Mind & Happiness 47

Since the testimony of Sages challenges us to question & doubt all the beliefs that we have cherished for so long about what we are & about the reality of our Life in this World, we may initially find it difficult to trust their words. That is why, rather than asking us to believe anything that we do not already know, Sri Ramana based his teachings upon an analysis of our own everyday experience.

When we critically analyze our experience of the 3 States of Consciousness (Waking, Dream, & Deep Dreamless Sleep) that we undergo each day, we cannot reasonably avoid doubting most of what we normally take for granted about who we are & about the reality of all that we experience in these 3 States.  In order to acquire knowledge that we cannot reasonably doubt, we must

first disentangle our self from all the confused & uncertain knowledge we now have about our self.  Such disentanglement can be achieved only by turning our attention away from all objects of knowledge & towards our self, the Consciousness by which everything is known. This process of disentanglement is the journey of Self-Discovery that all Sages urge us to undertake.

The purpose of this philosophical analysis of our everyday experience of our self is only to enable us to obtain a clear theoretical understanding of who we really are, & thereby to ascertain the practical means by which we can attain direct experience of our own Real Nature. Though in this journey of self-discovery we will be guided by the revelations of Sri Ramana & other Sages, we will nevertheless be relying primarily upon our own personal experience of our Existence or Consciousness, & thus we will as far as possible avoid the need to rely upon belief in what we our self do not actually know.

If we take this journey depending always upon our own experience of our self as our guide, we will be able to verify for our self the Truth of all that has been revealed through the words of Sages, who have taken this journey before us.  However, while we are proceeding on this journey of Self-Discovery, & before we complete it, we are likely to discover that our rational analysis of our already existing experience of our own Existence & Consciousness, together with our experience of practicing the art of Self-Conscious Existence, will inspire in our Mind a steadily increasing trust in the words of Sages.

Such trust should not be mistaken to be mere “blind belief”, because it is a trust born not of intellectual blindness but of a deep inner clarity of Mind gained by dwelling repeatedly upon the true light of Self-Consciousness, which ever shines in the core of our Existence, as the core of our Existence, but which till now we have always habitually ignored due to our infatuation with the external World of Sense Perceptions.

Though it is possible for us to turn our attention away from the external World & towards our own essential Consciousness “I exist” in order to discover our true nature even without our placing our trust in the words of anyone, in practice while pursuing the journey of Self-Discovery, & while confronting all the obstacles that inevitably arise on the way, we can derive much benefit by trusting & learning from the testimony of those who have taken & completed this journey before us.

We attempt to turn our attention away from the external World & towards our essential Self-Consciousness “I exist” in order to remain merely as this fundamental Consciousness of our own Existence.  However, even if we are unwilling to trust anything that we do not already know for certain, we can still pursue this journey of self-discovery by taking all our doubts to their logical conclusion – by doubting the reality of our doubting Mind, & therefore turning our attention towards the Consciousness that underlies it in order to know the ultimate source from which it has arisen along with all its doubts.

We are to question critically our habitual view of our self, the World & God, & to embark upon the journey of Self-Discovery by investigating our Consciousness “I exist”, which is the centere & fundamental basis of all our experience & knowledge, to verify for our self the Truth revealed in the words of Sri Ramana & other Sages.

The above themes & 2500 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 

short-cut: http://sdrv.ms/YPOgkX or http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58  link directly to free E-book PDF files

www.jpstiga.com/

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

Different blogs (but with graphics) are available on:

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

http://Being-as-Consciousness.blogspot.com/

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”

–  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

 for very succinct summary of the teaching & practice, see:  www.ajatavada.com/

Mind & Happiness 47

In spite of all the confusing complexity found in the spiritual literature of the World, running throughout that literature there is a common thread of simple Truth, which we can easily discern if we are able to understand the original teachings of the real Sages.  Because the same fundamental truth of Non-Duality has been expressed in the recorded words of Sages from so many diverse cultures throughout the ages, modern students of Philosophy often call it the “perennial philosophy“, a term that corresponds to the ancient Sanskrit term sanātana dharma, which literally means “that which always upholds” or “that which is ever established“, & which therefore by implication means the “eternal truth“, the “eternal law“, the “eternal principle“, the “eternal support“, the “eternal foundation“, the “eternal nature“, the “eternal essence“, the “eternal way” or the “eternal religion“.

Fortunately for us, Sri Ramana’s Teachings were not only recorded in his Life-time by many of his followers, some of whom understood them very clearly, but were also written by him in various poems & other works.  Since he composed poetry not only in the language of allegory & mystical love, but also in the language of philosophy, & since in his poetry he described the reality & the means of attaining it in very clear & unambiguous terms, he has made it extremely easy for us to understand the simple truth that underlies the Teachings of all Sages.

Having read & understood his Teachings, if we read the Teachings of any other real Sage, we can easily recognize that the same Truth is expressed in all of them.  Moreover, his Teachings also serve as a key that enables us to unravel & extract the true Teachings of the Sages from the dense mass of extraneous Theologies, Cosmologies & Philosophies with which they have become mixed in every religion & spiritual tradition.

Therefore readers who are already familiar with the sanātana dharma, the timeless & universal truth or “perennial philosophy” taught by all Sages, will find that the Teachings of Sri Ramana also express that same basic Philosophy.  However, they will also find that his Teachings throw a clear & fresh light upon that Philosophy, elucidating many subtle & profound truths that have seldom been expressed so explicitly by other Sages, particularly with regard to the practical means by which we can attain the true experience of Non-Dual Self-Knowledge.

Because the teachings of Sri Ramana are a simple yet very profound revelation of the fundamental & Absolute Reality that underlies the appearance of all multiplicity & diversity, they express the Ultimate Truth that is the inner essence of all religions & spiritual traditions.  Hence people of many diverse religious & cultural backgrounds have recognized that his Teachings are a profoundly insightful & authentic exposition of the true import of their own religion or spiritual tradition, & have understood that after studying his teachings they need not study any other spiritual texts.

Though the same simple truth of Non-Duality can be found expressed in all the spiritual literature of the World if we search for it hard enough, it is not necessary or advisable for us to waste our Time searching for it in the scriptures & sacred writings, where it is usually hidden among a dense mass of extraneous ideas. That is why in verse 60 of Vivēkacūḍāmaṇi Sri Adi Sankara warned all serious spiritual aspirants to avoid excessive study of the scriptures or śāstras, which he described as a “great forest of delusive snares of noisy words” (śabda jālaṁ mahāraṇyaṁ) & a “cause of unsteadiness, bewilderment & confusion of Mind” (cittabhramaṇa kāraṇam), & advised us that with the guidance of a Sage who knows the Truth we should instead try to investigate & know the Truth of our Self through direct experience.

For us to attain such direct non-dual experience of our own Real Self, all the guidance required can be found expressed in an extremely clear & simple manner in the teachings of Sri Ramana. If we read & understand his Teachings, there will be no need for us to study any other scriptures or sacred writings, because from his Teachings we will learn that the Truth does not lie outside us in any books, but only within us, in the innermost core of our Existence, & that the only means to experience it is therefore to turn our attention self-wards to know the reality of the Consciousness by which we know all other things.

This detailed analysis derives from 3 principal sources.  In part it consists of ideas from the writings & recorded sayings of Sri Ramana, in particular from the most comprehensive & profound record of his sayings that his pre-eminent disciple Sri Muruganar preserved in the form of Tamil verses in Guru Vācaka Kōvai.

In part it consists of ideas from Sri Sadhu Om, who was one of the closest disciples of Sri Ramana (by which term I mean not those who merely lived close to him physically, but those who followed his Teachings most closely & truly), who was a lucid & extremely profound exponent of his Teachings.

However, for the most part it consists of Sri Ramana’s Teachings. However, as Sri Ramana himself emphasized, mere belief in certain ideas is not True Knowledge, so we must all hold our beliefs tentatively, & must endeavor to verify them for our self by seeking to attain true experiential knowledge of the fundamental & absolute reality through empirical research, that is, through practical Self-Investigation. Therefore, the sole aim of all the theory discussed is to guide us & encourage us in our practical quest for the direct, immediate, Non-Dual & Absolute experience of True Self-Knowledge.

When we begin to study any Knowledge, such as Self-Knowledge, which is concerned not with knowing any object but only with knowing the Consciousness by which all objects are known, it is necessary for us to have tentative trust in the experience & testimony of those who have already acquired that practical knowledge.

All learning requires a keen, inquisitive & questioning Mind, but just as honest doubt plays an important part in the learning process, so too does tentative trust. Knowledge is acquired most efficiently & effectively by an intelligent use of both doubt & trust.  A discriminating student knows what is to be doubted, & what is to be tentatively trusted.

More than in any other Knowledge, in this Self-Knowledge, doubt is essential, because to know the Truth that underlies all appearances, we must doubt the reality of everything – not just the reality of the objects known by our Mind, but the reality of our knowing Mind itself.  However, though doubt plays such a vital role in the process of acquiring self-knowledge, tentative trust in the testimony of Sages, who have already attained the experience of true Self-Knowledge, is nevertheless extremely helpful.

The above themes & 2500 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 

short-cut: http://sdrv.ms/YPOgkX or http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58  link directly to free E-book PDF files

www.jpstiga.com/

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

Different blogs (but with graphics) are available on:

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

http://Being-as-Consciousness.blogspot.com/

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”

–  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

 for very succinct summary of the teaching & practice, see:  www.ajatavada.com/

Mind & Happiness 46

The Philosophical terminology that Sages in different cultures & different ages have used to express the Truth differs greatly, & if understood only superficially may often appear to be conflicting.  For example, many Sages have used terms such as “God” to refer to the Absolute Reality, while others like Buddha & Mahavira [Jain] have avoided using such a term. This has led some people to claim that such Sages have denied the existence of God.  But such a claim is mis-leading, & arises from an overly simplistic understanding both of the Reality & of the term “God”.

