NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 40:

Prior to excerpting the Ramana Maharshi disciple, Master Nome in the text below we skirt around the Fine-Tuned Universe series to add further questions about the Universe.

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

Future of an expanding Universe part III:

Summary:

The 1^st, the Primordial Era, is the time in the past just after the Big Bang when stars had not yet formed. The 2^nd, the Stelliferous Era, includes the Present Day & all of the stars & galaxies we see. It is the time during which stars form from collapsing clouds of gas.

In the subsequent Degenerate Era, the stars will have burnt out, leaving all stellar-mass objects as stellar remnants, White Dwarfs, Neutron stars, & Black Holes.

In the Black Hole Era, White dwarfs, Neutron stars, & other smaller astronomical objects have been destroyed by Proton decay, leaving only Black Holes.

Finally, in the Dark Era, even Black Holes have disappeared, leaving only a dilute gas of Photons & Leptons [electrons. etc.]. The Future History assumes the continued expansion of the Universe. If the Universe begins to recontract, subsequent events in the timeline may not occur because the Big Crunch,

That Big Crunch would be the recontraction of the Universe into a hot, dense state similar to that at the Big Bang, will supervene.

Timeline  part 1:

Primordial Era  [0 – 1 Million yrs.]

Stelliferous Era [from 1 Million yrs. to 100 Trillion yrs. post Big Bang]

The observable Universe is currently 13.8 Billion yrs. old, within the Stelliferous Era. About 155 Million yrs. after the Big Bang, the first star formed.  Since then, stars have formed by the collapse of small, dense core regions in large, cold molecular clouds of Hydrogen gas. At first, this produces a proto-star, which is hot & bright because of energy generated by Gravitational contraction. After the proto-star contracts for a while, its center will become hot enough to fuse Hydrogen & a star begins.

Stars whose mass is very low will eventually exhaust all their fusible Hydrogen & then become Helium White Dwarfs.  Stars of low to medium mass will expel some of their mass as a planetary Nebula & eventually become White Dwarfs.

More massive stars will explode in a core-collapse Supernova, leaving behind Neutron stars or Black holes. In any case, although some of the star’s matter may be returned to the interstellar medium. That degenerate remnant will be left behind with mass that is not returned to the interstellar medium. Therefore, the supply of gas available for star formation is steadily being exhausted.

The Milky Way Galaxy & the Andromeda Galaxy will merge into one 3 Billion years from now,  17 Billion yrs. after the Big Bang, or in ~ 25% of the Universe’s present age.

The Andromeda Galaxy is not about 2.5 Million Light-yrs. away from our Milky Way Galaxy,  They are moving towards each other at approximately 120 kilometers per second. Approximately three Billion years from now, or 17 billion yrs. after the Big Bang, the Milky Way & the Andromeda Galaxy will collide with one another & merge into one large galaxy.

The galaxies in the Local Group, the cluster of galaxies which includes the Milky Way & the Andromeda Galaxy, are gravitationally bound to each other. It is expected that between 100 Billion & 1 Trillion yrs. from now, their orbits will decay and the entire Local Group will merge into one large galaxy.

Some more selected verses from the Ramana Maharshi disciple Master Nome:

The Mind does not bind the Self. The Mind does not define or limit the Self. The Mind does not divide the Self, & does not alter the Self. The Self is not bound by the Mind, because the Mind has no independent existence. The Self is not bound because there is nothing other than the Self, & so there is no Mind at all. The “Mind” is nowhere but in the Self, yet in the Self there is no Mind. The Self is not in the Mind, but the Self alone pervades the Mind to an extent that distinctions of pervader & pervaded do not exist.

Though thought exists only as the self, the Self has never become a thought & has never given rise to a thought. Thought is entirely unreal & does not exist at all. The Self alone exists & is 1–without–a–2nd. The Mind exists nowhere but in the Self, yet there is truly no Mind in the Self. The True Nature of the Mind is only the Self. There is truly not Mind at all & the Self alone exists.

Self-Realization is the Ego-less state. Freedom from the Ego is the quintessence of Liberation. That Freedom is Abidance in the Self as the Self. The falsely assumed, individualized “I” is completely removed by Self-Knowledge, & the 1 true “I” of the “I” alone remains.

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

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

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

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 39:

Prior to review of Idealist Philosophy, in the text below we skirt around the Fine-Tuned Universe series to add further questions about the Universe.

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

(Supposed) Future of an expanding Universe part II:

Planets fall or are flung from orbits by a close encounter with another star on some 10¹⁵  (Quadrillion) yrs.  Over time, the orbits of planets will decay due to Gravitational Radiation.  Otherwise, planets will be ejected from their local systems by Gravitational Perturbations caused by encounters with another stellar remnant.

Stellar remnants ultimately escape galaxies or fall into Black Holes by some 10¹⁹ to 10²⁰ yrs.  Over time, objects in a Galaxy exchange Kinetic Energy in a process of Dynamical Relaxation, making their velocity distribution approach the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution.  Dynamical Relaxation can proceed either by close encounters of 2 stars or by less violent but more frequent distant encounters.  In the case of a close encounter, 2 Brown Dwarfs or stellar remnants will pass close to each other. When this happens, the trajectories of the objects involved in the close encounter change slightly. After a large number of such encounters, lighter objects tend to gain Kinetic Energy while the heavier objects lose Kinetic Energy.  Because of srch Dynamical Relaxation, some objects will gain enough energy to reach Galactic escape velocity & depart the Galaxy.  They leave behind a smaller, denser Galaxy. Since encounters are more frequent in the denser Galaxy, the process then accelerates. The end result is that most objects are ejected from the Galaxy, leaving a small fraction (a few %) which fall into the central supermassive Black Hole.

After some 10³⁴ yrs, the later evolution of the &verse depends on the existence and rate of Proton Decay.   If the Proton is unstable, it has a ¹/₂  -life of at least 10³⁴ yrs.  If any of the Grand Unified Theories  (GUT’s) are correct, then there are theoretical reasons to believe that the half-life of the Proton is under 10⁴¹ yrs.

Neutrons bound into nuclei  are also expected to decay with a ¹/₂  -life comparable to the Proton’s.  In the event that the proton does not decay at all, stellar-mass objects would still disappear, but more slowly.

If the Proton half-life is approximately 10³⁷ yrs, shorter or longer Proton half-lives will accelerate or decelerate the process. This means that after 10³⁷ yrs, one-half of all Baryonic matter will have been converted into gamma ray Photons & Leptons through Proton decay.

Some review of Idealist Philosophy:

From Plato’s “ideals”, misapplication of the title for the philosophical school Idealism is sometimes begun there. Actually Idealism became began earlier with the Eleatic philosophers: Parmenides, Zeno, & Melissus.  Later on, the Neo-platonists went well beyond Plato, again into Idealism, as with Plotinus, Porphyry, and so. Later, small contributions are made by Boethius & even René Descartes. But George Berkeley was the 1^st true Idealist, seeing the World as Mind, (though he left “behind” a physical World made by God as a handy reference).  The Eleatic philosophers & greatest Neo-platonists philosophers were actually beyond Idealism, being Enlightened Sages, embracing more Subjective Non-Duality.

Several German idealists like Fichte, Kant, & Hegel preceded a British school of Idealism culminating in Thomas Green, Bernard Bosanquet, John McTaggart & Francis Bradley. Twentieth-century philosophy in America begins with Idealism.  At the turn of the 20^th century, it was rising with Brand Blanshard & with Josiah Royce at Harvard.

Idealists were remarkable. They had never heard of Protons or Electrons, hardly even of Freud.  Since they had come into Philosophy, not from Science, but from the Humanities, their scientific insight was lacking. Nor was their Logic very subtle. But whatever their technical deficiencies, these Idealists were wise men, learned men.

They knew how to state a case. They were perceptive, humane, & versatile. Philosophy for these Idealists was not an avocation or a specialty, but a way of life & the “breath” of life.  It was a passionate pursuit of reasonableness in action & feeling as well as in thought.

The Idealism of the turn of the century was a fusion of two streams of thought.  One of these, Subjective Idealism, took its rise in the ingenious mind of Bishop Berkeley & flowed down through David Hume & John Stuart Mill.  The other, Objective Idealism, is as old as Plato & comes down through the Germany of Hegel, & the English Green & Bradley, to Josiah Royce in Harvard Yard.  The first of these idealisms stands for the thesis, “All that is real is experience.”  The second stands for the thesis, “All that is real is rational.”  To see what American “Absolute Idealism” meant, we must see the meaning of both these theses. [to be continued]

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

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

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

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 37:

Prior to excerpting the Ramana Maharshi disciple, Master Nome in the text below we skirt around the Fine-Tuned Universe series to add further questions about the Universe.

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

(Supposed) Future of an expanding Universe part I:

If the expansion of the Universe continues forever, the Universe will cool as it expands, eventually becoming too cold to sustain Life . For this reason, this future scenario is popularly called the Big Freeze.

Dark Energy can be represented by the Cosmological Constant Λ, a constant Energy Density filling Space homogeneously, or represented by scalar fields, such as Quintessence or Moduli, dynamic quantities whose Energy Density can vary in Time & Space.  Dark Energy accelerates the expansion of the Universe, so that the space between clusters of galaxies will grow at an increasing rate.

Red-shift will stretch ancient, incoming photons (even gamma rays) to undetectably long wavelengths & low energies.  Stars are expected to form normally for 10¹² to 10¹⁴ years (1-100 Trillion years).  But eventually the supply of gas needed for star formation will be exhausted. And as existing stars run out of fuel & cease to shine, the Universe will slowly & inexorably grow darker, one star at a time.

According to theories that predict Proton decay, the stellar remnants left behind will disappear, leaving behind only black holes, which themselves eventually disappear as they emit Hawking radiation. Ultimately, if the Universe reaches a state in which the temperature approaches a uniform value, no further work will be possible, resulting in a final Heat Death of the Universe.

Infinite expansion does not determine the spatial curvature of the Universe. It can be open (with negative spatial curvature), flat, or closed (positive spatial curvature). If it is closed, sufficient Dark Energy must be present to counteract the Gravitational attraction of matter & other forces tending to contract the Universe.  Open & flat Universes will expand forever even in the absence of Dark Energy.

Observations of the CMB, Cosmic Micro-wave Background radiation by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe suggested that the Universe is spatially flat & has a significant amount of Dark Energy.  In this case, the Universe should continue to expand at an accelerating rate. The acceleration of the Universe’s expansion has also been confirmed by observations of distant Supernovae.  If, as in the Concordance Model of Physical Cosmology (Lambda-cold Dark Matter or ΛCDM), the Dark Energy is in the form of a Cosmological Constant, the expansion will eventually become exponential, with the size of the Universe doubling at a constant rate.

If the theory of Inflation is true, the Universe went through an Episode dominated by a different form of Dark Energy in the first moments of the Big Bang; but Inflation ended, indicating an equation of state much more complicated than those for Dark Energy.  It is possible that the Dark Energy equation of state could change again resulting in an event that would have consequences which are extremely difficult to predict.

Some more from Ramana Maharshi disciple, Master Nome:

Thoughts move in modes. Innumerable thoughts & modes are contained in states of Mind. All are included in 3 states of Mind: Waking, Dream, & Deep Dreamless Sleep. In the 1st 2 states (Waking & Dream), thought itself projects itself into itself & the content of thought changes according to those states. The Waking state is equivalent to the Dream state. In both states, the same kind of multiplicity manifests. In both states, subject & object appear.

The same kinds of mental function appear in both states. In both states, there is the same tendency to identify as a particular character with a particular Body exists. Cause & Effect are present in both states. Both states are characterized by non– perception of Reality & the mis–perception of Reality, which delusions are equivalent to not seeing a rope & imagining to be a snake. These 2 states, Waking & Dream are mutually exclusive (contradictory). Everything experienced in a given state changes within that state itself, or else changes with the transition from 1 state to the other. Only Existence-Consciousness remains the same, unaffected by the changes in such experiences & any change of state. So what is present in the Waking state tends to be absent in the Dream state, & what is present in the Dream state tends to be absent in the Waking state.

What appears within a state is only that state of Mind itself. The Dream state of Mind appears as only & all that is experienced in that Dream state. So too is it with the Waking state. Each state of Mind itself composes all that appears with the state. In the Deep Dreamless Sleep state, there is an absence Waking & Dream thoughts & their content. There is therefore no World, no Body, no Senses, no Ideas, no Memories, & no “person” existing in the Deep Dreamless Sleep. Yet Existence-Consciousness still is, & that Existence-Consciousness is the Self. The Self continues, even in the absence of thoughts in Deep Dreamless Sleep. The Self is then unaffected by the absence of all else, just as it is when all else appears in the other 2 states (Waking & Dream).

Deep Dreamless Sleep is characterized by the presence of Cause but with the absence of the Effect. Therefore it may be said that the “unmanifest seeds” of, or potential for, Ignorance is present but not the Effects of such Ignorance. In the Deep Dreamless Sleep there is only the non–perception of Reality, while the projection or hallucination of Multiplicity & Form are absent. The Self, Existence- Consciousness, is free from both Cause & Effect. In Self-Knowledge, neither the Veiling avarana of Reality not the Projected vikshepa Illusion of Multiplicity, neither the non– perception of Real Being nor the mis–perception of Existence persists. The Self is itself & knows itself as it is.

From Existence-Consciousness comes Deep Dreamless Sleep. From Deep Dreamless Sleep comes Dream. From Dream comes the Waking state. Each succeeding state occurs with the preceding state. All occurs within Existence-Consciousness. & that is what one truly is. So it is better to say that the states, & the Worlds that appear in them, are more within one’s Self than that one is in those states of Mind (Waking, Dream, Deep Dreamless Sleep). Being beyond the 3 states, the Self is called “the 4th” (turiya), yet the Slf is only One & its own self always (turiyatita or even beyond the 4th). The 3 states of Mind are only seen as 3 only so long as Consciousness is not known as it is. As Dream is to Deep Dreamless Sleep, emerging from within it, “forming” yet not really so, for both

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

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

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

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 35:

Prior to excerpting the Ramana Maharshi disciple, Master Nome in the text below we continue the series: Fine-Tuned Universe 26, the premise that a small change in several of the dimensionless fundamental physical constants would make the Universe incapable of Life.

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

Fine-Tuned Universe 26:

Irreducible Complexities:

Michael Behe & others argued for the presence in the living cell of various “irreducible complexities” that would require the agency of Intelligence to bring them about.  But they left open “the simplest possible design scenario,” This would posit “a single cell – formed billions of years ago – that already contained all information to produce descendent organisms” via Evolution.  They suppose that “irreducibly complex” systems that manifested themselves long afterward, such as that which produces complex blood-clotting, might have had their designs already present in potency in that first cell but not yet “turned on”.  The force of this suggestion depends on what “turning on” amounts to.

The original ID, Intelligent Design argument would require it to involve a “special” action on the Designer’s part, which would seriously dilute the notion of pre-established “potential”.  On the other hand, if such special “turn on” action is not required, the “complexities” hardly qualify as “irreducible.”

On the Cosmic scale, the Irreducible Complexity theorists postulated an enormous Inflation of the infant Universe during the 1^st fraction of a second.  This lasted no longer than 10⁻³⁵ seconds.  But that, in a brief moment, this Multiplied the diameter of the Universe by a mind-boggling factor of perhaps 10⁵⁰ – 10⁹⁰.

Problems thereby solved included the “Flatness Problem,” the tight constraint on the initial Energy Density that had given rise to the Fine-Tuning issue in the first place. It was shown that the Inflationary Expansion would be so great that it would force the density of the infant Universe to the critical value, no matter what the initial density might have been.

The need for Fine-Tuning of the Density Parameter would in this way be eliminated, or at least reduced, & the Principle of Indifference would once more reign for the pre-Inflation state, which could have any of the possible values of the Energy Density.

Besides handling anomalies, Inflation had 2 other major features in its favor. It could explain the Isotropy of the CMB Cosmic Microwave Radiation, for which Collins and & Hawking had attempted to develop an Anthropic explanation. More significantly, as later developments would show, it could make use of Quantum Theory to provide an answer to a long-standing puzzle.  Where were the great in-homogeneities needed for galactic formation to come from if the background radiation was isotropic ?

Inflation would have the effect of magnifying Quantum fluctuations to such an extent that they could furnish the necessary “galactic seeds”.  That would depend on finding that the radiation was not in fact perfectly isotropic, as it had originally seemed to be. But very tiny departures from isotropy were found by means of extraordinarily precise satellite observations. Furthermore, the pattern of these departures across the width of the sky is claimed to offer strong support to the Inflation hypothesis.

Other support has come, for example, from the distribution of diffuse inter-galactic gas in the very early Universe. It has to be said, however, that as yet no adequate theory has been formulated that can explain why the Inflation occurred. The hypothesis does not yet have as strong a mandate, therefore, as does the Big Bang theory to which it is an addendum. But as matters stand, it would be fair to say that the warrant for the original claim of Fine-Tuning for the initial Cosmic conditions had been substantially weakened. The Universe may have had a “chaotic” starting point after all.

Alas, for the Atheists, Inflation has since been defeated by later satellite observations, so Theistic Anthropic & Irreducible Complexity theses still stand.

Some more selected verses from the Ramana Maharshi disciple, Master Nome disciple:

The Wise free themselves from the Mind, from Thought, realizing that all Duality, which is all experience other than the Self, is a creation of the Mind. Such “creation” is due to thoughts & is composed of thoughts. Abidance, free from thought, requires one to abide free from dualistic notions regarding the Mind itself. The unmoving Self does not “travel” through the Mind, & thought does not “drag” the ever-still, transcendent Self about. The Self is silent & untouched, endowed with the supreme, solitary power of Reality. The Self does not contend with thought, as if thought were an enemy with its own power. Self-Inquiry entails freedom from the pursuit of delusive thoughts that, in the form of vasanas (or tendencies) form Samsara. Self-Knowledge is not merely a blank Mind in which thought activity is temporarily stilled. For Self-Realization, one should know the Self’s freedom thought & the true nature of the Mind. Inquiring: “for whom is this thought, for whom is this Mind ?” one should seek the Knowledge of the Self, beyond all mental modes & states. Inquiring: “Who am I ?” one should know true Being, interior to any thought, more formless than any thoughts, transcendent of all thought, more formless than any thought, transcendent of all thought, & ever free from all thought. After carefully reading the written instruction-order left with 1 empty bottle he smiles to see they have upped their order and he replaces the 1 empty with 2 full bottles. You get the sense that payment would be a small issue if there was any payment.

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

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

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

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 33:

Prior to excerpting the Ramana Maharshi disciple, Master Nome in the text below we continue the series: Fine-Tuned Universe 24, the premise that a small change in several of the dimensionless fundamental physical constants would make the Universe incapable of Life.

Fine-Tuned Universe 24:

God behind, & Probability in Fine-Tuning:

The Fine-Tuning argument concludes that, given the evidence of the Fine-Tuning of the cosmos, the existence of a Life-Permitting Universe (LPU) significantly confirms Theism over the Naturalistic Single-Universe Hypothesis (NSU).  Such confirmation is highly significant.

The challenge raised by the two most widely advocated versions of the Multi-Verse hypothesis – the unrestricted Multi-Verse hypothesis advocated by Lewis and Tegmark, according to which all possible Universes exist, and the restricted Multi-Verse hypothesis arising out of inflationary cosmology.  I argued that neither of these is able adequately to explain away the fine-tuning or undercut the fine-tuning argument.

Finally, one might wonder whether there are other viable alternative explanations of LPU to that offered by Theism, NSU, or the Multi-Verse.  One such possibility is various non-theistic Design hypotheses – either non-theistic supernatural beings or aliens in some Meta-Universe who can create bubble Universes. The postulated designer, D, could not be a merely “generic” designer but must be hypothesized to have some motivation to create a Life-Permitting Universe. Unless these hypotheses were advocated prior to the Fine-Tuning evidence, or we had independent motivations for them, they would not pass the non-ad-hoc-ness test of the restricted version of the Likelihood Principle.

Furthermore, from the perspective of probabilistic tension, these alternative design hypotheses typically would generate a corresponding probabilistic tension between the claim that the postulated Being had a motive to create a Life-Permitting world instead of some other type of world and the Beings’ other attributes, something that does not arise for classical theism. Finally, for some of these postulated Beings, one could claim that even if LPU confirms their existence, we lack sufficient independent reasons to believe in their existence, whereas under Theism we have such reasons; or one could claim that they simply transfer the problem of design up one level.

The only one of these alternatives is the Axiarchic hypothesis, versions of which have been advanced in the last thirty years by John Leslie  & by Hugh Rice and others, wherein goodness or ethical “required-ness” has a direct power to bring about concrete reality.  Whatever the merits of this hypothesis, it is likely to entail Theism.  Since God is the greatest possible Being, it is supremely good that God exist.  Therefore, it is unclear that the axiarchic hypothesis actually conflicts with theism.  In any case, we have solid philosophical grounds for claiming that given the Fine-Tuning evidence, the existence of a Life-Permitting Universe provides significant support for Theism over its non-axiarchic contenders.

If Atheism is correct, if the Universe and its laws are all that is or ever has been, how can it be said that the Universe, with all of its Fine-Tuned features, is in any relevant sense probable or improbable ?  There are no antecedent conditions that could determine such a probability.  Hence, if the Universe is the ultimate brute fact, it is neither likely nor unlikely, probable nor improbable; it simply is.

Further, even if the Universe were somehow improbable, it is hard to see on the hypothesis of Atheism how we could ever know this.  If we were in the position to witness the birth of many worlds –  some designed, some undesigned – then we might be in a position to say of any particular World that it had such-and-such a probability of existing undesigned.  But we simply are not in such a position.  We have absolutely no empirical basis for assigning probabilities to ultimate facts .

In conjunction with the likelihood principle, probability is extensively used in scientific confirmation.  Consider, for example, the arguments typically offered in favor of the thesis of common ancestry, continental drift theory, and the atomic hypothesis.  The thesis of common ancestry is commonly supported by claiming that a variety of features of the world–such as the structure of the tree of life – would not be improbable if this thesis is true, but would be very improbable under other contending, non-evolutionary hypotheses, such as special creation. Consider, for instance, the following quotation from evolutionary biologist and geneticist Edward Dodson, in which he summarizes the case for evolution, understood as the thesis of common ancestry:

All pieces of evidence concur in suggesting evolution with varying degrees of cogency, but most can be explained on other bases, albeit with some damage to the law of parsimony. The strongest evidence for evolution is the concurrence of so many independent probabilities. That such different disciplines as biochemistry and comparative anatomy, genetics and biogeography should all point toward the same conclusion is very difficult to attribute to coincidence.

