What makes the body sentient?

We falsely believe ourselves to be the body. Are you really the body? Let us see why we are not the body. The body itself is insentient, meaning it is inanimate. Modern science has revealed that the body is more than 90% water. The remaining is made up of carbon and other elements, oxygen and space between the molecules. We know that when a person "dies", the body is still there initially till it is buried or cremated. However, it is a non-functioning body. Obviously, something is missing, for the body is no longer sentient. So, what makes the body sentient? What is that some- thing or no-thing, which when it is missing, the body is no longer sentient. Think over this.

Now give careful thought to the following. Since the body is made up mostly of water, elements and oxygen, are these capable of functioning? Can the water speak? Can the water listen? Can the water have any sensations? Can the water think? Can the water have any sense of smell? Can the water itself have the sense of taste? In the same way, can any of the elements or oxygen or space, function in any way similar to a sentient human or animal? Can you deny the fact that the water inside the body is the same as a water that is in the lakes, the river or for that matter in the rainfall? Is the carbon inside the body any different from the carbon that is out there in the world of objects? Is the oxygen inside the body any different from the oxygen in the atmosphere? The answer to all of these questions is 'obviously not'. It therefore becomes quite clear that the body itself is incapable of functioning. There is some-thing or no-thing other than the body that makes the body function and become sentient.

In the same way, since we think and we believe that the mind is in the brain, we can realize that we are not the mind also, since the mind is in the body. What exactly makes one believe that they are the body or the mind? It is obvious that any belief is only a thought. The dictionary meaning of 'belief' is confidence in the truth or existence of something not immediately susceptible to rigorous proof. Therefore, the thought that you are the body or the mind, is precisely that i.e. a thought, a false belief. Since thoughts are transient and have no substance, you have falsely believed yourself to be the body or the mind. Can you have any thoughts without the life essence itself? Meaning, can you have thoughts if you were "dead"? Therefore, thoughts by themselves have no independence apart from the THAT life essence. Does it not imply that the entire belief in the idea that you are an individual with a body and mind, is nothing but just thoughts? Thoughts that have no independent existence by themselves! You are what IS, prior to thoughts. So, if you leave the thoughts alone, your existence is already THAT, pure and simple, unadulterated and beyond any concepts. So, the problem is the thinking that you are an individual, an individual with a body and mind. Stop this delusion and you realize that you are already THAT!!

Open up your heart

Very often, a seeker is very frustrated as he/she is not able to grasp what is being pointed to by the teacher. This is not uncommon and we will briefly look at what results in this frustration. The problem is that the person approaches this teaching with his head, i.e. as an individual with an independent mind. From the perspective of the mind, the subject of non-duality is beyond comprehension. For duality is the nature of the mind. Remember the mind is nothing but a bundle of thoughts. All thoughts are, by nature itself, in opposites. Meaning one cannot think about black without thinking about it in contrast to white. When one thinks of good, it is the opposite of bad. When one thinks of small, it is the opposite of large. So, don't try to grasp this teaching with the mind. It is only when one stops thinking, that the essence of the teaching becomes obvious. Don't forget, that you already are THAT.

It is only when this teaching is approached from the heart rather than from the mind, the simplicity of this teaching becomes obvious. We often hear of people having a heart to heart chat or communication. In a similar way, when one approaches this teaching with an open mind, without any preconceptions, without any preconceived notions, without any thoughts or ideas of "getting it", with an open heart, there is immediately the resonance with what is being pointed to. After all, it is the consciousness itself communicating with consciousness. Upon hearing this teaching, there is immediate resonance somewhere deep within, which is what many teachers point to as the heart. Approach this teaching, with earnest desire and do not worry about the outcome.