The sole aim of the teachings of Buddha & Mahavira [Jain], like that of all other Sages, was to lead us to the One Absolute Reality. The terminology they each used when talking about that Reality may vary, but the Reality about which they all talked is the same.  That Reality can be known only by direct Non-Dual experience, & can never be conceived by the Mind, nor expressed by words.

Being Infinite, direct Non-Dual experience transcends all the conceptual qualities that our finite Minds attribute to it, so it cannot be correctly described as Existence either this or that.  It is everything, & at the same time it is nothing. Therefore it is equally correct, & also equally incorrect, either to refer to it as “God” or not to refer to it as “God”.

The term “God” has no fixed meaning.  In certain contexts it means one thing, & in other contexts it means another thing, because it is a name given to a wide range of notions that people hold about the Supreme or Ultimate Reality. Some of our notions about God are decidedly anthropomorphic, whereas others are more abstract, but none of them are either entirely correct or entirely incorrect.

In vēdānta, therefore, a distinction is made between 2 basic forms of God.  One form is called saguṇa brahman, which means “brahman with guṇas“, & the other form is called nirguṇa brahman, which means “brahman without guṇas“.  The word brahman means the Absolute Reality, the Supreme Existence or God, & the word guṇa means quality or attribute.

Thus saguṇa brahman is the relative form of God, God with qualities (guṇas) & attributes as conceived by the human Mind, while nirguṇa brahman is the Absolute & Real form of God, God without any conceivable quality (guṇa) or attribute.  The God of human conception, whatever that conception may be, is saguṇa brahman, whereas the Reality of God, which transcends all human conception, is nirguṇa brahman.  Thus nirguṇa brahman is the substance or absolute Reality that underlies saguṇa brahman, the God of our limited conception.

Though God as saguṇa brahman is not the Ultimate or Absolute Reality, He & all the Divine qualities we attribute to Him are as real as our own Individuality. Therefore so long as we take our self to be a separate Individual, God & all his divine qualities are for all practical purposes real.

But when we attain the experience of true Self-Knowledge & thereby destroy the false notion that we are an individual Consciousness that is separate from God, God will remain as our own Real Self or essential Existence, the Absolute Reality or nirguṇa brahman, which transcends all human conception.

Because the aim of the Buddha & Mahavira [Jain] was to teach us the means by which we can attain the Absolute Reality, which is beyond all guṇas, qualities or attributes, they did not consider it necessary to talk about “God”, a term that is generally understood to mean saguṇa brahman, the Supreme Existence endowed with Divine qualities.  Other Sages, however, have used the term “God” either as a word referring to nirguṇa brahman, the Absolute Reality that transcends all qualities, or because they understood that the people to whom they were speaking had need of a concept of a personal God who would aid them in their efforts to attain the transpersonal Reality.

There is thus no fundamental difference between the Teachings of Sages who have used the term “God” & those who have not used this term.  Both are speaking about the same Absolute Reality, but have simply chosen to express it in different terms.

The fact that the Buddha clearly acknowledged the existence of the Absolute Reality or nirguṇa brahman is evident from one of his important and well-known teachings, which is recorded in the Tipiṭaka 2.5.3.8.3 (Udāna 8.3):

“There is, mendicants, that which is Not–Born, that which has not come into Existence, that which is not made, that which is not fabricated.  If there were not, mendicants, that which is Not–Born, that which has not come into Existence, that which is not made, that which is not fabricated, here [in this World or in this Life-time] escape from that which is born, from that which has come into Existence, from that which is made, from that which is fabricated, would therefore not have been [a state that could be] clearly known [or experienced].  But because, mendicants, there is indeed that which is Not–Born, that which has not come into Existence, that which is not made, that which is not fabricated, therefore escape from that which is born, from that which has come into Existence, from that which is made, from that which is fabricated, is [a state that can be] clearly known [or experienced].”  Though there is a wealth of profound meaning in these words of the Buddha, this is not a suitable place to examine them in depth.

Another superficial difference between the teachings of the Buddha & those of advaita vēdānta is that the Buddha taught the truth of anattā, a Pali term that is a modified form of the Sanskri  word anātmā, which means “no self”, whereas sages of the advaita vēdānta tradition teach that ātmā or “Self” is the sole existing Reality.  Some people claim that this is a fundamental contradiction between their respective teachings, whereas in fact this is merely a superficial difference in terminology.

When Buddha taught that there is no “self” or ātmā, he was referring only to our finite individual self or jīvātmā, which all sages of the advaita vēdānta tradition also say is unreal.  And when those sages teach that “self” or ātmā is the sole existing Reality, they are referring not to our false

individual self but only to our Real Self – our true Existence or essential “is”-ness, our pure, Unlimited, Undivided, Unqualified & Absolutely Non-Dual Consciousness of our own Existence, which alone remains in the state of nirvāṇa, in which the false appearance of our individual object-knowing Consciousness is completely extinguished.

Thus there is no contradiction at all between the truth of “no self” or anattā taught by the Buddha & the truth that “self” or ātmā is the sole existing Reality taught by advaita vēdānta.  The teachings of different sages appear to differ from one another, or even to contradict one another, for 3 main reasons:

1^stly, it is because of the different terminology that they have used to teach the Truth, which words can never express perfectly, but can only indicate.

2^ndly, it is because they had to adapt their teachings to suit the receptivity of the people they were teaching. And –

3^rdly, it is because their original teachings have often become mixed with the ideas of their followers, many of whom had no direct experience of the Truth they taught, nor even a clear & correct understanding of it.

The records that have survived of the Teachings of many Sages were not written by those Sages themselves, but were recorded by their followers, often long after their Life-time. Therefore such records often do not reflect the Teachings of those Sages perfectly, but only reflect the understanding that some of their literate followers had of their Teachings.

In almost all religions & spiritual traditions, the original Teachings of Sages have become mixed up with elaborate systems of Theology, Cosmology, Philosophy, & Psychology, which bear very little relation to the actual experience of those Sages.  Such Theologies & Cosmologies originate

from the Minds of people who were unable to understand the simplicity & immediacy of the Truth taught by the Sages, & who therefore created such elaborate & complex systems of belief in an attempt to explain what they themselves could not understand.  Because they originated in this manner, all the complex Theologies & Cosmologies that exist in every religion only serve to confuse people & obscure from their Minds the simple Truth of Non-Duality taught by Sages.

The above themes & 2500 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 

short-cut: http://sdrv.ms/YPOgkX or http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58  link directly to free E-book PDF files

www.jpstiga.com/

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

Different blogs (but with graphics) are available on:

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

http://Being-as-Consciousness.blogspot.com/

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”

–  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

 for very succinct summary of the teaching & practice, see:  www.ajatavada.com/

Mind & Happiness 45

Since our Mind therefore has no Essential Nature of its own, we can definitely conclude that it has no reality of its own, but borrows its seeming reality only from our Essential Consciousness “I exist”.  Our Mind is therefore an unreal phantom, something that is in fact neither one thing nor another.  The Mind is a false appearance, an Illusion or Hallucination, a self-deceiving Imagination that appears & disappears in our one real Consciousness “I exist”.

However, though our Mind deceives itself by appearing in & as our Real Consciousness “I exist”, it does not deceive our Consciousness “I exist”, which always remains as it is, knowing only its own Existence, & is affected by nothing else whatsoever.

Because our real Consciousness “I am” always remains as pure Consciousness, undefiled by the knowledge of anything other than itself, nothing that appears or disappears can ever affect it even in the least.  That is, whatever else may appear or disappear, we always know “I exist”.

The essential nature of our Real Consciousness “I am” is only Self-Consciousness – Consciousness of our own Existence – & not Consciousness of anything other than our self. Because our Consciousness of other things appears & disappears, it cannot be the Essential Nature of our real underlying Consciousness “I exist”.

In its Real & Essential Nature, our Consciousness “I exist” is ever unchanging, & ever unaffected by any change that may appear to occur. Therefore, whatever other knowledge may appear or disappear, it cannot affect our fundamental Consciousness of our own Existence, “I exist”, which exists & knows its own existence in all states & at all times.

Our Mind is therefore a false form of Consciousness, an imaginary, confused & self-deceiving form of knowledge, a spurious entity that has no real existence of its own.  Since all Duality or Multiplicity is known only by this Mind, it depends for its seeming existence upon this Mind – this imaginary, confused, self-deceiving & unreal form of Consciousness.  Hence our Mind is the root cause of the appearance of duality. Without our Mind to know it, no Duality could exist. Therefore Duality can only be as real as our Mind, which knows it.  Since our Mind is an unreal appearance that rises & subsides in our real Consciousness “I am”, all duality is likewise an unreal appearance.

Therefore we can reasonably conclude that our pure Consciousness “I exist” is the only existing reality, & that our Mind & all the duality or multiplicity which is known by it is only an unreal appearance – an appearance that is unreal because it is impermanent, constantly changing, and dependent for its seeming existence upon the one real Consciousness “I exist”.

Thus, if we have the courage & intellectual honesty to seriously doubt & question the reality of our Mind, & to analyze its nature impartially, we will be led unavoidably to a Non-Dualistic view of reality – to the conclusion that the only existing Reality is our fundamental Consciousness of our own essential Existence, our pure non-dual self-Consciousness “I exist”, & that all else is only an illusion or false appearance, an Imagination created & known only by our imaginary Mind.

