Mind & Happiness 133
In order to know our Self thus, we must concentrate our entire attention upon our Essential Self-Consciousness “I exist”. This concentration of our attention upon our Self is the practice of ātma-vicāra – Self-Investigation, Self-Examination, Self-Scrutiny or Self-Inquiry – which Sri Ramana taught as the only means by which we can experience True Non-Dual Self-Knowledge.
We must attempt to find an experiential answer to the crucial question “who am I ?” An event in the early life of Sri Ramana entailed when the 1st person asked him truly pertinent & useful questions. He was a humble & self-effacing devotee called Sri Sivaprakasam Pillai, who 1st came to him in 1901, when he was just 21 years old. The 1st question Sri Sivaprakasam Pillai asked him was “Who am I ?”, to which he replied simply:
“Knowledge [or Consciousness] alone is I.”
The actual Tamil words spoken by Sri Sivaprakasam Pillai were “nāṉ yār?“, which literally mean “I [am] who ?”, & the words that Sri Ramana, who seldom spoke in those early Times, wrote in reply with his finger on the sandy ground were “aṟivē nāṉ“. The Tamil word aṟivu means “knowledge” in the broadest sense, & is therefore used to denote many different forms of knowledge, including Consciousness, Wisdom, Intelligence, Learning, Sense Perception, anything that is Known, & even ātmā, our Real Self, which is our Fundamental Knowledge “I exist”.
In this context, however, it means only our Fundamental Knowledge “I exist” – our Essential Consciousness of our own Existence. The letter ē that he appended to aṟivu is a suffix that is commonly used in Tamil to add emphasis to a word, conveying the sense “itself”, “alone” or “indeed”, & the word nāṉ means “I”.
In these 2 simple words, aṟivē nāṉ, Sri Ramana summarised the essence of his experience of true Self-Knowledge, which is the basis of his entire Teaching. What he meant by these simple
words is that our true & Essential Nature is only our Fundamental Knowledge or Consciousness “I exist”, which is the conclusion that we have to arrive at if we critically analyze our experience of our Self in our 3 ordinary States of Consciousness (Waking, Dream, & 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
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 