Vichara
The Practice of Presence
By Kosi
Vichara is Self-inquiry—an intimate confrontation of the egoic mind of human consciousness. It is the practice of presence or the deep alignment of your consciousness with the vast invisible presence within you and all around you—the indescribable bliss of your eternal nature. This ancient practice lives in the repetition of the question; Who am I? Or the intimate questioning of the ‘me’ you feel deep inside that you naturally identify with as you. But vichara is no ordinary question. It has no mental or intellectual answer. The linguistic yoga of your mind is no match for the sacred fire this question represents—the vast indescribable power of presence that ultimately annihilates the questioner. But why is the feeling ‘me’ so stubborn? What is the reason that even after years of practicing vichara you can still feel the ‘me’ inside you? Is it even possible to overcome this deep-seated feeling of the ‘me’ or ego with the simple question—who?
To understand the immense power of your mind and ego, simply hold up a mirror to a mirror. The reflections go on and on—there is no end. Ego is reflective consciousness. Like a mirror pointing at a mirror there simply is no end to the reflections it generates—it is an endless loop. Ego is very much like a double-sided mirror. On one side of the mirror, your ego reflects everything you perceive through your five senses infused with the powers of your mind to think, remember, project, and imagine, while the other side of the mirror reflects the vast eternal presence of the Self—or the power of the invisible eternal presence alive in your own heart. This is the primary reason you feel invincible—the living presence in the core of your being is eternal.
The mind and ego are entangled on a quantum level, which simply means your agreement with whatever you are thinking moves faster than the speed of light. It is a loop of consciousness rooted in the eternal presence of your being that generates the strong visceral feeling of the ‘me’ that you think you are. The instant agreement between your ego and mind generates your emotional reactions to the events of your life. This is the fundamental reason that even after realizing there is actually is no substance to your ego—or the deep feeling of ‘me’—the ego reconstitutes itself instantly due to the nature of reflective consciousness and the strong sensation of you as an individual experiencing a wide array of emotions.
The practice of vichara continuously questions the reality of this ‘me’ feeling that you think you are until you see beyond this grand illusion—it can take many years of burning in the deep realization of the presence until the ultimate reality of pure presence takes permanent root. This evolutionary process lives in the ruthless examination of who or what this ‘me’ inside of you actually is. If you examine the substance of your ego very closely you can see through the reflective surface of ego into the vast unending pure presence hidden by this grand illusion of ‘me’ or the deep visceral feeling and identity of you as your body, which serves to continue generating the myriad of emotions you experience every single day.
The ego is the root of both conscious and unconscious tendencies, which is the primary reason ego has historically been recognized as the nemesis of moksha, but the reality is your ego is actually the gateway of moksha—or the ultimate liberation from the root cause of all suffering—ego. Due to its reflective nature, this is no small task. It takes intense effort and commitment to see through the potent illusion of your ego. Certainly, it can be quite a shock to realize that the ‘me,’ you intimately feel is who you are, really isn’t who you are. But this radical shift in consciousness from the limited perspective of your ego to the vast unlimited power of presence alive in your heart naturally opens your mind to the bliss of your being—the constant unmoving consciousness that never changes—it is simply always here and now.
Vichara is the practice of presence—awareness aware of the vast awareness—it is a sacred meeting of you as an individual consciousness and the indescribable intelligent consciousness of the entire universe. In other words, it is an intimate meeting of you as that vastness meeting the vastness of pure presence. The essence of this divine meeting is love meeting love. The intimate inquiry into this vast presence of your heart leads to the direct realization that who you really are is divine love—a frequency of light. The ancient practice of self-inquiry is in actuality a fire of love beyond all ideas of love. From a scientific perspective, this divine meeting is perfectly described by E=MC2—the famous equation of Albert Einstein.
This simple equation unveils the invisible power contained within all forms—(E)nergy equals (M)ass times the (C)onstant speed of light [Celeritas in Latin] squared. This equation reveals the entire universe and everything within it contains a vast invisible intelligent energy beyond human comprehension, which is the nature of consciousness. It is the unseen light force of life—the invisible electromagnetic frequency of light within you that enables you to live, think, and breathe. It is through the ancient practice of presence that you can develop the skill to see your life through the potent lens of your heart free of the limitations imposed by your mind and ego.
Virchara is E=MC2. This pure practice of presence represents profound energy with the power to unveil your real nature. It is this practice of presence that ignites the invisible energy within you. The power of your attention is the spark of consciousness that initiates this ancient evolutionary alchemy that burn and burns as a sacred fire inside of you until there is no one practicing or the deep recognition there is no doer.
This might seem horrifying to your mind, but the truth is, no words exist for the joy of discovering this vast invisible eternal presence alive in your own heart. Ultimately, you are the bliss of life as pure awareness living life—an intimate realization of your own divinity—the divine love that you were, are, and always will be.
This invisible power of presence is always here, always now, and always free of the emotional roller coaster generated by your mind and ego. Vichara simply opens the door of your heart to this presence—the vast intelligence of the entire universe—love beyond all ideas of love.
The greatest challenge of a lifetime is to continuously apply this ancient teaching to remove all conscious and unconscious barriers to a permanent realization of this love—free of all suffering.
Ultimately, this vast indescribable love is not just who you are—it is the only reality.
Tat Sat
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