Similar lines of reasoning are given for accepting continental drift theory. For example, the similarity between the animal and plant life on Africa and South America millions of years ago was considered to provide significant support for continental drift theory.  Why? Because it was judged very unlikely that this similarity would exist if continental drift theory were false, but not if it were true.

Finally, consider the use of epistemic probability in the confirmation of atomic theory. According to Wesley Salmon, what finally convinced virtually all physical scientists by 1912 of the atomic hypothesis was the agreement of at least thirteen independent determinations of Avogadro’s number based on the assumption that atomic theory was correct.  For example, one method of determining Avogadro’s number is through observations of Brownian motion, that is, the random motion of very small particles suspended in a liquid, a motion that was postulated to be caused by the unequal, random impact of the molecules in the liquid.  From this motion and the kinetic theory of heat, one can calculate what the mass of each molecule must be in order to account for the observed motion, and then using that value one can obtain Avogadro’s number.

The scientists reasoned that if atomic theory were false, then such an agreement between thirteen different determinations of Avogadro’s number would be exceedingly epistemically improbable – in Salmon’s words, an “utterly astonishing coincidence” .  Indeed, if scientists had not judged the agreement to be exceedingly improbable if atomic theory were false, it is difficult to see why they would take it to count as strong evidence in its favor.  On the other hand, the scientists reasoned, if atomic theory were true, such an agreement would be expected.  Thus, by implicitly using the likelihood principle, they reasoned that these independent determinations of Avogadro’s number strongly confirmed atomic theory.

It should be noted that one could not avoid this sort of reasoning simply by rejecting Scientific Realism, since even though anti-realists reject the truth or approximate truth of certain types of well-confirmed hypotheses, they still accept them as being reliable bases for future explanations and predictions – that is, in Bas van Fraassen’s terminology, they accept them as being “empirically adequate.”  Consequently, instead of interpreting the confirming evidence as evidence for a hypothesis’ truth, they accept it as evidence for the hypothesis’ empirical adequacy.  This means that insofar as realists need to appeal to epistemic probabilities to support the approximate truth of a theory, anti-realists will need to appeal to those same probabilities in support of a theory’s empirical adequacy – e.g., anti-realists would need to claim that it is highly improbable for the determinations of Avogadro’s number to agree if atomic theory were not empirically adequate.

Since some of the probabilities in the aforementioned examples involve singular, non-repeatable states of affairs, they are not based on statistical probabilities, nor arguably other non-epistemic probabilities. This is especially evident for the probabilities involved in the confirmation of atomic theory since some of them involve claims about probabilities conditioned on the underlying structure and laws of the universe being different – e.g. atoms not existing. Hence, they are not based on actual physical propensities, relative frequencies, or theoretical models of the universe’s operation. They therefore cannot be grounded in theoretical, statistical, or physical probabilities. Similar things can be said about many other related types of confirmation in science, such as the confirmation of quantum electrodynamics (QED) by its extraordinarily precise prediction of the gyromagnetic moment of the electron, which we shall discuss later in this chapter. Such cases, I contend, establish the widespread use of purely epistemic probabilities

in scientific confirmation that are neither grounded in other types of probability nor in experience – e.g., the probabilities invoked in the confirmation of atomic theory clearly are not grounded in experience, since nothing like such an agreement had ever occurred before.

The probabilities in the above examples do not seem to be statistical probabilities; nor can they in any obvious way be justified by appealing to statistical probabilities.  This is especially evident in the case for the epistemic probability involved in the confirmation of atomic theory since it involves claims about likelihoods if the underlying structure and laws of the universe were different – e.g., if atoms did not exist.  Hence, these claims cannot be grounded in theoretical, statistical, or physical probabilities.  Similar things can be said about many other similar types of confirmation in science, such as the confirmation of quantum electrodynamics by its extraordinarily precise prediction of the gyromagnetic moment of the electron, which we shall discuss below.  Such cases, I contend, establish the widespread use of purely epistemic probabilities in scientific confirmation that are neither grounded in statistical probabilities nor experience – e.g., the probabilities invoked in atomic theory clearly are not grounded in experience, since nothing like such an agreement had ever occurred before.

Some more selected verses from the Ramana Maharshi disciple, Master Nome disciple:

The view of the World is a mirror image of the view of oneself since the identity of oneself determines the definition of the World. The Seer himself appears as the Seen, the “I” as “this”. For the purpose of knowing Reality without veils, one should Inquire to know oneself, giving up the objective outlook, as well as the Ego to whom it belongs. Those who are detached from the World & the Senses, who are not identified with the Body, who also perceive the transient nature of all the World, & who yearn for the direct experience of Knowledge of Reality as it is, those should so Inquire. The Wise view the World as transitory, as inert, & as a passing Dream. Such a one never expects the World to provide him with what is his Happiness, Identity, & Reality. To transcend the World is to remain blissful, at Peace always, & free in the Knowledge of unreality of the World & in the Knowledge of the Self’s freedom from that Illusion. This is the perception of Reality, free from the forms of Illusion. This is Abidance in wordless Being, true perception, transcendence of the World, & limitless freedom unaffected by anything of the World. The direct experience of indivisible Existence, & true experience is beyond debate or doubt for those who Inquire to know the Self, which is the sole existent Reality.

By the term “World” is meant all that is perceived, all objects, all activities, all events, the forms of living beings, anything in Space & Time, & anything seen, heard, touched, or sensed in any manner. Transcendence of the World is Liberation from Bondage & Suffering in relation to all of that. Abandonment of the objective outlook constituting the World yields the perception of Reality as it is. Such cannot be anything of the World, but only by Knowledge of the Self, the Reality that is. Where could one go in the World that would be beyond the World ? Yet one’s real Being is ever beyond, & Knowledge reveals the nature of one’s real Being. The Self is changeless & permanent. The World is changeful & impermanent. Each object has a creation, a changeful duration & a destruction. This is true for all objects & for the World as a whole without exception. The Self is permanent with no creation or destruction. The perception of the World depends on the changeful Senses. A change in the Senses brings a change in the object & the World perceived. The Self does not change as the Senses do, for it is unchanging Being & the unchanging Witness of all the changing Senses. A change of mode, or state of Mind yields a corresponding change in the Senses & the perceived World. The Self is not changed, being unchanging Existence & Consciousness, & also the Witness of the Mind as well as the Senses. The Self is One, partless & indivisible. The World is composed of innumerable parts & divisions. The Self has no Form & is purely formless Being. The World is composed of Forms without which there is no World. There is no formless World.

To experience a World is to conceive that World. The World is not actually a Perception, but rather a Conception. To conceive or experience a World, one must first consider oneself as some kind of Body, or as in a Body, or consider the Body as existent & the Body as being somewhere. None of that is true, for such is only imagined in the Mind.

For such Illusions of the World, one must also regard the Sensations, not as Sensations or modes of the Mind, but as literally “physical”. Such Sensation is endowed with the Duality of inner & outer, with the apparent object portion of the Sensation considered as separate from knowing aspect. [So there is not only “hearing” but also real “sounds”, not only “seeing” but also real “light”, not only “touching” but also real “matter”].

Since the Body is not oneself, & the Self is not in a Body, the World is not arrayed “around” oneself. The “around” part is imagined in the Mind, & is not really all “around”.

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

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

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

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 31:

Prior to excerpting the Ramana Maharshi disciple, Master Nome in the text below we continue the series: Fine-Tuned Universe 22, the premise that a small change in several of the dimensionless fundamental physical constants would make the Universe incapable of Life.

Fine-Tuned Universe 22:

Multi-Verse Ensemble:

Most of what can be said about a Multi-Verse could similarly be applied to another kind of Ensemble, be it a serial, temporal Sequence of Bib-Bangs alternating with Big-Crunches, Quantum Mechanical Many-Worlds, baby-universes bubbling of M–branes, Lee Smolin-esque universe-born-at-every-Black-Hole-singularity, Chaotic Inflationary universe-islands within one Big-Bang Universe, and so on. Standing in for all those (with suitable verbal modifications understood) the Multi-Verse of any kind immediately presents a shocking number for enumeration, requiring as heck of lot of stuff. J ust because so many Physics parameters could be varied independently, the number of all possible combinations is staggering.

“Universes that drift like Bubble in the Foam upon the River of Time” Arthur C. Clarke

But only such an unprovable, purely speculative boondoggle rescues Physicalism out of the jaws of encroaching Design as the only other explanation for the extremely improbably Fine-Tuning of this Universe. Such there must be if this Universe was to support Intelligent Life, counting as part of this Universe, the many particulars of Astronomy, Geology, Geochemistry, and so on going into the make-up of planet Earth. Either it is a “set-up” or the “luck of the draw” from out of very many straws indeed.

If we could know that our own Universe was only one of an indefinite number with varying properties we could perhaps invoke a solution analogous to the principle of Natural Selection; that only in certain universes, which happen to include ours, are the conditions suitable for the existence of Life, and unless that condition is fulfilled there will be no Observers to note the fact.                                                    biologist Carl Pantin, early 20^th century Multi-Verse speuclation

The hard-core Many-Worlds advocates split off new universes with every collapsed Wavefunction, with ever Observation by every Observer. These and others take the less extreme but still mind–boggling jump to Ground-Hog Day – like closely-parallel universes so that in the Ensemble or possible histories or whatever, “everything that could ever happen does happen somewhere, sometime.” Ockham’s Parsimony of restraint (explain with as few moving parts as possible) is way out the window here. Philosopher used to wonder at the efficiency of rare, or with-us solitary Intelligent Life in such a vast Universe. But how about the efficiency of a kazillion Universes?

But although the Constants of nature are Numbers, they are not just Numbers and they are not only Numbers. They are the barcodes of ultimate Reality, the pin numbers that will unlock the secrets of the Universe.                                                                               John Barrows

It is one thing, to offer an Analogy, to imagine the futuristic Computing Power that could fabricate a Matrix–level VR Simulation (as ever here, discarding from the movie all body-vats, subterranean wars, A I – Architect self-programming program, Kung-Fu, the One, and so on). But to imagine that “VR – Life-supporting” Simulation to be the result of random keystrokes, for a thousand monkeys or whatever, well that affords some insight in the improbability of our Universe and the enumeration of any Multi-Verse that could include ours as just an accident of Random Chance. Needless to say though, here an in all application of Math to the Universe (as in just all of Physics), a distinction must be maintained between an abstract Mathematical structure with predictable rules and some “physical reality” we cannot define or even experience except as a construct of the Senses. Applying any highly selected Mathematical stricture to the Universe is special pleading and the Multi-Verse heads the list.

Some more selected verses from the Ramana Maharshi disciple, Master Nome disciple:

The Senses are part of the Body. The Body is perceived only by the Senses & has no reality apart from them. Each of the 3 illusions depends on the other (~ bootstrapping Dependent Origination). Such (mutually inter-dependent) Illusion is like the painting of a wall that is painted on the wall depicted when the wall itself has not yet been built. [Contained in that comment is also a “barbershop mirrors” type of self-referencing paradox. Like the old Morton Salt label girl carrying Morton Salt on which a small version of herself was carry Morton Salt, & so on, my hometown had a town-entering Billboard that depicted the town & Billboard, which again depicted the town, & so on.] The Self, however, is bodiless & not a part of the Body or associated with a location in relation to a Body. The Senses are otherwise, so how can the Senses be considered to be the Self ?

The Senses depend on the Self. But the Self exists as it is, innately nondependent on the Senses. This is the highest state of Detachment from the Senses. As pure Being, one is always detached from the Senses & thus, detached from the whole World. The Self is not the Senses & is not experienced by the Senses. The Senses are capable of perceiving Sense objects only, & the Self is not a material object. The sensory experience is only that of Sensation & not a separate Sense & a separate object. The Self is not a Sensation or a product of Sensations. So, how can the Senses be considered to be the Self ? The Self is the “eye of the eye” unseen by the Eye. The Self, which is formless Existence-Consciousness, cannot be sensed & does not have Senses. The Self is not a sensing entity, conceived as the nexus of all the Sensations. Instead, the Self is unalloyed Consciousness. The Self is all–seeing but “eyeless”. In Truth, the Senses do not exist. The Senses are only a figment of the Mind, which is in the infinite Consciousness. Upon the substrate of the Self, which is Existence-Consciousness, the Senses appear, being only the thought of those Senses. Nor do the Sense-objects separately exist. The Senseobjects appear only to & in the Senses. The Senses vanish, leaving the substrate unaffected & all alone. The substrate is Reality, which is unchanging. There is no actual creation of the Senses in that Consciousness.

Just as the Mind becomes the Object, the Instrument or means of Knowing, the Actor, the Action, & the results in a Dream, so is this also the case in the Waking state. The Real Self is different from the Mind & all those things that the Mind becomes (object, instrument of knowing, actor, action, results). The Self is without interior & exterior, such as the Mind & the World.  The Self is homogenous Consciousness.  Know the Self by ceasing the attribution of anything exterior or interior to the Self.  Remembrance & forgetfulness, including remembrance & forgetfulness of the Self, these processes are also, only of the Mind.  Both of these processes are products of Ignorance & do not touch the Self. Cease to regard the Self as a known or unknown object.  If the Supreme Self is regarded as an object of knowledge, such is a superimposition of Imagination or Ignorance.  True Knowledge prevails when such Ignorance, or superimposition, is negated. This is like the case with the rope & the illusion of the snake.

When the conceptions of “me” & “mine” are attributed to the Self, such are manifestations of Ignorance.  They are superimpositions upon the Self, which is only One, with neither Individuality nor any experience or thing possessed by and Individual. The “individual self” is thought to be the Seer, Hearer, Thinker, Knower, & such. In Reality, it is Brahman, the imperishable, indivisible, Non-Dual Self.  The “individual self” or “I” is not different from the Real Self, which is Brahman.

Meditation on the Self is declared to be without Time, Space, direction, or Causation, since the Self is without these things. The Self itself is to be realized as timeless, & the Realization itself, being of the same nature, is bodiless & without regard to place. The Self itself is, without Causation, being Uncreated & Unborn. And the Realization, being of the same nature, need not wait for circumstance & is not an attempt to produce the Self anew. The Realization is a realizing of what the Self truly is.  Le the Mind thus turn within, immersing itself in Self-Inquiry, absorbing itself in Knowledge, thereby losing its own form as it searches inwardly for its source. In this lies great Bliss & Immortality.

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

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

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

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 29:

Prior to excerpting the Ramana Maharshi disciple, Master Nome in the text below we continue the series: Fine-Tuned Universe 21, the premise that a small change in several of the dimensionless fundamental physical constants would make the Universe incapable of Life.

The 3 GUT [Grand Unified Theory: Strong & Weak Nuclear – Electro–Magnetic] forces are indistinguishable until a Trillionth second old Universe at a now chilly Quadrillion degrees back when Magnetic Monopoles of a Quadrillion Proton masses were knotted lines in Space.

Fine-Tuned Universe 21:

 Cosmological Constant:

Lambda, capital L, lowercase  l  is a symbol appearing in Einstein’s modified Field Equation used in his formulation of General Relativity:

R_mn   –  ½ R g_mn  +  L g_mn    =   8p G/c⁴  T_mn

He rescinded this “fudge factor” as his self-styled “greatest mistake”; but later it was widely embraced as a Cosmological Constant, especially when described in terms of  Omega, capital W_L, a ratio of the Energy Density “due to the Cosmological Constant” to the Critical Mass Density of the Universe and the corresponding influence of Gravity. Martin Rees in his Just Six Numbers, similarly called this  l   =   W_L  while he reserved “plain” Omega, capital W or lowercase  w  as a measure of the “amount of Matter in the Universe” determining the relative importance of Gravity and the Universe’s Expansion Energy. Specifically the Rees  W,  w   =   the Universe’s actual Mass Density to the Critical Mass Density which matches the Cosmological Constant Energy Density. So in Rees terms the High, Medium, and Low curves depicted above describe Open curved-out Expansion, critical Flat Expansion, and curved-in Collapse and these are linked to W_L  >  1,  @  0.3,  <  1.  Slight differences and similarities confuse these related used of Lambda  & Omega but Universe Expansion is the concern I each case.

• N = ratio of the strengths of gravity to that of electromagnetism;
• Epsilon (ε) = strength of the force binding nucleons into nuclei;
• Omega (ω) = relative importance of gravity and expansion energy in the Universe;
• Lambda (λ) = cosmological constant;
• Q = ratio of the gravitational energy required to pull a large galaxy apart to the energy equivalent of its mass;
• D = number of spatial dimensions in spacetime.

Fine-Tuning Itself:

 Some of the small tolerances “allowed” (for Intelligent Life) have already been mentioned for  a , a_s , a_G  and so on. For Rees’ ratio N  =  10^–36

(for 2 Protons), stated as 10^–40 (Electron-Proton) by others, the “tolerance” is  some 1 part in Millions.

The vacuum energy  is beyond our scope, but a brief baby-step from elementary Quantum Theory may help for starters. Quantum Energy states ranging from high to low exhibit the gnarly character that any lowest state is quite precisely determined (in terms of frequency if talking about momentum, in terms of time if talking about energy, simply because the bottom is at the extreme low end, without so much wiggle room there. This precise level must therefore store highly uncertain Energy occupation across all quantum states, even in empty Space. The resulting fuzzy residuum of undetermined Energy, quite thinly disperse in Space and thus not to be harnessed, does however add up to a huge amount incrementally across the myriad portions of Space. This empty Space or Vacuum Energy, first described by Dirac as Zero-Point Energy dwarfs the rest on the Universe Rest-Mass = mc² because the Universe is not empty.

Similarly critical are the Omega Expansion ratios (defined variously). In fact the Electron charge must match the opposing Proton charge to at least 1 part in a Sextillion. Many of the Fine-Tuned tolerances are of a similar sort, very long odds if Random. Some of the Fine-Tuning resembles not so much constraint to some narrow window as much as extreme removal to an extreme end, very high or low. Theoretical determination of the Cosmological Constant has been famously off the mark by a factor of 10¹²⁰. The huge 10¹⁰⁰ too large theoretical repulsive negative-pressure of the Vacuum Energy*[1] must be offset by counter-balancing attractive contributions to the Cosmological Constant, whether included with the speculative Quintessence field or otherwise.

In any case these are Large Numbers coming in again. Similarly, the distant-Future collapse of Matter in the Universe (not the Lambda-Omega collapse of Space-Time itself) in giant Black Holes segues to irradiative evaporation of those Black Holes over the course of 10¹⁰⁰ years.

 Rees’ Q number determines ripples in the smoothness of the Universe, which at 10^–5  compares to the ripple of a tsunami as high as a football field is long, coursing around the Earth’s oceans, but seen from Space as infinitesimal on the scale of the planet, the un-smoothness ripple being only a  ¹/₁₀₀₀% of the Earth’s size, by analogy, or smoother than a cue-ball. But if Q were down to a 10^th of its value, Galaxies would never coalesce. If Q were larger, the Universe would be so “cluttered” Galaxies as to prevent us from estimating any value of Q at all.

Some more selected verses from the Ramana Maharshi disciple, Master Nome disciple:

The unknown Knower of all that is known, the Supreme Knowledge itself, Consciousness remains undivided by the triad of Knower, Knowing, & Known. Consciousness can never be a known or unknown object. Consciousness is the Witness of all, the only Knower. Consciousness, the Knower, is never defined by the Known. Consciousness, the Witness of every state, of all thought, is not defined by thought, nor contained in any state. The Witness is never known. Consciousness is ever non-objective. Consciousness is formless – with nothing objective within or without. Unknown, Consciousness alone is known. Not a process of knowing, Consciousness alone is knowing. Not a knower, Consciousness alone is the Knower, the unknown Knower of all that is known.

The removal of superimposition is accomplished by Self-Inquiry. This is the intention of the negation of the Upanishads, “neti, neti”, “not this”. Such indicates the negation of one’s attributes, identity, or definition, of what is not truly the Self, not the essential Existence, or pure Consciousness. The removal of superimposition is the revelation of the Truth.  The Truth, or the Reality, is not newly created, nor did the superimposition diminish it in any way, just as the snake did not chase the rope away. But to see the rope, the Imagination of the snake must cease. Similarly, to know the Truth of the Self, Ignorance must cease.

True Knowledge is not experienced unless the prior ignorant conception is negated, just as the snake notion is destroyed to see the rope.  The Self, of the nature of pure Consciousness, is self-existent & can never be negated. Egoism has its origin in Delusion & has for its object that which is only imagined. Its definitions are only thoughts. The discernment of “Not this, not this” negates the very existence of Egoism along with its origin, its effects, & its imagined object.

All qualities, gross (physical) or subtle (mental), ought to be negated from the Self, from one’s Identity. If one is to know the Self as it is, whatever be the qualities attributed to the Self, be they physical or mental, they are to be regarded as mere ornaments. These should not be regarded as the Identity of the one who “wears” those “ornaments” (qualities).

If one rejects all that is objective from one’s Identity, one comes to the conclusion that the Self is the Knower, free from all that is perceived & conceived. In the same manner as one relinquishes misidentification with the Body, & all that is objective, so should one sever the mis-identification with the supposed subject, which is the Ego.

The Self’s existence is independent of all & is different from all that is objective. The objectified “I” is the Ego. The superimposed objective portion of the “I” – consciousness should be abandoned, for it is not actually the Self.  Negation of what is objective means also negation of the Ego.  What remains is that which is implied in the aphorism: Aham Brahmasmi – “I am Brahman”. Only Brahman can be itself, 1– without – a – 2^nd.  That is the only true “I”.

Brahman is unborn, immortal, imperishable, ageless, & all-comprehensive.  The same Absolute Brahman appears, according to one’s understanding, as God, who is said to be the Lord who dispassionately dispenses the results of karma, or as the Witness, which is Consciousness in relation to all else, or the attributeless, eternal “I”, of the nature of the indivisible, non-dual, Being-Consciousness & which alone is 1– without – a – 2^nd.