The above themes & 2500 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 

short-cut: http://sdrv.ms/YPOgkX or http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58  link directly to free E-book PDF files

www.jpstiga.com/

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

Different blogs (but with graphics) are available on:

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

http://Being-as-Consciousness.blogspot.com/

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”

–  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

 for very succinct summary of the teaching & practice, see:  www.ajatavada.com/

Mind & Happiness 45

Whereas our Consciousness “I exist” is permanent, our Mind is impermanent.

Whereas our Consciousness “I exist” is ever unchanging Existence, which always remains as it is, our Mind is a constantly changing flow of thoughts.  And:

Whereas our Consciousness “I exist” is always conscious of its own Existence, our Mind is sometimes conscious of itself & other things, & sometimes conscious neither of itself nor of any other thing. Therefore our Consciousness “I exist” is Real, whereas our Mind is merely an unreal appearance.

If the essential nature of something is Consciousness, it must always be conscious, because nothing can ever be separated from its essential nature.  Because Consciousness is the essential nature of our Consciousness “I exist”, Consciousness is conscious at all times & in all 3 States.

Similarly, because the essential nature of our Consciousness “I exist” is also Existence or existence, it exists at all times & in all 3 States.  In contrast, since our Mind is conscious only during the Waking & Dream States, & ceases to be conscious in Deep Dreamless Sleep, its essential nature cannot be Consciousness.

Similarly, since the Mind exists only in Waking & Dream, but ceases to exist in Deep Dreamless Sleep, its essential nature cannot be Existence.  In fact, there is nothing that can be pointed out as being the essential nature of our Mind, because it is not constantly any one thing.  The Body cannot be its essential nature, because though it identifies itself with a particular Body in the Waking state, in Dream it identifies itself with some other Body, & in Deep Dreamless Sleep it identifies itself with no Body at all.

Similarly, the Mind’s essential nature cannot be any thought or even the act of thinking, because throughout the Waking & Dream states the thoughts it thinks are constantly changing, & in Deep Dreamless Sleep the Mind ceases to think any thought. Though our Mind in fact has no essential nature of its own, in the Waking & Dream states its Essential Nature appears to be Consciousness.  However, since the Mind ceases to be conscious in Deep Dreamless Sleep, the Consciousness that appears to be its Essential Nature in Waking & Dream is in fact borrowed by it from our real Consciousness “I exist”.

The above themes & 2500 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 

short-cut: http://sdrv.ms/YPOgkX or http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58  link directly to free E-book PDF files

www.jpstiga.com/

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

Different blogs (but with graphics) are available on:

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

http://Being-as-Consciousness.blogspot.com/

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”

–  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

 for very succinct summary of the teaching & practice, see:  www.ajatavada.com/

Mind & Happiness 44

The only thing whose reality we cannot doubt is our Consciousness of our own Existence – our Non-Dual Self-Consciousness, “I exist”.  Other than this Non-Dual & fundamental Consciousness “I exist”, everything that we experience is open to doubt. Hence we cannot reasonably avoid doubting the reality of all Duality, & suspecting that in fact the only Reality is our Non-Dual Consciousness of our own Existence, “I exist”.

By what standard can we determine whether or not something is real ?  A thing can be truly said to be real only if it is absolutely, unconditionally & independently real, & not if its reality is in any way relative, conditional, or dependent upon something else.  Therefore, according to Sri Ramana, something can be called real only if it satisfies 3 essential criteria: it must be:

1) Eternal,

2) Unchanging, &

3) Self-shining.

If something is not Eternal, though it may appear to be “real” for a certain period of time, it was not real before it came into existence, & it will not be real after it ceases to exist, so in fact it is unreal even while it appears to be real.  Because it is confined within the limits of Time, its seeming reality is relative & conditional.  That which is Absolutely & Unconditionally real must be real at all times, & cannot be limited in relation to anything else.

Moreover, if something undergoes Change during the course of time, it is one thing at one time, but becomes another thing at another time, & hence it does not exist Eternally as any one thing. Being impermanent, that which changes is not real.

However, the most important criteria by which we can determine something as real is that it must be Self-Shining. By the term “self-shining”, Sri Ramana means “self-knowing” or “self-conscious”, that is, knowing itself by its own light of Consciousness. That which is Absolutely & Unconditionally Real need not depend upon any Consciousness other than itself to be known.  If something depends upon something else in order to be known as existing or real, then its reality depends upon the reality of the Consciousness that knows it.  Since it does not know itself to be real, it is not real at all, but merely appears to be real so long as it is known by the Consciousness that knows it.

Measured by this standard, the only existing Reality is our fundamental Consciousness “I exist”, because among all the things that we experience or know, it is the only thing that is permanent, the only thing that never undergoes any Change, & the only thing that knows its own Existence without the aid of any other thing.

Unlike this Consciousness “I exist”, our Mind is impermanent, because it appears in the States of Waking & Dream, & disappears in Deep Dreamless Sleep.  Even while it does appear to exist, our Mind is constantly undergoing Change, thinking of one thing at one moment & another thing at another moment.

And though our Mind appears to know itself by its own power of Consciousness, in fact the Consciousness by which it knows itself & all other things is only our basic Consciousness “I exist”, which it seemingly usurps as its own, but which is nevertheless independent of it.  Our Mind is distinct from our essential Consciousness “I exist”, by the light of which it seemingly knows the existence of itself & other things, because our Consciousness “I exist” can exist in the absence of our Mind, as in Deep Dreamless Sleep.

The above themes & 2500 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 

short-cut: http://sdrv.ms/YPOgkX or http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58  link directly to free E-book PDF files

www.jpstiga.com/

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

Different blogs (but with graphics) are available on:

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

http://Being-as-Consciousness.blogspot.com/

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”

–  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

 for very succinct summary of the teaching & practice, see:  www.ajatavada.com/

Mind & Happiness 43

Our Mind does not always identify the same Body as “I”.  In Waking, the Mind takes one Body to be “I”, but in each Dream it takes some other Dream–Body to be “I”.  Since it can identify itself with different bodies at different times, it cannot really be any of those bodies.

By identifying itself with a Body, our Mind deludes itself into experiencing our Consciousness “I exist” as being something confined within the limits of a Body, & a Body composed of unconscious Matter as being something that is endowed with Consciousness. If our Mind did not delude itself in this manner, it would not exist as a separate entity called “Mind”, but would remain as pure Consciousness, undefiled by any form of limitation.

Because the very nature of our Mind is to delude itself into experiencing that it is what it is not, Sri Ramana said that our Mind itself is māyā, the primordial power of Delusion, Illusion or self-deception – the power that makes what is Real appear to be un-real, & what is un-real appear to be Real.

In Dream our Mind projects an imaginary Body, which it identifies as “I”, & through the 5 Senses of that Body it perceives an imaginary World.  So long as our Mind continues to be in that State of Dream, it takes the Body & World that it experiences in Dream to be real.  However absurd some of the things which it experiences may appear to exist, still our Mind deludes itself into believing that those things are real.  So long as our Mind experiences itself as a Body, it cannot but experience all that it perceives through the Senses of that Body as real. But when we wake up from a Dream, we cease to experience the Dream–Body as “I”, & we simultaneously cease to experience the Dream World as “real”.

Thus from our experience in Dream, & our contrasting experience on Waking from Dream, we can clearly understand that by the power of its imagination our Mind has the ability to create a World of duality & simultaneously convince itself that that World is real. When we know that our Mind has this power of simultaneous creation & self-deception, we have to doubt whether all the duality that it now experiences in the Waking state is anything other than a product of its own self-deceiving power of Imagination.

The above themes & 2500 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 

short-cut: http://sdrv.ms/YPOgkX or http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58  link directly to free E-book PDF files

www.jpstiga.com/

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

Different blogs (but with graphics) are available on:

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

http://Being-as-Consciousness.blogspot.com/

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”

–  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

 for very succinct summary of the teaching & practice, see:  www.ajatavada.com/

Mind & Happiness 42

In addition to knowing its own Existence, our Consciousness sometimes seems to know other things also.  When our Consciousness thus appears to know things other than itself, we call it our “Mind”.  What exactly is this “Mind”, this Consciousness that knows otherness & Duality ?

Is it the true form of our Consciousness, or merely a false super-imposition upon our real Self-Consciousness “I exist” ?  Is it real, or is it merely a false appearance ?  Whenever our Mind rises, it rises in conjunction with a Body, with which it identifies itself, feeling “I am this Body”.

Without identifying itself with a Body, our Mind cannot rise.  Once it has risen, identifying itself with a particular Body, through the 5 Senses of that Body it perceives the World.  Thus our Mind’s Identification with a Body is fundamental to its ability to know the World.

But how does this Identification with a Body arise ?  Our Mind is a form of Consciousness, whereas this Body is a physical form composed of unconscious Matter.  By identifying itself with this Body, our Mind is confusing 2 different things as one.  It is confusing Consciousness, which is not physical Matter, with the physical form of this Body, which is not Consciousness.

Therefore our Mind is a confused & spurious form of Consciousness, a phantom which is neither our real Consciousness “I exist”, nor the physical form of this Body, but which mixes these 2 different things together, feeling “I am this Body”.  Though our Mind usurps the properties of both our Consciousness “I exist” & this physical Body, it is in fact neither of these 2 things.

Since the Body appears & disappears, & constantly undergoes change, it is not our real Consciousness “I exist”, which neither appears nor disappears, but exists & knows its own Existence at all times & in all states without ever undergoing any change.  And since our Mind is conscious,  it is not this Body, which is unconscious Matter.

