Once, Buddha was taking a test on his disciples. He was holding a lotus flower in his hands and asking his disciples to express what comes to their hearts on seeing the lotus flower. Many of them told many things. Some said that seeing the lotus, the adage comes to my mind that while being in the world, rise above your worldly consciousness. The way being in the muddy water, lotus is above the mud, it is not affected by the mud or pulled down on it.
Likewise many of them said many things. Some praised the beauty of lotus saying that it looks so pure, so beautiful, etc. Buddha honored all of their opinions and expressions but was not happy as the answer which he expected still didn’t come.
Lastly, the lotus was passed to Buddha's greatest disciple Ananda, and his response was to smile… a sweet smile. He said that I am seeing the lotus just as it is and has no opinion for the reality that I am witnessing. Hearing this, Buddha's heart got elated and he said this was the answer I was waiting for. He praised Ananda, saying that he is the only one who has reached witness consciousness.
In witness consciousness, one is above the perceptions made by the mind seeing the reality which could dwindle on both sides taking the positive and negative polarity. In witness consciousness, one is beyond the duality of the world in a state of just witnessing without forming any opinions about reality.
Reality is seen just as it is!!!
Moral: As the perception, so the world. We perceive the world through the lens of our mind, as we perceive, so we believe. When we perceive through the lens of our mind, our thoughts can take any polarity, negative or positive. In this case, the witness stage implies moving beyond the polarity and seeing the reality in neutral awareness.
