You Can Explain Nonduality to Anyone — So Why Are You Still Seeking?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m53XOWgOni0

Video Summary

There is a peculiar trap that catches the most intellectually sophisticated seekers — the ones who can explain the nature of awareness with precision, who've read all the books, who can dismantle every question, who know with complete certainty that they are not the body, not the thoughts, not the emotions. And yet something keeps seeking. Another book arrives. Another teacher calls. Another forum thread pulls the attention. The seeking hasn't stopped — it's just become more refined. And here is what's actually happening: the mind has found the most elegant way to survive. Every new pointer to awareness is another sum that equals four. You already know 2+2=4. Finding that 6-2 also equals four, and 8-4 also equals four — this isn't understanding deepening. It is the I keeping itself busy through the appearance of progress.

The Upanishads ask the essential question: by knowing which, everything is known? By knowing clay, you know every clay pot ever made. By knowing water, you know every cloud, every river, every ocean, every ice cube — because the names, forms, and uses keep changing, but the essence remains the same. The same logic applied one step further: by knowing what a thing is, you know everything. Because everything that appears is a thing — a name, a form, a use, arising within time and space. You are none of those. But here is the turn most seekers miss: understanding that you are not a thing is only half of it. Until you understand precisely what a thing is, the mind cannot fully come to rest. There will always be one more question, one more tradition, one more pointer to chase.

What is still seeking is not ignorance — it is the subtlest layer of identification. Not the gross thought of "I am the body." Not the emotion. Not even the clear mental voice. It is something finer than all of that: the tiny sense of me that arises with every slight movement in the body, every breath in, every blink of the eyes. This is where the I lives when everything else has been seen through. The one who is truly settled doesn't talk much about it, doesn't need new books, doesn't seek debates. They know the root. They've seen through it. And in seeing through it — not by fighting it, not by acquiring more, but by looking at the subtlest sense of me directly — the seeking quietly stops. 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

What is it that is still not at rest? Why is there something that's still seeking? I'm sure you've met so many nondual teachers who can explain it so clearly — yet they are still reading books. How many words do I need to keep understanding what silence is? I know I am awareness. How many experiences and objects and thoughts and feelings do I need to keep witnessing to know that I am awareness?

At one — by knowing which everything is known — the names keep changing, the forms keep changing, and the uses keep changing, but the essence remains the same. And the essence is the reality. You cannot truly understand nonduality without understanding what a thing is. You have an infinite number of ways to point to awareness. You know that you are not a thing — awesome. Let's understand what a thing is. So more knowledge is not the solution. It has a name. It has a form. It has a use. It appears within time and space. You are none of them.

So — you can explain nonduality to someone else. So why does the seeking still carry on? You've read all the books. Why are you still seeking?

Many people get stuck in intellectual knowledge of nonduality. I'm sure you've seen it — the Facebook groups, the Reddit forums. Everyone knows nonduality in and out. Everyone is actually arguing over who knows more about nonduality than the other one. It's entertainment. Trivial entertainment. You should go there and just have a look — who claims to be more enlightened, who knows more nothing than the other one, who is trying to explain why the other one is wrong.

But here's the thing. You can explain nonduality to someone else, but you yourself are still seeking. You know internally that this is not it. There is still something amiss within. And — spoiler alert — more knowledge is not the answer to that.

I spent a lot of time in books, in intellectual reading. I'm sure you have too. More knowledge — let me describe what more knowledge is actually doing once you understand nonduality.

You understand 2+2=4. You are very clear — 2+2 is 4. Now what does seeking more knowledge do? You're still seeking. Oh, I understood 2+2=4 — but what about 6-2? That's four as well. Oh my god, 2×2 is also four. Look, 8-4 is four. 1×4 is four. That is what seeking more after you've understood it is doing to your mind. You're just finding new ways of the same one answer.

I know I am awareness — and you're still looking for that one more thing. Oh, look, that table is appearing within my awareness. I know I am awareness. Look, that thought just arose within my awareness. You're still seeking. What is it that is still not at rest?

After knowing everything — intellectually and even experientially for some time — why is there something still seeking, still finding new ways? I'm sure you've met nondual teachers who can explain nonduality so clearly, yet they are still reading books, still talking about it to other people, still trying to explain it in different ways. They are not at rest.

The truly realised person — the one who has understood and lives it — keeps talking, reading, and everything else to the minimum. No amount of talking, no amount of reading is going to give them any new thing, any new knowledge, any new experience. Why? Because they know the basis, the foundation, the substratum, the source of all of that. What will a word do to silence? I know I am silence. How many words do I need to keep understanding what silence is? I know I am awareness. How many experiences and objects and thoughts and feelings do I need to keep witnessing to know that I am awareness?

The Upanishads put it beautifully. A young boy comes back from boarding school and tells his father — "I learned this, they taught me this, I know this" — full of pride over all the knowledge he has gathered. The father senses it and asks: "Son, did they teach you that by knowing which — everything is known?" And the boy is taken aback. "No. What do you mean? I know this and this and this and everything — but that one, by knowing which everything is known?" And he tells the father: "No, they didn't teach me that. You have to teach me that."

So the father goes on to explain — by knowing clay, you know everything that is made of clay. In today's world, by knowing what electricity is, you know everything that uses electricity. By knowing what iron is, you know everything made of iron. By knowing what wood is, you know everything made of wood. A table is different from a chair — but both are made of wood. The essence remains the same. The reality remains the same.