The above themes & 2500 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 

short-cut: http://sdrv.ms/YPOgkX or http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58  link directly to free E-book PDF files

www.jpstiga.com/

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

Different blogs (but with graphics) are available on:

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

http://Being-as-Consciousness.blogspot.com/

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”

–  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

 for very succinct summary of the teaching & practice, see:  www.ajatavada.com/

Mind & Happiness 41

All words are open to interpretation – & misinterpretation. This is particularly true of words that speak about the Spirit – the Reality that lies beyond the limitations of physical matter, & that therefore cannot be perceived by the 5 Senses, or known as an object of Consciousness.  All interpretations of such words fall into 2 distinct categories – interpretations that are strictly non-dualistic, admitting no division of the One & only Reality, & interpretations that are either completely dualistic, or that at least concede that within the One Reality there are divisions & distinctions that are real.

Ultimately the interpretation that we each choose to accept depends not upon the Truth itself – because the nature of the Truth cannot be proved objectively – but upon our own personal preferences. Most people – whether they hold religious beliefs or cherish a more materialistic outlook on Life – prefer to take a Dualistic view of Reality, because such a view assures them of the reality of their own Individuality, & of the World they perceive through their Senses, & (if they choose to believe in God) of God as a separately existing entity. Therefore the only basis for a Dualistic view of Reality is the attachment that people have to their own Individuality, to the World that they think gives them Happiness, & to their idea of a God who they believe will give them the things that will make them happy.

There is no way that a Dualistic view of Reality can be proved to be correct & valid.  All our knowledge of Duality is obtained by our Mind & exists only within our Mind.  If our Mind is real, then Duality may be real.  But the “reality” of our Mind is open to question & doubt.

If we are not overly attached to our existence as a separate Individual, we can begin to question & doubt the reality of our Mind.  If we do so, we will be led unavoidably to a Non-Dualistic view of Reality.  Of all the knowledge we know, the one Knowledge whose reality we cannot reasonably doubt is our own essential Consciousness “I exist”.  Knowledge can exist only if there is a Consciousness to know it.  Since all knowledge depends for its seeming existence upon Consciousness, this Consciousness is the one fundamental, irreducible, & indubitable truth of our experience.  Because we know, our Consciousness is undoubtedly Real.

The one essential quality of Consciousness is that it is always Self-Conscious – it always knows its own existence or Existence – & that Consciousness of its own Existence is what we experience as “I exist”.

The above themes & 2500 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 

short-cut: http://sdrv.ms/YPOgkX or http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58  link directly to free E-book PDF files

www.jpstiga.com/

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

Different blogs (but with graphics) are available on:

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

http://Being-as-Consciousness.blogspot.com/

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”

–  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

 for very succinct summary of the teaching & practice, see:  www.ajatavada.com/

Mind & Happiness 40

Since true Self-Knowledge is therefore the State in which our individual Consciousness, our Mind or Ego, is known to be a false appearance that never existed except in its own imagination, Sri Ramana often described it as the state of “egolessness”, “loss of individuality”, or “destruction of the Mind.”

Another term that is commonly used, both in Buddhism & in advaita vēdānta, to describe this state of annihilation or extinction of our personal identity is nirvāṇa, a word that literally means “blown out” or “extinguished”. This is the same state that most religions refer to as “liberation” or “salvation”, because only in this state of true Self-Knowledge are we free or saved from the bondage of mistaking our self to be a separate individual, a Consciousness that is confined within the limits of a physical Body.

The sole Reality that exists & is known in this state of ego-less-ness, nirvāṇa or Salvation is our fundamental & essential Consciousness “I exist”.  Since it does not identify itself with any delimiting adjunct, our essential & pure Consciousness “I exist” is a single, undivided & unlimited whole, separate from which nothing can exist.

All the Diversity & Multiplicity that appears to exist so long as we identify our self with a physical Body, is known only by our Mind, which is merely a distorted & limited form of our original Consciousness “I exist”.  If this Consciousness “I exist” did not exist, nothing else could appear to exist.  Therefore, our fundamental Consciousness “I exist” is the Source & Origin of all Knowledge – the one Basis of all that appears to exist.

Our essential Consciousness “I am” is thus the Ultimate Reality, the original Source from which everything arises, & the final Destination towards which all religions & spiritual traditions seek to lead us.  Most religions call this fundamental Reality “God” or the “Supreme Being”, or else they refer to it in a more abstract manner as the true State of Existence.  But by whatever name they may call it – & whether they describe it as Existence or a State of Existence – the Truth is that the Supreme & Absolute Reality is not anything other than our own Existence, the Consciousness which we experience as “I exist”.

In his True Form, his Essential Nature, God is not something or some person who exists outside us or separate from us, but is the Spirit or Consciousness that exists within us as our own Essential Nature.  God is the pure Consciousness “I exist”, the true Form of Consciousness that is not limited by identifying itself with a physical Body or any other adjunct.  But when we, who are that same pure Consciousness “I exist”, identify our self with a physical Body, feeling “I am this Body, I am a person, an Individual confined within the limits of Time & Space,” we become the Mind, a false & illusory form of Consciousness.  Because we identify our self with adjuncts in this manner, we seemingly separate our self from the adjunct-less pure Consciousness “I exist”, which is God.

By thus imagining our self to be an Individual separate from God, we violate his Unlimited Wholeness & Undivided Oneness.  The inner aim of all religions & spiritual traditions is to free us from this illusory state in which we imagine that we are separate from God, the One Unlimited & Undivided Reality.

The above themes & 2500 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 

short-cut: http://sdrv.ms/YPOgkX or http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58  link directly to free E-book PDF files

www.jpstiga.com/

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

Different blogs (but with graphics) are available on:

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

http://Being-as-Consciousness.blogspot.com/

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”

–  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

 for very succinct summary of the teaching & practice, see:  www.ajatavada.com/

Mind & Happiness 39

This individual Consciousness – our feeling “I am a person, a separate Individual, a Mind or soul confined within the limits of a Body” – is merely an iIagination, a false & distorted form of our pure Consciousness “I exist”, but it is nevertheless the root cause of all desire & all Suffering.

Unless we give up this individual Consciousness, this false notion that we are separate from God, we can never be free of desire, nor of Suffering, which is the inevitable consequence of desire.  True Self-Surrender is therefore nothing but giving up the false notion that we are separate from God.  In order to give up this false notion, we must know who we really are.  And in order to know who we really are, we must attend to the Consciousness that we feel to be “I”.

Though the Consciousness that we now feel to be “I” is only a false Consciousness, a limited & distorted form of the real Consciousness that is God, by attending to it keenly we can know the real Consciousness that underlies it.  That is, attending keenly to this false form of Consciousness is similar to looking closely at a Snake that we imagine we see lying on the ground in the dim light of dusk.  When we look closely at the Snake, we discover that it is in fact nothing but a Rope.

Similarly, if we keenly attend to the limited & distorted individual Consciousness that we now feel to be “I”, we will discover that it is in fact nothing but the Real & Unlimited Consciousness “I exist”, which is God.  Just as the illusory appearance of the Snake dissolves & disappears as soon as we see the Rope, so the illusory feeling that we are a separate individual Consciousness confined within the limits of a Body will dissolve & disappear as soon as we experience the pure Non-Dual Consciousness, which is the Reality both of our Self & of God.

We can thus achieve complete & perfect Self-Surrender only by knowing our self to be the Real Consciousness that is devoid of all duality & separateness.  Without knowing our True Self, we cannot surrender our false self, & without surrendering our false self, we cannot know our True Self.

Self-Surrender & Self-Knowledge are thus inseparable, like the 2 sides of one sheet of paper. In fact, the terms “Self-Surrender” & “Self-Knowledge” are just 2 ways of describing one & the same state – the pure Non-Dual State of Consciousness devoid of Individuality.

The above themes & 2500 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 

short-cut: http://sdrv.ms/YPOgkX or http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58  link directly to free E-book PDF files

www.jpstiga.com/

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

Different blogs (but with graphics) are available on:

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

http://Being-as-Consciousness.blogspot.com/

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”

–  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

 for very succinct summary of the teaching & practice, see:  www.ajatavada.com/

Mind & Happiness 38

This individual Consciousness – our feeling “I am a person, a separate Individual, a Mind or soul confined within the limits of a Body” – is merely an imagination, a false & distorted form of our pure Consciousness “I exist”, but it is nevertheless the root cause of all desire & all Suffering.

Unless we give up this individual Consciousness, this false notion that we are separate from God, we can never be free of desire, nor of Suffering, which is the inevitable consequence of desire.  True Self-Surrender is therefore nothing but giving up the false notion that we are separate from God.  In order to give up this false notion, we must know who we really are.  And in order to know who we really are, we must attend to the Consciousness that we feel to be “I”.

Though the Consciousness that we now feel to be “I” is only a false Consciousness, a limited & distorted form of the real Consciousness that is God, by attending to it keenly we can know the real Consciousness that underlies it.  That is, attending keenly to this false form of Consciousness is similar to looking closely at a Snake that we imagine we see lying on the ground in the dim light of dusk.  When we look closely at the Snake, we discover that it is in fact nothing but a Rope.

Similarly, if we keenly attend to the limited & distorted individual Consciousness that we now feel to be “I”, we will discover that it is in fact nothing but the Real & Unlimited Consciousness “I exist”, which is God.  Just as the illusory appearance of the Snake dissolves & disappears as soon as we see the Rope, so the illusory feeling that we are a separate individual Consciousness confined within the limits of a Body will dissolve & disappear as soon as we experience the pure Non-Dual Consciousness, which is the Reality both of our Self & of God.