The Self has neither rise  nor set, is neither in darkness nor illumined, but is always the spiritual Light, with nothing material or mental in its nature at all. The distinction between the Self & oneself is due only to superimposition, which is like imagining different openings in a castle wall, for instance, to be different spaces, rather than perceiving the castle space itself. The Self is non-dual, 1– without – a – 2^nd.  It is neither distinct nor in relation to anything else.  For non-dual Existence means there is no other. There is, thus, no difference or non-difference, no oneness or manyness, & no separate knower or doer or experiencer.  The Self has nothing to accept or reject. And there is nothing, or no one else to accept or reject the Self. There is no one else to think the Self is, or that the Self is not. Such is the Truth regarding the Self.

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

as  “Being-as-Consciousness, Non-Duality – new & final version” with link:

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

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 23:

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

Fine-Tuned Universe 16:

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

Dimensionless Constants:

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

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

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

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

Some more selected verses from the other Ramana Maharshi disciple:

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

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

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

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

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

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

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

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

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 21:

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

Fine-Tuned Universe 14:

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

Fundamental Constants:

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

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

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

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

which including spherical geometry becomes:

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

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

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

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

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

a_s  =  Strong nuclear force coupling constant     @   1

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Some more selected verses from the other Maharshi disciple:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

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

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

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 19:

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

Fine-Tuned Universe 12:

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

Astronomical Anthropism:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Some more selected verses from the other Maharshi disciple:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

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

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

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 17:

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

Fine-Tuned Universe 9:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Some more selected verses from the other Maharshi disciple:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

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

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

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 15:

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

Fine-Tuned Universe 8:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Some more selected verses from the other Maharshi disciple:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

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

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

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

‘

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 13:

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

100 Billion

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

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

Fine-Tuned Universe 6:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Some more selected verses from the other Maharshi disciple:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 www.jpstiga.com/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

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

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

Duplicates  have been available on:

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 11:

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

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

Fine-Tuned Universe 4:

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

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

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

Some more selected verses from the other Maharshi disciple:

Tayumanuvar, Tamil saint:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

www.jpstiga.com\

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX 

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 10:

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

Notes from a (contemporary) Spiritual Diary

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Consciousness-Meditation

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

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

www.jpstiga.com\

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX\ 

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 9:

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

Notes from a (contemporary) Spiritual Diary

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Consciousness-Meditation

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

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

www.jpstiga.com\

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX 

 ]

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 8

100 Billion

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

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

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

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

Fine-Tuned Universe 2:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

www.jpstiga.com\

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX 

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 7:

100 Billion

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

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

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

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

Fine-Tuned Universe 1:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Some selections adapted from the Maharshi disciple, Master Nome:

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

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

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

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

www.jpstiga.com\

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX 

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 5:

100 Billion

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

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

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

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

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

Some more selected verses from the Maharshi disciple:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 4:

100 Billion

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Some more selected verses from the Maharshi disciple:

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

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

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

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

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

Bhagavan [Sri Ramana Maharshi]

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

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

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 3

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

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

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

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

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

Some more selections from a great Ramana Maharshi desciple:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 2

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

          Do you exist ?

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

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

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

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

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

            Granted what you say, what is the significance ?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ajnana – ignorance

Avarana / Avriti – veiling

Avidya – “blindness”

Bheda – differentiation

Khandha – separatiom

Maya –  illusion

Moha – delusion

Rajas-guna – restless fantasy projection and craving

Samskaras – persistent tendencies

Tamas-guna – dull attenuation of discriminative intensity

Upadhis – modificatioms

Vasanas – deep-seated tendencies

Vikalpas – unquestioned assumptions (Sankalpa’s), doubts

Vikshepa – projection

Vivarta – superimpose

Vrittis – restless patterns of thought

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Plain Words” – 3

[The “guest” instructor this time is the great Maharshi disciple Annamalai Swami:]

Continuous attentiveness will only come with long practice. If you are truly watchful, each thought will dissolve at the moment that it appears. But to reach this level of  disassociation you must have no attachments at all. If you have the slightest interest in  any particular thought, it will evade your attentiveness, connect with other thoughts, and  take over your mind for a few seconds. This will happen more easily if you are accustomed to  reacting emotionally to a particular thought.  This “little self” will only give way to the real Self if you meditate constantly.

You cannot wish it away with a few stray thoughts. Try to remember the analogy of the rope which  looks like a snake in the twilight. If you see the rope as a snake, the real nature of the  rope is hidden from you. If you only see the rope, the snake is not there.

When you have that clear and correct perception that the snake never at any time existed, the question of how to kill the snake disappears. Apply this analogy to the “little self” that you are worrying about. If you can understand that this “little self” never at any time had any existence outside your imagination, you will not be concerned about ways and means of getting rid of it.  Don’t make the mistake of imagining that there is some goal to be reached or attained.

If you think like this you will start looking for methods to practice and people to help you.

This just perpetuates the problem you are trying to end. Instead, cultivate the strong  awareness, “I am the Self. I am That. I am Brahman [impersonal Absolute Reality]. I am  everything”. You don’t need any methods to get rid of the wrong ideas you have about  yourself. All you have to do is stop believing them. The best way to do this is to replace  them with ideas which more accurately reflect the real sate of affairs. If you think and  meditate “I am the Self”, it will do you a lot of more good than thinking, “I am the “little  self”. How can I get rid of this “little self” ?   If you desire to gain a proper understanding of your real nature is intense enough, help

will automatically come. If you want to generate an awareness of your real nature you will be immeasurably helped by having contact with a jnani [realized being]. The power and Grace which a jnani radiates quiet the mind and automatically eliminate the wrong ideas you have about yourself. You can make progress by having satang [association] of a realized Guru and by constant spiritual practice. The Guru cannot do everything for you.

If you want to give up the limiting habits of many lifetimes, you must practice constantly.  Most people take the appearance of the snake in the rope to be reality.  Acting on their misperceptions they think up many different ways of killing the snake. They can never

succeed in getting rid of the snake until they give up the idea that there is a snake there  at all. People who want to kill or control the mind have the same problem: they imagine that there is a mind which needs to be controlled and take drastic steps to beat it into

submission. If, instead, they generated the understanding that there is no such thing as the mind, all there problems would come to an end. You must generate the conviction, “I am the all-pervasive consciousness in which all bodies and minds in the world are appearing and disappearing.

I am that consciousness which remains unchanged and unaffected by these appearances and disappearances”. Stabilize yourself in that conviction. That is all you need

to do.  Bhagavan [Ramana Maharshi] once told a story about a man who wanted to bury his own shadow in a deep pit. He dug the pit and stood in such a position that his shadow was on the bottom of it. The man then tried to bury it by covering it with earth. Each time he threw some soil in the hole the shadow appeared on top of it. Of course, he never succeeded in burying the shadow. Many people behave like this when they meditate. They take the mind to be real, try to fight it and kill it, and always fail. These fights against the mind are all mental activities which strengthen the mind instead of weakening it.

If you want to get rid of the mind, all you have to do is understand that it is “not me”. Cultivate the awareness “I am the immanent consciousness”. When that understanding becomes firm, the non-existent mind will not trouble you.  Every time you go to sleep you have the experience of being without a mind. You cannot deny

that you exist while you are asleep and you cannot deny that your mind is not functioning while you are in dreamless sleep. This daily experience should convince you that it is possible to continue your existence without a mind. Of course, you do not have the full experience of consciousness while you are asleep, but if you think about what happens during his state you should come to understand that your existence, the continuity of your Being, is in no way dependent on your mind or your identification with it.

When the mind reappears every morning you instantly jump to the conclusion “This is the real me”. If you reflect on this proposition for some time you will see how absurd it is. If what you really are only exists when the mind is present, you have to accept that you didn’t exist while you were asleep. No one will accept such an absurd conclusion. If you analyze your alternating states you will discover that it is your direct experience that you exist whether you are awake or asleep. You will also discover that the mind only becomes active while you are waking or dreaming. From these simple daily experiences it should be easy to understand that the mind \is something that comes and goes. Your existence is not wiped out each time the mind ceases to function.

I am not telling you some philosophical theory; I am telling you something that you can validate by direct experience in any twenty-four hour period of your life.  Take these facts, which you can discover by directly experiencing them, and investigate them  a little more. When the mind appears every morning don’t jump to the usual conclusion,

“This is me; these thoughts are mine.” Instead, watch these thoughts come and go without  identifying with them in any way. If you can resist the impulse to claim each and every

thought as your own, you will come to a startling conclusion: you will discover that you are the consciousness in which the thoughts appear and disappear. You are allowed to run free.

Like the snake which appears in the rope, you will discover that the mind is only an illusion which appears through ignorance or misperception.  You want some experience which will convince you that what I am saying is true. You can have that experience if you give up your life-long habit of inventing an “I” which claims all thoughts as “mine”. Be conscious of yourself as consciousness alone, watch all the thoughts come and go. Come to the conclusion, by direct experience, that you are really consciousness itself, not its ephemeral contents.  Clouds come and go in the sky but the appearance and disappearance of the clouds doesn’t affect the sky. Your real nature is like the sky, like space. Just remain like the sky and let thought-clouds come and go. If you cultivate this attitude of indifference towards the mind, gradually you will cease to identify yourself with it.  Whenever obstacles come on the path, think of them as “not me”. Cultivate the attitude that the real you is beyond the reach of all troubles and obstacles. There are no obstacles for  the Self. If you can remember that you always are the Self, obstacles will be of no importance.  Only when one starts to do meditation that one becomes aware of the different ways that the mind causes us trouble. This is very true. But one should not worry about any of the obstacles or fear them. One should merely regard them as being not me. They can only cause you trouble while you think that they are your problems.

The obstructing vasanas [remembered thught tendencies] may look like a large mountain which obstructs your progress. Don’t be intimidated by the size. It is not a mountain of rock, it  is a mountain of camphor. If you light one corner of it with the flame of discriminative attention, it will all burn to nothing.  Stand back from the mountain of problems, refuse to acknowledge that they are yours, and they will dissolve and disappear before your eyes.  Don’t be deluded by your thoughts and vasanas. They are always trying to trick you into believing that you are a real person, that the world is real, and that all your problems are real. Don’t fight them; just ignore them. Don’t accept delivery of all the wrong ideas that keep coming to you. Establish yourself in the conviction that you are the Self and that nothing can stick to you or affect you. Once you have that conviction you will find that you automatically ignore the habits of the mind. When the rejection of mental activities becomes continuous and automatic, you will begin to have the experience of the Self.

If you see two strangers quarrelling in the distance you do not give much attention to them because you know that the dispute is none of your business. Treat the contents of your mind in the same way. Instead of filling your mind with thoughts and then organizing fights between them, pay no attention to the mind at all. Rest quietly in the feeling of “I am”, which is consciousness, and cultivate the attitude that all thoughts, all perceptions are “not me”. When you have learned to regard your mind as a distant stranger, you will not pay any attention to all the obstacles it keeps inventing for you.

Mental problems feed on the attention that you give them. The more you worry about them, the stronger they become. If you ignore them, they lose their power and finally vanish.  When maya [Illusion] is totally inactive, that is, when the identity with the body and the mind has  been dropped, there is an awareness of consciousness, of Being. When one is established in that state there is no body, no mind and no world. These three things are just ideas which are brought into an apparent existence when maya is present and active.  When maya is active, the sole effective way to dissolve it is the path shown by Bhagavan.

One must do Self-enquiry and discriminate between what is real and what is unreal. It is the power of maya which makes us believe in the reality of things which have no reality outside our imagination. If you ask, “What are these imaginary things?” the answer is, “Everything that is not the formless Self”. The Self alone is real; everything else is a figment of our imagination.  It is not helpful to enquire why there is maya and how it operates. If you are in a boat which is leaking, you don’t waste time asking whether the hole was made by an Italian, a Frenchman or an Indian. You just plug the leak. Don’t worry about where maya comes from.

Put all your energy into escaping from its effect. If you try to investigate the origin of maya with your mind you are doomed to fail because any answer you come up with will be a maya answer. If you want to understand how maya operates and originates you should establish yourself in the Self, the one place where you can be free of it, and then watch how it takes you over each time you fail to keep your attention there.

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

“Plain Words” – 2

Getting back to the issue of counting, comparison can be loosely made to the old movie the “The Matrix“.  One particular aspect of the movie is the high level of programming required to run the VR, Virtual Reality that allows such realistic interaction between the many Avatars, the program tokens representing the point of view of each person sharing in the experience of that Virtual Reality.  When person no.1 does x, person no.2 must be ready to react in a manner consistent with the chosen interaction x.  With many Avatars interacting with many others. all making a number of choices every second or so, the programming has to be very robust to cover all the possibilities.

The ancient sage, Sri Shankara offered as a simple analogy a large earthen vessel with a lamp inside.  Many holes were fashioned through the walls of the vessel so that the light would shine out in many places.  These many holes were to be analogous to the many points of view in Consciousness that seem to be the many Individuals. Yet only one Light, one Consciousness, illumines all. So too, the many computer Avatars in the movie VR are only newly constructed points of view within one master computer program that projects the highly interactive Virtual Reality.  In that Virtual Reality, the many Avatars are not really many Individuals. Nor is the particular computer Avatar, that one identifies as oneself, an Individual either.

So, are there actually many Avatars, are there actually many Individuals in the Waking state, or is there only one Consciousness ?  Furthermore, whether in a supposedly computer program within a movie or, or within the Waking State Dream, the number of enlightened, however few, and the unenlightened, however many, all total to Zero in terms of individuals, and to One in terms of Consciousness.  Computer Avatars and apparent Individuals are fleeting and insubstantial, ever-changing, impermanent, and truly unreal throughout the whole time or lifetime of their appearance.  What is program code ?  What is a Thought–constructed Waking Dream ?  All these are insubstantial, ever changing, appearances without substance.  Consciousness, also Existence – Bliss, is the only changeless, enduring, and truly substantial Reality.

To find and merge in the one self, God, is the sole purpose and meaning of apparent Life.  In the Eternity of the forever Un–born with no beginning in Time, and forever enduring in an Infinite future, each momentary, indefinable, insubstantial thought amounts to nothing.  All these nothings put together seem to constitute the periodic episodes of the Waking Dream life.  And yet the same Self is also aware of the succession of Dreams in sleep and the no–thought Peace of Deep Dreamless Sleep.  Spiritual practice then, to repeat, is to discover and merge in the true Self, God, the sole Non-Dual Reality.  Of the several traditions helpful in this endeavor, Ajata Vata Advaita Vedanta, No–Birth Non-Duality is the tradition represented here, a tradition old and vast in resources, perhaps the widest path to Liberation.

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

“Plain Words”

[Lapses in health have delayed blogging for some time.  Finally, with speech-to-text the authors own words become available.  Quotation again should be possible soon.]

One feels that one is a Person characterized by a particular Body experiencing some part of the World in the course of Time.  So to does a Dream character feel himself to be a person characterized by a particular Dream-Body experiencing some part of the Dream World in the course of Dream Time. The 2 impressions are not different in kind, but perhaps only in degree of vividness, seemingly consistent continuation, duration, and so on.  In fact both are the product of Thought projecting a Dream World, projecting a Waking World, and a person in each case experiencing that World. Thought is itself is an insubstantial ripple in the vast Infinite Ocean of Consciousness. That Consciousness which could be called God, or the Self when one has the deep feeling “I exist” – that “I” is the Self; and that Existence is also the Self, is God, is Supreme Consciousness.  To awaken from the Waking Dream into unlimited subjective Consciousness is called Enlightenment, Liberation, and is also known by a number of other terms.

As we continue with “Plain Words”, the course out of the illusion of living in the Waking World as a Person will be charted.  Such is not new information, but has been known for thousands of years by a relatively few enlightened Sages.  However the numbers game between the small number of enlightened Sages and a large number of unenlightened persons is an unreal one, because there are no such persons. And numbers themselves, arithmetic itself, mathematics itself is a thought construct, not fundamental Reality.  So the numbers, the probabilities should not be considered overwhelming because they too are unreal. Among one of the first things to note is the objectivity of the Dream and the objectivity of the Waking State experience.  The Self, God, is purely subjective Consciousness and is the only not known by another.  Not known by another, the Self cannot be described, cannot be conceived of, for all of that is downstream in the objective direction of Mind.

To find the subjective sense of “I” and existence, to deeply experience “I exist” as Consciousness, is to begin the path of Awakening, is to proceed toward Enlightenment in order to enjoy Liberation.

Besides being Consciousness itself and Existence itself, God is said to be Happiness itself.  Happiness, the motivation of all effort, is all the motivation one needs to commence, complete, and enjoy the results of the path to Enlightenment.  The subjective Self–Inquiry as it has been called, centering around the sense of “I”, “Who am I ?”, “Where does this sense of “I” arise from ?”, and “I exist” – this is the path.  That turning inward to subjective sense of “I exist”, to answer the question “Who am I ?”, “What am I ?”. “Where does the sense of “I” arise from ? – this is to move entirely in the subjective direction, away from all the other that is objective, this is to practice.  The practice begins in periods of meditation and spills over into being the background of all other thought and all activity; and finally becomes the entire experience.

Beginning with the next addition of “Plain Words” we draw from ancient & modern Wisdom is hallowed words & words anew.  But inner experience – not words – constitutes the Path.

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

Shankara’s “Srih Advaitanubhutih” or “Non-Dual Perception”

(translated by Rmamoorthy & Nome, [with square bracket comments added])

The intent of this text is repetitive analogies that aid transcendence of the strikingly convincing appearance of Multiplicity in the World. Apparent objects are actually only perceptions of such “objects”. Perceptions are actually only thoughts. Thoughts are actually only illusory “waves” (vritti s) in Consciousness, the single Non-Dual Consciousness. The self-luminous & unmistakable Reality of your own Existence is the Self, the only Real,

[33] Even though only 1, the light of the Sun seems to be broken into many when filtered through a grid of netting, Likewise, even though only the 1, the all-pervasive Self appears as if many.

[34] Just as holes & such “deficiencies” in the net do not truly diminish or affect the light of the Sun, so likewise the deficiencies of appearing “many” do not affect the all-pervasive Self.

[35] When holes in a net are destroyed, the passing sunlight is indeed not destroyed. Likewise, when persons, places, & things cease to exist, the all-pervasive Self is not destroyed.

[36] As the Knowing Principle illuminating the Body, Senses, Life Force, the imagining Mind, the discriminating Intellect, Ignorance, & others mental functions, likewise, the Self illumines the Ego, the one who erroneously lays claim to these. Truly the “I” is not the Body, the which I objectively “seen” by the Self, nor the apparently “seeing” Senses, nor the nor the multiple Life functions. I am not the shifting Mind.

[37] The Self is not the changing Intellect, nor insentient ignorance, the Body, Senses, & so on, because they are at best temporary constructions.

[to be continued]

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

Shankara’s “Srih Advaitanubhutih” or “Non-Dual Perception”

(translated by Rmamoorthy & Nome, [with square bracket comments added])

The intent of this text is repetitive analogies that aid transcendence of the strikingly convincing appearance of Multiplicity in the World. Apparent objects are actually only perceptions of such “objects”. Perceptions are actually only thoughts. Thoughts are actually only illusory “waves” (vritti s) in Consciousness, the single Non-Dual Consciousness. The self-luminous & unmistakable Reality of your own Existence is the Self, the only Real,

[23] Just as by the shining of the Sun, mirrors & water surfaces seem as if shining, so likewise the Scriptures are as if “shining” by the shining of the Self.

[24] Just as flour & such, being mixed with sugar become sweet, being connected with the Self, Scriptures become uplifting like the Self.

[27] Just as in different containers there exists only the 1 same Space,

so likewise in different Bodies, there exists only the 1 same Self.

[28] Just as in different containers Space itself does not indeed move,

so also in all various Bodies, the Self does not move.

[29] Just as, when containers are destroyed, the Space inside is not destroyed, so likewise when Bodies are destroyed, the Self is not destroyed.

[to be continued]

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

Sri Shankara’s “Srih Advaitanubhutih” or “Non-Dual Perception”

(translated by Rmamoorthy & Nome, [with square bracket comments added])

The intent of this text is repetitive analogies that aid transcendence of the strikingly convincing appearance of Multiplicity in the World. Apparent objects are actually only perceptions of such “objects”. Perceptions are actually only thoughts. Thoughts are actually only illusory “waves” (vritti s) in Consciousness, the single Non-Dual Consciousness. The self-luminous & unmistakable Reality of your own Existence is the Self, the only Real,

[15] Just as, by the destruction of the bubble there is not, at any time, destruction of the water, so likewise by the destruction of the apparent manifest Universe, there is not indeed destruction of the Self.

[16] Purity & such pertaining to the shed skin of a snake do not pertain to the snake [snakes shed their skin periodically so the new skin layer underneath compensates for wear & tear & growth]. Likewise, purity & such related to the gross Body & such do not pertain to this [Non-Dual] Self.

[17] Just as the snake does not consider the shed skin that is discarded as being itself, so always the enlightened Sage does not consider the physical Body & the Mind that he/she renounces as being the Self.

[18] Just as by the destruction of the shed skin. there is indeed no destruction of the snake, so, likewise by the destruction of the physical Body & the Mind. there will be no destruction of the Self.

[20] Just as iron, wood, & other substances, when 1^st being put into fire, appear like fire, so too the gross Body & the Mind, both being united with one’s own Self, appear as if the Self.

[to be continued]

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

Shankara’s “Srih Advaitanubhutih” or “Non-Dual Perception”

(translated by Rmamoorthy & Nome, [with square bracket comments added])

The intent of this text is repetitive analogies that aid transcendence of the strikingly convincing appearance of Multiplicity in the World. Apparent objects are actually only perceptions of such “objects”. Perceptions are actually only thoughts. Thoughts are actually only illusory “waves” (vritti s) in Consciousness, the single Non-Dual Consciousness. The self-luminous & unmistakable Reality of your own Existence is the Self, the only Real,

[7] Just as Space, though only1, appears as if 2 [as when inside & outside a container like an earthen pot for instance ], being conditioned [by the illusory Mind], so likewise, this Self, though only 1 & complete, being so conditioned [as if all this apparent Universe], appears as if 2 [or some 10⁸⁰ particles in the apparently knowable Universe].

[8] Consciousness, which is the cause [of Mind & the illusory Universe it projects] seems so conditioned, but stays as the Consciousness, which is also the effect imagined, & is not altered as the Space of a pot, a cloud, or the clay making up the pot. [Consciousness like Space] is not different anywhere.

[9] Just as Space with limitation [as when enclosed in pots & other containers or objects] removed is only 1, likewise, this Self, with limitation [Mind-created Delusion] removed, is only1 ever.