Take clay pots. A clay pot, a sauce bowl, a jug, a vessel — all pottery. Every object has a different name, a different form, a different use. But in reality, right from inside out, up down, all sides — it is just clay. So I know the essence.

If you know what water is — H₂O — you know the essence of what a lake is, what a cloud is, what humidity is, a river, an ocean, an ice cube. All different names, forms, and uses of the same water. What has changed? The name, the form, the use. The cloud is nothing but H₂O. The ocean is nothing but H₂O. The names keep changing, the forms keep changing, the uses keep changing — but the essence remains the same. And the essence is the reality.

Without water, no cloud. Without water, no ocean. No lake, no river, no ice cube.

Did they teach you that — by knowing which everything is known?

And I'll give you one step further — not in the Upanishads. By knowing a thing, everything is known. The essence of everything is known.

You cannot truly understand nonduality, or no-thing, without understanding what a thing is. You can accumulate a lot of knowledge — all the scriptures, all the nondual teachers, masters, everybody, including this person sitting here talking and giving you all this — let's call it garbage, in reality. You can listen to all of them, all different points of view of the same one reality. And there is an endless, infinite number of ways to describe the one reality.

It's like there are an infinite number of sums that equal four. And there are infinite number of ways to point to awareness — and you can keep searching for them, keep reading them, keep understanding new ways, and the mind will keep doing that. Until you understand what the root is.

I say this in my books and in my videos: you know that you are awareness. You know that you are not a thing. Awesome. Now let's understand what a thing is. Because only that will put the mind's curiosity — the mind's seeking — to rest.

More knowledge is not the solution. Clarity of what you are seeking — that is.

The root cause, number one, is the seeker. The I that wants to know. What is the seeker? And then what are we observing? Clarity on these two things. Because things are going to be the same — everything has a name, a form, a use, appears within time and space. Nothing more than that. That is the universe on your five fingers. You are none of them. And yet they are not separate from what you are. Like the big wave, the small wave, the fast wave, the slow wave, and the dying wave — they are not water. But water is not separate from these five waves.

So let's get back to the question. You can explain nonduality to someone else — so why does the seeking still carry on? Because the mind has not come to rest. The mind has not got the answer to who is seeking. It has not directly looked at the root cause of its curiosity or disturbance. And it's another clever trick of the mind — keeping itself busy by finding new ways to point to the same awareness. In that busyness, the mind survives. The subtle ego survives. I understand this now. I know this in a better way. I can explain this in a better way. The I survives — very subtly. Because if you examined the I in its depth, it would disappear.

How does it survive? I'm not the body — physical. Then: I'm not the thoughts, the mind. Then: I'm not my emotions. And then you go deeper and you observe every sensation, every little movement within the body — not an emotion, not a thought, but movement that gives you the sense of me. And you notice — it disappears. There is just movement. There is no me. There is no I.

Let's do a practical, experiential, direct exercise to see this. You already know you are awareness. You already know I am the infinite. Let's get into that state. All the talking I've just done — let's calm it down. Let the mind slow down. Let the energy settle.

In this state of awareness — no mental thought, no mental image, no mental voice. In this state, you can be witnessing it or paying attention to it — both will work.

In this state of awareness, which is nondual — everything appears within this awareness. There are an infinite number of things and thoughts and emotions and actions happening all the time. So there's an infinite number of ways to point to this awareness. The thought arose within awareness. The emotion arose within awareness. An action happened within awareness. Everything is changing within awareness. You can say all of this — every thought and everything can be pointed back to awareness.

The mind is keeping you busy — looking for new ways of explaining the same nondual awareness, understanding the same reality through different ways. And in that busyness — the mind survives. The subtle ego survives.

And in this state? There is no word. There is no book. There is no teaching. There is no pointer. There is nothing needed to be this. You already are.

Maybe one more tradition. One more culture. One more ancient teaching. If I understand this, I'll get it. No. The I is still there. That very searching, that very reading, that very seeking — is keeping the I alive in its most subtle form — a form that is never noticed.

So if the seeking is still going on even after you can intellectually understand nonduality and explain it to anybody very easily — there is still the subtle I, the subtle sense of me. It's not as loud as an emotion, not as loud as a thought, not as loud as an action. It is as subtle as a little movement in the body, a little movement in the mind, a little movement in the breath.

You do not need more knowledge. You do not need more books. You do not need more teachings. You need to see the root — and see that it doesn't exist. It was an imagined identity. Not only imagined in the mind — it has been conditioned in the body for decades.

If you're at the point where nonduality is so clear you can explain it to anybody — and yet there's another book you want to read, another meditation practice you still want to do, another saint you've heard of that you want to go and meet — that is the identification still keeping you busy.

In this state of awareness, every spiritual practice is hopeless. This awareness does not need knowledge. It does not need emotions. It does not need anything. In fact, everything you try or put into achieving this or becoming this — goes against it.

So — you can explain nonduality to someone else, and the seeking still carries on — because the subtlest part of the identification still hasn't been seen through.

Stay as this. And see through the subtlest movement, the subtlest sensation that happens within your body and within your mind. See through the subtlest sense that says — this is me.

We'll leave it at that.