We can thus achieve complete & perfect Self-Surrender only by knowing our self to be the Real Consciousness that is devoid of all duality & separateness.  Without knowing our True Self, we cannot surrender our false self, & without surrendering our false self, we cannot know our True Self.

Self-Surrender & Self-Knowledge are thus inseparable, like the 2 sides of one sheet of paper. In fact, the terms “Self-Surrender” & “Self-Knowledge” are just 2 ways of describing one & the same state – the pure Non-Dual State of Consciousness devoid of Individuality.

The above themes & 2500 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 

short-cut: http://sdrv.ms/YPOgkX or http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58  link directly to free E-book PDF files

www.jpstiga.com/

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

Different blogs (but with graphics) are available on:

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

http://Being-as-Consciousness.blogspot.com/

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”

–  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

 for very succinct summary of the teaching & practice, see:  www.ajatavada.com/

Mind & Happiness 37

Besides describing the means to attain Self-Knowledge by the use of terms that mean “Self-Attention” or “Self-Abidance”, Sri Ramana also described it by terms that mean “Self-Surrender” or “Self-Denial”.  By using the latter terms, he affirmed that the ultimate aim of all forms of Dualistic Devotion – devotion to a God who is conceived as other than the devotee – is in fact the Non-Dual State of true Self-Knowledge.

In order to know our True Self, we must give up our identification with the false individual self that we now mistake to be “I”.  Therefore, surrendering or denying our personal self – our Mind, which is our confused & distorted Consciousness “I am this Body, a person called so-&-so” – is essential if we are to know our true unadulterated Consciousness “I exist”, which is our Real Self.

Our individual self, which is the limited & distorted Consciousness that we call our “Mind” or “Ego”, & that in theological terminology is called our “soul“, nourishes its seeming existence by attending to things other than itself.  When we cease attending to other things, as in sleep, our Mind or individual self subsides, but as soon as we begin to think of other things, it again rises & flourishes. Without thinking of things other than “I”, our Mind cannot stand. Therefore, when we attempt to turn our attention away from all objects & towards our fundamental Consciousness “I”, we are surrendering or denying our individual self, our Mind or Ego.  Self-Attention or Self-Abidance is thus the perfect means to attain the state of “Self-Surrender” or “Self-Denial”.

This is why in verse 31 of Vivēkacūḍāmaṇi Sri Adi Sankara defines bhakti or “Devotion” as sva-svarūpa-anusandhāna or “Self-Attention”, the investigation or close inspection of our own true form or essential nature, which is our fundamental Self-Consciousness – our Non-Dual Consciousness of our own Existence, “I am”. Sri Ramana expresses the same truth in verse 15 of Upadēśa Taṉippākkaḷ, but at the same Time explains why it is so:

“Since God exists as ātmā [our essential “spirit” or Real Self], ātmaanusandhāna [Self-Investigation, Self-Inspection, or Self-Attention] is parama-īśa-bhakti [Supreme Devotion to God].”

He also expresses a similar idea in the 13^th paragraph of his brief treatise Nāṉ Yār? (Who am I ?):

Being completely absorbed in ātma-niṣṭha [Self-Abidance, the State of just Existence as we really are], giving not even the slightest room to the rising of any thought other than ātma-cintana [the thought of our own Real Self], is giving our self to God. […]”

People who practice Dualistic Devotion believe that the highest form of devotion to God – the purest form of Love – is to surrender our self wholly to Him.  In order to surrender themselves to Him, they try to deny themselves by giving up their Attachment to all that they consider as “mine” & in particular by renouncing their own individual will.  Thus the ultimate prayer of every true devotee is, “Thy Will be done – not my will, but only Thine”.

However, so long as the Mind exists, it will inevitably have a will of its own.  Desire & Attachment are inherent in the Mind, the very fabric of which it is made. Therefore, so long as we feel our self to be an individual “I”, we will also have an individual will, & will feel a sense of Attachment to “mine”.  The only way we can surrender our own will & give up all our Attachments is to surrender the Mind that has an individual will & feels Attachment to the Body & other possessions.

Trying to surrender our individual will & sense of “mine” – our desires & Attachments – without actually surrendering our Individuality, our Ego or sense of Existence as a separate “I”, is like cutting the leaves & branches off a tree without cutting its root.  Until & unless we cut the root, the branches & leaves will continue sprouting again & again.  Similarly, until & unless we surrender our Ego, the root of all our desires & Attachments, all our efforts to give up our desires & Attachments will fail, because they will continue to sprout again & again in one subtle form or another. Therefore Self-Surrender can be complete & final only when our individual self, the limited Consciousness that we call our “Mind” or “Ego”, is surrendered wholly.

So long as we feel that we exist as an Individual who is separate from God, we have not surrendered our self wholly to him. Though we are in truth only the pure, unlimited & non-personal Consciousness “I exist”, which is the spirit or true form of God, we feel that we are separate from Him because we mistake our self to be a limited individual Consciousness that has identified itself with a particular Body.

The above themes & 2500 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 

short-cut: http://sdrv.ms/YPOgkX or http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58  link directly to free E-book PDF files

www.jpstiga.com/

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

Different blogs (but with graphics) are available on:

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

http://Being-as-Consciousness.blogspot.com/

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”

–  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

 for very succinct summary of the teaching & practice, see:  www.ajatavada.com/

Mind & Happiness 36

Sri Ramana spoke & wrote mostly in Tamil [Dravidian], his mother tongue, but he was also conversant in Sanskrit [Indo–European], Telugu [Dravidian], Malayalam [Dravidian], & English [Indo–European].

Tamil is the oldest surviving member of the Dravidian family of languages, & has a rich & ancient classical literature.  Though in its origins it belongs to a family of languages that is entirely independent of the Indo–European family, for the past 2,000 years or so Tamil literature has made rich & abundant use of words borrowed from Sanskrit, the oldest surviving member of the Indo–European family. Therefore, most of the terms Sri Ramana used to describe the practical means by which we can attain Self-Knowledge are either Tamil words or words of Sanskrit origin that are commonly used in Tamil spiritual literature.

The words he thus used in Tamil have been translated in English by a variety of different words, some of which convey the import & spirit of his original words more clearly & accurately than others.  Perhaps 2 of the clearest & most simple terms used in English to convey the Sense of the words that he used in Tamil to describe the practical means to attain Self-Knowledge are “Self-Attention” & “Self-Abidance”.

The term “Self-Attention” denotes the Knowing aspect of the practice, while the term “Self-Abidance” denotes its Existence aspect.  Since our Real Self, which is Non-Dual Self-Consciousness, knows itself not by an act of Knowing but merely by Existence itself, the state of knowing our Real Self is just the state of Existence our Real Self.  Thus attending to our Self–Consciousness & abiding as our Self–Consciousness are one & the same thing.

All the other words that Sri Ramana used to describe the practice are intended to be clues that help to clarify what this state of “Self-Attention” or “Self-Abidance” really is. A few of the terms which he used to describe the practice of “Self-Attention” or “Self-Abidance” are in fact terms already used in some of the classical texts of advaita vēdānta.  However, though such texts have used some of the same terms that Sri Ramana used to express the practice, they have seldom explained the true import of those terms in a clear & unambiguous manner.  Thus, even after thoroughly studying the classical literature of advaita vēdānta, many people are left with only a vague understanding of what they can do to attain Self-Knowledge.  As a result, many mis-conceptions about the practice of advaita vēdānta arose, & some of these misconceptions have been prevalent among students & scholars of advaita vēdānta since time immemorial.

One of the terms that occurs in the classical literature of advaita vēdānta & that Sri Ramana frequently used to denote the practice of Self-Attention is vicāra (which is commonly transcribed as vichara, since the “c” in vicāra represents the same sound as “ch” in chutney), but the significance of this term was not clearly understood by most of the traditional scholars of advaita vēdānta.

According to the Sanskrit-English dictionary of Monier–Williams, the term vicāra has various meanings, including “pondering, deliberation, consideration, reflection, examination, investigation”, & it is in these senses that this same word is used in Tamil, as is clear from the

Tamil Lexicon, which defines it both as “deliberation” or “consideration”, & as “unbiased examination with a view to arriving at the Truth” or “investigation”.  Therefore the term ātma-vicāra, which Sri Ramana frequently used to describe the practice by which we can attain Self-Knowledge, means “Self-Investigation” or “Self-Examination”, & denotes the practice of examining, inspecting or scrutinizing our fundamental & essential Consciousness “I exist” with a keen & concentrated power of attention.

Though the term ātma-vicāra can best be translated in English as “Self–Investigation”, “Self-Examination”, “Self-Inspection”, “Self-Scrutiny”, “Self-Contemplation”, or simply “Self-Attention”, in most English translations of Sri Ramana”s teachings it has been translated as “Self-Inquiry”.  This choice of the English word “Inquiry” to translate vicāra has had unfortunate consequences, because it has created an impression in the Minds of some people that ātma-vicāra, or the vicāra “Who Am  I ?” as Sri Ramana often called it, is merely a process of questioning or asking our self “Who am I ?”

This is clearly a misinterpretation, because in Sanskrit the word vicāra means “Inquiry” in the Sense of “Investigation” rather than in the sense of “questioning”.  When Sri Ramana spoke of the vicāra “Who am I ?” he did not intend it to imply that we can attain the Non-Dual experience of true Self-Knowledge simply by asking our self the question “Who am I ?”  The vicāra “Who am I ?”  is an investigation, examination or scrutiny of our fundamental Consciousness “I exist”, because only by keenly scrutinizing or inspecting our Consciousness “I” can we discover who we really are – what this Consciousness “I” actually is.

