What is Tathata?

Seeing the world AS IS is staying in existence.
Any deviation from it takes you away from existence.
It may sound easy, but it is not; it requires a lot of sadhana to realize this state, which always has been our true nature.

“Tathātā (Sanskrit) or suchness/thusness is a key Buddhist concept representing the true, naked nature of reality as it is, free from conceptual elaboration, judgment, or subject-object distinctions. It signifies “it is what it is,” often used in Mahayana Buddhism to describe the ultimate reality underlying all phenomena, and is closely linked to emptiness (sunyata).”
What makes it so difficult?
What deviates us, and how?
Tathata is the state of existence; it is as simple as: whatever exists is Tathata.
But, at the same time, whatever does not exist is NOT Tathata.
Tathata is one big NOW.
The past doesn’t exist in it, and neither does the future.
When we see objects, people, situations, they exist AS THEY ARE, in Tathata, but we don’t stop there.
We think about their utility (likes/dislikes), and our thoughts begin to form a plan to acquire them.
Thoughts start now, but their fruits will come later.
By thinking, we are planting a new seed whose fruits will come in the future.
The future is outside the Tathata.
Every thought has consequences.
By even thinking of acquiring something or someone, we leave our nature behind and embark on a journey into the future.
What happens after thinking?
It creates a new identity for us, and we lose our true identity.
Our new identity is not the one we had in Tathata.
We lose touch with it and get lost in the complex web of Sansar, and lose the peace and tranquility of Tathata.

Mind is nothing but modified consciousness.

The purpose of the mind is to experience the world.

The purpose of Tathata (Shunyata) is to nourish the world.

Mind cannot nourish the world; it is beyond its capacity; it is very limited.

And, Tathata cannot think, because thinking is too limiting; it conflicts with its all-pervading nature (omnipresence).

We insist on using the mind, because we know the mind, but when it comes to Tathata, the mind is blind.

In this complex conflict, the realization of Tathata does not happen.

When the mind cannot realize the state of Tathata, it creates a substitute for it, the Ego.

The ego goes out and builds a Tadatmya outside.

[8:37 AM, 4/29/2026] Shrenik Shah: Tadatmya is a profound word, and understanding it can bring great clarity to a sadhak’s path.

Tadatmya is divided into two words

tat = you
atma = soul.

Tadatmya = you are my soul.

That’s the mental state of a person lost in this sansar and its objects, people, or situations.

When a person is attached to them to the point of calling it their Atma, they have established Tadatmya with them.

Without them, they cannot survive, just the way one cannot survive without their Atma.

When one is in such Tadatmya, they don’t see any need to find their real Atma.

A drinker finds his happiness in alcohol.

Every time he drinks, he feels joy; he equates that with samadhi (the absence of suffering).

Of course, it lasts a very short time.

As soon as the effect of alcohol wears off, his illusion of “samadhi” also wears off, and he has to repeat the process.

That way, he keeps chasing happiness.

He has found a substitute for samadhi in sansar, and he does not see the need to go within to find real samadhi.

Of course, this is just one example, but if you really think about it, most of Sansar is in the same boat.

Attachments to race, religion, relations, money, name, fame, others’ attention, etc., are all varying degrees of tadatmyas.

Finding the real samadhi state is not difficult, but realizing and acknowledging one’s Tadatmya is.

And Priyanka’s answer is correct, stop searching; just BE, and you are in samadhi.
[11:36 AM, 4/29/2026] Shrenik Shah: By searching, running, encountering, and then merging with the objects of pleasure via actions, you are creating a new (and fake) self

You drink and you BECOME a drinker.

We never realize that by taking these steps (and keep repeating them), we have departed from our true selves.

Most likely to get lost in the jungle of samsara, never to return to BEING, unless we wake up to spirituality.