Awareness Is Not a "What" — So What Is Aware of Your Thoughts?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2VN45oE7pI

Video Summary

The question "what is aware of your thoughts?" contains a hidden assumption — that awareness must be a thing. Every time we ask what, we expect an answer that points to a this or a that, an object with a name and a form. But awareness isn't one of the objects appearing in the mind. It's that in which all objects appear. The ocean isn't another wave.

Awareness isn't another thought. And the suffix -ness in words like awareness, consciousness, nothingness — that's the clue. It means the quality of being aware without being aware of anything. Not a function, not a state, not a perception — simply the open, objectless quality of being aware. You can't find it by looking for it, because looking is itself something that appears within it.

Awareness has no location because location is a property of objects, and awareness is not an object. Zoom in from your home to your kitchen, to the table, to the fruit bowl, to the red apple, to the stalk, to the leaf — everything in that chain has a position, an edge, a boundary. But what all of those objects appear in has none of those. It doesn't start anywhere. It doesn't end anywhere. It doesn't move through time, shift position, or change form. That's not a poetic claim — it's something you can verify right now, in the same way you'd verify that the television screen doesn't change when the channel does. News, sitcom, music video — the screen remains exactly what it is. Awareness is the screen. Every experience — walking, eating, thinking, feeling — is a channel. None of it touches what's behind it.

This is what stabilisation actually means: not a permanent blissful state, not the disappearance of life's ups and downs, but the growing recognition that you are the screen on which all of it appears. The apple gets eaten, the channel changes, the day ends, time passes — and through all of it, awareness remains exactly as it was. Silence doesn't change when we talk. Consciousness doesn't change when we think. The more clearly you see this, not as a concept but as a living reality, the less life's movements can shake what you actually are. If this points to something you've glimpsed but can't stabilise — a Clarity Call is where we look at it directly together.

Full Transcript

So — what is aware of your thoughts? That is the question.

Let's take a look at the words used so we can answer precisely. The first words are right now — meaning time, not in the future or the past, but right now. Whatever time you're watching this, wherever I am, it is always now. It will always be now.

Then: what is aware? What is seeking a thing. Something is aware of your thoughts. The questioner is asking — what is it that is aware of these thoughts? The assumption is that there is something aware of your thoughts, and the seeker wants to know what that thing is.

Now — this is a Nididhyasana video. What we're going to do is get into experiential awareness. Get into the state where you have no thoughts, or let thoughts come in but you're abiding in and as awareness, consciousness, nothingness, emptiness — whatever you want to call it. So let's get into this straight away and answer the question while we're inquiring in the state of awareness.

Close your eyes. Relax. You may find thoughts still appearing — things you need to do, have done, unfinished business. If you've been meditating, getting into a thoughtless state is really very simple and almost immediate.

Right now, when you're just aware — there is nothing to be aware of. Blank mind. No image. No voice in the head. And you might be waiting — what next? There is no next. The question is right now. Nothing in the future.

If you're in the state of awareness, you'll find that this awareness, this silence, gradually becomes more and more spacious as your attention is put on it. It expands.

If thoughts are still appearing — here's a quick technique. Become aware, alert, awake, and aware of what your next thought is going to be. What is your next thought going to be?

When you become conscious of your thoughts, they stop appearing. The random thoughts that appear on their own will stop the moment you become aware of what your next thought is going to be.

So there's this spacious nothingness, emptiness, awareness, consciousness — whatever we call it. There is no thought in the mind right now.

And you realise — awareness still is, without any thoughts. It has always been. It is. It will always be. It has no sense of time here. There is no before, now, or after. It just is. The now is in the mind. The before and after are also in the mind — they are in thoughts. So right now — awareness just is. Untouched. Absolute.

Now — if you stop being aware of what your next thought is going to be, just relax as awareness, you'll find thoughts may start to appear. Let me guide so we're on the same page. Let's consciously bring in thoughts. You're relaxing as awareness, and we're going to consciously think.

Imagine the two of us together in a coffee shop. Your favourite café. We're both at a table. The waiter or waitress comes and takes our order. We're chatting. In some time, our coffee arrives — put on the table. You can smell the coffee. You can see the steam coming out of the cup. We carry on talking, could be about philosophy, could be about life, how your day went.

In the meantime — we forget to sip the coffee. We're so engrossed in the conversation that by the time we lift the cup, it's warm now. It was hot when it came, steaming — but it's now just lukewarm.

Now we have the same thoughts in the mind. Now let's answer the question.

What is aware of your thoughts?

We were in a state of awareness — and then we brought in conscious thoughts.

Awareness was aware of those thoughts. Not only that — they arose, we consciously brought them to the forefront, and now they subside.

Let's take a look at this little story. What thoughts did we have? We were in a café, seated at a table. The waitress came, took the order. We had some conversation. The waitress brought the coffee — steaming hot. We could smell it. We carried on chatting, engrossed. And after some time, when we sipped, the coffee was lukewarm.

Now — everything in those thoughts was a thing. The café is a thing. The table is a thing. You and I, the bodies we have — are things. The waitress was another object to us, a thing. The cup of coffee is a thing. The steam is an object. Our conversation and the words — subtle mental objects. And because time had passed, the coffee was lukewarm. All these things are things.