The above themes & 2500 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 

short-cut: http://sdrv.ms/YPOgkX or http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58  link directly to free E-book PDF files

www.jpstiga.com/

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

Different blogs (but with graphics) are available on:

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

http://Being-as-Consciousness.blogspot.com/

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”

–  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

 for very succinct summary of the teaching & practice, see:  www.ajatavada.com/

Mind & Happiness 35

Though in his Teachings Sri Ramana borrowed some of the terminology, concepts & analogies commonly used in the classical literature of advaita vēdānta, his Teachings are not merely a repetition of the old & familiar teachings contained in that literature.  Because he was teaching the Truth that he had known from his own direct experience, & not merely learnt from books, he was able to set aside all the dense mass of non-essential, complex & ponderous arguments & concepts found in that literature [including in some of the Shankara tradition literature], & to throw a fresh & clear light upon the inner essence of advaita vēdānta.

In his Teachings he has revealed the true spirit of advaita vēdānta in a clear & simple manner that can easily be understood even by people who have no previous acquaintance with such Philosophy.  Moreover, the simplicity, clarity & directness of his Teachings have helped to clear the confusion created in the Minds of many people who have studied the classical literature of advaita vēdānta, but have been misled by the many well-established misinterpretations of it made by scholars who had no direct experience of the Truth.

In particular, his Teachings have cleared up many misunderstandings that had long existed about the practice of advaita vēdānta, & have clearly revealed the means by which we can attain the experience of true Self-Knowledge.  Since the means to attain Self-Knowledge is for some reason seldom stated in clear & unambiguous terms in the classical literature of advaita vēdānta,

many misconceptions exist about the spiritual practice advocated by advaita vēdānta.  Therefore perhaps the most significant contribution made by Sri Ramana to the literature of advaita vēdānta lies in the fact that in his Teachings he has revealed in very clear, precise & unambiguous terms the practical means by which Self-Knowledge can be attained.

Not only has he explained this practical means very clearly, he has also explained exactly how it will lead us infallibly to the state of Self-Knowledge, & why it is the only means that can do so. Unlike many of the older texts of advaita vēdānta, the Teachings of Sri Ramana are centered entirely around the practical means by which we can attain Self-Knowledge, & all that he taught regarding any aspect of Life was aimed solely at directing our Minds towards this practice.

Though this practical means is essentially very simple, for many people it appears difficult to comprehend, because it is not an action or state of “doing”, nor does it involve any form of objective attention.  Since the practice is thus a state beyond all mental activity – a state of non-doing & non-objective attention – no words can express it perfectly. Therefore, to enable us to understand & practice it, Sri Ramana has expressed & described it in various different ways, each of which serves as a valuable clue that helps us to know & to be the pure Consciousness that is our own True Self.

Mind & Happiness 33

Besides being not particularly appropriate, the title “Maharshi” sounds rather cold & distant when applied to Sri Ramana, so rather than referring to him as “the Maharshi”, his disciples & devotees usually prefer to refer to him by the more affectionate & respectful title “Bhagavan”.  Here we will refer to him by his personal name as “Sri Ramana” or “Bhagavan Ramana”.

To all those who have followed his teachings & thereby attained the blissful state of true Self-Knowledge, he is “Ramana”, the beloved giver of joy, & “Bhagavan”, a gracious embodiment of God, the Supreme Reality, which he discovered to be his own True Self, & which he prompted & guided each one of us to discover likewise as our own True Self.  Sri Ramana is not merely an individual person who lived sometime in the Past, nor does he belong to any particular religion or culture.  He is the eternal & unlimited spirit, the Ultimate & Absolute Reality, our own True Self, & as such he always lives within each one of us as our pure & essential Consciousness of Existence, which we each experience as “I exist”.

Bhagavan Sri Ramana never sought of his own accord to teach anyone the Truth that he had come to know, because in his experience that Truth – the Consciousness “I exist” – alone exists, & hence there is no person either to give or to receive any Teaching.  However, though he inwardly knew that Consciousness is the only Reality, he was nevertheless outwardly a personification of Love, compassion & kindness.  Knowing both himself & all other things to be nothing but the Consciousness “I exist”, he saw himself in everything, & hence he quite literally loved all living beings as his own Self.  Therefore, when people asked him questions about the Reality & the means of attaining it, he patiently answered their questions, & thus without any volition on his part he gradually revealed a wealth of spiritual teachings.

Many of the answers that he thus gave were recorded in writing, more or less accurately, by his devotees & disciples, but the most accurate & authentic record of his teachings lies in the poetry that he himself wrote, mostly in Tamil, & also in Sanskrit, Telugu & Malayalam. Most of the poetry he wrote was in response to requests made by his disciples, but some of it was composed by him spontaneously.  His poetry falls into 2 general categories – poems that directly convey spiritual teachings, & devotional hymns that convey spiritual teachings indirectly in the allegorical language of mystical love.

Since he was asked questions on a wide range of subjects by people whose interests & level of understanding varied greatly, the answers that he gave were in each case tailored to the needs of the person he was talking to, & hence they did not always reflect the essence of his Teachings.

Therefore when we read the various records of the conversations that he had with people, they may appear to contain inconsistencies, & to convey no single, clear or coherent set of Teachings. However, a very clear, coherent & consistent account of his central Teachings can be found in his poetry & other writings, & if we read all the records of his conversations in the light of those central Teachings, we can clearly understand that he had a very definite message for all who were ready to hear it.

Before he attained the experience of true Self-Knowledge, Sri Ramana had not read or heard anything that described that experience, or prepared him in any way for it.  Having been brought up in a normal family of south Indian brahmins, he was familiar with the outward forms of the Hindu religion & with a few devotional texts, & having been educated in a Christian missionary school, he was familiar with the outward forms of Christianity & with the Bible.  Moreover, having had some childhood friends who were from Muslim families, he also had some familiarity with the outward forms of Islam.  But though he had a general idea that all these religions were just different ways of worshipping the same one God, he had had no opportunity to learn anything about the real inner essence that lies behind the outward forms of all religions.

The Teachings that he gave in later years were therefore derived entirely from his own inward experience, & did not originate from any outward learning.  However, whenever anyone asked him to explain any sacred or spiritual text, he would read it & would often recognize that in one way or another it was expressing the Truth that was his own experience. Thus he was able to interpret such texts with authority & to explain their inner meaning in clear & simple words.

Since the cultural & religious milieu in which he lived was predominantly Hindu, & since most of the people who sought his spiritual guidance were either born Hindus or were familiar with traditional Hindu philosophy, the texts he was most often asked to explain were those of the Hindu philosophical tradition known as advaita vēdānta. Thus Sri Ramana’s teachings are often identified with advaita vēdānta & are taken to be a modern expression or interpretation of that ancient philosophy.

The above themes & 2500 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 

short-cut: http://sdrv.ms/YPOgkX or http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58  link directly to free E-book PDF files

www.jpstiga.com/

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

Different blogs (but with graphics) are available on:

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

http://Being-as-Consciousness.blogspot.com/

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”

–  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

 for very succinct summary of the teaching & practice, see:  www.ajatavada.com/

Mind & Happiness

Besides being not particularly appropriate, the title “Maharshi” sounds rather cold & distant when applied to Sri Ramana, so rather than referring to him as “the Maharshi”, his disciples & devotees usually prefer to refer to him by the more affectionate & respectful title “Bhagavan”.  Here we will refer to him by his personal name as “Sri Ramana” or “Bhagavan Ramana”.

To all those who have followed his teachings & thereby attained the blissful state of true Self-Knowledge, he is “Ramana”, the beloved giver of joy, & “Bhagavan”, a gracious embodiment of God, the Supreme Reality, which he discovered to be his own True Self, & which he prompted & guided each one of us to discover likewise as our own True Self.  Sri Ramana is not merely an individual person who lived sometime in the Past, nor does he belong to any particular religion or culture.  He is the eternal & unlimited spirit, the Ultimate & Absolute Reality, our own True Self, & as such he always lives within each one of us as our pure & essential Consciousness of Existence, which we each experience as “I exist”.

Bhagavan Sri Ramana never sought of his own accord to teach anyone the Truth that he had come to know, because in his experience that Truth – the Consciousness “I exist” – alone exists, & hence there is no person either to give or to receive any Teaching.  However, though he inwardly knew that Consciousness is the only Reality, he was nevertheless outwardly a personification of Love, compassion & kindness.  Knowing both himself & all other things to be nothing but the Consciousness “I exist”, he saw himself in everything, & hence he quite literally loved all living

Existences as his own Self.  Therefore, when people asked him questions about the Reality & the means of attaining it, he patiently answered their questions, & thus without any volition on his part he gradually revealed a wealth of spiritual teachings.

Many of the answers that he thus gave were recorded in writing, more or less accurately, by his devotees & disciples, but the most accurate & authentic record of his teachings lies in the poetry that he himself wrote, mostly in Tamil, & also in Sanskrit, Telugu & Malayalam. Most of the poetry he wrote was in response to requests made by his disciples, but some of it was composed by him spontaneously.  His poetry falls into 2 general categories – poems that directly convey spiritual teachings, & devotional hymns that convey spiritual teachings indirectly in the allegorical language of mystical love.

Since he was asked questions on a wide range of subjects by people whose interests & level of understanding varied greatly, the answers that he gave were in each case tailored to the needs of the person he was talking to, & hence they did not always reflect the essence of his Teachings.

