[another Annamali Swami note]

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.

Afterwards, the Self will take care of everything & you won’t have to worry about anything any more. In fact, you won’t be able to, because the Mind that previously did the worrying, the choosing & the discriminating will no longer be there. In that state you won’t need it & you won’t miss it.

[Michael James, Happiness & the Art of Being – comments on atma vichara “Self-Inquiry”]

A few of the terms which Sri Ramana used to describe the practice are  “self-attention” atma vichara or “self-abidance” atma nishta.  The 2^nd  word is atma vichara has various Sanskrit meanings, including “pondering, deliberation, consideration, reflection, examination, investigation”  & in the Tamil Lexicon, it is defined it both as “\‘deliberation” or “consideration”, in the sense of “unbiased examination with a view to arriving at the Truth” or “investigation”.  Therefore the term ātma-vicāra, which Sri Ramana frequently used to describe the practice by which we can attain Self-Knowledge means Self-Investigation or Self-Examination, & denotes the practice of examining, inspecting, or scrutinizing our fundamental & essential consciousness “I am” with a keen & concentrated power of attention.

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

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

 Perception in terms of Buddhist Skandhas – an interpretation:

Perception analyzed with Qualified Non-Duality QND could be framed in terms of one interpretation of the Buddhist Skandhas which are traditionally discussed variously in other ways than what follows. The same holds for Dependent Origination which here is simplistically taken to mean: if A requires B for its existence, & B requires A, then by “dependent origination” neither independently or truly exists.

Letting Vision stand in for all the other Senses, with the understanding that the following can be applied to all of them, consider an Object of Visual Perception. That sense mechanism can never contact or verify the Object directly, being initially mediated by the Visual Form of the Object. Furthermore, what would be such a Form without an Object to which it applies, & what could be a Visual Object without the Form. Object & Form here are mutually-defining in the manner of Dependent Origination & thus neither is real in itself.

The Form in turn is detailed by the Perception signals, here light waves, Within Signal we include the entire chain of Neurophysiology to the mysterious point where constitutes primitive Thought & call it all the Perception. Perception & Form also exhibit Dependent Origination with neither independently real.

Interior to perceptual Neurophysiology, at early mental lever, Conceptual category is superimposed as in “this is a chair” – a radical editorial interpretation specific to the Perceiver. Like a biological Genus this generalization identifies the Perception as that of an Object generically identified as “chair” for instance. Concept & Perception exhibit Dependent Origination with neither independently real.

Like a biological species perceptual Discrimination mentally specifies “a red easy chair” for instance. This specification pinpoints somewhat within the Conceptual category, another subjective editorial interpretation. Discrimination & Concept exhibit Dependent Origination with neither independently real.

Finally Sense Thought Cognition registers, associates, & process the specified generalization but Cognition & Discrimination exhibit Dependent Origination with neither independently real. These 5 “skandhas”: Form, Perception, Concept, Discrimination, & Cognition have mediated Visual Perception of the Visual Object with Dependent Origination at the front end as well, between Form & Object. So too at the inner Subject, Dependent Origination applies to the Subject & the Cognition.

Thus 5 “skandhas” or steps in Visual Perception serially link Object & Subject by Dependent Origination with neither independently real. Consciousness illumines all that as an ephemeral reflection without establishing reality to any of it (UQND), or from another view (QND), without separation from any of it. In accord with UQND, Un-Qualified Non-Duality, pure, nondual Consciousness alone exists.

[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 & Annamalai Swami

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.

Annamalai Swami was a wise disciple of Sri Ramana Maharshi & some of his advice was as follows:

Ram Tirtha once told a story about a small boy who ran down the street, trying to catch up with the head of his shadow. He never managed because no matter how fast he ran, the shadow of his head was always a few feet ahead of him.

His mother, who was watching him and laughing, called out, ‘Put your hand on your head!’

When the boy followed this instruction, the shadow hand caught up with the shadow head. This was enough to satisfy the boy.

This kind of advice may be enough to keep children happy, but it won’t produce satisfactory results in the realm of sadhana and meditation. Don’t chase your shadow thoughts and your shadow mind with mind-control techniques because these techniques are also shadows. Instead, go back to the source of the shadow-mind and stay there. When you abide in that place, you will be happy, and the desire to go chasing after shadow thoughts will no longer be there.

Bhagavan often told the story of a man who tried to get rid of his shadow by burying it in a pit. This man dug a hole and then stood on the edge of it in such a way that his shadow was cast on the bottom of the hole he had just made. After lining it up in this way, he started throwing soil on the shadow in an attempt to bury it. Of course, no matter how much soil he put in the hole, the shadow still remained on top of it.

Your mind is an insubstantial shadow that will follow you around wherever you go. Attempts to eliminate or control it cannot succeed while there is still a belief that the mind is real, and that it is something that can be controlled by physical or mental activity.

When Self-realization happens, mind is no longer there. However, you do not get Self-realisation by getting rid of the mind. It happens when you understand and know that the mind never existed. It is the recognition of what is real and true, and the abandonment of mistaken ideas about the reality and substantiality of this ephemeral shadow you call the mind.

This is why Bhagavan and many other teachers kept bringing up the analogy of the snake and the rope. If you mistake a rope on the ground for a snake, the snake only exists as an idea in your mind. That idea might cause you a lot of worry and anxiety, and you may waste a lot of mental energy wondering how to avoid the snake or kill it, but this fact remains: there is no snake outside your imagination. When you see the rope, the substratum upon which your false idea of a snake is superimposed, the idea that there is a snake, and that it is real, instantly vanishes. It is not a real snake that has disappeared. The only thing that has disappeared is an erroneous idea.

The substratum upon which the false idea of the mind has been superimposed is the Self. When you see the mind, the Self, the underlying substratum, is not seen. It is hidden by a false but persistent idea. And conversely, when the Self is seen, there is no mind.

The same way that you give up any wrong idea. You simply stop believing in it. If this does not happen spontaneously when you hear the truth from a teacher, keep telling yourself, ‘I am not the mind; I am not the mind. There is no mind; there is no mind.

Consciousness alone exists.’ If you have a firm conviction that this is the truth, one day this firm conviction will mature to the point where it becomes your direct experience.

Consciousness alone exists. If you generate a firm conviction that this is the truth, eventually this firm conviction will become your own direct experience. Consciousness alone exists. That is to say, whatever exists is consciousness alone. Keep this in mind and don’t allow yourself to regard anything else as being real. If you fail and give even a little reality to the mind, it will become your own false reality. Once this initial wrong identification – ‘I am the mind, the mind is real’ – has happened, problems and suffering will follow.

Don’t be afraid of the mind. It’s a false tiger, not a real one. Something that is not real cannot harm you. Fear and anxiety may come to you if you believe that there is a real tiger in your vicinity. Someone may be making tiger noises as a joke to make you afraid, but when he reveals himself, all your fears go because you suddenly understand that there never was a tiger outside your imagination.

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.

All the information the Mind accumulates & all the experiences it collects are ignorance, false knowledge.  Real knowledge cannot be found in the Mind or in any external location.  Don’t be interested in the words that the Mind is serving up for you.  It is putting them there to tempt you into a stream of thoughts that will take you away from the Self.  You have to ignore them all & focus on the light that is shining within you.

The substratum upon which the false idea of the Mind has been superimposed is the Self.  When you see the Mind, the Self, the underlying substratum, is not seen. It is hidden by a false but persistent idea.  And conversely, when the Self is seen there is no Mind.

This habit of believing the ‘I am the body’ idea has become very strong because you have reinforced & strengthened it over many lifetimes.  This will go if you meditate on your real Self.  The habit will melt away, like ice becoming water.

The Mind only gets dissolved in the Self by constant practice.  At the moment the, ‘I am the body’ idea disappears, just as darkness disappears when the Sun rises.

The body is not the Self; the Mind is not the Self. The real ‘I’ is the Self, & nothing ever happens to or affects the Self.

[another analogy, this an original]

 Electrical RLC Circuit Analogy:

We can abuse some simple electrical circuit terminology to sketch an Analogy for the Indian Samkhya Philosophy scheme Nature’s qualities or gunas. Most Dualities turn out to be similar (+ / –, male / female, yang / yin, etc.). The same is true for Triads (thesis, synthesis, antithesis; etc.) such as the Samkhya gunas: tamas, sattva, rajas, simply translated for our purposes here as dull inertia, harmonious clarity, & restless rage. Practical applications of this terminology for spiritual practice are not profound but sometimes useful. To note just a couple of examples, we can first mention that Illusion or maya deviates from the clarity of sattva by splitting into dull tamasic “veiling” avarana & projecting rajasic superimposition vikshepa. First the Truth is hidden, then the False is projected & superimposed.

A second example that suffices for the moment would contrast the sattvic Clarity of Mind, ideal for spiritual practice with the opposite poles represented by the other 2 gunas. Dull inertia or tamas might even find a bit of an antidote in the restless energy of rajas, but transcending both is even better.

A simple RLC series circuit Analogy can model this interplay of the gunas.

The tamasic inertial quality can be modeled by capacitance C, such that the accumulation of substance, Charge is the “electrical pressure”, voltage, V multiplied by this tamasic inertial parameter C, capacitance, or:  q  =  C V. The same would hold for accumulated fluid as “capacity” times the “pressure” in a hydrodynamic or similar circuit. [Granted we are holding several parameters constant here to force the analogy & going against the grain of many electrical analogies where readily measurable Voltage is tallied instead of Charge of Current.

The sattvic analog quality would not be resistance, R, but rather its reciprocal, the conductance, G. such that the “flow” of Charge or Current, I,  is proportional to that same “electrical pressure”, voltage, V multiplied by the sattvic parameter G, conductance, or:  dq/dt  =  I  =  G V. Again, the same would hold for fluid flow as “conductance” times the “pressure” in a hydrodynamic or similar circuit. We choose conductance G over the historically prior inverse concept of resistance R because the latter “negatively” impairs the “flow'” while greater conductance enhances the flow.

In a electrical Phasor diagram (a specific application of a Real-axis / Imaginary axis Argand diagram) the tamasic C capacitance contribution is “imaginary” in the mathematical sense of being orthogonal to the “real  axis that charts the sattvic G conductance contribution.

In that same diagram, the rajasic influence is equally “imaginary” but is diametrically opposed to the tamasic contribution, so that the opposing effects tend to cancel each other out to some degree. Here, as with resistance R, we choose, instead of inductance L, it reciprocal, or rather the more “dynamic” reciprocal of ω L, the inductive reactance, which paired properly with the “imaginary” number i is the inductive admittance of reciprocal of inductive impedance. This can also be related to the “imaginary” part of the total admittance, namely the inductive part of the susceptance.

