Note that this term can defined differently depending on the path or the teacher.
In ordinary day-to-day life, caught in the struggle for survival, we adopt the attitude I am the body, I am the mind, I am a person, I am the doer or enjoyer. Awareness is the light that illuminates this behavior. We can go right on doing the same things, but now in the light of awareness.
Unfortunately, the majority of humans lack awareness, because they lack this knowledge of the Experiencer. They cannot even imagine that they are the whole of existence looking through a tiny form called the human. This gives rise to suffering for the human, for other creatures, and for the environment. Awareness takes away the suffering; the knowledge kills the ignorance.
The state of awareness
Awareness is a state in which we are permeated by the knowledge that I am the Experiencer that I am not any experience, including objects, body, sensations, thoughts, emotions or desires. Since the individual is made up of these things, we can also say: I am not the individual, I am the whole universe, I am the whole Existence. There is no separate I. Both statements mean the same thing.Those fortunate people who arrive on the path of knowledge and come to know their real nature immediately enter into this state. The rest are not yet ready; we should patiently wait for them to ask a question.
Abiding
When in the state of awareness, we can simply call it abiding. Abiding involves giving up the identifications. Whenever an identification is present and you enter awareness, you discard it with I am not that you see your real nature and identify with the Experiencer. When we do this all the time, 24x7, that is the state of abiding.Abiding is not pretending to be the Experiencer or the Existence. Thoughts like I am this great Existence, let me do something great, all others are ignorant are just egoic thoughts which means the realisation of the Experiencer has not happened yet.
Remembrance
Awareness is sometimes called remembrance. When the momentum of old habits takes you back into identification, just remember what you directly know that you are the Experiencer. You need not go through the whole negation method or open a book. Just see all the experiences being witnessed. The remembrance takes one second.Notice that it is not related to the memory. The Experiencer leaves no trace in the memory; what is in the memory are events. If you find yourself searching the memory for where is the Experiencer, it simply means the understanding has not happened. The Experiencer is always in the present.
Presence
Because the Experiencer is always present, awareness has another name: be present, always be in presence. Not in the past, not in the memory, not in the habits and not in the future either. The Experiencer is never absent. While speaking, thinking or doing anything, is the Experiencer absent? If it were, how would these things be known?Being present does not mean sitting at one place and not thinking or breathing in some special way. That which is present is already present; you cannot make it present. You cannot come back to the present that very me which wants to come back is an identification. Drop the me, and there remains presence.
Practice on the path of knowledge
The only practice really recommended on the path of knowledge is abide, abide, abide. Be present. It is simpler than breathing, simpler than lifting a finger. What has made it so complicated, so-called spiritual, is ignorance layers upon layers of misunderstanding and resistances.The formal practice on the path of knowledge is listening, contemplation, and finally abiding:
- Listening: hearing or reading the teaching.
- Contemplation: pondering what was said, checking it against your own means of knowledge and your own criteria for truth. Blind belief is useless.
- Abiding: once you get it, you abide in it automatically, just as your citizenship is automatic once known.