Mary: I have been pondering this and I am not sure what attention is. It must be mithya yet I am not sure it can be objectified. Love and happiness or just fullness seems to be so often present more likely when the mind is quiet and sattvic but also when I am busy I can be happily rajasic as well but attention seems prior. It has to be mithya as it appears to change in density if that’s a word I can use. It can be very absorbing. It is difficult to find the right word. But I suppose it is only present in the waking state so belongs to the subtle body and the waking Jiva but does it?
Sundari: This is a good point to raise. Our thinking is governed by the gunas, and they direct our attention. The quality of our life as a jiva can be summed up by what we pay attention to. From this perspective, attention can be objectified and is mithya.
If the mind is highly rajasic and extroverted, our attention will be fragmented; if the mind is highly tamasic it will be depressed and dull. If all we seek is to be amused or entertained, our attention is tuned either to escape or fill our internal emptiness/dullness (tamas) and/or our desire/pain (rajas). Life has always had its way of distracting and dulling the mind, but today we are faced with a total onslaught of attention-grabbing stimuli. We see this in how addicted and obsessed people are with constant mental/emotional input from social media.
If the mind is very sattvic, our attention is focused and clear. This could mean that our attention is fully directed on an action required of us, or on nefarious deeds, like the laser focus of predator after prey. But if the mind is very sattvic and we are paying attention to the transcendent meaning of our attention, then it is an act of expressing not only appreciation but of reverence. Paying attention in this way is the essence of devotion, whether you know you are the Self, or not. Attention is another word for love because we do not love what we do not pay attention to.
The question is, who is paying attention, and to what?
Attention is another word for the Self because love is the Self. Attention is the focussed light of Awareness shining on an object. How can any object be known at all if I do not shine my light on it? All objects are mithya, and are me, the Self, Satya. But I am not the objects. I am the Light of Attention, the knower.
As an inquirer, the question of what attention is, like all other questions, takes a different perspective. If it is the jiva, truly paying attention means I suspend my focus on myself and keep it on the object of my attention, an open channel of light, my senses tuned in and trained on what is in front of me, open and willing.
But as the Self, seeing as there is only you, everything you pay attention to is you, Pure Existence.
Much love
Sundari