In any case, the rajasic analog quality would not be inductance, L, but something like the inductive admittance A, such that the “rate of change of flow” (~ acceleration of flow) dI/dt, is proportional to that same “electrical pressure”, voltage, V multiplied by the rajasic parameter A, admittance or:  d²q/dt²  =  dI/dt  ~  A V. Again, the something similar would hold for accelerated fluid flow if we introduced turbulence, likewise a rajasic concept.

Confusing terminology aside, our Electrical Analogy for the 3 gunas gives us:

1) Conductance allowing “real part” free flow related to sattva, harmonious clarity.

2) Tamas opposed by rajas, akin to “imaginary” influences of Capacitance & Susceptance.

3) Tamasic Capacitance representing inertia.

4) Rajasic Susceptance corresponding to “jittery” oscillating interference, wasted motion & energy such that “the faster you try, the slower you go.”

This Electrical Analogy for the gunas does little to model the “veiling” versus “projecting” aspects of maya & some other guna applications. But for discriminating inquiry into self-defeating qualities of Mind, like inertia & restlessness, the Electrical Analogy has some merit.

[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 ]

A) Advaita (Non-Duality) – Absolute (Brahman, Shiva, Dharmakaya, Buddha-Mind, Tao)

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, no 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 b y 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 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.

[to be continued]

B) Big-Bang – Brain–stuff (our Science interludes)

Body Perception  (prior to later segment on Perception of the World in general)

The Self is space-like but not in Space. The Self has no location. Being space-like, the Self is not anything like a Body. Quadrillions of cells could no possibly render a seamless, never contradictory or intermittent sense of self–existence. The mystery of Consciousness has never & will never be understood in terms of neurons.

Take one of those cells.  In every cubic millimeter of cytoplasm, hundreds of complex chemical reactions proceed simultaneously, in the same place without interference & without hardly any waste heat or matter.  A marvel, but mechanism, dead robotic machinery, never Conscious Life.

Take one Atom in a molecule in that cytoplasm.  If that Atom were a large sports stadium, 99.9%  would lie in a Nucleus that was a Pencil Dot on the middle of the field.   Electron gnats would buzz almost masslessly in the stands of the Empty stadium.

If, in turn, that Pencil Dot Nucleus would itself be a large sports stadium, then 3 Quarks would make up 100% of the Mass, each a bacterium within the Stadium.

If, again in turn, each bacterium Quarks would be like our Solar System, then each Superstring would be like a bacterium within that Solar System.  All Empty.  Where’s the complex “mechanism” of Consciousness ?   A Body could not have Consciousness, a Body-corpse could not be part of the Self.

Western Idealists, from Parmenides to Berkeley to Bradley, rightly tell us that Perception is thought & can never in itself prove or “contact” a physical World or Body.  What we “see” is just the Seeing itself, which is just the thinking of the Perceptual thought, which is just a momentary appearance–illusion “illumined” by Consciousness – no physical matter provable, knowable, or really existing at all.

So the promised “systematic instructions” for the elimination of Ignorance, the Release that portents Liberation, those “systematic instructions” begin with thoroughly knowing that the Self, that you, are not a Body.

[to be continued]

C) “Conceptual” – Caesar –Tsar – Emperor – Benevolent Dictator – Philosopher King

Wrongly believing that Happiness comes from “getting our way”, we (especially males) perpetrate horrific, cruel actions.  But none such escape the “hell” of bad karma in repeating lifetimes (only the Liberated are not born again).  Their poor victims get to balance out their own karma, the hard way.

So not even so much for them (who are not bodies anyway), but if only for yourselves, forsake Evil which never brings Happiness in either short or long term!

[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 ]

A) Advaita (Non-Duality) – Absolute (Brahman, Shiva, Dharmakaya, Buddha-Mind, Tao)

Inwardness

The Self is inward, Most Inward, totally non-objective.  The Self is the Consciousness “looking out” & nothing can look at that Consciousness.  Trying to turn Consciousness in to look at itself is Self-Inquiry or Self-Attention or Abidance.  Who am I ?  may start as examination of the Individual one imagines oneself to be.  Under scrutiny [to be detailed in later Blogs], the Ego–I vanishes, like dust against the brilliance of the Self, Pure Consciousness. Along with the vanishing, one gains direct “vision” of the Self, but not as an Object.   The Non-Objective is Formless, Limitless, not separate from all that is Real. [to be continued]

B) Big-Bang – Brain–stuff (our Science interludes)

SPECIAL VERSION (supporting part C)

Hypothetical multiple–choice questions:

(1) What could reduce huge buildings to white-ash so that not even a doorknob survived ?

a) kerosene (as used in lanterns) , AKA “jet-fuel” – oou jeepers !

b) weaponized nano-thermate (like a super version of railroad-welding thermite, with sulfur), made in Lawrence Livermore Lab, “advertised”” in the movie The Rock

(2) How could a missile look like a plane ?

a) “impossible”

b) “secret” missiles, long after “advertised”” in the movie Battleship

C) “Conceptual” – Caesar –Tsar – Emperor – Benevolent Dictator – Philosopher King (Perception in Mind is completed by Conception, including the human world of socio-political issues, like Social Justice.) By artifice, the author takes up the mantle of Philosopher King, with resulting Proclamations, in each Blog.

Some say 911 was an “inside” job.  We note the those who reject the claim, out of hand, do no generally check the evidence & instead settle for abrupt de-bunking details, a half dozen of so, put together by conspiracy–deniers.  The “inside” job evidence will not be evaluated at this time.  Rather the real driving motive behind the rejecting deniers will be looked at.

They’ll say: that’s insane, why would anyone have wanted that ?

They’ll also say: the government would never do something so evil.

They’ll finally say: who could pull that off ?  Conspiracies always leak & stumble.

Well yes, that one has more that 2,000 booboo’s recorded to date.

Looking at the 2^nd reaction, let it be said that there is no “government” but only individuals, some of whom are capable of great evil. All other nations in the World would agree to that, regarding the so-called US “government”.  When “body-count” lead the News in the 1970’s, innocent men, women, & children, by the hundreds of thousands, were slaughtered in Vietnam. My Lai  was a show-trail, not the massacre exception, but the rule.  Those were the Rules of Engagement that maintained a continuous body count.  We return to Evil in Conclusion.

Looking at the 1^st reaction– countless reasons, starting with the “need” for a greater Footprint / Foothold in the Near East to enforce a say-so about the current & final last drops of Petroleum.  The WTC building were losing $35Million/year & the double–impact Insurance pay-off was in Billions.  Hundreds of Insider Trading case documents were lost in the vanishing of Bldg 7 that was never hit. Some of the Gold Bullion beneath was snuck back to the owners, much was kept as loot. Arms & Contractor profits in Iraq & stolen funds were many Billions.  A $2Trillion Dept. of Defense “disappearance” that was Rumsfeld-announced Friday afternoon was forgotten on 911 Monday morning.  The coveted Patriot Act wounding of the Constitution was another huge goal. Many reasons.

Back to the Evil – the Ego is a slippery slope: torture, abuse, & neglect prove that so. Please eliminate the Ego ASAP.

[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 ]

A)  Absolute  –  Consciousness

We discover it by being earnest, by searching, Inquiring, questioning daily & hourly, by giving one’s life to this discovery.

Nisargadatta Maharaj “I Am That“”

Let’s go back to the one questioned a couple of Blogs ago, the one asked:  Do you exist ?

As a hypothetical, let him have been in Deep Dreamless Sleep when awoken & questioned.  Perhaps some further “ring” of truth remains in this speculative conversation.

The former sleeper responds right away or later recalls the following immediate response in his Mind:

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

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

Oh I see, you directly “know” you exist.

So can I agree that you “exist” & that you also “know” – at least that much.

Nodding his head in assent, the freshly awakened asks once for clarification & then listens for a while.

Granted what you noted, what is the significance ?

Asking the awakened one to suspend judgment for bit, much as the reader is now asked, let us embark on our own “What if ?” scenario.  With minimal detailed explanation or proof, getting no further argument or interrupting question from the questioned one, we speculate as follows:

“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, that “place” 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 Parmenides & Shankara, by Huang Po, Meister Eckhart, Ib’n al Arabi, Brahmagna Ma, & Ananda Ma. The point being that no culture, gender, creed, or period of history has unique claim to this recognition, this Knowledge known as the Perennial Philosophy.

Further observations include the fact that very same not-a-place “place” or Brahman or the Self is also experienced routinely as the Source of Happiness, Love, Bliss, Joy, Peace, Satisfaction, Freedom & the like. These are all one with Consciousness & Being. Though Happiness–in–full is more often 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 “negative” so by coloration with conceptual self-delusion.”

Nodding in awe more than yet assent, the freshly awakened asks once again in the same words:

Granted what you say, what is the significance ?

“Much can & has been said & written about 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. Even with a few false turns, the one who truly desires Freedom (Liberation from ignorance) will have it.

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 worlds 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 when possible. Otherwise 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 hinted at in Section C. The quest of Enlightenment, Liberation, is the most satisfying & significant venture possible.

By constantly fixing his attention on his Source, the Heart, the Ego of the wise gets dissolved like a “salt doll” which has fallen into the Ocean. 

Sri Ramana Maharshi

1. B) Big-Bang – Brain VR

A couple of very smart characters, among many, suggest we consider the lesson of VR Virtual Reality.  Cognitive Science Philosopher David Chalmers chimed in early on the past bandwagon of pointing to The Matrix movie as a profound parable, one far more popular than the earlier Brain in a Vat versions that the cinema had emulated, emulations of Descartes malin genie the evil genie (or genius).  Harder to label is the other genie, I mean genius, Nick Bostrom, nominally a philosopher, who offers Bayesian “proof” for the following proposition.

If we do not destroy our technological civilization by prompting further Climate disaster, or by war or political collapse, over-population, & so on; & if no Armageddon–like meteoric disaster, etc. does the deed, if none of these occur. then Ray Kurzweil’s elitist techno-utopia will surely come to pass. However many starve & rot with disease & violence, if some insular elite defend islands of exponentially advancing Computer technology, while escaping their own Nano-technology, Bio-technology, etc. then they will eventually program innumerable The Matrix level VR’s Virtual Realities. Among those will likely be some “period pieces” as depicted in the movie, capturing a past version of Earth’s civilization, such as the one we now find ourselves in. The most advanced VR’s could pass for our own world & no one could tell the difference. So much for the like–like comparison between our World & all these many particular VR’s among a far greater number of other kinds of VR. Nick Bostrom calls those particular ones “ancestor” VR’s because they emulate the experience of the relatively few people (~ half dozen Billions) in our world. We are those relatively “few” “ancestors”. Here comes the kicker.

