NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 23:

Prior to excerpting the other Ramana Maharshi disciple in the text below we continue the series: Fine-Tuned Universe 16, the premise that a small change in several of the dimensionless fundamental physical constants would make the Universe incapable of Life.

Fine-Tuned Universe 16:

 [In the unreal reflection called the “Universe”, a product of an unreal Mind, even there, Infinite Intelligence is evident and inspiring.]

Dimensionless Constants:

To Fred Hoyle’s C¹²  &  O¹⁶ nucleo-synthesis scenario, Barrows and is once co-author Frank Tipler and others went on to point out the existence of Intelligent Life allowed only narrow ranges for fundamental Force strengths, masses of various elementary particles, and the like. Beginning in alphabetical order (Greek alphabet), we consider further the Electro-Magnetic force coupling constant, the Fine-Structure constant  a  approximately equal to ¹/₁₃₇  –  a strong determinant of Atomic  & Molecular structure, and therefore Biochemistry and Life. Next in that same (Greek) alphabetical order comes the likewise Dimensionless Constant  b  =  M_e/ M_p which is the ratio of Electron to Proton masses, approximately =  ¹/₁₈₃₆ . This latter b  increased a bit prevents Electrons occupancy of well-defined quantized positions so necessary for the subtle Biochemistry of DNA for instance. On the Cosmic scale, if the Denominator in  b  should increase ten-fold resulting in a value near 0.005  =  ½ % which happens to approximate  a² then Star would not form. With  a  this same ratio  b  coordinates to allow the nuclear fusion that fuels Stars and leads to heavier elements. But  a  itself is constrained to far narrower bounds. The  a  =  ¹/₁₃₇   value or about (7 thousandths) necessarily lies between  ¹/₁₈₀   &  ¹/₈₅  or ( 6 – 12 thousandths) if Protons are not to decay long before Stars could form. Fine-Tuned  as the Constants are now, no Proton has ever been seen to decay, they may be eternal. Likewise, another Dimensionless Constant describing the Strong nuclear force,  a_s  ~  1

For the prior range of   b   &   a (to the left) ordered Organic and Biochemical structures could not exist. Further on (to the right) there could not even be any Stars. A similar overlapping net-narrow range (~ compounded conditional probabilities) is seen after we plot the Strong nuclear coupling force constant  a_s  vs. interconnecting values of  a  as depicted below.

Once again we restrict the plot to allowed values and find: slightly diverging values include  “regions” of comparative values where “diprotons” (a He² with no neutrons) would have formed instead of the important intermediate Deuterium (a Hydrogen with one neutron) and subsequent fast-burn of Stars and absence of Carbon and other vital Atoms. These graphical devices allow a visual sense of how 2 partially-dependent / partially-independent variable couples can be focused down to a minute overlapping range (~ compounded conditional probabilities) as seen for some of the fundamental Constants. When a dozen or more coordinate like this together the pin-point Fine-Tuning stands out as an extremely incredible coincidence. More examples will be offered.

Curiously John A. Wheeler (who promoted Einstein’s unpublished equation not only of E = mc² but also Gravity-Mass with Space-Time) proposed a PAP participatory anthropic principle, a super–strong SAP that calls upon Observer-dependent Quantum Theory (Copenhagen II Convention) to make Observers necessary for collapsing the Wave Functions of the Universe into physical existence. Barrows and most others dismissed this PAP out of hand (though it is an insightful attempt to physicalize QND), often erroneously by claiming that Scientific Instruments qualified as Observers in Quantum Theory. But that blurring of the definitions is directly countered by the Schrodinger’s Cat gedanken experiment and John von Neumann’s Chain of Measurement. In that finer detail, the Instrument is but another Object and its information is actualized only when a conscious Observer reads that Instrument.

Some more selected verses from the other Ramana Maharshi disciple:

Your thoughts arise on a moment-to-moment basis because of your vasanas, but it is a mistake to think that you can do nothing about them. You can be interested in them, or you can ignore them. If you show interest in them, they will persist and you will get caught up in them. If you ignore them and keep your attention on the Source, they will not develop. And when they don’t develop, they disappear.

In Who Am I ? Bhagavan compared this process to laying siege to a fort. If you cutoff, one by one, the heads of the thoughts as they come out of the fort of the Mind, sooner or later there will be none left. The way to do this is by Self-Inquiry. As each thought rises, you ask yourself, “To whom does this thought appear ?”

If you are vigilant in doing this, the forest of thoughts will lessen and lessen until there are none left. When the thoughts have gone, Mind will sink into its Source and experience that Source.

Little conversations may be going on. A crowd of people may be congregating around. None of this is your business, but there is always a possibility that you will get interested in some or all of these activities and forget the reason why you are out on the street yourself. Don’t get excited by anything you see and hear. Just walk steadily towards your destination. Your vasanas are all the sides how’s in your head that can drag your attention away from your main business, which is being aware of the Self. If you have no interest in them, you will walk straight to your goal. If something temporarily distracts your attention, bring yourself back by asking yourself, “Who is interested in all this ? Who is getting interested in this distraction ?” This will deflate the distracting desire and it will bring you back to an awareness of your true purpose. Remember, nothing that happens in the Mind is “you”, and none of it is your business. You don’t have to worry about thoughts that rise up inside you. It is enough that you remember that the thoughts are not you.

Whatever kind of thought arises, have the same reaction: ‘Not me; not my business.’ It can be a good thought or a bad thought. Treat them all the same way. To whom are these thoughts arising ? To you. That means that you are not the thought. You are the Self. Remain as the Self, and don’t latch onto anything that is not the Self

The above themes & 1600 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through:  

www.jpstiga.com/

http://jstiga.wixsite.com/nonduality/

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

http://www.blogger.com     as  “Being-as-Consciousness, Non-Duality – new & final version” with link:

http://being-as-consciousness.blogspot.com/

[But from now on, they will be different & still usually daily.]

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 21:

Prior to excerpting the other Ramana Maharshi disciple in the text below we continue the series: Fine-Tuned Universe 14, the premise that a small change in several of the dimensionless fundamental physical constants would make the Universe incapable of Life.

Fine-Tuned Universe 14:

[In the unreal reflection called the “Universe”, a product of an unreal Mind, even there, Infinite Intelligence is evident and inspiring.]

Fundamental Constants:

Some  common abbreviations for Constants of Physics are the grist for the Anthropic mill:

G  =    a_G   =  Gravitational  coupling  =  6.6738  ×  10⁻¹¹  m³/ kg s²

c  =  vacuum light-speed  =   2.998  ×  10⁸  m /s

h  =  Planck’s Action constant  =  6.626   ×  10⁻³⁴  J s

which including spherical geometry becomes:

h  =    h/2p    =   reduced Planck’s constant   =  1.0546  ×  10⁻³⁴   J s

e_o  =  vacuum permittivity  =  8.854  ×  10⁻¹²  F/m

k_B  =  Boltzmann’s constant  =  1.38   ×  10⁻²³ J / K

k_e  =  Coulomb constant   =   1/4pe_o   =   8.98755  ×  10⁹  kg m³/s²C²

a   =  Fine-Structure E-M force coupling  =  k_e e² / h c   =   ¹ /_137.0356

a_s  =  Strong nuclear force coupling constant     @   1

μ   =   Proton-Electron mass ratio   =    m_p  / m_e    =   1,836

The latter 3 are the best known of the important dimensionless constants with great claim to fundamental validity. A distant second group might be the elsewhere mentioned Planck units, such as:

t_p  =  Planck Time   =   Ö h G / c⁵    =   5.391  × 10⁻⁴⁴  s

L_p =  Planck Length   =   c t_p  =   1.616  × 10⁻³⁵  m

T_p  =  Planck Temperature   =   h /(k_B t_p)  =   1.417   ×   10³²  K

M_p  =  Planck Mass  =   h /(c³ t_p)  =   2.176 5  ×  10⁻⁸   kg

A_p  =  Planck Area     =    L_p²    =        2.612   ×  10⁻⁷⁰   m²

V_p   =  Planck Volume    =    L_p³        =     4.224   ×  10⁻¹⁰⁵  m³

D_p  =   Planck Density   =   M_p / V_p     =   5.155   ×   10⁹⁶  kg / m³

p_p    =  Planck Momentum  =  M_p c      =    6.525    kg m / s

E_p    =  Planck Energy  =  M_p c²           =    1.956   ×  10⁹   J

F_p    =  Planck Force     =    E_p  /  L_p     =     1.21   ×  10⁴⁴   N

Taking up a few parameters as an initial example, Barrows mentions that with the Fine-Structure Electro-Magnetic force coupling constant larger, Atoms could not exist. If this value of  a, the reciprocal or 137 should be that of 136 or 138, the change in Atoms would not allow DNA replication or proper Protein folding.

With Gravity’s  coupling constant G larger, among other things, stars would burn their fuel too quickly. Weaker Strong nuclear force coupling constant  a_s  would prevent Biochemistry, among other ways, for lack of Carbon. So much is common sense when you think about it. Ancient Greeks and others saw the curved shape of the horizon on the Mediterranean Sea and saw immediately that the Earth was a large sphere 2 millennia prior to Columbus. Edgar Allen Poe understood that the dark night sky meant that the Universe must be expanding decades before Physicists worked it out. Other wise there would be a star between every other pair and the night sky would show broadly continuous light. Some Asian Sages, many millennia ago questioned: Who / What am I who knows the Mind like an Object? I can be no other than Non-Dual Consciousness. Some get it, others only later on.

Some more selected verses from the other Maharshi disciple:

If you remain as the Self, no vasanas and no karma will touch or affect you. If you remain in the Mind, thoughts of one sort or another will bother you all the time. If the thoughts “I should meditate” or “I should realize” arise, ask yourself, “To whom are these thoughts arising ?”

Why do you need to think about your Body and your Mind so much ? If you are the Light, there is no Darkness. If you are the Self, there is no thought, no Body, and no Mind to give you any trouble. Any number of thoughts may come. Let them. But remember all the time, “I am the Self.”

You are not the vasanas, you are not the thoughts, you are the Self. Keep that awareness and don’t worry too much about what is going on in your Mind, and what it means.

Don’t allow any mis-identifications to settle on you. Don’t think, “I am sitting here.” Don’t think, “I am doing, I am acting, I am sitting.” You are the Self, not the Body. Even your vasanas are the Self. All is your Self. There are no distinctions, no differences in the Self. Nothing is separate from the Self. You cannot find a single atom, a single thought that is apart from the Self. All is the Self. All these doubts that are troubling you arise simply because you are enmeshed in the “I am the Body” thought and all the confusing consequences that it brings. It is more productive to keep the awareness “I am the Self” than to be analyzing the usefulness of effort. Sadhana, effort and practice, and any ideas you may have about them, are concepts that can only arise when you believe that you are not the Self, and when you believe that you have to do something to reach the Self.

Even the sequence, “To whom has this thought come ? To me,” is based on ignorance of the Truth. Why ? Because it is verbalizing a state of Ignorance; it is perpetuating an erroneous assumption that there is a person who is having troublesome thoughts. You are the Self, not some make-believe person who is having thoughts. If you remain in the Self, as the Self, no harm can come to you. In that State, whatever comes to you will not be a problem. There is no Duality when you remain as the Self; no thoughts about what you should or should not do, and no thoughts about what can be done or what can’t be done. The main thing is not to go out of the Self. When you have switched on the light, darkness cannot come, not even if you desire it.

When this thought, “l am not meditating,” or “I am not in the Self,” arises, just ignore it and go back to the Self. When thoughts such as these arise, look at them and think, “Not me, not my business,” and go back to the Self. Don’t waste energy on thinking or evaluating how well or how badly you are doing in our meditation. Whatever thoughts come, ignore them. You have to ignore anything that is connected to the Body-Mind idea, anything that is based on the notion that you are the Mind or the Body. If you can do this, the rising thought will not disturb or distract you. In a split second, it will run away. All thoughts are distractions. including the thought “I am meditating.”

If you are the Self, darkness will not overcome you. Whatever thoughts arise in that State won’t affect you. If you are the Self, no destiny will affect you. If you tear your shirt, does that mean that you are also torn ?  No. Something has happened to something that is not you. Similarly, the Body and the Mind will experience pleasure, happiness, misery, and so on, all according to the karma that has been brought into this life. But the Self has no attachment, no detachment, no happiness, no unhappiness and no karma.

The Body is not the Self; the Mind is not the Self. The real “I” is the Self, and nothing ever happens to or affects the Self. Thoughts will come as long as the potential for them is inside you. Good thoughts, bad thoughts, they will all keep coming. There is nothing you can do about this flow, but at the same time, this flow of thoughts need not be a problem. Be the Self, be the Peace that is your Real Nature, and it will not matter what comes up.

Walk, eat, drink, sleep, meditate, but never think that you are the one who is doing these things. The thought that you are doing something is the thought that is poisoning your life. Because once you think that you are doing something, you will start to think that you need to be doing something else to put yourself in a better situation. You don’t have to do anything to experience the nectar of the Self. All you need to do is drop the idea that you are doing anything at all. You need to change your vision, your perspective.