So if we ask — what did the waitress bring? Coffee. What was the place we were in? A café. What were we doing? Seated, having a conversation. The question what always denotes that there must be a thing. What answer — this or that. What is a thing?

Now — come back to the question. What is aware of your thoughts?

Is awareness like one of those objects? No. Awareness is not a what. It is not a this or a that. Awareness is that in which this and that appear. Awareness is that in which all objects appear. Awareness is that in which things appear, that in which all things arise. It itself is not a what.

The ocean contains all the waves. The ocean that contains all the waves is not another kind of wave. The awareness that is aware of all the thoughts is not another kind of thought. The awareness that is aware of all the things is not another kind of thing. In fact — it is not a thing. The ocean is not a wave. Awareness is not a thought.

So to answer the question directly: what is aware of your thoughts? Awareness. And now when we say that — and we don't say what — that means everything, or nothing.

Awareness, consciousness, emptiness, nothingness. Let's take a look at why that suffix is used.

The suffix -ness. You'll find that all the nondual terms either use the suffix -less or -ness. Nameless, formless, nothingness, awareness, consciousness, emptiness.

What is the point of using -ness? Why not just say nothing? Why not just say aware or conscious?

To be aware is a function of the mind. To be conscious is a function of the mind. You can only be aware of something. You can only be conscious of. If you're aware, then you're aware of. If you're conscious, then you're conscious of.

So why the suffix -ness? When you add -ness to a word, it means the quality of that word without the word itself.

Take an apple. The appleness — the quality of being an apple, without the apple. Or take Sukhdev — people know him in a certain way. If he does something and they say, the Sukhdevness is missing — they mean the quality is missing, even though the action might still be happening.

Now bring this to nothingness, awareness, consciousness. Nothing + ness = the quality of being nothing, without the nothing. Emptiness — the quality of being empty without something being empty. Awareness — the quality of being aware or conscious without being aware of something. Just awareness. Just consciousness. Just nothingness.

It's the fragrance, the perfume — intangible, you can't touch it. Yet it is. It gives the quality of that particular thing.

So — awareness is not an object. It's not a what. It's not a this or a that. It just is.

So — does awareness have a location or a boundary?

Does awareness have — that means it would have something apart from it. I have a mic — there's me and the mic. I have a beard — there's me and the beard. So does awareness have a particular place where it is? A location? Or does it have an edge, a shape, a size, a form? A boundary?

Close your eyes. Get into this state. Just awareness, nothingness, no thought. Silence.

There's nothing to be aware of. There's nothing to be conscious of. There is no thought. And if you're still having thoughts — just become aware of what your next thought is going to be. Wait for it. Now you're aware. And the quality of being aware is the awareness we're talking about.

Does awareness have a location? Have a look. Is awareness somewhere?

No. It cannot be. We can't say awareness is here or there. It has no location.

Does it have an edge somewhere? Does it end somewhere? Is there any place where it ends and something else begins?

You'll find: no edge, no circumference, no perimeter, no shape, no size, no form. So it has no boundary.

Now let's see why it has no location or boundary. Let's consciously bring in a thought.

Imagine an apple. A red apple with a stalk and a little leaf, in a fruit bowl on your kitchen table — a checkered tablecloth. You're seated at the table, at your home.

Now we've brought in a conscious thought. Red apple. Stalk. Leaf. Fruit bowl. Checkered tablecloth. Kitchen. You, seated at the table.

The apple — automatically you had an image of a red apple. You could see its edges. We added a stalk — located at the top of the apple. From the stalk, a little leaf. The leaf is located on the stalk. The stalk is located on the top of the apple. The apple is located in the fruit bowl. The fruit bowl is on the table. The table has a checkered tablecloth. And you are seated at the table, in your home.

Let's see the location. The location of all this is your home. Go deeper — your kitchen. Go deeper — you, seated at the table. In front of you, on the table, is a fruit bowl. That's a location. Within it, among many fruits, is one red apple. It has a stalk — located at the top. That stalk has a leaf — located on the stalk.

So you see — we started with a blank mind. In came the apple. And we can zoom outward or zoom in. Everything in that chain has a location. Everything in the mind is located somewhere and has a boundary. Every thought is about something located somewhere — that has an edge, has a boundary.

In the physical world — everything is located somewhere in space. It has a form. It has an edge. It has a boundary.

Without a thing, without a thought — awareness has no location, has no boundary. All boundaries and all locations appear within awareness.

How is it that awareness has no boundary, and yet so many boundaries and edges and locations exist within it? Take the ocean. All the waves in the ocean are within the ocean — but the ocean is not another kind of wave. So the ocean has no boundary in terms of the waves. Every wave is somewhere in the ocean — it has a location in the ocean, a boundary in the ocean. Without the wave, the ocean is just what it is.

Bring this to awareness. Awareness is what it is. Thoughts and things when experienced can expand — you must have heard of nothingness expanding. But awareness has no boundary. It has no location. Location requires an object. Location requires a thought. Without things and thoughts in the mind, there is no mind. The mind is only inferred when a thought appears.