Therefore when we read the various records of the conversations that he had with people, they may appear to contain inconsistencies, & to convey no single, clear or coherent set of Teachings. However, a very clear, coherent & consistent account of his central Teachings can be found in his poetry & other writings, & if we read all the records of his conversations in the light of those central Teachings, we can clearly understand that he had a very definite message for all who were ready to hear it.

Before he attained the experience of true Self-Knowledge, Sri Ramana had not read or heard anything that described that experience, or prepared him in any way for it.  Having been brought up in a normal family of south Indian brahmins, he was familiar with the outward forms of the Hindu religion & with a few devotional texts, & having been educated in a Christian missionary school, he was familiar with the outward forms of Christianity & with the Bible.  Moreover, having had some childhood friends who were from Muslim families, he also had some familiarity with the outward forms of Islam.  But though he had a general idea that all these religions were just different ways of worshipping the same one God, he had had no opportunity to learn anything about the real inner essence that lies behind the outward forms of all religions.

The Teachings that he gave in later years were therefore derived entirely from his own inward experience, & did not originate from any outward learning.  However, whenever anyone asked him to explain any sacred or spiritual text, he would read it & would often recognize that in one way or another it was expressing the Truth that was his own experience. Thus he was able to interpret such texts with authority & to explain their inner meaning in clear & simple words.

Since the cultural & religious milieu in which he lived was predominantly Hindu, & since most of the people who sought his spiritual guidance were either born Hindus or were familiar with traditional Hindu philosophy, the texts he was most often asked to explain were those of the Hindu philosophical tradition known as advaita vēdānta. Thus Sri Ramana’s teachings are often identified with advaita vēdānta & are taken to be a modern expression or interpretation of that ancient philosophy.

The above themes & 2500 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 

short-cut: http://sdrv.ms/YPOgkX or http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58  link directly to free E-book PDF files

www.jpstiga.com/

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

Different blogs (but with graphics) are available on:

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

http://Being-as-Consciousness.blogspot.com/

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”

–  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

 for very succinct summary of the teaching & practice, see:  www.ajatavada.com/

Mind & Happiness

Of the 4 words of the name “Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi”, only the word “Ramana” is a personal name, & the other 3 words are titles of various sorts.  “Ramana” is a shortened form of “Venkataramana”, a variant of his childhood name “Venkataraman”, & is a word that is commonly used as a term of affection.  Whereas in the name “Venkataraman”, the letter “a” in the syllable “ra” is a long form of the vowel & is therefore pronounced with a stress, in the name “Ramana” all the 3 “a” ’s are short forms of the vowel, & therefore none of the 3 syllables are pronounced with any stress.  Etymologically, the word ramaṇa comes from the verbal root ram, which means to stop, to set at rest, to make steady or calm, to delight or to make happy, & is a noun that means “joy” or that which gives joy, that which is pleasing, charming or delightful.  By extension it is used as an affectionate term meaning a beloved person, a lover, husband or wife, or the lord or mistress of one’s heart.

The word bhagavān is an honorific & affectionate title meaning the glorious, adorable & divine Lord, & is used generally as a term meaning “God”, & more particularly as a title of veneration given to a person who is considered to be an incarnation of God or a human embodiment of the Supreme Reality, such as the Buddha, Sri Adi Sankara, or most commonly Sri Krishna, whose teachings are given in the Bhagavad Gītā & in parts of the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam.

The word śrī is a sacred monosyllable meaning light, luster, radiance or splendor, & is customarily used as an honorific prefix appended to the names of holy people, places, texts or other objects of veneration. As a reverential prefix, it means “sacred”, “holy”, or “venerable”.  But it is also commonly used as a simple title of respect which may be appended to the name of any person in place of the English title “Mister”.

The word maharṣi (which is commonly transcribed as “maharshi”) means a great ṛṣi (commonly transcribed as “rishi”) or “seer”.  To the World at large, particularly outside India, Sri Ramana is generally known as “Ramana Maharshi” (probably because to a western Mind the title “Maharshi” placed after his personal name appears to be a surname, which it is not), & since he is so frequently referred to as such, some people even refer to him simply as “the Maharshi”.

However those who are close to him seldom use the title “Maharshi” when referring to him.  In Indian history & mythology, the term ṛṣi originally denoted one of the inspired poets or “seers” who “saw” & wrote down the hymns of the Vēdas, or any person who was adept in the performance of Vedic rituals & had thereby attained psychic or supernatural powers, but in later times it was used more generally to denote an ascetic or saint who was considered to have achieved some degree of spiritual attainment.  The term ṛṣi has therefore never specifically meant a person who has “seen” or attained true Self-Knowledge, & nor has the term maharṣi (maha-ṛṣi). The few ṛṣis, such as Vasishtha, & later Viswamitra, who did attain true knowledge of brahman, the Absolute Reality or God, were called not merely maha-ṛṣis but brahma-ṛṣis, a term that denotes a ṛṣi of the highest order.  Hence many people feel that it is not particularly appropriate to apply the title “Maharshi” to Sri Ramana, who had attained true knowledge of brahman, & who therefore can be accurately described as Existence nothing less than a brahma-ṛṣi.

The above themes & 2500 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 

short-cut: http://sdrv.ms/YPOgkX or http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58  link directly to free E-book PDF files

www.jpstiga.com/

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

Different blogs (but with graphics) are available on:

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

http://Being-as-Consciousness.blogspot.com/

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”

–  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

 for very succinct summary of the teaching & practice, see:  www.ajatavada.com/

Mind & Happiness 30

Thus Sri Ramana discovered himself to be the pure Trans–personal Consciousness “I exist”, which is the one, un-limited, un-divided & Non-Dual whole, the only existing Reality, the Source & substance of all things, & the True Self of every living Existence.  This Knowledge of his Real Nature destroyed in him forever the sense of Identification with the physical Body – the feeling of Existence an individual person, a separate conscious entity confined within the limits of a particular Time & Place.

Along with this dawn of Non-Dual Self-Knowledge, the Truth of everything else became clear to him.  By knowing himself to be the Infinite Spirit, the fundamental Consciousness “I exist”, in which & through which all other things are known, he knew as an immediate experience how those other things appear & disappear in this essential Consciousness.  Thus he knew without the least doubt that everything that appears & disappears depends for its seeming existence upon this fundamental Consciousness, which he knew to be his Real Self.

When reading some of the recorded accounts of his Death experience, people often get the impression that when he lay down like a corpse, that Sri Ramana merely simulated the signs of physical Death.  But he explained on several occasions that he did not merely simulate it, but actually underwent the experience of physical death at that Time. Because he fixed his whole

attention so firmly & intensely upon his Non-Dual Consciousness of Existence, not only did his breathing cease, but his heart stopped beating.  All the other biological functions that indicate Life also came to a standstill.  Thus his Body literally lay Lifeless for about 20 minutes, until suddenly Life surged through it once again, & his heartbeat & breath started to function as normal.

However, though Life returned to his physical Body, the person who had previously identified that Body as “I” was dead, having been destroyed forever by the clear light of true Self-Knowledge.  But though he had died as an individual person, he had thereby been born again as the Infinite Spirit – the fundamental & unlimited Consciousness of Existence, the Non-Dual Self–Consciousness “I exist”.

Though outwardly he appeared to behave as an individual person, his personality was in fact just an appearance that existed only in the view of other people, like the charred form of a rope that remains after the rope itself has been burnt.  Inwardly he knew himself to be the all-inclusive Consciousness that transcends all limitations, & not merely a separate individual Consciousness confined within the limits of a particular Body.

Therefore, the conscious Existence that other people saw acting through his Body was not really an individual person at all, but was only the Supreme Spirit – the Infinite & Absolute Reality that we usually refer to as “God”.  Soon after this true Self-Knowledge dawned upon him, Sri Ramana left his childhood home & traveled a few hundred miles north to Tiruvannamalai, a temple town nestled at the foot of the holy mountain Arunachala, where he lived as a sādhu or religious mendicant for the remaining 54 years of his bodily Life.  Since he had ceased to identify himself with the Body that other people mistook to be him, he also ceased to identify with the name that had previously been given to that Body. Therefore, from the Time he left home, he stopped using his childhood name Venkataraman, & he signed his parting note with just a line.

Thus when he first came to Tiruvannamalai, no one there knew his name, so they referred to him by various names of their choosing.  More than 10 years later, however, one of his devotees, who was a Sanskrit poet & Vedic scholar, announced that he should be called “Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi”, & somehow this became the name by which he was generally known thereafter.

However, till the end of his bodily Life, Sri Ramana never claimed this or any other name as his own, & he always declined to sign any signature, even when asked to do so.  When he was once asked why he never signed his name, he replied, “By what name am I to be known ?  I myself do not know.  At various Times various people have called me by various different names”.

Because he did not experience himself as an individual person, but knew himself to be the One Reality, which is the source & substance of all names & forms, but which has no name or form of its own, he responded to whatever name people called him, without ever identifying any of those names as his own.

The above themes & 2500 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 

short-cut: http://sdrv.ms/YPOgkX or http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58  link directly to free E-book PDF files

www.jpstiga.com/

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

Different blogs (but with graphics) are available on:

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

http://Being-as-Consciousness.blogspot.com/

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”

–  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

 for very succinct summary of the teaching & practice, see:  www.ajatavada.com/

Mind & Happiness 28

If we truly understand that we are not a Body, nor the Mind which imagines itself to be a Body, & that every form of un–happiness that we experience is caused only by our mistaken Identification with a Body, we will endeavor to destroy that false Identification by undertaking practical

research to discover who or what we really are. To know what we really are, we must cease attending to any other things, & must attend instead to our self, the Consciousness that knows those other things.