When you live in the Mind and see a World outside you that is separate and apart from you, you will make plans, you will worry, you will have doubts. These doubts keep coming up in you because you are not dwelling in the Source, the Substratum. In that place there is Oneness, a Oneness in which all distinctions, all separation is absent. If you abide as the Self, you will see the World as the Self. In fact, there will be no World at all. No World, no Maya, no Mind, no distinctions of any kind.

It is like the state of seeing only wood in the carved elephant, only threads in the dyed cloth. In that state of being and knowing the Self, ideas of right and wrong, things to do and things to avoid doing, will vanish. You will know that they were just mental concepts. In that state you will know that Mind is the Self, Bondage is the Self, everything is the Self. With that vision, nothing will bind you; nothing will cause you misery. The Self may appear as the manifest World, as different separate objects, but the underlying Reality, the only real substance is the Self in which they are all appearing and disappearing. Things and people may appear in this Substratum, and you may use them or interact with them, but your Peace will never be disturbed.

When you abide as the Self, there is no one left to choose and decide. Life goes on automatically. You will pick up the things that are needed, and not pick up the things that are not needed. What you pick up and what you don’t pick up will not be a consequence of what you like or dislike. These preferences will not be there any more. This perspective will be yours when you give up or cease to believe the idea “I am different from the World’. Giving up this thought is a great sadhana in itself. Abandoning this false idea will be enough to give you Peace. When the thought is there, the World seems to be full of good people and bad people, all busily engaged in doing what appear to you to be good things and bad things. When the thought is absent, you know them all to be your own Self. In that state you won’t like them, dislike them or judge them, or be aware of them as being other than your own Self. This absence of likes, dislikes and judgments will leave you in your original natural state of

Peace. Teeth and tongue are both parts of you, and they both function in harmony, without fighting or struggling. When there is the knowledge that Mind and Self are one, there will be no fights, no struggles, and no attempts to judge or attain. To have this Harmony, place the Mind in the Self and keep it there. This is the real meditation. _ However, until you reach this State in which there are no distinctions and preferences, you should use a little Discrimination with regard to who and what you associate with.

Avoid bad company and bad thoughts, and try to keep the conviction that nothing is separate from you. During sleep you have no likes and dislikes. Jnanis and babies manage this while they are awake. Baby mind is good; jnani mind is good; “I am the Body” Mind is very, very bad.

The “I am the Body” thought is just as poisonous as a cobra. “All is my Self. All is the nectar of my own Self.” These are the great affirmations that counter the “I am the Body” thought. Holding on to one of these sayings is the equal of millions of punyas. If we continuously meditate on the Truth of these statements, if we hold on to the Truth that they are pointing towards, countless punyas will accrue to us.

The above themes & 1600 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through:  

www.jpstiga.com/

http://jstiga.wixsite.com/nonduality/

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

http://www.blogger.com     as  “Being-as-Consciousness, Non-Duality – new & final version” with link:

http://being-as-consciousness.blogspot.com/

[But from now on, they will be different & still usually daily.]

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 19:

Prior to excerpting the other Ramana Maharshi disciple, Master Nome in the text below we continue the series: Fine-Tuned Universe 12, the premise that a small change in several of the dimensionless fundamental physical constants would make the Universe incapable of Life.

Fine-Tuned Universe 12:

[In the unreal reflection called the “Universe”, a product of an unreal Mind, even there, Infinite Intelligence is evident and inspiring.]

Astronomical Anthropism:

Just like Universe age, so is Universe size a pertinent parameter since a micro-Universe only as large as our Milky Way Galaxy with its thinly spread bundle of 100 Billion stars would only be a month-old baby universe with not near enough Time to evolve Carbon, never mind Intelligent Life. Nor would the intensely high Temperature of such a young Universe be hospitable, for more than radiative warming matter, the tremendous later cooling accompanied what Thermodynamics calls adiabatic expansion.

Too young, and the Universe has too few radioactive atoms, too old and they have decayed. Yet our Earth’s depends on radioactive heat to melt magma, creating spouts and volcanoes where Life could start, sliding continental tectonic plates, and various other geophysical and geological phenomena so much a part the history of Life on Earth. The same timing and resulting radioactive heat keeps the liquid outer core of molten iron in the motion that creates the Earth’s magnetic field (deflecting Life destructive and atmosphere stripping ions from the Sun; Mars lacking same, lost its atmosphere). Similar protection from comets and asteroids is afforded by the Atmosphere (check out the Moon’s craters) that early Life oxygenated, thanks again to volcanic spewing of Oxygen and Hydrogen (for which we can also thank for Oceans and fresh water). Life threatening (ask the dinosaurs) comets and asteroids (but an Armageddon-movie asteroid only every Billion years, though a Civilization-killer every 10 millennia, mass starvation from small-nuke-like impact every millennium on average) are even more so deflected by another Anthropic parameter in itself, the god of heaven, Jupiter (plane that is) whose gravitational well (far more than its cross-section) shield Earth from these impacts. \

There are many other Astrophysical Anthropic coincidences, but to name just one for now, consider the single large satellite Moon (almost a double planet pair). The Moon’s Gravity not only provides possibly necessary Tide Pools for Evolution, but more arcanely moderates Climate Change (until the Industril Revolution fossil fuel burn–off, that is). There are necessarily Resonances between the Earth-axis Precession rates and Gravitational tweaking we feel from other masses in the Solar System. Normally this common-enough situation for Earth-like planets would produce chaotic evolution of the Tilt of the planet’s Rotation Axis with respect to the orbital plane of the planets, (This is the orbital plane we see here except for Pluto which correspondingly was demoted to more like a comet). But erratic Tilt changes would result in Temperature and Ocean level swings (like the one we fear we have anthropogenically initiated at this point). Our GHG’s  & Global Warming aside, we have been Anthropically spared oscillating Climate chaos by the dampening effect of the unusually large Moon’s Gravity (for Earth’s size that is, since comparable moons of Jupiter and Saturn are small relative to those great planet sizes).

While poets may have wondered at Life within a vast, cold, dark Universe, Life actually could only evolve in a vast, cold, dark Universe. John Barrows in his Constants of Nature compares the best lab-vacuum (a Trillion atoms per cubic meter) to that of Space if across the 10 Billion cubic light-year Universe, we spread out the Galaxies evenly, then spread the Stars, then the Planets, and then the Atoms. There would only be a single Atom per cubic meter (as compared to a lab-vac Trillion). Now there are a Quintillion cubic meters in a cubic light-year and there would only be a single 100-billion Star Galaxy per 10 Million cubic light-years. Considering on the other end of the scale, the incredible emptiness of Atoms, and even of Nucleons (relative to quark “size”), the World is very empty indeed (never mind General Relativity and Quantum Theory that rob such sparse Matter of all the rest of its apparent “substantial-ness”).

And yet the Holderness Number from Neuro-anatomy suggests a physical interconnection possibility which is said to “count” the number of possible “thoughts” (in a Physicalist brain anatomy). This dwarfing Cosmological Numbers becomes:

10^{70,000,000,000,000}   (or a 1 with 70 Trillion zeroes after it)

Even outside Physicalist boundaries, Mind by any description reveals a “vastness” of its own. Then again QND sees Mind as the faintest reflection of pure Consciousness, whereas UQND admits if neither Mind nor Universe but leaves all the vastness in Consciousness itself. Through various degrees from Objectivity to Subjectivity, the Universe is cast as a projected Analog of Consciousness.

Some more selected verses from the other Maharshi disciple:

You should trust the Guru because his interest is in showing you the Truth. He may occasionally say things that are not true, but he will say them only because he knows his words will push you in the right direction.

I once heard a story that illustrates this. A rich man used to meditate once in a while. He had a Guru, an enlightened man, who used to tell him, “You are not the Mind or the Body. You are the Self. Always abide as the Self.” The man would listen attentively, but neither his meditation nor his Guru’s words had much of an effect on him. One day he approached his teacher and said, “You have been telling me for years that I am not the Mind and the Body, and that I am the Self. I believe it and I meditate on this, but I don’t see any changes in myself. This must be a very difficult technique because I don’t seem to be making any progress with it.”

The Guru said, “Let me look at your palm. I may be able to see something that is more suitable for you.” After examining the disciple’s palm, the Guru’s face dropped. “This is very bad. You should have put in more effort earlier in your life. I can see that you only have about one week to live. There’s not much that can help you now.”

The disciple was shocked. He went home thinking, “All my wealth and businesses are useless to me now. I put too much time into them, and not enough into my spiritual practice. There’s nothing I can do now, but I can at least spend my last few days meditating.” He went home and told his wife, “My life is coming to an end. My Guru has warned me that this is my final week. I am going to spend my last few days meditating alone. Please tell my friends and relatives that I don’t want to be disturbed.” After a few days his Guru came to see how he was getting on.

“How’s the meditation going ?” he asked. “Your wife tells me that you have done nothing else for days.” “Gurudev, there is no one left to meditate. I have found the Peace you have been talking about all these years.”

The Guru knew that this man would never focus full-time on realizing the Self because he was too caught up with his family and his business affairs. By making him think that his Death was imminent, he made him concentrate on what was real and important. And it worked. This is not just a story; it is a tactic that will work for anyone. If you can withdraw energy from your worldly attachments and instead focus full-time on the Self, you will soon get results. If you are having trouble with your enthusiasm for sadhana, just tell yourself, “I may be dead in 7 days.” Let go of all the things that you pretend are important in your daily life and instead focus on the Self for 24 hours a day.  Do it and see what happens.

The above themes & 1600 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through:  

www.jpstiga.com/

http://jstiga.wixsite.com/nonduality/

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

http://www.blogger.com     as  “Being-as-Consciousness, Non-Duality – new & final version” with link:

http://being-as-consciousness.blogspot.com/

[But from now on, they will be different & still usually daily.]

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 17:

Prior to excerpting the other Ramana Maharshi disciple in the text below we continue the series: Fine-Tuned Universe 9, the premise that a small change in several of the dimensionless fundamental physical constants would make the Universe incapable of Life.

Fine-Tuned Universe 9:

[In the unreal reflection called the “Universe”, a product of an unreal Mind, even there, Infinite Intelligence is evident and inspiring.]

The Multi-Verse scenario was suggested by some Cosmologists as a way to avoid the conclusion that the Universe was specially designed for Life by a Grand Designer. Others saw it as a way to avoid having to say anything more about the problem of Fine Tuning at all. We see that once conscious Observers are allowed to intervene in the Universe, rather than being merely lumped into the category of “observers” who do nothing, that we end up with a scenario in which the gods reappear in unlimited numbers, in the guise of the simulators who have power of Life & Death [as in The Matrix movie] over the simulated beings that they bring “create”.

The simulators determine the Laws, and can change the Laws, that govern their Worlds. They can engineer Anthropic Fine-Tunings. They can pull the plug on the simulation [very Biblical] at any moment, intervene [very Biblical] or distance [like Deism] themselves from their simulation; watch as the simulated creatures argue about whether there is a God who controls of intervenes; work miracles or impose their ethical principles upon the simulated reality.

All the time they can avoid having even a twinge of conscience about hurting anyone because their toy reality isn’t real, is it ?  [While true in Non-Duality, highly ethical behavior in the Dream World is a necessity for Liberation.]  They can even watch their simulated realities grow to a level of sophistication that allows them to simulate higher-order realities of their own.

Faced with these perplexities do we have any chance of winnowing fake realities from true ?  What we might expect to see if we made scientific observations from within a simulated reality ?  Firstly, the simulators will have been tempted to avoid the complexity of using a consistent set of Laws of Nature in their Worlds when they can simply patch in “realistic” effects. When the Disney company makes a film that features the reflection of light from the surface of a lake, it does not use the laws of Quantum Electro-Dynamics & Optics to compute the light scattering. That would require a stupendous amount of computing power & detail. Instead, the simulation of the light scattering is replaced by plausible rules of thumb that are much briefer than the real thing but give a realistic looking result – as long as no one looks too closely [like well done “lollipop” trees in a crayon drawing, or rudimentary faces behind all the windshields in a cartoon of the highway – but Non-Duality suggests just this thing, only with a high degree of fidelity that could include Electro-Dynamics and so on].

There would be an economic and practical imperative for simulated realities to stay that way if they were purely for entertainment. But such limitations to the complexity of the simulation’s programming would presumably cause occasional tell-tale problems — and perhaps they would even be visible from within. [Actually, however, many inexplicable things are reported – these could be some of those inconsistencies.]

Even if the simulators were scrupulous about simulating the laws of Nature, there would be limits to what they could do. Assuming the simulators, or at least the early generations of them, have a very advanced knowledge of the laws of Nature, it’s likely they would still have incomplete knowledge of them (some philosophers of science would argue this must always be the case). They may know a lot about the physics and programming needed to simulate a universe but there will be gaps or, worse still, errors in their knowledge of the laws of Nature. They would of course be subtle and far from obvious, otherwise our “advanced” civilization wouldn’t be advanced. These lacunae do not prevent simulations being created and running smoothly for long periods of time. But gradually the little flaws will begin to build up.