Those inexpensive (by futuristic technology standards) Virtual Reality programs will be so very numerous that for each of us now, that there might be, who knows, a Trillion more VR individuals who will take the place of each of us, distributed over the man VR programs. Here Bayesian “logic” kicks in & flatly declares, that by those “odds” (lets say a Trillion to 1) we most certainly live in one of those Future VR’s right now, each of us as most likely being VR characters, or computergame–avatars.

Now given Bostrom’s claim that we probably live in & as VR right now, unless we soon destroy our civilization or experience other disastrous collapse that will have prevented that technology (we rarely get to use the future perfect tense “will have”), we turn back to David Chalmers.  Putting aside the destruction scenarios, Chalmers, like many other Cognitive Science Philosophers assure us that we could never tell the difference in VR.

Our point here is that we are as good as being VR anyway, because how could we ever know ?  In fact our individual Waking State lives (Dream State ones are otherwise) actually are as good as VR in absolute Consciousness, no more real than that. Awakening to Identity with pure Consciousness, we are Liberated from the succession of Waking State dream-lives (& Dream State lives as well). Sounds like fun? Maybe not, not right now. But actually all the real fun, Happiness & Love are already firmly planted in that Consciousness Reality, as is our Being & Identity already.

1. C) Conceptual – Caesar: “Should compassion or even empathetic sorrow be abandoned ?“

Benevolent Dictator – Philosopher King proclamation:  Yes. & No.

Never let it distract you too much.  Never be depressed by sorrow & horror & cruelty in the World, get on with you Self-Realization, doing what you can to help on an everyday life level if opportunities arise or you make them arise.

I asked a Sage about evil & sorrow, etc.  He said: Hurry & get Enlightened, you’re keeping them all waiting.  World is in Mind, it’s your World & your victims.  When you get Liberated, they all do.

Back from the original Day the Earth Stood Still, Hollywood has even looked to space-aliens to come & protect us from ourselves.  A rarely-seen extended version the old Sea Adventure, The Abyss, has more pro-active Sea-aliens who threaten us with tidal waves & then relent. We hear: “It bothers them to see us hurting each other – getting out of hand.”

[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 ]

A) Advaita (Non-Duality) – Absolute (Hegel’s term favored by F. H. Bradley but long known in the East as Brahman, Shiva, Dharmakaya, Buddha-Mind, Tao)

Since Non-Dual Reality is Formless, there are no limits or separations, for all such boundaries are “form”.

Prajnanam Brahma  Consciousness is Brahman.  Aitareya U. 3.3, Rig V

Ayam Atma Brahma  This Self is Brahman.  Mandukya U. 1.2, Ath. V.

Tat Twam As   That Thou Art  Brihadaranyaka U. 1.4.10, Yajur V.

Aham Brahmasmi  I am Brahman.   Chhandogya U. 6.7.8, Sama V.

B) “Big Bang” – Brain-stuff (our Science interludes)

In the seeming Waking State (while not in Dream or Deep Sleep) Science can be said to be a “high” view, an insightful perspective on the Illusion (the Universe) from within that Illusion. If there is no World for Science to actually speak to, Science does in relative (non-absolute) terms speak to the Mind itself. Science models much of the Mind in a fairly clear manner. Depths of Mathematical Physics can be relatively awesome. Life Science insights like the Physiology of Perception can themselves be suggestive.

(Outline of the stages in Visual Perception, for example, are torturously detailed in the eBook referenced below.) For now, we can jump our present example of Visual Perception into the (manas) Mind locations, starting right back to the Calcarine Fissure, in the the V1 Visual Cortex of the Occiptial Lobe. Processed neuron firings are relayed doubly, up to the Parietal Lobe (depending on Right or Left) & the lower Temporal Lobe (the “thumb” of the raised “fist” when the Brain is visualized that way). Parietal kinda handles “location” of the perceived object, while Temporal kinda handles “identity” of the perceived object.

Originally in the Occiput, newly perceived or imagined images seem to be projected upon a “visual buffering” background screen in the Brain-Mind, like a “green screen” used in CGI cinematic effects.  At a distance, an apple may not yet be distinguished from a tomato.  Higher analysis of distinguishing detail is called the “what” system of that Temporal Lobe area, while determining Location occurs in that Parietal Lobe site “where” system mentioned previously.

“Display” then returns back in the Occipital Lobe.  Associative Memory is thought to contribute from the rear Parieto-Temporal boundary. Frontal Cortex Decision Making  completes composition of what we call “conjuring up an image in their minds eye.”  Such proceeds similarly for Memory, Imagination, or Perception. NLP may be relatively correct in link eye-shift to the upper-Right with Imagination & eye-shift to the upper-Left with Memory (somewhat of a lie-detector between lie & honesty). Thereby we mentally “look” at it & add details, one at a time.  Striking is the fact that, perhaps only in vividness, can imagined images be distinguished from Retinal perceived images. Even the latter is heavily customized by the former anyway.

Ultimately, Mind images are all we have of a “world” with no proof of a RWOT real-world-out-there.

Absolute Non-duality denies that there is a RWOT Real World Out There. Yet even the Illusion, a projection of Mind, is a an ephemeral reflection on the one Consciousness.  To run around with those Thoughts & run around in the World they create is the opposite of Enlightenment. Appearing to function in a World is fine, but Freedom requires recognition of that Ego-Origin, its falseness, its seeming “place” or arising in Consciousness, & then final identification with that Non-Dual Consciousness.

C) “Conceptual” – Caesar –Tsar – Emperor – Benevolent Dictator – Philosopher King (Perception in Mind is completed by Conception, including the human world of socio-political issues, like Social Justice.) By artifice, the author takes up the mantle of Philosopher King, with resulting Proclamations, in each Blog.

“For Goodness sake, brothers & sisters, stop hurting each other (though violence in particular is 99% male, brothers). Not an iota, a scintilla of Happiness can ever result. Even getting our way is an Illusion, it always back-fires, keeps us in Illusion, & blocks Happiness (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 ]

[Due to physical limitations, this Blog has lapsed for some time.  We’re back! Eventually most Blogs also appear on a Blogspot “Nonduality & Science” blog, with some graphics, which are easily dealt with there.]

In Sri Ramana Maharshi’s Supplement To The Forty Verses he notes that “those who have got rid of their attachment to the Mind become One with That which is Motionless.”

All that is motion, in fact all that is “Objective”, [including the Mind itself], is a Projection of Thought. “Mind” itself is only Thought.  But Thought & its projected images have “nowhere” to stand, “nowhere” to be “stored” or assembled.  But Thought & its projected images have “nowhere” to stand, “nowhere” to be “stored” or assembled.  So a World of such projected images is impossible.  Moreover,  since each Thought has, integral to it, reference to its “thinker”, just as a Coordinate Point is defined only in reference to its Origin, the non– existence of the “thinker”– Ego [objectively defined by a Body] necessitates the non– existence of Thought & World alike.

Those who believe themselves to be “thinkers” in a World feel they would be missing much without Ego, Thought, & World fail to realize that even now all are actually & simply Ego–less, Thought–less, World–less, & Motion–less, without realizing this of course.  Realizing this is Realization, is Liberation, is Enlightenment.

[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 ]

Fraction of a Shankara verse (part 2)

brahma satyath jaganmithya

Brahman is the Truth, the Universe is false.   Shankara

Master Nome’s commentary summarized Part I

By “Truth” is meant that which actually exists, Non-Dual Brahman. What is other than Brahman is not true, real, & is “Non-Existence” which does not exist,

Even if Non-Existence is imagined, then it is only Existence that is conceived & the negated. Furthermore, the “existence” of that entire mental exercise, the “existence” of  those thoughts, such is really all the apparent Existence involved, unreal & imagined in itself, as it may be.  Considered real then, those thoughts are only Brahman anyway.

On the other hand, if it should ever be imagined that Brahman does not exist, then that imagination itself must be Brahman if in any way it exists at all. The same holds for any “knower” who would entertain that imagination.  And so no imaginary, unreal, nonexistent thought or “existence” is an alternative to Brahman, but only Brahman itself once again.

Next installment on the Requisites:

4 requisites:

Discrimination

Detachment,

6 Essentials

Desire for Liberation

6 essentials:   Peacefulness, Self–Control, Renunciation, Fortitude, Conviction, Meditation

Discrimination, in particular

“Each of the four requisites is helpful to the inquiry to know the Self. Each of the four requisites supports the others. The order in which they are given is not to be construed as being strictly developmental or ascending. For example, though one requires Discrimination to become Detached (otherwise, one will not perceive who is to be Detached & from what to be Detached), it may be the desire for Liberation coupled with Conviction in the teachings that give rise to that Discrimination, which is further strengthened by Meditation & expressed through some kind of Renunciation on a basis of Peacefulness or Equanimity. Each may be considered separately, or they may be considered as one whole.”           Master Nome

Discrimination

Discrimination is to discern what is true. From deep thinking to inner experience, such leads continuously to Knowledge & Realization. Unless one discerns the source of Happiness, for instance, one cannot find more Happiness, or prevent the loss of any that might come one’s way.

Without discerning the Meaning of Life, its Purpose cannot be fulfilled. Wrongly choosing a “spiritual path”, if even getting that far, may unexamined ignorant tendencies, delusive notions, & patterns of conceptualizing.

Discrimination is neither sensory, nor mental but is directly derived Consciousness where Self– Discrimination discerns the Self.  We all know how happy we are & that we exist. This intrinsic discernment is of the very nature of the Self. The path to Self-Knowledge is composed of Knowledge, from Discrimination to Realization.

“What is the source of happiness? What is eternal? What is real? Who am I?”  With more emphasis on negation, we thus sort  out what is not eternal, not Reality, or not the Self.  Thus Reality is left unobscured & Self-evident.

Discrimination also frees us of dualistic conceptions, unfruitful practices.  Distinguishing of emotional moods, karma, egoistic-tendencies, superimpositions, concepts, mis–identifications are matters of Discrimination.  Comparing & contrasting the immutable from the changeful, the eternal from the transitory, the continuous from the sporadic, the nonobjective from the objective, the nondependent from the dependent, the indivisible from the multiple & divisible, all require Discrimination.

