The path to the Absolute through the looker, or
subject, is the way of the Jnani. The path to Self-
Realization through the ‘I Am’, is the way of the
Bhakti, the devotional. In the latter path, awareness
of the ‘I Am’ creates the sense of presence, the sense
of ownership, of me, throughout the experiential
world of body, mind, and emotions.
This is a state of feeling like you are utterly
yourself with nothing to do, nowhere to go; utterly
complete and at rest. You are now a watcher,
everything comes to you and you either welcome it or
are indifferent to it. Nisargadatta compares it to
always being underneath a shade tree on a hot day.
There is no impetus to move or do anything except
rest in yourself as Witness
The Absolute is also called the noumenal (of the
philosophy of Immanuel Kant), or the Unmanifest
‘You,’ or the Unborn ‘You’. Untouched by
consciousness, it cannot be killed, cut, burned, or
bound by anything in the world or sentience.
Sentience, knowingness, is entirely of the Nature of
consciousness. The Absolute, the Witness, is the
principle that knows both knowingness and unknowing,
or the final Void of nothingness.
However, at some point you realize that this
consciousness, which appears as a guest to you as the