Eventually, their effects would snowball & these realities would cease to compute. The only escape is if their creators intervene to patch up the problems one by one as they arise. This is a solution that will be very familiar to the owner of any home computer who receives regular updates in order to protect it against new forms of invasion or repair gaps that its original creators had not foreseen. The creators of a simulation could offer this type of temporary protection, updating the working laws of Nature to include extra things they had learnt since the simulation was initiated.

In this kind of situation, logical contradictions will inevitably arise and the Laws in the simulations will appear to break down now and again. The inhabitants of the simulation – especially the simulated scientists – will occasionally be puzzled by the experimental results they obtain. The simulated Astronomers might, for instance, make observations that show that their so-called constants of Nature are very slowly changing.

It’s likely there could even be sudden glitches in the Laws that govern these simulated realities. This is because the simulators would most likely use a technique that has been found effective in all other simulations of complex systems: the use of error-correcting codes to put things back on track.

Take our genetic code, for example. If it were left to its own devices we would not last very long. Errors would accumulate and death and mutation would quickly follow. We are protected from this by the existence of a mechanism for error correction that identifies and corrects mistakes in genetic coding. Many of our complex computer systems possess the same type of internal “spell-checker” to guard against error accumulation.

If the simulators used error-correcting computer codes to guard against the fallibility of their simulations as a whole (as well as simulating them on a smaller scale in our genetic code) then every so often a correction would take place to the state or the laws governing the simulation. Mysterious sudden changes would occur that would appear to contravene the very laws of Nature that the simulated scientists were in the habit of observing and predicting.

We might also expect that simulated realities would possess a similar level of maximum computational complexity across the board. The simulated creatures should have a similar complexity to the most complex simulated non-living structures – something that Stephen Wolfram (for quite different reasons, nothing to do with simulated realities) has coined the Principle of Computational Equivalence.

So we conclude that if we live in a simulated reality we should expect occasional sudden glitches, small drifts in the supposed constants and Laws of Nature over time,& a dawning realization that the flaws of Nature are as important as the Laws of Nature for our understanding of true reality.  [Similar to missing the point about the Multi-Verse that these anti-simulation arguments miss, there are other practical error points in the speculation.  For instance, if there are bad simulations, there can still be some good ones.  If ours seemed like a good one, as it does, no surprise. This doesn’t mitigate against any number of bad simulations which, by the way, can always just be deleted until the simulator gains by experience.  And again, inconsistencies abound in various reports about our World. These things, that art are not explained, are ignored in the hope that explanation will come about somehow, sometime. Our World fits in, over the inconsistency argument, which does not really distinguish the simulation from our current World very well at all.]

Some more selected verses from the other Maharshi disciple:

You should trust the Guru because his interest is in showing you the Truth. He may occasionally say things that are not true, but he will say them only because he knows his words will push you in the right direction.

I once heard a story that illustrates this. A rich man used to meditate once in a while. He had a Guru, an enlightened man, who used to tell him, “You are not the Mind or the Body. You are the Self. Always abide as the Self.” The man would listen attentively, but neither his meditation nor his Guru’s words had much of an effect on him. One day he approached his teacher and said, “You have been telling me for years that I am not the Mind and the Body, and that I am the Self. I believe it and I meditate on this, but I don’t see any changes in myself. This must be a very difficult technique because I don’t seem to be making any progress with it.”

The Guru said, “Let me look at your palm. I may be able to see something that is more suitable for you.” After examining the disciple’s palm, the Guru’s face dropped. “This is very bad. You should have put in more effort earlier in your life. I can see that you only have about one week to live. There’s not much that can help you now.”

The disciple was shocked. He went home thinking, “All my wealth and businesses are useless to me now. I put too much time into them, and not enough into my spiritual practice. There’s nothing I can do now, but I can at least spend my last few days meditating.” He went home and told his wife, “My life is coming to an end. My Guru has warned me that this is my final week. I am going to spend my last few days meditating alone. Please tell my friends and relatives that I don’t want to be disturbed.” After a few days his Guru came to see how he was getting on.

“How’s the meditation going ?” he asked. “Your wife tells me that you have done nothing else for days.” “Gurudev, there is no one left to meditate. I have found the Peace you have been talking about all these years.”

The Guru knew that this man would never focus full-time on realizing the Self because he was too caught up with his family and his business affairs. By making him think that his Death was imminent, he made him concentrate on what was real and important. And it worked. This is not just a story; it is a tactic that will work for anyone. If you can withdraw energy from your worldly attachments and instead focus full-time on the Self, you will soon get results. If you are having trouble with your enthusiasm for sadhana, just tell yourself, “I may be dead in 7 days.” Let go of all the things that you pretend are important in your daily life and instead focus on the Self for 24 hours a day. Do it and see what happens.

You should only work enough to maintain the body. Try to avoid unnecessary activities. Less work is good. Devote yourself to your sadhana all the time. You dissipate your desire for the Self by undertaking all kinds of useless activities that waste your time and lead to attachments. You think that your life is endless and that you can put off meditation till a later date. With this kind of attitude, you will die filled with regrets, not filled with Peace. Always be aware of the Self while you work. While you are doing that work keep your thoughts a hundred per cent on the Self. You are what you think you are. You become what you think. If you think of the Self all the time, that is what you will become. If you live and die with thoughts of work and family, you will I be reborn in a place with more work and more family business l to worry about.

If you spend your life with worldly thoughts, these will be the thoughts that fill your Mind at the moment of your death. But if you life is devoted to sadhana, to attaining an inner Peace, then, at the moment of your death, this will be the State that you die in.

Your thoughts arise on a moment-to-moment basis because of your vasanas, but it is a mistake to think that you can do nothing about them. You can be interested in them, or you can ignore them. If you show interest in them, they will persist and you will get caught up in them. If you ignore them and keep your attention on the Source, they will not develop. And when they don’t develop, they disappear.

In Who Am I ? Bhagavan compared this process to laying siege to a fort. If you cutoff, one by one, the heads of the thoughts as they come out of the fort of the Mind, sooner or later there will be none left. The way to do this is by Self-Inquiry. As each thought rises, you ask yourself, “To whom does this thought appear ?”

If you are vigilant in doing this, the forest of thoughts will lessen and lessen until there are none left. When the thoughts have gone, Mind will sink into its Source and experience that Source.

Little conversations may be going on. A crowd of people may be congregating around. None of this is your business, but there is always a possibility that you will get interested in some or all of these activities and forget the reason why you are out on the street yourself. Don’t get excited by anything you see and hear. Just walk steadily towards your destination. Your vasanas are all the sides how’s in your head that can drag your attention away from your main business, which is being aware of the Self. If you have no interest in them, you will walk straight to your goal. If something temporarily distracts your attention, bring yourself back by asking yourself, “Who is interested in all this ? Who is getting interested in this distraction ?” This will deflate the distracting desire and it will bring you back to an awareness of your true purpose. Remember, nothing that happens in the Mind is “you”, and none of it is your business. You don’t have to worry about thoughts that rise up inside you. It is enough that you remember that the thoughts are not you.

Whatever kind of thought arises, have the same reaction: ‘Not me; not my business.’ It can be a good thought or a bad thought. Treat them all the same way. To whom are these thoughts arising ? To you. That means that you are not the thought. You are the Self. Remain as the Self, and don’t latch onto anything that is not the Self.

The above themes & 1600 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through:  

www.jpstiga.com/

http://jstiga.wixsite.com/nonduality/

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

http://www.blogger.com     as  “Being-as-Consciousness, Non-Duality – new & final version” with link:

http://being-as-consciousness.blogspot.com/

[But from now on, they will be different & still usually daily.]

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 15:

Prior to excerpting the other Ramana Maharshi disciple in the text below we continue the series: Fine-Tuned Universe 8, the premise that a small change in several of the dimensionless fundamental physical constants would make the Universe incapable of Life.

Fine-Tuned Universe 8:

[In the unreal reflection called the “Universe”, a product of an unreal Mind, even there, Infinite Intelligence is evident and inspiring.]

Going beyond the Weak Anthropic Principles (WAP) to the Strong Anthropic Principles (SAP) we hear: “The Universe MUST have those properties which allow Life to develop within it at some stage in its history”. For 1 some 3 SAP versionsm one affirms that:  There exists at least 1 possible Universe “designed” with the goal of generating and sustaining Observers”, a version favored by Hoyle.

Barrow & Tipler favored 2 other. One, with more religious implications, is Wheeler’s “Participatory Anthropic Principle” (PAP) whereby “observers are necessary to bring the Universe into existence.”

Another is Hugh Everett’s Many-Worlds Interpretation (MWI), essentially the 1^st Multi-Verse after Parmenides & other older writers, which says: “an Ensemble, Quantum Mechanically generated, of many other different Universes is necessary for the plausible existence of our Universe. Each Quantum choice or alternative creates a new Universe for each possibility. [Feynman offered a comparable version in terms of Time, “histories”, without requiring a Multi-Verse.] Everett launched his most fantastic Multi-Verse model to “undo” the Empiricism of Schrödinger & the Copenhagen Convention.

 In 1925, Schrödinger had constructed a Mathematical description of electrons as waves around the atomic nucleus, rather than as the discrete particles of the Bohr atom. The following year, Bohr used Schrödinger’s Wave Equation to construct (by squaring the Complex Amplitude) a Max Born Probability Wave equation expressing the probable position of a particle. The Probability Wave Equation gives a neat description of the light and dark bands in the Double Slit experiment using a beam of photons. Before it was observed, the particle was literally “nowhere”. Bohr’s Ernpiricist Principle stated that: “what cannot be measured, even in principle, cannot be said to exist.” [Multi-Verses clearly fail.]  This compares with Aristotle’s Empiricist Principle that there is nothing in the Intellect which was not first in Sensation.  Opponents to such a view prefer a more comfortable “distance” between Ontology [being] & Epistemology [knowledge] in Objective reality, whereas Non-Duality equates the 2 in Non-Objective Reality.

John von Neumann [inventor of Game Theory, the Computer, etc.] in his formalism of Quantum Mechanics applied Backward Epistemology: since we know Quantum Mechanics or Quantum Theory, and we know that the theory is highly confirmed, the World must conform to the Theory. Some criticize this as dogmatic metaphysics but Non-Duality might consider it an objective reflection of Non-Objective Reality.

Either an “observer” is needed to collapse the Wave Function in order, to actualize reality (PAP) or else, wave-collapse being unnecessary for actualization, the wave generates many realities (Everett). Reconciling the Discrete Quantum Mechanics with the Continuuim of Relativity, the greatest quandary in Theoretical Physics, remains to cast some doubt about interpreting Quantum Mechanics.

Some more selected verses from the other Maharshi disciple:

All these external appearances that you see in front of you are Maya. They have no fundamental abiding reality. To find the Self, to find what is True and Real, you have to look inside yourself. You have to find the Source, the place where all these mental projections arise. You are looking for satisfaction in the outside World because you think that all these objects you see in front of you are real. They are not. The Reality is the Substratum in which they all appear.

An elephant is made out of wood. If we see it as wood, it is wood. But if we get caught up in the name and form, we will see only an elephant and forget that its underlying nature is wood. All is your own Self. This form is different; that form is different. This is more powerful; this is worse. These are all judgments you make when you see separate objects instead of having the true vision that all is an undifferentiated oneness. There may be different varieties of light bulbs, but the current that activates and sustains them is the same. You must learn to become one with this activating current, the unmanifest Self, and not get caught up in all the names and forms that appear in it.

A verse from one of the Siddhas: “Because of your Ego you are going to the forest to look for spiritual light. You are looking for this darshan of light. These things are the illusion of the Mind. They depend on the states of the Mind and the functioning of the Mind. That which you are searching for is within yourself.”

Bhagavan wrote in Ulladu Narpadu, verse 11: “Knowing all else without knowing oneself, the Knower of objects known, is nothing but Ignorance. How instead can it be Knowledge ?”

All the information the Mind accumulates and all the experiences it collects are Ignorance, false knowledge. Real Knowledge cannot be found in the Mind or in any external location. The Mind sees through colored glasses, and what it sees is tinted and tainted by that color. If your Mind is in a spoiled and disturbed condition, the entire World will appear to be in a spoiled and disturbed condition.

If your Mind is crystal clear, everything will appear to you to be clear and peaceful. Your most important objective must be realizing the Self. If you have not done this, you will spend your time in Ignorance and Illusion. You, your Mind, this World — they are all Maya. Don’t become a slave to this Maya. Instead, realize the Self and let Maya become your servant.

Another verse from the Siddhas: “Many people have struggled years together to realize the Self. Millions and millions of people have struggled, looking for the light outside themselves. If these millions and millions of people have died without understanding the Self that is within them, it is because they didn’t understand the real Path.”

