How to Abide as Eternal Awareness
Freedom from the Mind and the World
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Words: 562 | Reading Time: 3 minutes | Slow Reading Time: 6 minutes
The Moment Everything Collapsed
In August 2008, during the financial crash in Dubai, my real estate business was collapsing. I hadn’t slept well in months. My ego was a whirlwind of terrifying thoughts—What if I lose everything? What if I end up a pauper?
Then, one night, I was reading The Power of Now. On page 53, a single line awakened me from my suffering: “Focus your attention on the Now and tell me what problem you have at this moment.”
For a few seconds, I thought Eckhart Tolle was crazy. I had hundreds of problems! But as I reread it, something happened.
My mind stopped.
All the noise collapsed into silence.
No past, no future. Just presence.
That night was my first glimpse of awakening. And though the recession eventually took away my business and possessions, it gave me something greater — the discovery of the timeless Now.
The Subtle Shift That Changes Everything
In that awakening moment, I experientially realized how deeply we identify with the mind and body.
We say: I am reading, I am thinking, I am working, I am deciding.
It feels natural, almost unquestionable.
But what if that’s not the truth?
What if “you” are not the one doing these things at all?
Surrender—How to Abide as Eternal Awareness
✨ Instead of reading,
Be aware that an experience of reading is appearing.
💭 Instead of thinking,
Be aware that an experience of thought is appearing.
💪 Instead of working,
Be aware that an experience of the body working is appearing.
🌀 Instead of deciding,
Be aware that an experience of the mind deciding is appearing.
Can you feel the difference?
In the first way, you restrict yourself to a body and mind, identifying with them, moving from the past to the future.
In the second, you step back and realize: All of it — body, mind, action, decision, even the world itself — is appearing inside you, like a passing dream.
You are the still, formless awareness in which all of existence unfolds.
The Dream and the Dreamer
You are not the one caught inside the dream, struggling to control it.
You are the vast awareness in which the entire dream of body, mind, and the world unfolds.
The body is not “you.”
It is an experience that appears in you.
The mind, with all its thoughts, worries, and choices, is not “you.”
It is also an experience that appears within you.
The Last and Ultimate Spiritual Practice
Knowing yourself isn't about controlling thoughts, silencing the mind, or mastering the body. It simply involves asking:
Who am I, and surrender within.
It will reveal what comes and goes, and what remains always here.
Later in my life, I learned how to abide as eternal awareness, beyond simply being a witness. I learned to rest my mind in Being.
I learned total surrender.
When you rest as that unchanging presence, life stops being a personal burden and becomes a divine play appearing in the vastness of your Being.
When you rest in Being, you stop shrinking into the small “me” who’s carrying the weight of the world. And you return to the eternal awareness—the one you have always been, the one untouched by the rise and fall of experience.
Who am I?— The Greatest Secret of Spirituality
🧘 Learn Self Inquiry: Who Am I?
🔹 Step 1: Observe a Thought as It Arises and Take Your Attention to Its Source.
🔹 Step 2: Merge With the Source of the Thought and Become Eternal Awareness
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