“Discrimination gives rise to the other requisites for Realization. It is the cornerstone of spiritual advancement.”                         Master Nome

[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 ]

brahma satyath jaganmithya

Brahman is the Truth, the Universe is false.

Happiness

The requisite background practices recommended for deep Knowledge of Shankara’s ½ verse above was enumerated in a the previous Blog, starting with knowing the nature of Happiness & Love which amount to the same thing.

All beings desire happiness always, happiness without a tinge of sorrow. At the same time everybody loves himself best. The cause for love is only happiness. So, that happiness must lie within oneself. Further, that happiness is daily experienced by everyone in sleep when there is no mind. To attain that natural happiness one must know oneself. For that, Self-enquiry, ‘Who am I?’ is the chief means. –          Ramana Maharshi’s 1^st publication “Who am I ?”

Briefly stated nothing objective can be instrumental in rendering or increasing Happiness which is purely subjective & in no way related to any objective realm. On the hand, acquiring or attaining a given object can be found to consistently precede a “bump-up” in partial Happiness. So what’s going on ? Now “object” is a noun that can refer to any person, place, or thing, any situation, any quantity or measurement, & so on.

Shankara in several ways makes the point that even this partial “seemingly object–derived” Happiness is not experienced in the Mind nor at all controlled or reproducible by the Mind. Sure, there us an even lesser aliquot of Happiness forthcoming from remembrance of the “happy event”, but that is a new & lesser Happiness connected with thus later mental remembrance experience. And that mental remembrance experience is never as intense as the “happy event” so recalled.

Yet, without the Mind functioning in the need way, mere proximity to or Sense experience of the object cannot prompt any Happiness, nor can Happiness be experienced on all occasions of the needed mental functioning & involvement with the object. Sometimes we don’t like or want it. Nor will too little or way too much, or too much repetition always do the trick. At this point a brief related warning from one of the Buddha’s 4 Noble Truths is apropos:

The nature of Life is Suffering:

– we suffer when we don’t get what we want

– we suffer when we get what we don’t want

– we suffer when we get what we want in that we sense        that  all is lost in Time

Anyway, so not in or from the object, not in or from the Mind, Happiness is shown by Shankara to be experienced in the Self, from the Self, & as in the Self, as the essential nature of the Self.

Given that peerless authority, & the power of his argument, available in several Shankara texts, again we might ask how does the consistent role of certain objects fit into the picture, at least for certain lower-level portions of partial Happiness ? The expedient explanation (applicable within Maya, within the Illusion of the Waking State Dream) can be summarized as follows:

1) the Mental dissatisfaction (at lack of, loss of, wanting the Object) seems to “Veil” out Eternal True Nature as Happiness itself, as the Self.

2) acquiring or attaining the said object allows a relaxing of that dissatisfaction “Veiling”

3) with “Veil” relaxes, a bit more of our natural Happiness shines through & we may incorrectly credit an object or some Mental process (including Emotions, etc. which are only special kinds of thoughts). Alternatively, we can say that Bliss–Happiness–Love is the only Emotion & that Mental distortion seems to generate the plethora of lesser positive & negative “feelings”.

4) with fading or other loss of the object, dissatisfaction returns, down comes the “Veil”, & our True Nature of Happiness seems to be attenuated, or almost totally lost.

5) the only reliable & complete remedy is Self-Knowledge, Liberation from imagined “dissatisfaction” or Bondage, Self-Realization as Happiness itself. For that, Self-enquiry, ‘Who am I?’ is the chief means.                                                 Ramana Maharshi

Happiness is the nature of the Self. They are not different. The only happiness there is, is of the Self. That is the truth. There is no happiness in worldly objects. Because of our ignorance we imagine we derive happiness from them. If, as a man generally imagines, his happiness is due to external causes, it is reasonable to conclude that his happiness must increase with the increase of possessions and diminish in proportion to their diminution. Therefore, if he is devoid of possessions his happiness should be nil. What, however, is the real experience of man? Does it confirm this view? In deep sleep the man is devoid of all possessions, including his own body. Instead of being unhappy he is quite happy. Everyone desires to sleep soundly. The conclusion therefore is that happiness is inherent in man and is not due to external causes. One must realize his Self in order to open the store of unalloyed happiness.                                                                                                                                                                   Ramana Maharshi  Who am I?’

[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 ]

Fraction of a Shankara verse

brahma satyath jaganmithya

Brahman is the Truth, the Universe is false.

[from the 1^st line of v. 20 The Rows of Garlands of Brahman Knowledge]

“If one fully realizes its significance, the Truth shines as self-evident.”

Master Nome

In the ensuing series we explore, step by step, some of Master Nome’s commentary on these few words. For now we let it sink in & mention only briefly the background practices recommended by Sri Shankara & Sri Ramana Maharshi: discerning the source & nature of Happiness, & divine Love for all beings, along with the 4–fold:

Sadhana Chatushtaya

I. Non-Attachment (vairagya)

II. Discrimination (viveka)

III. Desire for Liberation (mumukshutva)

IV. the 6 virtues (shatsampati):

1) Tranquility (shama)

2) Control (dama) of Senses (indriyas)

3) Withdrawal (uparati) from Sensory experience

4) Forbearance (titiksha)

5) Faith (shraddha

6) Focus (samadhana)

along with the 3–stage practice:

I) listening (sravana)

2) reflecting (manana)

3) deep contemplative meditation (niddhidhyasana)

& 4 Mahavakyas

Counting the items: 3 + 6 + 3 + 4 = 16 will each be the focus of 16 Blogs & 1 preceding about Love & Happiness that will also feature Master Nome’s commentary on Shankara’s 1/2 verse:

Brahman is the Truth, the Universe is false.

[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 ]

No Body but Me

prajnanam brahma –

Perfect Knowledge (Infinite Consciousness) is Brahman.

                                                                                                   – a mahavakya

We may reach a point where Discrimination gets things sorted out, & then the thought comes about “where I’m going tomorrow.” But oops! There is no “where”, no “tomorrow”, & especially no “me”. So then what ?  Do we see no going to work, not getting out of bed; then what ?

Well, we don’t need Bertrand Russell to tells us we just got tangled in a confusion of “logical types”. But let’s forget all that & keep it simple. If “everyday Life” appears in a Waking State, as Pure Consciousness yourself, you remain as the Witness, if that much. Like some adventure or mis-adventure in a Dream, you’re never really in it.

More attention, or all attention can be returned to perpetual Self-Inquiry, which is perpetual Self-Abidance, which is Reality. If the question should be asked: “what about the one going to work, in that transient Waking State Dream”, well, he still goes, or doesn’t. He acts with more integrity, his Life becomes more harmonious, or not, but it all remains a Dream, composed of substanceless thoughts, bleached out against the radiance of Infinite Consciousness. Patterns in Mind called karma determine Waking Dream events but the Self remains untouched, somewhat like the sleeper does in his bed.

[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 ]

Self-Abidance ātma-niṣṭha

Just short of & continuously identical with moksha Liberation is said to be the practice & state that is the endpoint of both ātma vichāra Self-Inquiry & also supreme Non-Dual Devotion & Surrender to God and/or Guru. That in-common practice & state ātma niṣṭha Self-Abidance.

Concentrated penetration to the core Reality with Self-Inquiry & giving up attachment to all that is considered as “me” & “mine” in renunciation of individual will [not my will, but thine] – both or either of these paths to Egoless Enlightenment will ultimately require abandoning identity with a Mind, that poor objective substitute for subjective Pure Consciousness.

Ego reference-identity on the one hand [vs. inquiry], & Desire–Attachment on the other hand [vs. devotion] are inherent in the Mind. They are the very fabric of which the Mind is made. So long as one self-identifies as an Individual “I”, there will also be a sense of Attachment to what is “mine”, all the way down to the Life of the Body. Surrender of individual will & relinquishment of Attachment necessitates inquiry into the nature of Mind or surrender the mind that has an individual will & feels attachment to the Body & other possessions. Individual identity – feeling “I am a Person, a separate

Individual, a Mind living in the Waking State inside a Body” – all that is merely False & distorted & the root cause of all Desire & all Suffering. Equivalent to Surrender of Ego is close examination & Discrimination through Self-Inquiry. So along with scrutiny of Ego being:

(1) the correct “inward direction” for Self-Abidance as the Self, &

(2) the way to strip Ego of its objects so that it vanishes, &

(3) Discriminating-Knowledge that dissolve supporting vasana Tendencies, the also –

(4) recognition & abandonment of false Ego as false compares to:

giving up the false notion that mistakes a wayside Rope for an hallucinated Snake in the dim light of dusk. Looking closely at the Snake, we discover that it is in fact nothing but a Rope. So too, if we examine or surrender Ego–“I”, we discover that it is in fact nothing but the Real & unlimited Pure Consciousness. Such is Self-Abidance.

[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 ]

The “trick” of Self-Inquiry

Some will understandably wonder about the “Who am I ?” of Self-Inquiry in terms of “which I, which Self” is the target of the question ? Is it the True Self, Absolute Non-Dual Atman, or the false, individual Ego– “I” self ?

The initial Self-attention, subsequent Self-investigation, & ultimate Self-abidance that makes up the Maharshi’s Teaching of Self-Inquiry could be said to suggest “Who am I ?” as more of a “direction” – an inward direction for Consciousness turning in on itself. As a “direction”, either goal, the True Self, Absolute Non-Dual Atman, or the false, individual Ego– “I” self will do. Once directed inward, Consciousness finds itself. No false, individual Ego– “I” self is found, but only the True Self, Absolute Non-Dual Atman.

Another take on the issue [but not on the inquiry itself] could focus first on the fictitious Ego or Mind, the individual self. This limited & distorted “consciousness” bases its seeming existence on its role as a pseudo-Subject (really only reflecting light of Consciousness). This pseudo-Subject defines itself by Duality, by attending to objects [internal & external] other than

itself. Turning inward in Self-Inquiry, other things are “lost” just as in Deep Dreamless Sleep. But accomplished consciously in this Waking State, the Ego or Mind, the individual self ceases to veil the True Self, Absolute Non-Dual Atman.

[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 ]

Whence a World ?

Picking up where we left off last Blog, given a seeming Mind: Whence a World ? Fundamentally, we trade in formless non-dimensionality for a more objective idea of a “space”.

Mocking the infinite subjective & dimensionless “space” of Consciousness, the reflected light of Mind careens off the apparent 0-D objective “space” of Ego–“I”, the individual, false self.