You must find someone who has followed the right Path, someone who has discovered this Inner Truth for himself, and who stabilized himself there. Such a one will give you good advice. He will not send you out on unproductive adventures in the outside World. Following the advice of someone who has not reached this state is simply a case of the blind leading the blind. Neither knows the right path and both will eventually fall into a big hole. You may find a fruit that is very bitter and decide to improve its flavor. But when you come home, the fruit will not be any less bitter than the day you started. You can carry your Mind to every comer of the country, but when you return your Mind will be in the same state as the day you started. Mind is not improved by long journeys to far-flung places. Instead, make an internal pilgrimage. Take the Mind back to its Source and plunge it into the peace-giving waters of the Self. If you once make this pilgrimage, you will never need to go looking for Happiness or Peace in any other place.

The Ribhu Gita advises us to remember at all times, “I am the Self; all is the Self.” The entire Universe is “I”. If you can keep this permanently in your Mind, millions and millions of punyas will come to you. There were many books that Bhagavan liked, but Ribhu Gita was definitely one of the best. He once said that Ribhu Gita is a book for one’s last life. I advise doing japa to the Self, either by repeatedly thinking about it or by repeating affirmations such as “I am the Self”. This affirmation is the greatest mantra of all. If you can do it continuously, without interruption, you will get results very quickly. There is no greater japa, no greater sadhana than this. The one who is seeking is also that which is sought. The seeker and the sought are both Self. lf you are not able to find this Self within yourself, you will not find it anywhere else. Searching on the outside and visiting holy places will not help you. Many people are visiting swamis, temples and holy places. Doing these things will not yield any good fruit.

For real and lasting results you have to look inside yourself and discover the Self within. You can do that anywhere. Keep up the meditation, “I am the Self” ‘I am the Self ’, and be completely surrendered to that Self that is within you.

All I will say is that wherever you in Life, don’t forget yourself. If you are still having some doubts as to whether this has been decided or not, don’t indulge in them. Do what you have to do and remember the Self at all times.

The above themes & 1600 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through:  

www.jpstiga.com/

http://jstiga.wixsite.com/nonduality/

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

http://www.blogger.com     as  “Being-as-Consciousness, Non-Duality – new & final version” with link:

http://being-as-consciousness.blogspot.com/

[But from now on, they will be different & still usually daily.]

‘

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 13:

Prior to excerpting the other Ramana Maharshi disciple in the text below we continue the series: Fine-Tuned Universe 6, the premise that a small change in several of the dimensionless fundamental physical constants would make the Universe incapable of Life.

100 Billion

[for a while, the following will preface all these blogs – so please skip over if seen before]

In order to hint at how serious this Blog is, let the author unequivocally state that the Knowledge here imparted, none of it original, none to be credited to the author, that Knowledge is THE MOST VALUABLE treasure that exists. If hypothetically offered 100 Billion dollars to forgo this Knowledge, that offer or any other would be disregarded in the blink of an eye.  Even with all the good that might be accomplished with $100B, this Knowledge is beyond the World & comes from beyond the Mind. This is no hyperbole.

Fine-Tuned Universe 6:

[In the unreal reflection called the “Universe”, a product of an unreal Mind, even there, Infinite Intelligence is evident and inspiring.]

The Fine-Tuned measure of the continued, exponentially increasing Expansion (self-stretching property) of the Universe, at a faster and faster rate, allows to see less and less of the Universe as time goes on. This knowledge of the Universe will decrease with Time. Intelligent beings will lose the capacity to draw adequate Energy for Work from the Heat flow of the Universe. Inevitably, heat flow will be so tiny that all metabolic reactions will cease.  “Consciousness is eventually lost.” [Assuming Consciousness were physical, which can never be explained that way.]

Stephen Hawking and Carl Sagan argued that the Intelligent Design of such a vast Cosmos for such an infinitesimal creature seems wasteful.  But sufficient Age (& thus expanding size) are requisite for long Evolution. The Universe is the necessary size and age. Neither too or too little Expansion, an enormous but so far limited Universe is itself,  carefully “machined” for Billions of years, Anthropic Fine-Tuning.

Some skeptics have attempted to trivialize the anthropic principle with the assertion that humans simply would not be here to observe the universe unless the extremely unlikely did somehow happen to take place. British philosopher Richard Swinburne responded to this notion with a simple illustration.25 He points out that the survivor of a firing squad execution would not attribute his or her survival to a lucky accident. Rather, the survivor would conclude that either the rifles were loaded with blanks or that each of the executioners missed on purpose. The measured fine-tuning of the universe tells us that Someone purposed for humans to exist for a certain period of time.

The other argument claims that there is nothing remarkable about the Fine-Tuning of the Universe if an virtual infinitude of Universes exist, each with a different set of characteristics. In this case, Chance might as plausible that at least one would manifest the characteristics necessary for human Life.

This resembles a gambler finding hundred thousand coin “randomly” landing “Heads”.  He thereupon  rationalizes that 2100,000 such coins exist (though he cannot see them, like a Multi-Verse), each Coin having been flipped 100,000 times by 2100,000 coin flippers. Statistically, one of these coins could come up heads 100,000 times. But the gambler has no evidence for the existence of the other coins, coin flippers, or distinct results. With a sample size of one, the only rational conclusion to draw is that someone “fixed” the coins to all land on Heads. In the case of the Universe, no evidence can be found for the existence of other Universes. Relativity dictates that the Space-Time envelope of a Universe that contains observers can never overlap that of any other Universe or Universes. Thus, the sample size for human observers is one and the conclusion that “Someone” purposed, or “fixed”, the universe for human existence remains compelling.

Like a lucky coin toss, we can choose examine the Universe, the “coins” more closely. Research will likely even yield an increase in the number of Fine-Tuned characteristics and the degree of Fine-Tuning. Such would amount to an Anthropic Principle test.

Some more selected verses from the other Maharshi disciple:

What happens in the Deep Dreamless Sleep state is the same as when you are awake.

Thinking that you are not mature is not the kind of judgment to make about yourself. If you hold onto this kind of thought, this will be a hindrance to your realization, because the Truth is already within you.  Maturity and immaturity belong to the Mind. You are not the Mind; you are already the Self.

You see a big lamp before you. Your own lamp is unlit. So you bring your lamp to the lamp which is already burning. And when you go away from that lamp, you have your own lamp, your own light. Wherever you go from that point on, the light is with you. The state of jnana is the same for all. Anyone who realizes the Self is in the same state of peace, which is beyond the mind. Though the experience of the Self is the same in all cases, it is true that some jnanis end up helping a lot of people, whereas others, who are equally enlightened, may help fewer people. Some jnanis do not teach at all. They live ordinary lives and are rarely, if ever, recognized for what they really are. Water can be in a well or it can be in a lake. It is the same water, but one source can quench more thirsts than the other. A small lamp can light up a room, whereas a big one can light up a whole street. Bhagavan Ramana was one of those big, blazing lights that could light up a huge area. He guided and brought light to many people.

Only a few people have the capacity to guide a large number of people towards the Truth. Realizing the Truth is one thing, but guiding others towards it is something else. All jnanis are not capable when it comes to guiding others.

This kind of questioning will not help you to realise the Self. Questions such as these will disappear if you have a strong desire for realization. Your Mind will then not be occupied with such thoughts.

I would advise you to question yourself, “Who is asking the question ?  And who is getting the answer ? ”  If you have this attitude towards your doubts and your questions, your quest for their source will lead you back to the Self. In that place there are no questions and no answers. There is only Peace.

We often say, “I slept happily” [Deep Dreamless Sleep] but if someone asks you to explain in words the Happiness you felt in that state, what can you say ? You can experience it, but you can’t really explain it. This is how the Self is. You can experience it, you can become it, but you cannot explain this state through words.

It was my experience that through continuous sadhana I gradually relaxed into the Self.  It was a gradual process. It is not something new that suddenly comes. It is eternally there, but it is covered by so much. It has to be rediscovered.  If he says “I don’t know myself” or if he claims “I have not known myself” – both are statements to laugh at. Because you are That. You can be That, but there is nothing to say about it. If somebody says, “I am a jnani. I am an Enlightened person,” then who is claiming that ?

The above themes & 1600 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through:  

 www.jpstiga.com/

http://jstiga.wixsite.com/nonduality/

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

http://www.blogger.com     as  “Being-as-Consciousness, Non-Duality – new & final version” with link:

http://being-as-consciousness.blogspot.com/

Duplicates  have been available on:

[But from now on, they will be different & still usually daily.]

 

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 11:

Prior to excerpting the other Ramana Maharshi disciple in the text below we continue the series: Fine-Tuned Universe 4, the premise that a small change in several of the dimensionless fundamental physical constants would make the Universe incapable of Life.

[In the unreal reflection called the “Universe”, a product of an unreal Mind, even there, Infinite Intelligence is evident and inspiring.]

Fine-Tuned Universe 4:

We previously noted that formation of Hydrogen nuclei during the Big Bang, along with the Carbon and Oxygen atoms initially fused at the center of stars that exploded as supernovae; these Fine-Tuned “coincidences” allowed for solar systems and planets capable of supporting Carbon-based Life dependent on Water and Oxygen.

There has to be a critical rate of expansion if our Universe , avoiding all manner of “recollapse” so that even now, ten Billion years later, it is still expanding at nearly the critical rate.  If the rate of expansion one second after the Big Bang had been smaller by even one part in a hundred Quadrillion, the Universe would have recollapsed before it ever reached its present size.

The current age of the Universe must be old enough to allow for the formation of galaxies, stars and planets, and stars that fused Carbon and Oxygen. Quark masses were similarly Fine-Tuned as was the Electromagnetic Fine Structure Constant to allow for the formation of Neutrons, Protons and larger atomic nuclei. Variations in the Light Quark masses of more that 2-3 % would not support The formation of life-essential Carbon and Oxygen,  Big Bang Nucleosynthesis sets tight limits on the variations of the Light Quark mass.

Some more selected verses from the other Maharshi disciple:

Tayumanuvar, Tamil saint:

“My Guru merely told me that I am Consciousness. Having heard this, I held onto Consciousness. What he told me was just 1 sentence, but I cannot describe the Bliss that I attained from holding onto that 1 simple sentence. Through that 1 sentence I attained a Peace and a Happiness that can never be explained in words.”

It doesn’t happen by itself you have to go on making an effort until the point where you become totally effortless. Up till that moment your effort is needed. The Mind only gets dissolved in the Self by constant practice. At that moment the “I am the Body” idea disappears, just as darkness disappears when the Sun rises.

We have to walk on the Path ourselves to realize the Truth. If you want to go to somewhere, having someone tell you where it is and how to get there will not magically transport you to that place. You have to go to the airport and get on the plane yourself. You have to carry out the instructions the Guru has given you.

Grace shows us the way home by guiding us in the right direction, but we still have to do the work ourselves.

This “I am” Consciousness, is present within all of us. It is not something special that devotees of one particular Guru have. It is our nature, and as such it is common to all. But only a few souls are mature enough or ripe enough to be aware of it. Though it is present within all of us, Grace puts us in touch with it and gives us a taste of what it is like. And once that taste is there, the thirst to realize the Self follows.

If Inquiry into the Self is not taking place, thoughts will be on the Body and the Mind. And while those thoughts are habitually there, there will be an underlying identification: “I am the Body. I am the Mind.”  This identification is something that happened at a particular point in time. It is not something that has always been there. And what comes in time also goes eventually, for nothing that exists in time is permanent. The Self, on the other hand, has always been there. It existed before the ideas about the Body and the

Mind arose, and it will be there when they finally vanish.

The Self always remains as it is: as Peace, without Birth, without Death. Through the intensity of your Inquiry you can claim that state as your own. Inquire into the nature of the Mind by asking, with 1-pointed determination, “Who am I ?”  Mind is illusory and non-existent, just as the snake that appears on the rope is illusory and non-existent. Dispel the Illusion of the Mind by intense Inquiry and merge in the Peace of the Self. That is what you are, always.

“Have you realized the Self ?” is sometimes a strange question to answer. It is like having somebody ask you if you have become a human being. You are always a human being. You didn’t have to do anything to accomplish it. You are self-evidently a human being, so much so, it is strange to field questions about it. If it is not self-evident then find out who you are. How does one find out who one is ? You will find out by constantly doing Self-Inquiry. Ask yourself, “Am I the Body ?  Am I the Mind ?”  When Self-Inquiry is deepened, you understand who you are.

If one is mature, one can realize the Self in this moment. If one is not mature one has to take up sadhana to make oneself receptive to the Truth.

The above themes & 1600 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through:  

www.jpstiga.com\

http://jstiga.wixsite.com/nonduality\

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX 

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 10:

Prior to presenting a Consciousness-Meditation offered by some Ramana Maharshi disciples, we share some thoughts.

Notes from a (contemporary) Spiritual Diary

How can I be certain that my inner true self is spiritual, perfectly happy, complete, & even divine? For one assurance, there is the consistent, unchanging testimony of the Wise throughout all the millennia, in disparate cultures & nations.

Closer to home, for just one more of many examples or instances of assurance, there is my own growing interest in deeper Reality, & my own expanding ability to see & comprehend the subtle inner Truth.