[10] Just as, with or from Space there is not another “space”, so too because of oneness of the Self, there is no other “self” that could originate from the [single Non-Dual] Self.

[11] Just as water can appear as a cloud instead of the form of liquid water, likewise indeed, the Self, by association with Delusion, appears in the form of the Universe.

[12] Water sometimes appears as a cloud. Upon the cloud’s destruction as rain, there is indeed no destruction of the water.

[13] Likewise, this Self indeed appears, by association with Delusion (Illusion), as the manifest Universe. By the apparent destruction of the apparent manifest Universe, there is not indeed destruction of one’s own Self at any time [as with death of the illusory Body, Deep Dreamless Sleep, the “end of Time”, Enlightenment, whatever, …].

[14] Just as a bubble, arising in water, appears as if separate from water, so likewise this manifest Universe & it’s Multiplicity appears as if separate from the Self.

[to be continued]

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

Sri Shankara’s “Srih Advaitanubhutih” or “Non-Dual Perception”

(translated by Rmamoorthy & Nome, [with square bracket comments added])

The intent of this text is repetitive analogies that aid transcendence of the strikingly convincing appearance of Multiplicity in the World. Apparent objects are actually only perceptions of such “objects”. Perceptions are actually only thoughts. Thoughts are actually only illusory “waves” (vritti s) in Consciousness, the single Non-Dual Consciousness. The self-luminous & unmistakable Reality of your own Existence is the Self, the only Real,

[2]  Just as, due to a defect in the eye [diplopia due to drunkenness, poison, disease, etc.], the Moon, even though 1, appears as if 2, likewise, due to Illusion [being fooled] (Delusion [fooling oneself]), the Self [Non-Dual Reality], even though 1, falsely appears as if 2 [or immensely multiple as the Universe].

[3]  Just as, for those devoid of a defect in the eye [diplopia, etc.], the Moon is only 1, likewise, for those devoid of the defect of delusion, the Self, indeed, is ever 1.

[4]  Being 2 appears due to a defect in the eye, in the case of the Moon. So, by its own delusion, does the World (the Universe). just as being 2 is false in the case of the Moon, so, likewise, Duality is false in the case of the Self.

[5]  An effect of the Self, [such as Mind-created ] “Space”, will not arise without the Self [being the Consciousness in which Minds appear to function]. “Completeness” [strikingly apparent, detailed, & vast] of this effect being accomplished, how much more [amazing] is this so for the completeness of the Self !

[6]  Just as Space, being the illusory reflection. is only 1 & not, indeed, 2-fold, so, this Self, being the Cause, is only 1 for those who really know.

[to be continued]

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

NMT – “No-Me Teaching” Self Knowledge part 1:

[selections based on Master Nome’s Self Knowledge]

The one, Absolute, Non-Dual Self alone exists Eternally.

The Self neither begins nor ends, neither expands nor reduces, has no phase or condition, & is ever just as it is. The Self alone is present always.

Knowledge of the Self is based upon the seeker having a firm conviction in the Identity, or Non-Duality, of That & thou as expressed in the Upanishadic Mahavakya: “Thou art That.” This reveals the Identity of Self & the Absolute (Brahman).  Seeking Realization of the Absolute, Brahman, seek to realize the Self  as it truly is [not the apparent, personal individual “self” based on the Body]. The Realization of the Self is our only true, natural state. Any other state is Illusion (the Perceptions that fool us into feeling limited to the apparent, personal individual “self” based on the Body) & the product of Delusion (fooling ourselves into identifying with the apparent, personal individual “Mind” based on the Body).  The ultimate nature of Illusion is non-existence (that is, it does not really exist).

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

Ramana Maharshi Vedanta Analogies, & Ashtavakra part 2

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

100 Billion

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

[reprise of the prior Maharshi analogy in his own words]

Consciousness is the Screen on which all the pictures come & go. The Screen is real, the pictures are mere shadows on it.  Because by long  habit we have been regarding the 3 states as real as if the Real that we call the state of mere Consciousness.

[a similar “Panchadasi” analogy quoted by Sri Ramana   Maharshi]

A light that is kept on the stage of a theatre. When a drama is being played, the light is there, which illuminates, without any distinction, all the actors, whether they be kings or servants or dancers, & also all the audience. That light will be there before the drama begins, during the performance & also after the performance is over. Similarly, the Light within, that is, the Self, gives light to the Ego [ahamkara], the Intellect [buddhi], the Memory [chitta]. & the Mind [manas] without itself being subject to processes of growth & decay.

[Maharshi comments about Consciousness as the “Witness” & the “3 states”  of Mind]

Actually, the idea of the Self being the Witness is only in the Mind; it is not the Absolute Truth of the Self.  Witnessing is relative to objects witnessed.  Both the Witness & his object are mental creations.  There is only 1 state, that of Consciousness or Consciousness of Existence.

Although during Deep Dreamless Sleep & other states [“unconsciousness” of various kinds] there is no feeling of the Ego, that Self remains attributeless, & continues to shine of itself.

The 3 states of Waking, Dream & Deep Dreamless Sleep cannot be real. They simply come & go.  The Real will always exist. The True “I” or Existence that alone persists in all the 3 states is Real. The other 3 are not real & so it is not possible to say they have such & such a degree of Reality.  We may roughly put it like this. Existence or Consciousness is the only Reality.  Consciousness plus waking, we call Waking. Consciousness plus sleep, we call Deep Dreamless Sleep. Consciousness plus dream, we call Dream.

There is no difference between Dream & the Waking State except that the Dream is short & the Waking long.  Both are the result of the Mind.  Because the waking state is long, we imagine that it is our real state.

[Ashtavakra selectioms]

15.1 – The pure-hearted man fulfils the supreme purpose of Life through the instructions of his Guru, even though they be casually imparted.

15.4 – You are not the body. You do not have a Body.  You are neither the Do-er nor the Enjoy-er [includes sufferer].  You are Consciousness only – the timeless Witness & ever free, so live happily.

15.5 – Attachment & aversion are attributes of the Mind. You are not the Mind & the Mind does not belong to you. Free from scheming & doubting, know yourself to be Consciousness itself, changeless, undivided, free.

15.6 – Knowing that the Self is the Self of all beings, & that all beings “abide” in the Self, be free of Ego – personal identity & the sense of “mine”.

15.7 – You are That Consciousness in which the Universes rise like waves in the Sea.

15.11 – In the infinite Ocean of the Self, universes rise & fall like waves.

15.14 – Whatever you perceive is your Self & you alone. How can bracelets, armlets, & anklets be other than the gold they are made of ?

15.15 – Renounce all sense of distinction, such as: “I am this one,” & “I am not that one.”

15.16 – Your Ignorance alone creates the Universe. In Reality you are the One that alone exists.  There is nothing other than yourself.

15.17 – One who knows for certain that the Universe is Illusion, one becomes desireless, Pure Consciousness itself, & finds Peace as if nothing else existed.

15.19 – Do not disturb your Mind with acquiring or releasing anything. Abide at peace the bliss of the Self.

16.5 – When the Mind is free of opposites like: “This I have done” & “This remains to be done,” one becomes indifferent to merit, wealth, pleasure, & also Liberation.

16.6 – One who is averse to Sense objects avoids them. One who desires them becomes attached. But he who neither rejects nor desires is neither unattached nor attached.

16.7 – Desire & Aversion, Attachment & Non-attachment – all derive from an absence of discrimination. 

16.9 – One who is attached to the World thinks renouncing it will relieve his suffering.  One who is attached to nothing is free & does not feel miserable even in the World.

16.10 – He who retains the feeling of “I-ness” even in regard to Liberation, is neither enlightened nor a true seeker.  He suffers his own misery.

17.2 – The knower of Truth is never troubled in this World nor inwardly in any way, for he knows the Self fills the whole Universe.

17.4  – Rare is the one with not attachment to things he has enjoyed, nor hankering after things he has not enjoyed,

17.5 – Those who desire pleasure & those who desire Liberation are both common in the World. Rare though is the great soul who desires neither enjoyment nor Liberation.

17.6 – Only the enlightened has no attachment to what is admirable, prosperous, pleasure, Life or Death.

17.7 – The man of Knowledge neither cares for the Universe nor desires its dissolution.  He lives happily on whatever comes his way.

17.8 – Knowing the Self, with Mind empty & at Peace, the Sage lives happily while seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, or eating.

17.9 – There is no attachment or non-attachment for one in whom the Ocean of the World has dried up. His gaze is withdrawn inward, his actions are without motive, his Senses seek nothing.

17.12 – Whether seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, taking, speaking, or walking, the great soul is beyond action & non-action, & truly free.

17.13 – The liberated soul is free from desires & attachments to objects everywhere.  He does not blame or praise, give or take, rejoice or become disappointed, ever free.

17.14 – Whether he meets a women full of love, or death approaching him, the great soul remains undisturbed, centered in his own Self Nature.  He is truly free.

17.15 – The Sage of equal vision sees no difference between happiness & suffering, man & woman, adversity & success.  Everything is seen to be the same.

17.16 – Having transcended his role as an individual person, the liberated Sage has neither aggression nor compulsion to show compassion, neither arrogance nor humility, anxiety nor wonder.  His Worldly life is exhausted.

17.17 – The liberated man has neither aversion toward nor craving for Sense objects, With his Mind ever detached, he is unconcerned with what is attained & what remains un-attained.

17.19 – Desires extinguished, free of thoughts of “I” & “mine,” & “This I am”, knowing for certain that there is no objective thing that exists, for the knower of Truth, though he appears to act, he in truth performs no actions.

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

Ramana Maharshi Vedanta Analogies, & Ashtavakra

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

100 Billion

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

[some Ramana Maharshi quotes]

Since you are Consciousness there is no need to attain or cultivate it. All that you have to do is to give up being aware of [misidentified with attached to … ] other things, that is of the not-Self. If one gives up being aware of them then pure Consciousness alone remains, & that is the Self.

Your present knowledge is due to the ego & is only relative. Relative knowledge & memory requires an object & subject.

The state of Self-Realization is not attaining something new or reaching some goal which is far away, but simply being that which you always are & which you always have been. All that is needed is that you give up your Realization of the not-true as true,  …  regarding as Real that which is not real.

That stage transcends the Seer [subject] & the Seen [object]. There is no Seer [subject] there to see anything. The Seer [subject] who is seeing all this now ceases to exist & the Self alone remains.

Realization is simply being oneself, not knowing anything or becoming anything. If one has realized, one is that which alone is & which alone has always been. One cannot describe that state. One can only be that.

If the idea “I am the Body” is accepted, the selves are multiple. The state in which this idea vanishes is the Self since in that state there are no other objects. It is for this reason that the Self is regarded as one only.

The Body itself does not exist in the natural outlook of the real Self, but only in the extroverted outlook of the Mind which is deluded by the power of Illusion [Maya, avidya, ajnana],

[a Ramana Maharshi analogy]

The 3 states [Waking, Dream, Deep Dreamless Sleep ] come & go, but you are always there. It is like a cinema. The Screen [~ Consciousness ] is always there but several types of pictures appear on the Screen & then disappear. Nothing sticks to the Screen, it remains a screen. Similarly, you remain your own Self in all the 3 states. If you know that, the 3 states will not trouble you, just as the pictures which appear on the Screen do not stick to it. On the Screen, you sometimes see a huge ocean with endless waves; that disappears. Another time, you see fire spreading all around; that too disappears. The Screen is there on both occasions. Did the Screen get wet with the water or did it get burned by the fire ?  Nothing affected the Screen. In the same way, the things that happen during the Wakeful, Dream & Sleep states do not affect you at all; you remain your own Self.  All these 3 states come & go. The Self is not bothered; it has only 1 state.

[more Ashtavakra Gita selections]

7.3 – In the shoreless Ocean of myself, a World is imagined. I am peaceful & formless.  In this alone I “abide”.

7.4 – The Self is not in objects, nor are objects in the pure & infinite Self.  The Self is Free of attachment & desire, ever tranquil, in this Truth alone I abide.

7.5 – Truly I am Pure Consciousness & the World is like a passing magic show. In my Self there are neither thoughts of acceptance or rejection.

8.1 – When the Mind desires or grieves over anything, accepts or rejects anything, feels joy or anger, is pleased or displeased by anything – such is Bondage.

8.2 – When the Mind does not desires or grieves over anything, accepts or rejects anything, feels joy or anger, is pleased or displeased by anything – such is Liberation.

8.3 – If the Mind is attached to the experience of any Sense Perception, this is Bondage.  When the Mind is not attached to the experience of any Sense Perception, this is Liberation.

8.4 – When “I” appears, there is Bondage.  When there is no “I”, there is Liberation.  Knowing this to be the Truth, neither accept or reject anything.

9.8 – Renounce desire through deep detachment.  Renounce the objects of the World, & renunciation of desire will follow.  Now you may live as you like.

10.1 – Give up desire, the main enemy, along with gain, itself full of loss, & all earnest efforts that give rise to the other two. Practice indifference to everything.

10.2 – Look upon friends, lands, wealth, houses, wives, gifts, … & all apparent good fortune as a magic show or dream lasting some 3 or 5 days.

10.3 – Know that where desires prevail, there is the World’s Samasara.  Establish yourself in firm non-attachment, & be free of desire & be happy.

10.4 – Desire constitutes the only Bondage.  To be free of desire is Liberation.  Cultivate non-attachment to Worldly objects & joyfully realize the Self.

10.5 – You are One, pure Consciousness.  The World is inert & unreal.  Even Ignorance is unreal.  So what is left to desire or know ?

10.6 – Possessions, children, wives, bodies, pleasures – these have been lost to you, life after life.  However attached as you have been, still they are now lost forever.

10.8 – For how many lifetimes have you done hard & painful labor with body, Mind, & speech ?  Why not bring all that to an end ?

11.3 – One who knows for certain that adversity & success come & go according to Karma controls his Senses & has neither likes nor dis-likes.

11.4 – Knowing for certain that birth & death, happiness & suffering, come & go in accord with Karma, one sees that it is not possible to accomplish desires.  He favors “non-action”, so that even when engaged in actions, he remains unattached.

11.5 – Anxiety produces misery & nothing else.  Dropping all desires, he is free, happy, serene, desireless, & at peace everywhere.

11.6 – Realizing: “I am not the Body, nor is the Body my possession – I am Consciousness itself”, one attains the Absolute & no longer thinks of things done or left undone.

11.7 – “Truly all is my own Self.” This conviction brings freedom from desire & imagination, One who knows this is no longer concerned with what he has done, what he has not done.

12.2 – Having relinquished attachment to objects of Sense Perception, & not expecting Perception of the Self to be possible, my Mind remains free from agitation & distraction, I remain at peace.

12.8 – He who has achieved this has achieved the goal of Life.  He who is of such nature is has done what has to be done.

13.6 – Losing nothing by either sleep nor effort, abandoning all thoughts of winning or losing, I live as I please.

14.2 – When desire has been eliminated, of what use to me are wealth, friends, learning, scriptures, & philosophy, or those Senses that rob us ?

14.4 – The inner condition of one whose doubts have ended, who acts outwardly like one still ignorant – his actions can be understood only by like souls.

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

Ashtavakra & warnings 2

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

100 Billion

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

Ashtavakra Gita selections

3.2 – Just as imagining “silver” [nacre], in a shell’s “mother-of-pearl” may cause desire for such “treasure, so does Ignorance of the Self lead to cause desire for objects of mistaken Perception.

3.3 – Having realized yourself as That in which the waves of the World rise & fall,

why do you run around like a suffering creature, anxious about mere things ?

3.7 – Strange that knowing lust as an enemy of knowledge, one who is weak & nearing death should still crave sensual pleasure.

3.8 – Strange is it that one who is unattached to the things of this World & the next, who can discriminate between the transient & the timeless, & who yearns for Liberation, should yet fear the dissolution of the Body & the loss of Individuality that comes with Release.

3.9 – In either praise of blame, the serene Sage abides in the Self.  He is neither pleased nor angered by what others may think or say.

3.10 – A great soul sees even his own Body in action as if it were another’s.  How can praise or blame disturb him ?

3.11 – Seeing this World as pure Illusion, having lost all interest in it, how can the strong-minded one feel fear, even at the approach of Death ?

3.13 – Why should a strong–minded person of, who sees the nothingness of objects, consider attachment to one thing & rejection of another ?

3.14 – He who is unattached, untouched by opposites [hot – cold, etc.], free of desire, experiences neither pleasure nor pain from events that come of themselves.

4.3 – He who knows That is untouched by good deeds or bad, just as the sky is not touched by smoke, even if it seems to be.

4.6 – Rare is he who knows himself as the One-without-a-Second — Lord of the Universe.  He does what seems worthwhile & no fear occurs to him who knows this.

5.1 – You are not bound or touched by anything.  What is there to renounce ?  Letting go of the complex Mind — know the Peace of dissolution into Consciousness.

5.2 – The Universe arises from you like bubbles in the Sea.  Know yourself as the One & enter the Peace of dissolution into Consciousness.

5.3 – Like an imagined Snake in a Rope, the Universe appears to exist in the stainless Self.  But it does not truly exist.  Seeing this you know: “There is nothing to dissolve.”

6.1 – I am like an infinite Space in which the phenomenal Universe is but one small jar. Know that there is no World to be either renounced, accepted. or negated.

6.2 – I am like a shoreless Ocean; the World is like a wave.  Know this & there is no World to be either renounced, accepted. or negated.

6.3 – I am like an oyster shell’s nacre, “mother-of–pearl”.  The Universe is like the Illusion of “silver”. Know this & there is no World to be either renounced, accepted. or negated.

6.4 – I am in all beings; all beings are in me. Know this & there is no World to be either renounced, accepted. or negated.

7.1 – In the shoreless Ocean of the Self, the Universe is like a ship wandering here & there, driven by the winds of its nature.  This has no effect on me.

7.2 – Let the wave of the World, by of its own nature rise or fall in the shoreless Ocean of the Self.  I am neither enhanced nor diminished.

Given again that the Asthavakra Gita is such a wealth of expedient, practical spiritual advice amidst transcendent proclamations, here’s a 2^nd installment of  warnings found in certain Sanskrit terminology encountered in spiritual texts.  These are the “unreal” obstacles which are best addressed so long as they seem to be real.  A sample list [with simple rather than complete scholarly explanations] of some of the “obstacles” includes:

Apurva – unseen effect of a past act

Bhava – supposition, opinion (some have positive meanings too)

Bheda – differentiation

Jiva – individual soul

Kara – change

Karma – Prarabdha past, Agami current / Sanchit all past

Loka – world

Mithya – unreal (not just “myth” Greeks used the cognate)

Papa – sin

Pasu  – individual

Pasa – bondage

Varnam – caste

Vasana – re-incarnated or more recently acquired tendencies

Vikara – change in nature

Vivarta – superimposition

stula sarira – physical body – “food sheath” Anna – maya – kosa

sukshuma sarira – subtle body – Prana – maya – kosa  – “energy sheath” ; Mano – maya – kosa  – “mind sheath” ; Vijnana – maya – kosa  – “intellect sheath”

karana sarira – causal body –  Ananda – maya – kosa  – “bliss sheath”

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

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

100 Billion

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

Ashtavakra Gita selections

1.2  –  To attain Liberation, turn away from experience of the Senses like poison.

1.6  –  Right & wrong, pleasure & pain, are modes of the Mind. They are not your concern. You independent of those modes, neither the Doer or Enjoyer [experiencer of pleasure or pain], nor do you reap Karma [consequence of actions], so you are always free.

1.7  –  You are the one Witness of all that is & always totally free. Your only Bondage is not knowing this.

1.8  –  The thought: “I am the Doer” is the bite of a poisonous snake.  Drink the antidote of knowing “I am NOT the Doer” & be happy.

1.9  –  Burn down the forest of Ignorance with the fire of the Knowledge: “I am Pure Consciousness” & be happy & free from sorrow.

1.10  –  You are unbounded Consciousness — Bliss, Supreme Bliss, in which the Universe appears like the Illusion of a Snake in a Rope, so be happy.

1.11  –  If you know your self to be free, you are free.  If you know your self to be bound, you are bound. It is like the sayings, “You are what you think” or “thinking makes it so.”

1.12 –  You are Self—the Solitary Witness, perfect, all-pervading, One. You are free, desireless, at Peace.  The Universe is but an Illusion within you.

1.13  –  Meditate on this: “I am Consciousness alone – Non-Duality itself.”  Give up the idea that you are separate, a person, that there is anything external or internal.

1.14  –  You have long been bound thinking: “I am a person.” Let the true Knowledge: “I am Consciousness alone” be the sword that frees you from Mis-identification.

1.18  –  That which has Form is not real.  Only the Formless is permanent.  Once this is known, you will not return to Illusion.

1.19 –  Just as a mirror exists both within & without the reflected image, the Supreme Self exists both within & without the Body.

2.4  –  Just as waves, foam, & bubbles are not different from water, so the Universe emanating from the Self is not different from the Self.

2.5  –  Look closely at cloth & see only threads.  Look closely at the World & see only the Self.

2.7  –  From Ignorance of the Self, the World is appears, just as from Ignorance about a Rope, it may appear to be a Snake.  In true vision, no Snake appears but only the Rope.  Likewise in true Knowledge no World appears but only the Self.

2.9  –  The Illusion of a Universe appears in me as Consciousness just as does “silver” [nacre] in a shell’s “mother-of-pearl”, or a “”snake” in a “rope”, or “water” in a “mirage”.

2.10 – As an earthen pot returns to clay, a wave to water, a bracelet to gold, & so is the Universe resolved into Me as Consciousness.

2.15 – In Reality, Knowledge, the Knower, & what is to be Known do not exist.  I am the stainless Reality, the Self, in which they appear, only through Ignorance.

2.16 – Duality is the root of Suffering.  The only remedy is to realize that what is seen does not exist & that I am the one, stainless, blissful Reality which is Consciousness.

2.17 – I am pure Consciousness, without the attributes which are only imagined.  Continually reflecting on this, I “abide” in the Absolute beyond imagination.

2.18 – For me, neither bound nor free, there is neither Bondage nor Liberation.  Illusion has lost its basis & come to an end.  In my Self all things exist, though ultimately, they do not truly exist.

2.19 – Having seen for certain that the Universe & the Body are without form or substance I am revealed as Consciousness alone where Imagination has no place to hold on.

2.23 – On the limitless ocean of my Self, in the wind of Consciousness, there arise the myriad mind–waves of a World.