Starting with the simplest, that 1-D objective “space” of Thought–flow streams forth from the 0-D objective reference Origin of Ego. Even more objective is the echo of 1-D Thought–flow we sense as “Time”. Sequence of Sound, Music, Communication, etc. similarly parallel the 1-D flow of Thought & Time.

Perhaps 2-D would be the inner Screen of the Mind, the mental “windshield” also represented in cinema, TV, monitors, etc. with perspective suggesting 3-D in each.

True 3-D Space is just another version of the same concept, onlt upping the dimension each time. There I also a 3-D Stage or theater of the Mind where 3-D events are envisioned. If there was a Brain, we’d have to say that each space consists merely of electrical activity in the Visual Cortex & so on. The sam basic idea is repeated & adapted to each context, repeated over & over again.

Space, Time, Mind, & other big-container concepts comprise the foundation for one’s World-view & much of all thought. Hiding in plain sight is the fact that one single, small Idea is the repeated blueprint for each & every one of these big-container concepts. For the most part, 1-D (Time, Thought-flow, etc.) or 3 dimensions, 3-D (Space, World, etc.) model the “Container” concepts, with the exception being the Visual “TV/Cinema–Screen of the imaging Mind”. The latter is most easily modeled as the familiar 2-D Cartesian Container Coordinate Space learned in school for “graphs”.

The “empty graph paper” is the Cartesian Container Coordinate Space, the core constituent sub-concept of all these Ideas. [Descartes’ Graph reflected that sense of a “Space” with the grid from fishnets & later Greek geodesy (latitude–longitude).] 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”.

Each Container contains Coordinate Points or minute entities like Moments, Locations, Thoughts or pieces of an Image, a Sound, or other Sense Percept. But every such entity is undefined without reference to a Central Origin, which on a Graph is the (0, 0) crossing point of 2 Axes [3 in 3-D, 1 in 1-D]. The 1-D single Axis has a Central Origin, (0), 3-D has (0, 0, 0). The single Axis of Time serves also for Sound Sequence or Thought Flow.

Space may use for its Horizontal Axis [for X abscissa] West-to-East. Its Vertical Axis [for Y ordinate] may be East-to-North, while its out-of-the-page [Z] Axis could be Down-to-Up.

Thoughts or pieces of an Image, a Sound, any Sensation or Thought–form are [somehow] arranged entities characteristic of a given 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”. More proper 3-D locations in “Physical” [perceived that way] Space are referenced to the Origin of Physical Here. Thoughts 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.

To flesh out that 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 – 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

Mind of course includes all of those . 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 the Space–Origin concepts are similare. Self-Inquiry traces back along short or long routes from any of the above, especially from Thoughts, questing “Whose thought?” “Mine.” “Who am I ?” “Whence am I ?” which is to say finding the “place” in Consciousness where the Ego-“I” seems to arise. Find it to never arise there. Remain as that Consciousness, the Non–Dual Self.

“The Absolute can only be known by the Absolute within you.”                                                                                   Master Nome

[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 ]

“The Being that is seemingly individualized is actually always infinite and undifferentiated. In the very space in which appears Samsara, the repetitive cycle of birth, Illusion, and death, is the infinite, the eternal. The very nature of the one who seems as if bound is Liberation. At the moment that you were born, no one was born. At the moment a thought arises, nothing actually occurs.

Where Samsara seems to be, there is really only Brahman, the infinite, eternal Being-Consciousness-Bliss, which, in Self-Knowledge, we know as our real nature, Always, there is just this one Existence, which perpetually is just as it is. Samsara, or the Illusion of duality and its consequent suffering, is the result of imagination. That imagination is constituted primarily of misidentification. If misidentification, which is ignorance, ceases, Samsara, or, Illusion, ceases. The Illusion, or Samsara, and any of its bondage and suffering, depend entirely upon misidentification. Such is ignorance regarding one’s own nature.

If ignorance is done away with, Samsara is found not to be anywhere. This is why it is said that Maya, or Illusion, is inexplicable, for, when we find its nature, it ceases to exist, For the purpose of Self-Realization, or Liberation from all of the imagined bondage, inquire into the nature of your Being. If it seems to be individualized, inquire into the individualized being, and the individuality, being false and an Illusion, it will cease to exist.”                        Master Nome

So if there really is no Illusion, no World, no Body, no Mind, no Individual Ego, then what up ?

One of any number of takes on the whole thing could go like this:

A notion of “other” seems to flicker in dimensionless, infinite Consciousness. But “other” leaves behind a “me” – the Ego–“I”. Other thoughts referenced to this false “I” make up a Personality, an Individual Mind. Mind pretends to function through a Brain, with Senses, all in a head-quarters on top of a Body that moves & lives on a planet in a Universe.

Yet just as every Conception takes up no space in that space-less Mind, so too every Perception projects “out” from Mind as just another thought & takes up no space either. The objects perceived, the World just ain’t really there. Only the thoughts & they’re no more substantive than the Dream thoughts that make up every Dream world we experience. Even when we think we enjoy a World, that’s all just an inside job too. Ditto for sorrow. Happiness feels very inside, just like Love because they’re both the same Reality – Consciousness.

[Next time we summarize a way that thought constructs Mind, Time, Space, a World.]

[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 ]

Atma Vichara, Self-Inquiry

Sri Shankara & Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi described the practical means to attain Self-Knowledge as Atma Vichara, usually translated as Self-Inquiry, “Who am I ?” But repeated self-questioning is not the intended meaning, but it is rather the inward Self direction denoted. Alternate translations include: “Self-attention”. Alternate Sanskrit indicators include: Atma Nishta, “Self-abidance”.

If the question “Who am I ?” is helpful, the a singular deep-felt, silent inward-probe could be enough. Vichara generally has alternate meanings of “pondering, deliberation, consideration, reflection, examination, investigation” in the sense of “unbiased examination with a view to arriving at the truth.”

And so Atma Vichara means “Self-investigation”, “Self-scrutiny” or “Self-examination” of the fundamental Consciousness “I am” with a keen focus & intensity. Thus we awaken to That.

Methods of “Self-surrender” & “Self-denial” are equivalent, so long as Individuality, Ego is erased.

[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 ]

It is not that you become That, as if you had the power to break off from it & return to it at some later date, but, rather, That, the Absolute, is the solitary Existence always, & That is what you are. This is true to such an extent that you are not a part of it, nor is it a part of you, but rather the Self is the Absolute, & the Absolute is the Self; the Absolute is not other, & the Self is not other.    Master Nome

Tat Tvam Asi, That You Are

To abide in identity with this Reality known as Brahman, the vast Absolute, you must know yourself. “Tat Tvam Asi“, the Mahavakya, [great proclamation] of the Upanishads about you & this Absolute Reality, or God, Brahman, “That You Are.” Therefore, know yourself. If you know yourself, you know the Absolute, & what you know is what you are.

[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 ]

The Teaching is that of perpetual Truth, for Reality does not have an alternative. All Peace, Happiness, & Freedom is inherent in this Reality known as Brahman, the vast Absolute, which is neither an object nor an individual. The only way to realize it is to abide in identity with it.           Master Nome

Essence Of The Teaching

Non-Duality is the Essence of the Teaching, & also the source of the Teaching, & each one who comprehends the Teaching. All these are one & the same thing. The same is imperturbable Peace & Ananda, Bliss, the Happiness that leaves nothing else to be desired. The same is that immense Freedom, Moksa, or Liberation from all of the imagined Bondage, Freedom which does not depend upon objects, situations, events, or conditions of any kind.

[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 ]

Being as Consciousness – Nome comments [3]

More spontaneous, deep comments by a World Teacher.

“That should be known as Self Realization in which no alternative is possible, in which there is just one infinite, unconditioned, eternal, homogeneous, formless Self, which is not the cause of anything which is not the effect of any thing else, in which there is nothing else, but which is infinite, with no division, no separation, & which has no parts within it. It is absolute & not in relation to anything else, but just is as it is. As for anything else, it also is just the same Absolute. To realize this is very simple. It is simpler than even a thought. It is simpler than the idea of “I”. That divine simplicity lies where you are alone with no “I” to disturb you.“                                                                               Master Nome

Embellishing comment on the text is impossible in this case. More to the point this time is the issue of realizing the above directly within oneself. To rest in the superficial “I”, for just an instant, & then sink as Consciousness, with full intensity, in toward the True Self & abide there peacefully brings effortless Self-Realization in short or long order. Whatever the time, whatever the effort – it’s worth it.

The quote itself is one of the most complete & insightful definitions of Self-Realization to be found anywhere, in any language.

[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 ]

 More spontaneous, deep comments by a World Teacher.

“The bodies here do not make for a multiplicity of selves. The idea of “others” exists only in one’s Mind, as does the entire world. Trace this Mind to its source. From where do its ideas originate ? You will find they originate from a sense of “I” which is integral to every one of its ideas. Inquire further to see the core, or nature of this “I”. You will find its real “I”– nature, the non–ego state.“       Master Nome

Hardly anything is taken for granted more than all the “others” here with us – friends. Relatives, associates, people on the street & where we work. What ? Nobody here but us chickens ? [an old cliché  from a song title, an Our Gang phrase spoken by a racial stereotype kid hiding in a chicken coop, & a turn-of-the-century racial magazine parody long before that]

All Perception & Conception is thought in an unreal Mind, & that goes for our own Body & all the “others”. Oh, we are real & so are they all – but as One Consciousness – not as separate bodies housing separate individuals. If there was a Mind, an empty Container with no form, no boundaries, it would be like a 3-D graph-space with thoughts, somehow floating in the Coordinate Space. It is like a Coordinate Space in that each thought is defined with reference to a central Origin, somewhat as on a graph. Every indefinable thought has supposed meaning, only with reference to that Origin which is Ego. Like this metaphor, or with whatever other theory or nature that a Mind is supposed to have, can any such concept actually be Real ?

Penetrating deeply with Self-Inquiry, abide in “the core, or nature of this “I” … its real “I”– nature, the non–ego state” – the Absolute Non-Dual 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 ]

Being as Consciousness – some Master Nome comments

 Spontaneous, off-the-cuff comments by a World Teacher [even if not so widely recognized as such in his/her lifetime] – in response to questions in Satsang, are typically very deep.