Only the Real in me is attracted to the Real. Only the Real in me intuits & catches a glimmer of profundity.  Only the Real is capable of understanding Non-Dual Teaching in the many “secret” places in which it can readily be found.

Seek sincerely, reject ego-massaging half-truth, & be amazed at how fast & how deeply one can comprehend, can attain certainty. One can know with certainty, the inner, wordless answer to “Who am I ?”

How could it be otherwise ? Self-deception may have continued for eons & could continue for eons more. But the façade of Illusion, Maya, can crumble in the snap of a finger. Let the sleeper awaken! Be at Peace in Joy, Freedom, & Happiness.

Our inner core, our Being, is actually the unflinching, steady, Knowledge that “I exist.” That Knowledge shines, not within some individual “consciousness”, in & as non-multiple, universal, Non-Dual Consciousness.

Illusory self-focusing down as if an “island” of personal ego-self-consciousness in some oceanic Universe, a RWOT real-world-out-there ­– that Dream seems to crumple my innate Vastness into a tiny bubble of personal identity.

Appearing in the Waking State (other than the various dream-worlds) seems to recur over a short life-time of a century, or less, the outer RWOT seems to hold out hope of avoiding pain & promise of enjoyment – sensual, emotional, & mental. For fleeting moments, that World seems to deliver, but then it all slips away, just like youth & ultimately good health & life itself.

Relationships solidify life’s stability in family, friendship, & greater society. But one eventually takes wrong turns & misfortune ever threatens while “all good things must pass.”

Why ? Well of course “all things must pass,” good or bad, just like in nightly Dreams with similar trajectories. Those dramas may turn over rapidly until morning when they all vanish. Deep Dreamless Sleep is, however, uniformly filled with Peace (without details to remember). For that same Peace in the Waking State, we seek steady livelihood, steady relationships, & various acquisitions.

The Waking State body dies soon enough, even if there are fortunate outer circumstances, for a time, or perhaps even throughout most of that lifetime. But for most of humanity, even that is not the case & for many – far worse – dramatically so, or like those proverbial men who “lead lives of quiet desperation.”

Regardless, Love & Happiness, Peace & Freedom are only ever experienced “within”, in faint glimmers, short-lived flashes, or as God, Guru, one’s true Self, as Reality.

Consciousness-Meditation

“Shut your eyes. Let go of the idea of your own or control Consciousness. Let the infinite Consciousness be what it is without your trying to control it.  Relax & observe Consciousness. Let go of everything & observe Consciousness. Relax completely & observe Consciousness. With as little effort as possible & with a gentle, kind, easy, relaxed approach, observe Consciousness. You just continue with Consciousness watching Consciousness. There are objects to see Consciousness is empty. There is no thing to observe in Consciousness.  Just continue for the entire practice session watching your Consciousness. Only Consciousness watching Consciousness & nothing else.

[The above themes & 1600 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through:  

www.jpstiga.com\

http://jstiga.wixsite.com/nonduality\

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX\ 

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 9:

Prior to presenting a Consciousness-Meditation offered by some Ramana Maharshi disciples, we share some thoughts.

Notes from a (contemporary) Spiritual Diary

How can I be certain that my inner true self is spiritual, perfectly happy, complete, & even divine? For one assurance, there is the consistent, unchanging testimony of the Wise throughout all the millennia, in disparate cultures & nations.

Closer to home, for just one more of many examples or instances of assurance, there is my own growing interest in deeper Reality, & my own expanding ability to see & comprehend the subtle inner Truth.

Only the Real in me is attracted to the Real. Only the Real in me intuits & catches a glimmer of profundity.  Only the Real is capable of understanding Non-Dual Teaching in the many “secret” places in which it can readily be found.

Seek sincerely, reject ego-massaging half-truth, & be amazed at how fast & how deeply one can comprehend, can attain certainty. One can know with certainty, the inner, wordless answer to “Who am I ?”

How could it be otherwise ? Self-deception may have continued for eons & could continue for eons more. But the façade of Illusion, Maya, can crumble in the snap of a finger. Let the sleeper awaken! Be at Peace in Joy, Freedom, & Happiness.

Our inner core, our Being, is actually the unflinching, steady, Knowledge that “I exist.” That Knowledge shines, not within some individual “consciousness”, in & as non-multiple, universal, Non-Dual Consciousness.

Illusory self-focusing down as if an “island” of personal ego-self-consciousness in some oceanic Universe, a RWOT real-world-out-there ­– that Dream seems to crumple my innate Vastness into a tiny bubble of personal identity.

Appearing in the Waking State (other than the various dream-worlds) seems to recur over a short life-time of a century, or less, the outer RWOT seems to hold out hope of avoiding pain & promise of enjoyment – sensual, emotional, & mental. For fleeting moments, that World seems to deliver, but then it all slips away, just like youth & ultimately good health & life itself.

Relationships solidify life’s stability in family, friendship, & greater society. But one eventually takes wrong turns & misfortune ever threatens while “all good things must pass.”

Why ? Well of course “all things must pass,” good or bad, just like in nightly Dreams with similar trajectories. Those dramas may turn over rapidly until morning when they all vanish. Deep Dreamless Sleep is, however, uniformly filled with Peace (without details to remember). For that same Peace in the Waking State, we seek steady livelihood, steady relationships, & various acquisitions.

The Waking State body dies soon enough, even if there are fortunate outer circumstances, for a time, or perhaps even throughout most of that lifetime. But for most of humanity, even that is not the case & for many – far worse – dramatically so, or like those proverbial men who “lead lives of quiet desperation.”

Regardless, Love & Happiness, Peace & Freedom are only ever experienced “within”, in faint glimmers, short-lived flashes, or as God, Guru, one’s true Self, as Reality.

Consciousness-Meditation

“Shut your eyes. Let go of the idea of your own or control Consciousness. Let the infinite Consciousness be what it is without your trying to control it.  Relax & observe Consciousness. Let go of everything & observe Consciousness. Relax completely & observe Consciousness. With as little effort as possible & with a gentle, kind, easy, relaxed approach, observe Consciousness. You just continue with Consciousness watching Consciousness. There are objects to see Consciousness is empty. There is no thing to observe in Consciousness.  Just continue for the entire practice session watching your Consciousness. Only Consciousness watching Consciousness & nothing else.

The above themes & 1600 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through:  

www.jpstiga.com\

http://jstiga.wixsite.com/nonduality\

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX 

 ]

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 8

100 Billion

[for a while, preface with the following– skip over if seen before]

In order to hint at how serious this Blog is, let the author unequivocally state that the Knowledge here imparted, none of it original, none to be credited to the author, that Knowledge is THE MOST VALUABLE treasure that exists. If hypothetically offered 100 Billion dollars to forgo this Knowledge, that offer or any other would be disregarded in the blink of an eye.  Even with all the good that might be accomplished with $100B, this Knowledge is beyond the World & comes from beyond the Mind. This is no hyperbole.

Prior to excerpting another Ramana Maharshi disciple in the text below we continue the series: Fine-Tuned Universe 4, the so-called Fine-Tuned Universe similarly termed the Anthropic Principle.  Bracketed immediately below is a disclaimer and a reminder that will be repeated from time to time to recall to mind the purpose for delving into such a discussion that purpose would be to see that:

[In the unreal reflection called the “Universe”, a product of an unreal Mind, even there, Infinite Intelligence is evident and inspiring.]

Fine-Tuned Universe 2:

The previously introduced “Fine-Tuned Universe” refers to the premise that a small change in several of the dimensionless fundamental physical constants would make the Universe (progressively more) radically different & specifically incapable of supporting Life, advanced Life, & presumably intelligent Life [if consciousness could ever be “scientifically” explained ].

John Gribbin & Martin Rees in their 1989 Cosmic Coincidences asked: “The conditions in our Universe really do seem to be uniquely suitable for Life forms like ourselves, and perhaps even for any form of Organic complexity. But the question remains – is the Universe tailor-made for man ?”

The previously mentioned Paul Davies noted that the Strong Nuclear Force “coupling constant” were only 2% stronger, then diprotons H-H²⁺ would fuse prior to Deuterium and Helium, & there would be no stars, no Life.  Hydrogen, 75% of the Universe’s nuclei would be consumed in few minutes after Big Bang.

While the Standard Model of Particle Physics requires 25 freely adjustable parameters with an additional parameter for Gravitation, the Cosmological Constant, the aboce quoted Martin Rees first described Fine-Tunong with 6 dimensionless physical constants (ratios where the units canceled).

1)  “N” –  strength of Electromagnetism to the strength of Gravity for protons, 10³⁶.  If significantly smaller, only small short-lived Universe would result.

2)  “ε”   –  measure of nuclear efficiency of fusion from Hydrogen to Helium, in part determined by strength of Strong Nuclear Force.  At 0.007, it could not tolerate a +/– 0.001 deviation without preventing existence of all Hydrogen or no Hydrogen respectively.

3)  “Ω” = “Omega”  – the “Density Parameter”: the relative importance of Gravity & the Expansion Energy in the Universe, the ratio of the Mass Density of the Universe to the “Critical Density” for galaxy-collapse.  At approximately = 1, a larger value with Gravity a little too strong compared to Dark Energy & initial Metric Expansion would have the Universe collapse before Life could evolve.  If Gravity were too weak, there would be no stars & thus no Life.

4)  “λ” = “Lambda”  – the Cosmological Constant,  the ratio of the density of Dark energy to the same Critical Energy Density of the Universe.  This even far, far closer to 1, namely, a natural dimensionless value of Planck units of 10⁻¹²². This means, unpredictable Unity within 122 decimal places. With no effect on structures smaller than  Billion light-years across, a slightest deviation would allow no stars.

5)  “Q” –  the Gravitational Energy required to pull a large galaxy apart compared to the energy equivalent of its mass, ~ 10⁻⁵. If too small, no stars form; if too large, too violent a Universe for stars to survive

6)  “D1” –  spatial dimensions in Space-Time, 3, whereas theoretically possible 2 or 3 could not support Life, advanced Life, & presumably intelligent Life.

These being  handful, many others combine to predict the long, long odds.

Some more selected verses from the other Maharshi disciple [other than Master Nome]:

Since you forget your real Self, the only way is to go back to your real Self. If you keep the light on all the time, darkness cannot enter your room. Even if you open the door and invite it to come in, it cannot enter. Darkness is just an absence of light. In the same way, mind is just a self- inflicted area of darkness in which the light of the Self has been deliberately shut out. You live in the darkness by insisting on believing ideas that have no validity, and you live in the light of the Self when you have given up all ideas, both good and bad. Believing that I am a Body and a particular person is a bad habit that has become very strong because you have reinforced and strengthened it over many lifetimes. This will go if you meditate on your real Self. The habit will melt away, like ice becoming water.

Forgetfulness of the Self happens because of Non-Inquiry. So I say, “Remove the forgetfulness through Inquiry”.  Forgetfulness or non-forgetfulness is not a part of your destiny. It is something you can choose from moment to moment.  You have the freedom either to identify with the Body and its activities, and in doing so forget the Self, or you can identify with the Self and have the understanding that the Body is performing its predestined activities, animated and sustained by the power of the Self.  If you have a lamp and you forget to put oil in it, the light goes out. It was your forgetfulness and your lack of vigilance that caused the light to go out. Your thoughts were elsewhere. They were not on tending the lamp. In every moment you only have one real choice: to be aware of the Self or to identify with the Body and the Mind. If you choose the latter course, don’t blame God or God’s will, or predestination. God did not make you forget the Self. You yourself are making that choice every second of your life.

The Self is always present. Nothing obstructs your awareness of it except your self-inflicted ignorance. Our efforts, our sadhana [spiritual practice, meditation Self-Inquiry], are directed towards removing this Ignorance. If this Ignorance is removed, the real Self is revealed. This revelation is not part of Destiny [harma]. Only the outer bodily activities are destined.

The Guru [Bhagavan] is always present, inside you and in front of you. If you don’t cover the vision of the Guru with your Ego, that will be enough. The Ego is the “I am the Body” idea. Remove this idea and you shine as the Self. That is the only thing you need to do in this life. The various events of your life — all the things that are going to happen to you — they are all destined. If you don’t want them to happen, they will still occur, even if you try to avoid them. And if you want things that are not in your destiny, they won’t come to you. There is no point worrying about the outer events of your life.

The desire for Enlightenment is necessary because without it you will never take the necessary steps to realize the Self. A desire to walk to a particular place is necessary before you take any steps. If that desire is not present, you will never take the first step. When you realize the Self, that desire will go. If the intensity to know yourself is strong enough, the intensity of your yearning will take you to the Self. Your most important objective must be realizing the Self. If you have not done this, you will spend your time in Ignorance & Illusion.