2.24 – In the limitless ocean of the Self, the wind of thought subsides & the great vessel of a World & its Individual captain both lie “ship-wrecked”.

2.25 – Wondrous is it how in the limitless ocean of the Self, waves of beings arise, collide, play for a time, & then disappear according to their nature.

Given that the Asthavakra Gita is such a wealth of expedient, practical spiritual advice amidst transcendent proclamations, we might institute a first installment of  warnings found in certain Sanskrit terminology encountered in spiritual texts.  These are the “unreal” obstacles which are best addressed so long as they seem to be real.  A sample list [with simple rather than complete scholarly explanations] of some of the “obstacles” includes:

Antahkarana –  “internal organ” of perception the Mind: including Ahankara, Buddhi, Chitta, Manas

Bheda – difference

Buddhi – Antahkarana’s organ of intellect of discrimination & determination (mostly helpful)

Abhasa – projection

Abhimana – attachment

Adhasa –subjective positive illusion of individuality

Ajnana – not-knowledge, i-gnorance

Aropa – objective positive illusion of the world of objects

Avarana – veiling part of Avidya ignorance or Maya (God’s “ignorance”)

Avidya – not-seeing, ignorance

Bandha – bondage

Chitta – Antahkarana’s organ of mental impressions, memory, feelings, emotion

Dosa – defect

Guna – binding “rope” or quality: Sattva, Rajas, Tamas

Kama –craving

Klesha – 5-fold vershion of the “7 deadly sins”

Manas – Antahkarana’s organ of will (sankalpa) & doubt (vikalpa), image forming mind, desire

Maya – cosmic Illusion

Moha – dense delusion

Pasa  – bondage

Rajas – restless Guna, fantasy projection & craving

Samsara – cycle of birth & death, re-incarnation, smaller cycle of non-spiritual life

Samskara – persistent tendencies, some from previous lives (serial waking state dreams)

Sankalpa – unquestioned assumption

Sattva – attachment to static order, but also harmony & balance, the best Guna

Tamas – dull Guna, attenuation of discriminative intensity

Upadhi – modification, what absolute Consciousness does NOT have

Vijnana – Buddhi

Vikalpa – doubt

Vikshepa – projecting part of Avidya ignorance Vivarta superimpose

Vritti – mental mode, wave, vibration, restless patterns of thought

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

Introduction to a new review of Vedanta Analogies & Vedanta–like Analogies

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

100 Billion

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

Some classic Vedanta Analogies in brief:

“The 10^th” is about10 ignorant fools who forded a stream & on reaching the other shore counted themselves to be nine only. They grew anxious & grieved over the loss of the unknown 10^th man. A wayfarer, on ascertaining the cause of their grief, counted them all & found them to be 10.  But each one of them had counted the others leaving himself out. The wayfarer gave each in succession a blow telling them to count the blows. They counted 10 & were satisfied. The moral is that the 10^th man was not got anew. He was all along there, but ignorance caused grief to all.

“The Necklace” is about a woman who wore a necklace round her neck but forgot it. She began to search for it & made enquiries. A friend of hers, finding out what she was looking for, pointed out the necklace round the seeker’s neck. She felt it with her hands & was happy. Did she get the necklace anew ?  Here again ignorance caused grief & knowledge happiness.  [more about these & other such analogies to follow]

[Selections from Michael James’ Happiness & Art of Being]

Happiness lies deep within us, in the very core of our being. Happiness does not exist in any external object, but only in us, who are the consciousness that experiences happiness. Though we seem to derive happiness from external objects or experiences, the happiness that we thus enjoy in fact arises from within us.

Desire and fear agitate our mind, and obscure from its view the happiness that always exists within it. When a desire is satisfied, or the cause of a fear is removed, the surface agitation of our mind subsides, and in that temporary calm our mind enjoys a taste of its own innate happiness. Happiness is thus a state of being – a state in which our mind’s habitual agitation is calmed. The activity of our mind disturbs it from its calm state of just being, and causes it to lose sight of its own innermost happiness. To enjoy happiness, therefore, all our mind need do is to cease all activity, returning calmly to its natural state of inactive being, as it does daily in deep sleep.

The science of being is incredibly simple and clear. The science of being begins with observation and analysis of something that we already know but do not fully understand.  This science does not study any object of knowledge, but instead studies the very power of knowing itself – the power of consciousness that underlies the mind, the power by which all objects are known.

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

NMT, No-Me Teaching 5

a short Satsang with Master Nome – “Meditation”

One absolute Being forever is. It manifests as the Existence of all things & of all beings.  It manifests itself as the Consciousness that knows in all beings.  It manifests itself as the perfect, omnipresent Grace that shines as Happiness in the hearts of all beings.  To know oneself as completely this absolute Being is the purpose, the essence, & the very substance of meditation. _

Meditate in a manner of dissolution so that there remains the Grace that is present everywhere, yet there is no recipient of it.  Meditate in a manner of dissolution so that the Mind is absorbed in the Real Knowledge, which is Consciousness, like a piece of salt dissolves in water.

Meditate in a manner of dissolution of the false Individuality so that the Identity, once imagined to be located in the reflection in the mirror returns to the original Existence which is this Absolute Being.

Dissolve.  Be absorbed.  True Knowledge is the way to accomplish this completely.  With the dissolution of the false identity, absorption of the “I” in the Self, all perplexity disappears, all confusions are resolved, & all Bondage vanishes.  For this true Knowledge of your Being, the Self of all, inquire, “Who am I?”  Inquire & thus dissolve & be absorbed.

The ever-shining Existence, the perpetually-existing Consciousness, & the perfection of Grace are what remain.

If you truly ask the question, “Who am I ?” there is no particularized thing called “I”,  yet all that there is thoroughly “I”.  There is nothing other than the one Self.  Dissolution, or absorption, is only in Knowledge.  In truth, there is no distinct, separate thing, with its own form, to dissolve, but only the Knowledge that recognizes this is called “dissolution.”

Nothing prevents you from meditation from beginning with the same intensity to which you are accustomed to end.  The ability & the source are there all the time.

Even if something were to be made up that appeared as a Veil, still, it would not depart from being within the Consciousness that knows it.

[responding to a question about awakening from a daydream to waking]

Then next perceptions or ideas arise, & they seem as if real.  The “reality” seems equal, thought after thought, experience after experience, & state of Mind after state after Mind.  The “reality” does not diminish.  It is constant.  That which is constant is “you”.

All of the forms that are illumined or taken to be real are not constant.  Not only does the sense of reality derive from you, but the reality, just the Existence, is “you”.  If there is a Thought, the Existence in that Thought is “you”, though you are not a Thought.  If there is a daydream, or if the daydream appears as if solidified or crystallized, the Existence of all that is “you”.  There is no state in which the Existence ever becomes other than what it is.  It cannot go out of itself [out of existence].

The Thought & the crystallized daydream never depart from being within that Existence. The Existence, itself though, is entirely without Differentiation.

The very existence of Illusion is your Existence.  Once Illusion is imagined, it is your Reality that is lent to it.  When you lend Reality to Illusion, Reality, as it is, is not seen.

So, dissolve Illusion.  Since Illusion consists entirely of imagination & your belief in it, there is no difficulty in its destruction, or Liberation from it.

When in Illusion, the Reality is still so close that it seems as if the Illusion cannot he separated from that Reality.  The Wise know that this is only indicative of the immediacy of the Reality & its homogeneous nature.

Even though Illusion so appears, you can still easily discern what is true & what is not, what is Reality & what is only a mere Illusion.  Discern what is self-existent versus what is entirely dependent on your belief in it.

If you profoundly notice from where Happiness comes, you remain peacefully detached from all of the Illusion.  You identify as the undivided Oneness that pervades all forms, but you are not attached to any of them.

The Thought is that objective confused happiness will make something seem more real, but it doesn’t.   Confused happiness makes it less real.

The Thought makes true Happiness seem less real & veils it.  Knowing the source of happiness yields detachment from all of the unreal appearances. You remain as their undivided Existence but not entangled with the appearances.  There is a great, unmatched fullness in this.

Comparison of Ribhu Gita selections (Sanskrit & Tamil by Master Nome):

S8.2 [meaning Sanskrit version chapter 8, verse 2]

I am the same as Brahman, I am the Self.  There is no doubt of this. One who is firm in the conviction that I am Chaitanya (the Conscious Self) is called a Jivanmukta (liberated while alive).

S8.3

I am the Self, which is Consciousness. I am Param-Atman (the Supreme Self).  I am attributeless (including absence of Gunas, “binding qualities”), I am higher than the highest.  One who has this certitude is called a Jivanmukta (liberated while alive).

S8.3

I beyond the Self triad of Bodies (gross physical, subtle dream astral, & Deep Dreamless Sleep causal), I am Brahman, Consciousness. One whose final conclusion is that I am Brahman is called a Jivanmukta (liberated while alive).

S8.4

One who has no Body or such (mind & ego), who is certain that he is Brahman, & who if filled with the highest Bliss, & who revels in Bliss is called a Jivanmukta (liberated while alive).

T8.2 [meaning Tamil version chapter 8, verse 2]

One who has the certitude “I am the Supreme Brahman, without the 3 Qualities (gunas) of (illuminating) Sattva & the others (agitating Rajas & Tamas dullness), the Truth transcending the highest, of the nature of Consciousness–Bliss” – this is a Jivanmukta (liberated while alive).  One who certitude “I am the Eternal Supreme Self without the 3 Bodies (gross physical, subtle dream astral, & Deep Dreamless Sleep causal), of the nature of Knowledge, the mass of Bliss, the One, the Eternal” – this is a Jivanmukta (liberated while alive).

T8.3

One who ever abides in Bliss, with no trace of attachments to the Body or such (mind & ego), in the certitude “I am the Supreme Brahman”, the One, is a Jivanmukta (liberated while alive).  One who is all Silence & in great Bliss, rid of Delusion, & is of the nature of Consciousness alone, without a trace of the sorrow-ridden Ego, is a Jivanmukta (liberated while alive).

Defining Non-Duality pt 3  –  one’s spiritual practice

The view to which one adheres will determine what kinds of spiritual practices are engaged in & how they are practiced.  These are not only basic views, forming one’s beliefs, determining the manner of practice & the resultant experiences, but also represent degrees of depth, or height, of spiritual experience.  Each succeeding one is more of the Truth, less of the Ego, more of Liberation, less of Bondage, more of Knowledge, & less of unexamined Ignorance.

In one’s spiritual aspiration, one necessarily has a view of what the Absolute is, be it a set of ideas or a result of inner experience.  The deeper the experience, the more transcendent of notions it is & the more Non-Dual it is.  An Un-Qualified Duality [UQD] view asserts that the Absolute is one thing & one’s self another.  There is a God, by whatever name called, & there is a separate soul, by whatever name called, & these are regarded as different in every respect.  Though there may be similarities, such as both lasting forever, they are regarded as different as 2 distinct Objects, as different.  With such an approach, one practices to establish some relation to the Supreme, the Lord, but there is no union or merger.  Even in a heavenly realm, the distinction still persists.

In Duality, the Absolute is viewed as if with all the qualities of a person, but on a grander scale, distinct from all others.  A Qualified Non-Duality [QND] view supposes the Absolute to be one thing & oneself another, but there is some sameness due to relation. The Absolute may be regarded as one’s source, just as a spark has fire as its source, but it is not regarded as the same as the fire itself.  The Absolute may be regarded as something to which one will eventually return, but it is not regarded as the same as one’s own state now or as one’s nature. With such a view, spiritual practice is to maintain a relation to the Absolute with the knowledge that one was once part of that limitless Being & one may return to it, but, for now, one must seek to deepen one’s relation to that God. The Supreme is viewed as similar to a person, yet on a grander scale, but which has left its mark, spark, or a trace of itself in the individual. With Qualified Duality [QD] as one’s view, spiritual practice aims at the strengthening of the relation with the Lord, the Supreme.

The view of Qualified Non-Duality [QND] is that the Absolute is of the same nature as oneself, one’s self being of the same nature as it, though there are distinctions, such as a difference in vastness, steadiness of experience, & such. It is said to be as a glass of water & the ocean. They both are water, the same thing, yet they are not the same. One’s understanding can extend to the point of viewing the Absolute as a background of All, or as a substrate of all, as that from which everything arises & to which all will return, & even as that which pervades everyone & everything with a distinction between the pervader & the pervaded.  There can be experience of union, but this will be followed by separation again, though there can be a memory of the union while differentiation resumes. The individual experiencer remains, for whom all else arises, who thinks, who feels, who acts, & such. With the view of Qualified Non-Duality [QND], spiritual practice will be one of attempting merger or union. The Absolute is viewed more impersonally, as a greater intelligence or as some all-pervading presence.

In pure, or Un-Qualified Duality [UQD], the Absolute is the Self, & the Self is the Absolute.  There is no other Absolute & no other self.  They are forever indivisible.  Union is ever the reality, or it may be said there is never a division at any time. All differentiation is regarded as the mis-perception of a Rope to be a Snake; it is purely Ignorance, or imagination, & never real at anytime.  There is no individuality, & the ego-death or destruction of that ignorant ego-assumption, with its concomitant ideas of all else, is by Knowledge.  The practice is one of Knowledge, the prime method of which is Self-inquiry, the finding of the answer within oneself to the introspective Inquiry question, “Who am I ?”

Knowledge, itself is the path, or the means of spiritual practice, & the method of meditation is Self-Inquiry. In Non-Duality, the aim of the reception & absorption of spiritual instruction is the Knowledge of  “That thou art,” as the Upanishad declares.  In Non-Duality, the Absolute is known as Existence itself, or as Consciousness, itself Meditations on the substrate, the background, the all-pervading One, & such are understood as steps & not the final Reality.  Reality, itself, is immutable, forever indivisible, always present, & without–a–2nd or anything other.

The view of oneself may be a collection of mis-identifications, or it may be actual Knowledge of oneself.  The deeper, or higher, the view, the more Non-Dual it will be.  It is Duality when one’s identity, the “self” is regarded as an individual soul encased within a Body.  It will thus be always less than & different from God.  Even alter Death, there will be a soul with another kind of Body. even if it be more subtle.  Because of mis-identification, all the activities of the Mind & Body are regarded as one’s own, & the existence of the Ego is unquestioned.  Yet one dedicates these activities in service to God according to His will, thus attenuating the influence of Egotism.

In Qualified Duality [QD], the self is regarded as an individual soul with a spark of the divine within it. The soul should be guided by that spark.  There is identity will all the activities of the Body & Mind & no real questioning of the existence of the Ego, but the inner divinity can guide these in addition to the will of God in an outer way.

In Qualified Non-Duality [QND], the “self” is regarded as the experiencer. This may be as a sensing entity or as a mental entity.  Even as a sensing entity, the emphasis will still be on the awareness incorporated in the sensory experience, because anything spiritual presumes one is not identifying as a mere Body seeking mere sensory things.  If there is merger, the experiencer remains or returns as the “ongoing reality”’ & the higher experience is regarded as that which comes & goes. The attributes of the Ego may be questioned or released, such as aspects of the Mind or tendencies of thought, but the Ego itself or Individuality, is not actually inquired into.  The Individual is the one who is attempting to combine the higher experiences with the retained belief of a manifest World, which is perceived, or conceived, by a process of mis-identification.

In Qualified pure Non-Duality [UQND], the Self is known to be pure, Formless Being-Consciousness-Bliss, with no Individuality at all, & not defined by a Mind or a Body.  It is not a “self” or a “soul”, but the Non-Dual Self, without limit, definition, or form.  It is the Reality, without coming or going, without Birth or Death.  It is utterly impersonal & attributeless.  The Non-Dual practice is that

of singular Self-Inquiry to know the Self; not the Self in relation to anything else, but to know it as it is free of mis-identification.  The Self is free of Subject & Object, & the Knowledge of the Self is non-objective.  Hence, it is Self-Knowledge in which the Knower & the known are the same.  One practices Self-inquiry so as to abide in steady Knowledge of the Self.

In Un-Qualified Duality [UQD], Qualified Duality [QD], & Qualified Non-Duality [QND], Knowledge becomes increasingly important.  In Un-Qualified Non-Duality [UQND], Knowledge is of paramount importance for Knowledge alone destroys Ignorance, & what one seeks is to experience Reality as it is. To the degree that there is an increase of Knowledge of the Self, even accidentally, to that degree is spiritual advancement occurring in any spiritual practice undertaken with any view.

In Non-Duality, since the Absolute & one’s Self are identical, it is all-important to realize the Self.  Since the Self is the Reality, which ever is, & all differentiation is only imagined in Ignorance, the Realization comes by, & is identical with, the Knowledge of the Self, which alone destroys Ignorance. Since it is imperative to know oneself, the practice is that of Self-Inquiry to know the Self.  When one recognizes that Non-Duality must be what is true, one takes the path to realize it.

What one regards as real is, or becomes, one’s experience.  According to the degree of Duality or Non-Duality, what is regarded as real will be different.  In all cases, there must be the breaking of attachment to the things of the World, but the depth reached thereafter is different.  In Un-Qualified Duality [UQD] the World is regarded as real.  It is the creation of the Supreme, God, unless one is an Atheist, in which case it is an accident of matter, but such would not be any spiritual view at all.  The World is regarded as external, one seems to dwell in it, & the Supreme seems elsewhere.  The determination of Reality is the Senses & the mental cognition of the same.  In Duality, God is regarded as one part of Reality, & the Individuals, the World, & God seem as 3 distinct things.

In Qualified Duality [QD], the World is regarded as real & created, but it is the splendor, or manifestation, of the Supreme.  Some part of the Supreme manifests its presence in the World in various ways.  The World may be viewed its God’s “Eternal Play” [lila], or as something that is temporarily “arising”.  The determination of Reality is still the senses & the Mind. The Supreme is seen as one part of the Reality, but it has left its spark, or something of itself in the individuals & in the World.

In Qualified Non-Duality [QND], the World is regarded as real as a projection of the Supreme, as a Dream of God, as a Creation of the Mind, as the Mind’s play, as the energy of Consciousness, or as similar to these.  The determination of Reality is still with the Senses & the Mind, & the Objective aspect is regarded as existent yet, in nature, more subtle than matter. Therefore, the Absolute, or the Self, is regarded as only one part of Reality, & not the only reality. In Un-Qualified pure Non-Duality [QND], there is no embodied Individual &, so, no World perceived by the Individual or the Body.

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

Defining Non-Duality pt 2  –  Theodicy 

[coming back again, for good I hope]

To further illustrate in a concrete way some “Defining Non-Duality pt 1” distinctions between Un-Qualified Duality [UQD], Qualified Duality [QD], Qualified Non-Duality [QND], & Un-Qualified Non-Duality [UQND], we consider the “mystery” of  Theodicy, that of evil in the World & why God allows it to exist. (Perhaps since we are delving into the “World” in this episode, it may serve to repeat our occasional “value-disclaimer”: whatever good might be accomplished with, say a hundred billion dollars, whatever the practical value such funding might have, never for a micro-second could we consider relinquishing the liberating Teaching of Non-Duality, Advaita Vedanta, for such a pay-off.  Whatever the World holds is unreal, whatever leads to the Self-Realization of Non-Duality is priceless beyond all imagination).

Theodicy  –  To further illustrate Theodicy, evil in the World & why God allows it to exist.

Testosterone Monsters  –  Mostly males, but a few females have stretched the envelope of credulity when it comes to cruel Theodicy, so to speak.  Long-term sexual slavery & sadistic abuse is incredible. Mass murder, genocide, Inquisitions, slow boiling of enemies, quartering by horses & the “rack”, hanging by the tongue, the genitals, the intestines, you name it. Unspeakable cruelty & terror, a thousand cuts, covering a skinned victim with covering sheets of cellophane to prolong survival & pain – what is the point ?  Sado-sexual cross-wiring & hate, sick adrenaline-rush from a real-live horror movie, it is baffling. Extracting information by dismemberment, nailing scrotum or tongue to a table, subjecting the victim to be devoured by fire, insects, crabs, rodents, wild beasts, or dogs. Daily immersion in feces, overheating & crowding, freezing, withholding sleep, food & water, attaching electrodes internally & to pain centers in joints, teeth, eyeballs, private parts, & so on. How can this be, what does it mean ?  Such super-dense ignorance foretells long-term compensating karma & fierce obstacles to awakening for the perpetrator. Perhaps some accelerated karmic catch-up is a factor for the victim, who can say ?  No God “allows” this most horrid of Ego manifestation. And yet considering the selfish nature of Ego, only glimmerings of Divine self-nature explain why is not even worse. For true “pure” Ego, anything goes when it’s the other guy. Mis-directed self-love always  rationalizes the pain of a victim as somehow deserved. The same mis-directed self-love  always paints the act as loyally following orders, seeking revenge & honor, or some other twisted explanation.

That all would be part of what we later call the rajasic side.  But dull-minded neglect & indifference, the other tamasic side of human cruelty can be just as crushing.  Giving birth to AIDS infested fetal-alcohol (and/or “gifted” with HIV, syphilis, etc) babies dangerously born to too-young mothers & rape victims, babies pre-addicted to crack cocaine & heroin, how can there be such neglect ?  Getting high & “partying” in the a filthy room, leaving babies locked in roach & rat infested, unclean restrooms, with stopped-up, overflowing toilets, babies “toyed” with by cigarette burns & sold by the hour to sexual predators, how can there be parents like this ? And how different are they from the luxuriously pampered privileged one inheriting millions or cheating hundreds of have-nots with financial swindles, when those same through selfish greed, indifferent contempt, war-mongering & political hate serve as active or passive accomplices to families freezing & starving, lying sick in the streets & roadways ?

Not for the first time, nor last, there arises the enigma of Theodicy, that mystery of evil in the World, & questions like: how can a loving God let all the “bad things” happen ?  To various questioners, various first answers could be offered in terms of UQD, QD, QND, & UQND.  Only some such explanations can be introduced here in the partial outline that follows:

I) UQD,  Qualified Duality – adherents for starters live in denial about how mean-spirited God would have to be to have eternal Hell, to leave the vast majority excluded from Calvin’s Predestination, Rapture, or whatever might be the current & Last Days elitist clubhouse.  Pushing all that under the rug first, they attempt to console themselves with “God’ s will” & his “mysterious ways.”  But when their young daughter is stricken with painful & fatal disease, or raped & tortured by a child molester, some understandably turn their backs on that God when their blind faith has thus been too sorely tested. War & evil of all sorts can overwhelm the UQD practitioner.