 ” If you deeply, penetratingly inquire within yourself “Who am I ?” you find that you cannot possibly be a body; nor can you be an individualized or separated Mind; nor can you be the idea of “I” which is just an idea & not your essential Being, or the quintessential Consciousness.”                                                                           Master Nome

This perfect summary warrants word-for-word adherence. Examined carefully, without “body-image” prejudice, [typically stronger when the Body is self-appraised as especially beautiful, or the opposite], that trillion-cell, dying sack of unlikely atoms belongs in a zoo or biology lab more than in the center of your Mind as one’s actual Identity. Can I really be this salt-water bag, jammed with muscle-meat & neurons ? Where is my actual self in all that mess ? Where was that Body a hundred years ago ? Where will it be a hundred years from now ? If this Consciousness began decades ago, then how ? How do wet neurons “know”, how do they seen to think ? Will I really soon disappear ? Or could there really be some individual “soul” transported to some fairy-tale Purgatory jail-house, or worse ? Who makes this stuff up ?

How about some “Mind” that is a supposedly invisible, individual ghost that generates unsubstantial thoughts, each lasting for an instant, none with any way to contact other thoughts or some objective outer entities ? Materialist nerve-soup theories are just as flimsy. Am I what I think ? What is a Mind anyway ?

Then there’s that instantaneous notion “I”, the reference for each & every thought – good/bad for “me”, close/far from “me”, & so on. Some inner certainty of Existence is doubtless. But what constitutes any actual self that “I” could refer to ? Can “I” be anything objective at all, or must it not be point to a pure Subjectivity that must be Formless, without boundary or separation, & not–individualized ? As for the true Universal, Non-Dual “I”, what does it “do”, how does it “be” ? Find “I” to be Pure Consciousness.

[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 ]

Reality can be indicated, pointed out, hinted by special & sometimes spectacular words:

Eternal in both Past & Future, indeed Timeless.

Infinite, Silent, All-Wisdom.

Resting safe as pure Being, Existence itself, without a trace of Individuality or Objectivity.

Reality ever is itself, knows itself, & when we open to it with sincere effort, the Real realizes itself by reveals itself to itself, which is to say: one’s Self.

Knock, knock !

Do you exist ?

Assuredly, yes !

Do you know that you exist ?

How do you know ? How instantaneous, immediate, deep, & certain is that Self-Knowledge ?

With what instrument is one’s Existence known, [or lack of instrument] ?

Or is this direct Knowledge ?

Penetrate deeply inward to the Source of this Being with the probe: “Who am I ?”

deham naham, koham so’ham                        Ramana Maharshi

deham the Body;   naham is not “I”

koham who am “I” ? ;  so-ham I am He / I am 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 ]

2 Quaint Body stories

In one of Star Maker author Olaf Stapleton’s epic Sci-Fi novels his character, touring the Galaxy with a strange group of astral–projecting souls, takes on the Chimerical form of an “ugly” human-platypus of some sort. Viewing a female of the same strange Space-species, this character mentally reviews the progressive build-up of passion & lust he fells for the female. The entire description is so bizarre & yet so convincing that any male reader must thenceforth ever remember the eerie & arbitrary nature of any such lust, human or otherwise. A lowly lesson, but a good one.

In a much higher “body-story”, a legend tells us of the occasion of Sri Shankara meeting his Guru, Govinda Bhagavatpada, himself a disciple of Gaudapada of Mandukya Karika fame. Hidden away under a rock overhang, meditating, Govinda finally responds to Shankara’s entreaties for guidance. Stretching out his foot just far enough, Govinda extends one big toe & the young Shankara takes hold, not about to let go. This metaphor for “latching on” to the Guru’s guidance is a classic.

As a child hearing the reading of New Testament gospels, I instinctively identified with the apostles. How wondrous their great, good-fortune ! Oh, if ever I could have such opportunity, I would not wait for the cock to crow 3 trees. So when after a lifetime of entreaty,  Guru’s toe was extended, I never did let go.

[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 ]

How to find Reality

Nick Herbert’s Quantum Reality was a good Science book, but not such a good Philosophy book. For one thing he had Greek Realist philosopher of “Ideals”, Plato, be founder of Idealism when a truer Western “father” was Parmenides, with sources in India, older still. Herbert further had Immanuel Kant exemplify Idealism [as Germanic fathers of Quantum Mechanics might have] when George Berkeley would have served as a better standard. But a simple-hearted, direct speculation was Herbert’s deepest foray into Philosophy, when he wrote: “If there actually is a Deep Reality, there must be some way to experience it.”

Some scientists, like Nick’s friend, Amit Goswami [author of Self-Aware Universe] trust both Qualified Non-Duality QND Meditation & of all things, a Science Lab. As it an all-encompassing Reality could be detected, like some kind of Gold-Rush ore, in some assay Lab.

But the deepest field of experience is our own Non-Dual Existence. Self-Inquire Who am I ? to find “Deep Reality” as your own inmost Self.

Your greatest glory [the Self] lies where you [Ego] cease to exist.                                                                                                – Ramana Maharshi

Where you cease to exist, real Existence is self-revealed.                                                                                                                – Master Nome

[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 ]

Already the Self

Reality is Infinite & no kind of Object or Individual. Reality realizes itself & knows itself. Reality is itself the Teaching & the Source of the Teaching, as well as that which comprehends the Teaching & is already Liberated.   All things, the only thing, is the same thing, & that is yourself. The Teaching does not have an alternative, for such would be unreal, would be nothing.

The Realization, or Knowledge, regarding this Truth is imperturbable Peace, as Existence, or real Being, itself. Declared to be the highest Joy, Ananda, Bliss, the Happiness of Freedom, Moksha is complete. The imagined Bondage of Individuality has no place, not even a ghost-like existence Brahman, the vast Absolute.

Abiding as what/who I am naturally & effortlessly is Self-Realization. Seeking what/who I am & getting to know the innermost Self with all due effort is Self-Inquiry. Continue until the latter is found to be the former.

When attachment to material things is removed, the attachment of the Mind also vanishes. Those who have got rid of their attachment of Mind become one with That which is motionless. They become Liberated.                                                                           – Ramana Maharshi

By Non-attachment there is Freedom from Delusion; from Freedom from Delusion, there is the immutable Truth; from the immutable Truth there is Liberation.                                                           – Shankara

Your greatest glory [the Self] lies where you [Ego] cease to exist.                                                                                                – Ramana Maharshi

Where you cease to exist, real Existence is self-revealed.                                                                                                                – Master Nome

[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 ]

Nirvikalpa Samadhi & Savikalpa Samadhi can each be (Bahya) External or (Antar) Internal. (Bahya) External Savikalpa Samadhi can itself be Sight-related (Drisyanuvidha) or Sound-related (Shabdanuvidha).

In Sight-related (Drisyanuvidha) (Bahya) External Savikalpa Samadhi one fixes on the Background Reality behind Objects that appear in the Mind.

In Sound-related (Shabdanuvidha) (Bahya) External Savikalpa Samadhi one holds to Reality as the Source of external phenomena.

In Sight-related (Drisyanuvidha) (Antar) Internal Savikalpa Samadhi one holds to the Reality Source & Support of Emotions & Attachments.

In Sound-related (Shabdanuvidha) (Antar) Internal Savikalpa Samadhi one holds to the Reality Source & Support of Thoughts.

In (Bahya) External Nirvikalpa Samadhi one merges with the One Reality underlying all phenomena. A visual image is that of a still Ocean of Consciousness whose waves (thoughts) are quieted.

In (Antar) Internal Nirvikalpa Samadhi one merges with the One Reality underlying thought. A visual image is that of a steadily burning flame unmoved by any wisps (thoughts) of air.

When the waveless Ocean of Consciousness symbolizing (Bahya) External Nirvikalpa Samadhi & the steadily burning flame symbolizing (Antar) Internal Nirvikalpa Samadhi continue effortlessly & unattended as Identical, such stands for Sahaja Nirvikalpa Samadhi which is Liberation.

As previously noted, Ramana Maharshi described Sahaja Nirvikalpa Samadhi as pure Consciousness, like a river merged into the Ocean of Consciousness. That image & the other previously noted, of a Mind’s Bucket rope cut in the Well of the Self, along with the Waveless Ocean & the Flame re excellent contemplations for ant Seeker who best seeks Permanent Inner Reality by Self-Inquiry, without measuring or hankering for Samadhi or ant special States [though grateful for any, should they temporarily arise].

[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 ]

Mind in Abeyance [manolaya], Mind Destroyed [manonasa]

As much as Samadhi [ecstatic absorption in Reality] is rightfully lauded in the spiritual texts, Sri Atmananda occasionally repeated a “put-down” of the same, though he himself was a master of Samadhi experience. He would sometimes decry the “vicious samskara [tendency]” of implying the absolute necessity of Samadhi. Why ?

The context of such comments was a session of public instruction. Since each is already Liberated, already the Reality, no one act, even Samadhi, is an absolute pre-requisite. Many will never achieve Samadhi in this lifetime. To make a silly comparison, to playing basketball, many who play will never dunk in this lifetime. As much as that ability is helpful, one can nonetheless be a good player without that ability. So too can Self-Inquiry, if necessary, skip past all other levels of Samadhi to Sahaja Nirvikalpa Samadhi, final Liberation.

Sri Atmananda would certainly encourage Samadhi to all who can use it. But at the same time he apparently did not want to discourage those who could not. So just what are we talking about ? For one thing, Samadhi surpasses self-hypnosis or any soporific [Tamasic dull] stat known as Yoga Nidra, yogic sleep or manolaya, Mind in Abeyance. Temporary or Permanent, Samadhi is manonasa, Mind Destruction. Since “Mind” is only an illusory Reflection of Consciousness, this “Destruction” is just the actual ever-experienced.

Ecstatic Absorption in Meditation, the super-conscious state of Samadhi is described in 2 categories: Savikalpa Samadhi & Nirvikalpa Samadhi to which the former ca be a prelude. In Savikalpa Samadhi the meditator does not lose distinctions such as the Knower, Knowledge, & Known & the Mind still functions. Savikalpa Samadhi can be Objective or Subjective.

In Objective Savikalpa Samadhi, Thoughts in the Mind & other Objects such as the Sun or a flame are symbolic or regarded with indifference, maintaining the Self as one’s Real Nature. Whereas Subjective Savikalpa Samadhi is associated with abstract thought such as the “Witness” or the “Self”, then only a current of self-consciousness of the Self remains.

In Nirvikalpa Samadhi the meditator is free from distinctions such as the Knower, Knowledge, & the Known, & the Mind ceases to be active. In Subjective Nirvikalpa Samadhi the Mind is said to be steady like an unflickering flame in a windless place, indifferent to Objects & Ideas that arise in Savikalpa Samadhi.