The above themes & 1600 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through:  

www.jpstiga.com\

http://jstiga.wixsite.com/nonduality\

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX 

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 7:

100 Billion

[for a while, preface with the following– skip over if seen before]

In order to hint at how serious this Blog is, let the author unequivocally state that the Knowledge here imparted, none of it original, none to be credited to the author, that Knowledge is THE MOST VALUABLE treasure that exists. If hypothetically offered 100 Billion dollars to forgo this Knowledge, that offer or any other would be disregarded in the blink of an eye.  Even with all the good that might be accomplished with $100B, this Knowledge is beyond the World & comes from beyond the Mind. This is no hyperbole.

Prior to excerpting another Ramana Maharshi disciple in the text below we institute a new series here concerning the so-called Fine-Tuned Universe similarly termed the Anthropic Principle.  Bracketed immediately below is a disclaimer and a reminder that will be repeated from time to time to recall to mind the purpose for delving into such a discussion that purpose would be to see that:

[In the unreal reflection called the “Universe”, a product of an unreal Mind, even there, Infinite Intelligence is evident and inspiring.]

Fine-Tuned Universe 1:

In 1913, a chemist, Lawrence Joseph Henderson in his The Fitness of the Environment, noted the “importance of Water and the Environment with respect to living things”, pointing out that “Life depends entirely on the very specific Environmental conditions on Earth, especially with regard to the prevalence and properties of Water.”

Besides multifold coincidence of close tolerances with regard to Water and other necessities such as the composition of the Atmosphere, all are affected by Planetary temperature, the protective Magnetic Field, duration of the Seasons, and so on.

The significance of the observation was lost for half a century until in 1961, physicist, Robert H. Dicke again declared that: certain forces in Physics: Gravity  Electromagnetism, … were perfectly fine-tuned in order for Life to exist anywhere in the Universe.

The issue was again essentially buried for another score of years until Fred Hoyle in his 1984 Intelligent Universe stated that: “the chance of obtaining even a single functioning protein by chance combination of amino acids to a star system full of blind men solving Rubik’s Cube simultaneously.”

Biochemistry has since argued, with some plausibility, that even complex molecules of life can be logically deduced from causative chains of interaction starting which far similar initial components.  So the issue of a fine-tuned Universe shifted to more primal issues such as the prevalence of Carbon itself and likewise the Oxygen required in our Atmosphere, and for the proliferation of Water.

In the so-called “Triple-Alpha Process” the so-called “”Hoyle state”, the 3rd-lowest energy state of the Carbon-12 nucleus, namely 7.656 MeV above ground fits fortunately within a rough  7.3 – 7.9 MeV range, to allow sufficient abundance of Carbon.

A refined range of  7.596 – 7.716 MeV has been claimed, along with a Fine-Tuning of the Nuclear Strong Force to a precision of less than 0.5%, both for Carbon & similar ranges hold for Oxygen.

Likewise, the Electromagnetic Force must be Fine-Tuned to a precision of less than 4% to prevent loss of both Carbon & Oxygen.  Many dozens of other factors also come into play and must hold simultaneously and essentially independently. This all leads to a net probability estimate indicating the unlikelihood of advanced Life, never mind intelligent Life anywhere in the Universe, without incredible Fine tuning of physical parameters that could theoretically have been different.

A few salient points will be raised when this series is taken up again. But for the moment, we end with a quick look at just how improbable the Fine-Tuning of the Universe actually seems to be.

Considering the number of atoms, molecules, protons, electrons, positrons, mesons, strings, all kinds of sub-nuclear particles that few of us know anything about – the countless number of those in the knowable Universe.  This number is said to be generously estimated s less than a number that starts with one and has 80 zeros following it.

Now if we have 86 zeros, that’s 1 Million of such Universes, 89 being Billion, 92 zeros being a Trillion, and so on. Can you imagine how vast the number were talking about ?

When we go further up to 100 zeros that’s called a Googol, that which the Google search engine was named after, with a little bit of different spelling.  Now extend that Googol to a number with again 109 zeros. That’s 1 billion of that much, and go all way to 200 zeros, beyond all imaginations 300 zeros to 400 zeros to 500 zeros.

The chance of the Universe being as fine-tuned so as to allow Life of any kind, never mind Intelligent life seems to be 1 in again the number is a 1 followed by 500 zeros.  Some have even extended this to 1000 zeros.

Now this actually caused some Physicists who were Agnostic or Atheistic to turn back to the Theism of their childhood. Most stood their ground, fixed in the predominant philosophy of Scientists, namely that of Atheism.

If there is no God. the only way to explain these long, long odds is to have a Multi-Verse with that many Universes, countable with 1 with 100 zeros. 500 zeros. 1000 zeros. all unknowable. all unprovable. all having no impact on us. and all being totally irrelevant – a pure figment of Imagination.

Their only support is that either the Multi-Verse exists, to make this unlikely Fine-Tuned chance somewhat probable, or there’s an Divine Intelligence to Universe. Since Divine Intelligence is totally unacceptable to these “wise and intelligent” people, then there must be a Multi-Verse of such preposterous proportions.

This is the sad state of Philosophy and Science at the present time. And so to both inspire ourselves with the Fine-Tuning of the Universe, and to have a chuckle at the expense of those who “lead us intellectually”, we will take up a few of these points in other episodes of this particular series of the Fine-tuned Universe.

Physicist Paul Davies in his book on the topic summarizes that: “There is now broad agreement among physicists and cosmologists that the Universe is in several respects ‘fine-tuned’ for life” … “the conclusion is not so much that the Universe is fine-tuned for life; rather it is fine-tuned for the building blocks and environments that life requires.”

Some selections adapted from the Maharshi disciple, Master Nome:

Knowledge is as formless as is Existence itself is Formless Being- Consciousness. Knowledge of this is realized by deep Self-Inquiry as to what we really are. The Knowledge is as formless as Existence is. There is then, in truth, no form to the Self-Inquiry – yet its direction is inward, and non-objective. It is of the very same nature as the Space-like Being-Consciousness that you are trying to realize. Because it is of the same nature, by Self-Inquiry, one’s whole sense of Identity is absorbed so that we abide in That, as That [Being-Consciousness] itself. Whatever is a form of so-called “knowledge” is not the Self, and is not True Knowledge. Thought-transcendent Knowledge, however, is True Knowledge. What is thought-transcendent is also, obviously. Sense-transcendent.

With Self-Inquiry, find within yourself the interior, formless, non- thought Knowledge of your own Existence. Whatever is conceived should he considered as “not this” – neti. Whatever is conceived is not a definition for the Self. The unconceived, the unformed, is utterly Non-Dual. It is only One, the singular Knowledge of One Existence – so Non-Dual in nature that the Knowledge and the Existence cannot he separated, even to the least degree. So. Inquire, within yourself, in meditation, “Who am I ?” Do not engage yourself, do not entangle yourself, with anything conceived – treating all such conceptions as insubstantial Imagination. “Who am I ?”  Go to the very root of conception. and beyond it – “Who am I ?”

Beyond conception. in the essence of your Being. lies the vast, formless. space-like Knowledge. Inquire. and realize it for yourself.

The above themes & 1600 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through:  

www.jpstiga.com\

http://jstiga.wixsite.com/nonduality\

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX 

 

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 5:

100 Billion

[for a while, preface with the following– skip over if seen before]

In order to hint at how serious this Blog is, let the author unequivocally state that the Knowledge here imparted, none of it original, none to be credited to the author, that Knowledge is THE MOST VALUABLE treasure that exists. If hypothetically offered 100 Billion dollars to forgo this Knowledge, that offer or any other would be disregarded in the blink of an eye.  Even with all the good that might be accomplished with $100B, this Knowledge is beyond the World & comes from beyond the Mind. This is no hyperbole.

Because we associate Consciousness with Existence & we are conscious of all the thoughts and perceptions that make up our life in Waking and in Dream, we consider Deep Dreamless Sleep to be a state of unConsciousness. But we should examine the so-called non-consciousness of Deep Dreamless Sleep. The Consciousness that knows thoughts and perceptions is our Mind, which rises and is active in Waking and Dream, but which subsides in Deep Dreamless Sleep. But this rising and subsiding Consciousness is not our real Consciousness. We are conscious not only of the two states of Waking and Dream, in which our Mind rises to experience thoughts and Perceptions, but also of a 3rd state, Deep Dreamless Sleep, in which our Mind has subsided in a State without thoughts and Perceptions.

This fact that we are conscious of Deep Dreamless Sleep as a State distinct from Waking and Dream shows that we are the Consciousness that underlies the rising and subsiding of the transient Consciousness that we call “Mind”. The Consciousness that enables us to affirm confidently, “I did exist in Deep Dreamless Sleep, but I was unconscious of anything”, is not our “rising Consciousness” but our True Existence Consciousness.

This Existence Consciousness, which exists in all our 3 states, is our Real Consciousness, and is what is truly denoted when we say “I exist”. Our Mind, the “rising Consciousness” that appears in Waking and Dream and disappears in Deep Dreamless Sleep, is only a spurious form of Consciousness, which on rising mistakes itself to be both our basic Consciousness “I exist” and this material Body

Some more selected verses from the Maharshi disciple:

Reach your inner core when the Guru reveals to you the Peace that is your real nature. When the Guru tells you that you are the Self, there is a power and an authority in those words that can make them become your own Reality. If you are pure and ready, no practice will be required. One word from a jnani and his state will become yours too.

Everything we see in this Waking State-is a dream. These dreams are our thoughts made manifest. Bad thoughts make bad dreams and good thoughts make good dreams, and if you have no thoughts, you don’t dream at all. But even if you do dream, you must understand that your dream is also the Self. You don’t have to suppress thoughts or be absolutely thoughtless to abide as the Self. If you know that even your Waking and Sleeping dreams are the Self, then the thoughts and the dreams they produce can go on. They will not be a problem for you any more. Just be the Self at all times. In this state you will know that everything that appears to you is just a dream.

The Waking State, which you take to be real, is just an unfolding dream that has appeared to you and manifested in front of you on account of some hidden desire or fear. Your vasanas sprout and expand miraculously, creating a whole Waking-Dream World for you. See it as a dream. Recognize that it is just an expansion of your thoughts. Don’t lose sight of the Self, the substratum on which this vast, believable dream is projected. If you hold onto the knowledge “I am the Self” you will know that the dreams are also the Self, and you won‘t get entangled-in them.

A great Power of the Self can you in the right place at the right time; it makes you say the right things to the people you meet. This Power takes you over so completely, you no longer have any ability to decide or discriminate. The Ego that thinks, “I must do this” or “I should not do that” is no longer there. The Self simply animates you and makes you do all the things that need to be done. If you are not in this state, then use your discrimination wisely.

So, while you still have an Ego, and the power of discrimination that goes with it, use it to find in the presence of an enlightened being. If you spend time in the proximity of a jnani, his Peace will sink into you to such an extent that you will find yourself in a state of Peace. If, instead, you choose to spend all your time with people whose minds are always full of bad thoughts, their mental energy and vibrations will start to seep into you. I tell you regularly, “You are the Self. Everything is the Self.” Advaita may be the ultimate experience, but it is not something that a Mind that still sees distinctions can practice.

Inquire ‘Who am I?’ or ‘What is my real nature?’ The nature of the Self is nothing but Peace. If you are not aware of that Peace, it means that you are identifying with something that is not the Self. As long as you hear, taste and smell things, you identify with the Body. When the perceptions and the perceiver of them vanish, you become aware of the Peace.

[The above themes & 1600 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through  www.jpstiga.com ]

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 4:

100 Billion

[for a while, preface with the following– skip over if seen before]

In order to hint at how serious this Blog is, let the author unequivocally state that the Knowledge here imparted, none of it original, none to be credited to the author, that Knowledge is THE MOST VALUABLE treasure that exists. If hypothetically offered 100 Billion dollars to forgo this Knowledge, that offer or any other would be disregarded in the blink of an eye.  Even with all the good that might be accomplished with $100B, this Knowledge is beyond the World & comes from beyond the Mind. This is no hyperbole.

Knowing that our Mind possesses a great power of self-deception, we should suspect that the Body we take to be “I” and the World we take to be real in our Waking State is in fact be nothing more than mental projection, just like the Body and World that we experience in Dream. We may be able to point out differences between Waking and Dream, but we can note that those differences are superficial,

If we compare the World drama we see in Waking or Dream to a drama we see on a cinema screen, we may say that the drama seen in Waking is a better quality and more impressive production than that seen in Dream, but both thoughts, productions of our Mind which sees them.

In both states our Mind rises, attaching itself to a Body by taking it to be “I”, and through the Senses of that Body it sees a World bound within the limits of Time and Space, and filled with people and other objects.

When we analyze our experience in our 3 states of Waking, Dream and Deep Dreamless Sleep, we see that we confuse our Consciousness “I” to be different things at different times. In Waking we mistake our present Body to be “I”, in Dream we mistake some other imaginary Body to be “I”, and in Deep Dreamless Sleep we mistake non-consciousness to be “I”.

What we were in fact unconscious of in Deep Dreamless Sleep was our Mind, our Body and the World, but not our own Existence. Our experience in Deep Dreamless Sleep was

not that we ceased to exist, but only that we ceased to be aware of all the thoughts and perceptions that we are accustomed to experiencing in the Waking and Dream states. When we say, “I was unaware of anything”, we say that “I” was in Deep Dreamless Sleep, that we existed and knew that we existed at that time.

