Mind & Happiness 130
Sri Ramana said, “having taken innumerable Births“, he was referring to this repeated process of forsaking one Dream Body & imagining another Dream Body to be our self. Rebirth or Re-incarnation is therefore not real, but is just a Dream – an imaginary event that occurs repeatedly in our seemingly long “sleep” of imaginary “self-ignorance”.
Though Rebirth is merely a figment of our Imagination – a Dream created by our own Desires & Fears – it is “as real” as our present Life in this World, which is itself just as “real” as our Mind, the limited & distorted form of Consciousness that experiences this & so many other Dreams.
Until we know what we really are, thereby putting an end to our imaginary “sleep” of “self-forgetfulness” or “self-ignorance”, we will continue to experience one Dream after another. In each of those Dreams we will mistake our self to be a Body that we have created by our own imagination. Since the fundamental cause of all the Suffering & lack of perfect Happiness that we experience in this Dream-Life & so many other Dream-lives is our imaginary “”self-forgetfulness”” or “self-ignorance”, we can end all our Suffering & attain perfect Happiness only by experiencing the Absolute Clarity of true Self-Knowledge.
Since the illusion of Duality is caused by our “self-forgetfulness” – our “forgetfulness” of our fundamental Non-Dual Consciousness of our own infinite & absolute Existence – it will be dissolved only when we experience perfectly clear Non-Dual Self-Knowledge or Self-Consciousness.
By seemingly forgetting our Real Self, we enable our self to imagine that we have become a Body. Therefore though we have never really ceased to be our Infinite Real Self, we do appear to have become something else.
Hence in his 1st Verse of Ēkātma Pañcakam, Sri Ramana says that having forgotten our Real Self, having repeatedly imagined our self to be a Body, & having thereby seemingly taken birth in innumerable different bodies, when we finally know our self we become our self once again. He says:
“[…] finally knowing our Self [& thereby] becoming our Self […]”
He does not mean to imply that the attainment of true Self-Knowledge is really a process of “becoming”. Relative to our present State of “self-forgetfulness”, in which we seem to have become a Body & Mind, the State of Self-Knowledge may appear to be a State in which we will once again become our Real Self, but in Reality it is just our Natural State of Existence, in which we remain as we always have been – that is, as our immutable Real Self.
The word that Sri Ramana actually uses in this Verse is ādal, which is a gerund that primarily means “becoming” but can also mean “Existence”. Therefore, though the words “iṟudi taṉṉai-y-uṇarndu tāṉ-ādal“, which form the subject of this Verse, could be translated as: “finally knowing our Self [& thereby] becoming our Self“, they can be translated more accurately as “finally knowing our Self [& thereby just] Existence our Self.”
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
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/
[A brief note of explanation – this Blog is entitled “Non-Duality & Science”, & so the more Science oriented pages (from what I like to think of as a “comic book”) have been posted there, while other chapters have been posted in the other Blog noted below. Science is a mental discipline that attracts some worthy admirers & participators. Some of these, too few, are good prospects for the ancient teaching introduced here in many ways. Otherwise certain Science topics like the Anthropic Principle, reinforce the general Theism which is a good idea in this materialistic age. A few other topics in Science, such as the Copenhagen II – Max Born – Von Neumann – Wigner model of Quantum Mechanics, are worthy entries to the extent that they introduce Consciousness into the physical Sciences. All that aside, the real topic here is the pinnacle as Advaita Vedanta, Non-Duality – that pinnacle being Ajata Vada, No–Creation. The great Teachers of the same include Sri Shankara & Sri Ramana Maharshi. Both would support Theism in general & adaptations of Vedanta, such as Vishishtadvaita Vedanta – Qualified Non-Duality, for those not making headway in Ajata Vada, their present course of growth might be better served with a temporary involvement in Qualified Non-Duality. The scientist who perhaps best expresses the influence of Qualified Non-Duality in Science, for instance, would be the quintessential “New–Age” Quantum Physicist, Amit Goswami. And so to that source, & the Quantum Activism he currently advocates [with a 1–course degree program], along with more than a half-dozen good books & former participation in the controversial What the Bleep movie, to him I extend enthusiastic endorsement, for that Qualified Non-Duality described in the context of Science. I do not stand so much “with him”, as much as nearby saluting his good work. Again, as here, a goal is inserting Consciousness into Science & “saving the World.”]
also: Most of this material will be long searchable via “John Stiga” etc, on the “Wayback Machine” Internet Archive.
Also related to these topics, there are now 8 Kindle books on “Amazon.com”, reference-able by the author “John Stiga”, each indicated as non–copyrighted, public–domain, & priced at the minimum $0.99 each.
Nonduality and Science 