Subjective Nirvikalpa Samadhi is also likened to an empty pitcher placed in the sky having nothing inside or outside. There is also a more Objective Nirvikalpa Samadhi wherein the meditator, plunged in Bliss, absorbed in Meditation on Brahman. Such is also likened to a pitcher placed in the sea with water inside & outside.

Ramana Maharshi also compared Nirvikalpa Samadhi to a bucket of water lowered into a well. If the bucket (Mind) that is merged with the water (Consciousness) in the well (the Self) retains a rope to draw the bucket out again, this is temporary Nirvikalpa Samadhi. With rope cut there is final Sahaja Nirvikalpa Samadhi.

[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 ]

Suddenly Awakened From Deep Dreamless Sleep

Suddenly being awakened from Deep Dreamless Sleep is regrettable. Without thought, without a Body or World, we were happy in that state. If allowed to drift right back into Deep Dreamless Sleep, we often will. Dream is not quite as good, too much like this Waking Dream. If waking up there seems to be repeated – that sense of Other, leaving Ego as what else. Ego-referenced thoughts collectively seem a Mind, then Senses, Body, World. To the Body is attributed Action, Motion, Doing. Birth, Life, Death. Ego–“I” is identified with that Body image of Waking-state Mind, just as the Dream Personality had been identified with that Body image of Dream-state Mind. Though both states feature Perception & Conception, the Real Self is not an Object of either Perception or Conception in either Waking or Dream.

The moment Ego is destroyed, there follows the direct experience of the Blissful Self. Consisting solely of Ignorance, the Ego is destroyed by Knowledge alone. Inquiring “Who am I ?” with intensity, perseverance, & the most earnest desire to realize the Self is known, Ignorance vanishes, Bondage disappears, & Real Being, Ego-less & Bodiless, is self-revealed.

[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 ]

Theodicy, Truth Scale, & 2 kinds of “In-effable”

To enliven a review of useful ACRONYMs that sketch out a “Truth Scale” we can use the much-avoided issue of Theodicy to illustrate a broad comparison between the items. The subtler topic: “2 kinds of In-effable” is a more central purpose here, even though it marks the distinction between only 2 categories. Those 2 categories also happen to be those most important to us, & the distinction between those 2 categories is itself the distinction most important to us as well.

Simply summarized, the enigma of Theodicy, is a mystery of Evil in the World, specifically in regard to the question: “How can a loving God let such bad things happen ?”

To a number of viewpoints questioned, various first answers to the Theodicy question could be offered. ACRONYM abbreviations sketch out a “Truth Scale” as follows:

1) UQD un-qualified duality practitioners of exoteric, organized, Dualistic religions [“un-qualified” as in not modified or “toned down” at all], these 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 other Last Days elitist clubhouse. Pushing all that Theodicy 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 easily overwhelm the UQD practitioner, without any good answer or explanation.

[In a circular mutually modeling cycle, Crime & Punishment Legal systems mirror & inspire Crime & Punishment Theological systems, & vice versa. Venial Sin – Misdemeanors land one in Purgatory – County Jail; Mortal Sin – Felonies land one in Hell – with Last Judgment court dramas in either case. Whatever “divine justice” is supposed to accomplish, Civil Law provides only the crudest deterrent to crime. The grim enjoyment of revenge & retribution supposedly satisfy the grief of victim’s loved ones, & these offer precious little balm to innocent victims who suffer, & less to those who die. Karma, though similar, is more of an unconscious self-inflicted “learning experience” system.]

2) QD qualified-duality adherents back off some of the more Fundamentalist dogmas & may introduce Deist [no personal Big Man in the Sky – God], Naturalistic [most extreme as “tree-huggers”], or New Age [theosophical. etc.] themes. They are “soft on hell” but more rationally still find mystery in Theodicy, God’s dictates or justice, which includes the existence of Evil.

3) 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.

a) One still retains some metaphysical version of a RWOT real-world-out-there ranging from Spinozan Deism-to-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 other like angels & demons. Levels of heaven & hell [though never eternal hell – resurrected from Zoroaster by Eusebius] & astral planes of all description are the scene for elaborate delineations of karma. 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, dealing with what karmicly comes your way. One’s real job is primarily striving for union with God, the Buddha-Mind, or the Tao, but all in a less absolute sense.

b) The other QND sub-category approaches the next UQND category with a more cosmic theology but still maintains separate, Individual Souls created by a God, Saguna Brahman who Panentheistically constitutes the Universe as well. This other QND sub-category approaches the next UQND category but still stands distinct from UQND along lines of 2 Vedanta theories of Brahman:

i) Saguna Brahman or [Absolute Reality with Form] is the more objective aspect of or God which projects, dreams, or “like a spider extruding its web” somehow manifests a Universe out of its own substance. God’s Dream or Lila Sport, or Maya web of Illusion contains all of us as evanescent characters playing out multi-lifetime karma–learning. Karma dishes out rehabilitative sentences & R & R rewards on various heavenly, hellish, & other planes are determined by our thoughts, words & deeds that obscure the reality of God in & as it all. In this still QND category, Evil describes the wrong turns that we dream-characters take in our winding path. Victims of their own self-inflicted karma thereby fulfill retributive punishment from former transgressions recorded in the Akashic records or their own Mindstuff. But no matter how horrible, their suffering is expiative, like Purgatory on the fly. Ultimately, as generalized above, Union with God is the destiny of all these dream characters or projection/sparks with immortal souls, even if thousands or millions of lifetimes are required.     ii) Nirguna Brahman or [Absolute Reality without Form] is the Buddha-Mind, Dharmakaya, most absolute Tao, is UQND un-qualified non-duality, mis-understood if we have a “Counting Problem” 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 UQND non-qualified-non-duality 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 through QND there is growing recognition that Ego is the selfish fount of misguided, ignorant Evil. Therefore, seeking Liberation, “erasing the Ego” is the only solution. Further into QND toward UQND, the surprise is no longer in the perverse depths of consummate Evil whenever it appears. Rather, in contemplating the inversion that is Ego, the seeker becomes surprised that with Ego at the “helm” that 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, & redeems in the end, all from Evil–

4) UQND un-qualified-non-duality alone has an answer for Theodicy, Evil, Ego, & all Suffering. Knowledge alone liberates, that is: Knowledge of the Self as Brahman, “1- without – a – 2^nd.” Words cannot express UQND. 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, the fatal flaw on the part of any one of them that belies UQD, QD, & QND posing as a complete understanding.

0) SPAM scientism-physicalism-atheism-materialism, needless to say, can only face Evil & Suffering with “fear & loathing” enough to inspire suicide in an adherent not living in Denial. In this “last” or “first” properly numbered, but listed-out-of-order entry, there is no God, so no Theodicy, no Divine Mystery or answer to Evil. Instead, Evil is trumpeted as a salient proof against the existence of God. Taking the lamest & least appropriate spokesmen for spirituality, the most obdurate Fundamentalists within UQD & their Bibles, all at face value, they see no answer forthcoming response at all to their question: “How can there be a God if he allows Evil & Suffering in the World ?” [Even Nature validates this SPAM in the screw-blow-fly, the guinea-worm, & a certain nasty fungus.]

Typically, the “allow” term in: “How can there be a God if He allows Evil & Suffering in the World ?” Objection carries a context of complete micro-management by special creations & miracles at all times, & a Legal Justice system context. The God of 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 is 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 if never finding of 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. All goes to show that God is not very nice, even without the unspeakably insane Eternal Hell, so therefore He could not exist, so say SPAM adherents.

Thus 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 UQND just previously reviewed.

Less general a distinction than the Theodicy, our real point here is to compare QND & UQND around the issue of Reality being “In-effable”. Within the context of QND, Reality is “In-effable” because no attempted description can ever be quite good enough. Within the context of UQND, Reality is “In-effable” in principle because there is no verbal or mental description for the Absolute, Formless, Nirguna Brahman .

[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 ]

Self-Enquiry 5

If Action can be said to “occur” in a Waking State Dream, then such would be the role of a Body, but not ever the role of Transcendent Consciousness, the sole Reality, from which thoughts creating a Waking State might seem to arise & into which they must finally subside. That Body is considered in Ignorance to consist of objective Matter throughout the intermittent Waking State Dreams between its Birth & Death. Presumed to recline in a bed, or the like, when Nightly Dream supplants that Waking State Dream, the Waking Body is not experienced while any given Dream Body is apparently experienced. Nor is a Waking Body experienced in Deep Dreamless Sleep when there is no “competing” or “excluding” Body exists at all. Given this “spotty” record of appearance, the essentially inert Body can hardly be claimed to be the True “I”, the Self.

Nonetheless, when a Body is mistaken to be oneself, the apparent reflection of Consciousness in a “Mind” is mistaken to be a separate Individualized “knower”, an Ego–I. Stripped of Mis-identification with that Body head-quarters [literally], neither Mind nor Ego can long continue, & Liberation ensues. Conversely, with full re-identification with Witnessing Consciousness, Pure Being or Self, or Existence-Consciousness-Happiness in any other manner, Mis-identification with Body, Mind, nor Ego cannot long continue, & Liberation ensues.

Short of either such Path, dropping Mis-identification with the Performer of Action, the Enjoyer of Pleasure, the victim of Suffering, the holder of Tendencies [vasanas], the Conceiver of concepts, the Perceiver of percepts, the Thinker of thoughts, or any such can remove a supporting “stone” in the “wall” of binding Ignorance. In whatever Form, to whatever degree, Knowledge alone destroys Ignorance, & not any kind of outer [physical] or inner [mental] Action.

Failing to finally & completely drop Mis-identification allows an intermittent [punctuated with Dream & Deep Dreamless Sleep] Waking State Dream to continue with Ups & Downs, ultimately: old age, disease, & death. Such is soon followed by another such Waking State Dream [re-incarnation] on the spinning Wheel of Birth & Death. Eventually, [subject to the delay of confusion bred from bad Karma] Liberation ensues. Why, wait ? Why, delay ?

Why does it work this way ? Does it work this way ? Has any of this really happened ? Such questions can, but need not be, part of the Self-Inquiry: Who am I ?

[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 ]

Lets Get Physical – Let Me Hear Your Body Talk:

Perhaps a tenth of quadrillion cells, each moment seeming to act as a single organism, the human Body. Organic Chem labs can rarely exceed 50% efficiency & purity in a chemical reaction. But in every cubic nanometer of cytoplasm, hundreds of reactions occur in the same place with almost complete efficiency & purity, without interference – an incalculable miracle – very improbable. And yet with all that coordination, how does such a salt water bag, evolved from Ocean micelles, covered in meat, get to be Me ? No way. Where was it 100 years ago, where will it be 100 years from now ? Happiness lies in & as Existence so I must & will continue, & never even had a starting point.