Some more selected verses from the Maharshi disciple:

Ignorance is Ignorance of the Self, and to remove it Self-Awareness is required. When you come to an Awareness of the Self, Ignorance vanishes. If you don’t lose contact with the Self, Ignorance can never arise. If there is darkness, you remove it by bringing Light. Darkness is not something real and substantial that you have to dig out and throw away. It is just an absence of Light, nothing more. When Light is let into a dark room, the darkness is suddenly no longer there. It did not vanish gradually or go away piece by piece; it simply ceased to exist when the room became filled with Light. This is just an analogy because the Self is not like other lights. It is not an object that you either see or don’t see. It is there all the time, shining as your own Reality. If you refuse to acknowledge its Existence, if you refuse to believe that it is there, you put yourself in an imaginary darkness. It is not a real darkness. It is just your own willful refusal to acknowledge that you are Light itself. This self-inflicted Ignorance is the darkness that has to be banished by the light of Self-awareness. We have repeatedly to turn to the light of the Self within until we become one with it.

Bhagavan [Sri Ramana Maharshi] spoke about turning inwards to face the Self. That is all that is needed. If we look outwards, we become entangled with objects and we lose awareness of the Self shining within us. But when, by repeated practice, we gain the strength to keep our focus on the Self within, we become one with it and the Darkness of Self-Ignorance vanishes. Then, even though we continue to live in this false and unreal body, we abide in an Ocean of Bliss that never fades or diminishes. This is not going to happen in a moment because lifetimes of wrong and ignorant thinking have made it impossible for most of us to focus intently and regularly on the Self within. If you leave your house and start walking away from it, and if you continue this habit over many lives, you will probably be a long, long way from home when you finally decide that you have had enough and that you want to go back to where you started from. Don’t be discouraged by the length of the journey, and don’t slacken in your efforts to get home. Turn l80° to face the Source, of your outward journey, and keep moving back to where you started.

Ignore the pain, the discomfort, and the frustration of seeming not to get anywhere. Keep moving back to your Source, and don’t let anything distract you on the way. Be like the river on its journey back to the sea. It doesn’t stop, take diversions, or decide to flow uphill for a while. It doesn’t become distracted. It just moves slowly and steadily back to the place its water originated from. And when the river dissolves in the Ocean, river is no more. Only Ocean remains.

 Jiva [the individual self] came from Siva [the Absolute] and has to go back to Siva again. If there is a big charcoal fire, and one burning ember jumps out, the fire in the ember will soon go out. To reignite it, you have to put it back into the fire, back into its burning source. There is no happiness in separation. The Jiva has no Happiness, contentment or Peace so long as it remains a separate being. The separate being comes from the Self. It has to go back there and end there. Only then will there be Eternal Peace.

The energy of the Mind comes from the Self. In the Waking State the Mind functions as a separate entity. In the Deep Dreamless Sleep it goes back to the Source. Again and again it comes out and goes back. It does this because it doesn’t know the Truth of what it really is. It is Self and Self alone, but its Ignorance of this fact makes it miserable. It is this feeling of separateness that gives rise to desires, suffering and unhappiness. Keep the Mind in the Self. If you can do this, you can live in Peace both while you are awake and also while you are asleep. In Deep Sleep all differences are dropped. If you keep the Mind in the Self during the Waking State, there will also be no differences, no distinctions. You will see everything as your own Self.

Bhagavan [Sri Ramana Maharshi]

“If the Mind be that eye, then subtle forms are seen; thus the seeing eye and the objects seen are of the same nature; that is.  If the eye be itself a form, it sees nothing but forms. But neither the physical eye or the Mind has any power of vision of its own. The real Eye is the Self.  Being formless, being the pure and infinite Consciousness, the Reality, it does not see forms.”

The Self shines all the time. If you can’t see it because your mind has obscured it or fragmented it, you have to control your vision. You have to stop observing with the eye of the mind, because that eye can only see what the mind projects in front of it. If you want to see with the eye of the Self, switch the projector you that all is one and indivisible.

[The above themes & 1600 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through  www.jpstiga.com ]

 

 

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 3

Our Existence and our Consciousness of Existence are the same – both are expressed by the single phrase “I exist”. This Existence-Consciousness, “I exist”, is our fundamental experience – the essential Non-Dual Self-Consciousness. All that we know about the World depends on what we think about our self.  But our knowledge about this “I” is confused. We all believe “I am the Body”. Thus we identify our Consciousness “I exist” with a particular Body. This identification is the result of a confused and unclear knowledge of the true nature of Consciousness. Our Consciousness “I exist” is not something material, whereas our Body is material.

hat which thus mistakes this Body to be “I” is our Mind. Our Mind comes into existence only by imagining itself to be a Body. In Deep Dreamless Sleep we are unaware of either our Mind or our Body. As soon as we wake up, our Mind rises feeling ‘I am this Body, I am so-and-so’, and only after thus identifying itself as a particular Body does it perceive the external World through the five senses of that Body.

Exactly the same thing happens in Dream – our Mind identifies itself as a particular Body and through the 5 senses of that Dream-Body it perceives a seemingly real and external “World”. When we wake up from a Dream, we understand that the Body we mistook to be “I” and the “World” we mistook to be real and external were both in fact only figments of our Imagination.

Thus from our experience in Dream we all know that our Mind has a wonderful power of Imagination by which it is able to create a Body, to mistake that imaginary Body to be “I”, and through that Body to project a World which, at the time we perceive it, appears to be every bit as real and external to us as the World that we now perceive in this Waking State.

Repeatedly offered direct advice regarding liberating meditation that began with focusing on, questioning, examining, even challenging this Ego “I”, this individual self.

Some more selections from a great Ramana Maharshi desciple:

Though the body is needed for sadhana, one should not identify with it. We should make good use of it, and look after it well, but we should not pay too much attention it.

There are so many thoughts in the Mind. Thought after thought after thought, they never stop. But there is one thought that is continuous, though it is mostly subconscious: “I am the Body.”’ This is the string on which all other thoughts are threaded. Once we identify ourselves with the Body by thinking this thought, Maya follows. It also follows that if we cease to identify ourselves with the body, Maya will not affect us any more. Maya is fundamentally non-existent. Bhagavan [Sri Ramana Maharshi] said that Maya literally means “that which is not”. It is unreal because everything that Maya produces is an outgrowth of a wrong idea. It is a consequence of taking something to be True that is not really True. How can something that is not real produce something that is real ?  Something that does not exist cannot be the cause of suffering or of anything else.

Maya may appear to be real, to have a real existence, but this is a false appearance. The truth is: it is not real; it has no existence at all. To get rid of this “I am the body” feeling and of the Maya that is produced by it ?  It goes when there is equanimity of outlook that leaves one unaffected by extreme opposites such as happiness and unhappiness, pleasure and pain. Then the idea “I am the body” is no longer present, and Maya is transcended.

By itself, this Body is inert and lifeless. Without the Mind, the Body cannot function. And how does the Mind function ?  Through the 5 Senses that the Body provides.

If we want to go beyond the Body, beyond the Mind, we have to understand and fully accept that all the information the Senses provide is not real. Like the mirage that produces an illusory oasis in the desert, the Senses create the impression that there is a real World [RWOT] in front of us that is being perceived by the Mind. The apparent reality of the World is an Illusion. It is merely a misperception. When the Mind perceives a snake where in Reality there is only a rope, this is clearly a case of the Senses projecting an imaginary image onto a Real Substratum. This, on a large scale, is how the unreal appearance of the World is projected by the Mind and the Senses onto the underlying Reality of the Self. Once this happens, we see the Superimposition, the unreal names and forms we have created, and we forget about the Substratum, the reality that underlies them. Many examples are given –  if‘ you see a carved wooden elephant, for example, at some point you forget that it is only wood. You see the form of the carving, and your mind gives that form the name “elephant”. While your mind is registering this name and this form, you are no longer registering the object as a block of wood. It is the same when you see jewelry made out of gold. You see a shape, call it a ring or a necklace. and you temporally forget what it is made of.

Self-Inquiry is the process by which attention is put on the Substratum instead of on the names and forms that are habitually imposed on it. Self is the Substratum out of which all things appear to manifest, and the jnani is the one who is continually aware of the Real Substratum. He is never deluded into believing that the names and forms that are perceived by the senses have any real existence. Whatever we see is unreal. It has no more reality than the objects we perceive in our dreams. We think we live in a real, materially substantial World, and that our Minds and Bodies are real entities that move around in it. When the Self is seen and known, all these ideas fade away and one is left with the knowledge: Self alone exists.

Self-Inquiry must be done continuously. It doesn’t work if you regard it as a part-time activity. You may be doing something that doesn’t hold your interest or attention, so you think, “I will do some Self-Inquiry instead”. This is never going to work. You may go 2 steps forward when you practice, but you go 5 steps backward when you stop your practice and go back to your worldly affairs. You must have a lifelong commitment to establish yourself in the Self. Your determination to succeed must be strong and firm, and it should manifest as continuous, not part-time effort. For many lifetimes you have been immersed in Ignorance. You are habituated to it. All your deeply rooted beliefs, all your patterns of behavior reinforce ignorance and strengthen the hold it has over you. This Ignorance is so strong, so deeply enmeshed in all your psychological structures, it takes a massive effort over a long period of time to break free from it. The habits and beliefs that sustain it have to be challenged again and again.

[The above themes & 1600 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through  www.jpstiga.com ]

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 2

A friend of a deep sleeper shakes the sleeper’s shoulder, awakens him rapidly, & asks quickly:

          Do you exist ?

The former sleeper responds right away or later relates immediate response in his Mind:

          Yes, certainly I exist ! I just know that’s true, spontaneously & undoubtedly.

The Wise questioner counters with an observation & a 2^nd confirming question:

          Oh I see, you “know” you exist like that.

The freshly awakened asks once for clarification & then listens for a while.

            Granted what you say, what is the significance ?

That “inner place” in which you felt that certainty of your Existence, & also that certainty of your knowing so, your Consciousness, is actually the same “place”. Moreover that “place” is not a place, having size or shape, & has no location in Space, or in Time for that matter. The very same “place” where you are certain of your Consciousness is actually your Consciousness itself. As also the very same “place” where you are certain of your Existence, it truly is your Existence, it is what you are, your Self.

And not only your Self, but the same is my Self, & the Self of everyone & all that exist, have ever existed, or will ever exist. That singular Existence or Being is the literal Truth proclaimed by all Enlightened Masters. No culture, gender, creed, or period of history has unique claim to this recognition, this Knowledge known as the Perennial Philosophym as Advaita Vedanta.

Further observations include the fact that very same not-a-place “place”, or Brahman, or the Self is also experienced routinely [“in part, clouded, obscured“] as the Source of Happiness, Love, Bliss, Joy, Peace, Satisfaction, Freedom & the like. These are all one with Consciousness & Being, Happiness in full is often experienced the complete “reference value” we all intuit, perfect Happiness, the goal, whether we currently believe it to be attained or not. That Source of Happiness is the same “place” where true Happiness (not mere pleasure or triumph) is actually felt, routinely. Even the sense of its lack could be said to be felt there along with all negative emotions that seem so [negative] by coloration with conceptual self-delusion.

Much can & has been said & written about all the ramification & also restoring true Self-Identity through the meditation of inward Self-Inquiry. Any sincere seeker can find all that, especially now with the Internet to get started with. Given some sifting through apparently conflicting alternatives (& some are conflicting) & perhaps a few false turns, the one who truly desires Freedom (Liberation from ignorance) will have it, but almost always with guidance of a Guru.

You & I & all are that same Self, though we may seem to be “caught” in a Waking Dream world of Time & Space (at night, other dream words supervene, while in deep sleep, none at all). While seeming so “caught”, we best pursue Self-Inquiry, with authentic texts that support that & qualified live guidance [a Guru]when possible. Other wise we progressively shine in our World (even if obscurely), fulfill responsibilities, relationships, work, etc. in Peace. Any help offered to what can appear as a stricken World & inevitable death in that World, comes from the inner basis, & less-so, the practical basis just described. This quest of Enlightenment, Liberation, is the most satisfying & significant venture possible.

 

Again, the review of some of the illusory yet seemingly practical obstacles to be overcome in spiritual practice:

Ajnana – ignorance

Avarana / Avriti – veiling

Avidya – “blindness”

Bheda – differentiation

Khandha – separatiom

Maya –  illusion

Moha – delusion

Rajas-guna – restless fantasy projection and craving

Samskaras – persistent tendencies

Tamas-guna – dull attenuation of discriminative intensity

Upadhis – modificatioms

Vasanas – deep-seated tendencies

Vikalpas – unquestioned assumptions (Sankalpa’s), doubts

Vikshepa – projection

Vivarta – superimpose

Vrittis – restless patterns of thought

 Selected verses from Shankara’s the Vivekachudamani, the “Crest-Jewel of Discrimination”:

65. As a treasure hidden underground requires (for its extraction) competent instruction, excavation, the removal of stones and other such things lying above it and (finally) grasping, but never comes out by being (merely) called out by name, so the transparent Truth of the self, which is hidden by Maya and its effects, is to be attained through the instructions of a knower of Brahman, followed by reflection, meditation and so forth, but not through perverted arguments.