II) QD, Qualified Duality – adherents are “soft” on hell but more rationally find mystery in Theodicy, God’s destiny or justice, that includes the existence of evil. In a circular mutually modeling cycle, Crime & Punishment Legal systems mirror & inspire Crime & Punishment Theological systems, & vice versa.  In neither case can the grim enjoyment of revenge & retribution satisfy the grief of loved ones.  At the same time, revenge punishment offers precious little “closure” balm to innocent victims who suffer, & of course less solace to those who die.

III) QND, Qualified Non-Duality adherents include some who take a subtler but also weak position on Theodicy, & this QND subset itself can be well divided into 2 groups for clarity. One still retains some metaphysical version of a RWOT [real-world-out-there] ranging from varieties of Deism-Panentheism to all kinds of Gnostic & Theosophical hierarchies of planes & levels with many hierarchies of beings. Exoteric Buddhism & Hinduism, for instance, retain almost biblical heavenly hosts & demonic hosts, armies at war with each, like traditional religion’s angels & demons. Levels of heaven & hell abound, though usually not eternal hell. Astral planes of all description are the scene for elaborate delineations of karma, where hopefully, mysteries of Theodicy get lost or forgotten in all the confusion. In a sense this

strategy, at best, results in a plan of not getting distracted by theodicy, dealing with what “learning experience” comes your way, but primarily getting on with one’s real job of striving for union with

God, the Buddha-Mind, or the Tao. The 2 groups filter all of the foregoing through roughly 2 distinguishable models for a RWOT [real-world-out-there]: both QND & less than highest UQND.

1. Nirguna Brahman, Buddha-Mind, Dharmakaya, most absolute Tao, by whatever name “co-exists” in some fashion with Saguna (with form) Brahman or equivalent. This latter more objective aspect of Absolute Reality or God projects, dreams, or “like a spider extruding its web” s omehow manifests a Universe out of its own substance. God’s Dream or Lila (“Sport, Play, Dance“), or web of Illusion (Maya is a more friendly tone) contains all of “us” as evanescent characters playing out multi-lifetime karma –learning. Rehabilitative sentences (ajudicated) with R & R rewards on various heavenly, hellish, & other planes are determined by our thoughts (especially last ones), words & deeds that obscure the reality of God in & as it all.  Evil describes the wrong turns that we dream–characters take in our winding path.  Victims of karma thereby fulfill retributive punishment from former transgressions recorded in the akashic records or their own minds.  So no matter how horrible, the suffering is expiative, like Purgatory on the fly.  Ultimately, as generalized above, union with God is the destiny of all these dream characters or projections/sparks with whose immortal souls live through many, thousands or millions of lifetimes as required.
2.  Nirguna Brahman (Absolute Reality without Form) & Saguna Brahman (Absolute Reality without a little Form left in) is a distinction that becomes far more virtual in the 2^nd group, verging toward Nirguna Brahman alone which is UQND, Un-Qualified Non-Duality. What we will repeatedly return to as the “Counting Problem” is embraced here in the negative in that “there is only One even if it can seem that we are many.” Life & the Universe are illusions from which we awaken to rediscover that we are One all along.” How this can happened remains a mystery as it must because the only resolution lies in the context of Un-Qualified Non-Duality, UQND where it just plain never happened.  Evil, Suffering, & Theodicy are branded with the status of Illusion, but this can still be weak solace to one who is suffering or who is or knows an innocent victim of Evil.  Progressively, from the furthest advanced edge of QD Qualified Duality through QND Qualified Non-Duality there is growing recognition that Ego is the selfish fount of misguided, ignorant Evil.  So then seeking Liberation, “erasing the Ego” is the only solution.  Further into Qualified Non-Duality, QND toward UQND, Un-Qualified Non-Duality, the surprise is no longer in the perverse depths of consummate Evil whenever it appears.  Rather, in contemplating the inversion that is Ego, we must be surprised that, with “out for number one” Ego at the “helm”, Evil is not even worse.  Rather than feeling betrayed by God for “allowing” Ego, this seeker is grateful for the Grace that holds Ego–Evil at bay, limits it, admits Goodness, &  in the end redeems all from evil Ego.

IV) UQND, Un-Qualified Non-Duality alone has an answer for Theodicy, evil, Ego, & all suffering. Knowledge alone liberates, knowledge of the Self as Brahman “1-without-a-2^nd“. Words cannot express Un-Qualified Non-Duality, UQND but more words will be directed at hinting & pointing as we proceed. Looking back across this brief Outline, we metaphorically see that needless suffering, Ego, evil & such are the “fly in the ointment” for UQD, QD, & QND, a fatal flaw in every one of them that belies posing as a complete understanding.

V) SPAM [scientism–physicalism–atheism–materialism], needless to say, can only face Evil & Suffering with “fear & loathing,” enough to inspire suicide in any such adherent who is not living in denial. In this “last” or “first” properly but listed-out-of-order entry, there is no God, so no Theodicy or divine mystery or answer to Evil.  Instead Evil is trumpeted as a salient “proof” against the existence of God.  Taking on the lamest & least appropriate spokesmen for spirituality, the most obdurate Fundamentalists within UQD Un-Qualified Duality & their Bibles, all at face value, SPAM adherens they see no answer forthcoming at all to their question: “how can there be a God if “He” allows evil & suffering in the World.  For SPAM, evil proves no-God.  So again, the contradiction of evil Theodicy is resolved only in the “all Form is unreal” absolute resolution of Un-Qualified Non-Duality, UQND reviewed in acronyms.

SPAM  = Scientism-Physicalism-Atheism-Materialism

UQD    = Un-Qualified Duality

QD       = Qualified Duality

QND    = Qualified Non-Duality

UQND = Un-Qualified Non-Duality

 Typically, there is the “allow” term in the: how can there be a God if he “allows” Evil & Suffering in the World.  This “allow” part of the objection carries a context of complete micro-management by special creations & miracles at all times, & a divine “Legal Justice” system context. The God of Un-Qualified Duality, UQD has his fingers in every pie, all the time, or else he doesn’t exist, they would say. Any undesired outcome is “God’s will” & he seems mean-spirited for intending & dictating the nasty ones. There “should” be no disease, no evil, no death, but only great family planning. God could not exist if he fails the criteria for fair play, good intentions, & support of life, liberty, justice, & the American way, the pursuit of, even if never finding, Happiness, & generally a good GDP & low unemployment rate for all. Then the fact that some of us are born weak, fat, sick, ugly, & impoverished is another issue but we’ll take that up another day under “identification with the body”.  All goes to show that God is not very nice, eyen without the unspeakably insane eternal Hell, so therefore he could not exist, so say SPAM adherents.

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

Note on true Happiness:

Happiness is felt, experienced, sourced & “contained” in the very heart of the conscious Mind. Happiness is in no way connected [affecting or deriving from] any external Object, but only in & from ourselves.  We, as Consciousness, are the One that experiences Happiness.  Though we seem to derive Happiness from external objects or experiences, the Happiness that we actually experience derives from Consciousness at the core of our Being.  Desire for Happiness, fear concerning its diminution or absence, such “thought–waves” or vrittis leave the Mind troubled & unhappy.  But “beneath” the superficial Mind, Consciousness ever remains peaceful & happy.

Agitation [rajas guna] in the Mind obscures [tamas guna] innate Happiness in the center of our Being.

Upon temporary satisfaction of obscuring desires, some temporary subsidence of such vrittis in the Mind is felt as “partial happiness” – all to the extent & for that interval consistent with the degree & continuance of subsidence.

That “partial happiness” is a “whiff” of the limitless innate Happiness that is Consciousness.  Sri Shankara, & before him the Buddha, among many sages from various traditions, delineated some details of this illusion of unhappiness.  Buddha’s 4 Noble Truths concerning the nature of Happiness could be roughly summarized as follows:

Life is of the nature of Suffering.

Suffering arises from Desire.

Desirelessness is Liberation.

Spiritual practice [as in his 8–fold Path ] is the way to Desirelessness & Liberation.

Further interpretive intuition implicit in the instructions of the Buddha could be extended thus:

Not getting what you want is Suffering.

Getting what you don’t want is Suffering.

Even getting what you want is Suffering, because deep down you know that the temporary enjoyment is fleeting & will slip away, so that future loss is already intuited & is already painful.

Sri Shankara contribute additional insights amid his thorough discussion of the nature of Happiness:

That an external object cannot produce Happiness is suggested by the fact that its enjoyment is less or even absent at certain other times & by certain other people.

Furthermore, increasing access to the supposed “happiness–producing” [such as having twice as much, etc.] does not increase the enjoyment proportionally, & sometime not at all.  Even reversal to aversion to excess of the imagined “happiness–source” can be the case.

Further, Happiness is not within the Mind.  Mental replay or memory of the supposed “happiness–producing” experience may be slightly enjoyable, but never to full extent of the immediate experience.  The Mind cannot fully [or at all] replicate a happy experience, thus possibly leading the former illusion of attributing the Happiness to an external Object.

In fact, it is removal of obscuring mental waves [vrittis], as mentioned above, that allows some glimmer, little or great portion of innate Happiness to shine through. Full & lasting Happiness, Liberation arises from transcendence of the Mind & naturally complete Renunciation regarding unreal external objects.

Generally, disturbance in the Mind obscures the calm Peace of the Self, which is Pure Consciousness.

To enjoy full & lasting Happiness, we need only return, consciously to the Mind-transcendence naturally but unconsciously experienced on a daily basis in Deep Dreamless Sleep.

more Container Space analogies:

Just as Ego is the Reference “Origin” for thought & Mind, so is Now such for Time, Here for Space, & the Body for the World.  Each is in fact another form of Ego [my self]: my Now time, my place Here, my Body.

Thoughts or pieces of an Image, a Sound, any Sensation or Thought–form can be compared [within the analogy] to Coordinate Points within an appropriate Cartesian Container Coordinate Space, all defined with reference to their respective Origins.  So 2-D locations on the TV/Cinema/Visual–Screen of the Mind are referenced to the Origin of Central Focus or mental “Here” of the TV/Cinema Image Screen .  More proper 3-D locations in “Physical” [perceived that way] Space are referenced to the Origin of Physical Here.

Thoughts, on the other hand, are referenced in Mind to the Ego–I or Me Origin.  The 1-D Linear Thought–flow & Sound–sequence are referenced, just as is Time itself  to the Origin of the Now Moment.  The 3-D Tactile & Visually Scanned World of Objects in Physical Space could be said to have one’s Body as the “Origin” which in this case is not an infinitesimal 0-D Coordinate Point like the other Origins.

In each case the premiere Sense Modality for each Coordinate Space analogy could begin with Hearing for the sequence of Sound, & by extension to the Flow of Time & of Thought. That Sense-association is of course “tight” for Sound Sequence even though some 3-D echo-location occurs as well, especially for bats, dolphins, etc.  The extension of this same Acoustic  Sense Modality to Thought & Time is by analogy.

For the 2-D “Screen” & 3-D Space, Vision predominates.  Tactile Sense comes in as well for the 3-D Container Coordinate Space of the World of Objects.  Each “great empty space” is perceived primarily by 1 or 2 Senses.

1-D:  Time, thought-flow, sound sequence                                                         Hearing

2-D  “Window / Windshield” of the visualizing Mind                              Vision

3-D   World of Objects                                                                                    Tactile

In another vein, the various Coordinate Space analogies correspond to “classical elements” of phases of Matter.  Certainly Space is space & the World is space but also the solid earth.  “Airy” Time, Sound, & Thought-flow then “belong” to the gas phase.  To posit a 0-D thinking & imagining Mind with memory, etc. could by a stretch be connected to the Olfactory & Gustatory Senses where things may stink or taster sweet.

Mind of course includes Time, Space, & the World.  But specifically focusing on Mind itself as one of the Container-Spaces, ever with Thoughts as the Coordinate Points & the Ego–I or Me as there reference Origin, models for Mind appear in 5 different dimensional aspects:

0-D for the core [false] Ego Identity, Me

1-D for the sequence of Thought

2-D for the visual screen of the Mind

3-D for the theater of the Mind

4-D for lifetime identity Personality, born, growing, dying in Waking State Time

The 1-D Space of Time overlaps somewhat with the Mind’s 1-D for the sequence of Thought, with Moments for the points on the Timeline with Now another Origin along with Ego.  Sound & other Sequences compare as well, with Auditory Sense most aligned with this 1-D as in the chart up above. Almost by default Olfactory & Gustatory Senses matched up with 0-D, in some vague way.  Olfactory especially aligns a bit with Ego, or at least the Limbic System in terms of fear & other Emotions.

Vision as been lined up internally with the 2-D Screen of the Mind & also 3-D via Perspective & internally in the Theater-Stage of the Mind.  But 3-D properly belongs to Tactile [somato-sensory Somesthetic, Proprioception,  Nociception, Haptic-touch including lateral motion, pressure, enclosure. contour following] & Vestibular-balance. Yet even Tactile Senses, like Vision creates 3-D one dimension at a time.  Using 1-D Time-sense we instinctively measure a visual scan or a feeling by how long it takes in context, all things considered. This gives us the 1-D of Length as a Perceptual Concept. In some orthogonal sense [generalized “perpendicular”], another Dimension is simultaneously “calculated” as Width & “multiplied so to speak ” by Length to yield 2-D “Area” or general “expanse”. Again in another orthogonal sense a 3^rd Dimension is likewise “calculated” as Depth & “multiplied” again to fill 2-D “expanse” out into tangible “volume” or Mass.  In this way Tactile & Visual Sense , create a 3-D World or ant given Object, one Dimension at a time, quick enough to seem simultaneous.

So the chart op above loosely links the Senses with big-category concepts/mental-projections.  From there the ancient “elements” or phases are, by serendipity, loosely matched to both Senses & characteristic Dimensions, to some degree.  Even Fractal Dimensions can be worked into the Concept scheme.  For one example, a 2-D sketch could contain edges & outlines.  Some 2 ½  Dimension could indicate the shading & texture suggestive of 3-D.  Likewise, 4-D Space-Time has with Here & Now at (0,0,0,0) Origin.

So again, the World fills Space with Objects, etc. as points with an extended Macro-Origin reference as the Body. While Hearing naturally parallels Time in Sound & Music, all being mostly 1-D, Vision naturally scans 2-D Screens suggestive of 3-D Space. These Sense Perceptions along with Tactile, etc. Senses concretize a World. While the Body is an extended or Macro-Origin reference Origin for the coordinate space of the World, that same Body can be a Micro-Space in itself, with it own smaller Macro-Origin as perhaps the Brain. The Body-skin marks the inside–outside boundary in the World

All of this imaginative association serves only to reduce the “magical” function of the Mind to a repeated pattern of simple Ideas. To flesh out additional detail [among a number of imagined others] of these Container Coordinate Spaces, we can see the Body as a small Micro-Container-Space in itself.  The boundaries of a Micro-Container-Space constitute the line dividing Inner from Outer, in that latter case between the physically inner Me & the Outer World.  A Micro-Container-Space in 3-D Physical Space might be one’s Vicinity, in 1-D Time it might be one’s Lifetime.  A Micro-Container-Space around a 2-D map of Mind’s thought or a 3-D or 4-D Space-Time of such thoughts could be the Personality enclosing Ideas close around the Ego–Origin.

Back in the 3-D or 4-D World of Objects, where the Body, a Micro-Container-Space in itself, serves as the best practical Macro-Origin for Objects outside that Body. Similarly, the Lifetime Micro-Container-Space could be a Macro-Origin for a longer scale of Time, just as the Vicinity Micro-Container-Space could be a Macro-Origin for a larger scales of  Distance.  The infinitesimal Now & Here Origins still serve as Origins within the Time & Vicinity Micro-Container-Spaces. If pressed for a “more infinitesimal” Origin within the Body Micro-Container-Space, which alone best serves as a Macro-Origin for the World of objects, then such a more “inner” Origin might be the Brain within the Body, or the Cortex, neither completely infinitesimal, but still rather discrete. Each Macro-Origin/ Micro-Space is the same kind of “local neighborhood” in each case. Body – Planet – Star system – Galaxy – Galaxy Groups etc. are successively larger Macro-Origin/ Micro-Spaces or “local neighborhoods”.

Mathematical categories & curiosities aside, the point of these simplistic models is to suggest that Mind, Time, Space, & the World are not objective “givens” with fixed qualities.   Different people experience these differently, & each of us also does so differently at different times.  However modeled, or not, these big-category concepts are mental projections, not fixed realities. The Coordinate Space models suggest that the same old “space with a center” Idea is repeated over & over again for Mind, Time, Space, & the World.  More importantly, these represent the net of Illusion that distracts us from recognition of our core Identity, the Non-Dual Brahman, the Self of Absolute Existence, pure Non-Dual Consciousness, & complete Happiness, Love, Bliss, Peace, & Liberation.

Moreover, the establishment of a Reference-Origin is a coalescence of an Ego or pseudo–Ego like Now, Here, the Body.  Given the  Ego or pseudo–Ego, a “world” appears, a “world” of Mind, Time, Space, … Lost in the Mis-identification of Ego & Superimposition of a “world” is one’s True Nature: including Happiness.  Mis-identifying Happiness, one fails to “do the right thing” due to chasing the wrong target. There results a World gone wrong where we need to “save the world”, starting by recognizing the various forms of Ego & the loss of Happiness.

Master Nome quote regarding Happiness:

“The Self is in truth, perfectly full of Bliss.  The imperturbable Peace, the ineffable & complete Happiness, quite beyond any sensation or mode of Mind, pervaded by a silent Knowledge of eternal, uncreated Perfection is known as “Bliss”, Ananda.  To realize this Bliss as it is, one should comprehend

the nature of Happiness, examining it in 3 ways; desire, experience, & the source.  By knowledge of desire one attains recognition of the basis underlying all desires, all hopes, & all seeking in all kinds of experience, be such physical, subtle, or mental. With this recognition, one uses that powerful current, in an undiffused manner, to abide as the Self.  This recognition causes one to become one pointed in the quest of the Self.  By Knowledge of experience, one attains Liberation the experience of Happiness from the delusion of limitation of it by form & the ability to experience Bliss directly without delay. One must merge with That which Bliss itself, free of duality, for if the experience of Happiness is to be full, it must endure, &, if it is to endure, one must become One with it.  By Knowledge of the source of  Happiness, one becomes, & remains, completely detached.  Detachment is itself, free & blissful.  By such knowledge, one is liberated from the external, the inconsequential, & the unreal, & one comprehends the reason to inquire into the Self.

The desire for Happiness comes from deep within.  It is an intuition that Bliss is one’s natural state. This Bliss includes Peace with no bondage, & perfection with nothing incomplete.  The source of the desire is not from external phenomena of any kind.  It is not from objects, circumstances, other beings, & such. There is, therefore nothing alluring.  The source of the desire, itself is not a bodily; sensation.  It is not particular thoughts, though particular thoughts constituting images in the Mind may appear by which the desire manifests.  The desire itself is simply the urge from within to be in the natural state of limitless Bliss.  The intensity of the desire is continually surging forth. It cannot be subdued, & the attempt to do so would merely be an unsuccessful one.  It can be fulfilled by Self-Realization, which is abidance as Bliss itself.  Bliss is of the very nature of the Self & the Self is truly without any desire.  When the Self is not known & by delusion, the first suffering becomes possible, & when with the appearance of an “I”, the natural seems lost, that very Bliss of the Self manifests as the intuition of one’s natural, true state, & this appears as the desire for Happiness.

The experience of Happiness should be comprehended in Wisdom so that one does not superimpose what is not actually the experience of Happiness upon it.  The joy felt anywhere, ever, is the shining of the Self.  Yet, in Ignorance, such is accompanied by superimposition of inert, unreal forms upon the experience.  When the experience is accompanied by the Delusion of imposition of forms, it appears as if momentary, limited, & dependent.  When the experience is without such delusion, the Self itself shines as vast, unlimited Bliss, which is self-existent.

Happiness is always a subjective experience in which the Ego diminishes along with its attendant notions.  Thus because it destroys the Ego & those notions by the revelation of their unreality, leaving, the ultimate subject unconcealed, Self-Inquiry to know the Self yields the most profound Happiness. To set the experience of Happiness, free of limitation, the experiencer must be free of limitation, that is, free of misidentification with form.  Then, one abides in infinite, unending, intense Bliss, which is so intense that even the memory of Suffering & sorrow is erased.  All the superimposed forms are of a sensory or mental character.  The experience of happiness is not a sensation. such as seeing, hearing, etc.  It is not a thought or a collection of thoughts. Happiness is of a formless nature, shining at the same depth from which the desire springs, at the very source of Happiness itself.

The source of the desire & the source of the experience of Happiness are one & the same.  That source is within.  Unrealized, the source manifests as the desire. Realized, that source shines as Bliss itself.   Realization means Knowledge.  Knowledge is direct experience of the Self.  Such is Abidance at as, the very Source of Happiness.  The Self is the Source of Happiness.  Nothing else is the Source.

The Self is Bliss.  The experience of it is determined by Knowledge.  No other factors are involved. Seeing this is the dawn of Knowledge. To conceive otherwise is delusion.  Objects, circumstances & events, sensations, & time are not factors determining the desire, the source, & the experience of Happiness.  The Self, which is alone the Source, is always present.  Self-Knowledge is the sole factor determining Bliss.

Therefore, the search for Happiness is actually a search for the Self.  The Self is the source of Happiness, the “place” in which Happiness occurs, & the nature of the experience of Happiness.  The Self is always present.  Self-Knowledge is its revelation & not its creation.  The Knowledge of the Self is the blissful Knowledge of Reality.  Bliss is Being, which is ever-existent, as Existence itself can never cease to exist.  Bliss is, therefore, always present, & all that is required is to know its existence within Oneself.  All that is required for permanent, profound Happiness is to know the nature of Being.”

More will be offered on the Container Coordinate Space analogies, but for the moment consider the following: [To play the “devil’s advocate” for a moment, one might ask [for lack of paying attention]: “what’s with all this ‘graph’ stuff, what does that have to do with the No-Me Teaching of Non-Duality ?”]

The point is to offer one of a number analogies to drive home the relationship between the Ego-Reference & all thoughts, including those of the World, etc.  Any thought & specifically any part of the World must seem to “be” for someone, must be “in relation to” someone, some Individual, some Ego. Subject & Object are connected, the relationship is “built in”.  If a “graph” or any other device can help anyone’s [& not necessarily everyone’s ] intuition regarding this vital understanding, then the effort is worthwhile.

