Rediscovering the Unconditioned Self

The Seer abides in its own essence.

Yoga Sutra 1.3

तदा द्रष्टुः स्वरूपेऽवस्थानम्

tadā draṣṭuḥ svarūpe-'vasthānam

tadā: Then

draṣṭuḥ: The true seer

svarūpe: In its own essential form

avasthānam: Abiding in, rest within, recognize

Our perception is what creates the storyline, the paint on the canvas. It is something we tell ourselves to make us “feel” a certain way. As babies, before imprints or programming took root, we existed in awe of the totality of the world. This is why many practitioners and teachers speak about seeing the world with the eyes of a child. But what does this really mean?

It is the stripping away of everything we perceive ourselves to be. It is the uncovering of what lies beneath all the labels and identities we create for ourselves. It is our True nature, with nothing but consciousness perceiving itself as Self. Nothing in the way. No chatter in the mind. Nothing to do. Nothing to say. Just existing as is. Not caught up in any thought, emotion, or situation. Truly being in the world, but not of it.

When we are living from this place, nothing remains but clarity, a genuine emptiness that is not void, but spacious and luminous. This emptying allows us to create, decide, manifest, and live without limits, because limitations arise only from the programmed mind. We move with discernment. We make righteous choices. We become aligned with the Absolute. We move enlightened, we are enlightened. We understand what Oneness truly means.

In this state, we become engulfed in the spiritual and loosen our attachment to the material. We renounce the small idea of “self” and fully embrace the deeper Self, the Dao and the de, the Absolute and its manifestation. We return to the Source. We discover who the “I” is originally, in its unconditioned form. Our True nature resides here.