82. If indeed thou hast a craving for Liberation, shun sense-objects from a good distance as thou wouldst do poison, and always cultivate carefully the nectar-like virtues of contentment, compassion, forgiveness, straight-forwardness, calmness and self-control.

112. Lust, anger, avarice, arrogance, spite, egoism, envy, jealousy, etc., — these are the dire attributes of Rajas, from which the worldly tendency of man is produced. Therefore Rajas is a cause of bondage.

116. Ignorance, lassitude, dullness, sleep, inadvertence, stupidity, etc., are attributes of Tamas. One tied to these does not comprehend anything, but remains like one asleep or like a stock or stone.

119. The traits of pure Sattva are cheerfulness, the realisation of one’s own Self, supreme peace, contentment, bliss, and steady devotion to the Atman, by which the aspirant enjoys bliss everlasting.

125. There is some Absolute Entity, the eternal substratum of the consciousness of egoism, the witness of the three states, and distinct from the five sheaths or coverings:

126. Which knows everything that happens in the waking state, in dream and in profound sleep; which is aware of the presence or absence of the mind and its functions; and which is the background of the notion of egoism. – This is That.

185. This knowledge sheath, which seems to be followed by a reflection of the power of the Chit, is a modification of the Prakriti, is endowed with the function of knowledge, and always wholly identifies itself with the body, organs, etc.

188. It always mistakes the duties, functions and attributes of the orders of life which belong to the body, as its own. The knowledge sheath is exceedingly effulgent, owing to its close proximity to the Supreme Self, which identifying Itself with it suffers transmigration through delusion. It is therefore a superimposition on the Self.

191. Owing to Its connection with the super-impositions, the Supreme Self, even thou naturally perfect (transcending Nature) and eternally unchanging, assumes the qualities of the superimpositions and appears to act just as they do – like the changeless fire assuming the modifications of the iron which it turns red-hot.

198-199. Avidya or Nescience and its effects are likewise considered as beginningless. But with the rise of Vidya or realisation, the entire effects of Avidya, even though beginningless, are destroyed together with their root – like dreams on waking up from sleep. It is clear that the phenomenal universe, even though without beginning, is not eternal – like previous non-existence.

202. The cessation of that superimposition takes place through perfect knowledge, and by no other means. Perfect knowledge, according to the Shrutis, consists in the realisation of the identity of the individual soul and Brahman.

206. This knowledge sheath (Vijnanamaya Kosha) that we have been speaking of, cannot be the Supreme Self for the following reasons – because it is subject to change, is insentient, is a limited thing, an object of the senses, and is not constantly present: An unreal thing cannot indeed be taken for the real Atman.

207. The blissful sheath (Anandamaya Kosha) is that modification of Nescience which manifests itself catching a reflection of the Atman which is Bliss Absolute; whose attributes are pleasure and the rest; and which appears in view when some object agreeable to oneself presents itself. It makes itself spontaneously felt by the fortunate during the fruition of their virtuous deeds; from which every corporeal being derives great joy without the least effort.

208. The blissful sheath has its fullest play during profound sleep, while in the dreaming and wakeful states it has only a partial manifestation, occasioned by the sight of agreeable objects and so forth.

209. Nor is the blissful sheath the Supreme Self, because it is endowed with the changeful attributes, is a modification of the Prakriti, is the effect of past good deeds, and imbedded in the other sheaths which are modifications.

217. That which clearly manifests Itself in the states of wakefulness, dream and profound sleep; which is inwardly perceived in the mind in various forms as an unbroken series of egoistic impressions; which witnesses the egoism, the Buddhi, etc., which are of diverse forms and modifications; and which makes Itself felt as the Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute; know thou this Atman, thy own Self, within thy heart.

230. Similarly, the whole universe, being the effect of the real Brahman, is in reality nothing but Brahman. Its essence is That, and it does not exist apart from It. He who says it does is still under delusion – he babbles like one asleep.

259. That which is free from differentiation; whose essence is never non-existent; which is unmoved like the ocean without waves; the ever-free; of indivisible Form – that Brahman art thou, meditate on this in thy mind.

267. Even after the Truth has been realized, there remains that strong, beginningless, obstinate impression that one is the agent and experiencer, which is the cause of one’s transmigration. It has to be carefully removed by living in a state of constant identification with the Supreme Self. Sages call that Liberation which is the attenuation of Vasanas (impressions) here and now.

291. That in which there is this reflection of the universe, as of a city in a mirror – that Brahman art thou; knowing this thou wilt attain the consummation of thy life.

296. Therefore give up the identification with this lump of flesh, the gross body, as well as with the ego or the subtle body, which are both imagined by the Buddhi. Realising thy own Self, which is Knowledge Absolute and not to be denied in the past, present or future, attain to Peace.

302. The treasure of the Bliss of Brahman is coiled round by the mighty and dreadful serpent of egoism, and guarded for its own use by means of its three fierce hoods consisting of the three Gunas. Only the wise man, destroying it by severing its three hoods with the great sword of realization in accordance with the teachings of the Shrutis, can enjoy this treasure which confers bliss.

315-316. Look upon everything, under all circumstances, always, everywhere and in all respects, as Brahman and Brahman alone. Through the strengthening of the longing to be one with Brahman, those three are annihilated.

320. One should pass one’s time watchfully, if there be any residue of Prarabdha work left.

325. If the mind ever so slightly strays from the Ideal and becomes outgoing, then it goes down and down, just as a play-ball inadvertently dropped on the staircase bounds down from one step to another.

333. Give up dwelling on the unreal, which causes bondage, and should always fix his thoughts on the Atman as “I myself am This”. For the steadfastness in Brahman through the realisation of one’s identity with It gives rise to bliss and thoroughly removes the misery born of nescience, which one experiences (in the ignorant state).

335. When the external world is shut out, the mind is cheerful, and cheerfulness of the mind brings on the vision of the Paramatman. When It is perfectly realised, the chain of birth and death is broken. Hence the shutting out of the external world is the stepping-stone to Liberation.

344. It is extremely difficult to conquer the projecting power unless the veiling power is perfectly rooted out. And that covering over the Atman naturally vanishes when the subject is perfectly distinguished from the objects, like milk from water. But the victory is undoubtedly (complete and) free from obstacles when there is no oscillation of the mind due to the unreal sense-objects.

349-350. Like iron manifesting as sparks through contact with fire, the Buddhi manifests itself as knower and known through the inherence of Brahman. As these two (knower and known), the effects of the Buddhi, are observed to be unreal in the case of delusion, dream and fancy, similarly, the modifications of the Prakriti, from egoism down to the body and all sense-objects are also unreal. Their unreality is verily due to their being subject to change every moment. But the Atman never changes.

351. The Supreme Self is ever of the nature of eternal, indivisible knowledge, one without a second, the Witness of the Buddhi and the rest, distinct from the gross and subtle, the implied meaning of the term and idea “I”, the embodiment of inward, eternal bliss.

352. The wise man, discriminating thus the real and the unreal, ascertaining the Truth through his illuminative insight, and realizing his own Self which is Knowledge Absolute, gets rid of the obstructions and directly attains Peace.

360. The truth of the Paramatman is extremely subtle, and cannot be reached by the gross outgoing tendency of the mind. It is only accessible to noble souls with perfectly pure minds, by means of Samadhi brought on by an extraordinary fineness of the mental state.

361. As gold purified by thorough heating on the fire gives up its impurities and attains to its own luster, so the mind, through meditation, gives up its impurities of Sattva, Rajas and Tamas, and attains to the reality of Brahman.

363. By this Samadhi are destroyed all desires which are like knots, all work is at an end, and inside and out there takes place everywhere and always the spontaneous manifestation of one’s real nature.

393. The Supreme Brahman is, like the sky, pure, absolute, infinite, motionless and changeless, devoid of interior or exterior, the One Existence, without a second, and is one’s own Self. Is there any other object of knowledge ?

407. This apparent universe has its root in the mind, and never persists after the mind is annihilated. Therefore dissolve the mind by concentrating it on the Supreme Self, which is thy inmost Essence.

408. The wise man realizes in his heart, through Samadhi, the Infinite Brahman, which is something of the nature of eternal Knowledge and absolute Bliss, which has no exemplar, which transcends all limitations, is ever free and without activity, and which is like the limitless sky, indivisible and absolute.

409. The wise man realizes in his heart, through Samadhi, the Infinite Brahman, which is devoid of the ideas of cause and effect, which is the Reality beyond all imaginations, homogeneous, matchless, beyond the range of proofs, established by the pronouncements of the Vedas, and ever familiar to us as the sense of the ego.

410. That which resembles the placid ocean and is without a name, in which there are neither merits nor demerits, and which is eternal, pacified and One.

413. After the body has once been cast off to a distance like a corpse, the sage never more attaches himself to it, though it is visible as an appearance, like the shadow of a man, owing to the experience of the effects of past deeds.

419. The result of dispassion is knowledge, that of Knowledge is withdrawal from sense-pleasures, which leads to the experience of the Bliss of the Self, whence follows Peace.

424. When the sense-objects excite no more desire, then is the culmination of dispassion. The extreme perfection of knowledge is the absence of any impulsion of the egoistic idea. And the limit of self-withdrawal is reached when the mind-functions that have been merged, appear no more.

425. Freed from all sense of reality of the external sense-objects on account of his always remaining merged in Brahman; only seeming to enjoy such sense-objects as are offered by others, like one sleepy, or like a child; beholding this world as one seen in dreams, and having cognition of it at chance moments – rare indeed is such a man, the enjoyer of the fruits of endless merit, and he alone is blessed and esteemed on earth.

453. Prarabdha work is certainly very strong for the man of realization, and is spent only by the actual experience of its fruit; while the actions previously accumulated and those yet to come are destroyed by the fire of perfect knowledge. But none of the three at all affects those who, realizing their identity with Brahman, are always living absorbed in that idea. They are verily the transcendent Brahman.

454. For the sage who lives in his own Self as Brahman, the One without a second, devoid of identification with the limiting adjuncts, the question of the existence of Prarabdha work is meaningless, like the question of a man who has awakened from sleep having any connection with the objects seen in the dream-state.

456. He has no desire to substantiate the unreal objects, nor is he seen to maintain that dream-world. If he still clings to those unreal objects, he is emphatically declared to be not yet free from sleep.

462-463. “If the effects of ignorance are destroyed with their root by knowledge, then how does the body live?” – it is to convince those fools who entertain a doubt like this, that the Shrutis, from a relative standpoint, hypothesize Prarabdha work, but not for proving the reality of the body etc., of the man of realization.

472. Thou, too, discriminate this Supreme Truth, the real nature of the Self, which is Bliss undiluted, and shaking off thy delusion created by thy own mind, be free and illumined, and attain the consummation of thy life.

473.  Visualize the Truth of the Self with the eye of clear realization. If the meaning of the (Scriptural) words heard from the Guru is perfectly and indubitably discerned, then it can lead to no more doubt.

474. In the realization of the Atman, the Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute, through the breaking of one’s connection with the bondage of Avidya or ignorance, the Scriptures, reasoning and the words of the Guru are the proofs, while one’s own experience earned by concentrating the mind is another proof.

475. Bondage, liberation, satisfaction, anxiety, recovery from illness, hunger and other such things are known only to the man concerned, and knowledge of these to others is a mere inference.

476. The Gurus as well as the Shrutis instruct the disciple, standing aloof; while the man of realization crosses (Avidya) through Illumination alone, backed by the grace of God.

477. Himself knowing his indivisible Self through his own realization and thus becoming perfect, a man should stand face to face with the Atman, with his mind free from dualistic ideas.

478. Jiva and the whole universe are nothing but Brahman, and that liberation means abiding in Brahman, the indivisible Entity.

479. Realizing, at a blessed moment, the Supreme Truth through the above instructions of the Guru, the authority of the Scriptures and his own reasoning, with his senses quieted and the mind concentrated, (the disciple) became immovable in form and perfectly established in the Atman.

481. My mind has vanished, and all its activities have melted, by realizing the identity of the Self and Brahman.

520. The universe is an unbroken series of perceptions of Brahman; hence it is in all respects nothing but Brahman. See this with the eye of illumination and a serene mind, under all circumstances. Is one who has eyes ever found to see all around anything else but forms? Similarly, what is there except Brahman to engage the intellect of a man of realization ?

531. The consciousness, “I am …”, is independent of circumstances; similar is the case with the realization of the knower of Brahman that he is Brahman.

574. There is neither death nor birth, neither a bound nor a struggling soul, neither a seeker after Liberation nor a liberated one – this is the ultimate truth.

[The above themes & 1600 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through  www.jpstiga.com ]