So to answer the question — does awareness have a location or a boundary? No. It is that in which all locations and boundaries arise, appear and disappear. It itself is not located somewhere. It has no end. It has no edge. It includes all forms, all sizes, all shapes, all edges, all boundaries, all locations.

Awareness has no location. It has no edge. It has no boundary. Yet it includes all edges, all locations, and all boundaries. For an edge or a location, it must be an object. All objects have locations and boundaries. All thoughts have locations and boundaries.

Awareness is neither — and yet not apart from the things and thoughts, because thoughts arise and subside, things appear and disappear.

That which appears is not real. And what is real never appears. Consciousness, awareness — that is real. It never changes, never becomes. But things appear — names, forms, locations, boundaries — they appear and they go. Thoughts come and go. None of them are real. Without consciousness, without awareness — no thoughts, no things.

So — does awareness change when experience changes?

There are only three kinds of changes that happen to everything in the universe: it changes in time, it changes in space or location, and it changes its form. That's all that happens. So does awareness change? Does it move in time, space, or transform from one thing to another?

And there are three kinds of experience we can have as human beings: emotional, intellectual, and physical — we feel, we think and know, and we do. When experience of emotions, thoughts, and actions changes — does awareness change as well?

Let's look at this experientially. Drop all thoughts. No image of something. No chatter. No sound. No thought. No thing. Just what is. If thoughts are still appearing — become aware of what your next thought is going to be. Wait for it. And you'll find it stops.

Now in this awareness — is it moving in time?

Is it moving in location?

Is it transforming into something else?

You'll find: it's not located somewhere. It's not within time. It doesn't transform from one thing to another. Awareness is changeless. It does not change in any way, shape, or form. It just remains as it is.

Now — we are in your home, in your kitchen, at the kitchen table. Checkered tablecloth. Fruit basket. Red apple with a stalk and a leaf.

You pick up the red apple. You bite it. You hear the crunch. You feel the juice splashing in your mouth. You taste it. You chew it. You swallow it. Tastes lovely.

You stand up, pick up the fruit bowl, and walk into the living room. You sit on the couch and put the fruit basket beside you. You pick up the TV remote and switch it on. An image appears. You switch channels — news, comedy, daily soap, music. You found a song you like and you leave it there. You have another bite of the apple. Two, three bites.

You finish the apple and put the core aside.

Now — did awareness change? Or did it remain the same?

When you picked up the apple and took a bite and crunched it — that was an experience. Does awareness change with it? No. Awareness remains as it is. You walked into the living room — you changed location. Does awareness change? No. You sat on the couch. You switched on the TV. You watched the news, the sitcom, the music. You listened to your favourite song. At what point did awareness change in any way?

Awareness stays as it is.

Now — you could walk out, get on the bus, go to the market, do some shopping, meet some people, have a bite at the local coffee shop. It gets dark. You pick up your bags, get back on the bus, drive home, sit on the couch, switch on the TV, pick up another fruit. In all this experience — at what point did awareness change?

In all the places you went — it was still there, as it is. In all the locations — it was still there, as it is. In all the time that passed — it was still there, as it is. Things changed. The apple you ate changed form — from fruit to juice, from juice to pulp. You swallowed it.

The forms kept changing. Awareness remains as it is. There is no point at which it changed. In fact, even that point would have to be within awareness.

Awareness is that in which all experience arises and subsides, appears and disappears, comes and goes. Awareness is untouched.

Without awareness — no experience. Without the screen on your television — no daily soap, no news, no music channel, no sitcom. The news appears on the screen. The sitcom appears on the screen. The music video appears on the screen. Without the screen, none of them would appear. Without awareness — no experience of any sort.

The television screen does not try to appear to be the news reader. It doesn't try to appear to be your favourite singer. Yet it's the screen that appears as the singer, as the newsreader, as the actors. When you're looking at your favourite channel, you are looking at nothing but the screen — appearing as the newsreader, appearing as your favourite singer. In reality — it's nothing but the screen.

In reality — all your experience is on the blank canvas, the blank screen of awareness. Whatever this human being is going through is appearing on the screen of consciousness. Awareness is not appearing. Awareness just is what it is. The reality of all the channels is the screen. The reality of all experience is awareness.

Does awareness change when experience changes? No. Does silence change when we talk? No. Does consciousness change when we think? No. Awareness, consciousness — that is what in which all experiences appear and disappear, come and go, arise and subside.

This silence, this awareness — is so much more powerful than anything you ever experience. The screen of the TV is more powerful than anything that appears on it. In fact, whatever we watch, whatever we see, whatever we experience — it's nothing but awareness.

So remain in this awareness for as long as you can — until it becomes the ground of all your experience. Go out and experience life. Let the human being experience all the ups and downs, the happiness, the sadness, everything life has to offer, the good and the bad. Experience it knowing that you are not it and it is not real. You are the character playing that particular person, in that home, wherever you are.

Make this silence, this awareness, the ground of all your experience — because it is. Just recognise it. And keep recognising it again and again, whenever you can — until you don't need to do that anymore.