How To Meditate On The Self

First, we must ask ourselves what is this Self on which we are going to  meditate?  The answer to this question, which we find in the Upanishads, is, “The Self is the Witness of the mind.  ...It is not the thought, but the Thinker one must know.  It is not what is seen that should be known, but it is the Seer which must be known.”  This, of course, is why the Self is so hard to get a handle on; we are used to tackling the task of “knowing” by focusing on the object to be known, but, in this case, it is the knowing Subject, which we are attempting to know. It is the Ground, the very Consciousness that is the background of knowing, the Screen, as it were, on which the thought-images appear.

To make matters even more difficult, this Self has no qualities, no characteristics whatsoever by which one is enabled to describe  It.  It is as empty and as uncharacterizable as the vastness of the sky.  It is the Source of everything that exists, but It is, Itself, nothing—void.  It is called by the Vedantists: “Sat-chit-ananda.”  It does not exist; It is Existence (Sat).  It is not conscious; It is Consciousness (Chit), unstained, unwavering, eternal. It is perfect, unchallenged Freedom, since It alone is; and for that reason, It does not feel bliss; It is Bliss (Ananda).  We, who are manifestations of that Satchidananda, are not different from It.  Our body, our physical existence, is That; we can experience our oneness with the universal Energy.  We can know It as Consciousness—the  very consciousness that is our self-awareness, the silent Witness of all our various states of mind.  When we come to realize that we are That, that we are none other than the one, undivided Reality, then we experience the infinite, carefree Freedom that is devoid of any obstacle, or any other; we experience the Bliss

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