(some of) Master Nome’s Teaching about the Nature of Happiness –  [actual quotes are so indicated] True Knowledge is described in a number or ways. In one sense, True Knowledge is certainly regarding the real “place”, the real Nature of Happiness. Seeing  Suffering in Life, we naturally want to remove Suffering forever. Looking deeply, we see that the World does not, will not, & cannot deliver relief from Suffering & consequent Happiness.  Sense experiences do not suffice [for pleasure perhaps, but not for Happiness].  Mental emotions & moods likewise fail to secure Happiness.  Freedom from desire is more on track, as is freedom from the Ignorance out of which Suffering arises. Any accidental pause in Suffering is short-lived & insufficient so long as we fail to understand how such a reprieve came about, & how such can be repeated & continued.

Spiritual Bliss & Peace alone is lasting & anything less is only a lesser, short-lived, & accidental taste of real Happiness., True Knowledge alone is the permanent source of Happiness.

Noticing that Happiness is the one true motivation in Life leads to a life guided by that one motive, guided in one direction, That one direction lies “within”, seeking Self-Knowledge by Self-Inquiry. In one form, such is an Inquiry into Bliss, a determination about Happiness that becomes an inquiry into “Being-Consciousness-Bliss, because Being-Consciousness-Bliss is the nature of the one Reality, the one Self.” This connection between Happiness & Self-Knowledge constitutes the motivation for Self-Inquiry. Again, in terms of Happiness, this “one motivation behind all kinds of searching” entails becoming detached from worldly pursuits & desires with resulting “access to the inner source of Happiness.”

(some) informal summary notes about the Nature of Happiness –  Philosophers struggle to define Happiness in terms of “well-being”, “positive feeling tone”, achievement of one’s “well informed’ (relatively wise) desires, & so on. The “Oracle” in The Matrix did a better job if we could borrow her hint about “being the One.” She said it’s like falling in Love. No one has to tell you (no one could tell you, nor deny your claim). You just know it (directly) “through & through”.

In the context of Non-Duality, the Sages tell us that Happiness is our Real Nature, as one sense of Ananda in Sat–Chit–Ananda, Existence-Consciousness-Bliss.  For the same reason that we seek Self-Knowledge, seek to know our own Identity, we likewise seek Happiness, which is our Identity.  Cessation of Existence is inconceivable, so that those who identify with a Body will fear Death.  Enlightened or Ignorant, either way, such cessation of Existence is unacceptable because we intuit that this would bring an end to Happiness.

Self-Knowledge & thus true & lasting Happiness are gained by the removal of Ignorance as to our own Identity.  So to inquire: Who am I ? & to subjectively find the “Inquirer” to be the answer, to be that pure Existence & Happiness.  This alone is the final & lasting solution to our unending search for Happiness.

When I breathe, turn left or right, think this thought or another, all is done to increase Happiness or to decrease the loss of Happiness, for this is the only motive for anything.  Complete Self-Knowledge includes the recognition that as Happiness itself, we can never find it outside, & once realized, we can never lose it.

In the meantime, the very mean, mean, “meantime”, we chase external objects of desire in a Waking–Dream–World.  When partial Happiness is apparently attained for the moment, that anxiety of the Mind relaxes, & a glimmer of true Happiness is experienced.  But as the Buddha advised, in telling us that the nature of Worldly Life is suffering:

1) to not get what you want is Suffering

2) to get what you don’t want is Suffering

3) to get what you want also includes Suffering because we sense that what appears in Time, with a beginning, will certainly have an end & be lost.

4) whatever the Happiness enjoyed when you get what you want, you still sense that you could have more or better, may have once had more or better, & that “others” already have more or better.

Real Happiness never ends & has never left us, even if only dimly appearing as the “reference background” by which we “measure” lesser Happiness. We always know just how happy we are, or are not.  We often know the same about others.  Ever we “measure” against that “reference background” of perfect Happiness which is our own True Nature, the unwavering Reality of Happiness which is our very Existence.

No–Me Teaching

[in brief “No-Me Teaching” is primarily the Teaching of Nome, that is Master Nome. a no-physical-contact direct Disciple of Sri Ramana Maharshi in the Non-Duality no-physical-contact lineage Sri Dakshinamurti, Sri Ribhu, & Sri Shankara]

Preface – As just implied by “primarily”, lesser additions by the author include analogies, side-notes & a secondary “dream” mission of “saving the World.”  Advaita Vedanta, the Teaching of Non-Duality, posits a Dream–status for the “”World” so that “saving” it is to be understood within that stipulation.  So long as a “World” is experienced, then “doing the right thing”[1] is included among the better strategies for awakening from the Waking State Dream staged in that World.  “Saving” that World to what ever degree possible, taking however long, remains of way of “doing the right thing.”  Despite the “primarily” part, we start off with one of those author–analogies to explain some of the emphasis on the “no-me” part, & emphasis on the Waking State Dream character of the World, & then only after some explanation of “saving the World.”

Saving the World – After the immediately following Container Concept analogy (in partial explanation of the “no-me” part), there follows the briefest beginning of Master Nome’s “no-me” Teaching.  But first we notes some ground-breaking on his also–ongoing topic of the nature of Happiness. The short of it is that every breath we take, every turn, Right or Left, every thought & action has for its reason some incremental increase in Happiness (or move that way) or decrease / prevention of un-happiness. Because (as Nome’s Teaching continues to explain throughout) the nature of Happiness is misunderstood, “doing the right thing” (on many levels) often does not occur. The “good” that is done by “good people” is unconsciously on-target, a possibility because everyone is in essence, Divine.  Oversimplified, “saving the World” entails (as much as possible) inculcating. more widely, a better understanding of the nature of Happiness, along with encouragement & techniques for “doing the right thing” & more importantly complete Enlightenment, Awakening, Liberation, Self-Realization, or God-Realization (nirvana, moksha, etc.).

The Graph’s particular 2-D Space is also the TV or Cinema Screen, the Visual Screen of Image in the Mind (or on computer) [with 3-D suggested by perspective as in a drawing]. This one same empty expanse is the Container Space for all the big-category concepts & is repeated for each one.  Empty Space is like empty Time or empty Mind, all just thought, & essentially the same thought.  We’re just not used to recognizing that similarity because we project Space & Time to be more than the thought of them. We project them to be objective realities “on the outside”.

Container Concept –  “Empty graph paper” represents is the Cartesian Container–Coordinate–Space, the core constituent sub-concept of our analogy.  [Descartes’ Graph reflected that sense of a “Space” with the grid from fishnets & later Greek geodesy (latitude–longitude).]  The 2-D [2] school-days “graph”, generalized to a limitless 2-D Space, models the 2-D “Visual Screen” of Image in the Mind, our window or windshield through which we look out in Perception or Imagination. We essentially duplicate the same is as artwork, the Cinema Screen, or TV, & later the computer monitor.

Perspective allows suggestion of 3-D which itself can be actualized in solid for or hologram in Space (or in a computer program), but present issue is well illustrated for 2-D & can be generalized for 3-D, 4-D, 1-D, & 0-D. That “issue” is the relationship between (x,y) Coordinate Points throughout the Container Space & the Reference Origin (0,0) at the “center” of the graph, at the crossing of the measuring Axes.

Taking the 2-D “Visual Screen” of the Mind for one example, we note that each location on that Screen, each (x,y) Coordinate Point in that Container Space is referenced, measured, defined in relation to that Reference Origin (0,0).  In any given Container Coordinate Space of Mind (any dimension) with Thoughts represented as Coordinate Points, the defining Reference Origin (0,0) represents the Ego–”I” or “Me”. Thoughts include Concepts & Percepts, with Percepts being all we can “swear to” regarding a World.  We may presume that Percepts correspond to real Objects in a World, but we can never know that for sure, or not. In fact, those Enlightened Sages, with access to greater Knowledge, assure us that in fact no real objective World corresponds to those Percepts.  In either case, all we “know” about the World, via those thought Percepts, is “known” only in relation to the Ego–”I” or “Me” Reference Origin.  Something is left or right, big or small, near or far, good or bad, & so on, only in relation to “Me”.

Try to visualize a “chair” or any given object from “no perspective” whatsoever, in relation to no Reference Origin at all.  Impossible !  We might entertain some vague “aerial” – oblique view, but it must be some viewpoint or another.  Likewise, all seeming known Objects & Thoughts “contain” nested within the Concept or Percept, the Ego–”I” or “Me” Reference Origin.

Again, in brief, we must say that there is no “real” objective World corresponding to the Waking Dream impression of such.  This is so, as will be show throughout this No-Me work, that because there is no “Me” there is no “real” objective World corresponding to the Waking Dream impression of such.

Master Nome defining Non-Duality in Shankara’s system

The basic premise of Non-Duality is that the Absolute exists & that the Absolute is identical with oneself.  Therefore, Self-Knowledge is equated with the Realization of the Absolute.  The basic premise of spiritual practice is that one knows that the Absolute exists & that realizing it is of utmost importance. This realization is Self-Realization. What is needed for this Self-Knowledge, or Realization, is the relinquishment of the assumptions, or concepts, that yield the illusion of Bondage &, thus, Suffering.  Knowledge of one’s real Being as it is yields enduring Freedom & Peace.  The true Self transcends the limitations of any kind of individuality, time, birth & death.  It is impersonal & not confined to any Body or Individual.

One’s approach to one’s spirituality, Meditation, & this Knowledge is of paramount importance, for the approach very much determines the experience.  How one views anything determines how it appears to him.  Clarification of one’s understanding of oneself causes one to arrive at Self-Knowledge.  To know this as so is itself the dawning of knowledge.  Deep Meditation dissolves the Ego, Ignorance, & Bondage of the one who ardently meditates.  Self-Inquiry within oneself to know oneself reveals the true Self to be limitless Consciousness, Absolute Being, & unconditioned Bliss.  This is one’s very Existence.

One should continue meditating on the teachings of Self-Knowledge by the practice of Self-Inquiry until one conclusively realizes the Self & abides without the least trace of Ignorance or Bondage.  Listening, reflection, & deep meditation [shravana, manana nididhyasana] are said to constitute ways of practicing Knowledge.  Inquiring “Who am I ?”, knowing oneself free of  mis-identification, & steady abidance as the Self always are the inner experiences of these.

On the path of Self-Knowledge “Discrimination” signifies ability to discern what is true & also implies the ability to determine the false or unreal from the Real.  By so discerning, or discriminating one pursues Truth to realize it & destroys the dream of Illusion or Ignorance.   Ignorance creates suffering.  What destroys Ignorance reveals blissful Freedom, or Liberation.  Ignorance is destroyed when one discerns that it is, indeed, Ignorance & not the Truth. Ignorance exists & is binding only if one conjures it up & believes it.  If by Discrimination, one discerns the unreality of Ignorance, or its false nature, it no longer binds & simply ceases to exist. In its place is found real Knowledge, which is Knowledge of the Reality itself.  Just as one, wishing to arrive somewhere, needs to 1^st know where it is that he wishes to go & how to proceed to there, so, too, one needs to recognize that the place of arrival, which is the highest Truth, the means to arrive, which is Knowledge, & the traveler, which is oneself are all in the same place, of the same nature, & are, indeed, the very same thing.

Regardless of what names are given to the Supreme, regardless of what symbols are used, & what practices are utilized, there are certain views that are assumed around which all these names, etc. revolve.  These understandings, views, or beliefs pertain to the Absolute, the Self, & what is regarded as Real, which in many cases will be the World or worlds.  The great sage, Adi Shankara, for simplicity, observed that one can hold consider 4 views.  One can adhere to an Un-Qualified Duality [UQD] view. This means the sheer God-World Duality of organized, exoteric religion.

On the other hand, one can possess a view of Qualified Duality [QD]. This is a belief in Duality with some exceptions.  Alternately, one may hold a view of Qualified Non-Duality [QND], that is, some Non-Duality while retaining some exceptions with “partial” Non-Duality.

At the highest, one can embrace pure, Un-Qualified Non-Duality [UQND].  The view to which one adheres will determine what kinds of spiritual practices are engaged in & how they are practiced.  These are not only basic views, forming one’s beliefs, determining the manner of practice & the resultant experiences, but also represent degrees of depth, or height, of spiritual experience.  Each succeeding one is more of the Truth, less of the Ego, more of Liberation, less of Bondage, more of Knowledge, & less of unexamined Ignorance.

In one’s spiritual aspiration, one necessarily has a view of what the Absolute is, be it a set of ideas or a result of inner experience.  The deeper the experience, the more the view is transcendent of notions & the more Non-Dual it is.  An Un-Qualified Duality [UQD] view asserts that the Absolute is one thing & oneself another. There is a God, by whatever name called, & there is a separate soul, by whatever name called, & these are regarded as different in every respect.  Though there may be similarities, such as both lasting forever, they are regarded as different as 2 distinct Objects are different (regardless of partial “made in the image” allusions). With such an approach, one practices to establish some relation to the Supreme, the Lord, but there is no union or merger. Even in a heavenly realm, the distinction still persists.

In Duality, the Absolute is viewed as if with all the qualities of a person, but on a grander scale, distinct from all others.  A Qualified Duality [QD] view supposes the Absolute to be one thing & oneself another, but there is some sameness due to relation. The Absolute may be regarded as one’s source, just as a spark has fire as its source, but it is not regarded as the same as the fire itself.  The Absolute may be regarded as something to which one will eventually return, but it is not regarded as the same as one’s own state now or as one’s nature. With such a view, spiritual practice maintains a relation to the Absolute with the knowledge that one was once part of that limitless Being & one may return to it. But, for now, one must seek to deepen one’s relation to that God. The Supreme is viewed as similar to a person, yet on a grander scale, but which has left its mark, spark, or a trace of itself in the individual. With Qualified Duality [QD] as one’s view, spiritual practice again aims at the strengthening of the relation with the Lord, the Supreme, with more or a merger in mind.

The view of Qualified Non-Duality [QND] is that the Absolute is of the same nature as oneself, one’s self being of the same nature as it, though there are distinctions, such as a difference in vastness, steadiness of experience, & such. It is said to be as a glass of water & the ocean. They both are water, the same thing, yet they are not the same in magnitude. One’s understanding can extend to the point of viewing the Absolute as a background of All, or as a substrate of all, as that from which everything arises & to which all will return, & even as that which pervades everyone & everything with a distinction between the pervader & the pervaded.  There can be experience of union, but this will be followed by separation again, though there can be a memory of the union while differentiation resumes. The individual experiencer remains, for whom all else arises, who thinks, who feels, who acts, & such. With the view of Qualified Non-Duality [QND], spiritual practice will be one of attempting merger or union. The Absolute is viewed more impersonally, as a greater intelligence or as some all-pervading presence.

In pure, or Un-Qualified Non-Duality [UQND], the Absolute is the Self, & the Self is the Absolute.  There is no other Absolute & no other self.  They are forever indivisible.  Union is ever the reality, or it may be said there is never a division at any time. All differentiation is regarded as the mis-perception of a Rope to be a Snake; it is purely Ignorance, or imagination, & never Real at anytime.  There is no individuality, & the Ego-death or destruction of that ignorant Ego-assumption, with its concomitant ideas of all else, is by Knowledge.  The practice is one of Knowledge, the prime method of which is Self-inquiry, the finding of the answer within oneself to the introspective Inquiry question, “Who am I ?”

Knowledge, itself is the path, or the means of spiritual practice, & the method of meditation is Self-Inquiry. In Non-Duality, the aim of the reception & absorption of spiritual instruction is the Knowledge of  “That thou art,” as the Upanishad declares.  In Non-Duality, the Absolute is known as Existence itself, or as Consciousness, itself Meditations on the substrate, the background, the all-pervading One, & such are understood as steps & not the final Reality.  Reality, itself, is immutable, forever indivisible, always present, & without–a–2^nd or anything other.

The view of oneself may be a collection of mis-identifications, or it may be actual Knowledge of oneself.  The deeper, or higher, the view, the more Non-Dual it will be.  It is Duality when one’s identity, the “self” is regarded as an individual soul encased within a Body.  It will thus be always less than & different from God.  Even alter Death, there will be a soul with another kind of Body. even if it be more subtle.  Because of mis-identification, all the activities of the Mind & Body are regarded as one’s own, & the existence of the Ego is unquestioned.  Yet one dedicates these activities in service to God according to His will, thus attenuating the influence of Egotism.  So goes the progress from Duality to Non-Duality.  [Here we forgo grammatical correction to non-dualism & dualism in favor of the historically more familiar Non-Duality & Duality, favoring the greater impact of these sounds. ]

In Qualified Duality [QD], the self is regarded as an individual soul with a spark of the divine within it. The soul should be guided by that spark.  There is identity will all the activities of the Body & Mind & no real questioning of the existence of the Ego, but the inner divinity can guide these in addition to the will of God in an outer way.

In Qualified Non-Duality [QND], the “self” is regarded as the experiencer. This may be as a sensing entity or as a mental entity.  Even as a sensing entity, the emphasis will still be on the awareness incorporated in the sensory experience, because anything spiritual presumes one is not identifying as a mere Body seeking mere sensory things.  If there is merger, the experiencer remains or returns as the “ongoing reality”’ & the higher experience is regarded as that which comes & goes. The attributes of the Ego may be questioned or released, such as aspects of the Mind or tendencies of thought, but the Ego itself or Individuality, is not actually inquired into.  The Individual is the one who is attempting to combine the higher experiences with the retained belief of a manifest World, which is perceived, or conceived, by a process of mis-identification.

In Qualified pure Non-Duality [UQND], the Self is known to be pure, Formless Being-Consciousness-Bliss, with no Individuality at all, & not defined by a Mind or a Body.  It is not a “self” or a “soul”, but the Non-Dual Self, without limit, definition, or form.  It is the Reality, without coming or going, without Birth or Death.  It is utterly impersonal & attributeless.  The Non-Dual practice is that of singular Self-Inquiry to know the Self; not the Self in relation to anything else, but to know it as it is free of mis-identification.  The Self is free of Subject & Object, & the Knowledge of the Self is non-objective.  Hence, it is Self-Knowledge in which the Knower & the known are the same.  One practices Self-inquiry so as to abide in steady Knowledge of the Self.

In Un-Qualified Duality [UQD], Qualified Duality [QD], & Qualified Non-Duality [QND], Knowledge becomes increasingly important.  In Un-Qualified Non-Duality [UQND], Knowledge is of paramount importance for Knowledge alone destroys Ignorance, & what one seeks is to experience Reality as it is. To the degree that there is an increase of Knowledge of the Self, even accidentally, to that degree is spiritual advancement occurring in any spiritual practice undertaken with any view.

In Non-Duality, since the Absolute & one’s Self are identical, it is all-important to realize the Self.  Since the Self is the Reality, which ever is, & all differentiation is only imagined in Ignorance, the Realization comes by, & is identical with, the Knowledge of the Self, which alone destroys Ignorance. Since it is imperative to know oneself, the practice is that of Self-Inquiry to know the Self.  When one recognizes that Non-Duality must be what is true, one takes the path to realize it.

What one regards as real is, or becomes, one’s experience.  According to the degree of Duality or Non-Duality, what is regarded as real will be different.  In all cases, there must be the breaking of attachment to the things of the World, but the depth reached thereafter is different.  In Un-Qualified Duality [UQD] the World is regarded as real.  It is the creation of the Supreme, God, unless one is an Atheist, in which case it is an accident of matter, but such would not be any spiritual view at all.  The World is regarded as external, one seems to dwell in it, & the Supreme seems elsewhere.  The determination of Reality is the Senses & the mental cognition of the same.  In Duality, God is regarded as one part of Reality, & the Individuals, the World, & God seem as 3 distinct things.

In Qualified Duality [QD], the World is regarded as real & created, but it is the splendor, or manifestation, of the Supreme.  Some part of the Supreme manifests its presence in the World in various ways.  The World may be viewed its God’s “Eternal Play” [lila], or as something that is temporarily “arising”.  The determination of Reality is still the senses & the Mind. The Supreme is seen as one part of the Reality, but it has left its spark, or something of itself in the individuals & in the World.

In Qualified Non-Duality [QND], the World is regarded as real as a projection of the Supreme, as a Dream of God, as a Creation of the Mind, as the Mind’s play, as the energy of Consciousness, or as similar to these.  The determination of Reality is still with the Senses & the Mind, & the Objective aspect is regarded as existent yet, in nature, more subtle than matter. Therefore, the Absolute, or the Self, is regarded as only one part of Reality, & not the only reality. In Un-Qualified pure Non-Duality [QND], there is no embodied Individual &, so, no World perceived by the Individual or the Body.

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

Satsang with Master Nome, disciple of Sri Ramana Maharshi

[Here follows a selection from a Discourse in one of the countless incredible Master Nome Satsangs. Beginning at a high level, as usual, this Discourse takes on a remarkable “momentum” at a point noted below.  Soon thereafter, the “momentum” up-ticks even higher.]

Difference, & change belong to the Senses & the Mind. The Self is undivided & without modifications.

Whatever is subject to change is limited.  The Self is limitless.  Knowledge through the Senses & the Mind changes & ceases.  Real Knowledge of the Self is ceaseless & never other than Being itself.  This Knowledge is as limitless & invariable as Being itself.  Just as all other thoughts are merely objective Perceptions, so is the Ego, which is not the Self & not a possession or attribute of the Self.  One should discriminate what is the Body, the Senses, the Mind, or “I” notion, or the aggregate of such, & inquire, “Who am I ?”.

One should give up the Identity that appears in the Waking State of Mind & also the belief of reality in the Waking State itself.  Likewise, one should not identify with what is of the Dream State, in which the Mind functions in a similar objective fashion.  One must know himself as beyond that which is of Deep Sleep, which is a state of Causal Merger.  The Self is the Witness of all states, is pure Consciousness, & is not an object of knowledge.  It is the unknown knower.  Though Consciousness cannot be known as an object, it, being formless & without duality, Consciousness can never be made distant from oneself.  Therefore, the Self, of the nature of Consciousness, is always known as one’s Own Nature. Consciousness is self-effulgent & does not require any other knowledge to know itself other than that which is its Own Nature, just as a light does not need another light in order to be seen, but is seen because of its own light.