Lets pan in on just a single Atom in one of those Cells. If it was a sports Stadium, the Electrons would be gnats & the Nucleus a sand Grain in the middle of the field. If that Grain was instead a tiny sports Stadium, or one of its Nucleons were such a tiny sports Stadium, each of the 3 component Quarks would be a sand Grain. If that Quark Grain was instead a tiniest sports Stadium, each of the component Super– Strings would be a sand Grain. And then each Super–Strings is a Mathematical fiction of Nothingness, Probability Amplitude dependent on Consciousness to perceive it. Almost all empty Space, sparsely dotted with bits of Nothingness. Each Super–String stands to that Body like an Electron to the known Universe. Unconnected Cells, all replaced over & over again since Infancy, such a transient, changing, objective Body is not my eternal, subjective 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 ]

Self-Enquiry 4

                  With a Body, there is Suffering

Ecto-Morph; Meso-Morph; Endo-Morph – or equivalently – Cerebro-tonic; Somato-tonic; Viscero-tonic is a 3-way guna–inspired Body-category scheme based on most characteristic germ layer or structure, indicating nerve, muscle, or viscera Body-orientation

To gain the state Eternal Bliss, devoid of Suffering, cease to Mis-identify with a Body. Ignorance is ever of the character of Mis-Identification & results in the Illusion of Bondage, experienced as Suffering. To destroy Bondage, we should abandon that Mis-Identification that constitutes Ignorance. Self-Inquiry, Atma Vichara is Inquiry into the Self in search of Reality. We might even call Desire for false sources of Happiness to be erroneous Atma-Kama. Maharshi would say that with cessation of Atma Vichara, Self-Inquiry, then Inquiry into the World, Loka-Vichara commences. The falsely assumed “I” is the Performer of actions in a World. Turning within to face that false self, such cannot be found & we face the True Self. “Bypassing” the Illusion, we reach the Reality by turning within to face the Absolute Self, the same as Knowledge & Consciousness.

The Body & its activities are of an objective, inert character. The false “I” knows pretends to know those experiences, but the only Knower is the Real “I” which is Consciousness. When not known, the Real “I” is mistaken to be the Body, to be Mis-identified with Sense experience, or assumed to be some Individualized “consciousness” or Mind. Be certain that anything that is objective cannot be possibly be the Self. Inquire into the True Nature of the “I” as Consciousness, ever the Knower, to be realized as unalloyed, blissful Being which is truly is Self. Inquire with full intensity & concentrated determination & desire to know the Absolute Truth. Having negated all that is objective, be unswervingly absorbed in Inquiry into one’s True Nature so that the Self is revealed. “Be as you are” should not be misinterpreted as Mis-identifting the only cognizing entity as anything in Space & Time.

[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 ]

Self-Enquiry 3

“That which is Bliss is, verily the Self. Bliss & the Self are not distinct & separate, but are one & identical, & that alone is Real.”

Who am I ?

Un-knowing one’s Mis-identification with the Body, allows Self-Knowledge of one’s True Nature to spontaneously shine as Blissful Self-Realization. Required Discriminatio ca benefit from Comparison & Contrast between attributes of the Body & the attributeless indications concerning the Self. While the Body is changeful, sporadic, limited, objective, dependent, indirectly known & transitory, the nature of the Self is immutable, continuous, unlimited, nonobjective, nondependent, directly known, eternal. Thus noting the nature of the Self, realize how the Self is not the Body. The Self is not the Body, nor in a Body, nor in possession of a Body.

The Self’s nature is forever Infinite & Formless. The Self is bodiless Being-Consciousness-Bliss. Sri Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi would say that to be as you are is the purpose of spiritual practice. Abidance as you are, as forever un-modified Being, is Realization & Bliss. Self-Inquiry is the means of attaining the state of Sahaja Nirvikalpa Samadhi, the natural, innate, & effortless State. Effort in spiritual practice, no effort in Realization, but not the other way around. The True Nature of Self ever bodiless & liberated from bondage & consequent suffering, abiding forever as infinite Wisdom & Bliss.

devote to   Absolute  = being / abide-as  Absolute   =  no –Ego–I

Realization of the Absolute comes by dissolution of Ego – just a figment of Imagination. All beings seek profound Happiness. Those who seek it in the Absolute, find it.

[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 ]

What can be said about Existence ?

Existence is inconceivable, all the while free from & innately free from Thought. Such Being is Formless & indivisible so that we first have to assume, that Thought even has some kind of existence, before we need say that Pure Being, the Self is free from Thought. Given that to assumption about Thought existing in the first place, we come to the rescue with Self-Inquiry as to Who am I ? which reveals your Thought–free nature.. One’s True Nature is Pure Consciousness & not Thought. One’s Existence is self-known but cannot be something that is conceived, something free from Thought.

Only Delusion through Imagination connects Consciousness with Thought. That Illusion caused by self-Delusion, that Illusion of separate, real Thought alone constitutes Bondage.  Drop the Illusion, transcend any Thought about Existence & abide just as the Existence, itself, Reality.  Find that Existence is devoid of Thought.

What can be said about Thought ?  What is Thought’s nature ? [indefinable] What is Thought’s substance ? [nebulous nothingness] If we assume Thought exists, we do so by way of another Thought about Thought.

Without Thought there is no Duality. Existence is Non-Dual, without Duality, no possibility of Thought. Existence, the one Self is free from Thought, & the Self is devoid of Thought. Being without Thought, where can there be Illusion ? Where can there be Bondage or limitation ? Without Thought, where is Samsara ?

[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 ]

Essence of Enquiry 1

[“Essence of Enquiry” titles a Master Nome commentary on the first-recorded (though not first-published) Maharshi [“Essence of Enquiry”]

Whatever one might be experiencing, there is behind it the silent conviction: “I exist”. Always, we feel that we exist. That conviction, that “I exist” feeling points to Absolute Reality which is our true Being, our Existence. Without this basis of Existence, or Being, the very idea, “I am” could not appear &

without the idea “I am” there could not be the idea: “This is”. Unfortunately, for the moment, that 2^nd impression is the onset of Illusion if we take the objective “this” to be real in the way the subjective “I” is Real. In fact, taking the objective “this” to be real reduces one’s sense of “I” to a mutually objective Ego–I, another object that poses as an Individualized Subject. But the only real Subject is the true “I” which is Pure Non-Dual Consciousness. Abandoning the Ego–I also eliminates mis-apprehension of “this” as real, but accomplishing these in reverse order can be more effective in some cases.

Initially, Ego-I becomes the root of a “Mind” or imagined container of thoughts. Mind is symbolized objectively as a Brain & Sense Organs, housed in “this” which is taken to be a Body – a symbolic “headquarters” [literally] for the Ego-self. That Body needs a Planet to live on, which occurs in a Star system, in a Galaxy in a local Group, in a Cluster, in a “local neighborhood” in each case.

To the baby, the original “this” foci are mother’s breast, her face, & his own fingers & hands. Later he identifies the Body as his Ego-self with mother, pacifier, blanket, etc. as “other” or “this” [idam]. The Vedas tell us that whenever there is an “other” there is Fear, even if that be not Aversion but Fear of loss which is Attachment. [By the way, when that Baby says “da” or “da da” he says, not “Dad” but rather the indicative “That” of PIE languages as in  “Tat Tvam Asi”, “Om Tat Sat”, or the Buddhist “Tathagata”. ]

But the very existence of “I” & the existence of “this” depend on Absolute Existence. What is it that truly exists ? That would be Existence & not merely the idea of existing. In one’s experience, there is always firm, unshakeable conviction that there is Existence for oneself does exist. Someone would still their self have to exist in order to attempt denial of Existence. The Formless Reality, the Self is not “Nothing”, but is rather, actual Existence.

[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 ]

Container Coordinate Space Characteristic Sense mode

Gustatory Olfactory – O-D    water — liquid

Time Hearing 1-D                          air — gas

Space Vision 2-D                           ether — space

World Tactile 3-D                          earth — solid

Cartesian Coordinate Space models for Space, Time, & Mind:

Space, Time, Mind, & other big-category concepts comprise the foundation for one’s World-view & much of all thought. Hiding in plain sight is the fact that one single, small Idea is the repeated blueprint for each & every one of these big-category concepts. For the most part, 1 (Time, Thought-flow, etc.) or 3 dimensions (Time, Thought-flow, etc.) model the “Container” concepts, with the exception being the Visual “TV/Cinema–Screen of the imaging Mind”. The latter is most easily modeled as the familiar 2-D Cartesian Container Coordinate Space learned in school for “graphs”.

The “empty graph paper” is the Cartesian Container Coordinate Space, the core constituent sub-concept of all these Ideas. [Descartes’ Graph reflected that sense of a “Space” with the grid from fishnets & later Greek geodesy (latitude–longitude).] 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”.

Each Container contains Coordinate Points or minute entities like Moments, Locations, Thoughts or pieces of an Image, a Sound, or other Sense Percept. But every such entity is undefined without reference to a Central Origin, which on a Graph is the (0, 0) crossing point of 2 Axes [3 in 3-D, 1 in 1-D]. The 1-D single Axis has a Central Origin, (0), 3-D has (0, 0, 0). The single Axis of Time serves also for Sound Sequence or Thought Flow.

Space may use for its Horizontal Axis [for X abscissa] West-to-East. Its Vertical Axis [for Y ordinate] may be East-to-North, while its out-of-the-page [Z] Axis could be Down-to-Up.

Thoughts or pieces of an Image, a Sound, any Sensation or Thought–form are [somehow] arranged entities characteristic of a given 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”. More proper 3-D locations in “Physical” [perceived that way] Space are referenced to the Origin of Physical Here. Thoughts 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.

To flesh out that 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 – 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

Mind of course includes all of those . 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  lifetime identity Personality, born, grow, die in Waking State

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 the Space–Origin concepts are similar. Self-Inquiry traces back along short or long routes from any of the above, especially from Thoughts, questing “Whose thought?” “Mine.” “Who am I ?” “Whence am I ?” which is to say finding the “place” in Consciousness where the Ego-“I” seems to arise. Find it to never arise there. Remain as that Consciousness, the Non–Dual Self.

“The Absolute can only be known by the Absolute within you.”   Master Nome

[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 ]