When we attend to things other than “I”, our attention is a “thought” or activity of the Mind. But when we attend to our essential Consciousness “I”, our attention ceases to be an activity or “thought”, & instead becomes mere Existence.  We know other things by an act of knowing, but we know our self not by an act of knowing but by merely Existence our self.  Therefore, when we

attend to the innermost core of our Existence – that is, to our essential & real Self, which is simple thought-free Non-Dual, Self-Conscious Existence – we cease to rise as the incessantly active Mind & instead remain merely as our naturally action-less Consciousness of Existence.  Therefore Self-Attention is Self–Abidance, the state of mere Existence as what we really are.

So long as we attend to things other than our self, our Mind is active, & its activity clouds & obscures our natural clarity of Self-Consciousness.  But when we try to attend to our self, the activity of our Mind begins to subside, & thus the veil that obscures our natural self-Consciousness begins to dissolve. The more keenly & intensely we focus our attention upon our

basic Consciousness “I”, the more our Mind will subside, until finally it disappears in the clear light of true Self-Knowledge.

The theory of this Knowledge of Self-Knowledge is necessary & helpful to us insofar as it enables us to understand not only the imperative need for us to know the Reality, but also the practical means by which we can achieve such Knowledge.

All the un–happiness, discontent & Suffering that we experience in our Life is caused only by our Ignorance or confused knowledge of who or what we really are.  So long as we limit our self by identifying a Body as “I”, we will feel desire for whatever we think is necessary for our survival in that Body, & for whatever we think will make our Life in that Body more comfortable & pleasant.  Likewise, we will feel fear & dislike of whatever we think threatens our survival in that Body, & of whatever we think will make our Life in it less comfortable or pleasant.  When we do not get whatever we desire or like, & when we cannot avoid whatever we fear or dislike, we feel unhappy, discontented or miserable.

Thus un–happiness or Suffering is the inevitable result of desire & fear, or likes & dislikes. Desire & fear, & likes & dislikes, are the inevitable result of identifying a Body as “I”.  And identifying a Body as “I” results from our lack of clear knowledge of our Real Nature – our essential Self-Conscious Existence. Therefore if we want to be free of all forms of Suffering & un–happiness, we must free our self from our Ignorance or confused knowledge of what we really are.

In order to free our self from this confused knowledge, which makes us feel that we are a Body, we must attain a clear Knowledge of our Real Self.  The only means by which we can attain such clear Self-Knowledge is to turn our attention away from our Body, our Mind & all other things, & to focus it keenly upon our own essential Self-Consciousness – our fundamental Consciousness of our own Existence, “I exist”.

Thus the theory that underlies the Knowledge of Self-Knowledge enables us to understand that all we need do in order to experience perfect & unlimited Happiness is to attain true Self-Knowledge, & that the only means to attain true Self-Knowledge is to practice keen scrutinizing Self–Attention.  Unless we know our self as we really are, we can never experience true & perfect Happiness, untainted by even the least un–happiness or dis–satisfaction.  And unless we keenly attend to our essential Consciousness of our own mere Existence – our simple Non-Dual Self-Consciousness, “I exist” – we can never know our self as we really are.

The above themes & 2500 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 

short-cut: http://sdrv.ms/YPOgkX or http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58  link directly to free E-book PDF files

www.jpstiga.com/

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

Different blogs (with graphics) are available on:

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

http://Being-as-Consciousness.blogspot.com/

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”

–  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

 for very succinct summary of the teaching & practice, see:  www.ajatavada.com/

Mind & Happiness 27

When we say, “I slept peacefully, I had no Dreams, I was unaware of anything,” we are confidently affirming that “I” was in Deep Dreamless Sleep – that is, that we existed & knew that we existed at that time.  Because we associate Consciousness with Existence, conscious of all the thoughts & perceptions that make up our Life in Waking & in Dream, we consider Deep Dreamless Sleep to be a state of un–consciousness.

But we should examine the so-called un–consciousness of Deep Dreamless Sleep more carefully. The Consciousness that knows thoughts & perceptions is our Mind, which rises & is active in Waking &  Dream, but which subsides in sleep. But this rising & subsiding Consciousness is not our real Consciousness. We are conscious not only of the 2 States of Waking & Dream, in which our Mind rises to experience thoughts & perceptions, but also of a 3^rd State, Deep Dreamless Sleep, in which our Mind has subsided in a State devoid of thoughts & perceptions.

This fact that we are conscious of Deep Dreamless Sleep as a State distinct from Waking & Dream clearly indicates that we are the Consciousness that underlies the rising & 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 “Existence Consciousness”.

This “Existence Consciousness”, which exists in all our 3 States, is our real Consciousness, & is what is truly denoted when we say “I exist”.  Our Mind, the “rising Consciousness” that appears in Waking & Dream & 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” & this material Body.

Thus, by analyzing our experience in our 3 States of Waking, Dream, & Deep Dreamless Sleep, we can understand that though we now mistake our Self to be a Body limited by Time & Space, we are in fact the Consciousness that underlies the appearance of these 3 States, in only 2 of which the sense of being a Body & the consequent limitations of Time & Space are experienced.

However, a mere theoretical understanding of the Truth that we are only Consciousness will be of little use to us if we do not apply it in practice by endeavoring to gain real experiential Knowledge of that Truth. By itself, a theoretical understanding will not & cannot give us true & lasting Happiness, because it cannot destroy our deep-rooted sense of Identification with the Body, which is the root of all Ignorance, & the cause of all Suffering.

That which understands this Truth theoretically is only our Mind or Intellect, & our Mind cannot function without first identifying itself with a Body. Since our Mind or Intellect is thus a confused knowledge whose existence is rooted in Ignorance about who or what we really are, no intellectual understanding can ever by itself give us true Self-Knowledge.  Self-Knowledge can only be gained by direct experience of the pure unlimited Consciousness which is our Real Self, because only such experience can root out the Ignorance that we are anything other than that Consciousness.

Therefore a theoretical understanding of the Truth can be of real benefit to us only if it prompts us to investigate our essential Consciousness of Existence – our simple Self-Consciousness, “I exist” – & thereby attain, through direct experience, a clear Knowledge of our own True Nature. Only by attaining such a clear Knowledge of the Consciousness that is truly “I”, can we destroy our primal Ignorance, the confused & mistaken knowledge that we are the Mind, the limited form of Consciousness that identifies a Body as “I”.

The above themes & 2500 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 

short-cut: http://sdrv.ms/YPOgkX or http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58  link directly to free E-book PDF files

www.jpstiga.com/

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

Different blogs (graphics) are available on:

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

http://Being-as-Consciousness.blogspot.com/

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”

–  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

 for very succinct summary of the teaching & practice, see:  www.ajatavada.com/

Reality 103   the Absolute

Always there is One Reality, the Non-Dual Self.  All illusion arises without a real cause & vanishes in the Knowledge of the Self.  Self-Knowledge, or Self-Realization, is the Natural State, the only Real State there is. Existence is forever unchanging. The Self is the Source of all. All depend on It & appear in It.  It is the beginning.  The Self is That  which pervades all.  It is the actual Existence of all. It is the middle.  The Self is That into Which all dissolves. It is the end.  The Self being Universal is all in all at all times.

The Self is solid Existence, In-variable, Un-modified, In-destructible, & ever Still (mauna).  The Self is ever–shining Consciousness, the one all–pervading Light without a shadow. The Self is Bliss, the long–sought Happiness, the invariable Perfect Fullness (purnam), & the Bliss of the Sages.  Existence–Consciousness–Bliss (sat-chit-ananda) is the Self of the Sages, the Self of the spiritual aspirants, the Self of the Guru, the Self of the disciple, & the Self of all.

Knowledge is Existence, Existence is Knowledge. There is no Duality in this. That is, in this there is no Knower & Known, & no being one thing & knowing another.  There is no Ego in this.  This is Ego–less Knowledge.  The Knowledge is not a thought. The Knowledge is Transcendent Knowledge. In this Knowledge, the Self is itself the conviction  & the certitude in Itself.  The Self itself is the depth & power of Meditation upon that Knowledge.  The Self itself is the real Teaching, & the final proof of Itself.  The Self itself is That which is to be known, the Knower himself, & then Knowledge itself.  The Self itself is the Revelation that is in the ineffable Silence of Dakshinamurti & Sri Ramana Maharshi.

The Self has no States or degrees. The Self is not bound, no striving for Liberation, & not liberated.  The Self is never bound, & there is no separate state of Liberation.  There is in the Self no coming into being of Illusion, & no ending of Illusion.  In Self-Realization, no new thing has to be attained, nothing has been made pure, nothing has been produced, nothing has been acquired, nor has one been transformed.  What is that exists stands self revealed, & the possibility of Bondage, with its concomitant Suffering is no more.  Since there is no un-Reality & no one to imagine it, this is so.

In Self-Realization, there is no change of States between active & in-active or between thought & its absence.  Only 1, Un-created, un-changed Existence is Real.  In Self-Realization, there are no degrees of any kind.  There is not a Liberation while alive contrasted with Liberation after dis-embodiment.  There is no individual–”I”, no Perception of forms, & no disappearance of the Perception of forms.  In this Wakeful Bliss, there is nothing further to be accomplished.  The Self is Non-Dual, like Space, Form-less, Infinite Existence, Void, Un-created, Time-less, & ever–existent. It ever is just as It is, & It alone exists.  This ever is the significance of Silence.

The above themes & 2600 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 directly at:

http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58

Duplicate blogs (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/

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”

–  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

 for very succinct summary of the teaching & practice, see:  www.ajatavada.com/