The Self is the only Knower, & nothing else is so.  It never comes into existence, for it eternally exists, & is without cause & effect.  The Self & Self-Knowledge are not effects of anything.  Just as the manifested & the un-manifested are 2 states superimposed upon the Self so, too, are Bondage & Liberation.  As there is no day or night for the Sun itself so there is neither Knowledge nor Ignorance for the Self.  Realizing the Self as having no connection with anything ever, one is himself the Truth of the Unborn, the Truth of No-creation, & is never born again & is never in Illusion again.

If one is immersed in Samsara, the repetitive cycle of Illusion, Births & Deaths, filled with Suffering, then the way to liberate himself is by Knowledge. Liberation, which is the goal of spiritual practice, is one’s own if, inquiring to know the Self, he discards all notions of “me” & “mine,” attains complete certitude in the Space-like nature of Reality, & abides devoid of physical & mental forms & the assumption of an Ego-entity.

If the Self would change states, such as states of Ignorance & Knowledge, of Bondage & Liberation, it would be destructible, & Liberation, itself, would be artificial or unreal.  Liberation is not a change of state from one into another.  It is  not reasonable to imagine a separation & union in relation to the Self, for both would be transitory.  The transient cannot be attributed to the Eternal, just as the unreal cannot be attributed to the Real, or the dual to the Non-Dual.  As there truly can be neither union nor separation, Liberation cannot consist of the Individual entering into Brahman or Brahman coming to the Individual.

The true nature of the Self is never destroyed, is changeless, is uncaused, & cannot be obtained or lost.   The new appearance or coming into being of any state would be the effect of a precedent cause &, thus, changeful, transitory, & not self-existent; such cannot be permanent Liberation.  Self-Knowledge alone is Liberation. Knowing the Self to be oneself is the greatest attainment.  To wrongly assume the non-Self to be the Self is ignorance.  The removal of the superimposed mis-conceptions, of what the Self is alone, constitutes the path to Liberation.  No other view is reasonable, as such always involves some dualism, some belief in an existent Individual experiencer & a self-existent objective thing, & the conception that the Reality becomes other than what it is & the unreal actually comes to be.

Liberation cannot be a change of condition, because such involves mutability & thus destructibility, parts or divisions, & a change in nature.  Any belief that superimposition occurs on nonexistence, that Illusion can actually create itself or that there is no Absolute Self should be abandoned because the existence of Being, itself, is irrefutable, & it is not reasonable that something could come from nothing. Superimposition occurs on some real thing, & there is the one who knows this Ignorance. It is Ignorance of what, and for who is it  ?   If one so inquires, one finds that Being is, Consciousness is.

MOMENTUM uptick

The supposedly knowing Mind & the Universe known are both imagined.  Existence-Knowledge, which is Being-Consciousness, alone is Real.  It exists without anything else.  It alone is both the Knower & the known, but the forms of such are imagined.  Difference, which manifests only in the Mind of the Waking & Dream States, is unreal.  Non-Dual Consciousness alone exists.

The ancient Sages gave their spiritual instruction in Silence & with the Teachings revealing how “That you are (Tat tvam asi).”  Inquiry into this instruction removes all the ideas of what is not the Self from the Self, like the proverbial negation of the Snake from the Rope.  This negation is never of a Reality, but of false assumptions, or superimposition.  lf real things were negated, Liberation would be transitory or not at all, for how would it be possible for something truly existent to go out of existence or for something to change its nature ?  The inquiry & negation eliminate Ignorance, Illusion, only.  All that is objective, as well as the Ego, are negated by the Inquiry summed up as “not this, not this” revealing Being, which is Consciousness, the one Self.

The Ego is ignorantly assumed to be the Self &, thus, the knower. The conceptions of the Mind determine if one is endowed with wrong knowledge, doubtful knowledge, or true Knowledge. With mis-identification, there is wrong knowledge.  That is, what is regarded as Knowledge is actually Ignorance.

Thus, there is self-caused delusion about Happiness, Identity, & Reality. With spiritual practice, there is doubtful knowledge.  That is, there is actual knowledge of Happiness, Identity, & Reality, but such is not steady.  It is either a conviction, but without direct experience, or it is a conviction fused with experience, but not steady because of the need to destroy the remaining tendency to misidentify.  True Knowledge is that state in which Knowledge is invariable & in which knowing & Being are one & the same.  At all times, the same Consciousness is the only Knower, but it appears as an Ego, a dissolving Ego, or as purely Ego–less, just as a clear crystal appears as if endowed with different colors or as transparent according to the proximity of different colored things or the absence of them.  In Truth, all such states & their content are known by the Self, have their apparent existence by the Self, which is free from them & depends on no thought whatsoever to know itself, & “all such states” do not exist apart from the Self, though the Self itself can never be other than the Knowledge, Being, itself.

MOMENTUM further uptick

Regarding the great aphorism, “Thou art That (Tatvamasi)” wise Sages declare that the primary meaning of That is the Absolute, Brahman, & the primary meaning of Thou is the Knower, or “I”.  The essential meaning of That is the true Self.  The essential meaning of Thou is only pure Being, pure Consciousness.  The meaning of both is thus the same, & this is what “Art” expresses.  “Art” is an expression of complete Identity.  “Art” is realized by the relinquishment of other ideas regarding That &, most importantly, by Self-Inquiry into Thou. The deeper the inquiry into Thou, the more That is known as it is, for Thou Art That.  No repetition of the idea, “I am That” “l am the Self,” or “I am Brahman” is intended, for such implies difference between the instructed & the instruction, between the meditator, the meditation, & the meditated upon, between the one desiring Liberation & the Liberation itself, between the self who would know & that Self to be known, & between the realizer & the realized.  The Non-Dual Teaching of Identity with the Absolute Self, Brahman, is to be practiced by Self-Inquiry, full of clear Discrimination, that frees one of the false notion of Doer–ship, of being a sensing entity, of being an experiencer, of being a thinker, & such, & that Self-Inquiry discerns fully that the one Self is not the Body, Mind, or Ego, or anything connected with these.  Then, one knows one’s own true Self to truly be Brahman.

The Knowledge of the Self becomes possible only when the Ego vanishes.  What remains is the Self-evident, the Self-Knowable, the eternally existing, the forever liberated that has never been bound. The Freedom & Happiness of this Realization have no cause or reason.  They are self-existing, as Being itself is.  Only unhappiness & Bondage seem to have reasons, which, with Self-Inquiry, are found to be merely Ignorance.

When the Knowledge that one is the Self, Brahman, is not veiled by the false notions that Reality is something other than the Non-Dual Self, that oneself is other than the Formless, motionless,

immutable Self, that Happiness is other than the blissful Self, when not so veiled, the Knowledge is firm.  Then, the mis-identification of the Self with the Body or any other form becomes impossible.

The direct path of Knowledge is that in which one discriminates as described here, renounces the actions of the Body & Mind, frees himself from the ideas of being a Performer, experiencer, thinker, ete., abides free of outer sensing & inner conceiving activities, & thus knows the Self to be That. The practice of the Teaching of  “Thou art That” is the Self-Inquiry: “Who am I ?”  When the Knowledge of the Self which is the Absolute, is not contradicted by the false notions that one lacks Bliss & has desires, that one is not Consciousness & does [is the Performer of Action], & that one is not Being but is a bound entity, without such contradictions, the Knowledge is firm.

Though the Body is not the Self, the Self is not the Performer of Action, & Action is unrelated to Self-Knowledge & can in no way bring about the Liberation that this Knowledge alone yields, the holy sage who thus knows will always be manifesting what is True, Good, & Beautiful [“acting” as if in contradiction, but always rightly, if the real of appearance]. With Love for all beings, knowing all to be himself, endowed with equanimity & imperturbable peace, with no self-interest, he is ever engaged in the highest good, whether he appears active or still. His honesty derives from Truth itself, his Love from the indivisible Nature of Being, his Peace from the immovable Absolute, & his kindness & care from the perfect Fullness.  How would it be possible for one who knows about Liberation & the Non-Dual Teaching of Identity with the divine Absolute Self to engage in conduct that would be otherwise ?

Nonetheless, it is never possible to determine the state of a realized Sage from the outer appearances of the body with which he has no identity whatsoever.  The Sage has gone beyond the Illusions of Life & death, never to return to that which never really was.  He [or she] is serene in & as the Absolute, & abides as the Eternal.  Whatever is done, he does nothing.  Whatever is said, he remains Silent. Whatever is thought, he remains unmodified.  For he has known himself, & he himself is what he knows.  You Are That.  Realize the Truth of this by Self-Inquiry.

[continuing to echo the Mahavakyas]

Supreme Knowledge, Consciousness, is Brahman [prajnanam brahma].  Attain Liberation by Knowledge & realize that true Knowledge is the Eternal, Supreme Consciousness itself. This Self is Brahman [ayam atma brahma].  Inquire “Who am I ?” & realize pure Being as the One–without–a–2^nd  [advaita].  I am Brahman. Abide in the natural state of the real Self, in the state of Identity with no other “I”.

[echoing Sri Shankara]

Abide as That, which, when known, leaves no other thing to be known.  Abide as That, the Happiness of which leaves nothing else to be desired.  Abide as That, which, when realized, leaves no other Reality but itself.  Abide as that which is the Self which alone exists Eternally, for it is That which alone is.

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

Analogy of the 10^th man (retelling of one told by Sri Ramana) :

Hiking the hills & needing to cross a raging snow-fed river in Spring, 10 traveling “Fools” made of themselves a human chain to safeguard their passage. Given the slippery stones underfoot & unexpected high water level & onrushing force, there was natural concern that they all had made it to the other shore. The first one to think of it began a head count, pointing at each, calling out as he wagged his finger: “1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.” Suddenly upset the poor Fool cried out: “That’s it, only 9. Omigosh! Who did we lose ?”

In horrified disbelief, another Fool repeated the head count: “1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9” & so did another, & another, until every Fool on shore gave it a try, all confirming the original tragic announcement. The confusing part for them, of course, was that no one could figure out who was the missing one. Easy for us, we aren’t shivering & wet with freezing river water, exhausted & frightened. But then again, it was kind of silly, given that they all followed the misguided example of the first, pointing only at other heads as they counted. If only one of them had kept track & counted the number of counts called, they would have be reassured when the only 9 counts were initially made.

Their luck soon changed when just then an eminent spiritual master & teacher, a Guru much revered in the region, came walking down their shore, having seen the pantomime of their plight from the distance as he approached, not needing to be within earshot get the picture. But upon listening patiently & trying in vain to explain the proper Arithmetic to them, he decided to quickly demonstrate after kindly letting them off the hook, saying that many people experience confusion like this, as when told that such & such will occur in 10 days. some will ask: “Does that 10 count today, or do we start counting tomorrow as 1?” “But practical experience is best, so here we go” he said, & continuing: “when I tap your head with my staff, you the first one call out 1 & next 2 & so on until I’ve tapped the last one.”

And so he did, & they called out, a bit nervous as they got to 9.  But sure enough, they distinctly heard one last hollow bonk of the staff on a head & the call 10.  There he was smiling & laughing with relief, the one the Guru had arranged to be last, the same first one the Guru saw start the counting, recognizing him now since he had seen him from a distance. Smiling with kindness the Guru concluded for him: “Yes: Thou Art the 10^th.”

When equating the Non-Dual Self with Absolute Reality Brahman, the most authoritative Upanishads repeatedly intoned the Mahavakya or Great Proclamation “Thou Art That”, with Absolute Reality, Brahman understood to be “That.”

In “Thou Art the 10^th !” the actual number 10 has no particular significance other than in helping recall of the Parable. What matters is that each essentially makes the same mistake when failing to count himself, or more to the point, take himself into account. The remedy is to Inquire “who am I” in order to know oneself. Self-Knowledge, the direct result of Self-Inquiry, is also known as Self-Realization, Enlightenment, Liberation, & in the original languages: Moksha, Nirvana, Mukti, & so on. This is the ineffable Reality itself, ever inexplicable & beyond words.

[Robert Heinlein’s hero in Stranger in a Strange Land drew from the same scriptures, without direct reference, when his planet-colony “visitor” was asked about the that colony’s understanding of “God”. Confused at first, that character, Michael Valentine, hesitated, pondered, & then realized what was being asked. Shaking his head in denial of the basic premise of the question, one about some separate super-being, the extra-terrestrial visitor responded: “Thou art God !” (Of course the “thou art” would not have been used unless the Mahavakya was being referenced. Written in the late 1950’s & then published in ’61, thus was pretty “far out” for an American sci–fi author.]

Naiskarmya Siddhi

[her follows a to–be–continuing series of selections from the seemingly impossible to “find online” classic by Shankara’s disciple Suresvara, on somewhat based on Shankara’s Upadesha Sahasri “1000 Teachings”, this one by the name Naiskarmya Siddhi (translated by A. J. Alston as “The Realization Of Absolute”)]

Here is a clear statement of the true nature of the inner Reality whose sole function is to exist as the Witness & support of All.  The existence & manifestation of all this World depends on its existence.  If It did not exist, nothing would.   [verse 4]

Failure to realize that one’s own Self (atman) is the sole Reality is called Ignorance (avidya). … Its destruction constitutes the Liberation of the soul.  [verse 7]

The fire of right Knowledge arising from the Great Proclamations (mahavakyas) of the Upanishads burns up utterly the Delusion (moha) of the soul.  [verse 8]

Since Liberation arises only from the destruction of Ignorance, action is not the means to it.  Action cannot remove Ignorance any more than darkness arising from darkness (can remove darkness).   [verse 24]

The Veda (shastra) is like the Sun, illumining the means to acquiring & avoiding for the benefit of those who from sheer ignorance desire the pleasant & shun the unpleasant.  [verse 29]

Thus it has been shown on the authority of perception, inference & revelation that the Self is never separate from “the pleasant” in the form of supreme bliss, & that “the unpleasant” enters into no relation with it at all, & is like something non-existent. And from this it follows that all action whatever is prompted by false knowledge (mithya–jnana) of the form “may I have the pleasant, may I not have the unpleasant” arising from bare natural unawareness of the Self (svabhavya-atma anavabodha-matra), like the notion of Mirage & Silver which arise from unawareness of the Desert & of the Mother-of-pearl.

It is through Ignorance that one desires what one already has, such as a golden Necklace hanging (forgotten) on one’s neck; again, it is through ignorance that, afflicted with delusion, one fears & tries to remove a ghost which seems to be in one’s Shadow but which does not really exist.  [verse 31]

In regard to things that one already has (but, being unaware of the fact, also wants to have) or has not (but supposes oneself to have & wishes to be rid of) “getting” & “avoiding” do not come through Action. Since it is Ignorance alone that is the obstacle (to realizing that one already has or has not got them), the “getting” or “avoiding” of them is to be achieved by knowledge.  [verse 34]

Action itself arises from Ignorance, hence it can not destroy it.  But right Knowledge can destroy Ignorance for it is the opposite of it, as the Sun is the opposite of darkness.  [verse 35]

Self-knowledge is based on the self-revealed Reality alone, & its nature is to destroy Ignorance & the whole complex of factors of Action (karma) that arise from it as effects.  It depends on the Vedic texts, etc., only for its rise.  Once risen, it does not depend on them for destroying Ignorance. Knowledge of the Self guarantees the realization of the highest end of man through its mere rise, without needing to assume any new form or to depend on any external factor (e. g. Action).

Therefore right-knowledge (samyag-jnana) is the proper & sufficient means to get rid of Ignorance,

which is the cause of the whole Ocean of Sorrow. If you say, “Action is the right means”, we say, “No.”  [verse 37]

[Note that the Karma-producing Action here debated was a major doctrinal issue at the time, & can usefully more apply to our own practice when realizing that no “mental action” can yield Realization, but only deeper Knowledge, beyond the Mind, at the depth of one’s certainty that: “I exist.”  Note also that “India’s English” often prefers to say “I am” but “I exist” may better fit the Anglo-American usage of the verb “to be”. ]

Master Nome selections:

” … Consciousness is one and indivisible. It can neither separate from itself so as to become a plurality, nor undergo modification, nor bring forth out itself something other than itself. The perception of multiplicity is       the result of the activities of one’s senses. The great variety of sights, sounds, scents, tastes, and tactile sensations which constitute one’s perception of the world are all, without exception, the result of sensory           functions. So much is this so that the world cannot be said to be perceived apart from the senses. The  sensory impressions constitute ‘the world.'”  – Master Nome  (Commentary on Siva Samhita, Reflections, 3.3.9, SAT 1991)

Desire is the urge to be happy. When faced outwardly it is foolish; inwardly, it yields Wisdom. Happiness is within. The sense of happiness in any experience does not come from the thing experienced. All experience is of the nature of the experiencer. The sense of reality in every experience does not come from the things experienced. The Self is the source.

Ego, manifestation, form and ignorance: these are like an optical illusion, a mirage, a dream without substance, the life-history of a fictional character, a rabbit with horns, and a person with a tail. Regard all thought as an empty echo and the world as a dream. Regard all manifestation as an hallucination or as a daydream lasting but a moment. Know the world to be unreal and yourself as not a character in it, and the dream is over. Consider the world to be a dream, and discover the absence of the dreamer. To expect the perception of forms – the world, body, senses, and thought – to disappear at its own level to transcend them is like expecting the dream character in one’s dream to see the dream forms – dream world, dream body, dream senses, and dream thoughts – disappear within the dream, before waking up. When the forms – the world, body, senses, and thought – vanish, the Reality of pure, transcendent Being alone remains. Even when thought of as appearing, the Reality of pure, transcendent Being alone remains.

An unreal body performs unreal actions in an unreal world. Do not be afraid to let go of a world that does not really exist. Any object of experience has no more existence separate from the Self than printed letters from a page of paper, or waves from water. It is you who say that anything is real. The object does not declare its own reality. To known the Reality, know yourself.  It is better to say the world in you than you are in the world. There is no world or any objective thing, and there is no one to experience or know it. The world is unreal. There has never been a single objective thing. All that is objective is illusion. Illusion is that which is not.  All things change. That which is not a thing is unchanging.

The Self is neither the body nor thought. It is spaceless and timeless. As space is endless, clear, formless, embracing all, bound by none, all-pervading, ungraspable, and has no within or without, so it is with the Self. The conception of space requires mis-identification with the body. The conception of time requires misidentification with thought. Now is not a time. Here is not a location. Here and now is formless, real Being. The past and future have no reality. The fleeting present moment is also an illusion. Timeless Consciousness is conceived as time and all that time measures. When does time begin? When there was no time. But if there was no time, not then or now, did it begin at all? The cause is always seen in the effect, The effect is just the cause appearing as such. In Truth, there is only one cause. The ultimate cause of all, the Absolute is itself uncaused. The Absolute, the Self is neither caused by anything else nor does it cause anything else. Infinite, there is nothing beyond it produced by it. There is no cause for illusion; for illusion is unreal, and for an unreal effect there cannot be a real cause. Causality is itself illusory.

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

Sri Ramana’s Inquiry

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

100 Billion

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

Striking the target though aiming at an illusory substitute:

Even the sense “I am” is not continuous, though it is a useful pointer.

The above is an edited statement of Nisargadatta Maharaj found in Maurice Frydman’s Maharaj compilation I am That. Similar hints are found in the records of Ramana Maharshi. The meaning is both curious & useful. Self-Inquiry, “Who am I?” in Maharshi’s teaching, or “resting in the ‘I am’ ” for Maharaj both have essentially the same meaning, & in both that “I” or “I am” is initially believed, falsely, to be the Individual “self”, the Ego.

If aware of the Reality of the Absolute Self, then Self-Inquiry can be a turning into & “abidance” in that solely existent Reality, Brahman, the Self. But most of the time, for most spiritual aspirants, the “I” that is more apparent is the Ego. In that case, the Self-Inquiry fails to find any such entity, leaving the true Absolute Self, self-revealed.

In that 2^nd sense of Self-Inquiry, the inward “direction” toward the Ego is the seeking of an Illusion & not finding it. But, in addition, that inward “direction” is exactly the correct direction for the 1^st meaning of Self-Inquiry, where “I” is the true Self from the onset. So “accidentally”, the seeker finds the Self, though falsely looking for the Ego. Any number of silly analogies could bring home this distinction.

Some hypothetical Neolithic hunter is training his children to bring home food for the tribe (apology to all vegetarians). Knowing how difficult is their prey, quick, elusive small animals, & also knowing how reluctant the children are to throw spears at a living creature (non-violence is natural), the “hunter” advises a false strategy that will coincidentally achieve the result. He instructs the child hunters that their objective is to still any rustling of leaves & branches by casting a spear right into the middle of the disturbance. The ” rustling of leaves & branches” has no significance at all in itself, but that “direction” represents the exactly correct direction for striking the true target, the prey hidden behind & within the disturbance of the bushes. Aiming for that disturbance, their spears continue through in that right “direction” to strike the true target.

So is the Ego an illusory disturbance, posing as a “self”. But the inward, subjective “direction” of that Self-Inquiry (of the 2^nd sort) achieves the true result, identical to that of Self-Inquiry of the 1^st sort.

Hypothetical deleted scene from The Matrix:

Cypher: So Mouse, let me tell ya, this meeting I had with the Architect, like wow! He had more monitor screens than I knew even existed. He’s on top of all of it.

Mouse: What were you doing, talking to the machines, Cypher ?

Cypher: Oh, ah nothin’ special, just a little agreement I had to work out. Anyway, I got a peak at the core programs upon which The Matrix is coded, & man how robust & consistent! I see now for sure how that religious prophecy nonsense & all that is unnecessary & just wrong. Intelligent guys like the Architect have it all figured out, there’s no need for any God in this Matrix, it’s all Science!

Mouse: Yeah, but just how does Mathematical robustness & consistency prove anything about our Matrix Universe & whether it’s purely Mechanistic, you know – Materialist of Physicalist Scientific Realism & all that ?

Cypher: ‘Cause all that sophisticated Math would not be needed by some Divine Force or Consciousness  that could just wave a magic wand & poof, make the whole show by some Creation, some Intelligent Design.

Mouse: I don’t get it Cypher. Why couldn’t some divine Consciousness weave all this Matrix from infinitely complex patterns, the merest reflection from which appears like all our most robust Mathematics. Why not Cypher ?

[Mouse now muttering to himself after turning away from Cypher in disgust:]

Man, that guy is as arrogant as those Machines. So proud of a little Mathematics that he concludes that we all are just Materialist machines ourselves. How does that explain Existence out of Nothing, Consciousness, self-awareness, happiness, & love, just for starters ?

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