was coloured in the crown chakra pigment, indicates that your base and crown are connected which means… and the representation of rebirth (in the form of the peacock), and the major life changes that you are experiencing at the moment all point towards… and plus the fact that all your external foundations are disappearing also…
Om Shanti om!
Keep the faith sis everything is happening just as its ment to
Say, the thoughts represent the ability of our consciousness to perceive, evaluate and draw conclusions about a particular thing, person or phenomenon with which we encounters.
When the meditator closes his eyes (without concentration, visualization, breathing control and body position) he spontaneously relaxes on a physical, emotional and mental level. It is a state of frequency of brain waves of approximately 7 Hz, which allows the Soul of the meditator to begin the process of Recapitulation, the process of uploading, evaluation, classification and storage of life experiences. You have experienced the described process and the best thing you can do is not to affect the process at all, because you will thereby interrupt, take over and turn it into something that has no therapeutic effect.
Thank you for your thoughts on this topic, Dandelion.
What you are describing does not quite capture my original question or state.
Others have also tried to propose solutions to the “perceived problem” in my question when it was never a problem to begin with but a scientific investigation into the nature of thoughts from an expanded Consciousness (beyond mind) point of view. I observe mind, perfectly still and sparkling clear - I observe a thought arise; if energy is invested, mind will move. If I just keep observing, mind stays still, thought floats briefly just beyond and fades. Just the Knowing is there. Mind is an interface. Thoughts arising from the physical and mental are “known”; but there appears to also be a pushing in the other direction, thoughts arising from expanded Consciousness making itself “known” to conscious mind?
These are my observations and my conclusions are, of course, inadequate.
I believe asking questions and seeking answers are what drives progress. So many questions history believed we would never get answers to, yet someone kept asking and today we have answers.
Sey